Bad Seed

“Then we’re one step ahead of them, in my eyes,” I said.

In the span of thirty minutes, I felt like I knew her better. Like I knew her for the woman she was. Her past made so much sense now when it came to her actions and her words. And the way she was so desperate to keep me at arm’s length was because I reminded her of her father. Not the good part of him, but the bad one. The one that left his daughter on the front porch screaming for him as he drove away drunk.

But she reminded me of my mother, of her strength and her beauty and her integrity. Her fiery personality and her stubbornness. It was familiar to me in a way that home should be.

She was familiar to me in a way home should be.

I slid her legs from my lap and crept closer to her. Delia’s eyes were connected with mine as I pressed my lips against hers. I felt her stiffen underneath me before she gave way, her tongue licking across my lips. I allowed her entrance, her body unfolding for me as her legs spread to accommodate me. Our tongues collided, and I could feel her trembling, her moans being swallowed in my kiss as her hands gripped my back.

I sank down on top of her, cloaking her with my body as I tasted her sweetness. How I had missed her. How I had dreamed of her during my stint in rehab. Every night when I closed my eyes, I imagined her next to me, smiling at me and talking me through things as I laid there alone in that cold, hard bed. And every morning I would reach for her. Expecting her to be there.

But she never was.

Until now.

I pulled back from her, our chests heaving and our lungs panting for air. Her lips were swollen from my kiss as her dazed eyes looked up at me. I could feel her desire for me humming through her veins. I captured her lips with mine one last time, feeling her arch into me as her hands ran through my hair.

“Now, I’m gonna order that pizza so we can celebrate the fact that we’re officially together,” I said.

“What?” Delia asked.

“I know you better, and you know me better. And instead of pushing me away, you leaned into me. You opened yourself up to me. You trusted me, and I trusted you. Now, you’re mine. And we’re gonna order pizza to celebrate.”

The shock that rolled over her face caused me to sit up and laugh.

“You’re—we’re—that’s not how a relationship works,” she said. “You can’t just announce that we’re together.”

“Isn’t that how it works? People announce engagements in the paper all the time,” I said, as I grabbed my phone.

“Yes. After the man asks the woman to marry him,” she said.

“That what you want me to do?”

“What?”

“You want me to ask you to be my girlfriend?”

I listened to her stumble over her words as I took her hands within mine.

“Delia Jakobson, you’re a beautiful woman. Feisty. Independent. Stubborn as hell. You’re carrying my child, and that makes you a priority. The priority. Now, will you accept the pepperoni pizza I’m gonna order us and go steady with me?” I asked.

I saw her shake her head as a giggle fell from her lips. Her eyes darted around the room, taking everything in. I sat there, my nerves getting the best of me as I held her hands tightly. She had to say ‘yes.’ I didn’t have any other tricks if she didn’t.

“I guess, yeah,” Delia said. “Under one condition.”

“Figured there’d be one,” I said.

“I go home Sunday night. I’ve got work to do and a workday to prepare for on Monday. I have to go home for that.”

I sighed as I relinquished defeat and nodded my head.

“Then you rest while you’re here,” I said. “You need it more than you think.”

“I’ll stay until Sunday and rest however much my body asks for,” she said.

With that, I grinned as I released her hands and went to order our dinner.

CHAPTER 30