“Mina?”
“What?” I snapped out of it, and realized I was still standing frozen in place having my mind take over all of my body.
“Are you okay?” he asked putting his hand on my shoulder.
His touch set goose bumps down my entire body. I looked up at him. His eyes looked down at me with a real look of concern. It was enough to make me melt.
“Oh, yes, I’m fine.” I answered.
“Are you sure, you stopped and were kind of frozen in thought for a second,” he replied.
My, this man was observant. I guess a scientist has to be by nature. It was refreshing though to be with someone that acknowledged a change in emotions or change in my mood.
My heart warmed at his question. He was genuinely interested in my life, and I was eager to share it with him.
He listened intently to everything I had to say. We continued on our walk through the museum, yet we hardly noticed the pieces around us anymore. It was a non-date, date. I liked it because it was all happening so naturally with out the normal pressures of a planned first date.
I felt at ease with Cliff, but had butterflies in my stomach at the same time. It was hard to describe, but every time he looked at me I felt nervous and happy all at once.
“Sorry that took more time than it should have. Still want to go across to Central Park?” he asked.
“Yes, I do.” I said very confidently.
“Okay, let’s do it. First we need to make a stop,” he said as he led the way out the door.
A stop? I was intrigued by what this meant, but this man was full of surprises. I liked being surprised so I didn’t ask. I just followed. He walked down the massive steps and I followed closely behind. It had grown a bit dimmer outside. It was almost sunset, and I realized we had been in the museum for a long time. It had been several hours at least.
“I’m starving, do you mind if we grab some food and have a picnic in the park?” he asked.
I smiled a big brilliant smile. Was this man made specifically for me? Park picnics were my favorite and I preferred it to any meal in a restaurant at all times.
“That sounds like a perfect plan,” I said.
“Great,” he said as he led the way to a row of street vendors. He got croissants, pretzels, cured meats, fruits, and two coffees. When he was all done piling a bag of goodies onto his arm, he handed me a cup of coffee and said, “Shall we?”
His grin was spectacular. He was so proud of himself for being so clever, and I loved it. He wanted to please me and I wanted to be pleased.
We entered the park and the beauty of it took my breath away. Most of the trees had lost their leaves and their spiraling bare branches reached high into the sky. I understood how people could stroll the entire length of this massive park on a daily basis.
We sat down on a grassy area right near a long row of trees. Cliff laid out our buffet of New York street foods in front of us.
“That’s a lot of food,” I said.
He laughed and said, “Yes, well I couldn’t decide what your first New York park food should be so I got them all.”
“That’s very sweet,” I said as I looked up from the food at him. He looked back at me and smiled.
Minutes later we were in his carriage.
“Drive in circles around the park until I say otherwise,” he told the driver.
He sat next to me in the carriage and we continued to talk.
Then, he pressed his lips against mine.
He looked at me with those soulful eyes. He was just what I needed. A man I admired and desired to comfort me and distract me from everything that had happened with last engagement. I gave him a kiss. This one was on the mouth and was more passionate, and as soon as I did it feelings swamped over me. I needed this. I needed a distraction and I felt like a fool for falling for last fiance. He caressed my hand. “I couldn’t be with out you any longer. I needed to be near you and to touch you since the first time I saw you when you first arrived. I saw you that day when you first entered the door of your aunt’s house. I had been devising a plan to meet you ever since. That is why I offered the theatre tickets.”
“Did you?” I said playfully. “What did you want to touch?”
“I wanted to kiss you here,” he brushed his finger over my lips.
It was just what I wanted him to do, “And what else?”
“I thought about touching you here,” his hand slid over my neck and further down as he said, “And here.” His hand caressed over my breasts.
I moaned at his touch. My body ached to experience him.
“And this,” his fingers brushed over my lips and then he kissed me. I kissed him back with a fervor I didn’t know I possessed.
I positioned my hand on his back. It was firm and strong. I could feel his muscles move as I glided my hand down further and further. I reached forward and found his strong member. I rubbed the tip gently. He groaned and growled under my touch. His lips never left my neck. I wanted him to taste me. I wanted him to lick me. I groaned and twisted under him as he kissed and licked me. He pulled my dress up. I was completely his.
I couldn’t take anymore. He was slowly seducing me with his caresses and kisses, but I needed more. I rolled over on top of him and placed kisses on his neck and down his chest. I pulled his cock out of his pants to his surprise. His member was long and thick. It laid on his stomach and went well passed his belly button. I took it in my mouth and moved my tongue over it. I twirled it around the head and he moaned and groaned louder. I slid it back and forth in my mouth deeper and with longer strokes. I moaned on it and let the vibrations go through his member. I think this brought him to the brink because he picked me up effortlessly and had me straddle him. He pushed his long thick cock inside me. I sat back on it gently slowly letting it slide in to the depths of me. He grunted and groaned like an animal. I placed my hands on his chest to steady myself as I hovered over him. Then I lowered myself onto the tip of his hard cock and up again over and over.
“Oh yes, yes,” I whispered. I was on the verge of climax and he wasn’t all the way in yet.
My body slid further down slowly taking more of him in. I sat all the way down on him and he was completely inside me. It was the best sensation. Now I wanted to move faster. I went up and down slowly a few times in short little burst of motion. It was almost too much to handle. He moaned and groaned loudly with throaty guttural sounds. It was wild and animalistic. It turned me on more that I had that affect on him. His hands dug into my hips deeper and deeper as I bounced up and down on him. My breasts bounced up and down with every movement. He moved his hands from my hips to my breasts and held them in his hands softly letting them jiggle in his hands. I couldn’t hold back anymore and I yelled out, “I’m cumming! I’m cumming!”
With that yell he groaned so loud it startled me as he came as well. I collapsed onto his chest to catch my breath. He was still hard inside me. I had never had a sexual experience like this before. It was confusing, disturbing, and delightful.
Later he dropped me off with a promise to take me on another outing the next night, this time to see the lights.
CHAPTER THREE
The next evening I got dressed fully expecting Cliff to show up. He never did. What had I done? I waited and waited for him and he was nowhere to be found. I felt stupid. I let a scoundrel take advantage of me again, though I was to blame as well. I wanted to be with him. I let him do things to me and I to him. I hid my face in shame and hoped that it would go unnoticed.
Three weeks passed and I realized he was a true scoundrel and player in every sense of the word. I felt like an idiot. I was grateful that my New York reputation was not ruined, as we seemed to have got away with our little erotic carriage ride.
Then it happened. I felt sick to my stomach. I panicked and grabbed my diary. I was late on my period, very late. I was pregnant. I cried realizing the full extent of what I had done. Now I would have to go back to St. Louis in more shame than I had left.
> “Let’s go, we’ll be late!” my aunt yelled at me.
“We were off to a winter party at one of her social elite acquaintances. I would enjoy it as it would be my last.”
The carriage pulled in front of the grand fifth avenue townhouse. We were escorted inside. As soon as I walked in a lovely young man with blonde hair and blue eyes was staring at me. After a few moments he walked over with an older woman.
“Mrs. Swanson, my son here would like to be acquainted with you and your charge.”
“Oh yes, Mr. Doughty, that is good of you. This is my niece, Miss Mina Templeton.”
“My pleasure, may I have the next dance Miss Templeton?” he asked.
“Yes, thank you.”
He grabbed my hand and led me on to the floor. All the women stared at him and I could not blame him, he was gorgeous and elegant. I would learn later from my aunt that he was very rich and belonged to an old English family. He looked at me with a smile and lust in his eyes. I knew that look and it often got me in trouble. He talked and talked but then I saw him. I saw Cliff. He was staring at me from across the room. He narrowed his eyes in anger. I looked away. How dare he be mad at me? I should be mad at him. The next time I saw him he raised his glass to me. I was so infuriated.
When the dance was over Mr. Doughty led me back to my aunt. I made my excuses that I needed air and went out onto the vast veranda.
“Why were you dancing with that man?”
I turned to see Cliff standing next to me.
“How dare you talk to me?” I turned to walk away.
He grabbed my arm, “I have thought of nothing else since our carriage ride.”
“I’m pregnant,” I whispered to him.
His eyes grew wide and he was stunned. I walked away wanting to leave.
The next day something happened that I was not expecting at all.
The maid knocked on my door and informed me that my aunt wanted me in the parlor.
I went down to the parlor and opened the door where my aunt shouted, “You’re pregnant? How could you Mina! What would your mother say?”
She was in a severe panic. It scared me.
Then she calmed and said, “Fortunately Mr. Collington is willing to do the right thing and this scandal will go unnoticed.”
“What?” I yelled.
Just then Cliff stood up from a large chair. I had not seen him sitting there as the back of the chair was too me and quite large.
“Cliff?”
He looked at me and smiled. He held a very large diamond ring toward me. “Will you do me the honor and be my wife?”
I gasped, then I said, “No.”
My aunt screamed. “Oh yes you will!” She stood up and grabbed the ring and placed it on my finger.
“It is official. It is happening. You got yourself into this mess and both of you will pay the consequences, like it or not.”
I sighed. She was right. It was better than being alone and raising a child on my own in poverty and as an outcast.
“Now go for a walk so that all of society can see you and it will be official.”
I wanted to cry, once again I was in another engagement I did not want.
“I want to show you more, more of New York, if you’ll let me,” he said.
“I would like that,” I replied dryly.
He arched his elbow out, and I wrapped my arm under his. He then led me outside onto the busy sidewalks of New York.
“Where are we going first?” I asked.
“It’s a surprise. I think you will like it.” He said with a smirk.
My, this man loved surprising me, and I loved being surprised. It was a good match. The anticipation and build up of a surprise is where all the fun lies. Or so I think. I wondered what he had in store for me.
CHAPTER FOUR
We strolled through the park arm and arm, but did not talk of the marriage or pregnancy. Cliff told me about how he got into science and how he got a job at the museum. He didn’t brag about it, but I knew it was one of the most prestigious museums in the world. I was impressed, by his passion for his work.
Finally we emerged onto Fifth Avenue, the Christmas shopping mecca of the world. I immediately felt excitement when I realized where we were.
“Come on, this way,” he said leading me down the street.
Cliff was careful to guide me when crossing the street and he always walked on the outside of the sidewalk. He had manners and that was a fact. I was not used to being treated like this. I wondered about his mother, she must have taught him how to be a gentleman, or maybe he was a copy of his father. Whatever the reason, it was ingrained in him.
We finally arrived at a massive building and we slowed our pace when arriving to the front of it. Then, I saw where he was taking me, Bergdorf Goodman. He was taking me on a tour of New York’s iconic Christmas windows. I squealed with delight at the sight and ran toward the glass. The window displays were beyond words. It was an outdoor Victorian White Christmas scene. The setting was a winter forest, to be exact. The mannequins wore sequined long Victorian gowns. They were draped in white fur capes that trailed several feet behind them. The background was full of Christmas trees and various branches and shrubs all decorated with artificial snow, which also covered the ground. Everything was white and the light reflecting off the scene made the entire window glow. Even the accessories were white, including the glittering diamond bracelets and necklaces worn by the mannequins. There were small white reindeer and one of the mannequins was reaching down toward it. It was a magical scene and I could scarcely stand the intensity it had on me. So much so, that I forgot I wasn’t alone.
“Do you like it?” Cliff asked.
“I love it! It’s everything I could have hoped for. This is what I longed to see with my own eyes. Really experience it. Such an old tradition to decorate these window displays,” I rambled on.
Cliff laughed at my enthusiasm and said, “I’m so glad. I rush by here everyday and never really stopped to take a closer look. I guess because in the back of my mind I knew I only wanted to stop here if I could share it with someone.”
I looked up at him. Every second I was falling for this man, and it was scaring me. I watched him look at the window, smiling. I could stare at him forever.
“There’s another one just down the street, if you want to keep going?” He asked.
My eyes widened, “Macy’s?” I said in barely a whisper.
Cliff laughed so loud the other onlookers all turned to look. He was so amused by my enthusiasm. “Yes, Macy’s. You are too cute,” he said. Then he looped my arm in his and led me down the busy street.
We stopped at a street vendor along the way.
“We can’t see the Macy’s display with out hot chocolate,” he said.
“But I’ve already had one today,” I said.
“Oh, do you have a chocolate limit? You need hot chocolate for two now,” He joked. “It’s the holidays! Enjoy yourself. One more hot chocolate is a necessity.”
“Well, I am a bit cold, and having a hot cup of chocolate while enjoying the Macy’s window sounds like it should be a Christmas tradition. I like taking part in traditions.” I said.
Then, under his breath right before he ordered, I swear I heard him say, “Our tradition.” I can’t be sure though. He said it so fast and as though he didn’t want me to hear. Honestly it would be a little fast that he’s already thinking of us in the future tense, but as I already know, he says what comes to mind. I was reeling. I stared at him expecting him to elaborate or explain. There was nothing. He bantered with the street vendor a little. He had that affect on people; he was able to talk to them like they were old friends.
All the time I kept thinking, “this is our tradition, our new Christmas tradition.”
We walked until we came to the Macy’s building.
“Wait, hold on,” he said as he put one hand over my eyes and one arm around my back to guide me. I couldn’t believe it. This was too adorable! He really wa
nted me to get the full experience. I slowly shuffled my feet as he positioned me in front of the window. Then he took his hand away from my eyes and said,
“Okay, open your eyes.”
I opened my eyes. It took me a few seconds to process what I was seeing. I couldn’t believe it. In the first window was the setting of a parlor. There was a Christmas tree in the corner of it and on the wall a sign that read, “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
Cliff stood beside me and said, “It’s a story, each window is a scene from the classic prose, Twas The Night Before Christmas.
My eyes watered over. This was the most special Christmas moment I had ever had. Macy’s really got the window display down right in my opinion. I stepped closer completely hypnotized by it. In the center of the parlor was a fireplace, with “stockings hung by the chimney with care.” The stockings must have been real tiny stockings with red and green patterns, actual socks. The green garland above the fire place was simple and thin, but beautiful. The Christmas tree was decorated with hand made tiny ornaments. Each ornament was different from the other and made of wood or paper. A small toy train and tracks went around the bottom of the tree. An old train set that circled around intricately wrapped presents with red, green, and gold paper and velvet ribbon. There were only a few presents, maybe five total. The large winged back chairs were set before the fire place with a cozy blanket throw across the back of it. A small table near the chairs had an old book on it, “Twas The Night Before Christmas.”
I looked at Cliff, and smiled, “It’s the best thing I’ve ever seen.”
“I’m glad you like it,” he said. “Come on, see the whole story.”
“Wait,” I said.
He stopped and looked back at me.
“Thank you, Cliff. For all of this.”
“It’s my pleasure,” he said as he put his elbow out for me again. I encircled my arm around his, took a sip of my creamy hot chocolate and continued on.
Billionaire: Billionaire Romance: Billionaire Tiger (A Billionaire New Adult Shifter Contemporary Romance) Page 41
