Believe in Me (Strickland Sisters Book 2)

by Alexandria House

  “My feet are huge, Zo.”

  “Compared to mine?”

  “Well…no, not compared to yours, but they’re big for a woman.”

  He shook his head as he bent over and kissed both my feet. “Nah, they’re perfect, just like these legs…” He dragged a hand up my leg. “And these thighs.” He inched his hand up my shortie pajama bottoms. “And this—”

  I grabbed his hand. “We’re gonna watch this movie, Zo.”

  He nodded, his eyes heavy with lust as he looked at me. “Yeah, yeah, we can watch it…or it can watch us.”

  “Nope.”

  He sighed. “Well, can I at least play with it while we watch the movie?”

  “No!”

  “Just take those shorts off and open your legs so I can glance at it every once in a while?”

  I laughed. “You need help.”

  “I know, and you won’t help me.”

  We were halfway through the movie when he left to go to the bathroom, and when he returned, he was naked. He didn’t even look at me, just sat there staring at the huge screen with his arousal clearly evident.

  “Uh, Zo?”

  With his eyes still on the screen, he said, “Yeah, baby?”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Watching the movie. Why?”

  “Why are you naked?”

  “I got hot.” I could see the corner of his mouth twitching like he wanted to laugh.

  “You got hot, huh? Well, it’s not hot in here to me.”

  “I’m bigger than you. I get hot easier.”

  I stared at him for a minute and licked my lips. There in that room with the only light coming from the screen, his body looked beautiful, like a work of art, and I wanted it.

  “Come here,” I said huskily.

  He glanced at me. “Why?”

  “Just come here.”

  “I’m tryna watch this movie, Doc. What is it?”

  I stood and pulled my shorts and top off, then reclaimed my seat and opened my legs. “You sure you don’t wanna come here?”

  He slowly turned his head and looked at me. “Why’re you naked?” he asked, but his hand was now on his erection as he bit his bottom lip.

  “I’m hot. Really, really hot.”

  He grinned as he eased over to me and kissed me.

  As he reached between my legs and began stroking me, I whimpered, “You know how to get your way, don’t you?”

  “Absolutely.”

  *****

  Nearly two months passed before we finally had dinner with his mother. By then, I’d basically moved in with Lorenzo, filling a third of his enormous walk-in closet, which held his huge collection of expensive clothes, with my own clothes. He had a thing for tailored suits, told me he had a new one made every couple of months, because he liked the way he looked in them. So did I.

  We talked a lot, and I learned how much he adored his mom and missed his father. He was very protective of his only sibling, his sister, who was the product of a brief relationship Mrs. Higgs had with a younger man in Chicago. The more time I spent with him, the more I learned he was a gentle giant, but a fierce protector of those he cared for.

  The day of the dinner, Lorenzo cooked for us, spending hours in the kitchen preparing what he said was his mother’s favorite meal. I was banned from the kitchen, so I spent that Sunday milling around his house, exploring it for the first time. He’d given me a tour weeks earlier, but after that, we pretty much spent all of our time in his bedroom, kitchen, living room, or theater room, with the occasional visit to his office. The house had five bedrooms located upstairs, all fully furnished with gorgeous, if a bit oversized, furniture. But I suppose he’d bought furniture that would accommodate his frame. Each bedroom also had its own bathroom.

  Downstairs were the kitchen that my sister, Angie, the cook among me and my sisters, would love, the living room, theater, formal dining room, his office, another smaller bedroom, and two more bathrooms. Rell lived in an apartment above the four-car garage, and I had intended to go chat with him although I knew it would be a one-sided conversation, but he was gone by the time my little tour made it outside.

  I had asked Lorenzo about Rell, about whether he couldn’t speak or just didn’t speak, and to my surprise, he said he didn’t know. Lorenzo was best friends with Rell’s brother when he was killed, a casualty of the drug game. Rell was just a boy, ten or eleven years younger than Lorenzo who said he was twenty-five at the time. To honor his friend, he provided for his family and took Rell under his wing. He said Rell was as much his little brother as he was an employee, and that since he’d known him, he’d been mute, even before his brother’s death.

  I was a wreck by that evening, sitting at the foot of Lorenzo’s bed fully dressed, watching him towel off from his shower.

  “Damn, you look good!” he said, as he dragged the towel over his thick hair, which was cut into a low fade.

  I looked down at the black cape dress covering my body and shrugged. “Thanks.”

  With the bath sheet in his hand, he walked his naked body over to me and reached for me, pulling me to him. I tried to back away, but he held me in place. “You’re gonna get me wet,” I complained.

  “Shit, don’t I always?” he asked, with a grin.

  “Zo…stop.”

  “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Nothing. Why?”

  “You’re biting your lip, staring at the floor. What’s going on?”

  I sighed. “I don’t know. Nervous.”

  “About having dinner with my mom and Mel? You shouldn’t be. Shit, I’m the one who’s gonna be embarrassed. No telling what deep dark secret she’s gonna reveal tonight.”

  I tilted my head to the side. “Stop.”

  He frowned as he leaned in and kissed my neck. “I’m serious, Doc! You’ll see.”

  “Does your mother know I’ve been staying here?”

  “No. Should she?”

  “No, because she’ll think I’m a ho’.”

  He chuckled. “No, she won’t. I told you, she likes you, especially since she hates Veda.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “She hates Veda?”

  “With a damn passion.” He cupped my face in his hands. “Don’t be nervous, okay?”

  I nodded.

  “You need some sex or something to relax?”

  “No.”

  “You sure?”

  “No, but we don’t have time for that. Your mom will be here any minute, and I’m not having dinner with her with my coochie all wet and stuff. Hurry up and get dressed.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said, as he gave me a kiss and a salute.

  *****

  Betty Jean Higgs arrived in a gorgeous white pantsuit that complemented her skin, which was a shade or two darker than her son’s. She greeted me with a huge smile and damn near yanked me into the tightest, warmest hug. Melyssa, who seemed to look even younger than her seventeen years in a cute denim dress, was right behind her holding baby Loren who was almost three months old and was filling out well. She was such a beautiful little blessing that I held her from the time they arrived, to the time Lorenzo called us into the dining room.

  Little Loren had fallen asleep, and I smiled when Rell walked into the dining room wearing a suit and carrying a bassinet that he set in the corner of the room so the baby would be close by. My eyes widened when Rell joined us at the table.

  “Tyrell, you know better than that. You better come give me my hug,” Lorenzo’s mother said.

  Rell smiled, leaving his chair and bending over to hug the much-smaller woman.

  I suppose my astonishment was written all over my face, because Lorenzo chuckled, and said, “Don’t feel bad, Doc. My mama is the only person who can get Rell to be even remotely sociable.”

  “That’s right,” Mrs. Higgs said. “Tyrell is my boy, too. Closest thing to another son I’ve ever had, and he knows he better mind me.”

  A sheepish look spread across Rell’s face as I looked at
him.

  Lorenzo had cooked a spread fit for a few kings and queens—lobster, crab legs, T-bone steaks, shrimp mashed potatoes, spicy corn on the cob, and sautéed kale. I had to have a little talk with myself to keep from looking like I hadn’t had a bite to eat in years.

  We were halfway through the meal when Mrs. Higgs said, “So, when are you two getting married?”

  Lorenzo, who was sitting right next to me chewing on something, started coughing so hard I jumped up from the table and readied myself to do the Heimlich maneuver, hoping I’d be able to do it effectively on someone his size. “You okay, Zo?!” I shrieked.

  He coughed a few more seconds and then cleared his throat, took a sip of water, and said, “I’m fine, Doc.”

  I looked at him for a moment. “You sure?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Sit down, baby.”

  I hesitated before taking my seat and had to keep myself from laughing when his elegant-looking, attractive mother said, “Negro, I don’t know why you choking. You know you need to marry this girl. She’s the best woman I’ve ever seen you spend time with. Pretty, professional, and obviously crazy about your big ass.”

  Mel giggled, and I swear I heard Rell chuckle. I glanced at Lorenzo, who wore a look of pure embarrassment on his face, and decided to rescue him. “Um, well…Mrs. Higgs, we’ve only been seeing each other for a couple of months, so—”

  “Honey, you might have only been in a relationship with him for a couple of months, but that boy has been in love with you since he laid eyes on you. Couldn’t stop talking about you that day you came out here and delivered my grandbaby. Kept going on and on about the way you steadied his hand when he was about to cut the cord. Said it was like something went through him when you touched him, and he knew you were the woman for him.”

  I looked over at Lorenzo, who raised an eyebrow and kind of peeped at me, and then returned my attention to his mother. “He-he’s never told me that.”

  “Humph, I’m not surprised, but I am surprised at his reaction to my question since he told me himself that he was going to marry you. All I asked was when it was gonna happen.”

  “Come on, Mama. Dang,” Lorenzo muttered. Up until that point, he’d always been so cool and commanding and in control, but here in his mother’s presence, he was like a teenaged boy enduring some story about how he used to wet the bed.

  “Come on Mama what? Did you not tell me all of that, Lorenzo Odell Higgs?”

  Odell?

  “Damn—I mean—please stop, Mama,” he pleaded.

  Mel was giggling so hard she was in tears, while Rell wore an amused expression on his face.

  “Did you?”

  He sighed. “Yes, ma’am, I did.”

  “I know you did.”

  He rubbed his forehead and sighed again.

  “I’ma leave you alone, boy. Hey, you know you cooked this food. Woo! All my favorites, too!” she exclaimed.

  “Of course I did, Ma. Anything for you. You know that, even though you love to embarrass me.”

  “Oh, hush. I didn’t hurt your big butt. The truth ain’t never hurt no one.”

  After dinner, as she and Mel waited for Rell to pull the car around, Mrs. Higgs wrapped me in another hug and whispered in my ear, “I’m so glad you came into my boy’s life. I can’t stand that trashy-ass Veda.”

  I smiled, and a few minutes later, stood next to Lorenzo on the front steps, watching them leave.

  Once we were inside, climbing the stairs and heading to bed, I asked his back, “Did you mean that stuff you said about me to your mom?”

  He stopped for a second and then continued up the stairs. “Yeah, I did,” he said softly.

  “You wanna marry me?”

  “Eventually, yes.”

  “You love me, Zo?”

  We’d made it to the second floor and had walked down the hall into his bedroom before he finally answered me. “If I say yes, are you gonna run from me again?”

  I halted my steps by the closet where I was getting ready to take my dress off and hang it up, and turned around. “What?”

  “You’ve always been worried about us moving too fast. We’ve only been together for a short while, so I’m thinking if I say I love you right now, you’ll break and run. I’d rather that not happen again.”

  “Zo, I’m sorry for being so wishy-washy before, but please believe me when I say I don’t plan on going anywhere, especially if you tell me you love me.”

  He was sitting on the side of the bed, his tie loose around his neck and his eyes glued to me. “Then yes, I love you, Doc. Have for a while now.”

  I kind of just stood there with my dress half on and half off. “Zo…”

  He shrugged. “I do, Doc. Don’t expect you to say it back, at least not right now.”

  I walked over to him, stepping between his legs. “Maybe I want to. Maybe I love you, too.”

  He reached up, resting his huge hands on my hips. “Maybe?”

  “Definitely. I love you, Zo.”

  He smiled, stood, and pulled me into a knee-buckling kiss.

  When his mouth finally left mine, I said, “Zo, since you love me, can I call you Odell?”

  “Hell, no.”

  22

  “Y’all still haven’t rented the other side of this place out? You haven’t had a tenant since Ryan lived there.”

  “Girl, we haven’t had time!”

  “And I guess you really don’t need the money with the way YouTube is going for y’all, plus all that commercial money.”

  “Yeah.” She adjusted herself on the sofa. “Soooo, I heard somebody don’t never be home anymore, and her name is not Nicole Strickland,” Angie said, as we sat in her living room waiting for Nicky to arrive. It’d been a long time since we got together for the sisterly bonding we’d all promised to make time for. Angie and Ryan had been busy traveling the country, attending events, Nicky had been so scarce that none of us, including Mama, really knew what she’d been up to, and I’d been in cohabitational bliss with Zo, spending nearly every second I wasn’t at work up under him, letting his good loving soak in. I’d also gained ten pounds from eating his good cooking.

  “Who told you that? Mama?” I asked.

  “Yeah, she said she had the place to herself these days. Said you started disappearing on her right after your divorce was finalized, and I told her you’re always too busy when I call and invite you out to lunch.”

  “That’s because every time you call, Zo is already waiting outside to take me to lunch or he’s fixed something for me at home.”

  “At home, huh? So, this thing with you two is serious, Nay?”

  I nodded. “Ang, you think I’m moving too fast? I mean, do you think I’m making a mistake by being with another man so soon after Robert?”

  “Nay, I don’t know if I’m the authority on taking things slowly. I mean, I knew I loved Ryan pretty quickly, like three months into our relationship. I’d never felt anything like that before. Absolutely nothing compared to what I felt for my husband. It was undeniable, no matter how little time had passed.”

  I nodded.

  “Is that how you feel about Lorenzo?”

  “It is, but…when I used to hear about people falling in love basically at first sight, I thought there was no way that could really happen. I just thought you had to take time and really get to know a person to love them.”

  “Maybe in some cases, but I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules when it comes to love. It’s whatever fits for the people involved. You really love him, don’t you?”

  “I do. So much. But he’s got a past, you know? And he’s told me things that should be setting off alarms all over the place, but all I feel when I’m with him is love.”

  “Then go with that, big sis. You can’t lose with love. Not when it’s real.”

  “It’s definitely real. Like you said, I’ve never felt anything like it before. Not even with Robert.”

  “You’re happy?”

  “Happier tha
n I’ve ever been in my entire life.”

  “Good.”

  Ryan peeked his head in the living room and smiled at us. “Y’all need anything?”

  “No, baby,” Angie answered.

  “Okay, I’m headed to the gym in a second, baby. Want me to bring y’all anything back?”

  Angie shook her head. “Nothing I can think of.”

  A few minutes later, he stepped into the living room, bent over and kissed Angie, and waved at me as he headed out the door.

  “Oh, Ryan!” Angie called after him. “Don’t forget, it’s your night to twist my hair.”

  “Okay, I’ma grease your scalp, too. I forgot to do it the other night.”

  “Okay, bye. Love you.”

  “Love you more.”

  After he left, I just sat there and stared at my sister.

  “What?” she asked, when she finally felt my eyes on her.

  “Girl, you got that man twisting your hair?”

  She shrugged. “He offered to do it a few months back, and now we take turns. He loves it.”

  “No, he loves you, and you’ve got him sprung! Ooooo, Angie!”

  She smiled. “I really do, huh? But you can’t talk. Up in that big old mansion, getting driven to work. You say he cooks for you, and I heard your ass be getting flowers delivered to you like every other day. Expensive ones, too.”

  “Janine?”

  “Girl, yeah. I ran into her at the Smoothie Hut the other day, and she was just talking all over herself about your mystery man in a suit, and how you were in your office making sex sounds a few months back, and how you keep arriving at work in chauffeur-driven cars, and of course, she mentioned the flowers.”

  “She was trying to get some information from you. Did you give her any?”

  “No, I didn’t share what little I knew about you and Lorenzo…but I am wondering why you haven’t told her anything? You scared she’ll tell Robert and he’ll start acting up again?”

  “No. I think maybe I just enjoy having a little mystery surrounding our relationship, and at first, I really didn’t feel like being judged for moving on so quickly after my divorce was final, but I think I’m gonna go ahead and tell her before she has an aneurysm or something.”