Chapter 27
27
MAGNOLIA
I f he hadn’t been lying next to me when he asked me to be his girlfriend, I would’ve squealed out of sheer excitement. I don’t remember feeling this way when Daniel asked me to be his girlfriend. When he had, it felt more like a business transaction than the start of a relationship, which should have been my first red flag. With Kolbi though, it felt special and sincere. Like he wanted to be with me, not with the benefits that came from being with a person like me.
After he’d hurried over to my place, nearly threw me over his shoulder, and had his way with me, I half expected him to say he had to go back to the office. He’s the type of man who works all the time and even when he isn’t at work, he’s thinking about work. Growing up in my family, where hardwork and effort was praised, his commitment to his company and his employees didn’t bother me in the slightest. My heart squeezed in my chest when he told me he’d cleared his schedule for the rest of the day to spend it with me.
We both hopped in the shower together, his tall frame encasing mine in the mosaic tiled shower I’d designed with my mother. If only she knew what it was being used for now, I thought as he pressed me against the wall, hot water streaming down our naked bodies from overhead. Every man was either a boobs man or an ass man, and during the last few mind blowing rendezvous I’d shared with him, I discovered he was a boobs man. It was as if he couldn’t keep his hands off them and whenever he got the chance, he played with them in his strong hands and ran his fingers over my pebbled nipples. I wasn’t as gifted as other women in this area, hell, Margaret had almost twice as much as I did, but he didn’t seem to mind at all. More often than not, I could get away with not wearing a bra which was something he’d taken advantage of in the past.
After a few hot and steamy kisses in the shower, we dragged ourselves out and got dressed. Since he’d come from the office, he only had the suit he’d worn to work. As he was stepping into his suit pants, I interrupted him.
“I think you should stay like that.” I flicked my eyebrows at him as he stood in just an undershirt and his briefs. He looked down at what he was wearing before looking back at me.
“You cool if I hangout like this? I’d rather not get my suit all wrinkled if I can avoid it.” By the tone he gave me, I knew he wasn’t kidding. I studied him out of the corner of my eye, my mouth slightly agape.
“You don’t want to get your suit wrinkled ? Did I just hear that right?” I pulled a pair of black panties up my legs after I tossed on an oversized T-shirt. We both knew we weren’t leaving the house, so why bother with actual clothes? “What kind of guy cares about wrinkling his clothes?”
Having only had Daniel as a litmus test for how men behaved, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Daniel would spend hundreds of dollars on a shirt just to throw it on the floor and expect me or his house cleaner to pick it up for him. Not once did he ever make a comment about not wanting to get his clothes wrinkled. I’m sure he just assumed I would take care of that for him.
Asshole.
“Listen here, flower, when you spend as much as I do on your suits, you treat them with care. Especially when you grew up with nothing. You make sure to mind how you treat the nice things you have so they stay nice.” He’d taken a few long strides around the bed to meet me and looped his arm around my waist, pulling me in so our bodies were now flush.
“I hope you treat me that way.” I pressed a firm finger into his chest as I teased. “Because I’m the nicest thing you’ve ever had.”
“Has anyone ever told you you can be kind of a brat sometimes?” He tightened his grip around my waist and was burrowing his nose into my neck. My breath got caught in my throat every time he playfully nipped at the skin behind my ears.
“I think you like it when I’m a brat,” I sneered, feeling the growing length through his briefs as he pressed his hips into me.
“Only because it means I get to discipline you. Someone has to teach you how to behave and act like a good girl.” He grabbed under my ass and lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his torso naturally.
“Why don’t you teach me a lesson then, Mr. Vesey?” I whispered, pulling his earlobe in between my teeth. The sting of his hand spanking me before he laid me down on the bed shot new waves of electricity through my body. The mix of pain and pleasure crashed against one another inside of me. When I looked into his eyes, I saw the kind and buttoned up demeanor of him fall away, revealing a more carnal, savage side of him.
“ Gladly .”
Several hours and the first few episodes of season one of Gilmore Girls later, we were curled up under the sheets of my king sized bed. The 1000-thread count sheets and matching duvet kept us warm and bundled close.
“You wanna watch another episode?” I asked, turning up to look at Kolbi who had his head leaning against my plush, Arhaus headboard. After our second go, he ditched the undershirt and was in nothing but his briefs. His strong and toned chest made for the perfect resting place for my head. Looking down at me, he planted a soft kiss on the top of my head.
“I’d love to watch another one, angel.” The name made my heart swell and I burrowed in closer to him when he wrapped his muscular arm around me even tighter.
“This is my favorite TV show.” I glanced up at him with another smile. As I did, my mind drifted back to all the years I used to watch reruns on the TV my parents kept hidden away in the den before they finally let me have one in my room.
“Is that right?” He was running his hand through my hair, looking straight ahead with starried eyes. He looked worn down, but also so peacefully content at the same time. Like the rhythmic movement of my hair falling through his fingers was lulling him to sleep.
“Yep. Growing up, when my parents weren’t home, Ms. Ruthie would pop some popcorn and we would watch reruns together. There were some days where we’d spend hours curled up on the couch just watching and laughing.” A joyful laugh fell from my lips as I thought about the memories I had with her. Most of my favorite childhood memories had her in them. I paused for a moment, feeling the muscles in my face fall, as I thought about her. Without Ms. Ruthie, I don’t know who I would be today. More likely than not, I would’ve turned out as a shell of a human having never known true love or affection. Or worse, I would have turned out like my mother. The feeling of his fingers rubbing my earlobe brought my attention to him.
“You’ve mentioned a few times now how important she is to you, I’d love to hear more about her sometime.” His voice blanketed over me and caused a unique sense of warmth and comfort to fulfill me. There was another feeling prickling my heart that I could only describe as sadness. Sadness for what I didn’t get from my mother as a young girl but also sadness for knowing that I wouldn’t have Ms. Ruthie in my life forever. I pushed up on the bed slightly to bring my lips to his cheek.
“That’s a very kind offer, I will sometime.” The muscles in his jaw tightened as he smiled back at me, still rubbing my earlobe with his index finger and thumb. The move threatened to bring tears to my eyes because while he didn’t understand its significance, it was something I shared with my childhood caretaker. Our silent signal of love. Tucking myself back into his arm, I queued up another episode.
“So are you team Dean, Jess, or Logan?” his thick voice asked and I felt my eyes go wide before slowly turning my head back towards him.
“You’ve watched Gilmore Girls ?” I asked in pure shock.
“Oh lord, no. But when you have the number of sisters I do, you hear things. Even without a TV at home they would watch episodes with their friends growing up and gab about it over supper with the family.”
The deepness of his laugh caused me to bounce slightly against his chest. The way it vibrated through me caused a different type of tingling to stir in me but I pushed the feelings away. He didn’t have a TV growing up? Who doesn’t have a TV in their house when they’re a kid? I peered at him, giving him a chance to share more about his childhood, but he didn’t. Part of me wondered if there would be a time when he would share more about his childhood like I had. He studied me as I studied him and I thought about asking him to tell me more before I decided otherwise. If he wanted to share, he would.
“If we’re talking during the original episodes, I’m definitely team Jess. I think growing up I always wanted some bad boy to come in and sweep me off my feet and make my parents mad like he did. But as an adult, Logan for sure. He has his shit together, and honestly, there’s a stability in that that I find wildly attractive.”
“Is that why you’re with me? Because I have my shit together and that kind of stability is wildly attractive?” He leans in and brings his lips to mine, kissing me once.
“Not at all. I’m with you because my parents would hate it and you look too damn sexy in a suit for your own good,” I tease, laughing devilishly against his lips.
“You little brat,” he growled before reaching over and pulling me on top of him. I kissed him deeply and welcomed his tongue in. We held one another like this for a moment, his hand exploring my back as I laid on top of him, before I pulled away against his will.
“Hey, I wasn’t done with you,” he chided, trying to pull me back to his chest as I started to roll away.
“Down, boy, we have a show to watch.” I smacked his chest as it bounced from his laugh and found my place under his arm once more.
We were halfway through a second episode when I looked up to find him sleeping soundly. For a moment, I thought about waking him up so he didn’t miss anything. Instead, I brought my index finger to his face and started to trace his features. How his jaw cuts at a sharp angle. The way his deep-colored skin dimples around his cheeks and how his short hair waves across his scalp. The soft line of his wide nose and plump lips that felt like magic when he brought them to mine. Never in my life did I think I would date a man like him, no less feel the way I do about him. I thought my heart would be Daniel’s forever, knowing how much our relationship meant to our parents. But now that I was with a man like him, a man who saw me for me , I knew I never wanted my heart to belong to anyone else.
So instead of waking him, I tucked myself into the crook of his arm, pulling it around me even tighter, and allowed the lingering scent of his cologne to intoxicate my senses as he slept peacefully besides me.