Nine
On Suzanne’s next date with Jake, he invited her to spend the night at his condo. Of course she readily agreed. She wanted to share his bed and get a feel for his home.
And what a home. Located in a resort-type setting, it catered to a luxurious lifestyle.
“This place is beautiful.” She looked out the window and gazed through a scatter of palm trees, catching a moonlit glimpse of a tropical pool and hot tub. Was it any wonder he’d told her to bring her swimsuit? “Being a studio musician must be a lucrative job.”
“It can be, depending on who you work for.”
“You must work for some top artists.”
He nodded, but he didn’t name-drop.
In the silence, she considered the songs he kept to himself. Would he ever have the desire to share them with the world? Another curious thought crossed her mind. Did he write about his lovers in his erotic-themed songs? Would he ever use her name in one of them?
“Can I get you something?” he asked.
“I’m sorry. What?”
“Soda, beer, wine, hard lemonade?”
“Hard lemonade sounds good.”
He got it from the mini fridge in his portable bar, along with a beer for himself. Then he reached behind the counter and removed a small gold box with a shiny ribbon.
He extended it. “Just a little something.”
Surprised, she removed the ribbon and opened the box. Inside was a slim black container that looked suspiciously like a tube of lipstick. She lifted the cap and discovered that the luscious pink lip color was a soft jelly vibrator.
Jake said, “Cool, huh? You can carry it around in your purse without anyone knowing what it is.”
It was rather cool: a sexy device between lovers. She hoped that he would write a song about her someday. She wanted to be someone who inspired him.
“Do you like it?” he asked.
“Oh, yes, thank you. We can do fun things with this.”
“Totally fun, anytime and anywhere.” He kissed her hotly on the mouth. “Next time we go out to eat, you can slip it under your skirt and give yourself a nice little buzz.”
She put the vibrator in her purse, next to her real lipstick. “You’re wicked, Jake.”
“After we finish our drinks, we can kick back in the Jacuzzi.” He nipped her earlobe. “And I can put my hands inside your swimsuit if there’s no one around.”
“I thought you liked other people being around.”
“I do. But tonight I want to play privately. Or as privately as we can in an open area.”
“I’m game.” To be wild and free and imagine him honoring her in a song.
He grinned and clanked his bottle against hers, toasting their hot tub tryst.
About ten minutes later, he put on board shorts and Suzanne climbed into a sassy little bikini. He grabbed two big beach towels and they went out to the pool area, which luckily they had to themselves.
They sat in the hot tub, the water bubbling around them. “This is my favorite place to relax,” he said.
“I can see why. It’s therapeutic.”
“Sometimes it gets noisy during the day. There aren’t any kids who live here, but a few of my neighbors are divorced dads, and they bring their rug rats over. On weekends, they band together in the pool.”
“Does that annoy you?”
“Not at all. When I’m in the mood to goof around, I hang out with them.”
Suzanne couldn’t be more surprised. “You like kids?”
“Sure. Besides, I’m a kick-ass Marco Polo player.”
She couldn’t help but ask, “Do you think you’ll ever settle down and have a family?”
“Me? Are you serious?” He gave his head a quick and jerky shake. “I wouldn’t take my Marco Polo skills that far.”
“I plan on having a husband and kids someday. I keep hoping to find the right guy.”
He made a face. “Don’t be looking in my direction.”
Damn, but his remark stung. Was it because she was having fantasies about becoming his muse? Or were her secret longings developing into something more? God, she hoped not.
He moved closer, and an awkward silence rose between them. But before it got thicker, he cut through the discomfort, keeping his promise about putting his hand inside her swimsuit. He started with her bikini top, sneaking in to rub one of her nipples and bring it to a peak.
She turned to face him, and they kissed. His mouth tasted cool amid the hot, hot water. He tugged her closer and caressed her other nipple.
Suzanne sighed. He was getting hard beneath his shorts, his cock bulging against the fabric. But no matter how aroused either of them got, they weren’t going to fuck.
Jake as much as said so. “This is the best kind of foreplay. Playing around like teenagers who aren’t ready to go all the way.”
She rubbed herself between his legs. “When are we going to be ready?”
“When we’re in bed, like normal people.”
That made her smile. “We’re far from normal.”
“We can pretend.” He snaked his hand down, nudging her away from his cock.
“You’re not playing fair.” But when he pushed the same hand down the front of her bikini bottoms and cupped her mound, she changed her mind.
“I like that your pussy is waxed,” he said.
“You’re smooth, too.” She recalled how it felt to stroke him at the restaurant, to bring him dangerously close to an orgasm. “Did you jerk off that night after you got home like you said you would?”
“Yes, ma’am. I did it in my bed, and I got the sheets all sticky. The same sheets we’re going to sleep on tonight.” He worked a finger over the hood of her clit and made the little gem pop out. “But I washed them after I was done.”
Damn, he was dirty, talking about laundering come-stained linens while the Jacuzzi jets propelled water at her. “I remember the fantasy you told me.”
“About you kneeling over my face?”
Her skin quavered; her cunt vibrated. He was rubbing her clit in earnest. “Yes.”
“Do you want to live out that fantasy tonight? Right before I fuck you senseless?”
She nodded and pitched forward to put her arms around his neck. He kept doing delicious things with the hand that was inside her bikini bottoms.
“Are you going to come for me, Susie Q?”
“When I’m kneeling over your face? You know I will.”
He kept working his magic. “How about right now?”
She moaned lightly, the pleasured sound drifting into the night. From the moment they first met, he knew how to drive her sweetly mad.
And that was exactly what he did. While she closed her eyes, he brought her to a powerful climax.
After they returned to the house, they peeled off their swimsuits and reclined on Jake’s bed. But they left the next phase of foreplay for later. For now, they started talking, almost like a real couple.
He leaned on his elbow. “You’re different than I thought you were.”
She didn’t ponder what he meant. “Because I want a husband and kids?”
He nodded. “I wouldn’t have pegged Susie Q for Suzy Homemaker.”
She couldn’t very well disagree with his cleverly worded observation. “I know I don’t seem like that type. But I’m a product of my environment.”
“How so?”
“I had a crappy childhood, and I promised myself when I was growing up that I’d create my own family someday. A happy, healthy, normal one, like the kind I used to see on TV.”
“I’m a product of my rotten environment, too. But all it inspired was the need to escape.”
“So you ran away and hit the streets?”
“Yep.”
“Maybe we should compare our crappy childhoods,” she said, half serious and half joking.
He responded in the same tone. “Compare them for what? A prize? I’d win.”
“You can’t be sure of that. I might’ve had a drug-addicted mom. Or a—” She stopped talking. She’d caught his attention, and she’d caught it hard.
“Was your mom an addict?” he asked.
She nodded. “Prescription drugs. But that still counts.”
“Mine was a crackhead.”
A beat of pain passed between them.
“Did yours ever get clean?” he asked.
She shook her head. “She refused to recognize that she had a problem. She was self-indulgent when I was growing up and she still is. I was the ‘mistake’ who ruined her figure and her youth.”
“That’s harsh. What about your dad? How does he fit into the equation?”
“They got divorced when I was ten, and he remarried and moved out of state. He paid child support and did what the courts expected him to do, but I hardly ever saw him. What about you?”
“I’ve never met my dad, and my mom didn’t have a maternal bone in her body. She didn’t concern herself with putting food on the table. She didn’t cover me with a blanket when I was cold or bandage my knees when I fell down. She never did anything except call me the bastard child of Beelzebub. When I was little, I actually thought that was my old man’s name.”
“Where did she come up with Beelzebub?”
“She heard it from some old guy in the neighborhood who used to preach at the druggies. Beelzebub is sometimes used as another name for Satan.” He went on to say, “But the old guy used to talk about angels, too, the warring kind with armor, steel swords, and big powerful wings. To get back at my mom, I used to imagine them in my mind, kicking Satan’s ass.” He shrugged. “And now I’m a musician with phony black eyes who pretends to be a fallen angel at a club. I’m not sure who has the last laugh about that one.”
None of it was funny, but she understood what he meant. “I’m sorry you had such a lousy childhood, Jake.”
“You, too.”
“I think yours was worse. At least my mom used to fix dinner and do all the seemingly normal stuff.”
“So I get the prize?”
“Yes.”
“Then put your clothes back on, Suzanne.”
She started. “What?”
“That’ll be my prize.”
Confused, she gave him a blank stare.
“The fantasy,” he clarified. “Don’t you remember how I described it when we talked about it at the restaurant?”
Ah, yes. She recited the details. “I was taking off my panties and hiking up my dress, then I was kneeling over your face and moving closer, showing you my clit.”
“Your swollen little clit,” he provided, verbatim.
She smiled. “I’ll go get my clothes on.” It wasn’t the same dress or panties she’d worn on the night he conjured the fantasy, but the principle was same.
She went into his bathroom where she’d left her clothes. Her damp bikini was there, as well, hanging over the shower rail by its string ties. Jake’s board shorts were looped over the faucet in the tub.
Caught up in the atmosphere, she imagined herself living with him: sharing the master bathroom, cuddling in bed, eating at the same table, splashing in the pool with his divorced neighbor’s kids. Then what was she going to do? Marry him and raise a family?
She put on her clothes and scolded herself. He’d already warned her not to view him in that manner and she knew better than to think along those lines.
So what in the world was she doing?
Before she got more conflicted, she quieted her emotions and returned to Jake.
She rejoined him in bed, and he watched her with anticipation. He didn’t say anything, and she took that to mean that he wasn’t going to give her further direction. But she already knew what she was supposed to do.
Beginning the naughty game, she reached under her dress and peeled off her panties. Getting into the agreed-upon position, she crawled over his face and bunched her hem, pulling it up past her thighs.
With her heart in her throat, she glanced down to get his reaction. He stared back at her, and with the way his head was tipped, she could see the strong column of his neck and the slight bob of his Adam’s apple. He looked hungry as hell.
Suzanne widened her knee stance and got closer. Soon she would be sitting on his face and rubbing back and forth.
But first . . .
She lifted her dress higher. While holding it with her left hand, she used her right hand to put her fingers between her legs. Then, eager for the final enticement, she opened her nether lips and she showed him her clit, a delicate pink nub desperate for his attention.
He finally spoke, his voice vibrating from his chest. “You’re beautiful. All of you. So damn beautiful.”
Loving the way his compliment made her feel, she let him look at her a bit longer. She knew that this wasn’t intended to be a romantic act, but intimacy between them almost made it seem that way.
Ready for his touch, she got low enough for him to use his tongue, and he teased her with soft circles and gentle strokes. Suzanne sighed, and he reached up and caressed her butt cheeks. But his dreamy seduction only lasted long enough for her to catch her breath.
Within no time, he cupped her ass with strong, hard fingers and tasted her with a vengeance. Suzanne dived into the rhythm and arched her body. He was putting his mouth all over her, creating carnal sensations.
Slick and wet. Sweet and dirty.
Like the sexually instinctive man he was, he did everything exactly the way she liked it. He licked her labia like it was his favorite flavor of ice cream. He sucked on her clit. He encouraged her to moan and thrash and rotate her hips.
She wanted it to last, to go on and on, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop the inferno that burst through her loins and ignited her veins.
Suzanne bucked wildly against him, and in the midst of the final shudder, he rolled her onto her back, peeled off her dress and nudged her legs apart.
He grappled for a condom in a valet tray beside the bed, and when he looked at her with those purposely dark eyes, she feared that was she on the verge of falling for him.
To combat the feeling, she clawed his back when he entered her, reminding herself that this was an affair and nothing more.
At the break of dawn, Suzanne got out of Jake’s bed, where he was still asleep.
After padding into the bathroom to splash some cool water on her face, she slipped on a silky robe she’d brought with her and went into the living room.
She walked over to the window and gazed out at the tropical view. She wasn’t used to the quiet. Even at this hour, there would be activity in her apartment building with people starting their cars or going outside to jog.
Settling into the silence, she turned toward the bookcase in the corner. She might as well find something to read. Going back to sleep would be impossible. Once Suzanne was up, she was up.
She scanned Jake’s books. Mostly they were music tech stuff. She kept searching for something that would interest her, then she noticed two cloth-covered books that looked like journals.
Was this where Jake kept his songs?
She opened the first one. Sure enough it contained handwritten lyrics. She knew it was invasive to read them, but it wasn’t as if he’d put them under lock and key. Besides, all she was going to do was take a quick peek.
Suzanne’s quick peek turned into a full reading venture. She couldn’t help being enthralled with his work. He’d definitely penned some carnal stuff, but it didn’t seem to be influenced by any of his lovers, at least not in a specific way. Now more than ever she wanted to be his muse.
The book wasn’t completely full. There were still blank pages waiting for new creations. Imagining her name in it, she put it back on the shelf.
The second book, she assumed, contained his good versus evil lyrics. Curious, she glanced at the first song, but the words blurred before her eyes. Squinting to clear her vision, she looked at it again.
The word “demon” appeared on the page followed by “wrath.” In the next instant, they were gone. Not blurred. But gone.
Had he used some sort of invisible ink?
She studied it once more. This time the word “angel” lit up the page. Not figuratively. But literally. It actually sparkled, as bright and shiny as silver glitter.
He must have used something to create these effects. Whatever it was, Suzanne couldn’t let go. She wanted to see more, to read more. But the page went blank again.
Much too curious, she ran her hand along the paper. “Angel” came back, and it was warm and comforting beneath her fingers.
How was any of this possible?
She thought about the angels Jake had mentioned last night. The figments of his youthful imagination that were kicking Satan’s ass.
She closed her eyes for a second and a magical sensation engulfed her. Beautiful magic. Her body turned cold. Dark magic. Confused and frightened, she opened her eyes.
Pain . . . pain . . . pain was scribbled all over the page.
Suzanne dropped the book and the horrible scribble went away.
Taking a chance, she picked it up again and felt an emotional connection to Jake. Then she turned and saw him standing there.
In the next crazy instant, all of the words reappeared and flew off the page, twirling in front of both of them like a mini tornado. Good words, bad words, good feelings, bad feelings.
“Oh, Christ,” he muttered. He seemed as startled as she was.
“What’s going on?” she asked, afraid to move.
“I don’t know.”
“You have to know something. It’s your song.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Was he fucking kidding? “You’d better say something or I don’t think this is going to stop.” She pressured him for answers. “What’s the song about?”
“Something we did when we were on the streets.”
“We? You mean you and Marcus and Damien?”
“Yes, but the lyrics are just bits and pieces. I didn’t define the whole experience. I would’ve never put all of it down on paper. We promised each other that we would keep the details a secret.”
The tornado spun faster. “Did it involve magic?”
“We cast some spells that we shouldn’t have.”
The words returned to the book and Suzanne snapped it closed. He came forward and pried it from her fingers.
He shoved it back into the bookcase, and she assumed that his heart was beating as erratically as hers.
“Did you mess with demonic stuff?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“And angel stuff, too?”
He nodded, then went over to the bar and poured himself a shot of whiskey. “Do you want one?”
She shook her head. No matter how frazzled she was, she couldn’t drink at this hour.
He belted it down. “You shouldn’t have read my work. You should have respected my privacy.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” She glanced at the bookcase. “But it’s a little late to reprimand me, considering.” She plopped onto the sofa. “I guess it’s safe to assume that your songs haven’t done anything like that before?”
He sat next to her. “No. Never.”
After they calmed down a bit, he said, “I need to talk to Marcus and Damien about this. I need them to help me figure out why this happened. You should go home, and I’ll call you later and fill you in.”
“Okay.” She wanted to talk to her friends, too. She suspected that Emily was going to freak out. But at this point, she couldn’t blame her. Something bizarre was going on.
And Suzanne was smack-dab in the middle of it.