Chapter 4
By the time we got back to the house, the night had settled into that soft, city quiet with the warm air that blew just right.
Yana kicked her shoes off at the door. “I’m starving.”
“What do you mean?” Princess huffed, strutting into the house behind her. “We ate at the airport before we took off!”
“Earlier, I was just airport hungry. This is hungry, hungry.”
Trailing behind them both, I closed the door and smiled. I listened to them bicker over food and watched as they moved through my space like they belonged there. Yana headed straight for the kitchen and opened the fridge.
“You still got those frozen fries?” she called.
“They should still be in there,” I said. “Same place.”
She searched through the door and grinned when she found them. “Knew it.”
Princess shook her head and slipped her bag off her shoulder. “Junior-year appetite is wild,” she said. “She can eat and still fit into the same jeans.”
“Hey, I earned this,” Yana said defensively.
The rest of the evening was easy. Music played low while Yana talked about school, what colleges she was considering, and how this spring break was the only break she could enjoy without stressing about missing classes.
“Junior year is fake busy. Everything is ‘important’ now. I wonder what senior year will be like.”
“You ready for it? Your last year of high school?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I guess so. I’m excited. Nervous. All that.”
Princess reached over and squeezed her hand. “You’re gonna be great.”
After she ate a large plate of fries, Yana disappeared into her room, her phone glued to her hand.
Princess sat on the couch with the lights low.
A movie played on the mounted TV on the wall above the fireplace that danced and lit up the room in different hues.
I poured some wine for us, walked into the connected space from the kitchen, and handed her a glass.
She was curled up on the couch with her legs tucked under her. Her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail that fell behind her back. She looked comfortable, like she was safe.
When she looked up and reached for the glass, her eyes caught me staring at her.
“What?” she asked with a smirk.
“Nothing,” I said quickly.
“Mhm.” She took the glass from my hands. “You always say that when it’s something on your mind.”
I sat next to her and took a sip out of my glass. “It’s just funny how you still look . . . the same.”
She tilted her head. “The same as what?”
“The same as you did when we were kids,” I said. “Just grown.”
Her smile softened. “That’s funny. I feel real different.”
“How so?”
“I guess I feel more settled.” She propped herself up, placed both legs under her, and faced me. “I feel more busy, way more tired. But . . . grounded.”
The phone in her lap lit up. With her free hand, she lifted it up and glanced at the screen.
“What you working on these days?” I asked.
“Right now, just emails,” she muttered. “Malcom wants to talk about another adaptation. And my editor keeps asking if I’m thinking about writing a sequel.”
I nodded my head, impressed. “Number one movie in the country, and you still going.”
She smiled. “You never stopped either. Once your album took off, you shot off like a rocket.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I set my glass on the coffee table in front of us and adjusted my body to face her. “I guess I’m just saying that I remember you sitting on your bed in Detroit, talking about how you just wanted somebody to hear your words. Now, everybody listening.”
She looked up from the screen and locked eyes with me before she responded. “You were the first person who ever made me believe it was possible.”
I swallowed. “You already knew you was that girl, even back then.”
“Still,” she countered, “it mattered . . . It meant more than you understood.”
We both went quiet after that. The silence stretched between us for what felt like a while.
It seemed as if both of us felt the heat in the moment.
She let out a small chuckle, dropped her eyes to her lap, and tapped her nails on the glass.
I reached over, picked mine up from the table and took a sip.
After I cleared my throat, I said, “Can I ask you something?”
She looked at me. “Sure.”
“Why you put your things in the guest room?”
She scoffed and twisted her lips. Through furrowed brows and a laugh, she responded, “Boy, why is you playing? You know why!”
“No, I don’t,” I teased. With my eyes on her, I took a sip from my glass.
“I don’t even know why you playing with me right now.”
“I’m just saying, you seen that California king bed in my room. More than enough room.”
“I bet it is.” She playfully rolled her eyes. “But you already know the reason.”
“No, I don’t. Let me hear you say it.”
She exhaled. “Because we said we’d learn each other again as adults. As friends. No rushing. No pretending old feelings didn’t complicate things.”
I nodded, even though my chest tightened. I had agreed to learn more about each other before we jumped into something, and although I had joked, I knew she was right. “I agreed to that? I don’t remember that shit,” I joked. “Sound like torture to me.”
She chuckled. “It’s discipline.”
We stared at each other then. My eyes traced the way her hair framed her face.
Her deep, brown eyes held mine like she knew exactly what it did to me.
The light from the fire kissed her skin and highlighted the trace of her jawline.
She always held the kind of beauty that never needed to beg for attention.
I wanted to forget the movie, forget what we were talking about, but most of all, I wanted to say fuck the rules we’d agreed on.
The way she stared at me while she took calm and deep breaths made my dick hard.
I broke the silence first. “What movie is this again?” I asked, squinting at the screen like I cared.
She laughed out loud. “You are ridiculous.”
“Hey, how I’m supposed to remember every conversation we ever had?” I smirked.
“Yeah, whatever, nigga.”
We both picked up our phones and checked the time at the same moment.
“I should get some sleep,” she said as she stood.
I couldn’t help but stare at the way her ass looked in those leggings.
Princess had a curvy body ever since we were younger, but as she aged, her hips spread even more.
She stretched, and her sweater rose a little, revealing her belly button.
She laughed through a yawn and shook her head when she caught me gawking.
“You are so funny, Zay.”
I licked my top lip and bit my bottom one playfully. “I ain’t doing nothing.”
I grabbed the remote, turned the TV off, and stood. The light from the fireplace danced behind us and cast shadows on the wall as I followed her to the hallway. We paused at the doorframe. The guest room was to the right, my room to the left.
“Good night,” she said.
“Good night,” I replied.
She smiled once more before she turned to the right. I watched her walk down the hall and pause at the door. She waved, opened the door, and stepped into the room. It made a soft click when it shut.
I sighed, turned left, and padded the short walk to my room. I noticed how quiet the house was once I closed my door. My thoughts were loud when I pushed open the bathroom door and flipped the light switch.
My bathroom wasn’t big, but it was one of my favorite parts of my space.
The matte-black fixtures were nice, but the stone flooring made it pop.
The shower sat open and wide, with entrances on the left and right, a large tub in between.
The stone tiles aligned the walls and ceiling that met in the middle, where the waterfall head was mounted.
It was easily big enough for three, maybe four people. I knew that from experience.
The memory popped into my mind, uninvited: laughter, hands everywhere, soft bodies with titties pressed against my back and chest. That night felt indulgent, loud, and empty in hindsight.
I took off my clothes and stepped into the shower, letting the water fall onto my shoulders. It washed away the thought almost as quickly as it had come.
Princess replaced it immediately.
It wasn’t just how she looked that turned me on, though she was fine as fuck.
It was the way she moved, the way she carried herself that I found the sexiest. She was the only woman who’d ever challenged me without even trying.
She could be soft one moment and fiery the next, sassy with a sharp tongue that used to always keep me on my toes.
My energy always grew when we were together.
She always knew how to make me think, make me pause, and make me quiet.
It had been so long since I had that, before she came back into my life.
The water continued to run down my back as the realization settled.
I loved her—not the idea of her or the comfort she brought, but her.
The thought of her body followed naturally.
The way her titties sat up just right, how her natural shape gave her a tiny waist that led into her firm, round ass that felt like the softest place on earth.
My dick rose again at the thought. My breath deepened, and my mind reacted before it could catch up.
Suddenly, I felt a hand pressed against my back.
I jumped and spun around instinctively, my heart racing.
Princess stood there, naked, with water splashing from the stream onto her body. She tilted her head and smiled out of one corner of her mouth.
I blinked a few times before I realized she was really there.
“Prin, what you doi—”
Before I could finish, she reached up and placed her finger on my lips.
“Shh . . . Don’t speak,” she said.
I did as she commanded. She grabbed my arms and took a step forward.
The water from the showerhead poured over her hair and dripped down her face.
The way she stared at me told me there was no more pretending.
She wanted me as badly as I wanted her. She wrapped my arms around her waist and stood on her toes.
With her hands around my neck, she leaned into my face and pressed her lips into a kiss.
I leaned down and met her halfway with mine.
Somewhere between her hands that caressed the back of my head and my tongue swirling inside her mouth, everything that made me nervous when I thought of what this moment would feel like again, to have her in my arms again, stopped mattering. The first moan she made into my mouth broke that barrier.
I slid my hands down her back slowly. When I reached her ass, I grabbed both cheeks, cuffed them, and lifted her into the air. Her legs wrapped around me instinctively, and I pressed her back against the wall.
We stayed that way a moment longer, our kisses deep and passionate.
When she moaned again, I gently let her down and spun her around.
With her face toward the wall, she slowly bent over and touched her toes.
I took a step back and admired the view.
With her ass in the air, I slapped her right cheek and whispered, “Damn, baby.”
“Fuck this pussy, daddy.” She groaned in response.
That was all it took for me. All thoughts about protection and being careful flew out the window.
I remembered every curve, dimple, and mole.
I remembered the slope of her waist and how she’d reach around to grab my wrist when she was about to cum.
From the day I took her virginity, that pussy was mine. I didn’t care about anything else.
With one hand around her waist and the other on my shaft, I slapped it on her ass a few times before I rubbed it across her clit.
When I felt the juices on the tip of my dick, I gently eased inside of her.
She breathed in deep and reached for a handle on the shower wall.
It felt like I had walked into an ocean.
I thrust my hips back and forth in a steady rhythm.
Princess whimpered and slipped out expletives with each stroke.
“I missed this dick, baby,” she uttered between breaths.
“I missed this pussy,” I replied.
With every stroke, I felt her kitty tighten. It felt so damn good. I was on the verge of an orgasm, so I slowed down and took a deep breath.
“Let it go, daddy.”
“Naw, not yet,” I said. “I want this to last.” I pulled out then and exhaled. “Whew!”
“You always do that.” Princess laughed. She stood up straight and turned around. “You always jump out when you about to cum.”
“You gon’ get yours before I get mine,” I joked back. “I promise that. It’s just been a while since I had you. I’m excited.”
She smiled.
“Let’s get in the bed,” I said.
Princess walked out of the shower. I cut the water off and followed her. With her eyes locked on mine, she slid into bed and lay on her back. Her gaze never left mine when she spread her legs and welcomed me.
I remembered how missionary was her favorite. It was something about wrapping her legs around me that she loved the most. I didn’t mind it; I could give her anything she wanted. She always knew how to seduce me.
When I walked to the bed and climbed on top of her, she leaned forward with her elbows and met my lips. She kissed me and grabbed the back of my head with her hands as she lay back.
“I missed you,” she murmured into my ear.
“I missed you too,” I responded.
With that, the rest of the night faded away.
There was no rush, no distance left between us.
The heat, the familiarity, and the way our bodies remembered each other all came without permission from anything or anyone.
Our touches were desperate, and each word we spoke to one another was lost in the urgency of finally being together after so long.
When we finished, Princess laid her head on my chest with my arm around her. I tenderly ran my fingers through her wet hair as we lost ourselves in the quiet of the room around us.
“I love you,” she said softly.
I kissed her shoulder. “I love you too.”
We lay that way until she fell asleep. I chuckled at her snores. They were peaceful and quiet, as if she were holding them back, even in her sleep.
For the first time in a long time, I not only felt at peace, but I felt something else I couldn’t put into words. It was a calm feeling, more of a connection that I couldn’t quite put into words, over anything else.
I hadn’t felt that way in so long.
But I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be.