by Amber Burns
“Honey, I am not the best at relationships, obviously, but I think if love is going to find you it will find you when it damn well pleases.”
She took Cindy’s good hand in hers and squeezed. Her hands were large and warm as they enclosed around her own.
“It is just so crazy Annie, when I am with him, I feel so free to be myself. And let’s not even start on the sex. Wow, it is amazing. I am not an expert in bed, but oh it is awesome.”
“Well, that’s good. You definitely need to test drive before you purchase.” She winked and Cindy laughed so hard she cried a little.
“Ok, I need to get going. They have me on mornings now, so I need to go try and rotate my schedule. I also have a date with my personal trainer. I took up self-defense classes, you would be proud.”
“Oh, sug’, I am proud. Every woman should be able to protect herself without a man. That is why I got my mace always handy.” She bent over and pulled out her purse to shake the little can of mace attached to her keys.
“Well, I will see this week. Bye Annie, behave!” She hugged the older woman and headed out the door.
She opened her phone again and began responding to Heather’s messages.
Hey, sorry I haven’t been very talkative lately, busy busy. I see you guys are having a blast though! I miss you and we need to have a wine night soon.
Not even a minute later, her phone buzzed back.
I was worried about you! I didn’t want to bother you if you were busy with Cade. Also, Tommy has been all about staying disconnected so we could be together without the distractions. Anyways, I have some news when I get back. Love you!
Love you too! Cindy responded.
Curious what the news was, her mind began to wander. She looked at the time and knew she needed to get ready for her next self-defense course. Not to mention that she was supposed to be jogging tonight too. It had been years since she last jogged.
Back at her condo, she looked at her naked body in the mirror. Her new piercing shimmered in her navel and she poked at it to see if it was still sore. Her bed was still rumpled and unmade from that morning and she felt a stab of longing when she remembered how ready Cade was that morning. She ached to have him deep inside of her again.
Taking her phone, she snapped a nude shot of herself. Not liking the first angle, she took another and then another. Finally, she found one that she thought would make him crazy and sent it, nervous but surprisingly aroused by it too.
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Cade looked at his phone and saw that Cindy had sent him another attachment. Painfully aware that he was not alone, he decided to wait until he could step in the back to open this one; best to not accidentally flash a customer with his girlfriend’s underwear.
“I want you to put two smokin’ guns on my right thigh and a candy skull below it,” Cade’s customer interrupted his fantasy.
CAde stared at the large area of pale skin and decided not to correct the woman. Most people called them sugar skulls, or the proper term was calavera. He didn’t mind doing the art work, he just minded when someone called them by an incorrect name.
“Alright, it might sting right here, but I will make it look awesome, promise.”
He smiled and his customer’s face remained emotionless as he began the outline. Sometimes, when Cade was working, he would just be lost in thought. Ink blending with skin and his ability to recreate something on a human body. It had fascinated him when he had his first tattoo and he had always been a great artist. This was the first time in a while, that something had distracted him so much. He wanted to open that picture from Cindy. It was driving him mad. When his customer said she wanted a break before he continued, he smiled and jumped up. Her tattoo would start to burn and sting if he took too long so he ran to the back and closed the door behind him.
He looked at his phone and swiped to see what she had sent. Her naked body stretched out on the bed in a sexy pose, flashed back at him and he instantly felt himself grow rock hard. This woman was driving him insane.
Him: You are making me a crazy man.
Her: Come over tonight after work. Unless you are too tired.
Him: See you soon.
That was enough motivation to kick his butt into gear with the “smokin’ guns and candy skull”. When he had returned to the woman, her flesh was pink and raised and he got to work quickly. Sitting back, he looked at the beauty of his work before him. His customer smiled for the first time and thanked him for such a wonderful job. Not able to think about much of anything else, he made sure that Alex and Cadence could close on their own. His new hires were still waiting for the larger space. They discovered how difficult it was to work with such little room and now they would switch days with Alex or Cadence. Sometimes working in the morning, afternoon, or night. He even had the shop open later on the weekends so they could log some time.
Leaving his business behind, he breathed in the fresh cool air of the night and decided to head back to his apartment before going over to Cindy’s. He wanted to take a shower and wash the smell of ink and sweat off. From the time he left the shop, got to his apartment, showered, and headed back to Cindy’s he was certain only thirty minutes had passed. She was looking down at him from the balcony when he parked his bike in the usual spot and walked towards her dark blue door.
She opened the door in a bright red, thin robe and shut it behind them. Before he even had a chance to say a word, she had walked over and crushed her mouth against his. Her hands moved up his chest and back down to hook under his shirt and pull it up and over his head. She dropped the red robe to the ground exposing her naked flesh underneath. Next she undid his pants and pushed them down, as he quickly kicked them off. She grabbed his throbbing hard cock from outside of his underwear and squeezed. Moaning, he closed his eyes and felt himself grow weak. Before he knew it, the passion and desire completely consumed him and he picked her up to take her up the stairs. She wrapped her legs around him and he felt her hot wet center pushed against him.
Their mouths were locked when he sat her down on the edge of her bed and started to lay her back. She had something else in mind. She pushed him onto the bed and climbed on top of him, centering herself just above his throbbing head. Lowering herself down slowly, he felt every inch of her surround him in a tight, warm embrace. He moaned as she pushed down hard, grinding her hips into him and taking him in as far as she could. He cupped her breast in his hand and sucked on hard beaded flesh in front of him. Grabbing her hips, he slammed helped slam her down harder with each rise and fall of her perfect hips. Her moans vibrated from deep within and out as she squeezed him so tight and then gasped when the orgasm raked her body. Feeling her pulsing around him and going liquid, he pushed her down gently to on her back and plunged into her deep. His feet resting on the headboard giving him even more leverage to ram all the way back inside of her.
She cried out in pleasure and he felt her nails dig across his back and the heels of her feet push him in harder with each thrust. Her breasts moved with each rock of their hips and he sucked hard on the soft skin of her exposed neck. Feeling her grow closer to another climax, he groaned and slammed against her orgasm with his own. Filling her with his sex, they both panted from the ecstasy. She relaxed around his pulsing still hard member and he just rested on top of her, crushing her under his weight. She didn’t seem to mind.
Finally, he pushed off of her and rolled onto his back. She moved to rest her head on his chest. Their hearts racing and pounding from their fevered sex.
“I love you babe.”
“I love you.” He kissed her deeply. They snuggled for a little bit but her soft skin against his aroused him and he moved to rest on top of her again.
Kissing her slowly, he moved up and down her body, relishing every inch of her. She moaned with each kiss and he stopped at her glistening mound, working her back into a frenzy. He felt her legs tremble as he kissed her softly there, teasing the light pink flesh. Cade kissed gently around her recent piercing and
moved back up her midline. Coming back up to her breasts, he softly kissed and suckled their creamy flesh. When he knew she was ready for him again, he slowly entered her, thrusting with slow gentle movements. They made love, passionate and warm until their bodies were spent and he filled her once more with his orgasm. His legs were jelly this time and he soon drifted off into a peaceful sleep holding the woman he planned to spend forever with.
He could have made love to her all day if they had the time and the energy. When they both woke up, he was surprised that he wasn’t rock hard with morning arousal. Their night of passion must have worn him out. He woke before she did and decided to try and have her breakfast made. Her kitchen was beautiful and pristine. He wondered if she ever cooked in it. Opening the door to her stainless steel fridge, he found that she had several premade meals packaged and labeled with dates and instructions.
Pushing the items to the side, he found the carton of eggs and a pouch of bacon and began frying and cooking. Smells of delicious breakfast permeated the condo and he wondered if she would wake soon from the smell alone. He looked at her coffee maker and after fiddling with it for a few minutes, he figured out how to start a pot brewing. It wasn’t the bacon or the eggs that pulled her from her sleep, but the smell of the deliciously roasted beans that were freshly ground in the fancy machine. Perfectly pressurized water began running through, pushing smooth dark liquid into the glass pot below.
“That smells wonderful!” She complimented as she walked in wearing an oversized shirt and shorts.
Walking to a cabinet, she pulled out two large mouth coffee cups and filled them up with the steaming fresh brew.
“I am going to be busy with this upcoming event in the city,” Cade started. “Cadence entered our shop into a contest and we won a booth at the event. I am going to wear a cape while I tattoo everyone, per Cadence’s demands.”
He finished his plate of food and started cleaning them up in the sink.
“Sounds like fun.”
She brought him her empty plate and wrapped her arms around his waist, kissing him on the shoulder.
“So, I am supposed to have a round two at your parents?” Cade asked with a grimace.
He finished the dishes and left them to dry in a strainer on the kitchen. It didn’t look like it had ever held a dish before.
“It looks like.”
“Well,” Cade continued with a sigh. “We need to go shopping for me something appropriate to wear.”
“I haven’t seen you dressed up since the wedding. You were so sexy in that tux.”
“I will need your opinion for sure. I am a jeans and tee kind of guy if you haven’t noticed.”
“I think I can do that. They changed my schedule at the hospital, so I will have more time to do, exactly, what we did last night, any time.” She placed her lips against his and wrapped herself around him.
“If you hadn’t worn me out last night woman, I would bend you over this counter and make you scream.”
Cade looked at his phone as it vibrated on the counter.
“Looks like Tommy is no longer disconnected.”
“Ha, Heather was telling me about that yesterday. He made them ditch the phones for the most part.”
“I don’t blame him, I would too on our honeymoon.”
Cade felt his heart leap into his throat. He hoped she didn’t notice the slip.
“Hmm?” she purred.
She looked down into her empty cup of coffee and a noticeable shiver ran across her shoulders. He randomly craved a smoke and wondered if it would bother her if she knew he had a history with tobacco.
“Hey, I have never asked you this, but do you have a problem with cigarettes?”
“I am not a fan nor opposed. I sometimes really want one when I have had too much wine, but I can still remember the taste of my first one in college. It was bad! I threw up everywhere after, my head was spinning for the longest. Why?”
“Well, before I met you, I was a smoker. I haven’t really had time to think or care about smokes with the past couple of eventful months.”
“Oh. Well that’s no problem, my father has a cigar any time he drinks a scotch. I prefer the smell of them to cigarettes, but that isn’t a deal breaker. I definitely still love you.”
“Good.”
He watched her walk over to another cabinet and take out a pouch of pills. She took a glass from another cabinet and filled it with water from the sink, downing the pill. He wasn’t going to pry, but he guessed his face was full was questions.
“Birth control,” she stated plainly.
“Oh.”
“You look so surprised.”
“No, I just didn’t even think to ask about that.”
“I think that would have been an awkward conversation for sure. Um, excuse me, I know we just had sex and I came inside of you, but are you on birth control?”
He tickled her and smacked her on the butt as she snorted and ran away from him.
“I definitely don’t sound like that,” he complained.
“Oh, you should hear yourself.”
Seeing her laugh and hearing her snort, he was enamored. An urge to ask her to marry him right then and there overwhelmed him, but he stuffed it down. He wanted to do this the right way, because he didn’t plan to do it again. This woman drove him wild and made him laugh. She was smart and strong. She completed his puzzle and he needed to find the perfect ring to adorn her perfect hand with.
“I am going to head out and see what we need for the event next week.” He kissed her on the cheek.
“Ok, I will see you tonight?” She looked hopeful.
“You bet.”
His mind was made up and he made his way to the jewelry store. Once inside, who else would be there but her mother. Sighing, she turned and smiled at him, the smile never touching her eyes.
“Hello Cade,” she fussed.
“Good afternoon Mrs. Watkins.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Looking for something shiny for a beautiful lady.”
“They are resetting the stone in my 1.5ct engagement ring and cleaning it while I am here,” she explained without having been asked. “Cindy’s grandmother passed it down to her father and he gave it to me. Cindy has always hated the thing. Says it is too ‘clunky’. Anyways, she has always been a rather simple minded girl.”
Her eyes moved up and down Cade and he tried really hard to conceal any annoyance.
“Well, she is a wonderful woman. She has a brilliant mind and a big heart.”
“You are in love with her,” Mrs. Watkins said plainly.
“Huh?”
“I can see it all over your face. Well, if I have to deal with you for the next half of my life, I get to help you pick out a ring for my daughter.”
Cade wasn’t sure to run or accept her help, but since it wasn’t something he planned to just outright ask Cindy about, he let her mother help him.
They walked around the floor, staring into the glass at exquisite rings and bands. Colored gemstones jumped out at him and he saw the one he wanted to get her. Diamonds were placed equidistant around the thin band and in the center a perfect crystal blue aquamarine rested in its platinum mount.
“This is the one.” Cade pointed at the ring and Cindy’s mother scrutinized it.
“Well, it is rather small, are you sure you didn’t like the tear drop set in rose gold?”
Her eyes had bulged at the sight of the ring and he knew she was only interested in it for herself.
“No, this is the one,” Cade asserted.
Mrs. Watkins shrugged, disappointed but not arguing.
“What size should I go with Mrs. Watkins?”
“Cindy is a seven, I think.”
Cade placed the order and went to set up the payments with the salesman.
“That will be two-thousand and thirty-five dollars.”
Cade handed the man his card and waited as he ran it through their machine.
“Here y
ou go sir,” the salesman said, handing Cade back his card. “It is an exceptional ring for sure. We will have it ready in a few days.”
“Thank you,” Cade replied.
Mrs. Watkins was still hanging by the counter when Cade prepared to leave.
“You know, I didn’t like you when we first met. I was so certain you were just some broke loser trying to mooch from my wealthy daughter.”
“I honestly had no idea how wealthy you all were,” Cade stumbled. “At least, not until visiting your beautiful home.”
Mini castle, he thought.
