Page 59 of Rory: His to Discipline

After several minutes of silence passed, Tess began to shiver in his arms. Molly had said it would be all right and Tess prayed she was right. Of all the items in the horrible concoction of mismatched furniture and decorations, the thing he zeroed in on was the lamp.

“Isn’t that Patrick’s lamp?” he asked.

Damn, Tess thought, all this and he asks me about the lamp.

“It is our lamp,” Tess replied, keeping her head down so she did not have to make eye contact.

Rory walked around the room, never putting her down. As soon as he realized that the pink ruffled monstrosity was in fact his chair, he backed away from it in horror.

The dancing tree, which had a motion sensor, began singing and swaying. Rory backed up and flopped onto the couch, sinking so far into it his ass was almost on the floor and the front frame was under his knees. Seeing the surprise in Tess’s eyes and hearing her panicked screech he started to laugh and he did not stop until tears rolled down his cheeks.

Tess began giggling and soon she was laughing so hard she could barely breathe.

“Babe, did you do all this yourself? I love it.”

“I had a little help from the girls,” she answered smiling.

“This is great. Think of the money you saved us buying used stuff,” Rory stated sincerely.

“What?” Tess stammered, confused. Surely, he knew this was a joke.

“We can put some blocks under the couch. We have drapes, rugs, lighting and pictures for the wall. We even have a tree. What more could we ask for?” Rory continued, grinning.

“Rory,” Tess began, struggling until she was able to climb out of the collapsed couch and off his lap. “You cannot be serious. All this junk has to go. I only did this to make you see my point.”

“Oh, I see. You did this to pay me back for not helping you pick out furniture,” he drawled.

“Yes, I mean no, I …” Tess stammered, stamping her bare foot on the floor. “I want you to help pick out paint and carpeting too. I want you to go with me to buy dishes and pans and silverware. It cannot just be what I want. If this is to be our home, you need to tell me what you like.”

“I like this, Tess,” Rory continued, teasing her. “Now, help me out of this thing?” he asked, holding out his hands.

“No, if you like the couch so much, you must learn to get out of it yourself,” she shot back. Plopping on the orange chair, Tess picked up her book and stuck out her tongue. Reaching her hand over the side, she turned on the vibrator. Instantly the thing started growling and began shaking so violently Tess had to hang on or be shimmied off onto the floor.

Rory howled with laughter as Tess hung on for dear life, screaming for help. It took several tries before Rory was able to extricate himself from the hole he had sunk into and help Tess.

Unplugging the chair from the power strip, he dropped down next to her and pulled her head to his chest. Lying back, he put his feet up and sighed.

“Hey, this is pretty comfortable. It’s wide enough for two and I’ll bet that vibrator would feel good after a long day. What do you think, honey?”

“Only if we can find another orange one,” Tess answered, still shaking from the ride she’d been on.

Rory grinned. “Babe, I’m sorry,” he told her gathering her closer. “You’ve made your point.”

“I have?” Tess asked in surprise.

“Yes, you have. You can drag me all over town and I will do my best to help. I shouldn’t have assumed you would want to do this alone. I thought most women would love to have free rein as far as decorating and that kind of thing, without their husbands butting in. To tell you the truth, I don’t know much about it and frankly, the only thing I absolutely need in this house is you. As scary as it looks in here right now, if you like it, I like it. As long as you don’t touch the most important piece of furniture in the house, you can even get rid of my chair.”

“What is the most important piece to you, Rory?” she asked, amazed that he would let his chair go.

“The bed, babe,” he whispered into her ear, cupping her breast and biting gently on her earlobe. “I can’t live without you, and the bed.”

* * *

Del strode briskly through the mall entrance. Shopping was not his forte, but he had a limited number of days in which to find suitable Christmas gifts for his parents, a wedding gift for Tess and Rory, and something for Bridget.

Bridget’s gift would be by far the most difficult. Not only was she unpredictable, he wasn’t quite sure how personal it should be. If he could make up his mind exactly how he felt about her, it might not be so hard. One minute, she was adorable, sweet and kind and he wanted to grab her tempting little body and ease the growing ache in his loins. The next, he was inclined to follow her father’s suggestion and give her the spanking everyone seemed to think she needed.

Lately he spent more time than he would like to admit surfing the web, reading everything he could find about Domestic Discipline. There was a ton of information out there. The problem was he couldn’t determine how accurate it was. Rory had given him some ‘tips’ while watching the football game on Thanksgiving, but Tess wasn’t Bridget so he couldn’t be sure the same strategy would work on both women.