TEN
ERIC WALKED THROUGH THE AUTOMATIC doors and into the C wing of Lane Manor. The carpets and walls were a pale harvest gold that glowed a weird yellow green under the fluorescent lights. He stopped to talk to a nurse wearing Nurses Have Heart scrubs who looked like she’d lost hers a long time ago.
“Mr. Blake is in room 115. He should be done with lunch and back in his room by now. That way,” she said, jerking her head to the left.
He followed the signs to the room but he wouldn’t have needed the numbers to tell him he was in the right place. A grape vine wreath hung on the door decorated with tiny paper stars like the ones Julie had made for him at Christmas. She’d added little red foil hearts for Valentine’s Day. It had to be her. With Caleb in custody there was nobody else to do it. It awed him that after everything that had happened, she still made sure her father had a wreath on his door, decorated for the season.
He wrapped on the door, pushing it open when he heard someone call “What?” from the other side.
A man in what looked like a new blue bathrobe sat in a recliner in front of a small flat screen TV. The man looked up at Eric and squinted.
“I know you,” he finally said. “You’re that chef who put my Caleb in jail.”
“I’m not the reason your son is going to jail. He is,” said Eric, stepping further into the room. “I’m not here to talk about Caleb. I’m here to talk about Julie.”
The old man harrumphed and Eric reminded himself that it wasn’t a good idea to hit the father of the woman he loved.
“What do you want? You’re not going to marry her are you? You don’t have to ask me about that. Julie never listens to what I say. She doesn’t care what I think. I raised her practically by myself, and she hardly ever comes to see me.”
“I am going to marry her if she’ll have me.” Saying the words out loud even to the despicable man in front of him made them more real, and he couldn’t help but smile.
“I’m not paying for a wedding.”
“I’m not asking you for anything, including your blessing. You lost that right when you sold the farm out from under Julie in favor of your son. You know, the one in prison.”
“Then why are you here?” asked the old man. “It doesn’t sound like you need me at all.”
“I’m here to tell you I’m going to do what you should have done. I’m going to take care of Julie and help her make all her dreams come true.” And he would, he planned to spend the rest of his life getting it right.
JULIE STRETCHED OUT on Eric’s dining table and tried not to wriggle. Every time she moved or shifted the grapes and berries she’d used to decorate her naked body threatened to roll off. She’d never presume to cook for Eric, but it was Valentine’s Day and she’d wanted to do something special for him. She couldn’t buy him anything he couldn’t get for himself so she decided on a present only she could give him.
She’d gotten a Brazilian wax the day before and managed to fake a migraine so he wouldn’t find out. It had been harder to avoid him in the morning, but she’d done it. By dinner time, she gotten every kind of fresh berry she could find and three different color grapes that she cut into thin circles. She printed Mendhi designs off the computer and bought a squirt bottle with a tiny nozzle. Filling it with chocolate syrup, she’d started with the backs of her feet and worked her way up her body, alternating intricate chocolate designs with jewel-like clusters of fruit.
Everything had gone pretty well. The chocolate Mendhi turned out beautifully and she was particularly pleased with the way the delicate swirls and paisleys curled around her smooth sex. The problem came after she’d decorated her breasts. She’d used slices of grapes and whole red raspberries to make elaborate flowers over her nipples and then realized she couldn’t move at all without knocking them off.
She lay down to wait and wait and still there was no sign of Eric. He’d promised her he’d be home by nine, but she knew the restaurant was packed because of the holiday. If she shifted her head ever so slightly, she could just make out the clock on the microwave. She watched the time go from nine to five after, then ten, until finally at quarter after she heard the front door open.
“I’m so sorry I’m late, cher,” he said from the foyer. “I have something for you. I promise to make it up…” His words trailed off as he came into the dining room and saw her on the table.
“I have something for you, too,” she said trying to keep her breathing steady and even so she didn’t lose the raspberries.
“I see that.” He stepped closer to the table until he was looking down at her spread out for him like a feast.
She watched him swallow hard and desire curled warm and molten low in her belly. She’d never get tired of the rush of knowing she was the woman he wanted. He bent and brushed a kiss over her lips, teasing her mouth with the tip of his tongue. She arched up to meet him, freezing when she realized her flowers were in jeopardy.
“I’m not sure where to start,” he said, touching a raspberry tipped nipple. “This may be my best present ever.” He dragged a finger between her breasts, down her belly to her completely smooth pussy. “Definitely the best.” He touched the grapes that she’d place along the slick seam of her sex moving his finger from one to the next, playing her like an instrument. “Now I just need you to do one more thing for me to make this perfect.”
“What?” she asked, clenching her hands to keep from squirming under his teasing touch.
“Stay absolutely still while I eat you.”
Her breath caught in her throat and her heart threatened to pound its way out of her chest, but she managed to stay still while he nibbled his way down her jaw line and across her collar bone to her berry tipped breast. He worked his way around and around licking and nibbling the thin slices of grapes until there was nothing left but the raspberry. Wrapping his lips around her in an open mouthed kiss, he suckled her, pulling the berry and her aching flesh into his hot mouth.
She gripped the edge of the table hard enough to turn her knuckles white while he repeated the process with her other breast, nibbling the grapes before suckling her and drawing her nipple deep into his mouth. By the time he released the tight swollen peak, her breath was coming in shallow gasps and her backed arched in a desperate attempt to get closer to him.
Standing at the end of the table, he licked at the chocolate decorating her sex with hot wet strokes. Because of the bikini wax everything felt more sensitive and when he got to the row of grapes she opened for him, needing his mouth on her clit. He ate the fruit, warm from her body, licking and nibbling his way from her opening to the tender bundle of nerves at the apex of her sex. He drew her into his mouth and she lost her mind. Sliding two fingers inside of her, he started to stroke while he licked and sucked as if she were the most delicious dessert he’d ever had.
Her body tightened under his tender onslaught and she felt the pleasure coil in on itself. He never varied his pressure or the intensity of his touch, driving her on with relentless determination. In moments, the orgasm crashed over her bowing her back and stealing her breath. Only when she was limp and completely spent did he free his cock from his slacks and run the smooth round head along the slick seam of her sex.
