“What young boy? All I see is a grown-ass man around here,” Karina said, sliding her hand down the front of my pants.
“Ewww! Ya’ll so damned nasty!” her cousin, Rhonda said, coming from behind us.
I glanced down at Karina, who ducked her head in shame. Laughing, I said, “Go get your own grown-ass man and get nasty with him.”
“Well, I would, but while I was in your house using the restroom, your doorbell rang. You have a visitor, Zymir,” Rhonda said with a cheeky grin as she sashayed around us.
Karina sat up, looking over my shoulder, and her eyes widened. She looked as if she had seen a ghost and gasped. With one glance over my shoulder, my eyes grew wide, too.
Shit!
“Dude! We just left my in-laws, and I was riding by and thought I’d drop by to say ‘hello.’ You can’t invite a brother to your party?” my friend laughed.
“Wait, you two know each other?” Karina asked, removing her sunglasses and hat, and staring at me.
“Uh...”
“Shit!”
“Karina, this is my friend, Simon and his wife, Julie, and their three-year-old daughter, Ariana,” I introduced.
“Miss Koh-reen-uh,” Ariana greeted excitedly, pulling her fingers from her mouth to wave at Karina.
“Somebody had better start explaining something right now!” Karina demanded, crossing her arms over her breasts and staring between Simon and me.
Simon broke out in laughter, while Julie lifted an eyebrow.
“Baby, remember that favor I told you that I owed Zymir?” Simon said to his wife, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close.
“Yeah?”
“This is the favor,” he said, pointing at Karina, who was getting angrier by the moment.
Julie sucked in a breath, her eyebrows lifted, and then she narrowed her gaze. “Zymir, you should be ashamed of yourself, you know. I’ll leave it to these two to explain, but Karina, they’ve played a joke on you.”
“It wasn’t a joke,” I defended.
Bishop chose that moment to join us as he came to greet Simon and Julie.
“Talk. Now, Zy,” she demanded. Shit, I was going to be in the doghouse, and I knew I would be the one begging for sex this time around. Not her.
“So, Bishop brought to my attention that you had a dating profile on Loveme.com,” I started.
“Whoa! What do I have to do with this?”
Frowning at him, I said, “Everything.”
“No, Karina. This is all Zymir.”
“Now’s not the time,” I argued, shaking my head at Bishop.
“Stop it, you two! Just tell me what happened!” Karina fussed.
“Well, long story short, I got jealous when I saw your profile and what it said.”
Our crowd was steadily growing, now that Rhonda and Lori had joined the group along with my step-brother, Francisco.
“What are you talking about?” Karina asked.
Looking pointedly at Ariana, and then back at Karina, I said, “You know what it said.”
Her eyes narrowed then widened before she nodded her head. “Okay, I see your point. Go on.”
“Well, I couldn’t make a profile and try to date you, but I figured I could dissuade you from dating other men. So, I asked a few of them to do me a favor. Each of them developed a profile based on what you were looking for. So, online they appeared to be perfect for you. Those are the guys you went out on dates with. David is married to Nicole, who pretended to be his psycho girlfriend. Kenny is in a long-term relationship. And Simon, here...well, he and Julie aren’t divorced but happily married.”
“You are sooo in the dog house,” Julie sang as I shrunk under Karina’s heated gaze.
“Damn, bruh!” Darnell said, who had just joined the crowd.
“Go easy on my man. He’s a good man, that one,” Francisco said, pointing at me and smiling at Karina.
“Can we have a few moments alone, guys?” Karina asked.
Everyone began to mumble something and walk away towards the pool or grill area. Karina grabbed my hand and led me back into the house. I knew I had messed up big time. I only hoped she didn’t leave me.
Bishop had warned me some time ago that I needed to come clean with Karina. I planned to do it, but I chickened out every time the opportunity to disclose the truth came.
Silently, I followed behind her as she led me upstairs to our bedroom. Karina was toying with the idea of selling her home. Temporarily she was renting it out and living with me.
Closing and locking the door behind us, Karina walked up to me and crossed her arms over her chest.
“You’ve been a very bad boy, Zymir.”
“I have.”
“You don’t deserve a good woman like me. The only thing stopping me from walking out of this house and marching my ass across that street right now is that someone else is renting my shit!” she snapped.
“Baby, I know. Look it was the only way that I could keep you and—”
“By manipulating me?”
“You’re right. I was wrong, but Karina, I’ll fight like hell to keep you in my life,” I said, reaching for her.
She stepped back and shook her head.
“This is going to cost you, Zymir,” she said.
I watched as she untied the strings at her hips, and the tiny cloth she considered a bikini fell at her feet.
“On your knees,” she commanded, pointing at the floor between her feet.
Happily, I obeyed her orders, planting my hands on her thighs.
“Eat.”
Slowly, I licked her clitoris, enjoying the position we were in. Karina pretended to have the power, but in reality, it was me.
It was me, down on my knees between her legs, inhaling the scent of sunshine, water, and honey that coated her pussy. It was me, twirling my tongue around her clitoris, causing her to swivel her hips.
Karina had every right to be pissed at me for what I had done, but she knew I meant her no harm. It was no secret how bad I’d wanted her almost from the start.
I relished the power I held over her as she struggled to maintain her composure, trying to stay still, and barking out orders like, “suck this pussy.”
I lapped and sucked at her, my fingers clenching the flesh of her thighs, as my nose buried itself inside of her along with my lips. The further my tongue slid inside of Karina, the more she lost the battle of trying to maintain her control.
Karina’s hands gripped the back of my head, her hips jutted forward, and I milked her juices.
“Aww, fuck, Zy!”
The more she pumped her hips, the more I drank greedily of everything she had to offer. And when she finally melted, her thighs spreading wider and losing the battle to remain erect, I knew I had her right where I wanted her.
Round and round I went as I drank from her pool of sweet honey. And when she finished, I stood, waiting for my next instructions.
“Take ‘em off,” she ordered, not waiting another moment.
I shoved my swim trunks down and watched as she sank to her knees. Karina took me into her mouth, not slowly but hungrily, shoving my meat down her throat, inch by inch.
She slid her mouth to the top of my dick, licking along the frenulum and moving to the slit. Karina slid her mouth back down me again, teasing, looking me in the eyes and winking.
“Aww, shit, Karina!”
Pulling back again, Karina asked, “You like?”
“Eu gosto muito disso!” I groaned.
Tilting her head, she pulled back again. “What? You know I don’t understand Portuguese.”
“Coloque esse pau na sua boca!” I growled.
“I don’t know what the hell you’re saying, but it’s turning me on,” she said, lowering her head to take me back in again.
“For you not to know what I’m saying, you’re doing it perfectly,” I moaned.
“Mmm,” she moaned with a mouthful of dick.
“Eu te amo muito garota...it means I love you
so much, girl,” I said.
She easily slid me down her throat, moving her tongue around. Karina wouldn’t let up until I almost came. Just when I reached that point, she pulled back and stood.
“No, you don’t deserve to cum in my mouth. Right here,” Karina said, lying on the bench at the foot of our bed and spreading her legs.
Grabbing her thighs, I pulled her toward me and slid inside. Her pussy was perfect, like warmth and home, all at the same time.
This woman of mine, my woman, was everything I wanted and needed. She may not be ready for marriage, and she might not ever give me children biologically, but she was more than enough for me.
Karina wrapped her legs around my back and pulled me close. Her lips were soft but firm against mine, and her mouth was hot and welcoming. Our kiss was deep. It wasn’t unusual for her to express a depth of emotion when we made love or kissed, but tears were coming down her face.
“KK,” I said. It was seldom that I called her that, but she knew when I did, I was pushing everything aside to deal with her insecurities.
“Don’t stop, baby,” she moaned when I slowed up my strokes. “Please don’t stop.”
My movements picked up and became deeper and faster as I pushed us both to the edge. Karina clenched all around me, shaking underneath me.
Not long after she came, I followed her. When I slowly pulled out, she sat up.
“Why were you crying, KK?”
“You’ve been a good man to me, Zymir. And you’ve been patient with me, and I’m grateful,” she said.
My heart started to drop, especially when she smiled. “Babe, don’t tell me you don’t think this will work.”
“No, I’m not. What I’m saying, Zy is that I don’t think I can do this without you,” she said.
“What?” I asked, a smile slowly coming on my lips.
“I love you, Zy. And I know I’m not an easy woman to love, but you make loving me look so easy and feel so damned good.”
I watched as my woman stood and walked to the vanity table in her dressing room. My house wasn’t the same since Karina moved in. She had taken over everything and changed things around, but I’d given her the freedom to do that.
When she returned, she held a box in her hands and opened it. A diamond ring sat inside the satin box, glistening underneath the overhead light.
“Where did you find that?” I asked.
“You’re not good at hiding anything. The night you came in with that jewelry bag, I was sitting in bed on my laptop, replying to my social media comments. I saw you out the corner of my eye, and you kept watching me over your shoulder.”
I laughed, recalling that night a month prior. It was on my heart to approach her that night, but when I returned home, I didn’t feel the time was right. Since that night one month ago, I had been waiting for the right moment.
“And over the last month, you’ve been trying to approach me, and I know I haven’t made it easy for you. What I also know was that you planned to propose to me tonight with our family and friends.”
“Wait? How did you know that?”
She smirked at me and shook her head.
“Lori.”
“I told you my sister couldn’t hold water. You shouldn’t have trusted her with your secret,” Karina said.
“Well, damn. I didn’t expect that me getting Lori’s input on size and style led to her telling you about tonight.”
“She didn’t mean to. We had our weekly girls’ chat, and Rhonda started talking about Lori’s marriage, her ex-husband, and a co-worker who turned down her dude’s proposal at their annual work Christmas party last year. Lori started talking about how embarrassing that must have been. Rhonda shared stories about what happened. Well, you know Lori’s crazy about you. She didn’t want the same thing to happen to you,” she said.
“So, what are you telling me, Karina Kendricks? That you would turn down my proposal tonight?”
Karina shoved the ring at me. “What I’m telling you, Zymir is that I would love to become Mrs. Zymir Espinosa.”
My lips turned up, and I took the box from her hand and kneeled before her.
“You’ve just made me the happiest man in the world, Karina,” I said, removing the ring from the box and sliding it onto her finger. “Now, I would like to ask you, sweetheart. Would you do me the honor of becoming Mrs. Karina Espinola?”
“It is an honor to become your wife, Zymir,” Karina said, kneeling on the floor with me and wrapping her arms around me.
I pulled my baby to me and kissed her softly on the lips. Karina opened her mouth to welcome me inside.
“I’m ready to live, Zy. And I want to live my life with you. It’s time to truly let go of my past and love the way I’m supposed to love,” she whispered against my lips when she broke off the kiss.
“Baby, I will always have your back and love you no matter what comes. Just always trust me to take care of you, because I will not let you down,” I promised.
“I know, Zy. And I promise to never withhold anything from you. I’ll love you with all I have inside of me,” Karina said.
I stood and reached for her pulling her up.
“Come on. I need to get you dressed so we can go downstairs and finish entertaining our company,” I said.
“Yes, and I’ve got to let the girls know that we have a wedding to plan,” she said giggling.
Age didn’t matter, at all, in our relationship. Our pasts didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was we both had a desire to become one.
PORTUGUESE GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Cabeça-dura – Hard headed
Merda – Shit
Desaparece – Get lost
Amada – Sweetheart
Avó – Grandmother
Eu gosto muito disso – I like it very much
Coloque esse pau na sua boca – Put that dick in your mouth
Eu te amo muito garota – I love you so much, girl
SNEAK PEEK AT HIDDEN
One more mile to go, and I could skip over to French Toast for my morning coffee. The coffee shop had the greatest coffee in the southeast. It was my one bad addiction that I couldn’t purge. There was something about the smell of those fresh-brewed java beans that stirred up my eneoji and kept me going.
EXO’s Power blared through my earbuds, drowning out the sound of the soles of my gym shoes slapping against the pavement. The fast-paced beat allowed me to keep a steady, but rapid pace as I wound my way up the curving hill, accelerating my heart rate.
The crisp morning breeze flowed over me as I checked off my mental to-do list for the day before I showed up at my job at K-One-Oh-Two, a struggling hip-hop station here in Crystal Beach, North Carolina. Sales had slumped, and our marketing team had an early morning meeting to address the concerns of upper management.
To me, it was a no-brainer, but the powers that be didn’t think it was so simple. Everyone was going to the Internet for music. We needed to offer more digital services and stop focusing on selling radio spots, with digital as little more than a sideline. Integrating digital into our business in a way that addressed the need to target a different customer set and generate revenue from there would stabilize sales.
With the ability for customers to access their music online via other media forums without the advertisements and other distractions the station provided, it’s no wonder they were turning away from us. If we could implement podcasts and other services that targeted a younger audience, we could turn around our revenues, and we would see growth. Right now, management’s focus was on trying to hold on to an older generation that did nothing for us.
I pushed through as I controlled my breathing. This last hill was always the hardest, but if I could make it through this hill, I was home-free once I jogged down the other side. It was the final leg of my journey.
I always timed my runs perfectly. On a day that wasn’t overcast, I could see the sunrise as I neared the top of the hill. I glanced at my watch. Seven-thirty-six! Right on t
ime, I thought as I reached the top of the hill and saw the first brilliant rays of the sun’s eggy yellows, bright oranges, and dusky reds intermingled to make the glorious vision before me.
Just as I rounded the corner, only steps away from French Toast, I felt Bear’s excited jerk on his chain. He loved French Toast as much as I did. My baby wasn’t allowed inside of the coffee shop, although the owner Tiffani Cuttage loved him almost as much as I did. After all, Bear was a puppy I had claimed from her when her dog, Bella had her first litter.
So, Bear knew that our daily visit to French Toast would yield him an apple streusel. He always got excited, and I always had to gather his leash around my wrist to maintain control over him. At five-feet, three-inches and ninety-nine pounds, I’m not a big woman. But my two-year-old, one-hundred-eleven-pound Rottweiler outweighed me by twelve pounds.
I know people worried that I couldn’t control him when they saw me with Bear, but they were wrong. He was a sweet puppy that obeyed my every command. Gentle and docile was his nature when he came into contact with others, even when he was highly excitable. At least, that sentiment held on most occasions, except this one.
I watched in horror as I jerked on Bear’s leash, and he refused to calm down.
A well-built African American male had just walked out of French Toast with a couple of bulky white bags in one hand, and the blue signature Styrofoam cup with beans pouring into a coffee mug embossed on the front.
Bear barked excitedly, jumping up on the male, who caught off guard stumbled backward slightly. Fortunately, for us, he didn’t lose his footing, but he did drop his white bags and the coffee that spilled on his navy-blue suit.
“I’m so sorry,” I apologized as I tried to jerk Bear back once more. I was a bit too late for that, as he dived in and began eating the man’s apple streusels. Bear was demolishing the streusels in one bag, and selfishly pawing the streusels of the other bag.
While the man rubbed furiously at his shirt, trying to blot out the spreading coffee stain, I decided to get my sweet baby under control.
“Here, let me help,” I said after I had jerked Bear to the side and tied his leash tightly around a nearby pole.
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