A Brilliant Mind

"Can you tell me what you're afraid of?" he asked as he gently stroked her silky hair.

"I don't really know. I guess maybe I'm afraid I'll...you know, fall for you and you won't feel the same way about me. After..."

"Monica? I've already fallen for you and I'm not going anywhere as long as you'll let me stay. I'm in it for the long haul."

She lifted her head up and looked into his eyes and said, "Then I want more than just hugging and kissing." She kissed him then said, "Although I do want a whole lot of that, too."

Within a minute, their bodies were tangled together in a dance of intimate love. Bingham spent a very long time on each erogenous area of her beautiful body paying special attention to the hub of her pleasure. Once she was relaxed, it didn't take long for Monica to cum the first time. Her body erupted in a wave of shudders as it tensed and relaxed several times. She moaned with pleasure and whimpered softly as she came, pressing her lips to his while his fingers did the work.

Without a word, she slid between his legs and repaid the favor but it was in no way a 'repayment.' It was a willing act of love and desire, one she hadn't performed in several years. Bingham groaned with pleasure as Monica slid slowly up and down his hard shaft guiding it with one of her small hands as the other gently played with his balls.

"I'm ready," he told her when he felt himself getting close. Bingham quickly donned a latex raincoat before she got on top of him and kissed him, then rolled him over and pulled him on top of her. "I want you so bad," she said as she reached for his thick cock. She felt him push then let go.

He knew it had been a very long time and took it slow entering her then stopping and waiting. "More?" he asked.

"Mmmm. Yes," she moaned. "Lots more."

He increased the depth slowly until he was fully inside her. "You feel so good inside me," she whispered as he began making love to her.

Less than five minutes the act itself was over but it had cemented the bond that had grown quickly and strongly between them.

As she lay there in his arms she asked him, "Will you be going back to MIT anytime soon?" It wasn't meant to inflict guilt, it was a genuine inquiry.

"I'd planned to do just that at the end of NPGS's winter semester," he told her. "But that was before something more important than work entered my life."

"Oh, I see," she said feeling hopeful but not completely reassured. "Is this new something strong enough to hold your interest for any reasonable period of time?"

"Hmmm. Well, let's see. I'm 25 and unless something befalls me like it did my dad, I'm hoping to be around quite a few more years so I'd say this 'new thing' has the potential to hold my interest for...oh, let's say...the rest of my life."

Monica raised up and looked at him. "Tanner, you don't have to say that to keep me interested. I know you're young and...brilliant...and handsome as hell. I'm happy just to have whatever time I can with such an amazing man." She smiled and said, "See? I didn't say 'young' man this time."

Bingham laughed then pulled her to his chest. "Monica, this isn't a game I'm playing. I'm not interested in a short-term affair unless I can't have you any longer than that because that's all you want." He paused then asked, "Is it?"

"No, but I'm a realist, Tanner. As intelligent as you are, you'll realize I'm not what you're looking for and when you do, I'll try and be strong enough to accept reality."

"It's the age difference, isn't it?"

"That's the main thing, of course. But what could a man like yourself want with a woman who teaches dancing? You're revolutionizing the scientific world and I teach people how to do dances from a hundred years ago."

"Then why do I think about you every waking moment of every day? Why do I give thanks to the universe that Lucy called things off or that Liz's fiancee took her back? Why did I always feel like something very important was missing in those relationships when it feels like nothing is missing when I'm with you?"

He felt her eyes blinking rapidly followed by a warmth spreading out over his chest. "Hey? Are you crying?" he asked looking down to try and see.

"A little," she admitted.

"Was I that bad?" he teased trying to lighten the mood.

"Uh-uh. You were wonderful. I'm just so happy. I wondered many, many times if I'd ever feel this way about anyone again and now that I do, it feels so incredibly good."

He kissed her head and said, "How do you feel, sweetheart?"

She craned her neck to look at him. "Did you really just call me that?"

"Yes, I did. You are my sweetheart, Monica. Or at least I'd like you to be."

She hugged him tightly and said, "I'd like that very much, Tanner."

"So will you be my Valentine, sweetheart?" he asked with a smile.

"I am so your Valentine...honey," she said smiling herself.

"I like the sound of that," he told her.

"You know what I like the sound of?" she asked.

"Do tell."

"You making love to me. Could we hear those sounds again?"

She saw him growing and reached for him as he did. "I take it that means we can?"

"You can definitely take it...and you can take...that," he said referring to Mr. Johnson.

"Mmmm. I'll take it all!" she said as she lowered her mouth over him again.

Bingham spent every night and every weekend with her for the next week, many of those nights at her place making love at least once if not twice.

After the second week of that, Bingham told his mother he wanted her to meet Monica.

She told him, "I'd like that very much. And I'm glad you told me in advance she's well...a bit older than you. That might have been a very big shock had you not."

"Does that really bother you, Mom?"

"It concerns me, but it doesn't bother me. What bothered me was seeing you hurt by Lucy or due to the way things ended with that Liz girl. But if you're happy with her, then I'm happy for you." She smiled then said, "Who knows? We might end up being best friends, right?"

As it turned out, the two women did hit it off quite well. Monica loved dance and Tanner's mom loved quilting, something Monica had always been interested in but never taken the time to learn. As her relationship with Tanner grew, she spent more time with his mom learning this age-old craft which she found both intellectually and aesthetically very interesting.

At the two-month mark, two months to the day, in fact, Tanner took Monica to dinner at the best restaurant in Carmel. At one point he asked how she'd feel about leaving Monterey and possibly moving with him back to Cambridge. "And I don't mean, England," he told her.

"Oh, you mean to live with you, right?"

"Well, that's the upshot of it," he said with a smile.

"As your...girlfriend?" she asked sheepishly.

"No," he said reaching into his jacket for something. He knelt next to her on one knee and opened the box. "I don't want just a girlfriend. I want a wife. But not just any wife, Monica. I want you. More than anything I want you to be my wife. I love you, Monica Quinn, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

Tears began falling the moment his knee hit the floor. By 'will you marry me' they were streaming down her face. She was blinking and nodding and trying to talk. Finally, she managed to get out a single word. "Yes!"

Bingham placed the large diamond on her hand then kissed her before handing her a napkin. "You seem to have sprung a leak," he teased.

"That's just my heart backing up and overflowing with happiness," she told him as she tried to dry her eyes.

"I love you, sweetheart," he told her again.

"I love you too, honey," she told him back. "And I want to spend the rest of my life with you, too."

The day after the semester ended, Tanner and Monica married his mother's modest home in Pacific Grove, California, with a handful of family members in attendance.

Monica found a very accomplished former student to run the studio while she looked for a new owner as she got ready to pack up her house and drive across country with the man who had what people called the most brilliant mind on earth. But what Monica loved most was the heart that beat inside his chest. A heart filled with love and devotion to her. A heart that made her feel young and happy and alive again.

By the time they settled into Bingham's apartment in Cambridge, Monica learned she was expecting. While she wasn't old old, she was very concerned until her doctor assured her the baby was perfectly fine and healthy. Money was tight the rest of that year, but they couldn't be happier.

Things changed dramatically later that year however, when in mid-December the Nobel committee announced its 2017 winner in the area of physics, Dr. Tanner Bingham for finding the holy grail of physics—The Theory of Everything.

As much as they were grateful for the substantial monetary increase, both of them would have given back every penny if it meant being able to keep the feelings of love and happiness they shared together. Money made things easier, but it most definitely didn't buy love, something they now had in spades, and something that grew even bigger when their son was born the following spring.

Bingham never made any other significant contribution to science or physics, but none of that mattered. All that did matter to him was being with the love of his life and and coming her to her each night and raising their son together.