ONE WEEK LATER
I pushed out from under the covers, grabbed Jabari’s dress shirt off the armchair on his side of the bed, and threw it on.
I finally went in search of him after waiting for him to return to bed.
He had gotten up about a half hour before and rolled me out of his arms and woke me up.
I had tossed and turned waiting for him to return.
He had sent a car for me the evening before and brought me to his house for dinner.
Awe ran through me as he gave me a tour of his five-bedroom, five-bathroom home.
There were four half baths in addition to the five full ones.
Meticulously cleaned marble floors ran throughout the house and gleamed under teardrop chandeliers crafted only of Swarovski crystals.
The same degree of finish that was used in the opulent art that hung in his office was also displayed in the paintings at his house, but these were erotic.
He had a theater room down the hall from his two-story office.
The mansion also had a gym, library, two commercial-style kitchens, an indoor basketball court, a ballroom, a formal living room, a conservatory, a chef’s kitchen, a formal dining room, a butler’s pantry, and a game and billiards room.
I’d had to ask him what the hell a staging kitchen was, and I was in awe of his wine cellar.
I hadn’t wanted to leave, and he promised to let me sample whatever I wanted and make love to me later, and he had.
Jabari had poured various wines on my body and licked them off.
I’d poured some on his erection and sucked him off, and when he nutted in my mouth, he had sucked that out and swallowed it.
He was definitely a freak, but I liked it. We passed by the utility and laundry rooms that were the size of the bedrooms in my home. He even had an outdoor kitchen and an outdoor pool.
Jabari had taken time out to show me the six vehicles that filled up his six-car garage: a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, the Bentley, the Range Rover, a Mercedes Benz S-Class, a Cadillac Escalade, and the Subaru brZ that he raced.
I had spent the previous night having deep conversations with him about my life, but I felt that I wasn’t getting anywhere with him. Sometimes, I suspected that Jabari used his wealth to keep certain barriers up between us, like creating exclusive opportunities and luxurious dates to impress me.
I found him in his office just ending a call. I walked in, and he rolled his chair back so that I could sit on his lap.
“Good morning, gorgeous,” he greeted.
“Good morning.”
“You look so damned good wearing my shirt.” He kissed my jaw and my neck while he unbuttoned the shirt, and I couldn’t help it, but I felt myself tense.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Yes, there is. Please don’t shut yourself away from me.”
“Why not? Isn’t that what you do to me?”
“Is that what you think?”
“I do.”
“What do you want, baby?” he asked, slipping his hand into his shirt that I wore to fondle my breast.
“I want you to open up to me,” I stated.
He gripped my chin and kissed me slowly and passionately as he caressed my breast.
“Pick a word that is meaningful to you.”
I wasn’t sure where he was going with that, but I played along.
“Exclusive.” That was what I wanted from Jabari, an exclusive story, but he misinterpreted it. I wasn’t in a position to correct him, so I let him talk.
“I can see having that with you, but you would have to be willing to step into my world.”
My heartbeat sped up with anticipation, and I could feel the smile that was in my heart taking over my lips. “I’m willing to do that,” I stated, jumping at the opportunity.
“The woman I’m exclusive with must be willing to be there for me when I need her, break every rule except the ones I give, remove the limitations between us, and accept me with all my flaws.”
The man was damn near perfect. I couldn’t imagine what flaws he might have, and if there were any, they couldn’t have been insurmountable. “I’m willing.”
He removed me from his lap and rolled his chair back. I watched as he unlocked a drawer on his desk and removed a paper and a pen.
“I need you to read and sign this,” he stated, uncapping the pen and handing it to me.
I stared at the paper, confused, until I realized that it was an NDA to keep what happened between us private.
There was even language in the NDA detailing that I could not use any encounters and activities we engaged in for a story.
The loophole was that he didn’t say anything about things I may have learned about him in the progression of our relationship.
I eagerly signed it, knowing I could find a way around it.
“Do I get a copy?”
“Sure. I’ll get it to you soon.”
He placed the paper and the pen back into the desk drawer and locked it. He took my hand and led me back to his bedroom. I had so many questions about the NDA and the need for one, but as he always did, Jabari found a way to distract me from the questions that clamored for attention in my brain.
He removed his shirt from my body and took a step back to admire me for several seconds. When he reached his hand out again, I took it, and he dragged his hands down my arms and locked our fingers together.
“I promise you that everything we share will be beautiful. If there is anything that you want to try, don’t be scared to ask.
Alternatively, if there’s anything that you don’t like, I expect you to share that also.
I’ll pay close attention to what you don’t say—the language your body speaks, to figure it out. ”
He tipped my chin again and kissed me. Jabari slowly walked me backward until the backs of my thighs hit his mattress, and I was forced to sit down. He grabbed my ankles and spread my legs before he made space between them for himself.
We kissed again, and I could tell that he was in no rush to have sex with me. It wasn’t until I was spread out on his bed that he left my side and returned seconds later with handcuffs and feathers.
“What’s this about?”
“It’s about you submitting to me, entering my world, and giving me what I need to understand me. It’s about me taking our passion to the next level, a level where I introduce your body to the limits that you’ve probably never embraced before.”
“Will it be painful?”
“It wouldn’t be pleasurable without the pain, keeping it honest.”
I licked my lips as he locked my hands to the bedposts with the handcuffs. I giggled when he first dragged the feathers along my body until my skin became so sensitive that it transformed into a heightened pleasure I had never experienced.
“I need more, Jabari.”
“More of what, Camilla?”
“Whatever you have to offer me.”
I was whimpering, and my body shook with unbridled pleasure. He had teased me for long enough, and I wanted to see what he really had to offer me.
Jabari stepped into his closet and returned with what I knew to be floggers and nipple clamps. I had never used them before, but I had seen them in porn.
“Please be easy with me.”
“Remember the word that you chose earlier when I said pick a word that was meaningful to you?”
“Exclusive?”
“Use it when you feel the need for me to stop. Otherwise, surrender and indulge in the pleasure that I have to give to you.”
Was this the dark edge that I suspected he was hiding underneath?
Jabari freed me from the handcuffs and helped me off the bed.
Chills popped out on my arms and down my legs when he walked me down the hall to a room that had been locked previously.
He had explained that it was just another guest room, but he needed to have it cleaned before he opened it again. I hadn’t thought much about it.
There was a large red and black leather X in the middle of the room, a couple of benches around the perimeter, and a swing on a door in the corner.
“What’s this?” I asked, taking in the large X that he led me to.
“It’s called a St Andrews Cross.” He continued explaining how he would fasten me to it and what he would do when he had me affixed to it. He asked if I was okay with it, and I agreed.
He applied the nipple clamps first, and I tried to be a big girl, allowing him to apply as much pressure as I could withstand—which wasn’t much.
The interesting part of it all was seeing how turned on Jabari was as he took control and attached me to the cross. I never would have suspected this was his dark side. Once I was on the cross, he used the flogger to tease me and make my skin sensitive.
When he finally flogged me, it brought mixed feelings out in me. There was a fear that he might lose control and forget to be gentle with me, and there was a fear that I would become addicted to it, because part of it felt good. The fears dissipated as pleasure took over.
He alternated how he introduced me to it through a session that was gentle and somewhat savage. The most surprising part was how much I enjoyed it, and I even allowed him to tighten the nipple clamps halfway through the session.
When he finished, he released me from the cross and carried me back to his bedroom. Jabari applied ointment to my limbs, kissed my face, and caressed my hands. He was surprisingly tender with me and spoke words of affirmation.
“You’re so beautiful, Cami. I love the power that you showed in there.
You were in complete control, able to take everything that I gave to you, and never buckled under the pressure.
I think you were designed for me. I love your intellect, but I also love your sensuality.
I admire your no-fear attitude, but I also admire your ability to submit and be sensitive. ”
He kissed me, and after an hour of attending to my needs, he set me on his bed again. When he lowered himself between my legs, it was with an ease and gentleness he had never shown before. I felt so completely open and raw in a way that I’d never experienced.
“What are your greatest fears, Cami? Tell me your dreams, baby.”
I loved that he was coaxing me to open up because that meant he had to reciprocate, right?
My voice was soft, yet raw when I spoke. I cleared my throat a couple of times before I answered him. “That no one will love me with my deep flaws. Also, I’m afraid of opening up and connecting with someone only to be rejected.”
“Is that why you’re always pressing me about opening up to you?”
I nodded.
“Tell me your dreams.”
“I want to grow my magazine to become nationally syndicated. Jabari, I really care about you.” I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to share that at the moment, but I couldn’t hold it in.
He rubbed my back. “Don’t let me down, Cami. I don’t trust anyone because people always stab you in the back, and that includes parents. Just like you’ve got issues with yours, I have issues with my dad. We have an estranged relationship because that muthafucka doesn’t know the meaning of loyalty.”
“What happened?”
“That’s in the past,” he muttered and sighed.
I couldn’t push him, not when he finally decided to open up on his own.
I was glad he shared as much as he had. After all we had just shared, I knew that I was falling for him, and I wanted more than what we were doing.
As attentive as he was to me, I believed that I could have something real for the first time.