Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Rebecca got through the next few weeks with a lot of help from her friends.
The insurance company settled her claim quickly and she was able to replace her car without too much shopping around.
Sara took over the more physical aspect of the adult day group leaving Rebecca to handle the crafts and paperwork.
As a whole, her seniors were helpful and sympathetic, the healthier ones assisting the frailer.
Mason was a Godsend, doing the grocery shopping and helping with the household chores she found difficult.
They were on strange ground here. Not wanting to antagonize her, Mason kept his cool.
He was around often but kept the conversations neutral and his hands to himself, much to Rebecca’s disappointment.
Not that she wanted another spanking, but she sure could have enjoyed some of his other talents.
While he seemed to have no difficulty reverting to their old relationship, she on the other hand, was in a constant state of emotional upheaval.
In the last few weeks not once had he raised his voice, issued orders, or given her any opportunities to clear the air.
He had also not kissed her, or touched her in any but the most impersonal way.
Rebecca had fully expected him to use her dependence on him to make her see the ‘error of her ways’, so to speak.
Suspecting that he would take every opportunity to convince her that marriage was the right thing to do, she had braced herself for an onslaught of emotional arguments.
Never once did he bring up his proposal. Ironically, this infuriated Rebecca. Although she repeatedly told herself she wasn’t interested in a permanent relationship, she was definitely not interested in a platonic one either.
Being in the same room with him set her senses reeling. She constantly relived the one night they had been intimate and the need such memories produced kept her perpetually on edge and snappish.
Mason never retaliated for her jibes and sarcastic remarks, nor did he respond with anything but softly spoken words when she attempted to pick a fight, hoping to get them back on more personal ground.
If he’d been like a big brother before, he was now like a doting uncle, humoring her as though she wasn’t quite right in the head.
After a while, Rebecca began to wonder herself.
* * *
Mason amazed himself at the amount of restraint he possessed.
How he kept himself from strangling her, spanking her silly, or carrying her off to bed he was to wonder for years.
She had never been more difficult, infuriating or readable.
He knew what was bothering her and that knowledge gave him the stamina to continue what he considered their courtship.
Her desire for him gave him the only power he had right now and he wasn’t about it give it up no matter how enjoyable the prospect.
His heart was convinced that marriage was preferable to a short, intense love affair.
Mason never settled for second best and he wasn’t about to start now.
He intended to have fifty or sixty years with the woman he loved and that would be close enough to forever for him.
If he had to beat her at her own game, he was prepared to go the distance.
He would prefer she give in gracefully, admitting their marriage would be much more than a physical joining.
He needed her to acknowledge they were meant to spend the rest of their lives together, but whether gracefully or screaming in sexual frustration, give in she would.
Not only would they be joined in body, but in heart, mind and soul, for he could never be satisfied with less.