Unacquainted

by Leigh Lennon

  I'm scrambling with my keys as his hands find their way from my ass to my breasts. “You’re making this difficult.” We stumble in the front door but I say, “I need time, for just a second.” I hurry upstairs.

  “Of course, take all the time you need, Toots. I guess this means we can head down to my parents' this weekend.”

  “Yes, it does. Will your mom let us sleep in the same room?” I ask, yelling behind me.

  “Hell, she would probably throw us a party,” I hear him yell up the stairs.

  I bought something special just for Brody. After a couple minutes, I hear him enter the bedroom then I walk out in a black lacy nighty. “I bought this for you a couple of months ago, when I tried so desperately to seduce you. It fit me better back then, but I figured it would still serve its purpose.”

  He looks at me from the top of my head, to the bottom of my feet. He rakes his hand through his hair and lets out a deep breath. “It sure does, because it won’t be on you that long anyway.”

  My arms don’t even try to enclose him in an embrace. My hands land straight on his zipper as I work the button loose at the top. He steps out of his jeans instantly and lays me gently on the bed.

  Kissing every area of my body, he makes his way to my lips. “Brody, I will tell you exactly what I love about sex, what gets me and what you can do to me. I want you to tell me the same thing. I want to share everything with you.”

  His hands find my wetness as he caresses my clit, causing moans to escape my mouth. I say, “I forgot how good you felt. I can’t even tell you how fucking awesome this feels.” He still has not talked as he leans down to taste me and his tongue does things to me I have missed. It is sensual, the way he flicks my clit, bringing me almost to a climax but only smiles at me as I pout.

  “Brody, I need you inside of me, now.” He sits up and kisses me. I love tasting myself on his tongue. “Mmm, we taste good together.”

  “We are good together.” Brody says, as I reach for his erect cock and he takes in a deep breath. “I want to be inside of you, too. This is going to be quick, fast and hard but we have our whole life, Rose.”

  As he fully fills me, I hold onto him tightly. “I love you, Brody.”

  “I love you, too, Toots,” he says as we are both brought to an orgasm at the same time.

  Afterward we lay in bed, snuggling close to each other. “I really love being close to you. But sex is so much more than a physical thing, it is so emotional for me. I do like to change things up in the bedroom.”

  “Really, you’re so reserved normally,” Brody says. “But hell, Toots, I certainly will be looking forward to it.”

  “In most of my life, yes, but you and I had some freakishly wild sex. Never having that before, I want to replicate that again.”

  “That is not a problem with me.” He laughs. “You’re all I want. But you know I need to be in control. No chains or whips,” he smirks, “but I need that, it does something to me for you to let me take the lead.”

  “You’re all I want, Brody. Maybe we should think about moving in together?” I say, looking at his reaction.

  “Toots, are you sure?”

  I have played it safe my whole life and normally these words would scare me into my shell, yet with Brody, he makes it so easy. “I’m positive that I want you with me always. We are working toward something.”

  “I have an idea; can you take Friday off? Why don’t we head down to my parents' early?” he asks.

  “I can, actually, it’s a great idea.” I say.

  Brody looks at me, “Hey, give me an hour, then we can recreate some of those many positions we tried that first night we were together.”

  Could I be more in love and turned on in this second? The answer is no. I turn to my side and prop my hand up, supporting my head as I look square in his face. “Hell yes!” is all I can say as I kiss him on the nose, snuggling tight next to him.

  “When you do that, I only need a half an hour.” He says, then all we can do is laugh.

  26

  Brody

  Rose is all I can think about for the next few days. Our future together seems so clear now. When I told Trent that I was moving in with Rose, he wasn’t surprised. He only said, “You have what Marah and I have. It's special. It hurt, I know, but move on and love her. She’s now yours.” I could forgive her because it's Rose and honestly, with anyone else, I would have walked away. But with my toots, it's not that I want her, which I do, but I fucking need her in my life. Forgiving her was easy because I know how hard this all is for her. Saying goodbye to her lifelong friend is not easy.

  I call my mom in the morning to tell her we will be down Thursday night. “Mom, I'm sure the house is fine,” I assure her. “It's Rose, we don’t need to impress her.”

  Later that night, when I lay with Rose close to my heart, she asks, “Did you tell your mom about us?”

  “No, I want to see her face.” It's the truth. Before Rose, the only women in my world were Bryn and my mom. Seeing them both happy will make my day and being with Rose will make those two and my dad over the moon ecstatic.

  We leave for my parents' and not even an hour into our drive, Rose does the one thing I know she can’t help. She wants to plan our entire life in this short car ride. I laugh at her, “Toots, you’re planner. I love that about you, but do you think we can work on one thing at a time?”

  She smiles at me and my heart melts. “Okay, moving in together. We need to set up a budget, so I want to work on that next week.”

  My heart hitches because I’m in some pretty deep debt from Jessica and my student loans. I don’t want my problems to become her problems. “Okay, Toots, we can work on that.”

  “Okay, now, baby furniture?”

  The cha-ching sound of an old-fashioned cash register starts in my head. “Um, are we at that point yet?” I ask.

  “Well, I want to pick a theme to register for in order for people to know what we need for my baby shower. I hope to get a good portion of what we need then.”

  “Okay, I guess we can do that.” I listen to Rose talk about all these important subjects that are central to her way of thinking. She mentions everything from investing, to yard work, to car maintenance and I see layers, that I know are part of Rose, peeling away again. Even in her uptight planning mode, I love this woman and though this overthinking exhausts me, it's her and I will take her every and anyway I can get.

  Mom is waiting on the porch for us when we pull up to my childhood farmhouse. As I watch Mom in a rocking chair, I’m quickly reminded of what my child will have in his or her life. He or she will have this woman, my selfless mother, waiting for him or her when we come to visit. She will push my baby, mine and Rose’s baby, on the same swing that has hung from the same tree since before I was born.

  When Mom approaches us, she bypasses me and heads straight to Rose and her stomach. “Did you get a new car?” she says, casually passing me, embracing all of Rose and talking in her high-pitched, shrill voice, happy to see her grandchild growing in Rose.

  “No, it's Rose’s. It's much safer and more reliable.”

  “You know, you will need a better car, son,” she turns to say sternly as Rose only shakes her head in agreement.

  “Yes, or so I have been told,” I say to my mom as I add, “What am I? Chopped liver?”

  “No, not at all, but this girl has my grandbaby in her, she takes priority.”

  Not arguing with that, I wink at Rose as I say, “I think so, too.”

  “See, and this is where I get confused. You both are killing me here,” Mom says, acknowledging my flirtatious behavior toward Rose.

  Rose looks at me, blushing a bit as I carry our bags. She asks, “When are we going to put your mom out of her misery?” I shrug my shoulders.

  My mom looks over her shoulder, “Okay, I just didn’t know how to do sleeping arrangements. I guess we can figure it out later,” she says, a bit disappointed. “I don’t mind you two sleeping in the same room, you kn
ow. Now, let’s get ready to eat.”

  “Rose, honey, how are you feeling?” Mom asks, sitting down, insisting Rose have a seat, too. I look at these important women in my life and my heart is full. I can’t wait to see Bryn, making my favorite trio of women complete. She’s going to love having Rose as part of the family. I’m lost in my thoughts when Mom says, “Brody, go get your sister and father, they are out in the shed putting together, hell, I don’t know.”

  I leave as I give Rose a little wink and it is not lost on my mom as she throws her hands up in frustration.

  I hear Rose answer, “I'm good, I'm past being tired, and I’m at seventeen weeks.”

  Returning with an excited sister, Rose is still talking about the baby. Unfortunately, I walk in when she tells Mom, “We have the big ultrasound in two weeks, I’m not sure if Brody told you.”

  “Oh, yes, we get to find out if it is pink and dolls or blue and trucks. I’m so excited,” she says.

  We both wince, “Rose, what's wrong?”

  “Actually, we decided we’re not going to find out.” Rose is now staring at me, silently ordering me to speak.

  “What, are you serious? What would make you decide something this silly?” The Ruth Buchannan glare is now on me.

  “It was my idea, Mom,” I say, walking back in the room. “Rose is waiting to find out because I want to wait.”

  “Really?” she asks.

  “But we have picked out names we can share with you, once everyone gets in here.”

  “Rose!” Bryn says, barreling into her, giving her a big hug. “I’m so glad to see you. Look at your stomach, it is so cute!” I love seeing my twelve-year-old sister excited like this. She had asked Mom and Dad over the year for a sister but with Mom’s health issues with all pregnancies and losing Bethany, my sister who was still born, another child was not an option, after Bryn. But now, looking at my sister, she will have that in Rose.

  When my dad comes in, he too walks straight to my girl and gives her a hug and echoes his delight over the baby.

  “I don’t know if cute is the right word,” Rose says.

  My mom is still giving me her evil eye when I decide to put her out of her misery. Coming up behind Rose, I pull her back into my embrace and kiss her cheek as my arms rest on her belly. “I think it is pretty damn sexy, if you ask me.”

  Mom stands up as she says, “Okay, this is the shit I’m talking about that confuses me.”

  I can only laugh at her. I love seeing my mom worked up. “Well, Mother, since everyone is here, I guess we can go ahead and tell you we are now exclusive.”

  My mom races toward us as if she will attack me. “Are you serious? No more, oh, what was that boy’s name again, John, right?” she asks.

  I feel my face give an unintended grimace. “No, Ruth. It was quite obvious where my heart lies,” Rose replies. “Jones and I will always be friends but what I have with Brody is like…” She doesn’t need to finish her sentence; they all know by the look on our faces.

  I interject, “However, in good news, it's not like he’s related to anyone in your weirdly bonded family so we won’t see him that much.” Rose gives me a small smile.

  “So, what does this mean?” Mom asks.

  Henry pipes in, “Ruth, let the poor girl eat, dear, she’s growing a baby inside of her.”

  “We are going to move in together and give it a year. We will re-evaluate our relationship then, to see if marriage is in the future for us,” I say.

  My mom physically claps like we are at the theatre as though she’s happy with the ending. This is what she does when she’s happy. Mom begins, “So, that will solve my problem of where to put you. Well, you would have more privacy in Bryn’s room and a bigger bed. Okay, settled. I will move Bryn to Brody’s old room and you two can take Bryn’s room. I just have to change the sheets.”

  “Ruth, we are fine in Brody’s room,” Rose insists.

  “Oh, hogwash, Brody’s bed is only a full-sized bed. Plus, like I said, you have more privacy,” Mom says again, emphasizing the word privacy.

  “See what I told you, Rose.”

  I’m watching as Rose plays checkers with my little sister after coming in from the barn helping Dad with the truck. “Rose, what do you think the baby will look like?” They still don’t know I'm watching.

  “I’m not sure, I look just like my dad and my brother looks just like my mom. Because I’m Mexican, when I’m out with my mom, people don’t even guess we are mother and daughter, and my brother doesn’t look Mexican at all.”

  “Do you think the baby will look Mexican?”

  “I don’t know, I’m only half Mexican, so I'm really not sure.”

  “I think your baby will be beautiful, because you’re beautiful,” Bryn says.

  “Thank you, sweetie, that is the nicest compliment that someone could give me.”

  “What do you think the baby will call me?” Bryn asks.

  “What do you want him or her to call you?”

  “Not sure, can I get back to you on that?”

  “Of course,” Rose realizes now I’m watching them. I know I'm a guy and we aren’t emotional like women, but I don’t know if I have ever witnessed something as beautiful as I did right then. I know Rose is all I ever want and she will fit so perfectly in my family.

  27

  Rose

  Brody has been moving a little here and there from Trent and Marah’s house. He’s in no hurry to get all his stuff at once since he committed four month’s rent to Trent and still has a month left.

  As we have been busy, trying to merge him and myself together, I decide we need some downtime one afternoon. Deciding to take off early, I drive toward the University to surprise him. I know he spends a lot of time on the field with various athletes during the day. Walking toward the track, I instantly see him engaged in a heated discussion with a woman but as I get further, I realize this is not an athlete. It’s quite obvious to me that this is someone he knew and does not get along with anymore. As I wait for this reunion to end, I see her take Brody in an embrace but he quickly unravels her limbs from him. I trust Brody and he’s doing his damnedest to get rid of this woman, but I can’t help the jealous rage that consumes me. My internal temperature, thanks to the baby inhabiting my body, is hotter than normal but I soon find myself sweating from rage, not because of the baby. The hair on my arms stand on end and my heart pounds. If this is how he felt imagining me with Jones, then I have the most empathy for him.

  When he finally sets her straight and she stomps away, he sees me. Before he can say a word, I hurry to him, crying. “Fuck, Brody, I’m so fucking sorry.” I’m sobbing in his arms now.

  “No, Rose, that is Jessica. I told you about her. I'm sorry. I was trying to get rid of her.”

  “I know, Brody. No, it's not that. If me being with Jones hurt you even a fraction of what it hurt me to watch this woman, that I know you despise, throw herself at you, I’m so fucking sorry.”

  He lifts my chin as he continues to comfort me. “Rose, we are past that. I forgave you. Now you must forgive yourself.”

  That is my Brody. I fucking love him so much.

  At twenty-four weeks, I’m currently nesting. I want to get the baby’s room ready but Brody is dragging his feet.

  I snap as I say one Saturday morning, “I can’t take it anymore, I want to get this baby’s room ready.”

  “Listen, Toots, we have a while, we really do. Can we at least wait until my parents visit? It is only the beginning of June.”

  “Can we at least pick out the theme and crib first?”

  “Theme? What do you mean theme?”

  “Like how we will decorate, I have an idea. I want to do grey chevron. I'm going to make this banner and have the baby's name on it. One side will be the girl's name and the other way will have the boy’s name. Then after the baby is born, I will touch up the room with pink or orange. Depending on the sex, of course.”

  “You can’t help but plan, can you?
” He seems irritated with me, not amused by me like he normally is.

  “I really can’t. I had all my furniture bought well before I moved in. That way I knew what I wanted when I found a house. I wanted a large dining room table and this place fit it just fine. If we knew the sex, I would have more planned,” I mention.

  “Speaking of the sex, I say we work on that now.”

  “I meant the gender.”

  “I know, but that's not what I meant.” He places his arms around me while giving me an affectionate kiss. As he lays me down on the sectional couch, he asks, “And why did you get this?”

  I smile, thinking this is odd conversation for foreplay. “Um,” I say in between kisses, “Because it was comfortable and I liked the style.”

  “And I think it's pretty easy to have sex on with it being a sextional and all.”

  “You know it’s a sectional, right? With a c, not an x?”

  “Not when we are about to have sex on it, it's not.”

  No one has ever made me feel sexier at a moment where I feel the least sexy. Brody has this ability with me and I’m free when we make love. More so, the command he takes in the bedroom and out of the bedroom is more of a turn-on than sex itself. Okay, that is a little bit exaggerated but it is a close second. He comes at me, as I now just sit on the sextional, as he calls it. I don’t do anything because he will tell me what he wants and it will be fucking wonderful. He means business when he takes the ottoman and moves it out of the way.

  I raise my eyebrow at him which turns him on more and he takes a second to undress. Standing in front of me naked, I quake with excitement. “Reach into your underwear, Toots, and play with your clit." I pull the elastic of my shorts and somehow maneuver my finger down past my protruding belly. “Now, I want you to tell me what you’re doing while you give me a hand job." Sitting in a position where I have easy access to him, I take his raging hard-on and stroke it as I go on and on, giving him a visual of what I’m doing.