Curvaceous (5 page)

"It's a family tradition."

"She invited you to share in hers," she pointed out.

How the hell could he respond to that without making his mother and sisters seem less civilized than Cherica's damned, prejudiced brother? Although both he and Cherica had known he was not welcome the previous night, her brother had gone out of his way to pretend otherwise. His mother and sisters would have left absolutely no doubt that Cherica was an unwanted and unwelcome 'guest.'

"I didn't want to put her through the...trauma of trying to deal with my mom and sisters. They would have made the day extremely uncomfortable for her."

"Maybe you should have offered her the option of deciding for herself if she was up to the challenge of dealing with them."

Damn! "I would have, but I wanted to protect her from their...I wanted to protect her."

"That's sweet and charming, Jayson, but sometimes a woman wants to make her own choices."

Something about her tone hinted that she was probably one of those women who valued her independence overmuch. "And sometimes a woman who can't understand the man in her life wanting to protect and shield her will find him soon absent from that life."

She inhaled slowly, shaking her head. "Even so, some women will still want to make the decision for themselves."

Shit!

"I'm sure she'd appreciate your protective instinct, Jayson, but she might want to decide when you exercise it on her behalf."

He shook his head. Women. Who the hell could understand them? "I'm lost," he admitted. "What are you saying?"

"I'm suggesting that you might want to consider going back to her place to explain your rationale to her."

"But you said—"

She hesitated before she spoke. "Sometimes when we're hurt or confused, we speak without thinking and say something we find difficult to take back."

"Is that what happened with you and him?"

She sighed, closing her eyes briefly. "We're trying to ensure you don't make a mistake that's impossible to recover from. There's no point in discussing my over and done with past."

"Sometimes it helps to discuss painful things with a friend."

She nodded. "Yes—so maybe we can discuss my past some other time, but for now, let's work on ensuring your happy future." She looked at her watch. "So if I were you, I'd get in gear and go see her."

He nodded. "Thanks, Maren." Reaching across the coffee table, he squeezed her hand before he rose. Eager to see Cherica and make things right with her, he left quickly.

* * *

F
our hours after Jayson had left, Cherica sat alone in her living room wearing nothing but an oversized nightshirt. She'd had short conversations with both Jenn and their mutual friend Angie, along with a longer one with Dave and Jill. Although she knew spending Christmas morning alone when she had family and friends who would have welcomed her was silly, she felt too depressed to make the effort to dress and then pretend that she wasn't miserable.

So instead of being surrounded by those she loved, she sat alone unwrapping presents when her phone rang. She ignored Jayson's second present. She'd leave that for last or maybe even another day. She didn't feel like talking so she decided to let the phone ring. And it did. Over and over until she finally reached over to the end table and snatched up the cordless phone. "Hello?!"

"Hi."

She sucked in a breath and closed her eyes briefly. "What's up, Jayson? Did you forget something?"

"Nothing's up, Rica. I just wanted to talk to you."

"So talk."

"In person. I'm in your lobby."

She glanced down at herself. "This is not a good time. I'm not dressed and I don't have my face on and—"

"Those are ridiculous arguments, given how we spent the night and how long and well we know each other. Buzz me in."

Then how about I don't want to waste any more of my valuable time on your cowardly ass?

"Rica?"

Oh God. Why couldn't she be strong enough to leave his sorry ass in the lobby? Sighing, she crossed the room to press the button that released the lobby entrance door.

Five minutes later, her apartment doorbell rang.

She took a deep breath before she opened the door.

Jayson, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt under a black bomber jacket, smiled at her. "Hey pretty girl."

Just the sight of him made her ache with the longing for a real relationship with him she feared would always be one-sided. "Hey yourself." She stepped back from the door. "Come in."

He entered, bringing his hand from behind his back. "For you."

She accepted the red roses with a smile as she kissed his cheek. "Thanks. They're beautiful."

He slipped an arm around her waist, turned his head, and pressed a long, sweet kiss against her mouth.

Despite her earlier resolve, she dropped the roses to link her arms around his neck. Leaning into him, she parted her lips, and eagerly returned his kiss.

He slipped his hands down her back to cup her ass.

Oh, yes. She ground herself against his groin.

They shared several long, greedy kisses until they had to break apart to breathe.

Then she stepped away from him, wiping the back of her hand against her mouth. "You said you wanted to talk," she reminded him.

He inhaled slowly and bent to pick up the roses. He handed them to her. "Did I? What I really want to do is fuck you again."

She overcame the urge to toss commonsense to the winds and fling herself into his arms. Doing that the previous night had not been enough to stop him leaving her that morning when he must have known how much she longed for him to stay.

Another night in his arms would only increase the seemingly endless ache she'd felt for years. She shook her head and walked into the living room, hoping her resolve would hold.

Very aware of him following her, she laid the roses on the end table and sat on the loveseat.

He sat beside her. Slipping an arm along the back of the loveseat, he stroked his fingertips against her neck.

She shivered. "Jay...don't...please."

He sighed, dropping his arm to the back of the seat. "I know you want me to, but I can't pretend last night didn't happen."

"Why not?"

"Because it did and it was very special." 

"Was it?"

"Yes. It was—at least it was very special for me."

She glanced down at her hands, clasped in her lap, determined not to get excited unless and until he gave her a real reason to.

He leaned over to brush her hair away from her face. "I value your friendship, Rica. You know that."

And there in lay the rub. He spoke of friendship while she was and had been so in love with him for years that it had become an insistent ache. "I value yours."

"I'm delighted to hear that."

"But?"

"But I think we both have friendships with other people that we value. I happen to want more than that from you."

Her heart raced. "What more do you want, Jay?"

He brushed his thumb against her bottom lip. "I want your friendship and occasionally...your pussy." He leaned forward to brush his lips against her neck. "Can I have both? Can we be friends with benefits?"

The muscles in her stomach churned. She burned to shout yes. But should she? She drew away from him. "We both have issues with family that would make our meeting more than friends difficult at best, Jay." Besides she needed more from him than lust for her body.

"So now you're ready to admit your brother—"

"Let's not forget your mom!" She cut him off. "And your sisters probably wouldn't like the idea much either. They have too many bone-thin hoochie mamas they want to hook you up with."

"They don't run my life, Rica."

"Don't they? If not, why haven't you even dated a woman that wasn't black or skinny as a damned rail? When have you ever dated a single woman of any color with a little meat on her bones?"

"This isn't about my mother or my sisters or even your brother. It's about us."

"Then why the hell have I always found your mother and sister in my face making it very clear that you were off limits?"

He bolted to his feet.

She watched him pace in silence for several moments before he stopped by the loveseat to stare down at her. "Why is it so hard for you to understand that a black man might prefer to date black women?"

His failure to reassure her about her weight disheartened her. Yes, it hadn't seemed to matter the previous night, but then he'd been horny as hell. "My father is black, Jay! Dating me wouldn't be like dating a white woman."

"You look white."

She sucked in an angry breath. "I'm not going to apologize for how I look!"

He shook his head and sank onto the sofa beside her. "I don't want you to! You're a stunningly beautiful woman." He sighed. "Look, we both have issues, as you said, but there's no denying we share a sexual attraction. Let's do something about it."

"Like what?"

He caressed her cheek. "We can make a show of dating other people, thereby making our families happy—at least until they get used to the idea of our being something more than friends. While they adjust, we can enjoy all the intimate benefits we shared last night without telling anyone. It can be our secret."

"You think I want to sleep with a man who's ashamed of me?"

He rose to his feet and glared down at her. "You know damn well I'm not ashamed of you. And while you're at it, know this too, Rica!"

She blinked up at him. "What?"

He reached down and urged her to her feet.

When she would have turned away, he pushed up her nightshirt and palmed her ass. "I know you think we should just be friends and maybe you're right, but I'll be damned if I'm going to give you up completely."

"Jay—"

"Shut up!" 

She gasped. "Jayson!"

"I said shut up, Rica. Shut up and kiss me!" He urged her into his arms and crashed his mouth down on hers.

Any thought of resistance melted away as she relished the passion of his lips moving over hers with an almost desperate hunger. She slipped her arms around his neck and eagerly parted her lips to receive his tongue. When she felt his cock stirring against her, she rotated her hips, pressing against it.

Groaning, he tore his mouth away from hers. "Oh, hell, Rica. I know we need to talk, but right now I just need you."

As she needed him.

He reclaimed her lips, stroking his big, warm hands up and down her back.

She leaned against him, lost in the magic of his touch. Lord, she ached for more than just the physical delight he offered. Even though she knew she should, she didn't protest when he pulled away several minutes later and removed her nightshirt.

Standing naked and aroused in front of him, she tossed her hair. The look in his dark gaze left her in no doubt that he liked what he saw.

He inhaled slowly, staring at her body. "You're so beautiful."

She smiled. Even though she longed to inspire far more than lust in him, his brusquely spoken praise of her body pleased her.

"I need to fuck you."

"No one's stopping you," she whispered.

He caressed her breasts before sliding his hand down her body to cup her pussy. "I hope you mean that because I'm going to really fuck you."

With her pussy flooding with anticipation, she smiled at him. "I don't see a soul stopping you, tall, dark, and handsome."

Taking her hand in his, he led her to her bedroom.

With all her doubts buried under the weight of her love and desire for him, she lay naked on her bed, rubbing her clit while he quickly undressed.

"Here. Let me do that," he said when he was gloriously naked.

"Please do," she said, parting her legs wider.

Placing a condom on the foot of the bed, he slipped between her legs to brush his mouth against her clit before nibbling at her.

"Oh," she shivered with delight while sliding her hands down to the back of his head to hold his face against her pussy. "Jay...eat me."

"Oh, believe me, I'm going to, sweet girl." Quickly dipping his tongue into her, he settled between her trembling thighs.

She closed her eyes and lay licking her lips and pinching her nipples as he licked, kissed, and lapped at her clit while vigorously finger fucking her. He possessed a skillful tongue, and thrusting fingers that combined to slowly build a knot of heat in her pussy that roared through her, setting every nerve in her body on fire.

As she was seconds away from coming, he quickly rose, settled between her thighs, captured her mouth and rubbed the edge of his cock against her clit until she shuddered and moaned her way to one of the sweetest climaxes of her life.

As the last shiver left her, she reached down to palm his cock. Still kissing his hot, demanding lips, she quickly jerked him off. When he groaned and ejaculated against her thighs, she smiled and lay back.

He settled on top of her, with his lips brushing her neck and ear. "Oh...damn, girl!"

Slipping a leg over his, she stroked her hand down his back to cup his tight ass and just lay enjoying the sweet afterglow of intimacy with him.

"That was beyond good," she told him.

"Damn straight it was."

Smiling sleepily, she closed her eyes and drifted into a sated slumber.

After a short nap, he urged her onto her side and they shared a hard, hot fuck that had them both coming within minutes of him powering deep into her willing and wet pussy.

They emerged from sexual bliss in the early evening.

"Are you hungry?" She asked, peeling herself off his cock.

"Starving," he said, smiling. "And this time for something in addition to the best pussy in the world."

"If nothing else, you know good pussy when you feel it," she said, laughing.

"And damn did I feel every hot, tight, sweet inch of it."

As she'd felt and totally enjoyed every hard, thick inch of his wonderful cock. "All this lecherous talk of cock and pussy is making me hungry. For food," she said.

So they stumbled out of bed and went into the kitchen nude.

With him nipping her breasts and slapping her ass every chance he got, she cooked eggs and bacon. They washed the meal down with a beer before showering, putting on underwear and returning to the living room.