by Kira Blakely
“That’s her,” I responded with resignation. “Looks like I’d better get over there and see what she’s up to.”
“Why don’t I go with you?” Kenny offered, and I found I liked him very much. Bolt couldn’t have a more congenial best friend. They were extremely different men, but perhaps that’s what kept them close.
I looked toward Bolt, who waved at me and smiled from within his circle of friends. I nodded in acknowledgement and headed toward the crowd Natalie was entertaining.
Her voice was overly loud, and she was leaning on the tent’s doorway. “So, I told the guy, ‘Look, if you want to fuck me, why don’t you just throw twenty bucks on the bed and see what it buys you?’”
I felt my face flush, and when I looked at Kenny, he was kindly looking somewhere else, pretending he hadn’t heard, but I knew he had. I set my own glass down and slid between the bodies of men who were eyeballing her. “Nat, let’s go down and see the ponds, shall we?” I cajoled her, taking her by the arm.
“Don’t want to. These are my friends,” she slurred and swept her hand wide to indicate the growing crowd. The motion caused whatever she was drinking to slosh out of its cup and over her dress. “Oops!” she squealed. “Look what I’ve done now!” Then, without skipping a beat, she leaned sideways and vomited onto the grass and over the skirt of her dress. I was so embarrassed, and forcefully guided her out of the tent. The odor was overpowering, and I heard recuperating coughs in our wake. I stood in the open, Natalie vomiting freely, and wondered how I would escape that hell.
Kenny must have gone in search of Bolt, because he was suddenly on Natalie’s other arm. He smiled at people and looped her arm through his as though the three of us were on an afternoon’s stroll. “Let’s get her inside where someone can clean her up and put her to bed,” he said between his teeth.
I nodded and took the dead man’s walk with him, knowing that I’d get my goodbye papers as soon as the day was over. I’d known better than to bring her along, but hope sprung eternal. Bless his heart, Kenny had stepped in, summoned a couple of workers to tidy up behind us, and was now entertaining Bolt’s circle of guests with a series of lightly off-color jokes. I heard this all behind us, and I felt like we were twelve years old and being made to leave the circus while it was still going on.
The house was cool inside, and between Bolt and myself, we were able to get Natalie up the staircase and into one of the guest rooms at the end of the long hallway. A young woman dressed in a starched blue shirt who I assumed was staff followed us. We got Natalie to the bed and put her feet up. “This young lady will take it from here,” Bolt said in a quiet voice and drew me outside the room.
“Are you OK?” he asked.
I nodded. “It’s not the first time she’s disgraced herself and me,” I admitted.
“Not what I’m talking about. You looked so lost. I saw Kenny talking to you. I think he noticed you looked left out, as well.”
I nodded. I didn’t say, Of course I felt left out, because I had been.
“Come with me, and let me introduce you to some of my business associates,” he decided as we descended the staircase. “Don’t worry about Natalie. She’ll be seen to. Let her sleep it off. She’ll be fine in the morning.”
“Oh, I can’t let her spend the night,” I objected, stopping mid-stride and facing him. “She’s my problem, Bolt, not yours.”
“She’s part of who you are, and therefore, I will look after her as well. Anyway, she’s not a problem—she has a problem. Those are two different things.”
I’d never thought of it in that way, but I supposed he made a good point. “I’ll go home now and come back in the morning to get her,” I told him, wanting away from this world of excess and superficiality.
“You’re staying with me, Lilly. I’d already planned on it.” He took charge, and while it felt good, it was also a little controlling. I looked at him sidelong, but he was oblivious. “Come on, I have some people I’d like you to meet.”
“You go on. I think I’ll sit here in the family room and get out of the sun for a while. That way if Natalie comes looking for me, I’ll be close at hand,” I announced, making a turn for the family room. I knew Bolt wasn’t happy at that moment, but I wasn’t sure if it was with me for avoiding the crowd outside, with Natalie for making a scene, or with himself for having made the mistake of inviting us in the first place. He hesitated a few moments and then left me there.
Dallas Symington might be a crude blowhard, but he was right about one thing: I didn’t belong in that world.
Chapter 9
Bolton
I left Lilly alone in the family room, brooding over what had happened with her sister. I knew she was embarrassed and her sense of good manners had been violated. I got that, all too well. My father had been doing that regularly all his life. What Lilly didn’t understand was that there was no debauchery that could shock the pretty people in pretty colors on my lawn at that moment. They were people who knew how to survive, bringing their way of life with them. I stood in the doorway before I emerged into the throngs again. Looking around, I could see any number of women who worked daily to package their bodies into something beautiful and tempting, only to sell them to one of the adulterous men for a diamond bracelet. There were alcoholics and drug addicts. I saw cheaters and, certainly, liars. And, perhaps the finest art they practiced overall was the art of swindling one another to get the upper hand on a deal. Oh, yes, they were a fine bunch—my friends and associates. Lilly had nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, Natalie’s escapades were practically boring by comparison. I couldn’t tell Lilly that, naturally. It wouldn’t reflect very well on me. I would talk to her about it later, when everyone was gone.
That was when my nightmare arrived.
He was driving his regular pickup truck and bypassed the parking attendants, once again driving through the gate and up onto my lawn, taking out a bar tent. Luckily, the bartender saw him coming and leaped out of the way. There was a cry of panic from some in the crowd, but others applauded at his high-handedness.
He fell out his door into a pile on the lawn, so drunk that his arms flailed for purchase to help him rise to his feet. He was dressed for my party, so my guess was that he’d gotten ready but was waylaid by a bottle, or two or three, before he made it as far as his truck.
I signaled two from my security team to pick him up and deposit him in a chair in one of the dining tents. I really didn’t want to deal with him at that moment. Let him reunite with the others there who were like him.
Kenny walked toward me. “Looks like you’ve got your hands full,” he joked.
“Tell you what. I’ll keep the women, and you take him.”
“No deal, sorry. Let him serve as a reminder of what you don’t want to become.”
I gave him a hard look. “Thanks a lot.”
Kenny chuckled. He could get away with saying things like that to me when no one else could. “By the way, had a little chat with your lady earlier.”
I nodded, looking out over the party. “So I saw.”
“She’s a keeper, Bolt.”
“Just hope I can, Kenny, just hope I can.”
* * *
There were still a few stragglers collapsed on chairs with the last of the booze in their hands. The caterers were cleaning up, a gentle reminder to the stragglers to leave, which they were choosing to ignore. My father was one of them.
I went inside to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. Through all the excitement and upset, I had neglected to eat. Lilly had seen me come in and followed me. “I just peeked in on Natalie, and she’s still out cold. I thought I’d go on home and come back in the morning for her, if that’s OK?”
I turned away from the refrigerator. “I thought we decided you would stay the night?” I’d found a tray of chicken wings and had a couple in my hand. “No?”
“I’m not sure, Bolt. I think we’ve caused enough trouble for you today. I looked outside a minute ago and sa
w you still have some guests, including your father. He didn’t seem anxious to have me hanging around, and maybe he’s right.”
“To hell with him! This is my house, not his. This is my life, not his. You’re my girl, not his. Get the message?”
She rolled her eyes and sighed. “You don’t have to get all testy with me. I’m trying to be considerate. I thought you might be tired after such a long day. You might be better if you could just go in your room and crash and not have to worry about entertaining me.”
My answer was to take her by the hand, toss the chicken wings on the counter, and pull her down the hallway toward my room. The sun had already set through my west-facing windows, with only a glow remaining to warn of the impending darkness. “I want you to stay. The others, forget about them. They’ll go away as soon as it gets dark. They can barely see to walk as it is. In fact, I’ve already locked the doors. Did you get something to eat?”
She nodded. “Yes, there was food everywhere I looked. I don’t think Natalie will be wanting anything for a while, but you looked hungry in the kitchen. Why don’t I go and fix you a plate?”
“Why don’t you go and fix us both the plate and bring it back here?”
Lilly smiled, in that way women do when they’re called upon to look after their man. It’s a sort of sly, proprietary smile that reassures them they are needed. I needed her sure, but I wanted her more.
I took advantage of the kitchen expedition to grab a shower. I threw on some lounging pants and a T-shirt and was waiting when Lilly returned with a tray holding small bowls, salad plates, and forks. “I just brought a little of everything, if that’s OK?”
“That’s more than OK. Anyway, you’re here, and that’s what counts. Come on and sit down here by me,” I patted the bed when she set the tray between us. I flipped on the remote, and we watched a little of the local news as they circulated from party to party, closing out Derby day for the year. “I think our party went pretty well, don’t you?”
“For the most part, until things went wrong with my sister.”
I took her hand. “You know, Lilly. Natalie is a grown woman, and she’s going to have to accept responsibility for herself. What happened to your parents is not your fault. You don’t have to make up for her loss. You share the very same one.”
“I know what you say is valid. I also know that it’s easy to see things when it’s not happening to you.”
“I get that. I have my own little problem down there in the lawn right now. But the important thing is, you and I have a responsibility to each other now. I want us to move forward in this relationship, to get to know one another better and to learn to trust each other.” I emphasized that last because I sensed that she needed it. She was nodding, so I was right.
We sat companionably and finished eating. I looked out the window and saw that the cars were all gone. The party was officially over. I looked over my shoulder at Lilly. She had pulled her hairbrush from her purse and was drawing its thick bristles through her long hair. I walked over behind her, took the brush from her hand, and started running it through her long, smooth locks. There is something very sensual about brushing a woman’s hair. It is their true source of beauty, their pride, and a sensual reminder of their youth in good health. I wanted to feel that soft hair fanned out over my chest, and I wanted to feel her straddling my thighs. I pulled at her hips until she was sitting between my parted knees, her head falling backward as I drew the brush downward. I nuzzled her cheek, kissing that soft spot beneath her earlobe. She shivered in response, and I reached inside the neck of her dress to feel her erect nipple. Women’s nipples were a direct corollary to a man’s penis, and the man who understood that was a master in his bedroom.
She expelled her breath in a long slow, sensual sound—one of longing and feminine submission. I reached to the top of her back and lowered the long zipper, releasing the dress from her form and allowing it to slither to the floor. To my immense surprise, she wore nothing beneath it. “I didn’t know,” I whispered into her ear.
“I didn’t know how to tell you,” she answered.
“I know now.” My hands slid over her shoulders, her back leaning against my chest. I paused only long enough to whip my T-shirt off, and then we were skin against skin. I smoothed the palms of my hands over her skin slowly until each hand held one of her breasts. I massaged them, running my fingertips over her nipples, and her hips involuntarily moved forward, her legs parting in desire. I chuckled inwardly and enjoyed controlling the beautiful body that lay between my knees.
Lilly firmly pushed my hands to the side as she rolled onto her tummy, kicking her heeled shoes off to land on her dress. Her fingertips slid inside the waistband of my lounge pants, and she lowered the front enough that my rigid penis broke free, only inches from her face. Her hands moved to my hips, and with fingertips locked inside the elastic, she pulled at the waistband until the pants were down around my knees. I moved to remove them entirely, but she stopped me.
“Don’t. I like that you’re a little trapped. It makes you more vulnerable and lets me do what I want to do.” She was a vixen, and I was about to experience her. She ran her fingers of the inside of my thighs, pausing at intervals to press into my flesh, exposing my penis all the way to its base. She rose only slightly onto her knees, enough to give her momentum to move closer to her goal. Her mouth opened, and her tongue flicked out against the tip of my erection. Her fingers smoothed down my length, encircling it by lacing themselves together in a custom-fitted sleeve. Her hands slid back and forth, each stroke pressing against my balls with enough pressure to make my penis leap forward. As it did, her mouth opened, accepting it with a questing tongue that mapped the geography of my pulsing veins and ridges. My head fell backward as I luxuriated in her care, wanting it never to stop. She was tender yet forceful. She was all woman, and she was mine.
She brought me to that level of insanity just before the explosion, and out of self-preservation I pushed her gently by the shoulders until she lay on the mattress, her legs spread wide as she touched herself. It was an invitation I could not refuse. I rolled to my knees between her thighs and leaned forward, penetrating her slowly and gradually until I could enter no further. The soft lips of her labia cradled my balls in the way that men and women are supposed to be joined together. I couldn’t stop my hips from starting their rocking motion—they had a mind of their own.
Lilly’s arms splayed out above her head, lifting her hair and allowing it to cascade over her fingers as her head rolled from side to side in delicious abandonment. While the male animal was all about strength and penetration, the female was about allowing the sensuality to shoot through her entire body. Her breasts reached out toward my face, and I paused just long enough to pull each nipple into my mouth, sucking at it as I slowly withdrew. I heard a sound from her throat that told me she had surrendered. I grasped the firm but tender flesh of her hips and lifted her against me until her back was arched and her face buried sideways in her pillow. She was breathing rapidly, her chest heaving as she was overcome with sensations. That was what a man wanted to see. He wanted a visual reassurance that he was dominating his woman. I lifted her hips again and began driving into her, a steady and primal rhythm. She rose to meet me, and together we elevated the temple that drove our orgasms to their peaks. I knew she’d reached hers, the walls of her moist tunnel pulsing against my own hard rod. I allowed myself to release then, feeling her as I closed my eyes and reveled in my own sensations.
We rolled as one onto our sides, still locked together as the pulsing retreated. She leaned her forehead toward me and nuzzled my chest. I kissed the top of her head and wrapped my legs around her lower torso. I pulled her head so that she lay on my shoulder, dragging blankets up to cover us both. It began to rain outside. We seemed fated to make love in the rain. It suited us both to sleep. I felt complete.
Chapter 10
Lilly
Once again, I awakened to an empty mattress, but this time the note
was on his pillow. It simply said that he had things he had to take care of and had to get an early start. He urged me to stay as long as I liked and he would be in touch. It wasn’t a terribly romantic note, but somehow I liked it better for that. It had the tone of it being an expectation that we’d see one another later in the day. We had evidently moved past the “Would you like to go on a date” stage. I like this much better. It was informal and familiar.
I quickly showered and dressed in what I’d worn the day before. I went to the room where Natalie had slept and found her sitting at the edge of her bed, staring out the window. She looked over her shoulder at me. “Where am I?”
I saw her clothes had been cleaned and were hanging neatly from a hanger on the closet door. I pointed to them. “Put your clothes on and let’s get going home.” I closed the door and said no more. I would save that for later.
I was waiting for her in the kitchen, a glass of juice in my hand to cleanse her palate. I knew she didn’t have a toothbrush and her mouth had to be pretty sour right about then. She came down shortly thereafter, and I handed it to her. She drank it without stopping. “Thanks,” was all she said. Padding over to the refrigerator door, she opened it, her mouth dropping at the assortment before her. “Hand me something to put things in.”
“What? Are you out of your mind? You can’t just steal food.”
“It’s not stealing. I could have eaten it yesterday, and it would’ve been considered polite. Why is it considered stealing today? It’s all going to go to waste, and you know it. We’ve got nothing at home.”
“And whose fault is that?”
Natalie glared at me, bending her arm to cradle as much as she could load before she headed out the door and stood next to my car waiting for me. I looked around, hoping the housekeeper hadn’t witnessed her greed, and then left.
When we got home, Natalie laid the food out in our refrigerator with great care. As angry as I was, it was rather pitiful to see. She was used to seeing one or maybe two things to choose from. Now there was a colorful smorgasbord, and I could tell she didn’t want to touch it in fear of ruining the artistic symmetry. Things had to change. We would be OK if Natalie would just stop her drinking and drugging and stealing from me. If she could get clean and even get a small job, it would be a tremendous help.