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Suppose a man has intercourse with a young woman who is a virgin but is not engaged to be married. If they are discovered, he must pay her father fifty pieces of silver. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he may never divorce her as long as he lives. -Deuteronomy 22:28-29 (NLT)
Leah didn't feel like sharing the details of her conversation with Cap that evening with Aimee, who had called about an hour after Cap left: Feeling better? Leah simply responded: Yeah, took a nap. I'll be okay. The exchange represented one nice thing about having a best friend who lives three hours away: long distance friends have to rely on each other to admit when something is wrong. They aren't able to look into their friends' eyes and see it written all over their faces.
Despite that, sometimes Leah lamented not having any local friends outside of work. Although she and her employees were on good terms and sometimes did things together outside of work, they had discernible boundaries that prevented them from sharing too much personal information with each other. Most of the women she knew from her church were already married and had children, so she didn't feel like she had much in common with them. The only other prevalent demographic close to hers in Ocean City were the teenagers and college students that descended in throngs on the tiny strip of land every summer. And, naturally, their MO of partying and hooking up was almost diametrically opposed to Leah's MO of working hard and taking care of her beagle.
Maybe I need a new hobby? she considered. Something I could do with a local group. Cooking classes? Running? Geo-caching? Oh, I know, deep sea fishing, she smirked, wondering whether or not Cap would invite her out on his boat when the weather warmed up. She decided that if they were truly going to be friends, then it would be perfectly reasonable for her to go out on his boat. But then she aggravated herself when she couldn't stop fantasizing about finding a deserted island far from shore. In her daydream, they anchored his boat and began exploring the land...among other things...under the glorious summer sun. The fantasy degenerated from there.
Thankfully, Leah's Monday work day had passed quickly. Barry wanted the lowdown on Casey's event and was thrilled to hear that it had gone off without a hitch. The next event on their calendar was a Valentine's party and she let Barry know that Casey would be in soon to make the final arrangements.
Leah also interviewed three candidates for a front desk manager position as one of her favorite daytime managers was getting married and moving to Baltimore. There was one very perky blonde candidate that really sold Leah on her customer service skills and gave impressive answers to the questions about her management style, showing a great deal of poise and conscientiousness despite her apparent young age. Leah just needed to check her references and hoped to be extending an offer of employment by the end of the week. Maybe I'll have a protegée! she mused, wondering if it was how Barry felt when he interviewed her several years prior.
She was grateful that Glory was waiting anxiously for her at home. She felt lonely and restless and seeing her puppy's wagging tail and knowing she wanted nothing more than love and affection kept Leah's heart from aching. She clipped Glory's pink leash onto her collar and led her down the stairs to the grass.
It was 6 PM and the stars were already out in great number, clustered around a sideways crescent moon that looked like a perfect smile hanging in the darkening heavens. No wonder it's so dark so early; it's nearly the winter solstice, she realized. She recognized Orion's belt with its bright triad of stars glimmering as the constellation began to rise in the sky.
I used to love looking at the moon and stars through the telescope when I was little, she thought. Her dad would take Leah and her brothers out into the field across from their house and set up his antique telescope that had been handed down through three generations of Millers. The four of them would take turns peering through the tiny lens. Mr. Miller would always end their stargazing by reminding his children that God created the stars and the moon on Day 4 in the Creation Story in the book of Genesis.
Even though she knew she was standing beneath the same endless, starry sky as her mom, her dad and her brothers back in Wahoo, they all seemed so far away these days. When she was little, she could have never imagined being so far away from them. But here she was.
Maybe I should try to go to Nebraska for Christmas after all, she thought wistfully as Glory pulled her toward the bushes that separated the lawn from the parking lot. Even though it was rather cool outside, she felt obligated to allow Glory to take her time, hoping that a longer outing at 6:00 PM would result in a short one right before bedtime when the breezes off the bay picked up, resulting in bone-chilling temperatures.
She rolled the idea of going home back and forth in her mind. She knew she couldn't make it in time for the actual holiday because she'd already promised the two evening front desk managers that she would come in and work Christmas Eve so they could be home with their families. They were stunned and humbled by her generosity, but Leah knew it was the least she could do when they had small children and she did not. Thus, she was planning to work the 4 PM till midnight shift and then return in the morning for the 8 AM to 4 PM shift so that the daytime managers could be home with their families for Christmas Day. Bob, a staple at The Pearl since 1987, was an older, single gentleman with no family in the area and he would cover the midnight to 8 AM shift on Christmas. I could leave on the 26th though, she thought, debating whether or not she wanted to browse for plane tickets online when she got back inside.
But what about Aimee? she suddenly realized with a flush of guilt. Aimee's due date was December 28th, and although it was unlikely she would deliver early, Leah hated to chance missing the birth. She knew Aimee would tell her to go and enjoy her family; the baby would still be there when she returned. But Leah felt conflicted nevertheless.
She was suddenly distracted by a warmer thought when she allowed herself to wonder what Cap did for Christmas. She knew he had two daughters. I wonder if they come to Ocean City or if he goes to be with them? Or maybe they go see their mother instead? He had never said anything about her; she just knew that they had been divorced for several years. She hadn't heard from Cap since their discussion the night before. It's for the best, she thought. I'm sure we'll cross paths again soon.
That night after she determined airfare was a little pricey to justify making a last minute trip to Nebraska, she decided to log back into the dating site. It had been several days since she'd last checked her messages, and it seemed as though the men of the Delmarva Peninsula had already begun to lose interest in her. Her profile had gotten a few hits from the typical hunter/fishermen with poor grammar and spelling as well as local university students. This time there were also views by men in their late 40's and 50's as well as some very handsome and eligible men from across the Chesapeake, but Leah felt that Washington DC was just too far to maintain a relationship. As usual, there were no viable options.
Well, Leah brightened, it is the middle of December. It's not really the best time to start a relationship anyway. I'm sure there will be plenty of men with New Years resolutions to find their match, and I will be ready for them!
She fell asleep that night amidst even more optimistic thoughts and was swiftly swept up into a dream about a trip to Africa. It was one of those dreams that felt incredibly vivid and realistic, down to the smells and tastes. She and Glory were on a safari and she could nearly feel the bumps of the terrain under the tires of the SUV as it made its way through the savanna.
In the dream, she looked at Glory, patted her little head and exclaimed, “This is the most amazing trip ever!” She saw lions and elephants and giraffes but what she couldn't see was who was sitting next to her. He had his hand on top of hers, that's the only thing she was sure of. And when she woke up, her hand still felt warm.
The next two weeks flew by as Christmas approached. Leah spoke with Aimee every day on the phone as her due date approached. “I can just see my water breaking at Christmas dinner!” she joked. She described the huge Italian feast that her mother-in-law would make and how all of her husband's sisters and aunts were so loud that no one would probably even hear her if she was moaning in agony with labor pains. “They'll find me doubled over in one of the bedrooms upstairs,” she predicted with a dramatic sigh.
“Oh, don't be silly,” Leah admonished her. “I'm sure everyone will be watching you like a hawk to see if all that tasty, spicy food starts your labor. And you'll probably hear all these old wives tales for everything from how to get your labor started to how to sooth contractions to how you need to check on the baby every 1.7 seconds when she's asleep!”
“Are you sure you want to work tonight?” Aimee pressed. “Maybe you should come up here and we can just go out for Chinese or something?”
“I wish I could,” Leah admitted. “It's going to be pretty quiet at The Pearl tonight but I figured I'd crank up the Christmas tunes in the lobby and I made some fudge to share with everyone. Now if I could only take in some wine we'd really be celebrating Christmas Eve in style!”
“You're such a good boss, sweetie,” Aimee complimented her. “I hope your staff knows how truly lucky they are.”
“Awww, thank you!” Leah beamed. “So are you feeling okay? Any more contractions today?”
“Actually I've been feeling awesome today! More energy than I've had in weeks. I scrubbed down the bathrooms and dusted and ran the vacuum all over the house. Can't really complain too much especially since my stomach is roughly the size of the eighth wonder of the world!” Aimee laughed.
“I hope I get to see you before you deliver,” Leah replied, “because there is no way that this stomach of yours can be any near as huge as you describe it all the time.” She'd also heard her friend liken her belly to Buddha, Texas, a whale and Santa's bag of gifts. Aimee never seemed to run out of hilarious and outrageous analogies, but Leah had a feeling her expectant friend was sporting the cutest, roundest baby bump on the planet.
“Well, looks like it won't be till next week at the earliest,” Aimee lamented. “At my appointment a few days ago my cervix was still thick and locked up tight.”
“There's a mental image I really don't want sticking around!” Leah giggled.
“Haha, well, get used to it, dollface, cause once this baby is born I'm going to be elaborating on all sorts of TMI-category stuff: sore nipples, diaper contents, episiotomies, and god knows what else. From what I understand, motherhood is not for the faint of heart. Just think: if you're along for the ride this time, nothing will shock you when it's your turn!” Aimee teased her.
“Oh, no need for that. I'm never having kids!” Leah retorted. She had been thinking about it more than ever. I don't think my aspirations for motherhood extend much farther than my fur baby Glory, she had decided.
She wished Aimee a Merry Christmas and let her go so she could get ready for the traditional holiday dinner at her in-laws. As she set her phone down on the kitchen counter, she couldn't help marveling at what it must be like to be her best friend's shoes. Imagine knowing this is the last Christmas that it will just be her and her husband...that next Christmas they'll have an almost-one-year-old. It's exciting and scary all at once! Leah thought. She knew Aimee had dreamed of being a mother since she was a little girl playing with baby dolls. But as much as she tried, Leah couldn't imagine having a baby growing inside her nor a tiny bundle wrapped up in her arms.
She shook off those thoughts as she put Glory in her crate with a new toy that held a treat the puppy would have to work to retrieve. “Merry Christmas, sweet girl!” Leah exclaimed, kissing her furry-faced little pup on the forehead. Glory was so intrigued with the puzzle toy that she hardly whined when Leah locked the door behind her and headed down to her Jeep.
She drove to The Pearl, finding it too chilly to walk in her dress pants and heels. I'm going to have to break out my dress boots soon, she thought. But who knows if it will be a bad winter here or not this year? She was used to the extreme temperatures of the Midwest: veritable blizzards wreaking havoc all winter, tornadoes and hailstorms in the spring, and blazing summers with near 100% humidity.
The weather on the eastern shore of Maryland was quite a bit milder than what she was accustomed to growing up in Nebraska. And snow was really a crap shoot. In 2010 they'd had three consecutive blizzards that seemed to shut down the shore for weeks, but most other winters since she'd lived there they'd only gotten flurries here and there, with hardly any accumulation. The only things she missed about winter in the Midwest were abundant snow plows, large reserves of salt for the roads, and drivers who knew how to handle themselves on slick streets.
Hurricanes were the big story on the coast, of course. Ocean City had been quite fortunate to very nearly dodge too huge bullets in recent years: Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy just a couple of months prior. Leah had been holed up at The Pearl during both of those events, attempting to make guests comfortable. Of course, many travelers had the foresight to cancel their bookings and several others had chosen to check out early, so the hotel was nearly deserted before the worst of the storms hit. Looking around the lobby that night on Christmas Eve, it seemed eerily similar to Leah, like a calm before the storm.
Leah logged herself into the front desk computer and dismissed the departing manager. She put three containers of fudge in the back room and invited everyone within earshot to spread the word that it was available. She had made six pounds, two of each flavor, and hoped it wouldn't run out too quickly. She'd used her grandmother Yoder's recipe, who, being an immigrant from Switzerland, certainly knew a thing or two about chocolate. Leah had already received accolades from a few housekeepers and a security guard who had passed through the employee lounge en route to their stations. “Mmmm...melts in your mouth!” Derrick the security guard exclaimed, licking his lips.
She settled down at the computer and glanced at her watch. Four o'clock. This night is going to crawl, I'm afraid. Before she began to feel sorry for herself, her phone buzzed with a text. She assumed it would be Aimee, telling her a funny story about Christmas dinner with the in-laws. But it was Cap. She hadn't heard from him in a few days. They'd had a brief text exchange over the weekend when he'd gone to visit his daughter in Frederick for their annual Christmas exchange. As Leah suspected, his daughters would be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas with their mother. Take you to dinner tonight? his text asked.
Can't tonight. I'm working the desk till midnight :( Leah texted back.
What?! I thought you were the boss! he replied.
I am the boss, but I'm a very generous one, hence the working so others don't have to thing, she explained.
Wow, lucky employees. Alright, Merry Christmas and have a good night!
Merry Christmas to you too, Cap! she texted. She couldn't help but be disappointed that the conversation died there. Not only was she bored and would have enjoyed a texting buddy for the evening, but she also regretted this whole “friendship first” arrangement that she had agreed to. I wish I hadn't over-reacted at the party, she chided herself. But what else are you supposed to do when you see something...something that crazy?
She couldn't get the image of the six bodies out of her mind, all writhing on the bed in their various positions, the women's mouths and pussies full of throbbing cocks. There was a part of her still titillated by those graphic memories. There was a part of her that kept putting herself on the bed in place of Rhonda or Pam. But she doubted she could ever work up the courage to let herself experience anything that wild.
He sure gave up talking to me pretty quickly, she reflected about an hour later, staring at her phone intently as if it would make it buzz. I wonder what he ended up doing tonight. She couldn't imagine Cap spending Christmas Eve alone. He'll be hanging out with his fishing buddies or maybe there's another single woman from Casey's Group who doesn't have anything (anyone?) else to do tonight. She filled her mind with pictures of Cap living it up, downing a beer or two, joking and laughing and letting his dimples hang out for all to see.
A few hours later, her shift was ending and she was getting ready to log out of the computer system. She was updating her relief manager about what had happened during her shift (which is pretty much a big fat nothing, she thought) when those dimples she had pictured just hours beforehand appeared in front of her in living color. She was so startled about her vision coming to life that she nearly stumbled backwards into the night manager Bob, who caught her just before she sent them both flying to the floor.
She couldn't help but notice that Cap seemed highly amused by her reaction. “Nice to see you too!” he exclaimed merrily, as if he was channeling the jolly fat man himself on Christmas Eve.
“What are you doing here?” Leah replied breathlessly, regaining her balance and backing a comfortable distance away from Bob, who looked titillated with intrigue.
“I have Christmas dinner on the stove for you,” Cap said with a wink.
Leah's eyes expanded to twice their normal size. She took a deep breath and then turned to Bob, silently urging him to go check out the fudge in the employee lounge. Fortunately, he got the message and disappeared within seconds. Great, Cap just made it sound like I live with him or something, Leah thought, desperately hoping that Bob wasn't the gossipy type.
After expending the mental energy to coax Bob to the lounge, Leah realized she hadn't come up with a response to Cap's winking revelation. She stood behind the front desk counter, one hand on her hip, deciding silence was golden as she waited for him to elaborate.
“So are you coming or what?” he asked, a boyish grin spread between the two legendary dimples.
I guess he didn't find some lonely single swinger to spend the night with after all, Leah observed. What the hell, right? I mean, it's Christmas. Aimee would be so mad at me if I didn't go. “Can I stop by home and get Glory first?”
“I'd have it no other way,” Cap replied chivalrously. He took a little mock bow and ushered her out the door. “Parked around back?”
Leah nodded just as the scowling wind whipped around and bit into her cheeks. She instantly regretted her decision not to wear her wool winter coat, opting instead for a soft cashmere cardigan. Her hair was flying all around her face as Cap pulled her body close to his, his arm draped over her shoulder. He was dressed for the elements in a thick Carhartt jacket. She felt his warmth envelop her, soaking into her bones and then abruptly vanishing just as he steered her to her Jeep, which was, of course, frozen. She fired it up and watched him climb into his behemoth navy blue truck. He rolled down the window, “I guess I'll follow you back to your place to get Glory and then you can follow me to my place?”
She felt weird telling him she already knew where he lived. “You're down a block from the boardwalk, right?” she verified, trying to seem a little nonchalant and not-at-all-stalkerish.
He nodded, “That's right. You can park on the street in front of the shop if you know where it's at.”
Leah shivered as much from nervousness as from cold as she put her Jeep in gear and drove the three short blocks to her apartment complex. She could tell Glory had been asleep but was trying to muster up the energy to welcome her owner home in full-on happy beagle style. Leah grabbed a bag with food and small dishes for Glory and led the puppy downstairs and out into the frozen grass to empty her bladder. She was finally able to coax the dog into the Jeep and then went flying down Coastal Highway toward Cap's shop.
He was waiting on the porch. She recognized the swing immediately from his picture on the dating site. There were some beat up tackle boxes and old rods leaned against the dark siding. The neon signs in the window were switched off and only a faint glow emanated from inside the building. “My apartment is around back,” he explained, taking her by the hand that wasn't holding Glory's leash. “It's pretty small and it's going to be cramped with the two dogs up there, but you know, it's just me usually so I don't need much space.” She wondered what happened when his daughters came to visit, but she didn't ask.
Keeper was standing guard at the door and Leah could hear him whining all the way up the stairs. She was trying to focus on that and not the smell of years of accumulated fish odors that oozed from the walls and floors in the stairwell. I'll get used to it...probably...she convinced herself as she switched over to mouth breathing. She thought briefly about the foul odors she associated with her childhood in Nebraska, where she'd first learned to breathe through her mouth or hold her shirt up to her nose when she encountered a hog farm. Out here on the coast, it was a different stench but required the same action.
“Sorry about the smell!” Cap apologized as he pushed the unlocked door open. “I don't even notice it anymore but I see the way your nose is wrinkling up!”
“It's okay,” Leah assured him. “I'm starting to get used to it already!” She scanned the perimeter of the small space. They'd entered through the kitchen, which was galley-style with a bar and two stools on the far end between the kitchen and the living room. She saw a cat dismount from her window perch and slink past them, trying to escape Glory's notice, but it was too late. Glory bounded after her and nearly sent Leah sprawling to the floor, much like the time she'd met Cap on the beach and lost her shoes in the surf.
“That's Marlina,” Cap introduced her. “Like marlin the fish, but with an A.”
“All your pets have fishing-related names. I get it,” Leah smiled. “Very creative.”
“Why do I get the feeling you're making fun of me?” Cap shot back with a grin, his dimples revealing he wasn't in the least bit upset.
Leah realized the malodorous fish scent had been replaced with a spicy smell coming from a huge pot on the stove. Cap gently moved Leah to the side so he had access to the oven, from which he pulled a steaming hot loaf of French bread. “So what's for dinner?” Leah inquired, feeling her stomach begin to rumble. She had had a couple pieces of fudge during her shift, but nothing substantive.
“Homemade gumbo,” Cap announced, his pride filling the room alongside the delicious aroma.
“Wow, impressive,” Leah smirked, finding every movement he made to be interesting and revealing. So he cooks too; that's really sexy, she thought, admiring the way his thick, tan weathered hand looked as he slid it out of the oven mitt.
“You ain't seen nothing yet, baby!” he winked at her and lifted the lid to the pot so he could give the gumbo a stir with a dense wooden spoon.
Twenty minutes later, the pair was perched on his loveseat next to the Christmas tree in the small living room area. The tree was real and along with the spicy gumbo smell, Leah now had a steady stream of fresh pine filtering through her sinuses. Fortunately that meant the fish smell from the staircase had completely vanished from her memory. The tree was lit with multicolored lights along with those long, bubbly-looking retro lights that Leah remembered gracing her grandparents' tree back in the 80's when she was a tiny tot. The dogs had adjourned to Cap's bed and Leah could hear them both snoozing, their bellies full of the Christmas treats Cap had lavished upon them. The cat had brushed up against Leah's leg once or twice as if she was taking a cat-friendly reading and then she retired to the afghan-covered velvet armchair across the room.
There was a sense of coziness and warmth that Leah had never been able to invoke in her own apartment. Maybe it was the Christmas tree or the throw rugs that covered the worn wood floors, maybe it was the dim lighting or the peaceful whirring of sleeping animals. She wasn't sure, but the homey comfort of it was sinking into her, much like she was into the cushions of the loveseat. Cap was effervescent as he shared stories about adventures on the high seas, trying to get charter trips in despite impending storms. She shared some horror stories from college practicums and a little about what would be going down in the Miller household on Christmas Eve.
“My mother has this completely cheesy tradition that she started when we were little kids,” Leah explained. “She collected a dozen or so tiny brass bells tied with red and green ribbons. She keeps them on a very pretty, antique cut-glass tray and passes them out at the end of Christmas Eve dinner, which is always ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans and homemade rolls, by the way. We each have to take one and she makes us ring it while we sing 'Jingle Bells.'”
She was laughing as the memory filled her mind so vividly that she almost felt like a little girl again, remembering the gleaming brass bell with its satin ribbons between her fingertips and shaking it as her burnished copper ringlets danced in time to the beat. “Oh, we outgrew it years and years ago, and my brothers always roll their eyes when they see the bells come out on that tray, but we still do it to humor her. It'd kill her if we didn't play along! I know she's dying to share the tradition with grandchildren someday.”
“Your parents sound like real nice folks,” Cap observed. “Sounds like you had a fun, happy childhood.”
Leah noticed that he'd shifted so that one knee was angled against the couch cushion and now brushed against her thigh. His hand had moved closer to hers too, only millimeters from touching her. “They are,” Leah agreed. “I mean, in a narrow-minded, if you're not a Christian, you're going to hell kind of way.” She laughed it off. “You know, other than that, they're really nice!”
“Well, I'm a Christian,” Cap said, puffing out his chest. “Think they'd like me?”
Leah giggled and tried to picture taking Cap to her parents' house, introducing him as her boyfriend. It was a stretch, but she could pretty clearly predict their reaction to her bringing home a much older man, one who was divorced with daughters just a few years younger than she. They would not be pleased.
“You didn't get that, did you?” he asked, watching her nose wrinkle at the thoughts spinning through her mind.
“Oh, about being a Christian?” she caught herself from her daydream, reeling herself back to his living room.
“Yeah, it was a joke. Christian is my name, you know,” he suspended the words in front of her, like a Christmas present all done up in shiny packaging and frilly bows.
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “I guess I assumed your name was Christopher...that's...uh...” She scrambled to grasp how she should feel about him being “a Christian.” “That's pretty ironic!”
“Leah is a biblical name, isn't it?” he asked.
She nodded. “From the book of Genesis...You've heard of Jacob and Esau? After Jacob tricked his twin Esau out of his inheritance, he went away to find a wife and fell in love with the beautiful Rachel. Her father made him work seven years to earn her hand in marriage. So on their wedding day when he lifted the veil expecting to see Rachel, it was her older and uglier sister Leah instead. Their father made Jacob work seven more years to earn Rachel's hand in marriage. Pretty sad, huh? Leah was the consolation prize.”
“Wow...I had never heard that one before, and I thought I'd heard it all in Sunday School growing up.” He took her hand into his and she felt his warmth wrapping around her. “It's hard to think of you as a consolation prize...”
She felt her cheeks flushing slightly at his compliment, but she accepted it graciously. “Although Leah was not beautiful, she was very loyal and she gave birth to four sons, four of the twelve tribes of Israel, including Judah, the line that Jesus came from. So Jesus was a direct descendent of my namesake. Pretty cool, huh?”
“I think I'd rather have that honor than beauty. Besides, physical beauty fades, right?” His eyes had missile lock on hers. “You're lucky to have the whole package: brains, beauty, personality...you're no consolation...just a prize.”
She held her breath for a moment as she wondered if those words had really come out of his mouth. But she knew she hadn't misheard when his finger stroked down her cheek, causing her to instinctively close her eyes, for she knew what came next. His lips smoldered against hers as she tasted some of the spices from their dinner burning into her tender flesh. She hadn't even opened her eyes yet when she felt him pull away, sensing a commotion on the floor. He was spreading a soft fleece blanket on the floor under the Christmas tree. In moments, he was lying on his side, beckoning her with his eyes and dimples to join him.
She laid facing him so that her head rested against his massive biceps. He pulled her so close that her nose became nestled in the tuft of his thick chest hair that peeked out from the top of his shirt. Her nostrils filled with the scent of his cologne, which was musky and wild. Cap's arm wrapped around her and he lifted her shirt a few inches so that his fingers could trail up and down the bare skin on the small of her back and the top of her ass. She wanted to speak, to ask him if he'd changed his mind about friendship, to say that she had...but the words wouldn't form on her lips.
He lifted her chin to him again and whispered, “Is this okay?”
She could barely squeak the word “yes” out of her mouth, but her nod and the way her body melted into his gave away her answer perfectly. He covered her lips with his and then words were unnecessary again. She felt her body responding to him as it was designed to do, with no conscious thought or direction. It's completely uncontrollable, she observed as she exhaled a soft sigh at the chills racing down her spine.
This is what I've wanted him to do to me since the first time I saw him and I'm not resisting. I'm complying, submitting...a moth drawn to the flame. It's Christmas Eve and I drank wine and let myself be seduced by the pretty bubbling lights reflecting in his eyes...and those damn dimples...and...it's okay, it's okay...
Her next question was going to be: Will I regret this in the morning? But she saw the way the Christmas lights cast their colorful glow onto his skin as he unbuttoned his shirt, causing her to flash back to the hypnotic lights on the stage at her church. She remembered how her hips began to sway and her lips began to murmur the lyrics to the song with merely a nerve impulse rushing through her, governed by some deep-seeded, primal area of her brain. And this was much the same. Her back arched as he lowered himself on top of her, and she shifted her hips so that he could slide her pants and panties down, leaving her unencumbered beneath him.
He was so gentle, all the kinetic energy in his strong, broad shoulders and hulking chest and arm muscles was locked away as he touched her with the lightest brush imaginable, his fingertips just barely grazing her nipples once he'd released her creamy ivory mounds from their lace underwire cage. That disciplined restraint transferred to his mouth as his tongue darted out to lightly flick the hardened buds resting on top of her ribcage, and then even further south as he tasted her other hardened bud. She felt him drink her in, leisurely lapping the nectar off her succulent petals. She had never been so thoroughly and thrillingly consumed, as if she was the most delicate, extravagant dessert ever concocted by the world's finest chef.
Leah knew he was expecting to lap at her clit until she surrendered to her climax, but she didn't want that. She vaguely remembered that feeling...that delicious feeling of a hard cock easing its way into her folds, sliding in so teasingly slow that she would tremble with wantonness until it reached her cervix. The desire for that feeling came over her so strongly, so overwhelmingly that she pulled Cap up across her body until she was tasting her juices on his lips. “I want you now,” she managed, her lungs compressed under his weight. “I want you inside me.”
“Are you sure?” he asked breathlessly, as if he couldn't move another muscle until she convinced him it was the one thing in all the world of which she was absolutely certain.
She felt him pressing against her thigh, throbbing, pulsating with the same desire she felt vibrating out from her core. But he was still the very picture of restraint, of self-control, balancing himself on top of her so that she could still easily breathe and positioning his rock hard cock far enough away that he wouldn't be tempted to plunge it into her before she was ready. She couldn't remember the last time she was poised like this, straddling the threshold of ecstasy. She had felt it before, years before, so many that she couldn't remember who had been hovering over her with lustful eyes. She'd gone through the motions the last several times she'd been in this position, but this yearning, this longing...yes...I have felt this before, a lifetime before.
“Yes, yes, please,” she qualified, lifting her hips and pressing against him, hoping to catch the tip of his cock between her slit. “I'm sure.”
He turned and fumbled for something in a basket near the tree and she realized he was slipping on a condom. She felt relieved but impatient to feel him inside her. He cradled her head in one hand, lifting her face to his so that their lips met again. His other hand guided his cock inside her. She had not seen his member in the dim lighting, only felt it pressed against her thigh. She was not expecting the girth or the length and she felt it stretching her inch by inch. Cap sighed as she finally gave way to him. “Oh, god...Leah...”
Hearing her name pass through his lips sent a jolt from her brain straight down her spine and into her sex. He began to very slowly thrust in and out, pacing himself, once again exhibiting a surprising amount of patience and self-control. She knew that it wasn't going to take much on her end...her own self-control had already been thrown out the window. She wrapped her legs around his, attempting to take him even deeper inside, pushing her own pelvis up to meet his.
She had nearly forgotten what it felt like to orgasm so intensely, so serendipitously, controlled by external forces and not by her own hand. She felt the delicious build up and knew it was inevitable, but the crashing waves of pleasure still washed over her unexpectedly. She cried out as she trembled and shuddered beneath him, and he held her closer yet, expertly steering himself through the swelling tide of her climax.
She had never been guided through such teeming, fertile waters. Lovemaking with Cap was not a ten or fifteen minute adventure, as it had been with past partners. It was a marathon, not a sprint. An hour and a half later, after she had been pulled on top of him, thrown over the side of the loveseat, and then tugged down onto his lap as he sat on the loveseat, he finally announced in a deep, growling moan, “I'm going to come now, okay?”
She looked at him incredulously, her face caked with a mixture of sweat, makeup, and tears from the intensity of the seemingly hundreds of orgasms that had rocked through her body during the previous ninety minutes. Every ounce of moisture and energy had been drained from her. She had never ever in her life felt more satiated and full. She couldn't even respond to his question; she was completely speechless and could only manage a weary nod.
He began moving her up and down on his shaft. Completely zapped of energy, she had lost the ability to lift her hips more than an inch or so ten minutes prior. She watched the look of concentration gripping his face as he buried his cock up inside of her. His hands digging into her hips, he began to bounce her faster and faster on top of his still-swelling pole. She felt her breasts jiggling so fast with his relentless movement that they were nearly vibrating.
Just when she thought she couldn't take any more, she felt a jolt surge through him, his cock grew impossibly hard and then there was the sound: a primal howl that Leah immediately feared would wake the dogs. She felt his thighs begin to shake underneath her and his face twist and then go completely slack, as if he'd gone from agony to ecstasy in a heartbeat. “Fuck,” he whispered, “oh baby...” She felt his cock twitching inside of her as his orgasm dissipated. He pulled her head down so that it rested on his chest and wrapped his arms around her. “Baby, that was amazing,” he breathed into her ear.
Despite his alleged long list of lovers, he genuinely seemed in awe. She felt his heart pounding against her temple as his body struggled to find its equilibrium. Sweat was dripping from his face onto her hair. “Are you okay?” he finally asked.
“Yes,” Leah said no louder than a whisper. “I...I've never been fucked like that before...”
She lifted her head just in time to see the dimples reappear. He smiled at her, still too weak to formulate a complex sentence. “I wasn't expecting it either...but I just kept wanting more and more of you...,” he finally explained after a few deep, calming breaths had stabilized his heart rate.
She didn't have time to respond before he suggested that they retire to his bedroom. Glory and Keeper reluctantly repositioned themselves at the foot of the bed as Cap pulled back the quilt and sheet, ushering her in. The bed was crisp and cold but his body next to her was warm and moist, still sweaty from their romp. He pulled her into his arms again so that her head lay on his chest. “I think you've worn me out, Sugar,” he said, kissing her on top of her head.
“Likewise,” she whispered. “Merry Christmas.”
“Best Christmas ever,” he qualified and then in a few fleeting moments, they both surrendered to sleep, visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads.
