We were nowhere near the vicinity of combining furniture. We’d only just got over thinking we broke up. Plus, I might not even have a job.
The coffee finished brewing, so I brought my attention to the two cups and made them how we liked. And by the time I returned to the bedroom, Preston was sitting up typing away on his phone. I slid in next to him with an extended hand.
“Sorry,” he apologized as he stopped texting and took the cup. “It was my boss going over some changes he’d like me to make on this new app.”
“Should I go so you can get started?”
He removed my cup from my hand and carefully put them on the table beside the bed. “No. But there is something I’d like.”
My stomach butterflied as he flashed his big blue bedroom eyes at me. “What’s that?”
“A good morning kiss.” He pulled me across his lap.
“I think it could be arranged.” Bracing my hands on his bare chest, I pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “Good morning.”
“Morning, baby.” He kissed me deeper. “I missed you, probably more than I should admit.”
“I like when you admit things,” I confessed. It was a complete turn-on, at least to me, when a man told you what was going inside his brain. In my eyes, it made him more attractive.
“Then I should admit I slept with your pillow every night because it smelled like you,” he stated as he kissed my neck.
“Yes,” I moaned.
“How I could barely get up in the morning because it hurt too much right here.” He pressed his lips above my breast where my heart was beating too fast.
“Gosh, Preston.” Those words gutted me while they equally excited me.
“And when I finally made it into the shower, I would open your bottle of shampoo and pretend it was your hair I was smelling.” While he breathed me in, he licked the shell of my ear.
I was beyond turned on, rubbing myself along his length. I didn’t know being gone would affect him so much. I stilled, running my fingers through his hair, then gripped his longer strands. Locking my gaze with his, I admitted him my truths. “If I think about it, the day I realized I had it bad for Preston Griffin was the day we played seven minutes in heaven. My emotions were out of control thinking about kissing you. We know how that day went.” Taking me by surprise, he nibbled on my bottom lip. When the shiver settled in my body, I continued. “I wish it had gone more like that, but I had all the wrong moves back then. Every day after, I swore I would tell you, but I let my doubts and fears rule me. Days turned into months. Months turned into years. I kept my secret bottled up for so long, telling you wasn’t an option.”
“Why?” he questioned.
I shrugged. “Boyfriends came and went. Girlfriends came and stayed. You never showed any interest in me as anything more than a friend, and I couldn’t risk you laughing in my face or worse, leaving me behind. At least I had you as my best friend.”
He laid my head on his chest where I heard his heart beating loud. “Jesus, Tenley. Did you really think I could leave you behind?”
“I didn’t want to find out. Besides, I got all the best parts of you still. She had you in some, but I saw the sides of Preston she never saw. The glasses wearing comic nerd who draws diagrams and pie charts about why Hulk is the strongest Avenger.” He laughed as he mindlessly rubbed my back, and I felt it throughout my entire body. “When you came to me when she left, it was the happiest and saddest day because I never wanted you to be hurt by anyone.”
“Then my plan,” he added.
“Yes, that crazy plan. It was insane.”
“I know.”
“Let me finish.” He didn’t say anything else when I sat up to look into his eyes again. “It was insane that you really thought something was wrong with you. And it was terrifying because I was going to say yes even though I said no at first. And I thought what if every move I made was still wrong. But I didn’t care because I was going to get to have you, all of you, in all the ways I dreamed about for at least a month.”
“Tenley,” he breathed out my name, and my heartbeat with both nervousness and so much more than love.
“If I thought I was in love with you before, I fell even harder, and it wasn’t because of a poll or things you thought you needed to change to win over a woman. It was you. The way you made sure I was okay with everything we were doing. The way you stayed the same old glasses wearing, Marvel movie watching, sweet and equally sexy man. The best day of my life was when you said you wanted to give us a try.”
“The best day was when you said yes. I wish I’d known sooner.”
“I’m glad you didn’t. I think everything happened the way it was meant to. Even Chanel showing up again. Thanks to her push, the truth finally came out, and I’ll never take it back.”
“God, I love you.”
“I love you. Forever.”
His hands cupped my face while his thumb traced my top, then bottom lip. “You mean that?”
I kissed the pad of his thumb. “Yes.”
“Forever,” he said, then urged my lips to his.
At that moment, I gave him all of me, even the parts I was holding back. The deeper he kissed me, the more I gave him until my heart was officially in the palm of Preston’s hands, and I never wanted it back. It was his. I was his. When he said forever, he one hundred percent became mine.
I paused our make-out session long enough to pull his shirt from over my head. We kissed again, exploring every inch of each other. Tongues, teeth, neck, ears, throat. At some point, he reversed our positions and started making his way down my body. My panties were dragged down my sensitive skin as he kissed my thighs, calves, and feet. With every touch of his lips, my body ignited farther.
At the foot of the bed, Preston stood to discard the boxers he slept in. I knew I would never tire of the sight of him, his beautiful body, the dips and peaks of his lean muscles. His length—thick, long, and curved to perfection. I didn’t know how anyone let go of him, but I was glad they did. He was mine now.
The bed creaked as he pressed his knees to it. It protested further when he lay on his belly between my thighs. He gave each one a gentle kiss, causing my toes to curl. And when his mouth pressed against my center, my fingers and toes dug into the sheets.
It was an out-of-body experience when Preston moved his tongue over my most private of areas. He knew exactly what I liked and when to do it. Everything he did was so right. I gripped his hair between my fingers as I floated higher and higher until I had no choice but to let go.
While I was out of breath and slowly coming back down to Earth, he moved up until we were face to face. Preston placed his hands on either side of my head, then took my lips again. Only after he asked me if I was okay, which I was better than, did he take me.
Like everything, he took his time until he was fully inside me. Our lovemaking was slow. We didn’t want to rush. We had forever for that. This time, we wanted to get lost in each other.
Thrust for thrust, his body rolled into mine as I raised to meet him. Some shallow. Some so deep I felt as if I would split in two. But Preston held me and whispered to me the entire time.
“You feel so good.”
“So warm.”
“Mine forever.”
I was only capable of breathing and moaning. Then Preston hit that exact spot that had me tightening around him.
He growled, “I’m going to come.”
“Me too.” I sighed.
He moved his hands under my thighs, allowing him to go deeper. Then, we linked hands, our lips were close to each other’s, any and every possible inch of skin that could touch touched. We wanted to be connected in every way possible.
My body was tightening around his like elastic being stretched to capacity. Inside me, I could feel Preston everywhere. His hard to my soft. When his moves started to lose their rhythm, I knew he was close.
Against my lips, he breathed, “Come for me, baby.”
And, God, I was there, in that st
ate where nothing feels real, yet it feels so unbelievably real. We were more connected at that moment. We were one, and it was the most beautiful experience of my life.
Preston kissed me deep as the last of our orgasms spilled from our bodies. Every emotion possible was running through my veins. Happy, sad, laughter, satiated. Complete and utter euphoria.
Spent, he collapsed by my side but didn’t let go of me.
“You’re going to kill me,” he confessed.
“Ditto.” But what a way to go.
“Your body, the way it moves, you should run that yoga studio.”
And when he said it, something inside me clicked, but I still questioned him. “What?”
“You should run FYI, Tenley. Wasn’t that your dream, to own your own yoga studio?”
It was but money and loans. “Yes.”
“Then you should do it. I’ll help with whatever you need.”
I pressed up on my arms. “Do you know how much I love you?”
“I hope it’s half as much as I love you.”
“Well, I’m about to show you.”
It was the start of round two, which was much more frantic than round one. And it was also the day I casually texted Kaitlin about becoming my business partner.
30
Preston
Show her you can’t live without her.
IT HAD BEEN A MONTH since the day Tenley came back to me, and the stress of trying to buy a business was wearing on her. As best as I could, I supported her.
After she talked to first Kaitlin, then her boss, to see if it was something they really wanted to do, I helped them come up with a business plan. They gathered everything I asked for—a copy of a year’s revenue from the studio, six months’ worth of statements of the rent and utilities, and six months of supply costs. I spent an entire weekend going over how much money they would need monthly to stay afloat. The two of them came close to walking away when I mentioned they needed to have about three months of rent each in savings just to be safe. With the help of their families, they managed it.
I made a spreadsheet and put it in a pretty little package for them to present to the bank. The first bank turned them down on the spot, not wanting to invest in two young females with no business experience. The second was promising, but in the end, they rejected their application for their lack of credit. The third bank was the charm. In the end, Tenley’s grandmother decided to give her, her inheritance early. The extra twenty-five thousand in capital had the bank shaking their hands in congratulations on their new business. Maybe it was a little more than a handshake, but all that mattered was they invested in them.
Tenley’s old boss sold off all the supplies, including the computer system, to the girls at a deep discount.
To say I was proud of her was an understatement.
Just as I was wrapping up my workday, she came home.
“I’m exhausted,” she said, kicking off her heels. She flopped onto the couch with an exasperated sigh. After signing the final paperwork for the bank, she and Kaitlin met with the realtor to take over the remainder of the two-year lease her boss had.
“Did you get them?” I asked from the kitchen where I had a bottle of champagne chilling.
From her hand, Tenley dangled a set of keys to her yoga studio. “Hell yeah, I did.”
The cork popped from the bottle in celebration. I poured two generous glasses, then headed to sit beside her. She was a knockout dressed in her fit and flare business dress she modeled for me that morning. My woman’s curves filled the dress to perfection, leaving me rock hard and aching all day. I couldn’t wait to take it off… later.
Sitting next to her, I toasted. “To the new business owner. I’m so proud of you, baby.”
“Thank you,” she said.
Before she could take a sip, I pulled the glass from her hand. Once it was safe on the table, I took a deep breath. “One more thing. I know you’ve been worried about paying rent for two places, and it got me thinking.” I had thought about it way before, though. A month ago, to be exact. “The lease on our apartments is ending soon, so what if you moved in here. With me?”
When I practiced asking her, I pictured Tenley jumping in my arms and saying yes. She didn’t. If I learned anything about Tenley in all the years I’d known her, it was that she had to process everything and talk it out before she gave an answer. “You want me to move in?”
“Yes.”
“Here?” she checked.
“Yes. Or if you want to, we can look for something else.”
“Together?”
“I hope so.”
“It’s a big step.” She chewed on her bottom lip as she decided. I didn’t see it as being different from what we had been doing, but she did. “We have to decide what of mine and what of yours we should keep and what we should give up. There’s not enough room for everything in here.”
“Okay. Do you want to get something bigger?”
“No. I like it here.”
“Me too.” For now. Living here would give us the wiggle room to save for a future together. A house, a wedding, for future little Tenleys and Prestons, which I wanted a trio of. But those steps would be talked about later.
“Okay,” she said.
“Okay, you’ll move in with me, or okay, you’ll think about it some more?”
She smiled the biggest smile, then climbed on my lap. “Yes, I’ll move in with you.”
Her arms wrapped around my neck as she pressed her lips to mine.
“If my asking you to move in freaked you out, what’s going to happen when I pop the question?”
“I didn’t freak out. Besides, it took you almost eighteen years to ask me on a date, so I think I have time before you spring anything else on me.”
Silly woman. I moved her back to her seat beside me, got down on one knee, and reached inside the pocket of my jeans.
It was two minutes later. And I was ready to discuss more. The two and a half carat white gold, double halo engagement ring had been burning a hole in my pocket all day.
Tenley’s eyes followed my every movement as I pulled the box out.
“About that. There was a second question I wanted to ask after you said yes to moving in with me.”
I opened the velvet box, and her eyes went wide. There was a little shake to her hands when she raised them to cover her mouth. “Oh, my God.”
“Tenley, you were my best friend for the first part of my life, but you’ve become so much more. I had charts and graphs drawn up with all the reasons why you should say yes, you know, just in case you said no.” She laughed as I handed the paper to her, but her eyes filled with tears as she read it. “But as you can see, all I managed to write down were words that summed us up. One word seemed to sum all them up… Right. Because even though I did a lot wrong, I made the right decision at the age of seven when I asked you to be my best friend. It was the right time when you finally became mine. And now, I want nothing more than to make this right too and make you my wife.”
Tears streaked her cheeks, and as I said the words, my own vision clouded.
“I want to watch you succeed in your business, put another ring on your finger, then I want you to have my babies… when you’re ready,” I added, knowing Tenley would want to wait a few years.
“I love you,” she whispered. Even with mascara starting to smudge her face, she was beautiful.
“I love you more than you will ever know. So what do you say, Tenley Ray, will you move in with me and become my fiancée all in one day?”
She leaped from the couch into my arms, wrapping herself around me like a cocoon. Warm lips pressed to mine before she gave me her answer.
“Yes and yes.”
After my ring was on her finger, a million texts were sent to spread the news. Our families, who already knew I was going to ask her, were more than excited about our news.
A half-hour later, we finally drank the champagne, then I lowered the zipper on her dress, and I made love to my
fiancée. First on the living room floor, then again in my bed.
“I vote the first thing we move over is your bed,” I said. Hers was softer and bigger than my queen-size.
“I told you when you bought this one you were going to be jealous of mine.”
Tenley’s body was lying on top of mine with her arms resting on my chest as she studied her ring. “Do you like it? If not, we can get something you want.”
“No way. It’s perfect.”
Even though I wanted to stay in bed, she’d had a busy day, and I knew she hadn’t eaten. I rolled to my side, laying her next to me. “I’m glad you like it.”
I stood, and she protested. “Where are you going?”
“I’ll be right back,” I said, then pressed my lips to her finger.
I grabbed a pair of boxers, making a pit stop in the bathroom, then made my way into the kitchen. From the fridge, I grabbed the leftover pasta salad, two bottles of water, and the congratulations cake our parents had delivered to us earlier from the bakery downtown.
When I walked in the room, Tenley was dressed in my shirt she had cut short, which was becoming a habit, and her boy shorts were back on with the apples of her ass on display. She was taking pictures of her ring.
I placed the food on the table beside the bed, then crawled in behind her. She looked over her shoulder as I leaned forward to greet her with a kiss. Against my lips, she mumbled, “Smile.”
That half kiss, half smile picture with her holding up her left hand became our official post on all things social media. We announced to the world we were engaged.
“I love you,” I told her once again.
“Ditto,” she answered back, then looked at what I brought for us. “What’s in there?”
“Dinner first.”
“Good because I’m starving. I didn’t get a chance to eat with all the running around.” I fed us both the pasta and chicken combination as she moaned her appreciation. And after the last bite was eaten, I handed her the box from our parents.
“They already knew?”
“I couldn’t exactly ask you without getting your dad’s permission. And you know once he knew, your mom would know and she would call my mom, who already knew anyway. And they hounded me until I told them when I planned on asking and how I was going to do it. Which I didn’t explain since you needed to hear my speech first.”
All the Right Moves Page 19
