by Vella, Wendy
“I beg your pardon?” Ted shot the elderly woman a look. She appeared harmless in her floral dress that came to her ankles. She wore navy flat sandals that had lots of support straps. She could be anyone’s grandmother.
“They get at it, Ted,” Miss Marla said patiently, as if she was explaining arithmetic to him. “They buy a great deal of stuff… sex toys, I believe they call them.”
“You believe,” Miss Sarah scoffed. “Don’t play coy with us, Marla Robbins. You know full well about these things.”
Dear God, make it stop.
Ted looked at Mandy; she was concentrating on her knitting. Jack was laughing silently, and Rory looked bored.
“What is sex furniture?” the oldest person in the room, Miss Taft, said.
“Welllll.” Dorothy drew it out for effect. “Bob may have opened one corner, but only to check on damage, you understand.”
Everyone nodded. Ted thought about bolting. The door was only a few feet away. Okay, Rory had pulled her chair in front of it, but he could probably hurdle her, she wasn’t tall.
“The instruction manual said loving bouncer chair.”
Ted coughed.
“Drink your coffee, Ted, it will sort that tickle,” Miss Sarah said.
Ted looked at Mandy again. She gave him a little smile. How was it she could sit here listening to this and not be blushing? The woman was totally innocent to this kind of thing.
“There was also tub of lube. They get through that stuff. Jed said that’s the second one in three months,” Dorothy added.
“Lucky Bob and Nancy, is all I’m going to say,” Mr. Goldhirsh added.
“I’m trying a new stitch,” Gail Blake then said, as if they hadn’t just been discussing the sexual preference of two Ryker Falls residents.
“I forgot the donuts.” Rory made to get up.
“I’ll get them.” Ted stood, as his hands were now free.
“When you come back, you can read us some poetry, Ted,” Mr. Goldhirsh said.
He kept walking right through the kitchen and out the back door.
“Need to make a few calls,” he said in a loud voice so it carried. “Later!” He sprinted down the driveway.
Getting in his car, he sat with it idling for several minutes, wondering what the hell had just happened. He saw Mandy appear at the end of the driveway. She had a bag in one hand.
She headed to where he sat in his car. Opening the door, she bent at the waist to look in the passenger side.
“Miss Taft wanted you to take piece of her apple cake home. I was tasked with bringing it out to you. They wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“I bet.”
Mandy then did something he’d never seen her do. She started laughing, so hard that soon she had tears streaming down her face.
“Care to share the joke?” Ted opened the bag she’d placed on the seat. At least then his hands were busy and he wouldn’t touch the soft skin of her neck.
“Your f-face,” she managed after a few snorts to get herself under control.
“Do they always talk about stuff like that?” The apple cake was actually really good.
“Yup. Bob and Nancy are standard conversation at knitting club.”
The smile lit her entire face and sent her from pretty to stunning.
“Just so you know, I’m holding my first Falls Lodge staff function next week.”
“Really!” She looked ridiculously excited. “I’m so proud of you, Ted. You’re growing too.”
“Growing?”
“Both of us needed to change, and I’m glad to see you realized that.”
No one liked to be informed that they needed to change, especially when they were a hardass like him. But if anyone had the right to say that to him, it was this woman. She’d handled pretty much everything he’d thrown at her from the start of the Mandy transformation.
“Thanks. And now I need to get back to the work that Mr. Goldhirsh dragged me from.”
“How’d he do that?” She was bracing her hands on his seat now, and Ted could see down the neckline of her dress. But he refrained. He wasn’t a schoolboy lusting after the head cheerleader.
“By telling me he was sick, then backing it up with a really good cough.”
She laughed again, and Ted thought enough provocation was enough. He leaned across, cupped the back of her head, and kissed her. It was brief and sweet and left him wanting more.
“See you round, Mandy Robbins.”
She stood at the curb watching him drive away, frowning. Ted, however, was smiling.
Chapter 22
After the knitting club and that kiss, Mandy had gone home to change, as it was her day off, and decided to use Ted’s gym instead of the public one. She wouldn’t run into him at this time of the day, which suited her just fine.
The man was disturbing, especially when he kissed her like he did earlier.
She had a feeling something was about to happen between them, no matter that he’d said nothing could. That kiss had been out of the blue and totally instigated by him. Did that mean he’d changed his mind?
This relationship stuff was confusing. Not that they had a relationship; far from it. But she had nothing to measure it against. She’d never had anything like this with a man before.
Parking round the back of the lodge, she took the stairs up and let herself into the gym.
Turning on the music system like Ted had shown her, Mandy stood in front of the large framed photo of Ted’s sister.
What happened to you?
She began to go through the workout he’d shown her. She was stronger already, just from the stuff she’d been doing, both here and at the other gym. If she was honest, she didn’t like it there. The music was too loud, and it was hard to get on the machines she wanted.
Mandy worked out for an hour, going slowly through each thing that Ted had taught her. She was nearly done when the door opened and in he walked.
“Hi.”
“Hi. Sorry, I was sure you’d be working.”
“I told you to come anytime.” He moved to stand before her. “I just left something here I need.”
This was the look she liked best on Ted. The businessman. Button-down shirts and dress trousers. Mind you, he looked good in jeans and T-shirts too, if she was being honest.
“You don’t like the Ryker Falls gym?”
“Mostly, but it’s usually really busy.”
“I bet. Well you have the key here. Come anytime.”
“Thanks. Have you recovered from your first knitting club meeting?”
“I’m getting there.” He laughed, and it made him look softer. “Do they really talk like that all the time?”
“Yes. I’m used to it now, and I’ve learned a lot,” she said before she realized how that sounded. “I mean not about that…. Well, you know what I mean.”
“Sex, Mandy? You can say the word. Dorothy Perkins certainly had no problem with it.” He was laughing at her.
“Ha.”
“Ha,” he said, moving closer. “You know this is inevitable, right?”
“Dorothy Perkins saying sex?” Mandy’s mouth went dry as his hands settled on her hips.
“No. Us having sex.”
He pulled her in and kissed her. Mandy’s arms went around his neck with far more ease than they should for a woman who had zero to no experience with this kind of thing. His hair was surprisingly soft, the curls at his nape sliding through her fingers.
“I want you, Mandy.”
“I know. I want you too.”
Tell him you’re a virgin.
He stripped her exercise top off her body and placed a hot kiss on her chest.
“I’m sweaty.”
“I know.” He licked her next. “You taste good.”
He undid her bra and threw it aside with the shirt. Cupping a breast in one hand, he kissed and licked every inch before taking it into his mouth and sucking the nipple.
“Oh my,” Mandy managed to get out in a
breathless whisper.
She wrestled the buttons of his shirt free, then pushed him upright and removed it. Ted pulled her close, her bared breasts pressed to his chest. The feeling was exquisite as he kissed her again. It was hot and carnal, and Mandy was pretty sure she was melting. She stroked her fingers over his shoulders, and he made a sound deep in his throat that told Mandy he enjoyed it. The sound gave her strength to explore further.
She ran her hands down his arms and over his chest, a nail scraping one nipple. The breath hissed from his throat, and Mandy felt her body respond. Felt the tension inside her climb.
Ted was pretty sure he was going to lose it completely if her hands moved any lower. He felt like a man experiencing his first sexual encounter. There’d been plenty of women in his life, but he couldn’t remember one making him feel like Mandy did. Her hands on his body were heaven and hell. He wanted more but wasn’t sure he could handle too much of it.
Capturing her hands in one of his, he lifted them over her head and feasted on her breasts again. Full, the soft pale skin had him wanting to worship them over and over again.
She made soft sounds deep in her throat that had him shaking with the need to sink inside her slick heat now.
“I’m not sure how long I can hold on,” he said honestly.
Her eyelids lifted, and the look she sent him had his gut clenching. Sultry, filled with matching passion, she simply leaned in and kissed him.
Ted pulled out his wallet and removed the condom, then led Mandy to the sofa. He eased her exercise tights and panties down her legs.
“Mandy,” she looked at him again, “you do want this?”
“Yes, oh yes, Ted. I really do.”
He smiled at her reply. Spoken in that prissy little voice she sometimes used, he found it sexy as hell. Slipping a hand around her waist, he stroked her back and kissed her again.
Cupping her backside, he pulled her closer.
“Feel how much I want you, Mandy.”
“I do.”
Ted stripped off his clothes. Her eyes focused on his erection.
“You’re quite l-large.”
His laugh sounded strangled. “No. But thank you, every man wants to hear that.”
She dragged her eyes to his.
“I—ah, I should tell you something.”
Ted cupped her cheeks, kissing her lips softly. “Anything.”
“I’m a virgin.”
Anything except that.
“And you’re telling me this now?” He didn’t release her, because her hands were over his, holding them there. Almost like she knew her words would have him withdrawing. “Mandy—”
“Don’t stop, Ted. I want this… I want you. Please.” She rose on her toes and rested her lovely body against his. Then she kissed him with all the innocence he’d never known she had.
“I could hurt you,” he said the words against her lips, unable to pull back.
“You won’t, and I know this means nothing, I won’t—”
“It means something,” he said softly.
“You’ve made me feel things I’ve never felt before. I want this. Need it.”
So honest, Ted thought. Mandy would never hide how she felt about something like this.
Ted had never slept with a virgin, even when he was one. All he knew was that he couldn’t hurt her—but he also couldn’t walk away from her now. He wanted her, and she wanted him.
It was enough, and he was past the point of stopping; that would destroy them both.
“But you know all about what happens, right?”
“Of course. You know who my aunts are, right?” Her smile was small and nervous. “Then there’s the knitting club.”
“Right. Silly me,” he muttered, easing back slightly.
She was a beautiful woman. Lovely curves, and soft pale skin. Lifting a hand, he touched a curl.
“Be sure, Mandy.”
“I am.”
Everything had changed now. He couldn’t give in to the need rampaging through his body. He had to make this good for her.
“Ted?”
He kissed her again and let his hands wander all over her body, skimming curves and planes, stroking the soft curls between her thighs. He swallowed her small pants and moans. Easing his finger inside her, he stroked the damp folds, and then deeper, simultaneously running a finger over the hard little bud. She shuddered.
“Just feel now, Mandy.”
“I want to touch you too.”
“Sure.” Ted gritted his teeth as her hand ran down his chest and stroked his stomach. “Wrap your fingers around me, Mandy. Feel what you do to me.”
Her fingers were warm and shook as she took him in a fist. Ted could do nothing to stop the moan. He pushed another finger inside her and elicited the same response from Mandy.
“Stroke up and down, sweetheart.” She was a fast learner, Ted thought, wondering how much he could take.
“That is wonderful.” She whispered the words into his neck.
“More than,” he rasped as her hand tormented him and he tormented her. Another finger, and then another. Stretching her to accommodate him.
“Oh,” she whispered as her body grew rigid and she found her first release. Ted had to say the man in him was pleased that he’d given it to her. It was a caveman reaction that was likely beneath him, but he still felt it. Just as he would when he was deep inside her.
Picking her up, he lowered her onto the sofa. She looked as sexy as hell lying there with her hair everywhere, sultry eyes watching him. Her body was a lush work of art that he wanted to spend hours memorizing.
“If I take a photo for my wall, would you mind?” He said it mostly to cover his sudden uncertainty. Ted wasn’t sure why he felt like the virgin, but he did. He grabbed the condom, his fingers shaking as he opened the foil package and rolled it on. He’d never experienced that before.
“I don’t like pictures of me.”
“Why?” He settled between her thighs, his lips touching her jaw. Soft kisses. “Tell me why someone as beautiful as you doesn’t like photos taken of her?”
“I just don’t.”
He felt her withdraw slightly and looked up at her. Raising her chin with his hand, he forced her eyes to meet his. Something there that had him retreating.
“It’s okay, we can talk another time.” And he meant it, Ted realized. He wanted to know everything there was to know about this woman, but not now. Now was for this, them.
He kissed her breasts softly, leaving a wet trail down each slope as he licked her.
“This will hurt you, Mandy.”
“I know.” Her brown eyes were deep pools of emotion.
He took her mouth in a deep kiss that he was sure touched his soul. A terrifying thought, and one he knew he’d think about later when he could form a rational thought.
Easing inside her slick sheath, Ted kept his lips on Mandy’s. Her fingers were wrapped around his neck; they tightened as he pushed farther inside her.
She felt like heaven encasing him in her slick, tight heat. With a final thrust, he took her innocence.
“Mandy?” Her eyes were clenched shut. “Talk to me.”
“It hurt, b-but it eases.”
“I’m sorry, baby—”
“No.” She placed her fingers over his mouth. “Don’t say sorry. It’s wonderful.”
He placed a kiss on the palm, then eased out and back in. Her eyes locked on to his, and he couldn’t look away. He kept his rhythm slow, and the tension inside him was almost unbearable, but he wouldn’t rush her… not this time. Ted was determined to make it as good as he could, especially considering it was her first time.
He cupped a breast, then rolled the nipple, and she moaned.
“Come for me again, baby.” She did, arching up off the sofa with a cry, and he followed. The sensation was mind-blowing and left him weaker than a kitten.
Reversing their positions, Ted lay with Mandy along the length of his body. She was relaxed, no tension i
n her, and he felt the same. It felt right holding her like this. For some reason he felt she was safe here with him. But as she wasn’t unsafe, why did he feel that way?
Mandy had always brought out his protective instincts. From his first glance at her, he’d thought she looked like a bird with a broken wing. Which was why he’d tried so hard to keep his distance from her. He’d been protective of his sister too.
“Thank you.”
He pushed the hair off her face so he could see her eyes. They were looking up at him.
“For what?”
“Seeing that I needed to be stronger and could be. For allowing me to use your gym, and for that.”
Ted swallowed. “That?”
“The most wonderful initiation into the sexual act. I will be forever grateful to you for helping me to see what can be between a man and a woman.”
Ted didn’t like the word initiation, because for some reason it implied that she may one day have sex with someone other than him, and no way in hell could he contemplate that.
“Why did you believe it couldn’t be wonderful?”
“When you’re a virgin at my age you think about things like that. I guess I built it into something it clearly isn’t.”
“Why did you leave Detroit, will you tell me that much, Mandy?”
She withdrew from him physically and emotionally, getting off his body to reach for her clothes.
“Tell me why…, please?”
She pulled on her underwear and tights, then grabbed her shirt.
“It’s complicated and not something I like to talk about.”
“You know I can keep a secret, Mandy.”
Her eyes went from him to the wall where Emily’s picture hung.
“Will you tell me about her?”
Ted didn’t say anything as she threw her shirt over her head. Nor when she gave him a final look and walked quietly out the door.
Chapter 23
Mandy was surprised that no one seemed to have noticed any changes in her. But she noticed them. Noticed that she was more aware of herself. The way she looked and felt.
Eight days had passed since Ted made love to her. Since he’d pretty much tilted her world on its axis. She’d had no contact with him since. She wasn’t the type to knock on his door just to see him, or ask if he’d forgotten about her now they’d made love.
