Three of Spades (8 page)

Watching this big masculine man tell her she had effectively hurt his feelings gave Natalie the courage to ask, “You mean, I’m not a bad kisser or so inept at it that you would rethink our agreement?”

That one question told him so much information. It confirmed his suspicion of how little self-confidence she truly had. It also told him what little assurance she took in his word.

“You are far from inept Natalie, in any subject, so please get that thought out of your pretty little head,” Dylan answered, hoping she would take his advice.

Pretty.
It isn’t the first time he had used such a term in regards to her. Could he really mean it? Could she make a man, like Dylan Cross, feel anything other than pity? Natalie had to admit she was curious to find out.

“I think we should call it a night. I would like to take you out for dinner tomorrow night, if your schedule allows it. We can talk and get to know each other better. You can tell me a little bit more about your Mom,” Dylan said, as he stepped closer to her and reached out to tuck a strand of unruly hair behind her ear.

“Like a date?” The words left Natalie’s mouth before she had time to think about their effect.

Giving a little chuckle, because frankly, he didn’t know what else to do, Dylan just nodded his head. He answered with a genuine smile, “Yes Natalie, a date. They are quite common in relationships.”

As he watched the smile spread across her face, he could see she was trying to analyze his wording. He efficiently stopped the course of doubt that he could tell was bouncing around in her pretty little head, by placing his index finger against her soft lips and saying, “Sshhh. No more qualms.”

“Come on, I’ll walk you to your car.” He opened the door and allowed her to leave first as he shut the light off. He resumed his position next to her with his hand around her waist. They made their way out through the crowded bar. Dylan stopped to pay their tab and waived to Mary. When they stepped out into the cooler air, he draped his arm around Natalie’s shoulders and led the way to her car. He waited as she unlocked the car and slid behind the wheel. She could not close the door because he was leaning inward with one hand on the top of the car and the other on top of the doorframe.

“So, give me your address and number Natalie and I’ll pick you up at 7:00 tomorrow night.”

“Uh, well, why don’t you just tell me where and I’ll meet you there?” Natalie tried but knew by his expression that he would not allow it.

“Nice try, Babe. You can either give it to me now, or I can have a friend of mine run your plates. Either way I’ll be at your place tomorrow night at 7:00,” Dylan said with a sexy smirk.

“You would not dare,” Natalie said appalled.

Not being able to resist and needing to get his point across, Dylan said, as he leaned in and gave her a quick hard kiss against her lips, “You’ll soon learn that there isn’t anything I would not do concerning you, sexually included.”

When he saw her cheeks flush, he smiled and winked at her to seal his promise. He watched as she wrote on a scrap of paper an address and phone number and then said good night. He stepped back and watched as she drove off. He looked at the scrap of paper knowing the address area well and for some reason it rang a bell, but he could not recall why. He brought the paper to his nose, it smelled of her and he all of a sudden could not wait until tomorrow night.

~SIX~

“O
k, what gives? You’ve been in an extremely good mood all day, and honestly, it is starting to get annoying,” Seth said, as he returned from lunch to find Dylan in his office while Jorge Tanner was using Dylan’s office to make a phone call.

“What do you mean?” Dylan asked, as he reclined on the sofa with his feet on the small coffee table and folded his hands on top of his head.

“That! Is exactly what I mean,” Seth said, pointing to Dylan’s relaxed disposition. For the past six weeks, Dylan had walked around with a larger than usual chip on his shoulder. There wasn’t anything Seth would not do for Dylan, but even he had kept his distance due to Dylan barking.

“What are we talking about?” Wes asked, as he too entered Seth’s office with a set of blue prints in his hand. He walked over and sat at the other end of the couch where Dylan was and looked back and forth between his two best friends.

Seth leaned back against his large desk and folded his arms over his massive chest. He indicated with his head toward Dylan while saying, “Him. If I didn’t know better, I would say the son of a bitch is actually happy. He hasn’t thrown his phone against a wall or driven over anybody that I know of. So I’m trying to figure what could have possibly happened to make him do a 180° attitude change.”

Just then, a voluptuous brunette entered and said, “Well, obviously, it’s a woman.”

“Hey Honey! What brings you here?” Seth said, as he opened his arms and engulfed his wife, not caring that he wore his feelings on his sleeve. He gave her a thoroughly inappropriate kiss for public viewing.

As she stood enclosed in her husband’s arms, Mae Finn felt every ounce of love and lust as she did the moment she met this man. Even though it was only a handful of months ago, she knew she found the man she was destined for. Together, they created a love and marriage that anyone who knew them was envious of.

“Oh, I dropped Aidan’s lunch off to him because he forgot it this morning. I had a little time to kill before my shift starts, so, I thought I would come and see the sexiest man alive. However, Lady Luck must like me because there’s not just one sexy man, I have three. I may even start to drool,” Mae said, as she stood up on tiptoes and kissed her husband again. She then turned, still in his grasp, and faced two men who had come to mean so much to her, not just friends, but family.

“Any chance you brought lunch for me, too?” Dylan asked, as he looked toward the madly in love couple.

“Afraid not, but you should eat something. You do tend to get crabby when you don’t eat,” Mae answered sassily.

Unable to hold in his laughter, Wes chuckled and winked toward Mae.

“So honestly, what gives D?” Seth asked, as he tried to keep his hands from exploring his wife’s delectable body.

“Nothing! Can’t a man just be happy? And as far as the cell phone goes, it slipped out of my hand and hit the wall,” Dylan said, as he tried to play off that momentary lack of control.

“Slipped out of your hand, huh? Wow that was pretty impressive, ten feet away was the wall. You’re lucky it wasn’t that magazine pretty face of yours,” Seth said sarcastically.

“Now now, boys, play nice,” Mae said, in mocking need to keep the peace.

Watching as Dylan did seem more relaxed and less edgy than as of late, Wes wondered if it had to do with the mystery woman from the other night. But rather than ask in front of Seth and Mae, he opted to make his inquiry in privacy later.

After a few more minutes of chit chat, Mae said she needed to head over to Hamden General. She walked over and kissed Wes who engulfed her in a hug and then over to Dylan, who shamelessly pulled her down onto his lap and begged her to run away with him. After a quick pucker, she climbed off Dylan and walked over to Seth. Who would not be outdone by anyone when it came to his wife; he grabbed Mae and quickly dipped her low. He gave her a lingering kiss that silently promised, later, he would mark his territory with pure virility in the privacy of their bedroom.

With a quick private giggle and another quick kiss, Mae bid the men adieu. Seth watched as her heart shaped ass swished in harmony with her signature flowing ponytail as she walked out of his office.

“Yes, your wife has a fine ass indeed, but can you not stare at it if we can’t,” Dylan said, as he playfully threw a pillow at his business partner.

“Keep your roaming eyes off my wife’s attributes, Cross,” Seth warned, as he chuckled at the original description regarding Mae’s physique.

Dylan immediately thought of Natalie’s backside. How perfectly it fit in his hands and how obviously arousing it was to her to have him knead and grip it. He wondered if she would let him show her other ways to feel good, that focused around that certain bodily area. God, he felt himself hardening just thinking about it. He quickly needed to shift positions to hide his newly evident reaction.

They swiftly got down to business regarding the opening of the hotel their company in partnership with Wes’ Architectural Group, finished construction on recently. Soon, it was time for Wes to head out and Dylan said he would walk out with him. Assuring he had given Tanner enough time to make his phone call and come to a decision regarding the promotional opportunity.

They left Seth’s office and headed down the hall toward Dylan’s and the exit when Wes quietly asked, “None of my business man, but your new found glee would not have to do with a certain blonde stranger, would it?”

Still wanting to keep his relationship with Natalie private, he didn’t answer and just crossed his arms in true Dylan fashion and raised his eyebrow.

Trying to suppress the laughter he felt, Wes raised his hands in mock surrender and stepped backwards. Signaling with a two-finger salute, he walked out the door into the fall sunshine.

Natalie had never been so nervous in all her life. Considering she propositioned a man to have sex with her, that felt like child’s play compared to how she felt regarding this date. All day she had been preoccupied with it, as well as losing complete train of thought. It was finally the end of the day. As the last student left, she cleaned up and closed her classroom, then walked to her car. She pulled out her cell phone and noticed she had a missed call from her brother Sam’s home. As she listened to the voicemail, she suddenly felt more anxious. Her mother had confirmed that she would be moving in to her new apartment within the Assisted Living facility tomorrow afternoon. She told Natalie not to come and help as planned, stating that there would already be too many people since all of Reggie and Sam’s families were planning to help. She told Natalie she would call tomorrow night when she was settled and perhaps she could come for lunch on Sunday. Not liking the thought of going home to the quiet lonely house, Natalie decided to head to the local clothing boutique and try to find something suitable for this evening.

The drive to Main Street didn’t take more than a couple of minutes. Natalie climbed out of the car and pulled her coat closed. She walked into one of the two clothing stores in Hamden. When she entered, there was a small bell that announced her entrance. The interior of the store was quaint and neatly arranged. The young lady behind the counter, who was currently folding clothes, looked up as Natalie entered and asked if there was anything she could do to help. Natalie told her she was just browsing and made her way over to the few racks along the interior wall. Natalie felt the smooth material of a periwinkle silk blouse and envisioned herself wearing something so classy. The faux wrap style blouse was more feminine than anything in her entire closet at home. Looking at the price tag, Natalie instinctually wanted to put it back on the rack. She thought of how a night like this would probably only come once in a lifetime, so why not splurge a little. She quickly took the blouse to the register before she changed her mind.

Twenty minutes later, she left the boutique with a final ring of the bell. She tried to figure out how she let the clerk, named Rachel, talk her into not only a lace printed pencil skirt but also a pair of black peep toe sling-back platform heels. Natalie was sure she would break her neck in them.

Natalie drove home wondering what tonight would entail. He said dinner and a chance to talk, even though that sounded nice, she hoped there would be more kissing. She felt like a ninny thinking that, but she could not help thinking how wonderful it was to be kissed and told that she had an effect on a man like Dylan. A man, who she didn’t even want to begin to think how many women he had been with, but rather the kindhearted man who was willing to go on this journey with her, for no reason other than compassion. As she pulled into her drive, she looked at the house. She felt uncomfortable that Dylan would see the type of home she lived in, but she tried to stop him and he just would not have it. Well, there was nothing she could do about it now. Climbing the stairs and walking through the rickety front door, Natalie was again embarrassed that out of habit she called out for Gloria. When no response came back, she chastised herself for not remembering. She looked at the time and realized it was time to get in the shower and get ready, Dylan was due to come in a little over a hour.

Freshly showered and dressed, Natalie looked at herself in the full-length mirror and could not believe her own reflection. The woman looking back at her wore clothes that molded to her figure in a way that looked utterly female. The pull of the fabric under her breasts gave the impression she was larger than she was without puckering or revealing too much. Where it cinched on the side, it still allowed the bottom to tuck neatly into the waist of the skirt. The light gray under black print of the skirt was fun, but still conservative for the hem fell below her knees. She guessed she gained at least four inches thanks to the shoes. Natalie had to admit they made her calves shapely, rather than look like twigs as they usually did. She had even taken the time to apply a pale pink color to her toes since they could be seen. After finally applying a few squirts of her normal body spray, she added a pair of gold studs that her brother Reggie had given her when she graduated college. She was supposed to be impressed that they were from Tiffany, but honestly, up until now, Natalie didn’t feel special enough to ever wear them.

She had just put her glasses on and grabbed her small bag when the doorbell rang. She walked slowly toward the door, not out of rudeness or vanity, but rather, it was the only speed she dared in these shoes. She opened it and started to apologize for him waiting, but grew mute when she saw the dozen long stem yellow roses. Holding them was Dylan, who looked about as handsome as any man had the right to be. His dark hair hung over his forehead in a way that was only Dylan. He was freshly shaven and smelled of cologne that was sure to have cost a pretty penny. His white dress shirt was void of any tie but still looked just as sharp and formal. His legs were covered in black pants that fitted to his physique in a way that made her want to lick her lips. Awakening from her stupor, she stepped back to allow him to enter. When she closed the door behind him, she momentarily got to admire how wonderful he looked from the back as well.