by Linda Verji
“Uh uh.” She shook her head as she slid lower.”I don’t…” Her words caught in her throat as she took an inch of him into her sweet cavern. “I don’t snore.”
“Shit.” Reggie groaned, unable to keep up with the charade. How was he supposed to conduct any kind of conversation with the way her walls were strangling his cock. He wasn’t even completely inside Erica, but he was ready to nut.
“Don’t come in me, okay?” she whispered. He hadn’t even realized that he was inside her raw. With any other woman he would’ve stopped right then. But this was Erica. He was weak when it came to her. She said, “I want to feel you inside me for a minute.”
“Okay.” He raised his thighs off the bed, propping her up so they could kiss while she let more of her sweetness take him in. Her thick lips danced over his and her tongue coiled around his in seduction as they kissed.
His hands firmed on her ass helping her move lower and lower over him with aching slowness. She moved her hands from his chest to grab his arms. The more he filled her, the more her fingers dug into his muscles. Reggie probably would’ve been in pain if it wasn’t for the pressure that was already building in his balls. Her pussy was a warm tight glove around him sending splinters of pleasure through him. The only thing keeping him from slamming deep into her over and over again, and damn the consequences, was a thin thread of sanity that was quickly fraying.
He pushed on until there was no more of him and their groins met. He was rewarded with a sharp gasp that he quickly swallowed in a deep kiss. Her wetness coated him, slick and sticky, as her walls clasped and unclasped over his dick in erotic massage.
It was too much.
He tore his lips from hers. “Baby, I need to stroke.”
He didn’t even know where she got it from but she flashed him a pack before sinking her teeth into its edge. As she tore the pack open, she released him then sat up.
“Fuck,” Reggie groaned as she strapped him up. Within moments she was lowering herself back on his cock.
It was quick. It was dirty.
Whimpering, moaning, riding him in short fast bounces, she dragged him into hell then to heaven, before starting the cycle.
“Oh, oh, oh” she moaned as she rode him. Eager to taste her sounds, he grabbed her by her hair lowering her face to his. The kiss was as frantic as her movements, shuttering any control he might have had. Without even making a conscious decision, Reggie flipped their positions.
His possession of her was as desperate as the molten heat lapping at his veins. He wanted to stay wrapped up in her forever. His breathing was rough as he withdrew and plunged into her rhythmically. He repeated the sensual action numerous times spurred on by her sobs of pleasure and the way she lifted her hips to match his movements. All her straining and twisting under him, all her whimpers drove him over the edge and seconds later, he came so hard, it felt like he’d ripped his insides.
He hadn’t come that fast since he was a horny teenager losing his virginity. As he clawed his way back to reality, it suddenly hit him. Had she even come? Her breathing was as rough as his and her eyes were closed, but to him it wasn’t a sure sign. Rolling to lie beside her, he lowered his hand to her pussy, but she stopped him with a tight clasp of her fingers over her wrist. “Uh uh. She’s too sensitive for more right now.”
He left the room to go and dispose the condom. When he came back, he found Erica seated on the bed already dressed in a t-shirt and yoga-pants and putting on sneakers.
She looked up at him. “I hope you don’t mind me running with you. I know some people like to do it al-”
“I don’t mind,” Reggie cut in as he walked towards the closet. Grabbing a pair of shorts and a tank-top, he teased, “I didn’t even know you run. I thought all that perfection was natural.”
“It is natural.” Erica hopped to her feet. “It just needs a little … fine tuning.”
“You sure you can keep up with me?”
“Boy, please.” She scoffed. And true to her word she kept up with him. Reggie had to pace himself so as not to outdistance her, but it was not by much. By the time they came back into the house an hour later they were both gasping for breath. Erica flipped her sweat-soaked t-shirt over her head and packed it into a polythene bag in her overnight case.
Reggie suggested, “Why don’t you leave your clothes here? I can throw them in the washer with mine and you’ll have clean clothes when you come back.”
He strove to keep his tone flippant and his face expressionless, but his heart was beating at a hundred bolts per minute. Ever since they’d started their arrangement, she’d been careful about not leaving any of her clothes or toiletries at his apartment. It was her way of reminding them that they were no more than friends with benefits. If she left something today…
Erica shook her head. “No, I’ll take care of them at the house.”
Reggie’s heart dropped in disappointment. He was reasonably sure that he hid it from Erica but was helpless to prevent his instinctive need to keep her close. He clung to her tightly while they showered together. What he wouldn’t do for Erica to trust him; to stop comparing him to all the other men who had disappointed her.
Reggie had no doubt that he was in deep. As much as he wanted to pretend that this friends-with-benefits thing was working for him, it wasn’t. He wanted more from Erica – more than she was offering. The more time they spent together, the more tangled his feelings for her got.
What would he do if she never let go of her past? What if she was serious about not getting into another relationship? No. Women always said that but after awhile loneliness caught up with them. What if she decided that even if she wanted a relationship it wasn’t going to be with him?
The beeping of his phone on his desk cut into his frantic thoughts. It was a text message. Reggie swiped the screen to reveal the message there.
Remember…anything you want me to do to you. Brooklyn.
CHAPTER 16
“Do you know how many men would kill to be in your position?”
Reggie arched his eyebrows. “Would you kill to be in my position?”
“Nah!” Nico shook his head as he gestured towards the bartender for another bottle of water. “I’d rather slit my wrists. Or Kendra would slit them for me.”
“Man.” Reggie sighed in frustration before tipping the brown bottle against his lips and taking a deep gulp of the bitter liquid. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Well you can’t tell Erica,” Nico said. He didn’t need to add that Erica would kill Brooklyn – or Brooklyn and Reggie. “You should’ve kept your nose out of their business.”
“Now you tell me.” Reggie’s low grumble was swallowed up by the thumping bass of an electronica song blaring in the club’s background. Considering it was a weekday, the club was surprisingly filled with revelers. There mus’ve been upwards of one hundred people dancing around the central dance-floor. However, it was a bad night for any man on the prowl. The men outnumbered the women by at least four to one and a good number of those women were skimpily clad barmaids running up and down, serving drinks.
“Maybe she wrote the message wrong,” Nico tried to console his friend.
Reggie nodded. “Maybe.”
“No, she didn’t.” Nico burst into raucous laughter. “You’re fucked.”
“You are such a good friend.” Reggie injected sarcasm into his voice. “I don’t know what I’d do without your never ending support.”
“I try. I try.”He slapped Reggie’s back so hard in ‘support’ that it sent some of Reggie’s beer the wrong way and he spent the next few minutes coughing it back up. When Reggie was finally able to breathe again, Nico said, “You need to shut this down before Erica finds out or it gets out.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” Reggie asked. “I can’t call Brooklyn for a sit down over one text message that may or may not be suggestive.”
“Oh, that message was definitely suggestive,” Nico said. “But you have a point.”
<
br /> “I think I’m gon’ ignore it. See if it blows over.”
“I don’t think it’s going to blow over.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s just say Brooklyn is…complicated.”
“Complicated?”
“You need to be careful with that woman,” Nico said, “and if things get honky, call me.”
“Since when did you start using the word honky?”Reggie chuckled.
“I’m serious, Reggie.”Nico met him with a somber look that had Reggie’s chuckle dying on his lips. “Keep away from that chick.” He looked at his watch before hopping off the barstool. “I’ve got to go.”
“Hell no.” Reggie stood too. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his wallet and handed the bartender a couple of bills to clear their tab. “You can’t put down words like those then walk away.”
“That’s all I’ve got to say.” Nico threw over his shoulders as he wove his way around the revelers and towards the club’s exit. “I’ve already said too much anyway.”
“Too much of what?” Reggie followed him outside. There was no way Nico was leaving after throwing such a juicy bone. “Come on. You can’t leave me hanging like this.”
“I can’t.” Nico made his way towards his truck. “It’s confidential information.”
Reggie prodded, “Does this have anything to do with your investigation into Quin’s death?”
Nico stopped at his truck and turned to Reggie. He was silent for a moment as if contemplating how much he could reveal without outright breaching some rule or other, before he said, “Let’s just say that the DA had a really hard time deciding whether to drop the murder charges against her or not.”
No matter how much Reggie wheedled after that, Nico refused to share any more and thirty minutes later when he dropped Reggie off, he still wasn’t talking.
Still trying to figure out his friend’s cryptic words, Reggie walked into his building and up the stairs towards his apartment. If he wasn’t so distracted he would’ve noticed the parcel on his doorstep. In any case it was only when he kicked it as he was getting into the house that he noticed it.
It was a small white box tied up with a simple blue ribbon.
His brow furrowed in confusion as he picked it up. He didn’t open the package until he was inside the house. Inside the package was a blue velvet box. He flipped it open to find a dress watch lying on the velvet bed. In an almost identical replica of the one whose clasp Erica had ruined, its silver tone bracelet winked up at him. He dialed her number as he walked to the bedroom. She picked up almost immediately.
“Hey,” she answered, her husky voice sending all sorts of warm tingles through his body.
“Were you asleep?” he asked as he sat on the bed balancing the velvet box on his palm.
“Yeah, but it’s okay.” There was slight shuffling on her end as if she was sitting up. There was a smile in her voice as she said, “I was dreaming about you.”
Smiling in response, he asked, “Was I being nice?”
“Uh uh.” Her rasping laugh sent his pulse fluttering and heart beating the tiniest bit faster. “You were being very naughty.”
“Don’t tempt me to come over, baby.”
“I wish.” She sighed. “But we’ve both got work tomorrow.”
He almost said, ‘We wouldn’t have this problem if we lived together’. He caught himself and instead said, “It sucks to be grown up.”
“So wha’zzup, Coleman?”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you? For what?” she asked. “I mean don’t get me wrong. You’ve got a lot to thank me for.”
Reggie laughed as he ran his thumb over the edge of the box. “Oh yeah, like what?”
“Umm, like for telling you you’re not pretty in pink,” Erica explained. “That shirt you wore to work on Thursday has got to go. It makes you look like you’re going to audition for Dancing With The Stars. You’re welcome.”
“It does not,” he protested.
“Boy, please,” she dismissed. “Okay, you were thanking me?”
“Now I’m tempted not to,” Reggie teased. “I’m afraid your head will explode if I heap any more praise on it.”
“No need to worry,” she said. “You’ve got a big enough head for both of us.”
“Wow. You’re just throwing those punches tonight, aren’t you?” Reggie grinned. “Are you sure we were doing naughty things in your dream?”
“Oh, yeah. Very naughty” Her voice dropped to a sultry note that had him itching to reach across the phone and hold her. “I’ll tell you all about it if you tell me what you were thanking me for.”
“Thank you for the watch.” He added, “I like it.”
“Huh?” Erica sounded confused. “What watch?”
Shit.
The watch bothered Erica.
Who had sent it? All Reggie had said was that it was probably a wrong delivery, but Erica wasn’t convinced. How convenient that it had appeared right at his doorstep just when his own watch was damaged. She also knew Reggie well enough by now to know when he was not being straight with her. And he wasn’t. He knew who’d sent that watch.
Was it from that Shanice woman he worked with?
Or was it from some other woman that Erica didn’t even know about?
Why did she even care?
She told herself that it was all about the money. She’d already bought Reggie another watch in preparation for his birthday. Three hundred and forty five dollars didn’t just fall from trees. Now she’d have to buy another present because some random ho couldn’t keep her gifts to herself. However, the excuse rang hollow and no matter how hard she tried to push the watch to the back of her mind, she failed.
“Stop, playing with my hair,” Erica swung her head away from Reggie. “Last time it took me forever to remove all the knots.”
“Okay, then.” He stroked her shoulder with one hand while the other reached under the blanket they’d covered themselves with to cup her breast. Nibbling at her ear, he said, “Give me something else to play with.”
“You’re nasty.” Erica slapped his hand away and muffed his face, even as her eyes remained glued to the TV screen. “Shsh, Dominga is about to catch Esmeralda with Ivan. Oh, someone weave’s about to be snatched tonight.”
“Ugh.” Reggie shook his head as he reached for some popcorn from the bowl on Erica’s lap. “I can’t understand how a grown woman can be so fascinated with these fake ass Latino soap opera’s.”
“And I can’t understand how a grown man can be so fascinated by a group of men in matching shirts and spandex chasing after a ball,” Erica retorted as she set her head back on his shoulder.
“Touché.” Reggie laughed as his arm firmed around her. She loved cuddling with him. There was something about being in his arms that made her feel protected and secure. She was addicted to being around him.
Despite the fact that it was a bad idea to be spending so much time with him when they were just friends-with-benefits, she’d been unable to turn down his invitation to spend the weekend at his house. She was more than aware that she was getting in way over her head but trying to resist Reggie’s pull was like walking past an oasis in a sweltering desert and refusing to dip your feet in – impossible. And thinking that she might be sharing him was enough to tie a tight knot in her stomach.
“So Reeeeggie…” Erica dragged out the syllables in his name as she drew circles on his chest atop his grey t-shirt.
“Uh huh?” He reached for her wandering palm, kissed the warm flesh inside and reset it back on his chest. The sweet almost unconscious gesture was enough to constrict the ties he’d bound around her heart and she found herself fisting her palm over his t-shirt in an unwitting display of possessiveness.
She asked, “Did you find out who sent the watch?”
“I thought you were watching Enrique Iglesias and Shakira.”
“Esmeralda and Ivan,” Erica corrected. “Did you find out?”
“Well the dude sure looks like Enrique.” It was obvious he was evading the question.
Erica tilted her head upwards to look at Reggie, but he was studying the TV like it was a paper he was going to get tested on. Narrowing her eyes, she sat up on the couch and lowered her socked feet from the coffee table. Reggie’s gaze shifted to her then quickly flew back to the TV. She folded her arms over her chest. “Who sent the watch?”
“Babe, don’t worry about it. It was no one.” Reggie reached for the popcorn but Erica snatched the bowl away and placed it at the end of the coffee table.
“No one? Please! Was it Shanice?” She stood with a huff as she propped her fists on her waist. “I bet it was her, wasn’t it?”
Reggie sighed deeply as he lowered his own feet to the floor. “I told you Shanice is a colleague. Nothing more.”
“Then why is she sending you watches?”
“Erica,” He reached for her but she backed away from his reach.
“Don’t Erica me,” she screeched, the volume of her voice rising with each consecutive word. “Why is Shanice sending you a watch? Are you running around with her?”
“I’m not running around with anyone but you.” He propped his elbows on his knees. “You don’t need to be jealous.”
“I’m n…I’m not…” Erica sputtered the words, unbelieving that he would come to such an erroneous conclusion. “…I am not jealous.”
His lips quirked in a smile and his eyebrows rose a notch.
“I’m not,” she squeaked in protest.
“It’s kind of sexy.” His grin widened as his heavy-lidded gaze ran down her body pausing on her breasts still heaving from anger underneath his blue football jersey. He licked his lower lip. “Come here.”
Really?
“Ugh.” Erica threw her hands up and marched out of the living room and down the hallway in a huff.
She was not jealous.
She was not jealous.
She was not jealous.
I am jealous.