Cherish

by Evelyn Sola

  “How should I have introduced you?”

  “How you should have introduced me doesn’t matter,” she says with a flirtatious tone. “What matters now is how you introduce me going forward.”

  “Challenge accepted.”

  I kiss her again before walking to the driver’s side and start the car.

  She looks over at me as I lay my hand on her lap, but I keep my eyes on the road. Despite that, I don’t miss her the change in her breathing as I caress her thigh.

  CHAPTER 22

  ALEX

  I feel silly for worrying. The minute I walk in, I know Jason hadn’t told them I was coming. Jake and Sandy do a good job of wiping the surprised looks from their faces fast, but I still notice. All of that is forgotten when they both hug me as if they’ve known me all their lives.

  “You remember Alex.” That’s all the introduction I got. I don’t miss the playful smile on his face as he pulls out my chair for me.

  “Mellie’s friend?” Jake asks, mischief in his eyes. Jason ignores him as he throws a possessive arm across my shoulders.

  There is no awkwardness like I expected.

  “We’re going to the Museum of Fine Arts after we get our marriage license. You two want to tag along?” Jake asked.

  “Hell no,” Jason says before I can speak up. “I have to work tonight, and Alex promised to help me relax until I have to go in. And I’d rather have surgery without anesthesia before going to a museum, so you two have fun. It’s bad enough you dragged me to this fancy-ass breakfast place.”

  I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel.

  “I had no choice. They have a buffet here, otherwise Sandy would never decide on what to eat. We’d have to order everything on the menu.”

  Sandy pretends to be outraged by dramatically putting her hands on her chest. Halfway through her act, she bursts out laughing, making the crown of flowers in her hair nearly fall off. She’s more beautiful than I remember, with smooth, flawless skin and big brown eyes. She’s dressed casually today in blue skinny jeans and a pink V-neck tee. She has a blazer over her tee, shielding her from the cool air inside the hotel, but unlike the last time I saw her, her hair has been straightened with loose curls throughout.

  “So you say, but you’re the one who likes fancy places, not me. You get fancier by the day.”

  “That’s why I’m going to marry you. You’re my fanciest girl.” He leans over and kisses her. She smiles throughout the kiss, which causes me to smile too. I look over at Jason, but his eyes remain on me. I reach underneath the table and squeeze his thigh right before he grabs and holds my hand.

  “That’s what he does. He acts like he’s this regular guy until he sucks you in. One day you look around, and you’re surrounded by his fanciness,” Jason says playfully. “He told me I could move off campus and into the Clark condo nearby. The rent was cheaper than the dorm, so I said okay, sight unseen. Except, it’s not a condo. It’s a four thousand square foot penthouse. They never charged me any rent. And we had a housekeeper who kept the fridge stocked, cooked, and did our laundry.”

  Jacob shrugs, offering neither explanation nor apology.

  “I can’t believe you’re complaining about the finer things in life, Dr. Dupree,” I say as I take a sip of the most perfect mimosa I’ve ever had.

  Breakfast is amazing. Jake and Sandy talk to me the entire time while Jason keeps his arm across my shoulder during the entire meal. At one point, he leans over, kisses my cheek and goes back to his food.

  “Do you two have any last-minute wedding stuff to do?” That question gets me an exasperated groan out of them both.

  “We’re all done unless our moms throw another monkey wrench at us. Which they better not because we’ve said yes to everything they want.” Sandy laughs and looks at Jacob, who also laughs. “We forgot all about getting our marriage license until the wedding planner sent me a text to confirm we got it.”

  The waiter brings more mimosas for me and Sandy while she goes on a long rant about how exhausting planning a wedding has been, but she’s so looking forward to the honeymoon.

  “Well, I’m looking forward to your wedding. I’ve never been to Martha’s Vineyard,” I say to everyone at the table. “I’m glad you invited me since this one,” I jerk my thumb at Jason, “is taking his sister.”

  Jason laughs at me as Sandy and Jake exchange amused looks.

  “Says the one who told me she was interested in another man.”

  I blush, but then I say with fake confidence, “I was playing hard to get.”

  “I hate to break it to you, angel, but you weren’t that hard to get.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me. I try to be outraged at his words. I open my mouth and do an exaggerated inhale while putting my hands on my chest. He laughs and kisses me hard on the lips. “It was the best night of my life,” he whispers, and I melt into the kiss, forgetting about our tablemates until someone loudly clears their throat.

  Jacob has a smirk on his face, his eyebrows reaching the middle of his forehead.

  “I know you’re not talking, Jake. You can’t keep your tongue out of Sandy’s mouth for more than five minutes.”

  Sandy laughs, but then she nods in agreement, not the least bit embarrassed. To prove her point, she leans over and gives her fiancé a kiss far too sensuous for the breakfast table.

  “You keep kissing me like that, and I’m going to say screw the museum and get us a room,” Jake says to Sandy. She pulls away, tosses her napkin on the table and declares that it’s time for them to go.

  “No room, baby. We have stuff to do.”

  We say our goodbyes in the parking garage, and I watch as Jake opens the door to a sleek Porsche for his fiancée.

  “So,” Jason says a few minutes later as we drive through the city, in the opposite direction of his house. “Let’s get you a blow dryer and whatever else you need for my place.”

  I shake my head and tell him it’s unnecessary, but he drives to a nearby Target. We walk side by side as he pushes the shopping cart, and I pick out items.

  “You want to get something to wear to work tomorrow or do you want to go somewhere else? We can go to Macy’s. I can get you a dress for the wedding.”

  I drop my hand and forget all about the bottle of detangler when I hear his words. He’s not even looking in my direction but reading the label on the bottle of shampoo I just picked out.

  “Um,” I say, speaking slowly, “I’m going home tonight since you have to work, and I can buy my own dress. I’m going shopping with Ananda and Mellie tomorrow after work.”

  “I know I have to work, but I want you to stay. Invite Ananda over and have a sleepover. Don’t girls have pillow fights at sleepovers?” He reaches above my head and grabs two of the bottles of detangler and drops them into the cart.

  “I think that’s the plotline to a porno.”

  “Mm-hmm,” he says as he looks down the aisle before putting his hands on my breasts, giving them a squeeze. My nipples harden under his hand. He steps closer and kisses me deeply. Just as I’m wrapping my arms around his waist, the loud squeak of a shopping cart pulls me out of my lust-filled daze and brings me back to reality.

  “Let’s finish up so we can get out of here. I think the clothes are this way.” He maneuvers the cart out of the hair care aisle to the other side of the store.

  And that’s what we do. It takes about half an hour to find two outfits and check out. As soon as we pull into the detached garage, he grabs the bags and we run inside his house, undressing each other, our clothes making a pathway to his bedroom. The minute his door closes, we strip each other of our underwear, but we do nothing but stare at each other for several minutes. Finally, I reach over and trace my fingers down his flat, hard stomach. He lets out a loud breath when I do the same with the tip of his very hard cock.

  He massages my breasts, turning my nipples into firm pebbles after just one touch.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he says so
softly that I almost don’t hear him. “And these,” he says, squeezing my breasts again, “are amazing.” Without another word, he lifts me off my feet and tosses me onto his massive bed, the same bed we didn’t bother to make before we left for breakfast. He’s on top of me in an instant, his head between my breasts as he alternates between sucking and kissing them. He latches onto them so hard I know I will have purple patches for days to come, but I don’t care. I let him explore my body, and he does not disappoint. As much as I want to explore his, I let him have his moment, knowing I’ll get mine very soon. He touches and kisses every inch of me, telling me how beautiful I am along his journey.

  My mom always told me to be proud of my body, even the flaws. I’ve never had body image issues but being worshipped by Jason is a whole new level. I’ve never felt so confident or reveled so much in being a woman, his woman.

  “I think you were made for me, angel.” That’s the last thing he says before he slides his giant cock inside of me. We don’t speak again. The only sounds in the room are our moans of pleasure.

  CHAPTER 23

  JASON

  “Angel?” I reach over and shut off my alarm before reaching for Alex, but all I feel are the cold sheets. My mouth is dry and feels like it’s full of cotton. Despite the mid-afternoon hour, thanks to the help of my sun blocking shades, my bedroom is completely black. The only sound in the room is the soft whirring of the ceiling fan.

  I let out a loud groan and roll over, my mind still foggy from the deep sleep. I jump out of bed, still naked and sporting wood as I run to the shower, washing away the sleepiness and the sweet smell of sex.

  “Something smells good,” I say a moment later. Alex is dressed in the yoga pants and T-shirt we bought earlier and is stirring something on the stove. She points to a chair in my kitchen, and when I sit, she comes over and kisses me.

  “I made you breakfast,” she says against my mouth.

  “Breakfast? It’s four in the afternoon?”

  “You’ll love it.” She serves us scrambled eggs, bacon, and fresh fruit. We eat while she sits on my lap, and between bites, I put my head between her breasts and shake my head, causing her to throw her head back and laugh. I can feel the vibrations of her laughter on my face.

  “I can’t get enough of these,” I say against her soft skin.

  When I leave for work, she walks me to the door, kissing me deeply. I promise to come and find her in her office before I leave the hospital in the morning. Giving her breasts one last squeeze, I pull myself away and walk out my front door.

  The minute she locks the door behind me, my vibrating phone bursts my bubble of bliss. It’s the same unknown number. I hit ignore and put the phone back in my pocket, unwilling to let Natalie or anyone else ruin what’s been a perfect day.

  I don’t make it halfway to the train station when my phone vibrates. I ignore it, but it starts to vibrate again almost immediately.

  At the end of my rope with these constant attempts at contact, I finally snap.

  “Stop calling me.” The words are bitter and come out through my clenched teeth.

  “So, you do know how to use a phone?” I pull the phone back from my ear and look at the screen, making sure it’s the same number. Her voice is usually flirtatious, bordering on overconfident, but that’s missing today. She’s more irritated than confident.

  “Yes, and I’ve been using my super phone skills to ignore your calls. This is the last time I’ll take one of your calls. Go back to your husband.” My words come out fast, some spit flying out of my mouth.

  “I need to see you, Ty.”

  “Don’t you fucking call me that!”

  “It’s your name, Jason Tyler Dupree,” she taunts. Now the confidence is back. Her taunting nature that I used to find sexy is now so irritating, I want to toss my phone across the damn street. Ty used to be our private joke. Everyone thought it was just a shortening of my middle name, and since we had two other friends named Jason, it was assumed it was a way for her to differentiate us, but that’s not it. She started calling me that after she agreed to let me tie her up the first time.

  Only we know the real meaning, and every time she would call me Ty, her eyes would practically undress me. I used to go crazy whenever she would call me that. Now, it makes my blood turn cold, and for whatever reason, I feel like I’m betraying Alex.

  “I’ve moved on, Natalie. Stop calling me. I don’t love you. I don’t miss you. I don’t want to be with you ever again. Is that clear enough?”

  She takes a deep breath before she speaks again. “Tell me how you really feel.” She sounds pained. I open my mouth, but she speaks first. “Listen, it’s not always about you, okay? This is serious.”

  Unwilling to play her games any longer, I say, “What’s so damn serious, Natalie? Say it so that I can hang up and never have to speak to you again.”

  “Not speaking to me ever again might not be an option anymore, Jason. I can’t say it over the phone. I need to see you. When’s your next day off? I can come to you.”

  “Are you fucking deaf? I just said I don’t want to see you anymore. You’re married and—”

  “As if my marriage mattered to you when you were fucking me. You fuck me much better than Daniel ever could.”

  She’s taunting me, waiting for me to remind her how she shouldn’t have married him, that she should be with me instead, but those days are over. “I never fucked you when you were married, Natalie. If you weren’t such a liar, I wouldn’t have touched you while you were engaged either. That was the worst mistake of my life. Almost as big of a mistake as taking this pointless call. Your games won’t work. I’m going to block this number, and when you call from a different number, I’ll block that one too. Eventually, you’ll get it through your thick skull that I want nothing more to do with you.” I hit end, not caring or hearing whatever the hell she was yelling. I resist the urge to throw the phone against the sidewalk and slide it back in my pocket.

  Thankfully, the night is slow, and after performing an emergency small bowel resection, I get a couple of hours for a break. Despite the slow night, I’m irritated and short-tempered with the nurses and other residents.

  The call with Natalie has put me off my game. I’ve known her for over a decade. I know her and her ways, but there was something off about the phone call. As I think back, there was an urgency in her voice when she said she needed to see me. Normally, the request would come off as flirty or sexual. I would know exactly why she wants to see me, but there was none of that when she made her demand. It’s almost as if she sounded scared, but I push that thought out of my mind. Fear is an emotion I’m sure Natalie has never experienced in her life. Whatever it is, it’s not my problem. She’s not my problem, so I push all thoughts of her out of my head and focus on the best part of my life.

  The flashlight from my phone is the only source of light in my dark on-call room as I scroll through the pictures she sent me.

  She’s still in the yoga pants and V-neck tee I left her in, and her hair has gotten even bigger. She has her mouth open, faking surprise at the camera and holding one of the couch pillows as if she’s about to hit Ananda on the head.

  I can’t even get upset at the mess of open Chinese food cartons on my coffee table and the opened bottles of my expensive imported beer. She taunts me in the next picture by holding a bottle of that beer and pointing her index finger at it. The next photo is of her drinking from the bottle.

  My boyfriend has the best stuff. That’s what she typed when she sent that last picture.

  You’re my best stuff.

  I don’t even care if my response sounds corny. Since I send it in the middle of the night, I know she won’t see it until she wakes up, which leads me to the final photo, which is nothing but her cleavage. She’s pushing her breasts together, and my mouth waters at the sight, at the same time I must deal with the frustration of not seeing her nipples.

  She’s lying in the middle of my bed, the sheets even more rump
led than before. I start to text that I miss her but decide to tell her in person when she gets to work.

  “Jesus, are you going to swallow her head, Jason? You two are disgusting.” I don’t even break the kiss as I give Mellie the middle finger. This causes Ananda to laugh.

  “I bet Doyle never kissed you that way,” Ananda says. Alex stiffens in my arm, but that doesn’t last long because I deepen the kiss even more.

  “Like he ever could,” I finally say, breathless, after ending the kiss.

  “All right, Jason.” Ananda gives me a high five before she grabs Mellie and they both walk through the door of their office.

  “I wish you could come home with me.” I press my body against her, pressing her into the wall. I know she can feel my hard-on because she moans and bites on her lower lip.

  “Gotta work, Dr. Dupree.” She reaches up and strokes my face. “And you look exhausted. Go home and get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” My voice is louder than I intended, but then I remember I have to work again tonight.

  “Come on,” she says. “I’ll walk you out.”

  I throw an arm over her shoulders and she puts an arm around my waist. We’re oblivious to everyone and everything else until we reach the front revolving door of the hospital. John Doyle comes from our right, heading for the same exit, but his footsteps stall when he sees us together.

  I don’t know if Alex notices, but he stops, pretending to look through his phone instead of walking through the front door. I stop and turn to face Alex while Doyle spies on us.

  “You’ll need something white for Friday’s all white party, and we have the brunch at Sandy’s mother’s house on Monday.” I kiss her nose, knowing if I kiss her lips, I’ll drag her out of this hospital with me.

  “You want me to go to the brunch with you?” she asks playfully.

  “I want you to go everywhere with me.” I place my hand under her chin and tilt her head up. “Everywhere.”