Chapter 19 #2
The house was dark except for a very dim light coming from the bedroom so he tried to be quiet, figuring she had fallen asleep. Tess had been stressed lately and he knew she was having wedding jitters wanting to make their wedding as perfect as possible.
Thinking she was in the bedroom, he hit the light switch in the living room, planning to grab a beer and chill out for a bit in his chair, maybe watch a little TV.
The blast of music and bright lights staggered him.
His mouth fell open in shock and the shoes he carried in his hand thumped to the floor.
Tess jumped from the chair, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
Her long nightgown twisted around her legs and she came close to falling on her face before Rory caught her.
Picking her up in his arms, he stood there frozen as his eyes took in the carnival in his living room.
His sharp gaze took in every detail. His face had the look of someone coming upon a horrific accident.
After several minutes of silence passed, Tess began to shiver in his arms. Molly had said it would be all right and Tess prayed she was right. Of all the items in the horrible concoction of mismatched furniture and decorations, the thing he zeroed in on was the lamp.
“Isn’t that Patrick’s lamp?” he asked.
Damn, Tess thought, all this and he asks me about the lamp.
“It is our lamp,” Tess replied, keeping her head down so she did not have to make eye contact.
Rory walked around the room, never putting her down. As soon as he realized that the pink ruffled monstrosity was in fact his chair, he backed away from it in horror.
The dancing tree, which had a motion sensor, began singing and swaying.
Rory backed up and flopped onto the couch, sinking so far into it his ass was almost on the floor and the front frame was under his knees.
Seeing the surprise in Tess’s eyes and hearing her panicked screech he started to laugh and he did not stop until tears rolled down his cheeks.
Tess began giggling and soon she was laughing so hard she could barely breathe.
“Babe, did you do all this yourself? I love it.”
“I had a little help from the girls,” she answered smiling.
“This is great. Think of the money you saved us buying used stuff,” Rory stated sincerely.
“What?” Tess stammered, confused. Surely, he knew this was a joke.
“We can put some blocks under the couch. We have drapes, rugs, lighting and pictures for the wall. We even have a tree. What more could we ask for?” Rory continued, grinning.
“Rory,” Tess began, struggling until she was able to climb out of the collapsed couch and off his lap. “You cannot be serious. All this junk has to go. I only did this to make you see my point.”
“Oh, I see. You did this to pay me back for not helping you pick out furniture,” he drawled.
“Yes, I mean no, I …” Tess stammered, stamping her bare foot on the floor. “I want you to help pick out paint and carpeting too. I want you to go with me to buy dishes and pans and silverware. It cannot just be what I want. If this is to be our home, you need to tell me what you like.”
“I like this, Tess,” Rory continued, teasing her. “Now, help me out of this thing?” he asked, holding out his hands.
“No, if you like the couch so much, you must learn to get out of it yourself,” she shot back.
Plopping on the orange chair, Tess picked up her book and stuck out her tongue.
Reaching her hand over the side, she turned on the vibrator.
Instantly the thing started growling and began shaking so violently Tess had to hang on or be shimmied off onto the floor.
Rory howled with laughter as Tess hung on for dear life, screaming for help. It took several tries before Rory was able to extricate himself from the hole he had sunk into and help Tess.
Unplugging the chair from the power strip, he dropped down next to her and pulled her head to his chest. Lying back, he put his feet up and sighed.
“Hey, this is pretty comfortable. It’s wide enough for two and I’ll bet that vibrator would feel good after a long day. What do you think, honey?”
“Only if we can find another orange one,” Tess answered, still shaking from the ride she’d been on.
Rory grinned. “Babe, I’m sorry,” he told her gathering her closer. “You’ve made your point.”
“I have?” Tess asked in surprise.
“Yes, you have. You can drag me all over town and I will do my best to help. I shouldn’t have assumed you would want to do this alone.
I thought most women would love to have free rein as far as decorating and that kind of thing, without their husbands butting in.
To tell you the truth, I don’t know much about it and frankly, the only thing I absolutely need in this house is you.
As scary as it looks in here right now, if you like it, I like it.
As long as you don’t touch the most important piece of furniture in the house, you can even get rid of my chair. ”
“What is the most important piece to you, Rory?” she asked, amazed that he would let his chair go.
“The bed, babe,” he whispered into her ear, cupping her breast and biting gently on her earlobe. “I can’t live without you, and the bed.”
* * *
Del strode briskly through the mall entrance. Shopping was not his forte, but he had a limited number of days in which to find suitable Christmas gifts for his parents, a wedding gift for Tess and Rory, and something for Bridget.
Bridget’s gift would be by far the most difficult.
Not only was she unpredictable, he wasn’t quite sure how personal it should be.
If he could make up his mind exactly how he felt about her, it might not be so hard.
One minute, she was adorable, sweet and kind and he wanted to grab her tempting little body and ease the growing ache in his loins.
The next, he was inclined to follow her father’s suggestion and give her the spanking everyone seemed to think she needed.
Lately he spent more time than he would like to admit surfing the web, reading everything he could find about Domestic Discipline.
There was a ton of information out there.
The problem was he couldn’t determine how accurate it was.
Rory had given him some ‘tips’ while watching the football game on Thanksgiving, but Tess wasn’t Bridget so he couldn’t be sure the same strategy would work on both women.
When he pictured Bridget’s bare bottom over his knees he had two very different reactions. If he was frustrated or angry with her he could gleefully picture himself turning her cheeks bright red while she pleaded for forgiveness.
If he thought about it when he wasn’t angry, he had a totally different reaction, his mind torturing his body with thoughts of possessing her in hundreds of intimate ways. It was quite a dilemma.
Basically, he wanted to fuck her, desperately, but Del had learned to control his penis in high school.
He liked her, as galling as that was to admit.
She was funny, sexy and beautiful. But she was also irreverent, sassy and frustrating as hell.
If he thought for one minute a good spanking would make her behave for more than a day, he would do it in a heartbeat, but if something sounded too good to be true it usually was.
Besides, Bridget had a lot of qualities he wouldn’t change for the world. Her father had been right when he said she had a loving heart, she did. So, how did one get rid of Bridget’s wild streak, without losing some of the spontaneous character traits that were uniquely hers?
Del wasn’t at all sure he could stand to see her cry, despite having been the one to cause it if he did give in and discipline her. Sitting down on a bench he pondered these things, not paying a bit of attention to the chaos around him and totally forgetting the shopping he still had to complete.
Suddenly a piercing whistle startled him and he became aware of his surroundings.
Lines of children circled the mall court waiting to get to the area where Santa was.
Parents laden with packages shifted from one foot to the other, tugging on small hands and scolding tired little ones with the age-old threat that “Santa was watching so they had better be good.”
Looking at the huge chair in the very center of the court, Del smiled.
A small enclosed area actually had a couple of reindeer, their antlers trimmed in garland.
Santa sat while elves and helpers scurried around him and the photographer took a picture of each child while perched on Santa’s knee.
A pretty girl dressed in a short red velvet outfit trimmed in white fur waved frantically in his direction as she handed candy canes to each child as they jumped off Santa’s lap.
Del watched as she bent and helped the younger children down, her skirt so short you could see her red ruffled panties and the top of her red thigh high stockings.
Del grinned when the woman standing closest to him elbowed her husband in the stomach.
His remark that “Santa wasn’t just for the kids this year” as he ogled the pretty girl’s behind hadn’t been appreciated by the tired looking woman, holding a baby in one arm, while a toddler tugged on her sweater.
Looking back at the display, Del was surprised to see the girl waving again and he looked around, wondering whose attention she was trying to get.
Her blonde ponytail bounced as she jumped up and down and her velvet stocking hat slipped to one side.
Finally, she bent over and whispered something in Santa’s ear and handed off her candy canes to another girl.
Bridget worked her way carefully through the throngs of children, stopping occasionally to give out a hug or answer questions.
She winked at several fathers who asked where their hugs were, but continued on her way.
It took quite a while to get close enough for Winston to recognize her, but as soon as he did, his mouth fell open and he stood.