by Vera Roberts
“Eli, I'm gonna cum,” she breathed.
“Do it, baby girl. Come for me,” he demanded.
Faith screamed his name as waves of pleasure crashed over her, her body shook and shuddered. Meanwhile, Eli stood from his chair and watched her fight to regain some sense of control. He had a proud smile on his face, knowing he was the only one that made her feel that way. He waited until she stopped shaking and then pulled her into his arms. “Was that a good cum, baby girl?”
“What do you think?” She laughed.
“Good,” Eli gently laid his wife back on the dining room table and removed his clothing. His cock was already hard with the slit moistened. He lifted both of her legs and cradled them with one arm, while his free hand slid his cock inside her. They both drew in a sharp breath as Eli slowly moved inside Faith, locking eye contact with his wife. He didn’t know what his wife did to keep it nice and tight for him, but whatever it was, it worked like a fucking charm. He reached down with one hand to squeeze her breasts as he kept moving inside her, all the while smiling at how beautiful his wife was at the moment.
Faith momentarily closed her eyes as she began to ascend higher and higher in ecstasy. His shaft was long and thick, stretching her out while remaining a snug fit inside her sex. She met him stroke for stroke, encouraging him to give it to her harder and faster.
Eli felt her clamp down on him tighter and he moved faster inside her, his orgasm shooting through his body like a pistol. He stilled himself for a brief moment and let all of the emotions he had felt for his wife flow through him. He didn’t realize it was possible to love her more at that moment.
He slid out of her and sat back in the chair behind him. “I think I’m hungry for dinner now.”
Four
Simone didn’t know how long she was sitting in the bathtub, staring out into space. She knew she was going to be running late. She knew there was going to a horrible line at the local café down the street from her apartment. She knew she was going have to get a pastry for breakfast when really she should be eating anything but that.
She didn’t care. Her thoughts were consumed with Eli.
The moment she saw him again the other day, it seemed every single memory she’d ever had for the man came flooding back. The way he would hold her hand between classes. How he would walk with her to the bus stop. The times she would sneak out of her house to meet up with him at the park so they could mess around. The numerous hickies she had to cover up with foundation.
The fateful night they deflowered each other, promising to never leave.
They say you never forget your first love and Simone wished whoever said that would go play out in the freeway. That person was right. Excruciatingly, painfully right.
She saw Eli a few months ago for the first time in years, yet it seemed like he had never been out of the picture—her picture. She had dated many men and yet found herself comparing them to Eli. She felt stupid comparing a grown man to a teenage boy, but Eli was special. He treated her like a queen, spoiling her. He called her late at night so he was the last voice she heard. He called her the first thing in the morning so she was the first voice he heard. And when she got off the bus, he was always waiting for her, sometimes with a flower he had plucked from someone’s yard.
The romantic boy grew into a romantic man. A muscular, romantic man with broad chest, trim waist, sharp hazel eyes, and lips he seemed to love to lick every so often. If he likes to lick his lips, then he must like to lick…
Simone closed her eyes briefly and shook her head. Eli was happily married, unintentionally flashing his wedding band to Simone letting her know he was off-limits. Damn his wife. Damn his marriage. No, she really didn’t want Eli to end his marriage. She was just jealous. He had a wife he loved. He had a child he adored. Eli was just going to be her schoolgirl crush.
She immersed herself more in the tub until it covered her completely. She needed to focus on her business. She had several potential brides to see, businesses to network, and locations to scout for events. She had food tastings to attend to, shoulders to rub, and asses to kiss. She needed to offer the best event planning services for the potential clients while still being able to give them the best deal. She needed to get a grip and concentrate on the task at hand.
Oh, who was she kidding? Simone immediately knew she was going to regret moving back to New York.
****
“Okay, so tell me about your girl,” Eli sat down with a potential client, a married man looking to buy his wife some flowers for her birthday.
“Um…” the man took off his baseball cap and scratched his head. He twitched his nose as he thought about his wife of many years. “She’s a secretary. She likes jazz music. She loves to scrapbook.”
“Okay, okay…” Eli scribbled some notes down before he started a drawing of a bouquet. “What else?”
“She likes those trashy talk shows and documentaries on HBO.” The man continued.
“Got it,” Eli quickly drew some other things to the sketch. Simone quietly entered the shop and met eyes with Eli. She sat at another table and waited for him to finish meeting with the client. “Tell me some more about her. What’s her favorite color and season?”
“She loves purple and the spring time. She meets with her friends once a month for that red hat society thing,” the man shrugged, “and she likes to play poker.”
“Oh yeah?” Eli wrote down the names of some flowers on the sketch and called one of the assistants over. He ripped the sketch away from the notepad and handed it to her. “Is she any good at it?”
“Best poker face I know,” the man shook his head, “she can look me dead in the eye and tell me how good the meatloaf is when she knows it’s pure shit.”
Eli chuckled at the man. “Sounds like you’ve been married for a long time.”
“Thirty-six years, kiddo,” the man slowly nodded his head.
“Wow,” Eli shook his head in astonishment. “You’ve been married longer than I’ve been alive.”
“They don’t have marriages like they used to. Too many people give up on marriage when it becomes difficult or when they can’t stand the other person anymore. Back in my day, you toughed it out. You worked through problems. You didn’t try to change the other person; you accepted them for who they are.” The man shrugged again as he took a sip of tea. “But what do I know? I’ve only been married for more than half my life.”
“Sounds like you know a lot to be married for so long,” Eli marveled, “you know a lot more than I do.”
“How long have you been married, kid?”
“Six years. Together for twelve, total.”
“You’ve been married for a while,” The man nodded approvingly, “too long to still be considered a newlywed but not enough to be considered a veteran. Here’s some unsolicited advice for you: Keep the wife happy and she keeps your life happy.” The man offered advice. “Easiest thing to follow. Doesn’t get any simpler than that. I’ve been eating my wife’s shit meatloaf for the past thirty years. Same bland flavor all the damn time. Do I tell her it’s shit? No. I sit my ass down in front of that meat, take a few swigs of my beer, and marvel at great her cooking is. Because I know if I do that, she’ll cook me something better and will treat me better.”
“Her other dinners are better, I’m assuming?” Eli inquired.
The man took another sip of tea and put the cup back on the saucer. “After thirty-six years… thirty-six damn years… her chicken pot-pies are amazing. Her desserts are out of this world. But that goddamn meatloaf…”
The same floral assistant from earlier came back out with a dummy bouquet for the man to look at. It had purple hydrangeas, lisianthuses, dahlias, calla lilies, and soft pink roses with feathers, sweet peas, and baby breath splashed. Included in the bouquet were small figures of a woman dressed in purple and wearing a red hat, a miniature playing card, and an ‘I love you’ emblem.
“So what do you think?” Eli asked. “It’ll take us about
a day to create it.”
“This is amazing!” The man exclaimed. “This is so beautiful! Can I just take this one home instead?”
Eli chuckled. “I’m sure she’ll appreciate the real thing. It smells really clean and crisp.”
“Like the springtime?” The man asked.
“Like the springtime.” Eli promised.
“Sold!” The man smiled. “Let me know what you need from me.”
“Sure thing. You can just go up to the front desk and the girls will take care of you there,” Eli directed the man. He then made his way over to Simone. “Hey, troublemaker.”
“Hey, Mr. Eli,” Simone put away her book and gave him a hug. She momentarily closed her eyes as she felt his warm, muscular build press against her soft frame. The fact he was wearing equally intoxicating cologne didn’t do him any favors. “I must say, that was very impressive of you. Asking about the wife’s interests before you created the bouquet? Very nice.”
“It’s about catering to a woman and her needs,” He slowly licked his lips, “some men need a little extra help in that department, you know what I’m saying?”
Simone focused on Eli’s lips. They looked so soft and welcoming. She immediately wanted to wrap her hands around his head and pull him in close to her body, pressing against each other as their lips met repeatedly. She bit the inside of her cheek and re-directed her attention back to his eyes. “Yes, I do.”
“By the way, you almost got me into trouble a while back,” Eli smirked.
“What? What did I do?” Simone asked.
“You had your perfume all over me when we hugged. My wife was ready to throw down.” He chuckled.
A small smile formed on Simone’s lips. “I hope you told her the truth?”
“Yes, I did. I told her you were a new client and I gave you a hug, that’s all.” Eli gave a helpless shrug.
“She sounds like the jealous type,” Simone mentioned.
“Not really. She’s always been pretty confident.” Eli began to clean up the table with his notepad. A smile grew on his face when he thought about Faith’s confidence. That was one of the things that drew him to her. Sure she had her doubts and insecurities like the next woman but most of the time exuded confidence and owned it. “But then again, if she came home smelling like some dude, I would probably want to beat somebody’s ass, myself.”
Simone laughed at Eli’s commentary. “You make a point.”
The man from earlier stopped again at Eli and shook his hand. “Thank you so much for this, son. I’ll let you know how she likes it.” He then left the shop.
Eli watched the man leave and folded his arms. “That right there is the reason why I do this.”
“And you do it well,” Simone smiled.
“So what brings you back in here?” He asked.
“Well, I was wondering if I could drop off some business cards for you? I’m still trying to build my clientele and I need all the extra help I can get.” She handed Eli a small stack of cards.
“Sure, not a problem.” Eli glanced down at Simone’s business card. It was a dainty pink with a flower in the top right corner. Eli immediately recognized it as a hydrangea. “Pretty card.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He smiled.
“She’s here! She’s here!” Nicola rushed from downstairs and began to pass out chocolate cigars with a pink ribbon on them. “My granddaughter is here! Tiana just gave birth to Gianna!”
All of the shop employees congratulated Nicola on her newest grandchild while extending the same congrats to Joey and Eli on their new niece. “Congratulations, Uncle,” Simone beamed.
“The first granddaughter,” Eli raised his eyebrows, “that poor girl doesn’t know what she’s in for.”
“She’s going to be that spoiled, huh?”
“Spoiled? Forget about it.” Eli shook his head. “Every date she brings home is going to go through a 35-point inspection the moment he steps foot inside the house, if he’ll step foot inside the house.”
“Sounds like the five of you were planning this moment for a long time.”
Eli shook his head. “You don’t even know…” He glanced at his watch. It was almost time for Happy Hour and there was a lot to celebrate. “We’re about to head out of here and go to Gino’s. If you don’t have any plans, you can come with us if you’d like?”
“Gino’s… that’s downtown, right?”
“That’s right. If you don’t know where it is, you can just follow me.” Eli suggested.
“I have GPS so it’s not a thing,” Simone looked back at Nicola, who was showing a fresh picture of Gianna and telling everyone she was named after her great-grandmother. “So I’ll just meet you there?”
“Sure, that’ll be great.” Eli gave Simone another hug. “See you in a few.”
Simone briefly closed her eyes and inhaled Eli’s cologne yet again. So delicious. So tempting. Yet so unavailable. “See you in a few.”
****
“You never did tell me why you went into the floral business.” Simone said over a margarita.
Eli took a bite of a buffalo wing and quickly swallowed. “I could’ve done a lot of things. I was in art school and studying to become a graphic designer. I had a dream of working for this major Fortune 500 company and making loads of money. My mom called me one day asking me if I could create a flyer for her so they could get the word out. Then she asked if I could do the website. I was planning to help my mom out for just a few months. Long enough to get the shop set up and running between her and Joey.”
Simone dipped a mozzarella stick into marinara sauce and took a bite. “And then a few months turned into a few years…”
“I don’t even know how it happened. All I knew was that one day I was watching my mom handle a bride and giving her general ideas. The typical roses, calla lilies, and peonies selection. And the girl was eating it up. My mother could’ve sold her shit on a platter and the chick would’ve bought it!” The admission caused a smile to form on both Eli and Simone. “So I interrupted her and asked the girl what does she like, what was she into, what did her fiancée like, what was her favorite color, season, music, etc.
“I studied up on flowers, the different types and which were best in what season. I studied the different regions and who grew the best flowers where. Finally, to my advantage, I had a little talent in drawing and begin to sketch some bouquets, centerpieces, and arrangements. From there, I created a bouquet and centerpieces that were uniquely the bride. I incorporated bits and pieces from her life, while making the flowers extravagant enough for the wow factor all the brides want. She can’t look at another bride’s bouquet and say that was hers. She won’t look at another centerpiece and wonder about theirs. And I remember telling my mother and Joey, ‘I’m only doing this for a few months and that’s it.’ I remember saying it just like that.” Eli smiled. “That was ten years ago.”
“Sounds like you’ve found your calling.” Simone inquired.
“When I was a little boy, I never thought I would be in the floral business. I didn’t know a damn thing about roses back then. Now I can name forty different ones just by looking at them.” He shrugged.
As Happy Hour progressed, Eli talked more about Madre’s, building it from a small corner shop on a strip mall to an expanding chain in two locations. He smiled and joked often, having an undeniable confidence about him. The more Eli talked, the more Simone became impressed by him. He was passionate about life, his business, his family.
He was charming to his employees, inquiring about their private lives and talking about anything that had nothing to do with work. He talked sports with the guys and gave relationship advice to the girls. It was clear the employees respected and liked Eli, something rare in any business.
He was a perfect catch. He was lucky enough to have found someone that did catch him.
Simone finally realized she had a schoolgirl crush on Eli. That was fine. She would be okay with that. A sch
oolgirl crush meant she could dream and fantasize about him and there was no harm in that. She could fantasize about his full lips on hers, again, sucking on her bottom lip as his hands wandered all over her body. She could fantasize about him undressing her, kissing each body part as it became exposed to him. She could fantasize about wrapping her legs around his waist as he moved inside her, pressing his body against hers, as he hungrily took her mouth with his and…
“You’re somewhere and it’s not here…” Eli whispered in her ear.
Simone blinked twice and straightened out her posture. She could smell Eli’s cologne and hated how close he was to her once again, making her stomach wrap in tight knots and her heart race a mile a minute. She also hated the desire that formed in her sex and spread throughout her body. “I was thinking about something.” She kept her gaze straight ahead.
