The Way You Make Me Feel

by Francine Craft

  “I loved you almost from the beginning. I think I loved you way back when you stayed with me.”

  “Saved my life.”

  “You’re a strong man. You saved your own life.”

  “You surely helped.”

  His big shaft throbbed inside her as they stood talking a bit and stroking each other. They had come back together and it felt wonderful. She didn’t really want to talk, just to feel these gorgeous feelings that swept her, but she had to tell him. “I just couldn’t believe you really love me.”

  “Do you believe me now?”

  “Yes, somehow I do. It’s a miracle, I think.”

  “No miracle, just my pigheadedness in not letting myself feel what I felt. God, Stevie, I’ve been so afraid that you’d leave me if I loved you. I’ve been a consummate coward.”

  “We all have our fears.”

  “But we face them if we’re wise.”

  His penis went deeper then and she moaned and clutched him closer as he backed her to the desk with her bare feet on top of his. “You’re something else,” he whispered.

  “No, that’s you.”

  They were silent then, exploring each other’s bodies as if they’d never made love before. She wrapped her long legs around him and pressed his back with her feet. Agile, enraptured, she ran her toes along his lower back and nibbled on his ear. Her movements drove him crazy. Their baby was demanding its due, that it be born in love and passion, she thought.

  She took his face in her hands and stroked it gently as he simply looked at her with half-closed eyes. He had cheated himself all this time of loving her, of sharing truly explosive wonders not to be missed. Her face was lovely in its trance, and his heart nearly burst with all the love he felt. Yes, he had cheated himself all that time. But now he was home and he intended to stay there forever.

  “The backside of you is beautiful, too,” he murmured after a while. “Let’s go there.”

  He turned her over and caught a glimpse of them in the mirror. He grinned and licked his lips. So close to heaven. So dear to his soul. Sliding into her, he felt the intense heat of her body and knew she was what he wanted most of all. He stroked her back as he moved inside her, kissed her back and the tops of her buns. What he felt then was like nothing he had ever felt before, even with her.

  She turned a bit. “I’m loving this,” she told him breathlessly. “Please give me more.”

  He laughed then. “All you want, baby. I’ll always give you whatever you tell me you want.”

  His shaft was bone-hard, jerking inside her and he wanted this never to end, but the feelings were too strong and they were too on edge. She suddenly squeezed him hard with her inner walls and his hard driving thrusts brought her to glory. Ocean-like tides swept through her and she found herself in the grip of passion that rocked her repeatedly, then slowed to leave her limp and satisfied beyond the telling as she cried his name.

  And hearing her, Damien groaned. Her movements and her tender gripping held him in thrall. With her he owned his world as his seed gathered and poured into her waiting body. Then he stood still, letting his love wash over them both. They were blessed and they were whole and nothing and no one would ever come between them again.

  Chapter 24

  Thursday nights at Club Insomnia were always lively when Stevie sang. This night was no different. The crowd was larger than usual; two new waitpersons had been put on. Stevie came early with Damien and both were in high spirits.

  Stevie sat in her dressing room putting the finishing touches on her face. Tonight she wore a raspberry slub-silk skirt with splits on the side and in front, displaying her fabulous legs. Her blouse was peach-pink, low-cut with wide ruffles. She turned her face up for Damien’s kiss.

  “That’s for luck,” he said. “They’re talking about you out there and it’s all good.”

  Jessi stuck her head in the door. “You’ve got a little while. Everybody’s full of anticipation.” It was her first night back since the accident.

  There were many bouquets of flowers from admirers and Damien’s red roses graced her dressing table. At a soft knock, they looked at each other and Damien gave her another quick kiss before she said, “Come in.”

  Stevie and Damien tensed as Honi came in, closed the door and stood with her back against it.

  “I know I’m the last person you want to see and, yes, I’m ashamed to show my face, but there are things I have to tell you.”

  Neither Stevie nor Damien spoke and Honi went on, swallowing hard. She looked at Stevie. “He’s all yours. I’m not going to draw this out. Nothing happened that night you were hurt, and let me tell you how sorry I am you were hurt. Damien said I spiked his drink and I denied it, but he was right. I did spike his drink. I wanted to get back at you for taking him away from me.”

  “I wasn’t yours to take,” Damien said heatedly.

  Honi nodded. “I know that with my clear mind now, but I wasn’t thinking straight then. I set the whole thing up. Once we found Whip’s mother wasn’t as ill as we thought, I came up with my plan.”

  “Did Whip know about this?” Damien demanded.

  “No. It was me alone. And I’m sorry. I’m telling you two this because I want you to be happy. Garrett called me and he wants us to remarry and I want to. I’m not getting any younger and I want to try to give him the child he wants from me. Can you forgive me?”

  Stevie reflected that this was a different Honi who stood before them, and Stevie had begun to believe in forgiveness. She nodded, and said slowly, “Give me time and I think I can forgive you.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Damien said. “You caused us a lot of unnecessary heartache. Stevie could have died.”

  “Oh God, I know, and I’m sorry. Please let me stay on tonight to hold Whip’s hand. He’s a nervous wreck. He’s recording tomorrow, and he wants to stay awhile to get more of Stevie’s style under his belt. He admires you so.”

  Stevie shrugged. “It’s a free country. Why not?”

  Honi left then and Stevie reflected that she looked haggard. No sooner had Honi shut the door than Stevie turned to Damien. “Think she’s on the level?”

  He sighed. “Maybe. With Honi, can you ever tell? At any rate, I like knowing that I was right. She did dope me up.”

  Very thoughtfully Stevie said, “And I like having forgiven you before she admitted it. I like trusting you, lover. No, I love trusting you.”

  Damien felt his eyes fill with moisture at her declaration of love.

  The audience loved Stevie’s pearly Zemaitis guitar and she delighted in showing it off. A young musician called out, “Man, if that gee-tar was mine, I’d carry a loaded shotgun with me at all times. It is bee-yoo-ti-ful.”

  “Thank you. Now I’ve got a new song I want to introduce to you tonight. ‘I Love You, I Want You, I Need You,’ and I hope you like it.”

  The same man who had complimented her on the guitar sang out, “Anything you sing, Mama, we love.” And the audience took up the cry.

  Stevie ran a few riffs over the strings and thrilling to the unearthly gorgeous strains of the guitar, she began.

  “They say that three’s a magic number,

  And I, for one, believe it’s true.

  Three words I know will help me tell you

  Just how I feel about you.

  “I love you, I want you, I need you

  Every night and every day.

  The two of us belong together,

  All the time and all the way.

  “We’ve been together such a long time,

  We’ve known the best in ecstasy.

  We have a love that’s made in heaven.

  It’s me for you, and you for me.

  “‘I love you’ is what my heart sings.

  ‘I want you’ the cry in my soul.

  And I know I’ll always need you.

  As my own to have and to hold.

  “I love you, I want you, I need you

  Every night and every day.
>
  The two of us belong together,

  All the time and all the way.”

  The audience demanded an encore and she sang it again. At one point her eyes met Damien’s and she blew him a kiss which he returned. She saw Honi and Whip sitting at a table; her eyes on them were cool. Whip saluted her and she nodded.

  No one could enter the club while she was singing, but after she had finished, Jake, his bodyguard and his lawyer sauntered in and sat with Honi and Whip. Stevie reflected that although Whip was contracted with Damien, he certainly spent a lot of time with Jake. Birds of a feather, she thought acidly.

  A woman stood up and began clapping softly. “We want ‘The Way You Make Me Feel,’” she began to chant and the crowd took it up. Laughing, Stevie strummed her guitar and began the much-admired song. And singing it, her mind was on Damien and the way he made her feel. Special. Wanted. Loved. Oh Lord, yes, loved!

  Then Damien took the microphone. “Hey, I know we don’t usually begin dancing until later, but I want to claim my woman for a dance. I miss her in my arms. There’ll be plenty of time for more songs and you can sing along.”

  Damien came and helped Stevie down from the stool and with the jukebox playing a Lionel Richie love song, he swept her away and out on the balcony. There was a half moon and a canopy of clustered stars. He kissed her then and her tender body trembled against his.

  “Do you know how you make me feel?” he asked her.

  “I only know how you make me feel. Damien, we’ve got it all now and I’m a little afraid. Happiness the way I’m feeling it now is a treasure. And treasures have to be guarded. They can be taken away.”

  He kissed her throat. “Hush! We deserve every bit of this and nothing and nobody’s taking it away.”

  She relaxed against him. “With Keith back in prison and Detective Rollins thinking they can make a conviction against him stick, and Jake at least behaving himself, I feel safe again. Now if only I could remember what happened the night Bretta died.”

  “Maybe if you stopped trying.”

  “I can’t seem to stop trying. I keep figuring it has to do with Jake. I’m still afraid of him, Damien.”

  “Maybe you should be, but you know I’m always here for you.”

  Two more couples came out on the balcony.

  She laughed. “Oh Lord, not now. Everything’s going too well. Let’s go back in.”

  Inside everything was heating up. The Sing-Along With Stevie segment was being announced. Five people had been selected from hundreds who had put in to have a chance to sing with Stevie here at Club Insomnia. Now, a smiling Jessi took the microphone to announce the winners. Four beaming people stood up before she announced Jake McGowan and Stevie’s heart fell. Jake? At least he’d be the last one. She’d have time to pull herself together.

  This was fun, she thought, as things got underway. The first woman had a surprisingly good voice and she chose to sing “I Don’t Need You Anymore.” The woman’s voice blended well with Stevie’s and she was obviously pleased with her talent. When they’d finished, Stevie told her, “I have only one comment. Lady, you’re good.”

  The audience gave her an enthusiastic round of applause before a man was introduced and came onstage. He cleared his throat and ogled Stevie. Finally he gave her a broad wink. She took it all in stride and strummed her guitar. He wanted to sing “The Way You Make Me Feel,” and she obliged him.

  The man’s voice was somewhere between a frog’s croak and a cricket’s chirping and he kept mugging and hogging the spotlight. He tried to put his arms around Stevie, but she adroitly moved out of his way, dancing about the stage. The way he was making her feel was annoyed. Damien stood in the background, then moved closer.

  The song ended and the audience gave a lukewarm response. The man look flustered and said to Stevie, “Don’t I get a kiss for all this trouble?”

  “You got to sing with me. What more do you want?” she answered archly.

  He took it good-naturedly and found his way back to his seat.

  She hadn’t realized how anxious she was through the next two contestants until Jake lumbered up. He faced her onstage, eyes narrowed. He had been drinking and it showed. “Girl, you don’t know how glad I am you pulled through all right. I was hoping all the time. I sent flowers tonight. You get them?”

  She hadn’t seen his flowers and didn’t want flowers from him, but she nodded and thanked him.

  “What would you like to sing?” she asked brightly.

  He pitched her a curve ball. “How about ‘I Love You, I Want You, I Need You’?”

  “But that’s a new one,” she protested. “You’re not doing yourself justice. You won’t know the words.”

  Jake’s eyes narrowed. “You sang it and I had Honi copy the words. I know it all right. I felt lucky, that my name would be chosen, and if not now, some other time.”

  She shrugged. “Okay.” Picking up her guitar, she turned and looked at Damien who gave her the thumbs-up. Turning back she began to sing.

  Nothing was lost on the audience. They knew Stevie and Jake’s history, and it amused them that they were singing this particular song with Damien very much in the background. Their money was on Damien. One thing, Jake had a smooth, husky voice and he sang with exaggerated feeling, crooning to a lost love.

  When Jake had finished he took the mike from Stevie and intoned, “Yeah, baby, the way you make me feel. They don’t call you the ‘Queen of Passion’ for nothing. And I’m a man who knows.”

  Stevie’s body felt as if someone had poured red pepper on scraped flesh. How dare he? But everybody here knew Jake McGowan liked to play to the gallery. The audience gave him a big hand and he grabbed Stevie’s hand and gave it a lingering kiss before he said, “They saved the last for the best.”

  Stevie thought she’d get a last barb in. “No, not quite, Jake. The first lady was the best. I think you’ll agree with that.”

  He shook his head. “No, that honor is mine.” His bodyguard stood up. Maybe his boss was going to need help getting back to his table and Honi looked worried, but a proud Jake lumbered back to his table and sat down, grinning. Whip was enjoying it all.

  Stevie had the mike then. “From time to time I ask you to name your favorite song and I’m doing it tonight. What’s it to be?”

  There were cries from various parts of the club. She clapped her hands for silence, then named several songs. There was a roar for “I Don’t Need You Anymore,” and she nodded. Then she called out “The Way You Make Me Feel” and the crowd erupted. “Way to go!” and “Yeah, Yeah! Sing it now!”

  When things had quieted, she laughed. “Well, you sure let me know how you feel. It looks like ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ wins the prize, edging out ‘I Don’t Need You Anymore.’”

  “Stevie!” a booming voice said from the sidelines.

  “Yes.”

  “Ain’t nobody never gonna edge out ‘I Don’t Need You Anymore.’ Woman left me and that’s my lifetime theme song. But I got a new woman and ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ mellows my old heart. Everybody likes that song. I—we all—want you to sing it with Damien the way you did in Atlanta.” He held up his hand. “Ladies and gentlemen, Stevie and Damien Steele and ‘The Way You Make Me Feel.’”

  A smiling Damien picked up his Zemaitis guitar that had been by his side and joined Stevie as they launched into a loving rendition of “The Way You Make Me Feel.”

  Singing, Stevie felt as if a new world had opened to them, more beautiful than they had known, and she wouldn’t have believed that possible. They were as one with the people in this room and the heart-moving tones of the two Zemaitis guitars soothed and spelled out wondrous passion. They were a man and a woman. Husband and wife. Lovers. And it showed for all the world to see as the song told them. They held the audience in the palms of their hands in a love fest.

  “Yeah,” was the rumble of opinion around the room. This was the Queen of Passion and nobody else was ever gonna take her place.

&nb
sp; His mind was busy again, buzzing like a swarm of angry bees. Yeah, Stevie was happy tonight, in her element, and he was unhappy. She could hurt him big-time and he wasn’t going to let her.

  She knew he’d killed Bretta. He was sure of that and she’d seal his fate. No way would she keep it to herself. She’d loved Bretta too much. He didn’t know why she had kept it all this time. The suspense was killing him and he would wait no longer.

  He was glad he’d been nice to her, sucked up. It was going to pay off when he killed her. The big car hadn’t worked. He had a gun and a silencer that wouldn’t fail.

  Chapter 25

  As she walked along the road from the house where she lived with Damien, Stevie reflected on what her life had become. She was happier than she’d ever been. Now, on her way to the mall to pick up a blouse, she gloried in the bright late-August sun. Oh yes, she hated having to testify in October against Jake, but that was a little distance away and she could only give it her best shot.

  Things had really settled down. Damien was an out-of-this-world lover. Honi seemed to be out of their lives. Jake wasn’t giving any trouble. And Keith was in prison where he belonged. Stevie hoped Detective Rollins and his group could somehow prove without doubt that he’d killed Bretta. She was lost in thought when she became aware that a horn had sounded softly behind her and someone had called to her.

  “Hey, Stevie, get in. I want to talk with you.”

  She turned and saw a grinning Whip in his white pickup truck.

  “I’m going to the mall,” she told him.

  “Get in and I’ll take you.”

  Going around, she climbed into the cab of the truck. “That’s kind of you.”

  “Yeah. Look, my place is on the way and I’d like to give you a Sade CD I picked up. It’s an old one when she first started out and I know you like her. I want to ask you about your singing technique. I really admire the way you do that.”

  She smiled. “Mariah Carey’s the one you need to talk with. She’s the expert.”