19. Smoke
Smoke
F rom the minute Kaifiya stepped her fine ass into that hotel suite, she was squealing and shit. All the tears that had been present half an hour ago were nowhere in sight. I knew that it didn’t take much to make a woman happy, and whatever she wanted, I was willing to give.
“Are these presents all for me, baby?” She squealed as she ran to the couch and ran her hands over the elaborate lavender and sapphire blue foil and metallic gift-wrapping paper.
“Yes, those are for you, baby.”
“You did such a wonderful job wrapping these. Did you wrap these, baby?”
I laughed at her little slick ass. She was trying to figure out if another female was involved. Her voice was all sugary, sweet, and soft. Gone was the fire that usually accompanied her personality.
“Nah, I didn’t do that shit. The shopper that I hired did that for me. If I had wrapped them gifts, they would’ve been fucked up. I’d have just thrown that shit in a shopping bag.”
She mugged me and sucked her teeth. “Don’t be calling my gifts shit, Smoke. Now you got me wondering what you got me.”
“Don’t wonder. Open that shit.”
“Okay!” she exclaimed giddily and instantly started ripping the bows off and pulling the paper away to see what I had bought her.
“Jimmy Choo! I love his shoes.” Kaifiya squealed.
I took a seat on the bar stool at the kitchen island and laughed at her. She had so much fun unwrapping the gifts and discovering all the clothing, shoes, purses, and accessories I had purchased for her. When she finished, I took a seat beside her on the couch.
“Listen, I ain’t tryna buy my way back into your life. That ain’t what this shit is at all.”
“I know, baby. I’m guessing Noel told you how depressed I’ve been and that my birthday is tomorrow.”
“He did. And I wanted to spend some time with you, but I also wanted to make sure that you had the clothes you needed for what we’ll be doing.”
“What are we doing?”
“Tonight, I’m gonna love on you. Tomorrow morning, you’re being pampered after breakfast. The salon team will come up here and give you a full body scrub, facial, massage, and mani and pedi.”
“They not fucking with my hair, Smoke. I don’t play about this shit,” Kaifiya stated and reached up and touched her hair.
“I know. Noel put me in touch with your stylist. She’ll be here when everyone else finishes, to do your hair, baby,” I assured her and kissed her lips.
She squealed again.
“But we will be going to the beach tomorrow afternoon, a play and dinner tomorrow evening, and then the next day, we’re going to a ball to celebrate my grandfather’s eightieth birthday.”
“Oh my gosh! Are you serious?”
“I’m serious. So, you have to get out of this damn funk and get in better spirits.”
“I’m better, baby.” She cooed and reached forward to cup my cheeks. She kissed my lips for several long minutes, and my dick instantly reacted.
“Stop that shit before I call the kitchen and tell them to fuck food tonight.”
Kaifiya pulled back and laughed at me.
“I’m sorry for going overboard in my reaction to you, Smoke.”
“No need to apologize, baby. I understood what was going on, and I respected that. You trusted me a while back with the truth, and I should have known that shit would be too much for you.”
“I just want to know that I can trust you with the things that you tell me. I want to know that you won’t hide things from me and that you will always be truthful with me as much as possible.”
“I will, but I need to tell you something.”
Her eyes widened as she pulled back.
“I don’t want you to be angry with me. I want you to understand where I’m coming from, so let me give that explanation before I tell you what I did.”
Kaifiya pressed her hands against her belly and looked worried.
“Chill with that shit.”
“I’m listening.”
“My parents are firm in their ways and how they raised us. My father taught Jo-Jo and me that it was always our responsibility to protect the women in our lives and to provide for them. He wanted them to feel comfortable knowing they never had to work a day in their lives if they didn’t want to. And if they did, he wanted the women to be comfortable doing what they loved for a living. He said their hands should be busy doing something they were passionate about, not because they had to for them to make a living, but because if they didn’t do this thing, they would stop breathing because it was a crucial part of who they are.”
Kaifiya nodded.
“That’s how I feel about you. I know you love that candle-making shop, and I support your efforts to build it. I want you to do it carefree without worries about how you’ll pay the bills or if you’ll lose it again.”
“I’ve been thinking about applying with this council for a small business loan. I can’t keep operating under Terry—”
I pressed my finger to her lips and whispered, “Shhh. You don’t have to.”
Her eyebrows scrunched down in confusion.
“I paid him off. Not because I had to, but because I wanted to.”
I saw the instant flare in her eyes. “Smoke! That was my responsibility.”
“No. You’re my responsibility as long as you are my woman. I don’t want you owing no nigga shit. Men ain’t right. For as long as you owe him, ain’t no telling where his mind might go. He might start thinking that he can get between your legs to get his payment back. And I damn sure am not okay with them fuck ass niggas he had rolling up on your shit. I’ma bust a cap in a nigga and be serving time in prison they keep trying my woman.”
I wiped the tears that had begun to slide down her face again.
“Damn, ma. You crying your ass off tonight.”
“You didn’t have to do it, Smoke. It was so sweet. I promise I’ll repay—”
I pressed my finger to her lips again. “Shhh. You ain’t paying me shit back. You’re my woman, and this is what I do for my woman. All I need you to promise me is that we’ll work through shit in the future. No running out. When problems arise, no matter how hard it gets, talk to me. We’ll work on them together.”
“I promise, and I promise I won’t get behind on the bills again and risk losing the shop.”
“You ain’t gotta worry about that shit either. Jo-Jo and I brought the building and put it into your name and Shauntel’s name.”
“What?”
“Yes. You’re copartners in the ownership of that building. You simply need to sign the paperwork, baby. She’s going to be opening her third salon in that building.”
Kaifiya threw her hands to her mouth and stared in wide-eyed wonder at me. The tears started back up again, and I laughed at her little ass and pulled her into my arms. When she stopped crying, she pulled back and stared at me.
“Why are you being so kind? Why are you doing all this? It’s been just under six months since we met.”
“Told you time waits for no man. I don’t operate on superficial bullshit. I move when the spirit moves me. Besides, a man in love does the things his woman needs to be secure. He provides a safe space for her so that she’ll never have to rely on anyone else again. He builds her up and doesn’t tear her down. He strengthens her so that she can have her own.”
“You love me, baby?” she whispered.
“I do.”
Kaifiya kissed me deeply and then whispered, “I love you, too, Smoke. I love you so damn much.”
“Listen, baby. I want you to get grief counseling.”
“I will.”
“Come on. The kitchen staff is waiting.”
“Can they bring it, and we eat later?”
“Damn right, they can.”
I slowly slid my three lubed fingers in and out of her and then sucked her clit.
“Please.” She whispered as her hips jerked out of control.
“Please, what, baby?”
“Please suck me. I want to feel your tongue inside of me.”
“Not yet, pretty mama.”
I slowly slid my fourth finger inside of her while I worked her clit with my thumb. Kaifiya’s eyes grew wide, and her mouth flew open.
“Relax, baby. Fisting can be pleasurable if you let it be.”
“I just want to feel you, Smoke.”
“And you will. Breathe and relax, baby.”
She did as I asked until she relaxed enough to welcome the feeling of my fingers curving in her pussy. I kept working with her until she came.
“Let me feel that metal, baby.”
When I dove into her without protection, it was like coming home. Her legs and arms wrapped around me, and her lips connected to mine in an unbreakable bond. I felt good as shit. Half an hour after our arrival, a nigga was back balls deep in his baby’s pussy where he belonged.
I knew that our relationship seemed to be on a fast-moving train, but I was certain of where my life was headed. At thirty-three and soon to be thirty-four in a couple of months, a nigga had zero tolerance for games and bullshit. This was my shorty. And in time, she would understand how deep that shit went.
My mouth covered Kaifiya’s, and I sucked on her tongue as my balls grew heavier. She convulsed around my dick, trying to make me give up that sacred nut. But I wasn’t ready yet. It had been too long since I’d been in her walls, and I just wanted to drown in them for a while longer.
I pulled back from the kiss.
“Stop that shit.”
“Whaaat?”
“Trying to make me nut.”
“I’m about to go, Smoke.”
“Then go, sweets. But I’m in this pussy, and I ain’t in no rush. I’ma put that little ass to bed, wore out after all the shit you took me through these last couple of weeks.”
Her hands stroked the back of my head. “What did I put you through?” Her voice was whiny but thick with arousal.
“Keeping me from getting in my pussy.”
Kaifiya rocked her hips up. “You like that?”
“Yeah, baby. That’s it,” I whispered.
She did it a few more times, convulsing around me the entire time. I smirked, pulled back, and sucked her titty into my mouth.
“Oh, shit, Smoke. Owhhooo.” She moaned, hooting like a damn owl and shit.
I pumped up into her hard while I sucked and bit that titty. And I knew the moment that she let go. My dick was soaked in her juices, and I could feel her convulsing and relaxing repeatedly.
I gripped her hips, pushed her legs back until her feet touched the headboard, and I tore her little ass up until I shot my seed all inside of her.
“Thank you, ma.”
“For?”
“Loving me.”
“I think I did from the day we met,” she stated happily. “Every time you called me back to The Smoke Hour, I knew that I couldn’t stay away. I wanted to be wherever you were. If Smoke was there, I wanted to be there too.”
“Remember you said that shit.”
“What?”
“Where there’s Smoke, there’s Fiya.”
She giggled, and I buried my face in the side of her neck, kissing her as I tickled her sides until she shrieked uncontrollably.