Following the services, Shay had to introduce Stu to her entire family. He was on point. He smiled and shook hands and even fielded questions about "Wade Barrett." Shay had to smile. He was right, he handled himself well.

"Are yeh two comin' to eat with us or no'?

"No, not today Daddy. We had already made plans. But I will come to mass Wednesday, then come over and make us some dinner, and we will catch up, just the two of us, okay."

"Okay mo grá. Love yeh. Be careful yeah?"

"Love you too. See you later."

Stu took Shay by the hand and let her through the parking lot to his car. When they got to his car, he leaned against it and let out a sigh of relief. Shay had to laugh at him. "I told you, intense right? But you did very well. Very proud of you" she said as she leaned up to kiss him.

"Your father hates me" he replied laughing.

"No. Why do you say that?"

"Because I heard him refer to me as 'that limey' to your brother."

"Ha! Oh wow. No he didn't go there! Well, he is from Cork you know" she responded with a wink.

"I think he wants you to be with a nice Irish boy. Like Stephen" Stu said with a frown.

"That pasty ginger from the other night? I like my man with some color, well, besides red" she said, getting Stu to smile at her. 'We are really going have to work on this insecurity. How can he be lacking confidence, and work where he walks around in a speedo?' she wondered to herself. They climbed into the SUV and headed towards the restaurant.

Stu spoke up "Hey Shay, I know this may be a little early to talk about and I don't want to pressure you, but I realized when you were introducing me as 'your friend', that I want to be more. I hope we are more than just friends. Truth is, I haven't thought of you as just a friend since we made love. Seems like ages ago, but really only two days ago. I mean to say, I don't want you to feel you have to say yes, but will you be my girlfriend?" Stu said, his eyes never leaving the road. He couldn't bear to look at her if she told him no.

She placed her hand on his knee and rubbed gently. "Baby, I don't just think of you as my friend either. I just wasn't sure what to call you. I was trying to avoid the third degree from my family. Stu, seriously, I thought it was pretty obvious I want to be with you. But if you need me to say it to make it official, then yes, I would love to be your girl."

Stu reached down and took her hand from his leg. He brought it to his lips and kissed it. "You have made me very happy Shay" he told her with a grin from ear to ear.

After their lunch, Stu dropped Shay back off at home. He was worried she might be getting tired of him, but tried to push that thought out of his head 'no, she said she wants to be with me.' He decided that he would have to tell her soon about why he is insecure, but that can wait for another day. Right now, he has to decide where to take her for their first real date.

In the meantime, Drew made it safely to the airport and is sitting in first class with his Ipod. His mind keeps wandering back to the dream he had about Shay this morning. 'Felt real. Too real.' He scolded himself for even entertaining the thought of cozying up to Shay. She was with Stu after all. 'But she wants me. I can see it. I saw it the first day in the hospital. I would be the one with her right now if Stu hadn't run me off that night at the bar. No, Drew, stop it. Doesn't matter now, she is with him.' The flight attendant asking if he would like anything brought him out of his inner monologue. "Yes, a scotch. And make it a double."

A few rounds later, and Drew was feeling the effects of the scotch. 'Is it my imagination, or is that lassie checking me out? Well, we'll find out won't we?' Drew got up to go to the restroom, and motioned for the flight attendant that had been staring at him to follow. He stepped into the bathroom and she soon followed. He pinned her against the door and asked "what's your name?"

"Emily."

Drew smirked and bound her wrists in his big hand above her head as he kissed her neck. He rumbled against her skin "tell me you want this or I will stop."

"I want this Drew."

He smiled and began to attack her neck and massage her breasts through her shirt. Drew was already semi hard from thinking about this morning. He ran his hand up her thighs and pulled her hose and panties down. He turned her to face the sink and pulled his now fully erect cock out of his pants. He grabbed a condom and rolled it on. He grabbed her leg and placed it on the counter and slowly slid his hard cock inside her. She whimpered at the size of him, so he stilled for a moment, kissing her neck, waiting for her to be ready. When she relaxed, he started to pound into her fast and hard. His head threw back and his eyes slipped shut, his focus not on the woman beneath him, but the woman that now filled his thoughts. In his mind, Shay was the one screaming and moaning and begging for him. He thrust into her forcefully, making her come again, before reaching his release, growling into her ear as he shot into the condom. He had to brace his hands on the counter to keep from falling against her. Drew whispered breathlessly "thanks. I needed that" before spinning her around to kiss her and helping her get presentable again.

Later that evening, Stu was on his way to pick up Shay for the evening. He had stopped to get some flowers to bring her. He decided on a single red rose, hoping she would know what that meant, without him having to say. When she opened the door, Stu's jaw dropped. She was wearing a strapless D&G red lace dress with four inch Burberry black leather multi-strapped high heeled sandals that made her tanned legs look even longer. Her hair was in soft beach waves, and her dark eye shadow and red lipstick were drawing attention to her best features - her soulful eyes and her full, pouty lips. His eyes settled on the soft ample breasts he could see playing peek-a-boo out of the top of her dress. Tonight would be a test of resolve for him. He has said it, but he needs to show her she means more than just sex to him, even if it is the best sex he has ever had. He wants to own more than her body. He wants her heart, and her soul to be his. The smell of her DKNY perfume was the final nail in his coffin. He was done for.

Stu handed her the rose and subsequently draped his arm around her and brought her close. "You look absolutely stunning. Ravishing even."

Shay lowered her eyes and smiled, then thanked him. She stole a kiss from Stu, then had to wipe her lipstick off his lips. "Sorry about that. Couldn't help myself. You look like you just stepped off the cover of GQ. I will be having to fight the women off of you with a stick tonight baby. God, and smell delicious too."

Stu smiled and laughed. "Thank you love. You seem to always know just what to say. So, are you ready? I hope you like Japanese. I made us reservations at this Japanese steakhouse I have been wanting to try."

"Sounds perfect" Shay replied. "Hey, do you want to take my car?"

"If you want, as long as I can drive."

"Oh, I wouldn't have it any other way" she said as they climbed in her Porsche. When they were safely on the road, Shay turned to Stu and said "there is something I have been wanting to tell you about me. Now especially seems like a good time."

Stu swallowed hard thinking, 'right, now is when my perfect woman tells me she is married, or really a lesbian, or is a spy on the run. Why me?' "Of course love, I'm listening, what is it?"

"Well, truth me told I can be a little flaky sometimes, mostly just indecisive. But only on little things. Big decisions I make quickly and stand by them. But little stuff, like I can spend ten minutes trying to decide what kind of cereal to buy. I have always said, I am pretty low maintenance. All a man really needs to do to impress me is just show up for a date and say 'this is where we're going, and this is what we are doing.' Takes my stress away and makes me happy. My biggest pet peeve in the world is to tell someone 'I don't care' and them respond 'well I don't care either. What do you want to do?' Reminds me of that conversation from The Jungle Book, you know, with the buzzards?" -feigning an English accent- "Whatcha wanna do? I dunno, what you want to do. I dunno whatcha wanna do. Ah don't start that again!"

Stu was rolling by now listening to her ramble, and her bad imitation, but at the same time he found it endearing. Not only that she seemed to like the cartoon so much, but that he could see deep down, she really needed and wanted a strong man to take care of her. He flashed back to what she said yesterday at breakfast. 'She called me dominate. What did she really mean by that?'

A/N mo grá = my love