Jamie bit into the cornbread and wrinkled his nose again. “This doesn’t taste like cornbread. It’s sweet. It tastes more like corn cake. Did you put sugar in this?”
“Yes,” Lyla said. “That’s how northern white girls make it. You can give me instructions on the fine art of soul food cooking after we’re married. Right now eat up because this is all there is…unless you want that chocolate omelet.” Lyla laughed. “And make sure you eat some hummus because if both of us eat garlic then we won’t smell it on each other.”
Jamie dipped his little finger into the hummus and swiped it on his tongue. It took him a moment before he nodded. “That’s not bad. Different, but I like it.” He inched his way through the other offerings, surprised that he liked the cold spinach pizza but not too thrilled with the marinated artichokes.
“Time’s up,” Lyla announced when Jamie pushed his plate away. “I was very generous. You ended up getting a full nineteen minutes. Now scoot out your chair to give me some room.”
Jamie complied, an eager smile taking hold. “You gonna ride me, baby?”
“Like a Brahma bull.” She leaned down to place a kiss on the tip of Jamie’s burgeoning cock. “Wake up. Time to satisfy your mistress,” she teased. She nibbled softly at the tip and then licked it. Jamie’s cock sprang to attention, bobbing back and forth. “Ooh, look. Just like magic.”
“Black magic,” Jamie corrected with a chuckle. “That’s just exactly how it likes to be roused.”
“I’ll have to remember that,” Lyla said, handing Jamie a condom from the strip she’d brought in from the bedroom. “Ready, Mr. Bull?”
“Ride ’em, cowgirl,” Jamie answered, rolling the condom on and then bracing his hands on Lyla’s hips as she mounted him.
“Here comes the part I love.” Lyla seated herself fully on his cock, her eyelids fluttering closed at the sensation. “Mother of God, that feels fantastic.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Jamie said. “It’s the first time we’ve done it like this. I can really feel you deep inside.” Lyla shifted her hips left and right and Jamie groaned. “Mmm, yeah. That’s good. Real good.”
Every movement Lyla made brought her new waves of pleasure. When Jamie swiveled his hips beneath her she thought she’d scream from pleasure overload. “Whatever you just did, do it again,” she panted. “You connected with something up there that made my entire body tingle.”
“Probably your G-spot,” Jamie said.”
“Oh you know about such things, do you?” Lyla teased. Jamie’s next movement wiped all traces of levity from her countenance as she moaned.
“I know enough,” Jamie assured with confidence. He dipped his finger between her folds and drew it out, painting a circle around the tip of one breast. And then he licked it, nibbled at it and sucked it into his mouth, milking it with such force Lyla thought sure she’d swoon into a dead faint. When her breast popped free of his warm mouth the nipple pebbled.
Lyla whimpered, needing to feel his mouth on her other breast. Before she could voice her request, Jamie repeated the process, dipping into her juices and painting a border around the dusky pink tip of her other breast before capturing it in his mouth and treating it to the same lavish attention.
When he took his mouth from her breast, the wet nipple cooled, crinkling. Jamie pinched and tugged on the rigid bud with his fingers as he dipped the fingers of his other hand down to her pussy once more. This time they remained and played as he sought out her clitoris.
“Do you like that, baby?” Jamie asked, scraping a fingernail over her swollen nub.
“Yes,” Lyla’s voice was no more than a raw whisper.
“Or maybe you like this better, hmm?” He flicked his finger back and forth over her clit, building a fiery friction that nearly made her combust, while increasing the pressure on her nipple at the same time.
“God…oh God, yes.” Lyla drew up her inner muscles tight, clamping hard and milking Jamie’s cock as he continued flicking and then swirling around her slick, ultra- sensitive bud. A burst of staccato breaths spilled forth from her lungs as Jamie brought her to the edge of reason. Her hips undulating in a circular motion, Lyla’s awareness was confined to the pleasure spots thrumming within her and to the man who was responsible for rocking her world.
“Open your eyes,” Jamie said, and she did, unaware they’d been closed. “Let me see those big baby blues as I make you come. I want you to look into my eyes as we soar together, Lyla. I want to—” His body tensing, Jamie’s face strained with pleasure and he grunted. “Jesus. You’re so fucking beautiful, baby. I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” Lyla said, maintaining eye contact, watching with fascination as Jamie’s pupils darkened and spread. Unable to hold out any longer, Lyla’s body quivered with the first waves of her orgasm. “I love you,” she whispered once more as she succumbed to the throes of rippling bliss, looking into the eyes of the man she loved as he cried out his own release.
Chapter Eight
“Seriously. What the hell was I thinking when we came up with this idea?” Lyla said into the phone, fiercely doodling nonsensical scribbles on her legal pad. “I should have let at least a week go by after meeting his family before we faced Mom.”
“It’s best to get it out of the way,” Dawn said in between making baby talk to Megan. “The longer you put it off the harder it’s going to be, you know that.”
Dropping her head into her hand as she propped her elbow on her desk, Lyla belted out a noisy sigh. Poor Jamie would be mincemeat by the time her mother got through with him. “I know, you’re right. Oh but, Dawn, it’s going to get so ugly. I just know it.” She heard Dawn’s reciprocal sigh on the other end.
“Just remember that David and I will be right here to support you and Jamie,” Dawn said, not bothering to deny Lyla’s assertion. “You know we’re both very happy and excited for you. We’ll do our best to keep Mom in check.”
“So what did you end up telling her?” Lyla asked. “Does she know Jamie’s coming?”
“Are you kidding? Hell no.” Dawn chuckled. “I just told her that we wanted her to come over for dinner because we had some happy news to share with her. When I said that, she asked me if I’m pregnant again, so she doesn’t expect a thing.”
“Happy news, huh?” Lyla choked out a laugh and Dawn joined her. “Somehow I don’t think Mom will agree.” She looked down at the paper to see she’d drawn a witch with a broom. She reached for a red pen and sketched flames darting out of her eyes and fingers. “I’m still thinking about leaving the country,” Lyla joked. “Once Jamie and I get to some distant corner of the world I’ll send Mom a postcard. Hi, Mom. Having a wonderful time. Sunny weather, sandy beaches and, oh yeah, did I mention that you now have a black son-in-law?”
“And you’d know exactly when she received the postcard too,” Dawn said, “because you’d hear the piercing scream—no matter how far away you are.” She laughed.
“The shriek heard round the world.” Lyla laughed.
“You love me too much to move away and leave me here to handle Mom all by myself,” Dawn said.
“You have David.”
“If you love your beautiful, brand new niece, Lyla, you’ll do what’s best for her and stay here to shield her from our mother’s dastardly influence.”
“Okay, okay.” Lyla laughed. “I can’t wait to scoop little Megan into my arms and give her a big kiss tonight.”
“Sorry, she won’t be here. We’re dropping her off at David’s parents so they can watch her this evening. There’s no way I want to subject my baby to the sound of one of Mom’s tirades this early in her life.”
“Smart thinking.” Lyla’s eyes widened at the thought of little Megan watching Grandma’s eyes get all dark and beady just before Grandma leaped for Uncle Jamie’s throat while bellowing a bloodthirsty war cry. “The poor little thing would be traumatized for sure. You know, Dawn, it’s awfully nice of you to do this for me. You didn’t have to put yours
elf and your husband in the middle of this. Jamie and I could have seen Mom alone.”
“You’re absolutely right. Just remember that in the future when I need a babysitter,” Dawn teased.
“In a heartbeat. See you tonight.”
As Lyla ended the call there was a knock at her office door. “Yes? Come in.”
She couldn’t help the relieved sigh that escaped her lips when she saw Charlie Martensen step into her office instead of Barbara. The tension hanging between them since Barbara had verbally assaulted her a few days earlier created a thorny, awkward work atmosphere.
“Hi, Charlie, what can I do for you?”
Charlie closed her door with a quiet snap behind him before ambling across her office and perching himself on the corner of Lyla’s desk just inches from where she sat. Frowning, Lyla instinctively rolled her chair about a foot away.
“What can you do for me? Hmm…that’s a good question, Lyla,” he said, his sneer and the husky quality of his voice making Lyla uneasy. It was when Charlie smoothed his hand up her arm and covered her breast that Lyla jumped to her feet.
“Charlie! What the hell are you doing? What’s gotten into you?”
“What a sucker I was,” he said. “Buying into that sweet, virginal act of yours. And here all the while you were nothing but a slut.” He gave a humorless laugh.
An icy shiver jogged up Lyla’s spine when she smelled alcohol on his breath. He was one of those guys who couldn’t handle his liquor and turned into a real prick when he drank. “Please leave my office, Charlie.”
“White meat’s not good enough for you, huh, Lyla?” Charlie got to his feet, closing the distance between himself and Lyla. “I’m not good enough for you?” he pressed. “Do you have any idea what a fucking insult that is to me? How fucking embarrassing it is for me that everyone in the office knows you’re fucking a black man after you turned me down?”
Lyla had nowhere to go but the corner behind her desk. “You’re drunk, Charlie,” she said, backing against the wall. “And you’re really going to regret this in the morning. Why don’t you go sleep it off?”
“Funny, I never pegged you for a whore who’d be spreading her legs for a black man.” He fumbled for his belt buckle and Lyla gasped.
“Get out,” she said with more courage than she felt, her blood pumping through her veins with a rapid cadence.
“Not until we get that unfinished business of ours out of the way.” She tried to sidle past him but Charlie grabbed Lyla by the throat, locking her in place.
Gripped with panic, her thoughts raced. She could scream, but that would throw the entire office, including all the clients and customers, into a panic. She almost gurgled a laugh at the thought that she was more concerned with protecting Jamie’s business than herself. She could knee Charlie hard in the groin. She could push him backward so—
“Lyla?” Jamie’s voice came from the other side of the door. “You in there?”
“She’s busy!” Charlie bellowed.
“Jamie!” Lyla croaked.
The door flew open and Jamie bounded across the room so fast Lyla could have sworn he flew through the air.
“Lay one hand on me,” Charlie warned, letting go of Lyla’s throat and backing up, “and I’ll sue your black ass for everything you’re worth, Donlon. And I’ll take it to the newspapers.”
“You miserable, scum-sucking, low-life piece of shit,” Jamie growled. Blind with rage, he grabbed Charlie’s collar with one hand while he pulled his other hand back in a fist.
“No!” Lyla shouted, snagging Jamie’s arm and preventing him from punching Charlie. “Jamie, don’t. Think of the consequences. He’s not worth it.” As she spoke she caught sight of Charlie’s hand balling into a fist out of the corner of her eye.
“What? Jesus, Lyla,” Jamie complained, “I saw what he was trying to do. You can’t expect me to just stand here and let him—”
Lyla gave Charlie’s arm a karate chop before he could take a punch at Jamie. Then she gave him another one, just for good measure.
“Ouch! What the fuck are you doing, you lunatic?” Charlie screamed, grasping his arm in pain.
While Jamie stood dumbfounded, Lyla yanked down on Charlie’s necktie with all her might. Dragging Charlie to the top of her wood desk, she grabbed her stapler, opened it against her hip and then kept pounding it on his tie until she’d emptied it of staples.
“Don’t you ever touch me again, Charlie Martensen, do you hear me? And if you ever, ever make a threat against me or Jamie again, I swear to God I’ll call the cops and tell them you tried to rape me in a jealous, drunken rage. And the next time I use a stapler on you it won’t be on your tie. Got that?” When her barrage was met with silence, Lyla fisted Charlie’s hair and bopped his forehead against her desk. “I said, got that?”
“Ow, shit. Yeah. Yeah. I hear you.”
Expelling a whoosh of breath, she looked up to find Jamie staring at her, drop-jawed. She couldn’t tell whether he was on the verge of yelling at her in anger or bursting out with laughter. And then the commotion coming from the doorway to her office caught both her attention and Jamie’s.
“What in God’s name is going on in here?” Felicia, Jamie’s secretary and cousin, asked as she held the nosy onlookers back.
“There’s nothing for anyone to see here,” Jamie said to the group behind Felicia. Give us a little privacy, okay?”
When the group dispersed Felicia stepped inside, closing and locking the door behind her. She looked from the bent-over Charlie to Lyla to Jamie and crossed her arms over her chest. “Okay, I’m waiting,” she said. “What happened?”
“Martensen was trying to force himself on Lyla,” Jamie explained. “Just as I was about to acquaint the bastard with my fist…well…” He finished by gesturing to Charlie’s stapled tie and shaking his head in wonder.
Charlie started to pull himself up and Lyla pushed him back into place.
“Don’t even think of moving a muscle until I give you permission, Charlie, otherwise I’ll fill your ass with so many staples you’ll be in the emergency room for a month.” She opened a desk drawer, pulled out the box of staples and refilled her stapler, shaking it under Charlie’s nose.
“I’m sorry, Jamie,” she said, straightening and looking up into his stupefied expression, “but I simply will not allow you to risk throwing everything away over a drunken crumb like Charlie Martensen. I appreciate that you wanted to come to my rescue, but I can take care of myself.”
The next moment Felicia had broken into laughter, covering her mouth in a vain attempt to cover her reaction.
Jamie turned toward his cousin, aghast. “Just what the hell do you find so damn funny about this? I come in here, heart in my mouth when I see Charlie pinning Lyla up against the wall, and she suddenly turns into karate woman.”
“You karate chopped Charlie?” Felicia asked.
“I had to.” Lyla shrugged. “He was about to blindside Jamie with a punch while Jamie was busy chewing me out for not letting him sock Charlie in the jaw.”
“Honey,” Felicia said, crossing the room and ignoring Jamie. “Welcome to the family.” She pulled Lyla into a hearty, back-patting hug. “You’ve got yourself quite a woman there, James. I just hope you appreciate her.”
“Crazy,” Jamie said, fists planted against his hips. “Both of you are damn crazy.”
“Fucking nuts,” Charlie piped up.
“You shut up,” the three others chorused.
“Felicia, if you think for one minute that I’m going to condone what Lyla did when she should have been letting me protect her instead, you have another think coming. She could have been seriously hurt.”
“Mmm-hmm. If you needed Jamie to come to your defense then you’d ask him to, isn’t that right, Lyla?” Felicia asked.
“Absolutely.” Lyla nodded.
“There. You see there, James? You don’t have to worry about your manhood being compromised. If Lyla needs your macho assistance she
won’t hesitate to let you know.” Felicia walked over to the desk and bent down. “Charlie?”
“Yeah,” he breathed out on a frustrated sigh.
Felicia reached beneath him, clasping her hand close to the knot of his tie and tugging hard until he winced. “You are a menace to the women in this office and a blot on society. I will expect your resignation from Macklin Real Estate on my desk first thing tomorrow morning or else I will accompany Lyla to the police station and let them know about that little incident you tried with me last week when you got drunk. Understand?”
“What incident?” Jamie asked. “Felicia, tell me. What did he do?”
“I asked you if you understood, Charlie,” Felicia said, ignoring her cousin. “You don’t really want Lyla to get busy with that staple gun again, marking up your lily-white ass with thousands of bloody little red puncture marks, do you?”
“No! No…I understand. I’m…I’m sorry.”
“And,” Felicia added in a no-nonsense tone, “we both know how I know that your ass is lily-white, don’t we, Charlie?”
Charlie groaned. “Yes…I apologize. To both of you, all three of you. I didn’t mean anything, I swear. I was only fooling around. Jamie, you know me. I’m never like that unless I’ve had a few drinks.”
“Seems to me it’s time for you to get some help with that problem,” Jamie said.
“Yeah, I know. I will.”
“Promise?” Lyla asked, brandishing the stapler under his nose.
“I promise,” Charlie said with a gulp. “I swear to God I’ll go for treatment.”
* * * * *
“Now everyone in the office is going to think I have to hide behind a woman’s skirts,” Jamie complained as they neared Dawn’s house that evening.
Wednesday Nights With Jamie Page 11
