Mister Nobody – Part 10 | And I’m standing on the front line

Lisa wasn’t even sure that she would be able to make it at first. Talking to Michael about how they could pull this out was one thing, but making it work for real was something else entirely. And she wasn’t half as good of a performer as he was.

Emotions were pushing and pulling at her, granting her no reprieve. She wanted him to keep flying under the radar, safe and protected and, having the chance, she’d take a space shuttle to another planet to do that. At the same time, she was ready to stay and fight by his side, keeping away whatever life form might even remotely think about keeping them apart. It occurred to her that the state of constant alert she had been living in since his return would end up being a useful ally, after all.

One of the beasts keeping her awake at night was the fear of letting him down again. And herself in the process. Of course, in 2009 she had already come to accept what she had always known to be real. That she should have never let him go, and they should have fought more for what they had. And after so many years spent mourning the utter impossibility of another chance, now that the miracle had happened Lisa was not willing to give up on Michael. Not again, and not ever.

She was well aware of the panic attacks that had been gnawing at her since the first time they had made love. Those attacks were aggressive and unpredictable and she had no defenses. In the middle of the night, she would sometimes lock herself in the bathroom and just sit on the floor, pressing her hands over her mouth and rocking slowly, trying to choke the sobs threatening to escape, hoping not to wake Michael up. She had never experienced anything similar before: it didn’t matter how much her soul felt reborn, full of unspeakable joy and pure happiness. She was still tormented by genuine and undiluted fear. She felt a brand new flavor of mourning that didn’t allow any peace: the fear of losing him again.

Of course, it was not Michael’s fault. The state of affairs was eerily simple: with him gone, she had turned into a lifeless pool of still water. Him coming back had created the most absurd paradox: the memories of losing him had become so vivid and bright that Lisa lived in constant fear of them shifting into reality. Michael had breathed her back to life, but he was also the whirlwind creating havoc in the stillness she had been living in. The lifeless pool of water had turned into a monstrous ocean, and now she was drowning.

However, it was not his burden to bear. Whatever festering wound was infecting her, she had to take care of it herself. Nobody needed to know. Especially Michael. He didn’t need to see how ugly she could get inside her mind, how desperate and frail. What a dark, infernal second soul lived within her.

Besides, she was sure that it would all go away eventually. She just had to be patient and hold tight, waiting for the storm to pass. Her grip on sanity was all about remembering that, no matter how bad her anxiety could get, it was always better than living in a world that didn’t include Michael anymore. That was the kind of horrifying pain that had no remedy. This was nothing compared to what life had been without him.

When that night the doorbell rang and she got up to open the door, she tried hard to remember that the man in front of her was Michael – and yet wasn’t. She managed to look as cool as a cucumber as she rose from the couch and pretended to ignore Alecia’s playful excitement.

“Ohhh, there he is!” Lish clapped her hands, ecstatic like a little girl. “Hurry up! Open the darn door… let me see this guy!”

Lisa snorted and started walking over to the hall.

“Calm down and try to not pass out, OK? And please, behave… Ethan is a bit of an introvert…”

“But I don’t care if he’s shy. I wanna see what’s so special about him that got you so damn hooked.” Alecia too stood up.

“Hooked? What the heck are you talking about?”

“Girlfriend… You forget that I know you. I see the way you talk about him… You’re totally smitten…”

Lish… you got no idea.

“I  am not! He’s just a good friend, I told you.”

“Sure, sure… A good friend…” Alecia laughed her characteristic, deep laugh. “Come on… Open up, let me feel them love vibes…”

The moment Lisa opened the door, the look in Michael’s eyes and his calm demeanor immediately infused her with a peace she didn’t think she could feel. He was calm, collected, gorgeous in his pinstriped three-piece suit, his hair slicked back, looking like a fine gentleman or perhaps like a mature Hollywood star. The moment he pulled her closer and kissed her, she felt his warmth and realized how in control of this he was. Michael was in full-on performance mode. And just as he was incredibly poised before a show, he was now ready to face Alecia and anyone else on the planet as the entertainer that he was. The best in the world.

He stepped into the house and something just clicked about him. Lisa could only watch in awe, finally understanding why not even she had been able to recognize him right away. All the while, knowing well that his performance with her had never been so flawless. He too had been shaken by their reconnection. Even before Lisa cornered him and forced him to come clear, the night of their date, he had sometimes let his guard down, allowing her to see a glimpse of the man hiding behind the mask.

Lisa felt like a spectator as he talked to Alecia as if he really was meeting her for the first time, his voice low and deep, his choice of words perfect and purposeful. He was polite, engaging, funny, not a word out of place. Not a single slip-up. Every now and then, he would throw Lisa a glance and a barely visible smirk would appear on his lips. She had to smile in return. She couldn’t help it. At one point, he even gently patted the spot next to him on the couch.

“Lisa… why don’t you come sit near me?”

Lisa’s heart jumped in her chest. Why was he overdoing? Why was he pushing it? That was something Michael would say, not Ethan. She frowned and he just held her gaze, his eyes silently communicating that everything was fine. Everything was going just the way it was supposed to go.

“Right, Lisa… why don’t you go sit near him?” Alecia chimed in with a smile.

Lisa didn’t want anything but to be closer to him, reach out and touch him, hold his hand, but hesitated. Reading her perfectly, Michael cocked his head to a side.

“Please?”

Trying to act cool and collected, Lisa sauntered over and sat down next to him. He immediately leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, taking her hand. Then he turned back to Alecia and grinned.

“So… Ethan… are you treating my girl good?” Her tone was amused, her eyes playful and shiny.

“Well, I sure hope so…” He squeezed Lisa’s hand tighter. “I’m doing my best. She deserves to be treated right… We’re still getting to know each other, but what I do know is that she’s an amazing woman.”

“She really is. And I’m glad she found you, even though she kinda deviated from her usual taste in men this time…” Alecia was a tiny bit tipsy, and that didn’t help her already pretenseless attitude. Lisa didn’t mind, as long as her friend didn’t overstep, which she was known to do.

“Really? How so? I don’t know much about her taste in men.”

The feigned measured surprise he showed seemed to work just fine.

Alecia’s intelligent grey eyes studied him for a moment, then she waved her hand in the air in a very casual fashion.

“Well, she usually goes for the wild guys… You know… artists, musicians… She doesn’t like mediocrity.”

Michael touched his tie and shrugged.

“Well, I’m lucky then. I don’t think I would define myself as a wild guy at all… I’m pretty boring, actually.”

“No, you’re not,” Lisa laughed, and he smirked, glancing down at their interlaced fingers. Gosh, of all the things Michael was, boring definitely wasn’t included in the list.

“See? She’s right. I mean, I’m not sure…” Lish kept studying him. “You don’t look boring at all. As a matter of fact, you look like the kinda guy who got some aces up his sleeve.”

“But still, I’m not an artist.”

How believable he sounded. Lisa almost had to laugh.

“Priorities change as life goes on, Lish…” She chimed in instead, hoping that her friend would just relent.

Right on cue, Michael’s cell phone rang and he reached for the inner pocket of his jacket. He watched the ID flashing on the screen and frowned. “I’m sorry. I have to take this… If you’ll excuse me…”

He rose from the couch and walked out of the room to have a bit of privacy. Alecia’s gaze followed him.

“Oh, we’ll excuse you alright, daddy…” She whispered, and Lisa shook her head, chuckling. Then she took a sip of wine. She really needed it.

The second Michael closed the French doors and disappeared in the other room, Lish clasped her hands together and leaned over, watching her best friend straight in the eyes.

“Lise…”

“Yeah?” Lisa kept sipping her wine slowly and tried to sound casual and relaxed.

“You wanna know what I think of him?”

“Sure… Go ahead.”

“Pinstriped suit… Vest… Tie… Did you notice the darn pocket watch?”

“Of course. I told you Ethan loves clocks and watches…”

“Girl, you got yourself a fuckin’ hot silver fox!”

Caught completely off guard, Lisa threw her head back and laughed.

“So I take it you approve?”

“Hell yeah. I mean…” Lish cleared her throat and spoke in a conspiratorial tone. “Dude looks kinda conventional, but I can tell he’s hung like a bull.”

“Oh my fucking god, Lish!”

“I’m just stating the truth,” she replied matter-of-factly, leaning back into the armchair.

“Well, OK… but keep your eyes to yourself and don’t look at him like that…” Lisa chuckled, her lips still slightly touching her glass.

“Not my fault,” Alecia’s eyebrows sprung up. “I mean… that thing is there and all over the place every time he moves his legs… It’s not that you can really ignore it.”

“You’re unbelievable. I thought you were way more mature than this.”

“No, you didn’t.” Lish laughed heartily, then turned serious and sighed. “…But Lisa, seriously… I’m happy for you. I really am. This guy seems more than alright… And those smoldering looks he throws at you when he thinks I’m distracted… He’s smitten. Just like you… So please don’t bullshit me with that ‘friend’ stuff. He’s not your friend.”

Lisa just stared at her.

“He is my friend, first and foremost… But you’re right. I am falling in love with him.” Why deny it? It was the truth. She had always been in love with Michael, but meeting him again also meant falling for him all over again.

“Yeah, I can see that. Whether you guys admit it or not… It’s pretty obvious.” Lish gulped down her wine and bit her lip. “And you deserve this, my friend. After all that has happened. You deserve some happiness. I’ve been so fucking worried about you. You have no idea.”

“I know… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I know you’re doing your best. And now this Ethan… If he’s as special as you tell me he is, he is a gift from heaven.”

A gift from heaven, indeed.

“By the way, now that I’ve seen him, I realize where you were coming from when you told me he reminds you of Michael…”

“Yeah?”

An alarm went off in Lisa’s mind. She shouldn’t have told Alicia. She had inadvertently put Michael in danger by ranting to her best friend like a dimwit.

“Yeah… I think it’s that calmness that he seems to exude. And that simmering fire under the placid surface, I can tell… It’s the way he looks at you… Michael used to look at you the same way… Remember?”

Lisa didn’t reply. Her lips felt parched. Yes, she remembered. How could she forget?

“…But other than that, I’m sorry, girl… I don’t see how you can think he’s Michael. It’s pretty obvious they are two different men.”

Lish’s eyes looked sad. She knew what Michael meant to her best friend.

Lisa managed to hide the relief she felt behind a tranquil facade. It was OK if Lish thought she was delusional. As long as Michael was safe.

“Maybe it’s a sign, you know?” Alecia kept observing her cautiously, as if studying her reaction. “I mean… Perhaps this is a sign for you to just… let go, finally.”

“Yeah, maybe…” Lisa murmured.

“Look… I know you love Michael… and I know you always will. But this, honey… this looks like a chance to start a new life. A chance for a new beginning.”

“For a new beginning, yeah.”

Michael left a few minutes later, after finishing his call. Politely, he excused himself with Alecia and, shaking her hand, reiterated how glad he was to have finally met her after hearing so much about her.

Lisa walked him to the door and, putting her coat on, said her goodbye on the patio. She wasn’t surprised to discover that he had been talking with his kids over the phone. She had known it the moment she had caught a faint glimpse of pure excitement, happiness and melancholy in Michael’s eyes. Right then and there, everything else was forgotten. And rightfully so.

She leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his waist and he held her in his warm embrace. She sighed.

“The kids… Are they OK?”

Michael’s chin rested on the top of her head, his eyes staring into the darkness.

“Yeah… They’re gonna call me again for Christmas.”

“So you sure they won’t coming over?”

“No… They won’t.”

Lisa remained silent for a moment.

“I’m sorry you won’t be able to spend Christmas with them…”

Sadness filled her soul, imagining the loneliness he had been subjected to during the past seven years. The mere idea of being separated from her babies devastated her – the thought took her breath away. She could only vaguely fathom the reality that Michael’s life implicated. Well… hopefully, with her as a bumper, things would soon change for the better.

His body stood perfectly still, like a statue.

“Yeah, me too… But at least, this year I have you…” He pulled back and gently touched her cheek with his gloved hand. “You gotta know what this means to me.”

“I do…” She kissed the palm of his hand and looked up at him, her eyes shining. “And there will be Riley and Ben, too…” She gave him a crooked smirk. “…And my mother.”

Michael rolled his eyes and grinned.

“Right… That’ll be… interesting.”

“You sure you wanna do it?”

“I’m sure. No way I’m gonna spend another day without you. And I’m happy to see Danielle and Benjamin.” He bent his head and kissed her lips, softly at first, and then with a barely restrained passion. “Girl, I’m gonna miss you tonight.”

“You can stay here if you want… You know that.” Lisa felt her insides tingle. Pressing her body against his, she noticed that there was at least a part of him that really didn’t want to leave. “Lish doesn’t mind.”

“I know, but I still think it’s best if I just go home. I want you to have the chance to spend some more time with Alecia before she goes back to her hotel tomorrow.”

He was right. Alecia’s visit would only last one day. Carey and Willow were waiting for her in Aberdeen. They were headed to Switzerland, where they had planned to spend Christmas and New Year’s Eve in the snow, skiing.

“Uh-uhm…” Lisa rose on her tiptoes and kissed his neck, the tip of her tongue stroking the neatly shaved skin near his beard line. “Do you know that this will be the first night we spend apart since…”

She felt him shiver.

“Oh, I know. And I hate it.”

His huffy tone made her laugh. She smacked his butt and backed off half-heartedly.

“Go home! And I see you tomorrow… ‘kay?”

He walked backward and down the three stairs of the patio.

“Yeah, I better go… Before I change my mind.”

“Dude, I told ya… you can stay if you want…” Lisa giggled and winked at him suggestively.

“Stop it… you’re such an evil little woman…”

He pushed his hands into the pockets of his coat and started walking toward his house. Lisa watched him as he immersed himself in the darkness, her body shivering because of his sudden absence.

“Lise?” He called out from the night.

“Yeah…” She could barely make out his outline.

“I love you…”

She smiled, tears threatening to flow.

“I love you too, baby. Good night.”

The next day, when he heard Lisa knocking on his door frantically, Michael had barely removed his hoodie after his morning jogging session, his body still sweaty and tingly. He opened the door frowning and she stormed inside, her face flushed, her eyes huge.

“What the hell…” He moved away from the threshold, fearing that she would knock him down. “Lise! What’s going on?”

Holding a crumpled magazine in her hand, she shook her head, mumbled something that he couldn’t make out and walked over to the kitchen. He followed her, trying hard to figure out why she looked so bent out of shape all of a sudden. She was OK the last time she had seen her.

“Lisa… Can you please stop for a second and tell me what’s wrong with you?”

She threw the magazine on the table as if it burned, then pointed at it.

“Did you see that?”

“Did I see what?”

Narrowing his eyes, Michael grabbed the rag from the table. It was a tabloid. Lisa was on the cover, amongst several supposed “stars”. And she was not alone: he was there with her. Not as Michael Jackson, sure, but still…

Squinting his eyes since he wasn’t wearing his reading glasses, Michael assessed the situation as best as possible. The picture was grainy, but there was no doubt where it had been shot: on the beach. The long strip of sand he and Lisa loved to stroll on when they wanted to be close to the sea and go unnoticed. Well, it looked like someone had noticed them, alright.

“Lisa Marie Presley’s new beau: Elvis’ daughter gets cozy with an unknown man right in the middle of her fourth divorce.”

“Look at that! What the fuck is that? How did we end up on that fucking cover? This is a mess, Michael!”

She ran her hand through her hair and started pacing back and forth in the room. Michael glanced up at her, his face serious.

“Where did you get this?”

“Downtown… After dropping Lish off at her hotel. I stopped at the grocery store to get some food and there it was…” She could barely meet his eyes, and it was clear from her body language that she was about to hyperventilate. “How did it happen? We never noticed anything! God… we’re fucked!”

“Telephoto lens…”

“What?” Her eyes flew up to him.

“Telephoto lens… That’s how it happened. I think…”

Shaking her head, she let herself fall on a chair.

Michael squared his jaw and, very calmly, flipped through the pages until he found the article. Two pages dedicated to Lisa and what the paps called “her new man.” Three oversized, grainy pictures showing he and Lisa strolling on the beach, sitting down on the sand, his arm wrapped around her shoulders and, finally, kissing.

He raised an eyebrow, then cleared his throat and started reading out loud.

“Elvis’ daughter isn’t planning to go back to her estranged husband Michael Lockwood anytime soon, or so it seems. The heiress of the King of Rock’n’Roll was spotted in Scotland with an unknown man, looking quite cozy only a few months after leaving rehab, where she recently recovered from prescription drugs addiction…”

He made a face and paused for a moment, his eyes scanning the page.

In all honesty, he didn’t find those pictures concerning at all, but the mere mention of Lisa’s addiction problem was enough to make his head spin and bring him back to the past, when she had gone through her nervous breakdown after their divorce and she had almost died. He still remembered the feeling of sheer terror and utter powerlessness. Unlike the first time around in 1996, he hadn’t been with her and had found out about the whole matter only after it had happened. Too late, too late. Realizing the risk she had run had scared the daylights out of him, and possibly for the first time he had come to understand how she must have felt when she nagged and nagged him to please get rid of some of the “doctors” gravitating around him more than was really necessary. The shoe didn’t feel so great when it was on the other foot.

“…Presley also seems to have left behind her passion for musicians and singers. According to our inside sources, her new man is a commoner, a fifty-something bachelor from New York involved in the art dealing business in Europe and who just recently moved to Scotland. What is yet to be seen is if Lisa Marie’s new man will try to take advantage of his wealthy girlfriend. Elvis’ daughter was once married to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, and actor Nicolas Cage. Now, she seems to be going for a mister nobody…”

He couldn’t help but grin and Lisa stared at him incredulously.

“Are you grinning? For real? What the hell are you grinning at?”

Michael’s smirk turned into a full smile, and he shook his head.

“Nothing… I’m just surprised they still remember your marriage to Cage… The Speedy Gonzales of marriages…” He giggled to himself.

“Are you fucking kidding me, Mike?” She snatched the magazine from his hands and slammed it back down on the table. “We got back together like… two seconds ago and we’re already on the cover of a tabloid. And you think it’s funny?”

“What am I supposed to think?” Michael tilted his head and watched her with amused eyes.

“Michael?!”

“Lisa Marie!? What? Nothing happened. Someone took a couple of pictures. So?” He turned serious and walked around the table, placing his hands on her waist. “Nothing happened, baby.”

“But they… they…”

Michael bent his head to take a good look at her.

“They what? It’s their job… I hate those clowns, but that’s their darn job. They gossip. That’s what they do.”

“But they know… I mean, about us… They noticed us!”

“Yeah. And they know what they are supposed to know.”

“For now! But what if they find out, Michael? What if… What if you have to hide again?”

From the way she gulped down air, it was clear that she was on the verge of a new panic attack. A problem that was seriously starting to worry him.

“I told you. I ain’t hiding no more.” He straightened his back. “Listen to me. They won’t find out shit. They will get to know what they’re supposed to know… And even if they dig deeper, I am sure we’ll be OK anyway. You gotta trust me. Plus, what did you expect? You’re the famous one here, now…”

Once again, he couldn’t help but smile. Strangely enough, the realization of not being in the spotlight anymore as an individual while his artistic legacy continued – no matter what – was so… refreshing. Besides, he was sure that Lisa wouldn’t be subjected to any major scrutiny once the news became old.

“Come on, Lise… You must know that it would have happened, sooner or later. And the sooner, the better. We’ll just keep moving forward… You and I. I wanna go back to living… and I wanna do it with you. If you’ll have me.”

“What if they do it for real? If they dig deeper?” She stared at him, seeking comfort in his eyes.

“Let them do whatever they want. There’s nothing to find out.”

“Mike, I wish I could be as confident as you are about this. But I’m seriously freaking out, here…”

“I know. But I’m here now… And I promise you it’ll be OK.”

And he meant it. He pulled her into his arms, wishing he could shelter her from the panic she so obviously felt whenever she was under the impression that he could be in danger.

In the first months that had followed his disappearance, Michael had been sure that he was just not equipped to live a different kind of life. As a matter of fact, for a while he had just survived, not knowing what to do with himself. An entire life in the spotlight had done that to him. For the first time in his life, he was all alone – but in a way that was completely different compared to the crystal cage he had experienced before. Him being locked in while the rest of the world was locked out.

Time, discipline, resilience and the relief of being still alive had helped him get through that phase. Not only had he learned to take care of himself properly and be completely independent, but after a while he had also started to enjoy his new life – despite all its obvious limitations.

First of all, he was no longer surrounded by blood-sucking leeches who wanted to take advantage of him – and that had been a significant improvement in itself. His health had immediately felt the positive effect of his freedom: his Lupus had been in remission for the past five years, quiescent and merciful, and he no longer experienced its devastating effects. No more rashes, no more inflamed joints, no more hair thinning, no more flares. Even his insomnia had gotten better. He felt stronger and healthier than he had felt in ages.

Michael was convinced that the main reason for his newly-found good health was the fact that his life no longer was a constant race or competition. He no longer had to prove anything to anybody. The moment he had realized that the perpetual struggle was over, he had been finally able to focus on his well-being and that of his loved ones. And now, even Lisa was back. All things considered, everything could have been much worse than this, and although his life certainly wasn’t ideal, he knew very well that what he had now was the best he could expect. And he cherished that, feeling grateful just for having another chance.

“Michael…” Lisa’s voice brought him back from his meditations. “Where have you gone?”

“Nowhere. I’m right here. I was just thinking that it’ll be fine. You’ll see.” He backed off slightly and kept her at arm’s length. “In fact, I think we should take this thing as positively as we can.”

“God… You’re nuts.” She tried to smile, but that look of uncertainty still clouded her eyes.

“No, I’m not. Like I said, it had to happen. We hit the news, and now we know that it’s working.”

She just blinked, shaking her head and he pulled her into his embrace once again. When he heard her sniffle and felt her bury her face in the crook of his neck, he wasn’t even surprised by her tears. Lisa had been under a lot of stress, and his return had been the cherry on top of several exhausting months. Or several exhausting years.

“Lisa… baby. Please, don’t cry. I don’t want you to cry…” He kissed her temple. “It kills me, every time.”

He felt her cool hands on his neck, and her scorching hot lips on his chin, then his lips, and he immediately reciprocated the kiss. He knew that she needed to be reassured and more than anything else he wanted her to relax and not being swept away by her anxiety. Again. More than once he had heard her wake up in the middle of the night and hide in the bathroom. It had broken his heart.

He framed her face with both hands and deepened the kiss, then showered her face with butterfly kisses on her cheeks, forehead, eyes, until finally the tears stopped streaming down her face.

“I love you, Lise… you know that, girl, don’t you?”

His voice was calm. His hands were warm. His breath, slow and regular.

“I love you too, nutjob…” Lisa felt like crying and laughing at the same time. Michael’s confidence was contagious. It didn’t matter that a part of her was still uncertain about their future. It occurred to her that she could finally lean on someone to get through this. She could lean on him. “…And I wanna do this right.”

“We’re doing it right.”

His eyes found her. Then he kissed her again, and she felt enveloped in a soft cloud of warmth. Her nerve endings tingled, shaking her to the core the moment his tongue touched hers.

When he gently steered her toward the kitchen table, she let him. When he picked her up and made her sit there, she let him. When he parted her legs and pulled her into his body, making her aware of how much he wanted her, the only thing she could do was push her hands under the damp fabric of his t-shirt and rake her nails on the smooth skin of his back. She heard him moan, lowly, and something in her mind snapped like a rubber band stretched to the limit.

“You gonna let me make you feel good, baby girl?”

Michael’s voice, thick and velvety, his breath caressing her ear and Lisa leaned her head back, leaving her neck exposed, closing her eyes when he started to draw a trail of kisses on her skin. God… This man wanted to make love to her all the time. And she felt the same about him. Magic.

He freed her from her coat, then took off her sweatshirt, and finally her t-shirt, unclasping her bra and letting it slide on the floor. He pulled back for a second and his dark eyes moved from one breast to the other.

“God, Lise… you’re so fucking beautiful. You’re perfect… I wish I could control myself better around you, but when I see you, all I wanna do is rip your clothes off and take you…”

She gave him a lopsided smirk, her eyes only half-open. She was already inebriated by his physical proximity, by his hands touching her so intimately.

“Are you for real? Do you wish you could control yourself better?”

Michael smirked.

“Hell, no…”

Within seconds he was on her lips again, kissing her deeply, his tongue exploring her mouth thoroughly, stroking, probing. He was priming her entire body for what was about to come.

“Take this off…”

A rushed whisper and her hands quickly removed his t-shirt, blindly reaching for his sweater pants, dipping into them and grabbing his penis, squeezing it and relinquishing her grip just a little when she heard him moan. All the while, he pulled her jeans down, and she kicked them off. Her panties quickly followed. Fuck them. She didn’t need them. The moment he touched her, her hips bucked forward and a sob escaped her lips.

“Shit!” She pulled him into her and bit the soft skin of his shoulder. “I need to feel you inside me… Baby, please. You’re the only guy who can make me angry and puzzled and hopeful and horny… all at the same time…”

She felt him smile against her skin.

“Good… Glad to know some things haven’t changed…”

His breath was uneven. His eyes closed, he cupped her breast and fondled it, loving the sounds escaping from her mouth, loving the taste of her nipple against his tongue. Lisa leaned back on the table, her hand on his chest, the other grabbing hold of his hardness, finally freeing him from the constraint of the fabric. She tugged at him slightly and felt him jump in her hand.

“Come here… Please, Mike. Come on…”

He opened his eyes and looked at her, his hands on her perfect ass, lifting it off the surface of the table just enough. He pulled her closer, and they connected in one fluid movement. All of a sudden, he was inside of her and she gasped. The look of concentration on his face almost made her come right away.

When he surged forward and plunged into her completely, they both let out a loud moan at the same time. He stood still for a second, giving her the time to adjust to him, blinking and breathing through his mouth, trying to control the impulse to take her hard and fast.

Michael watched as she finally opened her eyes and stared at him languidly, her dark, long eyelashes in perfect contrast with the deep azure of her irises, her body relaxing. She spread her legs wider and reached down, touching his abdomen and sliding her fingers down until they rested where they were joined. She smiled lazily at him, knowing well how to regain a bit of the control she had lost only minutes earlier.

“Is this pussy yours? Are you going to take it? Or are you just gonna stare?”

Damn… his girl sure knew out to make him go from one to one million in a second. And she certainly knew what that kind of dirty talk did to him.

He thrust forward with a grunt, vigorously, and whatever it was that Lisa was going to say vanished into thin air. He started to slide inside of her the way he knew she liked. It was sweet, and yet it held a powerful undercurrent of passion that hadn’t diminished at all during the many years they had not been together. He still desired her, craved her, just like the very first time they had made love and he knew, by the way her body responded to his, that she felt just the same way. Never he had felt so safe with a woman.

“Damn… Lise… You’re gonna be the end of me…”

He was panting and strands of sweaty hair were plastered against his forehead as he kept moving in her. She sat up and grabbed him by the shoulders, needing some leverage to counterattack his thrusts. She bit down on his chin and the tip of her tongue touched his lips. He opened his mouth, and they kissed again. His head spun, and he clutched the edge of the table with both hands, his hips pushing forward and upward, rotating, dancing an ancient, irresistible dance. Moving harder, deeper.

“There you go, Mike… that’s it. Just… like… that.”

Lisa moaned against his lips, her hands cradling his head now, her thumbs stroking his bearded cheeks. When she came, he felt her grab and squeeze him so hard that he about lost it there and then. And when he finally released into her body, several minutes later, the only thing he heard was her whisper into his ear, telling him, over and over again, to come for her.

He would not let anything in the world stand between he and Lisa, and promised to himself he would fight to keep feeling what he was feeling at that very moment. That peace, that comfort, that absolute ecstasy. Nothing in the world was going to take that away from them. Never again.

Chapter song