Page 16

Della

I couldn’t believe I just did that. Like I’d never gone down on a guy. Not ever. In fact, I had very little sexual experience. I think I just got inspired by all the heat he kept giving to me. I wanted to give some back, so I tested out my new courage.

And wow…It turned out to be spectacular. Who knew it would be so hot to blow a guy. Then again, Dante wasn’t just any guy. He was my present and my future. I do know it pleased us both and I felt a bit smug that I could take him there…Like he did for me. With this spontaneous act that was not anything close to what the Old Della would have done, I think it freed me from my fake life in my full out lie filled past.

A new Della emerged from this fantasy of a shower and forgot the sadness. Forgot the sense of betrayal and loneliness of what had come before. Like a sort of cleansing. A metaphorical event. I did feel different now. Despite the trauma of near death today, I felt safe and warm.

Smiling at me, Dante towelled me dry and put a white bathrobe around me. He also grabbed one for himself, put it on, then belted it. Patiently, he escorted my jelly like body to the bedroom and sat me down on the bed.

Yes, my legs were a bit wobbly and I think I was about fifty miles past exhausted. But damn, I felt happy. I now knew I’d never experienced happiness before. The time I’d spent with Dante felt like a low grade dose of continual euphoria.

A knock came on the door.

I looked over at it then up at Dante.

“It’s dinner.” He grinned at me.

I nodded but wondered at the grin. Then again, this man always seemed upbeat.

He headed to the door and swung it open.

Standing there was Tito, holding the shirt collar of a frightened looking man. The poor guy’s feet had even left the floor.

“Did you authorize this guy to come here?” Tito asked.

Dante nodded. “Yeah, cousin. Like ease up on the goodfella bit, will ya? Let him go.”

Tito did just that and dropped him.

Dante leaned close and steadied the poor guy and said, “I’m sorry about that. Tito has issues.”

“I do not,” Tito snipped. “It is my job.”

Dante chuckled. “Gil has been here before. I like… know this guy almost personally, Tito. He’s delivered here like fifty times.”

“Don’t care,” Tito griped. “Lives are at risk.” He shook his head and went down the hall.

“Sorry about that, Gil,” Dante told the man. “You’ll get an extra hundred for the unnecessary roughness.”

Gil gaped at him and exclaimed, “For real?”

“Sure,” Dante replied. “Can’t have my delivery man roughed up like that.”

Gil shook his head. “You are just the greatest guy, Dante.”

“Amen to that!” I exclaimed from where I sat listening to them.

Dante grinned at Gil and shook his head. “Just a small fan club is all a guy needs to feel supreme about himself.”

Gil laughed as he gave him a large carryall paper bag with handles.

Peeking into it, Dante raised his gaze and nodded at Gil. “You done good.”

“I have to admit the extra box took a bit to find.”

“You did it though and that earns you another hundred.”

I wondered about the extra box part but I was impressed by Dante’s generosity.

So was Gil as he replied, “Dang, man. You do know you’ve been paying my way through college, right?”

“I’m proud to know I helped.” Dante nodded. “What are you majoring in?”

“Tech and a business degree,” Gil said.

“Great, when you graduate, come see me. No need to look for a job. We could use you here.”

Gil looked stunned. “Thank you!”

Dante nodded. “We want to employ the best and the brightest and you are that.”

Gil looked overwhelmed. “Damn…”

Dante reached over and patted his arm. “See you at the next wing party, Gil.” He then shut the door. Turning, he carried the bag over to the bed.

I stared at him. This man just couldn’t be real.

He paused and sat down with the bag in his lap. “What?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “That!” I motioned to the closed door. “Did you really mean that? About giving him a job?”

He tucked his head back a little in surprise. “Of course I meant it. I kid and joke but when I make a promise, it is always kept.”

I leaned in close to his lips and said, “Ok, so make me a promise?”

He stared at my mouth so close to his and vowed, “Anything you want, I will do.”

“Promise me that you won’t ever change,” I whispered, then kissed him tenderly.

Turning, Dante wrapped his arms around me to take the kiss to another level. It instantly went from tender and controlled to wild and out of control. We clung to each other and kissed until we needed to come up for air.

Breathless, I rubbed my just kissed lips with my fingers.

He smiled at me. “We’d best back off or I will have to bed you once again, wench. Then I will need to shower you all over again.”

I giggled. “So? I like the sound of all that.”

“I need to feed you for one thing. Don’t want my girl to starve.” He grabbed the bag and motioned for me to scoot up. “Get up against the pillows, we are gonna be utter heathens as Zia would say because we will be eating in bed.”

I snickered. “How decadent. Are you rich or something?” I teased.

“Or something actually,” he retorted with a raised brow.

Up against the pillows, I couldn’t stop smiling as I watched my man.

He stood and went around the bed to climb in next to me to sit up against the pillows on his side. Then he reached into the big bag and took out a pizza box.

As soon as I saw it, I laughed. “Oh wow, a pizza pie?”

He grinned widely and nodded. “And you will be glad to know that I won’t be singing this evening. And that is why I won't do two shows a night anymore babe, I won't do it,” he did a perfect impression of Beetlejuice.

I gaped at him. “Oh, my God. That's like one of my favorite movies of all time!” I tried to make my voice sound gravelly and said, “The ghost with the most, babe .”

Dante laughed. “I love you Della, but don’t quit your day job, babe. ”

I let out a burst of laughter as I smacked his arm.

“Hope pepperoni is good for you.” He handed me a slice on a napkin.

I eagerly took it as my mouth watered and I realized I was starving. “Pepperoni is perfect. I mean how else would a pizza be authentic?”

He agreed, “Like the people who eat it with ham and pineapple?” He shuddered dramatically. “That shit is not sane. It also does not belong on pizza. è così folle,” he said in thick Italian.

I stared at him.

“Oh, you do not have your phone.” He laughed. “It is so crazy,” he translated and took a bite of his slice and hummed.

I followed suit and took a huge bite of mine.

“Hey! Take it easy there, babe,” Dante cautioned as he swiped the corner of my mouth with a napkin. “Death by pizza is not the way to go.”

I tried to chew and not laugh. I didn’t want pizza to come out of my nose or something. When I could speak I asked, “So what is the way to go?”

He shook his head. “I do not know if there is a good way. But Mark Twain said, go to Heaven for the climate and hell for the company . I always liked that one.” Reaching into the bag again, he took out two bottles of cold sodas. “I got a sprite and a coke. I didn’t know which one to get you.”

“I’m good with either one.”

“Coke it is.” He opened the bottle and handed it to me. “Need to keep you awake for a little bit.”

I took it and nodded. “It has been a long full day that I will never forget.”

“Everyday since I met you has been unforgettable for me.” He took a bite of his pizza.

“How do you just come up with that stuff out of the blue?” I asked.

He looked over at me and swallowed his bite. “What stuff?”

“Saying stuff like that.” I took a drink from my coke. “Like poetic stuff. Most men aren’t good at that kind of thing.”

Nodding, he paused and cocked his head to the side to say, “It just pops out. But I will remind you…”

“You mean what you say,” I cut in.

He chuckled. “True but I confess that I took English Lit in college. Shakespeare, Tennessee William plays, Mark Twain.”

“Really?” I asked in surprise. “A guy who likes old plays?”

“My favorite was Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” He raised his chin up. “Luca and Romeo teased me about being gay!” He huffed. “I was only like 18 and they caught me watching one of the old movies. I used a famous line on them, the most dangerous word in any human tongue is the word for brother. It's inflammatory .” Dante shrugged. “They just stared at me while wearing blank expressions. I called them uneducated vermin.”

I chuckled. “Oh, I bet that didn’t go over well.”

“They tried to blow it off, cause really they had no idea whatsoever about what the hell I was talking about. “Mendacity,” Dante drawled in a southern accent. “Mendacity is a system that we live in. I loved some of the lines because they are timeless. Like Big Daddy Pollitt saying: I' ve got the guts to die. What I want to know is, have you got the guts to live?

“Whoa, yeah I’ve seen that movie. You keep quoting TV shows and modern movies but you also like the old fifties stuff too?”

He nodded and took another bite. Then swiped his mouth with a napkin. “I do and when all this calms down, maybe we can watch some together?”

“I loved that idea and just between you and me. No way could you be gay.”

“Gee thanks.” He chuckled. “You have a quick witted sense of humor too, ya know. And I love how you are now. You lost that shyness. I have to say I love it.”

I ate the crust of my slice and nodded. “Yeah, that’s all because of you. I mean, before I met you I never…” I paused.

“Never what?” he asked as he looked curious.

I shrugged. “Never been kissed like you kiss me. Never been taken by storm. Never laughed every few minutes. Never experienced an orgasm. Never showered with a man. Never um…blown a guy. Never—”

He raised his hand. “Whoa. Hold up. You never climaxed before?”

I shook my head. “After some dating, I allowed one guy into my apartment once. It was quick and unsatisfying. I just figured that maybe I was frigid?”

Dante was taking a drink of his sprite when he coughed and sputtered. Grabbing a napkin, he exclaimed, “Frigid? No way, woman. You are pure molten lava.” He wiped the sprite from his chin.

I laughed. “Like I said, I never knew I could be set on fire.” I reached over and took his free hand. “You have set my whole life on fire, Dante.”

He shook his head. “Not sure that’s a compliment. And it is commonly known that behind every man is a woman, rolling her eyes.”

I smirked. “No, I’m not doing that. It truly is a compliment. I have to admit, when we got out of that shower today, I felt new.”

“New?” he asked as he stared at me.

“Yeah, like everything that happened to me before was wiped out. My fake existence and all of its lies are gone. Now I really feel like I am living the life I should have been living.”

Raising my hand to his lips, he gently kissed my knuckles. “One thing is for sure, you will be living the life of a queen.”

“Oh, I know that already. I’ve never met such a generous person until you.”

“Aww shucks, Ma’am,” he quipped in a cowboy accent.

I laughed. “That’s another thing. In the past, I might have laughed once a month if that. Now it’s every few minutes.”

“It is good for a person,” Dante said sagely then he halted as if something had just dawned on him. “Wait…Did you say you’d never…Given a man a blow job?”

I shook my head. “Nope, my first time was today.” I picked up my coke bottle to take a sip.

He batted his eyes at me and rasped in a shocked voice, “Impossible. That…” He cleared his throat and spoke again, “ was the MOST terrific thing that ever happened to my dick.”

This time, I spluttered and coughed on my drink. When I caught my breath, I fell into laughter again.

Looking concerned, Dante patted my back and handed me another napkin. “Maybe I shouldn’t speak when you are eating or drinking.”

I nodded in agreement.

“Still,” he said. “I am honored to have been your first….” he paused. “First um…”

I laughed outright. “First orgasm, first blow job, first man I ever trusted… with everything. My life, my heart and my soul.” My hands shook a little as I said it. The truth was a little scary for me. I realized that if he left me someday, I would cease to be.

He again grasped my hand and squeezed it. “I promise to be with you for as long as I live. I’m not a halfway guy. I am all the way in.”

“Oohh,” I replied and wiggled my brows. “I like it when you go all the way in.”