After the very difficult first six weeks of this jump, Steve and Kayla wouldn’t have minded spending the next month on a family leave sabbatical somewhere just the three of them together. But they wouldn’t be able to do that anytime soon, because they had a very significant obstacle in their way.
5th grade.
Steve and Kayla were parents again. The active kind, with a child that depended on them to parent her and attend to her needs. They could pick up and leave with no consequences to Stephanie’s continued existence, but the thought of actually doing so never crossed their minds. Like Emily before her, Stephanie would drive their decisions for as long as they were here. As a result, two days after they were officially liberated, their daughter returned to school for her second semester of school with a hell of a story for her “What I Did over Winter Break” assignment, and Steve and Kayla’s lives went from very complicated to very normal overnight.
Stephanie had adapted quite well considering she’d had to spend a month hiding her father, then herself, from assaassins. She, certainly, had a lingering issue or two, but by and large, she’d been able to move along to life as usual. Kayla was not shocked at how resilient her daughter was, because Stephanie had always been the strong, loving, pragmatic, fearless, nurturing best of both of them. She caught her daughter’s joy constantly. She and Stephanie had always had a close connection forged by single parenthood, and that had not waned now that she wasn’t a single parent anymore. If anything, it only got stronger.
Steve’s relationship with his oldest daughter was deep and meaningful from the moment she’d shaken kitchen sage on him behind the couch. He missed both Joey and Emily terribly, but the opportunity to now be Stephanie’s father out in the open made him exceedingly happy.
Kayla felt every surge of happiness that danced through her daughter’s heart. She instinctively knew when Stephanie was feeling the glee of watching the love in her father’s face that she’d only heard about in stories her mother had told her. And she felt how much Stephanie loved them.
She also felt Stephanie’s reluctance to let her parents out of her sight for too long a stretch. Like bedtime. One of those lingering issues. Their first night home together and free, the entire family slept together in their bed. The second night when Stephanie crawled in they didn’t have a problem letting her. On the third night she went to sleep in her own bed, but just as Kayla had begun doing something very unwholesome for a family bed, Stephanie knocked then cracked the door open. “Guys?” she said tentatively. The light from the bathroom spilled in with enough warning, and both Steve and Kayla abruptly sat straight up against the headboard.
“Yeahp,” Steve said very quickly.
“You ok?” Kayla piped in with an equally rushed tone. “It’s ah … it’s pretty late. I could have sworn you were sleeping when I checked on you.” Stephanie had heard her door open and knew someone was popping their head in, but she chose not to roll over. It wasn’t a lie, really … Kayla sensed the misdirection and made a mental note to verify the state of her daughter’s sleep in the future.
“I … Can I sleep in here again?” When her parents didn’t answer right away she went on. “I like it when we’re all together.”
“Oh, honey,” Kayla said with a softly loving tone. “Come here.” Kayla made room on the edge of the bed by scooting closer to Steve, then made a gimme motion with her hands. Stephanie complied and sat beside her mother, who tousled her hair and ran her fingertips over the beautiful face staring hopefully at her. “You’re afraid.” Stephanie nodded and glanced at her father before casting her eyes into her lap.
Steve knew what this was about. It hadn’t escaped him that Stephanie had followed on both of their heels from room to room every moment since they’d come back. “You’re afraid you’re gonna wake up and we won’t be here.”
Stephanie nodded again, and Kayla’s eyes watered. Because that’s exactly what was going to happen. Not in the way Stephanie had feared, but literally, they were going to be disappearing one day, and on that day, this Stephanie was no longer going to exist. It hurt Kayla to see this fear in her daughter’s eyes.
Steve didn’t know what to say, because he knew just as well as Kayla did that this wasn’t a boogeyman – this was something real. “Little Sweetness, I … we … it’s not …”
“… anything,” Kayla picked up, “you will ever have to worry about ever again. Stephanie, me and Papa are not going anywhere. Ever again. Every day that you wake up, we’re going to wake up, too.” Steve loved how his wife had phrased this. It was perfect, and Kayla felt him relax.
“I know you won’t just disappear, I really do. I just thought maybe one more night?”
Kayla felt the uncertainty and worry ebb with this glorified stall. She didn’t want to make this worse, but she also didn’t want to make this so much of a habit that it became a permanent family bed. If this was their real timeline, and this Stephanie was going to survive in perpetuity, Kayla would have felt stronger about it, stuck to her guns, and said no. But … what was the harm in comforting the damage that had been done to their daughter in this temporary timeline? Kayla looked to Steve, who shrugged.
“Ah … tell ya what, Baby Girl. We’ll sleep together for the rest of the week, then next week you can fall asleep here, and Papa will move you to your bed when you fall asleep. Then after a little while, you’ll go back to normal. How ‘bout that?” Steve grinned at this weaning solution. His wife was a smart woman.
Stephanie sighed. “When I go back to normal, can I still get in with you in the mornings?”
“Of course you can,” Steve said.
Stephanie was happy with the compromise of a permanent snuggle spot between them every morning when she woke up, and overall it ended up working pretty well. This anxiety that didn’t live in their Stephanie back home would pop up now and again, but most of the time, she was ok.
Life was so simple in so many ways. Yet the complications of existence as time travelers remained. They were, once again, faced with whether or not to invest in the other lives around them. The family and friends they usually kept at arm’s length for the past years were becoming more real every day. They’d learned by now that treating them like fictional characters was often necessary but wasn’t going to work in a long-term jump. And this particular long-term jump was going to be darned near impossible. Everyone wanted to be part of their immediate lives after their experience, especially now that Steve was alive. Jo and Adrienne had called Steve every single day, and the Bradys had seen all of this as a welcome respite from their own drama home in Salem – drama that the two of them had ultimately agreed to keep their distance from as best they could for the duration of this jump.
Kimberly, the one person Kayla didn’t want space from, didn’t feel the same way. Kayla had hoped to talk to her as soon as possible, but Kimberly told her she needed time and would let her sister know when she was ready. Kayla had another few days before she’d return to the hospital, but Kim went back to work on Monday. Which led to another complication. Sam.
Kayla didn’t know how she was going to explain it all to him. She only had a couple more days to figure it out, as she was going back to work to finally begin her surgical rotation. Until then, she’d allowed contacting Sam to be a significant procrastination. Which was why she was not ready for the knock on her front door this stormy, last morning before her return to work.
Steve had been working out in the loft but arrived in the livingroom just in time to see Kayla come down off her tip toes from looking through the peephole to rest her forehead against the door with a sigh. “Baby?” he asked.
Kayla turned and said softly, “It’s Sam.” Steve’s pulse quickened. “I need to talk to him.”
“Here?”
“Steve.” Her tone warned him to behave.
He put his hands on his hips and stared at the floor for a moment. Then he nodded. “You want me to disappear?” he asked far more calmly.
Kayla gave him a nervous shrug and shook her head. “It’s time to stop hiding.” And it was clear that the person she was talking about wasn’t Steve, but herself. “I’d better hurry up or he’s going to float away out there.”
Steve gave her a supportive smile and went to stand by the couch. “Go on. You can do this.”
When she opened the door, Sam peered up at her from under his large, black umbrella. He was standing on the front walk instead of the stoop and held a massive boquet of flowers very much like the ones he’d brought over the first time through these events. The 24 red and fuschia roses were bundled gorgeously, arranged with expert handling, and practically glowed with contrition. Last time Sam had done this, they began dating anew. It didn’t last very long, but he’d left her house relieved, grateful, and very happy that day. This time, however, the result of this visit would not be going his way. Sam swallowed hard and finally began speaking.
“Kayla,” he said carefully.
“H-Hi. Hi, Sam.”
“I’m so happy to see you. You have no idea.”
“Sam—”
“I’ve been so worried. I tried your phone over and over, but it goes right to voicemail.”
“I’m sorry, I—”
“I am sorry, Kayla. I am the one who’s sorry.” Kayla could practically see the pulse racing in Sam’s neck. His voice was tight and fast, and she felt such compassion for him. If she could have gotten a word in edgewise she would have, but once Sam got that apology out there he was a runaway train of verbosity. “I’m not one of those drinkers that blackout—I remember what happened—Something was going on and someone hit me and no one would tell me what was going on but that’s no excuse for my actions. I was a complete idiot, and that’s not who I am. You know me, Kayla, you’ve known me for years, and I’m sorry I kissed you.”
“Me, too,” Steve sighed quietly.
“I mean, I not sorry, I loved kissing you—but I’m sorry it was like that and I just don’t know what got into me.”
“Whiskey.” Kayla said.
The rain was pouring down over the enormous umbrella, but his face was intense though the droplets that framed him like cylinder. “Can we start over? Please? Can you forgive me enough to let us try this again stone cold sober now that I’m not your boss anymore—now that I know you’re safe—because The Chief of Staff said you would be on LOA indefinitely and no one would tell me what happened to you, some guy hit me, and you were gone, and I was worried he was hurting you—but you’re ok—and you look so beautiful—and I promise I’m better than that—and I can treat you like a woman.” Finally Sam seemed to peter out, and all he could do was look at her pathetically and hold the flowers out to her.
“Oh, Sam …”
“is that a good Oh Sam?”
“Please come in. So we can talk.”
His shoulders lightened slightly, and he smiled. “Really? Yes, I’d like that. Thank you!”
Careful what you wish for, Kayla thought to herself. She stepped back and opened the door for him. He stepped through and turned to shake out his umbrella then rested it against the corner. When he looked up, the first thing he saw was Steve standing by the couch. His hair was a little unruly from working out, and his patch seemed stark against the cool hues of the room. He should have looked ominous and threatening. But Sam instantly knew that this was now over before it even began. One look at the man was all it took. He went on, though, because he didn’t have a clue what else to do.
“These … these are … for you ….” Sam held out the flowers to Kayla in his peripheral vision, but he was staring directly at Steve. Kayla took them, but Sam didn’t hear her thanks, because some of the pieces that had been so elusive the past few weeks were starting to fall into place for him. Kayla set the massive boquet on the coffee table and called his name.
“Sam? Please look at me.” He did, but the eye contact didn’t actually connect. “I have a lot to explain to you. It’s going to be hard to do, because a lot of it is just insane. But, Sam … this is Steve Johnson. She reached for Steve’s hand, and he took it. “He’s my husband.”
Sam blinked a couple times. Then his countenance seemed to change. He tilted his head slightly and rubbed at his forehead for a moment. Then he took a quick breath and declared absurdly, “You’re not dead.”
Steve couldn’t help it, he laughed. “You must be a real good doctor, ‘cause you nailed it without even examining the body.”
Sam was stunned, but he was no slouch and came back at him without missing a beat. “Yeah, well, that’s why they pay me the big bucks.”
Steve chuckled, because despite disliking the man, part of him liked Sam, too. Steve held out his hand. “Steve Johnson.” Sam did not take it immediately. Instead he looked at it, then turned to Kayla as if inspecting her. Kayla had never seen the look in his eye before. The apology was still there, but now there was accusation, too. He was feeling betrayed, and she prayed that she could fix this before he walked out that door. Finally he turned back to Steve and took his hand. His grip was firm and made clear that he was not a pushover.
“Dr. Sam Granger.”
“Ok, let’s all sit down,” Kayla said quickly.
“When … when did you get married, Kayla?”
Steve answered before Kayla could reply. “September 5th.”
“July,” Kayla corrected him with a reproachful look, because that was the wrong timeline.
“2000?” Sam asked.
“’87,” Steve said.
“’88!” Kayla admonished again. “Listen, this isn’t helping,” she said tersely. “Can we please just sit so I can explain? There’s a lot going on, and Sam, you’re just going to have to be patient while I get it all out.” Kayla sat on the couch. Steve and Sam eyed each other with something Kayla couldn’t identify as they slowly followed suit, Sam on the other end of the couch and Steve in the chair.
“So,” Sam began after an extremely awkward silence. “Reports of your death appear to have been greatly exaggerated.”
Steve’s nature made him want to cut through all of this and just grab the man by his designer button-down shirt and threaten the attraction to his wife out of him. But at this point, after all this time, the rational side of him was easier to listen to. So he went another direction and chuckled.
“Yeah, I get that a lot.”
“Occupational hazard?” Sam asked.
“Something like that.
So far they weren’t waving their dicks at each other, but Kayla didn’t want to tempt fate and started talking.
“Sam, I thought Steve was dead until six weeks ago. He works for the ISA.”
“Worked.”
“It sounds absurd, I know, but he worked a lot of dangerous, organized crime cases, and … well, two crime families faked his death. And we’ve believed it for the last sixteen years.”
“Ten, baby.” It was Kayla’s turn to be corrected.
“Ten years,” Kayla repeated. Sam got a flummoxed look on his face, but Kayla quickly went on before he could question her. “In November he finally managed to get away from them and came back to us.”
“Came back to you? Just … hey, I’m not dead?”
“Yeah,” Kayla shrugged a sad smile. “It was just like that, actually.”
Sam blinked and sighed. “I’m … glad he’s alive – that you’re alive,” he directed to Steve. “But,” then he looked back to Kayla, his hurt apparent. “Why couldn’t you just tell me?”
“Wasn’t that simple, dude.”
“It wasn’t,” Kayla confirmed. She wanted to do the talking here, and Steve put himself in check to let her. To the best of his ability. “This is a long story, but the short version is that for everyone’s safety, we had to make them believe he wasn’t here and that as far as we knew, he was still dead. It all came to a head at the New Year’s Eve party, and … now it’s finally over. Life can go back to—to normal, and I can go back to work.” Kayla took a deep breath. She looked to Steve, who winked at her mildly, then looked back to Sam, who was oddly silent. She waited nervously for him to say something, but then he narrowed his eyes and cocked his head slightly. “Do you understand?” Kayla asked warily?
“Understand? No, not really. Kayla, I’ve been worried sick since I woke up last week to ISA agents telling me pretty much nothing about who hit me, why, and if you were ok, so I think I’m gonna need the long version.”
“Well, I can help ya with all that. I’m the one who hit you. Because you were mauling my wife when she was telling you no. And once you were on the floor, she was just fine.” Kayla closed her eyes in frustration but didn’t say anything. “That’s the long and short of it.”
Sam gave a long glare, but then he surprised Steve and nodded. “Ok. Good. I remember what I was doing, so I can’t say I didn’t deserve it. And I’m really glad you stopped me.” Kayla smiled. “But it’s not good enough.” Kayla’s smile fell. “I saw your sister back at work, and I can’t tell you how happy I was when she told me you were ok and back home. Because it meant the last thing you were going to remember about me wasn’t that I was a drunk dog. It meant I got a chance to see for myself that you were safe, and that maybe I could try this again. Then I get here, and it turns out you’re husband’s not dead, and now I get the short version? No, way. Come on, Kayla, I’m here and I’m listening. I think you owe me the long version.
Sam was right. Kayla looked to Steve, who exhaled heavily and leaned back in his chair. When he looked up, Kayla was clearly begging him with her eyes to let her just do this. So he gave her a reassuring nod that this was her show and he was gonna let her run it. She gave him a little smile, then turned her attention fully on the other man in the room.
“Ok,” Kayla nodded. “The long version. Nothing about this is simple,” she repeated. Then she gave him what he asked for.
Kayla was, admittedly, surprised and impressed by Sam’s ability to process what he’d been told. She’d held back the details of Steve’s torture, reprogramming, amnesia, and subsequent life’s activities with Ava or working with the Vitalis. But her focus on the Alamain and Dimera families’ trafficking of Steve, the danger that his escape had posed to everyone, and how she and her family in Salem were being watched were still truly extraordinary for the average person to take in. Sam was gravely concerned when she told him they’d had eyes on Stephanie at her school, but it wasn’t until she told him that Dimera’s men had infiltrated the hospital that it all seemed to sink in with Sam.
Kayla took his hand in both of her own. It was a nurturing gesture that her nature couldn’t help, and suddenly, her focus was very set on her friend that she knew was hurt and confused and, frankly, giving her a lot of benefit of the doubt. “I hated pretending. It was awful knowing that I might be … that I was leading you on. But I had to act like Steve wasn’t here. I had to pretend we didn’t know he was alive. If these men had any idea that he was here, they would have done anything to get him back. They would have tortured him by taking me and Stephanie. Killing us. They’d proven in the past that they’d do exactly that.”
“What?”
“They’ve done this before. To other people. And they’ve hurt both of us before, too. This was life and death, and I couldn’t take any chances. I had to act like a single mother who was dating, because that’s what I was doing before Steve came back to us. And they wouldn’t stop at just us, either, they’d go through anyone they had to, including you and anyone else.”
Sam asked a lot of questions, and Kayla and Steve answered them. More or less. It did start out tense, but Sam’s five stages of grief waned pretty quickly into fact-finding fascination. Soon, an hour had passed, and they’d fallen silent.
“So … what now?” Sam asked.
“Now our family is back together,” Kayla said, her tone clear in what was unspoken.
Sam nodded. “I think I got that,” he smiled sadly at her. “I just mean …,” he trailed off, then leaned his elbows onto his thighs and templed his fingers. “I have been trying to get you to date me for months. Then I go and mess it up on New Years, and when you opened that door today, I just had all this hope that we were going to have a chance.”
Kayla could practically feel Steve bray in the chair beside her. “Sam, you know I—”
“Kayla, look, it’s ok. I mean, it’s not just okeydoke, see you at the office. I’m just saying – I’m relieved you’re safe and that I know what happened. I’m glad you gave me the long version.” His tone had a clear but coming, and Steve leaned forward, too. “What I’m saying is you could have told me.”
“I highly doubt that,” she said.
“What, you think I would have been less receptive to all this a few weeks ago? You’ve been acting weird for so long. I knew something was up. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it was something. Maybe I could have helped.”
“Whaddya think ya could’ve done, man? Shake the Dimera tails?”
“I could have had the hospital locked down. I could have called in favors.”
“With who, the melanoma mafia?” Kayla didn’t cut in, here, because her husband was right. Sam laughed, because despite the smackdown, Kayla’s husband had a humor about him that he appreciated. “Yeah, you’re laughin’ now, but trust me, no favor you could possibly call in would have protected either of us enough, and you wouldn’t be laughin’ when you woke up dead, either.”
Sam sat back in the chair and sighed heavily as he crossed his arms. “I also could have kept my mouth shut. Didn’t you say Kim’s ex-husband was helping? I could have helped, too.”
“He’s in the ISA!” Kayla countered.
“Fine, I could have at least understood. I’m your friend, Kayla. If nothing else, I could have … understood.”
Kayla looked over to Steve, who shrugged. “Marcus barely batted an eye, baby, nothin’ surprises me anymore.”
“Who’s Marcus?”
“Nevermind.”
“I don’t really know what to say,” Kayla said. “Thank you. For understanding now.”
“Not saying I’m still not completely weirded out, here. But I’d be a real jerk if I wasn’t happy that your husband wasn’t actually dead.”
“Ringing endorsement, man, thanks.”
“No problem,” Sam came back effortlessly. “I’m happy for you, Kayla.” She smiled. “And annoyed.” Her smile fell as his demeanor appeared to turn on a dime.
“Come again?” Steve said.
“Those flowers you’e been completely ignoring didn’t come cheap. If you don’t get them into some water pretty soon,” Sam said nodding to them on the coffee table, “they’re going to have a hell of a brief shelf life.”
Everyone smiled gamely at Sam’s attempt to cut through the awkwardness of it all, and Kayla brought the flowers into the kitchen. A few minutes later she came back into the livingroom with them in the largest vase she could find, and it still wasn’t really big enough. Her heartbeat, however, quickened at the sound of Steve’s raised voice.
“Fine, don’t believe me,” Steve almost spat, “it’s your funeral.”
“Weren’t you the one who was just dead for ten years?”
“What’s going on here?!” Kayla blurted.
“Dr. Oncology, here, doesn’t wanna listen, baby, that’s all.”
“I would if you weren’t clearly coming from a position of sour grapes.” Sam sounded completely indignant, which made his grin offputting. “He’s got a problem with recognizing true superiority.”
“I’m tellin’ ya, man, you’re backin’ the wrong horse.”
“You mean the winning Ram? You’re living in the past. It’s sad.”
“Steve?! What is he talking about?!”
“Calm yourself, baby.”
“Your husband is trying to convince me that LA’s football franchise is a losing bet.”
“Why would I lie?” Steve asked with a completely straight face.
“Read my lips: The ’85 Bears’ 15 minutes were up 15 years ago. Move on.”
“Football?” Kayla said in her upper register. “This is about football now?” They both replied with nothing more than matching shit-eating grins. Kayla had absolutely no idea what to make of these little jibes. She was truly relieved that it wasn’t what it sounded like, but she also had no clue if this was passive aggressive position-jockeying, or a genuine, if glorified, peace offering to each other. She placed the vase down on the coffee table, and the smell of the roses positively filled every inch of the room. “Ok …,” she chuckled rather uncomfortably, “I thought you two were about to come to blows.”
Sam stood up. “No,” he sighed, “no more blows. A gentleman knows when to step aside.” This he said to Kayla but then shifted his eyes very purposely to Steve, who met his eyes but said nothing. Something passed between the two men, and Steve nodded. Then Sam looked back to the woman he cared enough about to let go. “And I think I owe you the behavior of one, and not whatever that inebriated idiot was doing on New Year’s Eve. I’m sorry, Kayla.” This was very genuine. “It’s not who I am. I want you to know that.” Kayla smiled very warmly, because unbeknownst to Sam, she did know that. “Both of you,” he added for Steve’s benefit.
Steve raised his eyebrow in acknowledgment, and Kayla took a mental sigh of relief. “Thank you, Sam,” she said. “I do. And, I hope you’ll accept my apology, too. I hated lying to everyone, but especially you.”
“Well … the whole thing sounds like something out of The Godfather, but … somehow I kind of follow the weirdness of it all. I guess. I mean, I don’t have much choice, do I? Not like I can fire you or anything, I’m not your boss anymore.”
“That’s right. Onward to Dr. Bond,” Kayla said.
“Yeah, well careful what you wish for, because he’s going to give you a real run for your money.”
“Oh, I have a feeling she’ll be the one teaching him a thing or two,” Steve said.
“Really?” Sam snarked. “You know that like you know your LA football, do you?”
“Hey, don’t come cryin’ to me when your lame-ass Rams move to St. Louis.”
“Better be careful before that chip falls off your shoulder.”
“I ain’t got no chip, I’m just tryin’ to help a guy out, man.”
“Ya know, Stephanie’s going to be home soon,” Kayla interjected before their dicks came out, after all.
“And that’s my cue to go,” Sam said.
He ran his hands down his trunk and straightened out the wrinkles in his shirt. Then he held his hand out to Steve. “It was good to meet you, Steve.” The playfully antagonistic air between them had cleared again. Steve took Sam’s hand and shook it. “And weird as hell.”
Steve snickered. “Yeah. You, too.”
After they shook hands, Steve got the overwhelming feeling that he should make himself scarce and let Kayla finish this conversation one-on-one. So he leaned over, kissed his wife on the temple, and said, “I think I’ve got a workout to finish upstairs.” She squeezed his arm and gave him an appreciative look. “Go on.” Then he headed to the loft. Despite his nature to sit on the stairs and try to listen, he actually went directly up, turned on his music, and restarted his bicep curls.
Kayla walked Sam to the door. He picked up his umbrella, and stepped out onto the stoop. Then he turned back.
“Kayla … would things have been different?”
Kayla almost lowered her gaze; but she had enough respect for him to honor what he’d said to them just moments ago and looked him in the eye. “I haven’t been interested in anyone in a very long time. You were the first one in many years that made me want to try.”
“So I wasn’t imagining it.”
Kayla shook her head. “No, you weren’t. But the answer to your question is no. Things would not have been different. I don’t want you to think that this is a road not taken for you. Or me. Or us. It would not have worked, and we would have stayed—just friends. Not because Steve is back now. But because he’s always been the only man for me.”
Sam was the one who finally broke the eye contact and exhaled heavily. “I can’t say I’m not disappointed. But I think somewhere deep down, I always knew it.” After a beat, he added one final question. “We’re friends, then?”
“I’d like to be.”
“I would, too.”
Kayla couldn’t help but be amused at how close to the first time through this went. The details were completely different, but the end result was the same. A disappointed, yet very magnanimous man, who showed himself to be a gentleman and, ultimately, a friend.
As Sam headed down the front walk, he made a few jabs at the surgical rotation and told her she still had a place in oncology when she was ready. Then he was gone. When she shut the door, Kayla felt like a chapter had closed. It was one of the most satisfying ends to the strange arcs that their jumps had taken. Long jumps like this could be wonderful, but leaving them always left business that would remain forever unfinished. This, however, was not one of those loose ends. It was a relief.
Kayla closed the big, wooden door and leaned her back against it. She closed her eyes and took a deep, cleansing breath. When she opened them, she cast her eyes toward the kitchen where the stairwell to the loft lay just beyond her view. “God, I love him so much.”
Steve didn’t hear Kayla’s footfalls over the music. He was laying on his back doing chest curls with the weights. He barely got a glimpse of her before she straddled herself upon him and just looked at him. His arms were outstretched with the weights still in his hands. No words were said, their expressions did all the talking. Kayla lowered her face down to his and kissed him with very soft, very warm lips. Steve let go of the weights and embraced her tightly around her middle. They kissed lovingly, passionately, for several minutes, just enjoying each other.
Kayla broke the kiss and slid herself down her husband’s body, lowered the waistband of his workout pants, and took his hardened penis into her mouth. She held on to his erection at its base, then sucked and and worked her tongue expertly over his shaft. His moans gave her immense satisfaction, and she delighted in the pleasure she was bringing him. She wanted to make him feel good. She wanted to make him feel this good every minute of every day.
She worked her hand and mouth over Steve’s cock, knowing exactly what to do to draw out his pleasure as long as he could take. Steve squeezed one weight hard, his other hand had a fistful of his wife’s hair. The feel of her head bobbing fast over his shaft intensified the heady sex until he knew he would explode. He didn’t have to tell her he couldn’t take any more, she could feel his need to come. He knew she was ready for him to let go, so he came, and Kayla took everything he gave her. She swallowed and sucked even as the pleasure pulsed into her mouth. He whimpered her name and told her he loved her and finally couldn’t take any more. Steve was spent and went limp but for the hand in her hair, his thumb moving in a loving caress. He was breathing hard and had no words for the pure, passionate, and unselfish gesture.
Kayla crawled back up and dug her head into his neck. It wasn’t the first time Kayla had given him pleasure without taking any for herself. It wasn’t the first time she’d burrowed into him with love. And it wasn’t the last time any of those things would happen. But an overwhelming tenderness swept over him.
“Do you know how much I love you, Sweetness?”
“Not as much as I love you.”
And they were going to get to spend quite a bit of time in this jump showing each other just how true that was.