Harrison shakes his head, “She’s too short for modeling and too shrewd to go for acting. What’s she like in bed? Those boobs are real, aren’t they?”
The two of them are incorrigible. Sometimes, it’s like we haven’t moved forward from the high school chatter. “Dude, that’s my girlfriend you’re talking about. Besides, we haven’t f-, I mean, we haven’t been intimate yet. Tess is different. She’s a lady, someone to be loved and cherished. Someone I’m not afraid to introduce to Mom and Dad, or to business associates. A young woman without an agenda. She has her own dreams and ambitions, and doesn’t have to ride on my coattails or share in my glory to get it.”
That shuts them up, but not for long. “Franklin is being close-mouthed about it too, Roscoe,” Mitch says. “I bet there’s some mystery about the girl, something you’re not telling us. It’s not natural to not want to fuck someone who looks like that, and as much as it hurts me to say it, it’s not natural for a woman to turn down the chance to fuck you too!”
All this speculation about my sex drive makes me crack. “Okay! You got me. I confess. I want to and it’s driving me insane not to, but she won’t allow it. This is officially the longest I’ve gone without sex.” My hand runs through my hair. “But sometimes, it’s worth making a sacrifice when you meet someone you really care about.”
Mitch and Harry shake their heads. “Better get a bottle of one of those silicone lubes that never get sticky or dry out. They are the best for masturbating.”
My brothers get into an argument about the safety of using silicone lubes externally and internally and I’m just relieved they’ve quit their interrogation. I don’t blame them for asking the questions, though.
When Tess comes into the dining room in her pretty little sun dress, my mouth nearly drops open. She has gorgeous legs. The way the sun has caught her cheekbones makes her look fresh and younger than her twenty-four years. She seems shy at the table and I give her hand a squeeze. Showing her affection comes naturally to me. I wonder how she feels about it. After lunch, Franklin pulls me aside and tells me to meet him in the conference room because Mr. Ishida wants to go over paperwork. This is good news. I noticed during the lunch that Ishida-san’s lawyer wasn’t joining in the toasts. This means we can discuss business through our steady and sober lawyers. I’m sticking to orange juice. If I have another dream like the one I experienced after last week’s drinking session, I might sleepwalk down the spiral staircase and try to do it for real.
Tess keeps up a conversation with my mother, stopping every now and again to ask Mr. Ishida about the best way to eat the Japanese food we are serving. In this way, everyone at the table learns that it is considered an abomination to wear a heavy, overpowering perfume when eating sushi, that it’s best to start with light, white fish and move on to the heavier, oilier ones, and to dip the sushi fish-side down into the soy sauce so that the rice grains don’t fall in—something to do with rice grains resembling tears when they float in the soy sauce.
Mitch teases Harrison, “You should go lighter on the aftershave, Harry. You’re an abomination to sushi.” Honestly, I haven’t had this much fun at a family business lunch for a long time. I get a warm feeling every time I look around the room, it feels complete. I can’t suppress this vague feeling of superiority. I have a girlfriend and my brothers don’t. Maybe it’s juvenile, but it's the truth. We all agree to have the meeting and then everyone can rest in their cabins until it’s dark enough for the fireworks to start.
* * *
I go into my cabin suite and find Tess inside, waiting for me, lying on the bed. She’s unzipped the top part of her dress down and I can see the faint trace of suntan on her back. “I hope you don’t mind?” She gives me that beautiful smile of hers, “One of the deck crew showed me in here. How did it go?”
I pull my sweater over my head, step out of my pants, and join her on the bed. She drops the magazine she’s reading and looks closer at my boxers. “Roscoe, is that a flying pig logo on your underwear?”
The way she’s distracted by my Nice Laundry underwear makes me laugh. “Yeah, feel the weave of the cashmere. It’ll blow your mind how soft it is.” She rubs the cashmere between her fingers, closes her eyes, and gives an orgasmic moan of pleasure. “It’s divine. So soft and fine.”
“The pig’s twenty-four carat gold embroidery—” She interrupts me after turning the hem over. “And hand stitched. Oh my God, Roscoe. This is amazing!” Her hand slides off my thigh. “What was I saying?” She pauses, “Oh yes, how did it go in the conference room?”
We discuss the deal that’s currently on the table. Tess pats the pillow next to her and it makes sense for her to lay with her head on my arm as I tell her about which Southeast Asian countries have the best golf courses. The yacht rocks softly as the captain finds the best GPS where we can drop anchor to watch the fireworks and then shuts the engine off. I’ve never felt this close to a woman in my life before. When I hear her breathing slow as she falls asleep, I feel my body relax and go into sync with hers.
I wake up a few hours later and lean on my arm. Tess looks so peaceful. Stirring, she wakes up slowly. The faint aroma of oranges and vanilla rises up from her skin, but that’s not the reason why I want to lick her and taste her. Who am I kidding? I want to eat this delicious woman out. The skirt of her dress has risen up and clefted between her legs, I can’t resist reaching my hand around and cupping her peachy ass. She stirs and moans, a small smile on her face as she pushes back slightly. I slide my fingers into the crack between her thighs, and massage the soft flesh. Her eyes open, and I can tell from the way she looks at me that her dreams and reality are melding together. Before she can snap back to reality, Tess rocks against my hand instinctively, rubbing her pussy on my fingers. Then she’s awake for real. Her big blue eyes go wide, but it’s not with shock. For one perfect moment, I get the impression that she wants me as much as I want her, but she just doesn’t want to muddy the waters of an already complicated relationship.
She stretches like a cat and gives my hand in between her thighs a little squeeze with the muscles before turning away. “You’re a naughty boy, you know that, Roscoe?” God, I love it when she tells me off like that. No other woman would dare to treat me like a disobedient schoolboy. If I thought I was hard before, I’m rock-hard and throbbing now. She can see how much I want her under the cashmere boxer shorts, but this is not the right time or the right place.
The cabin door slides open a few minutes later, just as I’m finishing getting ready. Mitch sticks his head inside and says, “Oh, great, you’re up. Harry and I are leaving. The Ishida guys, and Mom and Dad, are all asleep. Will you tell them we said goodbye? I spoke to Franklin and he says you got this. Congratulations on sealing the deal. We’re taking the speed boat back to the island.”
“I still haven’t ironed out the figures,” I growl at him, “so don’t go celebrating yet.” Mitch waves and disappears.
“Well I guess that’s my cue to go too. Your father’s masseur told me he’ll give me a massage on the mid-deck after my nap,” Tess says, “so I think I’ll make my way across there now.”
She fluffs out her hair where the sweat has made it stick to her back and neck, gives me one last smile, and leaves. Now I’m all alone with my thoughts of all the things I want to do with her. To her. The touch of her warm pussy when I slid my hand between her thighs is embedded in my mind. My cock is already leaping when I lower the band of my shorts down. I wrap my hand around my shaft and start to stroke myself. I’ve never been this rampant before in my life. I know it won’t take long to sort myself out. A few more strokes and I have to force myself to stay silent when I come, her name trying to rip free and make itself heard. Sounds gradually filter back into my consciousness as my orgasm subsides. I still want her, but coming has taken off the edge a bit. Tess Jolliffe has my own Independence Day fireworks happening inside my pants. Tonight should be interesting.
When I join the family on the mid-deck, I see that my mom has lent Tess one of her robes to put on after the massage is finished. I watch mesmerized as my father’s masseur rubs her back with oil. Tess has gone back to sleep on the massage table; the corners of her mouth tilt up and her eyelashes flutter. Mom and I discuss wedding plans, but I don’t take my gaze away from what’s happening on the massage table, because in my mind, it’s me stroking the back of her legs and pressing my thumbs into the soles of her pretty little feet. I notice she has natural toenails, and it makes me realize how little effort Tess has to make to be so intensely desirable.
“So, I was thinking maybe Bali for the honeymoon with a stopover in London…” my mother rambles on about her dream wedding—the bridal arrangements she has always dreamed of organizing for a daughter who was never born— “…and you can choose an apartment to live in London while you’re there, or maybe Tess wants a country estate? There are so many manor houses on the market in England, because of the crash in oh-eight. Get one now before they are all developed into spas by the health and wellness sector. I think some of them even come with a title attached to the demesne…Lord and Lady Roscoe Bridges has a nice ring to it.”
I watch as Tess gives a purring moan and thanks the masseur, for taking her to heaven and back. If Steve wasn’t happily married and heading for his sixties, I might be jealous. My possessive instincts have never been this sharp before. Tess turns her head to look at me. My mom is busy on her phone searching for wedding planners—apparently, you have to book the best ones two years in advance.
“I should have brought an overnight bag,” Tess whispers in her husky voice. “The last thing I feel like doing is heading back to RB1 when the fireworks are over.”
She turns over and the towel gives me a glimpse of her breasts before she pulls it under her arms. I’m off the sun lounger like a flash. “I’ll tell one of the staff to make up our cabin in case we feel like staying aboard.”
That gets her attention. “But…we were only meant to take the yacht out for the evening. Won’t they be upset they have to stay over?”
My mom gives a little laugh from her lounger. “Tess, all the staff are full-time crew. You and Roscoe could stay here for the rest of the summer if you wanted to. Hey, how about a nautical bridal theme? That’s sure to get us a feature in Bridal magazine!”
CHAPTER14
TESS