Southern Secrets Society: The Grooming | #Suspense | RomePi™

͋ 9 ͋ The Mask (BWWM)

JOLIE

Was it possible for Ben to want her?

Jolie realized her fascination with him was completely immature. Because she wasn't interested in anyone enough to experience a crush before she met Ben, the intensity of what raced through her body and mind left her with no doubt that this was her first encounter with 'puppy dog love'. No one guessed her feelings, but Tish would surely see right through the emotions Jolie worked unsuccessfully to hide.

"Don't blow things out of proportion," Jolie chided herself often.

Her eyes hadn't deceived her. His response to her affected all of the senses she struggled to suppress. That was the reason she attempted to play off the fire coursing through her flesh when she was in his presence. After all, he was a grown man and she was still in high school.

Maybe something she said embarrassed him and that's why he blushed. Jolie told herself.

"I don't think that's so bad. I can inspire you too, but I insist you must inspire me as well." He chuckled and tapped the tip of her nose.

"How can I inspire you? You have your own law practice, a nice house, and a really cool Mercedes. Although I've always wanted a Porsche, all I have is my ten-speed. But your car is so cool." She rambled on wondering how she could possibly inspire a successful person like him.

"Since I met you, my house is now a home. When I first purchased this place, I had no idea what I would do to make it more livable and more like me. Your ideas have helped me transform it into a castle fit for a king." The smoldering deep tone moved stealthily from her ears to the core of her being. It stoked embers that made her sweat from the warm tingling sensation stirring a foreign pulse between her thighs.

When he smiled at her, Jolie feared she would melt. How and why she felt that way was unclear to her, but he always managed to make her desire nothing more than to be right next to him. As sweet thoughts raced through her mind, Jolie was overcome by the urge to dart out the front door before she did or said something stupid.

Craving him was wrong.

No one had to tell her that she shouldn't desire the closeness she imagined when his words stroked her secret places. Her emotions left her feeling a raw kind of wetness as their constant interactions exposed desires in a way she never knew existed before she met Ben.

Jolie was afraid Tish would ferret out the truth if she dared hang around her friend following the multiple occasions she spent with him. She wasn't ready to face the judgmental tongue lashing she was sure to receive from her friend because of the fully grown white man who had claimed so much of her time.

As her mind contemplated the newfound experiences she had enjoyed and the hormones continuously demanding control of her body, Jolie fought desperately to reign in the desires of her flesh before she allowed her mask to slip. Even with her constant silent reminders to be careful, there was no denying that Tish was Tish after all, and she missed nothing.

"You, horrible little wench. You're in love." The words flying out her friend's mouth were hurled at Jolie as if they were sure-fire accusations with the power to put the guilty to death.

Well, that wasn't actually true, but she didn't want anyone to know that she had fallen hard for a grown man. Jolie knew it would be one hundred percent unacceptable if people knew she was in love with a thirty-five-year-old white man.

No matter how she tried to plead her case, everyone would assume the worst. From the moment it became common knowledge, people would make accusations that she was a whore and worst of all a "white man's whore". Everyone would believe they were already having sex even though she was still a virgin. No one would ever believe that Ben had never once made a move to bump, graze, lean, or do anything inappropriate towards her.