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~Dixon~
CORA’S HAIR FANNED out on the pillow, and her breath was even as she slept. I couldn’t help myself; I couldn’t stop watching her in these early morning hours. It was something I couldn’t imagine ever getting tired of. So much better than my dreams all those months ago when I envisioned her in the hayloft. Because this was real.
“Ummm. Hey.” Cora’s eyes fluttered open, avoiding looking at the blowing curtains and the sunlight they no longer hid. She stretched like a cat, twisting toward me. The sheet pulled down, revealing a perfect breast.
I was only a man; there were some things I had no power to resist, and the sight of a naked Cora was one of them. As I bent to take the pebbled nipple in my mouth and give it a little bite, Cora giggled.
“Well, I guess I should say good morning to you, too, handsome.” She sighed as my tongue twirled around the left areola and then found its way to the right one, with another light bite on that nipple. Cora reached under the sheet and found my hard cock.
A very good morning, for sure. And it’d been that way for the last few weeks, when we’d moved in together.
The day after the charity dinner, Cora made good on her promise and hired an attorney to handle her inheritance and any interaction between her and her father...and Mark gave up on harassing her into marriage, or any other kind of business arrangement. It hurt her terribly to lose her relationship with her father; without her mother, things between them had broken and the only way she could be her own person was to forcefully cut off contact.
There’d been a few weeks where she’d been quiet about it, but she seemed happier now. More sure. More content. More...everything.
And I couldn’t help but revel in being with her all the time. The astonishing thought to move in together was all hers, though. And damn if she didn’t surprise me with her entire proposal. One day, we’d been having lunch on one of the main drags in town, and she’d stopped at this rundown storefront.
“You know, this would be a great location for just the right kind of store.” She turned and looked at me. “A store where people can find amazing furniture, household items, refurnished and reclaimed from house renovations or flea markets...you know, taking what people think isn’t worth anything and making it beautiful and useful and important again.” Her wide grin was infectious.
I smiled. “Oh yeah? But you’ve always been beautiful...and important.” I dropped a kiss on her lips. “But there’s no way I could afford to rent this place, much less make a living at making reclaimed furniture and house stuff.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. I mean, you’ve had some sales already. And with the website we’ve been working on and with Jefferson Furniture’s ongoing requests, a space for creating the pieces and a space for showcasing them...” She turned and looked at the storefront window, designed to hold large pieces. “It could be exactly what you need to succeed. And, there’s even an apartment above the store, where we could live.”
In shock, I looked up at the second floor. Sure enough, there were a set of windows up there. It wasn’t a closed-off space for storage or something. “You sure that isn’t office space?” The idea of owning my own business and moving in with Cora was overwhelming, but one I was cautiously warming up to. If I wasn’t careful, my excitement would make me miss some detail that would pull the rug out from under me.
“Well, let’s go see.” Cora dangled a set of keys in her hand. “I haven’t signed anything, so it’s fine if you say no. But the real estate agent said we could check it out.” She moved toward the storefront door and opened it up.
The storefront windows were dirty but still let in plenty of light. The floorboards were wide...possibly even chestnut. A counter against one wall; shelving behind that. Open floor space. A door at the back led to an office and another empty space.
We walked around, both silent as we assessed the building.
“It’d be a cool store. But I don’t know, Cora. I mean, how would I afford this?” I lightly moved my fingers over the countertop, my mind already racing with how to set up the shop windows and how to display the other projects I’d been working on. And to have my own workspace, with my own tools...
“You wouldn’t. We would. Dixon, I want us to be partners. Equal partners.” She stopped, obviously seeing the objection in my eyes. “Yes, equal. I might have the money, but you have the talent. I couldn’t do this without you. I wouldn’t want to do this without you.” Cora grabbed my hand and held it to her chest. “I love you, Dixon, and I want to build a future with you. It’s not the future I had planned”—her voice wobbled—“but it’s the one I want now. The one with you and me, working and living and being together.” She let out a breath.
How the hell could I ever say no to her? Why the hell would I want to? “Well, we better check out that upstairs apartment and make sure there’s enough space for the huge bed we’re gonna need so I can make love to you properly every night and every morning.”
~Cora~
Waking up with Dixon every morning was the best feeling I’d ever had. Every day, my partner, my lover, and my rock was there. With my hand on his hardening cock, my smile grew wider and my mind woke up more, eager to start the day with Dixon’s love.
I pushed him onto his back and shifted so that I straddled his body. He skimmed his hands up from my waist and came to a rest at my breasts, holding them and teasing the nipples. A rush of heat flushed through me, along with a sense of power. Anything was possible with Dixon, and there was nothing we couldn’t do together. I leaned forward to kiss him, positioning my body to slide down his hard length.
“Oh, Cora. Now that’s what I call a good morning.”
His whispered words in my ear rumbled from deep in his chest as we moved in a rhythm, at first a slow, languorous motion that turned into a faster pace as we came closer and closer to climax. My hair, a curtain around us, created another barrier from the real world. It was just me and Dixon—cocooned together, joined together...just together.
Spent from our lovemaking, I snuggled into Dixon’s side, my head on his chest. The thump-thump went from a rapid rate to a slower one as we both caught our breaths. My mind wandered over the past months, thinking about all the things that had to happen to get me—to get us—to this place.
“I can hear you thinking over there, Cora.” Dixon moved back to his side, his hand tracing the outline of my face. “Any more dirty thoughts going on in that pretty head of yours?” He dropped a kiss on my nose. “If so, I am totally, one hundred percent behind those thoughts. Just need some water to re-hydrate and we can go for round two.” His sexy grin grew wider, and he left the bed to grab a bottled water from the fridge.
Spencer, the tabby from our visit to my grandmother’s home, wound around Dixon’s legs as he walked across the large space. Tracy, the calico with the broken paw, had fully recovered and joined her buddy, meowing at Dixon for some kibble. Both cats had adapted well to their—our—new living arrangements.
The open floor plan of the second-story space was intended for storage more than a real apartment, but there had been a bathroom and kitchenette space that we’d enlarged. We kept most of the space open, with an open doorway from the bedroom into the living spaces. I had plans to put some gauzy curtains up as some kind of divider, but with just the two of us here, there wasn’t a big need for closed-off rooms. And it provided a great view of my naked boyfriend as he walked back to the bed.
“Well, what I was really thinking of”—I slapped his arm slightly before taking the bottle from his hand and having a sip—“was how we ended up here. From that night at Jake’s, where you rescued me and Wendy from that jerk at the bar, and then carried me to your place after my ankle twisted.”
“I’ve never been happier to see a broken shoe in all my life.” Dixon smiled. “I mean, it was the perfect excuse to get you in my arms. And now, I never want to let go. Cora, I—”
The sound of a dying goat bleating stopped his next words. At least, that was what it sounded like.
I couldn’t quite figure out what it was until it sounded again. “I think that might be the backdoor delivery call button. We never tested it out to see if it works, did we? And up here on the second floor, it might not sound as loud as it does downstairs.” I had a surprise coming today, and the delivery guy must have gone to the back. Finding the bathrobe up on the wall hook, I shrugged it on while trying to get to the back window before Dixon did.
A delivery truck was parked in the back lot, with one burly guy leaning against the tailgate and another at the door.
“So, Dixon, I have a surprise for you.” I turned, practically slamming into that delicious wall of muscle.
“A surprise, huh? At eight in the morning? It’s a good thing we got our morning started early, then.” He winked and teased me with a light kiss. “So, what is this surprise? And do I have to get dressed for it?”
I pushed him back playfully. “Yes, you need to get dressed for it. We both do.” I turned back to the window, pushed it up, and yelled to the delivery guy. “We’ll be down in a few minutes.”
A returned “Okay” floated up before I shut the window.
I raced around to get dressed, with Dixon shaking his head at me as he pulled on his work clothes of faded jeans, T-shirt, and work boots.
As he finished lacing up his boots, he stood and grabbed me into a hug. “You know, I don’t need any surprises. You’re the best thing I’ve ever gotten. You’re all I need.”
I kissed him, our tongues dancing that now familiar but still passionate dance together. “But you do need this. Trust me.” I grabbed his hand and dragged him down the stairs to the back door. “And I can’t wait to see it, myself.” I smiled back at him as he looked at the lettering on the truck.
“Ma’am. Where’d you want it?” The burly guy had opened up the back of the truck, and pulled the store sign to the opening.
“Well, it’s for over the front door. You guys are supposed to do the install, too, right?” At the other man’s nod, I continued, “Let’s pull it out here and make sure everything is right. Then you can bring it through the store and out the front door. The space should be all set for you to hang it.”
I could sense Dixon’s curiosity and dawning realization what his surprise was.
“The store sign? That’s my surprise?”
He was silent a moment as the guys pulled out the wooden sign. “Reclaimed Life” was in a bold font—rustic but still easy to read—with the logo I’d spent hours on with the designer. The line drawing had intertwining squares and rectangles of varying sizes, representing houses of different sizes and types. Underneath was “EST. 2021” in the same font, but a smaller size.
It was exactly how I’d pictured and approved on the contract. I’d kept the logo and sign a surprise for Dixon, although we’d talked about what to call the store. The name was perfect, as far as I was concerned.
With Dixon, I’d reclaimed my life. No longer did my life include people or things that I didn’t love...or who didn’t love me for myself. Some of my dreams had changed, but the vision of the future I had far outweighed any feelings of loss.
Dixon was still silent, looking at the sign. He gazed up at me, his expression serious. “I’ll be right back.” He abruptly turned around and headed back into the storeroom.
Confused, I stood there, looking from the back door to the sign, and then the delivery guys waiting for direction. “Um...I guess he needs a minute. Hey, there’s a coffee shop down the street. Why don’t you guys grab a coffee—on me—while he’s doing...well, whatever he’s doing.” I fished out a twenty from my pocket and offered it to the guys.
“Sure. We’ll be back in ten.” The bigger of the two took the money, and they walked in the direction I had pointed to.
“Sorry about that.”
Dixon’s voice startled me, and I turned back to him. “No problem. I mean, there’s no problem, is there? I know I kept this as a surprise, but I thought you’d be excited about it. You like it, right? Did you want to change the name? I mean, we can change anything you want...it’s not a big deal to re-do the name or change the font or—”
My rambling was cut short when Dixon reached out and grabbed my hand.
“No, it’s perfect. You’re perfect. And I had to get my surprise for you.”
I was more confused now. He’d come back, but he wasn’t carrying anything. He looked exactly the way he did five minutes ago, not even with a phone in his hand now or something.
“Cora, I can’t believe how lucky I got when I saw you that night at Jake’s. From the moment I saw you, I couldn’t stay away. I was drawn to you. You are beautiful, inside and out. You have courage to make new dreams, not be stuck in the past but looking forward to a future. A new life...a reclaimed life. And that’s given me the courage and strength to do the same.” Dixon dropped to one knee, a hand going into his front pocket.
“Will you marry me? Will you claim a new life with me, with all the joy and happiness that I promise to bring to you?” He pulled out a ring and reached for my left hand.
“I...ohmygod...I...yes! A million times, yes!” I laughed and sobbed my way through my words and reached down to bring him to me. I pressed against his body, tangling my hands in his hair while I kissed him.
Dixon pulled back, his sexy smile firmly in place. “Well, let me put this ring on it, gum drop. ’Cause damn if I don’t want everyone to know you’re mine and I’m yours.” He laughed as he fit the ring onto my finger.
“Oh, Dixon. It’s beautiful.” I moved my hand to let the jade and diamonds shimmer in the morning sun. “I can’t wait to claim our life together.”
We held each other, in that back parking lot, with the promise of our new, reclaimed lives right in front of us, ready for the taking.