Risking It All (3 page)

Michael relied on material things in his life to keep him happy and he always had to have the latest and best among all his friends and family members. And that included having the best looking female on his arm at all times. At five feet eight inches tall, Julissa stood only two inches shorter than Michael. He always told her that she had a womanly body
like
Beyoncé
, an ass like J. Lo
, and legs that went on for days. She’d grown her hair long just for Michael, just so he could run his hands through them while they were making love. Only Julissa was worried that the fire that once existed in Michael’s eyes when he looked at her was now gone
.

She yearned for that type of fire again.

**

When the rehearsal was over, Julissa kissed Christina and Myra goodbye and was prepared to leave, but Ed was still on her heels. Between aggressive advances from Ed and admiring looks from the handsome and irresistible Quinton, she didn’t know which way to turn. Julissa knew that a man like Quinton could never really be interested in her.
Plus, h
er relationship with Michael was also on lock.

“Where are you going so fast, Lissa?” Ed followed her closely out of the ballroom.

“Home. The rehearsal is over,” she said, matter-of-factly.

“What about dinner tonight? I know that finger food didn’t fill anyone up.”

“Ed, how many times do I have to tell you that I cannot and will not date you?” Julissa walked faster. She knew that Michael was waiting outside to pick her up.

“Who said anything about a date?”

“The answer has always been no, Ed.”

“Well, just askin’. One day you’re
gonna be single again, Julissa.”

Julissa rolled her eyes, relieved and happy that Ed had stopped following her. She was even more relieved when she spotted Michael’s familiar white Mercedes-Benz parked smack-dab in the middle of the front of the hotel entrance. It looked like two valet attendants were pointing towards regular parking and trying to get Michael to move his car from being illegally parked, curb-side. Michael wasn’t trying to budge. He was just stubborn like that.

Julissa sighed and walked towards the car.

To confirm her suspicions, the attendants had been pleading with Michael to move his car. “Mister, we will ask you one more time to
—
”

“See, here she is!” Michael gestured towards her,
as she opened the door. “
I was only here for ten fuckin’ minutes.”

As she was getting into the car, she suddenly remembered something and turned back to the sliding glass doors of the hotel entrance. Sure enough, Quinton was standing two feet away from the doorman, looking at her. She suddenly felt bad for walking out without saying anything. They couldn’t continue their conversation during the rehearsal because it would have been too difficult and maybe a little rude to everyone else.

Quinton held up his palm and waved at her, smiling.

She smiled back.

“Julissa! Get your ass in here before they get security on my tail!” The barking from Michael brought her back to real life.

She to
ok one last look at the man who
she would never get to know, slid her backside in the pass
enger seat, and closed the door.

By the time Julissa and Michael arrived home, it was wel
l into the night. The day’s events had her exhausted and
ready for bed.

Michael
pressed the remote garage door opener
clipped to the sun visor
and pulled his Benz in th
eir garage next to her Lexus
.

“I know it’s kind of late to eat anything heavy, but are you hungry? I could make a nice salad, if you want.” Julissa grabbed her hand bag, as Michael turned off the car engine.

“That sounds nice, baby. Maybe a little wine to go with it to unwind before bed.”

“You got it.”

Julissa entered the four bedroom, four bathroom home through the kitchen with Michael behind her with
a couple shopping bags.  He’d
purchased the home over a year ago after deciding that he was satisfied with his current career. Before moving to Atlanta to accept the job offer as an investment portfolio manager four years ago, he was living out in Washington, D.C. where he was born and raised. He moved to Atlanta on a whim hoping that it was a good move. It turned out to be an excellent move for Michael. After about two promotions, he was now making much more than some of his colleagues and had gotten numerous recognition awards for being one of t
he top performers in his division
.

“I’m gonna take a quick shower, Julissa. Think the salad will be ready by then?” Michael turned up a bottle of water to his face and peered at her over the top, watching her from across the kitchen as she grabbed the bowls and uten
sils
.

“Sure.
” She watched Michael’s retreating back as he walked out of the kitchen. Michael relied on her daily for bre
akfast and dinner. In fact, six
hours of Julissa’s day was dedicated to preparing his meals, cleaning house, and organizing. For four to five hours a day, Julissa worked her part time job as a realtor, from showing houses, going to closings, going to auctions, and listing properties. Julissa welcomed the break in daily routine when Michael went out of town numerous times a year on business. Sometimes, he was only gone for one day and other times for the week. On those day
s, she would treat herself to me-time
, like a trip to the spa, or a shopping spree at the mall, or even a night cuddled up on the couch watching pay-per-view movies, eating ice cream, popcorn, and all the junk food she could think of. Even a night on the town with Christina or Shanice was expected. Although, since Christina had been engaged and with planning for the
wedding, the time with her had been
limited. Since Shanice was always the unattached female in the group, a night with her me
an
t a night chasing after men.

Julissa decided to move in with Michael at his request. They both knew that her lease on her condo was coming up for renewal and they had been talking about it. Since Julissa was already at Michael’s home 24/7 before she officially moved in, they thought it made financial sense to share a house. Julissa agreed to give it a try and moved her stuff
in after her lease was up. Now
their life was too much a routine to change things now. The only thing Julissa wanted to change was her title.
She was already playing house
, no
w she just couldn’t wait to be
a wife
.

But it was always…
After we hire someone to help me out with these new clients, I promise, we will start planning our wedding. Right now, there is too much going on at that office
…

Now months later, after he had hired two new employees under him, they had still not planned for anything and there still was no ring on her finger to prove it.

Julissa took the salad bowl into the family room, where she knew Michael had sat down in front of the television set. She placed the bowl and glass of red wine on the coffee table in front of him and sat down beside him.

“That concert was pretty good, wasn’t it?” Julissa pulled up her bare feet on the sofa and tucked it under her bottom.

“Yeah.” Michael began eating
the salad and wine that she had just placed before him.

“I loved it. We should do things like that more often. How are things at the office? Are you caught up, yet?” Julissa reached out and tucked in the tag sticking out of the neck of his white tee. She let
her fingers linger there
for a while, rubbing
and running them
along the base of his neck.

“Just about…”

“You don’t sound like you’re too excited about it.”

“Well, I’
m glad that things are finally caught up. But, we’ve acquired a few new international clients and I foresee a trip overseas in the near future.”

“How soon?” Julissa turned up her lips at the thought of him going away on business again. He had just returned only a week ago after being in New York for four days. Even though, Julissa loved the freedom, she didn’t like the fact that she would spend more nights alone. Now that Christina was getting married, she had a limited amount of people to turn to now to make the days go by faster.

“Pretty soon. Probably in a matter of weeks. I won’t know anything really until the last minute.” Michael took another sip of wine, placed the glass back on the table, and picked up the remote beside it. He flipped through a couple channels, before finally turning to look at her. “Aren’t you gonna eat? I know you’re hungry.”

“Christina had some appetizers at the rehearsal. I’m not hungry, but I could use some dessert.” Julissa placed emphasis on the word dessert, lifting her eyebrow.

“Dessert, huh?” Michael smiled.

“Yes, I’ve had a taste for a certain type of dessert for the past week.” Julissa leaned forward and kissed her boyfriend softly beh
ind the ear. She traced her lips over
his neck and throat.

Michael dropped the remote and grabbed her by the waist, returning the kisses. He moved his soft hands behind her n
eck and pulled her in closer
. His lips were warm and inviting. The back of her neck started to h
eat up
and h
er body began to respond in kind
.
He pulled her in closer
, so
she ceased the moment
and moved h
er legs over him to sit o
n his lap. Her pussy
was directly above the bulge in his pajama pants.

When she reached down to touch him, he stiffened and pushed her away, as if stunned by her actions.

“You know, I just remembered something.” Michael got up, sliding her off, and stepped away from the couch. Without saying another word, he disappeared through the doors leading into their home office.

Getting the point, Julissa straightened up her shirt and headed up the stairs. Julissa couldn’t remember the last time that she and Michael had sex and she was craving him so badly and he just didn’t understand. Apparently, sex from her was not on Michael’s mind. What could be more important in his office than making love to his girlfriend? Julissa would give an arm and a leg to find out.

She
wasn’t giving up. After a long hot bath, wearing only a pair of thong undies, she wrapped herself in a silk bath robe and walked into the master suite. She was surprised to see Michael seated on the bed, thumbing through the latest GQ magazine.  Perfect. Without saying a word about what happened the hour before, she slid on the king sized bed next to him and began massaging the body oil into her legs, the robe still wrapped tightly around her body.

Finally he looked up from his magazine. “I forgot to say thanks for the salad. It was good.”

“You’re welcome. Did you get what you had to get done?”

“What do you mean?”

“You didn
’t finish the salad. You went to
your office remember?” Julissa loosened the tie to her robe,
and
prepared to accept Michael’s rejection again.

“Oh…yeah…I wasn’t in the office today. I needed to check email.”

“Couldn’t wait ‘til Monday?” Julissa pulled the robe, partially revealing her bare shoulders, rubbing in the body oil in the same slow sensual manner that she had rubbed her legs.

“Not really.”

Julissa turned to face him.
“What was so important?”

“It really doesn’t matter now. I got the email answered. Why are you concerned?” He looked at her as if he didn’t know why she was so suddenly interested in his work. When he saw the expression on her face, he spoke again. “I mean…it was nothin
g all that important. Just some
thing that
the guy needed me to approve. I…”

Julissa peeled out of her robe
,
revealing her naked body.

He paused, and she felt his eyes roaming over her.

“
I’m listening.” Julissa poured a small amount of the rose scented body oil in the palm of her hands rubbed them together, and began massaging the oil into her arms and shoulders, as Michael watched.

“Julissa…”

She turned to look at him and his Adam’s apple moved
up and down in his throat from swallowing too many times. Michael got the same expression on his face when he was nervous and sometimes when he was extremely turned on. Julissa looked at the bulge in his pants
and confirmed that he was
turned on. It was a wonder how she could have Michael erect in a matter of seconds, but still their sex life was almost depleted and they weren’t even married yet.

“I was listening. Go on,” Julissa s
aid, now focusing her massage
on her hip and thigh area.