Chapter Twenty-One – NOW

 

Kyle drives us about thirty minutes from my house, to the outskirts of town.  He turns down a lane and then through an open gateway before stopping the truck in the middle of a field.  Without a word, he climbs out of the vehicle, rounds the hood, and stops by my door.  He opens it up and I’m still staring at him, wondering what’s going on.  He holds out his hand to me.

“Comin’?” he asks in that deep rasp I’ve become addicted to.

“Where are we?” I reply, taking his hand, instantly feeling the heat, and loving it.

He leads me around to the back of the truck, lowers the tailgate and tells me to wait there.  Seconds later, he’s back.  He arranges a blanket and sets a basket down in the corner of the tub.

“Hop up,” he says, tapping the tailgate.

“Uh?” I look at the vehicle.  It’s high and I’m not that tall.  My legs aren’t long and I fear if I try to jump up, I’ll end up on my ass in the field.

He chuckles and then moves to stand behind me.  I suck in a sharp breath as his hands come to rest on my hips.  Then he’s lifting me effortlessly, and I’m on the blanket in the back of the truck.  In a swift movement, he climbs up too, then he falls to his back, arms bent, fingers interlaced behind his head.  I follow his lead, and when I do, I gasp.  Above me, the sky is alight with millions of stars that we never get to see in the city, thanks to all the street lamps. 

“Oh my,” I whisper in awe.  “It’s so beautiful.”  Not a cloud in sight, the sky is clear and brilliant.  The moon is vibrant, untainted by the city pollution.  The air is crisp and clean, not contaminated by gas fumes.  I breathe in deep and exhale slowly as we lie in silence, soaking in the natural beauty that is above us.

“Some nights when I was deployed, we’d have to camp out.  The best part about it was the unhindered view of the night sky,” he tells me, his voice low.

With the darkness of the night, the soft breeze, and the silence, it feels as if we can expose our inner truths.  It feels safe.  No one else is around to overhear our confessions, and I find myself relaxing in the moment and sharing my mind and heart with the man who has owned them both for a very long time.

“Did you ever miss home?” I ask.

He doesn’t reply right away and I wondered whether he heard me.

“Not at first.  Joining the Army is a choice, and when I enlisted, I knew deployment was a high possibility, and to be honest, I was fuckin’ eager for it.  But, that last tour… Yeah.  Fuck yeah, I missed home.  Brant was gone, you were alone, and then Matilda was born.  For the first time since I was recruited, I felt like I didn’t want to be there anymore.”

“I hated not knowing if you were safe,” I admit, my voice raw, my eyes on the sky.

“I thought of you, you know.  A lot.”

My heart doesn’t just skip a beat; it skips about ten.

“Do you have nightmares or anything?  From the war?  It must be hard coming home to normalcy when you’ve experienced what you did as a soldier.”

“Sometimes.”  His answer surprises me.  Not that he sometimes has nightmares, but that he actually answered me.  I honestly thought he would evade the question.  “Spending a few weeks at my cabin helps me decompress, though.”

“You have a cabin?” I turn my head to look at his profile.

“Yeah.  Near the lake about an hour from here.”

“I think that’s great,” I tell him honestly.  “You’ve found a positive way to help you process everything.”

Comfortable silence descends around us again as we gaze up at the sky.  A shooting star spears through the sky and I close my eyes to make a wish.

I wish to let go of my insecurities and inhibitions so I can be with the man who makes my heart stutter and my tummy flutter.

He sits up abruptly and reaches for the basket.

“Hungry?”

“I am actually.” I grin.  He digs into the wicker basket and pulls out two items.  He hands me one, and I look down and laugh.

“A bar of chocolate.” I state.  Then I look over to see him opening his candy.  “Of course.  Skittles.”  I shake my head and open the chocolate.

“I missed Skittles when I was in-country.  Gotta make up for it,” he replies through a chuckle.

“Draco the Dragon!” I say, pointing to the constellation.

“One of my brothers was big on constellations,” he says.  “I found Puppis one night when he was pointing out Monoceros to me.  Then I found Eridanus – it’s a massive constellation.”

“That’s so cool.”

“Yeah, it was fun.  Passed the time at night if we had trouble sleeping.  Sometimes when I’m at the cabin, I’ll lie down on the grass and look up, trying to spot them.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah.”

“Celia said something about a mission going wrong on your last tour.”  I swallow hard.  “What happened?”

He exhales heavily.  “It’s classified, so I can’t say much.  But, we were ambushed by a sniper, and my brothers got shot.  Thankfully, only the bad guys died.”

“Jesus,” I whisper.  “That must have been terrifying.”

“I thought of you.  In that moment when he first started firing, your face was what I saw for a split second before my training kicked in.”

Tears pool in my eyes.

“Do you miss them?  Your brothers, I mean.”

“I still see them a lot, so no, I don’t really miss them.  Zeek lives in Greenwich so I catch up with him about once a month.  Sometimes more.  The other boys are scattered across the country, but we text often.”

“I’m glad you have them,” I say sincerely.  “I can tell they mean a lot to you.”

He shrugs and replies simply, “They’re my brothers by choice.”

Before we know it, three hours have passed.  It feels more like ten minutes, and I don’t want the night to end, but I know I should get home to Matilda and Celia. I turn on my side and look at Kyle, whose eyes are the sky.  His hand periodically comes up to his mouth to drop a few Skittles between his lips.

“I had a really great time tonight, Kyle.  Thank you,” I tell him.  He turns on his side to face me and his hand reaches across to cup my jaw.

“God, Liv,” he whispers.

“What?” I whisper back.

“You’re so fuckin’ beautiful it hurts to look at you sometimes.”

“I feel the same way about you.”

With his eyes intently on mine, he leans toward me.  My eyes flutter shut, my heart stops beating, and then his lips are on mine.  A soft, tentative brush at first, but then I lean in and my lips part, and his hand slides from my jaw to the back of my neck and his tongue sweeps in.  I whimper, utterly overwhelmed by the sensations swimming through my veins.  He tastes like sweet candy and I can’t get enough.  His hand goes to my ass and he pulls me across the blanket, eradicating the small distance between us until my body is pressed up against his. 

When our lips slowly part, I’m breathing heavy, completely intoxicated by all that is him, and it takes me seconds to open my eyes.  He’s looking down at me, his gaze heated, his lips glistening from our kisses.

“Wow,” I whisper.

“You drive me crazy, Liv,” he returns.

“I could say the same about you.”  My fingers trail through the light stubble on his jaw.  God, he’s so beautiful.

“I better get you home before I take this further,” he says, placing one last languid kiss on my lips, sweeping his tongue into my mouth before he pulls back leaving me wanting more.  So much more.

He drives me home with one hand on my thigh, his fingers lazily stroking back and forth across my jeans.  All too soon, we’re pulling into my drive and he’s shutting off the engine. 

“Thank you for an amazing night,” I say, breaking the silence that lingers between us.

“Best night I’ve had in a long time,” he agrees.  “Think we can do it again sometime?”

“Absolutely,” I reply far too quickly, not hiding my eagerness in the least.

He chuckles as we climb out and walk up my path, his fingers laced with mine.  We reach the door, but before I can unlock it, he turns me around to face him so my back is against the door, and claims my mouth again.  He tastes so good, I could kiss him forever and a day.  He pushes into me and I whimper when I feel his hard cock pressing against my stomach.  My hands go to the bottom of his shirt and glide upwards, feeling the heat of his skin and the taunt muscle of his hips.  I have an overwhelming urge to tear his shirt off and lick him all over.

“I should go,” he rasps.

“Mmm-hmm,” I mumble, licking my lips, savoring the taste of him.

He growls and kisses me once more, harder, faster, even more heated than before, then he tears his mouth from mine and we’re both panting.

“Fuck.”

“I better get inside.  Make sure Celia’s feeling okay.”  My arms are around his neck and his around my waist, one hand on my ass, one hand on my lower back.

“Yeah.” 

Neither one of us moves.

Finally, he sighs and gently unwinds my arms from around his neck.  “Go inside now, or I’m gonna drag you out to my truck and fuck you up against it.”

I lick my lips again as my stomach clenches.

“That’s not how it’s gonna be the first time, Liv.  Go inside,” he growls.

“Okay, Kyle,” I whisper.  I slowly turn and insert the key into the lock.  Then I toss him a smile over my shoulder and walk inside.

“Night, Liv,” he says, right before I close the door.

“Night,” I whisper to the wood as I lean my forehead against it.

“How was your night?” Celia asks. 

I shriek in fright and spin around to find her smiling stupidly in the kitchen, stirring a spoon in her cup of tea. “You scared the life out of me!”

She shrugs nonchalantly before taking a sip of her drink and asking, “So, how was it?”

“Amazing,” I sigh wistfully.

“I won’t say I told you so,” she mutters.

“You just did, didn’t you?” I sass.

She chuckles.  “Guess I did.”

Celia pours me some tea and then we sit on the couch together and I tell her all about my evening.  About chocolate bars and Skittles, constellations, and kisses. I’m swooning and I know it, but I just can’t stop.  When I finish talking, I look over to Celia and see her eyes glistening with unshed tears and a soft smile on her lips.

“Sounds magical,” she whispers.

“It was,” I verify in the same tone.

“I’m so happy for you, Liv.  Don’t let him go.”

I don’t plan on it.