Two Feet Off The Ground Page 16

  I was a little girl again. I looked through her eyes at a world that seemed so real. I sat beside my mother and watched the clouds below us. How did the plane stay up in the air? Air was light, the plane was heavy. How was it possible? Why didn’t we just drop from the sky? Just as I turned to ask my mother these questions, the plane dropped and my head spun like all the air was being sucked out of it by a shop vac. Suddenly, I landed back in the doctor’s office. I gripped the sides of the recliner and tried to speak, only my voice couldn’t come out. I tried again and couldn’t move my body.

  The doctor mumbled gibberish and placed her hands on my shoulders. She massaged me, slowly thawing me out. Her words started to make sense. “Relax, ghj okdsh. You just need fh relcf.”

  “I can’t understand you,” I said. “Wait, I can speak.” I moved my hands. “I can move.”

  The doctor continued to massage my shoulders. “Go to your safe place.”

  I tried to visualize the shoe racks, but a giant hole opened in the floor and sucked them into it like a giant whirlpool. I bolted up and jumped off the chair. “I need to get out of here.” I raced over to my pocketbook and didn’t even bother to wait for Aziza to follow. I ran down the hallway and out the door into the fresh air. Still buzzing, I climbed into my leather seat and squeezed the steering wheel.

  Aziza jumped in beside me. “Are you all right?”

  “Don’t ever ask me to go back there again. Because I won’t. She’s a witch. I could tell as soon as we walked in something wasn’t right with her. She put me under some weird spell. She freaked me out.”

  “That’s all part of the process. You have to give it a few more sessions. You’re not going to walk in to her office one minute and walk out an hour later cured.”

  “I’m not walking into her office, period.” I started the engine and punched it into drive. “We’ll figure something else out, right?”

  I waited for Aziza to agree.

  Aziza just shook her head and lit a cigarette.

  * *

  A day had passed since my disastrous training session with Chuck and trip to the psycho doctor’s office, and I still hadn’t heard from Paula. I woke a couple of times in the night with an empty pit in my stomach. I felt completely alone and confused.

  “Just call her,” Aziza said to me when she finally arrived at work half an hour late because Tania locked them out of the house. Or so she said. They probably were tangled up in each other’s legs having ravenous morning sex.

  Even though I planned to call Paula at some point that morning, Aziza’s three little words powered me up and propelled me to the backroom to make the call. Mrs. Tyler could wait five more minutes to get her body wave. I doubted I could last another five seconds for Paula to pick up her cell. It rang twice and my heart rattled waiting for the third one. I bit the inside of my cheek when I heard her groggy voice.

  “Did I wake you up?” I asked her.

  Paula stretched her voice just as sure as she was raising her arms way up in the air. “That’s okay. You could wake me from a dream about winning the World Cup and I wouldn’t mind one iota.”

  And just like that, my frazzled nerves regenerated. If I could physically snap my fingers and arrive in her arms, I would’ve. I wanted to look in to her eyes and see for myself that we still connected.

  I could pawn Mrs. Tyler off on Ashley, and then Aziza could finish her off. Mrs. Tyler always complained about the way I left too much length on her bangs anyway.

  I had so much to say to her. Why hadn’t she called to apologize for not meeting me at the gym? Why hadn’t she told me about the Webcam interview? Did they offer her the job? Was she taking it? Where did this leave us? Did Chuck tell her about my crying fit?

  I had a lot of questions, but only one came out.

  “Are you hungry?”

  “Yeah, I could go for some breakfast.”

  I ran towards the front of the store, tossing the strap of my Coach bag over my shoulder. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

  I slowed to a crawl right before I stepped out from behind the product stands and approached Mrs. Tyler with ease. I talked to her with my most patient and relaxed voice, asking the sweet lady if she wouldn’t mind Ashley starting on her that day. Her broad smile convinced me that maybe Mrs. Tyler preferred Ashley. “Great, can I get you a cup of coffee while you wait?”

  “Yes, please. Can I have that with cream and sugar?”

  “Yes, dear, you can have whatever you’d like.”

  I whipped around and sped up to Ashley. She’s all yours. I have to run out.”

  Ashley blinked her fake lashes at me. “But, I’m supposed to help Aziza with Stephanie’s color.”

  I tapped Ashley’s shoulder. “You’ll figure it out.”

  I turned to Nancy, the morning receptionist and yelled out to her on my way past. “Coffee, cream and sugar for Mrs. Tyler.”

  Blank faces blurred as I ran out the door. You’d think that I asked them to solve the world’s energy crisis.

  * *

  When I knocked on Paula’s front door, I smelled waffles and maple syrup. Sure enough, Paula greeted me wearing a red and white checkered apron holding a spatula. “Waffles are your favorite, right?”

  I eased my hands around her hips and kissed her, not even bothering to lift my pocketbook from the ground where it fell. “You are so sweet. I love waffles.”

  She snuck away towards the kitchen. “Good, because I just made six of them for us.”

  Good God, six? I trailed closely behind. “They won’t go to waste.”

  She pulled out a chair for me. “Sit.”

  I sat on command, admiring the freshly picked daisy sitting in a champagne flute. “You did this all in twenty minutes?”

  “It’s a special day.” She kissed my forehead before retreating to the counter to grab the stack of waffles and warm syrup. “I’ve got some coffee, too.”

  She must have taken the job. Why else was the day so special? What better way to warm up to me than with golden brown waffles? “What’s the special occasion?”

  She sat across from me and folded her hands under her chin. I studied her face with a half smile.

  “Chuck must have told you about my Webcam interview, right?”

  Well, duh? God, Paula could be such a guy in the head sometimes. Did she not realize how much sleep I lost the night before? I tightened my lip. “Yeah, he mentioned it.”

  “It went well. That was the final step. Now I just have to wait for the call to come in.”

  Still stuck on her previous question, I had to say something. “You knew Chuck told me. He met me at the gym.”

  Her face flushed. She forked through her waffles, smashing them to smithereens. “Can I be honest?”

  I braced for what would sure be the worst news of my life. “Of course. It’s what I expect.”

  “I was afraid to tell you how well it went because I know it’s going to change things between us.” She dropped her fork and reached out for my hands.

  Of course things would change. She viewed me as this meek little phobic who had no control over my emotions. “You’re just afraid to see me for who I really am.”

  “I don’t think you give yourself enough credit,” she said.

  If I had any hope of having a life with her, I had to step up right then and there—prove I could tackle this fear and that it wouldn’t ever get in our way. I could do this. I could figure out a way. I just needed time. She didn’t need to know how pathetic I really was. “That’s not true. Just yesterday I went to my first hypnosis appointment and already it’s working.”

  Her eyes brightened. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  I hated to lie. But this wasn’t a total lie. I did go to my first hypnosis appointment. Screw the not lying. She had to understand how much I wanted her in my life. “If you get the job, I’ll be ready.”

  She lunged forward and showered me with kisses. She admired me and I ate up every morsel of her praise. I could
become strong. In fact, if I opened the door and found and airplane parked right there on the street, I’d jump in and demand that Chuck take me up in the sky. The deeper she stared into my eyes, the braver and less rational I became.

  She caressed my face with her hand. “I’m so happy to hear you say that.”

  I released a smile. “I’m happy that you’re happy.”

  She grazed her lips close to mine. “I am falling deeper in love with you by the second.”

  The moment her words sunk in, I pulled her in close and whispered, “Well, I can top that. I am so deeply in love with you that you’re stuck with me.”

  Her lips parted to speak, but I drowned her words with a kiss. A deep, longing kiss that melted them together in a sea of warm, sweet chocolate. She was first to rise and lead me down the hall and towards her bedroom. I closed the rest of the world out with the simple lowering of the pull cord on the blinds.

  When she led me to the bed, I followed her magnetic pull and landed beside her on the edge. Free to explore again, we leaned in close to each other breathing the same air, giving life to a persistent, unyielding force of love only we could understand.

  A strong wave of raw emotions toppled over me, circled around inside my head, and flirted with every morsel of my being. A vacuum of heat, sparks, and desire connected us. Like a well-played game of tennis, we moved back and forth, slow then fast, smooth then chaotic, but always in sync and growing in strength.

  In the zone, alert to even the faint wind that blew across the room from the spinning arms of an oscillating fan, I was alive. Every sensory nerve in my body stood at attention, unwilling to turn back.

  Her light musk fragrance danced around the room in a fine mist and lifted me to whole new heights.

  What I felt was so real, so magical, so unbelievably pure. Light and airy, I floated above anyplace I’d ever been before, gliding like a bird who was free of cages, riding the waves of wind one beautiful tilt of the wing at a time.

  In the few moments it took us to lay back against the downy comforter, she had filled every single empty pocket of my heart with more light than a cloudless summer day could ever give.

  I handed my heart over to her, gift-wrapped in all that was trusting and honest. She cradled it with tender reverence, caressing it with the most gentle of touches. She blanketed me with the soft murmurs of a woman fully embraced in the moment, ready and willing to share every part of her soul.

  When she wrapped her arms around and pulled me closer, I let out a long, trembling breath. Our breathing timed perfectly, billowing in and out. We embarked on what I could only consider to be greater than any fashion show, great hair day or combination thereof of any of prized jewel in the history of my lifetime. This was the grand prize. This is what I waited patiently by the sidelines for, watching the great plays of life pass me by, so that I could be standing there in the right time and place to catch that glamorous buzz as it whizzed by.

  She rubbed her cheek against mine, which beat desire through me like a tribal song bouncing off the trunks of exotic plants and jungle trees. Feeling my skin against hers sent a pounding through my blood that not even the most talented of heavy rock bands could replicate.

  I traced her face with a featherlike touch, stroking her soft skin. I skimmed my gaze down to her breast feasting on the delicious gifts forming in her curves. So delicate and balanced, begging me to indulge.

  I retraced my steps slowly, deliberately back to her eyes where I discovered a sparkle that caused a new source of heat to rise in me. When my lips reached hers the new fuel raced through my bloodstream like lightning, sparking fires in every direction. I traveled my lips down her neck, kissing each curve, each bend, each square inch of steamy, succulent skin I could find. I grazed further down, tracing my lips along the smooth line of her breast, stopping only when my tongue landed on her sweet, erect nipple. I circled my tongue around it, feeling it bloom bigger and more delicious.

  Her breath hovered on a moan, rocking back and forth with each swirl of my tongue. The more she purred, the more intense the heat grew between my legs.

  My hands journeyed down her body even more. Her body was an unexplored terrain of delicate curves, sun-kissed golden skin, and artfully etched muscles. I wanted to climb, crawl, and tangle myself in each cell. Her body sprang up under my caress, bursting with the eternal life of those miracles only seen and touched by someone deeply in love.

  I tiptoed my fingers along her hips and then down her long, slender thighs, following the path with my lips. I stopped only to reverse direction and ascend back up following a whole new path. My fever rose as my fingers and mouth did, and spiked even more when I discovered she was just as hot and moist as I was.

  When her hands tangled around my hair and begged me to enter her private oasis, I swept in and explored.

  Warm and juicy just as I’d imagined, she tasted of everything fresh and alive. My tongue swam up the peaceful channels of the most beautiful garden. There I discovered hot springs that bathed me in sensual freedom, strumming my taste buds with music that brought tears to my eyes. Each stroke resonated with mouthwatering pleasure, and each buck of her hips against my face intensified the journey down a path that I had only dreamed of traveling. Leaving behind the world, we traveled together on this blissful journey.

  I cradled my hands around her hips, moving to their palatable rhythm, listening to their song and following their path to a place deep under the sea of tranquility where only pure pleasure lives.

  When she cried out in joy, shuddering, I pulled her knees around my head and rocked her back and forth, gently, lovingly until she released the purest of sighs.

  I surfaced to meet Paula and wrapped my arms around her, hugging her close, enjoying the beat of her heart against mine. For the first time in my life, I finally understood what it was like to make love to a woman.

  Chapter Thirteen

  How could I expect to concentrate for the rest of the day? I had Aziza barking out sarcastic remarks about my lack of professionalism on one side of the backroom door and an angry client complaining about the twenty minute delay in getting her hair styled on the other side. I just smiled and wound the bratty client’s hair around the curling wand, kissing her ass with all of the compliments I could muster. Aziza walked past me and stuck out her tongue at me.

  Later that afternoon, when I ducked to the bathroom, Aziza followed me in and locked the door. “If you’re going to leave my stylists with a list of your high-maintenance clients, then you better arrange it ahead of time like everyone else has to do here.” Her nostrils flared.

  Still basking in the glow of love, I eased her down a couple notches by pulling her into a hug. “I’m sorry. You’re right. But, even you’re going to agree, I had to run out.”

  “From now on, even if your house is on fire, I expect you to follow the same rules as everyone else. No more special treatment just because you’re my friend. The others see right through us and they’re starting to resent you for it.”

  I hugged her tighter. Every once in a while she needed to sport the boss hat. She could’ve slapped a pink slip in my hand that day and I would’ve still been unable to stop buzzing. “Shush! No ruining this moment.” I loosened my tight grip when she yelped like Deogie did when someone pulled his stubby tail. “I just had the best sex of my life.”

  She pushed away from me. “I see.” She raised an eyebrow, clearly interested in the latest dish.

  “And you can’t fault me for being late. I would bet Tania didn’t really lock you out of the house, but that you were engaged in a little early morning love-fest.”

  She flung my head back, grabbed my face with both hands, and planted a huge kiss on my lips. “You know me too well. Let’s just hope no one else catches on.”

  I smiled as I watched her drift back out to the salon. Then, I grabbed the broom and charged ahead to do a good deed. I swept a trail of hair left behind by senior stylist Joe. He always scattered hair with those clunky-ass pl
atform shoes he wore. Next, I eyed-up the small bear rug of a pile forming around Aziza’s station. Before I could get to it, Paula called my cell.

  “I miss you already,” she said.

  “When do I get to see you again?” I asked.

  “Tonight, if you’ll have me?”

  Besides the awesome sex, God only knew what this woman saw in me. “Pick me up at seven?”

  * *

  “Hungry?” Paula asked when I slipped into the driver’s seat next to her.

  “A little.” I buckled in.

  She opened her console and pulled out a red foiled candy bar that sprouted a white bow and placed it in my hand. “For you, my darling.”

  “Sweets for me?” She could’ve handed me a gift-wrapped avocado and I would’ve been just as touched.

  “I knew you’d be hungry. I figured I’d offer you a little appetizer before the main entrée.”

  I tore through the foil like a starving hyena. Wedged in between the foil and chocolate was a white card that read “If sweetness is what you crave, go to Campus Bookstore and look up Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”

  I punched her arm. “What’s this?”

  She shrugged. “I guess we have to go to the Campus Bookstore to find out.”

  She managed to sport a smirk on her face the entire drive over to Thayer Street, even when she parallel parked her truck in a space barely big enough for a scooter. I had dented at least half a dozen fenders attempting the same maneuver over the years. So when she jumped out of her truck and scribbled a note to the owner of the black Toyota corolla she bumped, I stood on the sidewalk and laughed.

  What a newbie.

  Once inside, I searched for the book. I browsed by author, by title, by genre and nothing. Paula had long since trotted down different aisles, probably towards sports or something boring like that.

  Finally, after asking for some help, I mounted the rungs of a wooden ladder and declared victory with a clap when I found it sitting under an inch of dust with the other “timeless” classics on the tip-top shelf. By the time I climbed down the ladder with my book in hand, Paula had managed to round up three books to purchase, A Golfer’s Dream, Coaching Drills, and Trekking across America. Gee, how fitting.