CHAPTER 15 – Getting Closer

Later, Dave's Cabin

"You're very handy in the kitchen," she remarks as he dries the dishes and puts them away.

"Momma started me early in cooking and cleaning," he says with a smile. He raises one eyebrow and kind of mock-glares at her. Then speaks in a high-pitched voice. "No son of mine is going to rely on a woman to take care of him."

"How did that go over with your Father?"

"Poppa didn't like it at first. He had that old school mentality that anything inside the house was women's work," Dave chuckled. "He quickly changed his mind when Momma stopped cooking for him. She packed up me and Reeni and took us to Sophia's for a week. Isabella had just married Gary the week before and they were on their honeymoon in Mexico. There was no one around to cook for Poppa. By the time we returned he was begging her to teach HIM how to cook."

"Did she?" Penelope asks.

Dave nods as he puts the last of the dishes away and hangs up the towel. "He got pretty good at it. So much so that she had to start shooing him out of the way. He always wanted to help after that."

"Remind me, Sophia is the oldest?"

"Yes," he nods. He takes her hand and leads her out of the kitchen to the front room. Grabbing a throw blanket from the couch he slides into his favorite recliner and pulls Penelope down on his lap.

She helps him arrange the blanket over them. "Ooh, this is nice."

"I could get a fire started," he murmurs.

"No," she hums in his ear. "Tell me more about your family."

"Hmm," he frowns. "Well, Sophia is twelve years older than me. By the time, I really became aware of her existence beyond being a caretaker, she was married and having kids of her own."

"How old were you when you became an uncle for the first time?"

He takes a moment to think about it, his face scrunches in concentration. "Seven," he says finally.

"Wow!" she responds.

"Yeah. Sophia had Marco and then Angelo followed the next year. Stefano, my brother, died the next year and then Isabella got married and started popping out kids as well. She had Sylvia, then Amanda and finally Salvatore."

"How old were you then?" She gives him a sympathetic look.

They had already discussed his brother's death and he didn't want to go through all of that again. He lets out a breath. "Let's see, I was… thirteen when Sal was born. Marietta came when I was sixteen. Then Gerald, Isabella's youngest came along after I had graduated high school and joined the Marines. Reeni's daughter, Rebecca, was born the same year I married my first wife. She, Rebecca, is the youngest of my nieces and nephews. Please don't ask me about their children. I'm lucky if I remember their names."

She laughs. "I'm impressed you remembered all of that."

"Me too," he snorts.

"How long were you in the Marines?"

"I joined right after I got out of high school. Boot Camp in San Diego for three months and then I got shipped to Nam."

She gasps.

He glances at her and pulls her a little closer to his chest. "It was seventy-three and everything was a damn mess. I wasn't in-country for long, two, two and a half months before I got injured in a firefight. The damage wasn't severe enough to cause permanent damage but I did get sent home to recover. I made it back in time to see Reeni and Brian get married."

"And then you got out?"

"No," he shakes his head. "I ended up getting assigned to six months afloat on a ship in the Mediterranean Sea. I was able to visit a lot of family in Italy. After that, I was reassigned stateside. My original tour was for four years. So, even though the war was over, I still belonged to the Marines."

"I don't understand," she cuts in. "If the war was over, why weren't you released?"

"Had I been drafted, I would have been," he explains. "But I signed up on my own. It was fine. It all worked out well for me. My next duty, I was sent to Texas where I trained with the Military Police. After training, I was assigned to Washington D.C. That was when I discovered an interest in law enforcement. My C.O. pushed me to go to school. He arranged for me to get the G.I. bill which covered my tuition and other expenses."

"That's awesome."

"I agree. I probably never would have gone to college if it wasn't for him. That's where I met Carolyn," he muses.

"Carolyn?"

"My first wife. She was studying nursing. We met in math class. She ended up teaching me more about Math than the instructor did."

"Uh-huh," Penelope says teasingly. "Was that because you weren't paying attention in class?"

He grins. "It could be."

"You still haven't answered my original question," she reminds him.

"What was the question," he frowns.

She huffs. "How long were you in the Marines?"

"Ah yes, I remember now. So, I started college in seventy-four. I managed to graduate in three years with a bachelor's in criminal justice. Carolyn and I got married before that though, in seventy-six. We were hoping to get pregnant."

"Did you? Are there any David junior's out there?" she asks coyly.

He shakes his head.

"It didn't work out for us," he says quickly. "Of course, we didn't know that then. My enlistment was ending, but we realized if I was in the military, we would have better benefits, so I re-upped with the Marine Corps reserves. And I joined the FBI. I stayed in the reserves, longer than my first tour with the agency. I retired from the Marines in two-thousand-three."

"That's what? Thirty years?"

He nods.

"And you did twenty with the FBI," she says sounding slightly shocked. "That's quite something."

"What was your final rank?"

"Sergeant Major."

"Is that the highest?" she frowns. "I'm not that familiar with military rank."

"For enlisted men that's the highest rank. There's one Marine who is called the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps and he or she works as a consultant to the President of the United States. I never got that far."

"Do you wish you had?"

He shrugs. "I've consulted for several Presidents as an FBI agent. Seems to me there is less pressure than the other way."

"That's so crazy," she says more to herself than him. After a few minutes, she speaks up again. "I got distracted by your Marine Corps story, tell me more about Sophia."

"What more do you want to know?" he asks.

"Anything you want to share," she says with a half-shrug.

"Well… I was six when she married Gio. I don't remember the wedding but apparently I was the ring bearer," he smiles. "There are pictures of me in a tuxedo with cake covering me from head to toe."

"Cake?! What the… how? Why?"

He laughs. "I was trying to be sneaky and carry the cake to my room to eat it all by myself."

"You didn't!?" she gasps.

He's laughing and nodding at the same time. "Oh, yeah. I do remember that Momma was pissed. She made the cake herself and was very proud of it."

"I can imagine."

"From then on, I was never without a shadow. An aunt, older cousin or one of my sisters always had me in sight," he sighs. "I still managed to get into trouble."

"Oh, I'm sure you did," she teases.

He laughs. "Isabella though – she was the wild one! She got into more trouble than me."

"What?! I don't believe you," she says half-scolding.

"It's true," he protests. "She used to sneak out of the house to meet up with whatever boyfriend of the week she had. I may have three ex-wives but she definitely has more ex-boyfriends. I got into my first fight because of her. I was nine. Her boyfriend of the day, I think his name was Rico, was hanging out at the house. We were all outside on the front porch, me and Reeni, Bella and Rico and a few of their friends. I don't remember all the details, other than Bella and Rico started yelling at each other and then he hit her."

Dave gets a far-away look as the memory fills his mind. "I don't even remember getting up, but suddenly Rico was on the ground and I was punching him in the face. It took him by surprise. Here was this sixty-pound nine-year-old knocking an eighteen-year-old, one-hundred and eighty pound guy to the ground. He took a few blows before he realized what was happening."

He pauses and takes breath. "Suddenly, he threw me off him and got to his feet. He took a swing at me."

Penelope gasps. "He swung at a nine-year-old?" she says indignantly.

Dave chuckles again. "Luckily, I was small and could duck. Bella grabbed me as she was yelling at him. Then from out of nowhere this other guy shows up and starts beating the crap out of Rico. By then my parents came out of the house and Poppa broke up the fight. When all was said and done, Rico and Bella broke up."

"Who was the guy that came to your rescue?"

"Gary Wilson. He was visiting a friend nearby when he heard the commotion and came running over."

"You still remember his name? I'm impressed," she smiles.

"I better. He's my brother-in-law," Dave shares. "He and Bella hit it off and started dating. They got married that same year."

"Wow. So, we like Gary?"

"We used to," Dave says sharply. His body tenses and he frowns as he thinks about Bella and what she told him the night before. Was it only the night before?

"What's the matter?" Penelope asks soothingly. She turns in his lap and puts her arm around his shoulders.

He sighs and reaches down to pull her legs onto his lap, allowing her feet to dangle of the arm of the chair.

"Bella told us last night that she, uh, she's, fuck!"

He takes a moment to compose himself. "She was diagnosed with breast cancer."

"Oh no! Oh my… how can I help?"

"I don't know," he whispers hoarsely shaking his head as well. "I don't know how I can help."

"Where is she now?"

"Uhh, she's still at Momma and Poppa's."

"You need to go spend time with her," Penelope scolds. "She needs her family and to know that she's loved and supported."

"She knows that," he retorts.

"Does she? Is her husband here too?"

Dave bristles. "If he knows what's good for him, he'll stay on New York for a bit."

"What happened," she prompts knowingly.

He huffs. "He told Bella that he would divorce her if she had her breasts removed."

"He did what?! Where's my laptop?"

She begins to move off his lap. Dave wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her back.

"Easy there, Sweetheart," he soothes.

"I'm gonna… he doesn't deserve her," she growls.

Dave chuckles. "You haven't met my sister."

"I don't need to. Any man who would say that to his wife needs his ass kicked."

Dave kisses her. "I agree. All in good-time, Kitten."

She practically vibrates in anger as she sits on his lap. "I can't believe he would say that to her."

"Well, he did. But not in such polite terms."

She growls through clenched jaws. Dave chuckles as he holds her tightly.

"Careful," he whispers in her ear. "You're making me fall in love with you."

"Because I'm mad?"

He smiles lovingly. "You're so ready to take on someone you've never met to protect someone else you've never met. You're quite something Penelope Garcia."

"So are you, David Rossi," she replies bashfully. She leans into him and they kiss gently. "You know that your description of me is the same description I'd use for you, right?"

He takes a deep breath. "Yeah. The difference, however, is that I get paid protect others, you don't."

"True. You don't get paid to care though and I can tell you care about those people too, even if you don't know them."

He nuzzles her cheek. "You know who else I care about?"

"Hmm, I wonder. But before you distract me too much. I'd really like to meet your family," she tells him.

He groans, tilts his head back and stares at the ceiling.

She shifts away from him causing him to look at her again.

"I want you to meet them," he says at her look of disbelief. "I just… I don't want you to feel rushed. I know my family is going to love you and they are going to pressure both of us to move faster than we may be comfortable with. Hell, I'm already moving faster than you're comfortable with, aren't I?"

She nods as her face softens. "So, you're not ashamed to be dating me?"

"What?! Why would you think that? Of course not. Remember what I told you at your apartment? I am so proud to be your man. I can't believe that a young, attractive, intelligent woman like you would want to be with me."

She smiles softly. "I can't see me with anyone else, David. You'll never get to meet my parents and I don't want to miss an opportunity to miss meeting yours."

He raises an eyebrow at her. "They're old but they're not that old," he growls.

"I know," she placates as she touches his cheek. "But with our jobs and everything else, when will we have a better time?"

He grasps her hand and kisses the palm. "You have a point. Considering that Poppa was just in the hospital, it makes sense."

She nods. "So?"

"We'll go over in the morning and surprise them."

She smiles broadly and leans her chest against him, her mouth inches from his. "Now, you were going to tell me who you care about. Also, is it too early to go to bed?"

"Definitely not too early," he growls. He shifts quickly, rising to his feet as he holds her in his arms. "I'm going to show you who I care about."

He carries her into the bedroom, closing the door with his foot. The last thing he wanted was Mudgie joining them in the bedroom. He sets her down near the foot of the bed and takes a step back.

"Don't move," he orders gently. She tilts her head in question.

Dave moves around the room, closing the curtains, turning down the bed and starting a fire in the large fireplace near the bed.

He comes back to her and smiles. "Watch me."

He unties his robe and slips it off tossing it towards a nearby chair. It lands on the arm and slowly slides to the floor but neither one of them notice. Penelope watches closely as Dave unbuttons his pajama top slowly revealing his chest and abdomen.

Penelope starts to open her own robe.

"No," Dave says quickly stilling her hand. "Watch me first."

She lowers her hand to her side.

His eyes on hers, he slides his hands under the silky material of his top and touches himself. Sliding his hands over his pecs, he grazes the stiffening peaks of his nipples. He pinches them simultaneously and moans from the combination of pain and pleasure.

Penelope's eyes flicker between his fingers and his face. Eyes wide, cheeks flushed, she breathes heavily as she watches him.

Sliding his hands further down to his abdomen, he explores the peaks and valleys of the muscles under his skin. He lets his fingertips slide under the waistband of his pants. His erection is already poking at the fabric holding him in. He slips one hand in deeper and strokes himself.

Another moan escapes his lips. Penelope bites her own and moans gently with him.

"What would you like, Kitten?" his voice cracks. "Do you want to see me touch my cock?"

"Yes," she whispers as she nods.

He pulls his hands out of his pants and removes his pajama top, tossing it towards the robe on the chair. Then grabs the waistband of his bottoms and slides them down. The front of his waistband clings to his cock, holding it down until the very last second when the cloth releases flesh. His cock springs up and stands proudly sticking out from his body.

Dave kicks the pajama bottoms to the side as he straightens. He watches Penelope as she drinks him in from head to foot.

"Damn, you're sexy," she breathes. "How am I so lucky?"

"I'm the lucky one, sweetheart."

She shakes her head. "Not from where I'm sitting."

He slips one hand under his cock and grabs his balls gently massaging them. He tweaks a nipple again with his other hand.

Penelope gulps hard as her eyes flick back and forth between both of his hands. Her own hands cup her breasts and squeeze hard.

"Mmm," Dave hums. He continues to massage his balls as he drops his other hand to his cock. Voice low, he makes a request. "Strip for me. Slowly."

Her eyes never leave his cock as she slides the robe off her shoulders. She's mesmerized by the rhythmic stroke of his hand. Up. And Down. Up and down. Not bothering with buttons, she pulls her top up and over her head. Her breasts sway and jiggle with the movement.

She grabs her breasts again, squeezing them roughly and pinching the nipples.

"Fuck!" Dave says harshly. His hand stills as he squeezes the base of his cock. "Damn, Kitten."

She smiles. "You like that?"

"What do you think?" he growls. The head of his cock is red and glistens with precum.

"I think we both like it. David?"

"Yeah, Kitten?"

"Can I be on top?"

He groans and bites his lip as his whole-body tenses. "Oh, fuck yes," he whispers tightly.

She shimmies out of her pajama bottoms. Dave stumbles to the bed and lays down on his back. He reaches for her helping her crawl onto the bed to straddle his thighs. She wraps her own hand around his erection and strokes gently.

A groan tears from his lips as he wriggles around. "Hold on," he tells her. He twists to his right and reaches out to the side table. His fingers fumble inside the drawer before he finally pulls out a condom.

Penelope takes it from him, tearing the package open and carefully sliding it over his cock. She shifts higher over his hips, holding his erection in one hand as she moves into position.

Dave grasps her hips, guiding her gently even as his fingers bit into her flesh.

His tip rubs against her wet skin. She teases them both, using his erection to pleasure herself. She shivers as he rubs across her clitoris.

"Ooh, that feels good," she moans.

"Fuck me, Kitten," he begs. "I need to feel you wrapped around me."

She smiles as him wantonly. "Patience, lover. I'm enjoying myself."

He grins back at her. "Are you?"

His hips buck up, causing his cock to graze harshly across her sensitive clit.

"Oh!" she gasps. She grabs him more firmly. "Behave."

"I need you," he replies. He watches her through lidded eyes.

"I need you too," she whispers. She shifts again, lining him up to her opening and slowly settling down on his cock.

His body tenses as the pleasure of her taking him inside her body envelopes him. His hands tense and release on her hips. "That's it, baby. Oh my God!"

Once fully seated, she places both hands on his chest and leans over him. He looks up at her a pleased smile on his face.

"I've never done it this way before. It feels like I'm completely impaled," she confesses.

"You're in charge, Kitten. You can take as much or as little of me as you want," he tells her.

"How?" she asks. Her voice is barely a whisper.

He guides her hips forward and back. "You can ride me like this," he says. "Or you can bounce up and down."

She lifts her hips a few inches them brings them back down on his sharply causing both of them to moan.

She moves her hips back and forth again. They sigh in unison.

"Oh, this is nice," she coos. "This is really nice."

He chuckles and slides his hands up her sides, under her arms and takes both breasts in his hands. "So is this," he tells her.

She continues to rock on him, slowly increasing her pace. He pinches and twists her nipples making her twitch and moan.

"Oh, my… I think I'm going to cum," she says breathlessly.

"Go ahead, Baby. Take your pleasure," he says encouragingly. "Make yourself cum."

Eyes closed, head thrown back, her pace quickens. Dave continues to stimulate her breasts as he whispers sweet words of encouragement. Penelope's hips twitch erratically. Dave squeezes her nipples.

"That's it, Kitten. Cum for me."

She screams as her body releases and an orgasm overtakes her.

"Oh, fuck," she pants. Her hips still twitch back and forth, they settle as she gasps for breath. Dave releases her breasts and gently pulls her down onto is chest. She lays in his arms panting and gulping for air.

"It's okay," Dave whispers in her hair. "You're so beautiful. So, fucking beautiful. Relax, Baby."

"Holy fuck!" she moans. "I've never cum so hard."

"Mmm," he hums.

She sits up a little so she can look at him, a teasing glint in her eye. "You just became my favorite toy."

He grins. "I'm okay with that," he whispers against her lips. He kisses her, thrusting his tongue into her mouth.

After a few seconds, she starts grinding her pelvis against his again.

"Ooh, you're still hard," she coos softly.

"I haven't cum yet," he explains.

She sits up again, a shocked look on her face. "No? Well, we need to fix that."

"Yes, we do," he agrees. He sits up and wraps his arms around her then twists them around until she is on her back and he is on top of her, his cock still buried inside her.

"How did you do that," she gasps.

"I've had a little practice," he chuckles as he nips at her lower lip. He shifts again, lifting her legs up to his shoulders. He leaves forward slightly, his hands pressed against the mattress on each side of her head, then shifts his hips back and forth.

Penelope is constrained firmly against the mattress, her legs press against his shoulders – there's no way she can move in this position as she is wedged in. She tries to reach for him, but in this position, the best she can do is grasp his forearms.

He tilts his hips as he thrusts forward. The tip of his cock scrapes across the upper part of her vaginal wall finding the bundle of nerves called the g-spot.

Penelope bucks and shrieks in response. "Ahhh!"

"That wasn't so difficult to find," he laughs. Continuing to stroke in and out of her at the same angle, he quickly raises both of their pleasure until Penelope cries out again. Her vaginal walls spasm around him. Dave lets her legs drop as he leans over her and drives into her faster and faster until his own orgasm overtakes him.

He collapses on top of her, panting for breath. Penelope caresses his sweat-covered skin and whispers sweet nothings in his ear until his breathing slows.

"Hey, you're not falling asleep are you?"

"No," he mumbles against her shoulder. "You need me to move?"

"Kinda. Yeah."

He pushes himself up, slides off her and slips out of the bed. "Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back."

"I couldn't go anywhere if I wanted to," she calls after him as he hurries into the bathroom.

Dave disposes the condom and cleans himself up, then rinses the washcloth, grabs a towel and heads back to the bedroom with both items.

"Let's get you cleaned up, mio angelo."

She giggles as he gently washes between her legs. Her flushed skin turns a brighter shade of red.

"Does it embarrass you, me cleaning you up?" he asks gently.

She shrugs. "A little, I guess. It's very… intimate?"

This stops him. His face a mixture of annoyance and tenderness. "Gattina, we just made love. Cleaning you up afterwards is a gesture of my growing feelings for you. I would hope that you see my every action as intimate towards you."

Her mouth had fallen open halfway through his diatribe as she lay there listening. Her own face was a mixture of emotions, shock, hopefulness, doubt and even a hint of love or at the very least, acceptance. "I am so not worthy of your love," she whispers with a hint of tears.

"Uh-uh!" he growls. His face contorting into a scowl. "You are worthy of every ounce of love I have to give and a hundred times more. Never doubt that, Penelope. Never doubt that."

She nods slowly as her mouth turns up in a smile. "You're a crazy man, you know that?"

He grins as he finishes cleaning her up. "I am your crazy man, Gattina."

He carries the washcloth and towel to the changing room and tosses them in the hamper before returning to her. Climbing into the far side of the bed, he reaches across and pulls her to him.

"Good thing I have a king-size bed, this way neither of us has to sleep on the wet spot."

"That's true," she agrees as she snuggles into his arms.

They doze off together and sleep soundly until the next morning.

End Chapter 15