Flirt (25 page)

“Okay, when? That’s not going to work, I’m busy . . . I can’t do that.” Chris stood up, walked away from the chaise, and stood near the glass surrounding the VIP room overlooking the club. Marley stared at his lips while they moved, trying to read them as he spoke. She couldn’t make out anything, but she assumed some kind of
deal
was being made. She watched Chris as he paced back and forth with one hand in the pocket of his jeans.

“Who was supposed to take care of that? So what now? Yeah . . . yeah I’ll be there,” he said. Chris ended his call and walked to where Marley sat waiting. He slowly knelt beside the
chaise and ran his finger softly up and down Marley’s legs. Chris kissed the back of her thigh and whispered, “I have to go, love. . . . Business.”

Marley shrugged.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Let’s hook up tomorrow, spend the day together or something. I should be back around twelve,” he said, softly kissing her leg again.

“I don’t think so. This was a mistake. Go take care of business, Chris. As usual, it comes first.”

Chris shook his head and stood. He tried to kiss Marley, but she placed her hand directly in front of his face. “Just go,” she said.

She watched Chris exit the room and rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe it. She’d almost let him back in. But in an instant, she was reminded of the hold his business had on him. She shook her head and pulled out her Sidekick.
I don’t even know why I called him back
.

Marley flipped her screen to cover the keyboard just as Jay returned to the table. She grabbed his hand and admired him before he sat down.

“You look so good,
papi
.” Marley pulled Jay close and inhaled deeply. “You smell good, too,” she said.

“I have missed you, baby girl. What’s been keeping you so busy these days? I was getting sick of talking to your voice mail. I’m glad that you finally decided to call me back. I was wondering if I was ever going to see you again.” Jay rested his
arm against the back of the chair and leaned back. He admired Marley while she sipped her wine and then slowly ran her fingers through her wavy hair. He lowered his eyelids and angled his head to surreptitiously admire the cleavage jumping out of her dress.

Marley’s text message alert sounded and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She meant to silence it after the message. She slowly pulled the phone out of her purse and pressed the off button without reading the text.

“I’ve been working like crazy. New clients and new projects. I’m working on a doctor’s office, so I’ve been pretty occupied,” she lied. She only had to put the finishing touches on the office and she’d be done. “I’m sorry,
papi
. I’m here now.” Marley leaned across the table and kissed Jay softly on the cheek. “Now, let’s eat.”

After dinner, Jay reached for Marley’s hand as they walked across the pier that stretched out over the unusually calm ocean. When they reached the end, Jay pulled Marley close and stood behind her while they watched as the sunset over the horizon.

“I’m in love with you, baby girl.”

Jay called her “baby girl” just like DJ did back in the day, and she loved it.

When Marley found out Chris’s little drug secret, she slowly saw less and less of him until she wasn’t seeing him at all. She’d taken a small break from the dating scene, but the more she
“coincidentally” ran into Javier, the more she grew to like him and enjoy their dates. He was one of the sweetest, sexiest men she’d met in her life. Javier was easy to fall for, and for the first time in a long time she just went with the flow, no rules.

“No, you are not, Jay. You
think
that you are, but believe me . . . you don’t love me. We haven’t even been seeing each other that long.” Marley laughed, but Jay didn’t smile at all.

“I know that this is love. I think about you every day, every minute of the day. I want to be with you, Marley. I want you to meet my family and everything. I’m serious. I have never felt like this about anyone,” he said.

“Wow,
papi
, you
are
serious huh?” Marley laughed.

“As a heart attack,” he said.

Jay pulled Marley close to his body and looked into her eyes. When the wind blew her hair into her face, he softly pushed it away from her eyes. He kissed her softly one time on her glossed lips. “I love you, baby girl.”

She smiled. “Can we go slow, Jay? You know that I have issues.”

“Of course we can. Just not too slow.” He laughed.

On the pier in the shadow of the sunset, Marley and Jay kissed like two newlyweds on their honeymoon. Marley’s body responded to Jay’s masculine touch with uncontrollable shivering. He kissed her with such force, and when he wrapped his strong arms tightly around her body, she melted and she forgot about everything. Once again, she was lost in the pure feeling. Marley experienced the typical man drama that most of her friends had endured. Marley’s man drama always consisted of
something drastic. Her relationships always developed from the inside out, where most of her girlfriends developed their relationships from the outside in. Back in the day, Marley embraced the difference; now she wasn’t so accepting, because her relationships always ended in unfathomable circumstances. Jay and Marley walked hand in hand toward his Cadillac Escalade talking and laughing. Jay was throwing Marley’s game off, and she didn’t even care. He was pulling her in, and she couldn’t resist. When his phone started to ring, he snatched it from the clip on his waist and pressed the
TALK
button.

“What’s up?” Jay held Marley’s hand while he talked. He started off talking in English, but by the middle of the conversation, Jay was speaking Spanish. Marley smiled and tried to make out the few words that she knew in Spanish. “Okay,” he said before ending the call.

He turned to Marley and kissed her lips softly before speaking. “That was my boy. I told them not to disturb me tonight. I said it in Spanish, just in case he didn’t understand when I said it in English,” Jay joked.

After the walk on the pier, Jay wanted to have drinks at HEAT, but Marley knew there was a chance they would run in to Chris and his friend, and she insisted they go to Jay’s place for a romantic nightcap instead. Jay set the mood by lighting the candles and starting soft music as he usually did while Marley opened a bottle of wine. She walked into the living room, and Jay pulled out two cigars, broke them open, and filled them with marijuana. After he sealed the ends closed with his mouth, Marley handed him a glass of wine and stretched her legs across
his thighs as he sat on the couch. The silky sounds of Jon B. played softly in the background while Marley and Jay sat on the couch sipping pinot grigio and inhaling the relaxing treatment. Jay massaged Marley’s feet gently when it was her turn to puff. Jay knew that he was falling fast, faster than he’d ever fallen for any woman, and there had been plenty of women in his past. There was something about Marley that kept him intrigued. He loved her independence, her wit and charm, and most definitely her beauty. He also appreciated the caution she took with her heart. She had taken things very slowly with him, which was also a new experience. Usually women were dying to lie in his bed, but Marley was different—she had taken the time to get to know him inside and out before she would let him have her body. Jay fantasized about making love to Marley for the first time, every day from the day he met her. Javier knew that he would feel closer to her once he was inside her.

Jay sexily puffed on the el while Marley waited for her turn. When he passed it to her, she eyed him sexily and smiled. She inhaled calmly and ran her hand down the back of Jay’s neck. She stopped and lightly pulled him toward her. When he opened his mouth, she exhaled the smoke she’d been holding in her lungs, and Jay inhaled. The shotgun hastily transitioned into a long, slow kiss. Their tongues wrestled playfully while Jay exhaled the smoke through his nostrils.

Marley moaned softly when he placed his hands between her legs and tenderly massaged her spot through her clothes. They alternated positions while they kissed. Marley straddled Jay on the couch while he caressed every part of her body within
reach. Between kisses, sighs, and moans Marley positioned her body at an angle. Tonight she was ready to pleasure Jay in a way she hadn’t before.

Marley carefully unbuckled the belt around Jay’s jeans and ran her finger back and forth against his skin under the waistline. She slowly leaned her head down and lifted his shirt. When she pressed her lips delicately against his stomach, Jay moved his hands through her hair. Marley placed her open mouth on Jay’s exposed skin as she removed his pants. When he was stripped, she teasingly circled her tongue around his waiting erection. Marley was unlike any other lover he had. Her prowess and rhythmic movements left him breathless and speechless.

While Marley lay wrapped in Jay’s arms, she watched the clock. She thought about what Jay had told her that night. Marley had not allowed her heart to feel love since DeJuan and Chris, but Jay seemed to be everything she wanted and needed. She was scared and confused. The numbers on the clock changed as she lay still, listening to Jay breathe behind her. Marley slowly eased her body from underneath his arm. She grabbed her phone from her purse and walked into the bathroom and locked the door. Marley turned on the shower and then sat on the toilet and turned on her phone. She scrolled through her missed calls; most were from Chris. She selected Chris’s number and returned the call.

“Hey, Chris,” she whispered when Chris picked up on the other end. “I’m sorry, yeah, I know. I was just trying to get
some work done. I had to turn the phone off to get some peace, everyone was calling me.” Marley stood naked in front of the mirror as the steam from the shower slowly began to cover it. She held the phone to her ear with one hand and examined her body for any evidence that may have been left by Jay with the other. When the mirror was fully covered with steam, Marley sat on the toilet again.

“That’s cool, what time do you want to meet? . . . All right, I’ll see you then,” she whispered. Marley silenced her phone and set it on the sink. She piled her hair into a bun on the top of her head and stepped into the shower.

Jay knocked on the door, and Marley met him at the door smiling and wet. He immediately grabbed her around the waist and pulled her toward the shower. Jay reached up and softly loosened Marley’s bun. He opened the glass shower door and lightly pushed Marley under the running water. She kissed him passionately while he massaged her shoulders.

“I love you, baby girl,” he whispered between kisses. “I want you to be in my life. . . . I want you to love me, too,” he said.

Marley smiled. Jay pressed her body against the wet shower wall and slowly wrapped her legs around his waist.

“Papi,”
she whispered. “We are going to go slow, remember?”

“I remember,” he said. “Slow,” he said, stroking Marley’s insides softly with his manhood and kissing her neck. “Slow,” he whispered.

“Slow,” Marley repeated.

_______

Outside of Dynasty, the sun beamed down on Marley’s shoulders while she sat at a patio table waiting for Chris. She scrolled through the e-mails on her phone while she sipped on a glass of pinot grigio. She briefly looked up from her phone and pulled her oversized glasses from her face when she saw Chris walking toward the table. Marley stood as he approached. She grabbed him around the waist and softly kissed him on the cheek.

“You look so handsome, Chris. I’ve never seen you all dressed up like that, where are you going?” she asked.

Marley pulled off her glasses and admired Chris’s slightly baggy black pants and blue-and-black-striped dress shirt. Chris wore a black tie. Marley glanced at his feet and laughed.

“I’m working now. But you know I had to throw the Tims back on before I came out in public.”

Marley laughed. “A job? Like a real job?” she asked.

“Yes, a job—and yes, a real one, crazy girl,” Chris joked.

“Chris, that’s great. I hope it works out. What kind of job?”

“It’s good to see you, too, Marley Lucas,” Chris interrupted.

Chris ordered a hearty sandwich, and Marley ordered a light salad. The ex-couple caught up on each other’s weekly dealings between bites.

“Marley, I need a favor. I know we haven’t kicked it in a while, but I want you to come with me this weekend,” Chris said. “I need you, girl.”

“Where are we going?” Marley asked. “I have a ton of projects
that I need to get done,” she added, remembering the plans she’d unofficially made with Jay.

“It’s just a little family thing—my boy’s parents are having a little party, and since I’m like a son to them I think that it would do his mom good to see me with a date. Please, I don’t have anyone else to take, at least not anyone that moms would approve of.”

Marley took a bite of her salad and then a sip of wine. She had a feeling that Chris was not going to take no for an answer. Even though she felt awkward about doing this favor for Chris, she agreed. After all, it had been months since they’d spent any time together. They’d spent long nights talking on the phone here and there, but they both understood that until Chris wasn’t mixed up in that lifestyle, they couldn’t be together.
Hmmm, maybe he is trying to change. He’s working, for goodness’ sake.

“I’ll have to see what I can do, Chris. I’ve been slacking on my work lately. Clients are getting impatient.”

“I can’t wait for you to meet everyone, especially my boy,” he said. “They are going to love you. Big Papi will probably try to hit on you, so just be ready.” Chris laughed.

Marley laughed, too. She thought it was cute how Chris always used nicknames for each of his boys. Big Papi, from what Marley understood, was a big Puerto Rican dude and a big-time Realtor who’d helped Chris find his house. Dee-tox was the youngest and a hustler and rapper. The first thing Marley planned to do when she met Chris’s boys was get their first names.

After lunch, Marley and Chris walked the Miami strip to go
shopping. One of the many things the old friends had in common was their love for clothes and shoes. Chris had exquisite taste, as did Marley. Marley laid her credit cards on the counter and purchased two purses and a pair of black stilettos. Marley refused when Chris offered to buy her things; she didn’t want anything to do with dirty money and as far as she was concerned, Chris’s paying cash for the latest sneakers and fitted caps meant his money was still dirty.