Chapter 35: Be With Me

“Thanks for agreeing to meet me at the gym. I keep late hours as you know,” Don said, addressing his new workout accountability partner with true gratitude.

“Yeah, no problem, Don. This is an awesome date idea: an invite to your fitness club. I need to start putting more self-care and fitness into my schedule, too,” Laura responded. “You’re not insinuating that I’m chubby, are you?”

“No way. You’re thick and curvy in all the right places,” he said with a smile, then winked at her. “Exactly how I like women, with meat on their bones and a little something to hold onto.”

Laura blushed, recalling the night of passion she spent with him at his penthouse.

“Are you, uh, free for...dinner tonight?” Don inquired, hoping that a dinner date could lead to another adult sleepover, but not another week of her solitude and cool distance.

“Um, o-ka-y,” she slowly responded, unsure if hanging out with one of your partner’s best friends was permissible and appropriate conduct. She shook off the guilt and managed a more enthusiastic response, “ Sure, Don, what do you have a taste for?”

“I’ve got a taste for you, but I’ll see what specials they have at the restaurant first,” chuckling to himself with his own joke.

“Ha! I think you are some kind of superman, Don, looking into my mind and reading my thoughts so easily,” Laura joked with him.

“That’s one of the things I like about you, Laura, you’re more transparent, for better or for worse, than a lot of women I’ve been with. You’re not hiding anything and you don’t have any kind of agenda.”

“Again, I’m asking you, what kind of restaurant do you want to go to; or did you still have something else in mind, Don Juan?

“I do. But I need fuel after an hour and and a half of working out with you. Let’s shower and see what will satisfy both of our tastebuds.”

“Agreed.”

# # #

Once they were clean, they hopped into Don’s limo with a surprise awaiting them: vegan hors d’oeuvres: stuffed mushrooms and crudités with hummus.

“Excellent idea, Don. But how could you get all of this together so fast?”

“Not fast at all. Ladies take longer to shower and dress than gents. I simply used the extra time while I waited for you to make a few phone calls. Plus, I like surprising you. Wait until you see what I have planned for dinner.”

# # #

Dinner did not disappoint. They went to his yacht and enjoyed ratatouille and pasta with pesto, then enjoyed each other’s company on deck.

“No multiple glasses of red wine for you, my dear,” Don remembered and lightly admonished Laura. “Dessert is on its way.”

“Okay, Doc,” she joked.

Sitting on the yacht with him eating mixed berry tarts had to be on a version of her bucket list somewhere and if it wasn’t, it ought to be. She could remember her social worker father and homemaker mother always told her that money does not buy happiness, but if it didn’t, then what was this?

After dessert and coffee Don took her hand and led her downstairs to what must have been Don’s quarters on the boat. They both sat down on the bed.

Don looked her in the eyes and asked, “Can we change tones for a bit. I have something that I need to discuss with you. It’s serious and I’m not sure how you’ll react after I tell you.”

Laura paused to let her imagination run wild a few moments before Don reached over and patted her hand while saying, “It’s not bad. But it is important.”

“Ok. Go ahead. You have my complete attention,” Laura said, forgetting about Ricky with each inch closer she scooted toward Don.

“Laura, I like being with you so much,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

“And I, you Don.”

“But eventually you are going to have to make a choice and I think that if you don’t pick me because you are writing me off as a playboy, I will lose what might have been the best opportunity for true love that either of us ever will experience. And...”

“Go on,” she said, now mirroring his serious tone.

“I have pursued, dated, and seduced a LOT of women, Laura.”

“I’m well aware, Don. Please continue.”

“But this competition, getting to meet and date you a little, has been simply extraordinary for me. Something that I thought I would never want in my kind of life I have gotten to try. I never thought I would want a steady girlfriend until I met you. I’m divorced, jaded and bitter as far as male-female relationships go, but you gave my heart a jump start and re-energized it with feelings for you.’’

“Don, what are you trying to say to me?” Laura inquired, making sure that they were both on the same page.

“Laura, I’m not perfect, but I am human. I think you are an angel. A very special angel that was sent to me just when I needed you to come into my life. I am a human man and I have feelings and needs that I want you and only you to satisfy.”

“So, what do you want from me?” Her voice now trembling as much as his.

“You’re no prude and seeing things through your eyes has been a blessing so far. The exclusive club life, the yacht partying, drinking, womanizing, even sex has been replaced with making love and thinking of you before I find my own pleasure in bed and beyond. What would Laura want? What does Laura need? Is this clear, Laura?”

“As mud, Don. Just spit it out.”

“I want you to be MY girlfriend. I don’t want to share you. I don’t want to play games of dating you. You have refreshed my life in so many ways. Because of that, I want to share that life of fun and monogamy with the only woman I could imagine: YOU. The way you are around me makes me feel...different.”

“How so?”

“I think I am experiencing true love and that true love is for you and you only.”

“Oh, Don,” Laura said, leaning against his chest.

“Be with me and be my girlfriend. And we can take it from there together. With you I could do or be anything. I feel this deeply; I can see it; I know this. But all that I want to be right now is a better man for you. If you want to take a couple of days to think it over, I’ll understand and I’ll wait for you to make up your mind and be certain.’

“I can tell you now. Yes. My answer is yes!”

He kissed her gently on the cheek then gave her a bear hug, pushing her back on the bed, and letting nature take its course as he gently removed each layer of her garments one by one.

Laura, too, relaxed into Don’s passion for her, focusing on the earth-shattering emotions of the moment, preferring not to taint it with her earlier promise of commitment to be Ricky’s partner. Who knows how Alex might react to her two yeses? Who knows how the guys who received the two yeses might feel about Laura having committed to two of them? She realized that she would have to tell Ricky that she was choosing Don over him. Ricky would need to be dealt with eventually but Don was her focus right now.