Jude Stephens (11 page)

“
No. Should you be though?” he
asked with a grin.

“
No, but you’re fifteen minutes
early, which is totally unheard of in Cheve time.”

Over the last few months we’d fallen into a rather
strange relationship. More than friends due to our unorthodox
training techniques, but not romantically involved either. Besides
Janel, he was the closest person to me in the whole world. We spent
many hours together and it was natural that we began to talk about
our lives.

I told him all about Janel, Brian my ex-husband and
even about Roberto and Alex. He told me about his life back in
Arizona, about his Dad who raised him all alone because his Mom
died during childbirth. We became close in a very unique way. I
wish that I could say the same for my natural Mother. Onatah and I
got along well enough, but we still hadn’t bonded.

It wasn’t for a lack of her trying.

No, the problem was definitely me. To me, my Mom was
Magnolia Sherman, and though she’s been gone these past four
months, she was still my Mom. I dragged my thoughts back to Cheve
and why he was early.

“
Well, I came early to talk to you
about your training today. I was going to give you the day off, but
it looks like you’re up and raring to go, and I don’t want to
disappoint you.”

“
You ass! You’ve known all along
about my early morning meditations haven’t you?”

“
Yeah. This is a small Island, and
besides, nothing much gets by Onatah anyway.”

“
Of course not,” I said feeling
put out. I sighed. Oh well, I didn’t really care. I had the day off
and I planned on making the best of it, but already Cheve was
bursting my bubble.

“
Your day off comes with very
specific restrictions” he warned me.

“
What restrictions?” I asked
suspiciously.

“
You may go to the mainland for a
day of shopping. Mark will go with you. I will join you for dinner,
then we will come straight back.”

Honestly, that didn’t seem too bad and besides,
maybe our plans would change, I thought to myself as I went to get
ready.

A few hours later, Mark and I were on a small motor
boat making our way to the mainland. Since Mark still was not a
chatterbox the ride was mostly in silence. It felt wonderful to be
going somewhere.

When we got to the mainland the first thing I wanted
to do was some shopping. Not that I needed many clothes for my day
in and day out training regimen, but I was looking for something
special to wear to dinner tonight. It had been so long since I
dressed up like a woman that there was no way that Cheve was taking
me to a burger joint tonight. I intended to have a little fun for
the first time in ages.

As Mark and I walked along the streets of Alexandria
Bay looking into shop windows, my finely tuned intuition told me we
were being watched. Not wanting to alarm Mark, I took my time
staring into the windows checking out the reflections of the people
around me. As we strolled down the street looking in shops I tried
to get a fix on who was watching us.

“
Are you just going to look in
windows all day or are you actually going to buy something?” Mark
complained.

Not wanting to get anyone worked up I said without
bothering to look at the store “Yeah. I was just looking for the
right shop and this is it.”

Mark raised his eyebrows but said nothing. I took a
quick glance up and down the street, but the feeling of being
watched was gone. I walked into the store and for the first time
noticed the merchandise was more for going clubbing than dining. I
almost turned to leave but then saw the slight smirk on Mark’s face
and thought what the hell.

A store clerk walked over and said, “Welcome to Club
Diva. My name is Christina. Are you looking for something in
particular?”

“
Yes. I’m looking for a dress, a
little black dress maybe. Something I could wear to a nice dinner?”
I asked hopefully.

Christina looked thoughtful for a minute then said,
“We do have a few black dresses that are a bit more conservative.
Follow me and I’ll show them to you.”

I turned to Mark and said, “Why don’t you go and
scout out a place where we can eat lunch and be back in an
hour.”

When he looked like he wanted to protest I gave him
a hard look. “I think I can manage an hour of trying on dresses by
myself. Besides I wasn’t asking you, I was telling you.”

With that I turned and dismissed him. If there was
one thing I learned in the last few months it was when to assert
myself. Mark shrugged and left, and I went to try on dresses. After
trying on three dresses, I was ready to give up and find a decent
store. All three so far had made me look like a streetwalker. One
had a plunging neckline so low that Christina said she would bring
me tape that would hopefully help keep my breasts covered.
Christina returned carrying the tape and another dress. She handed
me the tape and I shook my head no letting her know I wasn’t
interested.

“
Maybe you’ll like this one. It
looks like it will cover more,” she said, handing me the
dress.

I sighed, but took the dress wondering why I was
bothering. After taking off the breast baring, streetwalker dress,
I slid this newest insult over my head. I looked in the mirror.
Hmm….it was short, very short by my standards, but it made my now
shapely legs look great. The v-neck was low but I would not require
tape to keep my breasts covered. I turned to get a better look at
the back. “Wow,” I couldn’t help saying out loud. The dress molded
around my nicely rounded butt. I didn’t remember having a rear like
this before.

It must be the workouts that I’m doing. I had put on
a lot of muscle. Christina returned and when she saw me exclaimed
“Wow! That dress looks amazing on you. I wish I had some booty like
you do. We have the perfect shoes to go with that dress. Hold on
I’ll be right back.”

I couldn’t believe that someone actually envied one
of my body parts. I felt...sexy. When Christina returned with a
pair of silver high heeled sandals, I didn’t even look at the
price. All I said was, “I’ll take them.” Before leaving this
morning, Onatah gave me a credit card and told me to have fun. I
tried to protest, but she told me I had some inheritance coming to
me from my adoptive “parents”, so I took the credit card. After
paying I noticed the hour was almost up and spotted Mark outside
the shop waiting.

“
I hope you didn’t have to wait
long,” I said to him.

“
No.” Eyeing my bag he said
skeptically, “You found a dress in that shop?”

“
As a matter of fact, I did. It’s
a very lovely dress too. Wait until you see it. You are joining us
for dinner tonight aren’t you?”

Mark looked uneasy. “Uh, no. I have a date.”

I was shocked. “With whom?”

“
Sarah.”

“
Sarah? Isn’t she a little young
for you?”

“
No. She is twenty three, and
we’ve been seeing each other for a few weeks now.”

I don’t know why I was so shocked. I’ve talked to
Sarah several times and knew that she was a nice girl. I liked her.
It was just weird I guess, knowing not that long ago Mark had
confessed feelings for me and now he had a girlfriend.

Men…they were all alike. When was I going to get it
through my head that to men, women were pretty much
interchangeable? Any woman would do to warm their bed. An image of
Roberto and Annika flickered across my mind before a bright flash
of anger burnt through my veins. I quickly got it under control and
said, “Well, I’m glad for you both. Sarah is a sweet girl.”

“
Yes she is. She’s coming over to
the mainland with Cheve later, and we’re going to have a real first
date tonight.”

I was about to invite them to have dinner with Cheve
and I before I realized that they would probably want to be
alone.

“
That’s great Mark.” And I did
mean it. Mark was a friend and I wanted him happy. I was the one
who was not destined to be happy.

We ate lunch at a nice little Italian restaurant.
After that we took a walk around the town. Alexandria Bay was a
beautiful seaside village. When I saw a sign advertising a tour of
the famous Boldt castle, I made Mark purchase tickets. The rest of
the day was spent touring the unique castle. In 1900 Millionaire
George Boldt began construction of the 120 room mansion as a gift
to his very much loved wife, Louise. In 1904 Boldt ordered all
construction stopped when his wife passed away. I got teary eyed
when the guide informed us that the castle is now host to hundreds
of weddings annually. I couldn’t help but think of how fitting it
was for love to be the legacy left behind from so great a
passion.

It was getting close to dusk when Mark said it was
time to meet Sarah and Cheve down at the dock. When we got there, I
was pleased to see that they brought a bigger boat that had a small
cabin. I would at least be able to change into my dress in
privacy.

When we boarded Sarah came out of the cabin looking
pretty in a blue dress with a black floral pattern around the
scalloped edge. She quickly went over and hugged Mark who seemed
embarrassed at the gesture with me standing there. Sarah saw the
bags in my hands and exclaimed, “Oh did you buy a pretty dress for
tonight? I’ll help you get ready. Cheve went to make sure he got
reservations at a nice restaurant for the two of you.”

“
That would be great Sarah. Thank
you. Maybe you can help me with my hair. It’s always such a
mess.”

“
Your hair is beautiful. I wish
mine would curl like yours does.”

We went below and it was really nice to have a few
minutes of girl time. Though, it did make me miss Janel. After
washing up, I slipped the dress over my head. I realized that for
it to hang right I wouldn’t be able to wear anything underneath.
While Sarah was turned the other way I quickly slid my underwear
off. I tugged the dress down as far as it would go and Sarah turned
and exclaimed, “Holy crap! That is some dress.”

I was deeply regretting my rebel decision to buy the
dress. “Is it that bad?” I asked Sarah.

“
No, it’s just so sexy. If you
don’t mind me asking are you trying to get Cheve to notice you, you
know, in a romantic way?”

“
No!” I quickly said. “It’s just
that I’ve never had a body that could pull something like this off,
and when I tried it on it was so…so…exhilarating to feel powerful
and sexy.”

“
Well, you do look sexy. I hope
that Cheve will be able to keep all of the men off of
you.”

I couldn’t help but smile, “That has never been a
problem for me, and I don’t think Cheve will have anything to worry
about.”

We finished getting ready and Sarah even managed to
make my hair look attractive. She swept it up on top of my head
with a few strands curling around my neck.

Just then Cheve called down, “Are you guys ready
yet? I made reservations for a half hour from now.”

I winked at Sarah. “Guys? Let’s go show them how
good the “guys” are looking.”

She laughed and we climbed up the few steps into the
cool evening air. The laughter died on my lips when I saw Cheve
dressed in black dress trousers that hugged his muscular thighs and
a black dress shirt that was open a few buttons. His black hair
which was usually tousled was combed back. He looked so good that I
forgot to breathe for a minute. I looked at his face and for one
second I saw pure lust in his eyes, and then he ruined it by
saying, “Go put some underwear on Sensay.”

Chapter 12

I was getting seriously pissed off. Mark, Cheve and
Sarah were all staring at me. It was my business and no one else’s
if I wore underwear or not.

“
Are we going to dinner or not?
And if you say no, I’m still going.” I started to move toward the
steps. Cheve grabbed my arm. I glared at him and he let
go.

He sighed, “Okay, we’re going to dinner but then
we’re heading back to the island.” He turned towards Mark, “You and
Sarah can take this boat. We’ll take the motor boat since we’ll be
returning early.”

That’s what you think mister, I thought to myself
though I just smiled at everyone. Cheve took hold of my arm “We can
walk to the restaurant; it’s just a few blocks from here.”

When I didn’t answer him he stopped walking and
turned to face me. “It’s not that I don’t like the way you look,
Orenda. You look really hot. I just don’t want you drawing
attention to yourself. It’s a matter of safety.”

“
Cheve, we can take care of
ourselves. It’ll be fine.”

“
You really don’t know do
you?”

“
Know what?”

He began walking again but said, “How incredibly
beautiful you are.”

My earlier anger subsided.

The restaurant was a little inn that specialized
in

seafood. I actually began to relax. “This place is
perfect, Cheve.”

“
Thanks, I heard it has the best
food in town.”

Cheve ordered a bottle of wine and we sat chatting
about some of our favorite foods. It was nice to enjoy dinner with
a friend. It had been too long since I had some normalcy in my
life.

We were just finishing with our desserts when I had
the feeling of being watched again. Not wanting to tip off Cheve in
anyway, I glanced at him to see if he had picked up on
anything.

Cheve was eating his cheesecake and didn’t seem to
be alarmed about anything. I nonchalantly glanced around but didn’t
see anything unusual. As quickly as the feeling came it was gone.
Maybe my training made me paranoid. I wasn’t about to let it spoil
my one night of fun. As we were leaving, I decided to at least give
it a shot to see if Cheve would let me stay out for a while
longer.