Calendar Girl 12 - December (3 page)

“Why not?”

“Never the right time. I served until I was thirty-five. Met my woman when I was forty. She didn’t want kids.”

I took a large swallow of cider. “Your wife is an artist here?”

He nodded. “Has a gallery on Main called 4M.”

“Four M, the number and letter?” I confirmed, so I’d know where to go tomorrow.

“Yep.”

“What’s it mean? The four and the M, I mean?”

He shook his head, a somber expression coming over his face. “Not sure. She said a while ago, it represented something important she’d left behind.”

Wes tipped back his Guinness and finished the rest of the dark coffee-colored liquid and set his glass back on the table. “Whelp, it’s been not exactly fun. Look, Mr. Banks. I’m sure you’re a nice guy. You seem like one. But Mia shouldn’t be here under suspicious circumstances.”

“What does that mean?” Kent’s tone turned rough, almost harsh.

“Means I’m not going to let my future wife get taken for a ride by a pubescent ill-informed assistant. Mia, sweetheart, I’m sure if you call Dr. Hoffman, we can clear this up and get back to Malibu before Christmas.”

“Malibu. Is that where you’re from?” He seemed surprised, as if he thought I’d come from somewhere else.

“Yeah,” I said, thinking about the missed opportunity of a snowy Christmas. I didn’t want to leave.

“Well, you’re a long way from home not to do what you came for. My wife is talented, and I’m sure if you visited her gallery and the other local artists, you might find something you’ve been looking for all along. A piece of yourself,” he said cryptically. “Art has a way of doing that. Opening the soul, letting the light in when only darkness existed before.”

My head shot back. “Are you suggesting I have a dark soul?”

He blinked slowly. “Not at all. Why would you come to that conclusion?” he asked, twisting my response.

“On that note, I think we’ll take our leave. Thank you, Mr. Banks, for meeting with us. This whole thing is just…it feels…I don’t know”—I shook my head and pushed my hair off my shoulder—“off, somehow.”

He stood, put his hands into his pockets, and stared. Again, his eyes traced me, but it still didn’t give me the creeps. It was like when he saw someone that looked so much like someone he knew, a doppelganger. Maddy once told me she’d learned that everyone had a doppelganger, a twin, running around.

“I hope you choose to stay, Mia. I have a good feeling about you finding something you weren’t intending to find.”

I laughed. “Are you a fortune teller or something?”

He smirked “Nope. Just a wise old man.”

“Old? You can’t be more than fifty.”

“Fifty-five.”

“Still, that’s not old. Young at heart.”

“I think all people are ruled by the heart in one way or another.” He spouted more of his mumbo jumbo that, in all honesty, was odd coming from a retired veteran/architect. “I hope you think about staying. I would consider it a personal blessing if you visited the galleries.”

A blessing. Now that was a very unique choice of words.

Wes helped me tug on my puffy winter jacket. “We’ll see.”

“Yes, I believe a lot of eyes will be opened in the next day or two.”

I pursed my lips. “O-kay.”

Wes looped his arm with mine. I turned around and waved at the giant man.

He lifted a hand and moved his fingers slowly, as if he didn’t want to say goodbye.

Wes hustled me to the car and helped me get in. Once he got in, he turned and looked at me. “I don’t know about that guy.”

“He was harmless. I’m going to nail that Shandi for sending us on a wild goose chase. That was not cool.”

“No, it isn’t. Still, what do you want to do? The camera crew arrives tomorrow night. We have the family coming up the end of the weekend to stay through the day after Christmas. Do you want to cancel and go back home? Christmas on the beach?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

I pouted and looked at him, blinking slowly.

His shoulder slumped. “White Christmas?”

I smiled huge. “White Christmas.”

“All right, baby. Then a white Christmas it will be! Do you want to do the segment?” he asked.

Mulling it over, I thought about how I could refuse. Usually, I got to pick my own ideas, but interviewing the local artists wasn’t a bad one. The fans would like it, especially during this time of year when people were feeling crafty.

“I think we should,” Wes mused. “It would be pretty easy. Visit the galleries, interview some artists, and show the beautiful locale where the art is done. Fits the season.”

“This is true. Plus, I’m interested to meet this guy’s wife now. Aren’t you?”

Wes shook his head. “Not really. I feel like we’re about to get a whammy slammed down on us.”

I snorted. “A whammy?”

“Yeah. You know, like”—he slapped the dash of the car—“a whammy!” he hollered.

“You’re a nut!” I giggled.

“That’s my line.”

“Not anymore. I just passed that trophy right on over to you.”

He held his hands up as if he carried a golden trophy. “I dedicate this award to my beautiful wife, Mia, whose nuttiness knows no bounds, who’s good with handling nuts, likes to lick nuts…suck them down her…”

I smashed my hand into the air space between his hands. “Give me back my trophy!”

We spent the rest of the ride cracking up and talking about nuts. All kinds of nuts. By the time we got to the cabin, we were both a little nutty.

T
he shifting body
next to mine was restless. Wes’s legs moved underneath the covers in random patterns. He muttered something low that I couldn’t discern. I reached over, touching his chest with the palm of my hand. Instantly, he calmed. At a single touch. That’s how strong our connection was.

“Mia, my Mia,” he sighed.

Wes continued to mutter nonsensical phrases. Through the window, I could see the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. I’d left the curtains open enough so the first thing I’d see when I opened my eyes would be the wall of pristine white mountains. It was such a different view from the Vegas strip or the sprawling ocean back in Malibu. I loved it. I appreciated that God had given us so many gifts in the form of the varying landscapes. This one was especially beautiful. I wondered what it would be like in the spring. All green and lush, it would be fun to bike and hike through. I’d have to ask Wes about visiting during warmer weather.

“Please, Mia…just…please.”

His voice was merely a whisper, but that time, I’d heard every word.

Please what? I sat up and took in all that was my man. His bare chest was on display, muscles hard and defined. He had filled in the weight and then some he’d lost during his captivity. My guy had used the in-home gym and the ocean to hone his muscles into sinewy, succulent form. Looking at him sent a fresh bout of desire rippling through me. The space between my thighs became wet as my eyes feasted on his body. Not being able to hold back, I ran a single fingertip down the center of his chest.

Wes moaned and turned his head to the side as if he were trying to get closer to me even in sleep. Moving the bedspread back, I found his cock semi-hard. My mouth watered. That cock was mine. All mine. There would never be another woman touching, sucking, or fucking that appendage but me. I owned it. And in turn, he owned me and everything that came with me. It was hardly a fair trade. I was no prize, but right now, I could do whatever I wanted to my man, and he’d succumb. Fully. Completely. Wantonly.

It was heady stuff knowing that I had power over another person’s desires, could inflict pleasure at will.

Pulling the blanket back all the way, I straddled Wes’s body and got low. I put my face directly over his bare cock and inhaled. His musky male scent hit my senses, and I tightened my hands into fists. Wes. Only one man smelled like that, and I swore my body knew his scent. Connected on a visceral, primal level, it knew its mate.

Using just my tongue, I barely touched the thickest part of his manhood. The salty, rich taste exploded over my taste buds, and heat bloomed through my body to settle between my thighs. I humped the air, my pussy clenching, wanting that thick piece of Wes lodged deep inside…but not yet.

I exhaled the fire inside me over his cock. It stirred infinitesimally, and he groaned, his length hardening before my eyes. It was magnificent to watch the magic of the male body. How excitement rushed to the most pleasurable place on their bodies with a fierceness that could not be duplicated anywhere else. As I watched Wes harden, I was fascinated at the beauty before me. In the past, I’d never considered a penis to be beautiful, but Wes’s was. Soft, it hung a few inches, still a commendable size, with the hair around it manicured evenly. Erect though, his shaft was mouthwatering. I was convinced that his length was built to please me. Long, thick, and harder than stone at the mere mention of fucking me. I liked that most. Sometimes, men took a while to work up. Not Wes. Hint at a sexual escapade, and the man was ready to hammer into me against the nearest wall. His sexual appetite matched my own. Perfect halves to one whole.

Using the flat of my tongue, I started at the bottom of his length and licked a line straight up to the tip. Wes’s body tightened all around me, his abdominal muscles turned into square bricks, and his hands flew to my head. I didn’t stop. Awake or not, my man loved my mouth on him, and I wanted it more than I wanted my next breath.

Sucking at the tip, I looked up. Wes’s sleepy eyes were on me, blinking slowly. I swirled my tongue around the tip, appreciating the clear drop of liquid that appeared. I moaned around him when that salty drop tingled against my taste buds.

“You’re a goddess. I’ll never forsake a love like ours,” he ground out between clenched teeth as I pleasured him.

I hummed against his cock and then took him as far into my mouth as possible. What I couldn’t reach with my mouth, I enclosed with my hand. His head flopped back, but his fingers tightened in my hair. I knew he wanted to thrust but was holding back. I loved him more for the herculean restraint. If the shoe had been on the other foot, I’d have been grinding into him within seconds. Something I found he thoroughly enjoyed.

Laying my body against his legs, I rubbed against his thigh. The ache in my clit controlled my movements. When my wet sex touched his leg, Wes pulled in a breath between his teeth. “Baby, turn around and get that pussy in front of my face. Now.”

I shook my head and licked several lines down his shaft. “For you. Not me.”

He gripped my hair tightly at the roots and lifted my head. “If it’s for me, turn around give me your cunt. I want your honey on my tongue when I come. Now. Turn. Around,” he growled.

Too far gone, I scrambled around and straddled his head, knees on the pillows. Wes’s fingers slipped slowly through my wetness.

“Jesus Christ. Did you already come?”

I shook my head not able to speak with his fingers playing.

“Shit, Mia, you’re drenched. When you need me like this, you take what’s yours. Now tell me, what do you need?” he asked, his mouth inches from my soaking pussy.

I inhaled harshly. “Need to come,” I admitted shamelessly.

“Then you shall.” He laid a hand on my spine and ran it up to where my head hovered over his sex. “With my cock down your throat.”

Not waiting a second longer, I laid my lips sideways on his dick and pressed open-mouthed kisses in a path up to the top. He was leaking copious amounts of pre-cum by the time I reached the top. When I got to the wide crown, I gasped. He’d chosen that second to wrap his lips around my clit and suck hard. The gasp was quickly followed by a gag when he pushed my head down and thrust his hips so his cock went down my throat, the same time his fingers plunged into my sex.

My body went off like a rocket, jerking and spasming in orgasm. I felt like a fish on a hook. Wes’s mouth on my clit shot pleasure through me, while his fingers held me aloft, and I choked on his cock. Wes, realizing my predicament, lifted my head from his cock using a fist full of hair. An entire new sizzle of electricity combined with the pain at the roots of my hair, the furious finger fucking and clit sucking I was getting, started a new bout of arousal.

“Mia, your mouth, sweetheart. Put it where it goes. Suck me off, and I’ll send you to the stars again.”

Shaking my head as if waking from a dream, I got to work. Every long lick against his erection was met with a long lick against my pussy. Every suck was paired with suction on my clit. I took him deep back and forth. He mimicked the same with his tongue at my slit. At one point, his fingers gripped both of my ass cheeks and spread me wide. He circled the forbidden rosette with his tongue and back down to my soaked center. I ground against his face, seeking more pleasure. He gave it—in spades.

I held the base of his cock tight, staving off his impending orgasm.

“What the fuck?” he roared, and I scrambled off his mouth and out of his grip. Before he could chastise me, I centered my body over his cock and slammed down to the base. We both cried out. His hands grabbed my hips and held on as I rode him reverse cowgirl. The feeling in this position was harsh. Every thrust felt like an impaling in the worst yet surprisingly most blissful way. Facing his feet, I leaned forward and rested my hands on his shins for leverage.

“Jesus Christ,” he gasped.

His fingers tightened around my hips. As I leaned forward, his dick lodged so deep I could barely breathe.

“Fuck,” he grated out through his gritted teeth.

I held still for a few moments, letting my body adjust to the new intrusion. I was wholly unprepared for the depth and angle of his dick inside me. I swore if I leaned back, I’d feel him in my stomach. Lifting off my knees, I slid up and down his shaft, experimenting with this new sensation. Every nerve ending was alight with energy as his girth stretched and his length penetrated, piercing that wicked spot inside repeatedly.

“Wes,” I choked out, picking up the pace. Needing more of him.

“That’s it, baby, take me deep. Harder. You can do harder,” he groaned, his toes curling in front of me.

Just when I got the hang of the new feeling, one of his hands left my hips, followed by a wet sensation over my forbidden hole. Wes rubbed in a circular pattern around the tiny pucker. Lost in the pattern, I moved my hips in a ring, stirring his cock inside me. The next time I lifted up, his thumb started to dip in. When I rooted deep, so did his thumb.

“Oh, my god. I don’t know if I can handle…” I tried to lift away, but Wes wouldn’t have it.

“You will take everything I have to give, Mia.” Wes moved that wicked finger in and out while I mindlessly rode him, stuck in an endless loop of stimulation.

“One day, I’m going to take it all. Everything you have to give and keep it safe. Protect it with all that I am.” His voice was filled with emotion, or lust, or perhaps a bit of both. I didn’t know. All I knew was him, filling me, completing me, rocking my goddamn world.

“God, I love you,” I said as I lifted up, slammed down, tilted my head back, and came, grinding deep. His thumb kept moving, pushing me through, forcing my orgasm to a pinnacle so high, I lost my breath.

“Oh, your pussy is like the sweetest death grip,” he said while releasing my ass, gripping my hips, and thrusting into me several times until, his hips lifted high, he rooted deep and released within me on a long drawn out blissful groan. It was all too much. Too much sensation. Too much love. Just…too much. I blacked out.

I
woke
to Wes’s fingers running through my hair, my head resting on his bare chest. Experimenting, I stretched my toes and felt soreness in the muscles in my belly, back, and nether regions. I actually felt as though I’d ridden a bucking horse and failed. But I knew I’d won.

“Ah, there’s my girl. Lost you there for a minute.”

“How long was I out?” I mumbled against his chest, not wanting to move any muscles again.

He chuckled. “Just long enough for me to pull you off my dick, turn you around, and cuddle you up against me. I can’t believe you blacked out.”

“Yeah, well, that was intense,” I said, kissing his chest.

Wes continued caressing my hair and trailing his hand down my back. “It was. What made you decide to try out that position?”

I half shrugged. “Don’t know. I’d never done it before, and when you got me all crazy, I had to have you inside. That was faster than flipping around.”

Wes hummed. “This is true. It definitely worked. I like seeing your ass moving up and down over me. Plus, it gives me a great view of my dick sinking deep. I like that, babe.”

“Dirty!” I chastised but grinned before biting down on his pec and kissing it better.

“Hey, you keep that up and I’ll be making certain you can’t walk later,” he warned.

I lifted my head, and he waggled his brows. “Seriously?” I mumbled and went back to enjoying his body. I ran my hands up and down his chest, petting him the same way I would a furry friend, though Wes was primarily smooth, aside from light smattering of blond hair that trailed down to his cock.

“Do you think it will always be this good?” I asked, knowing I’d never had better.

Considering my history, I’d not been with a man that made me insane in the sex department. I wanted it all the time with Wes. Day and night. Sweaty after a gym session, covered in sand, salty from the ocean, I’d take my man any way he came. That didn’t seem normal.

Wes lifted up my chin so I was looking into his eyes. “I think when you’re in love, it’s always going to be good. Our bodies become a physical manifestation of our commitment. When it’s honest and real, the outcome doesn’t matter. It’s being together, connecting physically and mentally to ensure we’re still one, that’s important.”

I smiled, pushed up, and took his mouth in a slow, deep kiss. “I want to have that with you always.” I said the words as if they were a promise, believing I’d do anything to keep that between us.

Wes’s hands tunneled into my hair. “Baby, we’re always going to have love. A year from now, ten years, even fifty. I know my other half when I see it. Nothing’s going to stop me from making you mine forever. In a couple weeks, you’ll be mine legally, but that doesn’t change that you’re already mine in here.” He pointed to his heart.

Tears filled my eyes as I listened to him quietly profess his love and confidence in our future together.

“No, it doesn’t. I am yours. Forever.” I snuggled into his chest and thought about the future. We hadn’t spent much time discussing anything other than being together, me moving into his Malibu home, and working on Dr. Hoffman. “What do you see in our future, Wes?” I asked, excited and a little nervous.

Talking about the big picture was something most couples did way before they agreed to marry. And in two short weeks, there would be no turning back. It wasn’t that I had cold feet or anything. I knew my life was meant to be lived standing by his side, but in what capacity? Wife, of course. Friend, certainly, but what else did he see on the horizon?

Wes hummed. “Are you asking where I see us in five years? Like when you make a five-year-plan when you graduate college.”

I frowned. “I never went to college, or never finished, I should say. But yeah, kind of. What do you want out of the future, and how do you see me in it?”

He tightened his arms around my body, holding me closer. His warmth permeated my entire front comfortably. Fuck Disneyland. His chest was the happiest place on Earth.

“Well, I’d say in the next year you’re going to get more stardom than you know what to do with on
Dr. Hoffman
.” I lifted up my head and saw in his expression the sincerity of his statement. “I’m serious. I think the public has really taken to you, and the execs at Century are figuring out what kind of gem they have. They aren’t going to let you walk away or leave for other opportunities very easily. So we’ll have that to deal with.”