Sam frowned at Brooke and mouthed, “Tim?”
Brooke giggled silently and shifted her weight on my lap, then leaned in and kissed behind my ear.
Her warm breath sent an electric jolt down my spine and my cock reacted, twitching and coming alive in my jeans. “It’s a good time. What’s up?”
On my other side, Sam snuggled in tight and slid her hand up my shirt, tracing my abs with her fingertips while she leaned in and kissed along my jawline. With both of them on me, I could barely focus on Bella.
“The other night after we chatted, I hoped I would hear from you. Have you thought about collaborating?” Bella asked.
“I have,” I said. “Actually, I planned to call you and set up a time to meet.”
Brooke unfastened the button on my jeans and slid her hand inside my pants, squeezing my thickening cock outside my briefs. Her tongue slithered inside my ear and her warm breath split me open like a pinata.
“I want you inside me,” Brooke whispered before she sucked my earlobe between her lips.
My cock throbbed to hardness, and my heart slammed my ribcage.
Sam inched her way around until we came face to face and kissed me on the lips, slipping her tongue inside my mouth until our tongues lashed together. She traced her way over my nipple and circled my areola while my cock twitched under Brooke’s gentle squeeze.
There was a long period of silence on the phone before Bella spoke again. “Rumor has it you’re going to Peter Patlee’s party tomorrow night.”
Sam and Brooke froze, then stopped their kissing and turned around to face the phone. They exchanged a worried look, and I glanced between them, thankful for the sexual respite.
“How did you hear that?” I asked.
“I’d rather not say over the phone,” Bella said. “Can we meet?”
“Sure,” I said. “When?”
“How about this evening at my house,” she said. “I can make us dinner like old times.”
Sam stared at me with her hand up my shirt and Brooke did the same with her fingers circling my stiff cock.
“Hold on a second,” I said and put the phone on mute.
“What are you waiting for?” Sam asked. “Tell her yes.”
“I want to know how she found out you’re going to the party,” Brooke said. “I agree with Sam. We can play later. Tell her you’ll meet her.”
“You’re sure?” I asked. “Neither of you mind if I have dinner with an extremely attractive woman from my past?”
“You never know. Maybe she’s into harems,” Sam said.
“We don’t mind,” Brooke said. “Answer her.”
I un-muted the phone. “Sounds good,” I said. “What time should I be there?”
Chapter 10
Bella lived in an old 1950s two-bedroom bungalow a few blocks up from the beach and about a ten-minute drive from the marina. She inherited the place from her parents, and it was now worth a small fortune. But for sentimental reasons, not to mention its great location, she never sold. Years ago, I had been a frequent, almost daily, visitor.
Bella loved cooking and invited me to dinner often. I had also crashed on her couch more times than I could count after all-nighters out at the clubs during our roaring twenties.
With a bottle of Cabernet in hand, I ran from my truck through rain and leaped onto Bella’s front porch. I swept back my rain-slicked hair and knocked on Bella’s door.
A few seconds later, the door opened, and it felt like I had stepped back in time.
Bella stood before me wearing a pink angora cardigan with a V-shaped neckline. Her creamy cleavage sprouted from the top and her tits filled the front even better than I remembered. Her blue eyes sparkled in the warm light seeping from her bungalow, and her dark vibrant hair tumbled over her shoulders in rich, silky waves. Bella’s porcelain complexion was even more smooth and flawless than the night I saw her at the Parrot and her hourglass hips expanded deliciously in a pair of faded blue jeans. She wore diamond studded earrings and a gold chain hung around her neck ending in a cross I knew her mother had left her.
The delicious scent of lasagna floated from the house along with Frank Sinatra tunes playing on what sounded like her old record player. A well of memories I had shuttered away flowed up from my subconscious and my heart ached for what we almost had. I could almost taste the chianti and here Bella’s sweet laughter stretched out across the years. We shared so many good memories until we went and fucked it all up.
“If I had known how much I missed coming here, I never would have blown us apart.” I held up the wine bottle. “It’s good to be back here, Bell. I come in peace.”
“Oh, I think I deserve most of the blame for what happened between us. I was the one of us who was engaged, not you.” Bella’s eyes softened, and she smiled, flashing me those gorgeous dimples I’d nearly forgotten. “You haven’t changed a bit,” she said. “Come on in, Tim.” She stood aside aside and held open her screen door. “It’s pouring out there.”
I hustled inside, away from the rainstorm, and stopped in her entryway while I drank in her decor.
The room was a modern 1950s retro with sleek designs and flares of art déco sprinkled throughout. Modern prints, alive with colors, hung from her walls. A leather sofa, that looked more fashionable than comfortable, sat before an early Elvis era coffee table, and a modern flat screen TV. The record player was right where she left it, sitting atop a short bookcase, with the words Hi-Fi emblazoned on the front. The place had a vibrant, koolcat vibe and I half-expected the rat pack to emerge from the kitchen. Every time I came here, I never wanted to leave.
“Man, you have the coolest stuff,” I said, looking around. “Where do you find all this stuff?”
“Thanks. You know how much I love the era. I find it here and there. It adds up.” She closed the door behind her and turned back to face me.
I held out the bottle of cabernet. “I remember how much you love the Duckhorn.”
Her eyes lit up, and she took the bottle, examining the label. “You remembered. I’m impressed. Let’s open it up to breathe. Follow me back to the kitchen.”
I walked behind her through the house, watching her ass sway from side to side. Her body was as curvy and dangerous as a black diamond slope in Breckenridge. It took an expert to navigate her hourglass frame without making a fool of yourself. I had that chance once before and had failed miserably. Drunk sex wasn’t how I had envisioned our first time, which was why it was also the last time. “Is that lasagna I smell?”
Bella walked into the kitchen, which was the most modern part of her house with glossy, white marble counters and high-end stainless steel appliances, including a chef’s gas oven and stove. “I remember how much you used to enjoy it,” she said as she set the bottle down on the counter.
“Nobody cooks like you,” I said and breathed in the rich aroma until my stomach growled. “I can’t wait to taste it.”
“Have a seat,” she said. “I still need to whip up the salad.” She pulled out two wineglasses and a wine opener.
“Here, let me open the wine,” I said.
Her blue eyes met mine, and my stomach nosedived. “Just like old times,” she said, smiling sweetly.
My heart raced as I stepped up behind her and took the opener. “Except we would drink a half-dozen bottles between us.”
She stepped aside and made her way to the fridge. “I used to get the worst hangovers during our all-night wine sessions.”
I worked the wine opener until the cork came free. “God, I miss this. Can we go back to being friends?”
“I would love that,” Bella said as she came away from the fridge with a bowl filled with salad. “Didn’t you get the hint when I showed up at the Parrot?”
“I wondered if you had any ulterior motives,” I said. “You were always hell bent on finding that treasure with or without Butch and I.”
She grabbed the salad tongs and fluffed a salad that already looked perfect. “There’s so much I’ve l
earned about that damn treasure since the good old days.”
“Before we talk shop, let’s taste this wine and have some of that delicious lasagna. What we found on the Lady Dancer isn’t going anywhere.”
Her eyes lit up, and she stopped tossing the salad to stare at me. “The rumors are true?”
“Yes,” I said. “More wine. Less shop talk.”
Bella smiled and let out a held breath. “Tim….” She licked her lips and her eyes screamed she wanted to say more.
I held her gaze for a pregnant heartbeat and started to say something when she finally spit it out.
“Honestly, I don’t care about the treasure. Not anymore.”
“Excuse me?”
Her eyes welled with tears. “I miss you so much.” Her chin quivered. “More than you know.”
“Hey, Bell. What’s going on?” I stepped up to her and opened my arms.
Bella melted into me. She sobbed into my chest and wrapped her arms tight around my back, squeezing me like her life depended on it. “I’m so lost.”
She trembled in my arms, and I stroked her hair before gently kissing the top of her head. “I’m not going anywhere,” I whispered. “Take your time.”
She sobbed into my chest, crying so hard her breath caught in her throat. “I was so stupid to push you away.” She dug her fingers into my shoulders and buried her head deeper into my chest.
“We can fix it,” I whispered. “It’s okay.”
While she wept, I held her until the raw emotion faded and she calmed down enough to step back and dab her eyes with the sleeves of her sweater.
“You probably think I’ve lost my mind,” she said as she reached for a paper towel.
“Has anyone hurt you,” I asked?
She shook her head. “No. Not physically. It’s just….” She shrugged. “I meet so many people who are all about what they can get from who. It’s demoralizing. Especially in my profession.”
Bella was a lawyer, and I didn’t blame her. “You know the boat’s always open to you. I’m parked in the same slip and the beer is just as cold as it ever was.
A smile flickered across Bella’s face. “Sometimes I wonder if love is real or if it’s just something people make up to convince themselves their happy.”
Ouch. “It’s real,” I said. “You’re too young to be so cynical.”
She dabbed at her eyes with the paper towel and let out a deep breath. “Fuck letting the wine breathe. I need a glass.”
I chuckled and turned back to the counter, pouring us two glasses of wine before I handed one to Bella.
She emptied half her glass in a single swallow.
“Easy does it,” I said. “You remember what happened the last time we got drunk together.” I took a drink, savoring the taste of the alcohol on my tongue.
She stared at me over the rim of her glass and swirled the red wine. “Do you want to know the truth about that night? I mean the raw and brutal truth?”
Adrenaline rushed through me and my face buzzed as the alcohol hit my bloodstream. “I thought I knew.”
She smiled. “Do you remember the sex?”
“How could I forget? It was… legendary. I felt… well, I was into you.”
Bella searched my face with her bright blue eyes. “Tim, I wasn’t drunk the night we had sex.”
My jaw dropped. “You said….”
“I quit drinking over four hours earlier, and I had maybe three glasses of wine during that entire party.”
“I thought I was the only one sober,” I said. “Which is why I felt so guilty. I thought I took advantage of you.”
“When we up woke the next morning… afterward I mean. I got scared and bailed,” she said. “What scared me wasn’t that I cheated on Luke. What scared me was the intensity of the emotions I experienced being with you. That emotion was unlike anything I had felt before or since. Even before the party started, I set out that night to have sex with you. I wanted you and I got you. What I didn’t expect was the intensity of our connection. I never came close to anything like that with Luke.”
A raw mix of anger and relief flooded through me all at once. “Why didn’t you tell me? I’ve spent years thinking I did something wrong.”
“We were young,” she said. “I didn’t know what I had with you. It scared me like nothing before or since. Those feelings ruined what I had with Luke. I woke up the next morning a hundred percent sure I didn’t love him.”
“So you ended things with him,” I said.
“For a while, I kidded myself. I pretended I could create that same feeling with Luke. After all, he had spent years chasing me. I felt like I owed him the chance.”
“Did you tell him about me? About us, I mean.”
“No,” she said. “What I experienced with you was too precious to share. Coming clean with Luke would be like admitting I was ashamed of what you and I did. I wasn’t ashamed. It changed me. Not the sex itself, but the connection I felt to you. God, it was so brutally raw.”
“Bella, why in the world did you wait so long to tell me? You called off your engagement years ago.”
“That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it?” She downed another huge drink and stared at me for a long time. “Tim, I’m afraid of you.”
“What? Bell, I was in love with you.”
“I know you were.” She stared into her wineglass as if searching for the right words. “I’m afraid to lose myself in you. It sounds crazy, but if I ever connect with you that way again, I’m not sure I can get all of me back.”
“That’s a lot to unpack.” I took another big swallow and emptied my glass. “Yet, here I am, standing with you in your kitchen after you reached out to me twice. Did you reconsider?”
The oven timer beeped and Bella nearly jumped from where she leaned against the sink. “Shit. I almost forgot about the lasagna.”
She pulled open the oven, threw on her oven mitts, and brought out the lasagna that looked every bit as good as I remember. My stomach growled and my mouth watered. “Okay. That smells ridiculously good.”
Bella laughed and set the pan down on the stovetop. “You always were a sucker for my lasagna. It was my mom’s recipe.”
I came up behind her, placed my hands on her arms, and gazed over her shoulder. “Your mom would be proud of you.”
She relaxed under my touch and leaned back against me, resting against my chest. “You feel awfully good, standing there behind me.”
I leaned in, kissed her softly on the cheek, and whispered. “Bell, I promise I won’t hurt you.”
Bella tossed her oven mitts on the counter and turned around before she wrapped her arms around me. “How can I trust that?”
“Give me a chance,” I said.
She gazed up at me as if wanting nothing more than to hand herself over to me. “That’s why you’re here.” She perched on her tiptoes and kissed me softly on the lips. “Let’s eat.”
Bella and I ate dinner around her cozy little kitchen table, chatting and laughing like old times. Our first bottle of wine led into our second and without the dinner, we both would have been beyond buzzed. After we finished eating, I helped with the dishes and she put away the leftovers before we took our wineglasses and what remained of our bottle into the family room. She put on some soft jazz, and we nestled side by side on her leather couch.
First Wife Club Page 10
