Real Love

by Tracy Reed

  She looked at him and politely said, “No. I don’t think that would be appropriate. I don’t date people I work with.”

  “But I don’t work with you and it’s not a date. It’s two people celebrating the completion of a well placed furniture installation.”

  She laughed. “That’s cute. Tell you what, if my client agrees to buy everything, then we’ll celebrate with coffee.”

  “So my having coffee with my favorite client hinges on your client liking my furniture?”

  “That’s right.” She picked up her bag and started walking away when he stopped her.

  “What if she doesn’t like any of it?”

  “Then I guess we’re both out of luck. Bye.”

  He stood still watching as she sauntered out of the showroom with her parfum lingering in the air. He was under her spell.

  Sean walked around the showroom laying hands on every item Kyla had selected, and asked God to grant him favor with her client. He knew this was his only chance to show Kyla he was right, not only about the furniture, but himself as well.

  Two weeks later, Kyla returned to the showroom. “Seems my client didn’t like everything,” she said. “Sorry, and I was looking forward to coffee.”

  “A deal is a deal.” He smiled.

  “Send me an invoice for everything else.”

  “Maybe next time.”

  “Maybe. Bye.” She turned and walked out.

  He reached inside the bag looking for the sample ticket. Pinned to one of the pillows was a note. “I’ll be at Cafe Noir, two blocks over if you’d like to have coffee, Kyla.” He gave the bag to his assistant, grabbed his jacket and left.

  He walked into the petite cafe` looking around for his dream girl. He started walking toward the back when he spotted her sitting at a table in the corner, reading Elle Decor. He smiled and walked over to join her.

  “I see you got my note.” She smiled and put her magazine down. He sat across from her and she motioned for the server to bring another cup of coffee.

  “I thought coffee was only if your client bought everything. You brought back a few things.”

  “In all fairness, I knew those things weren’t right but I had to give her something to say no to.” They both laughed.

  He nodded his head and thought, she smells even better up close. “So you padded the bet?”

  “I had to. She’s a sweet lady, but she’s using this project to prolong the inevitable.”

  “Which is?”

  “The demise of her marriage. She’s hoping this redecoration will add some spark.”

  “And you don’t think so?”

  “It’s not my job to be her counselor or her best girlfriend. It’s my job to give her a beautiful home. And hers to make her husband happy in bed.” He almost choked on his coffee.

  “I’ve never had a client be so honest. Most of my clients come in with their clients doing the decorator two step…agreeing with everything the customer wants. I sell a lot of beautiful furniture to the wrong people.”

  “Exactly. That’s why I don’t bring my clients to the showrooms…it just confuses them. If they thought they could do this themselves, they wouldn’t hire people like me.”

  “How do you get your clients?”

  “Referral. The husbands love me.”

  “I can see why.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I mean…you’re probably very good at staying on budget.” He smiled.

  “I try. Most of my married clients come in with a money is no object attitude. They don’t know that their husbands have already called or emailed me a budget.”

  “Isn’t that a little unethical?”

  “Not when he’s the one paying the bill.” She laughed.

  “Okay, that makes sense.”

  “What about you? How did you get into the furniture business?”

  Finally, his turn to shine and sell himself. He took a deep breath thinking about his opening line. “My dad is a contractor and my mother liked to sew. They taught my brother and me both crafts. My brother took what he learned and became a heart surgeon. I stayed a little closer to home and started designing furniture.”

  “Wait a minute, you design the furniture in your showroom?”

  “Some of it. The rest I source out.”

  “Impressive.” She sat back in her chair with her arms crossed, absorbing everything he said.

  “I built my business the old-fashioned way…walking the streets with my portfolio.”

  “Wow! I had no idea.”

  “And you, how did you get into Interior Design?”

  “My mother.”

  “Your mother?”

  “My mother loved going to designer show houses looking for ideas. It was fun seeing how other people would make up pretend lives for the empty house. I thought it would be wonderful to do that for real people. And I saw how much power and control the designers had and I wanted that…to be the one calling the shots, orchestrating someone else’s life.”

  He nodded his head thinking how could she not be in charge. He imagined every aspect of her life was probably well organized.

  “We should do this again,” he suggested.

  “I don’t know.” She took another sip of coffee smiling.

  “What if I throw in a cookie along with the coffee?” They both smiled.

  “A cookie? Somehow I think I’m getting the short end of the stick.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I’d be bringing you a nice piece of business and in exchange, all I get is a cookie and coffee. I don’t know.”

  “Okay, what if after each room you complete, I step it up?”

  “I don’t follow.”

  “The next room, it’s coffee and cookies. The one after, appetizers and…”

  “I have six rooms, a kitchen and four bathrooms to finish. According to your proposal, I’ll be as big as a house.” They both chuckled. “What if…”

  When she countered his proposal, he took it as a sign. Now all he had to do was seal the deal. “Okay, how about this…. if your client buys everything you select from me, you have to take me to dinner.” He finished his sentence with a beautiful smile.

  “Me, take you to dinner?” She laughed. “That’s funny.”

  “What? You’re the one with the client with an endless budget.”

  “Tell you what. If my client selects everything I pick from your showroom, I will allow you to take me to dinner.”

  He smiled and shook his head. Thinking if this is the only way to take her to dinner, then so be it. “Okay.” He reached his hand across the table to shake hers, sealing their agreement.

  She looked at her watch. “This has been fun, but I have to go.” She stood up and he raced to his feet.

  “Here let me help you.” He picked up her coat and helped her slip it on, being careful not to get too close. He couldn’t help inhaling her parfum. She smelled spicy and sweet, like a confident woman absorbing all the attention in the room.

  “Thank you,” she said, lifting her hair and placing it on the collar of her coat. When she lifted her hair, it grazed his face. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she quickly apologized.

  He didn’t care because that gave him another opportunity to inhale more of her arresting scent. Her hair smelled like lavender and combined with her parfum, she smelled like no other woman he’d ever been this close to. “That’s okay. I guess that means you’ll be buying me dessert with that dinner.”

  She smiled and his heart stopped. He knew everyone in the cafe could read his mind. “We’ll see.” He watched as she walked out ahead of him. She was the Pied Piper and he was willing to follow her anywhere. He caught up to her on the sidewalk hoping for one last conversation with her.

  “Thank you for the coffee.”

  “You’re welcome…see you next week.” She turned and walked away. Sean walked back to the showroom, praying to God to grant him favor with Kyla’s client.

  Chapter 23

 
THE MOST CHALLENGING WEEK OF each month for Eric was the week he couldn’t see Kyla, for female reasons. He always seemed a little more anxious. This month was even harder because the week after their break, she was attending a trade show in Chicago for a week. Self control wasn’t his strong suit. If it were, he wouldn’t have a girlfriend and a wife.

  He tried finding comfort with Olivia, but she wasn’t Kyla. He still had a couple of days before Kyla returned and he was on edge. Faced with the option of self-fulfillment or making love to his wife, he chose the latter. He also broke his rule and had sex with Olivia with the lights on. That was a joke as it only made Kyla more real and unavailable. As quickly as he started, he stopped.

  He got up and jumped into the shower. Olivia followed wrapping her arms around him trying to comfort him. She just thought it was one of those things that occasionally happen to men. He rested his face on the wet shower wall remembering the first time Kyla treated him to a shower. The gentle touch of his wife’s delicate hands holding him made him more angry and frustrated. He turned around with the water pounding his eyes. Forcing them shut, he pushed Olivia up against the wall kissing her harder, pretending she was Kyla. Olivia was enthralled with the tenacity of her husband. In the three years of their marriage, she never felt such passion and excitement. It was the first time Eric gave her what she had heard her sister and best friend refer to as, “The ride of her life”. When he finished her hair was soaking wet. She didn’t care because tonight her husband finally showed her how much he loved her.

  He rested his face against her small chest and the lack of cushion knocked him back into reality. He pulled away leaning against the wall, trying to figure out what had happened. Ashamed because he treated his wife as an object of convenience, he stood still letting the six water jets pound him. She rested her head on his back with her arms wrapped around him, smiling. She had no idea that the past moments for him were the equivalent of being with a prostitute.

  Instead of taking a taxi, Eric walked to his office. After what happened a couple of nights ago, he had been trying to fend off Olivia’s advances. It was his own fault. If he had been able to control himself, he wouldn’t have done something as insane as delight his wife. As long as she was never sexually satisfied, he could control the temperature of their marriage. Now that the cat had been let out of the bag, there was a problem.

  Standing at the corner of West Twenty-Third and Broadway, he smiled at the thought of how wonderful Olivia sounded calling out his name. Kyla never called his name, she only referred to him as “Baby.” He wasn’t a baby, but a grown man able to bring his wife to her knees. He thought again briefly, maybe Olivia was faking. Or maybe Kyla was faking. The only way to know for sure, was to try it again.

  Walking to his office, he came up with a brilliantly stupid plan, he’d conduct his own pleasure test. First, he’d sleep with Olivia and when Kyla returned, he’d sleep with her and see what their reactions would be. As quickly as the thought entered his head, it left. He told himself, there’s not a man alive that could tell whether a woman was faking it or not. Instead, he took pleasure in knowing that if he treated his wife to a pleasurable journey like that at least once a week, it would be even easier to control her. Now if he could only be sure he had the energy and stamina to please both women equally. He reached into his pocket for his phone and called his doctor. He needed a little medical help. His trainer suggested getting a nutritionist, now was the perfect time to get one. He also remembered a friend telling him yoga was good for sex…it made you more flexible and helped with your breathing.

  First, he needed to see Kyla. He needed to feel her body pressing against his. He may have had a nice evening with his wife, but he still craved the heat only Kyla could give him. He dialed her number, but there was no answer so he left a voice mail. A half hour later he called again, voice mail. He called her every half hour and finally, a little after two thirty in the afternoon, she picked up the phone.

  “Hey ba—” she started speaking and he cut her off.

  “I want you in our bed in an hour.” Click. He didn’t give her a chance to respond. He told his assistant he would be out the rest of the afternoon at meetings and headed straight to their place. When he walked inside, the apartment was dark. He went into the living room thinking she might be sitting naked in the dark like before. He turned on the light and to his surprise the room was empty. He took his jacket off and started down the hall towards the bedroom and was greeted by a trail of clothes. His face lit up and he started taking his clothes off eager to join her in bed.

  He walked into the bedroom and there she was, in their bed wearing a sheet and a smile. He stopped at the edge of the bed and the smile on his face convinced her he was excited to see her.

  “Hey Baby,” she purred.

  Earlier he would have given anything to have her say his name, but the way the words rolled off her lips excited him. He started walking around the bed.

  “Stop right there. Did you miss me?” she asked followed by a wicked smile.

  He stood still not moving. His head immediately filled with ideas of what he wanted to do to her. His time with Olivia was good, but it was the appetizer to the main course he was about to enjoy. He nodded and managed to utter a simple, “Yes.”

  “Uhmm…I missed you too.” She let the sheet drop, licked her lips and began touching herself. She fondled her breasts and watched as Eric got excited. “I missed your touching me, your mouth kissing my breasts, arousing me.”

  He started feeling hot and immediately removed his shirt and tie. Kicking his shoes off, he watched as her hand slid down under the sheet and her eyes closed as she hummed louder. He couldn’t stand it. He quickly dropped his pants and underwear eager to be where her hand was. She gathered the sheet around her waist and scooted toward him. When she reached the end of the bed, she stood up and teased him with the possibility of a kiss. The hot air from her mouth sent a chill up his spine. He wanted so desperately to touch her.

  She stood in front of him and commented, “You don’t look like you missed me.” She smiled, dropped the sheet and looked down and saw a change in his body language. “That’s much better. Seems someone really did miss me.” She stepped closer and whispered, “Don’t you ever demand I do anything. I’m not your wife. When you come to your senses, call me.” She turned and walked out.

  A few seconds later he heard the door slam shut. He couldn’t move. She had aroused him and left him alone and ready for love. He hobbled to the bathroom and painfully stepped into the shower. He turned the cold water on hoping to find some relief.

  Faced with a few choices…stay angry with Kyla, apologize to her and hope to persuade her back to their bed, or go home and face his frisky wife. He collected himself and went to the park to figure out how he had gotten into this mess.

  Chapter 24

  ERIC’S BEHAVIOR THIS AFTERNOON WAS one of the reasons why Kyla didn’t want to marry him. She remembered her Aunt Rebbie saying, “Honey, once you put it on a man the right way, he’s like a bag of sugar. Sweet and bad, but too good to pass up.” She didn’t quite understand what she meant until she broke up with her college professor. “Baby girl, any man you can control in bed, will be yours. Remember, no matter how good it is, never let him know it.”

  Today, she kept replaying her aunt’s words. She really did miss Eric, but she was not going to allow him to disrespect her. She hopped into a taxi and headed over to Bergdorfs. Shoe shopping was the perfect way to forget how much she wanted to go back and spend the rest of the afternoon and evening doing things with Eric most people fantasized.

  She rode the elevator up to the shoe salon. Walking around she searched for her salesman, Ronnie Green. Not only did he know what she liked, he was very handsome. Shoe shopping with Ronnie was filled with lots of flirting and an amazing foot massage. She often thought about adding him to her posse of dates, but if it didn’t work out, she’d lose her connection to getting first dibs on all the latest designer shoes.r />
  Ronnie spotted her and watched as she strolled through the salon. He took note of everything she showed an interest in, pulled her sizes and set them next to her favorite seat.

  “Hey Kyla.” She turned and smiled.

  “Hi handsome. How is my favorite shoe guru doing today?”

  Like most men, he was smitten with Kyla. The way she smiled and the sway of her hips hypnotized him and he was putty in her hands.

  “Fine, now that you’re here.”

  He looked at her and thought, if he hooked up with her, he’d always be broke because he would want to spend every penny he made trying to make her happy. He took her hand and led her over to her favorite seat in the rear corner away from the bridge and tunnel crowd in for an afternoon of shopping.

  Their routine was simple, he’d caress her feet and tell her how beautiful they were and she would repay the compliment with a fat sale. A couple of hours later after trying on several pairs of expensive shoes and modeling for him, she made her selections…a pair of gold Saint Laurent sandals, two pairs of Lanvin flats, a pair of Charlotte Olympia pumps, a pair of Blahnik pumps, a pair of Alaia ankle boots and because she was pissed with Eric, a pair of very expensive black leather thigh high boots. Ronnie’s commission quickly changed his mind about wanting to date her. She was beautiful and every time he saw her, his mind filled with wild thoughts about her, but paying his rent was a little more important than having a girlfriend who could satisfy him physically.

  “I’ll have everything delivered to you tomorrow.”

  “Thank you Ronnie.” She kissed him on the cheek and went upstairs to the restaurant. Following the hostess she spotted a familiar face sitting alone reading. She stopped and addressed her acquaintance. “Sean Prescott, are you trying to make me feel sorry for you?” He looked up, wiped his mouth and smiled. “Do you mind if I join you?”