by Elle Wright
“Let me know if you need anything, bruh. You know I’m here.”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate that.”
A knock on the door pulled my attention away from the document I’d just opened to show Coop. I’d let the administrative assistant go home early, so I shouted, “Come in.”
Dallas poked her head into the office. “Are you sure you want to see me?” She smiled when she spotted Coop. “You’re here?” She walked in and hugged him. “I didn’t know you were coming?”
“This time you didn’t answer your phone,” Coop said. “Because I called your ass about three times. And I texted you.”
Dallas scratched her neck. “I was out of service.”
“You were out of service?” he asked. “Or your phone was out of service?”
She shrugged. “Both. But me mostly.” She glanced at me then. “Hi.”
“Hi.” I couldn’t take my eyes off her and didn’t even bother to hide my perusal. She was stunning. Her brown skin looked kissed by the sun, and she wore flip-flops with a long dress that hung off her shoulders. My need for her hadn’t waned, despite the time and distance between us. I wanted to run my fingers through her curls. Wanted to run my tongue over her body. I wanted her.
She shifted from one foot to the other. “I just got back.”
“And you came here?” I asked.
Dallas nodded.
Coop stretched. “Okay, so that’s my cue.”
Frowning, Dallas asked, “Where are you going?”
“Up north. I’ll catch you on our way home.” He kissed her cheek, gave me dap, and walked out.
Once we were alone, I gestured for her to take a seat, but she said, “I’ll stand.” I stood up and inched toward her. I shoved my hands in my pockets to keep myself from touching her. But as soon as I was close enough, I brushed my thumb over her chin. “You’re touching me,” she murmured.
I smirked. “So?”
She averted her gaze. “I missed you.”
Her admission made my heart clench in my chest. Despite what I’d told Coop, the week apart had done nothing to strengthen my resolve to let her go. My house was a constant reminder of what we’d shared, because she was everywhere—on my pillow, in my dreams, in the shadows. I felt her in my bones. The verdict was in… I love her. The feeling was so raw, so intense, I couldn’t imagine another day without her.
Dallas stepped closer. “Picture this— I’m on the Mediterranean, on a luxury yacht, with a staff at my disposal and everyone I love right there. I got everything I wanted before I left. Kimball was exposed for the trash he is, and Color of Law accepted me into the fold. I was supposed to be living my best life. But it wasn’t really my best life, because you weren’t there.”
I traced her bottom lip with my thumb. “What are we going to do about it?”
She grinned. “Well, I came up with a plan.”
Frowning, I said, “Plan?”
“Exactly. Remember when we were pretending to be in love?” I nodded, and she rushed on. “I think I could pretend a little longer.”
A smile pulled at my lips. “A little?”
“A lot,” she conceded.
“Let me get this straight. You want to pretend you love me?”
“Shit. Okay. Let’s take the pretend out of this, because that does sound fucked up and I’m not really that romantic girl,” she babbled. “Oh, and I definitely messed up my whole speech, which was supposed to end with us naked on your desk and not me stammering over my words. And I meant to ask you about your mom too, but I didn’t. So, yeah…I’m not actually pretending to love you. I do love you.”
There was something about Dallas being at a loss for words that endeared her to me even more, because I knew she didn’t let many people see this side of her. I pulled her into a kiss, effectively stopping her babble. “You can stop talking now,” I told her. “Mom is fine. And I love you too.”
She wrapped her arms around me. “In that case, take my clothes off. Yours too.”
I cracked up, remembering the first time she’d ever said that to me. I lifted her dress up. “I think I want you like this.”
“Whatever you want. I just want you.”
I kissed her again, this time pouring all of my love for her into that kiss.
“Oh, damn,” she whispered, unbuckling my belt and sliding it off. She tossed it behind me. “Maybe you should take the rest of the day off?”
“As in spend the day with you?”
Her expression softened. “As in forever. Spend forever with me.”
“I love you,” I murmured against her lips.
“I love you too.”
Dallas
Sometime later, right around Halloween
“I don’t give one loose misguided damn about how she feels. At all.”
“That’s harsh,” Blake said. “It’s not her fault Dex didn’t tell her the rules.”
Said rules were simple. Don’t dress like the birthday girl. Period. “You’re so soft,” I grumbled. “What happened to my fuck-her-feelings sister? Oh, I know. She’s cuddling with her boyfriend right about now.”
Blake laughed. “Wrong. Because if Lennox was here, you would be on the other end of a dial tone.”
“I swear, if you hang up on me for Lennox, it’s on sight.”
“You’re always threatening me. You do realize I have a black belt. You beating my ass is kind of laughable.”
“Well, I have a sword—”
“That wouldn’t even be drawn before I kick you in the throat.”
I chuckled. “Shut up. Now, back to the matter at hand.”
“Aren’t you there yet? I’m tired of this conversation. Just buy another damn costume. It’s not that serious. You have other shit to think about right now. And why the hell did y’all pick a Marvel theme? I was Valkyrie last year, remember?”
“That’s on Duke,” I explained. “He wanted to be Deadpool.”
For our birthday, we’d decided on an MCU theme. It had taken weeks to convince Preston to go as Star-Lord so I could be Gamora. He’d been adamant against “going as that chump who basically ruined everything.” A few well-timed blow jobs did the trick, but my victory was short lived because Dexter’s date purchased the same costume even after he’d told her it was off limits. Not a good way to endear herself to me.
“Wait,” Blake said. “Deadpool? He told me he was coming as Luke Cage.”
Figures. My brother’s bright idea and he’d once again chosen to do the least work when it came to his costume. “Whatever. Forget Duke. I’ve been trying to get Dex to give me ol’ girl’s number so I can call her, and he keeps telling me no.”
“I don’t blame him. You’ll scare her away.”
With a frown, I glanced at my phone. “I had to check and see if I was talking to the right sister. You’re sounding suspiciously like Bliss.”
“Girl, stop.” Blake giggled. “Fine. Let’s call the girl and cuss her ass out. Better?”
I hit the speakerphone button on my phone, turned off my car, and dug around my purse for my keys. “Shit,” I murmured when my finger brushed against something wet. I pulled out my almost empty bottle of hand sanitizer. “Oh damn. My Purell spilled in my bag.”
“Ugh, I hate that,” Blake said. “Anyway, I’ll handle Dex’s boo. I’ll see him this weekend at the food pantry, and I think he’s bringing her. If he does, I’ll make it very clear that Gamora is not who she wants to be at this party.”
Recently, my brother had started dating a woman we went to college with. He seemed to genuinely like her, but none of us did. Which didn’t bode well for any relationship. Even Duke didn’t care for her and had voiced his disapproval loud as hell. I couldn’t stand her either. And I suspected my mother had reservations about her too, but she rarely ever got involved in our romantic lives unless there was some sort of abuse going on.
I scanned the area in front of Preston’s house. His truck was parked in the driveway, but it didn’t look like he was home.
I needed to talk to him sooner than later. “Thanks,” I said.
“If she’s not there, I don’t mind telling Dex I can’t stand his bougie-ass girlfriend,” Blake added. “Well, I don’t mind saying that even if she’s standing right there.”
“That’s even better.” I looked in my purse again. Finally. I pulled out my keys. “So, have you thought about Secret Santa this year because I was thinking—”
“Oh, Lennox is here,” she interrupted. “I promised him I would be naked and bent over the couch when he got home. Call you later. Let me know how it goes. Bye, Sissy.”
Before I could respond, she’d ended the call. Laughing to myself at my sister’s antics, I got out of the car and walked to the front door. It smelled like fresh-cut grass, which meant he’d once again mowed the lawn. It appeared he’d been in some sort of competition with one of his neighbors. Every time he noticed they’d cut their grass, he cut his grass; and vice versa.
Preston had moved in last month, and I’d spent a fair amount of time at his new home. I loved it here. I loved him. That love was so pure, so real, it took my breath away when I thought about him.
My father had been right about stepping up to bat and hitting the ball out of the park. Because once I’d declared my love for him, to him, things had changed for me. It was like those three words had unlocked something inside of me. Loving him and allowing him to love me had been the best choice. I didn’t regret it.
In the short time since we’d made it official, we’d traveled, taken walks, held hands, kissed each other hello and goodbye—even in public—and just enjoyed each other. My work life had changed too. While my job was still important to me, work didn’t supersede Preston and the life we were building together. Even now that I was a full member of Color of Law, I’d set hard boundaries on my time so that I could be free to do other things—sometimes with my family, other times for self-care, but mostly time with him. I’d teased Blake earlier about her and Lennox, but I’d ended a few calls prematurely myself for very good, very satisfying reasons. I didn’t regret that either.
I unlocked the front door. “Preston?” I stepped into the house and tossed my purse onto a chair. After I locked the door and took off my coat, I kicked my shoes off and padded through the kitchen into the sunroom overlooking the river. “Pres—?” I gasped.
In the middle of the floor was a fort. White sheets hung from the ceiling above a bed of pillows and a thick down comforter. String lights and the glow of battery-operated candles set the mood.
“What do you think?”
I jumped at the sound of his voice behind me, whirling around to face him. “You,” I breathed, suddenly speechless. The thought he’d put into this and the fact that he remembered my story about the fort made my heart skip a beat. My pulse raced as he inched toward me, a soft smile on his beautiful lips. He wore low-riding sweatpants and mothing else, and he smelled like him—like leather and fruit. Perfect.
“I figured it was high time you had your fort,” he said.
Once he was within arm’s reach, I smoothed my hands over his chest and stepped up on the tips of my toes and kissed him. “You have outdone yourself.”
He trailed soft kisses up my jawline to my ear. “Oh, I’m not done yet,” he murmured against my ear. “I have a whole night of treats planned, starting with a hot bath.”
I beamed up at him, pushing his sweatpants down and squeezing his dick. “Only if you join me.”
Turning me around, he unzipped my dress and peeled if off. “Whatever you want. This is your night.”
Preston didn’t make me wait for my orgasm though. He dropped to his knees and sucked my clit into his mouth right there. The feel of his tongue against me, the sound of his low hum as he tasted me made me want to cry it was so good. I braced myself as he took me higher and higher until I shattered, screaming out my release. He scooped me in his arms and carried me to the bathroom.
After my second orgasm, we finally settled into my fort—naked. With my back to his chest, we just lay there. No words, just us enjoying the moment and each other. It was the quiet times like this for me, the way he seemed to know what I was thinking, the way we communicated with our eyes and our hands and our lips. I fell a little more in love with him every time he kissed me, every time we made love. And I knew it would always be this way with him.
I lifted my head and brushed my lips over his. “This is amazing.”
“It’s yours.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “I’m yours.”
I smiled. “You’re too good to me.” I snuggled into him.
He entwined his fingers with mine, kissed the top of my head. “When I was a kid, I told myself that I would never let myself love someone. I didn’t realize that love didn’t always come with pain and regret.”
Ms. Kenya had made valiant strides since her stint in rehab. She’d recently celebrated being sober for sixty days. Although Preston had been pleased with his mother’s progress, I knew he’d still struggled with the resentment he felt for her and the things she’d done.
“I didn’t know love could transform, set free. That’s what you’ve done for me, baby. You gave the dead parts of me new life,” he whispered. “You make me better.”
Turning back to him, I wrapped my legs around his waist. “You’re going to make me cry.”
“Too late.” He wiped a tear I didn’t know had fallen off my cheek. “But it’s okay. I still love you, crybaby.”
I chuckled. “Stop. I’m just super emotional. It’s this baby.”
His eyes widened. “What?”
When I saw the first positive pregnancy test earlier, I passed out on the floor of my office. Luckily, Blake was standing there because she’d thrown a pillow down to cushion my fall before I hit the ground. After I made her buy another test, and that one came back positive too, I figured that was enough proof to actually say the words I’d been hesitant to think before I had proof. “I’m pregnant,” I said. “I just found out today. I was going to tell you as soon as I walked in the door, but you distracted me with all of this—and those orgasms.”
Preston chuckled, rubbing my stomach with his fingertips. “Straight up?” He met my gaze. “You’re sure?”
I nodded, biting down on my lower lip. “Are you happy?” We’d talked about having kids, but it was always an in-the-future type of discussion. Not a right-now thing. Of course, we weren’t thinking about that the few times we’d had sex without protection.
He cupped my face in his palms and placed the sweetest kiss to my mouth. And again, the tears spilled over my cheeks. He brushed them away with his thumbs. “I’m more than happy.” He kissed both my cheeks, then my lips again. “Are you?”
Hell no was my initial reaction. But I’d slowly warmed to the idea of having a baby. And this fort? It had cemented that he was the only man I’d risk having stretch marks and labor pains for, even though the thought still freaked me out. “I am. I just don’t want to puke. I hate throwing up.”
“I’ll be there every minute of this pregnancy.”
I never had any doubt that he would. “I know. That’s why I love you.” He opened his mouth to speak, but I placed my forefinger against his lips. “Before you say anything, do not propose. We’re not that corny.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “I do know who I’m in love with, Dallas. I wasn’t going to do that to you.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Good.”
He pulled me into an embrace. “I was just going to tell you that you’ve made me the happiest I’ve ever been. I love you.”
I pulled back and ran my fingers over his cheeks. I stared at him, in awe of how things had changed from a year ago. I never imagined this turn of events—from bathroom sex to a fake relationship for business’ sake to everlasting love. And I couldn’t wait to experience forever with him. “I love you too.”
Epilogue
Butterflies
Dallas
A While Later
“We’re making a mist
ake?” I nibbled on my bottom lip.
Preston peered up at me and lifted a questioning brow. “What?” After he finished tying my oxfords, because my belly was so damn big I couldn’t see my feet and I couldn’t fit any of my heels, he stood. “We’ve already been through this.”
“We’re at the courthouse.” Somehow, I’d convinced myself that it was okay to get married right before my scheduled caesarean delivery. The baby, our baby girl, was breech. Dr. Love had warned us we might have to go this route if she didn’t turn in time for the due date.
“Because you said you wanted to be here,” he said. “I told you we didn’t have to do this.” Preston had never made me feel like we had to get married. He’d only been supportive and loving and sweet. He’d told me time and again that marriage wasn’t a requirement for him, that we could love each other forever without the license and the ceremony. “Your call. What do you want to do?”
“I thought I could do it without my family, but I can’t.” It was my bright idea to elope. I knew the Judge, and she’d cleared the courtroom for the ceremony. Demi and Coop had agreed to be the witnesses. That was supposed to be it. Except… “We can’t. They’ll kill me. And I’d let them because I really need them here.”
He smirked. “I know you do.”
I let out an exaggerated sigh. “Good. So, let’s go eat?”
“Shouldn’t we tell the judge that we’re leaving?”
I gasped. “Oh, yeah.” I opened the door and yelped, smacking a hand over my mouth. Because inside the courtroom were every single last one of my family members, from my father all the way down to my niece, Naija. Even Maya was there. And so were his mother, Aunt Dot, and his siblings. Whirling around, I turned to Preston. “You!” Then, I balled.
