by Stella
“Did you think we were fucking in the bathroom?” Carl appeared perplexed.
“Yes. Stall two. You like to read the gossip over Jasmine’s shoulder.”
Jasmine bolted upright, grabbed Carl’s hand, and pulled him out the front door like her ass was on fire hollering, “Don’t wait up.”
We ordered in Chinese food, watched some horrid movie I couldn’t have been less interested in, and made out on the couch like we had in college. I wished I could say I was embarrassed at how wanton I’d become, but I wasn’t. I waited a long time to reconnect with Chris, and every time he touched me, it was as if he taunted me with another minute passing that we hadn’t become one.
I’d always loved his patience, that he let me lead in the physical arena, but enough was enough. I didn’t have it in me to wait for Chris to reserve a room at the Omni and take me out to some fancy dinner. I just wanted him. And when the credits rolled on whatever had been playing on the television, I stood and extended my hand. I didn’t wait for him to offer to leave or give him any room to question exactly what I wanted. He took my invitation and followed me to my room and closed the door behind us.
“Lock it.” My tone was raspy and seductive, although not intentionally. “I don’t want to risk Jasmine, or worse, Carl coming in after a night doing who knows what.”
He hesitated by the door as though he wasn’t sure what I planned to do. I giggled at his insecurity. I’d always been the one taking his lead, which I planned to do again, as soon as he took over. As I turned the bedside lamp on and then moved toward him to turn off the overhead light, he remained still, only moving his eyes to follow me around the room. There were so many things I wanted to do, memories I wanted to replay, and I struggled with which one to start with. Retaking his hand, I led him away from the door and closer to the bed.
With nothing more than a few inches between us, I reached for the hem of his shirt, pulled it from his slacks and started unbuttoning it at the top. His tongue snaked out to lick his lips, leaving a trail of moisture behind, and his eyes stayed trained on me. The two of us stared as I released each button from its hole, further exposing his chest. A smattering of hair appeared as I made my way down to the bottom, never releasing his gaze.
He’d tortured me with anticipation, and I hoped to repay the favor, yet I was having a hard time remaining composed at this pace. Thankfully, when I undid his belt and the zipper on his slacks, they fell to the floor in a weighted pool, leaving Chris in nothing other than his boxers and dress socks. The instant my fingers hit his bare skin, the patience he’d held onto snapped like a rubber band that was stretched too far. His injured hand captured my side while the other used my neck to bring me flush to him. He kissed me with abandon, breaking only to lift my shirt over my head, and then resume where he left off.
In no time, I’d shimmied out of my shorts and panties to feel every inch of his warm skin pressed to mine. I unfastened my bra and leaned back enough to allow it to fall down my arms and join the pile of clothes at our feet. When the fabric hit our toes, Chris stopped, keeping his eyes closed, and took a deep breath.
He chewed on his lip while I watched, wondering what went on inside his head. His chest heaved, and I waited with bated breath. “We don’t have to do this.”
The evidence of just how much we needed to do this pressed firmly against my stomach, and I let out a hearty laugh. “Oh yeah, we do.”
That was all the permission he needed to scoop me up and take us both to the bed where he lavished my body with attention, kissed me senseless, and then reminded me what it felt like to be loved by the only man who ever mattered.
Nestled between my thighs, his body flat against mine, it was as though there’d never been any time or space that had kept us apart. Chris pressed his lips just below my ear and worked his way down my neck to my collarbone. My back arched as he peppered me with intention. Then he stilled, and I opened my eyes. His hazel irises stared back at me, and the green and gold mixed with the brown in the most stunning transition of color I’d ever seen.
“I love you, Lexi. I’ve always loved you.”
With a gentle smile, I kissed his jaw, then whispered in his ear, “I love you, too, Chris. It’s always been you,” and used my heels to pull him into me—joining us.
16
Chris
“Chris…oh my God, Chris, stop.” Lexi couldn’t quit laughing while trying to shove against my shoulders. “We’re going to be late if you don’t cut it out.”
“Just one more, baby. Please,” I begged, even though I knew full well we didn’t have time.
“I swear to all that is holy, if you lick me again, I’ll…”
“You’ll what? What will you do, Lex?”
“I’ll…I’ll sleep with my panties on tonight.”
I couldn’t help but taunt her, especially after catching that gleam in her eyes, the same one that always told me she was bluffing. So I ignored her threat and covered her center with my mouth, flattening my tongue against her warmth. Not once did I drop my gaze from her face, as if daring her to stop me.
Instead, her eyes rolled back just before her lids closed, and her head fell into the feather pillow behind her. She arched her back and gave in to me by rocking her core against my tongue. Soft moans slipped past her barely parted pink lips while her nails dug into my forearms, which were wrapped around her thighs to keep them spread on either side of my head.
“That’s what I thought…” I murmured against the spot between her legs, the spot I couldn’t get enough of. Knowing if I took too long she’d snap out of the orgasmic-induced haze my mouth had put her in, I quickly slipped my hand between us and entered her with my middle finger.
Lexi always said just one was a tease, but that never stopped me. Teasing her was the best part.
It wouldn’t take long before she’d complain, beg me for more, so just when she began to squirm, informing me of her need, I added another, and then I curled them in the come-hither motion that drove her wild.
Having her come on my tongue was almost as good as her coming on my dick, but considering we should’ve been on our way to the church by now, sex was completely out of the question. However, my one complaint about burying my face between her legs was that it didn’t leave me much option to verbally communicate with her—good thing we didn’t often need words to understand what the other wanted, needed, or even thought.
“Oh my God!” That was most definitely not Lexi. Not only was it not her voice, but it wasn’t said with the kind of desperation Lexi always had before an orgasm. Instead, it was shrieked and filled with shock, maybe a bit of disgust. Also, it was followed up with, “My eyes!”
Lexi bolted upright, and I lifted my head just enough to see our unwanted intruder. Jasmine stood by the door with her back to us, her palms covering most of her face and her head swinging side to side with enough fervor to literally shake the visual from her mind.
“Oh my God.” Now that was Lexi. She quickly pulled on the hem of her dress to cover her, ignoring the fact I was still between her legs. Although as soon as she turned her stunned expression to me, and it morphed into a threat I knew she’d follow through with, I backed away, giving her room to lower her dress in place.
“Hey, you should’ve knocked.” There was no way in hell I’d be embarrassed by taking care of my woman.
Lexi and I may not have been married—yet—but that didn’t mean I hadn’t already written my vows. The first was, “I promise to enjoy all of you any chance I get,” because I had firsthand knowledge of how everything could change in the blink of an eye. And I would never take a second with her for granted again.
“Knock?” Jasmine turned to face me and narrowed her eyes, showing me just how appalling she found my statement. “I live here. Why the hell would I have to knock on my own front door? Maybe you shouldn’t have been doing that on the couch.” Then her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open to form a long O. “Really? The couch? Had I not walked in on that,
I could’ve sat in it. That’s just gross.”
“In our defense, you were supposed to be gone. And it’s not like you’ve never sat in ‘it’ before.” There was no need to add in that last part, but I didn’t care. One would think that working from home with Lexi would give us more time alone together, yet that wasn’t the case—at all. Jasmine and Carl were always there. Needless to say, I didn’t feel one bit bad for doing what we did where we did it. “Why are you here, anyway? Shouldn’t you be on your way to the wedding?”
“You mean, where you two are supposed to be? Yeah, except Candi called me to ask where her maid of honor was, so I stopped in to see if she was running late and needed help. Seems she’s running late because you were helping yourself.”
“Shit!” Lexi jumped up and grabbed her phone to check the time. “I knew we were cutting it close, but I didn’t think we were running that far behind.”
“Relax,” I told her. “We still have plenty of time.”
Lexi rolled her eyes and dismissed my smirk and wagging brows with a quick wave. “Your time is up, Chris. And you better believe I’ll be wearing panties to bed tonight.” She would’ve been more convincing if she hadn’t said it with a slight grin shadowing the corners of her mouth.
I stood up, thoroughly annoyed by our interruption. “Let me grab my shoes and we can leave.”
“Take your time getting ready.” She gestured to the bulge in my pants—thankfully, Jasmine couldn’t see her from the way we stood—and moved around me. “I’ll ride with Jasmine. See you there.”
“Love you,” I called out after her.
She stepped into her heels and pressed her lips to my jaw. As the two women walked out of the apartment, I overheard Jasmine say, “You may need to drive. I think I’m blind.” To which my girl quipped, “I know, my vagina is rather stunning, isn’t it?” Jasmine’s response of, “Like a diamond,” came just before the door closed, and I couldn’t stop the rolling laughter from taking over.
I hadn’t been to too many weddings, but I was sure most weren’t like CeeCee’s. I assumed based on the dress she’d chosen for Lexi that it would be colorful, although I don’t think I was prepared for just how colorful it would be. CeeCee wore white with a wide, flamboyantly purple ribbon wrapped around her waist that tied just above her ass in a gaudy bow. It matched her shoes, as well as Lexi’s and Jasmine’s dresses.
Christopher looked to be the most normal person at the altar with black slacks and a long-sleeved, button-down white dress shirt. Unfortunately, it was paired with a tie in the same purple that hung from CeeCee’s dress. I’d met his best man a few times over the last several weeks during the wedding planning process, although I hadn’t ever met the groomsman. Apparently, he was Christopher’s brother who lived out of state. He seemed normal, as did their parents. I still wasn’t sure how they felt about Christopher marrying CeeCee, though that wasn’t really my concern. She was happy, and I believed he was too, so I couldn’t object to their union.
The one thing about their wedding I appreciated was how fast it was. From the time CeeCee walked down the aisle to the moment they were pronounced husband and wife, it was less than ten minutes. The receiving line, where all twenty of us congratulated the couple before everyone moved to the reception, took longer than the actual ceremony.
“You guys go party without us. We’re leaving.” CeeCee beamed with excitement as the last person left the small chapel.
“Why are you leaving? It’s your wedding.” I was thoroughly confused. “I’ve never been married before, but I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to be at the reception.”
“We’re going to have our marital dance.”
“Again, CeeCee…I’m no expert at weddings here, but I’m fairly certain you have your first dance at the reception.”
“Eww, no. I’m not going to do that for the first time in front of everyone.”
Before I could question her again, Lexi pulled me aside and whispered, “They’re going to have sex.”
My confusion quickly turned into disgust. “They can’t wait?”
“I think they’ve waited long enough.” And with that, she dragged me to the decorated lawn next to the church.
With as small as the guest list was, it came as no surprise that there weren’t assigned seats. We picked a round table draped in white linen with purple confetti covering the top. Seriously, it looked like Barney threw up all over this wedding. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Carl and Jasmine joined us, taking two of the remaining four chairs.
“So listen…” Carl leaned closer to me and lowered his voice, glancing around as though worried someone would overhear. “I know you said you wanted to stay behind the scenes, but Aunt Lisa wants you to counsel Uncle Jerry.”
“What the hell are you talking about? I don’t even know who Lisa or Jerry are.”
Carl rolled his eyes as if he’d explained this already and I hadn’t been paying attention. “Lisa is Candi’s aunt, and Jerry is her husband. She says he’s lost the initiative…if you know what I mean.”
I really hoped I didn’t know what he meant. “Why are you even talking about this with CeeCee’s family, anyway? I may not have a marketing background, but I’m willing to bet a wedding isn’t the greatest place to advertise.”
“Are you kidding? This is the perfect place to find clients.”
“Regardless…no, I won’t ‘counsel’ anyone. I handle the tech support; Lex deals with the people. And even if I did, I wouldn’t take on anyone in CeeCee’s family.”
“Think about it.” He patted me on the shoulder and tossed me a wink, fully confident I would change my mind. “Imagine the success you two could have if you offered assistance to men, too.”
Dr. Fellatio had just gotten started—in fact, it was still so new we hadn’t even settled on a name yet. We all agreed Lexi needed something different, although none of us had come up with anything worthwhile. Not to mention, I wasn’t even close to being finished with all the behind-the-scenes work to get her up and going online.
The one good thing about this venture was the support we had. Not only did we have all of Lexi’s previous clients willing to help spread the word when we were ready to take it public, but we also had Jasmine and Carl. A few days after Lexi and I had left Seneca, those two followed. They had stayed long enough to ensure Brad got fired. Once his termination was final, they packed up their cubicles and gathered around Lexi and Jasmine’s kitchen table with us to discuss the plan. That also explained why Lexi and I didn’t have much time to ourselves. Although, that would change soon. She had agreed to move in with me at the beginning of next month, providing Jasmine could find a roommate. Carl had made numerous offers to take Lexi’s room, yet for whatever reason, Jasmine continued to turn him down.
I really had no right to complain—it had only been a few weeks since all this began. And as much as I wanted to have Lexi in my place and all to myself, there was a progression to everything. No matter how badly I wanted to, I couldn’t rush any of it.
“I already told you, Carl, I’m not taking part in this,” I reminded him again.
“We’ll discuss it during our next meeting.” If anyone ever overheard Carl talk about the business, they’d probably believe he was the CEO of some multibillion-dollar empire. No one would guess these “meetings” took place on a couch with one of us taking notes on a phone while Carl knocked a golf ball from one cup to the next with a putter.
The soft music playing through hidden speakers stopped, and a deep voice filled the open air, demanding everyone’s attention. “For the first time, please welcome Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Deie!”
I had to have heard him wrong. There was a program in front of Carl, so I snatched it, reading it for the first time and wondering how I hadn’t heard this before. There, in shiny purple letters, were their names, and I couldn’t stop myself from uttering, “Her name is now CeeCee Deie?”
Carl’s brow scrunched. “No, it’s Candi Deie.”
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�But it’s Deie like the letter D?” Apparently, I was the only one who found that funny. “Now what am I going to call her?”
“You could call her Candi like everyone else.” Carl never understood why I had refused to do so before. “This group has issues when it comes to names. First, it was Alex-slash-Lexi. Then you with your Patrick and Chris confusion. And Candi—or CeeCee as you call her. Now we’re dealing with Dr. Fellatio’s name changing. Well, let me be frank with you…my name is Carl.”
“Sure thing, Frank.” I slapped his shoulder and ignored his perplexed stare as I turned to Lexi. “I hope no one cares that they aren’t going to be here.”
No sooner than those words came out of my mouth, CeeCee and Christopher came through the fancy archway and into the courtyard holding hands. He had the biggest smile on his face while she looked a little stunned.
“I thought they—” My words were silenced by Lexi as she waved me off in a shooing motion. That’s when I noticed everyone clapping—well, everyone but me. I was still stuck in thoughts that bounced between her new name and why I hadn’t known about it earlier, and why they were here when they said they wouldn’t be.
I finally snapped out of it when the newlyweds made their way to the table where we sat. Christopher carefully pulled out one of the last two remaining chairs for CeeCee, and once she plopped herself down, he made a few attempts to push it back in—all of which the bride seemed too preoccupied to notice.
“Everything okay?” Lexi asked quietly with her hand covering CeeCee’s. Watching it made me feel like a voyeur, peeking in on an intimate moment between two close friends.
Before I could give too much thought to the game of connect the dots that led all six of us here, CeeCee’s head snapped up, her bright blues pinning me in my seat. Then her mouth opened, and out came a question that left me utterly speechless. “You took Alex’s virginity, right?”