Corporate Seduction (16 page)

Reka sucked in her breath as his tongue slowly tortured her.

Without hesitation he spread her legs apart, kissing along her inner thighs until she was shaking beneath him. When he kissed her mound, still covered by her panties, her hands went to his shoulders. “Don’t touch me,” he said in a ragged voice. “Not yet.”

Momentarily startled, she pulled her hands away, planting them on the silk comforter beneath her.

With maddening slowness Khalil pulled her panties down her legs and off her feet. With both his hands he lifted her at the backs of her knees, spreading her wide like a buffet before him. Reka bucked beneath him, her fingers clenching into the spread, biting her bottom lip. All her senses were caught in the flames he ignited and fanned with each caress. He grasped her thighs tightly and touched her center with his tongue, licked her slick folds until her bones went limp and she sank into the mattress, willing this madness to stop but lifting her hips for more. His mouth came down on her, hot and sizzling, his tongue devouring her.

Then when she thought she could take no more of his assault, he slowed his pace, gently lathing her nether lips with his hot tongue. He moaned and oohed and aahed as his head moved up and down and side to side. “So sweet, baby. You are so sweet.”

Reka couldn’t think, couldn’t see her own hand in front of her face. That’s how good his lovin’ was. Her insides trembled, her nerves standing on end waiting, wanting, knowing that pleasure was on its way.

Khalil knew women and he especially knew this woman. He sensed her needs and felt his own clawing viciously at him. But they had time. He had all night to show her what it was to be cherished and wanted and adored. He pulled away, remaining close enough so that his breath still whispered over her. Then, because he couldn’t hold back the urge, he stroked her moistened center with a finger. She moaned. He reveled in the sound she made, then slipped two fingers inside her. Her back arched in response and he knew another level of ecstasy. She was beautiful, her arousal intoxicating. He continued to stroke her.

She screamed and he rose above her, the rhythm of his fingers slowing. “It’s okay, baby. Scream all you want.” His pace quickened and her breathing hitched. He kissed her neck, her chin, then finally her lips a second after another scream broke free.

Her muscles clamped down around his fingers and he moaned as he imagined thrusting his manhood inside of her. “Damn, Reka. You’re killing me.”

Through clouded eyes she watched him remove his hand from between her legs, bringing each finger to his mouth and tasting her yet again. Then she sat up, grabbed his wrist and put one of those damp fingers into her own mouth.

The sensations swirling through him instantly made him dizzy as she pushed his boxers down his hips and grabbed his throbbing manhood with both hands. He moved his finger in and out of her mouth as she moved her hands up and down his rod, her eyes riveted on his.

He was supposed to be loving her. Yet he was lost in the warm sensations her hand on his penis created. She stroked him long and slow and he trembled with fear of exploding in her hand at any moment. “Enough,” he murmured when he thought his eyes would cross from the pleasure. Grabbing her by the shoulders he laid her back on the bed, then leaned over to the nightstand and retrieved a condom. “Put it on,” he said through clenched teeth. “And hurry.”

He was above her, big and dominant, yet her protector also. Her heart hammered in her chest. She wanted this part of him because it was real, it was tangible. Her fingers had never moved so fast as they did when she smoothed the latex over his engorged length.

It didn’t quite fit, but Khalil didn’t care. Pushing her down into the mattress, he covered her, spreading her legs wide with his knees. “Know that I want only you, Reka. No one else but you.” He kissed her lips softly and entered her.

Inch by mesmerizing inch he sank into her as she slowly but surely gave herself completely to him. He wanted only her and there was no doubt she needed only him. She spread her hands over his back, feeling the hard planes flex as he moved deeply inside her.

Moving slowly at first until he thought she had acclimated herself to him, Khalil continued to shower her face and neck with kisses. When he was up to the hilt inside of her, he pulled almost all the way out, then pumped her fiercely, giving her all the pent up frustration she’d built in him since their very first meeting.

Reka wanted to scream, then she wanted to cry, but at last she simply moaned as pleasure unlike any she’d ever known before took over her body. Wrapping her arms and legs securely around Khalil, she rocked her hips along with him, wondering if he were made especially for her.

As the sensations built inside, with her release near and well earned, she felt something else. The something different she’d noticed about him from the very beginning as she struggled to name that feeling, he kissed her again, pulling her back into the cyclone of their loving. Closing her eyes, she gave way to the need. He slid one hand down, over her hip and around to cup her bottom, anchoring her at just the right angle before thrusting into her again and again.

She moaned, bit his shoulder to keep from screaming again. Her mind was a haze, a lust-filled cloud hovering over her body. Holding him close to her she could feel the heightened pace of his heart against her own. He gave her everything she needed, everything she wanted while taking all he wanted in return.

He pushed her faster and faster and she strained to meet him in return. She pulled back from the kiss and struggled to breathe. He held her hips down, thrust into her harder and harder, with quick thrusts full of emotion and desire.

“Look at me,” he demanded.

She did and in his eyes she saw what he’d been trying to tell her all these weeks. “Khalil.”

“Yes,” he whispered, then pumped into her with power fueled by passion and desire and a longing that went deep for both of them.

Her release came fast, along with a realization and an admission.

She felt so complete. He was her completion. He was a good man, just like he’d told her he was. He hadn’t lied to her about Sonya. Even though he hadn’t told her beforehand, if he didn’t love Sonya then there was nothing else she needed to know. He’d said he would respect her, that he would treat her like no man had ever done before, and with each deep stroke he’d vowed it anew. “Khalil,” she breathed into his ear.

“Yes, baby,” he whispered right back in hers.

“I love you.”

Khalil froze on top of her, his eyes searching hers, desperately wanting, needing her words to be true. “What did you say?”

In that moment Reka knew that the other times she’d made this declaration she’d really had no clue what it meant. This time, however, with this man, she was sure she did. Cupping his face in her palms she pulled him close, kissed his lips, then told him again. “I love you.”

Wrapping his arms securely around her, Khalil flipped them over so that she was now on top. With a huge grin he looked up at her. “It’s about damn time.”

“What?” Reka slapped playfully at his chest.

He responded by grabbing each globe of her bottom and squeezing. “I said it’s about damn time. Since that day I saw you in Cienna’s office I’ve wanted nothing more than to hear you say those words.”

She wanted to cry from the sweet sound of his voice alone, but instead she rotated her hips until his erection was deeper than it had been before. “Is that all you wanted when you first saw me?” she asked teasingly.

“Mmmmm,” he groaned. “You know that’s not all I wanted.”

Sitting up straight, she adjusted herself so that he was perfectly embedded inside her. With her palms flat on his chest she lifted slightly, then slid down sinuously. “What else did you want?”

Khalil’s eyes rolled in the back of his head as his fingers sank further into the soft skin of her behind. “Ooooohhhh, I wanted you. Just like this.”

Reka circled her hips, then moved up and down on him over and over until he was biting his bottom lip. “Is this all you wanted, baby?” she asked breathily. “Am I giving you what you want?”

“Damn! You sure are!” he growled, grabbing hold of her hips, adding a little speed to her motions. “And I love it! I love all that you’re giving me!”

Her breasts bounced as Khalil orchestrated her movements. Her head fell back, her hair brushing against her shoulders. She had something else to say but for the life of her she couldn’t think of it right now. He was pumping frantically, moving her the way he wanted her to move and she didn’t give a damn! At this point it was his show; she was simply enjoying the ride.

Khalil watched her with bated breath. She looked wild and savage as her face contorted with the first pangs of release, her hair flying around her face, and those magnificent breasts circling, teasing. He couldn’t think straight anymore. His mind had one focus and one focus only. She was his now, he knew that without a doubt. He would never let her go, not without a fight.

As their bodies thrashed together the world around them seemed to still. Somewhere in the distance he could hear her moans, her cries of pleasure, but he was blinded by his own impending release. Her muscles clenched around his manhood, preparing to pull his release straight from him at any minute now. Holding her hips perfectly still, he slammed up into her one final time, the lower half of his body rigid as stone as something more than just his release was pulled from him.

Reka collapsed on top of him, her cheek pressed firmly against his rock hard chest and fluttering heartbeat.

When some of the smoke had cleared from his mind, Khalil moved his hands up and down her back, holding her tightly in an embrace that he’d dreamed of for weeks now. “Reka?”

“Mmmmm,” she moaned half asleep.

“I love you.”

She smiled but couldn’t manage to lift up. Instead she kissed his chest. “I love you, too.”

Reka awoke the morning after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, in her own bed, her thighs sore from hours of Khalil’s loving. She had no idea what time it was but the minute she cracked her eyes open to the sunlight streaming through the window, the telephone began ringing. Groaning, she rolled over, pulling a pillow over her head.

The ringing persisted.

With a few choice expletives ready and waiting, she reached for the phone and stuck it under the pillow to her ear. “Hello?”

“You were supposed to call me when you got in last night and you didn’t. I expected you to call bright and early this morning but you didn’t. It’s almost eight and we should really have been in the stores an hour ago but we’re not. What the hell is up with you?”

“Dammit, Tacoma, I was trying to get some rest,” she complained. He was rattling in her ear with way too much energy for her taste this morning.

“You’re still asleep?” Tacoma sounded surprised. “Why? Are you sick? Did they do something to you out there in GrenRich? I’ll be right over.”

Abruptly Reka sat up, knocking the pillow to the floor. “No!” Slapping a hand to her forehead she closed her eyes and lowered her voice. “I mean, there’s no need for that. Nothing happened yesterday that I couldn’t handle.”

“Mmm-hmm, but something did happen?”

Lying to Tacoma was useless. He’d eventually get it out of her, if he had to come to her apartment to do so. “Yes, something happened.”

“What? Did they say something to you? ’Cause we can go out there. I’ve got my knife right here,” Tacoma said seriously.

Shaking her head, Reka couldn’t help grinning. “Put your knife away, Rambo.”

“Oh please,” he clucked. “Sly’s got nothing on me. And all that sweat and dirt, uh uh, that’s not attractive at all.”

“We were talking about me and the Franklins, not how attractive or unattractive Sylvester Stallone is.”

“Definitely unattractive as Rambo. Now Samuel L. Jackson as Shaft, that’s another story entirely.”

“Tacoma!”

“What?”

“Can we stay focused here?” Crossing her legs Indian style, Reka sat in the middle of her bed and glanced at the clock. They really should have been at the mall by now.

“All right. You’re the one taking forever to get to your point.”

With a deep sigh Reka switched the phone to her other ear and told Tacoma about Sonya and Naomi. She told him about the rest of the Franklin family and the house in general as well, but, of course, Sonya and Naomi took precedence.

“You mean some skinny heifer had the audacity to show up uninvited? She must be whipped.”

“More like mentally disturbed to me.” Reka picked at a hangnail. “Anyway, Khalil and I talked about it on the drive home and she’s not an issue, although I don’t think she’s gotten that message yet.”

“We can make sure she gets it,” Tacoma suggested.

“Hush, these are not those types of people. If we bumrush this woman, she’ll have us locked up so quick the judge will get called out of his sleep to come get us.”

“We don’t have to do it ourselves.”

Reka grinned. “Nah, I’m going to handle her personally the very next time she crosses the line. I kind of liked the war of words instead of my normal smack first and ask questions later.”

“My, my, my, we sure have changed.”

“Whatever. Are we going shopping or what? I need some new lingerie.” Her feet dangled from the edge of the bed now as she was closer to getting up for the day.

“Lingerie? What do you need? Oh no, you didn’t!” Tacoma exclaimed.

Reka laughed, picturing his bony honey brown legs pacing the kitchen with his black kimono skimming his thighs. “Meet me at the subway in an hour.”

“You better not hang up!”

“Come on, Tacoma, if I tell you everything now what’ll we have to talk about at lunch?” Besides, she did not want to talk in the apartment about what she and Khalil had done last night, Grammy was liable to be on the other line listening at this very minute. She really had to do something about her living arrangements.

“All right, hurry up. And I’m not waiting until lunch either. You’re telling me on the train.”

“Whatever.” Reka laughed as she hung the phone up. Standing, she stretched until she thought her bones would break before meandering on into the shower. Fifteen minutes later she was slipping into jeans and a t-shirt. As she pulled a NYU sweatshirt over that, she glanced at the phone and wondered if she should call Khalil.

Deciding against it, she went to her dresser and put on sterling silver studs, then pulled her hair back into a ponytail. “No makeup today,” she said as she wiped moisturizer onto her face. It was now eight-thirty and she was just walking into the living room when the doorbell rang. A cursory glance around the room told her Grammy wasn’t in here, and for a moment she wondered if she’d stayed at Sunny Days with Cletus. Wouldn’t it be a blessing if Cletus and his shriveled up penis could get her to go back for good?

Reka smiled at that thought as she answered the door. That smile quickly faded.

“Mornin’, beautiful.” Donovan leaned over and kissed her cheek before waltzing right past her into her apartment.

He smelled good and he looked good but he had no business in her house at this time of morning or at any other time, for that matter. Still holding the door open, she turned to him. “I think you must have the wrong apartment,” she said icily.

“C’mon girl, don’t start that again. You told me not to come to your job so I didn’t.” He plopped down on her couch.

“Actually I told you it was over between us so seeing each other again was pointless.”

Donovan scrunched up his face as if he were trying to remember. “I don’t recall you saying all that.”

Waving an impatient hand, she quieted him. “All right, there’s no need to go over exactly what I did or did not say. I’ll say it again, one last time. We are no longer a couple. I’ve moved on, as I’m sure you have. Therefore, there is no reason for us to see each other, at my house, at my job or anywhere else for that matter. Is that clear enough for you?” She hadn’t closed the door and now made a motion with her arm telling him to leave.

Instead, Donovan stood, walked over to her and stood very close. “Can you really say that you don’t want to see me again?” He took another step forward, making her breasts rub against his chest. He cupped the back of her neck and pulled her to him even as he lowered his head to kiss her.

Instinctively Reka turned her head and his kiss landed on her cheek. But Donavan didn’t seem to mind. He kissed her jaw, her neck and was steadily moving downward until she pushed at him with all her might. He stumbled backward with a questioning look on his face.

“What’s up, Reka? Why you actin’ like you don’t remember what we had?”

This time she slammed the door closed because she had no desire for her neighbors to know all her business. “Oh, I remember what we had, Donavan. We had a lot of hot nights. Yes, the sex was truly off the chain with you and me.” Taking a step closer to him, she pointed her finger as she spoke. “I also recall that you were so proud of your sexual prowess that you felt the need to share it with anything with a split between the legs.” She continued jabbing at his chest until Donovan had taken so many steps back he was now up against the wall. “I also remember getting pulled over in your car because of the false tags. And I also remember finding some of your stash in my nightstand drawer. Shall I go on with the memories?”

Donavan sighed. “It’s not like that anymore. I’ve got this new business, so I won’t be hustlin’ no more.”

“I don’t give a damn what you have now. Like I said, we’re finished.” She turned to walk away from him but he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her back roughly against his chest.

“Oh, it’s not over. You think ’cause you hangin’ with that pretty boy now you can just kick me to the curb?”

He kept one arm firmly around her waist while the other hand went to her breast. “Mmmm, you remember how I used to suck on these?” he whispered in her ear.

Reka tried to pull away, repulsed by his touch. “Any boy can suck a breast, Donovan. That doesn’t make you my man.”

“You know I did more to you than that. And you did much more to me in return.” The more she squirmed, the more aroused he became. He’d come to see her this morning because he’d missed her, and even the wild night he’d shared with Sonya didn’t begin to measure up to being with Reka. He could sleep with a million women and not get that same feeling. He needed her back.

When he moved his hand down to rub between her legs, she elbowed him hard in the ribs, then spun around and sent one powerful punch to his groin. Donovan leaned forward, mouth open, eyes bulging, quiet pain soaring through his body. Reka hurried to the door and swung it open. “I don’t give a damn what we did in the past. It’s over now! You can either leave on your own or I’ll call the police to escort you out!”

Staggering, Donovan made his way to the door but found enough breath to look up at her one last time. “You’re gonna be beggin’ me to take you back,” he gasped. “Soon.”

“In your dreams,” she said as she shoved him through the door and slammed it.

* * *

Putting the phone down for the third time since ten o’clock this morning, Khalil looked out onto his busy street, wondering where she was. It was close to one now and he hadn’t spoken to Reka since he’d left her at her door at about two this morning.

He’d wanted her to stay the night, to wake up in his arms this morning, to share breakfast and conversation with him. But she’d declined.

“This is the first time I’ve actually been in love and I don’t want to mess it up by moving too fast. I have a feeling we’ll be spending lots of nights together soon, so this one isn’t a big deal.” She’d stood on tiptoe and kissed him as she said this in the shower.

He’d obliged. Whatever made her happy he was willing to do. Still, he’d wanted to spend the day with her, maybe go shopping since he knew she loved to do that. And, no, he wasn’t going to try and buy her; he simply wanted to be with her. But she wasn’t there.

Holding her in his arms last night had been beyond anything he ever imagined. She was so different from what he was used to, so pleasantly unexpected. He loved her sharp wit, her energetic spirit and her loyalty. She was loyal and devoted to Cienna and Keith for the roles they’d played in her life, for their believing in her. She was strangely loyal to Tacoma and the friendship they shared, the friendship he was just a little bit jealous of from time to time. Tacoma knew her in a way that Khalil was afraid he’d never be able to understand. Yet they shared their own closeness, their new bond forged last night in his bed.

He wasn’t going to crowd her, wasn’t going to push. A woman like Reka needed her space. But dammit, he wanted to see her or at least hear her voice. Leaving the window, he headed towards his room to shower and dress. He was going to stop by her apartment and if she wasn’t there, he’d ask Grammy where she was. They were a couple now, and spending time together was imperative, or at least he told himself it was.

The ringing phone stopped him before he progressed any further. Hoping it was Reka, he lunged for the receiver, snatching it up before its second ring. “Hello.”

“Well, hello. Did I interrupt you?” Sonya asked.

Not bothering to mask his disappointment, Khalil sighed heavily. “All your phone calls and all your appearances interrupt my life. Now what do you want?”

“Are you still angry about yesterday?”

“No. I’m not angry. I’m disappointed in you and in my mother. I thought you were a mature woman, one who could walk away when things were over and done with. I see I was wrong.”

“That’s just it, Khalil, I don’t believe things are over and done with, as you put it. Just because you are sleeping with that woman now doesn’t mean a thing to me.”

He laughed incredulously. “Then you’re worse off than I thought. If I’m sleeping with another woman that means I’m involved with her, I’m committed to her. I don’t sleep around meaninglessly, Sonya.”

“But apparently you did with me,” she said.

“No.” Pinching the bridge of his nose, he tried to remain calm. “What we had was not meaningless; it just wasn’t going in the direction everybody assumed it was. I wasn’t in love with you, not the way a man should be when he marries a woman. I thought you’d appreciate me being candid with you about that.”

“Please, Khalil, we both know the best marriages don’t have an ounce of love in them. The union between you and me will be for profit, a stable merger of our families. It would make our parents extremely happy.”

“It would make me miserable.”

“And that little hottie you’ve got won’t?” Sonya chuckled. “What do you really know about her, Khalil? She doesn’t run in our circles, so why is she so appealing to you? Is it the sex?”

This conversation was quickly getting on his nerves. “That’s none of your business.”

“Then it must be the sex. That’s explainable. I’ve heard she’s quite good.”

Taken aback, Khalil looked at the phone, then asked, “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you I knew Reka, did I? Or I guess I should say know of her?”

“I’m too old for games, Sonya. This conversation is over.” But before he could hang up her words stopped him.

“Ask her about Donovan Jackson, her ex. Or should I say her ex-ex, since they seem to have rekindled their affair.”

He did hang up then, not only because the sound of her voice was grating on his nerves but because the name Donovan Jackson was familiar to him. He’d gone to court with Reka that day last week that she’d had marked on her calendar. Actually, he’d followed her because she never mentioned the court date to him.

Donovan Jackson was named as the owner of the car she was arrested in and, while all the charges against her were dropped, he’d sensed there was a connection between her and this Jackson person. So calling back to his office, his real office, he’d asked an assistant to run a check on the name. The report had come over his personal email on Wednesday, but he’d pushed it to the side. After Tyrese had left his office and he’d gone to see Reka, his attention had been focused solely on finding the source of those emails so he wouldn’t feel that he was betraying Keith and Cienna by being involved with Reka.