David pulled me in for a firm embrace and whispered in my ear that he would be returning in a week, and then he kissed my cheek. With the exception of Micah, the whole family looked at him rather oddly. Evidently David wasn’t the sweet, touchy-feely kind of person and they were all surprised. I knew, in that moment, he had been very discreet with keeping his relationship with my mother from his family.
Micah went downstairs to see them to their taxi as I stayed behind and called Mom. I wanted to see if she and Kimmy might like to have dinner with us tonight, but I also wanted to see how she was doing now that David was stepping out of the picture for a short span of time. She said they’d love to have dinner with us, especially Kimmy who hadn’t seen either one of us since the wedding. I asked about David, and she sighed, admitting she couldn’t wait for the week to pass. I was just hanging up when Micah returned. I hate to admit it, but I think the fact that I stopped talking and put down the receiver just as he came into the room, caused him a moment of jealous suspicion.
“Mom,” I said, pointing at the phone, “I just called to see if she and Kimmy would have dinner with us tonight.”
“Oh,” he said, clearly relieved, “so are we having dinner with them?”
“Yes, down in Il Mileno at 7:00 p.m.” There was no reason to ask if he liked Italian food; I already knew the answer.
Dinner was enjoyable as we discussed our pending flight to Maui the following evening. Then Kimmy began to tell us about how much fun she’d had last night during the movie. I could see Micah tensing as she went on and on about how nice Ryan was to her and how much he talked about me.
“You were right,” she said, smiling up at him as she placed a forkful of pasta in her mouth, “he really does like Leese as much as you do.”
I know a little blush of embarrassment hit my cheeks, but then I remembered Micah’s explanation of who Ryan was to Kimmy the morning I made the pancake breakfast.
“Can’t you have two husbands?” she questioned me innocently.
“Kimberly Margaret!” Mom snapped. “No. Women don’t have two husbands and men don’t have two wives. Ryan is only Leese’s friend.”
I could see a moment of curiosity hit Micah as he leaned toward Kimmy, “Do you think your sister made the right choice?”
Mom froze, never expecting him to ask her such a question.
My mouth had gone dry and all I could think was Micah would be crushed if my sweet little sister preferred Ryan to him.
Kimmy smiled and then hugged his neck, “You’re my favorite, and Leese loves you best, anyway.”
He was smiling, completely happy with her response, but I couldn’t help but think he opened himself up for a crushing blow had her answer been different.
“We’re checking out in the morning and heading home. Do you need any help packing things up for the trip?” Mom offered.
I nibbled off the end of a bread stick knowing there was something I had wanted to ask her, but it had been forgotten, “No, I’m okay with that, but I keep feeling like I’m forgetting something.”
“Well, don’t stress over whatever it is because you aren’t on a budget.” Then she shook her head and laughed, “Matter of fact, if I were you, I wouldn’t pack a thing. I’d just buy whatever I needed when I got to Maui.”
“Mom, I can think of a lot better things we can be doing when we get their other than shopping.” My original thought was hiking, snorkeling, and luaus.
She looked at us and flushed with color. “I can understand that,” she laughed with a faraway look in her eyes.
I had a feeling it was a ‘David’ memory causing the look.
We finished dinner, then said our goodbyes and headed up to our room. We were both yawning by the time we closed the door to the rest of the world. Even though we’d slept six or seven hours after the sun came up this morning, it didn’t take place of missing the entire night before. We crawled into the bed exhausted and knowing tomorrow wouldn’t offer too many opportunities for rest either. Tonight was our chance to behave ourselves and get some actual sleep. We snuggled into our favorite position, which was me facing away and Micah pressed behind me with his arm around my waist, when I sat up quickly.
“That’s it.”
“What’s it?”
“What I couldn’t think of at dinner,” I stated. “I never got the house key from Mom.”
“You won’t need it until we get back, baby,” he said trying to pull me down into the covers.
“No-to the house in Maui-I forgot to get the key and I don’t want to travel 5000 miles only to have to wait hours for a locksmith to open up the house.”
“It’s too late tonight. You can call your mom in the morning, baby. Come back to bed; we need some sleep.”
I landed back amongst the pillows and sheets, but I didn’t roll my back to him, I rolled toward him as I twined my leg over his and let my hand trail down his hot body, “You know we’ll sleep better if we…”
He ran his fingers through my hair, sweeping it back away from my face, and then dove growling and snapping for my neck. I squealed far too loudly, and the new experience was on as we began to literally play with each other, until need overwhelmed us. We did get some sleep, and I was right about it being a better kind of sleep as we curled around each other and drifted off.
When morning came through the windows, I knew I’d have to get up and dress to catch Mom before they left, but I couldn’t resist just a little teasing before climbing out of the bed. I rolled over and met his gaze, kissing him and then letting my hand travel down his perfect abdomen to rest just below his belly button and just above his inability to control himself.
“You can’t be serious,” he laughed, “Baby, you’re gonna kill me.”
I kissed him once more, but quickly this time and rose from the bed before he could get me in his grasp. He was up and after me as I laughed and ran for the bathroom. “I don’t want to kill you,” I said teasingly through the closed door.
“I can’t think of a better way to go. Come back out here or I’m coming in there.”
“Sorry, baby, but the door is locked. I’ve got to go see Mom today and then when I get back I’ll see if I can put you out of your misery and-” To my utter surprise the door opened and he was right beside me. “Ah, I locked that! How did you get in?”
“I know how to do a lot more than aim straight under pressure,” he chuckled as he came around behind me and moved my hair to gain access to my neck.
I could feel my resolve melting into a warm puddle. “I really do need to see Mom, and I’ve got to catch her before she checks out with Kimmy and heads home. Oh, Micah, don’t stop,” I said as he began to pull away.
“You’re confused, baby,” he whispered, “first it’s stop and then don’t stop. What’s it gonna be?”
“Ah-stop, Micah,” I chose reluctantly. “I really want to catch them, but as soon as I come back through that door, don’t stop, and I really don’t care what my argument is.”
He gave a slow smile, “I’ll be waiting and I don’t care how long it takes.”
I dressed, picked up my purse and left, wishing the whole time that I’d stayed. I was starting to wonder how we were ever going to go back to functioning normally in life when we simply couldn’t keep our hands off each other. I pushed the elevator button and began my descent to the lobby. Would this whole fascination with each other eventually burn out or at least mellow? I couldn’t see it happening; he was simply too mesmerizing. I could only hope he felt the same about me.
The elevator jerked hard causing my pulse to quicken. The lights dimmed and I could hear breaks being applied. It stopped between the third and second floor and panic gripped me. I wasn’t claustrophobic, but my air felt as if it had been cut off. I’d never been trapped in one of these things. What do I do? I grabbed for the panel marked with a telephone symbol and opened it, but just as I put my hand on the receiver the elevator took off. This time I was going up instead of down.