Читать книгу Reconnected - DH Steppler - Страница 12

“Morning beautiful,” he said. “D’ya sleep well?”

“I must have ‘cause I feel pretty good, how about you?”

“Great…well, I did get nervous about a disconnect so I cuddled up to you; you didn’t seem to mind. Actually you accepted my invasion like I was a guest and you invited me right into your arms. It was very nice.”

I thought he was going to lie back down next to me so I automatically made room by turning sidewise. He took it as an invitation, I’m sure. He looked at me, smiled, and filled in the space I made for him. His back was to me – a new sensation from the new position. Michael pulled my left arm around his waist and there, we were spooning.

“You said my name in your sleep; as a matter of fact you said it three times. Each time you said it, you were in an entirely different emotion.” I said nothing.

He continued.

“The first time you said it, it sounded like an angry bark – hard on the first syllable, MI-chael. The second time you were laughing – sounded like a giggle using my name – giving it more syllables, Mi-ch-a-el… It’s the third time that you said it we should talk about this morning.” He paused.

“I’m listening.” I said.

“You said my name as if you were in the throes of passion. Were you having a sex dream with me in it?”

“I vaguely recall having a dream but I can’t really say what it was about.” I clamped my hand over my mouth as the memory of my dream came flooding back.

“In my dream I remembered that I was dreaming so I should stop worrying and enjoy the dream because it was only a dream and your wedding vows aren’t broken just because you had sex with someone other than your husband in a dream.”

“So, in your dream, was I any good?” He smiled.

“Yeah, you were; you have nice skin.”

I thought back to the dream – remembering his hands on me, I could feel my face get hot from the memory. I was glad that his back was to me.

“You had incredible hands.” I touched my forehead to his back.

“Dreams are such a trip; don’t you think?”

He didn’t respond. I continued.

“The novelty here is that I’ve never had a sex dream with anyone other than my husband…an actual dream…there have been times when I went to sleep thinking of someone other than my husband but by the time he got into my dream it would always be Henry.”

“D’ya suppose that was all about the connect?” I whispered into his back, not really expecting an answer. I sighed deeply; Michael sighed with me and squeezed my hand and pulled it tight to his chest – the action caused me to pull in tighter to his back. That close I could feel our united breathing and it felt right. I was completely relaxed.

Long quiet minutes passed as we stayed in our tight formation. Maybe we were flirting with danger; maybe we were daring our connection to tempt us ever further. It didn’t matter one way or another because nature was calling me with an immediate and urgent voice.

“Time to move Michael,” I said as I gave him a little shake.

“I have to hit the loo post haste.”

“Ok,” he said as he sat up. “Let’s see if we can handle the disconnect as well as we did last night.”

We held hands as we gathered what we needed and mentally prepared for the next half hour.

“Michael, I’ll be a bit longer in the shower this morning. I need to shave.” It was important that he knew everything.

“You don’t need to shave in the shower; you can shave in my presence.” He said it as thought it were a fact and an order.

“I prefer to shave in the shower; we can make this work. We did it yesterday and we’ll do it again. We just have to remember what we’ve learned.”

Armed with everything I would need to come out of the bathroom a refreshed person, I pulled Michael along to his bathroom, put his hand on the door and we both pulled it open. We gave each other a reassuring look and made the break.

He pressed his whole body to the door and I was stripping and keeping as much contact with the door as was humanly possible. I showered, shampooed, and shaved in under ten minutes while keeping contact with the shower wall closest to Michael. I could feel him move with me when I got in the shower. The connection was stronger than the day before and I surmised that the location had something to do with it. So, I stayed in the shower to towel my head and then dry off. I even dressed from the shower. When I inched my way back to the door I could feel him follow.

We both opened the door to let him into the bathroom. I quickly backed out as I said “We’ll share the room after you have your shit, shower, and shave or whatever.”

Just before I closed the door, I said, “We’re doin well. This is gonna be fine, you’ll see.”

Ok that’s enough encouragement. With my back and shoulders and butt up against the door I felt that optimism as though those positive affirmations were truly a done deal.

I went about my business of drying my hair with my fingers and hair brush. I lotioned my face and arms and freshly shaved legs, massaged special emollient into my feet, brushed toe and finger nails with cuticle oil, then spritzed with Amazing Grace.

I barely even noticed when I was moving from the door down the hall following the current of the connection.

For the first time that day I looked at my face in a mirror, getting ready to apply my powder make up but I decided that my tan was progressing nicely and I would fare better with a little moisturizer and sun screen. I did apply some colored chap stick to my lips. Let’s face it; I’m a low maintenance kind of gal.

Through the current of the connect I could feel how Michael was doing. As long as he kept a good contact with the wall he’d be fine, so we’d be fine.

The connection was strong but I was feeling weak. In an instant panic, I thought, “What the hell is keeping him so long? Relax, your blood sugar is dropping. ”

I found the hidden snickers and ate it in like 4 bites. I leaned against the place on the wall that carried the strongest connection and was grateful to hear his “I’m coming.”

When he stepped out I could see that he had shaved – then I stepped into his open arms. He pulled me to him like I was the air he breathed. And, just as quickly as the pain and weakness came, the relief was instant and rewarding – a reward for being brave and for caring about the stress of the other.

How could I tell him just how grateful I was and hold myself in reserve? There’s no way. I answered my own question. There’s no way I could tell him just how grateful I was because I didn’t want to talk. I wanted to show him my appreciation and I wanted to feel his gratitude in return. I wanted to feel just how far that connection would make us go.

My arms wrapped around his waist. I placed my hands on his back and gently stroked the skin that I could reach with my fingertips. I touched my lips to his collar bone then carefully and delicately tasted his skin with the tip of my tongue. I wanted to see if his skin tasted like honeysuckle because there was almost no hint of musk but the wild honeysuckle was pretty potent. Just like everything else, that aroma affected me like a primitive siren call to a would-be lover.

Michael was slow to respond to the frenzy of sensuality coming from me, perhaps due to a “wait and see where this is going” attitude or maybe he was in shock. Actually, probably due to being comfortable with the strength of the connection he was in his own head. It just took a couple of heart beats for him to react physically. When he finally reacted to my summons, he pulled out all the stops. I pulled my hand in front so that I could put my arms around his neck and pull his hair.

Michael put his face in my neck and moaned “Oh God! You smell so damn good. There’s no hope.” He reached down and put an arm behind my knees and lifted me as though I were a baby.

I placed my hands on his face, looked him in the eyes and simply said, “Thank you Michael.”

There was a loud knock on the slider. I thought, ‘Oh my God, I don’t think so!’ I’d found my watch earlier, checking to make sure it still worked and yes, still ticking. It’s only 7 a.m. It was Denice. I knew it.

Michael set me down but held me close without moving for 5 or 6 heart beats. He took the lead and went to answer her knock.

He opened the slider and held up one finger to stop Denice from speaking. He then turned to me, met my eyes to get my full attention.

“Helen, I was going for it. You know that, right?”

Without hesitation I said, “Me, too.”

I made a mental note to address that complete acquiescence we both took part in when the connect current took us past our proprieties and into pure passion and the search for ever better ways of imparting our requited appreciation.

Turning back to Denice, he said, “Good morning Denice. I see you have the Patter.”

He said it with a questioning look in my direction.

“How bout we get to it.”

He pulled me onto the balcony to sit at the table. To our surprise Ma Soeure had brought us some coffee, some lox and bagels, some tomato juice – she knows it’s my favorite, servings of medium-flipped eggs and bacon, and jello – lemon for Michael and cherry for me, her little joke.

Denice smiled and said, “Why don’t you guys eat your breakfast while we see what’s happening aboard ship today?”

“Ma Soeure,” I used my most endearing knick name for her. I know it pleases her.

“This is just lovely. You are just lovely. Thank you so much. I’m starved and need coffee.”

Michael and I sat down to a breakfast feast. We lingered over our meal and sipped coffee for long after.

Denice busied herself with the newsletter and her highlighting. It took us less than 2 minutes to look at the ships activities. Come on, we both knew we weren’t going anywhere.

So, we watched Denice puzzle her way through the ship’s itinerary, giving each item her attention for the briefest second and moving on to the next item. When she actually highlighted something we could see her thought process – she would first show recognition and then consideration and finally pleasure at choosing that particular event, gracing the world with a sweet smile meant only for her.

Her hair hung down long and full and had the bounce of a child’s curls. A striking blue and white flower held her hair back on her right side; it exactly matched the sundress she was wearing. I swelled with pride that that beautiful woman was my sister. Michael was checking her out. I hoped not comparing the two of us. Eventually she looked up to indicate that she was done.

She said, with one finger in the air telling us not to speak but to listen.

“I know after reading the Patter, that nothing on it would remotely interest you save the movie under the stars.”

She paused and took a deep breath.

“I do have a bunch of stuff highlighted again today. I’m feeling rather ashamed I’ve left you so much on this cruise.”

It was my turn to put up my finger and take control of the conversation.

“MaSoeure, say no more – I’ve done only what I’ve wanted to do. I’m the one who is selfish – but it doesn’t matter. I’m fine; I’m quite content. Please go enjoy. Just please keep me posted as I’ll be right here at home base.”

She didn’t look like she was in a hurry so I asked her, “So, what you got goin’ today? You look very nice, by the way.”

She was wearing my lapis lazuli tin cup necklace. It looked stunning against her tan skin.

“You know Hellie, Manny is nearly as easy to be with as you are – we’ve been spending his pennies on the slots, he’s awfully funny. I like being with him, he’s kind and he surprises me when he talks about gentle things – she reached over and touched my jaw.

Michael chimed in, “It’s a come on, you know?”

“Yes I do know, but I’m so pleased he makes the effort. Who wants to spend their vacation or anytime on the sidelines when you can be in the game? Or, you can be like Hellie who has her own game going – I’d never lump her in any group. She is a one of a kind.”

“I love you, too, MaSoeure. What else?”

“He loves to dance and go for long walks in the moon light or in the day light or twilight or dawn. He’s just a walking fool. I’ve kept up with him though and haven’t been tired.”

“What are you talking about; you are fit as fit can be and now you are surprising yourself. How nice is that?”

I continued, “Manny sounds great and you know I’ll like him if he’s making you happy.”

“Hey, what time is it?” she demanded.

“A couple minutes to 9.” I gave her exactly what she needed to know.

“Gotta go – I’m glad to see you’re getting the hang of hanging around and not doing any thing. Are you enjoying everyone else’s confusion?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, just go dance with Manny but check in now and again. Be safe.”

We watched her retreat to her cabin and blew us kisses, the first one for Michael and then one for me – she’s such a drama queen – another thing in my life that’s not unpleasant. The two hours we spent with Denice were a treat.

Michael tried to pinch the palm of my hand to get my ear, “She really is a tonic.”

“She’s easy to like, sincere, loving, and happy.”

It’s always good when someone says nice things about the people I love.