Praying for Rain Ch. 02

"My boyfriend... ex-boyfriend... always told me I didn't make enough effort at it."

"Most men are idiots when it comes to make up my dear. What did Darren tell you?"

"He, um, he didn't really say anything specific, but I think he liked me better when I didn't put any at all on yesterday."

"That sounds like Darren and he is one example of why I said 'most men'. I have a booklet with me and a business card that I will leave with you. It has some basic pointers and things to try, but you are more than welcome to contact me to discuss things in more detail."

"Um, that's really nice of you, thank you."

"You are welcome sweetie, and congratulations on your awards, you danced beautifully."

When I heard no response to that I assumed Kelly was blushing or nodding or probably both.

"Oh, she's wonderful Darren," Olivia shouted toward me, "I'm beginning to understand now, but I still don't think you do."

"Mind your own business," I growled at her from behind the partition. As I finished changing I heard the sounds of rummaging in cases and assumed the nails were done and it was time for hair. I came back around from the partition and propped myself in the corner and immediately got a gasp from Kelly. I had on a black suit, pin stripe shirt and a green tie.

"What the hell," said Kelly, "this is supposed to be a lazy, relaxing weekend."

"I don't feel like cooking again, so we're going out to eat tonight. You're also supposed to celebrating as I recall."

"But I didn't bring any..." Kelly started.

"The bag isn't empty yet dear," interrupted Olivia patting her hand.

The hair and makeup took another thirty minutes, but the transformation was stunning. Darren was again reminded of just how good Olivia was at her craft. Kelly's hair, which had some natural waviness to it to begin with, had been curled slightly to amplify the look further and Darren found his hands itching to crawl among those waves. The makeup was exactly what he wanted. Olivia had not done anything too heavy nor anything that would make Kelly appear years older than she was. She simply took what was already there and, again, amplified it with soft, simple highlights and some color in key areas.

"Get the towel," Olivia said when she was done and I obeyed promptly, but she did not immediately turn Kelly around. "Now sweetie, before your big reveal, I want you to understand, I won't be mad if you cry. It'll mess up some things but they're easily fixed and it's the highest form of compliment in my line of work. Are you ready?"

Kelly nodded and Olivia swung her chair around to face the mirror. Her mouth gaped open and the tears were almost immediate. She looked at herself and cried for quite a few minutes before anyone moved or spoke. Eventually as she started to calm down, Olivia gathered up some tissue and started to clean up the areas that would need touching up.

"You don't need that of course," I said from the corner, "but it was done to prove a point, just like the dancing and choreography."

"And that my dear, is why Darren is one of the few good ones out there," Olivia said to Kelly and then she leaned in and whispered something in her ear which caused Kelly to look up and gaze at me intently in the mirror.

"Mind your own business," I scowled at Olivia again. In response she stuck her tongue out at me which caused Kelly to giggle uncontrollably.

The makeup was repaired in short order and I ordered Kelly behind the partition to change. A few seconds later Olivia and I heard a whispered "oh my god," from her.

"There should be matching shoes, a purse, and..." I started.

"Yes, yes, I found them. Did it have to be a thong you letch?"

I remained quiet while Olivia looked at me with one raised eyebrow and a wide grin on her face. When she finally reappeared from behind the partition, both Olivia and myself were suitably impressed. I had gotten her a metallic green cocktail dress that made her shimmer as she moved. It had a low cut v in front and an even lower cut back which served to accentuate her marvelous ass. Kelly walked over to the mirror to see for herself and promptly said "damn, I'm fucking hot" to which we all laughed.

"So the dinner attire meets with your approval then," I asked.

"Yeah, you could say that," she said turning back to us. Kelly came over to Olivia and hugged her suddenly and tightly. "I don't know how to thank you," she said smiling.

"Quite alright," Olivia said, "it was a pleasure to meet you." She turned to me and hugged me and planted a delicate kiss on the end of my nose. "Always a pleasure Darren, dear." She leaned in close and whispered in my ear, "you be careful with that one." I tried to help her with her cases and she immediately slapped away my hands. "Ah, no one touches my gear but me, but thank you for the thought."

After Olivia made her exit I extended my hand to Kelly and escorted her from the room. The building was nearly deserted by the time we left. The only audience to our departure was an elderly janitor that whistled at Kelly on the way out. She frowned at me when I put up the top on the car however.

"I'm not going to be responsible for ruining all that work," I said as I gestured at her hair. "At least, not until I get you back to the cabin," I concluded with a wink. Kelly laughed at that and poked me in the ribs for good measure.

It took another half hour to arrive at the restaurant I had chosen, which was the absolute best, most expensive thing I could find within fifty miles. Kelly was suitably impressed but didn't realize I was showing her off until halfway through dinner. When it dawned on her, she blushed slightly and immediately became more self-conscious.

"Relax," I told her, "you're beautiful and I'm allowed to indulge in a little showing off."

She smiled at me and went back to eating and gradually relaxed over the next few minutes. After dinner was finished and we pondered our dessert choices, she finally decided to talk.

"Ok Mr. Mysterious, I think it's past time I got some information on you. What's your history with dancing? And what's with this 'toy box' Olivia mentioned."

I hesitated a moment mentally cursing Kelly's apparently sharp ears, but decided to start with her first question. "My mother was a professional ballroom dancer, competing, and winning, regularly in her youth. My father was one of her partners, her last actually. They married while still partners and enjoyed several years together, but when my mother became pregnant, they both retired. My father became an instructor while my mother raised me. I grew up with dance and music of course, and they both taught me. I got my dance training from my father and choreography from my mother. When I was fifteen, my father was killed in an auto accident. The life insurance allowed me to go to school and my mother to open a studio. School went well and I was considered quite a talent. After graduating, I was set to join a professional tour with a company out of New York. During the summer, my mother was diagnosed with cancer and she did not tell me. I spent six months on tour and when I came home during a break, I finally found out. The cancer was aggressive and she was already unable to teach at the studio. The medical bills had been piling up and there was nothing left of the money my father had left. I quit immediately and called on a friend to help me start a new company. He had contacts in Hollywood and was a musician that had done scoring for several films. He continued to focus on that, and I worked on choreography. The company grew quickly, thankfully, and I was soon able to cover the medical expenses. But the cancer was relentless, and she died two years after I started the company. Since then we've brought in a partner to handle sound effects and another that handles visual effects. We even have a studio where we do recording for audio books. There are a couple hundred employees across all four divisions."

"You quit. You gave up everything," Kelly said in shock.

"Had to. Dancing, even professional, didn't pay well enough. I tripled my salary in the first year alone. Today I make more than fifty times that thanks to the excesses of Hollywood and our excellent pool of talent. But I hope you don't think it was, or I am, about the money. True, my mother needed it, and I probably could have gone back to dancing after she passed, but my heart wasn't in it by then. I had also come to love the choreography work I was doing for TV and film. My original partner's contacts are why we survived the first few years, but the passion of the people we employee is why we have flourished since then."

"That's quite a story, thank you for sharing it," Kelly said as she laid her hand over top of mine. "And the 'toy box'," she finally asked after a several seconds. I sighed heavily, as this vacation was supposed to be my time away from that.

"I don't want to ruin your weekend now," I said hesitantly. "It's not something many people understand or agree with."

"You couldn't possibly ruin this now," Kelly said with a smile.

"We'll see about that, just remember, I warned you. I enjoy my privacy back in Arizona. When I found a home I liked, I purchased the houses on either side when they became available to avoid the complications of neighbors entirely. One is set up with various equipment for all of the divisions of my company and employees can come and go there at any hour and have sleeping quarters and food on site for extended work sessions outside the normal offices. The other I rent out to women attending ASU, no more than three at most, even though the house could probably support six or seven. But several of the rooms are converted to the artistic pursuits of the tenants and frequently remodeled."

"Ah, toys for the tenants, that's the reason for the name then," she asked.

"Um, no. That's the name the girls gave the place, but not because of the amenities. They consider themselves the toys." I sat silently for several seconds to wait for what I said to sink in. She had a look of confusion on her face at the beginning, but I could see the train of thought playing out in her eyes, and eventually they widened in expected shock.

"They... you... the rent... oh my god... you're a... a pimp or something," she said aghast.

I let some anger show on my face, but it was feigned at best, rehearsed from countless conversations like this with countless other women. "No," I said firmly. "None of them are rented out to other men. None of them are filmed or run web cams or anything porn related."

"Sorry," she said recoiling from my angry tone. "It's just... why would they... I'm not sure I understand." Then I saw the lightbulb come on in her eyes and they widened again.

"They pay you rent... but... not money," she whispered.

"By their own choice and only if they choose," I said evenly. "There's no coercion, no seduction, and they can leave at any time. My first tenant, Deborah... well, I never asked her for payment of any sort... when she insisted on paying what she could, despite being destitute, she had to strip naked in my bedroom before I finally understood what she was asking. She was a law student, she helped draft the first version of my rental agreement and has modified it a couple of times since. No one who stays there is brought in simply for purposes of sex, and food and a place to sleep are not the primary thing offered in the agreement. I find their name of the house distasteful to be honest, but I readily admit that I found the arrangement satisfying in numerous, and I'm sure obvious, ways." I noticed Kelly's hand slip away from mine and I immediately regretted this entire conversation and quietly cursed Olivia mentally.

"Is that what this weekend has been about... are you... I mean... it's one of the schools I'm considering."

"No," I said loudly and banged my fist on the table. The entire restaurant looked at us and she looked down at her lap in embarrassment. "Forgive me," I said to the room in general. "Kelly, please look at me," and thankfully she did. "No, that is not what this weekend has been about. I am not trying to make you choose ASU. I am not trying to get you into my rental house, even though the very thought of it, I am embarrassed to say, excites me greatly. My tenants are almost always limited to those twenty-one years of age or older, juniors and seniors mostly. What I've done here, I did because I wanted to, because I truly enjoyed it and you, and it was done with absolutely zero expectations or strings attached. All of this was scheduled before I even arrived at the lake and I would help you in Arizona no matter where you lived or who you were with."

"Hmmm... it embarrasses you, does it," she said while she was lost in thought.

"That's what you take from everything I just said," I asked as I rolled my eyes at her in frustration.

"Yes," she said simply, "yes it is," and she smiled at me apologetically. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to seem ungrateful..."

"That's not why...," I started angrily.

"And I am sorry for implying you had ulterior motives," she interrupted me impatiently. "I blame my youthful insecurities and a level of pessimism I have no business possessing at my age." She tried to keep a serious face as she said this, but after a silent pause of a few seconds at the end she giggled. Once she started, she couldn't stop, mostly because I continued to scowl at her.

"I don't see what's so funny," I said in puzzlement. This only shifted her from giggling to laughing. It was at this point that the waitress arrived with our desserts. She gave us an amused look and then Kelly gestured to her while she was laughing. It took her several seconds to calm herself enough to whisper in her ear and when she did so, the waitress smiled and immediately departed. When Kelly saw my bewildered look, she returned to giggling again and tried to take bites of her dessert between giggles. She was acting like a complete teenager and I was bewildered as to why. A few minutes later the waitress returned and plopped a familiar drink in front of me. I tried to hide my own grin and Kelly's giggles accelerated.

"What's this," I asked the waitress.

"The young lady requested I bring you this, it's called a 'sex on the beach' sir," and then she turned and left. Kelly exploded into full on laughter and I couldn't stop myself from blushing and laughing along with her. Once again, the entire restaurant turned to gawk at our disturbance.

"Stop it," I scolded Kelly in mock seriousness.

"I can't," she said continuing to laugh.

"You're so immature, I can't take you anywhere," I said chuckling. This of course only served to make her laugh harder. "Be serious, you're embarrassing us," I said laughing along with her.

"Good," she said and put her head on the table to try and quiet her fit of laughter.

Eventually we both calmed down and recovered enough to finish our dessert and pay the bill. As we crossed the parking lot toward the car, Kelly stopped me and pulled me into a passionate kiss.

"Thank you," she said at last and smiled at my look of puzzlement. "Thank you for showing me you can be silly, embarrassed, angry and offended. I was worried you might simply be a robot or something. Thank you for telling me the truth even though you knew I might not like it. And thank you for today," she said more seriously. "Now take me home so I can thank you properly," she said with a wink.

The drive felt longer than it was and even when we got there, I had to unload the car. Then there was the matter of undressing and putting up the evening wear, though I think Kelly was of a mind to simply discard everything to the floor. She stood in the bedroom completely naked while I, also naked, hung clothes and put away shoes. As foreplay went, it was decidedly underwhelming, and yet, it felt intimate and comfortable.

"Think it'll rain again," I said as I turned toward her when I was done.

"Don't care... not waiting to find out," she muttered as she grabbed me and dragged me toward the bed.

"Somebody's eager," I said with a laugh. She made no reply and simply kissed me when I lay down beside her. When I rolled over on my back and pulled her on top of me she looked confused.

"You seem to be in an aggressive mood, so I thought you might like to be in control this time."

"Oh, new position... fun" she giggled as she grabbed my cock that was sticking up in front of her.

"If only I had time, I'd show you as many of them as I could think of," I said as she leaned forward and slid herself partway onto me. She pulled my head up and made me look at her as she impaled herself further onto me. When she sat up, her eyes widened as this drove me a little deeper into her.

"Wow, so um..."

"Just rotate your hips, forward and backward."

She put her hands on my chest and immediately did what I described. She did it slowly and moaned when she found the angle and depth she wanted. I reached up and cupped her breasts and began to fondle them and twist and turn her nipples in my fingers. When she eventually sat back and began smaller motions that only moved a couple of inches of me in and out of her, I let one hand drop and located her clit with my thumb and began to rub it in small circles.

"Oh fuck," she said, "this feels entirely too good." She allowed herself to enjoy it for several minutes but stopped before she could peak. She grabbed my hands and put them at my side and leaned forward so she was looking at me again while continuing the slow gyrations of her hips.

"Would you like it if I was one of the 'toys' in your 'toybox'," she asked breathily.

I closed my eyes and turned my head slightly as I allowed myself to imagine it.

"Look at me," Kelly snapped, immediately dragging me away from the fantasy. "Do you want me there," she asked fiercely.

I let the hunger slip into my eyes again and heatedly said, "yes."

Kelly moaned deeply at my look. "I would do it, just for that look alone, I would surrender myself to you over and over," she sighed. I didn't like where this talk might lead, so I tried to raise a hand then, to pull her hair or grab a hip, but she immediately knocked it away.

"And yet... no," I said at last which caused her to cock her head at me in confusion.

"What," she asked as she stopped riding me and sat back fully imbedding me within her again.

"I could list off half a dozen reasons that go against my current rental agreements... age is just one of them... sex prior to the agreement is another. But none of them matter next to the biggest reason Kelly. I can't let you choose a school based on that, it's wrong and completely against why I do the things I do. While the girls may like to think they pay me in sex, and while they all seem to enjoy it just as much as I do, the sex is not the reason they are there and it is only part of the reason I continue do it."

"Right, you help them in some way," she said as she started to rotate her hips again slowly. "Tell me then. Tell me about Deborah and make me understand."

Holding a conversation while she ground away at me was difficult, but I proceeded anyway. "I first met Deborah outside a club in downtown Phoenix. She was fresh into her drug addiction and had burned all her money for college sustaining her new habit. She had been led into her troubles by running with the wrong crowd, people who were into all manner of illegal activities. Before that, she had been in a relationship with a very abusive young man. She spent more than a few nights in a hospital making excuses for bruises, cuts, and broken bones. Her parents had died a few years before, and in truth that may be what initiated her descent. Outside that club she was at rock bottom. No money, no friends, and no options her drug addled mind could accept. Out of desperation she propositioned man after man leaving the place, and even a couple women, with no takers. She was in tears by the time she got to me. I pretended to accept her offer, took her to the house, and locked her in one of the bedrooms. Then I called a friend who worked at a rehabilitation center and had him come check her out and give me instructions on what to do. I would have taken her to the facility, but he told me they were at capacity, so I kept her there, with his approval and promise to check in daily. Of course I paid him, even though he tried to defer, but it was still less than if she had needed to stay at the facility."