Black Obsidian

by Victoria Quinn

  “I’m taking you home.”

  “What time is it?” She squinted at the clock on the microwave as we passed. “Oh, it’s midnight. I’ll just stay here, then. Not much point in going home right now.”

  I kept going because she wasn’t staying here. “I don’t mind, sweetheart.” I grabbed my keys off the counter and walked into the garage.

  She wiggled in my arms until she moved down to her feet. The look she gave me was like a laser beam. With high voltage and magnitude, she peered at me like a woman who could read my mind. “Do you not want me to sleep here?”

  This was dangerous territory, and I would’ve rather avoided this conversation if possible. Things were going well between us, and I didn’t want to move backward. “No. I just have to up early tomorrow—earlier than usual. I’d have to take you home around five, and no one should be awake that early.” I relied on my charming grin to persuade her, using all my ammunition to get out of this war zone.

  She must have seen something reassuring in my gaze because she bought my story. “Alright. I’m not a morning person, so I wouldn’t appreciate that very much.”

  Crisis averted.

  When I walked her to her door, I heard the loud bass coming down the hallway from one of the neighbors. At midnight on a Tuesday, it was obscene. The music amplified against the walls and must have disturbed the entire building.

  Rome acted like she didn’t notice anything. She got her key in the door and unlocked it. “Thanks for giving me a lift.”

  My eyes moved down the hallway and landed on the nearest door. I was pretty certain it was coming from that apartment. “Is this normal?”

  “The music?” she asked. “Yeah, I just try to ignore it.” She walked inside and set her purse on the entryway table. “I have a white noise machine, and it covers most of the sound.”

  I wanted to write her a check then and there so she could get the fuck out of that place. It was full of drug dealers and assholes. I didn’t want her sleeping there alone, not when I didn’t know if she was safe. I could tell her to move, but I knew she wouldn’t take the suggestion well. And I couldn’t have her stay over with me, or I’d have a meltdown. So there was no solution.

  “Well, goodnight.” She stood on her tiptoes and gave me a soft kiss on the lips.

  The embrace didn’t dim my anger. Usually, the touch of that full and wet mouth took me to a new place. But now, I was too annoyed to appreciate anything about her beauty. “Goodnight.”

  When she pulled away, she searched my gaze. Her eyes darted back and forth as she focused on mine. She picked up on my mood, feeling it through her skin like heat waves. “What is it?”

  My eyes broke contact, and I stared across her tiny apartment. The veins in my forearms bulged, and my temple started to pound with a migraine. I was a man who always got my way, and the fact that I had to hold my tongue made me sick. “Have you considered moving?” I phrased it as politely as possible.

  “Because of the music?” she asked. “He usually turns it off by one, so it’s not a big deal.”

  It was a big fucking deal. She practically lived in the projects, and a beautiful girl like her shouldn’t sleep in a place like this unprotected. If she lasted this long, she obviously knew how to look after herself, but that wouldn’t stop the nightmares from killing me. “Because of everything.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest, the fire slowly coming into her eyes. “What are you saying?”

  She already knew, so what was the point in me hiding it? “I don’t think this is a place for a single woman—that’s all.”

  “It’s fine.” Her voice was cold like chipped ice. “It’s in my budget, and there aren’t many bugs, so I’m grateful. A lot better than where I came from.”

  Just because she was used to shit didn’t mean she should keep living in it.

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ve been living here for a while, and I like it.”

  Well, I fucking hated it.

  She ignored the frustrated look on my face. “Goodnight, Calloway.” She kissed my cheek then grabbed the door so she could close it.

  I had no choice but to retreat. She was too headstrong to take a check from me. Even if I arranged some kind of stunt, she wouldn’t buy it. “Goodnight, Rome.” I walked over the threshold and faced her.

  “Don’t worry about me. I’m a tough chick.”

  That didn’t matter. No matter how fierce she was, she deserved to be taken care of. She deserved to walk into a palace of jewels. She deserved a crown made of all the stars in the universe.

  She gave me a slight smile before she finally closed the door.

  I stared at the black wood for nearly a minute before I decided what to do next. I walked to the apartment where the music was coming from and banged my fist against the door so loudly it rivaled the sound of the bass.

  A man answered the door, looking like someone who just got out of jail for a double homicide. “What?” he yelled over the music, and I could still barely hear him.

  I pulled out my checkbook. “How much will it take for you to pack and move?”

  “Say what, asshole?”

  “I want you out of this building tomorrow. And I’ll give you ten grand if you do it. What do you say?” I wrote out the check and held it up. “I’m good for it.”

  He eyed the money in my hand, his eyes narrowing. Without hesitation, he snatched it and shoved it into his pocket.

  “We’ve got a deal?”

  He nodded then slammed the door in my face.

  12

  Rome

  I sat at my desk and ate my yogurt. I didn’t get paid until Friday, so I had to make whatever was left in my fridge stretch for a few more days. At this time of the month, I always lost a little extra weight—but not on purpose.

  I arranged a food drive that morning that would take place the following Saturday. It was a breakfast drive for the homeless in Brooklyn. From police reports, a lot of them were Vietnam vets who never found their footing when they returned home. Government constantly moved homeless people from one place to the next to get them off the street, but that didn’t solve anything. What we needed was a new system to rehabilitate these people—not put them on a different sidewalk.

  The door opened, and the sexiest man in New York walked inside. Wearing a black suit that made the black ink of my printer seem white, he walked inside and owned the room I paid rent to keep. He wore a silver tie and an ivory collared shirt, looking like he was running for president of the United States.

  Every time I saw him, I got a little shaky.

  He walked to my desk without saying hello, his eyes glued to my face like a predator searching for prey. When he looked at me like that, he didn’t just make me feel desirable—he owned me down to the bone.

  “What a nice surprise.” I’d been seeing him for weeks, but he still made me nervous in that butterflies in the stomach kind of way. Stubble was thick on his cheek because he didn’t shave that morning, and I kept picturing how it would feel against my thighs. I’d already felt that sensation a few times—and it never got old.

  “I like to keep my lady on her toes.” He leaned over the desk and kissed me, his stubble feeling good against my mouth. It was more than just a hello kiss. He let it linger longer than necessary because our lips felt so right together.

  My lady. I liked being his lady. “You’re turning me into a ballerina.”

  He pulled his lips away, but his face still hovered near mine. He looked at me with those beautiful, icy eyes and somehow made me melt. “I’m taking you out to lunch.” He glanced at my half-eaten yogurt. “For some real food.”

  Now that I’d started the yogurt, I had to finish. No way in hell was I throwing it away. “Sure. Just let me put this away.” I slipped it into a zippered bag then placed it in the fridge in the breakroom. When I returned, Calloway didn’t tease me about it like other people would. He respected my beliefs and didn’t try to change them—one of the things I liked most about him
.

  He wrapped his arm around my waist as we walked down the street. His large hand fit comfortably wrapped around my frame. His fingers were warm as they gripped me tightly, and he kept me tucked into his side like I might fly away if I ventured off too far. “Anything particular come to mind?”

  “No. I’ll eat anything.”

  “How about pizza?”

  I nodded. “I could go for some pizza.”

  We went to a small pizzeria and ordered. I got a single slice because I couldn’t eat anything more than that. Just having someone buy me lunch made me feel guilty. Calloway never let me pay for anything when we went out together, and while it was sweet, sometimes I didn’t know how to handle his generosity. I’d never forget the night I slept on the sidewalk, and some nice man gave me a hundred bucks for food. I burst into tears when I realized there were so many good people despite the evil ones. Calloway was one of those people, giving and selfless. That was probably why I was so smitten with him, nearly head over heels.

  Calloway ate across from me, eating two slices and a salad. He didn’t comment on my lunch or even look at my plate.

  “Thank you for lunch.”

  His expression softened for an instant, but he tried to cover it up. “No problem, sweetheart.”

  “I hope you let me pay sometime.”

  He released a sarcastic laugh. “Don’t count on it.”

  “Well, one of these days, it’s gonna happen. Be prepared.”

  “Call me old-fashioned, but my lady doesn’t pay for things.”

  “Call me progressive, but women are equal members of society.”

  He eyed me, the corner of his mouth still lifted in a grin. “I hope this isn’t going to turn into a debate about feminism.”

  “Me neither.”

  “Because I do believe in feminism. But you bet your ass I’m gonna open every door for you and pay for all your things.”

  It was a direct contradiction to everything I believed in, but his words somehow made me feel warm. I didn’t let anyone take care of me because I’d never been taken care of before. All I knew was how to survive and rely on myself to get what I needed. But that didn’t mean the fantasy wasn’t still alive deep in my heart. Calloway was man enough to be what I’d been missing my entire life. I knew it deep in my gut, and that was why I was still seeing him. Most guys didn’t get a date in the first place. “I’ll make a deal with you.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “I’ll let you do all of those things if you let me do something.”

  “Such as?” He raised an eyebrow, unsure what to expect.

  “If you let me take you out to dinner one time.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t want to be taken out anywhere.”

  “Come on, Calloway. I think that’s fair.”

  “No.”

  “I didn’t realize you were so stubborn.” I knew I was getting a rise out of him by pushing him. But he would only bend so far before he finally broke.

  “I’m not stubborn.”

  “Then let me take you out one time.”

  He mumbled under his breath. “I can’t believe I’m having this conversation…”

  “Think about it. If you do this for me, we never have to do the check dance ever again. It sounds like a good deal to me.”

  His eyes narrowed with interest.

  I knew he was taking the bait.

  “Alright, I’ll do it. If you never try to pay for anything ever again.”

  “Deal.” I extended my hand to shake his.

  He snatched my wrist quicker than a viper, and then turned it outward, exposing my wrist to the ceiling. He pressed a wet kiss to the soft skin, his tongue moving along the sensitive nerves of the area. His eyes were glued to mine the entire time.

  My mouth went dry.

  He returned my hand to the table because I’d lost all feeling. I couldn’t even move. “Deal.”

  We sat across from each other at his dinner table and finished the pasta he made. He was a pretty good cook, better than most guys I knew. Christopher considered a bag of Doritos a good dinner, and he hardly had food at his apartment. He claimed it stopped the women from sticking around, but I knew he was just lazy.

  “Where did you learn to cook?”

  He finished his plate entirely, only leaving a few streaks of sauce behind. “My mom taught me a few things. But mostly YouTube.” He gave me that charming smile across the table, his eyes intense and playful at the same time.

  He didn’t talk about his personal life much, and I really didn’t know much about him. “When did she pass away?”

  “About seven years ago.” His voice suddenly grew melancholy, like the subject was bringing him down.

  I decided to change it. “Last week, when we were fooling around…”

  His eyes picked up in interest when he stared at me. The blue color of his eyes was more vibrant than the deepest sea. He hung on to my every word without giving his thoughts away, his mind still wrapped in mystery.

  “I’m kinda embarrassed to talk about it.” I broke eye contact because I spotted the heat on his face. He knew exactly what I was referring to. It was obvious by the look in his eyes. “But I pretty much begged you to sleep with me, and you didn’t. You have a lot more strength than I do.” As soon as things got hot and heavy, I didn’t care about my principles anymore. I just wanted this gorgeous man to fuck me into his mattress and give me the most profound high.

  “It wasn’t easy.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t do it.”

  He leaned back into the wooden chair, his wide shoulders looking menacing. “I made a promise to you, and I always keep my word. I want you to trust me, and I know I need to earn it. Hopefully, you’re beginning to.”

  I was beyond beginning to. “I think you’re a great guy, Calloway. Honestly, I’m not sure what you see in me. You can have the most beautiful woman in this city at the snap of a finger.”

  His gaze darkened. “I already do.”

  Instantly, my heart tightened in my chest, and the butterflies soared all over again. “That’s sweet…”

  “I mean it.” It wasn’t a cheesy line, and I knew he didn’t mean it that way. He was a natural with words, saying the most beautiful things and making them absolutely sexy. Having a rugged and compassionate man like him chase me was a dream come true. I still didn’t understand what I did to deserve it. “Want any dessert?”

  My hand moved across my belly under the table. “No, thanks. I’m pretty full.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Not that kind of dessert.”

  I went down on him, taking his big cock deep into my throat. It was so thick and long it made tears pour out of my eyes. Even though my jaw nearly snapped trying to accommodate him, I loved every second of it.

  He threw me back on his sheets then separated my thighs. His mouth trailed up my body to the valley between my breasts. He cherished the area with delicate kisses before he sucked each of my nipples into his mouth. Sometimes, he did it so hard I winced. But inexplicably, the pain felt incredible.

  His mouth moved to my neck, slowly making its way up to my earlobe. He nibbled on the soft flesh before his tongue darted into my canal. His heavy breathing fell on my ear before he spoke. “I can’t wait to fuck you, sweetheart.”

  My hands groped his biceps, feeling the power and strength underneath his skin. He was the definition of the ideal man, tall, rugged, muscular, and authoritative. I’d been searching for a man like this my entire life and assumed he didn’t exist.

  He held his face above mine and kissed me hard on the mouth. Our tongues danced together in desperation, wanting more of each other because we simply couldn’t get enough. He went down on me and did a remarkable job making me come. I did the same to him, but we both needed more.

  “I can’t wait for you to be inside me either.” It would be a tight fit, but I was sure he would make me wet enough that it wouldn’t be a problem.

  His eyes darkened in their typical w
ay, clearly pleased by what I just confessed. “Are you on the pill?”

  “No.”

  “Then you need to start. I’m not wearing a condom.” He bossed me around like I was his employee, but when we were fooling around, I didn’t mind it. In fact, I liked it. Sometimes, he grabbed me harshly, pinning my wrists above my head or yanking me into his side when another man came too close. They were all things I would normally despise. But with him, he could do no wrong.

  “Okay.”

  Pleased by my lack of argument, he kissed me again. “You give amazing head, by the way.”

  “You do too.” I could only assume he’d had years of practice.

  “Your pussy is so sweet that I can’t get enough.” He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth. “Tastes like watermelon.”

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. His cock was hard against me even though he just came in my mouth less than ten minutes ago. Our sexual relationship was scorching hot, and I’d felt myself get burned a few times. “Maybe we should forget about the four weeks…” Two weeks was long enough. I didn’t think I would rush into something so serious, but I didn’t think I would meet someone like Calloway. I wanted to give him everything—every piece of me.

  He growled against my mouth. “As appetizing as that sounds, we have to wait.”

  “Even if I beg?” I ran my hands up his chest and over the grooves of his abs.

  He growled again. “Don’t test me, sweetheart.” He rolled off my body and lay beside me on his massive bed. The sheets were soft as rose petals, and the mattress was way more comfortable than the rock-hard bed in my apartment. If I fell asleep, I would never wake up. His house was so quiet. The traffic outside didn’t permeate through his thick windows, and the blinding rays off nearby streetlights didn’t flood into the bedroom. It constantly smelled like him—mint mixed with masculinity. It was starting to become my favorite place in the world.

  He pulled me into his side and placed my leg around his waist, pulling us close together. His cock was still hard, but it always seemed that way. He placed one arm in the crook of my neck and the other around my waist.