Crashing In On Love Read online

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m fine.”

  “Shiiid, could have fooled me.” Monique asserted. “I think you literally growled when I said good morning to you.”

  “In my defense it was seven-thirty.”

  “Just spill it already, Boss. You know those two are not going to let it go.” Tia mumbled. She was more distracted with wishing she had something yummy for lunch than this dry butt salad.

  “Yes, do as she says so we can get back to my actual legal issue. You know, the thing that makes us money.”

  Tamara narrowed her eyes at them, then sighed. She couldn’t figure it out so maybe they could.

  “Tia remember that appointment I had with an Earl Thompson last Friday?”

  “Yeah, I remember. He was in your office barely over fifteen minutes. I figured we weren’t a good fit for whatever he needed.”

  “That was my vacation hook-up, Benjamin Thompson. He made the appointment with his middle name.”

  “Shut up!” Monique shouted.

  “I thought you ghosted him?” Jessica added her voice to the fray.

  “Oh my God,” Tia moaned. “I booked you an appointment with Vacation Boo! I didn’t know!”

  Tamara could barely understand them all as they talked over one another.

  “Hush if you want to hear the whole story, we only have thirty more minutes of lunch. Plus, we still need to get back to Monique’s issue.”

  “Girl never mind all that.” Monique demanded. “Tell us what happened!”

  “He tracked me down. Easy enough since our pictures are on our site. He wanted to know why I’d run off in such a hurry that I left a shoe.”

  When more questions rang out at that, Tamara hushed them again.

  “Anyway, I told him the office wasn’t the time or place to talk about it. So we agreed to do dinner that night.”

  “You went out with him and didn't tell us!”

  Monique had a hand on her heart and a hurt look on her face. Tamara would have laughed except she knew she was for real. The woman viewed holding romantic secrets as an affront to friendship.

  “It was only two days ago and I’m telling you now. I planned for the dinner to be an “it’s not you, it’s me, but let's never see each other again” deal. Turned out to be a great meal, excellent conversation and he’s still as nice as I remember him being.”

  “Now, we’re getting somewhere.” Monique rubbed her hands together.

  “Hold your horses. I still told him we weren’t going to work, but then we kissed. And somehow I ended up agreeing to breakfast on Sunday before he left.”

  “Somebody is going to have a winter cuddle buddy!” Jessica wiggled her eyebrows.

  “She got dinner and breakfast. I can’t get a guy to buy me coffee.” Tia mumbled. She needed a better love life pronto.

  Monique frowned at Tia’s comment and Tamara. “Then why are you in such a cranky mood today if you saw him twice over the weekend?”

  “Because our last meeting didn’t go the way I thought it would.” Tamara rubbed her temple as she told them about her failed attempt at throwing herself at Ben.

  As her friends weighed in, she decided she wasn’t going to worry about it anymore. The man probably decided to track her down since he was coming here anyway, just to see if he could get some more lovin. Then because she hadn’t been easy peasy right away, he’d probably decided to move on. Good riddance. She didn’t need this type of distraction in her life. It was already spilling over into business.

  “Tamara...Tamara? You zoned out again. You just got an alert on your phone.” Jessica was mildly concerned at seeing her business partner so out of it.

  “It was probably just another weather alert, the drive home is going to be crap tonight.” Tamara checked her phone and low and behold there was a text from Ben.

  Ben: Hey Beautiful, hope you had a good start to the week

  Ben: I’d like to call you tonight. What time would be good for you?

  Funny how her brain went from “good riddance” to hurriedly texting him back.

  Tamara: Mondays are Mondays. 7 should be good

  Ben: LOL, true. Hang in there, I’ll talk to you tonight

  “That was no weather alert.” Monique grinned. “That was him wasn’t it?”

  “Look guys, I have to get back to work.” Tamara stood gathering her unfinished pasta in one hand and the phone in the other. “Monique, my opinion is you should ask for a prolonged stay. See if you can get an extra thirty days from the judge. That should give our client a little time to get their shit together.”

  She ignored the women’s protest and left the room anyway. Only when she was out in the hall did she let a suppressed smile grace her face. Ben would be calling tonight!

  Chapter Eight

  BEN KEPT HIS PROMISE to call. The two ended up texting during the day and having long talks at night, as the week went by. Talking about everything and nothing at the same time. Even finally flirting, but not in an obvious or crass way. He would be coming down again this weekend so they decided to go out Saturday night. Ben was adamant about picking her up this time, just as she was adamant about planning the date. It worked out so everyone got what they wanted. Tamara would be seeing her “island man” again.

  BEN WAS EXHAUSTED, but it didn’t stop him from feeling mentally pumped about his date with Tamara. He’d come into town fairly early and got right to work on the house. He’d called it a day at four and went to check into a cheap motel nearby. It would be all he needed for the one night in town. It had been a long day, but the thought of seeing her again was giving him a needed jolt of energy.

  He was proud of himself for playing it more than cool over breakfast last Sunday. He’d gotten the message that she had changed her mind about getting physical. While that fact excited him, he hadn’t been lying about not just trying to get back into her pants. Well, he was, but it wasn’t the only thing he wanted from Ms. Reed.

  He’d instinctively known that if he let her turn this into a physical thing only, that their second time would be their last. For whatever reason she seemed determined to brush off their “connection” outside of attraction. He however, wasn’t ready to do that. He wasn’t a monk, nor was he a player. He found time to enjoy women in between working almost twenty-four seven. But it was fairly rare for a woman to truly catch his attention. Someone who made him want to slow down and make some time for them.

  He had enjoyed his interactions with Tamara thus far. Liked her dry sense of humor and felt good when he found a way to make her laugh. She stimulated more than just his loins, he enjoyed matching his wits with hers as well. After all, what else was a realtor but a salesman? And an investor was a tactician. In his mind, that made him a perfect match for a lawyer. They both were sly, both could be persuasive and knew how to negotiate when need be.

  So yeah, he’d known she was down for more than omelets the other day. He just honestly wasn’t in a rush. Plus, he’d enjoyed confusing the hell out of her. He considered it payback for leaving him in the middle of the night. Tonight however, he planned on catching whatever she threw at him. And he wasn’t above playing dirty either.

  DATE NIGHT WAS HERE and Tamara was trying to tell herself she wasn’t a mess. But as her older sister Tanya would say “girl who you fooling”, and this time she’d have to agree with her. She had just taken the heat rollers out of her hair and was headed to the bedroom to put on clothes. She’d decided to take him to a nice soul food place and then a cozy, little lounge that played a good mix of music. He had seemed to enjoy dancing in Jamaica and she had enjoyed dancing with him.

  Here it was almost time to go, and she hadn’t even put on her make-up yet! She didn’t wear much, but still. Tamara felt like she was running behind. The half-hour she had didn’t seem long enough, for all that she needed to do. Putting in her last earring, she walked through the living room and up the stairs. Luckily, she had straightened up the house Friday night, not that it needed much.
She tended to keep the house company ready, not in it long enough to dirty up anything besides the living room. The few hours at home were spent reading, doing more work, or catching a couple hours of TV. Most of the other parts of the house went unused, except when her siblings came to visit.

  Taking the dress she planned to wear off the hanger she shook it out and was about to unzip it when her doorbell rang. She froze as if doing so would somehow make the sound she heard go away. While she had told the girls she was talking to Ben throughout the week, she hadn't mentioned the date. She hadn't felt like dealing with the teasing. Though she was pretty sure she’d share on Monday no matter how tonight went. Jessica and Monique were the only two people who would dare to drop by unannounced. When the doorbell rang again she finally moved. Laying her dress across the bed and re-tightening the belt on her robe, before jogging downstairs to answer the front door.

  “I'm coming!” She wasn’t sure why she yelled that out. She had a nice thick door, not to mention the locked screen, they probably couldn’t hear her. She still didn’t open the inner door when she got closer and shouted, “Who is it?”

  The muffled reply that came through, proved her point. But she had heard enough to have her jerking the door open.

  “Ben! What are you doing here?”

  Instead of answering he pointed to the screen for her to unlock it and pretended to be shivering. The man was early, really early! She opened the final door and the cold breeze from outside made her rethink that he had been faking.

  “Come in, come in! I swear I think it dropped another 15° from this morning.”

  “Who you telling!” Ben stepped inside as she locked the doors. “Sorry, I’m so early. But I wasn’t sure if that sleet they mentioned was coming in tonight or not. Didn’t want to chance traffic.”

  Tamara narrowed her eyes at him, walking him into the living room. He sounded sincere, but that little smile still playing on his lips gave her pause.

  “I suppose it’s okay. I guess it’s better than you being late and me waiting. Here, let me take your coat.”

  Tamara watched as he stuffed his scarf and gloves in his pockets, admiring the nice slacks and vest he sported. She was really loving the dark teal dress shirt he had on with it. She appreciated a man that wasn’t afraid of a little color. Besides, she knew what was underneath the clothes so it wouldn’t have mattered what he had on. God! She needed to get her hormones in check. Depositing his coat in the hall closet she came back, surprised to see him still standing.

  “As you can see, I’m not quite dressed, but I can be in about twenty. You can sit. Would you like a glass of wine while you wait?”

  “No, I can wait until we get to where we're going.”

  Ben didn’t need alcohol. What he needed was right in front of him. The woman in the short silky robe that didn’t quite hit her knees. He was in need of a taste of Ms. Tamara Reed!

  Tamara thought he was trying to get her to admit what they were doing tonight.

  “Uh uh, I’m still not telling you where we're going for dinner. I really think you’ll like it.”

  “I hope so, I’m suddenly very hungry.”

  The tone of his voice and the look he gave her, had her heart fluttering. She didn’t think the man was talking about food. She should probably head upstairs.

  “I bet. I’m sure you’ve had a busy day. I’ll just run on up. I’ll try to hurry, sit and relax.”

  “Just one minute.” Ben closed the short distance separating them. “Can’t a hardworking man get a proper greeting? I haven’t seen you for a full week.”

  “I guess so. It is good to see you.” Tamara moved into his arms for a firm hug that made her sigh.

  Ben leaned back but didn’t let her go. “It’s great to see you too. I think I missed you.”

  Tamara let out a little laugh. “How could you? We’ve talked every day!”

  “Talking is one thing. But it’s another thing to see your beautiful face. Plus, talking on the phone doesn’t allow me to do this...”

  Ben swept in for a kiss and didn’t hold back the longing he’d been feeling since he’d first seen her in that office a week ago.

  Oh Tamara felt it all right, right down to her toes. It sparked her own simmering desires and she freely gave back the kiss, pressing her body close to his and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. When he started to roam his hands over her body, the feel of silk against her sensitive skin just aroused her more. She would love for him to touch her like this all night. So distracted was she sucking his tongue and enjoying his touch, that she was taken aback when she felt the cold air hit her skin. He had unknotted her robe and leaned back.

  “Damn! This is what you were going to have on all night? Just out of my sight?” He was looking at her bra where the cups were silk and the top-inch was lace. She had on a pair of matching silk purple panties.

  “Yeah, I was hoping you’d get to see the set before the night was over.” Tamara confirmed. “Did you get a good look?”

  “I’m not sure, let me take another.”

  Tamara moved out of his reach while taking the whole robe off and tossing it behind her. She was trying to make it clear she wanted to take off all her clothes, now.

  “Oh, that’s what we doing huh?”

  Ben didn’t even bother fully unbuttoning his vest and shirt. Just opening the first few buttons so he could pull both off at the same time.

  Tamara watched from the corner of her eyes as she walked over to the couch and sat. “Come over here so I can finish the rest.”

  Ben obeyed, coming to stand in front of her. She reached up and slowly started to undo his belt. First with both hands, until she dropped one down to massage his crotch. He tried to smother the groan in the back of his throat but didn’t quite make it. When he went to push his now loosened pants down she slapped his hands out the way.

  “Mind your manners.” She said softly.

  “Yes ma’am.” Ben smiled, that was until she gently took out his cock and started stroking him. Shit.

  Tamara looked at the man standing above her and bit her lip as she slowly moved forward, keeping eye contact with him. Flicking out her tongue to lick him, only to see his eyes darken. She was just about to put his head between her lips, one hand supporting his member, the other anchoring herself by grabbing his ass. When what she felt in his back pocket caught her attention. She squeezed his shaft to distract him as she withdrew the item and leaned back.

  “Why do I have a feeling Mr. Thompson, that you planned this evening even more than I did.”

  Ben refocused his eyes and noticed the condom she was holding. “I plead the fifth.” He tried to snatch it out of her fingers but failed.

  “I think I’ll hold onto this, thank you very much.” Tamara deposited the condom right in the middle of her bra. “You’re lucky I like a man who plans.”

  Before he could say anything—her lips met his tip—and neither could speak.

  Then she inhaled slowly, pulling his length into her mouth. Tamara had dreamed about this for days. She hadn’t gotten the chance to really fondle him during their one night together, much less taste him. The reality didn’t disappoint. He was warm, hard and silky all at the same time. And still big as she remembered. In fact, she didn’t think he was at full mast quite yet.

  Twenty seconds later she was proved right as she felt him swell in her mouth. Since she couldn't take him in as well as before, she used her hands to stroke his lower shaft, occasionally stroking his balls as well. She made sure to let some of the wetness from her mouth run down its length too. She became lost in her tasting, his scent of freshly washed male making her nipples tingle. She had pushed his pants down a long time ago, and now ran her nails lightly up the inside of his thigh before squeezing his balls. When his knees buckled slightly, she figured it was time to stop torturing him.

  She leaned back giving him one more good suck before he left her mouth. While he wasted no time kicking his pants from around his feet, she too
k the condom out the wrapper and waited for him to turn back around. When he tried to take it, she batted his hand away again. Slowly and carefully she rolled the condom on til he was fully covered. Then she got up to her knees on the couch and started to kiss his stomach working her way up. He allowed her to make it midway before he leaned down to gather her up for a passionate kiss.

  “Turn around and lean against the couch.” He ordered.

  When she complied he curved his body over hers kissing her neck and shoulders while caressing her side and hips. Bringing his lips to the smooth skin of her back he kissed down the slope of her spine. Tamara thought for sure he would unhook her bra but he left it. Instead taking his mouth down to the swell of her ass before nipping her skin and making her jerk. He had snagged her panties in his teeth and wiggled his face against her rump as he dislodged them, making her giggle.

  When he got them half way down he finished with his hands, lifting her legs to take them off fully. She felt him spread her legs and step between them. She expected to feel him pushing inside her next. However, he dropped down on his knees and the next thing she felt was his wet, hot tongue parting her folds. He didn’t waste time as he plunged it in deep, over and over again. That man's tongue was going to be the death of her.

  As always he left no part of her kitty un-licked. Eventually making his way to her clit where he twirled and sucked. She’d already been wet and ready and now she was even more so. But he seemed to love it. As he squeezed the inside of her thighs so he could bring his face even closer to what he wanted. It was Tamara who didn’t know how much more she could take.

  “Ben, I need you!”

  He seemed reluctant to leave his honeypot and gave her a long languished lick before finally fitting his hips against her thighs. She wiggled her behind in anticipation.

  Ben spread her open with one hand and guided his penis in with the other. His whole body trembled as the first couple of inches eased in. She was more than slick and ready but he went slowly anyway, as he seated himself as far as he could go. Gritting his teeth, pausing as her walls hugged him tight. Tamara had her head buried in the top of the cushions, issuing a throaty moan.