75 - And I Love Her

“Matt took the news okay.  Now it’s just Mom and Pop left to worry about.”  Tony tipped his head back so that he could look up at her.  They were in Dorothea’s family room, and he was lying on the couch with his head in her lap.  “When do you think we should try and do that?”

“Mm.”  The fingers of her left hand sifted absently through his hair as she stared unseeingly at the twinkling Christmas tree through the semi-darkness.  She liked leaving it up until the day after New Year’s, and Tony told her that he would come and help take it down tomorrow night.  “Whenever you want.”

“Babes?”  He enfolded the feminine hand resting on his chest.  “Where’s your mind been this evening?”

Distant eyes immediately came into focus and she tipped her head with an apologetic frown.  “I’m sorry.  “I just can’t stop thinking about Petey.  And Jon.”

Tony sat up and swung his feet to floor.  “I can’t believe he let her walk away without spilling the truth about what happened.  Jonny is usually as tenacious as a pit bull when it comes to getting what he wants.”

The hand that had been on his chest was now rubbing circles across his shoulder blades, and Dorothea shook her head with the memory.  “You didn’t see her, Tony.  She wasn’t stable.  Petey was calm and in control one minute, then almost waifish with the next breath.  She quoted ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ from some far off place in her mind and then she was back in control.  After what happened at the club, I honestly think he was afraid of pushing too hard, and I can't say I blame him.”

He looked curiously at her over his shoulder.  “You think she’s mentally unstable?  Wouldn’t that be even more reason not to let her go?”

“I said she wasn’t stable, but I didn’t really mean it that way.”  Her brow puckered as she tried to find the words.  “There’s not a doubt in my mind that Petey’s a strong woman.  She brought Jon into line, and I know from experience it’s not a task for the faint of heart.  Whatever happened outside that club shook her to the core and she was fighting like hell to keep the truth of it hidden.”

Her observation was immediately chased by a gentle laugh wafting through the air.  “I don’t know,” she offered her disclaimer.  “Who am I but a meddling busybody?  It’s not normal to have your nose in your ex-husband’s new relationship.”

Scooting back on the sofa cushion, Tony gently tugged her close, so that their faces were almost touching.  He used his fingertips to brush the hair back from her forehead.  “You…  are a woman like no other.  You’re compassionate and kindhearted, always wanting what’s best for people – all people – even when the rest of the world would say you’re nuts for caring.  That’s who you are.  I love you, Dorothea.”

It was the first time she had let him get the words out, and he held his breath in anticipation of her response. 

“Why do you always call me Dorothea?” she whispered, the pads of her fingers just grazing his cheek.  “Not Dot, not Dottie.  Always Dorothea.”

“Because they don’t suit you,” he, too, whispered, only slightly taken aback that she hadn’t immediately echoed his sentiment.  “Those are names for ditzy little girls, not a mature, intelligent woman.”

She snuffled out a soft laugh and breathed across his lips, “I love you, Tony.” 

He claimed her mouth with a quiet growl and the pent up emotion that he’d been forced to stifle for far too long.  Sweet lips fell eagerly open under his probing tongue and he swept inside for the taste he’d become achingly familiar with in the past months. 

That, however, was the only thing he’d become familiar with the taste of.  Their relationship hadn’t been… consummated, as it were.  They had come close on a couple of different occasions, but opportunities were scarce with the kids at her house.  Compounding the problem was the fact that he didn’t own a home on the East Coast.  When he was in this part of the country, he always invaded his parents’ house.  That was a definite no-go. 

There was always the option of a hotel, but neither one of them had wanted to take that route.  It somehow cheapened what they had, and Tony adamantly refused to let her feel anything less than the most important person in his life.

His fingers tunneled through the silkiness of her hair while her arms wove themselves around his neck.   The heat of their bodies warmed his thin cotton shirt and the little mewls of pleasure in the back of her throat warmed much more than that.

“Oh, Babes…”

Her lips kissed a path along his jawline and downward, where she suckled at the tendon standing in taut relief against his neck.   Her hands roamed his chest and she just was before undoing the first button on his shirt when she looked up at him with strikingly dazed eyes.

“Tony?”

Her fingernail flicked back and forth over the placket on his shirtfront and her lips were parted and shining from his kisses.  She was fucking beautiful.

“What is it?”  His hands glided the length of her back, savoring the indentation just above the rounded curve of her butt.

“Stay the night?”

He halted his caresses even as she kissed the corner of his mouth.  The kids had gone to Jon’s for the night.   They were truly alone in this big house, and they no longer bore the burden of being a dirty little secret. 

Don’t get ahead of yourself, man.

“Are you sure?”  He dipped his head to search her face, seeking out signs of any insecurity or doubt, but all he found was Dorothea – calmly confident in what she was doing.

“Don’t you think it’s time?” She had moved on to kissing the opposite corner of his mouth and he maneuvered himself into position for full-lip contact.

“Past time.  So past time,” he mumbled between the steamy, passionate kisses.  “Where, sweetheart?”

She reclined into the arm of the couch, curling her fingers into his shirt and pulling him down on top of her.  “Here.”

His already prominent erection grew painful in its stiffness.  He hadn’t been with anyone in over a year.  Not since he realized it was her he wanted.  He showed a little restraint – very little – when grinding his pelvis into hers, moaning with the bittersweet pleasure of the friction between them.

“Jesus, you feel so good under me…”

Dorothea’s fingers plucked at his shirt, trying vainly to push the buttons through their holes and release the fabric from his chest.  Too eager to wait, he levered back on his knees and pulled the white cotton over his head.  It landed somewhere in the vicinity of the Christmas tree.

“Ohhh,” she purred, agile fingers furrowing through the thick mat of chest hair.  “God, I’ve missed this.  The heat.  The intimacy.”  Hands roamed feverishly up over his shoulders and biceps.  “The touching.”

His hands were just as busy burrowing their way under the clingy brown top of her warmup suit.  His fingers had just molded over her ribcage when he realized what she said.  “Babes?”  His eyes sought hers and waited until she gave them.  “Has there been anybody…”

“Nobody,” she confirmed, cradling his face affectionately.  Her thumbs traced along the edges of his goatee before again roaming the planes of his chest, and Tony dipped in to claim her mouth possessively. 

Tongues clashed, teeth nipped, lips mated and the ragged breaths of both lovers filled the air.  Tony shoved up on the fabric of her shirt, anxious to see her – to feel her skin against his.

“Mmf.. Tony…”  She tore her mouth away from his, holding his anxious hands immobile as she peered directly into his eyes.  “I’m not a young woman.  I’ve had four babies.  Nobody has seen me naked that wasn’t responsible for the stretch marks.”

He smiled tenderly, urging her to release his hands.  “Babes…  I know you’re beautiful – inside and out.” His hands warmed her flesh as he skimmed the shirt over her head to reveal a simple black bra. “So beautiful.” 

He couldn’t get enough of her softness and found his fingers unable to keep from impatiently exploring all of the exposed flesh.  Arms, torso, neck, chest.  Butterfly kisses were rained across her stomach as he reached behind her to unfasten the bra.

The butterfly kisses moved upward across her abdomen and sternum while he gently kneaded the small perfection of her breasts.  Perfect champagne glass breasts.  The thought made them impossible not to taste.   Lovingly stroking the right one with his hand, his lips fluttered across the tawny tip of its mate, drawing the distended tip into his mouth and suckling as he knew her children had once suckled there. 

“Mmmhmmm.”  Agitated fingers danced across his head and she pushed herself into the heat of his mouth, making purring sounds of approval. 

He laved the softness until it glistened with his efforts.  It was so pretty and glossy…  Tony bent forward and caught the beaded nipple between his teeth, rolling it gently back and forth.

“Yessss!”  She held him close to her bosom, reveling in the tender touch.

As she lay writhing against his mouth, he dropped one foot to the floor and leaned back so that his hand could eke its way under the elastic waistband of her pants.  He wanted to feel her slickness, to stoke the heat between her legs.

He groaned against the second breast that he was devouring when he parted the softness and found her drenched.

“Sweetie,” she breathed, restless beneath him.  “We’ve had a year of foreplay.  I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for the main event.”

His chuckle vibrated against her skin.  “I can feel that you are.”  A finger plunged deep into the damp confines.  “I think you really want me.”  The finger eased out and back in again.  “Do you really want me, Dorothea?”

“Yes, Tony,” she assured him on a quiet moan.  “Yes, I want you.”

Her sultry declaration shredded the last of his resolve and the remainder of their clothes melted away in a flurry of impassioned kisses, touches and breaths.  Under her zealous guidance, he sank into the body he’d been aching after for so long and forced a sharp cry from her lungs.

“Okay?”  Tony anxiously searched her features, but found nothing but pleasure in the delicate planes.

“Mmmmm.  Perfect.”  She bumped her hips greedily against him.  “Now, baby.  Now.”

Her impatience ignited him and they both jumped from a slow burn to an all-consuming backdraft of passion.  The heat licked at their skin as he savagely claimed her for his own, driving them both relentlessly to that far-reaching point on the horizon where heaven met earth for a brief instant in time.

His name had never sounded so good on anyone's lips...

Some time later, they were still twined tightly together and Tony was dusting her shoulder with lazy kisses when she gasped, “Oh my God!”

“You said that already,” he teased, nipping at the saltiness of her skin. 

“No, no.”  She pushed at him, struggling to sit up.  “I don’t know why I didn’t realize it before.”  An impatient hand shoved the curtain of hair away from her face.

Tension thrummed from a body that had been pliable with satisfaction only seconds before, and alarming Tony.  His eyes anxiously searched her face for an indication of what was the matter.  “What is it, Babes?” 

She swore softly.  “It’s Petey.  I know what happened last night.” 

A strong hand slid behind her neck, angling her head so that she was forced to look at him.  “Tell me what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t you see?” she implored.  “It has to be that man.  The one who came to the studio.  Didn’t you tell me he was really tall and skinny?”

His forehead wrinkled both with remembrance and concern.  “Yeah.  At least as tall as Matt.  Maybe six-five?”

“Well, I saw a man like that in the parking lot.  I was just getting off the phone with Stephanie when he walked in front of the car, coming from the club.”

It made sense.  It made so much sense that he felt stupid for not immediately considering that possibility.  “Shit!  Why didn’t I think of that?  Did you see what kind of car he got into?”

She shook her head.  “No, I just know it was beyond where we were parked.”

Tony scrambled to get into his pants.  What he was going to do, he didn’t know, but it seemed like he should be at least half-dressed for the occasion. 

“Call her?” Dorothea asked, gathering her own clothes.  “Make sure she’s okay, and see if she’ll admit to it.”

The phone was already in his hand and he hit the button that would bring the screen to life as they fell, side-by-side, onto the couch.    

“Fuck,” he mumbled.

“What is it?”

He turned the screen for her to see.

[8:20 PM]PT: Please consider this my resignation.  I’m sorry.

“Call her,” Dorothea urged, the sense of urgency seeming that much greater now.  “Call her anyway.”

He did, with both of them waiting on the edges of their seats for Petey to answer, but it didn’t happen.  The call went to voicemail.  He disconnected and dialed again with the same result. 

This was not a good sign.