Come to me, my sweetest friend.
This is where we start again.
Come to me, my sweetest friend.
Can you feel my heart again?

"Come to Me", Goo Goo Dolls
Magnetic, c2013

Growing Old With Kitty 3

by Lilyjack

Chapter 1

"Dream World"

Fluttering wings and morning birdsong startled Kitty from a deep sleep. She'd been dreaming, but in her groggy state, caught between the shadowy, ethereal world she inhabited at night and the reality of consciousness, she couldn't for the life of her recall what. With an arm thrown over her eyes, she sighed dejectedly, wondering if Matt would ever return to Dodge. After being shot in his gun arm, he'd awkwardly mounted his horse and, after eighteen long years together, he'd left her in the middle of Front Street with nary a promise of ever returning. The aching hollow in her chest had grown day after anxious day, night after lonely night, and she'd cried endless bitter tears in the privacy of her own room as she waited for him in vain. Kitty Russell was desperately afraid that she'd lost Matt Dillon for good this time.

Just then she was surprised by a movement in the bed beside her. Her eyes flew open, slowly adjusting to the gray light of dawn permeating the room. Overwhelming relief and utter joy washed over Kitty as she beheld her handsome young husband shifting in his sleep. The white cotton sheet barely covered his well-muscled form as he lay peacefully slumbering in their tiny cabin on the Sweetwater Ranch, completely unaware of her gaze. Overcome with emotion to find him next to her, she nestled her lithe body closer to his, reveling in his warmth, his scent, his smooth skin unblemished by disfiguring scars suffered from years of serving the people of Dodge. It hadn't been a dream. Kitty Russell Dillon was still in Brushy Heap with the love of her life, Matt Dillon, happily living as man and wife.

Propping her head on an elbow, she watched him sleeping peacefully, his face neither creased with worry nor gray prematurely peppering his hair. His curls were thick and dark and unruly, just like they'd been when she'd first met him that fateful rainy day in Dodge, and she couldn't resist reaching up to brush one off his forehead just now. It was heavy and silky, and she always found it a forbidden sensual pleasure to be able to run her fingers through it whenever they were alone. At her gentle touch, he stirred again and instinctively turned his body toward hers, pulling her to him. She sighed at the exquisite sensation, skin-to-skin, nothing between them-not even a badge. She lightly trailed her fingers over his broad shoulder, down his long arm to his well-formed hip and stroked that smooth, smooth expanse until his thick-lashed, blue eyes fluttered open.

"Time to get up, Cowboy," she smiled lightly, but her heart was skipping a beat at his gaze. "We've got to go to work." Her hands slid around to his back, caressing the warm, wholesome, rippling skin, and she was astonished and grateful as always by the absence of old wounds which would come to mark his career as an officer of the law.

Matt Dillon gave her a sleepy half-grin and proceeded to kiss the daylights out of his beautiful young wife. When she finally managed to get a word in edgewise, Kitty cautioned, "Matt, we're running late already. It's almost..."

He firmly cut off any further dissent by effectively sealing her lips with his own. Gradually, he began working his way down her slim neck, even while she weakly protested, "Oh, Matt...we really need to..." A swift intake of breath. "Oh, right there..."

This Matt Dillon had been young and relatively inexperienced when it came to women and the art of love, but he had proven an apt and eager pupil when it came to pleasing Kitty after their marriage. He'd always had a natural talent for kissing, but he'd been delighted to find, with her tender tutelage, that he could send his young bride over the precipice just by worshipping her with his ardent mouth and gentle hands. That's what he was doing right now, leaving no spot untouched, raining kisses on her bare flesh, trailing his lips softly first, then nipping and biting, insistently suckling until she cried out wordlessly. Caressing her with the flat of his palms, the tips of his fingers, stroking, stroking everywhere until she was trembling with desire.

"Now," she gasped. "Please, Matt..." Kitty implored as the gray sky outside their window began to flush scarlet with the coming of the new day.

Teasingly, he murmured against her perspiring skin, "Are you sure? I thought you said we were..."

"Shut up and make love to me, Matt Dillon..." she breathed, her hands helplessly fisting in the tangled sheets.

"It'd be my pleasure, Mrs. Dillon," he replied, voice hoarse with passion as he hovered over her, a lock of that dark, unruly hair falling into his burning gaze.

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Kitty hissed as she accidentally burned her finger, and her half-grown pup Daisy raised and cocked her head questioningly from where she quietly lay in the corner of the kitchen. "Dammit!" Kitty muttered under her breath, hurriedly setting the big wrought iron skillet full of golden brown biscuits on the stovetop while sucking on her stinging knuckle.

"You okay, M-m-miss Kitty?"

Startled by a voice at the door, she turned and smiled ruefully. "I'm fine, Henry." Old habits die hard, she thought. In spite of the fact that she was now "Mrs." the boys all still called her "Miss." She didn't really mind though. "Mrs. Dillon" sounded too formal for her anyway, although the way Matt said it to her in private, it sounded positively scandalous. She gave a wicked little snort at the thought.

"Did you say something, M-miss Kitty?" Henry was removing his hat and hanging it on a peg by the door. Cletus, Lionel and Frank came trooping through behind him.

She answered, "I was just saying that breakfast will be ready in a jiffy. The fried potatoes are almost brown."

Cletus looked surprised as he joined his friends at the table. "Gosh, Miss Kitty. I thought breakfast'd be on the table by now. Usually ever'thing's ready, time we get here."

Lionel rubbed his stomach. "I shore am hungry enough to eat a horse. You make gravy this mornin', Miss Kitty?"

"I'm workin' on it, Lionel," she answered, swiping an escaped curl out of her eyes as she busily stirred flour into a skillet with sausage grease over the stove.

Cletus scratched his freckled nose, asking in concern, "You been feelin' poorly lately, Miss Kitty? It ain't like you t' be late like this." He considered the subject for a moment. "Matter a fact, you been late a lot ever since..."

Frank cuffed Cletus on the back of the head making Cletus protest vehemently.

"Cletus, just be glad we're not still eatin' Freddie's beans and corn pone three times a day. Quit yer bellyachin'," Frank warned.

Henry joined in, "Y-yeah, Cletus. Leave Miss Kitty b-be."

Feelings hurt, Cletus offered, "I wasn't complainin'. I'se just worried about 'er is all."

Frank leaned over and hissed in his friend's ear just as Mr. Blessing came in the door, Matt ducking in right behind him, "Just you wait till you got a purty bride to warm yer bed, and we'll see how early you rise in the mornin'. Now shet up, will ya'?"

Realization dawned on Cletus' young face, followed by a bright coloring of his tanned cheeks. Kitty, who'd overheard the entire exchange, did her best to keep her expression entirely neutral, busying herself stirring milk gravy until it thickened.

Mr. Blessing must've heard as well because he quickly changed the subject with a blustery greeting. "Smells mighty good in here, Kitty."

"Thank you, sir." Giving him a small, grateful smile, she quickly transferred the food to serving bowls, placing them on the table. "There now," she exclaimed brightly, swearing to herself that this would be the absolute last day she would be late on the job. "Everything's ready. Help yourselves."

"Looks delicious as always." Her boss gave her an understanding wink and she sighed in relief.

Wiping her hands on her apron, she studiously avoided Matt's gaze. The memory of her body's reaction to his impassioned overtures that morning was still fresh in her mind, and she felt her own cheeks flush in spite of her best efforts. Oh, that man could make her lose control... She sat beside him as everyone dug in and she tried not to think of Matt's heated kisses on every inch of her skin. Instead she asked mildly, "What are you all going to be up to today?" quickly placing a steaming forkful of biscuit covered with gravy into her mouth.

Matt's eyes twinkled at her in that special way that was meant just for her, but he nonchalantly answered, "Rounding up some young calves today for branding." He helped himself to another biscuit.

Land sakes, Matt could eat more than any man alive.

He took a big bite, asking, "Right, boys?"

"Yep," they all agreed, more intent on filling their bellies than discussing their day's agenda.

"Workin' on dadblame accounts today." Mr. Blessing shook his head in apparent frustration as he helped himself to another spicy sausage patty. "Hellfire, I hate that job." He remembered the lady present, looking up apologetically. "Beggin' yer pardon, child, but I'm a rancher, not a businessman. Never have been one for figgerin'."

A brief pause while she swallowed her coffee then looked him straight in the eye. "I am."

Mr. Blessing, forkful of potatoes hovering mid-air, asked, "Pardon?"

Kitty explained, "I mean, I'm good at figures." She wiped her mouth with her napkin. "Would you like me to take a look for you?"

"Aw, yer just a slip of a girl," he smiled indulgently. "What would you know about balancin' books?"

She bit her lip, giving a little grin. "Oh, you might be surprised at what I can do."

Cletus and Lionel chorused, "Yeah, Boss," while still digging single-mindedly into their eggs.

Matt's brows raised, but he didn't say a word, keeping his eyes studiously on his plate.

Henry offered quietly, "M-miss Kitty can do purty much anything she takes a mind to, B-b-boss."

Mr. Blessing looked around the table at the expectant faces. "Well, li'l gal, let's see what you can do. I'll meet you in my office after breakfast is cleaned up. That okay with you?"

"Yes, Mr. Blessing." She beamed at him, only now realizing that she'd been itching to get her hands back into the business world, even if it was the business of cattle. "I'll do my best, sir."

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