by Love, B. T.
“Morals? Or maybe you just like to tease. You’re the one who says we can’t do anything sexually yet it’s always you who’s trying to get me turned on.”
“That’s only because I want you—”
“Then why don’t you have me then? Dammit, Katie!” He hit the steering wheel with frustration. “I’ve been there for you and your daughter and I’m a good guy. I would do anything for you. But there’s something keeping you from being with me completely. Do you just really not want me?”
“No! Please don’t think that!”
“Well what the hell am I supposed to think, huh?”
“Well what about me?” I raised my voice in return. “Maybe you only want me because I’m a tease. Maybe the chase is what’s keeping you around. I’m hard to get right now and that turns you on, but once you have me you’ll probably leave.”
“Are you serious Katie?” he asked, his face falling to an afflicted state. “Is that really what you think of me? That I’ll screw you and leave you? I am in love with you. Don’t you see that?”
His words made me speechless, and for a moment I just stared blankly at him. “You’re in love with me?” I finally managed to ask.
“Of course I am. Like you didn’t know that . . .”
“Well you’ve never said it before.”
“Yeah well, I didn’t want to scare you.”
“Yet another thing you didn’t want to tell me because you were worried you might scare me . . .”
“Can you blame me? You’re afraid of everything because you’ve had so many bad things happen in your life. I feel so sad that you’ve had to endure those trials but it’s time to move on. Don’t be afraid to fall in love with me and don’t be afraid of my occupation. Just be happy with me. Love me. Please.”
I scooted across the bench seat and put my arms around his neck. “I do love you James. I am very much in love with you.”
He looked at me with a down-turned smile. “Are you really?”
“Yes.”
He shifted in my direction and wrapped his arms around my waist. “I am so in love with you Katie. And I didn’t mean to hurt you by keeping what happened to Seth from you. I’m so very sorry.”
“It’s okay; I understand why you did.” I leaned in and kissed him gently, and then pulled back and stroked his cheek. “Do you want me to make love to you James? Tonight?”
He shook his head. “No, no I don’t. I want you to do it when you’re ready. And I’ll wait as long as you want me to. Honestly.”
“But I want you to know that I do want you.”
“Oh I know you do. Like I said, you’re always trying to turn me on.”
“Well it’s because I want it.” I ran my hand down his chest. “And I want it now.”
He smiled and planted a kiss on my forehead. “Nope.”
“What? What do you mean nope?”
“This time I’m calling the shots and putting my foot down. Not tonight; not after our argument. It will be another night.”
I smiled in return and hugged against him. “Okay then. I didn’t want to be wearing red underwear for our first time anyway.”
“What color did you want to wear?”
“Black.”
“I like black.”
“Yeah, I know.” I cuddled down against his chest and listened to his heartbeat. “How long have you been in love with me?”
“Since the first time I saw you.”
“Oh come on,” I laughed. “For real.”
“Well,” he sighed in thought, “I can’t really say for sure. All I do know is that I’ve wanted to tell you for a very long time now. There have been a lot of times when I almost did but I wanted to be more romantic about it. Tonight wasn’t exactly the way I wanted to say it.”
“Tonight was perfect.”
“You think so?” he asked, hugging me tighter.
“Yes, I do.”
Ten
“I know when I’m going to sleep with James.”
Mary squealed on the other end of the phone line. “You do? When? Tell me!”
“On Thanksgiving.”
“What? Really? That’s two weeks from now!”
“I know.”
“Well we have to get you ready then!”
“Ready?” I laughed. “What do you mean?”
“Well you need to go down and get waxed. And we need to get you some new lingerie.”
“Thanks but I think I can handle it all on my own.”
“You sure? You’re probably a little rusty.”
“Oh come on now. I’m an experienced sexual woman.”
“I’m just joking. But seriously, are you going to get your lady parts waxed?”
“Yep.”
“James is going to love that.”
“Yeah that’s why I’m doing it.”
“What made you decide on Thanksgiving as the big night?”
“Well, we’ll have our kids and we’re going over to James’s mom’s house to eat. But after that Hailey is spending the night at her friend’s house who lives in Lexington so my mom can drop her off right there on her way home.”
“Oh your mom’s going to be there too?”
“Yeah James invited her. He wants our moms to meet.”
“That’s nice. And what about Tyler?”
“James is taking him back home after dinner so he can share the holiday with his mom.”
“So everything sounds like it’s going to work out nicely then.”
“Yeah. I figured it would be a good night to go home to his house and, you know, take advantage of him.”
“Ooh, nice. Does he know?”
“Nope.”
“Did you ever tell him you’re on the pill?”
“Nope.”
“So he’s going to have a double surprise, huh?”
“Yep.”
She chuckled on the other end of the line. “Are you excited?”
“Yeah, and nervous. He’s going to be the second man I’ve ever slept with.”
“And why does that make you nervous?”
“Because I want to be good.”
“Oh you will be, don’t worry. Just go get waxed.”
* * *
“No, no, no! Please don’t be closed!” I peeked into the glass of the salon and looked around at the empty room. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” I was so upset. The salon was supposed to be open today, but apparently they decided to close the day before Thanksgiving. I got back in my car and drove across our small town to the other salon that had waxing services. “Yes! They're open!”
When I went inside I was greeted warmly by an older woman. “Hello. How can I help you?” she asked.
“Hi, um, do you do bikini waxing?”
“Yes we do, but unfortunately the person who does it went home for the day.”
My shoulders dropped. “Oh no. Okay, well, would you happen to know of anywhere else in town that does it?”
“Have you tried Molly’s Hair Salon?”
“Yeah that’s where I just came from. They were closed.”
“Oh, well, that’s the only other place I know of. You can always go into Lexington. I’m sure there are plenty of places there.”
“I would but I’m on my lunch break right now and don’t have the time to drive that far.”
“Working the day before Thanksgiving, huh?”
“Yeah, my job sucks.”
She smirked. “So does mine.”
“Well at least we're in it together,” I joked.
“Yeah, no kidding. Well I wish I could help you more.”
“Oh, that's okay. You have a nice Thanksgiving.”
“You too.”
I pushed through the glass door and huffed back to my car. I knew I should have gotten waxed earlier to make sure I got it done. Now I wasn’t going to have that smoothness that I was hoping to have for my first time with James. I was completely bummed.
* * *
Thanksgiving was upon us. The week had b
een so hectic and I wasn’t even prepared for my night with James. First was the waxing failure, and to top it off I was so busy with work that I didn’t get to buy any new lingerie. My plan was to somehow sneak over to Sharlton’s after dinner and buy what I needed.
Dinner was amazing. Everyone in James’s family was so warm and inviting, and they welcomed my family with open arms. It was great seeing James interact with them. They were such a close family unit.
I sat down on the couch next to Susan and Mark who were cuddled up beneath a blanket. “You two look cozy,” I teased.
“You don’t want to know what’s going on under this blanket,” Mark said.
“Oh stop that,” Susan laughed. “There’s no way I’d touch you like that with your parents so close.”
As if on cue, James’s dad, Robert, joined us in the room. “What are we talking about in here?”
We all laughed. “Nothing,” Mark answered.
James looked a lot like his dad. He was a handsome man, and I could see that James would most likely favor him considerably when he aged later in life.
Robert turned his attention to me. “I hope you liked dinner, Kate. We really enjoyed having you.”
“Thank you for inviting me and my family,” I said with a bright smile. “Martha is a wonderful cook.”
“That’s why I married her,” he chuckled. “Well, one of the reasons, anyway.”
“I bet,” I laughed.
“So, how’s work going for you? The last time you were over you said it was busy down at the bank.”
“Yeah, it’s been picking up even more. I like it when it’s busy though because it makes my day go by quicker.”
“That’s always good.”
The front door opened with a gust of wind and James walked in, bundled up in his hooded sweatshirt. “Damn it’s freezing out there!”
“Well that was quick,” Mark said.
“Believe me I didn’t want to stick around and visit with my ex-wife’s family any longer than I had to.”
“Tyler seemed sad to leave,” I noticed.
“Yeah, he was having fun playing games with Hailey. But he got over it when he found out she was going over to her friend’s house. Did they leave already?”
“Yeah. My mom was getting really tired and she didn’t want to wait any longer to drive home. She said to tell you goodbye.”
“Oh, okay.”
He came over and sat down on the couch next to me. “Man I’m tired.”
“It’s the turkey,” Susan said.
“I ate way too much,” Robert added.
Jeez. How was I going to cut out on his family and make it to Sharlton’s? I glanced at the clock on the wall and noted the time. Thankfully Sharlton’s was going to open in an hour due to their pre-Black Friday sales. I just needed a good excuse to go.
“Awe, dang,” I spoke up. “I just remembered that I promised Hailey I would get her some fancy sweatshirt that’s on sale at Sharlton’s.”
“You mean for the Black Friday sale thing?” James asked.
“Yeah. They open in an hour; I bet the line will be outrageous to get inside.”
“You want to go over there? We can go if you want.”
“Oh, um, no that’s okay. I really don’t want to take you away from your family.”
“I can go with you,” Susan said. “I'll just take my own car though in case one of us decides to stay longer than the other.”
Oh no. Did I want Susan to go? I would be buying sexy lingerie, an expensive razor, and apparently a nice sweatshirt for Hailey. Kind of an odd mix, but even more so throwing the razor into the deal. But what could I say? At least I could hide things better going with her as opposed to James going with me.
“Um, sure if you want. I don’t want to pull you away, though.”
“It’s no biggie. I kind of wanted to hit the sales anyway.”
“Okay,” I said, looking to James. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all. I was planning on heading back home in a bit anyway.”
* * *
“Holy cow, it’s a stampede!” I said as the people rushed around us, greedily grabbing items off the shelves.
“I know,” Susan agreed. “We better get out of the line of fire.” We moved over to the juniors clothing section. “Is this where Hailey’s sweatshirt would be?”
“I think so,” I lied. “I’ll have to look for it and see if I can find it.” I felt bad making up the story about the sweatshirt, but I really needed a way out of the house. Now I had to actually try to find something so I didn’t look so suspicious. I thumbed through the racks and noticed a sweatshirt that I knew Hailey would just love. “Oh, here it is!”
“You found it?”
“Yep! She’s going to be so happy.”
“Good.”
Now for the lingerie. “Is there anything you wanted to look for, Susan?”
“Some shoes.”
“Oh, okay. I was going to run over and look at something in the housewares department. Did you want to meet back up in a bit?”
“Sure, sounds good. Take your time though; when I look at shoes I usually take a really long time because I’m so picky.”
“I can relate to that,” I laughed. “I’ll text you when I’m done.”
“Okay.”
I felt a little guilty about lying again, so I made sure to stop by the housewares department to make good on what I said. After spending about thirty seconds in that section I left and went to where the razors were. There were so many to choose from and the cheapest started at twenty dollars. “This better make me smooth,” I said to myself as I grabbed the thirty-dollar one, hoping it would do the job and make me feel as if I had been waxed.
Next was lingerie. I went straight for the rack of black material and thumbed through the various sizes. My eyes landed on the perfect bottoms: a thong with thin straps that had a tiny triangle-shaped piece of fabric on the front that was completely see-through. I found the bra that matched it; it was made up of thin straps and sheer triangle fabric as well. Realizing that it looked a little small, I checked the tag to be sure and saw that it was a cup size smaller than my breasts. “Dang it,” I whispered. I thumbed through the rack again but it was the last one. “Oh well, this will just have to work.”
I rushed over to the outrageous line and texted Susan to ask if she was still looking at shoes. She replied back, saying she wasn’t having much luck and that I could buy my stuff while she continued to search. Hopefully she wouldn’t show up until after I bought my items.
Right before I was at the checkout she strolled up but was talking on her phone, obviously too distracted to pay attention to the items in my hand. When it was my turn I rushed over and threw my stuff on the counter, pulled out my card, and swiped it before the lady finished scanning everything.
“One moment,” the cashier said. “Let me just scan this last item.”
“We’re almost done, jeez,” Susan complained into the phone. “Just have James take you home. He already left? Well why didn’t you go with him then?”
James was home already. I would have to hide my bag from him when I got back to his house.
“I’ll be home in a few minutes. Love you too.” Susan ended the call and stuck her cell in her purse.
“Okay,” the cashier said. “That will be ninety dollars and thirty-two cents.”
“Wow, ninety dollars?” Susan nosed in. “What did you buy?”
“Just some clothes.”
I swiped my card, thankful that my items had already been bagged.
The cashier printed my receipt and stuck it in my bag. “Happy Thanksgiving.”
“Thanks. You too.”
Susan and I left Sharlton’s and walked out to our cars. “This was fun, even though I didn’t buy anything.”
“Yeah, thanks for going with me,” I said. “Sorry you didn’t find the shoes you wanted.”
“Ah, that’s okay. I need to get back and pick Mark up anyway. He’s ready to go h
ome.”
“Well you have a good night.”
“Yeah, you too.”
We gave each other a hug and got into our cars. I was ready to go back and see my man.
* * *
I pushed the key into the lock and opened the door. James was on the couch, looking completely relaxed while playing a video game.
His face lit up when he saw me. “Hey you. Did you have fun?”
I closed the door behind me and locked it. “Yeah. It was crazy though, so many people fighting with each other over the really cheap stuff.”
“Yeah I bet. What did you end up getting?”
“Um, not much. I found the sweatshirt Hailey wanted so I’m happy about that.”
“Oh that’s good.”
“Yeah.” I looked up at the flight of steps that led to his upstairs bathroom. “Hey, do you mind if I take a few minutes to try on some things I bought?”
“No, not at all. I’m trying to beat this level right now anyway. But when you come back down do you want to watch a movie or something?”
“Sure,” I smiled. “That sounds nice.”
I rushed up the stairs and went into his bathroom, locking the door behind me. I had to do everything quietly; I couldn’t have him hear running water, after all.
The first thing I did was strip off all of my clothes. It was quite exhilarating, getting myself ready for what was ahead. My heart raced as I grabbed the razor out of the bag; I tried to tear into it but the plastic was too strong. “Of course,” I complained to myself. I opened his medicine cabinet and saw a pair of scissors in plain sight. “Nice. For once something is working in my favor.” I cut into the package and took the razor out, and then grabbed the shaving cream out of the cabinet when I replaced the scissors.
I sat on the edge of the tub and carefully turned the water on so a quiet stream of warmth was pouring out. I grabbed the can of cream and slathered some on my legs, and then shaved them first before moving up, ridding the hair in every single place. There was nothing more sensual at that moment than shaving myself with my boyfriend’s shaving cream. It smelled just like him. When I was done I splashed water on myself to wash the white foam away. The razor had done its job nicely: I was completely smooth, just as if I had been waxed at the salon.
I stood and dried off and then ripped the tags off of my lingerie. Man, what a sexy choice I made. I put the bottoms on first and looked down at the see-through triangle. James would be able to see everything. When I put the bra on it was a little tight to fasten but it worked. And actually, getting a size smaller worked in my favor because it pushed my breasts together nicely. I only wished I had a full-length mirror to look into to give myself a once over. Instead I just looked into his mirror above the sink and made sure my hair and makeup looked good. I had to admit, I looked pretty hot. And I was ready to make love to my man.