by Mia Ford
Instead, I roamed around and finally settled myself at the bookstore where I tried to find some halfway decent magazine that would help me kill a little more time.
That was when a flood of memories came flooding back to me. I saw the woman across the food court looking right at me. She was absolutely gorgeous but before I could use my smirk on her she stuck her tongue out at me. Just like that. Like a spoiled little girl making faces at everyone when her mother's back was turned. At first, I thought she was just a loon that had wandered in out of the cold. Just because she had a hot body didn't mean she couldn't be bat-shit crazy. In fact, experience has shown that to be the case exactly.
But then I saw something familiar. She started to laugh and I remembered. It was my last party after high school. My father’s Bentley. Telula Grant.
In a matter of months, she had become this amazing grown woman. I couldn't help but stare at her for a few seconds before I got it together enough to approach her. I did smirk as I casually sauntered over to her.
When she stood up to greet me I nearly gasped. She was curvy and soft in all the right places. Her baby fat had given way to a tight stomach and her ass was up even higher than it had been before.
“Telula?” I mouthed the word as I approached her.
She nodded her head, her hair flopping playfully around her face.
"Merry Christmas, Lucas." She said happily. For a split second, I was sure she was going to slap me. That she was just pretending to be happy to see me just so she could embarrass me in public. But as I inched closer I didn't see anything like that in her eyes. All I saw was crystal clear happiness.
“Merry Christmas.” I stuttered. “This is weird seeing you here of all places.”
“Yeah, right? It was so beautiful this morning in New York when I left. Where did you hail from?” she asked with genuine concern.
“Oh, you know Dartmouth is in New Hampshire. I can’t say it was beautiful there but it was clear skies at least.”
“Have a seat and let me buy you a drink.” She offered. I was still suspicious but took a seat anyways. I couldn’t stop looking at her even if I wanted to. Her lips were smooth and pink and there was just a small smudge of eyeliner at the corners of her eyes that made her look sexy as hell.
I told her to keep her money. I never needed a woman to buy my drinks. Quickly I ordered myself a red wine and did as I was told, taking the seat next to her.
"So how is school going?" She asked. It was an absolute cliché and boring thing to ask but I answered her. I searched each syllable she uttered looking for the condescension in her voice but there was nothing. I waited expecting to see a mass of storm clouds pass over her eyes before she launched into me with a barrage of insults and threats for the way I treated her after the party. But nothing. The suspense was killing me as she told me about her classes and how excited she was to be back home but how much she loved New York.
“There is one thing I wanted to tell you.” She smiled devilishly. Here it comes was all I thought. This was it. It’s too late to get up and walk away now. Just listen to what she has to say then put her in her place. It will be easy. She’s obviously unaware of who she’s dealing with. Everyone in O’Hare International Airport will know what slut she is and maybe even more than that.
I felt myself squint at her as I waited for the shoe to fall.
"I thought about that time we spent together." She blushed madly. What? Was she serious? Did she want to talk about that? "When we were alone in your garage, in your dad's car."
Tilly shook her head letting her hair fall in front of her face while she grinned.
“I hope you don’t mind me saying this and I’m not saying it to make you embarrassed but that was so much fun.” She giggled.
“What?”
“Oh, don’t be a big jerk and pretend you don’t remember.” She playfully slapped my arm and batted her eyes at me.
"No. I remember. Of course, I remember." I swallowed hard. "I was expecting you to be mad at me."
“Let me guess. Because you were so mean to me after the fact?”
I sat there and waited for the attack to begin. I had my lines ready in my head and would start hurling the insults faster than she could imagine.
“I was mad at the time but not too much anymore.” She put her chin back in her hand and looked up at me from beneath her long black lashes. “I am over it.”
“You’re over it?” I balked.
“Yes. Besides, it’s Christmas. Peace on Earth and all that good will toward men. I can’t hold a grudge at this time of year, can you?”
“I bet I could.” I murmured and she laughed.
“Well, I can’t, Lucas.” Her smile was so warm I wanted to jump into it. She was sitting facing me with her hands folded in her lap innocently pushing her breasts together and leaving her thighs slightly parted. Everything about her reminded me of that time in the garage. But this was different. It was like I was suddenly with a grown mature woman and she was turning me on. “Are you and your family doing anything special?”
I cringed at the word family. It took a split second for Tilly to catch on.
“Dare I ask?”
“Ask away.” I pouted.
“Jenna is still with your dad?”
“Yup. She’s got her family and some friends at the house right now. That’s why I’m figuring let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow. I’m in no hurry to see any of them.”
“Did you know she was inviting all these people when you made your plans to come home?”
“Yes. That’s why I’m coming home on Christmas Eve and not last week. I thought I’d throw a couple of flies in the ointment.”
“Oh.” She looked down at her hands. “I’m coming home tonight because the fares are so much cheaper.”
I instantly felt like a jerk. But I wouldn’t let that feeling last for long.
“Are you hungry?”
She blinked at me.
“Well, I did have some French fries but I could…”
“Have you ever been in the VIP Lounge?”
“Sure. When I’m jet-setting to the United Arab Emirates I usually take the edge off with a visit to the VIP Lounge.”
I laughed at her. She never seemed to hold back and that was refreshing. How many people told me exactly what I wanted to hear all the time just on the off chance that I’d pick up the check. It was all so terribly boring. Tilly brought something fresh to the whole scene.
I took her by the hand and lead her through the airport to a set of closed doors with a very bored, very blonde female attendant guarding them. I reached into my wallet and pulled out a card. Handing it to her both Tilly and I watched her punch it into her tablet.
"Welcome, Mr. Prine." She said as she handed it back to me and opened the doors for Tilly and me to walk through.
“It really isn’t much.” I protested. “But it’s a little nicer than being so cramped with all the riff-raff.
“I found you loitering among the riff-raff out there.” Tilly teased. “But I will say that this is pretty swanky.”
I was actually having a good time watching Tilly’s eyes take everything in. We took a quiet table for two where I ordered us a couple glasses of champagne, shrimp cocktails, some antipasti with fresh bread and double chocolate cake.
“Are you sure you don’t want a steak or something?” I urged.
“No. This was fantastic.” She gushed.
“How about another glass of champagne?”
“No. Lucas. Really. This was so kind of you. See, I knew it.”
“What did you know?”
"I knew there was a really nice guy in there somewhere. I mean, I'm not trying to say you are evil and horrible. Actually, it must be hard in your shoes at times." She pinched her eyebrows together. "But just remember that there are some people who just want to know you for you. Hell, we went through four years of high school together and I never asked you for anything except to may
be quit teasing me." She shrugged up her right shoulder and looked at me seductively.
I was bewitched.
“You know you are incredibly sexy?” I whispered.
“You’re just saying that.”
"No. I mean it." I snapped my finger as I remembered something. "Tell me. That night of the party after graduation, why didn't you come looking for me?" I felt like an idiot asking her that question. Like I was one of those needy guys that get suicidal if their girlfriend doesn't call or text at least twenty times a day.
“Believe me when I tell you, Lucas, I wanted to. But I thought that you were probably used to that. So I wasn’t going to do it.”
“What?”
“You know I’m right. Besides, as soon as you left me you had your hands full with whats-her-name. Monica Smith.”
I had almost totally forgotten about Monica. I enjoyed the last time I was with her too but it was so sloppy, so business as usual that it was no wonder I hadn’t thought of her in months.
“That’s right. She broke Jenna’s painting.
“Jenna painted that? She’s got real talent.”
“No.” I laughed. “Jenna has no talents. Well, none that she can do in public. She bought that. Erik Hansen painted it.”
Tilly laughed.
“Now, let me ask you another question.” I watched her straighten in her seat. I wondered what kind of bra she was wearing underneath that tight shirt and if it were strained and tight like her white lace one had been. “Who was that red-headed guy you were with?”
“Red-headed guy? That was my friend Timmy. He doesn’t go to our school. I don’t know how he found out about your party. But he and Sean always had a way of sniffing out the big bashes.”
“He put his hands on you.” I hated how my voice sounded so insecure. What did I care? I had had my hands all over her, too. I didn’t hang my label on her. Or did I and I didn’t know it?
“I wouldn’t say he put his hands on me.” I watched Tilly shift in her seat shyly. “He just gave me a goose. He does it all the time.” She waved off my inquiry.
“Does it all the time? I’ll bet your current boyfriend won’t be very happy with that.” I watched her eyes bat and her cheeks blush. She was getting more beautiful by the minute.
"Oh, you are so smooth." She teased me. "I don't have a boyfriend."
“You don’t? I don’t know if I believe that.” I studied her face. She could be lying. Chances were that if she did have a man in her life he wasn’t as wealthy as I was. So if I had the door cracked she might push it in.
She’s not like Jenna. She’s not anything like Jenna.
The thought pushed itself into the forefront of my mind.
"I don't really care what you believe." She smirked. "I'm a single lady because I am up to my eyeballs with classes and work and I just don't have time to tend to the needs of a man."
“What about your needs?”
Tilly took a deep breath and I watched her breasts heave up high then settle perfectly back into place.
“Those are secondary right now.” She took a sip of her champagne. “If I work hard now I’ll be able to play hard later. Pretty simple.”
She didn’t say anything more after that. I could see her eyes flitting around the room looking at anything but me. I couldn’t read her and wondered what she could be thinking.
Chapter 15 - Tilly
Why is he asking me all these questions? I can see the lust in his eyes why doesn’t he just kiss me already? Are my signals not clear enough? How does a guy not understand the signals I’m sending? The lights on the runway aren’t as clear as the signals I’m sending up.
I couldn’t think of anything else to say to Lucas. He’d caught me off guard. I didn’t know how. Actually, I did know how to answer but I couldn’t be so bold as to say to Lucas Brine my needs are not being met by anyone. Care to help me out with that? Since you were the one to rock my panties right off maybe you’d like to do that again? I couldn’t say it. Could I?
I went to open my mouth and just blurt out my desires but Lucas’s cell phone cut me off. He pulled it out of the snug jeans he was wearing and smiled down at the message.
“Looks like my driver said the roads are almost clear. He’s just waiting to get into the airport passenger pick-up area.” He waved his finger around in a circle in the air.
“Oh, that probably means the taxis will be getting through too.” I let out a deep sigh. “Well, this was a really nice time, Lucas. I don’t think you can call it a date but I really enjoyed myself.”
“I did too.” He stood from his seat looking down and searching the floor as if he’d dropped something. “I did too.” He repeated himself.
As I stood up I watched his eyes follow my body. I bent down to pick up my napkin that had fallen to the floor and knew he was watching my backside as I did so. AS I slowly stood up I was sure to arch my back a little.
“Wow.” He mumbled. “You’ve got every guy in this place watching you.”
I looked around innocently and smiled back at Lucas.
“Well, I’m glad I got someone’s attention. I was doing everything I could to get yours and you just ignored me.” I pouted.
“You were?”
I let my arms fall limp at my sides.
“I thought I did everything but shoot off a flare.” I joked. “But now it’s too late. Your limo is waiting and I’ll have to stand in line for a cab. I could hop the Blue Line train but I doubt it’s up and running. A derailment in this kind of weather might take twenty-four hours to fix. I don’t know.”
“Do you know how much a cab costs to our neck of the woods?”
“I know it’ll cost me my Christmas money from my grandma.” I shrugged and chuckled.
“You’re not taking a cab.” I looked at Lucas. “You live about twenty minutes from my house, right? You’ll come with me.”
“I can’t let you do that, Lucas.” I shook my head. “Then I’d owe you and I don’t like to owe anyone anything.”
“What do you mean you’d owe me?”
“Look, you paid for my food and champagne and kept me company all the while being the perfect gentleman, darn it.” I sighed while grinning. “I can’t have a limo ride on my conscience, too.”
“Can’t you call it a Christmas present and accept it gracefully?” I froze. Those words sounded so sweet coming from Lucas. Maybe it was because I didn’t expect him to say such a thing that I finally nodded okay. Maybe it was because I felt that same feeling in my heart that I did after we had sex in his garage that I nodded okay. Maybe it was because I thought he felt the same way towards me. I don’t know. But as we made our way through the airport to the passenger pick-up my heart was racing and my palms were a sweaty mess.
“The airport always smells like caramel corn, did you ever notice that?” What was I saying? Jeez, I sounded like a complete spaz.
“They all have those popcorn places like no one can get caramel corn mixed with cheese popcorn in any other place on the planet.” Poor Lucas sounded just as nerdy as me.
As soon as we stepped outside a long black limousine honked and pulled up along the sidewalk.
Lucas waved without smiling as the driver put the stretch in park and got out.
“Hey, Clive. We’re taking Telula Grant home. She’s on the way.”
“Very good, sir.”
"Merry Christmas, Clive," I said. "I hope you don't have to work too late and can get home with your family."
“Merry Christmas to you, Miss Grant. Can I take your bag?”
I smiled and let Clive handle the luggage. It was absolutely freezing outside and I quickly climbed into the car before Lucas who slammed the door shut behind me. With the push of a button, he had the divider up between Clive and us.
“This might sound rude but have you ever been in the back of a limo before?” Lucas asked, like a peacock displaying his feathers.
“Yeah. When my great
Aunt Sophie died. She was 101 years young. That rhymes.” I chuckled nervously.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing, Lucas.” I had no words. My mouth had gone totally dry. My mind couldn’t form a sentence. “I mean, I can’t say it.”
“Sure you can.” He scooted closer. Clive was already in the front seat and I felt the vehicle start to move even though I could barely see out the tinted windows.
“What are you doing to me?” I whispered.
“What do you mean?” I could smell the same cologne he was wearing the one and only time we were ever together. It smelled especially good now with the crisp, sharp cold outside contrasting the warm scent.
I leaned into him.
“I think I had too much champagne. I’m not thinking straight.”
“What are you thinking, Tilly?”
I couldn’t stop myself. The words just tumbled out of my mouth and once they were out there was no taking them back.
“I’m thinking I want you right now.”
“That’s funny.” He sniffed. “I was thinking the same thing.”
This time he was the aggressor. He slipped his hand around my waist and before I could change my mind he pulled me to him pushing down on the seat. I felt sexy as he helped me peel off my shirt. I arched my back up and he buried his face in my breast, kissing and licking every inch as he rubbed them gently over my bra.