Les froze at her words, his body tensed and he started to pant. Is she serious? Was that a joke? God, please let it have been the truth. If all it took to get her to love him was to give her pleasure, pleasure that he received as well just from giving it to her tenfold, then he’d gladly give it to her for the rest of his life. Whenever and wherever. Enthusiastically.
“What?” Les whispered.
“Oh, shit. Don’t stop. That was a joke, Les. I’m sorry.”
“Kendra…”
“Seriously, Les, it was a joke. I know what this is. My emotions always remain at bay and I swear I’ve never said that to anyone else. It really was just a joke.”
“What this is? Emotions at bay? What does that mean?”
“I know this is… was… just sex for us. I know it can’t and won’t go any further than that. I learned early on that I’m the type of girl to fuck not marry and have kids with.”
Les frowned. She moved to sit on the edge of his bed and he followed, completely dumbfounded at the bullshit he heard coming from her beautiful mouth. What the hell was this she was talking? Who the hell had her and didn’t want more than her body? An idiot. A selfish, stupid, dumbass idiot, that’s who.
“What the hell are you talking about, Kendra? Wait! Where are you going?”
“Home,” Kendra murmured, glancing at his bedside clock. “Don’t get up, I’ll call a cab.”
“It’s three in the morning, Kendra.”
“I saw that,” Kendra murmured, looking around. “Oh, my clothes are in the hall.”
Les stared after her as she left the room. He jumped up soon after she disappeared then slid on pajama bottoms and followed her. She was frowning while looking around for something, moving his clothes then his coat. Finally, she moved her coat and found it: her purse.
“Fuck me and leave? That’s all I am, a fuck and dump?”
“It’s ‘bump and dump’, Les,” Kendra sighed as she picked up her clothes from the floor. “What is the problem here?”
Les stared at Kendra, standing in his entry, naked, sexy and completely desirable… and ready to bolt. What had he said and done? Why was she suddenly ready to leave? He couldn’t keep her here, much as he wanted to do just that. No, she wanted to go so he was going to have to let her leave. Hopefully soon, she would tell him what the problem was and work it out. No way could he let this fester a month let alone another ten years. No way. He had her now and he was keeping her. She just needed some space and he would give it to her but there was no way he was ever letting her go.
“Nothing. Don’t bother with a cab. I’ll take you home.”
“No, it’s okay. I’d much rather take a cab.”
“Fine,” Les sighed in resignation. “We’re at 3310 Sand Drive, Thousand Oaks.”
“Thanks. Mind if I use your bathroom again?”
Les shook his head. “Of course not, Kendra. Knock yourself out.”
Kendra couldn’t understand what Les’ problem was. Did he really think he was being cute, acting like he wanted her for more than he got already? Men. They really shouldn’t toy with women like that.
Finally clean, dressed and decent again, Kendra snapped up her phone and called the cab company, angrily waiting for an answer because she felt like a big damn whore. Again. She sighed when the call was finally answered.
“Hi, I need a cab, please. 3310 Sand Drive, Thousand Oaks to 21920 Granger Place, Santa Monica.”
“No problem,” the dispatcher murmured. “I can have someone there in about fifteen minutes, give or take.”
“Fifteen? Great. Thanks.”
Kendra sighed, straightened her posture then went back into the bedroom after ordering the cab. Hard as it was, she didn’t shed another tear while she cleaned herself. No, she decided to wait until she got home to have her break down.
As soon as she entered the bedroom, she looked around. No Les. With a sigh, she walked out to the living room, and startled when she saw him, still only in his pajama bottoms as he stood at a bar and holding a glass with brown liquid in it, a hard look in his eyes as he watched her enter the room. She stopped and looked at him, taking him in one last time before she walked away.
This is it, she decided. No more Les and definitely no more of these fucks. She’d rather be alone, getting through the rest of her life with patience and a lot of prayer. Maybe God would hear her and send her someone, and make her pay enough attention to know that ‘he’ was indeed the one sent.
“I have everything. I made sure of it.”
Les nodded, staring quietly in his glass, murmured, “Would you like a drink, a glass of wine or something else, while you wait?”
“No, I’m fine,” Kendra replied then walked toward the entry. She grabbed her coat and held tight to it and her purse. “Thanks for tonight. I enjoyed myself.”
“No problem,” Les smirked and set the glass on the bar then watched for a few seconds as Kendra walked quickly to his door. “Wait. Where are you going?”
“I’m going to wait for the cab,” Kendra frowned at him, managing a ‘duh’ expression at the same time.
“Outside?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Huh?”
“Why can’t you wait in here with me?”
“That’s not necessary. Um… I… I’ve never… uh…”
Les moved to stand in front of her, his head tilting. “You’ve never what, Kendra?”
Kendra took a step back, her senses going into overdrive as the smell of them on him caught her senses and turned her completely on. “I’ve never… I was kidding about breakfast, Les, and the love thing. I wanted to sleep with you hoping you wanted to be with me as well.”
“Didn’t I just prove that I did? I thought I had six times over and was working toward a seventh.”
“Yes, I know. And now that you’ve had me, I know it’s time for me to go and we’ll never see each other again. I get it.”
“I’m glad you do because I sure as fuck don’t.”
“Excuse me?”
“What is all this self-deprecating talk you keep giving me, Kendra?”
“Self… deprecating?”
“Yes! Why are you so intent in thinking all I want is sex with you?”
“Because since my first, that’s all any man has ever wanted from me, Les.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, not in the least. Look at me.”
“I am looking at you. You’re a beautiful woman. Everything about you, inside and out.”
“Don’t lie, Les,” Kendra sighed. “You got what you wanted, so stop. I don’t need it and I know that’s not true. No one ever sees past the fact that I’m not a size two but I am female. I have the right sex organ for straight men.”
Les blinked then scowled. Her words… no, he had to be hearing wrong. She had to be telling the worse joke known to man. He slowly began to count, determined to calm before he spoke.
“You’re telling me that the first time you had sex, that’s all that asshole wanted? Sex, nothing else? From you?”
“Yes. He made that clear. I wanted the experience, he wanted sex. Win-win.”
“And every guy since him?”
“Every one.”
“How many since him?”
“Including you?
“Including me.”
“Seven,” Kendra sighed.
In the twelve years she’d been ‘active’ she had sex with seven men. Never in a relationship and she didn’t miss it. Not really. She did with Les, though. And no one else since her Daytona man.
Dammit, why was she thinking about him so much lately?
“You’ve had sex with seven men and none of them said they cared for you?”
“No, but like I said, I don’t need the lie. Not anymore. Every so often, I meet a guy I’m attracted to and I fuck him and leave. I know what’s coming so I get what I need and go home. I please him, he pleases me back. Win-win again.”
“Kendra…”
“It’s fine, Les. Really, it is. I get it.”
“No, I don’t think you do. Not with me, anyway.”
“Why? What’s different about you?”
Les took a deep breath then and looked at Kendra. The time was now. He had to tell her what he was feeling and how long it’s been sitting inside him, festering, mocking. She had to know, needed to know that her scenario, her beliefs did not include him, even if she grouped him with the others. Five other men, five assholes who only wanted what was between her legs. Assholes. If she gave them half the good time she gave him… both times they were together… they were runners and didn’t deserve a good woman like her.
Les sat in the chair, facing his entry then gestured to the couch, careful to give her space.
“Sit down, Kendra. Please.”
“Um, okay,” Kendra murmured then sat on the couch. “Sitting. What is it?”
“Kendra… where were you during the summer of 2007?”
“Summer… 2007… let’s see… I was… in… ah! That’s right! I was in Daytona for a few weeks with my Floridian cousins, being a complete 20-year-old before going back to school in the fall for my final year in design school. Why?”
“I was in Daytona, too. For about three weeks.”
“You were?”
“I was. I was there for a job with my brother then our family joined us for a vacation.”
“Okay. Did we meet?”
“You bet your ass we did.”
“I don’t--“
“We had sex, Kendra. I was a virgin. You were my first.”
“I had sex with a virgin? Wait… no… the guy I had sex with… my Daytona man… Babe was no virgin.”
Les smiled. She remembered the encounter but not him and he knew why. Still, he could have sworn she knew or felt it was his first time ever being intimate with a woman. Her not knowing that put a frown on his face. Why wouldn’t she figure that out?
“Why do you say that?”
“Because he wasn’t. He was too controlled, not eager at all to finish. He took his time… several times… and he was extremely giving. He was no virgin and I’ll never be convinced he was. He was in a hell of a rush to get out of there, though.”
“No, I was not.”
“It was not you!”
“Yes, it was, Kendra. I was instantly attracted to you and I swear I have never been with a woman that I felt that pull with since you or before you.”
“No, not buying it, at all. That was not you. That guy was… he was… he had brown hair and, and… and his eyes! They were hazel!”
“Stop frowning, Kendra. I’ll prove it to you. You were wearing a black and lime green bathing suit with a lime green sarong wrapped around your hips. Your hair was darker, damn near black and you wore it in braids that curled on the ends.”
“What… uh…”
“I approached you at that bar and you left with me. We rented a room. You got the condoms, and when I saw them, you explained about the latex. It was the first time I had ever wanted to have sex and I wanted it with you. When we got in the room, you called someone and told them where you were. Then we stripped and you and I had at least twelve rounds of the most incredible sex I have ever had. When I woke in the morning, I went to get coffee and breakfast and when I came back, you were gone.”
Kendra stared at him, trying to see the guy in him. No… it couldn’t have been.
“Your hair… the eyes…”
“Temporarily dyed and contacts. My mother invested in a designer and was about to go belly up so my brother and I helped by posing for the line. By the time I met you, the dye was wearing out. The only excuse for the contacts was that I liked the way they looked. I stopped wearing them once the vacation was over because the ads were being released and Andy and I did not want to be recognized once we were in law school.”
“Oh, God… I see it now. You’re older… we’re older… but yeah, I see now why you seem so familiar. Wait… did you say you came back?”
“I did. It took me a while to come back because of my father and brother. I disappeared and they were worried. They cornered me in the diner and wouldn’t leave me alone until I told them that you were still waiting in the room. I told them what happened, assured them we were careful and came back to the room we rented. A maid told me you were gone; she’d seen you leave about ten minutes before I came back.”
“Fuck… I see it all now… that’s why…”
“Why what?”
“Why you look so familiar.”
“Yes, I’m a little older but it was me. You however, look absolutely the same. I’ve looked for you damn near every year since in Daytona. I was fucking shocked to see you walking into the bar with that group and I followed you in there.”
“You didn’t come to the bar for the speed dating?”
“No, I was there because I’d just had a business meeting with another lawyer in the upstairs bar. I was coming out and you were going in. I froze when I saw you. I went back in and I paid off a participant to take his place, since the list was closed. I had to get in there and talk to you, get your number.”
“Is anything you said to me that night true, Les?”
“Most. Ninety-eight percent of it was nothing but the truth. Ask me something from that night.”
“Okay,” Kendra sighed. “Is your twin really gay?”
“No, he’s the ultimate bachelor. He loves women and is not afraid to show it.”
“That baking thing, was that true?”
“It was. Is. I bake and Andy cooks, thanks to Randa’s shyness in her teens. You should taste Andy’s Coq au Vin.”
“Okay,” Kendra nods. “I believe it was you. Well, since we’re being honest…”
“Yeah?”
“You remember that we never gave each other names, right?”
“Yes. We were too busy to exchange names.”
“I was the one that said no names, Les. Before we got busy.”
“I remember, Honey,” Les smiled. “Why?”
Kendra gasped. If she didn’t believe it before, she’d have to after he called her that name. She smirked, realizing he’d been calling her that most of the time they’ve been in his house; every time he was inside her body, at least.
“Because I thought it was only sex. Wasn’t it?”
“Not for me,” Les sighed as he shook his head. “I told you then that I felt a connection with you. I wanted to see if there was a chance there could be more with us. Have you been here all this time?”
“Yeah. I grew up in Santa Monica, from the age of four. We, my parents and I, were in Florida until then.”
“Wow. We’ve been here for ten years, from New York. We moved here after the job for my mother and the Daytona vacation.”
“Okay… so about us being honest,” Kendra murmured then jumped when a horn sounded. “Shit. That’s my cab.”
“Sit tight. I’ll take care of it.”
Kendra watched as Les went to the entry then looked through her purse. She took out her wallet and sighed at the picture she pulled from it. It was his best one. She set her purse on the couch next to her, thinking there was no easy way to tell Les her news, so she may as well blurt it out.
She sighed as she stared at the picture, finally realizing why his eyes were that shade of blue.
Les came back a moment later and threw a wallet on the coffee table then took his seat again.
“Okay, I’m all ears. What else is there to be honest about?”
“What happened, Les? With the cab, I mean.”
“I paid him and sent him away.”
“Okay. I can call for another after we’re done talking.”
“Fine,” Les frowned then pointed to the object in Kendra’s hand. “What’s that?”
“This a picture of Shane Edward Atkins. He’s my son and the reason why we should have given each other our names.”
Les frowned as he glanced at the picture then looked back to Kendra, completely confuse
d. “Your son?”
“Yeah,” Kendra sighed. “Here, take a look.”
Les took the picture and frowned harder as he look. He’s a handsome boy, he thought. Familiar. And kinda big to be only a toddler. He had blonde curly hair and blue eyes, as blue as his and Andy’s. As blue as their father’s. Holy hell, Les’ brain screamed at him as his heart thudded. This was… shit!
“He’s… how old is he?”
“Nine. Almost ten.”
“Mine?” Les whispered.
“Yours.”
“Shit!” Les shouted, his eyes tightening as his reserve started leaving him.
“Yeah,” Kendra murmured, thinking Les sounded a lot like she did when she found out Shane was coming.
“I’m a… a… a father… I’m someone’s dad…”
“Technically, yes.”
“Where is he now?” Les asked, running a hand down his face. First time in a long time he felt like crying. Happy and sad tears. He had a son but knew nothing about him except his name.
“With my parents. He visits with them on weekends. They get him from school on Fridays and I don’t see again until Sunday mornings when I meet up with them for our weekly breakfast/brunch.”
“Where was he when you were in Chicago?”
“My parents’. It’s a yearly trip. Has been for seven years and they’ve had him every time. They’ve been great with helping me with him, ever since he’s been born. I have no idea how I would have made it if it hadn’t been for Sed and Andrea Atkins. They never judged or berated me.”
“About Shane?”
“About Shane, getting pregnant and not knowing how to find my baby’s father. They, um, understand and always said Shane was meant to be here. He was God’s plan and they would always love him.”
“Sounds like good people,” Les murmured then looked at his son’s picture again. His son. With Kendra. A son! With Kendra!
“They’re the best, until you swear and all bets are off. They’ve instilled that in Shane and he will call you on it and fine you. Dollar a word, which he gives to the same ‘Y’ you spoke of on the speed date. Shane is named after my father. His name is also Shane Edward Atkins but Dad’s called Sed, and has been since he was a boy. Shane is loved, I promise. You can keep that picture if you want. I have another like it at home.”
Honey Babe Page 8