by Chanta Rand
Dane sent the horse galloping toward a dense clump of trees in the distance. The Maldives was known not only for its alluring white sand beaches, but also for its lush vegetation and thick palm trees. Dane tethered their horse to a sturdy tree and led her into a dark ring of trees where no one could see them.
She barely had time to untie her sarong before Dane had his pants unfastened. Naked from the waist down, she braced her hands against the rough bark of a wide tree trunk, ready to do it doggy-style.
She heard Dane’s sharp intake of breath. “No panties?”
“I came prepared.”
Dane’s hands squeezed beneath the flexible material of her tube top to fondle her nipples. He tweaked the hard buds between his big fingertips. Pleasurable pain shot through her body. “Ooh, yeah,” she crooned, feeling the slick moisture spread between her legs.
“You like that, huh?”
“Love it. I love everything you do to me.”
She gasped as he teased the head of his erection between her ass cheeks. She was game for anything Dane wanted to try, but she wanted it doggy-style first. Her favorite position. It was the most primal. She enjoyed being dominated and fucked from behind.
She waited, practically salivating with anticipation as she heard him tear open the condom packet and sheath himself. When Dane forcefully thrust inside her, she was hot and ready. She greedily submitted to the long stroke of his dick, pushing back against him and clenching the walls of her pussy for greater pleasure. Dane plunged deep inside, the tempo of his powerful thrusts increasing with each movement. She gripped the tree trunk. Dane helped her keep her balance by holding her hips tight.
She moaned loudly, relishing the feel of his thick penis dipping in and out of her. She liked to think it was pure lust that drove Dane’s performance, but she recognized a skillful lover. He handled her body like a maestro conducting an orchestra. He was in tune with her every movement, every whimper, every erotic craving. It was as though he could read her mind and cater to her desires. Each time she had sex with him, she felt transformed, freed of her inhibitions. Where had this man been all of her life?
It didn’t take long for her to reach her crescendo. A frantic thrumming inside her core raced, shook, stuttered, and finally exploded. This one was intense, with wave after wave of pleasure seizing her. She felt Dane’s relentless pumping as he climaxed with her.
“Lord, Charly,” he rasped in her ear. “For an old woman, you sure keep me on my toes.”
She smiled at his joke. “For a young man, you sure have a wealth of experience.” She turned around and adjusted her skirt, making herself more presentable.
“I have to pull out my full arsenal to keep you satisfied.”
Her eyes locked with his. “If that loud scream of ecstasy didn’t convince you of my satisfaction, I don’t know what else to say.”
He nuzzled her neck, tenderly kissing her earlobe. She was glad she’d worn her hair up again today. Not only did it combat the heat. It allowed her to feel the sensuous touch of Dane’s lips on her skin. “I can’t get enough of you,” he admitted. “Like a never-ending hunger. What’s your secret?”
His admission warmed her from head to toe. She hadn’t felt this desired in years. Dane’s compliments boosted her ego better than any shopping trip. “I have no secret,” she told him. “You’re just a hot-blooded, horny ass man.”
He peeled the top of her tube top down, exposing her breasts. Before she could fully recover from their impromptu fucking, he pushed her against the tree and began feasting on her nipples. She gasped as his talented mouth suckled one of her nipples and then playfully bit the hard bud.
“Say yes,” Dane demanded.
“To what?”
“Round two, baby.”
She closed her eyes, shocked at the spiral of heat that began forming between her thighs. She was powerless to resist him. “Yes.”
Chapter 5
For the next four days, Dane saw very little of his brothers. He spent his days and his nights indulging in his new favorite pastime–Charly. They made love constantly, insatiable for each other’s touch. They spent their days playing beach volleyball, swimming in the crystal clear lagoon near his bungalow, diving near the colorful reefs, and exploring the island. Their nights were spent in each other’s arms making what Charly called lasting memories. And she was right. As long as he lived, Dane would never forget his time in the Maldives with her.
He was fine with their agreement to keep their private lives private. He accepted Charly’s terms and didn’t push for more than she wanted to give. She made up for withholding information by being a generous lover. He’d even convinced himself that maybe it was better not to know anything about her. It made it easier to part when their vacations came to an end. Even so, he was unprepared for her departure days later. She’d said goodbye the night before, sending him off with a farewell he would be proud to remember for the rest of his days.
Mark couldn’t understand how he could take it so calmly, but Cayson considered Dane fortunate to leave the island drama-free. “Look at it this way,” Cayson advised, “now there are no awkward goodbyes. No begging you to call her. No annoying emails and nasty-grams sticking from the windshield of your car. I speak from experience.”
The three brothers were hanging out on Mark’s boat, helping him prepare for a scuba tour he was conducting later. A certified diver, he made a substantial living as the owner of his own tour company. Kendra owned a small travel agency. Together, the two of them were living their dream.
Dane laid a dozen breathing regulators on clean towels atop a wooden bench. “Damn, bro. I thought you said all of your breakups were amicable.”
“Ninety-five percent were. There are a few crazies who made it through. Shit like that can make a man’s life miserable for a few months.”
Mark shook his head as he checked the air hoses on the oxygen tanks. “Dane, I know how you feel. When Kendra left, I was depressed too.”
“Yeah, but at least you knew you would see her again at work. I’ll never see Charly again.”
“There must be some way to locate her.”
“She never told me her last name.”
“You know she’s a life skills coach.”
“Do you know how many coaches there are?”
Cayson jumped in. “I can find out. You know my firm has a humungous database of information. It should be easy to find her.”
“Really?” A breath of hope soared through him. Cayson was an attorney at one of the largest law firms in St. Louis. Their investigators dug up more dirt than gardeners.
“All I need is a driver’s license or a social security number.”
Dane smirked. “Let me just pull that out of my ass.” He made a motion like he was reaching for something in his back pocket.
Cayson scowled. “You don’t have to be so irritable about it.”
Mark interjected. “I told you all this subterfuge was a bad idea. Did you at least find out where she lives?”
“Texas,” Dane answered.
“Texas is a big fucking state.”
“I know.” He pulled several pairs of fins from a large bucket. Maybe it was better that he didn’t know Charly’s exact location. He was beginning to get too comfortable having her around. That made him nervous. He wasn’t sure he was ready to commit to anything deeper right now. “Wanna know something crazy?” he admitted. “I haven’t felt this way about a woman since Nichole died. In fact, I haven’t even thought of Nichole since I met Charly.” The realization shocked and saddened him. Not thinking about Nichole was progress, but he didn’t want to forget her. His feelings for Charly scared the hell out of him.
“Wow. She really got to you.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Fantastic sex will do that,” Cayson quipped.
“She gave me the best week of my life, bro.” Dane’s wistful tone elicited a pair of sympathetic looks from his brothers. He waved them away. “Spare me your pity,”
he ordered. “It’s for the best that Charly left with no forwarding address. If I knew where she was, I’d be likely to pursue her, then I’d screw up the fantasy. Yep. It’s better this way. Trust me.”
Mark grabbed three bottles of beer from a nearby cooler. He passed one to each of his brothers, and then raised his beer in a toast. “Here’s to fantasies.”
Cayson raised his bottle in the air as well. “Now, that’s a toast I can get behind.”
Dane toasted with his brothers. Yeah, to fantasies. Sometimes, that was all a man had.
********
Charly sat behind the wheel of her Altima watching the students at New Faith Private High School spill into the parking lot at the end of the school day. As usual, her kids were the slowest to come out. “I hope they don’t take all day,” she told Shontal, who sat in the passenger seat. I’m tired and ready to get home.”
Work had been hard. Two of her clients needed extra special attention. One, who’d been through a crippling divorce, was a young woman she could identify with. The other had lost his money and his confidence in the process. Charly was helping him through his insecurities, all the while grateful that he was not her man. Today was her kids’ first day back at school. A woman in a Bentley drove by twice, glaring at her for being double-parked. “I’ll give her something to glare about,” Shontal threatened.
“Oh, that would look great. Two grown women slinging it out over a parking space. I already fought too hard to get these kids into this school. And hurry up and put that cigarette out so I can roll up the window. It’s ninety degrees out there.”
Shontal drew one last puff and then flicked the butt onto the ground before rolling the window up. “If you’d let me smoke in your car, I wouldn’t have to let all that heat in here.”
Charly pursed her lips. “I’m not trying to get second-hand smoke behind you. I thought you were supposed to be quitting anyway.”
“I’m working on it.”
“Uh huh. Like the Tea Party is working on more government regulation.”
“Whatever.” Shontal laughed, taking Charly’s barb in stride.
Finally, Charly saw Diego emerge from the building, his backpack slung casually over his shoulder. Pants hanging lower than they should. “How many times have I told him about those pants?” she complained to Shontal. The rule in their house was speak appropriately, dress appropriately, and act like you have some damn sense. Instead of lecturing, she’d gotten wise and hit him in the pocket–charging him a dollar each time she caught him saggin’. She’d been gone one week and already he was backsliding.
“Look at those hussies on him,” Shontal commented. Diego was handsome and built like a grown man instead of a seventeen-year-old. He’d inherited his father’s Puerto Rican good looks–caramel skin with inky curls that girls couldn’t resist touching. Thank God he hadn’t inherited his father’s other bad habits.
Charly’s gaze landed on a ‘fast’ girl she’d noticed sniffing around Diego a few weeks ago. The yellow bone with a long, blonde ponytail overtly swayed her hips every time she moved. Her implications were nowhere close to being subtle. “These girls don’t leave anything to the imagination. I can see I’m gonna have to have the talk with my son again. I can’t be taking care of no grandbabies.”
“He probably knows more than you did at his age. It’s these little girls who need to be schooled. All up on my nephew like a bad fungus.”
“I’m one to talk. I was all up on Dane too.” She hoped no girl was going to try to do the things with her son that she’d done with Dane. “Now, that was shameful.”
“The difference is that you’re a grown ass woman.”
She couldn’t argue that. And soon, her son would be grown too. She beeped the car horn, signaling her impatience. If she added up all the minutes she’d spent waiting on her kids, it would probably amount to a month-long cruise in Europe!
Diego strode through the pack of girls and arrived at the car the same time Joi appeared at her back door. The two teenagers piled into the car, bombarding Charly with questions.
“Hey Mom. Hey Auntie,” Diego’s deep voice boomed. “What’s for dinner?”
“Can I join the dance squad?” Joi asked.
“Oh, and I need money for prom,” Diego reminded her.
“All my friends are joining the dance squad,” Joi persisted.
Charly held up one hand for silence and used the other to steer out of her parking spot. “We’ll see,” she said. That was code speak for ‘Dang! Can a sistah get a minute to think it over?’
Joi pouted. “Daddy said I could.”
Charly’s jaw clenched at the mention of Cruz. He’d given up his parental responsibilities long ago. He was merely a sperm donor, drifting in and out of his kids’ lives whenever his nomadic lifestyle permitted. Where was he when she was scraping up funds for private school three years ago? Or when she had to sleep in her car after being evicted when the kids were still in grade school? It was easy for him to make promises that he had no intentions of fulfilling.
Diego spoke up. “Save that money for me, Mom. I’m going to U of H next year.”
Charly’s heartbeat stuttered. If Diego could get into the University of Houston that would be a load off her back. With his past behavioral problems, there was a time she wasn’t sure he would make it through high school, much less get to college.
“Humph!” Joi warned. “You better make sure you don’t get none of them girls pregnant.”
Charly wagged a finger in Joi’s direction. “The correct verbiage is ‘don’t get any of those girls pregnant. And yes, Diego, you’d better make certain that doesn’t happen. Is there something I should know?”
Diego twisted his lips. “No, ma’am. Don’t listen to her. She’s just hatin’.”
Shontal interrupted. “A good-looking young man like you better make sure to wrap that pickle up.”
Charly rolled her eyes. She wasn’t ignorant to think her baby wasn’t having sex, but she didn’t want to encourage him either!
“Mama,” Joi interrupted, “Can I get a job? My guidance counselor told me about a part-time position at the mall on weekends. You could drop me off and maybe Auntie Shontal could pick me up.”
Diego shook his head. “Uh-uh, Rat Face. I’m gonna need a ride to track practice. Besides, you don’t need no job.”
“You don’t need a job,” Shontal corrected.
“Both of you’d better keep your noses in those books,” Charly ordered. “That’s the only way I’m going to let either of you participate in any extra-curricular activities. You know the rules.”
“Ow!” Joi howled. “Mama, tell him to stop hitting me.”
“She hit me first,” Diego responded.
“Did not.”
“Did too!”
Charly shot them a warning glance through the review mirror. “If y’all don’t stop that nonsense, I will pull this car over and you’ll see who can hit the hardest.”
That shut them up. She really didn’t mean it. She had no time to pull to the side of the road and whip some butt in broad daylight. Besides, she was wearing her new designer pumps today. And it was muddy out there. With Diego at damn near five-foot-eleven and one-hundred and thirty pounds, it wasn’t as if she could whip him anyway. She preferred talking to her kids. She’d never been a harsh disciplinarian, but on days like this, her children tried her patience. She longed for the tranquil pace of the Maldives, where there were no clocks, no deadlines, and no teenagers fighting for attention in the back seat. As she merged into traffic, accidentally cutting off another car, an angry horn blared. Yeah, vacation was definitely over.
********
“Four minutes and fifty-three seconds. You have to do better than that, Zo.” Dane clicked the button on his stopwatch as Alonzo Manning ran past. The sweat-soaked college sophomore was behind after healing from a broken fibula last year. Dane was amazed by the young man’s resilience, but he would have to increase his speed if he was going to have
any hope of making nationals in four weeks.
“I’m trying, Coach,” Zo complained, as he jogged to where Dane was standing on the red clay track at Cougar Stadium.
The University of Houston had experienced mild success in track and field. Dane enjoyed coaching football more than track, but the latter kept him busy and active. And it kept him from teaching during football’s off-season. He’d rather have teeth pulled than be stuck in a classroom all day.
“Well, try harder, son. You need at least four and a quarter.”
Zo nodded. “Yes sir. I’ll work on it, I promise.”
Dane liked the kid. He didn’t take feedback personally and he had heart. He believed Zo had a fighting chance this year. “Alright, hit the showers. See you on Wednesday, kid.”
Dane made a few notations on his digital clipboard. Ten years ago, he had no idea how to use a smart phone, much less an iPad. A lot had changed since then. He signaled one of the assistant coaches to let him know he was headed back to the athletics office. He had important business that couldn’t wait another day.
After picking up a few things from his office, he headed toward the staff parking lot. The moment he hopped into his pickup truck, his cell phone rang. He answered on the second ring. “Hello, Ma.”
“Hello, darling,” his mother’s cheerful voice filtered through the line. “Did I catch you at a bad time? Sounds like I heard an engine starting up.”
She should have been a private investigator. The woman had ears like a bat and intuition like a fortune teller. Even growing up, she’d been wise to all of him and his brother’s shenanigans. “I’m good, Ma. Just leaving work now and headed home.”
“Leaving work? So early? Is everything okay?”
“I’m fine. Sasha’s the one who’s under the weather. I have to take her to the vet.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Son. What’s wrong with her?”
“I don’t know. I think it’s just old age.” His female German Shepherd was more sluggish lately. Both Sergei and Sasha had filled a void in his life when Nichole died. But since the day he’d bought Sasha as a pup, she’d always been sick. When he got her home, he found out she had heartworms. Of course, the seller he’d bought her from in the parking lot of a warehouse megastore hadn’t volunteered that information. That was the price he paid for being cheap and not paying the cost of a breeder.