Silk Encased Steel

Chapter five

“Since when are you a Houston fan?” Her brother Tom asked  the next day seeing the jersey thrown over a chair in the kitchen. 

She laughed dismissively, “It was a gag gift from a friend who is trying to convert me to their evil ways.”  Truthfully she had laughed until she cried when she had unwrapped it and seen what it was that JT had sent her. He had given her his jersey and an oversized Houston hoodie that she suspected was his own. At least it wasn’t signed, that would have been weird. She had tucked the note in her drawer that it had come with, now you have no excuse! I never want to see that offensive jersey on you again.  

Come to think of it it was the note that had her laughing, as if she was going to give in that easily. She hadn’t spoken to him yet, he was on a plane to see his family for Christmas and she didn’t expect to hear from him until later that night after everyone had gone home. She hoped that he liked her gift, she had spent a few weeks doing a pen and ink drawing for him. JT and his grandparents standing on the porch of the house he had bought that they had never been around to see.  

“Want me to burn it for you?” Tom asked looking it over. 

She shook her head, “Stay away from the jersey Tomas, I think your kids are getting into trouble in the other room.” 

Her mother sat at the kitchen counter peeling and cutting vegetables, “So, who is he?” She asked when Tom left. 

“A friend mom, nothing to get excited about.” She had learned a long time ago not to bother  denying it, better to downplay. Her mother had a sixth sense for there being news that she wasn’t privy to.

“I worry that Todd being an i***t and ruining everything will stop you from seeing any kind of future with anyone else. You’ve never dated much, and it takes you a long time to get over it when you do date and it doesn’t work out.” Her mother explained staring at the carrots intently.

“If the next part of this is how I’m not getting any younger I swear..” 

Her mother shook her head, “I just want you to be happy, you deserve that. You live in the middle of nowhere with the dogs and I’m afraid that it isn’t going to be enough.” 

Valentina sat beside her mom at the table, “Fitz is getting slower, and has a harder and harder time getting around. He’s got maybe another good year in him.. I’m afraid of waking up and him being gone. I’m afraid of a house fire and not being able to get the animals out in time.. that is what I’m afraid of. I would be a very happy spinster of 80 if I could prevent the inevitable. I’m not afraid of being alone, I'm not lonely out here. I don’t know if there will ever be someone who can share it with me, but I am afraid of losing the things i do have that make waking up a happy thing. A man in my life..” She shrugged, “I don’t care too much about it one way or the other.”

A few days later new years eve rolled around and Valentina was actually glad that she and Todd had ended it before the holidays. Even if it was for the very selfish reasons of not having to waste money on a gift and not having to go to one of his friends' horrible New Years Eve parties. To be fair she found any new years party to be  horrible. She just hated getting together with a bunch of drunk people for such a stupid reason. She did it for Todd, she went along with the many get togethers that she really hadn’t cared about, but now she got to do what she really wanted.. watch comedies curled up on the couch with the fire going and the dogs laying with her.  She glanced over at the phone she had on speaker on the counter, she had just finished explaining her joy of nothingness to JT. “Which party did you settle on?” She asked as she continued getting her snacks ready.

JT looked out the window of his car, “Just a small get together, nothing big. Won’t you miss having someone to kiss at midnight?”

She laughed, “Nah, if I really feel left out I can get slobbered on by the dogs on cue.”

“Is that a bag of cheetos you are opening?” he asked hearing the bag crinkle, he took her silence as an admission of guilt, “They will kill you one day you know..” he added.

Valentina frowned at the bag, reading the nutritional information, “Puh-leease they have at least 18% of my daily calcium intake in one serving. And so much tastier than milk. Now remember when you are making out with some bimbo at midnight that not every woman is as cool as I am about one night stands, some try to stalk you and force you down the isle... then again you stalked me after ours so maybe I should make up a sign for you to wear instead..” 

“Ha ha, very amusing Val. You are a very hard done by stalking victim... I want to play, what are you wearing? I’m guessing my sweater today..?”

She narrowed her eyes at the phone then glanced down at herself, she was wearing the sweater, and a pair of shoes and nothing else. But she refused to admit that to him, “I am pretty sure the dogs are using that evil Houston sweater as a blanket in the other room.” Valentina peered out the window at the darkness surrounding her house, “You are really lucky to be down in Houston right now, the storm here is really bad and so so cold. Even the deer around here haven’t set off my lights yet.” 

He smiled, knowing it wasn’t true, the other day when he had spotted it in their video chat she had looked way too comfortable in it. He glanced at the clock and saw he was running behind. “I’ll send you some sun. Talk to you later this evening Val.” Valentina hung up, and got herself snuggled up on the couch to wait out the storm.

After getting the dogs to settle nicely  Valentina went over to answer the door hours later, hoping that in the time it took her to  get them to stop barking that whoever it was had given up and left. Though considering it was almost eleven thirty at night it probably meant it was a neighbor needing something, or a family member meddling because they felt she was lonely. Before she could get a word out she was off the ground, “Hi?” She said quizzically as she pulled back enough to stare into baby blue eyes. 

“Hi.” He replied kicking the door closed behind him and toeing off his shoes without putting her down. “ I knew you were lying about the sweater.” He said as he buried his face in her neck and breathed her in. His memory had been true, she smelled like honey and something slightly exotic. 

“What are you doing here? How are you here? This is taking stalking to a whole new level you know...” She blurted out as he nipped her neck gently. 

JT pulled back enough to glance beyond her at the dogs cowering behind the couch, “Hey pups” he muttered before kissing her again. “I wanted to do this differently, maybe have some food, some conversation first, but..” His hands squeezed bare skin, “i wasn’t counting on you being naked under this... and that parts going to have to wait okay?”

She nodded, her mouth taken over again and felt them moving, she pointed in the general direction of her room. She normally hated being carried and would have worried about being dropped or banged into something, but he held her with little to no effort. And so she went with it, her body more than willing as it remembered how good it had been the first time. 

He lost his clothes quickly after dropping her firmly on the bed. He turned back from making sure the door was locked and secure so Fitz wouldn’t barge in to  find her waiting naked. He thanked the random impulse that made him check for flights that morning as he walked back over to her. “So, is my head to big?” He asked kissing his way down her body. 

“It’s  gargantuan.” She replied squirming under him, his hands dug in and held her still firmly, his grip hurting slightly. 

He flipped her over onto her stomach easily, and propped her hips up with one of the pillows, “How about my hands?” He asked giving her ass a hard s***k before his fingers slid into her from behind.  Valentina nodded into the sheets, having lost the ability to speak momentarily as the synapsis in her brain overloaded with what his hand was doing. “Nodding is not an adequate answer..” He chided giving a harder s***k and being rewarded with her body responding wanting more. 

“Too big..” She breathed out knowing after a few more slaps that he wasn’t going to stop until she spoke. And as much as she was enjoying it, she needed more.  

He turned her over again, kissing her slowly “Everything is too big isn’t it goldilocks?” He said  letter her adjust for a minute once he was inside her. He savored the feeling, she felt even better wrapped around him than he remembered. It was no wonder he had uncharacteristically become a bit of a stalker.