6 comments/  16349 views/  10 favorites

Dark Kisses Pt. 01

By: calibeachgirl



Dark Kisses – Black Magic Woman… Part I
Copyright @ calibeachgirl and Jim Crowell
All rights reserved, 2011

**********

Chapter 1: Surf’s Up

I Got a Black Magic Woman…
I Got a Black Magic Woman…
Yes, I Got a Black Magic Woman…
She's got me so blind I can't see…


Kendra Smith stopped typing into her laptop and listened to David Christy as he once again explained the difference between wavelength, frequency and sets of waves at the beach. Unfortunately, except for her, there were no surfers in class to appreciate the information; unfortunately for them, next week was a lesson on the history of surfing and she already knew from former students the importance of Pipeline. 

She followed his Powerpoint presentation downloaded the night before, adding her own interpretation and comments as she saw fit. At least the others, if not exactly paying close attention, were quiet. Why take an elective science class if you weren't really interested in the subject, especially one as esoteric as oceanography?

Each morning, she sat entranced as he spoke about one aspect or another of oceanography and when they went on the whale watch trip, she finally made up her mind. As the bell rang, ending the class, she walked out, smiling. He was the one she wanted, even if he was white and thirty-five.

**********

"Are you sure, Kendra, ma petite fille'? I don't know if you're old enough..."

"Grand mère, I've got to try before it's too late. I've found the man I want and I'm graduating in just a few months and then..."

"Bien, Kendra, I'll help you but it's powerful things that you're wanting to do. You must be convinced because there's no turning back. If you're wrong it will only lead to bad things."

"Grand mère..." Kendra said, giving the old woman a look she knew would melt her grandmother's heart.

"Très bien, do you have what I told you to get?"

Kendra hesitated. There would be no turning back once the incantation started. She looked at her grandmother and then at the objects she had removed from her book bag. Magie noire... the ability always skipped a generation and the secrets shared were never known by her mother. It was better that way, Kendra thought. If her mother knew what she was going to do, there'd be hell to pay.

The young woman pulled out the ziplock bags, each one holding a separate portion of the love spell she was desperate to cast. Onto the black velvet she put the rose petals, the corn, and the rock she had taken from Christy's collection at school. From her finger, she pulled the silver ring she bought two years earlier at the antique jewelry store in Torrance. Another plastic bag contained hair from the hairbrush.

The old lady looked at her granddaughter and smiled. She went into her kitchen and soon returned with two leaves from her orange tree, a spool of white thread, and a small silk bag. "Do you have the dirt?" she asked.

"Yes..." Kendra dug around in her bag and found the last plastic bag with dirt from her back yard. "...and here's his pen and I took his picture and printed it out."

"Then, let us begin..."

It never occurred to Kendra to wonder if David Christy already had a girlfriend.

**********

"Oh, Mom, don't be silly. You need un petit ami, un amant, is all I'm saying..." Kendra put another piece of cookie dough down on the pan. "...et, il est l'un pour vous. Why just today..."

Carolyn Smith looked at her daughter. Lately all she could talk about was her science teacher at the high school. As the evening arrived, they giggled like two young girlfriends, eating the chocolate cookies watching Angela Bassett in 'How Stella Got Her Groove Back.'

Kendra looked at her mother, wondering if the incantation had already begun to work.

**********

Carolyn looked closely into the mirror and peered at the tiny worry lines near her dark eyes. She teased out her curly ringlets a little more, wrapped a bright golden scarf around her dark skin, then stepped back and looked in the mirror, once last time. Satisfied, she stepped into her high heels and immediately rose four inches to a full six feet. 

Ever since her daughter started filling dinner conversations with praise for her oceanography teacher, she tried to close her eyes to the gentle prodding Kendra gave her at least two-three times a week to meet the man. What man could be that wonderful? Against her better judgment, Carolyn's interest in the man grew and grew; until she realized this would be her best and possibly only opportunity to meet him.

Michael was never around when Kendra made her impassioned pleas to at least try... at least, once... with the man. She wasn't sure what her son would say and didn't want to argue with him about it.

After her husband had died in Iraq seven years earlier, Carolyn had devoted her life to her two children, Kendra and Michael. Trying to keep them away from the path that had destroyed so many others, she lived the life of a devoutly chaste nun... quite a trick, she thought, considering she was a Southern Baptist.

Last month, the radio talk shows starting discussing black women dating outside their race; Kendra heard it and immediately suggested her teacher, David Christy. Michael said nothing and finished his dinner in a silent sulk. Carolyn was sure that he would be unhappy if she dated; she was sure he still lived in the unreal shadow of his father... and, the idea that she would date a white man... she really wasn't sure what his reaction to that would be.

Kendra's constant praising of the man finally led her to this desperate ploy. If it didn't work, then, she vowed to just give up but at least her daughter would leave her alone. It was just, when she cried at night, so lonely. But, she thought, what would a reasonably good-looking single white man want with a 37-year-old black woman with two teenage children? Kendra was probably SO wrong.

One last look into the mirror, a light and almost sentimental touch on her wedding picture... satisfied as possible, she left for the school. "You turned my world upside down," she said to the photo, "and before I knew what was happening, we were married." She wondered what HE would have thought but then, he should have stayed home. 

**********

"C'mon, here's your food, you stupid echinoderm." As soon as he said it, David realized how silly it was to talk to a starfish, even one as active as this one. He tapped the glass as he watched the five-armed, bumpy-skinned animal slowly making its way across the glass of the aquarium and moving over the thawed piece of shrimp. Its tiny sucking tube-feet waved in the water like something from a space-monster movie and carried the shrimp toward its mouth.

In the next tank, several dark, green striped shore crabs, Pachygrapsus crassipes to be exact, savagely attacked their share of the shrimp. Each one grabbed a piece and scuttled back into a corner or tiny rock cave to eat its dinner.

He was glad his new 'pets' had acclimatized themselves to the glassy confines of their new home. The weekend before, they had been living along the rocky, wave-splashed breakwater near Venice Beach. It was amazing, he reflected, what you could catch with a little time, some pieces of hot dog and a California scientific collector's permit. Sometimes, he felt he was a character in Steinbeck's Cannery Row.

If the weather held up, he planned on returning the next afternoon to get some sea anemones. He had left small rocks for them to shift to and planned on just picking them without any problem; trying to get them any other way usually ended with a dead animal.

Against his own advice, David tapped the glass, watching them raise their claws at the unseen threat.

He glanced at his cell phone... four o'clock and time to get a move on, he reflected. It was Friday afternoon and he was still undecided about the last league basketball game of the season. Most of the team had been his students at one time or another and they had been begging him to come all week. He sighed, deciding to go home... his empty home. Basketball had never been his game and he doubted anyone would miss him, anyway. The games were always packed.

When he had returned to his old high school to teach, it was strange to be one of the few whites, mostly faculty, on campus. The students now arrived courtesy of the bus from the north side of town instead of across the street.

There was a hesitant knock-knock-knock; as he turned his head, he saw a slightly older woman at the door, her bright smile in sharp contrast to her mocha-colored skin. Her gleaming dark hair, in fashionable ringlets, had a touch of red highlights. Her face was strangely sensual, with delicate brows arching above eyes so dark and lips so lush they were incredibly erotic.

Tall, slender and fine-boned, she had a splendid figure and her dark coloring was set off by a form-fitting white jacket and short, yellow pleated skirt baring her incredible legs to just above her knees. 

David stood there with his hands in his pockets, though he didn't remember putting them there. He seemed entranced the moment he saw her.

Standing with her fingers loosely linked together before her, Carolyn's dark eyes were fixed on his face. Kendra had failed to mention how attractive the man was. How had that happened? It was magical.

He stood just about five ten, she guessed and maybe 170, 175 pounds. His dark reddish-brown hair had started to thin out a bit but it was his flashing gold-flecked amber eyes that really caught her attention. They seemed to smile at her as she caught his attention.

Her reaction was almost imperceptible, just a slight tightening of those lush lips and a flash of emotion skimming the darkness of her eyes.

"Mr. Christy? Hi, I'm Carolyn Smith... Kendra's mother? She mentioned you were thinking of going to tonight's game. It's the last one of the regular season and she said you haven't been to one game all year." She wondered how foolish she looked.

It was true, he hadn't been to one since he started teaching; he laughed, but kept it to himself. After all, at the high school, basketball was a way of life.

"Yes, Mrs. Smith.... how nice to finally meet you. Your daughter is a wonderful girl and an excellent student..." He held out his hand to her. "...and a great cook. I love the cookies she brings me every Monday." 

"You can ride with us... that is, if you'd like?" She looked uncertainly at him, questioning at the last moment if it was such a good idea, after all, putting the man on the spot. She nervously rocked from one foot to the other. Oh, she fearfully thought, I am such a fool to do this. Why did I ever listen to Kendra?

"That's really nice of you. Sure... just let me close up, here." He immediately wondered what had caused him to agree. He had a strict and simple rule about socializing with parents. Don't...

"Let me help you," she said as she walked over to the street-side windows and began pulling them closed. 

Kendra walked into the classroom and went to her mother. "Let me do that, mom," she said. The girl reached for the venetian blinds cord and pulled.

"Have you heard from Loyola, yet?" David asked. "They should have gotten back to you by now." He looked down into the tank at small ripples rapidly moving across the water's surface. Two of the small crabs had gotten into a fight over the last piece of shrimp and with claws up, faced off in the middle of the tank. He lowered the glass top silencing the constant hisssss of the bubbles and turned off the aquarium lights.

"Not yet, Mr. Christy; I hope they haven't lost it." The girl had a worried tone to her voice. College admissions were a life or death opportunity for graduating seniors and she was more deserving than most.

"Ah, don't worry. No matter what, I'll give Dr. Gentrilli a call Monday and see what's the 'hold up'. All finished with the windows?"

"Yes, thanks for your help with the college."

David straightened his tie and put on his sport coat. Satisfied the room was closed for the weekend, he closed and locked the door and followed them out of the building.

In the parking lot, Carolyn's clean but tired Honda Civic waited for them, resplendent in its fading silver-gray paint. She had hoped that the science department chairman would acquiesce to her invitation and come with them but now admitted to herself that her car wasn't all she hoped it would be. Once again, maybe offering him a ride wasn't such a good idea, after all. Too late for self-recriminations, now, she knew.

She was surprised he had not been caught up in the fever everyone else had about the undefeated team... maybe, he didn't care about sports. That was always possible, she thought but her wonderings were caught short as they turned the corner to the almost deserted parking lot. 

"Mrs. Smith; thanks for the ride," he said, cheerfully as he settled into the car's front seat and buckled his belt.

"No, thank you for coming with us. Please, call me Carolyn. Mrs. Smith is SO formal. I was thinking... that is, we were thinking, we could treat you to dinner before the game... a small thank you for everything you've done for Kendra... and Michael, of course."

David looked at the woman. Her clothes, spotlessly clean and cared for, were still 'tired' and he felt strange accepting dinner from her. He was about to break his personal rule even further.

"Thank you, very much." He resolved to find a way to pay the bill, even if it meant stealing the receipt out from under her hand. He knew he'd have to find a more subtle solution to his situation... he couldn't bear to embarrass the two.

Kendra got into the back of the small car and as David got in and closed the door, he wondered why Mrs. Smith... that is, Carolyn, was so friendly. Helping Kendra get into his alma mater only seemed natural considering her grades and friendly attitude and certainly not worthy of this extra gratitude. He would have done it for anyone deserving the extra attention but now, he felt so much better helping the girl reach for her dreams.

**********

"...and, so I used ROTC to pay for college and joined the Air Force. Nothing exciting, I just got lucky to be stationed eventually at LAAFS working with satellites, finally becoming a lieutenant colonel. No excitement or anything like that, just did my job. Then, I came back to the school." David put down his iced tea. "Thanks, so much, for dinner... and the company, of course. How'd you know I'd like Red Lobster?"

"I... we just thought, you know, with your aquariums and all..." Carolyn said, smiling. The evening was going much better than expected. Instead of being shy or boastful, David had been the perfect dinner companion and had not ignored her daughter during the evening. He was so different from her husband's sometimes obnoxious friends. Fortunately, they had stopped coming around once they realized she wasn't interested in 'expanding' her lifestyle, as one had put it.

He laughed. "Well, that's funny." Looking at Kendra, he smiled. "Remind me to call the college, Monday. If necessary, I can arrange a visit for you, that is, if you and your mother would like that," he said. "We could go together... a personal tour."

"We'd appreciate any help you can give us. Kendra wants to be a marine biologist, like you," she said, taking another hot biscuit from the bowl. "I think you've had a great influence on her." Carolyn looked at her daughter trying to hide behind her hands, self-conscious from her mother's remarks. "I never thought I'd have a daughter that surfs!" She laughed. "Beach girl!"

"That's great! Especially living here on the coast..." David looked in the basket but all the biscuits were gone. He looked for the waitress.

Carolyn appreciated his enthusiasm but had one question. "How did someone so interested in the sea join the Air Force? It doesn't..."

"...make sense? Well, you'd think so but it allowed me to stay here. I did have to take a double major, though, one in engineering. I still use it once in a while, to explain things in class, like today's lecture on waves and frequency and things like that but that's about it." He looked at his cell phone. "Uh oh, I think we missed... what is it? tip-off? ...looks like we're going to be late." He hated it went he looked ignorant about sports but his interests had always lain anywhere else.

"Would you like dessert?" Carolyn asked, glancing at the small dessert cards near the edge of the table.

"Only if you let this be my treat," he quickly responded. "I'd like the key lime pie. How about you? Kendra?" He could tell the girl had been wistfully looking at the dessert pictures. He wondered how often they were able to eat out.

"This was supposed to be our treat," Carolyn gently disagreed... embarrassed, now.

"I insist. It's the least I can do." David flipped the dessert card over. "C'mon. Mmmm... chocolate..." He slowly pushed the cards toward her, a smile on his face. "Chocolate..." he said, making a passable imitation of the Cookie Monster.

Carolyn decided to give in. She saw his masculine ego required him to offer and she had taken grocery money to pay for dinner. She really couldn't afford the dinner and yet... she was glad she had taken the chance.

"Thank you. You're most kind." She chose the apple crumb and Kendra, the chocolate lava cake. The waitress took the orders and left.

"No, thank YOU," he said. "I haven't had such a nice evening since I don't know when. You know, we could always pretend we went to the game." He knew he'd rather be there, at dinner with them than any basketball game.

"We'll get there, sooner or later... even if it's the last two minutes. You know how long that can take."

A look of incomprehension flashed across his face.

"You know," she said, feeling his embarrassment, "with all the time outs." Was he really that ignorant of the game? How could he not know basketball?

"Oh, yes, of course, with the time outs." He realized his lack of interest in the game put him at a distinct disadvantage and he was looking foolish.

"You really don't like basketball, at all, do you?" She had to wonder... how could he not like basketball? What kind of man was he? With Michael, it was a way of life.

He looked at both of them and then surreptitiously looked around the restaurant. "Can you keep a secret? Never really watched a game at all... I never had the time, either studying or working and then, of course, the Air Force and the war... so, no, I've never really watched a game. Tonight would have been the first one." 

David took another small bite of his pie. "Truth is... sports pales in comparison to protecting this country. After that..." He let the comment die on his lips, remembering her son was playing even as they ate.

She graciously let him pay the check. His words brought her husband's memory to the forefront. David was right. Everything else paled in comparison.

That night, Carolyn slept with a smile on her face. It had been years since she had gone out to dinner and the evening, even with Kendra's chaperoning eye there, had been wonderful. They arrived, indeed, for the last two minutes of the game which lasted close to ten more and at the end of the game, Kendra went with her friends, leaving the two of them alone.

Even the long drive back to the school went quickly as he told her about life in the Air Force and she told him about her husband, John, and his two tours in Iraq. The last one ended with his death from a roadside bomb two weeks before he was to come home. Even after all the years, she still felt a piece of her life was missing. She wondered if David would be able to fill part of it. Was she trading one warrior for another? A gentle warrior? She wished she had met him years earlier when she needed so much help raising Kendra and her brother. But, she wondered, would she have been so open to start a new relationship?


Dark Kisses Pt. 01



As she drove home, she tried to steady her cold hands on the steering wheel, watching them shake as her uneven breathing fought her attempt at control. Carolyn closed her eyes briefly as she tried to concentrate on her still-ragged breathing. Her heart was beating so heavily she could feel it.

"Mom, you OK?" Kendra asked, bringing her back to the real world, as they rapidly approached a red light.

He let his imagination run wild as he dreamed of nervous excitement in her eyes when she felt desire for the first time... the hesitant touch of her delicate hands on his body... her incredible mouth beneath his... a fragile spring of awakening sensuality that flowed through his mind and then his body. He wanted to hear her say his name.

He awoke to find that his body had betrayed his innermost desire.

**********

The morning's newspaper called the game a "lesson on how to play basketball" with the final score 113 to 45. Halfway through the first half, the coach sat down all his starters and played his second string. Even so, it was a disaster for the home team who ended their worst season ever, losing every game badly.

It might have been of interest to David if he had bothered to read the sports page but he was too busy getting ready to go to the beach. He reached for another beach towel and the umbrella.

Last night, in a bit of wild surprise, he had invited Carolyn and her daughter to accompany him to the breakwater. He told himself it would give Kendra practical experience; in truth, he realized he was more interested in seeing her mother again. 

After putting on his college sweatshirt, he packed his Chevy Malibu with buckets, towels, gloves and nets and drove back to the school. He offered to pick them up from their home but Carolyn said it would be easier to just meet there.

Mother and daughter were waiting in the school lot, both wearing sweats over shorts and tank tops and holding a cooler. He pulled up, unlocked the doors and popped the trunk. "Here, let me take that," he said, lifting the cooler into the car. 

"We fixed some lunch. I hope you like ham sandwiches, potato salad and coleslaw," Kendra happily said, glad that her mother seemed to be enjoying herself. Her plan to pair her mother with her favorite teacher was working, she was sure of it. After all, they were going to Venice Beach, weren't they? ...and, Mom still looked good, she noticed.

David was sure that Carolyn was blushing. "That's great," he said and realized how inane that sounded. How could I sound so stupid? he asked himself.

Early afternoon came as he and Carolyn leaned back on the beach blanket he had brought, watching Kendra search for sand crabs in the swash-covered beach. The light breeze that had kicked up was blocked by his large umbrella. David thought she looked like a chocolate Coppertone girl, all that was missing was the little black dog yapping at her feet. Every ten minutes or so, she came back and changed the seawater in the buckets holding the sea anemones clinging to the baseball-sized stones.

"I hate to say it," he said, "but I think we better get going. It's still winter and it's going to get cold pretty soon."

"All right... I've had a wonderful time, David. I know Kendra has. I haven't seen her this excited in such a long time. You've had a good influence on her these last few years. Thank you. After her father died, there was no father figure in her life. Michael has his coach but I think she happily found you."

He wanted to say it was just part of being a good teacher but knew better. They were there at the beach because he was enjoying himself... they were enjoying themselves, he corrected himself.

On the drive back to the school, he remembered his sweet, intelligent Evangelina and their hoped for life together. Her death had caused a self-imposed exile from life; it had worked well for the Air Force but not for living in the real world. He tried hard not to think about it but the memories came unbidden by themselves. He didn't even have a gravesite to visit; her parents had taken her body back to Mexico City following the crash. All he had was a photo album of a lost love... and a family that never was. 

And now, here was Carolyn and her daughter, seemingly inviting him into their lives. Did he really want to open his heart, after all these years? It was so much easier to just be alone...

After putting the new animals and some wayward slippery brown kelp in their own tank, he walked Carolyn and her daughter out to their car. Smiling, Kendra got in and turned on the radio. Carolyn turned to him and lightly kissed him on the lips. "Call me?" she asked quietly as she gave him a piece of paper and then disappeared into the car.

He stood in the parking lot, watching them drive away. He felt his lips where her kiss had touched him. Did he really want to go there? Could he not? He carefully put the piece of paper into his pocket and got in his car.

**********

He stood in the doorway. "There's two bucks for you," David said, paying the Domino's boy. He took the pizza box into the den and hit play on the DVD. Optimus Prime had waited, on pause, long enough for him to get his own 'energon'...

The memory of her day with David was so powerful that she found herself sitting on the edge of the bed, her legs gone weak again. Her heart seemed to ache every time it beat. He wasn't even in the room and she couldn't control her response to him. What was happening to her? How could someone she just met affect her so strongly?

**********

Chapter 2: Shake, Rattle and Roll

Sunday morning, David slept late, his dreams filled with dark kisses, ocean breezes and rolling surf. Had he been bewitched by the woman? It had seemed so real. There were worse things in life.

The building shook, rattling the windows. The ground was as unsettled as his mind when he thought about Carolyn. He was still unbalanced from yesterday's events.

He turned on the bedroom TV. "...somewhere near Northridge and felt as far south as Newport Beach. Preliminary reports say it's at least a five point five. We're having another aftershock..."

He put his pillow over his face and hoped for the best as the quake continued. Aftershock, hell... he thought. This is probably the main quake.

He could hear things falling and breaking in the kitchen as the cabinets, no doubt, sprung open and spilled dishes and glasses onto the floor. A good fifteen, twenty seconds later, the rumbling stopped. Car alarms outside were screaming and he saw new cracks running across the wall by the window. If it was this bad, there was going to be serious damage. Last time, he had to replace the sewer lines under the house and his plans to restore his grandfather's '57 Chevy had gone on hold for three years.

David stayed in bed, still hiding under the covers. He should have gone to the doorway like all the drills instructed but the truth was, unless the ceiling's coming down, people tended to stay where they were until the ground stopped moving.

His first thought, after wondering what shattered mess he would find in the kitchen, was wondering what happened to his aquaria at the school. The second was 'what happened to Carolyn?'

David looked for his Nikes. He didn't know much about basketball but he liked the shoes much better than house slippers. Another shake rumbled through and the TV went dark. It wasn't as bad but it was bad enough. He waited and the TV finally lit back up. All his clocks blinked, as usual, unable to reset themselves. 

The kitchen was the disaster he expected. Well, this can wait, he thought, while I find her number. Where the hell did it go? He went back into the bedroom and looked on top the dresser.

Nervously, he punched in the numbers as another quake rumbled through. He grabbed the top of the dresser and braced himself. This one was only about a 'four', he figured and waited for the call to go through. The call never finished. He'd have to wait, he realized, until the phone lines were free, again. Too many calls flooding through just crashed the system.

He looked out the patio doors to his pool. The water was sloshing up and down and the cement was soaking wet.

It wasn't until late morning before he was able to make the call.

"Are you OK? I tried to call, earlier but I couldn't get through." He couldn't hide the tension in his voice.

"I know I asked you to call me but I didn't think it would take an earthquake to get you to do it." Her nervous joke wasn't enough to hide the fear in hers as another aftershock rolled through the Southland. She had grown up in Indianapolis and this was her first real earthquake swarm.

"But, you're all right? I just worried, that's all."

There was a pause. "Thank you." He could feel the appreciation through the silence.

The rest of Sunday was anything but a day of rest as aftershocks shook Los Angeles, Orange and finally Ventura Counties. The television stations had a field day with the tremblers as their helicopters flew across the city looking for damaged buildings and bridges. Another severe shock caused the cancellation of Monday's school day across the three counties as buildings were inspected for safety. 

**********

Monday morning, David drove in, anxiously wondering what he would find in the classroom.

Aside from some spilled water, though, everything looked normal, to his great surprise and relief. The thick rugs under the tanks had cushioned them just enough. Dead animals and spilled seawater would have left the room uninhabitable for at least an extra day, probably longer, just getting the smell out. Unlike freshwater tanks, saltwater aquaria had no grace period once the oxygen stopped. He had learned that the hard way when a car hit a power pole on a Saturday night and he walked in the following Monday.

**********

School started on schedule Tuesday morning but he saw neither Kendra nor her brother, Michael. As it was, about a third of the students were absent. 

David called Carolyn during his prep period but all he heard was her voicemail. Now, he was worried. Could something have happened? He accessed his computer and got the home address. He was determined to drive there as soon as he could after school.

Three o'clock took forever to arrive. With so many students out, he was forced to show a film about whales, one on earthquakes and give an extra credit assignment to his advanced biology class.

He took Crenshaw north until 48th Street and then turned west. Keeping one eye on the road and the other searching out street addresses, he finally found the home. It was a cared-for, small wooden Depression bungalow with a flower garden in the front, a sharp contrast to the rest of the neighborhood, full of gray, tired homes and broken cars.

He understood why she had wanted to meet him at the school. What to do, now? he wondered. If he walked up to the front door and rang the bell, she would be embarrassed and then angry he had invaded her privacy. He parked further down the block where he could see the house in his mirror.

Another aftershock rumbled through and Carolyn and her two children ran outside. "At least, they're OK," he said to himself. "That's good." He waited until they went back into the house before he drove home.

**********

"Hi..." he nervously said, speaking into his cell. He felt like a high school boy asking for a 'first date.'

"Hi..." she said, sounding breathless like Marylyn Monroe, quietly thankful that he had called.

"I don't want this to sound strange, or anything, but I missed you." He prayed he hadn't ruined it. It had been too many years since he'd done this.

"I... I missed you, too." You have no idea how much, she thought.

"Are you OK? I mean... with the earthquakes and all... ah, whom I kidding? I didn't see or talk to you yesterday and I didn't like it." Wow, I probably came on too strong and now she's scared I'm a stalker or something.

"I missed you, too," she said, again. "I know we've only really just met but you've been on my mind ever since." "Did I just say that?" she whispered, surprised at her boldness. She walked over to the window and looked out to the street.

"Me, too," he said. "Look, would you like to have dinner with me, tonight or tomorrow? Just the two of us, this time? If the quakes stop?"

"Yes." Oh, yes, oh, yes, yes, yes... "Where would you like to meet?"

What to do? What to do? He didn't like the idea of her coming home late at night, by herself, but what could he do?

"Say, I've an idea. Why don't you drive to my house and then we can go together?"

He could feel the hesitation when she said nothing. Damn it! He felt so close he could taste it and now it seemed to just slip away.

"ummm... sure, why not? Now, how do I get there?"

They watched the sun set along the Pacific horizon from the Charthouse's window. On short notice, it was as romantic as possible. She was wearing an off-the-shoulder royal blue evening dress borrowed from her neighbor and a single strand of pearls. With her high heels and her teased hair, she looked several inches taller than he but David didn't care. He hadn't taken his eyes off her since they arrived. She was beautiful. How had all this happened, so fast?

"Have you come here, before?" she asked.

"Yes, it's one of my favorite places. I come here when I feel I deserve something special. I love their bleu cheese dressing and their croutons are the best."

"Is that what tonight is? Something special?" How many women has he brought here? she wondered, nervously, a tight smile on her lips.

"You have no idea." He leaned forward. "I've always come alone. You're the first woman I've ever brought here... so, I... yes, it's special."

"Oh... thank you. What do you recommend?" Oh, thank God. She blushed, feeling the hot rush of blood flood her cheeks.

Oh, what I'd love to recommend right now... "Lobster? Filet? Whatever you wish..." I know what I wish... damn! What's wrong with me? What is this woman doing to me? He blushed and reached for a piece of bread to draw attention away from his face.

"Maybe, just the salad bar?" she asked, not knowing what his price range was.

"Please, are you sure? Anything your heart desires." Anything at all, he thought.

"OK, I'll have the filet. Thank you. Oh, look! A pelican!"

David turned to the window just in time to see the ungainly bird slowly fly by.

"Pelecanus occidentalis, the brown pelican... well, actually, 'the pelican of the west'. He dives for his food. Pesticides almost killed them off in California but they're making a comeback... finally."

Carolyn smiled. "Are you always so full of information? Kendra said you're a walking encyclopedia." Then, she realized she probably embarrassed him with her glib remark. Sometimes a simple compliment comes out wrong.

"I can't help it. Sometimes, I just talk and talk... maybe, I shouldn't have said that. You might like a little more quiet. I just can't shut up, once I start talking. Character flaw, I guess." Damn it! he cursed himself. Even now, he couldn't shut up.

Carolyn laughed. "Actually, I enjoy adult conversation for a change. You have no idea how much teenagers... well, I guess you do. For a moment, I forgot you're a teacher. You know, I thought Kendra was infatuated with you; she spoke about you so much. It seems she had other plans for you."

Other plans, indeed, David thought, as he drove them back to his house. They couldn't pay the bill fast enough and it seemed like every light was red.

David pulled Carolyn into his arms and just held her. It's what a lover would do, wasn't it? What a husband would do? He tried to think about husbandly things the last few days, so entranced he was. He wanted her to get used to him doing things for her, like warming her on cold nights and keeping her safe from harm.

He reached slowly, brushing back the dark curtain of her curls, revealing her face to his. His fingers lingered, resting on the side of her face, where her skin was soft and warm.

He shoved the front door shut and they rested against it as he ran his fingers through her hair, then held the back of her head, holding her still against him. Carolyn's arms tightened around him and a fire spread and raged between them.

He moved his hand to the back of her neck and gently pulled her closer. Carolyn's mouth was warm and soft. If I can't respect a woman, I can't love her, can I? he asked himself. He stepped behind her. She swallowed, trying not to let the heat of his body affect her. He placed his hands on the hips of her blue dress, gently but insistently pulling her back against him.

Slowly, he moved her hips with his. At his touch, her nipples drew tight beneath the soft, clingy dress. She felt his mouth on her hair, gently inhaling her fragrance, then kissing and caressing her neck. She licked her lips and cleared her throat, afraid he'd continue, praying he wouldn't.

Carolyn felt David's mouth warm against her ear. She inhaled sharply when his lips touched her earlobe. He turned her in his arms. The kiss wasn't gentle, it was full of heat and hunger and she wasn't stopping him. She smiled as he covered her mouth with his again and then the world went away, lost in his kiss.

This time, when they finished, he took her hand and pulled her gently into the bedroom. He kissed her deeply, searching for her soul. "Carolyn, are you all right with this?" he asked. His eyes were kind and warm and waiting for her answer. 

For her, it had to be more than the sexual excitement. She had to respect the man and like him a lot, love him completely. It could never be a one-night stand. "More than all right," she said, touching his cheek. 

She held her breath as he slid his arm around her, again, holding his hand across her stomach. When he spread his fingers, his thumb touched her left breast, growing heavy and sensitive with her arousal. His hand moved lower to tease her into a hard throb of response, faster than light, quicker than sound.

She lifted her arms, curved them behind her, over his shoulders, arching her body upward, seeking... more, something more than just this tight, about-to-explode need that radiated through her. He brought his hips back against her, aligning his arousal with her tight butt, pressing close, tempting her with his response. She savored the reflection in the mirror of the mingling black and white of their clothes and bodies, the bright edge of desire glittering in their eyes.

His hands held her like a husband would. Ever so slowly his fingertips moved to her center, tracing the apex where her thighs met. He slid a foot between hers, nudging her legs apart. Shocked by the unfamiliar expression she saw on her own face in the mirror, she arched her back and closed her eyes, ignoring the wantoness she saw. She let herself enjoy the sensations, instead, as he pressed the heel of his hand against her and rubbed, a circular motion building in power that was mirrored inside of her. 

She shifted back and forth, needing... something. The friction was driving her insane. She heard herself make strange, low sounds and wondered whether she was shocked or embarrassed. She could feel the impending explosion, so close as his hand continued to move. Just a little more, she silently begged.

She could hear the sound of the zipper as it moved down and then her dress slipped to the floor, breaking the last barrier between them.

And then, for a long time, there were no more words as he slipped into her velvety slickness, his hands beneath her, holding, pulling. It had been so long and she was as tight as a virgin and for the first time in her life, her moans were caused by a lover.

She opened her eyes to the dim light of the room. On the bed, David's arms were still around her, his body warm but she was cold. It was hours later and he was sleeping deeply beside her. Easing away from him, she found his pullover near the dresser and slipped it over her head.




Dark Kisses Pt. 01



Sleeping with David, she thought, may not have been the smartest thing she'd ever done, but it was the most satisfying thing she'd done in her entire life.

She had no idea if any of what happened would last. She wanted it to but couldn't control that. No one, not even her husband, had ever made love to her like that, so tenderly. Whether he meant to or not, John had been forceful and selfish, her pleasure sometimes an afterthought when it was too late. 

It felt good to let go of her inhibitions and trust someone who cared about her wants and needs, first.

She heard a rustle behind her. David touched her. "You're cold, aren't you?" He moved to the bureau, opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of flannel pajamas. "You take the top, I'll take the bottom."

"Thank you," she started to say. His lips found hers before she could finish. She turned and kissed him; he smiled, holding the kiss longer than expected. "You know," she said, "I should get home before the kids wake."

"I'll set the alarm; now, let's go to bed while we can," he said, leading her back to his arms and the bed.

**********

When she opened her eyes just before sunrise, she felt something heavy across her waist. Confused for the moment, she glanced around the room. David was lying beside her on his stomach, his arm curled possessively around her body.

She relaxed and sighed. It was a good sound, a happy one. 

They made love one more time, this time much more vigorously, almost violently and her loud moans filled his room, filled his house as she lost any pretense at modesty as she took him into her mouth and then into her body as he entered her from behind.

Instead of handing it to him, Carolyn pushed his coffee across the tiled counter toward him, then added cream and sugar to her mug. All her attention seemed devoted to the task and if she felt his eyes on her, it didn't seem to bother her.

He watched her as she stood looking out the kitchen window as the rising sun touched her dark curls. She moved away from the window; he took a few hasty steps until he was standing only a couple of feet away as she stared at him, her lovely face transformed into something even more beautiful and passionate by the animation of powerful emotions.

After she left, he showered and dressed. How would Kendra treat him... how would Michael treat him... now that he had bedded their mother? He couldn't call in sick like a coward, even if that was the easy way out but, he knew, it would only postpone any consequences for a day or two.

God, Carolyn thought on her drive home, how the man liked to kiss her there. John never would. While she loved his memory, she now realized how much she had missed during sex. David took his time with his lips and tongue, letting her taste and smell roll over him like a fine wine. When they finally parted, he smiled down at her. 

***********

David was speaking to his second period geology class about the end of the Cretaceous Period. "...and so, the asteroid hit right about here, on the Yucatan peninsula. The shock wave was sufficient to start forest fires all the way to what is modern Canada and the soot can be found worldwide. More importantly, there are tektites associated with the soot layer, now known as the K-T Boundary... Now, tonight, I expect you all to read today's handout; there's a quiz tomorrow on it."

Student groans were drowned out by the bell ringing the end of class. Standing in the doorway was Kendra and after the classroom was empty, she came in and shut the door.

"Mom came in a little late, last night... or, should I say, this morning."

"Uh, yes, I suppose she did. I know what..." He didn't know what to say to the girl.

The bell rang with thirty-three students still waiting in the hallway.

"You need a pass to class?" he asked, walking to open the door.

"No, I'll take the tardy, if I have to. We'll talk more after school," she said, opening the door and walking down the hall.

"Uh, sure. I'll be here." Oh, boy, he thought... at least, she wasn't trying to kill him... yet.

David watched the clock hand inch around and the closer it came to three in the afternoon, the more nervous he became. He waited apprehensively for Kendra to arrive. No matter how much Carolyn might like him, even fall in love with him, if her daughter was angry with him their romance was dead before it ever had a chance to blossom. He wondered where Michael was. Was it possible the boy didn't know what happened?

There was that knock-knock-knock on the door. Kendra walked in, looked around and closed the door.

"Thank you," she said, setting her books down on the nearest desk.

"What?" Surely, he wasn't expecting that. He honestly didn't know what he was expecting. He had never been in such a situation. 

"Thank you for Mom. I've never seen her so happy. Whatever you did... and I don't want to know, she was smiling all morning. I just wanted you to know. May I sit down?"

"Yes, please... she was happy? That's great! I was SO afraid she'd..."

Kendra tensed. "You're not going to break her heart, are you?"

"Swear to God, if we break up, it'll be her decision, not mine. I really... is it too early to say I'm falling in love with your mother? I don't know but I'm..."

"Invited to a bar-be-que this Saturday? I mean, if you want."

"Yes, of course." Oh, hell, yes!

David suggested they all come to his house. He had been to their neighborhood and could feel the uneasiness in her voice. It would be better than meeting at some park, especially if the weather turned bad.

"I'm sure that'll be OK. I'll ask. What do you like to eat?"

"Tell you what... I'll get some steaks and you can bring the rest, how's that?"

He wondered how much Carolyn knew about her daughter's machinations. Probably less than he did, that was for sure. He thought about a bottle floating along with the waves and wondered if that was what he was, pushed along by the smiling girl in front of him.

"Good, I'll talk to you some more, tomorrow after school."

**********

Thursday, Carolyn was waiting for him when he drove into his driveway after school. Without speaking, each knew what the other wanted, drawn together like a moth to a flame, so bright, so dangerous.

When they reached his bed, he lifted the covers and she slid under them... then he was beside her, pulling her near. She felt his caution as he eased up next to her so that he could hold her. She nestled against him instantly, found the perfect place to lay, her nose pressed to his neck, just below his ear. His manly scent comforted her in a way that nothing else could, familiar and cherished, making her feel safe.

She closed her eyes, thinking she might sleep, but was so aware of him she thought she would never sleep again. Time ticked by, but life came to a stop. There was no world but theirs.

She inched closer; her foot touched his. Carolyn tipped her head back, seeking him in the dimness, pulling herself a little closer, if that was possible. "Thank you," she said, "for finding me in your heart..."

Her hands wouldn't stay still; she needed to touch him, to know he was there, to know he wasn't going to leave her, not even to turn to the other side of the bed.

"David..."

"Yes?"

"Nothing... I just wanted to say your name."

Their legs intertwined, her breasts brushed against his chest, then flattened against him. She felt his hand stroke her hair, then drift down over her back, over her butt. He did it over and over, trying to soothe her but it was doing anything but...

Her breasts grew hot and her nipples grew taut. Carolyn wriggled downward until she could press her lips to his collar bone. Her fingers combed his auburn hair spread across his chest, tapering to just one tempting line, a line she followed with her finger. She danced her fingers back and then toyed with some strands of hair, finding an odd comfort in doing so.

He leaned down to her, until he could touch his lips to hers. His tongue sought entry through those full lips of hers and she gave it willingly. Such tenderness, such care, he offered, unlike John. The longer she was with David, the more she accepted that John had been a selfish lover, more concerned with his own needs than ever any of hers.

The gentle kiss went on and on, for minutes, for hours, forever. Only their lips touched with intimacy. Carolyn squirmed in his arms, anxious for more, needy for more. David took her hand and pushed it down his body until she could feel his own need for her.

He wanted to stretch it out, to drive her crazy for him, to forget any and every thing and any and every one but where they were and what they were doing and whom she was with.

She made a soft little moan that he had come to love and he held her breast. The sound deepened when he brushed his thumbs across her nipple. He raised on an elbow and then they went flesh to flesh, warm and anxious and thoroughly aroused. David kissed her, a leisurely caress that intensified second by second, breath by breath. He left a damp trail down her throat as he ventured lower until he found the peak of her breast and stroked it with his tongue until it stiffened impossibly.

He heard Carolyn suck in a deep breath as he closed his mouth. She tasted good, smelled good. She moved, arched, sighed, rocked. Every part of her body responded to him and the moment.

David covered her body with his, settled his legs between hers. He wanted to feel her quiver, to give those little shakes that he had discovered their first night together. He wanted to hear her pant, trying to hold back her response.

She groaned, lifting her hips higher, seeking him.

He let more of his weight rest on her. Their bodies touched all the way down. David didn't attempt to join with her; he had to control it, the pleasure had to be hers, all hers.

He kissed her. He, in his self-imposed exile, had never had a woman need him so much. She told him so in husky, little whimpers and breathy little sighs.

"Just feel," he said as he entered her just a little.

"Oh, Jesus, you feel so good." It was all the encouragement he needed to go even more slowly, to feel her wrap her hot velvet slickness around him, little by little, to feel her squeeze him from within, to feel the waves of her climax, one after another after another as he slowly filled her.

David cradled her butt with both hands, bringing her up tightly to him, putting pressure where it would take her higher. Again he felt her squeeze him from within; again she cried out, that little death.

He ducked his head and drew a hard nipple into his mouth at the moment he felt her peak. He was amazed at the power of her reaction as she wrapped her long legs around him higher. Hard, rhythmic thrusts... heat... an intense mix of her long, low moan and her teeth sinking into his shoulder then he joined her in pleasure, the explosion of light in his mind a far distance from the gentleness he had started from.

Carolyn melted beneath him, although her arms stayed around him, keeping him where he lay. David absorbed the experience, waited for the pleasure to wane and the surprise to settle.

Where would they go from here? he wondered. He thought of marriage... marriage to her. What would that be like? So many things to think about.

On her drive home, Carolyn had plenty to think about. She'd never been kissed so well, leaving her feeling almost drugged from the way he used his mouth to arouse her. It had been wonderful, even though he hadn't given her a chance to return the exploration of his body... and then, the moment he'd eased into her, filling her so completely and beautifully, she'd climaxed. The instant they joined... incredible.

Was it because it had been such a long, long time for her? No, it was him.

Carolyn smiled.

That night, the phone rang. It was him. "Hi..." she said, softly.

"Hi..." He lay on the bed, phone to his ear, his mind imagining her on her own bed, her smooth, mocha skin beneath a silk nightgown. He couldn't see her nipples but in his mind she lay with her breasts together.

"Tell me about your life," settling into her pillow, Carolyn said, quietly... 

"... and so, the ROTC gave me the money to finish college. I hadn't planned on doing it in the beginning but the costs just became too much. That's why I have the two degrees, biology and engineering... when Evangelina was killed by that drunk, it destroyed me. We were going to be married, as soon as I graduated and went into the Air Force. I withdrew from the world, the depression was so bad and so I volunteered to go to Korea... just to get away..."

He stopped speaking, remembering his time in the backseat of the Strike Eagle.

Silence.

"David?"

Silence.

"David... are you OK?"

"Let me talk to you, tomorrow..." He hung up.

Carolyn wondered what demon she had unleashed from his memory and was uncomfortable at how the call ended.

**********

Chapter 3: Promises made... promises kept...

Friday was moving too slowly for him. He had assigned his geology students the task of mapping out each quake on a AAA map, his oceanography students were finishing up an intricate lab assignment concerning wave motion and his advanced biology students were still struggling with the concept of viral infections. As usual, AIDS played a large part of his lectures. Even though he had three preps, the material was so interesting he didn't mind at all. If you weren't interested in what you were teaching, how could you expect your students to be? And... science was always being renewed. When's the last time anything worthwhile had been discovered about Shakespeare?

As soon as the three o'clock bell rang, his cell phone buzzed. It was Carolyn, he happily saw. "Hi..." he said, quietly.

"Hi..."

"I missed you. Are you going to tonight's game?" he asked.

"I don't know. Would it be like last week? Or, would we actually watch the game, this time?" She laughed. It sounded like wind chimes and Christmas bells and stardust and moonbeams.

"I'm open to suggestions. Early dinner?" David started one-handedly closing the windows.

"I'd love to."

"How soon can you get here?" he devilishly asked.

There was a knock on the open door and an angel in the doorway. "Soon enough?"

They went to Souplantation. 

"I've never been here," she said, pushing her tray toward the bread.

"It's a healthy place if you go easy on the salad dressing and butter. They have these great muffins and I love their sourdough." He looked for a private table. It was hard to talk about things surrounded by an audience of diners.

"I don't see you as a muffin man. The muffin man..." She smiled, picking one up and putting it on her plate. "Blueberry... I haven't had a blueberry muffin in the longest..."

"I'm glad, then." They sat near the window, away from others. He placed his hand on hers. "Carolyn... I'm so glad I met you." He squeezed her hand, gently.

"Me, too," she whispered, smiling with those beautiful white teeth and full lips.

**********

Saturday took its own time in coming but it finally arrived. Friday after the game, Carolyn had gone home with her family after picking up her car from his house. As much as he regretted seeing her drive away, he knew it was for the best. He needed time to think. Questions flooded his mind... would he be able to keep her happy, once the blush of new love had faded and reality set in?

She wondered what he'd say if she told him she woke in the night and found herself listening for the sound of his breathing, reaching out for the warmth of his body. She couldn't tell him that... it was too soon.

All morning, David nervously straightened his house. Vacuuming the hallway, he noticed his 'me' wall where he had years ago put his almost forgotten Air Force medals and college degrees. He was so used to passing by them they had just disappeared into his subconscious. 

He put his finger on his picture with Captain Leon Jones, in front of their F-15, "Crazy Ace". That last flight out of Edwards was insane, still just a lieutenant flying as Leon's 'whizzo'. The Vought ASM-135 ASAT gave them a hell of a time but they still were able to hit the Chinese platform with the missile. He was sorely tempted to remove everything from the wall but realized it was part of who he was, that's all. Then, he realized he had three model F-15s on a shelf in the den. They had been there so long, they, too, had just disappeared in the background clutter of life.

He already made the mistake, a humble mistake but a mistake, nevertheless, of telling Carolyn he hadn't done more than just his duty while in the service. And, it was true, at least in his own mind, if not that of his commanders'. He did what he had to do, what he was told to do, just as her late husband had done. He was just lucky, that's all. He shuddered, remembering how close he and Leon had come to dying as they released the ASAT at 55,000 feet in a vertical climb.

His time resulted in several medals, including the Air and Space Campaign Medal and the Distinguished Service Medal and one locked up at CIA headquarters for that last flight. His Overseas Service Ribbon marked his official time in South Korea following Evangelina's death when he just needed to leave while the rest came from his time at LAAFS. Satellites had changed the manner of warfare... at least, he knew, until World War Four arrived and everybody used rocks.

He left them on the wall... hoping that Carolyn either wouldn't notice or not think much of them. The last time she was here, it was dimly lit and they were thinking of something quite different than a tour of the house.

**********

David put the steaks on the grill, listening to the hiss of the meat as it touched the hot metal. One inch thick, he thought... eight minutes to a side.

Michael walked over and handed him an A&W. "How much longer?" While Kendra was her usual happy self, he could tell there was tension in Michael's voice. 

David looked at his cell, trying not to look too nervous. "Oh, probably about ten minutes, now." "Close game..." he ventured. 

"Yeah... they were better than we thought. Next week, it'll be worse. North is also undefeated." The boy looked right at him, as if looking at him for the first time.

"How's the team?"

"All right... Coach says not to get full of ourselves or we'll give away the game." There was a pause. "You're sleeping with my mom, aren't you?"

David looked at the boy. "I'm not trying to replace your father."

The boy stood there, his hands clenched and then he put them into his pockets. "She's happy but I don't want to see her hurt. You're the first man that she's been with since Dad was killed." 

While not intimidated by the boy, David did step back, establishing his personal space, again. "I like your mom... a lot. That's all I can say. I know you're her son and feel protective but all I can say is that I won't hurt her, I promise."

"Yeah, well, Dad promised, too... promised to come home..." Michael walked away. 

He turned. "Promises don't mean much."

David wasn't too surprised. No boy liked the idea of his mother sleeping with someone not his father. Even with Kendra on his side, Michael's recalcitrant attitude could cause a tremendous amount of trouble for him. The boy had been eight years old when his father died. He was sure there was resentment, but of what? Sleeping with his mother? Probably some of that... or, was the boy fighting a long dead specter? How to deal with it, though...

Carolyn saw her son talking with her lover. Her hands tensed, nervously wondering just what they were saying. A flash of anger crossed Michael's face and she saw him walk away. Oh, God, she thought, now what? She had feared something like that might happen. What did Michael say to him?

"Steaks are ready," David said, breaking into her fear. "Who's hungry?" He purposely gave the boy the largest steak. "I love your coleslaw. I could eat it forever," he said. 




Dark Kisses Pt. 02



Copyright @ calibeachgirl and Jim Crowell
All rights reserved, 2011

**********

Chapter 4: I left my heart...

Carolyn had a smile on her face until she went into the kitchen to fix dinner for Kendra and herself. Opening the freezer, she looked to see what there was... frozen burritos... corn dogs... God, she thought, is there anything in here worth eating? How has my grocery shopping become so skewed to a teenage diet? She looked at her butt's reflection in the back door window, wondering how she looked to David...

"Kendra! Do you want corn dogs or burritos?" God, what a choice... what am I doing to my health, eating all this junk food? to Kendra's and Michael's? She ran her fingers around her waist, wondering how she felt to him.

"I don't care, Mom. Whatever you want," Kendra yelled back from her bedroom, intent on listening to Gym Class Heroes.

Great, thought Carolyn. It's on me. Let's see what else we have. I've got to go grocery shopping... how did I let it get like this? This is awful.

She opened the pantry door, peered inside and then pulled out a can of olives and a bag of croutons. From the refrigerator, she picked up a sad and lonely head of lettuce, what was left of the tomatoes and a couple of boiled eggs. A healthy salad... well, maybe not so healthy after putting on the dressing but much better than a soggy, micro-waved corn dog or two. I'll go easy on the bleu cheese, that's all.

After dinner, Carolyn sat down and started a shopping list for the next day. She walked back to the pantry and looked again, realizing the empty shelves were damning evidence of her frustration with life before David. She was hot-faced ashamed and started writing and writing and writing.

Michael came home an hour later and she made him a sandwich with the last boiled egg.

At Costco the next afternoon, she soon found herself pushing one cart and pulling another, stopping every time there was a sample to be tasted. Cases of food, boxes of food, cans of food... there was something new in each aisle that caught her attention and she just had to have. Maybe, she thought, getting the second cart wasn't such a good idea, after all.

"$438.43, please."

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

**********

"Wow, Mom! Fish and steak fries... what's the occasion?" Kendra sat down, watching her mother pull dinner out of the oven. "Grandmother says 'hello.'"

"And, ice cream for dessert, too," Carolyn answered. "We're going to be eating healthier from now on, especially that the season is almost over. How is grandma?" I just don't know how I'm going to pay for it, is all. 

Just then, Michael came in. "What smells so... food! Wow, Mom, what happened?" He plopped down on his chair and picked up a fork, pulling the rest of the baked fries onto his plate. "Thanks, Mom." He started to shovel food into his mouth.

"David got us all tickets to the game and we're flying up," Kendra informed her brother. "And... we're going to San Francisco, too."

Michael was quiet and then he spoke directly at his sister. "Oh? David did, did he? It's David, now?" He finished his dinner in silence and went to his room, leaving his sister alone at the table and his mother at the sink.

"Well..." said Kendra, "that went well... he's SO stupid, Mom."

"Kendra!" Carolyn put her head onto her palm and stared at her plate, knowing that Michael was going to be a problem. What could she do, torn between her son and her lover? If she let Michael control her life, she would become a lonely, old woman always wondering 'what if'? He was going to break her heart if she let him.

Kendra put her hand on her mother's back but Carolyn just cried, "leave me alone, just leave me alone."

The next morning, Carolyn was still there sound asleep on her arms when Kendra came into the kitchen. She resolved to speak to her brother, once more. His attitude was going to ruin everyone's lives if he continued.

***********

"Love is so hard to find," the television psychologist said, "and when it arrives, go with it." The show went to a commercial break, the advertisement showing the benefits of Cialis for 'when the mood arises.' 

The show came back on. Carolyn sat on her sofa, listening to the woman as she spoke of lost loves and later-in-life marriages. She thought of her own marriage to John. There were good times but there were SO many bad times.

"When you're older," she continued, "you know what you want in life and are much more mature in your outlook. No one wants to go to bed alone but don't go to bed with someone you don't really, totally love. And, watch your money. Ladies, those of you who've lost your husband... wouldn't he want you to be happy in life?"

She thought of her lover, how quickly she had fallen for him and realized she didn't even have a picture of David. She knew he didn't have one of her and determined to change that as soon as possible. She had to watch this show, more often. When it was over, she went upstairs looking for a photograph she could frame and give to him. While she was going through photo albums, she thought about what he had asked her... twice.

**********

In his otherwise empty house, David was staring at everything he had spread on his kitchen island counter. He didn't know why, but the impulse to bake a loaf of bread had struck on the way home and he had stopped at the grocery store. On a cookie tray, he had a large ball of dough waiting to be put into the oven.

The oven beeped and he slid the tray in, hoping for the best. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

That night, he had fresh, hot bread for dinner. That's all he ate, with melted butter and strawberry jam. The flavor was so different from anything he ever tasted before. He wished Carolyn was there with him, sitting at the kitchen table, maybe Kendra and Michael, too. He knew he was going to be sorry in the morning but he didn't care. It was just too good to stop, like making love to her. He licked at a dripping bit of jam. God, this is so good...

It was close to ten o'clock when he called Carolyn. "Guess what I did?" he asked, still high on his kitchen accomplishment.

"What?"

His happy mood instantly disappeared when he found her to be unsettled.

"Carolyn, what's the matter? You can tell me." What was happening with her? Her mood swings were beginning to worry him.

"It's Michael. He's... I don't know what he is... he's angry... at me."

Silence. He could hear her start to cry.

"Because of me, isn't it?" Shit! That kid is going to be a bigger problem than I thought. What to do? What to do? "It'll work out. Please, stop crying, baby, you know I love you. I'll talk with him and try and explain."

"David, it's not just you."

"It's all about his father, isn't it? He has trust issues. I understand that. I'll do the best I can but I don't want to lose you. You have no idea how much I love you." He looked at the bedside alarm. "Tonight, can you dream of me? And the life we can have together?"

Through her sniffles, he could just make out her acceptance of his wish. "Good night, David. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

His phone went silent and he turned it off. It was late and he was more tired than he realized. Though he liked to listen to the radio at night, he fell asleep before the KFI eleven o'clock news even began.

She couldn't sleep and put "Bridget Jones' Diary" into her bedroom DVD player.

**********

His anticipated upset stomach the next morning never occurred, much to his relief. He wished he had saved some bread for a sandwich and laughed at his greedy appetite the night before.

David went into the garage and picked up his box of coprolites, knowing full well his students' reaction once he told them what they were. His oceanography students were going to design model surfboards from balsa. Barbie was going to go surfing, once again... and the geology students were still working on the massive amount of data generated from the USGS following the earthquakes. You never knew where life lessons were going to come from.

"Kendra, may I see you after class, please?"

"Yes, Mr. Christy."

He never had been a clock watcher, always speaking until the very last second, sometimes getting cut off by the bell, always demanding they stay seated until he had finished talking. Never had the last five minutes taken so long to end.

"It's about Michael, isn't it?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Your mother was crying last night." The memory of her tears was still raw, still fresh in his mind. Is this what love is all about?

"She was crying since dinner time. He's been very rude... ever since..."

"I started seeing your mother?" What else can I say? It's the truth.

"Yes. I can talk to you at lunch." Kendra headed for the door.

"All right, I'll wait here." He watched her walk out the door, wondering if she would be in his life after graduation.

The noon bell rang and Kendra waited until his classroom was empty of other students. She shared the top of his desk and opened her cold-pak lunch box. "Look what I've got," she said, pulling out a banana, a yogurt and a nicely done roast beef sandwich with lettuce and tomato.

David looked at his own meager offerings and laughed. "I'm going to have to get your mom to fix my lunch from now on."

"I don't know what happened, but she went shopping at Costco and brought home what she called 'healthy' food. So, now, we're eating healthy. Want my banana? I don't like bananas."

"Kendra, dear, what am I going to do about Michael? He doesn't seem to like me, I guess."

"That's not so much it as he's SO angry at our father for not coming back. There's a lot of anger and disappointment."

"And, not with you?"

"I had Mom; you know, for girls it's different and Michael grew up without a father... and, I like you and he doesn't. He and you are just so diametrically opposed and when I began to like oceanography, it made him dislike you even further."

That Wednesday, the school played their traditional rivals in the quarter finals. When they walked in the junior college's gym, David was amazed by the 6000 fans already there. Two crowds, separated by a valley floor of a basketball court, ready to kill each other given half a chance.

"Surprised?" Kendra asked.

"Oh, yeah," he said, nervously. He decided it was smarter to be quiet than look any more ignorant than he had already. He had shut out so much of his students' life and the tribal intensity between the two schools brought him back to the Korean DMZ.

Carolyn took his hand and pointed to their seats halfway up. "We're over there," she said, bringing him back to the present. School colors and gang colors all blended into a deadly palette of reds and blues.

As they walked up the bleachers, fifty or so of his students stood up. "Hey, Mr. Christy! Good lookin' out!" They gave him fist pumps and he smiled, self-consciously and gave a bit of a wave. It never occurred to him what the possible fallout would be if their romance became public. So far, though, he hoped everything just looked friendly. How do I get myself into these problems? he wondered and then looked at Carolyn and knew.

He tried to pay attention to the game but still found the referees' calls too confusing. It seemed every time the players were running from one end of the court to the other, throwing the ball around the key as they called it, the whistle was blown and play came to a halt. No wonder the last two minutes took a lifetime. The squeak of the players' shoes against the hardwood was driving him crazy, and the stone-cold stares from across the way were chilling. I spent three years in Korea so these kids could do this?

He took out his phone and texted Carolyn. "I LOVE YOU," he sent.

His phone chirped. "I LUV U 2"

"HOW MUCH LONGER WITH THIS GAME?" he texted back.

"2 LONG LOL"

"LATE NIGHT TREAT?"

"WHAT U GOT IN MIND?"

"NOT THAT. ICE CREAM?"

"K"

David looked at Kendra, jumping up and down with the rest of the crowd as the ball changed hands during the night. He looked at the scoreboard clock... almost a minute left and the team had a good lead, he thought. He had read two books about coaching basketball and waited for the inevitable fouling to take place in a desperate attempt to gain control of the ball by the other team. He just wished he understood why the refs were always calling fouls. The playing looked good to him but he knew he was just as naïve about the game as he was before the books.

When the game-ending buzzer finally sounded, Michael's team won by fourteen points... the last several courtesy of blatant fouls that even David understood as one player went down and it looked like both bleachers were going to empty onto the court.

"So, Michael..." said David, "who do you think you're going to play Friday?"

Michael looked up from his ice cream. "Probably Lincoln Prep from San Diego..."

David tried his best to draw the young man out but to no avail and he eventually gave up. He looked down at his melted ice cream and put his spoon down, his appetite gone and at a loss at what to do.

**********

"Saw you last night at the game. Was that Mrs. Smith with you?" The short, pudgy, disagreeable math teacher sat at the faculty room lunch table, a smirk on his face. 

"What's you point, Jones?" David was tired of the little man; he was a yapping dog fussing with his pants cuff. He reached into his mailbox and pulled out the memos there.

"No reason to get all huffy about it... I was just saying..."

"Too damn much. Shut the... shut up and mind your own business." David looked at the rest of the teachers there, shocked looks still on their faces. He walked out and down the long hallway to his classroom at the other end of the campus.

Jones never knew how close he came to losing his teeth.

**********

Saturday at midnight, Carolyn found herself standing in line with David, waiting to see "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." All around her were people dressed insanely and when the film finally played and they jumped up to dance...

"Oh, my God," she said, just watching the wild gyrations in the aisles. When she was hit in the head with a piece of toast, she stood up and threw it back, starting a barrage of food, popcorn and empty drink cups flying through the theatre.

"Three o'clock in the morning and we're having ice cream sundaes." She licked the whipped cream from her spoon.

"Well... it IS Sunday morning, after all." He gave her the whipped cream and cherry from his chocolate fudge milk shake. 

"Sorry we got thrown out." 

"Baby, you've got some popcorn still in your hair." She self-consciously looked around the almost empty restaurant. "And, you wait until now before you tell me?" She brushed through her dark curls, found the offending food and threw it at her lover. "Silly white boy..."

"Chocolate girl..." He opened his mouth just enough to run his tongue over his lips. "Easter's coming and I'm going to get a bite."

"Stop that, people are looking."

"There's nobody here but some cops." David waved at the two laughing policemen eating breakfast. "We'll go when they leave. I haven't ever been here this late and don't want to take you out in the parking lot... you know, just us."

He set his spoon down. "Carolyn, you know I love you and I'd like to take this to the next level."

"And, I love you, David, but what next level? We're already sleeping together."

"I'm asking you to marry me, Carolyn."

"Oh, David..." she said, hesitantly.

The police got up and David threw a ten on the table. "C'mon."

When she drove away from his house that morning, he realized she had never answered him... for the third time.

**********

When the team made it to the state finals, first thing Monday morning David phoned and bought three plane tickets on Southwest for Oakland and then called Carolyn. "I've got the tickets, honey. Pack your bags for Friday morning; we're all going to the game!"

"Oh, David, thank you! This will be so much fun." She was relieved, unsure whether he would be able to get tickets in time, unsure whether he'd want to spend so much money on watching a basketball game, unsure how she was so lucky but that he loved her, that she was sure.

"We'll rent a car and go to San Francisco the next day and fly back Sunday with the team," he assured her. "You'll... you'll both have a good time." And, so will I, he thought, lecherously, dreaming of her inviting, mocha-chocolate body waiting for him.

"It's been years since I've been there and it will be fantastic for Kendra. I think Michael is going to stay with his team, though. That's OK; we can always go back during the summer." Maybe, take in the wine country, too, he hoped. A prolonged honeymoon? He had the whole summer free. Who really knows what the future would bring?

Carolyn put her phone down. Without David's help, it had been unlikely they would have been able to attend the game if not impossible and then, like a guardian angel, he had filled their lives with hope... her life with hope... her life with love. She had so much to thank Kendra for but was still embarrassed how quickly she had gone to bed with him. 

Late at night, when she thought of him, her fingers sought out and found just that special spot, bringing her a greater ecstasy than ever before. What a strange, magic hold he had on her.

**********

Tuesday afternoon, he was correcting another group of student essays when his cell rang.

"Hey, Baby, I missed you," she said. "You didn't call this morning... am I old news, already?"

"What? No, no, no... I just have a lot..." he stammered.

"I'm just playing with you, Baby..." Carolyn laughed. "Can you see me, tonight?"

"Uh, sure," he said, looking at the stack of papers on his kitchen table. "Where?" There was a knock on the door. "Wait a sec, there's someone at the door."

He opened the door and there she was, wearing a yellow raincoat and nothing else.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?"

"Shameless hussy... I've been looking for you."

He gazed at her in that intense way she had quickly come to know, all his attention focused completely on her and her heart began to beat in a response she couldn't control.

David took Carolyn's hand and led her from the living room to the bedroom, pulling the door closed as he did. Then, without hurry, he pulled her into his arms. He slid his hand around the nape of her neck, underneath her curls and drew her toward him as he moved to close the gap between them. 

Carolyn went eagerly, if slowly, into his arms, ready and willing. David's white hands were strong and possessive on her dark shoulders and their warmth remained even as his hands lifted to touch her face with the same possessive assurance that she was his. His gaze held steady on hers, keeping her a willing participant, until the moment he bent his head and her eyes drifted closed.

Somewhere in her heart, she began to tremble as she had each time they came together. She breathed in his scent and then his mouth was on hers and her head was beating, her heart spinning.

His mouth was warm, moving over hers with a slow, potent seduction that made her body soften and sway toward his. She knew she didn't have a hope of resisting him.

Nothing made sense and nothing else mattered except his touch, his feel... nothing else mattered except his lips, moving against her full ones in small circles, luring her deeper into his kiss, making her aware that all the kisses she had ever had were nothing and that David was the only one who had the faintest idea how it should be done. She'd never been kissed so... thoroughly... or tenderly... or with such love.

He pulled back, keeping one hand braced against the wall, one hand curved around her waist... Carolyn noticed he wasn't too steady, either. She was sure his breathing was as shallow as her own and she thought it was his heartbeat she felt beneath her palm, pulsing hard and fast.




Dark Kisses Pt. 02



She thought she heard a little sound and dimly recognized it as coming from her. Every nerve in her body was alive, throbbing and there was a new heat inside her, surging beyond her ability to control. She was losing control. She had lost control. She responded helplessly, her mouth opening beneath his beneath the increasing force of his and when his tongue glided between her lips, the sensual possession of the caress was shockingly and wildly exciting. 

"I had to make sure it wasn't my imagination," he whispered. Carolyn looked into his eyes, knowing what would happen, again. This wasn't supposed to happen, not like this, not this fast, not this sudden rush of desire, not after all these years alone.

His lips captured hers again, tasting her with tender, tantalizing nips and slow strokes of his tongue. Carolyn leaned into the kiss, almost swallowing him into her soul.

He'd never wanted someone as much as he did her. There was some magic spell on his soul and he couldn't have escaped even if he wanted to...

Her ebony arms went around his neck, and as she drew his head down to hers, David gave up to her sorcery. He only knew that her breath was sweet and warm and her lips were soft and warm and her body was warm and he could lose his life in it.

He picked her up and carefully carried her to the bed.

A new boldness blazed through Carolyn as she sank into the mattress and pulled David down with her. She was exactly where she wanted to be gave her nearly as much pleasure as the feel of his lips on hers, his arms around her, the hardness of his body pressing into hers. Even before John, no other man had ever filled her senses with this urgency. She wanted him. She wanted him. She wanted him. She wanted her David. She wanted to be naked in this bedroom, in his bed, with him. She wanted to make love with him and she wanted to wake up in the morning and find him still here beside her. She had wished David into her life and she was going to wish him into staying in her life, wish him into the husband she'd dreamed of having.

She watched David shed his pants and then felt his touch on her bare breasts as he put tantalizing circles with his tongue. He licked each willing nipple and then nibbled at the silken valley between them even as his hand slid across her stomach and down to stroke her thigh. Carolyn wanted to cry out her please in groaning repetitions of his name but his mouth closed over hers, silencing her, giving her a new taste of delight, a new sensation to distract the voices inside her, a new urgency to occupy her thoughts.

He loved her with his hands, covering every inch of her with his exploring touch and he loved her with his lips, trailing kisses over her dark skin until she was hot and wet and so needy she ached. She loved him with her fingertips, feeling the hardness of his body, the hair that covered his chest, the thick, hot desire of him that pulsed against her touch.

She stopped. His stroking hand had found a sensitive low spot and she couldn't think, much less move. Then David made love to her.

No more teasing caresses, no more playful touches... he kissed her hard and long and deep, replacing lighter touches with a sweeping hunger that demanded possession. All or nothing... he asked her body to respond and promised fulfillment in return. He took her surrender and allowed her to command his.

No part of her denied him access and when his full weight pressed her down and down into the smooth sheets, Carolyn took him inside herself... took his body into hers... took his lips with her own... took his passion and his need and in a single splendid moment, when there was only the beating of one heart, the singular stoke of one consuming passion, she gave him all the magic of her love, knowing she could never take it back.

She felt him move slowly into her, filling her again. She could feel herself stretch as he pushed further and then slid back, just a little, just enough before moving deeper. She moved against him, unwilling to wait, wanting him deep and hard and hot and as he pushed again, she grabbed him and pulled him all the way in and then moved her fingers to her own pleasure.

"Uuuhhhh," she moaned as he waited a moment and then together they began to move and then bounce as the mattress gave a cushiony boost to their lovemaking.

His head went to rest on her shoulder and he could smell her citrus scent, his auburn hair brushing against her dusky skin and his mouth opened, sucking her hard enough that she knew it would leave a mark the next morning Mark me, David, she screamed in her heart, make me yours. She could feel him tense as she squeezed him with her body and then explode deep within her being and then she felt the hot, slick wetness fill her as he stopped moving.

Her fingers moved a few more times and then she came, shaking against him as she brought herself to orgasm.

"I'll never be able to think about this room without blushing."

He kissed her shoulders, her breasts, her lips, her nose. "Me, neither."

"Oh, yeah?" she accused, rolling on top of him. "Prove it."

Early Wednesday morning, David woke to find Carolyn still sleeping next to him. He wanted to ask her, again. Why did she hesitate? How stupid am I, he asked himself, asking her to marry me in a hamburger shop?

He lifted his head at last and even though she was still sleepy, she could see he felt the power of what was between them as intensely as she did. She wanted to ask him what he felt but the words wouldn't emerge past her throat. Every instinct told her not to move too hastily... she needed time... and yet, here she was, in his bed after making love to him all night long and for days since they met.

David smiled. "Hey, Babe, don't you have to get home?"

"Michael is at a friend's house and Kendra knows where I am. I never want to lose you." She ran her fingers through his reddish-brown hair, twisting it a bit.

"Ha... ha... ha... you little minx... you'll never lose me unless you want to throw me away. You're my black magic woman and you've put a spell on me." Carlos Santana wandered through his mind... Oh, yeah, he thought, yes, you got your spell on me, baby... yes; I want you to love me...

"I'll bet you have that song, too, don't you?" she teased.

"Of course, I do, waiting for my own black magic woman."

"David, does it make any difference to you that I'm black?" She tensed, wondering if there WAS a right answer.

"Oh, my God, you're black? No, Baby, it only makes a difference that you love me and only me, right now. No, Carolyn, all I saw was your flashing smile that day you were in my classroom doorway and your incredible curly hair."

"Is that it?"

"Well, I do like your butt..."

"You're bad... you're a bad, bad man."

"Maybe, but I'm your bad man."

Silence.

"Yes, I know. David?"

"Mmmmm?"

"I... I love you, David... I haven't felt this way, ever. I don't know what happened. I saw you that day and you were fooling around with that starfish and suddenly there was no one else in the world. It was as if someone had cast a magic spell on me... but, I can't tell you yes, now. Can you wait for me?"

"C'mere, Baby, I want to show you something."

"You bad, bad man. Make love to me, white boy."

*********

"Don't forget, next week is our trip up Angeles Crest. Permission slips are due tomorrow along with your $30 for the bus and lunch. Remember, everyone is expected to get a sample of anorthosite... easier than going to the moon. Questions? No, then make sure you've downloaded the field guide by Crowell before the weekend so you can read it. I'll be asking questions for the lab practicum. Remember, it's one-third your final grade."

The bell rang and the geology class meandered out the door. Kendra walked in.

"Hey, Kendra... ready for Friday?"

"Yes, Dave... Mr. Christy... Mom wants to know if she should, uh, bring anything special."

"Special? What... oh. Why didn't she just call? This is..."

"Kinda embarrassing? That's OK. When she talks to you on the phone, she says she forgets everything else. When it comes to you, we..."

"You're kidding..." Damn!

"Gotta go... oh, yeah, call her at lunch. Later." Kendra ran out the room, unwilling to take yet another tardy because of him. One more and she'd have an afterschool. Damn class, got to be on the other end of campus, she complained to herself as she kept running, hoping to beat the bell.

Lunch time finally arrived. Ever since he began this strange and wonderful romance, his classroom clock ran slower and slower until sometimes it seemed to stop completely.

His phone vibrated. "Carolyn, I was just going to call you."

"I couldn't wait. What do you want me to bring?"

"For Friday? Well, it's going to be chilly so a coat..."

"Not for that, silly, for... you know..."

That afternoon, Kendra went back to her grand mère's house.

"Kendra, ma chère fille, comment allez toi?"

"Bien, bien... mais j'ai un problème avec Michael."

**********

The flight Friday morning... it took longer to board the plane than the flight north but at least their rental car was waiting for them at the airport and the short drive to the hotel was filled by Kendra excitedly talking about everything, especially her first airplane trip. She had spent the entire flight looking out the window at the passing California landscape, determined to make the most of every passing moment.

"Yes, sir," said the woman behind the counter, "two bedroom suite, two nights, that'll be on your VISA... sign here, please." The trip was costing him a week's pay but he didn't care. It was his first time to act with them like a family and he wanted to make the most of it, for better or worse. It was better to find out now than months later. He smiled... months later. He prayed there would be a 'months later.'

"Fifteenth floor... this way, ladies," David said, carrying Carolyn's and his carryon bags while Kendra took her own to the elevator. The elevator rapidly rose from the lobby to the outside of the hotel wall, giving the young woman a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Whoa!" she said, hanging onto the side of the elevator as it came to a halt at their floor. The doors finally opened and she almost ran into the hallway to get away from the wide-open look of the glass-enclosed elevator. David did all he could not to laugh although the elevator did remind him of his last F-15 check-ride.

"Fifteen-ten... here we are." David slipped the keycard into the door-slot and stepped back, letting his ladies walk in.

"Oh, my," Carolyn said, looking at the suite. "Are you sure, David? This must have cost a lot of money."

"We're not going to the state finals every day, are we? Besides, nothing's too good for my girls. Kendra, I think you're in that room, OK?"

She went into the room and bounced on the bed. "This'll be fun..." She looked at her mother who had followed her into the room. "It's OK, Mom. I'm fine with you and David. It was my idea, remember. It's all good... really. I brought my music in case it gets too loud. I'm a big girl. Have a good time." 

He kissed her fingers, each one in turn, slipping his tongue between, making love to her hand, sucking them into his mouth.

"Oh, you and your tongue," she laughed. Carolyn smiled in the soft afternoon light... She hummed... une chanson d'amour dans son coeur... a love song in her heart.

Soft tugs pulled off her blouse. The touch of his fingers was cool at first but quickly warmed on her skin. Tender kisses came next, to the back of her shoulder, along her neck, around her face...

She laughed. He didn't. His gaze was too busy moving over her; his fingers too interested in sliding up her thigh.

She put her arms around him and David pulled her close. After a minute, he leaned back and she looked at him. His Irish good looks, from his dark auburn hair to his gold-flecked amber eyes, sharp as ever, made her heart beat faster.

His lips were warm and loving as they brushed across hers but after a few soft tastes of her, all gentleness disappeared. His kisses became deeper, his mouth hungry. She hooked her arms around his neck and worked herself into his lap.

A few minutes later, David's body was covering hers and she found her way back to sweet oblivion as she lay back on the bed. She welcomed her lover as he pushed into her, made her gasp and then they began a rhythmic bouncing on the bed.

Kendra smiled and turned up her music. Missy Elliot would cover the sounds of her mother's moans, she was sure.

Later, David drove them through crazy traffic and one-way streets into San Francisco's Chinatown, ending eventually at an old Italian restaurant in the North Beach's Little Italy. 

"Tomorrow, we'll come back and ride the cable cars, go to Pier 39 and have lunch at Fisherman's Wharf. How's that sound?"

That night, she wore what she had brought for less than five minutes before it was on the floor.

**********

The next morning, they left early to drive across the Bridge into Marin County and then back again before riding the cable cars. He couldn't help but think of Rice-a-Roni as the cable car bells dinged down the street.

Lunch at Fisherman's Number 9 was followed by a look at Alcatraz and buying a loaf of hot sourdough bread and then a walk down the Embarcadero to Pier 39 to do souvenir shopping before returning in time for the game.

For the first time all season, they lost... lost by nine points. It was a quiet flight home and David was surprised at the team's reaction. They had come to the state finals, after all. There was no shame in that. How many other teams never reached that height? Pretty much, all of them, he thought, pretty much all of them.

The only time you didn't want to come in second was in love and war.

**********

Chapter 5: All's fair...

Carolyn shrieked as David tossed her over his shoulder and carried her into the bedroom and then dumped her on the bed. He straddled her thighs, undid her jeans and tugged them past her knees and off. He reached for his belt buckle and then his zipper and pulled his pants and shorts down and kicked them away.

"I hope you don't want a lot of foreplay right now." He was hot and hard and his erection strained to reach her.

"As a matter of fact..." She pulled him down. "...no."

She sucked in a breath as their flesh touched. He didn't give her a second to enjoy it before he kissed her, aggressively, thoroughly, memorably. She loved the feel of him pressed against her, hard and masculine, ready to take her to paradise. Carolyn reached down to guide him, felt him jerk to her touch, heard the soft words he whispered, encouraging her.

"Ah... you feel so good," he moaned as their bodies merged and caught fire. She moved against him, seeking a tighter union. He thrust harder, deeper. She cried out. He called her name and then only the sound of hard breathing filled the room.

"So," she finally said, "a quickie, huh?"

"Yes." He kissed her leisurely until she moaned and shifted beneath him. "Feel good?"

"I feel used, wonderfully used." She sighed. "Je t'aime. I love you. Faire l'amour à moi."

He wanted her again. He wanted to strip off all her clothes and spend a week with her with nothing between them. He didn't want to make a mistake.

David pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, burying his face in her wonderful curls, smelling that citrus scent that followed her everywhere.

"David?"

"Yes, Baby?"

She touched his cheek. "You need to shave."

**********

Carolyn saw the picture on her bedroom dresser. Taken at Pier 39 by Kendra, it showed David and her walking along, holding hands and looking at the Bay. Looking at the smile on her face as she was with him... her daughter had captured her feelings perfectly. She wished that moment could have lasted forever; they were so happy and carefree.

Michael had not taken the loss well and she could do nothing to bring him out of his funk. He would come home from school and stay in his room, coming out only for dinner or going outside to shoot angry baskets in the driveway. The continual thump-thump-thump of the ball was driving her crazy but she didn't know what to do.

She finished dressing and left for work.

"Ms. Smith, may I see you please?" 

Carolyn saved her document and followed Jack, her manager into his office. He closed the door and turned to face her. "I'm going to make this as easy as I can. I'm sorry; it's a case of..."

"...last hired, first fired?" She gripped the chair arms, her fingers so tight her skin paled and hurt.

"Yes. I'm sorry, I really am but there's nothing I can do. You and two others are being let go today, probably another three next week. I tried to save everyone by going to part-time but even after three months, it wasn't enough. Maybe, I'll be next after that, I don't know. I will give you excellent references, I assure you but there's nothing I can do."

"Uh, thank you," she said, more shocked than anything else. Now what? she desperately wondered. Now what am I going to do?

Dazed, she walked to her car and it wasn't until she was sitting behind the wheel that she started crying. Although it had become a part-time job, it was still a job and in this economy, she doubted another was going to be easy to find. Competing with younger college graduates starving to make a place in the world for themselves was an almost impossible task. Experience no longer mattered. What am I going to do, now?

She was still sitting in the car, too upset to drive when her cell rang. It was David, her David... how did he know she needed him? "Helllll... hello, David?"

"Carolyn, what's wrong? You're crying..."

"I lost my job... oh, David, what am I going to do now?"

"Don't panic. Let's meet at my house at four and figure this out. OK, darling?"

"OK... David..." He called me 'darling.'

"Yes, baby?"

"Thank you." She sat in the car a long while before slowly driving home.

**********

Carolyn was parked in front of his house when he arrived and as he met her on the front porch, she ran into his arms. David put his arm around her and unlocked the door. All her strength seemed to disappear.

Leaving her on the sofa, he went into the kitchen and got her a bottle of cold Perrier. "Here, Honey, drink this... slowly, now."

She wiped her tears across her sleeve and drank a little water. "I lost my job today, David, and I'm won't be able to make the mortgage too much longer without it. Even with the benefits for the kids and the life insurance... we'll lose the house without the extra income."

"OK, look... we'll see my accountant and listen to what she has to say and go from there. Look, you know where the bathroom is. Why don't you freshen up, I'll call for an appointment and then we'll go to dinner. OK?"

"OK," she said, wiping her teary-eyed face again with her sleeve and went down the hallway.

David scrolled through his contacts until he found the number and called. "Hi, it's David Christy. I need an appointment for a friend of mine who's lost her job and maybe her house... Day after tomorrow? Good... thanks."

Carolyn came out of the bathroom, face washed and a shy, hesitant smile on her face. 

"We're good for day after tomorrow," he explained as he grabbed his keys and escorted her out the door to his car. "You come by after school and we'll go together. Listen, we can make this work, somehow. Now... Olive Garden, Souplantation, Marie Callender's, Red Lobster? Help me out, here, I'm running out of places to go."

His smile lifted her spirits and warmed her soul. Her hand touched his cheek, lightly then she kissed him. "Thank you. David... we could eat from a roach coach, I don't care as long as I'm with you."

"I like the salad at the Garden, the bread at Souplantation, the biscuits at the Lobster and the pie at Marie's... I'm so messed up. How about this? Red Lobster and then Marie's for dessert?" He tried to get a little smile from her.




Dark Kisses Pt. 02



"You remind me of a friend of mine from high school. He went to one place for the burgers, another for the fries and a third for the shakes. Wherever you want to go is fine with me."

"OK, then," he said. 

"This is great pie," David said, pushing another bite into his mouth. Suddenly, he had whipped cream all over his face as Carolyn pushed his spoon into his face. "I thought that was the bride's prerogative," he quietly said.

She startled, dropping her own spoon onto the table, ice cream flying. "What did you say?"

"I said..."

"I heard... don't play with me, David, I'm not in the mood, today."

"I'm not playing. I'm dead serious." He looked at her face, searching her eyes for something, for the magic he knew was there.

"David, don't be silly. We've only known each other..."

"...and been constant lovers most of that time. I don't know how, I don't know why but I'm in love with you, Carolyn, deeply, madly in love with you. If I had a ring with me, I'd be down on my knee right now. Je t'aime avec tout mon coeur. I've been studying."

She sat back, shocked at his revelation. She knew she was in love with him; she had to be to make love to him. To know that he was just as in love with her was the blessing she hoped for but was afraid to ask for when Kendra first approached her.

"Oh, God," was all she could quietly say. "Oh, God." So much for a slow, careful romance. What had happened to her? to them?

**********

"...and so, even though birds are still their own group, today, they've been moved over in the scheme of things to the dinosaurs. Something to think about the next time you throw some food at the pigeons around here. Now, tonight, I want you to read pages 426 through 487 and answer questions 7, 8 and 10 on page 490. We've a few minutes, so talk quietly until the bell, if you want."

David closed his notebook and put it on top of his desk. Thank God, he thought, I've already the presentation for tomorrow. He looked at the clock and waited for Tuesday to end. Carolyn had been on his mind the whole day; her situation was bothering him. He had a plan but he didn't know if she would agree, especially with Michael's continuing attitude toward him.

Was it, though, toward him or toward the situation he had grown up with? Was the boy's anger at his father coloring his feelings toward me? David shook his head, unsure what to do.

Helping Carolyn move into an apartment wasn't really a solution at all, since money would still go out faster than it might come in. He knew she'd balk at outright charity and didn't want to ruin their relationship. Her pride and her son could put her in financial disaster.

**********

Kendra carefully opened her grandmother's book, the ancient pages crackling as she ran her finger looking for what she needed. The spells were all there, she just had to find the right one. She wondered how old they really were, going back to her ancestors in Africa. 

Her grandmother had explained the difference between black magic and white magic and the spirits surrounding everyone but she was becoming desperate. Michael was still irate about their mother's affair and the basketball loss had done nothing but make things worse.

She smiled, wondering if there was a spell to change her brother into a toad.

"Ahh," she said, quietly, finally chancing on what she wanted.

**********

Wednesday afternoon found them sitting in David's accountant's office, listening to the bad news. They both knew it was coming but to hear it made it all that much worse.

"Mrs. Smith, the best thing I would advise is to clean it up and rent it out for whatever you can get. Find a smaller place to live or move in with relatives. Until the economy comes around, that's about the only way I can think of saving your house unless you want to sell it and I think you know what kind of market we're in."

"Thank you for your time. You've given me plenty to think about."

They sat in his car, the radio on but unheard. 

"Well, that was uncomfortable. Even if I find a small apartment, I still don't think there's going to be enough to take care of Kendra's expenses... you know, gas money, books, things like that. At least the Social Security checks will keep coming in for them."

"Listen... hear me out, here. We rent out your place as best we can and you all move in with me. I've got four bedrooms." He gave her an erstwhile look that was so enduring and yet so unbelievable.

"Are you crazy? Kendra's one thing, maybe, but Michael's a whole different thing, altogether. If it was just you and me... or, you, me and Kendra..." She started to cry, her hands covering her face.

"How 'bout I talk to him?" David tapped his steering wheel, thinking.

"You? Oh, yeah, that'll go over real good. David, it's not going to work."

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Please?"

"Ohhh-kay... just be prepared to run like hell."

David wanted to take her to dinner or at least share a pizza but she wanted to go home. She realized she had never invited David in and today would be no different. While the house was neat and clean, she was still embarrassed by the neighborhood's rundown condition. How can I bring him home to this? she wondered, never thinking he wouldn't care where she lived. She drove home, alone.

Carolyn walked through her house, looking in each room as she did. Memories were made in each one, some good, some bad... mostly bad. She remembered the day they had come to the door, chaplain in tow, as she stood there with two children wondering when their father was coming home.

She wouldn't miss the house, no matter what memories lived there. It was time to make new memories, ones not so sad and full of guilt. "Kids! C'mon, get in the car; we're going to David's."

The four of them sat at the kitchen table, unopened Cokes and cooling pizza in the middle.

"...and so, I lost my job and we're going to have to move." She held her can, squeezing it as her hand shook. David took it away before someone forgot and it exploded all over them.

"So... Mr. Christy... David... has a proposition. We rent out our house and live with him." Carolyn looked quickly at her son, waiting for some reaction, good or bad. Instead, he sat there and actually took a piece of pizza from the box and chewed a bite out of it.

Kendra looked at her brother in astonishment. She expected something from him, jumping up and yelling, not taking a piece of pepperoni pizza and calmly chewing it. She took her own and carefully watching everyone else, took a bite. "Sounds like a good idea to me," she declared and took another bite, stringing some still warm cheese from the pizza to her lips.

"Michael?" Carolyn asked, afraid of his answer yet knowing she had to have it.

The boy took another bite and after chewing it and swallowing, opened his can of Coke and took a long drink, emptying half the can. He got up, walked to the back door and then looked back before going out.

David stood up; Carolyn patted his hand and he walked out after Michael.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Kendra asked.

"God, I don't know. Michael's got such a chip on his shoulder. Who knows what they're talking about?"

Carolyn and Kendra strained to hear what was being said. Five minutes... ten minutes... a half-hour.

Shadows on the window... arms waving in the air... heads moving forward and back... then... nothing. 

Mother and daughter looked at each other in surprise. They ran to the back door and looked out the window but saw... nothing. They ran outside to the pool and saw... nothing... and then around to the driveway only to find David and Michael shooting baskets... rather, Michael was shooting baskets and David was throwing him the ball.

They stood there in shock, watching the two work the ball and Michael showing David how to hold the ball to make a free throw.

Michael turned to his mother. "We can move whenever you're ready." He turned back in time to see David finally make a basket and gave him a fist-bump.

"I put the basket up yesterday evening, just in case," David said.

"...and this is the airplane he flew in," Michael said to his sister, showing her the model F-15s on the shelf. "He sat in the back seat and was in charge of the weapon system. He said he was something called a 'whizzo'."

Kendra walked over to her brother. She had to admit, she wondered why the man had toys in his living room... and now, she knew.

**********

Using a U-Haul and a couple of Michael's friends from the team, it took the entire weekend moving their furniture to his house. Both Kendra and Michael were given their own bedrooms and enough of their furniture to feel at home while most of the rest went into David's garage to share space with his old Chevy. His Malibu was banished to the driveway, far enough back to give Michael room to practice.

That first night, Carolyn went into Michael's bedroom for the longest time, it seemed to David, before she finally came into their bedroom, officially, for the first time.

He had been looking out the window toward the street at her car parked at the curb and turned at the sound of the door closing and locking.

She had on a horrible-looking bright pink bathrobe and a scarf on her hair. David didn't care. She could have worn a suit of armor and still looked good to him.

David's little teasing kisses were moving as he talked, saying nothing, saying everything, from her ear to the back of her neck to the hollow of her throat. He reached for the belt of her robe and his mouth continued its downward path, past her breasts to her dark valley as he knelt between her legs...

His hands moved on their own. His fingers lightly brushed her curves, his hand seeking and finding. 

"David..." she whispered.

"Shhhh..." His strong hand began to play, determined fingers teasing, caressing, probing.

"Oh, God, don't do that. We have to be quiiii..."

"Baby, we don't have to do anything... but there are a few things we might want to do. His mouth moved where his fingers had traveled. After that, she made sounds that resembled speech but her brain was already scrambled. For at least an hour more, nothing that came out of her mouth made any sense.

**********

Chapter 6: Everything went black...

Carolyn wandered around David's house, familiarizing herself with where everything was. She stood in the hallway for a long while, looking at his medals and then going on the internet to look them up. In all their time together, he had never mentioned his time in the Air Force except in passing. She tried to imagine him in his fighter plane, zooming through the skies high above the earth.

She stopped for lunch, making a ham sandwich and then went back to her explorations. And then, her heart came to a stop as she opened her daughter's closet and found the ancient bag she recognized in her mother's house so many, many years ago.

Trembling, now on her knees, she pulled the bag out and opened it, afraid of what she knew she would find. The old book, more sheaves of musty parchment than anything else, lay there and the smell of primeval power rose into the air, causing her to sneeze as the dust settled around her.

She opened the pages, turning them one by one until she found Kendra's last visitation, marked by the yellow ribbon she always wore in her hair. Carolyn slowly read the incantation and tears formed and began to flow down her now dusty face.

It was all a lie... her love... his love... none of it real, only the result of her own mother's black magic spells and her daughter's interference. The yellowed parchments fell to the floor, scattering across the rug as she wept.

She wiped her face with her fingers, gathered up the almost faded spells, carefully put them into the bag, got her keys and drove to her mother's house.

When the old woman opened the door, she guessed what had happened and when she saw the old carpetbag, she knew. Carolyn's mother stepped back as her daughter angrily stormed into the house and stood in the middle of the living room.

"Take it back!" she screamed, "take it back to the way it was!"

The woman looked at her daughter. "I can't. It's forever, ma chère fille. It cannot be undone. Kendra..."

"Damn Kendra and damn you. Make this go away."

"Je suis désolé, ma chère, s'il vous plait, sit down. I must think."

"Mère, make this go away... I don't care how you do it, just do it. You have ruined my life. My love is built on a lie. What have you done to us?"

"Kendra wanted you to be happy, chère, that's all."

"But, now I know."

"Yes, now you know. Does it matter? Is he not everything you want? Is life so bad with him?"

"But, now I know and it will never be the same, again. I will always know. I would rather die than live this lie."

"Sit. I must think. I will make you some tea."

The air shimmered and turned grey and nebulous and thick and Carolyn had trouble breathing; there was a tightness in her heart and then everything went black.

**********

The dull roar of the vacuum filled the house as Carolyn went from one room to the next, leaving its tell-tale track on the rug. She had her I-pod cranked with The Temptations... "I've got all the riches, baby, one man can claim..." She had her Christmas gift shuffling through the songs, yet 'My Girl' always seemed to play each day. Maybe it wasn't as random as she thought; maybe she had the settings wrong. She decided to ask Mr. Christy after dinner if he'd look at it.



Dark Kisses Pt. 03



Dark Kisses III of IV

Black Magic Woman

Copyright @ calibeachgirl and Jim Crowell

All rights reserved, 2011

**********

Chapter 6: Yesterday's a memory...

Carolyn wandered around David's house, familiarizing herself with where everything was. She stood in the hallway for a long while, looking at his medals and then going on the internet to look them up. In all their time together, he had never mentioned his time in the Air Force except in passing. She tried to imagine him in his fighter plane, zooming through the skies high above the earth.

She stopped for lunch, making a ham sandwich and then went back to her explorations. And then, her heart came to a stop as she opened her daughter's closet and found the ancient bag she recognized in her mother's house so many, many years ago.

Trembling, now on her knees, she pulled the bag out and opened it, afraid of what she knew she would find. The old book, more sheaves of musty parchment than anything else, lay there and the smell of primeval power rose into the air, causing her to sneeze as the dust settled around her.

She opened the pages, turning them one by one until she found Kendra's last visitation, marked by the yellow ribbon she always wore in her hair. Carolyn slowly read the incantation and tears formed and began to flow down her now dusty face.

It was all a lie... her love... his love... none of it real, only the result of her own mother's black magic spells and her daughter's interference. The yellowed parchments fell to the floor, scattering across the rug as she wept.

She wiped her face with her fingers, gathered up the almost faded spells, carefully put them into the bag, got her keys and drove to her mother's house.

When the old woman opened the door, she guessed what had happened and when she saw the old carpetbag, she knew. Carolyn's mother stepped back as her daughter angrily stormed into the house and stood in the middle of the living room.

"Take it back!" she screamed, "take it back to the way it was!"

The woman looked at her daughter. "I can't. It's forever, ma chère fille. It cannot be undone. Kendra..."

"Damn Kendra and damn you. Make this go away."

"Je suis désolé, ma chère, s'il vous plait, sit down. I must think."

"Mère, make this go away... I don't care how you do it, just do it. You have ruined my life. My love is built on a lie. What have you done to us?"

"Kendra wanted you to be happy, chère, that's all."

"But, now I know."

"Yes, now you know. Does it matter? Is he not everything you want? Is life so bad with him?"

"But, now I know and it will never be the same, again. I will always know. I would rather die than live this lie."

"Sit. I must think. I will make you some tea."

The air in the room shimmered and turned grey and nebulous and thick and Carolyn had trouble breathing; there was a tightness in her heart and her soul felt something burning and leaving and an emptiness and then everything went black and she fell to the floor...

**********

Chapter 7: Memories... I must think of a new life

The dull roar of the vacuum filled the house as Carolyn went from one room to the next, leaving a tell-tale track on the rug until she came to Christy's office. Entering the room, she was once again reminded of who he was and what he had done. Even now, she was overwhelmed by what he continued to do. 

The room was what he was.

Along two walls were floor to ceiling bookshelves containing books and technical journals about satellites and their design, modern military aircraft and the shuttle. Another wall was nothing but windows facing to the south, bringing in warmth during the winter, chilly even for Southern California. The last wall had a twelve-foot long computer counter he made from cabinets from Home Depot and above the computers were framed shuttle mission patches and color photographs of the space station and two of the satellites he had helped build as they orbited the earth. He even had a piece of Skylab.

She looked at his three computers, a far cry from the new laptop he had given her children to use for schoolwork. They had quad cores, Nvidia's quadro line of graphic cards and eight gigabytes of RAM. Sometimes he had all three working at once as he designed the next generation of satellites and the hum of their cooling fans could be heard in the hallway when he had the door open. Carolyn checked the lock on the room's closet. Inside, there was a safe that held his two-terabyte external drives when he was at home. Satisfied, she turned back to the room.

Carolyn lifted her duster and started at one end of the bookshelves and worked her way to the other. She noticed a new book and pulled it out. "Western Pacific Diesels, Passenger and Freight, Vol. II" was still shrink-wrapped. She was surprised. The book was the first indication that his interests had broadened past aerospace. He had taught her that word: 'aerospace'. 

She put it back and finished dusting the books and then the framed patches and photographs. Taking the special cloth he had given her, she wiped down the computer flatscreens and then closed the door.

Carolyn walked down the hallway to his bedroom and turned the vacuum back on, running it across the carpet and under his bed. She hit a pair of shoes, got on her knees, pulled them out and put them into the closet. She smiled, imagining what his wife would think... if he had a wife. She couldn't understand why he was still single. From everything she knew about him, he was prime husband material. Why was he still single? She knew he wasn't gay; over the last two years she had seen his occasional girlfriends but she had also seen him sit quietly in his office, just staring out the window like he was missing something in his life... something or someone.

She walked back into the hallway and dusted Christy's military awards hanging on the wall, wondering if he would ever tell her the story behind them as she carefully dusted. Probably not... her employer was a private man and kept to himself.

Occasionally, though, he stayed out all night, returning the next day, his clothes smelling of perfume. Either the woman changed her perfume or he was dating several women, although not regularly. She shook her head. What he did was his own business, she knew but, for some reason, it bothered her... it depressed her. Every time she looked at him, she felt there should be something there, like when you see something out of the corner of your eye but when you turn, it's gone and you wonder what it was.

She looked at her watch. He would be home soon and she needed to start dinner. He had given her free reign to cook what she wished and while she wanted to give him the healthiest meal possible, she also wanted him to enjoy the food. Tonight, there would be grilled salmon with dill sauce, baked potatoes, a small salad and homemade peach cobbler. The way to a man's heart...

Carolyn remembered the day he offered her the position. They had met at Islands in Manhattan Beach for lunch. She ordered the fish taco and he the Greek salad. "Are you honest?" he asked, smiling, "because if you aren't, that's a deal breaker."

She was taken aback, never expecting such a question.

"Yes, sir, my mother brought me up to follow the Good Book."

"Can you cook?"

"Yes, sir, I can, very well, mainly southern and Louisiana French."

"That sounds interesting. How soon can you start? The position is live-in."

"Oh, I didn't know. The agency didn't mention that."

"Will that be a problem? Husband at home?"

"Uh, no, sir, I'm a widow but I have two teenagers."

Their food arrived and he asked for another iced tea.

Carolyn sat there, looking at him as he was trying to make up his mind. Would the advantages of a live-in housekeeper outweigh the inherent problems two teenagers would bring? She wondered if he could see the desperation in her eyes. She still wondered if she made the short list because of her husband's death in Afghanistan.

"I've got room. They're not noisy, are they?"

"No, sir. Michael plays basketball, though. Will that be a problem?"

"I can put up a backboard on the garage but nothing after eight o'clock. Do you have dependable transportation? You would have to do the usual... shopping, dry cleaning, things like that." 

Later, she found out he decided to buy her another car. Her ten-year-old car, in his mind, wasn't dependable enough for his needs.

"Well, it's not much to look at but it runs OK."

"When can you start?" He watched her eat the taco.

"Would Saturday be all right? We're staying with my mother. When I lost my office job, I lost the house."

"What happened to the furniture? Are you going to need anything else?"

"It's all in storage."

"OK, when we're finished here, you can follow me over to the house, it's about a mile or so from here and I'll give you a set of keys and you can arrange to have what furniture you need delivered. I'll give you a credit card you can use."

"I'm hired?" The look of relief that passed over her face was something he vowed never to forget.

"Yes."

Carolyn remembered the rest of the day although at the time it seemed to pass by in blur. She followed him to a quiet neighborhood. The house was on a tree-lined street, the venerable Chinese Elms giving it a shady look that was missing from most of Los Angeles. 

True to his word, he showed her the house, the pool, gave her the card and the keys and said, "I'll see you tomorrow. Make yourself at home. Have the furniture delivered by Saturday morning. Here's my cell number if you have any problems. Any questions?"

**********

She looked at her watch. Kendra and Michael would be home from school, soon enough. Kendra was going to graduate soon and attend UCLA as part of a four-year ROTC program in aerospace studies. Carolyn smiled. Christy's influence the last two years had given her daughter the impetus to study hard for the opportunity and he had tutored her nightly in physics. He had offered to use his influence for an appointment to the Air Force Academy but Carolyn wanted her daughter to stay home as long as possible and he had respected her wishes. 

He bought Kendra a sunlight silver 2006 Miata convertible as a graduation present, saying she had to get to the campus, somehow. Carolyn was sure there was a twinkle in his eye when he handed the keys over and yet, there was a sadness, too, as if he was hoping for more... some intangible that remained missing.

"Mom, we're home!"

"I'm in the kitchen. I need a little help, today. I'm running behind and he'll be home soon enough."

"Be right there, Mom." Kendra dropped her book bag in her bedroom and washed her hands before setting the table. 

Michael took the vacuum cleaner outside and emptied it into a black plastic bag. "Anything else, Mom?" he asked.

"No... we'll eat as soon as he's home."

The strong rumble of Christy's green Challenger rattled the house as he pulled into the drive and the car door slammed just moments before Carolyn opened the back door, iced tea in hand. She took his laptop case and carried it into his office. Returning, she began to bring food to the table as Christy was speaking quietly to Michael about next year's basketball team. 

"Watch out, they're hot," she said as she put the plate of potatoes down. Kendra passed the sour cream around the table and then the bacon-bits.

"This salmon is wonderful," Christy said as he scooped some cream onto his potato. "Is there any butter?"

"I'm sorry, I forgot," said Kendra, moving to the refrigerator and pulling out a new stick and putting it onto a saucer.

"That's all right, young lady. How's that airplane you've been building?"

"It's almost finished. Would you like to see?"

"Sure... after dinner OK?"

Kendra blushed, happy with the attention he gave her. "Yes... thank you."

"Uhummm... more salad, Mr. Christy?"

"I'm good, Mrs. Smith, thank you. I'm trying to save room for dessert. You mentioned cobbler this morning?"

"Yes, sir. Peach, from my mother's recipe."

"Remind me to thank her next time I see her." Christy put the last spoonful of potato into his mouth and then cut up the skin.

"Michael, any chance shooting some hoops, later? Maybe, a game of horse?"

"I'd love to, Mr. Christy, but I've got a test tomorrow."

"Studies, first. Maybe, next time... ah, here's dessert." Carolyn put a large bowl of peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream in front of him. "You know, Mrs. Smith, if it weren't for that Canadian exercise program, I'd weigh a million pounds by now."

She put her hand on his shoulder and then hastily withdrew it, surprised at her unconscious gesture of familiarity. Christy looked up at her, searching her face, while she wondered what possessed her to do such a thing. She stepped away and turned toward the sink, looking out the kitchen window toward the setting sun, her hand to her mouth. There was something electric when she touched him and she knew he felt it, too for he had moved his own hand to hers and held it, if only for a moment.

Carolyn could feel his stare... oh, God, what had she done? Play it off...

Still looking out the window, she asked, "Anyone for more dessert?"

There was no answer and when she turned around, he was gone. A worried look of confusion crossed her face and Kendra just shrugged her shoulders. 

Later, the door to his office was closed and she recognized Vivaldi's Four Seasons playing. It was 'Summer', its thunderstorms echoing through the room and it matched the turmoil in her soul. Why had she touched him, she didn't know and it was causing a painful twinge to burn through her heart. How could she look at him in the morning?

**********

The next morning, Kendra was quickly frying some pancakes for Christy's breakfast as he sat down. "Mom's not feeling too well," she said to his raised eyebrow as she watched the bubbles form in the batter.

The disappointment was obvious in his voice. Kendra looked at him. She had heard that same voice at school, between her love-struck classmates. "Ummm, yeah, she's not good at all, probably be in bed all day."

"Maybe, I should stay home. She might need..."

"No, no, no... I don't think it's that bad, maybe a 24 hour thing, you know, like the flu or something."

"Oh?" he asked, putting his fork into another pancake. 

*********

Carolyn ran as hot a shower as she could stand and stepped in, relaxing immediately as the hot water streamed over her dark curly hair, plastering it to her head. Still wet, she shivered while the tub filled, her mind churning with emotions, wondering why after all this time, she was becoming attracted to him. She sprinkled her favorite bath salts into the water and lowered herself in the steaming water, the heat taking away much of her physical ache.

David strode down the hallway and found her room dark and vacant. Steam that smelled like fresh cut roses escaped from under the bathroom door. He smiled involuntarily, inhaling deeply and tapped on the door. "Mrs. Smith?"

"Just a moment," she said, quietly.

He heard the splashing of water. "You OK?"

There was silence... and more splashing. He tried to imagine a naked Carolyn. He was startled by the vivid image that flashed before his eyes. "You didn't drown, did you?"

"No," came a muffled response. "I'll be out in a minute."

"I need to talk to you."

There was a long pause. Finally, the door cracked open, Carolyn freshly scrubbed in a high-necked green robe. "Yes?"

His eyes trailed down the delicate line of her cheek, perfect for kissing, her lips full and perfect for even more kissing.

He had brought her a large box of See's candies. Carolyn was stunned. Christmas and her birthday... those were the gift-giving days... not just a gift for no reason.

"I was, uh... um... Kendra said you weren't feeling well and I, uh... well, here."

"Thank you, Mr. Christy; I don't know what to say."

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you." She looked at the heavy box on her lap.

"Good. Get dressed. We're going to dinner. Didn't I see a blue dress in there, somewhere?"

"Uh, huh... but, Mr. Christy..."

"I won't take 'no' for an answer. Say, twenty minutes?"

"All right... thank you."

He walked to his room, whistling Bob Marley's 'Three Little Birds'.

They watched the sun set along the Pacific horizon from the Charthouse's window. On short notice, it was as romantic as possible. She was wearing the off-the-shoulder royal blue evening dress and a single strand of pearls from her wedding. With her high heels and her shiny black ringlets, she looked like an ebony princess. He hadn't taken his eyes off her since they arrived. She was beautiful. How had she lived with him for two years and he never noticed?

"This is a beautiful place," Carolyn said, looking out the window as the sky slowly darkened.

"Yes, it is. I come here when I want to celebrate."

"Is that what tonight is? A celebration?" How many women has he brought here? she wondered, nervously, a tight smile on her lips.

"I'd like to think it is." Christy leaned forward. "You're the first woman I've ever brought here... so, I... yes, it's a celebration."

"Oh..." She blushed, feeling the hot rush of blood flood her cheeks.

He blushed and reached for a piece of bread to draw attention away from his face. "Anything you'd like."

"OK, I'll have the lobster, since it's a celebration. Thank you. Oh, look! A pelican!"

Christy turned to the window but it was too late and the large seabird was gone. "Missed it. Maybe, we'll see another, some day." He drank a sip of his iced tea. 

"You've been drinking a lot of tea, lately. Doesn't it keep you up, all night?" Then, she put her hands to her mouth, realizing what she had just said to her employer.

He laughed. "Well, you're the first woman to ever ask me that. I don't know how to answer. I'll take the Fifth."

Carolyn was a delightful dinner companion and slowly drew him out, asking him about his time in the Air Force and listened for the rest of the evening as he relived his time in the front seat of his Eagle, swooping his hand across the tabletop.

He found himself talking about nothing in particular, trying his best to make her laugh.

David was surprised how much he had adjusted to life with her family. 

"I had a wonderful time, Mr. Christy. Thank you so much for tonight. It was magical. I'll never forget it."

"It was my pleasure, Mrs. Smith. I hope you feel better, now."

"Good night. I'll have breakfast ready, tomorrow."

"Good night, Mrs. Smith. Pleasant dreams."

His footsteps sounded in the hallway as he walked to his own room. She threw a brief but intense look toward her bedroom door and waited. Nothing... for one moment she hoped he would return and take her in his arms... but, nothing. 

Carolyn unzipped her dress until it lay open and dropped to the floor. She fell back on the bed and closed her eyes but her body felt hot and unsettled. She looked in the mirror, catching a glimpse of her breasts, still high and proud, even at her age. She touched one briefly, felt it tauten and dreamed it was his mouth, his hand hot to her skin.

As her nipple jutted away from her breast against her fingers, she moved her hand away, down to her panties and peeled away the silky layer of cloth until it slid down over her knees and off the bed to the floor.

Carolyn closed her eyes. Her head lay on the soft, white pillow; her stomach curved inward accentuating the line of her hips and the mound of curly black hair between her legs. There was a stirring, a feeling inside her there, and although she tried, she could not stop the image of the two of them, intertwined, lying together, making love on her bed.

She listened to the quiet and then, something... she looked at the ceiling. Nothing... it was nothing. She glanced around her room, trying to make things out in the darkness. The reflection of her body stretched out sensually, her darkness in sharp contrast the white sheets of her bed. She tried to relax but her hand strayed between her legs, touching, feeling, probing... it had been so long. She arched her back as her hand worked itself deeper until she had to muffle her moans with her other hand.




Dark Kisses Pt. 03



He shook his head, wondering about the feelings that had begun to simmer... such heat. He had dated occasionally but he didn't miss it, the complications, the games, except when it peered at him with bright dark eyes and a face smelling likes roses. Then, he wondered.

**********

Morning came early but she was already up, preparing his Wednesday breakfast: two eggs, sunnyside up, two toasted English muffins and strawberry jam. She used to give him hash browns but noticed he was getting a little paunchy and took them away. It was her job, she told herself, making him healthy meals and watching out for him.

Carolyn started to whistle 'off to work we go'. Hi, ho, she smiled. Christy's canary sang with her, reaching notes she could only dream of.

"Good morning," he said, somehow entering the kitchen without her knowing. "Did you sleep well?"

She blushed. "Ummm, well... yes, I did, thank you. And, you?"

"Tip-top. That smells delicious. Can I have some milk? Never mind, I'll get it."

He seemed to brush against her closer than necessary and she liked it. "Mmmm" she moaned.

"What?"

"Uh, nothing. I'm good. What would you like for dinner? We could have steaks, if you wish and there's..."

She was suddenly in his arms. She wanted him inside her, deeper than anyone had ever been. Her hand trailed across his chest and down to his waist. She felt him stirring beneath her touch, the hardening and the growing until she was certain he would feel the trembling of her palm against him. She stopped breathing. His hips moved slightly... restlessly. His body warmed and tensed against her and his heart began a forceful throbbing.

"Oh, my God," she whispered as she moved her hips with his. She felt his mouth on her dark curls, gently inhaling her fragrance, then kissing and caressing her neck. She licked her lips and cleared her throat, afraid he'd continue, praying he wouldn't.

Nothing made sense and nothing else mattered except his touch, his feel... nothing else mattered except his lips, moving against her full ones in small circles, luring her deeper into his kiss, making her aware that all the kisses she had ever had were nothing and that David was the only one who had the faintest idea how it should be done. She'd never been kissed so... thoroughly... or tenderly... or with such love.

"You're going to be late."

"I don't care." He held her tighter and she forgot where they were.

"David, you've got to go." Oh, my God, she thought, I just called him David... for the first time. What am I going to do, now? She looked past him, wondering if either teenager had seen them.

**********

Chapter 8: A Woman of a Certain Age

The steaks were grilling as David came into the kitchen and sat down, then stood up and started setting the table then stopped again. He went into the dining room and knelt down in front of the china closet, pulled out an Irish linen table cloth and threw it across the oak table. After straightening it, he started putting down his Eugenio Ricciarelli dinnerware he had purchased in Naples, the magnificent blue designs in distinction to the white of the plate and then the Yamazaki gold-accented flatware at each place.

"What?" Carolyn asked, standing in the kitchen doorway.

"It's... I mean... why not? I think it's about time, don't you?"

She wasn't sure what he was referring to... the change in dining or their new relationship but refused to ask. She turned and walked back outside, turning the steaks. Kendra started bringing out the food, trying hard to keep her surprise to herself. She looked at Christy, wondering at the silly grin on his face.

He went to the side-table and looked at the bottle of Cabernet he had picked up months earlier. Ninety-nine dollars... He opened the other side of the china cabinet and pulled out two wine glasses then thought better of it and put two more down. It was, after all, a celebration, wasn't it?

If Carolyn disapproved, she said nothing as the sizzling steaks were brought in on their metal platter and set on the insulated holder.

"With your permission?" he asked, nodding toward the wine. She could only nod in return, wondering if this was how life was going to be but willing to leave it in his hands, trusting him completely with her life and her children.

If Kendra or Michael was surprised about eating in the dining room, they made no comment about it. Kendra did notice, though, the fact that David had brought out his best dinnerware for she had helped her mother hand wash them, one time before carefully putting them back into the china closet.

She watched the man that they had lived with for two years... something had changed... he had changed... something had happened. He acted like he was in love and wondered which woman it could possibly be. One time, she did see him bring a blond haired woman home for a few minutes but she seemed so wrong, so... Kendra didn't know, she just knew the woman was wrong.

If he was going to announce something like that, wouldn't the woman be here? And then, Kendra saw her mother bring the food to the table and saw her face and saw her eyes and saw the faint smile there that she had never seen before and suddenly she KNEW... Oh, God, she knew who the woman was and she was surprised and not surprised and pleased and fearful.

Oh, God...

**********

The pharmacist handed Carolyn the small white bag. She wondered what the man thought, a woman of a certain age getting the pill. Probably saw it all the time, she realized. Walking down the aisle, she stopped at the sunglasses display and looked at her face in the mirror there. She had never worried before, how her eyes looked. She looked up and down the aisle, watching if anyone was seeing her act like a teenager, worrying like a silly girl about how she looked.

She lifted a pair and tried them on, turning her head left to right. 'Aviator glasses', David had called them. She took the Ray-Bans off, surprised at her face reflected back at her from their dark surface.

He called. He called her 'Carolyn'. They both recognized they had crossed a line in their relationship. What did SHE want was the question. If it went badly, she would have to leave. He had been generous to a fault with her... with her family... and they could move back with her mother while she looked for something else.

"Yes?" she answered. She was afraid to call him 'David', as if acknowledging her feelings for him would make them disappear like the morning mist.

"I just wanted to hear your voice. Oh, there's a Knights of Columbus Easter Monday Ball next week. Would you like to go with me?"

Silence.

"I'm sorry; I shouldn't have asked."

"No... I mean, yes. Yes, I'd love to go."

She was caught off-guard; he expected she'd politely decline and keep things as they were. "Uh, great. Look, go out and get a new dress... actually, a gown; it's formal and please see to my tux. I've got to go. Bye."

Carolyn looked at her cell, not really believing what had just happened. 'Get a gown!' he said.

"And, this one, I think would set off your skin tones quite nicely." Carolyn looked at the gown, its shimmering gold reflecting the store's lights back to her eyes. 

"I'll try it."

**********

Dinner was quiet. David didn't know what to say to her; there was a fear he would say the wrong thing and look foolish.

She had given her children sandwiches and told them to go study in their rooms. Come home late from shopping, she had stopped at Kentucky Fried, breaking her own rule about healthy food.

When he sat down, he gave her a quizzical look. Carolyn just shrugged her shoulders and sat down. He took a breast, laughing at the irony, some coleslaw and a biscuit. She picked at her thigh, eating very little. 

They both started talking at once. She laughed. He smiled. "How was your day?" she asked.

"I had a meeting with a couple of engineers about a new weather satellite." A white lie, so to speak, but he couldn't tell her it was the CIA.

"Oh?"

"It'll go up at the end of the year." From Vandenberg, he knew, into a synchronous orbit high above North Korea. "Where you able to find something to your liking? For the ball, I mean."

"Yes. Would you like to see it?"

"Surprise me."

"All right... like a date." It was a statement, not a question.

He looked at her, intensely, feeling himself sink into her dark eyes. "Yes, a date."

David started to clear the table. "That's my job," she said, taking the expensive dinner plate from his hand. "Why don't you go listen to your music or something?" She stopped. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said something like that..." but, he was already gone.

"Kendra, you made a mistake, here. See, the wavelength is rounded off too soon." David pointed at her error with his pencil.

"I see; I don't know what I was thinking," she said. "Are you dating my mom?"

Direct and to the point, he thought. "I'm not sure. That's kind of between

your mother and me."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Michael has... Michael has issues with Mom dating."

"With me? I've always treated your mother with respect."

**********

David looked in the mirror and straightened his bowtie once again.

"Here, let me." Carolyn touched his tie, giving it just a little tilt. "There."

He stepped back and looked at her. Her golden gown shimmered ever more brightly against her dark skin and he wanted to say how beautiful she was but somehow, the word seemed inadequate.

The gown clung to her figure. Her breasts, always hidden by her daily wear, were cushioned and lifted by the bodice and seemed more inviting that he had ever imagined. She had new high heels and a clutch to match. But, with all that, his eyes quickly returned to her face and hair. She had spent the morning at the salon and looked radiant as her naturally curly hair had been gently permed out like a chocolate Shirley Temple.

He was tongue-tied.

"You don't like it, do you?" she asked.

David shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "You're magnificent." He turned back to his dresser. "This was my grandmother's. I'd like you to have it." He opened the long jewelry box, offering the necklace to her. "When you said your dress was gold..."

"It's beautiful. Oh, David, you shouldn't have. Isn't there..."

"No one but you I'd rather have it. Let's see how it looks." Before she could protest again, he had taken the heavy gold chain and standing behind her, fastened it around her neck.

Carolyn looked in the dresser mirror and for a moment imagined herself as a Nubian queen and he, her royal consort as her hand went to touch the weighty links shining against her neck. She smiled. "Thank you."

David's fingers touched her and her breath caught in a gasp as a throbbing heat spread where her thighs joined. Strong hands caught her waist and then she was pressed against him, sinking in the feel of his firm skin pressed to her cheek. Fingers touched her curls, lifted her face and their mouths joined together. She was filled with a magnificent yearning as his face brushed hers with fire; her arms twined about his neck while she felt his own like steel across her back.

"David..."

"Mmmm"

"We're going to have to..."

"I know," he said and released her body but not her heart.

When they went into the living room, Kendra gushed over her mother, asking to borrow the gown for prom. David saw Michael standing silently in the corner, glaring at him. Her son had become increasingly distant following that night out at the Charthouse, erecting a cold barrier between them.

Kendra had told him of the boy's moodiness when it came to his mother's dating but he never expected this. He wondered what had happened before he met her.

He took his frustration out on the gas pedal and the Challenger rocketed down the street, causing Carolyn to stare at him in amazement.

**********

David self-parked the car in the valet lot and opened her door, reaching for her hand. For the first time, he saw the long slit running down her long, mocha leg and felt himself aroused. "Have I said how beautiful you are?"

"David... I'm a middle-aged woman with two teenage children... two older teenage children... but, I appreciate the compliment, anyway. Thank you."

With her hanging on his arm, they walked into the Marriott and downstairs to the ballrooms. She wasn't surprised when she became the center of attraction as they walked in. Whether it was because she was black in a sea of white faces or she was with him, younger than his friends or a combination of the two, she was determined to enjoy the evening.

And then, an elderly woman, dripping diamonds, walked to her, put out her hands and said, "David, you must introduce me to this incredibly beautiful woman."

"Mrs. Cabrera, may I introduce Carolyn Smith? She is... my best friend."

"You must be an amazing young woman, Miss Smith. We never thought David would find a lady friend. Come, you must sit with us." She took Carolyn by the hand and led her over to a table near the dance floor. David looked at the lady's husband and followed.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. When you walked in, I thought everyone had died, it was so quiet. How did you meet her?"

"Just lucky, I guess."

"Dance with me..." the man said, as if it was his right to any have any woman in the room.

Carolyn noticed he had ignored David, completely. "No, thank you," she said. "I'm with David and will only dance with him."

He reached out to touch her arm. 

"Go away, George. She said 'no', stop being such a boring person."

Carolyn looked at Mrs. Cabrera in thanks, not noticing that David had stood up and was only inches from George's face. "Neeland," he said, "go home. You're drunk. Where's your wife?"

Neeland looked at David. "Forget it. Shouldn't have wasted my time, anyway." He walked away.

"Why they haven't thrown him out is beyond me. Carolyn, I'm sorry that happened." David's Irish good looks were marred by his flush of anger.

"Dance with me," Carolyn said, getting to her feet.

"I must warn you, I've got two left feet."

"I don't believe that. C'mon, I'll show you." Carolyn walked over to the ten piece group and spoke quietly while they went through their sheet music. With a smile, they started a waltz. "Just follow me and you'll be fine."

David stopped watching his feet and concentrated on her smiling face. He lied, he knew. His mother had insisted he take dancing lessons during the afternoon in high school and he felt the smoothness she had when she realized he was quite good. They went around the floor, never knowing that everyone else had returned to their tables and just watched... and watched... and watched.

They never knew they were alone on the floor until the last note had sounded and looking into her eyes, he kissed her for the first time. He turned her in his arms. The kiss started gently, then was full of heat and hunger and she wasn't stopping him as he covered her mouth with his again and then the world went away, lost in his kiss.

There was a sound in the background and at first she couldn't understand it, her blood was rushing through her heart so fast and then it grew louder and louder until finally she grasped there were people and they were applauding and whistling and beating on their tables... and she finally felt... accepted.

Her breath was rapid and her head was against his and she couldn't move from his arms. He kissed her again, searching for her soul. This time, when they finished, he took her hand and pulled her gently back to their table. "Carolyn, are you all right with this?" he asked. His eyes were kind and warm and waiting for her answer.

"More than all right," she said. 

The waiter brought out their desserts. "I kept them for you," he said, setting down the two chocolate-silk cheesecakes. "You were wonderful, out there. We all watched."

"Thank you," she said, still breathing hard from David's kiss.

They never left the hotel, waiting until everyone else had left the party and went to the lobby to find a room.

He had looked at her and she had melted. She had touched him and he had trembled with longing. It made no difference she had not actually slept with him, she had fantasized about it often enough since that dinner at the ocean.

She slammed the door behind her, stood in the middle of the room and dropped her four-hundred dollar gown to the floor. She stared in the room's mirror, her breasts rising and falling in her reflection. Her lips were swollen from the fierceness of his passionate kissing in the elevator and she could feel the wetness slipping between her legs. David made her feel the way no decent woman should want to feel... so much that she wanted to get on her knees and beg for it... whatever it was.

Carolyn unclasped her demi-bra and it parted with a whisper over her breasts, freeing them to his sight, then it, too, fell to the floor. She pulled down her bikini panty and they slid down like soft white around her ankles.

David stood in the room, silhouetted against the small table lamp by the door. He moved toward her with a caution that was maddening and she began to shake, not from cold but from desire. It seemed an eternity before he stopped before her, when in reality it was mere fleeting moments. She knew his eyes were upon her but she could not bring her eyes up to meet his, suddenly shy. Instead, she stared at her feet, aware her skin was burning and her blood was like fire in her veins.

"Look at me," he said with a necessary urgency. When she hesitated, he caught her chin in his fingers and tipped her face to his. "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen," he told her.

He cupped her face with his hands, stroked her cheeks lightly with her thumbs. "You're perfect. God, you don't know how badly I've wanted you since that first moment we met."

"But, that was..."

"Yes, two years ago." He brushed one corner of her mouth with his. His breath caught and slightly tilting her face to his, she opened her lips in invitation. The breath that had caressed her so softly before became harsher, burning her lips.

His warm fingers trailed downward over the smooth, delicate turn of her jaw to the arch of her throat. He opened his mouth slightly and drew his tongue over the pulse that throbbed there. She closed her eyes, suspended between heaven and hell, wanting to absorb his touch so badly she could not prevent herself from raising her arms up over her shoulders, but afraid to. She was terrified this would all vanish all be a dream, another fantasy that would leave her horribly empty.

David buried his fingers in her dark curls and his fingers rubbed her scalp, now damp with desire. "I want you," he whispered again and again. "I want you."

He kissed her with a passion that had been held in check for two years and finally released. She swayed against him, returning the burning embracewith as much fire as hunger until he groaned like a man inflicted with a madness... an uncontrollable madness. His hands moved over her slowly, fingers trailing a tingling path down her throat, down, down to the rising and falling swell of her breasts, brushing his finger over and over against her nipple until she abandoned herself to him and pressed against him. 

This is what she wanted... this.

How did? where did his clothes go? How did she get to the bed?

Slowly his body slid down hers until his hot breath touched the valley between her breasts and she waited, panting in anticipation for him to take them into his mouth, feeling the tension in his shoulders as he balanced there, half crouching in front of her. She could feel the power of his body as he held her gently, his hands playing over the narrow, delicate expanse of her back, rubbing. Then hungrily he pulled her to him, covered one brown nipple with his mouth completely, circled it again and again with his tongue, taking her beyond her limits before capturing it once more with the heated passion of his mouth.




Dark Kisses Pt. 03



She lost sight of her surroundings as her desire controlled her. Slowly, he moved lower, his hands blazing a path his mouth followed, licking, nipping, his tongue dipping into her navel. He spread his hand over her stomach, lower, spreading apart over the skin above the moist apex of her thighs. Her muscles tensed and out of reflex she reached out to his auburn hair as he put his mouth there.

David wrapped his arms around the backs of her thighs and raised her body slightly up to him. As his lips buried in the soft, dark curls, her fingers twisted. He stopped and looked up at her, hungry with desire burning brightly in his eyes.

He began to move with agonizing slowness across her curls, nuzzling, opening her with his mouth and penetrating her like fire with his tongue. She sobbed with sudden pleasure, a pure, raw sensation that erased all doubt and fear from her mind. Suddenly, she was pressing his head against her, opening her legs further, inviting him deeper, closer, until his tongue was plunging in and out of her, making her delirious with need, until every nerve of her body seemed to center there where his mouth worked its magic. Magic. She felt the magic and it was driving her insane. It was incredible what he was doing to her and she was powerless to stop it.

And, she didn't care. She was lost. Her blood was on fire and her ebony skin was aflame that was internal and all-consuming, driving her beyond desire into a desperate, aching need that seemed without end. She threw her head back, letting her dark curls roll on the pillow, her back arching, pressing her body against him as he searched out her every secret and worshipped it with his mouth and tongue, dipping and driving and tasting, out and in until she was panting.

Then he was moving up, his face damp, his mouth moist. "Do you want it, darling?"

"Yes," she whispered. She knew the madness that drove them. "Yes."

He shifted her hands down over his flat stomach until her fingers brushed the crisp thatch of hair at his thighs and within it, the hardness. Her fingers closed around him and he groaned, low and deep and primitive. His skin began to slisten with a sheen as he watched her hands work their own special magic to his body, arousing him as he had her until his hips were sliding forward and back in the same rhythm as her hands. His owns hands clenched and his head fell back as his chest rose with a groan that sounded wild in the silent room. For a brief moment she was aware of nothing but her ability to please him, to drive him to the brink on which she had been herself and she became aware of her own rising passion, even greater than before.

Slowly, she moved to her knees and took him in her mouth, imitating the same slow teasing swirls that he had used to torment her just moments before. She felt his body tense; it jerked and throbbed and swelled.

David lifted her, wrapping his arms around her as she lifted her hips with the help of his hands on her buttocks and before she could open her mouth to cry out in surprise, he was driving in one burning, stretching thrust deep within her.

"Mine," he said roughly, passionately into the hair at her temple. "Mine, by God, you're mine."

Then the beat began, rhythmic and constant until the world was a spinning, roaring wonder that was expanding beyond her control. They ceased to be him and her and simply became them. Wrapping his arms around her, he pressed heavily upon her and she turned her face aside, breathing in the scent, the taste of his aroused flesh.

They arched together in almost the same moment, she lifting to his thrust. His eyes, locked on hers as they moved together and apart until the shocks of his body against hers drove her mindless and still he drove and twisted and drove until she was panting and writhing and frantic.

"Say it," he said, hips moving and grinding. "You're mine. Say you're mine and no one else's and you never will be."

"Yes," she cried.

"Forever, Carolyn. Promise me, forever, no matter what."

"Yes!" she screamed and then in frenzied madness, he brought her to another climax. She pushed against him, expanding while he came in a hot liquid torrent inside her, throbbing inside her with the same beat of her words... "yes... yes... yes."

**********

"Marie, I'm not coming in today. Were there any appointments?"

"No, Mr. Christy, your schedule is clear. Tomorrow, though..."

"Yes, I know. I'll be there. Thanks." David turned toward the hotel bed, watching Carolyn's body slowly move as she breathed in her sleep. "Thanks," he said.

He picked up the room phone. "Room service? Yes, I'd like two... is there a breakfast buffet? Good. 'Till what time? Thanks."

They still had three hours and he was going to let her sleep. He got back into bed and pulled the covers over her and one long look.

If she was self-conscious about wearing her gold ball gown to breakfast, she gave him no indication and there he was, wearing his tux, at least the shirt and pants. The maître d smiled as he led them to their table and after ordering orange juice and champagne, they went to the buffet tables. 

He smiled. 

She smiled. 

"You don't need any," he said, sipping his champagne, feeling like he was on his honeymoon.

"Any what?"

"Make up. You're beautiful without it." He looked around for the waiter, wanting another glassful.

"Now, what? I mean..." She looked directly at him, searching for the future in his eyes.

"David..."

"I meant what I said," he whispered. 

"So did I." She smiled again, her bright teeth shining. She touched the heavy links around her neck. "I'm never taking this off," she said, touching his hands with hers.

**********

It was late afternoon before Carolyn and David returned to the house. She was still wearing the golden gown from the party and turned heads wherever they had gone. 

That evening, at dinner, Kendra was the first to notice the heavy gold links around her mother's neck. The young woman's mouth dropped open. "Is it real? Gold, I mean." she whispered.

Carolyn's hand went to the necklace, its weight still reminding her of its novelty. "Yes," she said in a low voice. "It's very old. It was his grandmother's."

"Oh, my God," said Kendra. "Oh, my God."

Michael sat down, wondering what his sister was going on about and then he saw it, his mother's hand still to her neck.

"You look like a slave," he said, pushing his chair back. "You look like his slave. Are you sleeping with him, now? You're just his whore and he'll leave you just like Dad did." He walked out of the house, not bothering to close the door behind him.

Carolyn stood there in pained shock, wondering why life had to be so complicated, so disastrous, so sad. Kendra helped her sit down.

The silence was deafening when David came to the dining room. "What?" He went to his knees at her chair. "Carolyn, what's wrong?"

"It's Michael; he's gone. He... he's gone." Her cell rang, startling her. It kept insisting and Kendra took the call in the kitchen.

"That was Grandma. Michael's there. He said he's not coming home."

"Oh, Jesus, what have I done?" Carolyn stood up and went to her bedroom, quietly closing the door.

"Shit," Kendra said. "Mr. Christy, I'm sorry. Are you going to eat? If not, then I've got to put this into the refrigerator."

David picked up the lasagna and walked into the kitchen, placing the casserole dish on the table there and then got into his car. The rumble of the Hemi told of his leaving and Carolyn cried even more, wondering where he had gone and if he would return.

David pushed the doorbell, again. "Open the damn door," he muttered. He rang the bell once more.

The door opened and the woman spoke to him through the screen door. "Mr. Christy. I expected Carolyn. Michael told me you're sleeping with my daughter. There was something about putting a slave chain around her neck."

"It belonged to my grandmother. It's gold. It started out as a gift but..."

"Became something else?" She could see him blush in the harsh glare of the porch light. "Why don't you come in?"

She unlatched the screen door, pushed it open and went back into the living room. David had never been there, before. No reason in particular, just no reason to. He looked around the room, decorated in Afro-centric furnishings and old black-and-white photographs of Louisiana. On the mantle, there other photographs, one a wedding picture of Carolyn and her husband.

"Sit down, Mr. Christy. How much do you know about my family?"

"Just what Carolyn and Kendra have told me... her husband was killed in the war and she's had to do housekeeping to make ends meet. She said they lived with you."

"Words, Mr. Christy, just words. Can you comprehend the grief of a young widow, having to raise two children, one ten, the other eight? Do you have family, Mr. Christy?"

"Please, ma'am, call me David. No, ma'am, my parents are dead, killed in a car accident. The other driver crossed the center line. I was in Korea at the time."

"Yes, Carolyn mentioned you were in the Air Force, was it? No matter... how did you feel? Imagine how Michael felt. He was only eight and his father was gone. Only by the grace of God, he didn't join a gang but it hasn't been easy."

"May I speak with him? Maybe, I can explain. I... please?"

"He's very angry, right now. That might not be a good idea but I'll ask him."

The woman disappeared down the hallway and David heard a soft knock on a bedroom door. He heard the door open and quietly close. David stood up and walked over to the wedding photo. Carolyn looked slightly different; of course, she was about twenty years younger. He looked closely at the man in the picture. There was something hard about him, not hard in a martial sense but hard in a selfish sense.

He heard a noise and looked up. Michael and his grandmother had entered the room, the boy reluctantly, looking around the room, probably expecting his mother to be there.

"You're sleeping with my mom, aren't you?" he asked, glaring at David.

David looked at the boy. "I'm not trying to replace your father, Michael."

The boy stood there, his hands clenched and then he put them into his pockets. "She's happy but I don't want to see her hurt. You're the first man that she's been with since Dad was killed." 

"I love your mother. That's all I can say. I know you're her son and feel protective but all I can say is that I won't hurt her, I promise."

"Yeah, well, Dad promised, too... promised to come home. Promises don't mean much."

The boy had been eight years old when his father died. He was sure there was resentment, but of what? Sleeping with his mother? Probably some of that... or, was the boy fighting a long dead specter? How to deal with it, though... 

"Michael, please, come home with me. Your mother's worried about you... and, so am I." No boy liked the idea of his mother sleeping with someone not his father. David sighed, wondering what would happen.

Michael looked at his grandmother. "Qu'est-ce que je devrais faire?"

"Retourne a ta maison, Michael. Ta mère a besoin de toi," the old woman said. "Mr. Christy, Michael will go home with you. Please wait while he gets his jacket."

"Thank you, ma'am, for your help. Carolyn has been crying since he left."

"Are you going to marry my daughter?"

"I want to. It will be up to her but I know she loves me, it just took a long time to face it, I suppose."

Michael came back into the room. "Au revoir, grand-mère. Merci."

"Au revoir, Michael. Ta mère a besoin de lui et son amour. Il l'aime, je le sais. Goodbye, Mr. Christy. Take care of my daughter and her children. I know you have been very generous but this is different, now."

"Yes, ma'am, I know. Michael?"

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry."

"Forget it. I understand. Let's go home."

**********

Her cell rang. It was his ring tone, 'Eight miles high.' "I'll be way late, tonight, so eat without me. I'll get something, here. I love you."

"I love you, too," she said. There, she said it for the first time. Even during their night at the Marriott, they had not said it... and yet, she knew it, then. She just wanted to hear it.

"I've got to go, now. If I can, I'll try and call around two."

"David?"

"Yes?"

"I love you. Au revoir, mon chéri."

"Uh, yes... au revoir." David pushed the disconnect button. I'm going to have to learn some French, he thought. He left his desk and walked out to his secretary. "Miss Toller, please find for me someone around here that can teach me French, will you?"

"Yes, Mr. Christy. How intensive do you want it?"

"Enough to get by, that's for sure."

"Going to Paris?" She smiled, wondering if he'd take her along. She was turning thirty and still hadn't found someone to marry her. She had set her sights on Christy but he seemed to just see her as part of the office furniture. Maybe, she thought, it was time to turn up the fire.

"Tonight is that meeting with the composite engineers. Give them a call and find out what they'd like to eat, will you? Thanks. If you need me, I'll be in Technical Services."

Miss Toller watched him leave her office, thinking he was a prime candidate in her hunt for a husband. She squirmed a little in her chair and picked up her desk phone and hit the speed-dial number for the engineers. "Mr. Christy wants to know what you want to eat, tonight. Is pizza OK?"

She listened to the engineer. She always thought he was a little 'geeky' but harmless. Maybe, though, it wouldn't hurt to be a little nice to him.

By the time she hung up, she an order for two large pepperoni and mushroom pizzas and a date for Saturday night.

**********

Christy looked at his watch. It was almost midnight. "You've had two months to get this fabric laminated. What's the damn problem? We're running against a deadline, here."

"The copolyamide adhesive doesn't hold up to the temperature changes and we've been looking for something else. It keeps delaminating below minus 50 Celcius."

"Was it a bad batch?"

"No, we've used sixteen different batches, from three different manufacturers. We're going to have to use something else."

"Look, it's so late it's early. Let's call it quits and pick this up tomorrow. If you can't get it to work by the end of the week, start over with something new."

Christy walked Toller out to her car. He turned back to his own car when he saw the flat tire. "Damn it!" He looked at the tire, knowing changing it in the middle of the night was not an option. He looked at his cell. It was after two. He debated calling Carolyn to come take him home but considered that the height of inconsideration.

"I'll give you a ride home," Toller said.

"Thanks. Looks like we'll be coming in late tomorrow... I mean, this morning."

When she dropped him in front of his house, he waved 'goodbye' and went in. The light was on in the kitchen and he found Carolyn asleep on the table, a saran-wrapped plate of chocolate chip cookies next to her.

"Carolyn... Honey, wake up."

"Wah? You're home? I waited for you... I made your favorite."

"C'mon, let me help you to bed." He put his arm around her and walked her to her room. Although they had made passionate wild love, he felt he was breaking some code of honor to stay so he kissed her cheek, went to his own room and flopped on his bed, falling asleep immediately.

**********

It was eight o'clock the next morning before he woke, still dressed from the night before. He shuffled into the bathroom and looked into the mirror, seeing he wasn't twenty years old anymore.

He stripped, shaved and stepped into the shower, drenching his head first with cold water and then with hot as he shampooed his thinning auburn hair. He put his right hand on the tiled wall and leaned into it, bending his head forward and letting the water blast the cobwebs in his head away. "Ohhhhh," he moaned, waiting to fully wake up. He took his brushed and scrubbed his back and then using his washcloth, worked his way around his tired body. He took special care with himself, remembering Carolyn's newfound oral fixation with him and felt himself harden at the memory. He was amazed at how long and hard he had become from the vision dancing through his mind and stopped touching himself, preferring to wait for Carolyn. 

"Good morning," she said, kissing him with a deep and probing kiss. "They're away to school." Her arm went around his shoulder and she put a cookie to his lips. "You shaved," Carolyn whispered and then leaned in closely. "I waited for you last night." 

"I know. I'm sorry but it couldn't be helped. The stupid..."

"Shhhh... you're home now. Come with me." Carolyn gently touched his face and pulled him into her bedroom.

**********

"I've got a couple of hours... would you like to have lunch with me?"

"Of course... where?" Her heart beat faster.

"Red Lobster on Hawthorne? Say in a half-hour?" He spoke rapidly, his breath far behind his words.

"I'll be there." Carolyn ran through the house locking the windows and drove into Torrance to meet her lover, nearly running a red light at Artesia.

"I ordered your iced tea," she said as he kissed her and then sat down across from her in the booth. "And, they're bringing your hot biscuits."

"Thanks, Carolyn. I'm glad you could make it."

"I'd go to the ends of the earth for you."

"I've got something to ask you."

"Yes?" Would he ask me THAT, HERE?

"I've got to go to San Diego Thursday and would like you to come with me. A half-day of meetings and then we've got the rest of the time to ourselves. We could come back Sunday. Ever been to Sea World?"

"Many, many years ago when the children were small." She looked down, remembering the last family outing they had had before he went back to Afghanistan, never to return.

"Is there a problem? We can go somewhere else."

"No... it's time to make new memories."

"Good; I had Toller make reservations for the Marriott on Hotel Circle. She was a little disappointed. For some reason, she thought I was taking her."

"Oh?"

David laughed. "She's on the prowl for someone to fill her bed and make an honest woman of her. Don't worry. I think she's put her hooks into one of my engineers, poor guy."

Carolyn raised an eyebrow.

"He's going to have to keep an eye on her."

"Never thought about her for yourself?"

"Are you kidding? Why fool around with tin when I've gold in my arms."

She could feel the blood rush to her face and wondered if he could see her blush at his words. There was a shadow across the table.

"Ready to order?" the waitress asked.

Carolyn's drive home was much more sedate and she carefully approached each intersection in turn. She had packing to do but first stopped at her mother's house to get a suitcase.

"Ma fille, n'est-ce pas heureux?"

"Oui, ma mère. Nous partons à San Diego. Est ce que to peut rester avec eux?"

"Oui, oui..."

Carolyn went into her mother's garage and found two suitcases. "Au revoir," she said, waving to her mother as she pulled away and back to her home. That sounded so wonderful to her... her home. Before, it was Christy's house. Her home...

**********

The Challenger made quick work of the 5 as they drove to San Diego, reaching the sunny city late in the afternoon Wednesday. After checking into the Marriott, he lay on the bed, thinking about his meeting the next morning. It should be simple enough, he thought and wondered why it was necessary to have the meeting at all. A couple of tele-conferences would have been sufficient, he was sure.

He heard the shower running and thought about joining Carolyn there but thought better of it. They had the entire night, the entire weekend... besides, he was hungry. 

She stood before the mirror, misty with steam and stared at her nakedness. It seemed impossible that he was so fascinated with her; she touched where his mouth had been and his fingers had explored. Slowly, she ran her fingers through her dark curls, so dark that sometimes they looked blue, curls that he had inhaled and kissed and loved.