Hale Maree (21 page)

And the words slip out. “I don’t want to
stop.”

Oscar smiles. “That’s okay too,” he laughs
softly. He lifts my hand with his enormous ring on it. “You see
this ring? That means I’m staying. That means you belong to me. And
by accepting it, that ring also means you’re staying, and that I
belong to you.

“
We can wait until we’re
married, if it makes you comfortable. Or we can have sex before
we’re married, and that’s okay too. We belong to each other, Hale,
and sex or no sex, nothing’s going to change that.”

“
I’m scared that it’s going
to hurt,” I say. Oscar nods, like he’s absorbing my
words.

“
It probably will,” he says.
“But only the first time. After that, it should feel good. But for
our first time, we’ll go very slow and I’ll be as careful as I
can.”

“
Okay,” I say. My eyes fill
up, but it’s not all from nerves. Oscar chuckles again.

“
If you’re okay, than what’s
the matter?”

“
You said...” I start to
cry. Oscar tries to comfort me, rubbing my back and whispering,
“Shhh, it’s okay. Whatever it is, it’s okay, Hale.”

“
You said you wanted me to
cook and clean and.” I begin to hiccup and can’t finish.

“
Oh no,” Oscar says with a
smile. “I said you needed to be good in bed. That’s what you’re
worried about?”

I nod.

“
Hale, this is all new to
you, I get that,” he says. “I don’t expect you to know what you’re
doing at first. In fact, I’m glad you don’t.”

“
But what if I’m never good
at it?”

“
You will be. I’m not
worried about that,” he says. My head begins to throb a little and
I put my hand to my temple. Oscar lays his hand gently on mine. “Is
it hurting again?”

“
Yes,” I say.

“
Let’s do this,” he says.
“I’m going to get you some aspirin and get you up to bed. We don’t
need to talk anymore about this tonight.”

Oscar lets go of me, and we both get up from
the couch. He twines his arm around my waist and we walk upstairs
together. A bed has never looked as good as this one looks now. He
deposits me at the side, and I perch on the edge.

“
I’m going to grab that
aspirin,” he says. He jogs downstairs and brings back water and
medicine before I can even kick off my shoes. I swallow down the
pill he gives me. Oscar moves the shopping bags off the bed, but
picks up the nightgown I bought.

“
Do you want to wear this to
bed?” he asks. My head is going
bomp bomp
bomp
and he wants me to get into a
nightgown. And getting into a nightgown means getting out of
clothes, but it’s that middle naked part that usually leads to
trouble.

“
I can sleep in
this.”

“
I’m not going to jump you,
Hale,” he says, and without waiting for an answer, he lifts off my
shirt. Almost without blinking, he removes my bra and slides the
lime-green fabric down over my head. “Stand up a second,” he says
and when I do, he reaches under my gown to hook his fingers into my
shorts. He slides them off, along with my panties, and smoothes
down my gown, before pulling back the covers on the bed.

The rain starts then, soft drops on the
skylight. I lie down, and the pillow feels cool and good.

“
I have another present for
you,” I say, as Oscar unbuttons his shorts.

“
Another?”

I nod and point to the shopping bags he’s
put on the chair. “The big one.”

Oscar gets the bag. He opens it and pulls
out the pajama bottoms I bought him. He holds them up with a
grin.

“
I’ll wear a pair tonight,”
he says. “But just so you know, I usually don’t allow clothes in my
bed. They’re bad for the atmosphere I like to create.”

I giggle and clasp my head, closing my eyes
as he removes his boxers and slips on the bottoms I bought him. He
climbs into bed as the rain kicks up. He turns me away from him and
curls up against my back.

“
Go to sleep,” he whispers,
leaving a kiss on my neck. I drift off to sleep, listening to the
rhythm of the raindrops overhead.

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

OSCAR GENTLY SHAKES ME AWAKE. The moon is
hanging above the skylight, blurred by the rain, and the faux
bedside candles are flickering.

“
What’s the matter?” I
ask.

“
Nothing,” Oscar says. “Just
need to wake you up every few hours to be sure you don’t have a
concussion.”

“
I’m awake, so I guess I
don’t.”

“
How’s your
head?”

“
I think it’s
okay.”

“
Do you want some more
aspirin?”

“
No thanks.”

We lie on our backs, looking up at the
mirrors over our heads. “You can go back to sleep,” Oscar says. I
try to close my eyes, but I’m wide-awake now and every time I look
up, I see the outline of Oscar’s powerful body under the sheet.
Then I see him looking back at me.

“
The rain is really coming
down,” I say. “Have you been awake long?”

“
I haven’t gone to sleep,”
he says. “I wanted to keep an eye on you. I went through all my
phone messages though.”

“
Sophia?”

“
Mostly,” he says. “But my
father called too. He said that the news reported that there is
going to be an autopsy done on Tatum. They’re reporting that there
aren’t any leads. They still suspect foul play because of how he
hit his head, but they want to rule out the possibility of drugs.
If he has drugs in his system, they might assume it was a drug deal
that went bad.”

“
I hope they find drugs,” I
say, and immediately feel the heavy mixture of guilt and hope drop
into my stomach.

“
If they do, it would put my
father at ease. But if he was on drugs, the whole thing with Amy is
even more haywire,” Oscar says. He slides his arm beneath my
pillow, and in the mirror overhead, I watch his muscles ripple as
he moves closer beneath the sheet. The rain taps even harder on the
skylight. “But there’s no point in worrying about any of it right
now. Nothing we can do about it.”

“
I guess not,” I say, and my
stomach jumps as Oscar’s hand grazes over it. “What are you
doing?”

“
Nothing. Just touching
you,” he says innocently. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”

“
It’s okay,” I say, as some
thunder rumbles in the distance.

“
Storm’s coming,” he
whispers.

“
I used to hate storms when
I was little,” I tell him. “I used to hide between my parents in
their bed, even though my mom would try to send me back to my own
bed.”

“
Your mom would?”

“
Yeah, she would.” I say.
“But my dad would always let me stay. I think he was just as scared
as I was.”

Oscar chuckles at that, and his hand returns
to cup my stomach. “Would you kick our children out of our bed, or
let them stay?”

“
Children?” I gulp.
Children. He didn’t even just say child. He said children. I’ve
never once thought about having children. That’s always something
that happened to older people, during parts of life that were too
distant for me to worry about. But now, Oscar’s put the idea front
and center, and it makes me feel like I’m in the front row of a
movie theater, tipping my head back and trying to make sense of
this new, bigger picture.

“
I want children, don’t
you?” he says.

“
No,” I say quickly. “Not
now. Not soon. Maybe not ever.”

Oscar just laughs. “You’ve got time to think
about it.”

“
What if I never want to
have kids? What if the answer is never?”

“
I’d be disappointed,” Oscar
says.

“
You don’t think I’d be
disappointed?” I squeak, pushing him away. “Never getting to go to
college, or have career, or a life of my own? You don’t think it’d
be disappointing to just sit home, squeezing out baby after baby,
while you’re off doing...I don’t even know what you’d be
doing!”

“
I work with my father,” he
says. “Financial investments.”

I pull back the sheet and sit up, so I can
tower over him. “So, while you’re off, having a life, you want to
trap me at home with a screaming, whining football team? And you
can’t see how I’d be disappointed?”

Oscar’s stomach muscles jump when he laughs.
“I don’t think it’d be like that at all, Hale. You can have your
career. We could have a nanny.”

“
You’d let some stranger
raise your children?” I snap. “If we had children, there’s no way
someone else would be raising them. That’s ridiculous.”

“
I’m glad you’re thinking
about it, at least,” Oscar says.

“
I’m thinking you’re nuts,”
I say. The wind picks up and the branch-women, outside, wave their
arms, throwing frantic shadows against the wall. The thunder
rumbles even closer, and a flash of lightening startles me as it
illuminates the room. Oscar’s hand is on my wrist, pulling me back
down into his arms. He throws a leg over both of mine.

“
I think you’re still just a
little scared of the unknown,” he says, tipping my face toward the
ceiling as he kisses down the side of my cheek. I watch him do it,
mesmerized by the way the cut of his jaw looks, as his mouth moves
along my skin. I turn my face toward him, to return his kiss, but
under his breath he mumbles, “No, no. Just watch,” as he gently
pushes away my lips.

I look up into the mirror, and watch as his
leg releases me and his hand passes beneath the sheet. He pulls it
from me, and goose bumps rise up across my chest, not from the
temperature of the room, but from how close he is. From what he is
going to do.

His lips move down my neck as he slips a
hand beneath the silk bodice of my gown. My nipples rise up to the
warm ceiling of his palm. A shock of lightening flashes overhead,
momentarily blinding me.

But his fingertips are soft on my stomach,
making their way down my side to finally rest at the top of my
thigh. I let my gaze drift downward, but the moment I do, Oscar
whispers into my hair, “Are you watching, Hale?”

As I look up, his head lowers to my breast,
taking my nipple into his mouth. Streaks of lightening course
through me, and Oscar’s tongue vibrates deliciously with his low
rumble of pleasure. I close my eyes and then, as if it is
punishment for doing so, Oscar’s lips close around me and he gives
the point of my breast a sharp tug.

My eyes flick back to the ceiling reflection
of his long fingers, as he gathers up my gown in his palm.

“
Yes,” I answer.

“
Good.”

I swallow, as he continues to ease up the
fabric until I am exposed from the waist down. One of his hands
slides between my legs, drifting a finger lightly down the inside
of my thigh. My knees jerk apart with the tickle.

“
Good,” Oscar chuckles, the
sound as low and deep as the thunder. He leans over me, the muscles
of his back flexing, as his dark hair moves over my stomach. He
kisses the bottom of my sternum, the soft upper part of my belly,
and slips his tongue into my navel. I giggle, and Oscar smothers
his laugh in kisses that make a crescent moon shape around my belly
button. He leans across my leg, peeking between my knees, and his
pleasurable groan rumbles against my thigh. I feel his breath, hot
and warm, as he shifts his body weight, easing his torso between my
knees.

I tense as Oscar spreads my legs further
apart, wiggling between them.

“
Let me,” he whispers, and
when he catches me looking down at him, he smiles and moves his
gaze up to the ceiling, in reminder. I lay back again and stare
into the overhead mirror as his head dips between my thighs. At
first, I curl my toes, embarrassed, but then his breathe steams
against my opened flesh, and his moist finger moves between my
folds. A moan rips from my chest.

In the strikes of lightening, I watch Oscar
lift his finger to his mouth, sucking it before he drops his hand
back down between my thighs and slowly eases it back into me. The
tip of his finger caresses me deeper and deeper. He lowers his
mouth against me, and at the same time, my body takes over,
trembling against the mattress. Oscar spreads the palm of his free
hand against my stomach, but he doesn’t stop. He swirls his tongue
against me, and the involuntary begging breaks through my lips, one
plead after another, as he slips a second finger inside me, gently
stretching me even wider.

“
Does that feel good?” he
asks, and I breathe my answer. He nips the inside of my thigh as he
withdraws his fingers. He slips off the pajama bottoms I gave him,
dropping them off the end of the bed. In the reflection, I stare
down at the hard cords of his shoulders, past the flat muscles in
his stomach, and I see his length, extended toward me as his hands
rub along my thighs.

He moves off the bed and I watch his body,
caught in flashes of the storm, as he retrieves something from his
bag on the floor. When he returns, he holds a bottle of liquid in
his hands and drops some condoms on the bedside table.

As he stands at the side of the bed, I try
to keep my eyes on the ceiling. He opens the bottle and pours some
liquid into his hand, before bending down to kiss my chin.