Jewel Ann - Idle Bloom

Oliver watches me the whole time as he continues to sing. Tears sting my eyes as I get closer. I feel like an army wife running to her husband as he steps off the plane. I know our time apart doesn’t even compare to that, but eight weeks has felt like an eternity without him. I’m almost there and he hands the mic to the announcer while the music continues to play.

“Oli …” I fall into his embrace and hug him with everything I have as he lifts me off my feet.

Tears flow. Lips collide.

The crowd erupts into crazy cheers with lots of whistling and clapping.

“Hi, gorgeous.” He sets me back on my feet and brushes away my tears.

“You’re back.”

He smiles. “Let’s go home. I’m not sharing you tonight.” He steps off the stage and holds out his hand.

I take it and follow him through the crowd. As we pass my table, I tug on him to stop. Grabbing my purse off the chair, I grin at the gaping mouths and jealous smiles aimed at me.

“I’ll explain Monday.” I wink at the girls and follow Oliver. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” I fist his shirt and pull him to me as we step out onto the sidewalk.

He kisses me and it’s mind-numbing, shooting stars, and a grand finale of fireworks all at once. I despise the three blocks between us and home, specifically our bed.

“And ruin the surprise?” He rubs his nose against mine.

“I can’t believe you did that in there. Oli, you can seriously sing.”

He interlaces our fingers and leads me down the sidewalk. “Well, one of us should be able to.”

“Oh my gosh! I thought you did that to serenade me, a romantic grand gesture. But you did it to block me from singing!” I punch him in the arm.

He chuckles. “I was serenading you. The fact that we left before you got a chance to sing was just a happy coincidence.”

I pull my hand from his and stomp ahead of him.

“Miss Graham, if you don’t stop strutting your sexy ass like a pendulum in that dress and those shoes, I’m going to have to take you into the alley and show you how desperate I am for you right now.”

My insides melt with his words, and I hope the evidence of that doesn’t start running down my leg since it’s a panty-free night for me. I didn’t want them to get in the way if the freshman initiation pissing opportunity presented itself.

“Sorry, Konrad Rosenberg , your threats need to be more believable.”

“Are you a little tipsy, Vivian? It doesn’t look like you’re walking too straight.”

“No, I’m just artificially confident and chemically relaxed.” I laugh at my own joke. It was a good one; at least after those three beers it sounds funny to me. “Eee!” I squeal as he grabs my waist and pulls me into the alley.

Oliver pins me against the wall with his body, his warm breath heavy on my face. The carnal need in his intense eyes and firm lips evaporates all humor between us. Strong hands slide down my arms and around to my ass. He squeezes it with a sudden jerk toward him. His arousal nudging my abdomen.

“Oli—”

He presses his mouth to mine and our tongues explore with determined strokes. My hands tug the button on his jeans until it’s released. The zipper follows and my hand kneads and strokes him through his briefs as he rocks his pelvis into my touch. He moans into my mouth with deep intensity.

His hands clench my dress, yanking it up once. I hum into his mouth with untamed anticipation. He grips my dress lower and yanks up one more time, completely exposing me from the waist down.

I wait for him to chastise me for my lack of panties, but he doesn’t. His right hand moves mine off his erection. He releases himself and with his left hand he hitches my leg to his waist and thrusts into me.

“Oh God!” I yell, letting my head fall back as his invasion stretches the part of me that’s forgotten the capacity of his touch.

Oli grabs the back of my head and pulls my lips to his again, muting my cries. I grip his hair holding him with just as much need while releasing small whimpers. I’ve missed him so much his touch is almost painful. Our bodies are starving and can’t get close enough—can’t find that release fast enough. He moves in me with the speed and determination of a race horse coming around the last turn. His upward momentum collides with my downward descent, sending a crescendo of pleasure through my body. My mouth goes slack, my standing knee buckles, and he digs all his fingers into my legs slamming me onto him one last time while pressing me to the wall.

“Oh shit … that … was …” His head falls to my shoulder as his labored lungs search for oxygen. He dots a trail of feathery kisses up my neck, stopping at my ear. “I’ve missed you like doughnuts would miss coffee.”

I laugh, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I’ve missed you more, like peanut butter would miss jelly or hot chocolate would miss marshmallows.”

He grabs my other leg and hoists me up around his waist and kisses me again, taking his time, savoring this moment. “My love…” Oli looks at me with soft eyes and a growing smile. “I’ve missed you like my heart would miss its own beat.”

Oliver

Raven hair fanned out on a pillow . I never imagined I could love the sight of a pillow again. I was wrong. Vivian magically makes everything … better. Twenty-four hours ago I was three-thousand miles away and miserable. Now I’m me. Oliver, who loves rowing and dinner with friends and family. I’m the boy who dreamed of playing for the Red Sox from the moment I got my first baseball glove. I’m the guy who wants to call up his buddies from college and see if they want to play basketball in the park. This Oliver wants to hold on to the woman next to him forever .

I trace her tattoo as she sleeps on her stomach. Then I kiss every cluster of buds that I know hides her scars. But I don’t see them and I can’t feel them. It’s become impossible for me to see anything but a beautiful, radiant woman through and through.

“Good morning, babe.” She rolls toward me so her back is against my chest.

I wrap her in my arms and kiss the top of her head. “It’s the best morning.”

She traces gentle circles on my arms with her nails. “Can I ask you something?”

I laugh. “You just did.”

“I’m serious.”

“Yes. You can ask me anything.”

She pauses. I feel the weight of her question before she ever asks it.

“Why can’t you have children anymore?”

I release the breath that I’ve been holding. “Because I did some stupid shit after what happened.”

“Like drugs?”

“Like selling almost everything we owned and burning what wouldn’t sell, like our wedding album, and all our other photos, except for one.”

“The one of Melanie?”

I nod against her shoulder as I kiss it.

“So are you saying all the heat from the burning caused damage to your sperm like a hot tub or something?”

I chuckle. “No. It’s true about losing a child: It’s the ultimate loss. At the time I knew only one thing for sure—I never wanted to experience that again. So I got a vasectomy.”

“Do you regret it?”

“I regret making rash decisions at the time, even if they weren’t all wrong decisions.”

She turns in my arms to face me. “Was the vasectomy a wrong decision?”

I let myself fall into her eyes because I know somehow all the answers I’ll ever need are in there. “It was if you want to have children with me.”

“Do you want to have children with me?”

I kiss her forehead. “I want you and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you.”

“That’s not an answer.”