Her Last Love Affair (7 page)

Naturally, Rosalinda expressed concern and urged Allie to go
back to the doctor, or to at least consider the possibility of chemotherapy.
But she realized, even as she was speaking, that Allie’s mind was firm.

By the Sunday morning, Allie wasn’t sure whether she felt
better or worse for having unburdened herself. In some ways, it was a relief to
no longer carry the secret of her illness alone. On the other hand, spending
the night talking about cancer and death had put those things back at the
forefront of her mind and depressed her deeply. What she need, desperately, was
a new distraction. Another man, another old flame, another good fuck.

Hustling Rosalinda into the shower and inviting her to raid
her wardrobe, Allie settled on the floor by her coffee table and opened her
laptop. As she waited for the computer to come to life, she allowed herself to
drift back over the years; searching for faces that she’d like to see again.
Her brain slowed in its hunt, lingering over a man she’d met at a journalists’
conference the summer before. He’d given her his card and asked her to call,
but she’d never bothered. In fact, she’d stupidly tossed the card in the trash
when she’d got home. However, she did remember that he worked for the LA Times
and his name was Mitch, so he should be traceable.

Going straight to the Los Angeles Times’ site, she began
scrolling through articles, only glancing at the by-line of each. Eventually,
she found one written by Mitch Hatley. “Hatley,” she mumbled. “That’s it.” As
she spoke, she clicked on his contact address and wrote a quick note, simply
mentioning where they’d met and asking him to contact her.

With that done, she logged onto her email account and was
struck by the number of alerts she’d been sent from Facebook. Several people,
some she was certain she’d never met, had added her as a friend. However, one
name stood out among the rest. Quickly, she opened a new browser and signed
into the site, eager to read the private message he’d left her. It was brief,
but it sent a delightful shiver down her spine.

‘Allie, so good to see you on here! I know it’s been a long
time since high school, but hope you remember me. Funny enough, I’ve been
living in San Francisco for a year. I had no idea you were working for the
Chronicle - that’s nothing against the paper, I just don’t read the news.
Anyway, the point is, I would have got in touch sooner if I’d known you were so
close. Would be amazing to see you.’

“Who’s Reece?” the question was asked just before a crunch
of toast echoed around the room.

Startled, Allie wrenched her neck around to find Rosalinda
leaning on the back of the couch peering at the laptop screen. “For God’s
sake,” she muttered, trying to catch her breath from the fright. “He’s…umm,”
she added, trying to regain some composure. “He’s…”

“He’s hot,” Rosalinda offered, glad to have something lighthearted
to concentrate on after the soul-draining conversation of the night before. Her
head tilting to the side, as she tried to get a better look of the small
profile picture in the corner of the message.

Allie cast her gaze back to the screen and noted that Rosalinda
was right. Reece had always been attractive, but he had grown even more so with
age. His dark, almost black hair was cut in an Ivy league style with just a few
strands of his short bangs clinging damply to his forehead. Although she could
only see his head and shoulders, it certainly seemed as though he was topless
and the bright azure sky suggested that he was on a beach somewhere. His grin
was as bright and wide was always, causing his deep brown eyes to sparkle.

“So, you know him?” Rosalinda asked, nudging her friend from
her assessment of the image.

“Err, yeah,” she responded, peering reluctantly over her
shoulder. “We were at high school together.”

“Oh,” Rosalinda replied, taking another loud bite of toast.
“You were close?” she probed.

“Well,” she hedged. “Yeah,” she acknowledged, unable to keep
her focus on the woman behind her and allowing her eyes to move back to
Reece’s. “We dated for a while. He was my first love,” she added quietly.

“Really?” Rosalinda said grinning. “Well, why the hell did
you let him go?”

Allie chuckled, dipping her head. “We went to different
colleges and just drifted apart,” she admitted, wondering why she’d let that
happen.

“And?” Rosalinda urged.

“And what?”

“Are you going to see him?”

“Oh,” Allie blurted. “I’m not sure,” she shrugged.

“What?” Rosalinda almost shouted, rounding the couch and
throwing herself on to it. Quickly leaning forwards, she rested her chin on
Allie’s shoulder as she tried to get a better glimpse of him. “Why the hell
wouldn’t you want to see him again?” she demanded. “Was he an ass?” she quickly
added, not waiting for a response. “Did he cheat, lie?”

“No, no,” Allie shook her head. “Nothing like that.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

Allie silently gazed at the picture of a happy, handsome,
hunky Reece. “He’s not like the others,” she eventually explained.

“Because he really meant something to you,” Rosalinda
offered. It was phrased as though it could have been a question, but they both
knew it wasn’t.

“I wouldn’t want to ruin what we had before,” Allie nodded.

“Well,” Rosalinda said thoughtfully, leaning back on the
couch and popping the last piece of toast into her mouth. “I don’t see how you
can ruin what you had. That’ll never change,” she said sagely, the words
muffled by crunching. “But you have got a chance to add to those memories.”

Allie cocked her head to the side, still staring at the
computer screen. “I suppose,” she reluctantly agreed. As far as she was
concerned, although Rosalinda’s logic was sound, it didn’t mean things would
work out that way.

“Look,” Rosalinda announced, leaning forward once more and
placing both hands on Allie’s shoulders. “I don’t necessarily agree with the
way you’re dealing with things,” she said. “But,” she quickly added, knowing
that Allie would simply repeat the same arguments she’d put forward the night
before. “In the spirit of having no regrets, I think you’d be really stupid not
to make the most of this.”

First Love

T
o Allie’s delight, Reece was still the force of
energy, fun and life he always had been. Although they’d originally planned to
just have a casual dinner, they had ended up going on to a club, drinking
several cocktails and dancing into the wee hours. It was almost two o’clock in
the morning when they arrived, hand-in-hand at her apartment door.

“Well,” he sighed, releasing his hold on her and placing his
palm on the wall. “I haven’t had a night like that in a while.”

“I don’t believe you,” Allie muttered good-humoredly,
fumbling with her key in the lock.

“I’m serious,” he insisted, smiling in a way that prompted
tiny wrinkles to appear at the corners of his eyes. “You’re a bad influence.”

“Ha,” Allie exhaled. “You remember that time we had a date
for the movies and you didn’t get me home until after midnight?” she asked. “I
was grounded for a month.”

“Well, there you are,” he quickly responded, lifting the
index finger of his right hand to emphasize his point. “I was with you that
night, too. Bad influence!”

Allie turned to face him fully, leaning her right shoulder
against the door. She hummed a sarcastic ‘yes’, as her eyes moved up his six
foot frame.

“Of course,” he said, turning suddenly more serious. “As I
recall,” he added thoughtfully, his index finger moving to trace the curve of
Allie’s waist. “We never actually went to the movies that night.”

“No,” Allie agreed, her tongue quickly stroking over her
lips, as she anticipated his next move.

“Do you ever think about it?” he asked, his finger slowly
stroking up and down her side from her hip until it reached just beneath her
breast.

 “How could I forget?” she countered, feeling her cheeks
flush with heat. She wasn’t sure whether the blush was caused by the subtle,
unbelievably sensual movement of his finger or the memory of losing her
virginity to him.

 Pausing as the tip of his finger reached the waistband of
her jeans, Reece swept his digit almost absent-mindedly towards her naval. “Did
I ever thank you?” he asked, watching the movement of his own hand with great
interest.

“For what?” Allie asked, trying to keep her voice even,
while Reece’s gently explorative touch caused every muscle in her body to
tremble.

Leaning forwards and dipping his tall frame, Reece placed
his mouth a mere breath from hers. “For letting me be the one,” he explained.
“For giving that gift to me.”

His breath was intoxicating and it had little to do with the
scent of the mojitos he’d drunk. Allie heard his words, as though they had been
spoken some distance away. At that moment, the central focus of all her senses
was just how near he was. On some subconscious level, she must have registered
his words though, because the gratitude seemed incongruous, almost laughable to
her.

Allie remembered well, the year she’d dated Reece; the
patience he’d shown, the way he’d never pushed things further than she was
willing to go. And she vividly remembered the night she’d been ready; the care
he’d taken, his gentle reassurances, the unhurried way he’d prepared her for
him and the almost reverent way he’d treated her body.

As the months and years passed, and she’d discussed ‘first
times’ with girlfriends, she realized how lucky she’d been to have a night so
memorable for the right reasons.

“Thank you,” Reece whispered, nudging her from her thoughts.

“Thank you,” she echoed.

Slowly, Reece leaned closer and Allie held her breath in
anticipation. But, just before their lips came together, he changed course.
Grazing his rugged cheek across hers, he pressed a kiss against her cheekbone.
During the three weeks of Allie’s sexual liberation, that one innocent kiss was
arguably the most erotic moment yet. It didn’t seem to suggest or promise
anything. To a casual observer, it might even have looked platonic. However,
Allie drew in a shaky breath, as her upper body was silently drawn to his. She
nestled against his warm chest, which was covered in a light blue, cotton
shirt.

“Well,” he sighed, suddenly righting himself. “I guess, I
better get going.”

Allie fixed her eyes on his much darker ones. “You don’t
have to,” she said huskily, finding her throat dry. Placing her palm on his
sternum, she ran her hand down the center of his shirt, before pausing over his
abdomen. There, her fingers could feel the firm, taut muscles beneath. As she
gently stroked that hard washboard stomach, she felt him involuntarily twitch.

“Don’t…umm,” he paused, clearing his throat as he tried to
assert control over his unruly muscles. “Don’t you have to work in the
morning?”

“No,” she answered simply, a naughty smile teasing at her
lips, as she shook her head.

Covering Allie’s hand with his own, Reece began to pull her
torturing fingers away from his abs. He’d intended to just do that, but as his
thumb brushed over her wrist and felt the racing urgency of her pulse,
something swept over him. Using his hips, he turned Allie, pushing her back
against the still closed door. Quickly, he bent forwards, his mouth
passionately claiming hers.

The breath was sucked from Allie’s lungs in a surprised gasp
of pleasure. She couldn’t begin to count the number of times Reece had kissed
her and she thought she’d experienced every sensation he had to offer, but this
was so different from anything she’d felt as a high school senior. This was
like gasoline being thrown on a fire. This was an insatiable, desperate hunger.

Reece’s tongue moved over Allie’s drawing back and forth in
imitation of a much more intimate act. Meanwhile, his hands had sought out her
breasts, each globe fitting perfectly into his palm. His fingers stroked the
outer curves, massaging her gently.

Allie arched forward, pushing more firmly into his hands,
while her hips rubbed against him. He was too tall to gain any satisfactory
contact with his groin, which was swelling at her naval. However, his thick thigh
between her legs was pressing her clothing against her ever more restless sex.
Grinding against that muscular leg, her arousal flooded her panties.

His breath coming hard and fast, Reece eased his mouth from
Allie’s and rested a slightly sweaty forehead against hers. “What are we
doing?” he panted.

Giggling, Allie continued to gently gyrate her hips. “If you
don’t know, then we’re doing something wrong,” she laughed.

He found himself chuckling too, his eyes dipping to the
breasts his hands continued to caress and the uncomfortable bulge in his
restrictive black jeans. It would be so easy just to follow the demands of his
body, but then what? “Please,” he groaned almost painfully, his hands
reluctantly leaving her bosom and sliding down to still her hips. “I mean,” he
began, pausing and lifting his head as he tried to clear it of the exclusively
lustful thoughts bombarding it. “What does this mean?” he asked, looking down
into her eyes and immediately regretting doing so. They were smoky, unfocused
and heavy with arousal.

She continued to smile at him, pushing against his hands and
thrilling at the strength he held within them. “You taught me about this,
remember?” she joked.

“Allie,” he groaned, struggling to resist the urge to go
back to her kiss-swollen lips. “Are we getting back together?” he asked, his
brow creasing. “Is this just a…” he faltered. “What is this?”

Relenting, Allie gave up the fight to resume contact with
his thigh and placed her ass back against the door. However, she refused to
stop grinning at him. “I don’t want to get involved,” she told him. “That’s got
nothing to do with you,” she quickly added, seeing a flash of hurt cross his
features. “I just can’t be in a relationship right now.”