by Cee, DW
“Are we good?” At nights when we were in each other’s arms, we were heavenly good. It was the days that brought all the pain and angst.
“We are good till the next round of drama,” Her lips fashioned into a gorgeous smile.
“When can we sit down and lay everything out on the table?”
“I’ve no idea. We are all supposed to have a family dinner at some bistro in Saint-Germaine-des-Prés after the show.”
“Damn. I love my family and yours, but they’re seriously cutting into our personal life.”
“We will talk soon. But for now, all is right in my world—though it shouldn’t be.”
“I love you Delaney Reid.” I wanted her to know where my heart was, and how it was beating only for her.
“Donovan Taylor. I have waited my entire life to hear those five words from you and to be able to tell you that I love you too.”
YES! She admitted it. We were all good!
Delaney’s declaration of love made everything all right this morning. The staff meeting with the Paris office went along smoothly and as an added bonus, an interested buyer called. After scoping out the seriousness of his intent, I set-up a meeting between him, his party, and us.
I got to the fashion show in plenty of time to get dressed for my part in Bee’s show.
“What the hell is this outfit, Bee?” I complained loudly to my aunt. “I can’t wear red pants with a yellow top and blue accents. I look like I work at Hot Dog on a Stick.
“I can always have someone else play your part, Nephew.” She threatened and walked away cackling. She knew I wouldn’t let my future bride walk in her wedding gown with anyone but me. She had my number.
I dressed quickly and went over to where Delaney was sitting blindfolded in Bee’s wedding gown. The sight of her took my breath away. She was a vision in white. I don’t know if it was the setting but she looked more beautiful today than she did at Ashley’s wedding. I wanted to go sweep her up from the chair, take her to the apartment and love her until the sun came up.
“I believe this is our ball?” With the blindfold off, Delaney couldn’t contain her elation when she saw me. I had to kiss those surprised lips before I got on my knees and placed her glass slipper on. We walked down the aisle, danced along the aisle, and once my future bride realized she was in a wedding dress, the music changed to a bridal march and everything became real for the both of us. “This is the path we are meant to take, Princess. No matter the obstacles that come our way, we will end up in each other’s arms, pledging our love for one another in front of family and friends. Just think of tonight as practice. I love you.”
The experience of pretending we were getting married was an out of body one for the both of us. We rushed through dinner, and I knew I needed to get this woman back to the apartment before I combusted.
After calming her nerves and getting the laugh of a lifetime with the revelation of Doug and his teenage days, we were in bed, ready to take the next step. It bothered me that I’d have to rush our lovemaking knowing two sets of parents were on their way back to the apartment. I knew Al caught on to my intentions and would help by keeping the parents at the dinner table as long as possible, but the chief was not stupid. He, too, knew what I wanted from his daughter. I needed to get us away to a private place where I could love this woman from sun-up till sun-down. Though I knew she trusted me, time was not our ally tonight. Rather than rushing our first lovemaking, I’d decided to take pleasure in seeing her find her first orgasm.
“God, I’ve been dying to touch these since I saw you at Jake and Emily’s wedding in that low-cut dress.” I touched, licked, and revered her breasts. They felt and tasted even better than I imagined. I could’ve played with her breasts all night, it wasn’t enough. I needed to taste all of her.
Delaney froze when I first put my tongue on her. She had no clue I would go down on her, but eventually relaxed when the fear dissipated and pleasure spread. Her moans became pronounced and her face went back and forth from being tense to relaxed. With every lick and suck I enjoyed watching how much she enjoyed herself. For laughs, I stopped what I was doing and my princess was one unhappy princess.
With every stroke of my tongue, I knew she was close. I did what I could to hold off her orgasm, but when I saw the abundant trust and love in her eyes, I couldn’t help but love her even more. She spiraled off the edge and let me know how much she enjoyed her first orgasm. I tried to shut out her moans, I tried to count the alphabet backwards, and I did everything in my damn power to not look at her thrashing about. The last thing I needed was to embarrass myself.
When she finally came off her high, I held her close and told her how much I loved her. She listened very quietly to my confession of why it had taken me so long to come to this realization and how scared I was she would be upset with me once I explained my involvement with Jane.
“Delaney?” She was sprawled atop my body, and I patted her back for a response to what I’d just said. “Princess?” I looked down and found a content woman sleeping without a care in the world.
The next morning, after Delaney got over the embarrassment of having fallen asleep on me, we were getting ready to leave for our spectacular night in Florence until the shit hit the fan again. When the hell would we get off this merry-go-round?
Kate dropped by Roland’s apartment and forced me to go back into the office. Why she couldn’t have sent someone from the office rather than visiting herself, I didn’t know. Delaney wasn’t happy but not for the reason I expected. Initially when I saw her reaction, I assumed it pissed her off that we’d be delayed in arriving in Florence. The more I studied her, it had more to do with Kate than Florence. But why on earth would Delaney be upset with Kate? It wasn’t as though she had anything to be jealous about—Delaney knew I wanted to marry her. Women were so strange; I couldn’t figure them out even with a turn-by-turn, voice commanded app.
This morning’s event bothered the hell out of me and this meeting just wouldn’t end. I was pissed at every turn, but did my best not to take it out on the clients. When I called Delaney to tell her I wouldn’t have time to pick her up at the apartment, she was still pissed with me. What the fuck? Why was she pissed at all?
I pushed through the meeting, even though I didn’t like the result, and made a dash to Charles de Gaulle airport. We had missed our flight, but luckily there was another one in a couple of hours. Getting through the inspections took long and when I arrived at the gate, Delaney was not there. I was stumped. Where would she have gone? After calming myself down, I thought through this situation logically and realized Delaney must have just moved gates. That’s where she was! The smart girl that she was, she figured out the next flight into Florence and moved to the appropriate gate. I followed suit and ran to the next gate but the waiting area was empty.
This was a worse feeling than when Delaney had left me for London. Back then, I believed I’d see her in a few days and after I revealed my feelings, we’d start a long distance relationship. Right now, I didn’t know where Delaney had gone, I knew she was pissed with me, and I was afraid she’d left me again. This was a girl who had no qualms about leaving a man she loved for over a decade, and moving to another continent. Only last night was I reassured that she and I were headed to the altar. Now, I didn’t have that same assurance.
I called Jake and Emily and neither answered. Right about now, I was kicking myself for having thrown Delaney’s phone into the canal in Amsterdam. Trying to limit her interaction with Michael, I purposely didn’t get her a new phone. Shit. That backfired on me. I called my parents, my soon-to-be in-laws and no one knew of Delaney’s whereabouts. I had this sick feeling in my stomach that something had gone terribly wrong and I could do nothing to stop it.
As I was getting more anxious by the minute, I got a phone call I knew would be good news.
“Roland.” Damn. Was he pissed about my shoddy work in Paris? There was no other reason for him to call me.
“Why the hell is my granddaughter in Florence, alone?”
Hallelujah, I found her! “We had a bit of a...”
“I did not entrust my granddaughter to you so you could allow her to roam through Europe without even an address to her destination. What the hell is the matter with you, Donovan? She sounded upset when I talked to her.”
“I’m sorry Roland. I’ll resolve this situation when I get to Florence.”
“Estelle and I are not happy with you right now. Take care of Laney!”
“Yes, Sir.”
To add fuel to the fire, I had to call the chief and my dad and explain that I had found Delaney. It wasn’t a pretty conversation as they wondered why she was in Florence by herself and why I had no idea where she was until Roland called. I, too, had no idea why Delaney had left for Florence without me. What sane person would take off without a word? This was not going to get resolved easily.
I called Jake the moment I landed and he directed me to the restaurant they were heading to for dinner. I caught a cab and told myself repeatedly that I wouldn’t be angry with Delaney until all the explanations were said. I’d calmly assess what had happened, and forgive and forget. We’d move on without a fight tonight.
“What the hell were you thinking getting on that plane without me? And did it occur to you to let me know you were getting on the plane before taking off?” Shit. Where had that come from, and why couldn’t I contain my anger as I’d practiced in the cab? Jake and Emily told me to sit and played moderator. I explained my side of the story, first. “I was working! I couldn’t get to the airport on time and had no way of reaching Delaney. Common sense would have told her to either wait for me at the airport, or to call me and leave me a message as to her whereabouts. I get to the airport, can’t find her, can’t locate her at all within the airport, and can’t get a hold of anyone to give me some answers.”
It was now Delaney’s turn. She would have to give a hell of an explanation to get me to calm down. “You told me to go to the airport. You handed me a plane ticket in the morning and told me we were going to Florence. I called your cell phone three times, but couldn’t get a hold of you. Waiting for you while you were with Kate seemed too reminiscent of my pathetic days back in the States, so I took my plane ticket and left. You’re a smart man. If you didn’t see me at the airport, where else would I have gone?”
“Why the fuck didn’t you leave a message? Do you know how worried I was about you?” This was probably not the path toward reconciliation.
“Why the fuck didn’t you answer your phone when it came close to take-off time? You knew I’d call if you didn’t call me first. Do you know how worried I was about you?” This damn woman would not lose out to me, ever!
“Dammit Delaney! You did this on purpose to punish me, and I have no fucking clue why you’re so upset with me. You know Kate and I work together. You know Kate and I have had an on-and-off relationship for ten years. None of this is new to you. What the hell don’t you get?”
“I don’t know a damn thing because you haven’t explained any of it to me. You’ve yet to tell me about Kate and your ten years. I’m told I’ll see Jane in a few minutes, and I still don’t know why the hell you two were making out in that hospital room when she had a boyfriend, or where the ‘let’s have sex’ plane tickets fall into this whole story. I don’t know anything!”
Shit. She was right. At no time had I explained my relationship with Kate or Jane. Delaney was free to jump to any and all conclusions. I wanted this woman to give up the man she was currently with, but offered no resolve about the two women Delaney believed I was involved with concurrently.
I reached in to apologize and explain myself, but Delaney kept to herself. She wanted nothing to do with me, and that stung.
“Oh my gosh! What are you all doing here?” Jane and Max walked into the restaurant, giving us a reprieve. These two were a nice distraction to the heap of shit I was in with my woman.
Jane’s chatter filled our table as we all greeted one another. Delaney continued to keep to herself except when Max came over and hugged her as an older brother would. They spoke quietly to one another and all I could do was watch their exchange.
“You got a phone?” I asked when I saw Delaney texting someone. She nodded yes, but didn’t divulge a number or the person she was texting. “Were you going to give me your number?” She shrugged her damn shoulder and went outside to answer her phone.
“How goes it?” Jane asked.
“Damn, you Reid women are a difficult lot! It goes well on some days, and not well at all on other days.”
“You’re so damn cryptic all the time. Details, Donovan.” Jane had no idea how difficult this night was going to be—Bocelli or not!
“You don’t want to know. I’ve never worked so hard for anything. Law school, the Bar exam, life—all a breeze compared to winning over one woman.”
Everyone laughed, but I was concerned about Delaney who walked in looking very unhappy.
As if this night wasn’t difficult enough, the duke-to-be himself made an appearance and pushed me further into the depths of hell. I begged her not to go but she was adamant about talking to him. I figured Delaney would do the right thing and break up with the guy so we could start a relationship. What I didn’t figure was Michael grabbing my woman and bringing her into his fold.
I stood up to pull her out of his arms. Max held me back.
“Give her time to work it out. She’ll come back to you if you’re meant to have her.” Now that everything worked out well for him, Max was passing out free advice.
“Can you guarantee me she’ll be back?” I bit out angrily.
“No, but I can tell you karma is a bitch, and what goes around comes around.” That brought out laughter from everyone—even myself.
“What the hell is taking her so long?” I was damn anxious.
“She’ll be back, Donovan. You two can’t move forward if Michael...and others...are still in the picture.” It was wisdom and warning all in one sentence, from Emily.
“Delaney!” She was back and I went to greet her swollen eyes and rosy cheeks. Even still, she was the most beautiful woman on earth to me.
She gave all of us some answers to alleviate our curiosities, but she didn’t clue me in on the most important part of her conversation with Michael. Had they broken up? I needed to know so as soon as I saw a chance, I probed. “What happened?”
“Do I really have to explain right now?”
It would have been wiser to hold back, but I wasn’t always wise in the matter of love. “When I see my woman walking out in the arms of another man, then coming back in with tears in her eyes...yeah, I’d say you really have to explain everything right now.”
“Can you let me deal with what just happened? I’ll tell you all about it later.”
“No!” I answered like a spoiled child. “Give me the truncated version—just a sentence or two so you can put me out of my misery. I don’t like seeing you mourn another man. I don’t like knowing that you loved this guy enough to cry as much as you obviously did. You never cry. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry over me when we were back in the States.”
The foreboding look she gave me was making me regret pressing her for an answer. Shit. I was in trouble now! “Never in the days that we dated could I say I loved Michael. But I have always liked him and liked him very much. YOU, I have loved half my life, but right now, I do NOT like you very much. You think I’ve never cried over you? Since we met back in January, I’ve been crying a river from discontent and heartache. I once told you that just because you don’t see it on the outside does not mean that I’m not black and blue on the inside. You can do more damage to me than anyone I know, outside of my immediate family. Don’t use that against me.” Now, she was bawling because I was such an asshole. Could this day get any worse?
Yep! It did. The Andrea Bocelli concert was a freakin’ nightmare-come-alive-to-haun
t-me! Bocelli sang his arias beautifully, and I got Delaney in a good enough mood to make out, albeit briefly, in this romantic setting. It was the intermission that made me want to roll down the thorny hills of Tuscany naked, rather than suffer through the inquisition. The damn moderator started asking Jake questions about his love life. That was fine until he probed into all six of our lives. There was no doubt my “relationship” with Jane would be exposed in front of tens of thousands of people before it was explained to the one woman I loved and didn’t want to hurt.
As feared, all was a loss when the emcee asked about my date with Jane, and Delaney ran away from us after being forced to tell the audience of her feelings of pain and betrayal.
“Delaney.” I ran after her and begged her to stop and listen to me. “Please, please let me explain.”
“Loving you has been nothing but painful, Donovan. I don’t think I want to do this anymore. I hurt so much and knowing about you and my cousin almost kills me. If you’re going to add to my pain, please don’t. Honestly, I can’t take anymore. Because I’ve given in to you habitually, you might think I’m capable of taking on more of your bullshit lies. Well, I can’t any longer. Let’s just call it quits here.”
Hell would freeze before I let us quit. I loved this woman, and it was about time she understood my love. I grabbed her and held her tight so she would listen to everything I had to confess. “I’m sorry doesn’t mean much when someone says it too many times. I know that’s all I’ve been doing with you. The morning of Jane’s birthday, I gave her two plane tickets and asked her to go away with me. The asshole that I was, I told her I didn’t care what she told Max, I just wanted a weekend with her to explore the chemistry between us.” Delaney’s sobbing cries felt like a noose around my neck. I couldn’t get the rope off and I frantically searched for the chair to place my feet to safety. I was choking and I had no way out. “I know you’re hurt because it looks like I was with Jane while pursuing you. And partially, that is true. I won’t deny it. I...”