Diary of A. . . (10 page)

While preparing to leave for my flight for
New York, I got the strangest call on my cell phone. As I answered,
I didn’t stop moving around my house trying to get ready to get out
the door. Especially with the taxi just outside.

“Hello?” I answered impatiently, hoping this
wasn’t Cassandra calling me with more problems from the office.
Without me there, it seemed as if nothing could get accomplished
correctly. My poor office assistant was taking the full brunt of
the workload because my managers usually came straight to me since
I hadn’t had an office assistant in almost a year.

“Is this Sheryl Banks?” a deep voice asked
on the other line, which very clearly didn’t sound a thing like
Cassandra.

The sensual infliction caught my
attention.

“Yes, this is she.” Since I owed no one
money or was indebted to anyone, I didn’t have a problem telling
people who I was over the phone. Plus it was a number I rarely gave
out.

“This is Theo. We met at the auto show.”

Hence the need to change my panties before I
got on the flight to New York, just from that statement he
made.

“Yes, I remember you, but you caught me at a
bad time. I have a flight to New York leaving from Detroit in six
hours.”

“You can do a lot in six hours, ma’am.”

“How old are you, Theo?” I inquired.

“Thirty-five,” he answered.

“So you’re four years older than me and
you’re calling me ma’am? You can call me Sheryl.”

He was quiet for a moment and then suddenly
burst out with, “You have a very strong personality and there’s
just something about you that I can’t stop thinking about. I know
we only met briefly and I’ve been trying to tell myself that I
couldn’t be this attracted to you because you look like high
maintenance for a man like me, but I have never met a black woman
that affected me like this before.”

His openness and honesty shocked me and
intrigued me. “When would you like to meet me again?” I teased.

“You see,” he said laughing. “Women don’t
usually talk like you do.”

“How do they talk?”

“They play games.”

“I know what I want,” I said simply. “I
don’t have to play games to get what I want. You never answered the
question.”

“Like I said, there’s a lot you can do in
six hours, Sheryl. But if you were on your way out of town, then
that might not be true,” Theo replied.

There was a silence on the phone between the
two of us. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence and oddly, I liked
just knowing he was on the other line. There was something potent
about Theo. Weirdly; I could even still imagine his face and those
nice lips that I had kissed.

Lips that I wouldn’t mind kissing again.

Though I’m a stickler about being extra
early for things, I knew I only needed about two good hours before
my flight. “Well, we could put your theory to the test, while you
treat me to a nice breakfast.”

“It’ll take me an hour to get dressed and
the drive time would be bad for both of us. I’m still lying in
bed.”

“Can you cook breakfast?” I questioned
hopefully. I really had no idea why I was making it so easy for him
to see me. ‘Cause you’re a freak!’ my conscience exclaimed.

You would think I’d be tired after Rahem,
but there was that kissing thing and Theo had been a good
kisser.

“I can make a mean omelet,” he boasted
proudly.

“By the time I arrive, you could have
showered and gotten most of the preparation done. Once we’re
through with breakfast, you could drive me to the airport. Now
what’s your address?”

Theo gave it to me and I took the cab over
there. On my way, I checked on Cassandra. She had a lot of
inquiries from the managers, but she hadn’t planned to call me
until she knew I was headed to New York because I’d worry less in
her opinion.

I told her I didn’t mind being bothered.
Then I gave her a run down of all the ways to solve the managers’
problems. I also told her that if she had any more questions to
just text me with them instead of ringing my phone all the
time.

Finally, I gave Cassandra tips on how to
solve problems I just knew were concurrent. I’d do a
videoconference in New York with the managers this evening and I
let her know to prepare for that.

“I hadn’t planned on staying late, Ms.
Banks,” Cassandra said. “My husband is taking me to see a show at
the Opera House.”

“That’s fine,” I replied. “Just prepare the
meeting and leave.”

I was never one to get in the way of a
marriage. Even though I could work a person to death - I’ve been
known to do that to people - I’ve always been very conscious about
how precious spending time with loved ones was in a person’s
life.

“Thanks, Ms. Banks. When I told my husband
you’d be considerate, he doubted it.”

“I’m a slave master, not a home wrecker,” I
teased.

She got a whoop of laughter out of that
one.

“I’m taking care of some personal business
before I leave the city, okay, Cassandra? Call me only if need
be.”

“Yes, Ms. Banks.”

The cab pulled up to a very low part of
town. Detroit had areas that were called ghettos all over the city.
Unlike some cities where the ghetto was a certain place, in Detroit
one block could be worth over a hundred thousand dollars and if you
go three blocks over, the homes could be worth six thousand. The
diverse income of the city always amazed and astounded me.

I was in the home area where the broken down
colonials could be worth no more than ten thousand. I could
immediately tell that most of the people in the area were renters.
Renters were a far different breed than homeowners. They never
cared about the property or the neighborhood for that matter. Most
were living on the government. When a person in my position stepped
foot over in this area, it was usually on business or to make a
drug buy – although my purpose for today was just to get some
kisses.

For the middle of the morning on a school
day, there were a lot of people out and about, when they should
have been at jobs. I wondered were they collecting my tax dollars
of unemployment when they should be somewhere contributing to the
economy.

Yeah, I know my ideas sound bourgeois, but I
work hard with my brain to make the money I make. I don’t think it
is an impossibility to get where I am in my life right now. I came
from the streets of Detroit, was raised by a single mother and had
an invisible father, just like almost everyone else out there. I
was taught to use my school smarts and apply my street smarts when
necessary.

Theo’s house was gray on the outside. It was
in need of a good power wash, but it looked as if someone had tried
to keep the front yard somewhat clean.

I heard a dog inside. When I rung the
doorbell, I heard a very commanding deep voice tell the dog to shut
up firmly and get back outside.

Suddenly the door swung open. The smell of
eggs and bacon swept over me. A huge man filled the doorway. It
felt like I was standing in the land of giants as I looked up at
him.

Those light brown eyes of Theo’s brought
back instant memories of kissing those soft thick lips that belied
what kind of man I was looking at. I wanted to kiss him again.
Since I was pheening for kisses, I really wanted to do some
deep-throating that would knock my panties off.

Theo gave me that familiar sensual smile. I
longed to feel his body against me without all the security gear.
Although this was the Theo that I remembered, I didn’t remember him
being so big. I swear he looked about six feet nine and weighing
about an even two fifty. He was a head over Mack, but I wasn’t
intimidated.

True, I was standing at five feet four
inches. Even with the three-inch heels I wore, I still only came to
the nipples on Theo’s chest, which were protruding through the
brown undershirt he wore, revealing his arousal or excitement.
Either way he was very happy to see me.

Theo’s dark creamy chocolate skin looked
lickable and his cornrowed hair was tight, as if he’d just gotten
his braids done. He wore blue jeans without a belt, which showed
off his Calvin Klein plaid blue boxers. There were no socks on his
well-maintained feet.

My mother used to tell me that you could
tell a good man by the way he took care of his teeth and feet.

This one was very well taken care of – no
doubt about it.

“Welcome to mi’casa, Senorita Banks,” Theo
said.

“Thank you for the invite.”

“You look just as good as you did the first
time I saw you.”

“Are you going to invite me in or were we
planning on having breakfast out here in the hood?”

He chuckled and moved to the side to allow
me entrance into his home. Immediately I could tell that Theo had
inherited the house from some old lady, because the furniture
looked like it had not been changed since the early eighties. Yet
he had kept everything in good shape.

I listened to him get my bags inside and
then close the door behind me before coming up close. I didn’t turn
around, but just enjoyed his proximity.

Theo wanted to touch me. I could feel it,
but I really couldn’t explain how I knew. Deep down inside, I
wanted him to touch me, too, but I was really trying to be a good
girl.

“So is this trip to New York, business or
pleasure?” he questioned.

I turned slightly as we walked slowly down
the hall, trying to inconspicuously inspect each other. I assumed
this hallway was going towards the kitchen because the smell of
food was getting closer and closer.

“Business,” I answered casually. “That’s
what I do most of the time is business. Keeps me out of
trouble.”

Theo paused in the middle of the hallway and
faced me completely. I faced him, too, looking upwards at his
features. I liked how his lips curled into a warm smile and that
those brown sugar eyes gave me direct eye contact as if he didn’t
bullshit, even if he wanted to.

“Let’s get the uncomfortable situation out
the way, Sheryl.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know ‘bout you, but ever since I
kissed you I’ve been wanting to kiss you again. I have a feeling
you want me to kiss you again, too.”

Defensively, trying not to act as if he had
heard my thoughts, I asked, “Oh, so you’ve got E.S.P.?”

Those nice lips of his widened and he said,
“I’ve got a lot more than that. Are you ready?” Theo moved that big
body closer to me.

Instinctively, I stepped back, but I
couldn’t go far enough as my back pressed against the wall. He
placed the palms of his large hands on the side of my head against
the wall and looked down at me as if he was going to devour me like
a cannibal.

Forcing myself not to show my arousal, I
asked composedly, “Ready for what?”

As he leaned closer to my face until he was
an inch away from my nose, his voice was almost a deep husky
whisper. “For our first willing kiss.”

Now at this point, you’re probably
screaming, “What about Mackeroy?”

Entry Seventeen

Before I continue, let’s evaluate here for a
moment.

Mackeroy Jackson is filthy rich! He could
buy me anything I desired and given the chance he would most likely
make a commitment to me and treat me like a queen.

I can just hear you men saying, “See this
cow has a good man and she’s going to fuck it up with another
man.”

But you (men) and I both know how pleasure
can override many decisions that should have been made in life and
how you really can’t regret it because it felt so good.

That’s how I felt at that moment looking up
into Theo’s face. I knew I could get pleasured beyond belief with
this man and I rarely felt like that with anyone.

The man standing in front of me now was a
security guard. A security guard! Someone who lived from paycheck
to paycheck and couldn’t afford to buy the thousand dollar suit on
my body, let alone afford to keep my hair and nails up to par the
way I liked them to be.

But my body didn’t crave material things.
Plus, I’m not financially strapped for cash, so it didn’t matter
what Theo could do for my pockets. What I cared about was how good
he could make me feel. And Theo had this look about him that put a
capital P on the word pleasure.

He was so damn good-looking. He had that
rough magnificence that just made you mentally scream, “Damn” when
you looked upon him. Women trembled in fear and shuddered with
desire at the same time just from Theo’s presence alone. While Mack
had the charm, charisma, sophistication and masculinity that looked
like a neat picture – a secure picture.

Both men were visually great looking, but
Theo had a sensuality that aroused a woman just by proximity.

And I was definitely aroused.

So why can’t I control myself? Why can’t I
keep my word to Mack to be only his?

Because Theo was right there in front of me,
with his body pressed against mine, looking and feeling sexy as
hell. Everything was bulging out, including between his legs, which
I felt pressed against my stomach. His luscious chocolate skin
screamed for my touch and the smell of him aroused me even
more.

I didn’t reply to Theo’s last comment, but
when I tilted my head to the side, he didn’t need any words to let
him know that this time I wanted to be kissed by him.

I remembered that first kiss from the day of
the auto show. I didn’t have time to really enjoy it as much as I
wanted to, but now as I took in the full flavor of Theo, I was able
to relish every second. His lips probed over mine, before his
tongue ventured into my mouth. He tasted like toothpaste. He
smelled all man and my mouth was thoroughly delighting in the
effervesce.

Can a woman scream, moan, and kiss all at
the same time? I wanted to do all three as Theo’s arms circled my
waist to mold me even closer to his body. Oh lawd! I was dying and
living at the same time, and I knew a river of passion had just
burst forth from my innards.