Refuge

Refuge

The leaves in the trees fluttered in protest as a fierce rumble of thunder shook the mountains. Lightning split the rapidly darkening sky, opening it up. Rain poured down hard and fast, stinging my exposed skin. The inn where I was staying was a good three miles behind me, but up ahead was a covered bridge. It promised shelter, refuge from the storm.

The white cotton dress I was wearing had become drenched, transparent, and was molded to my body. I broke into a run. The sound of the slap of my sandals against the pavement, the smell of the surrounding pines, and the feel of the cool rain in the middle of the hot summer day took me back to a time when my life was simple and uncomplicated.

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Refuge
Copyright © Samantha Sommersby, 2009
All Rights Reserved, Samantha Sommersby.

A loud clap sounded as I entered the bridge, drowning out the echo of my steps. I was breathless, panting from the exertion.

“Mandy?”

Justin Drake stepped out of the shadows, all six-foot-two, one hundred eighty delicious pounds of him. It’d been years since I’d seen him. One look and I suddenly couldn’t remember the reason that we’d broken up. The bastard hadn’t aged a day. He looked exactly like he had back in college.

“Jesus, its good to see you,” he said.

I stood rooted to the spot as he climbed off of the Harley Softail he’d been straddling. Justin was wearing what he always wore: black boots, blue jeans, and a white t-shirt that clung to his still-sculpted torso like a second skin. His eyes drifted down the length of my body as he walked towards me, his gait confident and assured.

“You live here?”

I shook my head. “Just visiting. I’m staying at an inn a couple miles away. How about you?”

“Passing through. I have a little place down in Portsmouth, right on the water. Christ, I can’t believe I drove right by you a few minutes ago. If I hadn’t stopped to watch the storm. Have dinner with me, Mandy.”

When things ended between Justin and I all those years ago I was heart broken and it had taken me a long time to pick up the pieces and move on. Only, I hadn’t ever really moved on. Justin had been my first lover. He was the one that I compared all of the others to.

“I…”

“You can’t,” he finished. “Of course you can’t.” Justin raked his fingers through his dark, curly hair. “Don’t know what I was thinking. You’re here with someone.”

“No,” I said, stepping back in retreat. “No, I’m not with someone.”

“So that’s a yes then?” Justin smiled and moved in, matching me pace for pace. He slid one arm around my waist then reached for my hand, threading his fingers through mine. “Say yes, Mandy,” he whispered into the shell of my ear. His breath was hot and inviting. “I know you want to.”

I was flooded with memories of hot summer nights and scorching, sinful sex. I could feel the slow burn of anticipation growing in the pit of my stomach. He was right. I did want to.

The hand that had been resting at the small of my back slid up the length of my spine, then tangled itself in the long, wet tresses of my hair. Justin tilted my head back and gazed searchingly into my eyes. “I promised myself if I ever laid eyes on you again, I’d say what I should have said to you the night we had that terrible fight.”

We were so close. I could feel the buckle of his belt and the hard outline of his cock. He was aroused. I was too.

“I’ve run that last conversation over in my mind hundreds of time, played it out dozens of different ways, but it always ends the same.”

“How does it end?”

“I say I’m sorry. You forgive me. Then we kiss. I’m so sorry, Mandy,” Justin murmured as he brushed his mouth across mine. His tongue darted out, tasting, teasing, begging entrance and causing me to moan. He licked my bottom lip before nibbling it gently with his teeth. I wanted more. Needed more.

Justin quickly backed me up against the side of the bridge. I could feel one of the large vertical posts pressing between my shoulder blades. There was no place for me to go. I was trapped, but somehow I’d never felt so free. Justin crushed his lips to mine with a passion I’d almost forgotten existed. I wanted him. All of him.