"I knew I'd be running into you some day," said Lulu seriously. "I knew you'd like me naked."
He grinned. "How about the one on your back?"
"That one hurt like blazes. It was supposed to be colored in, but it was almost as bad as giving birth, so I stopped with just the outline. It's Mother Nature, and I got her when I was sixteen. That was another Christmas present from my dad."
"She's naked too," he pointed out.
"Are you complaining?"
"Nope. No way. You're right. I love naked."
"I got the one on my hip after I moved to Pembroke. It was the first one I paid for myself. The two kneeling girls represent Jess and me."
"Really?"
"We got identical tattoos in the same place. She's the best friend I've ever had, and I like to think she feels the same way about me."
"I'd have to see hers to be sure it was identical to yours," he said.
She slapped his shoulder.
"Kidding!" he said, rubbing the spot.
She brought her right wrist up and kissed the Rolling Stones mouth and tongue that was tattooed there.
"This one is in honor of my dad. I got it after he died. My sister, my step-mom, and my dad's best friend all got identical ones."
It was quiet for a moment as she thought about her father and he tried to remember his parents, wondering if they were still alive or not.
Kris found himself staring at her flat belly and thought about all the lovemaking they'd done lately. He hadn't used any condoms and she hadn't asked him to. He reached to slide his hand over the skin under which her womb was.
"And this IUD you have. How does that work?"
"It's a five year model. I had it implanted right after Ambrose was born."
"So it's nearing the end of its ... what do you call it? Shelf life?" He grinned. "No, that can't be right. Womb life?"
"I have no idea what they call it," she said, ignoring his attempt at humor. "All I know is that I love it. I haven't had a period since it was implanted."
"So ... how often have you ... um ... tested it?" he asked.
"You're asking how many men I've slept with since I got it," she said, her voice calm.
"Not if you don't want to tell me," he said.
"Well, let me think," she said. She looked up and started raising fingers one by one. "There was ... and ... and of course ... " She looked back at him. "Maybe it would be easier just to multiply." She started waving her fingers in his face, like she was pointing at mental numbers. "Let's see ... uh huh ... carry the three ... " She stopped again. "No, it can't be that many. That isn't humanly possible. Math isn't my strong suit."
His eyes had gotten wider and wider while she did all this. Then she giggled and pushed at him. "I've had one man since I got the implant. It was you. I don't want to talk about the man I got the implant because of. But he never touched me after Ambrose was born."
"Sounds kind of sad," said Kris softly.
"It wasn't any fun," she sighed. "I was stupid. I should have used protection, but I was kicking up my heels and didn't think about that kind of thing."
"Are you sorry you had him?"
She looked shocked. "No! Never! He's everything to me. I don't know what I'd do without him."
"Mixed feelings, then, huh?"
"Why are you asking me all this?" She frowned.
"Well, you're not married and I sort of wondered why."
"I'm not the marrying kind," she said.
"I bet there are about a zillion guys out there who would like to argue about that," he said.
"You're not asking me to marry you," she said firmly. "You don't even know who you are, really. And we've known each other for only a few months."
"All true," he said. "But you make me think about the concept of marriage. I don't think I ever did that before. Not seriously, anyway. It feels too new in my head." He blinked. "At the same time, by your own admission, you don't just tumble into bed with every guy you meet. This has to mean something to you."
"I love you," she said simply.
"How do you know?" he asked.
"Do you love me?" she asked, instead of answering his question.
"Yes," he said. "I don't know how I know that, but I feel it."
"There's your answer," she said. "I feel differently about you than other men. I love you, and I know I love you. That's all that matters to me." She smiled. "Well, the fact that you love me too has something to do with that. And the fact that I own your life. Let's not forget that."
"Oh yes," he said. "You saved it and now you own it."
"That's right," she said. "And right now, what I want your life to have is me in it." She kissed him again. "And what my girly part wants is to have your boy part in it. Until I met you, my rabbit was my best friend."
"Rabbit?"
"Vibrator," she explained.
"It's called a rabbit?"
"Yup. Don't ask me why. Maybe it's because when I first got it, it made me want to do it like bunny ... you know ... all the time."
"And that's changed?" He grinned.
"Not at all," she said with dignity. "I just have a new toy now, that's all." She lowered her lashes and looked through them at him and squeezed his penis. "A
better
toy! Mmmmm, my toy is ready to go again.
Goody!
"
"You're going to break your toy if you keep playing with it too much," he said, smiling.
"No I'm not," she argued, pushing him onto his back. She scrambled up on top of him, socketed the tip of his member into her sex and sat down hard.
"Oooof!"
he said, overdramatically.
She squeezed him with her internal muscles. "Giddyap, horsey!"
Kris bucked his hips upwards and she started laughing as she raised one arm in the air and waved it back and forth, like she was riding a bucking bronco.
"Come on!" she taunted. "You can do better than that. This is an
easy
eight second ride!"
She was prepared for him to buck harder. What she wasn't prepared for was for him to sit up and throw his legs sideways off the bed. Suddenly he was standing, holding her onto him by grabbing her ass. She had to reach for his neck to keep from falling backwards. He whirled and she was the one who went
"Oooof!"
as he fell forward, pinning her to the bed with his feet on the floor. He began lunging into her, pounding her hard enough to make the bed scrape sideways across the floor.
"You got on a horse," he panted, "but ended up on a bull." He gave an extra hard punch into her.
"Ooooo," she said breathlessly. "Now I'm all scared and stuff. What a
big
horn you have mister bull! You're goring me with it! Oh owww, oh help, help!" She couldn't keep it up, though, and started laughing as she spread her legs and let him slam into her.
"Harder!"
she squealed. "I
love
you!"
To her surprise he stopped, instead of being egged on. He pushed deep and started rubbing her with the skin that covered his pubic bone. He kissed her and kept kissing her as she couldn't ignore the thrills he was causing. She whined into his mouth and writhed as she orgasmed, but he still didn't let her rest. He kept rubbing and added his fingers between them, gripping her nipples and pulling at them. All his weight was on her where they were joined and he was holding his upper torso up by the strength of his back muscles alone as he extended her orgasm by almost a full minute.
"Stop!"
she screamed. "I ... can't ... breathe!"
"I thought you wanted a ride," he panted, teasing her.
"Pleeease!" she gasped. "I ... really ... can't ... breathe!"
"Will you be nice to me?" he insisted, still rubbing. He let go of her nipples and supported some of his weight with his hands on the bed beside her.
"Oh fuck," she moaned, dragging in huge breaths.
"I am," he said, leaning down to kiss her chin and then her nose. He licked her open mouth.
She wailed.
"Make me pregnant!"
Her words did it. His groin tensed. "Ohhhh Lulu," he moaned. His love jetted into her and he slowly came to a stop, still deep in her. His head hung and sweat dripped off his chin onto her upper chest.
"I thought you didn't want any more babies," he panted.
"I don't," she panted back. "It was the only way I could think of to get you to stop. I was going to fly into pieces if you didn't stop. I knew if I said that, that you'd finish."
"You're a horrible, ungrateful woman, Lou Anne Rowan," he panted. "There I was a horse, and then a bull, trying to compete with a rabbit, and you tricked me!"
"You won," she sighed. "I'll take you over the rabbit any day. You just have to learn how to stop when you're driving me crazy."
"I'm getting hard again," he said, grinning at her.
"Nooooooo," she moaned. "Too soon!"
"I'm not, actually," he said, his grin widening. "Getting hard again, I mean. I just played a trick on you. Now you know what it's like."
She pushed at him hard, so hard that he thought he might have crossed a line and made her angry. He pulled away from her and stood up. But she wasn't frowning. She pushed him onto the bed, on his back, and climbed on top of him to lie down.
"Love me forever, Kris," she sighed, laying her head on his chest.
"It would be my pleasure," he murmured into her hair.
"I'm leaking. You always make a mess," she said. "Maybe the rabbit is better after all." He stiffened and she lifted her head to look into his eyes. "No ... it's not. I shouldn't tease you about that. I'll throw it away if you love me forever. I won't ever need it again."
"Keep it," he said, pulling her head back down to his chest. "I have a feeling there will be times when I'm down for the count. You're the most sex-crazed woman I ever met."
"Oh? Tell me about the others I'm more sex-crazed than."
"I can't. I can't remember them."
"Then how do you know I'm the most sex-crazed?"
"Because if there were any who were more nymphomaniacal than you are, they'd be in the Guinness Book of World Records ... and they're not. I checked."
"Awwww, you say the sweetest things," she giggled.
Chapter Twenty-three
Kris looked up when he saw movement in his peripheral vision. He was at work. He'd never locked the front doors of the station while he worked. He'd never even thought about it. He saw Mitch wave, through the glass wall of the broadcast booth. He was writing while another of the endless supply of pre-recorded tapes wound through the pickups and sent music, like magic, through the air outside. He got up and opened the door.
"Surprised to see you here," he commented.
"Haven't seen you around for a day or two," said Mitch.
Mitch had decided to deliver Harper's request for interview in a slightly different way than he would have it if had involved a "normal" citizen of Pembroke. He wanted to use this opportunity to shake Kris' tree a little bit, just to see if anything fell out of it.
"I need you to come down to the station tomorrow, after lunch," he said.
"Oh?"
"A detective from New York City called me. He wants to talk to you."
He let it lie there, watching for any signs Kris might display. He was not disappointed. There was obvious angst, almost immediately.
"Why?"
"You don't know?"
Kris opened his mouth, then closed it again. Finally he said, "Is he going to arrest me?"
"Does he need to arrest you for something?"
Somehow, this wasn't as much fun as Mitch had thought it would be. He wondered why that was, and realized that he liked this man. Then He wondered why he liked him.
"You're still suspicious of me," said Kris. He frowned.
Mitch quit playing games. He wanted to keep probing, but, as far as he could tell, Kris was a decent sort of guy. Whatever was bothering him would come to light sooner or later. It always worked that way.
"Your apartment was broken into," Mitch said. "He needs to interview you."
"My apartment?" Kris looked obviously curious. "I have an apartment?"
"You live in New York City," said Connel. "Everybody there has an apartment."
"And he didn't say I did anything ... wrong?"
