The Professor - Ch. 25.1

Aurelia showed up at Baron’s house within thirty minutes of their phone call. When he opened his front door, he discovered that she had on yet another dress. This one was just as formfitting as the last one she’d worn, but much shorter. It barely reached down to her mid-thighs.

The mustard-colored garment was sleeveless with a V-neck front and a draped hood in the back. On Aurelia’s feet was a pair of white thigh high boots that laced up in the back.

Tell the judge that the verdict was now in. That verdict: This woman knew exactly how to dress to tantalize a man!

Baron moaned and swelled with desire at the very sight of Aurelia. “You look beautiful in that dress. Just beautiful.” His voice was a husky whisper saturated with need.

“I’m glad you like it,” Aurelia said, smiling at his reaction. She’d dressed with him in mind once again.

“I like it a lot. Come inside,” Baron said, ushering her into his home on that calm December night.

When Aurelia crossed that threshold, she just knew he was going to take her in his arms, kiss her passionately and make love to her on the spot. Instead Baron captured one of her hands, kissed it chivalrously, and then announced that he was going to take her on a tour of his six-bedroom, seven-bath Spanish styled home.

Submitting to his wishes, despite her raging hormones, Aurelia made herself concentrate on the things he shared along that tour. She found herself actually enjoying the personal tidbits he shared and the fact that he seemed to want her to get to know him better on a non-physical level first tonight.

So far Aurelia learned that Baron was the youngest of five boys. His mother, who was a full-blooded Mexican and married to his two-thirds white/one-third Jewish father, named all of her children after English peerages. Those titles went in order according to rank and the chronological age of each son. There was Duke, Earl, Marquess, Viscount (aka Count), and Baron.

“I’m closer to Count than any of my other brothers. I don’t know if it’s because we share the same father as well as mother. Whatever the reason is, we just click,” Baron shared as they ascended his staircase. “Count is married to Jenny, a Hispanic/Caucasian woman with light brown hair, gray eyes, and a figure like J-Lo.” He chuckled. “Come to think of it, she kinda looks like J-Lo in the face, too.”

Aurelia laughed, too. “A face and figure like J-Lo, huh? No wonder Count didn’t cheat at his bachelor’s party.”

“That might have been a large part of it. The other part is that just like our father, Count and I are faithful through and through. We wouldn’t even dream of cheating on the women we love,” Baron replied, thereby confirming that he’d had no love for Jordin.

“That’s good to know,” Aurelia replied, glad that she was someone he loved. But then again, Cain claimed to love her and he still cheated. Maybe this time will be different. She hoped.

“Speaking of cheaters, there’s Marquess,” Baron said, looking a bit more somber now as they walked into yet another well furnished bedroom. They’d already visited two downstairs. “We share a love for the great outdoors. He’s my primary camping and hiking buddy. Marquess was married to red-headed Fran, but they recently got divorced due to his cheating ways. No kids were produced from that marriage.”

“Perhaps that was a blessing in disguise,” Aurelia said, equally somber. “Raising children with no father in the house is tough.”

“I imagine so,” Baron replied, noting her sad tone and assuming she was remembering her own father.

“Tell me about Duke and Earl,” Aurelia prompted, pushing past all feelings of melancholy before they lingered and caused depression.

“Well, I consider Duke to be my intellectual equal due to our bookwormish sides. He’s married to Sasha, who is a mixture of cultures. I think she’s part Greek, Caucasian, and Hispanic, but don’t quote me on that.” He chuckled. “Either way, she’s a stunning beauty with black hair, dark eyes, and a figure that one would call voluptuous. Much like yours,” Baron flirted at the end.

Aurelia chuckled. “You just had to slide that in there, huh?”

“You know it.” Baron laughed. “Except Sasha’s more top-heavy than you. Whereas you…” He paused and licked his lips. “…you are definitely more endowed in the bottom area.”

“Anyway.” Aurelia rolled her eyes, though inwardly thrilled by his words. “By the way, I love everything you’ve shown me thus far. You have a beautiful home.”

“I’m glad you like it.” He smiled, looking outwardly thrilled by her words.

Aurelia briefly touched a hand to his cheek. “It’s hard not to love anything connected to you,” she replied, before getting back to their original subject. “So how many kids do Sasha and Duke have?”

“Two. A boy and a girl. They were the ringbearer and flower girl at their parents’ recent marriage renewal.” Baron took a deep breath and continued. “Last, but not least is my brother Earl, who is the king a habitual cheaters. I used to look up to him when I was younger because he was such a chick magnet. Actually all of us did, including Duke, who is the oldest and the most rugged-looking among the brotherhood. These days, we can barely tolerate Earl due to his snobbish ways. He’s even starting to rub off on Marquess, who used to be one of the most down-to-earth people you’d ever want to know before he became such a hotshot attorney.”

“Is it a social status thing with Earl and Marquess? Is that why they’re so snobbish?” Aurelia inquired, recalling how snobbish Marshall’s uncle was. Marshall Jean-Baptiste was her first real love in the V.I. She’d willingly given him her virginity at sixteen.

“It’s a social status thing for Marquess since the more big cases he wins, the bigger his ego gets. For Earl it’s a social status thing, a racial thing, a some of everything. Every year he seems to find some new reason to dislike new groups of people,” Baron shared, leading the way to bedroom number four. “I blame it on his extreme need to fit in with what he deems to be the ‘right’ people. Thus it wasn’t a big surprise to any of us when he married Meadow. Not only does she come from a very socially connected family, but she’s blonde, blue-eyed, and whiter than white in complexion. They have three kids, one dark-haired little boy and two blonde little girls.”

“I don’t know whether to feel sad for Earl or be mad at him,” Aurelia replied. “While I deal with my confusion, why don’t you tell me what your other brothers do for a living. You already told me about Marquess being a lawyer.”

“Count is a lawyer, too, but he’s into family law, not environmental law like Marquess,” Baron replied. “Duke and Earl are doctors. The first practices general and family medicine. The latter and definitely vainer brother is a plastic surgeon.” He chuckled and added, “I’m the oddball by going into education. I can’t tell you how much teasing I’ve gotten for that choice over the years. Especially after I went to medical school, completed my residency, and could have had a long and very successful career as a pathologist. People didn’t understand that just having knowledge wasn’t enough for me. That I was most happy, most fulfilled, when I was sharing that knowledge with others.”

“Good for you for taking that stand. For the record, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being different. I’m the oddball in my family, too,” Aurelia shared. “My mother and most of my other St. Croix relatives are domestics for rich folks on St. John and the surrounding islands. I’m the one that dared to rise above those occupations by going to college. My mother and aunt could have elevated their statuses in life as well with their excellent basket weaving. However, there never seemed to be enough money to take care of their families and buy perpetual basketry supplies.”

“Hopefully your mother and aunt will be able to realize their basket-weaving dreams in the near future. As for you, I commend you for going your own way. For setting such a great example for your little brother,” Baron replied, looking even more impressed by her as they now exited bedroom number five, which had been turned into an upstairs exercise room.

At that reference to Trent, Aurelia’s eyes grew glossy for more reasons than one. The main reason was the fact that Baron was the first person that she ever wanted to tell the whole truth about her little brother.

But she couldn’t. Not yet anyway. Aurelia needed to be sure that Baron was going to stick around for a while before she let that deep, dark secret run free between them.

“Yes, I do what I can to look out for Trent in every way. I also look forward to helping my mother and aunt realize their dreams,” Aurelia said as he led the way to the flat landing that contained his rooftop garden, forgoing a trip to the last bedroom – the master suite. Suddenly she gasped. “Oh my. It’s so…so…beautiful. Peaceful and serene, too,” she said, looking around with pleasure at her surroundings.

There were plants galore in this special garden. Some were tall, some wide, all added to a person’s privacy and serenity. A cement and cobblestone sidewalk surrounded a grass square center. Along that sidewalk were a couple of lounge chairs on the south wall and a two-seater bench near the north railing. The south wall contained a sliding glass door that led to the master suite.

At the very center of the solarium’s grassy square was a beautiful eagle fountain. East and west stairs led down to the water that flowed out of that fountain. Beside each pair of stairs were two-seater chaise lounges with comfortable weatherproof cushions, wide umbrellas overhead to block out any unwanted sunlight, and round tables to sit a favorite book and beverage upon.

Combine all those elements and Baron’s rooftop garden really was a place of serenity. The flameless scented candles positioned on the various tables gave the area a romantic feel, as well.

“I’m glad you’re so pleased with my private sanctuary.” Baron smiled, clearly pleased with Aurelia’s reaction as she followed the sidewalk around the whole area of the rooftop solarium in exploration. “This is the one place I thought about making love to you the most on the whole property.” He walked over to one of the wide chaises and sat down. “Many a night I sat in this very spot and thought about all the things I wanted to do to you.”

Aurelia turned away from a tall plant and smiled at him. “Oh really?”

“Yes, really.” Baron patted the space beside him in invitation.

“Is that why you have yet to give me a real kiss?” Aurelia asked, walking in a sexy strut towards him. “Were you waiting to bring me up here before the fireworks began?”

“Yes and no,” Baron admitted. “A part of me really wanted to share my home with you before things turned physical between us again. The other part knew that if I had given you a real kiss downstairs or anywhere else on this property, I would have taken you right there on the spot. Since I wanted our first time at my home to be in the garden and since tonight’s mild weather was so perfect for such a thing, I decided to wait a little longer.”

“There’s no need to wait now, baby,” Aurelia said, settling into his lap as her hands went about his neck.

“No, there isn’t,” Baron agreed, cupping her face gently before descending upon her lips for a long awaited ravenous kiss.

© 2009 by Mi’Chelle Dodson/Suprina Frazier

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Photos of Aurelia’s nighttime outfit:

http://www.revolveclothing.com/b/Product.jsp?code=ROCK-WD13&source=thefind

http://www.snaz75.com/pl-legend-8899.html

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Tour of Baron’s 6-bed, 7-bath home (except I changed key elements of the rooftop garden/solarium) – I LOVE this house!:

http://mls.ocexclusives.com/703796w/Irvine-property-for-sale-59-Grandview-Irvine-CA-92603-MLS-S531430