Janet was nodding her head. “It’s . . . It’s not a small home, is it?” she asked.
And Richard laughed. “No, my darling,” he said. “It’s not a small home.” Then he placed his hand around her waist again. “Come on inside!” he said, and escorted her in.
They entered into a home that Janet could only describe as amazing. “It look as though it’s straight out of a magazine,” she said as she looked at the checkered flooring in marbled tiles. At the double staircase that wind around to meet up with each other downstairs, and move apart from each other upstairs. At the beautiful furnishings and statues and Roman-looking columns. She looked at Richard. “Did you decorated all of this yourself?” she asked him.
“Interior design? Oh, yes! Decorating is my passion.”
Janet was surprised. “Really?”
“Darling, I’m kidding,” Richard said, and Janet laughed.
She playfully hit him. “Not funny,” she said.
“But you’re laughing,” he said, which made her laugh more. He was such a likeable person, she thought. How could everybody she’d ever known refer to him as a vampire? He was nothing of the sort!
Not that she knew him like that. She absolutely did not. But if her impression of him was anything, she’d stand by her belief. He was nothing like that.
But all jokes were cast aside as they made it upstairs to his bedroom. His four-poster bed was so huge that it could not have fit into any room in her house, but she didn’t even bring it up. She was too in her head about what was about to transpire.
And when he handed her one of his big, white dress shirts and told her to make herself at home while he went downstairs to make a few business calls, she did just that. He had clean linen up the gazoo in his massive linen closet and she took advantage of the opportunity by grabbing one and taking a quick shower before getting in his bed.
And when she did get in his bed, wearing his shirt, she inhaled that wonderful scent. His shirt smelled like him. His bed smelled like him. Like that fresh cologne scent, but also with that hint of cigar. It should not have been a wonderful smell, that combination. But because it was Richard’s smell, it was.
And his bed was so comfortable that she felt as if the pillow had swallowed her head first, and rendered her drowsy. She wasn’t drowsy before she laid down. Now she could barely keep her eyes open. It became so bad that, within minutes of laying down, she had fallen asleep.
By the time Richard made it back upstairs, she had been asleep for nearly half an hour.
But instead of being upset when he saw that the object of his desire was asleep, he actually smiled at her. And stood there staring at her. She looked so peaceful in his shirt, and in his bed, that she looked as if she belonged there. She looked as if she should have been there years ago. But that was his shame.
He showered, too, and got in bed beside her.
When he got in bed, it was enough of a disturbance that Janet opened her eyes. When she saw Richard, she smiled. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Richard said, smiling as he placed his head on the pillow beside her. They were both lying on their sides, face to face. “You were fast asleep,” he said.
“Me? No way.”
“Yes way,” Richard said.
Janet smiled. “I couldn’t help it. You have a very comfortable bed.”
“It’s even more comfortable,” he said, pulling her into his arms, “now that you’re in it.”
Janet snuggled closer against him as he held her. And it was only then did she realize he wore no clothes. Not a stitch!
She also realized how good it felt to be against his very firm, very muscular body. And his member was expanding with every beat of her heart.
Richard knew it too. Just being near her was making him rock-hard. He looked into her eyes. And he saw that she was feeling the heat too. And that was all he needed to know.
He pulled her all the way on top of him, wrapped his arms around her, and began kissing her. They kissed with an ease that was so special to Janet. She expected him to go for what he knew. Go rough. But Richard didn’t do that. He was taking his time.
He was also taking his dick and massaging her vagina. He was getting her wet and ready, and reacquainting her with the feel of his thickness again.
But she wasn’t that same twenty-two-year-old girl anymore. “Condom please,” she said to him before things got out of hand.
Richard was surprised. He looked at her.
“And don’t’ remove it this time,” she also said.
Richard was a little hurt by her lack of trust in him. “I told you I’ve never removed a condom with anybody but you.”
But that made no sense to Janet anymore. If he’d been so caught up in the throes of passion that he would remove a condom while being with her, a woman he had no intentions of being with long term, it would stand to reason that he would have removed condoms with other women he’d been with. “I know that’s what you’re telling me,” she said to him.
“You don’t’ believe me?”
“I believe you need to put on a condom,” Janet said with all sincerity, “and keep it on.” She wasn’t going to accidentally become anybody’s baby mama. Nor anybody’s AIDS patient.
Richard stared at her. Boy had she changed since the first time he was with her! But he understood her lack of confidence in him. He was the man who hit and ran on her. He reached into his nightstand drawer, pulled out a condom, and put it on.
At first, he just held her as if he were trying to decide if she was worth the effort. But he looked into her eyes. And those eyes, and her soft, naked body, harkened to him. And he began rubbing her small, tight ass, and his penis began expanding to a degree that it felt as if it was getting away from him. And he was all-in again.
He began kissing her sweetly, at first, and then passionately again. He moved her up slightly, unbuttoned the shirt she wore so that he could have access to her big breasts, and began sucking them as his dick began rubbing against her vagina again.
Janet felt nothing short of elation as Richard rubbed and sucked her. She loved the feeling.
Until he eased his penis inside of her.
She’d forgotten how thick it was.
It was so thick that it hurt her to her core.
It was so thick, and she was so tight, that Richard wasn’t sure if he could contain himself.
And he couldn’t.
Just thinking that it was Janet. Just thinking it was the woman he’d put on a pedestal for all those years broke his well-controlled will power and he rolled with her until she was on her back, and he was on top of her. And then he kissed her hard as he plunge his dick into her with such force of purpose that it caused Janet to lift her midsection up in an effort to force it back out.
But by then Richard had broken through and was moving in further and further. Deeper and deeper. And then he started fucking her with a bed-bouncing fuck. He was moving it in and almost out, and all over again, as the pain continued to sear her. He was breathing so hard, and pumping so fast, that even she knew it was impossible for him to slow it back down. But he fucked her for so long, and with such passion, that the pain became secondary to her pleasure. Until the pain subsided altogether. And she was enjoying having him inside of her, and pleased with his thickness.
They stayed that way for nearly half an hour together. Making long, passionate, pulse-pounding love together. Until Janet couldn’t hold out another second. And her orgasm took over. She felt the sensations up her spine and all over her body. Even her face felt the sensations. And it was even more intense than their first time.
And then Richard couldn’t hold on, either, and he came just as fiercely. He felt those heightened sensations too. And he lifted his upper body, with the palm of his hands holding his muscular body up, and poured out of himself with such ferocity that Janet could see the veins in his forehead. And she came again.
They kept doing each other for several more minutes. Those feelings kept rolling within the
m and they kept rolling with those feelings. Richard was still pumping into her until the very end. Until they both ran out of gas, collapsing onto the bed, from the sheer weight of what they’d done.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
For several minutes afterwards, they laid side by side without saying a word to each other. Richard was still feeling the effects of being with Janet again. It was that same feeling he had the first time he made love to her. That intense feeling of being finally satisfied. After so many tries with so many women, to be perfectly satisfied and perfectly thrilled.
But this time was even more special. This time, for the first time in his life, Richard didn’t feel dirty afterwards. He didn’t feel as if he was playing with somebody’s heart, for his own heart’s desire, simply because he could.
Janet, too, was thinking about the last time they made love. Her first time ever. And with the same man! And it felt great then too. But it was the aftermath that dampened it for her. It was the going to that drugstore. It was the way he hugged her goodbye, knowing he had no intentions of ever seeing her again. It was the pain of not seeing him again. The pain of not being in his arms again. The pain that came after the party, when everybody was gone, and she was alone again.
If her first experience with Richard taught her anything, it taught her never to equate sex with love. It was this time, in the aftermath, after the sex, that she had to guard her heart.
Richard could feel Janet’s openness closing as she laid beside him. And when he looked over at her, and saw that distressful look on her face, he knew why. He knew he needed to reassure her. This time was not going to be like the last time, he had to make certain she understood. There would be no disappearing acts on his part this time.
He found the strength and pulled her on top of him.
Janet smiled when she got on top of him and they were laying stomach to stomach and face to face. It felt as if she was laying on a chunk of steel.
Richard liked that she was looking at him and smiling, for whatever reason. And he smiled too. And rubbed her soft hair. “You’re great in bed,” he said to her.
She laughed. “Sure I am!”
“You are! Just as you were the first time.”
“Now I know you’re lying.”
“But I’m not lying,” Richard said, unable to keep a straight face. “Why would you think I’m lying?”
“How in the world can somebody with zero experience be great in bed? That’s not possible.”
“It is possible.”
“How?”
“Because it’s not about experience,” Richard said, and his smile began to fade. “It’s difficult to describe, but it’s about that feeling you feel being inside somebody, long before you climax, that’s just as electrifying as the climax. I’ve only felt that way precious few times in my life.” He looked at her. “And both times were with you.”
Janet felt her heart melt again when he said those words. He knew what words to say to her. But could she trust him?
She didn’t respond to his flowery words. She just stared at his gorgeous square-jawed face and traced her finger along that jawline. And she laid her head on his chest. She was not going to let her need and inexperience, and his silvery tongue, dictate next steps. Her head, and only her head, was going to do that. She laid her head on his chest, and closed her eyes.
Richard saw that look in her eyes when she was tracing his jawline. He saw that she didn’t believe a word he was saying to her. When he left her six years ago, it had to have hurt her. And he knew, if they were going to try to make this work, and he definitely was going to try, he needed to apologize.
“I should have phoned you, Janet,” he said to her.
Janet opened her eyes but remained as she were.
“I should have told you I was sorry to have taken advantage of you that way, and I should have asked for your forgiveness. I apologize for that.”
Janet hesitated before responding. Mostly because she didn’t know what to say. She had no ready answer for an apology like that.
Then she leaned up and stared into his understanding eyes. And she found the words. “It would be so easy for me to just blame you for everything and accept your apology,” she said to him. “But you really have nothing to apologize for. I was a grown woman who made the decision to do a grown woman thing. You made no commitments to me. You made no promises to me. You just wanted what you wanted that morning, and you took it. But guess what? I wanted what I wanted, and I took it too. Just because you had more experience at taking what you wanted didn’t make me a victim. I was no innocent bystander.”
Richard stared at her. “But you were hurt?”
“I was, yes. Deeply. But that was on me. I was longing for somebody I had no business longing for. You hit and ran. I think you even told me that was what you did with women. So if a woman, namely me, decides to hop in bed with a man who already professed that he likes to hit and run, then that’s on that woman. That was on me. You hit it and you ran. You did what you said you would do. I should have believed you.”
Then she smiled. “But don’t worry. I got over your ass.”
Richard laughed. He really liked this girl! But then his look turned serious again. “Why did you return it, Janet?” he asked her.
Janet knew what he meant. He knew exactly what he was talking about. “I was accused of sleeping my way to that car,” she said. “And that promotion. I couldn’t live in that. That’s why I left the mill. That’s why I returned that Mercedes.”
“And?”
Janet hesitated. Then she told the truth. “And, yes, I think a part of me wanted to get your attention. Maybe if I returned the car you’d see I didn’t want your money or anything like that, and you’d want to be with me. And I know it was foolish thinking. But it was what a twenty-two-year-old girl would think. So, yeah, a part of me was hoping you’d phone. But you never did anyway, so, that was that.”
Richard’s heart melted. And he pulled her tighter into his arms. “I wanted to phone you so many times. I wanted to hop on my plane and come and see about you. But I wasn’t a good guy back then Janet. I was deplorable. You deserved so much better than me.”
“Apparently not, because I didn’t get better,” Janet shot back with what sounded like a twinge of bitterness in her voice. “Better? I didn’t even get average. I didn’t get anything. And I most certainly didn’t get you.”
Richard could hear the emotion in her voice. “I wasn’t ready to have a woman like you,” he said. “I would have used and abused you.”
“And now?” she asked, and looked up at him. “What are you doing with me now? Are you using and abusing me now?”
Richard shook his head. “No. I’ll never do that to you.”
Janet smiled. “Can I take that to the bank?”
“My word? It’s better than money.”
Janet laughed. “We’ll see about that,” she said.
But Richard’s look turned serious again. “You know the one thing I really admired about you the first time I met you?”
Janet looked at him. “What would you have admired about me?” she asked.
“When I came to that boarding house where you were staying?”
“What about it?”
“I loved the way you didn’t make excuses. This was your life, and if I didn’t like it, tough. I knew where the door was.”
Janet smiled. “I’m sure that wasn’t how I viewed it.”
“But what I’m saying is that you didn’t allow me to steal your truth. You didn’t allow me to tear down what you had built up. Were you poor? Yes. Did you want to do better for yourself? Of course you did! But it was what it was at that time, and you made no apologies for what it was. I truly admired that, Janet.”
Janet smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “It’s not everyday somebody says they admire me. Not any day, really,” she added, with a laugh.
But Richard pulled her tighter into his arms. “Just like you got used to that shit the world w
as shoving down your throat,” he said, “you’re going to start getting used to the opposite.”
Janet didn’t know what he meant by that, but it sounded good to her. But she was going to let her head rule this time, and not her heart. “Tell me about you,” she said. “And your family. The famous Shetfields.”
“You mean the infamous Shetfields, don’t you?”
She laughed. “That too, yes,” she said.
Richard exhaled. “There’s my mother and my father, newly divorced and getting on everybody’s nerves. And then there’s my two brothers and me. My brothers and I are very close, and I’m close enough with my mother.”
“And your father?”
“We don’t see eye to eye.”
“Why not?”
“Because I left the family business and went my own way. Because I’m wildly successful with businesses around the world when he only managed to conquer Oklahoma and Texas. Because he’s an asshole whose ass I never kissed.”
“But your brothers kiss it?”
Richard laughed. “Hell no. But he never expected them to.”
“Only you?”
“Only me.”
Janet stared at Richard. “There’s something missing that you aren’t telling me.”
“You mean the part where he’s convinced himself that I’m not his son? That bullshit? It’s not worth bringing up.”
But Janet could see the pain in Richard’s eyes when he brought it up. It might very well be bullshit, as he put it, but he had been harmed by it.
But Richard, being Richard, wasn’t going to let that get him down. He placed his hand on the side of her face. “Don’t you cry for me, Argentina, either,” he said, and Janet laughed. Then he exhaled. “I’m good, Janet. I need no-one’s sympathy.”
Janet liked his spirit too. “Here here,” she said.
But then, suddenly, something shifted between them. For several seconds they stared into each other’s eyes as if they were seeing each other in a completely new light. Janet saw that Richard could make a great husband for her. Richard saw that Janet could make a magnificent wife for him. And a great mother for their future children. And it was a jarring realization for both of them. It was so jarring, and so alarming, that they both looked away.
Plain Jane Evans and the Billionaire Page 13
