Riding the Corporate Ladder (Indigo) (21 page)

* * *

It took her five minutes to coax Spencer out of the shower and another five to get him out the front door. Deena finally had to put his fifty dollars in the sneakers he left on the porch. When she told him where the money was, Spencer got a pep in his step and rushed out, all in all, just as funky as he was when he came in.

Deena took a quick shower and put on a black lace bra with the matching g-string panties. She slipped into a pink Baby Phat robe and took a glass of wine to the living room to wait on her gentleman caller. She was halfway done with her drink when the doorbell rang. She downed the rest of it and got up feeling amorous. She opened the door with her robe open, and the look in Keshaun’s eyes was better than any compliment he could have paid her.

“Damn, baby. I swear you need to be in the movies.”

“I already have a movie,” Deena kidded. “I lost it, though. I’m sure it’ll resurface when I get famous.”

“If I ever run across it, I’m definitely buying it,” Keshaun said. Today he wore khaki Dickey pants with a blue and white Tony Romo jersey. He was fresh and clean and black like coffee with no cream. He moved in to embrace her, sliding his hands under the robe so he could feel her bare flesh. His hands were big and warm, and they felt good on her sides and back.

“I swear, baby, you’re awesome,” he said. “You don’t know how bad you are, do you?”

Actually Deena did know she was a bad bitch, but she remained mute. She kicked the door closed with her foot and lifted Keshaun’s shirt so she could reach down in his pants. But he broke away from the embrace. He went to the couch and sat down, and then patted the cushion next to him.

“Come here,” he said. “Let’s talk for a while. How was your day?”

Deena gave him a queer expression. “It was good,” she said. She took the seat next to him and reached into his lap again. He was hard, and the feel of his erection made her heart skip a beat. But Keshaun pushed her hand away playfully.

“Quit it, baby. I want to know about your day, for real.”

“I gotta go to sleep soon,” Deena said, and again reached for his manhood. “Why don’t we take care of this first?”

Again he blocked her. “Deena, we ain’t never gon’ have a real relationship like this. All we do is sleep together. I’m trying to be your man.”

“You want a real relationship, Keshaun?”

He nodded. “I do.”

Deena sat back and stared at him. “It’s eleven o’clock. You only come over this late for one reason.”

He looked away. “It don’t always have to be like that.”

Deena didn’t understand why he was still pushing this issue. “Well, if you don’t want it like that, you need to call and invite me to dinner or a movie. I don’t need you showing up at eleven o’clock asking about my day. I gotta work tomorrow, and I need my sleep. If you don’t want me to touch you, then you can leave.”

His face washed over with what Deena would’ve sworn was pure hatred, but then his features softened and he was back to the same old Keshaun. He stood but did not head for the front door.

“All right,” he said.

“All right what?”

“Let’s go to the bedroom. I told you I was gonna take care of you.”

Deena stood and wrapped her arms around his waist. “You mad?”

He shook his head. “Naw, I ain’t mad.”

“You’re going to have to do everything you promised me the other day,” Deena kidded.

But Keshaun said, “All right.”

She pushed away from him. “For real?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Sooner or later you gonna see how much I love you. And you gonna love me, too.”

Deena doubted that very seriously, but if Keshaun was going to let her climb on his face, she wasn’t going to mess that up. She grabbed his arm and pulled him down the hallway.

“Come on.”

* * *

In the bedroom, Deena dropped her robe and went to the stereo to put on a mix she made of Keith Sweat’s greatest hits. The first song was “Nobody”, and that was coincidentally appropriate because Keshaun wanted her so bad, he would try to be the best she ever had.

Deena sat on the corner of her bed. Keshaun came and stood between her legs. She looked up at him, and saw that his eyes were glazed and wistful. He took off his shirt, almost in a trance. Deena put her hands on his belly and leaned forward to kiss his chest. His stomach jumped when her lips came in contact with his hot flesh. She smiled and kissed him again.

She rubbed him gently from his collar bones to his belly button. She undid his pants and let them fall in a puddle around his ankles. His erection poked through his boxers. Deena grabbed hold of it with a smile. She freed his penis from the undergarment and marveled at the shape and size. Keshaun was long and thick; it was the best of both words. She grabbed hold with both hands and leaned forward to swallow him whole, but he backed away.

Deena thought he was still upset, and the anger quickly rose in her as well, but when she looked up, Keshaun was smiling.

“That’s not how I said it was gonna go.”

“How’d you say it was supposed to go?” Deena asked. She remembered every sticky detail, but was still not convinced he would go through with it.

Fortunately, Keshaun was a man of his word. He put a condom on and climbed onto the bed and lay flat on his back. Deena took off her panties and crawled on top of him like a panther. She straddled him, but didn’t slide down onto his erection. She crawled forward, brushing her public hairs on his torso, leaving a thin trail of her moisture on his belly. She watched his eyes the whole time, but couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

When her hot mound was on his chest and he still hadn’t stopped her, Deena grabbed the headboard like she said she would and moved her knees over his shoulders. When her positioning was perfect, she looked down between her legs and he was watching her. He reached up and caressed her thighs. He pulled her down slightly until she felt his breath on her labia. He pulled her down a little more, and Deena exhaled with a deep shudder. He lapped her juices with his hot tongue, and her legs trembled.

She looked up to the ceiling, holding the headboard so hard her knuckles were white. Without warning, she slipped into another world. A smooth chill went through her whole body. He squeezed her thighs and her nipples became erect. Her heart quickened, and then mellowed. She felt him in her stomach, all the way to her chest.

She was hesitant at first, but Keshaun squeezed her ass tightly and kept pulling her down. Deena finally yielded to the pleasures with little regard to whether he could breathe or not.

Two minutes later she was working her hips like a porno flick.

Five minutes later she was on her second orgasm, and Keshaun’s face was a mess with her essence. Deena could have stayed up there forever, but her legs were weak and she was beyond satisfied. She thanked God for her good fortunes one more time and then dismounted. She gave Keshaun the most gracious smile as she backed away, and he returned it. Halfway down his body Deena bumped into a still very stiff penis, and that made her forget all about how tired she was.

She lifted her hips and easily took him into her, and that was like heaven all over again. He filled her completely and wholly, and Deena didn’t think he’d ever pleased her as much. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She leaned forward and put her hands on his chest for support. She grinded smoothly, watching his face, watching her juices glisten on his lips. In the background Keith Sweat said he would make it last forever.

Keshaun came within minutes. He grabbed her hips and pulled her down hard when he did. Deena thought she could take all of him, but there was at least an inch he’d been hiding somewhere. He hit the deep end, and Deena lost control as well. She exploded a third time and thought she might drift right up into the night-time clouds.

She fell on top of her man for the evening breathing hard. She was spent, and fulfilled, and relaxed beyond measure. She closed her eyes and soon fell asleep with her head on his chest. Keshaun wrapped his arms around her. Deena felt him still inside her as she dozed. She didn’t think he ever pulled out.

* * *

But at some point he did. Deena woke up at three in the morning and found herself in bed alone. Initially it upset her that he would leave without saying goodbye, but the more she thought about it, the less she cared. Keshaun was a joke, and he was bringing more stress than sex lately. If last night was their finale, she could accept that. They certainly went out with a bang. She sat up in bed smiling at the still-fresh memories.

She was tired, but she had to get up because Keshaun couldn’t have locked the door after himself unless he went out through the back door. And she doubted he was that smart.

The house was completely dark, but Deena navigated her hallways easily. The more her eyes adjusted to the gloom, the more she could see, and that biological fact gave her the shock of her life when she got to the living room.

Deena saw a dark figure hunkered down next to her couch. Her heart stopped beating completely for a second. She threw a hand over her mouth to muffle a scream, but even in her state of panic logic kicked in.

She knew that Boogie wouldn’t be sleeping so peacefully if a stranger was in her house. It also occurred to her that Keshaun never once left without saying goodbye. He spent the night with her six times already, and he was always in bed when she woke up. And now that she was thinking about Keshaun, she realized the crouching figure in her living room was roughly the size of her man for the evening.

Her mind made up, Deena flipped the light switch—and immediately regretted exposing herself to this ghastly sight. The person hunkered down next to her couch was Keshaun, but that realization isn’t what gave Deena a sinking feeling in her chest.

The fact that Keshaun was rifling through her purse is what hurt her. He already had a stack of twenties in hand, but apparently he thought she had more hidden. Deena’s belongings, her very personal belongings, were strewn about the floor like litter.

Keshaun looked up at her and didn’t even have the decency to register shame for his actions. He looked a little surprised she caught him, but not at all remorseful. He wore only a pair of boxer shorts. Deena had on a bra and panties.

“What the hell you doing?” she asked.

“What the hell it look like?” he said.

Deena’s blood boiled. It swirled through her veins like molten lava. Her first reaction was to snatch her purse from his greasy paws, and she charged forward to do just that.

It didn’t immediately occur to her that Keshaun was a big man, and he might not want to give back his loot. Deena considered that when she got within arm’s length, but it was too late for an alternative plan at that point.

Keshaun stood quickly and caught her with a stiff-arm that would have made Emmitt Smith proud. The heel of his hand impacted hard on the center of her chest, bringing Deena’s forward momentum to an abrupt and jerky halt. She stumbled back a few steps. She put a hand to her chest and shook her head in disbelief. Her mouth hung open. Her breaths came quick.

Keshaun’s chest rose and fell as well, but he was much calmer. He watched her eyes with little guilt for the predicament he was in. He bent slowly and picked up the twenties he pilfered. Deena knew she had about two hundred in cash, and it looked like he had all of it.

He reached for her purse again.

Deena’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe his gall. She didn’t know what kind of dope he was high on, but she certainly wasn’t going to let him rifle through her things again—not while she was standing right there. She charged a second time and let out a wild shriek as she left her feet.

Her intent was to land on him—anywhere—with her claws and fangs extended. She wanted to leave so many scars, anyone who saw Keshaun the next day would think he raped someone. And that’s exactly what this felt like. She never thought he would violate her like this. She couldn’t believe he was so desperate and disrespectful.

She couldn’t believe he was so strong.

Keshaun swatted her out of the air like a bug. Deena fell awkwardly to the earth and slammed down hard on the living room floor. Her shoulder impacted the corner of her coffee table, and a bright flash of pain obscured her vision for a second. She saw gray and black dots, but beyond them she saw Keshaun. She rolled onto her side, reaching for her throbbing scapula.

“Ow, man! What the hell!”

Boogie scurried into the room like a gray fur ball, barking as he came. He surveyed the scene in a microsecond and rushed to the aggressor, growling and nipping at Keshaun’s ankle.

“Boogie!” Deena tried to call him away, but the pooch was possessed. His muzzle was twisted in a sneer. The hair stood on his neck and shoulders. His little teeth were poised to tear flesh from bone, although he had never attacked anything meaner than his Kibbles and Bits.

Keshaun lifted his foot and Deena knew he was going to stomp down on her baby, breaking his back like a rattrap.

“Boogie!”

But the big foot came down hard on the floor right next to the dog instead. The whole room shook with the impact.