Her Last Love Affair: The Final Journey (2 page)

An explosion of laughter was not held back by Allie, as she
turned her whole body toward Reece and snuggled closer to him. Burying her
cheek against the soft cotton covering his chest, she draped an arm around his
waist. Her giggles subsided, as she felt the reassuring thud, thud, thud of his
heart. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” she asked, not looking up at
him.

“I know I was a little drunk,” he began, the smile in his
voice evident without having to see his face. “But I’m pretty sure we went over
that last night.”

“We did,” she agreed, still keeping her face nestled against
the firm, reassuringly solid, muscles of his chest. “But, I just wanted to make
absolutely sure.”

“Listen,” he sighed, pulling back so he could hold her at
arm’s length. “I meant every word I said,” he whispered, looking deep into her
eyes in an effort to express his sincerity. “I realize it’s not going to be
easy, but as long as we’re together...” he sucked in a breath, seeming to have
second thoughts about whatever had been about to come out of his mouth. “Look,”
he smiled, changing tack. “I just want to be with you.”

“I know,” Allie nodded, tears beginning to form in her lower
lids. “I just wish it could be for longer,” she admitted, as a single droplet
zigzagged its way over her cheekbone.

Reece quickly stopped the tear in its tracks, wiping it away
with the pad of his thumb. “We’ve got all the time in the world,” he murmured,
still beaming broadly at her. “Well, all the time that matters anyway.” Gently,
he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers in an all too brief kiss. “You
wanted to make up for lost time, right?” he urged, tapping his sock-covered
foot against her bare toes.

She silently nodded, regarding him quizzically.

“Well, we’ll do it,” he stated adamantly. “All of the things
you ever wanted to do; we’ll do them.” Excitedly, he pulled away from her and
jumped out of bed. A pained expression crossed his features momentarily, and he
gripped his forehead with his right palm, regretting the speed of his movement.
However, he brushed it aside quickly. “Where do you wanna go?” he asked,
striding to the foot of the bed and resting his hand on the frame. “What do you
want to do?”

Much more slowly than Reece had done, Allie eased herself
into an upright position and shuffled backwards until she was propped up on the
headboard. “What are you talking about?” she asked, shaking her head in
amusement.

“Anything you want,” he insisted, running his free hand
through his sleep-tussled hair. “Everything you’ve ever wanted. Just say the
word.”

“You can’t be serious,” she smiled, her head still swaying
incredulously from left to right.

“Of course I’m serious,” he grinned. “I want to make all of
your dreams come true.”

“And what if my dreams involve...” she hesitated, trying to
think of something suitably extravagant. “A private jet or a luxury yacht.”

Reece’s eyebrows shot upwards, “Well,” he hedged, cocking
his head to one side. “There might be something we can work out,” he suggested,
smiling mischievously and wiggling his brows. “But those aren’t really the kind
of things you’ve always dreamed of, are they?” he added, eyeing her warily.

With a lazy half-smile, Allie shook her head.

“Hmm,” he nodded. “So, come on. There must be a whole bunch
of things you’ve always wanted to do. Disney World?” he asked, grinning.

Allie pulled a face at the suggestion, which turned his
smile into a full-blown laugh.

“Then, what?” he sighed, exasperated.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged.

“When you were a little girl, what did you want most in the
world?” he probed, his voice still excitably trying to coax the same enthusiasm
for the subject out of her.

“A Pulitzer,” she said in all seriousness.

“Okay,” he conceded, his smile fading slightly. “Well, if
you could wish for something now, what would it be?”

“I’d wish that I wasn’t dying,” she replied somberly.

Reece’s face fell, and his hands flopped uselessly by his
sides as he realized it really was that simple. There was only one thing that
Allie wanted and it was the only thing he could not give her. “I’m sorry,” he
mumbled, dipping his eyes to the floor while he wandered around to her side of
the bed. Perching his butt on the mattress, he turned to her. “You know, if
there was anything I could do,” he said. “I would give anything,” he added,
stressing the final word.

“I know,” she quickly replied, trying to brush away the
melancholic atmosphere that had descended between them with a dismissive flick
of her hand. “I’m sorry for bringing it up,” she apologized, shaking her head.

“Don’t be,” he insisted. “I just...” he began, before
sighing frustratedly. “I want to do something for you.”

“You are doing something for me,” she smiled, reaching
forward and resting her hand on his denim-clad thigh. “You’re here.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, mirroring her expression as he slipped
his fingers over hers. “But there has to be something more,” he urged,
desperately.

Allie recognized the look in his eyes. Reece could never sit
back when someone was in trouble. No matter who they were, Reece would always
want to help. In high school, there had never been an occasion when Reece had
stood by when someone was being bullied. If anyone needed a lift, he’d offer,
regardless of how far away that student lived. He was, as Allie had branded him
at the time, a chronic do-gooder. She recognized, of course, that there was an
element of that in her, too. Her drive to become a journalist was based on more
than just a love of writing; it was a desire to expose wrongs and fix them.
However, she would never admit to him that she shared his inexplicable desire
to put the world to rights. Instead, she used to gently tease him about his
‘boy scout’ nature. Truth be told, she would never have wanted him any
different.

Shaking herself from memories of their youth, she fixed her
eyes on his. “This is something neither of us can mend,” she told him softly.
“But you have to believe me when I say that your being with me means more than
I can ever tell you.”

He pursed his lips, considering that for a moment, before
finally accepting her statement with a nod. “All right,” he sighed. “You will
let me know, though,” he added, gripping her fingers more tightly. “If there’s
anything, ever...”

Grinning, Allie nodded. “I promise,” she assured him.

“Okay,” he said, this time visibly relaxing. As his
shoulders slumped from their tense posture, he allowed himself a smile. “So,
umm,” he hesitated. “What are you doing about work? Does your editor know?”

“No,” she responded, leaning back and resting her head
against the cool, wallpapered wall. “I haven’t told him, and I haven’t been
into work for almost four weeks now.”

“Are you going to...” he stopped, not feeling it necessary
to complete the question.

“I think Needham’s tried to call a couple of times,” she
told him. “I’ve dodged him. I just didn’t want to talk about it, you know?” she
added, rhetorically. “And I certainly didn’t want anyone feeling sorry for me.”
With a shrug, she tried to suggest that her job no longer mattered. “I figure
he’s probably replaced me by now.”

“Don’t you think-”

Whatever Reece had been about to say was abruptly cut off by
Allie’s sharp, “Don’t start. I don’t need mothering.”

“I know,” he quickly offered. “It’s just that...”

“Look,” she sighed. “It doesn’t matter, does it? I mean, I
might as well live my last months as a lady of leisure, right?”

Reece watched her smile and noted that it didn’t quite reach
her eyes. However, he decided to proceed carefully, not wanting to anger her
over the subject. “That sounds nice,” he admitted, flashing her a false smile
of his own. “Are you going to be okay for money, though?”

She chuckled, her eyes moving to the bedclothes. “I haven’t
taken a vacation in six years,” she told him. “I live easily within my means,”
she added gesturing to her small bedroom and the modest apartment that existed
beyond the door. “I’ve got some cash saved,” she concluded.

“Yeah, but-” This time Reece stopped himself from
continuing. “I was just going to say, if you ever needed any help, you only
have to let me know.”

“That’s sweet of you,” she replied. “But I should be fine.”

“So,” he breathed, determined to move off the topic, but
unsure what to discuss instead. “If you’re not going to be going to work, what
do you want to do with the time we’ve got together?” he asked, releasing his
hold on her fingers and gently rising from the bed. “There’s got to be
somewhere you want to go,” he added. “Paris? London? Rome?”

Allie contemplated the offer for a minute, wondering whether
there was a place she’d wanted to see. However, it quickly occurred to her that
what mattered was not where she was but who she was with. Silently, she lifted
her right hand and crooked her index finger at him in a ‘come here’ motion.

Reece responded by bending at the waist and leaning his
upper body toward her face, as though he expected her to whisper something.
However, Allie rapidly grasped his shirt front and pulled him closer, until she
could feel his breath on her skin. His eyes widened and his jaw fell slack, the
surprise of the sudden force of her motion catching him off guard.

“I just want to be somewhere with a bed,” she whispered
suggestively. “And I’ve got one of those right here.”

He grinned down at her, as he slipped his hands onto the
mattress either side of her thighs. “You’ll soon get bored lying here,” he
informed her. “I know you, remember? You’re not the kind of person who can sit
still for more than five minutes at a time.”

“I’ve turned an emotional corner,” she told him tartly.
“Besides, I trust you to make sure I don’t get bored in here.” As she spoke,
her face drifted forward, until their lips were just barely touching as they
moved.

He closed the gap, gently caressing her mouth with his,
while his eyelids drifted closed. “Hmm,” he groaned in protest, as she began to
pull away.

“Still think I’ll get bored?” she asked, rising a
challenging eyebrow at him.

“Well,” he grinned. “I’ll err...certainly try to keep you
entertained.”

“You’d better,” she demanded, yanking him forward and
causing him to lose his balance. He landed on the bed, half on top of Allie and
half on the mattress. Both of them giggled like teenagers, as they fumbled with
zippers and buttons. 

Love In The Shower

O
ver the next four days, neither Reece nor Allie
left the apartment. The fact that Reece only had the one set of clothes he
arrived in didn’t matter, because both of them spent almost every minute of the
day naked. They made love over and over again, never seeming to tire of each
other. In fact, neither could get enough.  Both would nap for thirty minutes or
an hour at a time, before starting all over again. Allie joked that they were
like horny high school kids again.

“We were never this bad when we were horny high school
kids,” Reece quipped in return, as he climbed into the bathtub and pulled the
shower curtain closed behind him. “I don’t know what it is,” he said
thoughtfully, as he grasped Allie’s soft, wet hips and pulled her back to his
chest. “I just can’t keep my hands off you,” he chuckled, drawing an arm around
her waist and dropping his chin to her shoulder.

Allie laughed throatily, as she leaned back and felt herself
melt into him. “Well, I know the feeling,” she giggled, reaching both arms
behind her and grasping his firm buttocks.

Reece instinctively flinched, bumping his hips against her
ass as she squeezed his cheeks. “Hey!” he laughed, tightening his grasp on her.

“Have you been keeping count?” she asked suddenly.

“Count of what?” his confused voice replied, his lips
brushing her earlobe as he spoke.

“The number of times we’ve made love over the last few
days?” she explained.

“Oh,” he breathed. “Umm,” he added thoughtfully. “No,” he
eventually concluded. “I think I lost track sometime Sunday afternoon. Do you
know?”

“No,” she responded, her eyes drifting closed as she flopped
her head back onto his right shoulder. “But I know that I could stay like this
forever.”

“Me too,” he echoed her thought quietly, his head moving
with hers. His jaw remained pressed against her cheek.

Allie’s fingers fell away from his butt, the awkward stretch
of her arms becoming uncomfortable.  With a contented sigh, she placed her hand
over the one Reece held at her belly. She laced her fingers through his,
leaving only his thumb free to trace lazy patterns on her skin. She was acutely
aware of the fact that they’d both been using sex as a means to avoid the
reality of the situation. It was all too easy to block out the world; to shut
out any sense of time passing and just enjoy each other. Allie hoped, naively,
that they’d be able to continue to do so. However, her more rational side knew
that the facade was on the verge of having run its course.

“What are you thinking about?” Reece asked, after several
seconds of contemplative silence had passed.

Lifting his hand from her stomach, she eased herself away
from his grasp so she could turn to face him. “I’m just wondering,” she
mumbled, using both hands to scoop her damp hair away from her face, “whether
you’ve got any more in ya,” she added with a teasing grin.

Reece exhaled an audible ‘ha’, before shaking his head
slowly. “I don’t know,” he admitted with a self-deprecating shrug. “I mean,
we’re in very uncharted territory here.”

“Really?” Allie replied, grinning self-satisfactorily.
“You’ve never had a marathon sex session before?”

“Not like this,” he replied, with a tilt of his head. “I’ve
never known anyone as insatiable as you.”