Wired

"Why are you dressed so purdy, Momma?" Bo asked when she changed clothes.

"Do you like it?" she asked.

"Well, yeah. I mean, you always look beautiful. You just look extra beautiful tonight," he told her.

She hugged him and said, "I love you so much."

"I love you, too," he said. "Now can we please go over to Dalton's?"

She let Bo knock on the door as she held a loaf of bread she'd baked in the bread-making machine she rarely used as soon as she got home, sending that heavenly smell wafting through the house.

Dalton opened the door and when he did, both he and Brooke stood there staring at the other.

Bo looked at them both then said, "Can I go inside?"

"Oh. Yeah. Sure thing, buddy," Dalton told him without taking his eyes off of Bo's mother.

"Wow. You look great," he told her.

"Right back atcha, cowboy," she told him truthfully and admiringly.

She'd never seen him in anything but jeans, work clothes, or gym gear. He'd put on a pair of khaki pants with a dark-blue, button down shirt, and combed his long, gorgeous hair that Brooke couldn't stop looking at.

"What? Does I look dumb like this?" he asked. "I can change it if you...."

She finally moved, and when she did, she quickly kissed him and said, "Don't you dare."

Brooke knew the movie Gotcha by heart, and she clearly remembered the pretty girl 'Jonathan' shot with the paintball and what she was wearing. While that style of clothing was long out of style, what she was wearing was similar to the girl in the movie and most definitely wasn't out of style.

Hoping he'd like it, Brooke had chosen a soft pink sweater and a matching short skirt to wear with it. She hadn't worn her pink heels in years, and decided this was as good a time as any to break them out again. Judging by the way Dalton kept looking up every time she turned his way, it was evidently working quite well.

Dinner was greasy but delicious. Both Brooke and Dalton picked the skin off their chicken while Bo asked for theirs after eating his.

Even though they knew who'd win, they still yelled and cheered during the game. None of them had a favorite team so anytime something exciting happened, it was a cause to celebrate.

Brooke offered to go home when the game was over, but Dalton quietly asked her to stay.

"I guess I could do that," she told him as their fingers touched sending bolts of 'lightning' through their bodies.

Bo hung tough until just after 11 when he tipped over on the couch where he'd been watching Nikelodeon by himself as the grownups sat and talked, the tension building between them the entire time.

"Can you help me carry him next door?" Brooke asked once she noticed was Bo was out.

"Or we could put in my other bedroom," Dalton suggested.

"Well, we'll just have to carry him over later," she reminded him.

"Later is better," he said with a smile after moving very close to her.

"Okay," she replied as her entire body tingled.

Dalton easily lifted the boy and carried him to the little bedroom he hadn't been in but once just to check it out after moving in. He gently laid Bo down after Brooke pulled the covers back. She pulled them up over her son then she and Dalton stepped out.

Brooke left the door cracked and once they were in the small hallway she said, "So...now what?"

Dalton stepped up to her, put his hands on her shoulders, smiled, then said, "I do not want to get in trouble tonight."

Brooke smiled back and put her arms around his waist.

"Then you should probably kiss me right now."

"Do you promise you won't yell at me?" he teased.

"Dalton! Stop it!" she protested with a phony pout.

He put his hand on her face and said, "You are so beautiful."

Brooke knew she was a pretty girl, but she'd never thought of herself as 'beautiful' except during her senior year when she was cheerleading. She'd been told she was many times, but she knew men often said that to any reasonably attractive girl they were interested in. But Dalton made her feel beautiful, and even though the word didn't really apply, what was true was that he was a 'beautiful' man. She was now certain that if he kissed her, she would give herself to him without another word.

And two seconds later he did kiss her.

"Mmmm. Is your bedroom available?" she asked, her eyes hungry with need.

"It is, but this can't be about sex, Brooke," Dalton told her in a way that caused her a moment of confusion.

"You don't want to make love to me?" she asked, wondering what she might have said or done.

"Oh, I do. I really, really do," he told her.

"Then what are you saying?"

"I'm saying you're the most amazing woman I've ever known, Brooke. I'm saying I don't want to sleep with you then just be friends. I'm saying I want there to be an 'us'."

Her eyes were flying back and forth while his were motionless.

'O...okay," she said barely above a whisper.

Dalton surprised her when he reached down and gently picked her up. She smiled and put her arms around his neck as he carried her to his bedroom.

"I guess it's a good thing I learned to make my bed," he told her as her laid on it.

"It's just gonna get messy real fast," she said with a happy smile.

"Somethin' tells me you'll help me make it before you leave, though," he said as he undressed himself.

Brooke lay there spellbound with anticipation. Her ex had been well built when she married him, but she'd never seen a man who looked like this before. Every cell in her body was on fire with anticipation as he slowly and deliciously removed one article of clothing at a time.

"Oh, my Lord," Brooke said when he stood before her completely naked.

She could tell he was still only mildly aroused, and yet he already was so wonderfully big Brooke felt like she would cum with the slightest touch from either him or herself.

He stepped toward the bed then said, "You're not just beautiful, Brooke. You're also very pretty, and it seems a shame to take off the clothes that make you even prettier."

"Dalton?" she said, her voice filled with passion.

"Yes?"

"If you don't take my clothes off right now, I'm gonna...."

"Say no more," he replied with a smile as he bent down and unzipped her skirt and slid it off over her long, shapely legs.

"Keep going...please," she begged.

Her pink panties came off next revealing a very nicely-trimmed surprise that was already very, very wet.

Dalton slid his arms under her legs and went straight for the prize. Brooke was on the ragged edge of desire and by the time his tongue made its first long, slow journey from the bottom to the top of her love button, her body absolutely exploded.

She bit her lip to keep from screaming as her body writhed in ecstasy as Dalton stayed buried in her love vault as she shook and squirmed with pleasure.

The passion went back and forth as Brooke 'repaid' the favor by taking him deep into her mouth until he couldn't stand it another second. He pulled her on top of him and she kissed him softly as she reached for him.

"Right there, baby," she said as she felt him in just the right place before he entered her for the first time.

Neither of them knew how long they spent making love with less than a two-minute pause before they 'lathered, rinsed, and repeated' two more times.

Brooke lay curled up his arms somewhere around 1:30 in the morning and said again, "So now what?"

Dalton stroked her soft hair and said, "Now we spend the rest of our lives getting to know each other."

Brooke laughed at his words until she looked at him and realized he was serious.

"You're...you're not joking, are you?" she asked.

"No. Not at all," he told her.

"But...but Dalton. Don't you want to...you know, play the field?"

He smiled at her and told her, "Brooke? I may only be 10, but I've played the field. Literally and figuratively. I don't need any more playing time to know when it's time to stop playing and get serious."

"So...what are you saying?" she asked very quietly.

"I'm saying I'm the kind of person who takes life as it comes. I don't rush things nor do I turn away from them. Life presents us with many different opportunities, and they come at various times. Sometimes we're expectin' them. Sometimes we're not. But we can't force life to unfold the way we want it to. Life has a mind of its own, and it offers itself to us on its terms. I had no idea if love would come sooner or later, but here it is, laying in my bed, looking so beautiful it makes my heart hurt. I didn't go lookin' for it, but life sent my way, and I'm for dead sure not turnin' my back on it."

"So...what are you saying?" she asked again very quietly, as heart continued beating fast.

"I'm ready to say it, but I'm not sure you're ready to hear it yet. So I'll keep that in here...."

He put her hand over his heart then continued speaking.

"Until you are ready to hear me say it."

"When I first met you—when I lost it...."

"The first time, right?" Dalton interjected with a smile.

"Yes, the first time," she said smiling back at him.

"I thought you were this completely irresponsible, teenaged party boy."

"And how about now?"

"And now? Now I know I was totally wrong on every count. You're hard working, you're dedicated, you're kind, you're generous, you're talented...."

"I am pretty good at lovemaking, aren't I?"

"Dalton! I'm trying to tell you how I feel!"

He reached over and 'felt' her in several places then said, "I already know how you feel. And lemme tell you, you feel really good."

"Are you finished?" she said as though she was annoyed.

"That depends on what you say next, but I am listening," he told her.

She laid her head on his chest then continued—again.

"You also have a wonderful sense of humor, and that's really important to me."

He didn't interrupt so she kept going.

"And I've never been more physically attracted to anyone in my life. My God, you're like a 19-year old Tom Brady only with better hair."

"But without the millions of dollars," he added.

"I don't care about that one bit," Brooke told him. "I've never wanted to be rich. All I've ever wanted was to loved, and ever since I became a mother, for my son to be loved."

She raised up and looked at him then said, "And I can tell how you feel about Bo, and every time you're with him it melts my heart."

"But?" Dalton said.

She looked right at him for several seconds then said, "When I started talkin', I was gonna end all this with a 'but'. And the 'but' was gonna be that you are just 19. But as I rattled off everything I like about you, I realized nothing else matters. Least of all how old you are because you really do have an older soul."

"Is that it?" he asked.

"I guess," she said. "For now, anyway."

"It sounds to me like you're pretty close to sayin' it, too."

She rested her head on his chest again then said, "Yeah, I...I think maybe I am."

"I won't push you to," he told her.

"But you could...push into me again," she said as she raised back up and smiled.

Dalton was ready to go just seconds later, and push he did, bringing Brooke to a fourth and then a fifth orgasm that night.

He helped her carry Bo over to her side around 3 am, and once he was asleep in his own bed, she walked Dalton back over to his door.

He kissed her goodnight, but as he turned to walk inside, she took his arm the way she had once before then said, "Dalton?"

He turned back around and faced her as she smiled at him.

"I do, you know," she told him.

"I know. And I do, too," he said before kissing her again.

The following week, Dalton told his mother that he and Brooke had 'spent quite a bit of time together' and that he had feelings for her. He knew she'd need time to adjust to that, so he didn't use the 'L' word. In fact, he hadn't used it with Brooke, either, although both of them already knew they loved each other.

Samantha insisted he bring Brooke and her boy over for Sunday supper a week after that, and Dalton suggested Bart join them. Any concerns Samantha may have had about her son's choice of women were dispelled after she got to know Brooke and the polite little boy she immediately adored.

Yes, Brooke was older than her son, but based on the way he talked, acted, and lived his life, the difference was insignificant at best.

When Bo turned 11 two months later, Dalton surprised him by giving him the game ball he'd been awarded when he won the state championship. The boy went nuts running around the house with ball, but Brooke was very concerned.

"Dalton, that's too much," Brooke said privately knowing it would break Bo's heart if she asked him to give it back. "That's yours. You earned it, and it should stay with you."

"It will," he told her with a smile.

She gave him a puzzled look so he smiled at her then said, "I've waited long enough, Brooke."

"For?" she asked, sensing something important was about to happen.

"To tell you I love you," he said sincerely.

He put his arms around her then said, "Because I do. I love you with all my heart."

Tears immediately welled up her eyes before she said, "I love you, too. I love you so much."

"And that ball will stay with me because...."

He reached for something in his back pocket and produced a small box which caused Brooke's hands to tremble.

"Dalton? What...what are you...what are doin'?" she asked as tears began to fall.

"Bo? Can you come in here for a minute, buddy?" he called out.

The young boy came running in clutching the football he planned to never let go of and said, "Sir?"

"I want to ask you and your momma somethin'," Dalton told him.

"Why's my momma cryin'?" he asked.

"Well, I hope it's because she's happy."

"Yes," she said as her hands came up to cover her mouth.

Dalton got on one knee between them both and after opening the box said, "Brooke? I love you more than anything on earth. And Bo? You're a close second."

The young boy was beaming with happiness as he realized what was going.

"So if you're okay with it, I'm gonna ask your momma to marry me. Is that all right?"

"Yes, sir!" he said loudly and happily.

"Thank you, son," he told him as he looked up at his beautiful, older girlfriend.

"So...Brooke Mitchell? Will you marry me?"

Her head was nodding, but she couldn't speak. She was crying so hard she had an embarrassing mess on her hands—literally.

"Grab your momma a paper towel, will you?" Dalton asked.

Bo ran over and got one and handed it to his mother who wiped up the mess the best she could.

"Now, can you hold this for me?" Dalton asked as he handed Bo the box.

He nodded and smiled as Dalton removed the ring and placed it on his mother's finger.

Dalton stood up, kissed his fiancé, then held her until she was able to stop crying.

"You all right?" he asked when she finally looked at him.

"Yes. I'm all right," she said. "I'm...I'm...so in love with you."

"Well, I am kind of irresistible, ain't I?" he said.

"Yes, you are, but if you're gonna by my husband, then you need to stop sayin' 'ain't' around my...our...boy."

"I think I can do that," he told her as he pulled Bo in, too, and held them both close.

Brooke's eyes were a mess of red and black, but her smile was happier than Dalton had ever seen before as she kissed him and told again how much she loved him.

Their engagement called for a special visit to Dalton's momma's place where Samantha shrieked with happiness when Brooke showed her the ring.

"Welcome to the family, baby!" she told her daughter-in-law to be.

"Thank you, Samantha," Brooke replied as they hugged.

"Oh, no. You call me 'Momma' from now on, you hear?" the older woman insisted.

"Yes, ma'am," Brooke told her with a smile. "I'd be honored to...Momma."

They hugged again and Samantha cried causing Brooke to cry which caused Bo to ask, "Dalton? Why do women folk cry all the time?"

"I don't know, buddy. I guess it's just the way the Good Lord made 'em," Dalton offered.

"Oh, okay," the boy said, satisfied with the answer.

Brooke married her younger man on Christmas Eve as a way of adding a special significance to the love they vowed to share for as long as they both shall live with the hope that they would always remember how important they were to each other.

Brooke's parents had driven to Union to meet Dalton and came back down for the wedding where Casey happily served as her friend's Maid of Honor while Raymond Burke, who'd sobered up for a month in order to attend, served as his son's best man. To his credit, he never took another drink, but there was no hope of repairing the marriage his drinking had destroyed. That even was more true for Brooke's ex-husband who was so far gone he was living on the streets in Tulsa.

The newly married couple spent a long weekend in Las Vegas for their honeymoon, and when they came back on New Year's Day, Dalton went to work at the new Walmart building that was ready to be wired the day after.

He spent many long days there as well as Saturdays, and all of the overtime came in very handy when Brooke told her handsome new husband she was pregnant in February.

They were able to convince the bank which owned the previously-foreclosed property to let them buy and turn their duplex into a single-family home, and after removing the load-bearing wall that had once separated them with a long, heavy beam, their living space merged and doubled just as their lives and their happiness had.

On Thanksgiving Day, Brooke Burke gave birth to a baby girl they name Samantha after the woman she'd learned to love like her own mother. She took six months off work then reluctantly went back as they still needed every dollar they could get their hands on.

Samantha's life took another turn for the better when Bart Clemons proposed to her that Christmas Eve, one year after her son said 'I do', and she said 'yes' immediately just before asking Bart, "What in the blazes took you so long?"

Four years later Dalton earned his journeyman's certification, and with the extra money they had, Brooke was able to quit work for good. Even with his increase in pay, they still struggled financially as they raised two children, but Brooke had meant it when she said she never cared about money. Having enough to get by on really was enough as long as she had the handsome younger man she loved so much and her two children with her each and every day.

By time time Bo graduated from high school, he too, had been a star football player for Union High School. And like his adoptive father, Bo Burke became an electrician, learning the ropes from the man he'd called 'daddy' since the day he married his momma.

By then Bart was ready to retire, and he asked his stepson if he'd be interested in buying the business from him. Yes, it was a family thing, but Dalton had long since proven himself as the best electrician at Union Electric and more than capable of taking over, and there was no one Bart trusted more.

From that time on, money wasn't an issue, and Dalton spoiled his still-beautiful wife with everything he'd never been able to give her. She let him do it only because it was so important to him, but each time he bought or brought her something new she thanked him then reminded him all that really mattered was that he loved her.

And he would then remind her that he did and that he always would.