Shoe Strings

at
what this would do to their relationship.   Her need for him felt like a hammer blow to the head.   He held his hand out to her.   She stepped into his arms, wrapped
herself around him, and clung.   She
could feel the wild beating of his heart against her naked chest and could have
slapped herself for denying them this for so long.   “Make love to me, Bryce,” she said
against the warm skin of his neck.   “I’ve wanted you to, for so long.”
    When she stepped back to look at his face, she couldn’t read
his expression.   “Kerri Ann.”   The way he said her name, like she were
a precious treasure, had her throat nearly closing.   She reached for his hand and led him out
of the kitchen, down the narrow hall, and up the stairs to her bedroom.   They didn’t rush or explode against each
other as they’d done in the kitchen, but gently swayed together in a kiss so
slow, so tender, she sank into the bed and surrendered herself to him.
    ***
    Bryce had dreamt of her this way hundreds, thousands of
times.   Nothing, absolutely nothing,
in his imagination came close to the feeling of holding Kerri Ann in his arms
while she gave herself to him completely.   It was the giving, the total surrender of self, that left him staggered
and trying desperately not to rush and fill her as he’d longed to do for
years.  
    He’d worried, in some secret place in the back of his mind,
that if he finally had her, it wouldn’t be as exciting, as consuming, as he’d
pictured it being all the years he’d pined for her.   He couldn’t have been more wrong.    She gave him everything, the
desire, the need, the strength he’d always associated with her.   But it was the vulnerability, the sweet
way she said his name, the blush that crept up her neck when he pulled the
final piece of clothing from her body that had him struggling for control.  
    Deliberately, he slowed his hands.   Where he longed to grab and take, he
feathered his fingers, swept his lips around and in.   He was rewarded by her wild abandon.   He never imagined she’d ever let herself
go with him so wholly.   She was
driving him mad, killing him by inches.   When he felt her body quake and pulse, he fixed his eyes on her face and
gloried in her utter abandonment of self.   This is how he’d longed to see her, free from everything that bound her
to reality, released by his touch.   Did she have any idea how spectacular she was; her athlete’s body
arousing, teasing, and holding him captive?  
    By the time his lips returned to hers, she was begging for
him to join them.   Drunk on the
power, on her, he plunged inside and gloried in her response.   He could see the look in her eyes change
from surprised pleasure to sheer need as they came together.   She drove him, at times maddeningly
slow, then gloriously fast, to where he didn’t know up from down, in from
out.   All he knew was Kerri
Ann.   It was all he’d ever wanted to
know.   Sliding with the surety of her
desire for him, he drove her where she’d led them both and let himself follow.

 

 
    Chapter 17
    Cal had just poured his first cup of coffee when he heard
the roar of Jesse’s Scout bound up the steep drive.   He hadn’t expected to deal with him so
soon after their fight and the hurtful way they’d parted.   He wasn’t sure he was ready to cross the
bridge with him again or even meet him halfway.   He hadn’t slept a full night or eaten a
decent meal since he’d gotten everything off his chest.   Funny thing was, getting everything off
his chest only made him feel worse.
    He added milk to his coffee, took a sip, and headed to the
screen door to wait for the inevitable.   It wasn’t Jesse who bounded up the porch steps, but Ty.
    “Hey, Granddad.”
    Cal opened the screen and moved aside so Ty could come
in.   He still had the look on his
face that told Cal he wanted to head right back to bed.   “This is a surprise.”
    “Mind if I crash for awhile until Mom gets here?”   Without waiting for an answer, Ty began
arranging the pillows at one end of the couch and curled into the fetal
position.  
    “Why don’t you go on back to your room?   It’s much quieter back there.”
    But the boy was already half asleep.   “I’m fine,” he mumbled and tipped the
brim of his ball cap over his eyes.  
    Cal shrugged and headed onto the porch to see where Jesse
had gone.   The sun streaked through
the trees and the only sounds came from the birds