Once Written, Twice Shy (The Broken Men Chronicles) (21 page)

Thinking back to the car ride and the fact that
she had fingered herself right there in front of me, I felt myself rise with
the need to have her again.  Aside from the occasional porn flick, I didn’t realize
how much voyeurism would appeal to me.  Then again, was there anything Alissa
did that didn’t appeal to me?  No, not really.

Lost in my reverie of the fresh memory, the scent
of her arousal still surrounding me, remnants of our earlier copulation, I
hadn’t noticed her return.

“I sure hope you plan on helping me eat this but
judging by that tent you’re pitching I’d have to say that you’re not hungry for
sweets just yet,” she said and leaned up against the doorway in her naked
glory.  She licked the bit of icing off of her finger before walking up to the
bedside.

“Actually, you couldn’t be more wrong, sexy,” I said
and took the plate with the cake from her with one hand and pulled her down on
top of me with the other.

Alissa had smeared a handful of cake over my chest
and if I thought that her kissing, licking and nipping had been erotic before,
the fact that she was eating our dessert off my body had me bursting at the
seams.  I wanted my turn to come but that mouth of hers had me at her mercy for
a little while longer.

I had grabbed the last bit of cake and massaged it
onto her breasts, bits falling and sticking to her stomach.  Soon enough it
would be my turn to show her how one eats off another.

I pulled her face up to mine and laughed at the sight
of chocolate smeared across her lips and chin.

“A hot mess,” I said, sucked a few crumbs and
icing off her chin before sucking her lower lip into my mouth which made her
moan.

As messy as this whole experience was, it was one
of the most sensual ventures I had ever enjoyed.

“I missed a spot.”  She pouted.

“You’ll never get it all off,” I said, “this stuff
is just too damn sticky.”

“That’s what you think,” she said, winked and gave
me a grin as if she knew something I didn’t and shimmied down my body, her
wicked mouth going to work again.

Showered and the sheets changed from our earlier
chocolate indulgence, we settled in bed with the TV on mute.

“I’m thinking about making it a rule where you’re
naked when we’re both home,” I said kissing the crown of her head.  Her body
shook with silent laughter while my fingertips tickled the skin of her bare
back and she cuddled into me.

“Only if you’re naked with me,” she said and dropped
a kiss on my chest.  “So, are you going to tell me what else you’re hiding?”

“There’s nothing to tell,” I said and hoped that I
was more convincing than I sounded to myself.

She looked up at me and said, “Sure, and that’s
why you’re not twitching like your itching to tell me what’s going on.”

“Honey, it’s for me to know and you to find out. 
I promise that you’ll love it when the time comes.”

Two weeks had gone by and everything was been going
great.  Jasper’s health was getting better every day to the point that Doctor
Messing approximated that he’d be able to come home in the next couple of weeks
if his neutrophil count kept going up and stayed high enough as well as his engraftment
which was a fancy term I learned meant that his body was agreeing and accepting
the transplant more and more.

With Messing’s help, we found a specialist to work
with Jasper on his slight speech impediment at Julie’s request despite the fact
that we had been told that our son’s difficulties might not be permanent.  My
ex had decided, for all of us that it was safer to err on the side of caution
and have someone work with Jasper as soon as possible.  I saw her point but I
also didn’t want Jasper to feel overwhelmed by this sudden extracurricular that
had seemed more frustrating to him than fun from the get-go.  Those initial
visits had not been fun with the boy breaking down in frustration which only
aggravated his
condition
as Julie referred to it.  The
minute my son got flustered, excited or suffered a sudden surge of any emotion,
his slur grew exponentially.

If you’re thinking right now that
I held resentment toward my ex-wife, you’re damn right I did!  I wanted Jasper
to have his normal life back.  I didn’t want to rush to hire a speech therapist
for him.  A four-year-old doesn’t need that kind of push that early in his
life.  But still, to keep the peace, I went with it and after about five
sessions, Jasper was making progress and was adapting well to the change in his
routine.  That in it of itself did wonders to still my conscience.

Earlier in the week, Jasper should
have started his first year of school.  He was all too disappointed to learn he
couldn’t go and more than upset that he didn’t get to make new friends.  My son
had voiced that all his classmates would have their friends by the time he got
there.  Try and explain to a four-year-old that it was possible to have
multiple friends and reassure him that he wouldn’t be cheated in his delay to
experience schooling.

It was now Saturday, and after
two weeks of keeping things bottled up, it was time for me to come clean with
Alissa.

My plan had been set in motion on
the day I had signed those papers at Jake’s office.  My parents had time to set
their affairs in order which was why I delayed telling Allie in the first place. 
The fact that we were busy with work and visiting Jasper whenever we weren’t at
our respective offices posed as another reason as to why I hadn’t given her the
news sooner.  My final reason for holding off on telling her…she was the queen
of surprises.  I felt like having some fun with the delivery of my news and it
was high time that I surprised her myself.

“What’s going on in that head of
yours?” she asked as she snuck her arms around my torso.

I hadn’t noticed her enter the
shower stall during my deep pondering session.  I turned and pulled her under
the steady stream of water that poured over me and faced her.

She wrapped her arms around my
neck, got on the tips of her toes to kiss me.

“How much I’m going to miss
having you around today,” I said.

“I’m only working a few extra
hours until dinnertime,” she said.  “You’ll get a whole day alone with Jasper,
one I think you both could use since I’ve been in the picture.”

“And all he’ll be talking about
is you,” I said.

She giggled.  “And I love him
even more for it.”

“Of course you do,” I said and
rolled my eyes.

“Do I sense jealousy?”

“Not really.  He knows you’re
mine,” I said and held her against me.  “He can talk about you until he’s blue
in the face, I’ll only enjoy hearing from his perspective on how perfect you
are for me, for him.  It’ll remind me of how much I miss you though.  I’ve
grown used to it being the three of us together.”

We finished with our shower, got
dressed and headed out for the day but not before Alissa had left me fused to
the spot I stood in with a spine-tingling kiss that promised me a reward for my
tiny sacrifice.  What she didn’t know was how I planned on collecting that said
reward later.

“I’ll miss you,” I said as I saw
her off from the front step.  “So you’ll meet me over at the ranch when you’re
done?”

“You know I will…times two,” she
said through her car window while backing out of the drive.  “Give Jasper a
kiss from me and I’ll see by five, not a minute later.”

***

It was nearing five now and Mom
was in the kitchen while Dad and I sat in the living room, our beers in hand
and talking about anything and everything.

My stomach did a flip when I
heard the light knock on the front door but the minute I opened it to let her
in, a sense of calm washed over me.

What would she think of what I’d
done?

“You’re early,” I said looking at
my watch and noticing that it was ten to five.

“I couldn’t stay away.”  She shrugged
her shoulders.  “Julie and I were done an hour and a half ago.”

“And you didn’t call?” I asked
and tried to get a read on her.

“It was your day with Jasper.  How
was your
man
day?”  She smiled and her arms wrapped around my neck while
looking up at me.

“Great,” I said and kissed her
smiling lips, “better now that you’re home.”

“But we’re not home,” she said.

“It is whenever you’re with me,”
I said.

“Charmer,” she said and patted me
on the cheek before giving me a small peck on the mouth.  “I can only imagine
what you want when you start spouting that stuff.”

“And you eat it up every time,
baby,” I said.

“Right you are, handsome.”  She
winked.

I took Alissa’s hand and escorted
her into the living room.  She was looking around and I could tell that she was
deep in thought.

“Pax,” she said.

“Hmm?”

“Is it just me or does it seem
like there’s a lack of furniture from the last time we were here?” she asked.

“For good reason,” my mother
said.  Alissa turned with me to face the woman who had now joined us.  “We’re
moving.”

“But why would you want to leave
a place like this?” she asked, looking at me with worry in her face but I
smiled back at her.

It hadn’t been the reaction she
had expected by the looks of things.  She knew I loved the place.  Hell, she
loved it too and had said so on numerous occasions.

“It’s time to move on, sweetie,”
Mom said, looking at Dad and smiling, “this house was built for a family and
I’m sure the new owners will love it as much as we have for all these years.”

“Someone’s already bought the
place?” she asked and squeezed my hand.

“That they did.  If you ask me,
it was a steal,” my Dad said and eyed me.  If I wasn’t careful the man would
give it all away.

“I hadn’t even realized it was
for sale,” Alissa said.

“Well, it wasn’t up until about two
weeks ago when we chose to go for it and live life a little more,” Mom said and
grabbed my father’s hand in hers as she sat on the arm of the chair, beside him,
“so we jumped on the first offer that was made.”

“Lucky family,” Alissa said and I
couldn’t help but notice that for as little time she had spent here, she seemed
to have formed an attachment to the place.

“Yes, they are,” Dad said.  “That
little boy will love it here as much as our sons ever did.  I hope they have
lots of kids.  This place needs at least a couple more on top of the one they
already have.”

My mother giggled.  I was beside
myself with what my Dad had just blurted out.

“There better be at least one of
their own,” Mom added and kissed Dad on the forehead as they shared a wistful
look between the two of them.

“How could you not want to fill
this house up with kids?” Alissa asked.  “It’s what I’d do.”  No sooner had she
spoken, she realized what she’d said and covered her mouth in shock.  I laughed
at her statement, her blush far from concealable.  “Provided I was happy, not
to mention married,” she added a little too late which made us all laugh at her
attempt at old school propriety.

“Of course, honey, of course,” my
mother said and winked at me.

Mom!
  I gave the woman a warning look.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Dad added
insult to injury.  “I guess wishes do come true.”

Alissa looked between my parents
and then at me and then did the same thing over again.  I couldn’t hide the
smirk from my face any longer.  All the woman did was smirk back but I saw the glimmer
of confusion in her eyes which was chased away with the gleam of suspicion.  The
three of us were grinning like the Cheshire cat by then.

“What’s going on?” she asked but
no one spoke up as we could tell she was reviewing the conversation in her mind. 
“Wait.  What?  Am I missing something here?”  She pointed a finger at me.  “You
should be upset but you’re not.”  She pointed in my parents’ direction.  “You’d
think that you two would be sad after all the years and good times spent here
but you seem to-”

“Son, tell her,” my Dad said with
a slight warning tone.

“Paxton,” Alissa turned to me, “what’s
going on?  Tell me
what
?”

I couldn’t hold the kid-like excitement
that was beginning to wrack my insides with giggles.  I broke into a fit.

“Paxton Lowell,” Alissa pushed a
second time and got up with her hands fisted on her hips to face me.  It only
caused my fit to get louder and for my father to join the raucous.

“Nice to see that you’ve found
one just like your mother, son,” Dad said which merited him a slap to the back
of the head from none other than my mother.  “Hey!”

“Don’t you dare laugh when I know
damn well you enjoy it when I get demanding,” she said and broke down into a
fit of giggles herself while I reached out and pulled Alissa so she sat
sideways on my lap.

“I didn’t say I didn’t,” the man
said.

“Guys,” I looked at my parents
with exasperation lacing my tone.  I turned to face Alissa again who was
brimming with impatience.  “Let me put it in a simpler fashion,” I said and
handed her a velvet box which I hoped would alleviate any remaining confusion
and help her piece the puzzle together.

“Paxton, one thing at a time
please,” she said and rolled her eyes.  “Now tell me what’s going on and then
I’ll open it.”

“The answer is in the box, gorgeous,”
I said and pushed her hand-covered box toward her body.  “Open it.”  She stared
at the box and rubbed the velvet with her fingers.  She looked up at me with
suspicion.  “Open it already.”

She did.

Her brows furrowed.

She picked up what was inside and
held it out in front of her.  “What’s with the key?  I already have one for the
house,” she said.

No one answered.

The next minute seemed to go on
for an eternity.

Wait for it…

I watched as those wheels turned in
that pretty little head of hers and then…Bam!

“Welcome home,” I said when she
looked up at me with a disbelieving grin on her face.

“You’re serious?” she asked.

“As a heart attack,” I said and
laughed.  “It’s been ours for two weeks already.  I wanted to tell you when the
time was right.”

“Why you…” she said and smacked
me on the chest and then turned to look at my parents.  “Please tell me this is
a joke.”

My parents both shook their heads,
indicating the negative.

“I was dropping something off
when Dad mentioned of their plans for a change of scenery.  I jumped at the chance
when they offered the house.  They signed the deed over to me on the same day I
took you to dinner,” I said.

“This is what you were up to?” she
asked and I nodded.  “Wow, talk about a big canary.”

“A
what
?” my father asked.

“She told me I looked like the
cat that had eaten the canary, that night,” I said.  “I almost spilled the
beans to her right then and there but based on this reaction, I’m glad I didn’t.”

She cupped her cheeks in her
palms and shook her head before letting her hands fall to her lap.

“What do I say to this?” she asked
herself aloud.

I grabbed her chin and brought
her face so she looked straight at me and said, “How ‘bout
when can we move
in
?” I suggested and offered her a sweet smile.

“You’re simply too much. 
This
is too much.  When
do
we move in?” she asked with watery eyes.

I wiped the stray tear that had
begun to trail down her cheek with the pad of my thumb and grabbed her cheeks
in my hands.

“Tonight seems as good a time as
any,” I said before kissing her.  “I have another confession however.”