by Lee, Kimball
“Yes,” she said, and it was barely a whisper.
“Did you win?” he asked, circling her clit until she was on the edge of orgasm. He moved his hand away abruptly so that her head rested against his chest, and she panted out the word, “yes!”
When she finally caught her breath, Charlotte pushed away from Finn and slipped on her shoes. She picked up her purse, took his hand and they walked out onto the sidewalk.
“Where are you taking me, my love?” he asked, and she led him into the freight elevator that would take them to their former lofts.
“My old bedroom,” she said, “that’s where I want you right now. You need to learn to finish what you start, Finnegan.”
He backed her into a corner as the elevator rose to the top floor and kissed her like his life depended on it. “What about the woman who lives there now?” he asked, kissing her breasts through the fabric of her blouse and rubbing her tender nipples with his thumbs.
“We had better hope she’s not home,” she said, producing a key from her purse and leading him to the loft bedroom.
Chapter Two
Charles Tremont ran his fingers across Evangeline’s satiny smooth skin and down past her naval, before she stopped his hand. They had stayed in bed the entire day and made love and he never wanted it to end. She made him feel like a boy of eighteen, with her perfectly sculpted curves and unbridled passion. She arched against him as they made love and she cursed him when she lost control and climaxed. She swore she hated him as she scratched his back and bit his chest and ground against him in pure pleasure.
“I’m in love with you, I’ll leave my wife and we can be together from now on,” he said, when she pushed his hand away and left the bed to get dressed.
“Don’t be ridiculous, darling. I’m a diversion for you, and you bring a bit of naughtiness to my life. You’re a competent lover but I don’t feel anything for you. Surely you realize I have an erotic and highly satisfying sex life with West, I’m not about to give him up,” she said, as she smoothed her stockings over her long legs and fastened them to the lacy garter belt she wore.
Charles caught her hand as she passed by the bed and pulled her down next to him, “You’re stunning, but you know that don’t you? Like a movie star from the glamorous days of Hollywood. Here, this is for you, Evie, a token of my love.”
The box was from Bulgari and inside was a wide rose-gold cuff set with large emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and diamonds. She slipped it on and Charles kissed the inside of her thin wrist. She carelessly ran a hand through his hair and kissed him passionately, then left the bed and continued to dress.
He was behind her in a moment, his hands on her shoulders, his breath hot against her neck, “Evie, I’m going back to New Orleans in a few months, come with me. You’ll love it there, and even though you’re much too young, you are about to have grandchildren. Wouldn’t you like to be near them, wouldn’t you love to have a powerful and influential man as your husband?”
“I’m not as lucky you are, darling. You’re always saying how incredibly beautiful your little grandson is, I doubt that my grandchildren will be the least bit attractive. Honestly, who are these people Alexander and Amanda have married? No one has ever heard of their families, it’s terribly distressing, Charles. You cannot imagine what my children have put me through; they’ve thoroughly disgraced our good name. If you recall, I was married to a man much more powerful than you, and I can’t say that I ever felt any true love for Holden Bly, ah well,” she said, reaching for her skirt and stepping into it.
“I can help you make the best of the situation with your children, Evie, if you come with me and we get married. You could get to know Charlotte’s little boy, I know you’d be crazy about him. The truth is, I love you and I’ve never really been in love before, I need to know that you’re mine.”
“You are a hopeless romantic, Charles. What about the girl from your past, Charlotte’s mother? Didn’t you love her?” she asked, buttoning her Chanel jacket and stepping into Louboutin pumps.
“That was almost thirty years ago, I was a different man then,” he said, and he let his hands fall away from her.
“Well my darling,” she said, kissing him, then opening the door to leave the suite, “thank you for lunch, and for the bracelet, and of course, for the sex.”
*
“Is my sister here yet?” Evangeline asked West when he picked her up at the airport. “I can’t stand the flight from London to Paris, you go up, and then you come down. It’s ridiculous, there’s not even time for a cocktail. Tell me darling, is there any word from my destitute little sister?”
“She’s at the house, she’s been here for two days, where the hell were you?” West asked. His hands were clenched on the wheel of the Mercedes.
“Shopping darling, you know that. So did my sister try and fuck you?” she asked, leaning to kiss his cheek before she took out her compact to check her makeup.
“Yes, and I let her,” he said.
“What? Have you lost your mind? You’re mine, how dare you lie down with that little bitch in heat. Oh isn’t she the sad, grieving widow! How dare she come here to enjoy my hospitable charity and then seduce my one and only love? And you, you’re no better than she is, it makes me ill to imagine that you put your dick in such trash!” Evangeline ranted on and on, and when West began to laugh, she screamed like a banshee and told him to stop the car and let her out.
As soon as they were home, she stormed into the house screeching her sister’s name. “Gabrielle, you whore in bitch’s clothing come down here and face me. Oh, you insufferable little money-grubbing, gutter-crawling, social-climbing, street-walking, classless, nymphomaniac!”
“What on earth are you yelling about, Evangeline?” Gabrielle said, as she walked down the stairs wearing one of Evangeline’s silk kimonos and holding a tall glass of vodka. She kissed both of her sister’s cheeks then ducked when Evangeline tried to slap her face. “Are you accusing me of sleeping with… him? My God, he works for you, do you honestly think I’d sleep with the hired help?”
“He isn’t the hired help you ignorant slut, he’s my lover!” Evangeline said, taking the glass of vodka from her sister and drinking half of it at once.
“Oh! Well, if I’d known that I would certainly have let him sleep with me,” Gabrielle said, and the sisters hugged and went into the living room to talk.
West watched the two sisters, Gabby, as she called herself, had arrived with fifteen suitcases and an attitude that made Evangeline look like Mother Theresa. West kept his mouth shut and let her order him around only because Evangeline had said to be nice to her. Supposedly she’d had the shock of losing her aged husband and being completely disinherited by him, so she was truly grieving. She was attractive and a few years younger than Evangeline, but she didn’t have the head turning beauty and grace her sister possessed.
“Evangeline, we need to talk,” West said, he stood over her, hands on his hips, and she and her sister looked up at him, surprised. “We need to talk now about you and the ambassador, we can do it here, or in private. I know you’ve been seeing him and I want you to stop.”
“How dare you speak to my sister like that?” Gabby asked.
“Hush, Gabby,” Evangeline told her. “West, there’s nothing to talk about, you know I do as I please, but I do care for you….”
“Fine, I’m out of here. I thought we had something good, and not just in bed. I thought we were… never mind,” he said, and went upstairs to pack his bags.
She followed him to her bedroom and watched as he gathered his belongings. The shelves she had made available for him in her closet looked empty and bereft as he packed his shirts and sweaters into his suitcases. Then the table on his side of the bed seemed lifeless without his books. He changed his shirt and she felt the thrill she always got in the hollow part of her stomach when she saw his elegantly muscled body. He made her feel the way she had felt when she was a girl in Brazil, when she lay beside a deep green lake with her fi
rst lover. West always looked at her with that same guileless love in his eyes, he loved her for who she was, and in spite of who she was. She was a bonafide narcissistic bitch and they both knew it, but he loved her anyway.
“West, wait darling,” she said, running her hands over his chest.
He stopped her hands and said, “Either you love me or you don’t Evangeline. I love you, but I won’t be your cabana boy. I’ll be at the Saint Regis until noon tomorrow, then I’m going home.”
*
Evangeline lay in bed that night and sleep wouldn’t come. She turned to West’s side of the bed and buried her face in his pillow, she wanted to cry but her eyes were dry. Several times she paced the room and thought about going to him and pressing herself to his big, hard body. When she finally slept, it was a restless, dream-filled sleep. In her dreams she was a child again in Pomerode, Brazil. She could hear her mother and father speaking German, and she could see herself praying with her little sister in the big Lutheran church. She wasn’t glamorous or perfect; she was a wild little heathen with long braids and a cotton dress her mother made just for her. She was Evangeline Sommerfeld, a pretty girl born into a small community of Germans whose ancestors settled in Brazil in the early eighteen-hundreds. A girl who had dreamt of being loved by just one man long before she had dreamt of being famous or marrying a billionaire.
She overslept the next morning and when she woke, it was a quarter to noon. She dressed faster than she ever had in her life and let her hair fall in waves to her shoulders. She didn’t even put on makeup as she drove herself to the hotel. West was getting into a cab when she ran the Mercedes up on the curb as she parked. The valet growled at her in French, but she waved him away and climbed in the cab before it drove away.
“I love you,” she said, “I’ve dreamed about you all my life, I can’t promise that I won’t always be a raging bitch, but I love you. I wish you would stay and live with me, and marry me, if you have any interest in that. I wish… I wish I knew your first name.”
“Elliot,” he said, his lips hot against hers as he laughed and kissed her, “My name is Elliot, and yes, I want to marry you.”
*
“Well here’s a little surprise, I’m seeing two babies,” the sonogram tech said, as she moved the wand over Maddie’s swollen belly.
“Oh!” Maddie said, “Wow, twins, no wonder I’m feeling like a whale already.”
Bly squeezed her hand, “Maddie stop it, you’re not big at all, why do you keep saying that? Twins? Are they identical, can you tell what sex they are?”
“Let’s see, alright, I’m seeing two placentas, so they’re not identical. Let’s just have a look… okay, here’s a little girl, and… this is her brother. A girl and a boy, Mr. and Mrs. Bly, congratulations,” the tech announced, as she wiped the gel from Maddie’s stomach and printed pictures for the couple.
Bly leaned down and kissed Maddie, “congratulations, Mrs. Bly,” he said, and he was absolutely beaming.
“Twins, ugh, I’m going to get huge, does this mean I’ll get stretch marks?” Maddie asked the technician, “I used to be the Hawaiian Dream girl, I have to look good in a bikini.”
*
Bly and Maddie sat talking with her OB/GYN at the Pacifica Maternity Center, the office was as luxurious as the rest of the private birthing facility.
“Alright, twins, congratulations,” Dr. Griffith said. “The pictures look good, strong heartbeats, size is perfect for twenty weeks gestation. I am concerned about your lack of weight gain, Maddie, in fact you’ve lost six pounds since your initial visit.”
Bly shifted in his chair; Maddie had become obsessed with her weight as her pregnancy moved along. She was becoming startlingly thin and there were hollows under her eyes and cheekbones. Bly urged her to eat for her own health and that of the baby, and now that there were two to think about, she needed to take special care of herself.
“She doesn’t eat well,” Bly told the doctor, and there was more anger in his voice than he intended, “and she worries incessantly about the shape her body will be in after pregnancy. She needs to be concerned about these babies, surely this type of pregnancy is more difficult. What steps can we take to insure the safety of the babies?”
“I do want healthy babies, but I don’t intend to be one of those fat, frumpy women who lets herself go. I’m sure you’re aware of who we are, doctor, I do have a certain image to uphold in the community,” Maddie said, leaning toward the doctor. “My husband is one of the richest men in the country, you know….”
“Maddie for God’s sake,” Bly said, and glared at her, “Doctor, just explain to her that she needs to eat well and think of more than her own imagined image of herself.”
The doctor scribbled on a pad of paper after Maddie said, no, she didn’t feel nauseous, she just didn’t care for food any longer.
“Here’s a list of fresh foods that would be beneficial for you and for your babies health, Maddie. I’ve also included the phone number of a nutritionist who will come to your home daily and prepare a shake made with natural supplements for you,” the doctor said, and he handed the paper to Bly rather than Maddie.
“I’ll see that she gets healthy, thank you Dr. Griffith,” Bly said, and he held the office door for Maddie, but he didn’t speak to her until they were in the car.
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re up to, Maddie, but those babies are going to be strong and healthy. You need to get over this ridiculous idea that you’re getting fat and devote these next months to making sure my son and daughter get the best possible start in life. Fuck this up and you fuck us up, do you understand?”
“Oh, so I’m just your surrogate now, is that it? A body to carry your babies and to hell with what I look like afterward? You don’t really love me at all, somehow I knew this would happen,” Maddie said, becoming more and more hysterical.
“Where is this coming from?” Bly asked, he was truly perplexed, “I love you, we’re married and now we’re having two babies, that’s a lot of blessings. You, on the other hand, are worried about looking good in a bikini when you have these absolute miracles growing inside you. By the way, don’t ever mention how important you think we are, ever again, it’s in extremely poor taste.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, when they walked through the front door of the mansion, “I’m still getting used to your lifestyle, you know, the servants and the black American Express card that I could use to buy anything in the world. I’ll do better. I’ll eat healthy foods and make sure our babies are perfect. I just want to be flawless for you Alex, I don’t want you to get tired of me.”
He hugged her and his hand went to the small, hard bump of her belly, “okay, let’s work together on this. Now, have the cook make you some lunch and then I’m calling the nutritionist.”
The dogs ran to meet them and Maddie shooed them away, she said they made her nervous with all their unbridled energy. She told one of the maids to take them for a walk, and Bly thought she was getting used to giving orders well enough. He told the maid not to bother, he would take the dogs out for a run himself.
*
“I’m not kidding, Maddie, you seriously look like a stick figure,” Amanda said, when she and Maddie and Charlotte sat down to lunch after a morning of shopping for baby goodies.
“You really are very thin, Maddie. Is everything okay?” Charlotte asked.
“Yes, I just haven’t had an appetite, and I guess the babies sort of drain my system,” Maddie said, checking her cell phone for messages.
“Babies?” Charlotte and Amanda said at once, “you’re kidding, do you know what sex they are?” Amanda asked.
“A boy and a girl, Alex is so excited, he’s already picking names,” Maddie said, and blushed.
“Well I can’t stop eating,” Amanda said, she was plump and glowing and beautiful. “We’re having a boy, we just found out yesterday, John Paul Jr., but we’ll call him Jack. What about you, Charlotte, do you know what you’re having? By the w
ay, you have that whole drop-dead-gorgeous super-model look going on, clear skin, sparkling eyes and glossy hair. Not to mention that you’re long and lean with the tiniest belly bump, it’s disgusting! I’ll bet you and Finn are still fucking like two monkeys on meth, aren’t you?”
Charlotte smiled and looked down at her food, and Amanda and Maddie laughed and teased her.
“I can’t help it,” Charlotte said, grinning, “Finn’s just… soooo sexy! I can barely look at him without having an orgasm on the spot,” she whispered. “His hands are so big and strong and he smells like the place I belong and let’s not forget his incredibly long, hard….”
“Okay, TMI,” Amanda said, “JP is lucky to get some once a month. I am just too fat and gross and I can’t think of anything but this precious baby growing inside me.”
Maddie avoided the subject of sex, Bly turned away from her more and more as her belly grew and her frame became thinner. He said he didn’t want to hurt her body, but she knew he didn’t want to risk hurting the babies. He would think it was the end of the world if she miscarried, and the doctor had mentioned that twin births were high-risk. He let her take his cock in her mouth and he brought her to orgasm with his hands. He always held her afterward, but it was just a release for him, she knew. He was already planning the bright and shining futures of his children, and she was beginning to think she was simply along for the ride.
“You should eat, Maddie, you’re just pushing your food around on the plate,” Amanda said. “So, Charlotte, do you know the sex of your baby yet? Or, are you going to be one of those hold-outs who lets it be a big surprise?”
“We’re going in the morning for the sonogram, and yes, I want to know what it is.”
“I’m sure you’re dying for a little girl since you already have Atticus, the prettiest boy baby on the planet,” Amanda said, and smiled at her friend.
“No, I really want another boy for Finn… you know how he’s all into the British football thing, I mean. He wants to coach a soccer team when Atticus is like, four years old, so a little brother would be great. We’ll have a girl next time,” she said.