Second Chance Pass (Virgin River #5)(19)

“Ooooh,” she said.

That was how much more special, he thought. And he croaked, “Good God.”

“Oh, Tom,” she said, not unhappily. “We did it.”

“We did,” he said, breathless.

“That was…Holy cow, Tommy. That was awesome.”

“Awesome,” he agreed, almost faint.

“Let’s do it again,” she said.

And that’s when he learned that for women, all things are possible, and for men, time is required. There was recovery involved. Women, apparently, could just hop back on that bus, while the men were left to deal with a flat tire. He committed that to memory—these gorgeous creatures needed no time to get ready again. “You might have to give me a couple of minutes.”

“How long?” she asked impatiently.

“Well, Brenda, we could always time it…”

She giggled. “Did you know it was going to be that wonderful?”

“If I had known, I don’t think I could have waited as long as I did.”

“I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you, too,” he said, kissing her softly. And what he thought was, who knew? This girl who had been saving it, waiting for that special moment, so nervous about the whole thing—well, once she was a little stimulated, she was hot as a pistol. On fire. Completely and totally into it, giving and giving, trusting, wild and wonderful. And people said the first time wasn’t that great for a girl. Hah.

She snuggled closer to him and giggled.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“In the end, you begged.”

He sighed. “I did. I begged. I’m sorry—I swore to you I’d never beg.”

“I’m okay with it now,” she laughed. “I don’t think you’ll have to beg again.”

“That’s a relief.” He kissed her again. “I want to tell you something.” He brushed her hair back from her face. “When I go into the Army, I’m planning to be faithful to you while I’m away. Until you tell me you want to be free of commitment or have somebody else or something, I’m going to be thinking that you’re my girl.”

“Aw, Tom. Are you sure you want to do that?”

“Baby, I’m totally sure. I was sure a long time ago. I didn’t just say that to get into you, Brenda. I think you know I’m not the kind of guy who wants to screw around. This means something to me. I love you a lot.”

“I want to be your girl,” she said. “I love being your girl.”

“Maybe someday, when we’re older, when we’ve finished school, maybe it’ll be more than that…”

“Maybe I’d like that.” She smiled. “I was going to save this for a surprise—but what the heck. I’ve been applying for scholarships and university admissions. I’m applying mostly in New York.”

“Near the Academy?”

“Uh-huh. I don’t want to be away from you, Tom. Not any more than I have to.”

“Brenda,” he said, pulling her close. “That’s such good news.” He slipped his hand down and put his fingers on her. “Were you timing it?”

“No, why?”

“I think enough time has passed…”

“Good,” she said. “That’s good. Ooh, that’s very, very good.”

The general, Vanni and the baby returned home on Sunday night. Tom had washed all his linens, cleaned the house, taken care of the horses and was doing homework when they arrived. Vanni appeared to be extremely tired and irritated, so he went straight to her and took Mattie out of her arms. “Was it fun?” he asked.

“Depends on your definition of fun,” she said, walking down the hall to her bedroom.

Tom followed her. “What’s up?”

“I asked Carol if she’d invite Paul—I haven’t seen him since the baby was born. And she said sure, but she also invited another guy. She was fixing me up. It was very uncomfortable. I didn’t really get a chance to talk to Paul.”

“What kind of guy?” he asked, holding the baby against him.

“A nice guy. Under any other circumstances, I would’ve enjoyed meeting him. A doctor. A pediatrician from Grants Pass.”

Tom laughed. “Well, I guess if you’d just fall for him, you could marry a guy who’s really somebody, move to Grants Pass, be close to Granny and make her look good.”

A stricken look came over Vanni’s face. “God, that’s it! She’s trying to hook me up with a local guy—to get us under her thumb again! But then—” She stopped for a minute, thinking. “Why doesn’t she try to hook me up with Paul?”

“Paul is a construction worker. He was an enlisted Marine. Vanni—this new guy is a doctor! Besides.” He shrugged. “Paul wouldn’t put up with Carol’s shit. I know him. He wouldn’t. Not for long, anyway.”

Carol had never approved of the fact that her son hadn’t finished his degree and spent his career in the fighting Marines; she was pretty snobby about things like money, credentials, prestige. She had always intimated that Vanni’s decision to be a flight attendant, even though she had a degree, was copping out. She had always asked Vanni what she planned to do next.