Attraction (20 page)

Riley looked around the large formal dining room. “Abode it is but humble it ain’t.
Where’s Tanner.?”
“He’s outside.” Roberta led her to the kitchen. “We just bought some new patio furniture
yesterday, and he’s trying to put them together.”
“Surely you could afford to buy ready made ones.”
Roberta shrugged. “Tan really liked these, though, when we saw them at Pier 1 Imports.
There he is.”
They watched Tanner as he read the instructions, all the parts of the furniture laid out on
the patio all around him. He kept looking at the instructions then at the parts then back to the
instructions. A few times, he scratched his head, then he turned completely around where he was
standing, then went back to studying the directions.
“Does he know what he’s doing?” Riley asked as Tanner picked up what looked to be a
leg of a chair and examined it all over.
“He’s been doing that since yesterday. I beginning to suspect that I married a man who is
completely inept with tools and putting things together, despite his stellar MBA from Harvard.”
The two women watched Tanner for a few more minutes.
“Come on, let’s go out there.” Roberta grabbed her sister’s hand and they walked out on
the patio.
“Hello, Darling. How’s it going?” Roberta kissed her husband on the cheek.
“I think I almost have it here,” Tanner said. He held up a bolt nut. “Honey, does this look
a washer or a screw?”
Roberta’s eyes met her sisters behind Tanner’s back. Riley had to put her hand over her
mouth to keep from bursting out in laughter.
Roberta kissed her husband again while relieving him of the nut and the directions.
“Darling, why don’t you and the gardener arrange the furniture in our bedroom.”
“But, I’m not finished.”
“I know. But we really do need to get the bedroom set up so that we can have a place to
sleep tonight.” Roberta gave a heavy sigh. “I tried to move the furniture, but they are just too
heavy for me. I’m just not that strong, like you are, honey.”
Tanner was instantly concerned and put his arms around her. “Oh, honey, you shouldn’t
have tried to move all that stuff on your own. You might have hurt yourself.”
Roberta leaned her weight against him. She ignored her sister as Riley rolled her eyes at
her.
“I did stub my toe once or twice. Can you please, Tan, take gardener up there with you
and move all that heavy stuff for me. I’ll be so grateful to you both when I can lay myself in my
own bed with the new sheets that we bought our first night in our new house.” Roberta put a
hand to Tanner’s cheek. “I’ll be especially grateful to you, my strong and very able bodied
husband. Very, very grateful.”
Tanner flexed his chest. “That’s what husbands are for, Robbie, to help out the woman
with the hard stuff.”
Riley snickered as she and Riley watched Tanner go off to find the gardener. “I can’t
believe, Robbie, that you would resort to such tricks to get men do what you want them to do.”
“They always fall for it, though, don’t they?”
Roberta picked up the directions, sat down in the midst of the furniture parts, and began
reading. “How about I start putting the couch together and you can start on the chairs.”
Knowing she had little choice, Riley sat down began gathering up the pieces. For several
minutes, the two worked in silence, putting screws and bolts in their proper places.
“Robbie, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“Do you still think about Heron?”
Roberta stopped tightening the bolt on a leg and looked at Riley, surprised. “Heron, why
would I be thinking about him?”
Riley gave her a pointed look. “You were engaged to him, and you were in a relationship
with him for several months.”
Roberta set down the leg. “Oh, that’s right.”
Riley laughed. “How can you forget so easily about a man whom you were going to
marry almost two months ago?”
“It’s not that I’m shallow, Riles. I’m not. It’s just, I guess I never really loved Heron. I
was just caught up in all the dazzle of him. He’s so good looking and so sexy and so sure of
himself that, I guess, he blinded me for awhile, there.”
“Are you saying that you have not one twinge of regret when it comes to Heron?”
“Not at all. Oh, I still regret the way I ended it with Heron. I always will. But I can’t
regret not marrying him.” Roberta looked at her diamond ring on her left hand. She lifted her
eyes to her sister, then lifted them up the house, the blue eyes clear and sure. “That’s because I
found the right man for me.”
Riley picked up leg and began to screw it in place, and as she did, she said carefully,
almost nonchalantly, “Then, I guess you wouldn’t mind if I begin to see Heron, myself.”
Roberta concentrated on putting in place a rod on the couch back, which was being
particularly stubborn. “No, of course not. Why should I?” Then she stopped and looked at her
sister in shock. “You and Heron?”
“Yeah. Is that so strange,” Riley said peevishly when her sister continued to stare at her.
“No, it’s just, I thought you and he hated each other.”
“Maybe we still do.”
Roberta sat back as understanding dawned on her. “Oh, of course. Why didn’t I think of
that?”
“Think of what?”
“You and Heron.”
“What about me and Heron?”
“Well, it all makes sense now, why you two were always going at each other’s throats. It
was all that sexual attraction between you two. It was there from the very beginning, the first
time I brought him home. You made fun of his being rich and from a place of privilege. He
didn’t like that one bit. But, then, he did treat you liked second class. So, I guess, he deserved
that.”
Riley shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t want you to think that had things worked out
between you and he, that I would ever have come between you…”
“I know you would never have done that. But, Riles, it doesn’t matter that you were
attracted to Heron from the very beginning. None of that matters to me. Because it didn’t work
out between Heron and I, because I came to my senses, and married to Tanner.”
Riley looked at her sister, making sure that she wasn’t keeping anything back from her.
But she only saw happiness and contentment on Roberta’s beautiful face, and she relaxed.
“So, tell me, Riles, is it just sex between you and Heron?”
Riley’s eyes smoldered a bit as she remembered his kiss. “Yeah, pretty much, I think.”
“Are you going to be okay with just that?”
“I think that’s all he wants from me.”
Roberta stopped turning the bolt on the couch, indignant. “That’s awful. I hope he’s not
taking his anger out on you for what I did to him.”
“No, I don’t think it’s that, either. Remember, Robbie, Heron’s not the type of man to let
his feelings rule him.” But Riley couldn’t help wondering if it were revenge on Heron’s part, if
that would have mattered to her
“Yes, you’re probably right. I guess that was part the problem with Heron for me. He
always seemed so much in control of himself. It was frightening at times. You know, he and I
never argued. And I knew if I had married him, I don’t think we would have ever argued during
the entire time of our marriage.” Roberta shook her head, amazed at what she had almost got
herself into had she married Heron.
“Do you and Tanner argue?”
“At times, little disagreements here and there. You know, Riles, you seem to understand
Heron a lot better than I ever did. You might be able to handle him in ways I never could.”
Riley highly doubted that, given just who had the upper hand when Heron had kissed her
and then turned her down when she wanted to take him to bed. But she didn’t say anything.
“Well, at least, you don’t have to worry about sex with Heron,” Roberta said, fitting
another chair into the couch.
Riley looked at her. “Come, again?”
“He’s good at sex, Riles. Very good. He knows what he’s doing.”
“Does he?”
“Yes. He’s very considerate, very gentle, thoughtful, good stamina, excellent at foreplay.
Inventive, too. Not too demanding.”
Riley blinked. “Are we talking about Heron?”
“Yes, silly, of course. He didn’t like to cuddle, though, and you know how much of a
cuddler I am. He liked his space after the sex.”
Riley had to give her head a little shake. She felt as if she and her sister were talking
about two very different men. “So, you’re telling me that when Heron would first touch you, he
didn’t, like, just grab at you and start kissing you?”
“Oh, no. He was such the gentleman. When he first made love to me, he made sure that I
was comfortable with his touch. And when he took me in his arms, his kisses were so gentle and
loving, his hands gentle and slow and soothing, not rushed and rough. And he would whisper in
my ears how beautiful I was, and how beautiful my body I was. By the time we had sex, I felt
completely relaxed, and not at all self-conscious. And he knew what he was doing, with those
hands of his, and his body.”
Riley shook her head again. “So, sex was good for you with Heron?”
“Yeah, it was. Please, don’t tell Tanner that. I mean, sex with Tanner is good, too. Better,
even, because we’re in love, and I feel there’s much more intimacy between Tanner and I than
there was between Heron and I.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. After the sex, I knew I enjoyed it, but I never knew if he enjoyed it as
much as I did, even when he was holding me. And I could never say things to him the way I can
with Tanner, such as how I feel and what I want.” She held an arm for the couch. “And I know
how to manage Tanner. I never felt that I could ever manage Heron.”
“What woman can?”
“I suppose you’re right. There, I think we’re there,” Roberta said with satisfaction at the
nearly completed chairs and couch.
“How are you going to explain this to your husband?”
Roberta’s face became pensive then it cleared as she shrugged. “I’ll just tell Tan that it
was the patio elves that put these together.”
To celebrate New Year’s Eve, guests could dress in their favorite costume. It was one of
the club’s biggest night, drawing people from all over the state. She knew that there was a good
chance that Heron would hear about it.
Anticipating that he might show up tonight, Riley did something she had never done
before. She deliberately dressed herself in a way that she believed would please a man.
She herself chose a cat outfit, that was more of a sex-kitten outfit than a true cat suit. It
was all white in furry angora and satin. It consisted of a satin cupless bustier that plumped her
heavily rounded breasts. Over this, she wore a short white angora sweater that was low cut, long
tight sleeves, and buttoned down the front with pearl buttons. She left the half the buttons
undone, partly because the sweater was insufficient to contain her large breasts, so the front
panels of the sweater just barely clung to the jutting globes. The bottom part of the costume was
a white satin skirt that was shaped more like an apron, where it covered Riley’s front side, and
left her buttocks bare, tying in a large bow at the back. The edge of the skirt was trimmed with
white fur. The front panel of the skirt was daringly short, barely covering her bush. If she made a
sudden movement, the skirt easily revealed that she was not wearing any undergarments. The
only things that made the white sexy outfit indicate that it was a cat suit was the black headband
that had two black ears that pulled back her thick curls from her face. The other clue was much
more daring, and much more risky. It was an anal insert, two inches long and a third-inch in
diameter, and had a long black tail attached to the external end. When Riley first inserted the
anal plug, she had to walk around in her private quarters in order to get used to the feeling of
something foreign lodged in her rectum.
When she looked at herself in the mirror, Riley at first thought that it was too much, that
she was being too obvious. And she didn’t even know if he would show up tonight. Her breasts
were practically falling out of her sweater and she could see barely her thick black bush. Then
she turned and saw the reflection of her backside, her tight, spherical buttocks bare and
protruding almost obscenely out of the white fur frame of the apron skirt and the long black tail
hanging out between her cheeks. Looking at herself, she wondered what she was thinking. She
had never deliberately made herself out to be a sex object. For any man. So, what did it mean
that she was willing to do just that for Heron Wait?
Riley quickly shook the question out of her head, telling herself that it was just for one
night. And it was just two people needing to expend some built up sexual tension. Refusing to
think anything more of it, she went downstairs.
It was close to nine o’clock, and the party was in full swing, the bar already filled to
capacity. For an hour or so, Riley did her usual duty of the owner of a bar, greeting people,
making sure that regular patrons and other guests who were spending a lot of money felt
welcomed, and keeping in contact with Joe and the running of the bar and drinks.
Close to ten-thirty, Joe informed her that he was sitting at the bar, drinking his scotch.
“Who is?” Riley asked with careful nonchalance.
Joe smiled. “The man who you didn’t dress up in the outfit for.” He laughed when she
flushed and glared at him.
Trying not to seem like an eager teenager, Riley slowly made her way around the bar
until she saw his dark head. She saw that he was alone. She walked towards him until she was
only a few yards from him. She stood there, waiting until he saw her. When he finally turned his
head and spotted her above the crowd that stood between them, their eyes locked and stayed
locked for several seconds. In her gray-hazel eyes, Riley let Heron see her willingness to giver
herself to him, and on his terms. In his dark ones and in the lazy, sardonic tilt of his lips, he let
her see his intention of toying with her first, his intention of petting and fondling her, while
deciding whether he wanted to have her tonight or delay his taking of her again.
Heron stretched his hand to her, commanding her to come to him. Riley lifted her chin at
him, her eyes a little defiant at his autocracy, but she obeyed and went to him. He pulled her
close against his body, his hand pressing down her back, getting reacquainted with her small
curvaceous body. When his hand made contact with her bare buttocks, he squeezed one cheek
hard as desire hit his loins. Riley whimpered and wriggled her buttocks in protest at being so
manhandled but also because his rough caress was assailing her body with physical need.