Second Chances

Brian reached for Jennifer, holding her tightly. “I’m so sorry, Jenny.”

She resisted him for only a second, and then she turned and held him just as tightly.

“If I could go back to that time,” he whispered, stroking her hair, her back. “I’d go back to find you. And I would hold you just like this.”

She drew in a ragged breath as her arms tightened around him, as she pulled back to look up at him. Her cheeks were wet with tears. “I sure could’ve used you.”

“I would’ve told you to look at me.” Brian gazed down into her eyes, gently touching the side of her face. “To remember me. And to wait for me to show up in your life again. And I would have told you that the next time you see me, I would be there for you---forever. That no matter what you hold yourself responsible for, no matter whether you stay at NASA or go back to medical school or get a job doing something else, I’ll still love you. I’ll always love you. And that, from that moment on, from that moment when we meet again the only thing that can part us is death.”

Jennifer gazed up at the man in her arms, knowing without a doubt that his words were not meant only for the grieving 19-year-old girl she had been. His words were aimed just as well at her, and also at the woman she would become.

What a powerful thing this love he had for her was! With that love, he could soothe and start to heal wounds that had festered for too long. And she could look into the warmth and compassion of this man’s beautiful blue eyes and feel a peacefulness that she hadn’t felt in years. But she felt a yearning too. She wanted him now, not five years from now.

As if he somehow was able to read her mind, Brian brushed his lips across hers. She gave in to the temptation and kissed him hungrily, greedily, taking what he offered and then some.

And when he tugged her down with him onto the carpeted closet floor, she could no longer resist. She gave up trying to fight as he removed her dress, as he filled his hands with her soft breasts, as he touched her silky skin.

He unfastened his pants, and she knew if she let him, unless she stopped him, they would make love---right here, right now.

She didn’t want to stop him. She couldn’t have stopped him if she’d tried. She knew he saw Jenn when he looked into her eyes. She knew he kissed Jenn when he kissed her lips. And when he slipped her panties down her legs, when she helped him pull his own pants down, when she straddled him, surrounding him in one swift, incredible moment with her slick heat, she knew it was Jenn he was loving so completely.

She wished she were wrong. She wished he saw her, really saw her as he looked deeply into her eyes, as she moved on top of him. The sensations she felt were unlike anything she’d ever experienced before, but she knew despite that, it could be even better. It would be a thousand times better if she were the one he truly wanted, if she were the one he really loved.

She moved faster now, each stroke driving him closer and closer to release. He kissed her, loving the way her eyes lit with fire as she pressed herself down on top of him, as he filled her so completely.

He loved her. Jennifer, Jenn, the grieving 19-year-old girl she had once been---he loved them all. Jenn was right all along-----she and Jennifer were the same woman. He kissed her, lifting her up and lowering her down so that she was on her back. He knew just where to touch her, just what she liked, and he saw awareness and a certain vulnerability in her eyes. This may have been her first time with him, but he had been with her before.

He gazed down at her as he set a rhythm that made his blood burn praying that for her this was not just a flare-up of lust between two near strangers. She smiled up at him. Her eyes revealed far more than Jenn’s eyes ever would. There was more to this for her than sex.

She pulled his head down and kissed him, claiming his mouth as possessively as he claimed her body. She heard him groan, felt his body tense, and she knew he was as close to his release as she. She clung to him, holding him tightly, pulling him even closer, wanting to feel as much of him against as much of her as she possibly could, wanting truly to become one.

And then, with an explosion of sensation, with a flare of pleasure so intense, all lines between them vanished as they did become one. Brian couldn’t tell where he ended and Jennifer began as they spun together, out of this dimension and into a place where time stood still. There was only the scorching ecstasy of shared release.

Slowly, awareness returned. Brian lifted his head, and Jennifer found herself gazing into his eyes. He looked at her searchingly, as if uncertain of her response to what they’d just done.

She smiled at him, running her fingers through the softness of his hair. “I sure am glad you didn’t drown today. I really would’ve hated to miss that.”

His face relaxed into a hot, quick smile. “I’m glad too. More than you can imagine.” He kissed her hard on the mouth.

“You want to get out of here?” she asked him, getting up and putting her clothes back on.

Brian froze. “You’re going to do it? You’re going to decide to give up your research?” She’d turned away, but not before Brian saw the answer to his question in her eyes.

No. She wasn’t going to quit. Brian didn’t know whether to feel frustrated or relieved.

“You have the power to end this once and for all,” he told her as he fumbled with the buttons on his shirt.

“I can’t do it,” she told him, her voice low. For the past three years I’ve wanted to go back. To save them. I can’t just give it up. Not without trying to find another way.”

“You don’t think Jenn has tried to find another way?”

She glanced at him, her eyes apologetic. “I think that I can’t just quit before I have a chance to talk to her. What if together we can come up with a solution that neither of us would have thought of alone?”

“What if you do something to get yourself killed?” he countered.

“James Dixon’s not going to risk…”

“Accidents can happen, Jenny. What if they go for me and this time you step in the way of the bullet?”

She tried to make light of it. “Then I guess there’ll be no Wells Project.”

Brian wasn’t amused. “If you’re dead, Jenn will be dead too.”

Jennifer was quiet as she slipped her shoes back onto her feet. “Believe me, I’ll do my best to make sure both she and I survive,” she finally said.

“So how exactly do you plan to get us out of this closet?” Brian asked.

She picked up the rope from the closet floor---the two lengths of rope that had bound his hands and feet. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”

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