Our Time (21 page)

He kissed me softly, then pulled
back just enough to look into my eyes as he thrust into me slowly, tortuously
slow, ensuring I felt every glorious inch of him. His eyes were the darkest
midnight blue, rapturous, and I held my breath until he was buried deep inside
of me, connected to me in every possible way and filling me completely. He
dropped his head and buried his face in my neck, groaning softly.

"I love you… with everything
I am."

His declaration made by insides
tighten with need as his body pressed mine into the mattress, but held
perfectly still. I could feel both of our hearts beating rapidly as we held
each other. I could die right now knowing that I would never be loved like this
by anyone but him.

"I love you, Andrew. I think
I always have."

He kissed me slowly, tenderly,
until I couldn't contain myself anymore and my heart felt like it was about to
burst. I lifted my hips to make him move and he graciously obeyed, whispering
sweet words as he moved against me, in and out, making love to me eagerly and
confidently. Savoring me. His lips never left my skin and his impatient hands
explored every inch of my body, kneading into my flesh and leaving a warm glow
behind.

The pressure inside me steadily
built as his rhythm changed and he gave himself over to me completely. The only
sound was our heavy breathing, the rustle of our bodies against the blanket of
my bed, and the frequent incoherent sounds we made together as both of us
gradually reached for the precipice.

My muscles tightened, losing the battle
of absorbing all the pleasure crashing through me. Andrews hand moved to my
bottom and lifted my hips off the bed, changing angles again and thrusting with
more force. Higher and higher I climbed, reaching for the release I needed.

"Let go, baby. Let me feel
you come around me," he breathed in my ear, his voice strained and thick,
lifting his head again so he could watch me fall apart.

Our eyes locked and my body
detonated at his command. Wave after wave rolled through me as he held me and
felt my muscles clench around him. I called out a jumbled version of his name
as the orgasm consumed me, lifting me to the sky and then dropping me into the
waves of an ocean that didn't want to let me go. He groaned as he thrust into
me a final time, allowing my body to pull him through the waves with me, and
found his own release, emptying himself into me and whispering my name.

He collapsed on top of me,
breathless and trembling. My arms were heavy, but I wrapped myself around him
tightly as he kissed my face and waited as we both drifted back to the shore.
He feathered kisses along my jaw, down my neck to my collarbone.

Too soon, he rolled to the side,
disconnecting us, and stretched his body out next to me, pulling me halfway
onto him and caressing my back as our heart beats returned to normal.

I closed my eyes, soaking in the
heat of his skin feeling sated and happy and whole.

"Incredible," he
whispered.

I nestled closer to him and
rested my hand on his flat stomach.

"I can't wait to wake up
with you in my arms," he murmured. "I've been fantasizing about that
since the first morning I saw you."

I smiled at the memory of him
standing on my porch with a wide eyed stare, wondering if he should be angry or
not. "Really?"

"Really. You had me wrapped
around your finger from the moment I laid eyes on you, out of breath and
flushed from playing with Olivia."

I chuckled as I ran my hand
across his chest. His skin broke out in goose bumps and I smiled triumphantly
seeing the effect I had on him was the same as the one he had on me.

"I wasn't too sure about
Monty, though. He looked like he was trying to read my thoughts. I think he
could sense how turned on I was when you smiled at me. I never thought I would
have to try and control my thoughts because of a dog before." He was
smiling, though his eyes started to droop. "Now I get to hold you in my
arms all night and it is all his fault. If he hadn't been barking that morning,
I probably never would have come over."

I kissed his chest and replied,
"I think he knows that."

"Ha! I wouldn't be
surprised." He kissed the top of my head and let out a satisfied sigh
still running his fingers over my arm, my shoulder, and back down my back,
pulling me closer. "Sleep now, love."

My eyes drifted shut, "Mmmm.
Goodnight, Andrew."

Andrew

I woke up on Sunday to the sound
of Monty running back and forth and Olivia giggling and then a big thud. I
smiled and sat up to listen, thinking of what Jocelyn might be doing.

The other night was incredible
and I looked forward to the next time we could spend the night in each other's
arms. I didn't want to wake up without her anymore and I didn't want to sleep
with her on the other side of a wall. Waking up with her in my arms was just…
amazing.

I had wanted to make love to her
again, but we had slept longer than we planned to and Maddy's call came in
about 10 seconds after Jocelyn opened her eyes. We didn't get to see each other
last night and it was killing me. We were both a little hesitant to spend the
night together with Olivia home, not sure how or if it would affect her.
Neither one of us were quite sure how to transition, but after spending the
night without her, I had no intention of continuing to be apart, even if it was
only a few feet away.

I heard Olivia's muffled voice
say "Mommy,
okay
?" then Monty started to whine.

"Mommy." Again. Then
she started crying and Monty started howling.

Strange. He is usually pretty
good in the morning, always patient to be let out. I didn't hear Jocelyn
speaking to Olivia like I usually did and I waited a little longer, straining
to hear everything, but Monty continued to howl and whine and Olivia continued
to cry.

Something is wrong.

I jumped out of bed and threw on
my sweats and t-shirt, grabbed the spare key and darted out the door. I still
heard Monty whining but now it was downstairs and he was right at the front
door scratching at it. "Hold on, boy. I'm coming." My hands were
trembling. Where was Jocelyn?

I pushed the door open and Monty
went running up the stairs ahead of me. Olivia was crying harder and screaming,
"Mommy! Mommy up!"

I took the stairs two at a time
and ran into Liv's room then I froze as white spots flashed in front of my eyes
when I took in the scene.

Jocelyn was lying face down in
the middle of the room with a pile of towels under her. Olivia was lying on top
of her with her face buried in Jocelyn's back, soaking her shirt with giant
tears. Monty was lying next to her and nudging her with his nose, crying
softly. My heart dropped to my stomach and forced me to move.

"Oh my God!" I flew
into the room and dropped down to Jocelyn.

 "Adoo, Adoo, Mommy! Mommy
up." Liv was trying to lift Jocelyn up by her shirt and was becoming more
and more frantic.

I tilted Jocelyn's head and saw
that her face was pale and she had vomited, the towels had covered up some of
the vomit but she was lying on top of it with her arms underneath her.

"Come on, baby. Open your
eyes." I rolled her onto her side and made sure her mouth was clear. I
checked her pulse, it was faint and slow, but she was still breathing. My hands
shook and I kissed her forehead, her skin was cold and damp.

This can't be happening.

Monty moved in closer to Jocelyn
and rested his head on her chest. My phone was still in my house and I quickly
looked around the room and found her cell phone lying next to Olivia's crib.
She usually let Liv play with it while she changed her diaper and got her ready
for the day. I dialed 911 and lifted Liv into my arms.

"It'll be okay, love,"
I whispered shakily in her little ear as she cried and squeezed my neck so
tight to hold on to me."Shhh, it's okay beautiful girl. We are going to
get help."

I gave the dispatcher all the
information she needed and was told to sit tight. Olivia stayed right next to
me as I leaned over the love of my life and begged her to wake up.

"Please, Joss. Baby, you
gotta wake up." She didn't move, but she was still breathing and I
continued to speak to her and hold Liv close. "God, what happened? It's
okay, Liv. Help is coming."
Why aren't they here yet?
My chest
started to cave in with each gasp I took making it harder to breathe and my
lungs burned with the effort.

Liv's crying seemed to have
slowed as I cradled her in my arms and murmured to her. The sound of sirens
drew close and I kissed Jocelyn's forehead again before running down the stairs
to let them in with Liv still holding onto me. Monty hadn't moved away from
Jocelyn and I realized that I needed to get him out of the way so he didn't
block the paramedics.

They came in with a stretcher in
tow and I ran ahead of them to intercept Monty. He was still lying next to
Jocelyn but he was licking her face mercilessly and whining like he was talking
to her. She was awake but hadn't moved and I dropped down to my knees next to
her, "Joss, sweetheart, oh thank God."

Her eyes were open and she was
whispering to Monty, "It's okay, boy. I'm okay. Where's Liv?" She had
tears streaming down her pale cheeks and finally focused on my face as I wiped
them away.

"The paramedics are here,
love. Can you move at all?"

"Andrew? What happened?"
The weakness in her voice broke my heart and the lump in my throat doubled in
size as moisture formed in my eyes. I hadn't cried since my parents died, and
before that, I couldn't remember the last time, but now it felt like years of
build up were trying to force its way out of me. My stomach knotted tighter
when I saw the terrified look in her eyes.

"I don't know, sweetheart.
You must have passed out or… I don't know."

At that point the paramedics had
entered the room and Monty was now very attentive of them.

"Sir, we need you to remove
your dog so we can get to her."

"Monty, come here boy."
Olivia was wiggling in my arms and I struggled to hold her and Monty.

"Andrew, let him go. Monty,
please stay," she said in a firm voice and after a groan of disagreement,
he laid down with his ears perked and held perfectly still as he kept his gaze
on her. "He won't move," she said to the paramedic, "I
promise."

Her breathing was labored and she
was starting to close her eyes, looking like she was in pain as the paramedics
went through the motions. When they got her strapped onto the stretcher, Monty
still hadn't moved and I couldn't
stop
moving. They had to push me out
of the way a few times when I tried to get to her and Liv started crying again
reaching out for her mother and confused as to why she couldn't reach her.

After what seemed like a lifetime
of questions, because she was in and out so much, they finally started toward
the door. She kept her eyes on Olivia and me and the tears continued to fall down
her face. Frustration coursed through me since I was unable to kiss them away
and I felt like I died a hundred times over.

Am I going to lose her?
I kept thinking over and over
again.

She reached for my hand as we got
out the front door.

"I love you both," she
whispered and squeezed my fingers.

"We love you, baby." My
arm tightened around Liv and she buried her face in my neck soaking my shirt
with her big tears. As they loaded her into the ambulance, I locked the front
door and my heart broke all over again when Monty started howling. "We'll
get her back here, buddy. I promise."

I strapped Liv in right as they
pulled away. She was sniffling softly now, and had calmed down. The tears that
had been lost to me for so long started to fall from my eyes and I kept telling
myself to breathe.

I called Madison on my way to the
hospital and told her what had happened. I don't remember the phone call
completely, but she assured me that she would get Monty settled and be over to
the hospital as soon as possible.

Next, I called Ben.

"Hey Joss, what's going
on?"

"Ben, it's me. I have her
phone. Something happened and we are on our way to the hospital."

"What?" I heard a bang
and some movement and then the sound of keys. "What happened? Can I talk
to her?"

"She is in an ambulance. We
are right behind them. I don't know what happened, I-I found her in Liv's room
passed out. It looked like she had vomited. Ben, she was so pale. I thought she
was… I thought…" I couldn't stop the sobs, but couldn't care enough to even
try to control them. Sometimes, a man just has to cry, especially when the love
of his life is about to slip through his fingers.

"Oh God, this can't be
happening… not now. I'm on my way. Keep me updated."

"Ben wait! Do you know
what's going on? I'm not sure what to do."