Daring Devotion (16 page)

He sped up to the top speed limit, and hung up the phone as his mind raced in a thousand different directions. He started to call Andrea to let her know that he'd finally come to his senses and had every intention of arriving at the church, but decided to wait until he saw how the situation panned out.

Instead, he called his brother Steve and asked him to meet him at his apartment. Almost six months of preparation and now everything hinged on what happened in the next hour. If he were late, would she wait, or would he risk losing the only woman in the world for him?

He'd known almost from the moment he met her that there was something special about her. But now, almost a year and a half later, he realized how wrong he was about her, as well. He'd seen her as a fragile flower in need of protection and gentle handling.

But over the past several months, she'd proven that she was a lot stronger and tougher than he ever imagined.

Despite everything that had happened, Cal knew with complete certainty that Andrea believed in him. She believed in their love. He took a deep breath, and nodded with certainty. She would wait at the church, just as she waited over the past several months for him to come to terms with everything else going on in his life and his mind.

Yes, she would wait no matter how long it took him to come to her. And when he arrived, she would welcome him with open arms.

“H
old still.” Steve pulled roughly on his brother's necktie.

“Ouch!” Cal yanked back control of his tie. “What are you trying to do? Strangle me?”

Steve turned away. “I should.”

Cal focused his attention on tying the necktie, refusing to meet his brother's eyes in the mirror. “I know, I'm an idiot,” he mumbled into his shirt.

“Don't have to tell me.”

Cal's eyes shot up. “You could try to cut me some slack, man.”

“I just hope we're not too late.” Steve continued to grumble as he slid his arm into his own jacket. “Why won't you let me call Andrea to let her know we are on our way?”

“I have to make a stop on the way to the church. I wouldn't know when to tell her I was arriving.” Cal studied his brother's eyes in the mirror. “By the way, I just wanted to say thanks for trying to talk some sense into me.”

“No problem. I know you would do the same for me.” Steve placed his hand on Cal's shoulder. “Do you think you will be reinstated?”

Cal gave his brother an unreadable look. “Not until the doc releases me.”

“How do you feel about that?”

Cal chuckled. “What's with all this sensitivity stuff?”

Steve frowned. “I know this was one of the things standing between you and Andrea. I'm just wonder—”

Cal held up his hand. “No, the only thing standing between me and Andrea was my own stubborn refusal to admit I needed help. You were right, man. All I needed to do was open my mouth and tell her about it, and when I did…it felt as if the world was being lifted up off my shoulders.”

Steve smiled. “I'm proud of you, man.”

Cal smiled back with a wink. “Same to you.”

Andrea anxiously paced the small cell in the rear of the church, hoping that her actions would be interpreted as impatience by the two women in the room with her, and not the true terror she was feeling in every fiber of her being. The rustling of her gown swooshing across the room only added to the unbearable tension.

“How long are we going to wait here?” Jill interrupted the silence with a high-pitched whine.

“As long as it takes.” Marty, who'd been standing by the window watching passing cars, answered.

“Andrea…he's not coming.” Jill's voice was filled with sympathy and gentleness. Andrea looked at her cousin in surprise. She'd never really thought of Jill as being sympathetic and gentle.

“You don't know that,” Marty hissed. “He could just be running late.”

“Hmph,” was the only respond Jill gave.

Andrea said nothing to either woman. She had no desire to berate or defend Cal. She'd taken her chances on love, and it had left her standing at the altar alone. Not that she could really blame Cal. After all, she was the one who started this train wreck by running out of the rehearsal the prior week.

Just then the door opened and Dina came into the room. “Okay, I sent Dwight to check the apartment.”

Andrea swung in a full circle and the train of her gown flowed around her feet like a white cloud. “What?”

“I thought maybe he got the time wrong.”

“You had no right to make that kind of a decision without first consulting me, Dina.” Andrea could already feel the mortification of having Cal admit to Dwight that he had no intention of coming to the church.

It was one thing to be stood up at the altar—you could leave with the belief that there was some possible explanation. But to have the missing groom confirm to his best man that he was fully aware that he was missing his own wedding was just too much.

“I can't believe you did that!” Andrea grabbed up the train of her dress and charged toward the door. Feeling the water forming in her eyes, she knew it was time to declare defeat. All she wanted to do at this point was crawl into bed, curl up in a ball and cry her broken heart out for what could've been.

“What'd I do wrong?” Dina asked in confusion looking from Marty to Jill. But it was too late, Andrea was already at the door.

She threw open the wood door and found her path blocked by a shadow. Her wide eyes rose, and rose until they settled on a buck-toothed smile.

“Trying to run out on me?” Cal asked in his typically casual way. As if he'd not left a hundred people hanging in the balance for almost an hour.

Looking into the face of the man she loved, Andrea felt her soul reviving. But that petty part of her that was still bruised by his delay in arriving wanted retribution. “What took you so long?” Her brown eyes narrowed on his face as she glared through the tears.

Cal cupped his index finger and thumb to cradle her chin. “It's not what you think.” He smiled, and reached behind him. “I had to stop and pick someone up.”

“Mom?” Andrea covered her mouth with both hands, as her mother appeared from behind Cal. “You came.” Without thought, she hurled herself forward and into her mother's arms. Suddenly, her body stiffened as another thought occurred to her. “Is Daddy here?”

Margaret wiped clumsily at her own tears as she shook her head. “No, baby. Your father will never change. But I wasn't about to let him make me miss my one and only daughter's wedding. It's bad enough that I was not able to help you plan it.”

“Oh, Mom.” Andrea hugged her even closer, torn between the little girl inside her that desperately wanted her mother and the woman who knew there would be consequences for her defiance when Margaret returned home. “But I don't want to make things any worse for you.”

Margaret smiled back at Cal briefly. “I'm not going back.”

Cal braced his large hands on Margaret's shoulder. “Your mom's going to be staying with us for a while. I didn't think you would mind.”

Andrea could not hide the joy in her heart as she quickly wiped her face. She wanted to hug her mother, she wanted to hug Cal, she wanted to hug everybody. She wanted to finish getting ready to walk down the aisle and make Cal hers forever. Yes, she finally decided, that was what she wanted most.

She swatted at her eyes and took a deep breath. “Go, go!” she shooed Cal, “everyone is waiting. You have to get to the front of the church before our guests start leaving, and I have to finish getting ready. Get out of here!”

Cal allowed himself to be pushed out of the doorway. “Tyrant,” he muttered on a half chuckle. The door slammed in his face. He and Margaret looked at each other in surprise, just as the door was yanked open again.

“Mom, get in here!” Andrea laughed, pulling her mother by the arm through the opening in the door. “I need your help.” The door slammed shut again, and Cal was left alone in the hallway.

Cal shook his head, before the door was swung open again. “Wait! I need something borrowed!” Cal studied her excited face, feeling like a king among men, knowing he was the reason for that glow.

She was happy.

Happy that she was about to become his wife. He knew that no matter what would come their way, they would handle it. They had to. This past week had given each a taste of life without the other, and he could not speak for Andrea but it was not a feeling he wanted to experience again.

“Cal! Something borrowed!”

Startled out of his contemplation, Cal began digging around on his person. Finding nothing he thought would satisfy his anxious wife, he glanced at his black onyx class ring he wore constantly. “Here.” He pulled and tugged until it came off his finger.

Andrea went to reach for it and he dodged her hand to drop it down the tempting cleavage of her gown.

“Cal!” Andrea laughed and clutched her breast in surprise.

He smiled wickedly and leaned forward. “Don't worry, I'll get it back later.” With a wink, he turned and headed toward the sanctuary of the church.

“Cal!”

He stopped at the corner and looked back over his shoulder, the look of pure love in her eyes nearly stopped his heart.

“Thank you,” she whispered and the sincerity was written in every fiber of her being. “For everything.”

He nodded. “I love you.”

She smiled with pure satisfaction. “I love you, too. Now get out there before everyone thinks we've eloped.” She blew a kiss and the door slammed shut once more.

A short while later, the couple stood before their collection of family and friends and took their vows.

“Cal, from the first moment I saw you…” Andrea smiled through her tears, “I knew you were what was missing from my life. You were the missing piece of my soul. This past year, things have not always been easy between you and me, but one thing has become certain. I now know that no matter what obstacle we may find in our path, together we can conquer them all.”

Cal nodded in complete agreement, and then surprised her by reciting his own original vows. “Andrea, my wife…my life. I tried, really tried to come up with the right words to tell you just how important you are to me.” He shook his head in frustration. “But words could never express how important, how
necessary
you are to me. I discovered that for myself just recently when I was forced to contemplate life without you. I don't want to ever experience that again. I can't promise we won't have troubles in the future. All I can say for sure is that no matter what, I will be there with you, by your side, and only God could take me away from you.”

Completely unmindful to the laughter of their guests, these witnesses to their commitment of love, Andrea threw herself against Cal with such force, petals from her bouquet of orchids fell to the floor, and his arms closed around her, determined in her mind to hold on to him forever.

A
ndrea sat on the terrace of the St. John beachfront home, watching as her husband took a forkful of the spicy sausage paella she'd prepared. Cal had commented on the wonderful smell, and made some joke about
her improved cooking
as he passed through the kitchen earlier that afternoon. That comment had earned him a handful of hot peppers tossed into the already tongue-scorching mixture.

Now she watched closely, waiting for the combustion, but it never came. She frowned in confusion as Cal took another bite.

Cal tilted his head at her confused expression. “What's wrong with you?”

She shook her head, and returned her attention to her own meal, deciding that maybe not everyone was sensitive to the spicy seasonings. She should've known Cal would have a stomach like a tank, considering some of the things she'd seen him eat.

Around bite four, she saw his head snap up in surprise, and her devious grin returned.
Finally!

She heard his breathing become labored and his narrowed eyes honed in on her face. “What the hell did you feed me?”

Unable to hold back any longer, the laughter escaped her throat and she shot up from the table to avoid Cal's sudden lunge in her direction.

Halfway around the table, he turned and rushed into the house. Andrea was feeling quite vindicated for his little prank as she leaned back against the railing watching Cal drink directly from the kitchen sink faucet.

A short while later, he stood in the entrance of the glass double doors, watching Andrea, who was now closely examining her fingernails without a care in the world. A small, smug smile played around her lips. When their eyes met, hers were filled with complete satisfaction.

“You're going to pay for that,” he hissed.

She grinned. “Like I told you before, revenge is a dish best served cold.” Her eyes shimmered with laugher. “Or in this case, spicy hot.”

Recognition dawned in his eyes. “This is because I was late to the church, isn't it?”

She only lifted an eyebrow in response.

He nodded rapidly, as his mind was already working toward retaliation. “Okay, okay, you want to play it like that.”

He moved suddenly, but Andrea had been expecting the attack and at the same time, she dodged in the other direction and the chase was on.

By the time Andrea reached the large, elegant dining room, she was realizing she'd made a crucial mistake. She'd assumed because of his size that Cal would be clumsy and have a hard time maneuvering around the elegant furnishing, but he moved through the small spaces as easily as she did. She'd also assumed he would be the first to be winded and give up, but she found she was the one losing steam, while Cal wasn't even breathing hard.

They raced out into the atrium and around the glass-enclosed pool. As the only two people in the large mansion-styled home they literally had the run of the place. But by the time Cal had chased her back into the library, Andrea had given up any hope of losing him and decided to surrender.

She flopped down in a leather chair, and threw up her hands in defeat. “Okay, I give up!” she said through her labored breathing. But Cal just kept coming—with three long strides he was standing beside the chair.

He quirked an eyebrow. “Too bad.” He scooped her up in his arms and headed toward the master bedroom. “I'm not taking any prisoners.”

Too caught up in laughter and the struggle to regain control of her breathing, Andrea did not even realize they'd reached the bedroom, until she felt herself floating through the air, and then suddenly the soft bed was beneath her and her husband's heavy body was on top of her.

She felt his warm breath on her neck, even as he worked the sundress up her legs.

“Hmm, is this your idea of punishment?” she purred, wrapping her arms around his thick neck.

He lifted the top of his body away from hers so he could reach her front buttons.

“You can call it whatever you want,” he murmured as his hungry mouth found its way inside her bra.

Andrea closed her eyes and gave herself over the sensations that were beginning to course through her body. She felt his rough, callused hand slowly working up the inside of her thigh, and subconsciously her legs fell apart.

Settling himself into the seat of her body, Cal pushed up, pressing his rock-hard bulge against her center. He leaned down and covered her mouth with his, running his warm tongue over first her bottom, then top lip, and in response Andrea's mouth opened like a rosebud.

Taking her face between his hands, Cal plunged deep in her mouth, and Andrea knew there was nothing sweeter in the world than the taste of her husband. She wrapped her arms around his large body as tight as she could, trying to pull him closer although it was not physically possible. She needed to feel him inside of her, and she wiggled her bottom suggestively to make her need plain.

Cal propped himself against her shoulder while he worked his jeans down his legs. His erection was standing like a steel blade, more than ready to rend her in half.

“Oh, Cal,” she moaned, feeling the thump of hot skin against her opening.

As if it were their own little ritual, Cal answered with, “I know, baby. I know.” Unable to wait one moment longer to feel her, he simply pushed her silk panties to the side and slid inside her body, knowing he would receive a warm, wet welcome.

Positioning himself deep inside her, Cal lifted a thigh over each shoulder, and began the long stroking ride to paradise.

Completely open and vulnerable to the assault on her senses, all Andrea could do was moan in pleasure and salute his skill and expertise. “Oh, Cal, please…please…oh…yes, oh yes.”

He leaned forward and covered her mouth with his own, imitating the motions of their bodies with his tongue, and Andrea's attention was shifted and torn. She dug her short nails in his shoulder, feeling the pressure build, knowing what was to come, and with Cal it was never anything less than an atomic explosion.

Her head fell back and she broke the connection of their mouths, needing to breathe, but unable to control the sporadic rhythm of her heart. Her head turned side to side, as she felt the climax coming, it was so close…she felt as if she were standing on the edge of a cliff about to go over. The adrenaline pumping through her blood as the penis inside her grew harder still, they were there…close, so close…

“Oh, Cal!” Andrea felt her whole body convulse uncontrollably, her back arched, as she felt the gun go off inside her.

Cal held her pressed close against him as he emptied himself inside her body.

He pressed his head against her neck in concentration, not wanting to miss a second of the temporary bliss. All too soon it was over, and he fell on top of her in exhaustion.

Andrea continued to rain kisses over his face and neck, her hands stroking his sweat-damp body, needing to tell him with her action how complete he made her. How happy he made her. “I love you,” she whispered in his ear.

His head shifted as he kissed her gently. “I love you, too.” Slowly, gently, he lifted his body from hers. He rolled over onto his back, still holding her tight against his side.

“Thank you for letting my mother stay with us for now.” Andrea mumbled against his chest. “Do you think she will be all right while we are away?”

“I don't see why not.” He yawned. “Your dad had no idea where I live. As long as she stays around my apartment, she should be find. Did she have the divorce papers served?”

Andrea sighed. “Not yet.”

A silence fell over the room as they both recognized the implication of the statement. Despite everything, including her grand gesture of moving out, Margaret was still hesitant to ask for a divorce. They both knew there was a chance she might go back, but neither wanted to admit it out loud.

As he lay there with the woman he loved in his arms, waiting for his heart to slow down, Cal took in the room surrounding them. “I wonder why the St. Johns don't use this place any more than they do. Hell, there are so many of them, you'd think one of them would be here all the time.”

Andrea yawned sleepily and shrugged. “I don't know.” She was feeling completely sated and satisfied and the last thing she wanted to discuss was why the elegant mansion stood empty most of the time.

“Would you like a house like this one day?”

Andrea was getting very good at understanding her husband, and she could clearly hear the vulnerability in his voice. She propped herself up on his chest, and looked into his soft brown eyes. “I don't care if I spend my life living in a cardboard box…as long as I'm with you.”

The gentle smile that came across his face told her she'd said exactly what he needed to hear, and her heart filled with pride.

He huffed. “For a while there, when I was on suspension…”

He shook his head, and she nodded knowingly. “Cal, as long as we have each other, we'll be all right. The rest…” She waved her hand airily. “The rest is just details, and we'll work them out together as we go along. But for now, we both have jobs that provide a good living. So, let's count our blessings and go on.”

He nodded slightly, but Andrea understood there was a lot more to it than just income. Cal was born to be a firefighter, it was all he knew and all he wanted, and despite her assurance, without it she really wasn't sure he would've been okay.

But she loved him and that meant loving every part of him, including the parts that terrified her—like his job. Like Dina said, the key was in accepting every day they had together for the blessing it was and not asking for any more than that.

“What do you think will happen to Marco?” she asked, as the thoughts of fire led her mind in the direction of the young boy.

Cal sighed. “I talked to Noel, and they are trying to get him admitted to a juvenile facility that has a good psychiatric department. Because of his age, he will be released when he turns eighteen, but without psychiatric help, he'll probably just be more dangerous than he is now.”

“Do you think he is a pyromaniac?”

Cal sighed. “Yes.”

She reached up and ran her index finger over the crinkled lines that had appeared on his forehead. “You're worried.”

“Yeah, but not about Marco. I mean, I am worried about him, but I know he has Maria to look after him. She's a good mother. What happened is not her fault, and now that she knows about it she'll be watching out. But just now, I was thinking about Jeff.”

“Didn't he transfer?”

“Yes, but that's not the point.” He folded his arms beneath his head, and Andrea's eyes were immediately drawn to the bunched muscles in his biceps. She felt herself heating up with desire again, but struggled to focus on his words. But it was really hard with all that sex lying right beside her.

Oblivious to her wandering thoughts, Cal continued. “Jeff is the kind of guy who will do anything to get ahead.” He chuckled, with little humor. “Look at what he tried to do to me. I don't like the idea of this guy being on anybody's team. He's a walking, talking hazard, not only to himself but anyone unfortunate enough to work with him.”

“Then how did he get reinstated?”

Cal shrugged. “Technically, he didn't do anything illegal. Immoral, maybe, but not illegal.”

“Is there anything you can do about him?”

“I've done what I could. I filed a report stating my concerns and put it in his permanent record. So at least it will follow him, and maybe his new chief will heed the warning.”

Unable to stop her burgeoning lust any longer, Andrea's eyes slid over his exceptional form once more. She sat up and swung a leg over his body so that she was straddling his waist. “Enough talk about ambitious firefighters and pyromaniac little boys. You're giving me the blues.” She tugged her dress over her head, pulling her bra along with it.

Cal smiled seductively, as his large hands wrapped around her thighs. “What do you want to do?”

She chuckled. “I thought that was obvious.” She reached beneath her and her fingers quickly wrapped around his hardening member and she laughed fully. “You're certainly obvious.”

He quirked an eyebrow. “Hell, what did you expect? I have a beautiful, naked woman straddling by body, he's going to react with or without my permission.”

She leaned forward and kissed his lips softly. “I have a confession.”

“What's that?” he whispered against her lips.

“For a while there, I didn't think we would make it.”

He wrapped his hands around her waist, hugging her close. “I know—me, too.”

“But now I don't think I could imagine my life without you.”

Andrea watched the play of emotions that raced across his face, until his expression became very solemn and his eyes narrowed slightly. “Andrea, I can't promise you it will always be a smooth ride. Quite honestly, I think it will take me some time to get use to this whole married thing. But I can promise you this. I love you. With everything in my soul, I love you and I will do my very best to make sure you never regret marrying me.”