Days of Love and Blood

my tongue. I moaned lightly with an exhale and grasped his shoulders to pull him closer. He stopped and pulled away, looking at me through half-closed eyes. He put his hands around my waist and moved me back against the counter before pushing himself against me. His mouth was on me again with the sudden ferocity of lust and desire and need. I lifted his shirt over his head and he picked me up, placing me on top of the counter. He moved my legs apart and thrust himself between them and then pulled me closer to him so that I was almost falling off the counter. I could feel him through his thick jeans and I cried out while his tongue moved down my neck. He bit my skin and pushed against me over and over. I grasped his hair with one hand while the other glided down his back and then to his hip, holding the bare skin above his pants while he moved, guiding him. His tongue brushed the point of my breast after he roughly pulled my shirt down and my body convulsed.
    “Take me to the bedroom,” I begged.
    Cooper picked me up and I wrapped my legs around him. He carried me to the first floor guest room and threw me on the bed. He jumped on top of me, pushing me up to the headboard. His hands ripped my shirt over my head and then reached behind me to find the hooks on my bra. In seconds, it was on the floor and Cooper had me in his mouth. I couldn’t stand it anymore and my hands traced the rim of his pants. He lifted up just enough so that I could try to work his belt buckle and when I was successful I slid his pants down, using my feet to push them the rest of the way to his ankles. He finally stood up and brusquely removed his jeans. Before he came down to me, he pulled my shorts away from my body, almost lifting me off the bed entirely. He was back on top of me, his tongue plunging deep into my mouth and the only thing that separated us was the flimsy material of our underwear. I could feel all of him as he teased me with his thrusts and I moved into him until my body could take no more. I clawed at his briefs and he cried out as I pulled them away and took him in my hand.
    He took me because I let him. He took me because I allowed it. He took me the way he normally takes: with force, with strength and with confident determination. His lack of emotional courage was replaced by fervent need. We both took, we both gave and we both released.
    I never heard the footsteps on the porch or saw the shadow peering into the windows. But I heard the car back out of the driveway. I was out of breath, resting on Cooper’s chest when the sound of crunching gravel filled the room.
    “Who’s that?” he asked.
    “I honestly don’t know.” I darted to the window to see if I could catch a glimpse of our visitor. A black Hummer was pulling out of the driveway.

Secrets
    “Why do you always reverse the conversation when I ask you about certain things? Anytime I ask you about your college days, you throw me a wall.”
    “No, I don’t,” I retorted.
    “Yes, you do. Instead of answering, you ask questions about my college days. Every. Single. Time.”
    “Sorry,” I said while trying to dab away the pink ice cream droplet that landed on my lap. Ritchie was holding a cup of chocolate in his hand, spoon-feeding Ronan in his restaurant high chair. Ronan’s mouth was open like a baby bird, waiting for his next mouth full of frozen sweetness. “Unintentional.”
    “Okay,” he sighed. “After we’ve been together this long, you’re suddenly going to pretend that I don’t kn ow you any better? Did my IQ just drop?” I laughed and almost spit out my ice cream. I brought my hand up to wipe away the pink dribble. “Classy, hon.”
    “I don’t know,” I conceded. “College wasn’t my best time. I don’t like talking about it. I want to forget those two years.”
    “It couldn’t have been all bad.”
    “Most of it. I was more than happy to give it up for you, remember? Anyway, aren’t I allowed to keep my secrets?”
    “I didn’t realize there were secrets invol ved,” he said as he looked me over curiously. I kept a straight face to hide the sudden anxiety that filled me. “Yeah, of course you are,” he finally answered. “I have some of my own.” I knew he did. We all did. But there was one in particular I kept buried deeper than the rest.
    The memory of it was connected tightly to the two years I buried in the back of my mind. I could hide it, bundle it up between the years of textbooks and classes, but those