Revolving Doors (32 page)

“I can’t Robert,” I whispered.

“Why not? It’s the last time for us. I would love a sendoff…something to remember you by.”

“
I
can’t
Robert,
” I repeated, trying my hardest to overpower the temptation.

“You said that, but you haven’t pulled back from me yet either.”

He reached down and untied the silk belt that held my robe closed, and I gasped as he slid the robe away from my body. When he saw my nipples pointed forward, he bent down to greet them, sucking each in separate intervals.

My eyes closed at the succulence of his tongue. I couldn’t deny how good it felt.

“And besides…
these
are giving a completely different response than,
you can’t
. In fact, they’re saying,
you want
.”

He suckled with intensity and I couldn’t fight him…or what I was feeling. My body was responding and I couldn’t stop it from doing so.

“Robbbert…
sss
ttoppp…” I begged.

He rose from his position and stared into my eyes. 

“Is that what you
really
want, Gabriella?”

When I couldn’t answer, he slid his finger into my wetness and when he withdrew he sucked
away the juices.

“I didn’t think so.”

Next thing I knew, I was in his arms, being carried to my bedroom. Judging by his eagerness, he sensed that if he didn’t move quickly I’d plot an escape. I watched as he disrobed in record time. He flung my nightstand drawer opened, grabbed a ribbed magnum and came for me.

When he penetrated, it was rough and with a force he hadn’t used before.

“
Ahhh
…
Uhmmm,
” was all I could manage through labored breaths.

My arms were above my head with a death grip on my headboard as he thrust his manhood inside my juices and my hips rushed towards him in a dance.

For three years his dick was the perfect fit. No tailoring was needed.

“Ahhhh…It hurts so good…
Robert.”

Shit
! I should’ve stopped, but I couldn’t…

Some part of me felt like I owed him. But why? And what about Ken
ny? I was
his
woman. I was giving away
his
pussy.
Oh. My. God
.

“I’m gonna miss being inside you, Gabriella
,” he gasped, pushing his rod further inside.

What are you doing, Gabriella
?! The voice inside my head challenged.

Just as I was about to put a stop to everything, Robert stopped pumping, looked down at me and withdrew from inside, with a look of despair. I knew that he hadn’t come yet…

“You went dry on me,” he whispered.

He positioned himself onto his knees and began removing the condom, without as much as a glance at me.

He walked into the bathroom and no sooner than I heard the toilet flush, he emerged. As quickly as he removed his clothing a short while before, he reapplied them and prepared his exit. 

There was nothing I could say. The moment had spoken for itself. I didn’t even have time to be uncomfortable about lying there fully nude.

When he got to my bedroom door, he turned to look at me.

“
Fuck
…” he sighed in defeat. “How wrong was I? I was miles off the whole time. You’re not closed off from love…you’re closed off from
loving me
.”

“Robert
---” I started.

“Don’t Gabriella…you’d only be adding insult to injury. Let’s just leave it like this.”

He stood looking away from me and fidgeting with the last button on his shirt. Before he exited my bedroom door, he said, “I hope he makes you happy.”

And with that, Robert left my life.

When I heard the door close downstairs, I went down, retrieved my robe from the floor, locked up and hopped in the shower crying as I did so.

After my shower, as wide awake as I was lying across my bed, there was no way I would be calling Ken after having just cheated on him.
No way
. I needed time to let the guilt pass. After all, it was only minimal penetration. It didn’t lead to an orgasm or anything, so maybe I hadn’t actually cheated.

Who was I kidding? I cheated. It felt too good not to be classified as cheating. To my credit, the minute I started thinking about Kenny, I couldn’t go through with it. That said a lot.

But damn, it felt good while it lasted!

I smiled to myself…You’ve been a whore far too long, Gabriella.

Whew
! Kenny, you better be worth it this time around because I’m giving up a lot of award-winning sex for you, buddy.

Those were the last thoughts I remembered before I fell into a deep sleep.

CHAPTER 57

~*~*~

When I awoke from my 4-hour nap, I felt recharged.

Sleep was exactly what I needed. I was rested, guilt was gone – bliss in place. Things were falling into their rightful spots in my life, and I was ecstatic.

I checked in with my mother to find out how things went in my absence, and as usual she kept businesses running smoothly, with Di’s help. They were a tag team duo.

I decided against telling her over the phone about Kenny because I didn’t know how that information would be received.

In due time.

~*~*~

After talking to my mother, I dialed my baby and he answered the phone on the second ring,
That voice
…Boy, did I miss it. I had only left him two days earlier, but I wanted to see him. 

“
Hey Baby
,” I sang. “How ya doin’?”

“Doing
real
good. What about you?”

“I’m great!” I answered
, gleefully.

“You must’ve slept a long while. I thought I would hear from you before now. I wanted to call so bad, but thought I’d be waking you if I did.”

I found myself blushing at his words.

“You
should’ve
called! I did sleep for a while. Close to 4 hours! I can’t believe it. Whenever I come back from Brazil, I sleep like that.”

“Tell the truth, girl…I wore you out!”
he laughed.

“That too!” I snickered. “You handled yo’ business, Papa! Seriously though, I guess it’s my body’s way of protecting me. It knows I will hit the ground running as soon as the jetlag wears off.”

“Do
not
mention your body to me while you’re 3,000 miles away. Hear me good, you sexy ass woman you. I would love nothing more than to be touching and exploring you right now.”

“Ooh
…” I purred. “You should stop talking like that! In fact, why don’t you fly out here real quick and do some stuff to me.”

“I may just have to do that. I
need
to see you soon. I’m in need a Gabriella fix in my life.”

“It’s just a flight away, baby.”

“And that’s so good to know!” he yelled. “I can’t wait to have you back in my arms again with all your sexiness.”

I shifted gears leading the conversation to a somewhat serious place.

“Okay baby…seriously, when are you coming out here?”

“I’ll be out there soon, babe. We have to work out some dates.”

“Hopefully we can do that soon. I do want you inside me and all that good stuff, but I also wanna get this trip to the lion’s den out of the way, and I have no interest in doing it on a solo mission.”

“What’s the rush babe? You
sure
you wanna tell everybody
right now
? I was thinking we keep it between us for a bit.”

What the hell was he saying?

I wasn’t sure how I was feeling about what he said, but I listened, waiting for a point to be made that resonated with me.

“I just think that since it’s so new, we need to be in it by ourselves for a while before we invite people in. We don’t know yet if everybody will be happy that we’re together.”

“Who is
everybody
, Kenny?”

My feelings were hurt, but I wasn’t going to show that. Before he could answer, I doubled back
.

“
…Okay, you know what?” I jumped in before he could answer. “
My bad
. Forget I brought it up. Let’s do what you said and pace it.”

“Are you upset, Gabriella?”

“Not at all,” I lied.

“You sure?”

“Yep…I’m good.”

I didn’t want him to know that I was hurt by his desire to keep us a secret. I got a taste of my own medicine with that
reveal. It’s how Robert must have felt in the moments he expressed interest in meeting my parents.

Gabriella…meet Karma, she’s a bitch.

I thought it would be best to change the subject, so I asked him how his flight home was. 

“It was cool. I can’t complain. I was happy to touch down on soil though. I’m not too fond of flying, even with as much travelling as I do.”

“Yeah, does sound a little crazy, but
normal
ain’t for everybody,” I joked. “It’s reserved for us special folk. Sounds like you missed your opportunity.”

“Ha! You’re funny!”

Feeling rejected, angry, and sad all at the same time, I went MIA for the remainder of the conversation.

“Well, Mister, I think I’m gonna go now. Need to check some email and get my deliverables lined up for tomorrow which I’m pretty sure will be 12-14 hour day.”

“
Awww
! She’s trying to get rid of me!”

“Nah, that’s not it. I just want to get the ball rolling. Being freshly back, I may be moving a bit slower than normal since I’m still on
Brazil time.”

“Okay, I understand baby. I hate to let you go, but go do your businesswoman thing. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, right?”

“Sure. You have a good night.”

“I’ll try. You do the same, Sweetheart.”

When I pressed the end button, I was back in my own head again and allowing doubt to set in.

I decided I would treat our
new thing
as casual and let the chips fall where they may. If it morphed into something, then it was meant. But in the meantime, I was returning to basics.

I’d done fine without a serious relationship, so the beauty of it was that I could fluidly slip back into mode.

And that’s exactly what I planned to do.

CHAPTER
58

~*~*~

The next morning, it was back to business. Although my mother and Di had done an awesome job while I was away, business was bu
rsting at the seams, so there were always tasks to complete. But I loved it! It’s what made my world go around.

I had done a lot, but there was still more to be done. I still had
location openings to plan, and delve into staffing those new businesses with dream teams.

I loaded my computer to begin my morning ritual, and was sifting through new emails, when one popped up from Natalia, with a simple subject:
“
me chamar
.” Nothing in the body of the email, just
call me
.

I responded to a few emails, returned some phone calls, and right around the noon hour – four in the afternoon in
Brazil – I called Natalia, before taking my shower.

“Hey, beautiful!” I yelled excitedly when she answered the other line. “Como vai?”

“Girl, you speak more Portuguese when you go back to
America than you do when you’re here!”

“Says the red-headed girl who put the subject of her email, in Portuguese! Don’t judge me!”

“Okay, okay!” she laughed. “How’s it going since you left your lover boy?”

“Uhhh…things are okay,” I treaded carefully.

“Okay, we’ll get into why you kept his identity a secret from me later!” she scolded. “Hurts that I’m the last to know.”

Oh shit
! Valentina had gotten the chance to tell her before I did.

“I already know, Talia,” was all I could say.

“As long as you do,” she retorted. “So, how are things since you got back. In work mode, I’m sure?”

“
You know me. I’m already back on the grind. Hours, hours, and more hours, of work.”

“And you
love
it, Gabriella! You are a workaholic!”

“You’re right. I do…and I am. There’s nothing like having your own, Talia. I never really saw myself working for anyone but myself, and it’s rewarding. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”

“Well now you have a
man
,” she stressed. “So you better get used to splitting that time. You know men don’t like to feel they’re playing second fiddle to anything! They’re so needy.”

“
Oohh
! I’m gonna tell him you said that!”

“Go right ahead, and I’ll deny
every single word
,” she cautioned.

“Ha ha! I miss you, silly girl!”

“I miss you too…” she paused, “which brings me to the reason for wanting you to call me.”

“Am I gonna want to hear this?”

“I think so…or should I say,
I hope so
.”

“Goodie! I’m all ears.” I thought for a second.  “Wait…I was just there not even one week ago, and you wait until I get home to do some full disclosure stuff. Should I be scared, Talia? What is it you want to tell me that you couldn’t tell me while I was there? And don’t say anything about I was otherwise engaged because you know I would have made time for conversation – man in the picture, or not.”

“
My god, girl
!” she said. “Will you breathe and let me know when you’ve caught your breath so I can get into my story?”

“So, there’s nothing wrong with you or anything like that?”

“No. It isn’t anything like that, honey. I wouldn’t do that to you.
Confiar em mim
,” she said her tone serious.

“I
do
trust you. No more interruptions,” I promised.

“I want to know if the offer is still open for me to come there to live and work with you…
for you
?”

My heart skipped a beat. I was ecstatic, but too shocked to respond immediately.

“Gabriella…You there?”

I didn’t know where the tears came from, but they escaped in a full on flood down my face. “I’m here…” I whispered.

“Are you crying? Don’t cry, Gabriella. You’ll make me cry too.”

“Okay,” I replied, trying my best to hold back tears. “I would absolutely love for you to come here to work with me, to live with me. I would love it, Talia! This is real, right? You’re talking moving here for good?”

“I am…” she cried. “I’m ready. I realized right after you left that I was ready. So whenever you say it’s a good time, I’ll begin tying up any loose ends, and prepare to make the Bay Area my home.”

“Yayyyyy!” I yelled through the phone. “I’m so happy, Talia! And
whenever
is good for me! There’s plenty of room here for you. If I only had a studio apartment, there would still be room for you. So whatever you have to do, just get here!”

When we hung up the phone, I was on cloud ninety-nine. Natalia was actually coming to live with me. I couldn’t believe it, but it was the best news I’d had in a really long time.

I had so many preparations to make!

Okay, so where was I
? I had to ask myself.

Oh yeah! Off to the shower to begin my day and make my rounds to check in on things…in person. My mother offered since it was my first full day back, but she quickly followed it with, “But of course you want to do it yourself. Just use me up and then throw me away.”

“Mama! Stop that! You
know
it’s not true,” I scolded.

As much as she hated to admit it, she liked having her boss lady hat on. That much I was sure of. Every time I returned after a trip, my staff had glowing reviews, and she pretty much walked on water as far as they were concerned.

When I finally made it into the shower, the flow of the water left me feeling full of life.