His Perfect Match (19 page)

He slid forward into her body, and she sighed in relief…..
nobody, Darius, no one but you. Only you.
With precision he slowly pulled out of her body, once more bracing himself over her.

She was still looking up at him, as if waiting, hoping he knew what he now knew. It made sense now. Why this was so important to her, why he needed to realize it on his own. Suddenly everything fell into place. “I solved the riddle.”

Her eyes narrowed doubtfully. “Did you?”

She didn't believe him. He was honestly torn between the need to gloat over the fact that this woman was his and his alone, and the need to thrust into her body. Darren had never touched her. Whatever had happened between them, he knew as certainly as he knew his own name that she'd never been with another man. That was why she always felt like his whenever he touched her, because she was.

“Please, Darius, I need you.” With another soft
whimper, she lifted her upper body bringing her breast right to his mouth as if it were a gift, and he decided he could always gloat later. Darius took one of the breasts into his mouth, marveling that even her breasts were the perfect size.

Holding her tight against his chest he pushed into her body until the need overcame both of them, and he felt her arrive at their destination first. As her hot juices rained down on him, unable to hold back any longer, Darius followed her over the edge of the cliff into the abyss, into paradise.

“U
ncle Darius! Look!” Marc lifted his fishing pole to reveal he had once again lost his bait. “Where did it go?”

“The fish ate it, son.”

His brow, so like his father's crinkled in confusion. “That's not fair.”

“Not fair at all,” he agreed as he retied another small piece of bait to the line.

On the other side of the lake, Liz wasn't having any better luck. “Darius!”

He turned to see his new wife looking at the tree overhead. He followed her line of vision and realized her pole had gotten tangled in the tree. He glanced back to where Dee sat beneath the shade of an umbrella.

“Whose idea was it again to teach them how to fish?”

Dee continued with her knitting, her deft fingers never missing a stroke. “Yours, I believe.”

“Next time I get any bright ideas, Dee, you have to try and talk me out of them.”

“I'll try.” She continued knitting away as Darius waded across the pond to help Liz get her pole out of the tree.

As he approached, she smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I guess my backstroke is more powerful than I realized.”

“This is fishing, Liz, you're not suppose to have a backstroke—that's swimming.”

“Well, whatever it is, it's up in that tree.”

He shook his head. “Here, take this one for now,” he said, handing her his perfect pole and secretly wondering if he'd ever see it again in that condition.

She stood with her hand on her hip watching him. Even dressed in hip waders and one of his old baseball caps she was the sexiest thing he'd ever seen.

“Ever miss your carefree bachelor days?” she asked, watching as he attempted to detangle the pole in the tree.

“Not for a moment,” he answered without hesitation. “I only wish we had married sooner. My son would be a decent fisherman by now.” He glanced at her over his shoulder. “And he wouldn't be calling me Uncle Darius.”

“I told you, I think it's just like a pet name. He'll grow out of it eventually.”

“I hope so, otherwise, it might make teacher conferences and the like a bit awkward. Stop watching me and practice your stroke,” he grumbled.

His grumble was met by a slight snicker, but she did turn back and throw her line to the water. “I forgot to tell you, I got a call from one of the schools I applied to, I have an interview on Monday.”

“That's great.”

“It would be great if I actually get the job.”

“If you don't you can always work at the hotel with me, or not work at all. I have every intention of keeping you barefoot and pregnant anyway.”

“We've only been married a couple of months…pace yourself.” She chuckled.

“Marc needs a sibling before he gets too old.”

“Are you serious, Darius?” She asked the question quietly, and Darius knew how important the answer would be.

“I would love to have a child right away, but if you're not ready that's okay, too.”

She wiped her forehead in an exaggerated gesture. “Whew, that's good because I didn't know if the mailman would accept this baby.”

Darius stopped pulling at the fishing line as her words sank in. “Liz, are you trying to tell me in your own twisted little way that you're pregnant?”

She glanced at him with a satisfied smile and looked away. “Maybe.”

“Don't play with me, woman, are you pregnant or not?” He climbed down from the tree in half the time it had taken him to climb it.

She dropped the line and turned to him and he could see then how hard it had been for her to hold it in this long. “Yes! Yes! I'm pregnant!”

Darius lifted her in his arms and swung her around, not believing how his whole world had turned around in the past year. He knew he was blessed beyond reason, and doubly blessed if you considered how close he'd come to losing a chance to be a part of this family. The family that was always meant to be his. The woman that could only be his.

“Hey, guys!” Darius called to Dee and Marc across the lake. “We're pregnant!”

Dee dropped her knitting, but Marc didn't seem overly impressed.

“Pregnant?” Dee called back. “Oh, how wonderful.”

“Congratulations!” another fisherman called from downstream, and Darius suddenly remembered they were not alone on the small lake.

“Yeah, congrats!” someone called from the other direction.

“Thank you!” he called to both.

“When are you due?” Dee called across the lake.

“I'm not sure yet, I have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow!” Liz called back.

“Mom! Aunt Dee! You're scaring off all the fish!” Marc called from the rock he was perched on.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Liz called back before realizing what she was doing. “Oops,” she whispered to Darius.

Darius was simply staring at her with all the love in his heart. “You make me very happy, you always have.”

She reached up on tiptoes and kissed his lips. “The same goes for me.” She smiled. “It just took me a little longer to appreciate it.” She laid her head against his shoulder. “Are you really happy about the baby?”

Darius shifted their bodies until they were both facing Marc who was now bent over the lake looking for something in the water. Darius assumed it was probably his last piece of bait.

“Just promise to give me another one of those, and for the record the female version is just fine with me.”

“Thank you,” she said softly.

“For what?”

Liz gestured to the surroundings. “For making this paradise your home, our home. For giving our son a second chance at life.” She chuckled. “And for letting me bring Aunt Dee along when we moved here.”

“First of all, I would've insisted you bring Dee. What
were we supposed to do? Leave her to those barracudas in Cincinnati? Second of all, although it's a roundabout way why you're the reason I ended up here, in a way you picked this home, I didn't. And finally, instead of thanking me for giving my son a kidney, how about I thank you for giving me a son?”

Liz smiled to herself, content in the knowledge that despite all the bad choices she made, fate would not,
could not
be denied. They were both older and much changed by life, but their shared destiny had finally been fulfilled. Through it all, their love had survived.

Somehow, just knowing that, Liz was able to release the heavy guilt she'd carried for so long. She had betrayed the man she loved, and kept his son a secret for almost ten years, but the love shining in his eyes as he looked up at her at that moment was a balm to her battered soul. He loved her. He forgave her…because love forgives all. And it was because of that certainty that Liz was able to forgive herself.

She lifted her lips to his and he kissed her gently and then with more passion until both of them had forgotten where they were. They were both brought back to reality at the sound of a heavy splash in the water.

They looked up to see Marc standing up in the water, dripping wet from head to toe, a wide grin on his mouth as he lifted the result of his wild dive. A tiny sardine squirmed at the end of his pole.

“You know,” Darius said, pulling his pregnant wife back against his chest, “my son just might make a fine fisherman after all.”