Summer Fever

for that.
    “No?” I said a little timidly. I wondered if George was a cop too; he certainly had the swagger and menacing cop eyes down pat.
    “Great. Then I don’t have to shoot you.” His clap on the shoulder nearly knocked me over.
    “If this what you’re like when you’re happy….”
    “Come on, J.D.,” Janice said. “I’ll protect you.”
    “Hey, I protect and serve,” George protested, grinning.
    Okay, he was definitely Russ’s brother and definitely a cop.

    THE stars were brilliant in the sky that night, and I stared up at them until I lost my balance and had to take a step to catch myself. I’d been off balance since I met Russ, and I wouldn’t be able to regain my equilibrium until I saw him again.
    I was pacing out on the dock waiting for him. I knew he’d find me, so I didn’t need to wait for him out front. I’d left all the doors unlocked.
    So of course when I heard the slam of his truck door, I flew through the house as if I’d sprouted wings on my heels, out the front door and leaped at him, wrapping my arms and legs around him.
    He staggered back under my assault, but he was a trouper and he caught himself. “That’s what I’m talking about. Now we’re in business,” he teased.
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    “Sorry, sorry,” I gasped, squirming to get down. “I forgot about your chest.”
    He let me down, but he didn’t let me go. “What’s a little pain when I can feel you pressed against me.”
    “Seriously, how bad is it?”
    “Just a bruise.” He released me and lifted his T-shirt. The mark was livid on his skin under the moonlight.
    I touched it gently with my fingertips. “Thank God for the woman who invented Kevlar.”
    “Right, you would know that,” he said.
    I took his hand and drew him toward the house. “You want anything?
    A beer? Coffee? Something to eat?”
    “They feed us at debriefing. I’m good.” His eyes were hungry when he looked at me. “So, boyfriend, you know I’m going to hold you to that.” I guided him out to the screened porch. “I suck as a boyfriend, I just have to warn you.”
    “Why? Do you withhold sex when you get pissy?”
    “I don’t get pissy,” I informed him. “Besides, why would I withhold it from myself? Angry sex can be good.”
    “Make up sex is better.”
    “Prove it,” I said, leaning closer so our lips were practically touching.
    “Glad to,” he murmured, before taking my lips in a slow, sensuous kiss.
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    I was dizzy when he released me. “They must put something in the water up here,” I muttered.
    He took my face in his hands and looked deep into my eyes. “Then they just started this summer because I’ve never felt this way before.” I was achingly hard for him, but I didn’t want this to be just another fuck. It meant something to me now, and I wanted him to know that. I took him by the hand and led him into my parents’ room, afraid of what I might say if I let myself.
    I started to undress him, kissing every inch of his skin as I exposed it while he stood there trembling. I was very tender kissing the bruise over his heart. I wanted the touch of my hands and lips to convey to him the feelings I couldn’t bring myself to say.
    Then it was his turn to undress me. I’d never had a lover so attentive; he had me gasping before he had my shirt off.
    When we’d fucked before, it was intense, wild and passionate. Tonight was no less intense, but it was more about holding each other close. This wasn’t just about getting off, it was about the emotions between us.
    I loved the way the curve of his hip filled my palm, the way he lifted up into my caress as if he couldn’t wait for me touch him. I made him moan when I tugged at the dark hair that led from his navel down to his groin with my teeth.
    When his weight pinned me to the bed, I captured his mouth with mine, filling it with my tongue. He held me so tight when our bodies were joined, and I whimpered my need for him.
    When I came it was like a sweet release from this world, full of rapture and ecstasy and sensation, no thinking, all my fear falling away from me as if it had never been. I gave myself to him like I never could to any other man, and he knew it.
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    It was total giving, total bliss, a big, powerful force taking me over.
    Uncontrollable. It was like kissing underwater. It was love.
    After the earthquake, we lay in silence, simply holding each other.
    “I love