My Saving Grace

"I'm never gonna get any sleep tonight. You know that, right?" Her eyes brimmed with tears, but these tears were angry. "That fucking bastard! I can hardly believe what he was going to do to me! My God, Kevin, if you hadn't had that problem on the way to the gun club..." Her voice faded; she couldn't make herself finish the thought and I couldn't blame her. My mind wouldn't let me go there, either.

"Dear Gracie," I whispered in her ear, "You can sleep easy tonight. I'll watch over you, you know that! I've already locked the doors and set the alarm. I made sure the cops took the hide-a-key away from Lance, but Dad will probably change the locks tomorrow anyway. For now, I'll stay up until Mom and Dad get here."

She offered me a small, but genuine smile. Without a second thought, I leaned into her and kissed her, passionately. There was no disguising this kiss with a mask of sibling affection. I can say, truthfully, that I wasn't trying to bed her. I was just so overwhelmed with emotion at all that had happened.

For her part, Grace didn't hesitate. She was kissing me back with equal fervor, her soft tongue dueling playfully with mine. Her hands stroked up and down my back in gentle motions of encouragement. I cupped the back of her head in one hand, deepening our kiss. Gracie moaned in pleasure as my other arm crushed her tighter against me.

Finally, the kiss ended. We stared into each other's eyes, and we knew what had just happened was more than a knee-jerk reaction to the emotional trauma of the day. There was something real there that we both urgently wanted to explore.

But, not tonight. Mom and Dad were on their way home, for one. More importantly though, was that I refused to hurt my loving Grace. She'd been through something horrible: Matt's planned betrayal was worse by an order of magnitude than what had happened to me. I still shook with rage when I thought about what he and Lance planned to do to her. How could you look at someone and say "I love you" to someone and plan to do something like that?

Grace almost seemed to be reading my mind in that moment. Caressing my cheek, she smiled at me. "My dear, sweet Kevin...tonight isn't the night." I nodded my head and released her from my arms.

"You're right, Gracie," I said.

"Hey!" she said, capturing my arm before I moved too far away. "I want you to show me what real love is like, Kevin. I know you can, and you will. Just not tonight...my love."

I smiled and kissed her again, more lightly this time. "Only if you'll do the same for me...my love!" That said, I held her close for a few more precious minutes before we separated again. As much as I hated to let go of her, I consoled myself with the knowledge that very soon I'd be doing so much more than just holding her. I knew somehow that I'd found it: My Saving Grace.