Taking a step deeper into the room, I nodded with a grin. “Figured you’d like the chance to?—”
I didn’t even get to finish saying what I wanted, because Lo crashed into me at full speed. Her legs wrapped around my waist, and I encircled her hips, allowing her all the access to me she wanted. Unable to stop it from happening, I backed her into the wall. There was a dazzling smile on her face, despite the tears pouring from her eyes.
“You like it?” I pressed for her to use her words.
“I love it! This is exactly what I need,” she admitted. I stopped breathing when she palmed my cheek. Harlo was the most gentle and loving woman I knew. I licked my lips before allowing my eyes to fall on hers.
“You sure I’m not what you need?” My eyes fell to her breasts sitting up perfectly in my face. Leaning forward, I scattered soft kisses over them. She moaned, easy to rev up and tease. I loved the way Lo was always ready to give that pussy up to me since we got back from Mexico.
She smirked before replying. “I definitely need you too. Be my muse.”
I raised an eyebrow, loving the direction this was going in. “You want to paint me?”
She nodded giddily. I could tell she loved the idea by the way her eyes lit up. “I do, then I want to fuck you.”
That girl surely did know how to put a smile on my face. I didn’t need convincing. I was already intrigued by the idea. “Aight. Do your thing, mama.” I took a step back and allowed her to stand again.
I smiled, eyes trailing her as she sprinted to the center of the room. “Okay, come sit here.” She pulled up a wooden stool and pointed.
Closing the distance between us, I slapped her on the ass before I did as I was told. “Is that all, mama?”
She tapped her chin with a sheepish grin. “Take your shirt off.” The shirt was off before she could finish forming all the syllables in the sentence. Her laugh was so fucking satisfying. “You are so damn mannish.”
“Says the girl who asked me to take it off in the first place.”
“It seems like you already had that idea anyway.”
I shrugged innocently. “Maybe.”
Lo giggled before inspecting the room to see what all was available to her. I wasn’t sure what she was into, so I was about to buy everything the art supply store had to offer—different kinds of paints, different sized canvases, and all types of brushes. But I might’ve cheated a little and got help from Quick, because he’d been buying supplies for Harlo since she was a young girl. All these years later, he still remembered what she loved and what she didn’t care for. It was a testament to the kind of father he was, which was why he always had my respect.
I was still thinking about the question he’d asked me regarding Lo. I knew she was coming out of the worst season ofher life. I could never forget that she was in pain, but when he asked me my intentions for her, I couldn’t lie and say I was just here to protect her for the money. We both knew it was deeper than that, but I wouldn’t press the issue until that bitch ass governor nigga was dealt with.
I didn’t like him, and I definitely didn’t like them FBA niggas he had working for him. I’d done some digging and found out he had ties to FBA, even though he didn’t ride. While he thought shit was sweet, I was plotting on his demise. That nigga could only put fear in Lo’s heart, not mine. I was just waiting on the opportunity to murk him. Only then would Harlo allow herself to be with me the way I knew she wanted to be.
My eyes tracked Lo everywhere she went in the room. She was completely in her element. I didn’t realize she’d started playing music on her phone. She only had about five contacts in the damn thing, but her music library took up more than enough space on it. Walking over to the Bluetooth system, I powered it on, then handed her the remote control. She happily connected her phone, and beautiful jazz music filled the room.
I returned to my seat just in time to see Lo kick off her house shoes and get started. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I studied every detail of her petite frame. Every curve of her lips and wrinkle between her brows when she focused on certain details. She was so fluid and free while she worked, it was no surprise her art was well revered. Harlo deserved to be celebrated and cherished for her depth. For her beauty. For her essence.
I released a shaky breath, wondering if I could truly be the man to give her that. I knew I wanted to be and would never treat her like her soon-to-be dead ex-husband. I wondered if it would be enough, though. Lo never too much liked the lifestyle I came from. I was raised in the slums. Her father was the only positive male role model I had, but he also had a dark and dangerous side. She had disdain for him, and we were cut from the samecloth, so how deeply could she truly love me if she couldn’t accept where I was from?
“What’s on your mind?” she questioned from across the room. She lifted the remote to turn the volume on the music down some.
I was already caught, and I needed to see where she was mentally. “You are.”
She smirked with her round face cocked to the side. “Oh yeah? What about me?”
I rubbed my jaw slowly, thinking of the best way to start this conversation. “I was wondering if you could really see yourself with me,” I admitted. Because I was so focused on her, I saw her slowly stop painting as my words hit her in the gut. “It’s just I know how you feel about your father, and he practically raised me. That governor nigga is your type. It has been since I’ve known you, and we both know I’m not that.”
She placed her brush down gently. With the grace of an angel, she closed the distance between us until she was sitting on my lap. “You’re not wrong,” she finally broke through the heaviness to say. “I have gravitated to what I thought was a safe kind of man, but I’ve finally learned it’s about the character. The heart.”
She placed her hand over mine, and I knew she felt it racing. On baited breaths, I waited for her to tell me whether or not I was good enough for her, because Lord knew I wanted to be. “I may have distanced myself from my father and his lifestyle, but I don’t know . . . Maybe I wrongfully demonized him.”
I rubbed small circles on her back, giving her the space to process that admission. It was hard to have your views on a person challenged like that. To realize what you thought you knew was so far from the truth. “I saw my father kill a man, and it terrified me, but one thing I never saw was him abuse a woman the way Emir abused me. He only ever wanted to protect andprovide for us. And if that’s what he instilled in you, then you are my type, Quadior. I don’t want you to be like Emir. I want you to be you.”
I took Lo’s hand and lifted it to my lips. “You have all of me, Harlo. My whole fucking heart is yours, but I don’t play fucking games, and I go hard for mine. I will burn this fucking world down to protect you.”
She leaned closer to me. Her lips softly brushing against mine had me ready to push deep inside of her wet and tight walls. I knew her pussy was created just for me by the way it caressed me in the most comforting embraces. “Then burn it the fuck down,” she whispered seconds before her lips crashed into mine. As my tongue explored the inside of her mouth, I knew I was going to do just that.
