Taking Chances (The Chances and Choices Duology - Book 1 of 2 - Contemporary Romance) Read online

  Taking Chances

  by Ann Omasta

  Chapter 1

  “The kiss started softly then slowly built in intensity. His lips were smooth, and his tongue gently grazed mine. I untucked his shirt and eased my hands up his back to his strong, smooth shoulders.”

  I paused to refill our margarita glasses from the pitcher and chuckled at my best friend, Courtney. Her big, blue eyes were wide open and she was leaning so far forward that I feared she might topple over. She was normally the one with the sexy stories, so I was enjoying having one of my own, for once.

  We were seated at our usual table for our Sunday night ritual – tacos and margaritas at Joe’s Bar & Grill. Joe’s was an island-themed restaurant that reminded me of the thatch-roofed eatery where my parents used to take me when we went on our annual trek to the Florida Keys. Even though Joe’s was located in Harbor Shores, Michigan, about as far from the tropics as could be, it was usually teeming with patrons, both locals and tourists.

  Joe let us have the best seats in the house with a fantastic view of the lake, even though we were given “family pricing”. Courtney had been a waitress at the restaurant for over two years, but Joe knew never to schedule her to work on a Sunday night. Our girls’ nights were sacred.

  Courtney grabbed the pitcher from my hand and quickly sloshed more of the frozen concoction into our glasses. “Go on,” she demanded.

  “My fingers were shaking as I unbuttoned his shirt.” Only Courtney knew of my insecurities in the bedroom and the reasoning behind them. She nodded, encouraging me to continue with my play-by-play.

  “I refused to give in to my fears. So, I ran my hands along his flat abs and over his chest as I removed his shirt and tossed it to the floor. As I kissed his neck and nibbled on his ear, he undid the buttons at my shoulder and lowered the top of my dress. That’s when he discovered that I hadn’t been able to wear a bra because of the open back style of my dress. I think he liked that.” I smiled and chuckled, remembering the look of awe in his eyes as he gazed at my ample breasts.

  “I bet he did!” Courtney hooted with laughter. She looked terrific, as usual, with her blond pixie haircut and huge, sky blue eyes. She oozed sexual confidence, but she had admitted to me on more than one occasion that she was totally jealous of my chestiness. My boobs were, in fact, one of my only body parts that I felt were above average.

  “He used just the right amount of pressure as he rubbed his thumbs over my taut nipples. Then he began kissing and licking and nibbling his way down me. My whole body quaked when he suckled on my breast. I ran my fingers through his hair and arched my back toward him as he gently tugged on my nipple with his teeth.”

  “Everything okay tonight, ladies?” Joe asked. Neither of us had seen him approach the table, and we were startled by the interruption.

  “We’re fine.” Courtney snapped the words, causing Joe to hold up his hands in mock surrender, as he made a quick retreat.

  Courtney let out a deep breath as if she’d been holding it. “Geez, Abby, this story is making me horny. I’m going to have to find a hot guy to hook up with and work off some of this sexual tension.”

  I wondered for the hundredth time if Courtney ever wanted a more serious intimate relationship than the booty calls and one night stands that she currently enjoyed. She seemed to be content with her life, so I had never pushed the issue with her.

  “So?” Courtney prompted impatiently.

  “Where was I?” I asked, perplexed.

  “Nipples, teeth, tugging,” she reminded me.

  “Oh, right. His hands glided down my hips and under my silk panties. In one smooth move, he slid my dress and underwear off. I stepped out of them and stood before him wearing only those ridiculous Louboutin heels that you talked me into buying. He seemed to like that view too.”

  “They are fabulous shoes. I’m glad to hear you finally put them to good use. Did you wear them the whole time?”

  I nodded, smiling, before continuing. “I struggled to undo the snap of his jeans as he eased me back on the bed. He lifted one of my legs and rubbed my ankle as he began kissing his way up my calf. He gently rubbed his hands along the inside of my legs. Then those magical thumbs began massaging circles up to the apex of my thighs.”

  I stopped to take a bite. “Damn, don’t stop now!” Courtney commanded. I had already shoveled the food in, so I did a “mouth’s full” motion at her and continued chewing. At her exasperated look, I gulped the bite down and continued.

  “His lips and tongue followed the path that his hands had taken. I became so worked up that I was writhing and brazenly pushing myself up towards him. His head was between my legs as he used his fingers to spread me wide open. He paused for a moment to look up at me with the most gorgeous green eyes I’ve ever seen. He looked directly at me and uttered the words ‘You’re so beautiful.’ I was panting and aching with need as he began to lower his mouth to me.”

  “Uh-huh.” Courtney said, urging me on when I paused.

  “Then the alarm went off.”

  “OMGeeee!” Courtney screeched as she pretended to bang her head on the table. “It was all a dream? You’ve gotta be kidding me. What happened on your blind date?”

  “The date was a dud. He spent the whole evening complaining about his exes, and then he wanted to split the check. I mean split the check down to the penny – as in, I ate more of the appetizer than he did, so should pay for more than half of it.” I rolled my eyes. “He definitely wasn’t the guy of my dreams. Or anyone’s,” I added somewhat contrarily.

  I’m sure my eccentric boss, Annie, had meant well when she set me up with Marcus, telling me that she was sure he’d be the love of my life; but he was clearly not the man for me. “Maybe there isn’t a man that’s right for me,” I grouched.

  “Please tell me you used the battery-operated gadget I bought you to finish off the work that dream-guy started,” Courtney said. She narrowed her eyes at me, assessing, then said, “I can tell you didn’t. You’re too grumpy. There’s nothing wrong with a vibrator, Abby. It can ease some of that tension that’s been building up for way too long.”

  “You mean forever?” I quipped.

  Courtney smiled at me, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She knew how sensitive I was about this subject. After all, how many 28-year-old divorcees had never had an orgasm? I felt like the only one.

  “I can tell where your mind is going, so just stop.” Courtney gave me the look that she uses when she means business. “Don’t go down this path again. There is nothing wrong with you. That two-pump-and-dump bastard who was married to you for two years, but didn’t take the time to learn how to please you is the one who should be feeling bad about himself.”

  I snorted with laughter at the name she had called my ex-husband then started giggling uncontrollably. “You are the one who needs to stop. You’re going to make margarita shoot out of my nose. Where do you come up with this stuff?”

  “I’ve been saving that one, waiting for the perfect time to zing it,” she grinned and lifted her glass to clink with mine.

  Chapter 2

  As I got ready for work the next morning, I was thankful that I had remained coherent enough last night to drink a bottle of water when I got home. Courtney would appreciate me making her have one as a preemptive strike against a hangover as well, even though she was pissy about it at the time. The second pitcher of margaritas may have been a bit much.

  I downed a couple of aspirin and another bottle of water for the slight headache I h
ad. Then I snuck into Courtney’s room and quietly left the same items, along with a piece of buttered cinnamon bread and some orange slices on her bedside table. She looked so peaceful and sweet lying there. It made me wish there was a way for me to make her see in herself all of the wonderful qualities that I saw in her.

  On a whim, I tiptoed through her girly bedroom and went to her en suite bathroom to grab a fuschia lipstick out of her enormous makeup case. I drew a huge heart on her mirror. Inside it, I wrote, “You make everything better.”

  Since it was such a beautiful day, I decided to walk to work. I left the 100-year-old lakeside cottage that Courtney and I shared and headed down the shore side of the sidewalk. The breeze off the lake was a little chilly, but the sun was shining, and the lake was calm. I felt great about leaving those little pick-me-ups for Court.

  She was always quick to say that I had saved her life because when she had arrived in Harbor Shores penniless and alone, I had taken her in and given her a place to stay. I knew the truth, though, was that she is the one who had saved me.

  She had arrived in our quaint town just a few months after my parents’ deaths in that horrific car accident. They had been taken from this world in the prime of their lives, due to a careless drunk driver. I had just left my ex, Larry, after walking in on our real estate agent, Trudy the floozy, sucking his cock in the living room of our condo. We had decided to sell our condo and move out of the city, in hopes of finally starting our family. Instead, I moved alone to Harbor Shores to the cute, lakeside cottage my parents had left me.

  I suppose I should thank Trudy because I had been unhappy in my marriage for a long time. It had never crossed my mind to leave him though, because I felt, as my parents had felt, that marriage is forever. Seeing Trudy on her knees, with her fake tits bolstered up by my couch as she cupped my husband’s balls in her nasty hands with their blood-red, cheap, press-on fingernails, while her bright red lips slid up and down his dick sealed the deal for me on getting a divorce. I couldn’t erase that hideous mental image, no matter how hard I tried to un-see it.

  When I described the scene I had walked in on to Courtney, including the sight of Larry with his head tipped back, mouth agape, looking at me with a glassy, uncaring stare, unwanted tears had started to well in my eyes.

  Courtney patted my knee and said, “Honey, that’s just head-face. They all get it when they’re getting a blow job.” Then she dropped her face into an exact replica of the blank look Larry had given me, and we both whooped with laughter.

  The memory made me smile. The message I had left on Court’s mirror was perfect. She really does make everything better.

  As I walked along the lakeshore, I noticed that tourists were starting to trickle into town. It was mid-April, still early for snowbirds and vacationers, but each year the tourism season seemed to be starting earlier and lasting later into the fall. For a small, quiet town like Harbor Shores, Michigan, that was great news for local businesses, like the trendy shop that had employed me since I moved here.

  As soon as I opened the door to Eck, Meck & Dreck, my wacky boss Annie attacked with questions. “How was it? Did you two hit it off? Was it love at first sight? Are you going out again? Why aren’t you telling me all about it?”

  “I was waiting for you to take a breath.” I smiled at Annie. She looked lovely today with a sunshine yellow scarf tied in her unruly, red curls and a bohemian skirt flowing around her. In typical Annie fashion, she was wearing turquoise Converse high-tops. The combination would not be flattering on most, but somehow she made it work.

  She looked so hopeful that I hated to disappoint her by telling her about my less than stellar date with Marcus. I decided it would be best to rip the bandage off quickly. “It’s a no-go,” I said.

  “Not even one more date?” she tried. To her credit, when I shook my head, she let it drop immediately. “No worries,” she said as she breezed past me. “Plenty of sardines in the can.”

  I chuckled at the motto she had chosen, as unique as Annie herself. Annie had become like a second mother to me when my own mother had passed away. She had been there to help me through the complete devastation of the loss of my parents, and the subsequent crumbling of my marriage in a way that only a mother could.

  She knew that the money from my inheritance made it so that I didn’t need to work for financial reasons. I needed to work for my sanity, though, and she insisted on paying me. On the sly, I set aside almost all of the money I earned from working into a mutual fund for Courtney or Annie, should they ever need it. It felt good to know that the two women I cared most about would never have to worry about monetary problems.

  I began turning on the myriad of twinkle lights that dotted the store as Annie propped the bright purple front door open, jingling the bells on the handle and yelling down the sidewalk, “Chotchkies! Get your one-of–a-kind artsy-fartsy treasures here!”

  As usual, people couldn’t resist Annie’s magnetic charm, and it wasn’t long until the store was bustling with activity. I liked being busy and helping people find the perfect gift for a loved one or a special souvenir. It was terrific getting to see people when they were at their most relaxed and happy.

  I smiled as I watched Annie open a huge cardboard box that contained the new teapot line we would be carrying. The ceramic teapots were animal shapes, and they were beautiful. Annie exclaimed over each one like a child on Christmas morning. “Look at the giraffe! Oh, I think the dolphin is my favorite! Such beautiful colors on this parrot! Oh, Abby, look. The cow has a calf.” She bubbled with uninhibited joy as the crowd that had gathered around her leaned in to see what she would discover next.

  Suddenly, I felt almost overwhelmed with gratitude. Courtney and Annie were two of the most wonderful people on earth, and they were my family now. I was healthy and had a terrific job that I loved. My parents had left me a magnificent cottage within steps of the beach in a beautiful town, which I had been able to escape to after my divorce. I was an incredibly lucky lady.

  The only thing missing was a man in my life, but who needed one of those, anyway? In my brief history with them, they seemed to be far more trouble than they were worth.

  Chapter 3

  The next morning, when I stumbled into my bathroom I found a message scrawled in pretty, light pink lipstick on my mirror. “Say ‘Hi!’ to a cute guy today.” The words were followed by a huge, winking smiley face with long eyelashes.

  Oh, Courtney, I thought, I just came to the conclusion that I don’t need a man. I left the message on my mirror, though, as a reminder to have fun and not take things so seriously.

  Since I had the whole day off, with no special plans, I decided to go for a workout in the park. After a quick shower, I donned my capri yoga pants and a sports tank, then I coated my exposed skin with sunscreen. I knew my mother was smiling down on me for that. She had always insisted on moisturizing and protecting. I pulled my thick, brown hair back into a simple ponytail, skipped makeup (other than cherry Chapstick, of course) and tied my tennis shoes.

  Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I decided that I was a solid six with my glossy, chestnut hair and big brown eyes. I wasn’t going to win any beauty contests, but with make-up and a sexy dress, I could pass for a six-and-a-half, maybe a seven. At least I wouldn’t scare anyone off. “Ready as I’ll ever be,” I said to no one in particular, since Courtney likely wouldn’t roll out of bed until it was time for the lunch shift at Joe’s.

  Buster, one of Courtney’s strays that she was constantly taking in, shifted his head along the floor to watch me go. I told myself that it would be a much better workout without him, but the spotted basset hound had such sweet, sad eyes that I couldn’t resist him.

  “Do you want to go?” ‘Go’ must have been the magic word because he thumped his tail twice and started to maneuver his squat little legs in an attempt to gain enough traction to stand up on the hardwood floor. It was such an operation that I was tempted to go help him, but instead I grabbed the lea
sh and waited for him to join me at the door. Looking at his pudgy little body, I decided that a lack of food was definitely not the problem from Buster’s life before Courtney rescued him.

  I set my iPod to play “Brown Eyed Girl,” which was the song my Dad used to sing to me. As I walked, I relished the memory of him using a toothbrush for a microphone as he serenaded me. Buster and I made our way to the park at Buster’s pace. I found that I liked being forced to slow down a little. It felt like I was always rushing somewhere, even though I didn’t know why I was hurrying. Habit, I guess.

  Almost everyone we passed smiled at Buster. I could see why Courtney had fallen for him so quickly and taken him in. He was cute in a droopy kind of way. Unlike that awful yellow cat, Tabitha, who skittered off or had a hissing fit any time I came near. I think Courtney believed, at first, that I was mean to Tab behind her back. Now that we had become so close, Courtney knew that I would never intentionally harm an animal. That cat just didn’t like me for some reason. She probably just wanted Court all to herself.