More Than He Can Handle

by Cheris Hodges

  Freddie placed her hands on her hips. “You are something else.”

  Cleveland crossed over to her and brushed his lips against hers. “You think?” With nimble fingers, he unbuttoned her shirt. “Where have you been?” Before Freddie could answer him, he closed his lips on her neck, making her shiver.

  “Umm, I had lunch with Jill and—ah—I was looking for a job and . . .” She stopped talking as his fingers slipped inside her bra.

  “Come on, let’s get in the tub,” he said as he pushed her shirt off her shoulders. Freddie stepped out of her pants and followed Cleveland to the bathtub. The water smelled of sweet jasmine and was warm to the touch. Freddie stepped in the water and Cleveland took his clothes off then joined her. They lay in the water, Freddie’s back against Cleveland’s chest. He took the bath sponge and ran it down the center of her chest.

  “You don’t have to find a job right away, I know you need to get settled in,” he said as he made small circles around her nipples with the sponge.

  “Umm, I need a job. Sitting at home all day isn’t my idea of fun,” she said.

  Cleveland dipped the sponge between her legs and toyed with her inner thighs. “I hear you. But I can take care of you.”

  Freddie turned around and kissed the center on his chest. “I know you can,” she said. “But it’s not always all about me and what I need.”

  “It is if I say it is,” he said as he tweaked the end of her nose.

  She slapped his hand away, sloshing water over the side of the tub. “Seriously, Cleveland. I’m unemployed right now and other than the best sex of your life, what do I have to bring into this relationship?”

  Though he was highly aroused, Cleveland found the voice to say, “What we have is about more than sex. Hell, the sex is good because we connect on so many other levels. Look, you haven’t been in town that long and you’ve been through a lot. If you want to regroup before you get back on your feet, I’m fine with that.”

  “But I don’t want you to feel like you’re carrying me,” she said. “That’s why I went to Jill to ask her for help finding a job.”

  Cleveland pulled her against his chest, so close to his face that their lips brushed against one another’s. “You’re important to me and if you feel like you have to work, that’s fine. I never expected you to be a housewife, besides, I couldn’t afford to keep you at home anyway.”

  “And I wouldn’t want you to,” she said, thrusting her hips into his.

  “Don’t do that. I’m trying to prove to you that what we have is more than sex and you do that.”

  She gyrated against him, sloshing water with every sensual move. “Who said sex was a bad thing?”

  Wrapping his arms around her hips, Cleveland blew out the candles, then slowly lifted her from the tub. “Then let me get some of this good thing,” he said with a grin on his face.

  Later after they were spent from lovemaking, Cleveland and Freddie layed in bed wrapped in each other’s arms. While she slept soundly, he drank in the beauty of her silky skin, her thick lips that were pressed against his moments ago. Freddie looked like an angel as she slept. Gently he ran his index finger down her cheek, careful not to wake her up. He inched closer to her and brushed his lips softly against her cheek. With his free hand, he reached into the nightstand drawer and pulled out the ruby ring that he’d bought earlier that day. He placed the box on her pillow then kissed the back of her neck. Freddie’s eyes fluttered open.

  “Wake up, Sleeping Beauty,” he said.

  “Umm,” she moaned. “Do I have to?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  Freddie stretched her arms above her head and her hand brushed against the box. “What’s this?” She took the velvet box into her hand then opened it. “Cleveland.”

  “Do you like it?”

  “I love it.”

  “Do you love me?”

  “You know it.”

  He took the ring from the box and reached for her left hand. “What do you say we get married?”

  Freddie’s smile spread from ear to ear. “I say yes.”

  He slipped the ring in place and it fit perfectly, just as he knew it would. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  Freddie looked at the ring. “How did you know that I loved rubies?”

  He shrugged. “It was just a hunch and I wanted something different for you. Because we have a different type of relationship, you know.”

  “Do you think we ought to pull ourselves out of the bed and share our news?” she asked.

  Cleveland took her left hand and placed it over his arousal. “Getting out of bed isn’t an option right now.” He covered her body with his, kissing her with a fiery passion that was hot enough to make her melt. Freddie wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer and deeper. Her legs quivered as his hand dipped between her thighs and anticipation coursed through her body like the blood that flowed through her veins.

  “Cleveland,” she moaned as his finger found his way between the moist folds of flesh hiding her throbbing bud of desire. Inching down her body, Cleveland buried his face between her thighs and lapped her womanly juices like they were the sweetest nectar he’d ever tasted. Freddie grasped the sheets as he circled her most tender spot with his tongue. Her breasts heaved as she panted while his lips covered her flesh.

  Freddie released the sheets as she exploded under his kiss. Intense feelings of pleasure filled her senses and all she could do was let Cleveland control her body as he had been. He traveled up her body until he reached her breasts. Freddie’s nipples were rock hard, waiting for his lips and tongue to tease them. She placed her hand on Cleveland’s manhood, stroking him as he kissed and licked her breasts and then her neck.

  He moaned with a sound that came from the depths of his soul. “I need to be inside,” Cleveland groaned.

  “Need. You. Inside.” Her voice was staccato. Cleveland retrieved a condom from underneath his pillow and with the quickness and skill of a magician, he slid the sheath in place and melted with her. As he pumped his hips in, Freddie matched him stroke for stroke. The heat between them was enough to build a forest fire in the middle of the bed. He lifted her from the sheets and folded her legs around his waist. They danced a sensual dance of passion until sweat dripped from their bodies like falling rain.

  “Cleveland, Cleveland, Cleveland,” she repeated as if she was in a trance. The hot wetness that surrounded him rendered Cleveland unable to speak. Unable to say how much he loved her, unable to tell her that he wanted every moment of their lives to be this way.

  Collapsing against the sheets, Freddie and Cleveland held each other and silently basked in the afterglow of their desire.

  “Promise me that after we walk down the aisle that you’re going to continue to blow my mind like this,” he said when he caught his breath.

  “Are you sure you can handle this for the rest of your life?” she teased.

  “Umm, you’ve been more than I can handle since the day we met, but somehow I’ve managed.” He kissed her passionately, arousing himself again. When she felt him throbbing against her thighs, Freddie knew that she was in for the ride of her life.

  Epilogue

  When Freddie and Cleveland got married, it wasn’t a fancy affair. They’d had their fill of wedding drama after standing up for Lillian and Louis. Instead, the Grand Hilton hotel in downtown Atlanta, where Freddie was the General Manager, served as the venue for the wedding. The ballroom was aglow with the flickering light of a hundred candles (Lillian’s idea) and a few hand-tied bouquets of white-and-pink roses circled the altar, even though Lillian thought the pink roses were mauve. Freddie told her friend that she needed to get her eyes checked.

  As the couple stood in front of the reverend, Freddie stared deep into Cleveland’s gray eyes. This wasn’t a dream, she was going to be happy and spend her life with a man that matched her passion and intensity. A man who loved her above all else and someone who would never let her down. Just
as the minister was about to pronounce the couple man and wife, Freddie could’ve sworn she saw her father tipping out the back of the ballroom. Smiling, she said, “I do.”

  Before the reverend got the words, “You may kiss the bride,” out of his mouth, Cleveland had Freddie in his arms, kissing her as if they were the only two in the room. Catcalls and cheers came from the small audience of family and firefighters. Most of the guests at the wedding had to see Cleveland tell this woman “I do,” because they just couldn’t believe that he was getting married. Though it was the happiest day of his life, Cleveland did miss Roland. He could only imagine what his friend would’ve said when he announced his engagement.

  “Are you kidding me?” Roland would’ve said. “First of all, I can’t even imagine that she gave you the time of day. Now you two are getting married? Damn, another player gone.”

  “You can have my player card, man,” Cleveland would have told him as they kicked back over some beers and hot wings.

  Roland would shake his head. “I don’t get it man, first Darren, which I can understand. Then Louis, which I’m sure he was given a timetable to get married, but not you, man!”

  “What did Teddy Pendergrass say? It feels so good when someone loves you back.”

  Grunting, Roland would grab another wing. “What time do I need to be there?”

  Cleveland smiled and squeezed Freddie’s hand. Roland would’ve loved Freddie, eventually.

  “Are we really supposed to be this happy?” she whispered as they posed for pictures with the wedding party, which was comprised of Jill, Lillian, Louis and Darren.

  “Yes, we are,” Cleveland said. “And trust me, the best is yet to come.”

  DAFINA BOOKS are published by

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  Copyright © 2009 by Cheris Hodges

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  If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

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  ISBN: 978-0-7582-3151-2

  First mass market printing: February 2009