Nick of Time [Davis Hollow, Davis Ranch 4] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by JQ Jones

  “Nice room,” Manny said. She sat on the stark white fluffy futon to pull off her sandals and place them neatly underneath a low table.

  “I like this room, too. I think all the elements come together in a nice way and present the story that the hotel is trying to tell,” David said.

  He opened a bottle of champagne that he had ordered brought up while they were having dessert. The popping of the cork caused Manny to start a little, mostly because of her nerves. This would be her first and only one night stand.

  “We don’t have to do anything at all. I’ve enjoyed your company so much I don’t want it to end. If something happens or nothing happens, I’m happy either way. I can wait until you’re more comfortable with me,” David said. He sat at the opposite end of the futon, giving her space but allowing her to see that he was interested.

  “I think that I don’t want to wait. I think that we should explore this thing before I lose my nerve.” Manny inched closer to him. He smelled of soap and a man scent that tickled her nose and made her want to get even closer.

  He was younger which made her uneasy and tense knowing that he would see all of the imperfections that comes with age and maturity. The slight bulge of the stomach, the natural droop of her full breasts and less than optimal thighs would all be there to greet a man, who could have a pick of women either younger or older than he was. She sat back, calmly assessing the fact that she was going to have a relationship with a man she didn’t know, who was practically engaged and whose real name she didn’t know.

  “How old are you again?” she said.

  He slid lower down on the couch so that his left thigh just touching her right. “I’m thirty-five, thirty-six in two months.”

  She waited for him to say what she knew he would.

  “You’re not married or anything are you?” he said.

  “That’s not what I thought you’d ask but no I’m not married or anything. Besides the whole ‘need to get married for the sake of the name’ thing are you attached to anyone else?”

  “No, unfortunately not, I wish I were at least a little bit attached to the woman I’m set to marry but that’s not the case.”

  “Answers the question of whether or not to get married doesn’t it? You’d never cheat on somebody you loved.”

  “You made that a definitive statement. You can tell?”

  “Tell that you’re loyal? Sure. Any man who spends as much time as you have debating what to do with a woman he doesn’t love wouldn’t cheat on the woman he does. You are a sensitive guy. That’s nice to see.”

  “You interested in spending the night with me? I can understand if you’ve changed your mind. I mean I’m practically married, I’m a stranger, I can’t say I’m the best lover in the world and I…”

  “Talk way too much,” Manny said. She rose up on her knees to inch forward and straddle his lap. “I want to have sex with you. I think we should take it as slow as we need to go but I think we should go all the way.” She leaned in and captured his bottom lip between her teeth. He pulled his lip back slowly then grabbed the back of her head and surged into her mouth.

  She liked the taste of him, sweet with a taste of the wine. They kissed for a long while. Just kissing to find out what they liked, if they liked what the other had to offer. Manny wasn’t aware that he had his hands under her shirt until she felt him tweak her nipples softly at first then with more force. She hissed and rode on his now-erect dick.

  He was so hard and so wanting but he tried to slow it down waiting for her to signal that he was doing the right thing the way that she wanted him to. She quickly pulled off her shirt, her bra was already askew so she tugged it off as well. Her breast surged out and into the palms of his hands.

  He dipped his head to capture her nipple, brown and peaked and delicious to his tongue. He suckled, bit and licked both of them as he fell in love with the taste. It was salty and sweet and just so much like her.

  They fell onto the couch still kissing and tugging off the rest of their clothes. She didn’t realize they were both naked until they lay in a heap on the floor. His legs were covered in hair and tangled with her own. And his dick, his dick was a hot piece of hard softness lying across the top of her thighs.

  “You okay with this?” she asked.

  “Oh, yes,” he said.

  “I can stop if you need me, too.” She smiled. She ran her leg up to his hardness.

  “This is not something that you can stop right now. I may have to slow down from time to time to let you catch up but I’m sure that I can accommodate your needs tonight,” David said. His hands hadn’t stopped feeling her, all of her. His fingers dipped into her pussy, finding it wet, hot, and wanting. As she squeezed down on his invading finger he moved another one over to tangle within her shaved curls to tease her clit until she sucked in her breath and moaned.

  “Ohh, God. I mean I can stop now if you want,” she said.

  “Liar.”

  “Well, it sounded good at the time.”

  “I think I’ll fuck you now. I don’t want to wait. You’re wet and I’m hard. I want to see if you will clutch my dick the same way you clutch my finger. I want you to scream. You’re a screamer aren’t you, Magdalena?” He moved over her body.

  He spoke into her mouth, so close that she could feel the moisture of his words against her lips. They looked into each other eyes. And both sighed as he slowly entered into her wetness.

  She gasped as his thickness stretched her to almost pain then she just accommodated him. He seemed right there, poised at her entrance then inside claiming what he wanted.

  Heavy sigh from both of them as he went all the way in. His dick burrowing into her until he was fully inside, they sighed and smiled.

  “This is so fucking good. I should have done this years ago,” she said. She gasped as he bit her lip.

  “Don’t say that. You are for me and me alone. Years ago I wouldn’t be here and you are mine,” he said.

  She grinned so hard that it broke into a laugh. “I have to admit that nobody could ever make me.” Right here she hitched in another gasp of air as he plunged deep into her. She smiled again. “Yes, lover, that’s what I’ve waited for.”

  “You need to know that for a fact,” he said. His movements got stronger. They were fucking on the floor and having a really good time. They rolled over the entire length of the suite, knocking over the lantern-shaped umbrella stand and bunching the rice mat under their bodies. They did that until Manny couldn’t keep from the final orgasm that screamed out of her throat and contracted her entire body.

  When David watched her come twice he couldn’t hold back any longer. The sensations started deep within his balls and traveled up to escape from his throat. He shouted his release as he came in a body spasm that released ropes and ropes of cum. He didn’t try to pull out, he couldn’t. There was no way that that thought could have overridden what his body wanted. Her body accepted him, coming in a mild way to match his grandiose release.

  After they lay catching their breath and allowing the sweat to cool on their bodies, they looked into each other’s eyes and laughed.

  “Can we go to the bed now?” David said after their laughter was over.

  “I want to. You pounded me into the ground so I need something soft to cushion me.”

  Immediately, David jumped up and held his hands out to her to help her up. “I’m sorry I was so ungentlemanly as to leave you down on the floor. Let’s retire to the bedroom.”

  She allowed him to pull her up and they jumped into the bed together.

  “May I have some water?” Manny asked.

  “Of course. I’m so sorry I didn’t think of it earlier.”

  “Well, earlier we were too busy.” Manny laughed.

  After he got her a bottle of water from the hotel fridge, they talked for a while before they went to sleep. Before dawn, they woke to make a gentle almost casual kind of love.

  The rest of the day they visited different places in the
city. Manny took him to the Farmer’s Market and an out-of-the-way Korean restaurant for lunch that served soju cold where Manny and the owner discussed the menu in Korean. Manny’s was less than perfect but serviceable. They decided to have dinner at a small Italian restaurant where the maître d’ spoke broken English that was one of Manny’s favorites. She blew off the cocktail party and anything else as she just enjoyed the time with Hansel.

  “From your call it seems you have another engagement. I am more than happy to meet you after for a late night cocktail,” David said. It felt like that moment when they would either shake hands and become nice memories or they would have something deeper. Magdalena chose to go for something deeper.

  “Come with me. It’s one of those parties to be seen. Since I’m trying to get back in the game, it’s necessary. If you come then I can use you for an excuse to leave early,” she said. She smiled as she spoke. She wanted her friends to see that she could do normal. Hansel was normal with an edge. From conversations it sounded like he worked in the theater.

  “I don’t have anything to wear to a nice do. But I’d love to go.”

  “Don’t worry about what to wear. We’re going to take care of that right now,” Manny said. She called the DD, waited until Saul was available and told him what she needed.

  “I’m bringing a guest. He’s in the Zen. I know him as Hansel and want to keep it that way. I need for you to get him something not too you for him to wear tonight,” Manny said. She waited as Hansel finished with the check. She had already asked the hostess to call the DD car and driver they used all day. David arrived in the lobby just as their ride arrived.

  “Where are we off to?” David asked.

  “Back to the hotel. You and I are going to spend the next four hours or so in your suite, having excellent sex. Saul will arrange for our clothes to be delivered about that time. We should be showered and waiting by then,” she said. She kept her eye on her left thumbnail. She worried her right thumb to unevenness until the quiet stretched into the uncomfortable zone. She watched his pupils dilate. A quick bite on her bottom lip reminded her that they were in public.

  “Do you want me?” he asked. His accent added to the intensity of his question.

  “As much as you want me. It’s almost overwhelming. But I like it a lot. Do you like it? Or is it sort of freaky for you because it’s strong? That sounds stupid but you know what I mean,” she said.

  David threaded his fingers through the thick curls at the nape of her neck. His fingers sought out and found tight knots bunched around her shoulders. She hissed in a breath.

  “I want to go where you go. I especially want to go to my suite for the next few hours. I will wear whatever ridiculous outfit that is sent to me without any complaints at all. I want you very, very much, Magdalena,” David said.

  “Let’s put talk into action. Three hours will be over in almost no time,” Manny said.

  * * * *

  The street and the neighborhood were silent, well-kept and showed the obvious signs that everyone in the area had money as the hotel car dropped them off. Saul and Mel had, what they called, a bungalow that had four bedrooms, indoor spa, an infinity pool, outdoor patios, a workout room, and only 6,123 square feet of space. Tonight the front lights accented the tall, graceful trees that lined the huge entryway to the house. The house was bright with lights coming from all three floors, an extensive upstairs balcony and an even larger wraparound porch.

  David wore dark-wash jeans, a pale blue polo shirt and a seersucker jacket. His shoes were now acceptable to Magdalena. She ended up using the shoes that Saul picked out after she dismissed any of the shoes he packed as being not Washington Corridor enough.

  Her hair, down and caressing her face, covered her eyes as she looked down at her sundress. It was red with thick straps that crisscrossed her back before falling in a full skirt to mid-thigh. It was lovely. He looked so very young and toothsome. That was the only word for him, toothsome. When she looked at him she wanted to either bite or lick him.

  “Why are we standing in the driveway? Isn’t the party in the house right there?” he said.

  “Yes, it is. Have you ever seen the movie Washington Square?” she said.

  “The one with Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Cliff and Ralph Richardson released in 1949 as The Heiress or the same titled 1997 release with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ben Chaplin, and Albert Finney?” he asked.

  “Both. I will not ask how you know that so well because of our cloak of unknowing we’ve agreed on. Washington Corridor is up-and-coming ‘we have money’ mixed with a ‘we always had money’ section of Houston. What keeps the two together is that all of them like to party. They are also part of my old life. I want to reenter this world but I don’t want to go back to what I was. Know what I mean?” she asked.

  “Of course I understand. But the question for you is whether or not you want to be the person you want to be despite the people you have deal with. I think I was just talking to myself,” David said. His smile broadened.

  “Come on, old thing. Let’s go have a bit of a lark and go back to the hotel and make love the rest of the night.”

  “Since you are dangling the carrot along with the stick, I guess we can go in now. But that carrot better be ready to be used in new and interesting ways,” she said.

  She was still uneasy.

  “We can go in now. Don’t ask my name from anyone here. That’s part of the rules of the affair that we agreed to.”

  “That’s the second time you’ve mentioned the rules of our affair. When and where were these discussed and why don’t I remember?”

  “I think I did that thing where you have a conversation with yourself and you think you had the conversation with the other person. I have been known to do that from time to time. But it is a good idea. We’re having a small, intense affair. We made a decision to be anonymous so we decided to be in nonbinding relationship.”

  “I promise not to answer too many questions about me. If inquiries are made, who am I?”

  “My lover, my boy toy, my twink, my arm candy.”

  “I feel so cheap.”

  “You’re not cheap, just easy.”

  The door opened before he was able to respond. If the outside of the house promised chic sophistication then the inside followed through without apologies. It was bold, colorful and full of pretty people. They were huddled in small groups around in an open floor plan that opened onto more entertainment space on the patio before it sloped to a sunken infinity pool.

  Manny and David picked up drinks before they waded into the groups. Twenty minutes passed before she introduced him to the hosts, Saul and Mel. Saul smirked when he saw David.

  “I intended to ask you if you’re enjoying your stay in Houston but from the way you’ve latched on to my single bestie like a limpet, and you are glowing…my little sly bitch,” Saul said.

  “Don’t hate.” Manny air-kissed both men.

  “It’s a crazy bitch of a party. All the wannabes are over there to the right. Poor things are too overwhelmed with my greatness to venture from the corner. By the bar are the old-money blue hairs. They can only be away from a shot of top-shelf alcohol by mere inches. The druggies are shooting, smoking and ingesting all manner of pharmaceuticals in the pool house. I have some foodies in the kitchen. And that’s where we go to next,” Saul said. He grabbed her hand and led her down the hallway to the kitchen.

  “We’ve been left alone,” Mel said. He had the look of an account with gentle wet eyes, a controlled paunch and thick glasses. Mel was quiet and genial with none of the flash and spark of Saul.

  “So it seems.”

  “Another Brit. As Saul mapped out the party he forgot to mention that the group sitting on the patio are our British friends. Our next door neighbor is a Brit. He loves the heat and humidity. Let’s go explore,” Mel said. He and David talked their way across the room and onto the patio.

  The group welcomed David into the group. He spent an hour in a
pleasant conversation with a group of ex-pats as they played “do we know the same people?” They were narrowing in on people they each knew when a very polished woman in a tight blue dress that molded her body.

  “We can now stop guessing, we do have mutual acquaintances. Lindsey, I didn’t expect to see you here,” David said.

  Lindsey Setton raised her face for David’s kissed greeting. She tipped her head in question.

  “Barbara didn’t mention that you were in Houston. I left her in London. Is your trip going well?” Lindsey asked. Her voice, always thick and slow, spread across the area in a slow-moving morass.

  “Barbara wouldn’t mention it. She didn’t acknowledge I was leaving. And yes, I am having a great trip. How about yourself? Is this business or pleasure?” David asked.

  “A little of both. Let’s have a drink and catch up. We can go for a nightcap at my hotel,” she said. She draped an arm over his shoulder and finished her sentence in a hushed whisper to his ear.

  “Thank you for the invitation but I have plans for this evening,” he said. Lindsey’s eyes narrowed for just a fraction of a second. She was Barbara’s oldest most competitive friend. They were so much alike that David shuddered at how close he came to a lifetime of unhappiness just because he was complaisant. This glance into what might have been served as a wakeup call.

  He waited thirty minutes before he wandered to the kitchen where Magdalena stood in a circle discussing a new type of food movement. He stood close enough to her to feel the heat coming off her body. She was deep into a detailed discourse on the best oven for an all-around restaurant.

  “Ready to go, Hansel?” she asked without turning around.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Let’s go then.”