Taming the Tramp

by Amy DeMeritt

  “No, I don’t have plans. Carrie is making some food right now. Have you eaten?”

  “No, not since breakfast.”

  “I’ll go ask her to make enough for you too.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  Janae pulls me up from the couch, and with her hand in mine, we go to the kitchen. Carrie looks up from cutting cucumbers for a salad and smiles.

  “Hey, are you staying for dinner?”

  “If you have enough.”

  “Yeah, I saw you come in, so I made an extra burger patty to put on the grill. Did Jack tell you about her big experiment she wants to do?”

  “She did. Jack, can you give me a few minutes alone with Carrie?”

  I give Janae a kiss on the cheek and grab a beer from the fridge. Carrie looks nervous, but she doesn’t object to me leaving. Janae follows to make sure I don’t linger in the hall or junction way, then she goes back to the kitchen. I sit down on the couch and start working through all of the text responses on my phone to reassure everyone I’m fine. Their concern is actually very surprising and feels really nice. I honestly didn’t think most of them cared about me this much.

  My arrangement with Tanisha is still so new that I don’t know what to think about it and I haven’t sent her a text yet. She has been over twice since the day of my interview and both times were similar to the first. We have some great sex, then hang out – drinking and eating while we talk and she plays video games.

  Me: I have a question for you.

  Tanisha: Hey! I was just thinking about you. I found a new beer I think you’ll love. Do you want to hang out Saturday? I’ll bring a couple of cases of beer and we can order some pizza and you can cheer me on while I beat the next level on that game.

  Tanisha: Oh, and what was your question?

  I laugh a little as my face spreads into a huge smile. She is so adorable.

  Me: You already answered it. Saturday sounds great.

  Tanisha: Oh, were you missing your big geek?

  Me: You just made me laugh really hard.

  Tanisha: That’s good. You have a great laugh. What’s your favorite kind of candy?

  Me: Red Hots

  Tanisha: Seriously? I love those! Ok, I’m going to bring a couple of boxes. Anything else you want? I’m at the store right now.

  Me: Not that I can think of.

  Tanisha: Ok, let me get out of here then. These people are driving me crazy. Why are people so rude? I swear, if I had my armor and sword, they wouldn’t be busting into my shopping cart and pushing me around like this! They would be throwing themselves down to cushion my path.

  Me: I’m laughing so hard right now. You’re so fucking adorable. I’ll see you Saturday.

  Tanisha: Thanks. I’ll see you around noon.

  “Hey, honey, did you find us something to watch?”

  Janae sits down next to me and places a hand on my thigh while she takes a sip of her beer.

  “No, not yet. I was fielding questions and talking to Tanisha. She’s going to come over Saturday around twelve to binge on junk food and play her video game. Is everything ok with you and Carrie?”

  “Yes. Hand me the remote.”

  “Why did I have to leave?”

  “Because. Don’t worry about it, sweetie.”

  “Ok.”

  She smiles as she accepts the remote from me and I wrap my arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close. I kiss her cheek and the side of her neck before laying my head on her shoulder. She caresses my cheek so I lean into her more, and she releases a cute giggle as I push her back into the corner of the couch so I can lay on her chest. She repositions with me and places her hand on the side of my head to trace her fingers over my short buzz cut hair. It feels really nice and causes me to release a purring moan against her soft warm breast.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too, honey.”

  “Do you want something more comfortable to wear?”

  “Yeah, lend me some shorts and a tee shirt. Dinner should be ready soon so let’s do it now.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Carrie starts to stand up, but I grab her hips and pull her down onto my lap. She laughs and smacks my shoulder.

  “Let me up. I have to go to work.”

  “No. I’m going to call out for you.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re going to let me up.”

  I groan and bury my face in her chest. She gets a good grip on my short hair and yanks my head back, causing arousal to spark between my thighs. I inhale deeply and quickly throw her down on the couch to lay on top of her. She laughs hard and pushes up on my shoulders.

  “Get off.” She continues to laugh and squirm as I playfully bite her neck, breasts, and sides. “Jill is training a new girl today so I have to be there.”

  “A new girl, huh? What does she look like?”

  Carrie scoffs and slaps my cheek, which makes me laugh. I lay flush against her and she gives me a stern look. “You better not come in there and flirt with her.”

  “Stay home and I’ll give you my word that I’ll stay away from the new girl.”

  “That’s not fair. You’re asking me to screw over Jill and the rest of the staff. You’re not having to really give up anything.”

  “Fine. I’ll let you go.”

  I start to get off of her, but she pulls me back, and with narrowed eyes, she asks, “And, what about your promise?”

  “Well, you won’t stay home, so I don’t think you did anything to earn that.” She slaps my cheek while deepening her scowl, and I laugh hard. I kiss her lips and wiggle her nose. “Ok, I promise, I’ll stay away from the new girl.”

  “Good. Thank you. Now, get off of me. Go do something today. You’ve been in the house for days. Just behave – no hooking up with random women.”

  “What am I supposed to do for fun?”

  She laughs as she pushes up on my shoulders. “You’ll figure it out. You’ve survived three weeks being limited to three women. You can survive today till I get home.”

  “Go in late so we can get wild before you leave me.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Go in late so I can hold you in the jacuzzi and wash your body and kiss on you.”

  She smiles as she caresses my cheek then firmly pats it a few times. “I can’t. Stop tempting me and get up.”

  I dramatically fall into the corner of the couch with a disgruntled pout. She giggles and ruffles my hair.

  “You better be gone before I get back down here to leave for work.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Because, you’re turning into a couch potato.”

  “Are you saying I’m getting lumpy?”

  She laughs hard and shakes her head. “No, you’re still sexy. Just get out of here.”

  “Fine. When did you get so damn bossy?”

  She just grins at me as she walks out of the room. I exhale hard in defeat and roll off of the couch to get ready. I already showered this morning so I just have to get dressed. I decide to go waste away in the sun at the beach since Carrie is kicking me out and I can’t do it in my own backyard. I put on a bikini, board shorts, and a tank top, with flipflops on my feet.

  I send Janae a text to see if she’ll go with me, but she responds pretty quickly that she has to finish a wedding cake today. This is the last week of school, so I know Lindsay has to be there today, so I don’t bother asking her. And I know Tanisha is working on a big magazine article deadline, so I don’t want to tempt her away from work.

  Since I started my sex cleanse, I’ve been pretty limited to who I can hang out with this month. I tried to just hang out with a few different women while the others are busy, but it started to turn into more, and I had to quickly remove myself from the situation so I wouldn’t fail my experiment. It’s hard seeing that I’m disappointing someone, so I’ve just been avoiding any of my friends I’ve been fucking, so I’m not tempted to have sex with them.

  As I’m parking, my stomach churns
with hunger, so I decide to get something to eat before claiming a plot on the beach. I walk down the promenade and pick the first place that doesn’t look too crowded, which happens to be a favorite of ours when I come to the beach with Janae and our friends.

  I sit down at the bar, and the bartender places a menu and a drink coaster down in front of me.

  “What can I get you to drink?”

  “I’ll have a bottle of that local Orange Grove pale ale.”

  I nod towards a chalk board with a special written for the local beer, and she nods as she reaches under the counter. She pops the cap off of a frosty chilled bottle and sets it on the bar top for me.

  “Thanks.”

  “Sure. Just wave when you’re ready to order food.”

  I take a sip of the beer and smile. This is really good. I think Janae will really like this so I take a picture of the bottle so I’ll be able to pick some up for the house.

  “Jack Hart.”

  I look up from my menu, and as my eyes lock with hers, I laugh and my head falls forward, shaking in disbelief. I run a hand through my hair, and slowly raise my gaze to meet hers as she sits down next to me with a proud grin on her face.

  “Marissa, right?”

  “Wow, you remember my name. I must have left an impression on you. I hope it was a good one.”

  “No offense intended, but I’m just good with names and faces.”

  “None taken. So, where is your flock of beautiful women?”

  “Working. Where is your posy of dyke haters?”

  She laughs as she turns on her stool to face me full on. She’s actually dressed in clothes today. She’s wearing short jean shorts and a loose tank top with flipflops on her feet. Her dark brown hair is hanging loose over her shoulders, which is a nice look for her.

  “I’m sorry about that.”

  “If you didn’t know who I am, would you still be sorry, or are all of the dollar signs in front of my name changing your opinion of me?”

  “Believe it or not, I came to apologize to you before I knew your name. I just didn’t do a very good job of it.”

  “Yeah, you pretty much blew that.”

  “Can we start over?”

  “Why?”

  “Because, I want a chance to prove I’m not the giant bitch you met on the sidewalk.”

  I look around her side to side with an exaggerated confused expression, and ask, “You are Marissa, aren’t you?”

  She laughs and playfully shoves my arm. “Shut up. So, are you going to ask me to have lunch with you, or not?”

  “Fine, whatever. I’m bored enough.”

  She laughs and shoves my arm again. I wave at the bartender, and she walks over from talking to a group at the other end of the bar.

  “Are you ready to order?”

  “Actually, I’d like to move to a table.”

  “Sure. Hey, Sue, can you get these two a table?”

  A waitress walks over after placing a couple of wrapped bundles of flatware on a table that she just bussed.

  “Hi, there! You can bring your beer.”

  She waves us forward and we follow her to a booth on the other side of the restaurant. She gives Marissa a menu and asks if she wants a drink, which Marissa answers with saying she’ll have what I’m drinking.

  “You might as well bring two. I’ll finish this before you get back.”

  “Coming right up.”

  “So, have you been stalking this restaurant waiting for me to appear again?”

  She releases a small laugh and shakes her head. “No, I work a few shops over. I was just here to pick up my paycheck and get some lunch.”

  I pull my buzzing cellphone out of my pocket and furrow my brow in concern because it’s Trish calling from her work line.

  “I’m sorry, but I need to take this.”

  “That’s fine.”

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Jack – big problem with the service pack we built for the RDM program.”

  “What’s going on with it?”

  “When we run a command, it’s hitting the server like a million times and crashing everything.”

  “Go into the registry and check the coding of the command protocol for the requestor results.”

  “Ok, hang on.” I listen to Trish typing and then she starts laughing. “Son of a bitch. How did I miss that? Fucking Sammy must of fat thumbed this shit or something. Ok. I’ll correct this and test run it again. If you don’t hear from me, we’re all good.”

  “Get someone cleaning those disc images first so you don’t crash the damn servers again.”

  “On it, boss. Oh, and your anti-social ass needs to throw a party this weekend. I need some excitement in my life.”

  “Yeah, fine. I have to go.”

  “Whoa, hold up, are you with a woman? I knew you couldn’t make it a whole month without…”

  “No, it’s not like that. I have to go.”

  She laughs like she doesn’t believe me, and says, “Sure, I’ll talk to you later.”

  I hang up rolling my eyes and put my phone back in my pocket. “Sorry about that.”

  “It’s fine. I have no idea what any of that meant, but it sounded very important and nerdy.”

  I laugh and pick up my fresh beer to take a sip. “It was both.”

  “Hi, there. Are you ready to order?”

  I look at Marissa to answer, and she smiles as she lifts her menu and points to an item while looking at the waitress.

  “I’ll have the mandarin orange salad, but instead of chicken, can I have it with the sesame crusted ahi tuna and wasabi dressing?”

  “Absolutely. And for you?”

  “The braised beef sliders with sweet potato fries.”

  “Sure. Anything else I can get for you while you wait?”

  “Two shots of tequila, please.”

  The waitress looks at me, as if for confirmation that it’s ok that Marissa ordered a drink for me, so I smile and shrug a shoulder.

  “Yeah, sure, why not?”

  The waitress nods and walks away to put our order in. I quirk an eyebrow at Marissa and she smiles as she leans forward on her forearms.

  “So, do you still think I’m a warty toad faced hag?”

  I run a hand through my hair and lean back. I take a sip of beer and just stare at her for a few moments. She continues to smile at me while she studies my face and waits for an answer.

  “What do you want from me, Marissa?”

  “A chance to be with you.”

  “Why? You made it pretty clear on the sidewalk that you’re not attracted to me.”

  “Haven’t you ever gone against what you really want or like just to fit in?”

  “Do I look like I worry about fitting in?” She releases a small laugh and blushes. She shakes her head and leans back some to take a drink of her beer. “Besides, you weren’t exactly put on the spot to react to me looking at you or to talk to me at all. You made the decision all on your own to walk over to me to try to make me feel like shit for having the nerve to even look in your direction.”

  “How many times do I have to apologize before you believe me?”

  “It’s kind of hard to believe this isn’t just about my money because of how you reacted after you looked me up on your phone.”

  “I don’t want your money.”

  The waitress sets the shots of tequila down in front of us, and after she walks away, I hold up a hand, stopping Marissa from picking up her shot.

  “I do not date, and the most important women in my life have already ended any chance there may have been for us to ever fool around together. So, I don’t think…”

  I jump in my seat and quickly reach under the table to push her foot out from between my thighs. She smiles as she fights my attempt to block her from my groin, which is hammering hard with arousal from the brief moment of contact.

  “What are you doing? Stop it.”

  She giggles and lifts her shot as she nods towards mine. “Do a shot wi
th me.”

  “No, get your foot out of my crotch.”

  “Jack, relax. No one can see what I’m doing.”

  “I don’t care about that. I care about not being violated. Remove your foot, now.”

  “Just relax and do a shot with me. I’m very good with my foot. Trust me, you don’t want me to stop.”

  The table is really obstructing my ability to get a good angle to resist her, but after some difficulty, I’m able to shove her foot down, and I quickly stand up from the booth. She rolls her eyes and slumps back against the booth.

  “Come on, lighten up, Jack. Are you really going to let those bossy girls decide when you can enjoy yourself? They’re not even here, but I am, and I want to make you feel good. Do you want me to go down on you instead? I am really good with my mouth.”

  My insides are contracting and my clit is pulsing with need, leaving me frozen to the spot and unsure what I do. The old Jack would be sitting in that booth allowing her to play between my thighs with her foot. Is there really an old and new Jack? Why am I hesitating to be with her? The girl is hot, and she claims she wants me, which is typically enough to get me to fuck a girl. So, why I am hesitating?

  “Come on, Jack. Sit down and have lunch with me.”

  She takes my hand and tugs me forward. I slowly sit back down, and she pushes my shot of tequila forward. We take our drinks, and I chase it with a few sips of beer. With lust in her eyes and her lips curled in a grin, her foot slowly glides up the inside of my leg and presses against my groin. I swallow hard and inhale deeply. It feels really nice, and I like the look on her face while she stares in my eyes. She’s smiling and her eyes are slightly glossed over, as if this is really turning her on.

  Janae would be very disappointed in me right now. Carrie would be furious. Even Lindsay and Tanisha would think I’m crazy to allow this. Jill would probably cuss me out. And I know damn well the other fifteen women I had to temporarily cut off would be furious right now. Hell, a few of them would want to scratch Marissa’s eyes out right now.

  I jump back out of the booth shaking my head and pull my wallet out of my pocket.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t do this. I need to go.”

  “Wait, are you serious? I know you were enjoying it.”