The girls, now a little tipsy, laughed at his possessiveness but knew Ryann loved every second of it. She was definitely getting Jeremy worked up.
Ayanna and Emily laughed as they began walking over to the lounge area to see if they could convince their own men to dance.
“You know he’s not gonna go for it,” Emily was saying, knowing full well how much Jonathan hated to dance.
“His friggin’ ass is dancin’ with me,” Ayanna dictated with a confident smirk.
“Hey! You said ‘friggin’!”
“That’s not the same as the F word!” Ayanna yelled.
“I don’t know,” Emily joked. “Don’t you know what ‘friggin’ means on the streets?” She loved teasing her about her 40 day fast from saying the F word.
Ayanna barked out a laugh. “Would you shut up? If I can’t say ‘friggin’ then I might as well throw in the towel right now.”
They had just arrived to the lounge area and Jon immediately pulled Yan down onto his lap. “You look good out there,” Jon said with a sexy grin. His eyes were eating her up. Emily interrupted.
“She just said ‘friggin’,” Emily said to Jon. “Is she allowed to say ‘friggin’?”
Jon laughed. “Yes, my gorgeous Miss Potty Mouth is allowed to say ‘friggin’.”
Ayanna kissed him then stuck out her tongue at Emily. “Tattle tale.” Then without letting the conversation continue she looked at Jon and crooked her finger at him. “I want you on the dance floor.”
Jon winced, “Baby, you know I can’t dance. If you want me to balance a spreadsheet of numbers, I’m happy to do that for you instead.”
Ayanna laughed and completely ignored him, stood up and crooked her finger some more while swinging her hips to entice him to the floor.
“Shit, bro. You’re gonna let your girlfriend, who is so above your pay grade, dance by herself at a club? Are you fuckin’ crazy? I’ll dance with her,” Mark said and began to get up.
Other than Ayanna dancing completely naked in front of him, nothing could’ve gotten Jon up faster out of his chair. He pushed Mark back down then in a thick accent said, “Keep your fahckin’ hands to yourself.” He pointed at him in warning and Mark let out a howl. Emily chuckled. It was very much like them, Mark being a wise ass and Jon laying the smackdown on him.
“That’s it!” Mark yelled over the music, laughing. “Get your ass out there and show these men who she belongs to!”
“Yeah, come on, big boy,” Ayanna said in a sultry voice and pulled Jon with her. “Show ’em who I belong to.”
Jon smiled, grabbing her and kissing her soundly on the lips with a loud smack. “Let’s go, baby. Don’t let me step on your toes.”
“Don’t worry champ. My toes will be fine. It’s the other parts of my body I’m not too sure about,” she said, wiggling her hips and leading him by the collar of his shirt to the dance floor.
Those still left in the lounge area laughed. Emily looked over at Mike, Mark and Luke and pinned her eyes on the man who melted her heart.
“How ’bout you, Detective?” she said with a hint of a smile and snuggled up to him.
“I was just telling your boyfriend here that since everyone keeps saying we’re like two peas in a pod, I’ve determined he must be awesome,” Mark said with a chuckle. “I heartily approve of him, by the way.”
“This doesn’t surprise me,” Emily beamed.
Very similar in coloring to his older brother, Mark had blue eyes and was around six feet tall with dirty blonde to light brown hair. The younger version of Bradley Cooper, he was full of charm, ease, and a great sense of humor. Mark couldn’t have been more opposite in appearance to Mike. But their personalities? Like he’d said, two peas in a pod.
“He is pretty awesome,” Emily said, leaning up for a kiss from Mike. She couldn’t believe how affectionate she’d become. Mike didn’t disappoint and laid one on her.
“We’re already planning a motorcycle ride for the spring,” Mark continued.
“Nice! I want in,” Emily said.
“Of course, you’re in,” Mike said. “We just need to find Mark a partner.” Mike turned to look at him.
“I’ll see who I can scramble up,” Mark joked.
“There you are!” Taylor exclaimed, coming up to the table. “Come on, we’re supposed to be dancin’.” She laughed and grabbed Em’s hand.
Emily gave Mark a look with a raised eyebrow, as if to say Hello! Riding partner right here! Then she turned to Mike. “Let’s go, Detective.”
He grabbed her face and let the kiss linger a moment, then whispered against her lips, “I’d say I’m ready to show you some moves.”
“Whattaya waitin’ for, then?”
He gave her a lazy smirk and got up, just as Michael Jackson’s The Way You Make Me Feel started playing. They both looked at each other and started cracking up.
“What’d we miss?” Mark asked.
“I’ll tell you later,” Emily smiled. “Let’s go, boys. Everybody up!”
As they began dancing away from the table, Mike turned his attention to Emily, laughing, spinning her around and dancing her toward the floor, singing to her the whole way. Mark and Taylor followed close behind, Mark starting to finally move all around Taylor.
The song played out while Mike and Emily smiled and whooped, remembering the singing telegram. So much had happened since that day; so many wonderful incredible things. Emily couldn’t be happier. As the song came to a close, Mike took her in for a final spin, ending with her in his arms and him nuzzling his lips by her ear.
“You’re so hot,” he whispered.
Goose bumps appeared on her arms at the sound of his voice and words that were spoken. She grabbed his face so he wouldn’t move back and turned her mouth to his ear. “You’re not too bad yourself,” she whispered back.
Even though the music moved into another grinding song, they continued holding each other dancing with a sexy slow pace. She sighed with contentment and looked around.
Taylor and Mark were near the other couples, dancing and having a great time.
Janie and Tiffany were dancing with each other, laughing. Luke had made his way over to the two of them, inserting himself into their little square on the floor. Men were all over those two girls and Luke seemed to turn into their protector almost immediately. Both Tiffany and Janie were charming beautiful women and continued dancing all around with men hovering near. Since Drew had to work that night, they stuck with each other most of the time, but especially when the male friends in the group came out to claim their significant others. However, now that Luke was out there, Janie turned the charm way up, raising her arms and rubbing into him, singing to him and sexily chuckling the whole time.
At one point, Luke was behind her and held her hips, rubbing himself into her as well, talking into her ear.
Janie just laughed and continued dancing, having a great time and making the poor man sweat.
Mike saw where Emily was looking and turned in that direction. He made an uncomfortable face, then a resigned one.
“Does it still bother you?” She practically had to shout at him so he could hear her over the music.
Mike smirked, then shrugged. “Not really, I guess. They’re adults, right?” he shouted back.
She nodded and smiled. I love you, she mouthed.
He laughed and spun her again, then Emily forgot about everyone else and danced.
……
On Sunday, they all slept in and Emily and Taylor met up at a diner for some breakfast, then went on a huge shopping excursion. Emily had wanted to take Taylor to do some major discount shopping at Century 21 in lower Manhattan
“You and Marky Mark seemed to have a good time dancing last night,” Emily said innocently with a side look.
Taylor looked back at her, her face flushed. “We did. He’s a great dancer.”
“Yes, he is.” There was a beat of silence then they both laughed, Taylor letting out a deep sigh.
; “Let’s find me some sexy lingerie. I’m feeling reckless,” Taylor said.
“You got it, babe.”
They continued shopping and at one point Emily finally decided to tell Taylor what she’d been worrying about since Friday night. After overhearing Lacey’s comment to Mike, it was always in the back of her mind. When she finally mentioned to Taylor what she’d overheard at dinner between Mike and Lacey, Taylor became thoughtful.
“He’s always been honest with you, Em, right? Maybe he’s planning a surprise for you or something.”
“It seemed more serious than that,” Emily said, biting her lip.
“You could ask him, but I’m sensing you won’t want to do that.”
“No. If he wants to talk, he’ll talk.” Emily stopped in the midst of the clothing rack and turned to Taylor. “You don’t think it’s - do you think it’s someone else?”
“No, Emmie, I don’t.” Taylor reached her hand out to squeeze Emily’s reassuringly.
“He promised he’d never cheat,” Emily continued, sounding worried.
“It’s not that, Em. I’m sure.”
“Okay,” she breathed. “Okay. You’re right. I know you’re right. He would never do that.”
“I think you should ask him, Em. So you’re not so nervous about it. Or,” Taylor said, “you could trust him. And wait until he tells you whatever it is. I don’t know. Does that sound naïve?”
“Yes,” Emily chuckled and Taylor smiled. “I’m kidding. I do trust him. It’s just that whatever it is sounded pretty ominous. I’ll wait until the weekend’s over then the next time we have free, I’ll see what happens.”
Taylor nodded, “Okay.” She squeezed her hand again then let go. “And might I say that I’m very proud of you. You actually shared something with me that you were worried about. Completely unprompted by me, I might add.”
Emily smirked then got serious. “I’m gettin’ there, Tee.”
“Yes, you are.”
……
Columbus Day was hopping at Jeremy and Ryann’s brownstone where yet another soiree was under way, this time without the parents but with the addition of a few more friends. Since Mark and Taylor needed to get back up north, they’d all agreed on an earlier party so the two of them could make their train by three.
“I’m so glad you finally got a chance to meet everyone,” Emily said to Taylor who was sitting next to her on the loveseat in the living room. “They’ve heard me talk about you for so long now.”
“I already feel like I’ve known them forever. Saturday night was great, by the way. They’re all so nice. And so different from each other,” Taylor pointed out. “But you can tell they’re all good peeps.”
“Yup, the best,” Emily agreed, looking around the room at the close friends now mingling on the first floor, devouring Janie and Ayanna’s new recipes, as well as some meatball appys along with pizzas from local pizzerias. The chefs declared that it was Columbus Day, after all, so only Italian food would do.
The only person Taylor hadn’t met yet was Maurice, who happened to walk over at that moment to introduce himself.
“So now I get to meet the woman on the phone after all these months. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Taylor.”
Taylor put her hand out and dazzled him with her smile. ‘Dazzled’ being the operative word. She was a mix of striking ethnicities: Irish from her father and half Japanese and German from her mom. The combination usually caused men to look a second time. Her delicate and curvy body, coupled with the exotic features of her face and her dark brown eyes and hair were arresting to say the least.
“Same here. I feel like I already know you,” she said sweetly.
“You do. Four months of phone calls will do that to you,” he smiled, his bright white teeth shining within his dark skin. “How’s your program been going?”
“It’s been going well, but certainly not as exciting as yours has been,” she said with a sympathetic and knowing look, referring to the shooting. “What a way to start the school year. I’m so glad Kevin is gonna be okay.”
“I know. It’s been a little crazy, but our students have been really supportive and when Kevin comes back, he’ll be welcomed with a lot of love.”
“He’s gonna need it. Not to mention a lot of counseling,” Taylor added.
“Yeah, Rene’s already got that set up for him. She’s been incredible through this whole thing,” Mo said. “And it’s been great to get to know Jon’s brother. He’s one of the mentors in your program, I hear.”
They directed their attention to Mark, who was standing over with Jon and Mike.
Taylor’s eyes gleamed as she responded. “Yeah, he’s been a great mentor. We’re lucky to have him.”
Emily had been dying to ask Taylor about the sleeping arrangements from the weekend. They all didn’t get home on Saturday night until the wee hours of the morning and Mark was still sleeping when she’d left to go shopping with Em the day before. Emily was dying to know how Sunday night had gone.
“You guys are leaving later today, I assume?” Mo said to Taylor, bringing them back to the present.
“Yeah. Our train leaves at three.”
He nodded. “Well, next time you’re down, we’ll have to hang out some more.”
Taylor smiled. “Definitely.”
Mo gave her a look of interest. “I’m grabbing another slice of pizza. Anyone want anything while I’m over there?” he asked them.
They both said no and watched him leave.
“Well, well.” Emily looked at her friend, noting with her eyes that Maurice was definitely showing some interest.
“Yeah, yeah,” Taylor said with a smirk.
“I wanna know how last night went in the apartment.”
“You mean you wanna know if I had wild monkey sex with your cousin?”
“Did you?!” Emily practically screamed.
Taylor snorted. “I’m beginning to wonder if your cousin really is a ladies man after all, or if it’s a hoax. He may dance a good game and certainly knew how to grind on me Saturday night, but when things are quiet and it’s just the two of us and I practically throw myself at him, he stutters like a twelve year old.”
“What did you do?” Emily whispered, her eyebrows shooting up.
“I just pretended the master bathroom was out of soap and went into the hall closet to get more while he was watching TV in the living room.” Her eyes sparkled.
“And what were you wearing?”
“That slinky short robe I bought yesterday.”
“Did you have anything else on?”
She rolled her lips in over her teeth and shook her head.
“Holy shit, what did he do?”
She gave an exasperated look. “Like I said. He kind of sputtered and yelled that I shouldn’t be walking around like that. That he would’ve been happy to get soap for me if I’d needed it. And I said, ‘Mark, it’s just you. Calm down.’ To which he said, ‘You still shouldn’t be walking around men in that thing.’ So I was like, ‘I’m not walking around men in this thing, I’m walking around you in this thing. And since I’m completely covered and you’re not interested, I think I’m safe.’”
“And?”
“And then he just mumbled something about women, went back to watching TV, then I showered and went to bed.”
Emily rubbed her hands with glee. Taylor laughed. Emily got serious. “That was a big deal for you.”
Taylor sighed with a little trepidation. “I know. I had to build up my nerve to do it. Was it wrong? Was I teasing him? I start to sink back into that thinking from, you know, afterwards.”
Emily knew after the rape that Taylor thought she couldn’t be or act sexy for a very long time, especially when she hit her late teens and early twenties. She’d spent years working through the feelings that she’d somehow asked to be raped on that date when she was barely fifteen.
Emily grabbed her hand, “Tee, you’re allowed to be a woman. Playful, sexy. It’s not
like you don’t know Mark and he doesn’t know you. And you weren’t naked and straddling him for cryin’ out loud. Did you tease him a little? Yes. But if anything, you were just giving him something to think about.”
Taylor sighed again. “Yeah. I don’t ever want a man to think I’m a tease though.”
“If he had made a move last night, would you have said no?”
“Hell, no,” the Taylor she knew and loved said, with some sass.
Emily chuckled. “Then I hardly think that qualifies you as a tease.”
Taylor nodded, somewhat relieved. “I’m gonna grab a water. You want one?”
“Nah, I’m good,” Emily said, getting up as well so she could mingle. Heading over to Tiffany, she pulled her aside.
“So, you’ve been holding out, I think.”
“In what way?” Tiffany asked innocently.
“What’s going on with Dr. Drew, my friend?”
“Nothing.” She may have said ‘nothing’, but there was definitely something. “We’ve talked on the phone a couple of times. That’s it.”
“Uh, huh. I notice you’re not a babbling mess around him as much.”
“I’m getting better. But man, is he hot. I’m not kiddin’, I get all jumbly inside whenever he’s around,” Tiffany said under her breath.
Emily laughed. “I’m glad you’re getting to know each other.”
“We are. And,” she said more forcefully and took Emily’s arm, “I’ve been thinking about the charity I wanna start.”
“I have too.”
“You have? What do you think I should do?”
“No, you go first.”
“Ever since you mentioned a sister program to the one you have for the boy students, it’s all I’ve been thinking about.”
“Me, too!”
“Yeah?! Okay, so here’s what I think.”
They spent the next several minutes discussing what a sister program would look like, how they could create something where little girls could not only learn a version of Krav Maga, but also build up their mental strength as well.
“I’ve had my realtor looking for some commercial space, like warehouses. She showed me one in Harlem yesterday. Maybe we could open up a full service place for girls. Like have the Krav Maga component, but maybe counseling available or after school programs, stuff like that. Maybe a smattering of classes, like Janie and Ayanna can come in to teach them some basic cooking, you teach them Krav Maga, Ryann some painting. I could teach some business classes. Maybe get the boys involved in some way. We all have so much to offer. Jon with his finance skills, Jem with his woodworking. Mike could talk about police work. What do you think?”
Revelation: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series) Page 39
