A Kiss of Color: A BWWM Interracial Pregnancy Romance (Book 2) (3 page)

When one of her hands found the substantial bulge in his underwear, he cursed lowly, thrusting into her agile grip. “
Damn
, Helena…”

The young woman didn’t need to be told twice. Reaching into his boxer-briefs, she extracted his throbbing erection, stroking along it in a feather light touch that threatened to drive him absolutely insane. Xavier wrapped his fingers around her wrist quickly, yanking it from his arousal for the split second it took for him to roll over onto his back.

Helena arranged herself so she straddled his chest, looking down at him like the most alluring succubus that had ever existed. Sliding backwards, she ran the cleft of her decadent behind along his cock, making Xavier’s hands curl into her hips in a death grip. While he was sure the marks he left would linger, he knew his lover didn’t mind. Helena had long revealed to him that she liked it when he got a little rough.

Which explained why he was perfectly justified in using his grip on her to slide her back until the slippery cleft of her rubbed over his aching erection. After a split second of maneuvering, he thrust upward into her inviting, searing heat and Helena cried his name. Pressing down against his entry, she drove him even deeper, drawing a low moan from the programmer.

When he and Helena had first gotten together, the young woman had been tentative about sex – intimidated, almost. She’d had little experience and even less pleasure; and so Xavier had made it his mission, for the last four years, to rectify that. With every sensual encounter between them, his goddess became less timid and more dangerous.

And now, she chose to demonstrate that prowess.

Helena rolled her hips downward against his in a motion that had breath hissing from between Xavier’s teeth as pure delectation spiked through his system. Bending in half, his lover leaned down to press her lips to his, moaning as her body devoured his before she raised her pelvis until only the tip of him remained within her. Then, she slid back down, whispering his name. Helena repeated the motion again and again, undulating her hips in a way that was positively ungodly. Xavier’s grip on her grew tighter and tighter, until he could feel the protrusions of her hip bones and the woman atop him bit her lips in frenzied passion.

God, this was what he lived for…to feel the woman he adored taking him,
fucking
him, loving him so completely that he didn’t know where she ended and he began. Thrusting his hips upward against hers, Xavier grunted as undeniable pressure began to build within him. Helena knew just how to move –
just
how to slide her body against his so that he tottered on the edge of sanity for what seemed like an eternity – before finally topping over.

With a hoarse cry, Xavier thrust deep within his lover, biting his lip as he spilled his seed against her clenching inner muscles. Helena moaned, long and low, grinding her hips down against his until she, too, found her own shuddering completion.

Groaning softly, the young woman slumped against him in the aftermath, her breath falling softly against his collarbone. With no small amount of effort, Xavier unwound his fingers from her hips to wind his arms around her back, holding her against him. Their lips met softly, in the oft-missed lackadaisical fashion of people who didn’t have another care in the world.

“Have I ever mentioned how good you are at that?” He murmured softly, making Helena laugh against his chest. She raised her head to stare down at him, rendering him breathless, as always, with the beauty of her gaze.

“I learned from the best.” With that, she rolled from him, leaving him bereft of her warmth as she sat on the side of the bed, combing fingers through her messy, damp hair. When Xavier had recovered enough to join her, he swung his legs over next to hers, glancing at the clock. It was close to eleven. If he played things carefully, they could still spend most of the afternoon together.

“Darling?” Helena glanced at him as she attempted to throw her hair into some semblance of decency. “How about we have a leisurely lunch together? Maybe do a bit of house hunting before you get to those errands?” With bated breath, he waited for her answer. After all, for all he tried to control his schedule, for all that Margaret and the company demanded of him, the one who really governed how his days went was Helena. As her schedule was so tight, he would often re-arrange his to-do list around hers.

“Well…” The dark-skinned woman appeared to muse for a moment, before rising, utterly nude, from the bed. Xavier swallowed the arousal that rose anew in his throat, trying to concentrate on the matter at hand. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt. Offices don’t close until six.”

Despite the fact that he was a thirty three year old man, Xavier resisted the urge to whoop in joy. When did Helena ever agree to set aside work in order to relax – even when he was involved? Leaping from the bed, he drew her into his arms to spin around gaily, and his lover laughed, shaking her head at his silliness.

Margaret would have to wait for her little pow-wow. Xavier had things that were a bit more important to tend to.

Chapter Two:
Insecurities

House hunting was far more enjoyable than Helena had imagined. Of course, after the decadent lunch they had, she found herself pretty much open to anything; but house hunting, in particular, had always been a source of nervousness for her.

Once they bought a house, that would mean more bills that she had riding upon her success as a physician – something she was particularly sensitive about. As much as everyone always told her that she was a natural – a born prodigy, not unlike her father had been, Helena could never shake the fear that she might disappoint him. That she wouldn’t live up to his expectations.

That, she supposed, was something her mother had instilled in her.

For a moment, the young woman withdrew from the gorgeous, open-floor plan house she was currently exploring with Xavier as her thoughts returned to a point four years ago. In court, she had testified against her mother, stating that the woman had kidnapped her with the intention of whoring her out – and Janette Freeman had denied every claim. She’d begged for Helena’s understanding and forgiveness, railed to the jury that her daughter had forgotten and abandoned her for the lot in life she’d been dealt and tried to pander to anyone who “had a heart”. Her exact words.

Helena had drawn strongly on the presence of her boyfriend and the memory of her father to get her through that day. Perhaps if she were younger – as weak to her mother’s wiles as she had once been – she would have given into the woman. She would have dropped all the charges right there, right then, in the courtroom. But that would have allowed her to come after her again and again. The next time, Helena told herself, the police might not arrive in time to save her. Xavier might not arrive in time to pluck her from the clutches of what would be an incredibly cruel fate.

She would have wasted all she’d worked so hard for.

And so Helena had been strong – stronger than she’d been in her entire life. Her testimony, and Xavier’s, had seen Janette Freeman, as well as her boyfriend and accomplice, Big Tony, imprisoned for the next fifteen years without the possibility of parole.

It had been one of the hardest things she’d ever done. She, who had only ever wanted her mother’s approval and acceptance, had helped put the middle-aged woman away. What’s worse, she hadn’t even responded to Janette’s flagrant tears. With Xavier’s arm around her, Helena had merely walked out of the courtroom – and away from the mother who would never truly claim her.

Even four years later, it was a bitter pill to swallow. She’d had so few precious years with her father before he’d passed that Helena had never really known what it was like to have parents the way that most people did. And, of course, she didn’t have the opportunity with Xavier’s mother and father either. The couple had made it quite clear that they didn’t approve of her, and never would. Their views, however, had everything to do with where she had come from and nothing to do with where she was going.

She
would
be successful. This, the young woman promised herself every night, before she went to bed. She loved her work and she loved what she did. She even loved the children that came into the clinic every day. They and their parents trusted her with their lives, and that trust made her heart swell.

“Babe?” She jolted from her reverie to see Xavier speaking to her from over the kitchen island. She herself was standing in the middle of the recessed living room and looked up at him in surprise. “Well?” He extended his arms in question. “What do you think?”

For the first time, Helena took a really good look at the house. It was absolutely gorgeous – right on the edge of town with wide open spaces, and large kitchen, and three bedrooms. The views of downtown from the terrace were breathtaking, and the structure was filled with light. However, the one point three million dollar price tag gave her pause.

It wasn’t as if they couldn’t afford it. No, the income Xavier received from the growing XTech was more than enough to keep them comfortable for the rest of their lives. It was just that…coming from where she had, sometimes the young woman still found it difficult to believe where she stood currently.

On the cusp of obtaining all she’d ever dreamed of, with a man that loved her more than life itself. Sometimes it all just seemed like a dream. One she would be terrified to wake from. Helena didn’t know if she could take opening her eyes to her decrepit bedroom in Maynard, with her mother screaming at her to make breakfast.

She forced a smile as she moved towards the kitchen, stepping up onto the gorgeous marble floor. “It’s amazing, Xavier. Really, it is…but the price? Isn’t it a little steep?”

The man fixed her with a reassuring smile – one that never failed to get her hot and bothered. “It’s not cheap, that’s true. But think of the space! Think of the location!”
Think of our family
. Her lover didn’t say it, but Helena could hear the desire in his voice. She knew how important family was to Xavier, never having had proper family structure. She, herself, had learned over the course of her life to be wary of her family and overtures they made towards her – but Xavier had no such qualms.

He wanted a wife. He wanted children – and this place, Helena knew, would be the perfect family home.

The dark-skinned woman wanted to give Xavier everything he desired, truly, she did. He wasn’t the problem. It was her own personal hang-ups that got in the way. She and he were both so busy in their day to day lives that she just didn’t see how feasible it would be for them to get married just now. And children? If there were any at all, they would have to be far in the future. They were both working on building the structures they needed in their lives. In Helena’s mind, there simply wasn’t room to take the steps that would yield the family that Xavier wanted at this exact moment.

Buying a house frightened her. Taking a deep breath, she glanced around the space again. How could she possibly explain herself to Xavier? She didn’t know how many times she’d tried, only to come up short. He knew how she felt about her own family, and the problems she sometimes had believing in herself.

She just didn’t want him to think that any of her shortcomings were his fault.

How could they be?

For a moment, Helena forced herself to forget her misgivings – to push aside all her fears. She stared at the man that stood before her and her heart stuttered in her chest.

Xavier’s innate good looks had only improved with age. While the man was still pale – despite their living in California, he always stayed in the shade when they went to the beach – he was broader, more sure of himself, and carried himself with much more confidence. Today, he wore a plain white t-shirt that showed off the mouthwatering definition of his arms and chest, along with black jeans and boots. He’d begun to wear his hair long when XTech had taken off, and since Helena had mentioned that she liked it just brushing her shoulders, he never cut it shorter. He’d taken to wearing his glasses more often than not, which, along with his usual five o’clock shadow, only enhanced the swarthy, intellectual appeal she’d fallen in love with. But, for all of Xavier’s nerdiness, the man could still lift her into the air like she weighed absolutely nothing – and toss her around in the bedroom in ways she dreamed about for days afterwards.

He had always believed in her.

From the day they’d met – from the moment he knew who her mother was – he had never doubted her. He, unlike his parents, had never believed her to be defined from where she’d come from. Even when chasing her dreams kept her away from home for long hours, when she came home and snapped at him, or even when she fell apart in his arms, Xavier never deserted her.

She could let him have this, couldn’t she? It was just a house. It wasn’t like he was asking her to marry him, or that they were planning children.

All of those things could be dealt with in the future.

Helena exhaled a long breath, and this time, when she smiled, the gesture was genuine. “I really do like the house, Xavier. If this is what you want, we can definitely talk to the realtor.”

His blue-eyes widening in ecstatic joy, the programmer grinned, showing off pearly whites. “Are you serious?”

Helena nodded. When it made him so happy, how could she possibly refuse? Within seconds, she was in his arms, breathing in the intoxicating, masculine scent of him. “Helena, honey, you won’t regret this. We’re going to have so much more space...this is going to be the beginning of…limitless possibilities.”