11.
F ISH
I tried very hard not to be irritated when Mrs. Tannenbaum called asking for my help with her dishwasher for the third time. No amount of research had helped me find the problem. The only thing I could find that might explain its erratic performance was an electrical issue, and even though I wasn’t completely clueless in that department, I had a feeling that the problems with her appliance were beyond my ability to fix.
I did my best to convince her that she needed to call a professional, and she felt so bad for wasting so much of my time that she insisted I sit and have something to eat while she and the ladies who were there for her Friday night card game took a break. I had to admit that Mrs. Tannenbaum’s coffee cake was probably the best I’d ever tasted, but it was very uncomfortable eating it under the watchful eye of five women that Bubbe insisted were “perverted old hags.”
I would never admit it to Bubbe, but I thought that was a pretty good description of her, Dodie, and the rest of their clique.
My frustration tonight didn’t just stem from my inability to fix an appliance but because I had really hoped to have some time with Cat after the girls went to sleep. Of course, she was probably asleep by now, so I’d missed that window of opportunity, which really sucked because it seemed like things with Cat were always one step forward and two steps back.
Sometimes she looked at me like I hung the moon and stars, but other times she seemed almost wary of me, which I guessed was probably because she knew about my background, which was something I would never hide from a woman I was interested in. As an ex-con and convicted felon, there would always be hoops I’d have to jump through that other people who had lived a law-abiding life didn’t ever have to consider.
My housing situation, for instance. Yes, I lived on a houseboat and technically didn’t have an address near Bubbe because the HOA didn’t allow felons to live in the area. That wasn’t unheard of, but it usually only applied to drug offenses or sexual crimes, two things I’d never had anything to do with.
As much as it pained me to admit, I understood where the HOA was coming from. It was their mission to make sure that the residents in Bubbe’s neighborhood were safe, and the best way to do that was to keep convicts like me far away. I hated living apart from my grandmother and her sister - mostly because the wild and crazy women really needed full-time keepers, but also because I wanted to make sure that I was easily available when they needed me. It was bad enough that my work took me away for weeks and sometimes months at a time. When I was gone, my sisters shouldered the responsibility of watching out for our grandmother and great-aunt, so when I was home, I made sure to take on that responsibility.
And, good Lord, what a responsibility it was. I didn’t blame Bubbe and Dodie for enjoying their golden years to their maximum potential, considering they’d raised their own children and then helped raise me and my sisters since our sorry ass excuse of a mother couldn’t be bothered to do it herself.
For most of my life, I had sworn I’d never bring an innocent child into this fucked-up world because I was afraid I might turn out like my mother. But then I watched my sisters living their happy lives, raising children who they loved with all their hearts, and wondered if I might be able to do that too. The feeling really started to grow once I got to know Cat and her daughters. Now I couldn’t imagine not having Cat around for the rest of my days or spending the rest of my life making Macaroni and Lottie-bug smile and giggle.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen - from perpetual bachelor with no urge to build a family to a man who had found a family he’d do anything to make his own.
I parked the Gator in its spot under the carport and dropped the keys in the mail slot for Bubbe to find in the morning and then walked with my head down across the grass as I wondered how I might be able to get Cat to recognize that I was more than my rap sheet and give me a chance to be something more than just a friend.
I’d seen lust in her eyes more than once, but she always seemed to tame it, and whenever I mentioned something about us becoming more than friends, she seemed to retreat. I thought I had the perfect in this evening when we were out with the girls, but then Charlotte dropped her ice cream and had a complete meltdown which then upset Mackenzie.
The moment was lost as we tried to calm the kids down, and then, while Cat was putting them to sleep on the boat, I got an urgent call from Mrs. Tannenbaum, which I was starting to believe might not have been that urgent at all.
I looked up when I got to the dock and was surprised to see Cat sitting on the deck with her e-reader in hand. She glanced up when she heard the wood creak beneath my feet, and I watched her face light up when she saw me.
“You’re not wet, and you’ve got your shirt on. I guess Mrs. Tannanbaum didn’t get her show after all.”
“Have you been talking to my sisters?”
“As a matter of fact, I have,” Cat said as I shut the half-door behind me. “They told me all sorts of enlightening things.”
“Like what?”
“That you get twitchy when you’re too far away from water for any length of time and cranky when you don’t get to ride your motorcycle often.”
“Those aren’t too bad, are they?”
“Completely understandable.”
“What else did they tell you about me?” I asked as I walked into the galley for a beer. I saw the wine glasses drying next to the sink along with the two empty bottles of wine and realized that my sisters must have invaded and then plied Cat with alcohol to get answers to the questions they had about her that I refused to answer.
“They sang your praises.”
“Nothing bad, huh?” I asked before I tipped my head back for a long drink. When half the bottle was gone, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and grabbed another to take with me out onto the deck.
“There was mention that you will disappear for hours at a time when you get the urge to go fishing.”
“That’s true, but it has more to do with needing to get away from the craziness that happens when more than two of my sisters and their children are in a room together. You’ll find that my urge to go fishing usually coincides with a family dinner that’s gone on for too long.”
“Noted.”
I sat down on the end of the couch near Cat’s feet and then put them in my lap before I took another sip of beer. Finally, I asked, “What else did they tell you?”
“That they don’t want to hear me say that I think you’re sexy as hell and want to climb you like a tree and then bounce on your dick like I’m trying to win the gold at the National Pogo Competition.”
The beer in my mouth sprayed across the deck, and I started coughing when I sucked some of the foam into my airway. I had just swiped my hand over my face, sure there was beer coming out of my nostrils, when I realized Cat was laughing at me.
I was still choking when she admitted, “Technically, I didn’t say any of those things to your sisters, but I was considering them.”
“Pogo?” I choked out.
“Yep. I’ve seen an outline of that pogo stick when you’re wearing those cut off gray sweatpants, and let me say, I’m ready to go for the gold!”
“How much wine did you drink tonight?”
“I’ve got the girls on a boat surrounded by hungry alligators, Chai. I’m not drunk.”
“You might not be drunk, but something’s different about you.”
“I’ve made a decision, and I’m happy about it.”
“What’s your decision?”
“I’m going to pluck you out of the friendzone and keep you there because you’re a good man, and I know from experience that those are few and far between.”
◆◆◆
CAT
Apparently, my invitation was all Chai was waiting for because it seemed that he had already planned exactly what he was going to do to me.
By the time he had my shirt off and a nipple in his mouth, I realized it wasn’t what he was going to do to me , but the miraculous things he was doing for me that I would never forget. His hands were steady and firm while his touch was soft.
It felt like he was trying very hard to maintain some control when what I really wanted was for him to lose it. This was our first time, but that didn’t mean I was uncertain about exactly what I wanted.
Because I knew what I wanted, and it wasn’t soft and sweet.
I wasn’t a virgin when I married Joseph, and even though I hadn’t had a lot of partners, I had enough to know what I liked and what really turned me on. When Joseph and I first got together, he seemed like the perfect partner in bed and out of it. He was attentive to my body, seemed to like pleasing me, and enjoyed it when I pleased him.
That faded over time until sex was a quickie whenever he wanted it, and then I finished off with my vibrator if I felt like it after he left. Most of the time, I didn’t care. Sex was a transaction by the end of my marriage, and I wondered if I’d ever see it as anything else after that.
But now, with Chai in front of me, I knew that there would never be anything transactional about being intimate with him. No, if the determined look on his face and the heat in his gaze told me anything, it was that I was never going to be bored in the bedroom with Chai.
Or, in this case, on the deck of his boat.
Chai moved so quickly that I couldn’t help but gasp in shock when his hands gripped my hips and pulled me toward him. When his hands hooked the waistband of my shorts, I lifted my hips and let him pull them off, leaving me naked beside him. Suddenly, he slid off the seat before he pulled me toward the edge and hooked his arms behind my knees.
I was laid bare in front of him, my legs spread apart, leaving nothing hidden from him at all. Chai studied me for a second before his gaze traveled upwards.
He seemed to study every inch of my body as the breeze flowed over my bare skin. I was starting to get uncomfortable, bared the way I was, before he said, “I’ve been dreaming about this for weeks.”
“You have?” I asked.
“Fuck, yes,” Chai growled before he leaned forward and pulled my nipple into his mouth. The angle of his body against mine pressed his zipper against my clit, and without thinking, I started squirming against him.
Chai’s mouth moved to my other nipple as he pressed his hands down on the cushions beside my hip, spreading my legs even wider as his body covered mine. He trailed kisses up my chest to my collarbone and then nibbled his way up my neck until his lips caught mine in a kiss so explosive it took my breath away.
As he deepened the kiss, he pressed his hips forward and then back and forth to rub against my clit. I moaned at the friction that caused.
“I want to take my time with you, but I’m not sure I can,” Chai murmured against my lips.
I asked the question that had been niggling in the back of my mind since I decided to pursue this . . . whatever it was . . . with Chai, “Is this a one and done thing for you?”
“Oh, hell no.”
“Then take your time later.”
“But . . .”
“If it’s not one and done . . . “
“I don’t want to hear those words come out of your mouth again when you’re talking about me, Abbie-Cat. There’s not going to be a time when I’m ever done with you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
I trailed my hands down his chest until I encountered the button of his jeans and then popped it open before I slowly pushed his zipper down. Once I had his pants open, I slid my hand into his underwear and ran my hand up and down his cock as I said, “If I ask you to fuck me so hard I see stars, can you do that?”
“Is that what you’re asking?”
“I’ll even throw in a please if that’s what it takes.”
“I like hearing that word,” Chai said as he watched me push the waistband of his jeans and underwear down to expose his cock. I angled it toward me and kept stroking him until he finally said, “I want to hear you say it again.”
“Chai, please fuck me.”
With a grunt, Chai pushed forward and filled me up. The stretch of my body as it shaped to fit him made me gasp in pleasure. He held himself still inside me and then caught my lips with his again.
When he finally started moving, I was surprised at how slow he pulled out of me and then pushed back in. He did it a few more times, teasing my clit as he rubbed back and forth before he pulled back again. I tried to move, but my legs were spread so wide that there wasn’t anything I could do. He might not be fucking me as hard as I wanted him to, but there was nothing I could do about it.
Other than begging for him to move faster, which I did the second he lifted his mouth from mine.
“Please, Chai. I need more.”
“Trying to make it last,” Chai muttered before he touched his forehead to mine.
“If we’ve got forever, then make it last next time and the time after that. Right now, I need you to . . . “
My words trailed off when Chai took my suggestion and started hammering into me, his body pushing against mine every time he slammed his cock home. I could do nothing more than hold on for dear life, and I did that by running my hands through his hair and holding on tight. My orgasm hit me like a tidal wave and had my body clutching at his as I lost the ability to think or breathe. I could only feel.
Chai kept going until one turned into another, then suddenly let my legs go and reached up to grip my face with both hands as his lips met mine. He groaned into my mouth as I felt his cock twitch deep inside me, and I gasped as he rubbed his pubic bone against my clit over and over again in the hopes of making me come one more time.
I could only focus on what I was feeling and how close I was to another orgasm when I realized that even though he’d just come deep inside me his cock was getting hard all over again. This time, though, I could move my legs, so I wrapped them around his waist as I moved my hands to grip his shoulders.
Chai leaned back on his heels and took my body with him, and I found a purchase on the deck so I could brace my feet, giving me a chance to ride him this time rather than give him all of the control. By the time I came again, the muscles in my legs were burning, but I didn’t pay any attention to the pain. All I could focus on was his body against me and deep inside mine, something I knew I would never be able to get enough of.
When he came again with a hoarse shout, I leaned back against the edge of the cushion and took him with me, letting his body cover mine as we both tried to catch our breath.
“That was wonderful,” I murmured before I kissed him on the cheek.
Chai pulled his head back far enough for me to see his smile before he touched his forehead to mine again and said, “That was just the first round.”