Chapter 19
Around three in the morning, the sound of thunder in the distance woke Howie. He looked over to find Kristina tossing restlessly in her sleep. She was mumbling something that he couldn’t quite make out. He lay there, watching her, amazed at the fact that she was alive and with him again. Suddenly a loud crash of thunder exploded against the early morning sky and Kristina sat up in bed screaming.
She looked around frightened, as Howie took her in his arms to comfort her.
Lying her back on the bed, his body covering her tenderly, he said, "Hey, hey. It’s okay, baby. It was only thunder."
"Hold me, ‘D’. I’m scared."
"I’m right here, angel. Go back to sleep!"
He held her until she was fast asleep, before allowing himself to drift off to the unmistakable sound of rain hitting the window. They lay there wrapped in their love and each other until mid morning when the telephone rang, waking them both.
"Hello?" Howie said groggily.
" Did I wake you, ‘D’?"
"Yeah, what time is it?"
"A little after ten. Fiona was worried about Kris and so I told her I would call to see how things went last night," Kevin said, pulling Fiona close to him as they continued to cuddle in bed.
"Who is it, ‘D’?" Kristina asked.
Howie covered the mouthpiece of the phone and kissed her lightly. "It’s Kevin. Fiona was worried about you so she talked him into calling."
Kristina smiled, a very welcome sight to Howie’s eyes. "Tell her I’m fine and I’ll call her later!"
"Hey Kev, is Fiona there with you?" Howie asked winking at Kristina.
"Yeah!"
"Tell her that Kris will call her later. Okay?"
"Sure, bro."
"We’ll talk to you later, then," Howie said, waiting to hang up the phone.
"Hey ‘D’ – you sound good, does that mean things went better than you expected?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah, Kev. We’ll talk later. Bye!" Howie said as he unplugged the phone and tossed it across the floor.
Kristina laughed. "Don’t want to be disturbed, Mr. Dorough?"
Howie covered her body with his own, his hands roaming her soft sensuous curves as his erection pressed into her side.
"No more distractions, sweetness. All I want right now is to keep you all to myself."
"Can you just hold me? I’m still tired and I just want to sleep in your arms. You always did make me feel safe " she said smiling as her eyes closed once again.
"Anything for you, baby" Howie whispered as he spooned against her. The two of them lay like that once again until he heard the soft rhythmic sound of her respiration signaling him that she was sleeping contentedly. The two of them would sleep the rest of the day and into the night before making love over and over again.