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“Are you going to be alright?” Leo asked Tillie, standing at her door.

“Honestly? No. I mean, what the hell do these people want with her or with us?” Leo pulled her in for a hug, kissing her forehead and massaging her back gently with circles.

“I don’t know, babe, but we’re all going to find out.” There was a rustling in the bushes, and Tillie nearly jumped out of her skin. When Zeus tilted his head, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, she wanted to cry.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s just one of the dogs. Maybe he senses that you want protection.”

“He wasn’t exactly the protection that I was hoping for,” she smiled. “I know this feels brand new, Leo, but will you stay? Will you come in and stay with me?”

“You know I will, but are you sure, Tillie? I won’t be able to start this and walk away. We don’t have to make love tonight, but I sure as hell won’t just turn away from you.”

“Leo, I don’t want you to turn away from me. I want you to make love to me. This is special, Leo. I can feel it, and I’m a thirty-four-year-old woman who has never felt it in her entire life.”

She opened the door, and Leo followed her inside, shaking his head.

“It doesn’t make sense to me, Tillie. You’re beautiful, smart, caring, and, as we’ve mentioned before, brave as shit. Why wouldn’t a man want to make you his?”

“Oh, there were plenty of men that wanted to make me theirs. I just didn’t want it,” she said, grabbing two bottles of water.

“I dated a bit in college but never really felt that spark. You know the one. The one that my parents talk about all the time. The one that I still see with Matthew and Irene, Gaspar and Alexandra, Nine and Erin. They’ve all been married for what seems like forever, and yet they look at one another like it’s the first time. That’s what I want.”

“That’s what I want too, Tillie. I want the kind of love that doesn’t fade away with age or disability or money or time. I want the ever-lasting kind, like my parents had.”

“Tell me about them,” she said, patting the sofa cushion beside her.

“Well,” he said, taking his seat, “my mom was a nurse in the ER, as I mentioned before. My dad did lots of different jobs but never seemed to be able to hold anything down for very long. He was incredibly depressed all the time, struggling with mental illness.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said, taking his hand.

“I used to ask my mother why she didn’t just leave him. Get him some help but let him figure things out on his own. I mean, he wasn’t there for all my swim meets, he didn’t go the store for her, he would clean the house now and then, but it seemed a monumental task for him.”

“That’s because it was,” said Tillie. “I’ve been around people with depression before, and it’s a horrible, terrible thing.

They can’t control it, and yet everyone thinks they can.

They all say to them, ‘just smile and move on with your life,’ or ‘there’s too much to be happy about, snap out of it.

’ The worst one was, ‘you should be grateful for all you have.’ It doesn’t work that way. ”

“No, it definitely doesn’t. Mom was working all the time.

I got home late after a swim meet one time and heard whispering and then laughing.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d heard laughing in our house.

I stood in the hallway for a long time and realized it was my parents.

She had him talking about when they’d met and the day I was born.

“I didn’t want to interrupt, so I went out to the living room and waited for her to come out.

I asked her why she stayed with him, and she just stared at me, angry at first, I think.

She reached over and grabbed my hand. She said, ‘I married your father for better or worse. Those were the vows I recited, and I take them very seriously. I know you can’t see it right now, but your father is a smart, kind, funny man with a huge heart.

The demons that haunt him are not his alone.

I could never leave a man that’s given me something so precious. ’

“I was shocked. Truly. I apologized, and she just smiled, kissing me goodnight. When she got shot, everything changed in the house. She wasn’t able to work as much as she had. The bullet hit some major organs, and it was a constant battle to keep her alive.

“Surprisingly, Dad was able to get her to her appointments on most days. When I knew they were really getting worse, I had to leave the Navy and go to the Coast Guard. It was the best decision I ever made. I got to spend those last few months with them. My mother’s last words to me were, ‘live your life and have no regrets. I have none.’”

“That’s amazing,” said Tillie. “She sounds like a wonderful woman, and she would have fit in around here.”

“Yeah,” he laughed. “She definitely would have. She was a little like Gabi but not quite so vocal.” Tillie yawned and nodded.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You go to bed. I’ll sleep out here.”

“No. No, Leo. I want you with me, in my bed. Please,” she said, standing to take his hand.

“No turning back, Tillie.”

“No turning back.”

By the time they’d showered and crawled into bed, it was after midnight, and they were exhausted. Leo was happy just holding her naked body against his own. He’d dreamed of this, but what he hadn’t known was how absolutely perfect her body was. Toned, tight, and smoking hot.

He felt something rubbing up and down his leg and opened his eyes, surprised that it was daylight outside. It took him only a few seconds to realize where he was and where the rubbing was coming from.

“Tillie,” he groaned.

“I’ve been trying to gently wake you,” she said seductively, rubbing her hand over his rigid, stiff cock.

“Babe,” he moaned, turning on his side. He gripped her face with both hands, diving into her mouth, tasting her sweet breath. Tillie let her leg glide up his, wrapping it around his waist as his cock touched her wetness.

Leo gripped her ass cheeks, pressing her body against his own. Then, he pushed her to her back and penetrated with one full push. Fucking hell, she was tight. She wasn’t a virgin, but damn, she was close.

“Shit,” he muttered.

“What?What’s wrong?”

“Not a fucking thing, not really. Condom?”

“Oh, no. I’m good without it if you are. I’m on birth control to control my periods. I’m clean.”

“Same,” he nodded, kissing down her neck. He rocked his hips towards hers, feeling the tip of his cock buried into her very depths.

“Shit,” she muttered. “You’re a lot bigger than you looked a few minutes ago.” He chuckled, slowing his moves.

“I’m fucking hard as hell,” he moaned. “Tillie, you’re fucking gorgeous, honey, and this body is something I do not want to leave.”

“Then don’t,” she whispered against his lips.

Wrapping her legs around his middle, she lifted her hips to force him deeper, then quickened the pace. Leo took one nipple in his mouth and tasted the sugary, salty sweetness of her skin. Flicking the nipple with his tongue, she groaned, arching her back.

“D-don’t stop, Leo,” she moaned.

“No way I could,” he said, continuing his exploration. Pushing one leg higher and opening her wide, he moved faster and faster, continuing to tease and torment her poor nipples.

“Oh!Leo!Leo!” she cried.

He simply covered her mouth with his own and slammed harder and harder into her sopping-wet body. When she arched her back, jerking with satisfaction, Leo unleashed inside of her.

He’d never cum inside of a woman without protection. Never. It felt wrong and freeing all at the same time. He knew that this woman was his, and it didn’t matter. He would be exploding inside of her for a lifetime.

Kissing her one last time, he rolled over her body, both of them glistening with perspiration.

“I want to taste you,” she whispered.

He looked down at her face as the flaming red tendrils stuck to his sweaty skin. Her mouth opened, taking his semi-hard cock inside, licking and sucking until he was fully erect once more.

“Fuck, babe,” he moaned.

“That’s what I was hoping would happen,” she grinned, straddling him. “My turn to ride this pony. Buckle up. I want more.”