Page 3 of Mr. Big Stuff

“But seriously. I know a lot of people out there date aimlessly, without purpose. They move through life without purpose and that’s cool and all when you’re still figuring it out but it’s not cool to lead people along when you don’t know what you want. Because I understood, at least a little bit, I was able to be patient with my little baby, Zola, and in turn, she started to open up and show me the woman I would need as my wife.”

The silence that followed had me imagining shared smiles and maybe a long kiss. My throat tightened with emotion over the love I never had.

“Well there you go, Soul Talk. You heard it from my husband. Stop holding back. Make yourself uncomfortable. Try new things. And see what life brings you.”

I knew this podcast had been a sign. It was time for me to branch out and try something new instead of remaining stuck in the same spot. There was something better for me out there and I needed to find it.

Two months later…

Zmmmmmmmm mmmmmm

He sucked on my earlobe and my body turned to putty at his mastery. His soft lips traveled down the skin of my neck and chest to capture my hard brown nipple. His teeth bit into my flesh and I moaned out loud.

Zmmmmmm … sputter … choke. Silence.

I tapped the hard rubber device against my thigh relaxing against the mattress and tried manipulating the buttons on “Derrick” to see if that would do the trick, but nope, it had died. My vibrator for the past six weeks, named for the last good dick I had, fucking died right when it was getting good! Shit. I looked down to the foot of my bed on her gray sherpa blanket was my Tabby cat, Fatty, watching me with a judgmental expression. Her green eyes sparkled before they slowly closed with disinterest. Seeing there was nothing in this escapade for her, she placed her nosey head back on her fluffy white paws. If I felt it would make a difference, I’d remind her she didn’t get any dick at all. Not a fake one, a real one, or nothing. But I knew she was unbothered due to being spayed, so it would make no difference.

Angry now, I tossed Derrick’s bitch ass aside and kicked my way out of the now too obstructive Egyptian cotton sheets. Grumpier than a motherfucker and hungry too, I stomped to my bathroom and almost broke my neck when I slipped on the water I spilled when I brushed my teeth earlier. Water I said I would clean up as soon as Derrick finished taking care of me. Rolling my eyes, I ignored my near-death experience while gingerly entering my shower and turning on the water. The cold blast of the spray hit my back making me howl out, but I refused to do something stupid like jump back and slip, break my neck, and really end all my misery. Nah, I’d deal with it until it warmed up.

This was not my morning. Matter of fact, it hadn’t been my month, my year—not my anything. Honestly, there were days that I wondered if I was meant to have a beautiful life, like the lives I’d seen given to others. Even my girlfriends that looked to be on the same path as me—a path of loneliness—have now gone on to be with the loves of their lives. Like recently my co-worker and friend, Carina, found her man at our workplace of all places and with the last person I could have imagined. Salik was what I liked to call unavailable or so it seemed at the time. He had gone through so many women at KIB that if you put the pieces and women together, you would know more about him than he knew about himself. Don’t get me wrong, the man was fine. Very fine. So fine that I had wished to get a taste myself, but it never happened. He never looked my way whenever we crossed paths and at some point, he just became another good-looking face that were like a dime a dozen.

And good thing I didn’t have a good time with him because Carina, who seemed destined to live the old maid life right along with me, bumped into him one day and the two of them had been inseparable since. The entire building gawked at the sight of the two of them chummed up in the lobby, kissing and holding hands as he took the elevator to her floor to drop her off and then get back on to head to his floor at the top. He was now working with the Acquisitions team that reported directly to KIB’s CEO, Khalil Berry. Between him receiving his promotion and Carina receiving hers, leaving me behind down below them, I felt like my life was standing still. Like it always did. And even though Carina was still the same towards me, her happiness opened up something in me that felt ugly. I was experiencing the green-eyed monster: jealousy, envy, resentment. And she didn’t deserve it and neither did I. So I quit my job.

I thought quitting would change something for the better, but things went from bad to badder. The savings I had that I thought would hold me until I got something else, dried up because either my skills weren’t needed, or I was overqualified for the jobs I applied to. I had messed up by quitting and the reminder came every morning I woke with nowhere to go and a shrinking available balance right along with it. Making a decision out of emotion cost me. So last week, I swallowed my pride and applied to a headhunting agency calledThe Agency.

The Agencywas a black owned and ran headhunting agency that specialized in Black and minority candidates. The hope of the CEO, Amanda Yarbrough, was to create the type of experience where a candidate and business could form a solid alliance from the start. The Agency vetted candidates themselves, a process that took days of background checks and testing, so that when businesses expressed a need, The Agency could provide a work source the candidate they needed with confidence they were qualified.

I had only been waiting for a month for the perfect opportunity, but that was a long month where my lavish take-out orders turned into Lean Cuisines and Cup of Noodles. My impatience finally paid off, however. Yesterday, I got a call to come on temporarily to assist with data entry, receptionist type functions, and occasional project work, at a business consultant agency. While it wasn’t my ideal assignment, it paid, so I put on my excited voice and promised to be there promptly at nine am. But if this morning got any worse, I wouldn’t make it there at all.

Chapter4

Raymond

9:05 A.M.

For the third time I checked my cell phone, and my temporary hire still hadn’t arrived for her first day on the job. Frustration with unprofessionalism, and unreliability, wasn’t even the word. I had fired Vanessa less than a week ago and needed someone to start right away.The Agencyassured me that the candidate was eager to start and would be here promptly because of it. Apparently, Tracey wasn’t as eager asThe Agencythought.

When I checked my phone again and it was now nine fifteen, I had made up my mind to callThe Agencyand have them tell Tracey I had no patience with tardiness and she could stay wherever she was, but I heard the chime of my door right as I lifted the phone up off the receiver.Good, I’ll tell her myself.Losing out on someone starting right now would be detrimental. Not only was my business booming with new clients due to the many grants and government sponsored loans flowing, but I had an event to organize and host, and my assistant had written in duties to assist with that. My assistant was vital to making everything go off without a hitch which is why I worked hard to find someone willing to do the actual work and not try to work me. But I’d figure it out like I always do.

Moments later, I heard footsteps coming towards my office and I looked up to find probably the most naturally beautiful woman I’d seen in a long while. The stern words I was prepared to give her were pulled away from my lips as I took all five nine of five ten of her. She was statuesque, with a figure that was all woman. Curvy in her bottom more than her top, with a top that was luscious enough to cup. Her eyes were seductive without trying which made me wonder what they’d be like if she were to try.

“You’re Tracey?” I asked her even though based on her crisp white button up blouse tucked into a black pencil skirt and Black stilettos, and a black tote bag in her hand,I could tell she was here to work. Her thick dark hair was pulled up in a curly updo and large gold dangling earrings click clacked against her flushed brown face as she visibly worked to slow her breathing. Short of breath, she apologized.

“Yes, sir. I’m so very sorry. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong this morning. Please don’t hold it against me. I promise I’m eager to work and it won’t happen again.”

I saw her lips moving and even heard the husky words coming from her pretty soft lips, but a part of my brain could only think of how out of all the women that dangled themselves in front of me when they weren’t supposed to, this one I might not have minded. I shook off the feeling though. Being a pervert was against all the rules I played by. Matter of fact, it was something I advised my start-up companies to check at the door. No sexual harassment or harassment of any type should be tolerated. But damn, she was fly and sexy.

I found myself uttering and trying to play it cool with her when in truth I was confused as to why a complete stranger had my heart racing like a teenage boy leaning in for his first kiss.

“It’s alright. Let me show you where you can put your things and that way you can take a few moments to catch your breath before I go over what you need to know. Is that okay?” Here I was getting ready to move her in, when moments before I was about to send her to the gallows.

She gave me a soft grateful smile that showed off her straight white teeth and followed me to the office across from mine, vacated by Vanessa. She looked around the spacious office before turning to me with another easy smile. God she was gorgeous.

“I’m not sure ifThe Agencymade you aware of the length of the assignment.”

She nodded while placing her tote on the edge of her desk along with her travel mug and car keys.

“They said that for now you would need me for eight to ten weeks, but the position could become permanent if you saw fit.” Her eyes held a question. Like she hoped she was right about her information.

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