Getting Even (9 page)

I
’m gazing into Glenn’s eyes. Yes, gazing. And holding his hand as we lie in my bed face-to-face, naked as the day we were born. One of Glenn’s legs is slung over both of mine. This feels so natural—like he’s been in my life and my bed forever.

I could stare into those mesmerizing hazel eyes all day. You’d think I’ve never been with a man before and Glenn’s got some kind of spell on me.

But hey, I’m in love. And the truth is, I’ve never loved anyone like I love Glenn.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I ask him.

“Like what?”

“Like you’re trying to eat me up with your eyes.”

“You want me to stop?” he asks.

“Not a chance. I want to stay here like this forever with you.”

“I know what you mean.”

A beat passes. I yawn. “I’m so exhausted. Thanks to you.”

“You weren’t complaining last night.”

“I sure wasn’t,” I reply, chuckling softly. “What a start to my weekend!”

After speaking with Glenn during the week, I didn’t expect him until today. But he surprised me by calling me at the studio last night and telling me he was in town.

We’ve been fucking ever since.

What can I say? I haven’t had sex in two years. I’m going to take as much of it as I can get these days.

Glenn lifts my hand to his mouth and kisses it. “I aim to please.”

“Did you ever!”

We both giggle, then gaze. Sheesh, you’d think we were fifteen and had just shared our first sexual experience together.

“You ready to get up?” Glenn asks me. Of course, he asks this as he tweaks one of my nipples.

“Oh, you don’t play fair, do you?”

“Life ain’t fair, sweetheart.” Glenn lowers his head and his hot tongue covers my nipple. I close my eyes and moan. He takes my nipple deep in his mouth and suckles it slowly. Slowly, yet it nearly drives me out of my mind.

I run my hands over his closely cropped hair. “Damn you, Glenn.”

“You want me to stop?”

“I thought…thought we were…” I can’t finish my thought. Glenn is now massaging my clit, and oh, it feels so good. If I let myself, I could come. It’s like my whole body is a giant nub, and the moment he touches me, I’m lost.

I’m his.

Glenn rolls onto his back and pulls me on top of him. His fingers dig into my ass, kneading my flesh. I quickly straddle him. Damn, his cock feels amazing pressed against my vagina like this.

But it feels much better inside me.

I ease my body up and stroke my finger over the length of his shaft—then guide his throbbing erection inside me. “Ooh, Glenn. Damn…”

He pulls my hips down so that he fills me with a hard thrust. We spent more than half the night screwing, so my inner walls are sore, but this pain is pleasure.

“You’re so hot,” Glenn whispers. He kneads my breasts, plays with my nipples. I ride him like he’s a wild horse, hanging on to his solid legs for support. And I watch the expression on his face. It’s a look of total ecstasy, the same one I know he must see on my face. I love how we stare into each other’s eyes, like there’s total openness and honesty between us.

“Come on, baby,” Glenn moans. He grips my hips as he thrusts upward deep and hard, over and over again. I rub myself against him so that there’s delicious friction against my clit.

A moment later, I close my eyes as a wave of orgasmic bliss washes over me. I arch my back and enjoy the ride.

Glenn’s fingers dig into my butt. I’m still coming when I hear his grunt-giggle sound. I tighten my inner walls around him, knowing that will intensify his pleasure.

Slowly, his lips curl in a smile. He presses his palms against my shoulder blades, urging me forward. I collapse against his chest.

We’re silent for a moment, our ragged breaths mingling. Then we start laughing.

“You do this to me every time, Baxter. Make me forget about everything but making love to you.”

“I can’t keep my hands off you.”

I slide off his chest and onto my back. “I’d better take a shower. Alone. You’re gonna have to keep that lethal weapon away from me if we’re ever going to do anything else today.”

“All right, all right,” Glenn grudgingly agrees. Still, he reaches for my body as I move off the bed. He grins at me, then settles back on his pillow.

“I guess we should go out for breakfast,” he says. “Eat something to build our strength up.”

“For more sex?” I ask, twisting my lips in mock reproof.

“No, actually. There’s something I want to show you.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “Show me? What could you want to show me?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“A surprise?” I plop back down on the bed beside him. “Come on, Glenn. You know how I am with surprises. Just tell me what it is.”

“You go get your shower. Or we’ll never get out of here.”

“Glenn…”

He pushes my leg. “Go.”

I glare at him before scooting off the bed. I’m kidding, of course. I bluff a good game but I don’t really want him to tell me what the surprise is. I
love
surprises.

“Hurry,” he tells me. “Or it might not be today.”

“All right, I’m going.” I grin all the way to the bathroom.

“You can’t possibly want more food?” I say to Glenn a couple hours later, when we’re sipping coffees at a Denny’s fifteen minutes from my house. I’m not a big fan of the Denny’s chain, but most anyplace can do breakfast right.

Glenn peruses the plastic-encased lunch menu in the center of the table. “I don’t know. I could have a burger.”

“You could not, so let’s just settle the bill and leave already.”

“Impatient for that surprise, are you?”

I smile sweetly at him.

“Can I order dessert?”

“No dessert!” I laugh. “Boy, you know how to tease a girl.”

“So I’m told.”

Something catches in my chest. I know we’re both joking here, but it hits me instantly that I’ve never asked Glenn about his past. We’ve been too busy getting reacquainted in bed, and the subject hasn’t come up.

“I bet you have been, haven’t you?” Before he can answer, I continue. “Tell me what your life has been like over the years. You said you’ve never been married, but there had to be someone serious. Maybe a few women you were serious with?”

Glenn sips his coffee. “You don’t really want to talk about this, do you?”

“I do. At first I thought I didn’t want to know, but I realize now that I was lying to myself.”

“All right. There was someone serious. Only one since you and I have been apart. A couple quasi-serious relationships, but the last one was the most intense.”

My gut tightens. Can you believe I’m jealous? “How long ago?” I ask. “And how serious?”

“How long ago?” He thinks for a moment. “I guess about fourteen months.”

“Wow. That’s pretty recent.”

“I know.”

“Don’t leave me hanging. Tell me what happened.”

“We dated for about two years. Yeah, two years,” he says, seeing my surprised look. “I’d popped the question, and we were going to get married.”

“Really?” I’m stunned. I know I didn’t ask before now, but isn’t this information Glenn should have volunteered? Or am I being too sensitive over the matter?

“Yeah.” He rolls his eyes slightly. “But it didn’t work out.”

“Oh, no no no. You don’t just tell me you asked a woman to marry you—barely over a year ago—then tell me it didn’t work out. What happened—and do I have to worry that she’s going to come back into your life at any moment?”

“No chance of that, since she decided to get back together with her ex-husband. She broke down and told me that my proposal made her realize she had unresolved issues with her ex—you really want to hear this?”

I nod.

“I proposed to her. She didn’t answer, said she needed time. Three days later, she gave me some lame story about the sacredness of marital vows and how she shouldn’t promise the same thing to another man that she’d promised to her husband. She said she wanted to give him another chance.” Glenn shrugs. “As far as I know, they got back together, and they’re married again.”

I am feeling much, much better. Well, maybe not that much better. “So she broke your heart.”

“I’m not still hung up on her, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Are you sure? You
were
going to marry the woman.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Because I’m hung up on someone else.” He gives me a pointed look. “Always was, if you want to know the truth, even though we’d gone our separate ways. Plus, I don’t think things were really meant to be with Tess. She had a couple kids—”

“Tess?”

“—and she didn’t want more. I’d be forcing it with her to make it work. I know that now. Believe me, everything’s worked out for the best. Especially now that I have you back in my life.”

I search Glenn’s eyes. They seem sincere. Truthful. There’s really no reason for me to be making an issue out of this.

But still I ask, “How did you two connect in bed?”

“Nowhere near the way we do,” Glenn answers without hesitation. Then he reaches across the table and strokes his thumb across my palm.

“So I don’t need to spend the rest of my life hating her?” I joke.

“It’d be a waste of energy.”

“I know. You’re right. What matters is here and now. Us.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Glenn reaches for his wallet in the back of his pants and pulls out some money. He drops it onto the table on top of the bill. Then he asks, “Ready for your surprise?”

“I can’t wait.”

My excitement mounts when Glenn and I arrive in Duluth, one of Atlanta’s upscale and beautiful suburbs. The houses are large here, with sprawling, well-manicured lawns, neatly trimmed shrubs, colorful flowers and winding driveways that stretch for at least a couple hundred feet.

My heart is beating a mile a minute. What on earth could Glenn be doing taking me to a spot like this?

He’s holding my hand, something that feels so comfortable. It makes me smile. It’s nice to know that despite how well Glenn and I connect in the bedroom, there’s more to our relationship than that.

“I’m dying here, babe. When are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

“You’ll see….”

I continue to survey the area as Glenn makes a series of turns. At last, we pull into the driveway of a gray stucco house with a For Sale sign on the lawn. The interlocking brick driveway veers to the right, where there’s enough space for eight or so cars.

My eyes whip to Glenn’s. He doesn’t say a word. Simply grins at me like a fool as he pulls his cell phone out of the holder on his belt.

He dials a number. Then I hear him say, “Hey, Sandra. It’s Glenn Baxter. I’m in front of the house. Great, see you shortly.”

“Who was that?” I ask Glenn, although I know who it had to be. At least I think I know who it had to be.

“That was the real estate agent.”

“Glenn! What are you doing? And when did you arrange to meet a real estate agent here? We’ve been together the whole time.”

“I called her when you went to use the restroom. And don’t get too excited. You don’t know if you’ll like it.”

“Not like it? Glenn!” I look out at the line of trees dividing this property from the next one. In the distance, I can see the glistening waters of Lake Lanier. I want to throw my arms around him and squeeze the life out of him.

“I’ve always wanted a house on the water. And look at this place. I love the stucco. All the trees for privacy. The size of the land. What is it, an acre?”

“A little larger than that.”

“Glenn!”

“Don’t get excited…”

“How can I
not
get excited? It’ll be a longer drive to get to work, yes, but this is the kind of house…” My voice trails off when I look at it.

“The kind of house you raise a family in,” he supplies for me.

I could become an emotional mess right about now. I’m seeing my dreams come to fruition at a time I didn’t expect it. When I’d convinced myself the dream no longer mattered to me.

“What are you doing, Glenn?”

“I want to see if you like the place. Then we’ll go from there.”

I throw my arms around his neck and kiss him. A deep kiss that goes on and on. It stokes the embers of my love for him.

We pull apart when we hear the sound of a car pulling up beside us. A pretty, dark-haired woman jumps out of a silver Lexus, smiling apologetically.

Glenn and I get out of my BMW.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” she says. “Got stuck in a bit of traffic.”

“It’s fine,” Glenn assures her.

“Lishelle Jennings.” Sandra offers me her hand, and I shake it. “I’d know you anywhere. I love you on Channel Four News.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“I’m Sandra Holloway.”

“So nice to meet you.”

Sandra turns and starts for the house. Glenn and I fall into step beside her. “I hope you like it as much as Glenn does,” Sandra says to me.

“I’m sure I will,” I reply. But I’m shocked to hear Glenn has already seen it. When? He just got back to the city last night.

I gasp my delight the moment Sandra opens the door. The massive foyer boasts cathedral ceilings and a double staircase heading upstairs. The entire area is covered in hardwood floors.

“There are six bedrooms, five bathrooms.”

“Oh. My. God.” I step into the house.

“Cherrywood floors,” Sandra continues. “There’s also a staircase at the back of the house that leads upstairs. Ten-foot ceilings throughout, except the foyer and family room, where there’re cathedral ceilings.”

“I love this place.”

“I figured you’d like modern,” Glenn tells me.

“I love the modern look. It’s also got some classical touches,” I comment as I look at the moldings in the nearby living room.

“It’s a mix of styles,” Sandra informs me. “European, traditional, colonial.”

“Whatever it is, it’s stunning.”

“Do you like to cook?” Sandra asks.

“I love to cook. When I’ve got the time.”

“You should see the kitchen.”

Sandra leads us to the back of the house. I actually start to giggle, that’s how giddy with excitement I am.

“All maple cabinets,” Sandra says proudly. “And this breakfast bar could seat twenty.”