They both were lying on their backs when it was all over, but Roz was the only one asleep. She had fallen asleep in his arms. He looked down at her and smiled, thrilled that she could sleep with such an unburdened peace. Just watching her gave him a sense of joy. He could hardly sleep most nights, or only after he’d had his share of nightmares, so it was wonderment to see his lady love sleep so thoroughly.
He grabbed the television remote, as he did most nights, and flipped through channels. He rarely ever stopped very long on any program, but on this night he happened upon an old video. Stevie Wonder was performing, with harmonica in hand, Ron Miller/Orlando Murden’s For Once In My Life. Mick was about to turn. He was never a music man on any given day. He never wanted his MTV even back in the days when everybody else did. But for some reason he stayed on that channel, listened to Stevie, and watched Roz.
For once in my life, I have someone who needs me
Someone I’ve needed for so long
For once, unafraid, I can go where life leads me
And somehow I know I’ll be strong.
Rosalind, he thought, as he held her and watched her sleep. She was his once in a lifetime. He knew it as certainly as he knew his name. He looked at her exposed breasts that remained uncovered. He saw his saliva from all of his sucking still sparkling on her nipples and mounds. He looked at her beautiful lips. Still puckered from his onslaught of kisses. He looked at her neck, her perfectly aligned thin neck. And her chest where the hickies were beginning to show. He kissed her forehead. Everything about her was exactly as it should be. He held her tighter. He never wanted to let go.
For once in my life, I won’t let sorrow hurt me
Not like it’s hurt me before
For once I have something I know won’t desert me
I’m not alone anymore!
For once I can say this is mine, you can’t take it
As long as I know I have love, I can make it
For once in my life, I have someone who needs me!
Mick held Roz even closer as Stevie Wonder played his harmonica to the wonderfully romantic beat. He’d never been in love before in his life. He wouldn’t begin to know the feeling. He assumed he wasn’t there yet. How could he be? He couldn’t possibly declare his love for her this soon. But if love was anything like the feeling he felt for her at this very moment, if it was half as gratifying, then he was on his way. If she didn’t give up on him, if she didn’t leave him, if she stayed in his corner, he was well on his way.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Roz smiled when she entered the gourmet kitchen of the especially quiet home, and saw Mick standing at the center island. He was skimming through a newspaper. She smiled. “I didn’t know they still made those things,” she said.
Mick smiled too and turned another page. “Only for dinosaurs like me. I find it distasteful to read the news on my phone.”
“I find it convenient,” Roz said as she sat on a stool beside him.
He looked at her. She wore a sear sucker white short set with heels, her hair in a beautiful ponytail, and very light makeup. He kissed her on the lips. “You look very beautiful,” he said.
“You, on the other hand, are dressed for work,” she responded, looking down at the double-breasted dark brown suit he wore. “I thought you were going to take some time off when I came to visit.”
“I am. I have.” Then he frowned. “But something’s come up. Business I have to deal with. It won’t take all day.” Then he smiled.
“What?” she asked.
“I tell other women that they look beautiful and they gush with delight. I tell you that you look beautiful, and you ignore me.”
Roz grinned. “Thank you for the compliment. I didn’t mean to be rude. But I Googled you, remember? I saw photographs of those supermodels and rich ladies you’ve dated, all glammed-up in their furs and fancy extensions, and I’m sitting here in shorts and a ponytail. And I’m the beautiful one?”
Her response touched Mick deeply. He looked dead into her eyes. “Yes,” he said. “You’re the very beautiful one. Because your beauty isn’t just external, but it is just as pronounced internally. You will never know how beautiful you look to me at this very moment.”
Roz felt the heat as he stared at her. And she felt something else. Something deeper. “Thank you,” she said. “You’re very beautiful inside and out too. Even with that sleepy eye of yours, and that cleft in your chin, other than those issues, no man has ever looked better.”
Mick laughed, leaned over, and they kissed.
When they finished, Mick went back to reading his newspaper, and Roz looked around. Was she expected to cook? Then she thought about something. “Where’s everybody?” she asked.
“Everybody?”
“Your gigantic household staff. Your maids and butlers and Carolyn.”
“They haven’t arrived yet. They give me my morning space. They don’t live-in.”
“Not even Carolyn?” Roz asked.
Mick looked at her. “Especially not Carolyn,” he said. “She manages my household staff. That is the beginning and end of it.”
Roz wasn’t the jealous type, but she was pleased to hear that. “So what do you want for breakfast? I can throw something together.”