LOVE, LIFE, and VOWS Read online

  “Why so formal?”

  He was still as handsome as ever, Sandy sighed, “What can I help you with Joshua?”

  “I just wanted to see you and to tell you that…I miss you…I miss us.”

  “What? Are you serious? I haven’t talked to you in months. And, if I remember correctly the last time we spoke you said some really awful things to me. Didn’t I hang up on you?”

  He threw up those well-manicured hands, “I know. I know. I was hurt, angry, and jealous! I didn’t know what I was doing or saying at the time. But, I’ve had some time to think about everything. I know I was an asshole to you. You have to understand, I wasn’t ready to settle down…then. But, being without you these past few months have made me realize…how important you are to me. I want you back.”

  Sandy’s mouth nearly fell open. How long had she waited for Joshua to utter those exact words. Now he’s ready? Now? Now that she has moved on he’s ready for a real relationship.

  “Joshua, not only is this not the place or the time, we shouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

  “Fine. Let me come over to your place tonight to talk…”

  Sandy gave him an incredulous look that made him re-think those plans, “That’s not a good idea.”

  “Okay…okay. How about we go out to dinner then? I’ll take you to your favorite restaurant and we’ll just talk.”

  “It’s too late for all of this! Joshua, we dated for years and you probably can’t even tell me what my favorite restaurant is.”

  Underneath all of that smooth caramel skin, Sandy could still see him blush. She was right. Her wants and needs were never a priority to him. Unfortunately, it was too late.

  “Joshua, there was a time when I would have given anything to be with you. I put up with a lot while we were together.”

  Joshua started to advance toward Sandy but she put her hands up to stop him.

  “Josh, please let me finish. We spent years trying to figure ‘us’ out. Me hoping that one day you would realize what we could have together. So much has happened in the past few months that have really put things into perspective. I can’t go back with you. I’m finally in a happy place.”

  “Franklin might make you happy now Sandy but I know you. I know you deep down to your soul. Has he even committed to you? What if he goes back to his ex?”

  Joshua had been looking for just the right button to push and he could see in her eyes that he’d found the right one.

  “My relationship with Franklin is none of your concern. And, if you care for me the way you say you do…you’ll let me go. You’ll let me be happy.”

  Joshua held Sandy’s gaze not knowing what to say or do. He never thought in a million years that she wouldn’t always be there if he was ever ready to settle down.

  He took the extra few steps to close the gap between them and slowly lowered his head to kiss her on the lips. Sandy turned her head in time for him to only connect with her cheek.

  He cleared his throat, “I needed to know for sure.” He turned, and walked toward the door but stood there for a moment.

  Joshua spoke softly, “If things don’t work out with you and Franklin, don’t forget about me.”

  And with those words, Joshua walked out of her office.

  A weight that Sandy hadn’t known she’d been carrying was lifted. She knew with 100% certainty that she was over him. She also knew with even more certainty that she was in love with Franklin.

  *****

  Franklin was sitting at his desk going over the latest sales figures. He’d re-read the same numbers three times. His normal laser focus was on the blitz. And, it had everything to do with a Ms. Sandra Catchings.

  He couldn’t seem to get her off of his mind. It was only a few short hours ago that they’d last seen each other. She’d flattened her entire body against his as she hungrily searched his lips for one last good bye kiss before leaving his house.

  She had a mind of her own and was not afraid to tell you what was on it. Sandy was a spitfire to say the least and definitely the reason he couldn’t seem to wipe that goofy smile off of his face. She set his whole body aflame just by being in the same room with her; which was surprising considering she couldn’t be further from what he thought was his type.

  As incredible as the sex was between them she had a gift of making him feel…honest and whole. Sometimes they’d spend hours just talking about nothing and everything. She and his ex were as different as night and day. He and April would sometimes have very uncomfortable silences. Franklin knew it was mostly his fault for not being able to open up to her. All water under the bridge now.

  Sandy didn’t need him but she wanted him and had no problem letting him know it. That was also different for him. April was pretty conservative. She would never show him she wanted to make love. That just wasn’t who she was. He’d always had to make the first move. He understood the things in her past that made her that way. But, it was nice to feel wanted. And, Sandy let him know she wanted him almost every day since the first time they’d made love a few months ago.

  His assistant’s voice coming through the intercom broke him out of his thoughts.

  “Mr. Roth, Ms. Catchings is here to see you.”

  Franklin looked at his watch. Damn…it was lunch time already. He’d spent his whole morning thinking about her.

  “Please send her in and feel free to go to lunch. I’ll be leaving myself after my meeting with Ms. Catchings.”

  A moment later, Sandy walked into his office and closed the door behind her.

  “I was downstairs missing you and thought I’d come up to see if you’d like to grab some lunch.”

  Franklin swiveled his chair around as he admired her walking towards him. She was wearing a form fitting knit dress with a low neckline that hugged all of her curves. The dress also showed off her killer legs. It was his favorite color…blue and it brought out the blue in her eyes.

  Instead of sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk, Sandy walked around it. She sat down on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “Is that a yes or a no? If it’s a no…I’ll just have to convince you not to work so hard and to take an hour or so out of your day for lunch.”

  “The moment you walked into the room, I was already willing to do anything you asked.”

  That brought a dazzling smile to her face. She leaned in to kiss him but stopped before she met his lips.

  “Really…Anything?”

  “Anything.”

  Sandy continued to look deeply into his eyes before finally whispering, “I’m going to hold you to that.”

  She completely erased the space between them as she pulled Franklin’s face to hers. She pressed her lips to his kissing him ever so gently…in the beginning. What initially started out as wanting just a kiss quickly turned into wanting to feel not only his lips, his tongue, but his touch. Their tongues began a passionate duel with each other. She was hungry for him, and he seemed to be just as desperate for her.

  He broke the kiss and his lips traced the soft curve of her neck. His hot kisses continued lower and lower until he reached the edge of her neckline. He stopped just for a moment as he imagined those creamy breasts beneath the knit dress. Even though it was emblazoned on his memory of how they would pebble for him at the slightest touch, the dress left nothing to the imagination. Franklin continued to dip his head low to draw the tight peaks into his mouth. Franklin soaked the front of her dress.

  Her flesh was on fire. She managed to pull the dress over her shoulders down to her waist leaving the object of his attention exposed.

  “Kiss me. Please…don’t stop Franklin.”

  He spoke in between kissing down the valley of those perfect breasts. “Did you lock the door behind you?”

  Her voice was breathy, “Yes. No point to closing the door if I didn’t.”

  He bent his head down low to suck on a tightly budded nipple. He used his other hand to knead the other one until he could
give it the attention it deserved.

  Sandy felt Franklin swell underneath her. She slid her hand inside of his slacks to stroke him and he grew even harder. Franklin closed his eyes and groaned. But, he wasn’t the only one whose body was coming alive. She made his blood race. She writhed against him to try and soothe the building ache between her legs as she continued to stroke him.

  The friction between them as Sandy went from writhing to full on grinding caused Franklin’s hands to be all over her. He wanted to be everywhere at once.

  However, he still wasn’t where she needed him to be. But, he was about to fix that. His hand urgently traveled underneath her blue dress. Franklin was on a mission to find that place that caused their frenzy to break out in the first place.

  Sandy spread her legs wider to give him better access to touch her as his fingers danced down her body getting closer. She continued to rub her ass against his hardness.

  Just when Franklin thought he had reached the prize his hands ran into a barrier. He quickly moved the scrap of lacy underwear to the side so he could tease and touch her. The second his long fingers grazed over her, it almost brought her to orgasm. She was dripping wet and ready.

  Their breathing was hard as Sandy gripped the armrest so tightly her hands were going numb.

  “Touch me…please.”

  “Like this?”

  Even though his touch was really a light caress it still had all of her nerve endings firing off. His hand was covered in her juices. Franklin was teasing her to insanity by touching her but not penetrating. She tried to press herself into his hands hoping it would ease the throbbing. He wouldn’t so she literally took her pleasure into her own hands.

  “No…like this.”

  Sandy took one of her hands and covered his. She guided him to her entrance. Both his finger and hers slid inside. Franklin didn’t think he could get anymore aroused but that did it. Sandy pushed their fingers inside of her as deeply as she could. She pulled them almost all the way out before driving them back inside…again and again. It still wasn’t enough.

  It wasn’t enough for Franklin either. The sexual tension between them was too intense. They’d gone way too far and weren’t going to stop until he was fully sheathed inside of her. Franklin removed their hands from her body and pulled himself out of them. Sandy stood up and shimmed out of her lacy thongs.

  Franklin was the sexiest man she’d ever seen. He was still fully clothed in his blue two-piece suit. His tie had been loosened earlier. However, when she turned around Franklin’s manhood was the only thing about him that was exposed. He was protruding through his slacks and fully erect. His size never ceased to amaze her. He was so large she wondered how he ever fit inside. But, he always did…perfectly.

  “Are you going to just stand there or what?”

  Facing him, Sandy gave him her sexiest smile before holding onto his shoulders and placing one knee outside of his strong thigh, then placing the other knee on the other side. She eased herself all the way down and rotated her hips in a circular motion.

  Franklin wanted her too much. They didn’t waste any time. He thrust into her tightness. It was wonderful. He was so deep and so hard inside of her. He held onto her hips knowing she was ready for him as he lost himself in her body.

  They were in a perfect rhythm rocking up and down. Franklin continued to pound her. This is what they needed. Release wasn’t too far away for either of them.

  Franklin tried to contain Sandy’s moans and groans inside his kisses. The people outside his office didn’t need to know what was going on inside.

  Her orgasm was in reach. Sandy rode him hard. It was right there.

  Sandy bit down on her lip to keep from screaming as her body shattered into a million pieces. He drove into her as hard as he could. A moment later, he grunted, threw his head back and exploded.

  They were thoroughly spent. He hadn’t used a condom because Sandy was on the pill. He kissed her hard one last time, “Let me carry you to my bathroom to get cleaned up.”

  Sandy chuckled, “You’re going to have to. My legs are like jelly.”

  He stood and picked her up when he did. Their bodies were still connected. Sandy wrapped her arms around his neck and her long legs around his waist as he carried her to his private bathroom. Once inside, he reluctantly broke their connection when he sat her down on the vanity.

  Franklin used a warm wash cloth to clean up their excess juices from Sandy’s body and their love making. Taking special care of her and kissing the inside of each thigh.

  “Mmm…you better stop it before I’m late coming back from lunch.”

  “Just tell your boss you were busy having the best sex of your life with his boss.”

  Franklin tried to fix Sandy’s clothes before he started cleaning himself up.

  Sandy looked lovingly into Franklin’s eyes. She wanted to scream from the roof tops ‘I love you’ but something held her back. Something…an intuition maybe…told her that Franklin wasn’t ready to hear it just yet. Soon…hopefully soon he would be.

  Moments after he finished cleaning up, there were three rapid knocks on the door. It actually sounded more like pounding.

  He kissed Sandy on the lips, fixed his tie, adjusted the neckline of her dress and smiled, “You might want to double check that I put everything back in the right place.”

  Franklin left Sandy in the bathroom and went over to open his door. His General Counsel stood on the other side.

  “Mr. Roth, I was just about to leave. I thought maybe you were gone to lunch. A messenger dropped this off for Mr. Rutherford. It’s marked time-sensitive and personal so I didn’t open it. Since Mr. Rutherford is on his honeymoon, I thought I’d better give it to you.”

  Franklin took the package from him, “Thanks. I’ll make sure that he gets it.”

  He closed the door and opened the package.

  Sandy came out of the bathroom.

  “Is everything alright? Whatever they wanted seemed really urgent.”

  Franklin pulled the documents out of the package and started reading them. He looked up at Sandy.

  “No. Everything is not alright.”

  He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

  “They can’t even catch a break on their honeymoon.”

  Chapter 4

  Jason and Vicky spent the morning and most of the afternoon on a small yacht. The S.S. Angel to be exact. She still couldn’t believe he’d had a boat named after Angel. It never ceased to amaze her how deeply Jason could touch her heart.

  The S.S. Angel had a small staff of three whose job was to wait on them hand and foot. Vicky marveled at how life could change in an instant. This time last year, she was in a small one bedroom apartment trying to figure out how to keep the lights on and pay her daycare bills. Today, she was on a yacht with her husband.

  They spent time swimming in the ocean. Well, she couldn’t really call what she was doing swimming because Jason was so careful with her. He’d only let her wade in the water for a little while. But, he did let her ride behind him as they sliced through the water on the wave runner. She’d had the most fun that she’d ever had in her life.

  By the time they returned to the yacht it was lunch time. The boat was stocked with all of Vicky’s favorite foods. He made sure to stay away from anything she’d shown a sensitivity to since being pregnant.

  While having lunch music was playing in the background. Jason must have signaled someone because the volume was turned up to one of Vicky’s favorite songs, an up-tempo R & B song.

  “You too tired to dance with me?”

  This was a different side of Jason that Vicky had never seen. She couldn’t remember if she’d ever seen him dance before. She’d seen him as protector, provider, lover, and friend. But, this Jason was carefree and fun.

  Vicky smiled at him “Can you dance?”

  Jason took that as challenge. He confidently got up out of his chair and went and stood in front of her. He started moving to the beat
of the music.

  Talk about surprised, Chocolate Thunder from Magic City had nothing on Jason. He pulled Vicky out of her chair and into his arms.

  Vicky wasn’t going to let him have all the fun so she started grinding against him to the beat of the music. She continued to roll her hips into his body until they were in perfect rhythm. Jason slid his hands down Vicky’s back until he reached her rounded bottom and squeezed. Vicky threw her head back and Jason couldn’t resist kissing her on the exposed side of her neck. In a matter of minutes the dancing turned intense and things quickly got out of control. It was if they were making love standing up.

  Jason exhaled loudly and took a step back from Vicky.

  “Damn you feel good. Any more of this and I will make love to you right here on this deck.”

  Vicky purred and reached for him again.

  “That sounds good to me.”

  “I have plans for you…for later.”

  This time it was Vicky who nuzzled his neck and ran her fingers through his hair, “Well…how about now…and later?”

  Jason closed his eyes and just basked in the feel of her.

  He took a deep breath, “No time. We’re due back in about an hour and a half.”

  Vicky’s laugh was husky “I bet I can make you climax at least twice in that time.”

  “I know you can and I fully expect you to make good on that promise.”

  He captured Vicky’s roaming hands, “But...right now we have a date with a masseuse.”

  Jason’s plan was to pamper his wife to the fullest. He’d hired masseuses for them and ten minutes later they were lying on a table, wrapped in hot towels, and being massaged from head to toe. Jason was about to ask Vicky a question but when he looked over at her, she was as so relaxed that she’d actually fallen asleep.

  They’d had a pretty exhaustive night and a very active day. He’d noticed lately she’d been getting tired a little more easily so he let her rest. It was about half an hour before they were to set to return to the dock, that Jason woke her so she could shower and change.

  While Vicky was in the shower Jason called ahead to their cabin to make sure everything was ready.