InsaneJournal

Kaci had been so incredibly adamant about taking things slowly with Deacon that she inadvertently disregarded everything that she truly wanted. Somewhere along the line, she had convinced herself that they had the rest of their lives to allow everything to fall into place. If they were both as committed to each other as they had conveyed, then there was absolutely no reason to rush into things. However, she had never considered the fact that since they had the rest of their lives to allow everything to fall into place, there was absolutely no reason to hold back. Either way, the results would be the same. When the opportunity came to move in together, she could hardly refuse. This was the beginning of their life together, the payoff of all the frustration they had experienced over the course of the last ten years. It did not matter that after only a few months after their reunion, they were trudging box after box of her belongings into his house. Correction. Their house. It simply felt right.

Deacon had graciously taken care of the heavy lifting, though she had done her fair share of transporting the smaller boxes. Once he carried the last batch of boxes and placed them inside the house, he turned to smile at her, a charming grin that nearly forced her knees to give out beneath her. Kaci walked up behind him, wrapping her arms around him, her hands slipping beneath the flannel of his shirt. Her cheek pressed against his back, her fingers lightly running over the ridge of his abdominal muscles. “Hm, does that mean that this is the home where we’ll raise our children and grow old together?” she murmured, breathing in his scent. Her arms unhooked themselves from around him, her hands kneading the muscles in his shoulders and his back. “Thank you,” she said, not sure whether she was thanking him for dragging in all those boxes or for allowing her to move in with him in the first place. Perhaps it was gratitude for giving her the second chance she knew she did not deserve. Perhaps it was a combination of all those reasons.

Pressing her palm against his, she guided him into the living room, where most of the boxes had been stacked on top of each other. She eased herself onto the couch and pulled him down next to her, immediately curling up against him. Her legs draped over his lap, her head resting on his shoulder. “Now that we have taken the next step in our relationship, I am toying with the possibility of taking the next step with my career. Trish works at The Washington Post, right? Do you think it would be a bit presumptuous of me to schedule an appointment to show her my new portfolio?” she asked, her fingers lacing with his. Her head tilted up to steal a kiss before pulling back. “I just want everything to be perfect. I want us to start our life together on the right foot, and I want more than snapping photos of smiling babies at the studio. Besides, I need to start making more money if I plan on pulling my weight around here,” she said with a soft peal of laughter.

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Kaci sank further against him, the tip of her nose gently grazing against his neck as she breathed him in. She had missed everything about him, everything from the scent of his skin to the sound of his voice to the comfort of his arms around her. Deacon had busted his ass all day, carrying one load of boxes in after another. While she knew that she should have taken the initiative to rid herself of the belongings that she no longer needed, she could not resist packing two boxes of cosmetics and other bath essentials. Those were just the items she had stored in her bathroom, not to mention all the other items she had stored in her linen closet for future use. She had a bit of an addiction to anything fragranced, and those two boxes spoke volumes. On the other hand, Deacon smelled like pure man, a scent that soothed and intoxicated her at the same time. Falling asleep next to him every night would prove to be quite a feat.

“Am I moving too fast for you?” she cooed into his ear, lightly nipping his earlobe. She pulled away slightly, her eyes dancing deviously. “Oh, trust me, baby. We are definitely going to spend the next two days enjoying. This is going to be a taste of what every day can be like,” she murmured playfully at him, her words saturated with innuendo. Curling against him as much as humanly possible, Kaci traced the curve of his shoulder with the tips of her fingers. “We definitely are on the right track. And I am sorry for being such a pain in the ass about wanting to move slowly and all. I should have known better than to try and put off the inevitable. I just want this to really be ours, you know? I want to be in this together.” While she honestly did not believe that any financial arrangement would make them any more together than they already were, she simply wanted to feel as though she was contributing to their situation.

She swung her legs back and forth, turning her head so that it fell on the box labeled for the bathroom. Her eyes lit up with an idea, her lips finding the crook of his neck before she peered back up at him. “Are you feeling sore?” she prodded, knowing that he had to be after such invigorating lifting. “I think the least that I can do is take care of you. I have an idea. You wait right here,” she instructed, springing from his lap and grunting as she lifted the box and headed towards the master bath.

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Kaci had never quite considered herself to be a classy woman. More often than not, she felt like a wolf in sheep’s clothes, an imposter who desperately tried to fit in with the rest. She had always been a follower, doing whatever she believed that other people expected her to do. In high school, the brunette quickly learned just how important first impressions were. Along with that valuable piece of knowledge came the realization that first impressions were almost completely based on appearance. She wore the right clothes, the perfect hair, and even the trademark scowl when appropriate. In fact, Kaci often wondered how a man as genuine as Deacon could not see right through her. Not that her feelings for him were not genuine; they were quite possibly the most genuine thing in her life. With him, she felt as though her life actually had substance, rather than being that shallow, transparent soul she had been all through her adolescent and teenage years. He made her a far better person.

Catching the tail end of his words, she stole a glance at him over her shoulder, puckering her lips and blowing him a kiss as she disappeared down the hall and towards their bedroom. Their bedroom. She loved the idea of falling asleep with him wrapped around her each night and waking up to him every morning. She longed to watch him sleep at night, studying every flutter of his eyelid and wondering if he was dreaming about her at that precise moment. The thought alone brought a smile to her face and a spring to her step as she fidgeted with the faucet until she achieved the perfect temperature for a romantic bath. She rummaged through the box until she found the bath salts she had tucked away, along with a matching bottle of bubble bath. She had been adding the salt when she heard Deacon shuffle into the bathroom behind her. The corners of her lips curled at the sound of his voice, shaking her ass just slightly to encourage him a bit.

Kaci had just begun to pour in the bubble bath when he had mentioned an unopened box. Her brow furrowed slightly as she scrolled through her mental inventory, fairly certain that she had labeled each box before Deacon had loaded them into the truck. She peered curiously over her shoulder, her eyes widening when she spotted him on bended knee with the trademark blue Tiffany’s box in his hand. Even from a distance, she could appreciate the exquisiteness of the ring and its beautiful setting. The bottle slipped from her hand into the bathwater as she quickly bridged the distance between them. “Deacon,” she whispered breathlessly, her eyes fixated on the contents of the box. The setting was absolutely breathtaking, the perfect companion to all her other jewelry while still being able to take center stage among the other pieces. She lifted her gaze, crystal eyes locked with matching ones for an elongated moment before she launched herself at him. Cupping his face in both her hands, she pressed a series of kisses to his lips, a single word escape between each peck. Yes.

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The brunette had dropped down to her knees in front of Deacon, her hands slipping from his face to snake her arms around his neck. Her fingers tangled into the short hair at its nape, reveling in the closeness she felt to him at that precise moment. The air around them was charged with excitement, sending shivers coursing up and down her spine. Like many little girls, Kaci had always fantasized about the day when the man of her dreams would drop down on bended knee and ask her to spend the rest of her life with him. She had not given him the opportunity to ask, but no words were needed on this occasion. Well, with the exception of the three letter word that continued to slip past her lips in between those delicious kisses.

Kaci finally pulled back long enough to allow Deacon to speak his piece. Her forehead rested lightly against his, her right hand reaching for his left as she drank in the soothing sound of his voice. “I love you too,” she murmured, pressing her lips together so he could continue speaking. Her smile widened when he mentioned that he had looked at so many other rings before coming back to the one that still say nestled in the velvet box. “It’s absolutely perfect, baby,” she reassured him, stealing another kiss before she arched a perfectly shaped brow in his direction. “You have no idea which finger to put it on, do you?” she teased lightly. Holding up her left hand, she wiggled her fourth finger for him. “Do I have to put it on myself?” She tilted her head to the side, her breath catching as she waited with baited breath for him to slip it onto her finger.

Before he could actually do so, the gentle rush of water behind her caught her attention. Untangling herself from him, the brunette spun around in time to see the bath water spilling over the side of the tub, a cascade of bubbles headed in their direction. “Oh shit!” she exclaimed, clamoring to her feet and immediately proceeding to slip on the wet tile. Her arms flailed in a circular motion as though she was attempting to fly – to no avail. Her entire body lunged forward, sending her into a free fall that would only end in disaster. Her arms locked in front of her, bracing herself for contact with the ground. Her forehead kissed the edge of the tub, not hard enough to knock her unconscious but certainly enough to nick the skin above her brow. She landed with a thud, her hand immediately reaching towards the bleeding cut on her head. “Well, that was definitely not romantic,” she mumbled, pulling herself into a sitting position on the floor. “Are you sure you want to marry me? I might end up accidentally maiming us both.”

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Kaci blinked rapidly at him, as though the flutter of her eyelids could clear the haze that had settled over her mind when her forehead made contact with the edge of the tub. “I’m fine, baby,” she murmured, wincing as her fingers pressed against the bleeding wound. Crimson stained her fingertips, a thin trail trickling down the side of her face. “Mats are always a good thing. While we’re at it, we might as well pad the entire house. I am liable to end up in a full body cast just by walking down the hallway,” she managed to tease feebly, her hand dropping from the cut above her brow to mold to his cheek. “I’m sorry. I promise to be more careful,” she whispered, her eyes widening slightly when she saw the streak of blood now against his cheek. “But not to rain on this parade, though I am fairly certain the overflowing bathtub already did that, I think maybe I should head over to the hospital. I don’t think I have a concussion or anything, but with my luck, I probably need stitches.”

She leaned forward, pressing a kiss to his lips as he scooped the ring off the floor. Within a moment, Deacon had crossed the wet floor to slip the diamond on her finger. Her hands firmly clasped his as she pulled herself to her feet. “No, I remember it perfectly. And this will be one hell of a story to tell people.” The brunette cleared her throat slightly as she cocked her head to the side. “Yes, he proposed while I was lamely attempting to draw us a bath. The water spilled over the edge of the tub, and I nearly killed myself trying to turn the faucet off.” She threw her head back slightly as laughter spilled past her throat. The movement left her reeling with dizziness. She reached for his arm to steady herself. “Oh yes, baby, your first duty as an engaged man is to take me to the emergency room.”

This was not at all how she envisioned the proposal from the man she loved, but it certainly had the classic klutzy Kaci Davidoff twist to it. And what was all that mattered. She managed to exit the bathroom without breaking her neck, immediately grabbing her purse on her way towards the garage. Pausing at the hallway mirror she had hung while Deacon was dragging the boxes inside, she cringed at the state of her wound. She had been injured enough to know that this would require several stitches, and she could only hope that the physician tending to her would be mindful of the fact that this scar would be above her brow. Well, if the engagement ring was not enough, at least she would always have the scar to remind her of this momentous occasion.

[I am not sure if you want to continue with the thread or begin a new one! I know that she ends up with several stitches but no other injuries aside from that. And also, ironically enough, her pen pal/best friend happens to be Tyler's younger sister. So she will end up being the maid of honor, and it is another connection there. I keep forgetting to tell you that! Let me know what you prefer to do about the thread. I can attempt to post a new thread later today or tomorrow if you like! I figure the easiest way to post a new thread is in thefoxhole so that we no longer have to bother with the custom filters! I am done rambling now, and I am heading over to respond to Jack/Lucy!]

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