Cramped Quarters - Love Under Lockdown

“I feel the same way about you,” I confessed.

I hugged him tight and he returned my embrace, holding me gently in his strong arms, as if we were the only two people who existed in this broken and chaotic world.

We really were quite a pair, both of us damaged by the past but looking forward to the future.

Could we help each other heal? I wondered.

And then I realized that we were already were.Chapter Fourteen - AugustusThe owls started up again, not able to tell time, their hoots accompanied the breaking of the day.

There were always rebels in every group. Rachel hadn’t heard them yet. She had fallen off to sleep long before me.

I looked down at her, cuddled like a kitten in my lap. She shifted a bit as I stroked her hair.

It was interesting, how habits could form. One day you only want to eat junk food, but after only about a week off of it, you didn’t even like it anymore. The physical dependency was gone, and you taste it for what it really is.

So it could be with people. Once the image you held of them had been shattered, you could see them for what they really are.

I certainly didn’t know what to call our coupling. We were as close as any romantic partners, except we hadn’t had sex. I hadn’t even seen her naked, though right now, I was getting close.

The sexy number she wore the first day of classes, more due to the weather than anything else, flashed through my mind. Rachel often came out wrapped in her robe, and it was apparent she was bare underneath. Or when she dressed it was sparse, in shorts and a tank top.

I joked that now that her classes were online, she could do them naked. She shocked me by confessing she already did.

“What time is it?” she asked now, eyes still closed.

“Breakfast time? Did I get it right?”

“Well done.”

Disentangling ourselves, plans were set in motion for the biggest breakfast spread in the history of the year. We were both on fruit at that point. Rachel was skeptical at first until I made her one of my blender drinks.

It was all it took to convert her. We still got protein through alternative sources, things like plant-based burgers.

“Who’s on cutting?”

“It’s my turn, I think,” Rachel volunteered.

I held out the designated fruit knife as though it were a regal sword, bowing deep before my queen.

Her technique was still a bit rough, but her enthusiasm was undeniable, going through many pieces of fruit of all types, aside from pineapple, which I was allergic to, and mangoes, to which Rachel was. It was a Norman Rockwell portrait of perfect domestic bliss. Pride before the fall.

It was my fault, really. I never told her about avocados. How their ‘stones’ very much lived up to the term and could glance off blades better than plate armor. I could have sworn I actually saw the knife bend slightly before it sprang back.

“Fuck!” Rachel screamed, as the gleaming steel achieved its grim purpose.

It was like a reflex. I did it so fast even I didn’t even know I was doing it. The offending knife clattered into the sink in the same instant I took her wrist in my hand.

Her blood was in my mouth, warm and coppery as I sucked, trying to stem the flow. What started as surprise soon turned to calm, her eyes actually half closing with what looked very much like relief, as well as pleasure.

Without even looking, I pulled a paper towel from the roll and lightly wrapped her hand, waiting for a moment to see if the scarlet soaked its way through.

The cut wasn’t deep, but it was in one of the worst places possible. Right between her thumb and index finger.

“‘Tis no deeper than a well, nor wider than a church door,” I muttered.

“A plague on both your houses.”

Our eyes locked, each burning with their own color of fire, the same source feeding the flames. We kissed almost violently. The driving desperation brought us together.

I lifted Rachel onto the shelf opposite the sink as she untied her robe. The tight knot finally gave way to reveal her full glory.

My hands went to her big breasts as though drawn there by a magnetic force. Her young, pink nipples already stood as rigid as pencil erasers. Her muffled moans vibrated against my mouth and tongue as I fondled her curvy body, getting her warmed up and ready for what was coming next.

Blazing a trail of warm, wet kisses along her neck and down her chest, I gently took one of her nipples in my mouth. Keeping the other between my thumb and forefinger, pulling on it, making her moan in unbridled delight.

I switched sides, giving an equal amount of love to each breast before continuing my progress downward. Rachel instinctively pulled her heels up onto the edge of the counter-top, holding her legs wide.