The Lovely Garden (12 page)

His mouth was on mine for a brief moment. A quick taste of our tongues meeting before he broke the kiss and trailed his way down my body. On his knees, he raised my dress to my waist, and kissed my hip before holding his fingers into my panties and pulling them off. He raised my leg and put it on his shoulder, giving him easier access. My first thought went to his suit and how this might wrinkle it. Then, there was a burst of stars when Charles started to tongue my clit.

“Oh god,” I moaned, throwing my head back, pushing my pelvis forward to get more of his mouth on me.

My fingers entwined in his hair when his tongue went between my wet folds. I was all but shoving his head into me as he lapped and sucked. Already, I was starting to build, not used to this kind of attention. “Oh god, Charles.” I moaned, digging my hips into his hands. “I’m going to come.” I nearly came undone when he started to suck harder. “Please, fuck me. Please, please, please.” I repeated, nearly in tears, each “please” more urging. I needed him inside of me. To feel my orgasm as it hit me.

A groan come from him, but his mouth stayed firmly on me. I thought he was going to ignore my pleas, until I heard him unbuckle his pants. He moved my leg, replace his fingers with his mouth, and then stood up, his lips crashing on mine. I could taste myself on him, and I kissed him more urgently.

He angled my hips and was inside me with one quick, hard thrust. I ripped my mouth from his and cried out. “More,” I commanded gripping his suit coat tightly. “Don’t stop.” It didn’t take long for me to go over the edge and him to join me, leaving us panting in each other’s arms. “That was a little unexpected.”

That got me a smile and a kiss on the nose. “It’s what you do to me, Amy. I can’t seem to keep my hands to myself.”

“If you keep talking like that, I might just fall in love with you.”

His forehead rested against mine. “That’s the hope.”

“We’ll just have to wait and see. Now,” I gave him a quick peck on the lips, “we’re going to be late.”

In the end, I found myself makeupless and slightly sweaty in front of Jenny’s house. But, we weren’t late. Just right on time, though no one was going to show up for another fifteen minutes. There aren’t many of Jenny’s friends that show up to these functions on time. I had to be grateful for that, since she had texted me and said she wanted to talk before the party.

After I knocked on Jenny’s door, it flung open to reveal a not-so-ready Jenny. “Oh, thank god you’re both here.” She grabbed my wrist and dragged me inside. It was a good thing I was partial to flats. I would have ended up on my face otherwise. Charles followed closely, shutting the door behind him. His eyes were a little wide, from shock or fear, I couldn’t tell. “Charles, go distract Billy. He’s driving me up a fucking wall. I can’t even get ready.” In this kind of mood, it was best to do as Jenny said, which is exactly what Charles did.

I wasn’t released until we were in her room. “Lock the damn door, please.” At least, she said please.

“What happened?” I was positive that she had gotten into a fight with her mother. Those two couldn’t be in a room more than two minutes with each other without trying to claw each other's throats out.

“Ugh! I got into a fight with Mom when I dropped Caleb off.” She quickly threw on the black dress that had been sitting on the bed. It was obviously a maternity dress, albeit a nice one. Three months along and she was already starting to show. “She thinks me and Billy have been having too many parties.” Next came out silver flats. “The last time we have a party was Billy’s birthday, and that almost a year ago. And it was a family celebration!” And one I had gotten drunk at. It was apparently the party I had met Charles at. At least, Caleb had been put to bed by then. He may be only two, but I didn’t want him to see his Aunt Amy getting drunk and hitting on his dad’s boss.

“What did you say to her?” I wasn’t being nosy. Bitching was the way Jenny calmed down, and the longer she did so, the better she felt. Might be best to keep her going considering this was already a high stress-level night.

“I just told her I was announcing my pregnancy to my friends and wanted them to be able to celebrate the way they wanted to. You know, without a stuck-up bitch judging their every move.”

I couldn’t help but smile. Figured that would be the case. “I guess your mom didn’t like to hear that?” Of course, she hadn’t. No one likes their children calling them horrible names. Even if they were true.

“Yeah. She said if I was afraid she would judge my friends’ every move that I should get better friends.” She checked her reflection, making sure nothing was out of place. The only thing that was, was her tag was sticking out, which I was more than happy to stick back in the dress. She studied me in the mirror as I did so. “Are you happy?” Our eyes met in the mirror, and I tilted my head to the side, unsure of what she was asking. “With Charles?”

I gave her a small smile. “I am, actually. Surprisingly enough. I think I can fall in love with this one.” That was a big deal and she knew it. None of the other men had even gotten to the more-than-like-but-not-love level as Charles had.

“I’m happy for you,” Jenny told me with too much emotion in her voice. If she started to cry, I might just have to cry with her. She sniffed and dabbed her eyes with her fingers. “How do I look?”

I rolled my eyes. “Do you really have to ask?” She looked great. She always looked great, even on the verse of tears.

A smile lit on her face and she walked over to me. “Come on,” she wrapped her arm around my shoulder and led me out.

“Is that all you wanted to talk about?” I asked as we walked down the hall together.

“Shit. No.” We stopped and I turned to look at her. “You remember Frank Thompson and Debbie Hill?”

“You mean the two people that made my high school years a living hell? Yeah, I remember them.” They were the two that started the Plain Amy nickname among other things. “Why?” I wasn’t going to like this.

“Well, Charles recently hired Frank and I kind of got sucked into inviting him tonight.” Fuck. “And apparently him and Debbie are still together, and married.” Double fuck. “I’m really sorry. I wouldn’t have invited him if he hadn’t been right there when I was talking to Rebecca.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll deal with them if it becomes a problem.” I just hope he didn’t become a problem in front of Charles. That might cost Frank his job, which I didn’t want. The guy might have been an asshole to me when we were in high school, but that didn’t mean he deserved to lose his job over it. “So, those two are still together?”

“I know, right!” Jenny’s eye lit up. “I couldn’t believe it when I heard it either. We all had bets on how long they would crash and burn after graduation. I guess none of us won that one.” She wasn’t joking. We really had placed bets. Yeah, teenagers suck.

“I’m really surprised Frank went into marketing.” Of course, he could have been doing something in Charles’ company, but marketing was the safe bet, since that was what he was all about.

“Yeah, me too. Debbie isn’t doing too bad for herself either. She owns a restaurant.” That was impressive. I hadn’t placed her in the food industry. A spa maybe. She was really into skincare when back then. Though that was ten years ago. “It’s actually a really nice place. I’d been there a couple of times before I knew,” Jenny added as an afterthought. Made me want to go and try it myself, though I wouldn’t say it. If I ran into Debbie tonight, I’d let her talk about it and invite me there.

When we reached the dining room, Charles and Billy already had drinks in their hands. Well, Charles had two. A glass of red wine for me, which I gladly took. Jenny sauntered over to Billy. “You look beautiful,” Billy told her, kissing her on the cheek. That twinge of jealousy that pained my chest wasn’t there that night.

“What’s that?” Jenny asked pointing to Billy’s glass. It was a dark amber liquid with ice floating in it.

“Whiskey. Straight.”

Jenny nodded. “I’ll have that.”

“You still need some work on those comedy skills.” Billy shook his head as he turned and made her a glass of ice water.

Before Jenny could put the glass to her mouth, there was a knock at the door. She sighed, handed Billy the glass, and went to greet her guests at the door. “Her mother again?” Billy asked, dark blue eyes on mine. His medium lips were white with worry. I just nodded. He sighed. “Of course, it was her mother. It’s always that woman.”

“Yes, it is, and you’ll never get used to it. Believe me.” Billy shot me a smile before downing his drink and heading toward the door to help Jenny greet guests.

That left Charles and I alone. “So?” He started and then made a gesture as if he were holding a baby.

I laughed and nodded. “Well, aren’t we Mr. Smarty Pants.”

“Jennifer never drinks water at her parties.” Now, that was true. It was similar to the way I had found out. “Is that what she wanted to talk about?”

“No, it was Frank Thompson, the guy you just hired.” He looked cute when he was confused. Tilted his head and everything. “Him and his girlfriend, now wife, used to torment me in high school.”

He nodded, and then his face lit up. “I guess this means I just get to kiss you and cling to you more.”

It was a joke, but I couldn’t help but scoff. “Why don’t you just whip it out and pee on me?” I took a sip of my wine.

“I didn’t know you were into that.”

I opened my mouth to retort, but ended up with a lung full of wine. I started to cough. Charles took the glass from me so I couldn’t drop it, a smile on his face. Jenny chose this moment to come in, Billy, Frank, and Debbie in toe. “Oh my god, are you alright?” she asked, patting me hard on the back. It never helps, but people do it anyways. “What happened?” she asked Charles.

“Nothing much. We were just talking about gold-”

“Don’t even finish that sentence,” I found enough breath to hiss. Charles held up his hands in defeat, both still full of our glasses. There was still a smile on his face and I wanted to hit it off. I just narrowed my eyes in his direction, vowing to get him back.

By the time I recovered from my coughing fit, Jenny and Billy had left to greet more guests at the door. That left me and Charles alone with Frank and Debbie. A silence built between the four of us that could only be described as awkward. Debbie and Frank kept looking between the pair of them, wanting to say something, but neither wanting to go first. Frank’s hesitation had to do with Charles, who had placed a hand on my hip as he stood beside me. I was staring in my glass of wine that had been delicately placed in my hands.

Debbie was the first to break the silence. “So, Amy, it’s been awhile. I thought I would see you at the ten year reunion.” Yeah, I totally had no interest in going to that. At the time, I was dateless and in a shitty job so I didn’t want to show my face. And my mom had broken her wrist so I needed to help her around the house. She told me to just go, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if she had hurt herself doing something she shouldn’t have been, which was possible with that stubborn woman.

“I couldn’t make it. Had some work to do.” The way Charles looked at me told me he was disappointed in me lying, but I was fine with that. Explaining about work was a lot easier explaining that my mother broke her wrist. “I heard you own a restaurant.” Anything to take the focus off of me. I knew what she wanted to do, and I didn’t want to hear it. There was no need for her to apologize. We were teenagers. Don’t get me wrong, they were assholes, but I’m sure there was someone who thought I was an asshole, too.

Frank’s face lit up and his chest swelled. “She does! She did it all herself too. Saved the money. Made the menu. Everything.” I could see how those two had stayed together. They were still in awe of each, both surprising the next, and taking pride in each other. And they were still clearly in love. Fleeting glances and small, secret smiles. I had to say, I was a little envious of them, having a lasting love as they did. I could only hope me and Charles lasted that long.

“Holy shit! That’s amazing!” I exclaimed, a little less than refined. Charles just chuckled. At least, I could count on him to not to say anything about my foul mouth. It wouldn’t fix anything anyways.

“Thank you,” she murmured under her breath, pale skin turning a Valentine pink. A hand went to her dark, curly hair and she played with a piece of it. “What have you been doing?” she asked me. The smile on her face was genuine and caring. It was nice we moved passed the dicks we were in high school.

“Me? Not too much. Just went to community college. Got my associates. Have a crappy job.”

“You got fired from your crappy job,” Charles reminded me, sending a painful jolt through my chest. Still wasn’t over that one. “You have a much better job, now, albeit doing the same thing.” Yes, and no. There are some things I was doing different, but a lot of it was the same.

“That’s true. Alexandra is great, by the way. Thank you, for pointing me in her direction.” I really did appreciate it. I didn’t think I would find a great job in my field as I have. It was really lucky and I couldn’t thank Charles enough.

“Are you two dating?” Debbie asked, her eyes alight with amusement. Not directed at me, but Frank. She was fucking with her husband and enjoying it.

“We are!” Charles replied a little too enthusiastically, giving my hip a squeeze. “It hasn’t been long, but I’ve been waiting for this for a while, so I’m very happy.” I gave him a blank look. “What?! I am happy, and I have been waiting a while for this.” I had to give him that. For almost a year, he had been waiting for the opportunity to ask me out it just never came.