Uncorked (10 page)

He never stopped to consider the
enormous amount of self-control he would need having her in his home. For the
second time that night, he thought of making love to her. Earlier that evening,
when he watched her curled up on his veranda sofa, the images he had of her
were a far cry from what had actually taken place. In the past few days, he had
learned why Chella Noon was Chella Noon. He worried he would never have the
type of relationship he wanted with her. Despite the fact that he knew that she
was attracted to him, her fear of him getting hurt had taken precedence in her
mind. Strange that the thing that attracted him most to her was the very thing
keeping them apart.

Her breathing had turned deep and
rhythmic.

He kissed her on the cheek,
taking in her scent for a few extra seconds, then went back to his room to bed.

Chella awoke the
next day at 11 a.m. It had been
a while since she slept that late during the week. Looking at her skin, she was
happy to see that most of the hives on her arms and hands had vanished. There
was still numbness, but she didn’t feel dizzy anymore.

She showered and washed her hair
then went into the room to get her clothes out of the suitcase. When she tried
opening them, she noticed they all had padlocks on them. The day before when
they had arrived, Mitch opened her small suitcase, but she needed to get into the
others. She never had padlocks on her luggage before, she just used the
combinations on them, but she supposed with all the hysteria that had been
going on, someone was being extra careful. She searched both bedside tables,
all the drawers in her room, and the bathroom, but still nothing.

Mitch had mentioned that he had
an important meeting today so she didn’t want to call and disturb him at work.

Wrapped in a towel, she ventured
into the kitchen to search the island and table. When she didn’t find them, she
rummaged through the kitchen drawers.

“Where could those keys be? I
don’t even know what they look like… now I’m just looking around for a bunch of
keys like a crazy person…”

“Are you always in the habit of
talking to yourself? Because I think it’s pretty cute.”

“Ah!” The sound of Mitch’s voice
startled her, sending the towel to the floor. She quickly opened the
refrigerator door and hid behind it, “Oh my god, I thought I was alone. Close
your eyes.”

His lips curved into a sly smile
as he watched her. “They’re closed.”

“Turn around.”

“I’ve turned.”

“This is so embarrassing. I
thought you had a big meeting this morning,” she said after she had secured the
towel around her.

“Decent yet?”

“Yes,” she replied. She could
barely look him in the eyes, and the smirk he had on his face didn’t make
things any easier.

“I cancelled my meetings today.”

“Why?”

“So I could be here in case you
needed anything.”

“That’s sweet, but you really
didn’t have to do that. You’ve done enough already.”

“Evidently not, because you’re
walking around my house looking for something that you can’t seem to find and
talking to yourself.”

“I can’t find the keys to the
padlocks on my suitcases.”

“I thought I left them on the
bedside table.”

“They’re not there. I’ve checked
every single drawer between the guest room and kitchen.”

“Let me check the jeans I was
wearing yesterday. Maybe I slipped them into my pocket by accident.”

“Just knock on my bedroom door if
you find them, please. Otherwise I’m not going to have any clothes to wear.”

“Not a bad idea,” he muttered.

“I heard that!” she shouted as
she closed the bedroom door behind her. She couldn’t remember the last time in
her life she had been through a string of such humiliating incidents in such a
short space of time. Most of the time, Mitch seemed amused while she was hoping
a hole would open up in the ground and swallow her whole. She couldn’t get the
image of his smirk out of her head. As mortifying as she found the situation,
she giggled.

Ten minutes later, when Mitch had
not returned, she slipped into the dress she was wearing the night before, sans
undergarments, to search for him.

“Mitch?” As Chella walked through
the hallway, she heard him on the phone.

“Mom, I’m not going through this
with you again. I have to go. I love you. Bye.” There was silence for a moment.
He opened the door. Frustration all over his face. “Here are the keys. My mom
called again, and I got distracted. She’s driving me insane.”

“Sorry. Can you just give me a
minute? Let me throw on some clean clothes, and I’ll be right out.”

Ten minutes later, after getting
dressed and fixing her hair, she joined him in the great room.

“I made you lunch,” said Mitch.

“Thanks. So, I really appreciate
you having me here, but I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to make arrangements
to move tomorrow.”

“You sure you don’t want to stay
longer?”

“Mitch, you’ve been a wonderful
friend to me, and I’m so appreciative, but I have to try to sort out my life
and get out of this mess.”

“Why can’t you do that here?”

“It’s complicated.”

“What about this thing that’s
going on between us?”

“Maybe one day, when this is all
behind me, we can see where this thing takes us. Until then, that’s how it
might have to remain—a thing.”

“You don’t expect me to give up,
do you?”

“Mitch, I never know what to
expect from you. All I know is you’re the most persistent person I’ve ever met,
sometimes to your own detriment.”

“I could say the same thing about
you.”

She smiled at his words but
didn’t respond. “So what are you doing since you abandoned your obligations for
the day?”

“I’ve been working. It just
happened to be from my bed.”

“Well, I have tons of work to
do.”

“You’re supposed to be on two
days of bed rest.”

“Fine. I’ll rest in bed with my
laptop and get my work done.”

“Can’t it wait until Monday?”

“No. I have a big meeting first
thing Monday morning. I have to go through some reports before then.”

“What big meeting?”

“Oh, with all the fuss yesterday,
I forgot to tell you. I got a promotion. I’ll be marketing my own product
line.”

“That’s great. Why aren’t we
celebrating?”

“Because I was bitten by a
scorpion and dizzy and numb and covered with hives and—”

“Let’s not rehash it. Why don’t I
take you to dinner tonight? We can celebrate.”

Later that night,
Mitch took her to a lovely
restaurant at a hotel near Coronado Island. It was beautiful and romantic and
the fresh, Pacific Ocean breezes gave her a sense of calm. Despite the chaos
from two days before, she was able to put it behind her for most of the day.

“What would you say,” Chella said
as they were seated, “if I told you this is going to be my new home tomorrow?”

“I’m not surprised. I knew you’d
like it here. That’s why I chose it.”

“I’ve made arrangements to have
my luggage picked up in the morning, and I’ll head over here in the evening.”

“I got used to having you
around.”

“And I got used to being around,
but we’ve had this conversation before.”

“Is there anything that I can do
to convince you to stay?”

“No. As long as Aaron Stewart is
free, I don’t see how anything could ever change.”

“And if it went on for another
ten years?”

“I don’t know.”

“What if the way to stop him is
to live your life?”

“At the expense of losing someone
I loved? Never.”

“I care about you so much,
Chella. Leaving you alone to deal with this guy is simply not an option for
me.”

“Why are you so persistent?”

“I’ve always been that way. It’s
the only way I know how to get what I want.”

“Do you always get what you
want?”

“Most of the time.”

“When have you not gotten what
you wanted?”

“Many times,” he seemed
uncomfortable, moving uneasily in his chair.

“Did I just touch a soft spot?”

“You might have, but let’s not
ruin the night.”

“You know all my secrets. When
will I learn yours?”

“Someday. But not tonight.”

“Is that your way of making sure
I stick around?”

“If I thought it would make you
stay, I’d say yes, but I don’t think it would make a difference. Do you want to
go for a walk?”

“Sure.”

They kicked off their shoes and
walked hand in hand on the beach. It wasn’t until they were on the drive home
that she realized she hadn’t looked over her shoulder that night. When they
arrived at the penthouse, they curled up on the couch with a bottle of Dom and
celebrated her promotion.

“I think I’m going to head to bed
now. Thank you for tonight. I had a really great time.”

“Me, too.” He followed her to her
bedroom door. She turned to face him.

Touching his forehead to hers, he
said, “Reconsider. I don’t know how I’ll be able to keep you safe if you’re not
here.”

“It’s not your job—”

“Promise me you’ll think about
it.”

“I promise. I’ll think about it.”

He held her in his arms. She felt
his heart race. Tilting her head, she found his lips and kissed him lightly.
When he responded, she gently slipped her tongue into his mouth. He returned
her kiss, cupping her face in his hands, deepening the kiss. She pulled away.

“I’m sorry. I got carried away.
Have a good night,” she said. And with those words she entered her room,
quickly shutting the door behind her.

While kissing him once again, she
had become scared, but it was because she was becoming attached to him.
Attachments came with a whole bunch of complications. She squeezed her eyes
closed as she leaned against the door then tore off her clothing and took a
cold shower. She wanted him so badly, but she wouldn’t allow herself to have
him. His words haunted her.
What do you want? What about your needs?
What she wanted was to be in his arms, in his bed. What she needed was to feel
safe, and she felt that way with him.

She had already slipped on her
panties, wrapped a towel around her and went to him. She knocked only once
before he answered, his body also dripping wet from a shower. He looked into
her eyes.

No words were necessary.

He pulled her into his arms and
pleasured her lips with his, softly, tenderly as they made their way near the
bed. He tugged her rounded breasts free of the towel. He took her nipples into
his mouth, sucking and teasing them with his tongue and lips.

“Are you sure about this?” He
murmured.

Nodding, she whispered, “Just
please be really, really careful. It’s been a while.”

He kissed her tenderly in
response. “I promise to be gentle. I won’t hurt you.”

He opened the top drawer of the
bedside table, pulled out a strip of condoms and placed them within easy reach.

With her back to the bed, he
pulled her toward him and placed light, soft kisses on her lips. As his arms
encircled her waist, she felt his arousal. Slipping one hand along the length
of her face, he teased her lips lightly. She wrapped her hands around his neck
and responded lovingly to his kiss, encouraging him as his tongue slid into her
mouth.

Using his arm to support her, he
leaned forward, laying her gently on the bed. As he kissed her, he used one arm
to support his weight, the other to explore her form.

She whispered his name while her
fingers explored his thick, dark hair. Getting to his feet, he pulled away the
nude, lace cheekies molded to her ass. She lay magnificently naked before him,
and he stood back for a second to take in all her splendor.

“You’re beautiful.”

He was about to join her, but she
sat at the end of the bed, enabling him to look down at her. She faced his
enormous bulge through the towel. Leaning her forehead against his hard,
trimmed stomach, she kissed him right below his navel, creating a route that
headed south. She steadied him with her open hand then slipped her fingers
between flesh and terrycloth. The towel dropped to the floor.

She hugged his buns then
proceeded to take him in, lovingly welcoming him into her mouth. She used her
tongue tenderly, slowly, to tease the back of his shaft. As she continued, she
fell into a rhythmic dance, with each movement taking him deeper and deeper
into her throat, kissing him, swallowing him, pleasuring him with every
re-entry.