Chapter and Verse (29 page)

I slid my hands up his mighty fine physique until I got to his shoulder blades.  I grasped him there and pulled him down to me.  Whereas he’d been kissing me sweetly and softly, I hit him with one filled with fire and need.  Being the bright boy that he was, he caught on quick.

His kisses grew harder and more passionate.  Now we were getting somewhere.  I felt him holding back and I felt how the restraint was taking it’s toll.  He was starting to shake a little.  It was subtle, but it was there.  His body was rubbing against mine in an attempt to relieve pressure without actually pushing me into something I wasn’t ready for.  Admirable, but unnecessary.  Time to take him to school in the ways of me.  Granted I was rusty, but this was not my first jog around the block folks.  My running shoes were laced up and I was ready to go.

I pushed my pelvis up against him and his eyes flew open.  He pulled his lips away from mine and his eyes were hooded and dark.

“
Dor’?”

“
Now Deacon.  I want you.  Right.  Now.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Would you like me to draw you a diagram and present a powerpoint show first?”

He raised up slightly and murmured, “Insolent wench”.  Then he pushed in.

Although I was ready, I wasn’t ready.  Not for the intensity of the feeling or the earth shattering emotions I felt.  I felt full in so many ways and I knew he felt it or something close to it, as well.

He didn’t move, he stared down into my eyes until we were focused on nothing but each other.  We exchanged years of frustration, regret, and finally understanding, in one long look.  Neither one of us had ever experienced anything like it before.  This was it.  The “It” that you read about in books and believed was a fallacy.  A figment of a writer’s imagination.  People didn’t really have connections like that just because they were... connected.  It was a nice thought, but it couldn’t be real.  I can tell you from personal experience now, it’s real.  It happens.  It was happening to me.

It felt like we were of one mind.  All the fighting and jealous rages.  All the lists and hard limits and aggravating scenarios.  They all flew out the window in the face of this deep and love affirming connection.  This is what we should have done immediately after he’d decided that he’d take the chance with me.  Anton was full of shit and I’d tell him so the next time I saw him.  Don’t sleep with Deacon my ass.  The chase was over folks.  I’d be sleeping with him for the foreseeable future if I had anything to say about it.

All of this was rushing through my mind when he started to move.  Once that happened, I couldn’t think about anything but the sensation.  He must’ve felt that way too, because he kept dipping his lips to mine and whispering against my lips.

“
I love you Dor’.”

“
I love you too Deacon.”

“
I’ve wanted you so much for so long...”

“
Me too.”

“
Why did we wait so long sweetheart?...”

“
Anton.”

“
Anton?!...”

“
Later Deacon.  Move faster.”

“
I want it to last baby...”

“
Why?  We’re never doing this again?”

He growled at me then and kicked it into overdrive.  I felt it build.  The feeling I hadn’t felt in years.  It was different this time though.  It overtook me like something huge bearing down on me, waiting to consume me.  Then it did.

I know I shrieked his name and probably a few other flattering things, because I was all about flattering him right then.  I was the happiest, most content woman alive at that moment.  That’s how he snuck it in on me.

“
Dorothy, I can’t live without you.  I can’t.  Especially not now.”

“
Baby I agree.”

He was still moving, building toward his own release.  He spoke in between kisses and I was still doing that basking thing that you do when you’ve gotten your cake and you’re eating it too.

“
You believe in us now, don’t you baby.”

“
Oh god Deacon.  Of course I do.”

“
I’m yours and you're mine.  You feel it, right?’

“
Absolutely.  I don’t wanna be anywhere or with anyone else but you Deacon.”

I don’t know how he did it.  Not only was he a major contender in the boardroom and a wizard in the bedroom, the guy could multi-task like nobody’s business.  If I hadn’t been there to witness it, I swear to you, I would not have believed it.

In mid thrust, he reached his arm out and opened the nightstand drawer.  He snaked his hand barely inside and pulled something out.  Then while he continued making me crazy with his body (I still wasn’t sure how he was holding out so long), he put both of his hands above my head and fiddled with whatever he’d taken from the nightstand.

While all of this was going on, I was building toward my encore.  I started moving faster and harder against him.  I figured he was there, I was there, and he appeared to have the staying power of that battery powered rabbit.

He caught on to what I was doing (my bright and handsome man) and picked up the pace while he took my hands from his back and raised them over my head.  I felt something small in his hand, but I was too busy thinking about everything else that was going on.

I was closing in on completion and this time, Deke was close behind me.  He felt my body tighten around him, coiling into a spring that was ready to release, when he leaned down and kissed me before whispering, “Baby, marry me.”

Just then I let go screaming, “Yes Deacon, Yes!”

He slipped the ring on my finger and groaned against my lips, finding his release right along with me.

It was at least ten minutes before I knew what hit me.  It was at least twenty before the rest of it came to light.

Men are sneaky.  I have a theory about that.  They know that we think things through as a matter of routine.  Some women are impulsive, but I don’t think that the majority of us are.  We have too much to lose.  Men have more choices than women.  As a rule, they have more opportunities.  If they sleep around, they’re experienced.  If we sleep around, we’re sluts.  If a man decides to stay single, he’s a “confirmed bachelor”.  If a woman does it, she’s a “Spinster” or a “Crazy Cat Lady”.  See where I’m going with this?  My theory is, in actuality, men are the weaker sex.  That’s why they have to be sneaky.  We have to give them breaks in the form of opportunities and higher wages, because they’re disadvantaged by their lack of courage and intellect.  We have to stroke their egos because their psyche is fragile.  We have to forgive them because they’re dumber than hay rakes and keep making the same damned mistakes over and over again.  But let’s get back to the sneaky part and how it applies to my current situation.

We were laying side by side, catching our breath and stealing glances at one another.  We were grinning like fools, but for two different reasons.  I was grinning because the big “O” and I were friends again after a three-year hiatus.  He was grinning because he’d finally slipped the ring in my nose...erm...finger.  He’d slipped a ring, on my finger.  Oh my sweet baby Jesus.  There was a ring on my finger.

I sat upright and reached for the light.  A faint glow lit the room and I raised my hand to my face.  It felt like it weighed a ton.  I’d never get used to wearing something that required it’s own zip code, I was a note taker.  A writer.  I need my hands free to help me express myself.

I was grousing to myself when I finally looked to see what he’d adorned me with.  My breath caught and my eyes glazed.  It was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen to date.  It was even prettier than Deacon.  There was a huge cushion cut diamond in the center and in clusters of three on each side, were emeralds.  As green as the hills in Ireland.  That kind of green.

I felt him crowd in next to me before he kissed me on my shoulder.

“
Do you like it?  I bought it last week while you were mad at me.”

I looked at him and chuffed before I went back to fawning over my ring.

“
I wasn’t mad at you, you were mad at me.  Remember?  You stormed out on Monday after you found out I had a date with Hamm.”

“
Whatever.  The point is, I never lost faith in us Dorothy.  I knew this day was coming and I wanted to be ready for it.  Do you like it?”

“
I love it Deke.  It’s stunning.  Why emeralds?”

“
They reminded me of your eyes.  You have the prettiest eyes babe.  The stones don’t do you justice.”

My heart melted and I was almost ready to forgive the sneaky way he’d proposed.  Then I noticed something.  Something embarrassing.

Normally, I would never bring something like this up.  I was raised better.  The thing is, it pertains to the chain of events and how they unfolded.  So here it is.  I was sitting in a wet spot that was growing.

At first I didn’t panic.  There was nothing to panic about.  If anything, I should be offering to make him a sandwich and bring him a beer.  I was newly engaged and it was cause for a celebration, right?  Except I had this nagging suspicion about something that I couldn’t quite grasp.  I couldn’t help but think that the wet spot was involved and it was all wrapped up in “sneaky”.

I glanced over his shoulder at the nightstand.  Nothing there but an empty ring box.  I scanned the bed on the other side of his body.  Again, nothing.  Okay.  Now I was beginning to feel the first threads of unease.  Deacon was looking at me with humor in his eyes, but I couldn’t tell if he was laughing at me or if he was in on the joke.

I leaned completely across his body and checked out the floor on his side of the bed.  Completely clean.  I sat up, getting ready to stand and go to the bathroom.  He must have caught the look on my face.

“
Dorothy, what in the hell is wrong with you?  Why are you fidgeting and what are you looking for?”

I turned ten shades of red.  I know I did, I could feel it.  We were intimate now, right?  We were engaged (I’m still not sure it was a legitimate engagement, his tactics were dubious), I should be able to tell him anything.  I just had to find the words.

I played with the hem of my nightshirt, balling it up into my hands as I looked at my knees.  Deacon patiently waited and I could feel the grin on his face.  Oh he was a smarmy little asshat once he got what he wanted.

I tried to figure out a way to phrase the question.  Deacon saw me struggling and broke out in an out and out laugh.

“
Dorothy, spit it out please.  You’re killing me here.”

“
You haven’t left the bed since you crawled in.”

“
I haven’t needed to.  Everything I need is right here, fiance.”

I shivered at the endearment.

Fear was now winning the race against unease.  Finally I gave up and asked.  The not knowing was doing me in.

“
Deacon, where’s the condom?”

“
What condom?”

I turned on him and he leaned back at the look on my face.

“
The fucking condom you better have been wearing mister.  I’m sitting here ovulating while occupying a wet spot that’s growing.  Don’t you dare, ‘What condom’ me, you sneaky bastard.”

“
Simmer down missy, there’s no need for name calling.  There’ll be plenty of time for that after the wedding.  Look at your ring if it helps to calm you down.  It’s pretty.  Isn’t it?”

“
Deacon I swear I’m going to cut your dangly bits off with it if you don’t start taking me seriously.”

He took one fingered and dragged it down my thigh.  I grabbed that finger and bent it back against his hand.

“
Ouch, Ouch, Ouch.... stop it!”

He jerked his finger out of my hand and held it against his chest.

“
Woman, what is the matter with you?  Pregnant women are supposed to glow, not go postal!  It’s too soon for hormonal surges, you’ve only been pregnant fifteen minutes!  Damn it Dor’, I think you broke it.”

My circuits were sizzling, I could hear them.  Pregnant?  Me?  No way.  No.  Nuh-uh.  What was he, some sort of psychic pregnancy test?  He couldn’t possibly know that.  And was that what he was trying for?  Where was my list... I knew that there was something on there about waiting a couple of years for children...

“
Dor’ are you alright?  You look...strange.”

I slowly turned my face to his and my eyelid had begun to twitch.

“
Strange?  Are you sure it’s not just pregnancy making me look this way?”

My tone was sarcastic, but he was still whining over his yet-to-be-determined broken finger and didn’t realize it.

He stared at my face and went back to cuddling his finger.