She sat down, and he had all his clothes off in a matter of seconds. She stripped her shirt off over her head and unfastened her bra throwing it onto the floor. They both stayed still for a moment, listening for a phone to ring or a knock at the door. "Maybe the curse is over."
"I sure hope so."
He joined her on the bed, unfastening her jeans and pushing them down her legs. He kissed a path from her neck to her navel, and back up to her breast, paying special attention to her nipple. "I feel like I've waited forever for this," he whispered.
She smiled, her hands stroking over his back. "Me too!"
He hooked his thumbs in the waist of her panties and tugged them down. "I want you."
She stroked her hand along his cheek, feeling the rough, unshaven skin. "Don't forget a condom," she whispered softly, thinking it was probably time for him to get one.
He lifted his head and stared down at her. "A what?"
"A condom. I haven't been on birth control long enough." She blushed as she said it, but knew it needed to be addressed.
"You don't want children?" He moved away from her, sitting at the edge of the bed. "Why are you on birth control at all?"
"Of course, I want children." She sat up, surprised he seemed so upset. "I want to have my career established first is all. I thought you'd understand that." Why was he even surprised?
"Understand it? Of course not! I'm ready for children. I don't want to be in my mid-thirties before we start having them."
She frowned. "I want to wait a year or two. I'm only twenty-two, and I just graduated from college. I figured I'd take birth control for a couple of years, and then we'd have a baby or six."
"You figured it without talking to me about it first?"
"When have I had a chance to talk to you about it?" she asked, frustrated that he was being so hard-headed. "I married you two days ago, and you've done nothing but try to get me into bed since. When was I supposed to bring it up? While we were kissing? Or maybe while we were out building sandcastles?"
"It's not a decision you can make alone. We're in this marriage together, and you can't just tell me that you've decided to put off having children. Have you never read the Bible? You're supposed to listen to me and obey me." Even as he said the words, he knew they were going too far, but he couldn't stop himself. Was she really calling a halt to their lovemaking over a condom? After all they'd been through to get there?
She got out of bed, dragging the cover off of it as she did. She wrapped the bedspread over herself glaring at him. "You didn't really just go there, did you? Yes, I've read the Bible, and I do believe I need to obey...when you're being reasonable and not idiotic. It's my body, you know. I have a right to decide when I want to have a child growing inside of it."
He got up and walked toward her, shaking with anger. "You have a right to decide with your husband. Not without him. If and when we have children, they'll be a part of both of us, not just you. You have no right to dictate to me when we will and won't have babies!"
"No, I don't have that right. I do have a right to dictate to you when you will and won't touch me though. And right now? You're not getting that thing anywhere close to my delicate bits unless it's covered by a condom. Period. I refuse to be a broodmare. If we had a baby now, that's all I'd end up being."
He took a deep breath, praying for calm. "One of the big reasons I wanted to marry was so I could have children. This is something you should have told me on our wedding day."
"You didn't ask! I thought you'd understand that I didn't want to get pregnant on our honeymoon!" She sighed. "I don't want us to fight over this. I want to be able to enjoy each other for a while before children come along. Is that so wrong?"
"It's not wrong if we agree to it together. It's wrong if you decide you get to dictate your own wants and desires to me. That's not fair for either one of us, and I will not put up with it."
"You'd best be taking a cold shower then, buddy, because you're not touching me without a condom and an apology at this point. I'm not some vessel for your child. I'm my own woman. I will have children with you, but not until I've been working for at least a year." She had worked much too hard on her degree to just give it up because he wanted a baby immediately.
"You don't get to dictate to me."
"What makes you think you can dictate to me over my body? If it were about you getting a vasectomy or something, I wouldn't even think to dictate to you!"
He sighed. "I'm going to go for a walk to calm down. I'll be back." He dressed in jerky motions and left the room, slamming the door behind him.
She dropped the cover and went to the bathroom, showering in blistering hot water. She wanted to wash all memories of him from her brain, and for a minute she tried. "He's your husband, Michaela. It doesn't matter if you forget him, because he'll be back in a few minutes. And you'll still be married."
He wasn't back when she got out of the shower and dressed, getting into bed. She wore shorts and a tee shirt to sleep in. Why not? He certainly wasn't getting close enough to her to do anything that day anyway. She'd be smart to nap and sleep off her mad before he got back. Right now, she wasn't sure what she'd say.
Chapter Six
Jon walked for what felt like hours. The hotel was too far from the ocean to go for a walk on the beach, and that frustrated him. Truthfully, though, he was frustrated by everything. He knew Michaela had a right to say she didn't want kids yet, but he did want them. How would they work it out?
Finally he realized that they could fight it out later, but for now, he could get what he wanted by stopping at a store and buying condoms and going back to the hotel to make love with his wife. Why would he keep himself from the pleasure they could have just so he could punish her for not wanting to be pregnant just yet? It was stupid.
So he walked into a drug store and bought condoms for the first time in his life, trying not to blush as the young cashier rang them up. There was no reason for him to be embarrassed about buying them. He was married, and on his honeymoon. He was supposed to be having sex!
Once he had the condoms in his possession, he hurried back to the hotel, the pharmacy bag folded over so no one could see what was inside it. He went straight back to the room and found his wife asleep on the bed. He thought about letting her sleep, but they'd waited for more than two days, and he wasn't going to wait any longer.
He sat on her side of the bed and watched her sleep for just a moment before reaching out and shaking her a little. "Michaela?"
She woke up to see Jon looking down at her. Blinking a couple of times, the argument came back to her. She was frustrated with him still, but she wasn't about to tell him that. "You came back." She'd been half afraid he'd just leave her there and go home without her.
He nodded. "Of course I did. You didn't think I'd leave you here, did you?" When she didn't answer he went on. "I want to say I'm sorry. We'll talk about children later, but today is not the day."
She nodded, still groggy with sleep. "Thank you. I do think it's something we should decide together. But you're right. Our honeymoon is probably not the time or place."
"I brought you a present," he said, leaning down and kissing her softly.
"Oh?" she asked.
He handed her the bag, saying nothing.
When she opened it, she laughed. "Oh, and they're ribbed for my pleasure? How nice." She sat up, leaning forward to hug him. "I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about my feelings before. I guess I assumed that you'd want to wait at least a little while like I did."
"For a baby, I can wait a little while. For my wife? No way." He pulled her to a sitting position, and pulled her shirt over her head, glad to see she was wearing no bra. "This time, I'm ignoring any phone calls. Barring this hotel crumbling in on itself, I'm making love to my wife."
She grinned. "You're getting no complaints from your wife." She looked up at the ceiling. "It might not be a good idea to tempt fate and mention the hotel crumbling in on itself, though."
He stood and qu
ickly stripped out of his clothes, throwing them to the floor. He pulled her to her feet and pushed her shorts and panties down and off.
They stood for a moment, just hugging with nothing between them. "You feel so good against me," he whispered.
"And you feel good to me too. I'm looking forward to making love with you." She'd come a long way toward getting past her embarrassment over it all.
They both moved onto the bed, their hands stroking each other. When he was sure she was ready for him, he reached for one of the condoms, awkwardly rolling it on. He wasn't happy about using it, but it was better than not making love.
He moved between her spread thighs, cupping her face in his hands. "Let me know if this hurts too much, and I'll stop. I've gotten good at stopping."
She laughed, shocked when he chose that moment for penetration. It stung, but it wasn't terrible, not nearly as bad as she'd expected. More than anything she felt stretched and full.
When he was completely inside her, he stopped, resting his forehead on hers. "You feel so good," he whispered, wanting to move, but holding himself rigid.
She stared up at him, her eyes wide. "You feel strange."
"Is that good or bad?"
"I'm not sure yet. Can I let you know?"
He nodded. "Is there a lot of pain? Can I move?" He wasn't sure if he could keep himself from moving even if she wanted him to.
She nodded, pulling him down for a kiss.
Jon had read a lot about how to make a woman feel good, and he reached a hand between them to toy with her, even as he began thrusting slowly in and out of her.
When she cried out a short time later, he let himself go, moving as quickly as he wanted. Very soon he joined her in bliss, rolling to her side and hugging her to him. "Thank you."
She looked at him. "For what?" Settling her head on his shoulder, she snuggled happily against his side.
"For not staying angry with me. For being as eager as I was. For being you."
She smiled, resting against him. "My pleasure. I assure you."
He chuckled, his hands stroking her back softly. "If only we could have spent three days doing this instead of one."
"Are you still complaining about that? We have our whole lives. I for one am thrilled that it finally happened."
"You're one of those glass-is-half-full people aren't you?"
"I don't know of any other way to be." She let her eyes drift closed, a smile touching her lips. She knew they'd still have to work out the baby thing, but at least for now, they had peace.
Jon watched her eyes close, frowning a bit. How were they ever going to see eye-to-eye on the baby thing when they felt so strongly on opposite sides of the matter?
*****
Michaela woke an hour later to find Jon propped on his elbow watching her sleep. She blushed deeply.
"I love watching you sleep," he whispered.
"I had a roommate once who watched me sleep. I was so creeped out I couldn't sleep until I talked our school into moving me to another room." She smiled, her hand going out to stroke his bottom lip. "Thanks for not being creepy in your watching."
He chuckled. "Yeah, that would have been very weird." He leaned down and kissing her softly. "Are you getting hungry?" he asked.
"A little." She turned toward him, touching his bare shoulder. It was hard for her to know how to act around him after what they'd just done. She was embarrassed but didn't want him to know.
"Me too," he whispered, kissing her softly. "I also never want to get out of this bed. I finally got you naked, and I don't ever want to walk away, because I'm not sure it'll ever happen again."
She laughed. "I'm sure in the time we'll be married, it'll happen at least once or twice. I mean, we do have forever in front of us."
"I guess I can try to believe that. Not sure it's a good idea." He'd decided not to mention their argument from earlier until after they were home and settled a bit. He didn't want to have to even think about it until they'd gotten used to each other.
"Trust me. It's a good idea." She rolled to the side of the bed, sitting up in one smooth movement. She was stiff and a bit sore. "What should we do for supper?"
"Do you want to go out? I don't think this place has a restaurant or room service." The hotel wasn't nearly as nice as the first one they'd gone to in Plymouth, but it was the only one he'd found with an available room.
She shook her head. "No, I know they don't have room service. I think I saw some restaurants within walking distance when we drove in."
"We could always order a pizza."
"We could." He shrugged. "Which would you prefer?"
"I don't much care either way."
Jon sighed. "Are we going to be one of those couples who can never decide what we want to eat for meals?"
"I sure hope not. I just don't have an opinion right now. Why don't we walk and see what we see?" Michaela asked.
"Sounds like a good idea to me."
Michaela dressed self-consciously in the shorts and tee shirt she'd worn to bed. She didn't really want to put them back on, but she didn't want to run around the hotel room totally naked while she found the clothes she'd worn that morning.
When Jon was dressed, he looked at her. "Are you wearing that out?"
She shook her head. "No, just 'til I find my clothes."
He grinned, reaching out and catching her hand as she passed him. "I've seen you without your clothes on, you know..."
She blushed. "I know. I just—"
"You'll get comfortable with me soon?" he asked.
"I sure hope so!"
She gathered her things and hurried into the bathroom, changing there before stepping out. Why couldn't she change in front of him when she'd just let him touch her like that? She wasn't sure.
They left the room and went out into the lobby of the small hotel, and he took her hand as they left. "Which way?"
She pointed to the left, so they walked that way, looking for any place that would be good to eat. She spotted a small restaurant with an Italian look. "Italian?" she asked.
He nodded, a smile on his face. "Sounds good." He loved Italian.
"Oh, good, because Italian is my favorite."
The tiny restaurant was bursting at the seams, but there was a small table for two toward the back that was open.
While they studied their menus, he said, "Thanks for deciding."
She peeked over her menu at him. "If I'd known we'd find a little place like this, I'd have decided back at the hotel."
After they'd ordered he grinned at her. "Well, I hope today has set a precedent where interruptions are concerned."
"It would be nice. I was starting to worry we were doomed."
He laughed. "I sure hope not."
"About the baby thing—" She had to tackle the elephant in the room head on. She couldn't go on worrying about it.
"No. I don't want to talk about it today. We're going to have two full weeks of honeymoon behavior, and then we'll talk about it. I refuse to deal with any of it today."
She frowned. "Would you tell your counseling clients not to talk about something that was bothering them both for two weeks?" He couldn't be serious.
"Probably not, but my counseling clients haven't been married for two days. We deserve to have some time without worrying about it, and at the end of that two weeks one of us may realize they agree with the other. It'll give us both more time to think about it and concentrate on pleasing the other."
She raised an eyebrow. "I think we were both pretty pleased."
He laughed. "Yes, I think we were. But that's not what I mean."
"I know." She sighed. "I plan on looking for a job starting on Monday morning."
"I'm all for it. I have no answers for what's available, but I'm sure you'll find something that appeals to you." He shrugged. More than anything, he wanted her to be happy, and if that meant finding a job, then he hoped she found one. The idea of having her home all the time was appealing, but having the extra income
would be nice as well.
"Do you have a preference about what hours I work?" she asked. "I'm trying to decide how I feel about teaching, when my plan all along was to go into children's ministry."
He shook his head. "Would be nice if you worked 'normal hours' but we both know I won't. Anything will make me happy."
"Really?"
"Really. I would rather you were home in the middle of the night, but I'm not sure there would be a job where you wouldn't be. Not working with children anyway."
She shrugged. "I've always in the back of my head had this idea for a business—a twenty-four hour daycare."
He tilted his head to the side. "That would be good, especially somewhere near a company that employs shift workers."
"That's my thought. So many single moms would prefer to work in the middle of the night, so they can be there for their families, but there's no daycare, so they either can't take the job they want, or they have to find someone that is willing to take the kids at off hours. I know it's weird, but it's my entrepreneurial dream."
"So you dream of being an entrepreneur?"
She shook her head. "Not at all. I dream of working with children. If I ever started my own business, that's what it would be."
He nodded. "I do think it's a smart business idea in certain areas. I'd rather you didn't do it this week."
She laughed. "I have no plans of starting a business this week. I promise."
"Next week then?"
*****
Their flight home was uneventful, and he'd left his car at the airport. It was an older model Honda. She slipped into the passenger side, looking over at him. "How far to your house?"
"Only about two and a half hours. This is the closest airport."
They'd flown into Wichita, Kansas, which had thrown her for a moment, but she'd realized it made sense. He'd said the town he lived in was on the border. It was already late afternoon, because they'd had a long layover in Atlanta of all places. It didn't make sense to her that they were routed through there, but whatever. Life was strange sometimes.
"I'm looking forward to seeing Teaville. And Samara. Really looking forward to seeing Samara."
Only in Oklahoma (At the Altar Book 6) Page 7