Alicia took over, removing his shirt and sighing with enjoyment as she looked at his big broad shoulders, his smooth muscled chest, and his tight stomach with the sexy six-pack. She stroked his shoulders and kissed his neck, then his lips, letting her mouth play all over his for maximum impact. She took his upper lip and licked it tenderly, pulling it into the warm moistness of her mouth to suck it gently, teasing him with tiny nips of her teeth, then treated the lower lip the same way. His soft sounds of pleasure let her know that he was enjoying it as much as she was.
Suddenly he stood up, which startled Alicia until she realized that he was getting rid of his slacks and his briefs. Smiling in anticipation as his long, muscular legs came into view Alicia kicked off her own shoes and began unfastening the halter neckline of her dress. After sliding the supple silk dress down her equally supple body, she stood in front of Adam clad only in a black lace strapless bra and a matching lace thong. She didn’t stand long as Adam picked her up and deposited her on the bed, rolling over on top of her with a sigh of complete surrender.
“Allie, I’m so glad you’re here with me,” he said in his deep, sexy voice.
“I’ll always be here for you, Adam, I love you. You’re my heart,” she whispered. Her expression changed from loving tenderness to one of determination. “And this is all for you, so turn over, right now. I have something wonderful for you,” she purred.
“That sounds serious, should I be afraid?” Adam joked.
“No, you should be grateful,” she responded. As he turned over on his stomach, Alicia went into the bathroom and returned with a bottle of massage oil. She changed the music to the beautiful voice of Lenora Zenzalai Helm and climbed onto the bed, straddling Adam’s body and smoothing her hands over his back.
“You just close your eyes and don’t think about anything, sweetheart. I learned a few things when I was at the spa with Roxy.”
She poured some of the scented oil into her palm and warmed it by holding her hands together, then spread it over the taut bronzed bounty in front of her. She began to treat him to a wonderful massage, stroking his very willing flesh with strong, sure motions designed to both relax and stimulate him.
Adam immediately succumbed to the tender ministrations of his beloved; the feel of her warm hands on his body was lulling him into peaceful lassitude even while he was experiencing a powerful arousal. Alicia didn’t miss any part of his body; she caressed his back, his arms, and his neck, and when her hands worked their way down to his buttocks, he entered a dangerous stage of readiness.
“Baby, you need to slow down,” he groaned. “Or stop altogether, because I can’t take much more of this,” he admitted.
Alicia didn’t relent; she continued to cup and knead the firm mounds to her heart’s content. “I can’t seem to stop, Adam. My hands just won’t let go of this cute behind of yours. I love this behind, it’s so sexy.” She sighed.
Her sigh turn into a gasp of surprise as Adam flexed his muscles so the object of her ardor moved under her hands. “Oh my,” she breathed. The feel of his now hot skin, slick with the fragrant oil, was incredibly sensual, causing her passion to mount to a level that could only be assuaged by the joining of their flesh.
Adam knew the moment the massage stopped and the foreplay began in earnest. He could feel the increasing heat from the soft flesh of her inner thighs as she continued to straddle him; he could sense the growing moisture the thin lace of the thong did little to contain. With a groan he gently dislodged her as he turned onto his back and held his arms out to her, pulling her into his embrace and fastening his mouth on hers, losing himself in the hot sweetness of their kiss. Their hands moved almost frantically over each other’s bodies, each needing the feel of the other, the heat and the fire of their love.
He took her mouth again and again, loving her lips with his mouth and tongue, drinking the nectar from her as he ran his big hands over her body. He kissed down her neck, licking and sucking the tender flesh over her collarbones, her shoulders, and running his hot, seeking tongue along her cleavage, greedily sucking her nipples through the fragile fabric of her lacy bra. Alicia shivered under the onslaught of his desire and was trying to remove her skimpy undergarments when Adam stopped her.
“Leave them on, baby, I love the way you look.”
He reached for a condom and with her assistance quickly rolled the latex protection on. Now they were ready, there was nothing to stop them from devouring each other with the hunger that consumed them. Adam moved the thong aside with a skill born of need so keen it was painful. He entered her moist, welcoming canal slowly, trying to be as gentle as possible given his massive erection. He tried to be slow and careful but Alicia wasn’t having it. The feel of him entering her body snapped her control and she pushed forward to take him into her yielding heat. Her hips moved urgently, the motions of her body letting him know that she was more than ready for him.
“More, Adam,” she whispered, “more.”
The sound of her voice coupled with her sensuous, undulating movements released the burgeoning passion in Adam. He grasped her hips and plunged into her sweetness over and over, their sweat-slicked bodies coming together with increasing force until the inevitable end to their mating came in a galvanic climax that rocked them both. Adam thrust himself forward as she ground her hips against him, sighing his name over and over. He buried his head in her neck, trembling with the force of the pulsing shocks that convulsed his big frame, moaning words of love as he tried to regain some control.
“Allie, I love you. I love you, baby, you’ve always been mine, all mine."
“And I love you, Adam.”
She smiled as he collapsed on top of her, pulling her into his arms and rolling over onto his back to cradle her against him. When their breathing slowed down, she rubbed his chest and suggested they take a shower.
“No, let’s just lie here and be sweaty. I love being all sticky and wet after we make love,” he confessed. “It feels so natural, like we were meant to be without anything between us. I can’t wait to be married to you, baby. And I really want to make love to you outdoors, Allie.”
“Outdoors? In the wide-open spaces or under the trees somewhere secluded from the rest of the world?” she mused.
“Both,” he answered, pleased that she hadn’t rejected the idea. “I can’t tell you how much I love making love to you, Allie. When I’m with you intimately, touching you, inside you ... I can’t describe how it feels. I feel so close to you, like we’re the same person. It’s like you’re taking my breaths and I’m taking yours,” he confessed.
Alicia smiled delightedly. “I have to tell you something. Sometimes when we’re together I can’t tell if you’re inside me or I’m inside you, that’s how close I feel to you. It’s always like the very first time with you, Adam, but it’s also like we’ve been making love since the beginning of time. Does that make any sense?”
“It makes perfect sense, my love. So let’s be real sensible once more before we go get in the shower,” he said as he finally released her from her bra and panties in preparation for another sensual assault.
Her only answer was a soft sigh of anticipation as she turned into his arms for more loving.
Chapter Twenty-four
The next morning Alicia awoke to an empty bed and the sound of one of her favorite CDs. Carlos Santana’s Borboletta was echoing through the loft, filling it with the sensual Latin rhythm. She smiled lazily and enjoyed the feeling of utter contentment that permeated every bit of her body. After making love again and again the night before, she and Adam had spent a long time in the big bathtub, luxuriating in bubbles and each other, before finally going to bed and a deep, dreamless sleep in each other’s arms. The memory of the passion they shared made her smile again as she rose from the bed.
She brushed her teeth and took a quick shower before changing the sheets and putting the room back to its normal pristine condition. After making sure the bathroom was equally spotless and tidy, she put on
one of Adam’s old denim shirts. There was an assortment of items belonging to her in the big mahogany armoire, but she liked wearing Adam’s clothes. She slipped a pair of beaded thong sandals on her feet and went in search of Adam. She was pleased to find him in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on a huge breakfast. He was moving with the music and looking like every woman’s fantasy come true, wearing an old pair of jeans and a wifebeater.
“Hola, querida, you’ve been busy this morning,” she said, greeting him.
uHola yourself, sleepyhead. I was going to bring you this in bed,” he told her, giving her a quick kiss.
“You’re too sweet to me,” she murmured, kissing him back and wrapping her arms around his waist. “It’s such a pretty day, why don’t we eat on the roof?”
She took a bottle of cleanser and some paper towels to wipe off one of the glass-topped bistro tables and had set two places with the big square pottery plates she’d given Adam some years before. Adam brought the food out and after saying grace, they began eating a marvelous breakfast of eggs Florentine, crisply browned filet mignon, and blueberry scones, made from scratch from a recipe Alicia’s mother had given him. The scones had a hint of subtle citrus flavor from a bit of lemon zest; they tasted just as good as her mother’s and Alicia sighed with pleasure as she savored a bite. Adam didn’t feel that breakfast was worth eating without grits and he made great ones, smooth and buttery.
“If we eat like this every day I’m going to get huge,” she warned him.
Adam scoffed. “That’s not going to happen, baby. We run three or four times a week. Besides, you need to keep your strength up if we make love like we did last night,” he said with a satisfied smile.
Alicia grabbed his hand and leaned over to him for a kiss. “You’ve got a deal. You just keep feeding me because I plan to make a lot of love with you. And a lot of babies,” she said sweetly.
Adam kissed her back and smiled sheepishly. “Allie, I don’t know what I’d do without you. You’ve been the most important part of my life for ten years and it’s going to be that way forever. You amaze me, you astound me, you elate me every day, and I thank God you’re in my life. I thought last night would be miserable, but it wasn’t I thought I’d hate John Flores and want to stomp him, but I don’t. He’s a nice guy, Allie, a good man. None of this is his fault, after all. He didn’t ask my father to betray my mother, he’s as much of a victim as she was,” he said with a touch of heat.
Alicia studied their still-clasped hands, admiring Adam’s strong fingers and neatly kept nails. Thinking about the things this hand could do to her made her she blush and a fiery heat spread over her lady parts. She cleared her throat before meeting Adam’s eyes. “So how do you feel about the situation now, Adam? Do you think you can at least be friends with John?”
Adam was silent for a long time. “I’m not saying I can’t, Allie. I just don’t know at this point. I can’t harbor any resentment toward him, even though I certainly planned on it. I’d planned to ignore his existence as much as possible, but that seems kind of impractical since the family has decided to nestle him to their bosom, so to speak.” He laughed grimly, recalling the open affection demonstrated last night as the entire clan made John welcome.
“I just don’t know how I can accept him as a brother or even a friend when I know what the affair did to my mother. I can’t blame John for it, but I can sure as hell blame my father and I do. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to deal with him, Alicia. Right now I don’t know if I can ever look him in the eye again.”
***
John slept heavily and late, waking up feeling just as tired as when he went to bed. He was used to it, this feeling of lassitude and heaviness that plagued him constantly. The malaise was part of his condition, as was the almost constant itching of his skin. He sometimes felt as if there were a thousand insects inside him trying to buzz their way out. He had various ointments to use and they helped for the most part, but the lethargy and loss of appetite were harder to remedy. He’d lost a considerable amount of weight in the year since his diagnosis and it was becoming a source of concern. If he were at his normal weight he’d look just like his brothers, big and healthy. Now he looked like a slender version of a Cochran man.
A Cochran. Hard as it was to believe, he belonged to them and they were a part of him. He’d been alone in the world and now he had family. It was still hard to get his head around the idea that he was a Cochran, but it was getting easier. He dragged himself out of bed and took a long tepid shower. He liked a hot shower; the hotter the better, but his doctor told him that a tepid one would help ease the itching. He disliked the scent of the special antibacterial soap he was mandated to use, but he had no choice, it was this or suffer even more intense skin irritation. He liked to use regular soap, great big imported bars of scented soap. John was masculine enough to admit that he enjoyed his creature comforts. He finally got out of the shower and patted his skin dry instead of the usual brisk rubdown he preferred, another doctor’s order. He dressed in his oldest pair of jeans, laundered nearly white and full of little rips and tears. It was Miss Parker’s fondest wish to confine them to the Dumpster, but they were so comfortable he couldn’t let them go.
Miss Parker. He’d have to remember to call her Nina, he supposed, but he loved having a pet name for her. On the rare occasions he watched television, he enjoyed watching syndicated reruns of The Pretender. There was a character in the show who reminded him of Nina. She was tough and hard and completely intimidating to everyone, but she had the heart of a marshmallow. Admittedly, Nina showed no such sensitivity, but she had everything else down pat, including the sternly sophisticated look of Miss Parker.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at his door. He walked into the carefully neutral, boringly decorated room and opened the door to find a nervous-looking young man apparently making a delivery.
“Mr. Flores, I mean Dr. Flores, I have something for you,” he said hurriedly.
John smiled to reassure the young man. He was tall and slender with sandy brown hair in neat braids and a smattering of freckles. His green eyes looked both intelligent and anxious. “Are you sure it’s for me? I didn’t order anything.”
“Someone sent it to you, sir. I just work at the restaurant I’m supposed to bring you this,” he said, indicating a large bag with the name of a popular restaurant on it, “and this.” John took the other big shopping bag with handles from the the young man. It contained a big bouquet of spring flowers in various shades of red, their color bright and cheerful in the morning light. There was also a copy of the Sunday New York Times, the Sunday edition of the Ann Arbor paper, and two jazz CDs he’d been coveting but hadn’t purchased. With a big smile, he invited the wary young man to come in.
“Come on in and let me get you something for your trouble,” he said.
“No, sir, absolutely not. It’s all been taken care of,” he said hastily.
“But I insist. I appreciate all the trouble you went to, I doubt that your restaurant normally delivers.”
“They don’t, sir, but the person, the woman, the lady who set it up, she made it worth my while, really worth it, I mean. And she said if I took any money . . .” His voice trailed off.
John smiled, already knowing who’d sent him the wonderful gift. “What did she say?”
“She said she would personally eviscerate me with a salad fork and feed my entrails to the birds, sir. I think she meant it.” He was now bright red with drops of perspiration on his top lip.
John laughed out loud and pulled the terrified college student across the threshold. “Ignore her. Her bark is no worse than a low-level atomic accident, but I’m almost certain her bite isn’t as bad.”
He left the room and came back to find the young man frozen right where he’d left him. He handed him a twenty-dollar bill and insisted he keep it. “She may be tough but she’s not omniscient, she’ll never know.” Wordlessly the boy handed him a folded piece of paper. John burst
out laughing as he read the words Take that money back if you don’t want to meet the same fate. It was signed Miss Parker.
“Trust me, she’s not going to come after you. You have my word on it. She just likes to act tough. It’s a little game we play.”
“She plays it really well,” the young man mumbled.
With a shaky smile of relief the youth dashed off to his disreputable-looking car and took off. John took his bounty into the dining area and opened the Styrofoam containers to find a plump, piping-hot omelet oozing cheese and full of mushrooms, onions, and peppers, along with crisp bacon, rye toast, hash browns, sliced strawberries, and two giant cups of coffee. There was also a big piece of apple pie, a particular weakness of his. Only someone who knew him very well could have assembled this meal. Someone who knew him well enough to care that he ate well. He said a quick grace and did his best to do justice to the meal and found that he could consume most of it, unusual for him as of late. He cleared the table and got comfortable on the sofa to read the papers and listen to the first of his two CDs, a mellow collection of love songs by Chet Baker. He attempted several times to call Nina, but she wasn’t answering her cell phone. From what he knew of her he figured she would hate being thanked for doing something so special; thus she was avoiding him. Well, she couldn’t hide forever. He’d do something spectacular for her the next day, something that would embarrass her no doubt, but might please her as well. I knew she had a soft heart, he thought, gloating.
* * *
The next couple of weeks weren’t what Adam would have expected. After his initial reaction to the revelation of John’s parentage, he was prepared for a period of hostility and estrangement, but it wasn’t to be. In a strange way he was closer to his family than ever and he couldn’t quite figure out why. He was sitting in his office at Cochran and Fuentes Design thinking about the events of the past days. He was watching the traffic in downtown Detroit as he went over what had occurred since the big party at Donnie and Angelique’s house.
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