Giva smiled and moved in to kiss Hogan’s prickly jaw covered with stubble. “If you want to know who Hassan is and how we’re connected, all you have to do is ask me. But you will not yell at me. Just ask me, Hogan.”
“Okay. Who the hell is Hassan?”
“He’s my ex-boyfriend.”
Hogan’s eyes darkened to a smokey shade of gray. “Cool. So, if he’s your ex, what gives him the right to ask you to fly up to D.C. to see him during a damn pandemic?”
“I have no idea, but rest assured that I’ll definitely find out. I’ll give my brothers a call. They always know what’s going on with Hassan.”
“Are they buddies?”
Giva shook her head. “Simche and Mannah despise Hassan, but they have great respect and fondness for his father, Dr. Augustine Jusu. He’s Sierra Leone’s minister of health and sanitation. That’s a very important position in my country’s government. It’s like your surgeon general here.”
“So, you were dating the son of a high roller, huh?”
“Yes, I did once upon a time, but it’s been over for many years now.”
Hogan snaked his arms around Giva’s slender waist and clasped his hands together on her butt. He licked his lips as their eyes locked. “Find out why he’s calling you and offering to fly you up to D.C. to see him.”
“No worries. I will.” She kissed him on the mouth and ran her fingers through his hair. “And don’t you ever raise your voice at me again, Dr. McQueen.”
“Yes, ma’am, Dr. Kamanda.”
“Yeah, baby! Yeah! Ah, baby! Yeah!”
Giva’s bounce game was on point and Hogan’s dick was hitting her sweet spot over and over again like he owned the pussy. She was on top and in control, riding him with much contentment. Giva cringed at the pleasurous-painful grip he had on her ass. His wide palms had a possessive hold on her plump cheeks, pulling her in closer every time he rammed his cock back inside of her on his upstrokes. The bumping and grinding was so gratifying to both lovers that he was screaming like a little bitch at the top of his lungs as she saturated his lap with a pool of her erotic elixir.
“Damn it, Giva! Ah shit, girl!”
“Mmm… Ugh… Mmm…”
The pungent odor of freak-nasty sex was thick and stifling, floating all around them, and the bed springs were squeaking like hell from all the bouncing and thrusting. Makeup sex after their first disagreement as a pair of dating doctors was bananas! Giva was in a state of euphoria. Sex with Hassan had never been this damn intense. She’d spent three years with him and there were still parts of her body he had never touched. But Hogan’s foreplay was like an exploration of her anatomy. His magical hands and luscious lips knew every nook, cranny, and crevice of her body and how to make her feel born again with each lick or touch.
“Right…r-right there, baby! K-keep…keep it right there, Hogan!”
Giva started cooing and stuttering through the onset of an orgasm that had caused her breathing to become labored. Hogan fondled both breasts and smashed them together. The heat rose above boiling point when he sucked both nipples into his warm mouth with strong oral suction. Giva lost her damn mind. Her climax crashed down on her and shot all through her body like a million butterflies fluttering in her secret places, especially her contracting walls that had a death lock on Hogan’s dick that was still pounding her pussy like a jackhammer. Giva clutched his shoulders and bounced on his dick like there was no tomorrow. Seconds later, he followed her over the rainbow, grunting and hissing through a nut that shook the bed like an earthquake.
Hogan eased down in the bed from the sitting position with an exhausted Giva sprawled out on top of him. They had worked up a sweat for sure. His tanned, creamy skin was warm against her milk chocolate flesh. Their choppy breathing was evidence of vigorous lovemaking that soon lulled them into a tranquil slumber.
“What’s up, Gwyneth. How are you?”
She rolled her eyes to the ceiling before she turned around to face Ardaijah. “Good morning. I’m well. Thanks for asking.”
“What’s up with the picnic basket?” Ardaijah eyed her suspiciously.
“If you must know, it’s my lunch. I brought enough to share with a friend. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to put it away until lunchtime.”
Gwyneth walked away in the opposite direction of the unit. It was almost six-forty, the time Hogan always arrived for work every time he was on the schedule. That’s why she was on her way to the doctors’ section of the employees' parking deck. She was on a mission to win her bed buddy back from whoever was occupying his leisure time and keeping him from her. It was some bitch with an accent, the one who’d answered his phone the other night when she’d hit him up for a booty call.
With her bleached-blonde hair pulled back in a braided ponytail and dressed in bright apricot scrubs, she trotted down the steps to the ground level without breaking a sweat. Yoga, intense cardio, and a high-protein diet kept her at a perfect size 2 and a hundred and thirteen pounds. Running down four flights of steps was a birthday party. A white Toyota Camry came around the curve and whipped into a parking space just as she exited the building. A silver Mercedes C300 convertible was right on his bumper.
“Show time, baby…” Gwyneth’s smile widened the moment Hogan hopped out of the car.
She checked her clothes and cleared her throat, prepared to charm the doctor into a lunch date. But to her surprise, the occupant of the convertible Benz got out too, and met Hogan in front of his vehicle. Gwyneth felt lightheaded with anger when he yanked Giva’s arm playfully and drew her to his chest. He grinned and gazed into her eyes as if she were the only woman in the universe. Then, like his life depended on it, he kissed her with so much fire that Gwyneth felt the heat from where she stood livid and in shock.
12
Giva entered the doctors’ lounge to scrub down after a long and tedious day. Twenty-one new patients had been admitted to the CV19 unit since eight-fifteen that morning, which raised the head-count total up to fifty-four. Unfortunately, three souls on ventilators had passed away over the course of the day, and that was a heartache Giva didn’t think she’d ever get used to. The virus was still running rampant throughout the world and taking thousands of lives daily, so she needed to toughen up and accept it like Hogan had said because she damn sure couldn’t change it.
The lounge door opened while Giva was drying her hands with a paper towel. Gwyneth and Kim, a unit nurse, walked in laughing out loud under their masks. It may have been Giva’s imagination, but she could’ve sworn that Gwyneth’s little anorexic ass rolled her eyes at her. They’d never had a problem before and they had a decent professional relationship, so her unexpected shadiness must’ve had something to do with a certain handsome doctor.
“Good evening, ladies.”
Kim smiled. “Good evening, Dr. Kamanda. How’s it going?”
“The day was busy and hectic, but thank God I have a great job that I love.”
“That’s true.”
Gwyneth took a seat in a recliner close to a window with a view of the setting sun over the city. She lowered her mask to her chest. “So, you’re Hogan’s new flavor of the month.”
Silence fell over the room all of a sudden and lingered for several uncomfortable seconds.
“I’ll see you ladies tomorrow. Have a good evening.” Kim raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at Giva and shook her head before she rushed from the room.
Giva did an about-face to cast angry eyes on Gwyneth. “What did you just say to me?”
“I called you Hogan’s new flavor of the month. Am I right or what?”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about. Hogan and I are dating. But that isn’t your business, though, now is it?” Giva folded her arms over her breasts.
“Dating? Is that what he’s calling it nowadays?” Gwyneth laughed. “It was called hanging out when I was the new kid on the block. Anyway, don’t get your hopes up, sweetheart. No woman can tame that tiger. When he grows tired o
f you—and he will—he’ll put you in the wind like all the rest of us and move on to his next conquest.”
“I’m not a conquest. I am a real woman who can handle Hogan quite well. I make him happy, so he’ll be around for a long, long time.”
“Good luck, sweetheart, because you’re going to need it soon.”
“Save the good luck for yourself because I don’t need anything from you.” Giva removed a fresh pair of gloves from her pocket and slid them on her hands as she made her way toward the door. “By the way, Hogan is a huge fan of the flavor chocolate every day of every week in every month of the damn year. And I would know that because whenever he’s not at work, he’s with me. Enjoy the rest of your evening, Little Mama. I have to go now because Hogan is in the parking deck waiting for me. It’s steak quesadilla night on the rooftop.”
“It’s about damn time.” Hogan got up from his perch on the roof of his car and reached out to Giva. “What the hell took you so long? I’m starving.”
Giva did a cool side step and stomped toward her car.
“What’s wrong, babe?”
“I didn’t sign on to be a part of your little entourage, Hogan!”
He looked around the parking deck. “What is wrong with you and what the hell are you talking about?”
“Gwyneth—”
“Oh fuck! Not that nut job.” Hogan removed the key fob from Giva’s hand and unlocked her car door. “We’re not going to do this here. There’re cameras everywhere. Let’s talk about it at home, okay?”
“No! I’m going to my own place. I need some time and space to think tonight.”
“That’s not going to happen. We’re going to my spot so we can talk through whatever’s got your panties in a bunch. So, get in the car, babe.”
“No!”
Frustrated, Hogan waved her off and stuffed the key fob inside his pocket. “It’s been a crazy day, Giva, and I’m exhausted and hungry as hell. Get in this car with me right now or I’m going to leave you. And remember I have your keys, which means you’ll be stuck here.”
“Flavor of the fucking month?” Hogan ran a palm down the length of his face and continued pacing a hot path back and forth in front of the loveseat.
“Yes, she called me your flavor of the month. My status as a competent and accomplished physician and my reputation as a respectable woman are all I have, Hogan. I’ve worked my ass off to get where I am, and I don’t need our colleagues whispering terrible things about me or laughing at me behind my back because of my involvement with you!”
“I’m sorry she said that to you. She had no right!”
“Don’t think for a minute that I’m a cry baby or I can’t handle a weakling like Gwyneth because I can. She just caught me off guard is all. She implied that there’s a herd of women at Grady that you’ve had brief relationships with and then discarded like garbage. I wanted to punch her in her smug face when she said you would be done with me soon and you’d toss me away too.” Giva swallowed the lump of emotions in her throat. “Is that your plan for me, Hogan? Am I your next victim?”
He sat on the coffee table, facing Giva and took her by the hand. When she gave him eye contact, he slid the pad of his thumb over the top of her hand a few times. “I’m sorry Gwyneth said that bullshit to you. She was way out of line. It’s true. She and I used to hang out, but she got a little too attached, which she’d promised me in the beginning, she wouldn’t do. So, I ended it.”
“She spoke like there are many others like her.”
“Okay, I’ll admit I’ve run through a few women at the job, Giva. You told me you’d already heard a few stories about me before we were recruited for the unit.”
Giva nodded. “How many women at Grady have you dated?”
“None before you.”
“Hogan?”
“It’s true. I’ve fucked a lot of our colleagues, but I was never in a relationship with any of them.”
“How many?”
Hogan sucked his teeth. “You’re fucking kidding, right?”
“How many?!”
“Damn it, Giva, I’ve fucked all the female doctors in the unit! Yep, I’ve fucked every last one of them, half of the PA’s, and two or three nurses. It happened while I was in the ER before the unit was ever established.”
“Sweet Jesus, Hogan!” Giva dropped her forehead into the palm of her hand.
Hogan reached out and cupped Giva’s chin to lift her face from its downward position. “That was then, babe. It’s all about you now. This dating thing is new, but I kind of like it.” He grinned. “I love having you in my personal space. It’s like you belong here with me. You make me happy, and we’re good together, babe. You’re the only woman who has my time, energy, and attention now.”
“Are we still being open and honest?”
“We are.”
“You’d better be.”
Freetown International Airport
Lungi, Sierra Leone, Africa
“Are you excited about seeing Giva, son?”
Hassan’s heart dropped to his stomach at the sound of his father’s question, but he maintained his calm demeanor as he and the elder Dr. Jusu walked shoulder to shoulder through the airport’s VIP lounge flanked by bodyguards and staffers. “In all honesty, Father, I have not spoken to Giva in several months, and she didn’t respond to the text messages I sent her two weeks ago.”
“Eh?” Dr. Jusu’s steady gait faltered a bit when he faced his son. “Hassan, if Giva is the woman you wish to become your bride and the mother of my grandchildren, you must put forth a tenacious pursuit to win her heart again. You must be aggressive and convincing. Make her understand that you are the best man for her.”
“I will try, Father. It is the best I can do. Women…”
“That is not sufficient, son. You are a Jusu, a proud member of the Mende tribe from the town of Kailahun. You’re the grandson of brave and wise chiefs! Hassan, you, my son, are a great physician with your own very successful practice. Women flock at your feet daily. Giva Kamanda should be honored that you even consider her a suitable prospect for marriage, and it is up to you to make her see that.”
“Yes, sir, Father,” Hassan mumbled, embarrassed and unsure.
“Now, once we finish our business in London and arrive in the United States for my meetings with Ambassador Wurie, you must go to Atlanta and get your bride and persuade her to return to Sierra Leone with you at once, so she may prepare for your wedding. Is that understood, son?”
“Absolutely, Father, I understand.”
After Giva’s altercation with Gwyneth in the doctors’ lounge, she and Hogan cleared the air and fell into a comfortable routine over the next few weeks. She spent most nights with him at his loft, checking in with Kyle daily via FaceTime. And since the dating doctors shared the same work schedule of five days on and three days off, they spent all their downtime together. They’d agreed to ignore Gwyneth and her silly antics on the job and maintain their joint focus on treating and saving the lives of their COVID-19 patients.
Like an old married couple very much in love, they prepared meals together, nagged each other to no end, and had lots of pillow talk. This particular night while relaxing in bed after making love, Hogan felt the need to share details about his family with Giva. She had spoken to Harley a few times over the phone and had grown to like her. However, his parents, brothers, and the family practice had all been an unspoken mystery until now.
“So, you never even considered cosmetic surgery for your career?”
“Never. Even as a kid, I found it so superficial. I wanted to do something more meaningful with my medical degree and I did.”
He could see Giva’s bright smile by the light of the moon shining through the blinds in the master suite as they lay facing each other in bed. In his eyes she was the most gorgeous creature God had ever created. He reached out and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.
“Why are you smiling, babe?”
“I’m proud of you, D
r. McQueen.”
“Why?”
“You took a stand to make a difference in the lives of others when you could’ve joined your family in its multi-million-dollar cosmetic surgery empire. That’s very honorable.”
“I guess so. You want to know something else I did?”
“Tell me.”
“The PPE the unit gets every two weeks or so and the vents, testing kits, and shit all come from me.”
Giva sat up and stared down on Hogan. “How?”
“When the virus started spreading like wildfire across the country, I asked Harley to call The Castle’s friends, business associates, and rich clients all over the world to round up all the protective gear, disinfecting supplies, and medical machinery she could find. Then I wrote a few checks from my trust fund to purchase everything and chartered three planes to get it to Beverly Hills. It was the only way we stood a chance at fighting the virus effectively and aggressively, in order to save our patients in the unit.”
“So, you’re really not a heartless bastard.” She ran her fingers through his hair and leaned down to peck his lips.
“I told you I wasn’t, babe. I’m just a realist who’s learned to accept the things I have no control over no matter how painful they are.”
Giva kissed him again, but she slid her tongue between his lips this time. “I love you.”
Every muscle in Hogan’s body contracted when he heard those three words. Why the hell did she have to say that? Sure, he cared very deeply for Giva and he was enjoying their courtship with no complaints. But he could do without the mushy stuff and confessions of love. He hadn’t signed up for that, but he did want Giva in his life. Because of her, he was happy and content and living his best life. Hogan hoped to God above that things were not about to get complicated because Giva had fallen in love with him.
Feverish Love Page 7
