No More Stage Fright

Saturday afternoon/evening 5:30PM

Amanda was the first to awaken from their impromptu nap. She stretched her long legs and smiled as she realized that Lee had spooned up behind her, his body wrapped around hers, his arm around her waist, one leg draped over her own. She tried to extract herself from his grasp, but found that only made him hold her tighter.

"Mmm," he sighed sleepily as he nuzzled her neck. "Stay here. Just let me hold you a little while longer."

"I'm sorry," she said as she caressed the arm wrapped around her. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"S'ok," Lee murmured hazily. When Amanda turned in his arms, he opened his eyes to look into hers. "I like waking up with you next to me," he said more clearly the sleep-induced fog lifting from his brain.

"I'm getting to like it too," she said with an affectionate smile kissing him lightly as she stroked his face.

"Then stay," Lee said as he firmly held her against him.

"I'm right here," she said. "I'm staying tonight. That was the whole reason I went home to pack a bag, remember?"

"Stay longer," he said brushing his lips against hers. "Stay forever."

"I would love to, Lee, but you know I can't. I have children to go home to," she reminded him.

"You may have a child right here too," he said with a smile as he lightly stroked her stomach.

"You're really not bothered at all by that idea, are you?"

"No," Lee replied. "I meant what I said Amanda. I can't think of a better mother for my children and there's no other woman that I would ever want to be with. I want you and only you."

"I only want you too," she answered back kissing him again.

Lee's heart soared at hearing those words from her. He deepened their kiss and turned to roll her beneath him as his tongue danced with hers. He felt like his heart would burst with love for her as they held onto each other. He pulled back from her and at seeing the same love shining back at him from her eyes, he knew he couldn't wait any longer. "Marry me, Amanda."

"What," she said startled by his sudden outburst. "Is this another joke?"

Lee sat up and looked away from her, disappointed by her reaction, but what else had he really expected? They'd been joking about it for two days.

Amanda sat up, swung her legs over the side of the bed and lightly touched his shoulder. "Lee, talk to me. Don't shut me out."

Lee stood, reached into the nightstand drawer, pulling out the ring box he stashed there only a couple of hours ago and knelt in front of her with it. "No, not this time," he said echoing the words that had started this whole thing. "This is no damn joke." He opened the ring box, took the ring from it, tossed the box aside and reached for her left hand. "I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Amanda was stunned into silence her eyes transfixed on the sparkling diamond. This is for real, she thought. Yes, her heart screamed, but she found she couldn't spit out the word.

"Amanda, will you marry me, please?" he said his voice a soft pleading whisper.

Happy tears formed in her eyes as she finally recovered from the shock and gasped out, "Yes."

Lee let out the breath he'd been holding. He'd never realized how much that one simple word "yes" could mean. He slid the ring onto her finger with a huge smile and pulled her to him to seal the deal with a soft kiss. "I love you," he said again still holding her left hand. He reached for her right as well linking his fingers with hers as he gazed into her eyes.

"I love you too," she said the tears falling silently as she looked back into his eyes, her heart swelling with love for him. She kissed him and tugged on his hands to urge hm back into bed with her.

Lee followed her lead, easing himself back into bed beside her as they shared soft kisses. He pulled back for a moment, softly caressed her face, brushing her hair away from it and said, "You've made me so happy."

"You made me pretty happy too," she said with a smile as she kissed him again, their kisses soon changing from celebratory, romantic kisses to fiery, passionate ones. "Lee, make love to me," she whispered breathlessly.

Lee once again rolled her beneath him kissing her feverishly as his fingers worked on loosening the buttons on her blouse while she tugged his shirt out of the waistband of his jeans and began to undo his buttons as well. She lifted her just enough to slide her blouse off her arms and unhook her bra, dropping them both to the floor. He kissed the spot on her neck where he'd left his mark earlier as she pushed his shirt off his shoulders grasping his bare back while he suckled the tender pulse point making Amanda sigh in contentment. He slipped one hand between them to unfasten her jeans just enough to reach inside and touch her center.

"Oh, Lee," she cried out at the contact. She arched against him as he stroked her.

Hearing her crying out his name urged Lee on. He dipped a finger inside her and was delighted to find her already wet for him just as she had been in the kitchen earlier. He pulled away from her long enough to pull her jeans down her long legs and toss them aside, her panties soon following.

Amanda whimpered at the loss of the contact. She sat up enough to reach for the button on his jeans, making quick work of it and the zipper. She pushed his jeans and boxers down his hips wrapping her long fingers around him, relishing the feel of his hardness.

"Oh, Amanda," Lee growled at the way she was touching him elated by the fact that he now knew he could have this with her for the rest of his life. His jeans and underwear joined the rest of their clothing on the floor as he returned to her arms startled when she pushed him onto his back forcefully and straddled him. He made a move to reverse their positions, but she stopped him with a hand on his chest.

"No," Amanda said as she kissed him, pressing the length of her body against his. She trailed kisses down his jaw, his neck, his chest as she began to stroke him again, delighted in feeling him buck against her.

Lee groaned at the feeling of her lips on his skin, her hand deftly stroking his manhood. Why had he waited so long for this? He grasped her hips firmly and flipped her beneath him, not giving her a chance to stop him this time. He crushed his lip to hers as he pinned her to the mattress and ground against her, wanting her to feel what she was doing to him.

"Lee," she cried out. "I want you inside me."

"Is that what you want," he teased in a gravelly voice.

"Yes," she gasped. "Now." Lee made a move to reach into the still open drawer beside him for the condoms, but Amanda's hand on his arm stopped him. She knew what he was reaching for as she'd caught sight of the box when he'd opened the drawer to get the ring box. "No, just you. I don't want any barriers between us."

"We'd be taking a chance," he said in a warning tone.

"We already have, four times now," Amanda reminded him. "What's one more? If it happens, it happens."

"Are you sure," he asked hesitantly.

"I'm sure," she said. "Besides, we're getting married anyway, right?"

"Yeah, we are," Lee said with a smile overjoyed that not only had she said yes to his proposal, but also that she was willing to have his baby. He kissed her firmly trying to convey everything her felt for her in that one kiss as he slowly pushed his way inside her delighted in feeling her closing around him. He couldn't get over how perfectly they fit together. He pulled back from their kiss, linked his hands with hers, gazing deeply into her eyes. He felt her locking her legs around him and began to withdraw from her only to push back in again. He never took his eyes off hers as they moved together, advancing and retreating repeatedly, her hips moving with his in perfect rhythm, meeting him again and again until they tumbled over the edge together and he once again felt himself erupting inside her as they cried out each other's names.

They lay locked together like that sharing soft touches and kisses until their heartbeats slowed again. "I love you," Amanda whispered as she stroked his face lovingly.

"I love you," He said as he rolled onto his back with her still in his arms so as not to crush her with his weight.

Amanda lazily ran her fingers across his chest, the diamond catching her eye again. She held her hand up and gazed at it. "So, is this why you wanted us to split up today?"

"You caught me," Lee said with a chuckle. "I knew there was a jewelry store in that shopping center. That's why I wanted to go there. This isn't how I planned on giving it to you, though."

"Oh, you had a plan, did you," she teased.

"Yeah, damn romantic one, too. I thought we'd have our dinner, then maybe put o some music and dance a little since we never went dancing last night."

"Oh, no, we did a lot of dancing," she said a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"You know what I mean," he said with a chuckle.

"We still could do all that, you know. I could just give this back to you for a while and you could put your plan in motion and give it to me all over again," she teased.

"No, you are not taking that ring off your finger ever," Lee said firmly as he playfully swatted her bottom. "Not, now that I finally got you to say yes."

"I stand by what I said last night. You can be a little dense sometimes," Amanda said mischievously.

"Hey!" he protested. "Don't make me make you take that back again."

"Well, if you were listening properly, you'd have realized that all I was waiting for was for you to ask the right question," she taunted smugly as she held her hand up to watching the glint of the diamond as it caught the late afternoon sunlight pouring in through the bedroom window.

"Ok, ok," He conceded. "You've got me there. I was just chicken, I guess."

"You weren't too chicken to buy a ring," she pointed out. "I'm glad you decided not to chicken out on giving it to me.

"I'm glad I did, too" He smiled, captured her hand and softly kissed it where he'd just placed her engagement ring. "It looks a lot better there than in did in the store."

"It's beautiful," she agreed with an elated smile. "You have excellent taste."

"Do you really like it?"He asked anxiously as he nervously fiddled with the diamond.

"I love it. It's perfect," she gushed.

"Good," Lee said breathing easier. "You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to get it." Lee told her how he stopped an attempted robbery, including the details of the smarmy sales clerk.

Amanda couldn't help but laugh. "Only you," she said.

"That's exactly what I thought," he said laughing with her. "It's just a good thing I never go anywhere unarmed."

"Well, that explains what the police cars were about when I got back to the supermarket. What I can't believe is that the guy was stupid enough to try to rob a jewelry store in broad daylight in the middle of a Saturday afternoon."

He laughed again. He couldn't believe how in sync their thoughts were about his adventure in the jewelry store. "That's exactly what I told the cops when they arrived. I think this is going to be one of those crazy stories we'll tell our grandchildren one day."

"It's not like with what we do for a living, we won't have enough crazy stories to tell them anyway," Amanda said with a chuckle.

"You make a good point," Lee said shaking his head with a smile. "All the life and death stuff we face on a regular basis, but you know something? I think you are going to be more dangerous that any spy I've ever faced."

"OH? How so," She inquired with a bemused look.

"This," he said indicating their state of undress. "Five times in less that twenty-four hours. That's a record for me."

"Hmm," Amanda said and couldn't resist teasing him. "You've led a sheltered life."

"What?"He said in surprise. "Don't tell me it's not a record for you too?"

Amanda kissed him softly. "You just wait until the honeymoon," she said with a wicked grin as she quickly scrambled out of bed and began to get dressed, leaving him with a puzzled look on his face.