“How can I trust that anything that happens here will not get back to my family?”
“I promise to protect you. I’ve never lied to you about anything. Have I?”
“No,” fell from her lips so easily and softly that I briefly wondered if I’d imagined it.
We finished the rest of the dance in silence before we started another one. I had planned and timed everything about tonight, including the last song we danced to before our night of dancing, would end.
When D’Angelo’s Untitled played, excited eyes turned my way before she melted in my arms. This song had been a favorite of hers since our youth.
“You remembered,” she whispered.
“I could forget nothing about you,” I said, drawing my hand down her back and pressing her into me.
I could feel Xiomara’s breathing change. Dropping my head, I pressed a kiss against the side of her neck, forcing a whimper from her throat.
“You’re not playing fair,” she muttered.
“You stacked the odds against me, Liltee. I have to bring out the big guns,” I said, pulling her against my hardness, eliciting a moan from her lips.
Slowly I peeled her glove off her hand, tucking it into one of my pockets. My hand caressed her fingers before I brought them to my lips, kissing them one at a time.
Flicking my tongue out to lick the pads of each fingertip on my second pass, I watched as she swallowed her response, her eyes growing dark and misty. When I reached her index finger, I slid it into my mouth, sucking at it. Xiomara’s eyes shuttered closed for just a moment.
Turning her hand over, I pressed a kiss to her palm. Lowering my head, I pressed my forehead against hers and allowed my lips to hover above hers with barely an inch of space separating us.
Xiomara’s head tilted, seeking my kiss. Just as our lips brushed against one another’s, I switched gears.
“You have two options.”
There was a slight intake of breath before her eyelashes fluttered several times, her breath softly caressing my face like a butterfly’s wings.
“You can walk away from me at the end of this song and never look back. Living with the regret that you never took a chance on me or this night.”
“Or?”
“Or...” I smirked glad that she wanted to know more. “You can experience this one night of pleasure that will make you change the way you’ve ever felt about anything before.”
“Russell?”
“Doesn’t exist behind these walls. That’s the only rule. You will not speak of him or acknowledge his existence tonight. Because you and I both know that he’s nothing more than a technicality.”
For just a few seconds, she hesitated, wavering on the edge of indecision. I drew a finger down the nape of her neck to the middle of her back, causing her to shiver.
“Just for tonight?”
“Yes,” I said, telling her the first lie that I’d ever spoken to her.
I had no plans of giving her up after tonight. No plans of not allowing myself to indulge in this exquisite pleasure again once I took a dive in and swam in her pool.
I’d given up all of my former activities for just a shot to be with Xiomara again. I hadn’t been with Cherish and Tawny in over two months or any other lover. And I was tired of jerking off in the shower and first thing in the morning, alone in my bed.
The nod that Xiomara gave was so imperceptible that I would have missed it if I weren’t expecting it.
“Are you sure?”
“There’s no doubt. I just need to tell Chanda.”
As the song ended, she found her friend and updated her on her whereabouts. Then I took her bare hand in mine and led her off the dance floor through another set of doors at the rear of the club.
CHAPTER 9 – XIOMARA
I HAD NO PLANS OF ATTENDING the party. That was a lie. I’d wanted to, but I’d verbally stated that I wouldn’t. That was a game that I was playing with Chanda and Senait because they’d both known that I would go from the start.
But they’d played along with me from the beginning so that they could “talk me into going.” And when I’d finally agreed, they had me to make them one promise. That no matter what happened tonight, I would just say “yes.”
And now here I was in this room with Lake undressing me. When he had removed my corset, I stood in nothing but my mask, heels, and thong.
“You’re so goddamned, beautiful, Liltee.”
I smiled shyly at him, shivering in the room, not because it was cool but because I was honestly shy. Lake had been the first man that I’d fallen in love with. The only man who ever truly held my heart, and the man that I lost my virginity to.
Here I was once again before him with a woman's body and not that of a young lady. Wondering how he perceived the areas that had changed, like the widening of my hips, the softness of my belly, and how my thighs had thickened.
This man hadn’t promised me anything; he was clear on that tonight. And for that reason alone, I respected him. Ten years ago, he hadn’t led me on with promises of forever; I’d done that to myself. But at least we were clear on where we stood tonight.
I was skilled in the art of making love, but not enough for anyone to consider me a loose woman by any standards. Yet, despite the sexual encounters I’d experienced, I somehow felt like tonight was the only one that would truly matter.
Here I was...with a man who, with one look, could almost make me cum.
Almost.
But then he released me from his compelling gaze as his eyes traveled down my body. Lake
