Melda shrugged. “We never discussed it.”
“Even after you got the first picture? You didn’t ask which one was him? What’s his name?” Skye demanded.
“Davis. And no, I didn’t ask. It seemed rude. I figured he’d eventually send a picture of just him. But he never did.”
“Did you send pictures to him?” Deja asked.
“Yes,” Melda replied with a nod. “I sent him several. I…” She could feel herself blushing again. “I sent some that I probably shouldn’t have.”
“You did not send naked pictures to a stranger!” Skye yelled.
“No, I’m not that stupid,” Melda stated. “But I did send a few in my bikini, and I sent one of me when I first woke up in the morning.”
“Why would you send that?” Deja probed.
Melda shrugged. “He sent me a poem about how he dreamed of waking up to me in the morning. It was beautiful,” she sighed, “and I wanted to give him a visual of how it would be.”
“Jesus, I bet he jacked-off to that a few times,” Skye offered with a snort.
“Oh, God,” Melda moaned and put her head in her hands. “What do I do?”
“Meet him,” Deja said. “What have you got to lose?”
“Wait,” Skye admonished. “He could have been lying in his letters. He could be a psychopath for all you know.”
“I really hope not, considering the last letters we exchanged.”
“You wrote naughty letters, didn’t you?” Deja grinned.
“You didn’t!” Skye looked unhappy.
Melda dropped her shoulders and muttered through her fingers. “I might have shared a fantasy which included mine with bits of the ones you two shared.”
Deja laughed while Skye groaned.
“Once again, I say go for it. Meet him,” Deja advised. “You obviously like him. And we did agree to take more chances when they were offered.”
“Shit!” Skye grunted and Melda knew she’d forgotten about their agreement. “Fine. Just be smart. Meet him in a public place. Do lunch, not dinner. That way you have to go back to work. If it feels right, you can always make plans for dinner. If it doesn’t, you’re not trapped for an indefinite amount of time.”
“See, just follow Skye’s rules and you’ll be fine. When is he planning to be here?” Deja asked.
“Tomorrow.”
“How will he get in touch with you? Did you give him your number?” Skye wanted the details.
“I gave him my cell number.” Melda wasn’t going to point out the obvious to her sisters. Davis had her address. It was on the return label of every letter she’d sent him. It was on the envelope of every letter he’d sent to her. She’d never thought of using a mailbox at the post office or her work address or anything along those lines. Her mail came to her house, so why wouldn’t she send her pen pal letters from here?
“Lunch,” Skye stated. “Then call me and let me know how things went and if you’re seeing him again.”
“Me, too,” Deja ordered. “And let me know all the juicy details. I want to read these letters so badly!”
“No,” Melda said with panicked shake of her head. There were definitely things she didn’t want her sisters to read.
“I have to know,” Deja began, “what did he say about your fantasy?”
Melda licked her lips. “He responded with his ultimate fantasy.”
“And what was that?” Skye asked.
“His fantasy was about sharing me with his friends, about the three of them dominating me.”
Deja grinned and held a picture up. “You mean you could get all three of these guys? Trust me, if they know what they’re doing, it will be the best sex of your life.”
“All three of them?” Skye shook her head. “Remember these guys are strangers here, Melda. You don’t really know anything about them.”
“She’s been writing to one of them for eighteen months. I knew my guys for three weeks before we jumped in.” Deja reminded them before turning back to Melda. “I say make the lunch date, feel him out, and make your decisions then and only then. If it feels right, then go for it. If you have even a tad bit of unease, then bolt and call me.”
“Call me,” Skye ordered. “I’m closer.”
“Call both of us,” Deja interjected.
Melda nodded. “I don’t know why I didn’t think about him coming home. He was there, and I was here. It was so easy to just talk to him in a letter and tell him things I’ve never told another guy. I understand why Rance writes letters now. It’s more personal. I even told Davis my real name.”
Skye and Deja shared a look before turning back to Melda. They both knew how she hated her name. Who named their kid after the color of her eyes? The kind of mother who then abandoned her baby that was who. The type of mother who left her child for other people to deal with and walked away.
“All of my letters from him are addressed to Emerald, instead of Melda. I made a point to sign them all Melda, thinking he’d get the hint, but he seems fixated on Emerald. He wrote a poem about my eyes and made my name seem romantic and beautiful.”
“You’re name is beautiful,” Skye said. “We’ve always told you that. Emerald or Melda, you’re still you.”
“You know I only go by Melda,” she reminded her sisters.
“And we’ve always told you that it didn’t matter. It’s just a name, Melda,” Deja reminded her.
They had told her more than once it didn’t matter, but Melda hated Emerald anyway and had gone with the shorter Melda instead. Emerald was the child, abandoned and unloved. Melda was the girl who’d found a family and made a place for herself in the world. Melda was the woman who knew love and wasn’t afraid to be alone because she knew her sisters were just a phone call away. Melda was who she was.
She’d never discussed her feelings about her name with anyone. Her sisters suspected, but they didn’t push her to talk about it. They just understood. You didn’t grow up in the foster care system without a few hang-ups. They were all just lucky none of them had been placed in homes where there had been physical or sexual abuse. They’d each heard or seen how lucky they were to have ended up where they did. And they were even luckier to have all been placed in the same home as preteens. They’d found permanence and family with each other, and though they weren’t related by blood, they were sisters.
“Melda?” Skye called, interrupting Melda’s musing. “You okay, hon?”
Melda nodded. “I’m fine. To be honest, I think I’m a little scared.”
“Then don’t do it!” Skye almost yelled.
“I don’t think she means that kind of scared,” Deja said.
“No, I’m not afraid of meeting him, or at least not that he’ll do anything when we meet. I think I’m afraid that I’ve built such a fantasy around him from his letters, that I might be disappointed when I do meet him. Does that make sense?”
“Absolutely,” Deja agreed. “But you might discover that he’s so much more than you ever imagined. So you just need to decide if it’s worth the risk.”
Skye leaned close and hugged Melda. “You are smart, beautiful, and worthy of love. You’re not your mother, whether you go by Emerald or Melda. You’re uniquely yourself. Any man would be a fool not to realize what a treasure you are. You need to quit avoiding life by burying yourself in your work. Be cautious. Be smart. But put yourself out there, Melda. Live.”
Deja snuggled in to her other side. “We’ll be here if you need us, no matter the day or time.”
“I love you guys,” Melda said, doing her best to hold back the tears that wanted to spill out. No one got her the way her sisters did.
“We love you, too,” Deja said.
“And if the guy turns out to be a creep, I’ll kick his ass all the way back to the Middle East for you,” Skye assured Melda, making her laugh.
“Okay.” Disentangling herself from her sisters, Melda walked over to the bar that separated her kitchen from the rest of the open concept dining/living room combo. She took her phone off the charger and accessed her text messages before she could talk herself out of it.
“I’m asking him to meet me at the diner next to the club,” Melda said. “What time will you be at work tomorrow?”
“I’ll be in to start going over tonight’s receipts by eleven,” Skye answered. “When are you having him meet you?”
“One,” Melda replied. “I have some buildings to inspect tomorrow morning, and I’m not sure if I’ll be back before noon.” Her phone beeped, and she swiped to see the return message. “He’ll be there. He’s looking forward to finally meeting me face-to-face.”
She put her phone down and looked up at them, revealing all her nerves. “Oh, God. What do I wear?”
“You said you were doing inspections in the morning,” Skye reminded her. “I’m guessing you’ll be in your jeans, t-shirt, and boots. I’d lose the tool belt though. Not sure if the look will be sexy on you.”
Deja laughed while Melda shook her head.
“Take something with you and change at the office if you have time,” Deja said. “I know exactly what you should wear!”
Melda and Skye followed Deja down the hallway to Melda’s bedroom. Deja headed straight to the large walk-in closet Melda had converted from a smaller bedroom. She’d made lots of improvements on her house since she’d bought it three years ago. She’d made several connections as a property manager and had learned a lot along the way. She loved working on her house.
“This!” Deja cried out with delight as she pulled a short baby-doll style dress out of Melda’s closet. “I haven’t seen you wear it since you bought it. It’s beautiful, and the color is perfect for you.”
It was white with deep green vines tracing up the skirt, over her breasts, and then turned into the spaghetti straps that held the dress on her shoulders. She had a short sweater in the same green shade as the vines that hit just at her boobs and actually had long sleeves for contrast. It was cute and casual. Flirty and fun. It drew attention to her busty upper curves as well as accenting how toned her legs were. She had the perfect heels to wear with it that would add a couple of inches to her 5’4” frame.
“He won’t be able to keep his eyes off of you,” Deja swore.
“You’ll be lucky if he can keep his hands off you,” Skye offered with a snort. “You’re going to look incredible in that.”
“I’m doing this,” Melda whispered.
“You’re doing this,” Deja agreed with a grin.
“Let me see the shoes,” Skye demanded, getting into the spirit of things.
Melda grabbed the box off the built-in shoe shelves she’d installed. Her sisters oohed and aahed over them.
“Subtle make-up,” Skye advised. “Play up the eyes, accentuate the high cheek bones. Use a gloss on your lips if you remember to grab one. Do you have anything that might make them shimmer?”
“Just my Chapstick.” It was no secret Melda hated lipstick. She had no need for it anyways. Her lips were full and just needed a bit of moisture now and then to keep them soft.
“I have just the thing,” Deja said as she rushed down the hall. She came barreling back with her purse in her hand, head bent as she dug through it. “Aha!” she exclaimed and held something out to Melda.
Skye snatched it first. “That’s a lip plumper. Melda doesn’t need that. She doesn’t want to look like she had bad lip injections.”
“Crap, that’s the wrong one,” Deja muttered and dug in her purse again then pulled another tube out. “This is it.”
“Nice,” Skye said as she took it. She twisted the top and opened it just a bit. “Peaches. Great scent.” She handed it to Melda. “Take this and remember to use it. Chapstick is good for every day, but this is what you want when you meet your Marine. He’ll be thinking about your lips the whole time you have lunch.”
Melda shook her head. “What happened to ‘be myself’? I thought you guys would tell me to just go in my work clothes, and if he liked me, he liked me.”
“That’s always true,” Deja said. “You know how much I love to dress up. But you don’t have to. Take it with you and if you want to wear it, change. If you feel better going in your work clothes, then do.”
“Wear what makes you feel confident and sexy,” Skye told her. “If it’s your work clothes, fine. If it’s not, then slip into whatever makes you feel that way. You’re sexy and beautiful no matter what you wear.” She nodded at the tube of lip-gloss Melda held. “Or what you wear on your lips. I’m sure from looking at that stack of letters you have that he already knows that. Plus, he’s seen you in a bikini.”
“He’s seen her when she first wakes up in the morning wearing nothing but a sheet,” Deja snorted. “Oh, Lord. You were wearing the sheet, weren’t you?”
“I didn’t send any nude pictures and that includes topless ones.”
“Okay, I was just checking. I’ve woken you up enough times to know you sleep naked, so I just thought I’d ask,” Deja admitted.
Melda grinned like a loon. “I’m having lunch with him tomorrow. He’s here.”
“You are, and he is,” Skye agreed.
“I wonder if he brought those friends he wants to share you with along as well,” Deja mused.
“Oh, God.” Melda gulped back her panic. Could she be as ballsy as Deja had been with her doctors if Davis had brought his buddies with him? Deja seemed happier than Melda had ever seen her. Melda felt a pull deep inside as the fantasy she’d wanted to share with him filled her mind.
My ultimate fantasy? I can’t believe I’m sharing this, but what the hell, right? I’m in charge of every aspect of my life, and I wouldn’t change that for anything or anyone. But in the bedroom, or whatever room I happen to find myself in with my fantasy man, I want him in charge. I want to hear him command me, to make demands of me. I want to trust him enough to know he’d never do anything to hurt me and that my pleasure is his. Does that even make sense? Let me explain it this way.
I walk in the room and he’s sitting there, watching me. He commands me to stop and then has me slowly strip naked while he sits and watches, fully clothed. When I’m completely naked, he tells me to come to him. When I’m close enough, he pulls me between his legs and runs his hands over my body, touching and tempting me with nothing more than the caress of his fingers and the promise in his eyes.
He’ll feel how aroused I am, how hot and wet. Then he’ll pull me onto his lap and use his mouth to inflame me further. Sucking, biting, and licking as he kisses every part of me he can reach. Then, when I can barely hold myself together, when I’m so close to coming I feel like I might die with the need, he’ll flip me over his lap so my ass is in the air. He’ll rub it, smoothing his hands over my skin, tracing the curves before he begins spanking me. The heat of every smack will sink in, making my pussy hotter, wetter. He’ll make my ass blush, make it burn before pressing my legs apart and pushing two fingers inside my pussy.