Chapter Eight: Bones of Contention
“Hello?” Kitty picked up the telephone absently. She had brought her script out to the chaise lounge on the balcony to enjoy the ocean while she studied.
“Why are you there?” came Josh’s angry voice. “I thought we agreed you were moving in with me.”
Kitty frowned. They had actually never discussed her move. He had just assumed once they were known as a married couple she would leave the apartment. “Where are you?”
“At our house.”
Her frowned deepened. She had hoped by the time he managed some time home, she would have figured out how to tell him she didn’t want to live there. “I didn’t expect you.”
“It wasn’t planned.”
“Hey, blue-eyes, that’s wonderful!”
“It would be if I didn’t have to drive over there. Why aren’t you here, sweetness?” The fact she declared his being home ‘wonderful’ took the edge of anger from his tone. It was only right he expected her to be in his home when he returned, their home.
“It’s a big lonely place without you there,” she told him quietly. That was no lie. A big house like that was more like a morgue with one person rattling around it. It was some place she’d never call home.
“I know, Baby.” Josh sighed he could see her point. It was lonely for him without her, too.
“And this place…It’s where we started as a couple.”
“Only because you wouldn’t come here.”
“Baby, don’t scold. We don’t spend enough time together to waste it on argument.” She lowered her voice seductively. “Do you want to fight or do you want to get over here?”
Josh felt Kitty’s buddy Mr. Happy twitch, like a dog seeking its master. Damn, she did it so easily! “It’ll take about 45 minutes.”
“I’ll be ready when you get here,” she promised and rung off.
Josh was out the door running.
When the jeep came to a halt next to her little car, Kitty flung open the door. Josh’s feet barely hit the ground before she wrapped herself around him, her mouth hungry for his. He put his hands on her thighs, hiking them higher and more securely around his waist, then he took control of the kiss. Their tongues mated and danced. Kitty’s hands plunged into his longish hair as he trailed his lips down her neck. She tilted her head back to give him better access.
He gently raked his teeth down her throat. “God, sweetness, I’ve missed you!”
Kitty tugged on his hair to pull his head back so she could nibble and lick her way down his throat.
“Baby,” he groaned, “you don’t have to seduce me. I’m there.” Forty-five minutes in the car with a hard-on fueled by fantasy and remembered reality left him aching.
“So, am I, blue-eyes.”
“Upstairs?”
“Nope.”
Kitty released her legs to slide down his body. Taking his hand, she led him to the beach. In a hidden cove, she had spread a blanket. A bottle of champagne in an ice bucket and two wine glasses stood beside it.
“What’s the occasion?”
“You are,” she told him huskily. “Every time we can be together, it’s a holiday.”
“Yeah, I feel that way, too.”
She pushed his tee shirt up and off with his help. Without any instruction, he sat down on the blanket to remove his shoes and socks. He eyed her short sundress as she stood over him. “Need help undressing?”
“No.”
He held his arms out to her. “C’mere, sweetness. You’re to far away.”
Kitty grabbed the hem of her dress and pulled it over her head. She heard his sharp intake of breath when he saw she wore nothing beneath it. Startling her, he grasped her legs to make her stand above him, a foot planted on either side of him. She gasped when his mouth went right for her center. “Josh!”
“You weren’t lyin’, baby. You are so ready for me.” He teased her slick folds with his tongue.
“Oh, Josh!”
He hurriedly pushed off his remaining clothes, not caring about the sand he’d deal with later. With his hands on her hips, he guided her astride his thighs. One thrust was all it took to slide home. He groaned at her enveloping heat.
“This isn’t what I’d planned,” she complained breathlessly, as he bucked his hips up, driving into her.
“It’s been too many weeks, Kit. Your seductions usually leave me desperate. I’m already there.” Despite his words, his kiss was slow and tender. “I know I’m rushin’, baby. Just ride me. Let’s get this first explosion over with, then you can seduce me until your heart’s content.”
Lifting up on her knees, she rose, almost losing him. She came back in a slow glide.
“If that’s the pace you’re settin’, kill me now, ‘cuz I’m gonna die,” he muttered between clenched teeth.
“Are you complaining? This was your idea.” Once again, she lifted, then returned slowly.
“Sweetness, take pity!” he moaned as she repeated the move.
Kitty put her hands in his hair and tugged his head back. “I love you, blue-eyes,” she whispered before she claimed his mouth.
Josh melted back onto the blanket and rolled her beneath him. He was torn between wanting to relieve himself of the sexual tension that had built up when they were apart and wanting to make it last. Looking down at his wife, his hungry eyes devoured and memorized her face. When they were separated by time and distance, he panicked Kitty would tire of him and the craziness that was their marriage. When they were finally together, anymore, all they did was get horizontal – if the waited that long!
“What is it, baby?” she asked softly, seeing the uncertainty cloud his beautiful eyes.
“How much longer can it be like this, Kit? When will you decide you’ve had enough?”
“Of you? Didn’t I just say I love you?”
“Yeah, but I get this desperate feeling…And when I got home and nothing of yours was there, I about lost it.”
“Josh—“
“Now I’m the one who’s scared.”
“Is there anything we can’t face as long as we’re together?” She needed to know his answer to that, because she knew a big bang was coming.
“God, I hope not!”
Kitty stroked his cheek. “Love me, blue-eyes.”
He turned his head to press and opened-mouthed kiss on her palm. “Baby, I do. I love you so damned much! I need you like the air I breathe. This is crazy, the way we have to be. It’s eating me up inside.”
“Next year, I promise I won’t do more than two movies.” She had been thinking her marriage needed some attention. It needed to come first. He needed to come first – If only she could get him out of that house!
“That’s not fair to you.”
“I’m hoping we can get our schedules worked out, so when you’re touring, I’m free – and when I’m on location, you’re free. I’m willing to work on it, if you are.”
“I am so willing, sweetness.” His smile was relieved and grateful. Kitty was making him a priority. “What about your career?”
“I don’t have to work myself to death. This year’s been insane.” She gave him a soft, sweet smile. “I’ve got reasons to take time off.”
She arched up and wrapped her legs around his hips, driving him deeper. “Do realize you’re still rock-hard?”
He laughed. Was he ever! “Uh-huh.”
“And weren’t you the one who wanted to get it over with?”
“Yeah, but, baby, I think I want to take my time lovin’ you. We’ll pretend we got all the time in the world.”
“Mmm...I like that idea.” Kitty drew his head down for another kiss.
"Since when does Robin do movie reviews?” Chris asked as they were all gathered on the bus. He’d been flipping through a fan magazine someone had sent.
Josh was immediately alert. “What do you mean?”
Chris passed the magazine to Joey who read the review. “After seeing Life After Love, I don’t know what all the shouting about when it comes to this Kit Winston. This pallid, faux-Brit is hardly worth the screen time wasted on her.”
“The bitch,” Josh growled.
“Kit’ll never see it – even if she cared,” Chris assured him.
“That’s not the point. Robin is trying to hurt me through Kitty.”
“Robin wouldn’t know a good performance if it bit her in the butt,” Joey contended. “There’s Oscar buzz about Kit in that movie.”
Oscar buzz? That would mean Kitty couldn’t put her career on hold to help their marriage. “She never said a thing.”
“It’d sound like bragging to her. Kit sees acting as a craft. She’s not into it for the statuettes.”
“Why does that woman hate me?” Kitty complained to Pet over the phone. “She’s never even met me.”
“Because JC isn’t taking her to all the right parties.”
“He’s not taking me either.”
“It’s sour grapes. You were in a terrific movie. You know you were good in it. So does the rest of the world.”
“I suppose.”
There was a beep of call-waiting on the line. “That’s mine. I’ll call you later, Pet.”
Kitty answered the other call. “Hello?”
“Hey, sweetness.”
“Blue-eyes! What’s up?”
“Baby, I know you don’t read teen magazines—“
“I know about Robin’s little review. Funny how an anonymous copy got sent to me through my agent.”
“Not funny. Damn! I’m so sorry, baby.”
“You don’t think I take her assessment of my talent seriously, do you?”
“No. I just don’t like the idea of someone trying to deliberately hurt you,” he said softly. “Husbands can get like that.”
“It’s a nice way for husbands to be. Obviously, you didn’t read the rags the day after that premier we attended.”
“No, I didn’t. What happened?”
“She pretty much tried to vilify me as a femme fatale who steals boyfriends.”
“You never said—“
“As if there was a thing you could have done. Reacting was the only way she could have won. She didn’t get the satisfaction from either of us. No one asked me to respond and I didn’t offer. Apparently, she doesn’t know my bio. It backfired miserably for her. Everyone, including George, lined up around the block to give me character references. And he’s rather a heavyweight around here. Even Michael, Pet’s friend, and Father Carmody got into the fray. It went pretty badly for her in adult Hollywood. She looked mean-spirited and petty. A teen magazine was her only outlet.”
“Hollywood takes care of its own.” Josh felt totally left out of the loop. Kitty had never even mentioned all of that to him.
“Something like that. I’ve made a lot of friends, earned respect – and so far I have only the one enemy.”
“I’m so sorry, baby. I never knew.” She hadn’t told him. Wasn’t that something they should have shared as a couple?
“I didn’t want to upset you with something that was over with before it had scarcely begun, Josh. You’ve got enough going on.”
“But I’m your husband. You should have told me. I’m the one who brought it down on you. I’m sorry.”
Kitty’s voice took on a husky, soft quality. “I’m not. If you hadn’t let her go, you wouldn’t be mine.”
“I am so yours, sweetness,” he assured her.
“It’s good to know – and I’m all yours.”
“I thank God every day – sometimes twice.”
“Isn’t it about time for your sound check?”
“Yeah…Kit, you’re okay, right? This doesn’t hurt us, does it? ‘Cuz if it does—“
“Josh, I really and truly am fine about this.”
“Thanks, baby.”
Well, if she had any notion she might try to live in Josh’s house, major changes were going to have to be made, Kitty thought grimly as she looked over the living room. Josh, for all that she truly adored the man, had no clue of what was livable décor. The house was done in early bachelor with a healthy dose of trash thrown in. Shabby chic was one thing, but this? It just plain put the ‘ug’ in ugly!
She was wrestling with a monstrous object d’art when she heard the front door open and close. She was certain it was locked, and as far as she knew, Josh was the only other person with a key.
“Josh?” she called.
It wasn’t her husband. It was a woman. The woman.
Kitty had only seen a picture of her once, but she knew exactly who the invader was.
“Oh, it’s you,” the woman sneered. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s my husband’s house. Why are you here?”
“I’m JC’s girlfriend.”
“I don’t know how that could be, since we’ve been married for more than six months.”
The woman sniffed at Kitty. “You’re so sure he gave me up?”
Kitty swallowed her anxiety. This woman wanted her to believe Josh would cheat and lie to her. Kitty knew her husband better than that. “Beyond the fact that Josh is not a liar, I make sure he doesn’t have the energy to look elsewhere.”
“You’re so sure?”
“I am positive. Josh isn’t that kind of person – even something you should know.”
“You think you’re so—“
“You’re trespassing.”
“I have a key.”
This woman had a key to Josh’s home? All the more reason Kitty would never live here. Why hadn’t he gotten the key back?
Robin pushed past Kitty, into the living room. With the furniture askew, it was obvious the room was undergoing a transformation. “JC wouldn’t like that there,” she commented on the large, ugly object with which Kitty had been wrestling.
Kitty studied the woman. Robin was taller, older. Her brown hair was more than generously streaked blonde. Hadn’t she been a model or some such before meeting Josh? If Kitty recalled correctly, they had met at a video shoot. There was a hardness in her that confounded Kitty. If this had been Josh’s idea of beauty, how had he ever fallen for Kitty? They were opposite in nearly every way!
“Excuse me? I’m fairly certain I know what my husband likes.” What a monumental lie!
Robin turned, giving her a hard smile. “Are you sure? I’ve known JC for some time now.” Again she flashed that smile that made Kitty’s skin crawl and caused her stomach to roll. “He was nearly an innocent when I got hold of him.”
The ‘got hold of him’ instead of ‘fell in love with him’ made Kitty want to slap the bitch. She sounded so calculating. Evidently, Robin was one who had used love and sex as a weapon. Knowing what a gentle soul her husband could be, it made Kitty horribly sad.
“How do you like my bed?”
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve seen Josh’s bed, but we use mine – so much more intimate.”
“Think you can avoid my ghost that way? We fucked in nearly every room in this house – even on the stairway. It never has taken much to make JC horny.”
“That must be why he never committed to you.” Kitty was a damned fine actress. This woman would never know just how much she had wounded the young wife. “Josh and I have never ‘fucked’.”
“Think he’s above it?”
“Whether Josh is or not, I know I am.”
The woman sniffed again. “Oh, you’re too good for anything common?”
“Common? No. Common trash, yes.”
Kitty crossed her arms militantly; she’d had enough of this woman. “You weren’t invited, so I suggest you leave – on your own volition or police escort. The choice is yours.”
“Oh, a tough little thing, eh?”
“You have no idea.” She’d lived in jungles, deserts and abject poverty. Kitty could withstand nearly anything.
“I used to live here.”
“Key words there are ‘used to’. I am married to the owner.”
Looking rather irritated, the woman stomped to the front door. “Just remember, where ever you go in this house, I’ve been there first.”
Kitty swung the door open wide, then held her hand out. “Key,” she demanded.
One silver key dropped into her palm and the horrible woman left.
In a fit of rage foreign to Kitty, she slammed to heavy door shut. “Sonofabitch!” She hurled the key through the living room, not caring where it went. The ping as it landed seemed to break open the floodgates.
Kitty crumpled to the floor. Burying her face in her hands, she wept as if her heart was broken, for it was. She had suspected all along she could never live in this house. Now the other woman had made certain of it. She would never live here. Not even for Josh. Even loving him would not erase what she would see in ever corner within those walls.
“Hey, sweetness, moved in yet?” Josh asked during his nightly call.
“I’ve been over there,” Kitty hedged. These every evening calls of late were suffocating her. Lying was hard enough – but daily? Her soul would be black!
“We’ll have a break pretty soon here, then I’ll help get you settled.”
“I’m okay.”
“I can hardly wait for us to spend our nights there.” He sounded wistful – making her feel even worse. She knew it wasn’t going to happen.
“Josh, I—“
“C, get off the damn phone,” Justin’s voice broke in. “You’re wearin’ out Kit’s ear with this daily crap.”
Hear! Hear! thought Kitty.
“She’s my wife,” Josh defended.
“Not your phone buddy. Give ‘er a break!”
“Josh, do you need to go?” Kitty asked, hoping she didn’t sound too eager.
“Yeah, baby, I should. I’m sorry—“
“Don’t be. You go on.”
“Love you, sweetness.”
“I love you, blue-eyes.” Though she didn’t know how much longer love could exist with so much standing between them.
Damn! Kitty wasn’t there, Josh thought crossly as he checked his home for signs of his wife. Nothing of hers was in any room he could see. She had been there if the rearrangement of some of the furniture was any indication. He’d hoped he wouldn’t have to go through this old disagreement again. He couldn’t bother calling her apartment – she’d only make him crazy – and make him forget what he’d been mad about in the first place.
Grabbing his car keys, he headed out. When he returned, his wife was going to be with him.
Kitty had mixed emotions when she pulled her car next to Josh’s jeep. Her heart gave a joyous flutter – It always did when she could be with him. But the pleasure was quickly followed by anxiety. He wasn’t going to be happy she still resided at her apartment. She wasn’t looking forward to that argument.
Josh didn’t look happy, Kitty thought as he stepped out onto the landing at the top of the steps. Teasing and sweetness were not going to pacify him this time.
Josh frowned deepened. Kitty looked tired and anxious. What was that about? She hadn’t said anything was wrong in their nightly conversations. In fact, she hadn’t been talkative at all of late.
“Hey, blue-eyes,” she called softly as she climbed the stairs.
“Hey, sweetness.”
When Kitty topped the landing, she put her arms around his neck to bring his head down for a tender kiss. “I’ve missed you, baby.”
What was it about Kitty that so naturally melted him? And she hadn’t even pulled out the big guns of lovemaking and whispering ‘I love you’, yet! He settled his hands at her waist. “I saw you started rearranging the furniture.”
“I couldn’t move a whole lot.” She curled her arm like a body builder displaying his muscles. “Ninety-nine pound weakling.” And she hadn’t returned since her unwelcome visitor.
“I got two days to help you.”
“That’s not how you want to spend you’re down time.”
“You wanna spend it like we usually do? Horizontal?”
She grinned impishly. “Well, now that you mention it…”
He answered her grin and kissed her softly. “I’d like that, too, but we’ve got a lot to do.”
“Such as?”
“Getting this apartment empty.”
“But—“
“No.” His voice was very firm, brooking no argument.
“I’m getting tired of getting home just to have to chase you over here. You’re my wife. The world knows you’re my wife. There is no longer a reason for us to live this way.”
Except she would never call that house ‘home’. She would refuse to raise any children there.
“Kit, we talked about this. Once we were common knowledge, you would move in with me.”
“But this place…This is where we started.”
“Because you wouldn’t go over to my place. It’s our place now, baby. And it’s where you need to be.”
“Nothing’s packed,” she hedged.
“Not a problem. I’ve hired someone.”
“But—“
“Kit, you’re my wife, dammit! You don’t need a place of your own.”
“Josh—“
“No.” He was adamant.
“But if I don’t give the landlord notice, I’ll lose my deposit,” she protested. Not that he’d have any trouble renting the place. The location was ideal. It’s why she had rented it.
That argument was so lame, Josh chuckled. They both made plenty of money. “I’ll reimburse you.”
“I don’t having boxes.”
“No need to worry. I’ve taken care of all of it.”
As he spoke, a moving truck and a van pulled up.
Kitty was mutinous as she watched a small army pack and remove her life from her beloved apartment. Bull-headed, Neanderthal male! She should be able to live where she chose. Didn’t he realize that? Forcing the issue was only making matters worse.
Josh wrapped his arms around Kitty from behind and nuzzled her neck. “Mmm…raspberry. Ya’know, I can’t even think of raspberries without thinking of you.” He loved the way it smelled on her silky skin. When they made love, the scent surrounded him. Hell, the smell of raspberries got him hard. “Tonight, sweetness, we’ll make love in our house, in our bed.”
That wasn’t going to happen. Kitty pulled away, saying nothing. If he was so determined to make her miserable, there was a price to be had. That price was her eagerness for his arms. Knowing another woman had been in that house, in that bed, just as intimate as Kitty had been with Josh, would make life impossible. That’s all she would ever see every time she looked around.
Josh frowned when she walked away. He was saving her a lot of time and aggravation, orchestrating her move. He didn’t expect gratitude. It was the husbandly thing to do. He couldn’t see why she should hate him.
Her apartment was empty. A lonely shell of her home. Kitty blinked back the tears. She had worked very hard to make this place hers. It had been her first real home ever. It had been her haven and on Josh’s selfish demand, it was gone. Now, she had no home, no refuge.
“Sweetness, the truck is ready to go,” Josh announced.
“I—I have to clean.”
“I have people coming for that.”
He had taken everything out of her hands. Her logical-self knew he had done what he believed was right. Her emotional-self felt sabotaged.
Josh was at a loss to explain Kitty’s withdrawal. He had tried to make everything simple for her, to ease the burden of moving. “C’mon, baby. Let’s go.” He brushed his lips to her temple, then took her hand to led her to their cars.
“I can ride with you and somebody can drive my jeep over,” he offered.
“You don’t like my driving, remember?” Right now, she didn’t even want to look at him, let alone spend 45 minutes with him in a confined space!
“Want me to pick something up for dinner?”
Shaking her head, she got in her little convertible and backed out without even looking at him.
Kitty’s bedroom and most of the rest of her furniture was unloaded in a spacious spare room. Her sofa now sat among the horrible furniture in the living room, grace among the graceless. Boxes of her belongings were stacked in an adjoining room. She had no intention of unpacking.
Kitty hadn’t spoken to him all evening. Josh had waited for dinner, then finally ordered in. When he asked if she wanted any, she had shaken her head and left the room. Dammit, it wasn’t as if he was some ogre making unreasonable demands! They were married. They should have the same address. He saw no reason for her sullen mood.
It was late when Josh finally decided he’d had enough. This was their first night in their home together and he was not about to sleep alone! He didn’t bother to knock, entering her sanctuary room. What he saw upset him further. He’d though she’d come in to unpack and avoid him. Only one assumption proved correct -- she was avoiding him. The only box that lay open was the one of bedding. She had made the bed. Now she lay on her side, her body curled around a pillow. The tears she had cried had left salty tracks down her cheeks and made her eyes swollen. She had cried herself to sleep!
“Baby,” he crooned softly, crawling onto the bed behind her. He pulled her back against him and nuzzled her neck. ‘Sweetness, what’s wrong?”
Kitty became aware of Josh’s presence as she drifted from her tear-induced slumber. She snuggled back against him as his mouth traveled along her neck and shoulders. “Hey, blue-eyes.”
“Hey, sweetness.”
Moving away a little, she rolled to her back. “What time is it?”
“A little after midnight.”
“Guess I dozed off.”
“I guess.”
She stroked back his hair. “When do you leave?”
“Late tomorrow afternoon.”
Biting her lower lip, she nodded.
“Talk to me, baby,” he urged.
“About what?”
What’s hurting you, he wanted to ask, but he was half-afraid to hear the truth. “Anything.”
That left a door open, but both of them were too cowardly to enter. “That’s a mighty broad subject.”
“You haven’t said five words to me all night.”
“Wrong. I’ve said at least ten.” Her smile was sad.
“I start filming in Kentucky in two weeks. I’ll be staying with Pet.”
“You like Kentucky,” he remembered.
“Mmm…hmm…It’s so green. Where she lives it’s so quiet and peaceful. It refreshes the soul.”
“You’re a nature girl.”
“As a kid I had to be. I never knew if the next place had indoor plumbing or even running water. I remember the first time I was in the mountains…I used to dream about being so high in the winter, I couldn’t come down until the spring thaw.”
“Is that still a dream of yours?”
She shook her head. “No, I fell in love with the ocean.”
Her apartment had been on the beach. The house was not. Was that part of her resistance?”
Threading one hand through her hair, Josh kissed her softly. “I love you,” he whispered against her lips before he kissed her again. He lingered this time, coaxing her to open for him. The embrace escalated as their tongues mated, and hands searched and caressed. “Sweetness?…”
“Oh, yes!…” she replied breathlessly to his heated gaze.
For once, they made love and Kitty didn’t speak – for the only word that echoed in her head was ‘good-bye’.
It felt like ‘good-bye’ was all Josh could think as he held his sleeping wife. He was at a loss to say exactly why. It hadn’t been the same. There was something desperate and sad just below the surface. Kitty had always liked to chatter and teased when they made love. She had remained silent, except for her whimpers and gasps of pleasure. And when she came, she had buried her face in his neck and whispered his name. In the aftermath, instead of talking, she had closed her eyes and gone to sleep.
“God, sweetness, what is wrong with us?” Josh felt his own tears threaten. Now, he was truly scared.
Josh smiled in his waking state. His body felt sated and the bed smelled wonderfully of raspberry and lovemaking. Without opening his eyes, he reached for Kitty – only to find she wasn’t beside him. A frown replaced the smile as he opened his eyes and saw the boxes piled around the room. The night before came flooding back – and worse, the day before. Kitty had made him feel like a monster for wanting his wife in his home. Since he was waking up in her bed and not his, she had won the first round…But she had been crying – and offered no explanation for her behavior.
“Planning to sleep the day away?” Kitty poked her head into the room.
Josh sat up against the headboard and held out his arms to her. To his surprise, she came forward. “Now that you mention it…”
Kitty sat on his lap and ducked her face against his neck. “Want breakfast?”
Josh slipped a hand beneath her tee shirt to massage her lower back. “Maybe there’s something else I’d rather have.”
“Are you sure it’s on the menu?”
“May be if I talk real sweet, it can be.”
Lifting her head, she took his ear lobe between her teeth and sucked on it. “It is,” she breathed into his ear.
A fine shiver chased down his spine. Kitty definitely knew how to get him in the quickest way possible. “Mmm…baby…”
Licking and nipping softly at his neck, she left his lap.
“Where’re you goin’?” he protested.
Instead of telling him, she demonstrated by trailing kisses over his chest. She stopped to tease the flat disc of his nipples to prominence. Traveling lower, she tickled his navel with her tongue, then moved to the sensitive flesh at the end of his treasure trail.
Josh hissed when she finally took him into her mouth. “Sweetness, this was more than I would’ve asked for.” Not that he was unhappy with the turn of events. “Baby, you’re so good me…” In no time at all, he was pumping himself down her throat.
Kitty flowed back up his body and urged him to lie back. Shedding the panties and the shirt she wore, she reached to stroke him to hardness once more.
Josh massaged her breasts, caressing her nipples into hard buds. “C’mere.” He tugged her astride him so he could suckle the crinkled peaks. He sent a hand between her thighs, to separate her feminine folds, finding her wet and ready. “Let me—“ When he tried to reverse their positions, she wouldn’t acquiesce. “Kit—“
She leaned to kiss him again, then impaled herself on his length.
“Damn!” he groaned as she began riding him. She was hot and tight – and he couldn’t get enough. Lifting his hips on her downward stroke, he drove himself deeper.
“Oh!” Kitty gasped.
Josh took her by surprise by flipping her to her back and taking control. “You’re rushin’ me, baby,” he complained softly. Pulling out of her, he made a trail of opened-mouthed kisses from her neck to her woman’s treasure. He devoured her until she was crying out, helpless against the pleasure he was forcing upon her. Moving between her trembling thighs he plunged into her. Grasping her hips, he slammed their bodies together until they were both gasping at the force of their overwhelming rapture and release.
Kitty trembled for some time afterwards as Josh rolled to his back once more. He stroked her hair and back, soothing her. It had been like a volcanic eruption: hot, explosive, and unstoppable. And it had the feeling of desperation. It made him uneasy. Especially when the splash of her tears hit his chest.
“Did I hurt you, sweetness?” He tipped her chin up so he her face.
Shaking her head, she whispered, “No.”
“Then what?”
How could she tell him this was very likely the last time they would make love? She couldn’t stay here, as he demanded. So, he had left her no choice. Rolling away from him, she rose from the bed on not quite steady legs. Snatching up her clothes, she left the room.
In the guest bathroom, she leaned weakly against the shower wall as she sobbed, letting the hot water pummel her. Maybe if she stood there long enough, the chill around her heart would dissipate.
It didn’t.
“Want some help?” Kitty asked when she saw Josh packing his bag that afternoon.
“Sure, sweetness.” He was surprised by the offer. She had managed to avoid him most of the day. “You usually do a better job than I do.”
“I learned early how to pack. I had this thing against looking like an unmade bed – which people who live out of suitcases tend to do.” She expertly folded the pile of shirts and tank tops he had set out on the bed. She had to concentrate on not thinking about that bed. “Where are your pants? The heavier items should be on the bottom.”
When Josh turned to the bureau to retrieve his jeans, he never saw what she slipped in the folds of a shirt.
“Need a ride to the airport?”
Josh smiled. “If you’re offering to take me.”
“I am.”
“That would be great, baby.” Depositing the requested clothes on the bed, he ducked his head to give her a quick kiss. “Thank you.”
”Not a problem.” It would prolong the last minutes they would be able to share.
At the airport, Josh checked in his luggage. His flight would be boarding soon, but his leaving Kitty had never felt so wrong. Pulling her to him, he held her close to his heart, hoping she could hear it say how much he loved her. But just in case she couldn’t…”I love you, sweetness.” He was hurt when she didn’t reply as per usual.
His flight was called and Kitty pulled away, “You’d better go.”
“Kitty—“ He was at a loss.
“Take care of yourself – and don’t eat so much fast food. You’ll have the clogged arteries of an eighty year old beef-eater if you keep it up.”
When he tried to speak again, she put her mouth to his. Words were forgotten as he melted into her kiss.
“Sweetness—“
“Have a good trip!” she cheered as she backed away with a jaunty wave.
“I love you,” he whispered to the air as she put her back to him and walked away.
“You look like shit, C,” Justin offered when they all boarded the bus. “Newlyweds…Do you ever sleep?”
Josh didn’t bother telling his friends it wasn’t lack of sleep but worry that had left him looking haggard. His wife, who was usually so free with her expressions of love, hadn’t said she loved him once during his trip home. “I sleep.”
“I hope Kitty looks better,” Joey grunted.
“She always does,” Josh replied. But only marginally. She’d done a lot of crying.
“She’s going right into another movie isn’t she?” Lance asked.
“Yeah, she hadn’t planned on it, but Pet convinced her to do it.”
“When are you two ever gonna spend more than a few days together?” was Lance’s next question.
“When I’m not touring, I guess. I’ll go on location with her, if I have to.” Josh frowned. He was willing to follow her to give their marriage a chance. “She said next year she’d scale back, so we can be together more.” He shrugged. “She had a ton of commitments before we met. Neither of us had planned on getting married.”
“It was sudden.” Chris commented.
Joey laughed. “You shoulda seen JC’s face when they met. He looked like someone had pole-axed him. Then she told him to get lost.”
“Only till I found out why. She didn’t want to compete with Robin.” Josh reminded his friend. “Once I took care of that, Kitty was all mine.” Saying that, he was comforted. Kitty was his. So, they had some problems. All couples did. “Excuse me.”
Going to a quiet corner of the bus, Josh punched Kitty’s number into his cellphone. He listened the now familiar message. “Hey, sweetness. I got no reason for calling really…I just wanna tell you I already miss you and I love you so much…I’ll see you as soon as I can, baby…Love you, Kit.”
He hit the end button, reminding himself to make that call everyday.
Kitty heard Josh’s sweet message. “I love you, too, blue-eyes. Good-bye,” she whispered to the empty air of her hotel room.