by Joachim Jean
“You’re right. That shouldn’t matter…but it does. Why don’t you finish the story, though I’m not sure I want to hear the rest…”
“Okay. So the dancers decided to have a best chest contest. A couple of guys volunteered and got up and took off their shirts. The redhead called Danny up because he was the groom. Then Deena got into the act and called me up and insisted I go up there. You know I hate that stuff, but the guys shoved me on the stage and I was too drunk to resist.”
“Who took your shirt off?” She held her breath, awaiting the answer.
“I think she did.”
“But she’s undressed you before, right?” Callie asked, tears welling up in her eyes again.
“I’m sorry, Callie. I’m so sorry.”
“Go on. Finish what you started.”
“Well the joking and laughing ended up with me in the back room with Deena. She insisted on giving me a lap dance.”
“She did? Did you touch her?”
“She put my hands on her chest.”
“Did you leave them there?”
“Only for a minute.”
Callie got quiet as tears slipped down her cheeks.
“But after a few minutes, I pushed her off.”
“Did you respond?”
“You mean did I get hard? A man can get hard rubbing against a goat, Callie. It’s different than with women. You don’t have to do much to get a man hard.”
“But she wasn’t a goat and you were touching her naked breasts.” Callie burst into tears, all control gone. Mac tried to put his arms around her, but she pushed him away.
“Please don’t be like that. She didn’t mean anything to me. I didn’t want to be there, but I was too drunk to realize what was going on. Please, Callie. She doesn’t mean anything to me. I love you so much, please don’t be mad.” Tears pricked at his eyes, his hand reaching for her.
“Did you have sex with her?” Callie’s hands beginning to shake.
“No,” Mac said emphatically.
“But you wanted to?”
“No, I didn’t…”
“But you were hard.”
“An uncontrollable reaction.”
“Is that what it is …with me?”
“No, with you I get hard because I want you. Please Callie, don’t make this worse,” he begged, pushing a strand of hair back from her face, wiping a tear off her cheek with his thumb.
“What else?”
“That’s all,” he said, expelling a breath.
“Isn’t that enough?”
“I guess so. What can I say? I’m sorry I hurt you, baby. I was drunk and stupid. I didn’t want to be there. Danny and I got blindfolded by the other guys and taken to The Wet Tee Shirt. We didn’t know what they planned. Honestly, I don’t think we would’ve gone if we had known.” His fingers tentatively approached hers as the words rushed out.
“The big question is still not answered. Did you enjoy feeling her up and getting a lap dance? Be honest now.”
“No, actually. Haven’t thought about that night much because I knew the truth would make you unhappy. It felt weird, uncomfortable. I didn’t want to be there. I felt like she thought we would start dating or something. She asked me why I hadn’t been around for such a long time and I told her I’m happily married.” He moved closer to her, putting his hand on her shoulder.
Callie stared at him, trying to make up her mind whether or not to believe him.
“Like I told you, why would I want sex from a topless dancer when I have the most beautiful, the sexiest woman in the world in my bed? That’s the truth. I have all the sex I could ever want, the best ever, with you, baby.” Tears appeared in his eyes, his arm snaking around her shoulders.
“You look upset, how come?”
“I’m afraid I’ve wrecked the best thing that ever happened to me…my marriage to you…in one drunken night.”
“Get down on your knees,” Callie ordered, drying her eyes.
“What?”
“You heard me. Beg me for forgiveness,” she ordered.
Mac dropped to his knees immediately. “Callie, please forgive me.”
“Swear you won’t ever do it again.”
“I swear I won’t ever do it again.”
“And you won’t ever see Deena again.”
“I swear I won’t ever see Deena again.”
“Okay…you’re forgiven,” she said, motioning for him to get up.
“Do you still love me?”
“Of course, I still I love you. But don’t ever hurt me like that again.”
“Never. I promise.” He made a cross over his heart.
Mac took her in his arms, though she resisted slightly at first, hoping to prove to her how much he loved her in his usual way, by making love to her. He hugged her and kissed her. She melted as she always did. Then his kisses deepened and he pulled her hips up against his. As his lips traveled down her neck, he could feel her body give a small shiver, so he slipped his hands under her nightgown, his fingers caressing her most sensitive places, making her slick with desire.
“Now you want makeup sex?” she whispered breathlessly, closing her eyes.
“Yes, oh, yes,” he breathed into her ear, his arousal evident to her as her hands traveled down his lanky body.
“Good idea.”
He picked her up and carried her into the bedroom.
Chapter Thirty-Two
When the newlyweds arrived at the cottage, the sun was setting in a splash of soft color painted across the sky. Danny picked Eliza up and carried her over the threshold.
“I can’t believe we are married, Sweetpea,” he remarked, holding her close.
Eliza stared at her wedding ring.
“A matched set, Danny,” she said, pulling his hand over and comparing the rings.
He looked down, at his hand in disbelief. The gold ring reflected the living room lights and glowed with an inner light of its own. As he was admiring his ring, he didn’t see Rocky walk over quietly until he felt the pug’s small head resting on his leg.
“Trying to tell me something, boy?”
Rocky looked up at him and gave a grin and panted. Danny walked over to the counter and grabbed the two leashes. He whistled and Blue got up from where she was resting and trotted over next to him.
He took the dogs for a walk. When they returned, Blue went all over the cottage, sniffing with Rocky following her. She found her place next to the bed in the master bedroom while Rocky jumped up and scouted out the most comfortable spot on the bed. Danny came downstairs and picked up Eliza. He carried her to the bedroom and put her down gently.
They got undressed and into bed. The chill in the room encouraged them to huddle together. Danny wrapped his arms around her. Exhausted from the day they both fell asleep. Blue woke Danny once as a nightmare threatened, but he went right back to sleep.
The next morning they slept late, then shared coffee in the living room, looking at the lake. Eliza packed a lunch and they went looking for the little grassy clearing where they declared their love for each other last summer. The dogs loved the smells of the woods and Blue ran ahead looking for game while Rocky poked along, falling behind and causing them to stop several times so the pudgy pug could catch up.
They found the same spot. The noonday sun warmed the air, making the day after their wedding a perfect day to make love for the first time as husband and wife outside. After lunch, they undressed each other slowly, while the dogs snoozed. Danny eased Eliza down gently on her back on the blanket. He brought her passion to life, kissing and caressing her breasts first, then stroking her core, gently but insistently. She ran her hands over his firm body, to wrap her fingers around his arousal, stroking him boldly.
“You make me crazy when you touch me like that,” he moaned.
While the kissing and touching increased the intensity, the urgency grew.
“Are you ready for me, Sweetpea?” he whispered in her ear.
She nodded.
Danny gave her knee a gentle nudge with his and she opened her legs to him and raised her hips. He entered her slowly, prolonging the sensation, and then moving gently inside her before increasing the pace and tension. Their bodies rocked and they reached sweet release together.
“I love you so much,” she whispered in his ear, closing her eyes and cuddling close to his chest.
“I want to make love like this to you forever…” he said, casually stroking her breast.
They lay for a while, basking in the warmth of the sun kissing their skin and the closeness of each other. The dogs stretched out and napped next to them on the blanket. By three o’clock the air turned chilly as the sun moved west. They dressed and returned to the cottage. The dogs, completely exhausted by the adventure, curled up by the fireplace and went to sleep.
While preparing tea and a plate of cookies, Eliza noticed the blinking light on the answering machine. She couldn’t imagine who’d be calling them on their honeymoon. She hit the button and sat down to listen as a message from Dr. Cho played.
“Mrs. Maine, your test results are in and I thought you might be anxious to know what they are. You can call me today. The number is…”
“Test results?” Danny asked her, not listening to the number.
“I went to the doctor on Monday.” She reached for a pen and paper to write the number down, nervously avoiding his eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought you would worry.”
“So you worried alone? We’re married now, what worries one, worries both.” He put his hand under her chin and pulled her head up gently to face him.
“I’m sorry.”
“Call Dr. Cho.”
“We’re on our honeymoon.”
“Dr. Cho knows. He and his wife were at the wedding. He called us up here on a Sunday for a reason…Call him.” Danny gripped the phone hard before he handed it to her.
“I’m afraid.” She hid her face in his chest.
“Never give in to fear,” Danny said, “I’ll call him.”
“Okay, okay…I’ll call him,” she said.
She lifted her head and took the phone from him.
Eliza dialed. Danny sat next to her, his palms sweating and his heart beating fast, at that moment, the brave soldier didn’t feel brave.
“Thank you, Dr. Cho. I’ll call tomorrow for an appointment, thank you so much for calling today.” When she hung up the phone, she burst into tears.
“What?” His eyes wide with fear.
Eliza cried so hard she couldn’t speak, but she looked at him, shook her head and smiled through her tears.
“What?” Danny said, tears forming in his eyes, listening with every fiber of his being for the answer.
“I’m pregnant!” she shouted, slowly calming down.
“You’re what?” Danny asked in disbelief.
“Pregnant!” she repeated, drying her eyes with his handkerchief and beaming.
“Not sick?”
“I’m six weeks pregnant…tired…hungry and a little nauseous.”
“Pregnant not sick?”
“We’re going to have a baby, Danny,” she said, sinking down onto the sofa and smiling with relief.
“Oh my God!” He jumped up and yelled.
When he calmed down he fell to his knees and faced her on the sofa.
“How did it happen?”
“The night you got shot…no birth control with me.”
“Why didn’t you say something? I always have condoms.”
“I figured I was too old to get pregnant without help from fertility doctors, so I thought ‘what the hell’.”
“Shouldn’t we have discussed that?”
“We were barely speaking then.”
“And after that?”
“When I didn’t get pregnant then, I thought I made the right call and stopped using birth control altogether.”
“I had no idea!”
“I should have told you.”
“A baby! My God, could life get any better?” he said, sitting back on his legs.
Danny pulled Eliza up and waltzed her around the living room, singing at the top of his lungs.
“No more birth control...”
“Not until the baby comes.”
“What are we waiting for?”
The next morning, as they lay in bed side-by-side, naked, Danny put his hand on Eliza’s stomach.
“No, sweetheart, here,” she said, moving his hand down to where the baby was growing inside her. “He’s down here.”
Danny stared at her belly, his hand resting lightly on her warm skin. He leaned over and kissed her abdomen, and then kissed her lips.
“I’m so happy,” he whispered to her.
They stayed in bed quietly for a while.
“Will you still want to make love to me when I’m huge?
“You can be a hippo and I’ll still paw you for a roll in the hay.”
They went hiking, resting when Eliza got tired. The dogs seemed to know Eliza was pregnant as they showed up at her side more than Danny’s. Rocky put his head on her leg, Blue switched to the floor on Eliza’s side of the bed and Danny got a little jealous.
They ate dinner at The Eagle’s Nest where they had held hands and talked about love last summer. Eliza stuffed herself, giving in to her growing appetite.
On Wednesday morning, Danny brought down the Glock compact gun he always kept beside the bed. He had the gun in his hand, feeling its weight, aiming it up then to the right then the left and tossing the weapon a little. He stood on the deck, looking out at the lake and the blue sky.
“Dr. Weiss said I’d do this someday. I’m ready to stand down.”
She looked up, put down the newspaper she was reading and watched him from her chair on the deck. Danny walked down to the end of the dock, got a good grip on the gun barrel, reached back and threw it with all the strength he had. The gun soared through the air to the middle of the lake where it dropped into the water with a splash followed by a gentle gurgle of air bubbles released as the Glock sank below the surface, falling slowly to the muddy bottom of the lake and disappearing.
*THE END*
About The Author
Jean Joachim is an author, wife, and a mother of two sons. She is owned by a rescued pug named Homer. She lives in a small apartment in New York City during the winter and spends summers writing in a cabin in Sullivan County, NY. She has always wanted to be a writer and storyteller and was making up fantasies to share with her friends when she was a child. She spent years writing in advertising as a copywriter and media director.
She has had seven non-fiction books published but didn’t try her hand at fiction until 2010. Her first romance, “Sunny Days, Moonlit Nights”, a sweet contemporary romance was published in February 2011. Now and Forever 1, a Love Story and Now and Forever 2, the Book of Danny, two sensual contemporary romances in the Now and Forever series are being published by Secret Cravings.
Other Books by Jean
Now and Forever 1 – A Love Story
Secret Cravings Publishing
www.secretcravingspublishing.com