He climbed up into the nook first, then helped me in.
We lay on our sides, face to face, and kissed slowly as we stroked each other’s bodies, hands caressing every inch of skin.
The touching and kissing moved seamlessly to making love. We moved together, first one gazing down at the other, and then rolling again to switch places. He moved deep inside me, and neither of us dared look away from the other.
I came first with him on top, and then again after a roll. After the third orgasm, I was delirious with ecstasy, and lost count. He shifted my leg and drove deeper, trembling with his desire. I gazed up at him through my eyelashes, and I saw his face change before he climaxed. I saw him surrender to love, for the second time that day.
CHAPTER 44
One year later.
What happens next, after you marry the perfect man?
First of all, you float around in a cloud of happiness, and the things that usually bother you don’t seem so bad. I feel like the weather has gotten better since I married Dalton, but it could be all the time we spend in sunny LA.
We’ve been married a year now, and so many wonderful things have happened in the last twelve months.
I’ve got an incredible new career. I’ll tell you about it in a minute, but first let me catch you up on what everyone’s doing.
My new bestie, Mitchell, convinced my original bestie, Shayla, to move in with him after his roommate took a job in an off-Broadway play in New York. Shayla gave notice at her job and moved to LA two weeks later.
If you think I spend a lot of time over at their apartment, you’d be right! I’ve added several pieces of inspirational art to their art wall.
Shayla is still working in the restaurant business, only now she’s a manager, and working her way up the corporate ladder. She has vowed to stop dating unattainable, inappropriate men. That’s what she says. What she actually does is another story. It’s a lot like how Mitchell swears off dating models, only to dive right into a relationship with the next one, swearing it’s “different this time.”
Speaking of male models, Keith Raven is doing well. I thought he’d get back together with his ex, Tabitha, but he fell for an Italian girl. I don’t know too many details, because we haven’t kept in close contact. Our brief relationship was so intimate that I don’t feel right talking to him now that I’m happily married.
As for my other ex, Adrian Storm, he kept to his word and worked at the bookstore through Christmas. After that, he hired and trained a replacement, and left for Chicago. We haven’t stayed in touch, but whenever I see his parents over at my parents’ house, they tell me he sends his best.
Adrian and Golden became an official, monogamous couple at the first annual Beaverdale Duck Pond Park Picnic, which happened the same day as my wedding. I felt sorry for Golden for a while, because she seemed to have been his second choice, though who could say, really? They had this whole funny drama between them that seemed straight out of a romantic comedy movie. He wanted her to come to Chicago with him in January, but she wasn’t sure she could give up her job, then he proposed, and she freaked out and said he was only worried about being alone, and didn’t actually love her. He packed his bags and took a bus to the airport to leave a day early, so when she came to her senses, he had already left town, and… you can guess where this is going, right? Yes, she raced against time to get to the airport, where they declared their love for each other in front of everyone getting frisked and scanned for security.
Good for them, I say!
My parents just celebrated their twenty-seventh anniversary in March of this year, and added a twenty-seventh decorative pillow to their bed. They may have to get an extra bed soon, just for the pillows.
My mother told me that every time they see Dalton’s father at a family event, my father is extra attentive to her needs for several weeks after. They seem as happy as ever, though my father still has the recliner up in the attic for when he needs to annoy her about something.
Kyle is eight now, and he surprises me by how great he is at sports. The kid is way more coordinated than I was at his age, and he’d be on every sports team in town if my mother let him. I really notice the changes in his maturity. He’s more guarded with his emotions now, mostly because he wants to spare my feelings. It’s not always easy for him, having a big sister who gets talked about on the gossip sites, but I try to make time for us, one on one, whenever I visit. I think he’s going to grow up to be a remarkable man one day, and I’m going to cry at every single graduation and milestone. When he’s old enough, we’ll tell him the truth about how he came into this world, and I think he’ll understand.