by D. A. Young
“I like a woman with an appetite. Speaking of eating, when would you like to go to dinner?” he asked smoothly.
“Actually, I kind of have my hands full right now running the café. And I’m already seeing someone. I’m sorry, Davis, but it was good talking to you,” she said apologetically. Davis’s eyes seemed to flash with her answer, and it gave her a sense of deja vu, but then they appeared normal again as he smiled at her. Suddenly Georgina felt uneasy, but not sure why as she looked past him for Max. She saw him in deep conversation with Sheriff Holloway. There was no way he would be able to hear her over all of the noise. Then she felt an arm around her shoulder and Chelsea’s voice close to her ear.
“Hey, babes, I didn’t know you were going to be here!” she spoke loudly in her ear as she pulled Georgina away from Davis. “You’ll have to excuse us, Davis. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to see this lady. You don’t mind, right?”
Not waiting for an answer, Chelsea hurriedly yanked her away. When they were nearing the bleachers, Chelsea pulled her around to give her a hard stare. “Girl, let’s meet at the microbrewery after the game okay?” Then she gave Georgina a hug and went back to sit with her family, who all waved at Georgina.
She waved back, even as she felt someone staring at her from behind. Shivering, she pulled her coat closer around her and walked with her loaded tray back to her seat and Max. Georgina didn’t need to turn around to know it was Davis.
The Cougars beat the Falcons 28-21. After the game, Georgina asked Max if she could stay at his place again, and he readily agreed. So they went to her house for more of her things. While there, Max collected all the mail, and she watered the plants. After she got more stuff, they reset the alarm and walked to the car. As they approached the truck, she got the feeling again that she was being watched, but after a quick look around, she saw nothing and decided that she was just being paranoid. When she got in the car, Max was looking at her with a frown.
“Everything okay?” he asked. She let out a deep breath and smiled at him. “Everything’s fine, baby.”
Chapter Nineteen
The Rockin’ Rooster was Baymoor’s microbrewery. It was an old barn that was restored and updated and painted black with white trim; the roof and doors were red. There was a tavern sign hanging with the image of a big black rooster. Valerie Carlton had designed this place, and everywhere Georgina looked, she could see her aunt’s signature touches. On the jukebox, Lenny Kravitz crooned about an “American Woman”. Max gave Georgina a lingering kiss before she headed to join Chelsea at a booth. Max took a seat at the bar as he waited for Wade to join him. Jackie, their bartender, had already hit him with a bottle of Wino Ale. “On the house, sugar,” she winked. “Leo’s in a creative mood for the upcoming Wine Festival and needs some guinea pigs.”
Leo Tolan was the owner of the Rockin’ Rooster and the drama teacher at the local college. A retired theater director, Leo had given up everything to come to Baymoor to live with his painter boyfriend, Indigo. When Indigo decided Baymoor wasn’t for him, Leo, who had fallen in love with the town at first sight, had stayed. He dabbled with brewing on the side but realized quickly that he was good enough to sell it. Nate helped him to create the menus, and the majority of the food was bought from Cinnamon Farms.
“Thanks, Jackie. I’m picking up the tab for the booth my pretty companion is occupying if you could let their server know.”
Max took a sip from his bottle just as Wade pulled up a seat. He grimaced as it hit the back of his throat and then went down smooth. “Damn, that’s good. Try Leo’s new one.” Wade grinned and turned to call down to Jackie. “Hey Jackie, can I have one of what Max’s drinking?”
She grinned and brought another bottle down, plunking it in front of Wade. “Hey, Sheriff, I take it you’re off duty?” Wade nodded as he took a sip. Jackie then leaned forward with an inviting smile. “Do you want to meet me later on at my house or should I come to yours?”
Wade smiled and said “Not tonight, darlin’. I’ve got a case that needs serious attention. Raincheck?” She pouted prettily and winked at Max before walking away, hips swaying. Wade watched for a second before grinning at Max’s startled expression.
“You and Jackie? How long has that been going on?” Max asked, surprised but happy for his friend. He was also a little relieved that the sheriff was getting some from somewhere. He didn’t want him having any thoughts of Georgina, considering the way he’d stared at her tonight.
“About three weeks now. She only lives two houses down from me. She’d been coming on pretty strong for the last year, and then she turned up at my house late one night and claimed to hearing strange noises in her backyard. I walked back with her to check it out. The lights were out everywhere except in her bedroom. She had candles lit and rose petals everywhere. I turned around, and she was standing behind me naked. A man can only say no so much. It’s been going good, but I try to keep my private life very private. Small town living, you know what I mean, I’m sure.” Wade said
Max nodded. “Yeah, I hear you, bro. You ever miss New York?”
Wade shook his head, eyes filled turbulence. “Naw, man, after my partner was killed by a man that we had been doing surveillance on, I was in a really terrible place. I wanted personal justice. I turned my badge in and thought about taking the law into my own hands.” His eyes hardened. “Plus there was a woman involved, which always make everything more complicated. I fell pretty hard for her. I found out later that she had been part of the plot to lure me in.” He took a sip of ale before continuing. “I had to get out of there. Baymoor is the complete opposite of the life I was living, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. What looks good tonight?” he looked down at the menu, wanting to change the subject.
“So what happened to the asshole and the woman? You can‘t leave me hanging, man” Max asked.
“That bastard died of natural causes, and she disappeared,” Wade grimaced. “Hey Jackie, can we get two orders of bacon cheeseburgers and garlic parmesan fries?” That was Wade’s way of changing the subject. Clearly he was not over the woman who had hurt him.
***
It was nice to have a moment to catch up with her good friend, Georgina thought. They had been inseparable in elementary all the way through high school. It was their senior year when Chelsea started to pull away from their group of friends. She became distant and reclusive. Everyone had been so concerned about her, and it seemed the more they reached out to her the angrier she became. Only Georgina, Valerie, and Nate knew that she had tried to kill herself, and her parents sent her to a mental hospital. For a year, Georgina wrote to her friend every week. She never got a response to her letters, but they were never sent back either.
Over the years, she often wondered about her; Georgina had wanted to reach out but had just been happy knowing that her friend was okay. As they sat, Chelsea smiled at her. “It’s really great to see you, Georgie. I’ve wanted to apologize a thousand times for my horrible behavior, and the way I cut you off. We were so close, and I just turned my back on you. I owe you the truth, so here it goes.” She took a deep breath and said, “I’m gay.” She continued as Georgina watched her. “I always knew my feelings for boys weren’t that strong, but I thought it was because I hadn’t met “the one”. It wasn’t until I went away to summer camp before junior year that I realized it was because I liked girls. There was another girl at camp a year older than me, Elaine, who helped me to realize what my problem was,” she said softly and looked out the window. “After I came back, we continued to stay in contact. She was my first love, and I was desperate to be with her. I called her daily and wrote her letters all the time. I think it got to be too much for her.
One day I came home from school to find her and her parents at my house. Her family was very hippy-dippy, “love is free” etc. They didn’t have a problem with their daughter being a lesbian; they just thought I was oppressing her freedom. My mother was crying hysterically, and my father was furious
. Elaine said that she wanted me to leave her alone; it was just a fling. All of my letters were spread out on our coffee table. Humiliated beyond belief, I apologized for any inconvenience and went to my room. That night my mother, who always used to brush my hair and hold me close while we talked about my dreams, brought a tray to my room with dinner and left the room. Never once did she look at me. I could hear the rest of my family having dinner like nothing had happened. I no longer mattered to them. I then went to my parent’s room and took my dad’s bottle of sleeping pills back to my room where I locked the door to my room and took twenty.
The next time I woke, I felt like I went ten rounds with Mike Tyson, and I was in a padded room at a mental hospital for disturbed children,” she laughed harshly. “The counselors determined that there was nothing wrong with me, but to me, it was where I felt safest. My visits with my parents were horrible, and I asked them to stop visiting me. I stayed and continued with school. All around me, there were kids with real problems, and my biggest was one was that I couldn’t admit that I was gay. I decided to major in youth counseling. When I graduated from college, I opened a clinic in Baltimore and lived above it.”
Three years ago I was working late one night when one of youth patients ran in hysterically and asked me to help her cousin. I quickly went with her to the parking lot, and a lady whose face was beaten and swollen lay in the backseat of her mother’s car. She was still alive, just unconscious. The mother helped me to get her inside and lay her down in the living room. She then turned to me and said, ‘Please, Ms. Chelsea, don’t tell anybody we were here. You can’t go to the cops because they’re on the take. He’ll kill her if she goes back. Please; we’re just trying to protect her!’.”
Chelsea took a sip of water, and Georgina didn’t even know what to say about her story except, “What happened next?”
“Well, they were desperate, so I gave them my word and locked up when they left. I went to get my first aid kit to help clean the woman up. She had been beaten and choked and had two black eyes, a swollen lip, and cuts on her forehead and cheeks. Judging from the bruising around her throat, it would be awhile before she could speak. When I turned her face to clean it, she seemed familiar. By the time I was done cleaning the best that I could, I realized it was Annabelle Gaines in my office.”
***
They played three games of pool, and Wade won all three. “You’re definitely off your game tonight, brother,” he said with a chuckle.
Didn’t Max just know it; his mind was focused on Georgie and her friend who seemed to be having a very intense conversation. Suddenly there was a movement next to him, and he saw Wade’s eyes widen. Max turned to look and saw Farah leaning against the pool table in a short nude- colored, curve-hugging dress that left little to the imagination. She smiled at him coquettishly as she tossed her hair over her shoulder.
“Hi, Max. I thought I saw you over here. Thought I’d come say hello.”
He smiled politely. “Hey Farah, how’s it going?
She smiled and leaned in closer to him, and Max shifted away in annoyance as Wade hid a grin behind his pool stick. “Do you think you could give me a ride home? I think I’ve had a little too much to drink, and I’m sure Sheriff Holloway wouldn’t approve of me getting behind the wheel. Isn’t that right, sir?” she asked flashing an innocent smile toward Wade.
“Farah, I truly appreciate your attempts at being a law-abiding citizen,” he replied with a straight face. She turned back to look at Max and licked her full lips.
Max looked at her pretty face and curvy body. She was obviously offering herself to him and had flirted shamelessly with him in the past, but he just wasn’t interested in her. Or Raquel, who was smart, gorgeous, loved sports, and had a voracious sexual appetite, and yet…nothing. They’d had a good thing going, but he knew that whatever happened or didn’t happen with Georgina, he wouldn’t be paying any more visits to her bed. Without taking his eyes off of Farah’s face, he called out, “Hey Jackie, can you call a cab for Farah? Let me know when it gets here, and I’ll pay for it.”
Max saw the hurt and anger on her face and spoke in a low voice to her. “You should find someone that can appreciate all you have to offer. I’m not that person and never will be. Don’t approach me again, or I won’t be as nice.”
Tears welled in her eyes as she replied venomously, “Is it because of HER? Is she the reason you won’t give anyone a chance? What’s so great about her? She never even came back to visit her aunt and uncle, but everyone thinks she walks on water. You’re making a big mistake with her, Max. You’ll see.”
She turned and stomped away, angrily wiping tears from her eyes. Watching her go, Wade whistled softly, “She’s got it bad for you, my friend.”
Max just shook his head because he knew exactly how she felt.
Chapter Twenty
Chelsea’s confession last night shocked the hell out of Georgina, and if they hadn’t been interrupted by more old friends coming to say hi to Georgina, she would have insisted that her friend elaborate further. She also couldn’t place the feeling of unease growing at the back of her mind. As she went through the process of making coffee, Georgina struggled to figure out what was eluding her. She was so intent on her private thoughts that she didn’t hear Max come up behind her and touch her arm.
“Shit!!!” she screamed and jumped almost knocking the mugs over. Both dogs started to bark. Max stepped back with his hands raised in a gesture of surrender. Breathing heavily, she just stared at him wildly.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you, I was just going to say good morning,” Max said slowly, observing her tense face and heaving chest. Gone was the wild child from last night. When they got back from the brewery, she’d seemed so preoccupied when she upstairs that, he’d let her be as he went into the study to compose an email to Casey, requesting the information that he wanted, and responded to new emails. When he finally went upstairs, Georgina was asleep with her design sketchbooks sprawled across the bed. After moving the books, Max slipped her clothes off and tucked her into bed, before going to take a shower.
Max was sitting on the bench with his eyes closed letting the warm water run all over his body when he sensed her presence and opened his eyes to look directly at her standing in the doorway clad in the bronze lace bra and matching panties he’d left on her. The color complemented her gorgeous skin and curves, and the lace of the bra was sheer enough that he saw her aroused nipples, stirring his manhood to rigid attention. Never taking her eyes off of him, she unsnapped her bra and removed it and her panties, letting them drop to the floor. Max’s eyes darkened with desire as she opened the shower door and joined him. She stood in front of him with water sluicing all over her curves and plastering her short curls to her head. Max gripped her hips and pulled her close and captured a swollen nipple in his mouth, enjoying her sighs of pleasure as he stroked and swirled the hardened nub with his tongue. The sounds grew louder as he switched to her other breast, and he urged her to climb onto his lap, which she eagerly did, her thighs gripping his hips and her slick pussy sliding against his dick.
One hand clasped his head to her breast and the other slid between his legs to cup his sack. Max moaned against her breast as she flexed her hips. “Keep on, baby, and I’ll fuck you right now. You might want to wait until I put the condom on, love.”
Georgina was too aroused to care. His dick felt so good sliding between her swollen nether lips, and she loved the way he kept teasing her nipples with the hot suction of his mouth alternating with the tiny bites. “Maybe I don’t want to wait, Max. Do you?”
Max raised his head to look at her, eyes searching her face before speaking. “I’ve never been without protection in my life,” he said looking at her intently, and Georgina knew he was telling the truth. It was the same for her as well. She opened her thighs wider and said “Me neither. I’ve been taking the pill like clockwork since I was eighteen.”
“Then ride me, baby,” he ordered harshly, gripp
ing her waist. “I want to see you fuck me.”
Georgina guided him to her entrance; slowly she stroked the head at her opening, shivering with delight as it rubbed against her sensitive clit. Max growled at her teasing before entering her so deep she almost fainted. Georgina placed her hands behind her on his thighs as he leaned back against the tiled wall and gripped her thighs, as she started to ride him, giving him a world class view of the rodeo show.
Max enjoyed the view of Georgina’s head tilted back with utter abandon as she slowly rose up and down on his cock with her breasts bobbing up and down as her hips dipped and twisted sensuously, driving him out of his mind almost as much as the tight, wet heat of her sex gushing around his clenching cock.
“Is it good for you, baby?” he asked slyly as his fingers edged over to brush against her clit.
‘Mmmmm…it’s everything,” she gasped as she started to move faster with every stroke of his finger. “Aaaagh! Yessss!