Banshee Song Book One

Chapter Thirty-Two

"Hey, whatcha thinkin' about?" Chloe asked, trying to sound casual.

Brady looked over at the beautiful woman at his side. "Oh, I was just thinking about everything. J.T., Isaac."

Chloe could feel his pain despite his attempt to keep his tone light. She took his hand in hers and silently waited for him to continue.

They were walking to their hotel after a wonderful evening out. First Brady had taken her to dinner at a romantic Italian restaurant where they had eaten a fantastic dinner and danced to soft classical music. Then they had gone to see "Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway and Chloe had been moved by the amazing performances. The star performers sang "All I Ask of You" and Brady and Chloe looked deeply into each other's eyes and smiled. Chloe wondered how the night could possibly be any more magical as they walked together under the stars and the lights of the city. She thought of her 'plans' for the evening and smiled. She linked her fingers with Brady's and squeezed his hand lightly to give him support.

Brady inhaled lightly. "I just wonder how Dad is. I mean, I had just begun to get used to the idea of having a little brother when we found out the truth, and it's still kind of hard to deal with. Dad has spent the last two years believing he had a son, only to find out that he didn't. I know how Dad is. I know that this is hurting him more than he's letting on." Brady remembered how his father looked and acted yesterday. "If I know him, he's burying his pain underneath his anger, his hatred of Stefano Dimera." He paused and locked eyes with Chloe. "I'm afraid that in his desire for revenge, he'll do something.reckless, stupid, dangerous. He's going to take on Dimera only to get himself killed." Brady finished quietly.

"And you wish you were there, to stop him, calm him." Chloe stated sympathetically.

He smiled wryly. "Even if I were there, I wouldn't be able to stop him, not when he gets in one of his moods. No, I just have to hope and pray that Marlena can keep him calm and stable." He chuckled.

Chloe looked down at the sidewalk that they were walking over. "I still can't believe it." She muttered quietly.

"Believe what?"

"That Mr. Dimera, Stefano, I mean, is this cruel, hateful person. The horrible crimes that he has committed, the things that he has done to half the people in Salem; it's just hard believing that the same nice man that I met at Princess Greta's coronation could be capable of such cruelty."

Brady frowned thoughtfully. "I didn't know that you had met Stefano."

"Yeah, we met on the plane over. We talked about opera and I sang for him. He really did seem to be such a nice person. But I guess appearances are deceiving."

Chloe shuddered involuntarily. There was something about that man that suddenly frightened her, and she didn't know why. He'd always been so kind to her, very warm, caring. Then why did she feel like someone was walking on her grave?

Brady looked down at her in concern. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Can we not talk about Stefano anymore? I don't want to think about poor Isaac, or what everyone's going through back home."

Brady smiled. "Not a problem. This is supposed to be a vacation, anyway."

Chloe fell silent and looked up at the stars. It was now Brady's turn to ask.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked softly

She continued her study of the sky. "Do you remember when we first met? That night on the pier?"

Brady lightly kissed the back of her hand. "How could I forget?"

She smiled, lost in the memory. "Oooooh, how I hated you that night. And many nights after." She added thoughtfully. "I hated you cause you got under my skin. I felt naked before you, despite my heavy black clothes and glasses. You could see me, and it terrified me."

"Well, it wasn't exactly one-sided you know. You had the same effect on me."

She looked up at her love, into his blue eyes. "Do you ever wonder why that is? How we immediately knew each other, even though we had just met? We have this amazing connection between us, that at times has even allowed us to hear each other's thoughts, and we've never once wondered why that is."

Brady thought about her words and looked up into the clear night sky. The stars twinkled and shone brightly and for a moment felt himself a part of something bigger. Forgotten dreams and half-remembered visions danced in the sky above him.

Chloe joined him in his sky-gazing, wondering at the strange emotions that were washing over her. "Why do I feel so close to you?" she murmured quietly. "Why do I feel like we knew each other before, a long time ago?"

Brady drew her close in his arms, unable to explain what he was feeling. "I don't know. All I know is that when I look at you, I feel like I've known you for forever. I know that I was born to love you."

Later in the spacious bathroom of their hotel suite, Chloe nervously changed into her surprise for Brady. The satiny blue gown flowed over curves, hugging in just the right places, and ended mid thigh. The dark blue immediately made her eyes stand out from her face, making them sparkle. She put the tiniest amount of smoky eye shadow on her lids and flavored lip balm on her lips. She brushed her hair vigorously until it shone brightly.

{Brady is going to be so surprised.} she thought to herself. He was in the other room, thinking that she was just getting ready for bed. {I'm getting ready, all right.} she smiled to relieve her anxiety. Hesitation fluttered through her mind and she momentarily wondered if this was the right way to bring the two of them closer. She squashed the doubts quickly. No, this was the best way to ease her worries over their uncertain future. Besides, she wanted to make love to Brady. Didn't she?

She inhaled deeply and slowly opened the bathroom door. She shyly met Brady's stunned gaze and waited with baited breath for his reaction.

Poor Brady nearly had a heart attack. Here he was, innocently watching the news and minding his own business, when Chloe comes out of the bathroom wearing what in the hell? She stood framed in the doorway, backlit from the bathroom light. Her figure stood out as a sharp silhouette from the thin material she wore. His eyes traveled over her body with a will of their own.

Many painful seconds passed as he struggled for breath. "Chloe, what, what is this?"

She looked at him, uncertainty visible in her wide blue eyes. "Do you like it?" she asked shyly.

"Oh, I like." He answered with cave-man simplicity. He finally tore his gaze away from her luscious figure to look into her eyes. "Chloe." he questioned.

Fearing that her courage would soon leave her, she propelled herself into his arms and kissed him passionately on his slack lips. His brain may have turned to Jell-O from the shocking turn of events, but his body knew what to do. His strong arms encircled her tiny waist pulling her even closer to him. He could feel her heat through the thin, silky gown and his arousal grew.

His thirsting tongue darted through her parted lips and his hands busied themselves on her soft skin. He felt for the bed beside him and drew her down with him to lie on the soft satin sheets. His fingers tangled in her hair as their tongues continued their dance.

Chloe's mind was spinning. This was happening so fast. She was scared but she didn't want to stop. She never thought she could feel this way after her past experiences. Her fingertips danced across Brady's hard back muscles. She moaned and moved beneath him.

Brady's body was on fire and his brain had completely ceased to function. All he could think of was the warm, passionate woman beneath him who was currently driving him crazy. "Chloe," he breathed into her ear huskily as he lightly nibbled her neck.

A vague realization dawned on him; this would be their first time together. His next fuzzy thought was why hadn't they yet made love. Then with a blinding rush, he remembered his reasons for waiting and his brain once again took control.

"We can't." he breathed quietly. With a heavy sigh of regret, he pulled back from Chloe and broke their kiss. Brady sat quietly on the bed, struggling to compose himself.

Slowly Chloe realized that something was wrong. She blinked rapidly to clear her glossy eyes and sat up on the bed. She stared at the silent, brooding man in front of her and felt tears well up in her eyes. He didn't want her.

Brady risked a glance at Chloe and immediately saw the hurt rejection in her watery eyes. He knelt on the floor in front of her and took her wet face in his hands.

"Don't you want me?" she asked in a small voice.

He chuckled softly. "I want you so badly it hurts. When I am with you all I can think about sometimes is taking you in my arms and making love to you all night long."

She raised her brows questioningly. "Then why." he shushed her by laying a forefinger on her pouting lips.

He grasped her knees gently and looked up into her blue eyes. "When I was little, I believed in God. We went to church every Sunday, I said my prayers and read my bible stories. Then one day, I found out that Marlena wasn't my mom, that my real mom had died, she had been taken away from me. On that day, I stopped believing in Him. I wondered how He could be so good when he had taken my mother away from me. Then I met you and since then I've witnessed so many miracles that I can't help but believe again. You yourself are a walking talking miracle, a blessing from God, an angel come to earth."

Chloe smiled and laughed at Brady's embellishments.

Brady smiled and continued. "So I guess what I'm trying to say is, I want us to wait. Until we get married. I've done so many things wrong in my life; I want to do this right. I know it's going to be hard to not make love to you. REAL hard. Unbelievably hard. Nearly impossible. But it's important to me. You are important to me."

Chloe's brain had stopped functioning after the mention of marriage. "You want to marry me?" she questioned again, to make sure her ears were in fact working.

"Not right at this moment, but yeah. I've told you before, I don't remember my life before you, and I can't imagine my life without you. We are going to get married, someday, and I won't take no for an answer. You're stuck with me."

Chloe laughed with joy and threw her arms around his neck. She kissed his cheek over and over. "I love you, Brady Black."

"And I love you, Chloe Lane." He gave her one of his patented sexy grins. "I'm sorry your seduction didn't quite work out the way you wanted it to."

"You should be! I went to a lot of work and suffered a great deal of humiliation for tonight." She replied huffily. "I even bought these!" She rummaged through her suitcase and brought out the box of condoms.

Brady looked at the box and then took a second glance. He cleared his throat. "My, you certainly think very highly of me." He said with a pink blush on his cheeks.

"What?" Chloe grabbed the box from his fingers and looked at it for the first time. It read in giant bold letters, EXTRA LONG JUMBO. Brady laughed at the deep red hue on her face. "I just grabbed the first box I saw. I didn't know there'd be different sizes."

Brady erupted in laughter as Chloe chuckled. "This certainly explains the clerk's reaction." Chloe added.

He continued chuckling as they snuggled together on the bed. He wrapped his arms around his love and gently stroked her hair. "Are you okay with us waiting?"

She nodded wordlessly, feeling contented bliss creep over her. She lightly brushed her lips against his, and fell back against his chest, sleep overtaking her.

"You realize, of course, that you just became Nancy's favorite person."