by Marilyn Lee
He sat back in his seat, his gaze widening. “What do you mean 'what do I mean?' I'm asking if you intend to stay with us, Miss Thompson.” He smiled suddenly. “I'm not asking for the soul of your firstborn, just the answer to a simple employment question.”
Feeling like an idiot, she smiled and relaxed. “Yes. Yes, I do. Thank you, sir.”
“Good.”
She told herself she was imaging things in thinking he sounded and looked relieved by her answer. Why would he care either way?
He got to his feet. “If you have any problems or concerns, Miss Thompson…“
He paused and she looked at him, waiting for him to tell her to bring them to him personally. “Yes, sir?”
“Feel free to discuss them with Ms. Hanks in personnel.”
She nodded and turned away so he wouldn't see her disappointment. “Thank you.”
A moment later, she found herself standing outside the closed door of his office.
That night she dreamed of him making love to her in such graphic detail that when she woke, she found that her panties were wet and her whole body ached with wanting him. She could hear soft, muted moans coming from her panty drawer, but she didn't give into the temptation to watch the tiny couple. If she did, she would come closer to surrendering to The Talisman.
It took her a long time to fall back to sleep that night. In her dreams, she became the tiny woman in the drawer being endlessly fucked in her behind by a hard pink cock. In the ensuring weeks, her dreams became more erotic and frightening. What was even more frightening was the fact that anal sex no longer seemed unnatural to her. She could see that given the right man, having her bottom drilled might be quite a turn on. With each night, she moved ever closer to taking the final step her mother had always feared she would take—at least in her dreams.
While awake, she still determined never to surrender to the power of The Talisman. She did not intend to be unhappy like her grandmother or her great grandmother Marie Savoy, who'd never quite recovered from her ill-fated love for her handsome, but forbidden Cajun lover.
Her letters told of long nights of endless love. Sweet, wonderful kisses, hungry, passionate caresses, and a hard cock filling her forbidden hole with her lover's juices.
Chapter Three
“I didn't know you were into white guys,” Derri said when Cassy finally confided in her regarding her incessant dreams of Chandler Raven one night as they shared dinner at Derri's apartment during the weekly girl's night out.
Her face burned. “I'm not!”
Derri gave her a strange look. “Hey, don't misunderstand, Cassy. I'm not passing any judgments. Whatever floats your boat, or in this case, eases your itch, is fine by me. There's nothing worst than needing a man and not having one.”
“Needing a man? Wait a minute, Derri! You're making me sound like a nympho. I don't need a man.”
“You can say that with a straight face after the dreams you've been having? Get real, girl. Rather you're willing to admit it or not, you need a man. But why a white one?”
“I didn't think his being white would bother you, Derri. I mean before you started seeing Karl regularly, you dated a couple of white men.”
“Dated, yes, but never slept with.”
“Never wanted to?”
Derri paused, her dark eyes sliding away from Cassy's gaze. Now that was unDerri-like. She was usually very forthright, never skirting the issue at hand. “Yes.”
“Then why haven't you ever slept with a white man?”
Derri shook her head. “Why should I when I intend to marry and settle down with a black man? I'll admit I've thought about sleeping with some of the guys I dated, but...“
“And here I've never even dated one.” She leaned forward across Derri's dinning room table and stared at her friend. “What was it about sleeping with a white man that excited you?”
Derri hesitated again and Cassy knew that when she did speak, she wouldn't be giving her the whole story. “I don't know...maybe the thought of looking down our bodies as we made love and seeing the contrast of our skin colors. But what's going on with you all of a sudden?”
Derri would understand if she told her about The Talisman, but somehow she couldn't. She recalled licking her finger after watching the couple from the box and knew she wasn't prepared to share her shameful secret with anyone—even Derri.
“I'm not 'into' him.”
Derri laughed. “Oh, girl, give me a break. The man's smiled at you a couple of times and you're having wet dreams about him. I'd call that being 'into' him and wanting him into you. What you need, pronto, is a man. Get yourself a man, Cass. A man in your bed is the quickest and surest way to chase one out of your dreams.”
She shrugged. “Okay. I admit it. You're right. I need a man.”
“Immediately,” Derri added.
“Soon,” she countered.
“And badly.”
“Not so badly,” she denied, feeling her cheeks heat up with the lie. “Okay. Soon and badly, but not before I go shopping.”
Derri grinned. “Now that's what I'm talking about, girl. Get yourself a minuscule, strapless red dress you have to pour yourself into and a pair of three-inch heels that'll show off your legs and you'll have to beat the men back.”
She forced a smile at the picture Derri painted. It sounded great, as long as Chandler Raven was the man she was supposed to beat back.
Derri titled her head to one side. “You remember the party I told you me and Karl were invited to?”
She nodded. “What are you going to do now that he's out of town with his mother?”
Derri shrugged. “I'm going to the party. Why don't you come with me?”
Cassy frowned.
“Why do you look so surprised?”
“Well, for the last two and a half years, you and Karl had been inseparable. I can't remember the last time you went to a party without him.”
Derri shrugged. “Well maybe it's time I stopped planning my life around Karl and his schedule.”
“Whoa! Derri, is everything all right between you and Karl? I mean you used to say he was your Ebony Knight.”
“Cass, Karl is still a very sweet man and a fantastic lover.”
“Okay. But?”
“But, I'm thirty-two years old.”
“And?”
“And time's running out for me.
“What?”
“There are things I want to do before I settle down. I'll never get to do them if I marry Karl.”
Cassy thought of the tall, dark, mouth wateringly handsome Karl. He had a big hard body that screamed I can love you all night every night if you want me to and a deep voice that sent chills down her spine when he said hello. How could Derri possibly want more than that man had to offer?
“What kind of things?”
Derri shook her head. “Things that...I'm just not sure where our relationship is going.”
“Has he asked you to marry him?”
“Not yet. I think he's been close to proposing a few times lately, but I've always headed him off at the pass.”
“What are you going to say when he finally asks you?
“I don't know.”
“Derri, don't you love him?”
“I don't know that either. I know he's a great lover, but...I have sexual fantasies he can't fulfill.”
Personally, Cassy couldn't imagine what sexual fantasy Karl couldn't fulfill. She knew from the outline of his cock that she'd seen once against the inside of his leg as he'd looked at Derri, that he didn't lack for size. And Derri had just admitted he was a great lover. “How can that be, Derri? The man's a bona fide hunk. A nice hunk.”
“Don't worry about me and Karl,” Derri said quickly. “We were talking about you. You'll come to the party with me?”
She nodded absently. “Yes, but Dare, if you need to talk, I'm here for you.”
“I know. Look, Cass, don't worry about me. I'm fine. You're the one we have to get a man.”
&nbs
p; She decided that Derri was right. But after years of spending every penny she earned on tuition and bills, she needed a new wardrobe before she went looking for love, or more exactly, a lover. When a local department store had a going out of business sale, she was there when the doors opened at eight that Saturday morning. Around three o'clock, she struggled out of the doors and right into a man walking past the store.
Her bags spilled onto the sidewalk. The man reached out in an effort to steady her. She felt big palms brush against the sides of her breasts before hard fingers closed on her arms. But the momentum carried them both to the ground, on top of her bags. She ended up with her breasts smashed against his chest, her legs intertwined with his. Instead of immediately struggling to her feet, she stayed as she was, enjoying the sexy cologne he wore and the feel of his arms cradling her. And the feel of a suspicious lump at the top of his legs; his cock. The thought that just bumping into her was enough to arouse a stranger like this sent a thrill of feminine satisfaction through her.
He didn't seem any more eager than her to move, but they could hardly lay on the sidewalk much longer with her sprawled between his legs.
“Are you all right?” He finally asked.
“I'm sorry! Yes. I'm fine.” She forced herself out of the man's arms. After a slight hesitation, he drew his lower body from hers and they both scrambled to their feet. “I didn't...oh!” Her voice trailed off as she found myself staring into a pair of intense smoky gray eyes. “Mr. Raven!”
She wasn't sure what she expected him to say or do. But she definitely didn't expect the slow, intimate smile he turned on her. “Miss Thompson.”
For a moment, she didn't know what to say. She stood in front of him, mesmerized by the look of unmistakable desire in his eyes. But the look was gone so quickly that she might have decided she must have imagined it; if she hadn't felt his cock. Still she wondered why he would look at her as if he was attracted to her when he so clearly wasn't? He oozed sex appeal from every pore. He must have to fight off the women. Okay, so she had felt his cock, but for all she knew thoughts of his woman might have aroused him.
“You've been shopping,” he said, amusement in his voice. “Big time.” He bent and began picking up her bags.
“Ah, yes.” She was so flustered, she hardly knew what she was saying. He began piling the bags into her arms and hands. When there was no more room, he still had three bags.
“You seem to have run out of hands,” he said.
“They can fit,” she told him. “Just pile them on, please.”
He looked doubtful. “If I do, you won't be able to see where you're going. Which is why you ran into me,” he reminded her.
She stared at him in dismay. Was he annoyed? Not if the wide grin on his face was an indicator of his mood. “I'll be fine,” she assured him. “And I'll make sure to pay attention where I'm going.”
“I don't see how if you can't see who you're about to knock off their feet. I think I'd better help you to your car.”
She blinked at him surprise. “You do?”
“Yes. Strictly in the interest of public safety, of course.”
“Of course,” she echoed flatly.
He glanced around. “Where are you parked?”
A car was one of the ‘necessities’ she planned to acquire after her probationary period was over. “I don't have a car.”
“Oh?” He glanced down at all her bags. “How did you plan to get home with all these bags? A taxi?”
“No, actually, I'm taking the bus.”
“With all these bags? What if you have to stand up? How did you plan to hold on?”
She hesitated a moment, then grinned up at him. “Oh, I know don't. I thought maybe I'd just smile at some kind gentleman on the bus in the hopes that he'd offer me his seat.”
Their gazes met, locked, and he nodded slowly. “Oh. I see what you mean.”
“You do?”
“Oh, yeah. I'm thinking that'll work, all right.”
“Excuse me.”
They both stepped aside to allow several women to enter the department store doors and to allow several women to stagger out, laden with bags.
“Where's your bus stop, Miss Thompson?”
“Not far.” She paused, wondering what he'd say if she asked him to call her Cassy. “How far is not far?”
“A couple of blocks.”
“That can be a long haul with all these bags.”
“It can,” she began hesitantly. She bit her lip, then remembering that look of desire in his eyes and the feel of his cock, she went on in a rush, “I don't suppose you could...walk me there?” She peeped up at him. “Could you?”
She didn't know where she got the nerve to ask him that. Any minute now his eyes would turn cold and he'd look at her as if she'd lost her mind. Which she clearly had.
She felt a sort of stunned amazement when he smiled and nodded. “Sure. Why not?”
“Yes? Did you say yes?”
He grinned down at her. “Is there something wrong with your hearing, Miss Thompson?”
“No. It's just that...no. Thank you, si—”
“Please,” he interrupted. “Don't sir me to death.”
She flashed him an uncertain smile and felt the breath catch in her throat when he responded with that slow, sexy smile of his that made her of think of lying with him in a scented bubble bath while he slowly slid his shaft in and out of her body.
Feeling the heat rise up to her cheeks and her body quiver, she averted her gaze. “Let me help you with those.” As he reached for the first bag, his fingers brushed against the side of one breast and she sucked in a breath.
“Sorry,” he muttered. He was careful not to touch her breasts again as he lifted most of the bags out of her arms until she was left with one bag in each hand. “Okay. Lead the way.”
She nodded, and still not looking at him, she turned and headed for the bus stop.
“How far did you say?” he asked halfway through the second block.
“Just a couple of blocks.”
He turned and looked down at her, his brows raised in that quizzical way of his. “Okay, it's actually five blocks,” she admitted.
He stopped suddenly. “Five blocks? How in the world did you expect to carry all these bags five blocks?”
She shrugged. “They're not heavy and I had them all arranged. I could have managed...if you hadn't knocked them out of my arms,” she pointed out, smiling at him.
To her surprise, he returned her smile. “Really? Well, you're right.”
“I am?”
“Sure. I make it a point never to argue with attractive women armed to the teeth with dangerous bags.” He inclined his head in the opposite direction from which they'd been walking. “In any case, Miss Thompson, my car is closer. I'll drive you home.”
“You will? All the way?”
His eyes twinkled. “If I were you, Miss Thompson, I'd really look into having your ears checked. You seem to be having some difficulty hearing.”
She laughed, feeling, suddenly, inexplicably happy. Five minutes later, she sat beside him in the plush, contoured leather seat of his Lexus, wondering what they'd talk about on the thirty-minute drive to her apartment.
She needn't have worried. He put a CD in his compact disc player and concentrated on driving. She stole frequent, sidelong glances at his profile. He kept his gaze on the road ahead and evidenced no interest in looking at her. Which didn't stop her heartbeat from pounding at the thought of just how close he was.
He was close enough for her to see how his dark hair curled against the back of his neck. And because he was dressed in casual slacks and a short-sleeved shirt, she could see his biceps. They were very nicely muscled. He must workout regularly.
She shifted her gaze to his hands resting on the steering wheel. They were big and long fingered. She knew his palms were smooth, but not soft. What would his hands feel like on her bare skin? On her breasts? Her thighs? Cupping her rump? Palming her mound?
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br /> She felt her face burning at her thoughts. With an effort, she made herself think of other things. Like the party she and Derri would be attending that night. Where, hopefully, she'd meet some ebony hunk there who would knock thoughts of Chandler Raven out of her head once and for all. Once that happened, The Talisman would have to go.
She felt like one big bundle of knots and was relieved by the time he pulled the car into her parking spot in her apartment building. “Thank you. If you'll open the trunk, I'll get my bags out so you can get on your way.” She released her seatbelt and reached for the door handle.