I put my hand on top of the one she had rested against the countertop, giving it a squeeze as I insisted, “You’ll be fine, Zalayah. With all those mega-producers they got on speed dial, I’m sure they can cook something up for you.”
She glanced at my hand that was still covering hers before peeking back at me with eyes that looked on the verge of tears when she said, “But I want you, Gabe. I need… you.”
Shit.
It wasn’t my intention to upset her; didn’t think I really meant that much to her creative process to do so. But the seriousness of what she had said was apparent in the way she gnawed at her lip while waiting for me to change my mind.
But I… couldn’t change my mind. I had to stay strong and go with my gut. I had to… mmmm.
Zalayah’s kiss was perfectly gentle, her lips soft and light as she moved her hand from under mine to put it against my cheek and deepen our kiss. Her eyes were closed, and eventually mine did too as she slipped her tongue between the threshold of my lips. And while I should’ve been pulling away, should’ve been ending this before things could go too far, I couldn’t help but stand up so that I could get even closer to her, positioning myself between her legs as she wrapped her arms around my neck to keep me there.
The music was quickly drowned out by the crashing of our lips and tongues, our kisses becoming more and more intense the longer we went until Zalayah pulled away to ask, “Should we take this upstairs?”
My mind said no, but my head nodded to agree. And when she hopped down from her stool to take my hand, I knew there was no turning back.
Her hold on me was light, linked by the fingers as she dragged me up the stairs. Then she peeked back at me wearing a sexy smirk, one I couldn’t help but match before leading me down the hallway towards her bedroom that was just as white and immaculate as the living room.
She kept her fingers linked with mine all the way to the bed where she encouraged me to sit with an extra tug. Then she climbed onto my lap, straddling it as she wrapped her arms around my neck the same way she had done downstairs. But this time, instead of kissing me, she just… looked at me, pulling her lip between her teeth before she admitted, “You are so damn fine.”
While compliments about my looks usually didn’t do much for me, I couldn’t help but smirk when I replied, “Yeah? You’re not too bad yourself, superstar.”
And even though I considered my words a compliment, Zalayah still snapped her head back as she repeated, “Not too bad? Oh, we’re definitely getting ready to change that shit.”
I laughed as I grabbed two greedy handfuls of her ass. “I’m just messin’ with you. You’re gorgeous as fuck. Shit, they voted you Hottest Entertainer two years in a row. I shouldn’t even have to tell you.”
To no surprise, she brushed me off, grinding slowly against my lap as she said, “I don’t care what the random people who actually have time to vote on those silly internet polls think.”
“Well I think the same thing they do. You’re beautiful, baby. Absolutely stunning.”
That seemed to be the compliment she was looking for, her eyes twinkling as she leaned in to rest her forehead against mine; the position allowing me to see right through the celebrity, right through what everyone usually thought about her, myself included, and right into the soul I couldn’t help but be drawn to. When she kissed me again, it felt like we had already done it a million times before, slow and tender as if we had all the time in the world when we really had no time at all.
But time quickly became an afterthought when she shoved me against the shoulders just hard enough for me to fall onto my back, pulling her sweatshirt over her head to unveil the lacy black bra she wore. My hands immediately went to her obliques, her skin smooth to the touch as I glided them from her sides to her breasts that weren’t exceptionally large but still enough to fill my hands.
“And you call me a virgin. Grab ‘em like you mean it, Gabe,” she insisted with a smirk as she rested her hands against my chest, waiting for me to make my move. But instead of letting her coach me up, even teasingly, I decided to take over, lifting her just enough to flip her onto her back so that I was in control.
Her hands immediately went to my shoulders, her nails digging deeper and deeper into my skin as I ran my lips from her cleavage down to her belly button, landing a series of kisses and nibbles until I made it to the waistband of her sweatpants. Then I peeked up at her with a smirk before I gave them a tug, her abdomen flexing as she lifted her hips to make it easier for me to remove them.
“Well, well, well. Look who’s blushin’ now,” I teased as I grabbed her leg by the ankle, resting it against my shoulder as I landed more kisses against her calf that was perfectly-defined from years of training.
She watched me with hooded eyes as she replied, “That’s cause you’re looking at me like… I don’t know. Like you wanna bite me or somethin’.”
“I do,” I told her with a dead serious expression as I did just that right against her inner thigh before soothing it with a kiss, making her gasp as I matched it with another on the opposite leg, even closer to my ultimate destination. And when I peeked up at her again to find her eyes already closed in ecstasy, I knew it was time to really drive her wild.
I landed a full kiss through the seat of her panties that were already saturated before pushing them out of the way to find the prettiest pussy I had ever seen, if there was such a thing. But I knew I could look at hers, explore hers, taste hers all day long as I dove face first, flicking my tongue against her heat as she bucked into my face and forced me to grab her by her hips to keep her in place.
Her hands were back at my shoulders, her nails doing damage that only made me go harder as I lapped up all her juices like a thirsty dog in the summertime. But she tasted so damn good, and sounded even more beautiful than she did on any of her songs when she moaned, “Fuckkk Gabe.”
I kept one hand at her waist as I used the other to work on the button of my jeans, kicking them off towards the end of the bed before climbing back up for more of her perfectly gentle kisses, made even sweeter by her flavor still on my lips. And it was almost as if she was just as addicted to her taste as I was, greedily accepting my tongue into her mouth as she wrapped her legs around my waist to hold me closer before pulling her face away just enough to whisper, “I want you inside of me. Now.”
“Are you sure?” was the first thing I asked, even though her answer seemed obvious as hell. But I knew going there would be something we could never undo, a place neither one of us would ever forget, and I wanted to make sure she was ready for that.
It took her a moment before she nodded her head yes, moving from under me to dig into her nightstand to grab a condom. But instead of handing it to me to put on, she did the honors herself, yanking at my briefs to free my erection before sliding the protection on with one slow stroke. Then she licked her lips, straddling my lap and sinking down onto my dick as she hissed, “Shitttt…”
My hands went to her waist as a guide she didn’t really need as she pressed her fingers into my chest, grinding up and down with precision as if she had already found her spot. And while I tried to focus on not coming too quick since she felt even better than I had imagined, I couldn’t help but get lost in the faces she made each time she took me in deeper and deeper, exhibiting the perfect pleasurable pain being created with each and every stroke as I gripped her waist tighter and met each of her grinds with an upward thrust of my own.
Her whimpers quickly became hoarse as she moaned, “I… shit... I’m about to…”
But the second she collapsed on top of me, I heard someone yell, “Zalayah! Zalayah, get your ass down here!”
“Oh fuck,” I whispered, the cum that was on the tip of my dick ready to explode immediately beginning to seep back down as Zalayah’s body went stiff in my hold.
“Shit. It’s my mom. We gotta get up,” she whispered near my ear before climbing off me to gather her clothes, slipping into her sweat suit with ease as I grabbe
d my briefs and jeans, happy those were the only things I had removed.
But as I climbed into them, I could feel Zalayah watching me, a teasing smirk on her face when she asked, “Keepin’ the condom as a souvenir, or what?
I peeked down to find it still wrapped around my halfway-hard dick, shaking my head as I snatched it off to toss into the trash just as Zalayah’s mom yelled, “Don’t make me have to come find you!”
What I expected to have Zalayah panicking only made her laugh as she waited for me to finish getting dressed, stopping me just short of the door for another quick kiss before we headed for the stairs. And once we made it back to the main level, we found her mother - who was almost as fine as she was - waiting in the kitchen with her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face.
Zalayah was all charm as she said, “Mama. Hey. This is… Gabriel, the producer I worked with. Gabriel, this is Erin, my mom-ager.”
The scowl was lost just slightly as she extended her hand my way. “Gabriel. It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard great things, including those incredible beats you put together for my daughter. You’re really talented. And really handsome.”
I gave a short nod, hoping my handsome didn’t include her daughter’s juices dried up on my face as I told her, “Thank you, ma’am. I appreciate that.”
“Now back to you, young lady. What is that pizza doing in there on the counter?” she asked, the scowl quickly returning as she waited for an explanation.
An explanation that Zalayah only shrugged her way through when she answered, “Uh…. I was hungry?”
“You were hungry? The fridge is stocked with all of your meals for the week, snacks included. Being hungry is not an excuse,” Erin scolded, wearing the role of mom-ager well considering I couldn’t tell which side was actually getting on Zalayah’s case.
But regardless of that, I attempted to lessen her punishment when I suggested, “I ordered it, ma’am. It’s my pizza.”
Erin immediately snapped her eyes my way. “Gabriel, I was just starting to like you. Don’t ruin it by trying to stick up for her sneaky ass.”
“Damn, how does she know?” I thought to myself as I pleaded, “I’m serious. She was going to have a slice. Only one though. The rest was all for me.”
I could see Zalayah smiling next to me out of my peripheral while her mother looked her way instead of at me when she replied, “Yeah, it better be.”
And before things could get even more awkward, I broke the silence to say, “I’m… gonna get going. Let me know what steps we have to take next for the album.”
Zalayah seemed surprised by my announcement, turning my way with wide eyes to ask, “So you’re back on?”
I shouldn’t have been. I was supposed to be standing firm, going with my gut and avoiding working with the label at all costs. But just that easily, my plans had been altered, allowing me to answer, “Couldn’t say no if I wanted to.”
Zalayah
I watched in envy as my mother dangled a piece of pizza over her mouth to catch the stringy cheese before taking a full bite, being extra dramatic in savoring it as she moaned about how good it tasted. It wasn’t even fair that she was rubbing the fact that I couldn’t have any right in my face. But I suppose that was my punishment for ordering it in the first place, knowing good and well it wasn’t a part of my meal plan, especially with the barbecue I had consumed just a few days before.
My envy quickly turned to uneasiness when, through her chews, my mother blurted, “Did you at least use a condom?”
“Huh?” I asked, pretending I didn’t hear her as I avoided her eyes by munching on the perfectly-portioned apples and peanut butter snack my nutritionist had left for me.
But it was clear my mother wasn’t letting me off easy when she insisted, “You heard me loud and clear, Zalayah Rose. Did you use a condom?”
My face scrunched as, instead of answering her question, I fired back one of my own. “Why do you assume I had sex with him? I could’ve just been … showing him the equipment I have in the studio upstairs.”
She quickly brushed me off, tossing her leftover pizza crust onto a plate. “Girl, please. I could smell it on the both of you. Y’all aren’t slick. Now answer my question.”
“I… I mean, we…” I stammered, not exactly ready to admit anything I didn’t absolutely have to.
But she didn’t even let me get anything substantial out before she was already following up with another question. “Did he sign a NDA?”
“Mama...” I groaned, rolling my eyes at what was really none of her business.
Still, she made it seem as if it was when she replied, “What? Just because you didn’t think things through during the act doesn’t mean I won’t. I have an artist to protect. But more importantly, I have a daughter to protect. So do we need to go run and grab a Plan B, or what?”
While I could appreciate her concern, I still shook my head as I finally answered, “We used a condom, Erin. And we didn’t even… finish. I mean, I did. But he… You get the point.”
“So I got here right on time then,” she said as she grabbed another slice of pizza.
And as I reached over the counter to grab one for myself, quickly deciding any repercussions were worth it, I muttered, “In the rudest way possible…”
My mother’s face was pulled into a scowl, but I suppose her letting me have the pizza was a way to neutralize her scolding, her voice softened when she said, “Look, Zalayah. I know you’re grown, so I’m not gonna pretend like I don’t get it. But you have to be careful, sweetheart. You can’t just go… fuckin’ around with any ol’ random dude just because he’s fine.”
My slice of pizza was already halfway devoured by the time I defended, “He’s not random. We’ve been… getting to know each other for a while now.”
I wasn’t really sure if “for a while” was the correct amount of time since I technically hadn’t known Gabe for more than a few weeks. But it felt like we had known each other forever, our souls connecting through the music we created and our minds connecting with each conversation we shared, no matter how heated. And now we had added yet another, equally important connection to that list.
“Since that night at The Black Market, right? That’s the “him” you’ve been preying on?” she asked, catching me completely off-guard, though I refused to show it.
So instead I challenged, “How do you even know that?”
Her attitude was annoyingly arrogant as she swiped her hand in the air when she said, “Girl, I’ve got eyes all over this country watching you.”
“No. You just have the closest set of eyes wrapped around your finger so he’s willing to give you reports on my whereabouts. He must not know who signs those checks he gets for protecting me.”
“I do. And it’s going to stay that way until I can trust you to be more responsible,” she replied, making me grow more annoyed considering it wasn’t like she was signing over her own money, even if I had put her in charge of my finances.
But since I knew having an attitude with her wouldn’t really solve anything, I tried to take a more easygoing approach when I said, “Look, Mama. I know you’re all extra over-protective because of what happened to you, but I’m well past that age. I mean, if I was just any normal person, I would be like, a college graduate by now which means I would’ve already spent years without your watchful eye. Hell, I could be married with multiple kids by now. And let’s be real, if I were to turn up pregnant, I have more than the means necessary to take care of a child.”
“Yeah, for now. But what happens when you slip into postpartum depression and can’t work for months? What happens when you can’t get your body back into performance shape? What happens when you have a baby daddy you didn’t even know for very long trying to get hundreds of thousands of dollars in child support from you?”
My laugh was one of disbelief, finding her scenarios just as ridiculous as this whole conversation. “Jesus Christ, you need to keep your head out of the tabloids.�
��
She only shook her head, her face completely serious when she replied, “You never know, Zalayah. And you have to consider all things.”
“You didn’t consider all things and we still turned out alright, didn’t we?” I challenged, thinking maybe that reminder would ease the tension.
But it only seemed to make things even worse when she snapped, “You have no idea the sacrifices I’ve had to make to get us here. No idea how many nights I went to sleep hungry so that I’d be able to afford your audition fees, no idea how many asses I’ve had to kiss to get in the door. So I’ll be damned if you throw that all away over some… guy.”
“He’s not just some guy!” I yelled, surprising myself with how defensive I had become. But it was the truth. Gabriel wasn’t just some guy. He saw the real me, he valued the real me, and he had quickly become one of my closest friends even if he didn’t know it. But the fact that we could share conversations beyond my next record, the fact that he was interested in getting to know the me that other people usually didn’t even care to access, the fact that he treated me so… normal was too refreshing to consider him just some guy.
Of course, my mother had to take that to the furthest extent when she replied, “So, what? You’re in love now? And he loves you too, right? Or is he just in love with what you can do for him? Don’t be so damn naive, Z.”
I rolled my eyes, reaching for another slice of pizza as an immediate stress reliever as I told her, “Whatever. You don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
But before I could bring it to my lips, she knocked it out of my hand and insisted, “I know exactly what I’m talking about. This is the same road you went down with Liam, and you see how that turned out. He used you to climb to the top and then stepped on your head for the final step.”
“That was him. This is… this is different,” I replied, trying to shake off the nagging thought that she might actually be right.
Heated Harmonies Page 9
