Page 6 of Rhodes to Love

She giggled. “Two fifteen.”

“Bet.”

I ended the call and damn near ran up those stairs to her unit. When I got to it, I opened the door and immediately smelled the food. That shit was somewhat distracting, because I had to walk over to the kitchen to see what she’d cooked to go with that roast. When I saw the pot of rice, mac and cheese, cornbread, and greens, I nearly lost my mind. That was probably why she was just getting in the shower.

After making sure I locked the door, I followed the sounds of Beyoncé. I slowly shook my head. I knew Karima would love that country album. It just sounded like her type of shit. When I got to the bathroom door, I slowly opened it to find her standing in front of the mirror pulling her hair up. She was naked, and her nipples were hard as if they were anticipating my arrival.

“Damn, baby. What’s up?”

She smiled as she turned to me and pulled me by my dreads to her. I loved when she did that shit. I immediately gripped her ass and lifted her. She wrapped her legs around me and brought her lips to mine. I loved picking her up. Being that she was only five feet three or so, it was easy as hell to lift her. Even with her curves, she was still light weight.

“I missed you, Rhodes. Damn.”

“The feeling is so fucking mutual, girl. Yo’ sexy ass all I been able to think about.”

I released her from my grasp, letting her slide to her feet, then pulled my shirt over my head while she unbuttoned my pants. I didn’t even waste time putting on a belt. That shit would have just been in the way. I kicked off my shoes then pulled my pants off. Reaching into the pocket, I pulled out a condom and strapped up.

I picked her up again and lowered her on my shit. There was nothing tender about what we were doing. I was fucking the breath out of her. That was a good thing because I was in desperate need of the oxygen only she could provide. When I got that first nut out the way, we took a shower together. I washed her body, taking my time to admire everything about her.

I did my best to memorize everything about her, even the dimples in her ass. When we got out, she quickly patted herself dry and put on her shorts and T-shirt. We were both hungry as hell. Round two would have to be after we ate. I followed her to the kitchen and helped her fix our food and get drinks. Once we’d gotten situated at her bistro style table, she grabbed my hands and said grace.

What had me swallowing the huge lump in my throat was her thanking God for bringing me back to her. Her prayer was so beautiful, and it touched me deeply, especially when she asked God to bless me simply because of everything I’d been to her. I thought I was going to have to excuse myself just to gain my composure.

The moment we were done demolishing that food, we didn’t waste any time getting to the bedroom. “That food was good as fuck, baby. Yo’ mama would be proud.”

She chuckled. “She’s tasted my cooking before. So, yes, she’s proud.”

I pulled her in my arms and kissed her deeply. Backing her to the bed, I began pulling off her clothes. Once she was naked, I put the condom on the nightstand then took off my clothes and joined her in bed. Sliding my body on top of hers proved to be what I needed. I grabbed the condom and tore it open with my teeth then leaned to one side to put it on. However, I suddenly decided to take a different course of action.

I slid into Karima immediately and closed my eyes, loving the way she felt without a barrier. The condom was still in my hand, and I dropped it behind her mattress. She had me fucking crazy. I knew she wouldn’t have agreed for me to go inside of her raw, so I had to pretend to put that shit on. I needed to ensure that we would always be connected by doing what I could to possibly give her something to remember me by.

She was already so spent I knew she wouldn’t even notice whether I took the condom off after the fact. I would make sure I fucked her right to sleep. Her pussy felt heavenly. Her heat and wetness were threatening to take me out prematurely. I lowered my head to her ear as she moaned and scratched my back.

“Damn, girl. Yo’ pussy so fucking good.”

She sank her teeth into my shoulder as she continued to throw the pussy back at me. “I love your dick, Rhodes.”

“Mmm. You do? That’s all you love, Karima? Just my dick?” Not giving her a chance to respond, I said, “I love your pussy, baby, but I love all of you. I love you, Karima Denali Henderson. Forever, baby.”

Her back arched, and she squirted all over the damn place. That only made me fuck her harder. When my nut escaped me, I could only hope that it endured the journey and did its job.

CHAPTER5

KARIMA

My apartment was so damn dusty. Although my mama had taught all of us how to clean, it was the one thing she taught us that I hated. I would rather be on my feet, cooking all damn day instead of cleaning. It wasn’t just that surface cleaning shit either. I literally cleaned baseboards, blinds, and grout. I only did a deep cleaning like this once a month or so. Today was the first time since before I moved here that I would conduct a cleaning of this magnitude.

I’d been living here close to two months now, and Rhodes and I were extremely close. While I hadn’t verbally committed to a relationship with him, my heart was completely in. He’d been telling me he loved me for over a month now, and today would be the day that I responded to him the way he’d been hoping for. I loved him too.

I hated that it took me so long to get here, but the point was that I’d made it. Rhodes had been so patient with me. The way he showed his love was overwhelming at times. We’d gone on multiple dinner dates, had fun together no matter where we were, and he’d catered to the romantic in me by buying bouquets of flowers at least once a week. Like King Sis said in her song, “Love Bomb,” we could lie in each other’s arms all day. I just hoped we didn’t end up the way they had in the song’s lyrics, allowing the love to eventually fizzle.

I tried not to think that way, though, because I couldn’t go into the relationship expecting it to fail. Rhodes was perfect for me, and I wished I would have noticed sooner. It took my last trip home to witness my brother’s relationship and how they’d overcome so much already. He and Cassie were truly relationship goals. Nothing that happened was able to tear them apart. Her mother was so damn evil, yet Kendrall was by her side through it all.

It took him a while to get back to her, and I refused to go over twenty years before giving into Rhodes. He and Cassie felt like they’d wasted time, but God orchestrated that for them to mature and go through things to be better for each other. I liked to think that I was pretty mature for my age and knew when God was speaking to me about something. My spirit was keen to His voice, and I knew it was His voice telling me that Rhodes was my one.

As I cleaned, I was in a great mood and had even started to enjoy my alone time. Lecrae was hyping me up to put in a good workout on those baseboards. When I got to my bedroom, I huffed, knowing I would have to move my queen-sized mattress to be able to get to the baseboards behind the bed. That was where most of the dust probably was. Slightly rolling my eyes, I gripped it at the bottom and pulled it toward me, making sure half of it had slid off the box spring.

That was more than enough room for me to get behind it since my headboard was a little higher. When I walked around the mattress, my breath caught in my throat. My eyes widened as I looked at all the condoms on the floor. There had to be at least ten. They were unwrapped but clearly unused because they were still rolled up.

---