Curves in the Road (The Southern Devotion Series Book 2)

by Amy K McClung

  "You're not a freak. I'm honored to have given you your first orgasm," I said softly against her lips. She quivered as I said this so I added, "Next time, we'll go slower though and I'll make all your firsts special, if you'll let me."

  "If you keep talking like that I'm going to have another orgasm right here," She said nervously. It turned me on more to hear this shy woman say something dirty to me. "And the first I experienced tonight was very special."

  After that night, things seemed to be going great. We had a few dates and we spent a lot of time kissing, but never took it to the next step again. It was my choice to hold back. I wanted to make sure that she was completely ready. She received news that she was accepted into the Imagineering program at Disney and that was the beginning of the end for us.

  Chapter Two

  **Mary Jane's Reflections**

  Most people will fall in love several times over a lifetime but there is always one that sticks out more than others whether you end up with them or they are the one that got away. When I was five I thought I was in love with my best friend Jimmy who lived next door, but he fed my favorite Barbie doll to the dog and it broke my heart. When I was ten, I fell for my schoolmate Robbie when he helped me up after someone pushed me into the mud. My heart shattered when my dad told me we were moving to the big city of Nashville from my small backwoods town in Kentucky and I had to say goodbye to him. At fifteen I fell for Marcus Jacobs, the smartest guy in school. He was our valedictorian and I never told him how I felt. He 'came out of the closet' after high school. When I turned twenty-one, I met Derrick Collins.

  Derrick is the guy that made me realize that I'd never known love before I met him. I'd never be grateful that Ashton, my friend Gracie's husband, was in a motorcycle accident, but it did bring us together. When she called me that day to babysit, I had no idea my life would change forever.

  Growing up I've always had an issue with weight and never felt comfortable with the opposite sex. Puberty hit and my waistline expanded more than my breasts. Luckily, I had a growth spurt around age sixteen. I'm taller than average, five eight to be exact, with blonde hair and light green eyes, that part I'm happy about. My pants size is a different story. My hips are curvy, and my breasts did catch up to them although they still don't point forward as much as my hips point outward. My friends tell me I'm beautiful and they build my confidence every day. I've tried every diet known to man to be skinny, it's just not in the cards for me and I've come to terms with that fact. My body may not be perfect but I eat right and I am not lazy. It's just my luck that I have a crappy metabolism that allows me to maintain a softer, slightly rounder stomach. Does it frustrate me? Yes. I'd love to be one of those women that can eat anything they want and never gain a pound. However, life didn't deal me that hand and I am becoming content with myself.

  Derrick was the first step to helping me reach that level of confidence. When I'm with him, I feel like the most beautiful woman on earth. Our first two dates had been pretty great so we had decided on a third as a double date with Ashton and Gracie. That would be the exact date that changed my life as I knew it. We went to a shooting range; not the most romantic date, I know. The reason for it was important; Gracie was being stalked by an ex-boyfriend and she needed to know how to defend herself if the occasion presented itself.

  The irony of the situation is that as we left the shooting range, the ex-boyfriend had followed us and opened fire in the parking lot. Derrick leaned in to kiss me when all hell broke loose. He pushed me to the ground and grabbed his gun from the holster. Hudson, the stalker, pulled the trigger hitting Derrick who was able to pull off one shot before hitting the ground. Derrick was hit in the stomach and instinct made me catch him as he fell towards me. As I sat up, I glanced down to see my shirt covered in blood.

  Ashton ran over to take care of his brother and sent me to take care of Gracie. Hudson was dead and the danger was over. At that moment, I watched the paramedics arrive and work to save Derrick's life and came to the conclusion that I couldn't stand to lose him. It terrified me to feel so strongly about someone I'd known for such a short amount of time. My only thought was that if he survived this, I wanted to be with him. Life threw another curve into my plans though.

  The day I received the letter that I was accepted into the Imagineering program with Disney was supposed to be the best day of my life; I had worked hard for this opportunity. Instead it was one of the best and worst. I was excited at the prospect given to me. The problem was that it meant two years in Florida away from my first true boyfriend.

  It's true that having a boyfriend isn’t the most important thing in life, but it sure is nice. I loved my time with Derrick; I didn’t need him to make me happy, I wanted it. Derrick made me feel happier than I could ever recall feeling. He could make me laugh when I felt discouraged. He's the only man that told me I was beautiful and made me believe it. He was perfect in every way…like Mary Poppins in a man. Wow, that's not that sexy I guess. If Derrick's one thing for sure, it's sexy.

  When I told Derrick about the internship, he fought for us to stay together and that meant the world to me. We tried to figure out the long distance arrangement; it was difficult considering he has a daughter that comes first. Nothing else could make me give up Derrick, except for the best interest of his daughter Katelyn who I loved as though she were my own.

  So, Angel and I loaded up our cars and moved our life to Orlando, Florida leaving behind our friends who'd become family and quite possibly the love of my life.

  Chapter Three

  **Derrick**

  After Mary Jane left for Florida, I tried to move on although it wasn’t easy. In a last ditch effort to let her know how I felt, I show up on the day she was leaving and give her a cup of memories. Katelyn had painted the mug to say I love you and I filled it with memories of our dates. We hadn't said those three words to each other even though I felt them for her already. One amazing goodbye kiss and I watched her drive away out of my life.

  Ashton and Gracie were married a few weeks later, in New York's Central Park. On my way home, I thought about Mary Jane the entire flight. During the entire ceremony I pictured her standing there in a white gown saying the words to me. Marriage had always been something I wanted, a family for Katelyn was important to me. It was always an image in my head with a woman who had no face, now all I could see was MJ. When I landed, I texted her and asked if I could call her and talk. She responded back immediately and I couldn't wait to hear her voice.

  "Hey. How was the move?" I asked as soon as she answered the phone.

  "It wasn't bad. We have a cute little apartment here. I miss everyone so much. I'm thankful to have Angel here though." She sounded sad; I wasn't used to that from her. "How was the wedding?" she asked.

  "Beautiful. Gracie looked beautiful as did Katelyn of course. I've never seen Ashton so happy. I'm glad he met her. Selfishly I'm glad that I met you because of their union." She didn't respond and I was worried that I scared her off. "You got quiet, did I say something wrong?"

  "No, of course not. It's just…I miss you so much." She said those last five words so fast I thought I misunderstood her. Then she repeated herself, "I miss you, Derrick, more than anything else."

  "Why are we not trying the long distance thing again?" I asked, genuinely confused at the decision we both made and hoping desperately that she felt the same uncertainty.

  "We thought it would be too confusing for everyone; especially Katelyn. If it didn't work out…"

  I stopped her before she could finish the thought. "Why wouldn’t it work out? I think we have a great shot at having what Ash and Gracie have. What if we keep it our little secret? We could see what happens and leave everyone else out. We can date on our own terms without other people interfering or giving friendly advice, the typical things that can kill a relationship by causing unwanted thoughts of insecurity."

  "I'm not sure how often I can visit with my internship and studying. You can't exactly drop everything
to come see me either."

  "It doesn't matter MJ. We can Skype, do Facetime, talk on the phone, whatever it takes. I'll wait for you because you're worth it." I meant that one hundred percent. Sure intimacy is great in a relationship and it's easier when you can be in at least the same state. None of that mattered though; I knew what I wanted and it's Mary Jane. This would make it easier for us to take things slow to so that she was sure when she was absolutely ready for more.

  The elation in her voice rose, "You really think we can do this?"

  "Yes, I do. And we could still be intimate in different ways. Sexy Skype, Freaky facetime, phone sex…"

  She gave a sexy laugh, "You make me believe that we can make this work."

  After that day we took every opportunity to talk. We led our friends to believe that we decided to be friends only. Whenever we wanted to talk one of us texted the other to see if the coast was clear. It was pretty exciting sneaking around a bit like we were. There were a couple of close calls for people finding us out which made it even more exciting.

  One afternoon I stayed home sick from work. Lying in bed trying to get over this funky feeling, I flipped through channels looking for something to keep me occupied. As usual, among three hundred channels of cable, there was nothing watchable on.

  Glancing at my watch I noticed it was only nine in the morning. It would be ten in Orlando and Mary Jane usually doesn't go in until the afternoons. Since Katelyn's at school for the next few hours it would be the perfect time for us to spend a couple of good long hours together. Without another thought, I dialed MJ's number.

  "Hey sweetheart, do you work today?"

  "Nope, took the day off to relax. You sound terrible, what's wrong?"

  "You know how to sweet talk a guy. I'm not feeling great so I stayed home from work. I think it's a sinus infection or something equally as sexy. If you aren't busy, I'd like to take you on a date? A perk of the long distance situation is that I don't give you any germs that I may have."

  She was quiet; I could imagine her eyebrows scrunched in confusion, her chewing on the side of her lip in thought. "How exactly are we going to do that?"

  I laugh and say, "Let's Skype and eat together. Then I thought we could sit and watch a movie. What do you think?"

  She sighed, "I think that sounds perfect."

  We managed to have many of the same ingredients in our pantry so we made the same meal and I sat the laptop across the table from me while we Skyped. It was almost like sitting at the table with her. "You look beautiful."

  She stroked her fingers through her hair checking it over. "I've barely been out of bed. I'm still in my pajamas. Angel said I'd been cooped up too much since we got here so we went to a club and were out until three in the morning." I could see that she was wearing a spaghetti strap tank top but couldn't tell about the rest. Being a typical guy, I'm not ashamed to say I mostly noticed her cleavage ready to spill out at any moment. It's not a bad thing to appreciate an unbelievably sexy woman.

  "Pajama pants?" I ask wanting to get a full picture in my mind, hoping for my table's sake that she wasn't only wearing panties. If that was the case, I may knock a notch in the bottom of this table in a moment.

  She stood up and my heart got caught in my chest and that table knocking I mentioned was about to happen. She had on shorts that were fitted to her form. She nonchalantly waved her arms, "Shorts, this heat down here is too much to even sleep in pants. I wake up in the morning with everything sticking to me. It's not the most attractive outfit, but you caught me off guard." She wrapped her arms around herself in a self conscious way as her eyes focused on the screen once more. "Maybe I should put on a robe. I'm sure the camera makes me look bigger than you even remember."

  The moment she talked about waking up with her clothes sticking to her from the heat all I could think was about undressing her and working up a sweat in the best possible way. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I said, "What? No. You look beautiful. I…well…let's just say I really wish I was there right now. I didn't expect to see you in such a sexy outfit."

  She blushes, "Sexy? This?" She extends her arms again to give me a breathtaking view. Her breathing increases as I watch her breasts rise while something of mine is rising as I watch. I adjusted in my seat, clearing my throat and looking away.

  "You're killing me here, MJ." I lick my lips and she gives me a sexy smile then blows me a kiss. I'd give anything to have her here right now so I could remove those sexy pajamas myself. "Excuse me a minute." I step into the kitchen and splash cold water on my face before returning.

  She giggles softly as she sees my wet hair when I return. "Are you alright now?"

  "Are you here with me?" That was meant to let her know how much I wanted her, instead it brought us both to reality. "I'm sorry, that was stupid to say."

  "No, it was sweet. I wish I was there." Awkward silence follows while we both try to eat our breakfast. After a few minutes, I ask, "What movie would you like to watch?"

  "Well, something we both have would be Disney movies. How about the newest release?" My thoughts make me chuckle. "That would be the safest type of movie we could watch for me personally."

  She covers her mouth as she laughs, "Sounds good to me then too."

  We curled up in our separate beds; hers looked more inviting then mine. "You look pretty comfy over there in your fluffy down comforter." I said as I pulled up my scratchy afghan made by my grandmother.

  "I'd be more comfy if you were here curled up with me." We both had our laptops resting on the nightstand so we could watch the movie and still see each other.

  For the next hour and a half I watched Mary Jane as she watched the movie. I took in everything about her. Her soft pink lips were puckered in thought during the serious scenes. When the funny scenes came along, she would throw her head back in laughter. "Are you even watching the movie?" she asked, suddenly bringing me out of my stupor to notice she was staring back at me now.

  "What? Um, yeah of course. She's found Prince Charming now, right?" I was oblivious to the plot of this movie. I'd bought it for Katelyn but had yet to watch it with her. I love Disney movies, but right now I couldn't take my eyes off this woman or stop wishing that I was in that bed with her.

  That perfect giggle of hers sounds again, "There's no Prince Charming in this one."

  She pulls the comforter back and sits up for a moment. Her chest is in full view of the camera. "MJ, honey, move back a bit."

  She gasps, "Oh, sorry!"

  "Nothing to be sorry for, it just makes me think of that old slogan 'reach out and touch someone' but I can't." If I could, we'd be rolling around in that bed right now without the hindrance of clothes. This long distance stuff is harder than I thought, no pun intended at this moment.

  Mary Jane looks away and calls out, "Hey girl, be right there." Turning back to the camera she whispers, "I gotta go, Angel's home. I had a great date."

  "Me too. We'll talk later." She blows me a kiss and I pretend to catch it and press it to my lips. Cheesy, I know, but it's still romantic and I'll give this woman as many cheesy moments as she wants.

  The screen went blank on her end, leaving me staring at a black screen in sadness for a moment. Slowly I closed my laptop lid and slid further into the bed until my body lay flat. Rolling over I stuck a pillow between my arms and hugged it to my body as I drifted off to sleep with dreams of MJ dancing through my head. That sounds romantic but I have to admit they were pretty dirty dreams.

  Chapter Four

  **Mary Jane**

  Lunchtime rolled around and as usual I went into the lounge to sit by myself and read. It was never an easy task for me to meet new people. If they didn’t approach me first, I usually didn’t speak for fear of rejection I suppose.

  Today I was enjoying (I use that word lightly) my lean microwave meal that was a portion big enough for a squirrel to fill up on, when I felt the table shift and glanced up. A large blue monster with purple spots sat across from me, he lifted a f
urry arm to wave. I snickered and waved back, “I loved your movies. Where’s your little green Cyclops friend?”

  He shook with laughter and removed the head of the costume so he could speak. I almost choked on my food when I saw the handsome man behind the mask. He extended his furry blue hand and said, “I’m Tristan, I’m not really a monster I only play one. I'd like to say on TV; alas my acting career hasn't taken off as I hoped it would. Perhaps the blue fur causes me to be typecast?”

  He winked at me and I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, I’m Mary Jane. Most people call me MJ.” Tristan had lightly bronzed skin and his head was shaved which looked a bit odd on him but I wasn’t going to judge. His eyes were green with light specks of brown mixed in.

  He released a heavy breath, “Whew, wearing this thing is tougher than it looks.”

  I smiled, “Can’t you change out of it?”

  He nodded, “Once my shift is through. Actually I’m covering for the guy that’s supposed to be taking my place. Let’s keep that as our little secret though, if you don’t mind. I don’t want to get him in trouble.”

  I held up my index finger and then made an X over my heart, “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

  He shivers, “That is one of the creepiest sayings, especially when you follow it up with stick a needle in my eye. What were people thinking when they said these things?” I laughed before taking another bite of my lunch.

  He leaned forward, glancing at my plate and then up at me. “Is that a snack?”

  I shook my head, “Nope, it’s lunch.”

  His eyes bulged, “Sweetheart, that isn’t lunch for anyone. What time do you get off today?”