Chapter 20

Stoney:

She loves me. She REALLY loves me. We're married. I killed a guy. I'm supposed to feel remorse. I'm supposed to receive counseling by caring professionals who will help me grieve or some such crap.

Therapy? I'll tell you what therapy is. It's having the woman you just protected put her arms around you and tell you that she loves you. And when the thought crossed my mind that this scum wanted to touch my Johanna, I tensed up.

"Stoney?" a little voice said.

"Yes, princess?"

"What was that? You got tense."

"Just mad, baby. That somebody would think they could take you from me."

"Stoney, let me show you something."

"What?"

"You have your secrets. I have mine." She picked up her purse, reached inside, pulled out an object and I heard —SNICK!— and saw myself looking at a five-inch blade. "I am not helpless, Stoney. My hand was in my bag when you hit the ground."

"Geez, Johanna," I said.

"I've taken every self-defense class I could. And not just those freebie 'kick and scream and blow your rape whistle' classes. I'm well versed in martial arts. Tae kwon do. And belts don't often mean much but mine's black. If you thought I was a delicate flower, you just might get your butt handed to you before you realized otherwise."

"And you never told me any of that. Who's keeping secrets now?"

"I could've whipped David's ass," she said. "You stood up and gave him a target. Distracted 'im. I was going to elbow him in the nuts. I had a clear shot."

"Owwwww," I said. "A man's 'nads..."

"Stoney, I love you deeply. I care. I am flattered beyond measure that you tell me the things you tell me because I see your eyes and I know you're not lying."

"I'm not."

"I'm not a delicate flower."

"You are."

"Am not. Remember that gym thing I've been talking about. You. Me. On the mat."

I rolled her over and kissed her. "I don't think my tender ego could handle getting my butt kicked by my wife, even if she IS half Viking."

"Just so you harbor in your mind the idea that such a thing is possible."

"I look at red hair and blue eyes and freckles and that smile and since I've obviously been transported to an alternative universe, anything is possible." How possible was emphasized by agile fingers, fingers that could elicit the sounds of heaven from a bit of metal, those fingers were touching, grasping, tantalizing my increasing hardness.

She pushed. Hard. I found myself on my back again. She peeled her top off, reached around to unclasp her bra.

"My wedding night. We shouldn't be dressed." She rolled off me and started removing her pants after kicking her shoes off.

I got up and stripped. I knew her period was happening. I thought we'd do some really hot kissing and touching and I'd possibly get the indescribable ecstasy of having her lips around my dick. She peeled off her panties. Jumped me. Hot, almost wildly wanton. Our lips welded together, her body writhing atop me, then her legs spread. A few arches of her back, my dick was between her legs, then it was warm, no, HOT and wet and I was inside her and she was silent except for her breath escaping in short gasps.

Her lips smashed against mine, her tongue in my mouth like she was scooping her very life force from me. I was meeting her, thrust for thrust. The pattern of her movements changed. I knew she was banging her button against the base of my dick with every motion. She tossed her head back. "NnnnnngggggggGoddddddd!" She froze. I needed one more thrust myself. I took it.

She felt my surge and splash. Wiggled. With a sigh. Her eyes were closed. She says sometimes I get a look like I'm far, far away. She had a look like she was right here. Centered.

I felt the moisture. Different than the usual mix of my semen and her lubrication. It occurred to me that this was the first time I'd ever had a woman on her period.

Her eyelids fluttered then opened, exposing me to those blue orbs. She sighed, breathed. "Oh, my Stoney, we have a mess. I didn't plan to ... but ... Today. Tonight. It's all too much. I sorta..."

"I needed you, Jo. I desperately needed you."

She smiled. "Then our bodies said what our minds wouldn't let us say," she said. "I'm glad we did." She gave an experimental wiggle. "I'm gonna try to get off you without leaving a trail. Shower."

"Right behind you," I said. I used my hand to hold most of the rusty red mess in place while I got out of bed. She had the shower going by the time I got to the bathroom and I stepped inside with her.

"Pretty much busted that taboo," she giggled.

"Surprised the hell out of me," I said.

"Didn't gross you out too much, did it?"

"You're my Johanna. We've already talked about limits, little one. I don't remember us saying anything about that. I thought you'd..."

"Draw the line," she finished for me. "I thought I did." She slid her wet body up against mine. "Tonight was too much. I needed to possess you. Claim you."

"I wanted you, Jo. I wanted ... I guess I'm like you. Everything tonight, I just needed as much of you as I could get."

She tossed her arms around my neck, pulling my face to hers. Little kiss. "Stoney, I am yours. All of me. Stoney and Jo."

We realized that we were in the shower and started washing each other. I stopped short of her pussy.

"You stopped. Grossed out?"

"No. Didn't want to violate..."

Wild giggle. "Pretty much violated the daylights out of it earlier. You wash mine. I wash yours."

"Deal!" I said. Lathered that thing right up. Get it squeaky clean, the owner hanging on me as she shuddered through another orgasm. Kissed her.

"Errrrghhhhhh!" she growled. "You're not supposed to make me do THAT!"

"Too late," I said. "Can't take it back. You could've stopped me."

"Like hell," she hissed as she stroked me. "I'm not doin' you in here. I want you in bed. Wanna play with it."

"It's yours, you know."

She tilted her face up with a smile. "I know. Mine. Forever more."

We got out and dried off. I shaved as she started drying her hair, a task I helped her finish. Still naked, she led me back to the bed.

"Lay down," she said. "I need panties."

She rummaged through her luggage, retrieved a pair, went into the bathroom, returned. "Pad," she said. "Stupid period should be over tomorrow. Then I've got goals."

She slid back into bed beside me. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I have my Johanna," I said. "I'm better than okay." Got even better when her fingers found me semi-hard and stroked me.

"I had two. You only had one," she giggled.

"I'm not keeping score," I said. Her hand swirled and tugged. "OhGOD!"

"You like?"

"I like."

"What if I do this?" Giggle. She squirmed around and kissed the swollen head of my dick.

I sucked a breath in. "Words fail."

Her lips closed over it, tongue swirling.

"You're killing me."

"Want me to stop?" she asked. Her eyes were happy, sparkling.

"Please don't."

"I know what happens." Giggle. "Mmmmmm."

It wouldn't be long, not the way Jo hit my senses. She was sideways in the bed and my hand could reach that shapely ass. I savored the curve with what few neurons that weren't attending to the sensations in my groin. Those few neurons gave up as I felt my balls pull up, preparatory to...

"Mmmmmmmmphhhh!" when the first surge hit. Her head turned slightly, keeping me in her mouth. She knew what she'd done. Head bob. "Mmmmmm!" Bob. "Mmmmm!" Bob. "Mmmmmmrrrrr!" as one hand milked me into her mouth while the other explored and teased my scrotum and I felt my whole groin pulsate. She let me go when the pulsations died down, then gulped me back into her mouth for one more "Mmmmmmm" and left me quivering.

Once I could open my eyes again they were filled with Jo's face, smiling. "Powerful," she said. "I feel so powerful when I do that to you. Just suck you up! And you're completely mine. In my control. You can trust me, Stoney."

"You know, Johanna, my wife? You OWN me. That ... I've never ... never..."

"Oh, come on, Stoney..."

"No, my little Jo. Nobody rocked me like you do."

"Stoney..."

"Johanna," I said softly, "I never loved anyone like I love you. Wanted to. Never did."

"What's that got to do with a physical act?" she asked.

"It starts in my head. And my heart. Head. You're bright and beautiful and everything I could dream about and then some. I run out of words." I'd told her this before, but at the time we weren't in bed together. "My heart. Never gonna be another, Johanna. Never. Never was. Never will be."

She pressed me down on the bed, straddling me. "Me too, Stoney. You are the one I waited for. I just want to be your everything."

"Then don't kick my butt at the gym," I said.

She squealed. "That ... you're just an animal, Stoney..."

"I'm your pet person," I said. "Put me on a leash..."

Giggle. "Might do that, now," she said. "We could take turns. You could wear yours under your shirt collar with a tie. I could wear a scarf." She paused. "Actually, I don't need a scarf. People will think it's a fashion accessory."

"And when I pick you up after class and snap a leash on?"

She laughed. "Only if I can pick you up at work and put YOUR leash on."

"Might just do that," I said. "People're gonna think it's something like that anyway."

"But it's so much worse than that, guy," she said. "I've been caught in a Stoney-web for weeks."

I rolled her over. Wrapped her in my arms, listened to her squeal. "I adore you, you know."

Her nose crinkled and her eyes laughed. "I know. I planned it that way. Practiced being adorable my whole life, just for you."

We cuddled up and went to sleep. Two hours. I sat up, sweat pouring off me. I could smell the ammonia funk from explosive detonations, laced with pulverized clay and I could hear victorious, expectant yells and I reached to unsling my rifle...

"Stoney baby," Jo said. "Another one?"

"Sorry, sweetness," I said. "I can't control..."

"Don't be sorry, Stoney. Let me hold you." She sat up and snuggled against my back, her cheek resting on my shoulder. "I'm here. You're here." Her hand stroked my head, my face, her fingers carrying love I'd never known.

"My Jo."

"Your Jo. I'm here. Wanna talk? What's the trigger?"

"I don't know if there's a trigger, sweetness."

"What's the first thing that you remember?"

"A smell. The smell when high explosives go off."

"I don't smell anything like..."

"Not like that," I said. "Just you..." I turned and drew a deep breath through my nose, picking up the fragrance of her perfume. "It's in the dream."

"What else?"

"That bunch of Iraqis streaming out of the building screaming 'Allah Akhbar'. RPG's (Auth. Note: Rocket Propelled Grenades. Designed as anti-tank weapons, they're powerfully explosive and easily transported and used as pocket artillery on battlefields around the world) AK's ( the ubiquitous AK-47, the most common fire-arm in the world) and that one guy waving that knife. I was trying to get my rifle loose to shoot back."

"Stoney, what can I do?"

"Hold me. Remind me that I'm here. Not there. Here."

Her kiss anchored me in the sweet present. She gently lowered me back onto the pillow and caressed me and loved me until I drifted back asleep. In the waning consciousness, I pondered the meaning of 'anchored in the present'. Jo. Jo could do it. I slid back into slumber with the fragrance of her hair as my lullaby.

Sunday morning. Late Sunday morning I was wakened by nature's alarm clock, a full bladder. I tried to gently extricate myself from Jo. We were connected by a tangle of arms and legs.

"MmmmmmLover," she purred.

"Shhhhh, baby, I'll be back." I got out of bed, went to the bathroom and was holding my own version of Niagara Falls in my hand when I felt a touch on my waist, then a soft kiss on my bare shoulder. I took a chance, said not a word, finished, lowered the seat, and went back to bed. In a few minutes I heard the toilet flush and then she was snuggling next to me. A little sound that was somewhere between a purr and a whimper came from her lips as she re-entangled herself with me and we drifted back to sleep for a little while. It was fitful. She kept moving, rearranging herself against me, finally ending up with a hand cupping my genitalia.