Maybe a little sore, but I'll be fine." Pepper stuck her head up and gave Mom a wet slurp on the cheek. Mom jumped back, laughing, as Pepper settled d...own again at my side. Mom returned to her chair, laughing at some comment of Dad's. It was really getting dark now, and I could see people lighting fuses at the launch area. A solitary figure came walking across the fairway, heading for the main viewing area by the school. As it approached, the figure resolved into the shape of a young woman ? it. For some reason the sight inspired sadness inside Chloe. Her eyes welled with tears and she blinked them away. She took a deep breath and focused on staying calm. If he caught her upset now, he'd likely make her explain the reason for it. Dom turned and wandered over to her chair. "Kitchen's all clean," he said. He smiled and eased the glass from her hand, setting it on the table. Chloe reached out to him and tugged on his fingertips. She twirled his wedding ring, rubbing the warm circle of. Please, make love to me. Please Tom."I groaned and threw the covers back. Sitting up, I reached out and drew my hand down her beautiful face."Tell me, Clarissa."She sighed. "Okay, I turned eighteen two weeks ago. I'm sorry I'm not older. I'm sorry I'm not the woman you need."Tears gathered in her eyes as she looked at me, her face mirroring the pain she felt. I crushed her body to mine and held her head close to me as she cried. I whispered how sorry I was, how incredibly sorry. I tried to. ”Groggily he agreed. “Yeah, okay. You’re right.”I fired up the laptop and hotspotted it to my phone. A couple of clicks later I’m in my personal email account.Josh commented about data rates. “I bet those guys are working their butts off to get the cellular networks up again. Emergency services need it bad these days.”“Yeah, I imagine. We get the benefit,” I said. “I’m gonna give it a workout.”“Better send a text-only message first. Pictures’re gonna eat up the bandwidth at both ends. And then.