Across the Cyber-Dixon Line

"No." They had been walking down to the creek where she had landed and he was showing her the places he and his brothers had fished as boys. She liked this older, more mature version of him and it was clear he adored both Hannah and their children. The boys more like him while his daughter was a miniature of her mother.

He'd chuckled and put her in head lock for a moment. "And no threats to castrate him either...I still owe you for that one."

"Hey, I let you go unscathed. And look how well things turned out; you have to admit Hannah is much better for you than a lot of the women you hooked up with."

"Hey, I won't deny that." He paused to look down at the water. "She asked me if I had any regrets...about the time you and I spent together."

"And do you?"

"Only that I acted like such a jerk, you're a good kid Shandi, I've even missed you a few times since then, wondering how you were doing and if your life was going okay. It has been ten years for me; I never considered that it hadn't been that long for you."

"And now you're worried about Connor." She'd seen it coming, the doubt, and the fear that if things went as they had, he might not see his brother again. "I never asked for this to come about Tanner. I don't want to be selfish; I know whatever happens it will be one of us that will lose our family forever. And believe me, if it comes down to that, I'll gladly let him go..."

Tanner had looked at her and shook his head, "No you won't, because you love him, and you want to be with him all your life. I've seen that look in your eyes Shandi, a hundred times when I look into Hannah's or into Maggie's or any of the other's. But it's different for them too, they're both here, and you have a family waiting somewhere else. All we can do is see how it plays out, how your mom ends this story."

"It won't be mom who ends it Tanner, it will be me and Connor, and we'll write the final chapter..."

"Exactly, it will be you and I, and I should be jealous, finding you two out here all alone, but I think I understand." Connor had walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Hannah is looking for you Tan, something about helping Jeremy and Jason finish up the arch instead of playing big brother all the time."

Tanner had grinned. "In other words, beat it, you want some alone time. I can do that."

When he was gone, Connor had just held her for a while. "Is what he said the truth Shandi, do you love me?"

"Yes. I never believed in love at first sight, or that a person could know so fast. And I never expected it to happen to me. Or if it did it would strictly be one sided."

"It isn't, I've been in love with your since the first time I ever dreamed of you, and over the last few years it's grown and grown. I'm almost thirty years old Shandi, all my brothers are either married or on the final leg of it. And in all the time I've been doing my thing, all I ever wanted to find was you." He's pushed aside her hair and nuzzled her neck and ear. "Every face I saw, everybody I touched, none of them equaled what I've found in the last two days, and I don't ever want to let it go. I don't understand all this that you and Tanner have told me about how you two met and what happened to bring you here, but I don't care. I don't care if we live in your world or mine, as long as we're together." Turning her to face him, she'd seen the determination in his eyes. "We are going to be together, you are going to be mine and I am going to be yours, and that is that."

She'd looked at him then and tried to smile though it was hard when she wanted to cry. Her arm had moved in a sweeping motion, "Even if it means giving all this up?" It was beautiful here; she could understand how the boys kept coming back time after time.

"I can see why Tanner failed with you, you're just as stubborn and bull headed as he is." He'd grinned and ran his hand over her face. "I do like the part where you threatened to castrate him, he's so damn proud of his so called Cherry Pop that it's driven us crazy since he got that damn tattoo."

A knock at the bathroom door brought her out of her memories and before she could answer it, it swung open. Connor leaned against the door frame and looked her up and down. "I was going to ask if you were ready to go yet, but I can see I might not have given you enough time. If you want to go to Little Rock and get some clothes before we have to leave, we need to do it today." He ran his eyes up and down her body and licked his lips. "Oh Shandi, you do raise my blood pressure something awful, and looking at you right now, I don't know how much longer I can wait to be able to have you in my bed."

She blushed and wrapped the towel around her. "You're the one who keeps saying we need to wait..."

He walked up to her and drew her into her arms. "Guess what sweetheart, I think I am tired of waiting, you still got those things Maggie fixed up for you. I especially like that little green dress with the straps that tie up on your shoulders and how it moves the way it does when you walk." He found her mouth and began to nibble at her lower lip. "God Shandi, I can't believe how hot you are, and what is even better is the fact you are all mine. I love you baby, and right now all I can think of is how much I want to make love to my woman and just forget the rest of the world right now."

Shandi gave him a coy smile. "Then what are you waiting for?"

Connor was asking the same thing when he drew her back into his bedroom and closed the bathroom door.

Claudia hit save and shut down the computer, considering what she had just read, she decided a little knowledge was good, but a little privacy was even better. If her hero was about to make love to her daughter she didn't want to read it on the screen.

Shandi lay back on the bed and watched as Connor undressed. She loved his body, it was tall and strong and perfect in every way. His shoulders, chest and back were tanned a deep bronze from his hours of working in the California sun and his hair was the same rich ebony color as his dad and brothers. She had learned to tell them apart better these days and she knew that Connor was the best of the bunch. He was definitely the sexiest of the bunch, all he had to do was smile at her and she went into meltdown.

Her eyes glittered as he unfastened his jeans and slid both them and white jockey shorts down over his narrow hips. What she had touched under the jeans sprang to life and she wondered if her mom had ever suspected how well endowed her hero's were. She knew that Tanner was bigger around, but Connor was a couple inches longer, and she prefer the length over the width issue. He hadn't been surprised when she told him she was a virgin, and now he looked down at her and licked his lips again.

"Oh honey, where do I start? You look delicious and I can't decide. He bent down and kissed her gently, "do I start with your lips, or do I start with your gorgeous breasts, or do I just go for the sweet dessert I know you have waiting for me."

She giggled despite her attempt to keep it inside. "How about we start at the top and work our way down?"

"Hmm, I love that idea."

Gathering her to him and letting their legs entwine, he found her mouth and let himself give in to all the desire he felt for her. Shandi returned it and soon nothing mattered to her but the feelings he was raising in her.

Connor raised his lips from a sweet nipple and tenderly flicked his tongue over it. God, she was so responsive, and he was just as bad. All they had to do was touch each other, a kiss here, a nibble there and it seemed like the passion increased even more. So did his love for her. This was right, this was perfect and he knew that they would somehow be together when this was over. They had to be, he refused to believe otherwise.

His mouth moved down over her stomach and he licked her belly button then kissed around it as he let his lips slide down farther. She had the softest, more beautiful patch of hair beckoning to him and he let his fingers move into it slowly. He found her wet and slick with juice and his mouth watered to lick it all up. He just had to keep reminding himself that she was a virgin and that no man had touched her like this before. The thought excited him even more. Not that he would have cared if she hadn't been, but this was somehow more special for them and he intended to do it right.

Letting his fingers spread the lower lips, and sliding up and down them he felt her shiver and jump just a bit. The soft moan that escaped her perfect lips made him smile. His mouth watered for her taste and he bent his head enough to both inhale her female scent and let his tongue just taste the tiniest bit. His groan was deeper and more intense, such sweet honey to be gobbled up and devoured. He couldn't torture either of them any longer and with a moan he dove in to take the quivering little jewel between his lips.

He became like a starving man who had been in the desert for days without food or water, he took it all and wanted more. She arched up to give him what he wanted and he gripped her hips to keep them still as he feasted. Over and over he felt her climax and licked her clean with a famished tongue. His woman, his dream she was all he had known she would be, and he kept going until he knew he would explode if he didn't take her soon.

He tested her readiness with one long finger and knew that it would be both painful and pleasurable for her if he did it right. Letting his teeth rake over the little jewel, he began a steady motion with his finger and when the time was right he gave her what she needed for what was to come.

She was still in the throes of her climax when he entered her. His length filling her narrow passage and he felt her grip his shoulders as he moved over her body to find her mouth and fill it with his tongue. When he was sure the pain had passed, he stroked her face and lifted himself to look down into her eyes. "No more pain love, from now on all you'll ever feel is pleasure from me. Now just lay there and get used to me being inside you, I'm not going to move until you're comfortable with me being like this."

"It feels like I can feel you everywhere inside me, it feel funny, but it feels good too."

He grinned. "Wait till we try other positions. For instance, wrap your legs around my waist, and see what happens." When she did he moved just a little, "see how I can get in a little deeper and it lifts you at the same time?"

She nodded. "Uh Connor, I know about different positions, would you like to know what ones each of your brothers prefer?" A soft giggle escaped her.

"Only if it's not from firsthand knowledge..." He admitted he was curious though, if what she told him was true, she knew a lot about his sexual escapades and those of his brothers. "What about Jeremy and Violet."

As she told him, he looked surprised, he had never suspected his brother of being into the more unnatural kinds of sex, but he looked at her in amazement when she told him that within three months they would not only be married but Violet would be pregnant as well. :"Now Jared prefers to make love out of doors and Jason gets rougher than any of you, but not so he ever really hurts anyone, least of all Lisa."

That he didn't doubt. "And me?"

"I have no idea; mom was just getting started with your story when this all came about. The book opens with you leaving California and coming here and meeting someone but she never put down just who it was. I know the day Tanner showed up it was funny because she was writing a love scene with you and someone in the grass beside the creek."

He looked at her curiously. "Shandi, you're the first person I've even considered making love to since I been here. I'd only been here two days before you came into my life." He grinned suddenly. "And considering the fact that at the present moment I am inside you and loving every minute of it, I don't think I'm going to be making love to anyone else very soon. Now enough about my brothers and how they make love, it's time you discovered how your man makes love."

He moved a little and she smiled. "Yes it is, and the sooner the better..."

"Oh yeah..."

He began to move in and out of her and more than once he felt her reach a peak that he was holding back from as long as he could. It wasn't until he could keep from it any longer that it dawned on him that he had forgotten to put on a condom but by then it was too late. He filled her and they collapsed together in each other's arms.

Claudia read the last line and groaned. Damn, now another worry, she had wanted to have Shandi get on birth control, but neither of them had seen the sense in it since she wasn't having sex. But one thing did interest her, and she went back to the beginning of the book. Yes, it was all there, but then it had changed, from the time he had seen her when she fell into Little River was different.

Well, she wasn't going to touch anything until her daughter was home safe and that was it.

"Well, has she left yet?" Tom Abbott stormed into the kitchen and Claudia jumped at his tone. It seemed her husband stormed everywhere since Shandi had disappeared, only to reappear on the computer screen and claiming she was inside one of her mother's novels.

"Not yet, four more days, they're leaving as soon as the wedding is over, and making a detour to Sacramento to pick up Connor's things then heading up here. Tom, this may not work, we both know that. You need to calm down."

He seemed to deflate before her very eyes. "How can I calm down Claudia, our daughter is somewhere, we don't know what is happening to her and all I can think of is how that S.O.B. looked at her that afternoon. Like she was some elegant pastry sitting in the baker's window, aren't you worried at all Claudia?"

"Of course I am, I'm the one who created them, and I know how their minds work. For over ten years I've laughed with them, cried with them and put my heart and soul into every one in Little River, and there is one thing I do know, if that is really where she is, she's being protected Tom. By Jake, Maggie, Hannah, even Tanner." She reached up and touched his face. "Tom, when I first started writing about the Harris family, it wasn't just about six men who go around ravishing women, all those men were based on one man, and one man alone, or do I need to remind you what a womanizer you were when we first met. Yet look how you changed once we fell in love and got married. All those men are you, and I know you would never hurt your daughter or anyone who was lost and needed help to get home."

Her husband grinned. "No, I just took one look at you standing on the side of the highway in that cute little mini dress and damn near caused the biggest accident in the world stopping to pick you up. And I won't begin to go into how we spent our first night together in the back of my van..."

Claudia smiled, and reached down to hit the save button, then turn off the computer. "Better yet, why don't you and I go upstairs and you can show me?"

Tanner looked at his brother and didn't know if he wanted to hit him or hug him. "Are you sure about this Connor, I mean it may not go the way you're planning it to go."

Connor nodded. "I've thought this over in my mind a hundred times Tanner and I know I can't live without her. I've loved her for so long and now that I found her, I can't let her go, even if it means giving this place up and never seeing any of you again." He held out the letter that his brother was to give their dad if the worst happened. "Wouldn't you do the same if it was Hannah?"

"That's hitting below the belt boy, you know damn good and well I would feel the same, hell I almost did. But what if you can't get into her world; what if that isn't how the story is supposed to end?"

"Then I will keep trying and trying. I'll make her mother go back and write it a hundred times until we can be together. I won't lose her now!" The emotion in his brother's voice told Tanner all he needed to know.

"Then I wish you well little brother, and I hope it all does work out for the two of you. I just got one other question. Were you good to her? It sounds funny coming from me, but I feel a sort of big brother attitude about her, and I want to know if you hurt her or not."

"Why don't you ask me yourself Tanner...?" Shandi and Hannah walked up, the kids in tow. "Or is this some sort of man thing?"

He grinned and walked up to the girl who had fallen into his world ten years after he had tried his damndest to get her in bed. "Alright kid, was he good to you? Did you enjoy it and what the hell did I do wrong."

"Number one, yes, he was very good to me. Number two, oh yeah, I enjoyed it and I've enjoyed it even more the more we do it, and number three, you came on like an oversexed jackass who figured any woman who got a look at your tattoo would fall over herself to take a drink."

He smiled and looked at Shandi as he hugged her. "You better be good to my little brother you hear, otherwise..."

Her green eyes flashed, "otherwise what?"

"Otherwise I just might have to come for a visit again."

Shandi laughed, and hugged him tight. "Hannah, he's all yours, thank god."

When they were gone Shandi looked at Connor and put her arms up around his neck. "Are you really sure about this Connor, I know how much your family means to you."

He looked at her and ran his hand down along the side of her body. "They do mean a lot, but you mean even more to me, and it won't be like they're dead or something, they will always be here." He looked around the spot beside the creek and reached up to touch her cheek. Running his knuckles along it, and then tracing the line of her jaw and down to her chin, he let his thumb skim along them. "Remember how you told me the other day about how your mom wrote about me making love to someone here?"

"Yes."

"I want it to be you, I want this to be the one place we can both look back on and remember being together right here through it all. This is where we met in a sense, and this is where I fell in love with you a long time ago." He kissed her gently and gradually let the kiss grow into something deeper and more intense. Shandi felt his growing need, and her own was matching it. That was what Connor did to her, all she had to do was smell his scent, feel his arms, and taste his lips and she was lost in a need that only he could satisfy.

"Connor...oh yes..."

He walked to the tree not far away and she smiled when he came back with a blanket and a picnic basket of all things. Spreading it out, he looked at her, "Food for the body after we satisfy the needs of the spirit and the soul. Not to mention two extremely excitable bodies." When she started to undress, he shook his head. "My party, we do things my way."

"And can I ask what way that is?"

He grinned, "One thing at a time, very soft, very slow and very sexy." He reached over and slowly pulled the tie on her shoulder until it came open and with an almost painful slowness, bent to kiss the bare skin and bring her body closer to him. As he moved his mouth to meet hers, she could feel the heat growing and her fingers slipped up between them to start to open his shirt. She loved how he looked in his skin tight tee shirts, but there was something to be said for old, button up work shirts as well. They were like unwrapping a present and knowing what lay inside, but still wanting it. God, how had she ever thought Tanner was sexier than Connor? The man oozed sexuality, and the more they touched and made love the more she felt like she was in heaven.

Once the top of the dress was open, he lowered it and began to caress her and mold her breasts to his hand. Her nipples hardened as he ran his palm over them and his fingertips pinched and rolled them into rock hard little stones. Taking both of them down on the blanket he soon began to suck on her nipples and she ran her fingers through his hair as he let his hand drift down to her leg and up under the full skirt.