Joe
I checked my phone for the hundredth time, and yeah, each time I had text messages or missed calls. Never from the person I wanted it to be. I’d turned into a damn stalker since Carrie acted like a jealous girlfriend and kissed me at Grind.
I’d never hooked up with Lacy, she was just a relentless flirt. But seeing Carrie get jealous was such a turn on, there was no way in hell I was going to explain that to her. When she stalked over to me I couldn’t get a read on her expression, but once I figured out her game I half expected her to get all bitchy and catty. I never thought she’d lay claim to me and kiss me like that.
Damn, that kiss. All of her kisses. My hand did nothing to relieve the tension from the feeling of her tight body up against mine. I wanted more. Needed more of her. How the hell some plain, tiny little enigma of a woman managed to get me wrapped around her damn finger without even putting out…
Clearly, I was broken. My head. My dick. Nothing worked anymore. She consumed my every thought, and as tempting as it had been to just get blasted and try to forget her while buried inside someone else, I couldn’t do it. Furthermore, I didn’t want to do it. She had me by the balls, metaphorically anyway. And dammit, I wanted her to have them literally, too.
I liked to think of myself as a considerate person, both in the bed and out of it. I gave pleasure just as well as I took it, but I’d never felt the need to exert power over a woman. Maybe that was because they so willingly gave the power to me, so there was nothing to demand.
Carrie though...she was pulling out every alpha male, caveman instinct I didn’t even know I had inside of me. The desire to go to her, throw her over my shoulder and just tie her to my bed so she couldn’t keep running from me was getting out of control. She was so damn stubborn, but I knew she wanted me. If she would just give me half a chance to show her how great we could be together, I’d make sure she never regretted it.
I hadn’t the first clue how to be a boyfriend, but I’d figure it out. Carrie deserved romance. She deserved to be worshipped. I had heard the stories of how she treated Adalyn in the beginning, and Stacy had told me enough to know that Carrie wasn’t perfect. But neither am I, and even without knowing her reasons for being so closed off, I knew I could help her with them. More so, I wanted to be the one who helped her.
~
“What the fuck, man?”
I looked up at Dorian and glared. “Language.” I didn’t really care if the kids cussed, but I felt obligated to at least put up the pretense of trying to be a good influence.
Dorian laughed and threw the basketball at me, hard enough that I almost didn’t catch it, because my head was so damn distracted with thoughts of Carrie. I shook my head, trying to focus on the game, but it was useless. The kids ribbed me the entire time, and I couldn’t even defend myself because I really was off my game.
I felt horrible because I’d missed a few weekends at the community center where I normally came to hang out every Saturday. That place was like a second home to me, and I felt like a big brother to these kids, and going so long without visiting made me feel like crap.
After my parents died, the community center was the only place I felt safe. Most of the staff was still there, but of course the kids were different, but I felt it was my duty to give back what was given to me.
I finally managed to get my head back in the game, but it didn’t stay there for long.
“Yo, Miss D!” Tye, another one of the kids I visited frequently, yelled out. I squinted in the bright sun and saw a female figure standing outside of the tall chain link fence that surrounded the basketball court.
The kids talked about “Miss D” all the time, but she’d never been there at the same time as me so we’d never met. She was wildly popular with the kids and they spoke very highly of her, and I kept hoping we’d run into one another. Looked like I was going to get my chance to thank her personally for volunteering her own time at the center.
Tye and Dorian jogged over to her, and I tried to shade my eyes with my hand, but between the glaring sun and the distance I still couldn’t make out her features. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the outlines of their bodies were animated enough to make it possible to understand the conversation. The boys were gesturing for her to join us, and she shook her head at first, but then she threw her head back and looked to the sky. I couldn’t help but laugh. Those boys were nothing if not convincing. They could talk their way out of or into anything.
The mysterious Miss D made her way back with the boys, and I followed her steps as they made their way towards me. Something about her seemed so familiar. My eyes were starting to water from squinting in the sunlight, so I couldn’t see her face, but her petite and curvy frame had my lower parts reacting nicely. It was the first time since the last time I saw Carrie that I felt even slightly aroused by another woman.
I dribbled in place, trying to make it look like I was doing something other than staring while she stopped to talk to several kids along the way. Her back was to me, and she was finally in a position where the sun was blocked and I could get a nice view of her.
Why did her ass look familiar? That seemed like an odd thing to recognize. Maybe she was someone I’d hooked up with in the past? Shit, that would make things complicated. The last thing I wanted was to drag my personal life into my work at the community center.
Dread crept in when I considered the ramifications of a possible rift with another volunteer. There was only a handful of women I’d ever slept with that turned out to be a problem afterward. Ones that said they understood there was no promise of a future, but had hoped to be ‘the one’ to change me, and then went a little nutso when that didn’t turn out to be the case. It would be some seriously shitty luck if this woman turned out to be one of those.
None of those worries had caused my physical reaction to her to diminish. The closer she got, the more I could make out her figure. She was wearing short spandex running shorts with a tight fitting racerback tank, and there couldn’t have been an ounce of fat on her. Her legs and arms were toned, making her slim body look healthy and not sickly like some women. Her stomach was completely flat, which made her beautifully large chest stick out prominently.
I turned away from her, feeling a semi coming on, which would have been bad news for me since I was wearing athletic shorts. Last thing I needed was having the kids teasing me for months about getting an erection. They would have a field day with that shit.
Once I went back to shooting hoops and stopped ogling strange women like some kind of creepy stalker my thoughts drifted back to Carrie. From out of nowhere a wave of guilt rushed over me. What the fuck? Why the hell did feeling attracted to someone all of a sudden feel like I was somehow doing something wrong? Like some sort of betrayal to Carrie? We hadn’t even been on a date, so I shouldn’t feel any kind of loyalty towards her. She was probably off fucking a different guy every day for all I knew.
Dammit, that was an asshole thing to assume. Carrie didn’t give me any reason to believe she ran around town spreading her legs, and to assume she did wouldn’t make me feel any better anyway. As a matter of fact, it had quite the opposite effect. Thinking of Carrie letting another man touch her made me want to forget where I was and all about my momentary attraction to this random woman so I could run to Carrie and claim her as mine.
And I would, if I wasn’t scared shitless of being rejected again. Yeah, that’s right, I wasn’t too proud to admit I was scared. There was a limit to how many times my ego could withstand that kind of rejection. So I’d decided I wasn’t going to try for another shot until I had a plan. A sure fire way to get her to into my bed, and not just for one night.
Just when I started picturing Carrie in my bed, her hair splayed out over my pillow, her back arching as she calls out my name...she appeared in front of me. Like I’d conjured her up using just my imagination. Or maybe I was just hallucinating. Whatever cruel joke my brain was playing on my eyes was so believable that I had to consider the possibility that I’d actually lost my damn mind over this woman.
Tye and Dorian were standing next to Miss D, now directly in front of me, and I swear she could have been Carrie’s doppelganger. Either that, or my constant obsessing over her so badly had me picturing her face on all women, like those cartoons where the dog is so hungry that everything turns into a steak.
“Hey, Officer J, this is Miss D. The lady we’ve been telling you about.”
I stepped towards her, my hand outstretched, and in closing that small distance it was like the fog cleared and my vision focused. I blinked, trying to compose myself and refrain from punching myself in the face for being such an idiot. Because damn it all to hell - the woman whose hand I was about to shake really was Carrie. I was stunned, which really was a gross understatement. She stood there giving me the sexiest smile while I was frozen in place with my mouth gaping open.
“What...how...you?” I was well aware that I sounded like a blubbering jackass, but I couldn’t believe it. Literally just couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that Miss D was Carrie. Carrie was Miss D. For almost a year I’d been hearing stories about the wonderful Miss D. She was there almost as much, if not more, than I was. She’d started an outreach program in the community where the kids gathered for dance lessons and would put on an annual show. The first one was last month, but I didn’t remember seeing her there.
“Wow. I’m impressed.” I hadn’t meant for it to come out patronizing, but I could tell right away that that’s how she took it. She flipped some sort of internal switch, and her sexy smile turned into a tight-lipped grimace, her eyes narrowing as she crossed her arms. Shit, defensive Carrie was a pain in my ass.
“How little you must think of me if finding out I spend time here is such a shock to you.” She turned her scowl to the boys and the group flinched. Every single one of them was almost twice her size and could probably hold up well in a fight against even myself, but they all cowered down to her. “Boys, give us a minute,” she said sternly. They nodded and backed away, and Carrie missed it, but I didn’t. I saw the look in their eyes. Those boys admired her. She definitely had their respect.
“You know I didn’t mean it like that,” I started as soon as the boys were out of earshot. “You have to admit it’s a little shocking that we spend so much time here, but have never met. Did you already know who I was?”
“No, they call you J. And I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get defensive. It’s a habit I’m trying to break.” Her shoulders relaxed and she looked away, distracted or avoiding my gaze, I wasn’t sure which. So I took the opportunity to look her over. Her long hair was in a messy, high ponytail and as usual, she wore no makeup. A light sheen of sweat glistened on her chest, drawing my attention to her wonderfully perky tits. After taking a few seconds to give them the admiration they deserved, I moved on to inspect the rest of her.
She looked so much younger for some reason. Her clothes showed off her size, and she looked small and frail. I knew she wasn’t - she could probably kick my ass if she set her mind to it. That was probably one of the reasons why she tended to get defensive. I’d bet anything that her whole life people treated her like an incapable child because of how sweet and helpless she looked. I wanted to know if I was right. I wanted to know about her childhood and what her life was like growing up, what turned her into the person she is today. If only I could get her to open up to me…
“Well, listen guys, I really can’t stay. Just wanted to say hi while I was out and about.” She gave me a tight, forced smile. “Good seeing you.”
I watched as the kids waved as the distance between us grew, but I couldn’t let her walk away. I knew she didn’t want my company, but she was going to get it anyway.
“Hey, half-pint! Wait up!” I half expected her to take off sprinting away from me, but to my surprise she stopped and waited. “What are your plans today?”
“My studio is down the street. I was going to work on some choreography and stuff today. Why?” She eyed me suspiciously, but she knew damn well that I was going to be following her there.
“Oh good, I’ve always wanted to see a dance studio. Maybe you can give me some lessons.” She rolled her eyes, but I stood my ground. “Lead the way, half-pint.”
She groaned but started walking, giving in a little too easily, which made me a little nervous.
“So, I didn’t really have to talk you into spending time with me...you got something evil planned for me?”
She laughed, and it was sweet and musical. I could see why she didn’t do it often. Laugh, that is. It was a moment of pure, genuine vulnerability. If you weren’t watching her closely, you might not catch it, but it was there. I missed the sound already.
“No, no evil plan. At least, not today, anyway.” She winked at me, and that one little gesture made my pants grow tighter. My body just reacted to her, almost like it had been trained to recognize hers without thought. Never in my life had someone turned me on so badly without even trying. And she wasn’t trying, that was for sure.
She never did anything intentionally to get attention, and I would be the first to admit that it was easy to overlook her at first. The way she dressed plainly so as to fade into the background made it obvious she didn’t want to be the center of attention. It made sense why she was friends with Stacy. You couldn’t go anywhere with Stacy without her commanding the room’s attention be placed solely on her, and Carrie would never compete with her for that, so they made the perfect pair.
I’d always been drawn more to Stacy’s type, and while I loved Stacy dearly, the more time I spent with Carrie the more I wondered what the appeal had ever been for me with those types of women. Overtly sexual, proudly showing off their bodies like the word ‘modesty’ was taboo to them. In the past, a woman who exuded sex in everything she did would be a huge turn on. Now, the thought of taking one of those women to bed made me feel...empty.
If I ever got Carrie in my bed, it would be just for me, a private show. Clearly a man would have to earn the right to see her naked, and that made what she had beneath her homely clothes seem like a hidden treasure. A well kept secret that would be all mine. Hypothetically, anyway.
My ego wanted to declare that it was inevitable that Carrie would end up naked beneath me, but the realistic part of my brain reminded me that there were absolutely no guarantees when it came to her. I never knew where I stood from one minute to the next, and knowing if I would ever get to explore her hidden treasures still remained a mystery.
Which naturally only made me want it more.
Conversation was light and easy as we trekked to her studio, which turned out, was only a few minutes away from the center. Yet another piece of the Carrie puzzle that had been directly in front of my face for a ridiculous amount of time. Didn’t matter now though, because having gained more valuable intel meant Carrie might be getting some surprise visits from me. I had the urge to rub my hands together and laugh evilly, knowing how easy it was to catch her off guard and get under her skin.
Her studio was part of an old brick building, sandwiched between an attorney and a vitamin store. I’d been down that street thousands of times, and knew it well, yet still never realized there was a dance studio taking up space in the building nestled in the historical division of the city.
It was much larger inside than it looked from outside, and I was fully impressed, which of course I let her know. She took the compliments in stride, blushing from time to time, but mostly beaming with pride. After giving me a quick tour, I followed her to the middle of a room that had mirrors as walls and a hardwood floor. The room was bare aside from a stereo system in the corner and a long metal bar that I couldn’t help picturing her bent over while I plowed into her from behind.
“Alright, bud,” Carrie said as she came to a halt. “You asked for a lesson, so let’s get it started.”