“Ohhh god! Ohhhh…ohhh goooddd!” Her head tossed and turned as she bit into her bottom lip. Her mind and brain scattering images and thoughts in a blurry haze as her body shivered and trembled. Whimpering, mewling, wracking spasms still held her prisoner as finally, Shawn’s soft voice broke through to her sense of hearing.
“That’s it, baby, that’s it. It’s only the beginning…it’s only the beginning. Every time we make love— it’ll be like this, but better—much better.”
Her forehead was once again back on his, resting there, trying to bring her breathing down. “Oh my god, I can’t believe I did this.” His reply was to tilt his head back and kiss her once again, softly…lovingly. A moment later she pulled away looking him in the eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
He smiled. “For what?”
“Well, you…ummm…didn’t - really get anything out of that.” She went bashful on him.
He chuckled softly. “I got more than you'll ever know out of that - besides, it gives me something to look forward to, doesn’t it?” He gave her another peck on the lips.
“Come home with me. Don’t let me leave here without you.”
She looked into his eyes, thinking it over, when the door bell rang. “Mama!” She was off his lap in an instant.
“You get to the bathroom, I’ll let mama in,” he responded, moving fast as she was. “Oh, thank you. You think she’ll know?” He shrugged, “You better hurry or she will.
Shawn ended up staying longer than he intended. Once Lydia took him to the basement to show him what she was doing, that was it. His conscience would not let him leave her with the task that she was undertaking. Once again, he surprised Sylvia with another skill she hadn’t expected of him. Working together with his direction, they were able to get quite a bit done. She also noted that her mother didn’t argue with Shawn on how things were to be done, which she brought to her attention, with her mother replying, “But he know what he doing, you don’t…so you can’t tell me nothin’ when you don’t know.”
Sylvia’s response was to make a face behind her back.
The evenings, however, belonged to them, even though they had to part at bedtime, because Lydia wasn’t having it, them sleeping under her roof in the same bed. She made that point very clear; respectfully, they stuck to it. Long before bedtime arrived, they made the time in Chicago enjoyable. Winter didn’t hamper their fun. They saw shows at the Chicago theatre. Went to the movies, out to dinner, hit several live comedy houses and the most memorable night, was at a nightclub where they enjoyed drinks, dinner and dancing. Jazz, sexy and provocative. A saxophone, a piano, a soft drummer and a female vocalist who sang in a way that made a woman want her man in the best possible way.
Slowly they danced and swayed, taken away with sounds that meant to seduce, leading to one sure-fire way of ending the evening to make it simply perfect. He hailed a carriage to take them for a ride around the city lake shore. The night was cool and brisk, but not freezing. Perfect for a couple in love to cuddle close and snuggle up as the horse and driver contributed to a most perfect night.
“Are you okay?” Shawn asked with Sylvia held closely against his side, his arms comfortably around her. “Oh, yeah, this is nice,” she simpered then snuggled closer.
“You sure?”
Giggling, she nodded her head. “Very sure.”
“Good.” He sighed. “So now what, lady?”
She nestled her head in the crook of his neck, kissing him lightly there, making little wet pecks.
“Emmmm, nice…so what are you telling me?” He moaned, then whispered the question softly.
She pulled back and looked up at him. He lowered his mouth and kissed her gently, lightly, rising again to look down at her.
“I want you,” she said it this time, not him.
His brows shot up surprised. “What did you say?”
She stared at him a moment and knew that it was true…she was done trying to fight it. Come what may, she wanted this man…and she was willing to do whatever it took to get him and keep him.
“I…want…you…Shawn Everett McPherson. I want you,” slowly, then again for emphasis, she said the words he wanted to hear.
“Wow. So what are you saying?”
“Let’s get a room.”
“All night?”
“All night.”
“What’s mama gonna say?” he mocked.
“I’m grown. We won't be under her roof, mama gonna have to understand, and if she don’t, then I’m gonna have to explain it to her.”
He threw his head back and let out a laugh so deep and sexy, she laughed too, and was turned on even more. Coming down from his laughter, he looked at her shaking his head.
“A room, you say? All night? Well, I think I’m gonna have to accommodate you, lady…on one condition,” he informed her.
A perfectly arched brow rose. “Oh, yeah, and that is?”
“Tell me you love me,” he said on baited breath. Of all the things he would say, that was not what she expected.
“Now why would I do that, when you, sir, haven’t said that you love me.” She smiled.
He grew serious. “I…love…you. Like I have never loved a woman ever in my life…I love you.”
Sylvia’s eyes grew wide as her heart leapt into her throat. His declaration was shaking her to the core; fear once again sprang to life. She had resigned herself to being with him, but not with the thought in mind that it could mean so much as this, what he was saying, so soon. What if he was saying it just to get her in bed? But that didn’t make sense; she’d already opened the invitation for him to take her to bed, so there was no need for him to say it.
“Well, either I’ve shocked you into sheer disbelief, or you’re trying to think of a way to let me down gently.”
Stunned, she shook her head as unbidden tears came to her eyes.
“No…I’m not letting you down…easily.” She gulped.
“No?” He grinned.
Again she shook her head. “No.”
Now he was chuckling. “So then I’ve shocked you?”
She nodded vigorously. “Yes.”
He reached up and caught a tear. “Hmmm, soooo, can I assume that this possibly means…you love me?” he coaxed. She swallowed, taking a deep breath, then nodded again vigorously.
“Say it…say you love me.”
“I-I do.”
“No…no, no, no. That’s good, I like that. Keep that one in mind, especially for later, when we get married. But right now, ‘I love you’ would be perfect.”
“Married?”
“Well, yeah…not tonight, but…I’m thinking, not too far into the future - I did after all, tell your mother that I had the best of intentions for you.”
“Oh my god,” she cried.
He laughed. “No, I love you.”
“Yes!”
“Yes, what?”
“I love you!”
“You sure about that?"
“Yes, I’m sure!”
“I don’t know…seems to me, I was pulling teeth to—”
Cutting him off was her hands gripping his face, bringing his lips down to her, kissing him with all the love she was feeling. “Emmmm.” He moaned, enfolding her into his arms, leaning over her as he deepened the kiss. After a moment thus, he slowly lifted, she repeated, “I love you…I love you.” He smiled softly down at her, going down for a peck on her lips, once, twice, three times.
“Now can we get a room?” she asked.
He roared into laughter. “You got it, lady, you got it.” He turned away from her and leaned forward, calling out to the driver of the carriage, telling him that they were ready to be taken back to the jazz club.
Climbing into his SUV Sylvia settled back in comfort. Before closing her door, Shawn leaned in kissing her again. When he pulled away, there was nothing but excitement and anticipation in his eyes…oh, yeah, and love. He soundly closed her door and made it around his car in record speed, just as Sylvi
a hit the auto unlock. He jumped in, started his vehicle, and turned to her asking, “You’re sure, you’re sure?”
She laughed out. “Yes, I’m sure!”
He shivered, rubbing his hands together, shaking his head. “Ooooh, Otis, don’t fail me tonight,” he mumbled in a singsong that cracked Sylvia up. “You are one crazy white man…do you know that?” she asked.
“What! What’s crazy about a little prayer? Buckle up.”
Shaking her head, she did so as he pulled out into traffic heading for State Street to the Embassy Suites Hotel downtown. He’d stayed there before on business when he’d come to Chicago and loved their accommodations.
“Please tell me why a man like you would need a prayer?” she asked as he drove.
“Sweetheart, I need you to prepare yourself, because this is going to be hard for even you to believe…but…I’m…well, I’m normal.” Again Sylvia was lost in shocked laughter. “Human, yes, I know as incredible as that is, it’s true. And lady, I want you bad. Overexcitement can sometimes lead to disappointment. Tonight’s not the night for that. Know what I mean?” His frank honesty impressed her, even though it was shrouded in arrogant humor.
“So are you saying that…” she snickered, “Otis has let you down before?”
“Otis has never let me down! But never has there been a time when I’ve wanted so much to do this so…so…hmmmm…”
“Right?” she offered the answer.
He glanced at her briefly, giving a gentle smile. “Yeah…I don’t want to disappoint you. I want to please you, completely. Before, I never gave it a thought. I was always confidant. With you, it’s different.”
“How so?” she asked softly.
“With you, I wouldn’t put it past you to say something like, what was that…you got to be kidding me?” he mimicked her black dialect with the shake of his head, sending Sylvia into uncontrollable laughter.
“I know you, lady…I don’t think you’re the kind to fake it,” he added, grinning. Sylvia laughed even harder, tears coming to her eyes. “I’m right, aren’t I? See, that’s the thing that scares white men away sometimes, black women won’t fake it! At least white women feel bad for you and try to spare your feelings; they’ll fake it, just to get it over with. But black women…no way, I know, and I've heard!”
“You know? You've heard? I see, and who told you that mess?” she asked, coming down from her laughter.
“True or false? Right or wrong?” he asked grinning.
She smiled. “Hmph, I guess you ‘bout to find out, silly white man.” Again he gave show of a shivering shake.
“You scared?” she taunted.
With a lift of his brow, he cut her a look out the side of his eyes. “I guess you ‘bout to find out, sexy black woman.”
She crinkled her nose and shifted in her seat, wondering what other black women he'd been with? Considering it was in his past, and this night was their's, she wasn't going to worry about digging there.
He went immediately to the Embassy, stopping out front for the valet to take his vehicle to the underground parking. Stepping out of the vehicle, Shawn handed the young man his keys, and made his way around to Sylvia’s door opening it for her. Taking her hand, both felt an instant surge through their bodies in anticipation for what was to come.
Once Shawn had the key to a room and Sylvia knew the room number, they parted ways at the elevator. “I’ll be up in a minute. I need to visit the gift shop,” she informed him. With the raising of his brow, he thought about that and changed it. “I think you can go on up now, and I’ll be there in a moment,” he suggested.
“But—” she started and he covered her lips with his finger, silencing her.
“Trust me.” The elevator doors opened, he lifted her chin gently with his bent finger, placing a quick peck to her lips and stepped away with a wink, handing her into the elevator. When the doors closed, he headed for the gift shop.
On their floor, the doors opened, Sylvia stepped out looking down each direction of the hall, and to the wall for direction to their room. Spotting it, she headed that way. Once inside, she looked the king suite over and found it very tasteful, clean and conservatively elegant. She sat her purse on the table, turned on the TV, kicked off her shoes, unbuttoned her long suede camel coat walking to the closet to hang it up, the whole time, her mother on her mind and calling her, she wanted to get this out of the way immediately, sitting on the sofa with the phone next to it on an end table, she took a deep breath and dialed her mother’s number; fourth ring, she answered.
“Hello?”
“Umm, mama…it’s me. An-n-nd, well, don’t wait up for us tonight.”
“What’s that suppose to mean?”
“Mama, come on. You know what that means. We won’t be home tonight.”
Silence prevailed for a space of time and finally Lydia said, “Old as you is, a man invite you t’get a room, and you ain’t got sense enough to play hard to get and say no?”
Sylvia chuckled. “For your information, mother dear, I asked him to get the room. I just called to let you know…I won’t be home. I love you, now goodnight.” Smiling, she hung up the phone.
Standing, she smiled seductively to the room at large, and sashayed to the bathroom to start the shower. She’d been in there for maybe twenty minutes when she heard a tap on the door.
“It’s me, can I come in? I brought you some things.”
“Come in!” she yelled over the shower spray. “What’d you bring me?” she asked, looking around the side of the shower. Shawn stared at her for a moment. She had a towel wrapped around her head turban-style, making her look so exotic, enhancing her large eyes.
“Wow.” He sighed. She smiled, repeating, “What’d you bring me?”
“Oh!” He held up a medium size gift bag, then sat it on the sink counter. “I told the woman in the gift shop to fill it with all the stuff a woman who is anal about feeling soft and smelling good and sexy for a man, would need to sleep over.”
“Ach! Shawn!”
He started laughing, “Well, you are! So it’s all in there. If it’s not, it’s not my fault.”
“I am not anal!” she defended.
His continued laughter said he disagreed as something else occurred to him. “Oh, one more thing.” He disappeared, then quickly reappeared. Freezing him in place was the sight of her stepping from the shower with a towel wrapped around herself.
“Wow. Beautiful…thank you,” she gushed, walking up to him to take the satiny ecru short nightie with a short lace wrap. “Now if you’ll excuse me…” She grinned. He exhaled, backing out with the assistance of her hand on his chest pushing him back followed by the door closing in his face.
When she finally showed from the bathroom, he looked up to see what he knew she’d look like in that negligee; soft satiny cream against supple, smooth brown skin. “Have you any idea how beautiful you are?” he asked breathlessly.
She smiled without reply, looking to the table; an ice bucket held a bottle of wine with two wine glasses, sitting in a vase on the table, a dozen red roses. Tickling her senses softly in the background, a Chicago radio station playing music catered to night moods, assisting Shawn with the exact setting he wished to create.
Grinning, her eyes moved back to him, “You’re fast. Had a lot of practice, I bet.”
Shrugging, “Not necessarily all that much practice; with the right woman to inspire, a man knows how to be romantic, too.” he informed her, walking to various lights, dimming one, turning another off to dim the next, working his way to her.
“Emmm, what’s this…you still have your jacket on,” she noticed, informing him softly as he stopped before her.
“What can I say, rushing to get everything just so, I forgot about me,” he simpered low, suggestively.
“Aaah, poor you - looks like I’m gonna have to give you a little help…seeing as how you’ve done all of this, seeing to me,” she volunteered, reaching up sliding both hands across his chest, wid
ening them under the lapels of his jacket to push it off of his shoulders.
“Lady, I’ve only just begun seeing to you.” His jacket fell free of him as Sylvia caught it on the way to the floor, tossing it to the sofa. His hands went to her waist, pulling her against his hard body. The evidence was there that he was ready, he wanted her to know it. Heat suffused her body as a moan slipped from her throat. His mouth quickly covered hers to catch that moan before its completion, stirring another one on its tail. Turning his head to deepen the kiss and insert his tongue, his hand went down her back to cup her rear. Sylvia went dizzy, her body was instantly on fire. In a frenzy, she started trying to work his shirt loose while maintaining the vigorous kiss. He pulled his lips away, breathing hard, to say, “The gift shop is open tomorrow.” and ripped his shirt open, popping off buttons. Sylvia helped him push it off of his arms to the floor. They were both breathing hard. Shawn stepped back grabbing her hand, pulling her towards him as he walked backward with promising eyes, leading her to the bedroom where the king size bed awaited.
“I hope you know this is going to take all night,” he informed her huskily.
“All night?”
“Oh, yeah…all night.”
“When will we sleep?” She gulped with her heart pounding, the bed came into full view. It was already turned back.
“Tomorrow.”
“Check out is at 12.”
“I know…but not for us. Not tomorrow, the next day.”
“Oh…I see,” she breathed as he pulled her up to him again with the back of his knees against the bed. It had been so long for her, she’d forgotten what a man was like when he was in the mood for love. With Shawn, there was no hesitation. His mouth covered hers again as he pulled her body into his, his arms around her, his hands moving, massaging up and down the back of her body. She was dazed, the room was spinning, and every single cell in her body was alive and sensitive to his touch. Moist heat flooded heavily at the juncture of her thighs. She wanted everything—right now!
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