Set Fire to the Rain

We spent an amazing evening together, talking, laughing and making love through the night and then again when we woke up in the morning. It had never been this way when I was married to David. I had been a virgin when I had gotten married, but even after we were married, sex had seemed like a duty. It was expected of me, and he only ever cared about his pleasure and of course that he had at least 2 children; one of which must be a boy, he had told me. like I had any control over that. Sex for me with David, was never really enjoyable. I think it had a lot to do with the way David treated me, actually, I know it did. So being in this relationship, with Shannon, and actually enjoying sex, is a whole new experience for me. Everything with Shannon was a new experience. And I was loving every second of it.

I woke up before he had Sunday morning, and I watched him sleep, tangled up amongst the sheets, with one of our hands intertwined. He was so beautiful while he slept. Ok, he was just beautiful. I decided that I would get up and make him breakfast along with some hot coffee. So I slipped my hand free from his, and he groaned. It made me smile. I slid quietly to the edge of the bed, and picked up his t-shirt from the floor, that I had intended on wearing last night, but never put on. Then I went to the bathroom and cleaned up, slipping on just a pair of boy shorts, I made my way quietly into the hallway, shutting the door behind me. I walked into the kitchen and scoped out what he had in the fridge and his cabinets that I could use to put together a nice breakfast. I found his coffee and coffee maker and got that started. I then started putting together the ingredients for a grit casserole. It was an old family recipe, and would be fairly easy to make, and a great Cajun breakfast. I thought he might enjoy something different. Moving around the kitchen a little slowly, being that I was a little sore from our activities last night, I smiled at the memory. About 15 minutes passed by and I was getting ready to put the casserole into the oven when a pair of strong arms wrapped around me from behind.

"Mmmm, now this is a sight I like to see in my kitchen first thing in the morning." Shannon said, kissing me in the crook of my neck and holding me tightly. "I think I could get used to this."

"Good morning baby. I hope I didn't wake you."

"Nope, I smelled coffee brewing. And I woke up and you were gone. I missed you, and your incredibly sexy ass." Squeezing said ass, then he smacked it for emphasis

I squealed and jumped in shock but smiled. "Is that a fact? Well, I wanted to surprise you with breakfast and fresh coffee." I moved to place the casserole into the oven. Then went to one of the cabinets to grab a mug, and began to pour Shannon a cup of coffee, and I turned slowly handing him the piping hot liquid, with a smile.

"Thanks sweetheart. What did you make? It smells great."

"Grit casserole. It's a family recipe. I hope you like it."

"I'm sure I will. Lets sit and relax while it cooks." We walked over to the couch, Shannon sitting in the corner and pulled me into him wrapping an arm around me.

I leaned into him and closed my eyes. He had only a pair of shorts on, and I inhaled the scent of him giving his chest a kiss. "How did you sleep?"

"Well, when I did sleep, you devilish woman, I slept amazingly well. How about you? And how are you feeling this morning?"

"I slept beautifully. And I'm ok. A little sore, but not horrible, considering."

"Thank god. I was really worried about you."

"No worries, it's all good. So worth it. You have been a bad influence on me Mr. Leto." I said turning to look up at him from under my eyelashes.

"Oh, really? And how do you figure that?" He chuckled, then took a long sip of his coffee.

"Well, you see, I was really very innocent, before I met you. And since I started dating you, I have been consumed with all these very dirty thoughts of you." I turned around and straddled his waist, taking his coffee from his hands and placing it on the coffee table next to us.

"Oh? What kinds of dirty thoughts?" His voice taking on a husky tone.

"I don't know if I can explain them to you. There are so many." Leaning in, I bit his ear and pulled on it, and he groaned wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Eliza, you are a vixen aren't you?"

"Only for you, my love."

"So, are you going to tell me what these all consuming, dirty thoughts are, or are you just going to tease me?" Shannon asked gruffly.

"I would never tease you baby. I figured I would show you."

"Holy shit... What about breakfast?" Rubbing his hands up under my shirt and along my back.

"Breakfast can wait." I said with a devilish grin. Standing up slowly, I made my way to the kitchen turning off the stove then walked to the hallway and looked at Shannon smiling and crooked my finger to him. He smirked, then jumped up and chased me into his bedroom and I showed him exactly what had been on my mind all morning.

____________________________________________________

After breakfast we showered together and dressed for the day. Just enjoying being together. He was leaving for LA tomorrow morning, and I wouldn't see him until I went out to California in two weeks. He had business to attend to out there, and wouldn't be able to come back to visit. So we would be relegated to Skyping, texting and numerous phone calls a day. It would be torture. With that thought weighing heavily on my mind, I fully intended on taking full advantage of every second I had with him. We had decided to go out and spend the day walking around the city. Maybe stopping somewhere to pick up some lunch and eat in Central Park. It was a beautiful summer day, and we were happy to be with each other.

We were walking down the sidewalk holding hands not saying much of anything, it was a comfortable silence between us. We passed an art gallery along the way, and decided to stop inside to check things out. The gallery was on the small side, but the art work was incredible. The use of color was unique, I fell in love with the artists work right away as did Shannon. He was very excited about the pieces that hung around the room and Shannon said he had to remember to tell Jared about the artist. We both agreed he would like him. Leaving the gallery we made our way out onto the sidewalk and continued our way around the city. Stopping every so often to walk through markets and photo galleries. It was an amazing day spent exploring what the city had to offer.

Deciding to grab subs for lunch, we made our way to the park finding a tree set away from people that might be lingering around. We wanted to sit and eat in quiet, and in the shade out of the heat of the summer sun.

"Are you enjoying your afternoon, sweetheart?"

"It has been absolutely perfect. But whenever I'm with you, it's a perfect day." I said smiling at him.

"Kiss ass. I think you're just buttering me up for later."

"Ha! You wish. I'm done with you mister. You wore me out"

"Seriously?"

"Guess you will just have to wait and see, won't you." I winked at him, and he laughed. We began to eat our subs, which were delicious..

"Well, I really hope you're kidding , because if you are done with me then I can't give you this..." Shannon put his sub down and reached into his pocket, pulling from it a light blue jewelry box. He handed it over to me with a smile.

Placing my sub down beside his, I took the baby blue Tiffany's box from Shannon.

"Shan, what did you do?"

"Just open it and see for yourself."

Lifting the lid from the box, I pulled the blue bag from inside, and put the box down on the ground in front of me. Untying the small bag I tilted it and let the contents spill out into my hand. A beautiful sterling silver charm bracelet lay in my hand. It had a few charms on it already, each with a special meaning for us. There was a beach chair, for our first trip away together to Cape May, a music note for Shannon, a yellow sun for California, and a red apple with a bite mark taken out of it for NY.

"Shannon. It's beautiful. You didn't have to do this." I said lifting it up and looking at it a bit more closely. My heart was racing, and I couldn't help the enormous smile that had spread across my face.

"I know I didn't have to. But I wanted to. I wanted you to have something that would remind you of me. Of us; when you look at it, no matter how far apart we are from one another."

"I love it. Thank you so much." We leaned in and kissed each other.

"Here, let me put that on for you." I held out my wrist so that he could place the bracelet on me. Once it was securely attached, Shannon placed a kiss upon the top of my hand and smiled. "I'm really happy you like it." He smiled widely.

"It's perfect. You are too good to me."

"This is only the beginning, sweetheart. I love you."

"Well, I only want you, and as long as you are mine, then I'm perfectly happy."

"That's a given. And I can't wait to show you everything there is to see in California. We will have so much fun. My mom can't wait to meet you too."

"I'm really nervous about that." At the mention of meeting his mom I think I may have turned pale, and my mouth may have dropped open, from the laughter that started to come from my boyfriends lips. He couldn't seem to stop.

We continued on with our lunch talking and laughing. Then wandered around the park for a little while, eventually making our way back to the apartment where we cooked dinner together. Shannon wanted to eat dinner on the roof, complete with candle light and music. It was perfect. We ate, laughed and danced, watching the sun set wrapped in each others arms.

"Stay with me tonight." Shannon whispered in my ear as we danced together slowly under the stars. "I don't want you to take you home. Please."

Looking deep into his eyes, I felt my resolve falling away. Pushing a strand of hair out of my eyes, he let his fingers linger on my face. "Alright, let me call Jack. But what will I wear to work tomorrow?"

Shannon cocked an eyebrow, and a devilish grin spread across his face. "Ohhh, I'm sure we can figure something out sweetheart. I'm a very crafty guy after all."

"That you are. Alright, I will call Jack and see if he would mind staying an extra night with Jake. I don't see it being a problem."

"Good. Because, I want to spend every." Kiss. "Moment." Kiss. "We have together, showing you exactly how much," Kiss.. "I'm going." Kiss..."To miss you..." Kiss...."Over the next..." Kiss........"Two, agonizing......" Kiss.........."Weeks." And we kissed long and slow and deep. Wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him close as his arms wrapped around my waist holding me tightly. My hands grasping his neck and running into his hair. We slowly pulled away, pecking each others lips. "I love you, Eliza Cahrter."

"I love you, Shannon Leto." I whispered. Laying my head on his chest listening to his heart pound erratically, mirroring my own.

We gathered everything from our dinner and made our way back to his apartment, and while Shannon cleaned up, I called Jack to ask if he would be willing to stay one more night.

"How are things going there?" I asked my brother.

"All's quiet. Jake had the guys over yesterday to practice downstairs, and Ali came over today for a little while and had lunch. Now we are just hanging. Having a guys night, I guess you could say."

"So can I ask you a favor?"

"You're staying there tonight, aren't you?" He groaned.

"I would like to, yes. But if you need to go home, I will be fine with coming back." I said.

"Ugh, Eliza. What are... You know what, never mind I don't want to know." He mumbled. I heard him moving around and after a moment I could hear the sound of a door close.

I walked out of the kitchen and into Shannon's bedroom, with Shannon giving me a worried look. I smiled to reassure him. "Jack, listen, I have just had the most amazing weekend. Shannon is leaving tomorrow morning, and I won't see him for 2 weeks. I love him, Jack, and he loves me. I've never been happier. Please be happy for me. I need you to be supportive of this relationship. It won't be the same if you don't." I said sitting down on the bed facing the bedroom window.

"Eliza, I am happy for you. It just seems like this whole thing is moving really fast. And I'm worried about you. You've been through so much. I don't want to see you get hurt is all. I really like Shannon. He's a great guy. But I still worry, especially with David running around. We all know he's the one responsible for your accident. Unfortunately, we just haven't been able to prove it, you know this." He gave a frustrated sigh. I knew how he felt. It was a constant weight on my shoulder.

"I can't stop my heart from loving who I love, Jack. He's made everything in my life so much better, since I met him. I've never been happier." I felt the bed dip behind me, my hair was pushed aside and warm lips pressed into the juncture of my neck and shoulder. I turned and smiled. He smiled back and ran his hands along my back.

"I know he's made you happy, and I as long as it stays that way, then he's ok in my book. But the second he fucks up, all bets are off."

"I know. And I love you for it. So will you stay tonight? We can have dinner tomorrow night when I get home from work, and catch up."

"Alright, I'll stay. And that sounds like a great idea. I'd love to catch up with you sis. I love you, ya know."

"I love you too. Give Jake a hug and kiss for me. I'll call him later. And thanks Jacky. Goodnight."

"Goodnight sis."

I hung up leaning into Shannon. "Everything alright, sweetheart?"

"Yeah. He's just worried about me. Always the overprotective big brother."

"We need to find Jack a girl." Chuckling deeply in my ear, I felt the vibrations all over.

"Hmm. You have anyone in mind? Mind you, he is very picky. I thought maybe Jacky might have had a thing for Emma."

"You noticed that too? Maybe I will have to look into that, when I get back to LA."

"I'm going to miss you so much." I said turning and reaching up to run my hand along his scruffy face, the feeling soft on my palm.

" I'm so happy you are staying tonight." He moaned.

"Really? And why is that?" I giggled.

"Because now it's my turn to show you exactly what's been on my mind. You aren't the only one with dirty thoughts running rampant through their head, woman." Grabbing me by my hips, he pulled me up and and back as I fell backwards on the bed with a smirk on my face.

"Oh, please, show away Mr. Leto." I moaned as I bit my lip in anticipation. And Shannon got busy showing me the way...