STORY EXCERPT

Dominick retraced the steps he and his cousin had taken to get through the maze of brick streets to Garden Street. He smiled when he saw Sally’s light shining from the window. He buzzed apartment 1A.

Buzz! Sally paused the French film on her TV. Sally peeked out her window blinds but saw nobody. She asked into the intercom, “Who is it?”

“It’s me. Dominick.” Dominick waited nervously for her response.

Sally thought it might be Gabriel. “Dominick? Oh, wait just a minute. I’ll be right there.”

Dominick breathed a sigh of relief.

Sally did a whirlwind clean up and looked in the mirror. Crap, she looked disheveled. She brushed her flyaway hairs back into a ponytail before she opened the door for Dominick.

“Hello, Sally. I didn’t have your number, so I hope this is okay. Are you busy tonight?” asked Dominick

“No, I’m just relaxing. You can come in, but my place is tiny,” warned Sally. She was surprised at how fit Dominick looked in his gray T-shirt.

“Great.” Dominick smiled as she let him inside her small apartment. Although smaller than most people’s garages, the apartment’s cottage décor made it cozy. Waverly printed curtains adorned the sole two street-facing windows along with a matching comforter and pillow set on her daybed.

“Um, you can just sit on my daybed with me, if you don’t mind,” said Sally. Since the studio provided nowhere else to sit, Dominick did not protest. Even her TV rested on a dresser in her closet.

“Do you want something to drink? A bottle of water?” asked Sally.

“Sure,” said Dominick. “What are you watching?”

“A French movie,” Sally said as she grabbed a water bottle from her fridge for Dominick, who was staring at the paused scene of the lovers hiding under the house as they listen to the protégé cello teacher play above them.

“Wait. I know this movie. All the Mornings of the World.”

Sally was impressed. “You’ve seen this?”

Dominick nodded. “Oui. It’s a great movie.”

Sally could hardly contain her excitement. She grabbed the controller and motioned to Dominick whether she should hit play. He nodded, and she smiled. She couldn’t believe Dominick sat on her bed watching her favorite French movie with her. “The music is so beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I spent a summer in France and saw this movie in Paris.”

“Really? I dream of going to Paris one day,” said Sally.

“You will love it,” Dominick predicted confidently. Dominick looked into Sally’s amber eyes and then at her soft mouth. He touched the side of her face and leaned in to kiss her tenderly.

Sally couldn’t believe the warm feeling that washed over her entire body as Dominick kissed her. Their soft kiss turned into a passionate yearning to taste each other. Sally parted her lips and let Dominick gently prod his tongue into her mouth and entice her over and over. Sally felt her body tingle with pleasure and wanted Dominick to put his hands all over her but stopped herself. “Dominick, please don’t.”

Dominick hesitantly pulled back.. “Are you okay?” he asked her for reassurance.

Sally nodded. “I just met you. And Gabe is your cousin.”

Dominick nodded. “I know. I feel torn, too. I know you are supposed to be off-limits, but I can’t stop thinking about you. We only just met, and I’m absolutely mad about you. You are so beautiful and smart, Sally.”

Sally felt herself melting with his words. “I don’t want to cause a rift.”

“Listen. Gabriel is my cousin and my best friend. The last thing in this world I would want is to hurt him. But I know he hurt you when he broke up with you. Sally, what I feel for you is real, and I cannot leave without letting you know that. Gabriel is a great guy, but he still wants to live the bachelor life. You need someone you can trust.”

Sally nodded. She could not believe her ears. Dominick knew what she felt and understood her more than she could ever had hoped a man would. “But aren’t you leaving soon?” asked Sally. She knew she sounded confused, but her emotions made her nervous.

“It’s okay, Sally. I am leaving at the end of the week.”

“Oh,” Sally said. She felt her heart drop at the news of Dominick’s upcoming departure. And he wasn’t just going out-of-state. He would leave the country to a world away in South Africa.

Dominick took Sally’s hand in his own and held it. “I don’t want to leave now that I have met you. But I have to go back to my family’s business for a while. I could pay for you to come see me. Would you do that?”

Sally shrugged. “I don’t know, Dominick. Don’t you have a girlfriend back home? What would your parents think of me?”

Dominick squeezed Sally’s hand. “I don’t have a girlfriend, Sally. You can trust me. When I’m not on vacation, I’m very busy. As for my family, they would absolutely love you. Just mention your Harvard brain, and they wouldn’t care if you had missing front teeth.”

Sally smiled. How nice it would be to feel accepted into a man’s family rather than completely rejected.

“Here, let me hold you,” Dominick offered to lay down with Sally. And he held her while Sally drifted to sleep in his arms to the lull of French words and cello music.

ADULT EXCERPT

Over the next several days, Sally wrote with fervor in the mornings so she could spend the rest of the time with Dominick. Dominick treated Sally like royalty and let her decide wherever they went.

They went to the Loews theater downtown and watched a period piece, something Gabriel would never do with her. They rode the Duck tour like tourists. Sally showed Dominick her favorite gilded antique dishes at Devonia on Charles Street. He surprised her with a gold-rimmed teacup and saucer set in light mint green, hand painted with peacock feathers.

She showed him her favorite corners to research in the Boston library, where they laughed at funny titles, much to the chagrin of silent patrons. She took him to a tucked away bakery in Allston where they ate buttery croissants, and they devoured Indian food in Brookline. She liked red curry. He liked yellow. They both disliked the minty green stuff on the Naan bread.

At night, they rented foreign films from the video store on Charles Street, which they watched from her day bed. The last night before he had to leave, they watched Bride and Prejudice, a vibrant Indian version of the Jane Austen classic. Sally loved the Indian actress’s exotic blue eyes and how the actors sang and danced throughout the movie while they kept true to the storyline.

Dominick held Sally as they watched the wedding scene. He caressed her auburn tresses. “I’ve never felt so content,” he told Sally. “I wish I could stay longer in Boston. But my family expects me to return on time and handle their prospects and investments.”

Sensing a familiar feeling, Sally murmured into Dominick’s chest, “I don’t want you to go either, but I understand.” How fast the time had flown by. Dominick had to leave early in the morning, and for the first time in a long time, Sally had not even thought about Gabriel for the past several days.

“I don’t want to leave you, Sally,” declared Dominick, as he kissed the top of her head.

Sally breathed in pure joy and looked up into Dominick’s dark blue eyes. “I’m going to miss you,” she admitted. And they kissed with a fervor that knocked the remote control off the bed. They had only held each other until the early mornings, when Dominick would head back to the Square while she wrote. But tonight would be different. They had to take something more from each other before he left.

“Let me make love to you,” Dominick said to Sally. He had been a gentleman the whole week.

Sally knew she would regret it if she refused him. So she let Dominick slowly remove her black chiffon top one little button at a time. She loved how beautiful his strong hands were, how he touched her so delicately as if she were glass.

Dominick pushed down the little black camisole strap and kissed a little freckle on her shoulder. “You smell like roses, my sweet Sally,” he told her. Sally was so petite, he made sure not to put his full weight on her. Not yet. He cupped one of her breasts, and a rosy nipple popped out over Sally’s black camisole. Dominick suckled it like sweet candy and made Sally moan.

Sally relished the feeling of Dominick’s mouth and his body against hers. She arched her back into him, and he pulled his shirt over his head. She blinked twice to make sure she was seeing his six-pack abs, and she ran her hands over his taut stomach. Dominick smiled in appreciation of her approval and led her hand down to his hard, ready cock.

Sally gasped when she held Dominick’s large cock in her hand. Dominick smiled. A pearl of excitement weeped for her from his cock’s bulbous head.

Surprised that Dominick did not want her to pleasure him first, Sally let him suckle again on her nipples. He kneaded her breasts and kissed her stomach. He licked her navel while she ran her fingers through his hair. Then he pulled off her jean skirt and kissed the moist crotch of her lavender underwear. “Oh, Dominick,” moaned Sally. She yearned to feel his dick inside of her wet cunt.

Dominick spread the crotch of her panties to the side and lapped up the glistening dew of her feminine core. He slowly ate her pussy and licked her like ice cream melting in his mouth. Sally’s hips rose to his attentive mouth as he looked up at her with satisfaction in his eyes.

Dominick took turns licking and sucking on Sally’s nub and inserted a finger into her warm and slick slit. He gently pumped her while enticing her more with his mouth. Sally arched her back from the intense bliss. She had never felt this much pleasure in her entire life. Dominick looked up at her, her head thrown back in euphoria from the waves of bliss building within her.

Just when Sally felt like she might explode, she begged Dominick, “Please. I need you now.”

Dominick responded obediently and pulled off his boxer briefs, He slowly lowered himself atop her. She had already told him that she had put on weight from being on the pill, but he relished her little curves and held her cushy bottom. He looked deeply into her eyes, squeezed her ass and said, “You’re so fucking beautiful.”