Inferno Anthology (30 page)

Jack raised an eyebrow, surprised at my response. “All of them.”

His question was odd, but then, everything about the man was unpredictable. In the short time that I had known him I had learned that as soon as I thought I understood him, I was quickly proven wrong.

“Well, I don’t mind the magazines, although I also don’t see their allure. Let me correct my answer, I don’t mind the magazine, as long as it isn’t left in a bathroom. One of Michael’s friends always had those types of magazines in the bathroom and it freaked me out when I went in there, wondering what he touched when he was done with the magazine.”

I looked to Jack to gauge his response to my answer and he looked amused, so I continued. “As to movies, I’ve watched a few and I don’t think they’re my thing either. But perhaps I didn’t watch the right ones. I guess I always felt insecure watching them, since I didn’t have much experience. I also didn’t get how the women could be okay with making a sex video for money. “ I took a breath and tried to remember what the last part of his question was.

“And finally, as to watching sex in the street, I’ve never had the pleasure, so I can’t tell you how I felt about it.” When my answer was out, I realized it really wasn’t a difficult thing to answer; it was just new to me to discuss the subject openly with anyone. Michael and I never spoke about sex, which might have been why it was so dull compared to with Jack.

“So what made you ask the question?”

Jack stopped and pulled me to his chest, wrapping his arms around my waist. He gave me a chaste kiss on the mouth and looked down at me “I’m the one asking the questions; you’re all out, stranger. Come on, let’s head back. I want to get us back in the air as the sun goes down.”

“You know, Jack, Cole … whatever your last name is, some women might think you were a romantic with sunset helicopter rides and long walks on the beach.” I teased.

“If sharing what I enjoy with you is romantic, then I guess maybe I am. But it would only be you that would think it, because I’ve never shared anything more than my bed with other women.”

My heart swelled a little bit. It was a good thing that we only had another day and a half, or I might have fallen head over heels for the dominating, controlling, sexy as all hell, romantic man.

T
he next day and a half flew by as Jack and I spent almost every minute together. Most of his friends had flown back, but Tyler had extended his stay as well and the four of us enjoyed a night of dinner and slow dancing before Jack announced that we were calling it a night. We were all heading to the airport the next morning together, Sienna and I flying back to New York, with a change in Chicago, and Jack and Tyler flying to Los Angeles for a business meeting that Jack had postponed to extend his stay in Hawaii.

We were both quieter than usual, and the thought of never seeing Jack again after tomorrow made me physically sick. But I’d known from the beginning that it was only a fling and I’d gone into it with my eyes open. I’d just never expected to care for the man beneath the beautiful exterior. Our connection was more than just physical, although we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. Jack had been honest about who he was from the start, and I wasn’t going to ruin what we had by begging for more. But deep down inside I secretly hoped that maybe he would ask me for more, and I hated that I was setting myself up for a disastrous disappointment.

I had decided while I was getting ready that I was going to go down on Jack that night. He had taken care of me in so many ways and never asked for me to reciprocate. To most, sexual intercourse was the most intimate part of a sexual relationship, but to me oral sex was. It was something that Michael had always told me I was good at, and I had planned to show Jack how much I enjoyed my time with him in a way that I knew he would enjoy.

The two glasses of wine I had with dinner had left me feeling confident, and as soon as we were inside his room I was anxious to please him. I took his face in my hand and kissed him fiercely, as I lowered his zipper with my other hand. I reached in to his boxer briefs and ran my hand the length of his long hard shaft. He groaned, which only further ignited my frenzy to take him in my mouth. I broke the kiss and looked into his eyes. “I want to taste you.”

He exhaled loudly as I dropped to my knees in front of him. I pulled his pants down the rest of the way, catching his wide head with my tongue as he moved to step out of his pants. I slowly licked the warm pre-cum glistening on the tip and looked up at him through hooded eyes. He was watching me intently, as I knew he would. I fluttered my tongue around his swollen head and licked firmly down the underside. My lips glided over his thick crown and I surprised him by taking him down in one long suck.

“Fuck,” he mumbled, clearly struggling to keep his control. His arousal turned me on and fueled my performance. I wouldn’t be happy until he was shattered.

I bobbed my head as I took him down, his long hard cock hitting the back of my throat. I reached for his balls and cupped him, squeezing firmly as I sucked furiously. I felt his heavy veins swell and course the length of him, as he grew thicker with each swallow.

“Jesus Christ, Syd.” He grabbed my head and threaded his fingers through my hair harshly. The thought of the powerful man struggling to keep his control had me on the brink of my own orgasm. On a desperate thrust down, I swallowed, taking him even deeper into the back of my throat. That was his undoing. His hands wrapped tightly in my hair and he harshly pulled my head still as his own thrusts took over for my bobbing head. He was fucking my mouth out of a carnal need to get to his own release and it made me wild.

I had brought him to a place where he lost control and I felt powerful and satisfied. “I’m going to come, babe.” His voice was gruff and raspy and sexy as hell. I grabbed his ass to let him know it was okay and he let out a ferocious growl as he spurted his hot cum into the back of my throat. He came so hard and so much that I struggled to breathe as he filled my throat with his warm thick semen. Jack didn’t notice as he continued his harsh thrusts until he had emptied himself inside of me and I’d swallowed every last drop of him.

I released his deep penetration of my throat and shifted up as I licked his shaft up and down, greedily drinking in every last drop of him. Jack loosened his grip on my head and slowly unwound his fingers from my hair. He lifted me up and kissed the top of my forehead tenderly. “Smart decision to keep that to yourself until our last night, or I would never have let you leave the room.”

His reaction gave me deep satisfaction. If he wasn’t going to break down and profess his unbridled love for me, I at least wanted to give him something he could remember me by. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.” I snuggled into his firm chest.

His hand reached down and stroked my cheek. “I enjoyed everything about this week, babe.”

My heart clenched and it took everything I had not to cry at the thought of the week being over. I’d lived a fantasy for a week and I was afraid reality was never going to be able to measure up. “Me too.” My voice was little more than a whisper.

We stayed awake until the sun came up, neither of us wanting to waste any of the precious time we had left. Jack made love to me while staring into my eyes with a tender possessiveness that I felt deep down in my soul. I didn’t remember falling asleep, I only remembered feeling happier than I had ever been.

S
ienna and I finished packing in silence and she knew that I was struggling not to get upset. She had warned me to remember that it was a fling, to not become too attached, but of course I hadn’t listened. Even though it had started out as purely sexual gratification, it had turned into something more, for me at least. Sienna could have said ‘I told you so’ when she saw my face as we pulled the last of our luggage from our room. But instead she reached out and gave me a hug. “This isn’t the end of something, Syd, it’s the beginning of your new life, the one you are going to lead. I know you really liked him, but there will be lots of others. You needed this to move on. So don’t look back and use it to keep moving forward.” She pulled back and studied my face. I had tears welled up in my eyes and fought to hold them back. “Suck those tears back, girl, crying is for wussies.”

We both laughed as we followed after the bellman bringing the luggage down to meet Jack. Jack and Tyler were waiting and loaded our luggage into the car. I tried my best to act cool and nonchalant, but I knew it was written all over my face. As soon as we got on the road, Sienna reached up and took control of the radio, finding us something we enjoyed singing. I knew what she was doing, and I loved her for it. I closed my eyes and sang my heart out with Sienna as we made our way to the airport. If anything could help me change my mood, it was singing.

The drive to the airport took longer than we anticipated, and we had to rush to make it to our gate on time. Jack’s flight was after ours, so he walked us to the gate and held my carry-on. The plane was already boarding when we made our way down, and I felt nauseous at having to say goodbye to him. We kissed goodbye and Jack held me tight. I cursed myself silently for not being able to fight back the tears about to escape when Jack looked at me. He searched my face and took a deep breath in.

“I still have some questions left.” I couldn’t respond. My stomach was in my throat and I was afraid that if I dared to speak, the tears I was somehow holding back would spill out uncontrollably.

I looked up at him in response and said nothing.

“Do you want us to be over?”

“No.” I shook my head as I spoke. A tear escaped and traveled slowly down my face. Jack wiped my tear away gently with his fingers, caressing my cheek.

The flight attendant announced final boarding and Sienna yelled at me to move my ass. Jack kissed me again once more and when I turned back as I went down the jetway, he was still watching me.

“C
an I get you something to drink?”

Startled out of my daydream by the perky flight attendant, it took me a minute to snap out of my thoughts. I was in such a fog that I couldn’t be sure if I had just woken, and the last week had been just a dream, or if it was really an unforgettable memory.

“I’ll have a vodka cranberry and she’ll have a merlot. You’ll have to excuse her, she’s spent the last week fucking her brains out with a gorgeous stranger and can’t seem to snap out of it.” Sienna smiled to the appalled flight attendant, a pleasant-looking mid-forties woman who was wearing way too many pins on her bulging uniform. From the look on her face, I was sure the flight attendant wasn’t used to a raunchy-mouth like Sienna in first class. I looked around and saw most of the other passengers looked well bred and refined, more like they were dressed for an uppity tennis match than a twelve hour flight from Honolulu to New York.

The flight attendant brought us our drinks and scurried away with a hesitant smile. It was obvious she was trying to avoid hearing any more about our vacation, which Sienna would have surely divulged if given the opportunity. Sienna enjoyed shocking uptight people with her crass mouth. Watching them squirm was a sport for her.

Sienna raised her glass to me in a toast. “To the best damn honeymoon I’ve ever been on.” I laughed and shook my head as we clinked glasses and both tipped our heads back to drink.

“Seriously, Syd, are you okay? I know the week meant more to you than just a fling.”

I took a deep breath and gathered my thoughts. “Maybe I just got caught up in the fantasy of it all. A beautiful island, a gorgeous man, it was easy to think it was all real.” I downed the rest of my drink. “I mean, I don’t even know his last name.”

Sienna took my hand and held it in hers. “It’s probably for the best, Syd. You need to figure out what you want to do before getting too involved with another guy anyway.” I knew she was right, but it didn’t make it hurt any less.

The uptight flight attendant came by to ask if we wanted another drink and her eyes went straight to our joined hands. Sienna, being Sienna, raised our joined hands to her mouth and kissed the back of my hand while looking at the flight attendant. “What, you never saw a couple in love? I told you we were on our way back from our honeymoon?” As was common when Sienna got the urge, the woman walked away speechless.

A
week after our return home from Hawaii I was no more settled than I was the morning I walked away from Jack in the airport. I just couldn’t get him out of my head. I replayed the week over and over in my mind and couldn’t help but think that Jack was feeling the same thing for me as I was for him. What if he was my one true love and I let him slip away because of some ridiculous notion that I couldn’t find the love of my life just because it had started out as a rebound fling? I alternated hourly how I felt. There were mornings that I held the phone in my hand, seriously considering calling the hotel in Hawaii and begging them to get in touch with Jack and give him my number. But then there were afternoons where I came to the realization that I had spent the week with a playboy who probably had weeks like we’d shared on a regular basis.

My honeymoon was over and I went back to work, but I knew that I wasn’t singing with the gusto that I should have been. I was going through the motions and giving mediocre performances that would more than likely have me destined for eternal damnation as a lounge singer. I needed to refocus myself and find a way to use my singing as an outlet for my heartbreak.

As usual, I arrived at the hotel two hours before the club opened to set up and practice. I was in the middle of my second practice song when the hotel general manager stopped in and asked me to come to his office for a quick meeting. My gut wrenched and I was sure that I was going to be fired for my lackluster performances.

Lyle Coughlin, the hotel manager, was a thirty-something yuppie wannabe who might have been cute if he wasn’t so damn full of himself. He wore expensive suits and shiny shoes and treated most of the employees like they were his servants. I had heard from one of the barmaids that he only had the job because he was related to the Heston family through marriage. I knocked at his door and he yelled for me to enter. “Come in, Sydney, have a seat.” He motioned to one of the leather chairs on the opposite side of his desk.