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That was why he was waking up in a cold sweat every morning since they returned from their monthlong honeymoon wondering how in the world was he going to be solely responsible for somebody else.

He felt he was selfish marrying such a sweet girl like Joynetta and plunging her into his murky world where anything goes. Sometimes, like that time at his parents’ home where she was subjected to an orchestrated attempt to scandalize her name, he wondered if he had made a horrible mistake. Would his selfishness ruin her life?

Within seconds of him thinking such a thing, Joynetta suddenly opened her huge hazel eyes as if she had been frightened. As if she was thinking it too. In bed, she was facing the wall-sized sliding glass doors when she opened her eyes. She could see him as clearly as he was staring at her.

But there were no second thoughts with her because she smiled when she saw him.

And that angelic, bright-white smile, like always, melted his heart.

When she got out of bed without a stitch of clothing on and came to him, he opened his bathrobe, briefly revealing his own nakedness, as he pulled her onto his lap. Then he wrapped his robe around her both of them, and she relaxed in his arms.

As he held her, it felt as if he was holding the most precious thing in the entire world. Because, in his heart, he was.

“Why do you get up so early?” she asked him in her grogginess.

“Force of habit.”

“Habits are made to be broken. You can break that habit. You have me now,” she said with that devastating smile again, although her eyes were shut and her arms were around his neck as if she was holding on for dear life. As if those were just words. As if she knew it wasn’t as simple as that either.

But as she moved on top of him, rubbing against him, it didn’t take long for his arousal to begin to expand beyond a mere erection. And as it did, she opened her eyes and looked at him. It was a look that made clear that she felt him. All of him. And what his body was telling them both that he needed, she needed it too.

He reached between her legs and began massaging her for several minutes, causing her to close her eyes again and experience the feel of his soft rub. And when he determined that she was ready, he eased inside of her. It wasn’t that usual thrust that made her certain she wasn’t going to be able to last much longer. But it was a slow glide that made them both know for certain that they were in it for the long haul.

For nearly half an hour they made love on their upstairs balcony. It was just after six in the morning and the grounds crew hadn’t arrived yet. The soft ruffle of leaves on the trees that surrounded their backyard gave them that feeling of insulation. Of a cocoon of protection. Of the two of them against the world for all the world to see.

And then they came. Joy first, and then William. And their cum was sweet and slow and patient too.

“Oh baby,” William kept saying as he came. “Oh my sweet darling!”

And then he was grinding harder and harder as he strained out every single drop he had within him. Until he had nothing left. Until neither one of them had anything left. And then they exhaled.

It was such a wonderful feeling that when they finally settled back down, within mere minutes Joy was asleep again. Stil in his arms. Like a young lady so at peace with the world that she knew she was in good hands. As if she was depending on her man to look out for her. As if she was depending on the man who had already fumbled and lost the only ball he ever had to carry in his entire life to protect her and make certain he didn’t fumble her. Which alarmed William as he thought about it. Because, as she slept, she had no clue in whom she was putting her trust.

Then his phone buzzed again. Certain that it was another one of his past lovers, he was ready to tell her a thing or two. First for phoning him this early, and second for phoning him at all. But when he saw that it was Diana Davenport calling him this time, he had a feeling in the pit of his gut that Joy was soon to find out that her faith in him was as misguided as his now-deceased daughter’s once was.

This was a call he had to take.

CHAPTER SIX

“I told you she wasn’t gonna be ready.”

“I’m ready. I just need to input these numbers.”

Cory looked at Tess and shook his head. “She ain’t ready,” he said and Tess grinned. They both plopped down in the chairs in front of Joy’s desk.

“You look cute, girl,” Cory said as he looked Joy up and down. “I’m gay. I am one-hundred-percent a gay guy okay? But if I wasn’t? Oh ba-be! You’d be exactly my type of woman. You’re always so well put together no matter where you go or what you’re doing. Tess over here,” he added with a dismissive flutter of his hand, “on the other hand, is the exact opposite.”

Tess hit him playfully on his arm and he laughed. Then she looked at her best friend. She knew Cory viewed Joy as his best friend, too, even though they’d only known each other for about a year, but that was cool with Tess. She and Joy knew each other since grade school. She knew she had nothing to worry about. “But for real, Joy, hurry up,” she said. “We only get an hour for lunch you know.”

Joy was nodding. “I know, I know.” She looked at her computer screen again and began typing again.

“She knows,” said Cory, “but yet she keeps on typing.”

“You better be glad we decided to have lunch downstairs in the cafeteria, or we’d be out of here, girl,” Tess said. “I don’t play about my food.”

“There,” Joy said as she typed in the last numbers. “It’s done!” Then she stood up.

“About time,” said Cory as he and Tess stood up too. They were on the eighteenth floor at Skeffington PR, called SPR by most, and Cory still didn’t get it. “I expected Mr. Skeffington to move you up by now. Because if he won’t even promote his own wife, what does that mean about us ever getting ahead?”