Chapter 2 Khloe #2
I replied so fast because I was excited to get some alone time with him, even if it was only for lunch.
Ok baby.
I sank into my desk chair, scrolling to the contact labeled as Coffee. My best friend since elementary school. The one person who knew every version of me—the science fair me, the cheer captain me, the terrified pregnant me, the love-drunk young mom me, and the woman staring at a lonely marriage.
She answered on the second ring.
“Good morning, gorgeous,” her voice purred through the line.
I smirked. “Good morning, my sweet Coffee.”
Coffee wasn’t her real name, but it may as well have been. Growing up, all she ever wanted was to drink coffee like the adults, so the name stuck and followed her through life.
“How’s the firm?” I asked.
“The firm is fine,” she said breezily. “I’m sitting on my rooftop now, enjoying the view before I head in. I’ve got two meetings today.”
Coffee was the woman who had men trembling when they heard her heels clicking down a hallway.
She was a well-known divorce attorney. Ruthless, brilliant, and dangerous in negotiation.
She specialized in extracting justice for women whose marriages had failed them.
Most of her clients were married to millionaires with crazy prenups, but Coffee and her dream team of women didn’t play fair.
They dug and investigated until they could unearth the darkest, dirtiest secrets those men prayed stayed buried.
And leverage like that could make a courtroom tilt, a prenup fold, or a man sign a settlement faster than he could think.
To most men, she was known simply as “Ms. Bitch”, and she loved it.
“You still haven’t gotten some dick from Kairo’s bald-headed ass?” she snickered.
I laughed, rolling my eyes. “I got some yesterday morning.”
“Oh?” she teased. “Well, great. We love progress.”
“But it wasn’t enough,” I said quickly, cutting her off. “I miss going round after round.”
“Bitch, who is still fucking four rounds back to back in their thirties?”
“I can do it,” I said, serious. “I miss the quality time, and sex is the only time that I get his undivided attention, so maybe that’s why I want it so much now.”
Coffee got quiet for a second.
“Khloe,” she said, giving me her comforting bestfriend voice, “you’ve been the good girl your whole life. The good daughter, the good wife, the good friend, the good everything. Words stopped working a long time ago. It’s time to show him.”
I huffed out a laugh, trying to dodge the seriousness. “I’m not trying to do all that. Then I’d have to hop in my car and drive three hours to that bougie-ass city to become one of your clients.”
She gasped dramatically. “First of all, Sankofa District is not that bougie. It’s just where more of the rich men live and a perfect home base for the firm.”
“I know.” I sighed. “I just miss you being close to help keep my mind clear.”
“I’m not saying everything Kairo does is good,” she said.
“He thinks quality time is eating dinner and sharing a bed. You’ve been telling him what you needed for years.
He didn’t hear you then. He won’t hear you now.
So start doing more for you. Be unavailable sometimes.
Not to hurt him, but to remind him what it feels like when somebody’s presence isn’t guaranteed. ”
I sat there, shaking my head. “Girl, you make it sound so easy.”
She laughed. “I just want you to realize that you’ve been patient for years. Marriage doesn’t mean shit if the wife feels like an afterthought, Khlo.”
“He left before I woke up this morning,” I said, quieter this time, like I was confessing to the room instead of just her. “But he texted me saying to meet him at home for lunch.”
“Well,” she said in her business tone, “you need to make sure you are the lunch.”
The laugh that came out of me was immediate. “Girl, stop.”
“No,” she said, dragging the word out with seriousness. “I’m serious. Put on some lingerie, oil up in that Nubian Nectar Oil, and make sure you’re in that bed posed so good that he can’t resist you, even if he tried.”
I could practically see her pointing her finger through the phone.
I look at our pictures again, remembering a time when resistance was never part of our vocabulary.
I smiled. “I think that’s a good idea,” I said.
“Tuh.” She coughed playfully. “Every idea I have is good.”
“Okay, Ms. Bitch,” I teased back.
She sighed dramatically. “I’m hanging up.”
“You love me,” I reminded her.
“Yeah,” she admitted. “I do.”
“Well, let me go spice this lunch break up. I need some new lingerie. And candles. And maybe some flowers. And—”
She cut me off with a laugh. “Now you doing the most again.”
“You told me to,” I said.
“I said sexy,” she corrected. “Not Hobby Lobby.”
I smiled, shaking my head. “I miss you, Coffee.”
She softened again. “I’ll be there to visit soon. I miss you more. I’ll call you when I’m done at work. We’ll review the damages.”
I sighed, smiling. “I love you.”
“I love you more,” she said back.
I hung up the phone and let it rest face down on the desk.
I could feel my cheeks warming. I thought about lunch.
About how I’d walk back into the house differently today.
About how I’d greet him with pussy and ass spilling everywhere.
I caught myself smiling wider, then covered my face with my hand like someone could see the evidence of desire burning in my body.
I stood and grabbed my purse. “Well, Khloe… let’s go get lunch ready.”
I stood in front of my bedroom mirror just admiring myself. The lingerie set I’d chosen was bold. All it was made of was straps. No lace, no cloth, nothing to hide behind. Just carefully placed lines that framed me like art, wrapping around skin.
I looked good. Good enough that even I paused, so I knew Kairo wouldn’t be able to resist me. My skin shimmered from the Nubian Nectar oil I’d massaged my body with. The scent alone always had Kairo sucking on my skin like the finest candy.
I grabbed my phone and checked his location seeing that he was less than five minutes away.
I moved through the bedroom, lighting two candles on the nightstands and one near the dresser.
I turned on the speaker, playing our favorite slow jams. I needed the songs to sing the lyrics of what I was thinking.
Then I climbed onto the bed, getting into position. My back against the pillows. One leg slightly bent, the other draped to the side. Every part of me would greet him once the door opened. Every part of me accessible and ready. All he needed to do was undress and lose himself inside of me.
I could feel my heart racing from the anticipation when I heard the front door open.
“Khlo?” Kairo yelled from downstairs.
I grinned, heart picking up more pace. “Up here!”
I heard his footsteps coming up the stairs and they sounded like he was hungry and ready to be fed. The bedroom door creaked open and he froze in the doorway.
His eyes swept over the room and his mouth parted, but no words came out. He just stood there for a moment, blinking like his brain was trying to catch up with what his body already understood. I could already see his dick hardening through his pants.
“Damn,” he breathed, stepping in and closing the door.
I sat up slowly, letting the straps of the lingerie shift just enough to draw his eyes again.
“Come here,” I whispered while he walked toward the bed.
“Khloe—baby, this—” he started, but I was already reaching for him.
“Shhh,” I said, untucking his shirt free from his waist. “Don’t talk. Just fuck me.”
His hands found my waist, then my thighs, then my face, and we were already kissing before his shoes hit the floor.
We kissed like we could reach each other’s heart with our tongues.
My hands gripped his neck, his arms wrapped around me, and every few seconds I whispered it against his mouth.
“I missed you.” He constantly moaned into my mouth like he didn’t have any words left.
And then we heard a knock on the door. “Come on, Khloe! Don’t leave me drinkin’ by myself!”
I froze, and so did he. I pulled back slowly and looked at the door, not saying anything, but the look on my face said everything. Pissed wasn’t the word for how I felt.
Kairo exhaled, brushing a hand over his face. “Baby, I was trying to tell you… Tatum and Gia are here for lunch too.”
I turned away, taking a deep breath and biting back the disappointment in my chest. My body was still burning from the warmth of his touch, but my heart had already cooled.
Of course it couldn’t just be our lunch. Of course there were guests.
I swallowed it down and yelled toward the door, “I’ll be down in a minute, Gia.”
Her heels clicked away without a response. I reached for the robe at the end of the bed and slipped it on. Kairo sat on the edge of the bed, watching me quietly because he knew there was nothing he could say to calm my anger.
Tatum was one of his best friends and one of the same four men he’d been close to since high school. I was the only wife who grew up with them and knew them before the money, the tailored suits, and expensive trips.
Gia was loud, overbearing, and purposely overdressed for every casual gathering. She was also the self-appointed president of the “Real Housewives of Antionette,” even if the rest of us hadn’t signed up for her casting call.
His friends and their wives came as a package. And because Kairo loved his circle, I tolerated the women who trailed behind them like they were God’s gift to earth.
He stood and walked over kissing my cheek. “You look beautiful,” he whispered.
I nodded but didn’t smile. Being beautiful was never the issue, his availability was. I didn’t say anything as I walked into the closet to grab something to throw on.
Behind me, I heard his steps. “Khlo…” his voice was low and apologetic. “I promise, I’ll make it up to you.”
I didn’t even turn to look at him. I pulled a blouse from the hanger and laid it on the bench.
“Mhm.”
“I’m serious, baby,” he said, following behind me to the other side of the closet. “I was supposed to go back to the office this afternoon, but I’ll just stay home. Just me and you. We can do something fun, whatever you want.”
I pulled a skirt from the drawer. “I’m used to the rainchecks,” I said, rolling my eyes. “And the rescheduling, so don’t bother.”
He exhaled while his hands wrapped around mine. He turned me to face him, kissing my forehead.
“Khlo,” he whispered, pulling me closer. “Look at me.”
I didn’t want to because looking at him always made it harder to hold my anger. But the moment I did, he leaned in and kissed me so passionately. He always knew exactly what to do with his mouth when his words fell short.
“I hate that you know how to do this,” I said against his lips, already folding into the kiss.
“I love that I still can,” he whispered back, kissing the corner of my mouth, then my jaw. “Still got you, don’t I?”
I closed my eyes, breathing him in. One kiss became two. Then three. His hands wandered to my pussy as he lifted one of my legs on the bench before he started to rub my clit.
“Tell me how good that feels,” he said, kissing my neck.
“I missed you,” I whispered.
“I love you,” he said, licking his lips. “As soon as they leave, I’m clearing that table and laying you right across it.”
That made me smile and kiss him harder. We were both starting to moan into it when I pressed my hand against his chest and pulled back just enough to speak.
“Well okay,” I said, breathless. “Let’s hurry up, so we can get them out of our house.”