Three of Spades (30 page)

“Open it, Natalie.”

Speaking in a weak voice, but a deal was a deal. “You’ll have to excuse me but I don’t have my checkbook on me. I’ll have to get you your money tomorrow.”

Damn it, she still didn’t get it!

“Remember, you only owe me what I wrote. This ended because your requirements were met.”

“Was it mutual?” She hated asking but needed to know.

Dylan did not answer for what seemed like an hour. He finally said, “Look that woman was a mistake I made and she would stop at nothing to destroy any sort of happiness I had. So, I lied to her. Do you hear me? I lied to her! You deserve so much better than me, but you want me. At least, there was a time that you wanted me. All I know is my life is nothing without you. I hate going home to my house. It’s an empty shell without you, just like I am. I need you to live and if you don’t want me, I’ll let you go. But know I will not rightly live another day without you in my life. I will just go about the rest of my days, hoping and praying you’ll come back to me.”

She could not believe what she was hearing. Did he just tell her what she was afraid to hope for?

“Open the envelope, Natalie.”

With shaking fingers, she opened the sealed envelope and read what he wrote in ink below her own handwriting.

“My
Heart”

Dylan watched as she took in his handwritten words. She looked up at him with those beautiful dark doe eyes, he felt like if she walked away from him now, he would not be able to take another breath.

“It’s yours. It always has been. If you choose to leave, take it with you because I will not have any use for it. Not without you, anyway.”

Natalie looked up at the man that she loved and finally accepted his word for truth. She knew with every fiber of her being that what he spoke was completely sincere and honest. As her eyes filled with tears and a smile spread across her face, she knew she truly had found her soul mate.

“I love you, Natalie. Please don’t make me live in misery. Marry me. Be mine, forever. I want everyone to know you belong to me and you, only you, will always have the deed to my heart.”

Natalie kissed Dylan there in the parking lot, where she met him and offered her proposal of indecent terms. They shared tears and touches and soon they were both panting with their desire to show with their bodies how perfectly they fit together. Just as they were meant to be.

“Please, Natalie,” Dylan pleaded.

“Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you.”

After she agreed to become his wife, Dylan felt as if he had been given the greatest gift of all. Dylan rested his forehead against hers and just enjoyed the feeling of having Natalie in his arms, where she would remain forever.

“Are you pregnant?” he asked quietly the question that had plagued him for weeks.

“No,” she answered.

The pain that ripped through him from her answer was enough to bring him, once again, to his knees. How he had wanted and hoped that she would grow round with a piece of him inside her, always linking them. However, knowing that she was here with him and would soon become his wife thrilled him. He was confident in the knowledge that soon they would build their family and he would be the luckiest man. Natalie would always be his most lucrative business agreement ever.

~EPILOGUE~

Almost a Year Later

“H
ello? Is the new Mama ready for a visitor?” CeCe asked, as she poked her head into the Mother and Child room on the maternity floor of Hamden General.

“Always,” Natalie responded from the bed, where she held her beautiful day old daughter.

CeCe walked in carrying balloons, flowers, and a soft pink gift bag with hot pink tissue paper popping out the top. She walked over, depositing her things on the side windowsill. She turned to look at mother and child and, honestly, thought she would cry. Natalie looked so pretty and happy as she sat there cradling the little bundle wrapped in a baby pink plush blanket.

“Oh my goodness, Natalie, she’s beautiful and so tiny.”

Natalie laughed quietly, “That she is and perfect in every way.” Just then, the baby made a sound as if thanking her mother for the compliment.

“May I hold her?” CeCe asked.

“Catherine has been patiently waiting for Auntie CeCe to come and meet her.”

Natalie handed the precious bundle over and CeCe held the child close. Closing her eyes she inhaled her sweet smell and placed a kiss on her tiny little nose. CeCe’s gaze roamed over the baby taking everything in. From her tiny little toes, all the way up to her full head of dark brown hair. Seeing the hair made CeCe ask, “Hey, where’s Dylan? I figured for sure he would be chained to the baby by now.”

“Oh, he’s around,” Natalie said as she watched CeCe bond with her daughter.

After a few minutes of blissful silence and complete contentment, CeCe looked over at her friend and reflected back the smile she saw there.

“I have to admit, Natalie, when you and Dylan refused to share the sex of the baby; we had all taken a pool as to what you would have. I did pick a girl; however, I thought you would have named her ‘Gloria’ after your mother. I know Catherine was Dylan’s mother’s name, but still.” CeCe hated bringing up Natalie’s mother, knowing she was still dealing with the grief over her passing eight months ago. CeCe hoped that Natalie found comfort in the fact that Gloria saw her and Dylan wed.

“Well, it’s funny you mention that.” Just then, with perfect timing, Dylan knocked and opened the door. He pushed in a wooden bassinet that held their other beautiful daughter.

“Look Gloria, your Aunt finally made it. About bloody damn time,” Dylan said softly to his daughter.

CeCe was speechless. She looked from Natalie to Dylan and then back to Natalie. She then looked down to the now sleeping baby in her arms and over to her apparent twin sister. She squeaked out, “TWINS!?!”

Dylan picked his daughter up out of her bassinet and passed her over to be next to her sister. CeCe sat with a child in each arm and Dylan watched as the tears fell freely down her face.

Dylan then walked over to where his wife was and slid in gently next to her. He wrapped his arm around her, placed a kiss on her smiling lips and shared a private wink. Being sure not to jostle her too much, knowing she was still quite sore from the cesarean.

After a pleasant and surprise revealing visit, CeCe noticed that Natalie looked quite tired. “I’m going to head out and give you guys some privacy.” She walked over to where Dylan now sat holding his daughters; he looked at them with enough love to last all three of their lifetimes. She leaned down and kissed, first Cat on the head, then Ria, finally giving both Dylan and a sleeping Natalie a smooch before she headed out the door.

She was almost through the door when Dylan said to her quietly as not to disturb his daughters or his wife, “Ce, you might want to try it. There is no better feeling than finding the one you belong with. Besides, it doesn’t always just have to be you alone and against the world.” He looked down and kissed each of his daughters as CeCe closed the door, leaving the Cross family to start their family life together.

~EXCERPT~
~THREE OF DIAMONDS~

S
he was lost in the maze. The flourishing and impenetrable vines that separated one path from another were as high as she could see. The sky above was bright, she must be outside, but there were no sounds of nature or life. A thick curtain-like hazy fog would sweep in but then vanish as soon as it came. When the fog came on her, she could not even see the path directly in front of her. The hedge was the only thing that gave her any sort of direction when the heavy mist enveloped her. The green vines were lush with small delicate flowers of pink and purples hues, while others were wicker-like with viciously sharp thorns, eager for blood. The satin of her flowing gown became a victim of said thorns. There was no rhyme or reason to the changing of soft green to dehydrated brown, but it changed nevertheless.

She started to run, trying to find the exit but the faster she ran, the path just stretched on that much further. She could hear his pursuit. He was getting closer. She got to her feet and began looking for a turn or bend that would help put additional distance between them. However, there was nothing. Only vines. Vines, which thwarted her options of escape along with the comfort of safety. She kept going, even though every muscle in her body begged for mercy. She finally came to an opening that offered a choice of three paths. Looking over her shoulder, she took the one on the left and ran, for the first time, feeling that she would make her escape. Too soon, he sounded like he was right upon her. What did he want? She could hear him calling for her, chanting for her to seek him. She was over-come with fear. Fear to protect herself, fear to not become his prey, along with something else, some sort of feeling she was hesitant to explore. She shuffled along quietly hoping her bare feet would enhance her stealth. With the rapid beating of her heart, her eyes found it harder and harder to register any sound other than her own pulse hammering. There he was, just on the other side of the growth of greenery. She stayed as silent as she could, and hoped her thundering pulse would not give her location away.

“I can smell you.” He exhaled in a husky sensual whisper.

Oh No! She bit her lower lip to stop herself from crying out.

“Your smell draws me to you. Do you know that? You could never elude me for long; your essence exposes you to my senses.” He breathed, but for as quiet as it was, he might as well have been using an amplifier. His voice echoed off every surface.

He extended his arm through the herbaceous border, where the thorns should have shredded through his skin; instead, they pulled back, offering a curtain of opening. His large hand grabbed onto her hip in a grip that froze her movement. He stepped through the opening and aligned his front to her back. With her hair swept to the side it allowed easy access to her neck. He placed his lips at the sensitive base, and let his tongue lick her sweet skin bringing her palatable flavor into his mouth.

The air seized in her lungs; however, her blood boiled from the sensation. His strong fingers pressed gently but firmly around her hips, anchoring her as well as halting any sort of flight. This close, her aroma swirled around them making a pocket of pure erogenous decadence. He finally could touch her skin. She was pliable and full, like a woman should be. Her body curved and dipped in all the places it should. The satin of her gown flowed over her physique; clinging to her beauty and showcasing a sensual alter for which he planned to worship.

“Don’t be afraid. This is for you, all for you.” He whispered against her skin.

He slowly let the strap of her gown fall down her shoulder, leaving skin exposed for his lips. When he thoroughly touched every inch of one side, he moved to the next. She felt her skin become alive from his touch and her body began to beg for more. Her pulse continued to beat erratically, but somehow, it changed reason from fear to desire without her even knowing it.

He spread her arms out straight so her body would fly if she had wings; he lifted her easily and laid her down on a cushion of soft earth with a natural pillow of green, giving her body plushness and comfort as she looked at her aggressor. His body was fashioned as if carved from stone. His long torso was colored golden, as if it had not spent much time in the darkness. The definition of his muscles from his shoulders, down over his pectorals and beyond, were as if his creator was exceptionally gifted with a chisel. The light spray of hair that covered his chest and created a trail of happiness down below his navel and lower looked soft and inviting. As his waist dipped inward, the muscles of his abdominals constricted, showing that much more of hard sexy male.

She closed her eyes enjoying the feel of his perusal. Soon his fingers began their participation in the preparation of their tryst.

“You are a beautiful goddess who deserves a humble servant, such as myself, to tend to your every desire.”

She yearned to touch him but each pass she made with her hands, when they should have connected with him, just waved through warm air.

He started at her toes and began a journey of kisses and licks up over her arch, past her calf, onward to her knee, her lush thigh and beyond. As soon as he reached the glory land, he left her to give the other leg the same sensual torture as the first.

Her body began to prep for its connection to his. Those hands, lips, and tongue, were weaving a web of arousal that she never wanted to break from. Her body responded with moisture and want.

“Who are you?” She breathed. She watched as a smile as bright as the “big bang” overtook his face and he lowered those soft warm lips to her exposed hip again.

“You know who I am. Your body knows my touch. Your body knows my scent. Your body knows what only I can make you feel.” He said with his erotic and musical voice. He slowly and sensually crawled up her body so that his lips were now only a scant few inches from hers.

In that moment, for the first time, she looked into his eyes. Eyes that she would know anywhere. With their clear blue coloring that marked the gateway to his soul, that could not exist anywhere but the Garden of Eden. The light brown lashes that surrounded the blue gems were full and long.

She looked at him at length, trying to find answers where only clear blue pools looked back at her. How could this be? He looked at her as if they have been lovers for ages. His knowledge of her body’s language and wants indicated a vast amount of study time. She tried to push at him, but once again, her hand only touched warm air.

“Don’t push me away. You know you want me here as much as I want you here.” He whispered, as warmth spread from his lips to her neck as they made contact.

Her fear began to rise, escalating to panic quickly.

His attempts to soothe her with whispered words and hushed compliments only increased her need to make an escape.