But it’s been long enough. Don’t you think?
K.
I RE-READ IT SEVERAL times. It was short and to the point, and there wasn’t anything else that I needed to say. Leaving my apartment, I headed for the elevator.
I pressed the up button, and when the doors finally opened, I pushed the button to take me to her floor. If she were home, I would talk to her. See where her head was because I was about to go crazy, trying to figure it all out on my own.
When I arrived at her place, I rang the doorbell. After a couple of minutes, I realized she wasn’t coming to the door. Either she was out, or she wasn’t trying to be bothered.
I slid the letter under the door and headed back for my place.
CHAPTER 26 – SILVER
I’d heard the doorbell ringing, but I’d just gotten into the shower. Bear was at my sister’s house for the weekend; otherwise, he would have started a musical symphony with his barking. He always got excited whenever the doorbell rang.
I wasn’t expecting anyone to drop by my place, so I wasn’t sure who it could have been. It was another half an hour before I found the envelope at my door. And that was only because I was on my way downstairs to check my mail.
I snatched the envelope up, eyeing it curiously. On the front, the letter “K” was scrawled recklessly.
My heart thudded in my chest as I made my way back to my couch. This was the first communication we’d had in a month. I had wondered if he had moved out. It wasn’t difficult to miss him in a building the size of ours. With twenty-eight floors in our high-rise and with all the people coming and going, it wasn’t impossible to miss each other. But still, I did miss seeing him.
I slid a nail underneath the sealed envelope and removed the slip of paper inside.
SILVER,
There’s something I realized about myself. I’m not a romantic. Never have professed to be, so I’m not about to start pretending to be now. But I am a realist. And what I know with certainty is that there is no such thing as a coincidence.
Things happen for a reason. And if we’re in the right place at the right time, it’ll all come together perfectly the way it’s supposed to. We’re just expected to play our parts. That’s all.
The fact that I won this contract over all the qualified candidates, met you and allowed you into my space the way I did wasn’t a coincidence. I think it was our destiny to meet. Our destiny to be together.
We’ve spent the last few months trying to pretend the shit we felt wasn’t real. But that hidden desire took over, and we did what we were meant to do.
I know shit got out of control on the job. I’m sorry about that because I should have stood my ground. The last thing I wanted was to create any issues for you. So, I gave you what you needed. Time and space. Time and space to figure out you belong to me.
But it’s been long enough. Don’t you think?
K.
I DROPPED MY HEAD BACK against the couch and closed my eyes. For the first time, I felt a sense of relief. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed him and how stressed I had been about him going on with his own life. I’d been too full of hurt and pride to reach out to him.
The way he’d sexed me and left me the last time we’d seen one another had left me pissed and angry. I was too prideful to go back and find him. I’d felt used, although I knew that wasn’t his intention.
But this letter...well, that was something else entirely.
Shit.
I chewed on my thumbnail and began to question my intentions.
Did I want the man? And was I willing to stay by his side no matter what may come?
The last thing I wanted was to play games with his heart. So, if I took his invitation and visited him, I needed to be certain.
I sat on the couch another ten minutes reminiscing about our time together before I pushed off my couch and headed to my bedroom.
Changing out of my shorts, t-shirt, and cotton bra and panties, I slipped into lace panties. Shifting through my closet, I found a white bodycon maxi dress. Spaghetti straps attached to a deep, V-neck bodice. A gorgeous peacock design decorated the bodice and the skirt.
Glancing down at the slit on the right side that stopped mid-thigh, I decided to grab a pair of low-heeled, strappy green sandals. I spritzed my body with perfume and grabbed my keys and the letter, and headed for the elevator.
CHAPTER 27 – KOLE
I spent the next hour trying to finish the project I’d been working on. But I didn’t get too far. My thoughts were a jumble, and the work I was doing was garbage. I ate another slice of pizza, which had grown cold.
My thoughts turned to the fourth of July and the cooking class date. Silver and I had made so many memories in such a short time. Memories that I wanted to add on to, not allow to fade like the memory of a former lover.
The doorbell rang, and I pushed off the couch to answer it.
“Silver,” the words almost dripped from my lips.
“Kole, can I come in?” she asked, tapping the letter I’d written against her palm.
Silver was a sight for my eyes. And if it weren’t for the fact we had so much to discuss, I’d snatch her ass up right away and rip that dress off her body.
She looked sexy as hell in a tight peacock dress. It outlined her hips and breasts well, and I was damn near salivating at the sight of her.
“Kole?” she said, forcing me to jerk my eyes from her body to meet her gaze.
“Uh...sure,” I said, scratching the back of my head and stepping back from the doorway so she could enter.
She stood looking around as if she weren’t sure what to do next. I grabbed her hand and pulled her further into my place.
“Just some work shit I was reviewing. Have a seat,” I said, moving the copies of SHRM and Consulting magazines from the couch to a side table.
I took my seat in the recliner. Pointing at the pizza box, I said, “You hungry? This was just delivered about an hour or so ago.”
Shaking her head, she said, “No, I’m fine.”
“So, wassup?” I asked, leaning forward and resting my elbows on my knees.
She sighed, tucking her lips inward before she closed her eyes.
“Kole, I read your letter.”
“And?”
“Did you mean all of that...you believe it’s our destiny to be together?”
“If you don’t know anything else about me, you know I’m the realest. I don’t say shit for fun. If I said it, I meant it. The question is, how do you feel about it?”
“Well, over the last month, I have had time to think about you and me...I’ve been scared.”
“Of what?”
“Losing my job,” she said, scrunching her face up as if the answer were obvious.
“Okay, and?”
“I’ve always been cautious when it comes to working. But with you, I failed...carelessly and recklessly; I failed myself. And I failed you,” Silver said.
“You didn’t fail me, Silver. I failed you. I should’ve kept my stance, knowing that shit wasn’t professional. Hell, yeah, I wanted you. All those days you were sitting up in my office, I was stealing glimpses of you like I was some damned high school kid. I never should’ve invited you back here to my place. It doesn’t matter if we live in the same building. We’ve got conference rooms downstairs we could have booked. I was asking for trouble by doing that shit. So, nah, baby girl...you didn’t fail me. I failed you,” I corrected.
“But I knew better, too. You’re a contractor. You’ll go on and keep doing what you do, but my job was in jeopardy. I know we didn’t have any guidelines in place, but I also knew that I was playing with fire. I said I failed you because I chose to ignore what I knew was right and put you in a compromising position. Forcing you to choose me...or our workplace ethics.”
I shrugged. “It’s all good. In the end, you did what you had to do. You chose the job.”
“Only when I was forced to, Kole. Don’t you get it? That’s not what I wanted,”
she cried out.
I steepled my fingers together and rested them under my chin.
“I’m not saying you did want it, or you didn’t, Silver. The only thing I know was that you left me in the dark. That shit didn’t feel too good. You didn’t communicate with me but shut me out, leaving me to guess. I don’t do that shit too well.”
“I know, and I’m sorry,” she said, glancing down at her finger and twisting a butterfly ring she wore on her right index finger.
“Sorry...sorry, that’s all you got?”
“What do you want me to say, Kole?”
“How about explaining to me why you couldn’t at least be adult enough to tell me what was going on in your head? If you needed space, that was cool. But you didn’t say shit. You just pushed me out and shit, Silver. It’s been over a month now, and I ain’t even heard from you.”
“You didn’t come to check on me either,” she replied.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “What did I tell you the last time you saw me, Silver?”
“I know where to find you,” she said softly.
“Right. I wasn’t trying to chase you, Silver. But, girl, you’ve got my head all fucked up. I couldn’t just let you pass through my fingertips without giving it one more shot. If you didn’t respond to this...then I had to be done. Not because I don’t believe you’re worth it. But because I need to know if you think I’m worth it.”
“Worth what, Kole?”
“Your time. Your space. Your energy. Your love.”
“My love?”
“Yeah...because while we’ve been going through this thing. Whatever this is...I realized I love you.”
There. It was finally out.
She pressed her thumb underneath her left eye and wiped it. Then she did the same thing with her right eye. Back to her left. Then her right.
I stood and walked to her, pulling her up into my arms.
“What’s wrong, Silver?” I whispered against her hair. “Huh?”
Her cries turned into full hiccupping sobs. I wasn’t sure what the hell had just happened; I just knew I wanted to make it right.
Her tears were drenching my shirt, but I just kept rubbing the soft skin on her back until I heard muffled words.
“Huh?”
“I said, I love you, too,” she sobbed.
A peace settled deep in my soul. A peace I’d never known existed. This tiny woman standing in my arms felt as if she had been created for me. And to hear her speak those words was like coming home.
But we had a lot of work to do, and I told her as much.
“Hey,” I said, lifting her chin. “We’ve got to talk. Figure out what we’re going to do and where this is heading.”
She nodded sniffling.
“I missed you,” I said, kissing her forehead.
“I missed you, too,” she said softly.
“We’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” I said, pushing the straps of her dress down her shoulders.
Her fingers clutched at my t-shirt, tugging it up.
After I’d pushed Silver’s dress down to her hips and removed my shirt, I pulled her against me. Her small, cool breasts pushed flat against my hard chest. My hand smoothed over the arch in her back, resting at the groove of her ass as my other hand cupped her chin.
I kissed her slowly, loving the way her nipples pebbled underneath my chest. She moaned sweetly into our kiss.
She was so sweet. Lowering my hands, I gripped the curve of her ass and lifted her until she was at my waist. Silver’s arms wrapped around my neck and her legs wrapped around my back.
I started walking toward the bedroom but didn’t quite make it.
Silver’s hips were gyrating against me, and I could feel her heat through the cotton of my shorts. I stopped at the little table in my dining room before I got to the hallway. I lay her down on the table, kissing her exposed breasts.
“Ohh!” she cried as my lips sucked on her swollen nipple.
“You like that?” I asked, opening my mouth, stroking her nipple with my tongue.
“Uh-huh,” she said, arching her hips.
My hands moved down her sides, pushing the dress further down over her legs and feet. I broke the connection with my mouth to her breast and tossed the dress to the floor.
“You nasty,” I said, my top lip curling in a sneer when I noticed she had on no panties.
“You like nasty girl,” she purred.
“Damn right,” I said, lowering my head and letting my lips feel the moisture of her lower lips.
“Eat me, Kole!”
Pushing her legs apart, I let my tongue dig all up into that pussy. Shit, that wasn’t something she even had to ask for, let alone demand.
My thumb shoved inside of her while I sucked her clit. She pushed her legs up, her feet planted on the table.
Moving my thumb from inside of her, I held onto her knees, pushing her wide open so that I could clean the plate.
Silver shattered right there on the table, underneath my lips and tongue. When she finished, I pulled back, shoved my shorts down, and rammed my hard dick into her.
Her back arched, coming clear off the table as she gasped. Holding her hips, I pulled her to the edge of the table and kept ramming inside of her.
Watching her bite her bottom lip and rub her hands across her breasts drove me crazy. I hammered her pussy until I came, my body jerking forward and backward as if I were having a seizure.
When I regained control of my movements, I held her hips in place and stared at her.
“We still need to talk.”
“I know,” she whispered.
CHAPTER 28 – SILVER
“So, what’s been going on in your life since you left the radio station?” I asked.
We were lying in his bed, and he was stroking my hair back from my face.
I swear, he had pulled and tugged it in every damn direction. Thankfully, I hadn’t lost a strand.
The moon shone through his window, creating a soft glow on his face because we’d forgotten to close the curtains.
“Working on a state government contract, I recently landed. Most of what I do for them is from home, so my schedule is a bit freer.”
“Do you like it? Working from home, I mean.”
He chuckled, a sound that rumbled in his chest and belly. I pulled my hand down the dark expanse of his skin and rested it on his stomach. My fingers toyed with the light sprinkle of hair around his navel.
“Yeah, it’s cool. Keeps me out of trouble because I don’t have to bring work home from the office. And sexy ass Korean assistants,” he mumbled, pulling me onto my side.
I leaned up, kissing his lips as he cupped my ass.
“You’d better not. I might have to kick her ass.”
“Oh, yeah? You got it like that now?” he asked, smirking, and lifting one eyebrow.
“Yes. My boyfriend is going to teach me self-defense.”
“Your boyfriend, huh?” he asked in a deep, smooth tone.
“Yeah,” I whispered, tracing my finger over his full, thick lips.
“A’ight. I gotcha, girl. What about you? What’ve you been up to since you went MIA?”
I sighed. “Well, my sister challenged me to start working on my fashion career. But I had to get a push first.”
“A push?”
“Yeah, the station started having me fill in for Claire after they fired her.”
“That’s wassup! I mentioned that to Brandon before I left. I told him that he should hire you as the replacement, but he was hesitant. So, I told him to let you fill in temporarily while you learned the job, and he searched for Claire’s replacement. I told him to have Gary to supervise you and let you apply for the permanent position. I knew after he’d seen you hold that shit down, he’d realize you were perfect for the position.”
Shaking my head, I said, “Well, it didn’t go that way. I am doing the work, but they’re looking for an external candidate, and they wouldn’t be hiring internally for the posi
tion. And that they wanted someone with a communications degree.”
“What the fuck?” he said, lifting onto his elbow.
I pushed him back down.
“It’s okay, Kole. I got an unpaid internship at The House of Dahlia.”
“Word?” he asked, lifting again.
I could see the pride in his eyes.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“How’s that working out for you?”
“Well, it’s great. Keeps me busy night and day between the two places. Which is another reason you haven’t seen me lately. I’m tired, but the experience I’m gaining is invaluable.”
“That’s cool. I’m proud of you, girl. The House of Dahlia? That’s no joke. Women are kicking ass in these streets to get one of his designs. I heard he charges a pretty penny. But that’s cool that you’re chasing your dreams. Question.”
“What?”
“Why the long face?”
“I bit off more than I could chew,” I shared.
“How?”
“Well, we came up short a designer for an upcoming show. Luis Andre freaked out—”
“Shit, you know the man?”
“Yeah, we met some time ago for a volunteer project I did. And his sister gets her nails done at my sister’s shop. But anyway the designer can’t come through, so I offered a suggestion. I have a collection of Egyptian attire I’ve designed, and I offered it up for the show.”
“What did he say?”
“At first, he laughed. He went on about how he might become the laughingstock of the industry if he did that. But then when I showed it to him, he did a one-eighty. Luis Andre loves them.”
“So, I don’t see what your issue is, Little One,” he said, kissing my lips.
“I have until Tuesday to crank out one of these designs. They’re my designs, and I know them like the back of my hand, and I’d started creating one of them before this came up. But it’s impossible for me to finish the prototype in such a short time,” I shared.
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