Page 31 of The History in Us

Levi

As if the class wasn’t torture enough, a few weeks into the selection, Wayne assigned us a field trip. A night at the museum, he chuckled, but he meant it. We would be spending the evening at the Museum of Science and Industry, a rare opportunity for small groups wishing to experience the iconic museum in a less traditional manner. I cursed Professor Erickson for the assignment, informing him of my concerns for AJ, without mentioning again, that I was a single parent to my child. I couldn’t bring an infant to the museum, so I had to beg Mrs. Hubbard for an overnight babysitting gig. Her daughter, Maggie, would be allowed to spend the night, with Mrs. Hubbard as back-up, one floor below. I was sick with the situation, but I didn’t know what else to do. Besides, Katie was attending, and although we hadn’t spoken to each other, other than in class, the thought of her spending the night in a dark museum with horny guys from our class upset me. I hadn’t missed Nate’s growing attention to her.

I didn’t want to play these foolish games, reminiscent of high school, like worrying about other boys asking her out or taking advantage of her. The thought had never crossed my mind when I went off to the Army. It was the natural course for her to date in my absence, and honestly, I had no ties to her or she to me. With other things on my mind, I hadn’t imagined these things one way or another. But in the dark recesses of my brain, Katie Carter haunted me, and I refused to think of her with other men.

Will you be a hero?

Somehow, I wanted to be one for her, if for no other reason than she had asked me if I would be. But I had failed, failed miserably. I had days where I didn’t give it a thought. I didn’t try to remember what happened, and other days where the darkness knocked me on my ass. One such day was coming soon, and I couldn’t let it pass without fully being immersed in memory. Before that day arrived, I decided to take this night as a free pass on life, allowing myself a break from AJ and catching some time with Katie. I owed her an apology, or an explanation at the very least.

Talking intermittently in class wasn’t enough to discuss our project, and weeks into the semester, we still hadn’t decided on a topic. She wanted something historically romantic, although she blushed when she told me, referencing some novel about love at the World’s Columbian Exhibition, otherwise known as the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. I wanted something traditional and militant, like the trail of Chief Milwaukee and the trading route from Chicago to Wisconsin. It wasn’t only a matter of eventual compromise, which we still had not reached, but after initial discussions, we didn’t know where to go next, so the science museum was intended to spark our interest.

“Can you imagine how romantic it was?” Katie blurted as we stood at the southern end of the museum. “Outside that balcony was a giant waterway, used to transport people to and from buildings within the White City. The gondolas. The candlelight. The sound of chatter as people promenaded around the waterway. It sounds…heavenly.” Her heavy sigh following the word, forced me to bite my cheek. Her head was most definitely in the clouds, and yet the glazed look in her eyes did something to me. I wanted to capture that innocence, that dreaminess, and I wished I had my camera. Yet, I knew no photograph would capture what Katie Carter did to me. My heart pinched and I rubbed at my chest as she stared out into the darkness, imagining a city over a hundred and fifty years ago.

I teased her for her romantic notions, but her gaze reminded me of something. When I couldn’t sleep at night, and the nightmares haunted me, I turned on the TV. I wasn’t much of a period man, but this movie was about the Civil War. A solider was going off to fight, and a girl had come to his room located over a saloon. She seemed innocent and uncertain, but determined. Knocking at his door, he answered quickly, startled to find her standing on the landing. He wasn’t dressed properly and the heat between them was instantaneous. She wanted to know if he’d carry her image into war. It was a sign of romantic interest. He took the “tin imprint” and closed the door. Confused, the actress stepped back, but almost as abruptly the door opened again. Dressed properly, the soon-to-be soldier went for her, kissing her with all he had. They dropped to their knees in passion, knowing they only had a few minutes before he’d be called away. That kiss would be a better memory. He’d carry it in his heart, closer than the image pressed to his chest in a pocket. The kiss would live inside him, fueling his desire to live. As I stared at Katie, the memory of our first kiss was so real, it choked me. The passion of that embrace from the movie turned to reality in the kiss Katie gave me all those years ago. I’d carried her image in my heart sealed with that kiss, and I wanted to find a way to capture it again, snap a permanent photograph and frame it with the confusion of emotions whenever I thought of her.

After wandering in the dark, using flashlights through the exhibits like children scavenging in the woods, we finally settled in the area assigned our group. Air mattresses were allowed and a few of the pampered students, like that putz Nate, brought one. Katie, I noticed, only had a sleeping bag, like me. I should have been used to sleeping on the ground in strange places, but something about the museum spooked me. I searched for Katie and found her pressed against a wall reading off a tablet. Her knees raised, the e-reader reflected on her face in the dull, dimness of the western balcony hall where we’d been assigned to sleep. Dragging my sleeping bag next to hers, I sat against the wall, my legs outstretched, my shoulder resting against hers.

“Whatcha reading?”

“Oh, you know, one of those silly romances you tease me about.” She didn’t look up from the screen, highlighting the blue in her eyes and whitening her skin. She looked angelic with the heavy darkness around her face, and I wished to capture her features again. At one point, she told me that Anne suggested the history course because she liked historical fiction—romantic historical fiction, Medieval things. Anne thought she’d get writing inspiration out of the class. I didn’t see how historical romance literature coincided, but I didn’t ask.

“I didn’t call them silly,” I chuckled.

“Oh, right. I remember, your words were, and I quote, we are not doing a project that involves some ridiculous romance bullshit.” She still didn’t look up at me but her tone teased.

“Let me see this.” I pulled the reading device out of her hand and began to read. Her hands followed, struggling to retain the e-reader.

“Oh my…no, Levi…give it back to me.” She gently tugged on the tablet, attempting to remove it from my grasp, but I began to read aloud:

Her hands danced through my thick hair, as she giggled, and then moaned. It was a silly combination of laughter and passion. Finally, I shimmied her jeans to her knees, forcing them to bend and expose her to me.

“Levi, please.” Between the words I read, and her begging tone, the sound of her whimpering set my dick to life, springing tight inside my jeans. “Give it to me,” she said, and I imagined her breathless tone whispering those words under me.

“What the…” I choked with the roughness of her voice, and the double meaning, but softened my own voice to continue. It came out raspy and unfamiliar.

“You aren’t going to…” Her voice faded off as I ran a finger through wet folds.

“Levi,” Katie groaned, but I continued. My imagination flooded with images of Katie begging me to touch her in the same manner.

“Aren’t what?” I growled low, reaching for the flask.

“You wouldn’t dare,” she warned, narrowing her eyes at me. Her hands fisted in my hair and held tight.

“Wouldn’t dare do what?” I chuckled, knowing what she meant and intending to ignore her. It wasn’t going to hurt her. My eyes shifted to look up the landscape of her body. Her head tilted upward as she glared back at me. I held the bottle precariously over the core of her, tipping it like I intended to pour. Those innocent doe eyes softened to that look of hidden fear, and I collapsed. She wasn’t fighting me. In fact, she was about to let me do anything to her, despite her concern. It was a momentary sensation of trust. She trusted me, and it was strange to witness her giving it to me.

My eyes met Katie’s in the dim back-light of the device, and my eyebrow rose as her hand stopped tugging on the e-reader. I was completely turned on and shifted uncomfortably to adjust. Her shoulders fell, and I dare say, she turned that sweet shade of pink in the dark. I read on.

I twisted my head and took a final swig, then put my mouth over her heated entrance, letting the alcohol cascade in combination with her flavor. Her hips bucked at the feeling of warm liquid over sensitive skin, ripe with desire. My attention turned from teasing to devouring her, which I did with full abandon. My thoughts were lost to everything, except the task at hand: bringing her to pleasure. I had no notion of my surroundings, other than her thighs on either side of my cheeks, while I sucked and lapped. Feasting on her, focusing on her…

“All right, that’s enough,” she muttered, slipping the device from my hands as I forgot my surroundings, submersed in the words. Did she want someone to do that to her? Did she wish someone would pour whiskey over her pussy and lap it up? Did she long to trust someone so implicitly? The thought stiffened me. I rotated to press my shoulder against the wall, facing her directly. Katie closed the protective cover of her reader, shutting out the light from the screen.

“Do you want those things?” I asked, my voice hushed as I inhaled her scent, breathing over her neck. The slow rise and fall of her chest exhilarated me while she struggled with an answer. I could give her those things. I would willingly lap her up and drink her in, but I couldn’t stand if she hated me afterward.

Her shoulder shrugged in response at the same time she said, “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

“I could make it my business.” I lowered my nose to skim her neck, and her head tilted away from me, allowing me access to glide over her smooth skin and inhale her refreshing fragrance. “Has anyone ever given you pleasure like that?”