Chapter 9 #3
Jamal cradled her waist, guiding her up and down.
Phil splayed her palms flat over his muscled chest and gripped, trying to find purchase on top of him.
With fevered pumping, she rode him hard, her entire being erupting in a swift, pleasure-soaked orgasm that tore a scream from her throat and sent her crashing down on top of him.
They lay in the grass completely spent, their ragged breathing the only sound around them.
Jamal trailed his finger in a gentle caress along Phylicia’s arm, starting from her shoulder and ending at her wrist. He couldn’t stop touching her. If he had it his way, he’d take her back to his house and spend the next week gaining intimate knowledge of every delicious inch of her body.
“Which room was yours?” he asked her.
He’d spent the past hour learning more about her years growing up at Belle Maison. He’d never seen her more open and animated as she talked about her childhood there. But there was also a trace of sadness that lingered over her words, a forlornness that made him ache for her.
“I had the upstairs room that overlooks the front lawn, though I slept in the one with the balcony during the fall. I loved sleeping with the French doors open because of the breeze and the sound of the cicadas.”
“That’s why you wanted to make love out here. You like the sounds of nature.”
“May I remind you that you are the one who initiated that?” she asked.
“Because I could tell how much you wanted it,” he teased, nipping her shoulder.
“You are so cocky.” She laughed. “Anyway, I just want to make sure you appreciate that house. It was a special place to grow up.”
“What happened? Why did you sell it?”
Jamal wasn’t surprised when he felt her stiffen against him.
“I know you don’t want to talk about it,” he said. “But I’m asking you to anyway.”
She let out a breath and tilted her head to the side, resting it against his shoulder.
“I put the house up as collateral for a loan I took out last year,” she said.
“Me and…a business partner went in on a house-flipping venture. I bought three foreclosed houses in Maplesville for a pretty good deal and renovated them, but the housing market tanked and they’ve have been on the market ever since.
When I couldn’t make the payments on the construction loan, the bank repossessed Belle Maison. ”
“Damn it,” Jamal said. “I figured you’d lost it, but I couldn’t figure out how.”
“Well, I haven’t really shared the details with anyone. Not even Mya.”
“What about this business partner?” he asked, though Jamal had a feeling he already knew who—and what—the business partner was to her.
“He’s a coward who I thought I was in love with,” she said matter-of-factly. “When the going got tough, he skipped town. The loan was in my name, so he got off scot-free.”
“What’s his name?” Jamal asked, his anger rising so swiftly it shocked him.
“Doesn’t even matter,” she said. “He’s inconsequential.”
“Did he talk you into buying the houses?”
“It was originally his idea, but I went along with it one hundred percent,” she said. “I allowed myself to fall into that situation. I’ve stopped blaming Kevin.”
“Kevin,” Jamal spat. “I never liked that name.”
She let out a sad laugh. “I certainly don’t like it now.”
“Have you been able to dig yourself out of the hole?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I’m trying, but it’s not as if I get a steady paycheck, you know? And with the mortgage on my house, and the cost of my mom’s care facility going up—”
“What about your mom?”
She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “Shit,” she said on a weary breath. “My mouth is like a faucet I can’t turn off.” She looked at him and shook her head. “Jamal, the last thing I want to do right now is unload all my problems on you.”
“I’m asking you to,” he said. “What about your mom?”
“My mother suffers from early-onset dementia. She lives in a facility in Slidell that specializes in dementia patients. It’s extremely expensive, but it’s one of the best. I foot the bill for what Medicaid and my dad’s life insurance policy doesn’t cover.”
“So you’re taking care of two households,” he said.
“Basically.” She nodded.
“And trying to pay off a loan and three additional mortgages?”
“Those other three houses don’t have mortgages, thank goodness. But they’re not creating revenue, and I still have to pay property taxes on them. My finances are a hot mess.”
He hesitated for a moment, already anticipating what her reaction would be. But he couldn’t not make the suggestion. “Phylicia, don’t take this the wrong way, but I want—”
“Don’t even think of offering me money,” she said, pushing away from him and turning to face him. “I didn’t tell you any of this to get money out of you. I didn’t even want to tell you any of this.”
“I know you aren’t trying to get money out of me. I’m offering it.”
“No,” she said.
“Phylicia, I can afford it,” he said. “Even if you insist on paying me back, at least you can save on the interest.”
“Jamal, are you insane?” she asked. “If I insist on paying you back? Even if I were to accept money from you—which I would not—do you think I would just take it without paying it back?”
“I’m just putting it out there as an option.”
“We hardly know each other,” she reasoned.
His head reared back, her words knocking the air from his lungs.
“Okay, I know what we did just a little while ago contradicts that, but let’s be honest here.
The fact is we really don’t know each other all that well,” she said.
“My financial problems have nothing to do with you. I got myself into this mess, and I’ll eventually get myself out.
” She shook her head again. “I can’t believe I even told you about this. ”
“As you pointed out, you didn’t want to tell me. I asked,” he reminded her. He reached for her, rubbing her thigh. “Look, I don’t want this to ruin our afternoon together.”
Though, from the dour look on her face, it was evident that it already had. Dammit, why couldn’t he just leave well enough alone?
Because he’d known something was troubling her, and he needed to know what it was. He hated to see the distress clouding her eyes.
She looked up at him, those brown eyes filled with apology. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Leave it to me to bite someone’s head off for offering to help me out.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s ungracious and totally goes against my fine southern upbringing,” she said with just enough Scarlett O’Hara twang to draw a smile from him.
Her expression became serious again as she caressed his cheek.
“It really was sweet of you to offer, but it’s not your problem, Jamal.
It’s mine, and I’ll eventually find a way out of it.
I’ll just overcharge you for the work I’m doing on the house. ”
He grinned at her quip, but he ached to fix this for her. He knew that money was not a cure-all, but in this situation, it was. He could easily write her a check and take care of all the things causing her distress.
“This kind of put a downer on the day, didn’t it?” she said. She looked up at him, her eyes bright. “We could have sex again. It’ll lighten things up.”
He did laugh this time. “I only had that one condom with me.”
“I noticed that,” she said. “You weren’t feeling very confident in your powers of persuasion, were you?”
“I figured after using three last night, neither of us would be able to handle more than one time today.”
“It’s been a long time since I did this, buddy. I can handle a whole lot.”
“That’s all you had to say. We’ll stop in at the pharmacy on our way back. I’ll make sure to stock up.”
“You do that and talk of our torrid love affair will be all over town before sunset.”
“Is that what we’re having?” Jamal asked. “A torrid love affair?”
She leaned over him, her face hovering mere centimeters from his. “Actually, we’re having an inappropriate, torrid love affair. I’m technically your employee. If we were working in corporate America, I could file a sexual harassment lawsuit against you.”
“But you wouldn’t,” he said, threading his fingers through her hair and palming the back of her head.
“Probably not,” she said, lowering herself on top of him. “If I filed suit against you, we’d have to stop doing this.”
“And why in the hell would we do that?” Jamal said before touching his mouth to hers.