by ANDREA SMITH
“And what exactly are Sexabella products?” I inquired.
“We distribute a full line of sexual enhancement products that include clothing, novelties, toys, videos, books, and gadgets.”
I wasn’t about to ask her to further define “gadgets.” My cheeks were already warm with my blush. Susan cleared her throat asking if anyone cared for something to drink. I offered to help her as we escaped to the kitchen.
“You see what I mean? Coming out like that and admitting that she markets perverted products,” Susan hissed, shaking her head.
“Now, Mom,” I replied finding it difficult not to laugh, “Just because she markets those types of things does not necessarily mean that she's perverted. I’m sure Tristan can handle it.” I inadvertently snickered and caught her frown.
“Well, I'm telling you this; she's been here for three days and Tristan's supposed to be getting his staff in place at the winery; she's not letting him out of that bedroom!”
“Shhh,” I whispered unable to suppress my giggles. “They're going to hear you. I’m sure it’s just a thing that will eventually peter out.”
Susan started giggling when I said that, hugging me.
“I’ve sure missed you, honey,” she said. “I’m so glad my Trey has you; I’m happy for Nigel and Tess. I just still worry about my Tristan."
We were interrupted when Trey came in holding Preston who was squirming and starting to fuss a bit. “I think she’s hungry, baby,” he said, bringing her to me.
“I’ll take her up to our suite and feed her.”
“Want some company?” Trey asked giving me a sheepish grin.
Once Trey and I were in the seclusion of our suite, he turned on the flat screen and settled next to me on the bed. Preston was cuddled in my arms nursing.
“So,” I said, “what do you think of Libby?”
Trey shrugged. “I can tell Mom doesn’t like her,” he replied.
“Really? I didn't notice."
He gave me his sidelong glance that said ‘You’re full of shit.’
I laughed. “Okay, yes your mom does not care for her, but I can’t believe that it's totally because of the products she markets at Sexabella or whatever it’s called.”
“She probably doesn’t like the fact that Libby came here for the sole purpose of having a fuckfest with Tristan under their roof.”
“What?” I asked, startling Preston. “How do you know that they’re having a fuckfest?”
Trey threw me one of his ‘oh please!’ looks. “Brothers talk,” he replied.
“Yes, apparently like school girls,” I chided.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I just better never find out that you shared details of our sex life with anyone, brother or not.”
“Come on, baby. You know me better than that,” he replied in his smooth and silky voice. He scooted closer giving me a kiss.
When Preston finished nursing I laid her down for a nap in the crib that had been put in our suite. I'd packed some of her stuffed toys and put her ghost in the crib with her as I pulled her blanket up. She found her thumb and drifted off to sleep.
“Wanna take a nap, baby?” Trey asked slyly.
“I didn’t bring my diaphragm.”
“No worries. I brought condoms,” he smiled.
We nestled down under the bedcovers and enjoyed some play before we both drifted off into a nap of our own.
We both came awake hearing some loud banging against the wall of our room. It was coming from the room next to us, the one that Nigel and Caroline had been in last Christmas. There was some sort of commotion going on in there. It was the headboard hitting the wall. I looked over at Trey and saw the slow smile spread across his face. I knew that we'd never been that loud.
Soon I could hear a woman’s voice. It was Libby’s. “Harder, Tristan!” she yelled. “I want that crop flailed across my ass harder!”
My eyes widened as I looked up at Trey with a puzzled expression. We heard the sound of leather hitting skin and then Libby moaned loudly.
“That’s it baby; that’s how I like it! Again!”
This continued for a while. We then heard her voice loudly again, commanding Tristan to fuck her from behind. He evidently obliged as the rhythmic banging of the headboard against the wall resumed. Finally, we heard them both cry out as they reached their individual climaxes.
“Damn,” Trey said, “that sounded…. different.”
“Don’t get any ideas!"
I hadn’t pictured Tristan as being into any of that S & M shit. It was obvious that Libby was very much into it.
“Oh, come on, Tylar,” Trey admonished. “Since when have you turned all provincial? I seem to recall you enjoying a spanking or two in the past.”
“That’s an entirely different thing and you know it. Are you saying that we need to spice up our play in the bedroom?”
“No and why do you always read way more into the things I say?” He pulled me against him, brushing my hair back from my face gently. He tilted my chin upward and kissed my lips softly several times. “I've no complaints at all, Mrs. Sinclair, but if you ever find it boring, you'll speak up won’t you?”
“Assuredly, counselor,” I replied, kissing him back.
Just then the sound of Preston’s ghost booing came from the crib. Trey and I looked over. She was sitting up in her crib, her chubby arms hugging her ghost to her. She smiled at us. Trey slipped his sweats on and went over to take care of her.
We ate at Morelli’s that night. Carmelita was thrilled to see us again and she was captivated by Preston. Tristan and Libby had joined us; try as I might, I was just not clicking with that chick. I thought Susan’s instincts were on target. I'd never let on to Tristan that I didn’t care for her. He seemed to be totally mesmerized by her in every way. I was a bit uncomfortable being around them after what we'd heard that afternoon but neither one of them seemed fazed by it.
When we got back to the manor, Susan insisted on bathing Preston and getting her ready to go down for the night. Susan had moved Preston’s crib to her and Clive’s suite. I suspected it was because she'd overheard Tristan and Libby at some point over the past several days. She was probably concerned the baby wouldn't sleep through the noise. I hoped like hell it didn’t keep Trey and I up.
Trey and I showered in our suite together and got dressed for bed. He put on a pair of pj pants that hung low on his hips and a white tee shirt. I admired his flat taut belly; his muscular arms and shoulders were evident under his tee shirt. I climbed under the sheets and settled down waiting for Trey to join me. He'd gone back downstairs to grab his Cell phone. When he got back to the room, he seemed a bit distracted.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“I don’t know. You seem distracted all of a sudden.”
He didn’t respond. He flipped his cell phone on to check messages and emails.
“Trey,” I said, still watching him. “What is it?”
“Oh, it’s nothing, I guess. It’s just that when I went downstairs just now, Libby was in the kitchen getting a glass of ice water. My phone was on the counter near the sink. When I retrieved it off the counter and turned to leave, it was like her hand brushed against my crotch accidently.”
“What do you mean, accidently?” I hissed.
“I mean it was like she was turning away from the sink as I was leaving the room. Her hand just kind of brushed against me as she went to get ice from the icemaker.”
“Well, did she say anything?”
“I thought maybe it was my fault for getting in her path so I said ‘sorry’. She said there was nothing at all for me to be sorry about.”
“That bitch!” I hissed.
“Tylar please let it go. I’m certain it was an accident. I don’t want anything ruining Tristan’s party, okay?”
“She's been overly attentive to you since we got here.”
“She has not; she’s all about Tristan. Now
, let’s forget about it, okay?” I gave him a mumbled "whatever" turning over on my side away from him. Trey had it wrong. Tristan was all about her but she was not all about Tristan. She was about herself and getting anything and everything she wanted.
Trey and I awoke during the night to the sound of Tristan and Libby’s relentless fucking. There was no way it could be deemed ‘lovemaking.’ It was mostly Libby’s high pitched shrieking and moaning; telling Tristan what she wanted and where she wanted it. It appeared that he aimed to please.
“Jesus Christ,” Trey muttered after wrapping a pillow around his head to cover his ears had failed to drown out the sounds from the next room. He leapt up out of our bed and headed towards the door.
“Where are you going?” I whispered loudly.
“I’m going to tell them to fucking keep it down,” he snapped.
“Oh, so you’re going to pull a Caroline on them?”
“Bullshit, Tylar. You and I were never that loud. This is ridiculous.”
“Trey, I thought you wanted to make sure that Tristan had a great 40th birthday weekend?" He stood there, hands on his hips undecided.
"If this makes him happy, you can certainly endure it for the sake of your brother, right?”
He relented grudgingly coming back to bed. We spent the rest of the night trying to cover our ears to drown out the sounds coming from the next room.
CHAPTER 18
Nigel and Tess had arrived the following morning. I'd finally gotten to know Tess better and found that I actually liked her. I could see how much she and Nigel had in common. It was funny but having spent more time with her, I could see that she'd never have been a good match for Trey.
We helped Susan get the house decorated for the party. Trey, Tristan and Nigel had gone over to the winery to see the progress being made on the expansion. Libby had tagged along with the men preferring their company to ours, apparently. Tess and I were working on one of Susan’s candy corn centerpieces as she gave us directions from the kitchen. Clive was in the living room playing with Preston.
“So, Tylar,” Tess spoke up softly, “what do you think of Tristan’s girlfriend?”
“What do you think of Libby?” I countered.
“No fair,” she laughed quietly. “I asked you first.”
“Well, honestly, I don’t know her all that well yet but at first blush . . . I think she rocks Tristan’s world sexually. I also wish you and Nigel’s room was next to theirs instead of ours.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “That loud, huh?”
“Yep and all night long.”
She giggled softly. “We can’t pick our in-laws, I guess.”
I smiled at Tess. The truth was I could do a whole lot worse for a sister-in-law than Tess; Caroline or Libby, for example.
“Exactly,” I answered. “Speaking of which, I understand that Caroline's now your sister-in-law instead of mine. Congratulations!”
This brought more giggling from Tess and I saw her blush. “Yeah, that was all pretty screwed up wasn’t it?”
“Let’s just say that Trey and I are never bored at a family get together.”
“I hear that,” she replied, putting the finishing touches on the centerpiece. “You know, I'm so glad that you're with Trey. You two are perfect for each other - I mean the same way it feels like Nigel and I are perfect for each other. I’m glad that you and Trey discovered it before you had to go through disastrous marriages like he and I did.”
“Thank you, Tess. I’m glad you're finally happy. Nigel seems so happy too. Are you uncomfortable being around Caroline?”
“No, not really,” she replied. “We finally came to terms with all that happened. I mean, I’m not proud of what I did, but sometimes it’s like Nigel says, ‘the heart wants what the heart wants’ I guess.”
I could picture Nigel telling her that. He had a sweetness about him I hadn’t seen when he was with Caroline.
“Caroline actually seems happy too, now, so perhaps everything did work out for the best,” she said interrupting my thoughts.
“Why does she hate me?” I asked, hoping that Tess was privy to the reason.
“I don’t think that she hates you at all, Tylar. I think she was simply jealous of the relationship and love that she saw you and Trey had. I mean it was so obvious to everyone. She'd always wanted a baby and there you were all in love and pregnant. She couldn’t be happy for you. She was in a bad place then. We all were.”
“Did Nigel not want children?” I asked.
“Oh, I think Nigel would've liked to have had child or two but that’s not in the cards.”
“I know,” I replied with compassion. “I heard about the accident with Derringer.”
“Oh, it’s not that; I mean it wasn’t in the cards for Nigel with anyone. He’s been tested and has an extremely low sperm count.”
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “Tess, I didn’t mean to pry.”
“No, it's fine,” she assured me. “You see I can conceive, but I'd never be able to carry a baby to term."
I nodded.
"Before we married, Nigel got tested simply because Caroline had never conceived. We didn’t know how we would handle birth control. As it turns out, there's no need to use it.”
“I’m sorry,” I said again.
“But we sure enjoy spoiling our niece, if that’s okay with you,” she said happily. As if on cue Clive walked in carrying Preston who saw me and immediately smiled, reaching for me.
“I think it’s that time,” I said, taking leave to go upstairs to our suite.
We had nearly everything finished for the party. The caterers would be arriving soon to set up. The weather was mild enough that a band was going to be playing outside. There was a fire pit set up to take the chill off out on the patio. We'd helped Susan hang Halloween party lights around the large wooden deck where tables and chairs had been set up already.
Up in the suite, I stretched out on our bed, switching on the television while Preston curled up against me and nursed. She'd nearly dozed off when Trey came into the room having just returned from the winery with his brothers.
“You guys did a fantastic job on the house,” he commented, taking his place on the bed beside us. Preston’s eyes fluttered open hearing his voice and she smiled up at him. “Hey there, baby girl,” he cooed smiling down at her. He put his hands out towards her beckoning for her to come towards him. “Come over here to Daddy, apple-dumpling,” he encouraged.
She rolled over onto her stomach and crawled over to where he was laying. He scooped her up and held her up in the air above him, bouncing her up and down. She squealed and laughed.
“Better watch it,” I warned. “She just finished eating.” I fastened my nursing bra back up and got up from the bed to start my bubble bath. I was going to indulge myself and leave her to Trey’s care for the time being. “So, what did you think of the winery?” I asked, coming back out to the bedroom for clean underwear.
“Baby, you should see it. You won’t recognize it when you go over there next. He has a whole new building under construction that's totally automated," he said sounding very impressed.
"Once he gets it in operation, there will be very little for him to do except count his money. He’s planning on expanding his market through a distribution channel that would cover the east coast at a minimum. I’m thinking about buying some shares. What do you think?”
“Honey, I leave that to you, okay. It’s your money.”
“It’s our money,” he corrected me, lowering Preston down so that he could sniff her diaper. “Pee-yew!!" he said, making a face. “I think she wants her mommy to change her.”
“The diapers are next to the bed, Trey. The baby wipes are on the nightstand. She’s on your watch while I get my bath, sweetie.”
I went into the bathroom leaving the door open as I undressed for my bath. I could hear Trey rustling around for the baby wipes and diapers. I chuckled when I heard him gag as he unfastened her dirty diaper
.
“No, no Preston, sweetie. Lay still for Daddy --”
I relaxed in my bubble bath glad that Trey was spending some quality time with his daughter. My relaxation was interrupted when I heard Trey holler from the bedroom at me.
“Jesus Christ, Tylar; she’s had a major shit explosion in this diaper!”
“Don’t blame me,” I called out from the tub. “You were the one that fed her applesauce last night at Morelli’s saying that she was ready for solids.”
I heard him gag a couple of more times before he finally had her cleaned up and diapered. He must've taken the toxic diaper out of the room instead of putting it in the trash can. Several moments later Preston crawled into the bathroom spying me in the tub. Trey appeared in the doorway just then relieved to see that she hadn’t wandered down the hall.
“Man, she scared me,” he said. “That little shit can crawl fast.”
“That’s why you're supposed to be keeping an eye on her, Trey.”
He gave me his dimpled grin, scooping her back up into his arms and leaving me to my bath.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tristan’s 40th birthday party was in full swing. The guests had arrived; the band was playing outside. Tristan and Libby hadn't yet made their entrance. Everyone loved our Flintstone costumes. Susan and Tess continued to gush over ‘Pebbles.’ Tess and Nigel were dressed as Minnie and Mickey Mouse; Preston was enthralled with their costumes. Tess was holding the baby whenever Susan wasn’t.
Caroline and Landon had arrived as ‘Bonnie & Clyde.’ They were both cordial to everyone. Mr. and Mrs. Andrews were dressed as Frankenstein and his bride; Denise and Ray came as Romeo and Juliet; Susan and Clive were dressed as Laurel and Hardy. There were an assortment of other costumes such as characters from the Twilight saga movies, Harry Potter and a neighbor couple came as George and Jane Jetson.
Trey looked great as Fred Flintstone; he kept bopping me with his wooden club that was made of soft foam, threatening to drag me back to the cave by my hair. Finally we saw Tristan and Libby come into the room.
Oh My God!
I saw Minnie Mouse do a double take as she nudged Mickey beside her. They were dressed as Adam and Eve. Tristan looked magnificent wearing a loin cloth which covered only the bare essentials. He was built to carry it off. His dark hair was longer than Trey’s and Libby had slicked it back to look just like Adam’s looked in the biblical movie. He had that sexy five o’clock shadow thing going like Trey. He had a white sash draped diagonally over his broad shoulder and tied at his narrow hip.