Make You Mine (15 page)

He grabbed her knee and raised her leg to his shoulder shifting down with the heated water and steam to ease his movements. Julius then placed kisses from her knee to the sweet vee of her essence. Her core. Her ultimate pleasure zone.

Caress spread her legs wider as Julius blew a stream of air against her throbbing and moist lips. “Lawdy,” she gasped, bringing her hands down to spread her lips and expose the pulsing pink bud to him to do with as he pleased.

And he chose to please.

Each stroke of his tongue.

Each suckle of the bud into his mouth.

Every tender nip of it with his teeth.

All of it sent Caress free falling into one delicious wave after another until she forgot everything but how good he was making her feel. Without shame she cried out in passion and release until she was hoarse.

Julius relished in the pleasure he gave her. Even as his hard inches throbbed and ached for release he denied himself so that she could be completely fulfilled. In that moment it was his job. His duty. His privilege to be all that he could be.

“Damn, Julius, damn,” Caress said in between pants for air, as she placed her hand to her rapidly beating heart. Julius kissed her deeply, drawing her tongue into his mouth before offering her his own. And when she circled her tongue around it, tasting her own juices, he felt his dick harden to stone. A piece carved out just for Caress.

She climbed down on wobbly legs and came around to stand directly under the spray of the water with a beguiling smile. Julius took it all in as he watched her over his shoulder and then turned to face her.

Steam swirled around her body as water cascaded down it like an erotic waterfall. Drops raced down the slopes of her breasts to hang precariously like diamonds from the taut tips before plunging down to the floor of the tub. Her body simply glistened as the water soaked her hair and softened her makeup.

Caress is sexy as hell.

She grabbed the soap and gave him a coy look as she began to lather her body. The addition of the foamy suds was damn near his undoing as he stroked the length of his hardness as he watched her like a hawk over its prey.

Julius shook his head for clarity as Caress stepped closer to him, dropped down to her knees, and then brought her body up the length of his body. Her hands and breasts made a sudsy trail from his ankles and his thighs—pausing to cup and caress his hard length.

Julius's body went tense as she looked up at him as she held his shaft at the base to guide it toward her slowly opening mouth. Inch by inch she took him in with delicious swirls of her tongue. He hissed in pleasure as his hips arched from the wall at the jolt of pure electricity that shot through him. “Caress…Caress,” he moaned as he reached out blindly, entwining his fingers tightly in the wet strands of her hair.

She grabbed his thighs as she continued her passionate onslaught with deep sucks to the thick smooth tip that was warm and throbbing in her mouth.

Julius felt his knees weaken as Caress circled the tip with her tongue like she was on a mission. His face twisted in pleasure.

Feeling, that nervous energy of his climax nearing, Julius placed his palm to her forehead and pushed while he pulled his hips back, freeing him from her eager mouth.

“What?” she asked innocently.

Julius nodded even as he waited for his equilibrium to return. “Round one goes to you…but now it's my turn,” he told her with cocky confidence, stepping out of the shower to turn and lift Caress into his arms.

She clutched him tightly as he almost slipped on the tiled floor. They laughed, but the laughter and the teasing quickly diffused as Julius sat down on the bench at the end of his bed with Caress straddling his hips. His healthy and hard inches stood up between them like the hands on a clock showing high noon.

Caress brought her hands up to Julius's shoulders before easing them up to touch his face lovingly as he placed his hands on her hips possessively. “I love you, Julius Jones,” she promised him huskily as she lowered her face close to his.

“That's all I want.”

Their kisses were filled with the love and desire they shared—running the range from tender bite, playful pats, and delicious deep thrusts to tantalizing tangos of the tongue. They enjoyed the electrified but easy energy they created in each other's arms. It was a chemistry between a certain man and a certain woman. Unique. Blazing. Addictive.

As Julius used strong hands to grasp her bottom, he raised her body until she was positioned just above his pulsating, shiny tip. He lowered her down and filled her in one swoop with his heat planted deeply within her rigid walls.

“Ah!” Julius hollered out hoarsely, lowering his head to rest on Caress's cleavage. He felt her racing heart beat against his forehead as he fought not to spill his seed deep within her tight heat.

Caress closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip as she shuddered and clutched him close to her. “Julius!” she cried. “Julius.”

He slid his hands from her buttocks to her legs to wrap them around his waist. Caress followed his lead and locked her ankles behind him.

“Hold on baby,” Julius whispered into the heat surrounding them as he lifted her just enough to cross his legs Indian-style beneath her.

Caress's mouth shaped into an
O
as the move pressed the thick and rigid base of his shaft against her swollen bud. “Oh…my…”

He kissed her with a smile on his lips but clear desire in his eyes. “Now watch this,” he taunted sexily, wrapping his arms around her hips.

On that bench, Caress and Julius defied gravity as they perched precariously on the edge and he guided her to rock her hips back and forth. Nice. Slow. Easy.

“Whoo!” Caress arched her back as she let her head drop back until her damp hair tickled her back as she rode him. Nice. Slow. Easy. Just the way he wanted.

Back and forth. Round and round.

Julius's mind was completely blown. Caress was a very quick study. He clenched his jaw as he pressed her upper body to his, enjoying the sway of her soft breasts against his chest and the soft purrs of pleasures echoing from the back of her throat. He was dizzied by the tight, wet feel of her walls gliding up and down his shaft as she rode him. Nice. Slow. Easy.

Caress sat upright, still working her hips, as she tipped Julius's head up with a shaking hand to his strong chin. Their eyes locked. She hotly licked his mouth like a thirsty cat to milk as she continued her ride back and forth. Nice. Slow. Easy.

Julius deepened the kiss as he arched his hips up from the bench, sending his length deeper inside of her.

“Yes!” Caress cried out.

Sweat coated their bodies.

Their hearts raced.

Moans blended like a chorus.

Heat radiated from them.

All the while Caress continued her relentless ride back and forth. Nice. Slow. Easy.

Together the heat of the sensual union began to build from their cores. The delicious end was nearing—they hated and loved that all at once. Trembling and clutching at one another, their movements intensified until they both felt the explosion from deep within them. Blinded and consumed by the waves pouring over their bodies, their sighs, moans, grunts, and shattered cries of pleasure shifted easily into harsh, guttural cries that mingled in the electrified air with the sounds of their release.

Spent and pleased beyond measure, Julius uncrossed his legs and held Caress tightly as he fell back on his neatly made bed with his tool still planted within.

And they lay there entwined, still lightly caressing each other, and lost in their own little piece of the world.

One Month Later

Caress settled baby Justin down into his portable bassinet by her bed. Feeling a slight bit of the October chill in the apartment, she snuggled another of his knitted blankets over his plump three-month-old frame. Once she was satisfied her sleeping baby was secure, she turned her attention to some fall cleaning of her wardrobe.

With Julius at his studio preparing for his book release party, Caress planned to spend the day doing something productive. She didn't have much space for clothes in her small closet and dressers, so it was beyond time to flush out all of the clothes that didn't fit. The baby had spread her in all the right places—according to Julius—and she had to buy clothes to fit her new size-twelve frame.

Caress glanced up at the portrait of her nude body strategically covered with a silk sheet from Julius's bed. She still couldn't believe she let Julius convince her to take the sultry photos just moments after they made love. He said the good sex had inspired him and Caress had to admit she looked sexy as hell with her hair tousled, her mouth swollen from his kisses, and her eyes filled with love.

The man had a way with a camera…and other things.

Whisking her hair up into a loose ponytail, Caress pulled a velour sweatsuit over the black unitard she wore. She wished she could turn on some heat to knock off the chill but the landlord legally didn't have to supply heat until the fifteenth of the this month—and since it was cheaper for him she knew he didn't plan to.

Wishing she had a TV in her bedroom, she compromised by turning on the radio on her alarm clock. She considered listening to the jazz station Julius favored but passed on the idea. Just because they were together didn't mean they had to like all of the same things.

As the sounds of Alicia Keys filled the air, Caress took her time sorting the clothes into either a trash pile or a charity pile. She wasn't getting rid of that much, but at least now her dresser drawers could easily open and close.

Stepping over the piles, Caress headed into the kitchen for one of her beloved Snapples. She walked over to the window, pulling back the sheer sage curtain to look down at the street below. Her eyes focused in on the apartment building on the corner.

Luretha was sitting on the stoop alone, still dressed in the clothes Caress saw her in yesterday. As always her heart went out to her.

Caress looked over her shoulder at the framed picture sitting atop the living room table. It was a connection to her history while being a reminder of her painful and lonesome past. She turned away from it, shifting her eyes back to Luretha only to discover she was gone.

Her cell phone rang and she moved across the room to snatch it up from the kitchen counter. She checked her caller ID.

“Hey, Julius.” Caress walked back into her bedroom intent on seeing if any of her clothes could fit Luretha.

“Hey baby, let's bring Justin to the book release. I want my son there.”

Caress nodded, immediately understanding this was a big night for him and baby Justin was all the blood family he had. “Good idea. He can wear that dang suit you brought him.”

“And you said it would never come in handy.”

They laughed together.

“I miss y'all.”

She pressed the phone closer to her ear. “We miss you too.”

“I see Dwayne coming in with a box of pink streamers so I gotta go.”

Caress laughed. “Yes, you better.”

 

Julius couldn't keep his eyes off of Caress, who stood out among the hundred or so guests filling his studio for the book release party. Her usually straight hair was a mass of curls. The pink-and-gold-print strapless dress was knee-length and showed off her shapely legs in the gold strappy heels she wore. With the elaborate makeup and her subtlety sexy strut, she was messing with both of his heads.

Caress stood with Tamara and Mia, two attractive women in their own right, but to him neither held a candle to Caress. “Damn, I love her,” he thought, letting his eyes drift over her for the hundredth time that night. He couldn't wait to get her alone and kiss every drop of gloss from her mouth.

The elevator doors opened and he took a sip from his flute of champagne. He nearly choked on the liquid when Karina breezed in on the arm of a tall white man who looked like he could be a model.

“Shit,” he swore into his drink, as his eyes cut over to Caress only to find her eyes already locked on Karina.

Drama.

Julius looked around the studio for Dwayne, ignoring his agent trying to catch his attention. Seeing blond-tipped spikes over the many heads in the crowd, Julius headed that way. He thought it appropriate that his assistant's head resembled a chicken's butt because if he found out that Dwayne had invited Karina he was going to wring his neck.

 

“What…the…hell?” Caress's hand nearly snapped the delicate stem of the crystal flute in half as her eyes burned into the back of the model strutting across the room like she owned the world.

“What's up?” Tamara asked, instantly at Caress's side.

“That's Karina,” Caress said tightly, taking a deep sip of champagne.

Mia made a face before stepping in front of the women. “Ladies, I'm older than both of you and so I'm going to give out some advice.”

Caress and Tamara shifted angry eyes to her.

Mia held up her hand. “Hey, I'm on your side,” she exclaimed jokingly.

Caress's face softened a bit. “I'm sorry but this is the same woman who came to Julius's door damn near naked.”

Mia cringed. “Yes…I heard.”

“I have my Vaseline and Uptowns in the trunk, girl,” Tamara said with spunk, already reaching to her ears to remove her dangling beaded earrings.

Mia rolled her eyes. “Ladies, this is a business event for Julius who is more than your man, Caress. He is a prominent photographer. There is press here. There are some local politicians in the house. This is not the place. Not the time, ladies. No. No. No.”

Caress looked into Mia's eyes and somehow found the calm within herself not to go half-cocked in a jealous rage and ruin Julius's night. Well, unless she found out he was double-dipping—then it was on like popcorn! The rules had changed since the last time she laid eyes on Karina.
There's a new sheriff in town, chick,
Caress thought, as her eyes scanned the room and landed on Julius talking to Dwayne. In that same instant, she saw a flash of bright crimson red from the corner of her eye. Caress turned her head to see Karina striding across the room headed in Julius's direction.

“Oh, Lord,” Tamara sighed, taking a deep sip—and then another—of her champagne.

“Keep it cool, Caress,” Mia advised.

Caress plastered a smile to her face and smoothed her dress over her frame. “How do I look, ladies?” she asked opening her beaded gold clutch bag to remove a pack of breath mints.

“Like you're ready to wear somebody's ass out!” Tamara said emphatically.

“You look lovely and dignified and confident enough not to act like a fool,” Mia said with emphasis.

Caress loudly chewed a couple of mints. “Yeah, uhhuh,” she muttered distractedly, already strolling away from them with her eyes locked on Karina lightly touching Julius's arm.

“You better work, girl,” Tamara hissed behind her. “Just throw up a sign and I'm right there.”

“Honey, you need to breathe,” she heard Mia tease Tamara.

Caress felt like she deserved an Oscar for the calm and easy demeanor she presented as she reached Julius, Karina, and Dwayne. She was so proud of herself for not jumping on Karina like the tree she resembled and snatching her bald.

Dwayne spotted her first and his eyes got as big as saucers as he stepped in her path. “Hey, Caress, girl—”

“Move,” Caress demanded under her breath from behind her fake smile.

Dwayne nodded. “Moving,” he said, stepping his tall and slender frame aside without hesitation.

“Hello,” Caress said sweetly as she stepped next to Julius and wrapped her arm around his waist.

Julius did the same to her as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Caress, this is Karina—”

Karina's beautiful face became an imposable mask of coldness before she recovered quickly and put on a smile as fake as Caress's. “We've met,” she said, eyeing Caress. “Remember?”

Caress felt her spine stiffen and her tolerance drop low. Real low.
Breathe, Caress
. “Not really.”

Although she smiled, the truth of her emotions was clear in her eyes. “So you two are…”

“Very happy,” Caress told her, locking eyes with the woman.

Dwayne made a sort of laughing noise in the back of his throat. He stood off to the side just enough to appear he wasn't listening, but clearly he was.

Karina waved her hand dismissively as she turned her eyes to Julius. “Can we talk…alone?” she said, looking like a she was ready to stomp her foot petulantly.

“Oh no she didn't!” Dwayne exclaimed under his breath.

She whirled toward Dwayne. “Will you shut up?” she hissed angrily, before turning back to Caress and Julius with her mask back in place.

The instant change made Caress lean back a bit.

“Karina, there's plenty to drink. Enjoy yourself,” Julius said patiently.

“Poof. Bam. Be gone!” Dwayne hissed fiercely in a low voice.

Karina's eyes filled with tears and she stomped her foot. “Julius,” she whined.

Caress eyed the other woman oddly.

“Oops!” Dwayne taunted from nearby.

“Dwayne!” Julius said sharply.

Moments later Dwayne moved away from them.

Julius reached down to entwine his fingers with Caress's. “Enjoy the party, Karina,” he said with finality.

Her eyes dropped down and caught the move just as her companion walked up to her carrying two flutes of champagne. She corrected her pained expression in an instant and smiled up at her handsome date. “Vincent, baby, this is Julius Jones. Julius, this is Vincent Pavlov,” she said in satisfaction.

It was obvious she wanted to make Julius jealous.

The two men shook hands.

Caress had long since resolved that Julius and Karina weren't dealing and thus was bored with the woman's company.

“Look who's awake everyone!”

Caress turned at Dwayne's loud enthusiasm to find him walking out of Julius's office with baby Justin in his arms. Her face immediately lit up with a smile. As Dwayne made a big show of handing the baby to Julius, she wondered
Did Dwayne wake my baby up?

Karina's mouth fell open as she eyed Julius nuzzling his bearded face in the warm nook of the baby's neck. “Is that your baby, Julius?” she asked, trying her best to form her face into surprised pleasure…and failing. Her nostrils flared like she had dog poo on her upper lip.

The young woman's face was hilarious with her wide eyes and Joker-like smile. Caress actually felt a little sorry for her.

She really had no reason to dislike her, and she was fast realizing that this was a spoiled and vain child wrapped in a pretty package. She was used to getting what she wanted and didn't know how to handle things otherwise.

Caress focused her eyes on her son who had become the center of attention. He was adorable in his little khaki suit as he held his curly head up and gave his onlookers a gummy smile. It was probably gas but everyone sighed anyway—including Caress and Julius.

Everyone except Karina.

Her jaw was tight enough to crack marbles between her teeth…especially when Victor leaned in and starting making comical noises as he gently poked Justin's rotund belly.

“Victor!” Karina snapped, forcing another tight smile when she drew curious looks.

Victor eyed her oddly as well.

“I'm ready to go, Victor.” Karina turned dramatically on her designer heels, tilting her head up as she strode through the crowd like she was headed to war.

“Deuces!” Dwayne called out behind her.

Victor shrugged and shook Julius's hand again. “Congrats on your book,” he said politely following Karina to the elevator at a more leisurely pace.

Caress could only laugh and shake her head at the woman's dramatics. “Is she for real?” she asked Julius as Tamara and Mia walked up to them.

Julius laughed. “Yes.”

“I thought I was gonna have to check you or wreck you behind that woman,” Caress said, watching as Tamara eased Justin out of Julius's arms.

Julius shook his head. “You're all the woman I need.”

“Don't you forget it,” Caress told him before turning to smile at the photographer from
The Star Ledger
taking candid shots of the event.

“Meet me in my office and help me remember it,” he whispered near her ear.