One Hundred Twenty-Nine

It’s your choice, baby.

The words were on a continuous loop, replaying over and over in Allegra’s mind throughout the remainder of dinner.  Could it really be that simple?  And if so, was she ready to step forward and make that choice?  Betrayal was still simmering brightly just below the surface, and she couldn’t help but feel she deserved some type of amends… or something.  After all, she hadn’t done anything wrong.  She’d done everything by the book for as long as she could remember.  How could she possibly be at fault here? 

And how immature was it to want an apology from God?

Richie watched her woodenly fork the cheesecake past her lips without so much as a murmur of approval for its fluffy texture or rich decadence.  The sinful caramel that she’d been so enamored with earlier didn’t even get a hum of appreciation.

Quietly devouring his own strawberry cheesecake, Richie stifled a sigh.

There was a reason he didn’t often wax philosophical – it weirded people out.  He’d leaned toward psychology in his brief collegiate stint because he had an affinity for human nature and the ability to put things together in a different light than the rest of the world.  That abstract view of the world served him well in songwriting, but in everyday life – well, sometimes it worked to his advantage and sometimes it didn’t. 

So yeah, it wasn’t a secret to him that most people weren’t on the same wavelength that he frequented, but he had thought – hoped – Allegra might get it.  Instead he was afraid he’d driven her further from what she was looking for.   

The espresso cup jangled against its saucer after he’d relieved it of the few lingering drops in the bottom.  He pushed the credit card back in his wallet and looked to see that her dessert plate and soda glass were both empty.  “Ready to go, Sunshine?”  Richie broke the prolonged silence.

An automatic smile pasted itself on her lips and she blinked a couple of times, bringing his face into focus.  “Hmm?  Oh, sure.  Whenever you are.”

Richie offered his hand to help her from the booth, bending to capture her lips in a brief kiss when she stood before him.  “I love you,” he murmured.  “I’m sorry for letting things get so heavy.  Whaddaya say we go have some fun now, so you don’t hafta tell everybody what a crappy date I am?”

“You aren’t a crappy date,” she protested trailing out of the restaurant behind him, hands still clasped tightly.  “It’s my fault I got caught up in my own thoughts for a while.  I’m sorry I drifted away on you.”

He handed her into the back of the car with an impish grin, obviously taking his own advice to move on with the evening.  “Did I tell you how pissed Dave was when I called to ask him for tickets?”

“Oh no,” she said, wincing.  “He’s mad that we didn’t go him the other night?”

The driver pulled out into surprisingly light Wednesday night traffic, guiding them toward the Shubert Theatre, where Memphis was in residence.

Richie snorted with laughter.  “Hell no, he doesn’t care about that.  He wants to be there so he can hear you ooh and aah over his baby.”

“Oh.  Well, I guess we could have waited until another night when he wasn’t busy.”

“He wasn’t busy.  I politely asked for the tickets and told him to fuck off – it’s date night and he wasn’t invited.”

Allegra tried not to smile, but she couldn’t help herself.  As much as she loved David, she was loving being out with Richie tonight even more.

“He loves you, ya know.”

The tone was casual, without any heat, making her assume that he wasn’t angry about the fact.  So she answered him with the truth.  “I love him too.”

“I know you do, and quite honestly, it took me a while to be okay with that.  In all the years I’ve known him, Lemma has never been so into a girl that he didn’t want to fuck.  He had to do a lot of screaming in my face to make me see that it was different with you.” 

They arrived in front of the theatre, and Richie escorted her to the box office where their tickets awaited.  “You should have two tickets for Sambora,” he informed the woman seated behind the glass partition.

She obediently flipped through the smattering of envelopes at her right hand, but shook her head regretfully.  “No, sir, I’m sorry.  I do have a note here for a Mr. Sambora though.”  She slid the folded piece of paper out the opening cut in the window. 

“Thank you,” he growled as politely as he could, snatching up the paper.  He was going to kill David for screwing this up.

See what you get for being mean to me, fucker?  No tickets for YOU! 

However, I do have two tickets set aside for the beautiful young lady named Legs.  Make sure she takes notes!  I want to know what she thinks of the REAL musical talent in the band.

Love you guys

DB

“Crazy ass son of a bitch,” Richie mumbled, crumpling the note and stuffing it into his pocket.  Allegra, who had been reading over his shoulder, was already on her way back to the window, her tinkling laughter floating back to him on the breeze.  In a matter of seconds, she was waving an envelope with ‘Legs’ scrawled across the front.

Richie glowered fiercely and waggled his finger at her.  “You stay away from him, do you hear me?  He’s an evil prick.”

Slipping a hand inside his open shirt, Allegra allowed his heat to warm her from palm to fingertips as she levered up to peck his cheek.  “Have I ever told you how much I love it when you guys bicker?  It makes me feel like I didn’t miss out on your childhoods.”

Lips twitching in a barely controlled smile, he latched onto her hand, hauling her to the theatre entrance. 

“Tut, tut, tut,” she chided, keeping the envelope out of his reaching grasp as they approached the usher.  “These tickets are in my name.  If you’re gonna pout, I can always go by myself.”

“Then that won’t be the only thing you do by yourself tonight,” he promised with a menacing arch of his brow.

“That’s fine,” she assured him with a saucy wink, handing one of the passes to the young man collecting tickets.  “Somebody taught me how to take very good care of myself.”

“Brat,” he growled, the twinkle in his eye undermining any pretense of fierceness.

“Ah, ah, ah.”  Allegra taunted him as he stood on the sidewalk, waving his ticket from just inside the lobby.  “Be nice, or you can’t have this.”

Oh really, little girl?  You don’t know who you’re messing with.

Richie stuck out his hand to the theatre employee and fired up his most congenial smile.  “Hey Kyle, how ya been man?  Still dating that cute little usherette in the balcony?”

Allegra snapped her jaw closed and rolled her eyes with disgust when the guy replied cheerfully, “Sure am Mr. Sambora.  It’s good to see you again.  Mr. Bryan said to take extra special care of you and your date this evening, so go right on in.”

“Thanks, man.  You take it easy.”

He slipped his arm around Allegra’s waist and brought his lips to her ear.  “What was that about me having to be nice?”

“Oh my God, I can’t believe you played the celebrity card,” she groused, digging a playful elbow into his stomach.  “Have you no shame?”

“Whatever it takes, baby.  Whatever it takes.”  Having a woman on his arm hadn’t made him feel this cocky in a long time, and the lively banter only served to lift his mood higher.  Richie no longer begrudged Allegra her date – he was enjoying the hell out of it and her.

Two hours later they were exiting the theatre, playfully arguing about which songs were the best.

“I loved “Memphis Lives in Me”,” Allegra insisted.  “I can just hear David singing it.”

“That’s because he does sing it and he’s completely burnt me out on it,” Richie informed her.  “I really dig “Underground” though.  I can see me doing that song.”

He was guiding her to the car, hand under her elbow when Allegra noticed all the camera flashes reflecting brightly off the cars and buildings around the theatre.  She idly thought somebody important must have been at the show.

“Richie!  This way, Richie!”

Shock widened her eyes and she stopped suddenly, stumbling when Richie bumped into her.  “It’s okay, just keep moving,” he murmured, a smile plastered across his face as he waved to the photographer with his free hand.

“Who’s the lucky lady, Rich?” a voice rose above the din.

“Dude, I’m the lucky one.”  His smile didn’t waver and Richie never broke stride, his grip on her firm and sure as they approached the curb.  The driver was waiting to hand them into the back seat.

“New girlfriend?” the mysterious voice pushed.  “Or just a flavor of the week?”

Halfway into the vehicle’s interior, Allegra’s chin snapped around just in time to see the professional smile falter just a bit.  There was a brief hesitation as brown eyes silently inquired of blue as to what she wanted him to say.

“Your call,” she said in a low voice, scooting across the black leather to make room.

“I’m way too old for a flavor of the week, man,” Richie laughed, ducking into the car.  “And the lady deserves more respect than that.”

With that, the driver slammed the door, plunging them into solitude behind the tinted glass.

Allegra released the breath that had been residing in her lungs for about thirty seconds too long and tried to relax into the seat.  Being the subject of a dozen impromptu photographs had been nowhere on her list of things to do tonight.  She laughed to herself.  And if she’d known it was a possibility, she still would have left it off the list.  It wasn’t something she was anxious to repeat.

At least she hadn’t done anything to embarrass herself or him.  She hoped.

Richie turned in the seat, brushing the hair back from her face.  “Okay?”

Shaking off her nerves, she smiled reassuringly.  “Of course it’s okay.  You’re the celebrity here.  Whatever makes your life easier.”

“No,” he contradicted, weaving their fingers together.  “My life doesn’t take precedence over yours.  This is an ‘us’ thing, remember?”

“I know that, but you’re going to have to lead me along for a little while until I can get used to… whatever that was.  Although I’ve gotta wonder if I can used to it.”  She shook her head in doubt before shrugging delicately.  “And as far as what you said to him, I assume you know best when it comes to the press.”

“Thank you for that.”

“Thank you for not calling me a flavor of the week.”

He treated her to an exceptionally naughty grin.  “That doesn’t mean I won’t be tasting you, just in case there was any confusion.”   

Allegra whimpered as his thick tongue swept into take possession of her.  The lingering taste of coffee mixed with Richie’s flavor as she gave him free reign to plunder the silky recesses of her mouth.  His lips were so soft that her tongue couldn’t resist the temptation to flit out and stroke against their fullness.

“Damn, baby.  I’ve been waiting all evening for that,” he rasped when they were forced to surface for air.  One swift yank had Allegra firmly straddled across his lap, skirt riding high and she could feel her heat pressing against the growing bulge in his slacks.  His hands were nearly as hot, sweeping up her outer thighs and almost scorching the skin that fell under his touch.

“You aren’t the only one,” she breathed, rocking against the hard ridge that his zipper cloaked.  She fell forward to gobble those precious pouty lips and his moan of pleasure filled her mouth as readily as his hands filled her panties, cupping her backside.  The ache to press herself to him until they were no longer separate bodies had her grinding against him, the skimpy scrap of lace under her dress drenched with desire.

It was tit for tat.  For every minute that Allegra regained her senses and realized they were in the back of moving car, Richie pulled her back into the sea of forgetfulness with the undertow of his touch.  The swirling cloud of passion had her so addled that she didn’t even notice they had left the city until the car pulled through the gates at Jon’s house.

Her cheeks were rosy from the frenzied ‘make-out’ session, her hair hopelessly tousled from Richie’s hands, and her womanhood primed and ready from his teasing.  No amount of begging and pleading had convinced him to give in to anything beyond heavy petting. 

Allegra was so frustrated she could scream.

The car came to a halt, and she bounded from his lap, prying open the car door in the blink of an eye.  Stumbling down the path, she dragged a chuckling Richie behind her as fast as he would move.  The size of his… pants… was making it a little difficult to walk.

“Come on,” Allegra puffed, reveling in the cool breeze that wafted across her flushed skin.   The weeks and days before she’d actually had Richie in her bed didn’t even touch the level of anticipation and frustration she was experiencing now.  Now she knew what he was capable of – what he made her capable of.

And I damn well want it all!

Her fingers curled around the doorknob of the guest house, prepared to shove through the entrance and take him right there in the foyer. 

But Richie had other ideas.

“Wait a minute.”  His feet planted themselves firmly on the porch flooring.  “Aren’t you going to tell me what a nice time you had?”

“I’d love to, but at the moment I’m thinking how much nicer it’s about to get.”  She gave another pull on his hand, but he was determined not to budge.

“I go to all the trouble of getting a helicopter and willingly put up with David’s bullshit and you only want me for my body.”  His bottom lip doubled in size when he pushed it out in an exaggerated pout.

Okay, Allegra.  He went to a lot of trouble.  Play nice.  THEN jump him.

“Now you know that’s not true.”  She curled herself around him, pressing a kiss in the open vee of his shirt.  “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the trouble you went through.  You treated me like a princess, and I won’t ever forget this night as long as I live.”

The pout receded and his expression became somber.  “Really?”

“Really.”

“That makes me very happy.  Thank you for going out with me.”  He brushed her lips with a feather-light kiss and stepped backward to the middle of the porch.  “Good night, Allegra.”

WHAT?!?!

“Good… goo- what do you mean good night?” she stuttered.  “You’re coming inside and going to bed with me, aren’t you?”

He gave a single shake of his head, a regretful smile tingeing his face.  “Not tonight, baby.  You wanted to real date experience, and this is it.  I don’t sleep over on a second date.”

Allegra wasn’t sure how she did it, but she was proud that her foot didn’t stomp up and down like a petulant child.  “Bullshit!  You’ve slept with women you’ve never had a second date with.”

“That’s true, but I never had a first date with them either.  Hook-ups and booty calls are completely different from dating.  If I like a woman enough to ask her out on a real date, I want her to know she’s more to me than that.”  His thumb stroked tenderly across her bottom lip.  “And you’re much more than that.”

With a loud ‘harrumph’ she  propped her fists on her hips and pinned him with a look.  “You do know I’m pregnant right?  The baby’s pretty much proof that I’ll put out for you.”

Dimples sprang to life as laughter bubbled out of him.  “I had a sneaking suspicion you might,” he said before sobering again.  “But you were right, Sunshine.  Nothing about this relationship has been normal.  So let tonight be normal.  Let’s be John Q. Public and Jane Doe sharing a good night kiss at the end of a date before we go to our separate beds.”

What was the old saying?  Be careful what you wish for, it may come true? 

She wanted to hit him.  Or hate him.  Or something.  But she couldn’t.  He was only giving her what she’d asked for.  In actuality it was very sweet. 

Unfortunately sweet didn’t satisfy the need in her soaking panties.

“Sometime, someday could you not be so damn considerate and accommodating?  Tell me that I don’t know what I want and take over.  Please?”

He squeezed all the air and a helpless squeak from her with a big bear hug, her high heels dangling in the air as his chest rumbled with humor.  “Damn if that doesn’t sound like fun.”