Eternal Bliss

by Bonni Sansom

  She held a tissue up to her nose, swiped and sniffled. "I'm sorry."

  "For what, love?" He rose from his seat and held her in his arms. "Let's get out of here."

  She nodded and they left. Once in the parking lot, Kyle spotted Jeff marching to his truck, not looking very happy. He walked Laine to the truck, helped her in and went to talk to Jeff.

  "What happened with Melanie?"

  "She started crying on me. I didn't know what to do with a girl that cries before I forget to call her."

  "Did you at least hold her or comfort her?"

  "Dude, who the fuck do you think you're talking to? I don't hold and comfort. I fuck and say goodbye. But you're right, I should have with her. She's something else."

  Kyle held his hand to his head. What a clusterfuck tonight turned into.

  "Alright, well did you at least get her number? I need you to follow through on this one."

  "What do you mean, follow through? And for how long?"

  "I don't know, but if you mess up with Melanie, it might mess me up with Laine. So, at least take her out on a couple of dates. Is that too much to ask?"

  "Fine, I'll go out with her for you, but if she starts gettin' serious, I'm out."

  "Thanks man. I owe you." He clapped him on the arm and headed for Laine.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Laine felt bad about how dinner went, well, the end of it anyway. She enjoyed the hell out of the orgasm. She would do just about anything sexual he wanted, just short of walking around naked in public barking like a dog. The way he commanded her body, the way he knew what she needed without having to ask, really turned her on.

  But today was shopping with mother dearest. Oh joy.

  Kyle would be working for the next two days, which meant she had all the free time in the world for her mother. She hadn't spoken to Mel since dinner. She wasn't mad she brought him up exactly, just disappointed with herself for reacting so strongly. The memory of standing there in her bridal gown, the smile on her face as she walked with her father to the altar. The sharp painful memory of David stopping the wedding to tell her he couldn't go through with it, that he couldn't live a lie, hurt just as much today as it had the day it happened.

  She felt the lump forming in her throat again and tried to squash it back down. She wouldn't cry over this ever again. It was done and she needed to move on. Move on with Kyle. She felt it with him, the understanding and the tenderness he showed the night of the dinner. His touch was so gentle, she could have cried from it.

  He didn't even want to make love, he just held her. He held her close which was exactly what she needed.

  She wondered how he did that, how he knew what she needed even when she didn't know herself. He had her imagining a life she had once believed in.

  "Are you ready to go dear?" Kitty asked.

  Laine snapped out of her thoughts. "Yes, mother."

  Her mother breezed by her, heading to the garage. She stopped turned and asked, "Laine, where is your Prius? I didn't see it in the garage. Did you buy that gaudy SUV? I thought you loved the Prius.

  "I did love it; I had an accident and totaled it."

  Her mother fluttered her hands over her heart. "Oh my, Laine, are you okay? Why didn't you call us and let us know? Daddy and I would have been here in no time."

  She grabbed her mother's hand. "I'm fine. All I had was one bruise from the whole thing. I just haven't had the time to buy a new car."

  "Well, we'll just have to do that today. We have plenty of clothes and jewelry, so we can skip the mall and pick up a car. Have you thought about what kind you want?"

  "I think I want another Prius, but I'm willing to look around some. As long as it's a hybrid, I'll be happy."

  Her mother grabbed her purse off the counter, looked inside and pulled out a credit card. "You can use this one for a down payment." She handed the card to Laine. "Now, don't worry about the price dear. Pick out what you want. Daddy and I will be happy to buy you a car. I'll tell him what he bought you later." She smiled.

  Laine felt her day improving already. Kitty could be a snob when it came to people. But, when it came to her only daughter, she could be quite lovely. "Thank you, Mother." Now all she needed to do was get Kitty to accept Kyle.

  They talked about everything but Kyle on the drive to the auto mall. Laine didn't quite know how to approach the subject. Her mother would most certainly not approve.

  Laine picked out another Prius, but her mother insisted on buying the BMW hybrid. That was true Kitty fashion. Insist on the absolute best for her daughter. She had just received the keys to her new car, when her cell rang.

  "Hey, sweetheart, how are you?" Kyle asked.

  She moved away from her mother. "I'm fine, but I'm busy," she whispered. God, she couldn't take talking to Kyle anywhere near her mother. He would turn her on in no time.

  "Why are you whispering? What are you doing? I know you're not at work. I called there, and Julie said you weren't coming in today."

  "I'm out with my mother buying a BMW to replace my Prius."

  "Oh, I get why you're whispering. Well, don't let me keep you. I know your mother doesn't want me around." He spat.

  "Kyle, that's not fair. I fully intend to talk to her about us."

  "What us? The all sex us? I'm sure she would just welcome me in then."

  'What's gotten in to you? Why are you so angry?"

  "Because I can't buy you things like a BMW, your mother will never approve of me and I'm not allowed to care about you. You won't let me. Look, I have to go."

  The line went dead. She thought about calling him back because she did care about him and she wanted him to care about her. Now everything was such a mess. He wasn't the first man to be intimidated by her wealth or her mother.

  * * * *

  Kyle wanted to throw his phone against the wall. He'd thought he had gotten further with her than he had. She still had to hide him from her parents, and that was unacceptable. He cared about Laine and wouldn't accept anything less from her. She was going to have to make a decision one way or the other. The thought of giving her up damn near seized his heart. The thought of another man touching her made him want to kill.

  "Dammit!" he shouted and paced the length of the basketball court.

  Jeff came around the corner with the basketball. "What's up?"

  Kyle looked at his phone. "It's Laine. She's still hiding me from mommy dearest," he said sarcastically.

  Jeff bounced the ball. "I told you to get rid of her. She's got you by the balls. I've never seen you like this. You never would have put up with this shit with any other woman. And this one has Minivan written all over her."

  Kyle growled, getting pissed at Jeff. "I told you she's no Minivan. She's not like that. She just doesn't trust me yet."

  "Whatever man, I don't like her. I'll never like her. She's changed you. We used to be tight like brothers and now that she is in the picture, we haven't shared a woman, we haven't hung out we haven't done anything."

  "Damn Jeff, are you jealous?"

  He threw the ball at the hoop and missed, then turned to face Kyle. "What if I am? I mean you used to want to hang out with me and now you're so wrapped up in this chic, I'm invisible. Maybe I wouldn't be so jealous if you'd share her. I know she'd be into it because she let you stick a vibe in her in the restaurant, and from what I saw the other night, she's got a pretty little pussy."

  Kyle saw red. Jeff had just crossed the line. He had to get away from him before he punched his lights out. He stalked over to him, bumping him hard with his shoulder. "You better watch yourself. If you touch her, I'll break your hands."

  Kyle went to his bunk and plopped down on the mattress. He held his phone up and stared at Laine's picture. He sighed. I shouldn't have been so short with her, but dammit, I want her to want more than just sex.

  He stared at the smile on her face in the picture. He wanted to go back to that moment, back before everything became so complicated. Maybe he should just show up a
nd confront her mother. But then he might lose her for sure. Fuck, I don't know what to do.

  One thing he knew for sure was he would have to apologize to Laine. It just pissed him off she had to hide him from her mother.

  He blew out a puff of air and dialed her number. If she had to whisper the whole time, so be it.

  "Hi, Kyle, I'm sorry about earlier."

  "No, Lainey, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so short with you. I'm just frustrated. I'm stuck here at work, unable to see you for two damn days and I miss you."

  "I miss you too. I wish I could see you tonight."

  "Why do you want to see me tonight?" He hoped it wouldn't be just about sex. He wanted a real relationship with her.

  "Because I miss you and I need to talk to you."

  That intrigued him. "About what?"

  "I'd rather not get into it over the phone, but I think we need to talk about a few things. I'm sorry I can't say more right now. To make up for it, I plan to talk to my mother tonight."

  "What are you going to tell her?"

  "I'm going to tell her she has to accept my boyfriend, whether she likes it or not."

  He smiled a real genuine happy smile. Finally, he was getting somewhere. She wouldn't have referred to him as her boyfriend if she weren't feeling more than she let on.

  "Are you there, Kyle?"

  "Yeah, babe, I'm still here. I can't believe you said the word "boyfriend." I'm just shocked."

  "Well, what am I supposed to call you?"

  Lover was the first thing that came to mind, but he'd settle for boyfriend. "Boyfriend, is fine, sweetheart. How do you think she'll take it?"

  "I don't really care. I lo ... like you a lot."

  Hot damn, he heard it. She won't admit it, but he heard what he heard. She loved him. He couldn't wipe the smile off his face if he wanted to. Fuck, it was going to be two very long days. "I really like you too, babe."

  "I have an idea. Maybe we could send each other pictures to get us through till we can be together again."

  "Now that sounds like a good idea. Can I pick what I want to see?"

  "I guess so. But you're going to get me all twisted trying to get pictures of my assets aren't you?" she laughed.

  He loved the sound of her laughter, the sound when she came, and the sound when she called his name. Damn, he was going to end up with a hard-on. He could just imagine her twisting in different positions taking photos. Yep, a hard-on. "I am and what are you going to do about it?"

  "I'll do as you say."

  He rolled to his side to conceal his erection from anyone else in the room. "Then I say take pictures of everything. Don't leave anything to my imagination." He could feel the heat radiating from her over the phone. He knew she was blushing. The perfect pink color he loved.

  "Okay, I'll do it. But you have to do the same. I can't believe I'm going to do this. If I find out you've shown my assets to everyone at the station, your ass will be on the largest billboard in Atlanta."

  He really hoped she never found out about the black teddy picture being tossed around the room. The billboards in Atlanta were huge. He held up two fingers even though she couldn't see them. "Scout's honor babe."

  "I doubt you were even a scout."

  "I wasn't, but it sounded good."

  The alarm went off, "Babe ,I gotta go. We have a call." He hung up and headed for the pole. He slid down, jumped in his turnout gear, hopped on the truck. He took his usual place next to Jeff and the tension between them was a palpable thing. He wanted to make things right between them, but Jeff would have to accept Laine.

  "I'm going out with Melanie," Jeff yelled over the siren.

  Kyle leaned in close so they could talk. "She's really something special. I hope you know what you're doing."

  "I like her."

  "I can tell; you remember her name."

  Jeff flipped him off. "I ain't gonna hurt her if that's what you're worried about."

  Kyle laughed. "Just don't be yourself and you'll be fine.

  "You're real funny."

  Pete pulled up at the traffic accident and Kyle had a flashback of meeting Laine and smiled.

  Jeff rolled his eyes and punched Kyle on the arm. "Get your head out of your ass. We've got work to do."

  Kyle nodded. "It's going to be a long two days."

  * * * *

  Her mother wasn't going to be happy, but she loved Kyle and was willing to fight for him, even though he didn't need to know about it. She hadn't had the nerve to tell him she didn't start her period. She had always been as regular as clockwork, but she was now two days late.

  She gathered her nerve and headed for her mother's room. She knocked twice and her father opened the door. "Hi, Daddy, where's mother?"

  "I believe she's on the phone managing my day, but I'm sneaking off to the golf course."

  He scooted past her, and moved quickly down the hall.

  Her mother rounded the corner. "Where's your father?"

  "He went to see an old friend." That was the cover she had always used.

  Her mother put her hands on her hips. "I swear that man would live on the golf course if I let him."

  "Mother, we need to talk."

  "What is it, dear?"

  Laine chewed on her bottom lip. "Mother I..."

  "Oh no, you're not pregnant are you?" she said interrupting her.

  Laine swallowed hard. That wasn't the topic of conversation she had intended, but truth was, she could be. How does she do that?

  "Laine Elizabeth, answer me."

  "I don't know mother."

  Her mother fluttered her hands wildly. Oh, please tell me it's not the delivery boy."

  Laine sighed, "He's not a delivery boy. He's a firefighter and I love him." there she said it. She did love him.

  "He's not right for you," she screeched.

  "No, mother, you mean he's not right for you." She felt like she was five years old. She shouldn't have to have her mother's approval.

  "He won't receive a dime. I can promise you that." She shook her finger at Laine.

  "He doesn't want your money mother, just me." She crossed her arms over her chest.

  "I'll be the judge of that. Bring him here for dinner. I need to talk to this young man."

  "You'll be nice?" She didn't really think so, but she had to ask.

  "I'll be cordial."

  "Good enough," she muttered and turned on her heel and headed for work. Maybe Julie would cheer her up.

  She thought about going by the firehouse on her way, but was running late. She pulled into her space and headed into her office.

  "You have a client waiting, Laine," Julie said over the intercom.

  She pushed the button and said, "Please, send her in." Karen Hanson walked in with her mother, another prissy socialite, Laine thought. But at least after this wedding her parents would be back in Florida, far away from her and Kyle.

  She stood shook their hands. "So, Karen, how is everything coming?"

  Karen frowned and Laine got a knot in the pit of her stomach. "I'm not sure we're getting married."

  Shit.

  Laine hit the button again with a little more force than necessary. "Julie, could you come in my office, please?" She waited a moment, hoping Julie could use some of her magic to put this mess back together. Even if for no other reason than getting rid of her parents so she and Kyle could be together in peace.

  Julie walked in and immediately offered Karen and her mother champagne. Julie had a philosophy that any wedding problem could be handled with enough alcohol. Most of the time it worked and Laine loved her for that. "What seems to be the problem?" Julie asked.

  Karen burst into tears, Laine sighed and Julie rushed to comfort her.

  "I'm not sure Jared loves me," Karen said through sobs.

  Her mother put her hand beside her mouth and whispered, "He won't buy the house she wants. Can you believe that?"

  Oh, good grief. Like the man committed a crime.

  Julie said
"He bought you a five karat diamond ring sweetie. He must love you."

  Karen lifted her over-tanned hand, showing off her ring and sniffled. "That's true. Do you think he really loves me?"

  Julie as cool as ever, nodded her head. "Of course. He wants you to be happy. Maybe he already has a house in mind and wants to surprise you."

  Karen smiled wide, revealing her over-white teeth that made her platinum-e hair look too dark. "He probably is going to get the house and doesn't want me to know."

  Laine knew this was most likely far from the truth and they would be seeing Melanie soon, but whatever worked. No matter what, she felt sorry for poor Jared.

  Julie brought up her dress and offered a final fitting and ushered her out of the office. Laine rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone. The pictures he sent her were impressive to say the least. The man was well endowed.

  She wondered what he was doing, if he was saving some damsel in distress, which seemed to make her a tad jealous. What if he were feeling up some other crash victim? She dismissed the notion as soon as it popped into her head. He only wanted her. She was sure.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Jeff hadn't been this nervous with a woman since he was a teenager. Melanie had agreed to go out to dinner with him. He shouldn't have been nervous. They had already had dinner together before, he told himself.

  He went through his wardrobe, which consisted of t-shirts and jeans, deciding on a shirt that said, "You had me at swallow." Considering he knew as much about washing machines as he did about rocket science, it was all he had that was clean. Kyle had been so busy being suckered by Laine, he hadn't done laundry.

  He had even stopped off at the book store and picked up a book on dating. He'd never really done the dating thing. He read the dos and don'ts of dating, and had a good laugh. Especially with number five. "If you should pass gas, don't laugh, just apologize and open a window if possible." The do list was just as funny." Do compliment her neck unless it's as thick as a linebackers, then just compliment her skin."