Art and Artists

"Two words," Kristi said. "Mitch Albom. That's all he writes, personal musings and raw emotions. And, if I recall, he used to be a sports writer, maybe still is. He's no better than you; he just has better contacts. Or he did."

"What's that mean?" I asked.

"Because he's a well-known writer for a big-city paper, it was probably easier for him to find an agent who could help him get a book deal done," Kristi said. "My agent could probably make a couple of calls on your behalf, if you have something worth pushing."

I just stared at her.

"You'd do that for me?" I asked.

"I would," she said softly as she snuggled up against me while we stood there amid the clutter of her studio. "Stu, I believe in you, even if maybe you don't believe in yourself."

I just pulled her around and kissed her, very tenderly, very softly. Then I just stared at her again.

"You're becoming awfully hard to resist," I whispered.

"I hope so," Kristi said.

The next time we went out together was the weekend before Christmas, and it was a big event. A local theater group was performing, "A Christmas Carol," and we decided to take our kids, Shelby and Kristi's son, Thomas, who was a year younger than Shelby.

They went to different schools, so they'd never met. Neither I nor Kristi said anything outright, but I think we both wanted to see how they interacted. If there was to be a serious relationship between us, how our children got along would be a major factor in how that relationship progressed.

As it turned out, we needn't have worried. Shelby is her mother's daughter, congenial and outgoing, and Thomas proved to be a polite, somewhat reserved young man, the kind of kid who could appreciate Dickens.

We had a great time then went to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream. Since it was the Christmas season, I gleefully indulged in my favorite of all 31 flavors, getting a double cone of peppermint. Kristi just shook her head in bemusement at that.

"Peppermint ice cream?" she said with a chuckle. "I knew you media types were weird, but peppermint?"

"Hey, don't knock it until you've tried it," I laughed. "Food of the gods."

"Um, I think I'll stick with rocky road, thank you very much," Kristi said.

After we dropped Kristi and Thomas off, and after I'd given Kristi a little goodbye kiss, Shelby just sat in the passenger seat and gave me an inscrutable look. It actually kind of shook me up, because it was such a knowing look for a 12-year-old to have.

"Daddy?" she said finally. "Do you like Miss Kristi? I mean, really like her?"

"Yeah, sweetheart, I do," I said. "I like her a lot."

"Good," Shelby said, and that was it. As far as she was concerned, it was settled.

It was the day after Christmas and I was taking a few days off, as I always did at the end of the year. The weather was cool, but sunny, and I was out doing some yard work when Kristi drove up the driveway. We hugged then she looked at me very seriously for a few seconds.

"Stu, I've come to an awareness, an epiphany of sorts," she began. "I'm sorry if this is short notice, but I wasn't sure of my feelings until I was sitting in church on Christmas Eve. It was just me and Thomas, and suddenly I was aware that I wasn't complete. Stu, I'm lonely. Oh, I have Thomas and my art to keep me company, but Thomas is only 11 and paintings don't keep you warm at night."

I could feel my stomach churning in a weird combination of excitement and dread. I wondered where she was going with this.

"Anyway," Kristi continued. "Every year, my agent hosts a big New Year's Eve party at one of the really nice hotels down in the city. It's a good networking opportunity, plus he always gets a really good band. I used to love going with Mel, but I wasn't in the mood last year, because of our divorce. I want to go this year, and I want you to go with me. Like I said, it's short notice, but..."

And she sort of put her hand on my arm and gazed at me with those huge brown eyes. I swept my gaze over the whole package – the slender legs and succulent butt encased in snug jeans, the tight sweater that accentuated the tight, round bosom, the full lips covered with an alluring red lipstick, and, above all, the big brown eyes that were sending out moon beams of incipient desire.

"I'll have to get someone for Shelby," I started to say.

"No, you don't," Kristi said. "My sister's going to be staying at my house with Thomas. Shelby is more than welcome to spend the night. Sissy's got a 13-year-old daughter that's going to be there with her. I know she and Shelby will hit it off. Please say you'll come."

"I guess you've got it all figured out," I said. "Are you sure about this? I'm ... "

I was lost for words, but fortunately, Kristi was into mind-reading right about then. She pulled me to her and held me close

"Stu, I want you, and I've wanted you since that day I met you at the restaurant," she said. "I just needed to be certain of my feelings, and I knew I needed to take it easy with you, because of Shirley. But it's time to see if we're ready to take it a step further. Stu, it's time."

It was mid-afternoon on New Year's Eve when we pulled into the parking garage of the hotel where the party was to be held. Already, the city was buzzing in anticipation of the night to come.

All through the two-hour drive from our town to the city, Kristi and I had engaged in sporadic conversation, but there was a nervousness that underlay everything.

I was excited, and terribly nervous about the coming encounter, and, frankly, my emotions were in some turmoil.

I knew it was time for me to move on with my life, but I still held some residual guilt about having a relationship with another woman when the love of my life was lying cold in her grave, now two years gone.

I think Kristi sensed my inner struggles, because she held my hand with a real tenderness and did her best to make me feel at ease as I motored down the interstate.

The room had already been reserved, and while we were in the lobby checking in, I got a chance to meet Kristi's agent.

Paul Florentino was a large, barrel-chested man with a sophisticated air, but a warm smile and garrulous personality. He greeted Kristi with a buss on each cheek then shook my hand with enthusiasm when she introduced us.

"So, you're the fellow who's going to write the next best-selling Southern novel," he said in a jolly tone of voice. "Kristi's told me you're very talented."

"Oh, I don't know about that," I said. "Like I've told her, writing for a daily newspaper isn't exactly literature."

"Nonsense!" Paul boomed. "All the great writers started out in newspapers. And I've read some of your clips. You do have a nice way with words. But enough about that; we'll have a chance to chat later. In the meantime, enjoy yourself, and thank you for coming. I happen to be very fond of this little lady, and I hope you can make her happy again. She deserves it."

"I'll do my best," I said.

It was a good thing I wasn't paying for the room – or, rather, the suite – because it looked like it was expensive.

There was a front sitting room, with plush sofas and chairs, elegant tables, a wet bar and a wide-screen television with a DVD/CD player hooked up to a pair of small, but powerful speakers.

At one end of the room, a sliding-glass door opened up to a balcony that overlooked the street, where revelers were already starting to party. A lot of them were fans of the two schools that would be playing the next day in the big holiday football game.

There was a game on the TV, which I turned on, once we got our things settled. I sat back on one of the sofas with a soft drink while I waited for Kristi to emerge from the bedroom, which was adjacent to the larger room.

She had touched up her make-up and brushed her dark, flowing hair when she emerged from the next room. I felt my groin twitch nervously as I watched her glide to the bar. She pulled the cork out of the bottle of wine she'd brought, poured herself a glass and came over to sit next to me.

"Have I told you today how beautiful you really are," I said softly.

"And have I told you today how handsome you really are," she said as she melted into my arms.

Drinks were forgotten as we kissed deeply, all the passion we'd been holding back now bursting forth. Our hands were everywhere; hers sliding over my chest, down my stomach and on to my crotch area, mine caressing her breasts – her unfettered breasts, I might add – then down her flat belly to her butt, which was encased in a peasant-style skirt.

Kristi's eyes were on fire as she suddenly whirled around and straddled my hips. I could feel the heat of her pussy through her panties as she lap-danced on my already throbbing-hard cock.

She pulled my sweater off, and the t-shirt I had on underneath it, and lightly raked her nails over my chest. Her fingers found my rock-hard nipples and I gasped in pleasure as she rolled the little pebbles with each index finger.

I responded by working the buttons of her blouse open, then tossed the shirt aside. I just stared in awe as Kristi's twin globes were exposed to my gaze for the first time. They were round and plump, just enough so to hang artfully on her chest, and capped by two brown nipples that were hard as nails.

"Taste them," Kristi whispered as she dangled her orbs over my face.

I did as I was bidden, suckling her luscious tits with eagerness. I licked, sucked and nibbled on her little brown tips while softly caressing the swell of her flesh. I could tell I was getting somewhere from the little sounds she was making as we kissed with ever-greater urgency.

Abruptly, she broke our lip lock, stood up and shimmied out of the skirt. Kristi stood in front of me dressed only in a skimpy pair of panties, staring into my eyes, swaying in a lustful dance that had me weak in the knees.

I leaned forward, reached up with one hand and slowly massaged the juncture between her legs, and this time she didn't move me away. I could feel the wet heat of her pussy through the satiny cloth of her panties.

Suddenly, I slid two fingers into the gusset of her panties and felt the creamy wetness of her cunt. Kristi hissed in lust as I stroked the gates to her sex and finished with a flourish around her clit. I fingered her for a minute or two, until she gently moved my hand away.

"Much more of that, and I'll be done before we get started," Kristi said in a panting voice.

"Trust me, love, neither one of us is going to last very long," I said in a voice thick with lust.

I quickly settled on the floor, on my knees, reached up and slid her panties off her hips and down her luscious legs. I gave a sharp intake of breath as I was face-to-face with a well-trimmed bush of dark, dark curls framing a coral-colored set of lips that were gleaming with arousal.

Again, I slid my fingers through her gates and was gratified by the low moan of lust that oozed from Kristi's mouth, and by the way her eyes were closed in reverie and her head was raised to the ceiling in incipient passion.

Later, I would feel a twinge of guilt, but right at that moment, Shirley was the farthest thing from my mind. The only thing I was thinking then was burying my aching cock in Kristi Golden's juicy twat.

I didn't have to wait long.

Kristi pulled me to my feet, fumbled with my belt buckle – and the button to my jeans – and frantically pulled my pants and my boxers down. She cooed as she hefted my leaking cock and softly stroked me.

"Love me, Stu, please," she panted. "Fu-fu-fu... Aw, shit, Stu, just fuck me. I need it, and so do you."

I managed to kick my pants off, then I gathered Kristi in my arms and we kissed ravenously, consuming each other in our out-of-control lust.

I staggered back until I was seated on the sofa again, my cock pointing straight at the ceiling. Kristi took firm hold of it at the base, straddled my hips and lowered herself until the tip of my dick met her gushing gash.

That's when I grabbed her hips and pulled her down, impaling her in one screaming thrust. I can't remember now if we both squealed or what, but I do know the room was suddenly filled with the sounds of our mutual excitement as I entered Kristi's tight, creamy cunt.

I couldn't believe how good she felt, or how well we fit. I'm not the biggest tree in the forest, but I'm no sapling, either.

All the girls I bedded in high school and college before I met Shirley I left well-satisfied, and Shirley never tired of my cock, wearing it out right up to the bitter end. So I must have had something the women liked.

And Kristi was certainly enjoying herself. She was bouncing up and down on it in ever-increasing throes of passion – mewling, grunting, sighing and squealing as she fucked me with an ardor that had me wrecked in no time.

As I felt the pressure in my scrotum build, I filled my hands with each other bouncing breasts, squeezing her tits in rhythm to the upthrusts of my cock as I filled and refilled Kristi's burning hole with my meat.

Faster and harder we worked, all the weeks of build-up exploding through our bodies in one glorious rush.

I was holding back, holding back, waiting for the signs I knew were coming, and, sure enough, I could see her head lolling on her shoulders, could feel the shiver of her body as she approached her climax.

Just about the time I pulled her to me and we kissed yet again, I felt her go rigid for just a second then the convulsions hit her and she squealed loudly.

Suddenly, I felt the mercury explode through my cock and spew out the tip to baste Kristi's twitching pussy with my boiling hot seed. Our bodies shuddered in our mutual release, and we clutched each other.

It was all too much for me. I felt my emotions give way and I found myself bawling into Kristi's shoulder as all the months of deprivation, of numbing grief, came bursting out along with the flood of semen that flowed out of her dilated hole and over my churning balls.

Kristi held me tight and softly stroked my hair, letting me get it all out of my system as we lay together on that sofa.

Finally, I got control of myself, and I looked up to see Kristi looking at me with a smile on her face that could only be described as beatific.

"Well, lover, that was worth waiting for, don't you think?" she said softly.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I kind of lost it there for a minute."

"Don't be," she said. "You needed to let that out. It couldn't help but be emotional for you, giving yourself to me after such a long time. Don't worry; you were wonderful, and we're going to do it again. And again and again. I love you, Stu Callahan, and I want you in my life, as much as you're willing to have me."

"I'm humbled; I really am," I said. "All I can say is that Mel was an idiot, letting you slip away. But I'm glad he did."

"Yeah, well, his problem is he doesn't think his shit stinks," Kristi said. "He always thought he was God's gift to the female of the species, and he thought he was smarter than anyone else. And, actually, he was pretty clever, because he got away with it for years before I found out what was going on. But he got careless, I started picking up on some things and timed it so I caught him at the Best Western one afternoon. What hurt me the most was the lack of respect and the utter lack of remorse. He called me frigid. Can you believe that? I'm a lot of things, not all of them good. But frigid?"

"Frigid?" I echoed. "I can think of a lot of words to describe you, and frigid just doesn't come to mind."

I had to chuckle at the irony of it. There I was, snuggling naked with Kristi on a hotel-room sofa, my semi-hard cock still securely embedded in her freshly-fucked pussy, with her rock-hard nipples still boring holes in my chest.

No, I don't think frigid would have been a word I'd have used to describe Kristi in that moment, but maybe love had something to do with it. I was in love with this woman, and getting deeper by the minute. I told her so, too.

I found Kristi was well-liked and well-appreciated by the artsy crowd that was in attendance at the party that night. I was proud to have her on my arm, but I was also a little frightened.

It was clear that some of the men there would have loved to take my place, especially a couple of artistes who insisted on cutting in on the dance floor.

I wasn't all that comfortable with that sort of crowd anyway, me being a country boy at heart, and the thought of Kristi dancing with the sort of men that were there had me a bit insecure.

I was just starting to fume a little when I sensed a presence next to me and turned to see Paul Florentino.

"I wouldn't worry, if I were you," Paul said with a laugh. "Anyone with eyes can see that you're the only man she cares about being with."

"Well, it's just all so new," I said. "I'm still not 100 percent sure yet how secure our relationship is. We both have some emotional baggage, and it's still early in the game."

"Kristi's told me about your situation," Paul said. "You have my sympathy. It had to be hard. She says you've done some pretty intense writing about it, sort of as catharsis. I might be able to steer you toward a publisher, if you're interested."

"I've thought a lot about it, but I'm not sure which direction I need to go," I said.

"Let me let you in on a little secret," Paul said, and now he had a conspiratorial look on his face. "Among the publishing companies I do business with are a couple of Christian-oriented companies, and they have writers who are making money hand over fist. There's nothing in the Bible that says you can't make a nice living writing inspirational or journey-of-life type literature. The arty sorts turn their nose up at it, but there's a lot of good writing and a ton of money to be made in Christian literature. Come see me when you get some free time, bring me what you've got, and I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks, Paul, I appreciate it," I said. "You know, it's been two years since Shirley passed, and I may finally be looking toward the future."

"That's the only way to look," Paul said. "You can't change the past; all you can do is make the future the best that you can. You're off to a pretty good start, I'd say."

He smiled as he nodded toward where Kristi was walking toward me, her face glowing with what I was rapidly coming to see was love.

"I can't wait to get you back in the room, big boy," she whispered in my ear as we embraced. "We have some unfinished business to attend to."

The band played "Auld Lang Syne," at midnight and I gave Kristi a deep, soul-shaking kiss.

"Happy New Year, love," I said softly.

"Happy New Year to you ... love," she replied. "I think this is going to be the start of a great year."

I was lying back on the king-sized bed, naked. My cock was maybe three-quarters hard as I listened to Kristi singing in the bathroom while she took care of whatever business women do in preparation for sex.

As if it wasn't enough that she was such a talented artist, she also had a wonderful singing voice. There were so many things about Kristi Golden that had me intrigued and beguiled, and I was now looking forward to enjoying every single one of them.

I had to catch my breath when she flipped off the light in the bathroom and emerged. There was something mysterious about the way she looked with the soft light of the bedside lamp as the only illumination in the room.

She was naked, with her raven hair brushed to a silky sheen, her make-up touched up perfectly and a look in her eyes that was like a jolt of electricity straight to my dick.

But I was relaxed, unlike earlier. Our first coupling had been frantic; two newly-minted lovers getting past the first rush of passion. This was going to be slower, much slower. I knew in my mind exactly what I wanted to do with her.