"Now when are you going back to Philadelphia?" Emily asked her granddaughter as she walked her and Lorelai to the door.
"Sunday, Grandma. I have to be back to work on Monday."
"So I won't get a chance to see you again before you go?" she asked disappointedly.
"I'm sorry, Grandma."
"When will you be back to visit again?"
"I'm not sure, probably not until Christmas time. I'm going to be very busy with work."
"I'm sure you could convince Logan to give you some time off," Emily suggested, smiling broadly at the mention of Logan's name. She no longer had to pretend to like that Jess boy. He was never any good for Rory, in her opinion.
"Yeah Rory, I'm sure you could convince him," Lorelai chimed in with a wicked grin.
Rory shot her mother a dirty look before continuing the conversation with her grandmother. "You know I don't like asking for special favors. Christmas will be here in no time and then I'll be back for the Christmas party."
"Of course dear. Will Logan be accompanying you this year?" Emily asked giddily. "Your grandfather and I would so love to see him again."
Rory tried to refrain from rolling her eyes. Her grandmother had put on such a show of being disappointed about the wedding being called off until she was told that Rory had reconciled with Logan, then a truly happy Emily Gilmore had emerged and Rory honestly didn't know which was more annoying; the sincere Emily or the insincere Emily. "I'm not sure Grandma, he's very busy you know. I'll make sure he's made aware of the invitation though."
"Good, good. Do make sure to tell him hello for your grandfather and me. And Lorelai, you should bring Luke along next time as well. We haven't seen him in ages." Emily was not nearly as happy about this invitation but she was still sincere. She had finally learned to accept Luke's presence in Lorelai's life after seeing how broken her daughter had been when the wedding was called off.
"I'm sure he'd love that Mom," Lorelai replied and Emily completely missed her sarcastic tone.
At that moment Rory's phone began to ring. "Oh, I'm sorry, Grandma," she said, digging through her purse for the cell.
"Don't be silly. Dinner's over, it's no intrusion. Is it Logan?" she asked hopefully.
Rory looked at the caller ID and nodded as a big smile came over her face.
"Well then, I won't keep you any longer. I'm sure you're anxious to speak with him. Good bye dear," she said planting a kiss on both Rory and Lorelai's cheeks before practically pushing them out the door.
"Hi," Rory answered the phone as soon as the door was closed behind them. Lorelai practically gagged at the sickeningly sweet tone her daughter spoke in.
"Hey Ace," Logan replied and Rory could picture his warm brown eyes and sexy smirk at just the sound of his voice.
"Did you make it to Stars Hollow alright?" she asked him as she climbed into the passenger seat of her mother's jeep.
"Sure did. I'm at the Inn as we speak. I met the infamous Sookie who promptly loaded me up with a day after Thanksgiving feast bigger than any meal I've ever had on the actual day."
Rory laughed. "You know I had to talk her out of making a whole turkey today just for you. She insisted that the left overs would be all dried out."
"Well, I feel special."
"You shouldn't, she's a cook-a-holic, a perfectionist and a mother. Feeding people delicious food is second nature to her. She was more appalled than I was that you were having pizza and bourbon for your Thanksgiving dinner."
"Man, and here I thought there was something between us, I'm crushed. I guess I'll have to leave her and go back to you."
"I think that's a wise choice. Besides, I can spoil you in far better ways," she said suggestively.
"Ugh, please. Mom sitting right here. Can you please save the sex talk for the bedroom?" Lorelai groaned.
"Oh please, yesterday you were drilling me for details and now you're paling at the slightest innuendo?" Rory rolled her eyes at her mother.
"My tolerance for such nauseating conversations decreases dramatically after a trip to Bedlam."
"Is she implying that your grandparents are criminally insane?" Logan asked through the phone line.
"Yes; and lucky you, they've invited you to their annual Christmas party. Haven't you always wanted to spend your holidays with psychopaths?"
"Well I've done it before; every year Dad didn't spend Christmas away on business and Mom didn't check herself into a spa. So that would be...twice. Two Christmases spent with the criminally insane."
"Well then, you're a seasoned pro."
"How much longer till you get here?" he asked, changing the topic.
"We just left so probably just a little more than half an hour."
"Hmm, just enough time to sneak down for a clandestine rendezvous with Sookie," he joked.
"Are you having an affair with her famous apple pie?" Rory retorted.
"No, Jason Biggs already went there. I've actually been checking out the pecan."
"She does make one mean pecan pie. I hope you and your pastry of choice will be very happy together."
"Yes well, I should get going if we're going to finish up our quicky before you get back here."
"OK, well I'll see you soon then."
"I'll be waiting." They both hung up their phones with huge grins on their faces.
"What? No 'I love you more. No, I love you more.' argument?" Lorelai teased when her daughter finished her conversation.
"We've already had that discussion and we decided to agree to disagree," Rory replied.
"That's all you have to say for yourself? No defensive retort? I was mocking you."
"Well, of course you were mocking me; you're Lorelai Gilmore, queen of the mock. You could out-mock the Mystery Science Theater 3000 guys."
"Oh come on, the movies they choose are so easy. Anyone can mock The Brain That Wouldn't Die. They don't even make it hard on Joel and those stupid little robots. And what the hell was Steve Martin thinking when he agreed to do that stupid take off The Man With Two Brains?"
"You need to let it go Mom. The whole premise of the show was that they had to watch the worst movies ever made. It wouldn't make any sense if they had to mock movies that were only mildly bad."
"But it would have been much more entertaining. A challenge is always entertaining. They should tape our movie nights and then they'll see what a true mocking pro looks like."
"Sure, I'll call Comedy Central. I'm sure they'll get right on it." Rory placated her mother who responded with a pout as she pulled the car onto the highway, heading back home.
Logan heard someone struggling in the hallway outside the room and he knew it was Rory. He quickly proceeded to the door to let her in. Her arms were brimming with shopping bags which easily explained the difficulty she'd had in opening the door herself. "Jeez, Ace, who knew you could carry so much? Are you part pack mule or something?" he teased as he took the bags from her arms and brought them into the room.
Rory was about to make a sarcastic remark but she stopped when she saw the room looked different than it had when she'd dropped her suitcases off earlier. She was speechless for a moment before finding her voice again. "You realize Rosalee is not going to be very happy with us," she retorted.
"Who's Rosalee?" Logan asked.
"She's the maid and she's not going to enjoy cleaning up all these rose petals," she told him; her voice was stern but she wore a big smile on her face and her blue eyes shone brightly.
"Oh, I'm sure she loves roses, it's in her name," he smirked. "But just in case maybe we should leave her a big tip for all her extra work."
Rory just put the rest of her bags down and went up to Logan to give him a loving kiss. "Thank you, the room looks beautiful. Though we should be careful with these candles; Mom doesn't have the best track record with fire in the Inn."
"That doesn't sound good, maybe we should just blow these out," he suggested as he began snuffing out the flames that surrounded them.
"Did you get all this stuff here?" she asked him, sitting down on a love seat in the corner of the room.
"Mmhmm," he nodded as he joined her on the sofa, pulling her down to lie on his chest.
"So you braved the town without me? How very noble," she commended him and turned her head to press a soft kiss to his lips.
"Yes, and it was quite the experience, let me tell you," he said as he softly stroked her hair.
"Oooh yes, tell me about it."
"Well Kirk is pretty much as crazy as you made him sound. I bought the flowers from him, Lulu prefers orchids to roses, in case your wondering..."
"For the next time I plan on surprising her with flowers? I'll keep that in mind."
Anyhow, after that I went to get the candles and he somehow wound up in there even though it wasn't five minutes later, to sell me those as well. Then on the way back I run into this older guy that I can only assume was Taylor and he started raving on and on about something about creating a rift and pink and blue ribbons and comparing you and Jess to your Mom and Luke and I think I was your Dad in this whole little metaphor but to be honest I was pretty confused."
Rory shook her head in amusement. "Will Taylor never learn? Those ribbons didn't work the first time, and besides, in order for there to be a rift people in this town would actually have to like Jess and most only put up with him for my sake. He was a bit of a trouble maker in his day."
"I see. So anyhow, just when I thought I was in the clear, I run into Miss Patty," he continued on.
"Oh no, you poor baby. How's your tush?" she asked him.
"Well to be honest, I feel a bit violated but I think I'll survive," he answered with a grin.
"Would you like me to kiss it and make it better?" she replied with a smirk.
He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "You know, for once a good ass kissing sounds quite pleasurable."
"Play your cards right..." she smirked. "So did Miss Patty have anything else to say after she finished admiring your butt?"
"Well apparently I remind her of her fifth husband who was apparently a very good man and quite handsome to boot."
"But not as handsome as her third husband if I remember correctly," she teased.
"Yes well, nobody's perfect. So what did you do today?" he asked her. "I'm assuming it involves shopping considering all those bags. Although I must say I'm a little insulted. I vaguely remember someone telling me that she couldn't stay in bed with me because she needed clothes and I didn't pay her enough to buy a whole new wardrobe."
Rory scoffed. "Please, you call that a whole new wardrobe? That's nothing. Besides, it's black Friday, a sacred shopping day. Mom woke me up at 5AM to make it to the stores on time for all the sales. I think it's the only day of the year she gets up before the sun."
"Well did you at least get something I might like?" he asked, his voice low and husky.
"That's for me to know and you to find out," she replied with a wicked smile.
"Oh come on, you know you want to model some sexy lingerie that you bought for half off. And when you're done I can take it all off," he whispered in her ear.
"I don't know, I mean, you haven't even finished wooing me yet. I don't hear any music, I haven't had any wine..."
"Is that so?" She nodded. "We better do something about that then." He sat up and pulled her off the love seat, leading her to a cart across the room. The cart was covered with a white linen table cloth and on it was a bucket of ice with champagne in it and a silver platter. He uncovered the silver platter and offered Rory the contents. "Strawberry for the lady?"
"They're covered in chocolate," she squealed. "I love chocolate covered strawberries."
"Well I know well enough not to offer fruit to a Gilmore unless it's smothered with chocolate."
"You're so smart," she said, patting him on the head and popping a strawberry into her mouth.
"And I do believe m'lady requested some music." He picked up a remote control and pressed a button, causing the stereo to turn on.
As soon as the song started playing Rory practically spit the remaining strawberry out of her mouth, trying to hold back the laughter. "Is this what I think it is?" she asked.
"Well I wanted to make sure my intentions were clear. I wouldn't want anyone to accuse me of taking advantage of you," he smirked.
"I'll Make Love to You?"
"You have something against Boyz II Men," he asked, pretending to be offended.
"Besides the cheese factor? Not at all."
"Good." At that moment the instrumental opening ended and the first verse began.
Close your eyes, make a wish
And blow out the candlelight
For tonight is just your night
We're gonna celebrate, all thru the night
Pour the wine, light the fire
Girl your wish is my command
I submit to your demands
I'll do anything, girl you need only ask
As the song played her poured two glasses of champagne then, using the same remote he had for the stereo, he pressed another button and the electric fireplace in the room roared to life.
"Please tell me you didn't choreograph that? If you did you have far to much free time on your hands."
"Well then why don't you help me find something more productive to do?" he suggested.
I'll make love to you
Like you want me to
And I'll hold you tight
Baby all through the night
I'll make love to you
When you want me to
And I will not let go
Till you tell me to
"Mmm, chocolatey strawberries now, sex later," she said matter-of-factly. "Oooh, there's whipped cream." she spied the container hidden behind the ice bucket and picked it up preparing to spray some on her strawberry but stopped short and looked at Logan.
"This wasn't meant for the strawberries was it?" she asked.
"I don't know what you mean," he said with big innocent eyes.
"If they were plain strawberries yes, but you don't need whipped cream for chocolate covered strawberries."
Girl relax, let's go slow
I ain't got nowhere to go
I'm just gonna concentrate on you
Girl are you ready, it's gonna be a long night
Throw your clothes on the floor
I'm gonna take my clothes off too
I made plans to be with you
Girl whatever you ask me you know I'll do
"What was that?" Logan pointed to the stereo speaker. "'Throw your clothes on the floor?' You heard the men...or are the boyz? I'm still a little unclear on that," he said, trying to distract Rory from the real purpose behind the whipped cream.
"Oh and if Boyz II Men says it, then clearly we must obey," she replied sarcastically.
"Hey, you said it not me."
She shook her head at him and suddenly, without warning, she took the can of whipped cream and sprayed a dollop on his nose. "Oops," she remarked innocently before leaning down to lick it off.
"Hey!" he grabbed the can from her clutches and sprayed some down her top.
She looked at him, mouth open in shock. "My dress," she cried out.
"Well if you had just listened to what the song was telling you the dress would be on the floor by now and we wouldn't have a problem."
I'll make love to you
Like you want me to
And I'll hold you tight
Baby all through the night
I'll make love to you
When you want me to
And I will not let go
Till you tell me to
"I hate you Huntzberger."
"You love me and you know it. Now are we going to salvage that dress or what?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at her.
"Ugh, you're going to pay for this," she said, warningly but there was a big smile on her face. She reached for the zipper of her dress.
"I'm sure I will," he winked, moving closer to help her with the zipper and once it was undone she slipped out of the dress. "We've gotten the dress off, now it's time to do something about that whipped cream," he said, staring at the confection smeared all over her chest. He leaned down and started lapping up the topping.
She moaned at the warmth of his tongue on her skin.
Baby tonight is your night
And I will do you right
Just make a wish on your night
Anything that you ask
I will give you the love of your life
"And the whipped cream fulfilled it's true purpose after all," he said, smiling into her skin once he'd finished licking it off of her. He reached around for the clasp of her bra to remove it.
"Hey, wait a minute," she exclaimed.
"What?"
"How come I'm a couple of strips of lace away from being naked and you're still fully dressed? That doesn't seem quite fair.
"Well I wouldn't want to deny you the pleasure of seeing me in the buff," he laughed as he removed his own sweater and she worked on removing his pants. Once he was down to only his boxers he went back to his previous act of removing her bra. He undid the clasp and slowly slipped it off her shoulders placing kisses along her shoulders as he slid the straps down. Once the bra was completely off of her he leaned his head down, blowing warm breath on each of her nipples before kissing them tenderly.
She moaned and her head lulled back in pleasure. She ran her fingers up and down his back using feather light touches. He placed one of his hands flat on her stomach and ran it down until he reached her groin. He continued to place kisses all over her neck, her shoulders, her chest, in random order so that she would never know where his lips would land next, as he rubbed her center through the thin piece of cloth that was her thong.
She felt her knees going week and she stumbled backwards a few steps looking for the wall to support her. His fingers moved to the side slightly and slipped under the hem of her panties. He dipped a finger inside her, moving up and down in long even strokes before adding a second finger to the mix. He lifted his head up to kiss her fully on the mouth. Her lips eventually traveled away from his, making their way over his jawline, down his neck, over his collar bone, along his shoulder. Her kisses became more fervent as she came closer and closer to climax. She suddenly gasped and bit down on his shoulder as her entire body quaked with pleasure. Once her orgasm had subsided he withdrew his fingers from inside her.
She lifted her head to look up at him. "God that was good," she smiled at him.
"It's not over yet Ace," he promised her. He kissed her and they made their way back towards the bed, entwined together. They reached the bed and collapsed onto the mattress. She inched her way to the head of the bed to get comfortable and he quickly removed her underwear before crawling up to meet her. He tugged off his boxers and reached over to the nightstand where he had stashed the condoms. She grabbed the condom from his hands and ripped it open, rolling it on him. She stoked his shaft a few extra times for good measure. He leaned down, resting his weight on his elbows. Drawing her knees up, she shifted her hips slightly and guided him into her.
They moaned each other's names as he entered. He began moving inside her, slow at first but steadily picking up the pace. Her hips lifted to meet him, straight up and down at first and then in a circular motion. She ran her hands up and down his back and arms, digging her finger nails into him. Her legs alternately bent and straightened out so that her kness rubbed against his hips and butt. They groaned and moaned, single solitary words occasionally escaping their lips. "Logan", "Ace", "Harder", "Need", "God". Eventually they both found their release and he collapsed, resting his weight on her for a moment before rolling off of her and discarding the condom in the waste basket next to the bed.
They lay next to each other; hearts racing, breathing strained. When she found the strength to move she snuggled into the side of him, resting her head on his shoulder and turning on her side, throwing a leg over his. She began idly tracing patterns on his chest as they remained in comfortable silence.
As Logan lay on the bed, holding onto the woman he loved he couldn't help his thoughts from wandering to a conversation he'd had earlier that day. He didn't want to bring this up now but he needed to know. He didn't ever want to lose her again which meant he couldn't keep this a secret like London. He sighed, resigning himself to conversation he was about to start. "Ace?"
"Hmm?" she responded tilting her head up to look at him.
"I spoke to my Dad today."
"Logan, on the list of things I don't want to talk about when we're naked, you're Dad is at the very top," she informed him.
He chuckled at her remark but then turned serious. "I know Ace, but I have to tell you something."
"Oh no," she said, getting suddenly worried.
"He says..." he took a deep breath. "He says I can't stay in Philly for good, he can't use me there once things are settled with The Liberty."
She bolted upright into a sitting position and stared at him wide eyed. "No, Logan you promised. You said you were going to talk to him, that you wouldn't let him move you around anymore."
"I know," Logan said, sitting up and looking her straight in the eye. "It's going to be OK though. I promise, we're going to be OK."
"How? How can you say that when you're going to leave?"
"Ace, I tried to talk to him, I tried to reason with him but there was just no way. I can't stay there. I made it clear to him though, if he can't use me in Philly then he better find someplace he can use me, and it better be permanent."
She sniffled, trying to hold back tears. "Where are you going?"
"I'm staying at the Liberty for four more months, then I'm moving...to New York."
"New York?" she asked with a small smile. "We can do New York. If Jess and I could make Philadelphia-New Haven work we can certainly make Philadelphia-New York work."
"No, you don't get it. I don't want a long distance relationship...I want you to come with me."
"To New York?"
"Why not? It's closer to your family than Philly and there's a billion newspapers you could work for. Heck, I own half of them, you'll have no problem getting a job. I know we just got back together but we both know this is for good. God, I'd put a ring on your finger today if I thought it was appropriate. And I'm not going for four more month so we have time to work everything out."
"But where will I live? It's so hard to find an apartment in New York."
"C'mon Ace," he admonished. "You can't be serious."
She laughed. "God, you're so gullible Huntzberger."
He smiled and shook his head. "So is that a yes?"
She nodded, "It's a yes."
Do it. Do it. ;) (in case I wasn't clear, this is my not so subtle reminder to leave a review)