Paper Dolls

by Sienna Mynx

  Valentina went inside and to the bathroom. She opened the door and saw Zephyr at the sink crying. “Baby girl, I’m a bitch you know that. I love you, Zee. I just don’t know when to shut the hell up sometimes.”

  “It’s okay,” Zephyr shrugged.

  “Nope. It’s not. I’m always stomping around here reminding you guys of what friendship is about, and I act selfish and mean. You are my best friend. Hell you and Rae are my only friends. If I lost either of you I don’t know what I’d do. Sometimes it’s just easier to hurt the people you love. I guess for me it’s a nasty habit. I sure as hell wish it wasn’t.”

  Zephyr smiled. She walked over to Valentina and hugged her.

  “Are we okay?” They heard Raven yell from the patio. They joined her. Zephyr went to Raven and hugged and kissed her cheek.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult your mother,” Zephyr said.

  “Girl, whatever, Margene would have got a good laugh at that,” Raven said referencing her mother.

  “Well since we are talking about strangeness I got something strange to share.” Valentina picked up her wine.

  “What?” Zephyr asked.

  “Matt. He’s dating,” Valentina said.

  Raven and Zephyr frowned. Valentina drank her wine and looked over at them. “What’s that look for?” she asked.

  “And?” Zephyr asked.

  “He’s dating some skank,” Valentina said.

  “How the hell is that strange?” Raven asked.

  “Cause, he…well…he’s just really committed to the music. So, I mean he doesn’t really date. Now he is.”

  “Wait? It bothers you that Matt is dating?” Zephyr asked. Her eyes stretched.

  “NO! Nooooo! Of course not!”

  “It does. Look at her, Rae, she’s blushing.” Zephyr teased.

  Valentina narrowed her eyes on Zephyr. “I am not!”

  “You got a thing for Matt?” Raven frowned.

  “No! Would you two stop it?” Valentina said. They both laughed and Valentina fumed. She slammed her wine glass back down. “I do not like Matt! He’s my best friend.”

  “What does Assault Rifle say about Matt dating?” Zephyr giggled.

  “AK! His name is AK-47!” Valentina said to Zephyr.

  “That’s what I said. Mr. Assault Rifle.”

  Raven laughed. She puffed out her chest. “He’s gonna pop a cap in his ass, dat’s what!” she said and threw up a gang sign.

  Zephyr roared with laughter, and Valentina was forced to smile. “I hate you bitches. Leave my man alone. He’s no gangsta wannabe, trust me.”

  They couldn’t stop laughing.

  “Okay, Rae, what’s with the nappy do? Driving in that vert you let the rain catch you?” Zephyr asked.

  Raven looked up. The half moon disappeared behind a moving cloud. “It should be a full moon tonight. Cause I swear there is something strange in the cosmos.”

  “Out with it,” Valentina said. Raven sensed she was eager to turn the conversation away from Matt.

  “Kevin kissed me, and Alexander is not leaving town until we make up,” Raven blurted. Silence fell over them. No one spoke. Nothing could be heard but the soft whine of the wind. Raven picked up a sushi roll and popped it in her mouth.

  “Say that again?” Zephyr managed.

  “Alexander is insisting on us talking again, he thinks we can—”

  “No way, girlfriend.” Valentina chirped. “Back that thang up to where you said you kissed Ace.”

  “He kissed me.” Raven quickly corrected.

  “Ace did this?” Zephyr frowned. “Ace from the agency? What is he 22?”

  “He’s 25.” Raven said quickly.

  “He’s cute.” Valentina shrugged. “But not your type, Rae.”

  “Wait, I didn’t say I condoned it. He just sprung it on me,” Raven said.

  “Eeeew! Why are you two kissing?” Zephyr frowned.

  “What’s wrong with that?” Valentina asked.

  “She loves Alexander, that’s what’s wrong.”

  “Oh good gravy, girl!” Raven sighed.

  Valentina rolled her eyes. “I’m just going to shut up.”

  “Listen, it was nothing. We work together. He has a crush, but I let him know I’m not interested.” Raven said. “End of story.”

  “If it means you can get rid of Alexander, then get interested.” Valentina mumbled.

  “I thought you weren’t going to say anything.” Zephyr frowned.

  “It happened and it’s over,” Raven said.

  Zephyr laughed. They both looked at her curiously, and she shook her head. “Look at us. I got a new neighbor, you got the hots for your record producer—”

  “I do not!” Valentina shouted.

  “And Rae is getting her freak on with her stud employee,” Zephyr continued.

  “No I am not!” Rae snapped.

  Zephyr laughed. She picked up the wine, taking another sip. “I’d say we deserve each other.”

  Valentina stewed over the implication that she liked Matt. Raven tried to make sense of Kevin, and Zephyr sat there wondering if a pair of pumps and a plate of latkes would rock her world. They ate and laughed at the latest Tyler Perry movie. Raven was actually sad to see her friends leave. She did feel recharged from their visit. They had a way of doing that. Soon after she cleaned the kitchen her phone rang. It was near midnight.

  “Hello?”

  “Ms. Katz, I’m sorry to ring you so late. But, uh, we have a situation.”

  “What is it?”

  “A delivery ma’am, flowers.”

  “Oh? Okay… send them up.”

  “But—”

  Raven yawned. “Just send them up. No problem.” She hung up the phone. She knew Alex’s style. He’d send her a few late night vases of calla lilies so she could go to bed thinking of him. The thing was she couldn’t help but think about him. Constantly. Soon as she finished the last of her cleaning the doorbell rang. She walked out of the kitchen to the door. It took a moment before she opened it, but she did and smiled. The delivery man was accompanied by six more. Raven stepped back shocked.

  “Ms. Katz? We have a delivery for you.”

  “Ah… bring them in,” she stammered.

  The men dragged in their haul. Vases of pink roses, there had to be at least fifty vases of roses. She’d never seen so many. They started setting them everywhere they could find, even some on the floor.

  “What the hell is this?” Raven asked.

  “Ma’am, please sign here.”

  Raven signed for the delivery and accepted the card. Her doorman had come up with the deliverymen to make sure everything was okay. He gave her a sly smile and left with them. Raven could barely step through her place without having to be careful not to knock a vase over.

  “Alex! What the hell have you done?” she asked. She opened the envelope and pulled out the hand written message.

  Beautiful,

  Only in Miami can I find a florist willing to make a midnight call. Please accept my deepest apology for today. I’m not sorry for my actions, but I regret making you doubt my intentions. Sleep well.

  Ace

  Raven blinked at the letter. Stunned. She looked around at all the flowers and couldn’t contain her smile. She knelt before a vase of roses and picked one. The thorn pricked her fingers. She didn’t mind. With love there was always pain. And from this gift she could see Kevin, finally. He was a man worth knowing.

  The Ritz –

  Alex couldn’t sleep. He had hoped that she’d call him by the evening. When she didn’t he moved to plan B. He didn’t want to introduce chaos into her business, their business. A desperate man did desperate things.

  He walked out of his bedroom to the open suite connected to it. He sat on the sofa and reclined. He glanced to his cell phone and then his gaze slipped away. He had to wait. And waiting was the worst part. So he closed his eyes and remembered better times. The best times he shared with her, like their first kiss.
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  August 2009 – The Pearl/Alexander Katz yacht.

  Once a year Alex took his top executives sailing on his yacht. It was big enough to sleep twelve comfortably, including his staff. They sailed to Nassau and back with plenty of drinking and partying. This year he made sure Raven was on the invite. She arrived with a girl from his office. She wore a tangerine bikini. The sheer sarong tied at her waist still gave him a tasteful hint of her curves. Her body was beautiful. Her hair was in long thin braids and swept up into a ponytail.

  He watched as she mingled, sipped her martini and avoided his stare. No matter how often he caught her shy glances, nothing, not even a smile from him, could draw her closer. It only made him want her more.

  “Mr. Katz, should we serve lunch now?” Maria asked.

  Before he answered he saw Raven head toward the back cabins on the ocean liner. He smiled to himself. She had to be headed to the bathroom. “Yes, serve lunch,” he said.

  Alex followed her. To his relief no one was in the cabins. Everyone was on the tri-deck levels dancing and celebrating. She was his. He heard the flush of a toilet and listened as she washed her hands. Then the door opened. She raised her eyes to find him waiting

  “Oh! Hi, Mr. Katz.” she said genuinely surprised.

  He blocked the narrow doorway. She stepped back. The beginnings of a smile tipped the corners of her mouth.

  “Having a nice time?” he asked.

  “Yes. I… yes, I’m having fun,” she said. “Thank you for inviting me.”

  “You’ve impressed me since you agreed to come work for Katz. Consider it my way of saying thank you,” he said.

  Raven shook her head and smiled. She crossed her arms. “I’ve impressed you huh? You’re taken with my talents. Or is it my orange bikini?”

  Surprised by her candor Alexander’s brows winged up. She lowered her arms and he could not deny himself the pleasure of her breasts. He’d paid for and seen many fake breasts. Raven was all-natural. They heaved lovely up over her flat tummy. “I see the way you look at me, Mr. Katz. I think it’s inappropriate. Like now,” she said.

  His gaze lifted to hers.

  “Even if I were interested in… ah, you, I work for you. It’s inappropriate.”

  “Then you’re fired.” He stepped into the bathroom and closed the door. She looked surprised. Her eyes stretched. Her mouth gaped. “Now that’s out of the way. Have dinner with me. Anywhere you want. Ever been to Israel? Beautiful country. How about Dubai? We can go there and sail over crystal blue waters…”

  “Fired? Did you just fire me?” she dropped her hands to her hips.

  Alex chuckled. “You said it was inappropriate, my attraction to you.”

  “So you’re not going to deny it!” she pointed an accusatory finger. “The only reason you hired me in the first place was to get me in bed!”

  Alex shook his head. “Do I look that desperate to you?”

  “You’re some old creeper dude, trying to take advantage of my innocence,” she said and couldn’t hide her smile.

  He laughed. “I’m only ten years older than you. And you are far from innocent. Now. Back to my invitation. Dinner?”

  “If I agree will you give me my job back?” she asked. She stepped so close her lovely breasts nearly brushed his chest.

  “With a twenty percent raise,” he teased her.

  The sweet sexy tilt to her lush lips faded. Her eyes narrowed on him. “You can go to hell. I knew this was a scam. And I won’t screw you to be one of those bimbo executives you have running your record label. You didn’t fire me, Mr. Katz. I quit.”

  It was now Alexander who frowned. Somehow his teasing game had turned terribly wrong. She looked like she wanted to slap his face.

  “Get out of my way!” she shoved him aside and went to the door. She stopped. “Oh, and good luck keeping Valentina signed with Katz. I walk and she does too.”

  Alex grabbed her. His reach was enough thanks to the crowded space. Surprised she thought he was trying to attack her. He wasn’t. He just couldn’t let her escape.

  “Let me go!” she hit at him.

  “I’m sorry, Raven… I only thought… I didn’t mean to insult you. I’m sorry, love. Forgive me.”

  “Get your hands off me!” she demanded.

  He did as she asked.

  “I was out of line. Forgive me. Don’t quit. I swear to you, I won’t make a pass at you again. Okay?” he asked.

  She glared at him. Alexander sighed. “I’m an ass. I shouldn’t have—”

  Raven came to him. She grabbed his face and pulled it down to hers. To his surprise she kissed him. Her tongue thrust against his, her curves pressed up against him. He put her up against the sink and relished everything about the kiss. But even more he wanted to fuck her. Right there and then. He touched between her thighs and she stiffed, only temporarily. He could tell she was still tense. After all he was her boss. He dragged his lips from her mouth to her neck with her seated on the sink and her legs spread wide apart. He stroked her pussy, having moved aside the seat of her bikini. She grabbed his hand just before he slipped a finger inside of her.

  “Mr. Katz, please don’t. I can’t have sex with you,” she said in a soft voice.

  He stopped himself. He looked into her eyes and he saw fear. Was he coming on too strong? How old was she? Tweny-two, twenty-three? He was going too fast.

  “I don’t want to have sex in a bathroom,” she said shyly. “I... ah…”

  He kissed her lips. And she silenced. “We won’t have sex. But you’ve let me touch it, now let me taste it.”

  The air in her lungs escaped her parted lips in between shallow pants. She nodded for him slowly. Alex smiled. He went between her thighs and brought her ass to the edge of the sink. He untied her sarong. His eyes never left hers. He then dragged down her bikini bottom and pulled the thin pair off her legs and feet. The shyness wasn’t an act. His beauty closed her eyes. Her chest heaved and fell after each shallow breath she took. He hadn’t touched her yet. It was the kind of tease he’d missed from the women who shared his life. Raven was different. He wasn’t quite sure why, but he sensed it.

  Alex buried his face and mouth between her thighs. Both of her legs dropped over his shoulders. He held her hips and licked her pussy. His lips sealed on her clit and he suckled it. The moan of pleasure that escaped him was the sweetest sound he’d heard. He sucked harder on her sensitive swelling bud. This time he used the tip of his tongue to tease the spot under the hood of her clit. He teased it and drove her cries up an octave. Damn. She had a pretty pussy. It was fragrant, plump, and delicious. His eyes rolled into his head. His lovely put her hand to the back of his head and began to thrust her pelvis. He could tell she was close. And he’d only begun. Did she say he couldn’t fuck her? Not yet? He’d have a hard-on all day. And then she released. She nearly screamed as it caught her by surprise. He drew back and looked up at her curiously. She was shaking.

  “Ah… sorry, I ah…”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, I just… you, it felt good,” she gave him a sheepish smile.

  What was she hiding from him? He narrowed his eyes on her. He was good, but not that good. He could eat her pussy for the next hour and doubted he could drive her to such heights, until now. A few licks and she was there? She eased off the sink and was quick to tidy up. “Mr. Katz, this can’t happen again, sir.”

  “Cut the bullshit, Raven. Call me Alex.”

  She glanced back at him as she tied her sarong. “I like you, Alex. I do. But I like my job. I don’t think we should go any further.”

  “Too late, love, we’ve already crossed that line,” he told her. “Don’t think for a minute I don’t want more.”

  She glanced down at his erection. She turned and faced him. “It was… my first kiss, on a… on a boat.”

  “I can give you another,” he said. He took a step toward her, but she held him off with her hand. Not forcefully, but her hand was against his chest.


  “My answer is yes. I’ll have dinner with you. Give you a chance to get to know me. Okay?”

  “It’s all I want,” he smiled.

  Raven chuckled. “I doubt that.”

  He took her hand from his chest and lifted it to his mouth. He kissed her knuckles. “You’ve just made me a happy man. Promise me we’ll finish what we started earlier.”

  “You have to earn it,” she said. She rose on her toes and kissed his chin. “We’ll see.”

  Chapter Seven

  My Husband / My Wife

  It was morning. Instead of sleeping in bed Alexander had managed to sleep sitting upright on the sofa. A bad habit he formed after his divorce. He hated sleeping alone, it only made him miss his wife more. The cell phone on the coffee table rang. He sat forward on his sofa and reached for it. “Alex speaking.”

  “Hi, Alex,” she said.

  “I’ve been waiting all night for your call,” he said.

  “I know. I, uh, I know. I think we should talk,” she said. “I can’t tonight. Can we meet tomorrow? I’ll come to you. Okay?”

  “I’m here, love. Waiting,” he smiled.

  “Good night,” she said.

  “Good night.” He let her go. Raven accused him of not putting up much of a fight in the divorce. She was right. But he wasn’t going to make that mistake again. She wanted him to fight for her? He was ready.

  **

  “Morning?” Kevin said.

  She looked up from her typing and he walked in. Raven had arrived to the office to find a vase of pink roses waiting on her desk. And Kevin revealed the one he kept hidden behind his back.

  “You know there is such a thing as overkill,” she laughed. She accepted the rose.

  “You didn’t like my gift?” he asked.

  “Oh I don’t know, fifty vases filled with roses delivered to my doorstep after midnight. Quite original, and romantic.” She put the flower down.

  “Then have dinner with me. Let me cook for you,” he asked.

  “Kevin…”

  “Raven, we’ve known each other for over a year, and you’ve never let me cook for you. I’m a master chef, sweetheart.”