Eddie’s Prize (9 page)

“Okay, I will.”

The lamp began to gutter as its wick burned low. Eddie yawned. “We better get some sleep,” he said, sounding suddenly exhausted.

Lisa saw his lip was still a little puffy at the corner from the fight this afternoon. No wonder he was tired. “Okay.”

This time when he blew out the lamp and curled himself against her, Lisa smiled in the dark. Eddie was going to be a good husband.

*

Eddie lay beside Lisa, marveling. He was a married man. This woman was his and no one else’s. Sex was even better than he expected it to be. He didn’t know if it would have been like this with any other woman, but with Lisa it was heaven. She had shown him what to do to please her. Hell, she had demanded things he never imagined.

He smiled tenderly, rising up on one elbow to look down at her sleeping face in the moonlight. That light hair lay tossed over the pillow, a lovely pale curtain of silk. He teased his fingers gently through it, feeling like he could spend hours worshipping her hair. She was beautiful. So beautiful, inside and out. But he frowned as he ran a light hand over her side, not liking that her ribs were so prominent. He would have to see that she ate better. He had heard food was plentiful in the Times Before, but she was so slender he could feel her ribs right under her skin with no fat to cushion them. The other woman from the Times Before had also been slender, but not this skinny. Maybe Carla’s family had been able to afford more and better food?

With so little insulation, Lisa would get cold more easily. Eddie got up to put more wood on the fire and hurried to slide back into bed beside his wife, pulling the blankets over them both. His cock was full and aching again, ready to take her. But Lisa was snoring in a quiet, lady-like way, and he wouldn’t wake her up. In the morning, when sunlight lit the room, he would explore her body again and thrust himself inside her. He wanted to know how she tasted between her legs. His hand slid over her breast, holding its weight in his palm as he settled himself to sleep.

Eddie woke suddenly, shocked it was broad daylight. He flung the covers back and lunged up in bed. A voice said “Oof!” as his elbow landed in a soft stomach. What—? Lisa! He had been well and thoroughly loved last night by his bride. He had loved her thoroughly too. Their first time together had been a blur of desperate urgency, but later he learned how to make her come. What a delight it was to be married to such a beautiful and creative woman. This was their honeymoon. They had no chores to get up for, nothing to do but get to know each other. He grinned down at her startled expression and watched it melt into a satisfied smile. They could stay in bed all day with no one to complain over their laziness. The thought had its appeal. He kissed her flat tummy in apology, and let his lips travel gradually north.

“Good morning, Mrs. Edward Madison,” he murmured against her throat. “Can you think of any reason we need to get out of bed today?”

Lisa stretched and rubbed against him. “Why?” she teased. “Was there something you needed to do in bed today? Catch up on your sleep? Or—” She dissolved in giggles when he fluttered his fingertips over her ribs. “Hey! Stop! I’m ticklish!”

The giggles turned to mock wrestling, and then to something else. Eddie pinned his wife easily, holding her against the bed with one of his hands gripping both her wrists over her head and one of his thighs thrown over hers. His erection throbbed, but he ignored it for the moment. Lisa was gloriously naked. He could see how thin she was and promised himself he would see to it she had three full meals a day. It was already hours past breakfast time, but there was something he needed to do first. He ran his gaze over her throat to her breasts. The rest of her was skinny, but those soft breasts were lush. Her hair was very fair, but her skin was a warm golden color, like someone who spent their days in the sun. But it couldn’t be a tan. She was that color all over. His gaze skimmed over her flat belly to the mound at the top of her thighs. There was only a narrow strip of blonde hair running straight up and down it. He ran a gentle finger over the hair. It was soft. Inviting.

“Why does your hair grow in a strip like this?”

“It doesn’t,” she answered. “I waxed for the bikini shoot.”

He had no idea what she was talking about, but he didn’t really care. The throbbing in his cock flared. It would take only one swipe of his knee to open her for him, but he wanted something else. He let go of her wrists to smooth his hands up and down her thighs, and then to the insides of them to gently open her. Her soft flesh was wet when he touched her.

“Last night I touched you here with my fingers and my cock.” He glanced up her body to see her eyes fixed on him. “I wanted to taste you with my tongue, but you said no, I should wait for later. It’s later now, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

She was pink and shiny, there between her legs. As he watched, the pink deepened.

“Eddie, are you just going to stare all morning? Or was there something you were going to do?”

Her teasing voice pulled a smile out of him. “Gentle at first, you said last night, right?” He made sure his finger was light on that nub at the top of her slit, rubbing slow circles until he heard her breath catch. “Like this, Lisa-love?”

“Mmm-hmm,” she breathed.

“I’m going to make you come until you scream,” he threatened.

“Promise?” she flipped back.

“Oh, yeah.”

Gradually increasing the pressure, he watched for signs she was enjoying what he did to her. Her eyes were closed, her head titled back on the pillow, and her breathing rapid. The flesh he played with gleamed with increasing moisture, deeply flushed with beautiful color.
That
was what he wanted to taste, that slick, pink flesh. So he did, touching just the tip of his tongue to the seam between her legs. She tasted salty. He rolled the flavor around his mouth like a fine wine. His wife raised her tousled blonde head off the pillow to look down her naked body at him.

“Delicious,” he pronounced, and dove back between her legs, sinking his tongue as deep as it would go inside her.

She let out a delighted shriek that turned to a giggle and ended in a jerking gasp when his tongue did something she particularly liked. He repeated it and had to clamp his hands around her hips to hold her still when she began thrashing about.

“Eddie,” she moaned, her fingertips taking over massaging her clit since his hands were busy holding her down. “Eddie, I’m close. Come inside me. Please. I need you.”

Thank God. His cock ached, and he wanted to be inside her when it exploded. The feel of her hot flesh squeezing him as he pushed slowly inside her was heaven. Last night he had been driven by only his own needs. He tried now to go slowly, to give her pleasure, but the tension coiled in his balls was so tight he couldn’t keep a slow pace. Instead he slammed into her faster and faster, and harder and harder. Her knees were up in the air, her ankles crossed over his ass, and he was teetering on the edge when she screamed. Her body convulsing around him pushed him gloriously into thin air. He orgasmed inside her so hard his arms lost their strength, and he fell over her.

“Did you come?” he muttered into her hair.

“Yes,” she sighed blissfully.

“Good.” He managed to shift so he wasn’t sprawled on top of her, and tried to get his breathing back to normal.

“Eddie? Are you purring?”

He froze, the rumbling in his chest cutting off. “What man wouldn’t purr after an experience like that?”

Her laugh eased the tightness from his muscles. Eddie leaned up with his head propped on one hand and the fingers of his free hand tracing invisible patterns over her collarbones. “It gets better every time, doesn’t it?”

Lisa stretched lazily. “I’m not sure it can get better than that. But if you want to try, I won’t complain.”

“It can be better. This time I didn’t kiss you, or suck your nipples, or barely taste your clit.”

“That’s true,” his wife agreed with a naughty smile. “And I didn’t get to suck you either.”

Eddie shuddered slightly when she ran a finger over his cock lying limp against his thigh. He caught her hand to bring it to his lips to kiss. “We have plenty of time to play. This is our honeymoon, remember?”

Her beautiful smile curved her lips. “Right. I need a bathroom and then breakfast.”

Eddie returned the smile. “I think it’s closer to lunch now. You get dressed and go use the facilities, and I’ll see what we have in the cold box for breakfast.”

Lisa’s smooth brow folded in a frown. “The only clothes I have are what I wore on the plane. They’re pretty beat up.”

Eddie remembered their clothes were currently scattered from the bedroom to the kitchen. “My mom and sister put a robe and nightgown in the closet for you.” He couldn’t keep his smile back. “I guess you didn’t get a chance to wear the nightgown. Tomorrow we’ll go downtown and order some new clothes for you.”

“Thank you!” Lisa gave him a big, smacking kiss. “I love new clothes!”

She jumped out of bed and flashed him a smile when he leered at her naked body in an exaggerated way to let her know he was teasing her. She took her time opening the closet and putting on her robe. She fumbled for the boots he had pried off her last night. She stamped her feet into them and shook her head to free her hair from the robe.

“A chenille robe and high heeled boots. How sexy.”

He leered again. “I think so.”

She added an extra sway to her hips as she left the bedroom to go out to the outhouse. Eddie whistled at the show, enjoying teasing her. After he heard the door close behind her, his face lost the smile. Sitting up, he put his feet on the floor and his head in his hands. He had purred! How could he have lost control like that? Married less than a day, and already he had jeopardized his secret. His hands clenched his hair and tugged. Maybe he should talk to his mom about it.

Eddie got up and didn’t bother dressing before picking up their scattered clothes. Lisa was right. Her sweater was ruined, and her jeans weren’t much better. He folded the clothes and laid them on top of the dresser in the bedroom. He paused to smile at the rumpled sheets and blankets. No sense making the bed. He planned to be back in it not long after breakfast, with his wife beside him. Or under him, or on top of him.

After stirring up the kitchen fire, he took a quick shower—the only kind to take when the water coming out of the faucet was practically sleet. Maybe it would freeze his libido enough to let Lisa have a few hours without him pawing her. Not that she seemed to mind. She showed every sign of enjoying his attentions and didn’t mind telling him exactly what to do to please her.

That was a good thing, Eddie decided as he toweled himself dry briskly. He and all of his friends had talked about sex. Mr. Gray, the town’s eldest resident, teacher, and librarian, had allowed them to look through the old magazines from the Times Before, the ones showing women completely naked, and those photographs had fired their imaginations. Eddie, Chaz, Cory, and the rest of the boys had spent many summer nights drinking around bonfires and boasting of what they would do to their wives. Thinking back on those sessions, Eddie realized they hadn’t any idea what sex was like. If Lisa hadn’t told him what to do, he would have gone on doing what he had, just rocking back and forth inside her until he came and falling asleep afterward. Would he ever have seen her flushed face rolling from side to side on the pillow or felt the hot little nub of her clit? Some of his friends might not like their wives telling them what to do, but Eddie was grateful. He wanted Lisa to be happy, and last night she hadn’t been happy at first.

He knew he was not her first husband. Eddie’s fingers slowed in fastening the buttons on his shirt. Lisa was too knowledgeable about bedroom matters to be inexperienced. He wanted to ask about her first husband. Had he died some time ago, or had he been alive when she got on the plane? At any rate, he must be dead now, fifty years later. Eddie forced down the flare of jealousy that arched his spine. He jerked on fresh pants. He wanted to know about the man she must have loved. He wouldn’t ask, though, in case it made her cry. Her husband might have died fifty years ago to him, but to her it may have been only a few days. But he didn’t think so. Could she have welcomed him so eagerly if she were mourning a husband? If she wanted to talk about her first husband, he would listen, but he wanted their life together to be a fresh start for both of them.

Eddie went to the cold box to get the eggs and the side of bacon he wanted for breakfast. He started to slice the bacon just as Lisa came in from outside. She clutched the robe around her tightly and shivered. “Coffee?”

“You’re a coffee drinker?” Eddie made a face. He detested the expensive, bitter stuff. “I don’t have any, but my dad does. I’ll see if we can get some from him later. Why don’t you start frying the bacon and eggs while I slice the bread for toast?”

“Bacon and eggs? That’s a lot of cholesterol.” Lisa nibbled her lower lip. “But I guess that’s okay. It’s about the only thing I can cook without a microwave.”

Eddie had only the vaguest idea of what a microwave was. “My mother can teach you to cook.”

Lisa looked doubtful. “I’ll try. I’ve never been much of a cook.”

Then what does she eat?
Eddie wondered. Maybe she had domestic help? No, that didn’t make sense. If she could afford to hire help, then she could afford to eat better. His mother took pride in the fact she could care for her home and family without outside help, even though his father had often told her they could afford to hire a boy.

Lisa was right, Eddie thought as he surveyed the rubbery eggs and half-floppy, half-charred bacon she served him. She wasn’t much of a cook. He hoped his mother would be able to improve her kitchen skills. But he smiled and ate his breakfast quickly so they could wash the dishes together in water he heated on the stove. After the kitchen was tidy again, he put his arm around his wife to hold her still while he slipped a hand inside her robe to trace little circles around one of her nipples. It puckered in a satisfying way, but what was even more satisfying was the way she boldly ran a finger up and down his jeans over his erection.