Kissing Another Grimaldi

by K. Z. Riman

  That was more logical because all he had seemed to ever want was to get me to bed and take me as he pleased. He had made that clear.

  “Kelsey.” He took my hand. I shoved it away.

  “Did you find anything you like?” The same perky salesgirl approached us, staring at Scott while she bit her lower lip.

  Back off, bitch! “No.”

  “Yes.” Scott snapped and took from the rack a two-piece black spandex bikini.

  He handed it to the woman, who nodded and smiled. “Excellent choice, sir. Our brand new, one-of-a-kind bathing suit.”

  “How much is it?” I asked.

  “Two thousand creolles, ma’am.” No wonder she was smiling. “Would that be…?”

  “Money isn’t a problem, miss. Just give my wife whatever she desires.” Scott raised an eyebrow at me. Fine. He wanted me to spend his money…I would.

  “Fine.” I looked at the woman. “I noticed you have cover-ups…”

  “Oh, yes.” The woman swayed her hands towards the other direction, leading us as she walked gracefully to another part of the store. “We have all the things you need for a day at the resort or at the beach, even exotic beach jewelry, intricately-crafted with the best and most expensive materials.”

  “This one.” I took a lace cover-up and gave it to her. I didn’t even notice what it really looked like or how much it was. I just wanted to annoy Scott and perhaps if I spent his money, he would stop all this.

  “Oh…” I walked towards the bags area. “I like this one. What do you think, husband?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and chuckled, giving me the look that said I would have to do a lot more than that to annoy him. “Whatever you desire, wife.”

  Damn it! “Yes. I like this pair of shades, too.”

  “Right.” The woman’s eyes were glistening. “Would that be all?”

  “No.” Scott walked over the jewelry shelves. “Could you please give her that set? She would look great with that necklace around her neck and that bracelet on her wrist.” He was taking it up a notch, making the woman and the others, who seemed to have followed us, gasp in amazement.

  “That is a ten-thousand-creolle set, sir.” The woman was holding her breath.

  “Don’t you want it sold?”

  “Of course.” The woman was apologetic and quickly took the set off the shelf.

  “That’s enough. Thank you.” I just couldn’t win, could I?

  I turned on my heel and heard the women I passed by call me a lucky bitch. How unaware they were of the fact that they were the lucky ones, not having to deal with an immature man like Scott!

  “That will be sixteen thousand creolles, sir.” The woman packed my purchases in a carry bag and took Scott’s credit card.

  As she swiped it, I felt the need to swallow hard. I had pushed too far. I could have accepted the first bathing suit he handed me, sparing Scott the trouble of spending his money just to prove something. I bet he didn’t have much. He was here to take from his father his inheritance, after all.

  “No, wait,” I said, and looked at Scott. “I can’t…”

  “It’s paid for, honey.” Scott took his card and the bag and pulled me out of the store.

  “Now what?” I hissed as we walked, one rapid step after another. “Are you going to be all loving to me again just because I owe you, then be cold to my son?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “That’s all there is to this, right? You want to take care of me because I go to bed with you anytime you want?” I challenged him. He shook his head and pressed his lips together. “What? Are we getting closer to the truth?”

  “You should stop. You don’t know what you’re saying.”

  How the hell could I not know what I just said? He made it clear to me that he wanted to take care of me, but he would not even tell me he loved me. He would take care of me, but not Sean. He didn’t want Sean. He only wanted me!

  “What? It’s true!”

  “I said, stop it!” he hissed. His hold on me tightened each step I made with him as I scoured the mall for exits. I wanted to get away from him. I wanted to get away from him before he swallowed me whole.

  This can’t be happening. I’m letting him buy me. Me!

  “Scott,” I cried silently, as he squeezed my hand tighter. He called Leo on the phone, told him we were heading back to the hotel and that he was to spend more time with Sean.

  “No! I want to spend time with my…”

  “You will, after lunch,” he snapped as he dragged me to his car. “Get in.”

  Why was I going with him? What is going on?

  “Scott, please…”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Scott: Attacking Kelsey

  Now she begs me to stop!

  No matter how much my mind told me how wrong it was for me to force her into this, I just could not stop. She needed a lesson, and she had to learn it from me.

  She wouldn’t stop trying to figure out how much she owed people and how much she had tried paying them back, no matter the cost. She was oblivious—completely and fucking oblivious—to the fact she was paying it with her body.

  I never asked for that! She kept pushing it, trying to get me to say it!

  She was coming with me willingly now, knowing I would take her to bed, knowing I would do something she would rather enjoy than resist. She was paying me back without me asking for it! She had to learn to let it go and to let someone take care of her…just her!

  Just her.

  What would I want with Seth’s kid? I barely wanted one of my own. Yes. I’d seen how that boy always looked at me. It was a look of doom. He was always begging me to care and to see beyond his whining! He would turn out to be just like his father—weak and helpless, especially when it came to women.

  Kelsey. That was how she got to Seth. Proposing to her! Deep shit that was, but why, exactly, did I have to care for her this way? Fuck! I was turning into a man I had sworn I would never be. I couldn’t even think straight. Why did I have a million things in my head, with no hope to reconcile them into one solid idea to give me a clue about what was going on with me?

  She was quiet as we drove. I wanted to get back to the hotel and push her onto my bed. She thought she could pay for all these purchases—and everything else she thought she owed me—with her body? Let’s see if she would enjoy that idea!

  “No!” She tried pushing me away as I pinned her hands down on the bed.

  Oh, shut up! She wanted it paid with her body? Let’s try and see if she could!

  She struggled as I tried unbuttoning her shirt. She could hardly scream. It would be a scandal if someone knew I tried to take her by force. That was her downfall. She was still a pretty little virgin inside a strong façade. She was still that cute, little, I-am-not-doing-anything-wrong type of girl, and that was always her downfall!

  She was completely unaware of the fact that those were the very reasons every man in the campus wanted her. I wanted her. I wanted her bad! At one time, I saw her running in the rain and she fell on her butt. Idiot! I wanted to chase after her and pull her away, because at that moment, she was running to get to Seth! To Seth!

  She would never be mine! Even as I tried to be reasonable—stay for my family and try to love her—she would be a reminder of how Seth took things from me! That one time! One time I tried asking Seth if he could give her up for me…

  “Stay still!” I yelled at her, as I ripped her shirt off, buttons flying around the bed.

  She was wearing something I found completely sexy, and it was driving me wild! I pulled her bra out of the way, revealing her beautiful breasts. Damn it! Why did she have to be this exquisite? She wasn’t like any other.

  “Scott!” She screamed my name and I felt so fired up.
Why was this so much of an invitation to me? Why was I suddenly so turned on by her scream and her…?

  She was sobbing. I froze.

  No. I couldn’t handle this. No matter how much I tried to be angry at her and to want her at the same time, I could not handle her crying.

  I got off the bed and watched as she helplessly curled herself into a ball and tried to hide her bare breasts from me. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I wasn’t going to…rape her. I would never do that.

  “Is this what you want from me?” I yelled at her.

  She was making me do this with her accusations! I wasn’t trying to use her! I was…having her use me. Use me, Kelsey. Use me and try to forget Seth. Please…I want you. Just you.

  She continued crying, not looking at me. She buried herself under the pillows and I climbed back onto the bed, throwing all the pillows away from her so she had to look at me. She was pink…from crying, from embarrassment.

  She was beautiful. I could barely breathe.

  This was my problem. I was never good in showing what I felt and it was worse with her. “Is this what you want from me?” I asked her again.

  She shook her head as she tried pushing me away. “Leave me alone.”

  Leave me alone! Leave me alone! I will never, fucking, leave you alone! She was mine and she should have been ages ago! “I will never…!”

  “Please.” She sobbed again. Hearing her stopped my heart a beat.

  I collapsed beside her and pulled her to my chest. She didn’t struggle this time. In fact, she scooted in, fitting her body as I curved mine, spooning her in place.

  I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry.

  She was pushing me too hard with all our fights. She was driving me completely insane. How much power she had over me, and she didn’t even know it!

  “Are you done?” She muttered under her breath, inbetween sobs.

  I knew what she asked. Was I done being an asshole to her? Was I done with this insanity? Even as I tried, even as she cried so hard, I could never bring myself to apologize to her or she would know how much she could control me. I couldn’t have that. I knew what she would ask of me. First, she would ask me to stay for her, and then she would ask me to love her son.

  “Are you done with me,” she asked again. The second time was even worse, for she pressed her body against mine before she faced me and kissed me.

  I was startled. Why was she kissing me? Did I deserve this for stopping myself from taking her against her will, just to prove my point? Had I done anything that made her think this was okay now?

  Yet whatever her reason, I held her close to me and kissed her back. She was so wonderful to kiss. She tasted so sweet…like the teenage girl she once was, the one I always wanted to have. It was driving me to my complete and utter doom. It was one thing to try and challenge a man with his intentions, but to try and pursue it, test it, was a completely different thing.

  Was she going to hold this against me now? I pulled away. I could never touch her like this. She was crying. I could never…

  She lay on her back and pulled me so that I hovered over her. Why was she insisting on this? What was this feeling? Oh, I wanted her. I wanted her even more when she took my hand and brought it to her breasts.

  She had the body of a Greek goddess. I wished it would never be of love because I didn’t want to fall in love with her. I had scratched that out as a possibility the moment she called me Seth in the kitchen, the first time we met again.

  Kelsey remained looking unused, unsullied. Seth had been naïve. He hadn’t known how to use Kelsey’s body to his advantage…to his pleasure. She was so wonderful. Was I the only one seeing that?

  “What are you doing?” I asked her, pulling my face away from her as she curled her leg against mine, holding me in place.

  “Use me,” she said, and unbuttoned her shorts.

  “What?” What does she think she’s doing? She’s taunting me! “No!”

  She drew her face closer and pulled me by my shirt. As soon as her lips met mine, I was unable to behave rationally. She really was unlike any other woman I had ever met. Just one kiss…one kiss…and she could send me crawling for so much more.

  “Kelsey,” I whispered her name as I took my shirt off and started unbuckling my belt. She wasn’t pulling back. She was still kissing me hungrily, so fervently that I felt my throat drying up and my insides burning. She was burning me alive.

  “Use me,” she whispered again as she sat up, pushing me to lie down on the bed. She kissed my neck. I froze and gasped. A woman never kissed my neck. She let the kiss linger between warm breaths as her lips travelled down my chest. “Use me and get it over with.”

  Fuck! Get it over with? Hell, no! I knew it! I knew it!

  “No.” I pushed her away and she sat up on the bed, staring at me as I stood and faced her. “You’re…you’re taking this the wrong way.”

  “Isn’t this what you want?” Her tears started falling down her cheeks.

  Fuck! I buckled my belt and snatched my shirt off the bed. I didn’t know how to deal with her. She was like a freaking circus, all by herself! She continued removing her shorts. “Stop that!” I pointed a finger at her.

  She didn’t. She let her hair loose and flicked it about—the perfect temptation. I let her toy with me. How was she able to catch up with my tricks this easily? “I said, stop that!”

  “Take me,” she whispered.

  “Mommy!” There were loud knocks on my door.

  Shit! How did that boy even know that his mommy was in here? I heard him call out to her again, before hearing Leo stop him.

  Kelsey hurriedly put on her clothes and wiped her tears. “Just a minute, honey!”

  “Are you fucking crazy?” I hissed. “Do you want your son walking in on us like this?”

  “We’re not doing anything wrong!” Now, she had the decency to say that.

  “Mommy? Why are you in Uncle Scott’s room?” He was getting louder, and it would attract people.

  I stomped my feet as I hurried to the door. When I opened it, the boy ran past me and headed for the bed, where Kelsey was still sitting. I glared at Leo.

  “I apologize, sir. Sean was shouting for his mommy at the mall, attracting too much attention. I had to bring him back.” No wonder I didn’t like kids.

  “Why are you in here?” the boy asked.

  “Oh. Mommy and Uncle Scott needed to return because…because…”

  There you go! What reason will you give your son now?

  “Oh! Your shirt lost some buttons! Is that why you returned?”

  Kelsey paled as she looked at her shirt and pretended to be surprised. “Oh, no. I…I must have lost them. You see, Uncle Scott lost his wallet. Could you help us find it?”

  “Like a treasure hunt?” Sean didn’t suspect a thing.

  “Yeah. Like a treasure hunt.” Kelsey kissed her son’s forehead. “Why don’t you go and search for it with Leo?”

  “Okay!” The boy was off the bed and then turned back again. “Mommy, are you crying?”

  “No.” Real smooth. “Some dust got into my eyes.”

  “Okay, Mommy.” Sean ran out of the room.

  Leo nodded at us. “I will take him to lunch, sir.” I closed the door behind him.

  Kelsey looked away for a moment and then started undressing again. Hell, no. This was unnatural. She wasn’t doing this because she wanted to.

  “I’m going for a walk. Get yourself some lunch. Mother and Father will be coming soon and then we’re off to the amusement park,” I said, my voice shaky.

  I didn’t wait for her reaction to that. She looked stunned and stared at the door after I closed it behind me. Perhaps she cried some more. I didn’t want to stick around to watch.

  I headed for the bar by the
hotel pool. It was easier for me to think with some alcohol. I would have a reason not to go with them today, too, if I was too drunk to stay awake.

  Shit! I wasn’t going to let a woman do this to me. Not her! Not her, when I had always wanted to have her in my hands, within my reach, within my grasp.

  “Then what?” I remembered Seth chuckling at me that night, hours after he saved Kelsey from men like me. “Have you ruin her? Come on, brother. She’s a kid.”

  “Yes. A very luscious one at that.” He couldn’t fool me. He wanted her, too. What man in his right mind would not want a nineteen-year old virgin with a gorgeous figure? She was perfect. “You want her, too. Admit it!”

  “Yes. I do.” He threw his books on our study table in the mansion’s private library. “Unlike you, I can wait. I can get her to want me first and perhaps date me seriously, before going in and taking her virginity.”

  He fucking desired her, too. “You are sick.”

  “No. You are sick!” Seth had convinced himself we were two of different kinds.

  No matter how much like opposites we might seem to everyone, he was still like me. He was a jock, a jerk. He was the captain of the basketball team and had every girl in the campus desiring him, as much as they desired me. He had dated many of them, perhaps one or two months longer than I usually dated my women, but he had bedded them all, just the same. It came as a shock to me how he had clung to Kelsey for a lot longer than two months.

  He hadn’t asked her out after he had saved her that afternoon from my friends, or mentioned her again. I thought he forgot all about her. I decided he would not make a fuss over me trying to ask her out, so I told him I was going to ask her to be my date to the sports victory dance.

  “Are you crazy?” He laughed. “Then what? Have her believe you really like her, until she agrees to give you her virginity?”

  He was right about that. He was wrong, though, if he thought I could not try and change my ways. Perhaps I would find her to be that someone I could have a long-term relationship with. Kelsey looked to be worth it. “How the hell do you know?”