Revelation in the Light of Day, Chapter 9 "What You Want Me To Say"

This story is intended for mature audiences due to language, violence, and the vivid depiction of a consensual adult relationship.  Many thanks to Judy for beta-reading and Peaches & singerme for vast encouragement, plus an anonymous Gunsmokegang Proboard member who issued the “Front Street Fourth” challenge.  I hope I meet it adequately.

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Under cover of darkness, Kitty, dressed only in a gossamer white summer nightgown, slipped out her bedroom window onto the Long Branch balcony and spread out a quilt to sit on.  Earlier in the day, she’d stood wistfully looking out at all the townspeople heading down Front Street to the riverside for the annual Fourth of July picnic and fireworks show--happy families and couples and friends…everyone, it seemed, except her.  She was too utterly miserable to go anywhere, to be with anyone.  She’d made a decision that was breaking her heart, but truly didn’t know what else to do. 

She was completely exhausted after tossing and turning sleeplessly last night and then packing her belongings into trunks all day.  Waiting in the sultry July evening air for the fireworks to begin, she recalled that she and Matt had watched them from out here last year, and the memory made her heart ache that much more.  She smoothed her nightgown over her legs and opened the silk fan she’d brought out with her to ward off the summer heat, closing her eyes and remembering how Matt had kissed her a year ago at the end of the fireworks display.  They’d crept back inside the window and made slow, hungry, passionate love all night long.  The tears that’d been burning her eyes all evening finally made their escape and rolled down her cheeks unchecked in the privacy of her balcony haven.  

 

“Kitty?  You out here?”

She started at the familiar deep voice, hurriedly dashing away the tears streaming down her face with the back of one hand as Matt awkwardly folded his large frame to fit through the window and sit beside her on the quilt.  They sat wordlessly for a time, looking up at the stars in the nighttime sky to the accompaniment of a nocturnal chorus of crickets and frogs.  Matt was the first to break the silence.  “I hear you’re leavin’ town.”

Kitty looked away, anxiously worrying a long lock of red hair, and answered quietly, “It’s the only thing I can do, Matt.”

“The only thing you can do?  What do you mean, honey?”

At the sound of his familiar endearment, the tears coursed down her cheeks anew.  Matt’s heart squeezed in his chest at the sight, and he reached to gently pull Kitty into his lap.  She laid her head on his shoulder and cried soundlessly while Matt stroked the freshly-brushed hair tumbling unbound down her back.  “Why do you think you have to leave, Kitty?”

“Matt, you know why.  You…”  Her breath caught in her throat and she struggled to speak, “You broke the law last night.   And it was all because of me.”

As he felt her tears wet his shirtfront, Matt’s voice became gruff with emotion, “It wasn’t your fault, Kitten.  Those men died because of their own actions.”

“But your job, your badge was jeopardized.”

“Kitty, Festus showed me something a little while ago.  It was a gun that Percy Crump found on Lester’s body.”  He used the back of his fingers to softly brush the wetness from her hot, tear-stained cheek.   “I would never have forgiven myself if anything had happened to you.” 

She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed hard as he wound his fingers tightly through her shining hair.  He affirmed, “I feel like I did what I had to do, under the circumstances…”

“But you’re not worried that…?”

 “Kitty, we’re lucky to have awful good friends who’ve got our backs.”  Matt took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair thoughtfully.  “I don’t think anything will come of this.  It’s over and done with.”

“But, Matt, I…”

“Please, Kitty…”  Matt pulled back and gazed into her liquid sapphire eyes. “Don’t leave me.”

A sob escaped from Kitty’s throat as she choked out the words, “I don’t want to leave you, Matt.”

He asserted quietly, “If you leave me, then those bastards win.  Don’t let them do that to us.”

Kitty’s eyes were pleading, “But, Matt, what if it happens again?  I don’t want you to lose your job over me.  I don’t want you to hate me for…”

Matt took her chin firmly in his hand and soothed, “Aw, sweetheart, I could never hate you.”  He dug a worn cotton handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe her eyes and blow her nose.  “Kitty, I made my choice last night.  I think it’s pretty obvious you’re more important to me than the badge.  As for the future, what happens, happens.  But I don’t want a future without you in it.”

“But…”

“No ‘buts’, Kitty.”  He brushed his fingers through her red tresses, capturing her lips in a slow, gentle kiss, then continued in a low, hoarse voice, “I love you and I can’t do without you, Kitty.”

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she breathed, “Oh, Matt, I love you so much it hurts sometimes.”

He whispered in her ear, “So you’re gonna’ stay here in Dodge with me, right?”

“I’ll stay if you want me, Matt.”

“Oh, honey, I want you all right.  More than you’ll ever know.  You can believe that.”

Her eyes shone brightly at his words and she pecked him tenderly on the cheek.

“Oh,” he added with sparkling eyes, “Festus says to be sure and tell you that you can’t leave us.”

She chuckled and then gave him a quick peck on the lips.  “He does, huh?”

“Yep.”  He kissed her temple, then her cheek and the corner of her mouth, taking great care not to hurt her cut lip.

She murmured distractedly, “You wanna give him the good news or should I?”

His reply was muffled as his mouth traced its way down her throat to her shoulder.  “Can’t it wait?  I’m a little busy right now.” 

His big, yet infinitely gentle hands stroked her back through her silky nightgown, but in spite of his care, she gave a small start when he touched a sore spot.  He pulled back and gazed into her eyes with concern. 

“It’s nothing, Matt…” she began.

His hands tugged at her nightgown.  “Take this off, Kitty.  Let me see.”

Eyes widening, Kitty folded her arms protectively across her chest.  “Not out here, Matt.”

“Come on, honey.  It’s dark, and nobody is here to see.  The fireworks will be starting any minute now so everybody and their brother, except you and me, is down by the river.  Raise your arms for me.”

A blush crept across her cheeks as she obliged him.  He pulled the nightgown over her head, leaving her naked in his lap.  A hiss escaped through his teeth as he saw the bruises that Lester and his men had left behind, standing out in stark contrast to her pale skin.  “Aw, honey…” he murmured, kissing her wrists, her shoulders and arms…anywhere that those devils had left their marks behind on her tender skin.  Tears silently slipped from the corners of her eyes as she submitted to his tender ministrations. 

His hand cupped one heavy breast while his head dipped low to suckle her rosy nipple in his warm mouth.  She arched her back, cradling his head and moaning quietly as she pressed him to her straining bosom.  His fingertips traced infinitesimally down her bare side, following the curve of her hip, to caress her soft, round bottom.   But when Matt's hand slipped eagerly between Kitty's warm legs, she unintentionally flinched and shied away.

“Oh, sweetheart,” he spoke calmly.  “I didn’t mean to…”

Her voice trembled a bit at the unexpected memories whirling in her head, “It’s okay, Matt…”

“No, it’s not okay.  I don’t want to upset you.”

“You’re not upsetting me, Matt.  I just keep remembering…”  Her eyes became distant as she continued in a faint voice, “…what those men did to me…”

“No, Kitty…”  He cupped her chin in his hand as his eyes bore into hers. “This is me, not them.  Don’t let them take this away from us.  I want to help you forget.”  Matt tenderly laid her back on the soft quilt, making her gasp when he wrapped one of her long legs over his shoulder, exposing herself fully to him.  He kissed his way insistently down her silky inner thigh until he built a slow fire, low in her belly, burning for the touch of Matt Dillon on her quivering flesh.  She became vaguely aware of the explosion of fireworks mounting in the black sky while Matt’s hot breath on her bare skin made her hips grind wantonly beneath him.

He glanced up into her beautiful, flushed face, her breasts heaving enticingly before him, and murmured, “You belong to me, Kitty, you hear?  You just forget about those men.  I want you to remember only this.”

Then his warm, insistent tongue washed away Lester’s foul touch and his soft, suckling lips kissed away that devil’s memory.  All she knew at that moment was Matt’s touch and Matt’s love for her as he ardently pleasured her until her body begged for release.  She felt his breath on her dripping sex as he murmured “My sweet, sweet girl…”  Her fingers desperately wound in his curly mop of hair, pressing him closer to her molten center until she felt herself flying apart into tiny pieces and she heard her own voice cry out over and over as each wave of ecstasy passed over her body. 

She lay trembling with Matt’s head lying on her damp, curly mound, a satisfied smile curving the corners of his lips, while her fingers curled around a heavy lock of hair that fell across his forehead.  The impressive fireworks display continued in the dark sky--beautiful, blossoming explosions of red and blue and yellow, and she wearily chuckled.

“What?” Matt urged.

“I always heard there was supposed to be fireworks when you…”

Matt laughed loudly.  “Yeah, me too.  There’s a first time for everything, I guess.” 

He got a mischievous look in his eye as he began kissing his way slowly up her belly, his tongue tracing wet circles around each straining pink rosebud.  She groaned as he hovered over her and reiterated, “You’re mine, Kathleen Russell.  You’re not going anywhere.  You’re staying right here in Dodge, with me…” 

Reaching down to help unbutton his pants and release his straining erection, she then spread her legs for him, wrapping them around his middle.   His hard length slipped easily inside her welcoming opening, and she gave another shuddering sigh as he glided slowly in and out of her body. 

As he thrust his hips over her, he looked piercingly into her eyes.  Kitty raised a delicate brow and declared breathlessly, “You keep looking at me like that, Marshal Dillon, and you’re gonna make me come again.”

“Oh, I hope so, pretty lady.”  His fingers slid down between them to fondle her most sensitive spot that only Matt knew about, making her gasp and shamelessly grind against his hand. 

“God, Matt, right there…”  And then she felt herself flying apart again…white lights exploding like flowering July fireworks behind her eyes as her body seized within and without, embracing Matt’s hardness with tremulous silken muscles that made him come hotly inside her, a muffled groan escaping his lips.

He rolled to her side, blowing out an enormous breath, and looked up at the colorful celebratory display in the sky.  “Oh, woman, you are definitely gonna kill me one of these days…”  He wrapped a hand around her waist and pulled her naked body into a spooning position flush against him. 

She raised an arm behind her to wrap around his damp neck and kissed his cheek softly.  “Not if you do me in first, big man…”

He brushed the hair out of her face and his breath tickled her ear as he whispered, “You promise you aren’t going anywhere?”

“I promise I’m staying right here with you, Cowboy.”  She turned her head and locked her gaze with his.  “Where else would I go?”

He caressed her soft belly as he murmured, “Nowhere…cause you belong here with me…”

End

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