by Hannah Ford
Nicole broke down and sobbed in his arms from the exhaustion of it all.
Red took her blindfold off, untied her wrists, and carried her to the bed, laid her down and held her. “Was it too much?”
She nodded, then she shook her head no. Then she nodded again.
He laughed and she laughed too, looking into his kind eyes. “I loved it,” she said. “But it nearly killed me.”
Red smiled at her. “I don’t know what comes over me when I’m close to you,” he said. “I want to make every experience the most intense one you’ve ever had. I want you to think of nothing else, nothing but my touch.”
“It’s all I ever want,” she said, kissing his neck. “You didn’t finish yet, did you?” she asked.
He was still breathing heavily. “Not yet,” he said. “But I don’t care.”
She reached down and started stroking his rock hard shaft. “I care,” she said, grinning mischievously.
His nostrils flared and his eyes had that hungry look again.
She began stroking faster and faster as he hovered above her. She liked watching his expression as she did it. She could see the want and the need written all over his face, and Nicole liked that power.
Nicole lay back on the bed, sensing what he wanted to do to her. He moved on top of her and slowly she took him into her mouth, as he straddled her. Now Red was controlling her, sliding his cock in and out of her mouth at whatever speed he desired. She locked her lips tightly around his shaft.
“Oh my god,” he said.
She slid her tongue up and down his manhood as he pressed into her. Then he pulled slightly out so that just the head of him was still in her mouth. She bobbed her head back and forth on it as fast as possible.
“Nicole, Nicole, Nicole,” he whispered. And then he was fucking her mouth faster and faster.
Nicole was letting him do it, she wasn’t resisting, even though he was enormous and she sometimes didn’t know if she could take him all the way in.
“I’m going to come,” he said. “Can I come in your mouth like this?”
She nodded. And then he was thrusting faster and she wanted it all, wanted to feel the rush of his seed as it spilled down her throat—and he did, spurting into her warm, wet mouth.
Surprisingly, she had yet another orgasm—she was so turned on from giving Red pleasure this way.
That night, they fell asleep in each other’s arms, and Nicole could have sworn they merged at some point and she didn’t know or care who was who and all she knew was love.
***
On the flight home, Red seemed carefree in a way that surprised Nicole.
He was smiling and happy, even though she knew things were terrible on the business side of things. She knew he’d essentially given up on trying to fix the German advertising agency they’d acquired, and he was ignoring almost all of his phone calls.
She didn’t bother him about it. Nicole figured that as long as he seemed happy, she wasn’t going to rock the boat.
But mid-way through the flight, as the two of them sat holding hands, she looked at his face and saw in his eyes that he was bothered. It wasn’t anything obvious—she just knew.
“What are you going to do now?” she asked him.
He sighed. “Take my lumps like a man, I guess.”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
“It means I’m going to wait patiently until the board of directors meets, and then I’ll go in, give a little speech, and get fired.”
She nodded, hesitant about the next thing she wanted to ask him. Red looked at her and pushed her bangs out of her eyes with the tips of his fingers. She licked her lips, started to speak and then thought better of it.
“What’s on your mind, babe?” he said.
“I don’t want to make you mad.”
“You can tell me anything.”
She exhaled. “Okay. Well, I was just thinking—are you sure you don’t want to take Kane Wright’s offer after all?”
Red uttered a high-pitched laugh of disbelief. “Please tell me you’re joking, Nicole.”
“I knew you’d be mad.”
“I’m not mad, I’m baffled. How many times are you going to flip-flop on this thing? One second you’re telling me to make a deal with him, the next you’re taking it all back and telling me he’s a creep. Now you’re telling me to reconsider yet again?”
“No, no, it’s just—“
“Just what? Did you have another conversation with him?” Red asked, peering into her eyes with a look that was bordering somewhere between humorous and mistrustful.
“Of course I didn’t have a conversation with him. I’ve been with you pretty much every second of the day.”
He breathed heavily through his nose and settled back into his seat. “I’m not going to deal with that snake in the grass. The moment he called you behind my back, he proved what I knew all along—that he absolutely cannot be trusted.”
“I’m sorry I brought it up. It just seems like you’ve stopped fighting.”
Red closed his eyes and smiled a little. “Well, maybe it’s about time I stopped fighting. I’ve been fighting my whole damn life and I’m sick of it, Nicole.” His hand reached out and found hers.
“Has Kane been trying to contact you?” she asked.
“I really don’t want to keep discussing him,” Red said softly, his eyes still closed. “But yes. He’s called a few times. It’s been kind of fun to ignore him, I’m sure it’s driving the idiot insane.” That brought another smile to Red’s lips and then he drifted off to sleep.
***
When they arrived home to the mansion in Connecticut, Red didn’t want to have any contact with the outside world. He turned off his phone and told Nicole to do the same, unhooked the Internet router, unplugged the television sets in the house—at least most of them. Who had time to go through twenty guest rooms and unplug every single TV?
Instead of spending time on their phones or the Internet, they did things around the property. They swam, sunned themselves, played a few games of tennis (she was terrible and could barely get her racquet on the ball), walked the grounds, and of course made love.
All in all, Nicole thought, as night fell on the second day home, things could have been a lot worse.
Maybe Kane Wright had been wrong about his predictions for Red—maybe Red really was ready to let Jameson International go. He seemed happier and more relaxed than he’d been in a long time—maybe the most relaxed he’d been since she knew him.
Nicole told him she wanted to cook dinner that night, so while Red hopped in the shower, she got to work on making him a nice meatloaf dinner. It was amazing the amount of food and sundries that were available in this kitchen, she thought to herself as she gathered the ground sirloin, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, garlic onion, cumin, and the other fixings.
She began chopping the onion, enjoying the smell of it and knowing how good this meatloaf would come out if she could follow her mother’s recipe to the letter. Sure, it might not be the fancy pants stuff that Red was used to eating from Chef Roland or those five-star restaurants, but sometimes a nice home cooked meal made with love was even better.
She sighed contentedly to herself as she worked, thinking about the fact that this was really all she needed. Nicole would be more than happy to live with Red in some two-bedroom house in New Hampshire or Vermont, with a tiny garden, some land, a couple of kids and a dog.
She didn’t need all this other stuff that came with Red’s lifestyle and his work. What made her truly happy was simply being with him, spending time together, talking and laughing and loving.
So maybe it really was okay if Red lost his business, even though the mere thought of it still chilled her to the bone.
She reminded herself that Red had never been better or happier than he’d been all day today, as she mixed the onion and garlic and egg mixture into her ground beef.
The smell was getting richer and better.
Suddenly, there was a buzz of
the house intercom system. She knew that there was a direct line from the guard posted at the gate out front, but she’d never seen it used before.
Quickly washing her hands, as the phone buzzed again, Nicole walked to it and picked up. “Hello?”
“Ma’am, this is Jeff Phillips at ADS Security. We have a man at the front gate who says he’s Red’s brother and is requesting to be let in.”
“Oh. And you’ve checked his ID?” she asked, wondering if it was possible the man was some kind of imposter.
“Yes, ma’am. His driver’s license appears valid and everything checks out on that end. But I wasn’t given any indication that Red was expecting visitors tonight.”
“No, we weren’t expecting him…” she said, confused. But if it were Red’s brother, she thought, he would certainly want to see him. Nicole didn’t feel right keeping him waiting any longer than he already had been. “Let him through,” she said.
“Absolutely. Thanks and just give us a buzz if you need anything.”
The line went dead.
Nicole hung up the phone and quickly ran upstairs to the master bathroom, knocking on the closed door.
“Red!” she shouted.
After a moment, the door opened and there her man stood in all his naked glory. He was dripping wet, his hair was still soaked, and droplets were hanging from the ends of his curly locks. He slicked it all back with one quick motion of his hand. “What’s up?” he said. “Everything okay?”
“It’s your brother.”
“Jeb?” His eyes grew wide with concern.
“He’s here. Now.”
“At the house?” Red looked shocked.
“I just got a call from the front gate. He should be at the door in the next couple of minutes. I told them to let him through.” She felt suddenly anxious that Red would be upset with her for not checking with him first.
“Okay.” He shook his head, still stunned. “I can’t imagine what would bring Jeb here unannounced like this.”
“Well, you’ve had your phone off,” Nicole reminded him. “He probably tried to contact you already and couldn’t get through.”
“Shit.” He sighed heavily, turning to grab a fresh towel. She couldn’t help but admire the rippling muscles in his back and his tight butt as he did so. When he turned to face her again, she was red faced.
“I should go downstairs and be ready to meet him,” Nicole said.
“He’s a good guy,” Red told her. “You’ll like him a lot. I’m just going to throw some clothes on and then I’ll be down.”
Somewhat relieved that she’d handled this situation the right way, Nicole went back downstairs and awaited Jeb’s arrival.
Finally there was a knock on the front door and she answered it, doing her best smile and hugging him as if he were her own family.
“I’m Nicole,” she said, as he came inside, looking around with wonder.
“Jeb,” he replied. “Pleased to meet your acquaintance, Nicole.”
She walked alongside him as he entered.
“I’ve never been here before,” Jeb said, hefting a small suitcase over the threshold. “I stayed at Red’s old house, but it wasn’t anything like this monstrosity…I mean, this beautiful architectural wonder.” He grinned.
She liked him immediately. He and Red seemed like night and day—polar opposites. Where Red was dark haired, swarthy, almost exotic—Jeb was light haired, pale, and All-American. He had a plain, trusting, boyish face but a quick and surprisingly funny wit that immediately endeared him to her.
“Would you like to settle in for a minute?” she asked. “I can show you to one of the guest rooms and then if you need to relax, change, use the bathroom…”
“Is Red around?” he said, glancing up the spiral staircase in the foyer.
“He’s just getting out of the shower, he’ll be down in a few minutes.”
Jeb sighed a little, as if hoping to get an unpleasant job out of the way sooner rather than later. “Sure, I’d love to have a moment or two of downtime. Thanks.”
As she took him to one of the lovely guest rooms, Jeb mentioned he hadn’t been able to get through to Red on his phone. “I tried him like four or five times, and the last one it said his mailbox was full. I was starting to get pretty worried.”
“He’s fine,” she said. “He just shut his phone off for a little while because he needed a break.”
Jeb’s forehead wrinkled at this piece of news. “Red needed a break from work? I guess more’s changed around here than just his new house.”
She left him in the guest room and let him know she was preparing dinner in the kitchen.
Jeb seemed happy enough with that, and so Nicole went back to continue making her meatloaf, feeling confident that this would be a simple family visit. It seemed as though Jeb was merely checking in on Red after not being able to get in touch with him for an extended period of time.
She was just packing the meatloaf mixture into her baking pan when Jeb appeared at the kitchen entrance, smiling wryly. “I thought for sure Red would have a whole team of cooks in here, assisting you with this lovely supper.”
“Nope, just little old me,” she laughed.
Jeb took a seat at the breakfast nook nearby, watching her work. “So how long have you two been seeing each other?”
She glanced up at him to gauge his expression. Red had mentioned that Jeb was close with his mother, so surely she must have told him her opinion of their relationship. And Nicole reckoned it probably hadn’t been anything positive. Still, Nicole wasn’t getting the impression that Jeb was automatically assuming the worst about her, so she tried to stay honest and open.
“Not very long,” she said. “A couple of months.”
Jeb’s eyebrows rose in a way that reminded her of Red. “That’s pretty fast.” He put his hands up. “No offense.”
“None taken,” she smiled. Her fingers were sticky with pieces of raw meat and onion and egg. She didn’t exactly feel like a model of perfection right now.
“Nicole, I’m going to be completely up front with you,” Jeb said. “I think that—“
At that moment, Red burst into the room. “What in god’s name are you doing here?” he called out, a huge, happy grin on his face. His arms were open. “Come on, you rascal, bring it in for the real thing.”
Laughing, Jeb got off the stool and went to hug his brother. Red tousled his hair and slapped his shoulder. “You look great, Doc. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Jeb stuffed his hands in his pockets. Next to Red he suddenly seemed younger and less self-assured than he had a moment ago. “Well, I tried calling you a bunch. I guess you were purposely going dark, needed a break from all the hubbub?”
“Exactly,” Red replied, coming behind the counter where he planted a kiss on Nicole’s cheek. He sniffed at the meatloaf. “Mmmm…that looks damn good, babe.”
Jeb came back over and sat again at the breakfast nook. “There’s a lot of chatter about you on the web and even TV.”
Red gave him a look. “You don’t listen to that crap, do you?”
“I don’t know. Is CNN reputable enough for you?”
“Oh,” Red laughed. “That kind of chatter. Well, it’s true that business is down.”
Jeb’s expression grew more concerned. “How down?”
Red looked at him. “All the way.”
“So what does that mean?”
“Hey, I don’t know.” Red grinned again. “All I know is I have this beautiful lady in my life and meatloaf in a pan and soon it will be in my stomach. I’m not getting ahead of myself.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Jeb laughed.
“Let’s just enjoy ourselves and eat, shall we?”
“Absolutely,” Jeb replied—but Nicole could tell he had more he wanted to say.
Their eyes met for a fraction of a second and she saw the smile die on his lips, but then Red was going to the fridge and grabbing them a couple of beers. “Hon,” Red called out, “is it
okay if me and my bro go shoot some hoops a bit before dinner?”
“Of course,” Nicole replied, loving the fact that he’d called her hon.
“It’s kind of dark out,” Jeb said, uncertainly.
“That’s why I put lights on the court, dummy,” Red chuckled. “Come on, I’m going to school you just like the old days.”
“In your dreams.” The two of them headed outside together.
Nicole shook her head as the front door closed and their voices faded. She put her meatloaf in the oven and worked on the finishing touches for the glaze. Also, she had to make sure her sides would be ready in time. Some instant mashed potatoes, green beans and canned corn.
As she worked, she pictured Red and Jeb playing basketball, talking trash, laughing like brothers did. She thought Jeb was a pretty sweet guy, which was what Red had said about him.
And yet, she knew now that more had brought him here than just not being able to get in touch with Red for a day or two.
Nicole was certain it had something to do with their horrible mother and perhaps the status of Red and Nicole’s relationship as well. Her stomach tightened at the thought of Jeb saying negative things about her, things that Red might listen to coming from someone he respected.
Jeb seemed too nice to do something like that, but what did she really know about him?
And would Red really listen if Jeb tried to undermine their relationship in someway? Nicole honestly didn’t believe he would, but you could never be totally certain. The pull of one’s family was incredibly strong. She knew that as much as anybody.
Nicole decided not to allow herself to dwell on whatever Jeb was here to discuss—that was between him and his brother. She needed to trust Red, and she did trust him.
She focused back on making her dinner, basting the meatloaf in her special glaze and putting it back in the oven for the final stretch of cooking.
A few minutes later, Red and Jeb came inside, still laughing and talking excitedly like a couple of teenagers, as she was putting the finishing touches on the meal.
“Holy cow, that smells amazing,” Red said. His forehead was slick with sweat and he looked invigorated. “I need some fuel after kicking this guy’s butt one-on-one.”