I met her in a diner.

Never seen a girl finer.

She gave me such a thrill.

I left a fifty-dollar-bill.

Left my credit card behind.

But you know I didn’t mind.

Took a Ride Unplanned.

Wrote her digits on my hand.

Found Out she works with my SIS-ter…

Before I even kissed her

She tasted so divine.

Now, I want to make her mine.

Allison’s face was in her hands and she was laughing so hard, that she had to wipe her eyes. I loved being able to make her laugh.

She lifted her blushing face. ”Cedric…Oh My God…I can’t believe you put together in three minutes! Thank you…that was awesome!” she said.

“You’re welcome, beautiful.”

After a pause, the mood got quieter.

I wish you were here, you know that?” I said.

“What would we do if I were?” Allison asked.

The images that flashed in my imagination were suitable for mature audiences only.

“Hmmm…let’s see. There’s this lovely mini bar over there. I might have offered you a frozen Snickers bar if you behaved.”

Allison laughed. “What else?” she said.

“Well, I could have interested you in a nice pay per view movie.” I joked.

“That sounds like fun. Where would be watching the movie?”

“I’d probably be in the bed and I’d make you sit over there on that nice hotel sofa across the room.”

“Oh really?” Allison’s raised her eyebrows in jest.

I laughed. “Ok, maybe not. Maybe I would have you right here next to me and with the way I am feeling right now, that would be really dangerous.

“How are you feeling, Cedric?” Allison whispered.

I paused and gave her the honest answer.

“I am feeling like I want to devour you.”

CHAPTER 21

ALLISON

I was pathetic. One simple statement from this man and my underwear was drenched.

I gulped and was sure I turned red. “You want to devour me?”

“Yes,” he whispered. “Is that okay?”

His eyes were glowing. I wondered exactly what that meant and my body reacted to the possibilities.

I nodded in agreement silently into the web cam, closed my eyes and sighed, feeling by body temperature rise.

“I can’t wait for Friday, Allison, but we never have to do anything you are not ready for…but as soon as you tell me you want it—”

I interrupted. “I want it, Cedric. I want you…all of you.”

I can’t believe I just said that out loud. It was the first time my thoughts escaped my head and it was like I vomited them right out of my mouth.

Cedric closed his eyes and let out a long slow breath and nodded slowly. “You have no idea how much I want you, Allison. God, from the moment I first laid eyes on you...”

We started into each other’s eyes at a loss for words. Cedric smiled and had me really wishing I could jump through that screen.

“Cedric, I remember the first time I saw you too, feeling connected to you.”

He shook his head and let out a deep breath. “I wanted to kiss you so badly that night in my car.”

“Why didn’t you?” I asked.

“I should say it was because I had a girlfriend, but that wasn’t exactly it. I just didn’t have the guts that night. It would have seemed too random. We had just met.”

“And the night in Callie’s room?” I asked.

“I was definitely planning to drive you home that night and was dying to kiss you…but you ran, remember?”

“Yes.” I laughed. “I thought you had a girlfriend. It was a self-protective mechanism.”

Cedric laughed heartily showing off his beautiful white teeth, which seemed even whiter on the web cam.

I didn’t mean to, but I yawned.

“Sweetheart, it’s late for you. I know you need to work early tomorrow. Can we please do this again tomorrow night?” Cedric asked.

I loved when he called me sweetheart.

“Absolutely.” I smiled. “Same time?”

“I am not exactly sure of my schedule tomorrow. So, I’ll text you during the afternoon and let you know what time to log on. Sound good?”

“Sounds great,” I said.

“Good night, Allison.”

“Good night, Cedric.”

Cedric touched his hand to his mouth and blew me a kiss before disappearing from the screen.

***

Mercury, your ruler, is receiving kudos from the Moon, Gemini, resulting in a jubilant day. Romance is in the air, as you crave fun and are easily entertained. Hang on and enjoy the ride!

Well, Wednesday certainly didn’t start out like my horoscope predicted. The afternoon spent with Lucas turned out to be quite eventful, but not in a good way.

As usual, I was dressed in my Wonder Woman uniform and superhero boots. Today, Lucas’s mother Pat asked me to take him out on a few errands. I drove with Lucas to a nearby small one level shopping mall. There was a Walmart inside and a food court where I could have Lucas eat an early dinner and practice using money to pay for his meal. (Yes, I was still wearing the uniform to the mall.)

Lucas liked to go in the mock hurricane machine, so I added the quarters in and let the wind blow in his face repeatedly until he tired of it.

We made our way over to the Chinese takeout restaurant in the food court, and just as we sat down, an indoor train that parents paid to have their kids ride in, started making its way around the mall.

Lucas had always been sensitive to certain sounds, but for some reason, this particular train horn, really upset him. As the train approached, he got up from the table so fast and began running down the mall covering his ears.

I abandoned our food and chased after him as fast as I could, but he was such a fast runner. I could only imagine what people were thinking: a grown woman dressed as Wonder Woman chasing after a grown man covering his ears.

Lucas tripped and fell flat on his face before I was able to catch up with him. He had a pretty bad gash on his forehead. By this time, we were far away from the train sound, so he had calmed down. I felt so badly for him but I couldn’t lift him off of the ground.

A mall security guard helped me hoist him up off the floor and a nice woman got me some paper towel to add pressure to Lucas’s cut.

I immediately called his mother to let her know I was going to take him to the walk-in clinic on the way home to make sure he didn’t need stitches. It was a pretty bad gash.

***

Pat met us at the clinic and we had to wait an hour to be seen. By the time the doctor came out it was almost 7:00 at night. My shift normally ended at 7:00 but I didn’t want to leave until I knew he was okay.

As I sat in the office as the doctor examined Lucas, my phone chimed. It was a text from Cedric.

Cedric: Hi, beautiful. I can’t wait to Skype with you tonight. Would 11:00 your time be too late?

I would stay up until any hour to Skype with him.

Allison: Not too late at all. Looking forward to “seeing” you.

Cedric: I would tell you to wear something sexy, but a paper bag would be sexy on you. ;-)

Allison: If you could only see what I am wearing now.

Cedric: ????

Allison: Remember I told you about the 20-year-old man I work with? He has an obsession with Wonder Woman and I have to dress like her or else he won’t acknowledge me.

Cedric: LOL. Are you serious?! That is f**king awesome.

Allison: You should have seen me today at the mall chasing after him in it.

Cedric: Shit. I would have paid serious money to see that!

Allison: I have to run…I am still with Lucas.

Cedric: Ok…talk to you at 11

***

I finally got back to my apartment about 9:00.

Pat had insisted on buying me dinner at McDonald’s (Lucas’s favorite) before I headed home and thankfully, Lucas did not need stitches, because it would have been really fun trying to hold him down for that.

The first thing I did was take a nice hot shower. As I lathered my body with the foamy soap, I closed my eyes and imagined it was Cedric massaging me. I intentionally held off on touching myself down there because I wanted to do it after I got off of Skype, like last night when I gave myself the most intense orgasm I had ever experienced alone, because Cedric had gotten me so worked up. I closed my eyes and thought about his sexy stomach and that tattoo that drives me wild. I really needed to see him again. Friday could not come soon enough.

I got out of the shower and towel dried my hair. I decided to let it air-dry wavy tonight. I put on a fitted periwinkle blue long-sleeved cotton casual jersey dress and made up my face.

All I needed to do now was sit down, relax with some tea and wait for my call with Cedric.

***

I was surprised when I received a text from Cedric at 10:30.

Cedric: Hey. Are you home? I got done a little early and so, I wondered if you wanted to Skype in like five minutes.

Allison: Hi. Yes, sure…I’ll turn it on.

Cedric: Can I ask you a favor?

Allison: Sure. What is it?

Cedric: Can you show me what you look like as Wonder Woman? Can you wear the costume when we Skype? I’ve been thinking about it all day since you told me.

Allison: Are you serious?! I just showered and changed out of it.

Cedric: Ok. :-( Never mind.

Allison: You really want to see it?

Cedric: Yes!

Allison: Okay, I’ll change.

Cedric: Really? Yes! Just for that, I’ll wear my Clark Kent glasses. My contacts are acting up anyway and I want to be able to see this clearly

Allison: I’ll bet you look sexy in glasses. See you in a few.

Cedric: xo

I laughed hysterically as I ripped off my dress and grabbed my Wonder Woman outfit, which consisted of a strapless red tank with gold accents and a royal blue mini skirt with stars. I topped it off with the gold crown and put on my red thigh high boots. In public, I wore a blue cardigan over the top, but I would leave it off for Cedric. I can’t believe he is making me do this…but I would do anything for him at this point.

I sat on my bed in character now, feeling like a goof, wondering what Cedric will look like in his Superman glasses.

I jumped at the sound of my phone. It was another text from Cedric.

Cedric: Are you in your costume?

Allison: Yes…I turned on Skype. I am waiting for you to go online.

Cedric: I am not going to be able to Skype tonight after all, sweetheart.

What?

Allison: Okay. What happened?

Cedric: Well, for one there is no wireless in your hallway.

I read over the text again. There was no…wireless…in…MY HALLWAY?

I shrieked, ran to the door and opened it up the sexiest man in glasses I have ever seen.

CHAPTER 22

CEDRIC

As I ran on the treadmill at the hotel gym on Wednesday morning, I got the call that would change my week entirely.

The general manager at KABV-TV cancelled my meeting scheduled for that day, so I immediately called my Thursday morning client and cancelled them too. Figuring I would now have to come back to L.A. another time to meet with KABV, I would reschedule both meetings for another time. Dripping with sweat, my heart raced as I thought about feeling her next to me again. This meant I could go home and be with Allison again almost two days early, so I wasted no time getting myself on the 11:00 am flight back to Boston.

***

On the flight home, I closed my eyes and thought about how I should surprise her. I decided I would text her on my layover in Newark and pretend I was still in California, arranging the time to Skype tonight. I should have enough time to drop by my condo, shower and change, assuming no delays.

The flight attendant startled me out of my fantasies when she offered me a drink. I opted for a glass of Merlot to help me relax. As I slowly sipped the wine, nerves overcame me as I pondered whether I was making the right decision diving headfirst into a romantic relationship with the one woman on Earth that should be forbidden.

Unfortunately, she’s all I can think about and all I want.

So many people could get hurt if things don’t work in my favor, not only Allison and me, but Mom and Callie. Mom would find out the truth about everything if…when…I had to tell Allison. When would I tell her the truth? I wasn’t ready to go there and needed to make sure she trusted me first. More than anything, selfishly, I needed to have her…at least once…before I ever possibly lost the chance. If that means I am going to Hell, then so be it.

A cornucopia of emotions flooded through me on that flight home: guilt, longing, grief for something I haven’t even lost yet. Allison wasn’t just special for what she meant to me before I laid eyes on her in that diner that first day. Every moment spent with her since, has made me realize feelings in myself that I thought were long dead and some feelings I have never experienced before. Maybe, by some miracle, there would be a way to make her understand why I needed to wait to tell her the truth.

The fasten seatbelt signal snapped me out of my ruminations as the plane prepared to land.

When we arrived in Newark, I had only a half hour layover. The first thing I did was text Allison. When she responded to me about the Wonder Woman costume she had to wear for work, I nearly lost it. That sounded so sexy, even though I knew she wasn’t intending to be. We planned to Skype later tonight, which really meant I would be showing up at her apartment to surprise her. The confused emotions I felt on the plane from L.A. disappeared as my excitement grew.

The trip to Boston, which was a quick commuter flight, seemed to take forever. The jet was smaller and I was sandwiched between two older women, one of whom smelled like gasoline while the other ate tuna. When we touched down at Logan Airport, I grabbed a cab to my condo and was so happy to be off that plane.