Simone: Second Chances Read online

  I parked in front of Daniel’s home and paused to give myself another quick once over. Before stepping out of my car, my eyes checked my hair – I had only added a casual flip to its trimmed ends – and my attire – wedged shoes with a simple and sleeveless lavender shaded dress that halted just above my knees. Small diamond earrings pierced my ears and I made sure to keep my make-up light. I had no idea what to expect once I passed the threshold to his home and I wanted to make sure he saw me as I truly am. While the possibility for passion swims constantly in my veins, more often than not, my tendency for bashfulness overrides those urges. I did not want him to expect more than I could offer tonight or afterwards.

  After slowly climbing the stairs to his thick oak door – a thin scarecrow, celebrating the encroaching fall season, hung on the door – I inhaled another small and calming breath. Just as my index finger reached to touch the doorbell, the wood creaked faintly then pulled back. A set of pearly white teeth, coupled with a bright smile and dazzling blue eyes greeted me. The magnetism of his striking features enticed me to offer a full and beaming smile in return. A relaxed fit pair of blue jeans and an unpressed casual button up shirt fit his height and broad build well. My roaming eyes didn’t neglect the fact that several of the top buttons were undone, revealing the shallow chasm between two smooth lightly tanned chest muscles. Daniel’s feet were bare as well. The entire unkempt look fit him well and heightened the air of sexual allure surrounding him.

  “You came,” he said with gleeful charm.

  My cinnamon cheeks lifted up. I giggled inwardly when I discovered that he had been nervously standing by the door and awaiting my arrival.

  “Of course I did.”

  He opened his large palm toward me and I accepted his offer, placing my own flat at the center of his. A moist kiss on my small knuckles was followed up with a longer one to my waiting lips.

  “Come in.”

  The tepid air from his mouth swam over me and lulled me across his entryway. Daniel ushered me in and closed the door behind us. The first three rooms of his spacious downstairs passed from one to the other and were separated only by large whitewashed Greek-style columns that stretched from floor to ceiling. The hushed glow of a high hanging chandelier, combined with the tan throw rugs and varnished cherry wood floors, immediately swathed me in a cozy atmosphere.

  Heavy palms circled my bare shoulders. A trickle of vibrating warmth pulsed at the places where our skins touched.

  “No jacket on a chilly night?”

  I blushed at his hint of concern.

  “No…my body usually runs pretty hot.”

  He chuckled low.

  “Yes, I know,” he teased and rubbed my tingling skin from shoulder to elbow and up again. “Shall we?”

  He clasped our hands together and led me further into his home. As we moved toward a dining table a few yards away, the crackle of flames caught my attention and perked my ears. A small fireplace housed a glowing fire. My eyes watched the fire’s hypnotic dance. Wisps of orange and yellow mingled and cascaded with red sparks.

  We stopped at the edge of a mahogany dining table. A sheer white cloth rested at its center and a single white candle burned bright in a polished bronze stand on top of the gentle material.

  “I’m almost finished.” Daniel pulled back my chair and I glanced up at him while I seated myself. “I made you my specialty. You’ll love it.” He winked and a mischievous half grin graced his handsome face.

  Once I was settled in my seat, I watched his bare feet pad along the sleek floor and disappear beyond another archway. After a minute or so had passed, a pleasing and familiar smell drifted up my nose. The aroma of glaze and maple with a trace of pepper and spice stirred up my hunger. The delicious scent made my empty stomach grumble and I gently patted it down to submission. I couldn’t quite place the dish that was being prepared in my honor but it almost reminded me of…

  “Here it is…my super deluxe bacon, pepper, and sausage breakfast omelet.”

  Daniel stepped back into the room holding a large oval plate between two oven mitts. A proud smile was spread wide across his face.

  A tiny giggle rapidly morphed into an explosive laugh that bellowed from deep in my stomach. My cheeks puffed up and I had to cover my face to keep the heavy chuckle under control.

  I peeked through my fingers and saw that his smile had dropped away.

  “Bad choice?”

  The disappointed tone in his question melted my heart. My giggles retreated and I jumped to my feet to go to over to his side. I threw my arms around his waist and was almost surprised at how natural it felt to do so, almost as though Daniel and I had shared many of these moments together.

  His sullen eyes looked down into mine. My fingertips were quick to trace a soothing path along his strong jaw line. I loved the feel of the prickly hairs from his five o’clock shadow running across the pads of my fingers.

  “Perfect,” was all I needed to purr out to help his pleased smile reappear. “Eggs are my favorite food.”

  I rubbed my fingers under his square chin and then we settled into our meal.

  The tall candle dipped down to half its original length as we talked into the evening hours. Long after our plates were cleared and stacked away into Daniel’s kitchen, we enjoyed the sound of one another’s giggling voices and the feel of the excited energy we created around us. This was our first conversation on a personal level yet the details we exchanged flowed from our lips and minds with fluid enthusiasm. The awkwardness of high school, the lost years of college, and the anxiety of our first post-Undergrad jobs were only the tip of the talk. Secret confessions of a nagging loneliness on both our parts also slipped into the dialogue. From favorite movies to most annoying habits, we shared a lifetime in one extended exchange. He was so easy to connect with and no subject – except one in particular – seemed to be taboo or too insignificant to flow freely between us.

  I was reluctant to say goodbye to a wonderful man, a delightful evening, and a delicious after-hour’s breakfast, which had been the most heartfelt meal I had experienced in a long while. When a small yawn worked its way up from my belly, I knew that was the signal for the extreme lateness of the hour.

  “I should go.” I said the words but was far from actually meaning them.

  “Wait…not yet.”

  Daniel’s eyes pleaded with me and I almost gave in to his request. Would another hour truly make much of a difference? Truly it would. At this moment, I could walk beyond those doors and face him with an open smile tomorrow knowing that we were on a road to becoming good friends. However, the closer we moved to midnight – the bewitching hour – the chances of pushing this casual relationship toward another frenzied encounter would become escalated with every passing second.

  “It’s late and we both have an early day tomorrow.”

  He glanced away and nodded slightly.

  “One last request before you go?”

  I should have said no but the orange glow of the fire flickering at the center of his irises made that answer impossible.

  “Sure,” I smiled softly, “What is it?”

  My heart thudded hard against my chest wall. If he asked me to lay with him tonight, would I be helpless to resist his sensual charm for a second time? If he didn’t, would I be disappointed and wonder at the reason why he no longer desired me with erotic intensity? It suddenly dawned on me that I had no clue as to what I really wanted to transpire tonight. Did I come here seeking to resolve the emotions hanging between us? Was friendship all that I wanted to take away with me when I departed? Or did I secretly crave so much more from a man that I barely knew but was at the start of falling so deeply in love with? My mind was blank; I had no answers to reconcile my inner babblings and worries.

  “Dance with me?”

  His calming baritone halted my frenzy.

  “Yes.”

  In a heartbeat, I was swept up from my dining chair. Arms filled with love and tenderness glided me over to t
he modest fireplace. We stood there silently, holding each other and staring longingly. An unlimited passion floated in the air and tempted me further into his hold.

  “You didn’t put on any music.”

  His smoldering blue gaze eased from the crown of my head down to the valley between my breasts.

  “We don’t need any.” One of his thick fingers twirled a lock of my hair behind my ear. “All we need is each other and anything else afterward will happen naturally.”

  Daniel guided me in a slow sway. It took no time at all for my curves to bond with his hard and muscular frame. My head came to rest on the naked part of his chest. The murmur of his heavy heartbeat echoed like a pacifying lullaby in my ears. My eyes drifted close to the silent rhythm that only we could hear.

  Daniel gathered me tighter to his body as he spoke quietly.

  “This is how it should have been.”

  “What?” I spoke my low reply without lifting my face from his warm skin.

  “Our first time together.”

  I stopped mid-sway. My head moved away and our eyes locked.

  “I – ”

  “Shh…it’s all right,” he whispered to me and pressed our moist brows together. “Whatever guilt you have, whatever doubts you’re thinking, let them go and I’ll take them all into myself.” Daniel pulled back to face me. Every word was urgent and sincere. “Like I said earlier, I don’t regret what happened between us…I do regret that our love had to start that way…in a closet. I’m not ashamed of you or how I feel for you, Simone. I let my desire get the best of me the first time but this is my second chance to get it all right. However fast or slow, if you want to go deeper or…if you want nothing more to do with me on a romantic level after tonight…I will accept it. Just know, I do care for you…since day one, you are all that I have wanted.”

  A chaste kiss on my lips capped his confession.

  “What about our jobs?” I licked my lips. I didn’t want to care about what the fallout may be from an inter-office romance but my mind wouldn’t let me ignore all of the possible repercussions. “I still work for you. I don’t want you to get into any trouble, and…”

  My voice trailed off but Daniel already knew where part of my fear and most of my hesitation stemmed from.

  “Simone,” he cupped my face in his wide palms, “I don’t want us to miss out on a chance at love because we’re afraid of what others might think. People will always have their opinion about us, and we are the ones who can choose to give them power over us or not. If you don’t want to be with me…I won’t lie, it will hurt to accept that answer, but I would rather your choice be because you have no feelings for me beyond friendship than because of the gossip of others.”

  I swallowed and pushed out my own question.

  “And if I do?”

  He massaged my cheek with the back of his hand.

  “I’ll give you my all every day. I swear it. Whatever needs to be handled because of our positions, I’ll take care of it. All I ask is for an honest answer from you. Tell me what’s in your heart, Simone…please.”

  “You.”

  Without hesitation, he covered my lips with a tasty kiss. Daniel’s hands slid gently from my cheeks down the sloping angle of my neck. His fingers dipped beneath the cloth of my dress and proceeded to massage the delicate skin across the top of my back.

  His eyes slipped closed before mine did and my tender affection for him exploded. There are times when a woman wants a man to sweep her away into an erotic release and then there are those special moments when all that we desire is to be adored and lifted up on a precious pedestal. This instance, in this place, with this man was such an encounter. Impulsive and heated sex had been our goal when our bodies first tangled together; this time around, only passionate lovemaking would satisfy the captive yearning we were so eager to share with one another.

  My dark ginger shaded fingers laid long strokes along the wide width of his tan chest. I cupped his broad shoulders and gently forced Daniel’s shirt up and over his bare back. Afterward, I pulled him deeper into our spiraling kiss. Our tongues danced and collided together to the sound of a silent symphony. When his shirt landed on the floor and his fast grip had undone the zipper at the back of my dress, he pulled my body so that the perspiring flesh at the summit of each of my breasts was pressed firmly to his hot skin. The rigid muscles lining his hard abdomen flexed and pushed into my belly causing me to quiver while Daniel ran long circles under the supple roundness of my two rear cheeks.

  The fire beside us crackled as he lowered himself to his knees before me. While I slowly nudged his angular face closer to the center of my stomach, nearest my button, my hands combed through his slick blond strands. Once there, a feverishly wet tongue licked meandering laps at the sensitive spot on my navel. Mm, I moaned and my thick thighs shook under the intensive and sensual rush from the flurry of butterfly kisses he laid over every inch of my belly.

  A finger looped behind the side of my panties and pulled the front away from my dripping lower lips. Two thumbs parted my flowing secret and a greedy tongue flicked my tingling nub. My hands gripped clumps of wet silky hair tightly as a fit of ecstasy came upon me. An exotic wave of pleasure raced through my existence when a pair of warm lips suckled my moist and delicate center with a burning passion. Another second or two and I would have been forced over the edge of surreal bliss. Just as my personal climax was reaching its anticipated peak, Daniel paused and returned that sultry blue gaze to my brown one. My personal dew glistened slightly on the edge of his chin.

  “We can stop…I don’t want you to have any regrets.”

  I could have found a thousand excuses to convince myself not to advance across this final line. A frantic liaison was not the foundation of a true and lasting bond; yet, every detail about what was about to transpire between Daniel and I was far beyond a mere physical attraction. The powerful connection hovering all around us was meant to be much more than a chance reunion; this was destiny, our destiny. One pining spirit reaching out to bond with its spiritual mate.

  “No regrets, Daniel…none.”

  “Does this mean that you’ll give us a try?”

  A soft-spoken question deserved a genuine reply.

  “I want you and I want to see where our path goes…together.”

  A sizzling kiss touched my inner left thigh. A hot cheek rolled against the moist skin of the same thigh. He inhaled my scent then quickly cupped the back of my legs with his big hands. I was lifted high up into the air to face my newfound lover’s tender gaze.

  He whispered a promise against my parted lips.

  “Tonight is only the beginning, Simone.”

  The tips of our noses touched and we exchanged another coy kiss.

  The burning kiss stretched on and our tongues tangled sumptuously as Daniel mounted a tall flight of stairs with me secure in his solid embrace. When we passed the archway of his bedroom, my legs were still firmly wrapped around his lean waist. The closer we inched toward his expansive bed, the more fervently I used the strength in my legs to draw the hardness from his groin deeper into my molten core.

  In one swift move, Daniel reversed his position and seated himself at the edge of his mattress. My legs remained gaped around him as stickiness trickled through my panties. One thought – give in to the rich and lush intensity; allow it to spill completely over you. I wouldn’t be afraid to experience the full sway of this profound attraction. Not anymore.

  I didn’t await any direction from him. He had placed my body on top of his, his actions gave me full control of our next move and I was eager to take over.

  I slipped off of his lap and splayed my fingers across his naked chest so that I could guide him back against the bed. I didn’t waste any time circling his dark pink areolas with my hasty tongue. Again and again I ran a wide wet rim around his razor sharp nipples until the action evoked a deep groan from within his hard chest. The tiniest shiver made its way down the center of his fit body and he twisted hi
s fingers in my hair again. I backed away only long enough to slowly slip out of my soaked panties. I unclasped my bra and allowed the fullness of my heavy breasts to become exposed to his hungry stare. Daniel sucked in his lips and bit down. His heated eyes watched me the entire time and outlined my shapely frame from head to toe.