Love's Taming(85)

“That’s it, sunshine.” He buried his face in her silky hair as he felt his orgasm overtake and he emptied himself deep into her. Thrusting several more times as though to eke out every bit of him into her waiting body, he finally lay sated, panting as he pulled her back in closely once again.

Both lay side by side, letting their racing heartbeats slow and their breathing become less ragged.

Lifting his head so that he could see her face, he asked, “You okay, baby?”

“Um hmm,” was the only reply.

Rolling her to face him, he asked again, “Baby, look at me. You okay?”

She opened her eyes and stared at his beautiful pale blue eyes, full of concern. “I am, honey. Why?”

Shane pushed her sweat-damp hair from her face and stared back into her beautiful eyes. “We’ve gone at it quite a bit since we got home. Just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“Oh, honey. I’m perfect,” she said with a grin as she leaned in for a kiss.

“Yeah you are, sunshine.”

The rest of the day was spent in a rare day of working around the house in the morning and piling up on the sofa watching baseball on TV in the afternoon. The house was beginning to really feel like home and Shane always said he liked her decorating in family. Looking around at the pictures on the mantle, she wondered when they would add more. Marriage, children. They hadn’t talked about these things yet, so she wondered if he wanted them as much as she did. Looking over at his strong profile staring at the large screen, she realized that she wanted him in her life forever.

He looked over at her staring at him and lifted his brow in question. Wrapping his hand around her neck, he brought her gently over to him, tucking her tightly next to him. “What’s on your mind, baby?”

“I was just wondering where you saw us going, Shane.”

He smiled, knowing that her honest question showed exactly what he loved about her. No pretense. No making him try to guess what she was thinking or needing. He thought back to his two years of darkness. All that time trying to guess what the hell everyone needed without letting them know who he was and I walk out to pure, fuckin’ sunshine.

“I see us gettin’ married and having kids. Living in this house and raising our family here,” he said honestly.

She twisted quickly in his arms to stare intently into his expressive eyes. All she saw looking back at her was love. Smiling, she grabbed his face and kissed him with all the love she had. “I hoped for that, but wasn’t sure if it was what a beast like you wanted.”

“Sunshine, don’t you know? You’ve tamed this beast.” With that, the baseball game was forgotten as he reminded her just how much he loved her.

* * *

Monday morning found Annie hurrying down the street toward the clinic, her pastry bag in her hand. Smiling, she remembered Mrs. Greenwald sharing that she finally had a date with Mr. Machelli. “Hmm, love is in the air, so maybe I can do some work on Suzanne and Matt. They both need someone to love.”

Running into the clinic, she found Leon in a panic. “Suzanne hasn’t come in yet and Carl called to say that he won’t be in either. So it looks like it is just you and me, doc. Thank goodness it’s an easy morning. We don’t have any early appointments.”

“Suzanne texted me this morning to say that she was sick and couldn’t come in, but I didn’t know about Carl. Well, if we get anything major in we’ll just have to refer them to the emergency vet.”

Annie walked in to the back area to make sure they were ready while Leon manned the front desk. Hearing the jingle of the front door, she knew that Leon was greeting whoever was coming in so she made a quick trip to the office to store the pastries and fire up the computer. A loud thump came from the front and she walked out, not hearing anything else. That’s odd. Usually Leon talks non-stop to the clients. She walked through the lab area to head to the front when suddenly she stopped in her tracks.

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the face of the young man from the van of puppies she had encountered a few days previously. In his hand he waved a black plastic device, but she didn’t know what it was.

“Where’s Leon?” she whispered, her eyes never leaving his hand.

“You don’t know what this is, girlie? I got me a stun gun and your man out there is not gonna be botherin’ us. Now you do just what I say and I won’t have to use this on you.”

A small dog came running over to the man’s feet and he immediately kicked out, sending the dog whimpering away.

Annie’s eyes, wide with fright, looked at him with her questions unspoken.