Love Untold

Love Untold: Chapter 35

Love Untold: Chapter 35


As the days turned into weeks and the weeks filled up a whole month, summer in the south brought a heatwave to the sultry afternoons and a scorching environment to the Willard bedroom.  Chrissie had never been happier.  Race was a loving, thorough husband, and she enjoyed every moment of it...and him.

She even found a way to please him.  One night, she slipped out of bed without waking him.  They spent the whole day in each other’s arms, calling in sick to work, and by nightfall, they were both too exhausted to do more than kiss and cuddle and drop off to dreamworld.

Since Race moved back to the bedroom -- and Dena moved out -- they made love as often as they were together, but Race was the one to always please her, always do what she liked, always put her first.

Not tonight.

Careful to keep her actions as silent as possible, she found the blue nightgown from Victoria’s Secret and drew it over her head.  Then she tiptoed out of the bedroom to the living room.  At one point, she saw him roll over in his sleep, but he didn’t wake up.  Her surprise would be ruined if he did.

Now, this was the cruel part of her plan.  Race had been almost giddy with relief when she stopped sleepwalking, but maybe he wouldn’t stay upset with her for too long.

Punching on the power button for the stereo and playing “Lay It Down,” Chrissie relaxed her body and hoped it looked like she didn’t know what she was doing.  

“Chrissie?” Race called from the bedroom.  Chrissie half-closed her eyes and swayed to the music.  Race stumbled into the living room, wearing nothing at all and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.  He saw her dancing like she’d been told she did while sleepwalking, and sadness crept over his face.  “Oh, Chris,” he sighed heavily, “I thought we were done with this.”

Chrissie ignored him.  She whirled in a slow circle, adding extra swing to her hips and running her hands up and down her body, cupping her breasts and dipping her hands down between her thighs suggestively.  He started toward her, stopped when he saw her sensuous moves, and grinned.  “Now, that’s new,” he murmured.  He proceeded over to her and said, “Hello, Chrissie,” like he did the other times.

She smiled coyly at him, though consciously aware of keeping up the sleepwalking sham.  “Hello.”

He held out his hand to her.  “May I have this dance?”

“Oh, yes...please,” she replied, moving into his arms.  He held her at a polite distance, but that wasn’t good enough.  Dancing wasn't her best talent, and she hoped to God she wasn’t blushing from embarrassment.  She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck, sashaying in his embrace.  He groaned as her hip brushed across his growing erection.

“You’re killing me here, Chris,” he whispered into her hair.  “Please wake up so I can take you to bed.”

Chrissie kept her face peaceful and her eyes almost closed as she pivoted around completely to press her bottom to his groin.  Her arm stretched up behind his head, holding him close to her body.  His hands slid along her waist and smoothed over the silky fabric that covered her stomach.  She moved from side to side, feeling him hardening, and his head tilted down to press soft lips to the curve of her shoulder, doing no more than just touching.  He wouldn’t take advantage of her like this.  He believed her to be unaware of what she was doing, and the honorable man he was just stood there and took it.

Which was why she chose this strategy to seduce him.  He’d keep his roaming hands to a minimum out of respect, and she won’t be distracted by his lovemaking.  If she played this just right, her husband would never know what hit him until it was too late.

The song repeated, and Chrissie danced on, grinding into him while his breathing picked up speed, right along with his thunderous heartbeat, and his fingers started to clench around her hips, trying to limit her movements.  Finally, concluding that he was properly seduced, she rotated in his arms again.  He dropped his forehead to hers and whispered, “Chris...I need you to wake up now...I need you...”

Chrissie hid her tiny smile behind the kiss she placed on his chest.  Race froze.  “Chris?”  She kissed him again, lower.  “Chrissie?  Are you awake?”  Another kiss to the solid muscles on his chest.  She had to bend at the waist to go any further.  Race gently captured her face by the jaw and tilted her head up to look at him.  She avoided his gaze, assuming her false, sleeping state, and he sighed, “You’re not awake, are you?  What have I done, Chris?  Why are you sleepwalking again, sweetheart?”

He wasn’t really speaking to her, she knew that.  And she was going to use it against him.  She kissed his chest again, adding tiny licks of her tongue, and he placed his hands on her shoulders, half coaxing her to go lower, half attempting to keep her from something she might regret.  “I hope you’re okay with this when you find out,” he groaned as her mouth tickled his stomach.  She flowed to the side to let her lips trail down a muscular thigh.  He stiffened when her hair curled around his pulsing head.  “Or I might lie and say nothing happened,” he grunted, unconsciously arching to position his erection right next to her mouth.

Chrissie lost it.  She grinned up at him, slapped him on the butt, and said, “You promised not to lie to me,” right before she sucked him into her mouth.  Race gasped, his knees buckled, and he fisted two handfuls of her hair.  “You little...oh...oh...”

“I’m a little what, Race?” she asked, withdrawing completely from around him.

“A beautiful, loving, very sexy jewel from Heaven,” he moaned through a grin and nudged her lips.  “Please?”

She stood up, guided him to the ottoman and knelt down between his legs again.  “This is about you tonight, Race,” she told him, stroking him.  “Don’t interfere.”

“Yeah...sure...” His eyes rolled back in his head as she licked from root to tip.  His fingers caressed her cheeks.  “All yours, sweetheart,” he panted while she loved on him, “Take your time...I’ll just be up here...when you’re ready for me...sweet, sweet Chrissie...that feels so...oh, yeah, just like that...”

Afterward, he scooped her up in his arms, carried her to bed, and conked right out.  Chrissie gave him an hour to recuperate...then she woke him up again.

*****

But even though happiness and love filled her days, there was sadness in Chrissie’s heart, too.  Dena accepted the position in Chicago, and one Saturday was full of tears and dust and cardboard boxes as the sisters packed up Dena’s condo for the move.

“Oh, do you remember this?” Dena said for about the thousandth time as she discovered a new childhood treasure.  This time it was a clay vase from when Chrissie tried her hand at pottery one spring in junior high.  Dena accidentally broke it, using it as a pin for a make-shift game of bowling in the ski resort’s west wing hallway.  When Chrissie discovered it later that night, it had been glued back together and holding a droopy bundle of wildflowers.

Chrissie was surprised Dena kept that, and she told her so.  Dena replied, “You didn’t get mad at me, and it reminds me of how forgiving you can be...when you’re not mad.”

Chrissie chuckled.  “Well...if you recall, you were missing that poster of stupid boy band after that.”

Dena frowned at Chrissie, and then gasped.  “You took it?!  I loved that poster!”

Chrissie sighed.  “I know, and I’m sorry, but at the time, you kept acting out and getting into trouble and I was getting tired of it.  It was a mean thing to do, but I was only fourteen.”

“That’s okay,” Dena waved it off.  “Besides, have you seen those guys lately?”  She shuddered and screwed her face up.  “Life has not been good for them.”

Chrissie finished putting the last of Dena’s books into a box and taped it closed.  She sat down on top of it and looked around.  “You are such a pack rat.  You’re never going to fit all this stuff in your new apartment.”

“Fortunately for me, I have a sister with an unused basement in which I can store some of this stuff until I get a bigger place,” Dena coolly replied.  She glanced up at her sister.  “And speaking of unused basements, how are you and Race doing?  Didn’t you hear back from that specialist in Cleveland?”

“Race and I are just fine,” Chrissie said, grinning like a little school girl on her first field trip.  “He’s wonderful and I’m in love with him, and all’s great.”

“And the specialist?”

Chrissie’s face fell and she chewed on her lip.  “Nothing...they found nothing.  My amnesia has become a mystery to the medical world, and short of cutting into my brain to study it, they can do nothing for me.”  She forced a smile to her face.  “But that’s okay.  I’ve moved on.  This is my life now.”

Dena scooted over on the floor to sit at her feet.  “But?”

“No, but’s, I’m fine,” Chrissie said, and Dena didn’t believe her.  “Chrissie?”

“Okay, fine!  Race hasn’t said anything in particular, but sometimes I wonder if he’s really happy now.  He was happy with the old me, and sometimes he says things that imply I’m different than I was then, and so I wonder if he’s still in love with his old wife.”

Dena blinked at her.  “I know, it’s stupid,” Chrissie added when her sister remained silent.  “I’m jealous of myself.  How messed up is that?”

“It’s not messed up,” Dena finally spoke.  “It’s a perfectly reasonable fear, and you are different.  And I, personally, like this you better than I did the last one.”

“D!”

“Well, it’s true.  I’ve always loved you, but you’re much more relaxed and easy-going now.  We have fun together, and you haven’t pestered me once about my dating lifestyle.”

Chrissie toed her in the hip.  “That’s because I know you a little better, because of all the talks we’ve had, and I know you’re being safe and responsible.  You’re just having a little fun until you settle down.”

“And that won’t happen for several years,” Dena said, pointing a finger at Chrissie.  “After all the crap I hear about in those marriage counseling sessions, I’m not eager to become one of my own patients.  Too bad I’m leaving.  I could have taken a chance on Dr. Gray.”

Chrissie grinned at her.  “Yeah, that’s a shame, but you’ll eventually find the one man you love more than anything else in the world,” Chrissie said, her eyes going soft and dreamy as she thought about her man who was home that very minute, cooking dinner for their one-month, new-life-together anniversary.  She had some suspicions on what he planned for tonight ever since she discovered her old wedding band and engagement ring missing from her jewelry box.  She tried to wear them one morning, thinking Race would be pleased, but he took one look at them and removed the rings from her finger, saying, “These aren’t yours.”  It had confused her and she cried a little, but he kissed away her tears, told her he loved her, and seduced her within an inch of her sanity.  

She was thankful that she didn’t have to wear them.  She didn’t feel right about it, but sometimes, she considered putting the rings on just so he’d make love to her.  Now, whenever she asked him about them being missing, he just grinned and kissed her until she forgot all about it.  So, either way, she was getting a lot of physical love out of not having them.

But that was okay...she had plans for tonight, too.  No one, but she, knew of the life growing inside her, and though Dena had looked at her a few times with interest as Chrissie absentmindedly rubbed her belly, her sister didn’t ask about it.  Chrissie wanted to tell Race first, then let the rest of the family know.

“Well, I guess we’re done here,” Dena said.  “You go on and get home to your husband.  The movers don’t come until Tuesday.  I’ll get the rest packed up by then.”

Chrissie didn’t argue.  She rushed home, stifled a gag as the smells of the chicken baking in the oven made her stomach roll, and cheerfully suffered through a round of kisses and fondling by Race as he muttered, “God, I love it when you’re all sweaty and dusty.” Finally, she pushed him off of her to hop in the shower.