Sitting back in the non-descriptive black car, he watched as the two boys left the house on the corner. Both were tall and slim for their ages and yet showed signs of one day being muscular in a rangy sort of way. To anyone else, they might have seemed like identical twins, but he saw the differences. The older one had a softer smile, a fuller set of lips. His eyes were rounder then the younger one, and the observer was sure if he saw them up close, they would be a soft, storm gray color. His twin was darker in his complexion, looking like he would have a constant five o'clock shadow when he was old enough to grow a beard. His hair was a darker shade of black and there was no missing that his eyes were just as dark as the hair. Both boys were handsome despite what little baby fat their faces held and would grow into tall, handsome men.
"Ty, Ryder. Don't forget to go to grandmas after school today." A woman's voice stopped them almost parallel to the car. "I got to work late."
Both boys waved and nodded. "Okay mom." "See you later."
The boys went on walking but the observer had turned his attention to the woman. She had barely changed in the last ten years. Her body, once tall and chubby was now tall and stately. Her legs had grown long and well shaped from the way the jeans hugged them, and her chest had expanded with the birth of the boys. He smiled as it occurred to him that never again would she complain of not having the bust she thought she should. Her dishwater colored hair was sun streaked now and it hung down to almost her waist in soft waves. She ran a hand through it as she watched her sons reach the corner and he saw her heart shaped face was slightly tanned, but still clear with a peaches and cream glow. He knew that as they had been then, her eyes were the same storm cloud gray as her son. When they flickered in his direction, he was sure she knew he was there. Instead, she turned on her heel and walked back into the house.
With a grin, he started the car once she had disappeared, and moved it to the area behind where a newer model truck was parked. The house was nice, and the yard was full of early spring flowers and shrubs. This was more then just a house, it was a home. A dog barked behind a high fence and he guessed it would be a big mutt; she had always been fond of them. Shutting down the car, he glanced in the rear view mirror. He didn't like what he saw but ten years changed a man and when you spent that ten years locked behind high prison walls, well the changes weren't always for the better.
He shut down the car and slid his long, lean frame from behind the wheel. Walking up to the front door he was careful not to tread on the flowers or the grass. Instead he used the sidewalk and at the door he wondered if she hadn't been watching or waiting for him. He barely had a chance to knock on it, or ring the door bell before it opened. Her eyes took him in from top to bottom and he saw her smile with that same glow that so often had filled her eyes.
"About time you came home lover, I been waiting for you." Her voice had that same sweet tone to it that he had heard the first time she spoke to him.
A smile crossed his face. "Have you really sweetheart? How much have you missed me?" It was clear she wanted to show him just how much she had missed him, he knew how hot her blood ran and his spies had told him that not once in the last ten years had she been with another man beyond a working or friendship type scenario. A part of him had been afraid, but he had pushed it away. He knew what she had told him and that she never lied or tried to fool anyone. It wasn't in her nature.
"Get your ass in here, and I'll show you." Not even caring if the neighbors might be watching them; she reached out and caught his hand in hers, and drew him inside. When he was, the door was shut and her arms snaked up around his neck. "You been out over 24 hours, thought you would have been here by now."
He rested his hands on her hips. "I had business I had to take care of before I came. And before you think it was anything illegal or another woman, it wasn't. I had to go see mom and dad." His parents had been welcoming, but not near as nice a homecoming as this was. "So, are you going to kiss me or are you just going to bitch at me?" He grinned as he spoke.
She licked her lips. "Oh I plan to kiss you; I just might not know when to stop."
Bending his head, he lowered it to meet the softest pair of lips he had ever seen. "Then don't baby, been too long without you, and your sweet mouth."
What had once been forbidden to him was now free and giving and as he slipped his tongue between her full, lush lips, she gave him full access. As they stood there, bodies pressed as tightly as they could go, he found that same rush of emotion he had felt the first time he saw her. He had known she was jail bait, and yet like a moth to the flame he had been drawn to her like he had never been drawn to a woman before in all his twenty one years. For a year they hidden it from most of the world, meeting in the most secluded places they could find, he had introduced her to all the forbidden delights of the body and in turn she had listened to his hopes and his dreams.
He never knew who turned them in, all he knew was that one night as they lay together in each others arms, the cops had busted in on them, and he had been taken out in handcuffs while she had been dragged off to some holding place until her parents could be called.
The list of charges was almost as long as his arm, but he hadn't cared. All he had ever heard was her telling him that she would wait for him. That no matter what she would wait for him to be free. Even in court she had refused to testify against him, telling the judge that she didn't matter what happened to her, they hadn't done anything wrong. She loved him and he loved her, so how could it be wrong?
When they had sentenced him to ten years, she had begun to cry and he had felt as if the life had been sucked out of him. They had even denied her writing to him or having any contact with him until such time as she was a legal adult. The only words he had heard about her as he did his time was second hand. He had almost tried to escape when he heard she was going to have his baby, but he had known that was something she wouldn't want him to do. Instead he had asked his mother to keep him informed. She had agreed and when his sons had been born. He knew almost as soon as it happened. There had been others, even members of her family who told him what was going on. Her dad had come to see him once and after a long talk, had walked away knowing that he hadn't wanted to hurt her in anyway. He had simply loved her as she deserved to be loved.
Lifting his head, he looked into her eyes and saw the fire there. It was a familiar sight, and he reacted to it as he always had. He felt his jeans tighten and pressed into her. "Hmm, honey, you still taste like the sweetest strawberries in summer."