LOVED (24 page)

I remembered what he said, standing in just about the same place ten months ago.

You’re a fucking doctor, for Christ’s sake. And you’re a doctor for the brain and all that shit. Knowing how a person’s mind works. If anyone knows what people are thinking or ought to be thinking, it should be you. We all just want you back, Doc. We want you happy.

All Teddy wanted for me was to see me happy. Well, he was sure seeing that now. I’ve never spent a day happier in my life than I was spending them now.

“It’s good to be back. Want to race to the Harley dealer?” I asked.

As soon as the word ‘race’ came out of my mouth, Teddy leaped over the handrail of the barrier fence, and took off in a dead run for his b
ike. Before I could step over the rail, his bike was started and he was pulling out of the lot.

Damn, he has lost weight.

Time passes and things change.

KELLI.
Something about lying in the sun has always appealed to me. I love the feeling of my skin baking in the sun. Lying in the sun with Erik is so much better than doing it with anyone else.

Lying on the beach with Erik was better than I ever imagined anything could be. The only problem was that all he was wearing was a pair of shorts. Seeing him shirtless, shoeless, and wearing shorts was all I could take.

“Put on a shirt,” I said as I looked at him putting oil on his legs.

“Yeah, right.
This feels so good,” he said as he exhaled and tossed the oil back in the bag with everything else.

“My beach my rules,” I chuckled.

“Oh, believe me. I’m going to fuck you, alright. After seeing you all day in that bikini, you’re going to get it,” he said.

“
I can’t wait,” I said over the top of my sunglasses.

I looked t
oward the ocean. It went on forever. As far as the eyes could see, there was nothing but ocean. Pictures didn’t do a place like this justice. Erik said he would take me wherever I wanted to go, and I picked paradise. This had to be as beautiful of a place as God has ever created.

I watched as the waves eased in to the beach. It was hypnotic to watch.
The same thing over and over, but in a different pattern. The thought of coming back to this place made me happy. Like our house, our coffee shop, and our Italian restaurant, this was
our beach
.

“I never would have guessed Bunny would have been able to build that addition on daddy’s house like that,” I said, turning to look at Erik.

“It looks really nice, doesn’t it?” he asked.

“Yeah, but it’s so funny. As soon as he got it done, daddy started talking about selling it and having Bunny build him a new, smaller house. Did he tell you that,” I asked.

Erik turned to me and nodded. The thought of Daddy selling that house made me sad. I grew up in that house, and had many, many memories there. But now, I was older, I had a house of my own, and it was time for me to build my own memories in my own house. Daddy seemed to really like Bunny and that made it nice for both of them.

“Two more months,” I said.

“Actually it’s three and a half,” Erik corrected me.

“No. Not for me. It’s two. I don’t count the month we’re in, or the month of the wedding. Two more,” I smiled.

“Girls and their counting,” he laughed.

“What do you want to eat tonight?” he asked.

“Salad,” I said.

“We’ve been here three days, and you’ve had salads every damned day,” he said as he looked toward the beach.

“I want to keep my beach belly,” I said as I patted my stomach.

“You don’t have a belly, baby girl,” he said as he stood up.

He walked over and kissed me lightly on the lips.

“You have a stomach, and a damned fine looking one at that. Let’s go for a walk,” he said as he reached for my hand.

I grasped his hand in mine and he pulled me from my seat. I grabbed our beach bag and put it over my shoulder. As Erik held my hand, we walked slowly toward the water. Walking with Erik along the beach was like a dream. When things like this happen, I try to make the memories last. It isn’t very often a girl gets to live a dream.

As we walked along the beach, I kicked my toes in the water. I tried as hard as I could to remember coming to a similar beach when I was a kid with my father, but I had no real
recollection of it. I doubt that I would ever forget this trip. Being with Erik was perfect, this beach was perfect, and seeing him barefoot and in shorts was even more perfect.

As we walked, I thought of meeting Erik and what had happened between us. I thought of the night I had to tell him about Columbia University, and how scared I was to tell him. I thought, even then, of how understanding he was.

The night that I scraped my knees up on the roof of the parking garage made me smile. Sucking his cock on the roof was so hot. I loved that. Erik was adventurous, but that wasn’t all that he was. He liked to crawl inside my head and make me wonder things. He made me wonder about him, and he always made me wonder about myself.

Erik does all of the little things that I never really appreciated until one day when he explained them to me. He never has a long sexual encounter with me and just walks away. He always holds me and makes sure I settle down when it’s over. He says it’s necessary for me to come off of the emotional high of the sex.

He holds me and tells me that he is proud of me, and that I’m his baby girl. He massages my scalp, and rubs my shoulders. He tells me how proud he is of me and that I make him happy that I am able to do all of the things that he asks of me. Quite often, after sex, he asks me if everything was alright, and if I had any objections to what happened.

Erik wants what’s best for me. Erik wants to make sure that I am as happy as he is.

I remember when he played the counting game with me at the Italian restaurant that day. I truly thought I was going to die. Simply die. I didn’t know him very well then, and I wanted to impress him.

Kelli, I am going to count to twelve. Each time I count, I am going to slide my finger deep inside of you, and then pull it out. And when I slide it in, I am going to bang my knuckles against your little swollen clit. Do you hear me?

I think I squeaked.

I will take that as a yes. You will, Kelli, cum on the twelfth stroke, do you understand me?

He didn’t know it, but I came right then. Right in my shorts. I knew on that day that I was never going to let him get away from me. I would be the most miserable stalker in the world if he tried to leave me after that day.

Twelve
strokes, and he counted each one of them.

Thinking about it made me wet.

“Where’d you go baby girl?” he asked as we walked.

“What?” I asked.

“You were in a daze. I was talking to you,” he said.

“Oh, I was thinking,” I said.

“About?”

“That day at Il Vicino.
The day we went to the mall after. The day you made me cum when you counted,” I said as I looked his direction.

He chuckled and shook his head lightly.

“What?” I asked, looking up from watching the sand.

“That was priceless. I knew from the beginning I wanted you to be a certain person, because no matter who you were, I liked you. If you were the person I wanted you to be, sexually. Shit, I was screwed from the start,” he said
as he kicked at the waves.

“What do you mean?” I asked, watching my toes leave impressions in the sand.

“Well, I tried as hard as I could to get you to fuck up - to give me a reason to dump you. Hell, you never did. It didn’t take me long to realize that you were the one for me. That day I burned my diary, I knew on
that
day I was eventually going to ask you to marry me. It wasn’t long, and I was asking your father’s permission,” he said as he walked.

He stopped walking.

I walked until our arms were stretched, our hands barely grasping each other. I let go of his hand and turned around, facing him.

“Kelli, do you know, really
know
what you have to do to make me happy? To truly, deep down inside, make me happier than I have ever been?” he asked.

I shook my head.

He opened his arms.

I walked to him and hugged him. He leaned backward and looked down at me. As I looked up, he responded.

“All you have to do is exist,” he said, and he kissed my lips.

Exist. That’s all.

“All I have to do is…”

“Be yourself. Just exist. That’s all. It’s all I’ll ever want from you. Just be alive and be on my left,” he said.

“Deal,” I said as I hugged him tightly.

I let go and stepped back and admired him.

“Get on,” he said as he turned around, his back facing me.

“What?” I asked.

“Like a chicken fight.
A piggy back ride. Get on,” he said.

I jumped on his back and wrapped my arms around his neck. I slipped my feet through the loops he made with his arms.

As he ran for the ocean screaming, I knew that Erik Ead was going to take care of everything else.

All I had to do was exist.

KELLI.
I didn’t want our vacation to end. It was the last day for us here, and it was early evening time already.
I dreaded this actually ever getting here. We were scheduled to leave at six in the morning.

“What are you going to eat,” he asked as he looked at the menu.

“I’m not really hungry,” I responded.

“Baby girl, it had to end sooner or later. We’ll come back,” he promised.

I nodded.

“I know, I just…well, I just. I didn’t want this day to get here,” I said.

“Aww, baby. I’m sorry. Like I said, we’ll come back. If you want, we’ll come back every year. You look great after ten days in the sun, by the way,” he said from across the table.

I felt sick.

I didn’t want to ruin our last night at the beach, but I didn’t feel like I wanted to do this. I didn’t want this day to come, and I hated it that it was here. This was harder than I imagined it would be.

“How about something new.
How about a salad?” he laughed.

I opened the menu and looked at it. Everything listed sounded gross. I couldn’t even think about eating.

“Okay,” I agreed, “Order me a salad.”

“Okay,” he said.

The waiter walked up to our table and smiled.

“Have we decided?” he asked, alternating glances between Erik and I.

“The lady will have the mixed greens salad, dressing on the side, add a grilled chicken breast to the salad, not on the side. I’ll have the filet, 12 ounce,” he said.

“Sides?” the waiter asked.

“Salad and green beans,” he said.

I cringed.

The waiter nodded and walked away.

“Why the face, baby girl?” he asked.

“Green beans. Yuck,” I said.

“Green beans are good,” he said.

I shook my head and laughed.

“Nope, not anymore,” I said.

“Why?” he laughed, shaking his head, looking surprised.

“This book I read. I’ll never eat one again,” I said.

“You need to quit reading that smut, baby,” he laughed.

I nodded slowly.

Erik made me so happy. Even today, on a very tough day, he made me happy, and he made me smile. He orders my food for me. It makes me feel so good when he does it. I feel taken care of. I feel like he is in charge, and I feel like he actually does what he says, he owns me.

I like being owned.

By Erik.

I felt a little better as I ate the chicken off the top of my salad. Any food away from home always tastes better than the food you can get at home. Food in special places is always special.
Always.

“This steak is marvelous,” Erik said as he took a bite of his filet.

“You want to try it baby?” he asked.

“No thank you,” I said.

“Green bean?” he asked as he picked one up from his plate with his fingers.

“Oh, God no,” I said as he opened his mouth and sucked into his mouth.

He laughed.

He looked so good, wearing a light
v-neck tee shirt, shorts, and sandals. I liked Erik the Dom, Erik the biker, and Erik the fighter. Something, however, about seeing him in shorts, sandals, and a thin t-shirt made him real. It made him seem so normal.

Not that he was abnormal. Heck, I would change nothing about him if I had a chance. But seeing him like this was just new, different, and satisfying.
Yet another facet of the intriguing Mr. Ead.