“Yeah, motherfuck, yes.” He thrust up hard and deep and held her there. Within her body, she felt his c**k jerk as he came; she watched his face, the tightening of his glorious mouth and then the total relaxation as he exhaled long and slow.

7

“Hey there, Rennie! Where are you off to all dressed up?” Rennie, ever pleased with attention to her clothing choices, turned to face Brody with a wide smile. “Hi, Brody! It’s the first day of school. Do you like my new dress? We got it last weekend.” She twirled to show the full effect and Brody clapped. Elise smiled at him too. How could she not?

“I like it very much. That’s the same color as your eyes. What grade are you starting today?” he asked, knowing full well it was the first grade because he and Elise had discussed it before.

“First. My teacher is a Mister!” Rennie’s eyes widened at the very idea of a male teacher. Sometimes, at moments like this one, Elise just wanted to hold her daughter and soak up all that wonderful and never let go.

“Wow. What’s his name?” Brody had moved to a crouch so he could see eye to eye with Rennie.

“Mr. Alexander. He was nice at the orientation. He kept looking at Momma.”

Brody’s lips quivered a bit as he stifled a smile. “Well, she’s awful pretty to look at. I can’t blame him.”

Oh good lord. “Yes, well. Time to go,” Elise said. “We’ve got to get going if we’re going to get there on time. We have all these bags of supplies to take, so we want to be early to get it all unloaded.”

Brody stood. “You guys walking?”

“The school is three blocks away, it’s a sunny day. I figured it would be good to do it while we could.”

“True.” His eyes were shaded by dark glasses, but she knew amusement lit them. He was a funny man, easily led to laugh or smile. They’d begun their sexual relationship just two weeks prior and had been able to meet only once more for another round of ridiculously hot sex. But they’d chatted many times in passing, and he’d seen her struggling with the bark and had come over, spending a good two hours helping her haul the bags and spread it.

“I’ll see you later.” The soul of a fifteen-year-old girl inhabited her body suddenly as a wave of giddiness hit her.

“I’ll be around for another hour or so,” he said quietly before he turned back to Rennie. “Have a great first day.”

“Thank you! Come on, Momma.” Rennie tugged on her hand and she laughed, walking alongside her daughter, while Rennie skipped and chattered about school. All around the neighborhood, other parents were walking their young children toward the school, and the feeling of community and common purpose made her warm inside.

As it happened, one of the little neighbor kids was also in Rennie’s class, and they became fast friends on the short walk. The girl’s mother was nice enough, full of curious but friendly questions, and Elise answered them as they walked.

The little desks were different from the tables of kindergarten, and with a pang, Elise realized how fast the time was passing. She helped Rennie label things and put them in their proper place, all the while wrestling the bittersweetness of the moment.

“Bye, Momma. See you at three.” Rennie hugged her, gave her a kiss and sat back down, happily chatting with the kids to either side, and with that, Elise was dismissed.

Brody had watched them walk away in the morning sun. The palemoonlight hair of the mother, drawn up into a ponytail, and the more golden blond of the daughter in her little first-day-of-school dress.

He’d seen the look on Elise’s face as she watched Rennie tell him all about school. His parents had been a lot older when they had kids. Brody had been the one who walked Erin and then Adrian to school for their first day each year until they were too old to need the escort. Sometimes he saw Erin so much in Rennie that it made him want to grab his phone and call to check in with his sister.

All thoughts of anyone either young or related to him flew out of his head when the knock came at his door.

“Morning.” He dipped his head to grab a kiss when she walked through his front door.

He liked the way she craned her neck to look at him better, licking her lips. “Mmm, morning. You taste like coffee.”

“You can have some when I’m finished with you.”

She dropped her bag and took his hand. “Finished, hmm? You have plans for my body?”

“Oh yes, yes I do.”

“All right then. Do me.”

The last two times they’d been together it had been at her studio. Now he had his bed and an hour. More than an hour, since he really didn’t have to be at the shop until ten. There was a lot a man could do with a fresh box of condoms, an hour and a big bed with a beautiful woman lying on it.

“I like it.” She looked around the room as she unbuttoned the front of her dress and stepped out of it, naked but for tiny panties. The morning light through the filmy curtains glowed off her skin.

“I like that.” He indicated the beauty of her body.

“Now you.” She tipped her chin at him and began to work on his belt and the button and zipper on his jeans.

Grinning, he pulled his shirt off and took over getting naked as he moved toward the bed. But she put a hand out to stop him. “Wait, I want to really look at you.” He shivered at her touch as she traced over the firebird on his back, up the line of his spine where her lips pressed a kiss. “Who does this for you? Obviously you can’t do your own back tattoo.” She ducked around him and kissed his belly, sliding her palms up, exploring his body.