“Yeah, I know. But Brandon is here now, and he is mine. He’s my only concern until she has the baby. I’ll deal with that bridge when I get to it.”
It felt conflicting to see Swiss stepping up to his responsibility after he’d abandoned me so many years ago. But he was right; he had changed, and that made him sexy as fuck.
“Let’s go to bed,” I suggested.
* * *
“Novie? I know you didn’t get in your little bed with all this water all over the bathroom floor.”
Shandy’s voice dragged me out of the dream I was having. I groaned, blinking to focus my eyes. Bright light streamed in through the window. A baby cried from somewhere in the front of the apartment. Swiss snored in his sleep beside me. Oh shit! I forgot he’s here.
“Bitch, what in the world did you do last ni—” Shandy stood in the doorway of my bedroom.
Her eyes were wide and round as she looked over at Swiss sleeping beside me, then back to my face.
I gave her a weak smile. “Hey, Shan. Look who I found. It’s Kryptonite.”
Swiss pulled himself up, tucking a pillow between his back and the headboard.
“Hey, little sister. You look like you’re doin’ all right.”
Shan obviously didn’t see the humor in the situation. She whirled around, stomping out of the room.
“So I’m your Kryptonite? And that’s supposed to make you Superwoman or something,” Swiss chuckled.
“Not now, boy, she’s pissed. Shandy?” I hopped up, wrapping myself in the comforter.
Shandy was in the living room with her purse on her shoulder and her keys in her hand.
“You have lost your fucking mind bringing him here, Novie.”
“Shan, it’s not what you think. He isn’t the same. He’s nothing like he was back in the day,” I reassured her.
“Whatever, Novie. I’m just mad that I rearranged my whole life to help you move forward, and you go right back.”
NOVIE
18
Sex Kitten Vs. Sex Panther
I finally dragged myself into the office two hours late. With Shandy acting the way she was acting, it was best to leave her be until she decided to come around. Swiss, on the other hand, was not being cooperative at all. I had to insist that he not show up out of the blue like he did, but he wasn’t trying to hear any of that. The only way I could keep him from showing up was by promising that’d I’d head over to his place after work.
The other paralegals who I’d decided to start to calling “Bobby” and the rockers were all surprisingly quiet as I passed. They were all guys, fresh out of college, and they could dress and party me under the table. Oh, and then there was Mavis; she didn’t really talk much. She preferred to be called “Ron.” Nobody asked why or thought it was weird; they just did it. But I’d take an office full of women over one with two and a half queens, a metro-sexual, and a mute.
My lip curled up in complete disgust as I stopped just short of my desk. Old, moldy, cobweb-covered cardboard boxes filled with folders had been stacked all across it. I threw my purse into the top drawer, scanning the neon green Post-it note attached to my chair. Relabel and file by year and alphabet in the archive room ASAP—Tangie.
As if she could hear me reading her note, she bobbed over, parking herself in front of my desk. “You’re a little late getting in here this morning, aren’t you?” she asked, nodding in the direction of the clock. Her shock-blond Afro wig bounced around on her head. I’d figured out the fact that Tangie was a twenty-three-year-old mean girl trapped in a sixty-five-year-old woman’s body. She was petty, spiteful, and had a jealous streak from hell.
Her red, black, and green curled nails drummed across one of the boxes on my desk. I hated her nails and her nail polish. Why couldn’t she pick one color instead of a different color for every finger?
I gave her a nonchalant shrug, pulling out some folders to work on. I didn’t know I was supposed to work every hour on and around the clock. I almost got strangled to death, and I didn’t get in until two a.m. That sounded like a legitimate reason to run late to me.
Tangie huffed and puffed before she hightailed it to her dungeon beside Genesis’s office.
“Your hair looks really cute today, um, Novie, right?”
I looked up from the folders to see everyone staring expectantly. No, my hair actually looked like shit. I didn’t have time to do anything to it except pull it back into a bun. Bobby complimenting me on it confirmed it, though. Those hating he-heffas probably wouldn’t bat a fake eyelash my way on the days when I was on point. But let me look a little rough, and they were singing compliments my way.
I picked the Bobby closest to me to respond to.
“Thank you, Bobby. It was one of those kinds of weekends. I have been in la-la land ever since,” I replied giving him a bright smile.
He ran his finger in slow circles around the lid of the Starbucks cup on his desk. “Oh. So, I guess you didn’t hear about the client we have coming in today?” He ran his eyes up and down the length of my outfit.
I slow blinked from Bobby and his fashion bullshit back down to the stack files.
“It’s Farrah Harper, honey, the wealth consultant. Who knows, that whole peasant look you got going on just might work in your favor,” he blurted out, swirling his finger in the air in my direction.
Farrah’s job title sounded like a bunch of bull to me. A wealth consultant, really? The way people just made up jobs these days was hilarious.
I couldn’t help it. I had to ask. “What does a wealth consultant do?”
Bobby shook his bobble-head before exchanging looks with his underling bobble-heads. They were on the verge of a meltdown at the fact that I didn’t know something that was obviously bobble-head common knowledge.
“She gives people these life-makeovers. And I mean life. They come out with better money, friends, social status—basically, turns shit to sugar. She was on Oprah and Dr. Phil.”
They all nodded in unison. It was pretty obvious that none of them were associated with Genesis’s illegal after-hours business. After the night I had, nothing about Farrah was impressive to me. She was just another boss who I had to contend with.
“Novie?” Tangie shouted down the aisle. “Genesis wants to see you in his office. Now.”
I stiffly rose from my desk to go find out why I’d been summoned.
Genesis’s office was an interestingly strange mixture of Japanese masks, legal books, and stuffy, old-man furniture. It even smelled like him with a hint of old library and leather books in the air.
“I think we got off to a rough start. I would like to take you to dinner after work, to get us on better ground.”
* * *
It just seemed like it would’ve been weird if I was standing outside the boss’s office waiting to go out, so I sat at my desk scrolling through different Twitter feeds. I let Swiss know I’d be a little late just to keep him from popping up at the house. Farrah had finally left Genesis’s office after spending close to two hours, demanding copies of miscellaneous documents. Outside of our illegal partnership, she acted as if we didn’t know each other, and that was fine by me.
No one was even slightly suspicious about why I wasn’t on my way out. Even Tangie’s militant behind barely glanced my way when five o’clock rolled in. She was probably just anxious to go climb back under whatever bridge she’d hobbled out from.
Genesis finally came by my desk. He looked surprisingly cheerful. I was getting used to the serious scowl he always had.
“How do you feel about sensory deprivation?” he asked.
“I have no idea that I even know what that is in regards to or how I’d feel,” I told him with a puzzled look on my face.
“Doesn’t matter.” He rubbed his lips together. “We’ll figure it out today. I’ll pull the Porsche around.”
Genesis driving himself anywhere was like hearing that Batman could put his draws on without Alfred.
He pulled up to the front
of the building in a silver Porsche truck.
“Is the lady ready to step out of her comfort zone and figure out what she likes this evening?” he asked with a mischievous lift to his voice.
I chewed the inside of my mouth, anxious to find out why this place put him in such a good mood.
“Oh, wow, I always thought Porsches were these expensive little, eensy-weensy cars made extraspecial for dudes with little eensy-weensy tender-bits,” I replied.
“Woman, you keep thinking like that, and you’ll miss out on some of the biggest thangs life has to offer.”
Well, damn. I can’t argue with that.
We made small talk on our way to the restaurant. It was nice to have a decent conversation with someone. I was telling him about Heather’s daughter and the whole trunk episode when he gave me a strange look.
“So, your best friend who you live with is a lesbian?”
“No, I mean, yes, but no. She likes a little bit of everybody,” I told him.
Genesis got quiet. He seemed to be digesting that bit of information.
“So, has she ever tried to get at you?” he asked after several long, silent seconds.
“Who, Shandy? Hell no, not since high school.”
The look he gave me made me feel like I needed to explain. “I mean, she was just figuring out that she liked women, and since we were besties, she tried to come at me. But no, that’s my girl; that’s it.”
Genesis drove us to a restaurant called Dans Le Noir. We walked in through the front door into a small hallway decorated with abstract art and sculptures. Large black curtains with gold embroidery flowed from the ceiling to the floor at the end. I didn’t know if I was going to step into a strip club, circus, or a pit of deadly vipers. Genesis grabbed my hand. His skin was comfortably warm. His long, smooth fingers gave mine a squeeze as we stepped through the curtains together.
I gasped as we stepped into complete and absolutely ear-shattering darkness. It was the kind of pitch black that made your ears instantly sensitive. Panic started to swell in my chest. I couldn’t find a single point of light to focus on. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get my eyes to adjust. The only thing that kept me sane was Genesis’s hand in mine. I knew nothing bad would happen as long as he was with me.
Slow footsteps approached us. They sounded too heavy to be a woman, with a shuffle and a lag in between each one. It’s a damn shame that I could pick all of that up, but if you take away one sense, the rest really do get better. It was someone coming to greet us, and he was just in the nick of time because I was ready to drop to the ground and crawl for the curtains.
“Welcome, guests. My name is Louis. I’m your server this evening, and I am happy that you two have chosen to indulge your senses and dine with us tonight.” The greeter’s words were hinted with spearmint gum and what might have been vodka. It was hard to separate the smells coming from his mouth from the smells surrounding us. But I could definitely make out what I thought was vodka. Hell, if I worked in a pitch-black restaurant, I’d probably grab myself a shot or two from the bar.
Genesis tugged on my hand, and I shuffle-stepped in line behind him. I was scared I’d trip over the back of someone’s chair and land on the floor. I couldn’t tell where the rugs ended or began. They could’ve at least put in a little lighted walkway like the shit at the movies. I wonder how many lawsuits this place saw in any given week, because this shit was dangerous.
“How the hell can you see, Louis?” I asked the server.
“Ah, ma’am, most of the staff wears night vision goggles. Some of them are actually legally blind, so nothing extra is required.”
There was a quiet hum from a thousand different conversations going on around us as we were led into the dark dining room. Not only were my ears extrasensitive, but my sense of smell was surprisingly keen all of a sudden too. I could smell everything from the red wine sloshing in glasses to the scallops being sautéed in white wine and rosemary somewhere nearby.
Louis took my hand from Genesis and pressed it onto a chair so I could sit without falling flat out onto the floor. He also showed us where our water glasses were sitting and the placement of our napkins and silverware. I listened to the soft tilt of his French accent as he read the menu to us. Everything sounded beautifully put together. I ordered pepper brined chicken with honey garlic sauce and sautéed greens with banana peppers. Genesis got the jerk chicken with pineapple salsa. Louis took our orders leaving us to the dark.
“What do you think so far?” Genesis asked.
Now his voice could ooze over me without the distraction of my other senses. It was like warmed-over salted caramel, smooth and rough but still very sweet to my ears.
“So far, I think this is one of the craziest things I’ve done since I’ve been in DC.”
He laughed. It was a soft sound from somewhere beside me that sounded like genuine humor.
“Novie, I can think of over a hundred things crazier than this for you to do,” he said with his voice barely above a whisper.
There was something so intimate about being in the dark that made it feel like we were alone, even though there were probably a dozen other couples within a few feet of us. We sat and sipped wine while we waited for our food. Mine was sweet and tangy. I could taste all of the blackberry accents, and even a little cinnamon.
“Novie, we have the same wine. I think your taste buds are shot, because I taste cherries, chocolate, and maybe a little black pepper.”
I giggled at his description. “Sounds to me like you’re tasting that cologne you wear. You should try to drink it without breathing in through your nose,” I suggested.
“Or I can taste it right here,” Genesis whispered.
He’d managed to slide his chair all the way over until he was sitting beside me in the dark. His lips were only inches away from mine. I could feel the air he exhaled on my chin and cheeks.
“Taste what, right where?” I asked in a whisper equal to his.
He answered by grabbing the back of my neck and melting his lips into mine. My heartbeat stutter-stepped in my chest. This was so not supposed to be happening, yet I wasn’t doing a damn thing to stop it. Our tongues touched and entwined in a seductive, slow dance. He was right; his kisses tasted like cherries and chocolate with a little spicy pepper.
The pitch black of the restaurant made me feel daring and even a little raunchy. For all I knew, everyone around us were either tonguing each other down or fucking at their dinner tables. I could hear what sounded like a soft moan somewhere off to my left. To my right, forks clattered against a plate. And right in front of me, Genesis was keeping a calm, cool exterior, all while giving me searing hot kisses. I curiously slid my hand down into his lap. There was no way this couldn’t be affecting him the same way he was affecting me.
I could feel him smile against my lips as I patted him, straining against his pants.
“Well, hello, to you, Citizen Kane,” I murmured against Genesis’s lips.
“Citizen Kane? I think I like the sound of that. Say it again and squeeze him a little.”
This game we were playing had me melting into a puddle right where I sat. Good thing it was dark because my panties and the seat were going to be sopping wet whenever we got up to leave. Genesis pulled away, and I gasped when he came back. I closed my eyes, even though I didn’t need to. He held an ice cube in between his lips, and he ran it across my shoulders, down the front of my neck. I let out a tiny yip when it dropped in between my breasts.
“Is everything okay?” Louis asked from somewhere over our heads.
That fool had probably been standing there the whole time, enjoying all the various freak shows that were going on.
Genesis squirmed in his seat beside me. “We are fine, thank you.”
“Perfect. Your meal will be out shortly.” And with that, Louis left.
I sighed, enjoying what smelled like white wine and rosemary over chicken. Everywhere I turned, there were smells to paint pictures in my hea
d. Genesis leaned forward. It was amazing how well I could sense his body heat and hear him breathing. He poured wine into my mouth from his. It was shockingly cool compared to the heat of his mouth. A trail of wine ran down the corner of my mouth, and he caught it with his tongue. The heat from his fingers grazed my inner thigh as he slipped my soaking wet panties to the side. My teeth sank into his bottom lip as his finger dipped into the dripping honey pot between my legs.
Serving trays clanked nearby. I could hear the servers coming our way. I tried to close my legs, but Genesis wouldn’t move his hand. Our food was set out and Louis explained what was what and where. Genesis strummed a steady rhythm with his finger. Spicy Jerk chicken, strum, pineapple and mango salsa, strum strum. I didn’t hear a damn thing the man said after that. My mind was only on one thing.
When the servers disappeared, my senses were reeling from the exotic-smelling food heightened by the darkness and the slow lull of Genesis’s hand. He pulled me toward the edge of my seat, dipping his fingers faster and harder into my pussy. A quiet moan slipped out of my mouth before he kissed me deep and hard, claiming the sounds of my moans as his.
Swiss had never done anything this exciting, and Javion had damn sure never gotten me anywhere close to the heights Genesis was taking me—and with a damn finger at that. He stroked until I could feel the walls closing in. I was standing right at the edge, ready to fall into oblivion—and he stopped.
“You didn’t ask me if you could cum yet.” His voice was dark with excitement.
I blinked several times, feeling empty and cold from his retreat.
“Okay, I’m sorry,” I whispered leaning toward him. “I didn’t know I was supposed to ask. Can I cum, please?” I fidgeted in my seat, crossed and uncrossed my legs. I settled on pressing my knees tight together.
“Well, I can’t say no when you ask like that.”
His hands were on my hips, quietly directing me to stand up. Cool air brushed against my bared ass as my skirt was cinched up around my waist. My knees almost gave out when he slipped my panties to the side, burying his tongue deep into my pussy. I found the back of my chair in the dark and held on to it for dear life. He licked, sucked, and lapped at my center until I could feel the dampness running down my legs.
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