Lover Man

by Geneva Holliday

  But there was no use crying over spilled milk, what was done was done.

  Karma had called Lieberman and Lieberman to advise that she would not be returning. She spoke with Arnie, who promptly called her unprofessional.

  “Two weeks’ notice, Karma, that’s what you do!” he’d bellowed. “And don’t think for one moment that I’ll be giving you a reference!”

  Karma flinched at the sound of his phone being slammed down onto its cradle.

  Two days later, she swung her front door open to find Joshua standing at its threshold.

  “Mr. Lieberman?” she uttered in surprise.

  Joshua quickly dropped his eyes and used the toe of one of his expensive leather shoes to kick at something Karma couldn’t see.

  “I-I was worried about you,” he announced, barely above a whisper.

  Karma was stunned.

  “Oh?”

  “Yes,” he mumbled as he toyed bashfully with the buttons of his Ralph Lauren shirt.

  “Um … well … that’s sweet, I guess. But I’m fine.”

  They stood in silence for a moment before Joshua raised his head and looked directly into Karma’s eyes and asked, “Can I come in?”

  She didn’t have much in the apartment to eat. He said he wasn’t hungry but that he would take a cup of tea.

  Their conversation started out bumpy, like an old car traveling over an unpaved road. Karma was still trying to understand exactly why Joshua had decided to travel all the way to Brooklyn, instead of simply picking up the phone and calling her.

  When his hand fell on her knee and remained there, it finally became clear to her.

  “I want to, to help you in any way I can—” he stammered, the palm of his hand trembling against her skin.

  Karma smiled; he was sweet, like a little boy with a crush.

  She patted the top of his hand and then removed it from her knee and set it gently down onto his thigh.

  He looked at her again. He was biting his lower lip and he looked terribly vulnerable at that moment, and it excited her.

  She felt a rush of heat gush between her legs. “You wanna fuck me, Joshua, don’t you?”

  Joshua’s mouth dropped open in surprise.

  Karma didn’t know why she’d said it. Maybe, she thought as she rose from the couch and started toward the bedroom, she’d said it just to see the look on his face. Or maybe she’d said it and meant it, because she wanted to use someone the way Claude had used her.

  Joshua stumbled after her, his erection straining against the khaki material of his pants.

  She sat down on the bed and slipped her sweatpants off; the lacey underwear followed. She pulled the T-shirt over her head. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and a gurgling sound escaped Joshua’s throat when his eyes fell on her magnificent bosom.

  “Well?” Karma admonished when Joshua just stood there with a stupefied look on his face.

  He undressed in a flash and climbed onto the bed. Karma expected him to treat her body and their sex as some prepubescent boy would. But that thought was quickly banished when he pressed the most gentle kiss she’d ever received onto her lips.

  Slowly, rhythmically he moved the palm of his hand over her erect nipples, sending shockwaves of pleasure through her body.

  He took excruciating time with her. Nibbling her earlobes, running his tongue down the nape of her neck, her spine, and around her buttocks. He whispered, “I want to taste every inch of you.” And he did. He sucked each one of her toes and fingers before burying his tongue in her navel and then finally guiding it down between her legs, where he lapped her wetness up as if it were life-giving water.

  Karma grabbed hold of his silky curls and pulled. She’d been squirming with delight when suddenly a lightning bolt shot through her body and her back arched high off the bed. She dug her heels deep into the mattress as her climax raced through her.

  She came howling, a sound she was sure she’d never made before.

  Joshua didn’t give her any time to recover. Her body still twitching with waves of pleasure, he mounted her, slowly pushing his throbbing penis deep into her wetness. Karma whimpered as she wrapped her legs around his back and pushed him deeper.

  He mumbled something that sounded like love in her ear. Karma would address that later, she told herself as her body began to climax once again.

  Weeks later, in her new apartment, Karma gargled and then spat into the sink. She’d been feeling nauseous for the past two days, and her breasts felt like a ton of bricks.

  Supposing her period was on its way, she walked into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee.

  Back in the living room, she sat down on the sofa and flicked on the television. Matt Lauer was interviewing Denise Justine. Karma watched with great interest, as she took tiny sips from her mug.

  She’d shared the whole sordid tale with Joshua, who had slowly installed himself in her life. He was in love with her, head over heels in love, and wanted more than anything to make her his wife.

  Karma was considering it. She had yet to unearth similar feelings for him, but she supposed over time she would learn to love him.

  After the interview, the Today show sponsors had their say, and then Meredith Vieira smiled into the camera and announced the date and time.

  Karma brought the mug back up to her lips, took another sip, and then cocked her head to the side as if she was listening for something.

  She set the mug down and slowly brought herself to a standing position.

  Suddenly she felt older than her years as she moved into the kitchen and toward the tiny magnet calendar that clung to the refrigerator door.

  Karma gasped. She was late. Two weeks late!

  Karma closed her eyes and thought back to that fateful night with Claude.

  No condom.

  Her memory slipped to the first time with Joshua.

  Again, no condom.

  Karma sunk down to the floor and pressed her fists against her temples in an effort to quiet the voice that was laughing hysterically in her head.

  48

  Maria eased herself daintily down onto the wooden chair the tall, sun-kissed man with the full beard and the smiling eyes pulled out for her.

  “Gracias,” she said, after he made a big production of unfolding the paper napkin and placing it in her lap.

  This was their second date. And already Maria was developing feelings for this handsome gringo.

  He’d approached her a few weeks back as she sat reading a Harlequin romance under the tamarind tree in the town square.

  Her English was so-so, and his Spanish was much the same, but even with the language barrier, they’d talked for hours.

  He said, “You can call me Papi.”

  He was a gringo on extended holiday, renting a small house on the beach.

  “What do you do?” she asked.

  “Live life to the fullest,” was his response.

  She liked that answer.

  He told her about all of the places in the world that he’d been and then he said, “I’d like to show you those places one day.”

  Maria had a traveler’s heart, and although she’d never ventured farther than Cancún, she’d experienced the world in the books she read.

  Now the man who called himself Papi reached across the table and gently pressed his massive palm against her cheek and said, “Sure, you are beautiful, intelligent and sexy …”

  Maria’s face blushed crimson at the word “sexy.”

  “… but are you trustworthy and obedient?”

  49

  “Hello?”

  “May I please speak with Shenelody Miller?”

  “This is she.”

  “Hello, Shenelody, this is Oprah Winfrey.”

  Silence.

  “Shenelody?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is Oprah Winfrey and I—”

  “Whoever you are, this ain’t fucking funny—”

  “No, really, this is Oprah Winfrey, and I just wan
t to let you know that I read your memoir, Lover Man, and I LOVED IT!”

  “Is this really Oprah?”

  “I’d like to make this my November book-club pick.”

  Silence.

  “Shenelody? Shenelody? I think the child done passed out, ya’ll. Someone call 911 in Plainfield, New Jersey, please.”

  Gratitude

  The universe

  My family and friends

  My editors, Phyllis Grann and Karyn Marcus

  Everyone at Broadway Books

  My characters: Geneva, Crystal, Noah, Chevy, and Karma, who lent light and laughter to my life

  And, finally, I’m grateful to you, my readers, for continuously supporting my work.

  Good things!

  Geneva

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2009 by Geneva Holliday

  All Rights Reserved

  Published in the United States by Broadway Books, an imprint of The Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. www.broadwaybooks.com

  BROADWAY BOOKS and its logo, a letter B bisected on the diagonal, are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Holliday, Geneva

  Lover Man / by Geneva Holliday.—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  1. African American women—Fiction. 2. Revenge—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3608.O4847 L68 2009

  813′.6—dc22

  2008021407

  eISBN: 978-0-7679-3221-9

  v3.0