By Micki L. Bailey

Roger opened his eyes and stared at the high ceiling. It was raining. A steady drumming that resonated and echoed throughout the loft. That had been the second sound he was aware of when he woke. The first had been her breathing. A sonorous purring that resonated and echoed throughout his mind.

He turned his head to look at her beside him and remembered quickly a time not so long ago when it had still surprised him to wake up and find her here in his bed. It occurred to him now that he’d be disappointed (at the very least) to wake up alone, without her.

Let her sleep, he thought. She’s not too fond of the rain. Especially to begin the day with. She was lying on her stomach, her face turned towards him and partly covered by wayward strands of her short blonde hair. The tiny white strap of her camisole lay draped across her arm.

Listening to her faint respirations, Roger smiled without realizing he was doing it and leaned over her. Barely brushing her skin with his lips, he inhaled her scent. Ah, and it was "her scent." The familiar scent that his own pillow had taken on since she’d begun spending so much time in his bed. The scent he was perpetually aroused by and even looked forward to.

He gently moved her hair from her eyes, and she wrinkled up her nose. "Could this really be THE ONE?" he asked himself once again.

Smiling again and sitting up in bed, he remembered his conversation with Vinnie Terranova the night before in the bar. They’d been eating peanuts and drinking beer.

"Yeah, Vince………I think I’ll see if this one wants to marry me."

Blindsided, Vinnie had almost choked. "Are you serious? The whole shebang, Roga?"

Roger laughed softly. "Why not? She says I got a great ass."

"Now that’s a damn good reason," Vinnie said sarcastically.

"And she can cook."

"Oh, you’re such the big romantic, Roga. I can heah her now jumping at the chance to spend the resta her life wid you."

Roger looked down into his beer without seeing it. "You should see her, Vince. Nobody’s ever given a damn ‘bout me like she does…………like she still does, even after knowing me for over a year."

Vinnie chuckled. "Oh, so she’s passed the fire test and everything, huh?"

"And very impressively too, I might add. I can’t seem to scare her off. She’s even studied and mastered Vietnamese cooking……….just for me."

"Yet another excellent reason to hitch up with somebody for life," Vinnie sneered.

"There’s just something ‘bout her, man…………..The way she just knows stuff………the way she cares."

"She must be good in bed too then?" It was more a question than a statement.

Roger looked over at him and snarled for a moment. "Aw, Vinnie, good-in-bed’s a dime a dozen. You know that. I gotta have a little more than a good lay."

"Yeah, yeah, Roga………So is she or not?"

Roger sighed. "Exceptional…………..You tell her I said that, and you die, buckwheat."

Chuckling again, Vinnie said, "Well, if ya were looking for my blessing, ya got it………..She’s a fine choice all around."

"You think she’ll sign on for the long haul?"

"Absolutely, man. For some reason, she’s wild ‘bout you………..And I don’t wanna hear anymore ‘bout a great ass."

Roger laughed. "She’s just wild period, ya know? Spunky or something…………..not afraid of a damn thing………completely not-average."

"Now where’d you say ya met her?"

"In the parking lot of her old apartment………..I was driving the Jeep through there looking for some wacko gun dealer’s address, and she was trying to get her little piece o’ shit car started………Lucky for her, I’m a generous, helpful kinda guy."

Vinnie rolled his eyes. "Right, Roga. You just wanted somma what was under her hood."

Roger raised his eyebrows quickly. "So?"

"You got a ring yet? You’ll probably need ona those."

"I been looking around…………I’m only doing this once in my life, and I wanna get the right damn stone." He sighed again.

"The all-powerful lone warrior Roger Lococco has been felled, folks………..Sorry, ladies…….Just when you thought he never would, he’s coming off the market."

"Shut the hell up, Vince."

"Yeah, this should be interesting…………I can’t wait to tell Frank………He’s gonna love it."

"How ‘bout I ask her first, huh, Vince? Before you start advertising it? Would that be okay with you?"

"Whatever, Roga. And be sure to use somma that Lococco charm when ya do……..She’ll be all ovah ya, I’m sure."

Now, beside him, she stirred and groaned just a little. This woman he had decided he did not want to live the rest of his days and nights without. He leaned over her again and lightly kissed her shoulder. Salty-sweet. The way she’d tasted in the dark the night before as intimate, tender parts of her body quivered against his hungry mouth.

"So what makes this girl the special one, Roga?" Vinnie had asked him rather pointedly at the bar.

And Roger had been certain it was her little "on the same page" speech she’d spouted out several months before. It was merely some words strung together and voiced with real conviction, but they had effectively revealed to him her true character and provided him with a very strong and shockingly recognizable vibe. A good vibe. A vibe he hadn’t known existed ‘til now.

They’d been having a casual dinner in an Italian place she loved and had shared more than one bottle of Chianti. She had expressed concern that her teeth and lips would be stained for hours with the sweet, red wine.

"That’s okay, baby," Roger had told her. "It’s not like most people are sharp enough to notice somethin’ like that anyway. Ya know what I mean?"

She had laughed then – a genuine, enjoyable laugh accompanied by bright, dancing eyes. "That’s what I like ‘bout you, Roger. You and me………..we’re almost always on the same page."

He had grunted and looked around the room. "I never really considered myself……..on the same page…………as you say, with much of anybody."

Her eyes lit up again. "Exactly! I know the very feeling! It’s like you’re always milling ‘round way ahead of the pack, waiting patiently for everyone else to catch up……..And it’s weird too ‘cause it feels like you’re just cruising along, taking in everything like everybody else………and suddenly you look ‘round and realize that you’re all by your lonesome…….while seemingly all the rest of humanity falters and lags behind with their……let’s call it lack of understanding."

"Let’s call it ignorance," Roger replied. He’d been following her, totally in-tune.

"Okay. That’s essentially what it is, right?……….Kinda like they missed out on the ‘deep perception’ gene or something……….I mean……….most of the time I feel like I ‘get it’ and everyone around doesn’t. Hell, they usually don’t even realize that there’s something there to ‘get’ in the first place. Am I being too……….vague?"

He laughed silently. "No, baby. I’m getting it."

She sat up in her chair. This was obviously terribly exciting to her. "How cool to finally discover a kindred spirit! And one that looks so damn good to boot!" She kissed the air wetly.

"But it ain’t always a bed of roses being the sharp pencil in the bunch, ya know."

Her face darkened a little. "God, don’t I know it. I always identify with the Holly Hunter character in Broadcast News when she was asked what it was like constantly being the smartest person in the room. Remember what she said?"

Roger hesitated. But, of course, he knew the answer. "I think her response was, ‘Oh, it’s awful.’"

She grinned, ecstatic that he had known. "I get so damn tired of knowing what’s gonna happen in most instances long before it does."

Sighing and hiding surprise, Roger said, "Yeah…….I can definitely relate to that one."

"I mean it’s not sorcery or second sight or future-foretelling or anything like that……..It’s nothing but gut instinct……….raw intuition after witnessing the same old tiring human behavior over and over. After a while, you just know how the ball will bounce, right?"

He was close to being amazed with this whole conversation, but he didn’t want her to see. "Ah, you’re so very eloquent, sweetheart. And people in general are so fucking predictable."

She smiled across the table. "I’d like to be surprised more often. I feel cheated when situations turn out almost exactly like I figured they would. It’s not freaking fair. I wanna be caught off-guard more than I am……..It’s NOT always a bedda roses, like you said. It’s sad and disappointing more often than not."

"People themselves are sad and disappointing more often than not, sweets," Roger said.

"Exactly."

"Well, I gotta tell ya, baby……..You’ve sure as hell surprised me with all this tonight………you and your brilliant oratory skills." He’d changed his mind. He wanted her to know that she’d moved him.

A little puzzled, she said, "Is that good, Roger? I can’t always tell with you."

He raised his eyebrows and smiled kindly at her. "Really? You don’t read right through me as you zoom on past the boring pack?"

"No, honey……….You’re always a tiny step ahead of me. It’s a struggle for me to keep up with you……….But I love a challenge……..that trying to stay on the same page with you."

"Is that an odd way of saying you like me, baby?"

"I love you, Roger. Bunches."

"Well, you’ve proven yourself to be a worthy challenge in your own right tonight……..And I love you too, as it turns out."

"So can we go back to the loft now?" she had asked, ready now to dismiss the "deep" conversation.

"Why?"

"’Cause I wanna put my Chianti-stained mouth all over you."

He dug into his pocket quickly and then handed her the keys. "Go get the car while I’m paying the check," he said with an edge of urgency.

Yes, this one was different, he was sure. Different enough to be taken seriously. Different enough to not throw back into the sea. She was solely responsible for intense, strong sensations in him that no other woman in the past had been able to claim. At times, he wanted to just hold her and not let go, to forget everything in her scent and her comforting warmth.

The whole idea of discovering such a soulful affinity with a lover had alarmed him at first. Maybe even frightened him. He’d never given the concept much consideration.

But now, after being driven to his knees with the possibility, Roger found himself desperately wanting to keep this harmonious "union" around in his formerly-isolated world. Would she agree to be his queen?

When he glanced back at her face on this rainy morning, she had opened her eyes. The blatant adoration those eyes held warmed his insides.

"Morning, gorgeous." Her voice was groggy and muffled. "What were ya doing to me while I was sleeping, huh?"

"Nothing yet, baby. Just thinking ‘bout it."

Slowly rolling over and wiping her eyes, she said, "I’m still tingling from last night."

He smiled at her. "It was all I could do to keep that ass of yours on the mattress."

Now she slid over and circled his waist with her arms, laying her head in his lap. "So ya had to put an anchor in me, didn’t ya, sweetheart?"

"It’s raining………..a slow, solid downpour," he murmured with his fingers in her hair. For a moment, they lay there silently, listening to the heavy shower.

"Mmmm………a mucked-up Saturday," she said against his skin.

"We got any eggs? I’ll do some omelets………We can read the papers in bed."

"Ya know, Roger…………you’re so romantic." She kissed his stomach.

"That’s not what Vince said at the bar last night."

"All right now. I don’t think I wanna know why you and Vinnie were discussing your romantic qualities in a bar."

He laughed softly. "Just guy talk, baby. Nothing for you to worry your pretty head ‘bout."

"I want feta cheese in my omelet, honey."

"You want everything, don’tcha?"

She tightened her squeeze on him. "I’ve got everything."

"Okay, you. Get up. The bullshit’s getting way too deep in here for me, baby."

"Just one more minute, sweetheart, of lying here in bed with you and the rain. Please?"

"I’m not going anywhere, sweets………….and neither are you." He stroked her head and her warm skin. "We’ve got all………….day."

No need to catch her off-guard too soon.