No Ordinary Love Read online

“You’re not asleep,” Trina said.

  “I am awake,” Tony said.

  “You have to be tired,” Trina said.

  “I am,” Tony said. “But I cannot sleep because I am sleeping with an angel.”

  So sweet. “You’re the angel, Tony.”

  “I am hot,” Tony said. He took off his shirt and T-shirt. “This is better.”

  I’ll say. She drifted her fingers over his chest. “Much better.”

  “You sleep,” Tony said. “I’ll watch.”

  Trina snuggled up against his chest and listened to his heartbeat. His heart beats steadily, so steadily that it’s almost hypnotizing. I know he can’t see me. She put his right hand on her hip, and Tony’s fingers caressed her left buttock. Now he can “see” me. She kissed his chest.

  Tony’s fingers became still, and his breathing became regular.

  He’s asleep already.

  She moved up and kissed his lips. I’ve kissed you in your sleep. I hope you’re dreaming of me.

  I hope you’re dreaming of us.

  I hope I dream of us, too.

  30

  Trina opened her right eye and saw a muscular, unshaven neck below her.

  She opened her left eye and saw an unshaven Adam’s apple.

  How did I . . .

  She looked down and saw a hairy chest.

  She looked up and saw two dark blue eyes staring at her.

  “Hi, Trina.”

  Trina blinked several times. “Hi, Tony.” How did I get on top of you, and why are your arms down at your sides? You should be holding me close to you.

  “You smile when you sleep,” Tony said.

  “I must have had a happy dream,” Trina said.

  “Tell me your dream,” Tony said.

  “I don’t remember it.” Trina sighed. “I don’t remember most of my dreams. Do you?”

  “Yes,” Tony said.

  “Did you have a happy dream?” Trina asked.

  “Yes,” Tony said. “I was dreaming about you.”

  Trina moved up Tony’s body, lightly leaning her elbows on his shoulders. “What was I doing?”

  “You were playing the piano with me at Johnny Foley’s,” Tony said.

  “Like last night?” Trina asked.

  “No,” Tony said. “There was no crowd.”

  “Was Naini on the bench with us?” Trina asked.

  “Yes,” Tony said, “but she wasn’t sitting or playing. She was dancing barefoot in a long dress.”

  This is beginning to sound erotic. “So while we played a song, Naini danced on the bench next to you.”

  “Yes,” Tony said. “She has brown feet.”

  “What song were we playing?” Trina asked.

  “I must write it first,” Tony said. “I will play it for you tonight at Johnny Foley’s.”

  “You actually hear music in your dreams,” Trina said.

  “Yes,” Tony said. “And when I wake up, I try to remember the notes.”

  Amazing. “Do you hear lyrics, too?”

  “Sometimes,” Tony said. “Mostly it is the music.”

  “And I was in your dream making music with you,” Trina said. “What was I wearing?”

  Tony’s eyes darted left and right. “I should not say.”

  “You can tell me,” Trina said. “What was I wearing?”

  “You were wearing blue underwear,” Tony said. “They did not fit you very well. Your buttocks were sticking out of them.”

  I was wearing a thong? Where has he seen a thong? “Was that all I was wearing?”

  “You were wearing the orange and black shirt,” Tony said.

  I was a fashion nightmare in his dream! “What were you wearing?”

  “My clothes,” Tony said.

  That’s no fun. “So we just . . . played the piano while Naini danced barefoot.”

  “I should not say more,” Tony said.

  Trina slid higher on his body, rubbing her nose on his chin. I’m beginning to think we did more than play the piano in his dream. “What else did we do, Tony?”

  “We watched SportsCenter,” Tony said.

  Trina laughed. “We did what?”

  “A television was on top of the piano,” Tony said. “We played music and watched SportsCenter.”

  She crawled higher, rubbing her cheek against his beard. “And then what did we do?”

  “We drank root beer and ate oatmeal and raisin cookies,” Tony said.

  We had a catered dream. “Did we get cookie crumbs on the keys?”

  “Yes,” Tony said. “But Angela cleaned them up.”

  “Angela was in our dream.” Our dream is getting crowded.

  “Yes,” Tony said. “And Aika sat on top of the piano.”

  “What was Aika wearing?” Trina asked.

  “I should not say,” Tony said.

  She held his face in her hands. “You should say.”

  “She wore a blue and black fuzzy bra and purple underwear,” Tony said.

  Wow. This is quite an erotic fantasy. “What did Angela wear?”

  “A white apron,” Tony said.

  “Anything else?”

  “No,” Tony said.

  Three seminaked women. “And Naini wore a long dress.”

  “Yes,” Tony said. “Like women in India wear.”

  “A sari,” Trina said. “Was she fully covered?”

  Tony shook his head.

  “What wasn’t covered, Tony?” Trina asked.

  “Her stomach,” Tony said. “She has a brown stomach and a tiny belly button.”

  So . . . Aika is wearing some kinky lingerie on top of the piano, Angela is walking around in an apron with her booty hanging out, and Naini is doing a belly dance while I sit on a cold piano bench in a blue thong and a ratty flannel shirt. “What happened next?”

  “I do not want to say,” Tony said.

  She kissed his nose. “You will say.”

  “I told you to take off Aika’s underwear,” Tony said. “I am sorry.”

  Take off Aika’s underwear? “It’s okay, Tony. You can’t control what’s in your dreams.”

  “I am still sorry,” Tony said.

  “Did I take them off?” Trina asked.

  “No,” Tony said. “You kept them on. Aika was angry with you. Angela said for you to give them back to Aika. Naini laughed and took off her sari.”

  And this is where I went off on all of them in the dream, right? “So now Naini is dancing naked next to you.”

  “Yes. She has very small breasts.”

  “And how did you respond?” Trina asked.

  “I played the piano,” Tony said.

  He had all that flesh around him, and he played the piano. “And then . . .”

  “And then I woke up,” Tony said. “I have been watching you since then.”

  Trina rested her head on his shoulder. “Have you ever had a dream like this before?”

  “No,” Tony said.

  “Did you ever have dreams with Aika or Angela in them before?”

  “Yes,” Tony said.

  “Do they always wear the same thing?” Trina asked.

  “No,” Tony said. “Sometimes Aika wears her blue underwear, and sometimes Angela wears a black sweater.”

  “But you saw me in only blue underwear and a flannel shirt,” Trina said.

  “Yes,” Tony said. “I am sorry.”

  “What are you sorry for?” Trina asked.

  “Before I came to San Francisco, you were not in my dreams,” Tony said.

  Oh, that’s so sweet. “I’m in your dreams now.”

  “But Angela and Aika are still there, too,” Tony said. “I only want you in my dreams.”

  Trina hugged him tightly. “Tony, that was the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

  Tony sighed. “Why was Naini in my dream? I do not know her. I know Aika, and I know Angela. Why won’t Aika and Angela stay out of my dreams?”

  I’m no psychologist, but . . . “Because you
care about them. You may even love them.”

  “I do not know if I love them,” Tony said.

  “Sure you do,” Trina said. “Do you ever dream of your parents?”

  “Yes,” Tony said. “We are back at our house with Tonto.”

  “You dream of the people you love, Tony,” Trina said.

  Tony blinked several times. “Why do I dream of you with only blue underwear and a shirt?”

  I am in no way qualified to explain this. “I don’t know. Maybe you like the way I look.”

  “I like the way you look in anything you wear,” Tony said.

  “Thank you. Did you, um, get excited when you saw me in your dreams?”

  “No,” Tony said. “I did not get an erection.”

  He knows about erections. Of course he does. He’s a forty-year-old man. “Did any of the other women in your dream make you excited?”

  “I should not say,” Tony said.

  He was excited. I need to know who . . . “Did Naini make you excited when she took off her clothes?”

  Tony looked away. “Yes. She had a snake tattoo. It started on her small left breast and ended at her brown vagina.”

  “Didn’t Jasmine have a snake tattoo?”

  “Yes,” Tony said.

  Some part of all of Tony’s women was in his dream. “Well, I wish I had your dreams.”

  “You wish to have Angela and Aika and Naini naked in your dreams,” Tony said.

  “No,” Trina said. “I wish I had people I loved in my dreams. I wish I could see my grandmother again.”

  “Is your grandmother in heaven?” Tony asked.

  “Yes,” Trina said. “She raised me after my mama died. She made sure I went to college, but she died before she could see me graduate.”

  “I have never been to college,” Tony said.

  “You’re still young enough,” Trina said. “You could go.”

  “I am not smart,” Tony said.

  “I think you are one of the smartest men I have ever met,” Trina said. “You are an expert musicologist.”

  “I am not a musicologist,” Tony said.

  “Yes, you are,” Trina said. “You hear music in your dreams. You write music listening to cable cars, buses, and sea lions. Only an expert musicologist could do that.”

  Tony nodded.

  Trina sighed and kissed his neck. “I wish I could remember all my dreams, but I don’t need to dream about you if you’re here with me. I think living a dream is better than dreaming one.”

  “I do, too.” He lifted his arms and rubbed Trina’s back.

  He has so much strength in his fingers. I feel like putty. “What are you thinking about at this moment?”

  “Your back,” Tony said. “It is hot. It is sweaty. It has many muscles. My chest is hot and sweaty, too.”

  “Because you’re pushing all my buttons,” Trina whispered.

  “You have no buttons,” Tony said. “Your back is smooth.”

  “I meant that you are making me feel good,” Trina said. She kicked her legs out, sat up, and straddled him.

  Tony’s eyes widened. “Are you having an orgasm, Trina?”

  “No.” I wish! “Why do you ask?”

  “Aika has orgasms when she sits on Angelo like this,” Tony said.

  No ... way. “You saw her?”

  “Yes,” Tony said. “The door was cracked. She shouted, ‘Oh God, Angelo, I’m coming.’”

  Trina pressed her hands into Tony’s chest. “Do they know you saw them?”

  “I told Angelo,” Tony said, “but Angelo told me not to tell Aika.”

  “Don’t ever tell Aika.” She squinted. “I know this is none of my business, but why were you at their door?”

  “I heard noises late at night,” Tony said. “I liked the sounds. I wrote music to the sounds. Naomi Stringer will like the music.”

  He has to be kidding. “You made up a song while listening to your brother and Aika . . . getting busy.”

  “Yes,” Tony said. “They were very busy. Aika was bouncing up and down. She has very firm buttocks. Aika likes to shout. I will now call the song ‘Getting Busy.’”

  “That’s a good title.” And I think I just gave it to him. But I am going to have trouble looking at Aika from now on. She’s so quiet! It’s always the quiet ones who like to get their freak on. Of course, I’m quiet, too, but . . . “You know what? I want to stay in bed with you all day.”

  “I am hungry,” Tony said.

  “We can eat in bed, too,” Trina said.

  “Okay.”

  Trina moved Tony’s hands to her thighs. “You can rub my legs if you want to.”

  Tony rubbed Trina’s legs, his thumbs pressing against her inner thighs. “So soft. So hot.”

  So . . . erotic. Damn.

  “Tony, um . . .” How do I ask this? “Tony, have you ever . . .” I can’t say “have you ever been with a woman” because he’ll say yes. This might work. “Have you ever . . .” Made love? I’m not sure he understands the phrase. “Tony, have you ever done to a woman what Angelo does to Aika in bed?”

  “No,” Tony said. “I have not had sex.”

  Trina blinked. “But you know about sex.”

  Tony nodded. “Angelo told me about sex.”

  “What did Angelo say about sex?”

  “He said not to do it,” Tony said. “Ever. Never. Don’t even think about it, Tony. I will be so angry with you.”

  That figures. “So how do you know about orgasms?”

  “I asked Angelo what an orgasm was because a girl at school called me an ‘orgasm gone bad,’” Tony said. “Angelo said to look it up. I looked it up in the dictionary.”

  “Do you still remember the definition?” Trina asked.

  “An orgasm is ‘the physical and emotional sensation experienced at the peak of sexual excitation, usually resulting from stimulation of the sexual organ and usually accompanied in the male by ejaculation.’”

  There’s nothing about the female in that definition, and one hundred percent of the time there was no accompaniment with Robert. He came. He snoozed. I finished on my own. “So you know how sex works.”

  “Yes,” Tony said.

  “How does it work?” Trina asked.

  “I put my erect penis into your moist vagina,” Tony said.

  So clinical! “And then what happens?”

  “We have orgasms,” Tony said.

  Not every time, but . . . “Would you . . .” I can’t ask him that! But I want to know if he really wants me physically. “Would you like to put your, um, your erect penis into my moist vagina?”

  “Yes.”

  He wants me. A man wants me. Oh, I am so ready.

  Tony started to unbuckle his belt. “I want to do this now.”

  I know I shouldn’t have asked that, but it’s been so long! “Um, Tony, you heard what Angelo said. No messing around.”

  Tony finished unbuckling his belt and unzipped his fly. “Sex is not messing around. Messing around is staying up too late reading my map books.”

  Well, in that case . . . No! “I think he meant no messing around as in no sex.”

  “Oh.” Tony zipped up his fly.

  “And we just met a few days ago,” Trina said. “I’m not sure if that’s what we should do.”

  “Okay.” Tony buckled his belt.

  He gave up too quickly! “I mean, now. Eventually . . . maybe.”

  “When is eventually?” Tony asked.

  Eventually was almost a few seconds ago. “Tony, most people know each other for a long time before they have sex.”

  “How long?”

  “It’s different for every couple,” Trina said.

  “How long for us, Trina?”

  If he keeps squirming under me, about five seconds. “I don’t know. When the time is right.”

  “What time will that be?” Tony asked.

  “I don’t know, Tony,” Trina said.

  “But not now.”

  “No,
” Trina said. “Not now.”

  “I will wait until I know you better,” Tony said. He dropped his arms to his sides.

  Hey, now! “Um, it might not be that long.”

  “I can wait,” Tony said.

  “We’re getting to know each other very quickly,” Trina said, “so it might not be that long.”

  “I can wait.”

  Now he’s inert and lost in a zone again. Just when I start to get a rise out of him, I deflate him. She flattened her body against his. “I don’t know if I can wait that long, Tony.”

  “You are hot,” Tony said.

  All this talk about sex has made me hot. Robert and I never discussed sex at all. “Talking about sex makes me very hot.”

  “When I get hot I take off my clothes,” Tony said.

  “You want me to take off my clothes.”

  “You are hot,” Tony said. “Yes. Take off your clothes.”

  He doesn’t have to tell me twice. She took off her bra and panties and tossed them toward the door.

  “That is better,” Tony said.

  “Yes, it is.” She kissed his neck and massaged his chest. “You excite me so much, Tony.”

  “I do not know how I excite you,” Tony said.

  “Everything about you excites me.” She kissed his neck, shoulders, and chest. She wriggled lower in the bed and kissed his stomach. When she started to feel him grow between her breasts, she gave his penis a gentle squeeze.

  “Oh God, Trina, I’m coming!” Tony shouted.

  Trina gripped the sides of the bed. He almost flipped me off the bed with his legs!

  “I am sorry,” Tony said. “I am sorry, Trina.”

  Trina crawled up his body and kissed him gently on the lips. “Why are you sorry?”

  “You did not have an orgasm,” Tony said. “I had an orgasm and you did not have an orgasm.”

  Trina kissed his cheek and held him tightly. Who says Tony doesn’t have any empathy? He apologizes— and means it—because I didn’t have an orgasm. “We’re going to be in bed all day, aren’t we?”

  “Yes,” Tony said.

  She looked out the window. “It looks like rain, too. It wouldn’t be any fun to go outside in this rain.”

  “You are right,” Tony said.

  “And we’re getting to know each other much better, aren’t we?”

  Tony nodded.

  So sweet, so innocent, so giving, so . . . pure. “I think there might be time for you to give me . . .” She bit her lower lip. “An orgasm,” she whispered.