chapter TWENTY
FRIDAY, JULY 26, 1968
Today I received the best birthday present ever.
Curtis wasn’t sure that he would be able to pull off the surprise, but with help from his mother and from Joseph, his arrival back in Granite Creek had gone undetected by everyone. He’d known he was coming home since he’d sent the last letter to Lorrie on June fifteenth, but he hadn’t told her that. Instead, he had told her all the things he’d wanted to tell her for the past three and a half years.
He was finally home, and it looked as though Lorrie was completely unaware, at least until the moment he stepped into his mother’s living room to find her sitting on the couch in front of the television. No one said a word as he stood there with his heart in his throat while he watched as she talked quietly to his sister Daphne.
Although she’d sent him pictures, nothing prepared him for how incredibly beautiful she was. There before him was a twenty-year-old woman who had taken the place of the sixteen-year-old girl he’d left years ago. His heart skipped a beat or two in his chest, and it felt as though an anvil had been dropped on his ribs.
How in the hell had he stayed away so long?
Clearing his throat, he waited for Lorrie to turn around. He watched as she slowly pivoted on the couch, her eyes seeking the reason for the sound. When they landed on him, she inhaled sharply, tears forming in her eyes, and he found his were wet, as well.
“Curtis!” Her whisper was so rough he barely heard it.
In the next second, Lorrie was on her feet, staring at him from across the room as though she thought he might not be real. Her shaky hand went to her mouth as tears began streaming down her cheeks.
He could feel the pressure in his chest as he stared at her. He’d waited so damn long for this day.
“C’mere, baby,” he said hoarsely, his voice rough with emotion.
The next thing he knew, Lorrie launched herself at him, her lips finding his instantly. The kiss surprised him so much he stumbled as he held her to him, putting his hand on the wall to keep them upright. Not caring that his mother was in the room, or his brothers and sisters, Curtis cupped her face in his hands and crushed his mouth to hers, savoring the taste of her. She tasted like heaven, so damn sweet and just as he remembered. She was still the softest thing he’d ever touched, her skin like silk against his fingertips.
When they pulled back for air, Lorrie didn’t release him, instead burying her face against his chest. He cupped the back of her head and slid his other hand up and down her back as she sobbed, his heart pounding uncontrollably. God, he’d missed her so fucking much.
“Are you home for good?” she whispered, her words barely audible over her sobs.
“For good,” he told her. For a while there, he hadn’t thought he’d ever be able to say that, but it was true. His time as an active-duty soldier was over. It was time for him to focus on the life he’d left behind, the one he’d seemingly been running from.
Curtis looked over Lorrie’s head at the others standing around. Joseph was there, grinning as though he hadn’t a care in the world. While Curtis had followed Gerald’s lead and gone into the Army, at twenty, Joseph had decided he wouldn’t unless they made him, which they knew might be a real possibility. Until that time came, Curtis wanted the kid to live his life, enjoy every second of it. It was completely up to him how he chose to do that.
Then there was David, who looked so different from the fourteen-year-old kid he’d been when Curtis had left. Of course, Daphne was now barely older than Lorrie had been when Curtis had married her, and she looked all grown up. Too grown up, if he were being honest. Frank Jr., who’d been a royal pain in Curtis’s ass, had officially become a teenager. That left Lisa and Maryanne, the two youngest of the bunch. They were watching him as though he might just disappear into thin air.
The only person missing was Gerald, who was still making a career out of being a soldier, leading his men and encouraging others to serve for their country. Not an easy task at the moment, considering the US’s feelings on the war, but who was Curtis to argue? He’d done his time, he was proud of what he’d done, and he was now ready to get on with the rest of his life.
“You’re home,” Lorrie repeated, her body trembling as he held her.
“I’m home,” he agreed.
She looked up at him with watery eyes. “I’m not imagining this, right? I’m not dreaming?”
He smiled. “Nope. I’m here, darlin’.” He had acquired time while in the army, time he had never used because he’d been too scared that if he came home to see Lorrie, he wouldn’t be able to leave again. And though he’d re-upped for another year, he’d completed eight months, and now he was done.
“Are you hungry?” his mother asked.
“Starving,” he growled, looking down at Lorrie. He didn’t bother clarifying that he wasn’t hungry for food. Based on the heat he saw in her eyes, she knew.
Sliding his hand over her hair, he kept his gaze locked with hers.
The only thing he could think about was taking her to their little house and burying himself inside her all night long and never, ever letting her go. For the first time. For both of them.
His dick hardened, but somehow he ignored it.
Being with her was the main thing he’d thought about for the past painfully long three years and eight months. Making love to his wife for the very first time.
“I’m so glad you’re home,” she whispered.
“Me, too, darlin’.”
“This is, by far, the best birthday present a girl could ever receive.”
Curtis smiled. He’d wanted to surprise her, and it looked as though he had.
Mission accomplished.
Now, if he could get through the rest of the afternoon with his family, he had a few plans for Lorrie to make up for all the time they’d lost.
Lorrie felt as though she were walking around in a dream. She kept waiting for the moment when she would wake up to find that she was lying in Curtis’s old bedroom, alone, hugging his pillow to her chest as she had for too many nights to count.
She did not want to wake up.
She did not want this to be a dream.
Curtis was home. He was standing here, holding her in his arms, and it was the greatest feeling in the world. So great she wasn’t sure she would be able to let him go.
“Come on. Let’s eat,” Joseph called. “You can tell us all about the things you did.”
Lorrie didn’t really care to hear his stories, at least not until she had time to process the fact that he was really home, but she would give anything to hear his voice, so it didn’t really matter what he talked about.
“We’ll be there in a minute,” Curtis replied, his arms tightening around her.
“Gotcha,” Joseph said with a wink.
Curtis released her, but he reached for her hand, then led her through the living room and up the stairs, then down the hall to his old bedroom. She followed, feeling the butterflies take flight in her belly. She recalled his last letter. When she’d received it, she had read it at least two dozen times. The straightforward way he told her that he wanted to make love to her… It was all she’d thought about for days. Weeks.
Now he was home. It was as though that letter had been a way of preparing her for this moment. Maybe it had. And it had worked.
He closed the door behind them, then led her to the bed. When he took a seat on the edge of the mattress, he pulled her toward him so that she was standing between his legs.
“Lemme look at you.” Curtis’s voice was rough, and Lorrie knew he was overcome by the same emotions she was.
She didn’t move a muscle as she allowed her gaze to rake over his face at the same time he seemed to be eating her up with his.
“I missed you so much,” he mumbled.
Reaching for him, Lorrie lightly trailed her fingers over his jaw. He looked different than he had before. No longer was he the skinny kid who’d gallantly ventured into the Army to go off and protect the world. He’d come back a man. His body was harder than before, his chest bigger, wider, evident even beneath the uniform that he wore. Out of the blue, Lorrie’s thoughts drifted to removing it from his body so she could see what was beneath.
Curtis’s hands slid to the backs of her thighs, warm and callused as they slowly glided up, then down. Her body tingled in so many places. It seemed they couldn’t look away from one another, but the tension in the room was intensifying, turning into something Lorrie hadn’t felt before. There was a powerful force that was drawing her toward him, her body wanting things from him that she’d never thought she would want. But she did. She wanted them all. With Curtis.
“Did you get my letter?”
Lorrie nodded. “I did.”
“Did you read it?”
Chuckling, she said, “Of course.”
“And?”
“And what?” She felt her cheeks heat as a blush consumed her.
“I can’t wait to make love to you.”
Lorrie stared deep into his eyes. “I can’t, either.”
A rough growl escaped him. “Need you closer,” he said gruffly.
Shifting, Curtis pulled her so that she was forced to straddle his lap, her knees on the bed on either side of his hips. She didn’t even think about pushing him away when his hands slipped beneath her shorts to cup her bottom.
“Kiss me, Lorrie. Kiss me like you’ve missed me.”
That she could definitely do. Sliding her hands behind his neck, Lorrie kept her eyes fixed on his until she was too close to see him. Then she let her eyelids lower as her lips met his. The kiss started slow and sweet, but it quickly heated, her tongue delving into his mouth as he allowed her to control the kiss. It was as though someone had replaced her blood with rocket fuel. She was hot all over, her breasts sensitive. A slow, throbbing ache had settled between her thighs. They were close, but not close enough.
“Oh, fuck.” Curtis’s hips pressed upward. “Lorrie. Baby,” Curtis growled when she pulled back, his lips sliding to her neck.
“Did you just swear at me?” she asked, grinning.
“Not at you, darlin’,” he whispered. “I just don’t know any other way to express what you do to me. How hard you make me.”
He was gripping her behind, pulling her against him, grinding against her sex where she felt the evidence of how hard she made him. She could feel the thick ridge of his erection against the sensitive spot between her legs. Not once did she think about the fact that they were in Curtis’s mother’s house, or that there were seven people waiting for them in the other room. It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was Curtis was home.
The knock on the bedroom door made her jump, and then she fell over into a heap of giggles. Her heart was lighter than it had ever been before.
“Food’s ready,” David announced.
“Be right there,” Curtis told him as he twisted to look at her. He smiled. “Let’s go eat, do what we need to to appease them.” His hand gripped her hip as he leaned over her. “Then, Mrs. Walker, I’m gonna take you home and strip these pretty little shorts right off you and spend the rest of the night getting intimately familiar with your body.”
Although Lorrie would’ve blushed and shied away from those words before … well, now, she couldn’t wait. “I’m gonna hold you to that, Mr. Walker.”
Lorrie couldn’t deny that she loved seeing the heat that ignited in those blue-gray eyes that she’d dreamed about for nearly four long years.