Release (5 page)

           
Jeremy inhaled sharply, and his eyes glittered.  “God, Ryann, you’re
killing me.”

He licked his
lips and continued. “You’re all flushed, your pupils are huge, the pulse at
your neck is jumping, your breathing is heavy.  Do you want to know what I
want to do to you right now?  How I want to lift that skirt that fits you
like a glove, glide it up over your luscious ass, peel your panties down your
legs, anchor you against the corner of this wall here, and plunge myself so
deep into that sweet, wet pussy of yours that you scream?”

She
whimpered.  Oh, God, was this really happening?  Oh, God.  Her
breasts felt so heavy, and she truly felt like she was going to melt into the
floor at any moment.  She had never wanted something so desperately in her
life.  She knew they were in a public place, but the visual he had just
painted was so erotic, she couldn’t think of anything else.  She was so
out of her league.  She knew she was just staring at him, but she honestly
didn’t know what to say.  She just stood there looking up at him, her
breath erratic, her eyes glazed over. 

“Are you seeing
anyone?”

She mentally
shook herself.  She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.  “What?
That’s none of your business,” she said breathily.

“I just made it
my business, Ryann.  Answer the question.”

“God, you’re
such a …
jerk.
”

Apparently
taking that as an answer, he leaned in closer, with his sexy half smile. 
“When I was stuck in traffic, and saw you, I had quite a few moments to think
about what I would do to you.  I’ve been thinking about fucking you from
the moment I saw you standing in the rain.  All wet,” he whispered. 
“And beautiful.” 

His grip on her
neck became a little firmer, and his thumb gently forced her chin up to meet
his gaze more directly.  “Without your car here, it looks like you’re
going to need me to give you that ride after all.”

Ryann swallowed.  She was in full panic
mode.  There was no way she was getting into a car with him.  She
would be flat on her back within 30 seconds of being in there.  Or pushed
up against the door.

Because as much
as she hated to admit it, he made her want things.  And, oh God was he
dangerous.  She didn’t stand a
chance
against him.  She
absolutely needed to slow it down and take a step back.  She just needed a
moment to think.  Because that was the problem.  She couldn’t think
around him.

She tried to
move away, but he still held her in his grip.

“You’re not
driving me home.  I’m calling a car service.”

He glared at
her.  “No, you’re not.  I’ll be driving you home tonight.”

Now she did
break away.  He was way too sure of himself, and although she had to admit
she
liked
it, she didn’t
want
to like it.  And she certainly
didn’t want
him
to know that she liked it.  This man needed to be
knocked down a peg or two.  Just because he wanted her, and God, did she
want him, she needed to regain a semblance of control.

Right now, he
definitely held all of the cards, and she couldn’t make herself vulnerable to
him.  If she did, he could break her in two.  How many women did he
talk to this way, anyway?   I mean, she thought, who talked that way
to women they just met?  She imagined Ayanna was used to this given the
men she usually dated, but this was a new experience for her.

It was obvious
he was comfortable in his skin, but he just met her.  Was he like this
with every woman who he happened upon and was attracted to?  She wasn’t
comfortable with being another notch on his bedpost.  It was time for him
to realize that he didn’t always get what he wanted.  She stepped back,
and hit the wall behind her.       

“You’re a
presumptuous
asshole
, Mr. McCallister, you know that?  And you’re
not
driving me home
,” she huffed.  “I don’t know who the
hell
you
think you are, but as far as I’m concerned you have too many strikes against
you in the personality category for me to even
think
about getting into
a small space alone with you.  Your charm may secure your place in most
women’s bedrooms, but it certainly won’t secure your place in mine.  What
kind of woman do you think I am anyway?”

She knew she was
working herself up into a full out hissy fit in public, but she couldn’t seem
to slow herself down or stop babbling.  She tried to get herself under
control and lowered her voice, then looked him dead in the eye.

“What am I, some
kind of challenge to you?  Is that it?  Now that you know I’m a
widow, you think I must be lonely and desperate because I haven’t had sex since
my husband died?  I’m some pity fuck?  Well, I got news for you,
buddy.  I’d rather get off using my
vibrator
, then get off with you.”

She was such a
liar.

She clenched her
fists, and huffed out one last breath, then moved around him to stalk
away.  God, she just admitted that she hadn’t had sex for two and a half
years.  Shit.  Did she just admit that she used a vibrator to a man
she hardly knew?   She couldn’t remember swearing this much in one
evening in her life.  What had gotten into her?! 

The reality of
everything she spewed at him started to sink in, and she was desperate to get
away from him.  How could she have been so stupid?  This was the
last
man she wanted to show vulnerability to.

She felt his
hand gently but firmly grab her arm to turn her back around to face him, while
he said, “Hey.”  She tried to struggle out of his grip, but didn’t want to
make a scene.  Instead, she looked down at his hand on her arm, then
glared at him.  And if looks could kill, he would be six feet under.

“Let go of my
arm.  Please.”

His face was
grim, his lips pressed together, and his eyes…his eyes looked sorry, so kind
and sincere.  He released her arm, but not before stroking her there, as
if to soothe her.  Her head was spinning from the change in him.

“I’m sorry,” he
said, this time in a whisper.  “I do
not
pity you, Ryann...there’s
no doubt that I want you.  You’re all I’ve thought about for the last
couple of hours.  But I can promise you this, pity has
never
entered into my thoughts.”

He shifted
closer to her and said in a rush, “You’ve had me on a roller coaster all
evening.  I didn’t even know about your past when I saw you in traffic, and
I wanted you then.  Then when I saw you arrive at the gallery, I couldn’t
believe you were here.  You made my dick so hard, I thought I was going to
explode.   When Robbie referred to you as Mrs., I had to shift gears
and try not to look disappointed that you were taken, all the while trying to
tame the hard on in my pants.  Only to find out minutes later, that you
are
available, under circumstances I would never wish on anybody.”

He paused. 
“I don’t often apologize, Ryann, and I find I’m a little out of practice, but I
am sorry.”  He looked at her sincerely.  “Please.”

“There you two
are!  We found Tabby, and when she said she hadn’t seen you yet, we sent
out the search party!” Mr. Callahan said with his booming laugh.

Jeremy and Ryann
slowly turned around.  Jeremy put his hand up behind her neck and
squeezed, then said, “I just discovered that Ryann had car trouble on the way
here.  We were just discussing how I would give her a ride home.” 

She tried to stop her racing heart, and took a
cleansing breath, letting out a deep sigh.  How was she going to
gracefully get out of this?  Did she even want to get out of it?  No,
her heart said.  Then she mentally shook herself.  Of course she did,
her rational side told her indignantly.  He’s a pompous ass!  She
wasn’t going anywhere with him!  She continued arguing with herself.

This man
obviously wanted her, and she had to admit she was terribly attracted to him,
with an intensity she hadn’t felt before.  And
that
was why she
needed time to process this.  It scared her to death, and she was overcome
with guilt.

And she wasn’t
sure she liked how he manipulated her and the situation.

“I was just
telling Jeremy that although I appreciate his gracious offer for a ride home,
I’ll be calling for a car.  There’s no reason for him to take such a long
trip.  I live in New Jersey, after all.”  She gave him a look.

“The longer the
ride, the better,” he murmured so only she could hear him.

“Nonsense!” Mrs.
Callahan exclaimed.  “Of course Jeremy will take you home!  I can
vouch for him.  He’s a complete gentleman.  You’ll be in good hands,”
she said affectionately.

Ryann nearly
choked.  She had no doubt those hands would be good.  At that moment,
those hands began stroking her back.

“Now, Tabby’s
right over there finishing up with Juliet, the gallery manager.  Let’s
finally introduce you two.”

Mrs. Callahan
took Ryann’s hand and walked her over to where Tabitha Lowe was standing. 
Jeremy made his way over with his uncle, then stood on the other side of Ryann,
and returning his hand to her back, began to lightly run his nails between her
shoulder blades.

He just wouldn’t
stop touching her.

And at that
moment, if she had been a cat, she’d be purring.  She couldn’t imagine
herself getting any wetter than she already was, but right then, she could feel
another rush of creaminess drench her panties once more.

God, she wished
he would stop touching her!  Why couldn’t the man just keep his hands off
of her?  She wasn’t complaining, but after the heated discussion they’d
just had, she really needed a moment to compose herself, otherwise she’d be
lost.  Every time he touched her, her brain went on the fritz.

She finally set
her eyes on the woman she had been trying to meet all evening.  Standing
at five feet, eight or nine inches tall, Tabitha Lowe was a statuesque bohemian
beauty in her mid to late 50’s.  Long graying wavy hair, capped a
beautiful open face with blue eyes and long eyelashes.  She was dressed in
a multi layered and colored dress that hugged her figure and came all the way
to her ankles, where metallic strappy sandals encased her feet.  Finishing
off the outfit, were long gold earrings, a silver and gold knotted long
necklace, and silver and gold bangles. 

Her stomach was
already in knots thanks to Tabitha’s infuriating son, and her constantly
aroused state.  Had she ever been this aroused for such a long period of
time? The nearness of Jeremy had her stomach in a bunch, but now her stomach
fluttered for a different reason.  She discovered that although she was
excited about meeting Tabitha Lowe, she was also nervous.  Knowing now
that she was Jeremy’s mom seemed to add to the already complicated situation.

“Baby! 
You’re here!”  Tabitha exclaimed.  “I was beginning to wonder if
you’d forgotten about me tonight,” she smiled up at Jeremy lovingly, and
reached out her hand.

He released
Ryann’s back long enough to lean in and give his mom a big hug.  Looking
down at her in adoration, he said, “I’m sorry Mom.  I had a meeting in
Newark after the one at the Institute, and then I got caught in traffic.” 
He turned and gave Ryann a look.

“Did everything
go ok?”

“Yup.  You
just need to sign the papers.”

“Excellent.”

“I texted you to
tell you I was on my way, but I imagine you didn’t have your phone on.”

“No, I’m sorry
honey.  I left my phone in my purse which I had locked away.”

“Tabby,” Mrs
Callahan interjected, “we wanted you to meet, Ryann Thornton.  Ryann, this
is Tabby.”

“Hi,
Ryann.  So nice to meet you,” Tabitha said with a smile.

“Tabs, remember
Robbie always talking about his English Lit teacher from the Academy?  The
one he said was his favorite teacher?  Well,
this
is her…this is
his teacher!  And she’s a huge fan of yours.  Isn’t that a
coincidence?  You couldn’t imagine my surprise when we saw her here
tonight!”

“Well, isn’t
this wonderful!  It is so great to finally meet you!  Robbie always
spoke so highly of you when he had your class.  What a testament to your
love of the kids, and your subject matter.  Thank you for all that you did
for him, and continue to do.  You’re still teaching at the Academy?”

Ryann flushed at
the praise, then beamed.  She jumped slightly and tried to pull away when
she felt Jeremy’s hand return to her back.  Tabitha looked at her son,
then back at Ryann.  Her eyes began to twinkle.

“Yes, and thank
you, Ms. Lowe.  That’s kind of you to say.  It is such an honor to
meet you.  I’ve been following your career for a couple of years now, and
was so excited to be able to come tonight.  This is my first time at one
of your art showings, so I’m thrilled to be here.”

“Please, call me
Tabby.  I feel like I already know you, with all the stories Robbie’s
told.   I’m so happy to hear you’ve been following my journey. 
What did you think of the showing tonight?”

“Well, first of
all I wouldn’t even have to see the pieces to know that I would love
them.  But frankly, I got here later than I had anticipated, and haven’t
had much time to see the exhibit.  I was hoping to be able to walk around
before everything closed up.”

She looked
around noting how much the gallery had emptied out.  The wait staff was
bustling around, picking up glasses and dishware.

At that moment,
they all spotted Robbie coming toward them.  “Ok, I’m all set to go,” he
said when he arrived.  “My feet are
killing
me!”

“Aww,
baby.  Well, you did a fabulous job, honey.  Thanks for working so
hard, and being a part of my special night.”  Tabby leaned up and kissed
his cheek.

“You’re welcome,
Aunt Tab.  You met Mrs. Thornton?”

“I did! 
Isn’t it great that she’s here tonight?  It’s so nice to meet her after
hearing you talk about her for so many years.”

Robbie blushed
beet red.  “Yeah, well.”  He cleared his throat.  “Mom, I’m
done.  Are you guys ready to go?”

“We are. 
We just wanted to make sure the introductions were made, and now that they
have, we can get going.  I know you must be exhausted.  You can sleep
in the car.”

Robbie turned, and
smiled sheepishly at Ryann.  “It was good to see you again, Mrs.
Thornton.”  He looked at Jeremy, then back at Ryann.  “Maybe we’ll
see you again.”

“I hope
so.”  Then she added dryly, “And I’m so glad you didn’t spill anything on
anyone tonight.”

Robbie looked
down with an embarrassed smile, then cleared his throat and chuckled.  She
was still slightly annoyed that neither Jeremy, nor Robbie had come clean about
being cousins.

She gave him a
mock serious look. “I’m not laughing, Robbie,” she smirked but shook her
head.  “You could’ve said something,” she said, slightly exasperated.

The adults
looked between the two of them with interest.

“What’s going
on?” Mrs. Callahan asked.

Robbie continued
talking to Ryann.  “I couldn’t help it.  I was having too much fun
watching you put Jeremy in his place.  I’ve never seen a woman do that
before.  It was awesome.  I’ve only ever seen family members do it,”
he smiled.

Jeremy looked at
him with an expression that said he was doing an inward eye roll.

“Oh, now, this I
gotta hear,” Tabitha said with anticipation.

Jeremy cleared
his throat.  “There’s nothing to hear…”

“Basically, I
was serving Mrs. T, and Jeremy was with her, and neither of us mentioned that
we were cousins.  Then Jeremy was giving me a hard time about not spilling
anything on anyone, and Mrs. T totally defended me, and yelled at him.  It
was priceless,” he smiled triumphantly.

Ryann looked
away embarrassed, while Tabitha looked at her son with absolute glee. 
“That
is
priceless.”

Mr. Callahan
laughed loudly.  “Well Jeremy, it looks like you’ve finally met your
match.”  He rubbed his hands together.  “And Robbie,
I’m
certainly glad you didn’t spill anything.  Your sister would’ve killed
you.” Mr. Callahan chuckled.  “Not to mention, she’d fire your butt, and
you wouldn’t have a job to save up your money for that car you want.”  He
slapped Robbie on the back, and said, “Let’s walk out through the kitchen so we
can say goodbye to your sister.”

He turned to
Ryann.  “It was great to see you again, Ryann.  Maybe we’ll see you
again soon, huh?”  Glancing at Jeremy, he smiled, then gave Ryann a wink.

Mrs. Callahan
smacked his arm, then rolled her eyes at his innuendo.  “Take care, Ryann,
and we’ll look forward to the next time we get to see you.”  Then she
turned to Jeremy.  “Good night, sweetie.  Make sure Ryann gets home
safe and sound, ok?” she said with a pointed look.

“No worries,
Aunt Heidi.  She’s safe with me.”

“No doubt,” she
said. “It looks like you’re the one who’s not safe.”  She laughed lightly,
then looked up at Jeremy with affection, and gave him a hug goodbye.

While Mr. and
Mrs. Callahan turned to say goodbye to Tabitha, Ryann turned to Jeremy and said
quietly, “Did you see your uncle
wink
at me?  What was he thinking?
How will I ever control my urges?” she asked dryly.

Jeremy took hold
of the back of her neck, and leaned down to her ear.  “Smart ass.” 
Then he said, “I promise you this, baby.  When I wink at you, you won’t
want to control those urges.”

Yeah.  That
was what she was afraid of.

…..

Tabitha joined them after saying goodbye.  She
looked between the two of them, smiled, and said, “Okay, you two.  Will is
still with Jules,” she said referring to the gallery manager, “so why don’t we
take a look around.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Jeremy said.

“Who’s Will?” Ryann asked.

“He’s my husband and manager.”

Ryann nodded.

Tabitha began to
lead them through the exhibit, stopping at paintings along the way.  Ryann
commented on a few of them, until Tabitha said, “Your observations are really
intuitive, Ryann.  It gives me such joy to show my paintings to someone
who connects with them so deeply.”

“Ryann and I
looked at the ‘Release’ painting earlier.  She agrees with me, by the
way.  Definitely chocolate.”  Jeremy had a mischievous glint in his eye. 
He looked at his mom knowingly.

Oh, shit, Ryann
thought.  Where was he going with this?

“Oh, Jem, you
didn’t!” she said with a typical mother’s exasperation.

“What?  She
does
agree,” his look innocent.  He turned to Ryann.  “You
thought the woman looked like she had been thinking of chocolate.  I’m
sure I remember you agreed with me.” 

Tabitha shook
her head, and looked at Ryann with amusement.  “The very first time he saw
that painting, he said ‘I don’t know what you were going for with this one, Mom,
but she’s definitely thinking about chocolate.’”

Tabitha
chuckled.  “Now for you to appreciate the meaning of that statement you
need to know the backstory.  When Jeremy was nine, he heard his friends
talking in the playground about sex.  So naturally he came home to ask me
for an explanation on what he’d heard.  After using the scientific terms
to explain the birds and bees to him, he was horrified...he was like, ‘People
actually like
doing
that?” 

Tabitha was
laughing over the memory.   It was obvious she was enjoying the
story, and a bemused Ryann listened intently, imagining a nine year old Jeremy
hearing about sex for the first time.  She chuckled, and couldn’t wait to
see how the story would end.

“So then I told
him, ‘Honey, I know you don’t get this yet, but someday when you’re older, it
won’t sound so icky.   And yes, people actually
like
doing
that
.  It’s sort of like chocolate is to you.  You know how you
feel after you’ve had a bunch of your favorite chocolate?’  Jeremy has
always
loved chocolate.  So, I said, ‘Just like you love your chocolate and
you feel kind of good after eating it, that’s how good people feel when they’re
doing
that.
’”

Tabitha
continued to chuckle.  “So now the word ‘chocolate’ has become the
euphemism in our family for ‘sex.’  We can’t ever say the word without the
conversation digressing into some dirty jokes, I’m embarrassed to say.”

Jeremy had a
lazy smile on his face while his warm gaze landed on Ryann.  Ryann just
shook her head and laughed.

“Well,” Ryann
smiled at Tabitha, then turned her gaze to Jeremy, “just so we’re clear, I’m
not certain I
did
agree with you.”

“I seem to
recall the conversation very clearly.  Should I recount it for my mother?”

Ryann looked at
him in panic, and Tabitha interrupted.  “Alright, Jeremy.  That’s
enough.  You’re embarrassing her.”  Tabitha smiled reassuringly at
Ryann, and took her arm to finish out the tour of the exhibit.

“Ryann, have you
ever thought of studying art?  I was serious when I said before that you
have an intuition I don’t often hear when people make observations.”

“Actually, I’m
finishing up my masters in Art and Design right now.”

“Really? 
That explains it!  Were you planning on using your education for anything
in particular, or are you studying it for the pure enjoyment of it?”