Color Her Red (17 page)

He kisses me passionately and hard on my lips.  His breathing quickens as he reaches up my dress with both hands and rips the lace underwear in one quick motion. 
He’s so hot. 
He looks down at me as he rubs my clitoris.  I moan and try to adjust myself, writhing from his touch.  I try to keep myself composed and looking sexy, I know that he’s watching me, but it so hard.  The intense sensation overpowers my will.  He leans his weight on me, his hip on my leg and his arm on my shoulder pinning me down, forcing me to accept the overwhelming sensation.  He moves two fingers into my wetness and continues to rub my clit.  He hits that sweet spot over and over again, pushing me closer and closer. 

“Oh, Thomas.  Yes.”  I’
m so wet.  I am so ready for him.  He kisses me on my neck, his hot breath intensifies the sensation.

“Please, I need you.”  My eyes beg with him.

He kisses me hard and leans into me removing his jeans.  He enters me quickly and forcefully with a sensual need.  I kiss him hard back, grabbing his hair and pulling it.  He picks up his motions as I tilt my hips up to meet his.  He feels so good.  I hold on to his back, my hands under his shirt, fingers gripping into his warm skin.  I feel my hot breath on his neck and moan loudly.  He picks my body up in his hands and moves me into him.  He leans back forcing me to sit on his lap with my legs wrapped around his body.  I kiss him passionately, gasping for breath, and close my eyes as he enters me again and again.  My breathing quickens.

“Baby I’m so close.  Harder.”  I whisper in his ear and bite down gently on his shoulder.  He does as I ask and in response I arch my back and let out my orgasm, allowing my body to convulse.  He gives another hard embrace and releases.

“Emma, you’re amazing,” he whispers in my ear, his hot breath travels down my neck.  He holds me close replacing strands of hair back behind my ear, and kisses me gently.

“You’re pretty amazing yourself.”  I nudge my nose against him with a shy smile and kiss him softly. 

WE LOOK OVER THE EDGE OF THE ROOFTOP watching the waves crash gently into the sand. The sound is calming to our frazzled nerves. Both of us are sated, half-dressed and feeling the relaxing effects
of the alcohol and makeup sex.  I’m lying in his arms, my back to his front, feeling the gentle salty wind on my face and his warm breath on my neck.   

We’
re interrupted when his phone rings.  I move to give him space but he holds me close and awkwardly fishes the phone from his pocket.  He looks at the caller ID and exhales. 

“I have to answer this,” his voice is sorrowful, but I nod giving my unrequired approval.

“Yes?” he answers with an agitated tone.  Who ever it is, he doesn’t want to be talking to them.  “What are you talking about?  … Are you serious?”  He is growing angrier by the second, angry enough to release me.  I move so that I am sitting cross-legged in front of him.  Facing his growing wrath.  “No I didn’t hit her!” 

I gape at him in
absolute shock.  Hit her?  She’s saying that he hit her?  That’s ridiculous.  He’s never harmed a hair on anyone’s head, at least not physically.  Maybe he did it years ago, the realization is sobering.  I know he was different before he met me, but I didn’t think that he was abusive.  I’d never heard that, Kate would have told me if she had heard that, and she did a background check on him as though she were hiring someone for the CIA. 

“This kind of bullshit isn’t going to hurt my business.  It does hurt is my wife and our family…  This is unacceptable.  … I want to know who these sources are.
  … I don’t care that they are confidential!  I want to know now.  You can find out anything with the right amount of money.”  He finally slams the phone down after a resentful, “Good night.”

“She’
s saying you hit her?”  I ask in disbelief as soon as he hangs up. 

“No,” he hesitates and calms his breathing.  “There is an article in some magazine that I hit you.”  He looks at the bruise above my eye.  “PR is sending me a picture and the article now. 
But I’m sure that it’s the bruise they must be referring to.”  I gasp and move my hand to my mouth.  

“Are you serious?”  I move closer to him, scooting on my knees.  “That’s crazy
; you would never hit me.”  His phone beeps. 

He looks down and sneers, “Fucking paparazzi.”   He passes me the phone; it’s a picture of me, heading up the stairs of his office building.  I look so desolate and he looks pissed.  

“That’s not fair, you didn’t do anything.”  My heart climbs into my throat.  I have to make this better.  I need to support him and not let them demonize him.  “I’ll tell them I slipped and fell.”  Thomas’ grave expression lightens and he chuckles.  I can feel my brow furrow as I gawk at him, “What’s so funny?” 

“I don’t think that telling anyone you
slipped and fell
is actually going to make matters any better.”  I chuckle. 
Oh good God.
  A grin spreads across my face. 

“I guess not.”  A moment passes and then I finally ask, “What can I do to make this better?”  He takes me by the waist pulling me into him and kisses me, passionately, taking in my bottom lip and nipping it, tenderly. 

“Just don’t worry about anything and don’t stop loving me.”  I look up at him surprised.

“Of course, I won’t stop loving you.”  My eyes meet his and he can see my concern. 
How could he possibly think I would ever stop loving him?

“Good.  It would be nice if you could refrain from throwing wine glasses at me too.”  He gives me a wolfish grin with his response.  I kiss him and bite his lip playfully.

Leaning into his ear I whisper, “You have no idea how happy I am that I grabbed the glass and not the bottle.”

Chapter 10

My phone rings at seven in the morning.  I hear the muffled tone from my purse across the room.  I slowly pry my sleeping husband’s arm from my waist
, doing my best not to wake him.  I scamper quietly to my purse and fish out my phone.  I missed the call; it was Kate.  I look back at the bed and see that Thomas is still sound asleep.  I slip into the hallway as quietly as I can and hit the call back button as I walk down the stairs to the dining room in the resort.  It’s gorgeous; everything here is exquisite.  She answers on the second ring.

“Hey Emma, I hope I didn’t wake you.  I forgot about the time difference.”  Her voice is soft, too soft.  Something is wrong.

“It’s fine sweetie, I slept for twelve hours on the plane.”  I let out a small laugh and gauge her response.  She’s quiet.  My heart sinks.

“Was your flight good then?”
she asks, making small talk before she delves into real reason she’s called.

“Yeah
, it was fine.  I know you didn’t call to ask about the flight though.  Is everything okay?”  I know it’s not okay; there was no point in me asking that question.

“I’m a fool.”   She sobs into the phone
, releasing her choking emotions.  “I don’t know why I’m so stupid.”

“You’
re not stupid.  Is it Mike?”  I bite my lip.  I know this has to do with him, again another question asked even though I already know the answer.

“Yes.”  Her sobs are heavy as she breathes in deep, gasping for air.
 
Poor Kate.

“What happened?  Do I need to break his legs?”  I’m hoping for a small laugh on her end, but I get nothing.
 

“Yes, break his legs and cut off his dick.”  She is bitter and angry.

“What happened?”

“I’m such an idiot.  I slept with him.”  I try to remain calm.  I knew she would.  He knows exactly what to say.
 

“He took me out to dinner.  We came back to my place.”  She takes a quick intake of air trying to calm her breathing.  “We had sex, twice.  It was good.  It was really good, it always is.”  She breathes in between her short sentences.

“Okay.”  I really don’t want to know how good it was.  That’s not why she is crying.

“And he stayed over.  And at three in the morning his phone rang.”  Her voice rises in anger.  “I pretended to be asleep and I listened.  It was his girlfriend wanting to know where he was.  He called her ‘Baby’ and told her that he loved her.  I freaked out.”

“Oh my God, Kate.  I’m so sorry.”  I lower my head down to the table. 
He’s such an asshole
.

“I told him to get the fuck out.  And he laughed at me, Emma.  He literally laughed at me.”  Her sobs are back full force. 

“Everything is going to be all right.  I promise.  He is such a dick.  I fucking hate him.”

“He really is.  He said, ‘Thanks for the booty call’ on his way out.”

“So do I have permission to punch him in the face if I see him?”  Half of me is serious about it.

“You do.  You have my full permission.”  Her breathing has calmed a bit.  “The security guys heard everything. 
I feel like such a fool.”

“It’s okay sweetie.  I’m sure they don’t think badly of you.”

“I can’t even look them in the eyes.”

“They get paid not to judge you.  If they give you any shit, I’ll tell Thomas to fire them
on the spot.”  I finally get a small laugh from her. 

“I just want to be happy
.  I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

“Don’t worry sweetheart.  As soon as you stop worrying and stop looking that’s when it’ll happen.  I promise.”

“Thanks.  I hope so.  I’m tired of being alone.”

I hear the stairs creek.  Thomas is walking down.  He gives me a weary look when he sees my face.  I mouth “Kate.”  He nods his head and walks to the kitchen.  I’m sure he can guess it’s about Mike.  I do my best to console her and tell her to call me if she needs to talk.  I wish I were with her.  I feel guilty that I am so far away.  She needs a good guy, someone like Thomas.  A horrible thought crosses my mind, I wonder if Thomas ever did anything like that.  I can’t imagine that he would have, but then again I’ve been oblivious to his past.

I sulk to the kitchen and find Thomas talking to Michael.

“Everything okay?” he asks.  Both him and Michael are curiously eyeing me.

“Mike is an asshole.”

“I thought we already knew that
.”  He waits for my response as I fill a mug with water and put it in the microwave.

“He got a call from his girlfriend at three in the morning after he slept with Kate.”

Thomas shakes his head, “What a fucking prick.” 

“You’ve never done that before have you?”  I ask him quietly. 
At first he looks surprised, and then furious.

“No.”  His short response cuts deep into me.  I shouldn’t have asked him that.  His brows are furrowed and he frowns.  I see Michael discreetly leave the room.  “Why would you ask me that?”  His voice is low.

“I just don’t know much about your past.  And what I do know…” I don’t know how to finish the thought.  I can’t look at him in the eyes; I stare at the floor and I feel sick to my stomach.

“Do you think that badly of me?” 

“No.  I don’t think badly of you at all.  I just wonder what you were like before me.”

“I was an asshole, but I wasn’t that bad.  I just slept around.  Women were throwing themselves at me.”  He swallows hard.  “Is this because of Lillian?”  I freeze. 
Yes.

“I don’t know.”  I lie.  I don’t want to admit that she has been making me question him and his life before he met me.  I add the tea bag and sugar to the hot water and slowly stir it. 
The clink of the spoon hitting the ceramic is loud in the silent room.  Guilt erupts in my stomach, twisting it.  A moment passes; he says nothing.  I finally look at Thomas; I wish I knew what he was thinking.  My eyes plead with him to open up to me and put my thoughts at ease.  He tenses, and sighs before surrendering to me.

“Lillian was like every other woman.  They all made passes at me.  They wanted to fuck me.”  He hesitates and closes his eyes, “I was stupid and careless.”
He moves to sit at the dining room table and I cautiously grab my tea and sit next to him.  “That’s all there is to it.  I slept around.  I wasn’t like Mike; I didn’t lie or cheat.  There was never any commitment.”

“I’m sorry.”  I don’t know what to say.  He hasn’t told me anything I didn’t already know.  “I don’t know why
I’m acting like this.”

“You are wondering what I did to Lillian.”  My heart sinks.  I hold onto my mug and sip my tea
. I am.  I want to know more about her, but at the same time I don’t.

He breathes in deep
not giving me the option of deciding whether or not I should hear it.  “She worked for my company for, I don’t know, maybe three months.  She made a pass at me a few times and I told her it was strictly against company policy.”  He sighs again.  I can’t take my eyes off of him.  I’m hanging on every word. 

“She came into my office and told me she was quitting.  I asked her why and she said that she had been offered a job with another company for more money.  I asked her how much more but she shook her head.  She said she was taking the job regardless because she wanted to fuck me.”  I grab my tea and hold it to me.
I don’t want to hear it.