Something to Talk About (9 page)

Adam looked around his partially packed apartment and sighed deeply. In a few days he’d be heading off to California for a summer internship and he’d be away from the situation in body, but not in mind. The thought of being away from Alicia was causing him distress he didn’t want to deal with. He walked over to the stereo system that was still set up and slipped in a Miles Davis CD. The lush love song that issued from the speakers probably wasn’t the best choice, given his mood. He was about to substitute his favorite Roxy Music CD when he heard a knock at the door. He wasn’t really dressed for company; he was wearing denim shorts that had seen their best days some years before and he was shirtless. He was also barefoot, but anyone who came to his place unannounced had to take him as he was. Opening the door he was stunned to find Alicia, soaking wet from the rain and trembling.

He ushered her in immediately, asking what was wrong. “Baby, you’re wet to the skin and you don’t even have a coat on. What’s the matter, Alicia? What brought you out in this rain?”

She shook her head mutely and he realized that the moisture on her face wasn’t just rain, it was tears. He pulled her into his arms and held her against his chest, his heart breaking as she sobbed against his neck.

“Alicia, baby, tell me what’s wrong,” he entreated her. “What’s happened to hurt you so, angel? Tell me.”

Her sobs continued as though his soft words only made her feel worse. Picking her up in his arms as though she were a tiny child, he carried her into his bedroom and sat her on the bed.

“I’ll get it all wet," she said, sniffling.

“No, you won’t. I’m going to get you all dry, how’s that?” he said softly. He handed her some big fluffy towels and one of his sweatshirts, plus a pair of thick woolen socks. “Take off those wet things and put these on. I’m going to make you some tea, okay? I’ll be right back.”

In a short time she was attired in dry clothing and sitting in the middle of the bed looking lost and embarrassed and he was back with a steaming mug of tea that smelled heavenly. It also had a delicious taste as she discovered when she took a sip. She smiled when she realized that he’d laced it with rum. “Mmm, that’s nice,” she murmured.

Adam didn’t answer. He was busy lighting some big scented candles on his dresser. He got in the bed with her and completely surprised her by sitting behind her so he could dry her hair. He wrapped a towel around her shoulders and removed the band from her hair to begin blotting the moisture from it while he talked to her in a soft, soothing voice.
 
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She allowed his hands and the sound of his voice to lull her out of her agitation. Only the occasional hiccup remained of her tears and she felt warm and protected. After the tea was finished she leaned forward to put the mug on the nightstand. Then she scooted back against Adam and sighed raggedly as she felt his arms enfold her.

“She’s pregnant, Adam. She came to see me today, to tell me she was having Preston’s baby and to ask me to stay out of his life so they could be together,” she said, unaware that her voice was shaking.
“As if I’d give that louse the time of day.
If his head was on fire I wouldn’t pour a glass of water on it,” she added with as much scorn as she could muster with the tears returning. “I don’t ever want to see him again in this
life and
I don’t care wha
t happens to him, or to her, but
here I am crying like an idiot and I don’t know why,” she sobbed.

Adam couldn’t stand her anguish one more second. He turned her around in his embrace so that she was facing him and he kissed her tears away, kissed her and held her tightly and assured her that it was okay to cry.

“Let it all out, baby, then it’ll all be over. Just let it go, Allie, get rid of it
.
”

His arms tightened around her and he continued to kiss her face and her neck and slowly she began to return his kisses, on his neck, then his cheek, then their li
ps touched, very slowly and gentl
y, as fleeting as the caress of the rain that fell against the windows. Adam sat up and tried to
pull away from her. The softness of her lips, her skin, the satiny smoothness of her long bare legs revealed in the oversized but inadequate cover of the sweatshirt, and the delicate scent of her skin were too much for him to stand.

“Alicia,” he murmured, trying to put some space between his yearning and the temptation of her body, “Alicia, angel...”

He couldn’t get out another word because her lips were caressing his and the sensation was too overpowering to deny. He pulled her luscious lower lip into his mouth and sucked on it
tenderl
y, then sighed with delight as she returned the favor, pressing closer to his body and opening her mouth to allow their tongues to caress each other. The kiss went on and on, sending waves of passion through him like a seismic shock resonating in a desert
.
The fire continued to build as their hands began to explore their heated bodies, touching each other, caressing each other, demanding more and more.

Adam’s big hands encircled Alicia’s waist under the bulky garment and found her tight, supple body pliant and yielding to his exploration. Her slim, clever hands were making demands of their own, sliding over his broad chest and smoothing her warm palms against his sensitized nipples until a surge of passion arose from which there would be no turning back.

“Stop, baby, we have to stop this,” he murmured, but any fool could tell he didn’t mean it.

Alicia pulled away from his
embrace long enough to remove th
e sweatshirt, kneeling in front of Adam with her eyes ablaze with desire and her kiss-swollen lips daring him to resist
.

“No, Adam, we don’t have to stop,” she said so sof
tl
y that he could barely hear her. She looked incredibly beautiful, the candlelight glinting off the dusky bronze of her naked body. She stared at Adam with need and desire pouring o
ut of every pore, smiling a littl
e as she r
eached back to discreetl
y remove the big wool socks. She repeated her words in the same hushed voice heavy with longing.

“We don’t have to stop, do we?”

His on
ly answer was to remove the few items of
clothing that he was wearing and hold his arms open for her willing body. With a sigh of anticipation, she slid into them as though she were born for his pleasure alone. They held each other for long moments, delighting in the feel of silken skin against hard muscle, and then Adam turned her so she was on her back. With great tenderness and devotion, he kissed her face, her lips, her neck, and her shoulders, while his hands caressed her breasts. His lips and tongue pleasured each nipple as his hands began a more intimate exploration of her most feminine attributes, teaching her a kind of loving she’d never experienced before.

Alicia tried to reciprocate but Adam wouldn’t allow it. He took complete control of her body as he devoured every inch of it with his hands and his tongue, branding her in a way that her ex-
fiance
hadn’t come close to achieving. She was
sighing
his name over and over and trembling with barely suppressed passion when she felt his massive erection against her thigh as he reached
for the box of condoms in the nightstand. He was about to rip open the packet with his teeth when she took it from him and pushed his shoulders so that he was lying down and she was in control, if only for the length of time it took to put the latex condom on. The heat of her small hands on his engorged, sensitized member was almost his undoing, but he controlled himself until he eased his thick, straining manhood into her hot, moist opening and joined their bodies in the most intimate embrace possible.

He brushed her hair away from her face and looked at her with eyes made heavy by the extreme erotic pleasure and was touched to see her looking at him with such love and tenderness that he knew at that moment this was the woman without whom life would have no meaning. Their bodies rocked back and forth in the age-old rhythm and the primal pressure that was building in both of them exploded into a shattering climax that went on longer than anything he’d ever experienced in his life.

All
ie, Allie, my heart, my angel, I love you, I love you, baby,
he thought, and in the trembling, mindless shattering release that followed he could have sworn he heard her saying the same words to him.

By now Roxy’s eyes were full of tears and she was wiping them away with the sleeve of her expensive pima cotton pajamas.
“Oh, my soul, Alicia.
That’s the mo
st beautifu
l story I’ve ever heard. About two people I actually know, that is. It was magical.” She sighed. “So what happened next? Why didn’t you just pick up from there and go on like two people in love since you obviously were?”

Alicia had been sitting Indian style for so long her legs were cramped. She gingerly unfolded them and got up from the bed for a long stretch. Looking down at Roxy, who was staring at her expectantly, she shrugged. “That’s a good question. It’s just not that simple,
Rox
.”

She
put her hands in her pockets and wandered around the spacious bedroom, taking in the opulent furnishings and freeing one hand to finger the gilt tracery on the dresser. Finally she looked into the big mirror and met the reflection of Roxy’s inquisitive gaze. “That night it seemed like the simplest thing in the world. We connected so profoundly and so intimately, it was obvious that we belonged together. But in the bright light of morning, it was just all wrong.”

* * *

Adam came awake very slowly, reluctant to return to consciousness after a night in parad
ise. He usually woke up quickly;
his eyes would open and he’d get out of bed without any preliminaries. Adam’s nervous system was like that of a jungle cat, wary and sensitive and alert to any changes in his surroundings. He’d been so overcome with erotic delirium from his night with Alicia that his normal reactions were affected. Everything was affected; the passion they shared had changed everything. His eyelids were still closed, but he could smell the faint fragrance Alicia had left behind. He knew without moving that she was no longer in the bed with him and he was touched by an undeniable sadness. She’d left him during the night. She’d left his bed, left the apartment, left him alone, and he could understand why, although he wished with all his heart that she were still here.

He finally opened his eyes and threw the covers back, getting up abruptly and heading into the bathroom. After brushing his teeth and attending to a few other needs, he started for the kitchen. A pot of coffee was first on the agenda if he was going to regain any semblance of normalcy. Once he had some caffeine in his system it would be easier to figure out a way to apologize to his best friend for the best night of his life, one that was undoubtedly causing her more pain.

Walking into the kitchen naked as a jaybird, he was stunned to find Alicia wearing her wrinkled jeans from last night and one of his T-shirts that hung mid
-
thigh on her. She was stirring something in a bowl and from the array of ingredients on the counter it looked like she was making him a feast. She looked up when she heard him come into the room and smiled when she saw his lack of attire.

“My, we are informal this morning, aren’t we?”

Adam was too stunned to react at first,
and
then he glanced down and did something he hadn’t done since his preschool days. He blushed. He could feel the telltale hot flush racing up his neck as he went back to the bedroom. He returned to the kitchen wearing an old pair of jeans and a denim shirt that could have used some ironing. By now the familiar fragrance of Alicia’s strong Cuban coffee was filtering through the apartment and the smell of whatever she was cooking filled his nostrils.

“Sit down,” she invited. “I went to the store early this morning and got some groce
ries. I made you
croquetas
, littl
e ham croquettes. And I also made you scrambled eggs and tostadas. It’s almost ready, but you can start with the fruit, if you like.” She placed a small plate with sliced guava, mango, and fresh pineapple in front of him.

Adam ignored the food; his attention was all on Alicia. He was so relieved that she hadn’t dashed out of the apartment he hadn’t managed to speak a word. She didn’t seem to notice his reticence, though; she seemed quite cheerful and composed. Her hair wasn’t confined in its usual braid, it was flowing in big waves down to her butt, and she was singing some little song in Spanish as she finished the meal. When she finally turned away from the stove and put the platters on the table, Adam noticed for the first time that her hands were shaking just a little bit She took a seat and was about to start talking again when he grabbed the hand nearest to him.

“Thank you, Allie.” At her questioning look, he elaborated. “Thank you for this, for not leaving last night. When I woke up this morning I thought you were gone,” he said simply.

Alicia’s face flooded with understanding and she clasped his big hand in both of hers. “I should be thanking you, Adam. Thank you for the love and tenderness and caring you shared with me,” she whispered. “I’ve never felt so cherished in my entire life, and that’s the truth. No one has ever made me feel as special as you, no one has ever taken care of me like you, and I love you for it.”