by Kailin Gow
“You have Nydia,” I said, referring to my precociously cute little seven year-old sister. “And you have your friends…the ladies’ group, and…”
Mom’s face went from cheery to weepy in a matter of seconds. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought Mom was drunk, but she didn’t smell like alcohol.
“What’s the matter?” I said, dropping my marker and going over to Mom. “Did I say something?”
“Oh, Sam,” Mom cried. “I really screwed up. I thought going to AA was enough. I thought that’s all I needed to show that I was responsible, that I was a good parent, but your father…he was able to get the judge to grant him custody of Nydia. As soon as the divorce is final, Nydia will be going with him.”
It was my turn to get weepy now. If it’s one thing that can do that despite all my resolve and will to keep a “stiff upper lip” as the British called it, it was Nydia. I protected her like she was my own daughter. I would protect her with my life. “Mom, don’t cry,” I said, crying myself. “The judge can’t separate you from Nydia. Nydia needs her mother, and you’re not a bad mother, Mom.” I swallowed. Did I mean that?
For several years I’ve resented my mother for being flaky, flighty, and I guess downright fun instead of strict and forbidding like the other mother from church I’ve grown used to. Yes, she was drunk sometimes, and yes, she had a drinking problem, but when it came to Nydia and me, she was always there. Perhaps not always functioning…oh, what was I trying to say? She did, however, raised me to be the fully-grown young woman I turned out to be, without me having to be in rehab or in jail…
“Do you really mean that?” Mom echoed my own thoughts and doubts.
“Yes,” I nodded. “Mom, you’re not perfect, but you’re alright.”
Mom wiped her tears with her sleeve and opened her arms. “Aww, come here, Baby!” She hugged me and kissed me on my cheek. “You always know what to say, you’re so smart, Sam. How did I get so lucky to be your mother?”
“Now don’t make me cry, Mom…Collins will be here any minute, and I don’t want to have to wash my face from smeared mascara now…”
“You don’t wear mascara,” Mom said. “Your long lashes are naturally that long, thick, and curly. Come to think of it, you don’t wear much makeup at all.” She played with my hair, already getting into her favorite Mommy mode, dressing her daughters up, like they were her dolls or something. Even at my age…
“Where is Collins taking you?” Mom asked, coyly. She went to my closet to try to pull out something of mine that she can dress me up in, but opened it to reveal all the clothes were gone, packed away in boxes the night before, right after I returned home from my dinner with Gail and Collins, too wired from everything, from seeing Collins, from getting downright sexy with Collins, and from finding out about Gail, that I couldn’t sleep.
“To check out apartments,” I said. “He’s helping me move, himself.”
“Isn’t he a billionaire?” Mom asked. “Why doesn’t he just hire someone…”
“Mom, that’s not the point,” I said. “Just because he’s got money, and lots of it, doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to experience it himself.”
“But…he doesn’t have to,” Mom said. “He can avoid all that back breaking work, and…”
Right when she was about to go into her lecture on the best use of time and money, the doorbell rang. At the same time, my phone buzzed, and I saw a text from Collins fly across.
CollinsM: I’m out in front. You decent or do I have the pleasure of seeing and tasting your sweet skin so early in the morning again
“Collins’ here!” I said, straightening my white lace soft shift dress, and slipping on my red mule sandals. I ran to the door, and practically jumped onto him when I opened it and saw him looking even more sexier than he did last night.
“Sam,” he bent down to kiss me plunging his tongue in to taste mine while he moved his hand over the back of my dress. “It’s only been a few hours, but I’ve already missed you. I. Want. You,” he said, pressing up against me.
“Um, company still…” I gasped, pulling back. “Come in.”
Collins smiled and walked confidently into the house in long strides, his legs clad in jeans that hung off his hips just so to reveal his tanned smooth stomach and V underneath. Even dressed down in jeans and a v-neck grey shirt and his hair fresh out of the showers messy, he looked delectable. If he had asked, I would have a hard time refusing to move in with him. Being so close to him, feeling his body heat so close to me, smelling his masculine spicy and musk scent, instantly caused my body to ache for his touch. As much as I wanted to constantly be in close proximity to Collins and his hot lickable body, I knew both of us could lose control and end up triggering some part of us that we haven’t dealt with yet, which would be worse. “So, I’m taking it upon myself to show you a few places I checked out for you.”
Collins looked around my cottage-style Newport Beach home, and leaned in. “Who’s here that I have to impress about taking you out?”
As if she was in the other room just now, my mother came padding out of the kitchen, with a tray of lemonade and cookies. “Collins McGregor, so nice of you to visit,” she said.
“Mrs. Sullivan,” Collins said. “You look lovelier each time I see you.”
Mother blushed. Collins reached out a hand and said, “Here, let me get that for you. Lemonade, my favorite. And cookies!”
“My my,” Mom said, “You sure are a charmer…and hot to boot!”
Now I was the one to blush. But Collins just laughed it off. He reached for one of the cookies, and when I thought he was going to take a bite, he brought the cookie up to my mouth, pressed the edge of the cookie against my lower lips and used it to open my mouth so that it was in my mouth before I knew it, and I had to take a bite with him still holding onto the cookie. In a way, it was very seductive how Collins can get me to open my mouth so easily, and with any object. When I took a bite of it, he took the cookie away and bit the cookie right in the area where I had just bitten it. When my mother wasn’t looking, he stuck out his tongue and traced the rest of the area on the cookie where I’ve bitten while fixing his icy blue eyes on me. “Yummy.”
Oh, the blood from my brain immediately rushed down to my lower body, heating me up so warmly that I had to shift in my chair. Somewhere between his biting the cookie and tonguing it, the crotch of my panties became wet. I stood up, and was about to head into my room to change panties when Collins said, “Look at the time. We have our first meeting in fifteen minutes.”
Mom was staring at her glass of lemonade forlornly when I nudged her. I knew what she was thinking…thinking she should have spiked her own glass of lemonade with something stronger maybe. “Oh, Collins, so nice of you to just sit and have lemonade and cookies with me. It’s nice to know young men have manners like you do. It makes it easier to say yes to when he wants extra sugar, doesn’t it?” she nodded at Collins.
I’ve never seen Collins turned red before, and he didn’t, but he did almost choke on his drink.
“Mom, um, I don’t even know what to say about that, but, we have to go now so I’ll see you later.”
“Oh, don’t worry about me, Sam, you’re grown now. I was practically pregnant by the time I was your age, so whatever you do, just remember, you’re never too old or too young to take precautions.” She looked from Collins to me and back to Collins again. Then she got up. “I have to go pick up Nydia from ballet class. You two have fun!”
“Okay, Mom,” I said walking slowly away from her and putting my hands on Collins’s arms to edge him towards the front door. “If you have any problems with Nydia, call me. I can always find my way to drive her, if you can’t.”
“I’m fine. I’m fine,” Mom said. With that, she practically pushed us out the door and slammed the door behind us.
Chapter 9
Collins didn’t waste time driving me to the first apartment, which was a beautiful suite in a luxury high-rise overlooking the c
ity that came complete with a security system and a doorman in the lobby.
“This, um, is completely not what I was expecting,” I said to Collins and the leasing agent standing next to him.
“No, of course not,” Collins said, taking my hand and leading me around to look out at the view, away from the eyes and ears of the agent. “It’s what I’d like to see you in,” he said, glancing over at me.
“It’s too much. I can’t afford to live here…”
Collins placed his long index finger at my lips to silence me. “Before you protest too much, Sam, hear me out. I checked out this building, its tenants, the security they have here, and how reliable the service and maintenance was here before I even considered this visit. This is a great apartment, with that view out there, the size…one of the designers we work with can make this place look unbelievable.”
“I bet the rent is unbelievable,” I said. “I can’t even make a dent on something like this.”
Collins pulled me in for a soft sweet kiss, cupping my face with his hands. It left me breathless and a bit wobbly when I opened my eyes. “When you gave up going to Stanford, when you gave up the million dollars and chose me instead, that’s when ‘we’ began, Sam. This isn’t about you getting an apartment to move out of your parents’ house and to live on your own as a college student, it’s about us moving on, moving further into our relationship. It’s about us finding each other, learning and discovering each other once again, and it’s about us being there for each other. This, Sam, will be my apartment, too.”
I was speechless for a while before I said, “but Gail…her rules about us living together…”
“Oh, I’m not going to be living here,” Collins said. “Still within Gail’s rules. I will, however, visit very often…like a vacation home. It’s much closer to my offices here in Newport Beach anyways.”
“So, there isn’t another apartment to look at?” I asked.
Collins frowned. “You mean you don’t like it?”
“I didn’t say that,” I said. “I love it. It’s luxurious, glamorous, sexy, and reminds me of some kind of James Bond movie in its modern design. I love the view, too, and it seems to have a balcony that’s big enough for a pool and a Jacuzzi. But it’s so rich, expensive, and so…”
“Baby,” Collins pulled me to him. “Remember when we first began our liaison a while back that I had some conditions? One of them was to have an appearance befitting me for social events, as a companion…”
Hazily the rules Collins had in order for us to start a relationship drafted for legal reasons, began coming back to me, including his preferences. One of them did mention about being presentable when accompanying Collins out to a social function. “So me having an apartment like this is part of that?” I asked.
Collins nodded. “Being with me will always be about this, Sam.” His icy blue eyes stared into mine as he said, “It’s part of who I am, Sam. I’ve worked too damn hard to get to this point where I can get a place like this for the woman I love. If I want to set you up in a place I like, no, actually that I love visiting and can feel like I’m coming home to, then I damn well pay for the place, too.”
I stood there, torn with mixed emotions. I’ve never been taken cared of like this before, and I didn’t know how to react to it. Collins was possessive, and in a way, that was thrilling, yet disturbing. Being so independent, though, I wasn’t sure if I can handle Collins’ generosity.
Just take the damn apartment already! My playful Lola side yelled. What’s so wrong about letting a hot as hell man like Collins take possession over you, dominate you, care for you, and love you?
Because I don’t want to lose myself. I countered.
You’re not. It’s called becoming a couple, and “us”.
For once, my crazy inner diva Lola made sense, and I turned to tell Collins how touch I am by him wanting this for me…wanting to set me up in a beautiful suite and taking care of me. I opened my mouth and this came out instead. “There are almost five bedrooms in this place. It’s so big, I don’t know how to fill it.”
He took a breath and exhaled. “Look, Sam, if you really don’t care for the place, that’s fine. We’ll find another one.” He gestured for the leasing agent to walk us out.
“No, that’s not it,” I said. “This place is fine, it’s just so much bigger than I’m used to.”
“Oh, but we have privacy panels and almost soundproof walls in some rooms, that you can close down half of the house by putting up panels,” the sophisticatedly-dressed, tall, and slim leasing agent said. She was a very attractive woman in her early thirties, with long dark hair swept into a smooth ponytail and emerald colored eyes. She smiled coyly at Collins. “For those special occasions when you need extra sound proofing.” Her eyes looked seductively up and down Collins, which made me instantly dislike her. Didn’t she see Collins was with his girl, and he was getting this place for her? “Whatever your needs,” she continued on, “I will be happy to accommodate them for you.” Her pretty eyes traveled down Collins’ body to stop right at his crotch.
Oh hell you won’t. Lola shouted.
I stepped between Collins and the leasing agent, and said, “You know what? Come to think of it, Collins, I don’t like this particular place. I haven’t seen the other ones yet, so let’s look at those first before settling into this one.”
The leasing girl’s eyes narrowed, and I could swear she looked like she was growing claws out of her fingers.
“Are you sure?” Collins asked.
I took Collins aside and crossed my arms. “I thought I liked it alright, but not when that woman out there is practically trying to seduce you right in front of me. I don’t like that one bit.”
“Oh Baby,” Collins smiled. “I’ve never seen you get so jealous over me. I kinda like that, but you don’t have to worry about Jodi there. She doesn’t mean anything by it.”
“I bet she doesn’t,” I said under my breath. “Look, Collins, can we at least look at the other options?”
Collins looked down and then up. “Problem is, I already bought the building…Sam, I was so sure you’d want this place, once you see it completely furnished with a library room, gourmet kitchen, pool room/playroom, the tape room…” Collins’ eyes began gleaming as he happily smiled wickedly at me that got my body tingling all over with desire. “If you enjoyed the tapes you’ve seen of mine from before, then I’m sure you would enjoy making some with me.”
My heart dropped as a small panic began deep within me. As much as I knew I shouldn’t, I did enjoyed watching Collins’ tapes. I loved watching them enough to have watched them over and over again until I was sure I’ve picked up something educational.
Collins and his last condition of his agreement for us in order to start a relationship, which both fascinated but terrified me…his need or his addiction to taping the act.
I swallowed before saying, “I don’t know if I can go there with you, Collins.”
“You enjoyed watching it, though,” he said. “So much so that you’re intrigued by it, fascinated, and curious enough to want to explore it.” He smiled again. “It was sensual enough to get you to want more, wasn’t it? Hot enough to get you to forget any hang ups you’ve ever had regarding sex or making love.” Collins’ eyes darken with desire as he leaned in to whisper in my ears. “Bet you can’t wait to see if you can do the things in those tapes, too, to me.” His voice was so velvety soft, so calming and seductive, I nodded my head while he held my chin with one finger. “I’ve dreamed of doing it with you for so long, Sam, I get a hard-on just closing my eyes.”
If Jodi wasn’t there in the suite with us, I was sure we would have a repeat episode of Collins ‘tongue-fucking’ me up the wall. The thought of it should have scared me, should have paralyzed me as it would have in the past, but now, caused by the boldness I’ve gained from the tapes, it made my entire body clench in anticipation of the next time. “Yes, get the damn suite,” I said hoarsely. “You’ve already bought t
he whole building, why not get the room for free.”
Collins laughed, and all it did was get me even more excited.
Chapter 10
Almost a week later, right after Graduation dinner, I moved into a fully furnished suite, my clothes already unpacked and hung in the closet along with some new clothes Collins had asked a personal shopper from Neiman’s to pick out. Beautiful gowns from designers like Vivienne Tam, Vera Wang, Chanel, and Oscar de la Renta, Suits and shoes from Prada, Manolo Blahnik, and Jimmy Choo.
“What is this for?” I asked when we were alone, walking into my large bedroom with the closet larger than my living room at my parents’ house.
Collins kissed me and smiled. “It’s your graduation present, Sammy.” His arms encircled my waist, and he easily lifted me in the air, twirling me until he brought me down to kiss me again on my lips. “I’m so proud of you, Miss Valedictorian.”
I smiled, relishing his warm lips on mine. “You are, are you?”
“I am,” growled Collins as he edged me away from the closet and to the large bed, covered in red silk linen, “So. Very. Proud.” His crotch in his suit’s slacks pounded near mine, with every emphasis of the words. Even fully clothed, I can feel Collins’ warmth as he bent over me while I fell back onto the soft sheets. “Now that you’ve graduated, let’s move onto more grown up lessons, shall we?”
I giggled, happy to be finished with high school, happy to finally move out of my parents’ house. “We shall,” I answered.
“First rule, young lady,” Collins said sternly. “You address me as “Sir.”
“Yes, Sir,” I said giggling again. This was not like me at all, but I felt less restricted, I felt free.
“Turn around,” Collins said.
“Why?” I asked.
He bent me over and with a swift movement, tore my skirt off. He was about to rip off my panties when he stopped and said, “I’m saving these for later. My favorite kind…the ones with the hearts.”