Shelter for Adeline (26 page)

* * *

T
hat night
, Adeline woke up when Dean sat on the bed next to her. The light in the bathroom was on, softly illuminating the room. She opened her eyes and furrowed her brow in confusion. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at the station?”

“Yeah,” he whispered, keeping his voice down so he wouldn’t wake up her parents who were sleeping in the guest room across the hall, “but I wanted to see how you were doing.”

“You couldn’t have sent a text or called?” Adeline asked, still half asleep.

“Not the same as seeing my wife in person. You feeling okay?”

“I’m fine, Dean. Promise.”

“Good.” He tenderly brushed a lock of hair from the unshaved side of her head out of her face and behind her ear.

Adeline felt her heart melt. God, she had the best husband. She pulled her arm out from under the covers and put it on his knee. Feeling mischievous, she inched her hand upward until it rested on his cock. She felt him twitch under her fingers.

“What are you doing?” he asked with one brow cocked, but she noticed he didn’t protest or otherwise move her hand.

He’d been right by her side, from the moment she went in for the final tests before her surgery until she’d kicked him out of the house and made him go back to work the day before. Everything he’d done had been for her, now she wanted to do something for him.

Adeline moved her hand until she was cupping him through his pants. She squeezed lightly, then ran her palm up and down his hardening length.

“Fuck, that feels good,” Dean said huskily.

Feeling bold, Adeline brought her other hand out of the covers and undid the button to his cargo pants and slid down his zipper. She scooted over on the mattress, giving her husband room next to her.

“Lay down, Dean,” she ordered softly.

He went to turn to lie next to her and Adeline shook her head. “No, just like that. Your head down there and your feet up here.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, not moving.

“I’m very sure. You’ve done nothing but give to me since my surgery. Let me do this for you.”

Dean slowly moved his legs up to the bed, shifting only enough to push his pants and boxers down over his crotch, then he lay back, propping himself up on his elbows. His erection rested on his belly and he had a goofy grin on his face.

He was in the perfect positon for Adeline to reach him with her hand without straining. She propped her pillows up so she could rest back on them and still be able to see what she was doing. Then with her right hand, she grasped his hard cock and stroked.

Immediately, a soft groan left his mouth and his eyelids dropped to half-mast.

“Shhhh. Don’t wake my parents up,” Adeline cautioned with a saucy grin. “The last thing I want is for them to come rushing in here thinking I need them, only to find my hand around my husband’s cock.”

She stroked him faster, using the pre-come that was already leaking from the tip to lubricate his length, allowing her to pump faster.

A few minutes later, Dean dropped his elbows, falling to his back as he groaned under his breath. “God, beautiful. Your hands feel so good. Fuck.”

“You got hard really fast, Dean. Haven’t you been taking care of yourself?” Adeline asked, genuinely curious. She figured he’d been masturbating in the shower each morning. She certainly hadn’t felt close to wanting to fool around, but thought he’d for sure be getting himself off.

“No. I didn’t want to come without you.”

His answer sent a warm and fuzzy feeling shooting through her and she felt the first twinges of arousal since the surgery. She wasn’t up to making love yet, but was relieved she was finally feeling back to normal.

She tightened her hand, slowing her strokes again so they were unhurried and methodical. “That’s crazy, Dean. I don’t think it’s healthy for you to hold it in.”

He chuckled. “In a minute or two there won’t be any more holding it in. Faster, beautiful. Please.”

Complying immediately, Adeline moved her fist faster up and down his length. One of Dean’s hands came up to fondle his balls as she continued to stroke him.

“Concentrate on the tip…fuck that feels good,” Dean crooned as she did as ordered. His other hand got into the action as well, slowly stroking the base of his dick as her palm rapidly moved up and down over the tip of his cock. The pre-come that was now constantly leaking out of the mushroom head more than lubricated her palm and the sounds of her caresses seemed loud in the quiet room.

Adeline felt his orgasm move through his cock even before he groaned low and long in his throat. He half sat up and his buttocks tensed as his dick throbbed under her hand. Keeping it over the head so he wouldn’t make a bigger mess than he was already about to make, Adeline watched as Dean released into her palm. She gently held him as he twitched and pulsed under her hand.

Finally, he let go of himself and fell backward in a heap. Adeline caressed his softening length and kept her hand around him as they lay there silent for a long moment. Eventually, Dean sat up and grabbed a couple of tissues from the nightstand. He cleaned her hand first, then wiped himself down, pulled his underwear and pants back up and fastened them. Then he turned and put his hands on either side of Adeline’s waist and leaned down, nuzzling her neck and the skin behind her ear.

The smell of sex was heavy in the air and Adeline felt almost as relaxed as Dean obviously did. She put her hands on his chest and caressed him as he whispered in her ear.

“Thank you, beautiful.”

“You’re welcome.” Adeline beamed up at her husband.

“You know, that wasn’t why I came home.”

She kept smiling. “I know. And I hadn’t planned on that, but you’ve done nothing but care and do things for me. I wanted to do something for
you
for once.”

“For the record, you can give me a hand job anytime you want. I’ll never complain. But you don’t owe me anything. Never. It’s been my pleasure and privilege to watch over you and help you get better. And it’s been a miracle to witness exactly how successful your surgery was. You’ve had only that one small seizure since the operation and it makes me thankful each and every day for modern medicine.”

“Me too.”

“As much as I’d love to return the favor, you’re squinting and I know that means you’re in pain. When was the last time you took a pill?”

“Lunch, I think.”

Dean leaned down and kissed her lips, lingering just a moment to brush his tongue over her bottom lip, then pulled back and kissed her forehead. “I’ll be right back.”

In a couple moments, he was back with a pill and a glass of water. He helped her sit up and she swallowed it down. Dean got her situated back on the pillows then leaned over her again. “Beth and Penelope will be here in the morning?”

Adeline nodded. “I think around nine.”

“Good. I’ll call around lunch and check in.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know, but I want to.”

“In that case, I’ll look forward to hearing from you,” Adeline said with a smile.

“Go to sleep, beautiful.”

“Love you, Dean.”

“And I love you too, Adeline Christopherson.”

* * *

“
I
caught
Crash sneaking into the fire station last night,” Penelope told Adeline with a smirk. “Any idea where he’d been?”

Adeline smiled, but didn’t say anything.

They’d eaten lunch and Penelope, Beth, and Adeline were sitting in the living room. The TV was on low in the background, but they weren’t watching it. Coco was sitting between Adeline and Beth, his head resting in Beth’s lap while she absently petted him. Penelope was sitting nearby in an oversized leather chair.

“He came to see you last night? But your parents were here, right?” Beth asked, confused.

“Yes and yes. He said he just wanted to check on me. It was the first night we’d spent apart since my surgery.”

“Oh my God, that’s so sweet!” Beth exclaimed.

“He had a mighty big grin on his face,” Penelope remarked.

Adeline threw one of the pillows she’d been holding at the other woman and everyone laughed.

“All kidding aside, I think it’s great,” Penelope told Adeline. “Not the sneaking home to get some, but the fact that he’s so in love with you he doesn’t want to spend even one night away from you.”

“For the record? We didn’t make love. My head still hurts too much for that. But he might’ve still gotten some satisfaction while he was here.” Adeline blushed when the other two women whooped and cheered. “But yeah, even though it’s not feasible for us to spend every night together, especially not with his work schedule, I had no idea how hard that first night would be. It took forever for me to get to sleep, and it was such a nice surprise to wake up to him sitting next to me.”

“I’m so happy for you two,” Penelope said with a hint of sadness in her voice. “You’re both so amazingly strong and you couldn’t have found better men…and I’m not just saying that because you’re with my brother, Beth.”

“You’ll find your guy,” Beth told her best friend. “I know it.”

Penelope shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. I’m so not ready to be in a relationship. There’s too much shit going on in my head to ever think I’d make a good girlfriend.”

“You’re still attending the group sessions, aren’t you?” Beth asked, referring to the group therapy sessions for victims of kidnapping. It was where they’d met when Beth first came to town.

“Now and then. I think I’ve gotten all I’m gonna get out of them,” Penelope said, then waved her hand, dismissing the topic. “But enough about me. Let’s talk about houses! Have you guys found something you both like yet, Adeline?”

Adeline didn’t really want to let the topic of Penelope’s mental state drop. There was something behind her eyes that wasn’t good. An emptiness that was disconcerting. It was as if she was there laughing and talking with them, but her soul was crying.

Not knowing the other woman well enough to push, but promising herself she’d talk to Beth about it later, Adeline began to talk about the different houses she and Dean had been considering.

They spent the rest of the afternoon talking about topics ranging from houses, to sex, to assistance dogs, to the best thing to eat when you’d drunk too much. Around dinnertime, Adeline’s parents arrived and the women said their goodbyes, promising to come over again soon and chill. They also made vague plans for a night out when Adeline was feeling more up to it.

Around eleven that evening, an hour or so after Adeline had gone to bed, there was a knock on her bedroom door.

Her mom stuck her head into the room and asked, “You awake, baby?”

“Yeah, Mom. What’s up?”

“Your dad and I were watching the news and there’s a huge warehouse on fire. It’s bad, and there are tons of firefighters downtown fighting it. I thought you should know.”

Adeline gasped. She’d been so concerned about her own surgery and what was going on in her life, she hadn’t once stopped to think about the realities of what it was Dean did for a living.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself not to panic. “I’ll get dressed and come out and watch with you…if that’s okay.”

“Of course. Let me know if you need anything.” Her mom shut the door behind her.

Adeline snatched her cell phone off the bedside table. No missed calls and no texts. But if Dean was fighting the fire, he wouldn’t be able to stop and call her.

He was fine. She believed that to the marrow of her bones. Dean and all his friends were good at what they did. Really good.

She climbed out of bed and threw on a pair of sweats, then shuffled into the living room, still holding her cell phone.

Two hours later, her parents said good night and headed off to the guest room. There hadn’t been any more updates on the television, and she hadn’t heard anything from Dean. She
had
heard from Beth, who texted to say she’d hacked into the fire band channel where the incident commander was giving instructions and information to the firefighters and police officers on site. She’d been sending updates about the fire, how it’d been only five percent contained, then ten, then twenty. At one point she messaged to say there were two firefighters down, but she didn’t know who they were.