Reye's Gold (11 page)

She laughed. “Is that a good or bad thing?” She
smiled as she looked around her. “I do like color. It cheers
me up, gives me energy. My Dad and I did most of the
work on the house ourselves, including painting the walls
with color. He gave me a hard time about it, too. You
wouldn’t know it to look at me, but I’m mean with a
hammer and nails.” She paused. “I’ve got to finish some
things up in the kitchen. Do you want to sit here or come
with me? I’m almost done. I just need to finish cooking the noodles for the spaghetti,” she said.

“I’ll come with you, maybe I could help.”

T
he kitchen was like the rest of her home, neat, cozy,
and, oddly enough, limited to one color, white. He
looked around taking in the table which had been set
with a white table cloth and white dinnerware. “Would
you open the wine and pour a glass for us?” she asked as
he stood looking over her space. She gave him the bottle,
two glasses, and opener. She put the bread in the oven
and took noodles out to drain and added the sauce.
Stephen handed her a glass and she took a large gulp. “A
little fortification,” she said. He laughed.

Reye placed the food on the table and they sat. She
had gone out of her way to make this night special. She’d
set the table with a table cloth and linen napkins her
mother had given her when she moved in. She’d used her
best and only china, more like Target-ware, but it worked. She added some candles on the table and
throughout the house.

They ate in silence for a while.

“This is great, I’d thought pizza and beer, but this is
so much better,” he said jokingly. “Really, thanks for inviting me.”

“Can you cook?”

“A few things. Breakfast is my best course. Maybe I’ll
cook for you some time,” he said.

“Maybe,” she responded, not sure what to do with
that statement. “Law school keeping you busy?”

“The last year is not as bad as the first two. The first
year was mostly core courses. You get some choices in
your second year, and, by the third year, you are pretty
much primarily studying your area.”

“What is your area again?”

“My dad and gramps, and his dad before him, spe
cialized in tax, personal trust, and estate law.”

“I remember you telling me that on the plane ride
back. It sounds lucrative.”

“It can be, but sometimes it can be dull.”

“So why study it?”

“I like it. It’s easy and established. I’ll join the firm
and continue in the family business. It does have its
ancillary benefits, long lunches, schmoozing clients, and
golfing expeditions.”

“Is that enough for you?”

“For now, anyway. I’m a simple man. I don’t have any
major desire to work in any other field. Not looking to
save anyone from lethal injections, plus it’s easy for me.”
He looked over at her speculatively. “Why is it that we
always end up talking about me? How about you? How
are your classes?”

“School is school, but I’ve started working at one of
the community centers here in town, and I’m starting to
really like it.”

“You had some doubt?”

“Maybe,” she said a little pensively. “It’s working out better than I’d expected. As I’ve said before, school was
always a struggle for me growing up. Out of the five of us
kids, I had the most difficulty. Sam, the brother closest to
me in age, also attends the university in the graduate school. He is in the psychiatry department. He, along
with tutors, helped me get through a lot of the work as I
grew up. You saw him at the game, remember?”

“Sure, the other forward?”

“Yep. Anyway, to make a long story short, I feel like I
can make a difference at the center with the kids.” She
paused. “Too altruistic sounding, huh?” She twirled the
wine in her glass.

“Nothing wrong with altruism.” He placed his
napkin on the table and leaned back in his chair. “That
was good, better than some of the finer restaurants I’ve
been to.”

“Yeah, right, very funny,” she said, the wine making
her more relaxed. She gave him a slow, wide smile, her
eyes lowering as she looked him over.

“No, no kidding, it was great,” Stephen said. She
looked very relaxed sitting there, and way too sexy.
They’d gone through a bottle of wine and were halfway
through their second. “Before you get too relaxed, would
you like me to help you clean up?”

“I don’t have much to do, just load the dishes into the
dishwasher, put the food in the refrigerator.”

“Okay, how about you sit and continue to drink your
wine, and I’ll put the dishes in the dishwasher for you.”

“I appreciate your looking out for me, but I’ll help.
Maybe I can work off some of the effects of the wine.”

He smiled at that. “Is that really a good idea?”

She laughed. Feeling playful, she grabbed a towel
from the holder and attempted to swat him with it. They
worked together for a while. They talked as they worked.
The conversation eventually turned to a recap of their
previous soccer game. “You do know we are going to win
the next game,” she continued, leaning back against the
s
ink watching him load the last few dishes. “I was just
taking it easy on you during the first game, you know
that, right? I didn’t show you all my best moves.”

“Oh, yeah?” Stephen said with a smile in his voice.
He stopped loading the dishwasher and turned to her.
“You holding out on me? Other moves, huh? Show me?”

“Nope, I don’t want to strip away all of your confi
dence, leave you with no hope of winning.”

“You think you’re that capable?” He moved slowly toward her, a tiger stalking its prey, until he stood directly
in front of her. Her eyes opened wide at his movement
and he moved in closer still, so close that her breasts
lightly touched his chest. “Show me what you’ve got,” he
repeated, and all the laughter had disappeared.

He was serious; she could see it in his eyes. She also read hunger, a hunger that matched what must be visible
in hers.

“I’ve been waiting since the party to be able to hold
you again,” he said and put his hands on her hips and
gripped them loosely. “I felt something that night that I need to figure out. I think you need to figure it out, too.”

“Maybe.”

He moved in for a kiss, which she met with an open
mouth. This was not your garden-variety kiss, this one
meant business. No more games. It turned hot fast. Both
Reye and Stephen moved closer to each other. Her hands
roamed his body, going under his shirt so she could feel
his skin; she wanted badly to feel skin. He was equally
hot. One of his hands moved to her breast while the
other cupped her ass. He squeezed both at the same time,
p
ushing his hips into hers so that she could feel him,
could answer his silent question. She pushed her hips
against his in answer.

“Where is your bedroom?” He asked the question
with his lips against hers. She grabbed his hand and
pulled him behind her. Inside the door of her bedroom,
she turned and grabbed him for another kiss. They pulled
and tugged at each other’s clothes. Shirts were discarded,
and she reached for his shorts, stopping long enough to
rub her hand along his penis. She couldn’t resist. He
groaned into her mouth. He helped her get rid of her
clothes and she returned the favor. They now stood
naked before each other, and he stopped to look his fill,
marveling at the beauty of her body. He pulled her in
close so that his body was flush against hers, and his
hands could touch. God, he loved the way she felt, soft,
smooth, and firm. He lowered his head for another open
mouthed kiss while his hands moved to her breasts and
he squeezed. He backed her to the bed until the back of
her knees hit and they fell. He landed on her, but flipped
them.

“There are condoms in my pocket,” he said. “I need
to get them?”

“No, I’ve got some here.” She reached into the end
table next to her bed and located her stash. She retrieved
one, opened it, and rolled it on him. He watched her, his
breathing heavy, as she then straddled him and slowly
lowered herself, her eyes never leaving his. Impatient, his
hips shot upward, meeting her. She could feel him
shudder and she started to move. He pulled her forward
f
or a kiss that was forceful. His arms locked around her
waist, transforming into bands holding her as he moved
her up and down to meet his thrusts.

He dictated the pace, and it was hard and fast at first.
Holding her tight he flipped them over so that she was
below him and he slowed, setting a determined, slow
rhythm where he would pull completely out of her only
to push back in, equally slow. He closed his eyes to fully
concentrate on the slow glide in and out of her body. Reye loved the feel of him against her, the slide in and out, so full, so hard.

“Please,” she moaned against his mouth. He looked
down at her.

“Please what, Reye?” His lips captured hers again and
he kissed her to the rhythm of his thrust, slow and sure.
He could feel her start to come and he slowed down even
more.

“Please what, Reye?” he asked again. “What do you
want?” he whispered to her as he glided in again, hard this time, and picked up his pace as she met him thrust
for thrust as they both raced toward completion. They
climaxed together, moaning into each other’s mouth at
the intensity of their joining.

They lay afterward, him on top and inside her,
finding their breath. He didn’t move, just lifted his head
to stare down into her face. He knew it would be good,
but the episode at the party had not prepared him for this. It was more than he’d imagined it could be. He
pulled out, stood up, and removed and discarded the
condom. He came back to bed, pulling Reye into his
a
rms so she faced him as he lay on his side. He captured
her face and kissed her lips softly, continuing to hold her.

They both fell asleep. Reye woke up much later and
checked her clock on the nightstand. It was midnight
and the lights were still on in the house. Stephen was
asleep and she didn’t want to wake him. She moved away from him carefully. No worries there, as he hadn’t moved.
She stood at the end of the bed looking at him. He was a
beautiful naked male, sprawled on her bed, facedown,
satisfied, and apparently dead to the world. This could be
dangerous for her she thought. She didn’t want him to
leave, and that scared her, too.
Girl, just one time and you
have lost your mind, ready to turn over yourself gladly for
more
. How many other women had felt this way about him? He told her he only wanted casual, he told her that
at the party, but could she handle casual? What would
she do to keep him, and what if that wasn’t enough? They
were from different worlds, and not just in skin tone.

She grabbed his polo from the floor and pulled it over
her head. It covered most of the important body parts.
She walked through the kitchen and the living room,
turning lights off as she went, making sure that the front
door was locked. In the kitchen, she finished loading the
dishwasher and started it. They’d gotten all but a few
dishes loaded before they’d gotten sidetracked.