“I don’t know that I’d say I grew up here. My folks had several…we uh, moved around a lot. I’m sure it wasn’t much different than your childhood, although I admit I’ve never gone hungry.”
On another night he told her about his dream home, set on a mountain near Vail, Colorado. She laughed when he described it as if it really existed.
“It’s got one of those peaked roofs that’s got to be at least twenty feet high, the whole thing just…windows. A huge cedar deck in the back that looks out over the ski runs.”
“It sounds wonderful, like you’ve got it all planned out. When are you going to get started?”
He just laughed in answer.
“Where are you living now? Is it a nice place with windows?”
“Oh no you don’t. I invited you over once, you turned me down. Now I have a complex.”
“Do you live in a van by the river?” She tried to picture his bachelor pad…man cave…was he a neat person, or was there dirty laundry strewn across his unmade bed?
“I’m not telling. Maybe if you’re good while I’m away, I’ll invite you again.” Before she could question him further, he changed the subject. “What are you wearing?”
During the day, she’d be surprised by seemingly innocent text messages or emails. Near the end of the second week, she showed Lottie the email he’d sent from his Smartphone that made her feel like a silly child and a sexy woman at the same time.
I’m in the cab this morning, on my way to that stupid seminar I was telling you about, and thinking of you. Not because of the dirty messages I keep getting from you, though I appreciate each one, but because the driver of this cab has a throaty voice, and I imagined someone like him giving you a thrill over the phone. gtg, ttyl.
“You’ll see him tomorrow, can’t you wait that long?” Lottie ruffled Maureen’s hair.
“Not tomorrow, Saturday,” Maureen corrected.
Lottie’s smile faltered, but she covered it quickly. “Oh, Saturday, that’s right.” She tried to sail from the room, but Maureen caught her by the arm.
“Aunt Lottie, you’ve been acting weird all week. What are you up to?”
“What do you mean?” Her eyes were wide with affected innocence.
“Do you know something I don’t? Is Nick coming back tomorrow to surprise me?” She hoped so, yet she hoped not. She couldn’t wait to see him, but she didn’t want to see him until after her Friday night with a stranger.
“I know you’re worried about seeing him before Friday’s project, and as far as I know you won’t.”
“Oh.” Maureen couldn’t hide her disappointment. But I didn’t want to see him before Friday anyway.
Two more days, and she could once again disappear into society. A month from now, no one would remember Reenie O’Hara, and Maureen Sullivan would be an inconspicuous florist.
That night, Maureen lay in her bed, staring at her phone, waiting for it to ring. Finally, at seven on the dot—as usual—it buzzed to life.
“Hello?”
“Remember me?”
She laughed, and collapsed onto her pillows. “Is this the Russian martial artist I seduced last night at Circus Circus?”
“You what?”
She loved his rich laughter. The way it reached inside her and tickled her, making her return his levity. “Well, you aren’t here…”
“I’ll be there. Don’t forget lunch on Saturday.”
“How could I forget? I can’t wait to see you,” she said in a low voice.
“Ah, baby. I didn’t think I’d miss you this much.”
“You haven’t found a hot young replacement in Boston?”
“I want to wait for you, Maureen. I’ll be there to—soon.”
“Too soon? What do you mean by that?”
“No, not soon enough. Now, tell me what you’re wearing.” His no nonsense personality excited her. She imagined him at work, ordering his subordinates around.
“I can’t.” She pulled the sheet to her chin.
“Why?” he whined adorably.
“Because I’m not wearing anything.”
“Ah, baby that’s nice. Are you lying down?”
“Mm hm.”
“Touch those beautiful breasts for me, tell me how it feels.” His voice was hoarse, and she heard sounds of his clothing being removed.
“It feels…good. My nipples are hard.” She tweaked one, and a jolt went through her. “I want to feel your mouth on them. I want you to pull them with your teeth.”
“I’ll suck them hard. I’ll flick my tongue against each of them while you…oh God, touch your pussy, tell me if it’s wet.”
She sucked a breath in at the first contact with her cool fingers. “Yes.”
“Dip a finger in for me. Since I can’t be there to pleasure you, tell me all about it, darlin’.”
“Your thumb would feel so good right…here…against my clit.” A shudder went through her, from her scalp to her toes. “And two fingers sliding up my wet lips.”
“Jesus, Maureen. You make me so hard.” His breathing gusted erratically. “The thought of those sweet lips lapping against my cock…” He groaned painfully.
“And my mouth?”
“God yes, your beautiful mouth. I constantly think about that kiss. You taste so good…so sweet.”
“I want to taste you.” She didn’t know where this bold streak came from. She’d never been this way with another man. It might have something to do with the physical distance, it was safe to talk this way to a man who was thousands of miles away, wasn’t it?
“Oh, baby. You’re killing me. Are you rubbing that clit?”
“Ahh, yes.” They didn’t speak again for long moments, she heard his breath, and movement over the phone. The realization of what he was doing on the other end made her shudder with desire.
He groaned; his breathing turned quick and sharp. “I’m close…let me hear you come.”
Maureen whimpered. His low voice in her ear sent an electric shock to her pussy. Her body almost jumped off the bed. She laid the phone on the pillow near her ear, and brought both hands to her wet entrance. She bucked against her hand, but put only gentle pressure on the hard nub. She called his name just as the wave hit her, and then she couldn’t think. She’d all but blacked out; the rolling motion rippled through her, then spiraled in to burst like a bubbling pot of thick cream in her womb.
She released a shuddering breath along with a mewing sound which she’d never heard before.
“Fuck,” Nick said sharply, his breath came loud through the phone, and then a feral groan. She was still enjoying her last few contractions when he finally spoke again. “Maureen, as good as it is thousands of miles away, I just know it’s going to be mind-blowing when I finally get you naked with me.”
“Hmm.” Her energy was zapped.
It wasn’t until he grumbled, “I made a mess,” that she was able to laugh. But it was cut short when he said, “I won’t be able to call you tomorrow. I’ve got that awards dinner.”
Irrationally, her first thought was that it was a date with another woman. She couldn’t believe how much that bothered her, but it was absurd. For one thing they’d only seen each other one time, and for a very few hours. For another thing, she herself was planning on a tryst with another man in two days. “Maybe Friday morning?” Could she survive a day without talking to him?
“Probably not, baby, but I’ll talk to you Friday night at the usual time.”
“I…won’t be available Friday night.”
“Why not? Do you have a date?” He teased.
Her throat tightened painfully; would he ever forgive her for deceiving him?
“I’ve just got something to do.”
“Hmm, a big job huh? On a Friday night? I hope it pays well.”
Damn. Her stomach turned. She almost told him right then. Wouldn’t it be better to be honest with him? Would he understand?
No, it would all be over before she saw him. This was planned befor
e she met him, so she could use the rationalization that for all intents and purposes this night with a stranger happened before she met Nick Webster. At least the ball was certainly rolling.
She was reaching, and she knew it. “It’s a onetime thing. So…I won’t be able to talk to you until lunch on Saturday?” She hoped to change the subject, but he wouldn’t let her off that easy.
“Not unless you stand up your date on Friday night.” His tone asked for an explanation, or at least a promise that it wasn’t a date. She couldn’t give either.
“Will you text me?” She was mortified to feel a tear burning a path down her cheek.
“Maureen?” His voice was gentle but serious.
“Yes?” Her voice broke. She swallowed.
“I know that we don’t…we haven’t known each other all that long. I know I rushed you through our first date with my hands down your pants.” He cursed under his breath. “You don’t owe me anything, and you don’t have to keep anything from me. But if you want to date other men, I’d like to know it now, before I really start to like you. I’m a selfish son of a bitch.”
Her tears flowed freely now, but she didn’t want him to hear her cry. She took a breath, “I don’t want to date other men, Nick.” She was pleased when her voice came out steadily.
“You don’t?”
She smiled, for hearing the excitement in his voice pleased her. “No, I don’t.” She knew then–at that moment–that she spoke the unmitigated truth.
“So…who exactly do you want, Maureen?”
“Do you have to ask?”
“Probably not, but I have to hear. Tell me. Let me hear the words.” There was the imperious tone that never failed to jump start her heart.
“I want you, Nicholas Webster.”
“Ah, baby. That sounds beautiful. You’re beautiful. And now I can sleep.”
“Dream about me?”
“Most certainly.”
But she didn’t sleep. She tossed from one end of the huge bed to the other. She blamed the hundred degree day. She blamed Nick Webster. She blamed the upcoming job. She even blamed her mother. Thursday morning dawned before she’d slept a wink.
She spent the morning in a daze, waving off Lottie’s concern. Around noon, she fell asleep in the overstuffed recliner in front of the television, and awoke to the aroma of dinner, when Lottie brought a tray in to her.
“What did I do to deserve this treatment?” Maureen grinned.
“Did you forget what day it is?” Lottie sat on the wide arm of the chair. Maureen’s mind worked.
What day is it? Had her naps confused her? “Isn’t it Thursday?”
“Yes, Thursday. Deadline day.”
“Oh, that’s right. Five p.m.” She sat up straight. This was it. She would now know how much she’d sold her body for. “What time is it?”
“It’s ten ‘til six. Would you like to know the amount of the final bid?” Lottie bounced in excitement, her long nails tapping together beneath her chin.
“Yes! How much?”
“Oohh I was gonna make you guess, but I just can’t stand it! How does two point five million dollars sound?” Lottie enunciated each word for effect. Maureen couldn’t have misunderstood her.
Two and a half…”You’re kidding.”
“I’m not. Of course you’ll have to pay a hell of a lot in taxes, and then there’s my cut. Plus the advertising and clothes—”
“Who?” Maureen interrupted.
“What?”
“Who is he, Aunt Lottie? Who bought me?” Lottie wouldn’t meet her eye. That in itself scared Maureen to death. “Oh God…”
“No, no…don’t. Don’t be scared honey.” Lottie smothered her head in her breast. “It just says ‘anonymous’. I don’t know who he is. I’m going with Lawrence Green tomorrow to meet him, just like we planned.” She pulled away to gaze deeply into Maureen’s eyes. “Okay? It’s gonna be fine. The suite is all set up with the panic buttons…it’s all ready. Remember all of our safety plans?”
Maureen nodded, then stirred the baby corn with her fork. She could do this.
Two and a half million dollars.
She’d have a strong belt of brandy before going into that suite. She’d pretend it was Nicholas. How long could it last? One hour? Two? Even three hours?
But two and a half million…
“You can still back out, you know. No one’s gonna make you do this.”
“No. I’m not going to back out. I’m a little amazed at the amount, that’s all.”
“Well, if you think about it, you can thank your mother for your good looks and hot body. You’ll be using her assets to get the money to bail her out.”
Maureen rolled her eyes at the logic. “I dare you to explain it that way to my mother.”
After dinner, Maureen sat in the kitchen, eating her second bowl of chocolate ice cream. This time she added a healthy dose of aerosol whipped cream. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. A quick glance at the wall clock sent her heart racing. It was seven o’clock, which meant that Nick had found a way to sneak away and call her. She was too excited to verify her caller ID.
“I’m so glad you called!”
“You are?”
Oh, God. Not Nick. She pulled the phone away from her ear and checked the readout. Mother. Damn. She wasn’t emotionally prepared to argue with her mother right now, but she answered the phone, and so she was committed.
“Hello mother.” She pushed her half empty bowl away. Nothing like a rollercoaster ride of emotions to take the joy out of chocolate ice cream.
“I liked the first greeting better.”
Maureen couldn’t help but to laugh, but it was a dry sound. “I…thought you were someone else.” She changed the subject quickly. “How have you been?”
“I’m okay, Maureen. I miss you.”
Maureen sighed. She hadn’t spent this much time apart from her mother in her entire life. They were so close that in high school they were mistaken for sisters. In fact, they very well could have been. Maureen was born when Janet Sullivan was barely sixteen. They’d practically grown up together. “I miss you too, mom.” She swallowed back tears. “It’s almost over.”
“You’re really going to go through with this?”
Maureen’s unshed tears dried immediately. She took a deep breath, and made sure her mother heard it through the phone. “Yes I am going to go through with it. It will all be over tomorrow night. If you want to talk to me tonight…then…don’t start.”
“All right.” Her mother’s voice sounded tired. Like she’d lost a long weary battle, and perhaps she had. “Tell me about him.”
“Tell you about who?”
“Whoever you were hoping was calling you when you got me instead.”
Maureen grinned. What made her think she could slip anything past her mother? “He’s amazing…he’s beautiful…he’s everything…” Her heart swelled with the mere thought of Nick.
They spent hours on the phone. It was as if their two months of silence never occurred. Maureen slipped back into her mother’s embrace, even across the few hundred miles. Tomorrow night’s project was only mentioned once, when her mother asked if Nick knew about it.
She even turned on her speakerphone while she prepared for bed, then curled into a ball beneath her sheets like she did when she was a girl climbing in beside her mom for comfort.
“I received the final notice from the bank,” her mother admitted. “I have until the eighteenth of next month.”
“We’ll have everything taken care of by then, mom. Please don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about anything anymore.” She didn’t mention the dollar amount that her virginity had gone for. Her mother would probably see it somewhere in the media, but she didn’t want to bring it up. “We’re a team…remember?”
By the time they hung up, Maureen felt like she’d shed two hundred pounds. Although she didn’t get her mother’s blessing, she at least had her mother, and she’d work on her understanding whe
n it was all over.
Tomorrow.
Hours later Maureen lay wide awake, cursing her long nap that day, but still too exhausted to get out of bed. She stared at her phone on the bedside. God but she missed his phone call tonight. She wished she could talk to him. He sent four text messages. She read them multiple times.
“luv the dream u gave me”, “miss me?”, “remember me?” and finally “Next time u r coming to Boston w/me.”
Around three in the morning she followed Lottie’s advice and took a sleep aid. The bottle said two, she took three.
* * * * *
“Good morning sunshine!” Lottie crossed the room to pull open the heavy drapes. “Or good afternoon, I should say!”
“What time is it?” Maureen moaned, shading her eyes from the shaft of sunlight.
“Almost one. I didn’t want to wake you, because I knew you’d just sit around getting nervous while I was out meeting your winning stud, but you have to get up now, I’ve made your appointments.”
Maureen snapped upright. “You met him? Who is he? What’s he like?”
“Now, now…” Lottie brought up both hands to stop her slew of questions. “Don’t even ask. I can’t tell you.”
“What do you mean, you can’t tell me?”
“He wants to remain anonymous. You’ll see him soon enough.”
“You can’t do this to me! Tell me!”
Lottie shook her head.
“Please, Auntie, I’m scared to death. If you love me even a little bit. Please tell me something. Anything.” Maureen clasped Lottie’s wrist with her own suddenly clammy hand.
“Aw, honey don’t.” She put her arm around Maureen and held her close. “Why do you want a name? Do you think you would know him?”
“Well, no.” She barely knew anyone in town, let alone someone who had that kind of money.
“Would a name make you feel better? I could just make up a name if that would help.” That made sense too. At her continued silence, Lottie continued. “I probably shouldn’t, but I’ll tell you this much. He is cute.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Really, really,” Lottie laughed, the twinkle in her eye made Maureen believe her.
Olivia Brynn Collection Volume 1 Page 11
