Come With Me To Paradise

Tilting my head to the side, I smiled at him as my finger slipped into the fold of the bag he was carrying. "The greatest guy in the world, eh?" He nodded. "That's a huge title," I tugged at the bag playfully. "Are you sure what's in the bag will make me think that?"

He lifted his brow a fraction before leaning down to me. "Well," his breath was warm on my cheek as his scent filled my nostrils, making me shiver in response. "I guess you'll have to let me in to find out."

"Mmm," I lifted my head, my lips brushed against his jaw. "My mom is home."

"You want me to go home?" His tongue flicked against my ear lobe.

"No." Shaking my head softly, I slipped my hand around his. "I want you to prove you are the greatest boyfriend in the world."

"Lead the way."

I turned from him to unlock the door, he came up behind me, his bag carrying hand wrapping its way around me as he brushed my hair back off my neck. The first touch of his lips on my skin sent a shock through out my body, I felt my nipples tighten and a familiar ache between my legs. His touch always got a reaction from me, he also made it hard to think.

"Devon...door..." I managed to mumble.

With the bag carrying hand pressed flat against my abdomen, his other hand engulfed mine, taking the house key from me to unlock the door. "There you go," his lips caressing my neck.

Reluctantly, I moved away from him to open the door. I wanted to get him inside and upstairs before my mom realized that we were home. Mom hates all men since my dad left, I didn't want to have to hear her go on and on about men using you and dumping you when something better came along.

"Come on," I tugged on his hand when he stopped to take his shoes off. "You can take them off upstairs."

He gave me a puzzled look but didn't argue. It didn't matter anyway, mom heard us come in, she called out to me. "Cary called for you," she said as she appeared in the hallway. "He...oh, Devon, I didn't know you were here."

Devon smiled, greeted my mom and asked how she was doing. "I'm alive," she replied. Turning to me she continued on about Cary having called. "He seemed upset when I told him you weren't home, but he didn't leave a message, he just said he would call you later."

"Oh ok," I started to inch towards the stairs, pulling Devon along with me. "We're going upstairs now mom, I'll see you later."

I turned, put one foot on the bottom step and mom called my name again. "This came for you today," she held out an envelope. "It was sitting on the front porch when I opened the door earlier."

"Oh?" I reached for the envelope.

"What do you suppose it is?" Mom asked, "There aren't any marking at all besides your name."

I shrugged. "I don't know mom. I'll open it later."

"Oh Janie!" Mom groaned. "I can't wait that long! I've been dying to know what it was since you've been gone! Come on honey, open it please?"

Devon shrugged when I looked at him. "Go ahead, see what it is."

I was a little nervous as I ripped the envelope open and pulled out the card that was inside. Flipping it over so that I could see the front, I was more puzzled than ever. The picture on the front of the card was of two beach chairs sitting empty on a tropical beach with the sun setting over the water in the distance. The words, 'Wishing for another day in paradise with you', were prewritten above the picture.

"What's wrote on the inside?" Mom tried to grab the card from me.

"Don't," I pulled away from her as I opened up the card. Written inside, in deep red, were the following words;

"What I'd give to run my fingers thru your hair
Touch your lips, to hold you near,
When you say your prayers, try to understand
I've made mistakes, I'm just a man"

My heart was beating so loudly, I thought everyone could hear it. I glanced at Devon, he wasn't even paying attention, he was poking around in the bag.

Mom on the other hand was paying attention. "Oh! Who do you suppose it's from?" She glanced at Devon but shook her head even before the question formed in her mind. "Do you think it's from Cary?" She whispered loudly.

"What?" Devon's head shot up.

"Mom asked if this," I showed him the card. "Was from Cary."

Taking the card from me, he briefly glanced at it before tossing it onto the table mom picked it up off a couple minutes ago. "Too bad if it is," he shrugged. "I'm here with you now, that's all that matters to me."

"Aren't you the least bit concerned that some other guy is sending Janie love notes?"

"I know Janie loves me," was all he said to mom as he nudged me towards the stairs again. "Were we going up?"

"Yes," I gave mom a hug and said good night before heading up stairs with Devon following me closely.

"Now this is paradise," Devon exclaimed, his hand cupping my bum as we walked into my room.

Once inside, he asked me to go sit on my bed and close my eyes. I protested a little but I did as he said.

"I'll be right back," he must've left my room because I heard his footsteps on the stairs as he ran down them.

For a moment, I wondered if he was just going to leave me sitting on my bed like a fool but thankfully I heard him come back before my thought could run too far. "Keep your eyes closed."

Sounds of paper rustling soon filled the air, followed quickly by the sound of the paper bag hitting the floor. "That's not right," Devon muttered. "Janie where do you...nevermind, I know..."

Clinking, soon came and then a curse from Devon. "That's dumb!"

"Devon what are you doing? Do you need help?"

"Ummm, no!" He was at my side long enough to kiss me on the lips. "I got everything under control," he told me. "I just have to move..."

"What are you doing?" I asked again, it sounded like he was moving furniture.

"Nothing," he replied absently.

I sat back against my headboard, wanting so badly to peek but I was afraid that he would catch me and stop whatever he was doing. This was new of us, I didn't want to spoil it.

Five minutes later, I heard my door close and noticed that it seemed darker behind my lids. "Did you just turn off the light?"

"Shhh," he was at my side again. "I just need to do one more thing...keep your eyes closed." One arm slipped around my back as the other slid underneath my knees. "Don't be scared," he told me. "Put your arm around my neck."

Without questioning him, I did as he asked. Slowly, he lifted me from my mattress.

"Where are we going?"

"Over here," he took a couple steps and then lowered me onto a chair. He sat down next to me, he picked up my hand in his, bringing it to his lips. "Open your eyes Janie," he spoke against my hand.

I turned to him before I opened my eyes, and I was glad I did. If I didn't, I wouldn't have seen the uncertainty and the excitement in his eyes.

I realized right away that I was mistaken about where he set me down; it wasn't a chair, he placed me on the window seat. And he did rearrange some furniture, he pulled my make up table from the corner of my room, over to the window. He had cleared off my make up and in its place, among the light of a couple candles, he had opened two take out containers from the club.

It was the most romantic thing he had ever done for me, I started to cry.

"Oh no Janie," he wrapped his arms around me. "This was supposed to make you happy! I'm so sorry. I'll put it all back, I promise."

"No," I gripped his shoulders, sniffling as I pulled back to look him in the eyes. "I love it!" I exclaimed. My hands jumped to cup his face, "It's perfect." Drawing his face near, I softly kissed his lips. "You are perfect."

He chuckled softly, "I don't know about that but..." he motioned to the table, "I hear those are. This one," he picked up the container on the left. "Is Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake with some kind of raspberry sauce. And this one," he put the cheesecake down and picked up the other container. "Is a Chocolate Decadent Torte with some berries and creme sauce ." He returned that one to the table and smiled at me. "I wasn't sure which one you were talking about at the club, so I asked for both of them to go."

He picked up the fork that was resting on a napkin by the containers. "I'm sorry we didn't get to have dessert at the club."

"I'm not," I kissed his cheek. "This is so much better." I eyed both desserts hungrily, I wanted the Torte at the restaurant but now that they were both sitting in front of me, I wasn't so sure anymore. "I can't choose!"

Devon laughed, "That's the beauty of this Janie," he sunk the fork into the cheesecake and lifted it up to my mouth. "You don't have too."