No Reservations

by Natalia Banks

“You love it, you little sexy slut; you love my huge cock inside you.”

  “I do.” She trembled in utter sexual bliss.

  “And you love how I make you cum, better than you’ve ever cum before.” Lorraine nodded, and Griffin said, “Tell me.”

  “I’m…I’m gonna cum…better…than…ever…”

  “That’s right, baby. We’re gonna make your fantasies come true; whatever you want is gonna happen, isn’t it…? Isn’t it?”

  “It will, oh, God, yes it will!”

  “And what you want is for me to cum inside you right now, isn’t it?” She nodded, and Griffin shouted, “Isn’t it?”

  “It is,” Lorraine struggled to push out, “I want you to cum inside me…cum so hard…”

  “Yeah, baby, yeah, gonna cum so hard in that tight perfect little cunt, cum while you cum…”

  “Yeah…”

  “Cum together, our hot cum inside you, so fucking hot inside you—”

  “Oh, God, please!”

  Words became shouts—hollers of passion that filled the hotel room, the bed shaking beneath them as their bodies clashed, banging and clapping and slapping and grinding, a cloud of musk around them, frenzied thrashing and bucking until both bodies were frozen in spasm. Even through the tide of her own salty sea, Lorraine could feel Griffin’s seed racing down his flinching cock and spitting into her as his muscular tool delivered its precious, pearlescent package.

  Lorraine’s lips clamped down, milking that massive cock with an otherworldly hunger, trying her best to copycat the motions and techniques she’d previously seen online, her body trying to devour his, consume it, become it.

  Their bodies relaxed and Lorraine fell into Griffin’s embrace. She laid her head on his muscular chest, a deep breath of their mutual musk filling her lungs—dizzying, intoxicating.

  Lorraine couldn’t help feeling overrun with emotion; a tear ran down her face as she revelled in the aftermath of the moment she had been waiting for her whole life. She felt alive and awakened to the connection of her divine feminine energy.

  Chapter 7

  “Donal, hi,” Lorraine said, noting the nervous quiver in her own voice. “How’s everything going?”

  “Just swell,” Donal said. “And what’s new with you?” Something about Donal’s voice was different. He seemed impatient, frustrated, and Lorraine knew exactly why. She even gave him cause, though that would be all she’d ever give him.

  Lorraine asked, “Did you read my letter in The Post? It was your idea, after all.”

  “Yeah it was…something else. I’m obviously not the only person who read it.”

  “Um, yeah, about that… Donal, you’re a great guy, really, and I…or any girl…would be lucky to have the opportunity to get to know you better.”

  “But you’ve got that opportunity,” Donal said. “Sounds like it’s not so attractive to you now, since that billionaire big shot flew into town.”

  “Huh?” Lorraine didn’t follow.

  “Oh, drop the act! You strung me along for way too long, Lorraine, all that virgin this and waiting that, your poor distressed experiences. I can’t believe I bought into that act. What a bunch of bullshit!“

  “It wasn’t an act, Donal. More and more, I think you were the one pretending to be something he’s not! Mister Nice Guy, sure. Honestly, Donal, you’re sounding more like a jerk than anything else.”

  “Yeah, some poor dumb jerk.”

  “It doesn’t have anything to do with his money, Donal. And I don’t owe you any explanation anyway. It’s my body, it’s my choice. Don’t call me again.” Lorraine swiped her screen and set the phone down, shaking her head. Griffin and Ashe were expecting her, and Lorraine didn’t want to bring any of that negative energy to her day with them. The Phoenix men had enough to deal with on their own, and things were only going to get more complicated, she was certain.

  Don’t do that, Lorraine’s better self told her, don’t spoil it. Happiness has come at last; don’t spoil it! Enjoy it while it lasts; enjoy life for once, while you can!

  Two hours later, the jet-powered hoverboard contraption known as a flyboard was pushing Lorraine through the chilly waters of the Cherry Creek Reservoir. Her wetsuit clung to her body, and Lorraine couldn’t ignore Griffin’s many admiring glances. After an hour and a half private lesson from the rental company—a refresher for Griffin and Ashe—Lorraine was ready to tackle this new sport. I know how to follow directions, I’ll be fine! It’s a popular watersport; kids half my age are out on these things. I’ve got this.

  With her feet buckled into the flyboard—its engine and long tube drawing water in and pushing it out—her legs remained just flexible enough to keep her position. Griffin and Ashe swam beside her, both very comfortable with the strange and luxurious apparatus. They seemed like two dolphins in their wetsuits, arms at their sides, gliding through the water as if with no effort at all.

  Griffin bent upward, his body shooting toward the surface, Ashe following out of instinct. Lorraine followed out of necessity. She broke the surface with power she didn’t anticipate, that flyboard throwing her into the air. Her legs were slow to react but managed to hold her in place even as the flyboard flung her fifteen feet into the air. Lorraine’s exuberant scream did little to express the depth of her joy or her terror. Only the sight of Griffin and Ashe gave Lorraine any solace at all. They we’re both in complete control of their bodies, their flyboards—almost everything in their lives.

  Griffin spun, water shooting out of his flyboard. He seemed majestic, superhuman, spinning in mid-air, water pouring out of that flyboard like some fanciful fountain. That was all Lorraine could see of it before she tumbled into the reservoir, her own flyboard pushing her in a tight circle, churning just below the surface.

  Lorraine lost her balance on the flyboard and instead of being pushed by it, the thing was pulling her. The errant flyboard dragged her in a deadly spiral by that mindless machine, her air fast running out. Lorraine’s lungs strained, her heart pounding and mouth parched shut as her world became a tumbling chaotic swirl, dragging her to her death.

  I knew something like this would happen! This is what happens when you take risks. There’s no pleasure without pain, not in this life! There’s no happiness for me, not without a terrible price…the ultimate price.

  She reached down, her legs straining, her arms stretching, her fingers fumbling with the flyboard’s buckles. The speed and the pressure and the swirling movement pushed her fingers away from the buckles, pinning her feet to that merciless flyboard. Lorraine’s blood rushed hot in her veins even as her lungs turned to ice, pain shooting through her—desperation and panic and fear.

  No, no, she said to herself in that last moment, I won’t die like this, not now! Not now, when my life is finally worth living!

  Lorraine’s fingers pulled at the big plastic buckles locking her feet down, finally finding the latch and giving it a hard pull. Her right foot fell from the roaring, gurgling device, her leg pushed back by the force, her spiral becoming more chaotic.

  Bubbles poured out of Lorraine’s mouth, her last chance for survival floating up to the surface, taking all her hopes and dreams with them.

  A final yank opened the second latch and released her. The flyboard roared away, into the reservoir, to leave her floating, no strength left to paddle to the surface.

  But Griffin swooped in under her, fast and graceful, scooping her up in his arms and riding his own flyboard back to the surface. Griffin soared up into the air above the reservoir, Lorraine’s body cradled in his powerful arms as he spun around. His posture was straight and true, holding her secure in his loving grip. Griffin spun on that board, Lorraine clinging to him, looking up at him and he down at her. Hovering above the water, spinning in that certain grip of the man of her dreams, she felt like a heroine in one of her favorite romances, in the arms of a man beyond any she’d ever met or would ever meet.

  An hour later, sitting on a bench overlooking the reservoir, L
orraine tried to smile, but it wasn’t easy. Ashe’s unending sadness was beginning to pull at Lorraine’s soul. “The world can be a pretty scary place, that’s for sure.” Griffin nodded, content to be silent and let her pursue her course. She went on, “That was…that was too close, I have to say.”

  Griffin said, “A lesser person would have given up.”

  Lorraine shrugged. “A smarter person probably would have stayed home. But I guess sometimes it’s okay to take a risk, even…even important to do it. I mean, I almost drowned here today! That zipline thing was pretty scary too. But I’m okay, we’re all okay. I can’t believe how good you two were on those things today.”

  Griffin smiled, and Ashe did too. Griffin said, “We’ve had a little experience with the flyboards…among other things.”

  Lorraine nodded. “What a fun life you gentlemen have. But I guess we all have our crosses to bear, right? Money can’t protect a person from sadness, can it?”

  “And it can’t buy happiness,” Griffin said, glancing at his wealthy, sorrowful son.

  “No, I guess that’s true,” Lorraine said.

  “But we’ll be happy again,” Griffin said, “someday.” He glanced at her. “Someday very, very soon.”

  Her shoulder arched up to her ear and she kept her focus on Ashe. “I-I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose your mother. I’m sorry to put it that way. But I know that’s what happened, and it’s just horrible. What an awful thing to have to experience, especially at such a young age. I can’t even imagine what that’s like. Both my parents are alive, thank God. If I lost one of them, I don’t know what I’d do.”

  Ashe just stared out, finally nodding, his blue eyes tearing up.

  “I did have a pretty bad experience once, not long ago actually. I was at a club nearby, place called Sables, with a friend, Jeremy. I met this man; he seemed like a pretty nice guy. Tony Gardner. It turns out, he…he wasn’t so nice. But I didn’t know that until we were out in the parking lot…” Lorraine started to tear up a little, the flashes of horror returning to her memory, haunting her waking hours as they so often did her fitful, sleepless nights.

  “Luckily, my friend Jeremy was there to chase the guy off,” she went on, “and I was okay. But it was so scary, so…I just…I didn’t want to meet any other guys after that. I hardly ever left the house. I’d always loved books, reading, and after that, I just decided, well, maybe it’d be better if I just kept reading instead of going out. And I was safe, Ashe; I’d protected myself. And I think that’s a good thing; it’s important. You need to do that to survive; we all do.”

  Griffin wore a look of sympathy on his face.

  Lorraine said, “But as the years went on, that just became too easy; it became a habit. But I wasn’t protecting myself as much as I was insulating myself, y’know? I wasn’t risking any of the bad things, that’s true. I wasn’t going to be attacked or hurt; I wasn’t going to feel betrayed or disappointed. But I also wasn’t going to be very happy, or have a very full life. I did take a bit of a risk writing that letter, and I took a risk by becoming friends with you and your father. After all, you might have left town, and then I’d have been sad, Ashe. I like you both so much. You’re such a brave young man, so courteous and well-mannered. I never knew your mother, obviously, but I’m sure she’d be very proud of you; anybody would be. And your father is just amazing; you’re so lucky to have a man like that raise you, love you. I…I’d consider myself lucky to have a man like that love me, and I’d be even luckier if, well, maybe if I could love you too, that would be…”

  Emotions welled up in her, clogging her throat, confusing her, almost smothering her from within. She sniffled, the tears unable to remain in the corners of her eyes. She couldn’t contain her feelings as the words kept pouring out, “But I don’t know if that’s going to happen, Ashe. And if it doesn’t, that… It’ll be hard. It’s not your responsibility, of course, I don’t mean that. There was some risk, some chance that I would be hurt. But there’s only one way to find out, and that’s for me to take that risk. Like the flyboards or the ziplines—that was scary, and it was risky. But it was fun, and thrilling, and I’m so glad we did it together. That was something we shared, something we lived. Life isn’t always that much fun, you don’t need me to tell you that. But it is life, and it’s all we’ve got, right?”

  Ashe’s face was red with tears, but he looked up and nodded, falling into Lorraine’s embrace; she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close.

  Chapter 8

  Lorraine strolled through the block-long shopping district Larimar Square with Griffin and Ashe, clinging to Griffin’s arm. She knew people were glancing at her, people who’d seen her for years, people she recognized. But there was something different about her, and nobody had any doubts about what that was. She almost felt a whiff of jealousy as they glanced at her, knowing the mousy little librarian’s life was taking a different course, one any of them would envy.

  But it was more than Griffin’s wealth, well-known to most of Denver’s citizens after his rescue of the library. He had a charisma, a personal power that his son shared, that Lorraine basked in, that she’d never known before and would never know again. She almost felt that she shared that strength, just a little bit.

  But she shut out her worries, her flashes of a long, sad future. There were other things to worry about.

  “I think we should stage a rally”—” Griffin said, “really bring some heat to the campaign. What do you think, son?” Ashe scratched his cheek, then nodded. Griffin turned to Lorraine. “What do you think?”

  “What do I think? That was my idea originally, but Albert Jenkins shut me down.”

  “Figures.” Griffen huffed.

  “That’s why I wrote the letter.”

  Griffin said, “Great minds think alike. Let’s do it.”

  “What about my petition? I’ve gotten five hundred signatures so far.”

  “And that’s a start. Now let’s finish it.”

  “Gee, a rally.” Lorraine gave it some thought, but she couldn’t imagine a reason why not to do it. But that wasn’t the only question. “How?”

  Griffin shrugged and pulled out his smartphone. “Just a few calls are all it’ll take. We’ll protest government cutbacks, get a few celebs to show up. I think David Crosby’s in town.” Ashe rolled his eyes and shook his head. Griffin said, “Fine, I’ll see if Springsteen’ll fly in. But I can’t keep calling in that favor. He’s not president yet.”

  “Bruce Springsteen?”

  Griffin shrugged. “I can’t promise. Y’know what we should do? Stage multiple rallies at libraries all over the nation, all on the same day. We’ll call it National Library Day or something, really guilt those rich sons of bitches into paying up.”

  “They’ve got a whole week for that.”

  “Then they’re dropping the ball,” Griffin said. “That’s not my style. We’ll make the rallies a yearly thing, make sure to keep those library doors open.”

  “Really? That’s… Griffin, that’s amazing,” Lorraine said in admiration.

  “Gotta give back sometime, am I right?”

  “Yes, you are,” she said, “you’re as right a man as I’ve ever known.”

  Griffin looked into Lorraine’s eyes, her own staring back at him. She could see her own reflection on those beautiful blue eyes, and she hoped in that moment that those twin images of herself, imprisoned in Griffin’s incredible gaze, would be the last thing she’d ever see in this world.

  She had no way of knowing how likely and tragic and prophetic her fitful wish would be.

  Lorraine sat on her bed plotting in her notebook, buzzing with excitement. These plans were really materializing. She called her best friend, Jeremy, to ask if he would help out with the cause. “Of course I’ll spread the word,” Jeremy said, his voice looping and excited on the other end of the phone. “It’s this weekend? That isn’t much time.”

  “Yeah, I barely know where to begin.”

>   “Didn’t Mr. Monopoly just make a few magic phone calls?”

  “He did, actually. I just feel like there’s more I can do to, y’know, contribute to the effort.”

  “Contribute? Lo’, this whole thing started because of you. You are the effort.”

  “No, Jeremy, I’m not, I’m just…I’m just lucky, I guess.”

  “For the first time in a long time. So sit back and enjoy it! You’ve earned it, Lo’, you really have.”

  “Well, I, y’know—”—”

  “No, not just well I y’know. You deserve it, Lo’; you deserve to be happy.”

  “I know I do, I know, but…sometimes it’s just hard to believe, especially with all this.”

  Lorraine couldn’t be sure, but she imagined Jeremy shaking his head, rolling his big, brown eyes. “Say it, that’ll make it easier.” Lorraine didn’t answer, and Jeremy repeated, “C’mon, Lo’, say it.”

  It was harder than Lorraine thought, harder than she would have imagined. “I-I deserve it.”

  “You deserve what?”

  “I deserve to be happy. There, I said it. I deserve to be happy, okay?”

  “Okay,” Jeremy said. “The next step is for you to believe it.” After a long, uncomfortable silence, Jeremy asked, “What about Donal? Did you break it off with him yet?”

  “Yeah, he, um, he wasn’t very happy. It was weird, because he’s such a nice guy, y’know? But he was a bit miffed, I guess you could say.”

  “Hard to blame him, Lo’. What man wouldn’t be disappointed? Still, I’m sure it’s no big deal. What about those library goons? They must be out of their minds about it—the rally and all that.”

  “I haven’t been back to the library. And they’re not goons, Jeremy. Albert and Carmen are good people, they’re social servants.”

  “They’re banging,” he blurted out.

  “Jeremy! What makes you say that?”

  Jeremy sighed with an exaggerated flourish. “You remember that company party I came to last year? They were staring at each other, disappearing together. Those two are mashin’ uglies, I’m tellin’ ya.”