Surviving Valentine, page 2
“I’d love to Candace. Darien you in?” Ross asks me. I’m not sure I want to go with them just so I can watch them play tonsil hockey later. “I think I am good tonight, I got a lot of shit to do with the house tomorrow. You kids have fun though” Scarlet looks a little disappointed. Did she want me to go? Candace asked if she was going. She declined saying she’s got to get back to Roxy. Who is Roxy? Does she have a kid? I love kids but that will make it difficult for a little fun in the sun. “Well I think I am going to head out, I got my boys their drinks, and it has been a long day.” She says then looks at me. “It was nice meeting you.” It was definitely nice meeting her “Pleasure meeting you as well.” Something sparked in those emeralds.
Candace interrupted our little staring contest going on. “Ok, Why don’t we all go out tomorrow? We should go dancing! We love to dance!” I look at Candace and the look she has is mischievous. What is that pixie up to? “Oh hell yea! That sounds like fun. You Debby Downer’s up for it tomorrow?” Ross belted out. I look at Scarlet. “Yea I’m down.” I say. Scarlet nods. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting night. Candace makes plans with Ross for tonight. Then they say their goodbyes and head over to the table that they were at.
Ross sighs “Man I think I am in love” I laugh. “Yeah, good luck with that one man.” I slap him on the back “Alright man. I’m going to get out of here; got a lot I got to sort through at the house.” He just nods. “Yeah I hear you. If you need anything let me know.” I start to head out, but I take a glance at Scarlet one last time before I leave. She’s laughing with the guys at the table. I wish I knew what made her smile like that. Suddenly she turns those emeralds on me and I’m lost. She laughs and turns back to her table. I walk out into the night, and head home. My thoughts easily return to Scarlet, Man I am in trouble.
Chapter 3
Scarlet
“MM Oh yeah, just like that!” “Oh Darien!” He kisses that spot behind my ear, and then nuzzles my neck with his scruffy chin. Oh my! I love scruffiness. He moves across my collar bone and back up to my jaw. He makes a noise that sounds like a growl. Oh god I am so turned on right now. His hand travel down my stomach. Down. Down. OH MY! He goes to whisper in my ear then he licks my neck. Interesting. He continues to lick my neck, and then my jaw, and my face. WHAT THE HELL? Realizing I am dreaming, I wake up. But why am I still being licked? ROXY! “Down Roxy!”
Such a good dream, now I have a slimy dog face. I turn over and think about last night. Darien Valentine, what a man! Black hair, that perfect hair grabbing length. He had to of be 6’2, broad shoulders, very muscular body. He had a body like an MMA fighter; he gave off dangerous vibes like them too. He looked like the type of guy that left a line of broken hearts behind him, but boy did you love every minute of it. He had a sharp, scruffy jaw, and an imperial roman nose. And those eyes! OH those eyes, the only way I can describe them is as beach eyes. Beautiful gold surrounding the pupils, just like sand at the beach, and then suddenly BAM! A deep blue like the ocean. I could stare into those eyes and never surface. Like an under tow, you would never see me again. Being close to him made me feel like my world was spinning.
I heard a whine from the side of the bed. “I’m sorry girl; let’s go get you something to eat.” Rolling out of bed, I walk down the stairs and get Roxy some food. I make a cup of stress tamer tea and head towards my porch. I love waking up to see the sun rise over the ocean. It’s so peaceful here. The waves are calm over the sand; it’s very quiet this morning. The sky is lit up with different shades of reds, oranges, purples, and a bit of blues. Roxy came bursting out the door and down the porch stairs towards the beach. She loves playing in the water. I bet she misses Aunt Tara. She was such a carefree woman. Her whole saying of a life was Hakuna Matata. Yeah I know, but when you think about it. It is a nice way of living, always saying no worries to everything. I have tried to adopted the philosophy as well. Trying to live for today and enjoy life. I miss her already. I think I’ll go over, and check on things.
I walk back into the house and set my tea cup down on the counter. I look around my house. I always liked color. I have terra cotta color see through curtains hanging around my windows. Turquoise blue curtains hanging by my sliding glass door that leads out to the beach. I think I will leave that open, get some fresh air in the house. I walk over to open the door and stub my toe on my brown sectional. “OUCH!” Man my day is just going great. First with my sexy dream turning out to be with a dog, and now I stub my baby toe. Great!
I grab my keys and set out to Aunt Tara’s house. It looks so quiet and daunting. I walk up the porch and use my key to open the door. The smell of vanilla and lime assaults my nostrils. She always loved tropical like smells. Always buying candles, sprays, anything that smelt like a tropical drink. It looks the same as when she lived in this house. Her bright yellow couch is still sitting by the window with its flowery pillows and sky diving magazines littering the coffee table. Her china perfectly organized in the kitchen cabinets. Sigh. I make my way up towards her attic. I pass pictures of her family along the way up the stairs. She really loved her family. She especially loved her nephew, I forgot his name. But she said he was a navy seal. So she didn’t have many pictures of him. I noticed her bedroom door was closed. I wasn’t ready to go there yet. A place where it was so her, with her crumpled up bed spread, because she never made her bed. A Percy Jackson book with dog eared pages on the night stand. We were reading the series together. I pull down her attic stairs and climb up. So many boxes to go through, I’ll start with her books, then move on to her pictures.
After organizing her books, and going through 3 albums of her adventures I hear a noise. A creak in the floorboards below. Was someone in the house? Oh God! Was there a robber here? I ran over to the wall by the stairs leading up here. I would get this person! Being a self defense teacher, and a kick boxer came in handy in situations like this. I listen as the noise creeps closer to the stairs. Ok, ok I am ready! The robber was walking up the stairs, and then came to the top of the stairs and now a big body stands in front of me looking around.
The body walks forward a bit. I try to make my escape back down and the person grabs my shoulder and yells “HEY!” I slam my elbow into the robber’s gut! Step on their instep of the foot! The person wraps me in their arms and spins me around away from the escape of the stairs. I break free of their grasp on my arms and I grab their wrist and adjust my knees and throw the robber over my shoulder. I start to run for the stairs when a hand grabs my ankle, thus tripping me. I fell to the ground and the robber started pulling me towards them. I kick my feet towards their face and the robber dodges my kicks. I spin around trying to get a look at the robber, when he attacks me. I know it has to be a he based on the size, and weight of the person. Plus I would have been free by now if it was a female. He lunges at me knocking me on my back and pins me down. I go for my next move to head butt him, and I stop. I am being stared down by the only pair of eyes who could disable me. Beach eyes!
“Darien?” I ask. He looks stunned, and now confused. “Scarlet? What the hell are you doing in my house?”He demanded. “I was organizing, Wait? Your house? I will have you know this house belongs to a dear friend of mine Aunt Tara.” He had a face that could say only one thing. DUH! “Yeah my aunt Tara left it to me after she passed. I just moved in yesterday” Nephew? Navy? “HOLY SHIT! You’re her nephew? The navy seal?” He looked a little smug. He glanced down my body and that’s when I realized I was still in my tight Harry Potter night shirt that stopped right above my naval, and my plaid men’s lounge pants, with no shoes and no bra! AH how embarrassing! He made his way back up to my eyes. His eyes showed a hunger. I tried to move but he was still pinning me to the ground. “Can you let me go now?”
“Depends, are you going to attack me again?” He asked with a smile. My eyes narrowed. “You attacked me! I thought you were a robber and you grabbed my shoulder!” He quietly shh’d me “It’s ok this is just an easy misunderstanding.” He let go of my wrists and got up to sit down next to me. I sat up slowly and looked him over. His black hair was messy, his shirt and sweatpants were rumpled. I must have woken him up. “Sorry if I woke you, I didn’t think there was anyone in the house. I didn’t know what was going to happen to it. But at least you aren’t some pervy man that hangs out naked on the beach listening to salsa music right?” He laughed a real hearty laugh. “Not today no.” Well at least something has gone right today; I was really worried about that one. “Sorry I frightened you, would you like a cup of coffee?” He asked.
“No thank you, I don’t drink coffee, but I will take some of Aunt Tara’s tea. I know where it is.” He stood and helped me up. He pulled me up a little hard and I slammed into him. His touch sent a shock to my core. I shivered. My hands were on his chest. He felt so hard, so muscular. I looked up and he was looking down at me. We were both caught in each other’s stare. He coughed then broke the connection. “Sorry, I’ll go get some hot water going for you.” He let go and headed down the stairs.
I let a breath out I didn’t even know I had held in. Catching my breath I thought about what all Aunt Tara said about her beloved nephew. She used to tell me stories about him, how smart, funny, handsome and good at everything he was. She said he was a jack of all trades. He could build anything, and fix anything, and yet be gentle. He was a navy seal; I mean he did say he was in the navy, but nothing about being a navy seal. I mean those guys are the best of the best of the best sir! Oh no the movie quotes are coming out. I just quoted men in black in my head! The scene where Will Smith is taking a test with the other men and STOP IT SCAR! You need to be focused! Now get your butt down there and face him!
I head down the stairs and see him reaching above his head to the top shelf to grab the tea cups. While he wasn’t quite aware I was there I took a moment to really take him in.
Long muscled arms reaching high, pulling his shirt up enough that I got a glimpse of a really tight set of abs and V. Oh the V, one of my favorite parts of a man. You know the part where his abs and hip bones create a V that head straight down to my other favorite part of man. Yum. He must have felt my presence because he looked over, and smirked. SHIT! He caught me checking him out. I walked over to the cabinets in front of him and grabbed the jasmine, orange tea. He was right behind me; I swear I heard him smell me. I could be wrong though. I turned around and he was making sure the water was heating up. I guess it was my imagination. We don’t say a word to each other until we are both settled at the kitchen table. The smell of jasmine and orange calms me, as the coffee seems to be doing the same for him. It’s getting kind of quiet now so I start conversation. “I’m sorry about your aunt. She was one of my best friends. A very amazing woman.” He looked a little sad. “Yeah, she was great. Its weird being in this house surrounded by her you know?” I looked around and I knew exactly what he meant. It’s like she is just out on vacation and she will be back next week. “Yeah its weird, I feel like she will be coming home from her routine sky diving trip any day now. But I know it’s not true.” He looked around, he had a questioning look on his face “I thought she had a dog. Do you know what happened to it?”
“Roxy? Yeah Aunt Tara left her to me. She’s over at my house. I live in the house right next door.” That seemed to answer some questions, even some maybe he didn’t ask. “That was very nice of you to take care of her. I haven’t seen her since she was a puppy. I bet she is huge now!” I laughed thinking about how huge that dog was, and then I flushed thinking about the dream she interrupted me from this morning. “Yeah she is pretty big, 85lbs. now.” I said shyly. “Nice, I love big dogs. German shepherds especially, they are so smart and can do anything, that’s why they are used in the police force and military.” Bringing up military made me think of his career. “So, you’re a navy seal. You must be very proud of yourself to get that honor. I bet you have travelled all over the world.” He looked off, not really looking at anything particular. “It has its benefits, and you own your own studio?”
“Yes, I opened Scars to help people gain confidence in themselves. By learning self defense, you hold your head high; because you know you can handle yourself. I do kickboxing as well. It’s a great work out and works with the self defense.” He seemed amused a bit. “Your moves are very good, I know I am a navy seal but you really could hold your own against most everyone. Not sure you could beat me though.” He winked! A challenge huh? “You should volunteer for one of my classes. We will see if I could take you.” His right eyebrow lifted in challenge. “I just might do that.”
I heard a bark outside the door. Roxy must be done chasing little crabs and is now wondering where I am. “Well that is my alarm. Roxy is wondering where I am.” I stood up and started to head for the door. I heard him following behind me. “I would like to see this beast of a dog.” I opened the door and Roxy bypassed me and went straight to barking at Darien. “Holy dog Batman!” he shouted. “Hey that’s my line!” I blurted out. He laughed, oops I didn’t mean to say that out loud. “Roxy sit.” He spoke with authority in his voice. It even made me want to sit. Roxy sat, and looked up at him waiting her next orders. He bent down and rubbed her head and patted her back. It was nice to see him so gentle. He looked like such a dangerous man. Dangerous and gentle, just thinking about those things put together in one man, makes my insides quiver. I bet he is very adventurous and takes control in bed, but also the type of man that would make sure you always got your pleasure out of it before him. I shivered. “Are you cold?” He asked, although with the hunger in his eyes I think he had an inkling about what I was thinking. My lips parted, I was stuck staring at him. He stood and came closer; he reached out and tucked a curl that was hanging in my face behind my ear. I gasped. Oh no I am already falling under this man’s spell. He came closer; Oh god was he going to kiss me? What would I do? Would I kiss him back? Push him away? I just stood there waiting to see what was going to happen. He stopped just about an inch from my mouth. I could feel his breath on me. It shot a lightning bolt of pleasure down between my legs. My body felt warm, feverish. He whispered “Scarlet, what are we getting into?” I gasped. I have got to get out of here! I looked into his eyes and panicked. “Bye Darien.” With that said I turned and walked back to my house, Roxy followed me. I swear I heard her sigh, like she was saying geez Scarlet you almost had him.
Chapter 4
Darien
I watched Scarlet run away to her house. What just happened here? One minute I was petting Roxy then the next I was about to go all caveman on that woman. I would have kissed her, picked her up and carried her to the couch. Oh god, the way my name sounded on her lips, it was just like before at the bar! I just want to hear her say my name over and over while I wrap her legs around me. Ah great! I’m going to go take a cold shower. I make my way upstairs, and use the second bathroom. It is still a little weird being Aunt Tara’s house, it smells like her. Well thinking about my dead aunt was definitely a way to get my hard on gone. I still take a cold shower more or less as preventative care. I stepped out of the shower, and dried myself. I walked over to the window. I still can’t believe the goddess I met last night is the very same one that took up the main role in my dream last night, lives next door.
I look over towards the house. I groaned. “Fuck!” She is doing yoga on the beach. You think it was a little cold for it in February but there she is, bending over, and then going into plank position, then she slowly lowers herself to the ground then arches her back up. I groan again. She is wearing a sports bra that seems to be having difficulties holding in those DD’s. Those scrap of material she wears as shorts does nothing to hide her spectacular ass. She is toned in all the right places, but still has those soft feminine curves. Damn, I have turned into a fourteen year old again, where all you have to do is look at a chick and you get a hard on. I am a navy seal for Christ’s sake! Control yourself man!
With a deep breath I walk away from my very own wet dream outside the window. I grab a pair of gym shorts and a shirt. I plan on cleaning up the house and moving things around. I can’t stay here if it looks like Aunt Tara is going to walk in the house at any minute. Starting with the bedroom, I bring out some new sheet and comforters I bought yesterday. I fold her quilt comforter and put it in the hall closet. As I organize and change things up in the house I try not to let my thought go towards my sexy new neighbor. 5 hours of cleaning and making the house more habitable for me, and I still can’t get Scarlet out of my head. I need to get out of my head for a little bit; so I decided to go for a run. There is nothing like pounding the pavement, and sweating all your thoughts out.
An hour and 6 miles later, I get close to the house when I hear music blaring from Scarlet’s house. Sounds like… I’ve got to see this. I quietly sneak up to her house and peek in the window. I started laughing so hard I had to grab the railing to stop myself from falling over. Scarlet was inside cleaning. Not just cleaning like normal people. She was listening to This Is How We Do It by Montel Jordan, and was dancing/singing around while cleaning. “Ever since I was a lower class G, but now I’m a Big G. Hundred dollar bills ya’ll” She sang. I haven’t heard that song in forever. “Whatever it is the party is underway. So tip up your cup and throw your hands up and let me hear the party say. I’m kinda buzzed and it’s all because, THIS IS HOW WE DO IT!” She continued to sing out.
The more I watched her, the more fascinated I became. She seems like such a free spirit, someone you could have both fun and serious conversations with. Someone who would keep you entertained. Some men have issues when it comes to being with women, but not me. My parents are still happily married; I have been with a lot of women and enjoyed their company. I just haven’t met anyone who has made me want to dive into forever. I have such a pull towards Scarlet, like I really want to get to know her. Her likes, dislikes, quirks, her favorites, and favorite songs of the 90’s now. Well why not have a little fun with her now.
