Chapter 9 Naima
NAIMA
Ilay in bed, the dew of our moment still clinging to my skin…
arousal vibrating through every nerve. The darkness of my room wrapped around me, but nothing could dim the glow he’d left in me.
I pressed my thighs together, feeling the slickness, the reminder of how his mouth had unraveled me right there in the kitchen.
I wished he had come back to my room with me.
The desire felt sharp, a need I hadn’t known I could still feel.
Earlier in the day, everything had seemed so innocent—simple touches, lingering looks, nothing overt.
But there had always been this undercurrent, a pulse of something waiting to ignite. And nothing prepared me for tonight.
It was the restlessness that had pulled me from my bed.
I’d sat on the small porch outside my room, legs crossed, breathing in the cool night air.
I’d looked to the full moon, hoping its glow might soothe me, but my thoughts kept drifting back to him.
His voice, his scent, the way his amber eyes darkened when they looked at me.
The moon offered no answers, so I’d retreated to the kitchen for warm oat milk and cinnamon, a childhood comfort.
But then he was there. His broad frame filling the doorway, those eyes stripping away my pretense. His need was palpable, an echo of my own. I couldn’t pretend. Not when he stood there, offering me the kind of surrender I’d only ever read about in romance novels.
Blame it on the full moon, I thought. Blame it on the months—years—of being so focused on keeping this place afloat that I’d forgotten what it felt like to be touched, to be wanted.
His coarse locs had felt thick and warm between my fingers as he pulled at my nipple, his mouth hot and consuming.
When he knelt before me, when his lips and tongue had worshipped me, I was sure I’d slipped into a dream.
If not for the hard, insistent length of his dick pressing against his pajama bottoms, I might’ve thought I was the only one so affected.
I’d seen it, the thick outline, the bulbous head, prominent and persistent, the way it strained against the soft fabric.
I’d been tempted to drop to my knees, to take him into my mouth, to let the weight of his thick dick rest heavy on my tongue.
I wanted to feel his balls against my chin, to lose myself in the taste of him.
But I held back. I couldn’t get away from myself. If more was to happen, I needed to know he wanted more. Not just that it was a product of the moment, an accident born from late-night restlessness and the pull of the moon.
The next morning, I forced myself to move through my routine, though every step felt like a reminder. I brushed my hair into a bun, pulled on loose pants and a soft tee, and padded to the kitchen—the very place where I’d come undone.
Voices filtered through the doorway, light and teasing. When I entered, Tasha and Selena were already at the table, their conversation halting as I stepped inside. Tasha’s grin widened, too bright for the early hour.
“I was just telling Selena that the full moon musta brought out some kind of wild animal, maybe wolves or a bear.” Her tone dripped with mischief, and I fought the urge to look away.
Selena sipped her tea, her expression more guarded, but there was a spark of curiosity in her eyes.
I kept my expression calm, pouring myself a glass of water. “You know how it is around here. Nature likes to remind us who was here first.”
“Oh, I know.” Tasha’s smile didn’t falter. “Whatever it was, howled into the night. We might need to have wildlife come out to be sure we're safe when we go outside in the woods. Wouldn't want to be mauled.”
I nearly choked on my water. Someone got mauled, all right. I forced my expression to stay neutral, the weight of Tasha’s eyes heavy on me.
A beat of silence settled over the room, only broken by the quiet hum of the fridge and the gentle clink of Selena's spoon against her mug. The three of us had shared so many of these moments—comfortable, familiar, but lately, they’d begun to feel a bit too still.
I loved the sisterhood I had with Selena and Tasha.
The kind where a look could say everything, and an inside joke could lighten the heaviest day.
But sometimes, I wished we all had more to do with our time, something outside these walls.
As it stood, we were as single as I was, each of us wrapped up in the quiet demands of The Three Bears.
Between bookings, managing staff, and keeping our guests on the path to healing, there was little room for anything else.
Maybe that was why, when a man like Lennox showed up—smooth, sexy, and with that easy confidence—it felt like the air shifted.
Like the world outside had slipped through a crack in our retreat’s walls, reminding us of what we’d left behind.
Philly had its grit, its rhythm, and Selena and Tasha carried pieces of it with them, even here.
And I had my own ties to Pittsburgh, a city with enough edge to keep me sharp, enough warmth to make me miss it.
But the Poconos? It was all winding roads and wide-open spaces.
Beautiful, yes, but not exactly a place to get lost in anything but your own thoughts.
I wondered if they felt it too—that ache for something more. Or maybe it was just me, caught between the comfort of what I’d built and the longing for everything I’d put on hold to make it happen.
“Good morning,” Lennox said, his voice a smooth rumble. He seemed oblivious to the undercurrent in the room, but I knew better. His control was as much a mask as mine.
“Morning,” Selena replied, offering him a small smile. “Did you get enough sleep?”
He hesitated before he said, “Nah, I didn’t get nearly enough.”
His eyes found mine, a subtle, smoldering look that sent a shiver through me.
There was no mistaking the double entendre, and I had to force myself to keep my expression neutral, to not let my thoughts drift back to the way his mouth had felt pulling and tugging, the heat of his breath, the roughness of his hands.
My pulse quickened, and I took a slow sip of my tea, hoping to cool the heat rising beneath my skin.
Selena rose from the table, breaking the tension. “I’ve got to set up for the morning’s mindfulness session. Tasha, will you join me?”
Tasha slid her chair back, her eyes lingering on me. “Of course.”
When they left, the silence sat between me and Lennox, thick and heavy. He took a slow sip of his juice, and for a moment, I thought he might say something. But he only watched me, his amber eyes dark and thoughtful.
I swallowed, my mind racing. “I should get ready for the day.”
He nodded, his gaze never leaving me. “Yeah. Me too.”
I turned, walking out of the kitchen with as much composure as I could muster knowing his lust-filled eyes followed my every step.