by J. S. Cooper
Sadie
“My word, Sadie, I know you said he was cute, but you didn’t say he was that cute.” Cara giggled as we sat on her couch and pulled our heels off. “He’s so hot and he seemed liked he was really into you.”
“He’s a jackass.” I peered at her over the top of my wine glass, trying to forget Dante’s face and his lips and the way his lips had made me feel down below. “A royal jackass.”
“He’s royal?” Cara looked surprised.
“Nooooo, silly.” I rolled my eyes at her. “He wishes. Did he look like he was royal to you?”
“Yes.” She fanned herself. “He looked like he could be some sort of Italian prince or something.”
“Or some Italian devil, you mean.” I pictured his piercing green eyes. “He’s the sort of guy that would lead you to hell and have you thinking that you’d asked for the fire.”
“Oh Sadie.” Cara burst out laughing. “If he’s the devil and the epitome of all that’s bad, then I don’t want to be good.”
“Cara, just listen to yourself.” I grabbed the bottle of wine and filled my glass. “Imagine if Dylan heard you say that.”
“Well, I’m glad he’s not here. We deserved a night to ourselves; even if we are back home on the couch already.” She leaned back, her eyes suddenly turning dreamy. “So what do you know about Blake?”
“Who?” I blanked for a few seconds and then remembered Dante’s blond cousin. “Oh I know nothing. I have no idea about his story, sorry.”
“Pity.” She sipped at her wine glass. “I wouldn’t mind getting to know him better.”
“He took your number, right?”
“Yes, but he hasn’t texted me his number like he said he would.” She looked disappointed. “Do you think he will?”
“Of course, why wouldn’t he?”
“Because I have three kids…” And then her face trailed off and her face reddened. “Well, I guess that wouldn’t be the reason why not, he doesn’t even know I have any kids.”
“I know.” I sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“No worries.” She said, but I could tell she was a little sad. I just wasn’t sure if it was because of my lie or because he hadn’t called. It was most probably a bit of both. “Do you think you’ll see Dante again?” She asked softly, her eyes gazing into mine with a questioning look.
“Hell no.” I said emphatically. Maybe too emphatically. I couldn’t deny that I was attracted to him, but he seemed like a player. And not only did he seem like a player, he seemed like the worst kind of player. The kind that played master level games. I didn’t need a guy like that. I could barely play checkers without feeling like I was out of my league. I was in no way, shape or form, ready for some master chess player. He would eat me up alive and while, that didn’t sound like such a bad option, I knew that it wasn’t what I was ultimately looking for.
“So what happened when you guys left the table?” She asked me curiously as she sipped her wine. “You were gone for a long time and then you both came back looking flushed.”
“We looked flushed?” I blushed as I looked down.
“Yeah.” Her eyes narrowed as she leaned forward and then gasped loudly. “Oh my word, you didn’t hook up with him, did you?”
“Define hookup?” I looked up at her with a guilty expression.
“Did you have sex with him?”
“Nooo.” I squealed indignantly. Too indignantly. I totally would have had sex with him if he hadn’t ended things abruptly; like some sort of game player. “But we did other stuff.”
“Other stuff?” Cara squealed and her jaw dropped.
“He went down on me.” I blushed as I told her what had happened.
“No way.” Her jaw dropped.
“And he kept my panties.”
“No way. Wow, that’s so hot. Tell me more.”
“Ugh, I don’t want to talk about it.” I shook my head. It was all too fresh and I felt slightly humiliated if I was being honest.
“Was it fun?”
“It was fun.” I admitted reluctantly. “He knows what he’s doing. Pity he’s a jerk.”
“He was a bit rude.” Cara said thoughtfully. “I think you rub him the wrong way.”
“He rubs me the wrong way.”
“He most probably wants you badly.” She nodded. “I bet he doesn’t know what to make of you, but he definitely wants you.”
“He’s just an asshole. He basically is just a jerk.” I growled, thinking about what had happened. “What does he care if I have three kids or not?”
“But the point is you don’t. Maybe you should have told him?”
“He shouldn’t have judged me for that. Totally not cool.” I grabbed the bottle of wine and poured the rest of the liquid into my glass, filling it up almost to the brim. “Who is he to judge single moms?”
“Yeah, I’m not really sure what his problem was.” She shrugged.
“You’d think I’d lied to him and said I had no kids or something, the way he was carrying on. Or you’d think I’d ask him to pay child support for my three kids. Or to support them in some way.” My voice was getting louder and louder as I felt more and more indignant. “Who the hell does he think he is to judge me for having three kids?”
“Uhm, Sadie.”
“Yes, Cara?”
“You do know you don’t have any kids right?” She half grinned at me and I sighed.
“I know, I know. I’m tired and I’m frustrated, and ugh.” I made a face. “I hate him. I don’t know him very well, but I hate him.”
“It’ll be okay, Sadie.”
“I hope I never see him again in my life.” I gulped the wine in the glass and sat back. I tried to ignore the feeling in me that suddenly felt very sad at that thought. I ignored the part of me that actually hoped to see him again. If only to bring him to his knees. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I wanted very badly to feel him inside of me.
KIWI: You online?
JONAS: Yes! I’m surprised to hear from you.
KIWI: Yeah. I had a rough week.
JONAS: Want to talk about it?
KIWI: No. Tell me one of your fantasies.
JONAS: You want to know one of my fantasies?
KIWI: You’re always asking me mine.
JONAS: Are you touching yourself?
KIWI: Does it matter?
JONAS: I want you naked on your bed. And then I’ll tell you.
KIWI: I don’t know.
JONAS: Just do it. Make sure all your clothes are off.
KIWI: Fine. Give me a couple of minutes.
JONAS: I’ll be here.
KIWI: Okay, I’m here.
JONAS: Imagine we’re in my office. I’m sitting on my leather chair behind a cherry wooden table. You’re in the chair in front of me taking notes.
KIWI: I’m your secretary.
JONAS: Yes, you’re my secretary. I tell you to undo the first couple of buttons in your shirt and you do.
KIWI: Okay.
JONAS: I tell you to get up and come over to my side of the table. You push my chair back and then you straddle me on my lap. I push your skirt up and it’s then that I realize that you have no panties on. My fingers squeeze your naked ass and you grind yourself in my lap. Then you reach down and undo my zipper and my cock springs free. Your hands then...
KIWI: What’s your real name?
JONAS: What?
KIWI: I wanted to know your real name.
JONAS: Why?
KIWI: Because if we ever went on a date, I would want to know who I was really with.
JONAS: Do you want to go on a date with me?
KIWI: Depends on what you’re looking for.
JONAS: What are you looking for?
KIWI: I don’t know.
JONAS: You’re not comfortable with the dirty talk, are you?
I closed the laptop down then because talking to Jonas hadn’t turned me on or made me feel better about what had happened with Dante. If anything it had ma
de me want him more. Dante could talk dirty to me all night and I’d eat it up. Even though I couldn’t stand him. I lay back and sighed. I’d thought that maybe talking to Jonas would take my mind off of the evening, but I’d been wrong. I seriously needed to figure my life out.
12
Dante
“I’ll see you guys later.” I said as I stood up to leave the club. Blake and Steele looked at me in surprise. I could tell from their expressions that they wanted to ask me some questions. They wanted to know more about Sadie, but they knew that I was not interested in talking about her or how I felt.
“You don’t want another one?” Steele asked me, holding up his whiskey tumbler to me. “One for the road?”
“No, I’m good. I should really head home and look through some case files.” I said, and although my words were technically true, they weren’t really. I was going to go home, but I wasn’t going to be working. “I’ll give you guy a call tomorrow or something.” I said and headed out of the club. I walked to my car and pulled out my phone. I had two missed calls, one from Lila and one from Nana; both of whom I knew wanted to talk about Sadie. I sighed as I realized that Nana had left a voicemail. I debated deleting it instead of actually listening to it, but I knew I couldn’t do that.
“Your car, Mr. Vanderbilt?” The valet by the desk asked me hurriedly and I nodded as I held the phone to me ear.
“Dante, this is your Nana. Now, I hope you’re not mad at me, but I really think that you need to apologize to Sadie for how you treated her on your date. I actually think that an apology in person would be the right move. I’ve spoken to my good friend, Louise and she agrees. This is Sadie’s address. I suggest you go around with some flowers and hopefully she will forgive you. Please do this favor for your ailing Nana. Call me after you’ve gone. Love you.” I rolled my eyes as I hung up the phone. Nana was the Queen of emotional blackmail and I didn’t really like to give in to her. However, I was starting to feel slightly guilty about the way I’d spoken to Sadie and acted towards her. A part of me did think that I’d crossed the line. And that I’d been judgmental. I was embarrassed to tell my friend, Lila, the things that I’d said to Sadie. Lila had gotten pregnant for a guy she barely knew and I would hate for her to feel that I was judging her. In fact, I would want to knock out anyone that spoke to Lila the way I’d spoken to Sadie. It was uncalled for and I don’t know what it was about her that pushed my buttons. I found her sexy as hell and maybe a bit of me was annoyed that she was a single mom. I wanted to get to know her better. I wanted to take her on dates, but I knew I didn’t want anything serious and I surely couldn’t have a casual relationship with a single mom. Especially a single mom that didn’t seem to understand boundaries and involved her kids in all aspects of her life (and I did consider that to be very inappropriate).
13
Sadie
“Sadie, I have the biggest favor to ask of you.” Cara opened my bedroom door and I groaned as I saw the anxious look on her face. This didn’t bode well for me.
“Ugh, what’s the favor?” I closed my eyes, hoping that what she was about to say next wasn’t going to completely ruin my day.
“I have to work.” She sighed and then she wrinkled her nose slightly. “And I might be gone until tomorrow morning.”
“Okay.” I opened my eyes and sat up. “You need me to look after the boys?”
“Yes and...” her voice trailed off slightly as she walked up to my bed and sat on the edge.
“And what?” I looked at her suspiciously, what else could there be?
“Remember my friend, Stephanie?”
“Vaguely.” I nurtured as I stifled a yawn. “The girl with the really orangey red hair? Almost like a carrot?”
“She’s a strawberry blonde, but yes.” Cara smiled at me, suddenly looking very sweet. “Well she has to go into the hospital for non-invasive surgery today.”
“Okay?”
“And I had told her I’d look after her little baby girl, Lisa.”
“Okay?” I said, sleepiness obviously making me a lot slower than I normally would have been. “That’s nice of you.”
“But I can’t look after her now...” She gave me a meaningful look. “Due to work and all that good stuff.”
“Uhm okay...” I sat up straight as it suddenly struck me as to why she was looking so guilty. “Oh no,” I shook my head. “I don’t have to look after her, do I?” I moaned as I fall back against the pillow. “Cara!”
“I know, I know. I really owe you big time.” She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “You know I wouldn’t normally ask, but I didn’t want to leave her in the lurch.”
“I was meant to go to the MOMA today.”
“You can still go.”
“With four kids?” I gave her a crazy look. “Are you joking?”
“It won’t be so bad. I’ll tell the boys to be on their best behavior.”
“Really Cara?” I cocked my head to the side. “You know I love the boys but their best behavior will still make zoo animals look like statues.”
“Oh Sadie.” She giggled. “I love you.”
“Hmmph.” I made a face and then stretched. “The problem is I think I’ll have to take them anyway. My boss wants a report on the current exhibits tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? Wow.”
“I know.” I made a face. “I hate this job.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.” I yawned and grabbed my phone. “In other news, I decided to join an online dating app.” I said it casually as if it were some normal swipe right site like bumble or tinder. Shit, tinder was considered a hookup site to most people. Those people most probably didn’t know about “Dating on the Edge.”
“You did?”
“Yeah.” I nodded as an image of Dante popped into my mind. “I need to meet some nice guys. After what happened with Dante I realized that I have needs that aren’t being met.” And even if the guys weren’t super nice, they wouldn’t be playing games with me.
“You want to get laid huh?”
“Something like that.” I smiled and then pushed the sheets back. “Okay, I should shower before Grandma Louise drops the hellions back home.”
“She actually already has. She sends her love by the way. She didn’t want us to wake you up as she had a breakfast date.” Cara grinned. “I can’t believe that you didn’t hear them running into the house talking about how she taught them blackjack.” She shook her head. “Apparently Dylan won ten dollars.”
“What? From whom?”
“I didn’t ask girl.” Cara laughed as I got out of the bed. “There are some things I just don’t want to know.”
“Oh grandma Louise.” I couldn’t help but smile a little. “She’s always up to something.”
“Are you going to tell her about what happened with Dante the other night?”
“Are you joking?”
“I don’t mean the sex.”
“There was no sex.” I almost shouted. I had taken ages to fall asleep the previous night because all I’d been thinking of was Dante’s manhood and how badly I’d wanted to feel it inside of me.
“Depends on your definition of sex.” Cara wiggled her eyebrows at me and I glared at her.
“Not funny, Cara.”
“Sorry,” she giggled slightly. “Anyways who cares about Dante now? You’ll meet loads of nice guys online.”
“Well, about that...” My voice trailed off as I debated telling Cara about the site I’d joined.”
“What??” She peered at me with narrowed eyes. “Oh my God, what Sadie? Tell me!”
“So it’s about the site I joined.”
“Oh my God, don’t tell me you joined that swingers site we saw on TV the other night?”
“No.” I laughed and then blushed. “But it is a kinda crazy site as well.”
“What do you mean by crazy?”
“I mean that it’s for people who want to experiment and do crazy stuff.”
“Say w
hat?” Her jaw dropped as she gazed at me. “What sort of crazy stuff are you hoping to do?”
“Well I don’t really know. I just joined it for a bit of fun, you know?”
“You mean like casual sex?” Cara looked shocked. “Are you out of your mind? That’s not you, Sadie.” She pauses as she surveyed my face. “You’re lonely and bored, aren’t you? That’s what it is.”
“I mean yes I’m a bit lonely, but I also want some fun. I mean what’s the point of dating and getting my heart broken and I’m not even having a good time. I don’t even have super awesome memories to look back on with my last relationships. I just want to make some memories I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
“So what do you want?” Cara’s voice was inquisitive and non-judging. “Like a threesome or something?”
“No.” I said quickly, “though there is this guy that I spoke to that asked me if I would want two guys to pleasure me at the same time.”
“Uhm what does that mean?” Cara gasped. “Like both doors?”
“Cara,” I burst out laughing. “No, I’m not making a porno. I mean like two guys teasing and touching me at the same time, I guess.”
“You what?” She stared at me with her mouth wide open. “That sounds kinky as hell.”
“Doesn’t it?” I laughed. “I mean, it’s not like that’s what I’m going to do. In fact I think I’m going to leave the site, to be honest, it makes me feel slightly uncomfortable. Like it’s all about sex.”
“Hmm. I bet most of the guys on those sites are just looking for sex.” She leaned back and seemed to be thinking. “So really what you’re looking for is to date a guy that’s really adventurous sexually?”
“Yeah, I guess that would be the ideal. I mean people always say that guys are freaky but most of the guys I meet are pretty boring and dull in the bedroom.” I admitted. “And I want more than that, you know?”
“Yeah, I know.” She grinned. “I’m not a prude, Sadie. You could have told me this before. This is really quite exciting.”