Through The Grapevine: A BWWM Romance

by Sherie Keys

  Colby cocked his head a little at her. "Well, that really depends on you, doesn't it? If you decide to come home and marry me, I'm going to expect you to be my wife, only my wife, and not ever be anyone else's lover. That's the deal. If you want someone else, you better not walk down the aisle to me, because I won't marry you."

  He leaned forward and looked deeply into her eyes. "I'm your friend and your lover, Tiffany. I'm your fiancée and I will be your husband. I will care for you better than anyone else ever could, and I will treat you like a queen for all of our days, giving you all of the love I have, but you have to hold up your end of the deal.

  You have to give me the same thing in return. There can be no affairs, no cheating, no lying, no screwing around; you have to prove to me that you want me, that you love me, and that spending the rest of your life with me and only me is your first priority."

  Chapter 7

  From the look in Tiffany's eyes, he could see that she fully understood everything he had said to her, and that she was considering it as he hoped that she would.

  He leaned back in his seat and asked the waitress for a cup of coffee, which she brought to him with a big smile and a wink.

  Tiffany was quiet for a long moment and then she perked up and flashed her diamond smile at him. "Colby, of course I want to be your wife. There's nothing else in the world I want as much as that. You must know that."

  He shook his head. "No, I really don't know that. That's why I'm going to need you to prove it to me. I want to see you break up with Ron and tell him that you don't ever want to see him again, tell him in front of me that you've chosen to be with me and be my wife, and then I want you to fly back to Los Angeles and walk down the aisle to me and be my bride."

  She stumbled over her response to him. "Well... I... of course, I can do that. I can talk to him and I'll tell him that."

  Colby shook his head. "In front of me."

  Tiffany shrugged her shoulders. "Well yes, but I don't know where he is." leaned forward and took his hand in hers, holding it tightly and lifting her to her lips. She nibbled on his fingertips and knuckles and gave him a little smile and a coy look. "Baby, what if you just let me do it whenever I see him again, and I don't know when that will be.

  But you have really convinced me that all I really want and need is you, so just trust me like you always have and I will tell Ron next time I see him, that I choose you and that he will have to go another direction. Let's do it that way, okay? That would be the easiest."

  She tilted her head and sucked on the tip of his finger. "Please baby? Please? Let's do it that way."

  Colby watched her and decided to give her a chance; he would offer her one last opportunity to rebuild their trust, their bond and relationship, and he would know how she really felt by her actions.

  "I understand. You go ahead and break up with him, tell him it's over and you are choosing to marry me and be mine for the rest of your life, and that's what we will do. If you don't, I'll know you chose him instead, and that will be it for us."

  She sighed happily and leaned over the table, kissing his mouth and then she sat back down again. "You are the best husband ever. I love you, Colby, and I'm going to prove it to you."

  He nodded at her and stood up. She watched him and looked at him in surprise.

  "Where are you going?" she asked him.

  "I'm going to go back to California and let you do what you are ready to do." answered her simply.

  She stared at him as he turned and walked out of the cafe, leaving her there on her own. What she didn't see was that he crossed the street and stood at the edge of a corner, watching her and waiting to see what she would do.

  He hoped and prayed that she would end it with Ron. He loved Tiffany so much, but he didn't want to put himself into a marriage with a one way commitment. He needed to know that she loved him enough to give up her boyfriend.

  He needed to see that she was as committed to him as he was to her and even then, he could forgive her for having an affair; as long as he knew that she would give it up for him and promise herself and her life to him. His love for her was so tremendous that he knew he could absorb and forgive her dalliance, if she truly gave herself to him.

  She walked out of the cafe, her phone in her hands, texting someone. She only glanced up at the street long enough to see where she was going as night descended over the town. Colby followed her at a good distance and he knew that she was so distracted with her phone that she would never notice him trailing her.

  She walked through the streets and down a few blocks before she came to a street corner where there was a two-story building filled with townhouse condominiums.

  She opened the first door in the row and closed it behind her. The lights were already on inside the home and he knew that it meant Ron was probably inside waiting for her.

  He hoped his faith in her would be justified and she would break up with Ron. He hoped with all of his heart. He couldn't see anything going on inside the condo, but he thought perhaps she might send him out of the building for the night if she was to break up with him.

  He waited a few minutes and then he heard Tiffany's voice coming from behind the condo and he walked quietly around the corner where he was afforded a close view of the upper back deck of her condo. There on the deck was a hot tub, and Ron was pulling off the cover and speaking to her..

  "You better hurry up and get that sweet little ass out here. I can't wait all night for you." Ron slipped into the tub and Colby swallowed hard when he saw that Ron wasn't wearing anything.

  A minute later, Tiffany walked out of the back door in a robe and slipped it off her body as she walked over to the hot tub. The bright pale moonlight shone on her nude body and Colby's heart ached for seeing her that way with another man. The hum of the jets in the tub grew loud and Ron and Tiffany raised their voices to hear each other over it.

  "So how did your meeting go?" he asked as she climbed into the steaming water.

  "I saw Colby and he wants me to break up with you." She sat on the edge of the tub, letting her lower body adjust slowly to the heat of the water rather than just jumping right into it. Her upper body was still out of the tub and plainly visible in the moon light.

  Ron laughed loudly. "Are you going to break up with me?" z His laughter faded slowly.

  Tiffany stood up in the tub and moved over to where Ron was. "No way! I'm never going to let you go!" She reached for him and he wrapped his arm around her waist and buried his face in her breasts for a moment before pulling her down onto his lap.

  Colby felt as though he might vomit right there, as he saw them begin to have sex. Tiffany threw her head back and cried out in pleasure as Ron moved her over his hips.

  "That's my girl, come on baby, that's what I want!" he called out to her and then took her breast in his mouth.

  Colby shook his head and said softly, "No, that's my girl." but then he knew that she wasn't his girl anymore, and he turned away from the sight of them ravaging each other in the hot tub, and he walked down the cold street in the pale moonlight toward the hotel he was sharing with Shannon.

  It was a bitter realization to know that the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with was hot for another man. And she would willingly lie to Colby about it in order to be with another man and marry him at the same time. He was thoroughly repulsed, but more than that, he was hurt. His heart ached deeply for the loss of what he thought was love and had discovered was nothing more than a lie.

  Colby walked down the street in the pale light, and with every step his heart began to change bit by bit. He found himself thinking that he might well be very lucky that he had so narrowly escaped being bound to a woman like Tiffany. She was beautiful and fun, but he dearly wanted someone who wanted him back; someone who would cherish him and love him just as much as he loved her, for all of their days.

  He had learned just in time that the right girl for him was not Tiffany, and he began to be thankful rather than angry. Perhap
s her boyfriend might be alright with sharing a woman with another man, but Colby was not alright with it, and the fact that she had lied to him and then chosen Ron anyway, told him just what he needed to know about how she felt about him, and it shed clear bright light on his future.

  His future was going to be incredible; of that, there was no doubt, but he now knew that he was going to be alone for a while. He felt secure in that, hoping that one day the right woman would come along and share his life, but also knowing that if she never did find him and join him, he would be just fine on his own.

  Colby returned to the hotel room cold and almost refreshed. He found Shannon in bed reading a book. When he closed the door behind him, she tucked her bookmark into the thick pages and set the book down beside her.

  "Well?" she asked curiously. "How did it go? Were you able to find her?" she asked. "You must have found her; you were gone for ages. I had decided that if you weren't back in the next two hours that I was going to call the police to look for you." She had a serious expression on her face and he appreciated it, smiling at her thoughtfulness and compassion.

  He took of his coat and shoes and unbuttoned his shirt most of the way down, and then he sat beside Shannon on the bed, stretching his feet out in front of him.

  "I found her,” he quietly, reaching his arms up and tucking his hands behind his head as he laid back on the stack of thick pillows at the head of the bed.

  "Where was she?" Shannon eyed him with interest.

  He looked off into nothing as he stared straight ahead and said quietly, "She was at the ski lodge, just like you said. I went in and waited for a while and then she showed up. Ron was with her. She saw me and sent him away, and then came over to me. We went to a cafe and talked for a while, I told her how I feel and I said that she had to make a choice, him or me, and it had to be a permanent choice. I told her I didn't want to marry anyone who wasn't going to commit fully to me. She said she was going to break up with him.

  She said she wanted me. I believed her, but I wanted to be sure she was telling me the truth, so I followed her back to her condo and waited outside, sort of on surveillance, just to see if he left her place or not. I wanted to know what she would do."

  Shannon listened intently and nodded. "What did she do?" she asked, her heart anxious to hear the answer.

  He sighed quietly. "She went out on her deck and screwed him in her hot tub."

  Emotion reeled through Shannon as she let the words sink in. They had come this far, and he had tried all that he could to show her his love, to win her back, and then she had promised him to his face that she would be his. She said she would let Ron go and marry Colby, loving him only for the rest of her life. Then she had sneaked away and gone straight back into Ron's arms.

  Shannon was livid. "I can't believe it! After she promised you? After she said she would let him go and be with you? How could she do that? How could she lie again and go right back to hurting you and cheating on you with him?" She got up out of the bed and began to pace the floor angrily.

  "I'll call her. I'll go see her in the morning and talk to her. We'll get this worked out. I'm so very sorry, Colby." She looked at him with enormous sympathy and shook her head. "After everything you've done, and as much as you love her, for this to happen to you... it's the worst. I'm so sorry. I will call her in the morning and try to talk to her. I'll try to help you get this all straightened out,” she said with sorrow in her eyes for him.

  He shook his head and looked at her. "No, I don't want you to do that. I would rather just let her go. I gave her a choice and she made it. She didn't know I was watching her, but if she would do that behind my back after promising me that she wouldn't, then I know how she really feels.

  It gives me the most honest, true, and real answer that I could have. It lets me know what is really going to happen. So, she doesn't know it yet, but we are broken up. I'm going to call the wedding off when we get back to Los Angeles."

  He swung his feet off the bed and walked over to the glass double doors that opened out onto the balcony outside of their room. He let them swing wide open and stepped back out into the cool night air, standing in the moonlight and leaning over on the railing.

  Shannon followed him out and put her hand on his back to comfort him. "Are you sure?" she asked. "I could talk to her. I could try to change it for you and help you make your dream come true. You love her so much." Colby stood and turned to face Shannon.

  "No, you don't have to do that. This is really freeing for me, actually. It's letting me know what's real, and it's also saving me from a major heartache in the future. Imagine if I went ahead and took her back, if I married her, and she continued to see him. I'd be in a much more painful mess than I am now. This way, it's easy. This way I can just walk away and not have to deal with it again. I feel like I dodged a bullet almost, to be honest."

  Shannon nodded silently and her heart broke for the pain she knew he was in and trying valiantly to hide and ignore.

  "Okay. I just don't want you to hurt. I want you to be happy and loved, always."

  He smiled at her then and tilted his head, gazing at her lovely face. "You really are such an incredible friend, and I'm so lucky to have you here. See that? Something so good that came out of something that wasn't very good. You and I have a close bond that we can carry forward for years to come. That's worth more that almost anything else, really. I'll tell you the truth; I should thank her for bringing you into my life!"

  He laughed a little and reached his hand up to her face to brush a stray strand of her wavy black hair away.

  His fingertip traced the soft contour of her cheek and time seemed to still around him as he gazed into her beautiful, warm brown eyes. The memory of their kisses came back to him and he whispered to her, "You have been better to me than any woman ever has. It means a great deal to me."

  She reached her hand up and covered his hand as it rested on her cheek and she looked into his clear blue eyes. "You mean a great deal to me,” she whispered back. Her heart fluttered in their shared moment, and she wished again that it could be her that he loved.

  As if hearing her thought, he leaned his face down to hers and gently brushed her lips with his, just a soft and sweet kiss, barely there. Then he looked down at her again and stayed close to her.

  "Thank you for everything you do and everything you are." The feel of her lips touching his had sparked the same heat that he had felt with her in their cabin when they were together in front of the fireplace. Like a fire needs oxygen, his lips began to need hers, and he looked at her haunted gaze for only a moment longer before leaning down to her and kissing her again, but this time it was not soft.

  This time it was not tentative. This time, he pressed his lips firmly against hers and closed his eyes, finding it so easy to lose himself in her; in her beauty and sweetness, in her warmth and tenderness, and a hunger for her began to grow in him once more; much more ardent than it had when they were in the cabin together.

  She kissed him back and it only made his desire stronger. He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him as she wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close.

  Their kiss deepened and he opened her mouth with his, teasing her with the tip of his tongue, tasting her and letting everything else around them disappear into the night.

  As the fires of need began to burn hot between them, he knew that he wanted much more of her than just her kiss, and as their lips moved urgently over each other, he moved his mouth to her ear and whispered, "Make love with me."

  Then he placed his hands gently on the sides of her head and looked into her eyes again. He repeated it, wanting her to know how much it would mean to him to be with her.

  "Please," he said hoarsely, "make love with me. I had such a sweet taste of you the other night, but I want all of you now. Give me all of you; I need you."

  Her body ached for him and her heart wasn't reticent at all. She could hardly believe that he was saying those words to
her, that he was holding her and kissing her, and that he wanted to love her, even if it was only for just this one night.

  She had never loved anyone as she loved him, and she wasn't about to let what might well be the only chance she would have to be with him pass her by. She nodded her head and smiled sweetly at him. "Yes..." Her arms closed around his neck. "Yes, a thousand times yes." He looked at her in surprised happiness and the urgency in their kisses drew them like gravity to the bed that was waiting for them in their room.

  He stood there with her beside the bed, letting her go so that he could look at her in the soft light. He raised his fingers to her blouse and slowly pulled the buttons loose of their holds, revealing her soft sweet body beneath the material. She watched his eyes as he took in the curves of her body, pulling her clothes from her slowly as if he was unwrapping a precious gift.