Chapter 9
Andrès
TWO WEEKS LATER
“Where are we, Drè?”
“Santa Fe,” I announced, removing the blindfold from her eyes.
“What?” She shrieked, spinning around in her seat.
We had done a lot of the things that we both had in common, including hiking and attending a couple of professional baseball games. When I designed this date, I rolled through my mental Rolodex of conversations we had in our teens. Santa Fe, New Mexico, was always somewhere she wanted to go.
Last week, I told her to take off Thursday through Monday because I was taking her away. I arrived at her house this morning in a chauffeured car, and we headed straight to the airport. Thankfully, my time in L.A. allowed me to build some lucrative connections.
One of my constituents, a philanthropist named Jason Powers, loaned us his private plane.
I requested the pilot and the airline attendants to keep our destination a secret from our guest. When we landed, I made sure she had on a blindfold, and we rode almost all the way to our luxury resort without her knowing where we were going.
“I told you that I would be generous with you, Kalli. Whatever you want and wherever you want to go is granted,” I explained, taking her hand in mine and kissing her knuckles.
“All this . . . a private plane, my shopping spree you sent me on yesterday, a trip that I mentioned as a kid—it’s all for me?”
“Of course.”
“I can’t believe you remembered. Ohmigosh, you’re spoiling me, Drè.”
“I overheard you telling your sister last week that it was time for you to go summer shopping again. So I sent you summer shopping yesterday, my treat.”
I’d sent her with my AmEx Black card and told her that she didn’t have a limit. She had called me when her expenses reached two grand, and I told her to quit tripping and do some real shopping.
When she called again at five grand, I promised her that if she didn’t get everything that she needed and wanted, I was going to report my card as stolen.
I told her that she had better not call me again.
I told her that real shopping didn’t start until you were at least twenty G’s in. She gasped but then said okay.
When I picked her up this morning and asked if she had everything she wanted, she nodded, handed my card back to me, and guiltily admitted that she spent sixty grand.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all on herself.
She had bought quite a few things for me, which on one hand irritated me, and on the other, I found it cute.
“You have arrived at your destination, sir,” our driver announced.
He stepped out of the car and held the door open for me. While I walked around to open Kalli’s door, he removed our luggage from the vehicle and carried it up to the resort’s front doors. Kalli stood for a moment, taking in the rugged Southwestern views all around.
“These mountains are gorgeous,” she stated breathlessly.
“Yeah, I’m told that although the mountains are all around, we’re steeped in the culture of Sante Fe and that we’re not far from the art and culinary scenes.”
“You have to take several pictures of me for my Sociogram account with the Rocky Mountains as my backdrop, baby.”
A nigga’s heart squeezed in his chest. We had kissed, touched each other, and spent so much time together, but this was the first time she had called me an affectionate term of endearment. That shit had my heart in a vise grip.
I pulled her close to me and dropped a kiss on her lips. My hands cupped her ass, and she moaned into the kiss. I pressed my tongue through her lips and licked all around her mouth as she locked her arms around me.
I felt our driver’s presence as he returned, although he didn’t speak a word. Reluctantly, I pulled back from Kalli and pressed my forehead against hers. “I think I’d better get you inside before I do something outside that might get us banned.”
She giggled, wiped my lips, and nodded. “I think you’re right,” she replied with a sparkle in her eyes.
Once we were inside and checked in, we headed up to our room.
“This is so gorgeous, Drè.” She spun around with a wide smile on her lips as she took in the high beamed ceilings, original artwork on the walls, handwoven rugs, and the Southwestern décor of the room.
She ran and jumped on the king-sized bed before running into the bathroom and taking in the large soaker tub. When she returned to the room, she pointed across from the bed and declared, “Ooh! They even have a fireplace.”
“I doubt we’ll need it while we’re here.”
“I know it’s spring, but we are still in the mountains, babe. I’m sure that it gets cool at night.”
I smirked. “That’s where your man comes in, babe. I’m here to heat that li’l ass up. Trust me, by the time I finish with you, you’ll be looking for something to cool you off.”
She tucked her bottom lip in between her teeth and dragged her hand down my chest. “You keep making big promises, Mr. Jones. I hope you can deliver.”
I tugged at her T-shirt and angled my head as my eyes narrowed in on her. “You wanna try me?”
“Nooo.” She teased me before she giggled and pulled away.
She ran onto the balcony to check out the views, while I called down to the front desk to ensure that everything was set up for later.
When I finished my call, I joined her on the balcony. “What do you want to do first, ma?” I stepped behind her and wrapped her in my arms as she admired the beautiful views. Although the mountains were all around, we could see the city from our location.
“You already know that hiking has to be on my agenda.”
“You and me both, but I’ve got that planned for tomorrow, unless you want to go today. Thought you might want to chill on our first day, but we can make changes.”
“I want to do whatever it is you want to do,” she replied, turning around and gripping my T-shirt in her hands.
“If we do whatever it is I want to do, ya ass won’t be leaving this room until it’s time to go home.”
Her face turned a deep shade of red, and she replied, “Well, let’s do whatever it is you had planned for us to do, sir.”
“I was thinking that we might take a quick swim on the rooftop deck, head down for some massages, enjoy dinner, and then check out the stargazing later tonight from the terrace.”
“I like that, but can I take a quick shower first?”
“Do whatever it is that your heart desires, babe.”
She looped her arms around my neck and stared into my eyes. “Thank you for doing this, baby. You make me so happy, Drè.”
“That’s all I want, and it’s the only thing that matters,” I replied, kissing her lips before releasing her.
She immediately pulled her T-shirt off and turned toward the bathroom. I watched as she shimmied out of her leggings. She tossed a casual glance at me over her shoulder and asked, “You gonna join me?”
“No. I’ve got some last-minute things to take care of.” We hadn’t had sex yet, and I doubted I would be able to keep my hands to myself in the shower. Yet, I didn’t want our first time to happen in the shower.
“This reminds me of all the times that we used to lie out in my backyard, watching the stars.”
“Me too. I thought you might like this,” I replied.
Kalli turned her head sideways in her chaise lounge and smiled at me.
We had been holding hands, and she squeezed mine.
I had never been a hand-holding type of nigga, not even with Mercedes, but Kalli loved that shit, and I loved making her happy.
I also loved keeping us physically connected as much as possible.
“Thank you for this. I’ve been wondering all these years how much has changed about you. I’ve been watching you over the last few weeks, and I realized that not much has changed at all.”
“Is that good or bad?” I asked.
She smiled. “It’s great. I mean, the wild ways, I don’t see evidence of those anymore. Your protective, thoughtful, caring, and generous nature is still there. It’s just a more enhanced and mature version of you. I like that for you, and I love that for me.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes. What about me? Do you think that I’ve changed at all?”
I chuckled.
“What? What’s so funny?” she asked with a smile of her own.
“Ya’ li’l ass still just as spoiled and whiny as you always were. The only difference is that your ass don’t take shit off nobody anymore. If someone is stepping to you, you’re making sure they come correct.”
“As I should. Have you seen my life? I’ve only been with one man, who turned out to be a lying, cheating asshole. The only other man I ever wanted ran out of town so far away that I worried I scared him off.”
I pulled her knuckles to my lips and kissed them. “You know that shit ain’t true. If I had my life together at the time, even partially together, I would have taken you with me.”
“I don’t think that’s true. I mean, if you would have, then you would have sent for me long before the ten years were up.”
“I have a confession to make.”
“What’s that?”
“I knew that you were involved with Remy all those years.”
“How?”
“I kept tabs on you through the years. Always knew what was going on in your life. You were doing damn good, and I didn’t want to disturb that.
You went to college, worked a part-time job, kept your grades up, graduated and got an apartment and a new car, and you were hired on with your dream firm.
You grew and obtained a position that you always wanted to, and you seemed happy with your man.
“Everywhere you went, family functions, and even to the mall, he was there. When you moved into that apartment with that nigga, I was devastated, but it wasn’t shit that I could do, because I wasn’t here.
You seemed truly happy in your life, and I didn’t have the right to disturb it.
It didn’t matter, though. Because if you weren’t married by year ten, I was coming in and turning that whole little tea party upside down.
You were gonna be my woman regardless. The only thing that could stop that is if he’d put a ring on it. ”
“How did you know all this?”
I chuckled. “In the beginning, I found out from KJ. Your brother and my boy, Archie, both worked at the hospital together.”
“I forgot about that.”
“Whenever Lan came to town, she would have lunch with Kelsey. Your sister would update her on everything that was going on in your family.”
My sister, Kalandra, whom we affectionately called “Lan,” and her sister Kelsey had both been on the same cheerleading team in high school, so they knew each other. Whenever Lan returned to town, she and Kelsey and some of her other friends would hook up for lunch, dinner, or drinks.
“Wow. I forgot how small this world really is.”
What I didn’t tell her was after those family-friend updates ended, I hired a guy to keep a close eye on her to make sure that she was safe and wasn’t lacking for shit.
It had been hard not to step in and offer her a job or create something for her when she was laid off.
Wealth, power, and connections could bring a lot in this life, but it could also bring many problems and much grief, if you didn’t know how to wield them properly.
“Yeah, it is,” I replied.
“I’m just so thankful that you came back,” she whispered, smiling at me. Kalli lifted our hands and kissed my knuckles.
The stars twinkled brightly overhead, and there was subtle chatter on the rooftop terrace as other patrons enjoyed the view too.
I turned my head back to Kalli, who had turned on her side.
One of her breasts was squeezing out of the bikini top she wore, and the slit in her long wrap skirt had fallen open, exposing her thigh.
I licked my lips but bided my time. I would have her soon enough, and I couldn’t wait.
I wasn’t gonna let up off her little ass.