Rebound (17 page)

“
Thank you.” I gave him a
kiss on the lips. He pulled me closer to him. I felt a jolt of
electricity at his grip. We kissed long and deep. I felt the heat
rising from my lower belly up to my cheeks.

“
I’ll be here before
eleven. I won’t fail you again. I promise.” He said as he looked
into my eyes.

I nodded and pulled away from him.
“I’ll see you at eleven.” I walked toward the front door of the Inn
to start my shift with only two minutes to spare on the
clock.

I spent the shift running around with guests in town for the
marathon. I spent a lot of the time bringing extra pillows,
blankets and towels. The phones rang off the hook for most of the
night. When I tried to eat my dinner and snacks, I was inundated
with so many questions and requests that I gave up
eating.

Working at a small inn with just
myself dealing with the customers, I’m often looked to answering
questions, fulfilling requests, cleaning, and light maintenance.
I’ve often told the owners that we needed to have a second person
when big events are occurring throughout the city, but it’s often
rebuffed due to cost cutting measures.

I didn’t realize that my shift was
ending when I saw Matt walk through the door at a quarter to
eleven. My heart leapt and blood rushed to my cheeks. I felt the
heat rising from my belly to my head.

“
Hi.” He said with the
best smile. I hadn’t heard from him all night. I figured that he
was trying to give me time to think, but I didn’t have any time to
think about anything when I was rushing to tend to
others.

“
Hi.” I gushed, as I
watched him walk to the counter.

“
I just want you to know
that I’m here and I’ll be waiting for you to finish your shift. I
don’t want to be in the way, so I can wait it the car.”

“
No. Don’t be silly. You
can stay here. We can . . .” The phone rang from one of the rooms.
I answered and received a request for a wake-up call. The Liberty
Inn had not automated their wake up call system because the owner
felt that the personal touch is what people expect when they stay
at a small establishment. “Sorry. This place has been crazy
tonight. I barely had time to breathe.”

I looked at the time. “I’m just going
to close down shop back here.”

“
I’ll wait over here.” He
said with the sexiest smile, and pointed to the seating area by the
gas fireplace that I’d turned on earlier because of the night’s
chill.

“
Great.” I stated with a
smile. I started cleaning and organizing so I could shut down for
the night. I set up the night voicemail, which eliminated my need
to answer any more calls. After eleven at night, there is no one
working shifts. The owner is on call for emergencies. The front
door gets locked, to which the inhabitants can use their metal room
keys to exit and enter. Before I walked over to Matt to let him
know that we could go, I had one more customer approach with a
question. I provided her with a map of where she wanted to stand to
watch her sister finish the race. I provided her with a map of the
train system. She had a few more questions about places to go out
and celebrate after the race. I gave her the best pubs in the area
that would have music for a Monday night. I bid my goodnight to her
and gathered my things.

I pulled the opaque, accordion metal
gate, enclosing the counter area, locking it in place. I exited
through the self-locking door. I put on my jacket and walked over
to Matt. His back was to me. He was reading emails on his
smartphone.

I wanted to wrap my arms around him,
but settled for placing my hand on his broad shoulder and asking,
“Ready?” He stood, put his phone away on his belt holster, and
walked ahead of me to hold the door.

“
Have you always been this
gallant?” I asked when he took my hand.

“
Yes. My mother beat it
into me.” He grinned.

“
Really? How?” I asked
amused.

“
She would often tell me
that I had to open the door for the ladies, take them by the arm
when we walked, pull their chair out, walk on the outside of the
sidewalk so I could get hit by a car instead of my female
companion. I even had to do these things for my sister, which was
revolting. As I got older, I wanted to do these things, especially
for a woman that I really like.” He smiled when we locked eyes, and
I gave him a peck on the cheek. He pulled the passenger car door
open and closed the door when I entered. I put on my seat belt as I
watched him jog to the driver’s side. He turned on the car and
turned up the heat. It was a blustery night, being near the water
brought a biting wind.

“
There’s a seat warmer
button right there, if you need it. You can adjust your temp here,
if it gets too hot for you.”

“
Thank you.” I pressed the
seat warmer.

“
Let’s get you home to
pack your things, so you can spend the night.”

“
On second thought, Matt .
. .”

“
Don’t tell me you’ve
changed your mind and won’t stay over.” He looked at me with a
mixture of frustration, annoyance, and pleading.

“
You didn’t let me finish.
I’m really tired. I ran around all day. I just want to go to your
place. I’ll just wear these tomorrow to work. I have extra clothes
in my locker that I can change into.”

The look of relief in his face was
sweet. I leaned over and gave him a deep kiss. His hands cupped my
face as he explored my mouth with his tongue. He tasted so good. I
sucked and nipped at his soft, full lips. His left hand left my
face and went down to my back, pulling me to him. The center
console prevented him from pulling me onto him.

I pulled away. “Matt, I think we’d be
a lot more comfortable doing this at your place.” I wiped the
saliva around his lips with my thumb, and brought it to my lips
where I sucked on my finger.

“
Shit. You’re so hot. I
can’t help myself.” He took a deep breath before putting the car in
gear and peeling away toward his apartment.

He broke the silence by asking, “How
long have you worked at the Inn?”

I looked at him, surprised and excited
that he cared about my work. Because Ben and I worked at his
family’s construction company, there was constant talk about work,
but it was mundane. There were never any intimate discussion of how
I was feeling about my work.

“
I’ve been working there a
little under two years. Alice and Ross offered me the job when I
answered an ad online. They needed someone with managerial
experience to help them bring more customers to their Inn and work
with local businesses to do cross business promotions and
advertising. They’d inherited it from Alice’s parents and they’d
let the changing landscape of hospitality go by them. They have a
great piece of property, in a convenient location, so we worked
together to grow the business. It grew exponentially in the last
year. At their urging, I lived at the Inn for seven months while I
got back on my feet. They couldn’t provide me with enough income
and benefits, but a room helped me tremendously. Once they got it
to a place where they could use more part time staff and run it
themselves full time, I was bumped down to two shifts a week. I
didn’t mind because I knew that was the plan all along. Actually,
it was my idea, after all. I’d also gotten a three-quarter time job
at the gym with limited benefits. Alice and Ross are like second
parents. I want to give back to them especially now. Alice has
battled cancer, like my mother, for years. And it came back . . .
stage four.” I yawned. “Excuse me.” I rubbed my eyes.

“
You must be exhausted.”
He exclaimed, extended a hand to rub my leg.

“
I am. It was busy. We
have people here for the race. They’ve kept us running all night,
but we appreciate the business. On Sundays, we’re short staffed,
just myself and the housekeeping person. He was running around in a
totally different direction with all the requests and I tried to
help him, but still man the desk, phones and help with business
stuff. I still advise them on their business and compile reports.
It’s the least I can do for them.”

“
You’re so business
oriented. Why are you working a million jobs?” He asked.

I laughed. “Well, to clarify, I only
have four jobs. Two are just hours that I pick up to make ends
meet. But I can understand why it appears to be a lot.” Not ready
to share my entire life and troubles, I paused to formulate the
most diplomatic and honest answer while preserving my privacy.
“Divorce is never simple. I incurred a lot of expenses upon our
separation and ultimate dissolution. To be free from him, I gave up
everything and left the marriage with less than I had when I
entered it. I’ve no regrets, though. I’m happy to be on my own, but
that comes with some sacrifice.”

“
I guess it’s harder on a
woman to start over.” He stated.

“
Hmm. I don’t know. I have
friends and family who’ve divorced and it’s a mixed bag. Some were
really savvy to get as much as they could and are living quite
comfortably. There are women, like me, who just wanted to cut and
run. It’s made me appreciate things a lot more. I don’t take things
for granted. I’m not as frivolous. I live simply. I’m happier. The
only person I’m responsible for is me.”

“
Do you think you’d ever
quit working at the Inn and just work at the gym?”

“
I’ve thought about it,
but I know that I’d still be connected to the Inn somehow. I want
to support Alice and Ross. They trust me. I’m the only other person
that has knowledge and access to their finances and records. I’m
just not ready to move on. We’ve worked so hard to improve the
business, and now that it’s taking off, I want to see the results.
They have so much going on and I want to give back to them.” I
turned to look at him. He looked so pensive.

He’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever
met. When I looked at him, I’m surprised at how I could attract a
handsome and sexy doctor. His olive skin darkened by his dark eyes,
black hair infiltrated by the emergence of gray in his hair and on
his short beard. I wanted to reach out and touch him, but I didn’t
feel, despite a couple of days of intense sexual interactions, that
we were at a place for the intimacy of touching him out of the
blue. “I’m sure I’m not any busier than you. As a doctor, you’re
busier than me. You’ve mentioned that you travel extensively. I’ve
already experienced the time you’ve spent in the
hospital.”

“
I’ve always worked a lot
too, but now that I’m getting older, and have a few more gray
hairs, I realized that I needed to slow down. I’m more selective
with the amount of work I take on. I have a few business ventures.
However, neither of us can keep up the pace in which we’re
going.”

“
True. I have a plan of
slowing down, but I have a few more years before I absolutely must
slow down. I’m not ready to settle down and have kids anytime soon.
Until then, my days and nights are free to decide how I spend
them.” I looked over to him and saw his jaw tense as he looked
straight ahead. We pulled into the drive and circled to the entry
of the parking garage.

***

He parked the car in the underground
parking garage. He was surprisingly self-controlled as we made our
way to his apartment. I presumed that he didn’t want to take me in
the garage, the elevator, and the hall way knowing I was very
tired.

When we entered his apartment, he took
my purse and jacket and hung them in the hall closet. He took my
cooler and put it on the counter in the kitchen.

He came over to me and started taking
my clothes off, but wasn’t as slow as I was. He was gentle and
attentive, kissing my body as he slowly revealed parts of me. When
he unbuttoned my jeans, I choked back a moan in anticipation of our
union again. His large hands slid over my ass, pushing down my
jeans and panties at once. I kicked off my shoes. Once they were
down to my calves, he lowered himself down and pulled them off of
me, along with my socks.

He gave my pussy a lick. The shock of
his tongue’s touch set off a wave of heat. Every part of my body
tingled and hardened. I closed my eyes in anticipation that he
would keep his mouth and that amazing tongue on me. He didn’t
disappoint. I experienced cunnilingus once with my ex when we were
dating. He never had a problem with me going down on him, but when
it came to reciprocating, he never ventured. I do share in the
responsibility because I never indicated that I wanted his mouth on
my pussy. I allowed him to think I was satisfied with missionary
and the occasional cowgirl position that I assumed when I initiated
sex, but it was never fulfilling.

Matt parted my legs with his large
hand and entered a finger into my sex while kissing my mound. I
lightly ran my fingers through his hair, encouraging him to
continue tending to my needy pussy. As he licked and thrust his
fingers into me, I writhed to meet his mouth. His tongue replaced
his fingers, darting in and out of my cut, licking and lapping at
the moisture of my arousal. He sucked at my clit feverishly. I felt
myself getting weaker.

“
Matt, I don’t want you to
stop, but I’m going to collapse.” He stopped and stood up before
me. He cupped my face and kissed me. I could smell and taste my
juices. I felt invigorated by the desires that his kiss stirred in
me. I tasted myself for the first time, saddened that I wasted so
much time with a man who thought I didn’t taste good enough to feed
on more than once. Without stopping his kisses, Matt bent down, ran
his hands down my thighs and scooped me up his body.