A Ride to Heaven and Back Ch. 07

Reni lay back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling of the guest bedroom at Jack and Annie's. She had been out of the hospital for two days, and this was the second day in a row, Dev had treated her like a fragile piece of glass, going off to do what he had to do as far as the truck went, but not doing more than cuddling with her and making sure she was comfortable. And what was with this talk about another driver coming down and taking the truck back while they rented a car, and drove back that way. She loved the truck; she loved riding in it with him.

The worst part was every time she tried to talk to him about it, he reminded her of what the specialist had told her about her vocal cords and that she was to speak as little as possible. Her throat still hurt, and she had had to have Dev call her mom and tell her what had happened. It had been interesting to see the way he responded to her mother and surprisingly her father as well. He had been intimidated by two old people who were over a thousand miles away. That had shocked her.

Annie knocked on the bedroom door. "Reni, are you awake?"

She sat up and nodded. "Yes."

"Good, because Dev just called, he's on his way back and he told me you need to be up and awake when he gets here...Reni, he didn't sound happy..."

What now? She moved off the bed and went into the living room, it was Saturday and Jack was home. He gave her a grin and a wave as she sat on the sofa, feeling guilty over making Annie do so much by herself. Well she would make it up to her, and to Jack. Somehow, some way, she would.

A car horn sounded and she went to the door. Dev was back, and he wasn't alone. The man who crawled out of the passenger side would be Rusty, the driver who would be taking the truck back; he gave her a friendly wave and then went to open the back door. Once it was, an all too familiar voice sounded from behind it. "Well, don't just stand there young man, help an old lady out of this car like a gentleman should." Reni groaned and walked toward the car. Her hearing wasn't as bad as her throat, and when she reached the door, her mother was indeed standing in front of her, all five feet six inches, a hundred and fifteen pounds of her, and across the top she saw her father being helped out of the other side by Dev. "Well don't just stand there young lady, I know you can't talk, but you can come give me a hug and then lead me inside out of this awful heat. Rusty, you can help Devlin with Charles." As Reni hugged her mother, she heard the older woman low whisper. "I must say I approve of your taste in men dear, that Devlin is an absolute hunk. Maybe it is a good thing he's putting a wedding ring on your finger before you come back to Portland..."

Once inside she found herself being gathered up in her father's strong arms and hugged tightly. "Can't tell you how good it is to see you baby girl, the house has been way to quite since you left, and..." like her mother his voice dropped to a soft whisper. "Must say I approve of this Devlin fellow, seems to know his mind well. And this young fellow Rusty told us a great deal about his boss on the plane. Self made men are the best of the bunch of course."

Reni smiled. Of course her dad would say that, he was a self made man and he admired any man who could manage to do it these days. "I'm glad you approve daddy..."

Before his father could respond, another voice caught her attention. "Hey hon, you think I could get a hug too, or is that asking too much...?"

Considering how tired he looked, she didn't think it was. Moving into his arms, she wrapped her arms around his neck and he claimed her mouth in a kiss that she hadn't tasted for the last two days. He held her tight, and she felt his arousal as keenly as she felt her own. When he drew back, she saw the hunger in his eyes and licked her lips.

"We would have been here sooner, but your folks wanted to get checked in to their hotel and I wanted to get Rusty settled as well. The truck won't be ready for another three days and after that we can head north anytime you're ready..."

She had been ready for days, but it still felt good to know they had a few more days of layover. Glancing at her parents, she saw that they had made themselves right at home and Jack was playing the perfect host. Rusty was admiring the view from the backyard. Seeing a chance to get Devlin to herself, she took his hand and led him into the bedroom. Once there she hugged him again and whispered in his ear. "What are mom and dad doing here?"

He grinned. "I have no idea, all I know is Noreen told me as soon as I called in to check in that they had called and told her the airline and time they would be landing. It turned out to be the same plane Rusty was due to come in on, so what could I do? Leave them at the airport?"

She almost told him yes, but instead she hugged him and drew his head down so she could kiss him. It was clear that they had to wait, but she had every intention of showing him that tonight she wanted him and he moaned as they drew apart.

"Oh Lord Reni, do you know how hard it has been for me? I been wanting you so damn bad, but wanting to give you some time to recover, and feeling like a sex maniac for feeling the way I do."

"Shower?" she spoke the one word with meaning.

A gleam in his eye told her he was in favor and they were tearing at their clothes as they went in to freshen up. This time he turned the water on first, but once he was in her, it didn't matter. More than once she had to bite her tongue from crying out and Dev's rough whispers in her ear told her he was as frustrated with having to hold in how he felt as she was. The sooner they got a chance to get the hell out of here and back on the road, the better for both their nerves.

As they dressed, she wondered again why they wouldn't be taking the truck back to Portland and Seattle. She was sure he had a good reason; Reni just wished he would talk to her about it.

The afternoon passed pleasantly enough, Jack and Devlin fired up the backyard barbecue and her parents told her all the news from home. Rusty and her dad discovered they were both avid fishing fans and Annie became a favorite with her mother the minute she agreed with Mrs. Marks on the type of wedding dress Reni should have to highlight her figure and her looks. Reni had to blush when Dev spoke his mind on it.

"As long as it's easy for her to get off, I love looking at her dressed, but I could spend the rest of my life just watching her run around in what she was born with."

"You say that now Dev," Reni heard her mother's response, "but tell me that again in fifty years, when everything has sagged on both of you and it's all falling to the floor."

Perching on the arm of the chair beside her, Dev ran his fingers along Reni's face. "Sylvie, in fifty years I will love looking at her body as much as I do now. I will still love her, still want her and still wonder how the hell I got so damn lucky that she is willing to forgive me my jackass moments." Bending down he kissed her mouth and when he drew back she saw the sparkle in his eyes. "And I will still be thanking who or whatever it was that put me next to her in that truck stop café that night, because they did me one hell of a big favor."

"Well said son, well said..." Her dad spoke up. "And on that note, I think it's time you called us a cab and sent Sylvie and I back to the hotel. You young people can while the night away, but us old folks need our rest, and if I know Sylvie she will be up at the crack of dawn wanting to explore this town and its shops and such. Never fails, get her out of Portland and she has to find out where every store is in town...wonder I have any money left between her and Pauline, not to mention that jackass son of mine. Which reminds me, have some business I'd like to discuss with you tomorrow Dev if you're not too busy."

Despite protests from Dev that he could take them, the cab was called and Rusty joined them for the trip back to the hotel. Annie and Jack looked as tired as Reni felt and smiled when Jack pointed out that for an elderly man with cancer, her dad was a hell of a man. She nodded her agreement. "I couldn't have found one better. The best part is he chose me, him and mom both."

"So what do you think this business deal is that he wants to discuss with me?" Dev looked curious.

"I would say that he has it in mind for you to take over as the main hauler for the company. My uncle is a good businessman but he has no idea how to handle things like outside contractors. Just in the last five years he's changed haulers five times, and you know as well as I do that while most haulers need the contracts more these days, a company that has a reputation of switching haulers once a year is soon going to find themselves without anyone but the cheapest and worse of the bunch."

"Have any idea how many trucks he uses in a year?"

"There are at least ten trucks at the warehouse at any one time, so you're looking at a good fifty to sixty in a day if not more. Back about twenty years ago, we had our own fleet, but when uncle John took over, he decided it was cheaper to contract out, he was wrong. We have stores coast to coast, with two main warehouses, one in Portland and one in the Midwest. Portland's covers five square blocks, and a terminal down at the port. The main manufacturing plant is in Japan and parts are constantly being shipped back and forth, it's a big organization."

Annie looked impressed. "You seem to know a lot about it Reni."

"Just ask mom and my sisters about it. They know as much as I do, so do my other uncles. But John is the oldest, and needless to say, the one who was groomed to take over." She groaned as a realization hit her. "Oh Lord..."

Dev looked at her with concern, "what the matter baby?"

"I'm 21, that means when I get back I have to take my place on the Board." She looked at Dev. "Dev, can we just get in the truck and drive off into the sunset...I hate Board meetings."

Dev grinned; he knew just how she felt. Luckily he had been smart and hired the best people he could find to help him run DM Trucking and it had paid off in the long run. The only actual family members who were part of it were his sister's son who was a driver, and his older brother's daughter Meg who had went to college and gotten a degree in Business Management from a university back East. She had gotten her internship with him and once it ended, had stayed on to help him. Meg was a smart woman and while she didn't always agree with him on how he ran the business, she was willing to sit down and voice her views and her own reasons for disagreeing.

Thinking about his family, he thought how old his nieces and nephews were getting. At twenty seven, Meg was the oldest. He also thought how he had a birthday coming up; he would be thirty seven years old. Yes, it was time, time to hang up the truck keys and concentrate on his future, his and Reni's life together.

Standing up, he looked down at her and held out his hand. "Let's take a walk in the backyard before we call it a night. There's a full moon out."

"I like full moons..."

The yard wasn't as big as some he had seen, but then it beat the terrace of his Condo that overlooked Seattle. Not that he was there very much, he hated the closed in feeling it gave him, and the lonely hours that he had spent in it hadn't helped. "We'll need to find a house once we get married Reni, I live in a Condo when I'm home and it's not where I want to raise a family." He wrapped his arms around her as they stood looking up at the moon. It was clear and bright and you could see the seas if you looked hard enough. "I was thinking that we should start talking about such things..."

"Is that why Rusty is here to drive the truck back?"

"Partly, but to be honest, I'm thinking of hanging up my driving gloves." He looked at her and knew she was going to start arguing. "And before you say anything, hear me out Reni; it's not just what happened when the brakes went bad. I'll be thirty seven years old next month, I have a niece who graduated from college with a master's degree in Business, and I have a nephew who is a driver. The youngest one is like twelve, and to be honest, I feel like life is passing me by too damn fast. Since I met you, I've started to feel like I've been missing out on things. Seeing your mom and dad tonight, I know that right now, in this space and time, all I want is to be with you and grow old with you and know for the first time that when my time is up, I won't be a lonely old man who wondered where he went wrong. I don't regret working as hard as I have, I'm made my name in the world, I've gotten richer than I ever dreamed possible, but what the hell good is money if I don't have someone to share it with? What the hell good is all the work I've done if I don't have someone to carry on after I'm gone?"

Reni turned to look at him and he knew instantly that she understood. "Dev...Devlin...I just don't want you to be sorry you gave up something that has been a part of your life for so long."

Looking down at her, he shook his head. "Reni, with you in my life, I could never be sorry. Right now all I want is for you and me to make a life together. I've waited so long to find you and twice in one week I have come so close to losing you..." He swallowed hard. "I just want to know that when or if something does happen to one of us, we had that time together. That we won't look back on our lives and think of what little time we had." Reaching up, he stroked her face and ran his fingers into her hair. "I fell in love with you so fast, god, the first night we were together I wanted you like I have never wanted anyone before. I can't even tell you how hard it was to see you walk into the hotel room and know how much I wanted to be following you in."

"Why didn't you?"

Dev shook his head. "I'd made a big enough jackass of myself that night, I didn't want you to think all I wanted from you was a fast fuck. Then the next morning, watching you stumble around in that damn sheet...I had to fight myself to keep from coming in and joining you in the shower. And then that damn thong, god I got hard as hell when I saw it. As hard as I am right now, just remembering...be my wife Reni, help me enjoy all I've accomplished and done all my life, and be prepared to have a husband who comes home for lunch because you've been in my mind all day and I want you so bad that I won't even want to wait for us to get to our bedroom..." He knew he was running on and on, but there was so much he had wanted to say to her and these past couple of days he had done so much thinking...he had never thought so much in his life. "Reni, I called my brother today, I haven't talked to Sean in over three months, and I told him all about you. Do you know what he said when I told him I was marrying you as soon as we could get the hell out of here and get to Reno?"

"No, what did he say?"

"He asked me if I was on some kind of drugs. That he had never expected me to ever call and say anything like that to him. My niece Meg had called him, the whole company knows I found myself a fiancée this trip, and she wanted to know if he knew if it was true or not. He told her he had his doubts, the only woman I was interested in was that truck of mine."

"You had your priorities Dev; we all do in one way or another."

"Yeah, well I've reached my goal. Now my goal is to marry you and get you home safe to Portland and then to a new home in Seattle. Once that is done, I will go back to the company and you can start working on your book. After that we'll take each day as it comes."

"Before we do all that though, can I ask a favor?"

He grinned as he recognized the husky tone to her voice. "Anything you want my love, ask and I will do all I can to fulfill it."

"Make love to me, here and now, in this back yard, under the light of the full moon..."

"I thought you would never ask love."

The houses around them were dark and he glanced back at Jack and Annie's before taking her to a spot where the grass was thick and they had some bit of privacy from any prying eyes but still had the moonlight shining down on them. Stripping off his shirt, and working on his belt he watched as she removed her own clothes slowly and with deliberate teasing movements.

He had seen her in so many forms of light, but tonight the moonlight seemed to give her skin a new type of glow. An almost unearthly one and her eyes appeared to be even more golden than usual. When she stood before him, he swallowed hard and reached for her. His cock brushed her leg and she shivered as he claimed her mouth. At the same time his fingers moved along the soft skin and at her lower hair, he let his fingers tangle in it. His legs were shaking from his excitement and as he laid a finger tip on her clit he felt the fullness of her need.

"Reni. Oh my god, you are so wet and ready for me, as ready as I am for you, but there's no rush tonight, no need for us to be in a hurry...I want to savor everything we do."

"What do you want to do Dev, what do you want me to do for you?"

He chuckled. "I want to play, I want to build us both to the point we think we can't take any more and then stop to let it ease up. Then I want to torture us over and over that way all night long. I want to do things to you I have never done with anyone else."

She gave a soft giggle. "Oh, you want to get kinky do you?"

"Honey, I want to get kinky, I want to fuck you over and over, I want to feel you come a hundred times, and I want to be able to call my brother tomorrow and tell him that yes I am on drugs, a powerful drug, one I need to get a fix of every day...a drug called Reni."

"Then come get your fix lover, and be sure to give me a long injection with that needle you have between your legs."

Helping her down to the ground, he smiled down at her. "Then lay back love and spread your beautiful legs, because this will be only the first of many..."

Once he was in her, he knew it was true, he felt her legs wrap around him and he groaned as he began to work his hips. God, she felt so good to him, so wonderful. Over and over he kissed her mouth and swallowed both their cries of pleasure. As he did, he knew that this was the end of the first part of their lives together; they would wait until the truck was ready to go and then it was off to Reno and while her parents went home, they would have a honeymoon. He didn't know where yet, but it would be a good one. One where they could spend the day making love and have no worries but those that of lovers enjoying each other.

The End

(Author's Note: Before I get a bunch of nasty feedback wondering if this is where Dev and Reni's story end, be assured it's not, its just the end of the first part of their lives together.

So stay tuned for A Ride To Heaven and Back - Part 2 Coming soon I promise.)