“I knew that dress would be stunning on you.” He patted his lap, and I crawled onto it. The slit of the blue gown fell open, revealing everything. Jonathan knew his dresses, as this was reminiscent of the silver dress. He slid his hand up to the space between my legs. I didn’t have a thing on underneath. My arousal was apparent by the ease in which his fingers slipped inside me. He stalled when he came into contact with the soft sponge inside me.
“Contraceptive sponge,” I said. I’d never used one before, but I was tired of not being as close to him as I could be.
“Genius.” The music played below while we created our own opera together. He pulled our chairs back from the rail and into the shadows. I covered his mouth as I slid myself over his shaft. His groan was too loud to not have been noticed.
He pulled me down and buried himself deep inside me. “Oh God, I’ve missed this. Why haven’t we used these before?”
“They have a high failure rate. We are taking a risk. Pull out if it terrifies you. I have a condom in my purse.”
“Baby, knocking you up would be the highlight of my year.” How did I respond to that? He wanted to give me his child, but was I ready for that? I would have to give it some thought. I’d always assumed I would be married and finished with school before I had a child.
“You’re letting your very happy part talk. Tell me the same thing when you’re not buried balls deep inside me.” I shifted my hips and stroked him until his eyes rolled back and his groan rose with the music. He always had perfect pitch.
That night he clipped on a musical note to my bracelet. I thought a golden penis would have been more appropriate, but the note touched me. Several weeks later, he took me to Per Se. It was the perfect place for a Valentine's Day repeat. We talked over nine courses as he fondled me under my dress. He had a thing against underwear, both his and mine.
Who was I to complain?
I learned how to discreetly fondle him, and we both found our pleasure before dessert was served.
When the waiter brought the tray of assorted chocolates, the familiar blue box sat in the center. I couldn’t wait until I opened it to see what charm lay inside. Shock overwhelmed me as I tossed the lid aside and glanced in the box. It was a charm shaped like a ring with a note that said Debt-Free. I stared at both for minutes. When I looked up, Jonathan had taken a knee beside me. In his hand was the real deal. Tears streamed down his cheek as he presented me with an enormous yellow diamond. It was the color of the sun.
“River Jordan Roberts. I have squeezed an entire year’s worth of holidays into the months we’ve been together. I have loved you for longer than the time I’ve known you. You were put on this Earth for me, I for you. I’m not perfect, but I’m perfect for you. I know in my heart we were made for each other. Spend your life with me, and I will do my best to never disappoint you again.” He held out the box and looked pleadingly into my eyes.
I hadn’t said a word. I was too stunned to speak. Had he really just asked me to marry him?
He pulled the ring from its satin pillow and slipped it on my finger. It felt perfect. I nodded my head and pulled him to my lips. How could I ever say no? This man had given me everything. He saw me, knew me, valued me, and loved me. With him, I could be me, and that would always be enough.
Chapter 29
“We have to go now,” I yelled as I flew from the bed and pulled on some clothes. I would slap Jade for interrupting what was turning out to be an amazing orgasm. Her call came just as I was flying into the abyss.
Jonathan ran through the flat, grabbing his keys and jacket. “I’m coming.” The child was not his, and yet he was frantic.
“We can’t miss the birth of our godchild. What would that say about us as godparents?”
“We are going to be amazing godparents,” he said as he called for the elevator. Thankfully, Howard was close by and would meet us downstairs. I just hoped we would make it to the hospital before Jade pushed out her child.
I fidgeted in the back of the car as we made our way there. Jade would do fine. Eric and Todd were with her. In fact, they had stopped their travels weeks ago, allowing me to stay permanently with Jonathan, giving us the chance to see how perfect our lives would weave together.
I was eager to see whom the baby would look like. It didn’t matter in the end because I had never seen three people more committed to one another. That kid would be one of the lucky ones. Loved forever by people who surrounded her.
We paced the hallway for hours. Seven hours later I heard the scream of a woman and the wail of a child. Tears streamed down my face when the door opened, and Jonathan and I were invited in. Gabrielle Elise Mendelsohn had entered the world. Her initials spelled out the gem she would always be.
After she was cleaned, weighed, and checked, she was passed around her family—the family I belonged to. I watched Jonathan hold the little bundle in his arms. He looked at her with wonder.
“River, I think you’re up next. I hear these things are contagious.” Eric looked from Jonathan to me, and back to Jade. She was dozing in her bed, and there was a look of serenity on her face. Todd sat on the edge of her bed and brushed the sweaty hair from her forehead. He kept telling her how beautiful she was, and how beautiful their daughter was, and how proud she had made him.
In all honesty, I couldn’t tell who had fathered Gabrielle. She looked exactly like Jade.
We left the threesome to enjoy their moment. Jonathan and I traveled home in silence. He kept pulling my left hand into his and tracing the ring he had given me. I knew he was wondering when we would make the commitment legal. I was wondering the same.
I told him to take a shower when we got home. He looked like he had just given birth. I needed to slip downstairs to the drugstore. He didn’t question my motives. I’m sure he assumed I was getting contraceptive sponges.
I found him wrapped in his robe, sitting in his favorite chair in front of the window. The newspaper was spread out around his feet. He patted his lap, and I climbed into the spot that had become mine.
“Did you get what I think you got?” His eyes sparkled with delight. He loved that we had done away with the barrier between us. The benefit had been worth the risk.
“No, I got something different.” I pulled out a little white box from my pocket. It was similar to one I’d given him before. Confused, he opened the box and saw a keychain with the stork attached.
It had been eight weeks since our night at the opera, and Jonathan had used his magic flute well. In thirty-two weeks, I would give him the ultimate gift. I would give him a child. Ours.
He stared at the keychain and wept.
“I’ll be expecting the perfect charm,” I teased. I wiped the tears from his eyes and pulled his hands to my stomach. Inside grew our future. Inside grew our love.
Our journey had been unorthodox. Our relationship had started with a list, The Dean’s List.
By its very definition, it was special. To the general public, The Dean's List was a category of overachieving students. High grades, honor, and consistency were generally synonymous with its members.
In reality, my experience with The Dean’s List had been slightly different. I hated what it had done to me, but loved what it had given me. I’d used it. It had used me. I’d discarded it, and it had spat me out like a sour grape.
If I had the chance to rewind time, would I join again? You bet. I’d gained independence, confidence, and self-esteem. Without it, I’d still be a victim. I’d let go of my past and moved on to my future. A future that wouldn’t have been possible if not for God’s grace.
Ironically, my parents had used grace as a weapon against me. They’d used the gift it was meant to be, as a yardstick for my inevitable failure. I hadn’t heard from them since that phone call. I’d become whole without their demeaning influence and censure. I now knew love.
For all its faults, thank God for The Dean’s List.
Thank you for reading.
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Sneak Peek into Honor Roll
When I stepped off the bus on 6th Avenue, I felt tired. I’d been selling myself by the inch all week, and my twenty-six-year-old body couldn’t keep up. With thirty minutes to class, I hit the student union to get caffeinated. The funky little cafe had been the landing place for Jade, River, and me when we started work at Concierge Services. Our weekly meetings were what kept us sane.
The coffee was hot, and as it cooled, I looked around campus and watched the couples walking hand in hand. Happy. Content. In love. They flirted and giggled while I stared in envy. I’d never had that. Hell-bent on getting my degree, I’d given up relationships. When I started escorting, it wasn’t possible. River became my friend and a surrogate girlfriend until she fell in love with one of her clients. Jade was pregnant with her second child and still living with her two men. Then River married Jonathan and had a little boy.
And here I was, still single and whipping my dick out for dollars. The bitterness of the coffee tamed the bitterness of my mood. Twelve more weeks and I'd never have to sell myself again.
The weight of my emotions, or maybe my backpack, slowed my pace to a crawl across campus. Professor Thieland was my favorite instructor and my graduate advisor. Twice a week I attended his commodities class. The Monday and Friday classes were the highlights of my week, but even the prospect of attending one of his lectures couldn’t diminish the cloud hanging over my head.
The auditorium hummed with the quiet voices of at least fifty students. At the podium, a ZZ Top look-alike tapped at the microphone.
In the fourth row, I sat in my Hugo Boss suit and waited. Did we have a guest speaker? The screech of audio feedback silenced the room.
“Good morning.” The high-pitched voice of the man at the mike didn’t mesh with the man in the Grateful Dead T-shirt and ratty jeans. “I’m Professor Saunders, and you’ve got me for the rest of the semester.” Groans echoed through the lecture hall. “Jack Thieland had a family emergency and will be taking a sabbatical until next year. Keep him in your thoughts. This is Commodities in the Twenty-First Century, and I’ll be using the synopsis and following the same curriculum of the class.”
What else could go wrong? The last thing I needed at the eleventh hour was change. I pulled a paper out of my notebook and wrote ‘screw me’ over and over again. I wanted to scream it, but writing it in big bold letters with exclamation points seemed my best option. I crumbled the paper up and set the balled up page in the cup holder beside me.
A slim and sexy little brunette stood beside Professor Saunders. She was good-looking, curved in all the right places with long, shiny dark hair and eyes the color of sapphires. She handed him a few notes and stepped away. I watched her walk off the stage and take a seat at a makeshift desk set up to his right. She puckered her lips and blew at the hair that had fallen across her face. She appeared as happy as I felt.
“Twelve of you are graduate students and owe me a graduate project. Be patient as we try to squeeze you into my schedule. My assistant, Mim, will be here after class to talk to those of you who have already scheduled their presentations.” He picked up a remote control and turned on the overhead projector for his lecture. “This is not an ideal situation for any of us, but like the stock market, there are highs and lows, and those who fare the best know how to ride the wave.”
The rest of class slipped by in a haze. I was preoccupied with thoughts of work and mesmerized by Mim. Something about her drew me in. I didn’t know if it was the way her hair flowed over her shoulders and curled on top of her breasts, or if it was the way the light bounced off her blue eyes. I’d been a point A to point B guy for so long, I’d never noticed anything else along the journey, but Mim could not be overlooked.
Class dismissed, I made my way to the table.
“Name?” she asked without looking up.
“Hi.” One word was all I spoke. I wanted her to look up at me so I could lose myself in her eyes.
“Name?” she said again, with more than a hint of impatience.
“Hi,” I repeated. “I know you’re busy, but there’s no need for bad manners. Mim, is it?”
She lifted her eyes from the paper and placed her pen to the side. “I’m sorry. This…” she spread her hands on the table, “was not what I had planned today. Yes, it’s Mim, like Mom with an I.” She let out a sigh.
Her English accent took me by surprise. “Well, Mom with an I, life has a way of throwing you curve balls at the least opportune times. I’m Luca Gregorio by the way.”
I held out my hand, and she gently placed the tips of her fingers in my palm. I should have shaken her hand and dropped it, but being the suave Italian I was, I lifted her fingers to my lips and hovered over her knuckles. The roll of her eyes wasn’t what I expected, nor was the snap of her hand like I’d burned her with my touch.
“Does that work for other girls?” She picked up her pen and scrolled down the names on her list. “Are You Getting What You Pay For? Commodities in the twenty-first century?” She recited my project title like it was an offering on the menu of a low-end diner.
“Yep, it generally works, and yep, that’s me.” I squatted down so we were at the same level. Eye level. When our gaze connected, I would have sworn I saw a glimmer of something other than impatience. Mim was a tough sell but hey this was my field of study.
“May ninth at two o’clock.” Her voice was direct leaving no room for negotiation.
“What? No. That’s three weeks earlier than I planned.” Holy hell, how was I supposed to meet that deadline?
“You heard the professor. Those who do the best are those who learn how to ride the wave.”
“This isn’t a wave. It’s a damn tsunami.”
She wrote the date and time on a sticky note and handed it to me. With a tilt of her head and a smile on her face, she said, “There’s no need to be rude.” She looked past me to the woman standing behind me. “Next.”
Speechless, I stormed out of the auditorium and went directly to the gym. The only work I’d put into my project was picking out the title. Unless I dropped everything, getting it done was a long shot. I rolled my shoulders, but the tension wouldn’t ease. The only way to get rid of my stress was to sweat it out. I had three hours until my next appointment. Two would be spent working myself into a state of exhaustion.
The Athletic Club was a perk of working for Concierge Services I’d lose soon. Jack, my trainer, was by the weights when I arrived.
“Luca, what are we doing today?” He was always in high spirits, and I wondered if he got off torturing people. I worked out all the time. It was the only way to maintain the body my clients expected, and the added benefit was stress relief.
“Work me hard,” I told him. “I’ve had a shit day.” I changed into shorts and a cotton tee and met Jack at the weights. Bench-pressing my max for three sets would help right things in my twisted world for the moment.
One-press
Two-press
Three-press …
After three sets, I rose from the bench and bent over to hold my knees. I was pumped to continue once I caught my breath.
“Give me thirty minutes on the elliptical. I want it set to cardio, raise the resistance and the incline.” Jack pushed me toward the machines and walked away.
The only machine available sat between a female with a sweet ass, and a fat dude with a visible plumbers crack. I climbed aboard and began. A glance to my left, and I nearly fell off.
“Not so smooth now, are you?” Mim pulled the handles and pressed the pedals like a pro.
What could I say? My swa
g factor had hit a low. “I’ll get it together, don’t worry about me.”
“I’m hardly worried, Luca.”
She remembered my name. That had to be good, right? Not wanting to be outdone. I upped my speed, resistance, and incline to match hers. Game on. “Odd that we would meet here. There have to be hundreds of gyms in the city.” I huffed out the words. Cardio wasn’t my thing. I did it to gain endurance, but now that I was at the end of my tenure with Concierge Services, I’d be able to cut back.
“It’s the best, and I like quality.” Her eyes ran the length of my body.
“Like what you see?” I tightened my hands on the grips so every muscle in my arms would bulge with definition.
“I love muscle. It's a damn shame most of yours seems trapped in your head. Inflated ego much?” She stopped her machine and hopped off.
“Hey, you’ve got me all wrong.” I stepped off and followed her closely.
“Prove me wrong, Luca. Buy me a drink. I’ll be at the coffee bar in ten minutes.” She disappeared into the women’s locker room before I could reply.
Shit. I had the time, but what was the point? The point was, I wanted a distraction from my life, and she was hotter than hell. I raced to the locker room and showered. I ran in the direction of the coffee bar with my tie in my hand. Nine minutes had passed, and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to get to know the brown-haired girl who had gemstones for eyes.
Dressed in an off-the-shoulder white tunic and black yoga pants—God, I loved yoga pants—she sat at the counter and watched me cross the floor toward her. I slid onto the stool beside her.
“What can I get you?” I waved the barista over and waited while Mim decided what she wanted.
“Chai tea with honey, please.” She was all sweetness and sunshine to the tired-looking barista.
The Dean’s List Page 26