“Right here looking in my face and tearing up this bottle with his greedy self.”
Caress smiled. Just about the only time he cried was if he was hungry or sitting in poop. “I should be there in about twenty minutes,” she told her, slowing down in traffic.
“Did you get the car?”
“Yup.”
“Good. I’m proud of you, and you needed it. You have to treat yourself sometimes for working hard.”
“Thanks.” Caress set the phone down on the console and steered with both hands as she came up on a winding section of the road. “Uhm…have you guys heard from Julius today?”
“Not me, and Kendrick’s not here so I don’t know if he did.”
Caress chewed the gloss from her full bottom lip.
“Ready to get back with your boo?” Tamara teased.
“It’s just weird he hasn’t called at all today, that’s all.”
“Girl, you don’t know what you want,” Tamara said. “Just yesterday you was saying him calling you twice a day wasn’t exactly giving you space.”
Caress remained silent in the face of truth.
“Do you know what you want, Caress?”
“No, I don’t,” she answered with honesty. “Hey, Tamara, I’ll talk to you when I get there.”
“All right.”
Caress picked up the phone to snap it closed before she pulled her car into the parking lot of a supermarket.
Had Julius given up?
Had he changed his mind?
Had someone new caught his attention?
Was he tired of her waiting for some huge sign that they had a real future?
Caress let her head fall back against the headrest as she twisted and turned her cell phone in her hand. She flipped it open to call him but then flipped it back closed again.
She had asked for time. Maybe he just needed some of his own.
Or maybe he regretted last Sunday—the thought only increased her reservations.
Releasing a heavy breath, she drove her car back into the heavy Saturday afternoon traffic resolved not to let figuring out what Julius was up to now get her down.
“ I’ve missed you, Caress. Tell me what I have to do to make you mine.”
She sighed as Julius pressed a row of sweet kisses to her neck, each one more delicious than the last. “I will always be yours,” she promised as she easily spread her shapely legs and welcomed his hardness into her warmth with a sharp hiss of pleasure.
“Julius, Julius, Julius,” she sighed in reply to each delicious thrust.
“Julius…Julius—”
Brrrnnggg .
Caress’s eyes popped open as she lay in the middle of her bed with her sheets tangled with her limbs and her mouth still open from moaning his name out loud. Even with the brutal December winds raging outside she felt like her body was on fire.
Brrrnnngg.
“Not again,” she sighed as she wiped the sweat from her brow and her cleavage with a trembling hand.
Night after night after night her dreams were filled with Julius. It seemed the more she faced her internal battle of what to do with their relationship the more her frustration was transforming into pure lust at night.
Brrrnnngg .
Rubbing her eyes, Caress rolled over in the darkness and grabbed her cordless phone. “Hello?”
“Congratulations on your new car.”
Caress’s eyes opened in surprise at the sound of Julius’s masculine tones coming through the phone line. Goose bumps raced down her arms as she sat up in the middle of the bed. “Thanks.”
“You got all your money’s worth out the other one,” he joked.
Caress laughed low in her throat, mindful of Justin sleeping in his bassinet. She settled back down in the bed finding comfort on her piled-high pillows.
“I just called to check on Justin and to see if I could pick him up Friday instead of Saturday?”
Caress’s face filled with disappointment. “Oh…okay. Sure. Yeah. No problem,” she said, wanting to smack herself upside the head at how flustered she sounded.
“Well, I’ll let you get back to sleep,” he said.
Caress’s eyebrows drew in close as she tried to ignore that her feelings were hurt by his obvious distance. “Okay, see you Friday then.”
“Good night, Caress.”
“Good—”
The sound of the dial tone cut her off. Her mouth dropped open as she stared at the phone in disbelief.
The following week seemed to drag by for Caress. Friday just wouldn’t come fast enough for her. And she was ready for TGIF because she had something up her sleeves for Julius Jones. His sporadic and brief calls centered around Justin had continued.
Was he just playing with her head and heart a couple of weeks ago?
Was it a ploy to get some baby mama bed play?
What happened to all that love and all the worthy risks?
“Baby, your mama is going to show your daddy just what he’s missing,” Caress said to Justin as he sat in his motorized swing playing with one of his many colorful rattles.
Studying her reflection in the mirror, she twisted and turned this way and that. Her hair was a riot of curls, her make-up heavier than normal and her long sleeve tee and jeans tighter than usual.
“Humph.”
She was spraying every possible heated spot on her body with perfume when there was a knock at her door. “Show time, Justin,” she called over to her baby, who focused on drooling over his toy as she slipped her feet into three-inch gold heels.
Walking carefully so that she wouldn’t trip, Caress made her way to the door. She almost stumbled as her ankle turned in, but she held her hands out to steady herself. “Get it together, Caress,” she warned herself, straightening her spine and making her way to the door without incident.
She pulled the door open with a smile that faded at the sight of Ahmad. “Hey,” she said, sounding as unenthusiastic as she felt.
“Wow, you look different,” he said, taking her all in.
Caress held up her hand and eyed him with an I’m-not-in-the-mood look. “Cool your jets, playboy, I got enough man drama,” she drawled, stepping out of her heels to kick them away from her.
“No, cool your jets, playgirl, because I got enough man drama of my own,” he countered.
It took just a moment for that to register with Caress, but once she got it her mouth shaped into an O . “Uhm, okay. All right. I got it,” she said, thinking he was so different from Dwayne. So very different. She had no idea this man was gay.
For a sec she thought about hooking him up with Dwayne, but wasn’t it wrong to assume they would get along when the only thing they seemed to have in common was their sexual preference?
Ahmad smiled like he was used to her reaction from others. “Anyway, I just wanted to ask you to watch my apartment this weekend while I’m out of town.”
“Sure. No problem,” she told him, crossing one ankle behind her leg. “And have fun.”
He turned with a brief wave but then turned back. “I’m gay, but I know a woman trying to bait a man. So you have fun this weekend too.”
Caress arched h
er eyebrow. “Actually I’m trying to make one see what he’s missing and not what he’s getting—cause he ain’t getting it.”
Ahmad shook his head. “And I thought men played games.”
He laughed as he jogged up the stairs.
Caress stepped back inside her apartment and closed the door. She was headed back to her bedroom for a pair of shoes with a lower heel when she heard the front door to the building slam closed. She hurried across the living room floor, almost slipping, trying to rush back into her heels. Forcing herself to take deep and steadying breaths to calm down, Caress walked to the door slowly just as there was a knock at the door.
“Who is it?” she called out barely able to hear herself over her pounding heartbeat.
“Julius.”
Caress opened the door wide and stepped back to let him in. She frowned behind his back when he barely gave her a second glance. What…the…hell?
“I’ll go get the baby,” she said, praying she didn’t fall flat on her face as she walked back to her bedroom.
She kicked off those shoes as soon as she was out of his sight. “Your daddy’s going to wind up with one of these shoes down his throat and the other one up his butt,” she muttered as she freed him from the swing and grabbed his snowsuit.
When she walked back into the living room with Justin in one arm and his baby bag in the other, she was surprised to see Julius standing by the door.
His nonchalant face shaped into a smile as he took Justin out of her arms. “There’s Daddy’s boy,” he exclaimed animatedly.
Justin squealed in response.
“I’m going to head out then,” Julius said, turning to open the door with his free hand.
“Julius!” Caress snapped in disbelief.
He turned and looked at her in confusion. “Huh?”
Caress fought the urge to pop him or stomp her foot in full Karina-diva mode. “You know what? Nothing. Never mind. Enjoy your weekend.”
“Okay. Cool. See you Sunday,” he said before walking out the door.
Caress grabbed the door and then slammed it forcefully. “I am seriously… seriously through with Julius Jones!”
Julius chuckled as he pressed a kiss to Justin’s face. “I got your mama right where I want her,” he said, laughing as he made his way down the stairs and out of her apartment building.
“I’m not really hungry, Tamara,” Caress said the next night from her seat in the back of Mia’s Tahoe as the car turned into the parking lot of Mahogany’s.
“Well, tough because this is ladies’ night and we are going to eat and drink and be merry.”
Mia just shot her an encouraging wink as they climbed out of the SUV. The ladies all gathered their coats around them to block the cold as they hurried inside.
Caress was so busy taking off her coat that she didn’t even notice until she looked up that all eyes were on her. She immediately felt self-conscious and looked down to make sure she wasn’t having a Janet Jackson boob moment in her fitted Apple Bottoms’ denim dress.
“Girl, come on,” Tamara said, reaching for her hand to pull her forward through the crowd which was splitting like the Red Sea for them.
What is going on ? she wondered as they reached the front of the club.
Suddenly Julius, who was dressed to the nines in a baaad tuxedo and holding Justin who was similarly dressed, stepped forward into the center of the crowd. Caress felt the eyes on her as Tamara and Mia nudged her forward into the center with Julius and Justin.
Julius smiled at her before reaching for her hand and pulling her close. “Hi stranger,” he teased as he massaged the small of her back.
“Julius. What is going on?” she asked, forcing a smile.
Kendrick stepped forward and handed Julius a cordless mic, slapping his friend on the back before retreating.
Julius cleared his throat and raised the mic to his mouth as Justin reached out and opened his closed palms for Caress. “He wants to get to his mommy just like me,” Julius joked, drawing laughter from the crowd.
Caress hid her surprise at that remark as she reached up to appease Justin by playing with his pudgy little hands.
“So a little over a year ago a nosy little friend of mine—”
“Hey!” Tamara cried out with a playful pout.
The crowd laughed again but Caress had missed it and looked at Julius and now her eyes were locked with his. There was something in the depths that let her know that this was a serious matter.
“So Caress here—and this is the beautiful Caress for those who don’t know her—and I came here for that date. I don’t think either one of us was looking for love or happily ever after and for sure not our son here nine months later.”
More soft laughter.
“But that night was special for me, and I think it was special for her too.” Julius pointed the mic toward her mouth. “Was it special for you, baby?”
Caress pulled back a bit thinking the mic was ridiculously phallic. “Yes, it was,” she said huskily with honesty.
“We had the food, the music, and this connection that maybe we both took a little too lightly?” he asked working the mic back and forth between them as they spoke.
Caress nodded as she continued to stare at Julius. And only Julius.
“So I think Mahogany’s will always be special to us.”
“Definitely,” Caress stressed, feeling some major excitement creeping up on her.
Julius looked at her for a long time like he wanted to get his words just right. “Lord knows we didn’t have anything in common, but somehow we clicked. It worked. And we’ve had our ups and downs but in the end we both know that what we have together is way bigger than anything we’ll ever have apart.”
Caress felt completely breathless as she listened to his words, looked into his eyes, and felt his emotions.
“A good friend told me that there is only one way to truly claim someone as your woman and he was right. So I thank him for that advice.”
“You’re welcome,” Kendrick said behind a cough.
Julius motioned for Tamara, and she stepped right up to take a squirming Justin into her arms.
As if on cue that same jazzy rendition of “ I’m Going Down ” began to play softly as Julius bent down on one knee, taking Caress’s trembling hand back in his. She smiled at the realization that he was trembling too.
“So I wanted to prove to you, Caress, that I do love you. I am so in love with you, and there is one way to truly make you mine. And what better spot than right here where it all began, on this very dance floor, to ask you to please do me the honor of becoming my wife?” he asked, holding a glittering diamond solitaire in his hand.
At this point Caress hardly knew how her legs supported her, so she lowered herself to her knees before him—equal with him—and breathlessly, with all the love she had for him, answered, “Yes.”
The crowd erupted in applause and sighs as Julius noisily dropped the mic and lifted his hands to cup her face, kissing her with all the passion and promise he could muster.
Caress didn’t think—in fact she knew she never had been made love to before tonight. Julius had made a bold move to commit and devote himself to her, but the way he relished, adored, and stimulated her body let her know he was making yet another statement.
Time was endless.
Pleasure unbound.
Love blissfully infinite.
As his strong, muscled arms held her body tightly—almost until she couldn’t breathe—Caress laid back against the lushness of the hotel suite’s bed and enjoyed the hard and slow push of each of his delicious thrusts. Every circular wind of his narrow hips pressed his rod against her walls as he blessed her from shoulder to shoulder with loving kisses and hot words that blew against her heated skin.
She knew she was wanted.
Caress tilted her chin up and licked her lips as she brought her hands up to hold his face. Her tongue flickered out to hotly trace the outline of his lips. She felt him shiver from his head to his toes and even deep within her. Their eyes locked as his tongue darted out to stroke hers. They moaned as Caress suckled his tongue sensuously, deep into her own mouth. She felt his rod stiffen as he continued to stroke her deeply.
She knew she was desired.
As his thrusts deepened with intensity until she felt like he truly wanted them to be merged as one, Julius leaned up enough to look down into her sex-glazed eyes with clear intent to please. She gasped. He thrust. She moaned. He thrust again. She sighed. And he thrust again. A mind blowing cycle that left her panting and breathless, working hard, but energized all at once.
She knew she was irresistible.
Caress brought her hands up to wrap around his neck as she brought her legs up to tightly wrap around his waist. Moving in sync with one another to their own primal rhythm they felt as if it was the most natural thing in the world. They stroked the fires within each other at a slow and sensuous pace. The chemistry that neither could fight from the very beginning built around them as they clung to each other tightly in sweet anticipation of their oncoming climaxes. No words were spoken. None were needed.
She knew she was loved.
Make You Mine Page 24