bought this house for me?" she managed to ask.
"Yes, for you," answered Kenneth. "Come with me. I want to show you something."
He took her hand and led her up the curving staircase. They turned down a long hallway that took them past several doors. She knew that the double doors at the end of the hall opened into the master bedroom suite. Kenneth opened these doors to reveal a fully decorated and furnished suite. There was a large old fashioned canopied bed as well a sitting area in front of a fireplace. Kenneth scurried around making a fire and lighting candles.
"Oh Kenneth, this is amazing!"
"Come and sit," he said as he motioned her to come to the loveseat in front of the now cozily blazing fire.
Sarah was having a hard time processing all of this but she walked almost robotically over to the loveseat and sat down. As she as she did so, Kenneth dropped to his knee and took her hand.
“Sarah, I have loved you since the first moment you walked into the bike shop. Maybe I didn’t totally realize it then, but that’s when it happened. It was like a lightning bolt had struck me. That love only grows more every day. I’m hoping that you love me as much as you say that you do. Sarah, please make me the happiest man in the world and agree to be my lovely wife that I desire to spoil for the rest of my life.”
If Sarah had thought she couldn’t be surprised any more tonight, she was wrong. Her eyes filled with tears and she threw her arms around Kenneth’s neck.
"Oh yes, Kenneth! Yes! I’ll marry you! I love you so much you wonderful amazing man!"
With that, he pulled out another little box that held a decent sized diamond engagement ring. He placed it on her finger and started to kiss her. The kiss became intensely passionate and he picked her up to carry her to the bed. Laying her down, he joined her as they continued to kiss.
A couple of hours later, Sarah and Kenneth lay together under the covers, his arm around her and her head on his bare chest. Lifting her hand up into the candlelight, Sarah gazed in wonderment at her ring. It was the most beautiful ring in the world to her.
She totally forgot about her own gift that she had left sitting on her dinner table to surprise him. The thought of the pen faded in her mind's eye in comparison to the reality that was facing her.
She knew in her heart and at that very moment of truth that her addiction to chocolate and candy had to be a souvenir of her very private and secretive past and that she had to develop her character to please Kenneth as his future wife. She knew in her heart and in her soul that the love for Kenneth would give her enough power and strength to deal with her weakness for chocolate. To her own suprise she did not even think about the chocolate body paint anymore, and she did not even feel any desire for it in the arms of Kenneth. For the very first time in her adult life she felt free and unchained from her obsession.
She was not even disappointed that her Valentine's dau did not end like she had anticipated it earlier in her mind.
"So do you like it?", Kenneth interrupted the privacy of her toughts.
"What do you think Kenneth? This is incredible and you make me so happy. I have never felt happier in my life than this!"
"I surprised you then?"
"Surprised me? I’m surprised that I haven’t fainted from shock!"
"It’s good that you’ve got such a strong constitution because the next surprise I have for you may totally unhinge you."
"What are you talking about, Kenneth?"
"Let’s just say that you need to tell Dave that you won’t be available this weekend. You’ll be too busy getting married to go to work."
This time Sarah was totally speechless because her mouth was fastened firmly to Kenneth’s...
Story II
It was a cold day in January, when Barbara Ward, a medium sized curvy figured natural beauty lay on her leather sofa near the fireplace, remote in hand and laptop beside her, enjoying her home made brand new collection of St. Valentine's cupcakes while watching television commercials.
"Dang these are delicious!" She announced to herself while splurging even more of her own brand's cupcakes that she enjoyed testing herself before releasing them to the public and into her cake catering business that she was running with her best friend Callie.
Their catering enterprise has been quite a challenge, but for today she rather preferred splurging away and not thinking about the troubled past.
"St Valentine's Day commercials already!" She exclaimed, yet she should not have been surprised. Companies always advertise in advance, knowing full well that women such as Barbara embrace the romanticism of St Valentine.
This particular advertisement was selling shoes, designed by Malaysian-born fashion icon Jimmy Choo. Barbara reached over her keyboard and delicately typed a status update, ensuring her nails remained in pristine condition.
Her status update read: Jimmy Choo shoes and a handsome Valentine, sigh...what I would do to have my cake and eat it too!
A moment later she glanced back down at her laptop screen and noticed that someone had 'liked' her status. A gentleman by the name of Edward Bell, a name which sounded vaguely familiar but she could not put her finger on who he was. Barbara had over 500 friends on Facebook, many of whom were friends back in high school.
Being an inquisitive person, Barbara decided to check out Edward's Facebook page. She smiled as she realised that he must have been an old high school buddy, as his About Me stated that he went to the same College in North Hempstead, New York. He was also the same age.
Clicking on Edward's photos, she was pleased with what she saw. A handsome man, well groomed with a goatee, blowout burgundy hair and champagne eyes that seemed to sparkle. He also appeared to have a strong affection towards dogs, seven of them in fact, all Wire Fox terriers.
"How cute!" she said out loud, her reference to the dogs but in the back of her mind, she was also thinking about the man standing proudly beside his beloved animals.
Barbara also loved dogs, owning two of them, both Beagles. She would walk them together but often wished she had a companion there to assist her, especially when her female Beagle Daisy would make a mess on a neighbour's lawn and she didn't have the spare hands, nor the resources, to clean up the mess.
It was a strange thought, wanting someone who could be there to walk the dogs, but it was more than that, much more. She wanted someone to take her out to dinner, to the cinema, someone to talk to when she cooked meals in her kitchen. She also yearned for someone to compliment her on her fashionable dress sense that wasn't her boss!
Later that cold afternoon in January, Barbara left for work, dressed to kill. She wore a lacy ruche body constructed mini tank dress with adjustable spaghetti straps and a stretchy zigzag lattice on the back. She wasn't dressed for the weather, but rather to be sexy. She wanted to be noticed and knew that no man in the office could avoid her when she was dressed so provocatively.
The
