“Take off your bra. Slowly.”
She reached behind her back and unsnapped the bra before slowly removing one strap at a time and letting them fall off her shoulders to create the perfect picture of spillage before taking it all the way off and casting it to the side.
His pulse quickened, and his mind raced. He could swear he already knew that the sex between them was going to be both familiar and unlike anything they had ever experienced. He couldn’t wait, because he knew it would be like coming home and also like finding a place of joy, happiness and completion that you never in your wildest dreams thought could exist.
“Lie down on the bed.”
She did exactly what he told her to do, and the man inside of him bursting at the seams to possess this woman seemed to be beating on his chest with each act.
He got on the bed and took off her sandals, one at a time, caressing her feet as he did. He then slid off her thong. Better he get the thing out of the way intact now than rip it off and ruin it later.
He touched her and found her wet and ready. He used two of his fingers and stroked her steadily. She squirmed, letting out a soft sigh when he added a third finger. He removed his fingers, and she groaned until he kissed her, kissing away any complaints. His mouth covered hers, and he feasted on her lips and tongue and mouth as if her saliva had life-saving properties.
His hands roamed her soft, sensuous body for a long time as he kissed her. He let his fingers explore her sex again, and this time he delved into her wet, heated folds and touched her until he felt her shaking and heard the muffled cries of her release. He felt her inner walls gripping his fingers and let them squeeze and squeeze until her body went limp.
He pulled away from the kiss and just looked at her. She was amazing.
She let out a breath. “Hey, this is no fair. You still have your clothes on. Don’t I get to touch you, too?” She reached her hands under his shirt and made an attempt to lift it.
“In time, in time.” He slid down her body and gave her the most intimate of kisses, starting with her navel and working his way down to her slick, heated womanhood.
Her recent orgasm had left plenty of her nectar to feast on, but he wanted more. So he licked, nipped and thrust his tongue in and out, around and around, back and forth and as deep as it could go. His face almost seemed to merge with her sex as his nose tickled her clitoris and his cheeks brushed her thighs.
When he felt her legs begin to shake, he held them tightly, making sure she couldn’t escape and take all her sweet nectar away. Her soft, panting breaths and pleas to please make love to her now only made him want to taste her more. He lost all sense of time, and it was only the sharp cry of release and almost-violent shuddering of her last orgasm that pulled him out of his zone.
He stood and began to take off his clothes, all the while admiring how sexy she looked in the throes of passion. Her soft, honey-complexioned skin shimmered with slight perspiration, and her auburn and bronze locs were fanned out on the rust comforter. She looked like an alluring sun goddess. Her eyes were closed and a very satisfied half smile tilted her lips. As he placed the protection on and joined her on the bed, he hoped she was ready for some more.
Karen felt the bed shift and opened her eyes in spite of the fact that she was more than happy to just lounge there basking in the aftermath. But then she saw him…this perfect bronzed sculpted figure of masculine perfection inching onto the bed and onto her body. The ripples on his chest made her want to reach out and touch. So she did.
She lifted her hand and let it glide softly up and down, marveling in his form and knowing that the real thing was so much better than all those pictures of him shirtless on his album covers and on magazine covers. She had to remix Marvin Gaye because Darius’s chest made her wanna holler and touch with both her hands. So she did. She stroked her hands up and down his chest, anticipating how it would feel when he was right up on her, body to body, his hard steel pressed against her soft curves.
It would feel so good.
She looked up at his face as she continued to explore his chest. His hooded gaze foretold of a barely contained passion ready to be unleashed. She could tell that he was holding everything in, trying to give her time to explore him since he had explored her so thoroughly and completely. Her eyes traveled down from his face, stopping momentarily to admire his pecs again but moving on to find him poised, wrapped in protection and ready for the taking.
And she planned to take it all. Over and over again.
She spread her legs and pulled him down to her, capturing his lips. Her tongue traced his lips before diving into his mouth, tasting herself there.
She moaned as she mused that nothing should feel this good. Nothing should feel this right.
He let her control the kiss for a moment before taking over. His strong lips took the lead, and she was glad to let him.
He took her bottom lip between his teeth and nipped, sending a sweet jolt up her spine. Staring at her intently, he licked the spot and pulled away.
His hands trailed her body before stopping on her hips. His hands curved around her backside, and he gently lifted her hips off the bed, lining her at the perfect angle for his first thrust.
She could hear her own heartbeat as she waited.
He placed one of her legs over his shoulder, the other on his hip and slowly leaned into her.
The first teasing contact made her breath catch. Tingles assaulted her body instantly. He penetrated her slowly, surely and masterfully, taking his time and delving inch by magnificent inch until she was fuller than she had ever been. Her sex hugged his with no room to spare. She closed her eyes and tried to get used to the breadth and depth of him. He held himself, giving her ample time to get used to his size. And she moved her hips in desperation.
Perfection. That’s what it felt like to be with him in that moment. Each stroke filled her until there was no room. Each withdrawal left her feeling almost bereft, the void was so profound. She needed him inside of her, pushing her further and further past her limits.
He pulled out until only the tip of his manhood was in her and thrust back in, repeating the action with such a frenzy and intensity she didn’t know where he stopped and where she began. She tightened her legs around him, trying to hold him, trying to make it last forever.
“Forever.” She didn’t know what made her say that word. She just knew she had to say it.
His thrusts quickened. “Forever.”
She moved her hips to meet each of his thrusts with measured movement. She bounced up and swayed, offering a swivel of her hips that allowed him to touch places inside of her that she never could have imagined. He clutched her hips, holding her still, and buried himself deeper with each thrust.
He pulled all the way out and penetrated again with a speed and precision so overwhelming that it left her breathless. She could feel the tingles overtaking her from the inside out, from her core to the tiny hair follicles on her skin and back again. It wasn’t long before her body was shaking and her head shook back and forth on its own accord. She could feel her locs wiping across her face. She closed her eyes tight as she felt the strongest orgasm she had ever felt rip through her.
“Darius!” She screamed out his name, and she didn’t know why. “Darius,” she called out to him again, softer this time but no less needful.
She reached out to him, and he bent forward, kissing her deeply, sweetly but all the while moving his hips as if he were possessed.
Just when she thought she couldn’t take any more, he whispered her name across her lips. He lifted her hips up all the way until they rested on his thighs and pulled her body up until they were torso to torso, connected, hard steel to soft curves. He held her tightly and said her name one more time before his own release caused him to grip her hips tighter and hold her closer to him.
They sat like that for minutes afterward, speechless, arms wound around each other. They were so close that their heartbeats and breathing seemed to be synchron
ized.
He gently laid her back down on the bed as he withdrew. She immediately missed the feel of him in her and around her. He went to dispose of the protection and came right back to bed, wrapping her in his arms again.
She sighed. Being held was exactly what she needed.
He kissed her forehead.
“That was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. It’s never been like that before. Ever.” She didn’t want to hold back any of what she was feeling, even though the last thing she wanted to do was come across as a sprung chicken-head.
“I know. It’s never been like that for me either. Now do you see what I meant when I told you that us hooking up wasn’t going to make what we were feeling go away or be any less intense? I knew it would be like this. I knew once I had you I wasn’t going to be able to let you go…that I was going to want to hold on to you forever.”
“Forever… Those are the words—”
“Shh.” He placed his finger over her lips. “I know. But we said we weren’t going to dwell in the past or, in our case, the past lives. I just want this connection to be about you and me. Darius and Karen. Here and now.”
She nodded. “Okay. So what next?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean. What next? What do we do next?”
“We continue to get to know each other. I continue to help out at the center until I have to go shoot my next movie. And when I do go and shoot my next movie, you’re going to be the queen of the frequent-flyers club and I’ll be the king because we’re going to continue to see each other. And that’s the gist of it. Sound good to you?”
“Sounds good to me.” She sat up. “I guess I should be heading back to my place.”
“Oh, no, baby. You’re staying here with me tonight—and hopefully many more nights to come.”
“But I have to work in the morning. And so do you, Mr. Volunteer of the Year.”
“I know. We’ll get up early, shower together and then I’ll swing you by your place and wait for you while you change clothes. Then we’ll both drive in together.”
“Hmm. Don’t you have it all figured out, Mr. Rollins?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, then. I guess that’ll work.” She wrapped her arms around her knees as she took in her surroundings for the first time. She’d barely gotten a chance to register what the room looked like when they’d first entered. She was too busy feeling everything that he had to offer her.
The bedroom looked like something out of a designer magazine. The bed was a huge king-size four-poster platform bed. The wood on all the furniture was stained a deep, dark chocolate-brown. The comforter was a beautiful rust shade and felt like silk against the skin. In fact, the more she looked at it the more she realized that it probably was raw silk.
She looked in the corner and saw an object that seemed so out of place that she couldn’t help but ask him about it.
“What’s up with that guitar? You turning into a rock star now?”
He held his head down for a minute as if the last thing he wanted to talk about was the guitar. Finally he looked her in the eye. “I’ve been teaching myself how to play, and I took a few lessons. I want my next album to be a little more musical.”
“So you know how to play that thing? No way.”
He got up, got the guitar and then sat back near her on the bed. “I’ve actually been working on a new song since I met you. It’s a song about you and the work you’re doing in the neighborhood.”
She felt the heat rise from her neck to her cheeks.
He started strumming the chords. And soon a melody began to take shape. She could have sworn she’d heard the melody before.
“The melody is from Earth, Wind and Fire’s ‘Devotion.’” He played a little more of the melody and then he stopped and rapped the lyrics, alternating every so often with a human beat box that made her want to dance or at least sway with it.
She gives without
Thinking ’bout it
Don’t talk about it
She be about it
The proof is in her deeds
And she don’t have to shout about it.
Lifting as she climbs
Working for the people
All she needs is a man who’s willin’
to meet her as her equal
I’m down for the task
Down for love that lasts
Forever is in her eyes
She’s my future and my past
The reason why I rise
To be the best I can be
It’s real, not a test
And her vibe is pressing me
To keep forward motion
To honor love, hope and emotion
To do what I can so I can match her devotion.
Then he started strumming the melody again and sang the hook from the Earth, Wind and Fire song.
She felt a tear run down her cheek. No one had ever done anything like that for her before.
“That was beautiful.”
He blushed as he stopped playing the guitar. “I’m still working on the song. But I definitely want it to be on my next album.” He put the guitar down and sat next to her.
“It’s a little different from your usual songs. Do you think your fans will like the new direction?”
“Do you like the new direction?”
“I love it. How could I not? No one has ever tried to woo me by writing me a song before.”
“Well, then, that’s all that matters. You’re all that matters.” He kissed her, and for a minute she believed him.
Chapter 13
The next morning, Darius took Karen to her place to get dressed like they’d planned, and he had to smile at the T-shirt she was wearing. The purple T-shirt had a baby boy and a baby girl on it, and each was looking down into their own diapers. The caption read, “So that explains the difference in our pay?” She wore a pair of jeans that looked like they were made for her and poured onto her curves and some really cute purple Converse sneakers.
Her style was unlike any woman he had ever dated before, and he liked it. He found himself wondering what kind of T-shirt she was going to have on next. And he’d never look at a crinkle skirt the same way again. From now on, in his mind, crinkle skirts were the equivalent to sexy lingerie.
As they walked up to the center together, he noticed a guy standing in front of the center as if he were waiting for something. The guy was tall with black locs hanging down past his shoulders. He wore a white kufi hat, dashiki and matching pants. Small gold wire-framed glasses sat perched on his long nose. He didn’t look particularly dangerous, but one couldn’t be too careful these days.
Darius reached over to pull Karen close just in case the guy was a threat or something like that. But before he could she took off running and leaped into the man’s arms. The man lifted her up and spun her around as she squealed with glee.
It was really hard not to become totally alpha male at that point and growl at the man who had the audacity to step into his territory and touch his woman. So, Darius decided he wasn’t even going to try. That man had about two seconds to put Karen down or all hell was going to break loose.
After a second spin, the man put her down, but he still had his arm wrapped around her. “Queen, it is so good to see you. You’re looking stunning as ever.” The man had a slight accent that Darius couldn’t quite place, and he also couldn’t tell if it was real or fake.
“Saul! I can’t believe you’re back. When did you get back from the motherland? And please tell me you’ll be back at the center. The kids have missed you around here.” Karen had a smile on her face that would have chased any bad feelings Darius was having away if it were just the two of them and this interloper didn’t still have his arm around her.
Darius cleared his throat, and the two of them looked up.
“Oh, where are my manners, I was so excited to see Saul that I didn’t even introduce the two of you. Saul, this is Darius. You might know him as th
e rapper and actor D-Roc. He grew up in the East New York neighborhood, and he’s donating some of his time between movies to help out at the center.”
Darius bit back a frown at her introduction. He was more than a volunteer at the center, more than a rapper or actor. He was her man, and Saul needed to take his arms off of her, pronto.
Saul reached out with the arm that wasn’t around Karen and offered it for a handshake. Darius shook his hand somewhat begrudgingly.
“And Darius, this is Saul. He’s an old friend from college. And he has been with the center from the beginning—our first volunteer, our first employee. He’s an activist, a poet and all-around cool guy. For the past six months, he’s been on the continent of Africa taking in the motherland. And I can’t wait to hear all about it!”
Darius and Saul looked each other in the eyes as Karen spoke, and Darius could have sworn he saw a hint of an unspoken threat there, as if Saul was staking or restaking some kind of claim on Karen. Darius narrowed his eyes and shook his head.
“It’s nice to meet you, man. Welcome back to the States. What countries in Africa did you visit? I’ve been to parts of Ghana, South Africa, Swaziland, Kenya and Egypt to perform.” Darius reached over and pulled Karen into his arms. “I’ll have to take you with me next time, Karen. You would really love it.” He squeezed her and gave her a peck on the lips that intensified slightly before she seemed to realize that they weren’t alone.
She touched his cheek and turned to Saul. “So are you back for a while? Or are you back at least long enough to tell me all about your trip?”
“My Queen, I’m back for a while, and hopefully, my old job is still here for me. Or I can volunteer until we get the grants to pay me. You know how we do it.” Saul reached out and caressed Karen’s cheek.
Oh, hell, no! A low growl came out of Darius’s mouth, and Saul stepped back.
“Sorry, brother, I mean no disrespect. It’s just the Queen and I go way back, and she’ll always have a special place in my heart.” Saul gave a little bow and stepped back.
“It’s all good. Just try and respect the fact that she and I are building something now and whatever y’all had in the past needs to stay in the past.” Darius felt his chest puffing up with each word. He didn’t want to start out his morning strapping with some chump in African garb. But he would if he had to. Even though he never in a million years would have thought that he’d be fighting over a woman, period, he knew he’d take on the world for Karen.
Make It Last Forever Page 11