Shattered Hart (32 page)

Grabbing my face in his hands, he stared at me for a moment with a smile of wonder.  “Togethe
r.  I love that sweetheart, and I love that this is all new to you. 
You have no idea how much everything you say means to me.  I’ve never loved or cared about anyone before you know.  Only you baby, only ever you.”

Getting up, he scooped me into his arms and then carried me into the bathroom.  We wound up making love all over again in the shower, two lovers needing the connection of being one. Turns out, he’s as insatiable for me as I am for him.

By the time we were finished it was well after seven.  Damien spent twenty minutes packing while I dried my hair, and then we headed off to my house so that I could pack too.  We were
on our way to Laguna Beach just after nine, and I took the time in the car to finally call my sister.  I knew Damien had spoken with her earlier, but I’d never had enough down time to call her myself.

She picked upon the fourth ring, and I could tell she was out of breath. 
“Hey Rina!
It’s me.  I guess I’m calling at a bad time, huh?”

I giggled when she tried to cover the mouthpiece and I could hear her telling Dante to hold on.  Clearly I was interrupting
them in the act, and it made me laugh.  Those two go at it like rabbits, anywhere, anytime.  My sister has told me that she has an unquenchable need for Dante, but until
Damien
, I really didn’t get what that actually meant
. 
Now I know first-hand what it feels like to want someone around the clock.

Even with her hand still over the mouthpiece, I clearly heard her moan at whatever he was doing to her.  “Oh fuck Dante!  Stop or I’m going to cum!”  After some rustling and more gasps, she got back on the phone. 

“Sis, I’m so sorry. Can I call you back in
…
I don’t know, like an hour or two?”

I laughed at that.  I guess Damien takes after his older brother in the lovemaking as a marathon sport department.  “How about we talk tomorrow?  I guarantee that in two hours, I won’t be able to talk either.”

As I finish
ed talking, I heard
the sound of two bodies smacking together, clear as a bell. 
“Unh, unh, unh!!
  YES!  YES! YES! Oh god YES!!!  Jesus baby don’t stop…  I don’t fucking care who hears me!  Unh!  Oh god, oh god…..Fuck!  Brooke, I’ll call you tomorrow!” 

With that, I heard the very clear sound of the phone being throw
n away from her as Dante started
yelling her name. 
Wow.  Clearly my sister and Dante were really going at it. Pressing the end call button, I slid the phone into the cup holder.
Damien raised an eyebrow at me
in silent query.  Smiling, I explained.  “Those two maniacs were just fucking like animals while I was on the phone!  They couldn’t even stop long enough for her to tell me she’d talk to me later.”

Damien had the good sense to laugh.  “Yeah… I’ve heard them before.  One night after I’d left work, I realized I had left my meeting notes for the following morning behind.  I went back to get them, and when I saw Dante’s car in the parking garage, I went to his office first.  To say that they were having a good time is an understatement.
  I’ll talk to my brother though.  He shouldn’t have kept doing that with you on the phone.
”

Slapping his arm, I chuckled.  “It’s fine Damien.  My sister and I are closer than close.  It’s not like I’d want to listen all the time, but right then it really made me happy for her.  Besides, I know
allllllll
about what they do in the bedroom.  Girls talk baby, but don’t worry, Dante knows
that she’s told me every little detail.  Pretty soon, she’ll be hearing all about our sex life too, unless it would bother you.”

Letting out a hoarse growl, Damien chuckled.  “Damn you.  Now I’m thinking about all the things you could tell her and I’m hard as fuck.  No, I don’t care what you tell her.  Dante and I talk too.  Not in as much detail, and I do tell him not to go all TMI on me, but I do know things about their sex life.  Enough to know that we’re like how Dante and Rina are, and the way we want each other isn’t going to change.  It’s just going to get more intense.”

My heart is pounding like I’m in a race
by the time he finishes his sentence.  “
Jesus Damien!  It can get more
intense?  I’m pretty sure that if it was more than what it already is, I’d explode and die.”

“Oh sweetheart, you’re killing me. Stop talking or I’m going to pull the car over and fuck you in the back seat, right on the side of the road, like a fucking maniac.
You don’t know what you do to me.  I can’t be in you enough.
We should be there in twenty minutes.”

Fortunately he’s right about the amount of time that it’s going to take for us to get there and my face lights up in a huge smile when I get a look at the house he’s rented.  It’s beautiful and right on the beach.  We’re going to have such a great week, alone… together.

Damien wasn’t joking about being hard as a rock. 
Before we’ve even taken the full tour of the house, he’s tossing me on the bed where he proceeds to tear our clothes off before joining himself to me with a hoarse cry. 
The rest of the night is spent in various positions on that very bed, making love with my beautiful man.

Our week away all but flew by, and now we’re down to the last day.  The house Damien rented has provided an amazing vacation.  We’re on the beach and we’ve got a pool, and we both have loved every second of our time here
… even though most of it was spent in the bedroom.  We’ve enjoyed the house s
o much so that he’s put a call into the realtor who rented it to us to inquire about buying it
, even though it isn’t for sale
.

“Being here, with you… it’s been magical.  If they’re open to selling it, I’m buying it for us.  It’s close enough to home that we can come all the time, but far enough away that it will really be a break.  And of course the rest of our family can use it too, so that’s a perk.  I can picture some really great Sunday dinners here, all of us gathered around the outdoor fire.”

Is it any wonder I love him so?  How he never realized that he’s got the soul of a true romantic, I’ll never know.  Not that I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth.  In many ways, it feels to me like each of us saved ourselves for the other. 
We’ve talked about so many things this week, and I’ve been blown away by how much Damien has shared about what happened to him as a child.  I
was raised not to hate, but for the first time, I do. I’m glad that both of his parents are dead.  Neither one of them had even one redeeming quality.  Everything that Damien, Dante, Delilah and Dominique have become has nothing to do with the people that created them. I can only give thanks that they all turned out to be so amazing in spite of the odds against them.

Today is our last day here, and for only the third time this week, we’ve finally made our way from the bedroom during daylight hours to swim in the pool and soak up the sun.  After spending about an hour swimming and splashing around, we wound up lying side by side on the giant padded lounger.

Clearly both of us were beyond content, and I enjoyed the sound of the waves in the background as we relaxed on the lounger. 
Turning onto his side and smiling at me, Damien began s
troking my hair
.

“When I was younger, I thought love was either a cruel lie or a terrible joke.  I held onto that belief for years.  You’ve changed my whole life Brooke.  Everything I thought I was, everything I believed I couldn’t have… it’s all gone.  You’ve turned me into a cheesy romantic, and I love you for it.”

I wonder if he can actually see my heart in my eyes when I smile at him.  “You’re hardly cheesy baby, but you are romantic.  You won’t be hearing any complaints from me.  You’re exactly what I want, and I love you so much that it overwhelms me.”

Taking my hand into his, he kisses me palm before laying it over his heart.  “That makes me so happy sweetheart.  I… I’m a little nervous about this next part.  I don’t think I can just drop you off at your house tomorrow.  I don’t want to be away from you ever again.  Do you think
…  could
you… would you like to move in with me?”

I can’t believe he’s nervous! My love is such a fool sometimes.  “Oh baby, of course I want to!  I’ve just been waiting for you to ask.  I didn’t want to assume.”

His smile is about a mile wide, and I’ve got no doubt that he’s ecstatic.  “With me, you can always assume that I want you right there.  I love you Brooke, and we’re going all the way.  I’m never letting you go.  I hope you know that.”

Now it’s my turn to smile like a fool.  “I do know it, but it’s still amazing to hear you say it. Let’s just hope that you don’t get sick of me now that we’re going to be living and working together…”

I giggled as he jumped up and gave a cheer before grabbing me and running me into the bedroom.  “Fuck baby! I was afraid to ask you about that, too.  You’re really going to come to work with the rest of us?”

Nodding my head, I smiled.  “Of course I am.  I texted Dante earlier in the week and let him know I’ll be at work on Monday morning.”

Grinning like a fool, he gives his head a shake. “For the record, I’m not going to get sick of you.  You’ve just made my fucking year! But when we get home,
I’ve really got to talk to my brother about keeping secrets.  He knew this was driving me ban
anas and he never said a word!”

“I told him not to.  I was considering surprising you Monday morning by showing up.”

His groan tells me everything I need to know.  “Thank fuck you told me now.  The things I’m about to do to you now that you’ve let the cat out of the bag are
definitely
not work appropriate, and I wouldn’t have taken the time to stop and lock the office door before doing this...”

He was right.  The next few hours passed in a haze of amazing sex that was most definitely NOT work appropriate.

My lip quivers, my tears barely held back as my sister steps into her wedding dress and turns to face the mirror
so that I can zip her up
.  She looks like an angel, so beautiful that it almost hurts to look at her.  I’ve never seen a more radiant bride, and it warms my heart to know that she’s found the love of a lifetime. 

There were plenty of tears this
afternoon as we got ready for the wedding. T
he absence of our parents
has almost
never
been
more painful than it is now, a day that they should have lived to enjoy.  Putting my arm around Rina’s waist, I put my head on her shoulder and stare at her in the mirror.  “I just know that mom and daddy are with us right now.  If you close your eyes, you can almost hear mommy singing the song she always sang to us when she was happy.  “Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near? Just like me, they long to be, close to you…” 

We rocked back in forth like that for a few minutes, the two of
us quietly singing along to
the memory of our mother
’
s voice.
As we finish the last verse, we smile at each other in the mirror.  Swallowing hard, my sister smiles at me.  “Thank you Brooke.  That was… perfect.  I really feel them both right now.”

The next half hour is spent putting the finishing touches on my sister.  Dominique, Delilah and Tally have come in to finish dressing as well, and we all laugh and joke about how wild my sister’s honeymoon is bound to be.

I’m so glad that these are the people in our lives.  I know that Dominique was worried that I wouldn’t be able to warm up to Tally after the part she had played in Damien’s failed plan, but that hasn’t happened at all.  I adore her, we all do.  She fits in, and I love having another addition to the family.  She and Dominique are so happy
together
that it fills me with joy. 
Dominique and Tally are also helping to keep something I hold close to my heart in the family.  Now that Sabrina is marrying Dante and I’m living with Damien, it left us with a decision about what to do with our parent’s house.
My sister and I both love this house, and the idea of selling it was something we just couldn’t commit to.
  It was Dante that suggested that we let Dominique and Tally move in, and their date of move in is quickly approaching.  It’s a great feeling, knowing that this house that holds such great memories for us both will be filled with love and laughter for years to come.

Delilah, on the other hand, is
not filling me with joy.  W
ith her, I’m
filled with concern
.  I had thought that she was in a happy place, but in the last week she’s just looked awful.  Even now, with a face full of make-up and a gorgeous dress on, I can see that she’s stressing about something.  I
just
know it has something to do with Spencer, but until she’s ready to talk, I can’t force it out of her.

A knock on the door followed by the arrival of Aunt Sandra is our cue to head out to the living room for the photographer.  Sabrina had asked all of us girls to be in her wedding party, while Dante had asked Damien, Spencer and Sandra to be in his.  It’s a funny arrangement, because it means that no chairs are required since it’s a “family only” wedding, but that’s the way they both want it.  I’m doing double duty today, giving my sister away and acting as her maid of honor.