“I wish I understood why…why I mean so much to you, what your fascination is with me.”
“You’re special, Jo, and if I have to keep telling you that from now to the end of time for you to get it, I will.”
“You’re just too good. You know that?”
He gave me a huge grin, holding his tongue between his teeth. “Yeah, I know.”
I rolled my eyes.
*****
We had lunch in the back room of a soul food restaurant I’d never heard of before—Miss Hattie’s—and were greeted by Miss Hattie herself, who was also from Houston and a good friend of Everett’s late mom. The food was good, and I was enjoying hearing about how his tour was going but felt a little sad knowing he had to fly back out that same afternoon.
Once we were back in his truck, on our way to Bijou Park so I could pick up my car, Everett grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the palm, wrist, and up my arm to my shoulder. Then he found my lips, planting a soft kiss there, and murmuring, “I wish I could stay or that you could come with me.”
I reached up and slid my finger over his lips. “Me, too.”
“Hey, my annual charity event is coming up in a couple of weeks. We usually do it in Houston, but since my label is co-sponsoring it, we’re doing it here this year. I know you’re concerned about being photographed with me, and I’m not going to lie, I can only control that to a certain extent with so many guests there, but I’d like you to go as my date.”
“I’d love to go. I don’t care about pictures or gossip blogs anymore.” At that point, I didn’t care about much else other than taking care of my baby and spending as much time as I could get with him. Damn the blogs.
“You sure?”
“Yeah! Never been to anything like that. It’ll be fun to dress up and get out of the house for a night—oh, Lord! I gotta find a dress!” I was excited more because I knew I’d be with him than anything, but the thought of going to something like a charity event really did appeal to me.
“You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll have my assistant get in touch with some designers and set up some fittings for you. She can also set up hair and makeup if you want.”
“She? Assistant? I didn’t know you had an assistant.” Who was this ho’?
“Yeah, Courtney. She’s also my play cousin, been knowing her since we were kids. She lives in Houston but travels with me from time to time. I’ll get with her and give her your number.”
“Okay.”
“It’ll be a late night, so be sure to let your sitter know ahead of time after Courtney gives you the details.”
“I will.”
He walked me to my car, kissed me so deeply that I feared I would actually pass out, and just like that, my knight in shining armor was gone again.
15
This was his first time in my house, and although we weren’t alone—Sage, Bridgette, his assistant, Courtney, a stylist, and the dress designer were all present—it still felt strange to know that while I was in my bedroom shimmying into another dress, he was sitting in my living room, waiting to give his feedback on the look. This was the second round of fittings, because I hated everything I tried on the first time. This time, Everett flew in on a rare day where he didn’t have a show, a tiny break in his tour, to help me pick something out. So far, we had both unanimously vetoed five dresses. I was trying to adhere to Bridgette’s sound advice and only consider shorter dresses, but it was hard to find something that flattered my body without making me look like a THOT.
Bridgette had been giving good input, but Sage, who I invited so she could come up with a makeup look to complement whatever I chose, spent nearly every second she was in Everett’s presence gawking at him. I had to knock her phone out of her hand to keep her from sneaking a picture of him, and if she told me fifty times how extra fine he was in person, she told me a hundred times. Hell, I knew the man was fine. As a matter of fact, Everett was so fine, I had to make myself not stare at him when we were alone together. I didn’t want to seem obsessed with him, but shit, he was obsessively fine.
Bridgette zipped me into the dress and winked at me. “I think this is the one. You look super hot but in a respectable way, and it fits really well. Won’t need much altering. South is gonna love this one; I just know he is!”
As I inspected myself in the mirror, I had to admit the dress looked good on me. It was covered in gold sequins with a plunging neckline, bare back, and stopped just above my knees. It showed a lot of skin, but still left a little something to the imagination. As Sage helped me into the red—or as the stylist described them, Flamenco—Douce Du Desert Louboutin’s the stylist insisted would complement the dress perfectly, she mumbled, “Big South is in your living room,” for the tenth time.
“I know, Sage. And guess what? He’s just a regular guy. Please, chill.”
“Uh, Jo…that’s a Gia Smalls original, one of many you’ve tried on today. Those dresses run at least five grand. Not to mention that fucking Gia Smalls is in your living room, too, along with Carlita Frost, who happens to have styled half of Hollywood. And these are Louboutin’s, which I’ll never in my wildest dreams be able to afford without risking being homeless. Oh, yeah, and the motherfucker offered to pay me a thousand dollars to do your makeup for one event. That ain’t no regular dude.”
“He is to me. And stop calling him a motherfucker.” I checked my image in the mirror again, smiled, and said, “I like it. Let’s see what Everett thinks.”
The girls followed me into the living room where Everett was eating a pineapple fruit cup. Upon seeing me, he set the fruit cup on an end table, stood and quickly crossed the room, stopping in front of me, then walking around my body before pulling me into a deep kiss. Behind me, I could hear Bridgette mumble, “I guess he likes it.”
When he broke our connection, making me want to yank his head back down to mine, he kept his eyes on me as he asked Gia, “How much?”
“Five thousand-fifty,” she answered.
“Is it one of a kind?”
“Uh, no. It’s going up on my website as a limited run of fifty dresses. You guys are the first to see it.”
“How much will it cost to make it one of a kind?”
“W-what?” Gia, an obviously mixed race young woman, sputtered.
“I want Jo to be the only woman to ever wear this. How much I gotta pay to make that happen?” He leaned in and buried his nose in my neck, inhaling deeply. I nearly fell, would’ve had his hands not been gripping my arms.
Sage muttered, “Damn, Jo.”
“Um, I don’t know, Mr. South. If I actually sold all fifty dresses, I’d make a little over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars?”
He lifted his head, dragged his finger over the path of my freckles, and asked, “How about two hundred even? Plus, we’ll plug the shit out of you on Instagram.”
Did he mean two hundred thousand dollars? My mouth dropped open. “Everett, you can’t—”
Before I could finish that statement, his mouth was on mine again, then his tongue was sliding against mine, his big hands splayed on my bare back. I relaxed against his body in seconds, allowing my tongue to play with his. Everyone in that room seemed to disappear as I closed my eyes and moaned into his mouth. I was so damn horny, I was two seconds from stripping out of that dress, throwing Everett’s big ass on the floor, and riding him into the sunset. It’d been a long time, and Everett wasn’t making it any easier for me being fine and sweet and all.
I think I heard Gia say it was a deal or something like that. My mind was in a fog as Everett’s hand slid down my back to my ass and he squeezed it a little. It was the ringing of my doorbell that finally brought us back to reality, tearing us apart.
“That-that’s probably Ms. Sherry bringing Nat home.” It was a Saturday, but I’d asked Ms. Sherry to watch her so we could get the fitting done in peace.
Everett nodded and headed over to Gia while I headed to the door. It wasn’t Ms. Sherry but Tommy,
who’d dropped Everett off earlier. Since I lived in a very secure gated community, he hadn’t felt the need for his bodyguards to stay with him. My first thought was to panic. Had Everett called Tommy because he was leaving already? He had mentioned us having dinner together before he left, and I’d been looking forward to it. I also wanted him to meet Nat for the first time.
“Hey, Boss Man left his phone. I just noticed it. Will you give it to him?” Tommy asked.
Taking the phone, I said, “Yeah, thanks.”
Tommy nodded and left. Seconds later, I’d handed Everett his phone and was in my bedroom again as Gia pinned the dress in a few places that needed to be taken in to properly fit me. Less than an hour later, my house had cleared out with the exception of Everett and we were perusing Postmates, having decided to have something delivered to my house and eat in.
“Courtney is so sweet. I really like her,” I said, as I tried to decide between Mexican and Italian.
“That’s good. She’s the main point of contact if you can’t get me on occasions like today, when I forget my phone, but that only happened because I was so excited to be seeing you.”
I leaned in and kissed him. “I’m always excited to see you, but I can’t believe you paid that much for that dress. That was outrageous, Everett!”
He took my laptop from me, placing it on the coffee table, then pulled me into his lap, leaning forward to kiss the hollow of my neck before sliding the spaghetti strap of my tank top to the side and kissing my shoulder. “You don’t think you’re worth it?”
As he easily positioned me to straddle him and reached around to grab a handful of my ass, I stammered, “Uh-um-I…yes? I do.”
He reached under my top, gently grabbing my left breast through my bra, his eyes locking with mine. “Then what’s the problem?”
“I-I, it just...shit, I can’t think.”
Licking his lips, he asked, “Can I touch you, Jo?”
“Um, aren’t you already doing that?” I asked, as I closed my eyes and tried to recall how to breathe.
“Yeah, but not like I wanna touch you. Can I touch you like I wanna touch you, baby?”
Hellllll, yeah! “Yes,” I whispered, opening my eyes to meet his. “Please.”
He smiled before capturing my mouth while squeezing my breast. When I felt him easing his other hand from my butt into the front of my sweat pants, I gasped into his mouth. Then his huge hand was inside my panties, stroking me, and all I could do was grab his shoulders and involuntarily grind against his hand as he slipped a finger inside me.
His mouth left mine. “Damn, Jo. You wetter than water.”
He stared at me, his fingers adroit and smooth as he watched my reaction. I leaned in to kiss him again, but he shook his head. “I wanna see you come for me, baby.”
Well, shit. That did it. Not even a second later, the frenzied pressure that had been growing inside of me bubbled to the surface and popped. I threw my head back, howling, “Evvvveeerrreeetttttt!” like a crazy woman as the pleasure washed over me. Then I collapsed against his chest, wondering how we’d gone from A to Z so quickly. All these weeks, we hadn’t even really addressed sex. Okay, so he’d hinted at it and I damn sure had thought about it, but I still found it shocking that there I was, melting all over his hand while his very noticeable bulge poked me from underneath. But that might have had more to do with who he was. Yeah, I’d tried to play it cool with Sage earlier, but a part of me still found it hard to believe I was in a relationship with this man.
“Damn, Jo. You always come that quick?” he asked, eyelids low as he licked his lips again.
My cheeks flushed as I bit my bottom lip, tried to catch my breath, and shook my head. “No…it’s-it’s been a while for me.”
The next thing I knew, he was on his feet with me in his arms, carrying me to my bedroom. He had just laid me on the bed when the doorbell rang. This time I was sure it was Ms. Sherry, because she’d texted me to let me know they were on their way from her friend’s house. In my heated Everett lust haze, I’d forgotten.
“That’s Nat?” he asked, as he stood over my limp body.
I scurried from my back to my feet, taking a moment to steady myself. “Probably,” I said, giving him a regretful look.
“It’s all right, baby. Let me wash my hands right quick so I can meet her.” His voice was steady, calm, understanding, words I’d never attribute to the man I was once married to.
“Okay.”
I went to open the door on shaky legs, my panties in ruination and my yoni pulsating. I wanted the real deal so bad I was aching, but there was nothing I could do about it at that moment. Sniffing the air, I was glad everything was so open in that part of my house. I could smell no evidence of Everett fondling me.
“Nat-Nat!” I squealed, as I took my little girl from Ms. Sherry. “Did you have a good day?”
My tired little droopy-eyed girl nodded and rested her head on my shoulder.
I smiled at Ms. Sherry. “Thanks so much for watching her today.”
“How many times I gotta tell you that the pleasure is all mine? Did you pick a dress—oh my God! It’s really him! I know you said it was him, but it’s him!” she shrieked, alerting me that Everett must have entered the room.
Then I saw his big hand as he stepped beside me and offered it to Ms. Sherry. “Hi. I’m Ev—”
“You’re Big South! And I’m Sherry Sykes! Oh, my goodness! Aren’t you just as handsome as you always are?! Jo, you came off the bench and hit a home run!”
I stretched my eyes wide. “Wow.”
Everett chuckled, and Nat’s little head popped up, eyes alert with confusion, so I said, “Nat, this is Mr. Everett, a very special friend of mine.”
“She can just call me Everett,” he amended.
She eyed him for a moment before giving him the biggest smile. “Hi, Ebbwitt.”
Everett returned her smile with a beautiful one of his own. “Hey, Nat. Did you know you’re pretty just like your mom?”
She nodded. “Uh-huh. I got a lion. Wanna see it?”
“Yeah! I love lions!”
As she wiggled out of my arms and toddle-ran to her room, Ms. Sherry gushed over Everett a couple more seconds and left.
Nat soon returned with two of her stuffed lions—she had at least fifty of them—and handed one to Everett with a “Rawr!”
Everett gasped. “Oh, man! That was scary!”
Nat giggled. “You do it!”
Everett crouched down, beat his chest, and let out a less-than-fierce roar of his own, sending Nat into a fit of giggles that showcased the gap between her two front teeth that mirrored mine. “Rawr!” she shouted.
Everett fell onto his back, his big body stretched out on my living room floor as he roared right back at her.
Nat giggled and fell on her back, roaring again.
This went on until our dinner arrived. I don’t think I’d smiled so much in my life.
*****
I was nauseatingly nervous as I sat on my sofa flanked by a twittering Sage and Bridgette, waiting for Everett to pick me up for his charity event. I mean, my stomach was bubbling and churning and everything. As I glanced down at myself, their chatter sounded hollow and distant. Gold and red…did I look too festive? Like I was going to a Christmas party? It was barely August. And maybe I should’ve let Bridgette put my hair up in a bun like she wanted to instead of wearing my usual unruly afro. But Everett liked my afro, had told me so on more than one occasion. Was my lipstick too bright? And these damn freckles. Everett loved them. Hell, it was almost like he fetishized them the way he made a point to ask Sage not to conceal them, but I wasn’t trying to get stared at all night because of them…unless he was doing the staring. What if I looked crazy in pictures because I wasn’t wearing enough makeup? Oh, and speaking of pictures, I had tried to prepare myself for the possibility of my face being splashed all over the gossip blogs as his latest fuck buddy—one blog actually described a model he was seen with that way—if s
ome guest leaked a shot of us, but I was still feeling paranoid about it. And the damn dress was showing too much side boob. My legs looked too oily. Why didn’t I get the gap between my teeth fixed years ago? Why did I agree to go to this thing with Everett? What the fuck was I doing being Big South’s girlfriend? How did I get to this place in my life? What—
When the doorbell rang, I jumped straight to my feet and nearly toppled over in the four-inch heels that still only put me at Everett’s shoulders.
“I’ll get it!” Sage eagerly offered, scurrying her ultra-curvy, only-a-couple-of-inches-taller-than-me body to my front door.
I swatted Bridgette’s hand away as she picked at my hair with her fingers. I was too nervous for that shit. “Stop,” I hissed.
“You stop! All tensed up. You act like this is a blind date or something. The man is your boyfriend,” she rebutted.
Before I could explain that he’d only been my boyfriend a matter of weeks and that this was our first public date and would likely be my introduction to his world and the world in general as his woman, he stepped into my living room, six feet, six inches of Heaven covered in a sleek black tuxedo, his dreadlocks free-falling to his shoulders.
My mouth dropped open as I was rendered speechless, and as far as I could tell, so was he. He just stood there, a hand in his pant pocket as a smile inched across his face. When he finally said, “Jo…” in the way only he did, I was able to return his smile.
“Everett,” I said.
“You look…damn, Jo. You look absolutely beautiful. I mean…” His eyes scanned the room and then lit with recognition, as if at just that moment, he realized we were not alone despite the fact that Sage had opened the door for him. “You ladies did a great job. I’ll have to pay y’all a bonus.”
“Really?!” Sage squealed.
Everett nodded. “I don’t play about money.” He moved closer to me, stood in front of me, and slid a finger over my freckles. “I’ve got something for you, baby.”
Let Me Love You (McClain Brothers Book 1) Page 9