Promises, Promises (33 page)

I waited for her at the island downstairs while she got ready. Flynn was drinking his coffee; Mel and Clark were still asleep. “Hey,” I said as I grabbed a cup of coffee.

“What are you two up to today?” Flynn asked.

I laughed. “Umm, we’re headed out of town.”

“Oh yeah? Where to?”

“I have no fucking clue. Got any ideas?” I asked while I rubbed my eyes.

He laughed, “Spur of the moment thing, huh?”

“Yeah, you could say that. I was having a jealous moment this morning and needed a reason I was watching her.” Flynn laughed. He got it. I’m pretty sure he popped into Mel’s work often enough to make sure she wasn’t fucking her new boss.

“Hey what about that nice inn over by the ocean our parents used to take us?” Oh yeah. Our parents used to take family vacations together and that was one of the places we’d go during our summer. It was fall now, so it wouldn’t be as packed. Perfect romantic getaway.

“Nice one Flynn. Thanks! That’s a great idea.”

“You’re welcome, buddy. I have some good ideas once in a while.” He joked.

We chatted for a bit while waiting on Izzy. Finally she came bouncing down the stairs. Just as always, she looked amazing. Maybe I’d finally tell her tonight that I love her.

Chapter 24

Izzy

As we drove to my surprise location for the night, I stared out the window thinking of the past few weeks. Z was so jealous and I could understand why, but I started to wonder if I would ever get used to it. When Brad and Mack came to visit I was glad Z was able to contain his jealousy over Brad because I wasn’t sure if I was able to hide the love I still felt for him.

Seeing Brad and talking about the things we used to do brought back so many memories. Just seeing him made me want to be in his arms, his familiar strong arms. I never told Mel about the nights that Brad and I used to spend just holding each other. Not to mention the nights in our foster home when I would have nightmares; he would hear me crying and come into my room. He never made any type of sexual advance, just always held me. I guess he always did just see me as a sister type.

It hurt that his wife hated me so much. If she could just get past that, maybe we could all get together for dinner or something? I think I was able to contain the love I felt for him. I must have since Z never asked about him again. Although, during the night I saw his jaw clench more than a few times. I think once he heard all our stories and how Brad was more of my brotherly protector he felt better. I hope so at least. Maybe I could see him again soon.

We continued driving and my mind wandered to earlier in the day when I went running. Of course Mark found me at the end of my run. It seems like he does that on purpose every time. I had hoped since it was Sunday, I wouldn’t run into him. Every time I see Mark, he insists he just wants to be friends again, but I know he’s just hoping to get a rise out of Z if he saw Mark with me. I told him this morning, especially after he tried to kiss me, that I was done with him and didn’t want to talk to him anymore. Ugh, it made my skin crawl just thinking about it. I hope Z hadn’t seen him try to do that. He must not have or I’m sure he would have sprinted down the hill and clocked him!

Z reached for my hand and squeezed it tightly. “What are you thinking about?” He asked looking concerned. I wasn’t sure what my face looked like as I thought about Mark, maybe anger? No wonder why he was questioning what was going through my mind.

“Just the past couple weeks. Our highs and lows.” I saw the troubled look on his face and squeezed his hand, “More highs than lows, baby.” I gave him a reassuring smile. He nodded and then looked back to the road. I could tell he needed more reassurance so I leaned over the truck console and hugged his arm tightly. I heard him sigh deeply.

“I’m sorry I get so jealous. I’ll try to work on it more.” His voice seemed troubled as if it’s been weighing on his mind a lot.

“I understand you’ve been cheated on before but…”

“Just about every girlfriend I’ve had has cheated on me at one point or another,” He interrupted me with a gruff voice. Sadness for him shot through me and I looked up at him as he continued. “If they haven’t cheated on me, they’ve broken up with me.” He shrugged, “I guess I really do suck at relationships like the Fucking Whore said, huh?”

My heart broke for him and I wanted to take his pain away. “You don’t suck at relationships. You just have a lot of jealousy running through you.” I looked up at him, “I can only do so much to make you understand I’ll never cheat. Sometimes you just have to let go and believe it will all be okay. I’ll never cheat on you Z. I’ve told you that over and over again.” He kissed my forehead.

“I believe you. I’m sorry. I’ll try to do much better.” He gave me a sheepish smile.

“I know you will. Although since we work together every day, I would think that should help. Or doesn’t it?”

He shrugged. “It wouldn’t matter one way or another. It’s like I said, something I just need to work on.” He became quiet, so I went back to looking out the window still hugging and laying on his arm.

We drove down to a beautiful inn down by the ocean and we checked into our room. The décor was…interesting. It made me giggle actually. I guess the inn was trying to look upscale, but it failed miserably with the turquoise bedding and 80’s type pictures on the wall. Our room did have a gorgeous balcony that over looked the ocean. It was a clear cool day so I opened the balcony door as quick as I could. There was a small table and two chairs with generous room to move about. I leaned on the balcony feeling the salty cool air and took a deep breath. Strong arms wrapped around my waist and sweet gentle lips kissed my neck. I wanted time to stand still.

“What are you thinking?” he whispered.

“Mmm.” I breathed it all in. “I’m thinking this is perfect.” I turned around to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. He bent down to kiss me softly.

“Good. I was hoping you liked the ocean, but wasn’t sure.”

“I love it. The Smiths used to bring Brad and me. I remembered the first time we came to the ocean. It was incredible.”

“You hadn’t been to the ocean before going to the Smiths?” Z asked with his brows pulled together, frowning.

“Nope. When they learned I had never been, we went that weekend.” I said, smiling remembering how surprised Renee, Mrs. Smith, was. The second Benny, Mr. Smith, came home, she told him and we made plans for leaving the next day.

He looked out and nodded his head toward the ocean. “How about a nice long walk?”

I smiled thinking that this day was just going to keep getting better. “Absolutely!” I hugged him tightly.

We left the room and walked down the walkway to the beach hand in hand, removing our shoes as we hit the beach. Feeling the cool sand between my toes, I took a deep salty air breath again. If it could just be like this forever, I kept thinking to myself. Z put his arm around me as we walked down to the water. It was like the pages from a romantic novel. Wind in my hair, holding Z’s hand, sand between our toes. We playfully kicked water at each other once in a while, laughing.

We came to a small restaurant right on the water and ate lunch overlooking the ocean. We talked about everything we could think of. Our hopes, dreams, what we wanted out of life. Perfect. It felt like a dream and I didn’t want it to end.

We came back to the room and made love and then just lay in each other’s arms. We spent most of the afternoon just snuggling in bed. We joked about how it would have been if he knew me in college. I laughed when Z said he would have probably died from a heart attack of jealousy. The thought made me giggle.

We talked about how he started stealing cars. It was because of a girl he wanted to date. He said she wouldn’t look his way unless he had some type of bad boy image. One of his friends was involved with stealing cars, so he decided to also. I asked if he got the girl. He chuckled saying he did, but then she dumped him for a drug dealer.  I told him how glad I was that he didn’t get involved in any of that. He said he was too and that Matt would have kicked his ass if he had.

Dinner time rolled around and we found another restaurant along the beach. Our dinner was amazing and we found a small grocery store on the way back and bought some snack food and beer so we could cuddle up for the night. We barely made it back to the hotel before getting soaked by the rain that started.

Lightning struck and then we heard a crash of thunder off in the distance and then all of a sudden we were without power. Neither of us seemed to mind, just being with each other was so much fun. Z broke out a deck of cards and we played some silly games while drinking our beers and eating our snacks by candlelight. Strip poker was our last game of the night and of course, the game didn’t last long before we were back in bed making love. We both fell asleep holding each other tightly.

I woke much later to more thunder rolling in the distance. Naked, I stood up and walked over to the balcony and opened the sliding glass door. The storm rolling over the water was so beautiful.

A strong hand gently cupped my shoulder as I heard Z whisper, “Izzy.”

“Isn’t it beautiful?” I asked, mesmerized by the lightning show over the ocean.

I could feel Z staring at me as he pulled my hair to one shoulder. “You’re beautiful.”

I smiled and nodded my head to the ocean. “The storm is rolling in. Look at the ocean, how the waves are crashing, everything is raging and so naturally beautiful.” He kissed my neck softly.

“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” I closed my eyes knowing that he wasn’t even looking at the ocean.  He moved his hands around to my stomach and gently glided them over my body. I rolled my head back onto his shoulder as we listened to the storm roll in.

 Thunder roared closer than before and a flash of lightning struck the ground and the entire room lit up. He continued to kiss my neck and I moaned softly feeling his tender kisses on me. He slid his hands up to my breasts, gently caressing them. I moaned again and opened my eyes as I turned to him so my lips could meet his. Our naked bodies were entwined as we stood at the balcony overlooking the ocean and the storm rolling in.

CRASH!
Lightning struck even closer than before. Thunder rolled in louder and heavier as the wind began to whip the sheer curtains, wrapping them around our naked bodies. The rain began to come into the room, slightly pelting us with cold rain. The heat between our bodies continued to intensify even more and I was sure steam would come off our bodies as the rain pelted us harder. The wind grew stronger as the thunder rolled heavy and then
CRASH!
Another flash of lightning came so close it made both of us jump slightly.

We smiled into each other’s mouths and Z reached down to unwrap the curtain that became tangled around us and then lifted me gently into his arms to carry me back to bed. I kept my eyes open, watching everything Z did. I didn’t want to miss a second of what we were going to share. The intensity of the storm made our lust for each other so powerful. Our lips became more fevered against each other with a lusting need. A need to be closer to each other as the storm continued to rage outside. It was slow, but still intense and rushed at the same time. It was confusing to me how it could be like that. It was as if both our bodies wanted to be entwined and as close as possible.

He kissed my neck as I hugged his body closer to mine. I spread my legs for him but kept my arms tightly wrapped around him. Instead of moving them above my head, I wanted to hold him as close to my body as I could. I wanted to feel everything he did to my body.

He slipped inside of me gently at first, but then thrust into me with such force I gasped at the intense pleasure he gave me. He watched me intently, watching every emotion that I felt as he took me. I lifted my legs, wrapping them completely and tightly around his waist with an overpowering feeling that I never wanted to let go. I never wanted him to leave my body. He grabbed me tightly too as if he didn’t want to ever be apart from me.

He kissed me with such force and intensity as he stared into my eyes. He thrust again harder as if seeming to try to be further inside of me; to be one with me. The rhythm of the rain pelting outside continued to be our guide to our lovemaking as he moved inside of me soft at times and even harder at others. Thunder crashed and he thrust harder as I moaned and never let go of my tight grip I had on his body. He continued to kiss me deeply and I kissed him back just as deeply. As the storm raged outside, so did our love for each other.

It seemed as if the storm was building to the same crescendo our bodies were. The storm outside the balcony was lighting up the room as he thrust into me harder as the loud pelting of the storm swallowed my every cry as I continued to feel every movement of his body in mine. Our orgasms built with the storm, harder and faster until neither of us could hold out any longer, and I cried out with pleasure as my body trembled with the most intense orgasm ripping through my body. He came right after I did and I watched the intense pleasure roll over his face as lightening lit up just at that perfect time, as if sensing I wanted to watch his incredible expression of pleasure. “Oh God Izzy….I…” He collapsed, as his body came down on me with his release, his mouth came crashing over mine, swallowing whatever words were upon his tongue. He lay on top of me still kissing me deeply as the storm started to die down outside, the rain still coming down and the thunder still rolling in the distance.

He opened his gorgeous grey blue eyes again to see me look at him, tears welling up in mine.  He whispered, “You’re incredible.”

I smiled back and whispered, “You’re incredible.” A tear slipped down the corner of my eye into my hair. He took the pad of his finger and wiped my other eye taking the tear away before it fell from my eye. He kissed me again and then lay next to me.

We stared at each other as the storm died down in the distance. It was as if we wanted to freeze this moment in time and never let it go. Finally, I watched his eyes grow tired until he closed them, slipping into sleep while he held me in his arms. I wasn’t too far behind as I continued to watch him sleep and thought about how incredible our relationship could be and the possibility of our future filled with this type of intense, pure love.