Chasing Shade Part 24

'Will you take me out of this dirt trap and take me home? To my trailer or yours. Doesn't matter. Both are home now. I want a hot drink and a hot shower and then a hot man.'

'Hmm,' Archie said. 'I don't know where we can find that last one.'

She got up on her knees and straddled his lap. Then she pushed her fingers into his short dark hair and kissed him like she loved him. Because she did. 'Oh, I do. In fact, there's one under me right now.'

'How convenient,' Archie said, pulling her closer, kissing her harder.

'Very convenient,' she agreed.

Chapter 28.

Her hair was dripping on him and Archie was in awe of her. He reached up, captured a fat drop from the end of one long lock. She'd straddled him the moment they hit the bed. He wasn't inside her yet not deep inside where he wanted to be but she was pressed against him. The heat and wetness of her s.e.x over his c.o.c.k were intoxicating. She wriggled when he touched her.

'Put your hands up, Archie,' she said, smiling down at him. Her smile was mysterious. As if she suddenly possessed some great secret. Maybe she did. She'd faced the whole barrage of things that scared and upset her and had come out the other side. With him. And him with her.

'Oh, you're going to hold me down now, Betsey?' he teased.

She pushed one hand over his crossed wrists. Her dark eyes never left him even when she reached between them and found his c.o.c.k. She ran it along her slickness and he felt his eyes try to roll back. Archie laughed softly, kept them locked on her. This beautiful creature he'd somehow stumbled over during a very rough patch in his life.

'I'm not holding you down,' she said to him.

Archie watched her mouth when she talked. Plump and bare of lipstick, her lips were gorgeous. Her mouth. All of her face was perfect to him. She was acceptance personified.

'I'm taking you in,' she said and sank down on him slowly.

They both held their breath and, when she was seated firmly on him, him filling her, both of them trying to grasp at and yet struggle against their own pleasure, they both exhaled.

'My mistake,' he said, trying to tease again. But his voice was dark and soft and full of awe, not humour.

'Shh...'

Betsey began to move. Her wet hair swinging, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s moving gently with her motions. She rocked her hips at first, building up until they were both panting. Her fingers, slim and cool, curled against his wrists. He had to struggle to keep them up and not grab her, hold her tight, thrust up under her until they both surrendered to the growing pleasure.

'Don't,' she said, reading his mind. 'Let me.' She gripped his crossed wrists tighter and leaned against him, pressing her full b.r.e.a.s.t.s to his chest. Her lips were tender on his at first but then she found a rhythm that made them both d.a.m.n near desperate and her kiss grew bolder. Her tongue demanding. She nipped his tongue with her teeth and Archie had to struggle not to come at the small burst of pain.

'Come for me, Archie,' she said.

He had his eyes shut then. Bringing them both down to nothing more but flesh and motion and sensation. But he could sense her smiling.

'If I come we're all done.'

'I can come. At any moment. I can come when you look at me,' she said, her breath in his ear. 'I could have come the moment you were in me, filling me up.'

Oddly, he found his eyes were wet with tears. For the first time in his life that seemed OK. Her fingers held his wrists harder. Hard enough that he could feel the brazen beat of his heart imprisoned beneath her fingers.

'Do you know why?' she asked him. Her body driving down against his. He thrust up, a bit faster, a bit rougher, and he heard her breath catch.

'Why, Betsey?'

She kissed him. Her mouth somehow seeking. He kissed her back, hoping she found what she was looking for in him.

Or maybe what she hadn't been looking for at all.

'It's because I love you, Archie,' she said, her voice nothing more than a whisper. Then she s.h.i.+vered over him, her p.u.s.s.y growing tighter and tighter until he knew he was done for. The first spasm hit her and she said it again. The best thing he'd ever heard. 'I love you, Archie,' she said again.

He gave her what she wanted. He came for her. Slamming up from under her once more and managing to find his words at the last possible moment. 'And I love you, Betsey. I think from the moment you spoke to me.'

In the morning he found her crying. Sitting in a chair, drinking coffee. Archie glanced at the clock. She saw him.

'I called in today. I'm going to have to eat Spam every day for a month to make up for days off,' she chuckled.

He knelt by her. 'Don't be silly. I'll make sure you don't have to eat Spam. I'm sure together we can b.u.mp us up to beefaroni.'

It was meant to make her smile and it worked.

'What's going on?' he asked, wrapping his arms around her.

She let her body go limp against him and he was thankful for that. That she could feel that way towards him. 'Believe it or not,' she said, laughing through her tears, 'these are tears of grat.i.tude.'

He chuckled. 'I do have a hard time believing that. You're shaking.'

She pulled back as the news came back on and pointed. Together they sat there as the newscaster talked about the weather, the latest Instagram trend and how to cut Thanksgiving calories. Finally, just when he could tell she was growing impatient, the anchor said: 'And in local news, the infamous Denton Jackson Miller died in his cell last night of complications due to lung cancer. He was sixty-two years old and leaves behind a family. Miller is well known for abducting and holding multiple women in his bas.e.m.e.nt. He was arrested eight years ago when his final victim was able to attract attention and get help.'

She hit the remote. 'At least they didn't say my name,' she said.

'It's good, though. He's dead,' Archie said, taking her hand and leading her to the sofa.

Betsey curled against him. 'It is good. Better than me having to tell that woman that I was going to fight her wishes. I don't have to be the bad guy. And that b.a.s.t.a.r.d's dead. Hopefully in h.e.l.l where he belongs.'

Archie hugged her. 'Right where he belongs.'

'I feel bad, though,' she said.

'Why?'

'His daughter lost her father and yet I'm so happy because I found you.'

'Betsey, don't feel bad. You deserve to be happy. If anyone deserves it, it's you. This was inevitable. One had nothing to do with the other.'

She smiled up at him, her eyes still wet. 'I feel OK knowing the universe took the options out of my hands. And hers.' She shrugged. 'But I have issues.' A small chuckle. Then: 'Somehow it feels so wrong to feel so right when someone has suffered a loss.'

'You're not responsible for that loss,' he reminded her. Then he grinned at her. 'Plus, I am pretty d.a.m.n spectacular.'

She punched him lightly. 'Archie?' Those dark-dark eyes were on him and he felt under her spell. All of him. Especially his heart.

'Yeah?'

'Kiss me.'

He took her coffee cup, set it on the table and kissed her for all he was worth. 'I love you.'

'I know,' she said. 'It's why I woke up smiling this morning. And then I remembered I love you too. And it just got better.'

'No more tears, then,' he said, kissing the wet streaks beneath her eyes.

'No more tears. I think part of it was ' she inhaled a watery breath ' I was crying because it's finally over. But this, with you, has just begun.'

'Yes, it has,' he said.

He pushed her back, covered her with his body, kissed her again. This time when he slid into her, feeling her wet heat encompa.s.s him, he was on top. He was holding her crossed wrists as he took her to her point of surrender and his.

Epilogue.

Six months later...

'What's this?' Archie waved a small box marked EXTRA-FRAGILE-PLEASE-HANDLE-WITH-CARE.

Betsey shrugged. 'I have no idea. Find out.'

She pushed a small pile of blankets on to a shelf. They'd relocated. A whole ten rows down the trailer park. But now they shared a house. A big double-wide with more room than either of them was accustomed to. The Parkers had moved to Florida, ready to get away from the Maryland winters. They'd sold their trailer to Archie and Betsey for a song.

She heard him ripping the tape off and couldn't suppress a smile. Then his big arms were wrapped around her waist, pulling her back against him. She felt his heart beating against her shoulder blade. Her cheeks were hot with blush but he couldn't see. She caught their reflection in the small window over the sink. Him behind her, standing at least a head taller, resting his chin on the top of her head. It was a pretty picture: the two of them happy.

One hand at her waist held a small paper origami heart. She'd learned to make them by watching a show on the do-it-yourself-at-home network. She had folded about a thousand before she got one right. On the paper it simply said, 'Betsey's heart'.

'Don't worry, Bets. You hold my heart too. And I know you'll handle it with care. I wouldn't dream of doing anything else with yours.'

She swallowed hard around a small lump in her throat and whispered, 'Keep digging...'

'What?'

'In the box. Keep digging...'

She followed him over to the small dining-room table and watched, so nervous her heart kicked like a rabbit, as he pushed aside more tissue paper. He extracted a four-inch-long piece of plastic and then blinked. He smiled, stopped smiling, smiled again. Then finally he looked at her, blue eyes wide with amazement or fear, she couldn't tell.

'I took it yesterday. It's positive.'

'It's positive.' It wasn't a question.

'A few weeks,' she said. Her hands were shaking. 'I just found out last night. And if it changes anything '

'It changes everything,' he said.

Her heart dropped and the world doubled as tears cluttered her lower lids. Then he was sweeping her up in his arms. 'It means you have to marry me.'

'Oh, no, I don't expect '

He dug in his pocket and out came a small velveteen blue box. 'It's not much,' he said. 'I was going to ask you after dinner. Our first dinner here. In our place.'

The tears on her lower lashes trembled, momentarily turning the world to stardust and diamonds, then they were streaming down her face. 'Archie '

'See, you can't think it was because of this.' His face went from smiling to awestruck in a moment and he pulled back to touch her still flat belly. 'Our baby,' he said as if it were a magical incantation. 'It was in my pocket. I had big plans.' He chuckled.

'Yes,' she said.

'Yes?'

She nodded, a tiny laugh slipping out of her. 'Yes.'

'I know it's fast,' he said.

'It's good,' she said.

He kissed her. Then put the ring on her finger. It was s.h.i.+ny and delicate and perfect. Her whole body seemed to vibrate. 'I love you, Betsey. And it's good because the real stuff you don't have to question. You just know. So, fast or not, I can't believe I got so lucky to find you. I simply followed a dead hairpiece in the road and there she was. The woman I'm supposed to be with for ever.'

She shook her head, all words gone, and settled for kissing him. Managing to whisper, 'I love you, Archie' without completely falling apart.

At some point during that kiss, his big warm hands were up under her T-s.h.i.+rt and she was relaxing, as always, into his hands. 'Come on, almost-Mrs Rader, let me show you the bedroom. I've already put sheets on.'

l.u.s.t, constant and intoxicating when it came to him, slammed her and she nodded. 'I'd follow you anywhere,' she said.

'Me, too, babe,' he said over his shoulder. As they pa.s.sed a shelf in the alcove by the bathroom, he tucked her heart up among their books. 'It will be safe up there until we decorate the baby's room. Then it will go in a frame over the crib.'

She had no words at his easy acceptance of their lives changing so fast. But she was grateful. For him, for the road that had led her to him, for the fact that she never doubted he'd be there. That he'd love her. It was the best gift she'd ever had. So far.

Betsey felt she was in for many more gifts in her life with Archie. She was happier than she'd ever been, she thought, as he shut the door and took her in his arms. And she finally felt she deserved it.

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