GodOfWar05152014aLLROMANCE (2 page)

Fire rushed to my cheeks.  I could feel it settling
there, and suddenly I felt the urgent need to get to my boarding gate, “Well, I
guess I’ll call you when I get home then?”  I tilted my head upwards and
puckered for a goodbye kiss.

He bent low over me and touched his lips to mine, sliding
his tongue past my teeth and swirling it against mine.  A tremble quaked
within me and my arms slid beneath his.  It was the highest I could reach,
but it served the purpose of pulling him tight against me.  When I felt
him shudder and pull away from me, I desperately wanted to cling to him. 
He felt my resistance and pecked my lips sweetly and whispered, “I love you
too.”  Then he held me at arm’s length and ran his fingertip across my
swollen lips, “My precious Morgan, I do love you very much.”

I could feel his gaze on my back until I turned the corner
and headed for my boarding gate.  We were headed in opposite directions,
and I silently prayed that this wasn’t just a tawdry weekend affair.  If
it was, it’d been one I would remember all of my days.

And I do believe that we both gave the long distance
relationship a gallant try, but he was shipped overseas and we lost contact.

*-*-*-*-*

I was rinsing my muck boots when my phone rang. 
Exhausted from a day on the shoreline I snatched it off the deck railing and
shot it a nasty look.  Seeing it was Carson I answered, “How’s my prego
baby sis today?” I said.

“Feeling a lot like I need juicing actually.  I swear if
I get any bigger they’re going to have to use one of those cranes to get me out
of here.”

I’d been trying to talk with her daily since the doctor had
put her on bed rest; I know boredom and Carson aren’t friendly.  “Have
they given you a date to induce yet?” I asked.

“Next Thursday, can you and Parker make it?

“I plan on being there, but Parker wants to stay here and
tend to Mrs. Mulaney he says.  She’s been baking a lot lately, and he’s
been within an arm’s reach of her every day.”

“You’re lucky to have her.”

“Yeah, well Mary Poppins isn’t always a teaspoon of sugar,
let me tell you.  Last week she launched into me about the check engine
light in my car being on and how that made me a negligent parent.”

My sister laughed, “Alright, so when will you be here? 
I can’t wait!”

“I’ll call the airline and see what the flights are and send
you a text.  That okay?”

“Sure, love ya bunches,” she said before hanging up. 
At least she was in good spirits that was something.  I told her that
delivering the baby of one of these Marine giants wasn’t a bowl of cherries but
she insisted that a natural birth was the only way she’d go.  Mentally I
cursed our parents for their hippy teachings, but still I put my money on her
calling for anesthesia after the first hour.  She was only tough on the
outside; on the inside she was as miserable as any pregnant woman has ever
been.  By the time next Thursday night rolled around, she’d be begging for
something to curb the pain.  I slid the phone into my pocket and went inside.

Tuesday night the airport was nearly empty, I slung a heavy
carryon bag over my shoulder and stopped to look at the map to find the luggage
carousels.  As I studied it, the uneasy sensation of being watched swept
over me.

He was leaning over the bar at the entrance of an ‘Irish
Pub.’  I almost didn’t recognize him without his uniform.  He wore a
navy sport jacket with a gray tee shirt, and it stretched over muscles so
developed that the shirt could do little more than cover him.  His jeans
weren’t tight, but again it is a difficult task given to clothing when you
require it to cover a God.  In the end his clothing had molded to him, and
it took very little to see what was underneath.  I drew in a long, deep
breath and smiled at him.  It didn’t shock me that he was here; he was
Steve’s best friend.  But I did wish that Carson had given me a heads up.

With a wave he called me over to him, and as I neared I saw
him motion to the bartender to bring an additional drink.  He pulled me
close to him in a tight hug before holding me at arm’s length and grinning,
“You haven’t changed a bit!”

I cleared my throat, it was intensely dry at the moment, “Oh
I beg to differ,” I said plainly, and nothing could be closer to the
truth.  Yet I was sure that he had no idea what had been going on with me;
I’d made Carson and Steve both swear.  There’d been nothing he could do
about it anyway, so what was the use in upsetting a man in Afghanistan,
especially one with access to long range weapons.  Regardless, he spun me
around like a ballerina, examining me from all sides and I couldn’t help but
laugh.

“Have a beer with me?” He said holding out a frosty filled
mug.

“Sure!”  I took it from his hands and bit my lip, “Have
a son with me?”

He choked, spitting beer across the bar in my
direction.  I grabbed a napkin and wiped small specks of it from my
face.  “I guess I deserved that.”  And I reached for my purse laying
a small photo album in front of him.

It was quite a while before he spoke, and permanent ridges
formed on his brow as he examined the photos one by one in excruciating
detail.  There was no question of paternity.  I was all too aware of
that having had given birth to the tiny bear with the broad smile.  But I
couldn’t place what was going on in his mind other than the obvious.

“Why didn’t you tell me?  Fuck, why didn’t Steve tell
me?”

I shook my head, “And what would you have done?”

He stuttered, “I don’t… hell, I could’ve sent money or
something.  Regardless, I would’ve liked to know he existed.”

“You know I don’t need the money.  I made Steve swear,
and besides he agreed with me that there was nothing to do but wait for you to
get back.  And now you are.”

A few times he began to speak then closed his mouth and ran
his fingers around the last photo in the album, “I’m going to kill Steve, and
I’m considering digging a mass grave for you and your sister.”  Yet
twitches of a smile kept piercing through his rough demeanor as he glanced down
at the photo.  “He’s a big one,” he said.  “Where is he now?”

“With his nanny.  He didn’t want to come and sit around
waiting for the baby, and he informed me that hospitals were germ ridden and
unsanitary.  If Aunt Carson would just stay at home to have the baby, then
he’d be happy to come down and play video games and wait with her.”

Jeff laughed heartily, “They are germ ridden and
unsanitary.  I should know,” he said.

“I was upset when I heard you’d been hit.”  Upset
wasn’t the word I’d normally use to describe what I went through when Steve
told me.  I didn’t sleep for days until the word came that he would be
fine and was headed home to the States.

“That little ole bomb doesn’t seem like much compared to
this,” his massive finger tapped the photo album, but the expression on his
face was of glowing pride.

I held my hands up defensively, “I have no defense.  At
the time I didn’t know what to do, and yes I acted recklessly.  Can you
forgive me?”

He studied me carefully the darkness in his eyes softening
as his gaze moved lower, “Yes.”

“Yes you can forgive me, or yes you agree I acted like an
idiot?”

But he shook his head and placed his platter sized hands
over mine, “The question doesn’t matter, because with you the answer will
always be yes.”  An electrical current passed from his hands through mine,
straight up my chest to my nipples.  Could it be?

“Did you feel that?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said with a broad grin before pulling me to
him.  His lips captured mine and his tongue struck out to taste me. 
I sank into him, grasping every ounce of his taste, every rough hair on his
chin, and the thick scent of Burberry spice on his neck.  Instantly, five
years melted into five minutes and it seemed as though we hadn’t been apart a
single day.  We devoured each other; kissing, touching, rediscovering
until a red faced bartender cleared her throat at the edge of bar, “I’m closing
up now folks.”

I giggled with embarrassment and straightened, “I better get
to Carson before she thinks I’ve been skyjacked.”

He laughed, “She sent me to pick you up.”

It took a moment to register.  “Why that plotting
little witch,” I chuckled.

He looked shy for a moment before taking my hand and pulling
it to his lips, “I told her that you’d text her if you decided to stay at my
place.”

“You have a place here now?”  I wondered how long he’d
been back.  Certainly not long or Carson would’ve told me. 
Frantically I made a mental inventory of my undergarments.  Nothing
special, but they’d do.

Jeff bent down and picked up my carryon, then held his hand
out to me, “Just come with me and see.”

Twenty minutes later we’d retrieved my luggage from the
carousel and were headed down the interstate in his car, “Pretty hot ride
you’ve got here,” I said.  He was quiet now and only glanced over at me.

“If I’d known I had a family I would’ve bought the SUV.”

“So you’re still angry with me?” I asked, though he didn’t
seem so.

“I’m trying very hard to be furious with you, but every time
I think about you I get hard.  You do something to me, Morgan.  Do
you realize that?”  His eyes left the road for a second and blazed into
mine.

The only thing to do was nod;
he does something to me too
. 
My skin flushed as if my blood wanted to rush to the surface to be touched by
him.  I’m a grown woman now, I told myself.  Not the schoolgirl he’d
taken in the hotel room two hours before her last flight.  Yet the
feelings I had were exactly the same and the steam rose from the collar of my
shirt to prove it.

His thighs rippled as he changed gears, and I watched his bulky
hands grasp the knob with bulging veins.  They were beautiful- his hands;
the sight of them recalled the memory of their touches deep within my
womb.  I shivered.

I thought a mistake had been made when he pulled into the
driveway of the ancient farmhouse.  I didn’t realize they’d even had farms
in this part of the country.  The area was so glitzy and resort
like.  Nevertheless, there it was:  Three stories of white clapboard
surrounded by black shutters and a yard of green.  They say you never
really know someone until you’ve seen their home, and I have to say I was
stunned.  I glanced at him doubtfully and he laughed, “It was my
Grandmother’s house.  I liked it, so I fixed it up!”

Inside he sat my luggage in the hallway as I wandered from
room to room taking in his taste; as with everything else with him, it was very
‘southern gentleman’ in design.  I had just expected something more modern
and sleek.  At least that’s the impression he gives outside his
lair.  But this struck me now to be the true core of him, a man happy with
tradition not afraid of it.  The floors were thick pine, the furniture
leather and heavy.  Yes, this was a home without a woman’s touch, yet it
so perfectly matched him.  He wandered back into the living room and handed
me a drink, “I can’t tell you how excited I am that you’re here.”

I smiled up at him, studying his face as he studied
mine.  We stared deep into one another’s eyes as if neither of us was
truly sure this was happening.  Before I could take a breath his arms
surrounded me, pulling me into him and pressing hard down on my lips.  A
roughness overcame him and his low groan sent a wave of warmth between my
thighs.  His tongue sought mine in a drugged dance, and he lifted me from
the ground and pressed my chest against his.

“Why is it that whenever I see you I go crazy?” His voice
was husky with need.

I mumbled something that sounded like, “I don’t know,” but
his lips slammed down on mine again.  Already I felt the harsh pressure of
need growing in my belly.  My mound tingled as if it had been cut off from
blood flow for a very long time, and suddenly the tourniquet had been
removed.  His kiss was more demanding by the second and his breathless
moans held me spellbound, “Do you have a bed?” I breathed.

His face pulled away and lightening flashed in his eyes, “I
most certainly do!  Several of them, in fact.  I think we should try
each one!”  He laughed heartily then turned his back to me and bent over
touching his toes, “Climb aboard!”

I giggled and leapt onto his back froggy style.  His
thick dark arms wrapped around my pale white calves and he took off for the
staircase like a giddy kid.  Upstairs he backed up to his bed and dumped
me unceremoniously onto the down comforter.  I would have been offended if
he hadn’t immediately began to undress.  I started to unbutton my shirt
but he stopped me, “I’d really like to do that if you don’t mind.”

His sports jacket hit the floor and I put my hands behind my
head to watch the show.  The tee shirt was pulled slowly over his head and
I nearly broke out in a sweat.  His back still turned to me I heard the
sound of a metal buckle being unlatched, then a zipper and my thighs began to
shake uncontrollably.  Thick fingers pulled on the waistband of his jeans
and he wriggled his behind purposely in front of me.  I laughed, “Where
are all my two dollar bills when I need them?”

That only served to spur him on and he stepped from his
jeans and put his hands high over his head and showed me a sexy hip
movement.  He swayed before turning around and letting me see his naked
front.  And that’s when my entire body inflamed with goosebumps.  His
manhood peered at me dangerously, as if it had a personal vendetta against
me.  Reaching down he wrapped his hand around it as if to calm it, lest it
attack and splay me.  The expression on his face was raw lust.

He held out his hands and I took them, pulling me to my feet
he swung us around and sat down on the edge of the bed.  When sitting he
could look directly into my eyes.  I trembled when his fingers unbuttoned
my shirt.  I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it would easier pull
over my head.  Watching those monstrous fingers against the tiny alabaster
buttons of my shirt was far too hot to miss.  He pulled the shirt open
slid it over my shoulders, letting it fall to the floor between his
thighs.  I noticed his skin glistening as he moved his hands to my jeans
and slowly unbuttoned them, gasping at the long incision line still apparent
above my hairline.