by J. P. Comeau
“Oh please, like the Truman’s would ever fire you. I saw the way they were talking with you at the party. You’re practically a family member. Besides, where are we going?” My voice was drowned out when he rolled down the windows, and the Lamborghini roared down Main Street.
Moments later, we arrived at an Italian restaurant on the other side of town, where I knew Jake had taken Julianna on several occasions. Annie said that when they began dating, it was at that restaurant that Jake had started to develop strong feelings for Julianna. So, I decided to drop the ‘car thing’ for now and enjoy the evening.
All I could think about as we walked inside was how the decor created such a romantic mood. This was definitely the kind of restaurant you take someone you’re dating.
It wasn’t the place you brought your one-night stand after a romp in the sack.
We sat at a table in the back where violin music was playing, and other couples were dining. After placing our order, I decided to go against my better judgment and be the one to initiate the conversation.
Besides, I had always been a better listener.
And you sincerely want to learn more about Gavin. Stop trying to fool yourself.
“So Gavin, I get the feeling that you’re not from River Valley or even California.”
“Well, you are intuitive as well as beautiful. I’m originally from Massachusetts. I grew up there with my family until I was fifteen, graduated high school early, and then went off to college.”
As I browsed over the menu, it occurred to me that his upbringing could be the reason he was sometimes awkward. I couldn’t imagine going away to school at such a young age.
Still, that was quite an accomplishment. “You graduated at fifteen years old? That’s amazing. Congratulations! No wonder you work for the Truman’s.”
“Thank you. It hasn’t been easy, and I’ve worked endless hours without a day off just to get ahead, especially at first. As far as high school goes, sometimes I regret not having a normal high school experience. You know, proms, blind dates, teenage parties, that special first kiss, and all that stuff. So, if I seem a bit nervous or awkward at times, please forgive me. I’m just a normal guy that was rushed to grow up and do something with my God given brain.”
I appreciated his honesty. “Point well taken. So, how did you get through high school so quickly? I mean, obviously, it was due to your intelligence. But lots of people are smart and don’t graduate so young.”
“It was a combination of having the counselors at school, realizing I was gifted and them encouraging my parents to put me in special programs so I could excel. At first, my father was afraid. You know, afraid I was turning into a nerd and would be bullied. So he tried to get me into sports, but my mind always gravitated towards numbers. I’ve never been someone who needed that rush of adrenaline.”
“Neither have I. I think it’s how some people are wired. They get addicted to that rush, and they keep seeking to find it again. I call them risk takers. Although, I do have some memories of getting into trouble as a kid that gave me an adrenaline rush.”
“I don’t have a lot of memories of just being a kid and getting into trouble,” he said in a sad voice. “So for that reason alone, I suppose that was why I was a bit spiteful towards my parents when I was a teenager. While kids my age were outside on their skateboards, I was inside studying calculus in sixth grade.”
“That must have been hard on you, Gavin. I can’t believe your parents would do that to you. Every child deserves to have a fun and safe upbringing.”
He shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of wine. “Well, they’re both gone now. That’s the main reason I moved to River Valley. And looking back, I know they had my best interest at heart. My dad even mentioned it a few times, and he and Mom tried to apologize. I know they were truly sorry for what they put me through. I’m sure that every parent messes up from time to time. It wasn’t easy for them either. In the end, it turned out alright, and I was fortunate to meet Richard and his parents.”
“What about going to college at fifteen-years-old, though? That must have been hard.”
Gavin nodded, and I could tell that he was going down a dark path. “All of my classmates and roommates were out partying on the weekends, mainly at clubs where you had to be eighteen to get in and twenty-one to drink. And there I was, stuck in my dorm playing video games for fun. And well, to be honest, hooking up with a few of the nerdy girls that were in the same situation as me.”
“I’ll bet.” I laughed, knowing it was probably true. “Still, it must have been awkward being around eighteen-year-olds when you were just fifteen. I know that I did a lot of growing up in those three years alone.”
He let out a sigh and nodded, and I felt like I had crossed a line, hooking up with girls I had no intention of really getting to know. “It was like being a kid in an adult world, but what’s done is done. Let’s talk about you. You’re more interesting to me than me.”
I shouldn’t have stated the obvious. Of course, it would have been hard for him to be in college at only fifteen-years-old. Why was I so stupid and thoughtless?
“Sure, what would you like to know?”
“Everything and anything.”
“Well, let’s see. I grew up in River Valley with my mom. She and my dad split when I was only four. Mine was never in the picture, and before you say ‘oh, I’m so sorry,’ please save your breath because it’s okay. Anyway, my mother passed away six months ago from cancer. So that’s been hard to go through.”
I felt the tears forming in my eyes, but I refused to let him see me cry.
“I am so sorry, Crystal —”
I put my hand up before he could even finish. “No, really…” Then it hit me that he had spoken about his parents in the past tense.
“My mother died from cancer too,” Gavin interjected.
“Oh, I’m so… and what about your father?”
“Heart attack when I was away at school.”
We reached out for each other’s hands. When we touched, it felt as though I were being comforted by a lifelong friend.
“I love getting to know you,” he said as we looked into each other’s eyes. “Did I mention that I have a garden, by the way?”
Gavin might have been the first businessman that I had ever dated, but I didn’t think they were into gardening. “Are you kidding me? That’s amazing! God, I would love to have my own garden one day.”
“I started with just flowers, then got into growing my vegetables and herbs. Of course, working long hours doesn’t always allow me to cook them, but when I do, it’s so satisfying. And I’m fortunate enough to have a part-time gardener that helps out when I’m out of town.”
Images of my mother gardening flooded my mind, but instead of being sad, I felt I was reconnecting with her spirit. “My mother was really into gardening, Gavin. I’d love to see it one day, if that’s alright with you.”
We spent the rest of the evening getting to know each other, enjoying delicious Italian food, and even splurged on some tiramisu.
About an hour after our dessert, he leaned forward across the table and was inches away from my face. “Would you like to head out now?”
The way he said it made me chuckle a little bit. “You’re the kind of guy who is goal oriented, aren’t you Gavin Tillery?”
He gave me a small kiss from across the table. “That I am, Miss Crystal Hotchkiss. That I am.”
“How did you know my last name?”
“The same way you know mine.”
“Mutual friends, who are actually extended family?”
“Yep.”
10
_____
GAVIN
Crystal and I had enjoyed a wonderful dinner, and even though it was time to leave the restaurant, I didn’t want the evening to end. I could have stayed there all night, chatting with her as we enjoyed a few more bottles of wine. However, it was near closing time, as evidenced by all of the other couples who were leaving.
<
br /> So after picking up the check, I invited her back to my place.
By the time we arrived at my mansion, I knew that I was starting to fall for her. The two of us seemed to click so well over dinner, and she hadn’t reacted badly at any of the personal things I’d blurted out to her, and her reasons for trying to refuse the car were practical. Whenever I told a woman that I had graduated high school at fifteen-years-old, they always looked at me as though I were a geek.
Not Crystal, she seemed to understand.
After discussing my lackluster childhood, which was a topic that I often tried to avoid, she wanted nothing more than to comfort me. I hadn’t even planned on talking about it on the first date, but there was something about her presence that made me feel completely at ease. I didn’t know that I was talking about it until the words had escaped my mouth.
That’s how much I enjoyed being with Crystal.
I also loved that she laughed at my jokes, which I had always thought were on the corny side. It was one of the reasons I was so reserved around those I didn’t know. As a businessman, you’re always trying to put your best foot forward. Crystal made me feel like a normal human being for a change. All of the other women I had dated had only been after my money, even when they insisted that wasn’t the case. Yet Crystal had seemed apprehensive about dating me in the first place, which actually impressed me.
We walked through the front doors, and she seemed impressed by my home. “I assumed your place was bigger than mine, Gavin, but this is beautiful! My God, the living room is so spacious! I think it’s five times the size of my apartment!”
Crystal twirled around, her head facing the ceiling and her arms outstretched, revealing her free spirit. I pictured her running through a field of daisies barefoot, her long, red hair blowing in the wind, as I chased her around.
After her third twirl, an overhead light nearby turned on. “That’s a motion-sensor light. I guess it picked up on your movements.”
Crystal giggled and walked back over to me, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Can you show me what other gadgets you have hidden in here?”
I took her hand and instructed her to sit on the nearby couch. “Now, take your shoes off and put your feet on the coffee table.” As soon as she did, two motorized hands popped up and began to massage her feet.
“What the hell! Those feel like real hands!”
“I promise they’re not.” He chuckled, “I commissioned a technician I went to college with to create them since he also built me this coffee table.”
She closed her eyes and let the hands massage her feet, letting out little moans with every rub. “I’m officially moving in,” she giggled.
After letting her feet get a good massage, I grabbed her hand again and walked her into the kitchen. “See these kitchen chairs? They’re designed to conform to your body shape and keep your body at an even seventy-degrees.”
Crystal didn’t believe me, though. “What on earth are you talking about, Gavin? How could a kitchen chair know your body temperature?”
“It’s pretty hot in California, right? Go ahead and sit on one and see how you feel.”
She sat down on one of the chairs, and in less than a minute, her eyes lit up. “How the hell does it cool me down? This chair is amazing!”
“It gets better. Say you’re sitting there and enjoying your meal when suddenly you decide you want to watch a movie.” I pushed a button on my mobile phone app, and an eighty-inch television screen slid down in front of her from the ceiling.
With her mouth wide open, she kept looking at the screen and then back at me. “I have to watch movies on my tablet because my TV is broken.”
“Before we go outside, Crystal, I have one more room to show you. Come on, follow me.”
I stretched out my hand and led her into my nearby yoga studio. It was something that I was dying to show her as soon as she told me that her job was teaching yoga. We walked into the room, which I had painted a calming green tone, and her eyes went straight to the yoga mat.
“Oh, my God! You practice yoga, too? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Crystal got down on her knees and felt the yoga mat with her fingers, appreciating the texture and quality. I loved how she went to each of the plants, smelled them, and made her way around the room while taking it all in.
“I’ve traveled to India several times and have trained with a yogi.”
I didn’t think she could be any more excited. “Do you have any idea what I would do to practice with a yogi in India? My God, Gavin! That’s every yoga instructor’s dream!”
“I knew you’d like it, Crystal. Now follow me.”
I grabbed her hand again, and we walked out through the yoga studio doors, which lead right into my garden. We stood for a few moments on the cobblestone patio, looking over the rows upon rows of plants.
“It’s beautiful,” she said in a muted voice. “My mother would love this garden.”
I wrapped my arm around her.
“Sometimes I come out here and admire it while drinking some hot tea. I’m sure you pegged me as some uptight businessman, but I wanted to show you this side of me too.”
I took her hand and walked out into the garden, along the cobblestone path that wound through the flowers. Her face lit up as she admired all of the plants. As we moved further into the moonlight, I used an app on my phone to turn the lights on at the base of each plant.
“Wow, Gavin! Look at the way they glow. It’s so beautiful. Did you install them yourself?”
“Thank you. Yes, I realized the plants needed lights shortly after planting this garden.” I ran my hand through her gorgeous hair. “I have to admit, Crystal, that the lights bring out the gold undertones of your hair.”
She rested her head on my shoulder, and we walked towards the back, where there was a zen rake garden near a row of growing fruits and vegetables.
“Look at all of the tomatoes and strawberries,” she said as she got down on her knees. I watched her smell each of the different fruits and vegetables.
“I don’t get to eat too much of them, though. The rabbits and squirrels usually get to them first, and I don’t have the heart to scare them off. I guess you could say that I feed the town’s wildlife population.”
She laughed at my silly joke, and for the first time in my life, it felt like a woman liked me for me and not for the money I made.
We continued to walk through the garden, in and out of different paths, while holding hands the entire time. Eventually, we came upon a large sitting area that I had set up, with massive pillows to sit on and a table. There was even a canopy that rolled back and gave us a perfect view of the nighttime sky.
Crystal giggled, as she sat and laid back on the pillows, and looked up at the stars for a few minutes, I leaned over and gave her a long, romantic kiss. “This night seems so perfect.”
“Yes, it does. Thank you, for…everything,” she said while caressing my chest. I couldn’t wait another minute, and I rolled on top of her. As I trailed kisses down her neck, she moaned, helping me pull down the top of her dress, and I began sucking on her breasts.
Once again, her nipples became hard as soon as my tongue brushed past them, and the sounds she was making encouraged me to suck harder. Then, she wrapped her legs around my waist and pulled me in closer, and it wasn’t long before our groins were grinding against each other, needing more.
I ran my hands through her hair, then slowly slid her dress down to her ankles, tossing it aside. For a moment, I allowed my eyes to drink in the beauty of her porcelain colored skin right there under the moon and stars. She broke my trance, calling out, “Gavin…I want you.”
I obliged by lifting her legs over my shoulders, one at a time. Crystal groaned when I moved her panties aside and planted my lips on her swollen folds until I tore them away completely. The second pair in two days.
The taste of her sweet nectar as I went in and out was better than the wine we had earlier, and I slid my tongue as far in
as it would go, allowing my teeth to tease her clitoris.
Crystal’s hips began to gyrate, and she grabbed the back of my head, pressing my mouth against her pussy. After the wave of her first orgasm subsided, she got on her knees and rolled me onto my back. Placing her knees on each side of my head and thrusting her pussy deep into my mouth. Within minutes she was yelling out with pleasure, her voice echoing among the trees as she released into my mouth for the second time in just a few minutes.
After she came, Crystal fell onto her back and spread her legs apart. She watched with passion in her eyes as I slid off my shirt and pants, giving my throbbing cock a few pumps for her viewing pleasure.
As she licked her lips, I crouched to my knees and began fingering her clit, enjoying the view of her shaved pussy. Then, once again, I climbed on top of her and found my way back inside of her moist, warm folds. As my hips thrust back and forth, Crystal and I made out underneath the stars. The only sounds were our moans and the crickets.
Then Crystal rolled over, put me on my back, and then crawled between my legs and put my cock in her mouth. It was the first time she performed oral sex on me, and God was she good! Her tongue licked and sucked as she slid it down her throat, and she used one hand to cup my balls while the other one stroked my shaft.
“Holy shit,” I moaned as she stroked it even harder in and out of her mouth. I wasn’t going to last much longer by the way she was using her mouth and hands, and I wanted to be inside of her when I got off. The last time we had sex, I had been inside her, and we climaxed together. The feeling was so euphoric as it washed through my body. I wanted to experience that feeling all over again.
I tried motioning for her to stop, but she took it as encouragement to suck harder.
When I couldn’t take it anymore, I put her on all fours and mounted her from behind, feeling my balls slap against her clitoris as I worked myself to an orgasm. Once again she was using her vaginal muscles to massage me from inside, and with every thrust the feeling intensified. I never wanted the sex to end, but I was preparing myself for an epic finale.
