CHAPTER ELEVEN
When Ramon returned to his office, he scowled at Juliette and seethed, “You need to go-now! We’ve been over for a long time. What exactly did you want?”
Recognizing Jocelyn, Juliette exclaimed, “You’re upset about the woman who just ran out of the building. Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel. Surely you can do better than her?”
Ramon growled, “Watch it Juliette. She‘s not only beautiful but honest. She hasn’t asked me for anything and she accepts me for who I am. Not because I’m her boss, or what I can give her, which is more than I can say for you.”
Juliette pursed her lips and said, “Ramon I made a mistake when I walked away from you. You and I have a past together. Don’t you remember how good we used to be when we were together? Can’t you forgive me?”
Ramon replied, “Juliette, you and I have been over for a long time. I’ve moved on. Go home to your husband!”
After hearing Ramon’s remark, Juliette looked crestfallen, and then smiled ruefully and said, “Well for old times’ sake, I’m going to give you some advice. Watch your back; somebody close to you might be trying to destroy your company.”
Ramon glared at her and asked, “What does that mean?”
“You figure it out.” With that, Juliette turned and strolled out of Ramon’s office. He didn’t try to stop her. He was glad to see her leave. As soon as she was out the door, he reached for his phone and dialed Jocelyn’s number.
Jocelyn picked up the ringing cell phone in the passenger seat. She saw that it was Ramon. She didn’t bother to answer. Instead she muttered under her breath, “Lying two- faced dog.”
She’d done it again, given her trust and her body to a liar. She’d given him an opportunity to tell her if he still had feelings for his old girlfriend and he’d said no. The kiss she had observed said otherwise.
Jocelyn was so hurt and mad; she didn’t know what to do. So she decided to soothe her wounded heart with chocolate cake and her favorite premium ice cream. She stopped off at Rhea’s bakery and bought two slices of cake with thick gooey chocolate icing and at the grocery store she bought a half gallon tub of vanilla ice cream.
When she got home, her phone was ringing again. It was Ramon again. She turned the phone off and went into the kitchen to get a spoon. She was going to drown her sorrows with ice cream and chocolate cake.
After eating almost an entire slice of cake and a huge bowl of ice cream, Jocelyn started to feel better. She decided she’d had enough of the cleaning job at the paint company.
She was so angry she didn’t want to lay her eyes on Ramon Holliday ever again. Reese would just have to hire someone until she could literally get back on her feet.
After she had a full belly of ice cream and cake, she flopped down on the couch and waited to doze off in a sugar coma. Just as she was getting comfortable, her door bell rang. She looked out the peep-hole. She expected to see Ramon, but instead, she saw her sister outside on her crutches.
Jocelyn opened the door and let Reese in. Reese spied the remnants of the sugar feast on Jocelyn’s table, she asked, “Why aren’t you answering your phone? Tiffany said Ramon’s old girlfriend was making out with him in his office. Do we need to go and kick her ass for messing with your man?”
“No, and Reese Ramon isn’t my man. If he was, he wouldn’t have been kissing Juliette.”
Reese said, “Can we at least empty bottles of skunk perfume on his carpet and tell him that we’re trying out a new rug shampoo,” momentarily forgetting that his contract was her only source of income. Loyalty was uppermost in her mind.
Reese waited for her sister’s reaction. She wanted Jocelyn to smile or at least get mad. Instead Jocelyn said evenly, “No Reese, we’re not going to play any tricks on Ramon. I’m going to be an adult and just try to get over him. He never made any commitments to me. I made a mistake. I’m angry at myself for trusting him. I may have been falling for him, but I’ll get over it.”
“Okay,” Reese replied. “But I want you to know that you’re not being yourself.”
Reese walked into her sister’s kitchen and got another spoon. She returned and dove into the quart of ice cream Jocelyn still had on the table. “How about we do something to Jackass, my soon to be ex-husband, instead? The snake called me today and said if I want a divorce; it will cost me $10,000. He claims he will never give me my freedom, and that he will make my life a living hell unless I come up with the money.”
Jocelyn momentarily forgot her troubles. Reese had much bigger problems. Jocelyn did the only thing she could think of at that moment, she hugged her sister and said, “I’m tired of Clarence. He’s a bully and he enjoys intimidating you. Tomorrow you and I are going to a lawyer. He just isn’t getting the message that he should respect you as a person. All you need from him now is to be a good father to his sons.”
“How about a piece of cake?” Jocelyn asked. “Let’s just drown our sorrows tonight with cream and lots of sugar. Tomorrow we’ll worry about the calories.”
After sharing the calorie laden dessert, Reese put on her jacket to leave. Jocelyn hugged her sister again and said, “Don’t worry about paying the lawyer; I’ll take care of it.”
After talking to Reese, Jocelyn was wrung out emotionally. In a way she was grateful her relationship with Ramon hadn’t progressed further, since he was obviously still hung up on his old flame. She decided she might as well take a page out of Reese’s book and tomorrow she would go shopping.
Well maybe not, the adult in her head decided. It hadn’t helped cure any of Reese’s problems. Shopping wasn’t an answer for her.
She had everything she needed. Shopping wouldn’t ease the hurt and betrayal she felt. She couldn’t believe that she had fallen for a cheater again. What was wrong with her? Did she have a sign on her back saying “STUPID?” a tattoo on her forehead that read “SUCKER,” visible to everyone but her? She knew she shouldn’t have trusted him.
Jocelyn decided once again to renew her celibacy and focus more on her investments instead of men. Her investments were performing well but they could probably do even better if she spent more time focused on making money than feeling sick over Ramon’s betrayal.
After she logged into her accounts, she was pleased to see she had made five thousand dollars in the last five days. Plus she had tripled her investments. She was now a wealthy woman, or at least, certainly on her way to becoming one. Reviewing her investments made her feel as if she had some semblance of control over her life.
At midnight, just as Jocelyn laid her head on her pillow, her door bell rang again. What had Reese forgotten? She got up and looked out her peephole and she couldn’t believe her eyes. She screamed through the peephole, “Go away? It’s late. I need to sleep.”
Ramon said, “Let me in. I need to explain what you saw today.”
“I know what I saw! Juliette’s lips were on yours. It’s called kissing! I’m not an idiot Ramon.”
“Please Jocelyn, let me in. I can’t talk to you through the door.”
“I have nothing to say to you. Go home!”
Ramon stood outside Jocelyn’s door for a few more seconds thinking. He knew he had to convince her that Juliette meant nothing to him. After standing outside a few more minutes, he had an idea to get her to open her door.
He leaned close to the door to try to hear how close she was and then said, “I’ve decided to hire Lilly as my personal assistant. I’m going to raise her salary by $25,000.”
Moments after he mentioned Lilly’s raise, the door was swung open and Jocelyn dressed in her nightgown came toward him breathing fire. As soon as she got near him, he grabbed her, lifting her off the floor and kissed her so passionately Jocelyn almost forgot her name.
Damn, this man knows how to kiss, she thought. He almost pulled her off her feet; he was holding her so tight. She knew she was a goner when he put his tongue in her mouth.
When she came to her senses, she realized that she should still be furiou
s with him. She attempted to struggle out of his embrace. She placed her hands and arms outstretched on his chest, while she yelled, “Stop it, no kissing.”
Ramon frowned and asked, “Why? I thought you liked my kisses.”
Jocelyn narrowed her eyes at him, “Whether I like them or not, I saw you kissing Juliette. What kind of woman do you think I am? You told me your feelings for her were a thing of the past.”
Ramon emphatically replied, “I don’t have feelings for her.”
“Then why were you kissing her?”
“I wasn’t kissing her.”
Jocelyn cried, “I saw you with my own eyes Ramon. What do you call it when two people are attached at the lips? What- now she’s your dentist and she was checking your mouth for cavities? I’m not a fool!”
Ramon looked exasperated and again tried to explain.
“Juliette was kissing me. I did not return her kiss. I didn’t invite her to my office. Nor did I try to see her after I introduced her to you at the gala. She came to my office and came on to me. I told her unequivocally that I wasn’t interested and to go back to her husband.”
Ramon lowered his voice and said, “You’re the only woman I want to be with.” He declared, “I’m falling in love with you. Not Juliette. Nor anyone else, you!”
Ramon smiled and moved closer to Jocelyn. Again she stuck out her hand to stop him from getting too close, but her anger had mostly dissipated.
Had she heard him correctly? He’d said he loved her. He was looking straight into her eyes. Whenever her ex-husband had lied to her, he’d never looked her in the eyes.
Jocelyn relented and gave Ramon a wry little smile of her own and said, “Okay Ramon, I’m willing to accept your explanation this time, but if she kisses you again, that thousand-dollar hair weave she wears will be on the floor, and I won’t have any problem using it or her for a dust rag.”
Ramon looked at Jocelyn in amazement. Then he laughed, “Aren’t you fierce. Come here Jocelyn.” He enveloped her in his arms and said, “I didn’t realize I had such a tigress for woman. Don’t worry, it’ll never get that far ever again; baby, I don’t want to lose you.
“If she comes near me again, I’ll make the sign of the cross in front of me like they used to do in the old movies to ward off evil, how’s that? Then I’ll warn her to run for her life because if my girl sees her, she’s dead meat.”
Jocelyn laughed and playfully punched him in the arm, “So now you’re a comedian? Uh, you really aren’t giving Lilly a raise are you?”
Ramon hugged Jocelyn tighter and kissed her until they both had to come up for air. Oh, those kisses made her tingle all over.
She told Ramon, “Tomorrow is a work day, and I need my rest. My boss is a real taskmaster.” But instead of showing Ramon out, she grabbed his hand and led him into her bedroom.
They began to kiss each other hungrily. He held her as close to his body as humanly possible. Jocelyn ran her hands over his back and massaged it. His breath began to quicken.
He allowed her to leave his arms briefly but only to remove her blouse. She reached for his zipper. He gently pushed her hand away. As he removed each piece of her clothing, he kissed each exposed area of her body. When he removed her bra, he paid special attention to each nipple. She could barely remain standing after he finished sucking them. He kissed her belly and licked her belly button. He slid down as kissed the juncture between her thighs. He heard her moan. Soon her eyes were half closed and she was breathing rapidly. He used his tongue to make erotic circles on each of her inner thighs.
Jocelyn had to beg him to stop. The pleasure was so good, it was almost painful. She led him to her bed. They both laid down. She reached for Ramon’s hands and lifted his arms up over his head. She removed his shirt and the white undershirt underneath. She threw them in the nearest chair and bent her head to kiss his nipples. They grew hard under her tongue. She licked each nipple until they were like pebbles. Her hands unfastened his pants and pushed them down along with his briefs. Jocelyn found his erect manhood and gently massaged him. He crooned, “Oh baby.”
Jocelyn kissed his stomach and then went lower. She kissed his erect penis and licked the sack hanging between his legs.
“Baby, let me put a condom on.”
Jocelyn allowed Ramon cover his penis with a latex sheath. She told him to lie back on the bed. She leaned over him and said, “I want to do the work tonight.” She situated herself over his waist. Slowly she sank down on his erection.
This time she watched as Ramon slowly closed his eyes in ecstasy. They quickly found their rhythm as Jocelyn began to move slowly up and down his sheath. After minutes of upward thrusts, Ramon grabbed Jocelyn’s waist. The pleasure she was creating was driving him out of his mind.
As pleasure spiral through her body also, she cried, “I’m coming, Ramon.” He lost his last bit of control as he erupted. They slept the night in each other’s arms.