Page 110 of Sugar and Skulls

The music continues, muffling the crude sounds of the building storm of our bodies. He sits himself up pulling me close so we are chest to chest. His heart beats wildly against my own. Their rhythms sync to a perfect beat. Our beat.

A warm sensation builds low in belly. “Dirk, oh, oh.” I want this to last forever. Not yet. Not yet, I chant in my head.

Then he groans two words in my ear, and I lose the fight. “Come, Jesse.”

And, I do. Oh, lord how I do.

He follows close behind, the final signatures to our new contract.

Dirk lays back in the chair pulling me to lay on top of him. A thin layer of sweat glues our bodies together. I turn my head on his chest, listening to his heart struggle to regain a normal rhythm. “So, do you like it.”

He laughs, shaking us both. It’s the best music, it etches lyrics into my heart and pounds notes into my soul. “Yes, I like it. It’s perfect. How could it not be? It’s us.”

I smile against his warm skin. It is perfect. It’s two skeletons, locked in an embrace. Their skull faces, reflecting their love. Scary, yet…beautiful.

“Dan played twenty question with me when I called to lock down your schedule for the day. I thought he was going to deny me an appointment.”

Giggling I sit up. “He interrogated me too.”

Dirk tucks my hair behind my ear, his finger trailing over my cheek before dropping to brush lightly over my breasts. “I’m sorry you have to defend us.”

“I’ll defend us till I die.”

“Let’s run away and get married,” he suggests, sitting up so we are nose to nose.

“W-what?”

“We could go to Vegas.”

“Dirk, my dad wants to kill you now. If we get married behind his back he will gut you.” I rest my forehead against his. “But, it is tempting.”

“I don’t give a flying fuck what Bill thinks.”

I climb off his lap and gather my clothes, tossing his at him. “Dirk, you’re being ridiculous. Are you sure you even want to marry me?”

“Are you spooked?”

Stopping dead in my tracks I spin around to face him, narrowing my eyes. “Dirk,” I warn.

He slides into his jacket, his eyebrow at a frightening angle. “Call him.”

“I’m not doing this.”

“I will set the fucking world on fire, Jesse.”

I grab my phone and dial my dad. I can hear Dan laughing in the background when he picks up.

“What’s up, baby girl?”

“Well, I just wanted to let you know that I’m about to be a kidnapped bride.”

It gets quiet on the other end.

“Dad?”

“I’m still here. Do you want to marry him?”

My eyes trip a few times before landing on Dirk. He is intently staring at me. “I do,” I whisper.

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