Free Walking in the Midst of Fire by Thomas E. Sniegoski Page B

found himself more fully engaged in his ordinary human life than he had been for quite some time.
    Business was good—not great, but good—enough to keep money coming in to handle the rent on the office space, and pay for the inordinate amount of coffee he drank.
    On a personal level things couldn’t have been better. The more time he spent with Linda, the more the trepidation that he’d felt at becoming involved again—falling in love again—slowly crumbled away. He needed a partner to be whole, to be the person he wanted, and needed, to be. Linda was that partner—of that he no longer had any doubt.
    The August night had been dreadfully humid, but a quick-moving thundershower while they had been out on a walk with Marlowe had brought with it a welcome drop in temperature. Refreshing cool breezes made the curtains in the house flap and wave like something out of an eighties music video.
    While he dried Marlowe off with a towel, which was more of a tug-of-war match than anything of real use, Linda kicked off her sneakers and peeled her soaking-wet T-shirt and running pants from her body. She left the wet clothing where it had fallen, in a trail that led to the stairs that would take her up to the bedroom.
    “Coming?” she asked as she started to climb, wearing only a sports bra and panties.
    “Oh, do I have to?” Remy mockingly whined.
    Linda laughed, padding up the wooden steps.
    Telling Marlowe that Linda and he had some business to attend to met with some minor protests—Linda had been staying with Remy and Marlowe far more often lately, and the Labrador was feeling just the tiniest bit neglected—but the offer of a smoked pig’s ear was just the balm the retriever needed to feel as though he was still loved.
    Remy picked up Linda’s discarded wet things as he followed their path to the stairs, finding the bra and panties waiting for him at the top.
    “You’re never going to find yourself a good man with these cleanliness issues,” Remy said as he added her underthings to the wet pile, and dumped them in a hamper in the corner of the bedroom.
    “Guess you’ll be stuck with me,” she said, propped up on her elbows in bed, a sheet barely covering her naked body.
    “Great,” Remy said with a heavy sigh that made the woman laugh. He started to remove his own clothes, also damp from the summer rain, as she watched him from the bed.
    “Is it so hard?” he asked her, as he tossed his shirt into the open hamper. “Dirty clothes go in there.”
    He shed his sweatpants and underwear, putting them where they now belonged.
    “Is that where they go?” Linda asked, wearing an exaggerated, dumbfounded look. “I thought that was the trash barrel.”
    Remy shook his head in mock disgust.
    “And they said I would be sorry for bringing a mail-order bride over from Blugrovia.”
    She started to giggle, the sheet sliding down to reveal her nearly perfect breasts.
    “I may not be the most tidy, but I can shine in other ways,” Linda said, holding out a hand and beckoning him to join her in bed, beneath the sheets.
    “Shine away,” Remy said, crawling into bed with the woman he loved.
    Their lovemaking was passionate, yet gentle. There was a hunger present, each of them attempting to appease the other until the air of the bedroom became filled with the sounds of labored breathing, gentle sighs, and pleasure-filled moans, before falling eventually to contented silence.
    Exhausted by the act, Linda swiftly drifted into a deep sleep, Remy’s arm around her body as she snuggled up tightly against him. He lay there in the soothing quiet, listening to the sounds of the city outside.
    There came a creaking of the wooden steps, and he lifted his head from the pillow to see Marlowe’s head peak up over the rise.
    Remy put a finger to his mouth.
    “C’mon,” he told the dog. “But be extra quiet.”
    The Labrador contemplated his jump up onto the bed before doing it, seeming to defy gravity for an animal his size as