Open Eyes (Open Skies) (7 page)

“Rob, I’m so close… please.”

“Come for me, sweetheart.” He gripped her hips and withdrew from her hot center, plunged in again, withdrew, plunged. He fought to stop himself from coming before her, but it was proving a huge challenge.
She is just so gorgeous, so hot. Oh, God.

He thrust his thumb between her sweet lips and she sucked on it, her eyes blazing up at him from the bed. He removed his finger and then gently rubbed between their bodies, his slick thumb pressing on her vulnerable bud. She gave a cry and his movements grew stronger: he drove himself in to her slim body with a groan, holding nothing back now.

Tammy panted his name as her pussy began to flicker, the muscles going in to spasms of pure delight. She threw back her head and heard her cries getting louder, felt her body shaking and straining. Rob slammed in to her, every thrust stroking her lower lips, and the combination of his roughness combined with the delicious glide back and forth drove her over the edge.

Rob felt Tammy’s sex clutch at him as she came, and he let himself go at the same moment. He held her in place and thrust as hard and deep as he could, knowing that she loved it when he filled her so completely. As the pressure built, Rob gave one final, twisting push of his hips and he shattered in a burst of light and sound and pure pleasure. He shouted his release, then lowered his large upper body down on to hers, gathering her trembling body in his arms.

Tammy stroked his back, loving his weight on her. She kissed his shoulder, licked off some sweat. They had been making love all day and they were both sweetly exhausted.

He raised his head, still breathless, and kissed her. She smiled at him, her violet eyes very dark in the half-light.

“I love you.” He ran his fingers over the delicate curves on her face.

“Oh, Rob. I love you too.”

With great reluctance, he pulled out of her body and she sighed.

“I hate it when you have to do that,” she said. “I always feel empty, somehow. It’s like – my body misses yours.”

“I know, sweetheart. Mine misses yours too, believe me.”

He pulled the sheets over her supple body, then climbed out of bed to go to the bathroom. Tammy propped herself up on one slim arm and watched his broad back and perfect ass go in to the other room, then she watched his muscled chest approach again.

He got back in to her bed and took her in his arms. “Come here, sweet thing.”

She lay her dark head on his chest, playing with the golden hair there. “So, do you think we should have something to eat now?”

His eyes gleamed.

She laughed. “Now, now. You ate
that
earlier.”

“I did. And you loved it.”

Her pussy gave a pulse of memory; she loved having his mouth on her, lapping and sucking her to the point of screaming.

“I did.”

They shared a smile.

“But,” Tammy continued. “I am kind of hungry… I mean for food.”

Rob sat up. “OK. Let’s go make something to eat.”

“I made dinner already,” Tammy said. “I just need to heat it up.”

Twenty minutes later, they were in Tammy’s tiny kitchen eating turkey stir-fry with rice.

“I know it’s not the whole traditional Thanksgiving turkey thing,” Tammy said. “But I can’t do much more in this kitchen, I’m afraid.”

Rob shook his head. “It’s delicious.” He took a sip of wine and paused. “Tammy?”

“Yeah?”

“I was wondering if we could talk again about – about moving in together?”

She stared at him.

“I mean – I know when I brought it up four months ago, you said you weren’t ready.” He swallowed. “I was just wondering if maybe – maybe you were? Ready? Almost?”

“Your timing is so astounding,” she said.

“It is? How come?”

Tammy sipped her wine. “Because I just talked to Christine today about my renting this place from her.”

Christine was Rob’s younger sister and she and her husband owned Tammy’s apartment. Christine offered Tammy a great deal on the rent, and Tammy kept the place immaculate and had done some decorating herself: some fresh paint, a few pieces of furniture. Both sides were thoroughly delighted with the arrangement.

“Oh,” Rob said. “What did you talk about?”

“Well, oddly enough – we talked about me not living here anymore.”

Rob’s heart stopped. “Are you – are you thinking about moving in with me?”

Tammy looked at him across the table and smiled. He was just so handsome and so sexy and he made her so happy.

“Yes,” she said. “Yes, I want to move in with you.”

“Oh, my God.” He jumped up and picked her up out of her chair. She squealed as he kissed her. Their kisses grew deeper and harder and hotter and he wrapped her legs around his waist and cupped her ass in his hands. She felt his cock hardening and she moaned as he rubbed her sex. Tammy tried to focus.

“OK, OK,” she said. “But before we go celebrate, I need to tell you one more thing.”

Rob sat down in her vacated chair, still holding her against his body. Unable to stop herself, she gyrated her hips on his lap. He closed his eyes and tried to keep some control.

“OK. Tell me fast,” he said. “Because I’m going to fuck you right here in this kitchen in a minute.”

She gasped as he ground her hips down on his cock. Her breasts tingled and she felt her juices pooling between her legs; it was her body’s usual helpless response to him.

“Forget it,” she said. “I’ll tell you later.”

He growled and lifted her unresisting body in to his arms. They barely made it to the bed.

**

A week later, Tammy was at Open Skies for a long weekend with Julie. The women were sitting in Julie’s office with their shoes off and their feet on the furniture, chatting away.

“So, you’ll live with Rob, but keep Frank and Christine’s place as your design studio?” Julie’s mint-green eyes were sparkling. “That is such a great idea!”

“Yeah, I know.” Tammy almost hugged herself with joy. “My business is actually going OK now. It took a while, but I’m working all the time now. And my inspiration has really come back – I can sit up until two o’clock in the morning sketching ideas.”

“When you’re not being kept up half the night by Rob. Am I right?”

The two best friends shared saucy grins, both of them totally satisfied with the men they shared their beds with.

“Ummm. Excuse me? Julie? Tammy?”

Tammy and Julie glanced up to see Vicky in the doorway of Julie’s office.

“Hey, Vicky.” Tammy smiled. “What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing much.” Vicky was fidgeting. “I was wondering if I could ask you two for help with something?”

“Yeah, of course. Come on in.”

Vicky entered slowly. Julie looked at her and wished that she didn’t look so sorry about simply walking in to a room… Vicky always seemed to be on the verge of apologizing for something, even when she had done nothing at all wrong.

“Sit down,” Julie invited her.

“Oh! Oh, no, thank you. I don’t want to take too much of your time. I know you’re both very busy.”

“We totally are
not
,” Tammy said. “We were just talking about going back to the Big House and opening some wine and gossiping about men all night.” She cocked her head at Vicky. “You wanna come?”

Vicky blinked.
What?

“Erm. Thank you, but I don’t have any man to gossip about, I’m afraid.”

“Sure, maybe not
now
,” Tammy said. “But I’m sure that you have a past –
everyone
has a past. You can gossip about
those
men!”

Huh. I wonder what these two glittering and gorgeous young things would say if they heard that Carl was my first and my only. And that I hate sex, and that he beat the crap out of me for being so lousy in bed
.
That he twisted my arm so hard one time when he was forcing me to go down on him, he snapped my shoulder. I don’t suppose Jake and Rob behave that way, so I don’t imagine they can relate all that much.

Aloud, she said, “My romantic past is boring, I’m sorry to say.”

“Aw,” Tammy said. “What a shame. Anyway, what did you want to ask us?”

“Well, I don’t want to take your time, so if you can’t help me, it’s OK. I mean, it’s really OK.”

“Vicky,” Julie said gently. “What do you need our help with?”

Vicky was turning red. “Ummm. With – with a make-over.”

They both stared at her, completely stunned.

She reddened even more in the face of their obvious shock and started edging towards the door. “You know what? Never mind… please forget that I ever brought it up. It was stupid, and you both have much better things to do with your time…”

“Whoa. Hold up,” Tammy said. “Just – just wait. OK?”

“OK.”

“So – let me get this straight. You want me and Julie to help you with your hair and makeup? Clothes, too?”

Vicky nodded, her fingers twisting in humiliation. Julie and Tammy were looking at each other in that totally unnerving way that they had: the two of them could have entire conversations without uttering a single word.

Without any warning whatsoever, Julie and Tammy burst in to whoops. Vicky jumped about three feet in the air.

“Of
course
we’ll help you!” Tammy said. “We have been
dying
to get our hands on you!”

“You – what?”

“Oh, my God,” Julie said. “I mean, look at you – tall and slim and gorgeous, with those eyes and lips! And, of course, that
stunning
hair!” She shook her own sexily.

Despite herself, Vicky laughed.

“Yeah. You are just
beautiful
, but you’re hiding it under those prim and proper clothes and no color and always wearing your hair all tied back and up.” Tammy’s eyes were sparkling with enthusiasm. “I have been itching to get my hands on you and put you in some color. Greens, yellows, maybe even pink, if it’s the right shade.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.” Tammy was bursting with excitement. “So! When do we go?”

“Uh. Well, when you have time –”

“Tomorrow!” Julie said.

“But – but aren’t you busy tomorrow?” Vicky faltered.
Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

“Nope. I’m up here for three days, just hanging out, and we were planning on going shopping anyway,” Tammy said. “You come with us. Oh! And we’ll call right now and make a hair appointment for the morning. Right?”

“Ummm… I’m not sure that… I mean, I think it’d be better if… ummmm…”
This is escalating rapidly.

“OK, hang on a sec,” Julie said. “Wait up.”

“What?” Tammy asked.

“What’s wrong, Vicky?” Julie asked. “Tell us.”

“Well,” Vicky said. “The thing is – I’m on a bit of a budget.”

“Right. You told me you send money to your Mom every month, I remember,” Julie said, “So, do you need to save up for a few weeks?”

“Oh. Oh, no. I’m fine to go tomorrow. But the thing is, I have a set amount and I know that some hairdressers are reasonable and some are insane. Maybe, you can just – you know… pick a reasonable one?”

Julie studied her tight, worried face for a second and then she smiled. “No problem. You leave it with me, alright? I promise I’ll find someone not too expensive. OK?”

“OK.” Vicky took a deep breath. OK.”

“Great!” Tammy said. “So… we’ll leave Open Skies at nine o’clock tomorrow morning, and we shop. And don’t fuss about your budget, Vicky.”

“Why not?”

“Because
you
, girl, are going to look incredible on almost nothing at all.” Tammy winked. “Trust me on this.”

**

Vicky stared at her reflection in the mirror.
My God. Really? That’s
me
?

They were in to the third hour of shopping and bags were scattered around her newly-manicured feet in smart new high heeled boots. Tammy and Julie were standing behind her, looking her up and down.

“So, what do you think?” Tammy said. “I was right about the pink, yes?”

“Yes,” Vicky said, still staring. “Yes, you were. I never thought I could get away with it, not with my hair color.”

“You can,” Tammy told her. “You look great.”

Normally, Vicky would have rebuffed the compliment, played it down, denied it. But today – today she didn’t. Today, she agreed with Tammy. Today, she
did
look great.

Her hair was cut to just below her chin, in a sassy and sleek bob. The cut accentuated her delicate heart-shaped face and brought out her round eyes and generous lips. The stylist had wanted to color it and make it more blonde, but Julie had put her foot down: she and Vicky both loved the natural gold and red highlights. The stylist had pouted but in the end, she had admitted that the color was perfect as it was.

Her manicured nails were painted a soft cream – Julie had advised her to keep the colors neutral and subtle, though Tammy had pushed for fire-engine red nails – and her face was made up lightly. After listening to the arguments put forth by both Tammy and Julie, Vicky had opted for freshness over flash. Her eyes now glowed with a whisper of brown eye shadow, her cheeks were brushed with a gentle rose, and her lips had a slick of daring peach gloss.

The hair and makeup was just the beginning. Delighted by the success of the beauty salon, Julie and Tammy had treated her to a quick brunch of fresh fruit, coffee, and blueberry pancakes with golden syrup, and then hustled her to the clothing shops. And here they were, three hours later, trying on colors and cuts and styles that Vicky would never have even looked at twice before this morning.

She twisted and turned in the dusty rose suit, admiring her slim calves in the snug pencil skirt, loving the trim waist on the jacket.

“I love it,” she said. “But how much is it?”

“On sale!” Tammy brandished the price tag. “Seventy percent off!”

“Wow,” Julie said. “I wonder if they have it in my size?”

Vicky was amazed at how adept Tammy was at sniffing out a bargain. She had taken Vicky’s budget as set in stone and delivered the goods: Vicky had the bare bones of a great professional and personal wardrobe and
still
had money to spend. She glanced down at the bags at her feet and smiled. Tammy had found her fun and flirty things, as well as some nice pieces for work which still had color and flair. Vicky was thrilled.