Ride to Restoration (Ride Series Book 2) Read online

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  You are so wrong, D. “It is too, for now.”

  “Of course, for now. How could I not see that one coming?” I concluded, while gazing into Vic’s sparkling green eyes, all the while trying to suppress my mischievous smile.

  Chapter 6

  After seeing Frank and the boys off to the airport, each carrying a goody bag of Josie’s fresh baked treats, Vic and I began the process of putting our thoughts on paper. Getting the Herald newspaper, as well as the local CBC station on board, should not be a problem because of the very nature of this promotion. What would be crucial, however, would be the anonymity necessary to maintain confidentiality and integrity throughout the contest. Using only first names, or better yet initials, would allow the chosen recipients to be honored, based solely on the nomination of their children, followed up with due diligence as to their socioeconomic condition. “A well thought out plan, I must say so myself,” I mused, trying to pat myself on the back.

  Nibbling on his ear seems like a good way to congratulate him. “Good job, D. Again let me say two heads are better than one when it comes to working out the privacy issues that must be maintained.” Reaching under the table, I nonchalantly placed my hand on his inner thigh hoping to spark an immediate reaction without breaking stride in my conversation. “Speaking of privacy issues, what say we adjourn to the room for a nap?” Feigning a yawn, “I’m suddenly experiencing a sinking spell and could use a quickie ... I mean a short nap.”

  “You don’t quit, counselor, do you?”

  You catch on quick. “As long as I’m breathing, you’re breathing, nope.”

  “Come on, Vic, let’s take this conversation to the room. I’ll never get Josie’s additions sketched out as long as you’ve got your hand rumbling around my crotch and your tongue finger deep in my ear.”

  Bursting through the bedroom door, I commanded, “lay down on the bed, Vic. Close your eyes and for once … listen!”

  “Here it comes. Damn you, D, another lecture, another unfulfilled moment.”

  “Shhh ... You’re beautiful, you’re flaming hot. I want you so bad that I can taste you. For now, as you so aptly alluded to, would be the time to ravish you, to give in to my wanton desires and yours. Sex complicates a relationship; lack of sex complicates it even more. Random, lust filled sex, in my mind, somehow cheapens it, especially, if you’re not careful. I want us to be careful. That girlfriend is my, excuse me, our current dilemma.”

  I motioned D to join me on the bed, gently patting the comforter before beginning my rebuttal, “look pal, we’re healthy, attractive adults here with normal, biological needs. You’ve already said you want me. You damn well know I want you.” Grabbing his hand, I deftly glided his fingers across my navel, into the depths of my jeans.

  Pulling my hand away, “I remember a truism from my mom delivered repeatedly to me early in life, 'if you play with fire, you’re gonna get burned.' She was right, as usual. It was never a matter of if, but when. You, my darling, are on fire. If my hand lingered any longer where you so expertly placed it, we’re gonna get burned. I’m not sure I’m ready for that.”

  What do I have to do, beg him to get laid? “I am, D. Just go with it. Now it’s your turn to close your eyes and ravish me, ravishing you.”

  Closing my eyes, I was in a fog, as Vic’s hands and lips explored every exposed surface area of my body. Lost in the moment I thought, This is becoming everything I dreamed of with her and more ... then reality slapped me squarely in the face. This was not a dream, this was not a fantasy, this was the heat of the moment and it was my turn to burn. Bolting from the bed, I tripped headlong over the oval rug that complimented the hardwood floors in our suite and fell into the emerald green club chair facing Vic. “I can’t do this right now, I can’t.”

  A woman frustrated, I pulled the comforter over my head and sulked. “Damn you, D, damn you.”

  “Vic, I’m gonna tell you another story,” I continued, as I walked to my bag and retrieved her ‘newfound friend.’ Throwing back the linens, I turned it on medium. “Here, girlfriend, use this if you need to while I’m talking to you. The batteries are good to go.”

  Emboldened, I jumped from the bed and stripped naked before his eyes, addressing my most immediate needs; while D looked longingly on. I got him where I want him. He wants me. That’s why he’s not looking at me in total exhibition mode.

  With my jeans now in full tent, I turned away from the spectacle to regain my thoughts, trying to subdue the lust that was boiling over inside. Over the hum of the BOA, I continued the narrative that was briefly interrupted by her stunning, mind numbing nakedness. “Remember, when I said sex complicates and lack of sex complicates even more? I’m speaking from experience and lots of it. Candi called me a slut far too many times. Sadly, there was significant truth to that moniker.

  “I was a big kid by age twelve. So big in fact that girls spurned me when I tried to get close. Can you imagine puberty rising in a child like a pressure cooker on high with no relief valve? I got no relief until I went to Europe on a spring vacation and lost my virginity to a fourteen-year-old girl.

  “After that, getting laid became my identity. I couldn’t ever have enough girls and they couldn’t ever have enough of me. Let me back it up a bit.When I lost all the excess weight during my fourteenth summer, then the girls took notice. And take notice they did.

  “When I should have been scoring touchdowns, goals and baskets, I was scoring girls. Sex consumed me. Not so much the act itself, but the way it soothed the rejections that had followed me as an overweight, undesirable child.

  “I finally managed to embrace celibacy, somewhere around age twenty, when I’d romanced eight girls in six days and still had a waiting list. I didn’t know if I was coming or going, or where I was supposed to be sleeping from one day to the next.

  “I’m not bragging. Sadly enough, sex became an out of control addiction fueled by the rejections of long ago. In college, I spent a lot of time trying to understand those drives. Study after study pointed to the same conclusion, the younger you are when you first experience rejection, the more serious implications it has in your life. So, here I am, the shattered remains of childhood rejection gone wrong.”

  Just what am I supposed to say? This is getting emotionally deep. D’s trying to get this off his chest. Bite your tongue, Victoria.

  “With that knowledge, I moved into adulthood, where I met an awesome girl, managed to settle down, start a family and watch my sons develop almost into men. Sadly, however, life repeats itself. After twenty-plus years, the apple of my eye, who I lived and breathed for, began to reject me repeatedly, just like the girls of my youth.

  “That’s where the lack of sex complicates a relationship even more. Just imagine, the person you worshiped, the woman you adored, suddenly having no time for you because life and her budding career consumed her. Besides, her words not mine, ‘I was old enough that my wants and needs didn’t matter anymore.’ Damn it, they did! Much more than you could ever imagine. No matter how hard I tried to convince her otherwise, she refused to see me self-destructing before her eyes.”

  The slow rhythmic humming of the BOA stopped. Looking directly at Vic, I discovered that she had modestly covered herself. And by her expression, was composing an appropriate reply.

  How do I say this and not be mean? “You’re flawed, D. I get it. Hell, we’re all flawed in some form or fashion. We have good traits that we pray will gloss over the bad ones. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. Your generosity covers quite a bit of yours. Today, you’ve shared some of your demons. Guess what, I’m not running from them?”

  All I could do was solemnly hang my head hoping she meant what she said.

  “I can tell by the look on your face, you’re not finished, are you? I suspect you have the all-encompassing random sex theory to explain. Go ahead, because I’m sure that’s where I come into this equation.”

  “Random sex,” I continued in halted breath, “is like putting a Band-
Aid on a severed artery. It may limit the blood loss, but only temporarily. The wound is still there, the hurt is still there, compounded even more so, because you’ve never addressed the underlying problem.” Rising from the bed, Vic, wrapped in the comforter, joined me on the floor beside my chair.

  Laying my head on his knees, “I’m sorry I pressured you so much to make love to me. You’re a desirable guy and the last time I looked, I’m a desirable girl. That’s what we do, or so I thought, until now. No man, in my sexually active lifetime has ever spurned me — never. The harder you teased me and oh so casually pushed me away, the more I wanted you. I’ll tell you a not-so-secret secret. For me, sex is power. Sex is a weapon. Sex is a self-sharpening tool. The vagina has and continues to be a WMD. It has brought powerful men and great countries to their knees repeatedly. Sex is my ally and from wince my power comes. A life-changing lesson that was thrust upon me a long time ago.” There, I said it!

  Not knowing whether to stay on subject, complicated by her bold confessional or continue with her previous questions, I chose the latter. WMDs, aka, weapons of mass destruction are not something I dare delve into today. The chicken in me continued. “Fortunately, I’ve managed to move on to some degree. The train wreck of my own making still smolders on the well-worn tracks of my past. At this very moment, I’m still not over Candi. I’m surely not over you and we’ve yet to become us. There is a possibility, if the cards fall where they may, there could be an ‘us’ in the future, couldn’t there? That being said, why let a sex crazed, lust driven roll in the sack screw us up before we get started?”

  “We’re screwed up enough, huh D? Just so you know, I’m not sure I’m ready for all of you either. I mean, my body is, as you’ve so aptly felt, but my mind may not be. Sometime soon, before we get home, you best hear about the skeletons jingling around in my closet. After that, you very well may not be ready for me, either. A fair warning, you’ll probably have to get me in a precarious state to open Pandora’s box. That closely guarded area in my life has been off limits forever. Not even my Ex was privy to it. He had no flaws, or so I thought, until he did. Then it was too late. By my not opening up, he found someone who did. Would it have made a difference? I doubt it. Yet, you’ve convinced me in the last thirty minutes, what I’ve failed to figure out over the last thirty-two years, to completely know someone, you have to know where they’re coming from, even if it means going all the way back to the beginning. It’s going to be hard to unchain my past. I’ve buried those memories in the far recesses of my mind as if they never happened to me, but someone else.”

  Stopping Vic before she could open up any further, “surely, that’s enough for now, barrister. I’m emotionally drained, sexually frustrated and come to think of it, in dire need of a beer. Get dressed girlfriend, and meet me on the patio.”

  Rising from the chair, I helped Vic to her feet, offering her a much-needed hug, as the comforter she had so expertly wrapped herself in, fell to the floor. Holding her nakedness against me, I loved just how vulnerable we are once what we use to cover ourselves is stripped away. In my arms was a very scared and frightened girl, longing to reveal her life altering past to me. Against my better judgment, I kissed her passionately on the lips, lingering too long for my own good. “I’m here for you, if you need me,” was all I could say to comfort her, before bolting out the door and down the stairs, astutely aware of the possibilities of what would have happened next had I stayed.

  Chapter 7

  Josie joined me on the patio with an iced filled bucket of Canadian Molson’s, giddily sharing her vision of the private balconies and the accompanying hot tubs. Building out the ground floor decks were simple enough, but the two, second story suites presented more of a problem because of the extreme weight and potential liability. We finally agreed upon two balconies for the second floor units, with private staircases leading down and connecting to the two ground floor hot tubs. The worse case scenario would be that her guests might have to share the hot tubs occasionally.

  Victoria appeared.

  “Have you got this all figured out?” I asked, joining D and Josie outside.

  “We have,” replied Josie, “we compromised.”

  “Josie, I’ll generate a materials list to go with these renderings to assist the contractors in pricing. Now, however, I’d like to take Victoria for a stroll through your beautiful gardens and golf course before dark.”

  “Then what are you waiting for? Did I tell the both of you how glad I am you stayed?”

  “You did, sweetie, numerous times. I promise we’ll be back by dusk.”

  Grabbing Vic’s hand, I led her through the lush gardens, and onto the fairway of the adjoining golf course. “ Vic, baring my soul earlier drained me emotionally. I shared with you things I’ve never shared with anyone, including Candi. I hope I’ll never have to invoke client, attorney privileges.”

  “You won’t, D. We’re friends first and always,” I said sweetly, followed up with a quick kiss on his cheek.

  “Do you have to be back in Sioux City anytime soon? I mean ... now that you’ve joined my ride, we can take the long way or the long, long way back. There’s really no shortcut from here. I say all that to confess I dread what lies ahead. There’s still a bounty on my head, compliments of Standford and WITSEC is not the least bit happy I left the good ole U.S. of A. For all I know Donny, no teeth, is looking for me and possibly even Candi’s Ex, Joseph.”

  “To reply to your last statement, first, you can always hang with me in Sioux City — at least until the dust settles. As to your second question, I’m good either way on the ride back. That may change after a couple of days when my saddle sore ass starts screaming for relief. We’ll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it, won’t we?”

  “We will. I can tell you that Candi managed to soak her saddle soreness away every evening in a great big tub.”

  I wiggled before him. “So just find me a room each night with a tub and we’re good.”

  “It’s a deal. In the meantime, I best check in with the boys in blue. I’m sure they’d like an update on my current situation. Oh, and the dog. The kennel thinks I’m due back tomorrow.”

  That’s a thought. “Just what is our current situation, D?”

  “Well, I’ve swapped my number one girl for my number one girl, number two. I have expert legal counsel close at hand and I’m still on the bike. Oh, and the Family, like Elvis, has left the building with most of what they came after. Other than all that, I have no clue.”

  “Me either, I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”

  “You sound just like—”

  “Candi.” When is he going to hear me instead of her?

  “Yep, just like her.”

  Chapter 8

  Tampa Bay

  After an endless exchange of late night pleasantries with the whole ‘fam damily,’ I managed to make a graceful exit to my room and crawl quickly into my childhood bed, albeit alone. Where is D? What’s he doing right now? Who will hold me while I sleep? Question after question tossed about in my restless mind, robbing me of sleep I desperately needed. That is until I found myself carried back in time, to a bed and breakfast in northern Alabama, where I woke for the very first time, in his arms. He said something later that morning, that I appreciated, ‘Waking up to you saying good morning baby, with a smile on your face that says you’re happy to be here, is more precious than gold.’ I’d trade all the gold in the world, to have him here now to share those words with me again. Using my iPad, I turned on Pandora to Sinatra, our lovemaking music. Sleep came quickly.

  I slept until noon. Still in my PJ’s, I followed the sounds of spirited Italian into the kitchen where I found Gio and Mile gathered around the breakfast table with Mom.

  “Morning all or afternoon, whatever the case may be. What’s with all the noise?”

  “I tell your Momma that D save me, he save my leg. He good people,” replied Gio. “I tell her, how you say, he care for you. He make you smile.”<
br />
  “Thank you, cousin. Mom and I have much to talk about including D, just not right now.”

  My mother, however, had other ideas. “I am thankful you are all safe. But, as I recall, there is someone else that cares for you, and he too made you smile.”

  “Enough about Joseph. I’m not still in love with him, I’m not sure I ever was. He is a good person, heck, I’m a good person, that we both used selfishly as an end to a means. He didn’t deserve that.” I paused, “It is what it is.”

  “What’s love got to do with it? Why can’t you just be friends?” countered Mom.

  Just as I was about to spew forth something I would later regret, Gio latched onto my shoulder, using me as a crutch and walked me outside. “ You no win with your Momma. Not now, hmm...maybe later. She like Joseph; he part of family. D, he outsider. He no good for you. We know better. We know, D, she not.”

  “Thank you Gio, for trying. Sometimes Mom only sees what she wants to see. There is no big picture in her world. She can be extremely narrow minded as well as obstinate when she chooses to be.”

  “Be nice Candice. She your only Momma.”

  “Yep, I keep trying to remember that. Moving out of Florida was the best thing I ever did. I can only take her in small doses. Mom tries to run me like she runs the Family business. It’s her way or not at all. When I was in Tennessee, it was my way. Would you believe, D, liked me for me? Even when he found out otherwise, he still cared for me, Candi. Not Candice, not part of some big conspiracy, not someone who had ulterior motives, but me. He saw through all that stuff that was just a game to me and forced me to be selfless, not selfish.”

  “You love him, Candice?”

  “I don’t know how to answer that, because I’m not sure what love is, Gio. Does he make me happy to be with him, yes? Does he make me want to be a better person? I have to say yes to that, too. I betrayed him Gio. How will he ever forgive me?”