Insatiable (20 page)

The words seemed to come out of nowhere, she'd become withdrawn again,  and he didn’t know why. "Aurora, why are you so dissociated from me? Haven't I more than proven to you that I'm not going to hurt you? Emotionally or otherwise," he said his tone brash. 

She quickly turned to him. "We'll talk about it when you get back," she said and rested her hands on his chest. "You better get dressed; you don’t want to miss your flight." 

After Liam left, Aurora took to spending time with her friends. The reality that her husband was gone hadn't hit Mari yet,  and that was something that they would need to address. She hoped that Jean would be able to help Mari. Aurora feared that Mari was holding back and at this point in her life, that was the worst thing that she could do. "What are you going to do about the funeral?" Rosie had asked her friend. 

Mari shrugged off a chill. Just hearing the word funeral put her on edge. "Ronnie's family wants him brought back to Indiana. They plan to bury him there, but they haven’t released his body yet so I don’t know when that will be. I can tell you though that his family has all but alienated me. They had no idea that Ronnie and I had split up and as far as his family is concerned, they think that I have no right to attend his funeral. To them, I might as well been the one who murdered him. Aurora and Rosie came close and gave her a comforting hug. Her eyes were glazing over with tears. "To be honest, I'm not even sure that I want to go to his funeral. I might just go to the church and light a candle. I'm ready to be done with Ronnie Carr and going to his funeral is not going to help me get through this any faster. I don’t need to go to the funeral to find closure, my closure came when I decided to forgive him. Who knows? Maybe I'll change my mind, but I don’t think that I will." 

"But what about his family? Rosie asked gently. "Won't they be even more upset with you if you don’t show up?" 

Mari tried to stifle her laugh. "Trust me Rosie, his family wants nothing to do with me. They were never fond of me in the first place. After all, I was the girl who'd lured Ronnie away. At least that's what I was to them, never mind that when he and I met, it was right here in Rhode Island. But that's all hearsay now. None of that matters, all that matters is that they find his killer so that we can all get on with our lives. Now I thought that this was supposed to be a mini vacation?" She grinned and pointed towards the bar. "So let the vacation start now." 

"I second that," Rosie and Aurora chimed in. 

Before boarding the airplane, Liam texted Aurora. 

'About to get on the plane, just wanted to tell you that I'll be thinking about you. Hope that I can concentrate long enough to get this deal squared away. You and the girls have a great time and stay safe. Oh and don’t forget about what I said earlier. You and me, alone…naked. Locked in for days… And one more thing, don’t go anywhere today, I've booked a surprise for the three of you.'

Aurora, who was feeling a bit tipsy giggled as she read the text. She blushed and turned her back so that no one would read what she was typing. 
'What kind of surprise? We'll have fun. Thanks again for letting us stay here. I'll be sure to think about your proposition. Call me tonight when you're alone and in bed, I want to hear you come.'

When he read the text, Liam picked his head up and looked around. He laughed at his nervousness. His cock trembled upon reading the text and something told him that Aurora knew that she would create that exact reaction. She wanted to have phone sex with him, and he would be more than happy to oblige. 

'Yes
 
ma'am'
, he typed back. '
Getting on the flight, call you later. XOXO'
 

Gary cocked an eyebrow at his boss. "Oh how I miss that silly look that us men get when we're falling in love." 

Liam couldn’t help but laugh. It was true, he was falling for Aurora. Hell he practically fell for her the first day that he met her. 

"How is Melissa anyway?" He felt obligated to ask. 

Gary shrugged his shoulders. "Who the hell knows, I thought maybe after Aurora put her in her place the other night at dinner that she might have grown a conscience but she didn’t. Just the same old superficial woman that I mistakenly married." Gary sighed heavily. "She trapped me you know?" 

Liam's eyes scanned sympathetically over Gary. 

"She did Liam, she trapped me. Told me that she was on the pill. I suppose looking back it was partially my fault for believing her and for not taking matters into my own hands. Christ, even her own mother tried to warn me. But I was a love sick fool,  and Melissa was only the second woman that I'd been with. I tell ya, that woman knew exactly what I'd do if she got pregnant. Now look at me, two great kids and a not so great wife. But enough about me how's things with Aurora?" 

"Things are good. I think that things are good. She's starting to be more open with me. " 

"Yeah, well just keep at it." Gary patted his friend on the shoulder. "You know, given my current situation, I should be telling you to run and don’t look back. But I can see that Aurora is a special kind of woman, she's the kind of woman that you want to hold onto and never let go." 

Liam shot him a critical stare. Gary threw his hands up. 

"Whoa, ease up there boss. I'm just saying she's good for you, boss that's all I'm saying. She's good for you." 

Liam nodded his head, leaned back and closed his eyes. Yes Aurora Collins was good for him,  and he had no doubt that he was good for her too. But so far he was a having a hell of a time trying to prove that to her. He was thirty seven years old, a successful business man and single. It had been his choice to remain single after his disastrous break up with Allison. She'd been all about the material things in life and she never seemed to be happy with herself.

He remembered that during most of their relationship the woman spent more time in the plastic surgeon's chair than in their relationship. If it wasn’t her boobs, it was her lips. If it wasn’t her lips it was her thighs and stomach. "Why not just work out?" He'd suggested. Boy was that the wrong thing to say. Allison wanted results,  but she didn’t want to go about getting those results the old fashioned way. And why should she? The woman had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, and she was not a woman who would wait for anything, not even the positive results that one gets from working out.

No, the faster she obtained those results the better. And for Allison, the fastest way was to get plastic surgery. It got so bad that he had to break things off. She'd become consumed with what was on the outside and never took the time to work on what was on the inside. Even he began to look at himself differently. He'd always been attracted to full figured women; he supposed it was because he felt that it was taboo.

Growing up a teenager in Newport, he'd spent most of his summers on the beach. He remembered thinking that the young women in their bikinis left nothing to the imagination. But the girls in their one piece bathing suits, now those were the girls who would make his imagination soar. Even though his friends would tease him about his preference of women, he didn’t let that stop him from pursuing larger women. But as he got older and went away to college, he succumbed. He let the burden of society get the better of him and began dating only thin women; he thought that it was the right thing to do.

His lifestyle, along with society had brain washed him into thinking that only thin women were seen as beautiful.
How could I have been so stupid?
He thought to himself.  It wasn’t until he was out of college that he realized how superficial and weak he'd been, he'd gone against his own desires and for what? To please people who would prove to be insignificant in his life?  The relationships that he had never felt right, and when he returned home after graduating, he felt more confused than ever.

His mother could sense that there was something wrong. When he finally broke down and told her, she laughed. She told him that society wasn’t the only thing to blame for his ignorant thinking. She told him that after years of hearing his father degrade her that it was bound to happen. She told him that she wished she'd stuck up for herself more, but she also said that it was never too late to change his thinking.

Liam had always seen his mother as a beautiful woman and the fact that she was shapely only reinforced that. He was once told by a friend that a boy's first introduction to love is his mother and how she treats him. He smiled to himself as he thought about how wonderful he and his mother's relationship had been. He'd always tried to be there for her, especially after his father would degrade and beat her. And when he went away to college, he'd felt guilty. At first he didn’t want to go, Liam knew that his father would take his going away as the perfect opportunity to abuse his mother more. But she sat Liam down and told him that if he didn’t go away to college, he'd regret it for the rest of his life. "All I ask of you son is that you treat the women in your life with respect. Because remember, that is someone's daughter." 

He remembered that, and took it to heart. Each and every time that he'd met a woman he put his mother's advice into practice. Years later, when he'd met Allison and brought her home to meet his parents, his mother pulled him aside and told him that she wasn’t the girl for him. At the time, he thought that his mom was just being paranoid and that no woman was ever going to be good enough for him. But as the months went on he began to see that his mother was right, Allison was not the woman for him, and so he broke things off with her.

She was more than a little upset, to say the least, but only for a few weeks. She bounced back rather quickly. Soon after the breakup he'd learned from a friend that Allison scheduled yet another appointment with a plastic surgeon for a nose job. He remembered trying hard not to laugh about it. When most people break up they sulk, or party a bit too much, or sit in front of the television watching sappy movies. But not Allison, for her a breakup was just another excuse to go back under the knife. Last he'd heard she was living in Boston and dating a plastic surgeon. 
Perfect,
 he thought to himself. 

He wanted things to go perfect with Aurora. She had a way that seemed to make him fall for her like a man possessed. In the short time that they'd known one another, she had him doing things in the bedroom that he'd only fantasized about. He wanted to feed more than just her insatiable sexual appetite, if only she would let him. He wanted to be there for her, take care of her, but Aurora Collins was a woman who didn’t need or want to be taken care of. She wanted to do everything herself. He wanted to show her that a person could be strong and vulnerable at the same time.

He had his work cut out for him, Aurora wasn’t going to give in easily. So far she'd put up a fight every step of the way, and he liked that about her. He liked knowing that she was a woman who was used to doing things on her own. And when she'd revealed to him all that she'd been through, he liked her even more. He wondered if she thought less of herself because of the fact that she couldn’t have children. Sure he'd thought about having children, who wouldn’t want to leave a legacy behind? But just because she couldn’t have them didn't mean that they couldn’t adopt.

There were plenty of children who were in need of a good and loving home. Even though he had closed his eyes intending to rest, Liam chuckled out loud. Here they were, about to land in New York where he would close on one of the biggest deals he'd made in years, and all he could think about was falling in love with Aurora and adopting children. The woman wasn’t even at the stage of talking about a committed relationship, let alone falling in love. He made a promise to himself to change all that the moment he arrived back in Rhode Island.

A private massage therapist, esthetician, and nail technician was the surprise that Liam was referring to. Aurora lit the fireplace as the three technicians went to work. Mari was the first to get a massage, Rosie opted for a facial and Aurora, decided to get her nails done while they waited their turn.

"Okay Aurora if you don’t want Liam, I'll take him," Mari teased. She could feel the stress being massaged away. The technicians had set up room dividers, and she felt completely comfortable lying flat on her belly naked in the large living room.

"Oh come on, after this wonderful treat, are you still leery about him?" Rosie asked.

Aurora shook her head. "I don’t know, this is all new to me. But I tell you what, I could get used to it," she grinned and took a sip of champagne. "You have fabulous skin," the masseuse told Mari.

"Thank you."

The compliment was something that took Mari by surprise. She was glad to hear it, and Aurora was glad that the woman hadn't mentioned her bruises. She knew that the bruises were something Mari was self-conscious about. "They'll go away and heal just like you will," Rosie had assured her.

When the toxins were out of their systems, skin exfoliated, muscles relaxed, and nails primped and painted the beauty technicians left. They sipped wine and talked about the wonderful experience they'd just had. "So was that great or what?" Aurora eased onto the arm of the oversized sofa.

Rosie sipped her wine. After having to drink what felt like gallons of water during her toxin removal the switch to the bubbly wine felt glorious. "Yes it certainly was." She sipped again, this time savoring each drop. "I haven’t felt that pampered since… I don’t know when," Mari chimed in. She too had flopped down on the sofa and lifted her glass towards Rosie and Aurora.

"Okay ladies, it's time to talk men. What's going on between you and Martin, Rosie?" Aurora asked. Having a bit of girl talk was just what they all needed.

"For an investment banker, Martin seems to be very good with his hands," Mari teased.

"Martin has wonderful hands." The minute Rosie heard herself say it, she went beet-red.

"Could I have some more wine?" She snickered at herself.

"Of course." Aurora jumped up and grabbed the bottle. "Maybe after a couple more glasses you can tell us more about Martin and his hands."