by Aj Harmon
“I really enjoyed our cooking lessons. I learned how to cook, well at least you got me on the right track, and I got to know you. I loved spending time with you and I didn’t understand how much ‘til our Saturdays came to an end. I found myself moping around all day, not knowing what to do with myself. And when Audrey tried to set me up again a couple of weeks ago, the thought repulsed me, not just because I had memories of the last time she’d set me up, but because I just wasn’t interested in seeing anyone but you.”
He took a breath and Lindsey’s brow unwrinkled just a little.
“I found myself thinking about you, not just on Saturdays, but on Mondays and Thursdays and every other day too. And then I saw my brother Mark and how miserable he was because his wife is out of town and I saw an expression in his face that I’d seen in my own. I just missed you…terribly.”
The wrinkle was entirely gone and Lindsey’s eyes were wide open, following every word.
“I love you, Lindsey. I’d actually wondered if I would ever get to say that, but I’m so happy that I do. I love you and I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
A lone tear escaped and ran down Lindsey’s cheek. Her chin trembled for just a moment but then his hand was there, on her cheek, wiping the tear away. And then his lips were on hers again and he kissed her with such emotion another tear escaped.
“You’re crying,” he whispered. “Why?”
The words of her step-mother rang in her head. You are bold and assertive in your career. Why can’t you be the same way in your personal life? Trudy was right. If there was ever a time to be assertive, this was it.
“Because I fell in love with you and I thought that you were with Lou and every Saturday I would come and we would laugh and cook and we became friends and that was all good, but I wanted more and knew that I couldn’t have it. And now…”
“And now?”
“And now I wonder if I can really have all I wanted.”
“Do you want me?”
Lindsey nodded. “Yes.”
“Then you can have all you wanted.”
19.
He led her by the hand through to the room she’d dared not enter earlier. He clicked on a lamp on the bedside table and kicked off his shoes. Then he reached for Lindsey and pulled her into his embrace, burying his face in her neck.
“I love you and it feels so good to say that. I love you.” David pulled away and searched her eyes.
“I love you. With all my heart.”
And the talking ended. The tiny flame that had flickered all through dinner now erupted into a bonfire of passion, filling them with desire. David pulled her blouse over her head and threw it on the floor. Then he stepped back to admire her. She wore a nude colored lace bra that David unhooked and then slowly pulled from her shoulders. Her breath hitched as he gently ran the backs of his hands over her taut nipples. His touch sent shivers all through her body and she longed for him to touch her again.
She reached for his shirt and undid each pearl button and pushed it apart revealing the same chest that had invaded her dreams since she’d seen him shirtless in his office all those months ago. She ran her finger down his chest to his belt and he unbuckled it quickly and pulled it from his hips. She carefully dealt with the cuff links on his wrists and placed them on the table next to the lamp and then he wrenched himself free of the fabric.
He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her reveling in the feel of her skin. The sensation was overwhelming to him and he had to hold her tightly as he composed himself. Her hands moved slowly over his back, kneading and caressing. His hands moved to the waist of her skirt and he deftly flicked open the button and unzipped it, letting it drop to her feet as he pushed it over her hips.
Lindsey stepped out of the material pooled at her feet and copied his actions by undoing the button on his pants and making quick work of the zipper, leaving him in his boxers. Lindsey could see his erection pushing through the cotton fabric and hooked her thumbs in the waistband and shoved them down his legs. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him sweetly, then shoved him backwards onto the bed.
The action took him by surprise and he laughed as his head hit the mattress but his eyes never left hers. She wriggled out of her panties and straddled him. You are bold and assertive. The words resounded in her head. She was going to have what she wanted and she wanted David. He’d told her she had his heart. Now she would have his body too.
David pushed himself further onto the bed and leaned up on his elbows. Lindsey lowered her mouth to his, her tongue dancing with his. Her nipples were brushing across his chest with each movement and she could feel his penis pulsing in between her legs.
With one arm, David grabbed her around the waist and sat upright. Lindsey wrapped her legs around his hips and slowly slid down. David buried his face in her breasts and kissed and nibbled until she threw her head back and moaned the sweet sound of pleasure.
He was long and hard and Lindsey felt like she was coming home. She was wet and ready to accept him as he filled her completely. David lifted her up and down over and over and she knew she was so close to the edge.
“I love you,” he whispered and bucked into her hard and held her hips to him as he pressed deep inside her, the combination shooting her into ecstasy as her muscles quivered and contracted violently around his shaft as his orgasm matched hers.
For several minutes they clung to each other as sweat dripped from their bodies and their hearts pounded. As their breathing returned to normal, David fell sideways pulling Lindsey with him. Their legs twisted together and their arms still holding each other tightly, they each silently committed this moment to memory.
Lindsey was the first to break the silence.
“My arm’s gone to sleep,” she whispered.
“Shit. Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she giggled and pulled it from under him.
David sat up and looked down at the woman who’d given him a whole new life. “Dessert?”
“Again? Now?”
David laughed. “I try to stay in shape, but I can’t do it again that quickly! I meant dessert. Shall we have dessert?”
“Oh,” she blushed. “Sure.”
David stood and pulled his boxers over his hips. Then he stepped to the door opposite the bed and clicked on the light just inside. The bathroom appeared.
“All yours,” he grinned. “Come join me when you’re ready.” He left her alone in the room.
Lindsey scooted off the bed and closed the bathroom door behind her. The bathroom was compact but functional. She cleaned herself up, used the toilet and washed her hands.
As she stepped back into the bedroom, she reached for her clothes but grabbed David’s dress shirt instead. She’d seen in movies the girl wearing her lover’s shirt and she couldn’t help but giggle as she rolled up the sleeves and buttoned up a couple of the pearl buttons. She padded down the hall and didn’t see David in the living or dining room.
He was in the kitchen playing with a small blow torch.
“Trying to start a fire?” she teased.
David turned to see her walk into the kitchen.
“Damn you look good in my shirt! Better than I do!”
“You look good in your shirt,” she smiled. “But you look really good out of it too.”
David grinned and turned back to his torch.
“Is that crème brulee?”
“You just can’t fool a chef, can you?”
“You’ve made the entire dinner the college class made. Was that coincidence or by design?”
“I wanted you to see that I could do it. I wanted you to be proud of what I learned.”
Lindsey smiled, her heart skipped a beat and she knew she’d found the man of her dreams.
*****
They sat in bed eating their dessert. Apparently he was in good enough shape to go again after all, so the dessert had sat on the nightstand waiting for them while they made love again.
&nbs
p; “This is really good,” she said as she scraped every last morsel from the ramekin. “Really, really good!”
David grinned. “You can lick it if you want to.”
Her eyes opened wide and she quickly put the bowl and spoon back on the table.
“You bought my sketch,” he stated.
She immediately looked guilty. David grinned.
“It’s okay. I just don’t know why you didn’t tell me.”
Lindsey shrugged. “I saw it not knowing you were the artist, and was instantly emotionally attached to it. What you captured in his expression was…was…nothing I’d ever seen in a painting or drawing. It was so real I knew I wanted it. And then Audrey told me it was yours and I had to have it. But then I was embarrassed. It was silly but I can’t really explain it.”
“I would have given it to you.”
“Why did you draw me?”
“I would’ve thought that it was painfully obvious…now,” he chuckled. “You haunted my every waking thought…and my dreams. Sometimes when I see a picture in my head, the only way to get rid of it is to get it out on the paper, kind of like exorcising it, I guess. But it didn’t work with you. You still haunted me.”
“Well tonight you don’t have to dream. You can have the real thing.”
“Yes I can,” David grinned. “And I will.”
*****
They didn’t get dressed on Sunday. David called his mother to tell her he wouldn’t be joining the family for dinner. She pretended to sound disappointed, but he knew better. She told David to bring Lindsey with him next week. He shook his head and hung up the phone.
Lindsey made breakfast – blueberry stuffed French toast. David realized he was going to have to work out a lot more with her in his life otherwise he’d weigh four hundred pounds by Christmas.
They watched a Yankees game on television. David was thrilled to discover she liked baseball. Trevor had taken her to a couple of games when she first arrived at his and Trudy’s house. She’d loved it ever since. And Lindsey was excited to hear that Matt had a box suite and that they could go to the next home game.
They made love in the afternoon. David had voiced her emotions as he sank deep inside her. “It’s like I’m home,” he’d said. Another tear had escaped down her cheek.
For dinner, they took the leftover beef from dinner the night before and made French dip sandwiches and sat on the floor playing scrabble while they ate. Freckles sat between them purring loudly and occasionally flicking her tail across the board, scattering the letters. David won.
“I get it now,” he said as they dried the dishes and put them away.
“Get what?” She was curious.
“My brothers. They changed after they got married. Matt was this playboy who traveled all over the world and ate out every night with a different woman and worked seven days a week. And then he met Janie and all that changed. All he wanted to do was be with her…and now their kids too. His whole life is now based on what keeps him with her and what would take him away from her and if it’s the latter, he doesn’t do it. She turned his whole world upside down…and he loves it. I’ve never seen him happier. Mark and Paul and Andrew are the same way. I get it now. I want that too…more than anything else.”
Lindsey bit her lower lip. That had to have been one of the sweetest things anyone had ever said to her.
“I’m done wasting time,” he said. “I know what I want. Marry me. Be my wife. Be my everything.”
“I’ll be your everything and you’ll be mine,” she smiled. “I’ll marry you.”
Neither of them went to work on Monday.
Epilogue
David sat cross-legged on the floor of his studio. Lindsey kneeled next to him. She was wearing one of his shirts and nothing else.
David was sorting his piles and piles of drawings into boxes. Lindsey sat with him and admired his work, occasionally asking questions about a specific piece.
“Who’s that?” she asked.
“Laura,” he whispered.
“Ahh,” she smiled. “One that got away?”
“Yep. But not in the way you think.”
He told Lindsey all about his best friend in high school and he told her how her death had saddened him deeply and that he still thought of her.
“Of course you do,” Lindsey sympathized. She rubbed his back and kissed his shoulder. “I can’t even imagine how that must have been for you. You were just a child.”
David turned to her with sadness in his eyes. “But you were just a child too. You never talk about your biological parents. And I get why, but do you think about them?”
“It’s kind of like it happened to someone else…not me. I mean, I never knew my dad. I assume he’s still in prison but I don’t know. And my mother? I remember nothing about her. I used to try and remember what she looked like but all I remember is the policeman putting me in the back of his car. I never had parents. Trudy and Trevor filled that void for me. I can never repay them for that. And now I have not only them, but Maureen and Peter too.”
David chuckled. “My mother adores you. And dad told me I had gotten more than I deserved in you.”
“That’s terrible,” she gasped.
“But it’s true.” He kissed the tip of her nose.
Their attention turned back to the next stack of drawings to their right. These were new ones.
“We need to choose which ones to frame,” she giggled.
“We have photographs we can frame.”
Lindsey shook her head. “These are better.”
David opened the leather portfolio. The first one was of Lindsey. The second one was of Lindsey, and so was the third and the fourth.
“You were beautiful,” he sighed. “You are beautiful.”
Lindsey flipped to the next piece of paper and there was Matt and his daughter Ella. She was in his arms and she had her hands on his cheeks. Their noses were touching.
“Matt should have this,” she smiled.
The next sketch was of Mark and Katy sitting at a table, his arm around the back of her chair. They were looking at each other and smiling. They were obviously very much in love.
“And they should have this one,” he said.
There was one of Nic, looking very pregnant with Paul’s hand protectively on her belly.
“And you should probably let them have this one,” she nodded.
“We aren’t going to have any left at this rate.”
“I know where to get more,” she winked.
They selected one of Lindsey in her wedding dress to frame. The rest, David carefully packed into boxes with all the rest of his supplies. They were moving next week.
“It seems to have become a tradition,” David had told her the month before. “Matt gives his brothers an apartment when they get married. I’m the third brother to get one.”
Lindsey had taken Janie with her as she’d viewed the dozens of apartments on the available list. David had told her to narrow it down to three and then he’d be happy to come with her. At first she’d been resistant of the idea. It seemed like an outrageously extravagant gift, but Janie was the one that had convinced to her to accept it. The money part meant nothing to them, Janie had said. They just wanted them to have a fresh start; to make a new home for their new family.
Lindsey had confided in Janie that she desperately wanted a family. A baby would be a dream come true. So when she walked into an apartment that had an enormous renovated kitchen and four bedrooms, one with perfect morning light for David’s studio, she was incredibly grateful for her soon-to-be brother-in-law’s offer. When David saw it, he knew it was the home for them. He couldn’t wait to fill it with kids.
So they moved into their new home just a couple of blocks further from the gallery. David could still walk to work in good weather. And they were still close enough to Mr. Borsten in case David needed to help out in a pinch.
The morning after they’d moved, the sun streaming through the windows had awoken them
and it took a moment for Lindsey to remember where she was. But all she had to do was look over at David and she knew she was where she was supposed to be…home.
She wriggled into his arms and caressed his cheek. His eyes fluttered open and a smile formed on his lips.
“Morning my love.”
She grinned. “Good morning to you too.”
He rolled over on top of her and kissed her senseless, their tongues dancing as the flame of desire spread like a wildfire. Hands caressed, legs tangled and love was expressed intimately as he slid inside her heat and, once again, came home.
Satiated and grinning, Lindsey extricated herself from David’s arms and swung her legs over the bed.
“Eggs benedict sound good?”
“Yeah,” he grinned. “Dad was right. I married up.”
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About the Author
AJ Harmon was born and raised in Perth, Western Australia. She currently resides in Oregon, USA, with her husband Brad. They have two grown children and a puppy named Max.
Romance novels have been a constant source of comfort and entertainment for her. The bookshelves in her home are filled with a variety of authors and she is humbled to now be among their ranks.
AJ is a new author, finding her passion in writing after her children had left home, leaving her and her husband empty-nesters. She says the ‘First Class’ series has been a pleasure for her to write and has been absolutely delighted that readers have received them with such a warm embrace.
Three more books are in the works for the series, bringing the total to nine.
