“Oh. Yeah. You can’t talk to me unless I have one too. I’m such a dolt.”
Steve: Sorry.
“It’s all right.”
Placing my hands along the railing, I stared up into the setting sun of orange, purples and pinks. It was still cold, but the view made it worth it. “It’s so pretty tonight. Is that why you brought me here?”
He grunted and his arms swept around my shoulders. I felt a chaste kiss upon my head as I looked down at my phone.
Steve: I’m sorry.
Why did he keep telling me he was sorry? Sorry for what?
“I told you, it’s fine.”
For several minutes he didn’t speak, and neither did I, which made me uncomfortable. I knew his wounds were fresh as mine, but still.
“You thinking about your ex-wife?”
Steve: I am. Sorry.
So that’s why he keeps saying he’s sorry.
Steve: Don’t you think about yours?
“All the time. We work together so I don’t have a choice. Is that why all the secrecy?”
Steve: Yeah. I guess it still feels like I’m cheating. But I’m not.
“You still love her.”
Steve: I don’t know what went wrong.
“Maybe you just grew apart.”
Steve: No!
Well, that came out pretty quickly. What am I, Dear Abby? Here I am with a gorgeous guy, at least I think he is, and I want to mend his broken heart. What am I...nuts?
“Then what do you think happened?”
Steve: I do know I worked too much, but it’s gotta be more than that.
“That could be a huge part of it, trust me. Did you cheat on her? Did she cheat on you?”
Steve: NO and no.
“Hmmm.”
Steve: Maybe if you tell me what happened with you and your Ex, it will shed some light on my own situation. You know, from a woman’s perspective.
They say talking helps the healing process. Did I really want to talk about Chase and me?
“He grew distant. From me that is, and like I said, he was always working. I think we spent twelve days together in the last three months of our marriage.
Steve: Did you tell him how you felt?
“Almost.”
Steve: What happened?
“I caught him with someone else.”
Steve: Right in the act of you-know?
“Well, no. He would never do that, but they were pretty close, and it made me realize something. We had nothing in common. I thought we did, but turned out we didn’t. He was just...patronizing me. Probably to get me into bed at first and then maybe...I don’t know. Maybe he just wanted something on the side. He was always married to his work first.”
Steve: That’s not so bad, is it?
“No. But there was more. We stopped talking. Or he stopped talking to me! Had a lot to say to his ex-wife though.”
Steve didn’t say anything at first, and I couldn’t see his expression because of the mask.
Finally, I realized the need to fill in the blanks. “He gave me his ex-wife’s engagement ring!”
The famous grunt.
“Yeah. You get it. Right?”
Steve: Um...
“Well don’t you?”
Steve: Yea, sure. Was the ring, awful?
“No. It was gorgeous. A two-caret solitaire with diamonds and rubies all around it. I actually loved that ring.”
Steve: I don’t understand.
“It wasn’t my ring!”
Steve: Oh.
“Maybe it’s a girl thing.”
Steve: Or he didn’t see a reason to exchange it for something else. Men don’t think about things the same way women do.
“Maybe.”
Steve: It wasn’t just the ring, was it? Cuz if it was, excuse me for saying this, but that makes you a tad superficial.
“Hell no, it doesn’t!” My whole body stiffened. Did men really think that way? After my outrage started to settle, I let the words sink in. Had I been too hard on Chase? He had offered to buy me a different ring.
Finally I typed back just so I could yell in capital letters.
Abby: No. It wasn’t the ring. And I am NOT SUPERFICIAL!!!
I saw his shoulders shake as he chuckled beneath the mask. That damn mask! I wanted to rip if off his face.
“What’s so funny?”
Steve: The nails. The makeup and are those extensions in your hair? All women are superficial. At least the pretty ones.
I almost bristled, but the word ‘pretty’ stuck in my head.
Steve: Go ahead. Let it all out, Cinderella. We’re friends, are we not?
“We are, except for...”
The wind was tossing his dark hair in the sexiest of ways. I wanted desperately to see what color his eyes were. Did he have dimples? A mole perhaps? And was his jaw as muscular as those tree trunk arms wrapped around me? I wanted to kiss him but without those darn feathers tickling my nose.
I indicated he should take off his mask.
Steve: Not yet if that’s okay. I’m quite enjoying this bit of mystery with you.
“Doesn’t seem fair since you can see me, but all right. I can wait.”
Steve: You have a lovely voice.
“Thank you.”
Steve: I promise I’ll take it off when the time is right. Soon.
I leaned back against his chest, feeling his heartbeat. Large knuckled fists gripping the edge of the metal railing, his chin rested on my head.
I reached back and stroked his cheek. A tiny growl mixed with the whooshing of the falls and the sound of cars I rushing by. A mix of sounds, bringing me back to Chase all over again. Damn, they were similar. Not in everything, but enough.
He held the phone face up in his palm, typing with his thumb, and I marveled at his skill.
Steve: You seem a little tense tonight.
“Just thinking is all.”
He pulled away from me and reached inside the breast pocket of his coat. To my surprise, he took tout a reefer, lit it up, and then handed it to me.
“Figured that would loosen me up, huh?”
Balancing the phone in his palm he lifted it up for me to see.
Steve: I find it helps.
“Okay.” I laughed. “I’ll try anything, once.” I took a gentle drag and let the smoke roll around on my palate. Then I blew it out and handed him back the joint. Part of me was afraid of losing control and part of me hoped I would.
I looked up in the sky, saw the sunset had disappeared, but a million stars had burst in its wake. Scattered like diamonds across the horizon, reminding me of the ring.
That damn ring!
I glanced down at the phone.
Steve: So where do we go from here?
“Go? Are you asking me if I’m over him? I don’t know, Steve. I honestly don’t know.”
He handed me back the joint. The smoke was searing hot, and I wondered what Chase would say if he saw me here with Steve. More than that, I wondered if he would throw him off the bridge. No. Chase wasn’t violent. That much I was certain. He also wasn’t a cheater, but that wasn’t why I’d divorced him in the first place.
“Super starry,” I said, the words tumbling over my tongue. “And very romantic here.” I couldn’t help it. It felt so...right being with Steve. How was that even possible?
Maybe I was lonely. Maybe it was the feel of his erection pulsing at my back. I hoped it was more. I prayed...that it was more, but what chance did we have if both of us were still hung up on our—
Steve: See that spot down there. Over on the bank? The most beautiful tiny blue flowers grow there in the spring.
Unimpressed, all I could make out in the dark was dirty snow and a few lone twigs, but I didn’t say that to Steve. Apparently he was trying to make me think about something...or...someone else, which I found incredibly sweet.
Steve: There’s a romantic legend that goes along with those flowers.
“Tell me,” I murmured, feeling light-
headed. I nuzzled into his chest deeper.
Steve: A medieval German knight was picnicking on the banks of the Danube with his lady love. He jumped into the water to grab some of the flowers for her when a flash flood swept him away. So he threw the bouquet of flowers to her, saying these words...
He leaned in, tickling me with his breath and whispered in my ear. It was the first time he’d spoken. The words, subtle and light. Like the edge of a bird’s wing.
“Forget me not.”
“What?”
That voice.
I turned around and stared at Steve.
Who was this man?
It was almost completely dark now, and the shadows danced along his mask while a cool breeze a clump of his hair stand straight up.
I couldn’t feel my toes any longer, and my fingers felt numb as I held the edges of my cape close around me.
“Forget me not,” he repeated, the melody of those words jumping up an octave after inhaling a tremendous amount of smoke. He blew smoke rings through the air. I watched them drift to the middle of the falls.
The pot had changed his voice. Yes, that was it, or my hearing was off. Yes. Definitely off.
“Let’s make a real effort to forget the past,” I said. “I’m all in for new beginnings and moving forward. Like the princess. I’m sure she didn’t sit by the river for the rest of her life.”
Steve: You got it, Cinderella.
“Call me Abby.”
TURNED OUT THERE WAS a restaurant nearby and after we’d had a bite to eat, we took in a movie.
After that, and to my surprise, Steve, or whatever his real name was, took me to a hotel. A very nice hotel, but still a hotel. It should have made me feel cheap, but after all the foreplay in the movies, having sex was definitely something I wanted from him and I didn’t care where we did it. I needed to feel wanted again. To feel like a woman.
I tried to understand that he didn’t want to take me back to the apartment he’d once shared with his wife, but I really didn’t understand at all. Why couldn’t I see where he lived? Was he lying to me?
Maybe he was still married, and why didn’t I didn’t insist he take off that ridiculous mask? I vowed that after today, I would demand he reveal himself on our next date.
He pointed to my cape, took off his shirt and indicated I should do the same.
His chest. It looked like it had recently been shaved. I found that odd and disappointing. I liked a man with hair.
He put up a finger, letting me, know he intended to undress me the rest of the way.
Himself.
Planting hot, steamy kisses along my neck and shoulders, he unbuttoned my blouse, slid the sleek silky fabric down over my wrists, and then yanked it off abruptly. I must admit I was a little frightened at the ferocious way he did it, snarling like an animal and then pushing me down on the bed, but soon I was getting into the role-playing myself. I’d always liked it rough and this was anything but that, but there was that whole secrecy thing that made me both nervous and excited.
We couldn’t use our phones when our hands, arms and mouths were busy exploring, but I had no trouble determining what he wanted.
My skin tingled with anticipation.
Sliding my bum on satin sheets, I inched my way toward the headboard, my gaze never leaving the man who was following me. I would have liked to see the arousal in his eyes, but his dick pushing at his boxers was almost as good. I raised my arms toward the top of the king-sized bed, as he took out a silk rope. I placed one wrist over the other and he tied them to the headboard.
Next, he yanked off my jeans, grabbed my panties with his teeth and then ripping them off me completely. I was so taken off guard at the fluid way he did it, I gasped. God, he was arousing as freaking hell.
“What do you plan on doing to me, Prince Charming?” I asked in my sweetest little girl’s voice.
A throaty chuckle came from his lips followed by a hoarse cough before he dove between my legs.
“Don’t try and...Oh God!” I squealed, as a flood of moisture dipped along his tongue. I retreated a little further up the bed, panting.
Tiny kisses trailed all along my legs Next, he licked my toes, making me giggle. “Got a foot fetish, have you?”
He didn’t, and a smile teased the corners of his lips. Yeah, I could see his lips fine. They were plump and soft, but rough and hot where I wanted them to be. My breath hitched when he reached my inner thighs.
I pistoned upward, moaning.
His mouth nibbled at my opening, and chased it with his tongue. Lick smacking sounds echoed inside the room.
Blazing heat shot through me.
I screamed. But it wasn’t a scream of lust, or want, or worry. It was a scream that said “home.” I’m finally “home.” I’d never thought I’d let anyone could make me feel this way ever again.
I felt free.
Free from the heartache.
Free from the past.
Free to fly, and love, and feel, and be.
He licked harder, concentrating on the bundle of nerves that were raging and spiraling out of control. He slipped his hands below my buttocks, squeezing. Squeezing. Then a finger invaded my bottom. I tensed but then relaxed into the sensation.
“Oh God. So good. So...freaking...good, Steve.”
For some reason, that made him stop. Probably his name wasn’t Steve.
“Okay, Prince Charming,” I amended. “Just don’t stop, dammit!”
He chuckled, and then went back to worshipping my pussy with a ravaging appetite. He slipped a finger inside now and again, slowing my release, before bringing me to climax.
I inhaled a lungful of air, trying not to come. “So close,” I breathed, my fingers tangled in his hair. “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”
He did stop. Just for spite, if I didn’t know better. Then he lifted his head so I could see him lick his lips.
“What are you...No!”
He pushed up my legs, settling them on his shoulders, and then popped his swollen cock out of his boxers. I marveled at how those veins bulged along the shaft, the tiny pearls of pre-cum on the mushroom tip.
The freaking thing pulsed as he gripped it in his hand.
I’d only seen a few cocks in my life—one in particular, and this one didn’t look any different from that. Almost identical. I still loved it. Why people claimed only men liked to look at the opposite sex naked was ridiculous. A good, strong cock was a thing of beauty in my book.
“Shit, you’re freaking hung,” I said with true admiration.
Another grunt.
I couldn’t help it. He was almost as big as Chase. Almost.
Shit, I was having the best sex of my life, and still I couldn’t stop comparing.
Sidling close enough to me without penetration, Steve tickled my pussy hairs with his dick.
My breath came fast.
I was panting like I’d run a few hundred miles. I didn’t want to demand he fuck me and get it over with, and I didn’t want to come too fast, so I concentrated on my breathing.
A hot welcoming rise of lust sent a jolt of electricity to my brain.
We came together in a flurry.
I held my breath.
In and out. In and out.
Somehow, it didn’t help.
I could smell his arousal, musk-filled and needy as strokes of hot steel brought me to oblivion.
He lifted my hips, ran the head of his penis up and down my pussy. I bucked and spread my legs wider. I was beyond myself with need. Desperate for release.
“Oh God. Oh God. Please, Steve. Please.”
Then he kissed me.
Not your ordinary kiss.
My legs pushed into my shoulders. Hard. And I almost cried out. He kissed me with such jagged roughness, it took my breath away, but there was nothing I could do. It was brutal and rude. The kind of kiss from a lover who finds you with another man. The kind of kiss that bruises.
This was a kiss of control, or of regaining con
trol, like he wanted to own me.
Just as I was about to scream for him to let me up, untie my hands and let me go, he rammed his cock inside my pussy again, grinding our sexes into the mattress.
At first, all I saw was that strange face that was a mask moving over me, the feathers fluttering around the edge. The headboard made a rocking sound against the wall.
I felt strangely violated and a little scared, but then an orgasm ripped through me as the sculpted muscles of his arms and chest flexed.
He grasped the edge of the headboard.
Pushing. Pushing. He ground out his release.
Breathless, he collapsed on top of me. Everything seemed blurry and sweet, sticky cum coated my inner thighs. My pussy began to pulse and I peered into the most dazzling of smiles any man had every owned. He clicked his teeth as if to say, “there baby, how was that?”
“Fabulous,” I breathed. “Just fabulous.”
His breathing was strangled, but he looked supremely happy.
Was I happy? I thought so. Yeah. Maybe. So why were tears flowing down my face?
Chapter Ten
Chase
“What the hell are you complaining about? She likes you. Now all you have to do is make her fall in love with you all over again,” Zac said. He leaned back in his chair. He was just about to put his feet upon my desk when I glared at him. “I’m telling you, it’s a win, win. Just like the Peterson project.”
I rubbed my bruised lips. The lips that were still sore from smashing them into Abby so damn hard. “You try fucking your Ex when she thinks you’re another guy, and see how you feel about it.”
“You are that other guy!”
“She doesn’t know that.”
“She will. Eventually.”
“I’m surprised she hasn’t figured it out by now. Maybe she really wants me to be someone else.”
Zac chuckled. “Are you hearing yourself? You have Abby right where you want her, and all you can do is fantasize about how none of this is real?”
“It’s not real, Zac. She thinks I’m this Steve character.”
“So...”
“So I don’t like lying to her.”
“You want her back, don’t you?”
“Of course I do, but what if... I almost fucked it up last night! And I mean royally, man.”
The Christmas Secret Page 5