Too Smart For Marriage

by Cathie Linz

  As she lay in a dazed afterglow of satisfaction, David quickly took care of protection and returned to her side. The music in the living room reached a stunning crescendo as she reached for him and guided him home. Feeling the welcome evidence of her continued arousal, his entry was smooth and sure.

  When she shifted her hips to take him even deeper, he groaned with blind pleasure. A slave to desire, he moved with primal rhythm, every thrust bringing her closer to fulfillment again. Only when she reached it did he, too, surrender—shouting her name as completion gripped him.

  11

  “MMM, that was incredible!” Anastasia murmured with heartfelt satisfaction as she sat in the middle of the rumpled covers on her bed, with David at her side.

  “Were you referring to the way we made love or to the bowl of maple pecan ice cream you just devoured?” David inquired dryly.

  “Both,” she replied before licking the spoon to get the last tantalizing drop of ice cream. Looking over at his mostly full bowl of chocolate-chocolate chip, she said, “Yours is melting.”

  “I’m working on a new soda-fountain creation, one that wasn’t in my grandfather’s dog-eared book. But I’ll need your help.”

  “You want me to taste it when you’re finished?”

  “No, I’ll be doing the tasting. I just need you to lie back and get comfortable…” He took the empty bowl from her and set it on the nightstand painted with moons and stars. “That’s good,” he said as she reclined on the bed. “Now, I call this creation an Anastasia sundae. After unwrapping a fresh Anastasia, and they don’t come fresher than you,” he added with a wolfish grin as he undid her robe, “you begin with melted ice cream, chocolate-chocolate chip is good.” He drizzled it over her bare breasts.

  She yelped in surprise. “That’s cold!”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll fix that.” Lowering his head, he licked the ice cream from her skin, his tongue stroking her with warmth, creating a fire deep within her. The cold liquid had made her nipples tighten, but the heat of his mouth closing around the sensitized peaks was enough to make her back arch off the mattress with bliss.

  “Is that a freckle or a chocolate chip?” He formed the words against her, lapping her up. “Mmm, delicious.”

  Spearing her fingers through his silky black hair, she huskily whispered, “I had no idea you were so creative.”

  “You bring out the best in me.” His voice was rough with passion as he drizzled more ice cream on her. She shivered as the cold liquid hit her skin, and she moaned with pleasure as his mouth and tongue consumed her in a sensual conflagration.

  DAVID NEVER KNEW he liked having his big toe licked until he experienced it firsthand the next morning. It took him a second or two to realize that it was Anastasia’s cat who was doing the licking.

  Startled, he yanked his foot away only to have the cat pounce on it as if it were a mouse. Then he remembered this was the feline who was afraid of mice.

  He removed his foot just in the nick of time. His sudden movement spooked the cat, who jumped down after giving him a reproachful look from its blue eyes.

  “Sorry,” he heard himself whisper as he held out a hand in conciliation. To his surprise, the cat turned around and came back to sniff his fingers and butt her head against his hand in an invitation to pet her.

  He’d always liked animals, aside from mice and rats. Growing up, he’d had a dog and a cat both. His grandmother still had a couple of cats, descendants of Hank, the orange tabby that had grown up with him.

  He hadn’t thought about that cat in years. Since working for the fire department, his thoughts had been consumed with his job. Other than baseball, he had no other interests or hobbies. His identity had been formed by his work.

  Lying back against Anastasia’s colorful pillows, he figured it was time to take stock of his life. He’d changed since meeting Anastasia and helping his grandmother fulfill her dream. The realization wasn’t sudden, it had been creeping up on him for some time. And finding that hidden room last night had reminded him of the pleasure to be had from having a dream, even if the search had only netted him an old bottle of wine.

  Dreams made him think of Anastasia. Making love with her had been better than he ever could have dreamed.

  “You look deep in thought,” she noted sleepily before snuggling close to him to run her bare toes along his leg.

  Growling with pleasure, David scooped her half onto his body so that her bare breasts were pressed against his chest. “I was thinking that I should keep the Anastasia sundae as an exclusive recipe for myself.”

  “I think that’s a wise decision,” she replied, resting her head atop his heart while swirling her fingers across the flat plain of his abdomen.

  Capturing her hand with his, he lifted it to his lips before saying, “That’s the first time you’ve ever called me wise.”

  “Maybe it’s the first wise thing you’ve ever said,” she retorted, lifting her head to give him a saucy grin and kiss the underside of his jaw.

  “What about my suggestion to go with the eggnog ice cream instead of the mince pie for the holidays?” he asked, nibbling on her fingers. “That was a wise move, too. We sold out.”

  Her smile turned mocking as she said. “This from a man whose favorite flavor was vanilla when I met him.”

  “How did you know my favorite flavor used to be vanilla? I never told you that.”

  “I could tell that you were definitely a vanilla kind of guy,” she said with airy confidence.

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yes, really. Traditional, stodgy, responsible, bossy, judgmental…”

  “Flattery will get you nowhere,” he mocked.

  “You don’t need flattery. You have a big enough ego.”

  “For a burnt-out arson investigator.”

  She frowned at his words which clearly took her by surprise. “What are you talking about?”

  “That’s why I was on a leave of absence. To get a better perspective on things.”

  She was about to tease him by saying something along the lines of “Did you boss around your co-workers and aggravate them, too?” when she saw the somber expression in his blue eyes. He wasn’t kidding around. He was serious. “You never told me that.”

  “Why did you think I was on leave?”

  “Claire implied that it was because you wanted to use up all that vacation time you’d accrued.”

  “That’s what I told her.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything before this?”

  He shrugged. “What was I supposed to say? That I’m a burnt-out arson investigator? That sounds real appealing.”

  “I noticed you never talked about your work, which for a workaholic like you should have been a tip-off that something was wrong.”

  “The old me was a workaholic. But over the past few weeks I’ve slowly rearranged the priorities in my life.”

  “So now baseball is number one,” she teased.

  “No, you are.” The words came easier than David thought they would. And once he started speaking, he couldn’t stop. He went all the way, following his thoughts with customary bluntness. “I love you and I want to marry you.”

  Her expression was stunned instead of delighted. Without saying a word, she nervously reached for her robe and slipped out of bed.

  David could tell this was not a good sign. He might not have asked many women to marry him, but he was pretty sure she was supposed to show some signs of excitement; scream, cry, shout yes, yes, yes! Something along those lines.

  And okay, sure, Anastasia never did things the regular way, she did them her own way. But even she should be doing something other than pacing the floor. Not than he was an expert on the subject of proposals.

  “Why do I get the impression that you’re not exactly thrilled?” he asked.

  “It’s just that I never dreamed that you’d propose to me.”

  Her answer didn’t please him. Feeling at a definite disadvantage because he was still naked in her bed
while she was rambling around in her robe, he impatiently grabbed for his jeans and yanked them over his hips. “Why not? I’m good enough to sleep with but not to marry?”

  “That’s not it at all.” She gazed at him with dismay in her golden eyes. “I never thought you’d propose to me because you seemed to value your independence as much as I do.”

  “Are you telling me you don’t love me?” he demanded.

  “No, I’m not telling you that at all. I do love you. I have since you gave that nervous look to the mouse in my car. Well, actually, I was falling in love with you before that, but I knew for sure in the car a few days ago.” She shoved her fingers through her tangled long hair before admitting, “The thing is, I don’t want a husband telling me what to do. At thirty-three, I’ve gotten used to doing things my own way.”

  David couldn’t believe her response. “I thought all women wanted to get married.”

  Now Anastasia turned on him, anger lighting her eyes. “That’s a stupid thing to say!”

  “No more stupid than you saying you don’t want a husband telling you what to do.”

  “I wasn’t stupid for saying that,” she replied, “but I was an idiot for thinking you’d ever understand how I feel!”

  “I’LL TELL YOU what’s stupid!” Hattie shouted from the corner floor lamp, despite the fact that they couldn’t hear her. “That I did all this work to get them together, to have David propose, and she says no! I can’t believe this! We all gather here in time to hear the marriage proposal, and this happens.”

  “We didn’t take this possibility into consideration,” Muriel admitted.

  Hattie glared at her. “No kidding.”

  “We focused on getting David to realize how much he loved Anastasia and on her learning how much she loved him,” Betty added. “Who knew Anastasia would need convincing about marriage as well as love?”

  The rhetorical question didn’t sit well with Hattie. “You’re the oldest, it’s your job to know these things.”

  “Hey, this is your assignment,” Betty snapped. “I already dealt with Jason and Heather. Anastasia is your baby.”

  “If she was my baby I’d put her over my knee and spank her.”

  “Yeah, right,” Muriel scoffed. “This from a fairy godmother who can’t hurt a flea.”

  “But she loves him,” Hattie wailed. “She said so.”

  “We should have guessed that she’d be nervous about sharing her life, about marriage. She’s so gunshy about losing her autonomy. She’s got such a zest for life that others have tried to quell. All that attitude she has was bound to create a few problems.” Muriel spoke with great authority.

  Hattie was not impressed. In fact, she was becoming increasingly agitated by the second as she circled the rim of the reflecting bowl atop the torchier floor lamp. Her lavender hat, the same one she’d worn to Jason’s wedding, had become dislodged by the emphatic shaking of her head as she kept muttering “No, this can’t be happening.” The wringing of her hands was turning the magic wand in her fingers a glowing red until, like a flame shooter, it released a sudden burst of blazing energy.

  “Fire!” everyone in the bedroom, human and fairy godmother, all shouted at once.

  12

  ONE MINUTE she was arguing with David, and the next, the bedroom was filled with smoke. Anastasia had noticed a small puff of fire, like a miniature volcano going off in the far corner of the room, before her eyes started watering from the strange purple-tinted billowing clouds of smoke.

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” David said, grabbing hold of her and guiding her toward the front door. “Where’s your fire extinguisher?”

  “Here, under the kitchen sink.”

  Snatching it up, he raced back to the bedroom. Her heart was in her throat until she heard the whoosh of the fire extinguisher a moment later and then David calling out, “It’s okay. You don’t have to call the fire department. It must have been a short in your floor lamp. Created a lot of smoke, but didn’t do much harm otherwise. We caught it in time.”

  “Thank heavens.” Those few seconds when he’d been on his own in her smoke-filled bedroom had seemed like an eternity. She stood in the bedroom doorway, almost afraid to see what damage had been done. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much.

  “It’s the strangest fire I’ve ever seen, though.” David was studying the surrounding area. “For all that smoke, there are no burn marks aside from the top of this lamp. This dresser is right next to the lamp but there isn’t a mark on it. And the minute I opened your bedroom window once I was sure the fire was out, the smoke just flew out of here like a bat out of hell.”

  “Maybe the ceiling fan helped move the smoke out,” she said.

  “It wasn’t turned on.” David shook his head. “It’s almost like something out of one of those stories you tell the kids, where someone waved a magic wand or something and, presto, the smoke was gone.”

  “NICE GOING!” Betty said, glaring at a sooty Hattie clinging to the edge of the bed’s painted headboard.

  “I didn’t do it on purpose,” she wailed, shoving the blackened rim of her hat out of her eyes. “It was an accident. I was upset.”

  “And you think we weren’t? But you don’t see us starting a fire, now, do you?” Betty’s voice reflected her anger.

  “How could I know that hand wringing would start a fire?” Hattie said, clutching her slightly fried magic wand in one hand. “You should have told me.”

  “Don’t try and put this on me,” Betty retorted. “Look what you did to my T-shirt.” She held it away from her body, pointing to the black marks across the What Are You Looking At? lettering.

  “I’ll fix it,” Hattie hurriedly offered. A wave of her wand replaced the T-shirt with a new one, in pastel lilac this time. Seeing the furious look on Betty’s face, she quickly waved her wand again and returned the shirt to its white color.

  But Betty showed no signs of being appeased. “If you think that makes everything all right, you’re sadly mistaken.”

  “At least my magic wand still works,” Hattie noted, hugging it to her gratefully.

  “For all the good that does us.” Betty put both hands on her ample hips to glare at her youngest sibling with blatant disapproval. “I’m telling you, I may be lenient about some things, but this really takes the cake.”

  Hattie glared right back, holding her hat’s drooping rim out of her eyes to do so. “You were the one who said this case would be a piece of cake.”

  “Quiet, you two,” Muriel ordered them. “Anastasia and David are talking.”

  “I’VE GOTTA TELL YOU, this isn’t the way I imagined my morning would be going,” David said as he set the fire extinguisher back on the floor. “I mean, I’ve heard of things getting hot in the bedroom, but this is ridiculous.”

  “You’ve got that right,” Anastasia agreed with a nervous laugh. Her hands were shaking from the adrenaline still racing through her system, so she stuck them in the pocket of her blue chenille robe, where she found a catnip toy. “Xena! Have you seen Xena?” she asked, her voice frantic.

  David nodded. “I saw her in the living room, diving under that weird-looking table.”

  Anastasia raced into the living room, going down on her knees to peer under the table. Xena’s blue eyes blinked back at her reproachfully. “Sorry about that,” Anastasia murmured. “I know how you hate catastrophes. I do, too. In fact, I feel faint.”

  “Probably because all the blood rushes to your brain when you have your fanny in the air like that. Not that it isn’t a sexy fanny, don’t get me wrong,” David said as he hunkered down beside her. “Here, sit up.” He gently straightened her, propping her up as she swayed a bit. Her back rested against his chest as he went on to say, “I’ve got to tell you that this marriage proposal isn’t exactly going the way I’d hoped it would. Not that I have much experience with this sort of thing. Fires, sure, those I can handle. I can figure out burn patterns, sort out clues from charred debris on a fire site. But
I can’t seem to figure you out.”

  “I’ve been accused of being complicated,” Anastasia admitted in a small voice. She felt cherished, cradled in his arms.

  “I can understand why.”

  “Not that you’re any simple idiot yourself,” she hurriedly assured him.

  “I’ll take that as a compliment…I think.”

  “You know what I mean,” she replied, loving the way his golden-gruff voice reverberated through her as he spoke.

  “The scary thing is that yeah, I do know what you mean. I may not always be able to figure you out, but over the past few weeks I’ve learned to know what you mean even if I don’t know why you mean it.” Resting his chin on the crown of her head, he said, “Before we were interrupted by me putting my foot in my mouth and the ensuing fire, you said you valued your independence and thought I did, too. Well, you were right. I do value my independence. Trust me when I say that I don’t go running around proposing to women after making love to them.”

  “That’s reassuring,” she said tartly, sitting up straighter as the idea of him with someone else speared her with jealousy.

  He grinned. “Your fiery nature is one of the things I love about you,” he told her.

  She eyed him suspiciously. “Guys have told me that before, only to try and change me into a demure little thing.”

  “I don’t think even one of those fairy godmothers you’re so fond of drawing would be able to change you into a demure little thing,” he noted dryly. “It ain’t gonna happen.”

  “That’s for sure.”

  “See, we agree on that.” Combing his fingers through her long hair, he murmured, “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but my grandmother will not approve of me living in sin with you. She may come after you with a shotgun or a vintage ice-cream scoop and demand that you make an honest man of me. I just felt it fair to warn you, for your own safety.”