To Serve and Protect

Chapter 23 -- I Know You

Give her two roses, each with a note. the first note says: For the woman I love, and the second: For my best friend. --Anonymous

Chapter 23 - I Know You

I have my playful Helen back. She's a little more tentative than she used to be, but she's back. Her smile is contagious as it gleams back at me. Her eyes flick from my lips to my eyes, and I'm sure she can barely see from the distant streetlights.

My fingers hold a piece of elastic, and I offer it back to her. "I think this belongs to you."

I can't see her blush, but there is no mistaking the look of embarrassment. We were so caught up in each other that she didn't feel be take her hair down. That thought makes me chuckle.

She snatches her holder out of my hands, and I watch as she pulls her hair out of face up in a high ponytail. The way the distant light is casting shadows on her, every look seems more seductive, sexy, and "Beautiful."

She whispers her lips across mine before pulling me closer. "Thank you." Once again I find a little piece of heaven in her kiss.

Her ponytail flips around as she walks with a bit more liveliness in her step and a huge smile plastered across her face.

There's no one on the bridge with us, and she keeps taking the opportunity to kiss me. Or maybe that's me, I'm not sure. "Let's go home," she says we head toward my truck. Home? Did she just call my apartment home? Hmmm.

We settle into the couch, as per our normal routine with one major difference, Helen is snuggled up to my side. "So, does this mean I can kiss you whenever I want?" She asks, looking though her lashes at me.

"I promise to never stop you." Cupping her face, setting this moment to memory, I press a chaste kiss to her lips. I have much I need to tell her, but first we need this. She closes her eyes as I press my lips to her cheek and travel to her temple. She smiles, knowing I'm going to reacquaint myself with her face -- her beautiful, beautiful face.

"I've missed that."

"You have?"

She pulls my hand and places it over her heart, and I feel the staccato rhythm pounding in her chest. "You make me feel special."

"Because you are."

With one hand on her lower back and the other easing the holder from Helen's hair, our mouths work together as if of their own volition. She's humming again, in my arms, and her long fingers play with the divot on the top of my neck. I love you-is all my thoughts allow.

My fingers take a moment to roam the length of her back, pulling her closer as I go. Her blousy purple shirt moves with me, and I feel the slightest bit of skin beneath my hand. Another hum meets the air, and I take this as permission to touch.

She's quite slim, and it's easy for me to span across her back with just one hand. Her breath just caught as I press her into my body, and there is a slight hint of a growl, all the while her fingers play in my hair and elicit sounds I've never heard me make. God, she's perfect. It's so easy to loose myself in her lips, in her sounds, and in her touch.

When I finally pull away enough to breathe, she's looking at me with glassy, tear-filled eyes. I push the hair away from her face, and she tilts the corner of her swollen lips up at me. She looks so beautiful right her, right now.