Smitten

by Nicole Falls

  We parted ways briefly for the drive over to Main Event. On the way I told Celena about PJ’s comment as we were leaving the sports complex and she just murmured incoherently.

  “What’s the deal there?” I asked.

  “I have no idea. Patty is always super-secret squirrel with her shit. There’s something there. I’ma get the scoop at Main Event. I need you to run interference with the kid though,” Celena replied.

  “You got it. So uh…what was that friend stuff earlier?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

  The truth was, the emphasis on us just being friends annoyed me a little bit. Yeah it was pretty early, but I’d hoped at the very least I had earned a better title than friend. On the one hand, I wasn’t just some random dude she was introducing to her family; but on the other we hadn’t defined what we were to one another or what we expected from this dating situation. And I’m pretty certain that refusing to take things beyond kissing–much to her frustration –wasn’t helping.

  Sex…it tended to complicate things. Was I attracted to her? Absolutely. Did I want to move things to the next level? Shiiiiit, yeah. It was getting increasingly difficult for me to hold off on stripping her down completely and losing myself inside of her until we were both spent. But what I didn’t want this to be was her physical need being met without any semblance of us moving beyond that. I’d been there before and wasn’t trying to go back.

  I was tired of the bullshit and ready to settle down. I knew that she was out of a bad situation recently, the depth of which we hadn’t fully explored still, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t the rebound man. I liked Celena a lot. Possibly too much, if I was being honest with myself. But I still didn’t know where I stood with her. I wanted her to be sure that I was what she wanted. So I was giving her the space to get used to me being here in her life…and not planning to move for a while, if ever.

  “I mean that’s what we are, right?” she asked, faux innocence in her eyes as she moved a bit closer to my side of the truck. She reached over, putting her hand on my knee and trailing her hand over my thigh, moving dangerously closer to the erection that started at her first touch. After church we had changed into what Celena called, athleisure wear—me in grey sweats, a white tee and Space Jam Js; her in yoga pants, a black zip up hoodie and white tank top and the retro Js of hers I’d admired on our first outing. The thinness of the sweatpants that I was wearing made me hypersensitive to her touch. The minute she touched me I felt Lil Karim start to rise to the occasion.

  “And since you’re refusing to give me this…” she trailed off, now completely palming me.

  I groaned as she moved her hand back and forth.

  “Come on, chill…” I said, trying to grasp her wrist to stop the fluidity of her movements.

  We were pulling into the Main Event and didn’t need to be starting anything we couldn’t finish. And I was damn sure at the point where I was ready to finish. I pulled into the first open spot I saw and shut off the car.

  “See? Friends!” she said, pulling her hand back and settling back in her seat to look out of the window.

  “We’ll talk about this later,” I said, grabbing her hand and placing a kiss in her palm, “For now…know this if your fault if I have to explain to your nephew why I’m sporting wood.”

  And with that I exited the car with Celena trailing behind me. Somehow we’d beaten her sister and nephew here, so I was able to calm down before they showed up. We made quick work of lunch, Pat and PJ doing most of the eating since Celena and I both were pretty full from brunch with my folks earlier. After eating, the ladies stayed at the table talking while PJ challenged me to a games competition.

  “Come on, man. I bet I’ll beat you at everything. I’m the best,” he boasted.

  “Aight lil man, let’s go…” I said, giving Celena’s shoulder a quick squeeze as I passed her.

  “Don’t call me that, my name is Patrick or PJ. Never little man.”

  Okay then.

  “My bad, PJ. Aight where you wanna get washed first?”

  “Ah you got jokes, huh? Ok, let’s go. Basketball.”

  I headed toward the pop up shot games geared toward children that were half the size of the adult regulation games. A surefire easy victory.

  “Nah uhn Mr. Karim,” PJ said, tugging me in the opposite direction, “Those are the baby ones. I hoop like a man.”

  He looked so confident with his chest poked out as he strutted to the game. All of the ones that were side by side were taken, so we waited for a couple of teens to finish up their games before stepping up. As we swiped our cards to begin game play I teased PJ.

  “Last chance, man. You want a handicap? I’ll shoot with one hand.”

  “Maaaaaan just shoot the ball.”

  After the game started, it was clear that I was the one who should have been asking for the handicap. The kid quickly found his rhythm knocking down shot after shot, each one in succession living up to the name of the game, “Nothing But Net”. I was beginning to break out into a sweat trying to keep up while he effortlessly posted point after point. At the end of the sixty seconds, he was victorious; he scored forty-eight to my paltry twenty-two.

  “Let’s go again, I was just warming up.”

  “Uh huh, sure. Aight, let’s go.”

  We played four more games and he handed me my ass for two of those. I was finally able to claim victory in our last two. Though I’m not quite sure how victorious I could really claim to be after I basically had to tire the kid out to beat him by two damn shots. After basketball we made the rounds—getting into skeeball, table hockey, car racing and random arcade games.

  While we were waiting in line for laser tag, PJ turned to me with a serious look on his face.

  “Mr. Karim…if I ask you something will you promise not to tell Tee? Or my mom?”

  “Well that depends. Is it about something bad that happened?”

  “Kinda…but…” he trailed off, “Forget it.”

  I grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him out of the laser tag line. We took a seat on a couple stools in front of some arcade games.

  “What’s going on, man?”

  He sighed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders before replying, “How do you know if you’re in love?”

  Well that’s certainly not what I expected I thought as I tried to come up with an answer that would make sense to a kid. After a few minutes of silence, I said, “That’s some pretty heavy stuff for a ten year old, man. What you know about love?”

  “I know I’m in pretty deep,” he said, resting his chin in his hand.

  It took everything in me not to burst out laughing. My man had it bad for whatever little girl was giving him the blues on the playground.

  “Have you told her how you feel?” I asked, trying to keep the laughter out of my voice.

  “I was all set to,” he started before launching into a story about how he had finally worked up the courage to tell her his feelings after holding them in for years. I couldn’t resist a grin as he poured his heart out. I remember being here before; my first crush was on Rosie. Broke my heart when she told me she was into our pastor’s son, a smooth talking kid who was a solid ten years older than us and paid her no attention. I shook my head to clear that memory and focus my attention back on the kid.

  “So that’s why I kinda played you that night you and Tee came to pick me up, Mr. Karim. Sorry about that. I was a man with a broken heart.”

  “I know it’s tough, PJ. That first heartbreak, but you’ll get over this girl soon. And you’ll find one who likes you back and it’ll be all good.”

  “Another girl?” he damn near screamed, “Weren’t you listening, man? I’ve been in love with this woman for years. No little girl at school will ever compare to Beebee! She has my whole heart forever. I just gotta wait for that punk to mess up. Y’all always do. That Jake dude did and that’s why my Tee is your girl now. I just gotta wait it out.”

  This kid was a trip. But
it suddenly clicked for me after I processed what he was saying. He had a little crush on Celena’s friend whose house we picked him up from that night. That’s why he had the little attitude. I chuckled briefly before circling back to the last piece of info he dropped.

  “Who’s Jake?” I asked. Yep, not one of my finer moments, pumping the kid for info, but Celena had been super reticent to share details about her last situation.

  “Te-te Cel’s old dude. He was super lame. Always tryna suck up to me, calling me little man and stuff. He tried to be my friend so Tee would love him, I think. But I didn’t like him because as soon as she turned her back he ignored me. Even when we came here, he was too busy tryna push up on Te-te to pay me any attention.”

  “Aight, so you want me to keep it real with you?”

  He nodded, eyes serious.

  “You don’t have a shot with Beebee, kid. She’s like twenty years older than you.”

  “But she is so fine, Mr. Karim.”

  “You’d do better to find a girl around your age, man. Or wait for her to be a cougar in twenty more years.”

  “What’s a cougar?”

  Ah shit, for a minute I’d forgotten I was talking to a kid.

  “Forget I said that, PJ.”

  Before I could ask any more questions, Celena and Patricia appeared, with the latter telling PJ it was time for them to go.

  “Aw man, mama. We didn’t even get to play laser tag!”

  “I got you next time, my dude,” I said, holding out my fist for a pound, “Gotta listen to moms though. When she says it’s time to go, it’s time to go.”

  PJ heaved another sigh and gave me pound. “Aight. Bye Mr. Karim,” he said and moved a little closer, “Remember our man talk stays between us.”

  “Fo sho,” I said, with a quick nod.

  As Celena and I walked out she asked, “What was that all about?”

  “Just bonding with my new homie is all. I got a question for you though.”

  “What’s up?”

  “What is that little fast blinking thing y’all be doing? Cadence did it that night at Imbibe and Patricia did it before the game.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.,” Celena said smoothly.

  “Bull. Both times after you blushed. What’s it some little code y’all got worked out?”

  “You see too much, mind your business,” she replied, laughing.

  “So you’re really not going to tell me?”

  “Nope, a girl’s gotta have some secrets out here.”

  “Aight, bet.”

  After leaving Main Event, I wasn’t quite ready to be out of Celena’s company despite us having been together for the majority of the day, so I invited myself over to her place as I was dropping her off.

  “Nope. You can’t come in.”

  “What do you mean I can’t come in? You tired of me already?”

  “Nope, I’m actually not, but I know what’s going to happen. You’re going to come in here and we’ll sit on the couch. Pretending that all we are gonna do is watch some TV and we’ll be sitting, watching some shit neither of us truly cares about and then your hand will slip a little too low in an accidental caress. I’ll move into the caress, which will lead to a kiss, then a make out session, then you once again being a cock tease and truncating my damn orgasm. Then after you leave I’ll run to my bedroom, retrieve my bullet and finish what you had started once again. Tonight, however, I’m gonna skip the foreplay and just go right inside and fuck myself since you won’t.”

  I sat back, jaw dropped in shock before busting up into laughter.

  “Well damn, tell me how you really feel?”

  “I’m serious, Karim. I’m starting to get a complex. I know you want it. You know I want it, why do you keep playing?” she whined.

  “So you don’t want me to come inside?”

  “I’ve been trying to get you to come inside, but you won’t damn do it,” Celena replied, biting her lower lip.

  I groaned at the double entendre. She had a point. I knew why I was holding out, but she was clueless. And from the way she was looking at me, I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer so I threw caution to the wind.

  “Okay,” I said, killing the ignition and putting my keys in my pocket.

  “Okay what?” Celena replied, warily.

  “You’re giving me full permission to come inside and ruin your life, so I hope you’re ready for what you’re asking for.”

  “Boy please, you prolly been holding back because you wanted me to fall in love with your dazzling personality before I was disappointed by your mediocre stroke game.”

  “You talk a lotta smack for somebody who’s so desperate to find out.”

  “And you’re talking a lotta smack like somebody who is procrastinating,” she quipped while opening the car door.

  We both exited the car and made our way up her steps in record time. While she rooted around her bag for her key, I crowded behind her, my hands at her waist; lips on the curve between her neck and shoulders. I kissed a path up to her ear, nipping the lobe before soothing the bite with a swipe of my tongue.

  “Hurry up,” I whispered, pressing closer so she could feel exactly how desperate I was to get inside.

  She fumbled with the key, having a bit of trouble getting it into the lock before I grabbed it out of her hand and unlocked the door in one smooth action. I pushed her inside, quickly shutting the door behind us with her pressed up against it. She let out a slow, shuddering breath as I boxed her in with my body, pressing a series of open-mouthed kisses over her collarbone up her neck to her mouth where I hovered, centimeters from connecting our mouths.

  Celena quickly grabbed my face, fusing our mouths. She took the lead immediately, with soft nibbling kisses around my mouth before sucking my lower lip between hers, slowly releasing it with a pop. We stayed pressed against her front door, trading soft teasing kisses for what seemed like an eternity before she pressed forward, urging me backward. Once she was unpinned from the front door, Celena turned to walk toward her bedroom. Within the first few steps she shed the jacket she was wearing, leaving her clad in a tank and those damn yoga pants. She reached for the hem of her shirt and I was immediately on her heels, halting her progress and urging her in the direction of her bedroom.

  We barely took a few steps before I swept her up in my arms, moving quickly to get her on the bed so I could continue stripping her.

  “Last chance to back out,” I rumbled, as I placed her on the bed, a smirk spreading across my lips.

  I caught Karim off guard as I wrapped my thighs around his and used the momentum to flip us over so that I was now on top.

  “Shit…I don’t know whether to be more scared or turned on right now,” he said, a hint of surprised humor in his tone.

  “Both,” I said, lowering my lips to his, drawing him into a kiss, “You should definitely be both.

  I was sick of him playing whatever game he had going with himself and ready for us to get down to it. This teasing back and forth had been run its course. It had been a lil minute since I had a taste and his teasing had worked me up to a fever pitch. I worked quickly, grabbing the hem of his tee shirt to raise it over his head and remove it. I knew he worked out, but I had no idea just how magnificent his body was—perfectly sculpted pecs and an abdomen made up of what had to be a damn eight pack. I kissed my way down his chest, lingering over his abs. I trailed my tongue over each ridge, earning a low moan from Karim. I kept moving lower, following the faint trail of hair on his lower abdomen until I had reached what I was seeking. Shifting further down on the bed, I grabbed at the waistband of his sweats, nudging him to raise his hips so that I could remove them…and his boxers in one fell swoop. I rose up on my knees, taking a moment to bask in the glory of Karim’s nude body—dark chocolate skin pulled taut over a muscular frame.

  Just as I was about to undress myself, Karim halted my progress.

  “Let me,” he said, taking the position of
dominance once again as he rolled us over. He pulled the hem of my tank up slowly, peppering each bit of skin he exposed with soft, lingering kisses. After removing my shirt completely, he hesitated briefly before removing my bra. Instead he chose to use the rasp of the material to tease my nipples into hard peaks as he laved the through the bra’s lace.

  “Mmmmmm, Karim, please,” I said, moving my hips up slightly to collide with his erection that was perfectly nestled at the juncture of my thighs.

  Her urged my thighs around his waist and ground into me in a teasing circular motion, which had me arching my back and bucking into him. He removed my bra completely, occupying his mouth by going back and forth between my breasts, licking, sucking and biting—driving me insane. Soon his mouth blazed a trail from my breasts to my belly, lingering slightly near my belly button as his busy hands removed my yoga pants. He gripped my ass with both hands, kneading it gently then removing my panties completely as his mouth moved further south.

  He parted my thighs and I sucked in a breath in anticipation of feeling his mouth on me. He remained still for a few moments, causing me to shift so I could look at him to see what the hold up was. As our eyes connected, a devious smile curled his lips and I knew I was in for trouble. He lifted my left leg to rest upon his shoulder, while stretching the right perpendicular to the bed. All spread out and at his mercy, I trembled slightly. Mainly because I recalled his warning about being able to ruin my life. I didn’t know if I was ready for all of that. But it was too late now, as he lowered his face, took a deep inhale and exhale which sent a frisson of excitement straight through my core.

  At the first touch of his tongue on my clit, I melted into a symphony of moans. Alternating between quick flicks of his tongue and slow, slurping open-mouthed kisses against my lips, Karim had me clawing at the sheets asking him to stop and keep going simultaneously. He feasted upon me like a starving man, savoring as if I were the best dessert he’d ever tasted. The stirrings of an orgasm built low in my belly as I squirmed to move away from his marauding tongue that was driving me insane.