Unfinished Hero 04 Deacon (24 page)

“Baby,” he said softly, dipping his face
closer so I could see him in the moonlight, his hand coming up to
rest against the side of my head. “Like I said, that world I live
in doesn’t touch you. That includes you knowin’ fuck all about that
world.”

“But I wanna know you.”

“You know me,” he declared.

I shook my head. “I don’t and won’t if you
don’t give more to me.”

“Those tears leak out of your eyes in my bed
in cabin eleven for a man you don’t know?”

God. He was annoying.

Because he was again right.

I decided not to answer.

He knew my answer anyway and went on, “You
know me, Cassie. You believe in me. You wouldn’t be right here
wearin’ my tee if you didn’t.”

Again he was right.

Again I said nothing.

Deacon kept speaking.

“I told you I believe in what I do. That’s
part of you believin’ in me, believin’ that I’m doin’ what I need
to do. But, baby,” he got even closer, his voice dipping lower, “I
don’t want you knowin’ what goes down in that world. I want you
livin’ in the splendor of Glacier Lily, worrying about gutters and
gazebos, and not tainted with that shit.”

This did not sound good at all.

Still, it was part of him and I wanted
him.

All of him.

So I informed him, “I can hack it.”

“You can’t,” he informed me.

“I can,” I reiterated.

All of a sudden, his mood turned heavy and
his voice got hard. “You can’t, Cassidy.”

That didn’t sound good, either.

Not at all.

And I was sensing it was time again to tread
cautiously.

That said, I still had to tread. My future
with the man I was falling in love with depended on it.

“You’re still gonna have to give more of you
to me,” I said carefully.

“I will.”

“Starting now,” I warned.

“Give it to me,” he invited.

“Okay, when’s your birthday?”

“You’re into that shit and need to celebrate,
pick a month, make it in fall, and we’ll be good.”

Was he being serious?

“You’re not gonna tell me?”

“Can trace a man with a name and a birthdate,
woman.”

He
was
being serious and the way he
was doing it I didn’t like all that much.

“So, what you’re saying is, I’m never gonna
know you.”

“Man you could know is dead,” he returned
brusquely. “A man’s dead, no use knowin’ him.”

“Right, are you gonna explain that?”

He didn’t speak.

It was safe to say my mellow
post-three-orgasms mood was escaping me.

“But you want me to have Deacon,” I pointed
out. “And that’s you.”

“Your Deacon is not the Deacon I used to be.
He’s just yours, nobody else’s.”

Something about that freaked me.

“I take it you’re not gonna explain that
either,” I noted.

“Nothin’ to explain, what I said said
everything you need to know.”

“I’m not liking this,” I shared.

“You like my mouth between your legs?” he
asked.

My body tightened and I returned sharply,
“That’s not the point.”

“Answer me.”

“You know I do.” My voice was getting
snappy.

“You like workin’ beside me on your
house?”

I said nothing but I knew he’d read me.

He did and thus he kept going.

“You gotta bake a cake, I’ll eat it. Happily.
Do it on September fourteenth. I’ll accept a blowjob as a present
but nothin’ else, only need to wake up with you in the morning and
bed down with you at night. And I’m not shittin’ you about that,
settin’ you up for me gettin’ pissed because you didn’t buy me
anything. Special occasions are about the people you spend them
with, not about the shit you can get out of them. And while I’m
sayin’ this, same goes for Christmas. Far’s I’m concerned, I get
another shot at Christmas with you, or luck out and get fifty of
’em, each one can be like the one we already had, except I sleep
beside you, fuck you wakin’ up and fuck you again before we go to
sleep.”

God, he made it hard to be angry at him.

“You wanna know the man I am, I’ll tell you,”
he kept at it. “I’m the man who’s gonna take your shit but best you
at it so I can at least replace about five square feet of shingles
on your roof. But if I’m on my game, I’ll be the man replacing the
whole roof.”

“Deacon—”

“And I’m the man who’s gonna work the next
week alongside you cleaning out the gutters on your cabins, because
if you didn’t think to do that to your house, you didn’t think to
do it to your cabins, and they’re probably fucked up too.”

“Dea—”

“And I’m the man who’s gonna sit beside you
at your friends’ house tomorrow night and like bein’ there ’cause I
haven’t been around many good people the last ten years. Quick
count, there are three.”

More not good.

He kept going.

“And I’m gonna get off on bein’ at a table
with people who bring a woman that means somethin’ to them that
they’re worried about a hot fudge sundae to try and make her
happy.”

I lifted a hand to his jaw. “Honey—”

“And food’s gettin’ low so I’m gonna be the
man who pays for groceries when we go to the store and I don’t give
a fuck if you argue with me at the cash register. I’m payin’. You
can pay the next go.”

It occurred to me he was talking and doing a
lot of it so I decided to shut up and listen because he wasn’t only
talking a lot, he was
saying
a lot.

“I’m also the man who’s gonna eventually have
to take a job but I’m gonna do it thinkin’ of when I can get back
to you, and when it’s done, I’m gonna haul ass back to you. And I
probably won’t sleep or eat while I’m doin’ that so you’re just
gonna have to suck it up, feed me when I get back, fuck me hard
like you just did, and let me crash.”

I had something to say to that.

“I don’t want you to get in an accident.”

At that, he dipped his face so close to me, I
could feel his breath on my lips.

“Baby, that shit happened, my ghost would
come to you.”

Oh my
God
.

Yes, oh yes.

He was saying a lot.

“Now, do you get what kind of man I am?” he
asked.

“Yes,” I breathed.

“And do you get the kind of man I am for
you?”

There was a nuance of difference but he
didn’t need to explain it.

I got it.

“Yes, honey.”

“Right. Now, can I go to sleep?”

“Yes, Deacon.”

At that, he kissed me, closed-mouthed and
hard, then rolled again, moving me with him and tucking me into his
side.

I drew in a deep breath.

Deacon didn’t. He just curled me closer when
I did and loosened his hold when I let my breath out. A show of
support. He was there with me. He knew that was a lot for me to
take and he was telling me he was there.

Yes, I knew the kind of man he was for
me.

I listened to his breathing even. I did this
for a while.

Then I stated, “I still don’t want you to get
in an accident. I’m not sure ghosts give good head.”

Deacon burst out laughing.

Although I loved that sound and that it was
me who gave it to him, I lifted my head to look down at his moonlit
face, stating through his mirth, “I’m only kind of being
funny.”

He again pulled me up his chest so we were
face to face.

“Here’s the deal,” he began when his laughter
diminished. “I’m done with a job, I’ll stop to sleep and eat. It
won’t be much sleep and it’ll be shit food that’s fast that I can
eat on the road. Happy?”

“So badasses
can
compromise.”

“Jesus, I’m wiped and now I gotta rally in
order to spank you,” he told the ceiling.

“You don’t have to do that,” I replied
quickly, though only because I was tired too and I was pretty
certain another orgasm might kill me.

His eyes came to mine. “What’d I say about
being a smartass?”

“It’s a part of me,” I pointed out.

“It’s a part of you that’s gonna get you a
red ass.”

“Please don’t. I think another orgasm tonight
might kill me.”

I gasped as his hand darted out, curled
around the back of my head, and pulled me to within an inch of his
face.

“There it is, Cassidy, you know me,” he said,
his voice heavy with meaning.

“Sorry?”

“We haven’t played, we haven’t even discussed
playing, and you know I do that shit to you, it comes with an
orgasm.”

Again.

He was right.

Sheesh.

“Shut up, let me go, and go to sleep,” I
bossed.

“And I know you because I know you’re bein’
bossy right now not because you’re my Cassie boss, which you are,
but because I’m right and you’re not willin’ to concede because
you’re fuckin’ stubborn.”

“I think I prefer silent, speaks with his
eyes and actions Deacon.”

“Kiss him good-bye, baby, and don’t bitch.
You opened the floodgates.”

“Ugh,” I grunted. “Time to build a time
machine.”

“Stop amusing me and settle in, woman. We got
gutters to take care of tomorrow.”

We did.

Why did that make me happy?

I didn’t let on.

I mumbled, “Oh, all right,” shut up, and
settled in.

When I did, Deacon’s arm around me gave me a
squeeze and again, he was right. I knew him.

Because I knew that arm squeeze came along
with Deacon smiling.

That also made me happy.

I again didn’t let on.

“Now I’m freaked out about us
discussing
playing
,” I said to the room.

I heard Deacon’s head move on the pillow and
I knew it was him digging it in so he could say to the headboard,
“Jesus.”

“Just saying,” I muttered.

“You think I’d ever do anything to you that
you wouldn’t like?” he asked.

I was an idiot.

“No.”

“You got nothing to worry about.”

“Okay.”

“Now go to sleep.”

“Your wish is my command.”

That got another arm squeeze, this one I read
as amused and annoyed.

It also got another “Jesus.”

I was right. I heard it in his tone.

Amused and annoyed.

I grinned at his chest.

“’Night, Deacon.”

His body relaxed. “’Night, Cassie.”

I snuggled closer.

Deacon’s arm grew tighter.

He fell asleep before me.

I fell asleep thinking that I was going to
pitch a fit at the cashier when we went to the grocery store.

But only to bust his chops.

Then I was going to let him pay for the
groceries.

That said, no way in hell he was buying the
shingles.

Better Every Day

“Woman!”

This was shouted through the bathroom door by
Deacon.

And I was guessing it was shouted because he
was sick of waiting for me to get ready.

This was something I was putting some effort
into after being on a roof most of the day helping Deacon with my
gutters. Then I helped him with the cabins’ gutters. All of this
before we went back to the house to clean up before going to
Milagros and Manuel’s for dinner.

My efforts were going to freak them out. I
didn’t think they’d ever seen me with makeup and now I had a face
that wasn’t heavy with it, but I’d given it a light go over with a
dewy sheen to my cheeks, accent shadow at my eyes, mascara, and
eyeliner. I also had my hair in big curlers that would eventually
give it wave and body (or,
more
wave and body).

It might also freak Deacon out (though I
doubted that, not much freaked him).

Even so, I was doing it because I felt like
doing it but also because this was Deacon and my first date (in a
way) and I felt the occasion warranted it.

What I didn’t admit to myself was that I was
doing it because Deacon thought I was beautiful just as me and I
was wondering how he’d feel when I put a little oomph behind
it.

“I’ll be ten minutes,” I called back.

“Jesus,” I heard muttered.

I grinned at the mirror and dabbed more shiny
cream blusher on my cheeks to give me more dew.

“You need something to do, unpack!” I yelled.
“You’re gonna be here awhile, no use living out of a bag on the
floor.”

This was my way of saying his exploded bag on
my bedroom floor was not something I cared for. I wasn’t freakishly
tidy, but I’d got my foot tangled and tripped over a pair of his
jeans when I’d stumbled to the bathroom before dawn and I hadn’t
enjoyed it.

“Unpack?” he yelled back like that idea was
foreign to him.

Then again, it probably was.

“Yes!” I replied on a shout. “Like, you know,
taking your clothes out of your bag, hanging what needs to be hung,
shoving in a drawer what needs to be shoved in a drawer, and
stuffing into the laundry what’s not clean.”

“Badasses do not unpack,” he returned.

I grinned at the mirror again and started to
put away my makeup. “Right, then toss your dirty clothes in the
laundry and drag your other crap into the closet and leave it on
the floor in there!”

“On a scale of one to ten, how important is
this to you?” he asked through the door.

Another grin and “Eighty-five!”

I heard his chuckle, liked his chuckle, and
lifted my hands to the curlers.

I took the ten minutes I told Deacon I’d take
pulling out the curlers and smoothing some gunk through my hair
that was supposed to separate and hold that I was surprised hadn’t
congealed in the possibly two years since I’d used it. I did some
teasing, some flipping, and then some spraying.

The results were good so I was grinning again
when I spritzed on perfume, looked back to the mirror, and took
myself in fully.

I didn’t go whole hog with the makeup (though
I did with the hair). I also didn’t go whole hog with my clothes.
But I again made an effort.