But Rix’s shoulders always stayed straight. His chin up. His concentration focused. And a couple of times, Judge jogged in to talk to him about things he was seeing that Rix was doing but wasn’t catching.
Eventually, he pulled it together, and when he did, boy, did he do it.
I figured he might have been more of a powerhouse before he’d lost his legs, but he was no slouch now.
He was going to be a ringer.
Crack!
“I know you saw it,” I said to Chloe.
“Saw what?” she asked.
“Saw it the first time you met me.” I gave it a beat and then explained, “How into Rix I was.”
I was watching Rix field.
But I was feeling Chloe’s attention turn to me.
“I also figured out you knew I hadn’t asked him to be my fake boyfriend when you called to talk to us about him being my fake boyfriend,” I continued.
Chloe said nothing.
Crack!
It was a line drive.
Those were harder to field. You needed to be more nimble on your feet.
I tensed.
Rix couldn’t get to it, but he reached for it anyway. My heart slid up in my throat, but when it passed him by, he just started jogging after it.
“He’s the best guy I’ve ever met,” I finished.
“Fortunately, my life is such that he’s in my top ten,” Chloe replied. “But he’s high up in that top ten.”
Happy she had that, and for other reasons besides, I felt my lips curl up.
Crack!
I watched Rix field.
Then I noted, “You were never going to throw us in front of Peri.”
“Mm…no,” she confirmed.
“That was about getting me motivated,” I went on.
Crack!
“Did it motivate you?” she asked.
I turned to Chloe.
She wasn’t watching Rix or Judge.
She was watching me.
“Yes,” I stated the obvious.
She smiled.
“Thank you,” I said quietly.
“I love him. He deserves the best.”
Ohmigod.
That was so nice.
“Can I hug you?” I asked.
Her face behind her shades grew soft. “Of course.”
We hugged. Chloe made a move to let go, but I held on.
Just for another couple of seconds.
When we broke apart and looked back to the field, Judge was turned to us, and Rix had his hands on his hips, flipped to rest on their backs because of his ball glove, and he was watching us.
“We’re bonding. You’re bonding,” Chloe called out. “No need to stare.”
We got two male smirks.
Then Rix got into position.
Judge turned and threw up the ball.
And…
Crack!
“So,” I began. “Who’s next?”
And that was when Chloe busted out laughing.
We were in that glass tent thing among the Joshua trees.
It was the dark of night.
Rix had just finished fucking me while I was on my belly. As I took his cock, I’d been twisted at the waist to the side just a little so my view could be unobstructed of the shadowed trees off the foot of the bed. As I felt our connection, the power of him up on his arms, one hand planted above my left shoulder, the other hand lower, planted in the bed by my upper arm, his hips driving, his thighs straddling the outsides of my own.
I was contained under him, receiving.
He was surrounding me, giving.
He liked that position. We did it often, even if it was just one of several he pulled me into.
As for me…
I loved it.
I knew what I enjoyed with sex, and if I felt comfortable with a partner, I wasn’t timid about getting it.
But this was us.
This was me letting go what I didn’t need in order to give him what he did.
He needed to dominate.
He needed to be my shelter.
He needed to find every opportunity to let me be just who I was.
In other words, sex was no different than the rest of what he gave me.
It just came with the bonus of world-rocking orgasms.
Now, he was on his back, and I was on my side, tucked tight to him, head to his shoulder, eyes to the stars.
The truth?
I’d forgotten about it.
We were off on a quick weekend glamp.
We’d been home just a couple of weeks after New York, and not much had happened except the beauty of settling into a life with Rix that didn’t have an end looming.
He was my guy.
I was his woman.
I saw him checking out Zillow listings for cabins in the mountains.
We cooked together in the evenings. We slept together in one or the other’s bed. We rode to work together in the mornings. I hung out with Katie and Gal. He went out for beers with his buddies on the crew. We spent time with Chloe and Judge. We talked about getting a dog, something he’d avoided at first after he lost his legs, because he had to focus on navigating life. But now, he was ready. I loved animals, so I was ready too. The idea of going hiking with a pooch, Rix taking him or her on a run, weirdly thrilled me.
Like we were starting our family.
So yes.
I was so deep in the zone, I’d forgotten about it.
Until we lay under the stars, pleasantly fatigued from our hike that day, from eating too much food and having a few beers, from Rix making us both orgasm.
Until Rix took my hand on his chest into his.
Regardless of what he’d said, the ring hadn’t moved since I put it on.
It moved now, as his other arm that was around me scrunched me tighter to him so he could hold my hand in one of his and slip the ring off with the other.
I was watching this through the moonlit shadows, holding my breath.
Once the ring was off, he lifted my hand and pressed his lips against the back of my engagement ring finger. As he did, I felt the bristles of his mustache and the tuft of hair under his lower lip, and my attention on what was happening was so intense, I could swear in that moment I could account for every whisker brushing my skin.
He then took my hand from his mouth and slid the ring back on.
To finish, he rested it back on his chest, but with his covering it.
And he decreed, “Now, it’s official.”
I pushed through his hold just enough, curling my fingers around his, so I could see the diamonds twinkling under the stars.
I felt my heart race, my belly flutter, and the beauty of understanding that when you take the leap, you don’t hope for a soft landing.
You hope you’ll never stop soaring.
And then I announced, “You are such a caveman.”
I could tell he was smiling even as he asked, “Are you bitching?”
“I just experienced a modern day, ‘You my woman,’” I pointed out.
“No. You experienced that earlier when I was fucking you into the bed.”
I burst out laughing.
While I was doing it, Rix rolled us so he was on top.
When I quit doing it, I saw something that glittered more gorgeously than diamonds or stars.
Rix’s eyes in the moonlight gazing down at me.
“You my woman,” he whispered.
Oh my God.
I loved this man so much, it hurt.
Such a glorious, glorious pain.
“You my man,” I whispered in return.
He kissed me.
I kissed him back.