Dark Kisses Pt. 02

She thought she heard a little sound and dimly recognized it as coming from her. Every nerve in her body was alive, throbbing and there was a new heat inside her, surging beyond her ability to control. She was losing control. She had lost control. She responded helplessly, her mouth opening beneath his beneath the increasing force of his and when his tongue glided between her lips, the sensual possession of the caress was shockingly and wildly exciting.

"I had to make sure it wasn't my imagination," he whispered. Carolyn looked into his eyes, knowing what would happen, again. This wasn't supposed to happen, not like this, not this fast, not this sudden rush of desire, not after all these years alone.

His lips captured hers again, tasting her with tender, tantalizing nips and slow strokes of his tongue. Carolyn leaned into the kiss, almost swallowing him into her soul.

He'd never wanted someone as much as he did her. There was some magic spell on his soul and he couldn't have escaped even if he wanted to...

Her ebony arms went around his neck, and as she drew his head down to hers, David gave up to her sorcery. He only knew that her breath was sweet and warm and her lips were soft and warm and her body was warm and he could lose his life in it.

He picked her up and carefully carried her to the bed.

A new boldness blazed through Carolyn as she sank into the mattress and pulled David down with her. She was exactly where she wanted to be gave her nearly as much pleasure as the feel of his lips on hers, his arms around her, the hardness of his body pressing into hers. Even before John, no other man had ever filled her senses with this urgency. She wanted him. She wanted him. She wanted him. She wanted her David. She wanted to be naked in this bedroom, in his bed, with him. She wanted to make love with him and she wanted to wake up in the morning and find him still here beside her. She had wished David into her life and she was going to wish him into staying in her life, wish him into the husband she'd dreamed of having.

She watched David shed his pants and then felt his touch on her bare breasts as he put tantalizing circles with his tongue. He licked each willing nipple and then nibbled at the silken valley between them even as his hand slid across her stomach and down to stroke her thigh. Carolyn wanted to cry out her please in groaning repetitions of his name but his mouth closed over hers, silencing her, giving her a new taste of delight, a new sensation to distract the voices inside her, a new urgency to occupy her thoughts.

He loved her with his hands, covering every inch of her with his exploring touch and he loved her with his lips, trailing kisses over her dark skin until she was hot and wet and so needy she ached. She loved him with her fingertips, feeling the hardness of his body, the hair that covered his chest, the thick, hot desire of him that pulsed against her touch.

She stopped. His stroking hand had found a sensitive low spot and she couldn't think, much less move. Then David made love to her.

No more teasing caresses, no more playful touches... he kissed her hard and long and deep, replacing lighter touches with a sweeping hunger that demanded possession. All or nothing... he asked her body to respond and promised fulfillment in return. He took her surrender and allowed her to command his.

No part of her denied him access and when his full weight pressed her down and down into the smooth sheets, Carolyn took him inside herself... took his body into hers... took his lips with her own... took his passion and his need and in a single splendid moment, when there was only the beating of one heart, the singular stoke of one consuming passion, she gave him all the magic of her love, knowing she could never take it back.

She felt him move slowly into her, filling her again. She could feel herself stretch as he pushed further and then slid back, just a little, just enough before moving deeper. She moved against him, unwilling to wait, wanting him deep and hard and hot and as he pushed again, she grabbed him and pulled him all the way in and then moved her fingers to her own pleasure.

"Uuuhhhh," she moaned as he waited a moment and then together they began to move and then bounce as the mattress gave a cushiony boost to their lovemaking.

His head went to rest on her shoulder and he could smell her citrus scent, his auburn hair brushing against her dusky skin and his mouth opened, sucking her hard enough that she knew it would leave a mark the next morning Mark me, David, she screamed in her heart, make me yours. She could feel him tense as she squeezed him with her body and then explode deep within her being and then she felt the hot, slick wetness fill her as he stopped moving.

Her fingers moved a few more times and then she came, shaking against him as she brought herself to orgasm.

"I'll never be able to think about this room without blushing."

He kissed her shoulders, her breasts, her lips, her nose. "Me, neither."

"Oh, yeah?" she accused, rolling on top of him. "Prove it."

Early Wednesday morning, David woke to find Carolyn still sleeping next to him. He wanted to ask her, again. Why did she hesitate? How stupid am I, he asked himself, asking her to marry me in a hamburger shop?

He lifted his head at last and even though she was still sleepy, she could see he felt the power of what was between them as intensely as she did. She wanted to ask him what he felt but the words wouldn't emerge past her throat. Every instinct told her not to move too hastily... she needed time... and yet, here she was, in his bed after making love to him all night long and for days since they met.

David smiled. "Hey, Babe, don't you have to get home?"

"Michael is at a friend's house and Kendra knows where I am. I never want to lose you." She ran her fingers through his reddish-brown hair, twisting it a bit.

"Ha... ha... ha... you little minx... you'll never lose me unless you want to throw me away. You're my black magic woman and you've put a spell on me." Carlos Santana wandered through his mind... Oh, yeah, he thought, yes, you got your spell on me, baby... yes; I want you to love me...

"I'll bet you have that song, too, don't you?" she teased.

"Of course, I do, waiting for my own black magic woman."

"David, does it make any difference to you that I'm black?" She tensed, wondering if there WAS a right answer.

"Oh, my God, you're black? No, Baby, it only makes a difference that you love me and only me, right now. No, Carolyn, all I saw was your flashing smile that day you were in my classroom doorway and your incredible curly hair."

"Is that it?"

"Well, I do like your butt..."

"You're bad... you're a bad, bad man."

"Maybe, but I'm your bad man."

Silence.

"Yes, I know. David?"

"Mmmmm?"

"I... I love you, David... I haven't felt this way, ever. I don't know what happened. I saw you that day and you were fooling around with that starfish and suddenly there was no one else in the world. It was as if someone had cast a magic spell on me... but, I can't tell you yes, now. Can you wait for me?"

"C'mere, Baby, I want to show you something."

"You bad, bad man. Make love to me, white boy."

*********

"Don't forget, next week is our trip up Angeles Crest. Permission slips are due tomorrow along with your $30 for the bus and lunch. Remember, everyone is expected to get a sample of anorthosite... easier than going to the moon. Questions? No, then make sure you've downloaded the field guide by Crowell before the weekend so you can read it. I'll be asking questions for the lab practicum. Remember, it's one-third your final grade."

The bell rang and the geology class meandered out the door. Kendra walked in.

"Hey, Kendra... ready for Friday?"

"Yes, Dave... Mr. Christy... Mom wants to know if she should, uh, bring anything special."

"Special? What... oh. Why didn't she just call? This is..."

"Kinda embarrassing? That's OK. When she talks to you on the phone, she says she forgets everything else. When it comes to you, we..."

"You're kidding..." Damn!

"Gotta go... oh, yeah, call her at lunch. Later." Kendra ran out the room, unwilling to take yet another tardy because of him. One more and she'd have an afterschool. Damn class, got to be on the other end of campus, she complained to herself as she kept running, hoping to beat the bell.

Lunch time finally arrived. Ever since he began this strange and wonderful romance, his classroom clock ran slower and slower until sometimes it seemed to stop completely.

His phone vibrated. "Carolyn, I was just going to call you."

"I couldn't wait. What do you want me to bring?"

"For Friday? Well, it's going to be chilly so a coat..."

"Not for that, silly, for... you know..."

That afternoon, Kendra went back to her grand mère's house.

"Kendra, ma chère fille, comment allez toi?"

"Bien, bien... mais j'ai un problème avec Michael."

**********

The flight Friday morning... it took longer to board the plane than the flight north but at least their rental car was waiting for them at the airport and the short drive to the hotel was filled by Kendra excitedly talking about everything, especially her first airplane trip. She had spent the entire flight looking out the window at the passing California landscape, determined to make the most of every passing moment.

"Yes, sir," said the woman behind the counter, "two bedroom suite, two nights, that'll be on your VISA... sign here, please." The trip was costing him a week's pay but he didn't care. It was his first time to act with them like a family and he wanted to make the most of it, for better or worse. It was better to find out now than months later. He smiled... months later. He prayed there would be a 'months later.'

"Fifteenth floor... this way, ladies," David said, carrying Carolyn's and his carryon bags while Kendra took her own to the elevator. The elevator rapidly rose from the lobby to the outside of the hotel wall, giving the young woman a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Whoa!" she said, hanging onto the side of the elevator as it came to a halt at their floor. The doors finally opened and she almost ran into the hallway to get away from the wide-open look of the glass-enclosed elevator. David did all he could not to laugh although the elevator did remind him of his last F-15 check-ride.

"Fifteen-ten... here we are." David slipped the keycard into the door-slot and stepped back, letting his ladies walk in.

"Oh, my," Carolyn said, looking at the suite. "Are you sure, David? This must have cost a lot of money."

"We're not going to the state finals every day, are we? Besides, nothing's too good for my girls. Kendra, I think you're in that room, OK?"

She went into the room and bounced on the bed. "This'll be fun..." She looked at her mother who had followed her into the room. "It's OK, Mom. I'm fine with you and David. It was my idea, remember. It's all good... really. I brought my music in case it gets too loud. I'm a big girl. Have a good time."

He kissed her fingers, each one in turn, slipping his tongue between, making love to her hand, sucking them into his mouth.

"Oh, you and your tongue," she laughed. Carolyn smiled in the soft afternoon light... She hummed... une chanson d'amour dans son coeur... a love song in her heart.

Soft tugs pulled off her blouse. The touch of his fingers was cool at first but quickly warmed on her skin. Tender kisses came next, to the back of her shoulder, along her neck, around her face...

She laughed. He didn't. His gaze was too busy moving over her; his fingers too interested in sliding up her thigh.

She put her arms around him and David pulled her close. After a minute, he leaned back and she looked at him. His Irish good looks, from his dark auburn hair to his gold-flecked amber eyes, sharp as ever, made her heart beat faster.

His lips were warm and loving as they brushed across hers but after a few soft tastes of her, all gentleness disappeared. His kisses became deeper, his mouth hungry. She hooked her arms around his neck and worked herself into his lap.

A few minutes later, David's body was covering hers and she found her way back to sweet oblivion as she lay back on the bed. She welcomed her lover as he pushed into her, made her gasp and then they began a rhythmic bouncing on the bed.

Kendra smiled and turned up her music. Missy Elliot would cover the sounds of her mother's moans, she was sure.

Later, David drove them through crazy traffic and one-way streets into San Francisco's Chinatown, ending eventually at an old Italian restaurant in the North Beach's Little Italy.

"Tomorrow, we'll come back and ride the cable cars, go to Pier 39 and have lunch at Fisherman's Wharf. How's that sound?"

That night, she wore what she had brought for less than five minutes before it was on the floor.

**********

The next morning, they left early to drive across the Bridge into Marin County and then back again before riding the cable cars. He couldn't help but think of Rice-a-Roni as the cable car bells dinged down the street.

Lunch at Fisherman's Number 9 was followed by a look at Alcatraz and buying a loaf of hot sourdough bread and then a walk down the Embarcadero to Pier 39 to do souvenir shopping before returning in time for the game.

For the first time all season, they lost... lost by nine points. It was a quiet flight home and David was surprised at the team's reaction. They had come to the state finals, after all. There was no shame in that. How many other teams never reached that height? Pretty much, all of them, he thought, pretty much all of them.

The only time you didn't want to come in second was in love and war.

**********

Chapter 5: All's fair...

Carolyn shrieked as David tossed her over his shoulder and carried her into the bedroom and then dumped her on the bed. He straddled her thighs, undid her jeans and tugged them past her knees and off. He reached for his belt buckle and then his zipper and pulled his pants and shorts down and kicked them away.

"I hope you don't want a lot of foreplay right now." He was hot and hard and his erection strained to reach her.

"As a matter of fact..." She pulled him down. "...no."

She sucked in a breath as their flesh touched. He didn't give her a second to enjoy it before he kissed her, aggressively, thoroughly, memorably. She loved the feel of him pressed against her, hard and masculine, ready to take her to paradise. Carolyn reached down to guide him, felt him jerk to her touch, heard the soft words he whispered, encouraging her.

"Ah... you feel so good," he moaned as their bodies merged and caught fire. She moved against him, seeking a tighter union. He thrust harder, deeper. She cried out. He called her name and then only the sound of hard breathing filled the room.

"So," she finally said, "a quickie, huh?"

"Yes." He kissed her leisurely until she moaned and shifted beneath him. "Feel good?"

"I feel used, wonderfully used." She sighed. "Je t'aime. I love you. Faire l'amour à moi."

He wanted her again. He wanted to strip off all her clothes and spend a week with her with nothing between them. He didn't want to make a mistake.

David pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, burying his face in her wonderful curls, smelling that citrus scent that followed her everywhere.

"David?"

"Yes, Baby?"

She touched his cheek. "You need to shave."

**********

Carolyn saw the picture on her bedroom dresser. Taken at Pier 39 by Kendra, it showed David and her walking along, holding hands and looking at the Bay. Looking at the smile on her face as she was with him... her daughter had captured her feelings perfectly. She wished that moment could have lasted forever; they were so happy and carefree.

Michael had not taken the loss well and she could do nothing to bring him out of his funk. He would come home from school and stay in his room, coming out only for dinner or going outside to shoot angry baskets in the driveway. The continual thump-thump-thump of the ball was driving her crazy but she didn't know what to do.

She finished dressing and left for work.

"Ms. Smith, may I see you please?"

Carolyn saved her document and followed Jack, her manager into his office. He closed the door and turned to face her. "I'm going to make this as easy as I can. I'm sorry; it's a case of..."

"...last hired, first fired?" She gripped the chair arms, her fingers so tight her skin paled and hurt.

"Yes. I'm sorry, I really am but there's nothing I can do. You and two others are being let go today, probably another three next week. I tried to save everyone by going to part-time but even after three months, it wasn't enough. Maybe, I'll be next after that, I don't know. I will give you excellent references, I assure you but there's nothing I can do."

"Uh, thank you," she said, more shocked than anything else. Now what? she desperately wondered. Now what am I going to do?

Dazed, she walked to her car and it wasn't until she was sitting behind the wheel that she started crying. Although it had become a part-time job, it was still a job and in this economy, she doubted another was going to be easy to find. Competing with younger college graduates starving to make a place in the world for themselves was an almost impossible task. Experience no longer mattered. What am I going to do, now?

She was still sitting in the car, too upset to drive when her cell rang. It was David, her David... how did he know she needed him? "Helllll... hello, David?"

"Carolyn, what's wrong? You're crying..."

"I lost my job... oh, David, what am I going to do now?"

"Don't panic. Let's meet at my house at four and figure this out. OK, darling?"

"OK... David..." He called me 'darling.'

"Yes, baby?"

"Thank you." She sat in the car a long while before slowly driving home.

**********

Carolyn was parked in front of his house when he arrived and as he met her on the front porch, she ran into his arms. David put his arm around her and unlocked the door. All her strength seemed to disappear.

Leaving her on the sofa, he went into the kitchen and got her a bottle of cold Perrier. "Here, Honey, drink this... slowly, now."

She wiped her tears across her sleeve and drank a little water. "I lost my job today, David, and I'm won't be able to make the mortgage too much longer without it. Even with the benefits for the kids and the life insurance... we'll lose the house without the extra income."

"OK, look... we'll see my accountant and listen to what she has to say and go from there. Look, you know where the bathroom is. Why don't you freshen up, I'll call for an appointment and then we'll go to dinner. OK?"

"OK," she said, wiping her teary-eyed face again with her sleeve and went down the hallway.

David scrolled through his contacts until he found the number and called. "Hi, it's David Christy. I need an appointment for a friend of mine who's lost her job and maybe her house... Day after tomorrow? Good... thanks."

Carolyn came out of the bathroom, face washed and a shy, hesitant smile on her face.

"We're good for day after tomorrow," he explained as he grabbed his keys and escorted her out the door to his car. "You come by after school and we'll go together. Listen, we can make this work, somehow. Now... Olive Garden, Souplantation, Marie Callender's, Red Lobster? Help me out, here, I'm running out of places to go."

His smile lifted her spirits and warmed her soul. Her hand touched his cheek, lightly then she kissed him. "Thank you. David... we could eat from a roach coach, I don't care as long as I'm with you."

"I like the salad at the Garden, the bread at Souplantation, the biscuits at the Lobster and the pie at Marie's... I'm so messed up. How about this? Red Lobster and then Marie's for dessert?" He tried to get a little smile from her.