Paper Dolls Page 5

  “You like that, baby?” she asked.

  He kissed the side of her face. She smiled when he groaned in her ear. His face and lips pressed to the side of her neck and his arms folded around her. Raven let out a soft exhale of submission. Alexander was a big man. He had large hands and long arms. And no matter how much height her shoes gave her, he had to bend to hold her. The feel of being in his embrace as the hem of her skirt billowed around her thighs, was such a thrill. She craved more of him. Whether it was the wine, him, or the game of pretend, she didn’t care. She turned to face him and threw her arms around his neck. She moved her hips in time with the calypso beat, and he rocked his with hers. When they were married he loved to dance with her, he loved urban, rhythm and blues, and Caribbean music. It was one of the reasons he bought Sapphire Records and rebranded it as Katz Records. He told her that music was their life when they dated. She agreed. Together they travelled the country and found new undiscovered acts. They loved every kind of music from country to hip-hop. But it was rhythm and blues with a Caribbean flare that they danced the night away to. And she put the same kind of moves on him in their marital bed too.

  “You have harmony in your blood,” he once said. “Damn, love, you even have harmony in the way you walk. Let me buy your shoes,” he once whispered after a sweet climax.

  “Why?” she giggled.

  “To be the man to own your feet!”

  She roared with laughter and hugged him to her heart. She wrapped her legs around his waist and wanted him to remain buried deep inside of her. It was bliss.

  Raven looked him in the eyes, as he moistened his lips and his stare burned through her. She trusted he felt it too. So she tossed caution aside and gave in. She dropped her head back. She worked her lower body so masterfully it felt as if he had slipped inside her. Alexander smiled.

  “I had a dream,” he said in her ear.

  “Really? You Martin Luther King now?” she teased.

  He chuckled.

  “What was your dream?”

  “I’ll tell you someday soon.” He flicked his tongue at her ear. Raven giggled. She hugged him and her heart expanded with nothing but love. Her hands went up and down the hard definition of his back, and her face pressed into the corded muscles of his chest. He smelled of spice. It was a mix of cologne, and him, all him.

  Two of his fingers traced down her spine, slowly across each vertebra, and she creamed her panties. She hadn’t had sex since the divorce. How could she, when she still desired her husband? Only her man. That was probably why a little wine and closeness had her aching in her center to fuck him, or simulating fucking him on the dance floor. Raven stopped herself. She pulled back.

  “Are you okay?” he asked with concern and desire in his voice.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said. She was such a horrible liar. And thankful he didn’t question her further. Alexander took her hand and led her away in his own special way.

  “I want a pink lady, remember how I used to drink those here?” she asked.

  “You’ve had too much to drink,” Alexander said. “Let’s sit. Talk.”

  She snatched her hand away. “We aren’t married anymore, Alexander, and I’m a big girl. So I’ll go get my own drink.”

  He caught her hand again. “Sit down, Raven. I’ll handle the drink.”

  Raven smiled at having her way and found a seat. Men were casting her sexy stares, which she ignored. She stared at her husband and noticed how women’s heads turned when he stepped through the crowd to buy her a drink. In South Beach the bloodhounds could spot a man who was rich. Alexander oozed importance. And he was strikingly handsome with his height and Middle Eastern complexion. When they first met she was shocked to find out he was an Israeli Jew. She didn’t know they had such dark olive skin. When she met him she thought he was Egyptian, or from some Arab country. It didn’t matter to her what ethnicity he was. From the moment he seduced her in his office, to their wedding night, she dreamed of making him hers.

  And that bitch took him from her.

  Raven cast her gaze away. She swallowed down her hurt. She wasn’t going to fall to pieces, or torture herself over him anymore. She even made eye contact with a few of the men who openly stared. She should date again. Yes! She would date again, she thought to herself. She’d meet another Alexander. He couldn’t be the only man on the planet worthy of her heart.

  “One pink lady.” He handed her the drink.

  “Thank you,” she said in a soft voice.

  “How are Valentina and Zephyr?” he asked.

  “Valentina is working on her new album. You know how Zephyr is,” she answered.

  Alexander’s brows lowered. “I don’t understand.”

  “Don’t check up on me through my friends, Alex. I hate when you do that.”

  “I’m sorry. I should have picked up the phone and called you,” he said. “Let me guess, Zephyr’s in my corner?”

  “Yes. You know she is.”

  He leaned forward so she could see his eyes. “I should have called you and told you the real reason why I came back. Not for closure, love. I want my wife back.”

  Raven nervously drank from her martini glass. He touched her knee, the way he did when he wanted to touch her elsewhere. “It’s been hell without you, Raven. I can’t—”

  “Where’s Asia?” she asked.

  “Her name was Kim. You know that. I fired her and I never saw her again,” he answered.

  “I don’t believe you,” she replied.

  “I swear it on my life.”

  “It doesn’t matter. It happened. She happened. And that’s the one thing your apologies can’t change. What you did with that whore tore a hole into my heart.”

  “I know. That’s why I gave you space, a separation, a divorce. I’d give anything to undo what I’ve done.”

  “Why must we rehash this over and over again? Talking isn’t working,” she said.

  “Maybe we can’t go back. I’d like to go forward. Take you on a few dates. Spend time with you, whatever pace you want.”

  He sat next to her. Raven held tightly to the stem of her glass, her eyes remained trained on the band performing. Each time he inched in closer her heart skittered and stuttered, then resumed beating. Alexander’s voice drifted over the music into her ear. “It killed me when we lost our beautiful baby girl.”

  “You didn’t see her,” she said softly.

  “Raven I—”

  “You weren’t there when I held our daughter and she took her final breath. You didn’t see her. She was so beautiful, Alex. So tiny. Our baby girl.”

  “Don’t do this to me,” Alexander sighed.

  “Don’t talk about pain, when you can’t begin to understand how deep mine is.”

  He touched her face and turned her chin so he could capture her attention. “We never faced it together. We lost our daughter. It broke us both. I wasn’t there, Raven, and that haunts me every day of my life.”

  He kissed her quivering lips. The moment their mouths met she exhaled. He offered her a soft sweet apology with his lips. How long had it been since I’ve kissed my wife? Really kissed her. I’ve missed her. The taste of her lipstick. The way her lips part and her sweet berry breath enters my mouth. I’ve missed how she always gave a soft whimper when I thrust my tongue in any orifice.

  Raven’s response was automatic, as was his. She moaned. Her tongue dueled with his. But he reigned with supremacy. She kissed him like she used to, deeply, hungrily.

  The knot in the pit of Raven’s stomach slowly untied, and she couldn’t resist him. He slowed their passion. Alex was never a man to hurry. His mouth drew away. It returned. His lips feather-touched hers with tantalizing persuasion. And once more she was left with a burning desire, an aching need for another kiss. She forced the kiss with reckless abandonment. She touched his face to make sure he didn’t retreat.

  The band changed tempo. A solo saxophonist began to blow out a hypnotic melody. Alexander pulled away from her
again. Before she could object he stood and pulled her along with him. She obeyed. They returned to the dance floor and she naturally drifted into the circle of his arms. Resting her head against his chest once again, she didn’t allow herself to think. She could hate him in the morning, hate herself in the morning, right now she wanted to escape in the love between them again. It was just a small game of make believe.

  The song ended but they kept dancing. People spun around in sexy salsa grooves, but she and Alexander kept swaying. She looked up at him, and tears that she hadn’t spilled in front of him since she confronted his infidelity fell from her eyes.

  “Don’t cry,” he said. “Talk to me instead. Please.”

  “What do you expect from me? Do I have to give you all the reasons again why I can’t be with you, Alexander?” she asked.

  He smiled.

  She wept softly against his chest.

  “It’s okay, love, you don’t have to do anything. It’s time I take you home.”

  Chapter Four

  Passion

  Alex insisted that he walk Raven to her door. Now in front of it, drunk, and a ball of nerves, she kept dropping the key. Alexander put his hand over hers. He returned the key to the keyhole and opened the door. She closed her eyes to his touch, pushed the door open, and then walked in. She didn’t bother to look back to be sure he’d follow. She stepped out of her shoes and went to her bedroom. After a toss of her purse to her bed, she put her hands to her eyes. He was leaving, and this was it, their final goodbye. She always knew the day would come when she would truly have to let him out of her heart.

  Arms slipped around her waist. She turned and wept against his chest again, but this time she released all the emotion she had contained since their separation. She hugged his neck and cried soiling his silk tie with her tears and snot. He held her. “It hurts so bad,” she gasped between her sobbing. “I don’t want to let you go.”

  “For me too,” he said, and she could hear the strain in his voice. One thing she knew to be true is her tears always had an affect on him. When she cried and wept over the loss of their baby it was the only time she saw him devastated and brought to tears. She should have known he was weak and vulnerable then. But she was in too much pain to care.

  She held tight to him. Raven wondered if she had fought just a little harder would she have had it all. Was Zephyr right, or Valentina? She couldn’t tell anymore. There were no answers for her, just more and more questions.

  When she broke away from him she looked into his eyes. He did a bad thing, but Raven knew he wasn’t a bad man. Alexander looked even more tortured. She knew he felt she didn’t understand the difference. Raven stroked the side of his jaw. She ran her thumb over his bottom lip. Who would take care of him? Who would know that he liked his Scotch with no ice and the cubes on the side so he could drop them in one at a time? Who would know that he slept on his side so he would need to be re-covered with the blanket during the night? Who would know that he liked old fifties movies? Who would know these things? Who would care?

  “Alexander?” She felt the disillusionment of hysteria coming down on her.

  “It’s time I let you go,” he said.

  “No!” A hot tide of passion seized her. She grabbed his face and forced the kiss with savage intensity. “Don’t go,” she said between kisses. “Fuck me,” she pleaded.

  The hold on his face slipped when his arms cinched around her waist. There was a dreamy intimacy to her kiss now, because he responded with love. Both her hands slipped to the tops of his shoulders and squeezed. She was crushed against him. The last words of his gratitude were smothered on her lips.

  Her mind screamed at her to stop, to think, to consider the consequences of abandonment. Alexander didn’t deserve her. But her heart said enough with the denial. He was her husband. The man that always made sure she had a fresh calla lily on her pillow. The one who invested six wonderful years showing a girl from nothing the world. At some point she eased down his body. She undressed him. She removed his blazer, unbuttoned his shirt, freed him from his pants, and knelt to take off his socks. When he was completely naked he was a beautiful man to behold. The muscles rippled over his belly with chiseled perfection. And his cock was as she remembered as it jutted out of a nest of black hair.

  Raven’s mouth watered. She wanted to suck him. Should she suck him? She wasn’t sure what to do as her body vibrated with need. She stood and faced him

  “Turn around,” he said. She did as he asked.

  “I love you,” he whispered into her hair and kissed the back of her neck. The zipper on her backless dress was under her left arm. His hand slipped in and cupped her breast in his hand. He squeezed her nipple and she dropped her curves back against his nude body.

  It had been so long. Too long.

  Alex helped her out of her dress and took his time removing her g-string. He paused to kiss her left butt cheek, and the back of her thigh to the crease behind her knee.

  After she stepped out of the thin undergarment she crawled over her bed, knocking her purse off as she did. He came behind her and dragged his flattened tongue up the center of her spine. She lay on the pillows and relaxed with her eyes closed. She felt him remove a single pillow from beneath her and place it under her pelvis.

  The cushion gave her ass the needed lift. Raven smiled when her thighs were parted wider to part her butt cheeks down to her sex. He teased her at first. He traced the tip of his tongue around her entrance. Just the tip. She felt a shiver of anticipation go through her, and found herself pressing her knees down into the mattress and lifting her ass so he could go deep. Her inner thigh muscles contracted and her hot, slick core was hot and tingly from the memory of how good it used to be with him.

  And then his tongue took the plunge. She gyrated against his mouth as he thrust his tongue in and out of her opening. She felt his larger than life hands grip both cheeks of her ass and squeeze as his mouth covered her pussy.

  It had been too long. Too long.

  She squeezed her eyes shut and gripped the sheets as she came for him over and over again.

  Alexander turned his woman over. She tried to slam her thighs shut but he cupped her juicy pussy and held it in his hand as shudders of bliss raked over her body. She’d always been so sensitive there after an orgasm. He looked into her eyes as his fingers teased her labia. He caressed between the thick juicy folds with his two middle fingers. He wanted to see her pussy again. Bury his nose and mouth against it. The taste of her was still on his tongue. This time he’d burn every beautiful part of her into his memory.

  “Raven, baby, I’ve missed you.” He spoke the words to the neatly trimmed hairs over her sex. Raven giggled in response.

  The woman had the sweetest teasing laugh. He flashed her a sly smile. He raised one leg, and bent it at the knee. In doing so he slightly parted her thighs so her hot-pink jewel was revealed. His gaze lifted to hers. She met his stare and never wavered.

  “Are you mine?” he asked. It was a question he dreaded the answer to. He had no right to ask it of her. But he had to know. She delayed his passion for her until their wedding night. Of course he came close to fucking her when they dated. He pinned her often to his desk and hers. And though she teased him by allowing his touches and pussy licks, she never gave him the prize. And he discovered why. The night she became his wife he discovered her virginity in tact. In today’s world, in their business, women like her were rare. He wouldn’t have loved her less, but it shocked him that she never told him about her chastity. The idea of another man touching her, ever, filled his gut with fiery pain.

  Raven closed her eyes. She turned her head on the pillow and squeezed them tightly shut. He didn’t want her to cry again. She refused to answer him.

  He was crushed. He accepted the unknown. Alexander trapped her clit between his thumb and forefinger, tweaking the plump knot of flesh over and over, until she moved her hips and dropped her knees further apart. Fuck it. She was his again and that was all
that mattered. He lowered his face to run his tongue along her inner thigh, and knew before his mouth went further she was ready for him. He licked at her wet slit, and then dipped his tongue into her tight channel before bringing it back upward to twirl around her clit. His licks and kisses were slow teases. He sucked, tugged on, and gently nibbled the knobbed flesh until he heard her cry out his name for mercy. Something he wasn’t quite prepared to give.

  The desire to be in her before she woke from the fantasy, forced them both back into the reality. It made him fumble, despite his wanting to prolong their pleasure. He drew back up and situated his hips between her soft thighs. She hooked the heels of her feet around his lower back like she knew he preferred.

  He positioned his dick and thrust his cock straight into her center. Raven was nice and wet, her tight pussy resisted at first, but soon her vagina remembered him, and her tender walls softened to draw him in deeper. He buried his cock to the hilt, and chewed down on his molars to keep from shouting out words of glory. There was warmth. It enveloped his cock. He drew back, and then hesitated half a beat before thrusting again, deeper and deeper. He watched as she arched her back and her head tilted into the pillow. It made the dark berry tips of her nipples point north, and her breasts shake. He was unable to take his eyes off of her lovely breasts. He focused there as he power drilled his dick into her warm pussy. Nothing broke his pleasure trance. Not even when his hips shuddered, and his stomach muscles tightened from his refusal to release.

  “You’re so beautiful, my sweet Raven,” he panted. “I love you so much.”

  “Don’t talk, don’t say anything. Just fuck me,” she pleaded. She couldn’t bring herself to think of the love thrusting within her. She closed her eyes to shut out the sight of him. To look at him only fed her heart lies, that this could last, that he had changed, that they belonged together. She concentrated on the raw pleasure. How her blood was liquid fire because of his push and pull out maneuvers followed by deep plunges.