Chapter 5

It was nearly midnight when they finally made it up to bed. After having to file charges against Alma, they had to cool down. Mostly, it was her having to cool off after dealing with the woman. She'd never been as pissed off at someone as she was that woman. Alma accused them all of kidnapping her son and making it so that he didn't come home anymore.

"I hope he has left you." Alma drew back her hand and told Shipley that she was going to make her regret her words. "You do that, and you'll be pulling back a stump old woman. I'm not in the mood to fuck with you tonight. I've been making plans to have sex with Dusty, and you've been a fucking pain in my ass since."

"The things that come out of your mouth. What a disgrace to the America that I love." Rolling her eyes at the older woman, she wasn't the least bit surprised that she took offense to that as well. She was about the dumbest mother fucker that she'd ever encountered. "You'll tell him to come home to me this moment or I'll have to make you see reason. I will, too. He's my son. And so you know, I wouldn't allow him to marry you now if he begged me. You're not at all what I thought you'd be in a daughter-in-law."

"Good for you." After the police got over their laughing at the elderly Landry, they took her to jail. Trespassing was all they could hold her on for now but she was sure that she would be able to think of other things to charge against her if it came down to it. "Don't come back here, or I will shoot you, Alma. I've had enough of your shit."

After she'd left, she and Dusty sat on the deck out back and thought about anything other than Alma. They talked a bit about the pool that would be going in, as well as the hot tub that had been delivered just this morning. It wasn't full as yet but it would be before tomorrow night. There had been other deliveries that had arrived while she'd been gone, and she was thrilled to see that they'd all been set up or were in the process of them being put together. The two of them walked hand in hand to the bedroom and she smiled at the romantic way that Dusty had done their room.

The candles were being lit as she watched him. The trays of food, both of them having a different food on them, was a nice touch, and she found herself not a huge fan of chocolate enjoying the little morsels that he'd put on one of them. The meat and cheese platter had cut-out hearts of cheese. There were even hearts cut into the meat that looked so cute that she ate a couple of them while wandering around the room.

"I wanted things to be special." She nodded, unable to speak beyond the lump in her throat that had formed there. "I have wine, too. I wasn't sure if you like champagne, but I'm going to make sure we have some around for all the special occasions."

"I love it. And you." She picked up a couple of the rose petals and crushed them between her fingers. The scent, strong and heady had her smiling again at Dusty. "You've gone to a lot of trouble. And while I know that we were going to end up here tonight anyway, I love that you made an effort for it to be lovely. I guess I never thought of myself as a romantic, but I do love all this."

When he finished lighting the different candles, she joined him at the window. She'd noticed that the walls weren't painted as yet, but she didn't care. The room was theirs and she was going to be staying here for as long as she had with Dusty.

"All I've thought about all day is that I want to strip you down and make love to you. Taking each button through the holes that would reveal a little part of you to me. Touching you as well. Touching a part of you that I love, even though I belong to you, I want to mark you as mine forever and a day." The warmth had her shivering a little. The heat of his words was already marking her as his, too. "Do you have any idea how much I love you? How much you mean to me? All the words in the world couldn't come close to me being able to tell you how much I love you."

"Oh, Dusty. I can't believe how much I love you as well. It's like from the moment that we met, it's been leading up to this for us. Us. Doesn't that sound about as wonderful of a word as you've ever heard? It is everything to me." She pulled him down to her mouth and kissed him, letting him know without words that she wanted him as well. When they parted, just their mouths, he picked her up in his arms and took her to the bed before setting her down again.

He was true to his word on preparing her for himself. The way that he unbuttoned her uniform shirt had her body anticipating his every touch. Her nipples hardened when he brushed his hand over her bra. Nothing about her uniform nor her underclothing was sexy, but he made her feel like she was. Even his breath over her mouth and throat had her sighing heavily.

When her bra was unhooked, she let out a long breath. Just as he was pulling it down from her shoulders and then over her breasts, he kissed her nipple and then suckled hard on just the very tip. Tangling her fingers into his hair had her pulling him closer to her, allowing him to take as much as he needed from her.

"I'm going to love making love to you, darling." She nodded her body seemed to be on high alert with him touching her. As if every cell in her body was alive just because of him. When he helped her to the edge of the bed, pulling her pants off as he knelt before her, Shipley had a moment of unease when she realized that he was going to feast on her. Something that she'd never enjoyed during sex. But she shouldn't have worried. Everything with this man was going to be new and exciting.

Lying her back on the bed, he pulled her bare legs apart and inhaled deeply. That small action alone had her breath catching, and her pussy soak. When his fingers slid up and under her serviceable underwear and removed them, she decided right then that she was going to make sure that she had sexy underthings for making love to Dusty for the rest of her life. He deserved so much more than some white grannie panties.

"You smell so good to me. Like your body is calling me home." He flicked his finger over her clit, and she cried out. Not with pain, though there was a bit of that from needing to come so badly. But he didn't give her much of a chance to move away from his seeking fingers when they were sliding in and out of her while he watched her face.

Each time he slid his fingers or his tongue inside of her, she could feel herself getting closer and closer to coming apart. If not for him holding her in position, she would have flown away by now, her body screaming for more from him.

"Come for me, love." She didn't need to be commanded twice for that but bowed up from the bed, her head bent nearly to her forehead and screamed out her release. It was more than she would have hoped for. More than anything that she'd ever felt before either. Her body now belonged to him. Whatever he did to her now, she was going to cherish it as much as she did him.

After coming at his demand, she was up and down with each new sensation. He would beg her for her cum, tell her to wrap her legs around his head she'd do it. With each stroke of his fingers, she came apart more. It wasn't until he lifted his head that she realized that she was covered in sweat and far from satisfied with her multitude of releases.

Moving her around so that she was in the center of the bed, Shipley touched Dusty everywhere she could reach. His nipples, his navel. She kissed his throat and his shoulder, digging her fingers into him so that she'd not come apart. Just as he was over her, his body hard and his groin straining at his root, Shipley wrapped her hand around his shaft and felt it fill with hot, fresh cream. It had her coming again and again.

His slide into her was more than she could have hoped for from a man. Shipley knew that he was thicker than any other man that she'd been with before, and he filled her well. As he started to move, his hands all over her body, she arched up against him again and again with each of his downward strokes. It didn't take her long before she was hanging on again when he touched the spot in her that ripped her ways of feeling about sex right out of her body. Christ, he was everything and more than she could have hoped for.

The climax started in the back of her throat and seemed to curl up from her toes to the top of her head. When she came, screaming out her release by calling his name, it was all she could do not to faint from the feelings. Finally, when she could hold on no longer, she slipped into an abyss that took her over the edge while she was still reeling from his moves.

~*~

Dusty held Shipley to him while he tried to get his racing heart to slow down. It was difficult, more than he thought that it should have been to get his heart to slow and his vision back. Rolling to his side, he pulled Shipley with him and was glad that she was out for now. He was clumsy in the big bed, and he wanted her to think that he was manly after having his head twisted off and put back on his body after a roaring climax like he'd just had. His body, protesting his pulling from her body, seemed to settle down when he was just lying still and not thinking about what the two of them had done. To him, it was one for the books. That was as true of a statement as he'd ever had, too. Closing his eyes, he knew that he'd sleep well tonight.

Dusty didn't know what time it was when he was heading to the bathroom when he realized that he was trembling. He didn't know what was going on until he had to grab onto the sink when he was standing at the commode. Christ, he was drained. More so than he thought he'd ever been in his life. Even his feet were tingling right now.

On his way back to the bed, he noticed that Shipley was getting up. Kissing her on her mouth, he grinned when she glared at him. He also noticed that she seemed to be just as much a lightweight as he'd been when he'd gotten up. It was all he could do to get back in bed with the cheese tray before she caught him wincing.

"I'm starving." She took a piece of ham from the tray and walked to get the bottle of wine and the two glasses he'd put up here. The chocolate and fruit tray was in her other hand, and he marveled at her being able to carry so much in one hand. He also noticed that she was bleeding at her wounds and decided that he'd have his brother look at them later. Dusty wouldn't have been able to live down his brother seeing him in such a state after sex. "How much wine did you want? I don't usually drink it, being on duty all the time, but this is special. Christ, you're good."

Laughing, Dusty fed her grapes and watermelon that was on the tray. He noticed that she didn't take the chocolate, having told him that she simply didn't care for the taste, and made himself a mental note. Not only was she not a diamond girl, but she wasn't a box of chocolates woman either. They settled on the bed, sharing food and talking about anything and everything that just popped into their heads.

He told her about his father and mother. And again, about how they had won the lottery so long ago. She told him about how she'd never played, having had so much fear of losing out on all the things that she'd worked so hard for. They talked about children as well.

"I don't know how many I'd like to have but I do know that twins run in our family heavily." He told her good, that he'd love to have little girls just like her. "Amanda and I are the first set of female twins born on my father's side of the family, and we're only the second set born into my mom's family. They were all surprised by her. My mom was super tiny, being able to carry twins. She and my dad parted ways about the time she found out that she was having us. He didn't want to ruin his body by having twins. I have no idea what sort of body that he had nor what he thought that her having us was going to affect him, but I don't think he was very kind about my mother's body either."

"Our mom left when Zander was just a little baby. I think that he might have been about two when she told us one night that she couldn't take us with her when she left and that we'd, as children, were supposed to figure things out for ourselves. I never thought about how selfish she'd been until recently. To leave six children in the care of a drunk and abuser wasn't even close to having a good relationship with us." She asked about Martha. "We did literally have our van break down in front of her house. Her son had hidden her can of money too high on the shelf for her to reach it to see if he'd left her anything. The house, the one that Locke lives in with Amy, was in poor shape, but it had good bones. We worked our tails off on the thing, too."

"It's a showcase now. Even when I would come home at times, I remember thinking about how the place had gone to shit. Amanda told me about some people that were helping Martha and I was happy. So long as you guys didn't take advantage of her. She was a nice elderly lady. I was sorry that she passed on."

"We were as well. Locke lived in the house after we all moved out. It was his idea that he go to college to become a nurse for Martha. At the time, she was getting around really well, but we all knew that it wasn't going to be long before she got to the point where she would need constant care." She told him that was the sweetest thing that she'd ever heard. "Locke was in love with her. I think that we all thought of her as our mom or, I guess, grandmother. Then, when Alex came along and moved into the house as Martha wanted, the two of them fell in love almost as quickly as you and I did. She also helped us out with our finances as well."

"What a romantic story." He kissed her on the nose. "I'm full now and sleepy. Are you going to get frisky with me again or can we just wait until in the morning? I have to say, I'm bushed right now. This was the perfect way to unwind."

"I'm glad that I could be of service." He gathered up the trays and bits and pieces that they'd gotten on the bed. Shipley stood up and gave the sheets a good shake that had him salivating again. The way that her breasts leapt with the sheet had him turned on again.

He was glad that she cuddled up with him for the first few minutes. Then, he had to back away from her when she started rolling around in the bed. She was a bed hog, he soon discovered, and was happy for the larger bed when she finally settled down. Smiling to himself, he wondered if she'd kick him out at any time and thought that he was going to be on his best behavior from now on if he wanted to be able to sleep with his new love.

Just before settling down to sleep, he thought of a couple of things that he needed to take care of in the morning. One of them was to take her to the courthouse to finally have their marriage official. Neither of them wanted a large wedding, so like his brother, they decided that they'd just do the courthouse thing and be done with it. He had asked his brother, Locke, to be his best man, and Mandy was standing up with her aunt. Amanda was going to do it, but she was worried for the baby Parker and so Mandy stepped into the void for her aunt.

By the time the sun was coming up, he had to get out of bed. He wasn't finished sleeping, his body protesting the fact that he was actually up, but he had other things to do and besides, Shipley had left him about an hour ago to go and talk to her sister.

While he didn't know what she had to talk to her about, he did concede that they were very close and probably were happy that they were settling down in the same country. He couldn't believe that the two of them were hard to tell apart. He knew which one was Shipley over her sister every time when asked. He picked up his office phone, his desk getting a once over before Shipley got home when it rang.

"I have three things that I need to clear up. Number one is that my insurance needs to be changed again. I'd rather leave it for Amanda; it's a goodly sum, but that doesn't feel right when you're going to be married to me." He told her to leave it the way it was. Amanda or one of the kids might need it someday. "All right. Thank you for that. The second thing is. And this would be totally up to you. How about we spend about a week in DC just having touristy fun? The house is still in my name for now, and I thought that we could go and see the sites. I've only been to DC a few times and never to do the malls and such. What do you think?"

"I think that's a brilliant idea. I've been a few times myself but I never got to go through most of the touristy things either. Not many of them anyway." She told him that she'd make plans for them to be picked up and driven around as it wasn't a place to own a car in. The parking, she told him was at a premium. "Maybe we can rent a couple of bikes to use as well."

"I don't know how to ride a bike." That surprised him, and when she told him that they'd not had the money for one when she'd been a child and that she didn't think that Amanda knew how to ride one either. "I had plans to learn, but the service was first in my life, and I didn't want to lose out on anything that was offered to me either."

"I understand. I'm surprised but understand. I can't…well, I suppose that you were right in saying that you didn't have the money for one. We didn't either and walked everywhere we went at home. Then, with us moving here, I found one in the old barn when we were cleaning up, and we all learned. I'll teach you."

"We'll see. I have lots of things that I want to keep my body in shape for, and riding and crashing a bike isn't on the list." They both laughed, and he couldn't believe how much he loved her. "All right. Mandy is waiting for us to get going. I'll see you at the courthouse in about twenty minutes. And so you're forwarned, I'm in my dress-up clothing as my sister and niece requested. I hope that's all right."

"It is. More than all right." He closed up his computer and was ready to head out the door when she told him not to forget to bring his cell phone. He'd forgotten it the other day, and she was still teasing him about it. However he had to come into his home again twice before he got to leave for the courthouse.

Once to get his cell phone, he couldn't believe that he'd forgotten it, and the second time was to change out of his jeans for a suit jacket. If she was going to be all formal, then so was he. And when he put on his suit and patriotic tie, he felt like he could take on the world and come out on top.

As soon as he was finally there, he felt about as ready as he'd ever felt. He was dressed up, he had gotten flowers for his one true love and they were going to be married in less than an hour. There wasn't anything that would have brought him down. This was, he knew that it would be his favorite day of all time. The day that he became a husband to the greatest woman in the world.