Now & Forever 3 - Blind love (15 page)

“Safe? Reassuring? I don’t want you to feel safe around me!
You should call me a tiger, or a wolf, not a teddy bear! No woman ever called
me
safe
before, dammit.”

Peter removed her arms from his neck and sat up.

“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Safe is important. Can
I call you
bear
?”

“Bear is okay,” he said, pulling her close to him and
wrapping his arms around her. “I don’t want you safe, I want you to melt with
desire, be wild, passionate and uncontrolled with me,” he whispered, giving the
door a gentle push until it clicked closed.

* * * *

Lara sat straight up in bed. Her loud gasp broke the silence
of the night. Her heart began to pound, her breath came in short gasps, she was
shaking. Peter rolled over.

“What is it?”

She reached out and her hand thumped up against his chest.

“Peter?”

“Honey, I’m here,” he said, his hand stroking her arm.

“Where am I?”

“You’re here with me, safe in my bed,” he said, putting his
arms around her and pulling her closer.

“What time is it?”

“It’s three.”

“Hold me and don’t let go.” She trembled in his arms.

Peter held her close to his chest, resting his head next to
hers. He folded his arms around her body and his legs up underneath her making
her totally secure and safe.

“Do you think you can sleep now?”

“As long as I’m with you, bear,” she muttered, closing her
eyes.

The lovers fell into a deep sleep until the morning light.

* * * *

In the morning, Sam didn’t mind having Lara there, knowing
she spent the night. After Peter left for class, Lara collided with Sam on her
way into the kitchen for more coffee.

“I’m sorry,” she said, feeling her way to the table.

“No problem. Would you like more coffee?”

“Please.”

Sam refilled her cup and knitted his brows as he looked at
her.
Peter’s in love with her but what
does she feel?
Obviously, she’d slept with him, but Peter had sex with
plenty of women who didn’t love him. Sam needed to know.

“So, Lara, what’s up with you and Pete?” He lifted his coffee
mug to his lips never taking his eyes off her.

Lara blushed.

“What do you mean?” She put her mug down.

“I know how he feels about you…how do you feel about him?”

“I love him, is that what you want to hear?”

“I want to hear the truth.” Sam continued to watch her.

“The truth…last night he told me he loves me.”

“I’m not surprised. Do you feel the same?”

Color crept up into her cheeks as she smiled. “I do. I guess
I’m as surprised as you must be.”

“I’m not surprised, I’m glad, relieved actually. Not going to
break his heart, are you?”

“Why would I break his heart?” Lara asked with a laugh.

“It’s been done before.”

“I’ve never known any man as sweet and kind as Peter. I’d
never hurt him. Protective, aren’t you.”

“I pride myself on staying out of my sons’ business. But not
this time.”

“I promise not to break his heart. I hope he won’t break
mine.”

“This is the real deal for him.”

“And how do you feel, Sam?”

“Couldn’t be happier,” he said, sitting back and finishing
his coffee.

* * * *

At The Wet Tee Shirt on the outskirts of
town

Gradually, Deena’s affection got to Rex. He was falling for
her. He began to be protective, keeping a close watch on the men she drank with
at The Wet Tee Shirt. No one got fresh with her when Rex was around. He put up
with every guy in the place staring at her breasts, but no one was going to
come on to her or touch her. She wasn’t going to be sleeping with anyone but
him.

It had been a month since they started having sex and Deena
wanted him to move in with her. While he was tempted, they needed to keep their
association hidden. Rex took Deena out in towns about an hour away. They never
went to a restaurant or shop in Willow Falls. It was for his protection more
than hers. If someone blew the whistle, accusing her of blackmail, they
wouldn’t connect her with him.
Let her
take the fall
.

She passed along the information to Rex. Then the big score
walked in all by himself; Peter Caldwell shooting his mouth off about Jason.

“Deena, baby! This is big!” Rex grabbed her and gave her a
big kiss when they were back at her apartment.

“It is?”

“A Dean of Students…he’s got bucks…lookin’ at maybe twenty
thousand. We’re going to collect big time.”

Rex pulled Deena to him and slipped his hand under her T-shirt.
She giggled and let him strip her naked. He tossed his clothes next to hers and
pulled her down on the bed.

Chapter Nine

The State Fair comes to Valley Grove Park, near Willow Falls,
in August. It is the biggest attraction of the year. The price of admission
includes rickety rides, access to sticky sweet and deep-fried foods, the
livestock competition, and the 4-H exhibits. This year the main attraction was
The Colorado Kid and his Bronco Babes for only four nights.

Callie got to know Danny Maine when he was in high school and
she was engaged to his older brother, Kyle. But when Kyle died in Iraq, she and
Danny lost touch. Looking for Callie, Danny came to Kensington State to teach
English. He met and married Eliza, an undergraduate dean, and friend of Mac
Caldwell, two years ago. Now they had Casey, a mischievous toddler who
delighted and exasperated them. The Caldwell and Maine families were best
friends and planned to attend the Fair together.

They met in the parking lot at about five o’clock on
Saturday. Familiar aromas drifted their way…the smells of cotton candy, caramel
apples and funnel cakes mixed with cigarette smoke, a faint odor of manure and
farm animals combined with sweat from warm bodies.

The strains of canned calliope music stretched all the way to
the parking lot. The music got Jason excited before they even got to the gate.
He remembered the fair from last year. Kitty, being only four, didn’t, but she clapped
and skipped, imitating her brother.

Eliza got a firm grip on Casey’s little hand. At two years
old, the boy was fearless. He wandered away from his parents at every
opportunity. Eliza knew he was often hard to keep track of, but Danny promised
to keep a sharp eye on him.

Kaitlyn Baines, one of Eliza’s twin daughters from her first
marriage, was with Chase Lawson, who she’d been dating on and off for the past
two years. Her twin sister, Sally, was with Tanner Lawson, Chase’s older
brother. Sally and Tanner had been a steady couple for the past two years.

Peter was there with Lara, whose senses were bombarded. What
she couldn’t see, she could smell and hear. Since it was her first State Fair,
she was amazed by all the different sounds of the fair, from children crying,
to roosters crowing, to teens screaming on rides and cows mooing softly in the
background. The smells enticed her, fat simmering, the sugary scent of cooking
confections and the heavy smell of frying meat mixed together.

Callie put her arm around Lara.

“You have to try the strawberry shortcake here. Real
strawberries and homemade biscuits,” she said.

“Homemade biscuits? I’ve never had homemade biscuits before,”
Lara replied, licking her lips.

“It’s my favorite…even beats funnel cakes,” Callie said.

“What’s a funnel cake?” Lara asked.

This was Peter’s first State Fair too, and he was nervous
about losing Lara in the dense crowd. He kept a tight grip on her hand.

“Okay, Mac, where are all these great foods you talked
about?” Peter asked.

“In good time, shrimp, in good time,” Mac responded.

Sam and Pat held hands and followed the children and
grandchildren.

“My first State Fair too, Patsy. What’s up here for an old
man like me?” Sam asked, patting her hand.

“You’re not an old man!”

He laughed.

“You’ll love the animals, Sam. Bunnies, cows, goats, horses…4-H
science projects…but no birds, I’m afraid.”

“Cows and horses?”

She nodded. “And you can pet them.”

“Lead on, lady. This is looking up,” Sam said, lacing his
fingers with hers.

* * * *

It was Rex Vesson’s first time visiting a State Fair too. He
leered at the young country girls, many dressed provocatively in low-cut tank
tops and short shorts. They whetted his sexual appetite. Sex with a sixteen-year-old
girl appealed to him. He envisioned a young, firm body, mentally undressing
some of the giggling girls getting on rides with their friends, and his body
began to react.

Rex wore a tight, sleeveless undershirt showing his muscular
shoulders and chest, and tight jeans. He noticed girls gave him second looks as
he walked by. His libido would have to wait as his appetite for food crowded
out thoughts of sex. His mouth began to water as the scents of fried and sweet
foods filled the air. He licked his lips when he saw the strawberry shortcakes
and the funnel cakes.

* * * *

Callie and Mac came upon the shooting gallery, the first
attraction on the midway, next to the sausage and pepper stand, wafting its
spicy smells to the shooters and across from the sickly sweet cotton candy,
whose sugary smell and vapory pinkness tempted the children. The young man
behind the booth groaned when he saw Danny. Danny had been a sharp shooter in
the army. For the last two years he had practically cleaned out the shooting
gallery.

“Not you again. I was hoping you wouldn’t be here this year,”
the young man said, bringing out a special rifle from underneath the counter
and handing it to Danny.

Danny grinned at him. This was the only rifle that shot
straight, the others were rigged.

“I count the days until I can become your worst nightmare
again,” he said, weighing the small rifle in his hands before putting it to his
shoulder.

Everyone gathered around as Danny slapped twelve dollars on
the counter.

“Four times this year?”

“We have a new child,” Danny explained as he cocked the gun
and took aim.

Five targets up and five targets down. Five targets up, five
targets down. By the third time, a crowd gathered to cheer Danny on. After the
fourth time he got a perfect score, everyone applauded.

“You haven’t lost it,” Eliza said, pride shining in her eyes.

Danny gave her a kiss and let the children pick their prizes.
Jason picked a bear and Kitty took an elephant. Eliza picked a teddy bear for
Casey and a lavender frog for her stuffed frog collection.

“Your friend, Danny, is an amazing shot,” Sam said to Mac.

“His aim saved our lives two years ago.”

Sam was surprised and gave Mac a look.

Mac, Callie and the others continued down the midway passing
the food booths. The smell of sugar mixed with the aroma of the grease used to
cook funnel cakes, zeppole, and curly fries, perfuming the air and causing stomachs
to rumble. Foot-long hot dogs and meat piled high for cheese steaks tempted Mac
and Jason. Everyone picked out what they wanted to eat after the rides.

“I don’t care how many pounds it puts on me, I’m having a
funnel cake today,” Callie said, her gaze riveted on the man pouring the batter
in the pan.

They all buzzed about food and which rides to go on, trying
to hear over the canned carnival music and escalating noise as the evening
crowd poured into the fair grounds. Senior citizens, couples with children, and
teens holding hands strolled down the midway which had been covered in straw to
absorb grease, soda, milk shakes and other spills.

“I don’t want to go on the baby rides. I’m seven. I want to
go on the grown up rides,” Jason said.

Callie handed him over to Mac as most of the rides made her
sick.

“How about the Ferris Wheel?” Mac asked his son.

Jason looked up and gulped when he saw how high it was. He
took his father’s hand and nodded his head. The tall man and little boy got on
the next brightly colored metal car to be emptied. The others gathered around
for a ride on the Ferris Wheel too. Eliza balked as she was afraid of heights.

“We go through this every year, Lize. Come on with me. Callie,
will you take Casey?” Danny asked.

Callie took Casey and Kitty while Eliza climbed into a bright
blue car, holding tightly to Danny’s arm. Kaitlyn and Chase were next in the
green car. Sally and Tanner cuddled up in the yellow car. Peter explained the
ride to Lara, who shook her head.

“I’m afraid of heights,” she said, pulling back.

“Come on. You’ll be with me. I won’t let anything happen to
you. Everyone else is going. Please, Lara. Try it,” Peter coaxed. She agreed
reluctantly and held out her hand. Peter took it and guided her into the seat
in the purple car, placing his arm around her. She cuddled into his shoulder as
he tightened his grip.

“Come on, Patsy, I’m looking forward to the view,” Sam said,
taking her hand.

She got into the red car next to him, he put his arm around
her shoulders and she moved closer to him. Mac watched his father and Pat from
his high perch. This was Mac’s first time seeing his dad with another woman. He
knew his father shouldn’t be alone and he liked Pat Weiss, but it was a shock
to him.

Ellen Caldwell died after a brief illness before Mac had his
children. The family of big men all obeyed and doted on the five foot three
inch dynamo they called Mom. Her death was hard for them all but especially
Peter who shared his mother’s musical talent and fair looks.