by Dela
“Don’t be silly. Kendal will go with you.”
I choked. My throat clenched and my stomach squeezed. “What? Kendal’s here? Are you serious?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” She set the papers down and turned the corner into the kitchen. She was clearly looking for something. I chased after her, certain she’d set this up.
“Gee, I don’t know, maybe because he and I are not—”
“What?”
“He and I are not on the best terms right now. And lingerie stores aren’t exactly male friendly. And it will be really awkward. Men who go to those types of stores are usually with the woman they go with.”
Her nose was stuck deep in some mangled papers, but she managed to look at me with raised eyebrows. “Last I checked you were a woman.”
“No, I mean, with a woman.”
She shook her head, pulling her keys out from the middle of the pile, and turned for the garage. “I know what you meant the first time. But you’re wrong.” She looked at her watch. “He’ll be here any minute.”
“What?! No. Gizelle, I don’t want him to come with me.” You’re the worst friend ever! But something told me Regina would have approved of her little scheme.
“Then you tell him that. I have to go. Really, it will be fine. It’s just one bra, right?”
“Yes,” I answered flatly, astounded she was actually leaving me.
“Kendal will be fine. Men love lingerie shopping.”
“No they don’t. They always look so awkward.”
“So? And you believe that? Austin always looks that way, but tells me otherwise when we get home.”
“And that’s why he shouldn’t come with me.”
Gizelle took a step into the garage.
“I’m here!” Kendal’s deep voice suddenly called from the front door.
I gritted my teeth and leaned into Gizelle’s car. “Don’t you dare leave me with him.”
She leaned back, shut the door and rolled down the window. She was smiling with smug satisfaction; I wanted to swing out and punch her. “You’re overreacting. You’ll be there for five minutes, tops. Then you two have the rest of the time to mend things. You owe it to yourself to at least do that.”
Her car started backing away. I traced after her, my fingers clenching onto her door. “Yes, at a coffee shop. Not in a lingerie store. Gosh, Gizelle, you couldn’t have picked a worse place.”
The car stopped and she set her eyes on me. “Trust me there are worse.”
I heard Kendal’s footsteps walk toward us. I clenched my jaw tight and gave her the look of death. “You owe me.”
Gizelle winked as I turned to Kendal just as her car drove away. I covered my unsupported chest with my crossed arms and gave a strange smile. Fortunately for me, an abrupt gust of wind decided to come in through the garage in that exact moment and now I was pokey. I lost my smile. Thank you very much, you stupid wind.
Kendal pointed to Gizelle’s car confused. “Where’s she going?”
“She set us up,” I said, walking away toward the street.
“What?”
I stopped and turned to face him. “You heard me. I have to leave now, you with me?”
He looked at me funny and pointed to my chest, concerned. “Why are you covering your boobs?”
A short, annoyed grunt slipped past my lips. I straightened up and dropped my arms fiercely. His mouth shaped an O in less than a blink. I rolled my eyes and turned back to my car. “You with me?”
“Where are we going?” he asked curiously. I could hear him jogging toward me.
“Victoria’s Secret.”
He hopped in the car with me without question. I ignored the heat rising to my face, shifted into drive and sped towards the mall. “Don’t make me regret this,” I said from the side of my mouth.
He laughed. Then without wanting, I wondered about his past again, when we were apart, and if he did this often with all the other women. I pictured him the boyfriend type who frequented lingerie stores and cringed.
“Do you go there often?” I asked sharply.
His laugh was loud, and I sunk timidly in my seat. “If I had boobs I would have a reason to, but unfortunately I’ve never had the pleasure of having boobs or making an appearance in a lingerie store.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’ve never been in a lingerie store?”
“Why do I get the feeling that you don’t believe me?”
“Because I don’t.”
“Nope. This is definitely a first.”
He leaned back in his seat and took a deep breath. His lips parted enough to feather a smile and my entire body relaxed more than I wanted.
I undeniably missed him.
I couldn’t think of anything else to say—or I didn't want to—so I kept quiet until we got there. It wasn’t until we walked into the pink and black store that I saw how uncomfortable he was. He scratched his head, checked his watch, and unconsciously rocked back and forth.
“What do you need lingerie for?” he finally asked. “And why aren’t you wearing your bra?”
“I don’t need lingerie,” I whispered embarrassed. “I need a bra. I don’t have one right now. Shut up and sit down. You’re causing a scene.”
He nodded and sat in a chair against the wall. I moved to a rack with nice black lacey ones but couldn’t help noticing his stare in my peripheral.
“I like that one,” he said, leaning to the side to see the material in my hand.
“I don’t care what you like.”
But I did. When my chin was down, I snuck glances at the mannequins and wondered if he liked what they were wearing.
I put down the black one and moved over to a table with some folded bras in an assortment of colors. I picked up a white one with blue polka dots and rubbed my fingers along the smooth fabric. It had been a while since I last shopped for a bra, and I didn’t really know my size, so I snatched a few different sizes, headed back to the black bra, and repeated the same thing. Later, when I had two handfuls, I asked the employee for a dressing room. I had to walk past Kendal to get to the room. When I did, he stood and followed after me.
I shielded the bras from him and whispered from the side of my mouth. “What are you doing?”
“I’m coming with you,” he replied, perplexed. “I’m not going in there with you, goofball. I just want to be near you. This place is making me feel really uncomfortable. I’ll stand right over there against the wall.” He pointed to a dimly lit wall across the waiting room.
“I can’t help but not believe you.”
The employee dressed in black stopped and opened the door. “This is your room.” Then her eyes drew up to Kendal. “Is he with you?”
“Yes.” “No.” We shouted together.
We spun toward each other. He smiled; I frowned.
“No,” I repeated. “He’s just a friend.” I went in and closed the door.
“A pretty damn good friend to be going bra shopping with her, right?” I heard him say, probably with a charming smile, swaying on his heels.
“Yes, sir.” She giggled. “You may sit over there if you’d like.”
When I thought she was gone I stuck my head out the door and lined my eyes with Kendal. He sat at the cushiony bench leaning against the wall.
“Do not say a single word the rest of the time while we’re in here. Got it?” I said.
He grinned. “Whatever you need, doe.”
Minutes passed and I hadn’t heard a peep from Kendal. I wondered if he grew impatient and left, but I had enough to worry about. I had slipped on a bra with no fastening, thinking it was a nice stretchy material. Apparently I wasn’t strong enough for this fancy, stretchy, material and I couldn’t seem to lift it over my head.
Knock, knock!
Oh good, the employee came back. I could have her help lift it over my head. I reached for the handle and pulled it open, not prepared for Kendal to come barreling in. He closed the door behind him.
“What are you doin
g?” I whispered, crossing my arms over my chest.
He didn’t speak. Just stared, dry, starving.
Before I could open my mouth to speak his hands were clasping my cheeks, his mouth colliding famished lips to mine. I rocked back on my heels, falling backwards. His hand was already there, pressing on the small of my back to steady me.
I slipped onto my toes and flung my arms around him. He moaned, I grinned, and then widened my mouth as his tongue slid inside. He tasted like the ocean, succulent and fresh, and I couldn’t recover my breath fast enough when he started kisses down my neck.
My knees wobbled, but I kept my legs firm, letting him dew my body with kisses. I needed him. “Kendal,” I whispered.
He kept quiet, raising his hands to my breasts. His fingertips grazed the bra, pushing against my skin to enter underneath.
“This thing is so tight,” he whispered with a half-chuckle. “How can you breathe?”
“I can’t get it off,” I admitted.
He took a step back and grinned. “Raise your arms.”
I watched his pleasure as I slowly lifted my arms above my head. He advanced and looked down toward my chest, brushing his fingers from my waist up along my sides, watching my skin shiver with his touch.
His fingers met the bra and gripped it with firmness, gently sliding the fancy, stretchy, fabric over my breasts, over my head, higher, higher, higher until it cleared my fingertips and he dropped it to the floor.
He moved my hair aside and I held my hands behind my back, letting him take me in. I wondered how many breasts he’d seen in his life, wondered if mine were good enough.
Kendal cupped a breast in one hand and bent over, slowly flicking his tongue over the nipple. He licked around it, and then advanced his tongue to the other side, circling his tongue around the other. A soft moan escaped my mouth when his other hand squeezed the other breast.
“Shhh,” he said softly. I bit my lip, trying to not let another one escape.
He grinned, sliding his tongue up toward my neck. He kept both his hands on my boobs, a full grip in each one, and I was positive I was going to scream. I was throbbing below, a sure slickness now covering my panties.
As if he knew how ready I was, he released a breast and tucked his fingers below the waist of my pants.
I gasped, again.
“Shhh,” he whispered in my ear.
His fingers inched their way through my jeans, and underneath my panties, until they found me, wet and puckered. They circled around the warmness, soon giving in to the touch and entering inside. I gasped, hard throbs pulsing through my body so strongly I could barely stand. I gripped him harder as he moved his firm finger in and out, in and out. He stood so close to me I could feel his hard abs tightened against my stomach.
“Kendal, stop. I won’t be quiet enough,” I panted.
He snickered through a gleaming smile and pressed his forehead to mine. In . . . out . . . in . . . out . . . He said softly, “I want you to scream my name.”
I shivered, feeling the warmth of his breath against my chest.
“You’re everything I need,” he whispered into my ear, subtly pulling my hair aside as he pulled his finger out. I was about to protest when he quickly pressed the palm of his hand against the base and made all his fingers move along me on all the right spots. My head rolled back. “Everything,” he repeated, pushing harder.
I could hear his fingers slide in my endless stream. I could feel his fingers like damn gods in my region. I had no control but to buckle under their presence. My breathing went ragged, my chest tight, as he pushed harder and harder, back and forth, back and forth.
“I want to feel you squirm underneath my touch,” he said, my body recoiling as the blood began rushing downward. “I want to feel you explode underneath my touch.”
I closed my eyes and buried my face into the crook of his neck right as my body burst, layer after layer, piece by piece. When the shivers stopped my body went slack, weak.
Kendal chuckled, releasing his hand and wiping it along his jeans. “New rule. I come with you every time you need to buy a bra.” He moved for the door and jerked his chin toward the pile of bras on my chair. “Remember, black lace.”
He left quicker than I could respond.
I wasn’t particularly in the mood for bra shopping anymore when I had one thing on my mind—Kendal’s boner. I set the black lacey one aside and eventually found some I thought suited me. I sorted through the lot and settled for a polka dot one. I threw the no’s in a bag, tucked the black lacey one under my arm and waved the polka dot one in the air happily as I walked toward Kendal.
“Found the one!”
Chapter Twenty
Kendal
My phone buzzed in my pocket as I waited for Jessie to try on all fifty bras she brought into the dressing room. I didn’t know why women needed to try on so many and only buy one.
I tried persuading Jessie to let me help her, mainly because every woman in here was staring more at me than the items they were actually carrying. I looked down at my phone as a distraction when I saw a text from Gizelle.
You want her? Apply yourself.
I do. I want her bad.
And why was she being so quiet?
I stood with a voracious thought, then sat right back down in an instant. No, Kendal. Take it slow.
But I was in Victoria’s Secret. And I didn’t want to take it slow.
Jessie was gentle; I made note to be sensitive to that. It annoyed me that Colby had once understood that. A gulf of emotion suddenly consumed me and I gulped hard. I needed Whistler-Kendal back. I needed my whims back.
I stood right back up and walked over to her door, not thinking of what I was about to do.
Knock, knock.
Jessie was walking toward me with a smile on her face, waving a polka dot bra in the air excitedly. I beamed back but for other reasons—her boobs were still free.
And the black, lacey one was tucked underneath her arm.
So simple was Jessie’s happiness right now. It made me smile. Gizelle was right. I needed to tend the doe the right way. I needed to apply myself. I could still smell Jessie on me and let out a sigh.
“You getting that one?” I asked.
“Yes,” she replied, smiling as she looked down at it as if it were her baby.
“What about all the others?”
“I only need these two for now. Plus, they’re fifty bucks a pop.”
I was elated she thought of me and chose the black one, but I shook my head. “Don’t be ridiculous. Which ones do you like? I’ll buy them for you.”
“Absolutely not. That’s too inappropriate.” She swung the tangled bras behind her back.
I stepped closer. Her chin rose slowly to look at me. “Jessie, will you stop thinking of me as this horrible person and start looking at me as a guy who has a mad crush on a girl he wants to buy bras for? Me . . . you . . . friends?”
Her eyes twitched. She looked down to her wrist and began turning that old string; it looked like yarn. Why was she still wearing that? Maybe I’ll stop at some stores when I get home to L.A. and find her a new one.
“Friends?” There she went again with that disbelieving tone. I didn’t blame her. It sounded dumb, especially after I’d fingered the lights out of her.
“We’re doing things the right way this time,” I said, reaching behind her back and grabbing the other bras. “I’m buying a few more for you, and since I’m paying, I get to pick which ones.”
She laughed. “Friends may buy each other things, but they certainly don’t pick out each other’s bras.”
And they certainly don’t fool around in dressing rooms like we just did either.
I turned my back to her and made piles at the checkout stand. “This one does.” I held up a nude lacey one and put it in the pile of ones I was going to buy.
She stood behind me bashfully, letting me sort and pay. The cashier handed me the pink striped bag and I passed it to Jessie.
“Thank you,” she said, removing the bag from my hands.
“Whatever I have to do to get you to talk to me again,” I joked. “I’m pretty desperate.”
She chuckled. “You’ve got a LOT of making up to do.”
“I’m pretty sure I’ve already started,” I responded.
“About that . . . ” She bit her lip as she pinched and twisted the ends of her hair, which fell right next to her hard nipples—I wanted to pinch and twist those. “Are we . . .”
“Are we what?”
“Are we going to finish what we started?”
I felt spontaneous, like a teenager who spots his crush in the mall. I breathed in deep, letting the whims wrap themselves around my nerves, building new ones, free and unstable. The tingling began and I swiftly reached for her hand, being sure to intertwine my fingers into hers before I felt a pull. When she didn’t tug away I glanced down toward our hands to assure myself this was happening.
“I’m not going anywhere, so yes. We are most definitely going to finish whatever that was in the dressing room.” I looked beneath my chin at her and she looked up with a blush. “I didn’t get to taste you.”
It was dark and pouring rain when we reached the outside doors. Portland. Neither of us let go of the other—we squeezed our hands tighter and ran for the car.
As Jessie drove, I watched her the better part of the ride home. In fact, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I’ve been dreaming of this face for seven long years. I wanted to sketch her image harder into my mind. The way her small nose-tip scooped up, the color of her flush, her jaw line.
“What?” she asked.
“You’re so beautiful.”
Her body shook with a chuckle. “Apparently Bianca thinks so too.”
“Don’t think I can blame her.”
“Did she really want to have a threesome?”
I nodded. I leaned close enough to rest my elbows on the center console and lifted my mouth to her ear. “It doesn’t matter.” I whispered. “I’m not sharing you.”
Her head rolled back slightly, her eyes struggling to keep sight of the soaking road in front of her. I could see her perky chest rise swiftly beneath my lashes. I loved it when she didn’t wear a bra. My body only ached for her more. I lifted my knees on the seat and put one hand on the console to steady myself. I slipped the other beneath her shirt, slid it up her smooth skin, and cupped her breast.
