“Holding you while you sleep.”
“Why?”
“So you will get used to it. It is going to be a change for both of us to sleep in the same bed. We need to practice at that too.”
“Do you know everything about everything? I would have never thought of that.”
“Believe me, I have thought about you in my bed many times. It will be glorious, beautiful, sexy, fun, exciting, loving and caring. Now go back to sleep, I’m just going to hold you.”
“Right, sleep is the first thing on my mind right now. You just told me you think about me in your bed and I am supposed to roll over and go to sleep. Not likely.”
He laughed gently “Do you want me to talk some more about it or show you some more about it?”
“Yes.”
He rolled her over onto her back and rolled over on top of her so she could feel his entire body. “Remember when we did this yesterday?”
“Yes” she whispered excitedly
“This is one of the ways we will make love. I will join my body to yours as intimately as possible. It will sometimes be slow and easy. Sometimes you will need it hard and fast but it will always be pleasurable.”
He rolled off of her and onto his back and pulled her on top of him. “This way is fabulous also. I will be able to caress your back as you lay out on top of me. I will watch you as you kiss your way up and down my body. And when you and I are joined intimately in this position, you will sit up and lean back on my knees so that I can caress your breasts and your sex as we make love.” Her body reacted as if he had done those things instead of just talked about them. He moved her to sit up and lean back on his knees. He took his hand and caressed down from her shoulders to her breasts to her hips and then to her legs. “I can reach so much of your body like this. I can see you joined to me and I will love watching you and me together.”
He eased her back to his chest and relaxed her by rubbing her back and shoulders. When she had stopped trembling, he rolled them both to their sides. He moved his head to kiss her. She moaned as he teased her lips open and deepened the kiss. When he lifted his head she was dazed and confused.
“Go to sleep.”
“Will you be my pillow?”
“How will I be your pillow?” a confused Dalton asked
Instead of telling him, Sarah moved to lie on top of him and use his chest as a pillow.
“I believe that I like being your pillow.” He said a few minutes later. He made slow gentle strokes on her hair and down her graceful body. He tried to make them relaxing instead of arousing. They both fell back to sleep and woke when the spinning sensation rocketed Sarah. She jerked as if she was falling. She moved to lie on the bed and closed her eyes. “Hey, you okay?” he asked
“Yes, the bed was just spinning for a minute. I am fine now.”
“What should I do?”
“Nothing except hold my hand.” She said as she reached for him.
He cradled her hand between his chest and hand and was giving it kisses. “You have very graceful hands. Have I mentioned that before? Have I mentioned how much I will love having them on me?”
“Yes, but tell me again. Tell me how to please you with my hands.”
“We will do that later.”
“But, I want to know.”
He place a gentle finger across her lips. “Later, I promise we will both like it. Now, what do you want to do today? Stay in, go see the sights, lay on the beach?”
“Yes.”
Dalton laughingly inquired “Yes to which one?”
“You chose.”
“First let’s shower, get dressed and eat. Then when your brain in functioning again, I’ll ask your preference.”
Sarah agreed with his agenda and move to the shower. The attack this morning had been minor and she hoped that it was a one-time event for today.
They found a nice walking trail and decided to see where it headed. Sarah asked Dalton about his parents. They had both passed away when Lindsay and her had been in college. It had been tough for Lindsay to do her school work and grieve but she had accomplished it.
“My parents were wonderful together. They showed me what I want in a marriage. I remember them talking, laughing, fighting, making up and sharing life together. The good parts and the bad. They worked hard and taught us to work hard. We were taught values, ethics, and respect for others and to take responsibilities for our actions.”
“That is a beautiful legacy. You and David and Lindsay are the proof that they succeeded.”
“David and Lindsay maybe, but I didn’t do so well at respecting others.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You. I didn’t respect you at all, did I? That horrible day in the barn, I wasn’t respectful of anyone but me.”
She moved rapidly to get in front of him to stop his movement. “Dalton, please don’t think that. That day has passed, we are moving on. You and me, we have survived it and look at us. We are holding hands, hugging, cuddling, kissing, dancing, and loving. No, that day wasn’t the best day for either of us; but let the memories of yesterday or today replace the bad ones from that day. We need that.”
Dalton caught her up in a powerful hug. He held onto her for several minutes before he let her feet touch the ground again but he still didn’t let go. “Thank you.” He whispered in her ear as the hug continued.
“You are welcome.”
The morning was filled with laughter and sharing. They took pictures of each other and the scenery. They drove to town and had lunch at a sidewalk café then decided to head back to the cottage.
As Sarah was changing into her swimsuit, Dalton knocked on her door. “I’m sure you need my help to put on the sunscreen.”
She laughed at him because he had a pleading look on his face. She didn’t respond to his comment just handed him the sunscreen. “Sarah, this swimsuit is just as great as yesterdays, did you buy enough for a new one each day?” Dalton said admiring the red bikini.
“I am going to let you be surprised about that.” She said with a wink.
Dalton lowered his head and kissed her. As he ended the kiss he swept her up in his arms and moved them towards the bed. He sat her down on the edge of the bed while he propped himself up on the pillows. He spread his legs to make room for her to sit between them and motioned her forward. She sat facing away from him and reclined back against him. He immediately started to kiss her hair, neck and shoulders. He was not in any hurry to apply the sunscreen. “I love you sitting with me like this. My arms wrapped around you securing you to me. My legs entangled with yours. When I make love to you, you will wrap those long luscious legs around me as I am deep inside of you. And when you are making love to me, I will be able to stroke them and you until you are wild for me.”
Dalton moved from behind Sarah and laid her out on the bed. His touch continued down to her breasts. “When I love and suck on these, you will feel it deep inside of you. It will be like an electric current. You will not be able to hold still because the feelings inside will be too great to contain.”
“I will move on to glory in your body. It fascinates me and I plan to explore to the fullest.” He skimmed her body with his lips enticing and arousing her.
“Dalton, kiss me anywhere.”
“How about I kiss you lots of anywheres?”
“Yes”
Dalton shifted to lie mostly on Sarah, he moved one leg between hers. “If you feel like moving against me, go ahead and do it. I want you to be an active participant when we love.” She smiled at his words as he went back to savoring her. He placed a quick but gentle kiss on her lips and then returned to deepen it. He felt her arms wrap around him. He reached up her arms to stroke her and encourage her.
Sarah groaned “I feel like I am attached to a hot wire. Everything is tingling.”
“Good! That is what I want you to feel.”
He continued to
stroke her skin until she relaxed and fell asleep. He held her and tried to memorize her face. He fell asleep along with her. They awoke still wrapped up together. The afternoon passed for them a haze of learning each other’s touch.
“We missed going to the beach.” Sarah commented as she looked at the clock.
“Like I care? I spent a wonderful afternoon with my sweetheart wrapped in my arms.” replied Dalton with a huge smile on his face. “How about a swim by moonlight later?”
She nodded and moved off the bed. “Do you want anything from the kitchen?”
He climbed off the bed and walked with her to get a soda. As they were in the kitchen Sarah’s cell phone rang. “Hi Greg”
“Hey. We are going to build a fire down on the beach and enjoy the evening. Do you and Dalton want to come enjoy it with us?”
Dalton nodded that it was fine with him.
“Sure, what time?”
“Six, we will eat and then just relax.”
“Ok. See you then.”
“That sounds like fun.” Dalton remarked as she hung up. “I like them.”
“They have been so wonderful to me. Since CeCe has the same illness as me, we share a lot of the tough times. She shares with Greg what she is able but he wants to fix it and he can’t. I will have that trouble with you too won’t I?”
Dalton nodded “More than likely.”
They took their drinks and walked to the living room. She sat her drink on the coffee table and seated herself so she could face Dalton. He did the same.
Sarah reached for his hand and began to speak. “We need to talk some about this. I want you to be my knight in shining armor, the man who wants to slay all my dragons. But Dalton, you can’t slay this dragon. It doesn’t play by the rules.
“I know and I hate it already.”
“We all hate it. Our loved ones hate it. All of us just want to make sure our loved ones don’t end up hating us.”
“Never!” Dalton replied grabbing her chin to force her to look at him
She reached up to gently remove his hand. “You can’t promise that and I don’t expect you too.”
He shook her hand off and put his hand right back on her chin so she would be forced to look at him. “I can and do promise that. I will never ever hate you. I will hate this illness but not you. Do you understand me? Do you understand the difference? I love you!”
She reached up to gently remove his hand again. She kissed it as she laid it in her lap “Dalton, I know you love me and I understand the difference between hating me and hating this disease. But I have heard of it happening in the support groups I have been involved in. I never want that for me or for you. That’s why you have to keep your promise that if it gets too bad you will let me walk away.”
“No, I take back that promise. We Matthews fight our way through the tough times, not walk away.”
“You can’t take that promise back! You don’t know how bad the tough times can get.”
“Then tell me.”
“Some days the dizziness and balance problems are so bad I can’t walk to the bathroom without help. Or I can sometimes crawl. Maybe one day my hearing will be bad and maybe some days my eyesight isn’t so great. Sometimes the dizziness isn’t the problem but I am so tired I am mean. My emotions can be horrible and I can become depressed if the symptoms hang around for several days or if I have missed something I really wanted to do. Some days I just want to yell at the top of my lungs that I hate this.”
“I have a big ranch with plenty of room for yelling.”
“Stop that. I am trying to get you to understand how bad it can be.”
“I don’t think I can fully understand that unless it happens to me. I read about these symptoms, Greg told me some of what he goes through, but I can and will deal with whatever we need to regarding this illness.”
She lowered her head as the tears flowed down her face. She whispered brokenly “Why would you want to? It can be so awful.”
Dalton exploded “Did you seriously just ask me that? Why would I want to?”
She nodded.
“I thought we were settled on this. I guess I haven’t fully convinced you yet. It will be my great pleasure to do more convincing.” He replied with a wicked grin. “Let’s start with the words. I hope this does not fully convince you because the other way is terribly fun.”
“Dalton!”
“Come here, please” He indicated she should sit on his lap. After she was settled he looked into eyes so she could read him and he laid his hand on her heart and placed her hand on his heart. “I adore you. I have you in my heart forever. I want to be in your heart forever. You are an amazing person. I love you, Sarah Dawson. And not because you do or do not have some illness. Are you convinced?”
“Yes”
“Darn, I was too good. I was ready to do more convincing.”
“Later, I’ll be back to being unconvinced again I am sure.” She said mischievously then sobered. “I’m sorry for doubting you. I don’t want to hurt you. You think you are big and tough but you also have a heart of gold. I don’t want to be the one to ever change that. I want to cherish and love you forever.”
“I don’t want to hurt you either. I’m sure I will hurt with you on the bad days. I will slay the dragons that I can and learn to realize that this dragon could win some days. I will want to protect you from all hurts but I will have to learn that I can’t.”
“No, you can’t and that will frustrate you terribly.”
“Yes, but I have a big ranch that can take my frustrations and make them manageable again. Hauling hay and breaking horses takes away anyone’s frustrations. My dad’s tried and true method.”
Sarah smiled gently “Had to do that some as a kid, did we?”
“Lots. I was a bit stubborn and headstrong.”
“No, really!” Sarah laughed sarcastically
“Like someone else I know! We may have some pretty spectacular fights but just think about the making up.”
“We sort of just had a fight.”
“Want to make up?” he winked and she nodded “Good answer.” He said and he reached to kiss her. Her lips were welcoming and warm. He opened his mouth on hers and devoured her. He moved to stretch out on the couch with her on top. He ran his hands lovingly up and down her body then hugged her hard against him. “You feel so good laying on me” He replied many minutes later. “This morning when you used me as a pillow was so much fun. I could feel all of you and caress a good portion. You trusted me to keep you comfortable.”
“You are comfortable. You are also sexy, handsome, strong, fun, and very very loving.”
“I’d go right back to that too but we are due for dinner with your friends.”
“Later?”
“Promise”
They freshened up and walked down to the beach to meet Greg and CeCe. They were under the beach umbrella between the water and the house. They were reclining together in a huge chair enjoying the ocean view.
“Good evening.” Dalton called as they approached
“Hey, enjoying your vacation?” Greg responded
“It’s wonderful. We went and did some walking around this morning and had lunch at a nice sidewalk café. This afternoon we slept.” Sarah responded
“Sit down and enjoy the view with us.” CeCe motioned to a matching chair where they could both recline. Dalton moved to sit down and helped Sarah to get comfortable lying against him. He wrapped his strong arms around Sarah and kissed the top of her head.
“This type of relaxing could get to be habit forming. Do we have to ever go home?” Dalton asked the group.
“We may be the four most driven individuals in the world. We probably couldn’t take all the relaxing.” Greg said responding to Dalton’s question.
“Let’s give it a shot and find out. I am all for experimenting with new things.” Dalton retorted.
“Me too”
CeCe and Sarah responded and everyone laughed. It was the start of a fun filled evening of good friends and pleasant conversation.
“Tomorrow evening will you be my guests at the hotel in town for dinner and maybe some dancing.” Dalton asked as the evening came to a close.
“Ah, Dalton, we have managed to keep CeCe’s whereabouts a secret. That might jeopardize that.” Sarah tried to let him down without hurting him.
“I know the owner of the hotel and we can get a private dining room for the four of us.” Dalton said to calm her fears.
“Oh really?” Sarah questioned “Would this owner be sitting with me on the beach right now?”
“Well, as a matter of fact he would. Isn’t that an amazing coincidence?” was Dalton’s smug reply.
“Dalton” Sarah exclaimed in disbelief.
“I couldn’t believe it either. When Tyler gave me the directions on how to get here, I had to laugh to myself. I love to visit this hotel. It is beautifully decorated and the staff is well trained. If you want to we can spend the day there tomorrow. There is a spa for you ladies to get receive some pampering and there is plenty for all of us to do. Then we can have dinner and dancing.”
Sarah was speechless. Greg and CeCe were nodding their agreement to the plan.
“The hotel’s limo will pick us up here and take us directly to the private elevator. The top floor of the hotel is mine. There are two luxury guest suites with a private dining room in between. We can arrive whenever and leave whenever. The spa is all arranged in my name so no one will know where CeCe is.”
“Thank you Dalton, that is very sweet of you.” CeCe commented. “It sounds like a wonderful plan. Sarah you need to hang onto him.”
“I plan to.” She said with a wink to Dalton
Dalton hugged her closer in response.
CeCe and Greg bid them good night. “Stay and enjoy as long as you like. The staff will clean up in the morning.”
“Thank you for a wonderful evening.” Sarah declared
When they were alone again, Sarah turned to where she could face Dalton. “You are so amazing and sweet. Thank you for thinking of CeCe’s privacy.”
“I like her and Greg. I want to repay them for helping us. I’d do anything for them. A day at my hotel is a start.”
“Oh, Dalton.” Sarah leaned forward and kissed him.
“For us, I have planned a couple’s massage on the beach. Greg and CeCe too if they want, but I figured they might prefer it in their room just in case. It is a private location where the massages are, but if they want to be extra careful they might choose their room.”