Chapter 57

Selena woke up in almost the same position she had fallen asleep, turned slightly toward Joe, her head nuzzled in the crook of his arm pit. Most nights when she fell asleep nuzzled up to him she was rolled back away by morning. Snoring or just body heat made the position unmanageable. This morning was different though. She glanced up at the clock radio and saw 8:57 while hearing the low sound of music coming from it. At 9:00 the volume would creep up to normal listening levels and by 9:05, if not personally tended to, would squawk an alarm sure to finally get you out of bed.

She inhaled deeply in her contentment and ran a hand over Joe's hairy chest. One deep clearing breath that was supposed to fill her lungs with precious oxygen had a different effect. As the breath passed her sensory receptors the musk of Joe's maleness shook her sexual fiber. She ran a hand over his chest and belly and brought him out of his sleep as he opened his eyes to her stroking his chest and belly.

For a moment she thought of reaching below the sheets and inside his shorts to hold and fondle his penis and maybe even dip her head down to give him a "special" wake-up call, but that would take too much time from a busy morning they had planned.

"Good morning sweetcakes, whatcha doing?"

"Thinking about what a good day this would be to have a sex morning, a naughty passionate sex morning." She said tipping a grin to his eyes.

"Yes me lovely, t'would be a special day fer it." He said in a phony brogue as she fell back to the pillow beside him looking contemplative.

"What? You want to say something, but you're wary of what I might think?" He asked.

"Jeez Joey, you read me like a book. Did Shelley ever tell you about her husband?"

"No, not really and I never pursued it. He was insecure and didn't trust her, but she simply said he was always good to her. That's all I really know, why?"

"Well, I'm really not supposed to go into details with you but he was about 10 years younger than her and he lived with his mother. They met at a San Diego Padres game where they had season tickets near each other. They really clicked as friends and took it to the next level. His mother didn't approve and encouraged him to ask her to marry him, thinking it would scare her off. He was basically living with her and his mother didn't want them "living in sin". They met in April a couple years after her sister died and they got married in September. But, shortly after the World Series the magic was gone. It wasn't until the next spring they began to get along again. Without the baseball they had nothing in common. She stuck it out for 5 years hoping something would happen. She said the last year they were just roommates with his mother constantly sticking her nose in trying to brow beat them into giving her grandchildren. She finally had enough and ended up here in New York."

"Why doesn't she want me to know that?"

"Because you always told her how smart she was and she made all these moves knowing she was not doing the right thing, but did them anyway. She wanted to feel secure and loved; to feel what she threw away with you. The one smart thing she did was protect her trust fund."

"Good Lord, she must know we've all done stupid things for love, or at least what we thought was love; but, if she doesn't want me to know the details, fine. I'll let her tell me someday if she wants to. It's not like it will change my opinion of her." Joe said, basically thinking out loud.

"Well, I bring this up because she iced the cake this week." Selena said rather sheepishly.

"I give up, what do you mean?"

"Joe she told me this never wanting you to know, but I just have to tell you."

"She didn't have my baby, did she?" Joe said in a panic.

"NO, NO NOTHING LIKE THAT! She paid him, and I guess his mother, AND the Diocese of San Diego almost 50 thousand dollars to get an annulment. She has it all in documented that the marriage never happened." Selena told him.

"Holy Fuck was she nuts? That's extortion!"

"There, she knew you would see the financial side of it and flip out, but I think we have to think of the emotional side of it for her. She got rid of her husband, the meddling mother in law and 5 sad years of her life to restart here with a clear conscience. As much money as it is, she can afford it to get her life back, and plus get that ugly incident off the slate. Right now she's so happy with herself and feels so good about it, but she knows you would react this way. I think it closes a door for her and maybe even you too. She's back to the square where you two parted and you're both happy and friends." Selena said taking Joe's hand in hers and looking into his eyes.

Joe exhaled deeply and looked back to her with the kind of understanding she hoped for.

"You're right, and I guess it's really not mine or our business anyway, but I am happy to know she's got that whole thing off her back." Joe said pulling her close. "Did I ever tell you what a smart lady you are too?"

Selena fell into him and kissed him hard and full in the lips but quickly rolled back and bounced up from the bed and grabbed her robe.

"I'm smart enough to know where that was leading and as much as I would like to get sexed up, WE have to get going. I'll get the coffee going and make sure Slim is up. You get in the shower, but give me enough time to run the water for coffee and water to get macaroni started. Then I'll start the dressing for the salads." She said with a determined, but regretful tone.

Regretfully Joe went to the bathroom and began his shave, brush, floss ritual before getting into the shower. As Selena ran water into a large boil pot for her macaroni she buzzed the guest room to awaken. Slim.

"Good morning Darlin', I'm putting coffee on now and we'll share the hot water tank three ways. It's time to get up!" She blared over the speaker in the phone beside Slims bed.

"I'm awake and I'll be out in a few minutes." He lazily answered back.

Slim had been awake and had already called Shelley. He woke up an hour before and couldn't get her off his mind, so he called her. She was already awake as well and admitted to have been thinking about him. They both acknowledged that they saw a fast moving relationship starting and promised each other not to let it get out of hand too quickly.

"To say I haven't thought about you making love to me would be a lie, but I can't let my eagerness for those pleasures ruin the start of our relationship. Please let's get to know each other better before we make that step, if we make that step." Shelley said, speaking frankly.

"If I thought this relationship wouldn't go anywhere I would have made overtures already, but I do think you're special." Slim said in an Indian-English accent that came quite natural if he didn't think about it.

Slim tried to avoid using any accent to give his upbringing away and took diction lessons to speak in a straight up American tongue that made his job go that much smoother. He wasn't thinking about accents or dialects while he talked to Shelley this morning. He used the sound of her voice and the memory of her sexy body to grow another erection that he rubbed and stroked while speaking with her. He may or may not have known that she had her hand in her panties as well as they spoke. Before her shower that morning she would shave herself smooth, once again, in that area really thinking about the prospect of sex with the new man she had met.

They were both aware of the bells and whistles that their meeting had caused. They had each already made promises to themselves not to let a relationship develop based on sex, and they both already knew it would be very hard to avoid. As they spoke that morning Slim made a statement that he wished he could have taken back through the wire as soon as it leaked from his mouth.

"You had me pretty excited last night both mentally and physically."

"Physically?" She questioned, already knowing full well what he meant.

"Ummm... you know - boy meets girl stuff." He responded hoping the subject would go away.

"Do you mean boy who hasn't been with a woman in months meets girl stuff?"

"No Shelley, you would have excited me the same way by meeting you under any condition, really." He said back-pedaling, even though it was a truth.

"Don't you want to get to know me first?" She said half teasing, half fishing.

"Shelley, we're both grown-ups here and you do nothing to hide your sexuality with your provocative dress and..." Slim started in his defense.

"Slim, Calm down, I was teasing you. We're both in the same boat. We just have to take it slow in that way until we get to know each other. As frustrating as that might be, it's the best way. Uh... uh... just so you aren't the only one to admit being excited, if I wasn't attracted to you in other ways, I would have stayed with you last night. We should give this the right chance... I thought about you too." She admitted as they both giggled.

"God, it's so good to feel alive again!" Slim blurted out.

"We'll have fun today, I'm sure. We can spend time getting to know each other and see what comes of it. It's great to feel like a kid again. I have to start getting ready, I promised to make something to bring along. I look to forward to seeing you Slim."

"Same here, see you later."

Slim got up from the bed and threw on a robe to go out and greet Selena and pour coffee. He walked slowly into the kitchen and pulled out a chair to sit.

"Good morning Slim! My, don't you look ready to go back to bed already." Selena said sarcastically.

"Up too late and awake too early, lots on my mind." He said looking wistfully at the coffee brewing.

"Anything you want to talk about?"

"Mmmmm, just don't say anything to Joe. You know... the guy thing with male ego and stuff."

"I understand. Go ahead." She told him as she sat waiting for the coffee to brew.

"Shelley through me for a loop. I called her this morning, having to hear her voice and tell her what she was doing to me. Thankfully she felt the same way." Slim admitted.

"All those feelings in just a few hours? I hope you aren't making rash decisions already." Selena warned.

"No, no, no, we're both well aware that our physical needs can drive the bus into the river. We're just anxious to get to know each other and be sure of a few things before we... " Slim said leaving out the obvious.

"It was pretty obvious that the attraction was more than physical. She's a special person, real astute on money matters and a remarkable study with the market. With the right breaks 15 years ago, she could be me right now. The two of you are a natural to get along, but that doesn't mean a "feelings" relationship will work. Just promise me that you'll think everything through before you make commitments to her feelings, or yours. You already know what heartbreak is, and so does she. I love both of you and so does Joe. We wouldn't have let this happen unless we thought you could handle it, just don't think with the little head, and use the big one."