by Candace Shaw
“Wow, I wasn’t expecting you to say that. Wait...you didn’t kill him, did you?” he teased, hoisting himself up on his desk. “You beautiful ones are always the crazy ones.”
“Ha-ha. No, I didn’t kill him. He had a heart attack while driving home from work. He slammed into the side rail on the interstate and died on the way to the hospital.”
“Was he abusive?”
“Yes. Verbally and mentally. Never physically. But he hadn’t always been like that. We’d dated off and on in college and married after graduation. Everything was fine until a year into our marriage when I told him I wanted to go back to school to get my master’s degree with some of my teacher friends at work. I had planned on eventually receiving my specialist degree or even a doctorate degree. Both my parents were principals at elementary schools at the time and that was also a goal of mine. Anyway, I’d already started filling out the application, but he snapped when I told him. He said I was following behind my friends, which wasn’t the case at all. Keith knew in college that I wanted to obtain advanced degrees. I reminded him that with each degree, I’d make more money. He went on and on about how he takes care of me and what I made was enough. Also, he was adamant that when we started a family, I wouldn’t have time for school.”
“Oh, he was one of those brothers. Didn’t want you to make too much because then you’d be financially independent.”
“Yep, he was the epitome of a male chauvinist. I kind of knew that in college but I guess I thought he would change, not get worse.”
“So did you get your masters?”
“No. I ended up pregnant a few months later and he wanted me to stay home with KJ and have about three more children. That’s not what we’d discussed in pre-marriage counseling. I was only going to take off a year, but he said that he didn’t want strangers taking care of his child at day care.”
“You didn’t remind him about the agreement?”
“Yep and he called me a trifling, ungrateful bitch. That was his pet name for me because that’s all he called me along with other degrading words.”
“Beautiful, I’m so sorry you went through that. Don’t you have a brother because if you were my sister...”
“I didn’t tell Preston or anyone, except for Megan, until after Keith died. She and I are very close so she knew mostly everything. While I hate that he died because of our son, I’m glad that part of my life is over. I used to be a fun, happy person. I did a lot of pretending around my family and friends while married to Keith. I’d make up excuses that I couldn’t make it places because KJ had a fever or an ear infection. If I went out with my cousins or friends for lunch, I’d lie and say I needed to pick KJ up from his grandparents or the babysitter by a certain time. But this was all because Keith wanted me home before he got home from work. And the few times I was late he’d curse me out and by late I mean on the dot. After awhile, I just stopped spending time with my family and friends just to keep the peace in my own home and, of course, for KJ’s sake.”
“Why didn’t you divorce him?”
“That was the plan. I’d confided in Megan because the creep somehow could see all my text messages.”
“How do you know that?”
“Once, I’d texted Megan something about her ex-boyfriend who was a total jerk because he’d cheated on her, and Keith said tell Megan she should give the doctor another chance when he had gotten home from work that day. I was confused because I hadn’t told him about it. I asked him how he knew and he casually responded ‘I saw your conversation. I’ve had access to your messages for almost two years’ and then he strode out of the room as if that were an okay thing to do. I confronted him about it and he told me he paid every single bill and I was his effing wife and he had a right to know what I discussed.”
“He was psycho. I’m so sorry, precious.”
“Yes, he was. I was never big on texting so he didn’t see much of anything but the thought of him violating my privacy was just pathetic. The next day we had a family function at my cousin Braxton’s jazz club, and I pulled Megan in the bathroom and told her about the text messages and wanting to divorce Keith. I gave her roughly five hundred dollars that I’d saved from leftover change and some birthday money my dad had given me. My husband watched what I spent like a hawk, so she opened an account in her name so I’d have money to file for the divorce.”
“I thought most women had their own mad money checking account. I hear my secretary talking about buying clothes and hiding them from her husband, even though I don’t think he cares.”
“Yeah, I had one when we first got married, but he said some crap about being one and that meant our accounts, as well. I actually fell for that mess.”
Broderick washed his hands over his face. “I’m sorry the bastard’s dead because of KJ, but I’m glad you’re not in hell anymore. I’m sure your next husband won’t be like that.”
Tiffani shook her head vigorously. “There won’t be a next husband. I’m never getting married again.”
“I don’t blame you one bit, but what about a steady boyfriend?” He rested his hand on his chin.
“Um... I’m kind of open to that or a companion that I can hang out with and go to dinner and events. Perhaps travel, but I wouldn’t call him my boyfriend. That’s so high school. I’d just want to be.”
“Be what?” he asked as his forehead indented.
She laughed. It was the first time she’d spoken her idea out loud. “I know it sounds weird. But I want to just be in the moment, not in a relationship where I can’t make my own decisions and feel as though I’m suffocating. I refuse to be treated the way Keith treated me ever again. Broderick, there were times when I looked in the mirror and I didn’t know who was staring back. I lost my confidence, my voice and my strength during those six years. I lost me. I can’t let another man control and degrade me. I have my son to consider, my peace of mind and my sanity.”
“So this be-in-the-moment relationship? Would it be with more than one dude?”
“Oh no. Definitely no.”
“Would this be an intimate relationship, as well?”
She noted the arrogant rise of his curious smile. “Yes, I would hope so and he’d have to be really great in bed.”
“I see.” He sipped his scotch and studied her with dark, amorous eyes. “Anything else?”
“He’d have to be someone I can confide in and trust. Not someone who would want to know my finances or try to control my life. At the end of the day, I make my own decisions.”
“Go ’head, Janet, or Ms. Jackson if you’re nasty,” he joked. “You call your own shots, beautiful.”
She giggled. “You’re hilarious. I love when you call me beautiful.”
“That’s because you are. Inside and out.”
Truth, seduction and lust were all laced into his words and his stare. She bit her bottom lip and ran her hand slowly along her bare neck, down to her collarbone and across the top of her cleavage as a slight mist of sweat formed on her skin. Her pulse sped up as he licked his bottom lip LL Cool J style, and she realized what she had just done. She silently hoped Broderick would replace her hand with his tongue.
He slid off the desk and snatched her out of the chair by her waist. His lips hesitated over hers as he stared into her eyes and beyond. Tiffani could taste the scent of his scotch and wanted to savor more. Her body quivered in his commanding embrace as raw pleasure journeyed throughout her veins.
* * *
When he lowered his lips an extra half inch to hers, it felt like their first kiss all over again. Broderick explored her appealing mouth slowly. He wanted to become familiar with every crevice of it just in case a while passed before she let him near her again. However, the thought of that caused an intense churn in his stomach, and he delved deeper so she would always crave for him to kiss and caress her. She was rad
iant, and the moans erupting from her mouth were driving him insane. Pivoting them, he placed her on the desk and gazed at her as he slowly pulled the hem of her skirt up her legs until it reached mid-thigh. Not once did she flinch, blink or protest. Instead, a sinful smile emerged, and she wrapped her long legs around his waist.
“Take off your coat,” she whispered against his lips.
Wasting no time, he followed her demand and flung it to the floor.
Nibbling her bottom lip, he slid a hand on her lacy panties. “Now you have to take off something.” He continued rubbing her in a circular fashion as her breathing became slightly unhinged, but she still didn’t appear unruffled. Instead, she was quite composed, and he was determined to change that soon.
“What do you want me to take off?” Running her hands up his face she kissed him slow and deep, turning her tongue hard around his.
“Everything,” he growled in her mouth.
“Just one item. I’ll even let you pick.”
Slipping his finger around the waistband of her panties, he tugged on them as she lifted her bottom. He glided them down as she detached her legs from around him and bent them so he could remove the black lacy thong around her heels.
“How about that wig, too.”
“Fair enough.” She reached up and unpinned it from her hair, which was wrapped around her head. She took out a couple more hair pins and combed her fingers though her tresses until they fell wild and straight around her.
“Better?”
“Absolutely,” he answered in a raspy tone while rustling his fingers through her silky threads.
Wrapping her legs tightly around him again, she yanked him by the shirt and lowered backward to the desk with him following on top of her.
“I think you’re taking this control thing a little too far, don’t you?” he teased.
“Shut up and kiss me.”
Before he could, she reached her lips up and he sunk his tongue into her mouth with more zest with every passing second. He hated to leave her delectable lips, but there were other parts of her body where his tongue yearned to feast as it traveled down her neck. Her hands dug into his shoulders and her head thrashed. The sounds rushing from her were exactly the ones he wanted to hear. He wanted to fluster her and drive her crazy, just as she’d done to him the second he’d laid eyes on her. While his mouth concentrated on ravishing her neck, one of his hands glided back between her legs. There was no lacy material in the way this time. Just warm, moist skin. He massaged the area with his hand in an unhurried, circular motion, increasing the pressure each time her legs shuddered around him. Lifting his lips from her neck, he placed them on her lips but he didn’t kiss her. Instead, he watched her pant heavily and her hands tightly clutch the desk as her back arched up and then down.
“Oh, Broderick. Oh...mmm...um... I...” she huffed incoherently. “Brod...”
“What, baby? Is this what you want?” he asked, sinking his hand farther until one finger teased along the opening.
She moaned loudly, removed one of her legs from around him and set her heeled foot on his desk. “Yessssss...right there.”
Sliding the finger in, he shook at the tightness and slickness of her. He could only imagine how something else would feel nestled warmly inside of her. Just the mere thought caused it to strain and push against his pants.
“That’s perfect,” she mumbled. “Don’t stop.”
And he didn’t as he continued sliding it in and out while he kept his eyes focused on her passionate facial expressions and the erotic sounds she made. She squirmed and jerked on the desk and even reached down to hold his hand as the rush of an orgasm caused her to shudder frantically. She held on to his shoulders tightly and stomped her heels on his desk. Normally he was somewhat of an ass when it came to the protection of his belongings, but he really didn’t care at the moment that there were more than likely scratches on the mahogany. Broderick only wanted to satisfy the woman he couldn’t stop thinking about. The woman he couldn’t get enough of. She was under him with her wild hair spread across the desk and sweat dripping from her body. She was yelling obscenities and words he couldn’t quite make out but he didn’t care because she was breathtakingly beautiful inside and out. He only wanted to bring her pleasure however she needed it.
Once she simmered down, he lifted her back up and kissed her damp forehead.
“What else would you like me to do?”
* * *
Tiffani froze at his words. There was more he wanted to do? She was still coming down from the high he’d sent her on and he actually wanted to do more? The strong orgasm she’d experienced was still coursing throughout her veins like a shuttle taking off to the moon. She was completely satisfied. Wiping her damp brow, she smiled lazily at him.
“I’m good and to be honest I’m not ready to have sex with you yet.”
“That’s not a problem, beautiful. When we finally go the distance, I don’t want a bunch of guests in my home. I can’t be restricted to just the bedroom.”
“Oh...well, what else did you have in mind?” Her body trembled with anticipation of what else he could do. She was already floating above the clouds. “I’m not removing any more articles of clothing.”
Sporting a mischievous grin, he laid her back on the desk. Raising an eyebrow, she swished her lips to the side and wondered what the heck he was going to do next.
“You don’t have to. It’s already removed and in here.” He patted his shirt pocket that held her panties. “And what else do I have in mind?” Leaning over her, he kissed her gently, which released a sigh from her. “I want to taste you and by you, I don’t mean your mouth.” He kissed her, swirling his tongue like an erratic driver.
She broke away from his lips. “Wait? You mean?”
“Yes.” Lingering his lips over hers, he roamed his hand down her body and back to her center. He slid his tongue over to her ear. “My mouth is literally watering for you. Can I have a taste, sweetheart?”
“Um...sure.” Tiffani tried not to stutter her words and held back a gulp, but she couldn’t admit to him that at thirty-two years old, no one had ever done what he was about to do. The only man she’d been with was Keith, and he had refused to do it.
For a moment, she felt like a virgin all over again waiting in fear and eagerness as Broderick started at the indent in her neck and licked down until he reached a few inches below her belly button. Her body trembled uncontrollably as she waited. The moment she closed her eyes, she felt the tip of his tongue and her eyes shot wide open, then shut again at the magnitude of his first subtle lick.
He continued licking and nibbling on her in circles, back and forth and some other crazy way. She really didn’t care how he kissed her there. It all felt insanely wonderful.
How had her poor body been deprived of this all this time? Her twin cousins had always discussed how much they’d enjoyed it. She’d just wrinkle her nose and wouldn’t disclose her sex life with Keith. The truth was she just didn’t know it could be this damn good.
“Goodness, you’re amazing.” She didn’t know how the words even came out as she was breathless and parched. A loud gasp exploded from her mouth as he parted her legs wider and delved his tongue inside of her as his finger had done. Except this time it was even more provoking. A surge of passion unleashed in her and an orgasm tore through her body at an earth-shattering rate. Her loud panting and calling out of his name had to have broken the sound barrier. She was drenched in sweat and the aftermath trembles shook her body more as he never let up his pace. He clinched her butt hard as her hips began to rotate in the same manner as his tongue. She felt helpless with no control of her body’s spasms or the unrecognizable sounds she made as she coasted into ecstasy.
The hardness of the desk on her back was erased, and she felt herself drifting on something pillowy. She sighed as her b
reathing returned to a normal pace and she opened her eyes. She was in a daze but still floating as she smiled and looked up into Broderick’s eyes as he hovered over. Touching his face, she gave a lazy smile.
“Hi, beautiful. Are you okay?”
“I’m perfect. You’re perfect.” She moved her head to the side, expecting to see the cherrywood paneling but instead she saw a rich gold wallpaper. “Where are we?”
“In my bedroom. You fell asleep after that last orgasm so I brought you in here to rest.”
Sitting up, she glanced around the enormous room and then looked down at herself. She was relieved to see that she was still fully clothed. “How long have I been out?”
“Not long. Maybe twenty minutes.” He reached over to the nightstand and grabbed a bottle of water.
She was dehydrated after all the panting and took a long swig. “Oh my goodness... I’ve never passed out after an orgasm, but then again no one has ever done what you just did.”
Broderick frowned. “You mean the orgasm part, right?”
“No, I mean you kissing me there.”
His face was a ball of confusion. “Huh?”
“The only man I’ve ever been intimate with was Keith, and he never wanted to do that.”
“Why the hell not? That’s like a woman not wanting to eat chocolate. It’s simply unheard of. He must not have known how delectably sweet you are. Damn, the brother missed out, but I’m glad I had the first taste.”
“On another note, how long have we been away from your guests?”
“Mmm...about two hours.” He shrugged with an uncaring expression.
“Broderick, that’s a long time.”
He stood and grabbed his black mask from the nightstand. “I freshened up while you rested and I placed your things in the bathroom. Feel free to use whatever. I’ll head back down and mingle for a bit and come get you in about twenty minutes.”
