Sweet Surrender

by Rebel Wild

  “Carry on,” I tell him closing my eyes.

  I could get used to this. I love being on the water. Dad takes us out all the time but the fishing boats we rent are nowhere near as lavish as this. I feel Reed’s hand on my face so I open my eyes.

  “Let’s go for a swim,” he says. “I want to fuck you in the water.”

  I quickly get up to do as I’m told, looking forward to the cool dip and the hot sex.

  Thank God, Reagan likes being out on the water as much as I do. I love playing around with her and listening to her laugh every time I pick her up and toss her out into the water. I like it almost as much as I like her arms and legs wrapped around me like a vine when we give the fish a sex show. I pull her sexy as hell bikini bottoms over and slide into her. I’m pounding deep, letting the ripples we make carry us away as I fuck her. She’s been driving me crazy in this bikini all day.

  Reagan sees the surfboard I have hanging on the wall. I make the mistake of teaching her how to pop up on the damn thing the way she would if she was about to catch a wave. She’s doing fine, but the way her tits bounce when she jumps up has me making her do it over again. I think I have her do it about a hundred times before she catches on and gives up.

  We stay out until the sun is almost gone and her white cover-up is no longer keeping her warm.

  “You sure about this?” she asks now as she joins me at the wheel wearing the sweater and jeans I packed for her. “I don’t want to hit anything.”

  We’re bringing the boat in to dock and I want her to try steering it.

  “What could you possibly hit? There’s nothing close to us right now.”

  “Well, with my luck a sperm whale will come to the surface to breathe right in my path.”

  Even the damn whales want to give her their sperm. And who can blame them?

  “We make our own luck, baby. Just keep her steady.”

  I plant her in front of where I’m standing behind the wheel and place her hands where they’re supposed to be to guide the boat.

  “Wow,” she says when she feels the power of the boat in her hands. “This is so amazing. I can’t believe it.”

  I stand behind her, still able to see the exhilaration on her face as she smiles. The wind is whipping her hair all around us and it smells of salty water and fresh air. That’s when it hits me. It hits me so hard I almost lose my balance. I don’t believe I’ve ever experienced anything like this with anyone and I don’t ever want to with anyone but her. I want to share everything I love in my life with her. I want to share every experience with her. I never want her out of my life, not for a day, not for a single moment. I feel like the lead guy in every love song ever sung. I press my nose in her hair and she pokes me with her elbow to stop me from distracting her. Chuckling at her, I get my head right and refocus on helping her steer.

  Reagan wanted to try this new Italian place that just opened so I placed an order and picked it up before driving home.

  “It looks wonderful,” she says, after serving us.

  “It’s goddamn amazing,” I say digging in. She grins, too smug for suggesting it so I decide to mess with her. “I’ve outdone myself picking this up.” Her eyes narrow as her lips poke out at me. I laugh when her tongue soon follows. “So, what about dinner tomorrow? Are we eating here or going to my parents’?”

  “I would love to go with you.”

  “Wonderful,” I breathe. I watch as she tries to hide a yawn. “Let’s get you ready for bed,” I tell her. “Ginger can clean all this up in the morning.”

  We take a quick shower and she climbs in naked next to me.

  “What a perfect day,” she says lying on my arm and running her fingers through my hair.

  I want to respond to her but I can’t help but close my eyes and surrender to the feel of her. No one has ever done that to me before and it is incredibly relaxing.

  I’m jarred awake to the sound of the piano playing. I’m alone in bed so I know it must be Reagan because she’s the only one here. I go down to the living room and stop at the bottom of the stairs to listen.

  She’s playing a piece I’m familiar with, from one of Dad’s favorite movies. He used to play the soundtrack all the time. It’s Chopin Nocturne no.13 and it’s beautiful. It’s perfect. I had no idea she played like this. She’s in nothing but a pair of my boxer briefs. They’re too big, slipping down exposing the top part of her perfect ass. She looks up at me, closing the lid of the piano. Busted, I approach her.

  “Baby, that was amazing,” I say sitting down next to her on the bench. “I had no idea you played so well.”

  “Did I miss a note? I tried not to.” She shrugs.

  “Not even one. How?”

  “The music is still trapped in my head. I guess my fingers decided to cooperate tonight. I’m sorry I woke you.”

  “Why aren’t you in bed with me?”

  “I’m nervous about dinner tomorrow. What if your parents hate me? What if they think I’m just after your money? My family’s not on the same level as yours, Reed. Your parents are college professors and software design specialists. My dad’s a cop and my mom sells her homemade jewelry from a kiosk in our town mall. I’m not bringing a whole lot of wealth to the relationship table here.”

  “I don’t ever want to fucking hear you talk like that again. I don’t even want you to think it.” She blanches at my words and I sigh, softening to her. “I have yet to have the pleasure of meeting your parents, Reagan, but they raised you, so I know they’re two very superb human beings.”

  “They are. I couldn’t have asked for better. I didn’t mean to sound ashamed of them. They’re the source of all my pride. It’s just… I’m not used to eating with more than one fork. What’s the point of that anyway? What if they serve something that I don’t even know how to eat?”

  I love the fact that she’s so worried about meeting my parents. It says she cares a lot about me. But I hate her feeling that she can’t impress them. There’s nothing about her that’s unimpressive.

  “Do you trust me?”

  “More than anyone.”

  “Then trust when I tell you all of this worry is for nothing. My parents only care how rich a person’s character is and they raised their kids the same. They’re going to love you and it’s nothing like you’re imagining it to be. It’s just a simple family dinner.”

  “Okay,” she relents.

  “Reagan, you’re a phenomenal woman and I’m damn lucky my money doesn’t put you off, and that you even gave me the time of day, let alone agreed to be mine.”

  “I would never judge you for the money you have.” I just smile at her for making my point. “Fine,” she says.

  “Good. Now, I’m lonely in bed all by myself.”

  “Well, we certainly can’t have that.”

  She gets up, holding my underwear so they won’t fall off her.

  “Nice little ensemble you have on there, baby.”

  She laughs.

  “It inspired me when I saw you in it the other day.”

  I pull them off her and she lays with her back pressed into me. I rest my head on my hand as I sweep her thick mane over and run my fingers along the length of her exposed neck. She sighs and nestles in even closer to me. I can’t help but be in awe. She goes from sexy to shy to confident to doubtful so fast I can barely keep up with her.

  This girl has my head constantly spinning. I go from wanting to protect her to wanting to throw her over my knee and spank her all in the span of a damn minute. I can never guess what she’s going to do next.

  And you fucking love it. Stop lying to yourself. You love it just as much as you love her.

  “I do love it,” I say out loud knowing she can’t read my lips from where I am behind her. “I love knowing that you’re mine, baby. And fuck I can’t lie to myself anymore. I love you. I do. I love you so much,
Reagan.”

  “I love you too, Reed,” I hear her sweet voice say back to me.

  I crane my neck to look at her. How the fuck did she do that? I follow her eyes and I see her smiling at me in the vanity mirror she left on her bedside table.

  “Damnit, Reagan,” I say. She squirms underneath my tickling her for eavesdropping on me. I can’t fucking believe her until I remember what just happened. What the hell did we just say to each other? “You love me?” I look down at her and she nods her head.

  “I love you, Reed.”

  “I love you, Reagan. I love you so much, baby.” I stare down at her as she looks up at me. Everything just clicks together. The last piece of my life’s puzzle fits into its place. All the jagged edges are smoothed over. It’s all so palpable I can’t help but feel it and I know she feels it too. “This is it. This is what I’ve been missing. I didn’t even know anything was missing until I met you.”

  “I always knew. I’ve been waiting so long for you to find me. Never in my wildest dreams did I think you’d be…well... you. My dreams weren’t this perfect.”

  “Sounds like I have some making up to do for keeping my love waiting,” I say. She moans when I enter her. I start by taking my time making love to her until we are both sated and nearly comatose.

  “I love you, Reed.” Her voice is barely registering as it is heavy with sleep.

  “I love you, Baby,” I tell her with my eyes closed.

  Not sure if she read my lips or not, I reach and pull her close.

  Damn, I love this love thing.

  I take Reagan’s hand as we walk up the drive to my childhood home. She’s tense, but she’s managing well. She and I have been practicing signing to each other all day and she was quite impressed with how much I’ve learned. I’ve taken to signing with her when I talk. She gets a kick out of when I sign something I shouldn’t. I even manage to mistakenly get in a curse word or two. She won’t tell me which ones but I have ways of getting it out of her.

  “Ready?” I ask her before I open the door.

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  Dora greets us in the foyer and takes our coats.

  “They’re here.” I hear Dad say from the den where I’m guessing everyone’s waiting.

  “Let’s go out one at a time,” Mom says. “We don’t want to overwhelm her.”

  “You’re right, dear.”

  “I’ll go first,” she says to him.

  I can almost see her push him out of the way as she rushes out before he can say anything more.

  “I can’t believe you just fell for that, Dad.” I hear Alex laughing at him.

  “Reed,” Mom says coming up to us. She says my name but her eyes are on Reagan as she smiles warmly at her. I squeeze Reagan’s hand reassuringly as it dampens with sweat. “Reagan,” Mom says beelining to her with arms open. I step back as she pulls Reagan into her and I watch as they embrace. Shaking Dad’s hand when he comes out to join us in the foyer, I formerly introduce Reagan to my parents. “Oh, it is so nice to meet you,” Mom says.

  “We’ve heard a lot about you from Alex,” Dad says.

  “Where is my idiot brother?” I ask them.

  “You’ll eat those words one of these days, little brother,” Alex says, coming out from the den to hug Reagan.

  “Can we behave for one night, boys?” Mom says, taking Reagan away from him and guiding her into the den.

  I can tell she’s been on pins and needles waiting for us to arrive. I called her earlier and she was delighted when I said Reagan had decided to join us tonight. She let it slip that when Alex first told her I was interested in someone, she was worried. I can understand why. I’m sure my big mouth brother let her know how nervous I was that she’d shoot me down. Knowing Mom, she wanted to protect me from the sting of potential unrequited love.

  I think Alex liking Reagan put her mind at ease. One thing about him is he’ll be the first to let you know when someone’s shit stinks. Of course, I had to call him up and ask him what the hell he said to them to get them off my back and at the same time request to meet her.

  “I just told them the truth,” he said. “That when I got to your place, my jerk of a brother was nowhere in sight. You were sappy and even better, you were happy. Not to say I told you so, but I knew all you needed was a really good lay.”

  I hung up after telling him to kiss my ass.

  To her credit, Mom tried to stay away and let me introduce her to the family when I felt it appropriate, but her curiosity got the better of her when she showed up at my place.

  Unfortunately, Reagan wasn’t there but it worked out. Mom and I spent time talking over dinner and she gave me the rare gift of her advice which was to simply keep my mind and heart open and the answers will come to me. I know she worries about me and I wish I knew how to stop her from doing it. I worry about her too. She’s not the same since she lost Ryan and neither am I. We share in that experience. I know the rest of the family misses him too, but because mom and I were there, it seems different for us. It’s made us closer in a way, even though I tend to pull away from her. Seeing her reminds me of that day and I know it’s fucked up, but I just want to forget.

  Dad gives everyone champagne and we sit making conversation. Alex is the only one not shocked to see me sign when I speak and even translate for Reagan when she doesn’t want to type it out to them. We communicate so easily with smiles, winks, touches, and hands now. It’s a closeness that only lovers share and Mom’s face nearly burst with joy for me.

  At the dinner table, Reagan nearly laughs when she sees what we’re having. Mom tells her that tacos are my favorite. I wink at her when she sees that all her worries about not knowing how to eat the food were unwarranted.

  We go on with our meal as Dad and Alex go back and forth about how the Lakers are doing this year. I watch Mom out of the corner of my eye as Reagan lets me taste one of her tacos. She’s put a considerable amount of guacamole with lime on it and goes so far as to feed it to me. She gasps when Reagan whispers in my ear but I don’t react. I just give Reagan a quick peck on the lips instead. I smirk at Dad and Alex as they sit with mouths agape at the intimate exchange. Reagan looks their way once again and then scoots down in her chair a little.

  “Where is that sister of ours?” Alex says to cover. He already knows where she is. He dropped her off at school earlier.

  “She couldn’t make it,” Mom says. “She had an exam in her Political Science class and she couldn’t miss it. She was very tempted to. She’s looking forward to meeting you, Reagan. I convinced her to go by promising I’d invite you to her pool party next week.”

  “I would love to come,” I translate for her.

  “Excellent, “Mom says with a clap of her hands. “Myra will be so pleased.”

  Mom smiles at me as I shake my head at her. Myra’s been trying to get me to commit to coming to her pool party for weeks. The last thing I want is to be man candy for her friends, but now with Reagan coming, I have no choice but to attend. Hopefully one won’t pretend to be drowning again thinking I’m going to rescue her. She can lie at the bottom of that pool for hours for all I’ll care.

  “Your girl’s done it now, bro. Get those red trunks out of retirement,” Alex jokes and I throw my napkin at his head as Reagan laughs when he ducks the way he did that day in the kitchen. It’s obvious, I throw shit at him all the time.

  Mom packed us up some leftovers to take home, even though she knows we won’t starve, she can’t help it. The evening was a success and I check this off a list I didn’t even know I had.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Your parents are so great,” Reagan tells me as we ride back. I just smile at her. I knew they’d love her.

  “Good, so you won’t mind them popping over so much when we start living together permanently.”

  “Um, not at all,” she says. “
But… when are we… we’ve never discussed moving in together.”

  “I was going to wait to ask you after you graduated, but I don’t think I can wait that long.”

  “Are you sure about this?” she asks when I pull into the driveway and park.

  “I know I’ve been fighting this intimacy and bullshit thing. No one’s more surprised by how much I’m into it than I am. To be perfectly honest, I’m not into it, I’m just into you, and whatever all that means.”

  “Reed—”

  “Hear me out. I know it looks like I’m just throwing random stuff out there, but believe me, I’ve given this a lot of thought. I already have my guys coming over to wire the house the same way your dorm room’s set up. I want you to feel like it’s your home because it will be, if you say yes.”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes,” I repeat and she nods her head.

  “I really should make you work harder for me, but that speech was so cute. I don’t have the heart to make you wait.”

  “I’ll show you cute, woman,” I tell her, taking off our seatbelts and hauling her into my lap.

  The moan I’m rewarded with when I kiss her goes straight to my heart.

  “Are you really moving in?”

  “Yes, but you don’t have to go through the trouble of deaf proofing.”

  “No trouble at all and even if it was, I would do anything for you. You’re worth all the trouble.”

  “Wow, the things you say to me. And to think you thought you couldn’t pull off this boyfriend thing. I told you, there is nothing you can’t do.”

  I hold her close as we walk up the drive. I can’t manage to keep my hands off her until the strong vibrations of her phone buzzes between us. I let go long enough for her to check it.