Still the One (8 page)

was better, because too many more nights of this and he‟d have carpal tunnel

syndrome for sure.

After his yawn-worthy orgasm, Dean soaped up and washed his hair. When he

rinsed off, he made a point of making sure all his little creamy soldiers marched

single file into the drain before he turned the water off.

To his surprise, when he pulled back the shower curtain, Creigh was standing

against the closed bathroom door with a towel in one hand. “I really am sorry.”

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Wow, she saved him for having to go first. He could get used to this. “Thank

you for saying so. I appreciate it.” He shot her a quick smile as he took the offering.

He knew it took a lot out of Creigh to make the first move—the least he could do

was acknowledge it. Besides, it wasn‟t as if he was upset at her. Just the timing.

“It‟s just one of those things us parents have to deal with, and I have to learn to

control my impulses a bit more. Slamming the door was just stupid.”

“Are you still upset?”

Dean thought about it a moment. He wanted to give her a truthful answer and

not just something off the cuff. “No. I‟m not. I wasn‟t even upset then. Well, not at

you and especially not at Hamilton.”

“Then what about?”

Dean began to dry off as he thought of the right thing to say. “The situation

mainly. I thought things were going good.” That was an understatement. “Real good

and then all of a sudden it came to a screeching stop. Not exactly my idea of a great

way to end the evening.”

“Well just because our plans were changed last minute doesn‟t mean we can‟t

have fun.”

“Only fun I want to have is of the sleep variety.” The shower had mellowed him

down. Dean felt like he was only one chromosome away from Jell-O.

“Sleep?”

“Yeah.” He wrapped the navy blue towel around his waist then made his way

to the sink. “For some reason, I‟m tired as hell.”

“You sure about that?”

“Very.” Dean picked up his hairbrush and began to brush his hair. “I‟m tired.”

Creigh walked over next to him and hoisted herself up on the sink. She

watched him for a few minutes before she spoke again. “How tired are you exactly?”

“Extremely,” he said as he set the brush down next to her slim thigh.

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“Too tired to finish what we started?” She ran her fingers down his arms and

smiled in a come-hither way. Ten minutes ago, he would have taken her up on the

very blatant offer she was slinging his way, but it was ten minutes later and he

wasn‟t in the mood. ”I really hate the fact I was the only one who came.”

“Don‟t feel bad. You weren‟t. I handled it myself.” Almost as if he couldn‟t help

himself, he added, “Like I do almost every night, by myself, in the shower.”

Her eyes widened at his reply. “You masturbate every night in the shower?”

“Not every night, but damn almost.”

“Have you ever thought that maybe you could be having sex with, oh I don‟t

know, me instead?”

Dean shrugged. “Sure. Thought it tonight, but see how well that worked out

for us.”

“We could have had sex tonight.”

Was she kidding
? “When?” he asked, truly perplexed. “In the small space of

time before Hamilton climbed into our bed, or now, with you bent over the sink and

him in the next room.”

“Either of those would have worked for me.”

“But not for me.” Dean loved sex and sometimes a quickie was fun, but frankly

it was becoming the routine and he was interested in spending some quality time

with his wife.

“Are you really saying you prefer jerking off to sex with me?”

“No, I‟m saying I prefer jerking off to the quick rub off we do these days. It

takes us longer to make the bed with clean sheets than it does to sneak it in these

days.”

“And that‟s my fault?” Creigh crossed her arms over her chest as if she were

shielding herself.

“No, Creigh, that‟s life. And I‟m getting used to it.”

“You‟re getting used to a sexless marriage?”

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“Do I have another choice right now? I love you. I want to be with you. I‟m

never leaving, so that means I‟ll have to deal with the lack of sex until we can get

back into a regular routine.”

“Or until you find someone on the side.”

“Don‟t be ridiculous, Creigh.” That wasn‟t a mistake he ever planned to make,

and it bugged him she would even imply he would. “I don‟t want another woman. I

want you.”

“But you go to your hand instead.”

“This hand doesn‟t have as many responsibilities as you do,” he teased, trying

to get her out of the funk she was obviously wallowing in. “It‟s just a bad patch right

now. It will get better.”

Creigh looked down and spoke so softly he almost didn‟t hear her. “Yeah, but

will you be around by the time it is?”

Sighing, Dean cupped her chin and tipped her face up toward his. He stared

down into her eyes, putting as much love into his own as he could. “I guess you‟ll

have to trust me enough to know the answer to that.” And maybe he would have to

find a way to prove it to her. “But until then, trust me enough to believe I‟m dog-ass

tired, and all I want to do is crawl into bed with my beautiful wife”—Dean smiled—

“and my cover-stealing son and just bring this entire night to a close.”

“It is late.”

“Getting even later the longer we stand here.” Dean placed his hands on her

hips and helped her off the sink. “Let‟s go to bed.”

“Only if you promise to have lots of dirty dreams about me and not your hand,”

she said as she unlocked and opened the door.

“He means nothing to me. I promise,” he replied when she turned back around

to face him.

“He better not,” Creigh grumbled good-naturedly. “You know I‟m very

possessive.”

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51

“If I didn‟t, I do now.” Laughing, Dean wrapped his arm around her shoulders

and led her out of the bathroom. The second they left the bathroom they went their

separate ways—Creigh to go check on the girls one more time, leaving Dean to slip

into his night clothes and put away his towel.

When he made his way to the bed, Dean spotted Hamilton sound asleep in the

middle of the bed, stretched out like he had no worries in the world, and Creigh

lying behind their son, eyelids heavy like Halla‟s after a good feeding. Dean sat on

the bed, then leaned over their son and kissed Creigh gently on the lips. Her eyes

flew up as if he‟d startled her.

“Sorry about that.” He smiled. “Just wanted to tell you good night.”

“No problem,” she said in midyawn. “Guess I‟m a little tired too.”

“Get some rest, cara. The shop is going to be packed tomorrow.”

“Trust me. I know.”

Dean wished he could say more, but nothing worthy came to mind. So instead

he just gave her one more parting smile, then lay down and rolled over to face the

wall. Even though he was dog-tired, sleep didn‟t come right away. He just lay in the

dark, listening to Creigh and Hamilton breathe. When Creigh‟s breathing finally

lulled into a nice even tempo, he rolled over onto his other side so he could see her.

Unlike him, she‟d been facing him the whole time, with one hand cradled

under her cheek and the other wrapped around Hamilton, who was cuddled up to

her just as he had as a kid. They both looked peaceful in their sleep. No ghost

chasing Hamilton in his dreams and hopefully a night of rest for Creigh, who was

overworked and underappreciated by everyone but him.

She was his world, and if it took a year or two of hand jobs before they could

finally get all the kids out of the bed and sleeping through the night, then he‟d just

stock up on lotion and deal with it. Because he wasn‟t going anywhere. Ever again.

She was the love of his life and worth the wait.

“It‟s going to be all right, Creigh,” he whispered. “We just have to give it time.”

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Lena Matthews

She stirred slightly but didn‟t answer, but he could have sworn he saw a ghost

of a smile pass over her lips before she rolled over and burrowed deeper in the bed.

It was as close to an okay as he was going to get tonight, but it would have to

do for now.

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53

Chapter Five

“Oh my God.” Creigh slumped against the locked door of her flower shop and

let out a sigh of relief. “I didn‟t think we‟d ever close.”

“I‟m willing to bet if you hadn‟t turned the sign over to closed, we‟d still have

people strolling in.” A-mei tilted her head to the side. “Maybe we should stay open a

little later. It is only six, after all.”

Only six
. To Creigh it felt as if she‟d been in the shop all day. Even with Sergio

chipping in for a few hours in the morning and their other employee working a few

hours in the evening, the store had still been a madhouse. “You are insane.”

A-mei lifted money out of the register and waved it for Creigh to see. “No, I

simply enjoy turning a profit. We won‟t have a day like this again until May.

Forgive me for thinking an extra hour would have been nice.”

“And what would we have sold?” Creigh gestured around the almost bare shop.

“The potted plants or birthday balloons. Anything else that could be slightly

conceived as romantic was sold. It‟s a good thing we have a shipment coming in

tomorrow or we‟d be screwed. We almost were today anyway. That delivery you took

this morning basically wiped us out as it was.”

A-mei waved her words away. “Only calla lilies and white roses. Besides, I

already had the lilies on order for that customer. He was very adamant that they be

calla lilies. The white roses were a bonus. One we‟ll be spending for several weeks to

come.”

“True.” Creigh nodded in agreement as she headed to the register where A-mei

was counting down the drawer. “Whoever he‟s giving them to is one lucky ducky. I

wonder if it‟s true love or bait to get out of the doghouse.”

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“More than likely both. He is a man, after all,” A-mei said drily. “He seemed

like a good guy though, and if whoever he gives them to doesn‟t appreciate the

flowers or the thousand dollars he blew to buy them for her, then he can drop her

and get with me. I‟ll appreciate the hell out of him. All day. Every day. No problem.

What about you?”

“I don‟t need flowers, just a kiss and a card will do for me,” Creigh said as she

watched A-mei fill their bank bag with all the money from the register, then move it

to the safe under the counter.

“And did you get those?”

“Not yet.”

“That explains why you came in here looking like who done it and why.”

“No, it doesn‟t.” Creigh turned her neck from side to side to work out the kink

that had been in there this morning. “I just had a rough night.”

A-mei looked up from the safe and arched a brow. “Should I be jealous?”

“No…well maybe…some parts were jealous-worthy.”
Blush-worthy too.

“And the others?” A-mei asked as she stood and stretched her back.

“Just…sad.” Hell, Creigh was sad just thinking about it.

“Why?”

“Because my husband would rather jerk off than have sex with me.”

A-mei frowned. “Is that what he said?”

“No, but it‟s kind of hard not to miss when he up and does it.”

A-mei stared at her blankly. “I‟m confused as hell.”

“So am I.” Despite being unsure of her own feelings on the subject matter,

Creigh confided in A-mei, leaving no detail out, no matter how graphic it was, just

so she could get her cousin‟s input. “Then he gave me a kiss and rolled over and

went to sleep. This morning he told me he had some errands to run and would be

closing the bar this evening. He said he‟d tried to stop in for lunch, but that didn‟t

happen and that‟s it. It‟s Valentine‟s Day, and I‟ll be spending it at home watching

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55

the
Dora
special while my husband will be pouring drinks for college-aged girls

looking to give what he obviously isn‟t getting at home.”

A-mei paused in the midst of tallying up the dailies to give her cousin an

annoyed look. “I don‟t know what I pity you more for. Your lackluster sex life or

your stupidity.”

Creigh stiffened at the insult. “I‟m not stupid.”

“You‟re obviously not burdened with the brights either,” A-mei said as she

slammed the ledger closed. “I can‟t even concentrate on this right now. You‟re giving

me a headache.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Dean,” she said impatiently. “That man loves you more than Beyoncé loves

lace fronts.”

“I know he loves me.” Creigh didn‟t doubt that at all. “I‟m just upset I‟m

obviously not meeting his needs.”

“Then meet them.” A-mei said it as if the answer was obvious.

Creigh was so taken aback she hardly knew what to say. A-mei wasn‟t

supposed to be on Dean‟s side. She was supposed to be sympathizing with Creigh.