Episode 2
Episode 2
A Kiss to Last a Lifetime
MEMPHIS
“I’m here to meet the woman I plan to marry.” I admitted the truth to Naomi. My mouth felt like cement as I did so, because while I did have plans to marry another woman, I also felt an incredible connection to the Black goddess I’d been speaking with.
There was no sense in evading the reality of why I was in Las Vegas, sitting in the hotel bar at The Alexandra. She’d just been dumped by a man who very clearly didn’t deserve such a fine-ass queen. I, too, had no right to lead her on. Nor would I ever want to treat another person that way.
Tomorrow I’d be standing on a shiny stage being bid on by strange, exceptionally wealthy women, in the hopes of securing a three-year contract worth millions.
At least I hoped I would.
My family was counting on me. There really was no alternative.
My mother and father were the epitome of a middle-class American family. Mom was an elementary school teacher, and my father was a veteran who’d served two terms, then became a career trucker. Unfortunately, after nineteen years of safely hauling goods all over the South, he had a bad accident. One that put him on disability for the rest of his life. Disability did not pay as well as being on the job, nor did it come with awesome retirement perks. Something my dad had been just shy of prior to the accident. And my parents had several mouths to feed—not including their own. Not to mention, our granny who was getting up there in age, with a multitude of health problems, even if she was sharp as a tack.
It was up to me, the eldest child and the only other male in the family, to pick up the slack. My sister Sydney, who was two years younger than me, had also been helping the family ever since she got signed by one of New York’s top modeling agencies a couple years ago. She should have been living in a beautiful pad in the heart of the city, but instead, she split a place in Hell’s Kitchen with two other models so she could send home as much money as possible.
I held my breath as Naomi became quiet and still. It was as though I’d shocked her numb.
“I see.” She lifted her drink and sucked back the remainder in one go. “Proves my point. The best ones are always taken.”
“I’m sorry if you felt I was leading you on. It wasn’t my intention, but I can’t lie. You are an alluring and incredibly beautiful woman. I couldn’t help but flirt a little. It’s in my nature.” I grinned, feeling my cheeks heat with a mighty dose of embarrassment.
Naomi waved her hand in the air nonchalantly. “It’s fine. Like you said, lying is for losers. I’m happy to sit here and have a drink with a handsome man that has no ulterior motive—like getting into my panties.”
I chuckled, relieved that she wasn’t angry with me. “Now I didn’t say that… If panty removal is on the table, we may need to have a different conversation,” I joked.
That had her laughing out loud and back to smiling.
She lifted her hand to get the bartender’s attention. While she did so, I checked her out further.
Naomi was something special. Unlike any woman I’d approached in the past. She was confident, straightforward, and absurdly attractive. Legs that went on for days. A toned body that I could tell she worked hard on. Her biceps were nicely defined but not so much that she looked like a bodybuilder, just that she must appreciate weight lifting and regular gym attendance. The dress she wore highlighted every lush curve of her hips and breasts, but also hinted at an athletic body beneath.
Exactly my type.
There was a lot I’d give up to woo such a fine woman into my bed and possibly my heart, but not at my family’s expense. I had too much riding on my securing a bid in the auction tomorrow.
“So, where is this wonder woman you’re planning to marry?” Naomi asked, bringing the conversation back to reality.
“I’ll be meeting her tomorrow.” That wasn’t a lie, even if I was omitting the full truth. We weren’t allowed to discuss the finer details of the auction with outsiders. It was part of the NDA I’d signed. And besides, if I was chosen, I absolutely would be meeting my future wife tomorrow, directly following the auction.
“Well, let me be the first to congratulate you.” She grabbed the fresh martini the bartender had delivered. A second IPA sat in front of my nearly empty glass.
“To you and your bride. May you have many happy years together.”
I lifted my pint and clinked it with hers.
* * * *
We spent the next few hours together seated at that bar. We ordered dinner and shot the shit as if we’d known one another for much longer than mere hours. It was the most fun I’d had with a woman in years, outside of my sisters. Speaking of my reason for existing…
“Five sisters!” She cackled and smacked the bar top a couple times. “Dang, your parents were getting busy!”
“Right!” I agreed through my laughter. “Every two years, boom. Momma popped out another pretty little thing I was determined to protect with every fiber of my being.”
“Awwww.” She pushed at my arm playfully, then leaned into my side deeply, half her body resting against me. “You’re a good big brother.” She patted my arm as she looked up at me with the sweetest expression on her face. She reminded me of a doe from the Georgia backwoods. God himself must have sculpted her features because no woman had such incredible bone structure. Her skin was all sleek and shiny, and in the deepest fawn color. But it was her eyes that had a vise lock on me. They were mesmerizing, like an obsidian gemstone with a golden sheen. When she was happy, shimmery flecks around her pupils reflected back like motor oil over water. I had a hard time not getting lost in them.
“Admit it, you scared the pants off of any would-be suiters hitting on your sisters, didn’t you?” She rubbed my back, perhaps a bit more intimately than she should have, but we’d both had several drinks and had gone beyond just strangers. We were…friends.
I shrugged and sipped at my fifth—no, sixth—IPA. “Naw, they make it easy. They’re all smart as hell. I’m talking 4.0 and up grade point averages across the board, and two of them are still in high school. They put my status to freakin’ shame.”
“Oh yeah? You have a house full of smarty-pants, eh? Good! They will make sure that any woman who wins your heart is worth her salt, especially if she has to stand up to five other women, not including your momma.”
“True that. And my granny. Don’t forget her. She’s a pistol on a good day.”
Naomi hummed low in her throat, and I swear I felt it in my balls as they drew up, my shaft getting hard. It was as if it had a mind of its own and wanted out. Or should I say in to Ms. Naomi Shaw.
I took a few deep breaths in order to relax but her every touch sent a shiver down my spine. Every teasing smile made my heart beat double time. And let’s not forget about those eyes. The way she looked at me as if she could see me naked and approved…total mind fuck.
I had to stop those thoughts…So what did I do? I drank more beer.
Not wise.
“What are their names?”
I grinned. “You are not going to believe me when I tell you.”
“Try me.” She sipped her martini looking over the rim at me with those doe eyes that I wanted to look into for a lot longer than a single night.
“First, you gotta understand my mom. She’s quirky. So I’m Memphis…”
“What? Is one of your sisters named Nashville!” She hooted and hollered as the drunken giggles took over.
I bit my lip in order not to crack up, but it was useless. I could barely breathe as I said, “No. But close!”
She placed her hands on my thigh and squeezed my quad as she got herself under control. “Seriously?” she asked through her chortles.
I nodded, breathing through my nose so I’d be able to answer. “We’ve got Sydney, Odessa, Paris, Holland, and Cheyenne,” I finally stated, then leaned back in my chair and watched her laugh.
Naomi ran her hands up and down my leg suddenly distracted. “You have monster-sized quads.” She brazenly tried to put her hands around my thigh.
“That’s the years of training to be a pro baller for ya.”
She frowned and pursed her plump lips, then tried to compare my thigh size to hers. When she lifted her leg up onto the second rung of my stool and slid her slinky dress all the way up to the promise land, I about swallowed my tongue. I couldn’t speak. I’d lost all ability to make logical thoughts as I stared at her magnificent bare legs. I watched her put her hands around her thigh to make the important comparison she’d become hyper-focused on.
“Yours is like two or three of mine,” Naomi announced with awe in her voice.
I stared at her shapely thigh, and I wasn’t proud of it, but I took a gander a little higher. I could just barely see a hint of her fire-engine red panties.
Instinct took over. “Let me see,” I stupidly announced. Then I put both my hands around her thigh. I stared at her sinfully well-formed thigh, enjoying not only that she felt soft like she bathed in shea butter, but also seeing my darker skin tone in contrast to hers.
She gasped at my touch. I slid my thumbs back and forth, petting her delectable flesh. It was so warm and inviting, I could have spent hours touching her. My mouth salivated at the desire to bend over and place a kiss there, drag my teeth along the muscle, and bite down until she cried out in pleasure, begging me for more.
I pulled my hands back and cleared my throat. “So, yeah,” I said stupidly, not knowing what else to say, then gulped down my drink, forcing those desires aside.
She licked her lips and eased her dress down before pushing a long lock of black hair behind her ear. Suddenly she avoided eye contact.
I’d made her uncomfortable. “Damn, Naomi, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to touch you…”
“You?” she whisper-yelled. “It was my fault. I’m the one who half mauled you. I’m sorry. That’s not the kind of woman I am. I do not go after another woman’s man. Never have, never will.”
I reached out and took her hand. “Hey, it’s okay. We’ve had a good time, but it’s really late. I have an early day.”
“Yes, of course. You go. I’ll settle up with the bartender.”
I shook my head and moved out of my seat. Then I held out my hand. “It’s already handled. When you went to the ladies room a couple hours ago, I added my room number to the bill.”
“You didn’t have to do that, but thank you.” She eased out of the chair and stood next to me. In her heels, the woman was over six feet, which had to make her a cool five feet ten.
I gritted my teeth as I took in the perfection that was Naomi Shaw. I didn’t think I’d ever meet a woman as intelligent, beautiful, quick-witted, and confident as I had today. And that pinched my heart, making me feel as though I had a bad case of heartburn.
“I’ll walk you to your room,” I murmured, and straightened my spine as I reminded myself about what was at stake. I couldn’t risk decades of monetary security on one great night with a woman I’d just met.
“You don’t have to do that. I can get there myself as I’m staying here in The Alexandra,” Naomi challenged.
“I’m staying here too. And once again, my momma would tan my hide if I didn’t escort you. We’ve both had several drinks and I would sleep better knowing you made it safely back to your room. Plus, we’re friends. Adults. It’s not like anything is going to happen.” I said it, and meant it, but my heart felt the opposite.
She simply nodded.
I put my hand to her back and led her through the casino to the elevators.
“Which floor?” I asked.
“Um, the penthouse.”
“The top floor?” I choked out, disbelieving. I happened to know that there were only two rooms on the top floor because my friend, Faith Castellanos, whose husband owned the hotel, had told me so. One being the honeymoon penthouse suite, the other being for special guests or people who could afford such luxuries. The room had already been reserved, so her husband, Joel, had gifted me a luxury suite on the fifteenth floor. Not that Madam Alana wouldn’t have paid for my room in the host hotel as part of the candidates’ fees, but it made me feel closer to my friends by staying in something they owned. And I promised Joel I would provide detailed feedback on my experience since the resort was newly open to the public.
“I know the owner.” She gave a half-hearted shrug and looked away.
“Me too. Faith Castellanos is a friend of mine. Well, technically, Joel is too, but I don’t know him as well as I do her.”
“I know him through the jewelry business,” she answered, sounding conflicted, which was odd.
Maybe she and Joel had been a thing in the past. Jealousy tore through me unwantedly.
“Look, you don’t have to explain your relationship to me. I’m not your man,” I said, and hated it the instant the words left my mouth. They felt like dry sludge on my tongue—bitter and nasty.
Naomi closed her eyes, crossed her arms over her chest, and took a breath. The elevator dinged and the second the doors opened, she jetted to get out of the confined space.
“Naomi, wait. That was rude of me to say.” I followed her out. “I’m sorry…” I tried as she approached her door and slapped her keycard against it several times to no avail.
She shook her head vigorously from left to right. “No, no. You’re not wrong. Carry on. We had a great night together. Really great,” she said to the door, not to me.
I reached for her elbow and spun her around to find her eyes glassy as though she might cry. I cupped her jaw and ran my thumb along the high, rounded cheekbone. “I’m sorry. I’m saying all the wrong things. It’s just…” I let my shoulders slump. “I’m feeling things I shouldn’t for you. Things I can’t feel,” I whispered, and it pained me to admit it. My chest tightened, and I clenched my teeth in order to hold back everything I wanted to say but knew I shouldn’t.
She nodded and I watched a tear fall. I quickly wiped it away staring into those endless shimmery black depths. “I wish we’d met at a different time in another place where things weren’t so complicated.”
“I wish that too,” she agreed. “I know you have to go, but all I want to do is beg you to stay.”
“Fuck!” An ache the size of a brick hit my gut, telling me I was about to ruin the best opportunity of my life.
“You need to go…because if you don’t, I’m inviting you in. And you’re not that kind of man, and normally, I’m not that kind of woman. Though I think I could be that type of woman if the end result was making you mine.”
“Jesus!” I bit out, cupped both her cheeks, and pressed my nose next to hers. “One kiss. I can’t leave until I have at least a single taste to last me.”
“A kiss to last a lifetime?” she purred, her breath fanning the flames of my need for her.
“Yeah, Naomi. A kiss to last a lifetime.” Then I planted my lips to hers.
It was akin to a bomb exploding. We ravaged one another’s mouths. I sucked on her bottom lip, slanted my head to the side, and devoured her whole. The kiss went on and on. My tongue chasing hers, hers chasing mine. We were both breathing hard as I pressed her up against the wall, my hand on her tight, rounded ass, my cock wedged against her pelvis. She moaned and I thrust my hips, grinding along her slinky dress until she mewled.
When her hand came down between us and she cupped my length, rubbing her palm just right, I ripped my mouth away.
We were both wide-eyed and gasping for air as we realized how far we’d taken it.
I slowly extracted myself, grabbed her hands, and brought them both up to my mouth where I placed a single kiss to each.
“I’ll never forget you,” I promised as I backed away from a woman who could have been my everything.
She lifted her hand to her mouth and stood still as stone as I stepped onto the elevator.
“Goodbye, Memphis.” Her goodbye sliced straight through my heart, chopping it in half.
“Goodbye, Naomi.”