Forever Kind of Love (5 page)

Calmed again, he got dressed, choosing black jeans,
dress shoes, and a button-down light blue shirt. Pretty much as dressed up as
he got, unless it was a funeral or wedding. Then, he dusted off one of the
three suits he owned. Thankfully, that was pretty rare.

Running his fingers through his hair, he grabbed up
a leather jacket, keys, and checked his wallet to ensure he had both a credit
card and a couple of condoms. He was hopeful, really hopeful but he would not
push the issue.
Much.

Grinning to himself he took Tabitha up the quiet
side streets of his neighborhood, before landing on the 67 through the city.
Living in Old East Dallas was great, with older homes, big trees on every
property, and a house with a half decent sense of privacy. Unfortunately, it
also meant he was a good ways from
Roni
who lived in
Oak Cliff, the other side of the downtown area.

Good neighborhood though. He had a shop not that
far from her, relatively speaking. One of the smaller ones and a little more
sedate,
designed for the folks of the neighborhood to feel comfortable
showing up at with their kids. Not like the one he had out in South Dallas, which
was a little rougher in appearance but still a very friendly place to go to.

Taylor had designed each of his shops to fit the
neighborhood it was in so that it was a part of it. No cookie cutter designs.
The only things that were identical to each shop were the quality of work and
work ethics that he was strict about, and the sign that went on the building.
He’d worked hard to get to the point of having these shops, so he branded them
with
who
he was and to hell with what anyone said.

Though he really hadn’t had a whole lot
of trouble.
Just the one place in the north district of Dallas
but, once the area’s folks had seen the design for the
building,
they’d all agreed it was suited to their neighborhood. He wasn’t an
idiot,
he needed these people using his shops to get work
done, in order to keep afloat, and to make him money. No fucking way was he
going to alienate them right from the start.

And the people had come, likely out of curiosity or
to find a way to condemn him and boot him out. Instead they’d found that he had
a high, a very high, standard for his employees and how they dealt with the
clientele. They kept coming back and recommended his shops to their friends.

Which was key, word of mouth.
It could fucking break you or make you, and he’d been just lucky enough
to have it make him.

Sliding along the 67, or ERL Thornton Freeway, he
relaxed and checked his speed.
A little fast but not enough
to get pulled over.
Good. Tabby was a bitch some days and liked to try
and get him in trouble. “Not tonight Tabitha, tonight I have a date with the
lovely lady who had her ass on your seats earlier.
An old
friend who we are both going to behave for, right?”

Not that he got an answer, thank goodness. That
would be too damned freaky.

Chuckling, he shook his head. Fuck, he was nervous.
Talking to his car.
A sure sign of
those nerves.
Though he shouldn’t be, not really.
He knew
Roni
like probably no one else did.

Or he had.

Frowning, he sighed. He really should have tried
harder to stay in touch with her. When he’d gone into basic training, he’d had
almost zero
clue
what he was getting into. But he’d
survived, barely, thanks to the letters he and
Roni
had shared.

She’d been in college, working on her Masters in
Business and minoring in, shit, what had it been? Scraping his tongue over his
teeth he tried to remember, and then it hit him. English Lit, right. She’d
wanted to have a “real job” prospect with the MBA she went for, but she had
always liked to write. Something that had shocked the hell out of her and had
actually been discovered from the diary the psycho shrink of hers had insisted
she do.

Grinning, Taylor chuckled. Psycho shrink, her term
for the psychologist that her parents had insisted she
see
due to the “trauma” of their break-up.

In reality, and he knew it for a fact, she’d likely
been more traumatized by their marriage then the actual divorce. She’d been
relieved then. He’d seen it in her face the few times they’d talked about it,
that they’d finally, her word again, gotten the damned divorce. Her parents had
been miserable together, which made her life miserable.

But yeah, part way through her last year of college
and his latest tour as a mechanic out in some country or another for the
Marines, the letters had started to slow, until, well, until they’d just
stopped.

They’d lost touch, plain and simple, and he
regretted it every day of his life.

Roni
had been his best
friend, better than any of the guys he’d grown up with or known all through
school. She’d gotten him in a way he knew the guys never had. She’d listened,
without judgement, and had offered her opinion when he needed one given. She
definitely hadn’t been some shrinking wallflower, not his girl. But she’d
understood that sometimes silence and a comforting presence was all that was
needed.

Fuck he missed that. He missed
her.

Rubbing a hand over his face he checked the speed
again as he eased onto the Tom Landry Freeway. One way or another he’d get that
back, get
her
back. So help him God.

Chapter Five

August 5, 1995

Dear Diary,

I did it! I got my license in one go, and it’s all
thanks to Taylor. He is
amaaaaaazing
!

He took me to the DMV for my road test and was
there when I got back. Perfect score across the board. I could barely keep the
grin off my face as they snapped my pic for the license. Ugh, it’s horrendous,
but I think that’s the point.

No, seriously! I look like I should be on America’s
Most Wanted. I look like a hardened criminal for the love of God.

Taylor, so sweet, says it’s not that bad. He showed
me his and we had a good laugh. We look like we could be Bonnie and Clyde from
the photos we each had on our licenses. Why does the DMV make us look like we
should be in a police lineup? Why?

Anyway, after the test and horrific picture, we
went out for ice cream to celebrate. He let me drive, my first official drive
as a licensed operator of a motor vehicle. Even though a lot of the nerves had
gone away when I found out I passed, I was still nervous to be driving his car.
Course, that
might have had something to do with him
in the passenger seat.

Fuck, he’s hot!

That’s it for this addition from my life,

A very giddy teenager signing off.

****

Now -
Roni

Shit.

She only had another twenty minutes until Taylor
showed up. If she remembered nothing else about him, which would be
an impossibility
, she knew he was always punctual.
As in to the second on time for everything in life.

The only time he’d been late had been one day
coming to school, when he’d stopped to help a mother with a baby in a car seat
do a tire change on the side of the road in the rain. Yeah, he was that kind of
amazing.

Staring at her bed, covered with pretty much every
single piece of her wardrobe,
Roni
let out a little
scream. Shaking out her hands, she stared at the bed.

“It’s dinner with Taylor. Not too fancy, but a
little bit needed,” she said to herself. She already had on her lacy black and
red bra with matching boy-cut panties. No panty hose though, she’d shaved and smoothed
lotion on her legs so they were looking amazing. No need to hide those puppies.

So pants were out. Gathering those up
she
tossed them up to the head of the bed.
Right, next.
A skirt would be good but a dress might be
better.
Less pieces to try and get undone if he was actually
interested enough to want to have sex with her.

Shit. Would he be?

“Damn it, Veronica Anne-Marie Malone, you are a
grown fucking woman. He’s interested, you saw that, and you are most definitely
interested,
give him some incentive to make a move.”

Choice made she grabbed up the dark blue sheath
with a lighter blue lace overlay and slid it on. Zipping up the little zipper
at the back was a bit of a challenge, which, with a bit of wiggling and some
contortionist moves, she achieved. Huffing and puffing, she grabbed her highest
set of heels, an insanely priced pair of Jimmy
Choo’s
.
She loved them.

Gunmetal leather platforms with a bit of bling
around the platform of the toe, they were to die for. They also added nearly
five inches to her five foot eight height.

Taking a breath she stepped in front of the mirror
and nodded. Perfect. The dress had a bit of a V in the front, showing off her
ample cleavage without being distasteful or without fear she’d fall out of it.
It hugged her curves and with the five inch heels, made her legs look
incredibly long, given the skirt ended mid-thigh.

A little tricky for getting in and out of a vehicle
without flashing everyone her lace covered pussy, but it could be done. She’d
just have to remember to keep her knees together even though, around Taylor,
sometimes it was easier to let the steam coming off her pussy free.

Groaning, she quickly cleaned up the bed and
smoothed out the comforter, just in case. Thankfully, she’d left everything on
the hangers when she’d emptied her closet, so she just had to hang it all back
up, with a few rescues along the way.

Checking the time she cursed under her breath.
Five minutes and counting.
A quick
inspection to ensure no stray panties or bras were
around. No clothes
had slipped from the bed during her mad freak out. No socks or other shit in a
corner. Check, check and check.

Grabbing her shawl and clutch purse, she dashed out
to the living room. A quick slick of her Red Velvet lipstick to her mouth, a
little
dab
on the
kleenex
and a tiny touch-up to the middle, and she dropped it into her clutch. Keys
went in next, a couple of condoms in the hidden pockets—she was hopeful after
all—some money and a credit card, just in case.

She was a woman of the times and knew better than
to get caught anywhere without some cash on hand and a credit card. She’d
learned that the hard way when she dated Roger. Or had that been Richard?

Didn’t matter.
Scooping up her phone she checked the time. One minute to go. She dropped
it into the clutch as well.
Another quick check in the mirror
to smooth out a couple of wayward strands and do her little pep talk.
“You are strong, you are beautiful and you want his hot, hot body. Go for it,
girl,” she whispered to herself. Smiling she let out a breath.

Then the doorbell rang and there went all that
hard-won confidence. Fuck.

No time to change, he’d know. He didn’t wait for anyone,
ever.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Deep calming breath and she opened the door.
“Taylor, right on time as usual,” she said with a smile.

He was staring at her, making her incredibly
nervous as his gaze raked down to her feet and then slowly back up. It also
started a low throb in her pussy and she knew her panties were getting
seriously wet.

“Wow,” he breathed out, his voice rougher than
normal, like he’d had to force the word out. “You look fucking incredible.”

Pleased by the reaction, especially when she saw
the hot hunger in his eyes when they finally met her own, she shrugged. “Just a
little something I threw together.”
Fully the truth, and at
the last fucking second, no less.

“I’m thinking I should have dressed up more and
really taken you somewhere amazing,” he said, rubbing a hand to his jaw. A jaw
he hadn’t shaved, thank you, God. She loved the scruff he sported. It made her
tingle in all the best places.

“If it’s too much I could go and change,” she offered.
But she knew the answer already.

“Fuck no,” Taylor growled. Then he handed her a
single red rose and threw her right off balance. “I think you are fucking
perfect the way you are and I intend to show you off tonight.”

Pleased even more by that,
Roni
took the rose and inhaled the scent. He’d been the only guy in her life to ever
give her roses. Everyone else said she was too practical for something so
overly romantic and cheesy. So daisies or carnations were usually what she got.
Idiots.

“Let me put this in water, come on in for a
moment,” she told him. Turning she made sure she had extra sway to her hips as
she headed for the kitchen at the back of the house.
Which
apparently worked just fine, if the sharply indrawn breath and soft curse
behind her were any indication.