Ready for Love (9 page)

Terrill’s eye started throbbing even more. He suddenly wanted everyone out of his home so that he could lick his wounds in peace.

“How about we just let the man finish telling the story and then maybe we can figure out a way to help him fix things.” Joel Hightower was usually all jokes, so Terrill was kind of shocked to hear him trying to be the voice of reason. “’Cause God knows he is going to need all the help we can give him to fix this gigantic mess,” Joel added and started laughing.

Terrill tossed the thawed ice pack to the side and wasn’t surprised when moments later his butler was there with another ice pack. He placed the ice pack on his eye and groaned.

He figured he might as well finish telling them the story. Joel was right. He was going to need the help of everyone in the room to figure out how to get his woman back. And he wanted his woman back for damn sure.

“So where was I? Yeah, basically I let Maritza set the ground rules for our relationship. But at least that way I was able to be with her and experience the best two years of my life…”

M
aritza rolled over into the arms of her lover and snuggled for a bit before tickling him. They didn’t have long before they had to arrive separately at a cookout at the Hightowers’. They were supposed to be in separate hotel rooms, but somehow Terrill had talked his way into her bed. She couldn’t believe that she had been lucky enough to have this man as her lover for over a year.

Penny had gotten married to Jason and the East Coast branch of New Images by Keys and Morales was doing just as well as their Los Angeles branch.

Maritza’s business and personal lives couldn’t have been better and that’s why she couldn’t help but wonder when the other shoe was going to drop.

Terrill’s hand stroked its way up and down her back and finally curved onto her behind. She wiggled it and snuggled closer to him.

“What if Penny decided to visit one of our rooms and found that you aren’t in yours. Our secret would be out.”

He nipped her bottom lip and then licked it, snaking his tongue out slowly as if he were trying to savor her.

“If she tried to find a room for me, she wouldn’t find anything because I canceled my room. I saw no reason to pay for a room when I have a perfectly fine room right here, one that has my fine sexy woman in it, I might add.”

“Your fine sexy woman that no one is supposed to know about.” She tried to feign indignance but that was really hard to do when wrapped in your fine man’s arms and feeling his oh-so-big and oh-so-satisfying erection pressing against your skin.

And then he kissed her, long and deep. His tongue tunneled through her mouth as if on a mission to warn the rest of her body what was coming next.

She stopped his intoxicating kiss and trailed her own kisses all over his muscular body. She gave teasing and taunting pecks along his strong, square jawline and around his throat. She came down his rippled chest and let her tongue out to play, tasting the pure masculine strength of him and taking it in like an energy drink. She licked her way downward until she found herself at the base of his proud, erect penis and licked and sucked some more.

She was torn between licking him to completion and tasting his potent, hot seed or straddling him and riding him so that she could feel him inside of her.

Feeling him won out and she stopped long enough to grab a condom from the nightstand and place it in her mouth. She seductively put the condom on with her mouth, continuing his blow-job as she did.

“Aww, babe, you’re going to kill me one day. But what a way to go.” Terrill let out a groan as she straddled him and slid down on his protected penis.

He felt so good and huge inside of her. In this position she swore she could feel him invading just about every crevice.

Every nook…

And she rode.

She rocked her hips back and forth and side to side and up and down and all around. She closed her eyes and let a rhythm as old as time guide. Each time she bounced up she came back down to the best feeling in the world. She knew she would never get enough of this man and she never wanted this to end.

Why couldn’t she have it forever? Why had she made such a mess of her life that a man like Terrill would probably never take her as his wife?

She realized that was what she really wanted and a tear fell from her eye. Terrill sat up and wiped the tear away. He then placed his hands on her behind and held her tight and close as he kissed her again. He kissed her with so much intensity she thought she might disappear into his kiss. He held her and kissed her as he continued small pulsating thrusts. His penis moved inside her, hitting spots it must have memorized.

Another tear trailed down her face and this time she didn’t know if it was from wanting what she couldn’t have or the pleasure that Terrill was inflicting. All she knew was that she came with blinding passion that almost made her pass out.

But she couldn’t pass out, because Terrill was still holding her and still working those well aimed circular thrusts that kept her orgasm going and just on the edge, keening to burst over again.

She would have cried out, but his tongue was in her mouth and taking over. All she could do was kiss him back and move her hips in time with his and try to prepare herself for the next big one.

As soon as she thought about preparing, Terrill clutched her hips tighter and held her even closer than she thought possible. She was straddling his lap and she didn’t think she could get closer, but she was wrong. Her breasts flattened against his rippled chest and her pelvis seemed to meld to his. His thrusts came quicker and sharper and with even more precision. And soon the blinding orgasm returned full blast.

She tried to cry out again but with her lips pressed firmly against his and their tongues still dueling for supremacy, her cry got lost in his loud, gut-wrenching groan as they both reached completion and found release.

“Samantha, would you like to come on in the kitchen with us to finish up the side dishes? We can have girl talk while the guys finish the grilling.” Celia Hightower called out for Joel’s new girlfriend to join them in the kitchen and Maritza smiled. She really loved hanging with all the Hightowers, mostly because of what the family meant to her best friend, Penny, and her secret man, Terrill.

She never would have thought that one day she would get used to thinking of Terrill as her man. But that was how she thought of him. She wasn’t ready to shout it from the rooftop or anything like that. But she did feel that way.

“Sure, I’d love to.” Samantha got up and followed them all into the kitchen.

Celia stopped before opening the screen door. She paused for a good long second before speaking. “Sophie, would you like to join us?”

“No, I wouldn’t.” Sophie turned her head so quickly Maritza thought that bun was going to come apart. “Too many…cooks…Mmmmph.”

Relief didn’t begin to describe the expression on Celia’s face. “What about you, Carla?”

Maritza had to admit, she was very glad the evil woman said no, because she had one time to come out of her face and call her a video ho like she had Penny, and it would be on.

Crazy Carla was smooched up to Gerald and barely gave Celia a second glance. “Y’all know I don’t cook. But y’all need to hurry up and get this party started. I’m hungry.”

“Eat some chips or something.” Penny rolled her eyes at her mother.

“I don’t want chips! I want food. F-O-O-D.
Food
.” Carla snuggled with Gerald again, but not before giving their daughter the evil eye.

“Okay, Carla, we’ll have things ready in a sec.” Celia Hightower just shook her head.

Celia Hightower was so unflappable that it always left Maritza a little in awe. She had no idea how the woman put up with that crazy Sophie all those years.

“My mother is a nut.” Penny rolled her eyes, but Maritza could tell that her friend had long since stopped being embarrassed by her mother.

Maritza remembered when they had first met all those years ago on a video shoot. Back then Penny rarely ever mentioned her mother. Now she talked about her mom all the time and the love she had for her mother was clear in her voice.

“Your mother is hilarious. Ain’t no shame in her game, that’s for sure.” Maritza had to laugh just thinking of some of the things Carla had said that day alone. “She cracks me up. I love Carla.”

“Carla is real. And she tells it like she sees it, that’s for sure,” Celia said. “Okay, Penny you’re on pasta salad and Maritza can help you with that. I guess we can share the family recipe with her since she’ll end up with Terrill one day and he’s like a son to me, so that makes her family.”

Maritza froze where she stood and for a moment she almost thought that their family and friends had somehow found them out. Panic didn’t even begin to describe how she felt. Was their secret finally out? It couldn’t be.

She decided to just play it off the way she always did.

“Terrill? No way. He works my last nerves.
El stupido.
Urgh!” Maritza rolled her eyes as if she hadn’t just woken up with Terrill and had him make sweet, sweet love to her that very morning. She shuddered at the memory as she turned to Penny.

“Why didn’t you tell me he was going to be here, chica? I didn’t know he was coming until he had the
nerve
to call me and to try and tell me what to wear to the cookout! Like I don’t know how to dress myself?”

Maritza almost laughed out loud because it was more like he had picked out her sleek Maxi-style yellow sundress and told her how sexy she looked in it…

But they didn’t need to know all that.

Celia and Penny exchanged those know-it-all looks of theirs and it almost took Maritza off her game.

“Anyway, you’re just like family anyway. So we’ll trust you with the family recipes,” Celia offered. “And you, Samantha, sweetie, can help me with my signature potato salad.”

Maritza frowned even though she was glad Celia was moving on to Joel’s new girlfriend, Samantha, now. Samantha’s nervous laughter gave away just how much Mrs. Hightower had gotten to her just by asking her to help with the potato salad.

“Are you sure you want to share the family recipes with me, Mrs. Hightower?” Samantha asked nervously.

“Of course, Samantha. Both you and Maritza are family whether you realize it or not.” Celia chuckled softly to herself and a devilish little gleam lit her eyes.

As Samantha mixed up the potato salad, Maritza took a seat on the barstool next to her. She figured she would do some more damage control and make sure that Celia and Penny were off her scent as far as Terrill was concerned. “Anyway, can you believe this woman had to come and snatch up the second hottest Hightower brother?” Maritza held out her hand waiting for Penny to show some love.

“That’s right, second hottest!” Penny slapped Maritza five. “Y’all better recognize. My baby Jason is the hottest by far.”

“All my sons are hot, including Terrill, who is just like a son to me since he, Penny and Jason spent so much time here driving me nuts when they were kids.” Celia nudged Penny with her elbow.

Maritza put on her most practiced scowl. As far as she was concerned, Terrill Carter was the hottest man on the planet: her man was a taller, finer, more built Michael Ealy. But she wasn’t about to let anyone know that’s what she thought.

“What woman snatched up the second hottest Hightower? Is she here? Who’s the second hottest in your opinion, Maritza? I think I have to side with Mrs. Hightower on this one. They’re all equally hot.” Samantha asked with a giggle.

“You, chica.” Maritza laughed. “You came up in here today with the second hottest Hightower,” Maritza said and drew out Joel’s name for emphasis. The shocked expression on Samantha’s face was priceless. What was even more priceless was the way that shock quickly turned to possessiveness.

Maritza was glad she didn’t really have any interest in any of the Hightowers, especially Joel, because the evil eye Samantha was giving her let her know that she would have to fight for him.

Samantha shook her head then smiled and shrugged.

Maritza couldn’t let the glare that Samantha had just given her slide, though. “Look at her. I’m scared of you, girl! You gave me the look like, sorry, chick, he is mine. Did y’all see how she looked at me?”

Celia Hightower looked as pleased as the cat that had eaten the canary.

Penny just smiled.

“All right, ladies, let’s take this food out there before Carla starts giving us a piece of her mind.” Celia shuttled them out of the kitchen, making sure everyone had a bowl or platter in hand.

“Goodness knows we don’t want to get her started.” Penny rolled her eyes.

The women carried the various salads and side dishes outside and put them on the big teak picnic table.

As most of the Hightower events went, the cookout was fine until Aunt Sophie decided to show her behind and pretty much call Samantha and Penny a pair of nappy headed hoes. It was cool to see somebody bring it to Sophie, finally, because Celia and Penny cut the woman way too much slack as far as Maritza was concerned. And they kept Carla on a tight leash, because if they ever let that woman loose on Sophie that would be it. But Samantha told Sophie off.

“…and for the record, I’m happy to be nappy. If I ever have kids, they will wear their natural nappy hair until they are old enough to make decisions about how they want to represent themselves in the world.” Samantha might have just as well snapped her fingers three times in a circle by the time she was finished.

Maritza wanted to stand up and cheer because she had been waiting for someone to cuss Sophie out since she met the woman. Maritza and Sophie were both AKAs and Maritza’s mother, also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, would skin her alive if she disrespected an older sorority sister the way she wanted to get at Sophie. She had to figure that the sorority bond was the only thing keeping Celia from knocking Sophie out, since Celia was also an AKA, although she had just become active again after Sophie had turned her off on the sisterhood years ago. They were even thinking about getting Penny to pledge grad chapter just to piss Sophie off.

Thank God for Samantha. Maritza gave her the thumbs-up, but Samantha was too busy looking a little ashamed to notice.

Carla started a slow clap.

Maritza started laughing then. Carla was a fool and a half. And poor Samantha looked like she wanted to crawl under the table.

“Ha! You tell her, new girl! Ha! You finally got one who will stand up to your ol’ hateful behind. She’s not gonna cut you any slack like Penny did. I like her. Joel, you need to go on and
wife
her like the young kids say. She’s a keeper. Ha!” Carla stopped clapping and let out a gut busting laugh.

Maritza almost fell out of her chair laughing then. Everyone was either laughing or trying to hold their laughter in. Only Sophie kept her sour face on and continued to give Samantha the evil eye.

“So, Samantha, are you from around here?” Patrick made an obvious attempt to change the subject.