Mountains Wanted (27 page)

“You do matter to me,
Sarah,” he gasped, almost incredulous that she didn’t realize the depth of his
feelings. “Of course you matter to me. More than I probably even want to
admit.”

“Really?” she looked up
at him through watery eyes, the sun catching sparks of gold and amber from
within the sepia depths.

“Sarah, I don’t know how
to explain it but I feel love for you too. I don’t know what else to call it,”
he admitted. “I guess I’m conflicted.” She felt his heart grasping
for an understanding that was just out of his reach.

“I believe it’s possible
to love more than one person,” she assured him. “There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s
wonderful to be free enough to open your heart in multiple directions. I wish
more people could.”

“Your mind is
beautiful,” he smiled. “All of you is beautiful. How could I not love you?
When you look into my eyes, I feel like you’re staring straight into my soul. No
one has ever looked at me like that before.”

She squeezed his hand. There
were nearly as many questions that remained as the ones that had found answers,
like unmatched pairs wandering in the wilderness, waiting to find their other
halves. But there was something, a tiny beam of light piercing the
darkness, something to build on, something to nurture. It was the speck of
hope she needed to believe in.

He covered her lips with
his own and she detected that he was suddenly lighter, unencumbered, as if the
burdens he’d been shouldering had disintegrated, shackles falling away. Nestled
into his arms, she felt like they were soaring. Here they stood, on top of the
earth, surrounded by her mountains, fortresses protecting this fragile love
till it was strong enough to stand on its own two feet.

***

The moon is casting just
enough of a glow to highlight the contours of your shoulders and face as you
shift your weight on top of me. I am so wet from our last round that you slide
into me with no resistance, making me gasp at the sensation of being filled by
your hardness. You begin to move ever so slowly inside of me, shallow at first,
and then increasingly deeper. You feel my back arching, my stomach tense, my
moans filling the room. Your mouth is close to my ear and you whisper,
"No, wait for me, baby..."

I manage, "I'm
trying..." Every stroke sends me an inch closer, hitting just the right
spot.

Your arms around me,
you're moaning, "Oh, fuck..." as I grip your cock deep inside me,
trying so damn hard not to let myself fall off the edge.

I know you so well,
every breath you take, every thrust, I know how close you are getting. My hands
stroke down your back and you are so deep, reaching the core of me. It's taking
everything I have to hold back and feeling me approach the edge again, you
demand again, "Wait for me."

I can't even respond,
knowing if I lose concentration I will explode around you. You're getting
close. I can wait, I can do this. I want us to climax together. It needs
to happen that way. In perfect solidarity. It’s symbolic.

Every sound you make is
so familiar; I know exactly how much time will elapse before you lose control.
I'm not used to having to hold back. You're moaning all around me, your breath
heavy and falling on my face, your muscles rigid and poised, your cock growing
harder. I am a vessel of your pleasure. Lying beneath you, feeling your weight
on me, I love thinking that I am the source of your ecstasy. Finally you
whisper, "Now, baby, come with me," but I have already started shuddering
beneath you, those last thoughts finishing me off. I'm still feeling my spasms
around you as you release deep inside me.

You lie there, spent,
your head on my chest until you become too sensitive and need to pull out. I
feel your seed start to leak out onto my thighs as you shift beside me and pull
me close to you, summing it up in three words: "That was intense."

And I have nothing to
say except that I am yours. No holding back. Risks be damned, I’m all in.

***

Spring began to unfurl
its fresh green wings throughout the Mid-Atlantic shortly after Sarah returned
from Denver. James had stayed through the first day of her conference and
accompanied her to Breckenridge to visit Aunt Sally, who was practically her
mother’s twin, being only eighteen months her junior. Aunt Sally had
conjured up all sorts of embarrassing tales from Sarah’s youth to amuse and
entertain James. Sarah spent a lot of time rolling her eyes and happily
wondering why this potentially awkward meeting seemed so familiar and
comfortable. The conference presentation had also gone well, and Sarah exuded a
strength and assurance that she had long subdued. She felt rejuvenated.

But nothing was better
than coming home to James, who had finally integrated Sarah into his life; she
was decompartmentalized. After spending time with him in Denver, she sensed a
closeness with him that she had longed to feel for a man for years. She felt as
if she was blooming, just like the sunny daffodils and indigo crocuses lining
the stone-studded walk to her front door.

She had made James
promise her one thing: to be honest with her, even if he thought what he had to
say might hurt her feelings. “Trust me to be able to handle what you need
to say,” she’d told him. “If this is going to work, then we need to be open and
transparent.”

He agreed but she could
see it was not going to be easy for him. He was so used to boxing things away,
compartmentalizing and repressing. She didn’t know whether to blame his
Catholic upbringing, military service, or just the fact that he was a man. In
any case, she felt like she had been slowly deprogramming him, positively
reinforcing his openness and willingness to share, gently prodding when he
seemed to shut down.

Rachel invited them over
for a “welcome home” dinner shortly after the conference. Sarah watched Rachel
give James a wink when she went to hug him as if to say, “We did it!” She was a
little gloat-y over her hand in their reconciliation, but Sarah tried to humor
her. That night at dinner she proposed a toast, “To Sarah and James, may your
love grow and bloom and may you find the happiness together that Jack and I
have found.”  She turned to Jack and mouthed the words “I love you,” as
she clinked glasses around the table.

Then she pulled another
rabbit out of her hat: “Sarah, your birthday is in a few weeks, and serendipitously
falls on a Saturday. You know what that means, right?”

“I don’t,” Sarah
admitted, “but I’m a little scared to find out!” She scanned her best friend’s
face waiting for the answer.

Jack laughed, knowing
what the devious glint in his fiancée’s eyes meant. “Which birthday are we
celebrating this year, beautiful?” he inquired.

“Thirty-seventh,” Sarah
replied, “which naturally needs no big celebration.” She arched an eyebrow at
Rachel whose face was painted with mischievous excitement.

“Au contraire, my Little
Pumpkin!” Rachel’s devilish laugh filled the room. James was grinning in
anticipation and Jack was on the edge of his seat, waiting for the announcement
he knew was coming.

“Alright, out with it!”
Sarah demanded and turning to James questioned, “Are you in on this too?” He
shook his head but then his laughter gave him away. She couldn’t believe all
three were conspiring against her.  

“Two words,” Rachel
finally offered, her smile almost splitting her face in half, “House Party!!!”

“Oh Rachel,” she stammered,
“you shouldn’t have.” She glanced at James and then back at Rachel, shooting
her an uncertain look, attempting to communicate:
I don’t think he’s ready
for that.

“Too late, the
invitations have gone out. And I get to give the birthday girl her first
spanking!” Rachel exclaimed. Jack looked on with approval. James was
a little harder to read...
happy but blissfully ignorant?
Sarah
determined.  

Three weeks later, she
and James were en route to Rachel’s for the birthday party and Sarah was
nervously reviewing all the etiquette with him. “Open doors mean you can watch.
Closed doors mean don’t go in. Ask before you join in.”
   
       
“Sarah,”
he gently placed his hand over hers on her knee, “I’m not going to leave your
side. Don’t worry, I will be fine.”

“Okay, okay,” Sarah
conceded. “I just don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with,
sweetheart. You’d tell me if you didn’t want to do this, right?”

“Of course I would.
 Please stop, I just want you to enjoy your birthday, okay?”

Sarah nodded, her heart
fluttery. She knew she’d feel better after a glass of wine.
Should James
drink? Or not drink? Come to think of it, I have never seen him drunk, she
thought
deviously.
But his first house party is probably not the time for that. 
James
pulled into Rachel’s driveway and took the spot nearest her car, knowing they’d
be blocked in by the other party guests, but they’d already discussed spending
the night. Rachel had insisted, as a matter of fact.
   
       
Sarah
burst in and Rachel was standing right there beside the door, as if she knew
she was arriving at that very moment. She held out a sparkly rhinestone tiara
which she promptly affixed to Sarah’s dark-haired head. Jack swathed her in a
sash that read in purple glitter: “Birthday Queen.” Rachel smoothed
Sarah’s deep marine blue dress down over her bust and hips and then posed her
and James for a picture. “Now kiss!” she commanded and captured the couple with
their lips locked as well.

Moments later the guests
began to arrive. Sarah hadn’t seen many of their group of friends for a while,
she’d been so busy with self-denial over the summer, and work, James and family
all fall and winter. She was humbled that so many people had turned out to
celebrate with her despite being relatively new to the scene in Maryland and
not knowing them terribly well. But that was the nature of the lifestyle:
people were warm and made connections quickly and easily. Rachel had also
invited a few new faces who didn’t need a lot of encouragement to attend a
house party, and heartily took the hostess’ word that the birthday girl was
positively enchanting and the party not to be missed.

James watched Sarah work
the crowd, witnessing her effortless transformation into the role of social
butterfly. Her smile was broad, her eyes gracious, and she always gave warm
hugs or kisses in lieu of handshakes. Most of the time, if James was within her
line of vision, she called him over to be introduced as well. “This is my
boyfriend James,” she  proudly announced. He noted that no one used last
names: only first names with this crowd.  She was also careful never to
mention that he was in the military. In fact, no one talked about work, he
observed.

Even though many aspects
of the party seemed completely ordinary to him: the eating, the drinking, the
small talk about the weather, there was a different energy in this group. There
was an openness, a sensuality, a welcomeness that was palpable. Conversations
he floated in and out of ranged from family life, to trips and vacations, to
parties and clubs attended. Almost everything was upbeat, light,
suggestive, accompanied by plenty of innuendo.  

He began to notice Sarah
gravitating toward one particular couple. She was a curvaceous redhead, a few
inches taller than Sarah, with creamy white skin and piercing green eyes. Her
husband had handsome features accented by dark, salt-and-pepper sprinkled hair
and a matching goatee. He had just finished his second beer and Rachel had
announced it was almost time to cut the birthday cake. “James,” Sarah called,
motioning him over, “Scott and Felicity are originally from Denver. I was just
telling them about our trip there last month.”

“Great city,” James
said, sliding himself into the conversation. Sarah watched Felicity’s eyes
sparkle as she scanned James up and down. “Can’t wait to go back and
visit.”

“Are you both going out for
the wedding?” Scott asked. “Maybe you can spend a few extra days? You should
try white water rafting this time!” he suggested helpfully.

“Oh,” James replied,
“that would be great but unfortunately I won’t be able to make Rachel and
Jack’s wedding. I’ll be away on business.”

Felicity twirled an
auburn curl between her thumb and forefinger. “That’s a shame,” she cooed. “I
was hoping I would get to see you again.”

James smiled and glanced
at Sarah for approval. ‘I know,” Sarah lamented, “no one is more
disappointed that he won’t be there than me.” Her face brightened a bit as
she added, “But feel free to enjoy him tonight.” She winked at Felicity and
James’ face flushed. She grazed his back lightly with her fingertips, stroking
up and down from his neck to his waist. He moved a little closer to her, his
hand guiding her hip toward his pelvis where she could feel his erection
straining against his pants.

  Felicity was
beaming, “Oh, I would most certainly enjoy that...but later... Looks like
Rachel needs you for the cake cutting!”

Sarah moved toward the
dining room where Rachel wielded the cake knife and a small black leather
paddle. “Before we cut the cake, we need to give the Birthday Girl her
spankings!” Rachel announced, her piercing voice gaining the attention of every
guest. She handed the paddle to James. “I was going to do the honors myself,
but I think you should get the first whack, right?” she asked, her hazel eyes
gleaming.

“You bet,” James replied
and moved Sarah out in front of the table so she was on display for everyone to
see. He bent her at the waist and lifted her dress to reveal a lacy black thong
dividing her smooth, round lily-white asscheeks. He poised the paddle just
above her right cheek and then delivered a solid wallop that elicited a nice,
tight, high-pitched cracking sound coupled with a squeal from the birthday
girl’s lips.  

“You’ve got to count,
Sarah,” Rachel chastised her, the wicked grin still spread across her face.

“My bad,” Sarah said,
laughing, almost having forgotten her friend’s sadistic streak. “That’s 1.”

Rachel, Jack, Scott,
Felicity, and the other guests each followed suit with Sarah counting each
spanking. There were almost enough attendees to divide the spankings evenly, up
to 34. Felicity, Rachel and James took the last three and James added one more
“to grow on.” Sarah’s posterior was glowing bright red by the end of the exercise.
She straightened up and smoothed her dress back down. “I definitely deserve
some cake after that!”

Rachel lit the candles
and made some sort of comment about what she wouldn’t mind doing with the hot
wax, but Sarah shot her a look that said
I’ve tried to be good sport, but
that’s crossing the line.
The entire crowd sang a rousing, off-key
rendition of “Happy Birthday” and Sarah filled her lungs with air to blow out
the 37 candles. But first her wish:
I
wish for James to be mine
, she whispered into her mind, the passion behind
the sentiment erupting a burning tear the corner of her eye. Winking it away, she
extinguished all the candles in a single attempt.

Felicity slinked through
the crowd like a snake and in a flash was by James’ side again, her green eyes
lusty and wanton. Sarah noticed she was so close to him that her breasts were
grazing his arm and one of her hands had slipped around his waist as she whispered
something in his ear. He nodded and Sarah watched his eyes avert to her milky
white cleavage. When Felicity started to pull him toward the hallway though, he
stopped. “We’re bringing Sarah and Scott too, right?”

A barely discernible
spot of disappointment eked its way across her face. “Oh, you only do same
room?”

Sarah took her hand and
drew very close to her so as not to make a scene. “It’s his first time
full swapping,” she said softly, funneling the words directly into her ear. Felicity
nodded in understanding then scanned the room for Scott, motioning for him to
follow them back to the bedrooms.

James had only caught
the words “full swapping,” and looked to Sarah for an explanation, but she’d
already grabbed Scott’s arm and was pulling him toward the guest bedroom. When
they entered the room, she turned to James, cupping his face in both her hands,
gazing up into his eyes wearing a very serious expression. “What’s ‘full
swapping’ entail?” he whispered as Scott and Felicity began to undress.

“When you swap
partners,” she coached. “Are you sure you want to do this?  Because if you
don’t, it’s fine.”

He smiled, “No, no, I
do.” He kissed her then, a lingering kiss, drawing her body snugly against
his.

“Everything okay?”
Felicity questioned from the bed. She had one shapely leg extended and the
other propped up, revealing her smoothly shaved sex crowned with springy auburn
curls.
Ah, the carpet matches the drapes
,
mused Sarah.
Her full
breasts topped by luscious pink nipples rested against her ribcage, begging for
attention. Sarah stripped off her dress, bra and panties and crawled across the
bed, noticing that her bottom was still a bit tender from all the spankings. Her
long dark hair cascaded down her back as she kneeled, taking one of Felicity’s
tender ripe nipples into her mouth, swirling her tongue around the rosy areola.
James and Scott both took a seat on the edge of the bed to watch the show.