by Meka James
Her eyes rolled back, and her head turned side to side. “I...can’t....”
She struggled to get the words out as her body was overcome with another wave of pleasure. I pushed harder, driving her immediately to another peak. She was hot, and I was on fire, driven by her moans as they melted into drawn out wails of desire.
“Y...you...win.”
A smug grin spread across my face. The feeling of her body spasming around me nearly pushed me to the edge. I removed her legs from my shoulder and pulled out. I wasn’t done with her yet and needed to last just a little while longer.
I lowered myself down over her, pinning her arms above her head. I kissed her, tasting the residue of her earlier climax. I moved slow, continuing the leisurely kiss. Ginger tugged to free her hands. I let them go, groaning from the feel of them as she slid them up my back. Her nails raked across my skin. This time, I eased into her inch by inch.
I broke from the kiss and stared down at her. Ginger’s eyes were hooded as she arched into me. Her hips lifting, gyrating against me. Soft moans and whimpers tumbled from her parted lips.
“Malcolm.” My name a mere whisper from her lips.
“Yes, baby?”
Her nails dug into my flesh as she lifted herself, using me as support. Our bodies close, covered in a sheen of sweat. Our breathing a heavy mixture of grunts and moans.
“I love you,” she whispered. Her warm breath, a soft caress across my ear.
It was the spark that set me aflame. Being with her, inside her, could only be described as pure ecstasy. Ginger fell back against the couch, body shaking from the tremors of her orgasm. I no longer held back. I let go with a deep, animalistic groan. My balls tightened, and my cock pulsed. The orgasm went on forever, in one long release, draining into her sweet, enchanting body. I relaxed, throbbing inside her for several minutes as my heart rate lowered. My dick twitched as her muscles continued to contract, feeling her wet, slippery body around me, loving me.
I leaned forward, kissing her forehead. “Ginger?” I received the sound of a light snore in response. I chuckled quietly to myself; she was out cold.
Easing out of her slowly, I walked over to the kitchen for a drink of water. I had just as much of a workout as she did. I watched the slow rise and fall of her chest. Even in her disheveled state, I’d never laid eyes on a more beautiful woman. I finished my water and flipped off the light over the island. Giving my eyes some time to adjust to the dark, I made my way back over to the couch. Being careful not to wake her, I picked her up then carefully navigated up the stairs to our room.
Ginger stirred a little when I removed the dress and bra that sat bunched up around her waist. I headed into the bathroom, returning with a warm, wet washcloth. Opening her legs, I proceeded to clean her up. Then I tossed the rag back into the bathroom. I pulled her to me after climbing into bed. Ginger snuggled against my chest, mumbling inaudible words in her sleep.
Chapter 55
Calida
I opened my eyes only to shut them again against the blinding light. The early morning sun streamed through the crack in the drapes. My head pounded. No more red wine for me for a while.
Sitting up slowly, the covers dropped down to reveal my nude state. My entire body flushed thinking about last night. Sex with Malcolm hadn’t been a disappointment before, but last night was a whole new ballgame. I covered my mouth to muffle a laugh, remembering how I’d taunted him. “Oh yeah, I have to do that again.”
Malcolm’s side of the bed was empty. I glanced at the clock.
“Holy shit.” Not morning but close to one in the afternoon.
Easing out of bed, I winced at the discomfort between my legs. Maybe I won’t challenge his sexual prowess again for a while. I took careful steps to the bathroom and hissed through the slight burning sensation as I answered the call of nature.
“Not for a long while.”
I gave my body a good stretch. I was tempted to walk downstairs nude, but I had no doubt that’d get me in trouble. It’d be the best kind of trouble, but trouble nonetheless. Deciding against that course of action, I headed to Mal’s dresser, opening and closing the drawers until I found his T-shirts. I slipped on one of the plain white undershirts as I slowly made my way out of the room. Midway down the steps, I heard Mal’s voice.
“Yo ass is going down.”
Malcolm sat on the couch, headset on, frantically working the controller. He did more trash talking to whoever was on the other end. When he spotted me he gave a wink and a smile.
He put his hand over the mic. “Good afternoon, Sleeping Beauty.”
“I haven’t slept in like this in a long time.”
He gave a sexy smirk. “You’re welcome.”
My stomach growled loudly.
“You want me to fix you something to eat? Shut up, ass, I wasn’t talking to you.”
I laughed. “No, I’m good.”
After popping one of the coffee pods into the machine, I rummaged through the fridge and settled on a sandwich. As I started to make mine, I glanced over at Malcolm and made a second to be on the safe side.
The last sputters of the machine got my attention. Coffee mid-afternoon was not my usual, but I hoped the caffeine along with food would ease the pain in my head.
Doubling up the plates, I picked up both and my coffee. Mal gave me a quick side glance before returning his attention to his game. I sat down the plates, unstacked them, placed one of the sandwiches on the second one and slid it toward him.
He looked at it then over at me and smiled. “Knew I loved you for a reason. Man, if you don’t shut yo ass up.”
I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Glad my sandwich making is worthy of your affections.”
I sat back, sipping my coffee and eating my sandwich while watching him play his game. His trash talking was quite entertaining. Once he finished whatever mission he was on, he exited the game.
“You could have kept playing.”
Mal leaned back against the sofa and placed his hand on my exposed outer thigh.
“I know, but I rather hang with you.” His thumb softly stroked back and forth against my leg while he channel surfed. “Anything you want to watch?”
I shook my head. He finally settled on HGTV. Sitting in quiet comfort was a luxury I'd never had before. Happy that the pain was subsiding, I laid my head on his shoulder. A smile graced my lips when he kissed my forehead.
“You feeling okay?”
“Yeah, head hurts, but it's getting better.”
“You need something for the pain? Pretty sure I have some Tylenol.”
Lifting his arm, I put it around me, and snuggled closer to him.
“Nope, this is all I need.”
“Then I got you covered. Oh, by the way, your parents called.”
“Okay, what time are they bringing Shawn home?”
“Tomorrow,” he answered with a short laugh. “When I told them you were still sleeping, your mom said they’d let you rest.”
“I’m sure them keeping him is strictly for my benefit.”
I closed my eyes, enjoying the soft strokes of his fingers on my arm.
“I bet you and Macy could do that.”
“Do what?”
“This flipping thing.”
I opened my eyes to see what he was talking about. One of the house flipping shows was currently on. “I have no idea how to do construction, and Macy doesn’t like getting her hands dirty.”
“Right, but the design stuff. These people have a crew.”
“Are you trying to get me to work so I stop being a freeloader?”
“What? No. You just have an eye for that sort of thing. Look at what you did to this place. And I like you being a freeloader. Means I can have you pay your rent in sexual favors.”
“Or I could just pay off the mortgage, and you can pay me back in sexual favors.”
I expected some flirty comeback, but I got silence. Mal
stopped stroking my arm and said nothing for at least a good thirty seconds.
He sat up and pulled away from me. “I know you’re just messing around, but I don’t want that to be a real thing.”
“Oh, so you can charge me that way, but I can’t do the same? Double standards much?”
He didn’t return the smile I gave. In fact, the look on his face was anything but playful.
“The mortgage.”
“Oh. Why not? I mean, isn’t that what people look forward to doing, paying off their house and owning it outright. Why wouldn’t you want that?”
“I don’t want you doing it.”
I sat back against the sofa and folded my arms across my chest. “And why not?”
Malcolm pinched the bridge of his nose and took a long inhale. “Because,” he began slowly. “I would rather do it myself.”
It was my turn to take a slow breath. That familiar unsettling knot began to form in the pit of my stomach. “So, all that talk about this place being for us was just that? Talk? What you really want is to have some sort of way to lord it over my head that this is yours.”
“What the hell are you talking about? No. I told you day of closing you could go on the title, and that can be done at any moment, just say the word.”
“Then explain to me why, if we have the means to own it, I’m apparently not allowed to take care of it.”
“Because he’s tainted enough, and I don’t want anything from that bastard associated with my house.”
I drew in a sharp inhale and pressed my lips together. Uncurling my legs, I got up from the couch, and picked up the dishes. The pain in my head magnified tenfold, but it didn’t compare to the pain in my chest. He’s tainted enough. Meaning me. Malcolm thought of me as tainted. I was associated with Seth, always would be; he’d branded me for fuck’s sake. And Shawn. Shawn looked just like his father, no amount of pretending could change that fact. My sweet, innocent boy, tainted by his conception. Malcolm knew. He had to know. Everything, all of it an act.
Malcolm didn’t want us here.
Hands wrapped around my arms. I looked up to see Malcolm, his features drawn.
“Let go.” I yanked free. “Don’t...don’t touch me. I’d hate to taint anything.”
“Shit, Ginger, you know I didn’t mean it like that.”
I pushed past him, rubbing my chest. Hoping I could massage away the constricted feeling that kept tightening within.
“Ginger. Calida. Stop.” He grabbed my wrist, preventing me from leaving. “Stop running and just let me explain.”
I shook my head as I tried to wrestle my arm free, but Malcolm’s grip was ironclad. “There’s nothing to explain. Now, let me go so I can get dressed and free you of my tainted existence.”
“Stop overreacting for just a damn minute please.”
I kept shaking my head. The tears burned in the backs of my eyes, but I refused to cry. I was tired of crying, of being hurt by the words from those that claimed to love me. I should have known better. This was my fault for thinking things could be different. Thinking I could be happy—that I deserved to be happy—had been the biggest lie I’d told myself. I was tainted. I knew it. Malcolm knew it. All of this…Why? Why did he do this? Why did I believe it? I choked on the sob caught in my throat.
I didn't look at him. I couldn’t. Instead, I focused on his hand still firmly wrapped around my wrist.
“Please let me go.” My voice sounded weak, and I hated it.
“Are you going to let me explain?”
“It’s not like I have much of a choice.”
Malcolm released his hold. I immediately brought my arm to my chest, and rubbed the spot he’d held.
“You always have a choice.”
I could hear the sorrow in his tone, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. I couldn’t face the absence that would be in his eyes. I could feel the remaining shards of my heart splintering, and if I looked at him, I feared I’d cease to be. My gaze remained on my wrist as I continued to rub away the discomfort.
“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean it like it sounded.”
“I need to get dressed.”
This time when I walked past him, he stepped to the side to let me go.
Chapter 56
Malcolm
I watched Ginger walk up the stairs then heard the door close. No doubt she probably locked it as well.
“Fuck!”
This whole situation exploded out of nowhere. Going from the good time last night, hell even just thirty minutes prior to this. I’d seen the tears glistening in her eyes and felt the impact of that invisible armor being locked around her. How the fuck did one ill-worded sentence unravel all the progress we’d made?
I sat at the bottom of the steps, with head in hands, waiting, listening for the sound of the door opening. I was pissed. Pissed at myself for going way past simply putting my foot in my mouth; I’d shoved the whole damn leg in and half of the other one.
I jumped up when I heard the door. Ginger stopped when she saw me. My heart dropped to my stomach when I saw the suitcase in her hand.
“Are you going to let me leave?”
I detected a faint tremor in her voice. I could see the redness in her eyes.
“Ginger, baby, I’m sorry. Please...please at least hear me out.”
“So, that’s a no then?”
I started up the stairs. Ginger backed away from me and kept her eyes downcast. She wouldn’t even look at me. Fuck!
“Malcolm, let me pass.”
“Can you just wait a damn minute. Just talk to me.”
“There’s nothing to say.”
“Like hell there isn’t.” I pointed to her suitcase. “Is this how you always plan on handling things? Packing up and running away?”
“You said I had a choice. This is the one I’m making.” Her voice cracked. She took a breath. “Can I go or not?”
“Fuck!”
I ran my hands through my hair, squeezing my dreads together, trying to come up with something to say. I drew a blank. I glanced up at Ginger. She stood back against the wall, her hands clutched her suitcase. This was bullshit. One sentence. One fucking sentence had her running for the hills.
“Baby…” I sighed and pressed my thumbs to my eyes. When I looked back up at her, she was watching me. She held my gaze for a fleeting moment then turned away. “I love you, Calida.”
I turned and headed back down the stairs and headed toward the formal living room at the front of the house. The very room that started it all. The one where I professed my love for her in no uncertain terms. Now I used it as a hideout so she’d have plenty of room to leave without worrying I’d try to stop her. Every part of me wanted to do just the opposite. Everything in me said make her stay, to force her to listen to my explanation so she’d understand. But holding her hostage when she wanted to go wouldn’t help matters.
I sat in one of the stiff wingback chairs waiting for the sound of the door chime. My ability to stay put waned with each passing second. The sound came. I gripped onto the arms of the chair, needing something to keep me in place.
Last night she told me she loved me. Today she left. That was one hell of a turnaround in less than twenty-four hours.
I stood and peered out the large picture window. Ginger’s red SUV backed down the driveway. Hollow. Disbelief. She drove away. I turned and kicked the chair. It slid across the hardwoods until it hit its mate. I punched the air as I stalked down the hall back to the family room.
“No. No. Fuck this. She’ll talk to me.” Even if I had to have the whole damn conversation through the intercom at her place, I would explain myself to her.
I headed to the stairs and took them two at a time. I had reached the top when the door chimed again.
“Malcolm.”
I stopped. She came back? I slowly made my way back down. Ginger stood chewing on her bottom lip while twirling the ring around her finger.
<
br /> “You forget something?” Why the hell would I ask that?
She shook her head. “Dr. Carr would think my actions…” she paused, looked down at the ring, and started mumbling to herself. She looked back up at me. “What I’m trying to say is that I’ve worked…I’m working at trying to change my go-to reactions. Hearing you call me tainted…”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Well, that’s what I heard. Me and my son. Because as much as you want to pretend to be his father—”
“Pretend? I’m not pretending anything.”
“You know what I mean.”
I stepped forward. “Do I? Because we are having some shitty communication right now. And I one hundred percent own that I fucked up with my choice of words.”
“Yes, Malcolm, you know what I mean,” she continued on as if I’d not said anything. “You’ve stepped up, put yourself in that father role for him, and that’s great. He adores you, and I hope your feelings toward him have been genuine.”
“They are. There’s no reason for you to doubt that. Family is a hell of a lot more than just DNA. I think of Shawn as my son.”
She gave a faint smile that was gone as quickly as it appeared. “I want to believe you. I see how you are with him, but your words cut deep. They tapped into my own doubts and insecurities about myself and about Shawn.”
She looked down and ran her hand across her stomach. Her head began to nod, and she reached up to wipe tears from her face. I stepped closer. Ginger moved back.
“The night you learned…” She stopped to clear her throat. She pressed her lips together, and did a slow blink, then looked up to face me. “I love Shawn. I do. I’m his mother.” Her fingers covered her lips as she took a stuttered breath. “There were times I couldn’t look at him be…because of how he came to be. So…so when you—he shouldn’t be punished for the sins of his father, Malcolm.”
