Never is Not Forever Read online

  Never is Not Forever

  by

  Candy Caine

  Arrow Publications, LLC

  Bethesda, Maryland

  USA

  NEVER IS NOT FOREVER

  Claudia Brown made the perfect life for herself, full of all the trappings of success. She put herself through school and became the youngest English department chairperson at the University of Pennsylvania. One trap she swore to avoid was marriage. To her, a one-night stand was the preferred modus operandi. But when Claudia realizes she could grow old alone, she decides to have a baby—minus the attachment of the father. After a meticulous search she finds the perfect specimen: Robert Sterling, a fellow professor. But she never factored in the one thing that could threaten her entire operation—falling in love with Robert.

  Copyright © 2011 by Candy Caine

  ISBN: 978-1-934675-38-0

  All rights reserved.

  Except for use in reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, now in use or in the future without permission in writing from the publisher, Arrow Publications, LLC.

  Arrow Publications, LLC

  9112 Paytley Bridge Lane

  Potomac, MD 20854

  www.arrowpub.com

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to person’s living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

  Unauthorized or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

  Warning: This e-book contains sexually explicit content, which is only suitable for mature readers

  Chapter One

  Claudia Brown was horny. The combination of good wine, male pheromones and aftershave—not to mention the fact she couldn’t remember the last time she’d even had sex—was all it took. Okay, Darnell was hot with a decent body that towered well over her 5’11” frame and that was a plus. Personally, she hated talking to the bald spots on little men. And the fact that she didn’t mind looking at his handsome face with those soft molasses-colored eyes of his didn’t hurt, either.

  By the time Darnell drove her home, she was primed and ready to jump his bones. Judging by the smoldering kiss he gave her at the apartment door, she could tell he was ripe for conquest and went in for the kill.

  “Would you like to come inside, Darnell, for a nightcap?”

  His answer was a wide gotcha-grin revealing a set of nearly perfect white teeth making her stop and wonder exactly who the real shark was in her little scenario.

  “Nice crib,” he said as his gaze traveled around the living room taking in the comfortable chairs and a sofa in soft earth-tones.

  Watching him; gauging his reaction, Claudia took off her coat. “Thanks. Make yourself at home.” Figuring some nice mood music would complement things, she went over to the stereo and selected an Alicia Keys CD and popped it in the player. Then she headed toward the kitchen for the bottle of wine she had chilling in the refrigerator.

  When she returned holding two glasses, Darnell had taken her up on the suggestion and had removed his sports jacket. She couldn’t help but notice how his shirt hugged his wide, hard chest. They sat facing each other on the sofa sipping their wine. Then Darnell put his glass down on the coffee table and reached for hers, placing it on the table beside his. “Let’s dance, Claudia,” he said, stretching out his hand.

  Claudia took his hand. They rose from the sofa together and she melted into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her ass and pushed her bottom firmly into his cock bulge. Her immediate response was to rub herself against him. For her, it was a win-win situation and she definitely enjoyed her half of the results.

  As they slow-danced in place to the mellow vocal strains of Alicia, Claudia ran her restless hands up and down his hard, muscled back. His response was to sweep her long black hair to the side enabling him to nuzzle her neck a few moments before seeking out her lips. The man was definitely a good kisser. He outlined her waiting lips with the tip of his tongue before covering her mouth with a heart-stopping kiss that nearly sucked all the breath out of her. When his lips were finished with Claudia’s mouth, it felt on fire and that wasn’t the only place within her heating up.

  Claudia repositioned her legs in order to rub her entire pussy on his now straining cock bulge. So she’d be able to feel his hot flesh, she tugged the back of his shirt out from his slacks. Darnell slipped his hands under her sweater seeking out her breasts which were already aching for his touch. He pushed the lacy cups aside and began to caress them. Wanting him to have total access to them, Claudia moved back away and pulled the sweater over her head and unclasped her bra, tossing both items onto the sofa.

  Darnell smiled and said, “Beautiful, baby girl,” before he closed his large hand over her left breast and began to suckle at her right one.

  Claudia moaned and raked his back with her nails. He was driving her slowly crazy as he first gently lathered her nipple with his tongue before nipping at it. Her juices, which had been simmering within her, were now pooling in her panties and her blood was beginning to boil. She grabbed the zipper on his slacks and slipped it down, freeing his beautiful, hard cock. She covered its head with her hand and stroked it down to his balls and then back up again. Darnell made a growling sound deep in his throat.

  His hands were now buried under her skirt, slowly feeling their way up her long, coffee au lait legs, his fingers skimming the bottom of her panties. Claudia made things easier for him by removing her skirt and slipping out of her panties. His eyes were now riveted to her naked body as he opened his slacks and stepped out of them. Then Darnell scooped her up in one fluid motion and carried her into the bedroom where he placed her lightly on top of the bed. She leaned on an elbow and watched as he removed the rest of his clothes.

  He had a beautiful body. It wasn’t overly muscled, but hard and lean in all the right places. Claudia hated muscle-bound men who looked more like the Michelin Man caricature than human. Darnell’s working as a weight trainer in a gym certainly had its compensations. The only thing her brain registered as she fixated on his gorgeous body was how good that beautiful big cock of his was going to feel deep inside of her. She never kidded herself. Big cocks were always better. In fact, the bigger the better was her motto. She preferred having trouble getting all of it into her snatch than wishing she could feel the damn thing. From what she could see, this guy was going to be just perfect.

  Darnell didn’t need a roadmap to find his way around her body. He knew exactly where he was heading. Standing at the foot of her bed he rolled her over onto her belly. Then he pulled her closer to the edge of the bed where he stood. She lifted up her rump, resting on her hands and knees, offering herself to him. He pushed his right thumb into her ass before he thrust most of his big, beautiful cock into her pussy. With the thumb and forefinger of his other hand, he kneaded Claudia’s left nipple and began to rock her world.

  As he pumped into her, Claudia rubbed and stroked her clit ratcheting up the tension. Darnell moved slowly at first, but it wasn’t long before he was going as fast as he could, their bodies slapping together. She kept up with him, enjoying the ride. However, it wasn’t long before she could feel the beginnings of an orgasm. Not wanting to surrender to it until the last moment, she allowed the tension to build like the torque on an engine. However, the way that boy was doing her, the first wave of spasms grabbed her, making her a very vocal goner.

  “That’s it baby girl. Let it all out,” he said, just as he let himself go.

  They cuddled tog
ether while their vitals slowed back down to normal. Darnell was a nice guy and she liked him. They’d met at the University of Pennsylvania last week. He had registered for a course in CPR and couldn’t find the building where it was being held. Lost, he somehow ended up in the building where Claudia taught. Her class had ended and Darnell caught her heading to the cafeteria for some lunch. She found herself very attracted to him. They started talking and one thing eventually led to another.

  She didn’t see him as a potential relationship. That was the last thing Claudia desired.

  She wasn’t going to put herself in harm’s way and let another man hurt her. The very fact that she had been able to allow men back into her life to fill her basic sexual needs had been a giant step. However, she had no intention of jeopardizing her progress by going out with a man more than once. Claudia was the original no strings—no attachment girl.

  “How’s about an erotic shower?” Darnell suggested.

  “All right.” Sex was a messy thing with all those drippy bodily fluids, so Claudia was all for that. It was the golden shower that she tended to avoid.

  She led the way into her bathroom which, thank goodness, was large enough to be occupied by more than one person. Grabbing two fresh bath towels from her linen cabinet, Claudia slid open the glass doors and turned the water spigot on. Another thing which she was most thankful for was plentiful hot water. As she was adjusting the temperature, he ran his hands down over her body keeping her internal engine purring. When the water felt right, she stepped inside and Darnell followed, sliding the door closed behind them.

  Once inside, he soaped up his hands and began to wash her breasts. The feeling of his hands on her skin began to excite her, pushing the needle on her passion barometer up. Claudia wanted to return the favor and turned around to soap Darnell’s body, as well. Starting with his wide chest, she kneaded his man-buds with her soapy fingertips. They turned out to be sensitive and Darnell groaned. Emboldened by his reaction, she worked her way down to his cock which was now hard. She applied soap to his balls and adorable butt before she paid homage to his beautiful instrument of pleasure.

  Even while Claudia lathered Darnell’s gorgeous body, he continued to wash hers, as well. He was erotically soaping every conceivable—and inconceivable—spot on the front of her body driving her wild. However, when he went down on his knees and opened the folds of her sex, tonguing her from one end of her pussy to the other before latching his lips onto her clitoris, she wanted him so badly, she thought she’d die. She was literally about to beg him to thrust that beautiful cock into her pussy when he turned her around to face the tiles. He slipped two of his fingers inside her dripping pussy. Instinctively, she roughly rubbed herself against his fingers. That’s when Darnell spread her ass-cheeks and began to lick her a-hole. No one had ever done this to her before. Between that and the fact his fingers felt like a cock, she was able to reach another earth-shattering climax.

  When she was finished with her last spasm, he lifted her up slightly against the tiles and entered her pussy. It felt absolutely wonderful. Holding her against the wall of the shower, he pumped into her until she felt him stiffen and then come. He let her down and the water cascaded down over them both, washing them clean.

  About this time they both began to resemble a pair of dried prunes, so it was time to get out of the shower. They toweled dry and headed towards the bed. Originally, she hadn’t planned on him staying the night. However, he worked so hard, she didn’t have the heart to throw him out. Claudia was exhausted herself and within minutes of placing her head down on the pillow, she was out for the count.

  When she opened her eyes the next morning, which was Sunday, he was gone. He’d left a note explaining that he had several appointments at the gym and would call during the week. Claudia dreaded that phone call. She didn’t want to have to tell him that, though he’d been a wonderful lay, she didn’t want to see him again. That part was always the stickiest and was never easy. Men didn’t take rejection well. However, women took longer to recover from rejection. She’d been a prime example. And the man who had rejected her was a jerk named Jerome.

  She’d been seeing Jerome for more than two years. He’d spent a lot of time dogging her for some kind of commitment. Just as she was about to tell him yes to their moving in together, the unthinkable happened. Claudia had spent the night at his place but left early the next day to pick up some papers from her office. Half-way to work, she’d realized she’d left her cell phone on the nightstand in the bedroom. When she returned to the apartment, she let herself in with the key Jerome had given her. She found his buxom next-door neighbor riding him as if he were a prize stallion.

  So much for commitment.

  The shock was overwhelming, since she had thought he was happy with the relationship. She certainly had been. What upset her the most was the fact she never saw this coming. She was now more vigilant and wiser, and she vowed never to allow something like that ever happen to her again. Claudia made up her mind then to go back to school, get a degree and become independent. She would never again rely on anyone but herself.

  Because most people tended to look at her self-preservation program as a way of running away from reality, or worse, just a form of eccentricity, Claudia kept her personal and professional lives separate. She never dated anyone from the teaching staff or administration at the university. This in itself earned her the nicknames, The Iron Maiden or The Frost Queen. If that was the price she’d have to pay in order to keep her heart safe, so be it. It was her life and she could do whatever she damned well please with it, anyway. They didn’t know her or why she chose to travel down this path. And she intended to keep it that way.

  Things ended up working out just fine for her. She applied to the University of Pennsylvania right after she discovered Jerome’s infidelity and put herself through school. Deciding on becoming an English professor, she continued on to grad school while she worked as a teaching assistant. Claudia landed a job as an assistant professor and finally a professor. Now at the age of thirty-five, she was in line to become the next head of the English department. Claudia had no husband or family to vie for her time, so she was able to put most of her energy into teaching. When she felt the urge for sex, she merely went out on a date. An attractive woman with a lithe body and exotic, high cheek bones, she was never at a loss for dates. Her lifestyle may not work for everyone; however, it worked for her. That’s why she braced herself for the awful conversation that would eventually come when Darnell called her back to make another date.

  Chapter Two

  She was walking to her lecture in the auditorium when her cell phone chirped. This wasn’t the best time to speak to Darnell. She pulled out the phone and looked at the caller ID. Lauryn Bell. A sigh of relief and a second later, Claudia said, “What’s going on, girlfriend?”

  “Same old, same old. The usual grief from Luther. You’d think now that he was married to someone else he’d forget my number. If we’re still on for Friday, I’ll brief you then.”

  “Where do you want to meet?”

  “My sitter has a soccer game Saturday the morning so I can’t stay out too late.”

  “How’s about the Sportscaster?” Claudia said reaching the doors of the auditorium. A male student waved to her and she nodded. “We can have dinner and a few drinks.”

  “It’s a plan. See you at seven o’clock.”

  “All right then. I’ve got to go fill the restless minds of the youth with useless pearls of wisdom.”

  “You go, girl.”

  Claudia laughed. Lauryn always could make her laugh no matter how dark a situation she found herself in. They grew up together sharing their toys, clothes and school lunches. The only thing they didn’t share was boyfriends.

  Lauryn got married right out of high school to the captain of the basketball team, Luther Wright. They had a storybook wedding with his daddy footing the bill. The senior Luther Wright owned two Cadillac dealerships and could manage an elabora
te wedding without breaking a sweat. Because money wasn’t going to be an issue with Luther Jr. working for his father, Luther wanted to start a family right away. Lauryn, who liked kids and always expected to become a mother someday, was all right with this game plan.

  They tried long and hard for about ten years before they concluded Lauryn wasn’t going to become pregnant during this lifetime. Lauryn begged Luther to come with her and get tested in order to find out what their problem was, but he refused and told her not to bother. If they couldn’t make a baby the normal way, there wouldn’t be any. The thought of going to some “quack” fertility doctor was right up there on his to-do list next to getting a root canal. Claudia always thought the real reason he wouldn’t go for help was because he secretly feared he was sterile. With a macho guy like Luther, that translated into his being less of a man.

  Then when Lauryn suggested that they try to adopt, he shut her right down. “No way will I take on some crack ho’s kid.” Eventually she gave up trying to change Luther’s mind and resigned herself to the fact she wasn’t going to be a mother.

  That God works in mysterious ways is one explanation for what happened next to Lauryn. Claudia would rather refer to it as God’s weird sense of humor in action, instead. Usually, she’d meet Lauryn on Fridays for a girls’ night out. They’d go out for dinner, drinks or dancing to let off some steam. That was their time to catch each other up on what had gone on during the week. When she met Lauryn for some drinks on Friday the thirteenth—ominous in itself—and found her already working on her second vodka martini, she didn’t have to be clunked over the head to know something was wrong.

  “I think Luther is having an affair,” seemed to sum it all up.

  “Really. What makes you suspect he’s cheating?”