Something to Talk About

by Melanie Woods Schuster

  “Um, I have to ask if anyone has noticed that this dress isn’t exactly black or white.”

  The dress was, in fact, red, a true deep blue red with a crimson saturation so deep it tricked the eyes. The color was so profound when one looked away from it everything had a pink cast for a few seconds. It was the reddest red Alicia had ever seen and it looked incredible against her skin. She’d never find anything this fabulous and she knew it. But still, she had doubts.

  “Come on, are you actually suggesting that I wear a red dress to a black-and-white affair? That’s such a cliché; the maverick strolling into the ball wearing something that gets all the attention, yadda, yadda, yadda. For heaven’s sake, they did that in Jezebel, that ancient Bette Davis movie,” she pointed out.

  Marielle laughed in her sister’s face. “I’m not suggesting you wear the dress, I’m insisting on it. When did you get to be such a goody-goody? Who cares if it’s a black-and-white ball, a pink-and-purple ball, or a green-and-gold ball? You’re not a member of the sorority, you’re paying good money to attend this shindig, and you can wear any dratted thing you want. Besides, you look fabulous. I say wear it and to heck with them.”

  Roxy agreed wholeheartedly. “Who cares if it’s a cliche? Cliches become cliches because they’re tried and true. If they didn’t work, people would stop doing them and they’d be random oddities. That’s not the case here, sister. You need to make an entrance no one will ever forget, and that’s the dress to do it in,” she said dramatically.

  “I’m not mad at a cliche, they have their place in life. That’s why writers use them in chick flicks and romance novels, they get the job done. Just like when you put lemons, water, sugar, and ice together you get lemonade. It always works if you work it right, and you, Alicia, are working that dress. You have to wear it, it’s amazing. Marielle, how come you never wore it in public?”

  Marielle smiled as she looked at her younger sister modeling in the full-length mirror. “Roxy, I bought that dress to take on my honeymoon. I put it on and my husband went insane. Dios, he was so excited with me in that outfit we never made it out of the suite. I tried again when we got home. I tried so many times to wear that dress and the result was always the same. Once he saw me in it, we didn’t make it out of the house. We tried, we really did, but that dress just did something to him.” She sighed. “So if you intend to rope in Adam Cochran, that’s the dress you need to be wearing, little sister.”

  Before Alicia could react to the fact that her pathetic cover had been blown, Paco gave a low wolf whistle from the doorway.

  “Tia esta muy caliente," he said with a comic wiggle of his eyebrows.

  Marielle jumped up from the bed laughing and went to take him back to his room. “Paco, we need to have a serious talk about men and women,” she told him.

  “Oh no, Mami, my tios told me everything,” he was heard to say earnestly.

  Alicia and Roxy burst out laughing. “If that’s the case we’re going to have to deprogram the poor child. Who knows what my brothers put in his head?” Alicia said.

  “Yes, but he knows his auntie is hot in that dress, child, and you’re going to wear it to that auction if I have to drug you to make you do it. In fact, I’m going with you to make sure you don’t chicken out,” she said firmly. “Of course, now we have to go shopping for real because I don’t have a thing to wear.”

  ***

  Adam was backstage, wishing with all his heart that he were somewhere else. The other bachelors who were waiting for their turn at the block were equally fitful, pacing around, talking stuff, and expressing the idea that this was without a doubt the dumbest thing they’d ever done in their lives. One poor man was talking frantically into his cell phone, begging his girlfriend to please make a high bid on him.

  “Look, Sheila, I can’t go out looking like a chump. Just make it a real high bid, baby, and I’ll pay you back tonight. We’ll go straight to the ATM and I’ll give you cash. C’mon, Sheila, don’t do this to me,” he moaned. All that could be heard was her high-pitched laughter as he held the phone away from his ear. “Okay, Sheila, if that’s how you want to treat me,” he mumbled as he snapped the phone shut.

  He turned to his fellow bachelors for support and spread his arms wide. “She’s sitting out there in the front row and she’s gonna look mean nobody else will dare bid on me and I’ma end up going out for a buck two ninety-eight, just watch and see.” The fact that he was a big overgrown Detroit Lions linebacker made his plight all the more pitiful.

  Adam just wanted it to be over. He’d planned on picking Alicia up the way he always did, but she informed him that she was riding to the Athenaeum Hotel with Roxy and she’d meet him there. It would serve him right if she didn’t show up at all, the way he’d been acting. He fully intended to apologize and throw himself at her feet to beg for mercy. He knew he’d been behaving badly, but he couldn’t reconcile himself to the idea that his Alicia was making herself gorgeous for some other man, Bryant Porter to be exact. True, Bryant was back in Chicago for the moment, but he’d be back in Detroit any day now and with the warm summer months approaching there was no telling what they’d get up to. He clenched his jaw and his fists, realized he was being ridiculous, and relaxed. He looked over at Hannibal and Paul and decided they had the right idea; they seemed pretty cool about the whole thing. He walked over to the two younger men and commented on their demeanor.

  “You two seem calm and collected. No nerves at all?”

  Hannibal assured him he was perfectly calm. “I have a secret weapon,” was all he would say.

  Paul sighed deeply and shrugged. “This could be the single most stupid thing I’ve ever done in me life, mate. Of course, I took a page from your book and gave Rhonda a wad of money to bid on me so I wouldn’t look like the most pathetic man on the stage. I also have to provide her with a ride to and from work for the next month as well as lunch, but it’s a small price to pay, right?”

  Adam stopped listening the moment Paul mentioned giving Rhonda money, because it was at that moment he realized that he hadn’t given Alicia his checkbook. As snarky as he’d been behaving it would serve him right if she just left him dangling or worse, let some serious manhunter drag his carcass out of there as her new possession. He was about to lose his much-vaunted composure when it was Hannibal’s turn onstage. He and Paul went to the wings so they could give their colleague silent support. The support wasn’t needed after all, since Hannibal wasn’t kidding about having a secret weapon.

  After Michaela, acting as the mistress of ceremonies, introduced Hannibal, giving his vital statistics and a brief background, she asked if there was anything he wanted to share with the ladies before the bidding began. He nodded and took the microphone from her, dropping a brief kiss on her hand. He then said he had a dedication for all the beautiful women in attendance and began to sing the immortal R&B classic, “A Song For You.” It was enough that he was over six feet tall, slender, and nicely muscled under his tuxedo, that he had deep brown skin and perfectly cut hair to go with his neat moustache and goatee, but the voice that was coming out of him was so beautiful it would make angels weep to hear it. The bidding started immediately and by the time the song was finished, it was up to twenty-five hundred dollars. Rhonda even got caught up, much to Paul’s chagrin.

  “Hey, that’s my money she’s bidding with, that twit!” he said in outrage. With a resigned look he turned to Adam. “I’m dead meat, you know.”

  “Don’t worry about it, man. Just be yourself and smile and it’ll be over before you know it,” he advised.

  Soon, it was Adam’s turn onstage and he had to take his own advice. He’d opted for a classic look: his father’s custom-tailored white silk dinner jacket with tuxedo trousers and the traditional pleated shirt with onyx studs. He couldn’t stand wearing ties, however, and the shirt was open with the tie undone as if it were waiting for the soft hands of his woman to tie it for him. Although Adam was far from a hermit, there were a lot of people,
particularly women, who hadn’t seen him since the haircut, so when he walked out onstage there was quite a hubbub. He looked so incredibly handsome and debonair no one could tell that he was wishing he was somewhere in a remote Himalayan village where no one had ever heard of bachelor auctions, sororities, or formal balls. He took center stage with his normal aplomb and hoped against hope that Alicia was out there and would have his back. The mistress of ceremonies went into her spiel and Adam braced himself for what would come next.

  “Ladies, this is Adam Cochran, a partner in Cochran and Fuentes, a leading architectural firm based right here in Detroit. Adam enjoys all kinds of music, especially jazz and Latin; he likes to ski, loves to ride horseback and swim, and has a passion for excellent food. So if there are any cooks out there, this might be your chance to impress him with a really good meal,” she said with a sultry wink.

  Before she could ask if Adam had any comments the bidding began. “Five hundred dollars,” a voice rang out.

  “Six hundred!”

  “Seven hundred and fifty! And I can cook, too, honey,” a loud woman informed the audience.

  The bidding was getting more and more frantic and Adam was starting to feel distinctly uneasy because he still couldn’t see Alicia in the crowd. All at once a flash of color in the tedious sea of black and white caught his eye. A sudden hush fell over the audience as everyone else could see what he was seeing; it was Alicia, walking toward the stage as though she had nothing else to do for the rest of her life. She was wearing the most incredible smile he’d ever seen and a dress that defied all description. Her shining hair was artfully arranged off her face and her sensual beauty radiated through the entire ballroom. In a clear voice she placed the bid that people would be talking about for years to come.

  “Five thousand dollars. Cash,” she said confidently, fanning the crisp new bills out with one sure move of her right hand.

  A collective “Ooh” rippled across the room as her words resonated.

  Adam didn’t hesitate; he went to the edge of the stage and descended the stairs, walking out to meet her. He took the red rose from his buttonhole and kissed it before putting it in the V of her neckline. Then he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her slowly and gently.

  Michaela recovered from a near-swoon at the romantic scene and finally reacted like a proper emcee. “Al-righty then, I guess that’s a done deal. I don’t think we’ll be seeing Mr. Cochran up here next year. Somebody please go get that money from her before she drops it,” she said briskly.

  Adam and Alicia were making a hasty exit from the ballroom when Darcy Hamilton stepped directly in front of them. She had a hand on one slender hip and a quirky grin as she looked at Adam and said, “Well, I guess the best man won.”

  Roxy distracted Alicia’s attention from Darcy by handing her the long silk evening coat she’d worn. “I’ll get your car back to you tomorrow, honey. In the meantime, you have a good night. Looks like you’ve got a spa day coming—on me.”

  In a very short time they were in Adam’s loft. They hadn’t really spoken a word on the way there, but Adam hadn’t let go of her hand during the ride. They rode the elevator to the top floor of the building in silence, but it was a silence full of meaning. When they were finally in the cavernous loft, Adam took her wrap and looked her over as if she were a rare work of art, taking in every nuance of her beauty from her glossy hair to her sexy feet. She was wearing dangerously high stiletto-heeled red sandals in silk shantung with silk ribbons that wrapped around her slender ankles, and he had a sudden urge to see her in those shoes and nothing else. “Alicia, you look incredible. I don’t know enough words to tell you how beautiful you are.”

  “Thank you, Adam. So are you,” she said shyly.

  Adam put her coat away and took off his dinner jacket while he was caressing her with his eyes. “Allie, walk for me, please. I have to see you move in that dress again,” he said in a deep sexy voice that was much more revealing than his normal tone. He leaned against the door and prepared to watch her graceful body move just for him. She surprised him, though, when she made a half pirouette and stopped.

  “I do my best work with music,” she said seductively.

  “Then music you shall have,” he agreed. He quickly used the remote to find the right CD among those in rotation and soon Norah Jones’s raspy, sexy voice was serenading them. He also lit several scented candles and opened the custom-made French doors that led out into the roof garden. Then he turned to Alicia and asked her to walk again and this time she did, moving seductively toward him with the skirt’s panels swaying around her long, shapely legs. She sashayed across the cavernous living area of the loft like something out of one of Adam’s most erotic fantasies, letting the seductive skirt do its work. Suddenly she spun around again and held her slender arms out to him.

  “Dance with me, Adam, we didn’t get a chance to dance tonight.”

  “Anything you want, baby.”

  He pulled her into his arms and had to catch his breath as she melted against him. She felt so good in his arms, so right. Her scent surrounded him and created a cocoon of desire he never wanted to leave. There was nothing in the world outside of the loft, no one in the world except the woman in his arms. If all life had ceased to exist at that moment, he would have known total satisfaction, but life had something better in store for him. The song on the CD changed and he could feel Alicia smile against his chest. It was one of her favorite songs by Norah Jones, “What Am I to You?” The song was a conversation between lovers wherein a woman is asking her man what she means to him and she describes what he is to her.

  Alicia pulled away from him far enough to look into his eyes and with a playful smile and sweet eyes she asked, “What am I to you, Adam?”

  “Everything. You’re everything to me, Allie, you’re my whole world.” His eyes were heavy with passion and his skin was on fire with desire as he watched her eyes fill with sudden tears.

  He kissed her tears away and followed the soft caress of her cheekbones with a deep kiss, the kind of kiss he’d been burning to give her for so long. Their mouths opened at the same time, the better to intensify the explosion that was building. The dancing stopped but another dance began as they started tearing each other’s clothes off. Adam could vaguely hear the onyx studs landing on the hardwood floor as Alicia pulled the shirt away from his body, but his mind was on getting her out of the red dress. He found the single hook at the back of her neck and was delighted to discover that the stretchy dress slipped down her body like the peel of a ripe banana.

  When he realized how little she was wearing underneath the dress, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom while their lips were still locked together. The frantic striptease continued as he pushed the dress down her slender hips and watched it puddle around her feet. She stood before him clad only in those dangerous shoes and a seductive pair of red lace boy short-styled panties that exposed her perfect rear end. He laid her down on the bed and removed his shirt, then the rest of his clothing so when he joined her on the bed, he was naked and magnificently aroused. They held each other closely for a moment, kissing and caressing each other with their eyes wide open to fully savor their desire. He stroked her shoulders and her breasts, then bent his head to her aching nipples and caressed them with his tongue while sliding his hands down her torso. As sexy as she looked in the incredible underwear, right now he wanted it off. He wanted nothing touching her except his hands.

  He stopped the passionate kisses long enough to remove her delicate shoes, followed by the panties. Alicia was beside herself with desire; she was shaking with the need to be one with Adam. He kissed his way up her body until their lips were almost joined, stopping only long enough to retrieve a foil packet from the night-stand next to the bed. He slid the latex condom on, then pulled Alicia back into his arms, rolling over on her slowly so she could get used to his full weight on her body. She sighed with happiness as she felt the warm weight of him on top of her. She opened
her legs and wrapped their silken length around him, helping him to enter her love-moist body and make them one.

  He pushed slowly, to give her time to become accustomed to his length. With excruciating tenderness he joined their bodies until the sensual movements of her hips proved too much for him and their rhythm quickened in mutual urgency. His powerful thrusts increased until their bodies were rocking at the threshold of a sensation so powerful it shook them into spasms of ecstasy at the same time, the sweet torture giving way to a hot climax that left them shuddering, sweaty, and complete.

  Adam held Alicia tightly as the aftershocks continued to rock them. Their bodies continued to move against each other, the sensual twisting and writhing that increased the pleasure they were feeling and presaged more of the same. Adam could feel his body renewing its need for Alicia. The sinuous movements of her hips, the silken tightness of her vaginal walls clutching him, and her cries of satisfaction were starting him on another passionate plunder of her treasures, but first he had to tell her, he had to let her know. He placed one hand under her chin and kissed her hard, then whispered, “Open your eyes, Allie. I love you, baby, I love you.” He repeated the words until the sensations made speech impossible.

  With every word he stroked harder and deeper and together they rode another convulsive climax to a shuddering completion that left them bathed in sweat and shaking from release. Gradually, the pulsing slowed down; their heartbeats regained a more normal pattern and their pants of pleasure slowed to more normal breaths. Alicia loosed her long legs from their grip around Adam’s body and slid them down so they were entwined with his, although neither one of them moved to break their most intimate connection. They smiled ravishing smiles at each other and kissed each other once, then twice and then again.