[Legal 01.0] Legal

by Bree Dahlia

  “Sure. Haven’t you ever done that before?”

  “Well, let’s see.” He began working on the front of my neck, brushing down to my collarbone. “I remember lots of snow families and open-topped forts. Even a dragon once. But no, never an actual igloo.”

  He pulled my sweater down one shoulder and ran his tongue over the tip, eliciting more shivers. Before Chase, I would have never considered my shoulder an erogenous zone.

  “If it’s made right,” he said, “it can get really warm inside. Enough to get naked.”

  His hands were feeling their way over the curve of my ass. His lips were driving me insane. “Sounds like an interesting way to spend New Year’s Eve. Maybe we should practice inside first.”

  I couldn’t think of anything better than spending the next day or two holed up in his arms. We still saw each other as often as we could, but his schedule was more hectic during the school year. It made times like these ones to cherish.

  “Do you know what I want to do first?” He crouched down and lifted my sweater, giving him access to the sensitive skin across my belly. “I want your pussy on my tongue. I want to taste you until you scream for me.”

  “Mmhmm.” My pants were already sliding over my hips.

  “Then after your wetness fills my mouth, I’ll give you a choice. Do you want me to fuck you hard and rough, or love you slow and soft? Or should I decide?”

  “All of the above,” I mumbled, and he laughed, dragging my pants down to the floor. My panties soon followed.

  I stepped out of them and braced my hand on top of the couch. The other wove its way through the dark hair I loved so much. I stood in front of him with his face between my legs, hoping I didn’t buckle.

  The softness of his mouth contrasted with the coarseness of his jaw rubbing against my thighs. He opened me wide and consumed me with gentle bites and sharp licks, filling me with his tongue and making me tremble.

  “You smell and taste so fucking good.”

  My breath caught when his fingers slid inside me, the tip of his tongue circling my clit before sucking it into his mouth. Chase stroked in and out slowly, penetrating deeply and hitting the spot that made me gush.

  He knew precisely what to do to bring me there quickly. Sometimes he drew it out, making the pleasure unbearable and other times he took my orgasm fast and furiously. I started shaking harder. This time appeared to be the latter.

  He flicked his tongue over me, controlling the pressure of his movements until he had me exactly where he wanted me. “That’s it, Jillian. Come for me now. And I don’t want you to stop until you’re all over my fucking mouth.”

  That did it. I shuddered hard, and he withdrew his fingers and gripped me by the ass, holding me still as his tongue lapped over me. The fact that he loved this just as much as I did was the most incredible turn-on. He treated me like nectar, and I had never experienced that before.

  I basked in the aftershocks, preparing for round two—and there would be a round two; Chase never let me stop at one—when he grabbed a blanket off the couch and wrapped it around me. “What?”

  The front door flung open, and Perry stomped her boots and took a step inside. “Oh, shit. We’ll just be on the porch until you’re finished.”

  “Perry!” I quickly pulled on my pants and underwear while Chase held the blanket. Thankfully, my shirt hadn’t fallen off yet. “Don’t you knock anymore?”

  She bumped forward as Stephen came up behind her. “What’s going on? Why are you just standing there?” I heard him say from outside.

  “Well, obviously I didn’t know you two would be going at it right by the door.”

  “Fuck,” Stephen said. “Do I need to go back to my car?”

  “No, I think they’re good. You’re not naked anymore, right, Jills?”

  I heard my brother groan. “Dammit, Perry, just come inside. Both of you. It’s freezing out there.”

  They shook off the snow and came in, peeling off their wet coats. Perry tossed her hat down on the mat. “Aww… Remember when we were like this, honey?” she said to Stephen. “Now we’re down to twice a day like an old married couple.”

  I shook my head and rolled my eyes as Chase smiled. He pulled me next to him and kissed my forehead. “We should be so lucky,” he whispered.

  Wait, what? Lucky how? My mind started whirling. Twice a day or old married couple? We already did it that often when we saw each other, so did he want to see me more or….

  Stephen handed me a paper bag, snapping me out of it. I peered inside. “We brought plenty of champagne,” Perry said.

  I hauled out a bottle, then put it back in the bag. “We have plenty of beer too.”

  “I’ll take one of those,” Stephen said.

  “No, you guys. You can’t drink regular ole beer on New Year’s Eve. You have to drink champagne. Chase?”

  He shrugged. I knew he could tolerate this shit about as well as me. “Perry, this is more like extra-fizzy soda. It’s not even dry champagne,” I said.

  “Of course not. Champagne without sugar is nasty. It tastes like nail polish remover.”

  I walked into the kitchen with the bottles, and Perry followed me. “How’d you two get here anyway? There’s no way you could make it into my driveway, much less the side streets. I haven’t seen a plow come through in hours.”

  “Stephen’s truck can get through anything.” She hopped onto the counter while I unloaded the six bottles. “So, what should we do tonight? The guys will probably try to watch football. Wait, the Badgers aren’t playing, right?”

  I smiled. “No, Perry.” My hand had just made contact with the fridge door handle when the room went black.

  “Ha! Now they can’t watch TV anyway, and you can’t get your beer. We have to drink my champagne.”

  “Let’s just get some candles going first. Don’t forget I have plenty of vodka too.”

  She sighed and jumped to the floor, almost flattening me to the ground. “Sorry, it’s dark, you know.” We both left the kitchen, rounding the corner to the living room where there was enough light from the fireplace. Chase was pulling a lighter out of the table drawer, several candles sitting out and ready to go.

  I kissed him. “Thank you.” It was a weird thrill, feeling pleased that he knew where everything was located.

  I lit the candles and brought a couple back with me to the kitchen. I had no idea how long the power outage would last, but Perry was right. I couldn’t open my fridge unless I wanted everything to spoil inside. The last time this happened, it’d been out for fifteen hours.

  I opened a bottle of her stuff and figured I might as well try it to make her happy. I poured some into a glass and took a sip. Yeah, no. She’d already made me suffer enough when we went to that bridal show a couple weeks ago. I swear she only went for the desserts. But you know what? I still loved every minute of it with her.

  As soon as Perry bounded into the room, I handed her the glass, and she frowned. “Tell you what,” I said, reaching into the cupboard and taking out my Grey Goose. Loved the stuff, but drank it sparingly. “We’ll compromise and try mixing it.” That didn’t sound appealing either, but I could handle a splash of sweet.

  “I don’t know how you can drink that,” she said, scrunching up her nose.

  “I like the hard stuff, remember? Isn’t that what you told Chase the first night we met?”

  “Oops… Did I really do that?” We both started laughing. Wow, that’d been over six months ago. I couldn’t believe how much had changed since then. “And it’s been good, Jills, hasn’t it?” I nodded. Yes, it has. “What’d I tell you all along? He’s the one.”

  I smiled softly and took a sip from my glass. Was he? It sure felt like it. He certainly fit right into our family. Stephen was even coming around, and my mom adored the hell out of him. I was happy. Really, really happy.

  Now all that was left was for Daniel to meet him.

  “I know, let’s play a board game tonight,” I said. I prepared a cou
ple more drinks, figuring they’d appreciate the way I made them versus Perry.

  “No, not Bunked.” She groaned. “Haven’t you guys used up every question by now?”

  “Nope, you lucked out.” I took a candle. “Can you grab some chips from the pantry while I go get the game? It’s going to have to be a munchies night.” I maneuvered down the hall, chuckling at all the little pouty noises she was making.

  I went into the bedroom and hauled down the game from the top shelf of my closet. Chase had brought over a new one in November to commemorate both our birthdays. We shared the same month, two weeks apart. I was now one year closer to forty, and he’d technically moved into his mid-twenties.

  But during those two weeks apart, I got older, and he stayed the same. For fourteen days, it could have been said that I was not fifteen, but sixteen years older than him. We’d celebrated in the middle of it by going to Zydecki’s. We ate as hot as we could stand and danced until we couldn’t. And when I made it through November without a panic attack… that’s when I knew everything would really be okay.

  When I returned to the living room, they were all hanging out together. I smiled wide and plunked the box onto the table, pushing aside all the food bags. “Just so you know”—I pointed at Perry and Stephen—“you two are staying over tonight. Do not even think about trying to drive home.”

  Perry nodded and raised her glass. “We’ll ring in the new year together.”

  Chase opened his arms for me, and I curled into them. “Will you be on my team?” I asked.

  “Always.”

  I leaned over and set up the game. We probably would run out of questions soon, and then what? I wondered if there was another version. I divided up the cards into different stacks and took out the timer. I no longer missed the original; the new one had accumulated even better memories.

  We actually got a few rounds of the game in before things careened off track. Considering we were all a bit tipsy, that was longer than I expected.

  “The blue whale is the loudest animal on the planet,” I read.

  “I’m going with fact,” Perry said. “At least for the females, since the males have the biggest boners on Earth.”

  “What?”

  Perry picked up a card. “A banana slug has the same penis length as an average human.”

  I snatched the card away. “That is not one of the questions.”

  “We watched a special the other day on animal schlongs. I’m just sharing my knowledge.”

  “No, you watched it, Perry,” Stephen said, stuffing a handful of chips in his mouth.

  “Oh, you’re just jealous of barnacles.”

  I went over to throw more logs in the fire. The mood was completely different in a house with no electricity. Or maybe it was all the champagne bubbles in our brain, especially Perry’s.

  “Fact,” Chase said. “To the banana slug question.”

  “Correct!” Perry clapped.

  I turned my head and laughed. “How would you even know that?”

  He shook his head. “I have no idea.”

  “So you probably also know about that one duck—”

  “I think we’ve talked enough about animal dick, Perry,” Stephen said. “And just what do they consider an average human?”

  “Well, less than a barnacle, that’s for sure.”

  I giggled as I snuggled back up to Chase. “And to think, we could’ve missed all this and had the night to ourselves,” I whispered.

  He squeezed me tightly. “There’ll be many more nights for us, love.” He broke the hold and stood up. “Stay right there. I want to give you something before it turns a new year.”

  I cocked my head, watching him stick his hand into his coat pocket. Perry and Stephen were still going on about some wacky thing, but they stopped dead when he walked over with a box.

  What the…? My heart started hammering. Okay, it wasn’t the right size. It was longer and flatter than a ring box. I wasn’t a big jewelry person, so I doubted he’d get me something else. Breathe in. Breathe out. Not that he couldn’t be sneaky and use a bracelet box because a ring would definitely fit in there. But why would he do something foolish like that? So, settle the fuck down, Jillian.

  Chase bent down, but not on one knee. More like two. Then he sat back, so that was good, right? He handed it to me and impulses were firing off everywhere. The box was fuzzy. Was that good or bad? My head was fuzzy. I knew that was bad. Okay. More deep breaths. If it was a ring, I could handle it. It was too soon, but I also loved him more than yesterday. And what was that saying? I loved him less than tomorrow. Yeah, that was it.

  I definitely loved him enough to handle whatever happened.

  I pried open the top slowly, knowing Perry’s eyes were bugging out on me big time. All I saw was white. I popped it open further, my heart leaping around the room. It was… an index card?

  Huh? I paused for a moment, feeling… something. Then I took it out and flipped it over. There was writing on the other side: Third cup lime juice, half cup olive oil, Lunacy Sauce—

  My face broke into the biggest smile. “This is it? The whole thing?” Chase nodded. “You finally gave it up?”

  “Only for you.”

  I thrust my arms around his neck and kissed him. “I love you.”

  I noticed Perry staring at me with a scrunched-up face. My brother was eased back looking through game cards. Maybe he thought it was something kinky and didn’t want to know.

  “It’s a fajita recipe,” I said.

  “Uh… yeah.” Perry seized the cards from Stephen. “Stop looking at the answers.”

  “I really wanted it,” I told her.

  “Okay?”

  I jumped up, waving the card. “I have to go put this in a safe place.”

  I took a candle and went into the kitchen, Perry right behind me. “So, what’s up?” she said.

  “Didn’t I just tell you half a second ago?”

  She pulled me into the hall that connected the kitchen and my office. “I saw your face, Jills. It only lasted a sec, but I know what I saw.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “That moment between thinking it could be a ring and accepting it wasn’t.”

  “You saw the box. It wasn’t the right shape.” I went into my office and put the recipe into the desk drawer.

  “That’s not the point here.”

  I sighed, leaning back on my desk. I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say. I loved him, but it was too soon to make eternal promises. At least that’s what my head was telling me. My heart wanted it all. And my passion wanted it forever.

  “It’s okay to feel confused, Jills. Sometimes you don’t know what you want until you don’t have it.” She took my hand. “Let’s go. It’s almost midnight.”

  We returned to Chase and Stephen. Perry joined my brother on the couch, and I curled into Chase near the fireplace.

  “Now everyone has to make a wish exactly when the clock strikes twelve,” Perry said. “But it has to be exact. That’s the only way it’ll come true.”

  “You’re not superstitious,” I said.

  “It’s not superstition. It’s fact.”

  “What’s your wish?” Chase whispered to me.

  “I wish…” I didn’t know. I wish you wouldn’t have given me the recipe because that might mean you won’t always be there to make it for me? That sounded silly.

  He grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me up. “Come with me.”

  Chase brought me into my office and closed the door. He placed a single candle on the desk, throwing shadows everywhere. I stood in front of the large window, watching the biggest pillow fight ever taking place in my front yard. Puffs of white mixed with sparkles, fragile but fierce. It was almost too beautiful to watch.

  He came behind me and wrapped me tight, his jaw resting in the crook of my neck. “Thank you for the recipe.” I smiled. “I was about to give up asking.”

  “That belonged to this year. I want new thi
ngs to belong to the next.”

  Chase held me as we watched the snowflakes fall. Stealing away a private moment together when the calendar changed. It was right where I wanted to be at the right time.

  Exactly at midnight, we both said, “I love you.” Forever.

  It was the perfect wish.

  I wanted to fuck her from the first moment I saw her.

  After the first night, I wanted her to be mine.

  When you know, you know.

  Following my passion is an absolute, and pursuing Jillian was no exception. I knew getting her wouldn’t be easy, but nothing worth it ever is.

  If I had pushed too hard, I would have lost her. Not hard enough and she would have slipped through my fingers.

  But I have her now, and I’m not letting go. My energy is limitless to keep her, and I’ll do whatever it takes.

  Jillian is my lyrics, masterfully written. She is my music, harmonically rich. She gets me. My heart. My drives. My desires. It makes no difference to her if I’m playing on stage or in a classroom, and that means everything to me.

  She means everything to me.

  Never once has her age been an issue for me. I meant it when I told her how beautiful she is, exactly how she is. Fuck the age difference—it means nothing. She is all that I need.

  Sexy is sexy, and she’s got it heart, soul, and body.

  And her voice? Fuck. Lush and intoxicating, I could listen to her forever. Her melody, her words, her moans when my tongue glides over her sweet pussy…. That is a song that only gets better with repeated play.

  I want what I want, and that is the woman in my arms.

  Her son, Daniel, is coming home sooner than expected. Permanently. He skipped the holiday visit to stay in Italy for an extra session so he can graduate early with a business degree. He knows of me but not about me. Am I worried? Fuck, yeah. He is the only man who could ever come between us. The only one who has her heart as much as I do.

  He has the ability to take Jillian away from me, but I have to trust that will never happen. I grasp her tighter, hold her with everything I’ve got as we watch the snow fall. We’ve come this far. We’ll make it all the way. There’ll be many more New Years spent together.