More Than He Can Handle (6 page)

She felt as if she was about to climax, but Cleveland wasn't finished with her. He flipped her over on to her back, taking control of their rendezvous. Freddie arched her back, pressing her hips into his and matching him thrust for thrust until they were both spent from their lovemaking. Collapsing in each other's arms, they both exhaled. Freddie glanced at Cleveland, his eyes were half closed and he had a satisfied smile on his lips.

Despite herself, she thought about Marcus. He'd always turn his back to her and go to sleep. Yet Cleveland held her tightly as if they'd been lovers for years.

It's just one night, you can let him hold you and give you all the pleasure you can handle, but you will never see him again,
she thought.

“What are you thinking?” he asked, when he noted her silence.

“Just wondering how long we're going to have to wait for round two,” she said, leaning in to kiss him on the neck.

Cleveland looked down at his crotch area; he was erect again. “We can get started right now,” he said as he pulled her on top of him.

 

 

The next morning, Cleveland woke up marveling at Freddie's naked body. She was even more beautiful in the morning light. The sun cast a golden glow over her chocolate body and made her look almost edible. He knew how good she tasted because he'd sampled every inch of her the night before. Cleveland had to admit, he was shocked that he and Freddie ended up in bed. At the rehearsal, she made it known that she didn't like him. Last night, though, she showed him a different side of her. Gently, he stroked her arm, struggling with the fact that he wanted to wake her up and make love to her all over again.

Freddie's eyes fluttered open and her lips curved into a smile. “Good morning,” Cleveland said.

“Morning.”

“Do you want to get some breakfast or something?” he asked.

Freddie shook her head and rose from the bed. Modestly, she pulled a sheet from the bed and wrapped it around her body. “What time is it? My head is killing me,” she said then dashed into the bathroom.

Cleveland furrowed his brows as he sat up in the bed.
What in the hell just happened here?
He walked over to the bathroom and knocked on the door.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

Freddie opened the door and stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel. “I'm fine, I just have to get out of here.”

“What's wrong?” he asked. “I thought . . .”

“It was what it was,” Freddie said as she picked her dress up off the floor. “Wedding sex.”

“Wedding sex? I've never heard of that,” Cleveland said.

“Whatever. You know that this was just a one time thing and don't pretend that there was more than sex between us. Besides, we're never going to see each other again,” she said as she zipped her dress up. “I had a wonderful time.”

Before Cleveland could say anything, Freddie was out the door.
What in the hell just happened?
he thought as he plopped down on the bed.

 

 

Once Freddie was outside of Cleveland's hotel room, she realized that she hadn't driven to the hotel and she needed a ride back to Lillian's mother's house. If she called Michelle, she knew she was going to have to do a lot of explaining and she didn't have money for a cab. The only thing she could do was hope that Cleveland would take her where she needed to go. Slowly she turned around and knocked on his room door.

Seconds later, a shirtless Cleveland opened the door. “This is a surprise. I thought we were never going to see each other again.”

Freddie smiled, though she had a snappy comeback forming in her mind. “Well, last night when we came here, I didn't drive. Didn't bring any cab fare either.”

“Now you need my help?” he said with a smirk. “Let me take a shower and I'll give you a ride.”

She sucked in her bottom lip, thinking that one last ride with Cleveland wouldn't be such a bad idea. As he disappeared behind the bathroom door, part of her wanted to strip out of her dress and join him. But Freddie was the one who set the rule of one time only and she was going to have to abide by that, no matter how tempting it was to know that a naked Cleveland was inches away from her.

Twenty minutes later, Cleveland and Freddie were on their way to Lillian's mother's house. “Do you think you can let me out a few blocks away?” Freddie asked.

“What are you, sixteen?” Cleveland asked with a laugh.

“No, I just don't feel like answering a bunch of questions about you,” she said.

“All right, whatever you wish,” he said as he circled Michelle's house and stopped a block away.

As Freddie reached for the door handle, he locked the door. “Before you go, I have one question. How does this end? Do we shake hands and walk back to our corners?”

“Pretty much. You live in Atlanta, I have a lot going on at home and this is best. We gave in to the temptation and now it's over.”

Cleveland unlocked the door, then handed Freddie one of his business cards. “Just in case you ever want to visit my corner again.”

She looked at the card and shook her head. “I don't think so. Thanks for the memory, though.” Freddie got out of the car and walked the block. She couldn't resist looking back at Cleveland as he drove away. The time she spent with him was a memory that she wasn't going to soon forget.

 

Cleveland sat in his brother's office, twirling a loc around his finger. In the month since Louis's wedding, Cleveland had thought of nothing but his night with Freddie. She invaded his thoughts whenever a cold wind caressed his cheek or when he had a silent moment alone. She'd been the star of his dreams and the cause of several cold showers. Maybe he'd run into her in New Orleans. But she'd made it clear that what they'd shared was a one time thing.

“If weddings make her crazy like that, I wonder what Mardi Gras does to her,” he mumbled.

“Talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity,” Darren, his brother, said from the doorway. “And what are you doing in my office?”

“Waiting on you,” Cleveland shot back. “I'm out of here in the morning.”

Darren took his seat behind his desk and pushed his brother's feet off the top of it. “I can't believe that you are making Louis send you to New Orleans in exchange for being his best man. If anything, you should be paying him.”

“When is the baby coming?” Cleveland said, changing the subject.

“Your guess is as good as mine. Jill is now two weeks overdue and it's killing her because her laptop won't fit on her lap. She wants to go into the office, but the doctor has her on total bed rest because of her blood pressure.”

“I thought she'd given up control to that dude, Malik?” Cleveland said.

“When have you known my wife to ever give up control of anything? I can see her now when the baby comes, she'll be changing diapers and running her computer company from the baby's nursery. Malik's wife just had a baby about two months ago. It must be something in the water around here. So, you better watch your back, little bro and watch out for Lillian. Since Louis is picking up your hours this week, she's steaming. You were never one of her favorite people anyway.”

“It doesn't matter, she'll get over it,” Cleveland said. But he knew that she could hold a grudge. Lillian was still miffed that Cleveland and Freddie made a mad dash from the reception and didn't show up to take the final pictures.

“Yeah, but you will be hearing about it for a while. Was your romp with the maid of honor worth it?” Darren asked, folding his hands underneath his chin like a therapist.

“You're trying to live vicariously through me now since you're an old married man with a kid on the way?” Cleveland laughed. “Winfred Barker was the most amazing woman that I've ever seen naked.”

Darren shook his head. “I still can't believe you slept with her.”

“We didn't do much sleeping, if you know what I mean,” Cleveland said as the image of Freddie straddling his body in the dingy hotel room flashed in his mind. Licking his lips, he relived the taste of her lips, nipples, and everything else he'd tasted that night.

“So, you have no problem having a one night stand? What are you, a college frat boy?” Darren asked.

“Just because you're an old married man doesn't mean I have to follow your lead,” he said, feeling as if his brother was judging him. “We're adults, it happens.”

“Still, when are you going to find something more meaningful ?”

“When the time is right. And to be honest with you, there is something about Freddie that . . . Never mind. Just know that it was mind blowing sex.”
But could it have been more than that?

“Whatever. Your time off is approved and I hope you don't go to New Orleans and come back with another tale of casual sex. Isn't that chick Freddie from New Orleans?”

Cleveland smiled. “She sure is. Maybe I'll look her up.”

 

 

Sitting in her office at The French Garden Inn, Freddie tried to focus on the reservations that were due in over the next few days. Then she came across his name.

“This can't be right,” she mumbled. Closing her eyes, she pressed her fingers into her temples. She was never supposed to see this man again. He wasn't supposed to come to New Orleans and stay at her boutique hotel for Mardi Gras. And because she'd lost her home to Hurricane Katrina, the hotel also happened to be her home.

Freddie had been living in the hotel since the storm while she decided if she wanted to rebuild her home or not. She'd thought about selling the hotel and relocating, but before she could decide, she had to find out what her mother had been hiding from her about her father.

All of her life, Freddie was under the impression that her father had abandoned the family at a time when they needed him most. Her mother had lost her job, the hotel that the family owned was in disrepair, and her dad just disappeared. Still, it didn't make sense that once Jacques Babineaux was out of their lives that things started looking up. Money appeared out of nowhere and Loraine didn't explain any of it. She said that her father was a selfish bastard and he was as good as dead.

But following Katrina, Freddie found out Jacques hadn't disappeared because he wanted to, he had been sent to federal prison. Freddie had to know why and why he'd never reached out to his only child when she needed him most.

Growing up, things weren't easy for Freddie, and her mother fed her a batch of lies about her father that eventually colored her relationship with men.

What she didn't need was to see Cleveland again. He had sparked a passionate fire inside her that she didn't want ignited again.

Of all the hotels in New Orleans, why had he chosen hers? She picked up the phone and called every hotel within a five mile radius, hoping she could reroute Cleveland, but the answer was the same. No vacancies.

Freddie bit her lip as she hung up the phone, there was no two ways about it—she was spending Mardi Gras with Cleveland Alexander. There was no way to avoid him. She was a very hands-on owner during Mardi Gras, helping her overwhelmed staff and handing beads to her guests as they entered. How was she going to handle seeing Cleveland walk through the entrance of the hotel and having to hand him a string of beads? What was going to happen when her hand grazed his skin or if his fingers touched hers, ever so gently? Would her body suffer a series of hormonal explosions, causing her to leap into his arms and kiss him as if they were the only two people left on the earth?

But what if he isn't alone?
a voice whispered in the back of her head. Freddie figured that Cleveland was probably going to come to The Big Easy with a woman. He probably doesn't even think about what happened after Lillian's wedding, she surmised. Rising to her feet, Freddie decided that she wasn't going to let Cleveland's presence bother her. They were adults who shared a one time sexual experience and neither of them would cross that line ever again.

 

 

After Cleveland packed for his trip, he headed to Louis and Lillian's new house in Stone Mountain. Somehow he was going to have to charm Freddie's address out of Lillian Freeman.

Cleveland knew it wasn't going to be an easy task. Bounding up the steps, he rang the doorbell and waited for Lillian to answer.

Lillian opened the door with a scowl on her face. “What are you doing here? Louis is at the fire station, thanks to you.”

Cleveland smiled. “Can't I come by and check on you?”

“In the five years I've known you, you've never done anything that didn't benefit yourself. Just like my wedding. Louis told me he had to bribe you. If he was really your friend, you would've done it with a smile.” She folded her arms across her chest. “So, Cleveland, what do you really want?”

“Why are you so hard on a brother? May I come in?” he asked.

“Only because my mother taught me manners am I going to invite you in,” Lillian said as she stepped aside. “So, what do you want?”

Cleveland sighed and realized that charm wasn't going to work with Lillian. “I need a favor.”

“Ha! You got some nerve.” She flipped her hair and pursed her lips together in a tight line. “What do you want?”

“You know I'm going down to New Orleans,” he began.

Lillian shook her head furiously. “I will not give you Winfred's number. See, I knew something was going to happen between you two. You kept looking at her like you wanted to rip her clothes off in the middle of the reception hall. Then you two stayed out all night. She doesn't need what you bring into her life.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked. “You don't know anything about me. I mean, I don't want to do anything to Freddie that she doesn't want me to do. Besides, I've never been to New Orleans and I was hoping that she could show me around.”

“Show you around? She's not going to have time for that being that she'll be running her business,” Lillian snapped. “Why don't you get out of here? Freddie is like a sister to me and women are disposable to you. I'm not going to watch you do that to my friend.”

“Whatever, Lillian. I don't know why you have this negative image of me built up in your head. All I want to do is tell the woman hello, since I'm going to be in her city.”

Sighing, Lillian shook her head again. “That's not all you want and I'm not stupid. The two of you didn't spend my wedding night together just talking.”

“You make it sound as if we did something wrong. We're grown-ups and guess what, she doesn't need your protection. What is she, a child?”

“I'm going to say it again. Freddie is my friend and I wouldn't want my worst enemy to get involved with a man like you,” Lillian said.

“A man like me?”

She nodded and pointed her finger at his chest. “Freddie is more than just someone to warm your bed. Just let it go, Cleveland. She has a lot going on and she doesn't need you to add to it.”

“Okay, Lillian, you think that I'm this evil person and I'm out to hurt every woman I run across. So, that explains why you and I have never gotten along. Maybe you should get to know me, I might surprise you,” he said as he turned and headed out the door.

Though he left empty-handed, Cleveland wondered if Freddie was as fragile as Lillian was making her out to be. Maybe he should just forget about her. What they shared was a one time thing and there was no need to try and recreate that night.

Driving home, Cleveland decided that it was best to not even try to find Freddie in New Orleans. He was going to enjoy Mardi Gras and not think about the woman who rocked his world.