Chapter 5: All The Way

Tess helped Josh put the boxing gloves on, and then moved behind the punching bag to hold it. Josh didn't really like the punching bag, it didn't really fit with being a pacifist, and he was very serious about that. But it was good exercise, so she had got him into the routine of using it each time they went to the gym. But Tess still thought he didn't really let go and push himself with the punching bag.

He hit it a few times to warm up.

"Go on, hit it hard."

He hit it hard, but still not really putting himself into it.

"Come on, put yourself into it. Imagine that you're angry with it."

Josh glanced at her, and hit it a few more times.

"That's not hard. Come on, get angry."

She could see that he still wasn't getting it.

"Imagine that it's me. I cheated on you, cheated bad. You've never let off any steam about that. Come on, hit it, it's your cheating girlfriend."

Josh hit it. This time he really put himself into it, and for the first time, Tess slipped backwards a little.

"Harder. How do you really feel? You're being such a good guy, not sleeping with your girl, and she goes and screws some guy at a party."

Josh hit the bag a few more times. He was starting to breathe hard.

"What kind of a slut would let someone take a photo of that with her own phone and send it to her boyfriend? Didn't you get ripped off bad?"

Josh unleashed a torrent of punches on the bag. He stopped and looked at her with a smoldering anger in his eyes.

Tess' heart shook. Was this really a good idea? But she went with it anyway. "That's right, let go, really give it to the bag. Did it hurt? Did you really feel it? Did you think you would lose me?"

Josh let out a terrifying roar and absolutely launched himself at the bag, kicking and punching it. Tess pushed back as hard as she could, astounded at the raw rage coming from Josh. For a long minute he just went at the bag without a break, even head butting it. Tess was blown away by the rage and passion flowing out of him. Eventually, he stopped, looked at Tess in confusion, and collapsed.

She rushed around the bag, sat on the floor, and cradled him in her arms as he retched.

When he got his breath back, he said "Honey, what on earth was that all about?"

"I wanted to know whether had the passion I need in my mate, whether you can really lose that iron self-control that you have. I had to find out, and I wanted you to blow off the steam that you never did when I hurt you."

"What if I had hit you?"

"Well, I wouldn't have minded. If you'd kept hitting me, I still wouldn't have minded, but I warned Gino, and he would've pulled you off."

Josh looked up at the gym. Nearly everyone was stopped what they were doing watching him and Tess. Gino was standing close, smiling at them. Josh shuddered. Gino was a moving mountain, not a man.

Josh looked up at Tess. "So, did I pass the test?"

Tess nodded, and bent down to give him an intense kiss.

Tonight was the night, Tess knew. Josh was going to pop the question.

His volleyball team had won the league, and the league had decided to have a formal dinner to finish the season. She'd chosen a sensational sweeping gown that showed off her chest as well as anything she'd ever worn. Her mum had helped her with the dress, and had even seemed happy that the only other clothing Tess was wearing was a minimal g-string — not that Tess had owned any other kind of panties since she was sixteen - though she was glad that she'd remembered not to wear a see through pair since her mum still didn't know about the snake. She still hadn't figured out when she should tell Josh about the tattoo.

Tess sat at the table watching her man laughing and joking with his team mates and their partners, looking amazing in his suit and tie. Tonight, she said to herself, and grinned. Tess looked back to a couple of months ago. She had thought that she loved Josh, and the problem between her and Josh was that they weren't having sex. Now she had really fallen in love. She couldn't remember why she thought that she'd been in love before, that'd been nothing. Josh had been sort of a convenience, a nice and reassuring way to let off steam. Now, he was the beginning and end of her existence.

What had been wrong with their relationship wasn't that they weren't sharing their bodies, it was because they hadn't been sharing their hearts. Well, that had all changed. There were no secrets, nothing held back now. They'd both done all their questioning, and now their commitment and passion were growing by the day. She suspected that Josh would be the first to break this time, not her. But they'd decided to deal with their wanderlust by doing something outrageous occasionally. The week before, Tess had slept in Josh's bed for the night, which had been so lovely, even when it was a single bed and they'd been good and only cuddled, and they'd got up at 4 am to go air-ballooning over the city. Next time they planned to go sky-diving together, but they had to save up for that.

At the end of the night, Josh took Tess to the city beach. They left their shoes at the edge of the beach, and then Tess had hitched her dress up and they'd run across the beach together laughing and singing. When they got to the water's edge, they had paddled their toes in the water, and then Josh had got onto his knees in the wet sand, pulled a small box out of his pocket, and pulled out the ring that Tess had jokingly chosen in a jewelers store six months earlier.

"Tess, will you marry me."

Tess had let out a whoop of joy, pulled him up and jumped into his arms. When he'd fallen over and they'd both landed in the shallow water, she'd just laughed, kissed him and said "a thousand times YES".

After kissing for a while, Josh had said, "Tess, I think we've ruined your dress."

"No, you dummy, this is exactly what this dress was for. Now take me to your place and I can take it off."

It was only a short twenty minute ride to his apartment, but it felt like forever to Tess. As soon as they closed his door, she grabbed him and kissed him hard.

"Let's get this dress off you."

"Josh, I'm not wearing a bra under this one."

"I know, and I've been looking forward to this all evening."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Josh, now we've come this far, I don't want to blow it. We should wait till we're married."

"Yes we still will, but I want that dress off. Show me what you've got!"

The dress was wet and sandy, and it was very hard to get off, but Josh took great care with it. "I want you to wear this one again," he said. He gasped when he had finally eased the dress off her breasts, and put his hands to her chest. "Momma Mia, you are incredible," and she leant into him and kissed him.

"That was a princess bride moment, that one."

Tess nodded in agreement and then Josh took her to his bed, and took great pleasure and care in learning his way around her chest. She came twice while he was licking her nipples. The first time they'd both been surprised, she hadn't thought it would happen, and he hadn't seen it before, but the second time, he'd played her like his guitar, leading every step of the way, and she'd come from the masterful look in his eyes as much as the physical pleasure.

After that, "Josh, you haven't come."

"I'm going to wait. It's going to be hard, but I'm going to do it."

"Yep, you're going to be hard all right."

"How soon can we get married?"

"How about tonight?"

Josh laughed. "No, no, a real one. We don't need to cheat when we have the rest of our lives."

They agreed that there was no reason to wait, and they'd get married as soon as it could be arranged. Money was going to be a problem, they didn't even own a double bed between them, and Josh owed his parents quite a lot of money on the engagement ring. Tess didn't care. She'd sleep on the floor forever if she had to.

They talked about the wedding. Tess had great dreams for the wedding, but the more she wanted, the longer it would take. Josh said that he only had two rules for the wedding. The first was that their part of the wedding had to be over early enough so that they had energy in reserve for the really important part of the day, and the second was that Josh wanted to take her wedding dress off her himself.

Finally, they decided that he'd better take her home. She'd asked him for a t-shirt or something, since there was no way she could get the dress back on, and he'd said "Nah, I think you look good like that." Tess had that same thrill of naughtiness to ride home in his car wearing only her well saturated g-string and high heels, but this time it had a pleasant safeness added as well, and she nearly couldn't control herself.

It was two in the morning when Josh walked her to the door and kissed her deeply. "Josh, people can see."

"Let them, they'll have to contain their jealousy, you sexy thing." She giggled, and then he kissed her deeply again, stroking her buns and getting her worked up very quickly. "Good night."

She groaned, and then again when he also kissed her nipples and the ring good night, and finally she'd walked through the door with her dress over her arm, smelling of the beach and of sex.

When she got into the kitchen, her mother was up getting a drink of water. Her mother looked over her, swallowed, and then Tess could see her decide to say nothing. Tess went to say something defensive, and then realized that she could decide to be different too. She went over and hugged her mother, and then kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks mum."

"Did you have a good night?"

"Mum, look." And then Tess showed her the ring.

"Oh Tess, I'm so happy for you."

Her mother hugged her tight and cried, and then said, "Hang on, I'll get your dad, he's awake."

"Mum, I'm not wearing anything."

"Well, you walked through the door like that, and he won't mind."

"Mum, Josh wants to come around tomorrow and ask if he can marry me. Please don't tell Dad."

"He doesn't have to ask us."

"We know, but he wants to anyway."

"We're going to say yes. Especially when you walk in the door looking like that."

"Mum, I know what it looks like, but we didn't do it. We're going to wait."

"That wasn't what I was talking about, but I'm pleased. I was actually talking about the love in your eyes."