Chapter Thirty-Six
Shelby
"Thank you for coming to the park with us," I said.
"I wouldn't have missed it," he replied, taking one of my hands. We were back in the living room. I had flopped down onto a couch, and he had sat down next to me. I wouldn't have said that I was tired too, but if I had the chance just then to take a nap, I probably would have. Jason had been with us since the night before, our first sleepover at my place. In the morning, since he had heard Damien first, by the time I was getting out of bed, he was already in his nursery, getting him dressed.
That morning, I had done something that I barely did anymore: actually prepared breakfast. It had started as a side effect of living alone years ago, but after having Damien, rushing every morning to get to work with him, I had started skipping breakfast or settling for an apple, or cracker while walking out the door as breakfast. It was a bad habit, something I wouldn't want Damien to develop, but with Jason in the house, I had been in the kitchen making pancakes, angry that I only had frozen berries and not fresh in case he preferred them that way.
The problem would have corrected itself once Damien got older and started eating real food. I would have prepared breakfast each day and eaten with him, no problem. Having Jason in the house brought back memories of living with people. I had Damien, of course, but, other adults: people who would share bills and generally have different expectations of me than Damien did. I had only ever lived with two of my past boyfriends and now alone, I had forgotten the routine and grounding that having other people around gave. Things as simple as preparing real meals to share.
I had never thought that I had been lonely. I hadn't been. I squeezed Jason's hand and looked at him. He was looking at me. Maybe I hadn't been lonely because I had wanted something specific that I hadn't even believed was in reach for me.
"You okay?" he asked. I nodded, sitting up and throwing one of my legs over his lap, straddling him. He pulled me in and kissed me. This was nice. I liked having him here. He helped with Damien, but even if he didn't, I liked being close to him. I wanted to be close to him. He wrapped an arm around me, lowering me to the couch. He kissed my neck, making me shudder with pleasure.
"Not here," I said softly. He kissed lower, pulling my t-shirt up. I giggled as his breath tickled the sensitive skin on my stomach. "Jason," I said, stopping him. He looked at me, eyes clouded with lust. We got off the couch; we didn't need to do it there. My bed was more comfortable anyway. I pulled him along behind me to the bedroom.
It was late afternoon. The sun's light was still filtering through the windows. Naked on my white linen, Jason looked almost angelic. His chest heaved, and his grip on my hair tightened as I sucked his cock. I palmed his balls, running my tongue up his length before feeding the engorged head into my mouth. He swore as I sucked him, leaning up on his elbows so he could watch me. We didn't really make sense, he and I. Our history spanned over a year and across the country, but truly, we were still getting to know each other. There was something new every day, whether it was foods he liked eating or what he wanted in bed.
I knew he liked this though; most men did. I carefully fed him into my throat, swallowing as I did. He groaned, and his hand went in my hair. He tugged gently, squirming a little, finding it hard to stay still.
"Stop," he said, "I'm gonna come." I released him, slowly, letting my tongue linger on the tip, leaking precum. Moving up his body, I straddled him again. I ran my hand up and down his length before positioning myself over him. He sat up and held my hips, controlling how fast he entered me. He took one of my nipples into his mouth, sucking as we rocked slowly together. It was perfect, slow and sensual. He was relentless with his mouth, his lips and teeth over my breasts and neck, but he let me ride him steady and hard until I shook and came, clamping down around him.
He flipped us over and drove into me, fast, hard thrusts to push him over the edge. He took a minute to catch his breath before he slid out of me and came to rest next to me on the bed. He pulled me into him, molding our bodies together, kissing my hair. I wriggled for him to release me. I slid out of the bed and walked quickly to the bathroom. I splashed my face with water and cleaned up. It would be nighttime eventually. I knew that Jason would stay long enough to put Damien to bed, but then he would go back to his place. We both had work the next day. I'd see him. I knew that I would; I had been seeing him every day since we had decided to split time with Damien, so why was I upset that he was going to leave?
I liked having him around, and I was going to go ahead and guess that he liked being around. How convenient would it be if he didn't have to leave whenever he came over, if I didn't have to stop at his apartment every day before coming home? He had planted the seed when he had first said that he wanted to move in. When he had, my reaction hadn't been to what he had asked, but what he had assumed without asking me first. My boyfriend and I had never lived together, but we had a four-month-old baby. I had been thinking about it lately, and now, I was done.
I walked out of the bathroom to the bed, pulling my panties and t-shirt back on.
"Going somewhere?" Jason asked. I looked over at him, naked on my bed. He looked comfortable, I thought, lying there like he owned the place. I would have been mad at anyone else who did, but he was right where I wanted him. I shook my head, climbing back onto the bed. I reached over his body to get to the nightstand, opening the drawer and pulling something out.
"I wanted to give you this," I said. He pushed himself up, so he was sitting and leaned back against the headboard. I kneeled next to him, placing the felt bag in his hand and closing his fist around it.
"What is it?" he asked, opening his hand. He picked the small bag up and flipped it around a couple times.
"Open it." He pulled the drawstring and held the bad upside down so the key that was inside fell out.
"What's this?" he asked.
"It opens the front door." I had a key to his place already, but I had held out on giving him one to mine. For one thing, he hadn't needed one. The way that our system had been set up, he would never have to come to my place when I wasn't there or otherwise have to let himself in. I probably owed him some credit anyway for being comfortable enough to give me his, even though I hadn't been comfortable enough to give him mine.
"I told you when I gave you mine, Shel, you didn't have to give me anything in return."
"I know, but I want you to have it."
"What does that mean?" he asked.
"It means you can finally stop punishing yourself with that tiny apartment." His brows shot up when he realized what I was telling him to do.
"Are you serious?" he asked. I nodded.
"I think it's time."
"Shel, are you sure? You don't have to. I jumped the gun asking before. I don't want you to feel pressured into anything."
"I don't," I said, smiling at him. "I want you to move in. Did you change your mind since asking last time?"
"No," he said, closing his fist around the key. "But I learned my lesson about pushing you too fast."
"I learned something about that too. You always lose more being scared than by taking risks."
"Are you sure it's what you want."
"I want you, Jason. I love you, and you can hardly move in that place. I know this isn't a mansion and moving into a house eventually would probably make sense, but I'd feel awful sending you back there."
"It isn't that bad," he said, laughing lightly. "But you're right." He kissed me. "This little announcement of yours couldn't have come sooner?"
"I gave you that key, Jason; I can take it back," I threatened jokingly. He kissed me again.
"Thank you, babe. I love you too." He looked at the key in his hand again. "What now?" I shrugged.
"What else is there? You move in, and the rest will have to sort itself out."
"How will that happen?"
"It won't just happen; I know that. We'll figure it out, together."
"Hm. I like the sound of that." He hugged me to his chest and kissed my forehead. "Wait here," he said, getting up. I sat on the bed, enjoying the view as he looked for something on the ground. All mine, I thought, watching him pick his pants up. He searched for something in the pockets.
"What are you looking for?" I asked. He came back to the bed, handing me a small, white fabric jewelry bag.
"Open it." I felt the bag between my fingers, trying to get a sense of what was in it. I pulled the string and looked inside. Whatever it was caught the light, shining up at me. I upended the bag over my hand, and a ring fell out. My breath caught in my throat looking at it. It was beautiful. Thin bands of braided rose gold, making a simple, elegant ring. It didn't really look like what I thought it was but that didn't stop me from thinking that it was anyway.
"J-Jason, what is this?"
"I got it a few days ago, after you left with Damien. I know in the bigger scheme of things it hasn't been that long and it hasn't been that smooth or normal, but if we're going to be living together, I want you to have it."
"Is it... is it a...?"
"According to the guys at the store, no, not in the traditional sense, but we aren't the most traditional people. We should at least do one thing right, though," he said, taking it out of my hand. He looked at it, rolling it between his fingers. "I want you to know that I'm good for it. I'll be here for you and for Damien, for whatever you need, whenever you need me. Taking this next step together, I want you to make an honest man out of me." I blinked back the tears that were brimming in my eyes. He looked at me. "Will you marry me, Shel?" I laughed, wiping the streaks of tears from my face.
He would never learn, would he? How was he always leaps and bounds ahead of me? How did he give me an engagement ring after I had asked him to move in with me? What kind of exchange was that? I wanted it though. I wanted him, and there was no question about it. There was no way to know what would happen with us or how to prepare. All I knew was I wanted to be with him, no matter what did. I sniffed and nodded. He took my hand and slid the ring onto my finger. Not a diamond ring that cost the same as the down payment on a house; something so much more. I cupped his face, kissing him fiercely. He wiped my face, asking whether I liked it. It was perfect. He was right about us not having gotten together in the most traditional way. It was perfect.
"I can't believe you did this," I said, looking down at the ring. It was never coming off. Even the fit was right, how had he gotten that?
"Why wait anymore?" he said, shrugging, admiring the ring on.
"What now? Do you have the wedding all planned out too?" I teased.
"No, you can handle all that. I think my work here's done," he said lightly. "What do you want to do?"
"Move in first," I said, "then we can talk about the other stuff."
"We'll figure it out," he said confidently. "I don't know about you, but I'm not in a hurry." For once, I thought. We were getting married; he was moving in; everything was about to change.