Mending (This)

by J. B. McGee

  “100%.”

  His eyes lit up as he slid the card in and out and the door, clicking as it unlocked. “Well, after you, then.”

  Bradley

  He held the door open for her to enter the room. All things said, it wasn’t a bad place to stay. He’d certainly stayed at worse places when he was in college. But, it was certainly not ideal. If he had known she would finally give in, he would have arranged for roses, champagne, and chocolate covered strawberries. In fact, he made a mental note to have that arranged at some point.

  Gabby

  The energy between them was thick. She could feel her breathing changing. She’d never done anything like this before, but she felt so comfortable with him. She had tried to fight these feelings, but it was becoming impossible. The more she talked to him, the more she wanted to be with him. The more she was with him, the more she dreaded having to leave him. She shook her head and then lunged forward to him as the door closed behind his back. She grabbed the sides of his face and kissed him. Their tongues slipped around each other, twisting and turning.

  He breathed in and pulled away. “Damn, Gabby. I didn’t expect that.”

  She laughed out of breath. “I can’t fight it anymore. Kiss me.”

  “Oh, gladly.”

  He pushed her into the room, their heads turning and tongues thrashing. The kiss was so hard that every once in a while they would clank their teeth together. They’d both smile and continue, their hands moving wildly, exploring each other’s bodies.

  She reached down and pulled his shirt over his head. He lifted his arm with a wry smile as he watched her feistiness.

  She had worn a plum sweater over skinny jeans with Ugg boots. He looked at her as he started to pull her sweater up. “You sure you’re okay?”

  She kissed his neck, then his ear. “What do you think?”

  “Your eyes look beautiful in this color, by the way.” He smiled as he quickly pulled it over her head, tossing it to the floor.

  She giggled. “Thank you. I’ll remember that.” She winked.

  He moaned as he took her mouth back to his.

  He gently laid her back onto the bed, using his legs to spread hers. He prowled on her body as if he were a wild animal on a mission to devour his prey. She smirked. “You look like you’re a tiger about to have me for dinner.”

  “Oh you have no idea of the things I want to do to you.” He closed his eyes as he kissed her cleavage. “I’ve dreamed about what you’d look like without any clothes on, but right now I think I like the way you look just like this.” He continued to kiss her neck, her ear lobes, her cheek, her mouth.

  She threaded her hands through is hair. “All I could think of at Cade’s wedding was you with your shirt off.”

  He stopped grinning. “Ah, and to think I thought you were so innocent, Miss Gerhart.” He sat up looking down at his chest. “Is it everything you thought it would be?”

  “What can I say? You bring out feelings and thoughts I’ve never really had before.” Her eyes widened, “Especially in church! And, yes –”

  “Shhh,” he interrupted her by put his pointer finger over her swollen lips, “No more talking.”

  She went to say something and he pressed his finger into her mouth more. “Ack. Shhh.”

  She smiled and pursed her lips sliding her hands down his hard sculpted abs to the waistband of his pants. She wiggled her finger under the elastic of his underwear. She couldn’t wait to see what kind he wore. That was another naughty daydream she had in church that day.

  Her hands wandered to the front and she started to undo the button. He stopped and watched her. He had an awestruck look on his face and it made her smile. Bradley made her feel so sexy and wanted.

  He glanced up at her after she undid the button with burning sapphire blue eyes. She bit her lip as she slowly pulled the zipper down and then put both of her hands inside and pushed them down. He inhaled sharply, closing his eyes. “Gabby.”

  Her eyes lit up at the tight white Calvin Klein boxer briefs that were holding his bulging erection. “Shhh.” She moved a finger up to his mouth. “No talking. Your rules, Mr. Banks.” She raised her eyebrow playfully. He opened his mouth and took her finger into his mouth and sucked. Gabby’s eyes grew large, sucking in air as an explosive tingling shot through her body all the way to her very core.

  He reached up and seductively pulled her finger from his mouth and let her limp limb drop to her side. She tilted her pelvis towards him and he pressed his growing erection into her. “Ah.” Gabby panted.

  She repeated her tilt and he pushed back, again and again until Gabby was a shivering mess screaming, “Bradley.” He kissed her entire body as she came down from her orgasm. “I will never be able to get my fill of you.”

  She played with his hair as he continued to kiss her. “The feeling is mutual. I feel so much better.”

  He brushed her hair back and whispered in her ear as he kissed her lobe, “Stay here with me tonight. You can drive back in time for class in the morning.”

  “Okay.” She smiled shyly. “Why waste this perfectly good bed you’ve bought for us?”

  Chapter 11

  February ~ 2009

  The Past ~ Bradley

  Bradley had been having an extremely stressful day and all he could think about was getting to the gym to blow off some steam. It seemed that every project the firm was working on was having problems. The secretaries seemed to all be on their periods at the same time and were acting exceptionally bitchier than usual. The confident CEO that he was, always grinned and put on a good front that it didn’t bother him, but he was about fed up to his eye balls in office drama. He also knew part of his problem was working the late hours had meant he hadn’t had time for his usual time at the bar to pick up a one night stand. He was not just frustrated with work stuff. He was sexually frustrated, too.

  He jerked his tie from left to right loosening his it and unbuttoned the top couple of buttons of his shirt. He picked up his jacket, the papers he had left on his desk, and his briefcase. He headed through his door to his secretary, Sharon. She was in her mid-fifty’s. He had tried to hire several young secretaries when he first got out of college. The thought of being able to look at sexy women while working had been alluring when he first started at the firm. But he had found them very distracting and always disappointing. The young ladies were rarely hard workers or greatly inappropriate. When he had found Sharon, he was so thankful that he would not be distracted, but she had come with a page full of references. She was the hardest working secretary of anyone in the firm by far. She was also old enough to be maternal to Bradley, always making sure he had food and coffee every day, but always maintained professionalism.

  “Sharon, can you please fax these for me?” He handed her the papers only slowing his stride, but not stopping. “I’ll be on my cell if you need anything. Have a good night.”

  “Yes, sir. Don’t forget you have an 8am meeting tomorrow.”

  “Got it, good night.”

  She briefly looked up and nodded while politely smiling. “Night, sir.”

  He headed down to the gym that was located in the basement. He kept a change of clothes in the locker room, so he hung his suit up and quickly changed. He didn’t need a trainer. He had played sports all through middle and high school, specifically football. He knew what he needed to do to keep his body in shape. Because Joe usually spotted him and he wasn’t with him, he couldn’t do any bench presses. He did his warm-up routine of stretches, wall sits, and jumping jacks. Then he moved on to leg presses, which were his favorite. The crunch bench was where he spent a good bit of his time toning his glistening abdomen muscles, and finally ended up with the weights doing bicep curls. All the fancy equipment in the world couldn’t substitute good ‘ole dumbbells.

  When his workout was finished and some of the stress from the day had been relieved, he showered and grabbed the other change of clothing, jeans and a white button up linen shirt. He rolled the sleeves
to his elbows and ran his fingers through his wet hair enough to smooth it back into its messy place.

  Now it was off to Joe’s for his last conquest to relieve the day’s stress. His next fling.

  Joe’s bar was just blocks from Bradley’s firm. When he had looked for office space in downtown Atlanta he had made sure that it was in close proximity to Joe’s place. They had both played football together in high school. When Bradley was accepted into the prestigious Clemson architecture program, he had talked Joe into coming with him. They had both rushed and become brothers of Sigma Chi. Joe was never serious about school. He barely graduated with a degree business. But Bradley had to give it to him. He had moved back to Atlanta and opened an upscale nightclub in Atlanta. He was doing very well for himself.

  Joe Adams was taller than Bradley, standing at six feet four inches, making it easy to find him in a crowd. His body was perfectly chiseled and sculpted. His messy brown hair was sun kissed from being out on the water of Lake Lanier on the weekends fishing. Girls in college had been mesmerized by his velvety and smooth caramel brown eyes. He cleaned up nicely in his suit with no tie and the first several buttons unbuttoned of his white shirt.

  Bradley walked in and was quickly able to find him after scanning the crowd. It was no surprise he was surrounded by beautiful women, as usual. He chuckled at his friend and hoped that maybe one of those women would be more interested in him than Joe.

  Bradley threw his arm around his back and smiling his charming smile at the ladies said, “Hey, man. Introduce your brother to your lady friends.”

  Bradley surveyed the group to see if any of the girls matched his type. Eying them with a smug grin on his face, he saw her. She broke the eye contact by turning to grab her drink from the table behind her. It was obvious to him that she did this on purpose. She was perfectly his type. Blond hair, blue eyes, sophisticated, sexy as hell, and oh so mature. She was wearing a black and gold sequined dress, if you could even call it a dress because it barely covered her plump behind. The fabric in the back swagged in a scoop that went all the way down to the very base of her spine. All he could think of was how he wanted to run his finger down her back as he pushed the fabric down both of her arms until the little piece of cloth pooled at her feet. He could only imagine what she might have on under that dress. The thought of her having nothing under it turned him on even more.

  He leaned into Joe, “Who’s the blond with the barely dress on over there?” Bradley nodded her head in her direction while smiling a seductive grin.

  “That’s Veronica. She’s one hot little thing, ain’t she?” Joe chuckled.

  Bradley laughed. “Yeah, I’m not sure I’ll even be able to wait to get her home. I think I’ll take her in a bathroom, your office, hmm, anywhere at this particular moment. Is she with someone?”

  “Nah man, she’s all yours. Go get her.” Joe nudged Bradley teasingly.

  “We still on for fishing tomorrow?”

  “Yep.”

  “Alright, night bro.” Bradley patted the table. He reached out for his hand and pulled it in and gave him a quick tight hug.

  Bradley confidently walked over towards her with a sly smile on his face. When she turned back around he was inches from her face. “Hey there, I’m Bradley Banks.” He held his hand out for her to shake it but that required that she back up a step.

  “Veronica Johnson.” Her lips curved into a smile as her head tilted to the side and staring him down.

  He just stood there for a moment grinning because she didn’t seem to be affected by him like all the other girls who usually fumbled words until they found their names. He liked that she was so confident in herself that she didn’t seem to lose her bearings, but he wondered if this was because maybe she wasn’t affected by him.

  Releasing her hand, “So, Veronica what do you do?”

  “I’m a corporate attorney, you?”

  “I’m a CEO and architect.”

  “Oh, a big shot, huh?” She flirted.

  As if there had been any doubts from moments earlier as to whether she was into him, they were now gone. He could tell by the way she shifted her body and her response that the building electricity and feelings were quite mutual.

  “Nah, not a big shot.” He shrugged his shoulders and chuckled a little, “Just a normal guy who is a work-a-holic and perfectionist.”

  “Well, I can certainly relate to that. All I do is work these days.”

  “Ah, but you’re here.”

  “And, so are you, Mr. Banks.” She winked.

  “Yeah, but my mind is most definitely somewhere else.”

  She swayed from side to side to the music. “And where might that be?” She took a sip of her drink and looked up to him under her thick lashes.

  “Somewhere more private.” He inhaled sharply and gently grazed his finger down her skin that felt like satin, “Somewhere where I’d be perfecting undressing you” He closed his eyes for a moment, “And I’d be a work-a-holic to your body.”

  She leaned up and slowly ever so gently kissed his bottom lip and then leaned into his ear so he could hear her husky whisper, “Oh, how I’d like that. Your place or mine?”

  Bradley slid his hand to the small of her exposed back and pulled her in swiftly to where she was pressed firmly up against his body, “Baby, I’d take you right here, right now on that table. Let’s get outta here.”

  One week before the Williams’ Wedding

  Veronica got out of his bed and leaned down to pick up her clothes. “So, where are you going again this weekend?”

  Bradley was laying on his back with his elbows bent, hands behind his head watching the view of Veronica putting herself back together after their weekly good time. “Charleston.”

  After slipping her panties back on she was fastening her bra back, “And what are you doing there again?”

  “My cousin’s getting married. I’m a groomsman.”

  “Are you taking a date?” Veronica glanced through the opening of her blouse as she pulled it back over her head.

  He tilted his head to the side and gave her a crooked grin raised one eyebrow at her. “And what do you think?”

  She shrugged her shoulders. She knew that he didn’t do dates, but she really was hoping that eventually he would give in and finally take her on one. They had been each other’s weekly fling for a year and he’d never asked her for anymore. She had been happy with that, as well because she had been busy advancing the corporate ladder. “Well, I am available if you don’t have a date.”

  “Thanks, but you know I’m not interesting in dating anyone.”

  Veronica shrugged her shoulders picking up her skirt, “I know, but I thought you might like company. You know after the wedding.”

  Bradley sat up and pulled her down to him, “But, then I’d have to introduce you to my family and I’d have questions from them that I don’t want to answer.”

  “Are you ashamed of me to the point you wouldn’t want your family to meet me?” She hung her head low.

  “No, I don’t introduce girls to my family. I don’t want pressure to produce an heir or to get married.” He swiftly kissed her, “I gotta get ready. I’m meeting Joe to go fishing.” He patted her back, “We good?”

  “Sure.” Kissing him slowly and passionately she said, “Just something for you to remember while you’re away.”

  “Mmm, get outta here before I take all those clothes off of you again and make myself late to meet Joe.”

  She swayed her hips in an exaggerated fashion towards him, “Oh, I’d like to make you late to meet Joe, though.”

  He grabbed her head and pulled her into a passionate kiss and then pushed her away, “I bet you would. See you for our mid-week appointment Wednesday?”

  Veronica chuckled, “Mid-week appointment? Well, I guess it is that. But, I could think of a lot of other sexy things to call it other than that.”

  Bradley got up and opened his dresser to pull out a pair of boxer briefs. He looked back ove
r his shoulder as he walked toward the bathroom to shower, “It is what it is, Veronica. If it’s no longer enough for you, then we can just end it.”

  “You can be such an ass.” She grabbed her purse and turned on her heel, “See you Wednesday. I’ll let myself out.” She hissed.

  Bradley cocked a sideways grin, “See ya, Roni.”

  He felt a little bad as he got into the scalding hot shower, but then again he didn’t. They had agreed that they would be casual sex buddies the night at the bar. He didn’t want anything serious and neither did she. But, it seemed the more time that passed by the more attached she was becoming. Bradley wondered what the hell she was thinking insinuating that she could come with him to the wedding. There was no way that he was going to bring a girl with him around his family. He would be getting asked when he would make his parents grandparents within a week and he was in no, way, shape or form ready to think about having kids in the distant future, let alone in the near future. He shook his head closing his eyes as he pushed his hands back on his head, slicking his hair back. He quickly tried to put her out of his mind. The whole point with a casual relationship was to not have to worry about this kind of crap and he wasn’t having it. If she couldn’t keep their deal any longer he’d just find someone new.

  The night of the Williams’ Wedding

  Veronica, Atlanta

  Veronica had met Bradley on Wednesday for their mid-week appointment as promised, but she was so frustrated with him. Not only had he made her feel like a cheap whore, he refused to even entertain the idea of taking her to an out of town wedding, even as a friend. She wanted to be more than his mistress and she didn’t know how much more obvious she could make that. It made logical sense that they would be a young power couple if he’d just get over his commitment issues and make them just that, a couple. At this point, she’d even settle for friend, for someone he would take in public. She longed to just go on a date with him. Her friends couldn’t understand why she put up with his crap. She was gorgeous and she could have any guy she wanted. But, looking at him was like looking at perfection. He had a booming career and was in a position of power. He wasn’t insecure with her powerful position. But, those things aside, she’d never had someone in bed like him. He personified the phrase sex on legs. He took pleasure in spending hours on end worshipping her body. She felt like deep down he cared more for her than he let on, how could he not? But, for some reason he just refused to have anything more with her.