by Nia Arthurs
She hit my chest. “If you’re not going to do anything, go to sleep.”
“Who said I wasn’t going to do anything?”
“Wh—”
I spun her on her back and captured her tongue with mine, holding her hands hostage on either side of her head. She smiled, breaking the kiss and looking up at me.
“I love you.”
“I love you.”
Her eyes sparkled with new energy and she smirked, sending crazy signals to my brain. My hands brushed her waist and clamped down, hauling her into position.
Imani’s prediction came true.
We didn’t get any sleep that night.
Chapter 33
IMANI
When I woke up the next morning, the bed was empty and my body was melting languidly into the mattress. I sat up, watching the rumpled sheets spill around my thighs.
“Elliot?”
No answer.
Had he left?
Disappointment shuttled through me. I’d wanted to see him when I woke up. I covered my mouth as a yawn almost popped my jaw and glanced around. My eyes found the shirt he’d been wearing last night, still hanging from the edge of my office chair where he’d tossed it yesterday.
Either he’d run out half-naked or he was still here.
In the distance, a pot clanged against metal. I paused and sniffed the air, realizing that a scrumptious scent was coming from the kitchen.
Sprinting out of bed so fast I almost skidded on the lace underwear lying on the floor, I ran outside. Elliot was in the kitchen, his back to me and his head bopping back and forth. I spied the earphones in his ears and smiled.
Leaning against the wall, I just… took Elliot in. Last night wasn’t the first time I’d seen him in all his glory, but watching everything from afar and experiencing the full brunt of him up close and personal was a way different matter.
I pulled my lips in as heat crept into my cheeks. We were so close back then that I’d only allowed myself to imagine what being with him would feel like. I’d never anticipated what unlocking that intimacy would unleash in me.
I spied the nail indentations in his skin and cringed. Let’s just say… I hadn’t been able to contain myself.
At that moment, Elliot glanced back and noticed me. A slow, sexy smile unfurled on his lips. My body started throbbing all over again. He popped the ear buds out and said, “Good morning.”
His voice rumbled over me and I huskily replied, “Morning.”
“I woke earlier, but I didn’t want to disturb you.” He swung back toward the oven, giving me an eyeful of his broad back and his cute behind in those low-slung jeans. “I made breakfast.”
“Nice.” I stared at his butt.
He saw me checking him out and a corner of his lips curled upward. Clicking the stove off, he turned fully to me and gave my body a head-to-toe look that set my skin on fire.
Without any clothes to hide behind, I was exposed. Every sticky, pointed reaction to his fiery gaze caught Elliot’s notice. Blue eyes darkened knowingly.
I owned my nakedness and stood straighter, allowing him to walk closer to me. My toes curled into the tiles and I fisted my fingers, waiting for him to make the first move.
His eyes greedily took me in. “What time does your work start?” he whispered.
“I need to get there at eight, but I was planning to do my hair today.”
“I’ll do it for you.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Really?”
“I never forget what you taught me.”
“Well,” I inched forward and let my fingers tiptoe over his abs, “how about I teach you something else?”
He grabbed me, digging his hands into my rear and crushing his lips against mine. I arched my back, clinging to him for dear life while heat exploded in my body.
Impatient fingers slid down to my thighs and he lifted me up. My chest jostled against his. My heart threatened to beat straight out of my ribs.
My breathing thickened and I figured I needed to get this started before I died from a heart attack in the next three seconds.
I hooked my legs around his waist, bouncing impatiently. Elliot’s fingers massaged my flesh. He took a step, crushing me against a wall and pinning me there with his dangerous gaze alone.
We tried to make it to the bedroom, but we never got that far.
Chapter 34
Elliot
By the time Imani emerged from the shower later that morning, breakfast was cold. My eyes greedily ate up her long, toned legs that were on display in a blue mini-skirt. Her hair lay wet and dripping all over her tank-top. She hadn’t done her makeup, but her face was glowing and she looked more beautiful than I’d ever seen her.
I hauled a chair out, forcing my gaze down. “Sit here.”
Her dark eyes flitted to the food. “Smells great.”
“Thanks. It’s a little cold.”
“Understandable given breakfast was… delayed.”
I chuckled. That was another word for it.
Imani strode forward and patted the chair. “You sit.”
“Me? I’m not hungry.” Imani had more than satisfied me. Checking my watch, I frowned. “I won’t be able to do your hair unless you hurry.”
She pushed out her bottom lip. “Please.”
I sighed and folded myself into the chair. To my surprise, Imani perched herself into my lap and picked up the fork. Stabbing a piece of pancake in the spines, she held it up to me.
I stared at the pancake and then at her. “What are you doing?”
“Feeding you.” She pushed the fork forward.
I bit it off and chewed. “Mm.”
“How’s the restaurant doing?” she asked.
“Good. If things keep going the way they have, we’ll be in the black in about two months. My team works well together and we’ve gotten some great reviews online. That’s helping a lot.”
“Awesome.” She chewed slowly.
“What about you? How’s work? Portia mentioned you were having a hard time.”
“Oh? You were talking to Portia?” An eyebrow arched.
“I needed to keep tabs on you, but driving to your house and staring at you from afar seemed…”
“Stalkerish?” She scrunched her nose.
“Exactly.”
Imani laughed, a pretty, happy sound that made me smile. “Honestly, work has been hell. It’s not like I don’t deserve it, so I’m trying to keep my head down and focus.”
I frowned. The last thing I wanted was for Imani to be treated unfairly. I thought about asking her to quit so I could take care of her, but I knew she’d shoot me down.
For one thing, Imani was wildly independent and would balk at the idea of letting me take care of her bills. Secondly, she liked her job and, even if it was hard now, I knew she wouldn’t give up that easily.
“Want some syrup?” she asked, pouring the goo on her pancakes. Imani lost control of the nozzle and some spilled on the back of her hand. “Oops.”
I leaned over and licked the syrup off her knuckles, staring her down. She sucked in a deep breath. The syrup bottle clattered loudly to the table.
“Mm.” I pulled back and nodded. “It’s good.”
She grabbed the syrup before it ruined the table. “I need to get to work,” she mumbled, sopping up the mess with a napkin. “You’re too damn sexy. It’s distracting.”
I laughed. “I’ll handle that.” Swatting her behind, I got her off my lap and moved to the sink to grab a washcloth.
Imani followed me. “After another scandal, my colleagues will forget all about the wedding. I’m more worried about me and my mom.”
“She still hasn’t talked to you?”
“My aunts went back to the States yesterday. Mom’s piping mad that I didn’t see them.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Wait until she calms down and then talk to her. I love my family. I don’t want this to come between us.”
“Everything will work out.” I kis
sed her forehead.
“I hope so.” She smiled. “Is it weird that, even with all this crap going on, I’m stupidly happy?”
“No, because I feel the same way.” I winked. “Now finish getting ready. I’ll drop you off before heading to the restaurant.”
Imani obeyed and, ten minutes later, I was driving her to work. My eyes lingered on her mini-skirt that had managed to ride up even more while she was sitting.
She caught me frowning at her and laughed. “What?”
“How many guys work in your office?”
“I don’t know. Maybe ten? Fifteen?”
“Ten, fifteen?” I mumbled.
“Why?”
“We’re going shopping this weekend. I’ll buy you some nice, long pants.”
Imani cackled and leaned over to kiss my cheek. “You have nothing to worry about. There’s only one man I want staring at my legs and checking me out.”
“That better be me,” I teased.
She rolled her eyes. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Okay. I’ll take you out on a proper date. No bare feet or wedding dresses allowed.”
She smiled and blew me a kiss. “I can’t wait.”
Chapter 35
Elliot
Three weeks later
The front door clicked quietly behind me. I tiptoed into the house. A floorboard creaked. I froze and checked the silence to make sure Gran was still sleeping. Satisfied that I hadn’t woken her, I kept going.
Suddenly, the lights flipped on. My eyes burned from the glare. Struggling to adjust to the brightness, I spotted a slim figure sitting in the armchair.
Gran.
She had one scrawny leg folded over the other. Dark eyes fastened on me. I knew in a second that she’d read all my secrets and had found me guilty.
I straightened and stammered, “Gran, you’re up.”
“Where have you been?”
The excuses on the tip of my tongue bounced away. I answered resignedly. “You know.”
“You’ve been sleeping over at Imani’s quite a lot recently. Don’t you think the poor girl deserves a break?”
Imani? I was the one who’d been worked over by her relentless energy. Imani’s effervescent thirst for life had nothing on her thirst for me.
Was I complaining? Hell no.
But it didn’t help to think about when my grandmother was bearing down on me.
She pointed. “Your face is getting red, Elliot.”
“Is it?” I palmed my cheek. “Must be the heat. I told you a million times to turn down the air conditioning.”
“You’re coming to church with me tomorrow.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Invite Imani.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Gran circled me and then pointed to my tousled hair. “Kindly let Imani know that if she’s going to keep leaving lipstick stains on your clothes and tearing your shirt off she should buy you new ones or sew up the loose buttons herself.”
I cringed.
With a smirk, my grandmother whirled around and sashayed back to her room.
I sank into the sofa and shook my head. I needed my own place. These past few years, I’d stayed with Gran to look over her, but it felt like she was babysitting me. The woman was as healthy as a horse and twice as nosey.
Even so, I couldn’t help but smile. It fascinated me how easily Imani and I had fallen back into our old patterns of friendship. The only difference between our relationship now and the one back in college was the things we did after we took our clothes off.
She was my other half and I was living each day erasing any leftover regrets she might have about choosing me.
Imani’s mother wasn’t so easy to satisfy. She hated me and had made it clear that Imani was not welcome in her house while we were together. Imani put on a brave face, but I knew the conflict with her mother was stressing her out.
No matter what, I planned on winning Mrs. Davis over so I could put my ring on Imani’s finger and fill a house of our own with five little caramel-colored children.
Then, every once in a while, I’d take the kids to their great-grandmother’s house so their mommy and I could get some alone time and, maybe, work on making a sixth kid…
I chuckled softly, imagining Imani’s reaction to my vision of our future.
My phone buzzed.
I picked up, knowing it was her before I even saw her name on the screen. “I was just thinking about you.”
“You were?” Her voice sounded husky. I could imagine Imani, lying in bed, still naked and face flushed from our night together, eyes closed and toes curled into the sheets. “What were you thinking? And don’t bother if it’s something dirty. I’m exhausted. I can’t go anymore tonight.”
I chuckled. “I was thinking about our kids.”
“Our what?”
“I want five of them.”
“Are you crazy?” She bawled. “Do you know what five kids would do to my figure?”
“I’d love you no matter what you looked like.”
“You’d better. Only a jerk would pump five kids out of a woman and then leave her ‘cause she gained some weight. Anyway, we’re not having five kids so forget that.”
“How many do you want then?”
“I’ll get back to you on that.” She sighed contentedly. “Only you would be thinking of having kids already when we’ve barely dated a month.”
“We’ve been together four years if you count college.”
“I don’t,” Imani said. “We weren’t official then and we were dating other people.”
“But you were always number one to me.”
“True.” She shrugged. “That’s why all your old girlfriends hated my guts. You have no idea what I had to suffer because of our friendship.”
My eyelids struggled to stay up. I was tired, but I didn’t want to stop talking yet. “Oh, by the way, Gran’s inviting you to church tomorrow.”
“Pastor Matthew’s?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know if I can face him.”
“Is it still awkward for you to meet people from the wedding?”
I could imagine Imani frowning. “I feel like I should have sent out a press release. It seems like everyone knows me as the flake who dumped her boyfriend on her wedding day.”
“Pastor Matthew’s cool though. He won’t judge.”
“Fine. I’m coming, but just so I can see you.”
“Okay. I’ll pick you up in”—I checked my watch— “a few hours.
Imani yawned. “Love you.”
“Love you too.”
We hung up and my thoughts returned to our five future children. I hadn’t given up on that plan and I had some unique ways to change Imani’s mind.
The idyllic vision of our future paraded through my mind and carried me off to sleep.
As requested, Imani joined us at church but she wasn’t alone. Her friends Jane, Portia and Shane and Shawn, their boyfriends, were with her.
Gran invited them all to lunch and had a grand time acting like the welcoming hostess that she was.
In the middle of our main course, Portia lifted her glass. “I propose a toast.”
Her boyfriend, Doctor Shawn Kelly, paused and stared at her with eyes that were so attentive you’d think her every word was made of gold. “To our wedding?”
“The ‘w’ word is banned, remember?” Portia scolded.
“Wait, you proposed?” Director Jane Macy gasped. “Portia, really?”
“I didn’t want to upset anybody.” Portia poked her lips out at Imani.
“Are you kidding me?” Imani screamed. “Why would you worry about me? Portia, that’s incredible!”
She pulled a necklace from her shirt and showed us the diamond. “It’s nice, right?”
Gran fanned her face. “That’s beautiful, dear.”
The women squealed.
The men looked awkwardly at one another.
When the ladies were finishe
d celebrating, Imani leaned into her seat. I snaked my arm over the back of her chair and stroked her temple with my nose. She melted into a soft, feminine smile.
“We’re next,” I whispered.
“Actually, man.” Shane Kelly, Jane’s boyfriend and Shawn’s twin, tapped my shoulder. “We’re next.” He pointed at Jane who was deep in conversation with Portia and winked.
Imani grinned.
I sulked.
She laughed and patted my shoulder. “Relax. I won’t be ready to get married for another five years.”
“Five?” I balked. “How about five months?”
“I’ll go down to three years.”
“Three months.”
“Two years?”
“Tomorrow,” I growled.
She tugged my fingers. “Elliot.”
“Anyway,” Portia tapped her fork against her glass, “I’d like to get back to my toast.”
Jane grinned and rubbed her swelling stomach. “Please do.”
Shane smiled at her, setting his hands over hers.
“To Gran,” Portia thrust the glass cup high, “for this fantastic meal and these to-die-for jam in the middle cookies!”
“Cheers!” We clinked glasses.
Imani’s smiling eyes filled my chest with warmth.
Sometimes, when you meet someone, you know they’re meant to be in your life for more than a season. And I looked forward to spending every single season of my life with her.
Epilogue
Imani
“Elliot. Elliot! You need to be gentle.” I moaned.
“I thought you liked it rough?”
“Only if you know what you’re doing.”
“Just stay still. You’re the one who’s not working with me.”
“Should I put my clothes on and call this whole thing off?”
“No.” He adjusted his position. “I’ll try to calm down, okay?”
“I told you it was too kinky for you to handle.”
“Don’t insult me. I’m more than man enough to handle this.”
“So you say.” I shifted between his legs and continued scrolling through my phone.