Lucius looked around. “Well, I haven’t seen either one of them. Maybe they’re over near the stage. I heard someone mention a few minutes ago that Micah Ross was here and about to introduce one of his artists.”
“Then let’s go over there,” she shouted, taking him by the hand and pulling him along. She seemed like a woman on a mission again. He wondered what had happened in the ladies’ room that spooked her from wanting to participate in the parade.
They maneuvered skillfully around black leather sofas and acrylic tables that flanked the dance floor. But when the lights dimmed, it became clear that they weren’t going to be able see let alone search for anyone. “Hey, let’s look for them after the concert,” he suggested when he noted her distraught face. “C’mon. It’s gonna be all right,” he assured her and then led her toward one of the private balconies while everyone else was focused on crowding onto the dance floor.
Beverly allowed him to direct her away. Once they found an empty private balcony, they took their seats on a plush velvet love seat and stared directly down on the main stage. A minute later, college alumni Micah Ross took to the stage to roaring applause.
Lucius leaned over to Beverly. “I still don’t remember this dude from school, do you?”
She shook her head. “But he certainly made out well in the music industry. That’s no small feat.”
After the crowd calmed down, Micah introduced Justice Kane to the stage. Everyone went wild again. The music was good—damn good, actually—and Lucius ordered them a few drinks, hoping to loosen Beverly back up. For a while it looked as though it was working until she spotted someone down in the crowd.
“Chloe!” She hopped up and took off.
Confused, Lucius set his drink down and went to find out exactly what was going on.
Beverly bumped and shouldered her way through the crowd. With her heart in her throat, she grabbed hold of Chloe’s hand. Chloe glanced over her shoulder.
“I’ve got to talk to you,” Beverly said urgently.
“But Kevin wants me…”
“I really need to talk to you. It’s about tomorrow.”
“Chloe!” Kevin Stayton shouted.
“I’m coming. I’ll be right there,” Chloe said. Then she retraced her steps back to Beverly.
Beverly moved away from the stairs and stood near the quiet corridor that led to the restrooms. There was no traffic for the moment. She gnawed on her lower lip, and shifted back and forth from one heeled foot to the other.
“Are you all right? What’s wrong?”
“Chloe, I’m so sorry to do this, but I can’t be in the parade tomorrow.”
Chloe stared at her, openmouthed. “Wha—what did you say? You’re not…”
“I can’t. I know I said I’d do it, and I really hate to put you on the spot like this, but I can’t.”
“But why, Beverly? I mean, you don’t even have to do anything. You ride on the float and smile and wave. You don’t have to say anything.”
“I know that, but…I’m afraid I’m going to fall apart. I’ll embarrass myself. I can’t do it,” she said, though it was sort of stretching the truth.
Behind them, Micah Ross took the stage again and talked to the crowd.
“Maybe you could think about it overnight? You can call me in the morning. But please don’t say no right now,” Chloe pleaded.
Beverly shook her head.
Kevin Stayton now took the mike. Chloe gasped. Her gaze went to the stairwell, and then back to Beverly.
Before Beverly could say anything else, Lucius grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
“What the hell is going on with you? You’ve been acting strange ever since we got here.”
“Nothing. Everything is fine now.” She smiled sweetly, feeling as if a load had been lifted from her shoulders.
Lucius frowned at her ability to run hot and then cold within the blink of an eye. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” She eased past him to head back to their private balcony.
Still frowning, he followed her.
“And here she is!” Kevin proclaimed from the stage.
Beverly and Lucius returned to their love seat and stared down at the stage.
“I am delighted, thrilled, relieved and proud to introduce Chloe Jackson to everyone…”
The crowd went wild with applause.
“…as my future wife.”
“Hot damn,” Lucius laughed. “I knew something was going on with those two.”
Chloe took the mike and waited until everyone had quieted down. “I know you’re sick of hearing my name by now. I apologize for Kevin being such a bore about it….”
Someone laughed out loud. More laughter followed. Chloe looked momentarily confused and thrown by the tittering as she talked. “I appreciate Kevin’s…his…uh…”
Chloe stopped and blinked. The laughter grew.
Beverly smiled as her eyes misted. “She didn’t hear him.”
Chloe’s eyes widened as she turned toward Kevin. “Did you…what did you say?”
“Awww. This is so sweet,” Beverly murmured to herself.
Kevin took the mike back, put his arm around Chloe’s waist and pulled her close.
“I said, Chloe Jackson, will you marry me?”
The crowd went wild.
A chant began on one side of the stage. It picked up on the other, and suddenly began a wave around the room.
“Chlo-e, Chlo-e, Chlo-e…”
“Say yeessssss!” a woman yelled. Everyone laughed.
Chloe turned to Kevin. “Yes,” she choked out, almost inaudible. “Yes, I will,” she said a little louder, nodding.
“Kevin, Ke-vin, Ke-vin!”
Chloe reached for the mike and spoke clearly into it. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Kevin Stayton.”
The room erupted into wild cheers and whistling and applause. Beverly and Lucius jumped to their feet to applaud the couple. Beverly even wiped away a tear, which surprised her. She thought that all her romantic fairy-tale notions were long dead and buried. She personally knew what happened after the glittering ring and the “I dos.” Maybe it will be different for them, she reasoned. At least she hoped so.
She smiled and watched the couple kiss and spin around on the stage. Yeah, she decided. It will be different.
When the newly engaged couple exited stage left, a local Atlanta band, Déjà, took to the stage and launched into a rendition of Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize.” Lucius and Beverly took one look at each other and, like most of the attendees, bum-rushed the dance floor to get their groove on.
Shaking and gyrating bodies monopolized the floor and Lucius was determined to show that he knew how to pull up to her bumper like just like the best of them. Beverly lost herself in the music as it shifted from East Coast driving bass to West Coast’s hot beats like Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” and then polished off one set with R. Kelly’s remix of “Bump and Grind.”
Lucius was so all over her that it looked like he was glued on—and Beverly didn’t mind at all. Shortly after that performance, they hurried out of the club just short of midnight. They were so hot for each other that they couldn’t keep their hands off each other during the drive back to the hotel.
Beverly abandoned her seat belt so she could kiss and suckle his earlobe, while jamming her hand down in his crotch and stroking her new best friend. “Wait till I get you back to the room,” she whispered and then slowly glided her tongue down the shell of his ear.
He shivered and reached a hand in between her legs. He slid her moist panties over and slid a finger deep into her wetness. “Looks like you’re already ready for me,” he said.
She sighed sexily against his ear and then moaned when a second finger joined the fray. To prove that she could keep up, Beverly unzipped his pants. “I hope you know how to concentrate,” she said, then folded over into his lap and took him into her mouth.
Lucius nearly swerved out of his lane. He removed his hand from her body and then pl
anted them at ten o’clock and two o’clock on his steering wheel. However, the feel of Beverly’s warm mouth, coupled with the tightness of squeezing to the back of her throat, caused his toes to curl up off the accelerator to the point that he was driving a good twenty miles below the speed limit.
When Beverly’s head began to bob at a faster pace, he could literally feel tears brim in his eyes, while his lungs felt as if they were on the verge of collapsing.
“Ooooh. Ssssssssh,” he hissed repeatedly. Thank God the hotel finally came into view. But he had a hard time turning the wheel at the feeling of orgasm brewing at the base of his cock. Somehow he managed not to sideswipe a car that was leaving the hotel lot. Wanting to continue this groove that they were on, Lucius found a parking spot toward the back of the hotel and killed the engine.
Grinning, Beverly lifted her head and asked, “Condom?”
“Wallet. Back pocket,” he panted and raised his hips.
She reached around and pulled out his wallet. After ripping the gold packet open and sliding on the condom, Beverly climbed onto his lap.
Lucius did his part by hitting the automatic button to slide his seat back so they could have a little more room to work. He didn’t have long to wait as Beverly slid her panties to the side and eased down on him in one smooth motion.
“Aaaaaaahhhh,” they both said as their bodies sighed in relief.
He hit another button and his seat reclined all the way to the back so he was practically lying down.
She leaned forward and drew his soft lips into a deep kiss while she began to ride him slowly and deliberately. Listening to his moans and groans filled Beverly with a power she hadn’t felt in such a long time that she couldn’t help but revel in it.
“You like this, baby?” she asked, squeezing her vaginal muscles.
Lucius sucked air through his gritted teeth and nodded.
“Let me hear you say it,” she ordered.
He smiled wickedly, knowing the game they were about to play. “I love the way your body feels, baby. Especially when I do this.” He surged his hip forward, rammed himself in all the way to the hilt.
She gasped, feeling like a tiny firecracker shot off toward the tip of her clit.
“Or when I do this.” He surged forward twice in quick succession, making a hard smacking sound. To prove that he could take control at anytime, Lucius locked his hands around her waist and held her in place while his hips pounded away.
Beverly could barely breathe, let alone think, and she certainly couldn’t be held accountable for whatever nonsense that spilled out of her mouth while Lucius tried to drill his way to China.
As if their bodies were totally in sync, a violent tremor erupted and then surged through both of them like a bolt of lightning. When it passed, they were left hot, sweaty and panting.
“Damn. Has anybody told you that you’re amazing?” Lucius asked once he was able to talk again.
“You might have mentioned it.” She smiled and peppered his face with kisses.
“All right now. If you keep that up we’re going to have to go another round.”
“Promise?” She nibbled on the bottom of his lip and then grinned when she felt his cock quicken again.
Lucius gave her a hard smack on her ass. “Let’s get you upstairs. There’s a few more positions I’d like to try out.”
“Good. I have a few of my own.”
Chapter 9
The hotel suite was a wreck. Clothes were tossed everywhere, while chairs, desk tables and a nightstand were also overturned. Somehow the king-size mattress had gotten tossed off the box spring so that now half of it was on the floor. Coincidentally, it was the part they had fallen asleep on.
There was a phone ringing somewhere. Beverly half hoped that it was somehow a part of this wonderful dream that she was having where she and Lucius were laughing and playing with this most adorable little girl. The child looked so much like Lucius, with his beautiful brown skin and quarter-size hazel eyes, that Beverly’s heart stirred and an old longing returned.
But the damn phone kept ringing.
Beverly opened one eye, looked around and was confused by the utter destruction around her. Had a hurricane hit the hotel? The phone rang again. She lifted her head, looked around. This time, she noted, Lucius snuggled up against her as if he’d fallen asleep suckling her breasts.
She felt around, her hand seeking for the ringing phone. After stretching a bit, she found it up near the wall and yanked up the handset. “Hello?”
“I know Ms. Thang ain’t still sleeping?” Clarence said with a sarcastic chuckle. “Why didn’t you answer your phone when I called? I know your butt turned in early.”
Beverly turned her head back toward Lucius. “Um, not exactly.”
Clarence emitted a small gasp. “Don’t tell me you actually stayed out at that reunion dance and had a good time.”
She giggled. “More like I’ve been having a great weekend.”
“Whoooooooooo, Beverly girl!”
Beverly jerked the phone from her ear and then shook her head to stop it from ringing.
“C’mon. Spill it. Spill it,” Clarence insisted.
She could actually picture him in his morning pink robe, with his heel propped up in a kitchen chair while sipping his morning coffee.
“Is he fine, girl? I know he’s fine. Was it that freakum dress you had on Friday night? I know it was.”
“Do you even need me for this conversation?” she asked.
“Hell, yeah,” he drawled. “I need details. It’s been so long since you got laid, I feared you were walking around with the Sahara Desert between your hips.”
“Now you’re just trying to be funny.”
“And you’re stalling.”
Lucius stirred and then surprised Beverly when he latched onto one of her breasts like it was the most natural thing in the world to do first thing in the morning. With a few gentle strokes her nipples peaked and hardened.
Beverly closed her eyes and felt other parts of her body start to reawaken.
“Bev, do you hear me, girl?”
“Huh?” she said almost dreamily. Lucius’s hands started roaming over her body, forcing her to spread her legs so he could test the wetness within. “Oooh.”
“Awwww, hell naw,” Clarence squealed. “I know that you’re not still gettin’ your freak on while I’m on the phone!”
“I’ll have to call you…b-back,” she panted and then slammed the phone down.
Lucius’s head descended down her body. “I hope that wasn’t important,” he rasped, peeling open her legs like her body was a precious flower.
“No. This is more important,” she said, guiding his head down and sighing when his mouth dipped inside to taste her body’s fresh morning juice. At this point, Lucius knew her body like the back of his hand. He knew just how many licks it would take to make her come or how to tug gently on her clit to prolong the moment.
Right on time her clit started going through convulsions. Beverly closed her eyes as Lucius worked his fingers and his mouth faster and faster while her legs fluttered around his head like an erotic black butterfly.
At long last, she screamed out his name as her body imploded.
“How you feel, baby?” he asked, peppering kisses against her firm thighs.
Was he kidding? She felt amazing.
The suite’s door swept open, the lovers jerked their heads to see the same Latina housekeeper from yesterday gasp with shock. “I’ll come back later,” she said again and then quickly backed out of the room.
Lucius looked up at Beverly’s cranberry-red face. “I think she does that on purpose.”
Beverly covered her face with her hands, embarrassed. “We should have put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door.”
He nodded, realizing that was probably a good idea.
The phone rang again. Beverly had a sneaking suspicion that it was Clarence calling her back. She grabbed the phone, ready to have a little fun with her f
riend. “What is it, bitch?”
“Excuse you?”
The unmistakable feminine voice clearly was not Clarence. “Who’s this?”
“Kyra. Who the hell do you think it is?” she said, offended.
Beverly bolted straight up. “Kyra, I’m sooooo sorry. I thought you were someone else.”
“Obviously.” She cleared her throat.
Lucius snickered as he climbed onto his feet, his semihard dick swinging in between his legs as he headed toward the bathroom.
Beverly smacked her lips as she watched him.
“Bev!” Kyra shouted. “Are you still there?”
“Huh, what?”
“I was asking you why you’re trying to back out on the parade at the last minute? You’re about to give my girl Chloe a heart attack. What do you expect her to do at the last minute?”
Beverly was instantly irritated. “I don’t know. Ask Darcy Knight to ride on the damn float.”
“Is that what all this is about? Bitching Darcy? Forget her. She was a mean, evil girl and now she’s a mean, evil woman.”
Beverly sighed. “I know, but—”
“But nothing. You’re riding that damn float even if I have to hog-tie you to it.” Kyra then softened her words. “Besides, you don’t want people mistaking Darcy for you, do you?”
Beverly grimaced. “God, no.”
“Good. Then it’s settled.”
It was a statement, but it sounded more like a question.
Beverly knew that it was time to put on her big-girl panties and do the right thing. “All right. All right. I’ll do it.”
“Great. I’ll see you at the brunch.”
Disconnecting the call, Beverly stood and wrapped the bed’s top sheet around her body. “What time is it?” She glanced around, trying to find the clock among the wreckage. When she finally found it, she saw that once again, she only had one hour to get ready for the school’s brunch.
She raced to the bathroom, disappointed to see that Lucius had already climbed into the shower. “You couldn’t wait for me?” she asked, dropping the sheet and then stepping in behind him.
Tender to His Touch Page 7