by Sasha Cain
“I have to say, I was wrong. I was far too generous. If you were only a selfish tool, that would be an improvement. I have never met anyone so full of himself, so hypocritical, so selfish, and so...full of shit!”
“Here, here,” Brendan added, lifting an imaginary drink.
“How dare you!” Gregg shrieked.
I found myself fighting the urge to laugh again.
“I’ll tell you how!” Darrios answered, taking another step toward Gregg, forcing him to take a step back.
Darrios pointed to me. “You blew it, you pompous, self-important douche bag. You had it made. This beautiful woman was willing to give up everything for you...more than once.
“She could have had anybody she wanted. And yet, for whatever reason...she chose you. But that wasn’t enough for you. Look at her.” Gregg started to say something, but Darrios interrupted.
“You probably haven’t realized it yet, but you will. You, by your own doing, just lost the best thing that ever happened to you...to me. I almost let it happen too, but luckily, I realized it before it was too late.”
Darrios kissed the back of my hand and flashed me a burning gaze before he glanced back at Gregg dismissively. “I’d have done anything to get her back,” he said, his voice full of emotion.
Gregg didn’t say anything. I could tell he was sizing Darrios up. I watched Gregg’s resolve weaken and his shoulders sag when he realized Darrios was the real deal.
I don’t think Gregg was sorry he’d left me, just sorry I’d seen his true colors and that Darrios had called him out on it. He didn’t want me, but he didn’t want anyone else to want me, or for that matter, me to want someone else, either. How selfish.
They stood there staring at each other like something out of an old western. Darrios spoke first.
“So, Gregg, you were saying?”
He shook his head. “You’re right, Maggie,” he said, purposefully addressing me and not Darrios. “I have no right to question or criticize you for your behavior, after the way I treated you. I only came back to give you this.” He held out a key. “It’s the key to the storage unit, where Amanda put your stuff.”
Brendan and Bernie snorted in unison.
“Goodbye, Gregg,” I said.
He sighed, waved half-heartedly, and left.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
“I gotta go too,” Bernie announced. “I’ll see you two later.” He smiled slyly, “Either here or on the other side.”
He blew a kiss and backed out of the room. Brendan checked his watch and cursed. “Maggie, I need to leave, too, I’m sorry.
“It’s okay, Brendan.”
I threw the covers back and swung my feet to the floor. Brendan came to me as I stood. He hugged me hard and I clung to him. “Please be careful, little brother. I love you. Go save the children. Be safe...and happy.”
“You too, sis.”
He released me and grinned. He lightly punched me in the arm and said, “I’ll see you in a couple years.”
My eyes welled up with tears and the lump in my throat choked me. I nodded, trying not to cry. Brendan and I had never been apart for any length of time, certainly not two years. It was as if he’d heard my thoughts.
“This is what I want, Mags. It’s what I’ve always wanted. Now it’s time for you to do what you want. Please be happy, Maggie. Darrios, this one’s on you, buddy. Don’t disappoint me. My sister has been miserable without you. I mean scary miserable. Make her happy.”
Darrios shook Brendan’s hand and promised he would. Brendan blew me a kiss on his way out the door and then he was gone. While my heart felt heavy from the departure of my brother, it soared with joy over my reunion with Darrios. It occurred to me that for both Brendan and me, our journeys had just begun.
Darrios turned and kissed my forehead. He gave me a serious look, brushed my hair off my face, and said softly, “Gregg wasn’t worthy of you, Maggie. Not even close. I don’t know if I am either, but I’d really like to try to be. I promise you...I will spend every day and every night for the rest of our lives trying to make you happy. I’ll never lie to you and there will never be anyone else. You’re the only woman for me.”
I reached for Darrios and he allowed me to pull him close. I gazed into his eyes, smiling at him. “Darrios, you make me happy just by being near me. I love you. I want to be with you and I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy too.”
He smiled and traced my lips with his fingers, sending hot shivers throughout my body. He slid into his smoky, seductive voice. “Well, if you really want to make me happy...”
He glanced at the door and then down to my lips. He licked his own, leaned down and kissed my neck just below my ear. He whispered, “Does that door lock?”
It took me a second to find my voice through all of my desire.
“Uh huh, I think so,” I was barely able to utter with Darrios still lightly kissing my neck.
I turned and found his lips, parting them with my own. I let my tongue reach barely into his mouth. He pulled me to him and responded heatedly to my kiss.
After a few moments, he pulled away abruptly. He stood up and walked over to the door, his arousal quite evident in the jeans he was wearing.
Darrios shut the door, but there was no lock, so he grabbed the chair near the edge of the bed, swung it around, and propped it against the handle to prevent any unwanted company.
He turned and looked at me with that smoldering intensity I loved. He pulled his shirt off as he walked toward me. I got to my knees and pulled off the ugly hospital gown I was wearing and threw it to the floor.
Darrios stopped and sighed. “God, Maggie, you’re so beautiful. I swear you take my breath away.” He took my face in his hands and gently kissed me. “I want you so much it hurts,” he rumbled.
I kissed him greedily, hungrily, knowing I could never get enough of him. He ran his hands over my body causing me to shudder, lusty little fireworks flashing over my skin. I craved his lips on my flesh like a starving man craves food.
As if sensing it, he kissed my neck, then my breasts. I sighed with pleasure. I watched eagerly as he unfastened and dropped his jeans. He kicked them off and climbed into bed over me.
“I’ve been thinking about this ever since you left,” he whispered huskily.
“I haven’t been able to think of anything else.”
He grazed his fingertips down over my shoulder, around my nipples, alternating touching with suckling, slamming my senses into overdrive.
His fingers reached between my legs and over my most tender spot, now ripe and hardened with desire. I cried out as he slid two fingers inside me. He pulled out and back in a few more times leaving me slick and aching with need for more.
“Oh God, Maggie, you’re so wet. I need to be inside you.”
I nodded my head enthusiastically, guiding his thick erection inside me. I couldn’t help but moan as I felt Darrios push into me. We moved slowly at first, picking up the rhythm, together. As we moved, perfectly in sync, Darrios kissed my neck, nuzzled my ear, and repeatedly whispered how much he loved me.
I ran my hands over his chest, lightly squeezing his nipples. He moaned, “Oh, Maggie, you feel so good.”
I was overcome with emotion as well as ecstasy. The love and molten sexuality that was coursing through my veins took me to a high only Darrios could achieve. I cried out as I reached that blissful peak and thrust my hips up to meet his, wanting more. I cried out again as he stiffened and let me feel his release.
Darrios stayed where he was, hovering over me and still inside me. I put my arms around his neck and laughed softly.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
I became serious. “Nothing...I’m just so happy. I can’t believe you’re here. I never thought...”
“Ssshhh, please, I couldn’t let you go. I don’t want to live without you...without this. I can’t. I love you, Maggie.”
“I love you, too, Darrios, but you know what? I don’t love this
place. I don’t love anyplace like I grew to love Celio. This isn’t my world anymore. You’re my world, Darrios...and you belong...we belong in Celio. I wish we were there right now, in your house, in your bed.”
I sighed reflectively, and then something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. I gasped and stared at Darrios and then back to what had grabbed my attention to begin with.
“Oh my God. Is it possible? I thought this...the wishes...I thought they only happened in Celio,” I whispered, stunned.
Darrios scrambled up and dressed quickly. I pulled the clothes I came in with off the shelf of the little closet next to my bed. I hastily pulled them on and took Darrios’ hand.
We looked at each other, took a deep breath, and giggled like children as we stepped through the big, metal door that had just appeared in front of us. I squeezed Darrios’ hand, smiled, and said, “Let’s go to your house.”
He kissed my forehead and said, “Our house, Maggie. It’s our house now.”
A word about the author...
Sasha Cain lives near Tampa, Florida with her husband, their diva Doberman, Skye, and their two all-too-spoiled cats. They moved from Michigan in 2006 when her husband retired from the sheriff's department in Metro Detroit. She has a son in Colorado and a step-daughter in Michigan.
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