Chapter 16
Happily Ever After With A Sullivan
DANAE
If somebody would’ve told me that I’d be locked inside of Aura Sullivan’s penthouse for two days and didn’t feel the urge to run, I would’ve told them they were just as delusional as his ass.
But here I was, laid across his couch, in his lap, with nothing on but a lace bra and his boxers.
It was the most peaceful I’d been in a long time, and it felt so good.
We hadn’t left the house for anything since Amil’s Galentine’s Day dinner.
Between fucking each other’s brains out, debates over who had the best taste in movies, and Nerf gun wars that often ended with me hiding behind the kitchen island, yelling out I surrendered, we’d been in our own little world.
The amusement on my face when he ordered the Nerf guns off Instacart in the middle of one of our debates was pure comedy.
This morning, we woke up, made breakfast naked, ate naked, and spent the rest of the day lounging around, watching movies, the movies we debated on.
I smiled and squeezed my thighs together, thinking about how he’d come up behind me after breakfast while I loaded the dishwasher.
Lifting my leg, he ate my pussy like he hadn’t just had a hot meal.
His phone buzzed under me, pulling me out of my nasty thoughts. I sat up a little for him to grab it.
“Another reminder message from Kyiris,” he said.
I laughed. “What she say?”
He held the phone up and read the message out loud.
Kyiris: Y’all betta be on time to my party, or I’m disowning y’all, and I’m not playing.
“I’m ‘bout to not go just to call her bluff.”
I rolled over so that I was on my stomach and looked over at him. “Oh, you going. As a matter of fact, lemme show you the pajamas we wearing.” I got up to grab the bag with our stuff in it from the side of the couch and pulled out the pajama set.
When I turned around to show him, I had to fight to keep a straight face. I held up the silk red set with pink hearts all around the top and bottom. It was loud, loud as hell.
“And who you think wearing that in or out the house witchu?”
I peeked through the sleeve. “This is our matching set, bae. Valentine’s Day themed.”
“You lost your mind if you think I’m putting that on. Shit, I wouldn’t even let you walk outta here with that shit on. Go online and see what you can find on Macy’s, Gap, something. But we ain’t wearing that.”
I couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. “You not about to have me out here looking crazy, baby?” I walked back over to him and straddled his lap.
“I said us, but clearly you don’t give a damn about me.”
“I do. The real pajamas are in the bag.” Dipping my head, I kissed his lips.
“No pink hearts and bullshit?”
I kissed him again, talking into his lips. “No pink hearts and bullshit. Happy Valentine’s Day, handsome.”
He palmed my ass and kissed me back. “Happy Valentine’s Day, baby. Lemme see the other pajamas cause yo’ ass is too slick.”
I giggled, getting up from his lap and grabbing the bag. “Here.” I handed it to him.
“Aight. This is better.” He nodded approvingly, taking the deep red satin pajamas from the bag. “Burn that other shit.” He pointed to the other set.
“The hearts are fire, bae.”
“No. They belong in the fire. Go head and pack that shit up.”
“I’ll take ‘em back to the store. In the meantime, we need to get up and ready. She said be on time.”
“Aight. We’ll shower together then, Ma. You ain’t gotta beat around the bush about it.”
“Oh, please.”
He stood and picked me up over his shoulder. “Let’s go, sexy.”
I went to turn the shower on, and as soon as the steam filled the bathroom, I stripped.
“You puttin’ this on?” He held out my shower cap that I wasn’t ashamed to put on if it meant protecting my leave out.
“Thank you.”
I stepped inside the hot water, and he got in behind me.
“How do you feel about tonight?” I asked him, while I washed his back.
“About what? The party?”
“That and us officially celebrating our first Valentine’s Day together.”
He turned around and wrapped his hands around my waist. “I look forward to any time I get to spend with you. I’m used to Key throwing parties, so I can’t say I have a feeling about it. I’m looking forward to making this day special and memorable for us though.”
“Me too.”
He kissed my nose then proceeded to wash me from my head down to my feet. Once he was done, my body felt so relaxed, I wanted to lay down. We stepped out, and he wrapped a towel around me then around his waist.
“Before we go, we gotta do something.”
“What’s that?” I asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Exchange gifts.”
“Oh. Duh. Hold on.” I grabbed the Macy’s bag that had been sitting on his dresser and handed it to him.
He pulled out the Tom Ford Ombré Leather cologne and sniffed the box. “You bought this?”
“Yeah.”
“What you know about men cologne? Some overly friendly nigga at the counter help you?” he questioned while opening the box.
“No. An overly friendly woman.” I laughed.
He sprayed it once in the air and smelled it. “Yeah. This shit smell expensive. It got Aura Sullivan written all over it.”
“I know. Now read the card.”
I’d handwritten a note from my heart that I wanted him to read. I watched him open the card and read it silently before looking up at me.
“You serious about us, Danae?” he asked quietly.
“I am.”
Nodding, he walked over to his nightstand and pulled out an envelope. Sitting down on the bed, he gestured with his head for me to come over. I did and sat on his lap.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, baby.”
“Open it?”
“Nah. Read through it with your X-ray vision.” He laughed.
“Shut up.” I elbowed him. Opening the envelope, I peeked inside and already knew it was a check. “Aura.”
“Baby, take it out. Wait, that didn’t sound right. Never take it out.” He winked. “But go head and finish opening your gift.”
I took the check out and gasped when I saw the ‘in the amount of’ number. Sixty thousand dollars paid to Danae Anderson from Sullivan Realty.
“What the hell, Aura?”
“I ain’t gon’ lie. This wasn’t your original gift.
Your necklace is in the closet. But this check was most important.
I watched you get diligent yesterday and apply for two apartments for your Airbnb business, while we were chilling out there watching A Long Kiss Goodnight.
We’ll get into you not paying attention to the movie at another time. ”
I giggled and rolled my eyes.
“But I watched you take another step in going for what’s yours, and I want to put my money where my mouth is and invest in you.
This is for you to do as you please to get started once you get them.
Pay up a few months’ rent on each unit, decorate, a start-up cushion.
Whatever you wanna do, just see to it that it gets done. ”
Tears fell before I could stop them. “This is so thoughtful, Aura. Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome, baby.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
“You gettin’ fucked tonighhhttt,” I sang in his ear, and he slapped my ass to let me know that he’d heard me.
When we walked into the venue for Kyiris’ party, I quickly concluded that everybody that was complaining about those reminders she sent needed to apologize immediately.
The DJ was doing his thing, and the couples had overstood the assignment and brought out their best pajamas.
Kyiris wasn’t exaggerating when she expressed how much time and effort she’d put into getting things together.
The heart shaped light installations that glowed along the walls as we came in was the most unique thing I’d ever seen.
Farther inside was a heart shaped balloon arch that was too cute.
I pointed out the photo booth station with a custom sign that said, “Will You Be My Boo?” to Aura, letting him know that we’d be making a few stops there.
Then, she topped it off with a full kissing cam set up near the DJ booth.
And that was just the big things that I saw.
If she went big on that stuff, I just knew she took her time with the little details.
“Bae, Kyiris really did her thing. You can’t even front.”
Aura scanned the room. “She don’t never do nothing half ass. She definitely took it there with this.”
We made it on time like she requested, and I was glad we did because she had the biggest smile on her face when she saw us.
“Awww, y’all did what I said. If I wasn’t such a gangsta, I would cry.” She hugged both of us and complimented our pajamas. “In theme. I like it.”
“You should’ve saw that other shit she almost had me put on.”
Kyiris snickered, and I rolled my eyes.
“Shut up.” I spotted Thyri across the way at the buffet getting food. “I’ll be back, baby. I’m gonna go say hi to my cousin. And Kyiris, girl, when it’s time to plan my wedding, the job as wedding coordinator is yours, boo.”
I walked over to Thyri, giving hugs to the faces I recognized as I passed through the crowd.
“Hey, boo.” I gave her a side hug.
“Heyyy.” She kissed my cheek. “How you let me beat you here?”
“I don’t know. I just know I’m on time, and that’s all that matters.”
“According to Kyiris, yes, it is.” We both laughed. “You’re glowing, and I love to see it.”
“And so are you. It’s that sprinkle of Sullivan, girl. I’m realizing that now.”
“I agree.”
I grabbed a plate and added a few things to it before walking over to where Thyri had a seat. I didn’t get to sit down before Aura came over and pulled me by my arm over to the kissing cam.
“Come here.”
“Okay,” I said, confused.
Guiding me in front of it where we were in the spotlight, he reached over the DJ booth and grabbed the microphone.
“Wait, Aura,” I whispered. “What are you about to do?”
Raising his hand, he signaled for the DJ to cut the music down.
The room quieted, and all eyes turned toward us.
I smiled nervously, and then my eyes darted over in Thyri’s direction.
I saw her mouth for me to relax, and I took a deep breath in and exhaled.
Then, I looked over at Aura. He didn’t look nervous or unsure.
In fact, he looked certain about whatever he was about to do.
“What’s good, everybody?” he began calmly. “I know this is a little impromptu, but I can’t go another day without asking this woman this question. Most of y’all know I waited a long time for her fine ass to just give a nigga a chance.”
My heart started pounding, and my hands became sweaty.
“She ran. I chased. She ran some more. I chased some more. But not only did I chase, but I prayed. And I had G pray. Pray that she kept me in mind while she was running and would eventually run into me. She did that. And now, we here in matching pajamas and shit at a family gathering.”
A few whistles came from the crowd followed by applause. My hands began to shake, and the tears were welling up. When he dropped to his knee and pulled out a Harry Winston box, my hand flew to my mouth, stifling a scream.
“Wait, wait.” My words came out muffled.
“I done waited long enough.” He smirked, and laughter rippled through the room. “You’ve been a Sullivan in my head for quite some time. Now, I wanna make it official. Danae Ariel Sullivan, will you marry me?”
The room felt like it was spinning, but we were all standing still. I didn’t feel fear. I didn’t feel doubt. I was sure, sure that I wanted to be Aura Sullivan’s wife.
“Yes,” I breathed.
As if it were planned, the DJ dropped Keep Me In Mind by Eric Bellinger. The room erupted as he slid the rock on my finger. Baby, I was going to be a Sullivan, which would only further confirm that bitches weren’t fuckin’ with me.
THE END