All I Want... Is You (13 page)

“Cori, I don’t just take the day off, I have too much to do.” he protested, lifting me off his lap with surprising ease. “I know you’re trying to take my mind somewhere else, and I love that you can do that with such ease, but the best thing for me is to go to work.”

I found myself pouting a little, and he must have seen the expression on my face. He kissed my

lips again and said, “I’ll tell you what, you can take me to work and pick me up for lunch, that way you can get some errands run before we get you home later today.”

The smile on my face quickly spread, and someone would have thought I was the Cheshire cat that just had a large bowl of catnip at that point. “You are something else, boy.”

“Yeah, definitely that, and then some, sexy.” he smirked as he got back up. “I need to freshen up before we head out.”

I was just about to suggest a shared shower when my cell phone rang. I blew air when I saw Tracie’s number on my screen.

“What is it, Tracie?”

“Damn, what’s with the attitude, trick?” Tracie snapped back. “What are you doing, and where are you? I tried to come by last night.”

I side-stepped the question because I didn’t want her in my business like that. “Something came up last night. I had someone drop me off somewhere to take care of it.”

“Why you have to do all that when you have your car?” Tracie wouldn’t let up in her inquisition. “Or did lover boy come by to finally tap that ass?”

“You’re really a nosey bitch, aren’t you?” I scoffed. “You’re with Brian now, so why does my life have to become so important to you? It’s not like I call you out of the blue to keep up with you.”

“Just answer the question, Cori,” Tracie wouldn’t back down. “If you got sum, just say you got sum, I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

“Mind your business, Tracie.”

“You wouldn’t be this damn defensive unless you got your back blown out.” Tracie said again. “Look, if you think I’m trying to be in your shit, I’m not. I’m just trying to look out for you after finding out about that other bitch that’s trying some pay-for-play scheme. He’s still a player, and you need to protect yourself, darling.”

“Listen, Tracie, the last time I checked, I was a grown-ass woman.” I had reached my boiling point, and I let her know it. “Worry about your own backyard before you come up in mine.”

“Look, keep your blinders on, I don’t give a fuck,” Tracie lashed back at me. “I’m doing this for the good of the group. You’re getting too wrapped up in this dude, and we got a job to do.”

Enough was enough.

“We can roll for the good of the group, as you say, but we have nothing more to say to each other.” I finally dropped the hammer. “You and I are no longer tight like that, since you insist on disrupting my flow.”

Derrick was just getting back in the bedroom while I was in the conversation with Tracie. He saw the look on my face and kept about his business, thinking that I was discussing group-related issues.

My potential relationship was not a group-related issue, regardless of what Tracie thought.

“Cori, I… alright, damn, I’m sorry.” Tracie softened. “I didn’t realize you felt this strongly about your personal—“

I hung up the phone before she could finish that sentence. I turned to get dressed, slipping on my jean skirt and top quickly before Derrick turned around and got any ideas.

Not that I would refuse him, of course.

“Ready to go, baby?” he asked, snapping me out of the funk that I was in.

It was amazing how he does that to me, among the other things that he does to me. I was getting pleasurable chills just thinking about it.

I slipped my hand inside of his, watching his long fingers swallow my hand whole, in complete awe at how warm he was to the touch.

Tracie was not about to ruin the feelings that I was enjoying right now. For the good of the group? Whatever.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” I answered as we headed out of the door. “Lead the way.”

~Derrick~

“
Just a few more, baby.”

I was putting the last touches on a photo shoot with Toni, trying to freshen up the images for my website so I could attract some new clientele. Thankfully, I wasn’t hurting for it because RP is as generous about taking care of a brother.

Toni just kept nodding between the flashes, giving me these looks and expressions that let me know she wanted to talk afterwards.

After seeing Cori drive off with my truck, my baby, this morning, I figured she would want to have that talk.

As I was sliding the memory stick into the PC to start looking at the shots, Toni took that time to begin her questioning.

“I really like your new girlfriend, D. I can tell that she’s into you,” she began while glimpsing over my shoulder at the images. “So, did she end your misery last night and give you sum?”

“She’s not my girlfriend yet, Toni,” I tried to correct her, but she only rolled her eyes and tried to set me straight.

“Derrick, I love you to death, but you’re ignoring the facts,” she started. “Anytime a woman comes out in the middle of the night to be with you in a time of crisis, it’s safe to say that she’s into you and cares for you.”

I tried to open my mouth to rebut, but she moved in closer on me and stared directly into my eyes. “She’s acting like your girlfriend, D. I can feel it on you now.”

She always had a way of making me weak whenever we made eye contact. It was something I would never admit to her, but she has that on me.

“Then I guess that you would really trip if I told you that she did give me sum last night, and she has my baby right now?” I figured she might as well know, it’s not like she didn’t already see it for herself earlier.

“Now I know she’s your girl, you just don’t let anyone caress your baby,” Toni smirked, sliding across my lap. Her eyes were probing mine, trying to find something, but I couldn’t figure out exactly what she was looking for. “Should I be jealous?”

“As much as we’ve been through, and you want to ask that question?” I asked, trying to break the connection between us before I did something that I knew I wouldn’t regret. “If you’re making fun of me, we can finish the Q&A now so I can get back to work, baby.”

“Am I still your baby?” Toni brushed her lips against mine, lowering my defenses, as if she were testing me.

My mind told me that this was not something we should have been doing, but my body had other ideas. I immediately took hold of her hips as she tried to grind against me.

“Toni—“ I knew resistance would be futile, all she would have to do is beg me to take her and it would be a rap.

She abruptly stopped in the middle of the flow, kissing me on the cheek and placing her fingers to my lips when she knew I would ask why she stopped. “I would never make fun of you, you mean too much to me for that. I just wanted to make sure that I was still where I was supposed to be.”

Whether it was wrong of me or not, I really didn’t care all that much; she was exactly where she was supposed to be.

Number one… with an asterisk.

Toni stared at me again, this time with a concerned look on her face as she raised herself from my lap. “How are you holding up, D? You looked really out of it last night.”

“Toni, I actually feel nothing, to be honest,” I deadpanned. “He tried to kill me last night, and if he wasn’t so hopped up, he might have succeeded.”

“I needed to be sure that you were okay, baby.” Toni answered, rubbing my shoulders. She always had a way of changing my mood for the better. “Do you want me to go with you to the funeral on Saturday?”

“No, that won’t be necessary, but we would love to have you with us anyway,” I heard Cori jump into the conversation. “I hope he hasn’t been working too hard.”

“No, he’s actually behaved, for once in his life,” Toni responded, giving her a hug and kiss in greeting. That surprised me. “We were just talking about you.”

“I hope it was all good, I haven’t done anything naughty… at least, not yet,” Cori smirked in response, winking at me.

“A woman after my own heart,” Toni smiled, which tipped me off to something that was going on between them. I wished I knew what it was, though. But I didn’t complain too much.

My best friend and my potential girlfriend were getting along. What more could a man ask for?

“Well, I was just about to take this sexy ass man to lunch, would you care to join us?” Cori offered, but Toni held her hand up in protest immediately.

“No thanks, I have another appointment that I have to make, but I want to get together later in the week – just us girls – to celebrate your signing in a couple of days.” Toni told her, which threw Cori off a little bit.

“Umm, I’m going to head in the back to get these images logged into my system while you two get some plans out of the way without my interference.” I mentioned, knowing good and well I was going to eavesdrop on the conversation anyway.

I popped in the flash drives to let them load, and I tuned my ear to the girl talk that I was “missing.”

“For someone who has a glow on her after spending the night at Derrick’s, you look distracted.” I heard Toni get down to it. “Don’t worry, some things are between us.”

I kept myself busy so I wouldn’t sound so obvious, but I had to admit, I was curious to find out why I wasn’t so observant about her body language.

“Toni, I—“ Cori hesitated for a moment, then continued. “There is this girl who I ran into while Derrick and I were out, Tina Parker, and she has been leaving these weird messages all morning about keeping their agreement.”

“Lord, she’s at it again.” Toni sighed, echoing my own private thoughts. “Look, girl, Derrick blew her off a long time ago; she’s a child for goodness sake.”

“I know, but she tried to make a scene in front of me like D was with it,” Cori explained, and I felt the nervousness in her voice.

“Tina unfortunately eavesdropped on a conversation that Derrick and I had a long time ago that she’s taken advantage of ever since.” Toni recalled. “Just ask D what his deepest dream… the one thing that he wants more than anything. Once he tells you that, you have power over Tina’s threats.”

This was my cue to jump back into the conversation before Toni completely sold me out.

“Are you ready to go? I’m starving.” I walked back in asking. The way I came in on them, you would think I interrupted a bonding moment.

I put on my best poker face so that I wouldn’t let on that I didn’t hear their conversation. I’m sure one, or both, of them will tell me something sooner or later.

“Yes, I am, baby. We’ll talk later, Toni.” Cori winked as she took my hand and headed out of the studio.

“What were you and Toni talking about, Cori?” I couldn’t resist asking, even though I already

had a clue from my eavesdropping.

“D, try not to be nosey, it’s just girl talk,” Cori kissed me on the cheek as we walked to the elevator. “If you need to know, I’ll tell you.”

~Cori~

“
Come on, D, tell me, please?”

All through lunch at Prime Meridian, I kept trying to get Derrick to tell me what the fuss was all about. Every time I asked he side-stepped the question. It was getting to the point to where I was ready to let him suffer on his own and deal with the mess that Tina was putting him in.

Finally, his demeanor changed and he was subdued as he measured the words that he wanted to say to me.

“Cori?”

“Yes, Derrick?”

“I assume that Toni told you that I have a special secret that I’ve kept for a long time now.” he kept flexing his fingers as if it was something that he really didn’t want to talk about.

“She said something about it, but she didn’t say what it was exactly. She would only say that it would take some of the power away from Tina once you told me.” I explained to him.

Truthfully, I had no idea what he was about to tell me. The only thing I could do was listen and brace for whatever it was.

“I’m not gonna lie, Cori, I’m taking a big risk even talking about this with you, but I feel like I can trust you,” he said, looking like a teenager about to reveal his first crush.

“D, you can trust me; tell me what it is. I am here with you, aren’t I?” I stared at him, trying to get him to understand.

I placed my hands over his to keep him calm. I’d never seen him so nervous about anything. It was sexy-cute; to know that I was being let inside of such an intimate and vulnerable side to him was intoxicatingly delicious.

I understood his hesitation; we’ve known each other for only a matter of days, and I’ve already given my body to him. It was only a matter of time before my heart would belong to him, too, and a gesture like what he was in the midst of doing was a sure-fire way to expedite that process.

“Okay, here goes.” Derrick sat up in his chair to get himself together. “I want my own studio, state-of-the-art equipment, and not what RP gives me here. I want to be able to do work for RP and other clients without having to worry about being on loan. I love RP, I don’t want to leave it, but I also want to make my own money.”

“What’s so silly about that? It sounds like a wonderful idea!” I lit up. I was relieved that it wasn’t something else that would have really thrown me for a loop. Then I narrowed my eyes and whispered low enough for him to hear, “And when you do, you can do a special set for me... you know, some nude and lingerie modeling for you?”

The devilish grin that spread across his face was enough to make me blush, but he gave me this look like he wasn’t finished purging.

“But here’s the thing,” Derrick went further. “Tina overheard me telling Stacy one day while we were in the studio and she’s been using it as leverage to get me to sleep with her ever since.”

So that’s what the messages were all about?
, I finally put that piece of the puzzle together. No wonder Tina has been such a relentless little bitch. Does she honestly think that she is the only one who can come up with the money to back his dreams?

“Derrick?”

“What is it, Cori?”

“Is that one of the reasons why Stacy cheated on you? Did she think that you wanted to sleep with Tina?” I asked.