Chapter Nine
Brad
The woman enjoyed tormenting me a little too much. I was going to make her pay in the best way possible. The voice mail thing wasn’t working for me anymore. I couldn’t survive on little thirty-second messages. I needed more. While it wasn’t exactly what I wanted, texting was the next best thing. It meant I could reach out to her all day and sometimes even in the middle of the night. I didn’t have to worry she wouldn’t listen to my voice mails.
“Hey.” Tina startled me mid-text.
“Hey. What’s up?”
“I’ve been buzzing you. What are you doing? Are you sexting?”
I chuckled. “I don’t know what that entails, but I don’t think I am.”
She rolled her eyes. “You are not that old, and don’t even try to tell me you haven’t sexted with anyone. Hell, even I sext my husband.”
I grimaced. “Too much information.”
“How do you think we made three babies in a matter of five years?” she said with a sexy grin.
I groaned. My half-written message had just lost all appeal. “You’re killing me.”
“Anyway, you’re late. You’re supposed to go do that opening at some bakery.”
“Oh, shit. I forgot all about that,” I muttered.
“I know you did. You always do. Get your ass in gear. You look like shit by the way.”
I took a deep breath. “I wasn’t planning on doing any public appearances.”
She walked out of the doorway. That was a bit rude.
“Here,” she said, coming back and handing me a garment bag.
I grinned. “You take such good care of me. You think your husband will share you with me?”
“He already does.”
I laughed as she closed the door and left me to change. I quickly put on the dark suit, hating it but knowing I had an image to uphold. Tina was waiting for me and rushed me out the door.
I got through the opening, smiling and posing for pictures. The entire time, all I could think about was getting back to the office and texting Mia. I had found a couple memes and couldn’t wait to send them. We were in a bit of a competition. Well, actually, I was the only one trying to win some weird game of who could send the naughtiest meme.
She didn’t exactly send raunchy memes, but she did laugh at the ones I sent. Well, I assumed she laughed. Her LOL response suggested she laughed, but it was hard to know for sure.
As I walked back into the station after the opening, I was getting ready to send Mia another meme when Jaxon stepped in front of me.
“Hey! Have you been dodging me?”
I looked up from my phone. “What?”
“I’ve called you several times and you never returned my calls. You can’t still be mad.”
“Mad?”
“Because I didn’t go to the beach with you that morning.”
I laughed. “Jaxon, I don’t give a shit if you want to lie in bed and fuck some woman all day, every day. I’m not mad. I’ve been here, same as you.”
He nodded but didn’t look convinced. “What are you doing?”
“Going to my office.”
“On the phone, asshole. You were staring at it pretty intently.”
I pushed a button to lock the screen and slid it into my pocket. “Nothing. Reading a text.”
He eyed me up and down. “Who is she?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’ve got a woman. It explains why you’ve been hiding from me and the way you were staring at the screen with that weird look on your face. Don’t deny it. Who is she?” he asked again.
I shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t have a woman. It’s an old friend. We’ve been texting lately.”
He was smiling and nodding his head, his arms crossed over his chest. I felt as if I were standing in front of the school principal. “A friend. Uh-huh. I’ve never seen you this giddy over a text message I’ve sent you.”
“You don’t have the same sense of humor. She’s gorgeous and funny, two things you’re not.”
He chuckled and turned to walk with me down the hall. “Who is she?”
“Just someone I used to know a long time ago.”
“Is this why you’re taking some vacation time?”
“Oh my God. Does everyone know about that? Holy shit, can’t a guy take a couple days off?” I grumbled.
“Not you, my friend. Not you. You’re a workhorse. We all take vacations. You don’t.”
“Well, I am now.”
We chatted about business as we walked. My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I was anxious to see if it was a response from Mia, but I didn’t pull it out of my pocket. I would wait until I was in the privacy of my office. I had just sent her a particularly funny, although naughty, meme about men who didn’t have regular sex.
Jaxon finally left. I shut my office door and pulled out my phone. I laughed aloud in my empty office. Her suggestion about how I could take care of my lack of sex was creative. Leave it to her to find a solution to my problem.
I did a quick Google search and sent Mia a link to several articles that proved a man lived longer if he was married. I waited, staring at my phone, anxious to see what she would write back.
When the phone chimed, I pulled up the text. She suggested I find a catalog to buy a bride. I laughed and put the phone away. I had to get some actual work done. My vacation was coming up and I needed to have some shows on standby.
“You off tomorrow?” Tina asked as I packed up my small briefcase.
“I am.”
“Got big plans?”
“Going to hit the beach.”
She rolled her eyes. “You know, when you get that woman to settle down and marry you, you’re not going to have as much free time. She’s going to want to hang out and spend time with you.”
“I hope so. The only reason I’m going surfing so much is because I don’t have a woman. I’m feeling a little tense—if you know what I mean.” I winked.
She laughed. “Go out with Jaxon. He’ll get you laid.”
“No. I don’t want any more of Jaxon’s hookups. I’m telling you, I’m a changed man. I’m saving myself for marriage,” I teased.
She gave me a look that said I was full of shit. I was, in a way. “I guess if surfing works for you. When are you going to see her?”
“Soon.”
“Does she know you’re coming?”
I laughed. “Yes and no. I told her I was going to, but she doesn’t believe me. She thinks I’m the same cocky kid from eleven years ago.”
“You are that same cocky kid, but now you’re older,” she quipped.
“Nope. I’ve changed. I’m going to convince her we’re meant to be together.”
Tina smiled. “I think that is really sweet. I hope she falls for you. But, Brad?”
“Hmm?”
“Don’t let her break your heart. It’s been a long time. We can’t always go back. You’ve both had a lot of time apart and done a lot of growing up. People change. What we liked back then isn’t going to be the same as what we like today.”
I nodded in understanding. “I get it, which is why I haven’t bought a ring.”
Her eyes widened. “What? You were actually thinking about it?”
“I can’t very well marry her without a ring, can I?”
“Brad, you’re having a midlife crisis. You should talk to someone. You’re going off the deep end. You don’t call a woman out of the blue and decide you’re going to marry her. Plus, have you forgotten you live on opposite sides of the country?”
I threw my head back and laughed. “No, I’m not having a midlife crisis. I don’t think anyway. I’m jumping in with both feet, but I know exactly what I’m doing and who I’m doing it with. I want this. We’ll figure out the geography later.”
“Promise me you’ll take some time and get to know her again. Trust me, I’ve done the quickie marriage thing before.”
“I thought you and your husband have been together forever?”
“We have, but before him, there was another man. We met and fell in love and got married all within about two months. We were divorced six months later. I didn’t know him like I thought I did. It was an infatuation fueled by passion. Once the dust settled, we realized we didn’t really like each other all that much when we weren’t between the sheets,” she said in a wistful tone.
I hadn’t known that about Tina, which was strange. I had thought I knew her fairly well.
“That’s where we’re different,” I said. “Mia and I were best friends for six years. We only had sex one time, and that was the last night I was in New York. We knew everything there was to know about each other.”
Her eyes narrowed and her hands went to her hips. “You slept with your best friend in the world, a woman you clearly loved, and then you jumped on a plane and never called her?”
I stared at Tina. This was the fierce woman I knew. She was a bulldog around the office. She was tiny but mighty.
“I, uh—it wasn’t like that.”
She shook her head. “I hope that woman keeps you dangling on a string for a long time. Shame on you, Brad. And if you hope to win her back, I suggest you start thinking about something grand.”
I grinned. “Want to help me?”
“No!” she said and walked away from me.
I shrugged a shoulder, not having expected any input from the woman. I had to do this on my own. I headed home, thinking about Mia the entire time. I was on the verge of being downright horny. I felt like a randy teenager. But unlike a sex-crazed hormonal teen boy, I only wanted one woman. I wasn’t willing to sleep with just anyone to take the edge off. I wanted Mia. I wasn’t lying to Tina when I said I was waiting for marriage. I kind of was.
I reached down and stroked my aching cock. It had been two months since I’d had sex. It was a serious dry spell, but it was of my own choosing. I was used to having women fall at my feet. I could go out to the clubs and have a woman or two on my arm the moment I arrived. But I didn’t want any of them. I wanted Mia.
It was too late to go surfing, but tomorrow morning, I would get out there. Catching a good wave was pretty close to sex. I could ride all day tomorrow until I couldn’t stand up. I would be too tired to do anything but fall into bed and pass out. I wouldn’t have to dream about Mia or fantasize about the many different ways I was going to fuck her.
I wondered if her body was still tight like it used to be. That night, I had nearly blown my wad the second I had slid insider her slick, tight pussy. It had been pure heaven. One night with her hadn’t been enough. I wanted her again and again. I was going to go to New York and do whatever it took to make the woman accept me back into her life. The sex was certainly going to be important, but it was her I craved: her sense of humor, her wit, and her genuine honesty.
Tina was right. I couldn’t believe I had waited so long to reach out to Mia. I was a fucking idiot. No man in their right mind would ever walk away from a woman like her. She was the total package.