Chapter 9
T he Next Day
Blake’s eyes hurt when she tried to open them.
They were so dry from the smoke in the club and all the drinking she did last night.
She tried again to open her eyes to find her phone to stop her alarm blaring mercilessly, but the pain was about to take her out.
Rolling over, she felt satin against her skin, and fragments of last night began replaying in her mind.
A smile spread across her face until she remembered getting Emon all worked up before becoming too drunk to follow through.
“It be like that,” she said to herself.
Sauntering into her master bathroom, Blake studied her reflection.
Until Emon, she’d felt ordinary, beautiful but ordinary.
He had a way of making her feel anything but.
This duality of his, romantic and street, was exactly what she’d wanted but never found with any other man before him.
PJ had no “fuck around and find out” energy, and Blake couldn’t settle for that anymore.
She needed a man who had confidence. Who was so secure in himself that no one could tell him a damn thing.
“Alexa, play morning rise,” she instructed.
As the worship music played, she stepped into the warm shower, but her thoughts were far from holy.
Snippets of last night’s sins kept replaying.
She was lost in the way Emon watched her dance, how his hands felt on her waist. She switched the song quickly.
The tension between them was building, and she knew it wasn’t just physical.
But questions lingered. Was he deeper in the streets than he claimed?
He said he wasn’t, but the way people showed him respect, how he moved like a lieutenant, had her unsure.
She’d seen it all her life with her father and brother. The real question was, did she care?
After her shower, Blake hummed while moisturizing with her Pure Wonder Body Creme from Bath & Body Works.
Checking her phone, she noticed she had six missed calls from Brooks, a few from her girls, and several texts from them both.
She scrolled past them until a dark picture caught her eye.
It was her body against Emon’s in the club.
She bit her lip, feeling zero regret. Instead of dealing with her brother’s inevitable lecture, she called Emon to tell him thank you for a wonderful night and that she was sorry for getting too drunk.
The phone rang and she could hear it from her living room.
Her eyes widened as she secured her robe and rushed out.
There he was, sprawled on her couch, peacefully sleeping.
The sight of him made her pause. Sweats and a wife beater rode up to show his tattooed stomach, looking like everything she’d been waiting for and dreaming of.
Her baby loved a white tee, and she couldn’t lie, it looked good against his skin and littered arms.
“You just gon’ stand there staring all morning?” His voice was thick with sleep, eyes still closed.
“No. How long have you been here?”
“Since I carried your drunk ass inside last night. Wasn’t about to leave you alone like that.” He finally opened his eyes, taking in her robe and damp hair. Emon always kept a go bag in his cars in case something popped off. “You good?”
“Better than good.” She smiled, moving to perch on the edge of the couch. “But I don’t remember much after that last shot.”
“Trust me, I remember enough for both of us.” He smirked, pulling her down beside him. “You were putting on quite the show, baby.”
“Mhmm, and you loved every minute.”
“That I did.” His hand found her waist. “You got plans today?”
“Besides hiding from my brother and friends? Nah.” And she wasn’t hiding because of fear. She was hiding because she didn’t want to hear his mouth.
“Good. Let’s stay in. I’ll cook for you, we can watch movies, and maybe...” his lips found her neck, “finish what you started last night.”
“Oh, so this was your plan all along? Get me all comfortable and domestic?”
“Nah, baby. My plans for you go way beyond today, but this is a good start.”
Blake giggled and moved out of his arms. “Let me go put some clothes on.”
Emon wasn’t feeling that. He didn’t need to know anything more about Blake.
He was ready to take it there. And he meant way more than running his tongue between her legs.
He wanted her to be his girl and let them figure the rest out as they went.
But for now, he would settle with his tongue between her legs.
Emon caught her wrist gently. He’d been waiting for the right moment, and watching her in that robe, fresh-faced and natural, he knew this was it. She smelled good as fuck too. Had his nose up in the air, sniffing for more like a hound dog.
“Hold up. We need to talk about something first.” He sat up, pulling her back to the couch and into his lap.
“I ain’t trying to play no more games with you or waste anymore time, Blake.
Since that first day we met, you have been on my mind heavily.
The way you took care of me without knowing me, how you light up when you talk about nursing, even how you put them walls up trying to protect yourself.
All of it got me feeling like this could be something.
” Blake’s breath caught as he continued, his eyes never leaving hers.
“I know it ain’t been long, but I’m trying to make this official.
I want you to be my girl, for real, for real.
No more ‘we just hanging out’ or ‘we’ll see.
’ I’m trying to build something with you. ”
“Emon—”
“Let me finish,” he said, placing a kiss on her lips. “I ain’t perfect, and yeah, I got some street in me, but everything I do, every move I make, is about building something legitimate, something lasting. I want you right there with me while I do it.”
Blake studied his face, seeing nothing but sincerity in those dark eyes. “You sure about this? You don’t know if I come with baggage, debt, mental illness, or nothing.”
“And I really don’t give a fuck to keep it one hundred with you. You got baggage. I guess I got that baggage too. It’s nothing to me. Let me worry about what I won’t and will deal with.”
Emon’s hand rested on her plump ass, and she could feel him rising beneath her.
Her eyes sat low and so did his. His hand massaged the hips and dips of her thigh slowly.
His long thumb was so close to grazing her lips that she closed her eyes tightly.
He leaned in, placing his face between her breasts and sniffing.
Once he had enough of her scent in his nostrils, he shook his head and asked, “The question is, are you sure about this?” He wanted to ask before proceeding.
“Yeah, I’m sure.” He wanted her to back up all that shit she had going on last night, but was also cool if she decided she wanted to wait.
As she rolled her hips and bent her head back at the roughness of his hands on her body, she relished in the feeling. It had been over a year since a man had touched her body. The way Emon looked at her let her know he knew exactly what to do with her.
“Because, baby, I been sure since you threatened me with that shotgun.” He grinned, pulling her closer. “So, what you say? You gonna let me be your man properly?”
She nodded, and he slapped her right ass cheek. “Nah, I’m tryna hear you. Use your words, pretty baby.”
“Yes, Emon, I’ll be your girl, but you bet not be lying to me or playing in my face in these streets.”
Emon didn’t give her a verbal response. There was nothing to say. He’d already heard that, and he was focused on nothing and nobody but her. He had already made that crystal clear.
“Nah, I wanna hear your words,” she mimicked. He smiled, thinking she was cute because she was. Blake thee Baddest. He wasn’t on social media like that. He had done his searching and laughed when he found her, though. She was the baddest in his eyes, so he let her cook.
“Never been the type to play games with people I care about, and you? I care about most.” His honesty made her heart flutter and her body respond in ways she had never experienced. There was an ache between her legs that was new to her, and it caused a moan to escape her lips.
“What I tell you about that moaning?” he asked, but she didn’t know what he wanted from her. She needed that energy to go somewhere.
“I can’t help it.”
He licked his lips before his tattooed hands traced the silk of her robe, mapping the curves underneath with deliberate patience.
Blake leaned into his touch, leaving a trail of soft kisses along the clouds on his forearm until she reached his wrist. When his hand found her neck, she tilted her head back, inviting more.
Roughly, Emon guided her down to his lips.
Another moan from her and a primal groan from him filled the air.
The kiss that followed made her forget where they were, who they were.
His lips claimed hers with a hunger that had been building since that second time he walked into her home like he owned it.
His tongue exploring her mouth like he had all the time in the world made her appreciate his attentiveness a little bit more.
The world could wait vibe was something she liked.
He was never in a hurry to end his time with her.
“You smell so good, baby,” he whispered. “Real fucking good.”
“So do you,” she admitted as his hands roamed her body. “I like you, Emon.”
“As you should, baby. As you should.”
He was so cocky, but she fucked with it so much she felt herself melting into him, heat pooling between her thighs as his other hand tightened on her waist. He rocked her back and forth on his dick slowly, wanting her to feel what she had been missing.
She could feel his size through his sweatpants.
“Kiss me again,” she whispered. Another smack to her ass cheek.