Chapter 46

The barbecue lunch at the park office was satisfying. The judge had given us a house key, so Cindy and I left to catch an afternoon nap. After all, it had been only a couple of days since we'd both been shot. A nap was in order.

Saturday was Eletha's day off, so the house was empty when we went in. I still marveled at the richness of his home. Cindy and I went straight into the bedroom. She closed the door behind us. We turned the covers back, revealing sheets still a bit rumpled from our night's sleep.

"Dan," she said softly, "are you too sore?"

"No, baby, I'm not. If you're hinting..."

"I'm trying to be subtle." Those green eyes laughed.

"It'll help us relax for a nap."

"Is THAT the only reason?" Her mouth was so expressive. That smirk morphed into an unavoidable grin.

"Oh, no, there are others. I miss my mate." I carefully put my arms around her. I looked into those green eyes. "How did I ever live before you, little one?"

She nestled her face into my chest. "I know. I know." She turned her face toward mine and we kissed.

"How can we make love, baby?" she asked.

I looked at her. "I can lay on my back if I move slowly."

Grin. "That'll work. Get your clothes off!"

I suspect that such a command from a redheaded fourteen year old would send some into apoplexy. I just smiled and complied. We helped each other with shirts over injured shoulders and both ended up nude except for patches of gauze and tape in a few places. I looked at Cindy. A little ragged around the edges. But still perfect.

Her hand touched my erection. Yes, I was erect. I had naked Cindy in front of me, I had a pulse, I was conscious. Of course I was erect.

"Take your time, Dan," she said.

I eased into the bed on my right side, scooted to the middle, and very gingerly rolled onto my back. Raising the knee of my left leg relieved the pressure on that calf and the cheek of my butt and the pressure on my shoulder was acceptable. At least the erection remained.

Cindy's eyes were sparkling as she crawled into the bed, headed for my dick. "I missed this part of us, baby," she said. Her head descended and her sweet, sexy mouth sucked me in. She released me, looked at me with that sexy little smile and said, "Mmmmmm. Missed that."

"I miss things too, you know," I feigned a whine.

Giggle. "Oh, here, then!" she reversed herself and carefully got atop me, my face between her thighs.

She was, as always, delicious. And wiggly. And she was taking care of me up until she was on the edge of coming herself.

"Ohgodohgod. Nnnnngghhh! Yeah!" Her final sound was a prolonged sigh. I felt her cheek rest against my dick. "Dan, I missed that. I ... I ... Us ... it's not just about sex, but YOU'RE my life." Carefully she got up and turned around, astraddle me.

"If this hurts too much, we can stop, baby..."

"Oh, no, sweetness. Please..." I said.

She was still flushed from her orgasm as she raised and then lowered, sliding down over my erect member. My turn to sigh ... she wiggled a bit, savoring the feeling of me inside her, giving her little pink clitty a little friction against the base of my dick, and she leaned forward. I curled up and met her halfway for a kiss.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Perfect!" I saw beauty and love. "My little darling, you're so absolutely beautiful."

She rolled her hips and tried a few easy strokes, sliding back and forth, her eyes surveying my face for signs of discomfort. Apparently she saw none, because she started a familiar and very satisfying rhythm. When I tried to meet her thrusts, there was indeed a twinge from my wound, but the urgency of the need to push into her hot pussy.

"Oh, yeah, Dan. It's soooo wonderful." The way she sounded, you'd think we'd been separated for months instead of two days without mating. But I wasn't complaining. She rocked along, my hands roving from her delectable little titties to her hips, holding her as she rode me. Her smile modulated. She started biting her bottom lip, a sight I'd always thought charming, the corners of her mouth still in a smile. Her eyelids closed and her nostrils flared. Cindy was close.

So was Dan. I felt the heat building. "Come on, baby ... You've got me there."

Cindy wasn't into conversation. "Nnnnn. Nnnnn. NNnnnnnngoddddd!" and her pussy slammed into the base of my dick. The first spasm deep inside her was what triggered me.

"Mmmmmmbabyyyyyyy!" I gasped. I pushed upward with each surge.

"Ifeeeelit..." she sighed. "Ogosh!" Her eyes opened. "Oh, Dan! I love you!"

"I love you, little angel," I said.

She looked thoughtful. "Uh, we can't leave a wet spot on this bed, baby!"

"You don't imagine that they just might suspect that a married couple might have sex?"

"No, that's not it. Just not nice. You clean me an' I'll clean you." This time she moved faster. She'd figured out that we weren't going to hurt each other, and in ten minutes we were both clean and she was sighing from her third orgasm.

Now, we ended up in each other's arms, and yes, we did get a nap.

At four-thirty, we were out the door, headed to the Hardesty house.

Arriving, we were greeted before we got to the door.

"You're walkin' funny," Jim said.

"You try walking gracefully when you get shot in YOUR ass," I laughed.

Ann was hugging Cindy. "Baby, I'm so GLAD you're okay!"

Teresa was at Cindy's side. "You're okay, huh?"

"Yes, I'm okay, Teresa, like getting' caught in a barbed wire fence. 'Cept a lot faster."

We all went inside. I sat down rather gingerly, a move noted by Jim.

"You CAN sit, huh? You want a pillow?"

"Your sofa's a little firm. A pillow, if it's not too much trouble."

"Billy, bring a pillow down for Mister Dan!"

Billy came into the room with a pillow, handed it to me, and kind of stared.

"What's wrong, Billy?" I asked.

"Uh ... You got shot?" his eyes glanced toward Cindy. "And Cindy?"

"It happened," I said.

"Don't be rude, Billy," Jim chided.

"Oh, it's okay, Mister Jim," Cindy said. "It's a legitimate question, you know..."

"I don't want 'im bein' rude," Jim said. "Or morbid."

"Dad, you said you were proud of Cindy back in December," Billy said.

Jim shook his head. "I hate it when they remember things I said." He looked at Cindy. "If you wanna talk about it, but you CAN tell 'im to shut up and go away."

"I won't be rude, Dad," Billy sighed.

I looked at Teresa. She clearly was curious, too, but let her exuberant little brother take the heat.

"How'd it feel," Billy asked. "Is it okay to ask that?"

"It hurt, Billy," Cindy said. "But ask Dan. He got it worse than me."

Billy looked at me.

"I was too hopped up to feel it until it was over, Billy," I said. "I was trying to save Cindy." I looked at Jim. "I was trying to save Cindy, and SHE had that little nine millimeter, trying to get a clear shot to save me. I got in the way before she could shoot."

Jim gazed at her. Ann's eyes widened. "Wow," Billy said.

"Gosh, Cindy, you REALLY were?" Teresa blurted.

Cindy nodded. "I was tryin', but Dan stopped him. And the shot that got me came through the wall of the trailer. We couldn't even SEE him when he started shooting."

Billy came to a realization. "Uh ... Dad, I shot ALL those guns, didn't I?"

Jim looked at his son. "Yes, son, you did..."

"It was kinda like a GAME when we were at the range. You guys did it for REAL."

Jim picked that one up. "That's a good reason to keep guns, son. Protect your family."

Teresa stirred things up a bit. "Mom, can YOU shoot?"

Ann smiled. "I'm a country girl, baby. Of course I can shoot. Probably better'n your daddy. Does this mean you want to learn, baby?"

Teresa's blonde head bobbed in affirmation.

"Guess we need a range day or two, huh, Hon," Ann said, looking at Jim.

"I guess," Jim said. "At least get Teresa familiarized."

"How much practice has Cindy had?" Teresa asked.

"Two times at the range," Cindy said. "I'm not, like, an expert or Delta Force or anything ... Dan's the combat veteran."

"Wow! I didn't KNOW that," Billy said, wide-eyed.

"Billy, my friend," I said, "So's your DAD! He's a Marine fighter pilot!"

"Yessir, but..."

"Your dad and I were in the same war. I was in the dirt. He was somewhere in the sky. Both jobs needed to be done. You should be proud..."

"Oh, I am. Just I didn't know that about YOU!"

"Just a job, Billy. You do what you're supposed to do. With me, it was my engineer platoon back then. I'd do anything for THEM. And they'd do it for me. The other night it was my Cindy."

"And my Dan," Cindy said. "It's what friends and families do for one another."

Then the conversation went in the direction of "Are there any charges?"

"What's the law say, Dan?" Ann asked.

"Home invasion. Self defense. Pretty much self-explanatory. And Judge Charlie, Mizz Helen's husband, his son is the district attorney. The two guys, they had records as long as my arm," I said.

We talked about the TV interview.

"The one they showed wasn't what I expected out of that bunch," Jim said.

"I got sort of snippy with 'er," I said. "She re-did it. I still expected to get torn up on local TV."

Cindy giggled. "You shoulda seen it, Mister Jim. He had her flopping around like a dying catfish when she came up with her gun control agenda. He said he believed in gun control and her face lit up. An' he dropped the hammer on 'er: 'Yeah, eight shots, eight hits. And Cindy's three for three.' Her camera guy almost busted a rib trying not to laugh out loud at 'er."

Ann looked incredulous. "You TOLD her that?"

"Don't tell me I can't defend my Cindy. Or let Cindy defend herself. The woman was full of herself, and frankly, I don't think she's used to being called out on her crap." I saw Billy grinning. "Billy, just 'cuz adults do stuff like that, doesn't mean it's okay."

Jim laughed. "But THAT was okay!"

Ann left and returned. "Kids, let's set the table. Dinner's ready."

We gathered at the table and were properly amazed by Ann's ability to put together a meal of this quality with both her and Jim working full time.

After the meal, we talked a little while longer and then Cindy and I headed back to Charlie's house.

In the truck, Cindy snuggled into my side. "You're sitting better, baby."

"I know," I said. "But it still has its moments. How's yours?"

"I think I'm doing pretty good. You can look when we take our bandages off to shower."

"Do you think you could sit for a couple of hours?" she asked.

"Where's this going?"

"To Louisiana. To see Tootie an' Jerry..."

"You want to do that? Like an overnighter?"

"If you're up to it."

"Call Tootie. Tell 'er we're coming. But you need to be in school Tuesday and I need to be back at work."

I'd no sooner finished the sentence than the phone was in Cindy's hand.

"Hey, Tootie!" Pause. "No, we're both fine!" Pause. "We're thinkin' of flyin' in, first thing in the morning, spend the night, fly back Monday." Pause. "I know. We miss you too. What with all the stuff that's happened, Dan needs a break." Pause. "Yeah, I know. Okay, here he is." Cindy passed the phone to me.

"Hey, Tootie," I said. "Can you put up with us for a day or two?"

"You wanna stay here?" Tootie asked.

"No, but since the kitchen's bare, and we're coming in, we thought we'd all get together for dinner, at least."

"We'll be waitin' for you," Tootie said. "You gonna call Jerry? Tell 'im we'll meet over here."

"We'll call 'im," I said.

"'Kay, brother. Tell Cindy I said 'bye'!"

"Okay, Sis. We'll call you when we're close. Bye!"

The next call, to Jerry, was rife with crude references to the place I got shot. But he was happy we were coming in. I expected no less.

We ate dinner with Helen and Charlie, discussing our plans.

"You don't think that sitting on one place for three hours is gonna mess you up?" Helen asked me.

"No," I answered. "I think it's okay. It's really just a flesh wound."

"You can't do that in a 'John Wayne' voice, can you?" Helen laughed. Charlie laughed.