Love Conquers All

He looked right at her again then said, "Except with you."

Shay took his hand again then said, "I can't even imagine how difficult it must have been to tell me that."

"You're the first woman I've ever told," he admitted. "And if I didn't like you so much, I'd have made up some excuse to never see you again. I've done that more than a few times when things start getting a little heated."

"I'm glad you didn't," she told him.

"I did think about it, though," he told her.

"Again, I'm glad you told me."

When he didn't say anything, Shay had another question she had to have answered.

"Jordan? Did you 'choose' me because of my...age? Because you thought I was...safe?"

"No. Not at all," he told her without hesitation. "I 'chose' you because I think you're beautiful. But I will admit I had hopes that you might be more understanding than women my age, if things ever moved beyond kissing."

Relieved, Shay asked another question, but for a very different reason.

"Would you not be interested in me if I was, say...a 'double-A' bra size instead of a 'C'?"

"That wouldn't matter at all."

"None? Not even a little bit?" she asked.

"No. And I know where you're going. You're trying to make me think it's the same thing as being severely...shortchanged...in the equivalent area for men."

Shay finally got it and said, "I can't understand exactly, of course, because I'm not a man. I know men are competitive, and while I don't know this personally, I hear all the time that men are very concerned about, you know, 'measuring up' in that area."

"That's true. Even average guys are always concerned about being 'too small' and I get that. But when you're...this far...below average...it isn't just an irrational fear. And when women react with horror to you, it's very, very real."

"Then it all boils down to finding the right woman."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Okay, if you find the right woman; a woman who doesn't care at all and who still loves you just the same as she would if you were...bigger...it wouldn't matter, would it?"

Rather than say 'yes' or 'no', Jordan provided more rationalization for his deep-seated insecurities.

"I will never forget the look on that girl's face as long as I live. Even the um, lady of the night, I paid to have sex with me couldn't go through with it. Even she looked at me like that. So rationally, I understand and agree with you. But in reality, I've never experienced anything like that kind of understanding. In fact, it's...please excuse my French...fucked with my head to the point where I've pretty much given up ever finding someone who could accept me."

"And then you met me," she said softly, lowering and tilting her head indicating she was waiting for him to look at her.

"When you told me you got out of a relationship with a guy who was really nice because there wasn't any intimacy, I almost gave up then and there. But I like you so much, Shay, that I couldn't. I wanted to, but I couldn't."

"For the third time, I'm glad you didn't."

"Yeah, but now that I've shared my big..."

Jordan tried to laugh as he changed the word.

"My...small...secret, why would you even want to continue seeing me?"

"Because I really, really like you, too, Jordan," she said knowing she could truthfully say 'really' and mean it. "And also because making love is about many things and not just the intercourse part. It's sharing and touching and loving and being intimate. The physical act of sex is just the final expression of the love you feel for someone. Or at least that's how it should be. And it is—to me, anyway."

"So are you saying you'd be willing to try?" he asked, his eyebrows raised high in hopeful anticipation.

"Yes. Of course I would. Now if you were a loud, arrogant...ass, I'd have never even agreed to have a drink with you no matter how handsome you are. But you're not. You're a kind, caring, wonderful person, and that's the reason I've kept seeing you, not because I'm hoping you...look a certain way...down there."

Jordan finally smiled something close to a real smile then said, "My nickname was TD."

"TD? Is that short for touchdown or something?" she asked naively.

Jordan chuckled then said, "Short. Ha!"

Both of them laughed, again to relieve the tension then he said, "Um...no. It stands for Tiny Dick."

When he smiled at her after saying it, she laughed again, but made sure it wasn't directed at him.

"That's terrible!" she said. "Of them."

"No, it's true," Jordan told her.

"Maybe so, but now that I know your...secret...I can assure you I don't care. At all," Shay told him so sincerely it touched him.

"Then if you're still interested, I'm willing to risk seeing 'that look' again," he said as he squeezed her hand.

"You won't get it," she promised him. "Not from me. Not tonight or...ever."

"Tonight?" he asked to be sure he heard correctly.

"Well, yes. I didn't dress up like this just to have dinner with you, although I am getting very hungry," she said with a smile. "And I do have permission to be out all night, so..."

"If you're sure," he replied.

Shay moved closer then said, "I'm very sure," before she asked him to kiss her again.

Jordan took her to a very nice restaurant where they talked and laughed then checked them into a five-star hotel in the city Just after 10 o'clock.

"Wow. This is...nice," Shay said as they looked around. "Very nice."

Jordan waited for her to turn toward him, and when she did, he put his arms around her and said, "I wanted our first time...my first time...to be something special."

"It's already very special," Shay told him in a way that told him she was being completely truthful, as she stood on her toes to kiss him. Even in her four-inch heels, she was still several inches shorter than Jordan, and as far as 'short' was concerned, Shay no longer cared.

"So...are you ready?" she asked when the kiss ended.

"I believe I am," he told her.

Shay started by removing his jacket and then slowly unbuttoning his shirt. Just as she expected, he was deliciously hard and muscular, his chest thick and well defined. His 'core' was equally well-defined, and Shay's body was reacting to the sight of his in a way she hadn't felt in so long she'd nearly forgotten.

"You doing okay?" she asked as she reached for his belt.

"I'm getting a little anxious," he told her honestly.

She wasn't going to convince him with words so she smiled but didn't respond. It would take actions, as well as not reacting negatively, to do that.

Shay was very thankful he'd taken the time to let her know what to expect, because when she removed his underwear and saw him for the first time, she realized she would almost certainly have gasped or pulled back or maybe even covered her mouth with both hands.

Jordan hadn't been exaggerating. All of the parts were there, but as she looked at him, it almost reminded her of bathing a child. No, it wasn't that small, but it was very small, indeed.

"May I?" she asked after gently pushing him onto the bed.

"If you still want to," he said as she began kneeling between his legs.

"I do," she said with a smile.

Shay began with her tongue and within seconds, Jordan's body responded. Within another minute or so, what had looked unbelievably small looked more like what she remembered seeing when she did this for her ex-husband. It was still quite a bit smaller—even much smaller, and to use the male-female comparison, Jordan was built more like a double-AA cup than than a full-C. But then, Shay didn't have much to compare it with having only ever seen two of them in her entire life.

However small this amazing, younger man was, it was still more than enough to work with, and Shay began working very hard.

Jordan's lack of experience was most evident when less than a minute after she began, he had to ask her stop her.

"Hold on, okay?" he said knowing he was on the verge of coming already.

"It's okay," Shay told him as she stood up and began undressing herself giving him time to 'cool off'. "Besides, now it's my turn to worry about how I...measure up."

Her dress slid off in a second and Jordan said, "Oh, wow! You are so hot!"

"Really?" Shay asked hoping he really did find her attractive.

"Oh, yeah. Really," he told her as he admired her from head to toe.

She unhooked her bra and let 'the girls' out and Jordan smiled.

"You are so freakin' beautiful!" he told groaned.

"You ready for more yet?" she asked as she stood before him completely naked.

"I could look at you all night," he told her admiringly.

"Thank you, but I need more than being looked at," she told her.

"Come here," Jordan said as he held out his hand.

As soon as Shay handed hers to him, he pulled her on top of himself then rolled her over and kissed her.

"You see, this is what I'm talking about," she told him. "Intimacy. Touching. Sharing."

Jordan smiled then began kissing his way south stopping when he got to a freshly-trimmed area that resembled the toe of a camel then began repaying the favor.

Like him, but for different reasons, Shay was on the ragged edge, and it only took her a few seconds of his soft, warm tongue on her swollen nub to lose control. Unlike Jordan, she knew she could 'lose control' several more times in short order so she had no concerns about 'coming prematurely'.

Shay moaned loudly as her body tensed and relaxed several times in rapid succession.

"Come here," she begged after the last wave passed.

Jordan had not only never made love to a woman, he'd never even gone this far before. Still very self-conscious about his 'package' he nevertheless wanted to make love to this gorgeous, older woman more than he'd ever wanted anything in his life.

Fully erect, he might be four inches. Maybe. In reality, it was a little less that, but Shay wasn't measuring. Nor did she care that he also wasn't thick. Lastly, there wasn't a thing Jordan could do about any of that right now but give it his best shot and hope it would be good enough.

When he entered her, he nearly came and had to stop immediately. Shay knew he was inside her as she could definitely feel him, but it was very different than she'd remembered. And yet 'different' didn't mean worse. It only meant—different.

The truth was, all that mattered was having him inside her, and that mattered only to the degree that she loved being with him. What was really important was everything else that went into making Jordan Hanson who he was, and at that very moment, that was all Shay cared about.

"Mmmm. You feel so good," she told him because he did feel good.

Shay had never had a vaginal orgasm before, so this issue of size wasn't going to make any difference where that was concerned. She'd already had one thanks to her lover's tongue, and once Jordan recovered and was able to continue, Shay let her 'fingers do the walking' and by the time Jordan was ready to explode, she came a second time just as he did. Hard.

For the briefest of moments, panic set in as Shay realized Jordan wasn't wearing a condom. She'd gotten so caught up in this 'issue' that her entire focus had been on ensuring he never felt the slightest bit of additional insecurity due to her.

But the moment passed when she realized how she felt about him. Perhaps it was having gone so long without love or perhaps it was because of her age, but Shay was fairly sure she was falling in love with him, and she knew with certainty that size didn't matter.

Jordan had groaned loudly when he came, and that only added to Shay's experience which had been as good as any she could ever remember having. As he lay on her holding most of his weight with his elbows, she wanted to tell him how she felt. Instead she told him how amazing it was.

"Are you just saying that?" he asked, his insecurities raising their ugly head again.

"No. I'm not just saying that," she told him.

She reached up and touched his face indicating she wanted him to look at her.

When he did, she said, "That was truly amazing. You made me cum twice."

"Didn't you make yourself cum one of those times?" he asked. It was such a caring, innocent question, it made Shay smile with happiness.

"That's the only way I've ever cum during sex," she told him.

"Seriously?" Jordan asked.

"Yes. I've never once had an orgasm without using my fingers during sex. Ever."

"Wow. That...that goes against everything I've ever heard," he told her.

"Well, don't believe everything you hear, because that's the truth. And although I only have one friend I trust enough to talk about this kind of thing with, she told me the same thing. Therefore, I suspect that's true for many women, if not most of them."

"So you don't feel like you were...shortchanged?" he asked with a smile.

"Uh-uh. Not at all. In fact, I can't ever remember sex ever being so good in my entire life."

Jordan was staring into her eyes to the point where it caused a stirring of its own in Shay's body.

"What is it?" she asked very quietly.

"I...I told you I was falling for you, but..."

"But? she said, her eyes now darting with his as she feared what was coming next.

"But I can't use the present tense anymore," he told her.

He put a hand on her cheek then said, "I can't because I've fallen for you, Shay. I've totally and completely fallen and it...it's the most amazing experience of my life."

"Me, too," she said, a smile on her pretty face and a twinkle in her eyes. "But I'd like to see if I could make a wonderful experience even more amazing, okay?"

Jordan didn't just re-enter her. He made love to every part of her beautiful body telling her as he moved from place to place how amazing she looked and felt. He made her cum again with his fingers as they kissed then caused another tidal wave with his tongue.

And he came inside her again as she brought herself along with him as they climaxed together for the second time.

Shay spent the rest of that night with him, and although she was very sleep deprived from the week gone by, she spent most of it awake either loving or talking to the handsome, younger man she'd most definitely fallen in love with.

Two days later, after 'warning' Alexis just how much young-er her new boyfriend was, Shay introduced them—and she introduced her hot, young boyfriend to Stacey, who nearly tripped over her tongue more than once. But not Alexis. Because she was mature beyond her years (and had a gorgeous boyfriend of her own), she was able to overlook the age difference after seeing the way her mom looked at him and the way her treated her.

"I'm in love with him, honey," Shay told her after Jordan left. "Call me crazy, but I am."

"You're not crazy, Mom. I see the way you two look at each other. I never saw you do that with Dad, and he never looked at you that way. At least not that I remember."

"I want to tell him, but I...I just can't," her mom said.

"You could, you're just hoping he'll tell you first," she said in her wise way. "Just be patient, okay?"

Shay did wait patiently, but she didn't have to wait long. On the one-month 'anniversary' of their first time, Jordan took her back to that same restaurant and told her that he loved her.

Shay tried not to cry, but couldn't stop herself as she said it back to him.

"You don't have to say it just because I did," he told her with a gentle smile when she said it.

"I'm not," she told him as tears fell. "I said it because I love you, Jordan. I love you so, so much."

Alexis left for college after Labor Day, but college wasn't too far away, and Shay was able to see her daughter a time or two a month, making the transition easier.

Making things even better, Jordan asked her to move in with him just before she went back to work at Hanson Reality after being recertified, and she said 'yes'. Then with Alexis's permission, she put their house up for sale with Shay Henderson as the listing agent.

When Jordan told his father he'd rehired her, he insisted on seeing her, and Shay went to visit. He looked awful, and it was difficult to see him that way, but he'd taken her hand and said, "Jordan talks about you all the time, Shay."

His voice was weak, but Shay knew it was sincere.

"And he really loves you," the frail, older man told her.

"And I love him, Lars," she told him.

Mrs. Hanson was there, too, and she said hello to Shay for the first time since she'd worked for her husband so long ago.

She did her best to put Shay at ease by telling her, "I don't fully understand what's going on, but I've never seen my son so happy before, so whatever it is...please keep doing it, okay?"

She hugged Shay, and Shay felt tears welling up in her eyes again, and thought she couldn't possibly be any happier until Jordan spoke.

"Mom? Dad? I uh, I wanted to take advantage of all of us being here together to do something, okay?"

"Oh?" Lars said weakly as he tried to sit up.

Jordan had told Shay the doctor had let them know his father didn't have long left, and he was slowly slipping away a little more each day. But for the moment, he was alert and sitting up and trying to smile.

Jordan put his arm around Shay and said, "I've told both of you how much I love this woman, and although I've told her many times, I want to let her know again just how much I do."

Shay smiled then started to say, "I love you, too," when Jordan lowered his arm, then got down on one knee and produced a small box.

He opened it displaying a beautiful diamond solitaire, Shay's favorite, and said, "Shay? I'd given up on ever finding someone to love me and to...look beyond my insecurities."

Shay was already crying and her shaking hands were covering her mouth as Jordan spoke.

"For all my outward confidence, I was deeply insecure inside. But you changed all that. You made me realize what real love means. I had no idea until you showed me. All I had was a caricature of true love, and then...and then I saw you sitting there that night."

Shay couldn't stop crying and didn't care.

"Shay? Honey? I love you more than life itself. I...I shouldn't even be alive, but I was given a second chance. And because I was, I found you—the most amazing, beautiful woman I've ever known. So...Shay Henderson...will you marry me?"

Shay's name had just been legally changed two weeks ago, but that was the last thing on her mind as she tried not to shriek too loudly for Lars's sake as she cried, "Yes! Yes, I will marry you!"

Jordan slid the ring on her finger, stood up, then softly kissed the woman he loved; the woman who'd overlooked something he thought was so serious it could never be excused.

Lars lived long enough to see his only child marry the woman he loved in October of that year. Unable to leave the house, he was grateful when Jordan asked him if he and Shay could have the wedding in their home. In fact, they were married in the room where he lay, unable to even get out of bed, with Alexis, Stacey, and a few other family members in attendance.

As a wedding gift, Lars sent the happy couple on a two-week vacation to Paris, Rome, and Madrid where they made love every day and every night.

When they returned home, Jordan and his new wife threw themselves into the business and continued growing it while doing the same where their love for one another was concerned.

When his father passed away, Jordan wept not because he was gone, but because he'd been unable to love his absentee-father while growing up. He'd gone to college to get away then joined the service to stay away. And now he was gone.

Shay reminded him that his father died knowing his son loved him, and Jordan told her, "You aren't just the most beautiful woman I know, honey. You're also the smartest and the wisest."

She'd thanked him then said, "You have met my daughter, right?" causing her husband to laugh.