Chapter 18
Shannon
We stumble into breakfast just after nine.
Well, I’m kind of stumbling because my lady parts just had a workout like they’ve never had before.
Ace is more strutting than stumbling, but I’m okay with that.
After the endless orgasms I just had, he can walk any damn way he pleases as long as he’s by my side.
I seriously had no idea sex like this existed.
I read about it, but the real thing is so much better.
Aubrey and Chris are at what I now think of as our table, and I sink down next to her.
“Good morning.” I give her a grin because I can’t stop smiling. I’m not sure if all women behave this way after their first time having mind-blowing sex, but I don’t care and Aubrey seems like the type of woman who would understand.
“Good morning.” She grins back at me, arching one brow just a tiny bit, as if asking a silent, girls-only question.
“Mornin’, Ace.” Chris nods at Ace and winks at me. “Get some rest?”
“Some.” Ace presses a light kiss on my cheek before heading to the breakfast buffet.
Our waiter, Felix, comes by and smiles at me. “Good morning, Shannon. Coffee?”
“Cappuccino, please.”
“Coming right up.”
“I’m going to get an omelet.” Chris gets up and goes in the direction Ace went, leaving Aubrey and me alone.
Aubrey raises her coffee cup and takes a delicate sip as she peers at me over the rim. “You’re awfully chipper this morning.”
“Well, when a ten-year fantasy finally comes true, it’s a reason to be chipper.”
“Oh? Do tell.”
“Ace and I hadn’t…” I blush a little. I’m not sure why I’m telling her something so intimate, but I can’t call Sandra or my mother right now, and I desperately need to tell someone about what I just experienced.
“Really?” Her eyes widen. “And last night…?”
“This morning.”
She looks almost as pleased as I am. “And was it worth waiting a decade for?”
I let out a long, dramatic sigh. “So worth it. So, so worth it.”
“Well, then…” She pauses as Felix drops off a steaming cappuccino and walks away. “Here’s to awesome sex and the men who know how to do it.”
“Amen to that.” I take a sip of coffee and look around. “The buffet looks amazing. What do you recommend?”
“The Belgian waffles.”
“Sounds good.” I head in that direction and fill a plate.
By the time I get back to the table, Ace, Chris, and Aubrey were discussing plans for the day ahead.
“I’m having a massage at eleven,” Aubrey says. “And then I’ll shower and get ready for a quick lunch. We’ll arrive in Rüdesheim around two or three. Are you guys doing any of the tours or just walking around?”
“I thought we’d follow the guided tour until we find something else we want to do,” Ace says. “We need to do a little shopping since I only brought one pair of dress pants and milady here believes I need more.”
“Oooh, shopping.” Aubrey’s eyes twinkle. “I could be down for some of that.”
“What do I get out of that?” Chris teases, pretending to pout.
“What do you want?” she shoots back, arching a brow.
He leans over to whisper something in her ear and she rolls her eyes. “Yeah, okay, buddy, let’s put that on your sexual bucket list.”
He wiggles his eyebrows at Ace and we all laugh.
Being here like this is nice.
“I could be down for a massage,” I tell Ace.
“Ask at reception,” Aubrey says. “Maybe they can fit you in.”
“I’d like to run on the treadmill,” Ace admits. “I haven’t gotten in much exercise at all since I got to Germany, and at my age, I have to stay in shape.”
“Let’s do that after breakfast, old man,” I tease him. “I could use a run myself. I wish we were stopped somewhere so I could run in a new city, but I don’t want to waste time when we get to Rüdesheim.”
We make plans to meet just before the guided tour leaves and Ace and I go up to our room to change.
“Go do that in the bathroom,” he says firmly. “One look at that luscious body of yours and we will never get to the gym.”
I laugh, slowly pulling off my top. “You were saying?”
“I thought you wanted to work out?” he growls, advancing on me purposefully.
“I do. But there’s more than one way to work out.”
“You’re definitely trying to kill me.” He snakes out an arm to grab me and pulls me close. “And now I’m going to make you pay.”
“Oooh…” My breath leaves me in an excited rush. “That sounds…terrifying.”
He laughs and tosses me on the bed.
* * *
Two hours later, we have to shower and get dressed, all thoughts of working out long gone.
We eat lunch on our own and are waiting in the reception area when Chris and Aubrey fall into step with us as we get ready to leave on the tour.
We join a dozen others as we file off the ship onto shore, and excitement courses through me.
I love to travel and explore new places, and Ace said he didn’t have a lot of opportunity for that, though he wants to. Hopefully, today is going to be filled with firsts for both of us.
“I did some research on the winery on the list,” Aubrey says, wrinkling her nose. “Terrible reviews. Personally, I’m going to skip it, though you guys can go if you want. I’m happy to shop.”
“If the reviews were bad, I’m out too,” I say, glancing at Ace. “You?”
He shrugs. “I’d go if you wanted to, but if not, I’m happy to do whatever.”
“Shopping it is.” I slide my arm through the crook of his elbow as we walk. It’s cold today, and the wind picks up, so I wrap my scarf around my head since I left my hair down and it’s blowing all over the place.
The town is small but lovely and the Christmas market is enchanting.
Each booth has something different, everything from cookies and candies to tourist items to local, handmade jewelry.
I buy some sweets to bring home, as well as an ornament to put on some future Christmas tree since I haven’t put one up since my divorce.
I have a nice collection of ornaments, though.
“Hey, we’re supposed to try this Rüdesheim coffee,” Aubrey says, pointing to a little place that’s advertising them. “Apparently, you can’t come here without trying one.”
“What is it?” I ask as the four of us walk in that direction.
“It’s coffee with a special German brandy called Asbach or something, covered with whipped cream and shaved chocolate.”
“Sounds good,” Ace says. We walk up to the counter as my phone rings and I see my mother’s name.
“You guys order for me. Let me talk to my mom for a few. She’s been texting me constantly.”
I walk out of the small store and answer the phone, not wanting to talk in the middle of a busy little shop.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Shannon! How are you? Is everything okay?”
“Everything is wonderful. The boat is gorgeous, we’ve made friends on board, and we’re having a blast.”
“Where are you?”
“Today we’re in Rüdesheim and were just about to have some special local coffee drink.”
“Oh, good. I’m glad you’re away from that awful person stalking you and can relax.”
“I booked a massage for Thursday morning, so relaxation is on the menu.”
“And Andrew? How’s he doing?”
I pause. There’s something curious in her voice, like she’s asking more than what she’s saying. “He’s good. We’re good. Having fun. He’s just as charming as I remember.”
“Really?” My mother’s voice rises an octave. “So…the two of you are…spending time together?”
I frown. “Mom. Is that your way of asking if we’re sleeping together?”
“Of course not.” Mom sounds affronted. “A lady would never ask such a thing.” She pauses. “But if you happened to mention that something like that was going on, it wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
I’m so shocked I can’t think of what to say at first. My mother is interested in hearing about not just my sex life, but whether or not something is going on with me and Ace? I always thought she disliked him, thought him beneath us. Had that changed now because he’s helping me?
“Shannon?”
“Sorry, you caught me off guard. I didn’t think you liked him.”
“It’s not that I didn’t like him, I just wanted more for you.
In case you’ve forgotten, I was married to a military man and I was alone a lot.
Years. I didn’t want you to live that life.
Unfortunately, it seems that none of the things I wanted for you were what was best for you.
You’re not me, and while it’s taken me thirty years to learn that, I’m trying to be better going forward. ”
“Oh, Mom.” I’m simultaneously happy and sad about that, but it’s better for both of us to focus on the good stuff.
“So…was there anything you wanted to…mention?”
I smile to myself. “About me and Ace? Maybe.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Shannon, yes or no?”
“Goodness, it almost sounds like you…want us to be together.”
“I want you to be happy and I know you had a crush on him in high school. Also, your father told me how you asked about him just before your wedding. I wish you’d come to me to tell me you were that conflicted about Douglas.”
“You wouldn’t have listened to me back then,” I tell her gently. “And anyway, that was all fantasy. Now that he’s here, it’s reality. Dad didn’t even know where he was back then.”
“I guess hindsight is always twenty-twenty.”
“I suppose it is.”
“So, what are you guys doing next?”
“You mean on the cruise or something else?”
She chuckles. “On the cruise, of course.”
We talk about the plans for the week and she tells me to call her once we get to Switzerland.
I disconnect feeling happy but slightly out of sorts.
I’ve never had a phone call like that with my mother, both lighthearted and sincere.
And she acknowledged my sex life, something else she’s never done before.
I’m genuinely confused, but really glad we’ve reached this point in our relationship.
She’s all I have really, since I’m an only child and she is as well.
My father had a brother who passed away, and he had two boys that are much older than I am, but other than exchanging Christmas cards, we don’t have much of a relationship.
“How was your mom?” Ace asks as I joined them back inside the shop.
“She wanted to know if you and I had gotten naked yet.” My eyes twinkle and Ace just stares at me.
“She hates me,” he says after a moment.
“Apparently not.”
“Wow.” He shakes his head, clearly perplexed. “I don’t even know what to say about that.”
“Me either, but it feels good to have this kind of relationship with my mother after so many years of being at odds.”
“Not close to your mom?” Aubrey asks softly.
“Not until after my father died. Now that it’s just us, I guess she has no choice but to be nice to me.
We went to a therapist, though, a neutral party to help us navigate through some of the hostility.
Mom finally understands that I’m nothing like her, so she can’t expect me to make the choices she makes, and I needed to wrap my head around the idea that just because I didn’t care for her methods didn’t mean she didn’t want what’s best for me.
It took us a while, but counseling helped and the last year or so has been so much better.
Of course, I’ve been living six thousand miles away from her, so that might be part of it. ”
We chuckle and I hurriedly drink my coffee so we can get back out to the market. We only have a few more hours before we have to get back to the boat and I want to see everything.