Takes You

by Nicola C. Priest

  “Fine. Let’s go see what we can find.” Pippa practically squeals as I agree, and she all but drags me into the shop where we are greeted by a perky blonde sales assistant who smiles and offers her assistance if we should need it. Pip tells her to stay close as she leads me through all the ‘safe’ colours towards the ‘sexy’ colours.

  What makes a colour sexy, I’ve no idea, but Pippa does, and before I know it, I’m being pushed into a changing room with both arms full of lace and satin in every colour imaginable.

  Over and hour later, I’m walking out of the lingerie shop with two new bras and matching knickers, one black and one a deep purple, plus a lacy black bodysuit, which Pip says I have to wear tonight, along with a suspender belt and black seamed stockings.

  I’ve never worn stockings, ever, but Pippa says men love them and Caleb will be no exception. I’ll probably never wear them, not even for Cal, but I guess having them, just in case, can’t hurt.

  I check my watch, seeing it’s almost three p.m. Doing a rough calculation in my head, I have approximately three and a half hours to get home, prepare dinner and get myself ready for when Cal gets back. He promised he wouldn’t be late tonight, saying they didn’t have much on at the garage at the moment and anything that was left at half five could be done the following day.

  “I should be heading back, Pip. Can I give you a lift?”

  “No, I’m good, thanks, Cris. I’m going to spend a little bit more money before I head back. Lance will come get me when I’m finished.”

  I smile as we move in for a hug. I hold my friend tightly, so grateful I have someone like her in my life. I realise that I don’t think I’ve ever told her that. Without releasing her, I speak. “Thanks for everything, Pip. You’ve been a real strength over the last few weeks. I don’t say it enough, but I’m so happy we’re friends.”

  “Don’t you dare make me cry, woman,” Pippa says with a small laugh. “You know how mushy I can get. Seriously though, I’m always here for you. Anytime.”

  After holding on for several more moments, we eventually part, and Pip averts her eyes briefly and swipes at her cheeks before turning back and smiling. “You should get home and get ready to wow that man of yours. What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall when he sees you tonight.”

  “Pervert,” I say without any heat, and she just laughs.

  “You know what I mean. His jaw is going to drop through the floor when he gets a load of you in that outfit. Maybe you should warn the neighbours.”

  “That’s the idea. It’s been way too long, Pip.”

  “Now who’s being the pervert?”

  Narrowing my eyes, I flip her the middle finger and we both laugh, hugging one more time before she heads back to the shops and I cross the street, rounding the corner towards the car park.

  Half an hour later, I’m walking through the front door, dumping my purchases on a nearby chair as I kick the front door shut with my foot. I shrug out of my jacket and hang it up before grabbing two of my bags and moving through to the bedroom. After emptying my purchases onto the bed, I put the stuff away I don’t need for tonight, leaving the slinky black dress and lacy bodysuit on the bed.

  I head over to the wardrobe, open the doors, and pull out Cal’s white linen, button down shirt. It’s my favourite of all his shirts, and I always feel proud to be on his arm when he wears it when we go out.

  I mean, he looks hot no matter what he wears, but there’s something about him in that white shirt with his dark hair and facial hair that just does it for me every time.

  I hang it on the front of the wardrobe and then place his favourite Levi jeans on the bed. I know when he comes back, he’ll head straight to the shower, as is his usual routine, and this is what I want him to wear when he comes out.

  I close my eyes and imagine him in the outfit and my body instantly warms at the images my mind conjures up. Opening them quickly, I shake my head and move to the kitchen, double-checking I have everything I need to make tonight perfect. The wine is chilling in the fridge and the steaks are marinating on a plate, smelling good enough to eat already.

  Going back to the living room, I pick up the third of my bags and remove the three candles I purchased in town, and place one in the middle of the small dining table and the other two on the mantelpiece above the fireplace.

  Satisfied I have everything I need, I practically skip through to the bathroom to begin getting ready for tonight. My hair will take at least an hour to get just right and my makeup another half hour. I need to get moving if I’m to be ready in time.

  I strip off my clothes and jump under the warm spray of the shower. I make quick work of scrubbing and shaving before bundling myself into my fluffy bathrobe and wrapping a towel around my hair. As I stand in front of the mirror, I sort through my makeup bag and decide on a simple lip with smoky eyes, something I’ve only recently perfected with the help of Pippa.

  After taking out the items I need, I unwrap the towel from my hair and begin the long, drawn out process of getting it perfect for tonight.

  Chapter 23

  Caleb

  What a fucking day.

  I’ve been on my feet since the moment I got up this morning to the moment I sat in my car to come home. When I left the garage last night, we only had two jobs scheduled for today, which we should have been able to handle easily, but then, for some reason, we had a flurry of MOT requests come through, which meant working non-stop all day to get them all done.

  If it hadn’t been for the fact I promised Cris I’d be home on time tonight, I’d probably still be there now rather than hunting in my pocket for the front door key.

  When I find the key, I open the door and step inside, immediately wondering why it’s so dark in here and why I can smell vanilla and cherries. Stepping into the living room, my jaw nearly hits the floor when I see Cris waiting for me, wearing the sexiest little black dress I’ve ever seen.

  It’s sexy to me in that it doesn’t reveal everything. It’s tight enough to show off her curves, but not too short or low cut that it flashes everything she has to offer. Her hair is styled in waves round her shoulders, and whatever she’s done to her eyes makes them look darker than usual. She looks absolutely stunning, and I realise I’ve not moved since I set foot in living room.

  “Wow, Cris, you look… wow!”

  She smiles at my inability to put together a coherent sentence and walks over, quite confidently, in four-inch stiletto heels. She stands in front of me and turns me around. I angle my head, so I can still see her.

  “Cal, I love you, but you stink,” she says with a small laugh. “Go shower. I’ve laid out some clothes for you for when you’re done.” With a gentle push, she shoves me towards the bathroom and vanishes into the kitchen, my eyes on the gentle sway of her hips in that sexy as hell black dress.

  “Eyes off the arse, Roberts,” I hear her shout from the kitchen, and I grin as I head towards the bathroom, seeing my favourite jeans and Crissie’s favourite shirt lying out on our bed.

  She’s up to something, this much I know, and I can’t wait to find out what it is.

  Crissie

  I hear the shower switch off and know Cal will be back out soon. It doesn’t take him long to get ready after a shower, so I reach into the fridge and grab the wine. Heading to the table, I pour two glasses before placing the wine in a cooler next to the dining table.

  Less than five minutes later, Cal walks into the living room in the outfit I laid out for him, and, as if it were the first time we met, I feel the butterflies take flight in my stomach. The fact he can still elicit this strong a reaction in me after over four years together says so much about our relationship.

  After so long, he can still make me feel like that teenage girl I was when we first started dating. To this day, there are still times I can’t quite believe he’s mine.

  Pulling myself together as he walks over, I hand him one of the wine glasses and lean in to place a kiss to his lips. I inhale the scent o
f him, a mixture of body wash and aftershave, a combination I will forever associate with him. It’s a heady mix, and I feel my head spin before I’ve even touched the wine.

  Moving back, I take a sip of my wine, the cool liquid a refreshing contrast to my heated skin.

  “Take a seat, handsome, dinner will be ready soon.” I place my glass on the dining table and he does the same, before grabbing me round the waist and pulling me against him. My hands automatically go up to rest on his biceps, ignoring the immediate thought that he’s been working out.

  “I don’t know what all of this is for, but I want you to know that you look stunning, and I can’t wait to eat whatever it is you’ve prepared. It smells delicious.” He kisses me on the tip of my nose before turning me towards the kitchen and swatting my arse. “Now go get me food, woman.”

  I glare at him over my shoulder and am met with his signature grin, the one that makes me forgive him anything. Smiling as I shake my head and he sits, I flick on the hob and drizzle some oil into a griddle pan. When it starts to sizzle, I place the marinated steaks into the pan and scatter some mushrooms and asparagus around the sides, knowing they don’t take long to cook.

  After a few minutes, I turn the steaks and gently shake the pan to stop the vegetables from sticking before taking the new potatoes off the hob, draining them, and adding six small potatoes to each plate. When the steaks are cooked, I take them off the heat and let them rest for a couple of minutes whilst the asparagus and mushrooms finish off.

  When everything is done, I pick up the plates and take them in to the living room, receiving a huge smile from Cal as I place his meal in front of him.

  “Tonight, sir will be eating a medium-rare, peppered sirloin steak with mushrooms, new potatoes and asparagus.”

  “This looks wonderful, Cris,” he says as I put my own plate down and sit opposite him. “You didn’t need to do all this.”

  “I know,” I say with a smile. “I wanted to.”

  We eat in silence for the next ten minutes, each of us making sly glances at the other while we enjoy our food. I must admit, I’ve surpassed myself with this meal. While it’s a simple dish, I have a habit of either burning something or undercooking it, no matter how easy it should be to cook. Hell, I could screw up boiling an egg, I’m that bad.

  Cal finishes first and sits back in his chair, picking up his wine and taking a few gulps before I finish my food few moments later. Both plates are now clean and the glasses almost empty as I reach out to take the wine bottle and refill our glasses.

  “That was wonderful, Cris. What’s for dessert?”

  Smiling at him, I put the wine bottle back in the cooler and stand, steadying myself in the heels I’m beginning to regret buying. They look sexy but kill the feet. Oh, the things women do to look good.

  “Dessert?” I ask as I reach behind me and start to pull down the zip on my dress, seeing Cal’s eyes widen. “How about me?”

  Releasing the zip, I push the dress off both shoulders and it falls to my waist. With a little shimmy of my hips, the dress slithers to the floor with a hiss, and I kick it away, revealing my lace clad body to the man I love.

  His eyes are like saucers now, and his reaction to me is clear as I glance at the crotch of his jeans. Cal’s breathing is laboured as he stares at me, his expression a mixture of lust and confusion.

  I take a few steps closer to him and position myself so I can straddle his lap easily, linking my hands behind his neck. My fingers playing with the hair at the nape, causing his eyes to close briefly as I feel him twitch beneath my thighs. Leaning forward, I kiss his neck gently, eliciting a groan from his lips before I whisper in his ear, “We’re good to go, Cal, and I want you so badly right now.”

  Leaning back, I look at his face to see the confusion has gone. All I see now is lust and desire; it’s a powerful combination as I rock my hips, feeling him harden behind the confines of the denim.

  “Fuck,” I hear him mutter as his arms band around my back and he crushes me to him, his lips coming down on mine almost painfully as he plunders my mouth.

  I have to wrap my legs around him as he stands and moves, but we don’t go far. I feel the soft cushions of the sofa against my legs as I unwrap them from his waist and settle myself over him.

  God, I’ve missed this; missed him. I can’t get close enough as I shift forward, the friction from his jeans rubbing me in just the right spot as I rock my hips against him. He tugs at my bottom lip with his teeth as I reach down and flick open the button on his jeans. I have to move back slightly so I can lower the zipper, but as soon as I have, I take him in my hand, and find him hard as iron.

  I don’t wait—I can’t wait—and I pull open the fastening on my bodysuit and sink down onto him. It’s been so long since I felt him inside me that I close my eyes, savouring the feeling as he stretches me, filling me completely.

  The rumble I feel in chest tells me he feels the same as I do as he lifts my head and kisses me again, just as hard and full of passion as before. I haven’t moved yet; I’m just savouring the feel of him inside me again. His hands are working their magic on my breasts through the lace of the bodysuit.

  The roughness of the lace against my already sensitive nipples and the sensations created by his kisses is almost too much for me, and I feel the familiar warmth in the pit of my stomach.

  Before I know what’s happened, Cal has shifted so he’s on his back and I’m sitting astride him. He grabs my waist and lifts me, before he begins pumping his hips upwards, pounding into me. All I can do is throw my head back and hold on to the back of the sofa as the takes me hard, just the way he knows I love it.

  “Oh, Cal, yes. I’m so close.”

  I hear a string of expletives cross his lips as he flips us so I’m now on my back. He leans forward, pressing my knees into the cushions. I’m completely open to him now, and when our eyes lock, he picks up the pace. It takes everything in me not to close my eyes again. I want to see him. I need this connection when we come. I can tell he’s close, as his breathing turns ragged, and when he begins circling my clit with is thumb, I scream as I come apart beneath him.

  He follows me over the cliff several moments later before collapsing on top of me, his weight pressing me into the cushions. I relish his weight on me as I gently stroke up and down his back, giggling when I realise he’s practically fully dressed. He looks up curiously and grins when he realises why I’m giggling.

  “How was dessert?” I ask as I pull his head down and kiss him.

  “Dessert? That was just the starter.”

  Cal eases out of me and stands up. Holding out a hand, I accept it and squeal when he pulls me up and throws me over his shoulder as he strides towards the bedroom, my laughter filling the air.

  Chapter 24

  Crissie

  Present Day

  Our sex life had always been creative, and sometimes explosive, but nothing could beat that night. We hadn’t been together in almost six weeks, so that night was definitely making up for lost time. I lost count at the number or orgasms I had when I reached five.

  Cal had made it his mission to make me come as many times as he possibly could that night. We tried so many new positions that the following morning, muscles ached that I didn’t even know I had.

  I have to admit, whenever I think back on that time in our life together, I realise that was a time that could have broken us, and I almost let it. It was speaking with my mum, and Caleb’s encouragement and sweet words that made me realise I wasn’t to blame for the loss of baby Aria. It just wasn’t meant to be at that time in our lives.

  After the miscarriage, we both decided that while we both still wanted children, we were too young to try right away, so I went back onto the pill. We both hated condoms, so it was an easy decision to make.

  Our sex life got back on track pretty quickly after I was given the all clear from the doctor, and I would be forever grateful to Pippa for making me buy all that lingerie on our shopping trip. She’d
been right when she said guys loved stockings and suspenders, something I found out two months later when Cal accompanied me to my work’s Christmas party.

  Even though I worked for a relatively small company, with only fifty staff in total, they always went all out for Christmas. That year, it was a masquerade ball, giving Pippa and I another excuse to go shopping. I had nothing formal enough for such an occasion, and while it wasn’t black tie, Cal insisted on wearing a tux.

  I’ll never forget how my heart almost stopped beating when I saw him in it for the first time. The man could rock a suit like no one I know, so seeing him in a tux almost made me come on the spot.

  He looked so damn handsome I couldn’t stop staring at him, and that went for all the women I work with too. Even those who had husbands and partners with them stopped and stared as he walked past. I had never felt so happy and proud to say he was my man.

  Oh yeah, I forgot, back to the stockings and suspenders. Cal really liked them, loved them actually, something he didn’t want to wait until we got home to show me.

  Chapter 25

  Crissie

  18th December 2010

  Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven.

  I grin to myself as I take a mental count of how any women are staring at Cal as we enter the room reserved for my work’s Christmas party, although, I can’t say I blame them. My man looks hot with a capital ‘H’ tonight, and what’s the best thing about it? He is completely oblivious to the attention he’s receiving from my female colleagues.

  The funny thing is, they’ve all seen him before, in pictures at least, so they know what he looks like. Then again, I see in him the flesh every day, and the sight of him in a tux almost knocked me for six too, so I can understand their reaction to him.