Loving Her: Complete Boxset (Siri's Heart #1-12), page 38
Well, apparently the Swingers aren't upset. They are the only people who would be sending me flowers. I twirl around, swinging my pony tail as I approach the elevator then I have a mischievous idea. I love practical jokes and decide I’ll tease Aurei and tell him that it was the office and I have to go in. I have to call him now though, because my laughing eyes will surely give me away. I hold down the home button and the two tones for voice control sound. "Call My Fucking Golden GOD."
"Calling My Fucking Golden God." Apple’s Siri confirms the command.
A huge smile spreads instantly on my face hearing it out loud. Now THAT makes me happy! I put the call on speaker and twirl around like a ballerina. I stumble a little and remember how difficult a maneuver that is in boots. The elevator dings as I pass it and the doors slide open.
Aurei answers. "NO! I'm already needy." I start to giggle. "For THE girl of my…." But I don't hear the rest.
I drop the phone as I reach up to grab my hair. Something has yanked my ponytail. "What the fuck?" I whirl around to find TD smiling at me.
"Siri, you fucking bitch!" He yells in a high pitched excited voice.
"Hey man, what are you doing here?" I say surprised to see him.
"I came to see you bearing gifts." He swoops me into an unexpected bear hug, lifting me from my feet. "I know Rule #1 and all, but I need to give you a hug, girl! You're the greatest! What you did last night was fucking fantastic!"
I hear Aurei's door fly open. My mind shifts into high gear. Aurei still thinks TD left me on bad terms last night and I see his death face from this morning in the shower. I know in my gut he will rip TD apart.
Our heads snap to the sound and we see Aurei storm into the hall. "Put me down, TD! NOW!" He drops me instantly and I shove him away as I spin to face Aurei who is about to charge us. Holding my hand up, I command him with a shout. "AUREI, STOP! STOP RIGHT THERE! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!"
He stops and watches, but his body doesn’t uncoil. The sight of him in only a pair of distressed, faded jeans, no shirt, no shoes, with his muscles tense and ready to attack is nothing short of majestic. He looks like he could be the fucking Son of Thor! Thunderous! Hot as hell!
"Damn!" TD exclaims behind me. "Is that the same dude from last night?"
"Yes, same dude." I tell him not taking my eyes off Aurei until I know he isn’t going to charge us.
"He looks like he wants to kick my ass or worse, and, he looks like he could, so I'll make this short and sweet." I turn to face TD and he watches Aurei over my shoulder. "You are awesome! Your fucking fantasies were fucking awesome! We watched the recording this morning. Wow!" He takes a step back, and I turn to see Aurei with his hands on his hips, muscles flexed, still on high alert.
Damn! He is hot when his testosterone is raging!
TD continues. "The girls insisted on giving you flowers and since you were officially my date, I volunteered to bring them to you." He takes another step back and I know he is wondering now if that was a good idea with Aurei ready to beat his ass. "I left them downstairs at the office, but Mrs. Smith didn’t want to be responsible for delivering the envelopes" He hands them to me. "So she told me to bring them up myself." I look at him and he winks, making me smirk. "I charmed her."
I look down at the envelopes. "TD, I don't know what to say. None of this is necessary, especially the checks. Y'all didn't hire me. I did it because I wanted to." I hand them back to him, but he doesn’t take them.
"That's what Darren said you would say. He told me to call them donations. Siri, we did this too because we wanted to. It's the only way we can say thank you. You could have left, but you didn't. You could have played along, but you didn't. What you did was gave us all more than we could ever have imagined. You gave us a night we will never forget. Fucking Fantasies!" He glances over my shoulder.
"Tell everyone I said thank you for their kindness, but I’m not accepting these!"
"You have an honorary membership and are welcome anytime too."
He looks at Aurei again. "I'm going. He looks like a thunderous bull about to charge." I stuff them in his shirt as he starts to walk backwards to the elevator, knowing he won’t risk an ass whooping and walk back. "And another thing, what you said last night about whores? I really appreciate that. I don't tell people this, but I'm a bastard child. I don't know who my father is because my mother was a prostitute back then trying to survive." He steps out of sight, then sticks his head out. "And for the record, I was only asking you how you charge for your services, because I'm throwing a bachelor party for a buddy of mine." He disappears as the doors close.
When I turn around, the Thunderous Son of Thor hands me my phone. "What the fuck did the little shit-ass want?"
"He came to apologize. We're cool."
He nods at the elevator. "We’re not though."
I slip my hand in his and cinch our fingers. "Come on. I'm starving! How long does it take to cook a ham and cheese omelet?"
Ninety-Four
In the kitchen, Aurei has all the ingredients lined up on the counter. He pulls a bowl out of the cabinet, and hands it to me along with a whisk. "Crack six eggs, add a little milk and whisk." I do as I'm told. He efficiently cuts the ham, a few cherry tomatoes, and some green onions into small pieces then he adds olive oil and butter to a frying pan. When the butter is melted, he takes the egg batter from me and pours a little in the pan, puts the ingredients in and tops it with cheese. "Simple."
"It smells delicious!" I take a deep breath as I walk up behind him and put my arms around him. "You know, we need to talk. I want to face our secrets up front. Boldly. I don't want any devils showing up unexpected and coming between us."
"Eat." He commands as he scoops the omelet onto a plate and hands it to me.
My tummy growls and I sit on the same stool that I sat on when I had cookies with him. "OK, but I want you to hear my secrets from me."
With his back to me, he tells me. "I know a little about you from your Facebook page."
"Ha! I checked you out too, but you don't give any info up. Only that you are, were, an instructor pilot. Kudos' to that though."
He comes to sit beside me with his giant omelet. "It's because of some of my secrets. I can't afford to."
"Me either." I take a bite of the delicious meal. "Wow! This is good!"
"I'm going to fatten you up."
"Oh, hell no! We're gonna burn these calories!" He grins and we eat in silence. When I finish, I chit chat, watching him. "You know, your face had the look of thunder on it when you charged out in the hall."
He gives me a head nod. "I felt like thunder when I charged out in the hall. I was going to rip that fucking Son of a Bitch to shreds."
"I know, and he knew." I look down at my empty plate and sigh. "That's what concerns me. Will you want to rip everyone to shreds? If I tell you all the details of what I do, will you be able handle it?" I look up at him and he’s stopped eating.
"There's a difference between a professionally controlled environment and bastards outside in the real world that want to hurt you. I can distinguish between the two."
"I hope so, because my professionally controlled environment can get pretty down and dirty."
"I understand that. I’m cool with it. It’s lust. I don’t mind."
My eyes narrow. "You don’t mind men lusting after me?"
"I don't mind watching you dance and knowing that you are turning on every man in the house, but knowing they are lusting is one thing, sitting next to them and having them slapping me on the back about it, that something totally different. That? I do mind."
Leaning back, I stare into his eyes. "I hope you can handle my secrets, Aurei."
"I will, Wild Thang. There’s a big difference now too. We are committed. Forevermore." He closes in for a kiss. No seduction, just connection, and it’s the sweetest, most romantic kiss ever!
Committed. Forevermore.
When he pulls away, I shake my head. "You sure are different from other men."
"Affirmative. I am." He states. "Humans lust for beautiful things. They look; they lust. I understand what you do is erotically charged entertainment."
I stare at him, dumbfounded. "I don't know what to say to that. It's … dead on."
He smiles, picks up his fork again, and scoops up a mouthful of omelet.
"So you saw me dance last November?"
"Yes, the weekend before Thanksgiving." He nods, then he looks up dreamy up to the right and smirks. "When you bounced out from behind the curtain, I almost fell out of my chair." I push him, playfully, and he laughs. "Then when you started to dance? Fuck! It was all over for me."
I laugh with him. "How many times have you seen me perform?"
"Twenty-three." He smirks.
My eyes widen. "Twenty-three?"
"Yep." He says and chuckles at my shock.
"Wow. That’s specific."
"I’m a specific kinda guy."
I shake my head while I calculate the numbers and process how well he really does know my performer side. "November to February. That’s every weekend." I look at him shocked. "You flew to Vegas every weekend to see me dance? That’s ….
"Hardcore? Yeah. That’s who I am." He smirks, then slides his hand to me and I lay mine in it. He strokes me with his thumb and offers a simple explanation. "I fell for you." Then he grins, winks that killer wink and stands to take our plates to the sink. He talks while he washes the dishes. "The first time you were working over a birthday boy tied to a chair on stage. Damn." He looks at me and I see lust lingering there. "Those gold chains swaying when you bounced down the runway were hypnotic, but nothing compared to when you started spinning and they started unwinding…." He turns the water off and looks down at me. "I couldn’t get you out of my mind. That damn song and the vision of you giving him one helluva birthday lap dance kept playing over and over on loop." He shakes his head, then leans down and pecks my lips again. "You are so fucking contagious."
I smile and hand him a towel to dry his hands. "I hate I didn't spot you in the crowd." I grin at him. "I would have flirted with you and teased you terribly."
He wraps me up in a hug. "Good thing you didn’t then, 'cause I don’t know how much I could have taken without totally losing it. I was having a hard enough time fighting off the urge to drag you off the stage by your hair."
I laugh out loud. "Good thing I didn’t then, 'cause that wouldn’t have gone over so well!"
"After that, I paid to sit where no one was blocking my view or patting me on the back, and far enough away not to be too tempted by you."
I laugh. "Smart man."
"Affirmative. Smart enough to know one fuckup and I would have banned from the club."
"Yes. You would have been. Beaten and banned."
He smiles. "Let me finish getting ready. We need to get going."
I let him go and admire the view as he walks to his bedroom. As soon as he disappears through the threshold, I miss him. I ask as I follow him in. "Did you catch a Surreal performance?"
"I don’t know. I saw J-Lo dancing in the crowd on New Year’s Eve." He says as he puts his arms in the shirt sleeves and flexes his chest to slide the cotton fabric up them. I watch silently admiring the way he fluffs the fabric to move it over his skin to meet in the middle.
"Did you? Are you sure?"
He pulls on his socks, then his boots."If that was Surreal, she is wicked good."
I laugh. "Duh!"
He laughs too. "Is she a friend of yours? Surreal, not J-Lo. Duh, again."
I laugh. "Both are actually friends."
"That’s dope."
"Yeah. We're all in business together."
"That’s cool as fuck!" He says as he buttons his shirt.
"Why didn't you stay to see if the performance was Surreal or J-Lo?"
He tucks his shirt in. "I wasn’t interested. I was stalking the club looking for Seary."
I wait until he tucks the tip of his belt in. "Well, you couldn't find me because …." I pause and wait until he is looking at me. "I’m Surreal."
He freezes, stunned. "No shit?"
"No shit!"
"I thought her hair was black?"
"Hair paint."
"Well, I'll be damned!" He stares at me, digesting it, then he sits down on the bed and reaches for my hand. "That explains a lot! No wonder I couldn't find you or get any information on you. It makes perfect sense now. That’s why you’re guarded so carefully and so heavily."
I put my hand in his and step between his legs. "Yes and that’s a super top-secret secret. If you blab to anyone, bad things will happen." I shake my head and smirk.
He grins back. "Don’t worry. You can trust me with all your secrets. The military trusts me with top-secret security clearance, I assure you, yours are safe with me." He squeezes my ass. "So… you’re not just a headliner, you’re a major league star." It’s a statement, not a question, but I answer him.
"Yep."
"And you’re hidden away?"
I run my fingers through his hair. "Yes."
"How long?"
"Since the beginning."
"Isolated too?"
"Yes."
"Hmm." He pushes air out his nose and I see he is not content with that answer. He lays back on the bed, pulling me down on top of him. I put my head on his chest and listen to his heart beat.
"It’s not too bad. It's not the life of a showgirl, for sure, and def not the life of a simple dancer, but it’s a pretty normal life for a Vegas star."
He cradles me and softly rubs my back. I feel so safe here in his arms. I close my eyes content.
Ninety-Five
As soon as I hear "Same Love", he stiffens under me.
It's Ann. I pick my head up and look at him.
He winks. "Time to go."
Pushing off him, I stand up then reach out. He takes my hand and I squat, tugging, pulling him up.
"Does she know I'm coming?"
"No! I can't wait to see the look on her face."
His phone rings again and he smirks. "She’ll keep calling till she knows I'm on my way." He answers it and points to the bathroom. I nod and go in. Before I push the door closed, I listen to him talking to her.
"I'm running a little behind. I'll be there in an hour. Ok. Yeah. No. Chill, would ya? He's not going anywhere. Hey, I'm bringing you a surprise. I'm not telling. It's a surprise!"
When I come out, he hands me his phone and goes in, but doesn't close the door, so I lean on the door frame and watch him pick up his toothbrush. "What's happening at the farm that we need boots?"
He squeezes toothpaste on it and runs it under the water. "Ann got a new horse. I told her I would come ride with her." He starts to brush. His phone goes off again.
I laugh. "She's persistent!"
He nods towards it and spits. "Text her, driving." Then he leans his head under the running water and sucks a mouthful in.
"Just one word?"
He nods as he swishes, then spits. I type as he stands and takes a towel, then wipes his mouth and winks. "Yep. Any more and she'll know it wasn't from me."
I hold it out for him and he drops it in his shirt pocket. "Let’s go."
As we step into the hall, he holds his hand out for mine, then binds our fingers together. When we enter the elevator and the doors close, we look at each other and grin. He starts to pull me into his arms, but I push him back and tell him, "My turn." He backs up against the wall, spreads his legs and slides down, so his face is even with mine, then he reaches for me and I step in. Leaning against his groin, I tilt my face, eager for his lips. At first he lets me kiss him, but then he hugs my shoulder and "dips" me. Cradling me, he gently sucks my tongue and slips his hand inside my bra. He cups my tit and pinches my nipple. My fingers flex on his shoulder like a kitten.
When the elevator reaches the lobby, it dings our arrival, and the floor bounces to a cushioned stop. When I withdraw my tongue, Aurei slowly inserts his, then pulls it out just as slow still fondling my breast, completely unaware we have arrived. I push against his shoulder and try to lift my head as the doors slide open. He holds me firmly in place and I hear the doors start to close again, then we hear embarrassed coughing. We both freeze and stare into each others eyes. His crinkle as his tongue withdraws and his hand slides out. He gently sets me on my feet. I keep my back to the door and look down to see a flash of nipple, propped up on the cup of my bra. I look back into his laughing eyes as he waits for me to adjust my tit before he pushes off the wall and stands. I grab his hand, turn to lead him out, and come face to face with three gawking tweenagers. Young lust fills their eyes and I can't resist the urge to tease them.
I take the back of my hand and drag it against my bottom lip, lifting my chin as I do, pinching it open until it flops closed. Then I tell them as we walk by, "Ah, he tastes so good!"
Aurei simply says a casual, "Good morning, boys."
As the elevators door shut, we hear them say at the same time. "Damn! Fuck! Crucial!"
Aurei opens the door for me. "Bad Thang!"
I giggle. "Teasing is what I do."
Right outside the door sits his cooler. He leans down and picks it up. "My faith in humanity is restored." I tell him.
He laughs. "It was empty."
I giggle with that truth and swing our hands as I bounce in my boots on the way to the truck. He drops it in the back, then opens the door for me and I climb right up.
When we are heading down the drive, I ask. "Where is the farm?"
"On the south side, close to the Florida line." He stops at the bottom at the intersection and looks around me to check the traffic.
"No, one’s coming." I tell him, checking too.
He doesn’t move and I look at him. He has an eyebrow cocked and I stop, knowing I did something that wasn’t right, but not sure what it was.
"Either I look, or you look, but not both."
I grin. "Ok."
"Do you want to be my co-pilot?"
I grin bigger. "Of course, I do."
