Dangerous Bonds

by Shani Greene-Dowdell

  “You’re going to give me another foot massage?” I asked, teasing him, but only slightly.

  He sighed in thought. “Maybe afterwards, but that’s not what I have in mind.” He moved in and claimed my lips, then when he parted he smiled. “You won’t guess, so don’t try.” He winked at me, causing me to grin.

  I walked him to the door and opened the door for him. He turned to face me. “What time?” I asked. “Do I at least get to know that?” I asked.

  He chuckled. “I’ll be back at seven. Dress is casual.” He kissed me. “See you then!”

  I nodded and he turned around and left. I watched him go down the stairs. When he was out of sight, I shut the door. I had to busy myself and somehow get through the day. It wasn’t easy when I couldn’t stop thinking about Channing and where he was going to take me.

  ***

  An hour before Channing was due to get there, I started to get ready. I settled on blue jeans, brown boots, and tank top that hooked behind my neck. I curled my hair and only put light makeup on. I checked out my reflection in the mirror. When he knocked on the door five minutes early, I was ready.

  I opened the door for him and he smiled brightly. “Get more beautiful every time I see you,” he said. He greeted me with a kiss.

  I felt like someone going out on their first date. The butterflies that fluttered through my stomach every time I saw him was something I would never get used to. “Thank you!” I said. “I look okay?” I twirled around in front of him.

  “Baby, you look better than okay,” he said and whistled.

  I checked to make sure my money and license were inside my pocket, then left the apartment. The way to his truck and all the way to the unknown destination, I tried to crack him to get some kind of answer from him as to where we were going. He just kept telling me I would find out in x amount of minutes.

  I figured it would have to do, because he wasn’t cracking under pressure. And when we pulled into the bar’s parking lot, I turned to him. When he parked, he glanced at me. “I know it’s not as fancy as the last place I took you, but…”

  I broke off his words with a kiss. “I told you, Channing…I don’t need fancy. I just have one request and hope you don’t disappoint.”

  He frowned. “Um…okay…what?” he asked. I had never seen him look as nervous as he was in that moment.

  “Please tell me there’s a pool table.”

  He laughed and tossed his head back, literally sighing in relief. “There is definitely a pool table and darts.”

  I grinned. “Now you’re talking.” We kissed one more time and he opened his door. He ran around to get my door. When he pulled me out of the truck, he had a loving look in his eyes.

  We held hands all the way up to the front door. When we got there, there was a man standing at the door. He nodded to Channing, then glanced at me. “Ma’am,” he mumbled. He opened the door for us and we stepped into the bar.

  “Thank you!” we both said.

  We didn’t break hands, until we sat in a booth in the corner. We were there only a minute or so, before a waitress came over to us. “Hey there, Channing,” she said, shooting him a bright smile.

  I felt a little self-conscious at that moment, but Channing made me feel completely comfortable. He reached out and grabbed my hand and barely gave the waitress the time of day. “Hey, Britt…” He tossed a glance towards me. “Babe, what do you want?”

  “I’ll take a Coors Light,” I said.

  Britt stared at me a minute, before clearing her throat and looking at Channing.

  “I’ll take a whisky, thanks.” He then turned back to me and Britt left.

  “Old girlfriend?” I asked.

  He gawked at me, then laughed. “Why do you ask that?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. Seems like she might be a lion looking out for her cub.”

  He shook his head. “You got all that out of a two-minute session?” he asked.

  “I’m very observant,” I responded.

  He didn’t get a chance to respond, before Britt brought us both our drinks. She glanced at me, giving me a hard look, then asked us if we were ready to order. Channing told her we needed a minute and she turned around and left.

  I grabbed the beer and looked at it for a second, before taking a swig and looking at him.

  “Not a girlfriend,” he corrected. “We went out once.” He took a drink from his glass and continued. “She wasn’t really my type.”

  I nodded slowly. “Interesting,” I said, taking another drink from the bottle.

  “Interesting?” he asked. “How so?”

  “Well, I just thought big boobs and a tight ass were every guy’s type.”

  He nearly spit out his drink that he had just taken in his mouth. He swallowed the rest down, then laughed. “Damn, did not see that one coming.” He shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong. I look for those, just like the next guy. My woman also has to have something else.”

  “Oh? And what’s that something else?” I asked.

  He tapped the side of his brain. “A big brain. And you my dear have all three.”

  I blushed and grabbed the menu and looked down at it, so he wouldn’t see my wide smile. He knew the words to say, and I also could believe them. I wasn’t intimidated by any woman, because Channing made me feel safe. I just hoped it wasn’t all too good to be true.

  Chapter Ten

  Channing

  I came to the bar often, especially when I wanted to just relax and get away from my everyday life. Most of the regulars knew me as the person that I wanted them to know. They didn’t know the secrets I was hiding, or the person I truly was. And I was glad to see that Kemara could fit into my world. After we were finished eating, we went and finally played that game of pool.

  “Now…” she started. “I’m supposed to chalk the stick like this?” she asked. She did it in a sexy way, wiggling her ass as she did.

  I laughed. “Baby, if you chalk it like that, we might never get the game started,” I teased.

  I thought it was funny that she was so interested in pool and yet it appeared she didn’t know much about it, questioning things such as why we had to determine stripes or solids. I was glad to show her the ropes, but it quickly became painfully obvious she was only hustling me.

  After losing the first game in a total blowout, she started to pout. “I don’t think I’ll ever get it,” she said.

  I shrugged. “You are doing much better than I did when I first started. You at least got a ball in,” I said.

  She laughed. “Well, maybe you should give me some more pointers.”

  I smiled. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you out,” I said. “You can break first again and I’ll show you the proper technique.”

  “Thank you!”

  I racked the balls together and walked around to the end of the table. I placed the cue ball and stood behind her and held her in position. My cock took notice of how close we were together. My body tingled with lust and desire for her. I had to force myself to think. I placed her hands in the correct position and slowly pulled back the stick, in the motion she should use.

  “Then let go,” I said.

  She hit the cue ball with my assistance. It hit the balls, spreading them wildly across the table and two balls went in, a stripe and a solid. She turned around and I couldn’t hide my surprise.

  “Like that?” she asked.

  I chuckled, nodding. “Exactly! Now try that again.” I stepped back and watched, as she went for a stripe and easily made it into the corner pocket. She squealed with delight and turned to me. My jaw hung slightly as I watched her go to another one. This time, she banked the ball, so it hit one side, then the next, then hit the ball and went into another corner. I laughed, as the realization came to me. “Um…you didn’t mention that you could go pro.”

  She chuckled. “Don’t know about pro, but my dad did teach me when I was six.” She hit another ball in the side pocket, then stood up and looked
at me. “I didn’t mention that?”

  I shook my head. “You failed to mention that you were hustling me.”

  She walked around the table and grabbed onto my chin, then pulled me to her and kissed me square on the lips. “We weren’t playing for money, so technically I just let you beat me the first game. No harm, no foul.” She patted my shoulder, then pushed past me, continuing to wipe the table clean of stripe balls and effortlessly clearing out the eight ball. She leaned against the table and smiled. “Now, is there some other sport you want to show me how to play?” she asked, winking at me.

  I chuckled and moved closer to her. “I don’t know if my ego can risk it,” I said.

  “Well, if you’re chicken,” she said.

  I put my pool stick down and wrapped my hand around the back of her neck. “I’m not chicken of anything. How about a game of darts?” I asked, before latching my lips harder to hers and hearing the soft moan escape her breath.

  She nodded. “Darts it is,” she whispered.

  This night couldn’t go any better and I was ready to show her my skill in darts, before taking her home and giving her that foot massage.

  ***

  Darts apparently was her game too, because she won three out of the three games. When the third game was over, I shook my head and moved to her. “Seriously? Did your dad teach you darts at six too?” I asked. “I mean, if I didn’t know any better I would say you hung out at dives, since the day you could walk.”

  She laughed. “I picked up darts through college. My boyfriend had a drinking problem and I was bored and hung at the darts while he hung at the bar.” I opened my mouth, prepared to tell her how sorry I was, when she laughed. “I’m kidding. I did play darts through college, but it wasn’t because my boyfriend had a drinking problem.” She chuckled and shook her head. “That was way too easy.”

  I thought back to how I teased her on our first date that I was in jail and she apparently was getting me back. “You definitely had me going,” I said.

  “I know. You should have seen the look on your face.”

  I chuckled. “Well, since you beat my ass in pool and darts, you wanna go home and get rewarded the foot massage?” I asked.

  She contemplated that. “Well, I was supposed to get the foot massage no matter. So, maybe you should reward me some other way.” She winked at me and I snickered.

  “Maybe I should!” I said.

  We left the bar and headed back to my truck. The whole way back to her place, I thought of ways that I could reward her. There was the whole thought that maybe the reward could be that we had sex for the first time. I didn’t want to push it and I wasn’t quite sure she was ready to go down that road yet. So, I figured we could just play it by ear and see how things went.

  We got her back to her apartment, and I walked her to the door. She unlocked it and we went inside. “Would you like something to drink?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “Would you?”

  She turned to me and laughed. “Not particularly.”

  I grabbed her hand and walked her to the living room couch. When we sat down, she started to lay down to place her legs on mine, but I stopped her. “First things first,” I said. She tilted her head, giving me a quizzical look. “Turn around,” I said. “I have to reward you for whooping my ass in the games,” I said, laughing slightly. “For that…you’ll get a back massage.”

  She smiled. “Oh, I love the sound of that.” She turned around.

  I grabbed her hair and put it over one shoulder, then started to massage her shoulders. She groaned the minute my hands made contact with her shoulders. I slowly kneaded my hands on them and she let out a moan.

  As the back massage went on, her muscles continued to relax. I moved my hands down her back and no words were spoken. I was transfixed in watching her react to the ways I touched her. My hands reached the bottom of her shirt, and I couldn’t control the urge. I slipped my hands up the back of her shirt, gaining a bigger reaction. With my hands buried up her shirt and directly in contact with her flesh, she leaned back.

  I smoothly rode my hands up and watched her. The side of her neck was visible to me and literally called out my name, begging me to kiss it. I stared at her. The way that she moved with every press of my hands had me tingling with fiery sensations. I moved in, unable to get rid of the desire that crept up inside of me and started kissing her neck. She released a deep groan, turned and wrapped her arm around my neck, holding me down as my hands rested underneath her shirt. I couldn’t feel a bra strap. She was bare breasted underneath her shirt and that got me even hornier.

  She groaned, arching her back and I instinctively wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her back to me. “Oh God,” she whimpered, egging me on and causing me to want to go further. Yet, still hesitant to take that next step, I kissed her hard one last time, then kissed her shoulder and reluctantly parted from the embrace.

  “I should go,” I whisper.

  She turned around and gawked at me. “Do you have to?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I really think I should,” I said. I slightly adjusted my hardened cock and hoped it wasn’t visible.

  “Um…I didn’t even get a foot massage,” she whined.

  I smiled politely. I was kicking myself for ending things so suddenly, however, knowing that it was for the best. “It’s late. I’ll do it next time, I promise,” I said in a low, throaty voice. My desire to be buried inside of Kemara was immense.

  She nodded and got off the couch, then followed me to the door. We had only been back to her place for less than ten minutes and the tension between us was clear. She didn’t know why we stopped, but neither did I, other than my head seemed to be louder than my heart.

  “Goodnight,” I said, brushing a quick kiss on her lips, then turning around and leaving her apartment before she could stop me. We were almost to that point, I had no doubt, but I had to be extra cautious, even if that was the last thing I wanted to be.

  Chapter Eleven

  Kemara

  I didn’t know why Channing seemed to always pull back just when things were heating up, but in the end, I decided not to question it. I was living a real-life fairytale and I didn’t want to focus on what could be wrong. One minute I’m single and hoping against all odds I can find someone I can live this simple life with, no complications, no drama, and the next I’m swept up in this relationship with Channing that I enjoyed too much to doubt the little things.

  It was easy and exactly what I was looking for. Plus, we were taking things slow. We were getting to know each other, before we took the next big step. That was how I wanted to see it. It wasn’t how my usual relationships happened. Then again, my typical relationships didn’t last, so I had every right to believe this would be different.

  So, when we were one night cuddling on his couch, just watching a movie, and leaving me with this gentle calm feeling that Channing could be the one, I knew I was ready to bring up the fact that I wanted him to meet my family.

  The movie ended and while Channing got the Blu-ray out of the machine, I proposed the idea to him. “What are you doing tomorrow night?” I asked.

  He turned to me and smiled. “If it has something to do with me and you getting together, then whatever you have planned.”

  I laughed. He was so sweet and he made me feel so safe and so loved. “Well, it has something to do with you, me, my sister, and my parents,” I stated. His eyes got big and I saw nerves take over. Here he was this buff man and he seemed scared. He got back to the couch and sat down next to me. “What do you say?” I asked.

  “You want me to meet the parents?” he asked and I could see the anxiety rising in his eyes. His hue reddened and he looked like he’d seen a ghost. “You want me to meet your sister? Has she changed her theory on white guys?” he asked.

  Truth was that she hadn’t and who knew if she would ever change her opinion, but it didn’t matter to me. I stood by that. She could think how she wanted to think. It was true that we ha
dn’t talked much since she walked out of the house, angry with me over our little debate about what a white man wants with a black woman, but I was choosing to believe that Channing was different than that.

  “Probably not, but babe, that doesn’t matter to me. I want you to meet them. After all, our relationship can’t exactly go anywhere if you don’t, can it?”

  He thought about that, then eventually shook his head. “I guess not.”

  I was putting him in a tough spot. It was clear he didn’t know how to take the invitation, and while I wanted him to be excited to meet them, I couldn’t hope for a miracle with Tameka in the room. “It will be great. Trust me,” I said. All while I was being positive, I was hoping that I could trust my own words. It was a huge step for him to meet the family, and I wanted things to be perfect between us.

  “Okay. I’ll do it for you,” he said. He leaned over and we kissed. The kiss was deep, even dipping down to my toes. In that moment, I craved him, although we were waiting on the perfect timing. I pulled back to make sure we didn’t do anything stupid.

  “I better go,” I whispered. “Pick me up tomorrow at six, will that work?” I asked.

  I stood up from the couch and he followed me to the door. “I’ll be there,” he said, turning me around to face him when we reached the door. He kissed me long and passionately as I wrapped my long fingers around the side of his neck.

  “Thank you,” I said nearly out of breath as our kiss broke.

  “No thanks necessary, Kemara. I owe all the thanks to you for spending the evening with me and making me a happy man,” he said and his smile melted my heart.

  I brushed another soft kiss against his lips, left his house and went to my car.

  In my car, I dialed up my parents’ number. We had been planning on the evening get together for a few weeks now, but I wanted to make sure they were aware there would be a guest added. My mom answered right away.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, momma, it’s Kemara. So, I just wanted to make you aware that I’m bringing someone tomorrow night. Sorry for the short notice, but−”