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Authors: Brenda Hampton

Tags: #Fiction, #African American, #Urban

Naughty No More

BOOK: Naughty No More
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Naughty No More
Brenda Hampton
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Chapter 1
Nokea
 
Who would've thought that my husband Jaylin and I would be celebrating our three year anniversary? After many years of trials and tribulations, a failed marriage to my now ex, Collins, and Jaylin being able to put Scorpio, a woman he was engaged to behind him, here we were. We had our children, Jaylene who was two years old, and Jaylin Jr., a.k.a. LJ, who was now four. Life couldn't be any better for us. Jaylin's inheritance at the age of sixteen, from his grandfather's estate, and his numerous years as an investment broker, brought him to millionaire status. Several years ago he retired. Once we got married, he required that I retire too.
Our mansion in Florida was by the beach, offering us nothing but peace and quietness. I in no way missed living in our hometown, St. Louis, but I often missed being with my parents, and my best friend, Pat, who still lives there. Our fifty or sixty something year old nanny, Nanny B, takes good care of all of us and she wouldn't have it any other way. It took a lot of work for us to get to this point. If anyone thinks that relationships are easy, they are fooling themselves. I have known Jaylin since elementary school. We didn't become an item until I was in my twenties. Still, his womanizing ways caused us many setbacks. When he finally asked me to marry him, it wasn't until I was almost thirty-three. He was thirty-four and time was starting to run out on us. I hadn't planned on waiting this long for him to get his act together, but through dealing with him for so many years, I knew there was a step-by-step process.
Many people had to be cut from our lives, but the one person that I hated to see distance himself was Jaylin's best friend Shane. Reason being, Shane and Scorpio had started dating, causing Jaylin much headache and jealousy. He hadn't admitted his anguish to me, but I knew my husband and knew him well. When Shane declined Jaylin's offer to leave St. Louis and start his architectural business here, their friendship went downhill. I figured Jaylin had made the offer to get Shane away from Scorpio. As far as I know, that hasn't happened, especially since Scorpio was
supposed
to be pregnant. She and Jaylin had only dated for a few years, but the way she had a hold on him, you would have thought they'd known each other for a lifetime. She was the kind of woman who often toyed with a man's feelings. Her jaw-dropping body and movie star attributes made many men eat out of the palms of her hands. More than anyone, I'm so glad that Jaylin got away from her tight grip. To this day, it still bothers me that she has a beauty shop named Jay's, and that Jaylin still considers her seven year old daughter, Mackenzie, his child. He adopted her several years back, and I guess there's not much I can do about that. What I can do is make sure my man is the happiest man in the world. He's had his trust issues with me too. Once upon a time, I had been engaged to his cousin, Stephon, but he was set up and killed by someone. Stephon was Jaylin's right hand man until Stephon got on drugs and started pursuing me and Scorpio. Needless to say, things got ugly. Even in Stephon's death, Jaylin has never forgiven him. It was only a few years later that I took it upon myself to kiss Shane. I was upset that Jaylin had gone to St. Louis for a visit where he wound up having an encounter with Scorpio. I consulted with Shane about my concerns. Even though he convinced me that nothing had happened between the two, I still
offered
Shane my thanks.
At the time, I wanted to offer him more than that. I'll never forget the way he looked that day with his shirt off. Jaylin's body was cut, but Shane's was cut to perfection. His caramel skin always had a smooth look to it, but what sent me into a trance that day were his light brown eyes. Scorpio was lucky to have Shane, but not as lucky as I was to have a man who loved me as much as Jaylin. He had swagga, and even a man like Shemar Moore didn't have anything on him. His bedroom gray eyes had broken many hearts and his nine plus inches of goodness had injured many backs. He was great . . . excellent in the bedroom, and even though I hated it, there were plenty of women who could testify.
A while back, I told Jaylin about the kiss between me and Shane. For whatever reason, he wasn't that upset. He knows how much I love him and him only. There is no other man in the world that I want, need or desire. Jaylin is my destiny, and no matter what, we will be together for the rest of our lives.
Today, on our anniversary, he surprised me. Instead of using our neighbor's yacht to sail the ocean, Jaylin purchased a yacht for our family. Of course, he named it after our son, LJ. Once I saw how beautiful the huge forty feet vessel was, I almost cried.
The majority of it was white with navy blue trimmings around the outside. LJ's initials were scripted on the front in big bold letters. Navy blue and white adorned the interior too. The floors were covered with soft white carpet. The walls were draped with silky navy blue fabric and cherry oak panels covered portions of the walls as well. In the saloon there were two navy swivel leather chairs and a leather sectional in front of them. There was a cherry oak bar for our drinking pleasures. Once Jaylin took me up the spiral staircase to the master stateroom, I couldn't believe my eyes. Multi-colored fiber-optic lighting lit up the queen-sized bed and made the room feel and look like the most exquisite place I'd ever seen. As Jaylin wrapped his arms around me from behind, all I could do was think about how lucky I am.
“Do you like it?” he asked while nibbling my earlobe.
“I . . . I don't know what to say, other than, yes, I love it! How did you have time to plan all of this and . . . and I know this must have cost you a fortune?”
“It took almost eight months to build and if I tell you how much I paid for this thing, you'd kill me. The company I purchased it from promised they'd have it ready for today and it's been docked for almost a week. A few days ago, I saw it for the first time, and baby, I almost cried my damn self. We are so fortunate and I am enthused about spending our anniversary weekend here.”
I turned to face Jaylin, placing my arms on his broad shoulders. “Me too. I love you so much. I'm afraid my little present for you doesn't even compare to this. I'm almost ashamed to give it to you.”
“You know I'm a simple man, Nokea. All you gotta do for me is get naked and show off your sexy caramel skin. That's how I get excited. Whatever you have for me can't possibly compare to you walking around the entire weekend without any clothes on. No negligee, no thongs, nightgowns, swimming suit . . . nothing.”
“Nothing?” I asked, rubbing my nose against his. “What about when I go outside and stand on the deck? You don't want me naked out there, do you?”
“Trust me. For the next few days, you won't even see the outside. I'm going to satisfy your every need in here. Whatever is on the outside won't even matter.”
From experience, I knew Jaylin's statement to be all so true. I gave him a long, wet kiss. Before things got heated, he continued to show me around.
After the rest of the yacht was shown to me, I decided not to show Jaylin the silver electronic picture book I'd gotten him for our anniversary. The inside screen displayed some of my favorite pictures of us but I'd only paid two-hundred bucks for it. I knew Jaylin wouldn't trip, but compared to the yacht, I felt as if my gift was rather cheap.
As our hype started to settle, Captain Jack, whom Jaylin had hired to navigate our vessel, took off. Being on the ocean always provided a sense of peace, while dressed in our silk blue matching robes, we held up our glasses to give a toast.
“Here's to fifty more years,” I said, while sitting at the bar. Jaylin stood tall behind it, clinking his glass with mine.
“Fifty? Fifty years is a long time to be with somebody, Nokea, and I . . . I can't drink to that kind of commitment. Besides, you looking like Nia Long today, but ain't no telling what you'll look like in fifty years,” he joked.
With my glass in my hand, I walked away from the bar and took a seat in one of the swivel chairs. “Oh, well,” I shrugged. “Then, I'll just have to find someone else to spend my life with.”
Jaylin came from behind the bar and kneeled down in front of me. He removed my glass from my hand and set both of our glasses on the circular table between the chairs. As his hands roamed up and down my legs, he looked deeply into my eyes. “Fifty, sixty, seventy . . . whatever. We'll be together forever, Mrs. Rogers. You can count on that and when we toast again, make sure it's for a lifetime, all right?”
“Got it,” I smiled. “Now, Mr. Lifetime, other than sex, what are we going to do to keep ourselves busy for the next few hours?”
Jaylin showed his straight pearly whites and snapped his finger. “Somehow, I knew you'd ask that question. Trust me, your husband already got this shit planned out.”
He went over to the bar, picked up two large bottles of Remy and reached for two shot glasses. He placed them on the table, and invited me to sit on the floor with him. While looking at each other from across the table, Jaylin poured Remy in both glasses.
“What are you doing?” I laughed.
“We're about to play strip poker. If not that, truth or dare. Loser or liar must drink up!”
“Are you serious?” I laughed.
“Very. It'll be fun. Besides, you are always at your best when you're sloppy drunk.”
“I've never been sloppy drunk. You must be thinking of someone else.”
“Nokea, on your birthday last year, you were sloppy drunk. Remember? You passed out on the beach and I had to carry you . . . .”
“Yeah, yeah, I remember. I also remember what you did to me that night and if you think you're going to do
that
to me again, you might as well forget it.”
“Please,” he begged. “I . . . we had so much fun that night. Besides, I like taking advantage of you. Sometimes you be holding back, but when you get that oil in your system, baby, you get looser than a mutha.”
My mouth hung open. “Loose? That's a terrible to say about your wife. You should be ashamed of yourself. For the record, the liar will lose and that will be you. I'm feeling truth or dare and I get to ask the first question, right?”
“Shoot,” he said, and then shot the full glass of Remy to the back of his throat. He coughed, then smiled. “Just trying to prepare myself.”
I chuckled and reached across the table to rake my fingers through Jaylin's thick, naturally curly hair. “Do you miss Shane? It's been a long time since you last spoke to him, and you seem kind of, at times, in another world.”
“I talk to him every now and then, Nokea. I would be lying if I said I didn't miss our friendship, but for the time being, things must stay as they are.”
“You mentioned that things were just okay with him and Scorpio. By now, I thought you and Shane would put the past behind and work on your friendship.”
Jaylin gulped down another glass of Remy. Obviously, because of Shane and Scorpio's relationship, Jaylin had put his friendship with Shane on the back burner. I could tell it bothered him, but for months, he hadn't said much about it.
“Why are we talking about this right now?” Jaylin asked, rubbing the goatee that suited his chin well. “I thought we're supposed to be playing truth or dare?”
I traced my finger along the side of his smooth, light skinned face. “I know, baby, but I worry about you. I want you to be happy and you seem bothered by Shane declining your offer to come here and live.”
“I was bothered, but I'm over it. The only thing I'm bothered by is you leaving next weekend to go to St. Louis. Even though it's only for the weekend, you know I'm going to miss you, right?”
“Then go with me. You don't have to go to Pat's baby shower with me, but you can still go to St. Louis. Maybe even stop by Shane's place and kick it with him. I know he'd be happy to see you.”
“Naw, I'm cool. You need this time to yourself and I want you to have a good time.”
“Okay,” I said, taking a sip from the glass. Jaylin took another one as well. “Your eyes are getting really, really glassy looking. You might want to slow it down a bit, Jaylin.”
“You know I'll have to consume a lot of alcohol before I get drunk. A few shots of Remy ain't gon' do nothing to me.”
“If you say so. But, uh, let's continue our game. Since you already know everything about me, I'll take a dare.”
“Yes, I do know everything about you. So, I dare you to drink this whole bottle of Remy without stopping.”
“If I drink that whole bottle of Remy, I will be sick as a junkyard dog. You don't want me to be that sick, do you?”
“Then drink half.”
“Some,” I smiled. “And whatever I drink, you must do the same.”
“Bet,” he said.
I opened the other bottle of Remy, taking a few sips from it. Jaylin carefully watched me, but when he walked over to the bar to get some ice, I filled the wineglasses with Remy and placed them behind the chair so he wouldn't see them.
“Damn,” he said, looking at the half empty bottle upon his return. “You doin' it like that, huh?”
BOOK: Naughty No More
12.75Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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