by Claire Adams
I still had regrets over our marriage ending, but it was always wrapped up in the sadness over losing my son. Both of us knew that we weren’t going to be able to move forward in our lives if we had stayed together; it just wasn’t going to work for us. Maybe some couples could make it work, but not us.
We went in and visited with the bank manager and within a few moments, had all the issues taken care of on the account and I had access to my card again. Although I had plenty of other credit cards, I was relieved that this particular issue had been taken care of.
“So, what’s up with you and Carlos? Are you still marrying the guy?”
“Yes, Brandon, I’m marrying him. He’s a nice guy. I think you and he would actually get along if you stopped having pissing contests every time the two of you talked.”
“Hey, it’s not me. He’s the one who acts like a ten-year-old child when I call and ask for you. Why is he answering your phone, anyways? Is he controlling you? Do you need help getting out of a controlling relationship?” I was joking, but it did annoy me how he had answered her phone.
“Carlos and I don’t have secrets. If my phone rings and he’s around, I’m perfectly fine with him answering it.”
“And, he lets you answer his phone?” I asked as I raised and eyebrow.
I knew damn well that guy wasn’t letting her answer his phone. He seemed like the type of guy who had more secrets than there were closets in his house.
Rose had told me he worked in some sort of undercover job with the government, but she couldn’t tell me any more than that. It seemed a little fishy to me. He was an ex-marine and had a really hard time controlling his anger when I was around. I found it very suspicious that the government would trust him for any sensitive jobs. But then again, he probably fit in really well with the criminals if he was working undercover.
“I’m not going to talk about my relationship, Brandon. I’ll talk to you another time,” Rose said as she hugged me quickly and then turned to grab a cab.
As she turned around, she ran smack dab into a couple of women who were walking past. The collision happened so quickly, I wasn’t sure if she had run into them, or maybe they had all run into each other.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I heard a very familiar voice say.
“Delilah?”
“Oh, hey, Brandon,” she said as she hugged me and then looked at Rose and pulled away.
Although Rose and I weren’t close to each other, it was still clear that she had been there with me and was turning to leave when the collision happened. All three of the women stood there looking each other up and down as I tried to figure out a good way to introduce Delilah and Rose.
“Delilah,” I said as I pulled her close to me. “This is my ex-wife, Rose. Rose, this is my friend, Delilah.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Del said as she reached her hand out to Rose.
“You, too. Brandon didn’t mention that he was dating someone new.”
“Oh, well, we are just friends right now,” Del stumbled as she replied. “I mean, we went on one date, but we are friends for right now,” she repeated.
“Hi, I’m Mattie,” Del’s friend introduced herself and forced her hand to mine and then to Rose, as well. “This is super awkward. So, you’re the ex-wife. Interesting.”
I saw Del’s eyes dart toward Mattie and then back to me. She seemed to be apologizing for her friend, but it was fine with me. I didn’t care what Rose thought of me dating Delilah; in fact, I was a little disappointed that I had used the word friend instead of girlfriend when I introduced the two women.
“Well, I better get going. It was nice meeting you, Delilah,” Rose said kindly. “Talk to you later, Brandon, and sorry for the mishap on the account.”
“No problem. Thanks for coming down.”
When Rose was in a cab and out of sight, I felt Del relax a little as my arm wrapped around her lower back. I squeezed her a little and kept her there next to me.
“So, this is the infamous Mattie? It’s nice to meet you officially.”
“You, too. I bet Del wasn’t planning on this happening for a very long time. She likes to keep me in the dark as long as possible and then surprise people with me.”
“Oh, um, all right,” I said, a little confused by what she was talking about.
“Mattie and I were just on our way to lunch. What are you up to?”
“Just a mix up at the bank. It’s amazing that even after so many years, they still had Rose on an account.”
“You know what? I forgot that I have to finish a report before the end of the day. I don’t think I’m going to go to lunch. Brandon, could you take Del out for me? I know she’s starving.”
Mattie looked at me and winked as she started to walk away without waiting for me to answer her. I was starting to like this girl already; she had basically forced Del into saying yes to lunch with me. Although, she probably would have agreed anyways.
“I guess you and I are going to lunch. Where were you two heading?”
“We were going for sushi.”
“Then let’s have some sushi,” I said without mentioning that I had just finished eating with Josh.
I really didn’t care if I had to stuff my face with some more food; it was nice to see Del before our Friday date. There was no pressure on us to fill a lot of time, and I knew she had to get back to work. We could just have a nice lunch together.
Del was dressed in a fabulous red skirt and a practically transparent white blouse. I could make out the outline of her lace bra and wanted to ask her if it was the one I gave her, but decided against it.
“It’s nice to see you again,” she said as she grabbed my arm tightly on our walk to the restaurant.
“You, too. I’ve been thinking about our swim all week.”
“Oh, yeah. Well, I’ve been thinking about that shower.”
“Yes, that was a very memorable shower. I think I’ll remember that for a very long time.”
Her soft skin pressed against my fingertips as I gently stroked my hand up and down her arm. The feeling of her skin and mine together seemed like two forces of nature. The more I rubbed her, the more energy my body seemed to have.
What had started as one of the most frustrating days I’d had in a very long time, had quickly turned into an invigorating date with a woman I hadn’t stopped thinking about in days. I no longer cared about the mess at the bank or the flag on my trading account. In that moment, all I cared about was seeing Del’s beautiful smile and watching her slip pieces of sushi past her lips.
Perhaps if I was lucky, I’d even manage to get an afternoon kiss out of our date. I let my hand move to the small of her back as we walked into the restaurant, and she shivered slightly at my touch.
“Wow, I like your hands on my body,” she said just before the hostess came to us. “Two please,” she told the hostess and then smiled at me.
She wasn’t going to give me a chance to respond to her comment. Instead, I was left to think about her words and how much she wanted my hands on her body again.
Chapter 11
Delilah
When I was around Brandon, my thoughts seemed to fly out of my mouth before I could stop them. Yes, I did like having his hands on my body, but no, I didn’t mean to blurt it out at him as we walked into the restaurant for lunch.
I really wasn’t this girl who had the confidence to say outrageous things like I seemed to do around Brandon. There was just a power I got from the connection between us. My body surged with energy, and it was like I could do and say anything I wanted.
“Would you like to hear today’s specials?” the waitress asked us.
“Yes,” I started to say.
“No, thank you,” Brandon said. “We will need a minute.”
“Take your time,” she said as she gave us both a big smile and then left us alone.
“You like my hands on your body? You can’t tell me that while we are in a restaurant; that’s just plain cruel.”
Brandon looked at me with his green eyes, and I thought he might just kiss me right there in that moment. The desire he had for me was visible and I couldn’t help but tease and play with him just a little bit.
“What? Big, bad Brandon can’t control himself inside a restaurant?” I teased.
“Oh, I can control myself just fine. I’m just worried you won’t be able to,” he said softly as he moved his chair around the table so he was sitting right next to me. “I can be very persuasive when I want to be, and you’ll be putty in my hands. You better be careful.”
His hand slid under the table and gently stroked my knee as he looked over the menu. His brilliant eyes flashed mischievously over toward me every few seconds to see if I had any reaction to his touch. It was fun to watch him as he teased me.
Boy, did I have a reaction. His fingers moved up and down just slightly toward my inner thigh. He was tracing small designs and moving in an unpredictable way, and I couldn’t think at all. I felt a rush of excitement move toward my middle as he applied a little more pressure and let his fingers make small circles slowly as he pushed my shirt up.
“You’re a rotten man,” I whispered.
“What? You can’t handle it?” he said without turning away from the menu. “I could always stop. You just need to admit that you can’t handle it, and I will gladly take my hand away. Or just ask me to stop and I’ll oblige your request.”
“No, don’t stop.”
My words seemed to fuel him as he let his fingers gently stroke the outside of my panties. My hips thrust forward slightly in an attempt to feel him more and more. I didn’t know what I was doing or why I had given in to his teasing, but it felt so good to have his hands on me and I didn’t want him to stop.
If I had had a little more confidence, I would have pulled him into a back room and had hot public sex with him. But that was a little too much for me, and I already felt like everyone in the restaurant was looking at us. Although, Brandon was doing an excellent job of making his movements inconspicuous to anyone except me.
“Are you two ready to order?” the waitress asked as she stood across from us.
There was no way I could talk. It was taking all the energy I had to keep my breathing calm as he teased me. I watched her to see if she had any sign of knowing what was going on under the table, but she didn’t seem to notice at all. Her eyes looked kindly at Brandon and then over to me as she waited for one of us to answer her.
“Yes, what would you like, dear?” Brandon asked as he let one of his fingers slide under the fabric of my panties.
His finger moved softly up and down my body as I tried my best to gather enough energy to respond to the woman. He knew I wasn’t going to be able to talk and purposely put me on the spot. I vowed I would pay him back for this sometime very soon.
“Um, I’d just like some California roles and an ice…” Oh crap. I stopped talking as his finger slid into me and I had to catch my breath. “An ice water, thank you,” I managed to say before she turned to get Brandon’s order.
Every muscle in my body tensed up as I tried not to get pleasure out of his finger moving inside of me. I looked at the table and counted the silverware, then looked up to the ceiling and counted the tiles. I couldn’t give in. I wouldn’t give in no matter what.
“Can you tell me those specials, please?” Brandon asked as he looked at the waitress, but continued to pleasure me at the same time.
He was torturing me right there in the restaurant. The longer the waitress stayed at the table, the longer I had to hold my composure. I pulled in a deep breath and reached down to hold his hand and try to prevent him from moving, but his finger was already inside of me and he continued to wiggle it in a come-hither motion as he listened to the day’s specials.
“I think I’ll have the California rolls, also,” he finally said when she had finished rattling off all of the specials for the day.
“You’re an evil man,” I let out breathlessly when she finally left.
“Mmmm, that was a lot of fun. Thanks for playing,” he leaned in and gently touch my cheek. “Are you sure you have to go back to work today?”
His breath made my body tingle as I closed my eyes and felt him near me. I didn’t want to go back to work. I didn’t want to deal with the stress of the hacker in our system or the jerk of a boss I had. I wanted to go someplace with Brandon and let all the stresses of my life just melt away.
But I knew that I couldn’t do that; as much as I wanted to be irresponsible, that just wasn’t me.
“I’m going to have to finish work, sorry.”
“I understand. I used to work, you know,” he said proudly. “I’m unemployed now, though. I promise I’ll make something of myself someday.”
“My mother always warned me about dating a man who didn’t have a job.”
“She said to stay away from guys like me, didn’t she?”
“Yep. She’d be so disappointed in me.” We both laughed, and I found myself again feeling totally comfortable with Brandon.
After our first date, I wasn’t exactly sure if I had imagined how nice it had been to be with Brandon. It had been such a long time since I’d had a decent guy around, I had started to believe I just made up the chemistry in my head to justify why I liked him so much. But as I sat there with him, it was clear I hadn’t made anything up, at all. We did match up very well. There was chemistry between us, and I was more myself around him than I was with most people.
“So, your ex-wife seemed nice,” I said to break us out of our erotic mood.
It certainly did the job, and all of a sudden we were in a totally serious conversation. I really did think his ex-wife seemed nice, though. She had smiled at me and made eye contact; she didn’t look like a bitchy ex-wife, like I had built her up to be in my head.
“Yes, she’s a decent person. We just couldn’t stay married.”
“Do you mind that she’s getting remarried? I know you said you weren’t so sure about the guy, but do you still love her?”
“I will always care about her. We had a beautiful son and a great marriage while it was good, but I’m not in love with her.’
“My friend Mattie seemed to like you.”
“Yeah, she did. You better be careful; I think she might try to steal me away from you.”
“Are you mine?” I leaned my head onto my hand and looked over at him.
I felt like he was mine and I was his. It was weird, and I didn’t want to feel that way. I was the girl who pushed people away. I was the girl who didn’t like commitment and wasn’t going to date a guy because I knew there weren’t men out there who could understand my loss. I was the woman who didn’t know if she would ever fall for another man as long as I lived; yet I sat there hoping that he would say he was mine.
“Do you mind if I say yes?”
“Just for now,” I said in an attempt to lighten the mood. “Who knows? I might decide to let Mattie have you,” I winked.
“Mmm, this blouse is so soft,” he said as his hands moved to the bottom of my blouse and pulled it out from my skirt. “Do you have the white bra on I gave you?”
“I think you need to keep your hands to yourself, mister,” I teased. “We are going to get ourselves arrested for indecent exposure.”
I was joking, but there was a part of me that was a little worried that we were going to cause a scene. I wasn’t the kind of girl who had sex in public or let a guy play with me like Brandon had just done. This wasn’t me, yet it felt like me. I was a little out of my comfort zone and needed to pull things back in a bit.
“I’m not exposing anything, yet,” he laughed. “Please, tell me this is the one I gave you?” His fingers moved under my blouse, and I felt my nipples perk up to attention.
“Yes, now get your hands back on your side of the table.”
“Are you really sure you need to work?”
“Yes. Hands back to your side,” I said firmly as I pulled his hand away and placed it on the table with his other
one, while trying not to smile at him. “You are being very naughty.”
“Okay, I give up. I can’t handle it. I need to have my hands on you,” he laughed and leaned in toward me.
Brandon looked at me as if he wanted to actually devour me right there in the restaurant. It had been so long since I’d been looked at like that. So long since a man wanted to flirt with me in the middle of a public place. My heart was bursting with desire for this guy. I didn’t even care if what was going on was just pure lust; it didn’t matter. I felt great and wanted more of it. I couldn’t get enough.
We finally finished our food and flirted our way right out the door and toward my office. I was tempted to cave in and give up the rest of my day to him, but I just couldn’t step away from the mess that was going on with our systems. As much as I would have loved to spend my day in his bed, I was responsible and work came first.
“Thanks for walking me back to my office,” I said as he pulled me up against him and we leaned on the building. “I should get back up there now.”
“So, you’re really going to leave me hanging?” His hips pressed against me and I felt his body bulging with desire.
I didn’t want to. I wanted to give in and go with him to his house. Oh, how I wanted to feel his hands on my naked body as I screamed out in pleasure.
I wanted to do it, but I wasn’t going to because I was responsible and I needed my job. My boss already hated me and I wasn’t about to give him a reason to fire me.
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
“Friday, you and me, an official date. Do you have a babysitter for the night?”
“Maybe. You’ll just have to wait and see.”
His warmth set my body on fire, and I couldn’t help but press my hips back into him and tease him a little. We were in front of my office building, though, and I couldn’t take things much further than I was already. Instead, I kissed him and pressed away from him so I could go back to work.
Brandon held onto my hand and pulled me back toward him as he kissed me passionately one last time. His lips urged me on, and I found myself wrapped around him and unwilling to release our lip lock. My body felt comfortable next to his, unusually comfortable for a man I’d only been out with twice, but I went with it anyways.