by Lula Woods
“I did, and thanks again for the introduction. We’re going to meet this afternoon at three o’clock at the college. Maybe I’ll see you around?”
“I have a class that ends at ten minutes to four, so I’ll come to find you.”
“I would like that.”
We stopped in front of his gate. “Appreciate the company. Maybe we can have dinner together tonight? My place? Unless you’re busy? It is a Friday night, after all.”
I smiled. “I’m not busy.”
“Great. I’ll order something, and we’ll hang out together. Maybe have a movie night or hey, do you like board games? Scrabble?”
I said, “I play a mean game of Scrabble, though it’s been a while. I am unbeatable.”
“Ha! I am the king of the triple-word score, I’ll have you know.”
“I guess we’ll see.” I nibbled on a cuticle as my thoughts turned back to the bank and the coming changes. I guess the run hadn’t helped as much as I wanted it to.
“You okay?” Cameron asked. “You look pensive, which is unusual for you.”
“Oh, I’ll be fine. Just work stuff, you know?”
“Well, I know we’re just getting to know each other, but you can talk to me if you want.” He tugged on my ponytail. “I’m a good listener, promise.”
“I’ll think about it, thank you.”
“Good.” He kissed my cheek. “Thanks for checking on me just now. Looking forward to seeing you this afternoon.”
“You, too,” I said and watched as he disappeared inside his house.
I headed over to my place and got ready for work, still no closer to having an answer to what I would do if I left my job, but happy to have seen Cameron. It made a great start to my day, and if he thought he was going to beat me in Scrabble, he was dead wrong.
Chapter Six
Cameron
As engaged as I usually was in the classroom, I was distracted that afternoon because I knew I’d be seeing Gabby soon, and my concentration was shot to hell. It was probably a good thing that I handed out a pop quiz in the latter half of the period, the moans and groans that accompanied that announcement making me smile.
“Really, people, you should be used to this by now.”
“Yeah, yeah,” someone grumbled in the front row, and then everyone quieted down and focused on the questions before them. When the class finally ended, I collected all the papers and wished everyone a nice evening, waiting with barely concealed impatience for everyone to leave before cleaning up and quickly heading for my office to deposit the tests on my desk. I would grade them on the weekend.
I was just about to head over to Wendy’s office when I heard a knock on my door. When I looked up, Wendy and Gabby stood in the doorway, smiling. “Hi, Cameron,” Wendy said, her smile full of mischief. “Gabriella and I just finished our meeting, and she asked me where your office was. Naturally, I offered to escort her.”
“Naturally.” I gave her a look before focusing on Gabby. She was dressed in a white, asymmetrical skirt suit with a split up the left leg that made me drool. She was elegant and sexy, and her hair was pulled back into a bun. Those beige heels she wore had to be at least four inches tall. Fuck. Me.
I cleared my throat. “Hi, Wendy, Gabby,” I said, walking forward to greet Gabby with a kiss on the cheek. “You look lovely, as always.”
“Thank you,” she replied, her cheeks a little rosy. “Did your class go, okay?”
“It did. I gave them a test, so I feel much better about my day.”
Wendy laughed. “And you call me evil.” She turned to Gabby. “Thanks again for stopping by, Gabriella. We’ll have your booth ready on the day of the event. Just be here by eight and we’ll help you get set up.”
Gabby shook her hand. “I appreciate this, Wendy. Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” Wendy looked between the two of us. “Well, I know Cameron wants you all to himself, so I’ll leave you both to, um, talk.”
“Wendy, stop,” I groused. She just grinned and waved before heading back to her own office. “Sorry about her. We go way back, and we even used to date in college, so she knows how to push my buttons.”
“She’s great. We get along really well.” Gabby chuckled “She even tried to recruit me to teach some evening classes.”
I laughed. “Wendy can be sneaky like that.”
“I can tell,” she replied. “I’m looking forward to next week’s event.”
“I’m glad.” I closed the office door behind her and locked it. “So, would you consider teaching?” I asked as I removed the bag from her shoulder and placed it on the ground before taking her into my arms.
“I’ve never taught a class before, so I have no idea.” I held her close, loving the way we fit together, how soft she felt.
I kissed her forehead. “Did you have a good day at work?”
She slid her arms around my neck. “I did, but the best part was being here and seeing you.” She blushed as she said that, but she still held my gaze.
“Aren’t you sweet.” I kissed her briefly, barely resisting the urge to ravage her on the spot. “It’s the best part of my day, too, having you here.” I nuzzled her cheek and breathed in her scent. “You are tempting, do you know that?” She shook her head. “Well, it’s true.” I kissed her nose. “Are we still on for tonight?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay.” Reluctantly, I stepped out of her arms and went over to my desk. “Let me get my things, and you can follow me home, yeah? Or do you have to go back to the bank first?”
“No, it’s all handled. I’ll change before I come over. What time?” she asked as she picked up bag from the floor.
“Around six?” I grabbed my backpack and cell phone and walked over to the door. “That way, we can get started on a game while waiting for our food order to arrive, and I’ll show you who owns that Scrabble board.”
She scoffed. “In your dreams, buddy.”
“You already are, sweetness,” I said as I unlocked the door, and we exited my office.
She huffed. “Okay, that was good.
I’ll give you that.”
“I know.”
She nudged me as we walked along, and I nudged her back. We bickered back and forth until we made it to the parking lot. “See you in a little while,” I said.
“Bye for now,” she replied, and I watched her walk to her SUV on the other side of the parking lot. So fine.
“That is a good-looking woman,” I heard a female voice say and looked behind me to see Wendy standing there.
“I’m not talking to you,” I said as I unlocked my door.
“And yet, we’re having a conversation,” she replied, grinning. “I like Gabriella, by the way. I think the two of you would be good together, so don’t screw it up.” She winked as she got into her car and sped out of the parking lot.
I shook my head as I started up my truck and headed toward home myself. I didn’t want to screw this up, either.
****
At six o’clock sharp, the doorbell rang.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I said as I let Gabby inside.
“Hi,” she replied, smiling shyly. She wore navy blue jeans and a white sleeveless top that accentuated her flawless skin tone to perfection. I wanted to kiss her all over. Nothing new there.
“Make yourself comfortable on the couch, okay? I’ve pulled out the Scrabble board, and while I call in the order, you can set up the game.”
“Sure.” While she did that, I placed an order for Indian food and was told it would arrive in about forty minutes. After I hung up, I pulled one of the loveseats in front of the couch so I would be across the table from her. “Ready to beaten, Ms. Bank President?”
She glared at me. “You’re not letting that go, are you?”
“Nope.” I grabbed my rack and shook the bag before choosing my letters. “Let the games begin.”
Turned out, we were both cut-throat players, and some of the words she came up with were killer. I mean,
“syzygies?” Really? She was leading by fifty points ten minutes into the game. In the middle of a heated argument over whether “qua” was a word, the food was delivered.
As we set up the food in the kitchen, I asked, “Are you having a good time?”
“I am. This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time, aside from hanging out with my best friends.”
We sat at the kitchen table and dug into our food. There were lots of naans which I loved. “Do you see them often?”
She finished chewing her chicken masala before answering, “We used to have a regular girls’ nights, but then life happened, they got boyfriends and the dynamic changed. I miss them, but I understand.”
“Well, maybe you should reach out, let them know you’re thinking about them.”
“I might, but it’s okay. I get it. I mean, look at what’s happening between us, right?”
“True.” We finished our meal, and I took the chocolate popsicles from the freezer and handed her one while I took the other, and we headed back to our Scrabble game. “Now that I’ve eaten, I’m sure I’ll beat your cute butt. You’d better watch out.”
“Doubtful,” she retorted, and I refused to be distracted by the way she chewed and sucked on her treat while she continued to beat my ass at the game until it was over and I had to concede defeat.
“Okay, that’s never happened to me before.”
“First time for everything, right?” she replied, smiling cheekily before setting up the board again.
We played three more games in which I only managed to win one of them. It was amazing. “Dare I ask how many games of Scrabble you’ve played to get this good?”
“You don’t want to know,” she said.
After we put away the game, I said, “So, I think I need to be mollified for losing so badly. My poor ego may never recover.”
“Aw, what can I do to make you feel better?” she asked, running a hand over my leg.
“I’m sure I’ll think of something.”
Chapter Seven
Gabriella
Turned out, Cameron needed lots of pacifying.
We ended up in his bedroom, both of us naked as I kissed him from head to toe. That wasn’t enough, though, according to him. He needed me to be at his mercy, so I ended up on my back, my hands grasping the headboard where he’d ordered me to put them as he feasted on my breasts. Every time he sucked or bite, I leaked just a little bit more.
“Cameron,” I said, voice husky with desire as I tried to arch into him, but he would move away every time. “I need to feel you. Please?” I begged. Still, he denied me the friction I wanted.
“Not yet,” he murmured as he ran his hands over my skin, leaving soft kisses on my belly, hips, and toes. It wasn’t nearly enough.
When he nibbled his way up my thighs, I was more than ready for more. “Cameron, come on!” I said. “Don’t torture me—oh!”
He suddenly pushed my legs apart and dived into my pussy, his tongue all the way in as he fucked me mercilessly. “Shit!” I said as I helplessly moved against his mouth, my clit so swollen and sensitive that it wasn’t long before I shuddered against him, my hips jerking as he pulled a release from me that was so intense, I almost blacked out. I collapsed against the bed and removed my hands from the headboard, breathing heavily. “You—” But he didn’t let me finish. He rubbed my arms and kissed me, sharing my release and scent and God, it was good.
“I need to fuck you, Gabby,” he said before sucking my tongue, and I felt myself getting aroused again like I couldn’t get enough.
“You can have me any way you want,” I replied, and watched as he pulled away briefly to grab a condom from the bedside table. When he was sheathed and ready, he put my legs over his shoulders and took aim.
“Damn, baby. I’ve been waiting for this forever,” he said as he plunged inside, causing us both to moan at the sensations. It had been a long time since I’d had intercourse, and I felt so full. “Fuck, you’re tight. This will be embarrassingly short,” he said and proceeded to take me like he was on a mission.
“Been watching that ass when you run by me,” he grunted between thrusts. “You have no idea what you do to me in those damn leggings of yours.”
I used my legs to pull him in closer and licked into his mouth. “Probably the same thing you do to me when you run in nothing but shorts. There ought to be a law against that,” I said and kissed him quietly as we moved together, chasing that edge until we found it and went over, mouths open as we groaned through an orgasm that was almost a religious experience.
“Christ, Gabby,” he said as he just lay there for a minute, cock still inside me. “I…it’s never been like this.”
I shook my head. “Me, either.”
He held onto the condom as he pulled out and then removed it and tossed it aside with a splat, collapsing next to me on the bed. “I need to clean us up, but I can’t move. You wore me out, woman.”
“Well, have you been pacified enough, do you think?” I asked, running a hand through his sweaty, disheveled hair.
He smiled and pulled me close. “Ask me again in an hour.”
****
We did eventually clean up by taking a shower together, but we ended up back in bed, and this time, I rode his cock while he told me all the dirty things he wanted to do to me, things I may have teased my friends about in the past but never imagined for myself. It seemed that with Cameron, I was more adventurous and willing to try something new. And when he took me from behind the next morning, his hands in my hair as his cock slammed into me, I fucking loved it.
A few hours later, after breakfast in his kitchen and kisses on his doorstep with lots of tongue, I headed back over to my house to do some chores and some preparation for the Career Day at the college in the coming week. While I worked, it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn’t checked my cell phone for messages. I had left it at the house the night before, not wanting to be disturbed while spending time with Cameron, and I hadn’t thought I’d hear from Dani or Roxy anyway.
When I looked at the screen, I saw that I did, indeed, have messages from my friends in a group text from the night before. I had also missed phone calls from both of them.
Dani: Hey, Gabby, Roxy. Sorry I haven’t been in touch.
Roxy: Hey, guys. I’m sorry, too. Everything okay with you and the boy toy, Dani?
Dani: Oh, hell yeah. You?
Roxy: The same. Gabby, how are things with you?
And when I hadn’t responded…
Dani: Gabby? You there?
Roxy: When was the last time you heard from her, Dani?
Dani: It’s been a while since we’ve connected, which is on me.
Roxy: We’ve been bad besties, haven’t we?
Dani: Maybe we should call?
I checked the numerous voicemails they’d left, smiled at their fake death threats, then texted them both.
Me: Hi, guys. Sorry I missed your texts and calls. No need to panic. I’m fine.
It took about ten minutes before they both responded.
Dani: Gabby! So glad you’re okay!
Roxy: You had us worried for a minute.
Me: I’m fine. Stop worrying. Sounds like life is good for both of you. I’m glad.
Dani: Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that we should neglect our friends, either. Sorry about that.
Roxy: Ditto.
Me: It’s okay, having boyfriends and running a business makes life complicated. And I could have texted, too.
Dani: Still not an excuse. When should we have a girls’ night?
Roxy: Maybe in a couple of weeks? Mason and I are going out of town for a weekend trip next week.
Dani: Two weeks should work. Gabby?
Me: I’ll have my marathon the day before, so it should be fine.
Roxy: Great!
Dani: Perfect. I’ll cook up something awesome.
Me: Everything you make is awesome.
I waited for a beat, then added my bombshell.
Me: I’ll make sure Cameron knows I’m not available for sex for a few hours.
The response was immediate.
Dani: Wait, Cameron? Who the hell is Cameron??
Roxy: Ooh, is this the next-door neighbor?
Me: Have a good weekend, guys!
Dani: Hey, you can’t leave us hanging!
Me: Sure, I can. Gotta go.
Roxy: Damn it, you better have sexy times to share when we meetup.
Dani: What she said!
Me: I’ll think about it. Bye for now, ladies.
Roxy: XOXO
Dani: Kisses!
Chapter Eight
