Monica sat alone at Bijan’s, her head buzzing.
Carrying around that disturbing news from Freddy Ford made her want to do nothing more than go home and roll up in a ball. But she honored her word by meeting Austin Harris for their date.
On the drive over, Monica had told herself again not to worry about Freddy and the possibility of him going after the people he felt were responsible for his imprisonment. She forced herself to see things exactly how Lewis saw them. Freddy could make all the threats he wanted, but he couldn’t carry them out from behind the walls of a mental institution.
After stepping in the restaurant, Monica was greeted by a very handsome Austin, who had been waiting at the bar wearing a brown suit with a crisp white-collared shirt. He stood, gave Monica a hug and a soft kiss on the cheek. He smelled good, and his strong chest felt even better as it pressed ever so slightly against her breasts.
“I want to thank you for the flowers you sent,” Monica said. “They were beautiful.”
“Not as beautiful as you are tonight.”
“Smooth talker, smooth talker.” Monica laughed, waving a finger at him.
They had a martini at the bar while they waited for their table.
Monica asked how Daphanie’s case was progressing.
“Not great. I don’t know if she’ll have many options,” Austin said. “And this jerk, Nate Kenny. You know, let’s not talk about this. I feel myself getting angry already.”
“I completely understand,” Monica said.
After they were seated, they shared a bottle of white wine with their seafood dinners.
Monica found herself smiling for much of the date. She told herself to calm down, because she didn’t want to start feeling Austin Harris, then later find out he was a repeat of her last date.
“So,” Monica ventured, still smiling, “what do you think about kids?”
Austin’s face brightened. “They’re wonderful. I always wanted kids.”
“Oh.”
“And now that I have them,” Austin said, “I wish I could take them back. No, I’m joking. They’re great.”
“Oh! So you already have children?”
“Yeah. Two. Troy just turned sixteen and Bethany is away at college,” Austin said. “With their mother getting remarried a few years back, I’ve been more distant with my kids than I should’ve. I’ve been a better father in the past, but I’m working on that.”
“I’m sure you’re a great dad.” Monica smiled. “You planning on having any more?” Monica held her breath.
“I’m fine with the kids I have,” Austin said. “Not to get ahead of myself, but if some way lightning strikes and we do end up together, I hope you’re okay with that.”
Monica smiled. “I think so.”
Outside, in front of the restaurant, Austin’s Mercedes had already been fetched by the valet. Austin waited with Monica for her car to be brought around.
It was a beautiful night, and the two stood very close to one another.
“Why are you smiling?” Austin asked.
Monica found Austin to be a perfect gentleman. He pulled out her chair every time she sat, and stood each time she stood. His dinner conversation was interesting, funny, and just flirtatious enough to have Monica clamping her legs together under the table, wondering what the man would be like in bed. “For the same reason you’re smiling,” Monica said, smiling more, trying not to give away her thoughts.
The valet stepped out of Monica’s Jaguar, and held the door open.
“Well, I guess this is the end of a good night,” Austin said. “I know you gotta get up early for work tomorrow.”
“I don’t. I own my own business. I go in when I want.”
“So what does that mean?”
“That means this isn’t the end of a good night,” Monica said, not imagining herself just yet butt naked, bent over Austin’s dresser, but loving the option of choosing that path if she wanted. “Not if we don’t want it to be.”
“I don’t want it to be.”
“Neither do I,” Monica said, the alcohol still giving her brain warm fuzzies.
“Okay,” Austin said. “I was just on my way home, and—”
“Let’s do that, then.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
Half an hour later, Monica sat on the edge of Austin’s bed wearing nothing but panties. Austin stood naked in front of her, his head thrown back, moaning as Monica stroked him.
“Are you ready for me?” she asked, knowing he was by the stiffness of what she held in her hands.
“Yes,” Austin breathed.
“Yes.”
Monica took Austin’s hand and pulled him to bed. He climbed in and reached over toward the nightstand to grab a condom.
Monica pushed her panties down off her hips, let them fall to the floor. She slid under the bed linen and tried to calm her desire.
She had not had sex, not real sex, in over two months. Her body was telling her it was time.
Austin lay next to her and kissed Monica’s lips. She pressed her body to his, pulled his tongue into her mouth, and relaxed as she felt him slide a gentle finger into her. Monica closed her thighs around his arm, kissing him harder. “I want you,” Monica panted.
He continued to pleasure her with his hand, till the sensation became too much. She didn’t want to go this way. She reached down, pressed a hand on his arm, looked into his eyes, and said, “I want you.”
“Okay,” Austin said, and Monica thought she detected the slightest bit of uncertainty.
She opened her legs, closed her eyes, let her head fall to the side on the pillow, and breathed heavily as she felt Austin’s weight upon her.
Then nothing.
Monica opened her eyes just a little, looked up to see that he was still there. She reached down between her legs, felt for him, and he was as firm as he was a moment ago. “You okay?”
Austin gave her a look filled with angst, rose off her, and lay down on his back. He pulled the sheet up to his chest, folded his hands on top of it, then said, “I don’t want to. Not like this.”
“Huh?” Monica said, sitting up in bed.
“What would we get out of this?”
“I don’t know about you, but I was hoping for an orgasm.”
Austin gave Monica a look that said he wasn’t joking.
“Sorry, but what more are you looking for?” Monica said.
“More than sex. I just came out of a relationship like that, and … and … I deserve better. I’m a good man. I think a better man than I’ve ever been, and I want to share that with a woman. I guess I’m looking for a relationship.”
“Ohhh, Austin,” Monica said, plopping backward onto her pillow. She slapped her hands over her face. “You were perfect, and now you wanna screw it up with the R word. Say it ain’t so.”
Austin rolled up on his elbow, pulled one of Monica’s hands away from her face. “I thought all women wanted a good relationship.”
“Then I’m the one woman on earth that doesn’t. I just came out of a relationship, and there was absolutely nothing good about it.”
“It was the wrong man.”
“And the ‘good relationship’ before that one failed too.”
“Again, another wrong man,” Austin said. “It could happen.”
Monica leaned forward, laid a palm on Austin’s cheek. “I like you, so can we please not mess this up?”
“Mess what up?”
“The chance at a great … whatever we want this to be, with no talk of commitment and the future, and where we’re gonna vacation next year. I told you, I’ve done that, and it’s really nothing I’m interested in.”
“Not even the chance of one?” Austin said. “You’re telling me there’s absolutely nothing I could do to make you interested in starting something with me.”
“Well,” Monica said, her eyes dropping to the bulging imprint in the sheet below Austin’s waist.
“You’re joking.”
“Does it look like I’m joking?” Monica said with only a hint of a smile.
“This is performance-based is what you’re saying?”
“Yes, sir. Show me you can do the work and I’ll give you a shot at the job,” Monica said, turned on by the playfulness of all this.
“Well, okay. This one time. But remember you asked for this,” Austin said. He leaned over and lowered himself down to kiss Monica. It was a long, passionate, sloppy kiss that had Monica’s eyes closing, nipples hardening, her body squirming, and her insides aching. He placed his palm low on her pelvis, the tip of his middle finger ever so slightly grazing her most sensitive spot, and continued to kiss her till she nearly exploded.
Monica’s eyes slowly opened. She saw that he was kneeling between her legs, rolling on the condom.
“Close your eyes,” Austin said.
“What?”
“I said close your eyes. You don’t have to see. All you have to do is feel.”
Monica did what she was told. She felt Austin’s warm palms on her inner thighs, spreading them. She felt him kiss her belly, take one of her breasts in his mouth, then slowly, lovingly insert himself into her.
She moaned deeply, thinking she would succumb and lose it that moment. But she held on, telling herself that if he was always as good as he was feeling that moment, she would be seeing a lot more of Austin Harris.