by Robin Nadler
“Hey, Lila, look at me. Are you hurt?” he knelt down in front of her and took her face in his hands.
“Nno, sorry, I just got scared,” she stammered and then launched herself into his arms. He held her tightly and tried to soothe her. “They were in my house, David, while I was here. These pictures are from a couple hours ago.” She sat back and wiped her eyes, her hands still shaking.
“Come into the other room and let’s figure this out,” he said, wanting to get out of the mess. He helped her up and they walked out into the family room where he pulled his clothes on and she began to clean up the food. He walked to her and took her hand. “Lila, stop, come sit for a minute.”
She looked at him and her eyes were red. “This is my home, David. Someone was in my home while I was here. How did I not hear them? How could I sleep through it? They could have done whatever they wanted to me and I couldn’t stop it. Paul is in jail and so is June, so what does this mean?” She was beginning to panic and he pulled her to him again.
“We are going to figure that out, I promise. Let’s call the police and go from there,” he smoothed her hair out of her eyes and held her hand in his. “You need to take a few deep breaths; your pulse is way too fast.”
She nodded and closed her eyes, willing herself to calm down. “I’m sorry; this was supposed to be our first real date. Now everything is so messed up.”
He smiled. “I don’t think so. I think it was pretty perfect.”
She looked at him and he shrugged. “Minus the last part.”
“I need to put some clothes on,” she said and stood up. Her legs were shaky and she plopped back down.
“Just sit here with me for a minute. Take some deep breaths and listen to my voice. We are both safe and you are going to be okay. We will figure this out together, okay?” He rubbed her back.
She nodded and hugged him tightly. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Me too,” he said and felt his anger grow. This had to stop.
*******
The police had combed through every inch of her house and taken samples of fingerprints. They had spoken to both David and Lila at length and David had given them the note he had from his hotel as well. They had a locksmith there to change the locks and the police were confident the house was secure. When everything was finished, Lila led them out and locked the door behind her. She walked back to see David looking at the dragons.
“What’s wrong?” she asked as she walked to him.
“Adam is squishing Eve. I think he’s suffocating her.”
Lila smiled as she peered into the tank. “They are keeping each other warm.”
“When you’re cold, I don’t sit on your face,” he said and she grinned. “You know what I mean.”
She laughed for the first time in what seemed like forever and put her hand on his shoulder. “In the wild, since they are cold blooded, they need to keep their body temperature regulated in order to be active. If they get too cold, they can’t move very well. It’s almost a state of hibernation. In order to avoid that, they lay in piles to keep each other warm. Turtles do the same thing. It isn’t uncommon to see three or four beardies piled on top of each other.”
“I get that, but how can she breathe?” he looked at them, squinting his eyes and trying to see Eve’s face.
Lila opened the tank and looked at David. “Move him if you think she’s in trouble.”
He looked at her and reached his hand in when Adam puffed his body and glared at David who quickly pulled his hand away.
“What the hell? You knew he would do that, didn’t you? He was going to eat me.”
She giggled and he smiled. “He wouldn’t eat you, but he was trying to make himself more appealing to Eve. You were the competition and he needed to show her he was the right choice. They are very passive reptiles, but when it comes to showing off for their ladies, they can be a bit prickly.”
David crossed his arms. “Whatever. I don’t trust him.”
Lila reached in and pet Adam’s head and he closed his eyes, content with her. “I don’t think he trusts you either, yet, but he will.”
“Whatever,” David grumbled. “I thought we were friends.”
Lila thought he was adorable. “Adam came from a very abusive owner. Bearded Dragons are sweet and loving, but they have specific needs and if they aren’t taken care of properly, their system can stop working as it should. That’s what happened to him. Adam wasn’t able to walk properly because of a calcium and vitamin deficiency. He was skin and bones when I got him and we didn’t think he would survive,” she smiled at them. “Eve helped him.”
David raised his eyebrows. “How did she help him?”
“Well, Eve had been used as a breeder, but she wasn’t cared for properly, either. She was so calcium depleted that she was laying eggs with no shells. A beardie like that was of no use to a backyard breeder and she was left to die. When she was placed near Adam, they both came alive. They shared calcium covered crickets and the rest is history.” She grinned at David’s face. “The fact that they were able to breed is a miracle, and I’m so proud of them.”
David saw the pride in her face and heard it in her voice. “Maybe you should start a rescue for injured reptiles. You seem to really have a way with them.”
She shrugged. “Not really, just them. I kind of understood how it felt to be thrown away because you couldn’t be what people expected of you. They were discarded because people didn’t see their value. Every living creature has value, David. I don’t mean to sound all fanatic, and I’m not, but when someone takes it upon themselves to decide another beings worth, I feel it’s wrong.”
He knew she was talking more about herself than any reptile, but it allowed him to see into her pain a little more. “I think Adam and Eve are the luckiest dragons. They suffered until they found you, kind of like me.”
She laughed. “I think it’s the other way around.”
*******
“We should go to bed, it’s late and it’s been a long day,” David said. Lila had cleaned her room and put her clothes in the washing machine and David had cleaned up the kitchen. They hadn’t spoke much since the police left, and after they had watched the beardies for a while, Lila insisted on cleaning up the mess.
“You can go to bed. I’m going to sit out here on the couch for a bit,” she said and tucked her legs under her on the couch.
He sighed and walked to her, needing her to talk about her fear of the bedroom. “Lila, come into the bedroom with me.”
“No, I don’t want to. I don’t want to analyze why or deal with my issues. I am staying on the couch.”
“So if you tell me you know it’s a problem it’s okay if you don’t deal with it?” He sat down next to her.
“Can you give me more than 24 hours before you put me in therapy?”
He smiled. “Maybe, but after the progress I made earlier, I want to do more.”
She blushed. “It seems like such a long time ago. How did we go from that moment, to now? I was so content in your arms, your body against mine, and now it feels so different.”
He wrinkled his brow, “Different how? Have your feelings changed?”
She put her hand on his thigh. “Not about you, but I wonder if all of these things are a sign, you know? They day we met I went to jail and it has been one problem after another. I would understand if you didn’t think I was worth the trouble.”
He stood up and took his Ipod out of his pocket. He turned on some music and looked at her. “Dance with me, please,” he held his hand out to her.
She sighed. “I don’t know if I feel that steady, David.”
“I won’t let you fall. Let me hold you for awhile,” he said softly.
She wiped her eyes and took his hand, moving to him and melting against his body as he held his arms firmly around her. They moved slowly to the music, feeling the pull between each of them.
“I think you are worth more than I can ever express. This hasn’t been easy, I get that, b
ut so what? I haven’t found many things in my life that were easy to be worth much. I love you, and that isn’t something I have ever said to anyone. You make me look forward to living this life with you.” He tilted her face up to look at him and he brushed her tears away. “You deserve to be happy and you deserve to be loved.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and looked into his eyes. “Kiss me please,” she said breathlessly.
He looked at her with smoldering eyes and lowered his mouth onto hers, moving his tongue to split the seam of her lips and pressing her body against his. She moved her hands up under his shirt and he pulled it off, tossing it to the ground. She pulled her top off and he gathered her in his arms and walked to the blanket bed on the floor, placing her down and pressing his body to hers.
“I don’t want to push you into anything,” he said, moving and looking into her flushed face, her swollen lips and her heaving chest making his heart race.
“Let’s not talk anymore. I don’t want to think, I just want to feel,” she said passionately and he needed nothing further. He moved his mouth to her neck and then down her chest, unhooking her bra from the front and pushing the material away, massaging the mounds of flesh and causing her body to quiver under him. He tweaked her nipples and she let out a soft moan that he felt right in his groin. He stopped and sat back.
“What’s wrong?” She sat up and touched his face.
He looked at her, but his voice caught in his throat. She stroked his cheek and smiled. “Are you feeling things?”
He nodded.
“That’s good. Don’t stop, go with it,” she traced a line over his lips. “I want you to keep touching me,” she moved and brushed her lips over his.
So many thoughts and emotions were rushing through him. He had almost forgotten how amazing this feeling was and even in the back of his mind, it had never felt like this. He felt his body begin to respond in ways it hadn’t in so long and suddenly, he began to feel more confident and desirable. He looked at her and his heart swelled.
“Do you want to stop? It’s okay if it’s too much,” she was concerned about pushing him too far.
He smiled and shook his head. “It’s time to take your own advice. Let’s not talk or think, let’s just feel.” He leaned down, laying her back and moving his mouth over her torso to her navel. He moved his large hands to her waist and gently peeled her pants off. He used his tongue to run a line up the inside of her leg and he could feel the heat coming from her center. She watched him as he moved over her thighs and touched the sensitive skin under her knees. He moved to her panties and pulled them off, her scent intoxicating to him and he began to lose all awareness of his body and how it was responding. He just went with his instincts and that was to appreciate her in every way she deserved.
“You are so beautiful,” he said, her eyes filling with tears at how badly she wanted him. He closed his mouth over hers while he ran his hand to her center, touching her intimately and rubbing the bundle of nerves at her core. She opened her legs and groaned as he easily brought her to orgasm and he held her as he continued to manipulate her body and please her in ways that were incredibly erotic.
“Oh God, David,” she moaned as she came down from the height of her sensations and she cupped his face in her hands, moving him gently onto his back and moving down his body as he had done to her. She moved her hand over the bulge in his pants and neither one of them called attention to what was happening. She rubbed her hand up and down his shaft, still hidden by his pants and then she moved to unbutton and unzip the material, pulling it down and off before she moved back up his legs and to his boxers, removing them as well and meeting his face with hers, kissing him passionately as she reached down to take him in her hand, his erection strong and healthy. She ran her fingers over him, mimicking the movement with her tongue as she continued to kiss him.
His breathing became shallow and his abdomen twitched as she gently rubbed the head of his penis, causing him to experience his first release since before everything happened. It was profound and so very normal in the context of their passion. Neither one of them called attention to it, both just touched each other and kissed each other and bonded in a way that was profound and intimate and simply, them.
A little while later, they lay on the blankets, both naked and both exhausted, Lila draped over his body and his hand drawing lazy circles on her back. “Thank you,” he said softly, the first words spoken in the silence.
“No, thank you for loving me,” she said and looked up at him.
He shook his head. “You’re amazing. Next time, I want to be inside of you when you come apart. I want to feel you with me,” he whispered.
She wondered how his words could sound so damn sexy. “I can’t wait,” she said and closed her eyes, completely spent and utterly content.
Chapter Forty-One:
David was just finishing his last consult of the morning and was anxious to get to Lila’s office and go over his plans for the evening. It had been three days since they had been together, in her family room, and he couldn’t think of anything else. He was back at the hotel and she asked him to let her be on her own so she didn’t come to rely on him too much.
He had argued that it was completely appropriate for her to rely on him and he wanted her to need him, but when she explained her need to be self sufficient, to prove she could take care of herself, he acquiesced. They had spoken almost hourly and he was concerned she still wasn’t sleeping in her bed.
It was also important that they both get back to their lives and jobs. David was seeing patients and had begun performing procedures again, and today was the first day Lila was coming back to her office. They had both found out that Paul had been held over for trial and was denied bail, so they were both sleeping easier with that news. There was still the threat out there; the person who had broken into Lila’s house and they were both worried about that, but the new locks and alarm system were helping to keep them calm.
“David?” Susan asked as she walked into his office. “Do you have a minute?”
He smiled at her and motioned for her to sit. “For you, always. What’s going on?”
She smiled and placed an envelope on the table. “Are your intentions towards Lila pure?”
He blinked. “What? Of course they are, I think. What do you mean by pure?”
She rolled her eyes. “Honorable, virtuous, respectful, you know, chivalry things.”
He chuckled. “Are you her mother now? You know me Susan, you’re my only family. What is this about?”
She looked at him and her eyes were wet.
David was immediately alarmed. “Oh God, are you sick? Is something wrong?”
She shook her head and smiled. “No, a woman can sometimes get emotional, you know.”
He exhaled. “Sorry, but you’re kind of freaking me out.”
“Your mom and I were close, you know that, right?”
He nodded.
“When she was diagnosed with cancer, she was so worried about you. She was worried about what you would miss with her not being here. She wanted you to know how much she loved you and how important you were to her. She was also incredibly sad to know she would probably not make it to see your wedding or any grandchildren you may have given her.”
David felt a lump form in his throat as he listened to her.
“She and your father loved each other, fiercely, and I can’t explain, no matter how much I would like to, why he left, but I do know it was not because of you or how he felt about you. He just couldn’t live without his Julia.”
“Why go over this now? What is the point of this?” He wanted the conversation to stop.
She smiled. “I’m sorry. What I’m trying to say, is that all of the things your mother saw and wanted for you are finally beginning to happen. What Lila has done to you is one of the greatest gifts I could ever hope for. She makes you smile and laugh, and most importantly, she has brought you to life. When you talk to her and look at he
r, it’s like I’m seeing Julia smile down on you.” She wiped her eyes and pushed the envelop to him. “This is a letter to you from your mom. She asked me to give it to you when you became serious about a woman, and in all these years since we lost her, I never felt that was possible. Now it is and you need to read this.”
He took the letter and traced his mom’s writing on the envelop with his fingers. He put it in his coat pocket and nodded at Susan.
“Thank you. I’ll read it, but I hope you now that in the years since I lost mom, you have been the best family I could have ever hoped for.”
She waved him off like he was being silly. “I just got to watch you turn into a human being, that’s all.”
He stood up and walked to her, pulling her into a tight hug and squeezing her hands before they walked out.