Authors: Chamein Canton
“I notice beautiful women, period. You are a beautiful
woman, Cathy.”
She felt flushed. “Thank you Marcus but right now it’s
a little difficult to feel beautiful with all the attention my
size is getting.”
“I know and I’m sorry.”
She caressed his cheek. “It’s not your fault.”
“I wish there was something I could do.”
“You’re doing something right now. You’re listening to
me vent.” Her eyes started to tear up again.
“It’s still very fresh for you, isn’t it?”
She wiped her face. “It’s a shame but all I had to hear
was chubby, fat and cow and my hard won self-esteem was
totally obliterated.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me how you really felt? You
didn’t have to tell me what you thought I wanted to hear. I
wanted the real story.”
“I’m used to putting on a happy face for everyone. Then
I deal with it later by myself. It’s the way it’s always been.”
“You don’t have to do that anymore. I want to be there
for you.” His sincerity was touching but Cathy had to ask
the question.
“Tell me the truth, Marcus. Did you like being called a
chubby chaser? And what about your teammates and fellow
baseball players? Are you saying they’re not giving you grief?
Mind you, I’ve seen their wives and girlfriends.”
Marcus was ticked. “I don’t give a rat’s behind about
what other people have to say. If being a chubby chaser
means I’ve finally found a wonderful woman to be with,
then Cybil and anyone else can call me a chubby chaser
every day and twice on Sunday. Now as far as my teammates are concerned, as long as I’m happy, they wish me all
the best. After that, who cares about anyone else? All that
matters is you and me.”
Cathy started to crack a smile. “I don’t know what I did
to get so lucky.” She sighed.
He was relieved to see her smile again. “I feel the same
way.”
“So are you ready to deal with all of my insecurities
when they raise their ugly heads?”
“Yes. Believe it or not, I know a thing or two about
being insecure. Can you handle that?” he asked.
“You have insecurities?” she asked in disbelief.
“Of course I do. Every time I step onto the baseball
diamond I worry I’m not good enough to be there.”
“That’s crazy. You’re a fantastic athlete.” Cathy shooed
his doubts away.
“Thank you.” He moved closer. “And you’re a beautiful
woman inside and out. I know I’ve dated what some people
call ‘perfect women’ but I’ve never felt so close to someone
so quickly.” He caressed her face. “I say all the right things
in front of the cameras but I don’t let anyone in easily.
There’s just something about you that just feels right to me.
It feels like home.”
“I’m a bit guarded too. I’ve never trusted anyone
enough to really let my guard down.”
He looked deep in her eyes. “I know we haven’t known
each other long but I think I’m falling in love with you.”
Just as Cathy started to speak, he kissed her. His lips
were filled with an urgent hunger he needed to satisfy.
“You’re so sexy and so very sweet,” he whispered in her
ear.
The warmth from his lips against her neck made Cathy
tingle. Together they pulled his shirt over his head and let
it fall to the floor. Marcus held her face as they kissed. Her
breathing intensified as she tried to unbutton her dress.
“No I want to undress you, again.”
Marcus led her into the bedroom. He sat down on the
edge of the bed as Cathy stood in front of him. Slowly he
pushed her dress up her thighs to reveal the top of her
stockings. He lifted her leg so that her foot was on his
thigh. Cathy held on to his shoulder so she wouldn’t topple
over. He rolled her stockings down each leg, kissing her
thighs, knees, calves, ankles and toes with every roll.
Marcus turned her around slowly and unzipped her dress,
then slowly untied her halter. Just as the straps fell around
her shoulders he stopped the dress from falling to the floor.
He whispered into her ear, “I love to reveal you slowly.”
He unhooked her bra so her bra and dress fell to the
floor simultaneously. Starting from the nape of her neck, he
planted soft kisses to her shoulders. Her knees weak, she
could barely stand up. Marcus kneeled in front of her to
kiss her stomach and hips. When his lips got closer to her
inner thighs, she tensed up.
“What’s wrong, honey?”
Cathy was embarrassed to say anything. “Nothing, it’s
just that I’ve never…” She shook her head. “Never mind.”
“You’ve never let a man please you there?”
She felt like a total neophyte. “No. I was taught it was
wrong.”
“What could be wrong with loving and pleasing every
inch of your lover’s body?”
She knew she didn’t have an answer.
“Relax, sweetie, and let me take care of you.”
She lay down on the bed. He kissed her knees, calves
and then her inner thighs. The sensations pulsating
through her overwhelmed Cathy. Marcus’s silky touch
loved every inch of her curves, even the dangerous ones.
With panther-like moves, he hovered above her, playfully
teasing her lips with his. Cathy’s skin crawled with desire as
he lowered his body. She’d never craved a man’s touch like
this before. They seemed to read each other’s mind and in
the midst of such exquisite ecstasy, their eyes locked.
“Cathy,” he whispered. “I love you.”
“Oh God, Marcus, I love you.”
The elephant was in the room. In fact, it was in bed
with them. Last night in the throes of passion they had
been as close as two can get; they had even confessed their
love. But neither had brought it up this morning. So far it
looked as if the elephant would be staying for breakfast.
Marcus stroked Cathy’s hair. “Last night and this
morning were amazing. They really were. I can’t believe last
night was the last evening I get to spend with you before we
go on the road.”
She waited for the other shoe to drop. “I know. The
time just flew by.”
“I just thought of something.” He stopped for a
minute. “Maybe you can join me.”
Cathy was a little taken aback. “You want me to come
on the road with you?”
“It doesn’t sound that crazy to you, does it?”
“No. I don’t think it’s crazy at all.”
“Do you think you could rearrange your schedule?”
Cathy thought about it. She could really use a real vacation. “It would be hard for me to flip it during the week,
but maybe I can come for the weekend series in Tampa.”
“That sounds good to me.”
“I’ll book a flight leaving Friday and returning Sunday.”
“You can stay at the Hilton. I’ll take care of the reservation and I’ll have the concierge handle getting you to the
stadium.”
“Great. It’s been forever since I’ve been to Florida.
Maybe I’ll check with the concierge for shopping and sightseeing recommendations, so I can keep busy while you’re at
the stadium.”
“That’s a good idea but you won’t be on your own all of
the time. We’ll be able to do some stuff together.”
She smiled. “Now that would be really nice.” She kissed
him, then sat up to see what time it was. “God, I didn’t
realize the time. Since this is our last breakfast together do
you have any requests?”
“No. Whatever you make is fine with me. I love…” He
stopped in the midst of his sentence. “…your cooking,” he
finished.
Cathy put on a smile even though he didn’t say what
she wanted to hear. She slipped her black robe on and
headed to the kitchen to get her mind off the subject of love
and into making breakfast. Some women find comfort in
eating, Cathy found comfort in cooking. It was a cheap but
therapeutic way for her to concentrate on something else
instead of whatever was worrying her.
For the first time, Cathy had opened up to a man. She’d
told Marcus her deepest fears and the life that had shaped
her, something she’d never done in the past . Then when
she thought their lovemaking couldn’t get any better, they’d
taken it to another place so amazing they’d uttered those
three little words, ‘I love you.’ They went from ‘I
think
I
love you’ to ‘I love you’ in the course of an hour or so. Only
now in the light of the sun they couldn’t seem to find those
same little words they’d said so easily in the dark.
An hour later Cathy had channeled her uneasiness into
blueberry muffins, a salmon frittata, sausage, fresh squeezed
orange juice and coffee.
Although the elephant was likely to join them for
breakfast, she didn’t add a third place setting. She grabbed
the collection of morning papers stacked by the front door.
By force of habit she opened up to the gossip section and
there was a picture of Marcus and her with the caption
Marcus Fox’s New Ladylove Throws Her Weight Around At
Club Z.
Cathy couldn’t believe her eyes. She quickly flipped to
the item.
According to two women, New York literary agent
Catherine Chambers verbally accosted them in the
ladies’ room of Club Z and chased them out of the ladies’
room. The two women said they had no idea what made
her go after them.
Cathy saw red.
Those two coked-out witches from the
bathroom insulted me and I’m the bad guy. All I did was
educate them with my real dress size.
She sucked her teeth
. It
figures that this would back up on me. I thought I could put it
behind me but now the whole dang world knows
. Lost in
thought, Cathy unconsciously crumpled the paper. Marcus
walked into the dining room. “Oh, honey, this looks
wonderful.”
She was silent.
“Cathy? Is something wrong?”
She handed him the paper. “Read this.”
Marcus looked at the crumpled paper. “This doesn’t
bode well.” He smoothed the paper and scanned down.
“What the hell is this about?”
“I’d like to know, too,” Cathy huffed. “I told you what
happened last night. Those same two women were talking
about me in between snorts of coke.”
“So we have the word of a couple of cokeheads trying
to score some cash with a bogus story.”
Cathy was panicked. “What am I going to do, Marcus?
I have children. My children are going to see this crap! How
do I explain this to them? To my family? This is a nightmare for me on so many levels.” Cathy paced the floor.
“Then there are the business ramifications. I’m a literary
agent with clients and a good reputation in publishing.
This will totally ruin my life.” Cathy stopped herself. “I’m
sorry. I’m just so upset.”
“Don’t worry about it. You have the right to be upset.”
Cathy tried to take it down a notch. “I wanted this to
be a nice breakfast and here I am ruining it.”
“It is a nice breakfast and you haven’t ruined anything.
It’s the jackass that published this crap that ruined breakfast.” Marcus was angry.
She sat down at the table. “I know what I have to do
but there are so many things running through my head
right now, I scarcely know where to begin.”
Marcus stood behind her and rubbed her neck. “I’m
going to call my agent this morning and we’ll get this
straightened out.”
“Oh, Marcus, that’s really nice of you but this isn’t your
problem. I can call Jessica Jennings; she handles PR for a
few of our clients. I’m sure she can help.”
“Really, honey, let me do this. It’s my fault anyway.”
“How is it your fault?”
“It’s because of me that they are focusing on you in the
first place. I have to and will put an end to it.”
Cathy felt a little like she had her own knight in shining
armor. “Thanks, honey. I think I’ll get in touch with my
attorney, too.”
“Good idea.”
Cathy had a headache but she quickly covered it up.
“Now let’s enjoy this breakfast.”
He looked over the spread. “Are you telling me you
made all of this with the stuff that’s in my kitchen?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“It all looks so good. Do you mind if I dive in?”
“Please eat and enjoy.”
They made a cozy looking pair sitting at the breakfast
table. Then Cathy’s cell phone rang.
“Why don’t you let it go to voice mail?”
“It could be important and with the gossip column in
the paper today I’d better be prepared to face questions
sooner or later. I prefer sooner.” She got up. “Excuse me.”
She looked at the caller ID. It was E.D. She knew he’d
be the first call.
“Hello, E.D.”
“Cathy, what the hell is going on? I got the morning
paper and I couldn’t believe what I read.”
She walked into the bedroom. “That makes three of
us.” Balancing the phone on her shoulder she sat down on
the bed. “You know, I was going to ask you to send out a
memo to let our clients know I had a social life. I guess that
ship has sailed.” She clapped her hands together.
“I know that’s your attempt to lighten the mood.”
“You mean it didn’t work?” she joked.
“What do you think? So, my friend, how the hell did it
get started?”
“It started the minute I walked into that club. Scratch
that. I was actually having a good time until I went into the
ladies room.”
“Forget the paper. What really happened?”
“To make a short story short, I overheard them talking
about me while I was in the bathroom.”
“Did they talk about you right to your face?”
“No, that would have required guts, which those two
cokeheads didn’t have.”
“Cokeheads?”
“Did I mention they were doing lines at the time?”
“So they didn’t see you.”
“They were too busy to notice anything but they did
have time to wonder how Marcus could screw me through
all my flesh. One said, ‘If cows can screw, there’s a way.’
Then they made reference to my dress size.”
E.D. was silent for a minute. “Oh my God, Cathy, I
can’t imagine what that must have been like for you.”
“It was a nightmare but what could I do? Hide in the
stall all night? So I stepped out of the stall and told them I
wore a size 16.”
“Good for you!”
“The little heifers ran out. It felt good for about a
minute. Then the more I thought about it, the more
uncomfortable I got. We left the club not too long after
that.”
“Whose idea was it to leave?”
“Mine. I know I should have stayed and danced the
night away, but once those words were in the air, I couldn’t
stay.”
“Oh, Cathy, I know you’re really upset because of your
boys.”
“There’s my picture, this totally awful caption and a
blurb full of lies. Even if I get in touch with the powers that
be and get a retraction, it’s too late. The damage has been
done.”
“Don’t worry about business, talk to your kids first.”
Speaking of mothers, I almost forgot about Elizabeth
. She
winced. “Oh my God. My mother is going to have a field
day with this.”
“Cathy, you cannot turn this into a punishment from
God for your sins. I don’t care what your mother and ‘the
truth’ say.”
Cathy fidgeted on the bed. “Why does it feel like I’m
being punished?”
“Come on, Cathy. You know better. What did Marcus
say about it?”
“He’s mad as hell and he’s contacting his agent about it
since he thinks the whole thing is his fault.”
“He can’t be at fault for other people’s eagerness to get
an exclusive at any cost. However, I’m sure he has the right
connections to get this handled yesterday.”
“I know, but there’s the matter of our clients. What’s
going to happen when they read this?” she asked. “You
know they are going to call me about it.”
“I’ll handle them.”
“Then there are my sons. What am I going to say?
What must they be thinking?”
“You didn’t do a damn thing, Cathy. Your sons know
you and there is no way they would believe such trash.” E.
D. was in motivational speaker mode.
“From your lips to God’s ears,” Cathy sighed.
“Don’t worry. Concentrate on your kids. I’ll handle the
client stuff.”
“Thanks, E.D.” She looked at the clock. “I’d better get
back to the breakfast table with Marcus. We’ll talk later.
Keep me posted.”
“Will do.”
Before heading back in, Cathy took a couple of Advil
for her headache.
Marcus looked up. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. That was E.D. I had to give him the rundown.”
“I’m sure he’s none too pleased.”
“That’s an understatement.” She sighed. “My dad has
been in Virginia for the last couple of weeks, but he’s due
back this evening. He reads every newspaper.”
Marcus felt responsible for the whole mess. He watched
as Cathy tried to downplay the way she was feeling but he
knew better. Whether she knew it or not, he’d made up his
mind about her and he planned to keep her in his life. In
order to do it he had to take care of this mess yesterday.
Marcus got up. “Listen, honey, I need to make that
phone call now. I’ll be back in a few minutes or so. Okay?”
“Okay.”
He kissed her before he left the room.