The Law of Attraction (22 page)

“You really love it.” He smiled.

“I do!”

“So why did you move to Philly?”

“I wanted some space from my family so I could learn how to be a grown-up. Besides, I like Philly too, even more now.” I squeezed his hand.

We talked about what we should do the next day and decided to visit a museum and go book shopping among other things. As it got darker we walked home again, and I must say I felt much calmer than when we left. When we got back nobody was fighting, thank God. My relatives were being decently well behaved and they had the courtesy to leave not long after we got back.

“So, Braden! You survived!” my dad said with a smile.

“They were very interesting.” Braden laughed.

“Clearly he doesn’t know them well enough yet,” my mother said dryly. “So my darling family, it’s nine o’clock on a Friday evening in Manhattan. Obviously we can’t just stay in the house.” I liked that fact that she had included Braden in our “darling family.” He seemed to like it too. It was almost cracking me up how much he was enjoying this trip so far.

“Well, kids, what do you think?” my dad asked. “Jones Wood Foundry?”

“That’s a British style pub not far from here. You can sit outside,” I explained to Braden.

“Sounds great,” he replied.

“Okay then! Let’s go get some well-deserved alcohol!” My mom laughed.

We headed out to the pub and settled in for a chat. We had a lot of fun. My parents were on a real roll, cracking all kinds of jokes, doing impressions of my relatives, telling funny stories and being very cute and flirty with each other.

“So Braden, I’ve been looking into your dad’s political record. I’m a Democrat but I really liked what I saw. He seems to be a well-grounded guy with some really good ideas.”

“My father is pretty level-headed. He’s not a reactionary.”

“I like that. That’s what we need more of in Washington.”

“Braden’s family is so sweet. They were so nice to me.”

“I guess that means we can’t stick him with the check then, huh?” my dad joked.

“Be quiet!” I laughed.

“You should let Braden and I spend some time getting to know each other tomorrow,” my dad said. “I promise to go easy on him.”

“No hints!” I said. “We’ve only been dating for a couple of weeks. Give the poor guy a break.”

“Hints? Hints about what? I don’t know what she’s talking about. Do you know what she’s talking about?” he asked my mom.

“I have no idea what she’s talking about,” she said innocently.

“Incidentally, I can get you a good deal on a band and a caterer should you ever need them for anything,” Dad joked. At least I think he was joking.

“So, do you want to see baby pictures of Gabby?” Mom asked with a huge grin. “She was so cute!”

This was obviously some kind of a mom thing. Maybe when I had given birth someday I would develop the Kodak moment hormone.

“Hey! I’m still cute.”

“I would love to,” Braden said enthusiastically.

“You
would
?” I asked, surprised. The guy who had recently told me that he wanted to nail me against the fucking wall now wanted to see my baby pictures. That was unexpected.

“We should show him the one where she took all her clothes off at that birthday party,” my mom said to my dad with a smile.

“Oh my God! What, have you been holding on to that picture all these years just waiting for this opportunity to humiliate me?”

“Oh come on! It’s so cute! She’s shaking her naked little tuckus to Disney songs.” My dad smiled at Braden who looked like he was trying not to laugh.

“What is
wrong
with you people? I finally bring a guy home and you immediately have to break out the kiddie porn?”

“Gabby! I’m sure he’s seen you naked before,” my mom said. Clearly my parents weren’t going to stop until I had no pride left.

“Oh! Yuck — Ma! You sound like Bubbe! I’m really gonna need therapy now.”

“Oh please!” She rolled her eyes and waved her hand.

“I do really want to see that picture,” Braden said to my mom with a smile. Great.

We made plans to just relax in the morning. My dad and Braden could hang out and “get to know each other” whatever that entailed. After lunch, we would go to the Museum of the City of New York, then go to the Strand Bookstore, have dinner in the Village, and then go watch Shakespeare in the park. Sounded like a fun day. At least that was the plan. We got back home around eleven and Braden and I told my parents that we were going to turn in. They said that they were going to stay up a little longer and they wished us goodnight.

We got up to my room and I locked the door behind me. I wasn’t taking any chances.

“So, what do you want to do now?” he asked with his hot Braden sex smile. It wasn’t hard to figure out what he wanted to do now.

“I’m glad you asked. Have a seat.” I gestured to the stuffed armchair near my overflowing bookshelf. He went over and sat down, looking at me expectantly. “You know what Bubbe said about oral attention?” I asked as I came over and sat on the ottoman that was resting in front of the chair.

“Yes?” He was looking very interested.

“Well, it occurred to me that while you’ve been very generous and giving with your oral attentions, I haven’t made any effort at all to reciprocate. So, you do like that, right?”

“I’m a guy, Gabrielle. Most guys like that.” I tried not to think about how many women may have diverted him in restrooms across the Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan area.

“I feel bad. I should have offered.” I sounded like I was saying I should have offered to do the dishes or pick up the check.

“Gabby, it’s only been a couple of weeks. It’s not like we’ve been married for ten years and you haven’t offered.” He paused, looking at my expression which happened to be an amused smile. “What?”

“You called me Gabby.” I smiled.

“I did? Probably because your parents always call you that.”

“It’s okay. You can call me that if you want. Did you have a nickname?”

“My mom and dad used to call me Brady when I was a kid.”

“Brady? That’s so sweet!”

“Well, you can call me Brady if you want.”

“Oh lord. Adam and Mark are right. We’re a disturbingly cute couple.”

“It’s understandable. We both have happily married, disturbingly cute parents.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty uncommon these days.”

“It’s pretty rare these days, but how did we start out talking about oral sex and end up talking about our parents?”

“I don’t know but that’s very disturbingly disturbing. Let’s go back to the original topic. Of course, I realize that by having this conversation I’ve pretty much killed the moment.”

“Trust me. It wouldn’t be hard to revive.”

“Oh yeah?” I smiled and stood up, leaning over to start kissing his neck. He took a deep breath.

“It’s definitely reviving,” he said with a laugh.

“Mm.” I started sucking on his earlobe and slid my hands under his shirt and across his bare abs and chest. His breathing got heavier and his hands went to cup and gently squeeze my breasts. I pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside. Then I let my mouth move lower, nibbling a trail and tracing over it with my tongue. He leaned his head back against the chair and closed his eyes. I worked my way even lower with open-mouthed kisses, grazing my teeth lightly against his skin and then I licked his belly button, making him groan. I reached down and opened his jeans, realizing, however, that I had encountered some logistical problems. “Uh, I may need some help here.”

He stood up and removed his pants and boxers, showing very clearly that the moment had been very much revived. “So I see you’re up for this,” I quipped.

“Oh man. That was so bad!” He shook his head.

“I’ve got a million of ‘em. Sit down, Harvard.” Harvard sat down.

“Take your shirt and your bra off,” he said huskily.

“Me?”

“Yeah you.” He laughed. “Who do you think I’m talking to?”

“Listen Mr. Funny Guy, I want to do this for you. You don’t have to do anything for me.”

“Being able to see you excites me.”

“Oh, okay.” I had almost forgotten. He was a boob man. I took off my shirt and bra and I could see his eyes get darker. I figured I might as well take the rest off while I was at it and so I slipped out of my shorts and panties too.

“Gabrielle, you’re so beautiful.”

“You’re the beautiful one, Braden.” I sat down on the ottoman again and leaned in to start running my tongue down his happy trail as he started to pant. I could see that he was trying not to squirm and I took pity. Building anticipation is one thing and torture is another. I wrapped my hand around him and took him as far back into my mouth as I could. He gasped and his hips seemed to rise involuntarily. I looked up at him and saw his eyes were fixed on me.

“You look so fucking hot,” he said hoarsely. I slid him in and out of my mouth and used my hand to take care of the part that didn’t fit. As I’ve mentioned before, Braden is a healthy boy, and despite reports to the contrary, my mouth isn’t
that
big. His breathing started coming in harsh rasps and he reached down and pulled my hair back away from my face, presumably so that he could better see what I was doing to him. I glanced up again and saw that he looked dazed and his face was flushed. He also kept mumbling words of pleasure and encouragement to me continuously, sounding almost delirious. Remembering our encounter in the interview room, I reached down with my other hand and gently squeezed his balls making him groan with pleasure.

Eventually, I sensed that he was getting close. His hips were moving up to meet my mouth and his fingers were buried in my hair. He was breathing quickly and heavily through his mouth and I could feel the tension in his body. Suddenly, he froze. “I’m going to come!” he bit out. I kept going and he tried to pull back. “Baby! I’m…” I started to move faster, not letting him escape. He didn’t finish — well his sentence anyway. He groaned louder and let out a ragged breath as his body shuddered. I swallowed quickly and he looked down at me with stunned bliss. “That was so good,” he said, still breathing heavily. “My heart’s beating so fast.”

“You’re not going to have a heart attack or something, are you?” I asked nervously. I could just picture that story on Page Six – senator’s son winds up in hospital…

“No.” He laughed. “But we’ll have to be careful when I’m Mr. Davis’ age.”

“Okay. No oral attention for you when you’re one hundred and five or however old he was.”

“I just said we would have to be careful. Not that we had to stop completely. Now trade places with me because I want to see if you can handle my sharp tongue.” Inner-Gabrielle hit the floor.

We finally made it to my bathroom to wash up for bed. Then we snuggled in together and I thought about how warm he always felt, like my own personal furnace.

“So what did you think of my crazy family?”

“I love your parents. They have a great sense of humor and they seem really down-to-earth.”

“I’m glad you like them. They like you too. I can tell.”

“Well, that’s good. Your other relatives are pretty wild but they’re funny as hell.”

“You say that now.”

“It’ll just make your dad and me closer.”

“He always wanted a son. We should sleep now. We have a big day tomorrow.”

“Good night baby. I’ll dream about you.”

“Me too, Braden,” I said quietly and leaned up to kiss him goodnight.

We slept late, enjoyed some leisurely morning sex, showered together and made our way downstairs, where my parents had set up a nice spread with genuine New York bagels, cream cheese, veggies and fresh fruit. There was also fresh squeezed juice and the nectar of the gods, good hot coffee. After breakfast my dad took Braden out for a walk to show him some more of the neighborhood, and presumably, to get to know him better. I decided to use the opportunity to check in with Jess and find out how Marla night with Cam had gone. I got out my cell and gave her a call. She answered on the first ring. I think she had been waiting for my call.

“You are not going to believe this, Gab!”

“Well hello to you too. The trip is going very well, thanks.”

“Yeah, that’s good. Listen! You are not going to believe this!”

“So you said. What is it I’m not going to believe?”

“I think that maybe she’s a hooker!”

“What?!”

“Well, technically, I guess you would call her a call girl because she met rich-looking guys at the best hotels in Philly. She went in, met them in either the lobby or the lounge, got into the elevator with them and then left again, usually about a half an hour or an hour later. She met four different guys in four different hotels.”

“Are you sure that’s what she’s doing?”

“No. Maybe she’s a freelance chambermaid.”

“Oh wow. Why would Marla be hooking if her family’s rich?” I wondered out loud.

“Maybe they cut her off.”

“That’s an interesting idea. That would make her pretty desperate to land a rich husband, wouldn’t it?”

“Maybe even desperate enough to try to scare off someone’s girlfriend.”

“Hmm. I wonder if Marla’s as crazy as everyone thinks she is.”

“We eventually followed her to a drag club called Gili’s Cabaret.”

“Wait! Gili’s Cabaret? That place is supposedly associated somehow with those parties!”

“Well, that makes sense because we saw a flyer for one in there.”

“A flyer? They advertise underground sex parties with flyers?”

“Hey, it’s a business. They might have a Facebook page for all we know. Anyway, there is a party next weekend. And it’s a costume party. You’re supposed to dress up like your favorite sexual fantasy.”

“Well, we can figure out what fantasy a naughty boy might be into.”

“So do you think Marla, the call girl, goes to these parties?”

“Supposedly some pros do, but I don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket. I think we should still treat her as a separate mission, especially since she lives right here in the city.”

“Okay, I hear you. I have to admit to you, Gabrielle, Cam and I have been having fun.”