by Redrae Gunn
“You are,” David replied, not letting her off the hook. “You can’t hide for the rest of your life because one asshole screwed you around. I already have several eligible bachelors ready to accompany you.”
“I don’t need your pity, and I don’t need your help.” Tayen backed up to the door and opened it. “I am not bringing a date. Uninvite me, David. I am not going.”
Tayen stepped through the threshold, slammed the door, and backed forcefully into Caleb, who had his arms full with two bags of groceries. The bag of oranges that was precariously balanced on the top of the bags fell to floor, and oranges scattered everywhere.
“I’m such a klutz,” Tayen said, startled, and she started to pick up the oranges. “I didn’t mean to…” She trailed off.
Caleb set down his bags of groceries and helped Tayen gather the oranges. “I’m Caleb, by the way.” His deep voice rumbled in her chest. He extended his hand to her.
Tayen looked up and stared into the most intense, green eyes she’d ever seen. They were hidden behind the soft-brown hair that cascaded around his face. She reached her hand out and licked her lips, her mouth suddenly dry, her body reminding her that it still had needs. “Tayen,” she said managing to get her voice to sound confident, self-assured.
“So, were you uninviting yourself from the ever so prestigious, Fourth of July, couples-only party?” Caleb tsked softly and shook his head. He released her hand, his eyes not leaving hers.
“Yes,” Tayen said looking around for any straggling oranges, relieved to have something to do with her eyes besides ogle the handsome man kneeling in front of her.
“I’m not ready to date, don’t want complications, and certainly don’t want to worry that my date is scoping out a more attractive prospective,” Tayen said as she gave a half grin to Caleb. “There’s my insecurities laid out on the line for a stranger. So are you going?”
Caleb hesitated. Her complete honesty was a little disarming. Usually girls were deceptive and had their own motives. Caleb felt that stirring he’d felt once before. When it had been good. He leaned forward. “I am in the same predicament, except usually the dates I bring are only interested in my money or an angle into my business. I’m a music producer.”
Tayen chuckled a little. “I have money, too. It’s just that sometimes living middle class is just so much simpler. Kick back a case of beer with a buddy, grill some steaks, go fishing, anything but live up to the social expectations of the privileged. Blah, I don’t know why David did this to me.”
The oranges were gathered, but the grocery bags were already full. Tayen pulled out the bottom of her blouse and gathered the oranges into the bottom. She stood and faced Caleb. “I’ll walk these to your door for you. It’s the least I can do, and I am sorry.”
“Thank you,” Caleb said as he gathered the two bags of groceries. “So, Tayen, would you accompany me to the party of the privileged? I mean, I don’t want the exhausting effort of finding a date that isn’t looking for a better angle, and the thought of you having to do the same seems ridiculous if I am in the same boat.”
Tayen eyed Caleb. “It is better than uninviting ourselves and facing social disgrace, isn’t it?” She rolled big, dark eyes and managed to keep back the sigh that she wanted to give.
“It is.” Caleb smiled. His Dominant side rose to the surface. Of course she had wanted to please him. Caleb mentally shook himself. She’s not submissive, Caleb, stop those thoughts.
“Are you sure?” Tayen asked. “I’m new here, and you don’t know anything about me.”
“You had me at ‘I’m such a klutz.’” Caleb laughed, admiring the pink that crept over her cheeks. “All right, dump the oranges on the top of the bags, and, Tayen, it was a pleasure having you run into me.”
“Aauugh,” Tayen groaned.
“I’ll come down later so we can coordinate colors.” When Tayen raised her eyebrows, Caleb replied, “Just tell David you have a date, and he’ll probably explain the rest.”
Tayen nodded.
“So I guess, I’ll come down and meet you appropriately a little later. Just…give me about an hour.” He shut the door when Tayen smiled shyly and waved good-bye.
* * * *
Tayen nearly floated back down the hall and into the condo. Caleb was superb, better than a Greek god. He oozed male sex pheromones, and his deep voice sent shivers down her spine and lower. She wondered what that voice would sound like in the morning after a night of hot sex. She leaned against the door, closed her eyes, and yelled. “David!”
“I messed up,” David said coming down the stairs from the loft. “I pushed too hard, Tayen. I didn’t respect your limits. I didn’t even ask your opinion, and I know how your free will was basically robbed by that—”
“I’m going,” Tayen interrupted. “If my date is hotter than yours then you will never RSVP for me again without my expressed written consent.” She held out her hand in a gesture of truce.
David took her hand and shook it. “Express written consent. Got it.” David grinned. “Let’s find you a date.” He pulled her into the enormous living room.
“No need. I have one.” Tayen smirked waving her hand.
“You were gone for five minutes!”
“Yup.”
“Who?” David leaned close. “Tell me. I’m dying here. Some young stud from the rich college section? You are a cougar, aren’t you? Perhaps a little vixen?”
“No, no, and no.” Tayen was disgusted that David would think she was a cougar. She was only thirty. She thought a woman had to be at least forty to be a cougar.
“Who?”
“Caleb.”
Tayen enjoyed David’s jaw drop and the ensuing silence. “Are you going to show me the rest of the house now?” Tayen asked, ignoring David’s shock. “Oh, David, Caleb said I needed to ask you about coordinating colors.” She feigned indifference, despite the fact that her lower female parts were still throbbing from the chance meeting.
“Yes, dates wear matching colors. We’ve gotta find you a dress.” David’s hands were still at his mouth. “You win, by the way, with the gorgeous factor. My date is going to look like Willie Lump Lump next to yours.”
“Sean is adorable, and you know it. Now show this Indian princess the rest of her penthouse please, paleface,” Tayen teased, holding out her arm looking at the ceiling.
“Yes, Indian princess.” David wrapped her arm around his. “Okay these big, huge stairs go up to the loft, where there are two of the most elegant master bedrooms.” He led her upstairs and showed her the room he had for her.
“You gave me the south view.” Tayen sighed in appreciation.
“Yes, because I am not a morning person, and I prefer no golden rays of sun anywhere near my bedroom in the wee hours of dawn.” David shuddered.
Tayen looked at the empty space and realized how much she was truly starting over. Her ex-husband had been awarded everything in the house. She had left with the clothes on her back. She had picked up a couple of things on her drive to Omaha.
“Oh, David,” Tayen whispered, and then finally the tears started to fall. David hugged her close to his chest even though she was soaking the front of it. “He got everything. I took a train from Salem into Minot, picked up the ’Cuda, and headed here. You know I don’t think he was ever faithful. Everything, David, he got everything.”
“Not everything, honey.” David smoothed her hair back from the tears on her face. “He never found your money, which is rightfully yours by the way, just like the ’Cuda. I’ve grown your money to considerably more than what you had. You can always buy new things. You know I love buying you new things. The most important thing is that he didn’t end up with you.”
Tayen nodded her head, trying to compose herself.
“He screwed everyone in my office,” Tayen admitted.
“I know,” David soothed her. “But he doesn’t get to screw you anymore.”
Tayen shook her head.
Finally she compo
sed herself and looked around the spacious room again. David helped her to her feet. He watched as she opened the doors to the closet. She gasped when she saw it was bigger than her old ten-by-twelve bedroom, and it was full of clothes and shoes.
“You know I love shopping for you, girlfriend,” David said, shrugging when she glanced back at him.
“You know that, if you were a cross-dresser, we could share these clothes,” Tayen teased him as she wiped the last of the tears from her face.
“Like I’ve said before, every straight girl needs a gay guy as their best friend, because we love to make you look good.”
David opened the door to the bathroom. Black tile streaked with gold and brown was laid on the floor. An enormous, matching Jacuzzi tub was tucked into one corner. A walk-in shower with the same black tile was in the other corner. There was no curtain, and with the angle of the double nozzles it looked like no curtain would be needed. Very exposed and very sexy. Tayen stalled for a moment as she wondered what Caleb’s body would look like, in her shower, beaded with water spray.
“My bathroom has the sandstone tile,” David interrupted her daydream. “I don’t like the dark color in the bathroom as much as you do.”
The double sinks were against the wall, and there were several drawers for storage. Finally the sit-down vanity in between the two sinks was killer. David had already purchased a high set salon chair. He was usually in charge of doing her hair for special occasions, and this was his stylist fantasy come true.
“I think we should turn this space into our home office area,” David said as he led Tayen out of the bedroom. The sprawling area overlooked the downstairs, and the light shone in from the second row of enormous cathedral windows. “I was going to hang some of my pictures, some of your paintings, and we could manage the store from up here.”
“Our home office, huh?” Tayen said, liking the idea. “We wouldn’t have to be stuck in our own rooms all day. We could actually take a lunch together. Sounds much better than the existence I’ve been living.”
“I agree,” David said. “So we’ll need to get some fancy-shmancy new computers, desks, comfortable chairs. We’ll need some plants, whose health you will be in charge of. Perhaps a long sofa or chaise lounge chair, so if one person is working the other can still be near for ideas and moral support.”
“Speaking of the store,” Tayen said as David led her down the stairs. “How is Wild Hearts doing and when can I see it?”
“Unbelievably well.” David nodded appreciatively at Tayen. “I still don’t mix the herbs well, so none of the employees let me do it, but the candlemakers you recommended are to die for. We can hardly keep the colored tapers on the shelf. The lotions, honey, there is a waiting list for that Dragon’s Blood that they make. I could go on and on. I’m so sorry that you had to stay away.”
David stopped in his tracks at the bottom of the stairs. “Jesus, Tay, your cell phone.”
Tayen laughed. “I gave it to an over-the-road trucker friend that lived next door to me in the ghetto. He said he’d make sure it stayed charged for at least two weeks and in the cab with him. Then he was going to give it a good chuck into whatever body of water he was near.”
“Smart, but now you need a phone,” David said as a little boy grin covered his face. “It just so happens I added a second phone to my plan, and it’s awesome. It’s this new G’zOne Commando. Damn thing still works even if it’s been underwater. Has constellation navigation, hike trip memory, when the tides come in, a compass. Every hiker’s dream phone. You can even transfer it into your own name, just as soon as you get your name back. I don’t want to get charged for any porn you’re downloading.”
“Kink.com, baby.” Tayen grinned as David’s smile matched her own.
“Tayen, princess, you know I’m a member.” David smirked. He showed her the living room with the fireplace, the sprawling kitchen, with island and wine chiller, which looked into the dining area. Next was the minibar, sound system, second fireplace opposite the one in the living room, and finally, the last guest room and bath tucked neatly behind the kitchen area.
“So the kitchen table is yours to purchase,” David said as he set her up at the kitchen island. He pulled a bottle of wine from the chiller, and in true David flare, he draped a white towel over his arm as he held it out for her inspection.
“Juneberry from Pointe of View in North Dakota.” Tayen nearly cried again. “David, I love you so much.”
“I know.” David grinned as he pulled two mason jars from under the cabinet. Tayen eyed him, smiling through her tears. “Can’t forget where we came from,” he said.
“What are we drinking to?” Tayen asked, holding up her jar.
“The pursuit of happiness, warrior!” David lifted his jar.
“Warriors united!” Tayen grinned and clinked her jar with his. They chugged the wine, not savoring it one bit. They came up for breath, and David emptied the rest of the bottle between the two jars. Tayen laughed. “Wine connoisseurs would be appalled.”
“Here’s to appalling wine connoisseurs,” David said, raising his glass to Tayen’s, and four seconds later the bottle was gone.
The doorbell rang and a burly man with short, dark hair, speckled with gray, peeked his head around the staircase and looked at Tayen and David. “Are you expecting guests, Ms. Lone Wolf and Mr. Gresham?”
David glanced at Tayen who had frozen in her chair.
“Um, yes.” Tayen regained her composure. She hadn’t realized that another person had been in the house with them. Obviously this was the staff that David had been talking about. Tayen loved hearing her true maiden name spoken to her. David must have told them how to address her. His attention to detail endeared him to her even more. “Caleb was going to come down to discuss coordinating colors for this weekend.”
The gentleman nodded and disappeared around the staircase. Tayen turned to David. “I haven’t eaten. Who the fuck was that? What was Caleb’s last name?”
“Here.” David threw a tray of meat, cheese, and crackers in front of both of them. “Chad Bergan. Wilson.”
“Got it.” Tayen nodded just as Caleb rounded the stairs. She stood and then froze. His eyes were truly sinful. “Please join us, Mr. Wilson,” Tayen said, and David pointed to a chair at the island. Caleb sat gracefully.
“We were just having some wine,” David said, and Caleb eyed the empty bottle and mason jars. “Would you like a glass?” David grabbed another bottle of Juneberry wine from the chiller.
Caleb smiled and glanced from David to Tayen. “No, Mr. Gresham, but I’ll sure take a jar.”
Tayen grinned, and something inside Caleb melted at the way her dark eyes narrowed when she looked at him. It was a different type of hunger than he was used to. It was challenging him, like he may not be enough ribbon to complete the package. Again, Tayen had disarmed him. She didn’t glance away from his gaze. She held it.
David broke the contact. “Colors for the social gathering this weekend, we need to get Tayen a dress.” David snapped his fingers commanding their attention.
“Mr. Bergan,” David called.
“Yes, sir.” Chad peeked around the corner.
“Are you available to drive?” David asked.
“Of course, sir,” he replied. “What vehicle will we be taking?”
“Mine,” Tayen said, tossing him the keys to the Plymouth. “It’s my ’Cuda parked in stall eleven but it needs some WD-40 sprayed into the carburetor. She’s touchy in first gear, you can really smoke the tires, and there’s a screwdriver in the trunk to jam the throttle shut. Her name is Pris. You may want to take her for a spin a couple of times to learn her ways.”
“Good woman, love her already,” Chad whispered to David. He nodded at Tayen and then nearly ran to the door. “I’ll have Pris out front for you.”
Caleb looked at Tayen. “You named a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda Pris?”
“You drive her once. She’s a touchy little bitch,” David said, shaking his head.
“I swear, only chicks get other chicks, and trust me, Pris and Tayen here are kind of one in the same.”
Caleb’s eyes lit up. “How so?” he asked.
“Tough as hell, all go, no stop, but temperamental as all get-out. Piss them off, and they’ll leave you stranded on some lonely road in some godforsaken place,” David replied. “However, given the right amount of attention, and spending time with them, getting to know their ways, then they purr like a little kitty.”
“For the record, I have never been referred to as a kitty,” Tayen said defensively. The rest of his assessment was true. “I thought we needed to pick out a dress.”
“May I help?” Caleb asked, only looking at Tayen.
Tayen glanced at David. David nodded, so Tayen nodded her head at Caleb. Some of her dark hair fell across her shoulder, and Caleb brushed it back.
“You have to go,” David said to Caleb, clapping his hands in front of his chest. “We need to make sure you’re in coordinating colors.” He turned his focus to Tayen. “Straight man’s dream, Tay, is watching you try on dresses.”
Tayen’s blush crept beneath her dark skin.
“Caleb,” David said and paused dramatically, “you are going to love playing with my Barbie.”
“David, don’t start that,” Tayen scolded, but her voice held no bite. “I really need to shower first and change. The train wasn’t kind, and Pris doesn’t have air, so I’m actually surprised the two of you can stand to be in the same room as me.”
“I was wondering what that was.” David grinned, plugging his nose with two fingers, joking with Tayen. He nodded to the staircase. “When was your last shower?”
“Can you believe I’ve been in these clothes for three days now and no one has said anything,” Tayen whispered like it was a big secret and then waved at both of them as she went up to her room to shower.
When the door to the bathroom opened, Tayen watched as David laid out the clothes that she was to wear. Her mind settled as she fell back into the pattern of letting David control those types of things.
