Charity's Secrets

by Maya James

  I'M STILL JEALOUS OF Trisha's beautiful, Italian black hair every time I see it. It’s been a few days since my talk with Lena, and I wanted to do something a little fun, so I'm watching as Trisha crosses through the forever-busy Ellen's Stardust Diner toward me. Yeah, it's a little touristy, but screw it—it's fun anyway.

  She looks like she's lost a little weight, too.

  Bitch!

  "Hey, Girl," she says as she leans over to kiss me on the cheek.

  "You look incredible, as always," I tell her while she folds herself into the tiny space they had fit her chair. "Sam must be keeping you busy in the bedroom, you look thinner."

  Trisha giggles wickedly. "Well, we have been busy, but I haven't lost anything. It's just my outfit. I have no intention of losing my badonkadonk and besides, look who's talking, lookin' all sexy as hell over there."

  Double bitch! For being so comfortable with her curves. Ha ha!

  She twists in her chair to fix her jacket so that it's hanging behind her. "Can you believe how God damn cold it is out there?" she snarls over her shoulder.

  "I know," I agree. "No one warns you about that before you move here. You would think the buildings block the wind, but most of them just act like a funnel."

  Trisha turns back to me with a shitty smile on her face. "At least it hasn't snowed. You haven't seen anything yet."

  "Crap! What's that like?"

  Trisha laughs. "It's an interesting disaster. How those guys clear these streets—I can't fathom it. It's amazing, truly, but it's still such a mess. Fair warning, it will be like nothing you are used to from home. In the parks it will be pretty, but all that virginal, pristine white you might be expecting, we don't get that here. We get grey and black mounds of garbage-strewn slush."

  "Wow!" I tease. "You're like an artist painting beautiful pictures in my mind."

  Trisha laughs at me as our waitress comes over and introduces herself; a cute, short-haired thing with too much energy and appropriately named Britney. "What do you want to drink?" I ask Trisha as she continues to laugh at me.

  "You know what I want—I want summer!" she says defiantly. "Give me a Vodka Collins. That's summer in a glass."

  Even Britney giggles.

  "Screw it! I'll have the same," I add with a smile.

  "You got it, girls!" Britney says as she leaves to fill the order.

  We are still reading the menus and waiting on our drinks when the staff begins one of their famous singing routines. Of course it was the Elvis song, "Hound Dog," but they are wildly entertaining, making it easy to forget how many times in my life I had already heard it.

  They got me tapping my black Valentino Rockstud suede ankle boots. I can't wait to stand up and show them to Trisha, there's just no room right now. It's really a shame that they are partially hidden under a pair of black stretchy straight legs, but they rock with my cowl neck, sequined top.

  We applaud for the performers when they finish. I notice that our waitress had been part of it all, which explains why our drinks still haven't come yet.

  "So," Trisha starts, "you've been living with Justin for like three months now, right?"

  I nod eagerly. I was hoping she would ask me this, waiting like a cat with a mouse to share.

  "I think this is the first time I've seen you without him in weeks, so now I can ask you. How's that going? Honest, girl to girl answer."

  Excitement roils through me. "I'm loving it!" I can barely contain myself now that the gates have been opened.

  Trisha smiles and pumps her fists joyfully for me in the middle of the noisy restaurant.

  "It's so much better than I had hoped. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm still being cautious. I still have my apartment—I just never use it. He's keeping me very comfortable, he’s such a sweetheart."

  I can't tell her everything he does, no matter how much I want to. She still only knows him as Justin; the gorgeous, former man-whore with the boring insurance job. She doesn't know anything about the businesses that he owns, or the power that he has.

  "I figured it was going well. You two always look so happy. And you're fucking like maniacs."

  I snort-laugh—loudly. "Oh. My. God."

  "What?" she laughs. "Was it supposed to be a secret? Because you haven't walked right in forever, so it's obvious. With that dirty little smile plastered all over your face everywhere you go."

  My sides hurt from laughing so hard. I wish I could tell her the truth about my leg, and the real reason I have a different walk right now, but it's kind of fun having a girlfriend that understands my sex life.

  No one knows about the "Gym." That's just for us.

  "You are so bad," I tell her. "But, yeah, it's going great there, too."

  "He's such an animal," Trisha teases.

  Our waitress brought our drinks now, in two very tall glasses. "Here you go, Ladies. Summer in a glass."

  "You did really good out there," I said to her, making her beam.

  "I'll be back in a couple minutes to take your order," she said, bouncing off into the crowd.

  "So how long are you going to hold on to your apartment?" Trisha asks after a long sip through her straw with her full lips pursed comically.

  "I don't know, it's my security blanket right now. I've never lived with a guy before. Part of me, a big part, wants to just give in to the moment and trust what I feel, that Justin and I are destined for each other. Then there's all my training in the Secret Society of Women Warriors that tells me to never rely on a man."

  She giggles at me easily. "I hear you, on both things. If there's ever a guy you can rely on, it’s Justin, but I do get it. I don't believe living with a man means that you're dependent on him. If it doesn't work out, you simply move out and get another place. Hell, I'd put you up if you needed."

  "Thank you, Sweetie," I said, emotionally touched. "Do you think I'm being neurotic and picky?"

  "Yes!" she laughed.

  "Wow," I replied, laughing with her.

  "I'm nothing if not honest, and you love that about me," she says.

  "Yes I do." Trisha can see that I mean it. "I'll only keep the place for a little while longer. Then I'll ditch it, I guess. I can't get rid of it right now anyway; I have a guest coming. Melissa is finally going to make it out here, and I'll set her up in my apartment so that she doesn't hear me and Justin calling out to God every night."

  Our energetic waitress returns, causing a brief interruption in our conversation to take our orders. Trisha is so excited that you would think the waitress is killing her by making her wait.

  "She's coming? We finally get to meet her?" she explodes as soon as Britney leaves.

  I love that she's so excited for me. There is no jealousy, and I'm so fucking relieved by that. "Yes—finally!" I squeal.

  "When? Oh my god, we are so going out. GNO! I called it!"

  It's hard to answer her, between my laughing and her inability to shut up.

  "We are totally going out and we're going to scope out the hottest guys so we can pick on them for not being as hot as Sam and Justin. And! And! And! We are seriously getting Melissa hooked up while she's here."

  Trisha has me laughing hysterically by this point. I raise my "summer in a glass" to her, and she clinks her glass off the side of mine.

  That finally slows her down enough for me to get a word in. "She's coming in right between Christmas and New Year's. She wants to be with her family for Christmas, but she'll be here for all the New Year's Eve parties and still get to see the city still all decked out."

  "That's great. I can't wait to meet her, and I'm so happy for you that someone from home will be here for the holiday." Trisha's sincerity is incredible.

  "I'm thrilled to see her," I admit. "I miss her, and I have so much planned for when she gets here, probably more than we will actually have time to do."

  The understatement almost makes me laugh right out loud. Melissa doesn't know it yet, but I need her help. I have a shit-ton for her to do.

  A
nother sip of my drink disappears down my throat as I glance around and enjoy the 50's style decor inside the diner. The classic shiny red and blue plastic seats were as expected as the chrome trim around the counter top next to us. They have a huge glass case full of desserts that look absolutely delicious, and suddenly I want cake instead of food.

  "So," I started, focusing back on Trisha, "how is Sam?"

  Trisha's face lights up and I just love seeing it. I've met Sam several times now and he really seems wonderful. Just as she'd told me months ago, he looks like a tall version of Usher. He's very careful with her, gentle, and she deserves that; my friend deserves to be treated special because that's how she treats everyone around her.

  "A couple of days ago, I had mentioned how I love the simplicity of daisies, the boy-meets-girl feel of them. Then last night, in the middle of this bitter winter, he shows up at my door with a handful of them."

  When Justin and I met him, I could see that attentiveness in him toward her. What's funny is that I think Justin was a little jealous about having another bull in the pen; someone that could keep up with him in the romance department. After I teased him a little, Justin would only shrug his shoulders about Sam.

  "Where the hell did he get daisies from this time of the year?" I ask, basking in the affection of it.

  "He wouldn't tell me where he ordered from—says he needs to keep some tricks under his hat," Trisha replies smiling sweetly.

  "By the time he added in the delivery costs, those had to be some pretty damn expensive daisies," I say.

  "I know, right?" You can hear in her voice that she is still swooning. "You don't even want to know what happened after that." Her face grows wicked.

  Suddenly, I'm missing Justin and excited to get home to him soon. My fingers long for the curves of his muscles, and my heart desires the closeness of his affection.

  "I will tell you," she continues, "we never even made it into the bedroom."

  "Yummy, one of those kind of nights. I love those," I add, raising my eyebrows and fixing my hair.

  I'm planning on having one of those nights tonight actually. My mind is full of Justin; the taste of his mouth, the heat of his body when he crushes himself into me, and I need him. My skin burns waiting for his hands.

  When the food comes, Trisha and I are bouncing around Christmas gift ideas for the boys, and neither of us is getting anywhere. Obviously, we're putting too much pressure on ourselves, but what do you get for the man that finally treats you right after years of kissing frogs?

  It has to be perfect.

  So far, nothing I came up with was just right. I'm hoping Trisha will say something that sparks an idea, but she's probably waiting for me to do the same. We are both blown away by these men and nothing seems good enough for them. The food ends up much better than our ideas, and we end up laughing at each other for the crap ideas we keep coming up with.

  "Christ! When did we get so fucking bad at this?" Trisha says slamming her palm on the table.

  "I'm rethinking the pony idea. What guy doesn't want a pony?" I try to look as serious as I can manage.

  "That's what I was thinking," Trisha agreed sarcastically.

  I know we're just being silly, but nothing in this world is going to be good enough for Justin.

  BEHIND ME, THE DOOR swung shut quietly in its hinges, locking itself after it clicked into the jamb.

  "Justin?"

  There's no answer. Maybe he's not home yet.

  I'm putting my bag down when I hear the voice behind me. "Get up against the wall—NOW! Put your hands out," he demands.

  There's no point in resisting. I step up to the foyer wall and nervously place my hands against it, waiting to see what the next move will be. My pulse is a loud whomp in my ears.

  The sound of his footsteps fill the small space, approaching on me slowly, deliberately, until I see his feet on the floor between mine, his bare feet and bare legs. His strong hands lift the heavy coat off me and toss it to the floor beside us and then return to my shoulders where they begin to coil up my hair. A familiar hardness presses into the small of my back.

  "I've been thinking about you all day," Justin whispers into my ear, making my knees weak.

  "And what exactly, were you thinking about?" I breathe, praying for his magical hands.

  His left hand pulls my hair, turning my face toward his. "I thought about making you cry with pleasure. It's the only way I can tolerate your devastating absence." He quickly bites my lower lip, tempting me. "I love you, Warrior, and I need you."

  Justin's right hand slithers around to my front under the bottom of my shirt, rising up between my breasts to grab my bra like a handle. Then both of his hands pull me tightly against him, molding me into his warm body.

  My lips ache for him, my hunger for the taste of his tongue spills over. "Kiss me, please!" I beg. "Touch me like a man should touch a woman.”

  "I'm going to do everything to you that a man should," he growls.

  His mouth finds mine, the pleasure of it searing all of my senses. He tugs my hair a little more and completes the seal between our lips, circling his tongue around mine. Underneath my shirt, his powerful hand let’s go of my bra and gently grabs my breast, pressing the fleshiness between his fingers. I feel a low moan deep in his chest. It's more felt against my body than it's heard by my ears.

  It doesn't matter that I want more, that my clit is throbbing for his touch, Justin makes me wait for it. He releases my hair and my breast, both hands moving to the bottom of my shirt where he pulls at it uncaringly, ripping it over my head and tossing it on top of my coat. My bra comes off me with the same ease then spins me around to face him, pushing my back against the wall.

  "My fucking God! I will never get tired of looking at you," his deep voice confesses while his eyes widen with lust.

  There's no misunderstanding him. My own eyes are taking in his fully unclothed body with the same excitement and enthusiasm. The thick muscles of his chest rise and fall with his heavy breathing, and his well-defined shoulders beg me to claw my nails into them.

  Christ! How does he stay in that shape?

  Fuck it—I don't care!

  Before I have a chance to reach my hand toward his hard cock, he drops to a knee, where he slips off my shoes and then my pants and underwear. His hands run the length of my legs until he stands again, cupping my face in his palms gently. His mouth returns to me, licking my lips quickly, and then kissing me with a burning eagerness. We are on the cusp of a frenzy, each working hard for self-control. When his body presses to mine, I can feel the passion coursing through him, making his muscles vibrate and quiver against my skin.

  Justin moves his hands around me to my sides and back. One of his fingers explores the top crevice of my ass and I place my arms around his back as well, digging into the huge muscles there.

  Suddenly, he breaks our kiss and grabs my ass to lift me up in the air. My legs fold around his hips instinctively as he maneuvers me over his swollen cock. I feel the tip of it dipping between my wet, creamy folds, soaking himself in my juices so that he won't hurt me. I adore his patience and let out a throaty moan of pleasure as he slowly lowers me. His head easily finds my opening and is engulfed.

  It's safe now to drop me to the root of his stiffness, but that wouldn't be Justin. His beautiful sparkling green eyes lock with mine, nearly smiling as he controls my descent to an incredibly frustrating slowness.

  Desperately I grab the hair behind both of his ears and pull it, trying to force my body down. "I need you in me," I growl.

  That did nothing. The incredible strength of his arms has not worn at all, and he keeps his pace until I am at the hilt, my vaginal muscles clenching and squeezing like mad. With our faces even once again, I cannot resist his lips. I pull his face to mine and invite his tongue into my mouth.

  I feel movement under me. He's walking us through the apartment. The back and forth of his hips make his heat move in and out of me in tantalizing little jerks, my wetness
running down his shaft. We pass the bedroom and I know exactly where we are headed.

  Down at the end of the hall he leans me toward the wall so that I can reach the keypad. My fingers eagerly punch in the code and the gym door unlocks. Only for a moment one of his hands comes off me; turning the handle and swinging the door open. We are washed in the brightness of the late afternoon sun.

  Stepping into the huge room is like walking on stage, and the city beyond the tall windows is our audience. My excitement climbs as it always does in here.

  Justin takes his hand away for another quick moment and smacks the control pad on the wall just inside. "Feel This Moment" from Pitbull and Christina Aguilera blasts into the space with us. I have a good feeling that Justin will make sure I feel this moment.

  He carries me to the back wall and my blood heats. I know just what he has in mind and I can't fucking wait!

  As if I'm weightless, he lifts me off his well-soaked hardness, each glorious inch of it sending chills through my thighs, and places me back down on the floor. His unyielding hand presses into my chest between my breasts, forcing me backward into the wall while we smile arduously at each other. I don't bother spreading my legs for him, he'll want to do that himself. I stand willingly between all the ropes and cuffs and wait.

  There's no thinking needed, he already knows exactly how he wants me. My arms are pulled straight over my head and cuffed together; exposing the softness under my arms that he runs his fingertips through gently, followed by a light run of his tongue down my right arm to my side as one of his hands finds a nipple, rolling it stiffly.

  Another throaty moan escapes me as I enjoy the appetizing sensations.

  He grabs an ankle, pulling it away from the other and shackling it to the wall. His fingers wrap around my other consenting ankle and I am spread wide, the cool air touching the wetness between my legs. I can't explain the excitement and thrill I'm feeling at this moment. He is too much man for me sometimes and that's okay.

  Justin stands in front of me and scoops my face into his hands. "I love you, Warrior."

  "I know you do. I love you too," I reply through several heavy breaths.