12 - Till Death Do Us Part

Jon glanced at his watch, thinking that it had been a while since Ari excused herself, and he wondered where she could be.  A quick look around the bar turned up nothing, so he hopped off his stool to go look for her.

After checking all the usual places that she could have gone and having no luck, he approached one of the waitstaff, who informed him that she had gone upstairs.  The waiter pointed him toward the kitchen door and Jon took the steps two at a time, wishing she’d waited for him before doing this. 

Opening the apartment door, he called her name without waiting for a response.  Jon had been there enough to know the layout, so there was no fumbling or wrong turns on his way to where he expected to find her. 

When he reached his destination, she was sitting on the bed with her back to the door.

“So, this is where you snuck off to?” he asked while crossing the room to slide in behind her on the bed. “What's all this?”

Ariana’s hair slithered over a shoulder as she turned her head to glance over it with a faint smile.  “Just some memories.” 

He followed her hand gesture to find trinkets and pictures that she’d obviously saved over the years. 

“Yeah?  Let’s see what you’ve got here.” 

He reached around her to pick up some photos of her as a little girl.  The setting in some of them was undeniably Montreal, from the summers she’d spent with the doting grandparents alongside her in one of the snapshots.  Other faded images looked like they were taken from her stints on the road with Sal, because some of them were obviously backstage shots. 

The one she held in her hand now was dated 1972, and he recognized the three beaming children holding each other like a band of brothers – Ari, Max and Cara.  If he wasn’t mistaken, it was taken in the back yard here.  It made him smile as he sifted through a stack of standard school photos – the ones where everyone in the world had the same pose and background. 

“What’s that?” he asked, tilting his chin at the book she was leafing through, although he caught a look at the cover.  Love is a Dog from Hell, by Charles Bukowski.

“My first poetry book.  The author was disturbed yet fascinating.”

Surprise kept him from commenting, because tucked into the box were several things she’d even saved from their years together.  There was a restaurant napkin, a matchbook from a bar they’d visited and stack of Bon Jovi ticket stubs. 

When he cocked a curious gaze her way, she merely shrugged?  “What?  There’s one from every show I worked plus the ones I went to for fun.”

He was about to tease her about stalking him when a flash of sterling silver in the very bottom of the box caught his eye.  Pushing aside one of the ticket stubs to pull it out, he smiled upon discovering it was a ring that he’d believed to be lost.

He’d taken a sketch of Ariana’s tattoo to a jeweler and had this made for her 30^th birthday.  The look on her face had been pure love, and it was a memory he still held dear. 

Lifting Ari’s left hand, he found her eyes and held them while slipping the ring over her knuckle. 

“Crash….  Do you remember asking me what I meant when I said I wasn't going anywhere?”

The weight of the tiny silver object weighing heavy on her left ring finger, Ariana studied cerulean blue eyes.  What she found there had the breath catching in her chest and a mist of emotion clouding her vision.

 “Yes,” she affirmed quietly.   

“My love for you has never wavered over the years, but the other night made me realize just how much I love you.  So much that it sometimes hurts.” 

A frown and furrowed brow made his features dark with displeasure, but it was fleeting.  Determination took up residence as he declared, “I’m done living like this.  It's not fair to you, me, my family….  Us.  I want us to be together, Ari.  I need you.  To wake up beside you every morning.  To go to bed with you in my arms, not just my dreams.”

Jon’s finger traced over the infinity symbol embedded with the delicate “you” and “me”.

“Ari… I want…  I want you to marry me.”

The weight of the world lifted off Jon’s shoulders with that simple phrase.  The figurative sun came out to light her beautiful face.  It glinted against the emotions twirling in her eyes – emotions that he could read like a book, and Jon knew she was shocked by what he just said. 

Ariana was flabbergasted.  Astonished.  Dumbstruck.

Is he crazy? What about his wife?  Hell, his kids? His career? 

Granted, she craved a life with him.  They wanted and needed the same things.  She should be jumping on this offer with both feet but just couldn’t. 

She couldn't accept the sacrifice he was making for her – for them.  No matter how her heart wanted to.

“Have you lost your ever-loving mind? Or thought what the impact of all this would do to your family?  Your kids and, uh, your wife?”

“Baby, It’s the only thing I’ve been thinking about since finding you in that hotel room.  It won’t be easy on the kids, but then living like Dot and I have been hasn’t been easy on them either.  Hopefully, in time, they will adjust. As for my family, the ones close to me have known about – or at least suspected – our relationship.”

She shook her head, frustrated that he just wasn’t getting it. 

“Jon, as much as I miss you – crave you every day of my life – I...”

Jon put his fingers on her lips to stop the words he didn’t want to hear.

“Ariana Leblanc-Moretti, I want you to think of yourself once. What do you want?  For us?  From me?  I need for you to promise me that you’ll think about this very carefully.”

Ariana was a little bit shaken and stunned at the determination in Jon's expression and tone of voice. 

He’s serious about this!  But if it doesn't work? What will happen when the press hears about this? What about the bar? My bar?

Taking a deep breath, she cupped his face between her hands.   

“Jon, as much as this sounds like a fairy tale, I need time to keep my promise to Lili first.  I will think very carefully about what you are asking.  In return, all I ask of you is to be patient.  Give me some time to get my life back on track again and know that I'm not going anywhere?”

“That’s my girl!”

When a gulp of relieved air filled his lungs, Jon realized that he had stopped breathing after that last question.   Deep down, he secretly wished she’d said yes without hesitation, but he could accept this.  Knowing Ariana, she needed time to process everything.  He could live with that.  For once in his life, Jon could show a little patience. 

For the marriage thing, anyway.

He hastily piled all the trinkets and treasures back into the box and put it on the floor before moving closer to her with a devilish grin.  It was time to take a break from all the heaviness.

“Now, Ms. Moretti…. You’ve been fed properly, had a couple of drinks and even been proposed to.  So, how about showing me if there are panties under these shorts of yours?”

“Hmmm…. I might just do that, Mr. Bongiovi!”

Both of their shirts were whipped off and went fluttering to the floor, so that he could lay her down on the bed.  Bare chest warmed bare chest as he teased at her lips with playful tenderness. 

She didn’t need love songs and sonnets to feel his love.  It was apparent in the way he wasn’t pushing the issue and the sweet tilt of his smile as she kissed him back.  So simple yet so pure, and it ignited her in a way that only he could. 

Without releasing his lips, Ariana wrapped Jon in a hug filled with as much overwhelming gratitude and love as there was passion.  Her tongue slid against his with heated promise before she burrowed fingers in his hair and pushed down. 

Taking the hint, Jon moved down to capture a pebbled nipple in his lips, and a groan escaped his throat as lusty hands stroked her body.  He switched to its mate and sucked with enough attention to lift Ariana’s shoulders from the mattress while still managing to unbutton her shorts. 

His lips were still locked around that nipple, doing wicked things to it, when he discovered that she was panty-less.  Gleeful eyes found hers as he grinned against the pillow of her breast, and Ariana returned the grin while managing to simultaneously shimmy out of her shorts and slide the jeans down his muscular legs. 

Both naked, they couldn’t stop touching and kissing each other like it was their first time.  Skin on skin, nothing forbidden and the night was theirs. 

Jon’s hand slid past her navel, pushing between her legs where she was already so hot and wet.  When his fingers dipped inside, she arched against them and grabbed at the hardness mercilessly jabbing into her thigh.  She gave it a firm stroke, energized when he bucked into the touch. 

A palm against his shoulder had Jon rolling onto his back and acknowledging that she was taking control. 

Her thighs parted to straddle his, and her hair created a curtain around them when she leaned down for a luscious kiss on his mouth.  Swollen lips travelled to deliver another one to the muscled column of his neck.  Yet another had his nipple beading against her tongue. 

Jon a drew a sharp breath. 

Her lips against his scorched skin was creating goose bumps all over his body.  He writhed within the tightness of his own flesh while reaching up to deliver his own sweet torture.  Masterful fingers twisted the tight buds until she grunted in pained pleasure and rocked against the cock that pulsed with need for her.  

The wetness she stroked against his length taunted him until restless hips were forced to roll into the heat.  It was like a mini-sauna and he moaned with the thought of slipping inside. 

Pinning her hair back with both his hands, Jon knew that, if Ariana kept the pace, he wouldn’t last long.  Her wet, hot pussy felt so good, and she was insistent upon grinding it against him until couldn’t take it anymore. 

He pushed himself upon his elbows, using the power in his thighs to roll Ari off, and she scrambled to her knees while he did the same.  Sidling up to press his chest against her back, Jon cupped her breasts, kneading as he bent to nuzzle her neck. 

Ariana tipped her head forward in response, and a curtain of hair traveled with it, leaving the bare for the whispered kisses he peppered against it.  Kisses that got more fervent when she arched and pressed her ass against him. 

One hand came to rest on a hip while he used the other to exert gentle pressure on her shoulder blade.  It was enough to propel her forward until both palms were planted in the mattress and her succulent ass was wiggling in the air. 

It absolutely begged for the cock that wasted no time splitting the seam of her entrance.  That first thrust came with a muffled grunt and pause before Jon found a slow rhythm.    

Ariana loved the feeling of fullness that came with his possession and shifted to take more, until she couldn't breathe.  The tighter her walls clenched around him, the harder he slammed into her. He was a man on a mission, and they both knew that mission was close to being fulfilled. 

Still yet, he drove on, his dripping sweat mingling with hers as his name became part of her moaned ecstasy.  The sound of it was erotic pornography until he couldn't stand it any longer. A gritty voice that sounded nothing like his own called out for her, commanding that she come with him, and a jagged bolt of lightning ripped through them both, causing the spasmodic tremors that milked both their satisfaction.

Breathless, they collapsed on the bed in a tangle of limbs while their hearts thundered back to a normal pace.  Brushing away the hair that was stuck to her cheek, Jon found his woman wearing a satisfied smile. 

Ariana pushed up on her elbow and couldn’t help but notice that infamous smirk. “What are you smirking about?”

“Oh, just thinking there’s no need to ask if you’re ‘coming with me’.  I already know the answer.”