Taps

He smiled at her and said, "I need to tell you I'm falling in love with you, Sage Moore."

Her eyes stopped darting back and forth between his and began filling with tears. She blinked twice and said, "I think I might just love you, too, Brad Harmon."

He helped her stand up then pulled her very close. "I had to tell you before I slept with you."

"Come on, I don't think I can wait another minute." She held out her hand and led him to her bedroom.

"Do you like lingerie?" she asked.

"I do," he told her. "Sometimes anyway. Right now though, all I want is you." He began unbuttoning her blouse as she did the same to his shirt. "You look amazing," he told her.

"Then why am I losing my nerve?" she asked as he slipped her blouse off. "Why do I feel so inadequate and...old when you're so young and so perfect?"

As his shirt fell to the floor, Sage stared at his chest and said softly, "Oh, my God." She looked up into his eyes and said, "You are perfect." She put her hand on his muscled chest and ran it across it. "Your skin is so smooth and tight." He saw sadness in her eyes as she whispered, "How can you want me when you look like that?"

He took her over to the mirror on the wall beside the bed and stood behind her. "Because I see this," he told her as he ran both hands through her long, blonde hair. He unhooked her bra exposing her soft, full breasts. He put his arms around her and then touched her face. "Because I see the most beautiful face I've ever seen." He touched her lips. "And the softest, most desirable lips a woman can have." Sage closed her eyes and sighed as he pushed against her from behind and cupped her breasts. "Because you have the most perfect breasts any man could want." He softy rolled the nipples in his fingers. "Take off your pants for me, okay?" he asked quietly in her ear.

She slid them off leaving her in a pair of white panties and white footies. "Because you have this amazingly tight waist," he said as he put his hands on either side. He looped his thumbs inside her panties and slowly pulled them down. Sage stepped out of them and Brad stood back up. He put his hands on her hips and ran them back down her legs. "Because you have these gorgeous, long, slender legs that are so very sexy."

He quickly took off his own pants and underwear and kicked them aside. "So to me, you are the most perfect woman on earth, Sage Moore." He wrapped one arm under her breasts and reached for her with the other. As his gentle hand found her sex, she moaned softly. "And then there's this," he whispered as he palmed her mound. Sage pushed against him still moaning softly. Her eyes were closed and Brad whispered to her. "Open your eyes, Sage." As she did he said, "You see? This is what I see when I look at you. And that is why I want...you."

He gently played with her clit as she put his hand on her breast. He was growing hard and Sage felt him between the cheeks of her ass. "Mmmm. You feel so good," she moaned. "I want you so bad."

He turned her around and kissed her. "I want you too, Sage." She reached between his legs and found him. She held him in her hand gently stroking him and bringing him to fulness.

Brad picked her up and lifted her off the floor and lowered her directly onto his hardened shaft. Sage inhaled sharply as he slid inside her. "Yes!" she cried as he filled her. She took him completely and ground hard against him once he was fully inside her. He raised her up and Sage gasped as he slowly lowered her back down. "Oh...God," she moaned. "You feel so good."

He held her firmly as he laid her back and she also held on tightly as he bent over and began fucking her hard, her back parallel to the floor. "Yes!!" she cried as he pulled in hard letting her push back the other direction.

He stood back up, still inside her as he sat on the edge of the bed. He kissed and said, "You wanna taste your pussy?"

Sage nodded hungrily. He lifted her off of him and she went to her knees and took his wet cock into her mouth. He put his hand behind her head pushing her down and holding there. He heard her moan telling him she liked that as he allowed her to slowly raise her head before pushing her back down. He held her there until he felt her gag then let go. She came up gasping for air but went back down immediately desperate to have him in her mouth again.

He loved how she looked up at him as she slowly took him up and down. "You're so gorgeous," he groaned as she took him deep again.

He grabbed her hair and pulled her off his cock. He took her hand and pulled her onto the bed then pushed her onto her back. Brad spread her legs wide and went straight to work on her slit. "Oooo!" Sage moaned. "Yes!" she said as his tongue rolled softly over her clit. "That feels so good!" she gasped pulling his head closer to her. Brad slid his tongue inside her as he pulled her lips apart exposing her clit. It was filled with blood and extremely sensitive as he ran his tongue over it slowly and driving Sage crazy with pleasure. "Oooo...ssshit!" she hissed as a first finger slid inside her as his tongue stayed busy up above where it mattered. "I love that," she moaned as a second finger entered her.

He finger fucked her quickly as his tongue began flicking out teasing her clit with touch after touch. "Oh, God!" she cried out. "Oh...ssshit!" Brad felt her legs tighten around his head as she pulled his head in even tighter. "Yes!!" she screamed as she came for the first time. "Ohhh," she sighed as fought for air, her breathing deep and heavy.

"I want you inside me, Brad. Please!"

He crawled up on top of her and looked into her eyes. "You are so perfect," he told her as he pushed against her wetness.

Sage cried out with joy as he entered her again. "That feels so amazing," she moaned as his cock began hammering her again. "I love that," she told him as he pounded her pussy hard.

Brad put his arms underneath her and buried his head in the crook of her neck as he drilled her as hard as he could. "Yes!! Fucking...yesss!!" she screamed. "Fuck me. Fuck me hard!"

Brad did just that before stopping and saying, "Turn over, baby."

Sage quickly got on her knees and made her pussy available to his long, thick cock again and was immediately rewarded with its presence. He took her hard and deep over and over. Sage felt him hitting her clit on each stroke, something no man had ever done before. "Fuck..." she cried. "You are so big! Oh...my...God, that feels so good!"

Sage had never before lost control, but she was now in another world where her lover's cock fully filling her wet pussy was all there was. Her voice shuddered along with her body as she felt herself coming again. "Oh...my...fucking...God!!" she screamed loudly. "Yes! Fucking...yes!!" she cried as he came inside her. "Harder, baby!" she begged as he grunted and groaned filling her with his hot cum.

"Shit!" he called out as he shot the last of his load deep inside her.

Sage hung her head gasping for air as he lay on her back kissing her neck. He withdrew and turned her over on her back. "And that too, is why I love you," he said smiling.

"You are just so amazing," she said still breathing hard. "I've never had it like that. Ever. Wow. Just...wow!" Sage laughed a laugh of giddy happiness. "How did I ever get so lucky?" she said her eyes darting back and forth between his.

He kissed and said, "Uh-uh. I'm the lucky one." He brushed back her hair and said, "I've been waiting for you all my life, Sage. I knew I'd find you. I just didn't know when or where, but I found you."

"Would it spoil the mood if I said..." she began.

"No, because I love you, too, Sage. I'm...I'm actually in love with you."

The last thing Sage wanted to do was cry, but there was nothing to do to stop it. Her emotions overflowed and it just started. Brad held her close and told her it was all right. "I'm happy, too," he assured her.

Sage finally got control of herself and as she looked into his eyes said, "I can't believe so much happiness has come from so much tragedy and sorrow."

"I know it seems unfair, sweetheart," he told her wiping away her tears.

"It is," she agreed. "But Thomas would want me to be happy." She blinked several times and said, "And I've never been happier in my life. I love you so much." He saw her get emotional again and asked her what was wrong. "I can't bear the thought of losing you now," she said.

"You won't. I promise. I'll never leave you, Sage. I love you."

He made love to her again and she fell asleep in his arms. When she awoke in the morning, she lay there staring at his strong, hard body and tried not to cry again. None of it made any sense to her but neither had losing her son or so many other things in life. Sometimes things just happened and there was no better explanation. However she and Brad had been brought together, she was just grateful they had.

They drove to one another's place every other weekend until school was out and that was the evening when Brad proposed to her at his apartment just outside of Portland. They were married in August with family and friends around them, a special place having been set aside with a black tablecloth, a white Marine Corps cover (hat), and a plate turned upside down in remembrance of Thomas Moore, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps.

The newly-married couple honeymooned in Europe traveling first to Spain and then to France before spending some time in Italy and returning home. Sage sold her home near Seattle and together with Brad, they a modest place not too far from where he taught. Sage found work in a local bank and neither of them had ever been happier.

Metaphorically, Taps had been sounded on one phase of Sage Harmon's life while Reveille played to signifying the beginning of another.