Grace (BWWM)

Chapter Thirty

"I can't see it very well," she says.

"No problem," I respond and lean forward slowly, bracing my hands against the countertop behind her.

"How's this?" I ask.

"A little closer," she says, and I angle my head down. "Closer, Joe," she murmurs, her eyes meeting mine. I move closer still, not much space between us at this point.

"Now?" I ask, my voice low.

"Not close enough," she says, and I nod before moving closer still, my mouth ghosting over hers.

"How about now, Grace?"

"More, Joe," she whispers, and I oblige, allowing my lips to descend on hers.

Our kiss is feverish, and I end up picking her up and setting her down on the vanity. She pulls me close, and there's a deep want in this kiss that makes both of us bold. My hands stray a little below her waist and her hands make their way up and down my chest before settling at the bottom of my shirt. I break away, pressing kisses to her neck.

"Grace," I mutter, everything within me feeling ready.

I just want to have her right here and now . . . but we both know that's not for the best. So I stop with my kisses and pull back, righting her clothes and then straightening mine as well.

"I don't want to wait months to marry and make love to you, and I don't see any reason to," I say bluntly, looking at her. Her eyebrows raise at that but then a soft smile settles on her tempting lips.

"I agree."

I nod, happy with that. We've known one another for years, and we've been together for a little while now. There's no logical reason that I can find to delay this union.

"Good, because I want to have you how I want you, so this won't work for me." My tone is gruff and matter-of-fact. I don't think I've been this blunt about this matter before, but here we are. Grace's eyes widen slightly before she glances away, becoming shy.

"I'd like that," she says quietly. "I've been looking forward to that," she adds and my jaw works. I need some God-blessed strength right about now.

I glance away as well and turn to stand beside her, putting some much-needed space between us. We let some time go by as we get our bodies calmed down—and one thing I have to say is that it's nice to know things are still running smoothly for me, as a man, at this age. God's grace, sleeping right, eating healthy, and working out helps a lot.

"Joe?" She asks tentatively.

"Yes?" We look at one another.

"We've never discussed our expectations." My brow furrows at her words.

"Expectations?"

"Yes, like . . . " she trails off, seemingly having trouble with getting a word out. Her eyes move away from me, and she almost whispers, "Sexual expectations."

My eyebrows raise and stay in that position for some time. I never would have expected Gracie to bring this up. Sure, she'll stare and send clear messages with her eyes, but she's more reserved when it comes to talking about intimacy. And I'm not one to just bring it up out of the blue myself.

"I . . . well . . . yes, you're right. What are your expectations, Grace?"

She turns her head away and shrugs.

"I don't mind getting together like that every month."

"Month?" I choke out, unable to help myself. She looks back at me, confused.

"Is that too much?" she asks, truly curious.

"Much? Woman, that's too little."

"Ehn? What are your own expectations?"

"Every day," I exclaim.

"Every day?" she questions, surprised. "Are you a machine?"

"I should be asking you that. How are you fine with once a month?" That's crazy.

Her neck snaps back and she looks at me as if I'm crazy.

"Who said I am fine with once a month?"

"But you said every month."

"Yes, we will sleep together every month, that is a minimum. I am not saying that I am fine with that—I am just starting with that as a minimum."

"Oh, thank God." Relief runs through me. "I was going to say, there's going to be a problem if I can only make love to you once a month."

She snorts."It better be more than once a month. If I wanted to do that only once a month, I might as well not get married."

I laugh."I was going to say, I'm a little confused by that. But then, what do you actually want, if that's your minimum?"

"Every other day is more realistic. Of course, there will be days that I may want more, but there may also be days that I would rather rest. Also, I'm a woman, so there are days that we will not be able to do that."

"That's understandable; I can get behind that. In the end though, I feel like with the way you're going, every other day might be unrealistic. Maybe twice a day is more realistic for you," I joke, and she sucks her teeth.

"You are not serious."

"You're not denying it though," I say, laughing. She bites back a smile, shaking her head. A question comes to mind, and I hesitate to ask it, but then decide to.

"Do you have any other expectations, Gracie?" I ask her softly. She glances down before looking back at me.

"Yes."

"What are they?"

Needless to say, the conversation that ensued was a very good one to have. I'm glad that Grace brought it up and we were able to broach a number of topics, also putting to rest a few things we had been thinking about one another. We were also careful as to the way we talked about it, not wanting the other to fall into temptation.

We approached the topic of sex with grace, but also looked at things through a biblical perspective to know what was honoring toone another, and what was not. With all of that being said though, there were certain things that were not touched on, or talked about in detail, because that would have been tempting. But all in all, it's great to talk about expectations in a relationship—in a wise way—so you don't tie the knot and walk into a marriage with surprise.