Business or Pleasure?

"It's my son. Damn... I forgot, I told him we could talk now."

"Take it," she said, and picked up her scotch to take a sip.

I answered Kevin's call, and as we were greeting each other, Deni kissed me on the forehead, grabbed her jacket and coolly walked out the door.  

Chapter Five

"Sorry, did I interrupt something," my son Kevin, asked, in all sincerity.

"Er.. No, not really. A colleague was just leaving," I said, a half-truth, of course. "How's Christina?"

"Oh, she's good. Getting really big." My daughter-in-law was eight months pregnant, and I knew the anticipation was building. A happy time for the junior Hallorans, but an anxious time, too.

"You still going to the birthing classes?"

"Yeah. Last one is next Tuesday. It's beginning to feel real to us. You said you're travelling? Where?"

"We're in Dallas," I said, and immediately regretted the "we."

"Who's we?"

"Oh, me and an account supervisor from Jack Morse's firm."

"Oh, yeah, you said you were introducing his firm to Jorgensen's people. Why didn't Jack come, though?"

"I think he felt his team leader would be better suited for this." I don't know what made me go there, but I suddenly had this need to tell Kevin about Deni. "You haven't met his new team leader, but she had them eating out of her hand today."

"Oh, who's that?"

"Her name is Mthandeni Mdimba, but we all call her Deni. She just moved here from South Africa. A great choice for this account. A real sweetheart. The men in the room couldn't take their eyes off her. Even old Ken Jorgensen was charmed by her. And she really knows her stuff, she put together a great plan for them." It all came flowing out, and I realized just a bit late than I had showed my hand, to my very perceptive son.

"Sounds like Dad is charmed by her, too," Kevin said with a little laugh.

"Well, honestly, I wanted to talk to you about ..."

"Dad, are you seeing her?"

"Well, we aren't exactly dating yet, but, we went to dinner once and...Why? Do you have a problem with me dating?"

"It doesn't really matter, does it? It's an adjustment, is all. I have no right to tell you what to do."

"No you don't, but I do care what you guys think. You know part of me feels like it's really disloyal to your mother. But, I don't know, Kev. I'm really attracted to her..."

"Tommy and I have talked about this. I mean we knew you'd start dating again. I just don't know that I'm ready to have a stepmother in my life now."

"Deni would never try to take your mother's place, with you or me."

"It will be fine."

"Doesn't sound like you're fine with it."

"Dad, I'm just having a real hard time with this whole idea of you replacing mom with someone else. I still can't believe she's gone, and now there's going to be someone else with you, it's like... I don't know... makes it harder somehow," Kevin's voice broke, just a little, and I knew this was a very emotional topic for him.

"First off," I said gently. "I'm not replacing your mother, not at all. No one can replace her with me, Kev, you know that. But I not going to live the rest of my life alone, mourning your mother. Kev, I'm still pretty young, and I have a lot of good years left. I might want to share them with someone. I'm not saying Deni is that person, I don't know, but I like her, and need to find out."

"How old is she?"

"I don't know, exactly, but mid-thirties I would guess."

"Jeez, Dad, she's closer to my age than yours"

"Does that matter to you?"

"Well, it'll be awkward as hell when we meet. You said she's from South Africa? Is she black?"

"Yes. That's not an issue, is it?"

"No, of course not. I'll just have to tell my friends that my dad is dating this hot young black woman half his age... "

"What makes you think she's hot?"

Kevin laughed, which cut the tension a little bit. "Because I know you. Mom was beautiful and I can't imagine you with someone who isn't. I'm right, aren't I?"

"Yes, she is definitely hot."

"See..."

We changed subjects and talked for a few more minutes about his work, his life in Boston, and he and Christina's preparations for the baby.

"Are you coming when the baby's born," he asked. I knew it was important to him, and I wouldn't disappoint, but at the same time he had no idea how much his life was going to change overnight.

"How about I come after Christina's mom leaves?" I asked. "You guys are going to be overwhelmed."

"Ok, if you say so. I just will want you to meet the baby."

"Don't worry, Kev..." Just then there was a knock at the door. "Excuse me, someone is at the door."

It was Deni, back in shorts and a t-shirt, with a bottle of red wine and two glasses.

"Er, I need to go."

"So is that Deni?" Kevin asked.

"Yes."

"Dad are you...No, never mind, none of my business. Listen, don't worry about Tommy and me. We'll adjust. But don't expect us to welcome her with open arms just yet. It's too hard."

"Ok, Kev, that's a deal. Love you."

"Love you too, Dad."

Deni set the bottle and glasses down on the sideboard in the living room of my suite, and came back and put her arms around my neck. She had a quizzical expression on her face, but didn't ask.

"I told Kevin about you. He said he's not ready for a stepmother," I laughed a little at that image.

"Ok," she said. "I'm not ready to be a stepmother, either. But, more importantly, are you ok with this? You said you were concerned about your sons' approval. I don't want to..."

I put my finger to her lips. "We'll sort this out. This is between me and Kevin and Tommy. It's a process - I can't expect them to be overjoyed about this. If it gets to the point of you meeting them, we'll worry about it then."

Arms around my neck, she leaned back to get a better look at my face, then treated me to a big smile. "Ok. I can accept that."

With that, I kissed her again, and ran my hand up her back under the T shirt, as she rubbed my renewed erection though my suit pants.

"No fair that I'm all dressed down and you're still business formal," she said, as she worked to unknot my tie and unbutton my shirt. As she worked on my tie, I leaned over and kissed her neck, just behind her ear, and began to work my way down to her shoulder. As I kissed her neck, I could hear a sharp intake of breath as I hit a particularly sensitive spot, and she sped up her work on my shirt, pushing it back over my shoulders, then hitting a speed bump at the cufflinks. She cleared that obstacle and my shirt drifted to the floor as she tried to figure out how to get my watch off.

"Just squeeze the catch on the bottom."

"Oh, right here?" She pinched it, and slid it over my hand. "Jeez... this thing weighs a ton."

As she was working on my cufflinks and watch, I worked on unclasping her bra under her T shirt, then raising them both up over her head and arms. They joined my shirt on the floor as I pulled a half-naked Deni to me and for just a minute, we enjoyed the contact of her skin against mine.

Her shorts were loose around her waist, and with no belt, I was able to just push them down, leaving Deni standing there in just her panties. She kicked her shorts away and her hands went to my belt buckle, then to the button, clasp and then inside button on my suit trousers.

"Why do they make these damn things so hard to get into?" Deni asked, laughing. But in a moment she had them around my ankles and I was the one kicking off my shoes and stepping out of my pants. Her arms went back around my neck and we kissed again, playfully, nibbling on each other's lips, tongues exploring. My hands were on Deni's ass, fingers exploring under her panties, gripping her cheeks and squeezing as I pulled her to me. Deni started kissing down my neck, then over my chest hooking her thumbs into my boxers, pulling them down as she went. In a heartbeat, she had my very hard cock in her hands, licking it, kissing and taking it in her mouth in one smooth motion. Once there she barely moved her mouth at all, but her tongue was in constant motion, swirling around the head, then the shaft, then the head again. In a minute of this, she had me so close, I thought I would explode. I reached down and grabbed her under her arms and pulled her back up.

"You don't like?"

"I like too much. I want to make this last."

"Umm... me too." She kissed me again, and grabbed my hand to lead me to the bedroom. Just then, my phone dinged with an incoming text. She rolled her eyes a little as I retrieved my pants from the floor and pulled out my phone.

The text was from Tommy, typical for him, short and to the point. "Talked to Kev. Go for it. Love you."

I showed it to Deni. "From my son Tommy."

She read it and laughed. "I'm going to like him."

Deni stretched out on the bed, and I joined her, stopping to pull off her panties, before laying down next to her so we could wrap our bodies around each other. Her hands were all over me, running up my back, and down my legs, over my ass, whereas I focused mostly on her breasts.

"I told you I like to touch," she said, with what had to be the sultriest smile I've ever seen.

"Umm... me too." I kissed her again, and started to work my way down her neck to her shoulder, and eventually to left breast. I licked and kissed it thoroughly, before sucking an enlarged nipple into my mouth and causing another sharp intake of breath.

She had put one leg up over mine, so her very wet pussy was rubbing against my leg with increasing urgency. I got the message, and worked my way lower, kissing and licking her taut abdomen and down to her pelvis. I kissed and nibbled on the inside of her thighs, only brushing against her pussy occasionally. I grabbed her legs, and rolled her over and started again lower, this time at the back of her knees, licking and kissing up the inside of her thighs until I got to the crease between her buttocks and her leg, which my tongue followed all the way to her soaking wet sex. Then I tasted her for the first time, licking her labia and that little patch of skin between her labia and her thigh. I flipped her over, and took each labia into my mouth in turn, sucking on it, licking it and just lightly nibbling on it. When I judged it was time, I let my tongue follow her wetness up to her clit, which I took into my mouth and sucked on it.

Deni's first orgasm was almost immediate, with a low almost animalistic growl, she came and bucked on my face until I had to pull back or get hurt.

"Oh my God, Ohh... Ohh...Ohh." I laughed a little, and she cracked her eyes open enough to see me laughing, and couldn't help joining, even as she had these little convulsions that made her jerk, two, three or four times. As soon as she settled down, I went back to kissing, licking and getting her worked up again, and she could hardly believe it.

"Damn not again, Collin, Oh... oh .. right there, Oh my GOD! That feels so good. I can't believe you're doing this to ... Oh... Oh God!" she came again, and while it was a fraction of the intensity of her first orgasm, it rolled over her for at least a minute of intense pleasure.

"Jesus Collin, I've never come like that.. Fuck..."

"Is that the very proper Mthandeni Mdimba using the 'F' word?"

"Goddamn Collin, yes, I was saying 'Fuck'." She almost yelled that last part, which made me smile so much. She had curled up in a little ball at this point, facing away from me. I crawled up beside her and put my arms around her, and pulled her tight. In a couple of minutes, she rolled over to face me, arms around my neck kissing me."

"Oh, you wonderful man," she said between kisses. "Wherever did you learn to do that?"

"It sort of comes naturally."

"Not to anyone else I've ever known."

"Maybe it's based on experience, you know, older and wiser," I said. "You know you're not so bad in that department either... I almost lost it out there in the sitting room."

"Let's see how long it takes you to lose it now..." She started working her way down to my neglected cock, playing with the hair on my chest, and giving me little kisses here and there. Meanwhile, I just admired her outrageously sex body. Long toned legs, a full ass and wide hips narrowing to a slim waist, toned belly and beautiful, round, firm breasts, which I refused to let go of.

This time Deni started with my testicles, gently licking and sucking on each one, gradually licking from my scrotum up to the base of my cock multiple times, until I was out of my mind with tension, waiting for her to get to my cock. I put my own hand on it at one point, but Deni slapped it off, as if to tell me that it was payback time. When she finally did get to my cock, she licked the length of it once, and when I thought she was about to put it in her mouth, she kept going and planted a kiss on my navel. I groaned when she did that, and it elicited a little giggle from her. She clearly enjoyed tormenting me. And instead of going back to where she had interrupted herself, Deni worked back up, eventually kissing me sensually for a long minute then kept going until her breasts were in my face. The torture she was giving me might kill me, but, oh, what a way to go.

I lavished attention on her breasts as she suspended them over my face, both with my mouth and my hands, licking, squeezing, sucking, biting, pinching, all gently and lovingly. I was in heaven...I adore being able to please a woman in this way, and the fact that Deni was reveling in it also was just another sign of our compatibility. By now, Deni was straddling me, and as I played with her breasts, her wetness was just teasing the top of my cock.

I broke away for a moment to take a breath and looked up at her face, where I saw a passionate woman, enjoying herself immensely.

"You know you're torturing me, right?"

She laughed out loud. "What is the torture? This?" She rubbed herself on me more aggressively, and the head of my cock just barely pierced her opening once or twice. "Poor baby," she teased, "Are you all frustrated?"

At that moment, though, she pushed back and down, and in a heartbeat I was completely inside her.

"Jesus, Deni, that's incredible."

"You like?" Her hands were on my chest as she leaned back on her haunches and ground into my pelvic bone. "Do you like back and forth, or up and down?" She kindly demonstrated each technique.

"God, either... whatever you want."

"Well if I do it this way," she demonstrated the back and forth again. "I might just come again before you do."

"That would be OK with me. I'd love to know what it feels like inside you when you come."

"Really?" She started with the back and forth motion in earnest now, grinding her clit into my pelvic bone on each motion. I decided then that it was a race - not of who could come first, but of who could hold out the longest. I was determined to win.

I put my hands on her hip bones to help her motion, and push down to grind her clit harder into me. And I pushed up with my hips at the same time, so that now the contact was almost continuous. But at the same time, she made each motion longer, so that on the back stroke, my cock almost left her pussy, and buried itself again as she came forward.

Deni's face was a portrait of concentration. Her head was bent over, and her hair framed her face so beautifully, her eyes closed, mouth open, expressions of pleasure paying out over her face on every stroke. I was watching her as I began to tense, and I could tell she was close as well. When she came again, her head shot straight up, almost like she was howling at the moon.

We came together in the most intense pleasure I had known in a very long time. Deni seemed to be having little convulsions, twitching almost uncontrollably, then collapsed onto my chest, her head on my shoulder, arms around me. My arms went around her, too, and held her so tightly, as if I might lose her when this moment ended. My mind, to the extent it was working at all, was a tumble of emotions. I wanted to say "I love you" in the worst way, and in that moment, I think I did love her. But I knew there was a long way to go before what Deni and I had could really be called love, and we might never get there. I also didn't want to spook her, nor was I completely ready to lay to rest my mourning for Amy. All of those things, tumbled together, confused and confusing. So, I said nothing, but held her more tightly.

Deni eventually rolled off me, and lay by my side, both of us spent completely, and content to lay together, holding each other. I couldn't keep my hands off her, running a hand down her back and over her ass, then further down her thigh, which she had pulled up and laid across mine. My other hand played with her hair, moving it where it was plastered to her face with sweat, petting it to admire its softness and resilience. When we had recovered just a little, I sought out her mouth and we kissed deeply, the urgency gone; replaced by a kind of intimacy I knew at once had been absent from my life for too long.

We may have dozed off, in the most pleasant cat nap ever. When I had recovered enough to stir, I went into the bathroom to grab a couple of towels and tossed one to Deni while I dried off and cleaned up with the other one. I grabbed the bottle of wine Deni had brought in, along with the glasses and a corkscrew off the bar and popped it open, pouring a glass for each of us. Then, I flicked on the Bluetooth speaker I always packed, and pulled up the satellite radio app on my phone, and treated us to a little Brahms.

"What is this? It's lovely," Deni asked.

"Brahms, the ultimate Romantic," I answered. "He was, you know... a hopeless romantic in his personal life. He fell madly in love with Clara Schumann, the wife of his mentor, Robert Schumann. Most people think that it was never consummated, but they lived together for more than two years, while her husband was dying of syphilis. He had no self-confidence, Brahms. He would work and rework his pieces sometimes dozens of times before he would send them off to Clara for her opinion. If she didn't like a piece, he destroyed it.

"She was a great musician in her own right, a world-renowned pianist, but she could never be a composer - that was men's work. They met when he was 20 and she was 37. Age never got between them, apparently."

While I was telling her this, I was lying next to her, kissing her between her shoulder blades as she lay face down on the bed, and running my hand over her utterly spectacular ass, which I could look at all day.

She rolled over to face me.

"I told you, age is just a number," she said. "I don't want to have babies with you, so I don't think it matters at all."

When Deni mentioned babies, I had this moment of panic.

"Jesus, Deni, I never even asked you about birth control... "

Deni laughed at me. "Why do you think I went back to my room? I'm not so irresponsible to just leave it to chance. I went back to my room to change and put in my diaphragm. I told you, I don't want to have babies with you."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. I still feel like I should have at least asked. I'm a little out of practice."

"You're so funny," she said. "Nothing kills the moment faster than talking about birth control. That's why I was prepared."

I took that in for a minute, but then it dawned on me.

"Why did you pack a diaphragm?"

"The honest answer is that I don't know. I mean, when I was packing it, I was thinking about you. But it's not like I decided to have sex with you - nothing so definite as that. Honestly, this whole thing has taken me by surprise. But, how can I deny it? The electricity between us is always there. It was there at the bagel shop three weeks ago. It was there at Vito's. It was there on the plane. Surely, you must have felt it?"

"I felt it, for sure, but honestly, I thought it was one-sided. Just my fantasy about a woman who was unattainable."