by Falon Gold
“When has your money ever counted with me?” Never.
“Chance, thank you but no thank you very much to being stuck with a place I can’t afford after you’ve had enough of me.”
“I’m not surprised that you expect me to leave you high and dry suddenly like you did me, but I don’t operate like that, Mahogany. Just you.”
Asshole!
“Well, I’m sorry that I didn’t know what else to do after you shut me out.”
“And I thought I was doing you a favor by letting you go. But you’re not sorry that you left me broken, worrying about what had happened to you, were you okay, and thinking I knew the real reason why you’d left. No, you wouldn’t be sorry about any of that, would you?”
If he thought he was broken, I, who was intimately acquainted with ‘broken’ and wanting to be in one functioning piece again, was in trouble. He was going to take me down to get the repairs he so desperately needed. Regrets, for damn near every decision I made relating to us, started hounding me. Each decision had brought us to this point of no return. Once he was done with me, he would be done. But would I be done with him? I didn’t know. Reservations, of taking part in this mockery he would make out of dating, skyrocketed to harrowing levels. What if it took him months to get over me? What if I fell harder for him during that time? That could leave me broken. Neither Majestic or I could afford that; we were all each other had.
“Chance,” I whispered, “I am sorry you felt broken, but I thought you would be okay since you always planned to let me go anyway. And you had more family and friends to lean on than I could ever hope for to get you through anything.” How was I to know that our breakup would affect him that much?
“Yet, no amount of money I made or people who wanted to support me after I lost you could ever replace you in my life when you left before I could prepare to let you go.”
This is what most of his pain boiled down to: his heart wasn’t ready for me to walk away for the reason I really had. Now, he knew the real reason too, and he was oh-so-unforgiving. Though, I had already hurt him more than I thought. No wonder he wanted payback.
“I didn’t know you’d felt that much for me.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Didn’t you?”
“No, I thought if you could so easily say you’d let me go to have a baby with another man, I couldn’t mean that much to you. I guess I was wrong and I’m sorry for that too, Chance. If I—”
“It doesn’t matter what you wished you’d have known or did differently,” the rude asshole cut me off, “only what you did do and did know, and how you acted afterwards, Mahogany.”
I had cut him off too with no warning years ago, had given up on him too soon, and destroyed him. The latter, he would never disclose to me though, but I knew. Been there. Done that to me when I did it to him. Had to help him get over it, somehow… and me too. He didn’t have a Majestic to take his mind off his loneliness or his heartache. And I wanted to go to him, soothe him, make it up to him, but he already had plans to let me go again. What I should be concentrating on was upping my chances for surviving him. I don’t think he had plans for me to do that though, so I should be turning him away from the avenue he was about to drag us both down.
“Look, I’m begging for your forgiveness. I promise to never hurt you like that again.”
His face was a blank mask as his eyes roved down my body then back up. “God forgives, Mahogany. I don’t, and don’t worry, you won’t ever hurt me like that again. So, are you in or are you out?”
I gulped oxygen like I’d been trapped underground for far too long, sick and tired of saying ‘I’m sorry’ to him. “Okay, I’m in, Chance.”
We both needed closure, and this would be my penance for putting us both into this situation with my secrets and taking off without an explanation.
He checked his watch then set his sights right back on me who shrunk to small prey in the crosshairs of a big animal sharping its claws. “Good. We start dating by taking a shower together at the resort I’m booked at. We’ll have about ten minutes to do whatever I want to do in it, if you grab a change of clothes and come on now.”
This was going to be one hell of a shower. I assumed we’d work our way up to sex. My defenses weren’t strong enough to keep out the warm and fuzzy feelings he always stirred up within me after making love. A thorough lovemaker he was. I have no reason to think that had changed about him, so ‘making love’ better not take place.
Chapter Six
~Chance~
Mahogany was moving toward her bedroom like she was a dead woman walking her last mile, and the slower she moved, the more time she thought she had alive. Wrong. I scooped her up in my arms from behind. She yelped, then constricted like a snake around me.
“Dammit, Chance! Warn me next time!”
Not a chance of that happening if taking her by surprise meant her fastening on to me like this, and it was so damn good to carry her again. Inhaling the apple scent in her hair and fragrance of the flowery soap she always used, I moved into the hallway, stopping between two doorways on each side of us. Both rooms were dark. Stark-white closed blinds stood out in the bigger space on my right. I deviated toward the low-sitting bed on a round platform, setting her down on her feet at the end of it. Against the far wall was a crib that she probably bought brand new along with a toy box. An old matching nightstand, mirror, and dresser were positioned on the side of the bed closest to the door.
When she adjusted her tee shirt over her ample breasts and flat stomach, my mouth went dry. Her jeans were molded to her hour-glass figure, shapely legs, and firm round ass that made my mouth water. Putting off that shower to take her right here became a real possibility, but my fresh clothes were at the resort.
“Get whatever outfit you need, Mahogany. I’ll get your products from the bathroom unless you want all new things.”
“No, what I have is fine, but the closet is behind the door, so go out now if you’re going.”
Of course, she’d turn me down, never one to jump on spending someone else’s money. I had better go the bathroom for her stuff or my body would overrule my mind and strip her right here anyway.
“Going.”
She followed me to the entrance, flipping the light switch beside it. The bedroom was the same as the others: simple, clean, and too damn small. I felt claustrophobic, like I was going to bump my head on the ceiling or one of the doorframes as soon as I wasn’t paying attention.
“It must be nice to be no taller than knee-high to an apple,” I complained.
She closed the door as I stepped out. “I heard that, Chance. Everybody doesn’t have the DNA of trees.”
I laughed while strolling across the hall into the bathroom, missing the teasing we used to do to each other. Mahogany could always put me in a good space when my day had gone to shit, which wasn’t often when she was mine. Shitty days came a lot more frequently once I began coming home to an empty apartment.
As I collected her hygienic products from beneath the sink, piling them on the toilet at my elbow, the tub at the other one, I contemplated on how easily she walked into my trap. The old Mahogany would’ve put up a bigger fuss, cursing me from end to the other, then told me to go to hell. This Mahogany gave in too easily, could possibly have motives of her own for dating me again… like getting over me.
“Not if I have a damn thing to say about it,” I grumbled, wanting her heart strings reattaching to me as I removed mine from her. The cold son of a bitch in me was locked on his target and loaded with animosity.
“What, Chance?” she hollered through the door.
“I said are you ready?”
She walked out with a black carry-all. “Yeah, you can just drop that stuff in here.”
After she spread the zippered ends of the bag apart, it had just enough space for her things from the bathroom. Incapable of not touching her right then, I palmed the small of her back and guided her back to the car where she sat quietly, pretending she was in
visible. This was one woman who could never blend in with anything. Her zest for life after her shaky beginnings made her stand out and drew me like a magnet. I was afraid it always would and that my quest to rid my system of her might be a fruitless endeavor, but I wouldn’t know that until I tried.
Powers Royal Resort sprang up like a wooden castle at the end of a winding road. It didn’t have the turrets jutting up from the roof but an Olympic-sized infinity pool if I wanted use of it. Valet took my keys and car. I quickly walked her in the lobby, across the real wood floor with random free-standing walls. Water cascaded down them, pooling in basins with coins in the bottom where people had made them into wishing wells.
I’m tempted to drop a few coins in all of them myself. Got a feeling I’m going to need some luck with my mission to free myself of Mahogany’s clutches. Once we passed the unmanned check-in desk, an alcove with the lifts to the top thirty-five floors appeared. Mahogany was silent as we climbed to the twentieth floor, but she wouldn’t be for long once I got inside her. Pity I wouldn’t be there long, but she’d know I’d been there, that’s was for certain.
Unadulterated craving swam through me as I swiped my card and showed her inside where I fast tracked her through the living area decorated in brown leather and gold accents to the bedroom on the left side of the suite with similar décor. “I’d give you the fifty-cent tour, but we have forty minutes to get back to the hospital, and we haven’t covered but one leg of this journey.”
“It’s fine,” she commented nervously. “Let’s just get this over with.”
“Have it your way, love,” I responded, a little miffed that we wouldn’t be using the king-sized bed… this time.
Tossing her bag on it, I whirled around, taking her waist in my hands and possession of her mouth with mine without warning. She inhaled sharply at the sensual assault I was waging on her, her neck forced back under the pressure of my lips. She had no idea of the campaign I was bringing to her doorstep and this was just the beginning. Nor would I be slowing in my attack to make her more comfortable either. We didn’t have that kind of time and I wanted her now, greedy for every inch of her flesh to be against mine.
When she finally opened her mouth beneath mine, her tongue demanding entry, I gave it to her immediately, ravenous for anything she was willing to give and going bat shit crazy to get it. When she released that first moan of my name against my lips, I knew I had her. Not quite where I wanted her though, but getting there as I stripped her body of her shirt and bra, tossing the barriers over my head to land wherever. She unbuttoned my shirt, pushed it down my arms before halting the kiss to toe her shoes off while unbuckling her jeans. The expression on her face was the one someone would wear when they knew what was coming and going to give as good as they got. This Mahogany, I knew.
Stepping back to wiggle out of the material clinging to her thighs made her breasts bounce, fuller than I remembered and ticking me off that I’d missed out on the changes Majestic had wrought on her body. I also had no tolerance right then for the distance separating Mahogany from me, so I tracked her like a wild animal would its intended kill while relieving my own body of its pants, coming up behind her to grasp her ponytail. After I tugged gently on her hair—I could be a cold son of a bitch, not a violent one—she got the message and laid her back against me then lifted her face, resuming the battle on my mouth. I was dying to suckle at her darker and larger nipples and caress the barely visible stretch marks on her stomach and hips. Those were new. I wanted to get intimate with each one but not ready to lose contact with her lips that had taken over the kiss. Unacceptable when I required all the power in this moment, and would get it back from her if it was the last thing I did.
My hands roamed her body, searching for the hot spots that would break her down to a trembling, clinging mess. Massaging her breasts only made her groan and plunder my mouth harder. Nope, not there. Go south. My fingers glided between her thighs already spread and slick with her moisture. I dipped one inside her, lubing it before retreating to stroke her clitoris, which made her unlatch from my lips to cry out. She wasn’t going to get to come that easy though, but would if I didn’t find a saner frame of mind and a space where I wasn’t more interested in pleasing her than me. This was all about me and I was forgetting that.
Cruelly, I retracted my finger just before she came. She whimpered, turned in my arms, grabbed two handfuls of my hair and jerked my head down to hers, crashing our mouths together. I may not be violent in the bedroom; however, she was… and oh-so-angry with me after the stunt I just pulled. Good. The feeling is mutual, or was supposed to be: I had dove head first into the lip lock, exploring every crevice of her mouth before I remembered why we were even here. Determined to commit more bad acts against her and even up the score, I snatched away and abandoned her in the bedroom. If she wanted more from me, she’d have to come get it.
On bare feet as quiet as the dead, she followed in my footsteps onto the cold tile in the bathroom where I tested the shower’s water temperature. With every step she took past the cherrywood cabinetry into the room that her whole apartment could be fitted inside, I tensed up more and more as her presence loomed behind me like she was a giant. Bracing my weight with one hand on the opened door of the glass stall that stood alone in the back corner, I battled with my outrage at her, myself, and the craving for her that was growing to monstrous proportions instead of powering down, the son of a bitch in me slipping away.
That unforgiving side of me usually took root then took over until I forced it behind its cage again. I was having to keep pulling it out of its hiding place where it wanted to cower when Mahogany was near. I had a feeling it had learned its lesson about being ruthless with her and refused to be unkind to a woman that viewed me as a savior not a killer, but that wouldn’t work for the crusade of mine. Yes, I was sticking to my guns of finding a way to unlove her in one way or the other, and pleading for the way to my salvation to show itself soon.
“So… is this how it’s going to be, Chance? The minute things heat up between us, you leave to go cool off and I have to chase you to finish what you started.”
I wasn’t cooling off, instead heating back up my unforgiving personality. Once it was firing on all cylinders again and in its rightful place, I turned on her, pulled her close, and hissed, “Yes! I want you to want me so bad you can’t think straight.”
She swallowed deeply while gripping my upper arms and leaning back from me, her eyes dropping to my mouth. “And then you’re going to leave me?”
“Yes!” I wanted her to feel my pain.
“Okay, Chance. Have it your way.”
Was there any other way? I didn’t get to ask because she’d wrenched my head down for a second time and began leaving electrifying pecks on the corners of my mouth. I couldn’t help thinking, That was too easy, something was definitely up her sleeve. If she thought she’d soften me up toward her, she had another thing coming. I just needed to not weaken in the process.
Then be bad, Chance. I lifted her off her feet. Her hands steadied her weight by clutching my shoulders. Her touch sent fire through me, sparking my fury and amping up my craving for her, which incited a frustrated growl from me. She was turning me into an animal, so I growled at her like one.
“Open your legs!”
I’ll be damned if her legs weren’t spread eagle in the air before I could get the words out my mouth fully. And a glorious sight she was, still slim and agile, battle-scarred from pregnancy but beautiful nonetheless if not more so while she arranged to accept me inside. Unwilling to disappoint, I lowered her down onto the tip of my rod standing at attention, seeking her heat. When her soft sheath closed around me too snugly, her body taking me easily in what was meant to be a punishing thrust, I started to hyperventilate. She wrapped her limbs around me tightly, gasping for air along with grinding on my erection, already moving in a dance as old as time. I wasn’t ready and had to seize her winding hips, freezing her in place before I came right then like
a stamina-challenged teenager.
We’d never been flesh to flesh before. Her scorching-hot, drenched tunnel was like having heaven on a tap, highly addicting. Oh yes, I’d be turning on that faucet as often as I could until I didn’t want to anymore. For now, I savored the moment I had wished for since discovering her side of the closet and drawers in the penthouse were emptied of her belongings, my world vacant of her, unknowing that my sex life had gone down the tubes.
Sad to say—nevertheless, I was saying it—I couldn’t get beyond half-erect with other women. When alone, my dreams and mere thoughts of Mahogany gave me titanium-stiff wood. Safe to assume that my penis didn’t give a shit what I was thinking about in other females’ presences, it simply refused to properly function, not as stupid as people like to think that part of men is. I got no problems with getting a hard-on now though, and boy was I going to ravage Mahogany’s body with it. Tonight, that is, because lasting long enough to ravish anything today was a nonstarter.
I rotated us around and headed into the shower, temperature just on this side of being hotter than hell the way she liked it and pelting our sides. She upped the kisses from pecks to a tango of our tongues. I leaned back, planting my shoulders on the cold tile, slanting my body away from the wall so even her knees didn’t touch it. Chivalrous to the bitter fucking end whether I wanted to be or not, I guess.
The second my feet were as firmly set on the slippery floor as they were going to get, Mahogany took the initial to pump her hips, beginning a brutal tempo, getting right down to business. That was my plan and dammit, she was supposed to want to make love not fuck like rabbits and start off the fuck fest as well. No way in hell I was going to keep letting her take over, yet, I had no willpower to stop her, or access to my unforgiving side that was supposed to take advantage of her. Nope, it had slipped back into its cage, leaving me to hold on for dear life to the globes of her ass and drive upwards into her, seeking the places within her canal that brought her and me the most pleasure.
