by Bella Juarez
“Come here, baby,” Reese said.
Victoria walked to Reese and sat down. She rested her head on his chest and he stroked her damp hair.
“Did you clean the kitchen?” Victoria asked.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“I didn’t want to.”
“It’s almost three in the afternoon,” Victoria said, getting up and walking to her closet.
“That was some party!” Reese quipped.
Victoria gave Reese a sideward glance over her shoulder as she opened her closet door. He watched her as she grabbed her clothes and started to dress. He was fighting the temptation to throw her on to her tiny bed and start all over again. He frowned as he watched her. There were hardly any clothes in her closet. He couldn’t help thinking about the boxes of clothes Maggie would give away a couple of times a year, not to mention when they would move from one duty station to the next.
“Victoria, let’s go out and get something to eat.”
Reese drove them to a place that used to make him cringe. He would have volunteered for a torture session with al-Qaeda before he would voluntarily take a trip to Fair Oaks Mall. Maggie used to drag him there and keep him trapped on a regular basis. Like most men, he hated shopping. He knew that if he tried to give Victoria money and told her what he wanted her to do with it she would throw it back at him and tell him what he could do with it. He drove and said nothing. Reese could tell Victoria was very confused when they parked.
“I thought you said you wanted to eat?” Victoria questioned.
“I like the wings here.”
Chapter Eight
Reese and Victoria walked toward the huge building. To keep her unsuspicious, he led her into one of the restaurants from the parking lot. They ate and talked for a while. When they finished, he suggested they walk around. He knew exactly where he was going and when we got there he stopped in front.
“Oh, look, it’s a store and it has your name on it,” Reese said.
Victoria started laughing and walked away. Reese caught her hands and led her into the store.
“Stop it, Reese!” Victoria said with a giggle.
“Come on, I want to get you something.”
“No,” Victoria said dismissively.
“Yes.”
“Reese, you don’t need to get me anything,” Victoria said, looking away.
Reese pulled Victoria close. Everyone passing would have thought he was being affectionate. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
“I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this for my entertainment. Now quit fucking with me,” Reese commanded in a deadly tone.
Where the hell did that come from? Reese had never talked to any female like he was talking to Victoria. Maybe all the years of pent-up frustrations were finally showing themselves.
“Reese…” Victoria started.
Reese had acquired the ability to cut people off without words. It was a look that every drill instructor and everyone who commands troops acquires over time. A deadly don’t fuck with me look. He gave Victoria that look and she went silent. A saleslady found them and Reese turned Victoria over to her.
Victoria picked out a bra-and-panty set and handed them to Reese. He took them to the register and told the saleslady he wanted one of each in every color they stocked. The sales lady suggested a couple of other styles as well and he told her to add them to what was already there. Through his peripheral vision he could see Victoria’s jaw drop. He walked her to the sleepwear section and told her to pick out three things that were comfortable and three that were sexy. She started to protest.
“Victoria…” Reese warned.
“No!” Victoria whispered harshly.
“You want me to pick it out?” Reese countered with a deadly glare.
Victoria turned with a huff and started looking through the racks. She did as Reese asked, this time taking them to the register herself and slamming them down on the counter. She turned and glared at him. She was being a brat. He had a lovely vision of turning her over his knee and spanking that stunning ass of hers in those sexy new panties. He needed to redirect his concentration because he wasn’t finished with her yet.
They finished in Victoria’s Secret and walked a couple of stores down. It was a store Maggie would disparage every time she and Reese walked passed it. bebe. When he looked in the window of that store, he usually liked what he saw. Reese marched Victoria to the door and she pulled him aside before they could walk in.
“Reese, No! Damn it!” Victoria urged.
“Victoria!” Reese demanded.
“What are you doing?” Victoria demanded.
“I am an officer in the Marine Corps. I have a lot of social functions I need to attend. You’ll be attending those functions with me now. You need clothes to do that.”
“I have clothes!”
“I saw your closet.”
“Reese! I can buy my own clothes.”
“You can pay me back,” Reese said, grabbing Victoria’s arm, leading her into the store.
“I will pay you back!” Victoria countered.
“Damn right you will, in ways you can’t imagine,” Reese shot back.
“If that’s the case, I’ve already prepaid!” Victoria snapped, yanking her arm from Reese.
Victoria walked into the store and for a few more hours they shopped. By the time they stopped at the last place, Victoria had a new wardrobe. She put up a fight for a while but finally gave up. The last place they stopped was a shoe store. They were both tired and there was an air of tension between them because of money. It wasn’t that Reese had money to burn. He was very conservative and most of the time he didn’t spend it. Maggie had always managed that end of the relationship with no problem. When Maggie moved out and divorced him, he had more money than he knew what to do with.
They separated in the store for a minute. He walked through the racks of shoes and stopped in front of a pair of strappy, spiked-heeled platform shoes.
“I don’t think they make those in your size,” Victoria quipped.
“They make ’em in yours.”
“I’m not sure I can walk in those,” Victoria said as she lifted the display.
Reese circled around to stand in back of Victoria. He leaned in close to her. “Who said anything about walking? I’m going to fuck you in those,” Reese said lowly.
Despite her best efforts to remain serious and angry, Victoria started laughing. She leaned back into Reese’s chest and he kissed her. The tension between them seemed to melt away. They bought those shoes and a couple of others in that store and went home.
* * * *
Maggie watched as Reese kissed their maid in front of a pair of fuck-me shoes she wouldn’t have been caught dead in. They both seemed oblivious to everything around them and had no idea she had been following them for the last hour. She had come to the mall to relieve the boredom she had been fighting at her parents’ house. What did she find? Her husband spending their money like a drunken sailor on his new whore!
It had been as Maggie suspected all along. Reese had probably been sleeping with that Mexican slut from the time she had hired her. Victoria had claimed to be a student when Maggie interviewed her. Student my ass! She thinks she’s found an easy ride. Maggie had asked her if she spoke Spanish. She wanted Victoria to seem lowly and cheap so she demanded that the slut speak nothing but Spanish as long as Reese was in the house. Reese had apparently figured out just how cheap she really was. If he thought for one second that Maggie would allow this, he was dead wrong. And that maid who doubled as his whore was going to regret her very existence by the time Maggie was done with both of them. She boiled every time she saw him touch that bitch. All those little touches and looks that passed between them did not go unnoticed.
He’s dressing his little plaything like the fuck toy she is. Maggie seethed. Reese’s low working-class background was rearing its ugly head to the surface once more. She had tried to crush
it like the trash it was. It was always about the sex with him. Typical! She sighed to herself. It was time to get back to work. He obviously did not understand what she had been trying to accomplish over the last year and a half. It was time to remind him of exactly who was in charge here.
* * * *
Oh shit! Victoria inwardly shuddered as they walked out of the shoe store and she caught a glimpse that almost stopped her dead in her tracks. Maggie Thompson. She wanted to cross herself to ward off the evil she felt directed her way. They loaded up the truck and started home. It was raining again and getting colder. What she had just seen worried her. Maggie was evil and was not a force to be taken lightly.
“Victoria!” Reese said loudly.
Victoria twitched. “What! Why are you yelling at me?” she snapped.
“Sweetness, I’ve asked you twice if you want to pick something up on the way home.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.”
“What’s wrong? Is this about the clothes again?” Reese asked, looking very annoyed.
“No.”
“What is it?” Reese insisted.
“I saw Maggie at the mall, Reese. She was watching us,” Victoria said, concerned.
“So?”
“Doesn’t that bother you?”
“No…Should it?” Reese asked slowly.
“Reese, she looked really pissed.”
“And?”
“Reese! She’s a psycho! Doesn’t that concern you?” Victoria exclaimed.
“Maggie and I are divorced and I am moving on with another woman. She’s not my problem anymore. No, I am not concerned and I do not care what the hell she thinks,” Reese concluded.
“Okay.” Victoria shrugged.
If Reese wasn’t concerned, Victoria was. Maggie Thompson was a psychotic bitch from hell and she was not done with him, not by a long shot. She was not about to go away quietly. He simply did not understand her way of fighting. He was straightforward. She was underhanded and dirty. There was no way in hell Victoria was giving up Reese. Even though she had her doubts about their relationship, he belonged to her now. Victoria mentally braced herself for the coming battle.
* * * *
Victoria was taking clothes out of the dryer. It was almost eleven and she was dead tired. She managed to wash most of the new stuff they had bought and got it put away. Some of the more dressy things would need to go to the cleaners. She put the last of her things away. She took the light purple and black lace satin slip that she had picked out at Victoria’s Secret, and she walked into the bathroom and showered quickly. As soon as she put it on she instantly felt the cool, satiny material hit her skin. She ran her hands over it. It was the most luxurious thing she had every owned.
Victoria peeked around the corner and saw that Reese had dozed off in his chair. She quietly slipped upstairs into his bedroom and tucked herself in. She thought she was too excited to sleep, but she was wrong and woke to him running his hands over her back. He leaned down and kissed her shoulder. Victoria stirred.
“Baby, you feel so good,” Reese whispered as he kissed Victoria’s shoulder again.
Victoria turned and took Reese into her arms. He had already undressed. They kissed unhurriedly and passionately. He explored her as if it were the first time. The careful intimacy of his caresses touched a place deep inside her. He was taking his time and she reciprocated. His mouth explored her neck and chest and she ran her hands over the sinewy muscles of his shoulders and back. He stroked over the lace and satin of her slip.
“You’re so beautiful,” Reese whispered against Victoria’s skin.
Reese ran his hands over Victoria’s breasts and moved away the material that barely contained them. His tongue lapped at her nipple and she could no longer contain the sensual moan that had been building in her. He caressed her thigh and stroked until she parted for him. He returned to her mouth and they kissed as he ran his hand lightly over her mound. His pace was calming and slow, encouraging slow lovemaking instead of the explosive sex they seemed to slip into so easily.
Reese rolled over onto his back and pulled Victoria on top of him. His hands gripped her lacy bottom and he growled. He pulled the slip over her hips as she straddled him. She could feel his hard cock against her slick pussy as she slowly rocked her hips. He caressed her sides and his hands moved upward, cupping her breasts. He pulled down the thin material, spilling her breasts from the front of the slip, and started gently kneading and suckling them. Her tempo increased as he reached down and ran his hands over her ass. He sat up and removed her slip. He pushed her gently onto her back and brushed her hair away from her face.
“I want to see your face,” Reese said.
Reese removed Victoria’s panties and slowly placed himself on top of her. He kissed her neck and teased her nipples as he entered her. She shook in delight as he moved in and out of her eager pussy. They began a slow, sensual dance moving together. She dug her fingers into his upper back and he growled through her kisses. She could feel her pussy start to spasm and she let out a low moan.
“Reese, I can’t wait,” Victoria cried.
“Let go, sweetness,” Reese whispered.
Reese reached down and started rubbing her clit, sending her over the edge. She gripped his biceps as she cried out. She felt him stiffen and increase his tempo. He thrust in and out of her as he reached his own climax. He pulled her close and kissed her passionately as he finished.
“You look so sexy when you come,” Reese said against Victoria’s throat.
Reese’s hot breath against her skin and the vibration of his deep voice gave her butterflies. Sated, she pulled him close and kissed him longingly. He moved beside her and held her against him. She could feel his hard body under her hands. She thought about his little shopping spree today and frowned. She wanted to smile when she thought about how easily he handled her. He was not tolerating her stubbornness nor would he be effortlessly outsmarted, either.
Reese was a good man and all her doubts and pride would only drive a wedge between them. Give in, her inner voice coaxed.
Victoria could hear his heart beating. She tightened her grip on him. The sound of his heart beating was her refuge. It proved he was real and alive. She recalled a time when she was a small child, after her mother had died, how she clung to her father and could hear his heart beating. That sound was often her sanctuary when she was troubled or needed reassurance. She would hug her father and listen to his heart beat for a moment and everything would be okay.
Victoria recalled the look on Maggie’s face when she noticed her and it was worrisome. Maggie was not the type of person who would just admit defeat and go away. Maggie had some serious issues and Reese’s light dismissal did not leave her with a good feeling. She gripped him a little tighter, letting herself get lost in the rhythm of his heartbeat.
“Easy there, sweetness, I’d like to breathe,” Reese said.
“I’m sorry,” Victoria said, readjusting herself.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Why did you say that?”
“Because of the way you were grabbing me. It was like you were afraid I would leave you,” Reese said.
“Would you?”
“No,” Reese said with a yawn.
“How do you know?” Victoria asked.
“Because I know. Now get some sleep.” Reese kissed Victoria’s forehead.
“Something could happen and you could change your mind,” Victoria pointed out.
“Victoria, I won’t change my mind. Now relax and go to sleep,” Reese said.
“What if you did?” Victoria pressed.
“Will you marry me, Victoria?” Reese asked.
“What!” Victoria exclaimed as she sat up straight.
“Do you want to marry me?” Reese repeated.
“Don’t you think it’s a little too soon?” Victoria asked.
“No. I’ve had the bad and now I know a good thing when I see it.”
“Are you s
erious?” Victoria asked.
“Yes, I’m serious. Aren’t you? Have I misjudged you? Are you just playing around with me?” Reese asked.
“No. Reese, I’m not playing around,” Victoria said quietly.
“Then what’s the problem?” Reese demanded.
“I’m afraid I’ll screw this up like I did the last one,” Victoria said as a lump started to form in her throat.
Reese said nothing and Victoria could feel unshed tears stinging her eyes. He took a deep breath and pulled her to him. He held for a while before saying anything.
“Do you know what your mistakes were?” Reese asked.
“Not entirely,” Victoria whispered.
“Then you need to do some thinking instead of running, don’t you?” Reese pointed out.
Damn him! Reese had a laser-like ability to cut through the bullshit and get right to the heart of the matter. Was she that transparent? Victoria hadn’t even realized she had been running until now. She felt very vulnerable. He had the ability to lay her open and read her like a cheap novel. He was taking one more chunk out of that wall of control she was trying to maintain.
“I guess so,” Victoria said, trying to pull away.
“Stop it. You may be running from the last guy, but you’re not running from me. I will find you and I’ll drag you back kicking and screaming,” Reese said as he held Victoria fast.
They were silent for a while. It was clear they were both awake and thinking. Reese rubbed Victoria’s shoulder, soothing her.
“Sweetness, I don’t know what happened between you and your ex because you never talk about it. You’re not just my lover, you’re my friend and I’ll listen, just like you did. I promise I will listen,” Reese said.
Victoria said nothing, but took what Reese said under consideration. She didn’t quite know what to do with his offer. She knew what had happened to her marriage. It was almost like Reese and Maggie. She understood what it felt like to have an emotional vampire sucking every ounce of life from you. That was the reason why she had left Houston and came to Washington, DC. Julio, the leech, wouldn’t leave her alone. That’s why she was instantly so protective of Reese, because she understood his situation.
