Operation Endurance

CHAPTER 32

Chris awoke at 7:45 on Julie’s couch with a crick in his neck, and the overwhelming memory of the night before. Hell yeah, he had an orgasm and it had been the most amazing thing. Relief, joy, and a touch of panic overwhelmed him all at once.

Where was Julie? Why wasn’t she there with him anymore? Guilt swept over him. He’d completely crashed on her. Memories from the night before swamped him, along with a good deal of confusion. He’d confessed his need for her and she’d immediately begun to doctor him like she wanted to avoid the subject. Was it possible he’d misread her? Maybe she didn’t have feelings for him anymore, but she’d said she’d never slept with Aaron. Those weren’t the actions of a woman who didn’t have feelings for him.

Julie was an extremely complex lady. He had a feeling he just needed to give her time. He could do that, but in the meantime, he wasn’t going to leave her side. He slowly stood, wrapping the blanket around his waist and tested how much weight his knee would take. Pain and pressure radiated out from his knee and up his thigh, but it would hold some weight. It wasn’t as bad as he’d expected it to be. Relief surged through him. Maybe there really wasn’t any new damage there besides some heavy bruising.

And as he moved his sore, tired body, he realized bruising was going to be the norm for the day. Everything ached and protested as he trudged slowly across the room. But he wasn’t going to let that deter him from his goal. He needed to find Julie.

He paused in the doorway of her bedroom, observing Julie while she slept. Gratitude surged through him. He had another chance here. Things weren’t as perfect as he hoped. He had a lot of work ahead of him especially since he still needed to explain to her about his fertility issues. He knew she wanted a family so this could be a major issue for them, but there were other options out there. He would tell her eventually. In the meantime, he just needed to convince her that she needed him as much as he needed her.

He dropped the blanket he’d wrapped around his waist and slid between the covers with her. He tucked in behind her and pulled her under his arm so she spooned with him, his chest pressed into her back.

She stirred lightly with a mumbled, “Chris?”

“Yeah, it’s me, Butterfly,” he whispered into her hair. “Go back to sleep.”

She breathed in deep as she half-turned her head toward him, gave a small smile, and then entwined her fingers with his. With a small wiggle of her hips against his cock, she slipped back into sleep. Anticipation zinged, knowing they could explore that later, but for now, he was happy just to be able to sleep with her in his arms. Finally.



* * *



Chris awoke when warm, moist heat engulfed his throbbing cock. He’d been having the most amazing dream, which usually was the precursor to his nightmare. Muscles tensed, he opened his eyes. He was in Julie’s room and he’d never been here in his dreams. This was real. He wasn’t trapped in that hovel in Colombia. Her tongue rolled around the tip of his engorged shaft and he moaned. Damn, he could get used to waking up like this. He glanced down at her and emotions welled when he caught sight of her mischief-filled eyes. It had been so long since he’d seen a look of joy on her face.

“Well, good morning to you, too,” he said, his voice was gruff from sleep mixed in with arousal.

Her eyes sparkled as she continued to work the pulsing length of his cock, flicking her tongue and teasing him with varying pressures of lips and suction. He wasn’t going to last long if she kept this up. He reached down and lifted her up his chest, although she gave a sound of protest, he quieted her with a passionate kiss. As she melted into his chest, he began to explore her, tugging at her t-shirt so he could get to her breasts. The sensation of skin on skin rolled over him with tingling promise.

He pulled at her shirt again. “Please Butterfly, I need you naked. Take it off.”

She stroked his naked cock and then cast a teasing glance at him. “Well, since you’re already naked, I guess it’s only fair.”

“Hmm, I do like a woman with a sense of fairness.” Her wiggling on top of him as she removed her clothing drove him crazy. As soon as she was naked, he flipped her over so that he was over top of her on the bed. It was a bit tricky with the sore knee, but the additional pain was worth it.

“Feeling like taking charge this morning, huh?” She smirked at him.

As he latched onto the nipple of one breast with his mouth, her eyes rolled closed.

As she moaned, he took a moment to tell her, “Don’t worry. I think you’ll find that you appreciate me in charge.”

“Hmm, I think you may be right about that.” Her hips surged up against him. She wrapped her legs around his back which placed his cock within thrusting reach of such a wonderfully warm and wet place. He closed his eyes and swallowed, holding his muscles taut against the urge to surge into her lush heat. Not yet.

He lifted her other breast and began to love on the underside of it as he rolled the nipple in his fingers. Her breasts were so perfectly sensitive. Harsh breathing filled the room. He needed to remember she’d just gotten out of the hospital with pneumonia. It probably wasn’t the best idea to get her too completely worked up.

“Please, Chris…” Her voice was high and breathy with need.

“Don’t worry. We’ll get there,” he soothed as he massaged the curve of her breast. “I adore your breasts. They’re so f*cking perfect.” He rolled his tongue just around the outside edge of her nipple and her breath caught with anticipation.

“Plea—”

He finally latched down and bit her nipple lightly. Her low moan filled the room as she clawed at his hair and pulled his head harder against her chest.

Reaching down, he tested her readiness for him and was gratified to find her folds hot and wet. He released her nipple from his mouth and began the trek down her stomach to paradise. He nipped at the delicate skin of the top of her thighs until she writhed with need. Spreading her legs with his hands, he settled his face between them. Here her scent was even stronger. He would never forget her smell, the smell of home for him. He swallowed against the overwhelming emotion to focus on the woman in front of him.

Spying her moist folds, his spine tingled and his cock jerked where it was pressed into the sheets on the bed. Softly, he blew on her as he whispered reverently, “You’re so damn beautiful, Butterfly.” He traced a single finger along her passage and was rewarded with the sight of her clenching, trying to draw him in. He needed to taste her. Pulling his tongue up the length of her, he was rewarded with the sweetest cream ever. His girl tasted like perfection. Her moans caused tremors to snake down his spine as he worked the tip of his tongue into her. It only took a couple of strokes before her muscles tensed in preparation of an orgasm. He added a finger gently thrusting and that sent her over the edge, splintering apart beneath him.

The clenching slowed, but she wasn’t finished. She clutched at him pulling him up. “Chris, I need you inside me. Now.”

He grinned at her as he slowly crawled up her body, rubbing his hard cock along the inner flesh of her thigh. “Darling, I would never deny you when you’re making such a nice request.” Finally, he was where he needed to be. He paused for a moment poised above her. He gazed into her eyes and as he sunk home, he murmured, “I dreamed of this for so many months, Butterfly.”

Clutching at him, she moaned his name and met his thrusts with abandon. Her inner muscles massaged and clenched the hard length of his cock, driving him to the edge of control.

He wanted this to be good for her, but her movements sent his desire spiraling out of control. He couldn’t stop. His hips snapped against her, going deeper and deeper within.

She began to whimper when he subtly changed his angle and immediately the walls of her core pulsed with undulating pleasure. He stilled, but the sensations were too much. His cock hardened to impossible lengths and a gush of hot cum flooded into her. Groaning into her neck, he pulsed over and over into her heated depths. Unrelenting ecstasy washed over him as his surging shaft released into her.

He collapsed bonelessly on top of her, trying to hold the weight of his torso off her while he caught his breath. She caressed the hot, flushed skin of his back as little flutters of her core continued to grab at him. He didn’t want to change anything about their position, but knew he had to be squishing her. Slowly he pulled out, causing them both to groan at the loss of connection. He turned to his side, pulling her onto his chest as he rolled.

Immediately sleep began to pull him back down, but he smiled when he heard her whisper, “That was perfect.”



* * *



Chris awoke to the mixed aromas of coffee and bacon. His stomach rumbled. Rolling over to look for the clock, he groaned. It was already 1:00 in the afternoon. But then the beginnings of a smile spread across his face. Despite his attack, last night had been one of the best of his life.

Already half hard from a morning woody, his cock sprang to fully erect as memories of Julie and the night before floated through his mind. He rubbed his palm over it. Damn, he’d missed that feeling, but it was even better when he had it pressed against Julie. Thank God, everything seemed to be fully functional again. He needed to find her.

He sat up in the bed and his muscles, both the abused ones and the overused ones, screamed in protest. He gently pulled the covers off his knee to examine it. Swollen again. Yeah it probably hadn’t been a good idea to make love to Julie from the top last night.

There were several new shades of angry purples and blues and those colors had spread out more from where they’d been last night. It looked bad, but as he gently flexed it, he had to admit it didn’t feel as bad as it looked, just tight and sore. It was probably time for some more ice. He slowly rose out of bed, looking around for some clothes before remembering he’d come in wrapped in a blanket last night, so he wrapped that same blanket around his waist and hobbled into the guest room where he could get some basketball shorts and a t-shirt out of his bag.

By the time he was dressed, his muscles were a bit more limber and he wasn’t moving like an eighty-five year old man anymore.

He stopped in the doorframe of the kitchen where he spotted Julie, leaning over the counter so he had a tantalizing glimpse of her bare breast under her silky robe. She worked on a list while chewing on a piece of bacon. She finished one list, ripped it off and immediately started writing on another. Her brow creased in concentration as she scribbled furiously. Rachel had told him to not let Julie make lists.

Glancing around her kitchen, he noticed there seemed to be more pieces of paper than usual stuck everywhere. Rachel had seemed pretty sure that the lists were a bad thing, so maybe he should explore this issue a bit.

He stepped into the room and Julie looked up at him with a smile.

Joining her on the other side of the breakfast bar, he wrapped his arms around her tiny waist. “Good morning, Butterfly, even if it is afternoon.” He breathed in the scent of pear and jasmine mixed with hot sex. “Why didn’t you wake me up when you got up?”

“I thought you needed your sleep.” She kissed the corner of his mouth and then turned his face so she could examine the bruises in the light, wincing as she did so. “How sore are you?”

He shrugged. “It’s not as bad as I expected and definitely better than the alternative. I’m just happy to be alive and kicking still. Really, really happy.” He slid a hand into the gaping neckline of her robe and palmed her breast. The nipple immediately hardened under the palm of his hand and her eyes darkened, but she slipped out of his grasp.

“Nuh uh, first of all,” she pointed her finger at him, “you need food to keep this up. And second of all,” she sat down on her haunches in front of him and gently smoothed her fingers over the tight skin of his knee, “we need to get some more ice on this to get the swelling down. It also would probably be a good idea to get a call in to your orthopedist so he can x-ray it and make sure nothing was damaged.”

He knew she was right, but he just wanted to stay in bed with her all day. Was that so wrong? “Tell you what, let’s eat, then we can take a look at the knee and see what needs to be done. It actually feels okay. The odds are that I’m not even going to be able to get into my doc’s office this late in the day anyway. I think if we can get the swelling to recede again, it’ll be fine.”

She twisted her mouth as she studied him through her dark lashes. “Okay,” she relented. “If we can get the swelling down, I’ll let you put off the doctor until tomorrow. But I do want to sit down with it and examine it thoroughly myself.”

“Aw, Butterfly,” he wrapped her back up into his arms, “you’re welcome to examine any part of me that you’d like.”

She swatted at his chest with a laugh. “Sit down and I’ll make you a plate of food.” She moved back into the kitchen, dished up his food, and sat it in front of him.

As he ate, he gestured toward the slips of post-it notes spread throughout the kitchen. “So, what are you working on?”

“Um,” her gaze skittered away from his, “just some lists. Nothing important.”

“Really?” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “You seemed to be working pretty hard on that list when I got here for something not that important.”

Suddenly Julie shot out of her chair and began to gather the various scraps of paper. “Nope, just busy work.”

His gut twisted. This was what Rachel was talking about. This wasn’t the Julie he’d known that Valentine’s Day weekend, stressed and strung out over something. She didn’t have multiple lists and scraps of paper then and she’d been working to change her life. What did it all mean? He wasn’t sure, but he planned to puzzle it all out. He just prayed that something wasn’t him. If it was, that didn’t bode well for the two of them.

Losing his appetite, he stood and carried his plate to the sink before turning around to Julie, who stood there nervously holding scraps of paper. He pulled her into his embrace. “Relax, it’s okay. I didn’t mean to push.” He kissed the top of her head and tugged her back toward her bedroom. “Now, can I interest you in a shower?”

She tugged back, shaking her head. “No hot showers for you today. Ice. Knee. Couch.”

He groaned and maybe pouted, too. Just a little.