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“You answered your question yourself. You said people aren’t partnership-minded and want no responsibility in their romantic relationship. I want the woman I’m with to be happy, secure, and at peace because if she is, that will affect the way she is with me. With the way my life is set up, I have no room for drama, dis-ease, or a bitter and unhappy woman. I also don’t have room for anything unnecessarily hard. That’s why I said what I said in the car. I’ll put forth effort one hundred percent, but if a woman or a relationship is hard to deal with and maintain, it ain’t for me.”
He paused and took a sip of his drink. “I don’t believe in getting into a relationship and not being prepared to truly love someone, and when you love someone, that means you prioritize their needs and happiness. I don’t mind taking care of my woman and keeping her happy because I know she will do the exact same for me. We’ll take care of each other, and no one will be taken advantage of or lacking.”
I was so impressed with his answer, I couldn’t respond right away. When I did respond, I told him what I wanted and needed from a man, and he told me the same. We also discussed what we had to offer.
“My femininity, grace, my mind and heart, but most importantly, my partnership,” I told him after he shared with me that he had to offer provision, protection, validation, support, and acceptance.
I loved that we both avoided those cliché things like love and respect. Things that should have come naturally. That did lead to us discussing our love languages. Mine were gifts and physical touch, and his were service and physical touch. That explained why things had progressed between us so quickly physically.
Our entrees arrived, and I had to give Beethoven credit. He selected lamb chops with a Grand Marnier honey glaze sauce that was cooked to perfection. I had not one complaint by the time he asked if I had room for dessert, which I didn’t. He asked me to dance, and I happily agreed. Near our table, our hands connected. While my arm wrapped around his neck, his wrapped around my waist. Things between Beethoven and I felt so authentic, I almost forgot our upcoming wedding was a ruse.
“If I'm not careful, I think I'm going to fall in love with you,” I confessed.
Beethoven's lips curled upward as he closed the space between us. Lifting my head by my chin, he waited until I was looking into his eyes to say, “You might think that... but I know.”
Both of his hands went to my waist as we kissed and continued our slow sway. As the kiss deepened, his hands lowered. When his fingers slipped between my ass cheeks and grazed my pussy I whimpered. The low moan he released as he squeezed my ass and swirled his tongue around mine made my pussy throb. This had been the perfect dinner, and I couldn’t wait to see what else Beethoven had up his sleeve.
The kiss left me winded. Avoiding his eyes, I pulled in deep breaths as my nipples pebbled.
“Let me see your pretty face,” he demanded, voice just above a whisper as he gently tugged my hair out of the way. Keeping it in a firm grip, he released a moan before tugging his bottom lip between his teeth. “I can't wait to watch you cum.”
It took everything inside of me not to tell him that we could leave so he could see it right now. As genuine as our connection felt, things were still so new between us. So instead of replying, I wrapped my hand around his neck and lowered his lips to mine again.
19
Beethoven
Two Weeks Later
Early April
Her name suited her.
Whiskee.
Skin the same shade as my favorite brown liquor. An aura that had become my addiction. An addiction that warmed me and left me drunk off a woman whose time in my life had an expiration date.
I hadn’t seen her for a whole week, and I missed her.
She was on her period, and though I told her I didn’t care about that shit, Whiskee decided to stay away. I stopped by to see Mahogany and asked her what kind of things Whiskee liked, then had a care package delivered. Her emotional ass FaceTimed me crying and I laughed, which only made her cry harder. It was then that I realized why she wanted to keep her distance. Whiskee was already a little on the emotional side and her being on her period made it worse.
Whiskee was worth the wait though… even if I did feel some type of way about her spending time with her brother. I felt like that would happen, especially since he called her wanting to apologize. I could respect the gesture of him admitting his wrongdoings, so that was a step in the right direction. But I still didn’t trust or respect him as a man or businessman, and I wasn’t sure if that would ever change.
“I have two cars, baby. You know you didn’t have to come pick me up,” she said with that beautiful smile lifting those round lips as she walked outside to meet me.
“I know, but I wanted to see you now, not when you got back to the apartment.”
Taking her into my arms, I allowed our lips to connect for a slow, tender kiss that made my dick hard. With a handful of her ass, I kept her in place so she wouldn’t pull away before I wanted her to. She started giggling, and that was the only reason I pulled away.
“Did you miss me?” she asked sweetly, looking up at me with those big, doll-like eyes.
“You can’t tell?”
“Why don’t you show me after our date?” She looked back as the front door opened and her brother stepped out. “Carlos wants to talk to you, so I guess it’s a good thing that you came here.”
I couldn’t stop the irritated breath that released. When I told her I’d pick her up and take her to the apartment so she could get ready for our date tonight, I didn’t expect her to want me to talk to her damn brother. As far as I was concerned, we didn’t have anything to talk about. The wedding was my professional responsibility in Pops’ eyes, so he was not expecting anything else from me at the moment. I was glad about that because I wasn’t really fucking with his ass right now anyway.
Between learning my parents’ marriage was arranged and that he knew about my cousin killing Whiskee’s mom, I was looking at him a little differently. I could understand how, during that time, he didn’t give a damn about Whiskee or Renee. The fact that he wanted me to marry her, knowing someone who shared the same blood as us was responsible for her mother’s death, wasn’t something I could easily get over.
