The Stable Boy (27 page)

I rolled off of him and finished slipping out of them. He slipped out of his own boxer briefs. We kissed, again. I climbed back on top of him. I felt him enter me. I gasped. His hands found my breasts again. He massaged them in a circular motion with each thrust of his hips. Every time our hips crashed into each other, I felt him go deeper into me. The head of his shaft slammed up against my pleasure spot. I exploded in ecstasy. He was not finished. He rolled us over, never letting us part. He continued. His strokes became more feverish. The faster and harder he went the closer I came to releasing a second time.

He kissed my neck. I gripped the sheets. I felt it coming a second time. His teeth grazed my shoulder. That is when I lost it. He released with me, collapsing on top of me. I wrapped my arms around him. Both of us covered in sweat and breathing heavily.

“Why didn’t you come to bed with me last night?” I whispered.

“I could not make love to you while you were drunk. I would have felt like I was taking advantage of you.”

“I had to take a cold shower after you undid my dress and kissed the back of my neck.”

“I am sorry,” he said, smiling.

“Liar,” I said.

“Okay, maybe not really sorry, but I did miss you last night.”

“I could tell,” I said, with a smirk.

“It seems you missed me just as much.”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? I am pretty sure it is a definite yes.”

“Possibly.”

“You are not going to admit to it, are you?”

“Nope.”

“I see how you are,” he said. I laughed.

“I did kind of miss you. It does get cold in this bed without anyone else in it.”

“Uh-huh,” he said. I kissed him. He returned my kiss. Our tongues playing their intimate game with one another.

“I think we need to leave this bedroom,” I said, pulling away from him.

“Why? I could stay here all night with you.”

“I could to, but I know my brother is going to call any minute because he wants all the details from last night. If we are still in bed, I will never answer it.”

“Okay, I guess if we really have to.”

“Yes, we do. I know that he will guess what we have been up to. At least if I sound like I am in the kitchen
, he won’t break my chops about it.”

“I like your brother more and more.”

“You hush. I am sure he will love getting to know you when we you meet him at his wedding.”

“What about your sister?”

“She will be a little harder to please. I am going to have to tell her about us before we go up there. She will want to talk to you at an extensive length. She thinks she needs to protect us. While I appreciate her sentiment, we are grown ups and know what we are doing.”

“I will do my best to charm her.”

“Don’t do that. She will see right through it. Just be honest and answer all her questions, no matter how probing they are.”

“That I can do.”

“You may regret this.”

“I don’t think that is possible. I love you, Claire. If answering the questions from your protective older sibling is a must, then I will do it.”

“Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Consider me warned,” he said, planting a kiss on my lips. The phone shrieked, scaring us both. I turned away from him to pick up the receiver. He kissed my naked shoulder.

“Hello.”

“Hey sister, you didn’t call me, so I called you. How was last night? Any nakedness to report?”

“You are out of luck on that front, Mikey. We bailed out of there before she could strip in front of Christian.”

“That is a shame. I am sure he wouldn’t have minded it.”

“You are such a pervert. She did buy him a shot of whiskey. It was quite funny.”

“Only Alison would do that.”

“I know. She has always been a little crazy, but that is why I love her.”

“She is your perfect opposite. You are the grounded level headed one and she is the crazy one. You balance each other out.”

“That we do.”

“How is your head? You sound a bit groggy.”

“It is better. I wasn’t so good this morning when Janie called.”

“She knew you were going out and she called you this morning?”

“Yes.”

“She has no consideration. I can’t believe her. I think she does that kind of stuff to torture us.”

“She is our older sister. Anything she does is pretty much to torture us. I think it is in the rule book the first born are given,” I laughed.

“I would not doubt it,” Mike laughed. “How is Josh doing?”

“He is good. He gave me a hangover cure this morning.”

“I am sure he did,” Mike said, then whistled.

“Again with your dirty mind. He made me eat a huge breakfast with plenty to drink and some aspirin.”

“Uh-huh, I am sure he did.”

“Is that all you think about?”

“I am a guy. Yes, it is all I think about.”

“What is Alison’s excuse?”

“We are kindred spirits. She is meant to be with me. That is why she thinks like I do.”

“Jesus, Mike, you are something else. I am going to make dinner. I will call you next weekend,” I said, feeling Josh bury his head in my shoulder as he tried to stifle a laugh.

“Alright, tell Josh I said hi. Have you told Janie about him, yet?”

“I will. No, I have not, but I did warn him.”

“Tell him I said heed the warning. She can be ruthless.”

“I will let him know. Love you, Mike.”

“Love you, too, Claire.”

I hung up the receiver and turned toward Josh.

“Your brother cracks me up.”

“He is a trip. I think as he gets older his mind gets dirtier.”

“Somehow, I don’t doubt it.”

“Did you hear his warning?”

“Yes, I will take that into consideration.”

“Good. Now, I am starving. I am going to make dinner.”

“I’ll help.”

“Okay,”  I said, getting out of bed. I pulled on a pair of panties and an oversized, white button down shirt. He watched me and smiled. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said, his grin getting bigger.

“Why are you staring at me like that? Or do I even want to know the answer to that question?”

“That look you have going on right there is just so damn sexy.”

“If you say so,” I laughed.

“Seriously, there is nothing more a guy wants to see than a girl in just a pair of panties and one of his shirts.”

“John used to give me his flannel shirts to wear once in a while.”

“He was a smart man.”

“Yes, he was,” I laughed as I crawled across the bed and kissed him.

“If you keep kissing me like that, dinner will never get made,” he said as I pulled away.

“Okay,” I said with a smile. He got out of bed and pulled on his boxer briefs. We went down stairs to begin making dinner. “Vanessa definitely knows how to cure a hangover. I will have to thank her.”

“Yeah, I am pretty sure she figured out just what would work great dealing with me and the other drunks that would come into the diner.”

“I think you are probably right. She does deal with some characters.”

“It was worse when she worked the over night shift. That poor girl got groped more than anything.”

“I know, she used to tell us. I asked her how she could work there. She said she loved the job. Most nights she was left alone it was just the weekends she had to worry about unwanted advances.”

“Yeah, that is when all the crazy drunk people went in there when they were opened 24 hours a day. Thankfully, they decided that it just wasn’t worth it to stay opened all night and she was switched to days.”

“Yes, she likes the day shift. I remember when she first started it, she said so this is what daylight looks like. Alison and I laughed at her.”

“She can be funny. She has always been that way. Her and Rich have a great sense of humor.”

“They probably get it from their mother. Rich Senior doesn’t seem to have a sense of humor at all.”

“He doesn’t.” Josh laughed. “I have been around them for 20 years. I have never seen him crack a joke. He barely ever smiles. Now, Anita, on the other hand, she is a jokester. She loves to laugh and smile.”

“I have never met her. Maybe when Rich’s wedding comes along I will finally have that chance.”

“You will love her. I am sure she will feel the same way about you. She was a second mother to me. She was always trying to help out my grandparents as much as she could with me.”

“She must have liked you.”

“
I believe she did. If not, she did one hell of a job hiding it. I spent quite a few nights in their house. Rich and I were best friends until he went to college. I kept in touch with him while he was gone, but it wasn’t the same. Vanessa and I remained close. When he came back permanently, we became thick as thieves again. It was like he never left.”

“Don’t you love when t
hat happens? I can go home to Montana for a visit and it is like I have never left, especially when I get together with my old friends. Wait till we go there for Christmas and my brother’s wedding, it is going to be crazy.”

“First thing is first, you need to tell you sister about us.”

“I know. I will the next time I talk to her.”

“Promise?”

“Yes, but she will want to speak to you immediately, so you are going to have to be here when I do tell her.”

“I will be. You just tell me when you are going to do it.”

“Okay.”

“I do believe dinner is done.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Do you want to watch a movie tonight?”

“If we can find something worth watching, I would love to.”

“Great, we will have to check out what is on after dinner. If there is nothing on, I can always go to the video store to rent something. You just have to tell me what it is you would like to watch.”

“Maybe I will go with you.”

“I prefer you stay here in that same outfit,” he said with a smirk.

“Really?”

“Yes, that is what I want to see when I come back, if I leave to go get a movie.”

“Alright.”

“Good,” he said. We ate our dinner and checked the television for a movie. There was nothing on that appealed to either of us. We decided that he would go to the video store to rent something we both would enjoy, even if it was something we had seen before. When I knew he was almost home, I made some popcorn. He came back with two movies and a bouquet of rainbow colored flowers.

“They are beautiful. Thank you.”

“You are welcome,” he said. I went to the kitchen to get a vase. I was too short to reach the cabinet above the stove, where I kept my vases. Standing on my tip toes and stretching as far as I could, I still could not reach. I heard a chuckle from behind me.

“Let me help you with that,” he said. Although, I am enjoying the very nice view I am getting.”

“You be quiet.”

“Why do you keep them up there?”

“That was John. He put them up there. He would always get them down for me.”

“Did he bring you flowers often?”

“Yes.”

“Where you wearing outfits like this one when he did?”

“Sometimes.”

“How long before he would get one down for you?”

“What are you trying to say, mister?”

“I am thinking we are on the same page.”

“You just may have been. There are a lot of similarities between the two of you. I would not doubt that is one of them.”

“Is that why you like me so much? Because I remind you of your husband?”

“No, I like you for you. I did notice some similarities in the beginning, but that is not what made me like you. You have a way about you that I am unable to explain.”

“Try.”

“I don’t know what it is. You are just different than anyone I have ever met, including my husband. I did not think I could ever love again after John died, but you are making me believe that I can and will love again.”

“Good. I hope that I am the one you will give love a try with again.”

“We will just have to see about that,” I said with a smirk.

“Alright, I see how you are,” he laughed. “Let’s go watch these movies.”

“Sounds good,” I said placing the flowers in the middle of the kitchen table. We walked back into the living room. We began our first movie. It was an old horror movie we both had seen before, but it did not make it any less scary. We sat there in silence watching it like we were seeing it for the first time.

“I love that movie. It has always been a favorite,” he said.

“Me too. I remember watching it in the theater. I think I nearly tore the skin off of John’s arm when we went to see it.”