Strong Loving

by Niobia Bryant

  Zaria moaned in pleasure as she tingled and felt alive. “I missed this,” she whispered in between heated kisses.

  And she had.

  Even the nights the bed seemed cold with the distance between them she had fought not to cave, awaken him, apologize, and then ride him back to sleep.

  I need this.

  He slapped her buttock soundly and gave her one last kiss before stepping away. “I better get back,” he said.

  Zaria arched a brow as her mouth fell open in shock. Wait. What?

  “I’ll be done in a couple of hours,” Kaleb said as he moved past her. “I’ll make it up to you.”

  She was stunned speechless.

  Kaleb Strong declined sex. Again.

  Huh?

  The moment picked at an unspoken dread that had become so ingrained that it seemed a part of her DNA. Fear. That he didn’t want her. Not the same. Not like he did before. She winced because it stung. It hurt. It scared her.

  The nights were becoming frequent that he claimed fatigue or needing to rise early in the morning to avoid making love.

  Isn’t that the whole purpose of a younger man? Their sexual appetite? Then why am I left here hungry after a week of fasting?

  She gave the kids a quick eye to check on them watching television before making her way back to their bedroom suite. She barely closed the double doors before she pulled the dress over her head and flung it away without a care to stand nude before the floor to ceiling framed mirror leaning against the wall.

  “This is fifty,” Zaria said, taking in her breasts that were still plump and pert—even if slightly lower than they were ten years ago.

  Vigorous workouts kept her stomach flat, her thighs firm and her buttocks rounded. She kept her privates shaved to avoid him ever seeing a gray hair reign. She drank a gallon of water a day to kept her skin hydrated and fresh. She constantly did Kegels to snap her punani back in place after the children. She could run a mile in heels with ease. People were always shocked to discover her true age. Always.

  But was it enough to keep a man like Kaleb satisfied? A handsome man. A sexy man. A younger man.

  Zaria sighed.

  She didn’t bother to replace the sexy casual dress and instead slid on undergarments with leggings and a tank before rejoining the children in the family room. “Thirty more minutes and then bath time,” she said, picking up her phone from where she left it on the end table.

  “Momma, its summer,” Kasi said from across the room.

  “I said bath time, not bedtime,” she said. “Summer or no summer. We wash around here.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She needed to vent. To be reassured. Since entering the Strong family she had become very close to his mother, sister, and sisters-in-law, but she never believed in complaining about a man to his family. They were honest people who spoke the truth, but they were still his blood. And she wasn’t ready to reveal that their happy home was not that happy. Not when every other Strong couple was doing well. Admitting she and Kaleb were not was hard. Plus, his parents, Kael and Lisha, would call a family meeting quick as hell and try to fix it.

  Zaria tapped her long nail against the screen of her phone before pulling up her best friends from childhood. First Chanci and then Hope. They grew up in Summerville, South Carolina together but life—and love—had taken Chanci to North Carolina and Hope to Maryland. It’d been years since the three of them would fly to each other’s state to celebrate their birthday weekends but the phone and Facetime kept them connected.

  “Everybody here?” she asked, once she conferenced the call.

  “Uh-oh,” Hope said.

  “I’m not even going to lie,” Zaria said tucking her bare feet beneath her bottom where she sat. “Uh-oh is right.”

  “Things still upside down with you and Kaleb?” Chanci asked.

  “Was I crazy to think our age differences would never catch up with us?” she asked, voicing her insecurity.

  The line went quiet.

  Her eyes widened. “Well, damn,” she drawled with hurt feelings.

  “Listen, Z, I’ll be real with you because that’s all I can be,” Hope said.

  “Hope,” Chanci said, her voice filled with a warning.

  Zaria regretted calling them. She wanted reassurances, not more reason to worry. In truth, she had to fight the urge to end the call and send them back into their own lives and out of hers.

  “You are doing one hell of a job looking young. No lie. You don’t look forty and nowhere near fifty...”

  “But,” Zaria added, looking up at the ceiling briefly.

  “But that’s a young man—”

  “A very sexy younger man,” Chanci slid in.

  “Hey,” Zaria warned playfully as she imagined her green-eyed friend fanning herself.

  “What? My hubby’s waist is twice his size. Bless his heart with his teddy bear looking self,” Chanci said.

  “Yeah but you’re the same age and you’re not too far behind him, Snuggles,” Hope added.

  Chanci gasped into the line and it seemed to echo. “Hey! You’re not far from Winnie the Pooh your damn self,” she quipped. “All you need is a honey pot and a red T-shirt!”

  “Oh shit!” Hope screeched.

  “I’m sayin’. Don’t come for me and I didn’t send for you,” Chanci flung back.

  “Focus, ladies,” Zaria smoothly slid into the ruckus.

  Hope cleared her throat. “Like I was saying,” she stressed.

  Zaria bit back a smile.

  “How long can you keep this up? Eventually, he will look over at you and see an old woman. The question is: is there enough there other than the physical—”

  “The sexual,” Chanci added with a little moan.

  “To maintain the relationship?” Hope finished as if she didn’t hear her. “That’s the question you have to ask yourself.”

  “My thing is honesty, you know?” Zaria said, looking to make sure she was still out of earshot of the children. “I’d rather he say that his feelings have changed then put me through...what Ned did.”

  “You think Kaleb is cheating?” Chanci asked in disbelief.

  Zaria thought of his distance over the last six to nine months—both physically and emotionally. Things were different. Fewer kisses. Less sex. More coolness and arguments. Longer work hours. His focus was elsewhere. That was clear.

  Is it another woman?

  “I hope not,” she whispered, speaking more to herself than them.

  “Oh, Zaria,” Hope sighed.

  “After twenty years of marriage I never would have guessed Ned would cheat and then leave me for a younger woman,” she voiced, thankful that any pain she felt over that betrayal was gone even if the fear of it happening again remained. “If you asked me that even a day before I found out I wouldn’t have believed it.”

  “Yes, but Kaleb is not Ned,” Chanci reminded her.

  “I agree, Zaria,” Hope chimed in. “It’s not fair to judge him by Ned’s action.”

  Zaria fell silent. Kaleb’s character was not that of a man who would lie. He was brutally honest. So much so that it made a lot of people uncomfortable. No, she wasn’t ready to think that low of him, but the questions remained.

  What changed? And why?

  ∞

  Kaleb shifted his weight on the saddle of his favorite horse, Danger, as he looked out at his three-hundred-acre dairy farm. The summer sun was just beginning to set and the Carolina skies were a beautiful backdrop against the rolling greens of his land. The towering trees and the top of his large barn was like dark shadows amongst the lavender, dark blues, and burnt orange of evening on the rise.

  KS Dairy Farm was his life’s work and he was dedicated to it success. Owning and operating a farm was a challenge and he enjoyed figuring out every minute detail to make sure his farm ran successfully. He was a farmer through and through. He had no other choice. The Strongs were a farming family and proud. Growing up and working his parents’ catt
le farm had been all the experience he needed. The love came naturally.

  He knew since he was a young boy that he would own and operate his own farmstead. Like his older brother, Kahron, he’d done just that. He’d purchased the land, the equipment, and the animals. Built barns and paddocks. Hired a crew that was now over thirty ranch hands. He’d built the home once he was able. In time, he even built a dairy store to supplement his income. He’d made KS Dairy Farm a star in the farming community—a money-making one.

  Admittedly, his father had helped him to start the ranch, but Kaleb had long since repaid his debt, not wanting any handouts.

  If KS Dairy Farm sunk or sailed it was all on him.

  The truth of that was daunting and he felt the weight of it on his shoulders.

  “That’s it, Boss.”

  He looked over to Lordan Hughes sitting astride a Palomino with his Stetson tilted down low over his eyes. He started out at the age of fifteen as a part-time ranch hand and over the years had risen to foreman. Kaleb trusted him and considered him a friend. They were only six years apart in age.

  “That high temperature is supposed to really role in next week or so and the last thing I need is for heat stress to deplete milk production,” Kaleb said, nudging his horse with the reigns to steer him around in the opposite direction.

  This summer was looking to be the hottest weather ever in South Carolina and Kaleb wanted to take extra measures to protect his cows.

  “The fans and the sprinkling system plus the shade of the feed bunk will keep them cool,” Lordan said, his voice as deep as his complexion.

  “God willing,” Kaleb said, looking off into the distance at his home on the hill.

  Awaiting him there was a wife and three children who relied on him. The farm was their main source of income. Failure was not an option.

  The two men reached the red metal barn and climbed from their horses. Each quietly worked to brush the animals down and feed them water before leading them to their stalls. The rest of his staff had already headed home for the night to rest up for another early morning of ranching.

  Lordan removed his hat as they entered Kaleb’s office that resembled a small cabin. “I’m headed out,” he said with a broad smile. “Got a date in Savannah.”

  Kaleb looked doubtful. “You’re headed to Georgia tonight?” he asked, opening the small fridge in the corner to remove a bottle of ice-cold beer.

  Lordan chuckled. “My Savannah is a fine ass woman, not the city,” he explained.

  Kaleb briefly raised his bottle to him in a toast before claiming the plush leather chair behind his desk.

  Lordan paused in the doorway and turned. “You not headed home?” he asked.

  Kaleb shook his head. “In a little bit,” he said, taking another swig of his beer.

  The other man looked pensive and opened his mouth as if to speak but said nothing instead before leaving with one final wave of his sweat-soaked Stetson.

  Kaleb sat the bottle on the edge of the desk and leaned back in his seat to prop his booted feet up on the large wooden desk. He massaged his mouth with his hand as he looked at the touch screen of his computer. With a tap of the keyboard, it was awakened from sleep mode. He didn’t look at the business spreadsheets and instead pulled up the video surveillance of the property. Cameras were everywhere, including the exterior of the house and its surrounding landscaped yards.

  It was an impressive spread that came along with weighty obligations.

  Even when things are out of my control.

  He squinted when the front door opened, and Zaria stepped out onto the porch. The very sight of her made his heart pound a little harder and a lot faster. She sat on the top step and looked up at the Lowcountry Carolina skies.

  Something they used to do together nearly every night after they put the kids to bed. Their house was so isolated that some nights they would stretch out on one of the chaise lounges on the porch and make love as the night creatures took reign and serenaded them.

  And there was nothing better than making love with Zaria. Nothing.

  Her touches. Her kisses. Her purrs of pleasure. All of it was like fuel.

  In time their passion had only gotten better. His love for her had deepened. With her came the life he longed for when he would be around his parents and married brothers and feel alone without someone special of his own. And now he had a wife he cherished and children he adored—including the twins. It was the life he wished for and he felt blessed to receive it.

  But he couldn’t lie and say trouble was not brewing.

  Tell her, Kaleb. Tell her the truth.

  He shook his head as if to answer the plea one of his brothers made to him months ago. He reached for his beer instead, finishing it with two deep swallows before tossing the glass into the wastepaper basket. It hit against the other empties already there.

  On the screen, Zaria picked up her phone and made a call.

  Bzzzzzzzzz.

  He didn’t bother to look at his vibrating iPhone in the front pocket of his uniform shirt.

  For what? To lie to her?

  Guilt made his face grim. “Shit,” he swore, closing his eyes until the vibrating stop.

  He looked on as she shook her head.

  In disappointment? Anger?

  Kaleb could only guess at how she felt but doubted he was too far off. He exited out of the surveillance and shifted his eyes to the family photo he kept on his desk. He, Zaria, and their children were atop horses and smiling without a care in the world.

  “Better times,” he said, his voice dark.

  The urge for another beer nagged at him. Calling to him. Demanding his attention. He answered. In fact, he did so several times as the night drew on.

  Tell her, Kaleb. Tell her the truth.

  With each beer that plea became less pronounced. It echoed not quite as loudly in his head.

  Guilt in an honest man was a trying thing.

  “Damn it,” he swore, gripping the bottle tightly before he angrily flung it away.

  It slammed against the wall.

  Rising to his feet, he moved around the desk and left the office. He climbed onto his mule and slowly drove the quarter mile to the main house. Zaria was no longer on the porch and the inside was dark. He entered and paused, hoping his eyes would adjust to the lack of light. He made about twenty steps before he walked straight into the back of one of the sofas, pushing it forward to loudly drag across the floor.

  “Shit,” he swore.

  Moments later the area was flooded with illumination.

  Kaleb looked up to find Zaria in a short cotton nightgown with her hair wrapped in a silk scarf and her face free of makeup.

  “You’re beautiful,” he admitted, loving her best when she was natural and casual.

  “Was there an emergency on the farm?” she asked as she walked over to where he slumped down onto the seat of the sofa.

  “No.”

  “Then not quite beautiful enough for you to come home at a decent hour,” she said, reaching down to lightly grip his chin and lift his face so that they looked at each other.

  He studied her, even as he felt the combined effects of his fatigue from a day’s work and the beer. She wasn’t perfect—no one was—but she was perfect for him. He reached for her hips and pulled her close to press his face against her stomach. The scent of her toiletries caused him to inhale. It was sweet and familiar.

  “We need to talk, Kaleb,” she said, her hand now stroking the back of his head.

  Yes, we do.

  “Tomorrow, Zaria. I need to get some sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow,” he said, feeling his eyes already closing as he continued to lean against her where she stood before him.

  “Tomorrow,” she agreed, her voice firm.

  The feel of her hand was warm and comforting. Even with his tiredness, it was also arousing. The chemistry—that same electricity they had when they first locked eyes on each other in that restaurant—was still there.

&nbs
p; That never changed.

  But they had.

  He leaned back to look up at her. “Look,” he said, before glancing down at his dick now hard and straining against the front of his uniform pants.

  He watched her as she did and didn’t miss the little lick of her lips.

  His dick got harder.

  He ached.

  “You turn me on even when I don’t want you to,” Kaleb admitted, his deep voice sounding slightly tortured.

  Zaria pushed him until his head was tilted back against the sofa as she straddled his lap and settled his hands on her hips again. “And why wouldn’t you want me to turn you on?” she asked, removing her nightgown before reaching for the throw blanket draped across the arm of the chair to cover her back and buttocks.

  Kaleb released a heavy breath as he eyed the sight of her plump breast with her large brown aureoles and hard nipples pointed right towards his lips. His mouth watered to taste one. Lick. Suck. Devour.

  Zaria worked to undo his belt, button, and zipper to free his hard inches.

  She moaned. “It’s hot in my hands,” she moaned as she massaged him from the base of his thickness to the smooth tip.

  His balls were tight and ready for release. “I’m too tired and drunk to fuck, Zaria,” he said.

  “Then sit back, shut up, and get fucked,” she said, rising up enough to ease her core down onto him.

  She landed on his lap hard causing her ass and breasts to jiggle.

  He cried out in pleasure. She was tight. Wet. Hot. Deep.

  “Sshhhh,” she whispered, leaning forward to press his face against her soft breasts as she rode him back and forth.

  Kaleb was lost as she began counting each motion. He dug his fingers into her buttocks as he sucked at the sweet valley of her breasts between hot pants.

  “Three. Four. Five,” she continued.

  He freed one hand to cup her breast and guide the taunt brown nipple into his mouth.

  It was her time to cry out at the feel of his tongue. “Six. Seven. Eight, Nine,” she gasped, flinging her head back and gripping his shoulders.

  “Oh shit, Zaria. Zaria. Zaria,” he moaned as his body and dick stiffened as he climaxed, filling her with his seed.