Chapter 12 #2
While Xarielle put the girls in the truck, I grabbed a container and filled it with enough of the crab boil to feed all four of us. I grabbed soft drinks, bottled water, and snacks, then joined the girls.
I put a movie on in the truck for Dakota and Destin and pulled out of the garage.
“Where are we going?” Xarielle asked quietly.
“Port Jackson. I own a small country cottage right off the lake. I was supposed to flip it or use it as a VRBO. I just haven’t gotten around to doing either one yet.”
“Okay.” She sat back in the passenger seat and relaxed her body.
That was why she was my calm. Xarielle was mellow and peaceful. She went with the flow. I needed that.
It had been a long ass day, but it wasn’t actually late. It was barely 7:00 p.m., and the sun was still out. I pulled into the parking lot of the big box store.
“Like I said, I never got around to setting this house up. We’re gonna need sheets for the bed, blankets, toothbrushes, toothpaste, stuff like that.”
With both Dakota and Destin in the cart, we made our way around the store. We paid for our selections and were back in the truck within the hour.
Xarielle
The outside of the house was cute, but I could see where so much could be done to make it a showstopper.
The white shingled house screamed for shutters.
I envisioned blue shutters to match the color of the lake behind it.
The front door was a weather-weary wooden number that would sing if it was painted an elegant black or a candy apple red.
“It’s cute,” I told Kept as I unbuckled Destin from her car seat.
The girls had gone past the point of being sleepy and had moved into delirium.
The state they were in caused Dakota to be extra emotional, which explained why she was teary-eyed and clung to Kept as he carried her toward the front door.
It also explained why Destin was basically kicking me as she wiggled with all of her strength to get out of my arms.
“Down. I wanna get down, Elle.”
“I’ll put you down when we get in the house,” I told her.
I could see that the house literally backed up to the lake. In her state of mind, I already knew that Destin would make a beeline for the water. I had only had two swimming lessons. I wouldn’t be able to save her.
I looked around. There wasn’t much to the front room. You entered the front door and stepped right into the living room. It was spacious, square shaped with stark white walls, big windows, and a huge brick fireplace on one wall.
“Let’s take a tour of the house.” I took each girl’s hand in mine as Kept went back to the truck to bring the stuff in.
Right past the living room, you entered a hallway.
On the left side of the hallway was a sizable bedroom with what looked like a full-sized bed.
That room was also painted a stark white.
Gauzy white curtains were hung at the window.
The bed and dresser were both a standard brown wood, and as Kept had predicted, the bed was stripped bare.
Across the hall from the first bedroom was a small bathroom.
It was painted the same stark white as every other room.
It offered all of the basic necessities—a toilet, sink, and bathtub-shower combination.
It was clean but very sparse. Next to the bathroom was a teensy-tiny bedroom that would be best suited as a nursery or an office. It was empty.
Down from the first bedroom, on the same side of the hallway, was the primary bedroom.
It was large. We stepped inside. I took in the king-sized bed, the dresser, nightstands, and chest of drawers that all matched and were an orangish-wood stain that I immediately hated.
But it had a walk-in closet and an en suite.
Destin shot out of the room like she knew where she was going. Dakota and I followed the sound of her footfalls, which led us to the kitchen.
It was a remodeled number, but it wasn’t modern.
It looked like it had been done in the early 2000s.
The countertops were a speckled brown and beige granite.
The cabinetry was the same orangish-wood as the bedroom furniture, and the floors were a dingy white laminate.
On the back wall of the kitchen was a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out onto a very small deck that led directly to the lake.
There was no backyard, just a small deck and then the lake.
Kept met us in the kitchen, immediately catching the expression on my face.
“Yeah, this is one of the reasons I don’t come here. I like the proximity to the water, but I don’t trust Destin at all. This house lets me know that there is such a thing as being too close to the water .”
I nodded my agreement, all while imagining myself in one of the Adirondak chairs with a cold drink and a book.
“You’re right, but as a grown-up, I love it.” I spun around in a 360 degree turn. “I could do so much with this place.”
His eyebrows went up as surprise registered on his face. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I responded as I watched Destin circle the center island over and over again. “Our girl is exhausted,” I muttered.
He scooped her up as she rounded the structure for the tenth time.
“Daddy.” She giggled, burying her face in his shoulder.
“We should probably feed them and then settle down for the night,” I suggested.
“Movie night!” He bounced Destin in his arms.
“Yay!” Destin cheered, clapping her chubby hands together.
Dakota gave a small smile and a big yawn.
“I’ll get the food ready.”
While I got the food that Kept brought from the house, he set up the living room. He connected the television to his portable hotspot then let Dakota select a movie since it was her birthday.
We ate crab boil, drank soft drinks, and watched Moana 2 while nestled together on a blanket.
The last time I watched a movie while stretched out next to somebody else had been when Yahirah and I were still in high school.
Doing it with Kept and his girls felt like exactly what I needed.
It felt like contentment, warmth, and happiness all rolled into one.
When Kept took the trash and the plates to the garbage, I pulled the girls closer to me, and the three of us snuggled. My heart was full. I knew for sure that I wanted a life like the one I was currently living, one filled with a man and children who loved and cherished me.
I opened my eyes to find Kept standing in the hallway staring at me. When our eyes met, he smiled.
“I must’ve dozed off,” I said, wiping my left eye.
He nodded, still smiling.
I smiled too. “Why are you smiling?”
“I like the picture I’m looking at.”
“What took you so long to throw out the trash?”
“I made up the beds. I figured the girls would be ready to lay down when the movie ended.”
My eyes moved over to the television where the credits for the movie rolled. I stretched then yawned.
“Let’s put them in bed then shut it down. It’s been a long ass day, and I, for one, will be glad to see it come to an end.”
“Part of it was messed up,” I agreed. “But I like the part where the four of us snuck away together.”
He winked at me before bending down to pick up a sleeping Dakota. “Say less.”
I picked up Destin and followed him to the first bedroom. We situated them side by side in the bed on top of the pink butterfly sheets I picked out and under the matching comforter.
Kept placed the video monitor on the dresser so that we could see and hear the girls if they needed us. We each gave them kisses on the cheek, then we headed to the primary bedroom.
“What could you see doing to this place?” he asked as he stripped off his color-blocked polo.
“On the exterior, I could see touching up the white paint, giving it a fresh coat and adding blue shutters. Like, a deep, rich blue. I could also see switching it and painting the exterior a deep, rich blue to match the lake. Then adding pristine, white shutters.”
“Okay.” He chuckled. “In the short time you’ve been here, you’ve really thought about this.”
“I have. I really like this house.” I paused. “But I definitely agree with your concerns about Destin and the proximity of the lake. Maybe fix it up and sell it? Keep it as a place for your family members to stay so they don’t have to stay with you.” I shrugged my shoulders.
His eyes lit up as he approached me, wrapping his strong arms around my waist. “Say word. That would be the shit. But it’s kinda far if they’re truly coming to see me.” He kissed my lips. “I’m about to take a shower. Don’t fall asleep.”
“I won’t,” I assured him. “I had a little cat nap with the girls. I’m wide awake. I’m about to play on my phone. When you get out,” I eyed him in what I hoped was a seductive manner, “I’mma help you reduce some stress.”
He bit his bottom lip as he regarded me. “Bet.”
I awoke to a very distinct sensory experience—the stimulation of my clit by a warm and wet tongue. I peeled my eyes open slowly, my gaze finding Kept’s.
He stopped long enough to utter, “Hey.” Then he grinned, and his smile was like the sunrise he loved to watch so much every morning, bright and beautiful.
I couldn’t help grinning back at him.
He dipped his head back down between my legs and gave my vagina a long, slow lick.
His mouth was paradise, teasing my sensitive clit as he ate me thoroughly.
He took his time with me, gently coaxing me to a fevered pitch.
He kept changing the angle of his head to prevent me from getting where I was trying to go.
So, my hands moved to his head to hold him steady.
“I’m so close.” The whimper was soft, but the room was quiet, so I knew he heard me. Finally, I got tired of his teasing and denial. I clamped my thighs on the side of his head, riding his mouth while I hummed and moaned. Before long, I released honey into his waiting mouth.
He climbed up my body, and I sighed in contentment when he pushed his dick into me.
I ground my hips. “Yes, boo. That feels so good.” My hands went to my own hair and started to pull. “Uh.”
I groaned at the satisfaction of him filling me up so completely, stretching me so thoroughly.
“This dick is so good.”
“Fuck!” he responded as he pounded into me. He leaned down and buried his face in my neck, nipping and kissing me there. “Your pussy’s too good, Xari. It’s too damn good.”
He adjusted my legs, my feet flat against the steel that was his chest, and he pumped me, delivering strokes so pleasurable that my mind was no longer my own.
After about the fourth stroke, I was caught up in the tsunami.
The sensations were almost unbearable. My head spun, and I wailed loudly while Kept signed his name in my vagina and made it his own.
My orgasm hit fast and hard. I’d barely come down from my high before he tapped me lightly on the leg.
“Get on my face,” he instructed.
I climbed over him, face to face with his dick, (my new best friend), while my vagina hovered over his mouth.
As he gently tongue kissed my clit, I covered the mushroomed head of his dick with my mouth.
Softly, I swiped at the tip, catching drops of pre-cum before I swallowed him whole.
Using a suck-lick-spit-slurp method, I had him fighting back groans as he fought to keep concentration on finishing his own meal.
Kept, the girls, and I made it back to the house on Jackson Island at a little after eleven the next morning.
The lower level of the house was quiet when we came in, and since all of the rental vehicles were still in the driveway, we knew everybody was still there.
“I’m starting a load of laundry. And I still need to address that stain on the bed swing,” I told him.
He snickered. “It’s been two days. I’ll just replace the mattress.”
“Go talk to your family.”
He sighed. “I’mma talk to Jayla. I feel like she’s trying to move in or something.”