“Then marry me.” Huh?
“Did you just ask me to marry you?”
“Yes. And believe me, it never would have occurred to me that one day I would be proposing in front of four other people to someone dressed as a dominatrix. Yet here I find myself. And the fact that I’m still standing here extending this offer should tell you something, Gabrielle.”
“It does!” I smiled with incredible, almost irrational, joy as I felt the tears completely filling my eyes. “I thought that my dad was the only guy in the world romantic enough to knowingly marry into pure insanity just because he really loved somebody.”
“So is that a yes?”
“Yes!” I ran over to him and hugged him tightly. I heard a yip and Bruno ran over and started humping Braden’s leg.
CHAPTER THIRTY
“Mazel tov. Does this mean you’re going to convert?” Adam asked.
“Who cares about that? Does it mean you’re not going to kill me?” Mark wanted to know.
“What it means is that Gabrielle won’t be digging through garbage or attending underground sex parties anymore. Well, unless I go with her. It also means that if someone is harassing her because they’re hoping that she’ll leave me, they’ll probably just give up.”
My happy balloon promptly burst. “That’s why you asked me to marry you? So that you can keep an eye on me and keep me out of trouble?”
“No. I asked you to marry me because I love you and I want to be with you always, you nutty broad. The fact that I might be able to keep you out of trouble is just a perk.”
“So why are you guys back early?” Jess asked.
“Because Braden missed his girlfriend too much,” Adam answered.
“We finished up the programs we were scheduled for and I was able to get us an earlier flight. There wasn’t anything of any importance to us going on tomorrow,” Braden replied, glancing at Adam.
“Because Braden missed his girlfriend too much,” Adam repeated.
“Right now I would like my girlfriend to come back with me to my place, but I would like her to please go change her clothes first so that my doorman doesn’t think I’m bringing home a hooker. By the way, what were you saying about Marla?”
“I’ll tell you about it on the way,” I said, heading off to my room to change. I was back in five minutes in yoga pants and a tee-shirt.
“Come on Mata Hari, let’s get out of here,” Braden said. We said goodbye to everyone and headed back to his place with Bruno.
Along the way I told him about Marla and the real story about the garbage. He was pretty shocked but he still laughed when I told him about Cam’s client showing up. At least he didn’t sound angry anymore. It was starting to sink in slowly that he had proposed. I understood it on an intellectual level but I don’t think that it had really hit me yet. I decided that he had been through enough stress because of me and I was going to comfort him with a nice massage and a bath together. When we got to his apartment I headed straight for the bathroom and started filling the tub, throwing in some eucalyptus bath oil. The scent was supposed to relax you. Bruno ran off to check the apartment for whatever Bruno always checked it for.
“Hey,” I called out to him. “Come here and let me not confront you.”
“I could use a lot of non-confrontation,” he said, poking his head in the door and starting to peel off his clothes. He looked really good peeling off his clothes incidentally.
“It must be very traumatic for a former player to ask somebody to marry him,” I teased.
“You have no idea.” He smiled. I took my clothes off too while he watched with a look that was becoming less relaxed by the second. So much for the scent of eucalyptus oil.
“You sit in front of me and scoot down. I want to rub your back and shoulders. You seem tense,” I said and he actually laughed out loud.
“Ya think? I wonder why.”
“Well, I may cause you some tension but I also know how to relieve it.” I slipped into the wonderfully warm water and sighed. He slipped in with me and sat between my legs, leaning back against me.
“Mm. I like the way your chest feels all slippery up against me,” he murmured, wiggling around a little. I started massaging his shoulders and he made a sound like a lion purring.
“I missed you,” I said quietly in his ear while plying him with gentle little kisses.
“I missed you too.” His shoulders were loosening up and he was sounding much more content.
“You’re sure you want to marry me?”
“Yes. I may want a ‘do-over’ on the proposal though. I think if I try really hard I could probably make it more romantic than that,” he said with a laugh.
“It will make a great story for the grandkids.”
“Oh yeah sure. How did you ask grandma to marry you, grandpa? Well, it was the night that she attended the orgy dressed like a dominatrix… By the way, when we tell our parents we might want to skip that part.”
“Our parents! Oh my God, that’s right. Do you think your parents are going to object because we haven’t been together long?”
“Are you kidding? My parents love you. They’ll be thrilled speechless. My dad knew he wanted to marry my mom after their first date anyway.”
“Really?”
“So did your dad.”
“He did? After meeting Bubbe?!”
“Yeah.” He laughed. “That’s true love, I’ll tell you.”
“So, he told you that, huh?”
“Both of them told me that when I had my man-to-man relationship talks with them. They’ll probably both suggest that we have a long engagement anyway though. I’m okay with that as long as you move in with me.”
“Jess won’t have a roommate.”
“She’ll find another one and we can afford to cover your rent until she does. Now, how about if you comfort other parts of me,” he said taking my hand off of his shoulder and placing it on a part of his body that was quite unrelaxed at the moment. I reached over for a bath sponge and began giving him a massage of a different kind. His breathing got heavy and he started to groan. I loved watching him get really aroused. “Sit on my lap,” he said in a thick voice. I changed position and thoroughly enjoyed the look of bliss on his face as he slid inside me.
“I love you Braden,” I gasped as he raised his hips and pushed into me harder.
“I love you too. Kiss me.” I kissed him and lost myself in all of the wonderful sensations.