Pure Iron (19 page)

She blushed and averted her gaze.

“Right,” he said in a dry tone. “Now, wouldn’t it be a real mood killer to be thinking of my mother?”

With an uneasy grin, she replied, “You’re right, Mick.”

He tugged on his earlobe and asked, “What’s that? I didn’t hear you.”

With a laugh, she swatted at him and said, “You heard me just fine, so I’m not going to say it again.”

He laughed with her and picked her up, twirling around. “God, I love you,” he rasped, cupped her face, and brought his face to hers for another kiss. That led to the bedroom, the quick removal of all clothing, and playfully carnal pleasure until the playfulness burned in the fire of intense passion that only seemed to grow no matter how often they sank into each other.

“I will never get enough of you,” he vowed as he stroked deeply within her.

Early the next morning Mick called his mother.

“Hey, Mom,” he said somewhat sheepishly.

“Don’t ‘hey, Mom’ me, young man,” she snapped. “Why did I, your own mother, have to find out in my Facebook newsfeed that you got married? Haven’t I loved you and treated you like my own son?”

“Mom, I am your own son. Remember? Twenty-eight hours of labor as you so like to remind me?”

She laughed and he relaxed, knowing that, although she was disappointed, she wasn’t truly angry with him. “Tell me all about her. I want to meet this girl who has so captivated my little boy.”

“Hardly little,” he murmured. He loved it when she called him that, but would have rather died than admit such. “Her name is Sonia. She rented the cottage next to mine here in Monterrey. It was … well, it was amazingly quick. But you know how you know, how it really can be love at first sight?”

Her voice softened and she said, “Yeah, I know. It was like that with your father and me.”

“That’s how I feel about her. It’s incredible. Wonderful. And a little scary.”

“Powerful love always is, sweetie,” she said. “So you married this girl?”

“The very next day,” he admitted. “I just couldn’t take the risk that she’d disappear.”

“And she must love you back.”

“She’s incredible, Mom. She inspires me. I’m writing music constantly, really good stuff. The whole band thinks so. They like her, too.”

His mother’s voice grew stern, “You need to protect her, Mick. That lifestyle you lead is not conducive to long term marital happiness.”

“I know, Mom. I know it’s going to be hard. She’s starting a new job in a couple of weeks. She’ll be working there while I’m on tour.”

“And you can’t cancel the tour, I understand,” she responded with sympathy, because her husband hadn’t been able to cancel the tour of duty that killed him. “Make sure you control yourself, Mick.”

“Mom, I’m not—”

“Not what, a horn dog?” She chuckled with sadistic humor. She well knew her son was no innocent.

“Mom!”

Undeterred by his embarrassment, she continued. “So, your girl’s got a job. What does she do?”

“She’s a chef, Mom. She’s an excellent cook, amazing. Jack’s ready to marry her just so she’ll cook for him.”

“Well, if Jack is ready to give up the swinging single life for her cooking, then she must be good,” his mother quipped with a touch of sarcasm.

“Mom,” he said in a warning tone.

“Right. I’ll be nice.” She paused, then said in a soft tone, “Mick, baby, I want to meet this girl. I’ve got some vacation days coming to me. This is a good reason to use them.”

“I’ll text you our new address in a couple of weeks,” he said.

“New address?”

“Sonia will be working in Las Vegas, so we’re moving there.”

“Vegas.”

“And I’ve got those before and after tour gigs in Vegas, too. With what I’d spend on hotels and restaurants, we can put a down payment on a house. I’ve already got Jay working on it.”

“Jay is your agent. Surely house hunting isn’t in his job description.”

“It is now.” He glanced at the doorway where Sonia stood, rubbing the back of her neck. His dick sprang to attention.

As though she could sense she’d lost his focus, she said, “Thanks for calling me, Mick. Let me know your address when you have it and I’ll come to visit you and Sonia. I’m happy for you, sweetie.”

“Thanks, Mom. Love you.”

“I love you, too, Mick.”

The call ended, but Mick’s attention was already focused on taking advantage of the soft, warm, rumpled-sheets look his wife had going on. Less than two minutes later they were rumpling the sheet some more.

“I really need to eat,” Sonia murmured as they lay tangled together. She absently stroked aimless patterns on his chest even as he lapped at her nipple while one of his hands idly stroked a fingertip through her wet folds.

Mick’s eyes brightened as he looked up at her. Guessing his thoughts, Sonia chuckled and said, “And I don’t mean your dick.”

He sighed with mock regret. She inhaled deeply as he slid a long finger inside her and stroked more deeply.

“That feels good, Mick, but I’m hungry.”

“I can make you forget that,” he promised between licks to her furled nipple.

“I know you can,” she agreed breathlessly as her body began to undulate in physical demand for satisfaction. “Oh, God, Mick, fill me up, please.”

Mick crawled over her and settled between her thighs. He grasped himself by the root and rubbed his glans up and down her slit. She keened with desperate greed. With a triumphant smile, he surged forward, driving into her body.

“Hard and fast, Sonia. That’s how we’re going to do this,” he growled before crushing his mouth to hers. She opened to him, yielding instantly as he swept her mouth with his tongue even as his hips moved like pistons. With lusty expertise, he quickly drove them both to explosive climax. As they panted in the aftermath, Sonia said, “Now, I’m really hungry.”

Mick leaned over and kissed her, fondling a breast as he did so. Retreating reluctantly from her swollen lips, he said, “Take a quick shower and get dressed. I’ll cook.”

With that, he forced himself off the bed and drew on a pair of shorts. He glanced back at Sonia’s lithe, gracefully curved figure as she disappeared into the bathroom and groaned as his insatiable dick tried to harden again. The heady, compelling lust that thrummed in his veins that kept his penis in a nearly constant state of locked-and-loaded readiness overwhelmed him. He was sure it overwhelmed Sonia.

He damn near blushed when he thought of things he did to her and that she was now doing to him—and how frequently—when she’d been an innocent virgin mere weeks ago. He thought back to not so long ago when he was accepting the offers of casual sex on a regular basis and, for the life of him, could not remember any particular woman’s name or face. Not that he had often bothered with even asking their names, having discovered that endearments smoothed over that awkwardness quite satisfactorily. No woman had ever scolded him for saying “babe” or “honey” instead of her name.

He washed his sticky hands, smiling a little to himself because of the pleasurable manner in which he had gotten them sticky. He silently congratulated himself for hitting the jackpot with women as he popped some slices of bread into the toaster and cracked eggs to whisk in a bowl.

Briskly efficient, he had their simple meal plated and ready to eat when Sonia perched on a stool at the counter. She thanked him, her eyes dipping to the always-ready bulge in his pants.

“You keep looking at me like that and I’ll fuck you on the counter,” he warned. Or promised.

She smiled wickedly at him and dragged her gaze up his torso to his face. He felt it like a physical caress.

“We have housework to do today,” she said.

“Oh?”

“There’s only one towel left and no more clean sheets, so laundry’s a must.”

“Easy enough,” he said.

She raised an eyebrow, skeptical. “When’s the last time you did laundry?”

“Um …” his voice trailed off.

“Right,” she said.

“That’s why I have a housekeeper,” he said defensively.

“There are only two of us,” she pointed out. “We don’t need a housekeeper.”

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow.

“Unless I bring home half a dozen cats and dogs,” she added with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Unless you like pet hair as a condiment.”

Mitch faked a gag. “You wouldn’t.”

That twinkle turned evil. “Try me.”

“I’m allergic,” he lied.

“The hell you are.”

“Are we having an argument?”

“No, because I’m not mad. Yet.”

“Oh, well, good to know. You’re a little scary sometimes.”

“Me? Scary?” she laughed. She gestured toward him. “You’re the big, bad man with tattoos like a thug.”

“A thug? Me?” He growled at her and she giggled. He took a few predatory steps toward her and she backed away, still giggling. He lunged for her and she danced away with a delighted little shriek.

“I’m gonna get you!”

“You’ll have to catch me first!”

She dashed away. Mick chased after her, catching her in a few strides of his longer legs. They tumbled to the sofa where he nuzzled her neck and growled, “I’ve got you now, missy! What shall I do with you?”

She laughed breathlessly and wriggled beneath him.

“I know,” he exclaimed. And he tickled her. She laughed helplessly, then begged him to stop. He continued for a few seconds more, then obliged, just to reinforce his dominance. He stopped because he wanted to, not because she forced him. He glanced down at her breasts heaving beneath the stretchy tank top and the mood thickened, heated, and took the inevitable turn toward carnal.

Once they’d temporarily satiated that hunger and got dressed again, Sonia and Mick got to work. He vacuumed while she dusted. She swept and he mopped. She scrubbed one bathroom and he cleaned the other. The cabin wasn’t large, so house cleaning took less time than Mick would have guessed. Load after load, they washed and folded laundry.

“It’s good to have clean underwear,” she said with a little smile as they put away the last load.

“I don’t know why you bother wearing any,” he said with a knowing smile. “It’s not like you spend much time wearing it.”

“I wear it because you like taking it off me,” she quipped.

“Yeah, I do,” he admitted and they tumbled onto the clean sheet where he proceeded to remove the offending article of clothing and take full advantage of her soft, yielding body.

Later that evening as they cuddled on the front porch and watched the sunset, Mick’s phone buzzed. He picked it up, glanced at it, noticed the backlog of messages he had ignored throughout the day. With a sigh, he said, “I suppose I should answer these.”

Sonia kissed his bare arm and said, “It’s a working vacation for you, although I never understood that term. What an oxymoron.”

He pressed a kiss into her hair, grateful for her understanding. She gazed steadily at the horizon as the sun slowly sank into the ocean. She could almost imagine hearing the splash and sizzle of the fiery disc hitting the cold saltwater, even though she knew no such thing actually happened. Mick again found himself grateful for her display of incuriosity. She allowed him privacy while sitting beside him, which he appreciated.

“Want to see pictures of the condos Jay found for us?” he asked.

“Sure,” she answered and leaned over to peer at the pictures on his cell phone.

The first option she dismissed out of hand. “I don’t like it, too dingy.”

Mike thought the space looked all right, but she would be the one living there for six months, not he, so he reasoned that the condo should meet her requirements. The second option held promise: she liked the space, but it did not come with appliances. The third looked cozy, but he disliked the neighborhood and she agreed that a safe neighborhood location was prudent. They both liked the fourth option, but Sonia thought it too expensive and the space far more than what she needed.

“We like this one,” he replied to Jay’s message which contained information and pictures of the second condominium. He kissed her hair again and promised they’d go to Vegas a little earlier than planned to purchase those necessary appliances and have them delivered and installed. “It’s not like I have a garage full of tools.”

“That’s okay,” she said and yawned.

“Tired, baby?”

“A bit.”

“Go on to bed and get some rest.”

“You’re not joining me?”

He gave her a soft smile and said, “There’s a new song running through my brain. I think it’s ready to be worked on. If it won’t disturb you, I’ll play around with that for a while.”

She nodded, understanding that sometimes creativity simply needed mental percolation before expression. Some of her best recipes were created that way. She stretched to kiss his stubbled cheek and bade him good-night. Since they weren’t falling into bed together tearing at each other’s clothes, she took the opportunity to indulge in a long, hot soak in the tub to soothe aching muscles.

Snuggled in bed, she drifted off to sleep with the softly played sounds of an acoustic guitar rising lightly on the ocean breeze.

Mick played late into the night until his fingertips were raw and his eyes blurring with weariness. The song that looped in his mind was joyful, playful, teasing. With sudden inspiration, he realized that the guitar wasn’t the right instrument to carry the melody. It needed the violin. Tomorrow, he told himself as he gently set the guitar in its case. He’d work on it some more tomorrow.

He took a quick shower then snuggled into bed next to Sonia. She sighed when his weight settled behind her, smiled softly when his arm curled around her. His heart swelled with joy. Even in her sleep Sonia welcomed him.

This is what happiness feels like, he thought as consciousness left him.

Sonia woke before Mick. She took a morning walk, leaving a note on the nightstand so he wouldn’t worry if he woke while she was out. He was still sleeping when she returned and still sleeping after she took a shower and dressed. When, she wondered, had he come to bed last night? Trying not to disturb him and show him the same courtesy he had shown her, she worked on breakfast: cinnamon rolls. They’d take a nice long while to make and the deliciously tantalizing smell of them baking would wake him gently. After all, absolutely no one could be angry waking to the delicious aroma of fresh cinnamon rolls.