Beautiful Life: The Carpino Series

by Brynne Asher

  Frowning even deeper and completely vexed, she retorted in her barely controlled voice, “I bet you can’t.”

  “Well, this couldn’t have worked out better,” I said, extremely pleased with myself. I looked to my wife, whom I’m having all kinds of unprotected sex with and added with meaning which I knew she’d get, “She needs a car. You’ll eventually need something bigger. Two birds. One stone. Done.” Looking back at Tina I add, “Congratulations on your gently used new ride. You’re gonna love it. I hear it’s a happy car.”

  I then tagged my pissed off wife behind the head and pulled her in to kiss me, even though she didn’t return my kiss and her lips were as hard as steel. She tried to pull away from me, but I barely let her move and looked into her eyes, “We’ll go car shopping this weekend. It was so much fun last time, I can’t wait.”

  I kissed her on the forehead before she tore her head out of my hand and said, “Love you,” before grabbing my jacket to head to work.

  This led to the two week debacle of car arguing. I first took her to a Ford dealership to drive an Expedition. She proceeded to stand in the parking lot in front of a row of brand new shiny Expeditions and almost yelled at me in front of the salesman, “You want me to drive that?”

  “Yeah,” I answered. “We’ll grow into it. It’s big so you can see everything and it’s safe.”

  “I’m not driving that,” she said, completely pissed. “I’m not even getting in that.”

  “What about a Tahoe? Like Gabby’s.”

  “Wait,” the salesman interjected, not wanting us to go to a Chevy dealership. “Maybe she would like something smaller, like the Explorer.”

  She looked straight at the salesman, and totally out of character for Leigh, said rudely, “Did you not just see us drive up in an Explorer? We are not going to own two Explorers.” She then marched back to my Explorer, got in and sat there grumpily waiting on me.

  I drove her straight to a Toyota dealership and standing in front of a Sequoia she looked over at me and said in a quiet but menacing voice, “I love you, but are you deaf or just dense?”

  “What?” I asked. “It’s not their biggest SUV. The Land Cruiser is even bigger. I thought a foreign brand might make you happy.”

  She silently walked straight to me and grabbed my keys out of my hand, turned again and walked straight back to my Explorer getting in behind the wheel. I give a shake of my head to the salesman in silent apology and moved slowly to the passenger seat.

  She drove us straight to the Volkswagen dealership. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of a Jetta next to fucking Brendon, the fucking car salesman, who was grinning down at Leigh.

  I looked over at my wife who was biting her lip while trying to suppress her smile. She said in a question, “It’s bigger?”

  It was my turn to be pissed off, so I glared at fucking Brendon before looking back at Leigh to respond, “No way.” I grabbed my keys back out of her hand and marched my ass back to the car hearing her follow.

  After she got in, I looked through the windshield before pulling out and said, “We need to talk about it some more,” before driving us straight home after a long day of car shopping but never driving one car.

  A week later, I took her to a Volvo dealership and we were again in a car shopping standoff. I finally said, “Leigh. We have to drive something eventually.”

  “Fine,” she huffs. But then adds while pointing at the XC90 I want to buy her, “I’ll drive a four door, but I am not driving this.”

  “Maybe we should move over to the S80?” the older female said, smiling kindly at Leigh.

  “Thank you,” she said to the saleslady as she glared at me.

  We drove it. It was a sweet car and a smooth ride, but most importantly, one of the safest cars on the road in its Class. Leigh complained it was still too big, but she didn’t march off the lot and she was still speaking to me so I thought this was a good sign. We left the dealership and she agreed to think about it, so I wasn’t as pissed as I was the week before.

  Three days later we were in bed, Leigh was naked and squirming on her back. I had her legs hitched high and wide holding her ankles tight. I was kissing the inside of her thigh down to between her legs where she was again waxed bare for me and I could tell very ready, glistening with moisture.

  “Sweetheart,” I started as I licked her clit lightly. “Have you decided on a color?”

  I heard her gasp as she lifted her hips to get more from me, “Are you kidding me?”

  Smiling, I said, “No,” before I pushed her legs even higher and wider while blowing lightly up and down between her legs.

  “Tony!” she half way yelled at me.

  I licked at her one more time, “We need to get you a car. You need to decide.”

  “Please,” she moaned.

  “If you don’t think I can do this all night, you’re crazy.”

  “Honey,” she complained again.

  I leaned down to pull her hard, swollen clit between my lips loving the feel and taste of her in my mouth. She jerked and called out louder for me, but I let her clit go and said, “Pick a color.”

  “Fine,” she said out of breath finally giving in. “Silver.”

  I grinned, dipped my head again to lick her swollen lips and wetness between her legs before I asked, “The S80?”

  “Whatever,” she mumbled, lifting her hips again hoping to find my mouth.

  Finally.

  I lifted my head to look up at her from between her legs and said, “I’ll get it myself. That way we don’t have to go together, I’ll go tomorrow.”

  “Great,” she managed sarcastically before I dip my head one more time to pull her clit into my mouth, hard this time while gently using my teeth and she came instantly. Letting her go, I crawl up and immediately surge into her slick wetness with nothing between us, loving the feel of her.

  Still breathing hard, she said, “That wasn’t fair.”

  “I know,” I managed and started to move faster.

  “You’re crazy, Tony Carpino. I can’t believe you just did that.”

  “Look who’s talkative now, Leigh Carpino,” I breathed, not able to control myself, feeling close and needing to move harder.

  “It must be rubbing off,” she kept on, but this time talking as she threaded a hand through my hair to hang on.

  “Gem,” I moaned into her ear.

  “Harder, Tone,” I heard her breath quicken again and felt her contact around my dick.

  I gave her what she wanted and could feel and hear her moan again at the same time I shoot into my wife, finally staying planted deep.

  Other than car shopping, married life with Leigh has been everything I could have hoped for and more. Grinning just thinking about car shopping, I walk around Leigh’s new car that I think is the shit and she finally admits is just okay. I walk into a silent and quiet house, wondering where she and Fin are since they’re never far apart.

  “Leigh?” I call while looking around and finally see her sitting outside in the middle of the yard, ass to the ground again with her dog.

  I move to the deck door and down the stairs to the patio and yard. She’s sitting with her long bare legs crossed, wearing shorts and a tee with Fin laid out in front of her while she’s scratching his back.

  “What are you doing?” I ask as I sit with her in between my legs, fitting my chest to her back.

  “We were playing fetch and he got tired,” she says, leaning back into me without looking away from her dog. “How was basketball and your meeting?”

  “Good. And better. But I have news for you. You want the good or the bad first?”

  She twists to look at me frowning, “Bad news?”

  I pull the band out of her hair letting it fall down her back and go on, “Kind of bad. I got a call from the DA this morning. Two nights ago Preston was pulled over and didn’t pass a sobriety test. He was arrested. His blood alcohol level was high, as in pretty damn high.”

  Cocking he
r head to the side she asks, “What does that mean?”

  “It means he’s violated his probation. He’s in jail now and I don’t think he’s getting out. In fact, he’ll be there for a while,” I explain.

  Her brow furrows further, “What’s the bad news?”

  It’s my turn to cock my head as I say, “I guess I thought any news about Preston would be bad.”

  Giving her head a little shake, she looks back to her dog, “I guess it’s not good or bad, just news. I don’t care about Preston or what happens to him. I do everything I can not to think of him. Although it is a little ironic he’s in jail for violating his parole by drunk driving when I just donated over half his money to Tina’s treatment center.”

  I chuckle into the back of her head and say, “Yeah, that is ironic. Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have told you.”

  “No, I didn’t mean it that way. I just meant I don’t care what happens to Preston. What’s the good news?”

  “Okay then,” I start, thinking she’s in a weird mood but move on. “They offered me partner today.”

  She jerks around in my arms to look at me with her big eyes but smiling this time, “They did?”

  I half grin back down at her and say, “Yeah.”

  She leans into kiss me then adds, “I’m proud of you, honey. Congratulations.” Keeping her big smile, she goes on, “We’ll celebrate tonight, do something special. Does your job change?”

  “Not really,” I answer. “I wasn’t expecting it this soon. I guess I have Richard Blaton to thank for speeding along my career.”

  “Stop it, Tone. You worked hard for it, don’t diminish it. You saved that company and brought in tons of new clients. You deserve it.”

  “Whatever. I’m all up for celebrating though,” I say as I pull her into me again, tucking her tight in between my legs.

  After many long moments of silence, I tug lightly on the end of her hair that I’m twirling in my fingers and ask, “You okay?”

  She pulls in a deep breath and I feel her slump a little in my arms before she says quietly while looking out to the yard, “Today was my due date.”

  I crush her to me with my arms and legs, “I’m sorry, gem. I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have left you today.”

  “It’s okay,” she says quietly again.

  “You sure you’re okay?”

  “I guess. I didn’t want to dwell on it but I can’t help but think about it, especially now.”

  I give her another squeeze and ask, “Why now?”

  She turns a little in my arms and gives me her emerald eyes to say softly, “I’m pregnant.”

  I feel myself go solid and then blink in slow motion as I stare into her eyes. “You’re pregnant,” I repeat slowly.

  Her face turns softer and she smiles small to whisper, “Yeah.”

  I pull my hands up to cup her face and I say again, “You’re pregnant.”

  This time she just nods as her smile gets bigger and I pull her to me to kiss her. Finally letting her go, I have to lean my forehead against hers, still trying to take in what she just told me.

  “Tony?” she calls.

  I open my eyes to look at her.

  “My life couldn’t be more beautiful.”

  I inhale again and say against my wife’s lips, “Neither could mine, gem. Never more than this.”

  Epilogue

  “I’m late. I’m meeting Leigh Carpino, can you point me in the right direction?”

  The receptionist looks down at her computer and after flipping through a few screens, looks up and says, “They should be under way, go through that door, take a left and it will be the third on the right. Room one-o-seven.”

  “Thanks,” I say, tapping my hand on the desk and move fast through the door to get to Leigh.

  I find the room marked “Sonogram” on the plate outside the door and go right in. Through the darkened room I see the back of a woman sitting at a computer screen moving a mouse around. Leigh’s lying on the patient bed with her medium size bare belly sticking up. Even through the darkened room, I see her head turn toward me, immediately giving me her emerald eyes.

  Smiling, she says, “We’re just getting started, we waited as long as we could.”

  Moving to my wife, I go to the other side of the bed and lean down to kiss her forehead before saying, “I couldn’t get out of my meeting, sorry.”

  She smiles again and turns her head back to the monitor where the sonographer is measuring the blobs on the screen that’s my child as she says, “Everything looks great so far. We just have a few things to check before we get to the fun stuff.”

  Minutes later after watching her measure our blob on the screen in a million different ways, I squeeze Leigh’s hand as I feel her relax and I blow out a breath when the sonographer turns to us both saying, “Everything looks good. You’ve got a healthy baby, everything is measuring right at twenty weeks.”

  “Ba-by?” I ask. Needing to make sure, I reiterate, “You’re sure there’s only one?”

  I hear Leigh giggle as the smiling sonographer says, “Yes, there’s only one this time.”

  “You knew there was only one, Tone. We heard two heartbeats from the beginning last time,” my wife tells me.

  “Just making sure,” I mutter.

  “You want to find out the sex today?” the sonographer asks further.

  I look down at her, raising my eyebrows in question. She smiles small and nods back up to me.

  “Yeah, we want to know,” I answer.

  She moves the wand and jelly around Leigh’s belly again, pushes more buttons on the keyboard and finally settles on one spot, clicking more buttons making the screen come to a standstill.

  “There,” she says pointing at the screen. Smiling again she says, “Surely you two recognize that.”

  I huff one single chuckle and look down and Leigh. She’s grinning up at me as I ask, “Are you disappointed?”

  Her grin turns soft and she says, “He’s healthy. How could I be disappointed? And I get to spend my life surrounded by Carpino men. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

  I lean down to kiss her mouth and say against her lips, “Another boy.”

  “Another boy,” she agrees happily. However, she instantly raises her eyebrows and with a serious face warns me, “But if they ever get married on the sly, there’ll be hell to pay and you’ll be the one paying it.”

  I do nothing but grin down at my wife.

  *****

  I watch the boys play in the backyard with Finny from the deck. They start to climb up the rock wall of their new playset they got for their second birthday a couple months ago. This makes me cringe because I know they’re going to get hurt. I wanted to wait one more year to get it, but Tony insisted they should have it now. He said they’d be more than ready for it before they were three, but we’ve already had plenty of scraped knees and bruises so far, thus the reason for making me cringe. I bandage them up, cover them in kisses and send them back on their way praying they don’t break a bone. They’re all boy, just like their dad, and nothing seems to slow them down.

  Our twins. Tony was on a mission to get me pregnant back in the beginning and he sure did a bang up job of it. But I wouldn’t want it any other way.

  With their dark hair, almost black eyes and despite coming six weeks early, they’ve grown big and strong. But their personalities couldn’t be more different. Jack, who is seven minutes older than Gabe, is the definite leader. Gabe is quieter, more observant in most situations, but keeps up with his big brother without a problem when it’s just the two of them.

  They jump off the rock wall, making me cringe again. Running around to the swings, they dive head first onto their tummies with their arms and legs flailing about. Finny is running around them barking, not knowing which boy to run after since they keep coming back and forth. Finny loves his boys and they wear him out, but he’s still my dog through and through.

  I hear the deck door slide open and without taking my eyes
off my boys, I say, “Hi honey.”

  “Hey,” he responds and when I look up at my husband, he’s lost the suit jacket, tie and his sleeves are already rolled up with his top two buttons unbuttoned. Oh, and his over longish hair is rumpled like he’s been running his hand through it again. As hot as my husband is in a suit, I prefer him this way. Home from work, relaxed and half rumpled ready to spend time with us.

  He smiles down at me and says, “Sit up.”

  I sit up and scooch forward enough for him to straddle me from the back in my lounge. He doesn’t pull me back but starts to rub my back down low and makes a suggestion that I know is more like a plea, “Since you’re half way, you should reduce your shifts at the hospital.”

  “Honey, I’m fine,” I insist.

  During my pregnancy with the twins, I had a lot of swelling and finally had to go on bed rest for the last month. Tony blames it on me being on my feet too much with my job, but I know it would have happened anyway. So far, this pregnancy has been easy and I don’t see that happening again.

  I go on, “It is official, Tony. We’re not having twins again. I’m fine to work. And I’m down to two shifts every other week, how much more can I cut it down?”

  “How about one shift every other week?” he strongly suggests.

  I grin and turn slightly, not wanting to disrupt my backrub because I love his hands on me, and say, “Sorry. Not gonna happen.”

  I hear him sigh and he finally pulls my back to his front and his big hands come around to cup my tummy. We sit here for many long peaceful moments watching the boys play, who have yet to see their dad home, otherwise the moments wouldn’t be so peaceful. But I love every minute of it, the busy family and constant noise in our home. It will be busier in a few months with our third little guy, but he’ll only complete the picture making it even more perfect.

  Tony breaks into our peaceful moment, obviously wanting to piss me off or start an argument, and says, “You can’t put it off any longer, gem. We have to go this weekend.”