But even before she walked in, she heard the familiar sound of work. Once inside, she looked around to see several men busy on the floors, the stairs, some were taking care of the electricity. They were working. And then it dawned on her. How much was she going to have to pay for all of that overtime?
Jean-Michel saw her, as she walked into the family room. They were just finishing the crown molding and the floors. He stopped what he was doing and rushed over to her. “You aren’t supposed to be here, Taffy,” he said with a small smile.
“I saw the lights when I was heading back to the motel. What are you guys doing here?” She looked around at the rest of the men. “Jean-Michel, I can’t afford any extra hours.”
“Don’t worry,” he said closing the space between them. “I mentioned that I was coming here to work on some things, and they insisted on coming, too. No cost to you.”
“Oh.” She looked around at the men hard at work. “Thank you, guys,” she said aloud to them.
“The way things are going,” Jean-Michel said to her, “The house will be finished by the end of the week.”
“You’re amazing,” she said low enough that only he would hear her.
“How would you know that?” he said with a smile. “You barely know me.”
“I think I know you well enough.” She smiled.
She could feel the sexual tension between them. She’d been horny before. There were times when she was in college that she couldn’t wait to see her then boyfriend. Some men thought women were never horny. That women never spent time thinking about what they wanted to do with a man. A tall, sexy, Frenchman with a cream-your-panties accent. She knew horny. But she was feeling something stronger than pure horniness for Jean-Michel. The way he was looking at her right then…But she reminded herself what she had told Nina. She was only having fun. When she was finished, she would cut the Frenchman loose. But until then…
“Can I show you what we’ve done so far?” he said with an intense gaze.
Taffy nodded to him, as he took her hand and led her from the family room. She followed him up the stairs. He quickly pulled her into what was to soon be the hall bathroom.
“Jean-Michel?” she said protesting, as he closed the bathroom door.
“We’re only going to talk,” he said kissing along her neck, and running his hands over her body.
“This is you talking?” she whispered, as he captured her lips in an erotic kiss with teeth and tongue, licking and nipping at her lips and chin.
“Yes,” he said with a small laugh. “I’m bilingual. I hope you can understand what I’m trying to say.”
“Hmmm, well,” she said kneeling in front of him. “I think I’m getting the gist of what you’re saying, but maybe this will help, too.”
Jean-Michel stared down at her, as she unfastened his jeans. She gazed up at him, pulling his pants down and then smiling at him, as she reached inside of his briefs and took hold of his engorged cock.
“I think you may be right,” he said closing his eyes, as she engulfed the head of his cock into her mouth. “Mon oui de Dieu,” he said in French.
She didn’t know what he said, but by the way he was gripping her head, she took it as something good. She licked him up and down like an ice cream cone before taking as much of him as she could down her throat. Running her tongue up his length, as her hand pumped and massaged his shaft, she enjoyed giving him as much pleasure as she could. He was letting loose a slew of French, as he gently thrust his pelvis in tempo to what her hands were doing. Then she would suck him into her mouth again, using her tongue to flick and tease around his sensitive head.
“Taffy,” he whispered to her hoarsely, trying to pull away from her as she all but gobbled him whole. “Taffy, Taffy,” he said finally succeeding in pulling her up to him.
“You’re delicious,” she said with a wicked smile.
“You’re torturing me.” He captured her mouth in a feverish kiss, turning the tables on her, as he backed her up against the counter.
“I like torturing you,” she said into his mouth.
Jean-Michel smiled at her in that lop-sided way that conjured all kinds of sinful fantasies in her head. Fantasies that she knew he would fulfill if she asked him to.
“Take off your panties,” he whispered to her.
She didn’t question him, but only reached under her sundress and removed her panties. She then hopped back onto the counter anticipating Jean-Michel’s gorgeous cock sliding balls deep inside of her aching pussy.
He continued to tease along her neck with his tongue, and then smiled at her before gazing down at her bared pussy. “My sweet coquette, I’m going to make you scream my name.”
“Yeah. Okay.” She nodded, still waiting in anticipation to feel him inside of her.
But she was pleasantly surprised when he bent down between her thighs, and ran his tongue down her slit. “Ooooh,” she whimpered.
If he had given her head the first night she had slept with him, her drunken haze had erased that sensation from her memory. She would have remembered the tantalizing feeling of his masterful tongue licking and teasing her pussy. He gently pushed her legs further apart, as he teased her clit with the flick of his tongue, and then gently sucked on the tight nub.
Taffy felt her whole body tighten, and she held onto his head as her body trembled and shook in release. He brought her body such tumultuous pleasure that she did scream out his name.
He came back to her lips, kissing a trail along her body, as he did so. “When I can take my time, I want to eat your pussy at my leisure, coquette.”
She gazed at him through passion-drunk, half-lidded eyes and nodded. “I want you,” she whispered.
She felt him push inside of her, as she gasped out. It was only the two of them. Everything and everyone else had disappeared from the world, as their mouths found purchase on one another, and their bodies moved as one. No one else mattered.
The door to the bathroom abruptly opened. “Taffy? Oh!” Thalia said closing the door on them immediately.
They quickly parted, as Jean-Michel pulled his jeans up, hurriedly fastening them, and Taffy found her panties and put them on. Embarrassment didn’t quite cover what she felt. She’d never been caught in the actual act of fucking before. It was always that chance of being caught that fueled the erotic fire of sex. But it had never actually happened.
Jean-Michel smiled at her, giving her one more passionate kiss before opening the bathroom door. “Thalia, what are you doing here?” he asked his sister.
Thalia was smiling at the two of them. “I saw the lights as I was passing.” She stared over at Taffy who was trying as hard as she could to make herself small and insignificant. “I thought Taffy would be here, and I wanted to show her the swatches for the shades I got this afternoon. I am so sorry to have…interrupted you—”
“Again,” said Jean-Michel somewhat irritated.
Jean-Michel still held Taffy’s hand. He brought it to his lips and laid a gentle kiss on top of it. “I have to get back to work, but…” He turned his back to his sister. “We will have to finish our…conversation some other time, yes?”
Taffy nodded demurely, as Jean-Michel headed back downstairs to join the other men. She couldn’t look at Thalia. It was that awkward silence after being caught fucking someone’s brother in the hall bathroom thing.
“I am so sorry for barging in on you two,” Thalia said to her with a small laugh. “It seems that when it comes to my brother, I’m always interrupting something. Lately.”
“You have no idea how embarrassed I am, Thalia,” Taffy said finally looking over at her.
“Don’t be,” Thalia said leaning against the wall. “He is happy. I like to see him happy.” She stared at the floor for a few seconds before speaking again. “You make him happy, Taffy. I’m not surprised that you are…entangled with him a lot. Jean-Michel is a very passionate man. I have to ask, Taffy. I know Jean-Michel. He is falling for you, but do you feel the same?�
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Taffy wanted to run away from the conversation, but there was no place to run. She walked down the hall, opening the master bedroom door. Flicking on the wall switch, light flooded the large room.
“Jean-Michel did a fantastic job on the room, huh?” she said to Thalia trying to change the subject. She wasn’t that lucky.
“Jean-Michel falls hard when he falls, Taffy.” Thalia sat down on the window seat, as she stared over at Taffy. “I see how he looks at you, and he has fallen hard. I don’t know now if it is love, but if not it will be. Do you feel the same? I know what you are thinking,” she said nodding. “Thalia, stay out of this. It is none of your business, yes?”
Taffy could only stand in the middle of the bedroom trying to find something to look at beside Thalia’s probing gaze. “I don’t mean to be—”
“No,” Thalia interrupted. “It may be none of my business, but Jean-Michel is my brother and I love him. I don’t want him to be hurt, Taffy. If this is only a little fun for you, I beg you to end it now. Because, for Jean-Michel this is not just kicks. Making love in his living room, here in that room in the hallway… It is all fantastic fun. I know. I have seven children. I know how fun it can be, but if that is all it is to you, end it now.”
She had told Nina that was all she was trying to have. Fun. But as Thalia sat imploring her to end her fun with Jean-Michel, a little piece inside of her felt pained. “I don’t know what I feel for him, Thalia. It’s all very new. I don’t fall in love that quickly.”
Thalia stood and walked over to her. “What is quickly? You feel what you feel, no?” She started to walk past Taffy, but then turned around to face her. “Don’t hurt him,” she said.
Taffy numbly shook her head, and gave Thalia a smile. “You, um…You brought swatches?”
Thalia gave her a bright smile. “Yes, they are gorgeous. I left them downstairs. Let’s go and see, yes?” Thalia linked her arm through Taffy’s, as they headed downstairs to pore over sample swatches. The embarrassing bathroom incident, as it will become known, was all but forgotten.
Chapter 9
Taffy had to admit that after an hour of looking over sample swatches with Thalia they all started to blend together. She finally told Thalia that she trusted her judgment to do what was best, making Thalia smile in delight. She told Thalia the look she was trying to achieve with the house, and basically gave Thalia cart blanche to decorate and buy whatever she needed to make her vision come to life.
But it was late, and she still had drawings to submit for several clients before deadlines were due. It was almost ten when she was finally able to leave. She didn’t say good-bye to Jean-Michel with a passionate kiss in the broom closet or somewhere. She only waved to him, as he continued helping the men stain the family room floor.
She was tiring of the motel room. Mandeville had two motels and no hotels. She had picked the better out of the two, but it was far from the type she was used to staying in. With her house on one side of town, and the motel on the other, it took some time to drive back.
She usually took the highway back, but seeing as it was the weekend there would be too much traffic on the highway even at that late hour. She decided to take the back way, which was creepy as hell, but at least she would avoid the big rigs. She picked up speed with the speed limit being forty-five on that particular road. But she was a five over driver. It was only when the dark, foreboding night started to surround her, that she felt the inclination to slow things down some. At least, she attempted to slow things down.
Taffy frowned, but tried the brakes again. Nothing. Fear started to seep into her veins. She pumped her brakes again, but nothing happened. No brakes.
“What the fuck!” She pumped the pedal, but her car continued along the stretch of deserted road at her speed. The road dipped slightly a quarter mile up. She knew that she would have to slow her speed before then. After the dip came a banked curve to the left. She needed to slow down before then or careen off to the right into nothingness.
Her breathing was erratic, as she thought about crashing into the nothingness. She was alone out there. If she survived, she could call for help. If she survived. She had to try something before the dip and definitely before the curve. She knew not to turn the ignition off. Her father had told her it would only lock up the steering and she wouldn’t be able to control the car. She tried to remember everything that her father taught her to do in such situations before she’d left for college.
“Hazards on,” she said to herself. Salted tears ran into her mouth, as she realized that she was crying. She pumped the brakes again, hoping she would build up some kind of pressure, but again nothing happened. It was like they weren’t there. She shifted down to the lowest gear, and then reached down between the seats for her parking brake. A truck was suddenly in back of her flicking its lights. Fuck you, she thought. The truck suddenly passed to the left of her. It stayed on her left for a few seconds before moving in front of her quickly.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, as the truck started braking. She hit it, but not as hard as she thought she would have. The truck braked again, as she slowly pulled her parking brake up. Keeping the button depressed, she gradually lifted the brake, as the truck in front of her slowed further. She finally came to a stop with a hard jerk. She hit her head on the steering wheel, but it was much less than she would have imagined had she gone over the side of the embankment.
“Are you all right?” A woman suddenly said to her from the side of the car.
Taffy opened her door. “Thank you! Oh my god, thank you!” she said through her tears. “My brakes failed. I thought…Oh my god, thank you!”
“My sister is calling the police for you. Your head is bleeding honey, come here.” The woman sat her in the cab of her truck until the cops came. Thankfully it was Lester.
The woman gave Taffy another hug when Lester insisted she get into the ambulance for a mandatory trip to the hospital. “I knew something was wrong, honey. Most people brake along that stretch cuz of the dip. We saw your hazards on. Then, we tried to pass you and saw the look on your face. We knew you were in trouble.”
“Thank you so much again,” Taffy said. “I’m so sorry about your truck.”
“Sweetie, don’t you worry about that. This thing is like a Brahma bull. I’m just happy to help is all.”
A tow truck took her car into town for her. Lester told her he would meet her at the hospital, and asked if there was anyone she wanted him to call. She knew he thought she would say Jean-Michel, but she wanted Nina. He told her that he would call Nina for her, thankfully not questioning her about not informing Jean-Michel. She wasn’t ready for that part of a relationship yet. That part where someone became your emergency contact. She just wanted the whole night to be a memory. It hadn’t been how she was hoping to end her evening, but thankfully she hadn’t gone over the side of the embankment thanks to two courageous women.
Nina came rushing into the emergency room an hour later. “Taffy!” she yelled opening curtains and pissing patients off. “Taffy!”
“Nina, calm down,” Taffy said, as she watched Nina run through the room like she was on fire. “I’m okay.”
Nina ran to where Taffy was lying on a bed, and all but lay on top of her. “Oh my god! Oh my god! Are you all right? What happened? Someone called me, I don’t even know who. They just said you were in the ER at Mandeville General, and girl my heart stopped. I must have done ninety on the highway getting here. What happened? Oh, your head! Someone hit you in the head? I’ll kill the muthafucker that—”
“Nina, stop!” Taffy had to yell to get Nina’s attention. “No one hit me. I hit my head on the steering wheel in my car.”
Lester appeared around the curtain of her bed. “Can I come in?”
“Yes, definitely,” Taffy said. “Sherriff, this is my very best friend in the world, Nina Young. Nina, this is Sheriff Lester Milieu. He’s the one that called you. He’s Jean-Michel’s brother-in-law.”
“Oh, hey.”
Nina shook Lester’s hand. “How did she hit her head? Did she pass out or something?”
“Nina, I didn’t pass out. My brakes wouldn’t work.”
Nina stared over at Taffy, and then at Lester, and then back at Taffy. “How the hell could your brakes not work? It’s a fuckin’ brand new car, Taffy!”
“Exactly,” Lester said to Taffy. “I just came from Eddy’s garage. He was nice enough to open it up for me tonight to take in your car. Taffy, your brakes didn’t fail. The brake line was cut.”
“Cut?” Taffy looked at Lester curiously. “How cut? Like it broke cut? Or like someone took a knife and cut it cut?”
Lester ran his hand through his hair and took a seat in one of the chairs by her bed. “Someone took a knife and cut it, Taffy.”
It felt like the air had just been sucked out of her lungs. Someone was trying to hurt her. Lester must have known what she was thinking, as he continued. “I don’t want you thinking about who or why right now. Things like this can happen on the lot, or it could have been a faulty hose that had a cut in it already. Sometimes stupid kids play dangerous pranks. You’ve only been in town for a short while, Taffy. You haven’t been here long enough to make enemies.”
Nina stared at Taffy, then over at Lester. “What about Lou Pearl Thibodeaux?”
“Nina,” said Taffy.
“Lou Pearl?” Lester asked Taffy with interest. “Lou Pearl has some hatred toward you?”
“She thinks Taffy took the house from her,” Nina offered Lester unabashedly.
“Nina!”
Lester stared at Taffy. “Is that true? Has she threatened you in any way?”
Taffy sat up more in her bed. “No. Lou Pearl is my paternal grandmother. I doubt very much she would try to do anything to hurt me or even kill me.”
“What about the Rischardes?” Nina was laying all of her shit out on the table for Lester to pick up and look at, at his discretion.
“Nina, please stop.” Taffy speared Nina with a telling glare.
Enigma of the Heart Page 10
