13

With Kimmy fast asleep in bed, they curled up on her sofa, her on his lap. She felt so good in his arms, like she belonged there, like his arms were made just for her. She toyed with the buttons on his blue polo as he spoke, "I was thinking that maybe we could go on a little trip before you have to go back to work. Maybe we could leave tomorrow."

"Where to?"

"I don't know. I just thought it might be nice."

"I don't know if I could leave Kimmy with anyone for the weekend."

"That's good, because I was talking about a family trip."

"Oh! Okay. That sounds good, then."

"Where would you like to go?"

"Disney might be fun for Kimmy."

"I'd say so." He paused before asking, "How would you feel about seeing Jim?"

"Jim? You mean go to Vegas?"

"I won't be upset if you say no. It's just that I never said goodbye to anyone. I just left. I didn't think that would bother me, but suddenly it does. I'm not saying you'd have to see everyone, but we could stay one night with Jim and I could go see everyone for an hour or so then we could leave. I'm not suggesting we vacation there; it's no place for a child."

There was a short silence as she thought, "Okay. I suppose we could do that. I wouldn't mind seeing Jim. Maybe we could do that first, then head to Disney so Kimmy will still be excited about the trip?"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. I understand how you feel. I'm just not ready to see everyone yet."

"I won't pressure you to do anything you don't want to do."

"I know. Why don't I go online and see what kind of flights I can get us last minute and you can call Jim to make sure we can stay tomorrow night?"

"Okay." She scooted off his lap, but he caught her wrist, pulling her back toward him. "Kiss me." After a wide smile she did just that before leaving the room. He watched her disappear up the stairs and sighed as he flipped his cell phone open, wondering how he'd gotten so lucky.

After two rings Jim answered, "Hey! Didn't expect to hear from you!"

"You alone?"

"You talk. I'm good."

"I was wondering if you'd like some company tomorrow night."

"You're always welcome, you know that."

"Well, it wouldn't be just me. Sara and her daughter would be with me."

"Sounds serious. I like that. What time?"

"Not sure. Sara's checking on flights right now. Do you think you could get the gang rounded up for breakfast Sunday morning without making them suspicious? I don't want anyone to know I'm coming."

"Call me when you know the time. I can't promise about suspicion, but I'll get it done. Will seven be too early for you guys?"

"Just me for breakfast, Jim. Sara's not ready."

"Got it. Talk to you tomorrow."

"Thanks."

A couple minutes later he leaned over her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her as she clicked buttons on the screen. "Everything's all set with Jim. I told him I'd call when I knew what time."

"There was only one flight with three seats left. We land at 3:47. I'm looking for a flight out on Sunday, now." He watched as she scrolled through the screen. A few clicks later she said, "How about we leave around one? We'd get back to California in time to eat an early dinner and maybe do a little sight seeing. Then we could spend Monday in the park."

"You're the planner, Honey. Whatever works for you, works for me. Jim's gonna have the gang meet me for breakfast at seven, so that will be plenty of time. Do you need me to do anything?"

"Should I rent a car in Vegas?"

"I am not putting you or our daughter in a cab in Vegas."

"Okay, so rent a car; got it. Anything else?"

"Yes." It was a few seconds before the clatter of plastic landed in front of her. "Since I know how stubborn you are, I won't ask to pay for everything, but I expect at least half of this trip and more if you like, to be billed to this."

Without the argument he expected, "Yes, Dear."

He kissed the top of her head, "Thank you. How much longer will you be?"

"Uh, fifteen minutes, maybe? I want to buy the theme park tickets and book the hotel and cars."

"I'm gonna take a shower."

Twenty minutes later, he joined her just as she was pulling a few sheets of paper from the printer. "How'd you do?"

"All done." Reaching her hand out, "Your card, used as directed."

"Good. I'll be right back. I need to put this away before I lose it." After depositing the card in his wallet, he returned to the small study only to find it empty. He found her in her bedroom pulling a bag from the closet. Leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest, "Wow! You don't waste any time do you?"

She smiled over her shoulder and shrugged, "I'm a planner."

"And what exactly are you 'planning' at this point?"

With a sly grin, she sauntered across the room and dropped her bag beside his feet. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and slowly pulled him the few inches needed to close the distance between them and pushed the door shut with her foot. "I'm planning on letting you take my shirt off."

With his arms still crossed, "Well, I'm not planning on taking it off."

"I know."

He raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"I'm the planner, not you."

She pushed up on her tiptoes and pulled him even closer toward her, "Sara, we had a deal, remember? I came home with you so we could talk."

She huffed and he breathed a sigh of relief when she backed off. He didn't know how much longer he could resist her. She flashed him her best puppy dog eyes and asked, "Will you sleep with me?"

"I seem to remember you asking me that once before."

"I have different reasons this time."

He wanted to refuse, to safely retreat to the guest room, as far from the temptation as he could get. But his heart spoke, selfishly wanting to be as near to her as much as possible. "Fine, I'll sleep with you."

Nodding curtly, "Point made." Giving him a toothy smile, she nearly skipped out of the room saying, "Be right back."

Stealing the forensic textbook from her side of the bed, he turned down the sheets and settled on the other side. Without his glasses, he just skimmed the pages, having read the book before anyway. He looked up from the book and snickered when she entered the room wearing the shirt he'd just removed. "A vision in blue. Do I need to invest in new shirts, or will they all rotate back to me at some point?"

"I suppose I could rotate."

Snapping the book shut as she crawled into bed, "Well, thank you."

With a huge smile, "Welcome!"

She propped herself up on one elbow, mirroring him. He looked into her eyes and saw a little bit of excitement, "You're excited."

"Yeah, I am…and a little scared."

"Why are you scared?"

"Because in my experience, just when things feel perfect, something horrible happens to steal it all away."

"And does this seem perfect to you?"

"Pretty close."

"Me too."

"Do you realize how much you've changed?"

"I only changed my actions, Sara, not my feelings. I always wanted this; I just never acted on it. When you left, I thought I'd lost my chance. I had a lot of time to think about what I'd do if I were ever lucky enough to get my chance back. I may not be a planner like you, but I'm more comfortable with my choices when I have time to think of the outcomes. When you were always right there in front of me, I never thought about losing you. I just assumed you'd always be there. I never thought that my choice to do nothing would cause me to lose you."

"I left so I could forget you."

Trying to be as humorous as possible, "How'd that work out?"

"Not well, obviously. I knew it would never work. I couldn't even put away the picture of you that's on my nightstand, let alone stop thinking of you. I'm not even really sure if I tried. It was more like I was a widow trying to figure out how to move on with my life and stop loving the only person I'd ever truly loved."

"Can I ask you something?" After she nodded, "Why did you love me?"

She never even hesitated, "In the beginning it was because you knew me. You weren't intimidated by my knowledge. In fact, you always pushed me to learn more. My career choice didn't gross you out. The hours I worked didn't bother you and you actually appreciated that I wasn't a social butterfly. After that, it was the little things that kept it going. The occasional looks, the way you appreciated my work, how you cared if I started to run myself down, not firing me when I know they pushed you to, holding my hand while I cried, never giving me the easy out. It all mattered and somehow overshadowed all the stupid stuff. I knew I was lost in you when I told you about my mother and it didn't scare you away. I knew in my heart that if I could tell you that, then I could tell you anything. The person you can tell all your secrets to is the person you're supposed to fall in love with and spend the rest of your life with."

"I'll tell you all the secrets you want to know."

"Umm…what does that mean exactly?"

"It means, that…it means that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want you to carry my child and I want to grow incredibly old with you. Most of all, it means that I love you."

He saw the tears rise in her eyes, "I love you, too."

With a wicked smile, hoping to chase the tears away, "And it means that I'm ready to take that shirt off."

Her smile was all he needed.

"Say it again."

With a raised eyebrow, "I'm ready to take that shirt off?"

"No, before that."

Smiling, he pulled her on top of him and held the sides of her face between his hands. Looking deep into her eyes, "I love you Sara Ann Sidle and don't you ever forget it."

When their lips met, he swore he felt the fireworks go off inside him. There was no gentleness as there had been before. No tender touch or mild teasing. A fierce passion drove their every move, needing to fulfill the desire they both had to consume the other.

Tongues clashed and hands groped, roaming over unwanted barriers. He rolled her to the side, simultaneously tearing his lips from hers, and attacked the bare skin exposed by the open buttons of his polo. His hand, on a mission of its own grazed her body, forging a path from her bare thigh, over her stomach and stopping just below her covered breast.

She squirmed beneath him, begging for his touch, and gasped when he answered by cupping her breast in his palm, gently kneading the tender flesh. Leaving a hot, wet trail of kisses and nibbling over her neck, his hand moved from one breast to the other, reveling in the feeling over her nipples rising to hard peaks under his touch.

He pulled her into an upright position and all but yanked his shirt over her head, baring her to him with the exception of the scrap of red satin around her hips. She fell back to the bed after a gentle push pulling the hem of his shirt up to his chest as she went. Finishing the job himself, he tossed the shirt to the side and stifled her moan with his kiss as he pressed his bare chest against hers.

Pulling from the passionate onslaught of her tongue, he moved his attention back to her milky breasts and her hands grabbed at fistfuls of sheets when he took one into his mouth, sucking on the soft flesh. Moving from one to the other, his tongue flicked at the hard nipples and licked at the smooth flesh around them, wanting to devour every inch.

Her hips arched against his roaming hand as it grazed over the silky material at her waist. He couldn't stop the moan that escaped him as her hip pressed against his arousal. Obviously realizing the effect, she moved against him, making him pulsate with need.

His lips never left her flesh as he moved down her stomach and tugged her last bit of clothing away. His mouth covered the newly exposed skin at her waist as her fingers tugged at his hair and her hips writhed. When his hand touched the wet curls between her legs, she jerked against him and let out a cry he was sure the neighbors heard.

Changing his position, he covered her mouth with his as he slipped his fingers inside her, stifling the loud noise her knew she would emit. With gentle strokes of his fingers, he pushed her as far as he dared without taking her to the final peak. He selfishly wanted to be inside her during her first climax with him.

After a moan when he removed his fingers, she shocked him when she pushed him onto his back and immediately tugged his shorts away. His eyes widened when she swung a leg over him and straddled his waist, pressing her hot wetness against his throbbing arousal.

She bent to kiss him, but with a firm hand between her breasts, he pushed her back into an upright position. Looking into her eyes, swirling with passion and sparkling with desire, he managed in a husky voice, "You are so beautiful."

"I love you, Gil."

"I love you, too, Sara."

With that, he could resist her no longer. When she finally guided him inside her, the warmth enveloping him, he grasped her hips and held her firmly against him, holding his breath as he lost himself in the magical feeling of being joined by love.

She moaned on top of him and he loosened his grasp allowing her to move against him. They found the perfect rhythm together, a dance of love that would carry them to new heights. Her hands covered his at her waist and he felt her tighten around him. Quickening their pace, pushing and pulling at her hips, he took her further, causing her head to fall back as she let herself go.

His need to feel her final climax outweighed the need of his own as he pressed himself deeper inside her. But when she uttered his name as he felt her shudders around him, with one last thrust he exploded inside her and they rode the climax together.

When she fell to his chest, he wrapped her in his arms, feeling a new completeness he'd never experienced. He needed her, and as scary as that would have seemed to him in the past, now he understood it was just a fact of life. He loved her, and without her, he was nothing.

He held her until her breathing evened and he was sure she had drifted off into sweet dreams of their love for each other and then rolled her to the side. She moaned as he moved away to pull the sheet over them and his heart skipped a beat when she clung to him as he lay back down. She needed him too.

He drifted off to sleep with thoughts of their amazing future together.

If you had asked him yesterday, he would have said that uttering the words 'I love you' might possibly be the hardest thing he ever did.

If you asked him now, he'd say that it couldn't get any easier.