by Deveraux, CM
I took him inside my mouth an inch at a time, my tongue working in perfect rhythm as I dipped lower and lower, sucking my way back to the top again. His hands were wandering, grasping for a nipple, a breast. This time, I allowed it, knowing it would only heighten his arousal. With my free hand I reached back, tugging the bow-tied string around my neck until it sprung free. The top of my bikini fell open for his viewing pleasure. He reached forward, taking a breast in each hand, his thumbs circling my nipples, fingers caressing with slow, gentle strokes.
I took the entire length of him inside my mouth and applied more pressure, sucking my way to the top.
With one hand stroking my breast, he used the other to grip a fistful of my hair. I felt the coolness of his breath in my ear. “I want to come inside you.”
I was unclear as to which “inside” he was referring to, and with every flick of my breast, my willpower had all but deteriorated. I clamped down, sucking him fast and hard.
“Kiss me, Jess.” he demanded. He eased me off of him, guiding my hand over his erection.
I explored his mouth with my tongue while my hand finished the job, jerking and twisting, bringing him to a point he could no longer resist. At the pinnacle, the moment of climax, he pulled away, staring straight into my eyes. And in the most passionate, smoldering moment I’d ever shared with another man, he released himself, his come filling my hand.
Never before had I felt so empowered.
CHAPTER 14
In college I’d once had a roommate whose boyfriend had dubbed her “The Oral Sex Queen.” She was so proud of this achievement, she drew a black X on her calendar every time she fulfilled yet another order, tallying her blow jobs like they were some kind of countdown to a much needed vacation. Over the course of three months, she’d racked up two hundred five Xs, which, when I divided it out on a calculator, meant on average she’d given him head two point two seven times a day. It amazed me she hadn’t gotten lockjaw.
One weekend when her boyfriend was out of town and she was off duty, she shared what she thought was the secret to her oral success. She said what mattered the most was learning to lick it like it was a lollipop. She then peeled the wrapper off a red sucker and proceeded to give me a full, unedited demonstration, which I found both fascinating and oddly impressive. I’d never been able to look at red suckers the same way again.
I was halfway finished applying eye shadow to the lids of my eyes the morning after the lake date when my phone rang. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt the twitch of butterflies in my stomach just by seeing his name on the caller ID.
“You free for dinner tonight?” he asked when I answered.
“Depends,” I joked. “Are you going to suggest a place and then when we get there suggest we go somewhere else?”
A little ribbing never hurt anyone. Did it?
“When I got there that night, saw you, and saw how crowded it was, all I wanted was to get you alone somewhere. I wanted you all to myself.”
The butterflies were on the move again.
“Tonight could be arranged.”
“I was thinking of asking you over to my place, but I’d rather come to yours,” he said.
“Why?”
“I want to know everything about you, starting with where you live. Besides, I owe you one since I didn’t get the chance to reciprocate last night.”
I laughed.
“After last night, I want to make sure you get what you deserve,” he added. “Especially since you insisted on eating after making me the happiest man alive, and we never got around to taking care of your needs.”
Every naughty idea I could muster formed in my scandalous mind.
“I can’t...ahh...talk about that right now.”
“Company?”
“Yes.” I lowered my voice, closed my bedroom door. “My girlfriend, Sasha. She’s going through a tough breakup. Her husband has been cheating on her for years. I think she’s finally found the strength to leave. It won’t be easy though. This guy’s a Grade-A jerk.”
“In what way?”
“Aside from the cheating, he’s verbally abused her for years. She used to be so...different before they married.”
“Why don’t you go, be with her. We can make plans to get together another day. Soon, though. I can’t wait long.”
The sweet sentiment made me want him all the more.
“She’s not staying,” I said. “If anything changes, I’ll let you know, but right now she’s set on leaving. I’d like to see you.”
“Your place then, or mine?”
“Mine. Eight o’clock?”
“I’ll be there,” he said.
I swiveled around, fully aware Sasha would be glaring at me with one eye raised. And I was right.
“So...have you and this—”
“Richard,” I replied. “And no.”
“How do you know what I was going to ask?”
“You want to know if we’ve had sex. Am I right?”
She shrugged. “Maybe.”
“We’ve only had one point five dates.”
“One point what?”
“Nothing,” I said.
“You’re seeing him tonight?”
Although she seemed happy that I was finally headed in the direction of a satisfying relationship, all I could hear was pain in her voice. My life was on track for once, and hers was crumbling. “He wants to get together, but I’ll call it off if you’d rather stay.”
“Why?”
I sat beside her on the couch. “I feel like it’s almost wrong for me to find love when you’re losing it.”
“You deserve it, Jess. It’s just...I look at you and think, that will never happen to me again.”
“You’re just saying that because of where you are in your life right now. It’s not permanent. There are men out there who will treat you better, give you what you deserve.”
“Who wants an almost-thirty divorcee with double baggage?”
“Plenty of guys date women with kids,” I said.
“Date. Even the word scares me.”
“Once you get out there again, you won’t be as scared. Trust me.”
“When I confronted Damon, he actually looked me in the eye and swore Nikki had been his one and only infidelity.”
One of twenty maybe. “What did you say?”
“Nothing. While he was standing there, like the lying, philanderer he is, I wasn’t even listening. He explained it to me like it was nothing while sliding one of his precious, overpriced watches off his wrist and replacing it with another. He offered no apology. No explanation. Nothing. He spoke to me like he expected me to just accept it.”
“Please tell me you didn’t.”
“I lost it. I hit my breaking point.”
Finally.
“And?”
“I ripped the box of watches out of his hands, ran downstairs, and dumped every watch in that box out in our driveway. Then I got into my car, and ran over them until all that was left was shattered pieces, just like our shattered marriage.”
I couldn’t have been prouder. “What did he do?”
“Fell to his knees in our front yard. He cared more about those damned watches than he cared about me.”
I slung an arm around her shoulder. “Look, I know you and the kids are staying with Callie right now, but you can always come here. I don’t mind changing my plans. Honestly. Richard will understand.”
“I know, and I appreciate the offer. I’m not staying with Callie long. A day. Maybe two. I have a locksmith coming tomorrow. Once everything’s changed and he can’t get in, it will be easier on me. I tried asking him to leave. Locking him out of the house didn’t work. He just used his key and came right back inside. The kids don’t understand, and he’s making me look bad, in spite of all he’s done.”
“They’re young right now. One day, when the time is right, they’ll know.”
“Anyway,” she said, standing, “thanks for the ear. I’ll call you tomorrow. I kno
w I seem like a pile of mush right now, but I still want to hear about your date.”
I rose as well, clenching both of her hands inside mine. “And you will later. Right now I want you to listen to what I’m saying to you. Believe in yourself, Sasha. And don’t ask Damon to do anything. You’re done asking. It’s time to start telling. It’s all going to work out. You’ll see.”
CHAPTER 15
Date Three: Screw it.
I know, I know. I had planned on date two following date one point five, but I was done waiting. No more rules. No more restraints. I wanted him. All of him. And I’d have him too, dressed in my thin, strapless, red dress.
What a difference several months had made. New house. New attitude. New man. I felt like a new person because I was one. The new and improved Jess Hudson.
The doorbell rang. I glanced at the clock on my mantle. Fifteen minutes early. I didn’t mind. I opened the door expecting to see Richard and was met with an uninvited surprise instead.
“Damon...what are you doing here?”
Although I’d just asked a question, he wasn’t listening. He never did. He wasn’t even looking at me. Well, not at my face.
“Eyes up here, dipshit,” I said.
“I...uh...”
“What do you want? I have a date.”
“I can see that.”
“Sasha’s not here,” I said.
“Obviously.”
And yet he looked past me, ogling my sofa as if Sasha had turned into crouching tiger, hidden dragon.
“I won’t tell you where to find her either. So, we’re done here.”
I pushed the door, attempting to shut it. Damon wedged a shoe inside, keeping the door open. I kept pushing. Maybe with any luck I’d crush his foot, or break it, or both.
With a tremendous amount of force, Damon shoved back. The door flew open, propelling me backward. He stepped inside like he had a vested ownership in the place.
“I’m trying to talk to you, Jess. I want to know where my wife is. And you’re going to tell me. Now.”
“You seem to forget something.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m not Sasha. And you won’t speak to me that way again.”
“I’ll speak to you,” he spat, bravely taking another step forward, “any way I like.”
Fine. So be it. I saved him the need to come any closer and, instead got right in his face.
“Ten seconds.”
“Ten seconds?”
“To get the fuck out of here before I call the cops.”
He snarled at me. “Oh really. You’re actually going to—”
It only took a split second for me to witness the sarcastic contempt Sasha faced on a daily basis. I curled my hand into a ball, thrusting it forward with all the ferocity of a snake making impact with his prey. My fist collided with his jaw, his head snapping backward. Some girls slapped. I wasn’t some girls. Simultaneously I rammed the five-inch heel of my Manolo Blahnik so hard on top of his cheap, fake, oxfords, I thought I actually felt a toe dislocate.
At the onset of Damon’s verbal retaliation, Richard arrived, looking at me, then Damon. He said nothing. And he didn’t need to. The tension in the room didn’t warrant actual words.
“Are you...you can’t be. Richard Brannigan?” Damon croaked. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe you’re standing right here in front of me. Man, I’m a big fan.”
He uttered the words like Richard had appeared out of thin air for his own personal benefit, like he expected the two of them to become fast friends.
Richard ignored him and turned toward me. “Sasha’s husband?”
I nodded.
Damon’s chin had already started to turn a nice shade of red, the kind of red that I knew would lead to a multicolored bruise later. Realizing what must have just happened between us, Richard brought a hand over his mouth like he was trying to stifle a grin. Once he’d gathered himself together, he extended a hand toward Damon. It was eagerly accepted. “Richard Brannigan. And you are?”
“Damon Chase. I actually know you. Well, I don’t mean to say I know you, know you. Obviously we just met. But I worked on a court case dealing with your—”
Richard leaned in and kissed me, behaving as if Damon wasn’t speaking at all. “Jess, if you don’t mind, I’d like a word with Mr. Chase. I’ll only be a moment.”
Damon’s eyes lit up like he was ten again and about to receive a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas.
I nodded but left the door open a crack. A crack was all I needed. Damon and Richard walked over to Richard’s car. A man got out. A big, oversized, mountain of a man. Richard looked at the man. The two exchanged telling glances, and the man seemed to understand perfectly. Richard said, “Take care of this,” at which point Damon was escorted then strong-armed inside his own car.
As Richard walked back up the drive, he turned. “Mr. Chase. I’ll not permit you to show up at Jess’s residence in the future. I don’t believe it’s necessary for me to explain what will happen to you if you do.”
CHAPTER 16
“How’s the hand?” Richard reached out, inspecting me like I was a wounded bird.
“It hurts, a little.”
He grinned. “I didn’t know you were a prize-fighter in your spare time.”
“I didn’t know you employed a bodyguard.”
“Two actually.”
“But the other day at the lake...”
“Just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there.”
“Is it because of what you’re worth?”
“Yes and no. The protection is in place because of other women.”
“I don’t follow—so they won’t approach you?”
“More like so they won’t assault me.”
“That’s happened?”
“Several times, unfortunately. I spent a good deal of my twenties in the limelight after I’d made it big. Met a lot of people. Got invited to a lot of parties. At the time I didn’t realize the repercussions of being photographed, exposed, recognized. By the time I understood the downside to fame, it was too late. No matter. I spend most of my days out of the spotlight now.”
“And if I was to assault you, what then?”
“In that dress, I’ll be the one doing the assaulting tonight.”
I tried not to rush through dinner. Tried even harder not to rush through the dessert I now wished I hadn’t made. Richard took his time, experiencing each bite. He gazed at me with the kind of grin that said he had so much in store for me tonight. He teased me like I had teased him on the boat. I suppose it was only fitting.
When the forty-five minutes it took us to finish our food had come and gone, he offered to help with the dishes. I refused, instead filling the sink with water and dunking the plates in. They could wait. The help I craved wouldn’t be achieved by removing a few crumbs off a pair of plates.
“What would you like to do now?” he asked.
I shouldn’t have felt nervous, not after what happened the day before, but I was. Maybe it was because he was steering the ship this time. I didn’t know what to expect.
“You haven’t seen the rest of the house yet.”
“How about showing me the bedroom?”
We walked hand in hand down the hall. I turned the corner, entered the bedroom, and reached out.
“Don’t turn on the light,” he said.
The room was pitch black. There was no way to see otherwise.
“I don’t—”
“At dinner you said you have an electric fireplace in this room.”
“Yes.”
“Turn it on.”
In the dark?
I steadied a hand in front of me, like everyone does when trying to find their way in a blackened room. I reached the switch, flipped it on. The fire ignited in front of me, the intensity of the flames warming my skin.
He pressed himself against me from behind, his hardness full, erect. I reached a hand behind me. He clasped it in hi
s while grabbing the other, pressing them both against the wall in front of me and holding them there. I tipped my head to the side, relishing the wetness of his lips as they kissed their way down my neck.
His hands left mine as he forced his way inside the nape of my dress, ripping it from my body. It slid down, puddling on the floor.
His titillating words filled my ear. “No panties. Naughty.”
With a single flick of his hand he unfastened my bra, tossing it on top of the dresser, and I stood, hands still pressed against the wall in front of me, stark naked, in nothing but a pair of heeled Blahniks.
“The shoes, leave them on,” he commanded.
He released me, and I stood still, not knowing whether to move, to talk, what to expect next. Several seconds passed. I tried to resist feeling timid as I twisted my head, catching him with his back against the opposite wall, admiring my body a few feet away. “Allow me a moment to enjoy the view.”
I was being tormented and paid the highest compliment at the same time. “Turn all the way around. Face me.”
He stood before me, still fully dressed. In his charcoal-colored T-shirt, black suit jacket, and jeans, I fought the urge not to cross one leg in front of the other so I wouldn’t orgasm right there.
“Your legs. Spread them. Wide.”
I was only too happy to oblige.
He removed a thin piece of black satin from his pocket and guided my hands around my waist, tying them behind my back. It wasn’t tight enough to cause pain, but just enough to hold me captive. For now. He started at my neck again, taking it slow, his tender, feather-like kisses forging a trail toward my breasts. His hands remained at his side. I wanted them on me, his fingers inside me. Making me wait only heightened my arousal more.
His mouth closed over my breast, gently flicking and sucking my nipple until it was taut. He squeezed two fingers together over the other, equally hard nipple. The sensation sent short, powerful bursts of electricity below, awakening my clit with a pumping heartbeat all its own. While both hands stroked my nipples, he came to his knees, continuing his downward descent by running his lips across my abdomen. When he reached the opening of my sex, he coiled his hands around my legs, pulling himself beneath me. The warmth of his steamy breath tenderly blew inside me, filling every crevice. “Tell me what you want me to do to you, Jess.”