She opened her eyes and side stepped with a coquettish grin. “Shoes.” Her body continued to tease him.
“What?”
“Shoes.”
Simon sighed. He propped himself against the chair, hauled off and dropped each sneaker on the floor. He included the socks for good measure. “Would you like me to take off anything else?”
She laughed and opened her arms. “Thank you. I didn’t want to risk getting my feet crushed.”
He wrapped an arm around her, splayed his hand on her back and extended his arm along hers. He entwined their fingers and brought her arm against his chest to graze each knuckle with his lips before drawing it around his neck. Touching his forehead against hers, he brought her closer, slipping one leg between hers until their hips met and rotated in unison. The singers’ smooth voices floated around their dancing bodies. Simon’s heart flooded with content. Nothing felt so right.
“Wait a minute.” Regina lifted her head and stared off to the side. “Do you speak Spanish?”
“Sé lo suficiente.” He dropped his hips and bent his knees, bringing her down with him. He straightened them with a smug smile to match her impressed expression. “I know Marc speaks it. Do you too?”
“Mamá insistió. She strongly believed that her kids should be at least bilingual.”
“I agree. I decided that if I was gonna practice law in New York, it would be a good idea to know some.” He continued to lead the swaying of their bodies. I love surprising her.
“So, you understand the lyrics?”
“I do. That’s why I chose the song.” He pressed his lips to her bare shoulder. “It reminds me of you. You captivate me just by walking in the room.” Feeling her shudder, he gazed into her glossy eyes while she grasped the nape of his neck. “Something burns inside me when I look at you, Gina. It’s more than desire. It’s like I can’t breathe—not fully—until I have you near. I’ve never even said anything like this to anyone. You awakened these feelings in me.”
She brought her palm around to his jaw and stroked his cheek with her thumb. “I feel it too.”
Simon crushed his lips to hers. An intoxicating rush washed over him. He wanted all of her—body, mind, and soul. He would be willing to give her the same, but she already owned his.
Regina stilled her hips and backed away from Simon. “Let’s sit down.”
“Huh?”
“Didn’t you order takeout?”
He tightened his hold and dipped his head to nibble her neck. “Yeah?”
She pushed him away again and pat his surging chest. “Well, if we continue like this, we’ll be in the bedroom when it gets here.”
“I can live with that.” Simon leaned in for a kiss, but received a disapproving glare. “Fine.” Amazing. I’m getting cock blocked by takeout. Every nerve in his body urged him to satisfy the lust surging through him. Waiting for some sesame chicken was not an option. He peeped sideways to the living room and got a brilliant idea. “Come here.”
Regina followed him to the sofa, where he sat and tapped his lap. “Sit. Then we’ll be here when the food comes.” But still naked.
She turned to her side to lower herself on his lap.
“No.” He clasped her hips and turned them towards him. “Like this. It’s much more comfortable, and I want to be facing you while we—talk.”
Regina towered over him with her fists on her hips. “You think I’m buying that line, Young? You’re truly relentless. We’re waiting for the food to arrive.”
He made a half smile. “Yup, just waiting.”
She opened the front of her gown at the slit and straddled him. “Since we have some time, I want to really apologize for my behavior yesterday.”
“I forgive you.” He concentrated on the two beautiful orbs bouncing before him. They cried for him to free them from their pastel prison.
“No, for real.” Regina rubbed her thighs, causing the bounce to progress to a charming jiggle, making him more determined to liberate the hypnotic brown spheres. “I was disrespectful to your mother.”
“She’ll live.” He hooked a thin satin strap with his finger and moved it down Regina’s shoulder. The top of the bodice fell until it was caught on a hard nipple, revealing the dark brown areola. To hell with delivery.
“Simon.” He dismissed the warning tone in her voice and followed the trail from the strap across his lover’s chest to caress her skin right at the hemline of the garment obstructing his view. She trembled. He caught his bottom lip between his teeth. I guess she isn’t worried about takeout anymore.
“Enough talk.” Regina planted a hungry kiss on his lips. She lifted her head and dropped the side of her peach gown, freeing the hard nipple trapped underneath.
Simon moaned and drew the it into his mouth. Her sweetness permeated all senses and sent him into a frenzy. A soft knock cut through the melodic sound filling the room. He ignored it, yanked the satin gown up her hips and slipped his eager hand underneath her panties. He stroked where the top of her buttocks met with a fingertip. The low moan and her quivering signaled the effectiveness of his touch. He filled his palms with supple flesh and drew Regina’s hips forward.
She ran her fingers through his hair and moved her hips to the rhythm. “Oh, Simon, I—”
The knocking increased to a bang. The splendid weight, scent, feel, and taste of Regina vanished. Simon’s entire body shook in frustration. For the second time, cold water was splashed on his flaming passion. Aww, hell. What’s it gonna take?
“There’s the food.” She pulled her clothes down and turned to the door.
“Who cares?” He dropped his head on the back of the sofa and moaned. “Don’t answer it. I’ll take you out to eat later. Wherever you want to go, you name it.” He lurched forward and tried to regain his lost prize by holding the bottom of Regina’s gown. but to no avail.
She pinned his hands to his sides on the sofa then clasped his chin in between her thumb and forefinger. “Stop pouting, Young. I’ll grab the food.” She fixed her bodice. “Then you can get back to grabbing me.”
All that was left was her perfume lingering in the air and an ache in his chinos. “My wallet’s on the counter.” He adjusted his pants and rested one ankle on the opposite knee. It was going to take a minute before he would be able to leave his seat.
“Megan?” Regina’s voice drifted from the entryway.
Her assistant swept into the apartment with her fingers furiously plugging away at her phone. “OMG, Regina. I can’t believe this is happening.” Megan pushed her glasses further up her nose and strode to the side chair. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Simon on the sofa. “Oh, hi, Simon.” She surveyed the room until her face turned the appropriate shade of red. “I’m sorry to interrupt.”
“Megan.” He forced a smile. They’d met when Regina hired her. She kept things organized, and even made sure that he got to be with Regina, so he tried hard to hide how unwanted her presence was at that moment. “How’re you doing?” Simon went to turn off the music, his plans for the playlist thwarted—again.
The brunette turned and raised her head to Regina as she approached. “What are we gonna do?”
Regina hunched up her shoulders and turned her palms to the ceiling.
“You don’t know? You haven’t seen all the notifications?”
“No, my laptop is in sleep mode and my phone is on silent. What are we going to do about what?”
Megan floated the phone before her boss’s face. “This.”
Regina’s mouth fell open. She snatched the phone from Megan. The light glittered in her eyes darting in her head. “No, no.” She stomped in and out of the entryway. “This can’t be happening.” She grabbed her forehead. “Not now.” She changed her pacing direction to across the apartment. Megan joined her.
Simon reached for his phone. As soon as he turned off the music, Marcus’s name and image flashed on the screen. “Hey, Marc.” Regina stopped in front of the small hallway leading to the bedroom
and bathroom. Holding the device against her chest, she huffed wildly as tears spilled from her anxiety-ridden eyes. What the hell is happening? “I’m in the middle of somethin’. What’s up?”
“Where’re you?”
Simon bowed his head. Something about Marcus’s tone indicated that he already knew. “I’m home.” It wasn’t a total lie. For him, Regina’s apartment was his other home. He had more than enough stuff in it to be comfortable for an extended period of time and already planned to stay the week.
“Really? Are you sure you’re not somewhere messin’ around with Gina? I mean, from the looks of these pictures, the two of you have gotten pretty damn close.”
Simon gaped at Regina. “What pictures?” She flew across the room and held up Megan’s phone screen. A pit of dread grew in Simon’s gut. An image of them in a passionate embrace, in the clothes they had on that day, shone on the screen. She slid her thumb across the screen, and there was another picture of them gazing into each other’s eyes with his hands clearly groping her backside. Her thumb passed again. They were kissing in the last picture. It was already a meme with the captions WHEN A SISTAH SWEARS SHE’S PRO-BLACK at the top and BUT GOES OUT FOR CHINESE at the bottom. “Fuck.”
Marcus’s voice streamed from the phone so loud that Simon was sure Regina heard.“Yeah, fuck. That’s a good word. Tell me, bro, how long have you been fucking my little sister?”
Chapter 21
Be a Man About Yours
Simon stepped to the living room window and moved the geometric-patterned curtain to the side. The phone’s heat burned in his ear along with the Marcus’s enraged words.
“This is bull, Simon. You couldn’t even be a man about yours and tell me that you were—I don’t even want to know what you’ve been doing.”
He rubbed his forehead and peeked over his shoulder. Regina emerged from the bedroom in a pair of sweats and one of his white tanks. She descended onto the edge of the chair in front of her laptop and rolled her head. He wanted to fix things so badly. All of it was his responsibility. He desired, pursued and fell in love with a beautiful person, and it was wrecking their lives. It would only be natural if she bolted, but he was going to do whatever was necessary to make sure she didn’t.
“Yo, man.”
“I’m here, Marc.” He cleared his throat and stuffed a hand in his pocket. “I’ll explain everything.”
“Oh, damn straight, you will. Not over the phone, though. You’ll meet me and explicate the reasoning that made you decide it was a good idea to start fooling around with my sister.”
There was a bang at the door. Regina and Megan remained engrossed by whatever was on the computer. He retrieved his wallet before opening the door. “I’ll come to your place now.” He passed the delivery person a one-hundred-dollar bill and kicked the door closed behind him.
“You don’t want to do that. I’ll be expecting you Friday. How about you stay out of my sister’s bed until then?” It was more of a demand than an inquiry.
He dropped the bag on the counter and closed his eyes. Marcus’s anger was completely justified. Some may consider his behavior a little strange, but Simon knew the values Marcus’s parents gave him. Even though she was a grown woman, his sense of duty to protect his sister was very strong. I shouldn’t have snuck around behind Marc’s back with Regina for so long. I have to straighten things out. “Yeah.” The phone disconnected. He was a fool for agreeing to stay away from Regina until they spoke, but he couldn’t risk damaging their friendship more by stomping on Marcus’s manhood any more than he already had. It meant too much to him, and if he was going to be with Regina, her brother’s approval was important. She might kick and scream about Marcus’s butting in, but she deeply valued her brother’s opinion. The situation required diplomacy, finesse and giving into Marcus’s demand.
Simon braced himself on the counter and glanced at Regina clicking away at her keyboard. A cold, deep longing settled inside him at the thought of staying away from her. He wanted nothing more than to turn off everything, hold her in his arms and shut out everyone trying to keep them apart, but that was no solution. They couldn’t ignore the world’s reaction to their love. I’m not able to shield her from this professional Armageddon, but I can make things right with Marc.
He started unloading the food and filling plates from the cabinet. Megan offered a tense grin and walked around Simon to the coffee maker. “This is a disaster.” After filling the coffee pot, she accepted the plate Simon offered her.
“That bad?” Regina’s keyboard made a rapid succession of clicks.
“Yeah. She’s writing a reaction piece now. Black Twitter is on fire. Every hotep, misogynoirist and Black separatist is raining down on her.” Megan rested against the sink and popped a broccoli floret in her mouth. She obviously learned a lot about Black social media during her brief employment. “It would’ve been better if the two of you went public on your own. Now, people are accusing Regina of hiding it because she knows she’s wrong for dating you. She has to defend herself on multiple fronts.”
“Do you think we can get her to stop for dinner?”
“Not now. She’s on a mission.”
Regina stretching her long arms in the air caught his attention. She dropped her arms and rolled her head from side to side. She wrote until the wee hours when her writing flowed. A few times, He’d go to bed with her poised at her desk and get up for work to find that she hadn’t moved much. There was little to no conversation at those times, and definitely no hot breakfast—just a peck on the cheek and brief goodbye as he headed out the door.
She bit her bottom lip and squinted at the computer. A forefinger started attacking the mouse scrolling wheel as she leaned closer to the screen. Simon skirted past Megan and took a tall silver thermos from the top shelf of the slender cabinet over the coffeemaker. “Megan, can you get me the half-and-half?”
“Here you go.” She passed the tall carton to him along with the glass sugar pourer.
“Thanks.” Simon added just the right amounts of everything, twisted the cap closed and shook the contents as he rounded the counter. The bottom right corner of the computer screen strobed with notification pop-ups accompanied by incessant dinging. Fingers shot across the keyboard at an impressive speed as the blank whiteness filled with black letters. “Here, babe.” Simon bent to kiss the soft, brown cheek closest to him.
“Mmm.” She hardly acknowledged his presence, not that he expected her to. He grabbed a plate of food from the counter and flopped on the sofa. She was in the trenches now. It’s gonna be a long night.
***
“Simon?” Regina gently shook Simon’s knee. The plate smeared with what was left of his dinner teetered in his hand. He lifted his eyes and the corners of his mouth pulled into a groggy smile. He was so handsome, even when she had to scrape dried duck sauce from the corner of his mouth. Hell would freeze over before she gave him up.
Simon stretched his legs. “Gina.” She secured the plate and put it on the coffee table before it toppled on the rug. “What time is it?”
“It’s nearly two.” She ran her fingers through his hair and tugged at both his arms until he rose.
Simon staggered on his bare heels. “Are you finished?”
Not even close. Her stomach rumbled. She’d spent the entire night sustained on coffee and skirmishes with a bevy of haters, bigots and racists about her audacity to have a love life. “Tonight, I am.” There would be more in the morning, but for now, all she wanted to do was curl up next to Simon and feel his strong arms around her. With boyfriend in tow, she trudged towards the beacon spilling on the hallway floor from the bedroom. It was the only safe haven they had.
“Where’s Megan?”
“She left about an hour ago. I managed to get a response article posted, but I don’t think it’s enough. Some people are just plain hateful.”
“You got that right,” Simon drawled between yawns. “I expected some stupidity, but Megan said it’s pretty bad.”
She stopped and slumped against the wall. The tears she’d kept at bay for hours demanded release, but she restrained them with deep breaths. “She’s right.” She let Simon lift her aching body and take her in his warm embrace.
“It’s gonna be okay, babe.” She rested her head on his shoulder. The wonderful caress of his strong hands on her back eased a little of the tension, which would probably be replaced by more come sunrise.
“Yeah. Let’s just get in bed.” She continued to lead him closer to the beam of light. Normally, those words would make her feel better, but this time, they simply didn’t. The real possibility of all her hard work spiraling into a drain of narrow-mindedness and fanaticism sank her spirit like a stone. What the hell am I going to do? This took me years to build. I’ll talk to Elliott for advice. There has to be some way that I don’t have to choose between my work and the man I love.
She stopped and turned inside the bedroom. Simon stood in the doorway framed by darkness, scratching the back of his head. “I think I’m just gonna head back to my place.”
“What are you talking about? Why would you leave now?” She passed her hand over the waves at the top of her head. “Are you dumping me?” Her arms folded, she tilted her head until she was able to peer into his red-streaked eyes. “Is all of this too much for you?”
“No.” Simon slouched his shoulders and picked at a sauce stain on his shirt. “Nothing like that. I just thought-”
Regina dropped her head back and moaned at the ceiling. “Please. No more thinking. I can’t think another thought.” She skimmed his body and leered. “Well, maybe just one.” She hooked the waist of his pants and walked backward until her legs met the blanket scraping the wood floor. “What do you say?” She lingered her lips close to his and swung her hips to the memory of the music. “Why don’t we pick up where we left off before all of this mess started?” Their lips touched. He groaned and covered her mouth. The sweet, pungent taste of his lips made her empty stomach growl and set a fire between her legs. “Take these off,” she ordered while fumbling with his belt buckle. She yearned to feel him on top of her and wrap her legs around him.
My Way to You (Brothers in Law Book 1) Page 15