Taking Chances (The Chances and Choices Duology - Book 1 of 2 - Contemporary Romance)

Taking
Chances

by
Ann Omasta

“The kiss started softly then slowly built in
intensity. His lips were smooth, and his tongue gently grazed mine. I
untucked
his shirt and eased my hands up his back to his
strong, smooth shoulders.”

I paused to refill our margarita glasses from
the pitcher and chuckled at my best friend, Courtney. Her big, blue eyes were
wide open and she was leaning so far forward that I feared she might topple
over. She was normally the one with the sexy stories, so I was enjoying having
one of my own, for once.

We were seated at our usual table for our Sunday
night ritual – tacos and margaritas at Joe’s Bar & Grill.
 
Joe’s was an island-themed restaurant
that reminded me of the thatch-roofed eatery where my parents used to take me
when we went on our annual trek to the Florida Keys. Even though Joe’s was
located in Harbor Shores, Michigan, about as far from the tropics as could be,
it was usually teeming with patrons, both locals and tourists.

Joe let us have the best seats in the house with
a fantastic view of the lake, even though we were given “family pricing”.
Courtney had been a waitress at the restaurant for over two years, but Joe knew
never to schedule her to work on a Sunday night. Our girls’ nights were sacred.

Courtney grabbed the pitcher from my hand and quickly
sloshed more of the frozen concoction into our glasses. “Go on,” she demanded.

“My fingers were shaking as I unbuttoned his
shirt.” Only Courtney knew of my insecurities in the bedroom and the reasoning
behind them. She nodded, encouraging me to continue with my play-by-play.

“I refused to give in to my fears. So, I ran my
hands along his flat abs and over his chest as I removed his shirt and tossed
it to the floor. As I kissed his neck and nibbled on his ear, he undid the
buttons at my shoulder and lowered the top of my dress. That’s when he
discovered that I hadn’t been able to wear a bra because of the open back style
of my dress. I think he liked that.” I smiled and chuckled, remembering the
look of awe in his eyes as he gazed at my ample breasts.

“I bet he did!” Courtney hooted with laughter.
She looked terrific, as usual, with her blond pixie haircut and huge, sky blue
eyes. She oozed sexual confidence, but she had admitted to me on more than one
occasion that she was totally jealous of my chestiness. My boobs were, in fact,
one of my only body parts that I felt were above average.

“He used just the right amount of pressure as he
rubbed his thumbs over my taut nipples. Then he began kissing and licking and
nibbling his way down me. My whole body quaked when he suckled on my breast. I
ran my fingers through his hair and arched my back toward him as he gently
tugged on my nipple with his teeth.”

“Everything okay tonight, ladies?” Joe asked.
Neither of us had seen him approach the table, and we were startled by the
interruption.

“We’re fine.” Courtney snapped the words, causing
Joe to hold up his hands in mock surrender, as he made a quick retreat.

Courtney let out a deep breath as if she’d been
holding it. “Geez, Abby, this story is making me horny. I’m going to have to
find a hot guy to hook up with and work off some of this sexual tension.”

I wondered for the hundredth time if Courtney
ever wanted a more serious intimate relationship than the booty calls and one
night stands that she currently enjoyed. She seemed to be content with her
life, so I had never pushed the issue with her.

“So?” Courtney prompted impatiently.

“Where was I?” I asked, perplexed.

“Nipples, teeth, tugging,” she reminded me.

“Oh, right. His hands glided down my hips and
under my silk panties. In one smooth move, he slid my dress and underwear off.
I stepped out of them and stood before him wearing only those ridiculous
Louboutin
heels that you talked me into buying. He seemed
to like that view too.”

“They are fabulous shoes. I’m glad to hear you finally
put them to good use. Did you wear them the whole time?”

I nodded, smiling, before continuing. “I
struggled to undo the snap of his jeans as he eased me back on the bed. He
lifted one of my legs and rubbed my ankle as he began kissing his way up my
calf. He gently rubbed his hands along the inside of my legs. Then those
magical thumbs began massaging circles up to the apex of my thighs.”

I stopped to take a bite. “Damn, don’t stop
now!” Courtney commanded. I had already shoveled the food in, so I did a
“mouth’s full” motion at her and continued chewing. At her exasperated look, I
gulped the bite down and continued.

“His lips and tongue followed the path that his
hands had taken. I became so worked up that I was writhing and brazenly pushing
myself up towards him. His head was between my legs as he used his fingers to
spread me wide open. He paused for a moment to look up at me with the most
gorgeous green eyes I’ve ever seen.
 
He looked directly at me and uttered the words ‘You’re so beautiful.’ I
was panting and aching with need as he began to lower his mouth to me.”

“Uh-huh.” Courtney said, urging me on when I
paused.

“Then the alarm went off.”

“
OMGeeee
!” Courtney
screeched as she pretended to bang her head on the table. “It was all a dream?
You’ve
gotta
be kidding me.
What happened on your blind date?”

“The date was a dud. He spent the whole evening
complaining about his exes, and then he wanted to split the check. I mean split
the check down to the penny – as in, I ate more of the appetizer than he
did, so should pay for more than half of it.” I rolled my eyes. “He definitely
wasn’t the guy of my dreams. Or anyone’s,” I added somewhat contrarily.

I’m sure my eccentric boss, Annie, had meant
well when she set me up with Marcus, telling me that she was sure he’d be the
love of my life; but he was clearly not the man for me. “Maybe there isn’t a
man that’s right for me,” I grouched.

“Please tell me you used the battery-operated
gadget I bought you to finish off the work that dream-guy started,” Courtney
said. She narrowed her eyes at me, assessing, then said, “I can tell you
didn’t. You’re too grumpy. There’s nothing wrong with a vibrator, Abby. It can
ease some of that tension that’s been building up for way too long.”

“You mean forever?” I quipped.

Courtney smiled at me, but it didn’t reach her
eyes. She knew how sensitive I was about this subject. After all, how many
28-year-old divorcees had never had an orgasm? I felt like the only one.

“I can tell where your mind is going, so just
stop.” Courtney gave me the look that she uses when she means business. “Don’t
go down this path again. There is nothing wrong with you. That
two-pump-and-dump bastard who was married to you for two years, but didn’t take
the time to learn how to please you is the one who should be feeling bad about
himself.”

I snorted with laughter at the name she had
called my ex-husband then started giggling uncontrollably. “You are the one who
needs to stop. You’re going to make margarita shoot out of my nose. Where do
you come up with this stuff?”

“I’ve been saving that one, waiting for the
perfect time to zing it,” she grinned and lifted her glass to clink with mine.

As I got ready for work the next morning, I was
thankful that I had remained coherent enough last night to drink a bottle of
water when I got home. Courtney would appreciate me making her have one as a
preemptive strike against a hangover as well, even though she was
pissy
about it at the time. The second pitcher of
margaritas may have been a bit much.

I downed a couple of aspirin and another bottle
of water for the slight headache I had. Then I snuck into Courtney’s room and
quietly left the same items, along with a piece of buttered cinnamon bread and
some orange slices on her bedside table. She looked so peaceful and sweet lying
there. It made me wish there was a way for me to make her see in herself all of
the wonderful qualities that I saw in her.

On a whim, I tiptoed through her girly bedroom
and went to her en suite bathroom to grab a
fuschia
lipstick out of her enormous makeup case. I drew a huge heart on her mirror.
Inside it, I wrote, “You make everything better.”

Since it was such a beautiful day, I decided to
walk to work. I left the 100-year-old lakeside cottage that Courtney and I
shared and headed down the shore side of the sidewalk. The breeze off the lake
was a little chilly, but the sun was shining, and the lake was calm. I felt
great about leaving those little pick-me-ups for Court.

She was always quick to say that I had saved her
life because when she had arrived in Harbor Shores penniless and alone, I had
taken her in and given her a place to stay. I knew the truth, though, was that
she is the one who had saved me.

She had arrived in our quaint town just a few
months after my parents’ deaths in that horrific car accident. They had been
taken from this world in the prime of their lives, due to a careless drunk
driver. I had just left my ex, Larry, after walking in on our real estate
agent, Trudy the floozy, sucking his cock in the living room of our condo. We
had decided to sell our condo and move out of the city, in hopes of finally
starting our family. Instead, I moved alone to Harbor Shores to the cute,
lakeside cottage my parents had left me.

I suppose I should thank Trudy because I had
been unhappy in my marriage for a long time. It had never crossed my mind to
leave him though, because I felt, as my parents had felt, that marriage is
forever. Seeing Trudy on her knees, with her fake tits bolstered up by my couch
as she cupped my husband’s balls in her nasty hands with their blood-red,
cheap, press-on fingernails, while her bright red lips slid up and down his
dick sealed the deal for me on getting a divorce. I couldn’t erase that hideous
mental image, no matter how hard I tried to un-see it.

When I described the scene I had walked in on to
Courtney, including the sight of Larry with his head tipped back, mouth agape, looking
at me with a glassy, uncaring stare, unwanted tears had started to well in my
eyes.

Courtney patted my knee and said, “Honey, that’s
just head-face. They all get it when they’re getting a blow job.” Then she
dropped her face into an exact replica of the blank look Larry had given me,
and we both whooped with laughter.

The memory made me smile. The message I had left
on Court’s mirror was perfect. She really does make everything better.

As I walked along the lakeshore, I noticed that
tourists were starting to trickle into town. It was mid-April, still early for
snowbirds and vacationers, but each year the tourism season seemed to be
starting earlier and lasting later into the fall. For a small, quiet town like
Harbor Shores, Michigan, that was great news for local businesses, like the
trendy shop that had employed me since I moved here.

As soon as I opened the door to Eck,
Meck
& Dreck, my wacky boss Annie attacked with
questions. “How was it? Did you two hit it off? Was it love at first sight? Are
you going out again? Why aren’t you telling me all about it?”

“I was waiting for you to take a breath.” I
smiled at Annie. She looked lovely today with a sunshine yellow scarf tied in
her unruly, red curls and a bohemian skirt flowing around her. In typical Annie
fashion, she was wearing turquoise Converse high-tops. The combination would
not be flattering on most, but somehow she made it work.

She looked so hopeful that I hated to disappoint
her by telling her about my less than stellar date with Marcus. I decided it
would be best to rip the bandage off quickly. “It’s a no-go,” I said.

“Not even one more date?” she tried. To her
credit, when I shook my head, she let it drop immediately. “No worries,” she
said as she breezed past me. “Plenty of sardines in the can.”

I chuckled at the motto she had chosen, as
unique as Annie herself. Annie had become like a second mother to me when my
own mother had passed away. She had been there to help me through the complete
devastation of the loss of my parents, and the subsequent crumbling of my
marriage in a way that only a mother could.

She knew that the money from my inheritance made
it so that I didn’t need to work for financial reasons. I needed to work for my
sanity, though, and she insisted on paying me. On the sly, I set aside almost
all of the money I earned from working into a mutual fund for Courtney or
Annie, should they ever need it. It felt good to know that the two women I
cared most about would never have to worry about monetary problems.

I began turning on the myriad of twinkle lights
that dotted the store as Annie propped the bright purple front door open,
jingling the bells on the handle and yelling down the sidewalk, “
Chotchkies
! Get your one-of–a-kind artsy-fartsy
treasures here!”

As usual, people couldn’t resist Annie’s
magnetic charm, and it wasn’t long until the store was bustling with activity.
I liked being busy and helping people find the perfect gift for a loved one or
a special souvenir. It was terrific getting to see people when they were at
their most relaxed and happy.

I smiled as I watched Annie open a huge
cardboard box that contained the new teapot line we would be carrying. The
ceramic teapots were animal shapes, and they were beautiful. Annie exclaimed
over each one like a child on Christmas morning. “Look at the giraffe! Oh, I
think the dolphin is my favorite! Such beautiful colors on this parrot! Oh,
Abby, look. The cow has a calf.” She bubbled with uninhibited joy as the crowd
that had gathered around her leaned in to see what she would discover next.

Suddenly, I felt almost overwhelmed with
gratitude. Courtney and Annie were two of the most wonderful people on earth,
and they were my family now. I was healthy and had a terrific job that I loved.
My parents had left me a magnificent cottage within steps of the beach in a
beautiful town, which I had been able to escape to after my divorce. I was an
incredibly lucky lady.

The only thing missing was a man in my life, but
who needed one of those, anyway? In my brief history with them, they seemed to
be far more trouble than they were worth.