Sliding (The Stone Series) (6 page)

************

Missy’s family moved out of state after freshman year to be closer to her
oldest brother and his family. We said we’d all stay in touch and be friends
forever, we said we’d see each other on school vacations and in the summer, we
said we would talk on the phone every night and write letters. We did all of
those things for a few months but it was never the same again and after a few months
we all fell out of touch with her. Tate was never happier in his life. I knew
her leaving would keep Tate’s jealousy under control even though I didn’t want
to lose Missy I knew it would make things easier with Tate. Annie also left
after ninth grade; she went to a boarding school for girls. She tried to fight
her parents on this but lost miserably. They had caught her with one too many
boys sneaking in or out of her house in the middle of the night. Once she left
she didn’t even come home over the breaks or the summer.

During the summer Tate and I spend every sunny day we can together at the
beach with a bunch of kids. Tate goes to a week of basketball and football camp
so I’m not able to see or talk to him for three weeks with the exception of the
weekends when he’s home. I also go to camp those weeks for cheerleading and
dance so we write letters and I cry myself to sleep every night because I miss
him so much.

We hang out at the beach and it is
all I can do not to sport wood looking at Brook in those bikinis of hers. At
night I
ride my bike to her house or sometimes she comes over to mine. It is so
frustrating that we are never alone long enough for anything to happen except a
fast kiss. I can’t wait to get my hands on her and for her hands to be on me.

One day I’m at Bobby’s house and we
decide to go looking through his brother, Eric’s room in search of his porn. We
find the mother loud! He has magazines, videos and condoms. We are sitting on
his bed looking at the magazines when he walks in and find us.

 
“What the fuck are you doing in here with my
porn? You do know it’s kind of creepy to be sitting here together looking at
that with wood, right?”

Bobby tells him we were just
looking to get some ideas and Eric asks us if we have a clue about girls and
sex. Of course we tell him we do but he knows that we probably don’t so he
offers to answer our questions and tell us everything there is to know before
we make complete fools out of ourselves.

He tells us what each base is and I
can’t imagine Brook letting me get to second let alone third base anytime soon.
Bobby claims that Asia will let him no problem but I think he’s full of shit.
Eric even lets us watch one of the pornos with him. Bobby and I watch with our
mouths wide open, I can’t believe I’m watching people have sex. The girls
aren’t nearly as hot as Brook but they are naked and that’s all it takes to
make me hard.

Eric tells us that we should try to
put our hands up the girl’s shirts and see if they’ll go for that.

“Well, later dudes, I’ll be in the
bathroom jerking off. Enjoy the porn; we’ll do another lesson after you pussies
get to second base” Eric promises.

************

My phone chimes with an incoming text from Tate:
have to do something 4 work will c u shortly.
go to ballroom will meet u there with surprise 4 u

I respond:
k c u
soon…interesting songs on the playlist…really got me to thinking

I put my ear buds back in and “Cruel Summer” is on. That summer going
into tenth grade feels like yesterday to me. I was so in love with Tate I could
barely contain myself. He was starting to develop quite a physic and my
resistance was getting weaker. We spent the days we could as a group at the
beach b
ut at night Tate would ride his
bike to my house or I’d have my mom bring me to his. We were never really alone
long enough for anything to happen except more kissing, lots more kissing. We
made sure to play it smooth in front of our parents, or at least we thought we
did.

************

Then one night a group of us went to the movies and we sat all the way in
the back so no one could see what we were getting up to. Tate and I sat next to
each other holding hands and only saw parts of the movie because we spent more
time making out then we did watching the movie. His lips are just so soft I
can’t keep mine off of them.

“Sit on my lap, Brooklynn” Tate whispers to me during the movie and
without a second thought or even a glance at my friends I climb into his lap.
It’s been getting more and more like this with us. Whatever Tate asks me to do
I find myself on autopilot complying without giving it a second thought.

Tate kisses my neck then starts to nibble at my earlobe. The sensations
go up and down my spine. The way he touches me makes me lose all control.

“You drive me wild, Brook. I don’t know if I can control myself around
you much longer.”

I look into his blue eyes, the eyes I have been looking into for almost a
year now and I respond from my heart and soul instead of my head, “Well, don’t
then” I say.

Tate smiles shyly at me and starts to kiss me on the lips. My lips met
his and before I can even gather a thought his tongue is in my mouth seeking
mine out. My tongue finds his and he lets out a soft moan. His right hand goes
to my face while his left hand rests on my exposed hipbone. His left hand
doesn’t stay there like it usually does but instead he starts to move it under
my shirt at my narrow waist. When he moves it an inch or so higher I break away
from our kiss, my eyes flinging open and meeting his.

“Shhh, baby, it’s alright no one’s watching us.”

And with just those few words from him I am pacified. We resume our kissing
and Tate’s left hand continues to climb up my shirt.

As the credits start to roll Tate kisses me one last time and he whispers
into my ear, “I love you, baby.”

I love him in a way I can’t articulate. I want to be swallowed up by him,
I want him to wrap himself around me and make us one. “I love you always and
forever” I reply.

We hold hands and walk out of the movie theater together only breaking
apart when we see our rides pulling up; leaving him that night actually causes
an ache in my heart.

When I get home my phone rings, it’s Tate asking me if I have my radio
on. I always have my radio on at night when I’m in bed waiting for his call.
Thank God I have my own phone line or my parents would have put a stop to these
late night calls before they even started.

Tate is really into music, I’m sure he’s going to be in a band or
something when he grows up. He laughs at me when I tell him that because he
can’t play an instrument or sing to save his life. He’s so bad; he’s kind of
good if that’s possible. The only thing he likes more than music are music
videos. He says he loves the way the videos tell a story about the song. I
agree because I love the way the choreography does the same.

“Girls Just Want to Have Fun” is playing softly in the background of our
conversation.

Tate chuckles and asks, “Did you have fun tonight? Was it okay what I
did?”

I did have fun. The touch of Tate’s hand on me awoke a feeling inside me
I didn’t know existed. The whole time we were making out and he was touching me
I felt this good kind of queasy in the pit of my stomach.

“Yes, I had fun tonight and what you did felt nice.”

It did feel nice.

“You realize that constitutes going to second base, right? So as a
seasoned base runner I have to tell you, stealing third should be on the table.
And when I steal a base you should know I never get thrown out, I’m very fast.”

I am feeling so many things right now I once again lose the ability to
speak. This happens to me far too often with him, he makes me speechless. I
have noticed his growing obsession with sex and I decide to muster up the
courage and finally ask him about it.

“Tate, can I ask you something?”

Tate responds with a, “mmm” sound.

“Um, what’s been going on with you? It seems like all of a sudden you’re
always thinking about sex.”

Tate tells me that Bobby’s older brother Eric told him and Bobby
everything there is to know about sex, he even let them watch a porno. And he
admits to thinking about sex all the time.

“You watched a porno?” I asked stunned, “Tell me about it” I plead with
pure unbridled curiosity “but first, what exactly constitutes third base?” I
ask.

Tate agrees to tell me everything but instead he says in a voice so
strangled I hardly recognize him, “Sleep with me, baby.”

Those are the last sweet words I hear before I drift off to sleep.

Chapter 2: The Reunion

************

Dominick and I pull up in front of the Malibu Beach Inn and I am suddenly
frozen with fear. It is located along the strip of seashore nicknamed
“Billionaire’s Beach”. After all these years of wealthy I sometimes forget that
Tate and I can afford something this amazing and unique. From the entrance I
can tell it offers complete relaxation, which is what my tired mind, body and
soul crave right now. Maybe Tate had the right idea coming here even if it
wasn’t for the right reasons.

The Inn has less than fifty suites, each with a private balcony
overlooking the breathtaking views and magical sunsets California has to offer.
Before I even step through the front entrance I can tell this place holds magic
for me, for us. Upon entering I am greeted by a strikingly attractive young man
who I am sure wants to be an actor and is just working here until he is
discovered. He somehow knows who I am and greets me as “Mrs. Taylor” and offers
to show me to my room. My husband’s power never ceases to amaze me and if I’m
being honest turn me on a bit. Dominick instructs me to follow the young man
saying that he has things to tend to; he hands my bags to him and reminds me to
meet Tate in the main ballroom after I settle in.

When I enter Tate’s suite “California Dreaming” is playing on the iPod in
the docking station and I know this is yet another treat from him. Music has
been such a huge part of our relationship from the onset that we so often use
it to communicate to one another when we know words will fail us. This journey
Tate is leading me on has really brought that to my attention.

I thank the young man who I have learned is named, Lucas and I enter the
main room. It is gorgeous, all muted colors and modern décor. The eye is
immediately drawn to the floor to ceiling sliding doors that span the massive
living space from one end of the room to the other. The curtains are open so I
can see the balcony and the majestic endless beach and ocean before me. It
takes my breath away and I find myself opening the door and walking out on the
balcony. Just as I am breathing in the fresh salty air I hear my phone bleep
from inside my purse and I find a message from Tate.

From:
Tate Taylor

Subject:
sight for
sore eyes and other body parts

Date:
March 16, 2011 4:12pm

To:
Brooklynn Taylor

Hey Baby… just got a glimpse of you from behind on your way
up to room. WOW! Can’t wait to c u. Will be in ballroom w/i 1/2 hr b there
waiting 4 me

Sliding and hard

Taters

Tate
Taylor

CEO,
Taylor Studios, Inc.

I decide to explore the suite a little seeing as how I have half an hour
to kill. The main living space has two pale yellow couches facing each other. One
has a floor to ceiling stone fireplace behind it, there’s a gigantic flat
screen on the wall behind the other couch, a bar, numerous soft chairs and a
coffee table. Beyond the main room I find the master bed and bath, it is
spectacular! The sliding door and balcony mirror that of the main living space
as does the ocean view. It has a king sized white four poster bed with a pale
ocean blue comforter. There are so many pillows on it I lose count after seven.
Surprisingly, there are no other pieces of furniture in this room but it works
somehow.

There is a doorway that leads to a room sized walk in closet and another
that leads to a bathroom. The bathroom is decorated in the same pale ocean blue
as the bedroom. There is a glass tiled shower that is opened to the room with
three huge shower heads at all different levels. There is a double sink with a
vanity and the toilet has its own room off to one side.

I walk into the closet and hear myself gasp when I see Tate’s clothes
hanging in it. I walk over to them, grab the first shirt I can find and inhale,
hoping for a whiff of his scent but they have all been laundered clean and
there is not a trace of him on any of them. The other side of the closet is
lined with clothes in my size that Tate must have sent a shopper to purchase
for me. There are gorgeous evening gowns, t-shirts, shorts, party dresses,
skirts and tops in every color.

I open the chest of drawers and immediately find Tate’s favorite shirt. When
I hold it up to my face and inhale I collapse on the floor in a puddle. It
smells of him, like he’s been wearing it and not washing it. There is a bottle
of my perfume under it and I smell a hint of it on the shirt. I wonder if
Tate’s been spraying my perfume on this shirt before putting it on to feel
close to me like I have been doing back in Connecticut with his cologne, every
night before bed I spray his cologne on one of his shirts he left behind then I
cuddle with it while I sleep. This is something I started doing a long time ago
in high school and it still does the trick in a pinch. I compose myself, put
the shirt back, check my hair and makeup and exit the room. I am heading to see
my husband of seventeen years but I feel as nervous as I did walking into that
school dance where we met so long ago.

When I get into the elevator “All I Need” is on. I was obsessed with
“General Hospital” and the relationship between Frisco and Felicia when Tate
and I were kids. The fact that they were together in real life was enough to
make every teenage girl insane. Everyone at school used to joke with us that we
were the Frisco and Felicia of our school. I used to run home from school to
watch each episode and every night when I talked to Tate I would bore him to
tears with all the details of their drama. This song brings back a memory of
Tate and me from the end of that summer before tenth grade.

************

Last night we started talking about sex but we never finished the
conversation and tonight I plan to get some answers.

“Last night before we fell asleep I asked what’s been going on with you
sex but I never really got an answer other than you think about it all the time”
I begin.

Tate sighs and asks, “What do you want to know, Brook?”

I have no idea what I want to know so I respond with the only answer I
can think of, “Everything.”

“Okay, I’ll start from the beginning then. When a man and a woman love
each other very much” Tate says with a smirk I can hear through the phone.

“That’s not what I mean Tater Tot and you know it so spill, now!” I
demand.

“Wow, bossy when it comes to sex aren’t we? Hmm that can have potential”
Tate teases.

“Okay, okay, I’ll try but some of its kind of guy stuff and embarrassing”
he confesses but he continues, “Eric, Bobby’s brother has been answering some
questions Bobby and I have had and he’s kind of been telling us shit, you know
things we’ll need to know how to do so we’re not clueless. He didn’t think we
could get everything he was saying without a visual so he showed us this porno
and explained how it all works. So, I don’t know what to tell you, what do you
want to know? After watching that I think I pretty much know everything now.”

“Um, what exactly are you planning on doing with all this new information?”
I ask, afraid of the answer.

“Brooklynn, I would never look at another girl. You know I want to be
with you and just you. I love kissing you and touching you. At some point soon
I hope you’ll be ready for more but I can tell right now that you’re not so I’m
not going to pressure you. But when you are ready I will be too and I swear I
will never talk about anything we do with random guys but can I have to admit
that I will probably say some stuff to Bobby, Jeff and David. I know you’re
going to end up telling Asia shit too.”

We agree no specific details to our friends and they have to swear to
keep their mouths shut.

Brook and I are on the phone and
she’s adamant about knowing what I do about sex and how I know it all. I tell
her about the day with Eric and Bobby and Eric’s porn. I’m afraid she’s going
to be all freaked out but she wants to know what I’m planning on doing about
sex so I try to give her the answer I think she wants to hear, when what I
really want to tell her is, “I want to fuck you right now” but I know she will
never go for it yet and honestly I’m too scared to try.
 

************

I step out of the elevator and I open the doors to the main ballroom to
find it looking exactly like the school gym did that first night I danced with
Tate. “Little Red Corvette”, the first song we danced to comes on and there is
Tate all of a sudden walking towards me wearing a black t-shirt under a black
jacket with the sleeves pulled up his forearms. He looks exactly like he did
twenty five years ago only hotter if that’s possible. He now has strong
muscular forearms and his black t-shirt is stretched tight across his sizeable
chest. His black silky hair is longer than it was when he left Connecticut six
months ago and his face has two day old stubble on it that gives him his
trademark bad boy sexiness. He walks up to me with that strut he has never lost
and asks me to dance. We stand there swaying with each other like we did that
first night. And this time, all I can think is that I have choreographed music
videos for some of the most talented dancers in the industry, I have won awards
for Super Bowl Half Time shows, I have worked on the Broadway stage and
numerous award shows and here I am “swaying” with Tate Taylor again.

Tate smirks at me because he can read my mind, he mouths, “I missed you”
then his smirk turns into a smile.

“Tate, we need to…”

Tate cuts me off and says, “Not now, I haven’t set eyes on you in six
months, let me just enjoy looking at you for a while. We’ll talk tomorrow; I
have a few surprises for you today first.”

At that I hear the music. Tate pulls me into his arms and we start to
dance with each other, holding each other close. Tate takes me by both of my
hands, stretches us apart so we can see each other and he mouths the words to Coldplay’s
“The Scientist” to me as if they are coming from him, from his heart and soul.
Then in one smooth move Tate slides behind me and lifts my right arm into the
air with his right hand while he holds my left hip with his left hand. He
presses his body against me and I can feel his growing erection pressing into
me while in my ear he whispers, “He missed you too!”

He runs his pointer finger from my right hand, down my right arm and down
the right side of my body while still holding my left hip in his tightening grip.
As he reaches my toned thigh he changes direction and works his hand up pulling,
my dress with it. He lifts it up my leg just a little so he can feel the touch
of my bare skin with his palm. As he does this he quietly moans in my ear. He
brushes my hair off my neck and I instinctively tilt my head to the side giving
him full access to one of my favorite sweet spots. He licks my neck slightly
then pulls on my earlobe with his teeth. He is bringing me right to the edge of
a cliff I have not toppled off of in six months and my body is begging for this
sweet push that only Tate has ever given me. He can sense my arousal and turns
me around to face him as the song finishes with Tate now singing along
completely out of key.
 
I don’t care that
Tate is out of key because all I can hear is the meaning in those words. I am
finally able to catch my breath when the music changes and Tate asks me to
dance with him for a while.

We slow dance clinging to one another to songs from our childhood, I try
to talk but he covers my lips with his finger and whispers, “Shh baby, later,
tomorrow, let’s just have today like this, like it used to be, back to the
start.”

Tate never tries to kiss me; he just alternates between holding me close
and holding me at arm’s length to look at my face. After a while the music
shifts gears and we start laughing and dancing with each other to our favorites
from our college days. We dance like this for an hour and I have never had more
fun. We dance like teenagers grinding up on each other and I know he’s feeling
as much frustration as I am.

When the playlist finally ends we are sweaty and breathing heavy, more
from the grinding than from the exertion of dancing so Tate takes me by the
hand and leads me out of the ballroom with one line, “Time to slide baby.”

When I see her in the ballroom for
the first time after six months apart I lose my breath, she looks amazing in
her little black dress and I need to touch her. I walk up to her and ask her to
dance with me. We stand there swaying with each other like we did that first
night. I silently mouth, “I missed you” because I’m breathless in her presence
right now.

 
“Tate, we need to…”

I cut her off. I have to buy myself
some time. I need to make her head over heels in love with me again before we
can talk or I’m afraid I’ll lose her for good. I handled things so poorly with
her pregnancy and miscarriage.

I pull Brooklynn into my arms, I
take her by both hands so I can see her gorgeous face and I mouth the words
along with the song, meaning every one of them.