Marriage by Mistake

though, Dean was very careful.
    He never gave them a chance to talk. Not a chance to talk, or do anything but make love.
    On the morning of the fourth day, Kelly lay on her bed watching him leave her, once again, and knew this had to stop.
    "Later," Dean said, with a smiling flash of his teeth.
    "Sure," Kelly replied, though she felt a sinking inside.
    He drew up the zipper of his fly, threw her one more smile, and went out the door.
    As Kelly stared at the cream-colored panels of her closed bedroom door, the sinking sensation inside her grew. This had to stop. Dean couldn't hide behind their sex life forever. Not to mention she wasn't supposed to be sleeping with him at all, not according to her policy. Well, yes, they were married—technically. But they weren't married, really. They couldn't really be married until Dean declared his true love and respect.
    He hadn't done that. He hadn't even come close.
    In fact, as he'd walked out her bedroom door just then he'd given her no more than a lascivious grin. Kelly rolled onto her stomach. She fought down a wave of self-disgust.
    She wasn't doing a darn thing to protect herself, to keep herself safe from emotional harm. She was letting herself get drawn deeper and deeper into intimacy with a man who might never come to love her. True, he was tender at times, and always considerate, but that didn't add up to love.
    On the bed, Kelly buried her face in her pillow. She knew her present actions were foolish, and she knew if she had any self-respect at all, any intelligence, she would do something about it.
    If she had any self-respect, she would do something, and soon.
    ~~~
    They'd made love in the back seat of Dean's Lexus, in Tom's old gardening shed, and behind the sugar maple tree by the south fence. They'd done it and had it in every conceivable style and position.
    After three days of this, Dean was exhausted. But he was far from ready to give up. He was just going to have to try harder, he told himself, looking out the window of the limo as Jackson drove him into town on Saturday. He was going to have to exert himself yet further in order to run through this thing.
    It was impossible to deny any longer that there was a lot more than passion going on here. Indeed, an astonishing, if not alarming, range of emotion was involved.
    All the same, somehow, somewhere, there had to be an end to it.
    In the car, Dean clasped his hands and tapped both index fingers against his lips. The problem was that Kelly was...different. She wasn't sharp or sophisticated or demanding. She was, well, innocent. Yes, innocent in her own crazy way. She was innocent and generous and uncomplaining. She was the most accepting woman Dean had ever met.
    He released a deep sigh. Kelly was too different. Despite his certainty he would get tired of her, he wasn't. On the contrary, there were moments he simply wanted to hold her close; he wanted to hold her and never let her go. At those moments he quickly roused himself from the dangerous contentment into which he'd fallen and quickly brought the both of them to some incredible orgasm.
    But that didn't work, either. After he'd made love to her, he ended up wanting to hold onto her more, wanting less to let her go.
    Fighting a strange species of panic, Dean rubbed his fingers up and down his lips. He had to try harder, that was all. Surely this bounty of feelings had to change, and diminish.
    He just didn't know how much longer he could go on until they did.
    ~~~
    Kelly waited in her bedroom that night, knowing Dean would come. Just past ten there was a knock on her door.
    Oh yeah, big surprise. Well, she had a surprise for him. Dressed in a pair of jeans and a tee shirt, she opened her door. "Hi, Dean," she said.
    "Hello." If he were disappointed in her casual attire, Dean didn't let on. He stepped toward her.
    Kelly stepped back. "Come on in."
    Dean hesitated, apparently noticing her small physical evasion. But he put his smile back on and came in.
    Pretty confident, Kelly thought, but then she'd been giving him every reason to believe she was his sexual slave.
    Halfway into the room, Dean came to a halt. "You don't know how happy I am to see you."
    No, but Kelly had a pretty good idea he was about to show her. "I'm happy to see you, too," she said.
    He smiled and began loosening his tie. For a moment Kelly marveled at how far he had come. He was in her bedroom, wanting to make love to her—and smiling. Could she have imagined such a thing on that