Miss Independent, Volumes 1 - 4

by Kiki Leach

  "I WASN'T WORRIED!" Alexis hollered though the phone. Alexander pulled it away from his ear and shook his head.

  "I'm positive she only called to badger me because she was."

  Alexander smiled and mouthed a quick 'thank you' before heading off to the kitchen.

  Vanessa spun around to Maurice, who after removing his gloves, wrapped his hands around her face and pulled her close to his mouth. She jumped back. "Your hands are ice cold, Mo!" she squealed.

  He dropped his hands down to her waist and jerked her to him. "I know," he told her, his voice low, seductive. She melted into him like a piece of chocolate beneath the heat of the sun and slinked her arms around his neck. "I was looking for you to warm me up."

  She laughed and dipped her head back, but Maurice wrapped two ice cold fingers around her jaw to pull her forward. He slipped his tongue between her lips, licking from side to side and swirling it around inside her mouth until it met hers, and kissed her deeply. She moaned so loudly that the noise could be heard throughout the entire house. He attempted to muffle it with an even deeper kiss and as her entire body collapsed against his in what felt like a faint, thus feeding into his ever growing erection, his hands moved down her back, cupping and squeezing her behind so hard that not even the length and strength of his tongue could contain the sound of her yelp.

  She slipped her hands down inside his coat and beneath his shirt and clawed her fingers into his beautiful olive skin, bringing him closer to further embrace the delicious taste of his breath as it mingled with hers. He walked her back into the wall near the fireplace and held her in place while sliding his hands down the front of her body and untying her robe. She dropped her hand to the front of his pants and slid her fingers up and down the length of his now full blown erection.

  "Baby," Maurice growled between her lips. Their breathing heightened as her robe dropped to the floor; their mouths melded together as the heat of their kiss reached intensifying levels of satisfaction.

  "Yes?"

  She slid her tongue against his and continued to reach for him until he pulled back to catch his breath. "It's a damn good thing you've got clothes on underneath that robe."

  "Only because we've got company," she said. He leaned into her again, but as she pulled him close for another deep kiss, he jerked himself away. "Don't tease me, Mo."

  "I'm not teasing you, baby, but I feel like my chest just might explode if I get any closer to you without being able to get any closer to you."

  And he was right. His heart was beating so fast the closer he got to Vanessa that he could actually feel it thumping against his chest and see it through his shirt.

  Vanessa felt the same and then some, but she didn't care. All that mattered was that he was home, and hers, and she needed more of him, she would always need more no matter how much he had always been so willing to give.

  He looked down into her soft brown eyes as they playfully stared up into the root beer color of his and slid the back of his fingers up and down the side of her throat. He brushed her chin with the edge of his thumb and smiled wide as her pulse practically exploded against him.

  God, he was so beautiful, Vanessa could barely string a set of words together to say how much. She couldn't help but stare up at him just like she couldn't help the way he always made her feel.

  "I didn't know you missed me that much tonight, V," he told her.

  "I always miss you when you're gone from me too long, Mo, no matter where you go," she said, tightening her arm around him. "All 6'2 and..." She slid her free hand down the front of his pants and watched his eyes shine with delight as he flinched inside her palm. "Ten inches of you."

  "You don't need to be modest when we're alone, baby," he said, "you know I give you so much more than that every night."

  She laughed and lowered her eyes to the collar of his shirt. She brought her hand back up to it and curled her fingers around the edge near the button.

  He bent his face down to meet hers again. "What is it?" he asked her.

  "Nothing."

  He stepped back from her and removed his coat, tossing it on the couch. "Something, V." He took her back into his arms and held her closer than before. She felt so warm in his embrace, so safe and secure. She was certain that if he let her go again, she'd lose every bit of herself that he had grown to love over time. "You know you can't ever hide from me." He brushed the tip of his nose against hers, forcing her to smile. "Your eyes start to tell me too much of a story even when your mouth doesn't want to move."

  Vanessa waited a moment and distracted herself by running her fingers up and down the front of his shirt.

  "It's just that that month we were without each other made me see so many things differently," she said. "Especially everything that had to do with us. It helped me to understand what I wanted and truly needed as both a person and a woman. And I realized from the moment you put that ring on my finger to make things official between us how much I never, ever want to be without you again in this life or the next."

  He dropped his hands back down to her waist and grunted while using his body to press her back against the wall again. She threw an arm back over his neck and wrapped her other hand around his bicep as he flexed inside her palm.

  "You know that ring I gave you makes you mine forever."

  She tilted her head and brushed her lips against his. "I've always been yours, Mr. Livingston. Even when I thought I should have someone else's name."

  He slid his fingers along her jawline and pressed his index against her lips. She smiled and darted out her tongue to lick his skin. Maurice moved his hand up to her cheeks and bent down in an attempt to kiss her again, but was stopped when Alexander reentered the room and aggressively cleared his throat.

  Startled, he moved as far away from Vanessa as possible and dropped his hands in front of himself to hide just how happy he had become in being in her arms.

  Embarrassed, Vanessa threaded her fingers through her hair and wrapped a single strand around the edge of one. She turned to Alexander and smiled. "You're making us feel like we're fifteen again inside our own house."

  "When I'm here for a visit, you might as well be." Alexander waved the phone back and forth before placing it down on the table. Then he turned to Maurice and upon noticing the placement of his hands, fixed his jaw and glared. "You mind if I talk to my daughter alone for a second?"

  Maurice instantly picked up on the shift of tone in his voice and nervously bobbed his head. "Yeah," he said in a high-pitched voice. He cleared his throat and nodded again, then mumbled, "Yeah, yeah," in a much deeper tone. He glanced over at Vanessa once, then raced from the room and hurried upstairs to their bedroom, closing the door.

  Vanessa laughed aloud. "You've got him scared out of his mind!"

  "He should be scared," said Alexander. "It's my job as a father to scare him, Vanessa. I love him like family, but you'll always come first with me."

  "I know." A giant smile emerged on her lips. "But we're happy now, finally. Not to say that we weren't before, but there's no more secrets between us. Everything's out in the open and we don't have to be afraid of what might come out next." She took a seat on the couch and placed her hands in her lap. "You know, I really listened to what you told me after everything blew up. And I never thanked you for it, because as much as I didn't want to, I needed to hear most of it."

  Alexander joined her on the couch and took her in his arms. "You don't ever have to thank me for being your father, baby girl," he said. He tighened his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "Like I said, it's my job; one I don't take lightly and one I don't see going to anybody else anytime soon." He clinched his teeth and tightened his arm around her.

  "How could anybody ever take your place...?" Silence fell over the room. Vanessa knit her brows and pulled back from Alexander, staring. "Alexis told you what I said about Terrence, didn't she?"

  He swallowed hard and slowly nodded his head. "She might've mentioned it."

  S
he groaned. "I didn't say what I did to her to make you feel as if--"

  "I understand." He raised a hand to stop her from going further. "But the truth is, you haven't had much to say about him since you were fifteen years old."

  "I know." She paused and sighed. "Honestly, I only brought it up now because I mentioned Oscar spending time with his girls despite whatever the hell he's got going on with Melanie at the moment. And it just got me to thinking about how Terrence chose not to do that with us. He left Alexis, but it didn't mean that he was supposed to leave us too, you know?"

  He brushed the hair back from her face and cuped her cheek while nodding.

  "No matter what, you'll always be my dad," she said. "No matter if I think about Terrence or want to talk about him, he'll never take your place in my life or in my heart. Which is part of the reason why I want you to be the first person to know something about me and Maurice."

  Alexander sat back and took a deep breath as he braced himself for what she had planned to say. "Alright."

  She turned her knees toward him and grinned. "We're getting married! Ahhh!"

  His mouth fell open. "What?" he asked, both baffled and thrilled. "When did all this happen?"

  "Right after we decided to recommit ourselves to each other. It was apparently something he had been planning to ask me for awhile, but with everything that happened, he put it off."

  Alexander thought for a moment, and then frowned. "Then you two have been engaged for--"

  "A few months now. Sorry." She scrunched her brows and he slightly laughed while shaking his head. "We haven't said anything to anybody because the media has been watching every move we make like hawks since the Nikki mess. And we didn't want them getting involved too early in the engagement and plastering it across the papers and news before we were ready."

  "I understand baby girl, all too well, and Alexis will too once she moves past being pissed off in not being the first to know about this." He laughed. "Have you set an actual date for it?"

  "I was thinking between February and March and Mo doesn't care just as long as it actually happens." They both laughed. "The real problem is finding what works between our schedules but we're determined to make room for it. And I hope you are too, because I want you to be the one to walk me down that aisle."

  Alexander stared long and hard into her eyes and beamed as complete elation filled his heart. It wasn't just that he loved Vanessa like a daughter, she and Felicia were just as much a part of him as his own biological child, Gina, was.

  "Baby girl, I'd be honored to walk you down that aisle any day, week or month of any year you ask me to," he said. She reached over and gave him a hug. He wrapped his hands around and pat her on the back. "When do you plan on telling rest of the family?"

  "At Christmas dinner." She sat back and exhaled in relief at one person finally knowing what she had been keeping to herself for far too long. "It's one of the main reasons why we decided to have it here this year. Granted, I debated a few times about saying anything after inviting Sheila, but I really want to start wearing my ring out in public. Just do me a favor and don't even make hints about any of this to Alexis."

  Alexander raised three fingers and sat up straight. "Scouts honor." He bent forward and kissed the center of her head, then reached around for his coat and gloves and stood up.

  Vanessa eyed him pecularily and arched a brow. "Are you sure you want to head back out there in this weather tonight? It seems to just be getting worse and worse and you know we've got plenty of room here in case you want to spend the night."

  "I appreciate the offer, V," he said while zipping up his coat and throwing his hat over his head, "but there's a man upstairs that's been waiting to come home to you for hours now, and I'd rather not be here when you finally get upstairs to see him."

  She tried to hold back a smile as she followed him out to the foyer. "Yeah." He turned to kiss her forehead one last time before heading out the door. "Drive carefully!" she hollered out as he raced out to his truck. She closed the door and moved over to the window, watching as he started up his truck and headed down the street.

  A shirtless Maurice headed back downstairs the second he realized Alexander was gone and quickly moved in behind his fiancee, slinking his arms around her waist and pressing his hands down against her stomach. She sank into him and dipped her head back to rest against his shoulder.

  "I thought he was gonna rip my balls off when he saw me pawing at you like that." He bent down to kiss the side of her neck and she leaned to the side, allowing him full access to her skin. "Did you tell him we were engaged?"

  "Yeah. And he's gonna walk me down the aisle."

  "Good." He wrapped his hand around her wrist and brought her hand up to his mouth. He kissed her bare ring finger and rubbed his thumb up and down her skin. "The minute we say 'I do', you're never taking that ring off again," he said.

  Vanessa snatched her hand from him and spun around in his arms. She slid her hands up his back, then allowed her fingers to crawl back down to his waist. Maurice locked his jaw and clinched his teeth as he felt her nails drag across his skin.

  "It's just the two of us now," she told him. "I can easily go slip it back on while slipping out of everything else. Meanwhile..." She brought her hands around to the front of his pants and jerked him forward. "You can show me just how much you missed me."

  He raised a hand to her face and brushed a thumb across her bottom lip. She shivered. "That might take all night," he replied in a much lower tone.

  "I was sort of counting on that, Mo."

  They both grinned.

  He dropped his hands back down to her behind and after giving her a quick smack on each side, she eagerly jumped up into his arms. He drove his tongue into her mouth and held her close while carrying her upstairs and into their bedroom.

  Part Two

  Across town, Sheila had just returned to her room at The Palace after an extended day of shopping at Bergdof Goodman. The only way she knew to cure at least part of her continued sadness was to spend her father's money on things she knew she didn't need in places she knew most people couldn't afford to shop.

  But him giving her the money under the guise of a 'Christmas present' was the least she thought he could've done considering neither he nor her mother had had any plans to spend the holiday with her as they had all originally planned months ago. Then again, those plans at one time included Nathan and once they learned he was out of the picture and had been replaced by a former college professor with no promise of a trust fund, so were they.

  As she fumbled with the bags and her purse in search of her room key, she mumbled to herself about how this time was supposed to be different. This Christmas was supposed to be spent with a man who actually learned to love and appreciate her for who and all that she was, even in such a short period of time of having gotten to know her.

  She had made so many plans in her head when it came to Adrian that the moment it all seemed to end so abruptly, she was left completely dumbfounded at the why; though she knew. Besides, good things never lasted forever and when it came to Sheila, if they ever seemed to last at all, it was more or less a fluke.

  After accidentally dropping one of her fifteen bags to the floor, one that contained a bracelet so expensive she could've used it as a downpayment for an actual home in the city, she closed her eyes and groaned. "Damn it."

  "Need some help?" a hard voice said as it boomed up beside her.

  Startled, she turned to the last person she was hoping to see that night, Nathan, and looked down at his hand as he gestured it toward her multitude of bags.

  Though she was less than enthused, she gave him a slight smile anyway and mumbled, "No thanks." While continuing to fumble around inside her purse in search of that key, a few more bags slipped from her hands and to the floor. "Damn it!" In a fit, she looked at the mess around her and suddenly threw all of her bags, including her purse to the floor and stood back. "DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT!"

  Nat
han took a single step forward and held up his hand to stop her from possibly slamming her fists into the door. "Why don't you save that Florida Evans moment for inside the room, Sheila."

  "Shut up," she snapped back. "What the hell are you doing here anyway?"

  "I was in the bar at the lobby and I saw you come in with all of that shit in your hands." He shrugged. "Thought maybe you might need some help in carrying it all up--"

  "I got up here just fine without your help."

  "I can see that," he shot back, his tone full of sarcasm as he glared at her. "Here." He reached down and grabbed all of her bags one by one, as well as her purse. As she tried to snatch them from him, he stood back and kept a tight grip on each one.

  Frustrated, she threw her arms up and shrugged. "You're not my man anymore, Nathan, remember? You don't have to do this."

  "I don't need to be your man to help you with a few damn bags, Sheila," he told her. "Something like this is what friends do."

  "And what the hell do you know about being a friend, let alone mine?"

  He straightened his back and exhaled through his nose. "Before I even knew you outside of those clothes, I was your friend. Before I knew that you had two matching birthmarks on the inside of your thighs, I was your friend. Before I could even pinpoint exactly what you tasted like, and knew how it felt to have your legs draped over my shoulders in bed, I was your friend--"

  "Alright!" she interjected. Feeling uncomfortable, she wrapped her arms around herself as tightly as she could and diverted her eyes.

  A slight grin crossed Nathan's face as he could feel himself getting to her more than she would've liked. "But if you really wanna talk about me not being your man anymore, where's the one you claim to have now?" he asked in an assuredly, haughty tone. He dropped the bags in front of him while watching her squirm for an answer. "I haven't seen him around here in a long ass time."

  She lowered her head and mumbled. "This is the problem with us still living in the same hotel." She sighed and looked him straight in the eyes. "Truth be told, I've been spending time in Queens. He likes it there and I'm learning to like it too the more I visit." She reached out for her purse again, but again, he jerked it back. "Nathan, what the hell--?"