Wide Spaces

  She grinned. "You have a little thing about legs, don't you?"

  "I will forever be a legs man."

  I couldn't stop caressing her face. My thumb made love to that cheek, and I leaned in close and relished in her every feel, every touch, every sigh. Eventually, I'd had enough. I couldn't stand it another second. I pulled back and it must have been on my face that my limit had been reached. Or maybe she was just as ready as I was. I wanted her alone, all to myself.

  We both dressed in our jeans quickly, her in her room and I was in her brother's. She came down the stairs again with everyone cooing and fawning all over the teary mother and the bride as she prepared to leave with her husband.

  After putting our boots on and zipping up Emma's big black coat over her yellow v-neck sweater, I took her hand and led her through the doorway into the bright white of the snowy driveway. We said goodbye to our parents and waved to everyone else as they watched us go. A few of the guests were staying at the B&B also, including my friends Rob and Patrice, since they were in no position to drive home to the next town. It was almost dark, but the streetlights and snow made it seem like it was glowing.

  We were assaulted by birdseed and cheers. Emma squealed and giggled as I tried to shield her. I tucked her quickly into her side of my truck—my big, rugged truck that was decorated with ribbons and cans. I climbed in and drove the short distance to the B&B. There was no checking in to do. They got our bags that I had packed earlier from the back seat and took them up to the room. I said we had one small errand to run and we'd be back. They looked curious, but said they'd leave the door unlocked for us.

  I took Em to the house instead. I went around to her side and pulled her from the high seat into my arms. She didn't ask why we were there or what we were doing. She let me lead her and knew that I had a plan. It was one of the many reasons I loved her—that she trusted me with abandon.

  I towed her to the porch and leaned into her smiling face, kissing her lips before lifting her into my arms. She giggled as I pushed the door open and set her feet inside the threshold. "Welcome home, Emma Wright."

  She smiled, biting into her lip. "Thank you. And what are we going to do now?"

  I pulled her face up with my finger under her chin while hooking my arm around the small of her waist.

  "What I've wanted to do for weeks now," I said low. She shivered and her smile showed nervousness, but happiness, too. I felt bad for teasing her…almost. I turned from our embrace, grabbing a sleeping bag and a thick blanket. She raised a curious brow but followed when I ticked my head.

  I brushed off most of the snow and laid the sleeping bag down over the picnic table. Then beckoned her to me as I lay down. We snuggled under the blanket, our booted feet touching. She was turned toward me with my arm around her, but could still look up into the dark sky that was only illuminated by the stars.

  The same stars that I poured my heart out to Emma under, to anyone, for the very first time. Though I fought it then, I still knew that my life would never be the same.

  I wanted to make love to her, of course I did, but as our first act as a married couple, I wanted to go back to the beginning. The start of a real us that was tangible and not just wishful thinking and hoping, but a reality that had scared the hell out of me.

  "I don't know what the stars' names are," I began and loved how she watched me, so enraptured. "I don't know the constellations or what they mean. I know this—that when I brought you out here that day, I hadn't intended on telling you everything. I figured when I told you what happened that night and how my friend died and my mom…how I thought it was all my fault, that you'd think I was a lost cause. I thought I could piss you off and you'd leave forever."

  She shook her head, her lips lifting wistfully. "No, you didn't get rid of me that day."

  "Or any day after that." The snow had stopped and I shooed a snowflake from the hair that was rebelling against her skullcap. "I barely heard the preacher today because of everything that has happened this week and all the weeks since I've met you. It consumed my thoughts. I've made so many mistakes and I never developed the ability to let things roll off my back. I'll work on it, I promise."

  She nodded. "I know you."

  "I promise to always tell you everything. And I promise to hang my towel up after a shower."

  She seemed to see where this was going. "I promise to ask before jumping to conclusions."

  "I promise that I'll put my shoes away and you'll never trip on them coming in the door."

  She smiled and a tear escaped the corner of her eye. Anyone would laugh that she was crying over my shoes, but she wasn't. God, I loved her so much right then for getting me. For getting us. I loved her for getting the way I needed to lay my heart out there for her so she could see all the wide spaces that were yet to be filled, but would be, even now as she told me the ways she wanted to love me.

  "I promise that I won't ever make you choose between your mom and me. I know you're a package deal and I wouldn't have it any other way."

  I huffed a sigh and gripped her thigh under the blanket to pull her closer. "I promise that I'll support you, no matter what you choose to do after school."

  She wiggled one of her legs between mine, shifting her hips closer. "I promise that I'll understand when you have to leave for Milo, and I know you two will reconcile one day."

  I gulped. Seeing Milo tonight had thrown me. One, I didn't know how he even knew about the wedding, and two, why would he come if he hated me? It gave me hope inside my chest that I thought was long gone. "I promise that no matter what happens in this life, I'll always love you. Always."

  She closed her eyes, sniffling, and smiled. "I promise I won't park behind you in the driveway so you can't get out."

  "I'll always call if I'm going to be late."

  "I won't forget the hot chocolate from the grocery store."

  I grinned and tightened my grip on her. "I'll tell you how much I love you every…single…" I kissed the tip of her freezing cold nose. "Day."

  "I'll only ever let you tattoo me."

  My chest rumbled at that and I growled something along the lines of, That's right you will. "I'll rub your calf muscles anytime you need me to."

  "I promise I won't tell anyone how ticklish you are."

  I smirked. "I'll always remember what an empty theater and a Bonanza marathon does to you."

  "I also won't spill the beans that you're a closet guitarist."

  "Hardly." I smiled. "I promise to help you fill your list with everything you've ever wanted to do."

  She put her gloved palm on my cheek. "I'll never regret…anything. Ever."

  "I'll never lie to you."

  "I'll never leave angry."

  "I won't ever take you for granted."

  "I won't…" She did the smile-cry again. "I won't ever forget. You or this or us." She took a deep breath as I felt those words punch into my guts. "I won't ever forget you," she said again, softer.

  That was it, the breaking point. I leaned up and over her and kissed her softly. We'd never really talked about it before, but several other people have asked what I would do if Emma remembered everything. I always told them that it wasn't likely, but if it did happen…I didn't know how she would process it all.

  With her arms wrapped around my neck, she reiterated. "I mean it. I'll never forget you. Even if my memories came back," she shook her head violently looking up at me, "I'd still remember you and love you. That won't ever go away."

  "Even if it did, I wouldn't let you go without a fight," I told her and hovered there, just out of reach of her lips.

  She smiled and pulled her fingers through my belt loops. "Promise?"

  "Hell yeah, baby. I love you," I groaned those words into the skin of her neck.

  "I love you. I'm so glad you wanted to marry me even though I'm unfixable," she said breathlessly.

  I shook my head. "You made loving you so easy."

  I kissed her mouth over and over again. It was so quie
t out there, our noises sounded so loud and erotic. I leaned back a little on my elbows to gain some control. "You're not upset about not getting the big fancy church wedding, are you? The doves? The ice sculpture?"

  "I don't care about any of that. I just wanted you."

  I chuckled. "Wow. You are feeding my ego like a prisoner's last meal."

  She bit her lip, the corner of her mouth lifting. "It's true." She looked up at the stars and then back down to me with a strange look. "Can I ask you something?"

  I knew what was coming. "You wanna know why I brought you here instead of straight to the B&B to ravage you in our room."

  She huffed a small laugh and nodded. "Yeah. Not that I'm not happy right now. I love that you brought me here, to this spot. It's so ridiculously sweet of you. I was just…curious."

  I licked my lip before speaking. "I want you so bad." I could hear her breaths."I've wanted you for months and you've made it very…difficult." She just smiled at that. "But this spot right here, on this picnic table, where I brought you to spill my guts? I used to lie out here at night. It felt like the only place in the world that I was the same person I used to be. I brought you here because more than wanting to make love to you, I wanted to show you how much I loved you first."

  "I love this spot," she said. "Thank you." I smiled and nodded once, knowing over the years that we would spend hours and hours out there. "So you want me?" she breathed.

  "You know I do," I said, pressing against her from toe to chest. "And now that you see how much I love you and how happy I am to have you here with me…are you ready to go?"

  She nodded, biting her lip again. I quirked a brow. "Nervous?"She nodded again. "Why, baby?"

  "It's a good nervous, not bad. I know I'm not a virgin or anything, but I still feel like one. Mainly, I just want to," she took a deep breath, "do things right."

  I felt the breath slam in my throat. "Are you serious?" I whispered.

  She nodded and squinted her eyes. "Yes."

  She thought I was making fun, I realized. I smoothed her cheek with my gloved finger. "Em, I don't think…there's anything you can do that won't be the right thing. Don't you see how crazy you make me when you just look at me? All you have to do is touch me and I'm gone."

  She eyed my face for a few moments. Then, her lips parted and she leaned up taking my bottom lip into her mouth and sucked.

  I groaned loudly, my eyes rolling. "Em, do you really think you don't completely own me?" Her leg hooked over my hip. I groaned again as her hips rolled under mine.

  She pressed her lips to my cheek and said in the sexiest, huskiest, most gulp-inducing voice I'd ever heard from that mouth, "I'm ready to go, Mason."

  I kissed her with a slow burning passion that surprised even me. My insides quivered with the force of it. But instead, I found myself worshipping her mouth, adoring her lips and tongue, the way they sought my own with such enthusiasm.

  I savored her every moan, noise, gasp and flick of her tongue. I could have taken her right there on the picnic table in my backyard under the stars, but when we heard a door shut, I knew the nurse had brought my mom home.

  And I was only interested in my wife tonight.

  So I helped my giggling wife as we crawled down from the table, sprinted across the yard, and around the side of the house by my old shop to the truck. The drive was short, but felt like forever as she kissed my neck and ran her hand up my leg. I did my own gasping, kissing her as much as I could while still driving in the lines. She hung onto my neck as I rubbed my hand down her leg and back up to the inside of her thigh.

  When we pulled into the B&B, I slammed on the brakes sideways in the parking lot, taking up way more than one spot. We practically ran upstairs and I was surprised when we bumped into Rob and Patrice in the hall.

  "You're just now getting here?" Rob asked like he couldn't believe it."Where have you been?"

  "We had…an errand to run," I told him as we maneuvered around them.

  "Uh." He chuckled like he didn't understand at all. "OK. Well, I was thinking that we could meet up for breakfast or—"

  "Rob, shut up," Patrice insisted and looked back at us apologetically. I grinned my gratefulness. "Sorry. We're sure you'd like to be alone now." She glared over at him, hoping he'd get the message.

  "We do. Night!" I called over my shoulder and towed Em into the room with me. Rob was asking her what the problem was when I shut the door and locked it.

  Without another word, I pushed my wife gently to the door. She was already unbuttoning her jacket and I helped her as I kissed her. Then my jacket was next. She reached on her tiptoes as she kissed me and yanked my jacket down my arms. The next thing to go was our boots. I kicked off mine and then knelt down to take off hers. I let my hands travel her jeaned legs all the way up to her hips as I stood.

  When she reached for the hem of my shirt, I let her do it without my help, just lifting my arms and then pressing her there again. I watched her face as I pulled her shirt up slowly over her head. Her eyes never left mine except when the fabric passed over her face. She licked her lips before wrapping her hand around the back of my neck and tugging me down to her.

  I lifted her easily, my hands under her thighs, and pressed her to the door gently. I was in no hurry. As long as I had her in my arms, we had this room for an entire four days. I wanted to savor every second of it and make her absolutely never want to leave this room again.

  After a long time—minutes, hours, could have been days—I let her down to remove the rest of the barriers of clothing, the final pieces that would make us one. I pressed her arms above her head and whispered for her to stay just like that. She obeyed as I unbuttoned her jeans, kneeling down in front of her to tug them down. I felt my swift intake of breath at what I found. On her thigh, sitting right where it had been all night taunting me, was the blue garter belt I bought for her. The growl that reverberated through me couldn't be stopped. I let my eyes lift to hers and she was wearing a little sideways smile that said she was enjoying my reaction. I finished pulling her jeans off, one leg and then the other. My eyes only left hers when I leaned in to run my fingers underneath the band of that garter. She shivered and shivered again when I kissed the place where the garter met her skin.

  I stood and the rest of our clothes dissolved by my nimble fingers, everything except that garter belt. That was staying on. We searched each other with our eyes and the tips of our fingers.

  When I carried her to the bed, that we didn't even know the color of, she didn't hold back. And true to my word, I was gone.

  To remain in love for a lifetime : listen actively to your partner, ask questions, give answers, appreciate, stay attractive, include your partner, give him/her privacy, be honest and trustworthy, tell your mate what you need, accept his/her shortcomings as who they are, give respect in all things, never threaten to leave, say 'no' to adultery, and cultivate variety in your activities to keep things fresh. You can never say 'I love you' too many times and you should say it every day. Even though you've been together forever it seems, you should still continue to 'date' your mate and find new ways to fall in love with them every. Single. Day.

  Emma

  A slow burning passion was what I got that first time. It was just as important, if not more so, than an unbridled one. They each have a purpose and each have a way of changing you forever.

  And I was changed.

  The next time and the time after that was more of the unbridled variety, and then he went back to slow burning. I was glad for the four days we had in that room. I was elated that I never knew what he was going to do next. I decided it was a gift that I couldn't remember all those times with Andy that I read about in my diary, because this what how it was supposed to be. I wasn't thinking about anything else, any other times, the way things might feel different. No. It was just Mason.

  We finally came down for breakfast the next day, but it was officially lunch. I couldn't look anyone in the eye. It was hilarious. They knew what we ha
d been doing all night and all morning. It was so weird! Mason laughed at me and didn't hide his smug smile a bit as we ate the eggs and sausage they warmed up for us. He would lean over and kiss me for no reason and then go back to his plate. Then out of nowhere, he would lean in and kiss me again, longer, harder this time, before sitting up straight. He paid no attention to anything going on around us—just me and the food on his plate he needed to replenish his strength.

  I closed my eyes and barely suppressed my groan thinking about how amazing Mason had been with me. He seemed to know exactly what I wanted. When I wanted slow, he went slow. When I wanted more…he gave me more. I learned every tattoo on his body and there were a lot. He had one on his lower stomach of a crow that I had never even seen before. He said it was his very first tattoo. He thought it was 'cool' and didn't even know the meaning behind it or anything before having someone slap it on him. Now he loved it, because it was what got him into wanting to do tattoos in the first place.

  And the Em over his heart? I kissed that ink over and over again, absolutely dying with the way his arms flexed and the muscles moved against my skin as they held me close.

  In between those times, he would pull me to lay on his chest and we talked as he played with my fingers in the dark room. We talked about everything. He told me stories about his mom when they were younger. Stories about the stupid things he and his friends used to do, stories about him and Milo when they were kids. I knew he was thinking about Milo coming to the wedding like that. I wondered if he had come to the same conclusion I had about how Milo knew about it. I felt a twinge of regret that I didn't have any stories that I could remember to tell. He just kissed me and shook his head, telling me we'd make new ones together. We only wound up sleeping about five hours all together, but that was more than OK.

  When Patrice and Rob came downstairs with their bags in their hands, Mason just tipped his head to them, took my hand, and towed me back upstairs, unwilling to add anyone to our honeymoon. I giggled at him and heard Rob laughing behind us.