“What does he want?” Daddy couldn’t stand him ever since the day he had found out I was pregnant and Tyree refused to marry me.
I took a long breath before I reached for the door handle. “Who knows.”
“You want me to stay?”
I immediately shook my head. The last thing I wanted was for the two of them to get into it. I needed money, and making Tyree mad was not the way to get it. “No, Papa. Tyree’s probably here to see Miasha.”
“She’s asleep.”
“Then he can carry her up to bed.” I kissed his cheek, trying to smooth things over, then signaled for Tyree to come help. He put his cigarette out with his foot, then hustled over to my father’s Buick.
“Good evening, Mr. Santiago.”
“Hello,” Papa mumbled, then watched as Tyree picked his granddaughter up from the back seat and carried her toward the building. I waved at my father, then hurried to open the door and climbed up to the second-floor apartment. While Tyree put Miasha to bed, I thumbed through my mail. Of course, there was a disconnection notice for my electricity and my house phone. I was so sick of living this way when I shouldn’t have to.
For two years, I had been caught up in the excitement of being with a thug and believed all the bullshit he sent my way. Tyree used to have chicks calling my house, and some nights he didn’t even come home at all. By the time I realized he was simply running game and was full of shit, I was already pregnant with Miasha. For my baby’s sake, I tried to hang in there a while longer because I wanted my child to have a father around, the way I had, but things just went from bad to worse when one of his hoochies came onto my porch with her belly sticking out farther than mine.
“Yo, she’s out like a log.”
I swung around and glared at him with a hand at my hip. “Tyree, what do you want?”
“Damn, can’t I come and see my daughter?” he said on the defense.
“You know she goes to bed early.”
“Then maybe I came to see you.” He smiled at me, then looked longingly at my breasts. I immediately crossed my arms over my chest.
“To do what? Give me daycare money? I told you to take that by and give it to Mama.” I don’t know why men were so hardheaded.
“Damn, I was busy. I thought I’d drop it off with you instead, if that’s okay with you?” He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a wad of money. I rolled my eyes because he was always trying to floss. I don’t give a damn how much money he has in his pocket if he doesn’t have any intention of giving it to my daughter. He peeled off five twenties, then returned the rest to his pocket. He then gave me that look and took a step closer. At one time I was so desperate for money from him that I was willing to do whatever it took to get it . . . plus a little extra. Well, not anymore. Not since I started working at the clinic and decided to go to school and make a better life for me and my daughter. There was no way I was giving him some for money that was rightfully mine and Miasha’s.
What I should have done years ago was put child support on his ass. But Tyree didn’t like to work, so all the judge could have done was carted his ass off to jail. One thing about Tyree, he knows how to hustle, and because of it, he always had money in his pockets. As long as I don’t get the courts involved, he would at least continue to make that money so he can help me financially with Miasha. It would be nice, though, if the help was consistent.
He stared at me with those pretty brown eyes of his and the two of us making love invaded my mind. Tyree’s got skill. If I wasn’t striving for something better, I would have taken his hand and led him to my bedroom. Instead, I ignored that horny look in his eyes and pushed him away. “Uh-huh, don’t even think about it.”
He had the nerve to look offended. “Damn, Candy! I ain’t had none in a minute.”
I dropped a hand to my hip. “You right . . . a minute. Because knowing you, an hour ago you were banging someone else.” I walked into the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl. I was suddenly hungry. The lasagna Mama packed me for lunch was long gone.
Tyree followed, then moved in close, leaning over, and had me wedged between him and the counter. “I miss being with you.” Before I could turn away, his lips covered mine and he was prying my lips open with his tongue. I resisted for a few seconds just so he wouldn’t think for a second it was ever going to be that easy, then I allowed him to slip his tongue inside. I could feel an erection through his loose-fitting jeans. Like I said before, Tyree had it going on in the sex department. It was the commitment part that he seemed to have a real problem with. “I wanna be there for you and Miasha.” He tried to kiss me again, but I turned my head and he got my cheek instead.
“You know how many times I have heard this same song and dance,” I began with a frown. “Kiss me again and I promise you I’m going to bite a hole in your bottom lip.” I was mostly angry at myself for enjoying how good he made me feel.
“Candy, I’m serious. I love you and my daughter, and I’m ready to settle down with one girl and that girl is you,” he added with a grin.
I stared up at his sexy honey-brown face and looked directly into his big brown eyes. At one time I wanted that more than anything, but not anymore. I was tired of being his fool. “Sorry, but Miasha needs a real man in her life.”
“What the fuck that ’posed mean?” I could see that look of jealousy in his eyes that I had seen too many times over the years. Tyree could mess around, but let me think about trying to be with someone else and suddenly it was a problem.
“Just what I said.” I pushed him away from me.
“Shee-it! What you think I’m going to let you bring some other muthafucka around my daughter?” His words were clearly meant to scare me. Tyree’s known me long enough to know I don’t scare that easy. Some of the dudes I dated he had been able to punk, and others, I just never bothered to let him know about. However, none of them had been worth keeping around and introducing to my daughter.
“There ain’t nothing you can do about it if I do.”
“Just watch me.” He warned, then stormed out the door. One thing about Tyree, I’ve learned to take his threats seriously.
5
Tiffany
Fridays are always hump night at Situations. By the time I finished my last client’s head and left the salon, it was after ten. I was dead tired. I planned to go home, take a hot shower, and curl up under the covers before I had to do this all over again in the morning. However, when I pulled into the driveway of the three-bedroom home I shared with my fiancé, sleep was the last thing on my mind. Kimbel was home! I wasn’t expecting him until tomorrow night, but I ain’t mad that he was already at home waiting for me. My heart started pumping wild and I had to take a deep breath to calm my excitement. We’d been together for almost six months, but every time I arrived home to find him already there, waiting, it had this kind of effect on me. Kimbel was like no other man I had ever dated, and there was no doubt whatsoever I was in love with him.
I pulled my Honda Accord into the garage, then lowered the door and went inside to find Kimbel on the couch watching the game. “Hey, baby.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. “What are you doing back so early?”
Kimbel was an athletic recruiter for Northwestern University. Monday, I had dropped him off at O’Hare Airport for Minneapolis.
“The workshop didn’t last as long as they thought, so I took the first available flight back. Come’re, baby.” He pulled me onto his lap and kissed me some more. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.” I was lucky. I had a wonderful man who was not only handsome and rich, but he loved me. I couldn’t wait for the day I would become his wife.
“Let your man show you how much he missed you.” Words were no longer needed. He laid me down on my back and rolled on top of me. The kisses got deeper and I opened my mouth and let him have complete access. He slipped his tongue inside and I met each stroke. Oooh, he had my body tingling. His tongue traveled down to my neck a
nd I flinched because I couldn’t help it. I’m ticklish there. Kimbel pulled back and smiled down at me. “I know your spot.” I didn’t miss the humor in his voice.
“No, you don’t.” I laughed, running my hands along his hard chest.
“Oh, but, boo, I do.”
He started kissing my neck again; then his fingers reached for the buttons on my blouse and released them. Kimbel then unsnapped my bra. “You are so beautiful.” I arched off the couch the second he wrapped his lips around my nipple.
“Oh, Kimbel, that feels sooooo good.” Not that he didn’t already know that. My man knew what I liked and always did whatever it took to get me there. Desire flew through my body. He sucked deeply, drawing my nipple into his mouth. My knees grew weak and I grabbed his shoulders to steady myself. He reached for my jeans and unzipped them, and I raised my hips and helped him slide them down. Not my panties. I knew better than that. Just my jeans. Anything else and it was a recipe for trouble. Especially since he had me throbbing between my legs and my panties were wet.
Kimbel rose and removed his shirt and jeans, and I stared at my sexy man. Former professional football player. It’d been two years since he played for Philadelphia, but you couldn’t tell by looking at him. He worked out every morning. Everything was hard and firm, including his penis. I spotted the head peeking out the top of his boxers. He noticed me staring at him and gave me a mischievous smile, then slowly slid his boxers down his hips. His penis sprang free. Goodness, he was blessed, which was why I needed to put a stop to this kind of behavior.
“Okay, enough. Pull your boxers back up,” I ordered. He sighed loud and deep, then reluctantly did what I said. I know he was getting tired of me telling him no. After the way the girls were talking in the salon the other day, the last thing I wanted was for my man to start creeping with someone else. “Come’re.” I said with a crook of my index finger. The least I could do was let him dry hump my leg.
Kimbel moved over to the couch, then laid on top of me again. I wrapped my legs around his waist while he grinded against me. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the taste of him as his tongue slipped inside my mouth again. “Mmmm, you taste good.” He always did. Kimbel was always chewing gum or sucking on mints, insuring that his breath was minty fresh. I was a lucky woman.
I met Kimbel about six months ago at this club called Presidents on 75th Street. I love light-skinned men, so I was instantly attracted to him. I was out with my girls when I noticed Kimbel standing at the bar.
“Who’s that?” I asked Carolyn.
She looked over in the direction, then smiled. “That’s Kimbel Morgan and Chicago Bears’ Lance Briggs.”
All night I made it my business to get his attention, and just when I was ready to give up, Kimbel came from behind and tapped me on the shoulder. I tried to play it cool while inside I was shaking with excitement. “Hey, sexy. I spotted you across the room and had no choice but to come over and introduce myself.”
“Is that right?”
“Definitely,” he said with a sexy grin, showing all his pretty white teeth.
We spent the rest of the evening with each other and at a coffee shop afterward. Kimbel was a total gentleman. Afterward, he didn’t try to get in my pants. Instead, he took my phone number, kissed me good night, and promised to call me the next day. That lasted for about a month before he asked me to stay the night with him. I was still living with my mother at the time, and there was no way in hell I was going to be able to tell Mama I was staying the night with a man. She already knew we were seeing each other because I had taken Kimbel to meet her. After his visit, Mama lectured me on abstinence like I hadn’t been listening to that mess all my life. That night he asked to make love to me. I immediately shook my head.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
I was so nervous I was afraid I was going to throw up. “I’m . . . a virgin.”
He was quiet for so long tears flooded my eyes. I knew at any second he was going to tell me it had been fun, but he didn’t have time. “A virgin, huh?” His lips curled upward. “Wow! I’ve never dated a virgin before.”
“I understand if you don’t want to see me again,” I replied, trying to make dumping me easier.
“Not see you? What makes you think I would want to end my relationship with you?” He pulled me tightly in his arms.
“I just thought—”
Kimbel pressed a finger to my lips. “Well, you thought wrong. I can only respect that.”
I ended up calling Mama and lied when I told her I was staying with my best friend, Candace. Kimbel spent the entire night kissing and holding me, and I think that was the moment I realized I loved him. After a while I got tired of lying to my mother about where I was staying. Kimbel asked me to move in and I stood up to Mama and told her I was in love. She called me every kind of Jezebel. To shut her up, I had to make an appointment with my gynecologist. He did an exam with her standing in the room, staring at my coochie with my legs in stirrups. It was the only way to reassure her I was indeed still a virgin.
Five months later, I still managed to hold on to what I was saving for my husband on our wedding night. In all honesty, it hasn’t been easy. Kissing and grinding always had me wet, but we never went any further than that ever, so I was surprised by Kimbell’s question that snapped me out of my trip down memory lane.
“Baby, let me eat your pussy.”
“Excuse me?” I shot up on the couch, waiting for the man I loved to repeat himself.
“Baby, I want to taste you down there.” He slipped his fingers inside the elastic band of my panties. I tried to slide away but not before he ran his fingers along my damp panties, tickling my sensitive area.
“No,” I replied, but it sounded more like a purr than a protest. His thumb caressed my clit and I couldn’t help but to moan. “What are you doing?”
“I just want to taste you . . . that’s all, baby . . . I promise.” He was breathing heavily. His tongue trailed across my breasts while he pushed my panties down past my knees. But when I thought he was going to linger there longer, he continued downward. For the life of me I couldn’t understand what had gotten into him tonight, but whatever it was, I couldn’t stop him. It was my chance to let him find out that what I had was going to be worth waiting for.
“Open your legs,” he murmured, then dropped down off the edge of the couch and knelt on the floor. Kimbel grabbed my ankles and slid me down to the edge. Desire throbbed through me because I knew what he was about to do. Read about it. Heard about. Wondered about the day I would allow Kimbel to do me, but I never thought I would let him before we were married. But like the girls said in the salon, oral sex wasn’t really sex. God, I hope they were right. His fingers stroked me, then he rubbed my clit. “Oooh!” I hissed. That felt so good.
He grabbed my thighs and the first stroke of his tongue made me arch off the couch. “Oooh, my goodness!”
“You like that?” he asked, and lowered his head so his breath feathered against my flesh.
“Yesssss!” His lips sucked my clit and I moaned and jerked off the couch. Kimbel’s hands clamped on to my thighs and held me in place. If I could have gotten free, I might have tried. What we were doing was wrong. What had Mama taught me all these years? But even knowing that, I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to, and Lord forgive me, I didn’t want to. His mouth was hot and felt so good. He parted my lips and slipped his tongue inside. My head rolled back against the pillows. My hands traveled to his head holding him firmly in place. I could feel my heart beating fast and the blood flowing and something inside me started to build. Who would have known it would feel like this? Heat spiraled through me. Something was about to happen, and whatever it was, it felt so good I knew it was wrong. I clenched my teeth. “No.” I tried to push Kimbel away, but he held on.
“Baby, please let me make you come.”
“No,” I moaned. I was breathing as hard as he was. I wanted him. Wanted whatever it was my body was craving, but I
couldn’t take that risk.
“Tif . . . please.”
This was way out of control. It took everything I had to push his head away. Swallowing, I managed to whisper. “I think we need to stop.”
“What?” he laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
I sat up on the couch and looked at him like he was the one who had lost his mind. “No, I’m serious. You know how I feel about sex before marriage.”
Kimbel took several deep breaths, then rose from his knees. “Okay . . . fine . . . then do me.”
I gave him a weird look. “Do what?” Instead of answering, he slid his boxers down to his thighs and his penis stood to attention.
“Suck my dick . . . come on, Tif. I’m hard as hell.”
I looked him directly in the eyes and realized he was serious. I was willing to do a lot of things, but that wasn’t one of them. Good girls don’t suck dick. Only hos do things like that. Mama had been preaching that to me since I turned 12. I shook my head. “I can’t do that. You know how I feel.”
“You didn’t have a problem with me doing you.” Kimbel actually sounded upset.
I gave him a stern look. “That’s different. And I didn’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t stop me either.” He turned away from me.
Goose bumps rose on my arms. I loved this man, but as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t. “Listen, baby. Why don’t we both get dressed and talk about this?”
“I’ve been waiting patiently, trying to respect your wishes, but how long do you expect a man to wait. It’s been six months, dammit!”
“I know, I know, baby, but we’re getting married in a month and you won’t have to wait any longer.” I was practically pleading with him to continue to be patient with me.
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