Claiming Carter (8 page)

“It’s been pretty quiet for me for the past few months as well. The last time I was on a date was a little over three months ago. It didn’t exactly end well, so I’ve been keeping to myself mostly.”

“See, now I am the one who finds that hard to believe. There are wives in here that have been checking you out since the moment we walked in, even in front of those husbands who have been trying to secretly check me out,” I joked.

“Well, like you said, finding the right person is tricky. I have no problem finding women who want to take a ride in my dad’s Bentley, but my life is a little complicated, and I don’t have time for groupies. I’m pretty picky when it comes to who I choose to bring into my life.”

“You chose me,” I said with a soft smile. Kelvin smiled back and the goose bumps returned.

“You know what I like about you, Lily? You’re calm,” Kelvin said, answering his own question before I could. “I can’t remember the last time I met a woman who didn’t throw herself at me upon hearing my name and finding out who my father is. I like that you’re calm and just being yourself.”

Kelvin just had no idea. He was admiring me for being calm, but on the inside I was beyond excited. I was attracted to everything about Kelvin: his looks, his flash, his power, his car, his persistence. Any woman in the world would be excited about going on a date with Kelvin Carter Jr. I had no clue who his father was, and I didn’t know if I was supposed to know, but it wasn’t his father that I was interested in. I was frantic on the inside, but in my pursuit of happiness and my decision to set higher standards for myself, I’d forced myself to calm down so that I wouldn’t set myself up for failure again. I refused to be caught in the web of another Timothy Bulger, or Paul, the premature ejaculating P.E. teacher. I was raising the bar for myself, and I was glad to see that Kelvin liked the new me.

“Thank you. I appreciate that,” I answered. I smiled at him, hoping I looked confident rather than giddy. Just then the waiter brought us our dinner with an expensive-looking bottle of champagne. “I’ve been through a lot when it comes to relationships. I’ve had a bad habit of dating men that turn out to be the opposite of what I actually want. I guess I’ve shot myself in the foot a few times.”

Kelvin sat on the opposite side of the table without even reaching for his food. I didn’t know if he was saying grace, or waiting for it to cool off, but I was too hungry to wait. I grabbed my steak knife and cut into my juicy steak. I didn’t waste a second as I picked up the delectable piece of meat and shoved into my mouth, savoring all of the flavors. It wasn’t until I was chewing that Kelvin started taking apart his lobster. It didn’t take long for me to figure out that he’d actually waited for me to start eating first, before he even touched his food. I smiled to myself when I also recognized that he didn’t say or do anything to draw attention to the fact that he’d waited for me to start eating first. He didn’t do it to impress me, he did it because it was a part of who he was.

“So,” Kelvin said as he finally began eating, “these guys that you’ve been dating, what’s been so bad about them?”

I swallowed another bite of my steak and took of sip of the Dom Perignon before answering. “They never seem to have anything about them that’s exciting,” I said. “I don’t know if it’s my pale skin, or what, but everyone I have dated has just been so plain, and boring. No sense of adventure. No passion.”

“So, you’ve been dating assholes?” Kelvin quipped.

“Well, they haven’t all been assholes. I mean, I’ve had my fair share of those too, but most of them have been nice enough. I’ve never been in need of strong, sweeping, romantic gestures. I don’t need flowers delivered to my class every day to where I have to explain to my third graders that I don’t have to have a husband to get flowers. I’m just beginning to come into my own and I want a man who is passionate. I’ve never had passionate.”

“These men weren’t passionate with you? Your nights together weren’t passionate?” Kelvin inquired deeper.

“Ugh. My nights haven’t had much passion. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not a virgin or anything like that, but the men I have dated just haven’t really been aces in that department. That’s what I mean about passion. I haven’t dated a man who was into that kind of thing. I’ve probably had less than ten orgasms in my entire life.”

Kelvin’s eyes bulged. “Is that right?”

“Wow. I can’t believe I just said that out loud,” I said. The wine was beginning to go to my head. “That’s a little too much information, but sadly it is true. I’m just saying that I want more, so I’m being a little picky to make sure I’m not unhappy and unsatisfied anymore. I won’t stand for any more of that. I want passion.”

Kelvin took another sip of his wine and glared up at me. He had a small smirk on his face and I could tell he was thinking hard about what I’d just said.

“Well, damn. That is pretty interesting and I feel for you. Ten or so orgasms in twenty-two years is pretty rough,” he said. “So you’ve
never
had a passionate boyfriend?”

“Nope,” I replied as I poured another glass of Dom.

“So, you’ve never had a man take you out to dinner, and then tell you that he wanted you to hurry up and finish eating so that he could take you into the bathroom, pull your dress up above your waist, slowly pull your panties down, and slip his tongue inside your pussy?”

I stopped in my tracks as the words came smoothly out of his mouth, and I spilled a little wine on the fancy white table cloth. I didn’t know how to respond, and I felt stuck. It was like I was in a block of ice, unable to move but still able to see things going on around me. My heart rate quadrupled and I felt hot all over.

“Umm, not exactly,” was all I could manage to say.

“So, no one has ever pulled you on top of them, and fucked you in the back of a Bentley Mulsanne while driving down the highway?”

My eyes bulged in my head as I felt myself beginning to get wet. Kelvin tilted his head like a puppy again, and flashed a seductive smile as he watched me. He knew exactly what he was doing.

“Uh … no,” I said, my voice coming out like a soft, raspy whisper.

“Hmm,” Kelvin uttered. “That’s too bad,” he said.

He was teasing me. It was like he was in my head, learning all of the things that I wished would happen to me, and using them to tease the shit out of me in the middle of the restaurant.

Just then, as Kelvin and I stared at each other, James quickly walked up to the table. He seemed like he was in a hurry.

“Sorry, Kelvin, but we have to go,” he said. I couldn’t help but notice how nervous he looked.

“What are you talking about? Why?” Kelvin answered bitterly as he glared at James, his mood suddenly changing.

James turned slightly and looked over his shoulder. I didn’t know what he was looking at, but he obviously saw something or someone that concerned him. Kelvin leaned forward and looked around James’ body, and it was obvious that he also saw whatever it was that James saw.

“It’s Ant. This is why I asked if you were sure about coming here. We have to go,” James snapped.

“Okay,” Kelvin agreed. He quickly rose from his seat and pulled out his wallet, dropping two hundred-dollar bills on the table. “Sorry to cut dinner short, Lily, but something has come up and I have to go.”

“Okay, it’s no problem,” I said as I rose from my seat and followed James and Kelvin out of the dining area. The two of them seemed to be taking the long way around to the elevators, moving as quickly and quietly as possible.

The ride home was quiet. It was obvious that whatever he’d seen in the restaurant had made Kelvin upset and he was still thinking about it. I, on the other hand, couldn’t stop thinking about the way Kelvin had teased me. All it took was a few questions and I was ready to let him fuck me right there on the table. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to finish the conversation, and I could tell that he wasn’t in the same mood he was in at the restaurant.

I’d never had a man talk to me that way, or have that effect on me by just using his words. In one night over dinner, Kelvin had displayed more passion, spontaneity, and romance than all of my other boyfriends combined, including Tim. He was paying attention to every word that I’d said about what I wanted in a man, and he made sure that I knew that he was exactly what I was looking for.

We pulled up to my house and Kelvin quickly got out of the car, ran over to my side and opened my door for me.

“Listen, I’m really sorry about the way things ended tonight. I didn’t mean for that to happen,” he said.

“I know,” I replied. “Do you mind me asking what that was about?”

Kelvin hesitated. “Well, like I said before, my life is a little complicated. It’s a lot to explain and maybe I can at another time, but for now I have to go.”

“I understand,” I lied.

We made our way to the door and I fiddled around in my purse, searching for my house key.

“I forgot to ask, and it’s sad but, I don’t even know your full name,” Kelvin said with a smile, his jovial mood returning.

“Well, everyone calls me Lily, but my full name is Lilliana Hayes.”

“Lilliana? That’s beautiful. Do you not want people to call you by your full name?”

“It doesn’t bother me or anything, but no one calls me that except my mom. Everybody else just calls me Lily.”

“I see. Well, I don’t really like being like everybody else,” Kelvin said. “Would it bother you if I called you Lilliana?”

“It wouldn’t bother me,” I replied, shocked by my own response. “You can if you want to.”

“Okay. Well, again, I apologize for the way the night ended, but I think maybe we should do this again sometime.”

“I think I would like that very much,” I replied. “You should call me.”

“I will. I’ll talk to you soon.”

I felt him getting ready to leave and all I could think about was whether or not he was going to kiss me like I so desperately wanted him to. I didn’t want to seem like one of the groupies he’d mentioned earlier, but after the night we’d had, I wanted nothing more than to be exactly that. I wanted him to do whatever he wanted to me. I was ready, right here and now. But as I began to lean in to entice him into a kiss, I heard him take a step backwards.

“Goodnight, Lilliana,” he said as he walked away.

“Goodnight,” I uttered.

I walked into the house and threw my purse onto the couch, scaring the shit out of Meghan and sending her running into the kitchen. The date with Kelvin was more than I could have known to ask for. How could a man be so perfect? How could he get inside my head that way? And most of all, how could he leave me hanging that way? I didn’t know what it was that ended our night, but I found myself completely intrigued by the mystery of Kelvin. I liked that I didn’t know about him and that he seemed to have a darker side to him. He was different than anything I had ever encountered before. And, if there was one thing I knew for sure, it was that I wanted to know more. I wanted more.

I rushed into my bedroom and pulled my new favorite dress off of my body carefully. It was only seven-forty-five and I knew I didn’t really need another shower since I’d taken one right before Kelvin picked me up, but I headed into the bathroom anyway. I pulled the shower curtain back and turned the hot water on, filling up the tub completely, and I couldn’t help but continue to think about Kelvin Carter Jr. and the things he’d said to me at dinner. Why did the night have to end the way it did instead of the way it could have?

“So, no one has ever pulled you on top of them, and fucked you in the back of a Bentley Mulsanne while driving down the highway?”

As I began to carefully step into the tub, my mind continued to race, and I made sure I had soap in one hand—and my vibrator in the other.

“I want to know everything,” Lexy chirped. “Absolutely everything!”

Lexy and I sat in the teacher’s lounge after my night out with Kelvin Carter Jr. and I felt like my heart was still racing from the excitement I felt the night before. All in all, it was a mixture of elation and disappointment. I was thrilled that Kelvin had turned out to be such a seductive gentleman, but I was frustrated with how the night ended. Obviously I would have loved it if Kelvin would have asked to come inside my house after getting me all riled up. But, unfortunately, something had come up and put out the flames before they could even get going.

“Well,” I said to an eager Lexy, as she leaned forward in the rickety wooden chair, “it was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. I mean, I’ve been on my fair share of dates, but none of them could ever compare to this one. You wouldn’t believe it, Lex. He actually showed up in a freaking Bentley.”

I heard Lexy let out a loud gasp. “Holy shit! He picked you up in a Bentley? How fucking hot is that? What, is he rich or something?”

“I don’t know,” I responded with a shrug. “It sure seems that way. He said his father owns some casinos in the city, so I imagine that pays pretty well. He said the Bentley belonged to his dad, but we had a driver and everything. It was like I was being taken out on prom night or something. He took me to the John Hancock Center and we had dinner at the Signature Room on the ninety-fifth floor, with an amazing three-sixty view of the city. It was perfect. He was an absolute gentleman. He opened my door for me and he even did something that I don’t think any man has ever done for me.”