Lulu's Loves by Barbara S Stewart Page A

older man…” I saw him smile and my heart started thumping again. “I thought I’d be your plaything for a couple of days, or you’d be mine.” I smiled, watching him watch me. The anticipation that showed on his face, and in his eyes, made me happy.
    “You squashed that dream by showing me something different. When you said you’d see me again, I couldn’t have imagined what that would come to mean. Aside from the only other man I know–really know, you showed me that I could trust you. You showed me what wild crazy sex really was.” I laughed and he pulled me to him for a kiss.
    “I fell in love with you in Savannah. I love you, Thom.”
    “Christ, Lulu, I don’t think I can not make love to you now,” he said. I noticed his eyes glisten.
    “Good.” I wrapped my body around his and a night of lovemaking began.
     

     
    In the morning, I pried myself from his arms. His closet door was open, so I peeked in and grabbed a t-shirt. I went to the kitchen and snooped until I found what I needed to make a pot of coffee. I looked in the fridge to take inventory and started making breakfast. He came around the corner a few minutes later; his hair was a tousled mess, and he was wiping sleep from his eyes.
    “Well,” he began. “This is a nice surprise.”
    “I was hungry,” I laughed.
    “I meant seeing you in my kitchen.” He looked at me a moment and grinned. “Do you have anything on under that shirt?”
    “Not a thing,” I said, and he smiled.
     
    We enjoyed breakfast and got ready to go to the beach. Thom grabbed lounge chairs and filled a small cooler with drinks. “We can come back here when we’re ready for lunch. I’ll open the apartment so we can use the bathroom if we need to.
    I started to slather myself with sunscreen. “I can do that,” he offered.
    “No!” I said abruptly. He looked at me, questioningly. “If you start rubbing my body with this stuff, we will never see the sun!”
    We both laughed. “I know this is true,” Thom said.
    We spent a beautiful day in the sun: walks, swims, and naps. Later, Thom fixed dinner and we ate on the porch. By ten, we were both sound asleep.
    Sunday, we returned to Charleston and took a horse and carriage tour through the city. We shared dinner at Hank’s, a Charleston landmark, before heading back to Kiawah. When we arrived back at Thom’s, he poured wine, and we sat on the porch enjoying the rest of the evening.
    “This has been a relaxing visit for me. I hope it was for you,” he told me. “No more than two weeks.”
    “Two weeks?” I asked.
    “I can’t go more than two weeks without seeing you,” he replied.
    I thought a moment and finally replied, “336?”
    He roared with laughter.
    “We don’t have to do something every time. Just being with you is all I need. Although when you come south, we’ll have to get a room somewhere. I think my dad knows what happens, but I couldn’t sleep with you at home.”
    “I understand that.”
     
    We took a walk on the beach Monday morning before I had to go. Thom held my hand and talked about coming south. I was ready for my dad to meet him.
    The car was loaded and I dreaded leaving him. I saw that he felt the same.
    “I hate this part,” he said, taking me in his arms.
    “I’ll call you as soon as I get home.”
    “Lulu, I’ll miss you every minute you are away.”
    “Don’t make it harder. I’m struggling. I have to go,” I said quickly, and turned to get in the car.
    He turned me back to him. “Remember that I love you.”
     

     
    Two weeks later, I was preparing for Thom’s visit. He had reservations in St. Augustine, but he was coming to the house for dinner first to pick me up and meet my dad. Thom was such a good cook that I spent hours searching for a recipe that I could pull off to fix for such an occasion. I cooked basic stuff for Dad and me, but I needed something special for this.
    I came in from school and finished packing my bags, to make the hour drive south