An Unplanned Lesson

by Beth Rinyu

  “Oh, honey, don’t be embarrassed. I think it’s sweet that you’re in touch with your feminine side,” I said, smiling widely and trying my best to hold back the laughter. I knew that I was probably going to get paid back big time for this, but I didn’t care. I was having too much fun watching Mr. “Smooth Moves” O’Maley squirm.

  “Oh no, dear, don’t you dare be embarrassed. I think that’s wonderful; you know all the girls at work say he’s a wonderful dancer. I guess all those ballet lessons paid off,” Mrs. Allan said just as I was taking a sip of my wine, making me almost choke from the laughter that I was trying to stifle.

  Dailan had a wry smile on his face. “Well, if you’ll excuse us, I would like to dance with my lovely girlfriend,” Dailan said as he abruptly whisked me away to the dance floor.

  He pulled me close as I tried to back away to put a little distance between us. But it was of no use as he just tightened his grip even harder. “What’s the matter now; you don’t want to play the role of my girlfriend?”

  “Well, maybe if you weren’t making your obnoxious comments and trying to grope me right in front of them, then you would be going to a hockey game on Friday night.”

  He looked at me with a mischievous grin. “Oh, Miss Morgan, you think you are so slick but you have no idea who you’re messing with. I don’t get mad – I get even.”

  “Bring it on, Mr. O’Maley.”

  Chapter 14

  The rest of the night went rather well and I actually was beginning to enjoy myself after a few more glasses of wine. While Dailan was out on the dance floor keeping his promise to adoring female fans, I was getting to know Mr. Rick Kincaide a little bit better. Rick was another lawyer who worked for Dailan’s company, who gave a whole new meaning to tall, dark, and handsome.

  “So how long have you been dating O’Maley?” he asked. I could tell right away that there was a little animosity between the two of them just by the tone in his voice.

  I looked over at the dance floor to see the two women who had greeted us when we first came in, making a poor attempt at dirty dancing with Dailan. I rolled my eyes and looked back to Rick. “Oh, I don’t know, not that long.”

  “Well, that’s kind of rude. He has a beautiful woman like you and he’s out there hanging on other women,” he said.

  I shrugged my shoulders as if I really didn’t care. But once I got to thinking, it was kind of rude of him. After all, everyone here thought I was his girlfriend and he was making quite a spectacle of himself on the dance floor with those other women.

  “So, Nicole, how old are you?” Rick asked.

  “Twenty-five,” I answered. I was suddenly starting to become very uncomfortable with the way he was looking me over and I was wishing that Dailan would finish up so we could leave.

  “Well, O’Maley’s a really lucky guy. Here’s my card with my cell number, well you know, if things don’t-” he was just about to hand me his business card when I felt someone grab me tightly around my waist. I was actually grateful to look up and see Dailan.

  “Come on, Nicole, let’s go,” Dailan said.

  “Ah, O’Maley, I was just keeping your beautiful girlfriend here company while you were dancing it up with Debbie and Tina,” Rick said with a sarcastic edge.

  Dailan had a look of disgust on his face and for the first time since I had known him, he actually looked serious. “I bet you were.”

  “Nicole, now,” Dailan demanded. I shot him a dirty look to let him know that I didn’t take orders from anyone. But I could tell by the look in his eyes that there was a reason for his urgency. I didn’t put up a fight and even allowed Dailan to take me by the hand as we walked out.

  We walked outside to wait for the car. “FYI, if you ever do get a real girlfriend, the whole possessive boyfriend act is a real turnoff,” I said sarcastically.

  “Yeah, well, you should be thanking me right now,” he said.

  “Oh really, why is that?” I laughed.

  “That guy is a total scum.”

  “Well, just by the way he mentioned your name I would say that the feeling is mutual.”

  “Yeah, well, he can kiss my fuckin’ ass.”

  “Don’t you mean arse?” I began to giggle. Dailan looked at me and smiled, erasing the uncharacteristic serious expression that was on his face just moments ago.

  We pulled into the driveway and Dailan walked me to my door. I had decided on the car ride home that I would allow him a goodnight kiss. “Well, thanks for coming with me,” he said.

  “You’re welcome. I had a lot of fun embarrassing you in front of your boss.” I laughed.

  He shook his head and smiled. “Just remember, I get even.”

  “Well, good night,” I said, looking up at him and hoping that he would read the expression on my face, which was – kiss me you fool.

  “Good night,” he said, waiting for me to turn the handle on my door and walk inside, before he headed down the steps and to his car. I was in shock as I closed the door behind me. Not even a kiss on the cheek; what the hell? I charged up my credit card for a dress that I couldn’t afford and undergarments that I had no business wearing and I didn’t even get one lousy kiss out of the deal! My plan had backfired right in my face. Now it was I who wanted him more than anything. Then I remembered what he said about getting even. This was his way of paying me back for my ballet comment that I had made to his boss. Oh well, I would just have to think of something better to one up him. I kicked off my shoes and I was heading into my bedroom when I heard my doorbell ring. I opened the door and smiled inwardly when I saw it was Dailan.

  “Do you always answer the door at this hour of the night without asking who it is?” he asked.

  “Tell me about it; look what I just let walk in,” I said, raising my eyebrows at him.

  “Do you ever just shut up?” he asked.

  “Did you forget something, Mr. O’Maley?”

  “I believe I did,” he said as his lips came crashing down on mine, and his tongue invaded my mouth. I responded back just as eagerly, meeting the intensity of his kiss with each stroke of our tongues. Our lips finally disengaged and he stared down at me with a smoldering look in his eyes that drove me crazy. I rubbed my thumb against the scruff on his face. “Screw getting even,” he said as he pushed me up against the wall and began to kiss me again, this time leaving me breathless. His hands began to move up and down my body and unlike earlier, instead of stopping him, I encouraged him, pressing my body into him. I quickly began to remove his already loosened tie. I was waving the white flag and I wasn’t ashamed to admit it; I wanted him – now! He lifted me off the ground effortlessly, placing me in his arms. We both began to laugh as I pointed him in the direction of the bedroom. We continued our kiss once in the bedroom as he quickly removed my dress over my head. His hand and mouth began to examine every inch of my body. I had never felt so vulnerable yet so at ease. I began to unbutton his shirt. He helped me out by undoing the last of the buttons and throwing it on the floor. His body was just as I had imagined it underneath his clothes. His chest was rock hard and his arms were perfectly sculpted with a tribal tattoo encircling his left upper arm.

  I undid his belt buckle and began to unbutton his pants. I could feel him pressing up against me and I knew he was just as ready as I was. He took my hand and gently guided it away from his pants. “Not so fast.” His voice sounded even sexier than it already normally did. He lay me down on the bed and was on top of me as he moved my hair out of the way and kissed my neck, sending chills throughout my body. When he took off my bra, I was a little self-conscious that he was now seeing that real size of my chest and not that overinflated back breaker that I was wearing all night. It didn’t seem to bother him as he slowly made his way down to my breasts; he began to graze them lightly with his lips and then his tongue.

  “Oh, Dailan, please!” The torture of wanting him so badly made me cry out. He lifted his head up and met my gaze. He gave me that same crooked smile that always made me me
lt. I was unable to smile back; I was in such a state of pleasurable torture. He ignored my pleas as his lips slowly trailed down my stomach, finally stopping between my legs. His tongue began its delightful assault on my body. I could no longer hold back as I gripped the sheets and let out a scream of pleasure. He finally stopped, looking like he was satisfied with the outcome of his work. He quickly removed his pants and boxers. He reached for his pants from the floor and took a condom out of his wallet. The seconds that it took him to put it on seemed like hours. My body was yearning to have him inside of me. He stood over top of me and I watched as he slowly buried himself in me. My body was still sensitive from the intensity of the orgasm that I just had. I took a deep breath once he was completely inside of me. It felt perfect. I was getting more turned on by the look of pleasure on his face. He began to move slowly at first, making sure that I was comfortable. I pulled him closer in an effort to signal to him that I was fine. He began to move harder and quicker, taking my body by surprise with the intensity of his thrusts. It didn’t take me long to adjust and respond positively. He was breathing heavily. I moved my hands up and down his back as he continued to move about inside of me. He took me to my point of pleasure several times before he finally buried his face in my hair and let out a light groan at the same time that my body began to melt around him once again. He quickly pulled himself out of me and my body felt abandoned without the warmth of him inside of me.

  I lay in my bed wrapped in Dailan's arms. Even though I knew it was wrong, it felt so right. As he pulled me closer and I started to drift off to sleep, the last thought on my mind was Dailan O'Maley vs. little black dress - tie score.

  Chapter 15

  Dailan was up and out early in the morning. I had offered him some coffee before he left, but he refused, saying that he had some errands to run before Ryan's Aunt Lisa dropped him off later. He gave me a light kiss on the cheek before heading out the door. There was no future date made, or even I'll give you a call - nothing, which made me begin to regret sleeping with him then. I reminded myself that I wanted it to happen last night just as badly as he did. If anything, this is what I wanted, for Dailan to stop making his rude comments and acting like a love crazed teenager around me. So maybe sleeping with him was the cure for this. I tried not to over think it. I certainly didn't want a relationship with him anyway. We just had fun last night and that was it.

  I showered and did some laundry, going on with my usual Sunday business. I filled Donna in on all the details of last night in a brief phone conversation as she teased me for being weak and giving in to him. I was all caught up with lesson plans and decided to start wrapping some Christmas presents. I was battling with trying to find the beginning of the scotch tape that I had somehow managed to lose on the roll when my doorbell rang. I was surprised when I opened it up to find my mom and dad standing on the other side.

  "Hey," I said, trying to sound excited. I opened the door wider as they walked in.

  "Sorry we didn’t call first; we were at Ted and Amelia's and decided to just pop in,” my mother said as she gave me a kiss on the cheek. Ted and Amelia were our old next-door neighbors who my mom and dad would frequently still come to visit, rarely ever stopping in to see me in the process.

  "Oh, no problem, just don't mind the mess," I said, referring to the boxes and rolls of wrapping paper covering my living room floor. My mother waved her hand at me as if it were no big deal.

  "Hi, Dad," I said, standing on my tippy toes to give him a kiss. He immediately sat down on the couch. I handed him the remote control as he turned on the TV, drowning out the sound of my mother and me talking.

  "Do you guys want something to drink?" I asked.

  They both declined as my mother sat on the floor and began to take over my Christmas wrapping, effortlessly finding the edge to the tape that I had been chipping away at for the past fifteen minutes.

  "Mom, that's okay. I can do this."

  "You know I love wrapping presents," she said.

  "Well, I have lasagna in the oven if you guys want to stay for dinner," I said.

  "No, we have to get going soon, plus you know that your father won't eat that jarred sauce."

  She just couldn't resist getting a dig in and I was half inclined to think that she didn't even realize that she was doing it. Of course, her gift-wrapping services had to come at a cost. I had to listen painfully to her gush about my sister and all the hard work that she had been doing, working on the cancer research foundation at the hospital. I made my best effort to seem interested, even asking questions every now and then. I looked over at my dad, who was a world away, totally engrossed in the football game that he was watching.

  "So what's going on with you? I tried calling you last night to let you know we were going to be in the area, but you didn't answer."

  "Oh, I was at a Christmas party.”

  "Where at?" she asked.

  "Oceanview Terrace."

  She looked at me and her eyes widened. "Wow, that really is an expensive school district that you work for if they can afford to have their Christmas parties there."

  "It wasn't for my work," I said, almost regretting the words as soon they were out.

  "Oh?" She looked up at me as her brown eyes widened.

  "It was a friend of mine’s party," I said, not knowing any other way to classify Dailan to my mother.

  "And is this a friend a male?" she asked, prying deeper.

  "Yes, Mom, he is."

  She put down the scotch tape and pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. She stared at me as if she were waiting for more details.

  "What?" I asked as I shrugged my shoulders.

  "Well, does this friend have a name?"

  "Dailan - Dailan O'Maley," I answered.

  "Oh, sounds sexy." She laughed.

  She had no idea how sexy. I rolled my eyes. "Relax, Mom, I just went with him as a favor. Don't be picking out your mother-of-the-bride dress.”

  "How did you meet him?" She was relentless.

  "Teresa!" my dad chimed in an effort for her to stop her interrogation. I was quite sure it was because she was interrupting his football game with all of her yapping. Not because he was trying to help me out in any way.

  I explained to her how Dailan and I had met and how there was no chance of us ever having a relationship, so she could put any pre-conceived notions that she may have been conjuring up in her head to rest.

  "Well, you never know," she said.

  "No, Mom, I do know. Trust me!” After Dailan's chilly goodbye this morning, I knew that the chance of that ever happening was slim to none anyway, even if it was what I had wanted – which it wasn’t.

  She thankfully dropped the subject as we finished wrapping presents. My father got up from the couch as soon as the football game was over.

  "Are you ready?" he asked my mother.

  "Yeah, I guess," she said as she stood up. I looked up at the two of them standing together. Nick and Teresa Morgan, my parents, were still a very nice-looking couple. They both took such good care of themselves, making sure that they ate right and exercised every day and it showed. My dad was tall and handsome. He wore his gray hair closely cropped to his head and had a demeanor about him that demanded respect.

  My brother and I inherited by mother’s Italian appearance. We both had her dark hair. My brother also had her big brown eyes. Mine, however, were the same exact shade of hazel as my dad’s. My sister resembled no one, with her blonde hair and blue eyes. I always took thrill in that fact. Every time we would get in our knockdown, drag-out fights when we were younger, I would tell her she was adopted. I knew that bothered her more than anything. Of course, she would always go crying to my mom, who in turn would reassure her that she was not.

  "Are you guys sure that you don't want to stay for dinner?” I asked.

  "Oh no, we have to get going, I'm dreading this two-hour drive," my mom said.

  "Okay then, I guess I'll see you guys on Christmas," I said.

&
nbsp; "Oh, sweetie, we’re going up to Renee's in-laws on Christmas. I'm sorry; I wanted to have it at my house. But she made plans to go up there and that's the only way that we'll get to see the kids,” my mother said.

  "Of course," I said, trying to hide my hurt at the prospect of spending Christmas all alone.

  "Well, you're off that whole week after, so we'll have to pick a day to get together," my mother said as if it were no big deal to her.

  I nodded in agreement as I walked them to the door. My mom gave me a hug and kiss as my dad barely grazed my cheek.

  I closed the door behind me after I watched them drive away. I took my lasagna with my jarred sauce out of the oven and sat down to dinner. I always felt exhausted after spending time with my parents; maybe it was because I was always striving to be the daughter that they wanted when I was in their company. I was feeling unusually down tonight after they had left. I finished eating and wrapping the last of my presents and decided to get into my pajamas early and prepare for the week ahead. I pulled my cell phone from my purse and was a little disheartened to see that there weren’t any text messages or phone calls from Dailan. His silence was making me feel like what we shared last night was just a booty call. I had never been the booty call type of girl and I didn’t want to start classifying myself that way now. I contemplated for a moment about sending him a sarcastic text, but then quickly dismissed that thought. This is what I had wanted, for Dailan O'Maley to leave me alone once and for all. I put my phone along with any more thoughts of him away for the night, finally falling into a deep sleep on the couch in front of the TV.

  Chapter 16

  The week was flying by. I couldn’t believe that it was already Wednesday. I hadn’t heard anything from Dailan. The more I kept telling myself that I was happy about it, the less I believed it. I had a knot in my stomach, knowing that I would have to face him after school today when he picked up Ryan from tutoring. I muddled through the day, feeling a little out of sorts, and by the time 4:00 rolled around, I felt my hands trembling. I was just finishing up the math lesson with Ryan when I heard someone enter the door. I looked up slowly to find Ryan’s Aunt Lisa instead.