by Carrie Macon
Of course he was happy. He had a smile as wide as the Atlantic on his face but she couldn’t see it because he hadn’t turned back around. When he did she smiled. As he walked back to the table she could see that his face hadn’t changed. His eyes were still dark with anger.
He sat back in his chair facing her. “I love kids in fact. I love them very much and someday I plan on having one or two, or maybe even ten.”
“Then why? Do you have a problem with men with kids?”
“Why in the hell would I have a problem with men who have kids? They have to get her some kind of way.”
“You’re deliberately making fun of this situation and trust me, sweetheart, trust me, it’s not funny from where I’m sitting.” His eyes were cold. He was angry.
Shyla tried to laugh it off. “No. I guess it’s not.” She saw that he was serious. He wasn’t just talking to be heard.
He shrugged his shoulders. “A bad experience or something?” he said more calmly.
“No.” She raked her fingers through her hair. “Okay look. My reaction wasn’t to the fact that you have children. Yes your comment threw me.”
“But why would it?”
“Why wouldn’t it, sweetie?” He started to say something but she put her hands over his month. “Wait.” She shook her head, not wanting him to speak. “Please let me finish and then you can have your say,” he nodded and she released his mouth. “I have known you for longer than a year and not once, at any point in time when the two of us were together or the four of us together have you ever mentioned you had children. Not once. Not even on the beach in Jamaica.”
“Hold up. What happened on the beach in Jamaica?” Felton asked looking at his friend and business partner for answers.
“And why haven’t I been told?” Spoke his wife.
“Sshh! And furthermore,” she threw her hand directing to her cousin.
“Essence, sure as heck never said anything about your babies when we talk, so how am I suppose…”
“Back up, back up,” he waved his hand back and forth from Shyla to Essence. “So you and Essence talk about me?”
“Boy. Ugh,” she smacked her teeth at him.
Felton sat back in his chair and started laughing. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
Zackary licked his lips. “How often do you discuss me? What do you say?” He was really turned on by this. It meant he had a chance.
“We are talking about your children right now. I’m hardly going to entertain you with conversations me and my cousin have. Let’s stick to the subject, shall we?” She pouted. She had already said too much. The last thing she wanted was for him to know that she had been talking about him. His ego wouldn’t be able to handle it. “I’ve never even seen them and you’re here like a fixture, so what’s up with that? Enlighten me, Mr. Trellis.”
“Oh,” he blushed.
“Yes oh.”
He pulled her hand in his. “I hadn’t realized I never mentioned my girls.” His eyes softened as did hers. “They are at Napa Acres with my family most of the time and I get there every weekend or someone brings them to me, but we’re always together unless I’m working.”
“But they weren’t with you in Jamaica.”
“The Jamaican trip was a gift from my parents just for me. They said I needed the rest. And I did, but I spent two weeks with the girls afterwards.” His eyes had softened even more. She could tell that he adored his children
“Poppa Zack,” she nodded while smiling her beautiful Colgate smile that he loved so much. “It fits.”
“Thanks.”
“So Poppa Zack, do you have any pictures?” She went back to eating her meal.
“What proud poppa wouldn’t?” using her word. He smiled standing, taking his wallet from his pocket and handing it over to her. Then he unclipped his cell from his waistband and handed it over to Essence. “I don’t have nearly enough. I make sure I take them everywhere I go.”
Shyla began sifting through his wallet. She gasped. “You never said they were twins, Zackary.” She elbowed him playfully. He and Felton shared a surprised look. “They are so beautiful. What are their names?”
“Zaria and Zhaniya, my beautiful princesses.”
She continued to flip the pages. “Those are very beautiful names. How old are they?” Shyla never stopped looking through his wallet. There was at least a dozen or so pictures and she stopped and studied each and every one of them, like she was trying to make a memory. Zackary had beautiful children.
“They just turned three January seventeenth.” Shyla paused. “But they act like they’re thirty,” he laughed, but the surprised look on Shyla’s face stopped him cold. “What?”
“When did you say their birthdays are?” Had she heard wrong?
“January seventeenth. Why?”
Her eyes doubled in size. “No way,” she pointed to herself. “That’s my birthday.” Shyla was excited. She had never met anyone with her birthday or even in the same month.
“Seriously?” He looked towards Felton and Essence who were nodding their heads like crazy.
“Ask, Ess.”
“She’s telling the truth.”
“Wow. Isn’t that something? All of my girls have the same birth date.” If Shyla was offended by his remark she didn’t let it show. She was too busy studying another picture.
“You know at first I thought they were identical aside from ones hair being a little lighter but they really aren’t.”
“Sure they are.” Zackary said.
“They look enough alike. Was it difficult to tell them apart? You didn’t have to label their diapers and booties or anything that crazy did you?” Shyla laughed.
“Actually, in the beginning I did.” He used his fingers to name the things off. “We labeled their beds, their clothes, shoes, you name it we labeled it. But after a few months we got use to their ways and temperaments, not to mention as you said, one has lighter hair. It wasn’t that noticeable back then but now it is. So if they ever want to switch places on me, they’d never get away with it.”
“Would you believe, Mr. Trellis that I can tell your girls apart? Aside from the hair.”
“From a picture? That’s impossible.”
Shyla looked at Essence and winked.
“Trust me it’s not impossible. Look at this picture with them together.”
Zackary pulled the chair even closer and rested his arm across the back of Shyla’s chair. They must have forgotten that Felton and Essence was sitting at the table because they were left out of the conversation and both Shyla and Zackary got really cozy with one another. Shyla could feel his warm breath on her cheek and it was sending warning signals to the rest of her body but she ignored them. She was too fascinated with his twins that shared her birth date.
“What am I looking at, besides my beautiful Princesses?”
“Awe! That’s sweet.” Shyla pinched his cheek. A playful gesture but it felt like heaven to Zackary. “Is this Zhaniya?” She was pointing to the three year old that looked so much like Zackary that it was uncanny. Full pouty lips, mountain peak eye brows and hazel eyes with a touch of gold.
“Yes. That’s my Niya. How did you guess that?”
“She looks like a Zhane or Zoe, where as this one looks like a Zaria or Shyla, you could say.” All eyes were on her like she had just dropped from the covered coach. “What? She reminds me of me when I was little.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Well pictures of me anyway. I looked like both my parents.” Her eyes got a little misty. She missed her parents. They just up and went away one day, never to be seen again. Zackary massaged his fingers through her hair.
“My eyes were slanted like hers and I have the cutest little button nose, like she’s got. See.” She touched the tip of her nose.
Zackary’s next moved shocked them all. He kissed the tip of her nose. It was quick but it was so sensual.
“Hey!” She pointed. “Stop that.” She turned away but the smile that graced her face
said it all. She liked it.
“Well it is cute. Besides the girls have the same nose.”
“I beg to differ.”
“That’s an understatement if I ever heard one.” Felton stated. He was rewarded with a kick from his wife and a hard stare from his cousin telling him to keep his opinion to himself.
Felton held up his hands, in a gesture that he was backing off. He knew what Shyla was capable of, but his wife would have been far worst to deal with.
“Anyway, Shania’s nose has a short bridge to it whereas, Zari’s doesn’t. And look here,” she pointed. “Zhaniya has a dimple in the crease of her mouth. It’s so cute.” Shyla cooed. “Looks like a half heart.”
“How can you see that? Who are you, superwoman?”
She shrugged. “I just can. I study people a lot. They are so, so adorable. Can I have them? You’ll never have to pay child support and I’ll take really good care of them,” she smiled.
“Woman, you can’t have my kids.” He thought about what he said. And it didn’t come out right. “I’d like to re-phase my answer. Yes you may have my kids.” Her eyes brightened. “My sons, but in the meantime, I don’t have a problem sharing my daughters.
“Really?” Zackary was up to something. “Out of curiosity what do I have to do? And don’t say have your kids.” She waited at most a minute for his answer when he wasn’t saying anything just sitting and staring she rushed him. “Spit it out already.”
He pulled her closer and whispered into her ear. At least that’s what Felton and Essence believed he was doing. He had actually used his tongue to tease her ear lobe and then blew it dry. Her eyes fluttered closed. Talk about a wild sensation.
Mercy, she thought. The only word that came to mind was, FOREPLAY. When he finally pulled away her eyes were still fluttering.
“Sound good to you?”
She didn’t answer. She was still in a state.
“Should I give you more details?” When he bent back to complete the task, she raised her hand to his mouth and covered it with her palm.
“No. I’m good. Just needing to let some of what you said wear off. That was,” she let out a deep breath, “kind of intense.”
“There’s more,” he said into her palm.
“I’ll take your word for it.” She continued looking at the pictures. Or at least that’s what they thought. She was trying to compose herself.
“I’ll definitely have to think about what-” she stopped because she saw something that wasn’t supposed to be in his wallet, and it wasn’t a condom.
Chapter Nine
“What in the blazing hell are you doing with this?” She turned his wallet to face him. It was a picture of her in the same two piece bathing suit, minus the sarong, while vacationing in Jamaica. “Where did you get it?”
He wasn’t ashamed to admit that he’d taken it while he watched her walking along the beach the night before the incident on the dance floor.
“Oh well, you won’t be keeping it.”
He snatched his wallet away before she could get the picture out. “Oh no, my little gumdrop, that belongs to daddy.”
“But it’s a picture of me in a bathing suit. I knew you were a stalker.” He chuckled. “So what,” she said like she was dismissing him. “Keep it. It’s not even a very good one.”
“Maybe so,” he put his wallet back into his pocket. “But is serves its purpose. It keeps me from having to take long cold showers every night.”
“Be quiet you nasty minded freak. Just when I thought things were looking up, you go and ruin it with your mouth.”
“I’d like to ruin you with my mouth and my tongue.”
“Ugh. Nasty ass. Get your little friend, Felton.”
Felton chuckled. “Okay Hot Lips, that’s enough, we’re still trying to enjoy dinner.”
They finished dinner and retired to the living room.
Zackary was coming out of the bathroom just as Shyla sat down on the couch. He made it a point to sit right next to her, right under her. She tried to move but he pulled her back under him.
“Sit back. Relax.” He said smoothly. “I won’t bite…unless you want me to. But I’ll be very, very gentle. I won’t break the skin.”
Shyla turned to him. “Zackary you are really starting to scare me.”
“Why, baby?” he massaged her shoulder. He was pretty good she discovered.
“You are becoming annoying like those jerks that come on to women with those lames ass lines. Now stop it.”
“Okay,” he responded. He sat back and brought Shyla with him. This time she didn’t try to move away.
Essence was sitting next to Felton when she asked, “So, Zack. Do you want more children?”
He grabbed Shyla’s hand and kissed it. “Only if my leading lady right here would do me the honor of having them with me. As I said earlier, I want her to bare my son’s.” He kissed her hand again.
She turned to him and smiled after licking her lips and batting her eyes. Then she did something that no one expected. She gave him a passionate kiss on the lips. She held his face in her hands and worked her magic on his mouth. Before she pulled away she sucked his bottom lip into her mouth. His lips were still puckered, while Essence and Felton sat with their mouths hanging to the floor.
Shyla wiped the lipstick from his mouth. “Our babies, the boys, would be just as handsome as their daddy. They’d have your beautiful eyes and your dimpled smile. They’d have a heart as big as Texas and they’ll treasure the women in their lives, like the queens that they are.
“Our daughter’s, some will look like you, the others will look like me and they’ll be gentle but strong, independent but compliant, and they’ll honor the men in their lives, like the kings that they were meant to be.” She kissed his still puckered lips, again.
“I can live with that.” He sobered, barely. “How many are we talking about?”
Zackary knew she was pulling his chain. The kiss was a nice touch, though. If he hadn’t known better he’d say she meant every ounce of it. Even the batting of the eyes, turned him on, but now it was time to make her a little weak in the knees, turn the tables on Miss Shyla, so to speak. He’d definitely be having the last laugh.
“How many baby?”
She gave him a devilish smile.
He pulled her hand into his. Clasping it like the day they walked on the Jamaican beach. Then he raised it to his mouth and kissed it once again. This time he kissed the knuckles, then turned it over and kissed the palm, then each fingertip, lightly licking each one with the tip of his tongue.
Shyla got chilled.
“Four or five,” he asked.
She looked on as he made love, slowly and seductively to her hand.
“Four or five?” she echoed, nearly gasping.
“Yes.” He kissed her hand again. He watched as she closed her eyes to savor the moment.
“All boys.”
“All boys,” she repeated displaying a genuine smile about her face. She was literally squirming in her seat.
“Uh huh. We already have two beautiful daughters.”
She nodded. “Very beautiful. Mmm.”
Essence and Felton nearly feel out of their seats laughing. Was this their cousin, under a spell of a man’s kisses? Hand kisses?
Felton retrieved his camcorder from the bedroom and began taping. He wanted to remember this moment.
Still kissing her hand, Zackary asked, “So baby.”
“Uh huh. Baby.”
“When do you want to get started?”
“Started?’ she moaned. At this point Shyla was in another zone. Zackary’s intimate zone. The tiny toy kisses that Zackary was planting on her, was messing with her body and her mind.
“Yes, baby, on having those five boys.”
Shyla opened her eyes. It took her a moment to focus. She saw Zackary raise her hand to his lips and snapped out of it. For the second time that evening when she opened her eyes everyone was smiling at her. This time Felton was
recording. What the hell had gone on?
She pulled her hand away as Zackary was raising it to his lips, once again.
“Stop that. You caught me off guard.”
“Yeah, right.” Essence said.
Shyla ignored the remark. “And for the record we will not be having any babies, together.”
“Wanna bet?”
“How much you got, Zack.a.ry?” she pronounced each syllable of his name.
He did the same. “Enough, Shy.la.”
“I doubt it. You want to bet the ranch on it?”
“Anytime, anyplace baby. You just say when.”
She knew she was bluffing but was he. She feared that he wasn’t.
He edged closer to her. “We can start this weekend.”
“Okay.” She jumped up. “I’m going home and pack before I change my mind.”
“Want some company? We don’t have to wait until tomorrow we can get started when we get to your place.”
“Uh huh.” She raised her hand. “I think we’ve done enough playing for one evening. One more word from you and I promise, oh I promise you that I will not be going.” She turned on her heels and went for the exit, then turned back picked up a pillow and threw it at Zackary because he was laughing. “Oh you make me so sick.” She screamed and went stomping out the house.
Their laughter followed her all the way to her car. She got in and drove off smiling, remembering the passionate kiss and the feelings Zackary left inside of her. Now she was definitely looking forward to this long weekend with Zackary. He still wanted her. She still had a chance after all. But he wouldn’t be able to get her as easily.
When Zachary, Felton and Essence went to pick Shyla up at two-forty-five the next morning she was ready. Zachary took out her luggage while she carried out two thermos’ full of coffee and 2 dozen homemade donuts that she got up and made at one o’clock.
“Did you make these?” Zackary asked while taking a sip of his coffee.
“Why? Do they taste stale?”
“No. I’m just saying they’re good.”
“Oh good. I just made them this morning. I didn’t want to make them too early.”
“You really made these?”
