The Cliff

by Gucker, Christie A. C.

  “Would you like a repeat performance?” I offered.

  “Uh, hell yes!” Grant relayed quickly.

  I stood up reluctantly, but only because I didn’t want to leave his side. But I knew it would only be a second or two before he was pouncing on me. I moved throughout the room, turning lights off, and then closed his terrace door blinds. I decided to make that my stage, so I repositioned one of his floor lamps behind me. He jumped up and turned the stereo on so there was soft music playing in the background.

  I faced him and began to slowly remove each piece of my clothing. I actually didn’t have much on besides one of his t-shirts and a pair of his boxers so this would be a quick show.

  I started with the shirt and teased him by bringing it up to below my breasts a few times. His eyes grew wider each time the shirt got higher. When I finally pulled it over my head, I allowed the shirt to pull my hair back in a sexy display. I heard a little gasp when he saw my breasts. I smiled because he had seen this so many times, but for some reason, he was feeling reminiscent like I was. We were back in time on Christmas night.

  I twirled slowly for him so he could get an eyeful before I removed his skivvies from my bottom half. He sat mesmerized; almost as though he had never seen me like that. When I was sure he was starting to fidget enough, I turned my back to him and glanced at him over my shoulder. He took a deep breath in and gave me a libidinous stare. I knew I had to make this part seductive as hell. I wanted to please him.

  “You’re going to hide those luscious breasts from me?” He sounded slightly disappointed. Men and boobs, what can you say?

  “It’s more risqué this way. Don’t you think? I’m trying to spice it up for you. You just sit back and enjoy.” I shook my little ass for him and I heard him moan. I began rolling my hips as I held the briefs, which basically helped me shimmy out of them quite quickly. I let them drop to my ankles and I nimbly stepped out of them. Again I heard a small gasp from across the room.

  Grant and I were teenagers again. Is this what it would have been like that night had he kissed me back? I don’t think so. We probably would have been much tamer.

  I had planned on turning around and giving him the full Monty, but I felt his arms slip around me. He pressed his body into my back and we began to sway to the music as his hands roamed all over me. I turned my head to the side to plant a kiss on him and his lips were there to meet mine. He pulled me tighter and he drove his tongue deep into my mouth. He moved us backwards until we reached the couch and laid us down so I was still on top of him. He proceeded to kiss my neck while his hands lingered playfully.

  “I love you, Lanie.” He sounded like he was telling me for the first time.

  “Oh, Grant. I love you, too.” I felt like it was the first time. I wished we could go back in time and redo all those years just like this. But since that wasn’t a possibility, I was more than happy to begin the rest of our lives together as soon as we could.

  And that would be a month from today, a fall wedding. The leaves on the trees would be reaching their peak when we said I do. Everything was right in my world.

  * * *

  “Have everything you need?” Grant called from downstairs.

  “Yes, I have everything,” I called back.

  “Are you sure? Pierre will be here in about half an hour and I want to be ready to go. I don’t want to waste one minute of our confectionery weekend,” he called back up, already acting like my husband. We had been going back and forth between our two houses. We really had to make a decision as to whose house we were eventually going to settle in.

  “No worries. I won’t let you miss a thing. Can we stop off for coffee when we head out of town? I don’t want to have to make a whole pot,” I told him.

  “For you, anything, my love. I’ll even make it a mocha java to get you all psyched on the way up.”

  “Honey, I’m already stoked to spend this weekend with you. We have so much to talk about on the trip, too. Like, where do you want to go on our honeymoon? Hawaii? Tahiti? Fiji? Australia?”

  “I thought we already decided on Fiji? We can get one of those over-the-water bungalows. It’ll be paradise there with you. I’m sure we can find something very private. I wish we had our own island so I could make love to my wife whenever and wherever I wanted to.”

  “I don’t see that being an issue. We can stay in our bungalow and never leave for all I care. As long as I’m with you, that’s all that matters. Can you grab those travel and bridal magazines that Samantha dropped off his morning? They’re on the coffee table. I swear if she doesn’t get off my back about picking out a wedding gown, I’m going to smack her.” I hauled my over-packed bags down the stairs. I knew I wouldn’t need half of what I brought, but I was a woman, and if I was going to wear anything at all this weekend, I wanted choices.

  “Can I help you pick out the wedding gown?” he suggested.

  “I thought you weren’t supposed to see the wedding gown?”

  “I’m not supposed to see you in the wedding gown before the wedding. But that’s all a superstition. You and I, we’re not going to let some silly wives’ tale get in our way, are we?”

  Hell, if he wanted to look at bridal mags with me on the trip up, more power to him.

  “Sure, Babe. I’d love that.” I wasn’t lying. I was more than happy to let him help me. I was wearing the gown for him, anyway. And he knew what I looked good in. “Do you want to pick out my wedding night lingerie, too?”

  “No, let Samantha pick that out. I want to be more than surprised when it comes to that.” He growled and pulled the bags from my hand, dropped them to the floor and pulled me closer to place a sweet kiss on my lips.

  “Dane is taking care of Woof while we’re gone, right?”

  “Lanie, cats are pretty much independent, and really we’ll only be gone for a few days. Is this going to be what you’re like every time we leave our children?”

  “Woof is my child. Well, a furry child. I’d shove him in my bag if I could.”

  “Dane has everything under control. He can handle it.”

  “It’s nice to hear you and Dane getting along again. It’s nice to be back to the way we used to be. I still can’t believe all that happened,” I declared.

  “I don’t want to remember any of the bad things that happened. As far as I’m concerned, it was a small blip on the radar. We can leave it at that. Deal?” Grant held his hand out to shake on it. But I had other ideas. I grabbed his hand and pulled him to me.

  “Deal.” I kissed him deeply and then heard the knock on my door. “Pierre is here. Let’s go get covered in chocolate and make love all weekend.”

  “I like the sound of that, my bon bon.” Grant grabbed our bags and we headed out the door. He placed everything in the trunk and we got into the limo, where champagne and chocolate covered strawberries awaited us.

  “Is this going to be our limo meal from now on?” I asked, grabbing two glasses.

  “I had nothing to do with this one,” Grant responded. There was a small note next to the strawberries. Grant picked it up to read it.

  To the happy couple,

  Enjoy your weekend! We’re all so happy you’re back together.

  Now pick out a wedding dress already.

  Love,

  Samantha, Chelsie, Steve, Dylan, and Dane

  “Oh my God! That was so nice of them. How did they know about our limo meal? Oh wait, I told the girls all about it.”

  “You limo-dined and told?” Grant accused.

  “Some things are just too damn hot to keep to myself.”

  He poured our champagne and we settled back in for our long drive. Soon I was sitting in his lap feeding him strawberries and thumbing through bride’s magazines. He pointed to a gown he thought would look hot on me, and I pointed to ones that would be too hard for him to take off me that night.

  We giggled a lot and everything was perfect again.

  “Hey, speaking of our wedding … did you decide who you
r best man is going to be? Dylan? Steve?”

  “Neither. I’m going to ask Dane.” I was shocked.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Lanie, so much has changed. He’s who he used to be, and that’s my brother. He’s always been my brother. And everyone deserves a second chance, right? We’ve both had our issues and forgiven each other. I feel like I can trust him again. Don’t you?”

  “I do. I really do. In fact, I think he’s grown up a lot lately. He’s different. He’s not as self-centered anymore. Which gets me thinking about something I need to do,” I stated.

  “Oh no. Lanie, you have that look on your face that scares me. What are you planning?”

  “When all that stuff that shall remain a blip was happening, I made a phone call as a last resort. I think it’s time to call that last resort back, but for a different purpose.”

  “Who’s the last resort? And why?”

  “It’s …

  Chapter 48

  I Think There’s Chocolate in my Hoohoo

  “… his future wife. Or at least she was supposed to be. I think I can make it happen.”

  “Callie. He was happiest when they were together. Isn’t she engaged to someone else now?”

  “She was. But when I spoke to her last they weren’t heading in the same direction. He was focused only on his career and she felt she was taking a back seat. She was more than interested to help me out with Dane. I hope I didn’t scare her. She knows everything.”

  “Even about … that night?” Grant said with a look of concern. “That would blow everything for a second chance for them.”

  “It could, but I don’t think so. She was so worried about him; she was ready to drive out right then and there. Is it okay if I—?” I held my cell phone up.

  “Absolutely. Make the call. I have things to keep me occupied,” he said as he started to unzip my pants. This should be a fun call. I found Callie in my contacts and hit send. Ring ring.

  “Lanie, I was wondering when I was going to hear back from you. How is Dane?” Callie sounded very worried, so I wanted to put her mind at ease immediately.

  “He’s great, Callie. Everything is so much better. He is so much better,” I assured her.

  “Oh, I’m so glad. Was he sick? Was it just something wrong in his head or was it physical?”

  “Not sure. I personally think he was hanging on to being young while everyone else was growing up. I just think he was confused. But now …”

  “What? What now?” Callie was interested. I could tell she still had feelings for him.

  “How are things going with you and Heath?” I asked, ignoring her question.

  “Over. All he cared about was working. He never had time for me anymore. He was traveling all the time and even when he was home with me, he wasn’t with me. It’s better this way. I’m not sure I really loved him.”

  “But you were sure that you loved Dane when you were with him?” I asked.

  “Where are you going with this, Lanie?”

  At this point, Grant was doing a great job of trying to distract me from my phone call. His lips were delicately kissing above the band of my thong. My eyes rolled back slightly in my head and I almost forgot to answer Callie’s questions.

  “Lanie, are you still there?”

  “Oh sorry, yeah. Dane has really grown up in the past few months. I think he’s ready to make things right all around. Would you be willing to go see him? Maybe? I know he needs a date for my wedding next month, and you’re already getting invited.” I left the last sentence more like an open ended-question.

  “You’re getting married? You and Grant are finally getting married? Hell, I knew it when we were kids. You guys were always sharing hot glances at each other. I never understood why you never dated.”

  “We did? We were? Well, you were right, and yes, we’re tying the knot next month.” This made Grant pull my thong down more and begin to lick his way lower. I tried to push him back, but I really didn’t want to. He giggled into my panties.

  “I’d love to be there. And I’d love to see Dane. But how do I approach him?”

  “I have an idea if you’re willing?”

  “Anything. I’ve never really gotten over him. He was the only true love of my life. I think I was just settling for Heath. What did you have in mind?”

  I began to tell her about how Grant was going to ask Dane to be the best man. I thought it would be pretty cool to have Callie deliver the request this evening at his front door. She got giddy on the phone and we even planned her outfit and what she would say. She promised to give me a call tomorrow morning to let me know how things went. When we got off the phone, I called Dane.

  “Lanie? What’s wrong? Why are you calling me?” Dane said as soon as he picked up.

  “Nothing. I just wanted to let you know that I have an important wedding item getting delivered tonight. I have to make sure it gets there. So I told them to bring it to your house and that you have to sign for it. Is that okay? You didn’t have plans tonight, did you?”

  “Um, no. Nothing. I was going to grab Woof and hang out all night and watch movies. He seems to be the only company I have lately when you and Grant aren’t here.” He sounded sad. Which made me seriously happy.

  “Well, Woof is great company, although he tends to talk too much, so don’t let him monopolize the conversation. He also likes to wake you up at the break of dawn, so you might want to take him home before you go up to bed. Okay?”

  “Okay, sounds good. Now go get all chocolaty with your future husband. No reason to be wasting one second on the phone with me. I’ll take good care of your package and Woof.”

  “Okay, talk to you later. Bye.” I hung up the phone and did a little happy dance, and then sunk into my seat so Grant could make the ride way more enjoyable. We’d be at the spa soon.

  After much playful teasing on our ride, we finally reached our destination. Chocolate spa loving was awaiting us right on the other side of the limo door. I couldn’t wait! Three things I loved most in this world coming together for a full blown weekend of bliss: Grant, chocolate, and sex with Grant and chocolate. Could life get any better?

  Once Grant and I had retrieved our bags and checked in, we headed to our room. It was the most amazing hotel room I had ever seen. We had four rooms to ourselves, including a living room with an eat in kitchen, a huge bedroom with master bath, a Jacuzzi room and a treatment room with two massage tables side by side. We literally never had to leave.

  “So when do we start? I want to spend every second of this trip eating you or chocolate,” I said excitedly, stuffing one of the many chocolate items placed around the room into my mouth. Everywhere you looked there was a candy dish filled with a different type of chocolate, caramel or truffle. I was in complete heaven and would need at least a week to work this all off so I could fit into my wedding gown. Well, maybe not; Grant and I would have plenty of working-it-off time this weekend, too.

  “Our first appointment? And what is it?” I already had a sugar high and was raring to go.

  “Relax, hyper. We have our first treatment in about twenty minutes, just enough time for me to take your clothes off with my teeth. We both need to be naked for most of everything we’re having done.”

  “I want to know. Ple-e-ease?” I dragged out the word for a very long time until I ran out of breath. Grant rolled his eyes.

  “You don’t want to leave anything for a surprise do you? We start today off with lunch in our room. I’ve already ordered that, so you’ll have to wait and taste. Then we have our first appointment for a chocolate facial and massage, followed by a hot fudge bath in our Jacuzzi, and then lots of sex. And then we have time to hit the gym or the pool before dinner. We’re having dinner someplace I know you’re going to love. Then I thought you might like to take a walk through the gardens. There’s a ton of waterfalls and koi, and we can round the night off there with chocolate martinis. How does that sound?”

  “Lots of sex sounds amazin
g. Everything else sounds fantastic, too. What about tomorrow?”

  “Okay, tomorrow we’re both getting the couples chocolate fondue wrap, followed by the whipped cocoa shower and a sugar scrub massage and lots more sex. Oh, and breakfast and dinner in bed. We’re also going to the amusement park tomorrow. I thought it’d be fun. Our fondue isn’t until five. And then more sex, breakfast in bed and back home to find your wedding gown and book our honeymoon. And then the bridal shower and bachelor party, and most importantly, our wedding,” he said in one breath and at super hyper speed.

  “Okay, I think you have forever all planned out. I love it. I’m so excited. Let’s start getting ready. I want to be in that big comfy robe in the closet when lunch gets here. You, too. Something about you being naked underneath during lunch is totally turning me on.”