Revolving Doors (9 page)

CHAPTER 14

~*~*~

Usually when an event was impending, and excitement was brewing, the time seemed to drag, but I was happy that Friday evening came around fairly quickly.

Per Kelli’s instructions to not overdress for the occasion, I wore jeans, a cute fitted top, and a low-heeled pump. I made a bandana head band to keep my curls back off my face.

I picked Kelli up outside student housing at 6:45, and half an hour later, we pulled up outside her mother’s house in the gated community of Blackhawk.

I hadn’t been to Blackhawk before, but my parents were always there for dinner parties with friends. The place was amazing, and home to many of the Bay Area’s elite.

How ironic it would be if Kelli’s mom turned out to be one of my parent’s friends
, I thought to myself.

I had no idea that she was living so large! Shit, I mean my parents lived nice, but that was two of them
bringing in the big bucks. Kelli’s mom was on a solo mission and making it!

I wanted to be a single parent too! With no man of the house…and throwing fabulous parties!

You go, Lady!

When Kelli instructed me to park in the driveway, she never looked my way.
I’m sure she knew that I was in utter shock.

The home was on a perfectly paved street and
was so big, it looked to take up the space of two residences.

In a word,
massive
.

“Kelli…for real,
this
is how y’all are livin’? You never told me you lived in a damn mini castle! What the hell gives?”

She
snickered, and said, “
Uhhh,
what was I supposed to say?
Girl, wait ‘til you see my big ass house
? I wasn’t keeping secrets, it just never really needed to come up. Not that serious, Gabriella. Lighten up, turn off the car and let’s haul ass!”

“You’re right. It’s
not
a big deal. But it kinda
is
a big deal, you nonchalant person,” I joked. “I’m just impressed that’s all. Mom’s got it going on for a single lady. I’m proud and I don’t even know her.”

~*~*~

When Kelli unlocked the front door with her key, I was flabbergasted at the sight of it all. She led me into the foyer, and had me wait there while she went in search of her mother.

I looked around at the décor in awe. It was amazing…nicely done.

I walked into the sunken living room that lay several yards ahead. It was decked out in a combination of white, and turquoise, and I instantly flashed back a couple of years to my first suite at Paraiso Belo. The color accents were the same.

The difference was that I had never in my life seen a turquoise furniture set, but there it was, up close and personal
. All I could think of was how tranquil it all felt, and as bad as I wanted to sit on the sofa, it just seemed inappropriate to do so.

This woman’s got taste!

The chandelier hanging in the living room was shiny silver. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that it was custom-made, probably in Italy or somewhere. There were sky lights in certain parts of the living room to give it a nice dimmed look.

Classy.

Outside was a large pool, submerged lights illuminating the indigo tiles beneath the water.  The glass door separating the living room from the yard was so clear it seemed nothing lay between the carpeted floor and a quick dive.

Breathtaking.

My trance was interrupted when I heard the clicking of heels against the hallway flooring.

I turned to see Kelli and her mom approaching.
What, was she like eight when she had her?
They looked more like sisters than mother and daughter – both brunette beauties, with dark features, twin ponytails, and petite frames.

Her mother came straight toward me with open arms and the brightest smile. She smelled of Yves Saint Laurent’s Baby Doll – my favorite scent.

“Gabriella, this is my mother---”

“Hi, Gabriella!” she interjected, wildly energetic. “
I’m Diana. But you can call me Di…you know, like ‘Lady Di’, for the purpose of enunciation only because I’m certainly not Lady Di---”

“
Mom
!” Kelli blurted out. “She gets it!”

“
Sorry,
” she smiled. “I tend to get a little carried away in my excitement. I’ve heard so much about you! It’s about time I get to see your pretty face. My baby girl says nothing but good things, so welcome to our lives, Sweetie.”

Tickled
at her energy level, I managed, “Thank you, Di! I am glad to finally meet you too.” I gestured toward the pool. “I am
obsessed
with your beautiful home. The detail of it is amazing! Makes me want to ask if I can move in!”

“Awww, you’re so sweet!
”

“
Thank you so much for inviting me tonight.”

“
Thank
you
for
finally
accepting. We missed you at all the others, but silly me entertaining on weekdays, I completely understand. But you’re here now. You’ll have a ball and get to meet lots of people.”

Before Di left to greet her incoming guests, she pulled me into
one last hug before departing.

“So glad you’re here, Gabriella. Gonna see you in a bit.” And with that she was off.

Kelli and I headed to a part of the house she referred to as the
Redwood Room
. It didn’t take long for me to see why. It had a beautiful, long, redwood deck just outside of a sliding glass door.

The room was decked out with red and white balloons.

There was a large selection of hors d’oeuvres, a triple layered red velvet cake that I wanted to taste badly, and a slew of refreshments.  Di had done a wonderful job of creating an extremely inviting environment.

As I assessed the
arrangement further, I saw a projector, and more than a few nicely packaged items strewn around.

Kelli had only ever told me that it was a ‘party’ and I never asked for any other information, because a party is a party. However, when I laid a more focused eye on the items, my interest was instantly piqued.

“This is nice, Kelli. Your mom really knows how to create an atmosphere of excitement.”

“That she does,” Kelli said with a chuckle. “She’s been a party-thrower since I was small. She’s in her element when she’s entertaining. It’s her time to shine and be the social butterfly. She is like
the most
hyper adult I know. She
loves
it. When I was growing up, I loved seeing her and her friends dressed up, sipping drinks, and swapping stories with one another. Those gatherings are some of my fondest childhood memories.”

A short while later, the last of Di’s guests trickled in.

By the time everyone had arrived, scattered about the deck and in the Redwood Room, I counted 32 women!

Any thoughts I had about meeting cute guys had flown the nest in an instant. 

I had never seen that many women gathered in one place. Hell, we didn’t even travel in large crowds like that at Paraiso Belo!

With the
large turnout, I had a feeling the best was yet to come.

Everyone seemed genuinely nice and made it a point to introduce themselves. More than a few greeted Kelli with hugs, as though they hadn’t seen her in a while.

As the chatter filled the room, I walked over to take a closer look at the decorative items that were placed around the table near the projector.

Hmmm…Nice. T
here were lotions, creams, flavored lubricants…some in provocative-looking bottles. And there were and a
lot
of pretty toys!

Some were made from silicon, some made from glass, but all plenty attractive.

I had been so preoccupied with admiring the house, that I hadn’t paid attention to what was directly in front of me. I instantly felt like I’d entered 6th grade sex education class.

Ohhh, Lady Di! You freaky woman!

Things were about to get really good, and I couldn’t wait. I’d never experienced toys.

I wasn’t aware that things used for such freaky acts could be so nice looking. For some reason, when I thought of kinky, my mind always ventured to handcuffs and blindfolds, and kind of stayed in that place. How behind the times I had been!

Boy, I felt closeted. I may have to turn things up a notch.

At the very least, I needed to leave with something that I could pleasure myself with during any short droughts I might experience.

I spotted a cute little thing with a label that read
purple rabbit
and immediately decided it would be my sole purchase at the end of the night.  

Some of the
items were beautiful. I wanted to yell out, “
I’ll take one of everything
!”

~*~*~

When the party officially
kicked off, Di started with, “How many of you are here for the first time?”

A few of us raised our hands.

“Great, great…Well, I’m certainly glad you could make it. I promise it will be an evening you won’t forget.”

I didn’t know about the other first-timers, but a smile made its way across my face. A rather big smile.

I could feel Kelli leering at me as I watched in amazement while Di spoke in detail about the products.

She had an admirable level of
knowledge. She knew what she was talking about, and she did it with poise. Yet another great businesswoman I was fortunate enough to come into contact with.

T
he presentation consisted of demonstrations on some of the dildo models, a few of the other toys, and how the stimulants were used. As an added incentive, and what I thought was a smart sales move, she took the discussion one step further, sharing ways to pair the items to make the experience more effective.

A large segment of the presentation was dedicated to education and how allowing toys into the bedroom could potentially serve as a great boost to a struggling sex life.

I looked around to see if I could gauge by looks or body language exactly who that information applied to. My curiosity was in overdrive. It might not have been had I never been introduced to something like Valentina’s thriving business.

When I first began going to the resort,
I found myself wondering what brought our guests to Paraiso Belo. Were they cheating just for the hell of it, or were they seeking to fill a void left in their relationships?

Sitting there
that evening, I thought about how real the possibility was that any of the women in attendance, could have a husband whose name was a part of that client list.

I turned to Kelli, and whispered,
“Girrlll…this is so cool. I had
no idea
. You could have told me! Instead of sitting back while I got the shock of my life,” I kidded. “Are you a consultant?”

“
First
…why are you whispering?” she laughed at me, and I had to join her, because really, why
was
I whispering? “
Second
…Don’t you think you would know if I were, silly? I thought about it at a point, but the parties are too demanding. I get too involved with all these damn papers.”

“Those are excuses, Kell. You could do it if you really wanted to. Throwing parties to sell a product that easily sells itself? Where’s the labor in that?”

“
Oh. Boy
” she sighed. “You sound like you’re selling the product
right now
. I did
not
bring you with plans on recruiting you into the freak show. I really didn’t. It was strictly for fun, Gabriella.”

“It
was
fun! I had a ball. I’m still having a ball,” I stated cryptically.

Kelli squinted her eyes at me, and shook her head left to right, slowly.

“
Tsk tsk tsk
. You’re thinking about doing it, aren’t you?”

I offered her a smile as my response.

CHAPTER 15

~*~*~

When the presentation was over, there was a round of applause. I’d gotten an earful of useful information, and a new interest was sparked.

Di believed in her product – that was clear based on how effortlessly she addressed her guests during the Q&A session.

My mind was performing
cartwheels. I had many questions, but I planned my time with Di for later, since my inquiries went beyond the
how-to
, and
where do I get this, that, or the other
?

“Ladies, I want to thank you for coming out tonight. I hope you have enjoyed yourselves and that I have answered all questions to your satisfaction. If not, please feel free to ask away. If your questions come to you after you’ve left, that’s fine, feel free to email me. I make every effort possible to respond within a 24-hour period.”

Instinctively, we all panned the room. There were no hands raise, and it may have been that the attendants were eager to move to purchasing product.

“Well, since there are no questions, issues or concerns, there’s plenty of food and drink. I don’t have any room in my fridge for leftovers, so dig in!”

The guests fanned out. Some went to eat; some mingled, while others ended up in the waiting area outside the private room awaiting a turn to place orders.