Crave: A BWWM Romance (9 page)

“Well then,” I responded, “we better make it count.” I pulled her shirt off. The bra soon followed, dropping to the floor by my pants.

“Well alright then.” She laughed and grabbed me.

She moved us in a circle, maneuvering me in front of her mom’s couch, which was still strapped down in the back of the van. She then quickly started tearing off the rest of her clothes. I did the same, lifting my shirt easily over my head. Soon, we were both standing, perfectly naked, our clothes piled at our feet.

“To think,” she cooed as she rubbed my bare chest delicately with her hands. “I wasn’t going to see this gorgeous body again.” She looked me dead in the eye. “Here’s to making it count.”

The next thing I knew, I had been pushed backwards onto the couch with a stunning woman straddling me. I became acutely aware of our nakedness. My rock-hard cock throbbed at her eager entrance. She didn’t slip it inside though. She just pushed against me, forcing my shoulders back against the couch. She started kissing me again, both hands against my shoulders, while she worked her hips in a way that can only be described as pure torture. I throbbed as she lifted and dropped her hips, bringing them wonderfully close and then pulling away.

Getting tired of being toyed with, I fought off the pressure of her wrists against my shoulders and grabbed her hips with both hands. She immediately got the message and we connected with one glorious motion. I slipped in like a knife through butter. She felt like butter too, hot and slick.

With her knees on either side of me and her arms using the back of the couch as support, she began rising and falling on my dick. She went slowly at first, rising up high, pausing, and falling back down on my dick with a gasp from both of us.

“If I recall, you like it rough,” she teased.

“What can I say?” I moaned as she fell back down on my cock and began working on a slow rhythm. “When I want something, I don’t hesitate.”

“Well it’s my turn to punish you now.”

Moneka grinned as she continued her slow rhythm. The building that I could feel in my body was painfully slow. It almost made me furious. All I wanted to do was grab her and fuck her as hard as I could. Instead, I reached my hands up and started fondling her nipples again, hoping to get her to the point where she couldn’t wait. Leaning my face forward, I caught her nipple in my mouth and began to suck. Happily, I flicked my tongue back and forth, enjoying the hardness of it. I had her other nipple firmly planted in one hand, rubbing it with all of my pent up enthusiasm.

That’s when it started happening. I suddenly felt the muscles in her pussy contract and expand. A rush of wet warmth dripped down onto my cock. In the meantime, she was moaning and sighing into the air. She had stopped rising and falling at this point. She just sat there, coming on top of me. The stillness of our motion allowed me to feel every bit of it. Every spasm echoed onto my dick, making it harder, bringing me closer to my own arrival.

I couldn’t take it anymore. This amazing, beautiful, smoking hot chick was draped over me, sweaty and moaning with pleasure. If I didn’t take her now, the way I wanted to, I was going to explode. I grabbed her hips and lifted them into the air. Keeping a firm hand on either side, I brought them down again on my dick. I heard her cry out.

“You ok?” I was momentarily concerned.

“Yes. God yes. It’s just so sensitive after I come.”

“Good. Then you’ll enjoy this.”

Keeping my hands on her hips, I started moving them up and down at a strenuous pace. I could hear the sounds of our bodies slapping together almost as well as I could hear her cries, muffled against the back of the couch. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long. Already, I could feel myself getting close. Briefly, I thought about holding back and trying to drag it out. But I couldn’t wait any longer.

“Fuck yes.” I grunted as I fucked her harder and harder, approaching my climax like a climber approaches the summit of a mountain. If this were a mountain though, it was Mount Everest and I was getting the workout of a lifetime.

“Oh God.” I could hear her cry into the couch.

Maybe it was the enthusiasm with which I was fucking her and maybe it was her exclamations, but right about then I started to burst with pleasure. I felt my cum shoot up inside her in waves. I buried my mouth against her shoulder, trying to contain myself, but I let out an audible groan as I finished.

We both sat there for a moment, slouched against the couch, overcome with exhaustion. Eventually, Moneka climbed off and stood to dress herself. She took care to smooth the wrinkles from her clothing and taking care to adjust her beautiful auburn hair. I sat for a while longer, admiring her as she moved.

Her figure was beautifully proportioned. Every curve from the bend in her breasts to the smooth line that led from her belly to her hips looked sculpted. I imagined a artist working with meticulous precision, trying to create something half as beautiful as she was.

“Our parents are going to be wondering where we are.” She didn’t look at me as she said it. She just adjusted her shirt over her jeans.

“Right.” I broke with my imagination and began putting on my own clothes. I felt somewhat hurt that Moneka didn’t bother to sneak a single peak at me as I pulled on my jeans or fastened my belt.

Once we were both dressed, we scanned the area briefly for evidence of sex. When we were satisfied that no one would know what we were up to, Moneka started back in on the boxes.

I hated how she could switch gears so easily and just pretend that nothing happened. I eyed her as she lifted a larger box with a grunt and started toward the opening. Somewhere in there, she was thinking about me. She had to be. She was wondering as well as I was if there would be another reprisal of our new favorite activity.

“Cole.” She stopped and put down the box. “I can see you staring at me.”

“Your point?”

“We said it before we had sex and I’m going to say it again: That was the
last time
. Please don’t drag this out. Let’s just forget about it.”

Closing my eyes briefly, I tried to frame every moment of what we had just done. If she didn’t want any more of me, fine. But that was some of the hottest sex I’d ever had and I wasn’t about to let it fade from memory. I think it was easy for me to agree mostly because, somehow, I knew this wasn’t over. I just needed to be patient and let her figure that out on her own.

I
n the days
leading up to the grand opening, barely anyone missed an opportunity to tell me how stressful it would be. That’s all I managed to hear for four straight days. “Make sure you’ve prepared for every eventuality,” Kaila advised, ever the lawyer. “Definitely order extra of everything,” Sonia implored as she panicked over the state of her bar. “Have you thought about what you’ll do if too many people show up? What if no one shows up at all?” My mother was definitely the most helpful, spewing “what if” scenarios like they were as necessary as breathing. By the time Friday rolled around and the grand opening was upon us, I felt like a ship taking on water, weighted down by the fears and speculations of everyone else.

I woke up this morning with a burning pit in my stomach. All of the stresses of the past few days had mixed together in my gut and now they were boiling like a stew. I thought I was going to be sick. I would
definitely
be sick. I wouldn’t be able to go to the restaurant, we wouldn’t open, and I’d be able to avoid this madness for one more day. As I lay in bed, I did the math, figuring out what it would cost me to delay for a single day.
Too much.

After pulling myself together and taking a shower, I opened my closet to find the outfit that I’d set aside months ago for this very occasion. At the time, I thought it would make me look smart and professional. However, as I looked the pantsuit up and down, I couldn’t help thinking that it looked a bit ridiculous. Pants suits were not generally my thing. As I slipped the charcoal gray vest on over my light blue blouse, I felt like I was being smothered. This was not the attire of a chef. When I worked a kitchen, I preferred to be neat and comfortable. This
was
, however, the attire of a restaurant owner, a role I was going to need to learn to fill. I eyed the dark blue heels my mom had been trying to push and tossed them in favor of a pair of black flats. My feet could still be a little comfortable even if the rest of me couldn’t.

When I arrived at the restaurant at eight o’clock, my mother and Sonia were already there. So too were a few of Cole’s workmen, making some last minute adjustments in the kitchen. Mom and Sonia had worked together to get the tables set and ready. They also got the bar and kitchen organized. Looking around, I could finally see it, what we’d been building. The place looked pristine. Each table was beautifully laid out, each surface cleanly polished, and each light lowered to the perfect orange glow. I closed my eyes briefly, testing the restaurant, daring it to disappear and be replaced by something hideous. When I opened them again, it was still there, the spell unbroken. I could breath a little more easily.

I walked over to Sonia, my second in command. “Are we on schedule to receive the new crew?”

“Yep, everything’s prepared. They are scheduled to arrive in an hour. That will give you an hour to brief them and get everyone ready to go before we open the doors at ten.”

“Good. Oh God, good. Ok. Does the tap work?”

“It’s fine. I can pour you a pint if you like.” Sonia smiled sympathetically at me. My anxiety must have been painted all over my face.

“No. Thank you.” I continued gazing around the space. “The register?” I asked in a sudden panic. “Has anyone tried it out? Are we all set up to take people’s money? It would be absurd if we came all this way and nobody could pay us!”

“Relax, sweet-pea,” my mom chimed in. “Everything is checked and double checked and triple checked. Now, you’ve got some work to do. You haven’t settled on the specials yet for today. We’ve got nothing written on the specials board.”

“We? Do you even work here?”

“No. But I’m here this morning. What kind of mother would I be if I wasn’t here to witness my daughter’s suffering?”

“Ha. Fine. Well, thank you.” I ignored the fact that she was eyeing my shoes judgmentally.

She made a
tsk
sound as I passed, which I happily brushed off. I had a specials menu to decide on; I couldn’t be distracted by my mom’s obsession with “high-powered shoes for high-powered business women”.

As I took stock of the kitchen, I tried to decide what we’d have extra of after setting aside supplies for the primary menu. I knew I wanted a soup, a salad, and pasta dish for today’s specials. I made lists of all the excess produce and started orchestrating recipes in my head. It was easier said than done and not because I can’t come up with recipes on the fly. I’d consider that a strength of mine as a chef. No, it was a challenge because every time I tried to imagine butternut squash and American cheese combining in a soup or arugula and cottage cheese combining in a salad, my thoughts drifted toward Cole Saunders.

The entire week had been a struggle while I watched him work on repairs with his crew and saw him goofing around with Kaila or Sonia. Even when he was gone, I was reminded of him. The tables made me think of our ill-advised drinking competition. The kitchen counter reminded me of how he’d fucked me over it. The bar recalled memories of leaning back with a phone in my hand while Cole planted his head between my legs. There was no escaping Cole Saunders in this restaurant and there would be no exorcising the memory of him inside of me.

I was vaguely aware that Francis had arrived. He’d mentioned on Monday that he would try to come by. I guessed I’d been hoping he’d forget or something. Silly me. I spied him hugging and kissing my Mom through the windows in the kitchen doors. They pulled back and gave each other long gazes.
Perfect.
Cole, Sr. was just as bad as his son. The two of them would romance you any way they could. Looking at him, I was struck by the physical resemblances between him and Cole. They both had powerful jawbones and light eyes. I imagined a younger Francis with Cole’s blonde locks.

“You’re very far away aren’t you?” Sonia had entered the kitchen through the back without my even noticing.

“Jesus.” I jumped a little at the sound of her voice.

“Didn’t mean to scare you. I came from outside. Took the last of the recycling out.”

“It’s ok.” I rubbed my scalp a little in a vain attempt to clear my head. “I’m just spacing out.”

“Oh really.” Sonia gazed out the kitchen doors, attempting to see what I’d been staring at. “And what, pray tell, has you all out of sorts on the day of your big grand opening?”

“Nothing,” I blurted too quickly. “I mean, it’s nothing. I just haven’t been getting enough sleep.”

“Could it have something to do with a certain contractor that you never sealed the deal with? I told you you’d feel better if you’d nailed him.” Sonia sounded like a mother hen. She said this in the same tone that my own mother would use when telling me I’d feel better if I ate my vegetables.

“It is definitely
not
that.”

“Pity. You two made such a cute couple.”

“We weren’t a couple.”

“Ok.” Sonia gave an elaborate shrug and headed toward the pantry. She threw it open dramatically. “Now, let’s put whatever is eating you behind you and get these specials done.”

We put our heads together, deciding on specials that were equal parts undemanding and impressive. Sonia’s presence was good motivation to focus on the task at hand. The last thing I wanted was to have to contend with her incessant remarks about how I was fantasizing about Cole Saunders. It didn’t matter that she was right. When we were very near the finish, my cell began bleating out a shrill ring from the confines of my purse.

“Who could be calling you
now
?” Sonia sighed as she doodled on our specials list.

“It’s probably Kaila explaining why she wasn’t here to help this morning,” I said as I looked to the screen and saw an alien number there. “Or not…huh…Hello?”

“Hello. I’m calling for a Ms. Moneka Hart.”

“This is she.”

“Ms. Hart I’m afraid to inform you that your sister, Mr. Kaila Hart, suffered serious injuries in a car accident and is currently in critical condition at Massachusetts General Hospital.”

I was sitting on the floor. I didn’t remember the act of sitting on the floor. I didn’t remember the moment that my legs turned to rubber and I folded into a pathetic mess against one of the kitchen counters. I did remember the ringing in my ears like the sirens on an emergency vehicle. Probably the same kind of vehicle that picked my sister’s broken body off the road or took her from her mangled vehicle.

Suddenly Sonia was by my side. Had she heard me fall? Had I said something? I didn’t recall. All I knew for sure was that she was here now, her arm around me, asking me over and over again “what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong Moneka?”

“Miss? Miss can you hear me?”

“Moneka? What’s going on? Who is that on the phone?”

“Miss? Are you ok? Is there someone that can speak with us on your behalf?”

The voices seemed to cascade down on top of me from some faraway place. I felt their constant utterances crushing me.

“Stop it!” I snapped. Slowly coming to my senses, I covered the phone receiver and said “Sonia, just back off. Please. I need some air.”

“Ok.” She looked hurt, but I didn’t have time to feel bad about it. She would understand soon. For now, I needed some time. Sonia moved back to the specials list. “I’ll just take these outside and give them to your mother. We’ll get started on the board.”

My mother. Oh God, my mother! I imagined all the conversations I was about to have. The muffled sound of a woman’s voice on the other end reminded me that one conversation wasn’t finished yet.

“I’m sorry.” I lifted the phone to my ear. “I’m sorry. I’m just…it’s just a shock.”

“I know Ms. Hart. I’m very sorry to be delivering this news today. As I mentioned before, she’s in critical condition. The doctors are with her now...”

“Any idea what is prognosis is?” I interrupted. I didn’t care.

“I’m afraid it’s too soon to tell right now. I urge you to come down and the doctors will be able to speak with you directly.”

“Well what happened? Was she hit by another car? Who hit her?”

“Again, I’m afraid I don’t have that information for you. Please come down. The doctors will be able to answer all of your questions.”

I doubted it. But I thanked her and said I would be there as soon as possible. I pressed the red button that hung up my phone. It was an easy task, but took all of my concentration nonetheless. Pressing that button filled me with a strangely inappropriate sense of satisfaction. I’d accomplished something at a time when I thought I would never be capable of anything ever again. I’d hung up the phone. Hooray.

There was another, far more mammoth task that I needed to set my sights on now. I knew the second I did it, things would start moving very fast. I would tell my Mom and everything would kick into motion. It was an emergency after all. Why was I moving so slowly?

I got up and headed toward the kitchen door. On the other side, life was happening. Mom was making flirty eyes at Francis while she straightened some table clothes. Sonia was writing the specials above the bar in her best script. Francis was holding the ladder, keeping Sonia from falling on her face. That would be bad. That would be an accident. Sonia would have to go to the hospital if that happened. That’s what you do when you have an accident.

“Mom?” My voice was small. “Mom!” I tried again. This time at an alarming volume. Mom, Francis, and Sonia all stared at me.

“What’s up sweetie?” Mom stopped what she was doing and moved toward me. “Is someone on the phone?” I glanced down and noticed that I was still gripping the cell phone, my knuckles white with tension.

“No. Well. No. Look, Mass General called. Kaila was in a car accident. She’s in critical condition.”

My mom sat slowly in the nearest chair. Her face looked familiar. Playing across it was everything I’d been feeling in the past few minutes. Sonia carefully climbed down to the ground and ran around the bar. At least I think she was running. It was so hard to tell with everything moving in such slow motion. Francis did the same, hurrying to Mom so he could put an arm around her.

“That’s all I know.” I added. “I tried to ask for more information but the woman didn’t know anything. She didn’t know
anything
.” I suddenly felt very responsible for the lack of information. I should have pressed, demanded to know more. Now it was I who didn’t know anything and offering that helplessness to everyone around me.

“Moneka.” Sonia was right in front of me now. “Moneka, you and your mother need to go. Francis can drive you. I’ll take care of everything here. I know the drill. I can get things started. Your sous-chef’s know the menu.”

“Right.” I was trying to piece together everything she’d been telling me. I seemed to have forgotten that I even owned a restaurant. “Right. Of course. I’ll go.”

“Good. And hey.” She grabbed my chin and made me look at her. “You call me. You tell me how she’s doing.”

“Yes. Of course.” I hugged Moneka. It was a good hug. It brought me back to myself a little bit and I knew it was time to get going.

The next thing I knew, my mother was shoving my purse into my hand and Francis was pulling up with the car. I followed her out the door and piled into the back of his Lexus. Mom immediately slumped against me. Tears began forming in her eyes and slipping down onto my jacket. Not having any tears of my own, I felt betrayed by my body. I wanted to cry. I owed that to Kaila.

A quick glance down told me that I still had my phone in my hand. The phone that stabbed me in the back and started it all. The stupid IPhone with the green case. I was going to have to get a new phone. I couldn’t even look at this one. Tossing it in my purse and clutching the purse shut, I felt like I’d done something important. I’d be sure to tell Kaila about this later.