Their love was that strong. That endurable. That eternal.
He bent his head toward her. Closing her eyes, Juda felt his mouth cover hers, and a wave of past kisses came flooding back to her. Those that had been fleeting. Those that had stolen all thought. Those that had teased her, as well as those that completely possessed her.
She wasn’t aware of sliding her arm around his neck until her fingers found the hair on the back of his head. Cayn smiled in the kiss and slowly pulled away. “I finally have you with me again, praise the gods.”
A familiar ache washed through her as more memories of their shared experiences emerged from the haze. It had been too long since they’d been husband and wife in more than words. “I want to be with you,” she whispered. “I want…you.”
“Then let us go where we can be alone.”
He reached into his pants pocket and withdrew a couple of bills, placing them on the table as she scooted out of the booth. He did the same and took her hand.
“You kids take care!” Cora yelled from behind the counter.
Juda waved in reply, and they left the diner.
Outside on the sidewalk, Cayn glanced both ways down the street. “Want to go to my place?”
She winced, thinking about what her abode looked like. “Please.”
He gave her a curious look. “What is wrong?”
“My abode. Where I currently live is… It is much better than many of the places where we have stayed before,” she hastily assured him.
He reached over and brushed some hair away from her face as he gave her a tender look. “I know what you mean and what you are trying to tell me. We will go where I am staying. There we can talk and discuss what we plan to do next.”
It was instinctive to keep an eye on their surroundings as they briskly walked the four blocks to the outskirts of town. Neither of them spoke. There would be time enough later for that.
The motor lodge sat just inside the city limits. They almost ran the remaining short distance to his room as he pulled the key out of his pocket.
Juda stopped for a moment to glance around as Cayn locked the door behind them and drew the curtains over the single window. The place was nearly plunged into darkness until he turned on the small lamp on the bedside table.
She threw herself into his arms, meeting his mouth with her own. Branding him with her kisses as he branded her. They struggled to remove their clothing in their hurry to assuage their growing need. It wasn’t until Cayn took her face between his hands and gently pulled away to look into her eyes that they ceased struggling.
“My Juda, I do not want this to be a hasty coupling. We have been apart too long to take this any other way but slowly. I want to savor you, beloved.”
“As do I,” she admitted softly, caving to his wisdom.
“Remember…” he began.
“Love me as I love you, as if it were our last time together,” she finished, earning a warm smile.
He pressed his lips to her forehead, directly on top of the scar. Reaching down to the lightweight sweater that sat scrunched on her shoulders, he pulled it over her head to reveal the band of material wrapped around her breasts.
“It is called a bra,” she explained before he could question her.
“How does one remove it?”
“I do not know how others take it off, but this is the way I do it.” Lowering straps, she withdrew her arms from them, then tugged sideways on the garment until the cup-shaped portions were moved to her back. With the hooks in front, it was easy to undo them, and the bra fell at their feet.
Cayn reached for her breasts to cradle them in his palms. He kissed her again as his thumbs played with her nipples. Juda sucked in a shuddering breath from the intense heat building between her thighs. Reaching for him, she found the front of his jeans and slid her hand down inside to grasp his warm thickness. Grasping, tugging, teasing it with her fingernails, until his breath also became unsteady. He moaned into her mouth as his hands released her breasts and followed her curves down to her waist.
Silently, mutually, they released each other. Sitting on the edge of the bed, they removed their footwear. She unzipped her skirt, stepping out of it and her undergarments before tossing them and the bra on the chair by the window. By the time she turned to slide under the bedclothes, he was already there, holding up the covers for her.
She fit herself against him, within his embrace, and with that contact more of their past returned to her—the sweet as well as the painful. All of it, combined with his hard warmth as he rolled on top of her, left her crying sweet tears of joy. It wasn’t until she sniffed that he paused where he was nuzzling her neck and peered down at her, worry etching his face.
“Juda?”
“All is well, my love,” she reassured him, reaching up with one hand to cup his cheek. “I am remembering. The good and the bad. But it is our past, our lives intertwined, and I would not trade one hour of it.”
