Sculptor: A Steamy Romance (4 page)

Having a bit more information about her calms me, especially since it’s the kind that will lead to an avalanche of more info.

I can relax now that I know who she is and where she used to live, and I’ll google-fu more details from there.

But I can at least re-focus on my work.

For now, I have a number where I can reach her; I’ll dig up more about her and strategize later.

The goddess won’t escape me.

Her marriage is in four weeks? Ha!

It won’t take me that long to claim her.

She’s tied to me for at least the duration of my project for her mom—not something she’ll drop lightly considering what she did to get me to take it on.

I suddenly get a flash of her mom’s face, although back then, I thought of her as Aaron’s mom.

I remember her well.

I was around so much, at some point she stopped me from calling her Ms. Miller and told me to just call her Mama Olu since she felt like she was half-raising me.

Now that I know that’s who the gift is for—someone who was like a mom to me back in the day—I’m even more excited to work on it, and I want to make sure this birthday present of hers ends up pretty special.

I won’t fuck around now—I’ll make sure to get that done and the goddess won’t owe me a penny.

She never did, but especially now that it’s for someone I had great affection for.

I can’t afford any more distractions now, so I straighten up and head out to finish what I came here to do.

M
y other phone
—my personal cell—is buzzing with calls and texts.

Probably from Celeste—I have no idea how much time I spent with Derek.

Either way, probably more than ten minutes so she’s a little worried—she left me with a stranger, after all.

I hurry to the gelato store.

When she sees me coming, I see her let out a breath, her face reddened but relaxing as relief washes over her.

“What the hell was that about?” she asks.

I'm a terrible liar, and I sure as hell can't hide much from a girl who has known me since elementary school.

“You don’t remember Derek?” I say evenly. “My brother's old best friend…”
That I had a crush on and ran into earlier and how on earth could you not remember him, considering how much I used to drool over him?

Her brows furrow briefly but I see the moment it all clicks.

“Holy hell, he got way hotter! Did you see those muscles?”

My mouth twitches as I fight against a wide smile.

Oh, Celeste, that’s not all I saw.

But there’s no way I’m telling her about his monster cock and the way his green eyes looked gazing up at me as he ate my pussy earlier today.

I refuse to let her in on how he looks when
I’m
the one looking up at him, how much he makes my pussy ache with hunger.

“Does he know how much you wrote ‘Stella & Derek’ everywhere?”

I shove her lightly and she giggles.

She’s right, though—notebooks, the inside covers of romance novels, chalk on sidewalk…

“What does he do now?” she asks. “Last I heard, he was in the military, but he said something about art supplies? Seems…”

I guess my facial expression alarms her because then she says, “What the hell happened, Stella?” all humor and teasing disappearing from her tone.

I had gotten lost in my head over what had just happened—how close I came to losing my virginity in an empty store space.

I take a deep breath.

I may not be able to tell her everything, but no way can I keep it all in.

“I—I still have feelings for him, that’s all. I ran into him earlier and it all came back.”

“Bullshit, that’s not all. Spill it.”

“Well, we may have…made out a little.”

Celeste loves it—her face takes on a pleased expression and she looks happy scandalized.

“A little like what? You know you can’t leave out the best part!”

“Just…a little. Lips touched.”

As in, his lips touched my pussy lips, my lips touched his cock. But she doesn’t need to know all that. “Anyway, my feelings are all over the place, that’s all. You remember how I felt about him back then, and I realized he still has that effect on me. It’s kind of awkward, considering…you know.”

“Like, I don’t blame you? I mean, he was always cute, but damn, he’s super hot now. I can see why he’s shaking things up. But…not to state the obvious…but you’re engaged, Stella, you made a commitment. And you’re doing it for your brother and your mom. I wouldn’t be a good friend if I didn’t at least remind you of why you let yourself get talked into this whole thing.”

“I know, I just—I thought I wouldn’t feel
that
again—that excited about someone. I thought I’d grown past it! And now that I’ve run into him again, I’m just…rattled.”

“Well, you’ve come this far sticking to your guns. You’re marrying up. You can’t risk everything because your old crush still makes you gaga—artists aren’t exactly stable partners. You remember Joey, right? I practically funded his starving artist life for a year and then he had the nerve to cheat on me! That loser’s still broke, so he did me a favor; I dodged a bullet. Can you imagine if you got involved with this guy and he screws you over and you lost this chance to collect that jackpot?”

“I hate when you put it like that.”

“Your fiancé’s a billionaire. Not many of my friends get to date—much less get engaged to—billionaires. That’s a whole other level, so yeah—jackpot. You saw what Anna Nicole dealt with for a couple hundred million. Too bad she didn’t really get to collect. Anyway, your guy might not be that old but he’s still pretty old. You might have to wait a decade or two for him to drop, but you also probably won’t have to do it with him every day. Although maybe you should—wear him out so he drops faster…”

“Celeste!”

“You know I’m not totally serious. Just reminding you that people have done way more for way less. So yeah…”

She mouths the word ‘jackpot’ again.

“Anyway, I have a few other errands to run for the rest of the day,” she says, leaning in to give me a quick hug. “See you tomorrow maybe? Where are you headed now anyway? Better not be after Mr. Hotpants.”

I let out a short laugh.

Truthfully, every time Celeste refers to Derek’s looks I have to smile extra hard and try not to let on the jealousy churning in me at referring to him that way.

It’s not like she’s lying—Derek is unfairly hot and anyone with working eyes can see it.

I guess I just don’t like the casual nature of it, especially since what he and I have been up to isn’t casual to me.

Derek Carter was never casual to me.

“I’m headed home,” I tell her. “To my mom’s, that is. Aaron’s there too, so we’ll probably have dinner together…”

“Oh? I can come with; I love your mom’s cooking,” she says quickly.

I give her a confused, suspicious look.

“I thought you just said you had some errands?”

“They can wait,” she says with a dismissive wave of her hand. “It’ll be nice to say hi to everyone.”

* * *

W
hen Celeste’s
eyes light up as my brother hobbles into the living room, I finally get it and wonder how long it’s been going on.

I’m definitely going to grill her about that later.

My mom has already started on dinner, and she has an extra pep in her step because of all the attendees.

I suddenly feel a bit guilty I don’t see her more often.

My studies take up a lot of time, and I hope to make up for it when I graduate.

As a billionaire’s wife, I’ll probably have more time on my hands despite getting thrust into working with charities and such.

Since Celeste is busy yapping with my brother, I head to my mom.

“Mom, you won't believe what I got you for your birthday! I can’t wait for you to see it.”

“Eh?” she says with a sly smile. “One of those Hemsworth boys?”

I let out a chuckle.

“No, but I hope you like it. I'm super excited about it.”

She gives me a strange look, folding her arms as she sizes me up.

“Something's different about you,” she says, and I freeze, my heartbeats quickening.

I'm hoping like hell a drip of Derek's sperm didn't dry somewhere on me and she spotted it, or that she can smell a man on me or something.

Everyone knows I'm still a virgin, and since I’m so inexperienced in the ways of love, there's a good chance I'm giving myself away in some capacity.

Do you smell different after being intimate with a man? How strong is it?

"You look happier than I've seen you in a while.”

I let out a breath of relief.

“I'm always happy when I come to see you, Mom.”

“Nice try. What's going on with you?”

“Mom, I...I'm excited about your gift. It's pretty unique and I'm proud of myself for finding it. Plus, I'm getting married in a few weeks. To a billionaire! We'll never have to worry about money again. I can help you with your treatments, Aaron can get that bionic upgrade—the one he can't stop talking about..."

"Eh eh. That's not it. Don’t try that.”

Damn, I really thought that was convincing.

“
What an old man sees while lying down, a young man can never see even when he climbs up in a tree
,” she says with too-wise eyes. "You met someone.”

My heart speeds up a little more.

"I..." Would it really do me any good to deny right now? Clearly, my mom can see right through me.

"I ran into an old friend, that's all."

She narrows her eyes at me while smiling knowingly. 

"An old friend," she repeats dryly, skeptically.

I lower my voice, not wanting Aaron to hear.

"You remember Aaron's old friend, Derek?"

"Ah!" 

Her dark face breaks into a wide, satisfied smile.

"I get it now," she says. "You still have a crush on him, eh?"

"It was good to see him, Mom, that's all. Especially with what's about to happen. Sort of closure I didn't know I needed, you know?"

"You're only fooling yourself. How is he?"

"He's doing great! He's got his own business, he looks healthy and happy..."

"Watch yourself,” she says. “
He that doesn’t want to be splashed with water should not come near the stream
.”

Sometimes I think I know what my mom’s saying, and sometimes, I’m pretty sure she’s screwing with me for kicks and pulling things out of her ass.

I’m never sure because of the slight culture gap—she grew up in a different country than me and now she’s sort of a weird hodgepodge of both.

Needless to say, I really don't know how to read her right now; I don’t know how she’s taking this.

She's amused by the news, obviously, but I also know she wants what's best for me, and what's best for me is stability. Right?

I want to ask her what she's getting at—what she really thinks—but Celeste comes into the room looking cheerful as ever, her eyes practically sparkling.

Now I feel like I can see exactly what it was my mom saw on me.

It's a different sort of high—the invigoration you get from the presence of someone who excites everything in you.

A rare occurrence, it seems, but when it happens, man is it obvious.

I can't believe I thought I could hide from the people closest to me.

My mom has that sly look on her face again but says nothing to Celeste.

"Mama Olu," Celeste begins.

I crack up on the inside when I hear that address. After all these years, it's still hilarious coming from my best friend.

"Will you teach me the recipes sometime?"

"All this time you've been coming here you haven't learned yet?" my mom says lightly, but I know she's pleased by the request. Then she says, “Maybe,” with a slight shrug. "Secret recipe, you know. In the family for generations."

I have to bite back laughter.

My brother goes off to take a call and my mom turns her attention back to the food prep, so I drag Celeste to a corner of the living room.

"How long?" I ask her.

"How long what?"

"Don't play dumb—have you and my brother been secretly seeing each other or something?”

"No," she says immediately, and there's almost a sadness to the way she says it.

I realize what it is—she sure wishes that were the case.

"How long have you had the hots for him then?"

"I wouldn't call it ‘the hots,’" she says, with air quotes, “but I've always admired him. He was so cool in school, remember?”

Of course, I do. He was probably the main reason I got spared from bullying—I was Aaron's little sister, academic and athletic superstar. 

Come to think of it, most girls sort of crushed on him—it just never occurred to me that my best friend could have been one of them.

Especially after high school when everything changed for Aaron.

To everyone's surprise, since he had scholarship offers and so many other opportunities available to him, instead of immediately capitalizing off of his academic and sports possibilities, he enlisted in the military.

I still don't get that one.

Then he dropped out and it was all downhill from there. 

So fine—I get it if she had a crush on him at some point back then, but now?

Not that my brother isn't worthy, but all the things he used to be popular for are no longer happening.

"Is it really that hard to get why I like him?" Celeste says as she stares at me with a weird, almost judgmental expression.

Damn! Are actual words forming on my face today?

How is it everyone's reading me like a book?

"No, I'm just...surprised."

"You mean because of his leg? Do you think I’m so shallow I’d have trouble finding someone missing a limb attractive?"

"No, of course not!" I say. “You think I, of all people, feel that way?”

But did I? A lot of people kind of treat him like a leper, so yeah—I guess I got used to him no longer being a hot ticket and people overlooking him.

"He's still handsome, he's still smart, and I've known him more than half my life. He might be missing a leg now, but most of the important parts are still there, if you get my drift."

And just like that, we’re in the gutter.

I punch her in the arm for that one—a bit too hard, actually; I didn’t mean to.

“Ow,” she says, rubbing her arm. “So when was the last time he had a girlfriend?"

I think about it for a moment.

"Guess it's been a few months now," I say.

She breaks into a grin, still rubbing her arm where I punched it.

Aaron and his last girlfriend were together for about two years, and before that, he was in a year-long relationship.