10
NAVY – BLAME IT ON THE ALCOHOL
All that talk about fate had me deep in my head. Fate could easily be used to manipulate what the body wanted, which was what had kept me away from the condo all day. I knew that she would be house hunting, and when she wasn’t, she would be back there working on her magazine. I didn’t want any amount of time to pass where I could tempt fate and find myself in a similar situation like I was with Natika. I meant what I told her; I had found the girl for me. I just wasn’t sure that she wasreally meantfor me. I wasn’t sure that she would feel the same.
The problem with that was Nyako was the type of woman I could see myself settling down with. My emotions and thoughts had changed drastically over the last year, and I wasn’t sure what I wanted anymore.
My mouth said I wanted to be friends and enjoy my freedom and independence a little longer. My heart said that I wanted and needed someone to be with me in the silence, to fill those empty voids, and to share the laughter and the heartache with. Then there were my actions. They said that I wasn’t ready for anything other than the next moment.
Several beautiful women had approached me while I hung out tonight with my brother, Eli, and my best friend, Caleb Nash. While they egged me on, something held me back, and that wasn’t like me. They peppered me with questions all night long, but I had no answers.
How could I tell them that despite the beautiful women coming on to me, the only one I wanted to be bothered with was a dark-skinned, five-eleven former model, who while she had curves, those curves paled in comparison to the women draped all over me? That shit didn’t make sense in anyone’s book. Yet here I was pulling up to the condo just to be in the same space as her.
“Boy, you tripping,” I muttered as I keyed in the code to let me inside. How had I gone from running from her all day to wanting to be all up under her tonight? And though we wouldn’t even be in the same room, let alone the same bed, it didn’t stop me from wanting to be where she was.
I stepped inside and toed my shoes off before I hung up my coat. I was hungry and thirsty as hell from the drinking that I’d been doing, and all I wanted was some water and food, but it was too late to cook anything without waking her. It was a little after one in the morning, and as much as I wanted to be under her, I had no plans on waking her up. I had barely pulled a bottled water from the fridge before she came into the living room, flicking lights on as she went.
I turned around and noticed she was wearing a short red and gray T-shirt that hung off her shoulder a little bit. It skimmed the tops of her thighs, and I wondered if she had anything on underneath there.
“My bad. Did I wake you?” I asked before I pulled the bottle to my lips.
“No. I was just getting up to get some water too,” she stated softly, moving past me and heading to the refrigerator.
I took a swig of my water as I watched her lean inside to grab the bottle. Her long, toned legs beckoned me to take a look. I found myself leaning to see underneath that T-shirt, because I had a feeling that she wore no panties at all. If she did have them on, I would be shocked. The only thing that I could see were the curves of her ass cheeks.
“Are you okay?” she asked, turning around and catching me in the act with a knowing smile on her lips.
“Yeah, I’m just admiring what I see.”
She dipped her head at my boldness and hid the smile behind her bottled water.
“Does that make you uncomfortable? The way that I’m complimenting you?”
“Navy, you’ve seen me naked, touched me, teased me, and tasted me. You’ve been all inside of my body. Why would I be shy now?”
“I don’t know. The setting and mood is different. This isn’t just two strangers meeting in the airport knowing they will walk away from each other after this moment. We’re here together for a week, all in one another’s personal space. We’re in a situation where we will let our guards down. That makes shit different.”
“I mean, it does, but I’m comfortable.”
“Good, because I’ve always admired your beauty. No matter what campaign you were doing, you were always beautiful to me.”
“Thank you,” she replied through a yawn as she stretched.
Her T-shirt cameup just a little, showing off her thighs. My eyes were drawn to them, even as she walked toward me to leave the kitchen. I thought about all the beautiful women I’d turned away and how all I wanted was to be back here with her again, inside of her, filling her up, and hearing her whisper my name in my ear.
Her gaze grew narrowed as she watched me. I stood in the doorway filling it up, and I refused to move, even as she came closer.
“Are you gonna let me by?” She bit her lip and lifted her eyebrow.
She may have asked the question, but Nyako wasn’t waiting for a response. It wasn’t a surprise though. She was the type of woman who confidently took what she wanted and gave no apologies. She brushed past me to get out of the kitchen, and the softness of her warm, round breast brushed against my arm. Unable to resist the temptation of a simple touch, I reached my arm behind me without turning, as she passed me up, and I grabbed her hand.
Our fingertips barely touched, and with our backs to each other as I still faced the kitchen, and she faced the living room, I professed, “I am so damn weak for you, Nyako.”
She replied, “You are not weak, Navy. You are strong. Strong enough to walk away from me at the airport and push me out of your mind.”
“You were never out of my mind, beautiful. You were always right there.”
“Then why did you agree that we should go our separate ways?”
