&nbs
p; “I’m just not in the mood,” she said, head down. I walked into the bedroom and encircled my arms around her once more.
“Tell me the truth.”
“That is the truth.” She tried to wiggle free from me, but I wouldn’t let her. “Look, I’m just not in the mood.” If Lenny really wasn’t in the mood, I wouldn’t have pressed. I would have let her go and jacked it in the bathroom. I had a thought that she was lying to me, though, and we weren’t doing that anymore. I was pretty sure of it too, because,
“I bought a twenty-four pack of batteries yesterday and they’re already dead.” That wasn’t an exaggeration. My remote still had no power.
Lenny stiffened, then relaxed against me. “What about the baby?” she whispered.
“What about it?” We’d come back from another doctor’s appointment just hours before and everything was fine. It was still too early to tell the sex, but in another month or so we’d know. Everything was going good—better than good, even. I had no clue what was bothering her. “The doctor said we could have sex.”
“Yeah, but Dr. Roth doesn’t know how we have sex.” Ah, bingo. Lenny was picturing whips and chains, leather and choking. She was picturing pounding, slapping, and screams.
All of that was pretty hot, but not necessarily conducive to growing a life.
“I’ll be gentle,” I said, pulling down the straps of her dress. Her breasts were heavier now; she couldn’t wear a bra due to the tenderness. They spilled out of the fabric that I continued to peel down her body. Her stomach was starting to round and I placed my palm on it. Inside was our baby; I still could hardly believe it.
“Do you know how to be gentle?” In lieu of responding, I gently kissed the side of Lenny’s neck. She sighed, melting into me. I loved to make Lenny scream. I loved to fuck her so hard she went insane and her mind melted, but maybe I could get used to this.
The way she crumbled into my touch had its own effect. Her little sighs and pants were a melody of their own. It wasn’t metal, but then this soft melody was starting to wear on me.
She laughed when I lifted her up and spun her around. We’d never had laughter in our bedroom. Screams and pleading and scratching, sure, but never laughter. I smiled as I set her down on the bed.
I gently grabbed her ankle and placed light kisses from the inside up to the curve of her knee. She arched her back and fisted the sheets. I slowly climbed up the bed until I was on top of her, placing all of my weight on my arms.
“How are you doing?” I asked. Her cheeks were flushed red.
“I love you, Vic,” she said.
I smiled, loving the way that sounded. “I love you too, Lenny.”
Now we lay in bed, holding each other. With my hand across her rounded belly, I stared out the open window at the ocean. It was…nice. It was warm. It was decidedly intimate. It was something we rarely did, but it was something I hoped we would continue to do.
“This is a beautiful ring,” Lenny said. “How much did it cost?”
“You really want to know?” I smiled as she tensed at my answer.
“I don’t know…” Lenny spun her wrist so the ring caught fragments of light. “If it was more than few hundred I don’t think so.”
I thought back to New York. “A bit more.”
“Maybe you can sugarcoat it.”
“It involves a secret message and the mafia.”
She shot up in bed, hair falling down her back. I waited, wondering if she was going to get mad. When she turned around her eyes were framed with wonder—and maybe a little indignation.
“Why couldn’t you just buy a ring like a normal person?”
I grinned. “That never crossed my mind.”
She laughed. “I trust you.” Gently, she leaned back into me. I watched Lenny play with the ring on her finger, looking at all the different ways it could catch light. In that moment I was never more sure I’d made the right decision. Even if it had meant going into league with the Pavonis for a time, with each shadow or glimpse of light it caught, I saw Lenny.
“You know what?” Lenny asked, burrowing deeper into the nook between my arm and pectoral.
“What?”