“Both,” I answered. We debated the merits of fruit, whether it should be baked into the breakfast food, used as a topping or simply on the side. We mulled over the choice of bacon or sausage, again agreeing that the only obvious choice was both. We thanked our waitress for filling our mugs with coffee without even asking.
“You look good.” He set down the menu after we ordered and took my hands in his across the table.
I smiled back. “How did you know I was here?”
“Your brother.”
I nodded. “When did you get back?”
“Day before yesterday.”
That made me smile even more. He hadn’t wasted any time to come find me. “You didn’t just want to give me a call?”
“What I have to say isn’t for the phone.” He looked into my eyes and I could tell, without him uttering another word, I was going to like what he had to say. “But first, tell me what brought you down here? Colt told me you’re a bona fide Southerner now.”
I launched into my favorite topic, filling him in on my big move and how happy I felt about it. I told him about my new job, my friends and neighbors, and how much fun I was having exploring the area.
“You look happy.” He brushed my knuckles with his thumb, gazing at my face. “You know what makes me happy?”
I held my breath and shook my head. No, I did not.
“You.” He leaned over across the table and gave me a kiss. Breathlessly, I returned it then scooted over to his side of the booth. After six months, I didn’t want to be sitting across a big old table from him. I wanted to be next to him, not an inch between us.
He looped his arm around me and continued. “I’ve spent a lot of time pushing you away.”
“Yes you have!” I couldn’t help interject.
“Let me finish,” he teased, holding up a finger to quiet me. “I told myself it was for your own good. But I’ve had a long six months to get my head screwed on right.”
I smiled. He’d told me I needed to do that so I could forget about him. I was glad it had worked out the other way around. “I’m done pushing you away. If you’ll have me, I’m here to stay.”
“Yes,” was about all I managed, my heart full and my eyes brimming over with tears.
The waitress came and delivered our meals. I was too happy to eat much, and really we just wanted to get each other alone. We boxed most of the food up and drove back to my place in my car, leaving his downtown. Even separate cars seemed like too much distance.
We barely made it through the door before falling into each other, kissing, licking, clutching. I’d missed him so hard it hurt. He had all my clothes stripped off me before we even left the kitchen, sinking onto the floor, sucking my breasts like he’d been starving for them.
“So gorgeous, Gigi,” he groaned, bringing his fingers down to my pussy.
Closing my eyes, I brought my hands up to his massive shoulders and moaned, spreading my legs. I wanted him to take me, right there in the kitchen. I knew sometimes he liked to play with me, push my limits and make me wait for what I got. But I couldn’t do that, not now, not after we’d been apart for so long.
Thank God he felt the same way. Shirt and jeans off, he covered me with his body, holding one of my thighs up with a large, rough hand.
“Gigi,” he exhaled as he brought his tip to my entrance. “I need you.”
“Yes, Dom,” I groaned, tilting my hips toward him. He entered me in one full thrust. Panting and wet, I took him all the way in, whimpering with need as I raked my fingers across his back. He fucked me hard, with long, strong strokes that drove into me, pushing me across the floor until I braced myself against the cabinets.
“Yes, like that.” I wanted it rough. I craved the feel of him claiming me, marking me, making me explode with desperate need.
“I need to feel you come,” he groaned, thrusting into me faster, harder. “Come on my cock.”
“Uh, uh!” Straining against him, I felt him pound me to my core, bending back my thigh and holding me stretched wide so I could take it all.
“Fuck!” He threw back his head and I could feel him tense, his thighs, his ass and it drove me over the edge, knowing I was about to feel his release. I screamed and came blindingly hard, my pussy squeezing his cock as he shot out his hot, thick come deep into me.
We lay together, blissful on the hard kitchen floor, until he cursed himself. “I shouldn’t be so rough with you.”
“Don’t you ever stop.” I took his face in my hands and kissed him full on the mouth. “I want you just the way you are.”
Cleaned and dressed, we did what good Southerners did, sitting out on the front porch and drinking sweet tea. Next to him on the porch swing, I just about felt like I was levitating off the ground with joy. That moment could keep right on stretching out for eternity, as far as I was concerned. But then things got even better.
He stretched his arm out around the back of the swing, folding me into him. “There’s something I should have told you a while ago, Gigi.”
“What’s that?”
“I love you.”
Those tears that kept springing to my eyes did it all over again. “I love you, too.”
He cleared his throat and kept on talking. “Well, now, the thing is, I’m thinking we should probably get married, Gigi. Especially if we want a bunch of kids.”
I couldn’t talk, what with all the tears and emotions flowing. I just flung my arms around his neck and let myself feel and enjoy. “You’ll have to plan the ceremony,” he continued. “I’m no good at all that. But I’ll take care of you, Gigi, for the rest of my life, the best I can.” He kissed my hair, and I sobbed. “Well, now I see I’ve made you cry. But you haven’t told me your answer. Will you do me the honor?”
He pulled out a black velvet box from his pocket and opened up the top. A diamond ring nestled inside, sweet and small and perfect. It didn’t matter that I had jewelry worth ten times as m
uch sitting in a vault back in New York. It instantly became my favorite thing I owned.
“Dom, yes, you know it’s yes.”
He slipped the ring on my finger. “All right, then.” He held me to him and we kissed on the porch, his fingers playing with my hair.
“You going to introduce me to your man?” Jenny came over from next door, grinning big.
“Oh,” I wiped my eyes. “This is Dominic.”
“How you doing?” He rose and shook her hand, then sat back with me.
“He just asked me to marry him.” Another tear ran down my cheek as I smiled and wiped it away.
“How about that!” Jenny clapped her hands together in joy. “John!” she called her husband over and they stood there beaming and congratulating us.
“You’re going to need to build her a planting box for her azaleas,” John counseled Dom. “I can give you some tips.”
“Sounds good to me,” Dom agreed.
Sounded good to me, too.
The night eased on, neighbors over to wish us well until finally it was just us among the crickets and fireflies. Dom led me inside and made love to me with such intensity and passion he made me feel like I was the only woman in the world, his dream come true. We lay in bed, naked, and he held me to him, kissing my lips, my hair.
“We’ve got a lot to plan,” he mused.
“I know! I’m thinking we keep it simple.” I could see a small ceremony, just immediate family, somewhere convenient for my Gram to attend.