Page 26 of Certified Pressure 2
“What’s takin’ so long?” he asked, his tone firm like he was ready to solve it right there.
I sighed, picking at the food on my plate. “We don’t have the money. Her insurance covers some, but not enough. They want thirty to forty thousand for the rest, and we just don’t have it.”
Pressure leaned back, staring at me for a second before he nodded. “Bet. I got you.”
I froze, my fork slipping from my fingers. My chest swelled so hard it hurt, and I had to swallow just to stop myself from breaking down at the table. He was basically saying he would save my sister’s life, and it was too much for me to process. Even though I went into his mansion, hoping to achieve that goal, my feelings became too real, and I lost focus on what I came to do. Asking him for the money no longer felt like an option once shit became complicated.
My eyes filled before I could stop them. I tried to hold it together, but the tears fell hot and fast down my cheeks. I didn’t even care that we were in the middle of a restaurant because in that moment, it was just me and him.
Pressure pushed back from his side of the booth and came to sit next to me. He grabbed my face with one hand, his palm warm against my cheek as his fingers squeezed gently. He kissed me over and over, soft pecks against my lips like he was determined to make me feel better.
I let out a shaky breath as his mouth found every tear, kissing them away as if he refused to let them stay there. My arms wrapped around his neck, holding him tight, my tears wetting his skin as I buried myself in him.
“I told you I got you,” he murmured against my lips, kissing me again until I felt like the world could finally let me breathe.
Being in his arms in that moment, feeling the way he loved me without even having to say the words, it was enough to make my heart break and heal all at the same time.
And all I could think was how lucky I was to be the one sitting next to him, wishing the moment would never end.
After dinner, Pressure paid and we left the restaurant. As we moved through the parking lot, he never let my hand go. His palm stayed warm and sure around mine like he wasn’t about to let me drift too far from him, and that alone made my whole body calm down. When we got to the car he walked me to the passenger side and opened the door, guiding me in with that quiet authority that always made my body listen before my mind could. He closed me in gentle, then circled to the driver’s side and slid in low. I didn’t ask if he was taking me home,because I already knew better. With him, you didn’t question the destination—you just felt where he was taking you and trusted it.
Even though I didn’t like leaving Zurie at that apartment with my mama, at least she wasn’t there by herself, and that gave me a little peace to breathe. I pressed the thought down because I knew if I let it sit too long it would swallow the night, and I needed this. Pressure had this way of pulling me into his world where everything outside of him faded into a blur, and it scared me sometimes how easily I let him do it.
The car moved smooth when he pulled off with the music low in the speakers and city lights flipping over his face like a slideshow. He didn’t talk much and he didn’t need to. He reached across the console and dropped his hand on my thigh, sliding his thumb slow while his eyes watched the road, and every pass of his skin over mine sent sparks climbing higher inside me. By the time he curved into the hotel drive I wasn’t even surprised. One thing about Pressure, he wasn’t laying his head just anywhere. If he brought me somewhere, it was going to be nice enough to make me forget where I came from for a second.
We checked in and I watched the front desk girl try to keep it cute while her eyes kept finding him. I didn’t blame her though. Pressure’s presence was loud even when he wasn’t saying anything, and that cologne wrapped around the whole lobby the moment we stepped in. Everything around us glowed—marble floors, gold accents, fresh flowers sitting pretty like they’d been waiting on us. My hand stayed in his as we moved, fingers laced, and even though we had already been intimate before, a low nervousness kept running under my skin because I knew what this man did to me, and I knew what I was about to let happen again.
The elevator doors closed and the ride up felt quiet but full in a way I couldn’t name. When the doors slid open, he walked outfirst and tugged me along, his grip firm enough to keep me close but gentle enough to tell me I wasn’t being dragged—I was being chosen. He slid the key card into the door, his back all broad and calm, and in that split second I thought about how unreal it still felt to stand behind a man like him and know he wanted me here.
The door opened into a room that looked like money—tall windows dressed in heavy curtains, low lighting, clean linen, a bed big enough to swallow the both of us. I didn’t get to take in all the details because he shut the door behind us and turned to me like he’d been holding something back all night and finally let it loose.
His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me against him, and my spine arched into his body before I could think. Then his mouth found my neck, and everything inside me fell open for him. His tongue traced over my skin warm, wet, and patient, like he knew exactly how to make my whole body answer. The first pass of his tongue had me struggling to catch my breath, the second had a hum rolling out my chest, and by the time he started working the spot he liked, low and deep near the curve of my shoulder, I was tilting my head all the way to give him more. It felt like he was tasting every nerve, like he was learning me again and reminding me that I belonged right here with him. The pull of his mouth marked me. It was a sweet ache pushing through soft heat until I knew he’d leave me with a red passion mark I couldn’t hide, and I didn’t want to.
It was too much and not enough at the same time. His mouth continued to suck at my sensitive spot until I felt the pressure of his lips marking me in another spot, branding me in a way I couldn’t hide. The sting and pull of it mixed with so much pleasure that my eyes rolled back, crossing as heat shot through me. My mouth watered uncontrollably, and I didn’t even realizedrool was sliding from the corners until his tongue caught it, licking it up.
My eyes were so hazy that my mouth parted further, and he kept kissing like he wanted to catch everything I gave off. I tried to say his name and it came out thin, because he had me floating and sinking at once. The room smelled like his cologne and the hotel’s clean linen, and I could taste liquor and mint on him all at once when his mouth finally came back to mine.
I tried to speak but it was like my lungs were collapsing and my chest was caving in, every sound breaking apart under the weight of his mouth on me. When I finally managed to whisper, my words shook.
“Pressure,” I whispered, because I needed one thing settled even as I was losing myself. “Have you been with Kashmere, or Ka’mari, or anybody else?”
The second the question left my lips, I hated myself for it. I already knew it was late to be asking, after he had already been fucking me raw, but I had to ask, because Ka’mari was back in the picture and I hadn’t been at the mansion, and the thought of him giving away pieces of what he gave me burned too hard to swallow.
Pressure lifted his head, his eyes locking on mine, and it felt like the whole room tilted. He didn’t rush to answer, but just stared, biting down on his bottom lip like he was fighting the hunger running through him. The weight of that look had my chest trembling, because the way he studied me was focused, like he was already inside my soul. His gaze alone made my heart flutter so hard it almost hurt, and in that silence I knew whatever came out of his mouth next would stay with me forever.
“I ain’t stuck my dick in nobody else but you,” he said, each word heavy with truth. “Girl, you got my mind so fuckin’ gone I can’t even look at another woman without seein’ your face. I can’t even think about pussy without thinkin’ about yours. Youall I want. You all I been wantin’ for a minute now. You the one got me losin’ sleep, ridin’ on jets at night, and pullin’ up at ya door like I’m crazy.”
The words hit me harder than his mouth did. Heat rolled through me and something inside unclenched, and I gave in without even trying to hold it together anymore. My hands slid up beneath his shirt and met the hardness of his stomach. His skin was hot and smooth, stretched tight over muscle, and I traced the ridges of his abs with my fingertips, feeling every line and cut like they’d been carved just for me to touch. My palm moved higher, gliding over the firmness of his chest, the rise and fall of it strong against my hand, and it made my mouth water just thinking about how perfect he felt under me.
Pressure looked down at me while I explored him, his eyes dark, biting his bottom lip slow like he was holding back a groan. The sight of him watching me touch him, that hungry look painted across his face, only made me want him more.
He had me out of my shirt fast after that, handling me with a mix of roughness and reverence that felt like worship. He moved me to the bed with a kiss pressed to my forehead, then my cheek, then my mouth, talking soft between each one like he couldn’t help it. His lips found my collarbone and drifted lower, and I felt every place he loved with the kind of focus that made me light-headed.
His lips moved down my neck, then my breasts, sucking and biting until all I could do was moan. When he climbed on top of me, his kiss was rough, demanding, and then I felt him push his dick inside me, slow and deep, stretching me until a gasp ripped out of my chest. My mouth fell wide open and his moan rumbled against me, thick and raw, sending another rush of heat straight between my thighs.
“I fuckin’ missed you,” he murmured against my mouth, the words brushing my lips like another kiss.
The sound of his voice while he fucked me was enough to drive me crazy. He was telling me I felt good throbbing on his dick, that I was warm and wet and welcoming, that I was coating him like I’d been waiting on him and only him. Every word settled in my chest and ran lower, and I couldn’t hold back the sounds coming out of me even if I wanted to.
