Raleigh was enchanting, he looked into my blues eyes and I was filled with both desire and love for him, it had to be more than sex between us, right ? He made me feel good, while other men had used me and I allowed it because of the primal nature of sex. On the uttermost basic level I felt physically satisfied by my army of  lovers, but mentally I would recoil and feel numb, disassociate the physical from my mind during sex because as much as my body wanted these men, my mind and soul did not. With Raleigh I did not recoil, from the first time to now,  I wanted him- I wanted him deeply within my body, heart and soul, like no other. I was mad to push him away, a man like him doesn’t come into my life often and when they did, I broke them- I left them cold. I forced them to move on into the arms of other men who could be everything they needed and more. Leaving me alone.

Nor could I continue to give into the endless string of bad sex with bad men when I could have this… this beautiful loving creature Raleigh. It brought tears to my eyes to be so bare in these quiet moments of tenderness between us. To show him without words what he meant to me, that I could not say. “ Are you okay?” he whispered, searching my face. 

“ Never better, Love.” I wanted to understand as I looked into his shimmering brown eyes, why he cared for my comfort when I barely made an attempt for him? Because he wasn’t selfish in this aspect, he cared about others, he cared about me. What have I done to deserve this man? God only knows, if this is heaven I’m thrilled- but if this was hell, torture me forever with this pleasure!

In the quiet of predawn after the storm, we found ourselves laying in each others’ arms. “ In a few hours we’ll be tossed into the chaos of Christmas. And while I’m looking forward to it,it will also be less time for us. I guess it’s good thing we got this out of the way for a few days.” Raleigh finally ate his pizza well satisfied and in a much more pleasant mood. A little sex never hurt anything, if you were in a bad mood an orgasm was a sure fire method of lifting one’s spirit. 

“ Well, since we’re awake and we have to leave for the airport we could open our gifts to one another while we’re alone.” I offered, going to my case, I took one box of candy and a smaller box I had been hiding. I gave Raleight the candy box first. 

“Candy?” He seems surprised. 

“ That’s the sentimental gift, it means you are officially one of us if we gift you Turkish Delight.” 

“That stuff from Lion, Witch and The wardrobe? That kid- like sold his soul over?” 

“ Well yes, but it’s a family tradition. You see, after war -”

“Which war?” 

“ What do you mean which war?” 

“ WW one or WW two?” 

“ The Second World war of course, I may be old but I’m not that old.” I settled in the bed next to him. “ My maternal  Grandfather, to whom I am named after, was born in the late Victorian era, he died around 1965, but every christmas we’d get an orange and a box of Turkish Delight because he thought Turkish Delight was exotic and exciting when it was introduced in 1914. It made that old man happy to give us candy, our father who was a beast of a man, only let us have candy at Christmas and only when Grandfather was alive, once he died no more Turkish delight. We siblings started the tradition again, so here is your Turkish delight.” 

“ I think I get it, it shows inclusion and love for me, I’ve never had that candy but for you I’ll treasure it. I have a gift for you , a sentimental value type of gift too.” 

“ Oh, I have another gift, not just the candy!” I presented the little red velvet ring box, which I opened. His eyes glittered with gold. 

“ Wow, it’s beautiful!” He accepted the ring, platinum with a sapphire gemstone, sliding it onto his right ring finger. 

“ I know you like to wear rings and jewelry, I had this ring made just for you.” 

He raised an eyebrow, eyes narrowing. “ Is this .. you know, stolen?” 

“ Well, the setting is platinum  and I paid for that. I had King’s Jeweler make the ring for you, the sapphire, well yes, you caught me that was stolen, but you know my history with that sapphire, and oh well, it’s only a chip of it.” 

“This is a chip of Big Blue?” His eyes widened. Big Blue, the ancient gigantic sapphire I’d attempted and failed twice to steal however  I succeeded the third time.

“ Once I had taken the jewel back to King, he felt it necessary to break the stone into six parts. He received a part, Edie received a part, The three Aunties each received a part and I received the smallest part and a deduction of a thousand dollars off my usual fee. I had the ring made for you soon after. It’s just a nice piece of jewelry.. Doesn’t mean anything, really..” I mumbled. 

“ It’s a nice ring, thank you. But now my gift looks really cheap in comparison.” He blushed a bit. 

“Oh I’m sure it’s fine! After All I can get what I want anyhow, picking gifts for me is quite difficult I admit.” I assured him. 

Raleigh gave me a red box with a green ribbon, “ I hope you’re not disappointed but I’ll explain why I got it once you see it.” I  removed the ribbon, tore the paper, and removed the red and gold tissue paper and inside was a little tourist snow globe. I took it out and shook it. It was a the Las Vegas skyline and when you shook it gold glitter swirled around. “ See, you can have the glitz of Vegas wherever you go, it’s always there. If we’re here, or there or London.. Wherever you have a little Vegas with you.” 

“ It's a well thought gift, I’ll keep it with me always.” 

“You promise? You’re not just saying it?”

“ I love it, and you’re right, wherever we go we’ll have that bit of Las Vegas with us. Before I settled in Vegas I was in Atlantic City, Macau and Monte Carlo.. If there is a place to gamble I’ll be there. We can go to those places someday as we’ve all the time in the world.. ”  

“ I’ll take that as a promise.” We kissed and then settled back down resting for a little while longer before showering and returning to the airport. The air was cold and crisp, the sun had yet to rise but the dawn was on the horizon. The storm had died out and we were able to fly towards the rising sun. 

End of part three