The O'Malley Brides (35 page)

I was speeding, just a little,” she assured Tess when her eyes got big
,
“and I got pulled over.  I had to open the glove compartment to get the registration and insurance papers and it fell right into my hand.  Thank God for speeding tickets,” she breathed reverently.

“Will
Mason be unhappy about the ticket?  Will he know you found the book?”

“I have no intention of telling that sneaky man anything.  I’ll send the ticket in, plead guilty and pay the fine with no one the wiser.  Can you get rid of it for me
,
Tess?”

“I will do it right now,” Tess replied walking across the kitchen and shoving the book in the trash.

“Thanks
, H
on,” Rebecca told her giving her a quick h
ug.  “I have to get home, Julia
na will be waking up and I’d rather get home before that happens.  If I’m really lucky
,
they both will still be napping and he won’t even know I left the house.”

“You are much braver than I,” Tess told her, admiration in her voice.

“Not braver, just desperate.  There are a lot of dates in that book,” she laughed with a little shiver, “Mason has a long memory and a hard hand, but without that book he’d just be guessing and he
would never spank me if
he wasn’t sure about why.
  Take care everyone,
I’ll see you all at the wedding if not before.”

Jason had been working quietly in the living room and he called Tess in when everyone started packing up and getting into their coats.

“I found a couple of power strips
,
Aunt Tess
,
and I hooked everything into them so when you turn the light switch on, everything comes on at the same time.” He demonstrated it for them and they all watched in awe.

“Thank you
,
Jason.  Thank you
,
everyone,” Tess said turning off the switch.  “I hope Rory will learn a lesson from this, and if not we will have the most unique decorations in town.”

“That’s for sure,” Maggie agreed, hugging Tess good bye.

“Yo
u let me know if my son gives you
any trouble,” Maeve told her.  “I love the dress you chose Tess.  You will be a beautiful bride,” she continued, kissing Tess on the cheek.

“Thank you
,
Madre.  See you for dinner tomorrow.
” 
Waving them off
, Tess locked the door and slid
the deadbolt home.  It would be better if Rory had to ring the new doorbell
,
she thought with a smile
as
she turned the outside light on.
  H
e may as well get the full effect. 

After cleaning up and doing the dishes she showered, putting her prettiest ni
ghtgown on.  It couldn’t hurt to look her best in case Rory did not appreciate her efforts.   Curling up on the orange chair with a book
,
she fell asleep.

Rory stood on the porch,
fiddling with his key.  Tess
left the outside light on and he was glad to see she had followed his instruction regarding her safety.  He hated to leave her alone at night, but this time it couldn’t be helped.  As he was unlocking the dead bolt
,
he
noticed the new doorbell and smiled.  Cool, he’d been meaning to install one.  As soon as his finger touched the button, he jumped back several feet, his hand going automatically to his concealed weapon.
 
Hell, she got a dog,
a mean dog, he thought groaning!
Feeling like a fool, he looked around to make sur
e none of the neighbors saw him.  T
he
n he realized, there was no dog,
  just a brand new doorbell.

The house was dark except for a very dim light coming from the bedroom so he tried to be quiet, figuring she had fallen asleep.  Tess had been stressed lately and he knew she was having wedding jitters wanting to make their wedding as perfect as possible.  Thinking she was in the bedroom he hit the light switch in the living room, planning to grab a beer and chill out for a bit in his chair, maybe watch a little TV.  The blast of music and bright lights staggered him.  His mouth fell open in shock and the shoes he carried in this hand thumped to the floor. 

Tess jumped from the chair, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.  Her lo
ng nightgown
twisted around
her legs and she came close to falling on her face before Rory caught her.  Picking her up in his arms
,
he stood there frozen as his eyes took in the carnival in his living room.  His sharp eyes took in every
detail.  H
is face had the look of someone coming upon a
horrific
accident.

After several minutes of silence passed, Tess began to shiver in his arms.  Molly had said it would be alright and Tess prayed sh
e was right.  Of the
horrible concoction of mismatched furniture and decorations, the thing he zeroed in on was the lamp.

“Isn’t that Patrick’s lamp?” he asked.

Damn
, Tess
thought, all this and he asks me about the lamp. 

“It is our lamp,”
Tess replied, keeping her head down so she did not have to make eye contact.

Rory walked around the room, never putting her down.  As soon as he realized that the pink ruffled monstrosity was in fact his chair, he backed away from it in horror.  The dancing tree, which had a motion sensor
,
began singing an
d swaying.  Rory backed up and f
lopped onto the couch, sinking so far into it his ass was almost on the floor and the front frame was under his knees. 
Seeing the surprise in Tess’s eyes and hearing her panicked screech he started to laugh and he did not stop until tears rolled down his cheeks. 

Tess began giggling and soon she was laughing so hard she could barely breathe. 

“Babe, did you do all this yourself?  I love it.”

“I had a little help from the girls,” she answered smiling.

“This is great.
Think of the money you saved us
buying used stuff,” Rory stated sincerely.

“What?” Tess stammered, confused.  Surely he knew this was a joke.

“We can put some blocks under the couch.  We have drapes, rugs, lighting and pictures for the wall.  We even have a tree.  What more could we ask for?” Rory continued, grinning.

“Rory,” Tess
began, struggling until she was able to climb out of the collapsed couch and off his lap.  “You cannot be serious.  All this junk has to go.  I only did this to make you see my point.”

“O
h, I see.  You did this to pay m
e back for not helping you pick out furniture,” he drawled.

“Yes, I mean no.  I
…,” Tess stammered, stamping her bare foot on the floor.  “I want you to help pick out paint and carpeting too.  I want you to go with me to buy dishes and pans and silverware.  It cannot just be what I want.  If this is to be our home, you need to tell me what you like.”

“I like this Tess,” Rory continued, teasing her.  “Now help me out of this thing?” he asked, holding out his hands.

“N
o, if you like the couch so much
, you much learn to get out of it yourself,” she shot back.  Plopping on the orange chair
, Tess picked
up her book and stuck out her tongue. 
Reaching her hand over the side
,
she turned on the vibrator.  Instantly the thing started growling and began shaking so violently that Tess had to hang on or be shimmied off onto the floor.

Rory howled with laughter as Tess hung on
for dear life, screaming for help.  It took several tries before Rory was able to extricate himself from the hole he had sunk into and help Tess.

Unplugging the chair from the power strip
,
he dropped down next to her and pulled her head to his chest.  Lying back he put his feet up and sighed.

“Hey
,
this is pretty comfortable.  It’s wide enough for two and I’ll bet that vibrator would feel good after a long day.  What do you think honey?”

“Only if we can find another orange one,” Tess answered, still shaking from the ride she’d been on.

Rory grinned.  “Babe, I
’m
sorry,” he told her gathering her closer.  “
You’ve made your point.”

“I have?” Tess asked in surprise.

“Yes, you have. 
You can drag me all over town and I will do my best to help. 
I shouldn’t have just assumed you would want to do this alone.  I thought most women would love to have free reign as far as decorating and that kind of thing
,
without their husbands butting in.  To tell you the truth
,
I don’t know much about it and frankly
,
the only thing I absolutely need in this house is you.  As scary as it looks in here right now, if you like it, I like it.  As long as you don’t touch the most important piece of furniture in the house, you can even get rid of my chair.”

“What is
the most important piece, Rory?
” she asked, amazed that he would let his chair go.

“The bed
,
Babe,”
he whispered into her ear
, cupping her breast and biting gently on her e
arlobe.  “I can’t live without you, and the bed.”

Dell strode briskly through the mall entrance.  Shopping was not his forte
,
but he had a limited number of days in which to find suitable Christmas gifts for his parents, a wedding gift for Tess and Rory, and something for Bridget.   Bridget’s gift would be by far the most difficult.  Not
only was she unpredictable, he
wasn’t quite sure how personal it should be.  If he could make up his mind exactly how he felt about her, it might not be so hard.  One minute
, she
was adorable, sweet and
kind
and he
wanted to grab her tempting little body and ease the growing ache in his
loins.  T
he next
,
he was inclined to follow her father’s suggestion and give her the spanking everyone seemed to think she needed
.  Lately he spent more time than
he would like to admit surfing the web, reading everything he could find about Domestic Discipline.  There was
a ton of information out there.  T
he problem was he couldn’t determine how accurate it was.  Rory had given him some ‘tips’ while watching the football
game on Thanksgiving, but Tess
wasn’t Bridget so he couldn’t be sure the same strategy would work on both women.  When he pictured Bridget’s bare bottom over his knees he had two very different reactions.  If he was frustrated or angry with her he could gleefully picture himself turning her cheeks bright red while she pleaded for forgiveness. If he thought about it when he wasn’t angry, he had a totally different reaction, his mind torturing his body with thoughts of possessing her in
hundreds of intimate ways.  It was quite a dilemma.  Basically
,
he wanted to fuck her, desperately, but Dell had learn
ed to control his penis
in high school.  He liked her
,
as galling as that was to admit.  She was funny, sexy and beautiful
.  B
ut she was also irreverent, sassy and frustrating as hell.  If he thought for one minute
a good spanking would make her behave for more than a day, he would do it in a heartbeat, but if something sounded too good to be true it usua
lly was. 

Besides, Bridget had
a lot of qualities he wouldn’t change for the world.
  Her father had been right when he said she had a loving heart, she did.  So how did one get rid of Bridget’s wild streak, without losing some of the spontaneous character traits that were uniquely hers?  Dell wasn’t at all sure he could stand to see her cry, despite having been the one to cause it if he did give in and discipline her.  Sitting down on a bench he pondered these things, not paying a bit of attention to the chaos around him and totally forgetting the shopping he still had to complete.

Suddenly a piercing whistle startled him and he became aware of his surroundings.  Lines of children circled the mall court
waiting to get
to
the area where Santa was.  Parents laden with packages shifted from one foot to the other, tugging on small hands and scolding tired little one
s with the age old threat that “
Santa was watc
hing so they had better be good
.
”
 

Looking at the huge chair in the very center of the court, Dell smiled.  A small enclosed area actually had a couple of reindeer, their antlers trimmed in garland.  Santa sat while elves and helpers scurried around him and the photographer took a picture of
each child while perched on Santa’s
knee.  A pretty girl dressed in a short red velvet
outfit trimmed
in white fur waved frantically in his direction as she handed candy canes to each child as the
y
jumped off Santa’s lap.