OFM 01 - Orchard Falls

"I'll get these later Michelle," He told her gently.

She turned looking at him. Her eyes were filled with emotion. Tears were welling up in the corners of her eyes. He gathered her to him. She wrapped her arms around him as she shook uncontrollably. They stood like this for about five minutes. She was still shaking as he released her, her eyes wide with fear. He picked her up, cradling her in his arms and carried her to the living room. He gently placed her on the sofa and sat down beside her. He again gathered her to him just holding her as she sorted out the events that she had experienced. It took her about a half an hour to calm down enough to push him away.

"Don, tell me what happened tonight. What the fuck happened?" She wasn't used to cussing but it made the point for her.

"You were lucky. I must have arrived just after they broke into your apartment."

"What do you mean, 'I was lucky'?"

"If I hadn't arrived when I did you would have been their victim tonight." Her eyes still held a question. "They would have raped you!" He put it as plainly as he could.

"Oh!" The color drained out of her face and if she hadn't been sitting she would have fallen. She put her hands over her face as what Don said sunk in.

"You have been lucky on two occasions with the Morgan family. What could you have done that they would be seeking you out like this?"

"I..." she halted, pulling her hands away from her face, looking at him, "don't know. I don't believe I have contact with the family or the brothers until the night before last."

Don turned looking at the clock on the mantle, it was still early. When he turned back to Michelle she had an amazed look on her face.

"Morgan...Tiffany Morgan. A three-year-old girl, she was in the clinic a week ago. We diagnosed her with acute malignant glioma of the brain, with only six months to live. I had to tell the parents about the diagnosis and that there was nothing we could do. That there was nothing anyone could do. They yelled and screamed and cried as any parent would do. I thought nothing of it, until just now.

"They were back the next day talking to the head of pediatrics. I don't know what was said but they didn't look happy when they left. But why would her brothers come after me?"

"The Morgan's are a strange family. Their code, as twisted as it is, dictates that someone that gives the family bad news about a family member requires them to seek revenge."

"That is the most screwed up logic I have ever heard."

"You and me both, but it makes perfect sense to them. At least to the brothers Morgan it did."

Chapter 10

"So who will be coming after you for, you know, the brothers?"

"No one, Zepherim knows better as does Jedidah. That's why the brothers didn't come after me directly. They went after you for two things. The first, their sister and the second, what I did to Jimmy, they thought that they could get to me indirectly through you."

"Are there anymore fucked up people like that in this town?"

"No the Morgan brothers were the only fucked up people in this town. There are some almost as bad but you don't have to worry about them, they work for me, so they won't be coming after you."

"What about the rest of the Morgan's?" She looked a little frightened still.

"No problem for you, I'll see to that. I will have to make a couple of phone calls tomorrow."

"You killed three people tonight." It was a statement, not a question. "Don't you feel anything?"

"Yes. I feel sorry for the Morgan's as a family. The parents will never see their little girl grow up and the boys they raised have been nothing but trouble for them."

"No, I mean about taking another human beings life. Don't you feel..."

"Of course I do, I'm not a monster. I can keep it inside for a while longer and sort it out later. At least until you have reconciled what you have witnessed in your own mind. I will be here to help you."

"But who will help you?"

"I was hoping it would be you." He looked at her with a sheepish look.

"I would be glad to help you."

They sat in silence for the next couple of minutes then Michelle flowed into his arms and started sobbing. He held her gently as she worked through her emotions. Don ran through the events of the night wondering if there was anything he could have done differently. The Morgan brothers had been after him since he returned from the institution. When he returned he found them working for his company and siphoning off small quantities of money and computer parts for their own profit. He promptly fired them and told them if they ever came around him or his he would turn over all the evidence he had to the police. For the last five years, all had been quiet. They left him alone.

"Don?"

"What is it, Michelle?"

"Can I have a drink?"

"Of course you can my dear." They untangled themselves and he got up and went to the bar. He made her a scotch on the rocks and took it back to her.

"Thank you." She sipped her drink looking at him over the rim of her glass. Her eyes were filled with questions.

"I told you I would tell you anything you wanted to know about me on Wednesday."

"You did. I'm just trying to figure out which question I want to ask first."

"Have you come to terms with what transpired tonight?"

"Yes and no. I realize I'm safe and I was being threatened by the Morgans. I also realize that I may have been seriously hurt or even killed tonight. What I can't reconcile is the death of three human beings and the fact that I witnessed the whole thing. Nor can I reconcile the cold, calculated way with which it was carried out."

"It wasn't calculated coldly, as you put it, it was training. My stint in the military and then on the police force gave me the training and reflexes to accomplish the task that was presented me. I did not enjoy killing those men. But I will not cry over their demise. They were vermin preying on society. And one day, if it hadn't been me, it would have been one of Orchard Falls finest who would have had to deal with them."

"I figured as much during the past couple of hours. It's just that back home I would never have witnessed something like this."

"So during your internship, you never saw someone die?"

"Yes of course, but it wasn't the same as tonight. Can we change the subject? I think I have dealt with as much of tonight as I can handle right now. I would like to move onto something a little more pleasant."

"Sure, you were going to ask me a question."

"Yes, I was." She took another sip of her drink lost in thought once more. "Tell me what it was like growing up here in Orchard Falls?" Her statement threw him a little. He had expected her to ask about other aspects of his life.

"Well...back then Orchard Falls wasn't quite as big as it is now, everyone knew each other. Now I don't know half the people that live here. Case in point," he said pointing at her. She smiled at him and her eyes were twinkling. "As a child, I did not have everything I wanted, contrary to popular beliefs. My parents were well off but did not satisfy every whim their only child might have. I was a kid who thought nothing of his parent's wealth, although other kids were always letting me know how wealthy they were.

"I went to public school, elementary and high school. I did attend one of the better colleges around and my parents did pay my way through college. But I have been a bitter disappointment to my father. After college, I joined the Air Force. I turned down an appointment as an officer and joined as an enlisted rank. I asked to be assigned to an Air Police squadron and was. I was a cop in the Air Force for four years, made staff sergeant just prior to getting discharged. I joined the Orchard Falls police department when I returned here.

"Then my father brought SOX and gave it to me, an incentive to get me out of the line of fire. That was five years ago. Since then I have hired people to run the business day today. I have retained my positions as CEO and COB, but have a COO who sees to the day to day minutia of the business. In five years the business has grown considerably, faster than my father thought possible. In the last few months, I have become less involved in the goings on of the business.

"So there you have it."

"You have told me what you did, but not what you felt."

"I know. It's been a long time since I felt anything, Michelle, a long time."

"She really hurt you?" He shot her a look. The way she jumped you would have thought a gun had gone off. "I'm sorry, Sam told me about her."

"God damn her," he shouted. "No, I really don't mean that. I'm sorry."

"She respects you and likes you very much, Don. She wants to see you happy again."

"What else did she tell you?"

"She told me everything about 'her'. She told me not to mention her name. She told me how you broke down. She told me how she tried to bring you back to the world of everyday living."

"Is that what she called it?" It was a rhetorical question he didn't expect an answer.

"No, those are my words. She told me how she manipulated you to ask her over for a swim and how she seduced you."

"Did that bother you?"

"No, why would it? It was before we met and besides, I'm not your girl or your wife." All that was true, but he could still hope.

There was something in her eyes, something he couldn't put his finger on. She was quiet as she sipped her drink. She placed it on the end table behind her. Turning back to face him she grabbed his t-shirt and pulled him down on top of her. She wrapped her arms around him as their lips found each other. She kissed him with a passion so intense he could feel the fire in her lips. Her mouth opened inviting his tongue to slide past her teeth. Her hands went under his t-shirt and roughly caressed his bare skin.

Her breathing was quickening with lust as she pressed her breasts against his chest. Her tongue was dancing with his in her mouth. The motion of her hips bucking increased. She was becoming increasingly aroused as they kissed. Pushing him away she swung her leg up and around him pulling him back down on top with his pelvis pushing against hers. As their lips met she moaned, as his hardening organ met her pelvic area, she moaned even louder.

As he lay atop her, his emotions were in turmoil. His two heads told him to keep going but his heart was singing another tune. He knew this might just be a reaction to the excitement of the night or it could be she really was lusting for him. How to decide?

She pulled his shirt up and off. Then reached down and pulled her off. They were now both topless. Her breasts were magnificent. Creamy mounds of flesh tipped with blushing rose colored nipples, nipples as hard as diamonds. He shook his head to clear it, all the while being urged to take this lovely woman below him. His sense of gallantry was starting to kick in. This poor woman had been through a lot today, He believes the way she was acting was due to the reaction to the violence and death she had witnessed.

"Michelle," he whispered hoarsely, "we have to stop this. I think we are going way too fast."

He pulled back from her and picked up her t-shirt. "We shouldn't continue with this. I don't want to hurt you or have you wake up tomorrow with any sort of regrets. And I know I would regret tomorrow if we continued this now."

He handed her the t-shirt. She took it and just lay there looking up at him. She didn't have the body modesty that most woman would have in a situation like this, she didn't cover up once he got up off the sofa.

"Don't you want me?" She sounded hurt. He sat down next to her taking the t-shirt from her and pulled it down over her head.

"Michelle I want you so bad right now that it hurts, but if we continue now we would both regret it in the morning if not sooner. I think maybe we should both sleep on it and just see where our relationship goes in the future."

She sat up and kissed him on the cheek as she put her arms in and straightened the shirt. She then put her arms around his neck and looked into his eyes as she ran her fingers through his hair. After a few seconds, she nodded her head and kissed him gently on the lips.

"You're right Don, perfectly right. God, I'm so tired. It's been a long day." She slumped against him. Don gently got up supporting her so she wouldn't fall to the floor. He picked her up and took her to her room placing her gently on the bed. He pulled the covers up over her and tucked her in.

"G'night Michelle," he said as he leaned down to kiss her on the forehead.

"Night Don," she replied sleepily. He left the room turning off the light. He went around the house turning off a light here and making sure a doors were locked.

He finished his rounds of the house winding up in his bedroom. He pulled the covers down and climbed into bed. He was asleep soon after he turned the lights out.

Chapter 11

Don was awaked by a soft body being pressed against him.

"Wha..." he mumbled.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Michelle whispered, "I woke up in a strange bed and couldn't get back to sleep I hope you don't mind if I cuddle up with you?"

"No not at all, not at all."

She moved closer to him to lay her head on his shoulder as he rolled toward her. They met in the middle of the bed, nose to nose, eye to eye. She was so beautiful in the moonlight streaming in through the window.

"Michelle," he whispered as her eyes shifted from his to his lips. He watched as her tongue swept out to moisten the soft petals of flesh, flesh he wanted to desperately taste again.

She said nothing to him, just allowed him the liberty of looking at her. He watched his hand move to sweep several strands of hair from her face. They felt like satin; beautiful, rich, smooth satin. The tips of his fingers caressed her temple and her lips parted in a gentle sigh. He leaned in, just as she tilted her head up. Their mouths touched; their tongues timidly tasted each other. The beat of his heart increased tenfold.

Don could almost feel the words bubbling up from deep inside him, yet he wasn't ready to voice them. He swallowed them, instead focusing on the desire to please the heavenly creature in his bed, a woman that stirred not only his body but had unburied a part of his soul.

There were no words of 'are they moving too fast' or 'will they regret what they're doing'. They simply acted on instinct and need. He felt her press into him. One of her legs moved to rest between his and he gently urged her back against the bed. The blanket became tangled and soon her legs and his were shoving them to the floor. Their lips remained fixed as their tongues grew too busy exploring every crevice and dip in each other's mouth. She tasted wonderful, but this he already knew.

He lifted his face, stared down at her and again stroked her features. Gently he tilted her head and found the beat of her pulse nestled quietly under the flesh of her neck. He eased down, slowly descending on that sensitive spot and pressed a kiss to it. Immediately she sighed with pleasure; her hands moved to slide lazily along his back and he shivered from the touch of her nails grazing ever-so-lightly on his flesh.

He opened his mouth, pressed his tongue against her flesh and then drew in a small bit of it. He didn't suck hard. He knew his lady had a profession that would frown upon unsightly love marks. He sucked tenderly and listened as her body spoke to him with grinding hips and whimpering moans that escaped her lips. He moved away, whispered her name and then tasted the soft lobe of her ear.

All the while she was weaving her own intoxicating spell on him. One of her legs had become entwined with his. The foot of the other ran up and down his calf muscle. He groaned as her hands moved. One slid down his spine eventually coming to rest on the edge of his hip. Casually the other found a home at the back of his head. Her fingers toyed with the hair at the nape of his neck. He physically ached to ravish her, yet he knew this night could be the beginning or the end of something special. He had to take his time. He had to show her that she was special, not just a brief fling like Sam had been.

He kissed her again, then moved to look down at her. She stared back and cupped one of his cheeks. He took her hand, kissed the palm and then placed it over her head. She eyed him with a look of curiosity, but said nothing, keeping herself where he had placed her. He smiled, a silent thank you for the trust she was gifting him with.

He gazed at her; he really took the time to look at this perfect woman lying beneath him, in his bed, a bed, which for the most part, had for all too long been empty and lonely. He wanted to fill it with good memories and something deep inside him told him that Michelle was the beginning of that process. He cupped her cheek, then moved down to trace the curve of her neck, the shape of her collarbone that peeked from beneath her T-shirt. He inspected the way the material laid on her skin, how it bunched up around her breasts and he knew he needed to see all of her in the moonlight.

"Beautiful," he whispered, smiled at the blush that rose from her cheeks. His hand moved from the edging of her shirt to the side and then to the bottom hem. He lifted it gently, his gaze holding hers as if it were still waiting for her to stop him. He knew she wouldn't. They both wanted this.

She sat up just enough for him to ease the material from her body. He folded the shirt and she giggled softly, then stopped when his eyes fell on her breasts. He had seen them earlier, but now he had more time. More time to enjoy the beauty that surrounded him.

Her nipples were hard and the light of the moon danced across her skin. He ran one finger down the center of her chest, then over to her right breast. He traced her areola, watched it stiffen, felt the ridges grow harder. His lips were not far behind as he lowered his mouth to her breast and began to find out exactly how sensitive Michelle was.

She responded as he had hoped and knew she would. Her hips rose up and her lips opened to release a gasp of pleasure. He grinned and pulled the sweet tip into his mouth, sucked gently at first and then grew a bit bolder. She urged him onward; her fingers pressed against the back of his head and he answered her call by nipping at the edges of the rose-colored bead. She hissed and again he smiled, before pulling more forcefully on the hard nub.

He paid homage to that little pearl for several long seconds before moving over to its twin. There he took his time, once more learning her taste, memorizing her response and locking in the sound of her delight as he drew the jewel into his mouth. Eventually, though he needed more of her, wanted to give her more and learn about the other sensitive places on her skin.

Lifting his face from her chest, he glanced up into her eyes. They were fluttering open and closed, he knew she'd been close to the edge of a nice little climax and if he had continued with more play she may have come for him. He wasn't ready yet. He wanted to taste her as she soared to the heavens.

Moving to the side of her lovely body He carefully reached for the waistband of her sweatpants all the while looking into her smoldering eyes. There was no hesitation on her part as she lifted her hips off the bed to allow him to slide her sweats and panties past the delicious curve of her hips and on down the smooth satiny skin of her legs. She giggled as he tickled her feet pulling the clothing off her.

He lifted himself back over her and slid down between her legs. Her eyes blinked several times as she watched him. Her teeth bit down on her lower lip as he pressed his palms against her inner thighs. He turned his attention to her stomach. Her belly button called to him, beckoning him to tease it with the tip of his tongue, enjoy the salty taste of her flesh and bask in the heavenly scent that was wavering just below his chin. He knew he needed to sample that fragrance and drink deeply from its source.