Breath of Fresh Air Ch. 05

Then his tongue was sweeping inside her, barely brushing over her swollen clit to tease her dripping opening. He pulled one leg up and draped it over his shoulder before spearing his tongue deep inside her, dragging it out slowly as he licked her clean inside and out.

Katie fell back against the door, her eyes rolling back in her head, all thoughts of embarrassment obliterated by the intense pleasure of his tongue moving inside her. Her leg tightened instinctively, pressing her foot against his smooth back, pulling him closer as she ground herself against his face.

Just as the heavy weight of climax began filling her belly she was startled by a knock on the door behind her. She jumped and tried to move, but Mike grabbed her hips and held her in place, catching her eye and silently shushing her.

"Coming," he called out with a grin.

With his eyes locked on hers he brought his mouth back to her, taking her clit between his lips and giving it a quick nibble before sucking it hard into his mouth. A deep rumbling groan escaped him and the vibrations of it sent her hurtling into an instant orgasm so intense that she didn't even notice when the knock sounded again right next to her head.

She bit her lips tight to keep from making noise as the pleasure washed over her in wave after wave, Mike's mouth still working her clit relentlessly. Finally she breathed again, her muscles beginning to relax and he released her, placing a tender kiss on her belly.

He stood, one arm around her to make sure she was steady on her feet, and placed another quick kiss on her lips before reaching in his back pocket to pull his wallet. She stayed hidden behind the door as he opened it and said hello to the delivery guy.

"Sorry about the long wait, sir," the teenage boy said.

"No big deal, I already ate." He glanced over at Katie, his eyes sparkling blue with amusement, and she had to clap her hand over her mouth to hold in her giggles. Mike took the box and closed the door, tossed the pizza on the dining table and grabbed Katie's hand, all but dragging her down the hall to the bedroom.

Katie sat back against the pillows on his bed and watched through hooded eyes as he wrenched the fly open on his jeans and shoved them down. His erection sprang free, hard and throbbing under her gaze. She moved toward him as he climbed onto his knees on the bed, unable to resist taking the head of his cock between her lips.

The salty taste of him filled her mouth and something else that she recognized as the faint tang of herself. She sucked hard and took him deep into her throat, thrilling at the sound of his moan and the feel of his hand on the back of her head, pushing her down further. Her tongue lapped at the underside of his shaft as she pulled back and then slid back down.

"Fuck," Mike cursed from between clenched teeth. He pushed her onto her back and gripped her thighs, pulling her to him. Still on his knees, with her ass resting on the tops of his thighs, he positioned his aching head at her swollen opening and looked down into her eyes.

Katie reached out to him with both hands, wanting him close, wanting to feel his skin against hers, his weight pressing down on top of her. He took her hands and let her draw him down, sliding inside her as he went.

Their fingers laced together and they clung to each other as he rocked against her, the slow, rhythmic motion lulling her, removing the sense of urgency from her desire. The angle kept him from penetrating all the way, but she could feel every inch of him as he slid in and out and every few strokes he'd lift his hips and press deep, taking her breath away.

His head was nestled in her neck and she could feel the sharp scrape of his teeth as he sucked hard. He kissed and nipped his way down over her collarbone and the gentle slope of her breast, each sharp bite followed by a jerk of her hips. With little warning he sucked her puckered nipple deep into his mouth.

"Mike," she gasped, wrapping her legs around his waist to try and pull him deeper inside. But his pace remained steady, teasing her with the promise of more as her hands clenched his tighter.

He released her nipple with a gentle scrape of his teeth and immediately moved his head to give the other one the same attention.

"Mike, please."

"Tell me what you want, sweetheart."

"I want..." She trailed off, unsure what exactly she was begging for. A second later she realized what she was craving. "I want you to kiss me."

He stopped moving and looked up at her in surprise. In the next breath his head came up even with hers, his legs unfolding as he stretched out on top of her. She released his hands and he buried them in her hair.

Katie moaned as he sank deep inside her and held himself there, unmoving, as he brushed his lips against hers. He teased her with soft kisses along her bottom lip until she lifted her head and captured his lips with hers. She could feel him smiling against her mouth before his tongue invaded, taking her breath away.

Once again she was swept away by his mouth, reminded of a time when every kiss from him did this to her. How could she have even thought about letting this go without a fight?

He pulled back and thrust into her hard, his hips keeping time with his tongue, setting a steadily increasing tempo. Her hips rose to meet him over and over; their grunts coming in unison and drowning out the sound of their bodies slapping against each other.

Katie tore her mouth from his with a hoarse cry as the pleasure rolled over her in a pulsing crescendo. She threw her legs around him and held tight, grinding hard against him, drawing out her pleasure and pulling him along with her.

"Goddamn Katie," he growled as he exploded inside her for the second time that day.

They lay there panting, limbs entwined, for what seemed like ages. Katie's mind felt sluggish and content as she trailed her fingers up and down the smooth skin of his back. She groaned her objection when he rolled to his side and slipped out of her, but he silenced her with a slow, languorous kiss.

When he finally pulled away she opened her eyes to see him gazing at her with a strange mixture of emotions in his eyes. Foremost, as usual, was amusement.

"Now that's what I call make up sex."

"Does that mean you forgive me?"

His smile faded. "Of course I forgive you. Hell, I forgave you before I even made it out of your building. That's not to say I was gonna come running back for more, but I wasn't mad anymore. Just...hurt. I guess."

"I'm sorry."

"You don't need to keep apologizing, sweetheart."

"Yes I do, I was awful to you. I've been awful to you. I was scared, Mike. I still am. But I'm going to try harder. I want to be the person you deserve-"

"Stop." He put his fingers on her lips to silence her. "I don't want to ever hear you say anything like that again. You already are the person I deserve. You already are the person I love. And you love me too. Everything else we'll just have to keep working on until we get it right."

She stared at him in wonder, thanking whoever was in charge of such things for being lucky enough to find him. He kissed her forehead and tucked her against his chest, resting his chin on her head while he twirled a long strand of her dark hair through his fingers.

"I wish I could be like you, Mike, I wish I could let go of the past. Just make the decision to not spend any more energy on being angry."

"Sweetheart, I'm guessing you have a lot more to be angry about than I ever did. There are some things you can't just decide to get over."

"Not even if a kitten tells you to?"

Mike propped himself up on one elbow and looked down at her, a deep line of concern creasing his forehead. "Please tell me I never made you feel like I thought you should just get over what happened to you."

" You didn't, I don't think. I felt that way about myself, though. Hell, I thought I had gotten over it. I don't think I really had a clue how much I was still hanging on to it until you came along."

He brushed the strand of hair back off her face, palming her cheek. "Will you tell me?"

"Right now?" Katie's chest felt suddenly heavy, the fear spreading in creeping tendrils.

"If you can."

She took a deep breath and rested her forehead against his chest, absorbing the calm he'd so often brought her, his comforting presence giving her the strength to force the panic back.

"Yeah ...I can."

She opened her mouth a couple of times to start, but both times closed it before she said anything. He continued to gaze down at her, his thumb tracing gentle circles on her cheek.

"I'm sorry, it's like the words don't want to come out," she said quietly, unable to meet his eyes. "I've been having that problem a lot lately."

Mike sat up against the headboard and turned her around so she was sitting between his legs leaning back against his chest. He pulled the sheets up to cover them both and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Tell me."

This was easier, not looking at him. Knowing he wasn't watching her while she told him the story. She took a deep calming breath and began.

"After my mom died I went to live with my aunt. I was almost sixteen and my cousins Jared and Heather were right around my age. Jared was alright, just a few years younger so we didn't run in the same crowd. But Heather was kind of a bitch. We never got along even as kids and once we got to high school and she was all cheerleader-y and popular it just got worse. Needless to say I didn't hang out with her much and mom wasn't very close with my Aunt Meg so we didn't see them often. And then right before my mom died Aunt Meg remarried this guy Doug. So he was kind of my uncle, but I hadn't grown up with him and didn't really know him at all. I'm sorry, I'm rambling."

"It's alright."

"Okay, so I'd been there for about a month when I started getting this weird vibe from Doug. I'd catch him staring at me for no reason and he'd...he'd do things like walk into the bathroom right as I was getting out of the shower and then act surprised, like oh what? You shower naked? Who knew? And he was weird about my clothes; he was constantly checking to make sure my skirts weren't too short or my shirts weren't too low cut, pulling on them and straightening them and things like that."

"There was never anything overtly wrong about it so I didn't know who I could tell or what to tell them, but I knew I didn't like it. I got a job so I'd have an excuse not to be there. I started dressing in really baggy jeans and t-shirts, hiding out in my room any time I was at home, always locked the door when I went in the bathroom. I even asked Heather about it thinking maybe he did it to her too, but she told me it was just because I was a slut."

She snorted at the memory and turned her head to look at him. "She was still pissed about me going out with Terry Campbell our sophmore year when I knew she had a crush on him."

Katie turned back around and rested her head against his shoulder before continuing. "And then he started coming in my room. I'd wake up at night and he'd be standing there watching me. It freaked me out, but I just started locking the bedroom door. Then I came home from school one day, maybe four or five months after my mom died, and the lock didn't work. That night was when he started...doing things to me."

She shook her head, took a deep breath and kept going before she lost her nerve. "I didn't know what to do, he told me if I said anything no one would believe me and Aunt Meg would kick me out. I was just so scared and confused and I didn't know where else I could go. And then after the first couple of times I felt like if I was going to say something I should have done it already so I just...I let it go on and tried to pretend it wasn't happening. But when he raped me I knew I had to make it stop. I couldn't let him do that again, it was..." She felt the tears start and tried to brush them away, but Mike's arms tightened around her.

"It hurt...a lot. I tried to fight him, but he was really rough and he held me down and stuffed a sock in my mouth to keep me quiet. Shit." She shuddered and pushed his arms away, sitting up and dropping her head into her shaking hands. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice strained from holding back sobs.

"It's alright," he said, reaching out tentatively to touch her. When she didn't pull away he started gently rubbing her back. "Did you tell your aunt?"

She lifted her head and nodded, wiping her cheeks dry with the edge of the sheet. "Yeah, I told her," she said with a bitter tone. "Doug was right. She got really mad at me, said I was lying to get attention, trying to ruin their lives. God, I wanted my mom back so bad. It was like every good thing in my life had been taken away all at once and I was lost. I felt completely alone and helpless, but I knew I couldn't stay there. I packed up as much stuff as I could fit in my backpack the next day and just didn't go home after school."

"Where'd you go?"

"Different places. Sometimes I stayed at school. I'd hide in the bathroom or in the back of the library until everyone was gone. I showered in the gym, ate from the vending machines. But I couldn't do that on the weekends or nights I had work. I stayed with friends here and there, slept outside a couple of times before it got too cold. I got away with it longer than I thought I would; almost two months. Aunt Meg never told anyone I left; I guess she didn't want to have to explain why. It was only when all the other shit went down that anyone noticed something was going on with me."

She was silent long enough that he asked. "What happened?"

"He went after Heather. Apparently Aunt Meg didn't take as well to him raping her daughter as she did to him raping her niece. She grabbed his deer rifle and shot him while he sat in his recliner watching football. And I..." She put her hands over her face, her voice breaking. "I was so selfish all I could think was thank God it happened before Christmas break. I'd been so worried about what I was gonna do when the school closed down for three weeks. I didn't even spare a thought for what he'd done to Heather."

He pulled her against his chest and she buried her face, letting his body absorb her sobs. "That's not selfish sweetheart, that's survival. It doesn't make you a bad person."

"Oh, there's more." She pushed herself upright and sniffed, wiping her nose with her hand. "I refused to admit any of it. Heather told the police he'd done it to me too and they said Aunt Meg needed a statement from me for her defense, but I wouldn't do it. I couldn't sit there in front of those people I'd known all my life and tell them what he'd done to me while they thought God knows what about me and then went home and told everyone else in town all about it. I just couldn't do it."

"That's understandable."

"Heather didn't think so. She came into work one night and let me have it. She thought I wanted Aunt Meg to stay in jail because I was mad at her; told me I was a selfish vindictive bitch and that my...my mom would be disgusted with me. And she would have been. Not for being vindictive, but for being such a coward."

"Katie-"

"No, I was. I was scared to death to talk about it. Shit, I still am. It took me ten years just to get to the point where I could talk to a therapist about it and...and you. I know I should have spoken up, and I'd like to think that if Aunt Meg's freedom had come down to me giving a statement I would have eventually done it, but I don't know. They let her go; said it was justifiable homicide or something like that, I don't really know. By that time I was sixteen. I took the money left from my mom's life insurance and ran."

"To where?"

"The nearest big town," she snorted. "Bowling Green. I waited tables and got my GED, took some classes at the community college and then applied to the nursing program at UT. It was where my mom had gone, so I thought...well I don't know what I thought, but it seemed like as good a place as any."

"Your mom would have been proud of you, Katie. And I think you should be proud of yourself, too. You are so strong and determined you were able to create a successful life for yourself all on your own. There aren't many people who could say that."

She nodded, gritting her teeth in an effort not to contradict his words. On some level she knew they were true and sometimes she was able to feel proud and strong, but there was still a part of her that was that scared little girl, running away from it all.

His hands framed her face and he waited until she looked at him before he spoke, his voice quiet and soothing. "I know you can make it on your own. So do you. I just want you to know that you don't have to. You don't have to be alone anymore."

Katie didn't know how to respond. His words triggered her tears again and all she could do was bury her face in his neck and cling to him while he stroked her hair and back.

"I love you," he whispered to the top of her head.

"I love you, too."

EPILOGUE- About a Year Later

Katie swung her pack off one shoulder with a grunt and leaned it against a tree, rubbing her neck as she straightened and stretched her back.

"Shit, I'm getting too old for this."

"If you're about to ask me to get you a Hoveround you better hope your medicare covers it."

"Now I'm free to see the world!" Katie sang with a laugh. "Get me some Depends and I'll be all set."

Mike grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close for a kiss, which didn't last long since she couldn't stop giggling. "You're pretty damn hot for an elderly lady. The hottest senior citizen I know, at any rate."

"That's a dubious honor. Though I have met your grandpa and now that you mention it, he was pretty hot."

"That is so wrong on so many levels," he said, shaking his head in disgust. "Come on you perv, let's get set up so we can catch the sunset on the overlook."

They set up camp quickly, gathering a large pile of wood and setting up their new four person tent that more comfortably fit the two of them and their gear. Katie threw in their sleeping bags without unrolling them and grabbed the woven blanket she'd brought for sitting next to the fire.

"You ready?"

"Just a sec," he said, his voice muffled as he dug in his pack. "Okay, let's go." He straightened and strode over to her, taking the blanket from her arms.

They headed through the trees toward the cliffline, feeling the breeze pick up as they got closer to the open space.

"Man, it's getting chilly already. I'm gonna be glad to have a nice big fire tonight."

"Yeah, fall is coming for sure." She groaned at the thought. "I should really be home packing this weekend."

"Nah, you've got plenty of time. You're completely done with work and classes don't start for two weeks."

"I still have to pack up my whole place and the unpacking is gonna take forever."

"I already started unpacking my stuff if it makes you feel any better."

"No, actually. That just means I have to go behind you and move everything to make room for my stuff."

A snicker escaped him and he looked up to catch her sly smile as she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He threw an arm around her waist as they walked, leaning down to give her a quick peck on the cheek.

"I'm kidding, but I do feel like there's so much I should be doing this weekend-"

His body was suddenly in front of hers, his head bent, lips pressing softly, halting her words.

"You promised," he whispered. "No talk of moving or grad school or anything. Stress-free weekend, remember?"

Katie sighed and nodded as his words soothed her and his hands rubbed warm grooves into the muscles of her back. "I'm sorry. You're right. Stress-free weekend."

He kissed her again, lingering for a long moment before he finally pulled away with a husky moan. "Let's go."