Chasing Delia

by Aubrey Cara

  He continued, “I also know that I want to know you more than anyone I’ve ever met, and I desire you with a single-minded intensity that makes me want to rip off your clothes the moment we’re in the same room.”

  Running a hand through his hair, he dropped her hand as he stood up and started pacing the small space. “You twist me up in knots, Del. I couldn’t stay away from you, even after I told my son I would. You lead me to distraction. When you sauntered into Buck's, wearing a handkerchief for a top, I about swallowed my tongue. I’m the captain of the Hope Springs Police Department and I started a bar fight because I couldn’t stand seeing another man even touch you. Dammit Del, I saw and heard you puke a disgusting number of times between last night and this morning, and it didn’t dampen how much I want you one bit.”

  She groaned at the reminder. He stopped furiously pacing to crouch down in front of her, his knees flanking her own. He was warm and smelled so good. His intense look was making her hot in ways she had never been.

  “Del, I’ll give you time if you need time, I’ll give you space if you need space. But not for long.” He stood, grabbing her up with one arm around her waist, the other holding the back of the head. Her toes barely touched the ground when his mouth covered hers. The kiss was deep, hard, and scorching in force. If Connar had done this, it would have felt rough and abrasive. With Jake liquid heat pooled in her at her core, sparking a pulse of what she now knew was wonderful lust. Her body came alive against him.

  Tipping her back he possessed her mouth. He pulled back only to blaze a trail of kisses that set her skin to tingling awareness with every touch of his hot lips and tongue. Down her neck and back up to nibble on her earlobe. She couldn’t get close enough as she dug her fingers into his shirt, ready to claw at the material.

  He held her tight against him, grinding his erection into her for a moment, sending her head spinning. He pulled back only slightly as they both panted. He leaned his forehead against hers.“I’ve had a taste of you,” he said. “And I mean to have more. I mean to have all of you again and again till you don’t have the energy to crawl away, let alone run from me. And Del—” Grabbing the back of her head he made sure their eyes locked when he added, “I mean to make you mine.”

  With that he broke away and strode right out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him. She wilted onto her bed. Her limbs had turned rubber, yet her body was humming with pent-up need. She wasn’t sure if she should laugh or cry. She felt slightly lightheaded and goofy. Jake did that to her and she was thinking she liked it.

  She replayed him saying ‘I mean to make you mine,’ in his thick Texas drawl over and over in her mind, getting the tingles up and down her spine all over again. What did that mean? He said he couldn’t make any promises, but that sounded a lot like a promise.

  One thing was for certain, this was not a good beginning for her resolve as far as getting over Jake Forrester. She grabbed her pillow and screamed into it for a minute, childishly stomping her feet on the floor, giving into a tantrum that thrummed up from the frustration that was Jake Forrester. Energy spent, she fell back on her bed staring up at the popcorn ceiling.

  She knew Jake and Steven had to be gone when Kat burst into the apartment without knocking. Delia briefly reflected she needed to start locking her door.

  “Okay, what happened?” Kat said cutting right to it.

  “I’m not sure.” She was still trying to figure that out herself. “Hey Kat, have you ever had an orgasm?”

  Kat stood there for a full minute staring at her. “I think we need to order a pizza. This seems to be a discussion we should be having with pizza. And ice cream.”

  That sounded good, she was starving.

  Looking around frowning, Kat added, “And we should have this talk at Macy and Sally’s. This place is kinda depressing. No offense.”

  Delia shrugged. She kind of liked her spartan little space.

  *** ***

  Turned out Delia had been as ignorant of bedroom matters as she had always suspected. She was reeling from information overload, and she didn’t think she was ever going to be able to lose the blush she was sporting.

  She and Kat were tucked into opposite corners of Macy and Sally’s oversized couch, eating ice cream and discussing sex, or how little she knew about it. A three-quarters eaten pizza sat on the coffee table surrounded by soda cans and bottles of Gatorade that Kat insisted would help with the hangover. The large hardcover copy of the Kama Sutra lie open in between them on the middle cushion.

  Kat had said it contained more sexual instruction than a Vegas hooker. Delia didn’t know any Vegas hookers but was pretty sure Kat was right. She had flipped through it for an hour with eyes as big as saucers. Every answer to every question she had asked only brought on new questions.

  Kat turned pensive. “So, last night at the bar, you were all bravado?”

  Delia shrugged an impish shoulder. “Yep.”

  “You know Del, no offense,” Kat paused taking a bite of cookie dough ice cream. “For a girl raised by a slutty drunk, you’re incredibly sheltered. Your foster parents, were they Amish?”

  She laughed. She had been sheltered in a way. “No, mostly Southern Baptist. Several older with grown kids long gone from home, or no kids at all, doing the Lord's work by taking in strays like me. Some people had kids, but it wasn't like I was around long enough to get to know anyone. I certainly didn't get a talk on the birds and the bees. At least not a sober one that made much sense. My mama told me if I was planning on spreading my legs, I'd better make the guy wear a condom so I didn't end up like her. I was fourteen. One of the guys she brought home had tried to get in my room.”

  Kat shuddered. “There should be case studies done on you, Del. There are virgins around the world more knowledgeable than you.”

  She threw a pillow at a laughing Kat, then grew pensive once more. “Hey Kat?”

  Kat grew serious again to match her tone. “Yeah?”

  “You, um...” She knew what she was about to ask would bear some implications but she had to know. “Have you ever been spanked? By a guy?”

  She asked, though she kind of expected outrage from her independent friend. Instead Kat blushed from the roots of her auburn hair and all the way down. Kat started stammering something she couldn't make out, clearly uncomfortable, just as Macy and Sally walked in the door. Macy groaned shaking her head when she saw the mess of pizza boxes and soda cans. She and Kat sat eating Haagen Dazs out of the carton.

  “Kat, you know you’re going to have to start jogging if you keep eating like a teenager,” Macy scolded. Kat recovered her earlier embarrassment enough to stick out her tongue at her sister.

  “What about Del? Why doesn’t she have to jog?”

  “Actually,” Delia said. “I’ve really never gone jogging, or running. I’ve always been naturally on the skinny side. Maybe it would be fun. We could do one of those 5K's for charity.”

  Glaring at her, Kat jammed her spoon in the ice cream and tossed the carton on the coffee table like she was completely sickened by it. “You know Del, I could really learn to not like you. ‘Naturally skinny.’ My pinky finger isn’t naturally skinny.” So saying she held up her pinky finger that was in fact a little on the plump side. Delia shrugged. She didn’t think it distracted from Kat's natural beauty and charm at all. Kat threw a throw pillow at her.

  “Soooo girrrls,” Sally said, breaking into the revelry. “Old Peg came in today. She had some interesting tidbits to tell. I heard Buck's was the place to be last night.” Both the girls groaned, making Sally’s smile brighten.

  Macy rolled her eyes. “Sally, you and Peg spend much too much time gossiping.”

  This time it was Sally’s turn to roll her eyes. She continued, undeterred by Macy’s reprimand. “There was talk about a certain little blonde getting into it with Sergeant Sexy at Buck's last night. Then later on, also last night, starting an all out bar brawl. This blonde happened to be accompanied by her red headed friend. T
hey made quite a scene getting carted out over the shoulders of Sergeant Sexy and his friend. Dare I name him Caleb, Katherine? So, do tell, what did you two do last night?” Sally was grinning from ear to ear as she sashayed into the kitchen.

  Delia was looking around to avoid eye contact. She tried to make herself less noticeable by sinking further into the couch. Kat’s expression had clouded over.

  “My hair is more of a cinnamon color. It’s darkened considerably over the years.” Kat said this with an air of superiority, but Sally wasn’t fooled.

  Macy was shaking her head, arms crossed over her chest, looming over the couch. Her eyes grew round, catching sight of the fornicating animated couples depicted on the page the book was opened to. “Good heavens Katherine Rose! What are you two looking at?” Her gaze was centered on the book. “Are you trying to corrupt Del? Binge drinking, starting bar fights, and now looking at porn?!”

  Kat stood up on her end of the couch completely outraged. “The middle name was uncalled for, and I’m not corrupting anyone! Del ordered the whiskey, all the rounds of whiskey, Sergeant Sexy is the ape that started the little commotion at Buck's,” she said, turning to point an accusing finger Delia’s way. “And I’m doing Del a service by telling her about sex! For your information the Kama Sutra is educational. I’m giving her culture!”

  Macy snorted. “You wouldn’t know culture if it bit you on the ass.”

  Kat gasped putting a hand to her chest in mock outrage. “You know Macy, you're just as stuffy and overbearing as Mother.”

  “Well, maybe, but at least I’m not a disgrace to Mother.”

  “At least I came out straight!”

  “I’d rather be a lesbian than a tramp like you!”

  Kat gasped. “Better a tramp than named after one.”

  From conversation with Sally and Macy, Delia knew Macy and Kat's mom adored her show dogs. Macy had also confessed she was named after their mother’s beloved King Charles spaniel that had died the year their mother was pregnant with her.

  “At least I did something with my college degree!” Macy cried.

  “Yeah, for two seconds, now all you do is stretch and chant!”

  “Twelve years! I practiced law for over twelve years, and I co-own a bakery now!”

  Kat ignored Macy and was imitating an “Oulmmmm” when Macy pulled her down by her hair. “Owwwwwwww,” Kat screeched, latching onto Macy’s hair in return.

  The sisters locked forehead to forehead in battle. Kat fell over the end of the couch as the sisters played tug of war on each other's scalps while turning in a circle. One blonde head against one red, matching big round bottoms pointed out, Kat in rainbow hearts pajama pants and Macy in drawstring, khaki colored, linen pants. The whole time they issued scathing insults at each other, between crying out in pain. Delia had never seen anything like it.

  They always bickered around the bakery so she knew there was sibling rivalry, but she had no idea it was like this. She supposed with thirteen years between them they had to wait until they were both adults before they could really fight like children.

  Sally came out of the kitchen giving them both a whack with a wooden spoon before pulling them apart. With one ear of each woman pinched in Sally’s hands, she stretched her arms out to separate them while they still tried to slap at each other.

  “Enough, you two are obnoxious,” Sally said. “Can’t you two ever get along?! Look, you’ve traumatized Del.”

  “I’m not traumatized.”

  “Of course you are.”

  Kat pulled out of Sally’s grasp. “Whatever. I’m sleeping at Del’s tonight.”

  “Wait, what?” This was said by Delia, who up until that moment had been fascinated by the squabble. Kat had seen her place. She knew Delia basically lived in a closet. Plus Kat thought her place depressing.

  “I’m taking the inflatable mattress. I’d rather stay in Del’s hovel than here! The studio is where you were planning on me staying anyways. You two need your space, and I can’t share space with Macy.”

  “Wait!” This time everyone heard her and turned her way. Now that she had gotten their attention she didn’t know what to say. She felt kind of bad hearing she had taken the studio Kat had planned to live in for the summer. “I um... I,” Crap, she thought. Her shoulders drooped knowing what she had to do. “I think you should get all your stuff. You should just stay with me, Kat. We’ll be roommates. It’ll be fun.”

  “Yay! Del you’re the best Amish friend a girl could ask for.” After Kat gave her an exuberant squeeze she went off to the guest room to gather what Delia hoped were her few belongings.

  Macy bounced over for a big hug, “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I would have killed her if she stayed the entire summer here. I love her but she’s right; we can’t live together.”

  “Are you sure you two will be all right in that little studio?” Sally said, with obvious concern.

  “Of course, it’ll be fine.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  It was not fine. Kat didn’t have a lot, but what she did have she spread out over every inch of their now shared tiny space. Her inflatable mattress was a queen-size bed. They squeezed it in, and it quickly took up what legroom was left of the tiny studio.

  Three mornings in a row Delia had woken up early tired because Kat snored and talked in her sleep, keeping Delia awake most of the night. Then she would have to climb over the end of her daybed to get into the bathroom. All the while Kat, oblivious to the world, slept on, waking at her leisure, bright and cheery. Kat still spent most of the evenings over at Macy and Sally’s. Kat and Macy were getting along splendidly now, like all they needed was for Kat to be sleeping somewhere else.

  If Sally or Macy noticed Delia coming in extra early they weren’t saying anything. She was starting to get cranky, yet if that wasn’t enough, Jake had decided to give her the time and space he said he would. She hadn’t seen or heard from him in three days. She hadn’t even asked for time and space. She may have hinted toward it by running and being confused and saying she didn’t want to be with him, but she didn’t feel that way now.

  After her and Kat’s sex talk, not to mention the book filled with naughty illustrations, she was quite positive the last thing she wanted was time or space. Not unless it was a time to meet, in a space they could get naked in. A flush crept up her body as she relived Jake's kisses. All of Jake's kisses.

  She had been replaying every intimate caress she experienced with him, longing for it over and over again. Her body had never been this alive or sexually aware, and it was damned uncomfortable. Not sleeping only added insult to injury.

  She needed to stop thinking of Jake Forrester like some lovesick ninny. Men only messed up her life. Just signing her name on those damn divorce papers had liberated her from the confines of needing a man. She was sick of thinking about him anyway, and coming full circle, was resolved to tell him to go take a long walk off a short pier the next time she saw him. With that in mind she punched the dough she had been kneading. She would not be pathetic and needy like her mama. She would not be controlled by her sinful lust like her mama.

  “Hey Del, my dad’s out front, he was hoping to get a chance to talk to you,” Steven called as he peeked into the back. He was out of school for the summer and had been in early helping the past two mornings so he could hang out with friends in the afternoons.

  “Now?” She wasn’t ready to talk to him now. She had just gotten her resolve to be independent of men and she already felt it shaking. “I can’t see him now.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because…” Wasn’t because enough? “Ugh fine, but tell him to come back here. I have to get everything ready to make the raspberry tarts for the Smiths' Anniversary.”

  The Smiths were a sweet old couple who had hired Two Tarts to do all the desserts for their fiftieth anniversary party. Sally was making a cake that looked like an impossible replica of a Thomas Kinkade’s bridge over water, garden scene, that would be served alo
ng with raspberry tarts and chocolate crème brulee. Hope Springs and the Smiths’ friends and family were about to be wowed.

  Henry and Margaret Smith had come in holding hands, giving each other looks like high school sweethearts in love. They had five children, weathered every storm life had thrown at them, and still lit up with joy to be together. She wondered wistfully what it would be like to know love like theirs.

  “I hope you’re thinking about me with that far off dreamy look,” Jake said from the doorway. Pulled away from her musings by a uniformed-clad Jake, she rolled her eyes, but not before quickly taking in his delicious form. His hair was getting long and he had a stray curl hanging over his forehead. She tightened her fist in the dough to keep from reaching out. His eyes were a darker blue today, she noticed as they seemed to twinkle at her. His sexy mouth pulled up in a half smile as he looked her over in a way that made her breath catch.

  Insufferable man always seemed to know what she was thinking. “You wish, Mr. Arrogant. I have not thought one bit about you or your sexy mouth.” She turned bright red. Dammit, she had not meant to say that last part. Now the dratted man knew that was exactly what she had been thinking about. This was all Kat’s fault. If she hadn’t been so tired she wouldn’t be saying whatever came to mind.

  He chuckled as he came in closer to her, tucking a stray hair behind her ear as she slapped down flour to roll the dough on. “You haven’t been thinking about me huh? That’s too bad cause I haven’t been able to think of anything but you.”

  Lame in the extreme, the line still worked its magic. Resolve to tell him to buzz off completely dissolving, her lips quirked into a smile as she rolled out the dough slowly. His close proximity was making her feel lightheaded and giddy as usual. He smelled so good. Her body plumped in places just being near him, reminding her that she was a sexual being with needs that had been on alert for three days. He ran a finger up her arm and she got goose bumps.