“Oh, oh, oh, yeah,” I hear her moan and she clamps down around my dick. I swear to god, I can hear angels singing. Her pussy’s pulsing and clutching at me, and I think I grow another two inches before my balls turn themselves wrong side out and I pour everything I’ve got into her.
“My god, I’m gonna need some doughnuts. I need the sugar. I think you’re trying to kill me,” I mutter as I pull out of her and drop to the mattress, a sweating, panting mess.
My eyes are closed, but I feel the whomp when she falls into the mattress and says, “Good thing we hadn’t already showered.”
“No shit. Come here,” I tell her and reach for her, rolling toward her at the same time. In seconds, she’s in my arms. “Ohhhhh, babe. Yeah. That was so good, Precious.”
“Yeah. It was. Our sex is good, huh?” she says and runs her finger along my jawline.
“Yeah. It is. Everything we do together, we do well.”
“I’ve noticed that. Seems like we’re supposed to be together,” she says and kisses my collarbone. A little shiver runs through me at the touch of her lips. God, I want her. I’ve never wanted anybody so much in my life. “I love you, Lucien.”
“I love you too. Brian and I talked yesterday and I’m buying the house.”
“Good. I think you’ll be very happy there,” she says, her finger trailing down my chest, circling first one nipple and then the other before coming back up my neck and tracing my bottom lip.
“I’d like to change that from ‘me’ to ‘we,’ if you’re interested.”
“I am.”
“Then let me get the ball rolling and we’ll see where we are. But Rayanna?”
“Yeah?”
“I want you in my life. You are my life.”
“And you’re mine.”
That’s the last thing I remember until about two o’clock. We’ve slept through the middle of the day, but I don’t really care. We’re in each other’s arms and we’re comfortable and safe. That’s all that matters. As soon as I crack one eyelid open, I look at the clock. “Shit. There’s not going to be any dinner.” I hear her mumble something from beside me. “What?”
“I said, I suppose I should do something about that. Can you hand me my phone?” I’m a bit puzzled, but I hand it to her anyway. I see her tinkering around on the screen, touch it, and hold it to her ear. “Hello, can I make a reservation for tonight? About seven?” she asks and looks at me. I nod. “Uh-huh. Right. Pelletier. Yes. Thank you very much.” With that, she taps the screen with a flourish and drops the phone onto her stomach.
“Where are our reservations?”
“A place called Carmen’s?”
I shrug in ignorance. “No longer than I’ve lived here, I’ve never heard of it.”
“It got good reviews, so I figured why not? Italian food. Yum,” she says and scoots to the edge of the bed. “I’m getting in the shower.” Then she turns, leans back onto the mattress, and drops a kiss on my cheek. “Are you going to shower in the other bathroom or with me?”
“I’ll just come shower with you after I shave,” I tell her and pull myself up onto the side of the bed. I could sleep another four hours and never move, but I’m also getting hungry and I’ve got to go to the jewelry store.
And when I leave to go there, she’s still getting ready. I was instructed to wear a shirt and tie. Must be a fancy place. At my request, the clerk at the jewelry store puts each half of the pendant in its own box. I check mine in the car and find it’s exactly as I asked, so I’m guessing hers is too.
I unlock the door, thinking surely she’ll be ready. There’s music coming from the bedroom, so I slip down the hallway and peek through the doorway.
Rayanna’s standing in the bedroom in front of the mirrored closet door, wearing the most beautiful dress I think I’ve ever seen. When she steps far enough to the left, I can see her shoes, unobstructed by the bed, and she’s wearing low-heeled pumps in a nude color. Her hair is glossy and smooth, and she’s got on some jewelry that looks perfect with the dress. As I watch, I wonder what she’s doing.
She’s dancing. With a second look, I realize she’s not just dancing―she’s pretending to dance with someone else, and I assume it must be me. Her lips are moving and I wonder what she’s saying, so I listen closely. What I hear makes me smile. “Oh, thank you! You look handsome too, Lucien! Yes, isn’t this nice? Thank you―I’m glad I chose it too. The food was great, wasn’t it? This is so much fun.” Before I give myself away, I whip around and press myself against the hallway wall. It takes everything I have to keep tears from coursing down my face.
She’s happy. At least she looks happy. I can tell by watching that she’s excited about going to the restaurant. I never knew making someone else happy could be so gratifying, but it is―it truly is. There’s nothing that means more to me than seeing her smile, hearing her laugh, knowing she feels loved and protected. I don’t want her to know I was watching her, so I tiptoe back up the hallway, go to the front door, and open it, then push it closed loudly enough that I know she could hear it. “Rayanna?”
“Yes! I’m ready! Are you?” she sings out and steps out into the hallway.
“My, my, my! Don’t you look beautiful!” I say as though I’m seeing her for the first time.
“Thank you! You look very handsome yourself! I love that tie,” she says and gives it a little tug.
“Thank you. Want to go down and walk along the shoreline? I looked at the maps and there’s a park really close to the restaurant. Jack Block Park. Sound good?”
“Sounds great. I’ve never been down to the shoreline,” she says.
“Never?” She shakes her head. “How long have you lived here?”
“All my life.”
“And you’ve never been down to the shoreline? Or the harbor?”
“No.”
God. She was locked away all those years. “Then I think it’s high time you went.”
“Okay. I’m game. Let’s go.” Instead of going to the door, she walks back to the bedroom and I’m about to ask what she’s doing when she comes out with a lightweight sweater. “Thought I might need this.” In seconds, we’re in the car and on the road.
She loves the shoreline. I knew she would. We spend almost two hours down there, sitting and talking, walking around a bit, looking at the birds and all the plants. It’s beautiful. Not as beautiful as San Francisco, but still beautiful. Yeah, there’s at least one pervy-looking guy skulking around, but he doesn’t seem to be bothering anybody. Life in the big city.
We get to the restaurant with about ten minutes to spare. God, the place is gorgeous, and the aroma wafting through the waiting area sets my mouth to watering. Our table is over in a corner in the back, so we have plenty of privacy, and I know we look like a couple of lovestruck teenagers, feeding each other and whispering, but I don’t care―I’m enjoying this immensely. She’s beautiful, the food is delicious, the music is perfect, and we’re completely immersed in the ambience. The glow from the candlelight gives radiance to the happiness I see at this table, and I hope I have at least a small part in creating it.
Dessert is done and cleared off when I say, “Are you ready?” When she cocks her head and furrows her brow, I laugh. “The pendants?”
“Oh! Yeah! Sure! Do you have them?” I pull them from my jacket pocket and look at the tops of the boxes. I put an initial on each to signify who got it, and I hand her the one with hers marked there. “Okay. You first,” she says with a grin.
The velvet box snaps open and the little left-hand side of the pendant glitters in the candle’s flicker. “I think this says exactly how I feel about you.” On the front it reads, It takes two broken pieces, and when I hand it to her, she turns it over and starts to cry. My inscription is there, and they did it perfectly.
Because of you, I’m no longer broken.
“Oh, Lucien.” Her hand finds mine on the tabletop and squeezes it. “I suppose I should give you mine.” Reaching for her box, she snaps it op
en. The pendant’s face reads, to make a whole. I turn it over and feel my own eyes fill with tears.
Your love mended me.
“We’re quite the sappy pair, aren’t we?” I say and laugh.
“Don’t care,” she whispers. “I love you, Lucien. I know we haven’t been together long, but you … You can’t know how I feel because of you. I don’t have the words to tell you.”
“Precious, you’ve opened me up to possibilities I thought had long ago passed me by. Everything seems possible to me because of you―everything.” It’s my turn to squeeze her hands, and when I look into her eyes, I see my future, sparkling and bright. “I want all this shit with Bacchus to be behind you so we don’t have to think about him anymore, just live our lives happily and go forward.”
“Me too. And get Carly here. I need her, Lucien.”
“I know. And we’ll get her here, I promise. Here―give me your pendant and I’ll put it on you.” Standing, I step behind her, then lean over her to take it from her hand before clasping it behind her neck. Leaning around her, I let my gaze take it in, my hands on the back of her chair. “Let’s see … Beautiful!”
“Sit down! I want to put yours on you.” Standing behind me, she takes mine and does the same, working the chain down inside my collar. Before I can say anything, she pulls out on the front of my collar and drops the pendant down inside my shirt. I can feel its coolness against my skin when she whispers in my ear, “Now it’ll be close to your heart.”
As soon as she takes her seat, I give her my biggest smile. This woman has touched me in ways no woman ever has, and she’s awakened things inside me that I thought were dead. She’s a beautiful example of the perseverance and victory of the human spirit. She should be dead, or at the very least should’ve given up, but she just kept going, and I’m beyond thankful for her tenacity. I want to reward that every day with my love and devotion. “Do you remember saying to me, ‘Fall in love with me. Make me fall in love with you. I don’t think you can do it, sir.’?”
She grins. “Yeah?”
My hand reaches out and she takes it. “Okay, Rayanna. I win.”
* * *
“Lucien?”
We’re on the sofa. Fuck the movie. I mean, really, fuck the movie―she’s riding me as we sit here, and I’m really close to losing it. Not only are her tits bouncing, but that pendant is swaying out and back as she rises and falls, and it looks beautiful. “Yeah, babe.”
“Am I any good at this?”
“What, you think I shoot my load just looking at a magazine? No, babe, it takes you. That body’s a masterpiece. Mmmmm-mmm-mmmm. Yeah. I think maybe you like a hard dick just a little bit, huh?”
“Yeah. I like a hard dick―your hard dick. Stroke me, please?” As soon as my finger touches her clit, she sucks in a breath. “Oh, yeah. Just like that. Ahhhh, feels so good, sir. So fucking good.”
“Yes it does. So … damn … good.” Fingers gripping her hips, I watch her lose herself in the moment, and it takes my breath away. This is what I’ve wanted all along, a woman who was really mine, somebody who wants to make me happy, somebody I want to make happy. “Hey, slow down a little and make it last.”
“No. Oh, oh, ohhhh,” she huffs out and clamps down on me. Well, that was one no-warning orgasm right there.
“Don’t leave me hanging,” I bark when she slows to nothing, and she picks up the pace again, her fingers digging into my shoulders as she leans in. I lift my head and capture a nipple, delighted to hear her suck in a breath when I give it some teeth. Her belly is still in spasms when I feel myself readying, and in seconds, I blow. “Geez, girl, that was one hellacious fuck.”
Crumpling onto my chest, she heaves in air, and my arms wrap around her and squeeze. “We should probably finish that last module.”
I nod. “Yes. We probably should.” I almost laugh―we just agreed we needed to finish it, but neither of us have moved a muscle. “Okay. If we’re going to do it, we should do it.”
“Yeah. Okay,” she answers. Still no movement. That makes me laugh aloud. “What?”
“Come on! We need to at least sit up and do it. Go get your books and stuff.”
“Gah, sir. Okay.” She’s grumbling as she gets up from the bed and disappears into the hallway. In seconds, she’s back with a couple of workbooks, and she flips through them as she’s sitting back down. Once she’s cuddled up against me, my arm around her as we lean into the pillows at the head of the bed, she stops turning pages. “Here. We’re at this part.”
“Ah. Finding the area of a rectangle. This is easy enough.”
“Doesn’t look easy to me,” she announces.
“It will be when I show you how to do this. It’s very simple.” Reaching for her calculator, I turn it on and start punching in numbers.
This is becoming our routine. It’s Wednesday night and we’re sitting in the bed, working in a workbook. All of the GED prep classes were full―it appears they’re very popular―so I told her we’d buy the materials and I’d teach her myself. And I’ve gotten a huge surprise.
It’s been remarkably easy. She may be a little behind emotionally because of the abuse, but mentally and intellectually, she’s beyond sharp. Very smart. Everything I’m teaching her, she’s picking up at lightning speed. We talked about it in her therapy session this morning, and Ted is very happy with everything we’re doing.
Of course, I talked to him privately on the phone and she has no idea what I’m doing for her birthday. It’s the last one in her thirties and I want to make it memorable. If I can pull this off, memorable is an understatement. It’ll be spectacular.
It takes me all of two minutes to teach her how to find the area of a rectangle. I use playing cards and lay out a rectangle four cards wide and three cards high. I can tell she understands because she works the next three problems in the workbook in seconds. It’s hard to admit, but I have a college education and some of these questions are hard, especially the language arts questions where interpretation is key. And I graduated magna cum laude, so that’s saying something. I think she can pass it, but if she doesn’t, we’ll keep studying and try again.
“That was pretty easy. Did I do them right?”
“You absolutely did. Good job.” We keep working for another hour and a half. At midnight I finally say, “We need to shut this down and start again tomorrow night.”
“Okay, sir.”
“Oh, and by the way, Melina invited us to dinner at their house tomorrow night if you want to go.”
“If I want to go? Of course I want to go! Their house is soooo beautiful, Lucien. I mean, it’s like a castle or a palace or something.”
“It is very nice. Sorry I can’t afford something like that,” I say with a chuckle.
“I wouldn’t care if I had to live in a cardboard box as long as you were there with me,” she says, never looking up.
I stare at her for a few seconds and I realize she’s dead serious. “I hope it never comes to that,” I tell her. “But you mean that, don’t you?”
“I do. I positively do.” I hear the books smack as she drops them on the floor beside the bed. “Anywhere with you is better than the finest house without you.” When she leans over and feathers a little kiss onto my cheek, I feel like the richest man in the world.
Tomorrow night we give her a birthday party. It’ll probably be the biggest birthday party she’s ever had, if she’s even ever had one, and she probably hasn’t. At the end of the party, I’ll give her my gift to her. And we’ll go by to look at the house again. I want her to see it. I want her to love it.
I want her to call it home.
* * *
We pull up at Boone and Melina’s about ten minutes late. She’s fretted about it all the way there, us being late. Of course, she has no idea that it’s been planned that way. I can’t wait to see her face when she realizes what’s going on.
I ring the doorbell, but nobody comes. That’s part of the plan too. “I know they’re here. Ther
e are way too many cars in the drive.”
“Yeah. And that one right there,” she says, pointing to an adorable red MINI Cooper, “is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Whose is it?”
I just shrug. “I have no idea. I don’t know what everybody drives,” I lie. Then I reach for the doorknob, turn it, and the door pops open. “Huh. Well, the door’s unlocked,” I say as I swing it inward.
“We can’t just go traipsing into their house, Lucien! That’s impolite!”
“Well, we can’t just stand out here forever, now can we?” As we step into the massive foyer, I listen. It’s silent―totally and completely silent. “Wonder if they’re all out back at the pool?”
“I don’t know. This is kinda creepy. Maybe we should leave and call them,” she whispers, looking around the corner without moving toward it. “This doesn’t feel right.”
“Oh, I’m sure they’re just out back. Come on.” I keep talking so they’ll know I’m in front of her. “Well, there’s nobody in the kitchen. Maybe they’re in the den,” I say loudly enough that I know they can hear me.
“Lucien, this is making me really nervous.”
“Nothing to be nervous about. I mean, they have to be here somewhere, right? They invited us over.” I step into the den and it takes me about a second and a half to see a shoe sticking out from under the drapes on the far wall. “Come on.”
“But Lucien, there’s nobody here and it’s so quiet. I think it’s―”
There’s a shout of “SURPRISE!” coming from every direction as everybody bursts from their hiding places. The kids shriek especially loudly, and they’re laughing and jumping up and down.
Rayanna looks like she might faint. “Whaaaa …”
I’m laughing so hard I can barely speak. “Happy birthday, Precious!”
She just stands there for a minute, looking kind of shell-shocked. “Yeah, happy birthday, Rayanna!” Melina calls out as everybody laughs.
When she finally speaks, she half whispers, “What day is it?”
Eternally Yours: Bliss Series, Book Six Page 20