by Edwina Fort
Angel
“What do you mean she can’t have the blue one?!” I yelled at the Indian man who owned the beach’s cotton candy stand.
This stand has been here ever since we first started coming here when I was fifteen and so has its ill-tempered owner. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why someone who obviously hated kids would open a damn cotton candy stand.
I’ve never heard him speak kindly to anyone. It’s always you buy and go! Don’t touch! Don’t stare at! You stare you buy!
Well today, I wasn’t in the mood for his crap. It had been a week since last I slept. Westly was still a no-show and I missed my man!
“She touched the pink one already, that is the one you buy!”
“What the hell is wrong with you, man?! The candy is in plastic! She just touched it to move it out the way to reach for the one she wants!”
“I don’t care! You buy or you go!”
I put my hand on my hip ready to go to war with this creep. He’d done something very similar to me five years ago. Because I’m short and had to get on my toes and reach for the one I wanted, I made a mistake and grabbed the wrong bag. When I told him I didn’t want that one and that I wanted the bag next to it, he went berserk on me, accusing me of trying to steal. In order to calm him down, I’d let him bully me into buying something I didn’t want.
Well, not today!
I moved Jessie to the side and took a step closer to him. “Now you listen to me—” I began, but his eyes suddenly grew wide and all the color drained from his face.
He was so spooked the blue cotton candy he’d snatched away from Jessie shook in his hand.
“I- I’m very sorry… here, you take!” he shoved the candy into my niece’s hand.
For a moment, I was dumbfounded. Oh my God! Did I just frighten this man?
Wow! I guess I did…
“That’s more like it,” I told him straightening my tank top. I don’t know why, but all of a sudden, I had more bass in my voice.
“How much do I owe you?”
He shook his head. “For you, no charge!”
Well, will you look at that? I guess I showed him…
Shucks, I think Hitta must have rubbed off on me or something. I just scared the hell out of this guy. Feeling kind of good to finally be the one doing the bullying, I wiped the smile from my face.
“Yeah! It should be free!” Y’all, I had so much bass in my voice that Jessie, who now had a mouth full of blue candy looked up at me and laughed.
“You should really work on your customer service skills!” I spoke a little louder so that all the poor folks that had been bullied by this terror could see how I was handling this.
“I am very sorry, ma’am.” I squared my shoulders now, trying to make myself appear taller, completely high on power.
“You should be sorry! Don’t let it happen again! Come on, Jessie…” I grabbed my niece’s hand and after giving him a final threatening stare, turned around and ran smack dab into a wall.
I squeaked as I felt myself falling back, my eyes widened when at the same time, I saw who the wall was. Hitta’s arm shot out and wrapped around my waist catching me and bringing me back up against his body.
I stood in his grasp with my free hand resting on his big chest staring up into his face in complete and utter shock.
“Hitta…”
Chapter 17
Conquering Her Fear…
And One Day She Discovered That She Was Fierce And Strong, And Full Of Fire, And That Not Even She Could Hold Herself Back Because Her Passion Burned Brighter Than Her Fears…
Mark Anthony
Angel
“Oh my God! How did you find me?”
The look of pain that flashed in his eyes when the startled question escaped my lips was unmistakable. Before he got it under control, his moment of vulnerability shot through me and straight to my heart. I felt his pain as if it was my own.
Too late, I realized that my question came across as if I wasn’t thrilled to see him, when I really was. Needing to explain my response I opened my mouth, but before I could say anything, Jessie’s squeal of excitement pierced the air.
“Unc! I missed you!” Her little body flew past me as she threw herself into his waiting arms.
A smile came to his face as he caught her. “Hey, lil mama…I missed you too!”
Watching them embrace caused a feeling of loss to grow inside of me that nearly took my breath. He had yet to say a word to me. I knew there was a risk that he would be angry because I’d left without telling him and had been gone for a week now, but the pain I saw in his gaze puzzled me.
Why was he hurting?
From where we stood at the cotton candy kiosk, we could see the back deck of the beach house. I didn’t want to risk traveling too far just in case West showed up. Standing on the patio waving at us was Carmen, her flaming red hair looking like a burst of autumn on a bright summer day.
“Carmen!” Jessie yelled and as soon as Hitta put her back on her feet, she took off toward the house.
“Jessie, wait!” I called after her, the beach was crowded and I didn’t want her to get lost. I went to follow her but before I did, my gaze went back to Hitta’s and again, I caught the look of pain in his eyes as he stared at me before he covered it with his anger.
There was so much I needed to tell him about Stan, my upbringing, and why it was so important for me to make this trip to help Jessie, yet my tongue was tied, like the very first day we met at his gym.
“Hitta…” I began but didn’t have time to say more before I had to hurry after Jessie, she was good and entangled in the crowd of bodies.
By the time I caught up to her, she was in Wayne’s arms offering him some of her cotton candy as she told him all about our girl’s trip. Both Carmen and Wayne looked at me with sympathetic eyes, only confirming that I was in hot water with Hitta.
“How you doing, boss lady?” The immaculately dressed mogul said flashing me with that million-dollar smile of his.
“I’ve been better.” There was no need of me lying about it.
Carmen hurried down the patio steps throwing her arms around me and I clung to her needing the comfort of a friend. It felt so good tears burned the back of my eyes.
“Angel, we was worried about you, girl. Why did you call Summer and not me? My feelings are so hurt.”
“I know, sis, I was just—” Hitta grabbed my arm pulling me away from her. He wasn’t rough about it, but he wasn’t all that gentle either.
“I need to holla at her. You two take Jessie to town and get her a burger or something.” As he mumbled off his instructions, he never stopped walking and was now pulling me up the deck stairs and into the house.
“Dang, Unc, you could have let us say hi to each other!” Carmen called after us, but he never stopped or acknowledged the fact that he’d heard her at all.
My gaze went back to hers and Wayne’s one last time, the three of them still stood at the bottom of the stairs watching us go in. Even Jessie had paused in her excited chattering for the first time, sensing that something was wrong. Carmen gave me a little encouraging smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“Where yo’ room?” Hitta’s question was so low I barely heard him. I pointed to the third door on the left.
After walking in he shut the door and locked it behind us. I stood there in the center of the room waiting on his next move. However, when he walked around me and took a seat in the oversized lounge chair in front of my window, I was left confused.
I continued standing, waiting on him to say something, but he only exhaled before sitting forward resting his elbows on his knees using his fingers to massage his temples.
Okay, so he had a headache, that explained the pain in his eyes.
“Hitta, I can explain everything—” I began, but he held up his hand cutting me off.
“Naw, shawty, I can’t deal with yo’ explanations right now…my head is f***ing killing me.” This he mumble
d without looking up at me.
Alrighty then…
Biting my lip, I eased down on my bed at a loss as to what to do now. The healer in me beat at my chest wanting to be set free so that she could help him and the woman in me needed to embrace him. It had been far too long since the last time I felt his strong arms wrapped around me holding me close. That little encounter on the beach had been just a tease.
But I was afraid.
There was no doubt in my mind that he was angry with me, it poured from him like his strength. But was he so angry that he didn’t want me to touch him? Had he decided that he didn’t want me anymore? Maybe that was why he didn’t want to hear my explanations…
That’s stupid, Angel! Do you think this man would have traveled all this way if he didn’t want you? Damn, girl, use your brain and get your butt off that bed and go to yo’ man!
Hmmm… my inner voice had gone gangsta on me, but she had a point. I don’t know how Hitta found me. I’ve been using cash since I’ve been here and I hadn’t told anybody back home where I was, yet he still managed to find me. And the fact that he had come after me had to mean something, right? If he didn’t want me anymore, he could have just stayed home, right?
Plus, this was Hitta we were talking about, he was still the same man that turned into a big baby when he was in pain. He’s always talking about what he doesn’t have in him to do, but I knew for a fact he didn’t have it in him to turn away a soothing hand when he’s hurting.
Okay, I can do this! I can get off this bed and help him… I-can-do-this!
Taking a deep breath I stood and because I am a big coward, I didn’t look his way, although I felt his gaze on me. Instead, I walked to my purse and retrieved the little bottle of oil I made for him with the left-over tea blend from his soap a few weeks ago. I threw it in my purse just in case he got a headache while we were out and about. Now, I’m really glad I did.
I also took my iPod out and connected it to the speakers turning on the soothing sound of Alina Baraz. Her gentle voice combined with therapeutic properties of the tea blend and my fingers should help relax him quite a bit. I just prayed he didn’t have one of those headaches that required me to put him completely out.
At this point, y’all, my heart was beating so fast I literally had to take deep, calming breaths to regulate it. This was a first for me. Yes, Hitta and I had grown quite close over the last few months and had experienced a wide range of situations together, but this was the first time I was the one to cause the rift between us, which meant I needed to be the one to fix it.
My gaze went back to his powerful form where he sat on my lounge chair watching me move around the room. He reminded me of a lion at rest. Although regally sitting, you knew that one wrong move would cause him to become a deadly foe. And damn, nobody wore that look like him. I’m just going to be honest; being around his masculinity again was doing something strange to my femininity…if y’all know what I mean.
I don’t know what is going on with me; in this moment, sex should be the last thing on my mind. I should be worried about Stan and what he was going to do now that Hitta had found me. I should be worried about West and why the hell he never came home. Hell! I should be worried about the very angry giant sitting in that chair watching me as if he wanted to throttle me.
But I wasn't thinking about any of that, in fact, over the last few days, my hormones have been raging out of control. I’ve found myself thinking about the way Hitta makes love to my body, imagining his big hands and warm mouth moving across my skin, touching me in all my secret places. I’ve longed for the sensation of his strength filling me until I cried out begging him to give me the relief that I so desperately craved.
Don’t get me wrong, I know that he is angry with me and that he has a headache, but my goodness, it’s been a week since he’s caused my world to shatter in that very special way that he does and a girl has needs too.
Because it was so hot here in California, I was sporting a simple tank top and a pair of jean shorts, but the way Hitta’s gaze was raking over my breasts and bare legs made me feel as if I was dressed in the sexiest lingerie.
And you know what, y’all? That’s the day I learned something new about him. However, not wanting to jump to conclusions, I decided to test my theory. You see, he was livid with me. But then this happened…
I turned around till my back was facing him and bent down to untie my shoes. Not obviously poking my butt out, but come on, I got some serious junk in my trunk, so it doesn’t take much. My jean shorts weren’t Daisy Dukes or anything, but they surely weren’t the longest pair in the world either. In fact, they came to just below my upper thigh. However, when I’m bent over like this—
“Sh*****t…” I heard him hiss from the chair behind me, or at least I thought that’s what he said, it really was incoherent.
The power that shot through me almost made me high. To think, little old me can still make this big, strong man go all tongue-tied.
Hmmm… Let’s explore further, shall we?
I turned around pretending I was completely clueless of the scandalous thing I’d just done. But when I saw the way he looked at me from under his lowered lids, I nearly gave up on my experiment, remembering that Hitta is a master lover and I really was no match against him.
He drew his bottom lip between his teeth in that way that he does when he’s ready to fight or make love. No, scrap that. He doesn’t make love when he draws that lip in like that. I’ll give you guys a hint, the last time he did it, we were in his office after I ran from him.
Yeah! You got it, he draws that lip in when he wants to, hmmm…what’s a tasteful word for it? Well, you guys get my meaning.
Goodness gracious!
Give me the strength. Whew!
Okay get it together Angel, you can do this. You are a scientist testing out your theory. Stick to it!
“I made you some oil that may help with your head. But—” I purred my words, intentionally letting my sentence drop as I lowered my eyes to the bottle in my hand.
Don’t ask me where this sex kitten came from, because I couldn’t tell you. Maybe every woman turns into one when they get to a certain level of horniness.
He sat up again, resting his elbows on his knees. I knew his anger was completely gone like I knew my name was Angel.
“But… I’m going to have to climb on your lap and massage it into your temples. However, if you can’t stand my touch, then—” Again, I let my voice trail off as I used my finger to play with the button on my shorts.
His gaze followed my action. I had to bite my lip to keep from smiling when I saw his Adam’s apple move up and down in his throat as he swallowed.
“You sit on my lap, Teacup, we f**king.”
I put my head in my hand and chuckled. Dang it! Leave it to him to skip past the cute little word game and get right to the point.
“Make sure that’s what you really want to do before you do it,” he continued, watching me in that way he does, making me feel as if he’s controlling me.
Slowly, I began to walk toward him, swaying my hips in that way we as women do to let our man know we want them. In that moment, y’all, I had no cares and no worries. There was no Stan and no Westly. There was nothing but me and Hitta, and the knowledge that we hadn’t made love in a week.
“Ohhh, I think I’ll be alright,” I told him as I grabbed a hold of his big shoulders pulling myself up so that I stood on the chair with my feet planted on both sides of his legs. Because he was still sitting up, this position brought his face really close to my center.
I brought my hand back to the snap on my shorts. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to have to unbutton these. They are a little tighter than I remembered.”
Without moving back an inch, I unbuttoned my shorts before slowly unzipping them a bit. I hadn’t lied about them being tighter than I remembered…but I guessed that’s to be expected since it’s has been five years since I wore them.
As he wa
tched my hand lower the zipper exposing just a peek of my panties underneath, he licked his lips before a dangerous little grin came to his face. I nearly lost my bravery right then because I knew what he could do with those lips, but I was determined to play the game, so I took my time coming down to straddle his lap, moving my hips back and forward until I found the most comfortable position.
The whole time he watched me through narrowed eyes, again reminding me of that lion that lazily watched his prey, giving them a false sense of comfort before they pounced. When I positioned my warmth just right over his hardness, I smiled.
“Now, let’s see what we can do about that headache.” I held up the little vial of oil, but he lifted his hand and nonchalantly swatted it out of mine, sending it skidding quietly across the carpeted floor.
“Do I look like the kind of mutha f**ka you can play games with?”
Instead of frightening me, his growled statement only excited me further. See what I mean? My hormones are going crazy!
I opened my mouth in feigned shock. “Why, Hard Hitta, whatever do you me—”
His mouth suddenly captured mine cutting off my words. I sank my nails into his shoulders pulling him to me as his hungry lips ravaged mine. He brought his hand up fisting my braids angling my head just where he wanted it.
Oh God! He was so insatiable…
Or maybe it was me, I couldn’t tell. We both tore at each other’s mouths seeming to share the feeling of desperation. I moaned when he deepened the kiss as I wrapped my arms around his neck clinging to him.
He stood holding me in his arms and I could feel his hardness pressed against my soft curves. So gone was I in our kiss I didn’t feel him cross the floor to my bed, all I know is one minute I had my arms and legs wrapped around him trying to climb him like a tree and the next I was lying sprawled out in my bed with his powerful body standing between my spread thighs.