A Red Leaf & Ten Orchids Ch. 12

When their urgency wouldn't let them go on much longer, he took her shoulders in his hands from beneath her, and began to pound into her, and she rocked to match his thrusts, grunting loudly. Joshua needed his climax very badly by then, so he shifted his grip, suddenly planted his knees, and lifted her bodily from the bed. Kayla hung on and tried to envelop his body as if that were possible. He thanked somebody -- he wasn't really sure who a moment later -- that they fit like this so that he could pull this off. He held her tightly and leaned back as the rush of it hit him.

Josh groaned loudly as he came, holding her a little past upright and worrying a little about the possibility of a leg cramp, and Kayla cried out with her cheek against his jaw as she came with him, shuddering violently. She'd never done this before and the shock of how he'd been able to lift her like this and how it felt had tossed her right off the table as far as where she'd been before. She was just thrown fast forward into a fast-rising climax that surprised her.

They held this position as he emptied himself into the condom. Kayla had tried to keep herself a bit elevated in his grasp once she found that in this position he was actually touching her cervix. But at the end she found that she didn't care for the last strokes if she moved herself differently just a bit because he wasn't trying to pound into her like this. As she tried to savor the feeling, she closed her mouth on the muscles of his throat lightly, savoring how primeval this felt to her. When they were like this, she was becoming more and more certain that they'd been made for each other. She'd never fit this well with anyone on any level.

She was amazed at his upper body strength when he lowered her gently, and settled his weight on her carefully. He kissed the top of her head, and shushed her, whispering, "Quiet honey, you'll wake the neighbors."

The absurdity of his remark caused Kayla to laugh, and Josh groaned in discomfort as he found himself ejected rather forcefully and he rolled off her carefully to try to quickly find some space for himself as he removed the condom.

She apologized, "Sorry, but you sounded so funny when you said that."

"It's ok," Josh said with a groan.

"I was in here this morning, looking for music," Kayla said, "That's how I came up with music to dance for you to."

Josh nodded with a smile, "I liked your choice."

"I didn't really mean to, but I found a few things that I'd like to ask you about."

Josh looked perturbed, "We're not going over the polar bear episodes again, are we?"

"No," Kayla smiled, "and we're going to leave the drunken cougar episodes alone as well."

"Oh, thank God," he looked much happier as he heaved a sigh of relief. "So what's up then?"

"I found a family photo," Kayla smiled, "your hair was as long as mine. I think the whole barbarian look could work for you." She kissed Joshua softly.

Josh nodded, "That was taken not long after the bandages from the last operation for my burn came off. Before that, there was still a bit of a hamburger look. You won't find any of me when I was younger than that, other than a very few that were taken from my good side."

"I dunno," she said, "I think that maybe I like the left side a little better," Kayla said as she slid her hand over his chest for a moment and continued after she began to speak. "Well, I'm only half-kidding about the Barbarian thing. You could grow your hair and make a living as a romance cover model."

"Uh-huh, a right-side only model and an old one at that, " he snorted his disagreement quietly and then he stretched with his arm over his head. Kayla didn't want to tickle him, so she stroked her palm over his pecs once before allowing her hand to slide over the edge of his ribcage to glide down the deep slope to his navel.

"Who was the other man in the uniform?"

Josh grinned, "That's my brother Cale. He lives in a little town north of Toronto. We don't see each other very much these days, so when we get together, there's usually some involvement by the local constabulary that has to do with broken windows, revelry, drunken brawling, and a night in jail. It's an expensive hobby, so we don't do it very much anymore."

He turned his head to face her, "I think you'd like him."

Kayla laughed and nodded, "How much older than you is he?"

"Nine years, almost," Josh sighed, "Hey, wait a minute; you're not interested in him, are you? God, I hate it when he steals girls from me."

She laughed, "I'm not interested in him, I was just --"

"Oh sure," Josh smiled, failing to look serious, "you lead me on, and even dance naked for me, all the while, you're trying to get to my brother. Well, you're out of luck. I don't have his new number. He got all pissed at me for throwing his last phone into a pond, and he won't give me his number now. I can tell he's serious about it, because he never calls me on it so that I can't see his number."

"I'm almost afraid to ask," she smiled, "but why did you throw his phone?"

"I'm not certain now," Josh replied, "but I must have had a good reason, I'm pretty sure. I wouldn't just do anything like that. Christ, I'd need to be blind drunk to do something like that."

Kayla was finding that she felt a little nervous about what might have been a hint, so she chose her question carefully. "How um,... how often do you get drunk, Josh?"

"Other than when Cale and I get together, I never get drunk. It's been, I dunno, five years, I think. Tell me, do you think I might have a problem?" He was able to hold the serious expression for only a minute before Kayla's stare wore him down and he laughed.

"I'm beginning to think that you don't have a drinking problem," she said with a smirk, "I think you have a problem with your brother."

"Well, I wouldn't even have that, if he wasn't so pissy about letting me use his phone."

Josh's eyes lit up. "Now I remember. I hadn't seen him in a couple of years and we were sitting in a bar having a drink and catching up. His phone kept going off every few minutes, so I asked if I could borrow it and the idiot actually gave it to me. Anyway, I was just going to shut the damn thing off when it rang again in my hand and I answered it.

The next thing I knew, some woman was on the line shrieking at me and calling me all sorts of evil things. It took me a while to get her to the point where I could even get a word in edgewise. She settled down as soon as she figured out that I wasn't Cale and then she went straight into asking me if I was single and what I looked like. Anyway, I spoke to her very calmly and suggested that she find just a little soothing pleasure to help her to improve her outlook on things, that's all."

Kayla found herself chuckling and she just had to know now.

"Well," Josh said, "it was a bit out of character for me, I'll grant you, but I was there with my brother, you know? Anyway, I didn't really think through what I'd suggested. It turns out that what I said is anatomically impossible for a single human to do without some sort of stick or something like that and I guess that she didn't really understand my accent or something. She seemed to be having difficulty believing me when I told her emphatically that it would help her."

"Josh, "Kayla chuckled, "you don't have an accent."

"Well not NOW," he said, "but I'd been drinking. So when I tried to give her detailed instructions, she just yelled louder at me, and I noticed that her voice over the phone was just ruining the ambiance of the bar and everything, so I went outside and threw the phone far enough so that nobody would be disturbed."

He shrugged, "I kind of muffed my throw and it went into the pond. Well, I was a little drunk, and, ...."

Kayla had to hear the end of this now. "And what?"

He shrugged again, "And how was I to know that it was his ex-wife? It was an honest mistake, I mean, anyone might have done the same thing. If I'd have known who she was, it would have been way different, and Cale wouldn't have gotten upset with me. Well maybe not AS upset as he got, anyway, when I told him that I felt very sorry that he'd had to wake up to something that sounded like a really nasal-sounding chainsaw every morning."

Josh looked up at the ceiling for a moment and sighed as Kayla laughed into his pillow, "I probably should have stopped before I said that she'd always been a self-entitled and really sour foul-mouthed bitch who spent his child support payments trying to find herself another paycheck like him for when the money ran out. That was when he hit me.

He heard Kayla as her laughter began again. "Oh God," she whimpered into the pillow, "I think I have to pee."

But Joshua went straight on. "Well, how was I to know that he was still in love with her? He didn't tell me that he'd just spent six months trying to get back with her, did he? If she hadn't kept calling him to give him hell over something, Cale might have gotten a chance to tell me that. I'd have known who it was then and told her myself. I've never had problem telling her where to go. Apparently, after that, she knew where to stick it too, so I think she owes me."

Kayla's face hit his pillow again and he could just make out her shrieking laughter.

He sighed again, "And then this idiot hit me for hitting his windshield with the phone, if you can imagine it. It probably wouldn't have gone into the pond at all if the guy had just parked somewhere else. But Cale straightened him out right quick and decked him with one shot."

Kayla was almost sobbing when she lifted her head, "Uh, why, Josh?"

He stared at her a little mystified. "Well for hitting me, of course. It's a really bad idea to try to come between Cale and I when we're scrapping. Shit, even Dad left us alone to work it out once we grew up some. So then Cale went back to hitting me and the next thing I knew, the cops were there. We had a bit of a talk while we were handcuffed in the back of the cruiser and he told me that I was right, but I just should have shut the phone off and I agreed with him. He got a new phone, but he called her from a payphone to tell her what he should have told her years before.

It took two years, but now Cale and I exchange best wishes to each other at Christmas via email, so I think he's coming around a little."

Kayla was on her side holding her ribs for a few minutes. It was a long while before the images playing through her mind would allow her to catch her breath and wipe her eyes. Josh looked over at her there next to him and found himself falling in love with her all over again.

"I think you're right," she said finally as she got a little of her breath back, "I'd probably like him."

"See." Josh smiled and nodded, "I knew it."

"I found your passports," she said quietly a few minutes later. "Why do you carry the old ones?"

He shrugged, "I don't need to. I just keep them all together so that I can carry my life history in one hand. I think they want you to turn the old ones in now, but hey, it's my life. They can go get their own lives."

Kayla looked at him for a few minutes. Her eyes went from his face to several of his features and scars. "What did you do in those places?"

He sounded a little distant when he finally spoke. "Different places, different missions. Some were as an observer for UN operations, like to make sure that the parties were really doing what they'd said that they would. It's a little like trying to keep two kids who were fighting apart in a schoolyard after they've promised to stop thumping on each other, but you know that if you look away, it'll just start all over again.

Other times, it was peacekeeping. Same thing, but we're there armed to make sure of it. The last few times, it was combat and I'd rather leave all of them in those little books right now, if you don't mind too much, Kayla. I have trouble thinking about all of that while I'm this close to someone I love in a place like this. I need more time between what's here and what was there, and some of it I can't really talk about anyway."

He looked at her and smiled a little, "I'm not trying to be evasive or anything. If you want, I'll tell you the unit that I was in and you can look up the public side of the missions on the net. I'll write down the address for the regiment's website for you, or you can just look it up in my bookmarks if you want."

"I never thought about it much before," she said smiling, "but you looked pretty good in a uniform. Not the fancy ones so much as the regular ones in most of the pictures that I saw."

"I never felt really comfortable in a dress uniform," he nodded, "it's too hard making sure that you haven't got anything messed up. I just always preferred work dress or combats, so I could just roll up my sleeves and get to work with a lot less fuss."

They moved toward each other and stayed there, kissing and embracing each other for a time. He whispered in her ear, "Tell me about your fantasy, Kayla."

She didn't answer right away, as she enjoyed the moment. After a while, she said simply, "Lions."

"Lions?" he asked.

"Yes. I once saw a photograph that I found to be very moving. It was of two lions making love. There was so much strength and power evident in their lovemaking that it touched me somehow. They both appeared to be roaring, for all I know they might just have been panting, but it looked so good to me, Josh. They were the rulers of their land, and she was the queen, and the king was driving them both in pleasure. It's a mental image that always gets me wet just thinking about it. I often imagine myself as that lioness, being serviced by my king, and feeling so regal and powerful."

"That's a pretty powerful image, "Josh said, "But honey, didn't we just do that?"

Kayla smiled. "Yes and no."

"Ok, I'm confused." Josh replied.

Kayla grinned, "The 'yes' part to my answer, is that YES, we've made love in the equivalent human position, which I love. But women are not lionesses. That position requires me to have my face lowered, closer to the dirt, if you get what I'm saying with respect to my lion image. Both are submissive to their males, but the human position is less noble to me, though I do love it. It just doesn't fit with my lion idea. So NO, we didn't just do that. I want my head to be higher than that position allows when I'm kneeling, that's all."

Josh nodded and thought a bit, and said "Kayla honey, It's been a long morning, and I checked half my IQ back out there in the dust when I saw you take your bikini off. I think I forgot it to pick it back up."

Kayla sighed as she went on, while Josh played very delicately with her clitoris. She was amazed that he could do that without it feeling too much to be pleasurable, but she stopped his hand so that she could say everything.

She whispered, "You'll have to bear with me for a little while longer, Josh. My fantasy is also a bit of a dream for me. I think you're the one, but it's way too early for us to even talk about the whole thing. Once I do tell you, you'll understand why, and then it will be up to you, really."

The swell of him in her hand told her that the thought of it was at least somewhat interesting to him. He pressed harder on her as well. "Come on, Kayla, it's me. Say it so that I can understand, and I'll help you no matter what it is. If I'm so special to you, then tell me."

Kayla thought about it and nodded, "You're right. I just feel really self-conscious trying to tell you. The place is as important to me as the guy -- you. And all of it relates to the act, which is that I'd like to try it in a different place with you, but it has to be within the context of the other things. I want to feel like that lioness that I saw. I guess you could call this a nutty Kayla alert, but it's important to me in a few ways. I've never done that for real before with anyone, though I've always had the thought of it. So if we do this, I soppose that I'm offering you a different virginity and a place to actually leave your semen inside me, at least until the pills begin to work.

There's more to it in terms of why it's important to me," she said, kissing him for a moment, "It's the act, in that place -- since it must be outside, and since I want to feel like the queen of all that I survey -- and I don't just mean from here to your desk," she smiled. "I'd like some sort of vista, if it's possible."

She looked at Josh, and she could see that he was thinking about it.

"There's more," she said cautiously.

He rolled onto his back, pulling her onto him. "Holy cow," he said, "More,... Go on, honey. I need to know what I need to do for you."

Kayla looked at him and swallowed hard, wondering if this was anywhere near the time to mention this. But then, she supposed, none of the rest of the way that this had gone between them had been anything like what she'd ever had an idea about. They'd seemed to just land on the track with the gas pedal mashed down and away that went.

"As it stands, Joshua," she said quietly, "we can go in a few different directions, the way that we are here. It's still not too late to change course. We can even get all the way to the 'M' word like this without much effort, I don't know for sure. Ask me the right way and at the right time, and I'll agree, I know that I would, if that's what you wanted from me, and you do your best for Jilly and me."

Josh looked at her and knew what she was saying. He drew a breath, "Go on."

"I guess that I'm saying that if you agree to do this with me in the right place, and the right way, well, as crazy as it might sound, that -- to me -- is like saying the same thing, only without a ring. What I'm saying is that I'll for damn sure mean it if we do that, and I can't see myself doing that with anyone else, so if we like it, we'll do that more, but the first time, ..."

She looked away, blinking a little, but turning back to him quickly, "You'd better mean it if you agree because I'll be saying forever if we do that. The ring can come before then or not long after, but right then, to me, it'll be just as important as the stand-up thing, and maybe more. I've had this fantasy for a long time. I knew even then that if I had somebody like that for me, then that man was the one -- I just never saw his face until the other night when I dreamed of it." He noticed that Kayla looked just a little upset.

"And yes," she said, regretting it all now, "I know it's a stupid idea."

Kayla began to pull away and lift herself off him, but she couldn't.

"I'll let you up if that's really what you want in just a minute, Kayla," Josh said. "I'm leaning toward this in a big way, but you can't forget the million other things here."

Kayla began to struggle, since her interpretation of the way that he'd begun told her that she'd been an idiot in telling him something that she carried so deeply.

"Just hear me out," he said, "and then you can kill me, or knee me in the pills or go and cry and feel stupid. But that's not what I need from you right now."

"Oh, yeah? " she said through her teeth from the effort as she fought against him, "tell me your last wish then."

"I want to marry you," he said quietly. He'd have said it a little louder if it weren't for the long gray clouds on the horizon of his mind.

Kayla struggled on for another half-second before she froze. The signs of her fight in her face disappeared and she stared into Joshua's eyes.

Kayla was almost afraid to blink, "Did you just say, ..."

"Yes," he said, "I did, but I have a big problem. Half of my problem is the dump-truck full of issues that we've got with vacations, jobs, tiny little details like our different nationalities, what Rosie is going to do with this place, and that sort of thing. And the other half of my problem is a girl that I'm in love with who still has both a blindingly fast reaction reflex and the desire that she maintains to kill me with some sort of regularity."