4
“Do you?”
As the response tap danced on her brain, I used the opportunity to hike the sound of the stereo with the controls in the back where we sat. Her silence was what I’d been longing for and I’d finally been rewarded.
When she spoke, she caused a ruckus. I couldn’t handle her words. Her loud thoughts. Her confidence. Her beauty. Her fire. Not all at once.
“The fire within your mother, it will be the characteristic that leads you to choose your mate. Your wife will be beautiful, but she will be hell. There will not be much that is gentle or sheepish about her. She’ll be a force to be reckoned with and you’ll love her beyond your understanding.
“Beyond anyone’s understanding. She’ll be the first and she’ll be the only woman you’ll ever love more than your sisters. More than your brothers. More than… even more than your mother. She’ll be yours. And you’ll know it the second you see her.
“Without a doubt, if death becomes the result of loving her, you’ll leave Earth a happy man. Just like me. Just like him. Just like your stepfather. Just like Maurice.”
My father’s words haunted me. Tainted the moment. Made a mess of my thoughts. Rarely was he wrong. This instance was evidence he was, once again, accurate in his predictions.
Stop the car, Aden. Stop the fucking car, my conscience screamed, but no words escaped me.
Let her out. She needed to go. She wasn’t welcomed. But nothing in me was ready for her departure. Even the thought locked my limbs and plagued my existence.
I busied myself with the keypad on my screen, giving Aden specific instructions, including the small project that needed to be completed by the time I made it home with Eden in tow.
Women weren’t welcomed into my home or my heart, but there wasn”t a doubt in my mind I’d be sliding into her warmth between the sheets I rested my head on nightly. Somehow, someway, the waterfront property and the penthouse suite felt beneath her. Beneath us.
Once instructions were finalized, I was ready to settle my thoughts and clear my head. I leaned against the seat, closing my eyes to catch my breath. The way my heart was hammering against my chest, it felt as if I’d run beside Olympians within the last hour.
Phalanges, those of the fingers to be specific, abruptly halted my peace tour. My eyes trailed a single arm, ending near my knee where Eden’s hand sat. Because I’d been wired to resist any signs of affection, naturally, my body craved movement. But, I couldn’t.
Stuck under her palm, I closed my eyes, again, blowing out the steam that had been building inside of me. Heat, transmitted from her body, elevated my temperature.
Eden, please.
She didn’t understand the concept of personal space. She’d obliterated the little was between us. And I was too fucking intoxicated by her existence to chastise her.
Please, I begged of her.
To my dismay, the calm I was in search of to settle the brewing storm that raged within me arrived. The peace I couldn’t find had found me. The disorganization of my thoughts was demolished. Concise thoughts replaced the others.
Fuck.
She bore no restrictions. As if she knew my body belonged to her. Just like I knew hers belonged to me. How she was privy to such information was baffling. How I’d come to the conclusion so quickly and felt so strongly about it was even more baffling.
Slow down.
The beat of my heart was loud. Alarming. Intimidating.
Move.
Eden was fucking with my head. I needed her out of my space. And like she’d heard me, she moved. This time, closer. Our sides pressed against each other.
Opening my eyes, I prepared to send her to the other side of the seat where she belonged. But, she looked so fucking good next to me. She felt so fucking good against me.
Her empty wrist was disappointing. Diamonds against that skin would be too fucking stunning to not be our realities. I made it my first point of business.
I’d lost order in my world. My limbs went against everything they’d ever been programmed for. My arm laid across her leg, hand caressing her calf. Our position was repulsive. Simultaneously, it was soothing. Satisfying. Soul-stirring.
Her head lowered, slowly, until it met the fabric of my coat. And suddenly, makeup stains didn’t worry me. Her comfort became the priority.
“No time for sleep.”
My lips were moving before I was able to think about what was coming from them.
“How do you compete with peace?”
Her question sat with me, silencing me, again. We shared sentiments. Whatever was transpiring couldn’t be compared to anything else. It was unlike anything else. Competing was pointless.
To appease her desire, I, absentmindedly, traced the letters in my head on her calf. My intention was to bring her more comfort. More peace.
The fact that I was considering anyone’s desires other than my own had me stumped. She’d become my responsibility so very quickly. Instantly, her needs were leveled with mine.
“She’ll be yours. And you’ll know it the second you see her.”
It wasn’t until the final letter had been traced and light snores tickled my eardrums that I realized what had been written.
Eden Childers.
A light tap on the leg, many minutes later, awakened the sleeping beauty. Prime House lights were lowered, but, undoubtedly, they were still open. Not publicly, but specifically to accommodate our needs and fill our hungry bellies to the brim.
I slid out of the truck, staring at my hand as if it was a foreign object. Its extension resulted in a strained neck and squinted eyes.
So naturally, I began to expand making room for Eden in my head as if there wasn’t enough going on in that motherfucker already.
She grabbed a hold, shifting her weight to make sure she didn’t fall while exiting. When she was finally on her feet, I calculated her height. An estimate of six feet with heels would put her at approximately five-nine on bare feet.
Imagining her long legs wrapped around my neck wasn’t enough. I needed to feel them motherfuckers and home was too far of a drive. I wouldn’t make it.
Within a few steps, we were out of the cold and inside the dimly lit establishment. Our table was ready when we arrived. In the center of the private room was a thick cream-colored cloth covering a table made for four but set for two.
“Menus are on the table, waiting. The kitchen is open and at your disposal. Should there be anything you want that isn’t available, please let us know. We’ll make sure it becomes available.”
A few steps ahead of me, the host motioned for the chair designated for Eden, pressing every button I was in possession of.
His decapitation flashed before my eyes.
“Don’t,” I advised, wanting him to make it home safely so his family wouldn’t miss him.
“Yes, sir.”
With a nod, he stepped aside. I slid the chair back so Eden could sit. When she settled, I slid it up with her help.
“Thank you,” she said to me before turning toward the host. “And thank you, handsome.”
Angling my head leftward, I fought the urge to unleash my thoughts. Her defiance wasn’t accidental. She was fully aware, fully conscious. Yet, and still, she was fucking with me.
On the ledge, I noted. Wrong fucking ledge, though, baby.
“He wants to make it home, Eden. Don’t end his life tonight because you’re fascinated with the thrill.”
It explained the occupation she’d chosen. Stripper. It explained her lack of hesitancy to leave with a fucking stranger. On the first night. It explained why sleep was possible in the arms of a man she didn’t know the first thing about. Risky girl.
Nervously, she chuckled, looking toward the host. “I’m sorry about that.”
“I’m not and neither are you, so take it back.”
She turned to me, eyes tightening to slits.
Nodding, I encouraged her to follow instructions. Still, she remained silent.
Her hesitation was enough to fuel the fire within me.
“Now is not the time for defiance. A man’s life is on the line.”
Raised brows and upturned lips followed snickering. She was willing to call my bluff. I was willing to show her I didn’t bluff. As my hand located the butt of my gun, words began flying from her mouth.
“I am not sorry,” she admitted, a smile still visible on her lips. “Please, send our waitress in. Female, please.”
The host scurried out.
Nobody’s safe, darling. A new set of eyes wasn’t the answer, her obedience was. Lowering until my lips were next to her ear, I paused to gather my thoughts.
I wanted to fuck her as much as I wanted to fuss at her. I wasn’t sure who was winning the battle, but I focused on the bigger head while drowning out the pleas of the smaller one.
“I, too, admire life on the ledge, but please don’t fuck with me, Eden. I jump often.”
I rounded the table to find her tongue crossing her top row of teeth. The hunger in her eyes, in her posture, wasn’t related to food.
She had developed a thirst only my semen could quench. And when the time came, I’d make sure she guzzled it. Hydration was key.
“I feel slighted. Cheated, in a sense.”
I waited for more, knowing it was coming. I didn’t need to respond for her to reveal whatever riddle she was speaking in.
“You know my name but I have no idea who it is that isn’t a knight in shiny armor, has the power to calm the relentless storm within me to restore peace, and is willing to end a man’s life because he thought to pull out a chair for me.”
“You flirted.”
“Barely.”
“That’s even too much.”
“A jealous streak.”
Shrugging, I shook my head and squared my shoulders.
“I’m insulted.”
“That easily?”
She was a mind fuck. I had an inkling she knew it as well.
“You’re a very inquisitive person.”
“That’s all beside the point. Name.”
“My name isn’t important. My position in your life is.”
“Your position?”
“Eden, baby, do you ever just shut the fuck up?”
That smile, the one that could shatter earth in fifteen thousand pieces, reappeared.
“Am I upsetting you?”
“Not even a little.”
“Then, why do you look so an–”
“Because I’m trying my hardest to be a gentleman and wait until I’m home before I feast on your flesh but continuing to run your mouth is making that pretty fucking impossible.”
Her mouth hung open. After a few seconds, she recovered. “A man of great discipline.”
“At least I thought so.”
“I believe in you. You can do whatever you put your mind to.”
Her words punched me in the chest, pushing my body backward. I leaned against the back of the chair, my eyes penetrating her skin and marking my territory with invisible ink.
I believe in you. Though strangers, there was truth to her words. And even if there wasn’t, there was meaning. To me. That shit meant something to me.
“I’m Ursula. I’ll be with you all tonight. Is there anything I can get started for you all besides water?”
Our waitress appeared from thin air. Too fixated on Eden, I didn’t notice anyone else. No one else was relevant. No one else mattered at the moment. All I saw was her. All I felt… was her.
“I’ll have a French 75. Neat.”
She didn’t fold. Her eyes were trained on me.
“Water.”
I needed a clear head dealing with Eden. I’d already reached my limit. She was intoxicating enough.
College graduate. One of three children to a widowed mother. Thirty. Fashion enthusiast. Reader. I’d learned enough about her life to determine there was nothing interesting about it. Yet, she was intriguing. Unbelievably so.
She was six years younger but carried herself better than most women my age I’d stumbled upon. The most important details of her life included never being married and never having a child. Hadn’t I genuinely wanted to know more about Eden, I would’ve stopped listening after discovering those two details.
But, here I was, nearly thirty minutes after medium-rare steaks and medium-well lamb had been set in front of us, still listening intently as she expressed herself with satisfaction carving her features. She loved hearing herself talk. Somehow, I was beginning to love listening.
“I feel like I’ve divulged for hours and you’ve given me very little.”
“There’s not a lot to me,” I assured her. “I’m boring, baby.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Then, don’t.”
“Mysterious, but not boring.”
With a shrug, I brushed off the observation. There was possibly truth to it, but I wasn’t sure. I didn’t care to investigate.
“Only child?”
“No.”
“I guessed it. You feel like–like an elder. Like a protector. A provider. Father-like.”
Her profiling was spot on, but I wouldn’t give her any indication.
“Stable home. Two-parent household. Very structured. Father is very involved in your life, even in adulthood. He played a huge part in who you are today. You’re probably a lot like him.”
“Finish your drink.”
It was her third one. I was ready to see just how influential it was on her body. The lust in her eyes was heavier than when we’d entered.
Her stares lingered. Her hands, they’d found my leg a few times. Her nipples hadn’t softened in the last fifteen minutes. They must’ve been aching by now.
“Time to go, huh?” she asked, slowly.
Her resolve had softened. She was milder. She was gentler. She was… better.
I didn’t think it was possible. I didn’t think she could improve. I liked her the way she was.
But, the more mellow, calmer side of her soothed something in me I couldn’t quite put a finger on. I felt her grab a hold of my heart and stroke it gently versus squeezing the life out of it as she had earlier. That was good, but this was even better.
Maybe he was wrong.My father’s words looped in my head. Eden wasn’t a pit of fire all by itself. She was calm waters, too, wrapping me in her expansiveness.
“Yes. It is.”
“Where to?”
“Some place for you to do exactly what you were doing on stage tonight.”
I didn’t wait for a response. I was up and out of my seat in a split second. She wasted no time falling in line. Her fingers curled between mine, solidifying our connection. The fire rested between us set my body ablaze.
Not tonight or any other night did I want it to be extinguished. I wanted it to burn. Us to burn. Until we ashed, meshing so well we were unable to be distinguished. Sundered. Dissociated.
Back inside the truck, rounded nails gripped the elastic band of the blinders I handed to Eden, the woman who refused to acknowledge personal space. She held no interest in the rest of the seat that was open to her. Up against me is where she was comfortable.
“Mister,” she called out, still unsure of my government.
I was still unsure whether I wanted her to have it. It didn’t matter. It shouldn’t have, anyway.
“It’s not up for debate, Eden,” I replied, lowering the seat we were on.
The partition had been customized for privacy and had already been pulled when we entered. Aden was no fool. He understood well what was happening in my world tonight.
I didn’t need to explain that this time was different. I didn’t need to explain that she was different. He knew. I knew.
“I do–”
“Pardon the discomfort you might feel. I promise to make it worthwhile.”
I slid them from her hand and over her head. Distracting her was the only resolution for the precautions required. The journey to my residence wasn’t one that was revealed under any circumstances, to anyone other than family.
Eden wasn’t the exception, yet. It didn’t matter how much I was feeling her or how my heart beat wildly for her. My location wasn’t to be compromised.
“I can’t see you.” She gasped.
Pressing against her chest, I lowered her body on the third row. Her heels were the first to be removed. Black in color, they sported a red sole. Socks, sheer like the top and thong she’d worn on stage, covered her feet. I snatched them off immediately after.
Pants that fit like gloves gave resistance, but I prevailed. The coat she wore kept the seat from chilling her darkness. But, small, prickly bumps still pimpled her skin. Braless, her titties peeked from underneath the shirt I raised. Dark nipples made my dick ache.
Fuck.
“I don’t need you to see me, Eden. I need you to feel me.”
I palmed her right breast with my left hand and used my right to find her ankle. My tongue looped her toes before they went into my mouth.
“Mist–”
Chem. My name was at the tip of my tongue. That was what I wanted falling from her lips. But, I maintained my composure, watching as her stomach folded and her body grinded against the seat.
She was hot. She was bothered. Just as I wanted her.
The long legs I’d anticipated around my neck sat on my shoulders momentarily as I slid lower, not stopping until my knees were on the floor of the truck. Carpet brushed the fabric of my jeans as I was welcomed into Eden’s world by the distinctive smell of her arousal.
Panties hadn’t been part of her attire. She’d come to give her pussy up. Give it up to me. She knew she’d be sliding down my dick before she stepped off stage. There was nothing sexier than a woman with her mind made up.
I stroked her flesh with my tongue, instantly obsessing over the bittersweet blend. Her juice awakened something devilish within me. Something sacred. Something terrifying. Something special.
A current made the hair on my body stand. There was a shift within me. Of me. Through me. Externally.
Fuck.
Mentally. Physically. Emotionally. Spiritually.
What she was doing to me, I wasn’t sure. But, I knew exactly what I was going to do to her.
First, I familiarized myself with her folds, licking from the tip of her pussy just beyond her hood to her slit. Migrating further, I explored her backside, finding pleasure in making her body quake.
Once.
Twice.
Three times, I repeated the same movements slowly. Gently. Patiently. Blindly getting acclimated with her garden as I determined the best way to activate her sprinkler system.
“My God!”
Don’t mention another nigga in my presence, Choc. My demand was lost in translation. I was too invested in her pleasure to address the shit that grinded my gears.
Her clit was my next mission. Though I had intentions of prolonging her orgasm, I wanted her back on the ledge. Back in her comfort zone. Ready, but unable to jump because I wouldn’t let her.
“Puh!” I wet her slit, though there was hardly a need.
“Ummmm.”
I slid two fingers deep within her, turning them upward and curling them.
“Pleeeeeaasse.”
Her ass bounced off the seat, searching for the warmth of my mouth. The pressure from my tongue.
Stripping her of her misery, I circled the external portion of her clit while massaging the internal portion. She lost the strength to hold herself up. Her body flopped down. Her head moved from one side to the other. Her eyes fluttered, closing more often than they opened.
“Missssssster.”
They’d been activated. That fucking sprinkler. Unfortunately, I wasn’t ready to water her garden. I pulled back, halting the orgasm that was quickly approaching. Eden’s chest rose and fell dramatically as she struggled to catch her breath.
“Please!” she begged, barely above a whisper, but forcefully.
She made it painfully clear her pussy had been mishandled. I made a mental note to dead every nigga who had wasted her fucking time before me. If life had allowed them time with her until my appearance, the least they could’ve done was fuck her well.
Manage her needs. See to it her desires were met. Treat her pussy good. Real fucking good. They’d missed the fucking mark and in under six minutes, I’d hit motherfucker.
Fucking waste. I grunted.
She’d been deprived enough. I wouldn’t make her suffer any longer. I couldn’t. Before the night was out, I’d make up for all the times she wanted to cum and couldn’t.
Her pussy was my priority now. Her pussy was my responsibility now. When she wanted to cum, she would.
I dug into her, again. This time, massaging her insides with more pressure. I caressed her clit with my tongue, stroking it rapidly until her ass was off the seat and those legs were around my neck.
“Uh, fuck! Please. Please. Don’t stop.”
I won’t.
“Fuck. Fuu?—”
She fell into the seat at once. Her sprinkler went off, spraying my mouth, chest, and the back of the passenger seat.
A tilted head and nod displayed the pride I harbored. Not for me, but for Eden.
She’d been a good fucking girl. She’d be rewarded as such. A bunch of dick and the night of her life would be the ultimate prize.
She was beauty and she was beastly. I knew, without a doubt, when I slid inside of her all hell would break loose. A sucker for adventure, I was prepared for the rollercoaster waiting. Because that was exactly what the fuck Eden would be. A wild ride. I could feel it in my dark, tainted soul.
“Chemistry,” I muttered, analyzing her half-naked body as she fought to regain her composure.
A piece of art.