Chapter 51
fifty-one
“I can’t believe you did all this for me,” she buzzed, walking out on the patio.
She was dressed to the nines, sure to wear a dress that Cairo would want to tear off of her body.
Her curls were rehydrated, diffused, big, and bouncy, thanks to Dania.
What she expected was a popular steakhouse in the city in a corner booth.
What she got was the house she purchased for them to one day occupy, decorated.
The patio staged with a white linen-covered table, private chef in the kitchen plating their dinner.
Kamilla stood at the far side of the patio near the pool and glass wall, watching the waves below crash against the rocks. Cairo wrapped his arms around her and kissed the curve of her neck.
“Don’t you know I’d do anything for you?” he mused, looking down the hill to the east finding their beach hideaway and what Kamilla deemed as the crying rock. “Why’d you do this? Buy this house?”
Kamilla’s body melted into his. “Because this is our dream from our two in the morning rides. From Husten to the hills. It was a few months after you went away and Fredo threw me a last-minute cleaning job to keep me busy. I walked in here and I knew it was ours. The couple who lived here were going through a contentious divorce and bitterly, she was like “You want it?” I thought she was playing but she was dead ass serious. I told her about our crying rock and how we’d dreamt of seeing the inside of this house, next thing I knew, she locked the property up in a trust and gave me three years to give her twenty-thousand dollars.
That’s literally all she owed because she inherited the house and she’d be damned if he got it.
By that time, I’d already started investing your money.
Two days later, I came back cash –in-hand.
Now it’s ours. And all that time you were going to the beach was trespassing. Doesn’t matter, it’s ours now.”
“I think God gave me an angel,” Cairo muttered. “And I don’t even know what I did to deserve that.”
“You know it’s not always about what we deserve.
Grace is grace. It can’t be explained. You never know what prayers your grandmother prayed over you.
The ones that kept you alive so you could see your son grow.
I know you’re walking in those prayers. I know you have a lot of work to do, and you’re just getting started.
I also know that in every lifetime, my soul will find yours. ”
“Stop talkin’ to me like that,” he mumbled in her ear. “I might think you like me.”
Kamilla laughed softly. “I love you. You should never doubt that. And you should never take advantage of that.”
“Trust me, won’t happen. You’re a builder and I refuse to turn you into the destroyer,” he shared, pulling in a deep breath of the sea breeze. “I love you more than you’ll know.”
A soft, “dinner is served” grabbed their attention. Hand in hand, they moved from the wall to the table. Filet mignon seared to perfection, branzino, lemon garlic risotto, and charred broccolini. Her favorite red wine and a bouquet of flowers.
Kamilla grinned. “I see D told you all of my business.”
“The things that mattered,” Cairo shared, pulling her chair out. “Heard Thursdays at JJ’s is your thing and y’all leave Nate to babysit.”
“We love Thursdays at JJ’s. I think it’s going to rival Thursdays with you now,” Kamilla hummed. “I heard someone signed their contract.”
“You got two more on the way. I heard someone got that promotion,” Cairo replied. “I’m so damn proud of you, K.”
She grinned. “I’m proud of you.”
“Nahhh, baby.” Cairo swayed his head and attempted to control the unexpected rise of emotion in his being. “If it weren’t for you and that love you naturally had in your spirit for me and everything that came with me, I wouldn’t be here. You did this.”
She swiped a tear from her cheek. “I did it for us. I couldn’t imagine being here without you.”
“Me neither,” he voiced quietly, allowing her to reach across the table and swipe the tear from his cheek. Cairo grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. “For stealing the moon.”
“For stealing the moon.”
Like parents who’d spent their day working and managing an overactive child, they passed out stargazing after dinner, dessert, and a shower.
Kamilla opted out of the glass of wine, remembering how the night after indulging with Dania had her feeling sluggish.
As she pulled her eyes open, still wrapped in Cairo’s hold, the blanket over them and his free hand in her hair, she took in the beauty of him.
His tattooed face, a few scars, those eyes that could see into her soul, those lips that kissed her troubles away, that nose that loved inhaling every part of her.
He was hers and there had never been a doubt about where his love for her lied.
Where his loyalty and respect for her lied.
More than anything, she was grateful that he was back here in her arms. Five years was too long, but she understood the time apart grew her in more ways than she knew she was capable of.
She kissed his chest, inched closer to him as if she could’ve gotten any closer.
The trail of his fingers up and down her back mirrored the pace of hers against his.
A deep inhale of her curls was accompanied with his lips pressed against her forehead.
Kamilla exhaled and placed a series of kisses to his chest. A grip of her curls forced her face to tilt up toward his.
Between massages to her scalp and grips to her hair, he placed kisses down the bridge of her nose until he reached her lips.
He gently bit at each and kissed them slowly while wrapping her leg around him.
Kamilla reached up, gripping the hairs on his beard and deepening their kiss.
Cairo’s hands explored her like it was territory unclaimed by him.
His exploration of her body pulled moans from her depths.
Moans she would have otherwise had to muffle.
Hooking her thigh and repositioning her on top of him, he held her face.
Kamilla’s hands roamed over his chest, down his torso to the top of his shorts.
Maintaining their kiss, she found what she was in search of.
His hardness met by the softness of her hand moving up and down until she freed him.
Nipping his bottom lip, Kamilla kissed down his body, her hair sweeping behind her trail of kisses.
Cairo’s eyes followed her, taking in the view of her full lips kissing the tip before taking it into her mouth.
The sweetest moan vibrated around him, making his body melt into the cushions underneath him.
Her hair was gathered in his hands, grunting with every suction, bob and lick.
“Fuuuccckkk, Mariposa,” he groaned, thrusting his hips upward. “Put that pretty pussy on my face.”
A quick reposition, Cairo locked his arms around her waist, matching her rhythm before taking control.
Kamilla moaned, feeling how wet she was.
Gliding her center over his face and suctions of his mouth on her bud, the more she sucked, using her hands as a brace and taking him to the back of her throat.
Their muffled moans rose and fell together.
Their arousal turned into a crescendo of euphoric explosion.
Each drinking the nectar as the greatest reward.
Cairo flipped her over, freed her of the lingerie she changed into earlier.
Her legs hooked in his arms, he inched into her, capturing her lips.
Kamilla moaned, taking him in, her fingers digging into his shoulder blades.
They didn’t share a word, just moans of gratitude and groans of appreciation.
Cairo gave her everything she needed and then some.
“Open your eyes, Mariposa. The sun is coming up,” he grunted, giving her the stroke and grind combo that was bound to have her creaming all over him and their new patio furniture.
Kamilla’s eyes fluttered open, finding the sunrise and Cairo’s intense gaze.
“Now,” he growled. “Now you can come.”
Almost two weeks later, Kamilla was back in the throes of work.
The week of relaxing and recovering from all the desert returned to her were behind her.
Now, being back in the full swing of things had Kamilla rushing out of one meeting to the bathroom before another.
The nausea came in waves. And had come in waves for the last three days.
There wasn’t a question in her mind about what her body was going through.
Cairo made sure that she was never getting away from him again.
Kamilla trotted into the bathroom, found an empty stall and emptied her stomach of its contents and huffed.
Happy her suit was still intact, she flushed the toilet and walked out, finding Daysha at the sink washing her hands.
“You’re supposed to be at home, you just had a baby,” Kamilla fussed, as she washed her hands and grabbed a packet of mouthwash.
“Says the woman who might be eight months shy of maternity leave herself,” Daysha sassed. “Or are we in denial and calling it a stomach bug.”
Kamilla rinsed her mouth and laughed. “I’m not in denial. What’s going to be fun is telling your husband that our new producer is my baby daddy two times.”
“You should tell him as soon as the Lucci Day meeting is done. Something about having another baby puts him in a good mood,” Daysha spoke with a laugh. “Making them, having them, all of the above.”
“You’re glowing, too. But after this meeting, you should really go back home,” Kamilla encouraged. “We need you in the mix at Lucci Day and not laid up because you did too much too soon.”
“Because you said it with love, I will sit in on this meeting and take my ass home. That should be just in time for me to pump.”
“See,” Kamilla chuckled.
“I’ll have CiCi get you some ginger peach tea from the cafe for the nausea,” Daysha spoke, placing her hand on Kamilla’s nonexistent bump. “Another El Jefe baby. I’m so excited. See you in the meeting.”