Noah

“Turn around.”

Callie turned in my arms, steadying herself by not losing contact with me. She snapped the waist of my now soaked shorts.

“Really?” She grinned and laid her head on my chest. “You afraid I’m going to take advantage of you.”

The shorts weren’t much of a buffer as I grew hard rubbing against her stomach. I tried to ignore it and ignore the fact, showering with Callie usually led to amazing sex. Maybe we were both water animals in our past life.

I washed the dirt and mud from our bodies.

Callie clung to me tighter and titled her head up.

“I’m really tired.” She sounded like a four year old.

“Let’s dry you off and get you to bed.” I ran the removable showerhead over her back side once more. I turned off the water and wrapped Callie in a huge stark white towel. She pulled the shower cap off her head and shuffled over to the mirror.

I peeked into the bedroom. Nip and Valentine both sat in the middle of the bed, actually touching each other waiting to see if Callie was okay.

I chuckled.

“What?” She asked.

I pointed.

“Oh, look.” Callie held her hand over her mouth. Tears sprung to her eyes. “They do love each other.”

Valentine stood up concern on her little white face.

“They have one thing in common.” I said as I walk up behind her. “They love you. How do you feel?” I rubbed her shoulder and she winced.

She opened the towel and inspected a purple and black bruise forming on her shoulder.

“I guess no off the shoulder dresses for the big day.” She touched it and winced.

I leaned over, and placed a soft kiss on the ugly mark.

“We don’t have to do this on Friday,” I said.

Wrong thing to say. Her tired eyes lit up and the pout on her face turned into a glaring scowl.

“Hey.” I grabbed her hips and held her to me. “Relax. It was just a suggestion.”

“It’s all settled.” She pushed away from me and walked into the bedroom. “Don’t argue with me. I can’t think straight.” She plopped on the bed.

Valentine approached and Callie pulled her into her arms and kissed her head.

“I missed you little one.” She said to Valentine. “We have so much to catch up on.”

Nip inched across the bed. More tentative. Callie gave him some attention, rubbing his belly without taking her eyes off of Valentine. I got vision of Callie and babies.

I shuddered and shook the thought out of my head. One step at a time.

I knelt in front of her and dried her off before dressing her. She stood to step into the shorts. She ran her hand through my hair, twisting the strands between her fingers.

“I don’t think we should wait.” Callie said and dropped back down on the bed. “This way the wedding can be about just about us.”

She motioned to the dogs.

“We never got married on the blog.” I asked. I hadn’t read the entire blog.

“No.” She said. “I wrote about it, but never published it.”

“What did it look like?” I asked as I lead her to her side of the bed and pulled the covers back.

She slid between the white sheets.

“We got married on the Brooklyn Bridge.” She said. Her eyelids flickered. “It was just you and me and a hippie shaman we flew in from our trip to Bali.”

“Noah and Carrie went to Bali.”

“Oh yeah. It was a great trip. They had sex in a sacred pool and then got kicked out of the place for being obnoxious indecent Americans.”

I laughed.

I pulled the deep mahogany quilt up to her chin and tucked her in. I turned.

“Don’t leave.” She reached a hand out.

“I’m not going anywhere.” I sat on the edge of the bed.

Callie scooted onto her side. Valentine crawled over Callie and situated herself next to her mommy. Nip was continent to rest his paws over her hip and guard the bed.

I sat and looked at her. I pushed her fiery red hair away from her face. Her beauty blew me away the moment I saw her. I had sworn off women, done with them and she’d taught me how to love. What I was doing with women before I met her wasn’t love. It was a constant battle between me knowing they didn’t want me for me and me given them enough of me to make them stick around, but only on my terms.

Callie got to know me because all she had was the public persona and the fantasy of me in her head. She put all that aside and fell in love with me. At times I forgot that, but she would remind me.

I wasn’t real until I met her.

“What are you thinking about so hard?” She asked.

“Writing my vows.” I said and chuckled.

He eyes grew wide.

“Oh, tell me.” She leaned up.

“Nope.” I shook my head and pushed her back down. “Get some rest. You’ll have to wait until Friday.” I leaned over and kiss her soft lips. I pulled back a little, stared at her. She’d done so much for me. I wanted to thank her. I kissed her again. Her eyes blinked and then they closed.

“I love you.” I whispered.

I made sure she was asleep before I pulled on sweat pants and a t-shirt and headed down stairs. I found Preston and Kate in the living room, curled upon the couch watching a movie.

My stomach growled. I headed for the kitchen.

“Hey.” Kate turned and looked over the back of the couch. “How is she?”

“Tired.” I opened the refrigerator.

“The chef made dinner.” Kate pointed to a covered plate on the counter.

I pulled the cover off and my mouth waters at the shrimp and pasta dish underneath.

I grabbed a noodle and slurped it in my mouth before taking the whole plate and putting it in the microwave.

When it was warmed up. I grabbed a fork and joined them in the living room.

“This wedding on Friday is legit?” Preston asked. “Not some concussion induced temporary psychosis.”

“No. I don’t think so. It’s going to happen.” I twirled my fork in the pasta. “She wants it to be just about us. You know, Callie is weird about the whole fame thing. I guess she figures the longer we wait, the more out of hand it might get.”

“And the whole wedding anxiety before she hit her head?” Kate held her hands open.

“Oh, that was fear.” I said. “I guess falling off a mountain makes walking down an aisle not so scary.”

Kate narrowed her eyes.

“Fuck, Kate.” I grunted. “I don’t begin to understand how woman think. I’m just happy that that woman,” I pointed up the stairs, “wants to marry me.”

“Oh, she wants to marry you.” Preston grinned. “Yeah. You better lock that shit down quick. You may not have another chance ever again.”

I shook my head and returned my attention back to the pasta.