I Need You: A Valentine's Anthology (6 page)

Mariana took a sip of wine and lightly sighed. Maybe it was her fault for holding on
to the past and not being concentrated fully on the future. B. was a great man who all but asked her to move in with him. Her family loved him. Her other friends adored him. They had a great relationship and it was never a dull moment between them.

Of course, the comparisons naturally came:

Asking her to watch over the house while he went away on a trip.

Asking her to move in a short time later.

A proposal would happen after that.

Maybe not the last one.
A girl can dream, huh?

“You shouldn’t be alone tonight,” a familiar voice said in front of her.

Mariana looked up and met eyes with Scott. Damn, he was gorgeous. His emerald eyes sparkled in the candlelight and there was a slight smile peeking at the corner of his lips. She briefly inhaled and was blessed with his earthy cologne.

She should’ve been happy to see him but the anger from B.’s revelation clouded her jubilation. “What are you doing?”

“I’m doing what Bernard is doing if I assume correctly,” Scott rocked back on his heels, “having dinner at a very expensive restaurant with my girlfriend.”

“You know what I mean, Scott. B. told me about his future trip overseas,” Mariana’s eyes narrowed at him
, and there was no sign of elation within them, “he told me you were behind his new tour.”

“B. is very talented, Mari. He needs all the promotion he can get and I’m willing to help him with that.”

“Stop,” she was curt, “he doesn’t need your help.” Scott looked around the restaurant and then sat himself down at her table. “I didn’t invite you to sit.”

“I don’t care,” he brushed her off. He motioned to a server to bring him a drink and one was promptly served. Scott took a sip of his whiskey and chewed it, savoring the smoky flavor. He swirled the amber liquid in his glass for a short while before he turned his attention to Mariana. “Your boyfriend is passionate about something and I happened to have the right connections to make sure his dream comes to fruition. And you’re telling me you don’t want that to happen?”

“I wouldn’t care if it
wasn’t
you,” she clarified, not moved by his intimidation attempt, “it’s the fact you are so insistent in helping him that makes me wonder what this is really about.”

Scott took another sip of whiskey and leaned back in his chair. “And what do you think this is really about?”

“You do not want me to be happy,” she held eye contact.

“Au contraire, mi
amor. I want you to be
very happy.
”

“You don’t want me to be
very happy
with
him,
” Mariana held her ground.

Scott played with his whiskey glass. “That’s a provocative statement.”

“It’s a true statement,” she replied.

“So you think.”

“So I believe.”

“Don’t believe everything you think,” he replied and Mariana
uncomfortably shifted in her chair, “your happiness is all I care about, Mariana, contrary to what you
believe
. I have never wanted you to be unhappy because of something I did and yes, I’ll admit I did things that made you very unhappy and I sincerely and truly regret those things. But I will not sabotage your relationship for my sake. If I didn’t want you to be with Bernard, you wouldn’t be with Bernard.”

“You may have B. fooled into thinking you fully support him but we both know that’s not the case,” Mariana revealed, “you’re keeping tabs on him like you are on me.”

“You did not have to come back to McCormick, Mari.” Scott’s fingers circled the whiskey glass. “You
chose
to.”

“McCormick had the best package out there and it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“It was an offer you
could have
refused and you didn’t,” Scott pointed out. “Now let me ask you—which one of us is keeping tabs on the other?”

“Do not flatter
yourself,” Mariana retorted and Scott raised an amusing eyebrow, “I wouldn’t choose a job at McCormick just to spy on you.”

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Scott replied back as Dove took center stage at the dance floor behind Mariana, “I would hate to think you hate me that much
, to care about what I’m doing.”

“You are convinced that I hate you and truth is
...” Mariana briefly closed her eyes and counted to ten. There was a thin line between love and hate, though sometimes, it seemed that line became blurred. The man she would’ve done anything for was the same man who made her disgusted with anger.

She let out a small sigh and slowly opened her eyes. “I don’t ha—” Mariana stopped speaking when she realized Scott’s attention was behind her. She turned around and saw Dove grinding against another man in the middle of the dance floor. She was slightly bent over, moving her ass against the man’s crotch before she stood up again and
ground more against his body, all the while locking eyes with Scott.

“You were saying, Mari?” Scott’s voice made Mariana sharply turn around to face him. A small smile formed on the corners of his lips as his eyes twinkled in delight in what Dove was doing.

“Am I boring you?” Mariana asked with a jealous annoyance in her voice.

“No, not at all.”
Scott’s eyes danced from his ex-girlfriend to his current. “Dove was simply telling me something, that’s all.”

“That she wanted you take her back to her home on Whore Island?” Mariana snickered.

“What she wants me to do to her tonight when we get home,” Scott’s grin became bigger and Mariana turned around to see Dove’s dance becoming more sexual with each movement. She gyrated harder against her dancing partner, running her tongue over her sharp red-painted lips, and encouraging her partner to enjoy the ride.

Meanwhile, Scott sat back in his chair like a proud Dom and nursed his whiskey. Mariana could tell Scott enjoyed the show Dove put on for him and he was already calculating in his mind, what positions he was going to have Dove in when they arrived home.
Missionary. Doggystyle. Probably up against a wall.

Of course, Dove was going to be tied up or bound in some form, maybe with a blindfold over her eyes so she wouldn’t be able to see. Instead, she would just feel
... Feel Scott’s thick cock moving inside her as his strong hands gripped her wrists above her head. She would feel Scott caressing her ass with a cocoa butter salve after he’d slapped it throughout the night.

Dove would feel everything Scott used to do to Mariana
, and that made her boil over with jealousy and rage. How dare that chick dance for
her
man? “I see.”

Scott finished his whiskey and stood up. He walked over to Mariana and leaned down, his lips brushing against her earlobe. “She’s letting me practice on her for what I’ll do to you eventually.”

Mariana’s thighs trembled with
want
and her pussy fluttered with excitement. “You sound confident we’ll be back together.”

“If
you truly wanted to support Bernard in his efforts, you could always go on tour with him and there is nothing stopping you from doing so.”

“I work for you, remember?” She bit back. “I have a career here
; therefore, I wouldn’t be able to go on tour with him.”

Scott leaned in closer and Mariana inhaled his musky scent. She didn’t like how she
became almost instantly wet with need and desire. “And again, nothing is stopping you from going on tour with your boyfriend, Mariana. You could always quit and go to another firm if you feel uncomfortable and I’ll be sure to give you a strong letter of recommendation and support.”

“Why didn’t you fight for us?” She finally asked, desperate to know his answer but afraid to hear it. “You told me to give you time and I did but you did nothing.”

“How much time did you actually give me?” He countered back. “You went home with him that same night.”

She bit back the frustrating tears that were begging to form around her eyes.
She didn’t realize he might have seen them together after the bathroom incident. She re-opened her eyes and saw his staring back at her. She always hated how intense the green in his eyes became when he was either heartbroken or pissed about something. Mariana couldn’t tell which emotion he was currently feeling as his eyes bored into her. “I didn’t go home with him.”

“But you left with him,” Scott shrugged, “same difference.”

“B. dropped me off and...” Mariana hesitated on what she wanted to say next. That was a part of the story Scott probably didn’t need to know and she couldn’t see what good it would’ve done if he did know the truth.

“You were saying?”

“You moved on pretty soon as well,” Mariana didn’t dare to hide the anger in her voice when she thought of Dove, “I’m not the guilty one in this.”

“Looks can be deceiving,” he softly replied.

“So, you sending Bernard on a faraway tour is your big plan in getting me back?” She asked. “And I’m supposed to run back to you with open arms?”

“You want me to fight
, but you don’t want to be around when I win?” He pointed out. “That says a whole lot more about you than it does me, Mari.”

“And what about your new flavor of the month?” She refused to mention Dove’s name.

Scott chuckled. “You were concerned about my involvement with your boyfriend, yet you’re mentioning my girlfriend. Well, I have to say that’s comical.”

“You know how to work a
sista’s nerve, you know that?”

“I know how to work a lot of body parts on a
sista, if I remember correctly.” He grinned.

Oh, she remembered. She remembered the various positions they would be in. She remembered the times she went to work bowlegged. She remembered how much she loved being spanked by him. She remembered how much she hated orgasm denial before he would bless her with that sweet, torturous release. She remembered him demanding her to milk his cock with her pussy as she climaxed.

She remembered how much she was in love with him.

There went those lustful feelings again
—except now it was hunger and Mariana was starving for Scott to feed her. “You know, money isn’t everything, Scott,” Mariana gave a sly smile, “he doesn’t have to spend a lot of money to impress me.”

“I didn’t spend a lot of money to impress you,” Scott returned the smile, “in fact, I can vividly recall the dental-floss panties I bought for you only cost a few bucks each.” Mariana
cleared her throat and brushed a lock of hair behind an ear. “You’re wearing those panties right now, aren’t you?”

“Shouldn’t you be getting back to your date?” She responded coolly.

Scott kissed Mariana’s forehead. “I hope he treats you well.” He then left her table.

Mariana closed her eyes again, hoping that would somehow erase the image of Scott
from her head. She hated how he could still get underneath her skin. She hated how he could only say a few words and she would melt.

She hated how she was fighting the overwhelming feelings she had towards him.

After a few moments, she turned around and was disappointed to see that Scott and Dove weren’t on the dance floor, but completely gone from the restaurant. Maybe it was a good thing. She couldn’t bear to watch them being all lovey-dovey and horny for each other.

Her heart wouldn’t be able to take it.

The End

Book III
–

You Mean the World to Me

One

Ooh, I like that one... and that one... ooh, that one is pretty saucy... I might need to come back to look at that one.

Zerrin D’Amato perused the very expensive lingerie store, La Perla, while she waited for her sister-in-law to try on pieces. While some of the pieces were very nice and Zerrin could easily afford any and all of them, she couldn’t bring herself to spend upwards of a thousand dollars for something that was going to be ripped off her body by her husband’s teeth, becoming a very expensive dishrag for their kitchen.

Maybe I should look... at least at one…

She was never the type to wear lingerie, feeling that her bra and up-the-booty panties were sufficient for her suitors to have any interest in her. Zerrin learned from when she dated that men only liked lingerie on women after it was off their bodies and on the floor.

Besides, her husband had very exquisite taste, and at any given time, he wanted her naked like the day she was born, with a pair of heels and maybe some jewelry. Anything else would’ve gotten in the way of rope and other restraints.

“Zerrin?” Tiana called out from one of the fitting rooms. “Can you come here for a moment?”

Zerrin put the nude teddy back on the rack and headed towards the fitting rooms. She arrived at Tiana’s fitting room and knocked on the door. “Okay, show me what you got.”

Tiana opened the door and revealed a red lacy slip. “Well? What do you think?”

“What are you trying to go for?” Zerrin leaned against the doorway. “Your first time having sex and you’re ashamed of your body or ‘I want you to fuck me so hard I won’t be able to breathe normally’?”