Revelation: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series) (54 page)

Saturday, Taylor and Emily spent a good portion of the day hanging out while Mark and Jon had some brother time, but that night the whole crew decided to go dancing.  Between Jeremy and Luke and their drivers, everyone was able to drive together for their night on the town.

Once they were settled in at one of the happening clubs, everyone got their drinks and commandeered some seating in the lounge area off of the dance floor.  Ayanna wasted no time and grabbed the girls to start dancing, which they did, having a blast and shaking it for all the men to see.  When they started attracting too much attention, Jeremy went out to snag Ryann around the waist to grind into her, letting others know she wasn’t available.

The girls, now a little tipsy, laughed at his possessiveness but knew Ryann loved every second of it.  She was definitely getting Jeremy worked up.

Ayanna and Emily laughed as they began walking over to the lounge area to see if they
could convince their own men to dance.

“You know he’s not gonna go for it,” Emily was saying, knowing full well how much Jonathan hated to dance.

“His friggin’ ass is dancin’ with me,” Ayanna dictated with a confident smirk.

“Hey!  You said ‘friggin’!”

“That’s not the same as the F word!” Ayanna yelled.

“I don’t know,” Emily joked.  “Don’t you know what ‘friggin’ means on the streets?”  She loved teasing her about her 40 day fast from saying the F word.

Ayanna barked out a laugh.  “Would you shut up?  If I can’t say ‘friggin’ then I might as well throw in the towel right now.”

They had just arrived to the lounge area and Jon immediately pulled Yan down onto his lap.  “You look good out there,” Jon said with a sexy grin.  His eyes were eating her up.  Emily interrupted.

“She just said ‘friggin’,” Emily said to Jon.  “Is she allowed to say ‘friggin’?”

Jon laughed.  “Yes, my gorgeous Miss Potty Mo
uth is allowed to say ‘friggin’.”

Ayanna kissed him then stuck out her tongue at Emily.  “Tattle tale.”  Then without letting the conversation continue she looked at Jon and crooked her finger at him.  “I want you on the dance floor.”

Jon winced, “Baby, you know I can’t dance.  If you want me to balance a spreadsheet of numbers, I’m happy to do that for you instead.”

Ayanna laughed and completely ignored him, stood up and crooked her finger some more while swinging her hips to entice him to the floor.

“Shit, bro.  You’re gonna let your girlfriend, who is
so
above your pay grade, dance by herself at a club?  Are you fuckin’ crazy?  I’ll dance with her,” Mark said and began to get up.

Other than Ayanna dancing completely naked in front of him, nothing could’ve gotten Jon up faster out of his chair.  He pushed Mark back down then in a thick accent said, “Keep your fahckin’ hands to yourself.”  He pointed at him in warning and Mark let out a howl.  Emily chuckled.  It was very much like them, Mark being a wise ass and Jon laying the smackdown on him.

“That’s it!” Mark yelled over the music, laughing.  “Get your ass out there and show these men who she belongs to!”

“Yeah, come on, big boy,” Ayanna said in a sultry voice and pulled Jon with her.  “Show ’em who I belong to.”

Jon smiled, grabbing her and kissing her soundly on the lips with a loud smack.  “Let’s go, baby.  Don’t let me step on your toes.”

“Don’t worry champ.  My toes will be fine.  It’s the other parts of my body I’m not too sure about,” she said, wiggling her hips and leading him by the collar of his shirt to the dance floor. 

Those still left in the lounge area laughed.  Emily looked over at Mike, Mark and Luke and pinned her eyes on the man who melted her heart.

“How ’bout you, Detective?” she said with a hint of a smile and snuggled up to him.

“I was just telling your boyfriend here that since everyone keeps saying we’re like two peas in a pod, I’ve determined he must be awesome,” Mark said with a chuckle.  “I heartily approve of him, by the way.”

“This doesn’t surprise me,” Emily beamed. 

Very similar in coloring to his older brother, Mark had blue eyes and was around six feet tall with dirty blonde to light brown hair. The younger version of Bradley Cooper, he was full of charm, ease, and a great sense of humor.  Mark couldn’t have been more opposite in appearance to Mike.   But their personalities?  Like he’d said, two peas in a pod. 

“He is pretty awesome,” Emily said, leaning up for a kiss from Mike.  She couldn’t believe how affectionate she’d become.  Mike didn’t disappoint and laid one on her.

“We’re already planning a motorcycle ride for the spring,” Mark continued.

“Nice!  I want in,” Emily said.

“Of course, you’re in,” Mike said.  “We just need to find Mark a partner.”  Mike turned to look at him.

“I’ll see who I can scramble up,” Mark joked.

“There you are!” Taylor exclaimed, coming up to the table.  “Come on, we’re supposed to be dancin’.”  She laughed and grabbed Em’s hand.

Emily gave Mark a look with a raised eyebrow, as if to say
Hello! Riding partner right here!
  Then she turned to Mike.  “Let’s go, Detective.”

He grabbed her face and let the kiss linger a moment, then whispered against her lips, “I’d say I’m ready to show you some moves.”

“Whattaya waitin’ for, then?”

He gave her a lazy smirk and got up, just as Michael Jackson’s
The Way You Make Me Feel
started playing.  They both looked at each other and started cracking up.

“What’d we miss?” Mark asked.

“I’ll tell you later,” Emily smiled.  “Let’s go, boys.  Everybody up!”

As they began dancing away from the table, Mike turned his attention to Emily, laughing, spinning her around and dancing her toward the floor, singing to her the whole way.  Mark and Taylor followed close behind, Mark starting to finally move all around Taylor. 

The song played out while Mike and Emily smiled and whooped, remembering the singing telegram.  So much had happened since that day; so many wonderful incredible things.  Emily couldn’t be happier.  As the song came to a close, Mike took her in for a final spin, ending with her in his arms and him nuzzling his lips by her ear.

“You’re so hot,” he whispered.

Goose bumps appeared on her arms at the sound of his voice and words that were spoken.  She grabbed his face so he wouldn’t move back and turned her mouth to his ear.  “You’re not too bad yourself,” she whispered back.

Even though the music moved into another grinding song, they continued holding each other dancing with a sexy slow pace.  She sighed with contentment and looked around. 

Taylor and Mark were near the other couples, dancing and having a great time.

Janie and Tiffany were dancing with each other, laughing.  Luke had made his way over to the two of them, inserting himself into their little square on the floor.  Men were all over those two girls and Luke seemed to turn into their protector almost immediately.  Both Tiffany and Janie were charming beautiful women and continued dancing all around with men hovering near.  Since Drew had to work that night, they stuck with each other most of the time, but especially when the male friends in the group came out to claim their significant others.  However, now that Luke was out there, Janie turned the charm way up, raising her arms and rubbing into him, singing to him and sexily chuckling the whole time.

At one point, Luke was behind her and held her hips, rubbing himself into her as well, talking into her ear.

Janie just laughed and continued dancing, having a great time and making the poor man sweat.

Mike saw where Emily was looking and turned in that direction.  He made an uncomfortable face, then a resigned one.

“Does it still bother you?”  She practically had to shout at him so he could hear her over the music.

Mike smirked, then shrugged.  “Not really, I guess.  They’re adults, right?” he shouted back.

She nodded and smiled. 
I love you
, she mouthed.

He laughed and spun her again, then Emily forgot about everyone else and danced.

……

On Sunday, they all slept in and Emily and Taylor met up at a diner for some breakfast, then went on a huge shopping excursion.  Emily had wanted to take Taylor to do some major discount shopping at Century 21 in lower Manhattan

“You and Marky Mark seemed to have a good time dancing last night,” Emily said innocently with a side look.

Taylor looked back at her, her face flushed.  “We did.  He’s a great dancer.”

“Yes, he is.”  There was a beat of silence then they both laughed, Taylor letting out a deep sigh. 

“Let’s find me some sexy lingerie.  I’m feeling reckless,” Taylor said.

“You got it, babe.”

They continued shopping and at one point Emily finally decided to tell Taylor what she’d been worrying about since Friday night.  After overhearing Lacey’s comment to Mike, it was always in the back of her mind.  When she finally mentioned to Taylor what she’d overheard at dinner between Mike and Lacey, Taylor became thoughtful.

“He’s always been honest with you, Em, right?  Maybe he’s planning a surprise for you or something.”

“It seemed more serious than that,” Emily said, biting her lip.

“You could ask him, but I’m sensing you won’t want to do that.”

“No.  If he wants to talk, he’ll talk.”  Emily stopped in the midst of the clothing rack and turned to Taylor.  “You don’t think it’s - do you think it’s someone else?”

“No, Emmie, I don’t.”  Taylor reached her hand out to squeeze Emily’s reassuringly.

“He promised he’d never cheat,” Emily continued, sounding worried.

“It’s not that, Em.  I’m sure.”

“Okay,” she breathed.  “Okay. You’re right.  I know you’re right.  He would never do that.”

“I think you should ask him, Em.  So you’re not so nervous about it.  Or,” Taylor said, “you could trust him.  And wait until he tells you whatever it is.  I don’t know.  Does that sound naïve?”

“Yes,” Emily chuckled and Taylor smiled.  “I’m kidding.  I do trust him.  It’s just that whatever it is sounded pretty ominous.  I’ll wait until the weekend’s over then the next time we have free, I’ll see what happens.”

Taylor nodded, “Okay.”  She squeezed her hand again then let go.  “And might I say that I’m very proud of you.  You actually shared something with me that you were worried about.  Completely unprompted by me, I might add.”

Emily smirked then got serious.  “I’m gettin’ there, Tee.”

“Yes, you are.”

……

Columbus Day was hopping at Jeremy and Ryann’s brownstone where yet another soiree was under way, this time without the parents but with the addition of a few more friends.  Since Mark and Taylor needed to get back up north, they’d all agreed on an earlier party so the two of them could make their train by three.

“I’m so glad you finally got a chance to meet everyone,” Emily said to Taylor who was sitting next to her on the loveseat in the living room.  “They’ve heard me talk about you for so long now.”

“I already feel like I’ve known them forever.  Saturday night was great, by the way.  They’re all so nice.  And so different from each other,” Taylor pointed out.  “But you can tell they’re all good peeps.”

“Yup, the best,” Emily agreed, looking around the room at the close friends now mingling on the first floor, devouring Janie and Ayanna’s new recipes, as well as some meatball appys along with pizzas from local pizzerias.  The chefs declared that it was Columbus Day, after all, so only Italian food would do.

The only person Taylor hadn’t met yet was Maurice, who happened to walk over at that moment to introduce himself.

“So now I get to meet the woman on the phone after all these months.  It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Taylor.”

Taylor put her hand out and dazzled him with her smile.  ‘Dazzled’ being the operative word.  She was a mix of striking ethnicities: Irish from her father and half Japanese and German from her mom.  The combination usually caused men to look a second time.  Her delicate and curvy body, coupled with the exotic features of her face and her dark brown eyes and hair were arresting to say the least. 

“Same here.  I feel like I already know you,” she said sweetly.

“You do.  Four months of phone calls will do that to you,” he smiled, his bright white teeth shining within his dark skin.  “How’s your program been going?”

“It’s been going well, but certainly not as exciting as yours has been,” she said with a sympathetic and knowing look, referring to the shooting.  “What a way to start the school year.  I’m so glad Kevin is gonna be okay.”

“I know.  It’s been a little crazy, but our students have been really supportive and when Kevin comes back, he’ll be welcomed with a lot of love.”

“He’s gonna need it.  Not to mention a lot of counseling,” Taylor added.

“Yeah, Rene’s already got that set up for him.  She’s been incredible through this whole thing,” Mo said.  “And it’s been great to get to know Jon’s brother.  He’s one of the mentors in your program, I hear.”