She rolled it around seeing a small golden clasp in the center just above the equator. She unfastened the lock and opened the sphere. Resting on a soft satiny cushion was a note.
I’ll give you the world, J.T.
She had no idea what to make of it until she remembered her last words to him.
Juliet dialed the number. It rang once.
No.
She disconnected before he could answer. She was losing control. She quickly placed the note back in the orb, placed the orb in the box then put the box in the nightstand drawer beside her bed. She needed air. The suffocating feeling of love surrounded her. She needed to walk.
A rush of warm air hit her as soon as she opened the front door. She inhaled deeply letting the fresh air fill her lungs. She walked to the end of her brick path. The streets were empty. She looked up at the threatening sky. A light drizzle of rain. Perfect, she needed the rain to wash away the feelings she had. She headed toward the waterfront.
This was getting too personal and she was losing herself to an emotion she couldn’t afford and couldn’t control. J.T. had stirred something inside of her that was taking over of her and weakening her concentration.
Her last performance, she had danced the best she had danced in months. The freedom she felt on stage was like nothing she’d ever experience. After hearing his voice she stepped out on stage and became one with the music. Her body flowed and moved in a fluid perfection. She was flawless, energized, composed and in complete control of the audience. She had rarely felt anything as perfect.
Juliet stood at the dock and watched the night sky. Gray clouds thickened and the rumble of thunder hummed in the distance. It was late, too late to be out. But she needed to walk. The crowds were gone and a heavy drizzle began to fall. Leaning over the wooden rail, she looked into the blackness of the Potomac River as raindrops caused tiny drops to grow into giant ripples.
It was exactly how J.T. had grown and affected her life. One moment in time ten months ago had forever changed something inside of her. She knew it even then. The moment she touched him she felt the change. The firm strength of his body had left an unyielding ache inside of her, a hunger forever wanting.
She closed her eyes and raised her jacket hood as the rain began to pour. Needing the control, she focused on the end. They always ended, but then none of her relationship had ever been like this one. J.T. was different.
Lost in her dreams she barely heard the phone in her pocket ringing. She answered on the third ring. “Hello.”
“You called.”
She knew his voice instantly as she paused to think. “Yes.” They sank into silence. “I don’t know why.”
“Don’t you?”
“Yeah,” she whispered. She knew exactly why she’d called. It was a moment of weakness, she wanted to see him.
“Where are you?”
“Out, walking,” she said.
“This time of night, where are you exactly, I’ll come get you.”
“No,” she paused still fighting the war inside, “I’ll come to you.” Moments later she looked up at the familiar three-story building. She rang the doorbell. He answered immediately. “Make love to me,” she said as she stood on his stoop in the rain.
J.T. brought her into the living room by the warmth of the gas fireplace and went upstairs to get towels. When he returned Juliet had taken her wet jacket off and was sitting on the floor staring into the fire. He sat down by her side and draped a big fluffy towel around her shoulders. She sat mute as he unclipped her barrette and rested her wet hair on her shoulders.
“What were you doing out walking this time of night?”
She turned to him, “make love to me.”
J.T. saw for the first time the desperate pain in her eyes. “Juliet, what’s wrong, what going on. Tell me, I can help.”
She shook her head. She was confused and angry and frustrated and in love. She was trapped. How could this happen to her. She had always stayed her heart from this. No man had ever gotten to her. She never allowed it, until now.
Her heart had been in jeopardy since the moment she laid eyes on him. She knew the instant it happened, when she woke up in New York alone in the bed they’d shared. The familiar feelings of being left and discarded scared her so much that she needed to get out. She needed to purge the feelings before it was too late.
Now those same feelings had entrapment and confusion her again. It was already too late. She was losing the battle for her independence, for her freedom and for her heart. Love had won but tonight she didn’t care.
“Make love to me,” she repeated again.
“No, not like this,” he tipped her chin and kissed her forehead.
Humiliated, she stood and grabbed her jacket to leave, “not exactly the response I was looking for.”
“Where are you going?” He stood and blocked her path.
“Home,” she said as she continued around him to the front door.
J.T. reached out to her and took her in his arms holding her securely. “I don’t know what you’re going through, but I know it has something to do with me, with us,” he said. “Talk to me Juliet, tell me.”
The love she felt grew stronger as he encircled her in his arms. “Thank you for the world, it’s beautiful,” she said weakly.
He rocked her slowly, “You’re welcome.”
Juliet relaxed into his arms feeling safe and warm and comforted. The loving power of his embrace collapsed a shadow of doubt in her heart. She knew that she had opened her heart to him and he had accepted it willingly. Inwardly she pleaded for the strength to go all the way.
The invisible space between their bodies forged a gentle reminder of the setting around them. The soft music playing in the background, the crackling fire ablaze in the fireplace, the dimmed subdued lighting added to the simmering burn inside of her. “Make love to me,” she muttered into his chest.
She could feel his muscles tighten and retract with restraint, but this wasn’t the night for his celibacy. She needed him and she knew that he wanted her. She offered her body to him. His willpower would have to take the night off. She’d come there tonight for one purpose, and one purpose only. She wanted him inside of her and to feel the closeness of their bodies as he connected with her one last time.
She began to move her body enticingly against him, arousing the desire she knew he felt. Slow and steady in determined action she tempted and teased him drawing his passion to the surface. She nuzzled her face against his chest while her hands stroked the length of his strong, firm arms and back. A low guttural moan rumbled through his chest. She was getting to him like a lit match tossed on gasoline. She intended to ignite his passion.
He dropped his hands to his side and leaned away but she was there to hold him to her. The war of wills had begun and Juliet had no intention of losing this battle. She would have him tonight, all night their last night.
She pulled the knit shirt from the band of his pants and dragged her nails beneath, against his bare back and chest. He moaned again as his eyes closed and as the last of his will-power crumbled, a satisfied smile increased her assault. She lifted the shirt up over his head and pulled it from his body, tossing it on the floor by the sofa.
Bare and beautiful, she reveled in the treasure she had uncovered. She touched his body kneading the firmness and feeling the tremble of strength seething below the surface. His perfectly formed pectorals eased flawlessly into his hard impeccably packed abdomen. The excitement of victory urged her to dare further.
She grabbed the hem of her sport top and pulled the tight elastic band over her head freeing her breasts to him. His chest heaved in full expanse sending air through his lungs prompting his pounding heart to beat faster. He exhaled slowly. He was teetering by the thinnest thread.
“Make love to me J.T.,” she whispered near his ear again.
“Juliet.”
“You want me don’t you?” she asked reached up to draped her hands around his neck. “Don’t you?”
His chest expanded again and a shattered ragged breath sputtered out. Juliet placed her hands on his shoulders and began pulling him down. He resisted at first but the force of her determination overtook his will power. He came to his knees before her.
She gathered his face to her stomach then tipped his head upward resting between her breasts. The silence of the moment was interrupted by promised lyrics of
Reasons.
There were no more love games, no more illusion, only love remained for just one night. Juliet stood still watching, waiting for him to yield. Then she felt it. Slowly his arms encircled her as his eyes opened. She smiled down at him accepting his surrender to their love. She kissed him and the creation of passion began.
J.T. had fought hard against the inevitable. He focused his mind on everything from algorithms to sequencing formats. Nothing worked. Juliet’s pull was too strong. She was too irresistible. Through all his logic and reason, she had reached in and captured his heart. His mind faltered for the first time making him lose the control he had spent a lifetime embracing.
Like lava flowing down a molted peek the flood of passion burned through him in uncontrollable desire. The blinding acceptance of her body was all he felt. He reached for her, holding onto the only person able to satisfy his burning need.
Still kneeling, he pulled her into his arms and gently laid her on the cushioned carpet warmed by the heart of the fire. He ran his hand down her body causing a gasp to escape her open mouth. Juliet arched her back as his hand neared the band of her sweat pants. He dipped his finger inside the rim and pulled the elastic gently tugging the pants down her long legs.
She sat up and unfastened the button on the jeans and pulled the zipper down. He lay back as she helped him remove his jeans. As if for the first time they looked at each other as the glow of the fireplace reflected golden red tones on their bodies. The crackling sound of the fire, the hushed drizzle of the rain outside and the sweet soft sounds of
Phillip Bailey
and
Maurice White
gave them a moment to pause.
He looked up at her as she sat there looking down on him. Her hand absently stroked the length of his chest and stomach. He reached up and stroked the smooth underside of one breast feeling the scant weight cupped in his hand. She was small compared to other woman he’d been with but he’d decided earlier on that she was just the right size for him. To prove the fact he reached behind her and pulled her body toward him bringing her cupful into his waiting mouth.
He suckled the sweetness of her body felling his need with the honeysweet orbs of desire. Tasting one drove his desire for more. He lifted her further across his body and sandwiched both orbs between his hands licking teasing the sweet brown taunt nipples to pointed fullness.
The ache of his torturous tongue caused her to gasp aloud. This was exactly what she wanted and this was exactly what he was going to give her. In erotic spender his actions proved that this would be a night she would never forget.
He angled her body as he sat up bringing her with him. She reached out to her purse and pulling it down from the sofa. She dug through finding a disc shaped packet. She pulled it out and tore it open.
Then she grabbed a sofa pillow and dropped it on the floor behind him. She placed her hand flat on his chest and slowly pushed him back onto the pillow. He yielded and in what was more like an erotic strip tease, Juliet pulled the contents out of the packet and extended it through her fingers.
She dangled it over her body then his body, traced the covering over his pecs then down his chest to the firmness of his stomach. She drifted lower and circled the latex around the small hairs below. A sizzling sound hissed from J.T. as his body instantly twitched with anticipation as she slowly sheathed his hardness.
She was tucked nicely across him until he rolled over positioning her beneath him. Juliet reached up to touch J.T.’s face. It was hot to the touch. She softly scratched her nails down the sides of his neck, shoulder and finally over his chest. She watched as the dull tingle caused J.T.’s jaw muscle to tighten. She reached up again and caressed his neck as he leaned down to kiss her.