“And this time, you’ll eat. If I have to take you across this table and make you eat it, then so be it.”
Slightly dumbstruck, I watched him as he filled my plate with food. “Kind of odd for a man like you to know how to cook like this, and do it well. I would think you would have a bevy of women at your beck and call to cook for you, so you don’t have to.”
He sat comfortably in the seat opposite mine, gazing at me with an inescapable pressure. “You don’t know very many men.”
“I don’t know very many people at all.” I took a minuscule sip of my wine and pushed my food around with the fork.
His eyes darted from the fork to my mouth. “That ‘model who swallows cotton on a date with her boyfriend while pretending to eat’ trick won’t work on me.” He leaned forward and propped his elbows on the table. “Nikki? Eat.”
I grumbled and shoved a piece of fish in my mouth. Between the dinner yesterday and the meal today, Eric had cooking skills to be envied.
“Good?”
I nodded, taking another bite.
“Since you don’t date, why don’t we get the preliminaries out of the way? You know I’m a doctor. Raised by my uncle. Addicted to violent gore movies and violent sports. Liked cage fighting before it became too rule oriented and pussified the sport. In my free time, I like to do all things dangerous. Daring. Different. I’ve slowed down a bit on the daredevil stuff for more illicit activities…but I’m always up for a challenge.”
“Is that what I am? Your challenge?”
He ever so slightly shook his head. “Challenge…wouldn’t be the right word for you.”
“Where did you grow up?”
“See.” He sat back with a relaxed posture and a smile. “You’re catching on. You ask a question, and I answer. That’s how we get to know each other and build a rapport.” He tossed his eyes to the view of the bay. The sun was beginning to set, amplifying the reflection of the sky in the body of water. “Born in Dallas. Raised in Austin.”
“And Tamala has followed you everywhere?”
“I attract unstable women.”
“Instability breeds instability,” I countered.
“Was that an attempt at an insult? Coming from a woman who’s afraid of people—”
“I’m not afraid of anything. I just don’t like dealing with people.”
“That’s a fucking lie,” he mumbled into his chest.
“I like guaranteed returns on my investments. You don’t get that in relationships.”
“You haven’t met the right one to make you stop comparing relationships to your investment portfolio.”
I looked out at the bay as I sipped my wine to calm my nerves. Remembering that I shouldn’t drink at all, I placed the glass back on the table. “Do you invest?”
“I dabbled here and there.”
“My mother would love you. She would talk your ear off about—” I found myself choking on my emotion and looked down at my plate. I’d only taken a few bites, but already felt sick to my stomach.
Eric reached over to me and held my hand. “You have no idea how understanding I can be.”
I stared at his hand, clasping mine. “If you live without fear, does that mean nothing scares you?”
“Try me, girl who lives in fear.”
“I don’t,” I retorted.
“Prove me wrong.” He casually glanced back at the bay.
“In this dress?”
“Who says you need to go in with anything on at all? You’ve done it before, haven’t you?”
I scrutinized him with a slightly uneasiness. “You do a lot of that. Watch me.”
“I can’t help it. You’re…” His eyes gazed over my body. “…something to look at. But…your fear negates a few points from your scoreboard.”
I slammed down my hand. “Fine. I’ll indulge you. Do we need to have a swim competition, too? Seems like I’m not really proving anything, if I do something I’ve done before.”
“That fucking…mouth.” He bit his lip.
“Are you going to threaten me with your penis again?”
“It’s not a threat when it will happen. All the things I threatened you with—and all the things that are filling my dirty mind—will be done to you. You’ll see.”
I misgauged withdrawing my hand and bumped it on the edge of the table. I casually tried to play it off by tucking a stray strand of my hair behind my ear.
I jumped up, wanting to shut him up. I unzipped my dress and dropped it on the floor. In nothing but my bra and panties, I walked to the end of the deck and teetered on the edge.
Eric stood near me with a mischievous glint in his eye as he ogled my body. “I imagined, and you didn’t disappoint.”
A random disaster of a thought popped in my head, deeming a better way to get him to shut up. “Damn,” I muttered while looking at the water.
Eric came to my side, silently questioning me.
“I lost my—” He bobbed, and I weaved and somehow in the shuffle I was able to get him to the edge of the deck. I threw my hip, causing him to lose his balance and fall into the water.
When his head surfaced, I couldn’t stop laughing.
“Oh that’s fucking funny, huh?” He palmed his hair back from his forehead while sporting a broad grin.
I laughed so much, my stomach ached. My balance slipped and I quickly sat on the edge of the dock to avoid falling in as well. “You deserved it, you creep.”
“Creep?” He disappeared in the water and startled me by popping up between my legs.
“No. NO! Don’t you dare!” I said at the way he gripped my legs.
“How pissed would you be?” He leaned forward, allowing his lips to graze my shin as he looked up at me through his water-soaked eyelashes.
I shivered as my eyes drew heavy. “I would never speak to you again,” I responded in a barely audible tone.
He gave me a playful grin. “I was onto you. I just wanted to see you smile.”
“So…you made a total fool out of yourself just to get me laugh at you?”
“Completely worth it.”
“I-I…” I couldn’t say anything that would make much sense. I was rendered completely tongue-tied while my stomach moved into painful knots.
Placing the flat of his palms on the edge of the platform, he pulled himself up to sit next to me. He unbuttoned his tailored white shirt, made sheer by the water. He took it off and rang it out in the bay. I glanced at his moisture-licked broad shoulders. His jet hair clumped together in spikes and slightly curled against his scalp.
“Seems I’m not the only one who likes to watch,” he said through a wink.
I cleared my throat and contemplated the horizon. “You were born and raised in Texas, yet you don’t have the southern drawl, like Tamala does.”
“Not everyone does. And most of the accents you hear on television are badly faked. In some of the more rural areas…it can get pretty severe. But I—” He cleared his throat. “—can talk like this, if it turns you on,” he said through the full Texas drawl.
I smiled, unexpectedly.
“Nikki,” he moaned with a broad grin, “if you keep doing that and batting your eyelashes at me like you are right now…” He leaned forward and cupped my face in his hands. “Smile like that while asking me for the moon, and I’ll find some way to give it to you.”
“What if I didn’t bat my eyelashes or smile? Would you still give me the moon?”
“Are you…” He furrowed a brow. “…flirting back at me?”
“Why? Are you going to threaten me about that, too?”
He contemplated my lips and bit his own. For a moment, things felt thick with a stifling heat. His face neared mine. Realizing he was going to kiss me at the second his lips connected with my mouth, I immediately stood. My partial nudeness brought a chill to my spine. Marching across the deck, I hugged my shoulders, shivering as I continued to walk.
Halfway to grabbing my dress, Eric grabbed my hand and spun me aroun
d. Lifting my chin, he pressed his lips against mine. His soft, gentle kiss served to disarm me. I found myself melting into his touch. Grabbing my hips, he tugged me, pulling me closer to him. He tickled the crease of my mouth with the tip of his tongue, manipulating my lips to slightly part.
I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck. He firmed his hold on my hips, pulling me to press against his body. He kissed me deeper, sucking my bottom lip. Opening his mouth, he charged me to fully open mine. When I did, he slid his tongue inside. He held the back of my head, losing his fingers in my hair as his kisses became impassioned and moved fully into the erotic.
The cusp of my apex began to throb, and I, too, felt him throb against my leg. I jumped up, and he caught my legs midway. Grabbing my thighs, he pulled me to wrap my legs around his low waist. He carried me inside, while I remained wrapped around his body.
Gently, he tossed me on nearest, softest piece of furniture. Pressing his form against me, he yanked my legs to widen around him. He laid his groin firmly against my pelvis. Holding either side of my head in his hands, he kissed me with a ferocious hunger.
The kisses he gave drove me deeper into the want. The light sway of his groin between my thighs moistened my panties, making them cling to me. I slipped my hands down the well-developed musculature of his naked back. Continuing, I slipped my hands through the gap in the waist of his slacks and cupped his perfectly shaped derrière through the material of his boxer-briefs. He tensed and pressed his groin firmly against me, slowly rocking his excitement against my sex.
A desire built inside me that I wasn’t use to. It was carnal and strong. It was uncontrollable. I needed the release, and I needed it now. “Eric,” I moaned into his kiss, “do you have a condom?”
He abruptly stopped. “We’re going too far,” he whispered. “We should…slow it down.”
I felt like I was suddenly thrust into the deep end without the ability to swim to the surface. I searched his face, but found only emotionless light brown eyes staring back at me. “But you’re that guy. Why are you…turning me down?” I asked through a dejected tone.
He placed his palms out flat on either side of my head and pushed his upper body up. “You think I’ll fuck any and every girl who waves her pussy at me?” he asked with a slight hoarseness. “No.”
“I’m not good enough?”
“Nikki,” he groaned as he dropped his head. His eyes moved rapidly underneath his lashes, before holding me in focus. He pressed his groin against my apex and slowly rolled his hips. I gasped and trembled. He continued to undulate against me, making sure his erection rubbed firmly against my sex. “Can you feel how hard I am right now?”
I weakly nodded.
He eased up on his torment. “I wasn’t kidding about what I want to do to you,” he soughed, “but it all has to wait.”
“Then, you’re a tease.”
“What the hell did you just say to me?” he asked through a moderately raised voice as his eyes turned to an intimidating glare.
I slid from underneath him and stomped back to the deck to grab my dress.
He grabbed my arm and spun me around. “Can’t let you have it yet. You’re not ready.” He ran his hands through his still damp hair and sighed. “I need to take an ice cold shower and…” He gazed over my body that was still clad in my black lace lingerie. It wasn’t that I had a plethora of sexy lingerie, but it was worn for this special occasion. I wasn’t sure what I expected. Increasingly, Eric is something more than I anticipated. I quickly slipped my dress back on my form.
“Teasing you was unintended.” He searched the deck, picked up his damp shirt, and slipped into it.
“I don’t understand.” As I watched him cover his unrealistically defined body, I lightly shivered. “I don’t get it, but that’s nothing new. I never understand anyone. The games people play. What was the point? I don’t want to know your answer. I just want to go home.”
“I’ll walk you there.”
“It’s just next door, Eric. Don’t worry about it.”
He grabbed my wrist, stopping my stride. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, Nik. I’m walking you home. No more arguments.” He slipped his hands up to clasp either side of my neck and held me firm. “I will make you mine, Nikki. Just wait.”
Like a gentleman, he walked me to the door and gave me a brief chaste kiss before I went inside.
“Goodnight,” I offered as I stepped across the threshold. I bit my lip, not sure why I was stuck on formalities.
Eric lightly smiled. “Sweet dreams.”
I closed the door and slightly leaned against it as I contemplated what happened between Eric and me. I had no idea what to think about him. I did know one thing. I really wanted to see him again.
Bat for Lashes blasted through my earbuds as Maisha and I hit our stride on the paved trail towards the park. The muggy late August heat broke through on its way to the more temperate September. I grew tired of my clothes sticking to me as I tried to clear my head. I couldn’t wait for the cooler weather. August in western New York left much to be desired.
My thoughts turned to Eric, as they increasingly did too much lately. I hadn’t seen him in a week—next door was strangely quiet during that time. No cars in the driveway. No parties. No onslaught of indoor and outdoor lights illuminating the horizon. Nothing.
In a break after “Siren Song”, I heard someone say—I heard Eric say. “You’re not burning much at this pace.”
I stopped short, pulling out my earbuds with a scowl.
He met me with a grin, dressed in his jogging clothes and baseball cap. He crossed his arms and jokingly mimicked my stance. “The answer is no, you still can’t get rid of me. Today, after we both see your mother, we’re going to watch a political movie guised as a gore fest by a director who got arrested because the gore looked too authentic. Sound like a plan?”
I commenced my walk. He easily fell in step with me. “Where have you been?”
His grin turned up at the corners. “Working,” he said shortly. “This slow pace is driving me nuts. Run this trail.”
“Running to nowhere is idiotic.”
“Should I channel Dr. Brenton, and drop all the facts about how running is excellent for the heart? Increases HDL, decreases heart disease risks—“
“Okay. I get it. You’re a doctor.”
“The bitchy mood is starting to turn me on, Nik,” he sneered.
“Reverse psychology?”
“Nope.” He put his hands down the pockets of his loose fitting fleece pants. “Truth.”
“Does it make you want to shove your cock in my mouth?”
He glanced at me with his eyes dead even. “And many other things,” he remarked in a commanding low voice.
I cast my eyes to the ground. “You had an opportunity.”
“I’m not going to take advantage of you. When it happens, it’s because we both want it, not because we need it to get away from something.”
“When it happens?”
“Was there ever any doubt that it would? Since you like it when I’m vulgar….” He stepped in front of me, interrupting my brisk pace. “I’m going to fuck you, and it’s going to turn your world on its ass when I do. You will be so strung out over my cock, you’ll ache for it like a junkie.” I didn’t know why, but I smiled. He mimicked my expression and held up something in his hand. “See. Looks like I was right.”
A moon keychain hung from his fingers. It was so…trite, but it made my smile broaden. I slipped it from his fingers as we continued to walk. “Since I don’t have a choice in what we do today, I guess I’ll go along with what you’ve planned.”
“Oh you have a choice. You just don’t get a choice in whether or not I’m coming along.”
“It takes a special kind of weirdo to visit their place of employment on their day off.”
He gave me a tight grin. “Why do you walk if you’re not doing it to burn calories?”
I swatted at the bug that landed on
my bare arm. “Why run to nowhere?”
“I can do this all day until it annoys the hell out of you. Answer my question, Nik.”
“To put order to my disordered head,” I offered grudgingly.
“You read as the type of person who has too much going on upstairs.” Incrementally, he picked up his pace, forcing me to follow. While his breath didn’t labor at all, mine began to. “Why are you so scared to leave the house?”
“I-I’m not afraid to leave the h-house,” I remarked through a labored pant. “I-I just don’t like to…socialize. Case…in point.”
“I’ve made you smile at least five times now. Stop bullshitting me. You’re starting to like me. I can see it in your eyes. Mission almost accomplished.”
I stopped walking to catch my breath, forcing him to do the same. “Why me, Eric? You can bother so many other women who are easier.”
He contemplated me with moderate surprise. “Easier? You’re forgetting how readily you spread your legs for me a week ago. If I was that guy—the guy you thought I was—I would’ve taken what you offered and ignored you the next day.”
“Why didn’t you?”
His face drew completely devoid of emotion. “I’m a lot of things to a lot of people, Nik. When it comes to you, I’m not that guy, and I’m never going to be.”
A text from my mother chimed on my phone. It was time to head back.
“Shower, change, and I’ll meet you back at your house.” He didn’t give me a chance to comment as he jogged up the path towards the community.
I shouldn’t have cared. I figured since I started the trend of looking presentable, I might as well keep it up. A ribbed high-waist jersey pencil skirt, a dark blouse, and a pair of gold spiked flats were my choice. My hair remained down with a middle part and loose curls.
I set Maisha up with a bone and a few toys, leaving the television on, so she wouldn’t feel lonely when I left.
I was met at the front door by Eric, who also cleaned up nicely. “Have to say, though you don’t need the extra, I’m digging the ‘I give a fuck’ look.”
“Shut up,” I dismissed him and quickly brushed past him to hide the smile that his compliment erected.
The Sordid Promise Page 6
