All of her hard work had paid off, literally. After signing the contract, Joseph slipped her an envelope with a hefty incentive package to help her during her final year in school and a briefcase full on information about her new job expectations. It had taken everything in her to keep from bursting into tears of joy and laughter. She was on her way to the top and nothing would stop her.
Book One
“Don’t plant seeds in your life that you don’t want to harvest.”
– Linda Artis
Chapter 1
SOMEONE OLD
“OhGrey, I love you so much,” Ivy said, panting heavily as her fiancé lifted her off the ground and carried her to the twin mahogany wood sleigh bed in the corner of the dorm room.
“Yeah. Yeah, me too,” Grey said shortly, placing Ivy carefully on the bed. He really wished they had gone to his place. Ivy’s little room made him feel claustrophobic.
“Oh, don’t forget the condom,” Ivy reminded him hastily as she unbuttoned her soft pink Brooks Brothers Oxford and revealed the black lace bra that invitingly propped up her ample breasts.
“I’ve already got it on,” Grey said, pulling off her wool trousers and relishing in the beauty of her caramel temple.
Looking down in shock, Ivy confirmed his readiness and for a second tried to recall when Grey would have had time to slip on the contraceptive. Reminded of the little time that they had as she saw his tie and shirt hit the ground, she reached out for him and held his beautiful brown, clean-shaven face in her hands.
It had been five days since they were last intimate, which was unusual for the oversexed pair. Nearly at the four-month mark of their engagement, tension had been running high over the last few weeks.
Ivy could only attribute such an untimely funk to Grey’s new promotion at the firm and his heavy load in graduate school. But now they were finally alone, and what had started out as an argument was about to end in the heated pleasure of two young adults releasing all earthly frustration in a thirty-minute session of tantric, erotic and somewhat distasteful sex.
“Wait,” Grey stopped suddenly.
“What?” Ivy’s high was instantly interrupted.
“I think…the condom just broke.” He checked. “Yep, it did.”
Standing up, Grey walked over slowly to the satin lounge chair and retrieved his pants.
“And I don’t have another one with me.”
“But you didn’t even touch me.” Ivy pulled the covers over her exposed body and tried to reclaim her composure.
Disappointed, he slipped on his trousers. “Sorry baby.”
“It’s not your fault,” she said in a pouty voice as she pulling her long locks up into a ponytail.
“You know we could, just this once….” He gave her the look and hoped that she could read between the lines.
“Baby, you know that I want to, but we’ve done so well for so long. We can’t just throw it all away now.”
This is a situation that could be easily solved if you only had a few condoms yourself, Grey thought to himself as he smiled sardonically. And she was supposed to be such a modern woman.
Now, Grey was even more frustrated and ready to leave unless Ivy was willing to give him a little substitution. Watching her jump up and immediately begin to dress, he knew that whatever he had hoped for was out as well.
“One time won’t kill us.” Grey decided to push the subject a little further.
“How long have we been together?” Ivy asked, as she looked at his reflection in her standing mahogany mirror.
Grey sighed heavily. “That’s beside the point.” Lord in heaven knew that he didn’t care to hear another lecture from her at that moment about safe sex. If she got any safer, she would be celibate.
“Five years.” Ivy answered for him as she turned around to face him. “And in five years, we have never gone without protection of some sort.”
“Okay, bravo.” He clapped his hands emphatically. “It’s not like I want to get you pregnant. In fact, I can almost guarantee you 100 percent that I wouldn’t. But even still in the worst case scenario, you act like pregnancy with me is the end of the world.” He knew that his comments would start an argument, but he couldn’t help himself. He was Grey Henderson for God’s Sake. It wasn’t like she was scraping the bottom of the barrel.
“Look, you know I possibly would if I was still on birth control, but until the doctor puts me back on them, we have to be careful. I mean, I’m just now getting into my field. I don’t want to throw it away.” Ivy could feel a headache coming, and she could see that Grey was trying to pick at her again.
“Why do you always take things to the next level? We’re talking about not using a condom once. I would pull out. God, it’s not the end of the world,” Grey snapped, as he slipped on his Louis Vuitton loafers and stood up. It wasn’t worth it to sit and fight with her about something that he could get elsewhere.
“I’m not taking things to the next level, Grey. I just…”Ivy sighed feeling defeated.
“Please, I don’t want the drama this early in the day,” Grey said, clasping his hands together as a gesture of peace. “I’ve got to go anyway.” He hurriedly put on his shirt and tie and grabbed his suit jacket.
“Why do we always have to ruin things?” Ivy crossed her arms and stood bewildered. How had the situation escaladed so quickly?
“We ruin things? Since when have we been the problem?” Grey sighed. He didn’t mean to let his frustration slip out. He was
