Page 41 of Succeeding Love

When I went for her again, she wrapped her legs around my waist to prevent me from tossing her again. We wrestled and splashed one another until she gleefully got free and swam for the side of the pool where I’d dropped the water guns.

“Dibs on the blue one!” She took the water gun and swam quickly to the other side of the floating kiddy pool to open it and fill it up.

“Orange is my favorite color,” I chuckled, picking up the other water gun and doing the same. “I’ve got to warn you,”I took a careful step around the kiddy pool as I filled the water reservoir, “I’m a highly trained killing machine and an excellent-”

“Take that!” She pushed the pool out of the way, hitting me right in the face with her stream of water. Before I could shoot her, she ducked under the water and swam away. I stood stunned for about half a second, then took off after her, catching one of her feet underwater as she swam furiously to get away.

She was so fucking cute. We took shot after shot at each other, like little kids, with no actual goal in mind. We were playing like I have never done before in my adult life. After some time, we were both winded, panting as she clung to my back, trying to force me under the water again. I went along with her one more time, pulling her over my shoulder at the last minute so she fell into the water too, then pulled her close as I brought us both back up.

“You win,” I laughed, smiling as she wrapped her legs around my waist.

My hands were on her hips, and she was clinging to my neck. It only took us a few seconds of sputtering laughter to realize the position I had put us in. Her wet cheeks colored over with her familiar blush. Her eyes kept glancing at my chest as her fingers played with the buzzed hair on the back of my neck.

Taking a chance, I slid my hands to her lower back, barely grazing the top of her soft, full ass. She gasped so softly, but I felt it in my chest. There was this growing tension between us, and my control was on the cusp of snapping. I moved us back to the steps of the pool, sitting on the middle one so she was rattling my waist in the water.

Lynn averted her gaze to the side as the credits rolled on the white screen. The music was filtering through the speakers, adding to the mood of the moment. “We…. we didn’t watch any of the movie,” she told me softly.

“Next time,” I husked, then leaned in, capturing her pouty lips. She still faintly tasted like chicken, but now she tasted like cool water, beer and just her sweet natural flavor. I loved it. She could taste like fucking bleu cheese and sauerkraut and I would still love the way she tastes.

She groaned in the sweetest way, leaning into me and holding my face to hers. This was the deepest kiss we have shared yet. The kind that seeps into your bones and you feel deep in your soul. I couldn’t get enough of her. As her tongue moved with mine, I let out a hungry growl as all my rationale snapped. My hands squeezed her ass, which felt so perfect in my grip. All of her felt amazing, and the warm pool water with her wearing nothing but a bikini didn’t help my control any.

I wanted her. All of her. I knew at that moment that Feighlynn was mine. Someone else may have been fool enough to let her go, but I never could. I could let no one else touch this perfect woman in my hands. I wanted to be the one she had water gun fights and movie nights with for the rest of our lives. I wanted to taste every flavor of all her cooking on her soft lips, and be the reason for every one of her adorable giggles.

Feighlynn was mine. Nothing was going to change that.

~

Nick

“Sign here, sir.” The last of my belongings was being carried into my new condo, Jessie helping by directing the movers to the right room as I signed the delivery papers.

“Here’s something extra for your help.” I handed the lead a couple of folded hundreds. Using the service elevator looked like a pain in the ass, but the movers got everything up without breaking a thing.

“Thanks!” He held it up gratefully with a nod. “Enjoy your new home!”

My new home. I looked around the apartment, messy with boxes and disarrayed furniture. I thought this place would feel more like a home once I got all my belongings from storage moved in, but it still feels like something is missing. It doesn’t really feel like a home just yet.

If I am being honest with myself, I haven’t felt like I was home since the day I left Fay. I tried. I tried to fake it with Arlene as long as I could, but her apartment was too pristine and too cold to feel like an actual home.

A new condo filled with new furniture and packed boxes doesn’t feel like home either. Maybe when I get everything unpacked and put in place, it will, but deep down, I know what’s missing.

Fay.

Feighlynn warmed up any space just by being in it. She could turn any dark, dreary place in my life into something exciting and lovely.

Why didn’t I see that before I left her? Why didn’t I recognize how blessed I really was?

“We got a lot of work to do, daddy,” Jessie said, putting her hands on her hips and looking around at the place.

“Yes, we do,” I smiled fondly at my little girl. “First, wanna order some pizza?”

She squealed excitedly, and my heart panged, seeing so much of her mother in her. Fay would dance for the food she loved, too. She would dance and sing for just about anything that made her happy. I had seen little of that the last year of our marriage, and I know that was mostly my fault. I’m glad I can at least see those sides of the woman I still love in our daughter.

Jessie helped by making beds while I unloaded kitchen boxes to find cutlery and plates while we waited for the pizza. I didn’t find plates, but I found an old box full of the plastic cups and cheap forks and spoons Fay and I used when we first got married. It brought back so many memories of the struggles we first faced in our marriage, being two broke college kids, that I felt a heat behind my eyes as I stared into the messy box.

When we first got married, it was the most stressful time of my schooling career. I was studying for the bar exam, and she was heavily pregnant with Preston. I was getting a stipend for student loans and working part-time too. Fay stubbornly said she was staying in school and also found part-time work at the child-care center until I finished my exams and started working full time. She always refused to be just a stay at home wife and mother, but changed her career path to one she could do from home.

She always improved my life, not letting her work interfere with keeping up with the house or the kids. I remember being in awe of her during our first years married. It became such a common occurrence for her to be the wonderful wife and mother that she was, that I stopped valuing her as much.