First of all, let me just say thank you so much for all the support on this story. Now let me say that I'm so incredibly sorry I've drug it out as long as I have. It certainly was not my intent. I meant to have it completed and the final chapter posted about a month or so ago, but life happened and kind of took my joy with it. This is the final chapter and I want to thank everyone for sticking with it and not giving up on me. Love you all! Smooches!

I still don't own anything. I just "borrowed" names and places. The story line is the only thing that is mine. Enjoy!

Chapter 9

After their encounter with Dylan, the couple made their way back upstairs and Zac immediately made himself comfortable on the bed with the television remote while Vanessa stood near the door and shot him a look.

"What?" Zac asked innocently, taking note of the semi glare she was sending him.

"Zac, you aren't even dressed yet!" she said pointedly as she came to stand next to his side of the bed.

"What time is it?" he asked her calmly for the second time since he'd been at her house that afternoon. She craned her neck so she could see the alarm clock that sat on the other side of the bed.

"4:48," she told him, reading the blue numbers that were staring back at her.

"Then I'm good. Just give me the twenty minute call and I'm good." Vanessa just looked at him, trying to hide her smile. The two lovers shared a brief stare down before Zac broke the silence, with a smirk on his face. "You'd better hurry. You need to finish your make up."

Vanessa rolled her eyes and turned on her heel with a huff, throwing out a "Fine" over her shoulder in his direction. She made her way back into the bathroom and finished the job she had started moments earlier with her makeup, taking special care to make sure her eyes had the smoky look that she was hoping to achieve. She then pulled a black hair tie from the drawer and pulled her hair over her right shoulder, fastening it into a loose pony tail. Taking a step back, she examined herself in the mirror. Deciding that something was missing, she pulled her Revlon hot rollers from the cabinet and plugged them in, knowing that it wouldn't take but just a minute for them to heat up. While she waited, she walked back into the bedroom to get her strapless bra and panties set from her lingerie chest, and smiled softly at the sight that greeted her.

There, laying on the bed with ESPN playing softly on the television, was her boyfriend asleep with Shadow and Simon curled up near by. The toy poodle was laying on the pillow next to his head and his own Siamese was laying on his bare chest. Despite the many tiffs the two animals seemed to find themselves in, they always managed to come together when it came to their love for their owners. Once she removed her undergarments from the drawer, Vanessa went back into the bathroom and set them down on the counter, exchanging the silky, lacy pieces for her iphone and walked back into the bedroom, quickly snapping a picture of her boyfriend and their pets.

Just too good to pass up, she thought to herself as she walked back into the bathroom. Noticing the blinking green 'ready' light of the curlers, she started putting three into the bottom few inches of her ponytail before glancing at the clock in the bathroom. Noticing that it now said 5:07, a quick decision was made. She stepped into the silky pieces of fabric that would serve as her underwear for the evening and retightened her robe as she gave the twenty minute warning that her boyfriend had requested.

"Zac," she called out from the doorway of the bathroom. When he didn't stir, she then walked into the bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed. She reached out to gently run her fingers through his almost dry hair- which she just knew from experience would be sticking up in every direction when she finally managed to get him up. "Zac," she tried again. "You'd better get up. We've

got-" she paused as she looked at the clock on the bedside table and did the mental math. 5:09. "-twenty-one minutes. You'd better get up." Still no response. "Zac, I'm not wearing any underwear." Zac's mumbled response was her clue that it was time to take matters into her own hands, so she leaned down to press her lips to his and slowly ran her tongue along his bottom lip. His hands reaching up to hold her in place told her that her mission was finally accomplished. She was finally able to pull herself away and softly told him the two words that seemed to cause him to jump into action: "Twenty minutes."

Zac opened his eyes and took a look around. He noticed the highlights of the previous day's Dodgers game on ESPN and turned off the television set. Turning to look at the clock, he felt the presence of the two animals.

"Where did you two come from?" he asked, causing Simon to lift his head to look at Zac's face. Taking note of the fact that his owner had finally paid attention to him, the Siamese gently made his way up Zac's chest and left lazy licks along his chin.

"Alright, Simon, back off. That's my job," Vanessa reprimanded, picking up the cat and setting him on the floor. Simon gave her a disapproving look, turned around, and pranced out the door in true Siamese fashion, with his tail straight up in the air. "Eighteen minutes, Babe," she called to him as she made her way back into the bathroom to remove the hot rollers. She then ran a comb through the slight curls that were left and spritzed them with a small amount of hairspray. Pleased with her hair and makeup for the evening, Vanessa then walked into the closet to put her dress on. She was struggling with her zipper in the back when she felt the hands that she had long since memorized cover hers and stop her in her struggles.

"Let me help you," he whispered sensually into her ear. His warm breath tickled her neck and she immediately felt the familiar tingle run down her spine. As he pulled the zipper up, he stayed in position and ran his hands down her arms in an attempt to fight off the goose bumps that were covering her flesh as he placed gentle kisses down her neck and across her bare back. Somehow, from somewhere deep down, Vanessa managed to find the courage to swallow her desire and turned in his arms to look in his eyes. She took note of the fact that in the time she'd been in the closet trying to get her dress zipped up, he had fixed his messy hair with some gel, meaning all he had to do was put on his suit and shoes. She sat down on the ottoman in the closet and reached for the black peep toe heels that would complete the dress she had chosen for the evening.

"Later!" she reminded him while pointing a finger in his direction. "We don't have time for that!"

"C'mon, Baby. You know you want to."

"Zac, we're not five!" she argued as she slipped the shoes onto her feel. "You're not trying to convince me to steal a cookie from the cookie jar. You're not going to get me to succumb to peer pressure."

"Then why do you have that look in your eyes?" he challenged.

"What look?" she asked, as she stood back up.

Zac gave her his sexy smirk as he approached her slowly, causing Vanessa to take a step back. As hard as she tried, she couldn't deny the darkened hue of his eyes. His sex look, as she often called it. Seeing the look in his eyes that she knew all too well, she started feeling the familiar tightening deep down in her core. He continued his approach until she backed into the wall and he had her caged in with his arms resting against the wall on either side of her head. He leaned in until his mouth was just inches from her ear and his voice once again took on the sexual tone that she loved- the one he reserved especially for her. She closed her eyes as she took in the whispered words he spoke.

"The look of sex. The look you get that tells me and only me that you want me just as badly as I want you. The look that you save for me just as I'm about to make you scream out my name." As his voice trailed off, he once again placed kisses against her neck, this time taking time to suck on the left side of the slender column that she left wide open for his attack by her choice of attire for the evening- just hard enough to get his point across, but yet gentle enough to not leave a mark for tonight. When she brought her hands up to rest on his bare, chiseled chest in attempts to keep from falling to the floor in a Vanessa puddle and let out a soft sigh, he knew that she was very close to giving in.

Or at least, so he thought. Little did he know that her words would soon throw water onto the fire that was burning within his veins.

"Zac?" she breathed out with desire.

"Mmm?" was his simple response, not removing his mouth from his current spot.

"Zac?" she spoke again- with a little more control this time- as she gently pushed against his chest, causing him to remove his mouth finally. Zac just gave her an uncertain look as she spoke with a shake of her head. "The kids. So help me if you make us late…" she said as she walked out of the closet just in time to hear the doorbell ring through out the house. "Charles is here anyway. Hurry up and get dressed." Zac watched as she walked from the closet, grabbing her purse, bracelet, and earrings on her way out.

"You're right, Babe. The kids would mind if we're late. Charles however-"

"No!" she called out over her shoulder as she walked out of the bedroom door and began the trek down the steps to answer the door and let their favorite chauffeur in while they waited for Zac to emerge- hopefully dressed. "Get. Dressed. Now!" Zac laughed at her motherly ways as he reached for the starched white shirt and pulled it from the hanger.

"Hi, Charles!" Vanessa brightly greeted their driver for the evening, stepping back to allow him to enter through the door.

"Mrs. E," Charles greeted her in response, using the nickname that somewhat bothered her when most people used it. Charles, however, had long since entered their little private bubble of bliss, so he was the only one that could call her that and not irk her nerves. He leaned in and Vanessa accepted the hug that he always gave her. "How are you this evening?"

"I'm doing well, thank you. How are Linda and the kids doing?"

"They're great. Thanks for asking. Linda always gets excited when I tell her I'm driving you and Mr. E around. Speaking of Mr. E…" he almost nervously let his voice trail off, which led Vanessa to understand his unspoken question.

"Zac is here and everything is fine. We talked earlier this afternoon and we got everything straightened out. No worries," she reassured him and took notice of the look of relief that came over his face and he seemed to visibly relax.

"Well, then where is he? Are you ready?"

"I am ready and Zac should be down in-"

"Fifteen seconds!" the duo heard being yelled from just above their heads. They looked up and saw Zac rushing from the bedroom, tie untied and hanging around his neck and jacket in hand. Vanessa noticed that he was struggling with his tie and smiled slightly at the familiar look.

"Leave the tie alone and concentrate on walking. You won't be any good to anyone tonight if we have to take you to the hospital instead because you fell down the stairs of my house because you were fussing with the tie and not paying attention to where you were going. I'll help you with it in the car."

"Yes, Mom," Zac joked in response, causing Vanessa to roll her eyes. As she turned back to face Charles, something caught Zac's eye and he inwardly cringed. How am I going to bring this one up? he thought, trying hard to come up with an excuse in advance. Fortunately for him- or unfortunately for him, in this instance- he wouldn't have to be the one to bring it up.

"Hey, Mrs. E, what's that on your neck?" Charles asked, pointing to the left side of her neck.

"What do you mean?" she asked, instinctively bringing her hand up to feel her neck.

"There's something on your neck," Charles pointed out, chuckling slightly and ignoring Zac frantically waving his arms behind his girlfriend's back, trying desperately to get their chauffeur to stop with the questioning that would only lead to him getting in trouble. As she moved over to the mirror that was hanging next to the foot of the stairs near the door, she noticed a small mark starting to make it's appearance on the left side of her neck. Her eyes widened and darkened with anger as she slowly turned to face her boyfriend. Charles took a step back into the safe zone, while Vanessa approached Zac.

"You!" she exclaimed with a finger pointed in his direction.

"What?" Zac asked simply, feigning innocence. Charles watched the exchange with amusement.

"You did this," Vanessa said, punctuating her statement with a poke to his chest as she threw her small black clutch into his hands and frantically tugged at the rubber band in her hair, releasing the ponytail.

"Not on purpose!" Zac struggled to defend himself, hoping that his hormones hadn't caused him to ruin the mood for the rest of the evening.

"Whatever," Vanessa huffed. "You're lucky this is small enough to hide," she told him, as she pulled her hair over the left side of her neck and quickly replaced the rubber band. She studied her appearance in the mirror before taking her purse from his hands. She released a sigh and shot him a look of annoyance. Zac smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders.

"You love me?" he asked hopefully, causing Charles to chuckle once more.

"I'd better," Vanessa retorted, before breaking the 'annoyed character' trait that she was trying hard to hold in and rolled her eyes at Zac and gave Charles a smile.

"Baby, I'm sorry," Zac tried once more.

"Yeah, yeah," she said as she walked up to the security system and punched in the code on the keypad. "Let's go." Zac placed a gentle hand on the small of her back and she leaned up to place a gentle kiss on his cheek before the three exited the house.

Once they were situated in the limousine and Charles had expertly pulled away from the curb, Zac leaned over to press a gentle kiss to Vanessa's temple.

"I'm sorry about the hickey. It wasn't intentional. I was trying to be careful."

"I know," she said softly, bringing her hand up to cup his cheek. "I think we were both getting a little carried away." She gently started stroking his lips with the pad of her thumb. "But we've got to watch ourselves. It would be one thing if we weren't going to be surrounded by kids, but-"

"-we don't want to give them any kind of show. You're right. That means you have to keep your hands to yourself tonight. Are you going to be able to manage that?"

"Me? You're the one who was trying to get it on in the closet! The question is can you keep your hands to yourself?"

"Baby, I don't know what you're talking about," Zac told her, feigning ignorance.

"Oh, please! You were so perving earlier!"

"Yeah, you're right. But can you blame me? I mean, come on! Look at you!" Vanessa shot Zac a look, with a slight blush adorning her cheeks. "All joking aside, though, Babe," Zac started, his voice instantly taking on a more serious tone, "you look amazing tonight. Absolutely stunning. And as always, I'm in awe over the fact that I get to be the guy who's lucky enough to have you on his arm."

"Thank you," she told him sincerely.

"You were talking earlier about how amazed you are that I chose you? Well, my love, to say the feeling is mutual is a complete understatement. I have guys commenting all the time about how lucky I am. You are the most beautiful woman and every day I am blessed to be able to wake up to see your face first thing and it takes my breath away, every time. I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming and-" Zac paused as the emotions overtook him and lowered his eyes to look at her other hand that was resting on his thigh. Feeling Vanessa begin to stroke his cheek again in comfort, he swallowed and continued, bringing his brilliant blue eyes up to stare intently into her chocolate ones "-and I can't believe that it's me that you chose. Not the other way around. I love you so much, Vanessa, and I don't ever want to imagine my life without you in it." He leaned down to place a gentle, loving kiss to her lips and she allowed him to linger for a moment before pulling back and resting her forehead against his.

"I love you, too, Zac. So much." She placed another brief kiss to his lips and as she pulled back and cuddled into his side, she knew that everything from the past several days would be merely memories and they would be okay. And tonight, when they returned back to her house, she planned to show him exactly how okay they would be.