Fighting Perfection (The Perfection Series Book 2) (27 page)

     “I want to make love to you, Mimi.  I want to take my time and wring out every ounce of pleasure from your body that I can.  I want to drive you to the edge and back again over and over until this morning, and everything that came before it is just a distant memory.”  He kissed me again thoroughly, still taking his sweet time to elicit the desired responses from me.

     I acknowledged his words by quietly undoing the button on his jeans, then slowly unzipping them.  He followed my lead by lifting my shirt and pulling it over my head.  I followed suit until finally we were skin-to-skin.  He stood and pulled me up after him saying, “Not here.  Let’s go to your bed where I can do this properly.  This is going to be all about you, and I’ll need more room than the sofa can accommodate.”

     He led me by the hand to my room, then gently laid me on the bed.  Looking down at me intently, he asked if I had any scarves.  I directed him to the top left drawer of my dresser, too peaceful to question why.

     He returned with four silk scarves I wore with several of my winter outfits.  Knotting them together, he raised my arms over my head and slowly affixed each wrist to the bed posts.  They weren’t tied very tightly, just enough to keep me from moving my hands over much.

     He eased his way down my body, taking hold of the waistband of the soft cotton leggings and panties I was wearing.  He gently removed them, drawing them down my hips and legs with agonizing slowness.  The smooth material whispered over my skin increasing my sensitivity and awareness of every sensation.  Finally, I was bare before him.  His gaze traveled over me from head to toe feeling almost as tangible as the caress of his hands. 

     “You are a wonder to behold,” he said.  “I don’t tell you often enough how beautiful you are.  Every time I look at you, my entire body aches with the want of you.  Seeing you naked, all pliant and ready for me, it just takes my breath away.”

     I took in a heavy breath, feeling his words soak into me.  I watched as he removed his jeans and boxer briefs revealing the rest of his broad, muscular body to me.  He climbed on the bed and began to stroke my entire body again:  neck, shoulders, the length of my arms, my sides, my legs.  He stayed away from the obvious spots on my body in favor of finding new erogenous zones.  He crouched over me and then followed the path his hands had made on me with his tongue.  He kissed every part of me from my neck to my ankles.  His touch on some of the more sensitive parts caused me to giggle softly, but eventually had me writhing in ecstasy.    Finally, he moved back up and took my left breast in his hand.  He squeezed gently before bringing his lips down to my tightly drawn nipple.  He mouthed it tenderly, his tongue circling my areola as his hand wandered back down to my now slippery pussy.  He teased me open with this fingertips, then slowly rubbed against the swollen nub between my lips.  Back and forth, his middle finger lightly stroked over it causing me to squirm against him in search of more pressure to ease the building tension his touch was causing.

     “That’s it, Mimi.  Give it all to me.  Let me see you enjoy what I do to you.  Don’t hold back.”

     I moaned quietly as my back arched and hips continued to grind up against his hand.  He didn’t torture me, he gave me what I needed by slipping his fingers down to fill me while he pushed the heel of his hand against my throbbing clitoris.  He resumed his exploration of my body with his mouth until he finally reached the apex of my thighs.  He spread my legs wider and lowered his shoulders between them.  He blew a hot breath over me, tantalizing me.  Then he took one long lick of my sex from bottom to top, spearing me with his tongue while his fingers went back to manipulating that aching bundle of nerves.  I moved my legs over his shoulders and thrashed beneath him, my desire overtaking me.  He raised his head and watched me absorb the pleasure as he again filled me with his fingers.  He pumped them slowly in and out enjoying the sight of me responding to him in ways I never had before.

     Finally, he rose to sit on his heels between my legs and guided the head of his stiff shaft back and forth over my pussy, his now deliberate touch becoming a delicious form of torture.  I was soaked and wanting.  I tilted my hips greedily seeking more. 

     “Tell me what you want, Mimi, and I’ll give it to you.  Let me hear those words from your pretty lips.”

     “Please James,” I said between panting breaths.  “Please give me your cock.  I need to feel you inside me, filling me, claiming me.”

     “Is that really what you want?  For me to claim you?  To make you mine?”

     “Yes, please.” I gasped.

     “In that case, I’m all yours, angel.”  On those words, he slid himself into me and began to work himself back and forth in agonizing slowness.   I stared at him as he looked down and watched himself disappear and reappear in and out of me.  His hands slid under my thighs to wrap my legs around his hips, then he reached up and untied my hands.  He pumped into me over and over again but not increasing his lazy rhythm inside me.  I whimpered with desire.

     “Do you need more, Mimi?  Do you want more of this hard cock?  Beg me for it.”

     “Please James, please.  I need more…harder, faster.  You know what I need.  You always know.”

     He didn’t pick up the pace one bit, but he punched hard into his strokes, each one a jolt to my cervix causing the most delightful pleasure-pain.  I reached up and gripped his biceps, my fingernails digging into the hard muscles. 

     “Ah…there are those little kitten nails,” he whispered.  “You want faster, don’t you?”

     I moaned again and nodded my head as I writhed beneath him, lost for words, lost to the heady sensation of his body powering inside mine.

     He brought one hand up and lazily circled my tight bud, teasing me even more with a devilish little smirk on his face.  He was fully in control and not about to let me come until he was ready for it.

     “I love to watch the way your body moves, the way your expressions flit across your face.  You are the most erotic sight I’ve ever seen with my cock buried deep inside you.”

     He suddenly laid his torso over mine balanced on one forearm.  Still gripping my hip with one hand, he picked up his rhythm into a full assault.  He drove into me just as deeply but was moving faster and faster.  I began to tremble all over and felt my entire being tense for the coming explosion.  

     “Come for me, now.  Give me all that you have,” he breathed into my ear.  He loomed above me watching me intently as I surrendered to the onslaught of sensation washing over me.  The powerful orgasm stole my sense of sight and sound.  All I felt was myself falling, falling into that abyss of pleasure.

     When I resurfaced gasping for air, he was still looking down at me but with the softest of smiles.  He leaned forward and kissed me gently.  “You are always beautiful,” he said, “but nothing compares to the sight of you as you come for me.”

     With that, he raised back up onto his knees and threw my legs back over his shoulders.  He tilted my pelvis up for the deepest penetration the position would allow.  He worked me hard and fast seeking his own release.  I encouraged him with more moans, whimpers, and sexy whispers of what he was doing to me, how he made me so wild for him.

     In a breathless rush, I felt him swell inside me before he threw his head back and bellowed his pleasure out to the room.  He groaned loudly one last time before collapsing on me in a heap.  We lay like that for a time, each of us coming down from the dizzying heights we had achieved together.  Finally, he slid off me and onto his side next to me.  He trailed the tip of his index finger over the outline of my lips.

     “You completely undo me, Mimi.  I have never felt so lost in someone as I do you.”

     My heart swelled as I heard his words.  I loved the way James consumed and thrilled me.  It wasn’t just the sex, it was how he put his whole self into everything he did.  He lived large, and I enjoyed doing the same when I was with him.  At a loss for words, I just turned onto my side to face him and molded my body to his.  In some time, whether it was seconds, minutes, or hours, I couldn’t be sure, we both drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

     The phone calls began about a week later.  The first time, I was out shopping with Liz.  I saw Delia’s name flash on my phone and debated on whether or not to pick it up.  In the end, I sent it to voicemail.  When I listened to her message later, she told me she knew the exact store I was shopping in, and that I still had better be alert because she was coming for me.  Yet again, I whirled around in a circle, even though the time passed from the time she left the message and I left the mall was considerable.  I was still certain she was nearby just watching, and maybe waiting for me to be vulnerable. 

     I continued to receive calls like that at least once a week.  I always sent them to voicemail because I decided if she left a message, it would be good information to give to the police.  For several weeks it was just her advising me she knew my whereabouts.  It was creepy, and frankly scaring the daylights out of me.  I felt like a sitting target.  I never caught so much as a glimpse of her whenever I was out.  I had been walking around in denial.  I wasn’t safe.  Her calls were meant to assure me that I knew I wasn’t, yet I hadn’t been taking them seriously enough, I realized.  It had to be like James said.  She was following me.  Who knew what she had planned?

     When I hadn’t heard from Justin in over two weeks, I finally decided to call him.  Our talk was brief.  He simply said the situation was more complicated than he thought but he was working on it.  He told me he’d be in touch with me as soon as he could and to sit tight.  I was very unhappy that he was not more forthcoming.  I felt that under the circumstances, I had every right to know exactly what was going on.  He apologized, but said he didn’t want to involve me any further than I already was.  Frustrated, I eventually hung up on him.  I wondered what it was that he was trying to do to resolve the problem, because whatever it was, it wasn’t working.

     One Wednesday night, I was home alone studying for a test I had the next day.  My doorbell rang and looking out the peephole, I saw Delia standing on my doorstep.  The hair on my arms immediately stood on end, and I was frozen in fear.  She couldn’t want anything good.  Ringing the doorbell was probably a good sign she wanted to talk, but my fear that things could quickly devolve into something violent was not unfounded.  I contemplated just ignoring her, but my car was in the drive, and the lights were all on in the house so it was obvious that I was home.  Also, if she had been following me that day, she had to know that I had come home some time before.  Knowing her, she’d lean on the doorbell until I answered.  I ran to retrieve my cell phone and activated the recording function just to make sure if she said anything more threatening to me, I had it to provide to the police.  Then, I steeled myself to confront her head-on.

     With false bravado, I opened the door.   I just stood there looking at her with what I hoped was an intimidating look on my face.  I should have known better.  She clearly thought I was no threat to her, at least not physically, since she continued to harass me.  She looked back at me with an ominous smile.  “So, I’m sure you’ve heard the news by now,” she said.

     “I have no idea what you mean,” I responded coldly.

     She gave out a bark of sick-sounding laughter.  “Play it dumb if that’s what you want to do.  I’m all too happy to tell you myself,” she said caustically.  “I’ve got him back now.  Why do you think you haven’t seen him recently?” 

     “Is that right?” I asked.  “He can’t stand you, Delia.  I really doubt you’re telling the truth.”

     “Keep living in denial, bitch.  I had an ace up my sleeve, and I played it.  He fell in line right away.  I just wanted you to know that I still have you on my list even though Justin is going to be a daddy.”  She grinned at me evilly as my mouth dropped open and my stomach plummeted.  “That’s right.  I’m going to have his baby, and he is standing by me.  You can’t reach him now.”

     With that, she stepped off the stoop walking backwards.  “Yes, you’ve still got a target on you.  It may take a little while longer what with my delicate condition and all,” she said as she put a hand to her lower abdomen for emphasis, “but who knows.  I may get impatient.  Ta-ta, dead woman.”  She turned and walked to the curb where her car was parked.

     I closed the door and immediately called Justin.  He didn’t answer, so I left a message letting him know that Delia had paid a visit and had given me some interesting information that I needed to speak to him urgently about.  Hanging up, I shook my head to clear it.  Thoughts of her being pregnant with his child swam through my head.  I found it hard to believe as I knew Justin was very cautious about getting himself into that kind of situation.  However, if it were really true, I could see him standing up and taking responsibility.  He was that kind of guy.  I didn’t see him jumping into a relationship with the crazy lady just because of it.  I saw him as being willing to be financially responsible, but would he really consider a relationship with her after all she had done?  I couldn’t fathom it.

     I called James immediately after and let him know about Delia’s sudden appearance at my door.

     “Are you okay?” he asked urgently.

     “I’m fine. A little shaken up and more than a little blown away, but physically I’m okay.”

     “What happened?”

     “She wanted to let me know she was expecting Justin’s baby and he was with her now.  She told me I still had a target on me, but I had some kind of reprieve because of her pregnancy.”

     “Pregnancy?  Is she sure it’s Justin’s?” he asked.

     “So she says, yes,” I replied.

     “When he steps in the shit, he really steps in it,” James remarked.  “You sound skeptical, though.”

     “Of course.  It all seems too convenient, don’t you think?”

     “Anything is possible.  Time will tell,” he said.  “Have you reported her visit to the police, yet?”

     “I am planning to as soon as we hang up.  I recorded the conversation so this should help to get that restraining order even more.”

     “I can’t get down there until Friday night,” he said, sounding very aggravated.  “Take care of yourself until I can get there.  Don’t think for a second that she’s gone away no matter what she said.  It could just be a way to get you to let your guard down.”

     “I was thinking the same thing.”  I was always a wide open target for her, but I didn’t know what to do about it except hide in my house.  I wasn’t about to do that.

     “I’m serious, Mimi.  I can’t stand the idea of you being scared or worse, being hurt by this bitch.  I’m so frustrated at the distance.  How can I get to you if you need me?  Sure I can lease a plane, but it would take longer to arrange it than the flight itself, almost.”

     “I know, I wish you were closer, too.  Not only because I’m afraid but just because I miss you too much during the week, too.”  I said, trying to steer the conversation off of Delia because I didn’t want to think about it anymore.  Maybe she was right, I was living in denial.

     “I miss you just as much, if not more.  I knew from the time I met you in the hotel that you were special.  I just didn’t know how special you would become to me.  Even though I was extremely pissed off at you for giving me a fake name, I am glad fate brought us together on the boat.  It just proved to me that we were meant to be, you and me.”

     “That first night was the most fun I’d had in a long time,” I said.  “At first I thought you were just another jerk on the prowl.  You grew on me quickly though with your smart-ass sense of humor.”

     He laughed.  “I told you, I know how to get what I want.”

     I rolled my eyes even though he couldn’t see it.  “Yeah, yeah, so you’ve told me on more than one occasion, and you definitely have me now.  Question is, what are you going to do with me?”

     “Everything, Kitten.  Absolutely everything.”

     We chatted a while longer about more mundane topics.  It really was hard having him so far away.   The closer we grew, the more I wished we had more time to spend together.  I was starting to feel things for James that I never anticipated feeling.  He was thrilling and exciting, but he also had this tender side that was emerging.  Each time I saw it, I became a little more enamored with him.  Our relationship was nothing like the thunderbolt I experienced with Vance.  This was a gradual process, a slow unveiling of ourselves to each other.  I had agreed to be his, but it wasn’t the heady rush I felt when I jumped off that cliff with Vance.  James stirred me in other ways.  The sex was phenomenal, and it certainly loaned a sense of attachment to him.  I mean, what woman wouldn’t be addicted to such carnality and satisfaction?  However, James made me smile, he made me laugh, and he made me fly.  I began to imagine a life together with him.  I saw us on many adventures trying anything that came along and caught our attention.  He liberated me from ways I hadn’t known I had been holding myself back.  Every time I thought about a future with him, I took another step onto the path of loving him.  I was more than a little nervous about it, not knowing if he actually felt the same.  He seemed to, but we’d never had a serious talk about our feelings for one another.  If I went down this road much further, I’d need that from him.  I didn’t want to be hanging out on a ledge all by myself.  He could be deployed at any time, and if his feelings weren’t the same, if he wasn’t envisioning a future together, I could be left holding my heart in my hands with no one to give it to. 

     The rest of the week was fortunately uneventful.  I did get a call from Justin, but I missed it.  He didn’t leave a message.  I tried calling him back, but his number was disconnected.  That didn’t bode well for Justin, in my opinion.  I finally decided to drive over to his house Friday afternoon before James was set to arrive.

     When Justin opened the door, he looked like hell.  His hair had grown out some, which he almost never let happen.  I swore the man shaved his head daily.  He had dark circles under his eyes and his expression when he saw me was tight.

     “Peaches, you really shouldn’t be here.  It’s not safe,” he said as I walked through the front door.

     “I know that it’s probably not a good idea, but I haven’t heard from you.  You did get my message about Delia’s visit to my house?”

    “Yes, I did and I’m still trying to work things out.  Obviously this pregnancy is a complication I wasn’t anticipating.  I haven’t tried to contact you because she comes here at all hours of the day.  I can’t turn my back on her if I’m responsible for her condition, but she’ll flip if she even thinks I’ve talked to you on the phone.  If she knows you’re here, it won’t go well for either one of us.”

     “Justin, you sound like you are scared of her.”

     “Only in as much as she’s unpredictable and volatile.  I can handle myself, she’s five-feet-four-inches and weighs one hundred twenty-five pounds tops.  I’m like twice her size so I can subdue her, but you?  I can’t be with her all the time to make sure she doesn’t harm you.  So, I figure better not to get the flame near that particular fuse.  I’ve just been going along trying to keep her as calm and as settled as I can.”

     “Well it’s not working,” I said in frustration.  “I hate this.  I hate that I can’t see my best friend, but I hate most of all what she’s doing to you.  How likely is it that this is your kid?” I asked.

     “Hell Mimi, I don’t know.  We were drinking and I was reckless that night.  She had said she was on the pill so I didn’t use a condom.”

     I opened my mouth in shock as he continued, “I know, I know.  It was foolish of me.  But who would have thought she was this messed up?”

     “I want to call you an idiot, Justin.  I really do.  Your behavior with this woman has not been that of the man I know.  You’ve made one bad decision after another when it comes to her.”

     He hung his head and nodded.  “I know, and I can’t explain it.  I wish I could sit and talk with you and sort things out like I normally would, but it’s really not safe for you to be here.  I need you to go home.  I will get this mess straightened out as fast as I can.  Forgive me if I can’t contact you very often.  Just know that I’m trying to keep you safe.”

     “Well send smoke signals or something to let me know you’re doing okay.  I worry about you just as much.”

     “I’ll text you at the very least.  I promise.”

     “Do it now, so I have your new number.” I said.  “Why is your old number disconnected anyway?”

     “She insisted that I change it so you can’t call me,” he admitted.

     “My God, Justin!  Why are you letting her rule your life this way?  You have the upper hand since you’re the one that she wants more than anything.  Set her straight!”

     “Every time I go on the offensive, Mimi, she does something to you.  Don’t you get it?  I’ve tried to take matters in hand, I really have.  But every single time that I do, she lashes out at you.  What else can I do to prevent that?  Your safety depends on me playing along with her at this point.  Now I really need you to go.  I don’t know what she’ll do if she finds out you were here.”

     I threw up my hands in frustration, shaking my head.  “Fine, I’ll leave.  I can’t take this wait and see approach though, Justin.  She’s wreaked too much havoc on my life already.  I’m nervous to go anywhere, to be out in public where she can come at me from any direction.  I can’t have her making my world even smaller but cutting you out of it.  I need you.”