Saved and SAINTified (2 page)

Xenia
ran her hand over her chest as her eyebrow rose. She was barely listening to him. Instead, she was once again taking inventory and thanking God for giving her such a magnificently crafted specimen of pure manhood to sleep with every night. She smiled at her thoughts. 
His hard, body against mine  ...  damn...

“What?”
He smiled back as he pulled down his zipper  ... real ... slow...

“Nothing.” Her lips curved upward into a ‘
Cheshire the cat’ grin before looking guiltily away.

S
aint smirked and cocked his head to the side. “You wanna fuck, right? Is that what that look is about? You’re looking at me like you want some of this.” He grabbed his crotch and playfully jiggled his cock and nuts.

“How could I resist such sweet words?”
She burst out laughing. “You’re too romantic for me tonight,” she teased.

S
aint shrugged as he held his pants, belt and shirt over his arm. “Your desires were screaming at me. You thought
that
, not me … but you know me, I always want to make love to you.” His eyes narrowed, and the look was all too familiar. “I’m
never
too tired for that.” He winked at her. “You were asleep when I got in last night and then this morning, you got up early to prepare for your show. This isn’t like us to go this long, unless I’m out of town. Let’s do a little somethin’ somethin’… just let me go in the bathroom and take a quick shower. I need to freshen up.”

He ran his tongue seductively over his bottom lip and disappeared into the lavatory
without a moment’s hesitation.

Xenia
smiled and waited until she heard the shower turn on. She immediately grabbed the magazine from behind her pillow, and began to read it again. Several minutes later, she felt herself getting sleepy.

Why do I read late at night? All it does is make me sleepy but I’m invested in this article.

She heard the shower water turn off and immediately shoved the magazine back behind the pillow. She yawned once more as S
aint’s switched on his electric toothbrush. Before she knew it, she was drifting into a deep sleep all over again…

****

“Alright baby, here I am.”

S
aint opened the bathroom door; a burst of warm, foggy steam seeped out from behind him. The aromatic mist was so thick, it looked like the start of a rock concert. Soon, the bellowing hot air cleared, only revealing his naked, freshly washed and cologned body and surely, a look of utter disappointment on his clean-shaven face.

“Awww, baby,” he whispered, frustrated as he gingerly approached her. He looked down at her, fast asleep, and lightly rubbed her shoulder. “You’ve been falling asleep a lot lately. You’ve been working too much, baby
. This new show of yours is exhausting you,” he said quietly as he lifted the sheets over her shoulder, covering her.

He leisurely walked around to his side of the bed and slid under the
inviting sheets, nestling close to her warm body. As he lightly kissed her ear, he slowly snuck his arm under her pillow, elevating her head a little, and ran his lips up and down the back of her neck, hoping to gently rouse her. His rock-hard erection wasn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer.

Then he stopped. The hard, straight edges of something pressed against his fingertips.
He touched fingertips on the rolled up magazine under her cool pillow. Eyebrow arched, he  clutched it and pulled it out. He sat up, careful to not disturb her, and exposed the magazine to his gaze after expertly freeing it from its previous confines. He flipped through it, and then looked back at the cover.

Cosmopolitan? When has she been into Cosmopolitan magazine?

He thumbed through it and casually crossed his ankles, smiling at some of the scanty fashion designs and bad love advice.

‘How to make him never want to leave.’
Saint shook his head.
How do they come up with this shit? There is no magic cure for that shit. Either the man loves you and wants to be with you, or he doesn’t. These magazines sell pipedreams. It’s destructive and unrealistic—putting the responsibility all on the woman. You can’t keep someone that doesn’t want to be kept. Damn.

He continued to flip through the magazine until he reached the dog-eared page. S
aint looked at it for a long while, his face expressionless as he took in what he was seeing. He leaned his head back and slowly closed his eyes, his lips slightly parted as he gripped the magazine tighter and tighter in his right hand. He rubbed his forehead thoughtfully, then looked back down at the article. A big smile soon grew across his face. He looked over at her, and stayed in that trance for several minutes as he deliberated.

So now you want to read articles about pregnancies for women approaching forty? You can’t hide anything from me,
Xenia. I know what you want … to try for that little girl you’ve been wanting. You desired her from the start, even from the first time I got you pregnant, actually even before that. You hoped I was wrong about Hassani. You were hoping it was a girl, but were very happy regardless when you saw otherwise. Then, Dakarai came, and you were happy again, but your fantasy was dashed—I saw that brief look of disappointment when I told you it was another boy.  I was sorry that I couldn’t give you what you wanted. I don’t have that sort of control, but I love our boys. Everything happens for a reason. I know what you want though … I always know what you want, baby…

He delicately traced her shoulder with his fingertips, causing her to stir
, but it was short-lived. Just that quickly, she’d fallen back to sleep. He exhaled, understanding that at least at that moment, he would have to accept that she would not be waking up anytime soon. He cursed to himself as he turned the bedroom light off and snuggled close behind her, wrapping his arms around her small waist, waiting tirelessly to jump on the opportunity a couple hours later to make sweet love to his Goddess at last.

****

“I just don’t know what to say.” Valerie looked around the room at the young women. “Why aren’t you all talking to your boyfriends about these issues? Have you not been listening to anything Saint has been discussing in the tapes and his books?”

E
xasperated, she threw her hand up and left the women sitting there in her extraordinarily decorated dining room with George’s wife, Naomi, looking at them, feeling just as dumbfounded.

The high, domed ceilings were Cathedral like,
which somewhat made all the earth-toned young women look as if they were sitting in church. Twenty-five high-backed red upholstered chairs were lined up in five straight rows, like in a small theater. In the back was a long table full of imported bottles of mineral water, shrimp cocktail, fresh tuna sushi rolls, petit desserts and assorted fancy refreshments prepared by Naomi’s French personal chef. The plush red carpet matched the vast, dense curtains with gold, silk ties.

In those gorgeous surroundings,
Naomi stood there in disbelief.

She was tall and thin, like her noble husband, George
—Saint’s longtime colleague and ‘Knight of the Round Table’ forefather. Her skin the color of roasted coffee beans, she had unbelievably high cheek bones and deep, dark, rich ebony eyes. She defied her age, being the epitome of graceful elegance. Her French accent was still very much prominent as she enunciated each heartfelt word. Her silver hair, with sporadic streaks of black, was pulled back in a tight, braided bun. She turned away and clasped her thin hands as she tried to calm her nerves.

“May I say something?”
One of the young ladies raised her hand, waving it around frantically. Naomi turned back to the crowd. The young lady didn’t wait for her to respond. “We are all dating Rainbeaus, obviously, or we wouldn’t even be here, but some of us are just in different stages of development.  That has to be respected, right?” Many of the women nodded in agreement. “I think it’s wrong for you to say that Melanie should be ready to have David meet her family, Ms. Naomi.” Several head nods followed. “These things take time and we all are doing the best we can.” She shrugged.

Naomi clasped her hands and slicked her tongue over her upper lip as she tried to keep composed.

“No, you haven’t been doing the best you can, dear. If so, there would be growth versus continued reluctance. I’ve been doing these meetings with you ladies since Saint asked that we meet monthly. The problem with that statement is that if David were black, Melanie would have already introduced him by now. Look how long it has been? I could see if this was new, but it’s not.” Naomi put her hands on her narrow hips, her attitude more than apparent.  She pointed directly to Melanie, a short, curvy brown-skinned diva with thick, silky braids. “It’s been eight months! This man still hasn’t met your parents. There is no excuse.”

“Look
.” Melanie rolled her eyes. “My mother is not as open minded as most and my step-father … my goodness that would just be a mess. I can’t deal with it right now—it’s too much pressure. I need them to get used to the idea a bit more before I do all of that.”

“So you will keep him in the closet like some stuffed animal?”

“No, but look, what if I do all of that and we break up? I mean, I need to really be sure.” Several nods of agreement followed from the revved up peanut gallery.

“He has taken you on vacations, you met
his
family; he took the same risks. They have not had a great acceptance of his dating preferences over the years, but he still did it. He has proven to you how much he enjoys your company and this is what you do? Melanie, I’m so frustrated with you. Actually, with just about all of you!” she snapped.

The women began to talk aloud,
all on top of one another as the tension in the air built even further.

“Why aren’t some of you getting it?”

Naomi stormed out of the room, not caring to hear anymore. She ran away, searching for Valerie who was now in her kitchen, leaning over the vast, black granite island counter, absently popping ranch-dipped celery sticks into her mouth. Naomi slammed the double kitchen doors behind her. She threw up her hands and began to pace back and forth.

“Valerie, I just can’t!” she yelled. “Thanks so much for coming here tonight, I know this isn’t your bag anymore, but…”

Valerie slowly rose from her resting position. Naomi’s rattled nerves became even further unraveled as she clutched and wrung her shaking hands.

“This is the fifth meeting, Naomi. It’s like nothing has changed.
I had to walk away from there,” she said with her mouth full.

Naomi shrugged
. “I don’t understand this!” She picked up a half-drunk glass of wine and chugged it, causing Valerie to stare at her and burst out laughing as she slammed it back down on the counter. Naomi joined in the laughter. “My blood pressure is sky high, Valerie. I want these women out of my sight. I swear it is like they are just here for the hors d'oeuvres.”

Valerie smiled and nodded as she put a carrot stick into her mouth. A few moments passed.

“I’ve got it! Let’s have Saint come over and speak to them!” Valerie offered.

“Oh no, I could never do that. S
aint is far too busy and…”

“I can. I hate to say this, but he will do
anything
for me. It’s true. His attention toward me has actually increased, ever since my sweet James passed. He calls me practically every week just to say ‘hello’, stops by every now and again and is just wonderful, truly the son I never had. I know he’d find a way to get over here, Naomi, as a favor to me, if nothing else. I don’t believe he’s out of town today. He could probably swing by.”

Naomi
contemplatively tapped her finger on her bottom lip. Valerie had so graciously offered her home for this evening’s meeting. She didn’t want to put her out any further.

“Oh, I don’t know, Val
. He is—”

“Not another word
.” Valerie removed her cellphone from her white pearl studded purse while Naomi listened in.

“Hi S
aint, this is Valerie. When you get a chance, please give me a call back. The GITS, I mean, the goddesses-in-training are at my home this evening instead of Naomi’s. I’ll get into why later but I was wondering if you could stop by tonight and speak with them. Naomi has bent over backward trying to give them valuable information for their journey, but so many of them are just not understanding it or  ...  I don’t even know.” She sighed in frustration. “I’m rambling on this answering machine, voicemail, whatever it is. Just call me back when you get a chance. Thanks, hon.” She disconnected the call. “I left a message.”

Naomi shrugged
. “I better get back out there.”

She walked back toward the kitchen doors, sighed and left, with Valerie hot on her heels…

*
***

Saint gritted his teeth and hissed as his muscles clenched. “Shiiiiit…”

H
e sighed as his slick body pressed against Xenia’s. Smacking the headboard with his right palm, he felt the last of his explosion leave his body, floating toward her womb. Xenia wrapped her legs tighter around him as he kissed up and down the side of her face. He rested for a couple of minutes, firmly embracing her, his breathing loud and harsh. The warm air from her open mouth caressed his face, and he listened to her panting slow down to a sweet purr.