SNEAK PEEK (book not yet titled):

CHAPTER 1

(edited from author's manuscript)
Copyright 2011 by Jessica Tilles

Simone’s long, slender fingers ceased the tapping of an unfamiliar tune, followed by the palm of her hand slamming against the marble.

“That bastard!” she hissed, her tear-stained face heated with anger. “How dare he, going to my parents’ house, thinking he was going to take my child? I’d kill that whoring son of a bitch before I let him get his disgusting hands on my daughter!”

With his back to her, Darius confirmed, “That’s not going to happen,” as he filled the teakettle with hot water and sat it on the stove. He ignited the flame under the kettle before turning to face Simone. “Baby, please calm down.”

“I need to go get my child. I don’t trust that motherfucker!”

Darius flinched at the vulgarity escaping his woman’s mouth, yet he completely understood. She was like a mother bird protecting her nest, vengeful and ready to kill. However, had Simone’s father not been present, he would have been the one to bash Jackson in the face.

He released a slight chuckle that eased her tensed disposition.

Her shoulders slumped and the muscles in her face relaxed. She exhaled. “What’s so funny?”

“I didn’t know you had such a potty mouth.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not going to apologize for being upset, Darius.”

“Of course not, angel, and I don’t want you to either. I only want you to relax.”

“Relax?” She threw her arms in the air and began pacing the kitchen floor. “How can I relax, knowing that Jackson is trying to take my baby from me?”

Darius opened the cupboard and retrieved a coffee cup from a hook in the shape of an upside down question mark.

“He’s not going to take your baby.”

He pulled an herbal teabag from the glass container positioned against the decorative tile backdrop over the kitchen counter and dropped it in the empty cup.

“Besides,” he continued, “dude’s not crazy. He’s not going back to your parents’ house.”

As the teakettle whistled like an inbound train, he removed it from the stove, extinguished the flame and poured piping hot water into the cup, allowing the teabag to float to the top.

“Listen, let it go tonight. Your daughter is safe with your mom and dad. You get some rest tonight and we will pick her up in the morning. Okay?”

Although Simone smiled with a slight nod, in the back of her mind she was worried sick about her two-year-old daughter, thinking Jackson would take his chances to kidnap her.

She nibbled on the inside of her mouth. “Maybe I should call to make sure she’s okay?”

Darius sat the cup of hot tea before her, removed the phone’s handset from the cradle that sat against the wall, and handed it to her. “You call your mom and I’ll start up the Jacuzzi.”

“Thank you,” she smiled, as he kissed her softly on the cheek.

Simone waited for Darius to leave the kitchen and took a sip of the herbal tea before dialing her mother. As her index finger was about to press the seventh digit of her parents’ phone number, her cell phone vibrated against the side of her belly. She flinched and reached inside her jacket pocket and pulled out the phone. The Caller ID display read: HOME. With hesitancy, she pressed end on the handset and talk on her cell phone.

With the cell phone pressed against her ear, Jackson’s exasperated sigh penetrated her being. Her stomach fluttered, wanting to throw up at the looming sound of his voice. She never thought she could hate someone so much, as she did her own husband. The man she married, the father of her child. For better or worse, until death due them part. However, he was now the man she could no longer love.

 “I know you’re there,” he said in his usual disconnected voice. “I can hear you breathing,” he said in a singsong fashion, followed by a slight chuckle that exuded his cockiness.

“What do you want, Jackson?” Bitterness and hatred drenched her voice like thick crimson blood oozing from a corpse. She should have slit his throat when she had the opportunity, ridding herself, and the world, of his stink-nasty whorish ways.

“Play time is over, Simone. It’s time to come home…to your husband.”

That word…husband…scraped her nerves like fingernails running down a blackboard. She cringed, her body nearing a violent shake.

“I don’t want–”

Darius’ footsteps coming from down the hall stopped her mid-sentence. She closed her eyes as hot rage built up like a volcano nearing eruption. She pictured his face. Darius’ nearing presence calmed her. However, not enough to tell Jackson how she felt.  

“Go straight to hell, you rotten boil on the ass of society!” she yelled in the phone before pressing end. “That son of a bitch!” she hollered from deep within, bringing up all the anger and discontentment she’d been holding in for so long. She threw the cell phone across the kitchen and into the family room, where it crashed against the wall, shattering.

Darius’ footsteps quickened against the hardwood flooring when he heard the commotion.

“What’s going on?” he asked when he reached the kitchen.

Simone lunged into his arms and cried hysterically.

“Baby, who were you talking to?”

Simone did not answer, still sobbing uncontrollably, her arms gripping tightly around him. “Don’t let me go, Darius. Please, promise me you will never let me go.”

“Was that him?”

“Promise me!” she yelled, her face buried into his chest.

He tightened his hold on her. “Of course, baby, I promise. Was that him?”

Briskly, she nodded.

“What did he say?”

Gently pulling away from him, she wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “Nothing. He said nothing.”

“It must’ve been something to get you so upset, baby.”

“Goddamnit,” her voice rose an octave, “he didn’t say shit! Okay?”

Darius raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay…” He had never seen her that way before and it bothered him. He did not like it one bit. All because of a no-good bastard who didn’t realize what he had. His loss is my gain, he thought, staring at Simone.

Simone gazed wordlessly at Darius, her heart pounding profusely. “I am so sorry, honey. I…I–”

“No need to apologize. I understand.”

She looked up at his six-foot-four frame like a lost puppy. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“Forget it, babe.” With his huge hands, he covered her face and gently wiped away her tears. “Listen, the Jacuzzi is ready.” He kissed her lips longingly, before gazing into her eyes. “The water is perfect,” he whispered. He smiled at her, eased her jacket over her shoulders, down her arms, allowing it to fall to the floor. Then, he pressed his full lips against her forehead and held it there for what seemed like an eternity to Simone. It felt nice, soothing, causing the hair on the nape of her next to rise. She wished that wonderful feeling could last forever. He raised her arms above her head and pulled the Ralph Lauren tee shirt she wore over her head and dropped it to the kitchen floor. Once more, he softly, yet almost barely, kissed her lips. Simone’s body weakened, succumbing to his seduction. “Have I told you that I loved you today, my sweetness?”

She smiled and nodded her head yes, as he unzipped her jeans, slightly tugging them over her full hips and watched as they fell down around her feet, covering the prettiest toes he’d ever seen on any woman.

As he took her by the hand, Simone stepped out of her jeans and followed Darius down the hall toward the lower level of the house and into his home spa. A Jacuzzi and an indoor heated swimming pool awaited them.

As the French doors opened, Anthony Hamilton’s Can’t Let Go wrapped around her like a warm mink coat. Simone’s mouth gaped open and she took in a deep breath, and held it. It was like nothing she’d ever seen. She knew the Jacuzzi was there, but she’d never made it past his bedroom, the kitchen and home theatre. The heart-shaped, heated pool was mesmerizing. The water was clear like crystal, and if she stared at it long enough, she would become hypnotized. Candles occupied every empty space, illuminating the room.

“Oh, Darius,” she exhaled, “this is beautiful.”

As Darius watched and adored her expression, he quickly disrobed and pulled up behind her.

“I love you so much, Simone.”

She took in a quick, deep breath when he palmed her right breast, his other palm caressed her pudgy belly.

“I love you, too, Darius. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Hush now. You would do fine without me. I’m merely…” he hesitated, kissing the nape of her neck.

An unexpected coo escaped her

“…an enhancement, nothing more,” he continued, turning her around, their eyes piercing into each other’s soul.

She hooked her arm around his neck and pulled his face down to meet hers. “An enhancement, huh?”

“That’s right,” he whispered, as his hand gently roamed over her naked body, exploring its way down to the center of her core.

She parted her thighs. The same thighs Jackson said were fat, but Darius loved.

His thumb grazed the opening of her fullness, and steadied around her clitoris, feeling it immediately swell at his touch. She damn near melted. Oh, Lord, she thought. What did she do to deserve such a good man?

Taking a quick inhale and holding it, Simone tossed back her head, offering her neck for him to devour. Her neck was one of her many spots that Jackson never bothered to find, but not Darius. He found every single spot the first time they made love. Ever so slowly, he traced her neck with his tongue—up, down, around in a circular motion—finally settling on her earlobe where he sucked, pulled and nibbled before his tongue flickered inside her ear canal. She exhaled. Finally, she was where she belonged. She had no regrets. She was with a man who loved Simone the way she needed to be loved—slowly, meticulously, passionately and unconditionally—as he focused on every inch of her body, mind, heart and soul.

Through Keith Washington’s crooning of Kissing You, Darius took Simone by the hand and led her to the Jacuzzi, enough room for twelve. He stepped in first, guiding her into the warm, bubbling water. As she lowered into a seat, the jets tickled her back. Two flutes of champagne sat on the edge of the water spa, waiting to tickle the back of her throat. “Loving you all through the night…” She hadn’t heard that song in ages. She loved Keith Washington, always thought he was extremely attractive, but not as much as the man who had stirred a well of harbored emotions.

Darius handed Simone a flute. “I’d like to pose a toast,” he said, the smile in his eyes wanting her, while Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On was the theme song for his hormones that were now raging at a high rate of speed, aiming his penis toward lift off position.

Simone held up her glass. “A toast sounds nice,” she said, her sensuous smile met his dead on, as the throbbing between her thighs vibrated when Marvin belted, “…if the spirit moves you.” Oh, she was being moved all right, but it surely wasn’t Marvin’s spirit moving her.

Darius touched the rim of his flute with hers. “To the love of my life. I love you more than you’ll ever realize, Simone.”

The rims of their flutes tapped as their eyes locked and each sipped from their glass. Then, Darius took both their flutes and returned them to the edge of the tub. He stroked his supple lips with his tongue, like LL Cool J, which was like squirting gasoline on a raging fire. She was ready to be fucked. She leaned in and eased her tongue between his lips, tasting the sweetness of his breath.

Simone’s once gently stoked fire had grown into a full blown blaze as she straddled Darius and lowered herself, slowly filling up with his hardness. Her pulse quickened as his fleshy tip meshed with hers.

As he stroked deep inside her, she bit down on her bottom lip to stifle the outcry of delight. Almost instantly, she was filled with an inner excitement, as she briskly stroked her bud against his shaft, her heart beating with the pulse of Zoom’s Love Seasons encircling her as she exploded. Darius gripped her hips at the tightening of her muscles around his manhood, as he, too, released his excitement inside her cave, taking him to a heightened sexual experience he never knew until now. It was not only sex. It was love. He knew he was ready. But, was she?

Copyright © 2011 by Jessica Tilles, All Rights Reserved.
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