Saving Grace
My Saving Grace
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Grace
spread her towel on the sand and stretched out on it – Sands joined her,
sitting up. “First tell me what color
yours is,” he said.
“Huh?”
“Yourt,
t,
Gracie, or what there is of one. I’m
guessing you’re not part of the Bird Bird clan.”
Grace
laughed. “No, but if we’re speaking in
Muppet terms, then I’m Elmo.”
“The
annoying little red guy?” he asked.
“Oo…red…Bold color choice.
I like it.”
“What don’t
you like, Sands?”
“The fact
that you’re covering up perfectly good body parts.”
Grace shook
her head and turned onto her stomach.
“So, tell me something that I’d actually like to know.”
“I never
give out information for free, Gracie.”
“No?”
“Nope.”
“All
right…aside from sex, what do you want?”
“There’s
something besides sex?”
“Tons,
believe it or not.”
Sands
smiled. “Well, since you asked…”
“Uh oh…I
think I should have been more specific.”
“…my body is
still sore. I bet you could heal me
with those hands of yours.”
Grace
raised an eyebrow. “And I get, what
exactly?”
“Well, you
get to touch me, first of all...”
Before Grace could retort in some way, he added, “…and I’ll answer a few
questions for you.”
“Fair
enough,” Grace said, sitting up.
“You did
notice that it wasn’t hard to persuade you, right?”
Grace put
her hands on Sands’ shoulders and began to rub. “Your point?”
Sands
moaned thankfully. “A personal masseur
on top of everything else.”
“All right,
you, time to answer a few things.”
“Just don’t
stop…”
Grace
smiled. Believe me, I won’t…
“Well, you
see…mmm…right there, Gracie…After the circus decided that I wasn’t doing my
share…” Grace stopped kneading Sands’
back. “Hey!”
“I’m not
going to do this if you won’t take me seriously.”
A whining
noise came from Sands. “Fine.
others.”
“You don’t
say?” Grace said sarcastically.
“I do much
better work when I can…”
“Manipulate?
Steal?”
“All of the
above, Gracie. For the most part, as
long as I was out of my boss’ hair, he didn’t care what I did down here.
know, retire?” He was quiet a
moment. “I don’t feel your hands.”
Grace
resumed her massage. “O.K., so how
about the non CIA you?”
“I don’t
really remember that guy,” he said surely.
“Oh
no? I don’t believe you.”
Sands let
his body relax into Grace’s touch. He
didn’t want to talk anymore, but he didn’t want her to stop touching him
either. “Fine…What do you want to
know?”
“Where are
you from?”
“Upstate
New York. What about you?”
“New
Hampshire. Do you have family there?”
Sands
sighed, trying to play it off as enjoying his massage, but Grace knew
better. “Not any, no, no.”
“Why not?”
“What do
you mean why not?”
“Sorry,
that didn’t come out right…”
“You know
what, I think we need to reverse this.”
Sands pulled away from Grace.
“Sit in front of me.”
“Wait, I
thought you…” Did I upset him?
that she sat between his legs. After a
moment, she felt Sands’ hands on her shoulders. Not realizing it, she let out a breathy moan.
“Like that,
do you, Gracie?”
“Uh…”
He brushed
her hair away from the back of her neck and let his lips graze her skin.
hm?”
Her head
rolled forward, allowing Sands greater access to her skin.
matter… “Shoot.”
“You may
not want to use that word around me,” he laughed. “First thing I want to know: How’d you end up being in the right
place at the right time?”
Her body
relaxing, and her mind following, she said, “I came here with my best friend –
she insisted I had to get away for a while. After a couple of nights, she took off with a waiter from our
hotel. I decided to see the “Day of the
Dead” celebration – or war, whatever it was, really – on my own and…you know
the rest.”
“Just my
saving grace, huh, Gracie?” He fully
kissed the back of her neck. He smiled
as Grace shivered in the sweltering heat.
She turned around and put her right hand on his cheek.
a brief moment…just final, much needed contact. Mouths parted, tongues brushed…then it was over.
Grace
leaned her forehead against Sands’ and said, “You shared, I shared…”
“Gracie, I
am more than willing to share…”
Her finger was on his lips, preventing him from saying more.
She
couldn’t get her voice above a whisper.
“Who are you?” Gently, Sands
took Grace’s finger into his mouth and suckled at it; she was disappointed when
he released it.
“I’m what
you need,” he answered. She leaned in
to kiss him again, but he rose, a smile on his face. “How ‘bout we wade?”
“Huh?”
“Big wet
thing over there,” Sands laughed. “I
can’t go in further than my knees, but it’s hot as hell out here.”
re
re
telling me… “Oh,
yeah…Um…sure.” She got up and took his
hand, leading him to the water. “You
know, Sands, that was…”
“Dinner,”
he said, interrupting her.
“What?”
“Let’s
leave the room for dinner tonight.”
“O.K.,
under one condition.”
“What’s
that?”
She
smiled. “Order something other than
pork.”
“Only if we
can order dessert in.”
“I’m sure we
can come to some sort of agreement.” This
round goes to you, Sands…