I let my legs fall slightly to the sides and held my breath in as his tongue explored my pussy. I could feel his fingers squeezing at my thighs, and I cried out as he found my clit with his tongue. Repeatedly, over and over again, he ran his tongue in circles around my hard, sensitive nub. I could feel the heat in my stomach starting to intensify, and I was excited to feel my first non-self-induced orgasm, something I heard would blow my mind. As his tongue continued to work its magic on my clit, I waited as his hand trailed upward and he swirled his fingers through my juices. As I moaned loudly once again, I could feel the pressure as he gently slid one finger inside of me, turning it over and flicking the tip of it. The feeling was driving me absolutely wild, and I ran my hands up my body and squeezed my tits. My jaw clenched tightly as he began to push and pull his finger in and out of me over and over again.
As the buildup in my body reached its peak, I arched my back, grabbing his head with my hand and throwing my head backward. I screamed out as waves of pleasure exploded from the fire in my belly, vibrating up through my chest and down through my pussy. Warm juices flowed from my wet mound, covering his hand as he groaned. He licked at them and curled his lips into a smile. My thighs shook as my body began to relax again, and I uncurled my fingers from his hair. That was the most amazing thing I had ever felt, and I hadn’t even felt his dick yet. I looked down, my teeth chattering, as he raised up from my pussy and wiped his lips on the back of his arm. He reached down and pulled off his boxers. My eyes widened at the sheer size of his cock. He smiled and laughed at my reaction and reached over to the table by the bed, pulling out a gold-wrapped condom and tearing the top off the packaging.
I laid there reeling from my orgasm, watching as he slid the rubber over the tip of his dick and pushed it down the shaft. Slowly, he crawled toward me in the bed, pulling his body over mine and leaning down, kissing my lips gently. He opened his eyes and stared deeply into mine as he reached down and rubbed his cock through my wetness. Gently, he began to push inside of me, going slow but steady, until he was all the way in. He looked down at me and pulled his hands up, running them up my arms and interlocking his fingers with mine. I pulled my legs up to his sides, breathing deeply as he began to thrust his hips up and down, his erection flowing through me like fire.
I breathed heavily, closing my eyes and moaning at the feeling of him moving inside of me. He kissed my cheek and dragged his lips down to my neck, kissing and nibbling at my skin. I leaned my head back and let out a deep sigh, focusing on the feeling between my legs. It was better than I thought it would be, and instantly, my fears and nerves vanished.
I unhooked my hands from his and ran them up his back, barely scratching the skin with my fingernails. His body shuddered at the feeling, and a coy smile flew across his lips. He reached down and pushed his hand under my ass, lifting my hips into the air. He sat up and began to move faster inside of me, grabbing onto my thighs for leverage. I reached up and grabbed the pillow above my head, writhing beneath him in pleasure.
His hips moved quickly, and he bit his bottom lip, his body straining to prolong his release. I arched my back and moaned loudly, his body rubbing up and down mine and his dick getting harder and more swollen by the second. I looked up into his eyes and bit my lip, trying to muffle my screams of ecstasy and watching as his jaw clenched and let out a low growl. He thrust two or three more times before bracing himself and pushing in hard and deep, lowering his body over mine. He exhaled slowly, his arms and shoulders stiffening as he came hard. The feeling of his cock pulsing inside of me sent even more arousal through my body.
I clamped my hands down on his back and watched as his release moved over him like mine did to me. He groaned through the pleasure until finally, his body began to relax, each muscle releasing one at a time until he was resting on his forearms and hovering over top of me. He opened his eyes and looked down at me, kissing me softly before smiling his charming smile. Slowly, he pulled out and fell to the side, resting his head on my shoulder and kissing my cheek.
“I’ll be right back,” he whispered, kissing me again before pulling himself from the bed and disappearing into the bathroom to clean up.
I laid my head down on the pillow and stared up at the ceiling, pulling the covers up over my naked body. My first time was even more amazing than I had imagined, and I realized that all the anxiety and all the worry I had gone through was all for nothing. Blaine had been gentle, sweet, and sensual, taking me to heights I had never known before. I knew at that moment, no matter what happened between Blaine and me, I wouldn’t regret making him my first. I laid there listening to the sink water running in the bathroom, thinking about how chiseled his body really was. I knew he took care of himself, but damn, he was built. I was starting to understand what made Leena so boy crazy, though I still didn’t think I could be the girl that slept with a perfect stranger.
I looked over at the clock and realized how late it was. I wasn’t sure what the protocol was for these situations, but I figured I should get dressed and go so I didn’t overstay my welcome. I was hoping that I would be able to stay with Blaine longer, but presumptuous was not the girl I wanted to be. I pulled myself from under the sheets and found my panties and bra on the floor. I pulled my panties up and began to put my arms through the straps in my bra when Blaine came out of the bathroom, now wearing a pair of black and white striped boxer briefs. He walked over to me and ran his fingers down my arm, kissing me on the shoulder.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“I figured I wouldn’t get in the way,” I said, feeling stupid after saying it. “So, I was just grabbing my stuff to head home.”
“Don’t go,” he said, groaning and pulling me into the bed.
I laughed as we both fell into the covers, his arms tightly around me and his lips pressed firmly to the back of my neck. He pulled me up the bed like a rag doll and pulled the covers up over us, pulling me into his body once again. He lifted his head and pursed his lips next to my ear.
“I want you to stay the night with me,” he whispered. “We don’t have to work tomorrow, so we can snuggle and sleep in.”
I was surprised to hear him ask me to stay the night, as I didn’t expect him to be so sweet and caring toward me. I knew that he would be good to me and be gentle, but he was being extraordinarily sweet, and I couldn’t tell him no. The truth of the matter was, I was more than happy to stay snuggled up in bed with him, still reeling from the amazing sex we just had. Everyone said that your first time was the worst, but I didn’t know how it could get better than that. Either way, his arms felt way too good to let go of, so I snuggled into the covers and let out a deep breath.
“Of course, I’ll stay,” I whispered. “And Blaine?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you,” I said. “For being so sweet and so gentle with me. I expect that it wasn’t the best you’ve ever had, but I have to say, I can’t imagine sex getting much better than that.”
“Well, technically, since I’m the only man you’ve ever had, that makes me the best you’ve ever had.” He chuckled. “And I thought it was absolutely amazing. I just wished I could have lasted longer for you.”
“Are you kidding me?” I asked. “You were freaking amazing.”
“Just wait until you feel more comfortable, more open, and freer,” he whispered. “You will be blown away.”
“I can’t wait,” I teased with a giggle.
I could feel his body begin to relax behind me, and I pulled the pillow down, wrapping my arms around it as the heat from his body kept me warm. I laid there completely ecstatic that I had given away my virginity, and to a man that actually seemed like he really cared about me. He was smart, ambitious, sweet, and he knew exactly what to say to make me feel good about myself. I may have been speaking out of turn, but I could tell already he wasn’t going to just dump me now that he had gotten to sleep with me. I could tell that he was genuinely interested in me, wanting to spend time with me, and wanting to satisfy me in every way that he could.
As my eyes started to get heavy, I took a deep breath, calming the butterflies in my chest. Everything was so perfect in that moment, and I didn’t want anything to ruin it. I was now actually in a relationship with a man that knew me better than any other man ever had. I couldn’t wait to spend more time getting to know Blaine even more, hoping that things just continued to get better and better as time passed. With his arms tightly around my waist and the sound of his heavy breathing behind me, I started to drift off into a dreamless sleep, knowing that I was safe and protected there in his loving arms.
At that moment, I knew that I was falling hardcore for Blaine.
Chapter 13
Blaine
It had been an extremely hard week to get through, considering I sat at work all week just waiting for the clock to tick down so that I could see Reese. It was Thursday, and I had managed to get to see her every day since our hot, passionate sex. Tonight, though, I was going to relax at my place, text her a bit, and wake up early for work. She said she had a busy day planned for Friday, so as much as she wanted to see me, she had to keep going with her responsibilities. I forgot sometimes how lucky I was to own my own successful business, being able to take off whenever I wanted.
I looked down at my phone and noticed that it was nearly two in the afternoon already. Luckily, I didn’t have any meetings, but I did have a ton of paperwork to get done with before I could leave the office. Just as I pulled out a file, my secretary’s voice came over the speaker, letting me know Caleb was out front. I instructed her to let him through and stood up to shake his hand as he entered the office.
“Wow,” I said, sitting back down. “You never come here to see me. I’m glad you did, though. I haven’t seen you in a while. How are things?”
“They’re good, man, really good,” he said, smiling. “Caroline is back from her honeymoon, and they are already talking about starting a family. I guess when you get married, there’s a lot of pressure to keep moving forward.”
“Wow, I guess so,” I said, chuckling. “Nobody enjoys life anymore, though. They all just rush right into the next things, forgetting to look around them.”
“That’s a strange notion, coming from the guy who works all the time,” he said, laughing.
“Yeah, well, I think I’ve started to slow down a bit,” I said, shaking my head. “Life was just passing on by.”
“You’re not having a midlife crisis or anything are you?”
“I hope not, I’m only twenty-nine,” I said, laughing. “No, I just had to realize it so I could stop missing out on stuff.”
“Well, speaking of not missing out, why don’t we hit up the clubs this weekend?” he asked. “Check out the hotties, have some drinks, and just relax.”
“I actually already have plans,” I said, looking down at my phone.
“Oh yeah? Is it with that Reese girl?”
“Yeah,” I said, laughing. “It’s with that Reese girl. We’ve actually been spending a hell of a lot of time together, and I’m really starting to like how she makes me feel.”
“Okay, okay, I get it now,” he said. “You are slowing down in life because Reese is making you stop and smell the roses.”
“It’s something like that,” I replied.
“Well, just be careful, man,” he said, shaking his finger at me. “Don’t forget that roses have thorns.”
“I’m not sure what that comparison is supposed to mean, but I am being careful,” I said, laughing. “She has really changed the way that I look at the world, which I am pretty sure I needed after being stuck at work every day for the last decade.”
“True, but if you hadn’t been stuck at work for the last decade, you wouldn’t have built your empire by the age of twenty-nine,” he pointed out. “Now you are in a place where you can take some time for personal stuff and know that your business will not fall apart at the seams. You did something most people our age can’t do.”
“What’s that?”
“See what the long-term goal is and remember that when it’s time to decide to put your nose to the grindstone or go out and party,” he said. “You knew that parties would come, but you had a limited time to make your small company into a huge one. You did an amazing job.”
“Thanks, man,” I said. “And I think you are right, and I think that Reese came along at the perfect time. She makes me not take life so damn seriously.”
“I’m not going to lie,” he said, leaning forward. “I’m a bit shocked that you have put so much time into one girl. I mean, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I’m just not used to seeing you take on one girl and make it a long-term thing. I’m happy for you, though. I can see that she is making a really good impression on you, and I’d like to see you slow down a bit and see how us normal people live our lives.”
“You’re not really normal,” I said, grinning.
“Well, I’m not a billionaire either,” he snapped back. “You live in a world that even I can’t understand sometimes, and that has to be hard on you.”
“They always did say that the top can be a very lonely place,” I replied. “But as far as spending a lot of time with Reese, I am surprised, too. I hadn’t thought that this was where it was going to go with her, so I’m taking all of it in stride. In fact, after she blew me off, I figured it was worth a try, but I couldn’t get my hopes up. I’m really glad I took the chance on her.”
“All I can say is, don’t get too hooked, too fast,” he said. “Remember that Reese may be different, but all women are relatively the same. I just don’t want to see either one of you get hurt in all of this. Remember that when you commit to someone, it’s your job to protect them and make sure that you’re treating them with respect.”
“I know,” I sighed. “I just know it’s the right thing to do.”
“Well then, I wish you all the luck in the world, buddy,” Caleb said with a smile. “But I have to get going. I was just on your side of town and figured I would stop in on my way back to the office.”
“Thanks for coming by,” I said, standing and shaking his hand. “We will get together soon. I promise.”
“No worries, dude,” he said, turning and walking from the office.
I sat there thinking about what Caleb said to me, realizing that he was right in a way. I had been putting more into Reese than I ever had with any other girl. Reese was one of a kind, though, and I had never been with a girl that I even thought about long-term plans with. The girls I usually met were not too bright and didn’t hold a conversation very well, but Reese was different. I pulled out my phone and decided that if I was going to think about her and talk about her, I might as well give her a call and see how her day was going. I knew she was busy during the days with work, so I would keep it short and sweet. I just really wanted to hear her voice. I flipped to her contact info and pressed the call button, putting the phone up to my ear and listening to the ring.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Hey there, beautiful,” I said, smiling at the sound of her voice.
“Why hello there,” she said with a giggle. “How are you?”
“I’m fantastic,” I replied with a smile. “And you?”
“Good,” she said. “Wishing I was with you, but still good.”
“Nah, you would find this place really boring.” I laughed. “So, I just wanted to make sure that we were still on for Saturday night’s dinner and a movie back at my place.”
“Of course, we are,” she chirped. “And I’m so stoked to watch a movie with you. It’s like my favorite thing to do.”
“I don’t know,” I teased. “I’m pretty sure something else might have surpassed that now.”
I smiled at the nervous giggle that I heard on the other end of the line. She was shy about her sexuality, and that was to be expected since she just started having sex. There was a long, silent pause, and my cheeks grew warm thinking about how she tasted.
“Anyway,” I said, clearing my throat. “We’re going to watch the heck out of some superhero movies on Saturday. I’m just glad that you’re a fan. It’s like my new favorite thing about you.”
“New favorite?”
“Sure, there is something new on a regular basis, which is amazing,” I said. “You’re full of surprises at every turn.”
“I’m glad that I can be there to keep you on your toes then,” she said with a giggle. “But I have to go. Lots to do. I’ll text you later, okay?”
“Sounds good to me,” I said with a smile.
When we hung up with each other, I sat there at my desk, replaying the conversation in my mind. She was more excited to have movie night at my place than any of the expensive restaurants or adventures that we had planned together. And the fact that we were watching superhero movies set her off even more. Her giggle was contagious, and I couldn’t help but smile and laugh when she got that excited. She was the first girl that I had ever been able to impress with such a small gesture, and I loved that about her. She wasn’t high maintenance at all, and it was obvious she was not interested in my money, either.
I set the phone down on the table and leaned back in my chair, a smile moving across my face as I thought about how awkward Reese could actually be. It made me laugh, and in fact, it made me laugh out loud right there in my chair. Her weird personality and shy tendencies were extremely adorable, and were what made up the charm that followed her around. She was a normal girl, and our inability to function like everyone else in social situations was so similar. She just didn’t hide it as well as I did. I actually didn’t think I would ever find a girl that was so like me, who could understand what it was like to feel out of place in the simplest of situations yet excited in the ones that no one else around us would be excited about. I couldn’t even start to imagine asking one of the girls I had dated to come over after dinner to watch superhero movies. They would have laughed in my face and told me I was cute, but I needed to grow up. Not with Reese, though. I could actually be myself with her, and she wasn’t thrown off by my quirks.
I shook my head and looked down at my work, realizing that I had just spent twenty minutes of my day laughing at how adorable someone’s awkwardness was and then pining over her. What in the world was happening to me? I couldn’t focus to save my life. I thought about this girl more than my own business, and everything that was important before suddenly wasn’t so important anymore. I had turned into the guy that I hated, obsessed with the little things, and finding a woman the most important part of his day. Now that I was in that position, though, it didn’t seem so hard to understand anymore.
I took a deep breath and scooted my chair forward, pulling out the files I needed to work on and forcing myself to focus. It was fine that I had all of a sudden become so smitten with Reese, but I still needed to make sure that I was functioning. No more outbursts from me, no sir. I put the pen to the paper and started writing, a smirk inching over my face and a chuckle rising in my throat. It was useless to try and suppress it. This girl had changed my world.
Chapter 14
Reese
It was Friday again, and I woke up feeling refreshed, excited, and ready to get to work so I could have my weekend worry free. I had spent the evening texting with Blaine, laughing about our mutual love for comic book heroes but arguing desperately about which of the new movies was the best. We had come up with categories to put them all in, and I had told him we might have to break up when he said Deadpool was not funny at all. It was weird having someone like him to laugh and argue with on a playful level. Most men, especially extremely rich and important ones like Blaine, had no time for what my father called, “childish antics.” I personally didn’t care if they were childish. They were things that I liked, and I had finally found a man that shared in my passions.
I took a shower and brushed my teeth, pulling my hair up into a messy bun on top of my head and then securing the pieces with bobby pins. I put on a little bit of makeup so that I felt alive and headed out to the kitchen where the coffee was brewing. I didn’t have time that morning to linger since I had fallen into a daydream in the shower thinking about Blaine and wasted my morning breakfast time. No big deal. I just grabbed a granola bar, poured a to-go coffee, and headed out the door with my bag across my chest.
I was really glad that I didn’t put our office in the middle of downtown Philly, though the business would have probably been better. I hated driving in city traffic, but where we were located, I could skirt the city and make it to work within ten minutes. When I got there, to my surprise, Leena’s car was already parked out front. She was never there before me. I grabbed my bag and made my way in through the side door, smiling as a floppy-eared puppy came running down the hallway to greet me.
“Well, hello there,” I said, bending down and picking him up. “I see you Macgyvered your way out of the cage again, silly little dude.”
“There he is,” Leena said, laughing and walking over to take the puppy. “I have been chasing him around since I got here.”
“You’re early,” I said, looking over at her.
“Yeah, I didn’t sleep much, so I decided to just get up and come into work,” she explained.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” she chirped. “I was with this guy, Sonny, who has rocked the hell out of my world for a week straight now.”
“A week?” I asked, impressed. “That has to be some kind of record for you.”
“I know, right?” she said with blushing cheeks. “We just have so much fun together. I feel like I can be myself and he doesn’t judge me. I really hope I can keep this one around.”
“I do too, because the last time I saw you blush like that, you were tripping down the main staircase of the high school our freshman year,” I said, laughing.
“Oh God,” she said, rolling her eyes. “That was terrible. But yeah, I really like this guy. How about you? How are you and Blaine?”
“Um, beyond good,” I gushed. “Like he calls or texts every single day, we see each other all the time, and I can actually be myself around him. I mean, we talked for three hours last night about comic books. He is just as awkward and weird as me. He just does a really good job hiding it because he has lived in the corporate world for so long.”
“Do you think that awkwardness would be just as charming if you had never slept with him?”
“What?” I asked, laughing. “I mean, of course it would be. That’s a weird question.”
“No, it’s not, not really,” she said. “He is your first, and every girl gets attached to their first. It’s like some weird biological thing that happens. The man you lose your virginity to becomes like almost an obsession. I still think about my first to this day.”
“I mean, I can understand why,” I said. “You give up something very private to you. But I know that isn’t the reason I am so smitten with Blaine. He is just like me, only way richer and way better looking. His brain works a different way than most people’s, and even though I can’t say I fully understand it myself, I have never been able to relate to someone like this before.”
“Okay,” Leena said. “I just wanted to make sure that wasn’t the only reason. I don’t want you to be disappointed because we tend to build these men up in our minds, and when they don’t meet our expectations, it almost destroys us.”
“I understand,” I said with a sigh. “Just know that I don’t have any real expectations for him. Not yet, at least. Right now, we are just happy to be together and to find time in our busy schedules to do things we like.”
“Like Superhero movie marathons,” Leena said, giggling. “Well, I’m glad it’s him doing it and not me getting dragged into it all. Though I did like the Iron Man movies. They were pretty cool.”
“You disappoint me with your mainstream Superhero knowledge,” I said, laughing and shaking my head. “Everyone liked Iron Man.”
“All right, nerd.” Leena laughed. “I’m going to let all the dogs into the yard so I can clean their pens.
“Sounds good,” I said, looking down at the mounds of paperwork still sitting on the desk.
I didn’t know how to fully explain the dynamic that Blaine and I were starting to develop. Sure, my feelings grew stronger for him when we had sex, but shouldn’t they? Wasn’t it natural for two people to feel closer and more connected when they added physical intimacy to their relationship? I knew my feelings weren’t based around him being my first. They were based around the fact that he was extremely good to me. He had gone out of his way to find me, treated me like a princess on all of our dates, waited patiently for me until I was ready for sex, and then had made sure to be gentle and caring when I lost my virginity.
Sure, at first my growing feelings were based on the chemistry between us, but that was how almost every relationship started out. Most people didn’t start dating someone that they couldn’t hold a conversation with or that they weren’t attracted to in some way or another. It was initial chemistry, that spark that drew you to one another, that started any kind of connection. What you did with that chemistry right off the bat was what determined whether you were going to fuel that chemistry for one night and then let it burn out, or slowly add to the flames of passion until the spark between you was a roaring fire that just kind of took care of itself. With Blaine, it was a fire, and a very familiar one at that.
I pushed the thoughts to the side, knowing I needed to focus on this paperwork if I was going to be able to have my weekend free to hang out with Blaine. I sat down and took a deep breath, my mind wandering back and forth between him and the task at hand. My phone buzzed, and I looked down, finding a text from Blaine. He had sent a picture of Superman through to my phone, and I laughed, shaking my head. We had a whole conversation about who was better, Superman or Batman. He took Superman’s side while I took Batman’s. I found a picture of Batman and sent it back to him, reminding him of Superman’s fate later in the series. He sent me a sad face, and it made me laugh out loud.
After that, I got to work, having even more motivation at that point to get through all the work of the day. It was really close to busy season, and I knew that if I didn’t stay on top of things, I was going to end up working seven days a week like last year. Last year, that didn’t bother me so much, but this year, I had other things, or should I say other people, to spend my time on. I didn’t want to be held up in the office all holiday season, missing out on some really cool things Blaine and I could do together. Things I hadn’t had anyone to do with me, pretty much ever in my life.
Around noon, Leena walked through the office and to the front door, taking food from whatever takeout delivery guy she called. She whistled at me and waved the bag in the air, smiling. I was starving, so I put down my paperwork, actually pretty impressed at how much I had gotten done, and joined her in the lobby of the place to eat. It was apparently Chinese Friday, one of the many days we labeled since we were obsessed with food. I sat back in the chair with my plate of rice and Moo Goo Gai Pan and filled my belly, my thoughts drifting back to Blaine.
“I want to say something,” I said. “I want to tell you that I do have really strong feelings for this guy, and they did increase when we slept together. But when I think about why I have these feelings, a million things run through my mind.”
“Good,” Leena said, leaning forward. “I wasn’t trying to downplay your feelings for him. I just wanted to make sure that they weren’t misplaced. I had misplaced feelings once, and it was awful, but after standing back and looking at everything, I realized that I never really cared for the guy in the first place. I just got caught up in the glitz and glamour of it all.”
“I understand,” I said, shaking my head. “But I can assure you, there isn’t a starry-eyed, love-sick girl here. Just someone who is excited to have found a person that can be a friend, lover, and partner. Not just someone I have fun with but know they are going to break my heart.”
“Good,” she said, smiling. “Then it’s settled, and I’m happy for you.”
“Thank you,” I said, laughing.
As I sat there eating my lunch, I turned my attention to the trees blowing wildly out the window. Blaine was an amazing man who had opened himself up to me in a way that no one else had ever done. He showed me his vulnerability, and I showed him mine. Sure, it was really early in the relationship, and we were focused on fun and excitement together, but at the same time, he was really careful with me. How could I not care for a guy like him? With so much in common and the way we were together, I found it almost impossible to think that I couldn’t actually care for him.
I had seen those girls before, though, the ones that latched themselves onto a man because he made them feel special, or he did things for them that they couldn’t do for themselves. I wasn’t that girl, nor did I want to become that girl at all. I truly cared about Blaine, and I was excited to be starting this relationship with him. It was a life I had wanted for a long time, but I’d refused to settle until I found the right guy. I was definitely starting to think that Blaine was the right guy.
Either way, I was invested in whatever this was, and I wasn’t going to let my head get in the way this time. Blaine and I were a good match, and I couldn’t wait to see him on Saturday night.
Chapter 15
Blaine
After our week-long talks about comic books, superheroes, and everything nerdy that I thought I would never find a girl that was interested in like me, I decided to make dinner that Saturday extra special. Reese and I had been planning and talking about this date all week, and I was pretty sure I was just as excited about it as she was. I changed our reservations to this cool little place on the East side of Philly that was decked out in comic book memorabilia. Sure, it was kind of a touristy spot, but it was awesome and fit in with the theme of our date night.
I got ready, making sure to let Reese know she didn’t need to dress up for dinner, and headed out in a car to pick her up. When my driver pulled up to her place, she was walking out of the door of her apartment, excitement on her face. The driver opened my door and she slid in, our lips immediately pressing together. She was absolutely adorable in her jeans, Vans, and sweater with her hair pulled back in a ponytail. I hadn’t seen her like that before, and I was pretty sure I liked her more like that than I did when she was all dolled up.
“So, are you as stoked as I am for this date?” she asked.
“I pretty much stayed up all night reading my comic books and brushing up on my facts,” I said, nodding my head. “I am super excited.”
When we pulled up outside of the restaurant, Reese’s face lit up, excitement running through her eyes. She grabbed my arm and squealed, making me cringe and laugh at the same time. I immediately knew I had made the right choice.
“I’ve always wanted to come here,” she said in awe as we walked through the door.
The first hour of dinner was spent pointing out all the awesome memorabilia strewn across the walls. It was like a Hard Rock Café, but for the nerds, with autographed pictures of Stan Lee, movie set pieces from Star Wars, and collector’s editions of several big series comic books, all encased around the room. On the big projection screen in the background they had the Justice League movies playing, and our salt and pepper shakers were appropriately created to look like Superman and Batman.
“See, even in the spice world, Batman is spicy and dark,” I said, laughing.
“Yeah, but Superman will give you high blood pressure and heart problems,” she said, shaking him upside down over her fries. “So, we have plenty of time to debate comic books tonight. Tell me something about yourself that I don’t know.”
“Uh oh,” I said. “Is it secret time?”
“That it is,” she said, eating a fry.
“All right,” I said, taking a deep breath. “When I was a kid, about seven years old, I was outside playing with some friends. We decided to go walk to my buddy’s house to eat lunch. When we were walking, there was a stray dog that was running up and down the street. I had never actually been around a dog since my mom was allergic. I started whistling at it, thinking I could pet it or something. I don’t really know what I was thinking. Well, it started running toward me, and by the time I realized that it wasn’t excited to see me, it had pounced on me and knocked me to the ground. I wrestled with it for several minutes, and then my buddy’s mom came out and managed to get it off of me and ran it off down the street.”
“Oh, my God,” she said, covering her mouth. “Were you okay?”
“They rushed me to the hospital,” I replied. “I got a bunch stitches on my forearm and my right calf, but luckily, the dog had kept its mouth away from my face. If she hadn’t come out though, I’d probably have died. I had to get that crazy rabies shot in my stomach, was on antibiotics forever, and it really messed me up in the head.”
“I’m so sorry,” she replied. “That’s terrible.”
“Ever since then, I can’t even imagine spending time with a dog, much less ever owning one,” I said, looking down at the check and pulling out cash for the bill. “And that is my tragic little story. You ready to go?”
“Blaine, that’s terrible,” she said with a strange look on her face. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, well, you live and you learn, I guess,” I said, shrugging my shoulders and standing. “Now, let’s get back and get our movie on. I have snack food galore and a ton of wine waiting for us.”
She stared down at her plate for a minute, hesitating, but she shook her head and smiled, reaching up and taking my hand. I felt like she was holding something back, but I let it go, figuring she would tell me when she was ready. People always reacted weird to that story, which was why I only ever told it if I had to. Now that I was feeling pretty strongly about this woman, I felt she needed to know, just in case the subject of pets ever came up.
When we got back to the house, I immediately pulled out all the food I had bought and popped open a bottle of wine. Reese grabbed the bookbag she had brought and unzipped it, pulling a large Hulk stuffed animal out of it and smiling at me. I laughed and poured a third glass of wine, just to keep the Hulk from getting angry.
We sat down in front of the television and started the movies. Normally if we watched a movie, it was a quiet affair where we snuggled up together, covered in a blanket, and enjoyed being that close. This, however, was an all-out party. We laughed, we yelled at the different characters, and we playfully argued back and forth about their roles in upcoming movies. By the end of the first movie, we had gone through a bottle and a half of wine.
I brought out some beers for the beginning of the second movie, and by mid-movie, the two of us were on our feet, drunk as hell, acting out the scenes as they went. I hadn’t had that much fun with someone in a really long time. In fact, it probably hadn’t been since I was a kid playing with my friends. Reese was definitely one of the most interesting women I had ever met, and I felt free and open to be whoever I wanted to be when I was around her. I didn’t have to put on a show like I did in corporate America, and I realized as I laughed loudly at Reese leaping through the air, that I had pretended to be this stuffed shirt, rich guy to everyone around me for so long, I had lost track of who I really was on the inside. It was the exact reason I’d thought about starting my own tech company in the first place.
Still, I knew that to continue to be successful, I couldn’t be who I wanted to be around everyone else, but there in my penthouse living room, I was free to be me around Reese. I had been looking for a girl like her for so long, and I couldn’t believe that she actually existed, much less the fact that I had found her. Everything in my life was starting to shift, but instead of fearing it, I was embracing it wholeheartedly. I couldn’t imagine there was anything about this girl that I wouldn’t find loveable or endearing, and as far as I knew, she was pretty much like me, minus the billion-dollar corporation on her back.
We both fell back on the couch, our stomachs aching from the laughter. She leaned her head back against the couch and smiled, turning it toward me and looking me in the eyes. I leaned my head next to hers and gingerly kissed her on the cheek.
“I’m having a really good time,” I said with a smile. “Thank you for letting me be who I really am.”
“Thank you for not kicking me out when I started to dance along to the music during the Avengers movie,” she joked.
“I considered it,” I replied.
“You did?” She feigned shock. “But then who would you have to take back to your room and ravage?”
“I was going to keep the Hulk doll,” I replied, wincing as she slapped my arm and laughed loudly.
“Speaking of taking me back to your room, I think I’m done watching movies now,” she said, her eyes darkening.
“Oh yeah?”
“Mmm,” she said, swallowing a gulp of beer and standing up. “I need a superhero to fly me back there, though. I’m kind of wobbly.”
“I don’t know,” I said, watching her climb the steps out of the recessed living room. “ I’ve never been very good at being anyone’s superhero.”
“Really?” she asked. “I always pictured you as a young Clark Kent.” She turned toward me and put her hands on her hips. “If you’re not a superhero, then what are you?”
I clicked off the television and put the remote down on the table. Laughing to myself, I turned toward her and smiled. She tilted her head to the side and looked at me, waiting for an answer.
“Hulk smash!” I yelled, running up the stairs and scooping her into my arms.
She screamed and laughed as my legs kept going, running us down the hall and into the bedroom where I kicked the door closed behind me and tossed her on the bed. She giggled loudly as she bounced up and down on the mattress, her laughter slowing as she bit her bottom lip and pulled herself up onto her knees. I could tell the alcohol had slowed her inhibitions, but it had done so for me as well.
I pulled off my shoes and socks and turned to her, smiling and watching intently as she reached down and pulled her t-shirt over her head. She moved her fingers seductively over her breasts and down her stomach, unbuttoning her jeans and leaning back to slip them off her body. My eyes moved down her breasts, across her soft skin, and down to her panties where I cracked a smile and tried not to laugh. She put her hands on her hips and turned her body back and forth, proudly displaying the Batman panties that she had worn for the occasion.
I shook my head and pulled my shirt off, unbuckling my belt and flinging my pants across the room. She giggled loudly as I raced toward the bed, wrapping my arms around her and taking her down into the soft covers below. Instantly, the playfulness began to dissipate as I ran my lips down her neck, and my hand slid up her thigh, cupping her warm mound and squeezing. She moaned loudly, causing my cock to twitch in my boxers, and the heat in my stomach started to collect. She lifted her head and pressed her lips against mine, wrapping her arms around me and pulling me over on top of her.
My hands ran up her sides as our tongues connected, tasting the alcohol on each other’s lips. Her skin was so warm and so soft, and all I wanted to do was taste her and feel her body writhing in my hands. She spread her legs apart, and I moved to the side, looking her deep in the eyes as I pushed her panties over and dragged my fingers through her wetness. She arched her back and gasped, as if the warmth of my hands ignited that fire in her belly.
This woman was going to take me down. I could just feel it. Before that, though, I was going to make sure she had the best sex of her life.
Chapter 16
Reese
All the laughter and joking from the night had stopped, and in its place was pure, raw passion. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, focusing on the feeling of his big, soft fingers pushing through my juices and gently massaging my clit. Feelings of pleasure pulsed from my pussy and up through to my stomach where my orgasm was simmering quietly, waiting for its chance to begin to boil. Slowly, Blaine leaned his head down and kissed my lips passionately as he slid two fingers inside of me and began to move them in rhythm. In and out, he pulled and pushed, wiggling the tips of his fingers as he pressed deep inside of me. He scooted up farther and rose to his knees at my side, placing his other hand on my clit and massaging it.
I screamed out, feeling the rush of pleasure move through my bones. He pulled his fingers out of me and pulled my panties down and off my body, tossing them to the side. Immediately, he went back to work, finger-fucking me softly and deeply while hardening my clit with his hands. I reached my arm up and grabbed his thigh before softly running my fingers up to his hard cock, trapped inside of his boxer briefs. I pulled my hand through his arms and reached down, sliding it inside of his boxers and grabbing firmly to his shaft. He growled and began to finger me harder, the passion from my grip pushing him.
He lifted up slightly as I pulled at his boxers, yanking them down around his ankles. His cock sprung out, slapping against his belly, and I licked my lips, reaching for it with my free hand. I could barely concentrate with the feeling of his fingers inside me, but I looked up at him as I pulled at his hips. He smiled coyly as he followed my guidance, moving his body so that his head was inches from my pussy and his cock hovered in front of my lips.
He buried his head between my legs. I reached up and grabbed his shaft, aiming it down and pulling my lips around the head. I could feel the vibrations of his groans on my clit as I bobbed my head upward, sliding his big dick deep into my throat. I could feel his shaft instantly get harder, and I pulled against it as he began to finger me again, this time vigorously.
As I sucked his cock, the heat inside me reached a boiling point, and I arched my back, pushing my head deep against his body and taking almost all of his erection into my throat. I screamed out, tightening my throat around his shaft and then falling back down on the bed, feeling my orgasm explode inside of me. I reached up and gripped his dick tightly, moving my hand up and down as my body stiffened and my back arched, letting the waves of pleasure roll over me. He groaned loudly as my juices erupted and my grip on his cock got stronger.
As I relaxed back into position, my legs twitching, he sat up and turned his body around, pulling me forward and unclasping my bra. I threw it to the floor and grabbed onto my own breasts as he reached over and pulled a condom from the bedside table and slid it over his cock. He picked up my hips and scooted forward, guiding his dick through my juices and then thrusting hard inside of me. I groaned and lifted my hips up farther, wanting to feel all of him inside of me.
“Harder,” I moaned, the alcohol allowing me to let loose to the fantasies inside of my head.
He grabbed onto my hips tightly and began to pound inside of me over and over again. His jaw clenched tightly as he rammed into me, bringing me pleasure I had never known before. He took in a deep breath and dropped my hips, leaning forward and pushing deep, rolling his hips against me and listening to me moan and whimper below him. My hands flew up to his shoulders and gripped down as I pulled my legs up and wrapped them around him, feeling the smoothness of his skin rub up and down me.
I cried out as his hips dipped low again, rubbing my clit over and over until I could no longer hold back. My body stiffened once again, and I dug my hands into his shoulders as I erupted in orgasm, feeling my juices explode around his bulging cock. The vibrations of my pussy against his shaft threw him into overdrive, and I watched as he bore down, pushing as deep inside of me as he could and growling low as he came hard inside of me.
Our bodies twitched and pulsated in unison, our orgasms matching one another and sending us both reeling. My thighs shook at his sides, but I couldn’t move for several moments, until the weight of my pleasure had begun to subside.
Blaine and I both exhaled heavily as our muscles began to relax and tremble in our bodies. He fell to the side and laid there, his mouth just inches from my neck. I moaned as I tried to catch my breath, my body completely relaxed in his down comforter. I breathed heavily and smiled, laughing to myself as I shook my head back and forth.
“Wow,” I whispered. “That was intense.”
“Mmm,” he growled, pulling me closer to him and turning me on my side.
I latched onto his arms tightly and laid there, staring over at the wall beside the bed and regrouping myself from the intensity that just took over both of our bodies. As my heart began to slow, he stood up and walked to the bathroom, winking at me as he passed. A shot of electricity bolted through my chest, and I blushed, pulling the blanket up around me.
Everything about our sex was completely amazing, and I didn’t want it to end. If I had my way, we’d do that over and over again, all night long. I knew, however, that between the alcohol and the fucking, Blaine would be asleep as soon as he got back into the bed. I doubted I would last much longer. I could already feel the exhaustion creeping over me.
My feelings for Blaine were growing faster and heavier every time I saw him or even talked to him on the phone. The craziness of this relationship was a bit overwhelming, but in a good way. In a way that kept me up nights, wishing he was by my side. A way that made me want to make him smile, to please him, and to be tangled in his body whenever I had the chance. I loved the way his lips felt against mine and the way his hands knew just where to touch me. He read my body like a book, and that, in itself, was arousing. Just watching him run his eyes over my body every time I saw him set a fire between my legs and in my chest. His sweet caresses and his kind words, whispered gently in my ear, made my heart flutter.
I knew that I was falling for him hard.
Maybe that was exactly what I needed, a strong man with a kind heart to sweep me off my feet. The only thing that had me worried was the story that he’d told during dinner. He had been through something incredibly scary, and I didn’t blame him at all for not wanting to be around any dog. I knew that this was definitely going to cause an issue between us. I had never told him what kind of business I owned, and he had never asked. It hadn’t even been a thought in my mind until he told me the story about him as a child. Now, I was stuck in a position where I was holding a secret that may just break the bond that we had already built. I felt really uncomfortable with this secret, like I was lying to him in some way. Animals were my life, though, and I wasn’t sure how a relationship would work with someone who hated them.
I listened as he continued to clean up in the bathroom, my spirit lowering. Suddenly, I felt completely uncomfortable, and everything in me wanted to leave. I couldn’t just leave, though. Not to mention the fact that I was still pretty drunk and couldn’t drive a car. It didn’t make me care about him any less. It just made me uncomfortable that I felt like I was lying to him, and I was afraid that when I told him the truth, especially now, it was going to ruin everything. This situation had gone from perfect to really complicated, really fast. Damn it, I should have known nothing was meant to be this good for this long.
I looked up as he came out of the bathroom and smiled at me, leaning over and kissing me on the forehead. I turned over and sat up in the bed, leaning my back against the headboard. Now was not the time to tell him, especially since my brain was feeling really fuzzy from the wine and the sex. He walked around the bed, looking at me suspiciously before jumping in and scooting beside me.
“You okay?”
“Yeah,” I said, forcing a smile. “Just a bit drunk, that’s all.”
“I can get you some water if you want some,” he said, rubbing the top of my head.
“No, I’m okay,” I replied. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” he said happily.
“Have you ever dated a girl with a dog?”
“Oh, no,” he said, chuckling. “Why? Do you have a dog at your place?”
“At my place?” I shook my head. “No, I don’t have a dog at my place. I was just curious.”
In reality, I wasn’t lying. I didn’t have my own dog at my apartment. However, what I did have was a business centered around kenneling dogs, cats, and many other furry friends. I had a sanctuary where I went, and until I met him, they were my sounding board and the creatures that made me feel better anytime I was having a hard time.
“So, tomorrow’s Sunday,” he said. “You want to have a lazy Sunday?”
“Oh,” I said, feeling nervous. “I wish I could, but I have a whole lot of things I’ve been neglecting in my personal life. I think I’m going to take a ‘me’ day.”
“Does a ‘me’ day mean I can’t call?”
“No,” I said with a nervous laugh. “You can call.”
“Good,” he said, satisfied with my answer. “For now, how about we switch on the television and see what’s on?”
“Perfect,” I said, feeling a bit better that I could have some time to clear my head and think about this problem from a sober point of view.
For that moment though, I snuggled up to Blaine and rested my head on his shoulder as he stopped the television on Demolition Man and sat excitedly watching. He was everything I wanted in a partner, but the fact that he hated animals was a huge issue for me. At the same time, I could see how the fact that I loved animals, and they were my life, would be a seriously huge issue for him. If it was just the fact that I was fond of dogs, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but I owned a business where I made dogs, and other cuddly creatures, my life’s work. I didn’t want to tell him. I didn’t want to think it was possible that something like this could have such a massive impact on our relationship.
I took a deep breath and snuggled down in the bed, deciding to put it out of my mind for that night and enjoy lying next to him in bed. I knew that there was a chance that this would be the last time I got to do this, and I wanted to remember exactly how amazing it really was.
Chapter 17
Blaine
The sun was shining, it was an exceptionally gorgeous day outside, and I was shocked that I woke up without any hangover at all. For someone who helped down two bottles of wine and about half a case of beer, I assumed that I would feel like roadkill that morning. I walked around the house, whistling, and cleaning up from the night before. Reese was already gone, having left early that morning, and in a rather big hurry. She didn’t offer any explanation for the fact that she rushed out without even really saying goodbye, but I didn’t take it personally. I figured that she either had plans or it was something to do with her job.
I stopped what I was doing and looked up, trying to remember what she actually did for a living. I knew she told me that she owned her own business, something she had started right after high school with her best friend, but I didn’t think she actually ever told me what kind of business it was. Either way, no matter what business a person owned, there were always unexpected things that occurred that forced the owner to rush off to take care of them. I shrugged my shoulders and continued cleaning up.
It was going to be a long day if I didn’t keep myself busy, and since I rarely had time to really get in a good workout anymore, I figured that would be the first item of business on my agenda for the day. I loaded the dishwasher and threw on some tennis shoes, making my way to my home gym where I jumped on the treadmill and went to town, blasting the music through the house. Afterward, I headed over to the weight bench, realizing that I was going to need to start working out a little bit more. My arms were pretty weak these days. I had never been obsessed. I was never a gym rat, but I liked to stay in shape. It made my life easier.
After the gym, I jumped into the shower and washed away the remnants of the night before, and all the sweat from my workout. The smell of my body wash filled the bathroom, waking me up further and adding to my happy-go-lucky mood. When I was done, fully dressed, and feeling clean, I headed out to the kitchen to make a smoothie and oatmeal for breakfast. I sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen and scrolled through my phone, looking at the different sensational headlines on the news. I closed out the news app and sent Reese a message, letting her know that I was thinking about her and seeing if she was having a good day.
I continued through the day, deciding to catch up on some sports for a bit and just relax. I knew I had a ton of stuff I could catch up on with work, but I wasn’t quite ready to get to that yet. Staring at the television for a few hours definitely chilled out my mind, and before I knew it, it was lunchtime. I flipped off the TV and stood up, stretching high into the air and looking out at the Philly skyline. Reese crossed my mind, and I dug into my pocket and pulled out my phone, realizing she never answered me back from earlier. I shrugged my shoulders and sent her another text before walking into my home office and sitting down behind the computer.
I pulled up my emails, answered back several I hadn’t gotten to the week before, and started to catch up on some ordering I needed to make sure was completed. We had a new project getting underway soon, and some of the parts we used were on back order. It made me rethink the whole idea of building my own manufacturing plants instead of working through an outside source. I went to type a note to myself to look into it but was distracted as the low battery on the phone lit up the screen. There was still no answer back from Reese. I tried to shake the thought and continue on, but I was now completely distracted by that fact. I picked up my phone and looked at the messages I had sent her, making sure I hadn’t said anything offensive. They were both sweet and caring, and they were both marked as sent. I took in a deep breath and set my phone back on the table, shaking my head.
I needed to focus on work, and I needed to get through the day without freaking out because Reese hadn’t answered me yet. For all I knew, she went home and crashed out, being hungover from all the alcohol she drank. Still, there was something about it that just wasn’t sitting right with me. I could feel a lump in my chest, and my intuition was telling me it was more than just a hangover or unexpected nap time. I tried to put it out of my mind several times, but finally, I just stopped working, sighing deeply and realizing I wasn’t going to feel better until I heard back from her. I picked up the phone and scrolled to her contact info, pressing the call button and holding it to my ear. It rang and rang in my ear, but shortly thereafter, it went to voicemail.
“Hey, Reese,” I said, realizing I had no real plan if she didn’t answer. “It’s Blaine, and I was just calling to check in because I hadn’t heard back from you. Hope you are having a fabulous ‘me’ day. Call me back when you get this, or just shoot me a text so I know you’re okay.”
I pressed the end button and nodded my head, laying it back on the desk next to me. As soon as my fingers were poised over my keyboard, my phone started to ring. I jumped in excitement and grabbed it, fumbling it in my hands and almost dropping it on the floor. When it was solid in my grasp, I turned it around and looked down at the name on the screen. My happy face quickly faded away. It wasn’t Reese at all. It was Caleb. I tried not to be annoyed by it, but damnit, why wasn’t she calling me?
“Hello,” I said dismally.
“Well, you sound like a bag of sunshine,” Caleb said. “What’s wrong with you, dickhead?”
“Nothing,” I sighed.
“Bullshit,” Caleb replied. “Spill it.”
“I thought you were going to be Reese,” I said. “She hasn’t texted me back or returned my call today.”
“Uh oh,” Caleb said. “Did something happen last night?”
“No, we had a blast together last night,” I said. “Then, after we had amazing, mind-blowing sex, she got a little distant, but I figured it was because she was drunk. She left in a hurry this morning, and I haven’t talked to her since.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Caleb said. “She probably had a mad hangover and raced out to go home and sleep. She’s probably still passed out and didn’t even see that you called. Either way, buddy, you need to relax.”
“I’m having a hard time doing anything,” I replied. “I can’t concentrate on work. I’m worried I did something and don’t realize it, and I feel like a fool for opening up to her.”
“That’s what you do in relationships,” Caleb said. “You take a chance and open up. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. That’s how it goes.”
“I know, I’m just freaking out,” I said, letting out a deep breath.
“Well, do this,” he said. “Finish your work, get dressed, and meet me at Dressler’s at seven for dinner and drinks. We can talk about it there. Besides, the last thing you need to start doing is being pathetic and sitting around your house crying into your beer and talking to your AI.”
“I don’t talk to my AI,” I said defensively.
“Don’t act like it hasn’t crossed your mind in the past,” he said, chuckling. “Doesn’t matter. What do you think? Dinner and drinks? Or am I going to have to come drag you out?”
“I was supposed to talk to Reese tonight, but since I can’t get ahold of her, then sure,” I said miserably. “I’ll meet you there at seven, but I’m not there to pick up chicks or get wasted.”
“That’s fine,” he said. “I just want to have dinner and some whiskey with my best friend, who obviously needs me to save him from himself. Pull it together, bro. This is not the end of the world. God, you sound like a girl stressing over a guy.”
“Whatever,” I said. “I’ll see you at seven.”
I took a deep breath and continued with my orders, actually getting the work I needed to get finished, accomplished. I probably looked down at my phone a hundred times, but I got it done. I got up from the desk and looked at the time, realizing it was already close to six. I got dressed in a nice suit, did my hair, and headed out to Dressler’s to meet Caleb. When I got there, he was already seated, sipping a glass of whiskey and waiting for me. I was about ten minutes late, but then again, I was always late, so it was nothing new.
“Hey, buddy,” Caleb said as I took a seat. “You aren’t as late as usual. You’re getting better at this.”
“Thanks,” I said quietly.
“Still haven’t heard from Reese?”
“No,” I huffed. “I just don’t get it. It isn’t like her at all. She usually texts me back within an hour at the most, and that is usually when she’s at work. All the other times, it only takes a few minutes. She hasn’t even attempted to contact me in any way.”
“So, tell me about you guys,” Caleb said. “I mean, you’ve been dating now for a while, and you never talk to me about her.”
“She’s great,” I said, smiling. “We have the same interests, she likes comic books, she is easy to talk to, she is funny, and we laugh constantly.”
“And the sex?”
“Freaking mind-blowing, dude,” I said. “Like seriously, some of the best I’ve ever had. Maybe it’s just because it’s her, but I can’t seem to keep my hands off her. She responds to me so well, and we can actually have intellectual conversations. It’s crazy.”
“It sounds great,” Caleb said, smiling at the waitress as she brought us two drinks. “The thing is, it’s got you caught up in knots. She is obviously, at this point, not communicating with you on purpose. Girls know what that kind of shit does to a person. I just don’t understand how you got so wrapped up with this chick so fast. I mean, man, I’ve never heard you freak out over anything like this, even when the parts for projects are showing up late. It’s like she has you wrapped around her finger, and now she’s fucking with you.”
“No, seriously,” I said, leaning forward. “I can promise you she isn’t that kind of girl. Something happened that I obviously missed, and now, she’s spooked.”
I sat back and listened as Caleb continued to talk, trying to make me feel better about the situation. The reality was, though, nothing he could say would make me feel better. I needed to talk to her, to fix whatever it was that was going on. I realized fast that my feelings for her were far beyond lust, and now, I was worried that I had lost her forever.
Chapter 18
A Week Later (Saturday)
Reese
It had been a week since I last talked to Blaine, but I felt like I was in a situation that had no good outcome. Sulking had become my new thing, and I was desperate for some relief, so I woke up and headed over to the office for a bit to play with the dogs and try to clear my mind. They always had a way of making me feel better, even with just a silly wag of their tail. I greeted Lindsey, one of the weekend staff, as I entered and headed back to the pens. As I reached for the door handle, my phone started to buzz in my pocket. Relieved to see Leena’s name and not Blaine’s for once, I answered.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“I came down to the shop to clear my head,” I said with a sigh.
“This Blaine thing still got you twisted up?”
“Yeah, I mean, I just don’t know what to do,” I said. “He’s still calling and texting every day, and I haven’t said a word back yet.”
“Well, I mean, you freaked out, and for good reason,” Leena said. “I know he had a really traumatic experience and you don’t know how to tell him that you own this shop, but you’re going to have to either let him go or make a decision to be honest with him. Think about how he’s feeling right now, not being able to get ahold of you.”
“I know,” I sighed. “I just don’t know what to say. The whole thing has me spooked. I have some really deep feelings for this guy, and I never thought about the fact that I didn’t specify what I did until he told me his story. Right then and there, I was lost, completely unable to process what I was supposed to do in that situation. I want to tell him. I really do, but I’m afraid that he’s just going to run away from me, especially now that it’s going to look like I purposely held back that information and tricked him.”
“I know you’re scared,” she said. “I know that you opened up to a man for the first time ever, and you don’t want your heart broken, but you need to just suck it up and tell him the truth.”
“I know,” I said.
“Or better yet, surprise him with it,” she said. “I mean, make it a happy thing. Bring him there, and let him meet the pups. Show him firsthand that not every animal is mean. Make him realize that your job is your life, and that if you trust those fur balls, then maybe he should open up a little bit and trust them, too. Don’t even tell him where you’re taking him. Just tell him it’s a surprise. Then he can’t back out at the last second.”
“God, maybe you’re right,” I said, thinking about it. “I mean, he might be upset at first, but once he holds Mr. Floppy or sees Rupard’s big sad eyes, there’s no way he can’t melt. It would be a surprise meet and greet, a way for him to realize that all dogs aren’t vicious and mean. And then I can explain to him why dogs do become mean so he understands that who he should really be angry with is the person that made that dog mean to begin with.”
“Precisely,” Leena said.
“Thank you, Leena,” I said with a deep sigh. “I was really thinking I was just going to have to end things with him. I mean, I don’t want to end things with him, but the way it all played out was just so messed up.”
“I know,” she said. “But remember this isn’t a failsafe. Some people are just afraid of dogs, and there is nothing you can do to change that. You need to walk into it knowing there is a chance that he will turn his back on you.”
“I will,” I said. “Thanks again. I’m going to hang out here today for a while, and I’ll call him when I get home.”
“Okay,” she said. “Good luck!”
I hung up the phone and opened the door to the kennels, walking about halfway down and sitting on the floor against the wall. The dogs in front of me quieted once they recognized me, and I looked into their big doggy eyes and wondered what happened that made that dog attack Blaine when he was just a kid. He went through something so awful, and I couldn’t blame him for not wanting to be around animals. A huge part of me was really excited to bring him to the shop, to give him the chance to maybe move on from that horrible ordeal after all these years. The other part of me was nervous, knowing that fears can get the best of you, and that his fear was much more than that. It was an actual phobia, probably remnants of untreated PTSD from when he was just a child. I was scared that bringing him to this place would dig up some old memories, forcing him to turn his back on me, forcing him to tell me that it was over.
He could be extremely happy to finally feel that overburdening fear just disappear, or he could be absolutely livid at me for forcing him to try. Either way, both my career and Blaine were important to me, and I just couldn’t give up and not try. Animals were my livelihood and my therapy, but he had become a solid staple and a beautiful partner in my life. I had to take a chance on this and hope that I didn’t have to give up one to have the other. As much as I cared about him, I didn’t know if I could walk away from this.
I took in a deep breath and pulled myself to my feet, deciding that I wasn’t going to think about it anymore. I walked into the exam room and smiled at the puppies running around in their enclosure. They were so adorable, and they were growing so damn fast. I sat down on the floor again and opened the gate, letting Mr. Floppy come running out, laughing as he tripped over his ears. I spent the rest of the afternoon right there in that spot, playing with the puppies, giving them kisses, and making sure that they were all healthy and safe. They were my favorite animals at the shop right now, and I needed to start trying to find them homes. I knew they would be the perfect ones to introduce Blaine to first.
I had really become attached to Blaine, looking forward to his texts, his calls, and everything else on a daily basis. He made me light up, feel whole again, and he had really opened up to me, especially lately. I’d come to find out he was just as awkward and just as nerdy as I was. He was just better at hiding it than me. He had stolen my heart. There was no other way to describe it. It was as if when I gave him my virginity, he gave me something back, and I didn’t just mean his dick. He gave me an inside look at who he was, and I felt terrible that I had been blowing him off the last week.
I looked down at the puppy who was staring back at me with his big brown eyes. I was positive that when he took a deep breath and looked into the eyes of one of these pups, there was no way that he couldn’t melt. They were extremely sweet and wouldn’t hurt a fly, which was the perfect way to introduce dogs back into his life. I just knew that once he opened his mind to them like he did me, he would love them with everything he had. I wasn’t trying to change him by any means, but I was trying to help him through this.
I pulled out my phone and scrolled down through the messages he had sent me. After the first couple, I just stopped reading them, not wanting to feel any worse than I already did. As I slowly moved down the messages, I realized that I had been avoiding him hardcore. He probably hated me by that point, and I started to feel really, really bad about it. It was never my intention to hurt him or push him away. I just needed to think and figure out how in the world I could fix what I didn’t even realize I had broken until it was way too late. I just knew that I didn’t want this to end, and I would do everything I could to make sure that it didn’t.
I helped the weekend crew close up for the night, knowing they would be back early in the morning to take care of the animals. I smiled as I told them goodbye and walked out to my car, feeling the chill in the air getting a lot worse. I couldn’t wait to get home and cover up with a blanket, which was exactly what I did. I walked up to my apartment and in through the door, throwing my bag to the side and plopping down on the couch. I grabbed the fleece throw from the corner and pulled it over me, curling up in a ball. I pulled out my phone and dialed Blaine, butterflies fluttering through my chest.
“Reese?”
“Hey, Blaine,” I said quietly. “Before you say anything, I want to apologize for being MIA for the last week.”
“What happened?”
“It’s a really long story,” I said with a sigh. “Well, it’s not a long story, but it’s something I want to explain to you in person.”
“All right,” he said warily.
“What are you doing tomorrow?”
“I, uh, I didn’t have any plans,” he said.
“Would you let me come over and make your breakfast?”
“Everything in me that is intelligence-based says ‘no,’” he said. “But everything else is screaming ‘yes.’”
“Good,” I said with a sigh. “I’ll come over early tomorrow morning, make you your favorite omelet, and then I want to take you somewhere. It’s a surprise, but it will also explain why I disappeared like that I did.”
“All right,” he said.
“Look, I know that I hurt you, but I didn’t mean to,” I said. “I never stopped thinking about you, but it took me until today to find an answer to the problem that I was facing.”
“Well, I look forward to hearing all about it, especially if you solved it,” he said.
“I might have solved it,” I said. “It will all be up to you.”
“Okay, this is starting to sound crazy,” he said, chuckling. “Can’t you at least give me a hint at where you’re taking me?”
“Nope,” I said with a smile.
“Not even like, what I should wear?” he asked, laughing. “If I should bring a weapon, if I should wear a flak jacket?”
“Um, if the patrons of where I’m taking you have weapons, we’re all in deep shit.” I laughed.
“This sound terrifying,” he replied.
“Don’t be scared,” I said. “It’s going to be okay, and you just have to wait and see.”
We talked a couple more minutes, and then we got off the phone. I felt better knowing he was going to give me a chance to explain, but I was even more nervous about taking him to the shop. The last thing I wanted to do was alienate him or make him feel uncomfortable, but this was the best way that I could think of to help him and reveal the secret I spent a week avoiding him for. I would just have to cross my fingers that this would turn out all right.
Chapter 19
Blaine
I woke up to the sound of the front desk ringing me from downstairs. Reese was there before dawn, ready to get cooking in the kitchen. I shuffled to the door and let her in, rubbing my eyes as she entered. I could feel a serious calm fall over me, knowing she was back in my apartment and close to me again. I smiled at her as she entered, closing my eyes as she leaned in and kissed my cheek gently. Sparks flew through my chest, feeling her skin close to mine, and I followed her to the kitchen, taking a seat at the breakfast bar. She put a cloth sack on the counter and pulled out stuff from the grocery store, knowing me all too well, since I barely ever kept food like that in the house.
She looked over her shoulder at me and smiled, lining everything up and then going through the cabinets looking for the pots and pans that she needed. I directed her to where I kept the coffee and was glad to see that was her first order of business. I was only half awake, having stayed up half the night thinking about what she would be taking me to do. My anxiety had gotten the best of me, and now, I was more than tired and a little bit grumpy.
“While I brew the coffee, why don’t you go jump in the shower and get ready?” she asked with a nervous smile. “We’re going to leave right after we eat.”
“All right,” I said, forcing myself off the stool. “I’ll be back in a few.”
I went into the bedroom and turned on the shower, shivering as I removed my clothes. It had gotten cold in Philly, and I was just then starting to notice. I hopped in the hot, steamy shower and rushed through, cleaning well with my soap and washing my hair before jumping out and drying myself off. I picked out some jeans and a sweater to wear, unsure of what the destination would be. When I walked back out, Reese was just finishing up pouring us both a mug of coffee. I sat back down at the bar and took the coffee from her, smiling as she passed me a plate with an omelet, bacon, and toast on it.
“So,” I said, taking a bite of the omelet. “Are you going to tell me now where you’re taking me?”
She smiled. “No, not until we get there, or at least, almost there.”
“I want you to know that I really hate surprises,” I said, scrunching my nose.
“No, you don’t. No one hates surprises.” She laughed. “You’re just being impatient.”
“How have you been?” I asked.
“Good,” she said, looking down. “I mean, the best I could be with all of this plaguing my mind.”
“I don’t understand why you can’t just tell me,” I replied. “I mean, wouldn’t it be easier?”
“I don’t know,” she said, sighing. “But I do know that by taking you where I want to take you, I am killing two birds with one stone.”
“All right,” I said, sighing. “Do we need the car?”
“No, I’ll drive,” she said. “It’s not too far from here, and I want it to just be you and me.”
“Sounds good,” I replied, eating another bite.
We finished up breakfast, and Reese did the dishes before we headed out. I was nervous, not being used to someone planning a surprise for me, though I had this gut feeling that the surprise wasn’t necessarily a good thing. I hopped in the passenger side and buckled in, smiling at Reese as she started her SUV and put it in drive. We pulled out of the parking garage and out on the street, heading away from the center of the city. She took several turns as we made our way to the mystery spot, and it was quiet while we drove. I glanced over at Reese’s hands, and she looked nervous, gripping the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles were turning white. I wanted to comfort her, but I had no idea what I would be comforting her for. After about fifteen minutes, she pulled into a small parking lot on the outskirts of town. The building in front of us was small and gray, and she had parked in the back.
“So, here we are,” she said with a deep breath. “I want you to promise to hear me out completely before reacting.”
“All right,” I said suspiciously.
“This is my company,” she said. “I own a pet care business. I’ve owned it since after graduation, like I told you. It started out as a small business out of my parents’ house, and it grew fast. So, last year, we bought this building, and the rest is history. We board dogs, care for them, do minor treatments for fleas, vaccines, stuff like that. And I take in puppies that people can’t find a home for. I take care of them and then find them homes through my network of people.”
“Wow,” I said, completely blown away that she had kept this from me.
“When you told me your story the last time I saw you, I freaked out,” she admitted. “I mean, I didn’t purposely never tell you that I owned this. In fact, I thought I had. But when you told me the story, I realized that it was going to look like I hid it from you. Leena, my best friend, and I have made this our career, building it from the ground up. Animals have pretty much become my life. Your story broke my heart. I mean, it really broke my heart. I know that dogs can be bad, the ones that are mistreated, abused, and even inbred, but what I know of them is smart, kind, and compassionate beings. I thought maybe if I brought you here and introduced you to some of my puppies, it might help you move past your fear. I thought maybe it could help you, and at the same time, explain why I went off the grid.”
“That’s a really sweet story,” I said, feeling the anger rising in my chest. “No, really. You put a lot of thought into how to ‘help’ me. But I don’t need your help, Reese. I need you to respect my feelings on things. You think that me going to some animal care facility and playing with some puppy will magically cure me? I’m not going in there, end of story.”
“Blaine, I—”
“No,” I said, interrupting her. “You really have some nerve, coming into my life, making me trust you, and then pulling this kind of shit. Do you really think that animals have all the answers? Because if you do, there is something seriously wrong with you. Animals are just that, animals, and they are unpredictable, sometimes mean, and definitely not what I want to see on my Sunday afternoon. You know what? I don’t want to do this anymore. Take me home.”
“You don’t want to do what?”
“This,” I said, motioning between the two of us. “Any of this, really. You had no right to bring me here and put me on the spot like this. It was immature and inconsiderate, and if you didn’t see that from the beginning, then you and I shouldn’t see each other anymore. God, Reese, how stupid can you be?”
“Enough,” she yelled, gritting her teeth. “I get it. I get that you want to go. I don’t need to hear anymore. I’m sorry for this. I really thought that you would at least give it a chance.”
“Why? Because you feel sorry for me?”
“I don’t feel sorry for you,” she said quietly. “I just wanted you to be a part of my life, but that doesn’t matter anymore.”
She pulled out of the parking lot and stepped on the gas, heading back toward my apartment. Part of me wanted to feel bad, but in that moment, I was absolutely livid. She had tried to back me into a corner, and I never did well when someone tried that. I liked to be in control of my own life and not be forced to do things that made no sense to me or made me uncomfortable as hell. She had no idea how I was feeling and what it meant to be truly afraid of something like that.
When we arrived back at the complex, she pulled up out front and kept her body facing forward. I looked at her for a moment and shook my head, expecting her to say something, but she stayed silent. I could see the tears pulling at her eyes, but I just looked down, grabbed the handle of the car door, and got out. As soon as the door was shut, she drove off, and I turned, furiously walking toward the building. I steamed all the way to the top floor, trying to tell myself that I had every right to be angry. At first, I paced the floor, but after about twenty minutes, I calmed down enough to sit on the couch and start to really think about what happened.
I knew Reese, even if we hadn’t been dating that long. I knew her, and I knew she wouldn’t intentionally do something to make me upset or angry. Still, I couldn’t believe that she had put me in that position. I started to question my reaction, though, and wondered if maybe I had been too hard on her. She was a sweet person, and it was obvious from her reaction to my story that she was terrified to lose me. I believed that she really thought that this was the best answer to the issue. She really believed that she would be helping me get past the horror from my childhood, and it was obvious that she really cared about these animals. She wanted to share that with me, but after I told her what happened, she didn’t know how to handle it. This was so confusing, especially since I was finding it really hard to believe that I had just completely broken things off with her. I never made emotional decisions, because when I did, things like this happened.
Still, standing there in my apartment, staring out at the Philly skyline, I couldn’t help but think about all the times I dropped friends, girls, and even family members because they wanted to push a dog on me. If I knew you well enough to come to an intimate gathering at your house, then you knew I couldn’t handle dogs, but people still tried to force me to like them, waiting until I arrived to let the dog out around me. I didn’t understand what these people didn’t get about the fact that I didn’t want to be anywhere near these kinds of animals.
I really liked Reese a lot. In fact, I was pretty sure that I was falling for her in a big way. I knew that I wouldn’t be anywhere near this upset if I didn’t have strong feelings for her. However, what was happening now was me facing down my pride and trying to decide if this intrusion on my comfort was bad enough to let her walk away forever. I wasn’t very good at these kinds of things, nor did I have anyone I could talk to about it, so I was left alone, bending my brain and trying to decide what I should be doing. I considered asking my AI but realized she would do nothing more than point me to whatever internet search was triggered when I asked the question. Besides, Caleb had already warned me that the day I start talking to my AI was the day he’d put me in a home.
I didn’t know what to do, but I did know that a life without Reese seemed completely unbearable.
Chapter 20
Reese
I trudged into work, knowing that not only was it Monday, the beginning of my week, but I had to deal with what had happened the day before. I knew that Leena had warned me to be prepared for the worst, but that advice went in one ear and out the other. I was not prepared at all for how Blaine reacted, and it made me feel absolutely terrible. I made him come to the shelter, thinking if he had no way out he would face the music, but obviously, no matter how good my intentions were, that was the worst way to handle the situation ever. I never meant for him to react the way he did, but it was definitely textbook panic from someone who had a phobia. The biggest thing I was struggling with was the fact that I didn’t just fail at my attempt to help him, but I also went and got myself dumped by the only guy I had ever fallen in love with.
What I should have done was sit down and talk to him, tell him the truth before just springing something like that on him. I should have given him the choice, knowing that even if he refused then, maybe over time he could inch his way into it. Instead, I went blowing through his life, making choices for him, and playing psychiatrist. If it were that easy to cure his phobia, he would have already done it.
God, I felt like such an idiot, and my heart hurt so bad. What a way to end one of my very first, truly serious relationships, by getting my heart broken by my own doing, dealing with a pissed off man by my own doing, and now, left with an extreme amount of guilt, also by my own doing.
I stood at the counter, my eyes puffy as hell from crying all night long, and stared out the window at the cars passing by on the street. I was in a self-loathing mood, and even though I knew going to see my pups would make me feel better, I didn’t feel like I deserved to feel better. I had been such an ass. I shook my head as I heard footsteps approaching, taking a deep breath and putting on a brave face. I turned around to find Leena staring at me, a look of worry plastered on her face. She tilted her head to the side and walked forward, pulling her arms around me and hugging me tightly. I guessed my fake brave face wasn’t as convincing as I thought. Leena never hugged anyone.
“Are you okay?” she asked, brushing my hair from my face. “You look like someone ran over your hamster.”
“No,” I said, trying to fight back the tears. “I’m not okay at all.”
“That bad, huh?”
“Worse,” I said with a sigh. “My life is over.”
“Okay, let’s take the drama down like two notches,” she said sweetly as she chuckled.
“Sorry,” I said, pouting. “I ruined everything, and even though you warned me, I didn’t see it coming at all. The total destruction of my personal life blindsided me, and I was left stuttering to myself through tears and vodka.”
“Oh.” She grimaced. “It was vodka bad?”
“It was drink anything I could get my hands on bad.” I sniffled. “I would have downed malt liquor if it were my only choice.”
“Lord, Reese,” she said, guiding me over to a chair. “Tell me what happened.”
“Well, I called him after we got off the phone that night,” I said. “And I apologized for being distant and asked if he would let me cook him breakfast and take him somewhere that would explain why I disappeared. He was all about it, and so the next morning, I showed up bright and early, fixed him his favorite breakfast, and I drove him over here.”
“Okay, what happened then?”
“I told him everything,” I said, shrugging. “I told him how you and I owned this place, how I hadn’t realized that I didn’t tell him what kind of business it was until after hearing his story, and how I thought bringing him here would help him move past his fears.”
“And I’m assuming this is where it got bad,” she said, grimacing again.
“He freaked out on me, called me selfish, told me animals were just that, animals, and then,” I said, starting to cry. “And then he broke up with me and jumped out of the car when we reached his apartment.”
“Wow,” she said, leaning back. “That is bad.”
“You’re supposed to be the one with the wisdom that makes me feel better,” I said, crying. “Where is your wisdom, damnit?”
“Reese,” she said, sighing. “I don’t even know what to say about all of that. I mean, he had a point in the way he reacted, and we knew that it might happen. We just hoped it wouldn’t. Listen, if he truly feels that way about animals, and he couldn’t even handle coming in to see a puppy and to try to share your life with you, then he wasn’t the right guy for you to begin with. I know you are crushed. Trust me, I know what that feels like, but think about who has always been there. Those little fur heads in the back that are sad as hell because you haven’t shown your smiling face yet today.”
“Do you really think that? That he wasn’t the right guy for me?”
“I think that if he couldn’t get past his fear and see that you’re living your dream and that you were honestly trying to help him, then no, I don’t think he was the right guy for you,” she said. “I mean, has he tried to contact you today? Maybe he’s calmed down enough to revisit the whole breaking up thing.”
“No.” I sniffed. “He hasn’t contacted me at all. His fear of dogs is so bad, and I should have seen that from the beginning. It’s really hard for me to understand because I love them so much. Dogs, and cats for that matter, have been a source of therapy for me my entire life. I love them like I love people, probably more than that. They are loyal, sweet, kind, and they go out of their way to be close to you, especially when they sense that you are ill or sad, or any of those things.”
“That’s right,” Leena said. “Animals are what brought us the most joy. They brought us an ability to care for ourselves, and in the darkest hours, we can go to them and they never shove us away.”
“I guess I just really wanted him to see animals the way that I do,” I said, standing up and walking to the door. “I wanted him to feel the same love that they gave me every single day without fail.”
“And I get that,” Blaine’s voice echoed as he stepped around the corner and stood at the desk.
My mouth dropped open, and I looked over at Leena, who was looking back and forth between both of us. She looked over at me and signaled for me to wipe my eyes, since my makeup was probably streaming down my face at that point. I took a deep breath and fixed myself, slowly walking toward him. Leena looked uncomfortable and started to back away.
“I’ll be in the kennel if you need me,” she whispered.
I nodded my head and walked up to the desk, putting my head down and wringing my hands together. I didn’t know what to say beyond what he had already heard. I wanted to hug him, kiss him, and thank him for coming here, but I wasn’t even sure why he had come back. I watched as he looked around the lobby at the different pictures of animals on the walls. I could tell he was nervous being there, but he had put on his brave face and come inside to talk to me. I didn’t want to be presumptuous and start talking, but the silence was killing me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I’m not fully sure,” he said, smiling. “I mean, I was really angry with you, like really angry, but once I calmed down, I started to understand better why you did what you did.”
“Blaine, I never meant to back you into a corner,” I said, shaking my head. “I care about you so much, and I was terrified that me owning this business was going to make you want to break up with me. In the end, you ended up breaking up with me anyway. I should have come to you, sat down with you, and explained what happened. I guess I’m not very good at these things yet, and I tried to help you instead of realizing that you were strong and independent and didn’t need my help.”
“That’s not necessarily true,” he said, smiling. “I think you had a really good idea going there. I think that you may have been on to something. So, I didn’t just come here to apologize for lashing out at you and beg you to be my girlfriend again, but I thought maybe you could show me around. Who knows? I might actually see a puppy I want to pet.”
I walked around the desk and ran right into his arms, hugging him tightly and kissing him on the cheek. After all of that, he really did care about me like I thought he did, and he was willing to forgive me for what I had done. I was more than ecstatic.
“You don’t owe me an apology,” I whispered. “And of course, I want to be your girlfriend. Come on. Let me show you around.”
I took him by the hand and led him through the building, showing him the different rooms, including the kennels. I could tell he wasn’t quite ready to face one of the adult dogs, so I showed him into the room where Mr. Floppy was tormenting his brothers and sisters. I picked him up and walked over to Blaine, watching him timidly put his hand out and then relax as the puppy licked his fingers. It was a really amazing moment between the two of us. It didn’t mean I could expect him to go start a farm for dogs or even get near the kennels anytime soon, but it was a start. By the end of the day, he was walking around, holding Mr. Floppy under his arm and watching as we did our work.
“All right,” he said, handing me back the puppy and leaning in to kiss my lips. “I have to get going. I have work I missed today, but thank you for all of this. It was nice.”
“Anytime,” I said, smiling. “This is where I am five days a week, sometimes more.”
“So, do you want to come over tomorrow night and have dinner?”
“I would love to,” I said, smiling big.
“Great, I should be there by six, and I’ll get take-out, so you don’t have to cook,” he said sheepishly. “I would cook, but no one wants to see that happen.”
“All right.” I laughed, waving as he turned and walked out of the building.
I picked the puppy up to my face and kissed his nose, congratulating him on a job well done. That man was so full of surprises, and I couldn’t believe how much my day had turned around. I really cared about Blaine, even more than I thought I did before, and from the looks of his change of heart, he felt the same way too. I couldn’t wait to see what the future would hold for us.
Chapter 21
Two Months Later
Blaine
“Hey, sweetie,” I said with worry in my voice. “How are you feeling?”
“Like death,” she said. “I don’t know. I just feel like my stomach is being bulldozed over, anytime I even move.”
“Are you eating anything?”
“I’ve tried, but it doesn’t even make it to digestion before it comes back up,” she said weakly. “It’s like the stomach flu from hell.”
“Aww, well stay inside, stay warm, and just lay there on the couch,” I said. “It sucks now, but I’m sure it will pass. These things don’t tend to stick around long.”
“I miss my puppies,” she whimpered.
“Well, I’m sure they miss you, too,” I replied. “Get some rest. I’ll check on you at lunch.”
I hung up the phone and smiled, not because she was sick, but because I got to hear her voice. It had been two months since I went back to her shop and met Mr. Floppy. We actually came to find out a week later that Mr. Floppy was actually a Miss, but either way, I loved that little fur ball. Reese and I had spent almost every day together after that, not wanting to miss a moment of time. Being broken up for less than a day ended up being the worst twelve hours of my life, so I wasn’t willing to be apart from her anymore. Her being sick had actually been the first time in those two months that we were apart, but she insisted, not wanting to give me what she had.
The day I went back to the shop to get Reese back, I figured out that my feelings for her were intense. It didn’t take me long to realize that I was completely in love with her. I hadn’t told her yet, though. I wanted it to be special, and I wanted to see where things were going to go. By that point, though, sitting there feeling helpless to help her through the sickness, I knew that I couldn’t imagine my life without her, and I knew that my love for her had grown exponentially in a very short amount of time.
I could see my future with Reese very clearly now, and there was no misconception about what kind of couple we would be. She wanted to see the world, just like I did, and I imagined us hand in hand, exploring the outer reaches of earth, finding new things, experiencing the beauty of life. I had the ability to leave whenever I wanted, and I could easily make her company viable enough to stay in business while we went. She was sick right now, so I wasn’t going to bring it up just yet, but there was no doubt in my mind that she needed to know how much I loved her and where I wanted to take our relationship.
I shook my head, realizing that I needed to stay focused on my work or I would never get this new project off the ground. I opened up the documents online and began reviewing the protocol that the project management had set up. Everything looked perfect, just as I assumed it would since we had been working on this day in and day out for several months.
“Mr. Butler,” my secretary said through the intercom. “Mr. Haynes is here to see you.”
“Send him in,” I said with pleasant surprise in my tone.
“Caleb,” I said happily as he entered my office.
“Blaine,” he replied, walking forward and giving me a hug. “It’s good to see you.”
“You too,” I said, sitting down as he also took a seat.
“I just figured I’d stop by and see how you were doing,” he said, smiling.
“I’m really well,” I replied.
“And Reese?”
“She’s good, though she has a bit of a stomach bug,” I replied.
“I thought that season was over.” He chuckled. “Well, I hope she feels better. I’m assuming things are going good between you, then.”
“Man, it’s fantastic,” I said, smiling.
“I’m happy to hear that,” he replied. “You really do deserve to be happy. I’ve had the two of you on my mind.”
“Thank you, that means a lot,” I said, shaking my head.
“I can already see it.” He chuckled. “The huge wedding you never wanted, only instead of people, there will be about three hundred puppies in attendance.”
“That sounds like a nightmare,” I said, grimacing.
“How are you doing with the whole dog thing?”
“It’s actually going pretty good,” I said, taking in a deep breath. “I made friends with one a couple months back. She’s pretty adorable.”
“That’s good,” he said, laughing. “Nice to know you’re making friends. And what about work? You haven’t mentioned it at all.”
“We’re doing phenomenal,” I replied. “We have the new program coming out for release in just a couple months. It’s the replica of the AI system that I made for my house. Reese made me realize it was stupid to keep it to myself. People would love it. The response has been overwhelming, and we already have a quarter of a million pre-orders.”
“Wow,” he said, shaking his head. “That’s amazing, though it kind of creeps me out. I’m just glad that you found Reese in time.”
“In time for what?”
“In time to save you from starting a relationship with your AI,” he said, laughing. “I was starting to get worried about you.”
“She doesn’t like brunettes,” I said, smiling. “She wasn’t really my type anyway. I like to be able to see the women before I sleep with them.”
“You didn’t think that way when you were wasted back in the day,” he said, laughing.
“True, but we all grow up some time,” I replied. “You, on the other hand, will stay a child forever.”
“Probably,” he said. “Well, listen, I only had a few minutes. I’m on lunch, but I wanted to stop in and get the quick version.”
“Thanks for coming by, man, I miss seeing you,” I said, standing up and shaking his hand. “We need to get together soon.”
“We do,” he said. “Get some beers and talk about everything in a less formal setting.”
“Like the back of a dirty bar,” I said, laughing.
“Precisely,” he said, walking to the door. “Take care, and tell Reese I said ‘hi.’”
I nodded my head and watched him walk out the door, always enjoying when he stopped by to just talk. I missed being around him, having drinks with him, and shooting the shit. I intended on keeping my promise to get drinks with him soon. I looked down at my watch and realized it was after twelve. I grabbed my jacket and let my secretary know I was headed to lunch.
When I got out of the building, I walked down two blocks to this amazing little café and bought a quart of chicken noodle soup and some ginger ale and caught a cab, not wanting to waste time going back to the building for the car. I rode straight to Reese’s apartment, excited to see her, but feeling terrible I had nothing better to offer than soup and soda. I looked up at her apartment window before walking in the main door and climbing the stairs. Hopefully, I wasn’t going to wake her.
I stood at the door and knocked hard, listening as I heard her tiny footsteps shuffling across the wood floors. She opened the door and stood there staring at me, leaning her head to the side and sighing deeply. She looked terrible, her face the color of paper, her eyes bloodshot, and her hands were shaking. I gave her a sad look and leaned in, kissing her forehead. At least she didn’t seem to have a fever, though that was strange for as sick as she was.
“You know you shouldn’t be here,” she said quietly. “I don’t want to give you this viral plague. It’s absolutely terrible. You should quarantine me and probably my neighbors, too, because of ventilation.”
“Nonsense,” I said, walking past her into the apartment. “I brought you soup and some ginger ale.”
“As much as I appreciate that, I’m holding off on trying any more anything, except water,” she groaned. “I just want like an hour of not puking my guts out.”
“I’ll put it in the fridge, and you can eat it later,” I said, smiling and walking into the kitchen.
“Thank you for the thought,” she said, leaning against the doorframe.
“Come on,” I said, closing the fridge and taking her hands. “Let me tuck you into bed.”
I walked back to her bedroom and helped her climb into bed, setting her trashcan next to her and pulling the covers up to her chin. She forced a sweet smile as she leaned back into the pillow. I leaned over and kissed her forehead.
“You have sweet dreams, okay?” I whispered. “I’m going back to work, but if you need anything, just call or text. I will text you when the day is over.”
She nodded her head and smiled as I turned and walked down the hall and out the front door. I hated to leave her like that, but I really didn’t have a choice. I went back to work and tried to focus, knowing that I had this big project coming closer and closer. On the way home from work, I pulled out my cellphone and called Reese, hoping that she was feeling better.
“Hey,” she said sleepily.
“Hey there. How are you feeling?”
“Like hell,” she said. “But I have the Hulk here next to me, keeping me company. He looks pretty sick, too. His skin is green.”
“You still have your humor intact.” I laughed. “Half alive and you’re cracking jokes. I love it.”
“You know me.” She chuckled. “But I’m actually feeling tired, so I’m going to lay down and try to sleep.”
“All right, text me if you need me,” I said. “Miss your face.”
“Miss yours, too,” she said.
By the time I was off the phone, my car had arrived at my complex, and I went right up and fixed myself some leftovers from the take-out from the night before. I sat there alone at the table, and I realized just how quiet the apartment was without Reese in it. She really did light up everything she did and everywhere she went. I really missed having her there with me. I had gotten used to her presence and had forgotten what it was like to live by myself.
After dinner, feeling my body dragging from the amount of work I had done over the last couple of months, I climbed into bed and laid there staring at the ceiling. I could smell Reese’s shampoo on the pillow case, and I sighed, thinking about our future and how much I just wanted to get started on it. I wanted Reese to know how much I adored her and how much everything she did made a difference in my world. I couldn’t wait for her to one day wake up in the bed next to me and not have anywhere to go because she was already home.
Not now, but someday in the future, I definitely saw us building a family together, living in some big house outside of the city, and having little clones of us running around the house. The sound of our children’s laughter would complete everything, but first, she needed to know how I felt. We had so much time in front of us and so many things I wanted to do, and I couldn’t wait to start doing them with her by my side. Sometimes, I felt like we were frozen, but then I remembered where we were just two months before, and my heart would skip a beat.
Chapter 22
Reese
The cold porcelain of the toilet clung to the skin on my forehead as I rested my head just inches from the water. I reached up and grasped the bowl with my hands and pushed myself upright, flushing the toilet and then leaning back against the wall. I groaned and wiped my forehead on the back of my hand, realizing that through all of this, I still didn’t have a fever. This time was better, though. I managed to make it four hours and a cup of soup without puking, so hopefully some of it got into my system. If not, I was going to start looking like a starving child from a third world country.
I had been this sick, if not sicker, for three days now, and not once did my body show chills, fever, or any other sign of a virus. I had tried anti-nauseous pills, but I couldn’t get them to stay down long enough to do any good. I was absolutely miserable and had promised Blaine, and myself, that I would go to the doctor soon if this didn’t at least start to ease up some. I did find that the ginger ale that Blaine brought over usually stayed down, so I spent my time carefully sipping on that, wishing that sleep would find me sooner rather than later. I was exhausted, but between the puking and the headache from puking, I couldn’t seem to fall asleep.
I pulled myself up off the floor and leaned back against the wall, trying to stabilize myself until the dizziness subsided. Slowly, I stood up, reaching my hand out for the doorframe and pulling myself out into the hall. I looked down at my bedroom but decided that I wanted to give watching a movie a try. I shuffled slowly toward the living room, my feet dragging across the cold wood floors until it felt the soft rug beneath my feet. I plopped down on the couch and fell to the side, laying my head on the pillow and pulling the throw over top of me. I couldn’t figure out what the hell was wrong with me, but I knew I couldn’t keep this up for much longer.
I reached over and grabbed the remote, clicking on the television and stopping at the first movie it fell on. It was an old black and white movie, which was fine since I wasn’t planning on following along too feverishly. To my surprise, though, I found the couch extremely comfortable, and for a few moments, I could feel the rumbling of my stomach subside. I took a deep breath and snuggled down in the couch, hoping that the worst of it was passing. I stared up at the television, feeling the exhaustion hitting me and struggling to keep my eyes open. After a few minutes, I just gave in, letting my body get the rest that it needed.
I didn’t know how long I had been asleep, but my phone ringing loudly on the coffee table in front of me jolted me awake. I blinked several times, scanning the room and seeing that it was dark outside. I had been asleep all afternoon and into the evening. The movie was over, and there was some sort of infomercial blaring loudly. I reached up, shut the television off, and picked up my phone. I looked down at the screen to see Leena’s number, so I answered.
“Hello?”
“Good, you’re still alive,” she said with a deep exhalation. “I was worried about you. I called like five times.”
“I fell asleep,” I said, yawning and pulling myself up to a seated position. “I actually think the worst of it might have passed. I feel a little bit better.”
“What is wrong?” she asked. “I mean like, list your symptoms.”
“Well, I was pretty much nauseous as hell for close to four days,” I said. “I couldn’t keep anything down, not even water, and after heaving over the toilet every thirty minutes, my chest was sore to the touch. Then, from laying around I’m assuming, my lower back was really achy.”
“So, you were sick to your stomach, your boobs hurt, and your back was sore,” she repeated. “Any fever?”
“No,” I replied. “That was the weird part. No fever the entire time, or chills for that matter. I didn’t feel sick, other than my stomach.”
“God, that sounds horrible,” she said. “You either have the death virus, or you’re carrying around a mini-Blaine.”
“Don’t joke.” I laughed. “Pregnancy is not funny.”
“Hey, I’m just saying, you’re having sex now, and you’re not on any birth control,” she replied, chuckling.
“We use protection,” I said.
“Every time?”
“Well, there have been a couple times… no. Stop freaking me out.” I laughed.
We went on with a different conversation, and even though I laughed at her jokes, internally I was having the conversation over again with myself. I tried to figure out when my last period was, but I was always terrible with remembering those things. That was why I marked it on my calendar so I could plan the next month and know when PMS was going to rear its ugly head. I was a grumpy bitch during those times.
When I got off the phone with Leena, I groaned, pulled myself up from the couch, and shuffled into the kitchen. There was no way that I was pregnant, but just to ease my racing mind, I would prove it to myself by finding that little red “P” that I wrote on the first day of my period every month. I stared at the November page, figuring out what day it was currently. It was the twentieth, so I ran my finger up but didn’t find any “P.” Maybe I just forgot to mark it on the calendar. I flipped back to October and scanned that one too, but the page was completely blank.
I stepped back and dropped the pages back down, wondering how I could have been so careless as to not make note of my period. Well, if the calendar wouldn’t give me the peace of mind I needed, a pregnancy test should do the trick. I pulled on my hoodie, boots, and gloves and grabbed my wallet, leaving the apartment and going across the street to the drugstore. I grabbed one of the well-known brands of pregnancy tests and checked out, ignoring the smirk on the clerk’s face. As I was walking back across the street, I could feel my breasts pulsing inside of my bra. They were really sore, about three times as sore as when my period would come around.
I went into the bathroom in my apartment and opened the package, reading the instructions really fast. For some reason, just holding the stick in my hand made me nervous, and I started to question what the results were going to be. I peed on the stick, put the cap back on, and set it on the counter, starting my timer for three minutes from then. I could feel butterflies start to erupt inside of me and fill my chest with anxiety. Oh, man, what if I was pregnant? What if I hadn’t written down a period because I’d never had one? I started to feel my heart beat faster as I paced the bathroom floor, looking over at the timer every three seconds or so. This was the most anguish I had been in for a long time, and I didn’t like this feeling of not knowing at all. I mean, from what I knew about pregnancy, my symptoms were really starting to line up.
If I was pregnant, it would change my entire life. I would have a tiny human growing inside of me, and I would no longer be responsible for just myself. I would have to change the way I ate, the way I slept, the way I spent money, everything. Sure, I wanted children. There was no question, but right then and there was not quite the timeframe that I was expecting. And what would Blaine think? Would he freak out and run away? Would he be happy? God, there were so many questions that I just didn’t know how to sort through them all. I took a deep breath and cleared my mind, telling myself I was freaking myself out for no reason.
Just then I jumped, hearing the timer go off on my phone. I walked over and turned off the alarm before setting it down and taking a deep breath. I took a step toward the test and picked it up, closing my eyes as I flipped the window toward me. Slowly, I opened one eye and looked down, my shoulders collapsing and my mouth hanging open. I ran my finger across the viewing window and shook my head in shock, my legs suddenly feeling like jelly.
I walked out of the bathroom clutching the test in my hand and looked around, realizing that I was completely alone. Immediately, I took off for the bedroom and pulled on my coat, hat, gloves, and boots. I hobbled through the living room and picked up my keys and wallet, looking around for a minute before bolting out the door. I took the stairs two at a time and turned the corner, walking into the parking garage. I quickly jumped into the driver’s seat and started the car, backing out carefully and heading down the street.
I gripped onto the steering wheel, watching the road and staring at the pregnancy test still grasped in my palm. I could barely believe what I was looking at, and instantly, emotions flooded me. What was Blaine going to say? Was he going to be angry? What was I supposed to do with this information? My life was exactly the way I wanted it. Was I ready to change it all? The epiphany I had before racing out of the house was lingering in my mind, and I could feel my heart beating a million miles a second.
My tires screeched as I pulled up in front of Blaine’s apartment building. I looked out the window at the valet parking attendant and smiled, putting the test in my pocket and grabbing my wallet. He gave me my ticket, and I tried to walk as slowly as I could manage across the courtyard and into the lobby. The front desk security was used to seeing me at that point, and he pressed a button on the desk, opening the doors to the penthouse elevators. I smiled and raced past the desk, climbing in the elevator and watching as the doors shut in front of me.
I looked up at the numbers above the door as they lit up and then fell dim again. My foot was tapping wildly against the floor, and I glanced over, catching the reflection of myself in the mirrored walls. I smoothed down my hair and wiped the crust from around my eyes, trying to make myself as presentable as possible. I sighed as I stuck my hand in my pocket and grasped onto the little test stick that floated around with a couple of pennies and a piece of lint.
When the elevator reached the top, I stood there as the doors slowly opened. I stepped out into the small waiting area and stared at Blaine’s front door. I felt frozen in place, and I wasn’t sure if I could even force myself to knock. I took off my gloves and shoved them in my empty pocket, smoothing down my wild hair and pulling at my sweatshirt. I stepped up to the door and pounded my fist against it, taking in a deep breath. It took him a minute to get there, but eventually, Blaine opened the door and looked out at me.
At that moment, I completely lost all of my brave.
Chapter 23
Blaine
Although I would have much rather been with Reese, sitting in front of the television, catching up on sports, and drinking a cold brew wasn’t a terrible way to spend a Thursday evening. I lifted my legs up and propped them on the table, focused on the football scores that were scrolling across the bottom of the screen. They were talking about hockey on the show, which bored me to tears, and I was mostly interested in hearing their picks for the Playoffs. I tilted my cold beer back and took a big gulp, watching as the show went to commercial. I sighed, realizing I was in a trance, trying to find out information about a sport I never actually watched.
As the commercials filtered through, some talking about new hair care products, and others advertising the upcoming games, my mind fluttered over to Reese, and I wondered what she was doing right then. Hopefully, she was asleep, finally finding a comfortable position and resting her body. This was the first time I was able to experience Reese sick, and I quickly found out she was one of those people that preferred to be left alone and not coddled when she wasn’t feeling well. For me, that was hard since all I wanted to do was to protect her and make her feel better, but I respected her wishes and stayed away, still sure that if I hadn’t caught it yet, I wasn’t going to. Whatever gave her peace of mind made me happy.
I pulled myself from the couch and walked into the kitchen, tossing my empty bottle in the recycling bin and pulling out another beer. I opened it and watched as the lid bounced across the counter and disappeared into a stack of dirty plates next to the sink. Not only did I miss Reese because we had become inseparable, but I also missed how she took care of me at every turn. Half the reason I never taught myself how to cook was because I hated doing dishes. It was very obvious as you glanced around the apartment that I never did a very good job of taking care of myself, which was why before Reese, I had hired a maid three times a week to come in and clean up my mess. Sure, it sounded kind of ritzy, but I didn’t care. It made my life less stressful.
As I was sitting there thinking about Reese, I decided that I would text her so that she would at least know that I had her on my mind. It wasn’t very often these days that I didn’t have her on my mind, but since she got sick, I was thinking about her a lot more. I took a sip of my beer and walked back over to the living room and picked up my phone. I hesitated for a second, wondering if I should wait in case she was asleep. Then again, when she fell asleep at my place, it would take a herd of elephants playing the trombone to stir her after she went to bed.
I opened up the messages screen and scrolled to our conversation, smiling at the picture she had sent me, sitting in the feed. She was making a funny face, holding up a new puppy, and her best friend was in the background, trying to corral the rest of them. She was such a goofball when she was feeling well. I began to type the message, deleting words a couple of times and fighting myself on what I actually wanted to say. I reread what I wrote and breathed deeply, shaking my head in approval. I wanted her to know I was thinking about her, that I missed her, and that I needed her to get better soon because I was lost without her. It sounded a bit much, but I knew that it would make her smile knowing I was sitting at my place, thinking about her. Caleb had tried to get me to take this time to go to the bars, but the last thing I wanted was for Reese to be sick and worried at the same time.
Just as I was about to press send, a loud banging came from the front door, and I jumped. I closed the message screen and looked down at the time, realizing that it was after eleven at night. I was really curious to know who was at my door, knocking loudly at that time of night. It was probably Caleb, too drunk from the bars to drive home, so he was going to crash here as he did from time to time. That being said, eleven may be late to me, but that was the getting started time at all the bars and clubs.
I groaned as I pulled myself from the couch and tossed my phone on the coffee table. The banging came again, this time louder, and I walked a bit faster, wondering where the hell the fire was. I reached for the doorknob. I flung open the door, expecting to see Caleb, but instead, Reese was standing there. Her skin was pale, but her cheeks had a hint of color to them, an improvement from the last time I had seen her. Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were bloodshot still from being sick for so long. I wondered what in the world she was doing here that late at night.
“Reese,” I said. “Are you okay? I mean, come in. Get warm.”
I stepped to the side and watched as she blew past me, her hands shoved in her pockets. I closed the door and locked it, turning around and watching her as she walked down into the living room. She looked extremely nervous, and she started pacing the floor back and forth. I was instantly nervous, not knowing what I could have possibly done to get her into such a tizzy. She was basically falling apart at the seams. I walked toward the living room slowly, trying to give her time to calm herself enough to look at me. She was fiddling with something in her pocket, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Finally, she slowed her pace and turned, looking me in the eyes and letting out a deep sigh.
“Sweetheart, what are you doing out of bed?” I asked. “You’re sick.”
“I had to talk to you,” she said quietly, her eyes roaming the room.
“What’s wrong?”
“God, I don’t know how this happened,” she said, launching into a complete panic attack. “I checked the calendar, and I thought I just forgot. I had been so busy with everything. So, I wanted to just make myself feel better because Leena had freaked me out. She has this amazing way of doing that. I went across the street and bought it, not thinking that it would say what it did.”
I watched as she scrambled back and forth, trying to make sense of what she was saying, but she was talking in short fragments with very little information of any use. I walked across the floor quickly and down the stairs into the living room. I walked straight up to Reese and reached out, grabbing her by the shoulders and holding her still. Her eyes moved back and forth, and she continued to go on until I pulled my fingers up to her lips.
“Shh,” I said. “Take a deep breath, Reese. You aren’t making any sense at all. You need to slow down and think about what you are trying to tell me. I don’t know what happened, but you are in complete disarray. Remember, I’m here for you, for anything that you need. You just need to take a deep breath. Here, sit down.”
“No, I don’t want to,” she whispered.
“What is it?”
I held tightly to her shoulders, feeling as if I let go, she would just fall into a heap on the floor. There was something going on with her, and it was obviously pretty serious. I had never seen her like that before. She was usually completely calm and collected. When her breathing had slowed, I looked down at her, staring deeply in her eyes. Her hands moved out of her pockets and sat in front of her. She looked at me and tilted her head, her eyes going from my face down to her hands. With confusion, I followed her gaze to her hands and watched as her palms unfolded, revealing a long white stick. I squinted my eyes and looked down, not realizing what she was holding. Her eyes shot up to my face, studying my reaction.
Then, as if a light bulb went off, my eyes grew wide, and I realized exactly what she was holding. In her tiny smooth palms was a pregnancy test. She let out a deep breath, and tears filled her eyes. I was frozen in place, trying to compute what was going on.
“I’m pregnant,” she whispered. “I didn’t even think about it until Leena brought it up. She asked me what my symptoms were and then made a joke about it. When she did that, it locked into my head, so I checked my calendar to just make sure. I hadn’t written anything on there since September. So, I walked across the street and bought a test, sure that it was going to say negative, but, well, I was wrong.”
I reached down, listening to her words, and took the pregnancy test from her hand. I turned and held it up in the air, looking at the two lines, bright as day, staring back at me. I could feel all the blood draining from my face, and I was sure by that point, I looked as pale as Reese did. I walked over to the couch and sat down, staring down at the stick and wondering what I was supposed to say because all the words had vanished from my mind. I wanted to be comforting, I wanted to be there for her, but first, I needed a minute to process what I had just found out. Reese was pregnant which meant I was going to be a father.
I looked up as Reese walked toward me, her mannerisms slowed and steady. She had calmed down completely and now looked very contemplative. She moved with care, as if she wasn’t sure whether to approach me or not. She sat down on the couch next to me and put her hands in her lap, her foot tapping on the floor beneath her boots. She sat there silently for several moments before speaking.
“I understand that this is a shock,” she said quietly. “I know that this might not be what you want at all. I understand if you need to think about things. I understand if this is not a situation you want to be a part of. You are not obligated to be part of anything that you don’t want to be part of.”
With the sound of the words she was speaking, I knew that I needed to bring myself out of this. I shook my head, pushing the shock out of my mind and turning to her. I furrowed my eyebrows and reached up, running the back of my hand across her cheek. She closed her eyes and leaned into me, opening them back up as I lifted her chin up toward mine. She gazed into my eyes, and the fear and anxiety that was there before quickly faded away. Everything about this was unexpected, but nothing about it was unwanted. It was time that Reese knew exactly how I felt about her and exactly how I saw our future, whether it followed my timeline or not. I leaned forward and pressed my nose against hers, closing my eyes.
“Shh,” I said, tipping my chin forward and kissing her lips. “I love you.”
Chapter 24
One Year Later
Reese
I pulled the dress up my body and pushed my hands through the holes in the straps. I reached back and zipped it up, looking at the body that I now had. Blaine told me every day that he loved the curves that the baby had brought me, and now, standing in the bathroom, looking at my reflection, I was inclined to agree. I could hear the baby cooing outside the door as Blaine bounced him up and down in his arms, waiting for me to finish dressing. There was something unbelievably sexy about Blaine as a father, and he had jumped right into it without even a blink in his eyes. It had been a year since I had told him that I was expecting, and we used the date as an anniversary of sorts, one that signified the moment our lives changed forever.
I quietly opened the bathroom door after checking my makeup and leaned against the doorframe, listening as Blaine talked softly to the baby. He looked up at the kitchen as Floppy Junior, our new puppy, and son of the original Miss Floppy, came stumbling out, tripping over his ears. I stifled a laugh as Blaine stopped and knelt down on the step, reaching out to help the puppy to his feet. He smiled at the baby and then looked back at the puppy.
“You need to watch those ears, buddy,” he said. “You are part of the family now, and we need you to stay happy and healthy.”
I took in a deep breath and walked out of the bathroom, my heels clacking on the smooth wooden floors as Blaine looked up at me. He smiled with charm and walked toward me, leaning in and kissing me on the cheek. I closed my eyes and felt the electricity of his touch surge through my chest. He still made me feel the same way he had the first time we’d kissed. Only now, he was a strength and comfort in my life that I never thought I would feel.
“I see you like the puppy,” I said, smiling and picking the furry little guy up.
“He’s all right,” Blaine said, clearing his throat and looking down at the baby as he cooed in Blaine’s arms. “Oh, now you’re telling on me, too? Traitors everywhere.”
I laughed and leaned forward, kissing the puppy and carrying him over to his crate. I put him inside and watched as he attempted to open the door that I had strategically sealed to avoid his escape. I smiled and shook my head, remembering when I used to find his mother running around the shop early in the morning.
“Like mother, like son,” I said with a smile.
Blaine walked beside me and smiled, offering me his arm as we headed out the door. We made our way out to the car parked on the street and buckled Tucker into his car seat before sliding into the car ourselves. I was impressed when we showed up at the restaurant, not realizing that Blaine had gone above and beyond to make the night as special as possible. He had rented out the entire place for me, him, and the baby, giving us complete and total privacy.
As we walked through the dining room, Blaine looked over at me and smiled, rubbing the baby’s head. I looked up and gasped, seeing the contrast of elegance and empty tables. In the center of the room was one round table, accented with candles and roses. There were two chairs and a high chair placed around the white table cloth, and the lights were dim and romantic. Blaine took the baby from me and sat him in the chair before turning to me and pulling out my seat. I nodded at him and sat, feeling him scoot the chair up underneath me. I expected him to take the seat across from me, but he stayed standing, watching as the server came and poured me a glass of champagne.
“I can still remember the day that I met you, with your wild eyes, sexy blue dress, and interesting way about you,” Blaine said, walking around to face me. “You told me that you weren’t the girl I was looking for, and at that moment, I knew that you might be wrong. I went home alone, a lonely bachelor dreaming of a girl he had only met for two seconds. Luckily, I had some good friends that made it possible for me to contact you. After our first date, I knew that I would never be able to look at another woman the same way. You’ve given me so many things in this relationship, I’ve lost count. Most importantly, you gave me our child, this beautiful baby that I can’t take my eyes off, unless I’m staring at you, of course. You made me the man that I am today, and you continue to push me to be even better and even stronger. You have given me so many things to look forward to, and not a single one of them has to do with work. To go from career obsessed to family obsessed was quite a feat, but it happened to me long before you showed me that little white test.”
I sat there and smiled, leaning my elbows on the table and resting my head in my hands. It wasn’t often that Blaine talked about our relationship, and this was the most he had ever said at one time. He didn’t need to say how he felt on a daily basis. He showed me every second of the day. He protected us, cared for us, and made sure that Tucker and I were safe and secure all the time. Still, sitting there and hearing the words was extremely moving, and I couldn’t help but be captivated by every word that came from his mouth. He reached over, picked up his glass of champagne, and took a long sip. I smiled at him, expecting that he was done and ready to sit down. I went to say something back, but before I could, he cleared his throat and walked toward me.
“Reese, I have spent countless days sitting in my living room, my office chair, laying in my bed, and riding in my car, thinking about you in my life,” he said, bending down on one knee and taking my hand. “I imagined us traveling the world, making a family, and spending the rest of our lives hand in hand, growing old together. You have given me the most beautiful baby ever born, and now, I’m asking one more thing of you. Please, make me the happiest and most content man on earth by promising me that you will become my wife.”
My hand flew up to my mouth, and I gasped, not expecting the proposal at all. He reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small black box, opening it up and revealing a large round diamond, surrounded by many small diamonds. He pulled the ring out of the box and looked at me, waiting for an answer.
“Yes,” I said, laughing. “Of course, I will marry you.”
I stood up as he did and wrapped my arms around his neck. I leaned in to kiss him deeply. He’d made all of my dreams come true thus far, and now, he was making our love permanent and eternal. He slipped the ring on my finger and smiled, kissing me on the cheek and leaning over and kissing his son on the top of his head. He sat down across the table and leaned forward, winking at me the way he did when we first met. I was completely enamored by this man.
We spent dinner talking about our pending nuptials, about the baby, and about our future. He wanted to buy a house outside of the city with a big yard that we could let the puppy run around in. I teased him, knowing he really had fallen for the puppy, but he just blushed and denied it more. On the way home from the restaurant, we held hands tightly, our excitement over the engagement and the love between us becoming extremely arousing. I could feel the lust building between us, and I knew that when we got home, I wanted to make love to him in a way that I never had before. I wanted to show him just how much I loved him, and I wanted to jumpstart our future with our bodies entangled with each other.
When we reached the penthouse, I quietly walked the baby back to his nursery, watching and smiling as Blaine took the puppy from the pen and headed down to walk him. We were an amazing team, and most of the time, we didn’t even need to speak to know what each other was doing. I walked into the nursery and swayed back and forth for several moments, making sure Tucker was good and asleep. Slowly, I leaned over the crib and gently laid him down, kissing my hand and pressing it against his forehead. I left the room and closed the door behind me, seeing Blaine standing in the middle of the living room floor, looking as dashing as ever.
I slowly walked over to him, reaching my hands down and taking his as I leaned forward and kissed his lips. He wrapped his hands around my shoulders and pulled me into his body, forcing a small whimper from my throat. When we pulled away, I looked him in the eyes and smiled mischievously, taking his hand and pulling him back toward the bedroom. I set the baby monitor on the dresser and pulled him close, reaching my hands up and pulling his jacket down and tossing it on the chair. I turned back and began to unbutton his shirt, one button at a time, looking deep into his eyes. I pulled my hands to the inside edges of his shirt and pushed it apart, revealing his strong, tanned chest.
I leaned forward and pressed my lips against his shoulder and moved inward as I rolled his shirt down his arms and dropped it to the floor. Immediately, my hands rubbed up his stomach and across his rippling muscles. His arms moved up and over my shoulders, grabbing my zipper and sliding it down, pushing the straps off my shoulders, and letting my dress drop to my feet. I carefully stepped out of it and watched as he unbuckled his pants, took them off, and watched me as I unclasped my bra, letting it slide down my arms, my breasts spilling out and bouncing up and down.
Blaine walked forward and leaned down, wrapping his mouth around my nipple, flicking his tongue sensually against it. I leaned my head back and moaned softly, feeling sparks of electricity bounce from my tit through my chest. He ran his hands slowly down my sides, picking his head back up and stepping forward, cupping my cheek with his hand and pressing his lips erotically against mine. I opened my mouth, allowing his tongue to enter, and whimpered as he rolled it around in my mouth, tasting me all over again. I had never felt passion like this before, and I let my head fall into his arms as he moved his lips all over my body. My knees were shaking, and I could barely stand, so I took a step backward and sat down on the bed, looking forward at his strong cock, struggling to get free from his boxers.
My hands moved forward and grabbed him by the hips, pulling him toward me. I looked up and bit my bottom lip, letting him know I was starting this one off.
Epilogue
Blaine
Chills ran up my spine as I watched her lick her lips and bite down on her bottom lip. I stood in front of her and ran my hand down my cock, feeling how hard and massive it had gotten. She pushed my hand to the side and hooked her fingers into my boxers, pulling them slowly down to my ankles and tossing them to the side. She leaned back up and grabbed my cock with her hand, steadying it as she ran her lips across the tip. I took in a deep breath as her lips parted and she slowly slid her mouth down and around the entirety of my shaft. I groaned loudly, feeling her sucking hard at the back of her throat as she pulled her head back and came up for air.
I thrust my hips forward, wanting more, needing to feel her plump red lips around my cock. She smiled and began bobbing her head up and down, opening her throat and taking me completely in. I wrapped my hand through her hair, feeling the need for control, but loving how she took charge. I watched as she sucked my cock fast and deep, her eyes watering as she looked up at me just before plunging back down and holding her mouth still, letting her throat contract around my shaft. Slowly, she moved her mouth back up, puckering her lips as she slurped at the tip of my dick. She pulled her head back and smiled as she dropped my dick from her hands and slid back on the bed until her back was pressed against the frame.
I stepped forward, but she put her hand up, asking me to wait. She lifted her hips from the bed and pulled her panties off, tossing them to the side and spreading her legs wide apart. My heart began to beat faster as she took her fingers and spread her wet folds apart, running her fingers down and through the wetness. She glanced down at my dick, and I reached around, wrapping my hand around it and beginning to pump my fist up and down my erection. A coy smiled moved across her lips, and she brought her other hand forward, taking over the rubbing of her clit as those fingers moved down and pushed deep inside of her.
Watching her was the hottest thing I had ever done before, and even though she spoke no words, the moaning coming from her throat told me every pleasure she was feeling. I watched as she leaned her head back and kept her eyes fixated on my cock. Her fingers began to move faster and deeper with every push, and her screams matched the rhythm of her fingers perfectly. I could see that she was reaching the edge of her orgasm, and I gritted my teeth, wanting to fuck her so badly.
Suddenly, her back arched, and her body twitched. Loud moans escaped her breathless throat. She pushed and pulled, finger-fucking herself until she came hard, her body rigid from the ecstasy flowing through her veins. As soon as her body had relaxed and her fingers had retracted, I lunged forward, throwing my face into her juices. I wanted to make her come again and fast, back to back. I reached my hand up and began to feverishly rub her clit, flicking my tongue in and out of her. She tried to squirm away, but I grabbed onto her and pulled her back toward my face.
The expression on her face changed to disbelief as I ran my lips and mouth passionately over her pussy. She grabbed at the sheets on the bed. The feeling of me restarting her engine before she had even recovered was driving her absolutely wild. Her mouth had dropped open, and she gasped over and over again, her body tight with anticipation. Coming once wasn’t nearly enough, and I wanted to see her face when that orgasm intensified the next.
I looked up at her as I ran my hand furiously over her nub, feeling her body shaking as the ecstasy began to release. She reached out and grabbed my hair, lifting her hips from the bed as I pushed her into a back-to-back orgasm. She threw her head back and screamed loudly, the rapid heat in her belly catching fire and then exploding with no warning. She gritted her teeth as her body convulsed and shook, her pussy sopping wet and ready for me.
As her shoulders sank back against the headboard, she rubbed her face with her hands and laughed, shaking her head at me in disbelief. She leaned forward and grabbed my face with her hands, kissing me on the lips and then pulling me down on top of her. She pushed her leg up and around my waist, keeping the other flat and stable. I grabbed the base of my dick and guided it forward, feeling the warmth of her pussy swallowing me whole. I thrust my hips forward, laying down on top of her and grasping onto her thigh. She moaned out, feeling my throbbing cock deep inside of her, the head thick and pulsating from the blow job. I wanted to feel her, taste her, and give her more pleasure than she’d ever known.
I wanted to be deeper inside of her than I had been before, watching her dance across my body. I looked down deep into her eyes and leaned forward, pressing my lips against hers. My hips moved at a rapid pace, thrusting harder and harder with every moan and every whimper. I leaned back up, straightening her leg and rolling over on my back, pulling her with me. She sat up straight, straddling me, my cock still inside of her. I reached up and grabbed her hips and watched as she began to grind against me hard.
I watched as her tits bounced feverishly up and down, and I growled loudly as she spread her knees farther apart and took me in as deep as she could. As I slipped in and out of her, I could feel the heat in my stomach begin to get hotter. Just watching her ride me was going to send me over the edge, but I wanted to make sure that she had been satisfied completely. My hands moved back up to her hips, and I pushed down as my body thrust upward, her face showing every mark of pleasure that she was feeling. She quickly began to bounce up and down, sliding my cock almost out of her before I pushed her hips down fast and hard, her body slamming into mine. Faster and faster, she bounced until I was moving her with my hands so fast that she reached up and grabbed her tits, holding them firmly as my hips pushed up, meeting her in the middle.
As I began to roll my body into hers, she gasped, her shoulders and legs stiffening over top of me. The feeling of her pussy shaking and contracting around my cock was too much for me to hold on to, and I slammed her body down onto my cock, pushing as deep as I could and groaning loud as I released my load. Ribbons of pleasure flowed relentlessly through me, and we came simultaneously, my cock pulsing against her pussy. For several moments, our bodies lay still, frozen together, and unable to break away.
As the orgasms subsided, I could feel Reese relax into me, her eyes still shut firmly. She reached down and pulled me out of her, collapsing to the side of me as she attempted to catch her breath. I lay staring up at the ceiling, listening to my heart beating so loudly that I could hear it in my ears. That had been the most sensual and sexual experience of my life, and I had the pleasure of having it with my new fiancée and mother of my child. Everything about the experience was new, exciting, and mind-blowing in so many different ways. I turned my head and looked at Reese, who was smiling and looking into my eyes. She chuckled slightly and raised her head from the pillow, leaning forward on my chest.
“That was literally the most amazing sex we’ve ever had,” she said breathlessly.
“I’m pretty sure that was the best sex anyone has ever had,” I replied.
She plopped back down on the pillow and rolled onto her back, looking up at the same ceiling that I was staring at. We laid there in silence for a while, feeling closer in that moment than we ever had before. The silence of the house was no longer awkward or uncomfortable, and these days, we craved it. She turned her head again and looked at me.
“I love you so much, Blaine,” she whispered.
“I love you so much, fiancée,” I said with a smile.
She leaned forward and kissed my lips, pausing as she heard the sound of the baby beginning to cry on the monitor. She smiled and leaned up, kissing me on the nose. I watched as she pulled herself from the bed and walked over to the door, grabbing her red satin robe and wrapping it around her body.
“I’ll get this round,” she said before disappearing from the room.
I lay there listening to the monitor, hearing Reese’s sweet voice talking to Tucker and easily calming his crying. She had an amazing way with him, and it was like the two were on a whole other level than I was. I didn’t mind it, though. I knew that our children would crave their mother’s attention just as much as I did. As she hummed him a lullaby, standing over the crib, I got out of the bed and pulled my boxers back on.
I clicked off the monitor and slowly tiptoed out of the room and to the doorway of the baby’s nursery. I watched the silhouette of a woman and a baby, the two most important people in my life, sway back and forth as Tucker began to fall back to sleep. Slowly, I crept forward as she laid him in his crib, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and leaning my head against hers. We stared down into the crib, watching the baby sleep peacefully below. He was the most cherished person in our lives, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. These were the two people that could make me or break me, but I didn’t fear them at all. In fact, I stood back with open arms, wanting them to find comfort with me by their side.
I reached up and kissed Reese on the cheek, smiling at how happy she looked. She hadn’t been that happy since I started planning baby stuff when she was pregnant, and even then, the love that filled her eyes now wasn’t yet there at that point. I pulled my lips next to her ear and quietly cleared my throat.
“What would you think about having another one?”
“Really, you mean that?” She turned excitedly toward me.
“Absolutely,” I said, nodding. “There is nothing in this world I want more than to grow and strengthen a family with you.”
“After the wedding,” she said. “I want to look absolutely stunning for you at the wedding. When it’s done, then we can start trying for another baby. Is that okay?”
“That actually sounds perfect,” I said, smiling and pulling her into my body.
We looked back down at Tucker for just another minute before quietly tiptoeing from his room and closing the door behind us. I walked behind Reese as we made our way back to the bedroom. I turned the monitor on and climbed into bed, pulling her as close as I could and kissing the back of her neck.
“I will love you for the rest of my life,” I whispered.
“Longer,” she said back, turning her head and smiling.
We had finally gotten everything we wanted, everything that would make up our happily ever after.