They Say Love Is Blind

  "Portugal’s team is a Selecção. " She watched intently, people moving quickly back and forth after a little ball. Damn, men around the world weren't all that different; excited over this. But soon Kaye entered the room and ushered the kids to come eat. And then a few minutes later the rest of the family was seated.

  Two card tables had been set up for the kids and the once smaller dining room table had the extenders in place so that it was now twice as big. The food was set up buffet style on the hutch and therefore there were no place settings present, just several glasses; water and wine. Tory and Lee stood in line for the food and Lee said something in Portuguese. Several of the women responded likewise. Lee turned to her.

  "Nothing too adventurous today on the menu. We'll have to persuade them that you can hang with the rest of us Azoreans."

  Her eyes scanned the feast before them. "I'm not complaining. Everything looks mouth watering." She passed him a plate and he told her everything that he wanted and she loaded him up. There was the roasted lamb, rice, and fat slices of a bread called pão de milho which literally translated to corn bread, although it was nothing like American cornbread.

  “In the Azores, it is much easier to grow corn so traditionally our bread is made with corn flour instead of wheat and yeast instead of baking powder,” he explained.

  “Well…” Macey interjected. “We have broa that is wheat based but mainly when we are eating soups and stews.” Tory tried not to look confused. She made sure to take a slice of both types of bread.

  In addition to the bread were several different vegetable dishes as well as a familiar dish made with beans and rice. There was a cheese plate, a huge platter of the little neck clams just like the ones that she was served at the restaurant, a cucumber and tomato salad drizzled with vinegar and oil dressing, and lastly, her aletria. They were led to their seats and before they began to eat Paulo stood and held up a wine glass.

  "Cheers to our guest; our new friend, Tory. We all hope that you will join us for many more such family dinners...and feel free to invite us to your place, otherwise we are known to show up and throw impromptu parties." Everyone chuckled. Counting the children there were easily twenty five people in the apartment. Her small home wouldn't hold half this.

  "You're all welcome anytime." She said honestly.

  Lee shushed her. "They will take you seriously, love. We withdraw that invitation." He said playfully. Tory fell in love with Lee's family during dinner as they all rushed to talk and to be heard but with love. She drank, she ate, she laughed and she was doing it beside the man of her dreams. Again she had to wonder, could any woman be luckier?

  CHAPTER 9

  They walked home even though eight different people offered to drive them. By the time they finished saying their goodbyes and assuring everyone that they wanted to stretch their legs and walk, it was almost ten pm. They'd eaten her delicious desert and Lee promised that it was the best aletria he'd ever had.

  As they walked out of the building Tory caught the movement of a curtain and she saw Roz there looking out at them. Her expression was impassive, and she didn't retreat. Had it really been this morning that she'd almost made the biggest mistake of her life and allowed Roz to run her away from Lee's home? How stupid she'd almost been. Maybe there was more to Roz than what she'd shown to Tory. She knew that there would come a time when the two of them would be in the same location but she also knew that there would never come a time when she'd ever forget that Roz wanted Lee and was rejected by him. She squeezed his arm which was hooked through hers and he turned to her and smiled.

  "I told you, you'd like them. My family is good people."

  "They are awesome people."

  He sighed. "I don't want you to go home. How long can you stay?"

  "Until tomorrow." Then she had to prepare for work for the coming week and she wanted to give her home a really good cleaning. That comment Roz had made really haunted her.

  He grinned. "I have one more night with you."

  She felt her body begin to react to his words. "I hope there will be more to come." He nodded in agreement.

  Back at his loft, she was beginning to feel at home. She slipped off her shoes and placed them safely in the corner, then she greeted Cat with a scratch behind her/his ears; she wasn't sure what sex the animal was.

  Lee turned on the sound system again and found Reggaeton for them to listen to. She was a little tired, but the memory of their night at the club overpowered the need to sit down and relax.

  "Come here, Tory. I want to show you something." She placed her hands in his and his body began to sway sensually to the music. She watched him for a moment until she was able to mimic his simple repetitive steps. Still holding his hand she moved from side to side, hips swaying to the beat. He moved in closer until their bodies moved as one.

  "Bom." He said pleased. "Muito bom." Then his hips began to move rapidly and she hesitated, still swaying as he originally had been. She would never be able to do that in a million years.

  "Just wiggle your hips." She tried and it looked more like a shudder. "Imagine..." His fingers began to creep down her spine. "...a caterpillar has fallen down the back of your shirt and you have to wiggle it out." And then she suddenly knew the movement she'd need in order to do that, and her hips began wiggling. Tory laughed out loud. She felt like Shakira! His hands moved to her hips.

  "Bom! Ooo damn, baby. That is sexy and you are such a fast learner." He took a step back from her. "Watch me." He began with his basic body swaying move and then he came forward and then backward rapidly. "Cha cha cha step, you've seen before, no?"

  "Cha cha. I can do that." She did. She did know how to do the electric slide.

  "Mambo?" And then he did a quick mambo step.

  "Oh...kay." She tried it and it didn't look anything like what he'd done. He kept doing it, very very slowly, over and over. Finally she was doing a mambo. She giggled happily. He took her hand and together they made different combinations of the mambo, cha cha and the hip swaying and hip shaking.

  "There baby. Now you know how to dance Reggaeton. And you're good at it. You're not afraid to move those beautiful hips." She looked back at her ass as if it were a separate attachment.

  "These hips sometimes have a life of their own; they move even when I don't want them to."

  He kissed her sensually. "They can move for me as often as they like. I love your hips." His hands held her there as his kisses trailed down her neck. "I love this neck and these ears...and of course these breasts."

  The couple moved to the bedroom and Tory learned that there was a reason that the doggy style was one of the most popular sexual positions. Afterwards, they lay in the spoon position and Tory murmured to him.

  "I don't see how it's possible but today was even more fun than yesterday."

  "Mmm." He placed a light kiss on the back of her neck. "I agree. She felt him prop himself up on his elbow. "Tory?"

  "Hmm?"

  He hesitated. "Yesterday you mentioned that you weren't a virgin. I...got the distinct impression that the loss of your virginity was against your will." She turned in bed to face him. "If I'm being too nosey then please forgiv-" She placed her finger on his lips.

  "It's okay." This was something she had never shared with anyone other than her parents and only because they had a need to know. "I went to college to be a pharmacist." She grimaced. "I can't even imagine why I wanted to be a pharmacist now...it seems like so long ago." She sighed.

  "I was kind of outgoing back then. I used to go to parties and drink too much with my friends. But I wasn't..." She cleared her throat trying not to allow her voice to shake so. "I wasn't a fast girl, I was just an eighteen year old girl that had left home for the first time. My friends and I went to a bar and I wasn't all that drunk. But I met a guy. He didn't go to my University and he was a little older. He seemed kinda cool and I...well I told him I'd go to another club with him." Her breath was coming faster and she didn't like that after so many years, th
inking about that night still did that.

  "I...we never got to the club. He pulled down a dead end street and he raped me. I suppose that there are a lot of things that I could have done had I not been drunk-"

  "Tory."

  She stopped talking and looked up, trying to read his tight expression. "Yes?"

  "It wasn't your fault."

  "I got into a car with a guy I didn't know..."

  "Bela, you are so sweet and trusting. Those are two qualities that you never lost." He sighed and his voice grew tight. "What happened to that guy?"

  "Nothing. The cops never found him and I dropped out of school because I was simply too scared to stay there."

  His brow knit. "The guy that did that to you is still out on the streets?"

  She nodded. "I believe so."

  He gripped her hand and pulled it to his lips. He kissed her fingers lightly. "I'm so sorry. I wish that there was something that I could do-"

  "You already have, honey. Just me feeling loved by you-"

  "No. I mean, I wish that I could kill him for you."

  She was silent for a moment. "I have killed him a million times in my head."

  He paused. "How? Tell me how you've killed him."

  Slowly she described the slow torture and castration of her attacker. Lee listened intently, nodding his full acceptance of her punishment and at times adding his own descriptions where hers were lacking. Somehow, after doing that she felt almost good. He pulled her into his arms and held her against his chest, and she slept listening to the beating of his heart.

  ~***~

  The next day she could have lingered but she got up, dressed and after kissing and hugging Lee goodbye, Tory went to the bus stop so that she could go home. That evening after she'd finished cleaning her apartment and doing the laundry her phone rang and it was Lee explaining how much he missed her. He'd gone to the grocers with one of his sisters and had gotten his shopping done and now he was thinking about her dancing.

  "Oh. I got you a present. I'll give it to you tomorrow on the bus." He said.

  "A present? You found something for the mantle?"

  "No. This present you aren't going to want to keep on the mantle...maybe a little closer to your person."

  "So...are you going to give it to me on the bus?"

  He sighed. "Tory, you know what you do to me when you talk dirty...But if I could give IT to you on the bus, I most certainly would. But the present I have for you—now that I can manage on the bus."

  They talked for almost an hour and then she showered and put on pajama bottoms and a tee shirt. She tugged at the loose waistband and then at the seat of the pants. They were usually so tight...Tory went to the restroom and stepped on the scale.

  Oh my God...she'd lost nine pounds. She'd lost nine pounds in less than a week! It had once taken her three months to lose nine pounds, and she'd just now done it in five days! She squealed and jumped up and down. Walking, dancing...making love, not to mention eating lighter; of course she would lose weight! She gripped her butt. She didn't want to lose too much, though. Her man liked her with some substance.

  The next morning she took special care in her appearance, wearing a nice pantsuit and blouse as well as running shoes. Her heels she tucked into a briefcase along with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that she'd thrown together for her lunch. And then right when she thought that the bus would be nearing its destination she took off sprinting down the street. Sure enough the thing was speeding to the stop, just as she was. If she didn't get there first it would just keep going even though the bus driver would clearly see her running for it.

  Her hands pumped as she sprinted and she beat the bus! When the doors opened she was panting and sweating, but she had her change tucked securely in her suit jacket. She climbed up the stairs triumphantly and smirked at the bus driver. Lee was sitting in his usual seat and his back straightened and his eyes widened. He held out his hand palm up and she placed the change in it, then she sat down in the empty seat next to his while he fed her change in for her.

  When he sat back down he had two bright red spots on his cheek. She leaned in towards him and whispered.

  "Hi honey, what's wrong?"

  "Your breathing...that's the sound! It is the sound you make when you've been made love to very thoroughly..." he whispered back. Tory swallowed back her giggles. It was the effect she had been going for.

  The other commuters on the bus watched them curiously and maybe in some cases, incredulously as the two lovers whispered back and forth, chuckling and holding hands. Lee reached into his pocket and pulled out an object and handed it to her.

  It was a key. She gave him a quick look.

  "I had it made yesterday. I want you to feel free to come by whenever you want, qerida." Despite the other commuters she leaned forward and kissed him lightly. Someone made a low wolf whistle and others giggled. Yikes, she hadn't intended to put on a show. He reached for his duffel bag and pulled the rope to indicate his stop.

  "May I come over and visit you tonight?"

  "Yes," she grinned.

  "Okay, see you after work. Adeus, bela."

  "Adeus!"

  He was suddenly gone and she already missed him.

  ~***~

  After work she called him on his cell phone. She was quickly searching for something casual to wear. "I'm going to meet you at the bus stop."

  He chuckled. "You won't need to do that."

  "Well I just don't want you to get turned around or anything-"

  "I can't get lost in a five minute walk from the bus stop to your apartment. Hold on." Tory heard her doorbell ring. "Honey, I have to hang up now, I'm at my girlfriend's house."

  "What?!" She cried out happily. She sprinted to the front door and opened it and there he was looking sexy in Dockers and a crisp white button up shirt. She moved quickly into his arms and they spent a few moments kissing right there in the entrance.

  "Eu falto-o." She spoke in Portuguese; I miss you. "Eu quero-o." I want you...

  "How-?" He began in surprise.

  "Babel fish." He laughed out loud. "I practiced all morning." He was very proud of her and didn’t have the heart to tell her that the online translation was definitely not right. He just enjoyed the fact that she would try. Lee decided in that second that he would be in charge of her lessons and that before long she would be speaking Portuguese just like a native of the Azores.

  She led him into the apartment.

  "Honey, show me how to position the rooms so that it's easy for you to navigate."

  He looked around. "Just don't change the position of the furniture without warning me. Even a few inches throws me off. Other than that, I'll learn the layout. He was carrying his duffel bag and he reached into one of the zipper portions.

  "Oh, I found something for the mantle."

  "Something to remind me of you?"

  He nodded and withdrew his cane that was folded into a small bundle.

  "Your cane? You're going to still need this..."

  "My old cane. They get bent or the tip

  comes off. I haven't used this one in years." She took it and smiled. She unfolded it and ran her fingers down the sections.

  "Baby...this is PERFECT! I love it!" She placed it on the mantle next to the tarnished bell and it fit wonderfully.

  "Come see it." He moved forward carefully and reached out with a light touch, his fingers moving over the items until they stopped at the cane.

  "It looks good here."

  CHAPTER 10

  3 months later

  She felt a gently tug on her nipple, the warm flick of a tongue and then the sound of soft sighs. Tory’s eyes remained closed as she snuggled closer to Lee, her legs going around his lower body, capturing him between her thick thighs.

  He struggled, not to get away, but to seek her warm inviting core. While continuing to lap at her breast, he thrust forward, slipping into her yielding opening and hearing her gasp of pleasure. She always wondered how one could b
e so hard so early in the morning. Lee was like steel encased in velvet. He pumped his hips, slipping that magnificent piece of manhood into her only to withdraw it and push it into her again—so many times that she was lightheaded with need. She cried out words that had no meaning and yet he understood each command, every plea, and every moan of pleasure.

  Later, the couple lay cuddled in each other’s arms. “Good morning, bela.” He pulled Tory into his arms tighter, nuzzling her neck.

  She placed her lips against the soft curls of his head. “’Morning.” With a sigh she pulled herself out of his arms. “You shower, I’ll start the coffee.”