Fic: The Farthest That I've Ever Been (Weevil/Veronica) R
Title: The Farthest That I've Ever Been
Authors: mandilyn and shealynn88
Rating: R (sexual content)
Pairing: Weevil/Veronica
Summary: Veronica and Weevil have a night out…with a few surprises in store.
Spoilers: None
Word Count: ~3000
A/N: shealynn88: Well, this co-writing thing is a first for me, and it was so much fun. I know Mandy probably wanted to kill me throughout the process, but personally, I had a blast! I hope you all do, too, reading it. Be forewarned, we like our W/V sweet and spicy…so this is a little of both.
mandilyn: What she said. Except the killing her part.
The bartender leaned across the bar, speaking up so he could be heard above the club music. He nodded his head toward the other end of the room. “The guy in the corner wants to buy you a drink.”
Veronica shook her head slowly, not bothering to look. “Tell him thank you but I’ll pass.” She checked her watch and sighed. He’s always running late.
The bartender smiled. “He thought you’d say that. He said to give you this.” He produced a small tray, setting down a martini with two olives in the glass and three more on a plate beside it.
Veronica smiled and turned the bar stool slowly with her foot. “You’re late,” she said as she discovered her not-so-secret admirer walking toward her, a broad smile on his face.
“And you’re beautiful.” Eli pulled her off the stool to hug her and kiss her cheek. “Anyway, I’m not late. I’ve been sitting in that corner since you walked in.”
She raised an eyebrow, trying to look irritated and failing. “I’ve been sitting here for fifteen minutes.”
“I know. I was watching you,” he said with a mischievous grin. “My girl can dance.”
She shook her head. “I wasn’t dancing.”
“You were.” He ran his hands down her back, settling them on her hips before leaning in and whispering, “They were moving. I saw them.” He kissed her slowly and thoroughly, like there was no one else in the bar. “I figured you knew I was here and you were doing it to tease me. That’s why I sent the drink over.” He picked up the martini and handed it to her, but she placed it back on the counter and took his hand.
“Mmm….all this talk of dancing puts me in the mood,” she said, smiling coyly and pullied him toward the pulsing music in the next room.
***
Apparently dancing put him in the mood for other things. Veronica wondered why this possibility hadn't occurred to her before…like, ten minutes ago, when she was grinding against him on the dance floor, teasing him relentlessly and knowing there was nothing he could do about it.
Because, apparently, she'd been wrong.
Sweat slid down her neck as she stumbled backward with his fingers pressing bruises into her hips. He drove her hard against the wall, his mouth swallowing her surprised cry. She gasped when he bit her lip; suddenly all of her carefully laid plans for the evening were unraveling. Her world narrowed to the intimate, careful way he moved against her, the beat of the club music vibrating through the hallway wall.
She whimpered as his hands found their way under her shirt, sliding over her ribs and brushing tantalizingly against the edge of her bra. "Fuck," she murmured, throwing her head back and struggling to maintain some semblance of rationality. "We can't,” she managed as his thumb teased at her nipple through satin. She tried to squirm away but his hands held her fast. “Not here…,” she tried again, “We can't…" But he silenced her protests with his mouth, and she felt her bottom lip swelling under the pressure.
When he finally broke away, she was breathless.
"Can't what?" he growled against her ear. "What can't I do to you?"
His tone of voice made her shiver with anticipation. They were really going to do this. She was really going to do this. Here. Now.
She had to be crazy. Crazy and stupid and irresponsible and immature…and it didn't matter. Because it never got old; it never felt wrong. Everything was always new and fresh and right with him. The rest of the evening could wait.
His thumb traced relentlessly over her breast and all she could do was grit her teeth against the sounds rising in her throat. As she struggled to keep her feet, the beat pulsed through her and the music faded into the background.
She vaguely remembered passing a door marked, “Employees Only” and hoped that her cries wouldn't bring anyone to investigate. Her nails dug into his flesh, a final instinctive protest-this wasn't the plan-but her heart wasn't in it as he unbuttoned her shirt and marked her, tiny bruises blooming in the shape of his kisses.
She lost her breath as his fingers stuttered across her skin, hooking in the loops of her low-slung jeans; his thumbs grazed her belly as he pulled them lower over her hips. The music beat incessantly at her back as he pressed her into the wall, growling Spanish lyrics in her ear. She couldn’t decipher their meaning, but their effect needed no translation. She pressed toward him with wordless need, unable to focus long enough to ask.
He unfastened her jeans easily, pushing them down over her thighs with his free hand, and she moved away from the wall to help him. She moaned as he trailed hungry lips down over her chest and licked and nibbled at her belly; all that kept her standing were her fingers digging helplessly into his shoulders.
He stopped teasing just long enough to pull her underwear down against her jeans, and then his fingers and mouth were working in tandem; she couldn't have asked him to stop if an entire security team had rounded the corner.
He gazed up at her, his fingers still moving slowly. "Tell me again," he said with a sly, satisfied smile. "What can't I do to you?"
She rolled her eyes at him, but it was half-hearted at best. "Well, we know you can talk big…"
He laughed and stood slowly, kissing her belly, her breasts, her throat. Finally he buried a hand in her hair and kissed her hard, letting her taste herself, letting her feel how much he wanted her.
Their hands tangled together on his waistband for a second before he let her take the lead. It was rushed, but that didn't matter. The rapid beat of the music and the risk of being caught added to the urgency, and Eli had her gasping before they'd even found a rhythm. When he tensed against her, she had to sink her teeth into his shoulder to keep from screaming.
A moment went by as they breathed harshly-him against her ear, her against his shoulder. Sensation gave way to some comprehension of what they must look like, and Veronica carefully licked the wound she'd left before she leaned back against the wall and put a few inches between them. Eli groaned reluctantly and finally pulled back, running his hands along her sides and straightening her shirt, fastening the buttons he'd undone. She grinned at him as she got her pants back in place and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to look like she hadn't just had sex in a club hallway.
He raised an eyebrow suggestively as he buttoned his jeans and she laughed as she pulled him close for a kiss. It had been a long time since they'd done anything so daring. Veronica took his hand and they started back down the hallway toward the club.
As they neared the end another couple stumbled past them, hands tangled in each other's clothes as they hit the wall hard.
She bit her lip as she pulled him past the oblivious pair, refusing to look at him until they reached the flashing lights on the dance floor. When she made the mistake of glancing over, they both dissolved into laughter.
"Popular pastime," she finally managed, glancing back at the hallway they'd just left. "Hard to believe we were ever that young." She tipped her head at him, watching him lick his swollen lips absently. "I think it's time to head out."
"I think you're right," he said, pulling her close and moving his hips easily to the music. "I’m not nearly done with you."
She narrowed her eyes slyly. "Well, I'm not nearly done with you," she said, using her body to push him toward the door.
***
The breeze off the water was a refreshing change from the stifling heat of the club. He pulled her close, his arm around her shoulders and she reached up and laced her fingers with his.
“You cold?” he asked as they headed for the car.
“I’m good. It’s nice out.” Her skin felt warm and flushed. She laughed out loud.
“What are you laughing at?”
“Just thinking about…" she gestured back toward the club. "That." She grinned conspiratorially. “It was really…”
“Crazy? Immature? Kinky? Good?” he offered.
She tapped her lip with her index finger. "I'll take, E. All of the above."
He chuckled. “Yeah, V. I don’t know what to say about that. You just bring that out in me. The way you were dancing, it was almost like you’d planned it.”
She looked at him, mouth open in surprise. “Me?” She laughed. “I don’t think I planned to have sex with you in the back hallway of a club.”
"Seems to me, you just couldn’t help yourself.”
She raised her eyebrows at him, and then smiled. "That must be it."
“You have sex hair,” he whispered against her ear, his voice husky and secret. She laughed and touched it absent-mindedly while he dropped kisses on her neck.
She caught his hand in hers and brought it to her mouth. “I love you.”
“What was that? I didn’t quite hear you.”
She smiled at the familiar line and leaned close to his ear. “I said I love you.”
“You bet your ass you do, Veronica Navarro.”
She rolled her eyes. "Get in the car."
“Where are we going?” he asked, pulling her against him again.
She gave him a quick kiss, ignoring the question and gestured toward the car. “I told you I wasn't done. I have plans.” Veronica slid into the driver's seat and waited, tapping impatiently on the steering wheel until he finally got into the car. Then she shifted the Chevy smoothly into gear and guided it onto the PCH.
"Are we going to Neptune?" Weevil asked suspiciously, cocking an eyebrow at her.
Veronica just smiled and hummed along to the radio.
When they arrived at the beach, he looked over at her incredulously and then shook his head, laughing. “I can’t believe you brought me here,” he said, following her as she popped the trunk open to get a blanket. “I thought you’d had enough of public...displays of affection. At least for tonight.”
She looked around the deserted beach pointedly. “It’s past midnight. Not exactly an audience, this time of the evening." She raised an eyebrow. "If I remember correctly, a certain college freshman in leather and biker boots managed to talk me out of my panties with a similar argument. On this very beach, in fact.”
It was a perfect night. A cool breeze countered the warmth radiating from the water, and Veronica slipped her feet out of her black heels as they reached the sand. She wriggled her toes in the cool pouches that opened under her weight as she walked and marveled at how nothing had changed. This beach felt the same as it had the first time they'd set foot on it, on a late night much like this one. She closed her eyes, listening to the waves and remembering…and missed the soft sounds of Eli running toward her.
He grabbed her around the waist, making her drop her shoes and blanket in surprise, and then he hauled her down on top of him in the sand, both of them laughing softly.
She was still laughing when he kissed her, a soft, open-mouthed meditation, his tongue darting in and around her mouth, across her lip, the roof of her mouth, all the places that made her moan and suck insistently on his bottom lip as her fingers slid under his shirt and traced lines on bare skin.
She pulled back briefly. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked quietly. “This was my plan, remember?”
“I couldn’t wait.” She felt his teeth graze her throat and then sink into soft flesh and she gasped.
“Eli…”
“I’m being careful, baby. No bruises. I promise.”
“Just…not on my throat. I have to go back to work on Monday.”
“Deal. No visible bruises.” As he kissed her again, his fingers worked to open the buttons on her shirt. He dropped his head to her chest, shifting his weight for a better angle, and Veronica wriggled under him to help.
When she tugged at his shirt, he paused to oblige her by pulling it over his head, and they smiled at each other for a long moment in the moonlight. Veronica let her fingers dance across the pictures on his chest, and the lines on his back that she knew by heart. This was the moment she'd been waiting for; this, right here, on their beach, with the moon soft and full and shining over them.
Eli kissed the small bruises on her chest with soft lips, and then looked up at her, resting his chin on his hand where it lay over her heart.
Veronica smiled back at him as she remembered the last time they'd come here.
Two years before, their junior year of college: it had been late in the summer, and they'd come for a bonfire. They had been the oddest pairing on the beach that night-the dark-skinned tough in leather and the tiny little blonde-and they'd gotten their share of looks, but Veronica had long since stopped caring if people stared. They had eaten their fill of smores and chased each other through the water.
She'd been bundled in her favorite of his hooded sweatshirts, watching the fire die, when he’d handed her the tiny box wrapped in red ribbon.
She'd never looked back.
“Hey, what are you thinking about?” Eli asked, moving to the side and propping his head up to look at her. He stroked her belly absently and when she looked over, he was staring at her, eyes dark and intense.
She smiled and moved her hand over his, twining their fingers together over her bare stomach and then, very quietly, she whispered, “So…I have a surprise for you.” She looked at him hard, tapping both of their hands lightly at the barely visible curve of her belly. When he didn’t say anything, she looked conspicuously at their hands. He followed her gaze and then looked back at her, his eyes wide, questioning.
She couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face as his hand stilled her tapping and his fingers spread over her abdomen. "Are we…" he asked uncertainly.
She nodded, biting her lip as her smile grew wider.
"A baby?" he asked incredulously, looking down at their joined hands.
"Yeah," she said softly. "A baby."
"How…when…?"
She laughed. "Well, the how should be pretty clear. I think you were there for that part."
He quirked an eyebrow. "I better have been!"
She laughed, relieved and desperately glad as he leaned over her and kissed her.
"Mmm…Daddy Navarro. Has a ring to it, doesn't it?" She laughed. “Now, don’t think this means I'll start calling you Papi.”
He pulled back, regarding her very seriously. "You are the most amazing woman. You know that?"
They had been together so long that she thought she knew every tone of his voice and every look on his face. Still, the moments like this, when he was so serious and sweet…they unnerved her. It felt strange to think that he could love her so easily, so completely. He had always been so sure of her, of them-even in the beginning, when she hadn't been.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too,” she answered, and then she cocked her head as his lips tightened and his expression changed. “Are you crying?" she asked softly. "Is my big, tough man crying?” She wiped at his cheeks and laughed teasingly, trying to lighten the mood.
Her teasing didn't phase him. He kissed her softly, his lips blazing a trail that began at her neck and ended, finally, with him whispering against her belly, stroking softly just below her navel as he shared secrets with their child. She laughed and wriggled under his touch until she couldn’t take it any more. "Come here," she murmured, tapping his shoulder.
He kept one hand on her stomach as he moved to lie beside her.
“Are you happy?” she asked.
“Babe.” The look on his face screamed “dumb question.”
“I just…I know we hadn’t planned…it’s so soon.”
He caught a strand of her hair, looking distant and thoughtful. “You think there’s any chance she has blonde hair…blue eyes?”
“She?” Veronica raised an eyebrow.
He grinned, snapping back from whatever daydream he'd been in. “Hey, a guy can dream, right? I mean, I got you, didn’t I?” He kissed her again, gently.
“Mr. Navarro. Is that a line? Are you trying to get in my pants?”
“I don’t know,” he said quietly. “Is it working?”
"It'll work a lot better if I know I won't get sand in uncomfortable places."
He laughed and spread the blanket out next to them, shaking it out carefully before inviting her to lie down on it.
She lay back, listening to the sounds of the waves on the rocks, looking at the stars and the moon, remembering. It had been a night like this, two years before, when she'd taken her first real leap of faith.
They made love on the beach, every movement slow and gentle, and Veronica knew that, plan or no, this was the way it was meant to be; one leap of faith after another.
Authors: mandilyn and shealynn88
Rating: R (sexual content)
Pairing: Weevil/Veronica
Summary: Veronica and Weevil have a night out…with a few surprises in store.
Spoilers: None
Word Count: ~3000
A/N: shealynn88: Well, this co-writing thing is a first for me, and it was so much fun. I know Mandy probably wanted to kill me throughout the process, but personally, I had a blast! I hope you all do, too, reading it. Be forewarned, we like our W/V sweet and spicy…so this is a little of both.
mandilyn: What she said. Except the killing her part.
The bartender leaned across the bar, speaking up so he could be heard above the club music. He nodded his head toward the other end of the room. “The guy in the corner wants to buy you a drink.”
Veronica shook her head slowly, not bothering to look. “Tell him thank you but I’ll pass.” She checked her watch and sighed. He’s always running late.
The bartender smiled. “He thought you’d say that. He said to give you this.” He produced a small tray, setting down a martini with two olives in the glass and three more on a plate beside it.
Veronica smiled and turned the bar stool slowly with her foot. “You’re late,” she said as she discovered her not-so-secret admirer walking toward her, a broad smile on his face.
“And you’re beautiful.” Eli pulled her off the stool to hug her and kiss her cheek. “Anyway, I’m not late. I’ve been sitting in that corner since you walked in.”
She raised an eyebrow, trying to look irritated and failing. “I’ve been sitting here for fifteen minutes.”
“I know. I was watching you,” he said with a mischievous grin. “My girl can dance.”
She shook her head. “I wasn’t dancing.”
“You were.” He ran his hands down her back, settling them on her hips before leaning in and whispering, “They were moving. I saw them.” He kissed her slowly and thoroughly, like there was no one else in the bar. “I figured you knew I was here and you were doing it to tease me. That’s why I sent the drink over.” He picked up the martini and handed it to her, but she placed it back on the counter and took his hand.
“Mmm….all this talk of dancing puts me in the mood,” she said, smiling coyly and pullied him toward the pulsing music in the next room.
***
Apparently dancing put him in the mood for other things. Veronica wondered why this possibility hadn't occurred to her before…like, ten minutes ago, when she was grinding against him on the dance floor, teasing him relentlessly and knowing there was nothing he could do about it.
Because, apparently, she'd been wrong.
Sweat slid down her neck as she stumbled backward with his fingers pressing bruises into her hips. He drove her hard against the wall, his mouth swallowing her surprised cry. She gasped when he bit her lip; suddenly all of her carefully laid plans for the evening were unraveling. Her world narrowed to the intimate, careful way he moved against her, the beat of the club music vibrating through the hallway wall.
She whimpered as his hands found their way under her shirt, sliding over her ribs and brushing tantalizingly against the edge of her bra. "Fuck," she murmured, throwing her head back and struggling to maintain some semblance of rationality. "We can't,” she managed as his thumb teased at her nipple through satin. She tried to squirm away but his hands held her fast. “Not here…,” she tried again, “We can't…" But he silenced her protests with his mouth, and she felt her bottom lip swelling under the pressure.
When he finally broke away, she was breathless.
"Can't what?" he growled against her ear. "What can't I do to you?"
His tone of voice made her shiver with anticipation. They were really going to do this. She was really going to do this. Here. Now.
She had to be crazy. Crazy and stupid and irresponsible and immature…and it didn't matter. Because it never got old; it never felt wrong. Everything was always new and fresh and right with him. The rest of the evening could wait.
His thumb traced relentlessly over her breast and all she could do was grit her teeth against the sounds rising in her throat. As she struggled to keep her feet, the beat pulsed through her and the music faded into the background.
She vaguely remembered passing a door marked, “Employees Only” and hoped that her cries wouldn't bring anyone to investigate. Her nails dug into his flesh, a final instinctive protest-this wasn't the plan-but her heart wasn't in it as he unbuttoned her shirt and marked her, tiny bruises blooming in the shape of his kisses.
She lost her breath as his fingers stuttered across her skin, hooking in the loops of her low-slung jeans; his thumbs grazed her belly as he pulled them lower over her hips. The music beat incessantly at her back as he pressed her into the wall, growling Spanish lyrics in her ear. She couldn’t decipher their meaning, but their effect needed no translation. She pressed toward him with wordless need, unable to focus long enough to ask.
He unfastened her jeans easily, pushing them down over her thighs with his free hand, and she moved away from the wall to help him. She moaned as he trailed hungry lips down over her chest and licked and nibbled at her belly; all that kept her standing were her fingers digging helplessly into his shoulders.
He stopped teasing just long enough to pull her underwear down against her jeans, and then his fingers and mouth were working in tandem; she couldn't have asked him to stop if an entire security team had rounded the corner.
He gazed up at her, his fingers still moving slowly. "Tell me again," he said with a sly, satisfied smile. "What can't I do to you?"
She rolled her eyes at him, but it was half-hearted at best. "Well, we know you can talk big…"
He laughed and stood slowly, kissing her belly, her breasts, her throat. Finally he buried a hand in her hair and kissed her hard, letting her taste herself, letting her feel how much he wanted her.
Their hands tangled together on his waistband for a second before he let her take the lead. It was rushed, but that didn't matter. The rapid beat of the music and the risk of being caught added to the urgency, and Eli had her gasping before they'd even found a rhythm. When he tensed against her, she had to sink her teeth into his shoulder to keep from screaming.
A moment went by as they breathed harshly-him against her ear, her against his shoulder. Sensation gave way to some comprehension of what they must look like, and Veronica carefully licked the wound she'd left before she leaned back against the wall and put a few inches between them. Eli groaned reluctantly and finally pulled back, running his hands along her sides and straightening her shirt, fastening the buttons he'd undone. She grinned at him as she got her pants back in place and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to look like she hadn't just had sex in a club hallway.
He raised an eyebrow suggestively as he buttoned his jeans and she laughed as she pulled him close for a kiss. It had been a long time since they'd done anything so daring. Veronica took his hand and they started back down the hallway toward the club.
As they neared the end another couple stumbled past them, hands tangled in each other's clothes as they hit the wall hard.
She bit her lip as she pulled him past the oblivious pair, refusing to look at him until they reached the flashing lights on the dance floor. When she made the mistake of glancing over, they both dissolved into laughter.
"Popular pastime," she finally managed, glancing back at the hallway they'd just left. "Hard to believe we were ever that young." She tipped her head at him, watching him lick his swollen lips absently. "I think it's time to head out."
"I think you're right," he said, pulling her close and moving his hips easily to the music. "I’m not nearly done with you."
She narrowed her eyes slyly. "Well, I'm not nearly done with you," she said, using her body to push him toward the door.
***
The breeze off the water was a refreshing change from the stifling heat of the club. He pulled her close, his arm around her shoulders and she reached up and laced her fingers with his.
“You cold?” he asked as they headed for the car.
“I’m good. It’s nice out.” Her skin felt warm and flushed. She laughed out loud.
“What are you laughing at?”
“Just thinking about…" she gestured back toward the club. "That." She grinned conspiratorially. “It was really…”
“Crazy? Immature? Kinky? Good?” he offered.
She tapped her lip with her index finger. "I'll take, E. All of the above."
He chuckled. “Yeah, V. I don’t know what to say about that. You just bring that out in me. The way you were dancing, it was almost like you’d planned it.”
She looked at him, mouth open in surprise. “Me?” She laughed. “I don’t think I planned to have sex with you in the back hallway of a club.”
"Seems to me, you just couldn’t help yourself.”
She raised her eyebrows at him, and then smiled. "That must be it."
“You have sex hair,” he whispered against her ear, his voice husky and secret. She laughed and touched it absent-mindedly while he dropped kisses on her neck.
She caught his hand in hers and brought it to her mouth. “I love you.”
“What was that? I didn’t quite hear you.”
She smiled at the familiar line and leaned close to his ear. “I said I love you.”
“You bet your ass you do, Veronica Navarro.”
She rolled her eyes. "Get in the car."
“Where are we going?” he asked, pulling her against him again.
She gave him a quick kiss, ignoring the question and gestured toward the car. “I told you I wasn't done. I have plans.” Veronica slid into the driver's seat and waited, tapping impatiently on the steering wheel until he finally got into the car. Then she shifted the Chevy smoothly into gear and guided it onto the PCH.
"Are we going to Neptune?" Weevil asked suspiciously, cocking an eyebrow at her.
Veronica just smiled and hummed along to the radio.
When they arrived at the beach, he looked over at her incredulously and then shook his head, laughing. “I can’t believe you brought me here,” he said, following her as she popped the trunk open to get a blanket. “I thought you’d had enough of public...displays of affection. At least for tonight.”
She looked around the deserted beach pointedly. “It’s past midnight. Not exactly an audience, this time of the evening." She raised an eyebrow. "If I remember correctly, a certain college freshman in leather and biker boots managed to talk me out of my panties with a similar argument. On this very beach, in fact.”
It was a perfect night. A cool breeze countered the warmth radiating from the water, and Veronica slipped her feet out of her black heels as they reached the sand. She wriggled her toes in the cool pouches that opened under her weight as she walked and marveled at how nothing had changed. This beach felt the same as it had the first time they'd set foot on it, on a late night much like this one. She closed her eyes, listening to the waves and remembering…and missed the soft sounds of Eli running toward her.
He grabbed her around the waist, making her drop her shoes and blanket in surprise, and then he hauled her down on top of him in the sand, both of them laughing softly.
She was still laughing when he kissed her, a soft, open-mouthed meditation, his tongue darting in and around her mouth, across her lip, the roof of her mouth, all the places that made her moan and suck insistently on his bottom lip as her fingers slid under his shirt and traced lines on bare skin.
She pulled back briefly. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked quietly. “This was my plan, remember?”
“I couldn’t wait.” She felt his teeth graze her throat and then sink into soft flesh and she gasped.
“Eli…”
“I’m being careful, baby. No bruises. I promise.”
“Just…not on my throat. I have to go back to work on Monday.”
“Deal. No visible bruises.” As he kissed her again, his fingers worked to open the buttons on her shirt. He dropped his head to her chest, shifting his weight for a better angle, and Veronica wriggled under him to help.
When she tugged at his shirt, he paused to oblige her by pulling it over his head, and they smiled at each other for a long moment in the moonlight. Veronica let her fingers dance across the pictures on his chest, and the lines on his back that she knew by heart. This was the moment she'd been waiting for; this, right here, on their beach, with the moon soft and full and shining over them.
Eli kissed the small bruises on her chest with soft lips, and then looked up at her, resting his chin on his hand where it lay over her heart.
Veronica smiled back at him as she remembered the last time they'd come here.
Two years before, their junior year of college: it had been late in the summer, and they'd come for a bonfire. They had been the oddest pairing on the beach that night-the dark-skinned tough in leather and the tiny little blonde-and they'd gotten their share of looks, but Veronica had long since stopped caring if people stared. They had eaten their fill of smores and chased each other through the water.
She'd been bundled in her favorite of his hooded sweatshirts, watching the fire die, when he’d handed her the tiny box wrapped in red ribbon.
She'd never looked back.
“Hey, what are you thinking about?” Eli asked, moving to the side and propping his head up to look at her. He stroked her belly absently and when she looked over, he was staring at her, eyes dark and intense.
She smiled and moved her hand over his, twining their fingers together over her bare stomach and then, very quietly, she whispered, “So…I have a surprise for you.” She looked at him hard, tapping both of their hands lightly at the barely visible curve of her belly. When he didn’t say anything, she looked conspicuously at their hands. He followed her gaze and then looked back at her, his eyes wide, questioning.
She couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face as his hand stilled her tapping and his fingers spread over her abdomen. "Are we…" he asked uncertainly.
She nodded, biting her lip as her smile grew wider.
"A baby?" he asked incredulously, looking down at their joined hands.
"Yeah," she said softly. "A baby."
"How…when…?"
She laughed. "Well, the how should be pretty clear. I think you were there for that part."
He quirked an eyebrow. "I better have been!"
She laughed, relieved and desperately glad as he leaned over her and kissed her.
"Mmm…Daddy Navarro. Has a ring to it, doesn't it?" She laughed. “Now, don’t think this means I'll start calling you Papi.”
He pulled back, regarding her very seriously. "You are the most amazing woman. You know that?"
They had been together so long that she thought she knew every tone of his voice and every look on his face. Still, the moments like this, when he was so serious and sweet…they unnerved her. It felt strange to think that he could love her so easily, so completely. He had always been so sure of her, of them-even in the beginning, when she hadn't been.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too,” she answered, and then she cocked her head as his lips tightened and his expression changed. “Are you crying?" she asked softly. "Is my big, tough man crying?” She wiped at his cheeks and laughed teasingly, trying to lighten the mood.
Her teasing didn't phase him. He kissed her softly, his lips blazing a trail that began at her neck and ended, finally, with him whispering against her belly, stroking softly just below her navel as he shared secrets with their child. She laughed and wriggled under his touch until she couldn’t take it any more. "Come here," she murmured, tapping his shoulder.
He kept one hand on her stomach as he moved to lie beside her.
“Are you happy?” she asked.
“Babe.” The look on his face screamed “dumb question.”
“I just…I know we hadn’t planned…it’s so soon.”
He caught a strand of her hair, looking distant and thoughtful. “You think there’s any chance she has blonde hair…blue eyes?”
“She?” Veronica raised an eyebrow.
He grinned, snapping back from whatever daydream he'd been in. “Hey, a guy can dream, right? I mean, I got you, didn’t I?” He kissed her again, gently.
“Mr. Navarro. Is that a line? Are you trying to get in my pants?”
“I don’t know,” he said quietly. “Is it working?”
"It'll work a lot better if I know I won't get sand in uncomfortable places."
He laughed and spread the blanket out next to them, shaking it out carefully before inviting her to lie down on it.
She lay back, listening to the sounds of the waves on the rocks, looking at the stars and the moon, remembering. It had been a night like this, two years before, when she'd taken her first real leap of faith.
They made love on the beach, every movement slow and gentle, and Veronica knew that, plan or no, this was the way it was meant to be; one leap of faith after another.