by Sable Hunter
“Why?” Bobby rose from the bed and slowly began to stalk her. “I’ve been hard for you for two days, lady. I don’t think I can wait any longer.” She backed up as far as she could go, until she was leaning against the wall.
“You’re very aggressive.” She smiled, nervously. “I like that.” She did, it made her forget their age difference. He moved directly in front of her. His broad, well-developed chest was close enough that her aroused nipples almost brushed against him.
“I know what I want, and I go after it.” He bracketed her with his arms, leaning in, perilously close to her lips. “And I want you, Cecile. In my bed. Now.”
“I was in elementary school when you were born,” she muttered weakly.
“So? I think I‘ve caught up with you, darling.” He inhaled her scent, his lips making a foray down the soft skin of her neck.
“I was in college when you were in Junior High.” Her voice was even weaker, the argument not even standing up in her own mind. Not anymore. This youngest Stewart brother was sexy as hell.
“You are the cutest, sweetest, softest, sexiest woman that I know. I’m going to kiss you now, if you’re through worrying about our school days.” Cecile opened her mouth to say something else, but she couldn’t think of anything to say. Her eyes were focused on his full, chiseled mouth, the lower lip a little fuller than the top lip. There was a cleft in his chin and a dimple to the right of his mouth. Bobby took advantage of Cecile’s parted lips. He covered her mouth with his, letting his tongue tease hers into submission.
“That’s right, doll. Kiss me. Kiss me, hard.” With a whimper, Cecile surrendered. She pushed off the wall and into his arms, her hands cupping his head. He cupped her butt and picked her up, her legs parted and made themselves at home around his waist. “Oh, yeah. I can feel how hot you are, right through your jeans.” His words excited her so, that she pressed herself against him.
“Oh, Bobby,” she moaned. “I need you.”
“You got me, baby. All night long.”
* * * *
Six days before the wedding . . . . .
Scarlet taught them all how to play marbles. Not the ‘get down and shoot marbles out of a circle’ type game, but the board game that was played with a deck of cards on a specially designed game board. It was a vicious game, and Scarlet was good at it. She explained the rules of the game, how you could help your partner or take out your enemy. Partnering with Alex, he saw a side of her that he had not known existed. She was ruthless. Except with him. She played hard and laughed harder. He was totally fascinated by the sheer joy she pulled from every moment.
She took him ghost hunting. They had to use his camera, but he had a blast. They waited until almost midnight before heading to the old country cemetery just down the road. The graveyard was enclosed by a hurricane fence and the gate creaked ominously as they opened it. He couldn’t help but smile as she addressed the occupants and asked their permission to come in and visit. “I have a theory, you know.”
“You do? Tell me about it.” He didn’t know whether he wanted to hear this or not.
“I’ve seen many things through the lens of my camera. Everything from full body apparitions to clouds of ectoplasm, but the most common form that I see is a ball of energy. They come in every color in the rainbow and every size imaginable. One minute you’ll be alone and the next you’ll be surrounded by a million of these orbs. They seemed to respond to my voice.” As she talked, she turned on the camera and began to take pictures. Leaning over, she showed him what she had captured on the digital image. Alex caught his breath. He didn’t know what he had expected, but it wasn’t this. There were beautiful balls of light in the photographs. They were not clear or white, but a shimmering opalescent color that contained every hue of the rainbow.
“They’re beautiful.” He kept his voice low, out of respect, he guessed.
“Back to my theory. I think that this may be the form in which the soul travels. In my studies, I’ve discovered that reported sightings of ghosts normally occur in places that the person visited in real life. They are never seen where they have never been.” Alex looked at her, trying to understand what she was getting at.
“Now, that I’ve been here, with you—I can come back.” He closed his eyes as a wave of sorrow hit him. She was talking about dying.
“So you think the soul of a person can return to every place that he has visited?”
“Yes, especially if the place is important to them or the people that live there are important to them.” Unable to restrain himself, he carefully took the camera from her hands and sat in on a nearby bench. Then, he picked her up and held her like he would never let her go.
After they had returned from the cemetery, Alex had been subdued. But Scarlet was having none of it. She had given up all pretense of sleeping in her own room and had moved openly into Alex’s. “I just need to hold you.” Alex had tried to force Scarlet to rest.
“No, baby.” She had practically begged. “I only have a few more nights to spend in your arms. I can’t afford to waste a moment.” Her sweet pleas had melted his heart and his reservations.
“A lifetime, Scarlet. We have a lifetime.” He spoke the words prayerfully, as he joined their bodies in the age-old way of man and woman. As she sighed her relief, she let his words sink in. He was right. They had a lifetime. It was just a shame that it was limited to her few pitiful days.
* * * *
Five days before the wedding . . . . .
Alex’s birthday dawned bright and clear. The sword had been delivered by Federal Express the afternoon before and Scarlet had to enlist Annalise’s help to hide it until Scarlet could wrap it. Her sister had not fully understood how she could part with her most valuable possession. The truth was, the sword didn’t come close to be her most valuable possession, Alex was. Or rather the way she felt about him. The love she had for Alex was worth more to her than all the gold in the world. Its value lay in its rarity, the surprise of it, and the unexpectedness. She had never hoped or dreamed to find love in her short life, yet here it was. Her treasure.
While Alex was gone to call on some clients, Scarlet made his birthday cake and wrapped the sword in one of the boxes she had used to transport Annalise’s wedding gown. That way, the identity of the present was securely hidden. He would never guess what was in the box. Lovingly, Scarlet iced the cake, and then wrapped the gift. This would be the only birthday she would share with him and she wanted him to remember it. And remember her. Scarlet had thought of that a few times, being remembered. Before, her life remembrances had lain in the hands of her sister and the children with which she worked. Now, she would live on in Alex’s memory.
* * * *
The meeting was not going well. Alex was giving LeBeau enough rope to hang himself with and the walk to the gallows was going to be a short one. “So, tell me about the church mouse?”
“Scarlet was, how shall we say—unexpected.” Alex was careful not to give away how he felt about her. He was intending to let LeBeau have his say and then he would have his.
“Yeah, unexpectedly homely.” Rick laughed, reaching in his pocket and making sure the digital recorder was turned on.
“I understand that you asked her to the prom?” Alex had to hold on to the desk to keep from lunging at the puke.
“Now, that was hilarious. Who told you about that? I played along with her for weeks, even held her hand a few times. She planned and planned, the color of her dress, if I was going to buy her a corsage, where we would go to eat. I think she made herself a dress and I was to wear a matching cummerbund. My only regret was not getting to see her face when she finally realized that I had stood her up. Classic, man. And did they tell you what I did to her at Senior Trip?”
“No, tell me.” Alex managed to say.
“We were scheduled to leave at eight that morning. I had some of the guys tell her eight-thirty, just so she’d arrive as the bus was leaving. She couldn’t run, you know. It was priceless.” R
ick shook his head, as if the recollections were so good they were meant to be relished.
“Rick, I need to tell you something.”
“Yes, boss?”
“You’re fired.” Sweet words.
“Why?” Rick couldn’t believe it.
“To start with, you do a piss-poor job. But I could have trained you, shaped you into a better employee. What I can’t shape you into is a decent person. Scarlet is the most wonderful woman on the face of the Earth. She is beautiful, kind, smart and I love her with all my heart. I’m going to marry her at the first opportunity. And the one thing I don’t need around is you. You’ve caused her pain. Needless, stupid pain. And if I do anything in my life that is at all worthwhile, it will be to see that Scarlet never experiences the likes of you, or anyone like you, ever again. Now, get the hell out of my office and off my property. And I never want to see your ugly face again.”
“Not so fast, Stewart. I’m onto you. I know your game. You’re feeling guilty about the church mouse because you’re really in love with her sister. You’re smitten by your own brother’s fiancé. The Jezebel. She writes that porn-shit. I know all about it. My brother is in jail because of her. Now, you’ve fallen into her trap. And you’re covering by paying attention to her homely, crippled sister.” These words were said with such venom, that Alex was momentarily thrown off guard.
But not for long. Alex clenched his fist, biting his jaw to keep from striking the putrid piece of refuse that stood in front of him. “You think that I don’t love Scarlet. You think that I don’t want to marry her. You think that I’m in love with Annalise. Well, I think you’re an asshole. I love Scarlet more than I love life itself. And you, you sniveling little bastard, are just a wart on the backside of humanity.” With that, Alex grabbed Rick by the collar and shoved him through the door.
Alex sighed. That had felt damn good.
* * * *
Scarlet had coerced her sister and Ethan, along with Bobby and Cecile into going into Austin for dinner. She wanted to be alone with Alex. The cake was ready and the present was wrapped and she had cooked a huge pot of seafood gumbo. She hoped he liked it. The cake and the present were put up, she wanted it to be a complete surprise.
Annalise had let her borrow a dress that she swore Alex had not seen. It was cut so that the differences in their bust lines wouldn’t be a factor in how the dress hung. It was a straight, black, backless sheathe that was shorter than anything Scarlet had ever worn before. The pumps were at least three inches and she wore a garter belt and black hose. Her hair was caught up in one of the ornate clips that she had made. She hoped it made her a little bit sexy, because Scarlet felt wanton. She hoped Alex liked the way she looked.
He did. Alex had slipped in the back way, hoping to steal a kiss before he had to make nice in front of the rest of the family. He stood in the kitchen door and felt his jaw drop. There was no doubt in his mind that Scarlet was beautiful. She had a rare elegance about her that made a man want to care for her and defend her against the world. But tonight! Tonight, she was a vixen, a temptation, a vision of lust and sinful sensuousness. He stood, weak in the knees and swollen with need.
He didn’t have to move. She saw him. The look of utter joy on her face was breathtaking. “Alex!” She ran to him and he caught her. Five more days. What if he couldn’t convince her to stay? Five more days. How would he ever be able to go on without her? “Happy Birthday Sweetheart!”
“Birthday? Who’s having a birthday?” For a moment, she looked taken aback and then she saw the glint of humor in his eyes. “You.” She kissed him soundly. “I cooked you gumbo, I hope you like it.”
“Everything that you fix is out of this world.” He sat down on a dining table chair and pulled her onto his lap. “You look gorgeous! Sexy as hell, let’s skip dinner and go straight to the loving.” He nipped at her neck and fondled her breast. In just a moment, he had her panting. She was always so in tune with his needs, Alex bowed his head against hers and cherished the moment.
“Let’s eat and then I have a surprise for you.”
“Is my surprise under this dress?” He ran his hand under her skirt, but she stopped him.
“You’ll just have to wait and see. Besides, I have to be careful. Everything I have on is borrowed.”
“I adore your sister, but you are way sexier than she is.”
Scarlet laughed. “You’re not supposed to think she’s sexy. She’s almost your brother’s wife, but thank you for saying so. No one else has ever thought I was sexy.”
Alex thought of that ass LeBeau. He wanted her to know that he had taken vengeance for her. “I fired Rick LeBeau today,” Alex spoke slowly.
Scarlet glanced down, as if she were remembering the mean things he had done to her. “You did that for me, didn’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Thank you. But, I would never want you to do anything that would hurt your company. Not for me.’
“What better reason is there than you? I love you, Scarlet.”
The simple words seemed to give her both pleasure and pain. Sighing, she answered in a way he understood. Reverently, she framed his face and kissed him tenderly. “I love you, too. More than you will ever know.” Then, as if shedding the weight of the world from her shoulders, she jumped up and began setting out gumbo bowls and a bottle of wine. She filled his bowl and his glass and joined him at the table. “Tell me what you need to do to finish getting ready for the wedding. I want to help.”
Alex covered her soft, little hand with his own. “You have your hands full with the cakes. I’ve visited with the caterers and everything has been straightened out. The tents will be delivered and set up early on dress rehearsal morning. The sound system and your piano will arrive at ten that day and the caterer will have all the food and the wet bar here by five for rehearsal and then by three on D day.” He had to play it cool. For him, the dress rehearsal was the most important day of the two. After all, that would be their wedding day. And hopefully, it was all coming together. He and Ethan had connections and they had pulled in favors for a special license and to get her included on Alex’s insurance program. As soon as they were married, Scarlet would be completely covered for dialysis. He was still working on the transplant angle. But if there was a God in Heaven, he would make that happen, too.
“The cakes aren’t going to be a problem. You can put as much of this on me as you need to. I want to help you.” She was absolutely sincere and Alex loved her for it.
“We’ll work together. Okay?” He noticed that she wore no jewelry of any kind. Picking up her left hand, he rubbed her ring finger, thinking of the three carat diamond that was being set just for her. He couldn’t wait to give it to her.
“If you’re through with your gumbo. I have another surprise.” She stepped into the formal dining room and came back with a huge cake.
“German Chocolate,” he said with awe. “My favorite.” He let her cut him a huge piece. She set it proudly before him and watched him as he enjoyed it. Slipping off one more time, she returned with a huge box. “For me?”
“Yes,” she said softly. “I hope you like it.”
Knowing her financial situation, he started to protest. But the look in her eye quelled anything negative that he was about to say. With a lump in his throat as big as the state of Rhode Island, he unwrapped the package. “What in the world?” Pushing back the tissue paper he uncovered her offering. “The sword!” He didn’t know what to say.
“I wanted you to have it. I knew that you would appreciate it and protect it.” He pulled it out and ran his hand over the ornate hilt and carefully down the long blade.
“I will cherish it, sweetheart.’ He laid it down and pulled her close. “But I will cherish you more.” He knew exactly what she was doing. She had bequeathed him the sword. He would accept it, but he planned to simply take care of it for her. The same way he planned on taking care of her.
CHAPTER SIX
Cecile had never known tha
t she was multi-orgasmic. She never had been before. But with this young stud, who plowed into her like he was breaking up a fertile field, she came over and over again.
“Do I satisfy you, my lady?”
Cecile panted, laughing with what little breath she had left. “You know you do, Boy Wonder.”
“Hey, if you’re going to make superhero analogies, I would much rather be Superman or even the Caped Crusader.” Bobby hooked a hand around her waist and pulled her close to him.
“Oh, Bobby,” she sighed leaning her head over on his shoulder. “You are all of the above plus Captain America and the Juggernaut all rolled into one.”
“All right! The Juggernaut! I love the Juggernaut!” Despite his bravado, Bobby tenderly tilted her face up to his lips. “You inspire me, woman. I want to make love to you twenty-four hours a day.” The kiss that he placed on her lips was different from any he had bestowed upon her before. It was soft and gentle and so full of tenderness that it almost made her cry.
“Bobby, this has been wonderful. It was so unexpected, such a sweet surprise.” The more they were together, the more she realized how much they had in common. They both liked jazz, hiking, reading murder mysteries, left wing politics and donating time to Habitat for Humanity.
“I don’t want it to be over, doll. I’ll be moving to Dallas in a few months. I want to continue seeing you. Would you like to be my girl?” His words made her shake.
“Bobby, you are so sweet.” She wanted to say yes. In fact, she wanted to scream yes. But, she was older than him.
He rolled her over, and lay on top of her, effectively trapping her beneath his large, hard body. “Say yes. You know you want to.” He grinned, he wasn’t crushing her, he was very careful to bear most of his weight on his knees and his arms. But he had her where he wanted her. She couldn’t get away.