Come To Me

CHAPTER THREE-1

CHAPTER THREETuesdays are typically her busiest day, even though she’s down to one kid for at least a portion of it. She wakes at 6:30-ish and mostly waits for Jessica to be ready to dress and send off to school. The next hour consists of her putting on her face and getting Sarah and Landon ready as well. Dropping off Sarah at preschool around 9 then heading straight to her women’s group till nearly noon. The relaxed atmosphere that group provides allows her to browse occasionally for emails or texts without disturbing anyone else. As she arrives and gets settled with some breakfast for Landon, she looks at her phone quickly to realize the sound had been switched off at some point and she had a text waiting on her. “I can hardly wait to see your sweet face this evening. I hope you’re as ready to see me again.” This could easily have been something Brad had sent to her and would have generated a warm and fuzzy feeling coupled with a smile across her face. It was not from him however, but Deegan. Smile was indeed garnered from this read, and then there were those bubbles again. Damn those bubbles. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sort of wishing my day away to talk with and see you this evening as well.” Send.

The day did drag on as expected. The normal tasks of this day seemed to be monumental in accomplishing because there was no focus to be had on the task at hand.

All thoughts of tonight’s meeting consumed her. She knew they needed to talk logically about this and come to a conclusion about what really has to happen. At the forefront of her thoughts is the mistake that it will be. Knowing all along that Brad would flip the f**k out if he found out about a meeting he wasn’t privy to beforehand and the unknown looming “bubbles.” What worried her most is that her powerfully enormous urges would take over and the thread of will power she’s clinging to will snap like a limp twig. From the way Deegan had been talking the last few exchanges, she’d put good money that he’s hoping to hear a nice snap this evening.

Having a basically free day, he spent the day mulling over the possibilities the evening alone with her could present. Should he try to push the limits and see if she bends a little to allow him to get more lingering, if not bolder touches? Will he be the gentleman and allow her to invite him into her forbidden world, go beyond the marital boundaries? They are already breaching one of them by completely excluding Brad from this evening both in knowledge and in presence. Will he give her a bigger idea of how he really feels? Lost in thought while he’s meticulously choosing his clothing for the evening, he hears a little chime in the distance, that familiar chime that came from his phone that there’s a text. Rushing to it laying on the dresser, he scoops it up to read,

“335 N Maple St. Intrigue Athletics…. I’ll be backed up near the fence at the back of the parking lot, see you soon.” Immediately he’s filled with electricity and his heart is racing. Glancing at the clock on his nightstand, it gives him a little panic that he won’t be there a little bit early, as it’s already ten after six. He’s figuring it to take at least 45

minutes to get there and find it, so he needs to leave within the next five minutes.

Grabbing a pair of seersucker tan linen shorts and matching them with a solid, retro style button up, he dresses quickly, does a double check in the mirror, grabs his keys and phone then heads out- almost exactly five minutes later. As he sits down and closes the door to his truck, he plugs in the address into the GPS on his phone and hits the begin route prompt. Making good time, he feels his excitement overcome him to the point of feeling like his heart will beat out of his chest as he sees the Wilson county sign that he just passed by. If he’s lucky, he’ll arrive about 7:15 and park and wait for her to arrive. The building seems easy enough to find, with only a couple of turns to get there.

He pulls into the parking lot that is relatively full already and finds a spot near the back corner and proceeds to back into a spot. He turns off the engine and tries to relax, his leg bouncing like a rubber ball with nervous energy. Why is this time more like the first time should have been, wrought with anxiousness? The obvious eludes him in knowing that before the first meeting, those strong feelings were something he could keep in check. Finally gazing into her eyes and touching her skin, they were set free with confirmation of how very real they were. He looks at his clock, 7:23. God, please let her get here early he pleads towards the sky.

Having only had a small window with which to relax after a day full of running, she takes several to freshen herself up, yell to Jessica as she’s heading down the stairs and preparing to load up yet again. A quick glance at her phone as she waits by the door lets her know that she’s got time. After all, they live a mere five minutes away from the gym. It’s 7:18 and she scoots Jessica out and closes the door behind her. In and buckled, pulling out, looking at the stereo for time check yet again, 7:20. She wanted to get there at least early enough to walk Jessica in and let her know you’d be sitting in the truck tonight on a business call instead of watching her class. The 7:30 class was the last of the evening, so typically when they are pulling in, the classes before are pouring out and the parking lot is essentially empty minus the other girl in Jessica’s class and the other staffers and a few competition team members.

Pulling in she whips around without noticing any of the vehicles coming and going, only focusing on dropping off and getting parked so she could wait. She

probably should have considered the possibility he would have arrived early again, being anxious and all. Once Jessica is inside, she turns to find the place she intended to park only to notice it was already taken, taken by Deegan. An involuntary smile spread across her face, both from the happiness of seeing him again and from her nervous energy as well. She sees him sitting there, window down and head propped upon his hand from where his arm was resting on the door. Even from many yards away, she could see a glimmer in his eye and the smile he sported. Pulling in front and then backing in beside him, she shifts to park and turns off the engine. She cracks the passenger side window enough so that she can motion with a small head gesture for him to come over to her and get in. Once he’s on his way over, the tinted windows go back up and the light from the stereo goes out. It’s just at dusk, so there’s a little daylight left, but within a few minutes it would be gone and give them more than enough time to allow their eyes to adjust to the darkness as the sun fades. He climbs in, closes the door and the interior light slowly takes its leave, and then there they are, once again.

“Hey you” she says. “Hey yourself. Was this the longest day ever for you too?”

he asks. “Yes, it was indeed unusually long it seemed, but I was able to stay busy so that did help. Tuesday’s are pretty crazy for me anyway,” she said.

Without hesitation he has already reached for her the hand she had resting upon the gear shift and instead of a slow caress, he intertwines her fingers with his own.

There was absolutely no resistance met, instead the clasping seemed welcomed. She situated her body, so she was angled toward him and almost instinctively he did the same. They both sat and stared a bit into each other’s eyes. It was almost in a searching sort of way, possibly hoping to find some answers for all the questions swirling around in both of their heads all day. Answers didn’t seem to appear, but a gentle reassurance most certainly was. He takes her hand from its resting spot and pulls it toward him, up towards his mouth and gives her hand a soft, sweet kiss. She tilts her head to the side and grins shyly at him.

Looking into her eyes, Deegan feels the urge to say things he knows he shouldn’t. He manages to refrain from doing so, at least for now. He steadied himself and asked, “What’s going on here? What are we going to do? I mean, I know what I want, what other parts of me are saying they want, but where are you at with all this?”

The shy grin that continued to point straight at him seemed to widen a touch and her eyebrows lifted in that obvious “no f*****g clue” posture and she says almost exactly that. “I have no idea. My mind literally hasn’t stopped thinking about all of this since we left yesterday. Ever since you’ve admitted you’ve had any sort of feeling towards me, I know I have been quick to dismiss them and yes, that’s what that initial meeting was for. I felt certain that I could dispel those by being able to have some goodbye closure where that’s concerned. I did feel that at least the friendship we’d built to that point deserved the face to face. What I didn’t see coming and has hit me like a Mack truck, is that apparently there is something inside of me that is feeling something similar. And quite honestly, it freaks me the f**k out. I LOVE BRAD. How is there room for any type of emotion within that?” she pleads out loud. She hadn’t even

noticed that while she was telling him all that, he’d taken hold of her hands and held them tight and close to him. She didn’t attempt to pull them away, instead she found herself leaning towards him, with her head down.

Deegan leans in to meet her bowed head with his chin, giving her a place to land.

He pulls his hand up and places it on the back of her head and begins stroking her hair.

He can feel her anxiety and does his best to sooth her fears and nerves. Having her head resting just beneath his nose, he is at the perfect place to take his breaths and take in the fresh, fruity, mesmerizing smell of her hair. Closing his eyes briefly to really take in her scent, he thought to himself how wonderful it would be to be lying somewhere with her head laid upon his chest so that he could breathe in as much of her as he wanted while cradling her wholly in his arms. He comes back to the moment when he hears her low sigh of frustration. In doing so, he takes his hand from the back of her head and moves it around slowly underneath her chin to bring her face up to his, so he could look once again into her eyes.

As her head is pulled up to meet with his eyes, she could feel the desire behind them. Their faces were inches apart at this point; far enough for no contact but close enough to feel the warm air they were breathing quite heavily. Her purpose was to do just talking tonight, but she could quickly feel there probably wouldn’t be that much talking over the next 50 minutes or so. Her eyes scanned his face, slowing down to linger around his lips, putting to memory the look of those lips that had touched her not once, but three times now. Remembering how very soft they were as they caressed her forehead and the gentleness with which they touched the back of her hand. She felt a growing need to touch those very lips with her own. Still trying desperately to adhere at the very least to the two rules set forth before, the next thing she knew, their noses were touching on the tips. The heaviness of the breathing had become so loud, for a moment she wondered if anyone walking by would have heard.

Deegan thought his heart was about to explode and that surely she could hear it pounding if not literally feel it pumping his blood through his body. He’s not even sure if he can hold back further from taking his mouth and pressing to hers at this moment, since they are mere centimeters away. He could feel her wanting it, thinking it, and fighting it. He closes the gap ever so slightly, so much so that the outlines of their lips brush delicately. The tingling that rushed throughout her body from that, brought her back from the world of lost thought and she turned her head just enough to let her cheek rest up on his. It didn’t stay there for long as she ran the tip of her nose over his face. Her hot breath was causing more than his heartbeat to rise and fill.