Within another month Donnie had gotten Marina into Danny’s studio and they recorded her playing her dad’s favorite song. Danny was impressed. He knew she could play, but had never heard her. Once she listened to it played back, she had an idea to add more to it. Soon she had played guitar, drums, keyboard, and bass. She asked Danny to make her a disk that had just the acoustic guitar version and a version with everything. Donnie had talked to Danny prior to her recording and they had their own plans. Now to write some lyrics and convince her to sing them. Just for her Dad. No one else needed to ever hear it. But Donnie just knew that Marina’s Dad was who had made her the person she was that cared so much about other people and their needs. He wanted to say thank you in some way himself.
He enlisted Danny’s help to write the lyrics. They were able to pull it together within a day or two actually. He flew to Memphis to share them with her. He had her play the acoustic version of the song and had her close her eyes. He knew the words and sang them softly in her ear. Once the song was over, she turned around and looked at him. She had tears in her eyes.
“You know me well enough to know how much my father really means to me. That was so beautiful Donnie.”
“Danny helped me.”
“Thank you so much for doing this for me.”
“You’re welcome, but I didn’t do it for you.” She looked puzzled. “I did it for your Dad. To thank him for raising such a wonderful woman as his daughter, the woman I want to be my wife. Marry me Marina.” She looked shocked. “You can’t be surprised. I told you in L.A. that we were going to get married.” He paused and almost panicked. “Shit, I forgot to give you your ring.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring and held it out to her on his palm while going down on one knee. “Marina, I know you love me. You make everything in my life better. Please, will you marry me?”
She looked at Donnie there in front of her. He knew her well enough that he bought the exact perfect ring: Titanium with a square cut sapphire that matched the blue of her eyes. “Do you really have to ask me that? Do you not know that I just need to know when and where?” she said finally. He grabbed her and pulled her against him. He rested his head against her stomach. After a few minutes, he stood up and put her ring on her. “You know, you’re kinda freaky about how you know all my sizes of things without me telling you?”
“I’ve memorized every single inch of you. Right down to your size 7 feet.” He kissed her and picked her up and carried her to bed. After he made love to her, with no barriers, he sprang his real surprise on her. “Can I ask for something very specific for a wedding gift from you?”

She was barely able to realize he had spoken to her. Apparently, the lack of a condom gave Donnie all manner of extra energy. He could ask her to pose naked for Playboy right now and she’d probably agree to it just so he would shut up and then she could see about getting him to see if he had any strength left at all.
“What is it that you want?” she whispered as she ran her left hand down his chest and abs and was gently starting to stroke him.
His voice was a little shaky as he said “I want to record you singing those lyrics for your Dad’s song and give it to him.” She stopped what she was doing & tensed up. He heard her take some deep breaths and saw her close her eyes. She already had him as hard as steel. When she opened her eyes, he wasn’t sure what to think.
She pushed him from his side to his back and climbed to straddle him. She quickly grabbed him and guided him inside her. “So you thought you could propose to me and sex me up enough that I would agree to anything, didn’t you?” He wasn’t sure he liked the sarcastic tone that she had, but he for damn sure liked what she was doing to him. She had never been like this in bed before. Normally she was all about letting him know how good he was making her feel or even telling him what she wanted, if he hadn’t already figured it out. He grabbed her wrists and rolled them over so he was on top again. He held her wrists above her head. He proceeded to fuck her aggressively until she was clearly moments from her climax. And he stopped. She tried to move against him but he wouldn’t let her.
“Donnie, please,” she said.
He almost gave in. He was still inside her and wanted to finish as much as she did. But he needed to make his point. “Mari,” he said to get her to listen. “I like sex. A lot. You knew that about me before we met. Everyone does. ” She tried to move her hips again. He took a deep breath. “Stop trying to move.” He waited on her to relax and she looked at him again. “Thank you. Anyways, I like sex. I’m pretty sure I there are any number of women who would offer to have sex with me any time I wanted to. But I’m not interested in sex just to have sex.” She looked away. “Look at me please.” She looked back at him. “For me, making love to you is my chance to physically let you feel how much I love you. Being with you is something sacred to me. I would never use sex to convince you to do something.” He sighed. “I brought you to the edge just now to show you how you were making me feel when you got upset with me. It felt incredible, but there was something missing. And no matter how good it felt, something was missing. If I can’t have all of you, I’d rather not have you at all.”

“I’m so sorry…” she started.
“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have asked you about singing when I did. I had planned to propose and then we’d talk and I’d ask you then. But we got sidetracked … a little,” he said smirking.
“I’ll say,” she was grinning at him. “I bet I’m gonna be a little sore tomorrow…”
He looked down. “I’m sorry for that too. I shouldn’t have been so rough with…”
“Donnie,” she interrupted. He looked back up at her eyes. “I really liked you being so …forceful. Maybe we can do that again?” He shifted ever so slightly inside her. “Oh God….”
“Stopping when I did was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” He took a deep breath. “Shit. I think we need to play a little game,” Donnie suggested and shifted just a bit further into her. He absolutely loved that he could make her feel like this. She was trying to focus on what he was saying. “Let’s see who can make the other one come first. I’ll try to make you come and try to keep from coming myself. You do the same.”
She was biting her lip. “Any other rules?” He shook his head no. “Ok.” She paused. “What’s the prize for the winner?”
“Sex in their favorite position for the rest of this weekend.”
“Deal.” She smiled and moved her hips.
Donnie growled. “Do you think we need to start this after we finish what we’ve been doing? Because if you so much as involuntarily contract a muscle down there right now, it’s all over for me.”
She grinned at him. “Don’t you know that the way it feels when you orgasm damn near triggers me to have one every single time?” She kissed him. “Just fuck me Donnie. I need you.” He kissed her back and started to slowly move. He was trying to keep from losing it before she was ready again. He could feel that she wanted him to move faster, and he wanted to, but he just knew it would be over too soon if he did. It was her whispering to him that pushed him further. “Fuck me harder, Donnie.” He froze for a moment and looked in her eyes.

“I’ve been wanting to hear you say that for a really long time now.” About the time he could tell she realized what he was talking about, he started moving faster and harder. After several minutes, she could sense that he was totally lost in what he was doing to her and she knew what he had told her was true. He did show her that he loved her with his body. Even now, he was so fixated on pleasing her with his body that she wanted to cry. Even if it wasn’t his intent, he could have anything he wanted from her. She was going to have to sing.

Within a few weeks, Donnie had Marina into Danny’s studio and she was recording her song for her Dad. Once they had finished her last vocal, she asked Danny to keep recording but could he please leave because she had a song for Donnie. Donnie was more than shocked. She sat at the keyboard and began to play. He assumed it was instrumental. When she started to sing, he wept.
“I wanna say it out loud. I don’t want to try and hide it. I wanna let it all out so that you’ll know. What you do to my life, the way you make it better. Don’t wanna let it go, wanna let it go. My darling, I’m falling in love with you. There’s something colliding in my heart. Love has got me now. My darling I’m falling. Every word that you say, is like a prayer that I’m praying. Every minute of the day I can feel you with me. Don’t feel the weight of the world ’cause you keep me flying. Don’t wanna let it go, wanna let it go. My darling, I’m falling in love with you. There’s something colliding in my heart. Love has got me now. Love has got me now. Love has got me now. My darling I’m falling in love with you. There’s something colliding in my heart. Love has got me now. Love has got me now. My darling, I’m falling. My darling, I’m falling.” {Falling: as performed by Chris Mann}

Neither of them spoke for a few minutes. It was finally Mari that spoke first. “I’ve never considered writing anything for anyone other than Dad. But after that night we were together in LA, the music was in my head. The day I flew to New York to visit you and the boys for the first time, the lyrics came to me. They aren’t all that creative, but they were what I was feeling. I hope you like it.”

He was inside the booth with her in about a heartbeat. She saw the tears on his cheeks. One of the many reason’s she loved this man. He wasn’t afraid for her to see who he really was. He pulled her into his arms for a hug. “When can we get married?” he asked.
She pulled back from him just enough to look him in the eyes. “I would say that we could go to the courthouse and do it today, but Dad might be upset. I think he’s had something planned for us since he met you.”
“I’ve been kind of suspicious of him too.” He kissed her. “So we’ll take your Dad his present and see what he has up his sleeve.”
“Can we leave after dinner? For some reason, I’m looking forward to telling Dad about this.”