Love Delayed (14 page)

“I don’t know,
Zo. This seems fishy.” I balled up my mouth.

“
It’s simple.” She pushed off as she moved to stand in front of me, wrapping her arms around my waist. Zoey loved to touch. “Name one thing you want to do together right now.” Her little head was at my chest with her chin in the air so she could see my face. I’d hope she didn’t feel my dick inflating.

My eyes
scanned out the window, straight ahead and saw the snow had come down pretty quickly since we’d returned from the grocery store. I wanted to ruffle her feathers, so to speak.

“I want to go outside in the snow.” I squinted my eyes, seeing if she’d bail out of her own proposal.

“Okay,” she perked up. “Meet you back down here in ten!” She smiled and damn near ran out of the kitchen.

Less than twenty minutes later we were out in the back
flinging snow at one another. Zoey jumped on my back, trying to get me to fall into the snow. She was very physical; always touching and trying to roughhouse with me. It was cute. Maybe because I knew she could never overpower me, even when I conceded and let her take me down. I found myself making animalistic noises to scare her as she ran for cover. We played out there for over an hour before calling it quits.

Zoey
showered, and while I went downstairs to run, she cooked dinner. After my time on the treadmill, I showered and slipped on fresh clothes. I went looking for Zoey and found her in the guest bedroom. She was lying on the bed, looking at her phone.

“Hey, you bored yet?” I asked from the door.

She glanced up at me, but didn’t have the smile or sneaky grin she usually wore.

“I thought you got lost in this place,” she
noted on a yawn as she stretched in the bed.

“Funny,” I chuckled. “Is dinner ready? You ready to eat?”

“No. I’m not all that hungry yet.” She sat up on the bed, then
that
smile slowly appeared.
So damn pretty
. “And we can’t eat yet. I haven’t gotten my turn at the game.”

I had to take a second to think of what the hell she was talking about. Then it hit me; the damn game she proposed earlier. She must have been able to see me registering
it from the look on my face because her cocky grin appeared.

“
Mmmmhmmm!” she confirmed smugly. “Don’t think I forgot.”

Her expression was sly, but seeing that she hadn’t tried anything since last night, I couldn’t believe it was suggestive. All day, I’d been questioning my decision of turning her away. Suddenly, there was nothing I wanted more than to explore that delicious body of hers.
Shit! I can’t think about that right now!
I didn’t want to ruin my friendship with her, no matter how much it made me feel like a bitch. 

Zoey
jumped off the bed and met me at the door. She nudged my arm with her fist. “My turn to play “Play the Game You Want to Play.”
And my game is “Hide and Go Seek”!”

Zoey
’s eyes grew big as lemons, she was so fucking excited. I thought it was funny and busted out laughing.

“Hey!”
She punched me this time. “I don’t see what’s so funny!”

“
“Hide and Go Seek” in the house, Zo? What are we…three years old?”

“Did I laugh when you wanted to go play in the snow?”

Trying to slow my breath, I argued, “That was more like a physical activity.” She had to be kidding me.

“Well, this one is more mental.” She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. She wasn’t kidding.

“Okay,” I exhaled. “When do you wanna get started?”

“Now!” she bounced on her toes in
delight. “And to show forgiveness for your lack of appreciation of my game, I’ll let you go first. The only rules are you cannot leave the house and cannot hide behind locked doors. Deal?” She extended her little hand.

I took it and gave her a firm shake. “Deal.”

“Yippee!” she jumped up and down on her toes again. I couldn’t ignore her boobs bouncing in her thin t-shirt. “Now, you go and I’ll count to fifty.”

She turned back into the room and started slowly counting. I stood there for a few second
s, watching her round booty jiggle, remembering why I decided to go along with this ridiculousness in the first place. By the time she got to twelve, I hauled ass out the door. I ran down the spiral staircase and hung a left. I couldn’t believe how giddy I felt about hiding at my age. But as my socks slid against the shiny marble floors, it took my interest to a next level. I glided towards my study, but quickly decided that was too easy a location. I needed to make her search more difficult to end this game prematurely.
She’ll get so frustrated that she’ll forfeit her turn and call it quits
.

I opened the door to the basement level and ran past my gym, sauna, wine c
ellar, basketball court, and pool room. I didn’t stop until I got to the storage room where the boiler was. Then I went deep inside the room and hid underneath the small window. From there I had perfect lighting to view the door
in case she was smart enough to find me all the way back here
.   

My damn phone went off in my pocket. Quickly, I jumped to pull it out and switch off the ringer clip. It was a message from Alton.

Coach wants us early
Wed morning.

I snorted.
Don’t you think he told me dumb ass.

O
yeah. I guess so. LMAO. Im just bored as fiduk. What ass u into tonite?

How
ironic a question. You mean
whose
ass I
want to be
into, but can’t man the fuck up.

Just
chillin’ at the crib.
I decided on.

U
down the road or up the block?

Up the block.
I replied.

Shit! Why the fuck did I tell
him that? Now, his ass will be over while Zo—

“Here you are!”
Zoey whispered hard, scaring the shit out of me.

“
Muthafuckin…!
” I damn near jumped out of my fucking socks.

Zoey
held her stomach as she fell over laughing. I was mad as hell. Thanks to fucking Alton, I lost a game of “Hide and Go Seek”…
in my house
…to a damn girl! Zoey couldn’t stop laughing. She had tears falling from her eyes and could barely breathe. As fuming as I was, there was something about her laughter that nulled my irritation.

“Stent!” I heard like a balloon popping. I found
Zoey, whose breaths were now coming in longer draws, looking at me.

“Huhn?” I asked.

“Who was that?” she asked in a tone that told me she was repeating herself.

“Oh!
Ummm…Alton’s dumb ass!” I grabbed my phone from the floor where it had landed.

“Well, give him my thanks for making this so easy. You didn’t even hear me open the
d
-door!” she choked on her laughter.

Yeah, I damn sure will be telling his ass something.
Even unknowingly, he put my ass out there.

“Your turn!” she yelled while
she headed to the door, still laughing. “You have to count to fifty!”

I glanced down
at my phone and found Al’s last message.

Cool.
Im cumin thru tomar

Don’t even waste your
fuckin time!
He’d probably interfere in something else.

Wha
da fuk crawled up yo ass?

Before I could answer, my phone lit up with a call.

“Yeah, Zeek,” I answered.  

“Stent! I’m glad I caught you,” my
jeweler damn near shouted in my ear. “I wanted to know if you approved that design I sent over last week. I want to get started on it before the Valentine’s Day crowd, man.”

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself from being scared the shit out of. I headed towards the door believing it had been at least fifty seconds. As I searched each unlocked room of the basement I spoke about the details of a diamond chain I was having made. Thank
god there were just a few unlocked rooms down there; I could have been searching for hours.

I made my way to the main level, going room to room like a damn fourth grader. Midway through the house, I got discouraged, believing my conversation with
Zeek was distracting my manhunt. He was asking me to recall details from his sketch.

“Let
me go grab that from my bedroom. I’m on my way there now,” I informed as I trekked the steps, two at a time.

“Okay, Stent, man, but it’s on the edge
of the cut that I altered. What you were asking for could compromise the security of the diamonds,” he replied, still trying to make his point.

“All right, I see what you mean. I just need to see—”

My words were clipped at the sight of Zoey’s naked body in front of my bed. Her face was blank. Her hands were clasped behind her…
expressing restraint
. Her toned right leg was crossed over her left. Her striking dark chocolate nipples were peaked. And there was something about the close cut bed of hair in her pelvis, neatly shaped that made my tongue curl my mouth.

Initially, it felt like a set up. Well, I’d been in the game long enough to know it
was
a set up…but not like the fucking vultures that come with being in the league. This was my sweet Zoey. The Zoey that had no damn clue of my salary. The one who probably didn’t even know what position I played. Zoey didn’t know about my
Pepsi
contract, or the
McDonald’s
endorsement deal I’d just renewed, or about the sneaker line with
Nike
, or the
Cobalt
investment deal I’d just signed with Azmir Jacobs.

This was a different type of plotting.

But what the fuck?

~~~~~~~~~~

~
Zoey
~

“
Yo, Zeek, man, I’mma hit you back,” he spoke throatily into the phone before dropping it from his ear.

Expressionless, h
e stood there, staring at me from head to toe, not moving an inch. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting.
What was I expecting?
Eager anticipation perhaps. But not this.

His mouth finally opened and my heartbeat sped up. Then he closed it again
and my breathing stopped. Stenton looked pained...certainly not up for what I was offering.

His mouth opened again and I refused to give him a reason to say no.

“We have condoms...all different brands and sizes for your choosing,” I blurted out and then tried to smile.

He licked his lips and
roughly brushed his face with a hand, looking away momentarily before returning his gaze to me.

“I wasn
’t going to say that,” he informed, gruffly.

“Well, what were you going to say?”
Why did I ask that?
I told myself going into this plan that I wouldn’t give him even a window to exit again. We were doing this tonight.
Now!

He closed his eyes while taking a deep breath. My heart stammer
ed in my chest and my palms grew clammy.

“I was just
gonna...” He shifted in stance. “I don’t get no lingerie or nothing? I was looking forward to ripping it off.”

I cracked a
quivering smile. Still unable to move, I let out the air I’d been holding.
I don’t own lingerie.
The closest thing I had to it were slips for church. I wore them under my usher uniform, and even those I shared with Ruth.

But still
, Stent made not one advancement toward me. He didn’t smile either. I arched a brow, goading him.
Why did I do that
…and so naturally? Stent brought out wanton behavior in me, forced me to push the barriers of my normal conduct. Apparently, it worked. In seconds, he pounced on me.

“
Uhhhhhh!
” flew from my lungs as my back slammed into the firm mattress, and in an instant, Stenton was sucking my tongue from my mouth.

White-hot e
xcitement blossomed in my belly as his delicious virile scent assaulted all of my sense causing me to shiver. I almost couldn’t keep up with his rapid movements. My hands ran through the small and soft curls of his hair as I greedily pulled him into me. Then his clever tongue moved down my chin, my neck and then over to my clavicle. I lost it. My moans were involuntary, desperate. My pelvis pumped his waist with no particular cadence, and I began to resent the fabric of his clothing providing a barrier between us. Stent’s mouth moved sinuously to my breasts, sucking and pulling and gently scraping my nipples, almost to the point of pain. Never before did I teeter on pleasure and pain. My head lobed left to right in my torment. I didn’t know how to express my uncontrolled pleasure. I’d never experienced such unadulterated bliss. But I knew how to demand what I needed.