“Uh…no. I’m his assistant and I wanted to drop off this package from his agent.”
Caress crossed her fingers that she wasn’t letting in an axe murderer as she unlocked the door. Her intention was to crack it open just enough for him to give her the FedEx envelope he held, but Boo bumped his hip against the wooden door and strutted into the house.
He twirled rather dramatically and pointed one finger at Caress, his mouth opening a little at the sight of her belly. “ Who are you?” he asked.
“I’m Caress,” she said, wondering if she was about to get in the midst of some down-low drama.
“You live here?” he asked, waving a finger.
“Yes.”
“Are you related to Julius?” he asked.
“No.”
“Ooh, Julius you slick little devil you,” he said, holding the package to his chest as he grinned at her with lips that were just a tad bit shiny.
“You’re Julius’s assistant?” she asked, closing the front door since it appeared he wasn’t ready to leave.
“Yup. Let him know I dropped this off for him, please.”
She took the package. “I will.”
Boo gave another look at her belly before he turned and left the house.
Caress closed the door, and her heart was beating fast with nervous anticipation. She wondered if Julius would be angry that his secret was out. It’s not like he told her not to tell anyone she was living there temporarily.
Wanting to put the package in a safe place, Caress went up to Julius’s room. The phone began to ring, but like always Caress didn’t answer it. She always gave people her cell phone number to reach her so she felt she had no reason to answer Julius’s phone.
“This is Julius. After the beep, leave a message.”
Beep.
Caress set the package on his bed, trying hard not to let the lingering scent of his cologne entice her too much.
“Julius, this is Karina—”
Caress’s steps faltered and she stopped to listen to the message being left. She knew it was wrong and rude, but she couldn’t help herself.
“I am so excited about Jamaica. We are going to have the best time. Believe that. Anyway call me when you get this message.”
Beep.
So Julius was still seeing Karina.
Caress continued out of his room, closing the door behind her. She hated seeing the images that flashed in her head like a amateur porno of Julius making love to Karina. “Ew,” she said, knowing she was being childish.
She walked into her bedroom and dropped down onto the chaise lounge in the corner. Is that where he is tonight? she wondered, as she tucked her feet beneath her. No, she wouldn’t be calling if he was, Caress.
Maybe Karina offered him more than Caress could. Maybe she liked jazz music and sipping on fine wines. Maybe she was more his type. All refined and bougie. Maybe she was better in bed. Maybe she was the one he wanted to settle down with.
“Where was Miss Karina when he made love to me all night long?” she snapped, admitting to herself that she was jealous.
She let her head drift back to rest on the top of the chaise. Her eyes closed as she pressed her hand to her belly. “I’m just the mother of his child,” Caress said aloud and then instantly regretted it. She couldn’t have expectations about Julius concerning the baby. Not when neither of them planned it.
Caress let out a frustrated sigh. If Julius and Karina were making plans to live it up in Jamaica then it had nothing at all to do with her.
Needing a distraction, Caress headed back down the stairs to the living room to zone out on television. She had to get the images of Julius’s sexy chocolate body wrapped intimately with Karina’s tall and slender frame. It was driving her crazy.
She settled into the corner of the chair, snuggled the mink throw over her lap, and grabbed the remote. She found a celebrity gossip show to get lost in because there was nothing like somebody else’s business to help you forget your own.
Julius entered the house and it was entirely dark save for the light flickering from the television in the living room. He dropped his keys and the autographed copy of Jordan’s new book on the table in the foyer. He headed for the stairs, figuring Caress was vegging out on those crazy reality TV shows she loved so much. But after a few steps he turned and headed back to stroll into the living room.
“Hey…” the rest of his greeting drifted off when he saw that Caress was fast asleep on her side.
Julius looked down at her and something primal filled him. It wasn’t desire—although Caress was still deep in his bones. It was a need to take care of her. She didn’t want him to, and in the beginning he didn’t want to, but that’s how he felt now.
It felt good to take care of her. It felt right.
She shifted in her sleep and lightly smacked her lips. He smiled at the adorable sight she made. She was even prettier with her face relaxed in sleep. Something about her tugged at his heart.
He wondered for the first time if the baby would look like her or more like him. A mix of both? Her shortness or his tallness? Her love of rap or his love of jazz?
Removing the suede coat he wore, Julius picked up the mink throw that had obviously slid off of her to the floor. He debated waking her or carrying her up to bed. Folding the throw over the arm of the chair, he decided on the latter.
Julius slid his hands under her and lifted her with ease into his muscled arms and against his chest. She snuggled against him with a little sigh. Careful not to trip, he used his hands to turn on the lights in the foyer and hall.
The scent of her perfume—something sweet and powerful, drifted up to him. It was the same sweet scent she wore that night. He would never forget it.
With his elbow he pushed the door to her room open. He settled her down on the bed and then used the blanket folded at the bottom to cover her. Nearly tip-toeing, he headed for the door, closing it softly behind him.
Julius stripped off his clothing as soon as he closed the door to his bedroom. He didn’t bother turning on the lights. He was beat and all he wanted to do was shower and crawl into bed. Naked, he pressed play on his digital answering machine before walking into the bathroom.
“You have four new messages. First message…”
Julius turned the shower on full blast. Soon steam began to fill the glass enclosure as he listened with half an ear to those annoying customer service reps trying to sell him something.
Beep.
“Julius, this is Karina. I am so excited about Jamaica. We are going to have the best time. Believe that. Anyway call me when you get this message.”
Having no plans to call Karina since he’d already worked out all the details with her agency, Julius pushed any thought of her out of his mind as he stepped into the shower and let the spray rain down on him. The heat and pressure of the water felt good against his chiseled body. Turning, he bent his head and reveled in the feel of it pulsating down on his shoulders, back, and buttocks.
Tonight watching Mia and Jordan together after nearly thirteen years of marriage had caused a little envy in him. He saw that same connection between Tamara and Kendrick. Would he ever have that? Would he ever put in the work to have it?
“Don’t be one of those whack ass fifty-year-old players still out there chasing Miss New Booty.”
Was he setting himself up
to be one of those old players?
“I’m a girlfriend, committed girl kinda chick. You’re not looking for that…but I am…”
Julius turned again, closed his eyes and let the spray hit his upturned face as he inhaled deeply. He placed his hands on the wall in front of him, the muscles of his arms straining.
Caress was getting to him.
He had to deal with the facts because he felt himself slipping. He wanted her. She aroused him without even trying, but did great chemistry and the promise of mind-blowing sex make for a good relationship—especially when he wasn’t ready for a commitment and she made it clear that to get in her bed meant getting into her life?
Julius grabbed his washcloth and soap. He washed himself thoroughly, and rinsed off. He was just drying off with a thick and plush towel when his phone began ringing. Folding the towel to hang on the rack, he strode into his bedroom naked, his maleness swinging as he moved.
He checked the caller ID making sure it wasn’t Karina.
Dwayne. He hit the talk button.
“Whaddup?” he said into the phone, pressing it between his shoulder and ear as he pulled back the covers and sat down on the bed.
“Your agent sent a package to the studio and since you left early I dropped it off at your house.”
Julius frowned. Dwayne had been to his house? “I’m sure it’s here.”
“Yes, I see you have a lot of new things at your house,” Dwayne said.
“Good night, Dwayne,” Julius said.
“I will work for free if you let me tell Karina about the baby,” he pleaded.
“Good night, Dwayne.”
“Please, Julius. I am beg—”
Julius ended the call, setting the phone back on its base before reaching to turn on the lights. It was then he noticed the package in the middle of the bed. He already knew it was the contracts his agent wanted him to sign. He reached over and set it on his bedside table and then lay down naked enjoying the crisp feel of the expensive sheets against his body.
Although he was tired, sleep eluded him as he tossed and turned in the bed. His thoughts were full. Needing a diversion he thought of Jordan’s new book. Flinging back the covers, Julius didn’t bother covering up his nudity since Caress was fast asleep. Besides in the days before his roommate, Julius would roam around his house naked all the time—one of the perks of living alone.
He dashed down the stairs in the darkness and grabbed the book. Jordan was an excellent writer. Very descriptive without being long-winded. Realistic dialogue and situations. Lots of character development. Great mystery plot-lines that always surprised you with the whodunit. Julius couldn’t wait to dig into it.
“Uh hum.”
Julius looked up just as he reached the top landing. Caress was walking out of the bathroom and her bemused expression took in his nudity with a twinkle in her eyes. “I thought you were asleep,” he said, slowly lowering the book to try and cover most of his jewels.
She pointed over her shoulder toward the open bathroom. “Potty called.”
“Oh, okay,” he said, pausing on the stairs and waiting for her to go into her room.
Caress covered her mouth with her hands and he knew she was hiding a smile. She was enjoying this. She thought he was afraid to walk to his room. Shee-it. Well, let’s see if this keeps the smile on her face , he thought as he moved the book and looked her boldly in the eye as he walked across the floor with his rod swinging like a billy club.
As he passed her, it was his turn to smile at the way the laughter left her eyes, replaced by what he knew was lust. With one last look over his shoulder before he entered his room, he discovered her eyes squarely on his buttocks. Just for fun, he stopped, posed, and flexed the muscles of his firm rear and then walked in his room, softly closing the door behind him with a husky laugh.
The image of Julius’s sculptured body was branded into Caress’s memory. His body—those broad shoulders, hard chest, defined abs, square buttocks and all—was just as sculptured as it had been that night. Caress fanned herself as she lay in the middle of the bed. “Doggone shame to be that fine,” she said aloud to herself as she pictured his cocky bowlegged strut as he paraded past her as naked as the day he was born. She never guessed he would do it.
But why wouldn’t he? The man had nothing at all to be ashamed of. Even at rest he hung with thickness and length. Once hard it only got better, thicker, longer, curvier. She knew that firsthand.
How much longer could they play this little game of pretending not to want each other? How much more time before she carried her little pregnant self into his bedroom and laid out all her goodies for his delight?
But her feelings for Julius were beyond the physical.
Her heart was betraying her.
Against reason.
Against common sense.
Against her better judgment.
Deep down she held hope that Julius would want more, but it was time for her to put away the fantasy and move on with her life. She had to free her heart of him before he took more of it.
Chapter Ten
Two Months Later
“So what do you think?” Caress asked Tamara as they ended their tour of the one-bedroom apartment.
“I like. I like,” Tamara said excitedly, grabbing Caress’s hand on her way into the kitchen which was separated from the living room by a counter.
Caress folded her arms across herself, propping them on her belly as she looked around the apartment with excited eyes. It took two months to save up the first month’s rent and deposit, but it was hers. It was even bigger than the studio apartment she used to have and in a slightly better neighbor hood, just ten minutes away from Julius’s house. The six-unit apartment building was clean and free of loiterers. With it being early May she even drove through the neighborhood a couple of nights ago and if a block was empty at night in the summer, then that was a telling sign. Caress was pleased with her choice.
“Eventually I have to get a two-bedroom place, but God bless this child that has her own again,” she said.
“Has Julius seen it?” Tamara asked as she opened and closed the black refrigerator.
Caress shook her head. “He’s not my man, Tam-Tam.”
“You want him to be.”
Caress’s head whipped to the right as she pierced her friend with an angry look. “No, you want him to be my man.”
Tamara nodded as she walked back over to Caress, her footsteps echoing against the wood floors. “Humph, we have something in common,” she said, reaching to rub Caress’s belly. “Godmother privileges.”
Caress laughed as the baby kicked. Tamara jumped back in surprise.
“My son is telling you to stop working my nerves about his father,” Caress joked as she placed her hands on her own expanded belly.
Tamara rolled her eyes and waved her hand at Caress dismissively. “Caress, you may fool yourself into believing you don’t have feelings for Julius, but I can see it in your face whenever he is around and you think no one is looking. You’ve fallen for him, haven’t you?”
“No,” Caress said emphatically. “You know Kendrick is right. You do have a hard head.”
“Damn, Caress, I thought you and I were better than that,” Tamara said in a rare show of seriousness as she leveled her eyes on her friend.
Caress shifted her eyes away hoping to hide the truth. In the last few mont
hs, her feelings for Julius had grown. Against her wishes. Against her better judgment. Bit by bit.
The chemistry between them was just as strong. Their flirting had never stopped. They learned to laugh together. They had learned to talk and share with each other. They even learned to understand one another.
And with all of that Caress had learned to love him. Yes, it stung a bit that he didn’t want to be in a relationship, but she appreciated his honesty. A lot of men would have gone right ahead and slept with her, lied to her, taken advantage of her. And so far each time she tried to leave her loan payments for him, he would make sure he returned the checks uncashed. He was a good man and that was evident in his good friends and his charity work. He was a fabulous photographer. He was a great lover. Handsome. Stylish. Funny. Loyal. Compassionate. Passionate.
He was completely lovable.
Damn.
“Tell him I need him. Tell him I love him and it’ll be all right,” Tamara sang softly in her best Lauryn Hill impression.
How astute her friend was because there were many nights she lay with her thoughts wrapped around Julius as she listened to the raw emotions of Lauryn’s voice and the deep convictions of her lyrics.
“Love on a one-way street ain’t fun,” Caress said softly.
“Ah-ha,” Tamara said in sweet satisfaction. “So you do love him.”
Caress pointed her finger at Tamara and her face brooked no argument. “I swear to God if you tell him I will never speak to you again,” she warned her fiercely.
Tamara reached out and softly placed her hand over Caress’s. She entwined her fingers with her friend’s and held them tightly. “I wouldn’t do that, Caress,” she said with the utmost seriousness.
Caress let the tension in her body drift away. “Girl, if I knew your blind date would lead to an unplanned pregnancy and unrequited love I would have undone myself from that damn date.”
Make You Mine Page 11