Page 48 of Happy Is On Hiatus
An hour and a plate of oxtails and macaroni salad later, Sharae sat in her car across the street from the address Desmond had written on the back of his business card.
She dropped her keys in her purse and stepped out of the car, refusing to think on this another minute. Her long legs carried her across the street with purpose, and she jogged up the five cement stepsthat led to his front door. Clearing her throat, she pressed the button and listened as a bell chimed. It occurred to her then that the bell was actually one of those doorbell-camera things, and that he was probably staring at her right now. Should she fix her hair, hurry to pull out the compact in her purse to check her teeth for remnants of the fantastic dinner the Aunts had fed her?
Time didn’t permit her to do either of those things—not that she was really going to do them anyway. Desmond opened the door.
“Hey. Ready so soon?” The corner of his mouth tilted into that smile, and it was really all Sharae needed.
She took a step forward, wrapped an arm around his neck to pull him down closer, and touched her lips to his. Desmond caught on fast. He tilted his head slightly and parted his lips to join in on the kiss. Their tongues had only just met when he backwalked them farther into his house and slammed the door closed.
Sharae felt herself being pressed against that door in the next seconds, and she wrapped her other arm around his neck. Now the kiss was a scrape of teeth, a duel of tongues, and a few guttural moans tossed in for good measure. He lifted one of her legs, locking it back behind his waist, and rubbed what she surmised would soon be an impressive erection against her center.
Dragging his mouth away from hers, Desmond kissed down the line of her neck. Sharae let her head fall back to hit the door with a light thunk, and he chuckled.
“This isn’t the date I had in mind,” he said before tracing his tongue in teasing little circles on her neck.
He wore a black T-shirt that she grabbed and pulled up his back until her fingers felt the warmth of his bare skin. “I told you I don’t date.”
Leaning back, he yanked the shirt up in the front and pulled it over his head. She’d kept her leg tucked around his waist, and now her handswere on his picture-perfect pecs instantly, her tongue sliding slowly over her bottom lip as she stared at him.
With a finger to her chin, he tilted her head up until they were gazing into each other’s eyes. “Then what are we doing, exactly?”
“In about five minutes I expect to have my clothes ripped off—well, not ripped, per se, but you know what I mean.” He grinned, and her pussy throbbed. “And then I think you can imagine the rest.”
There was a brief moment when she thought he was going to turn her down. She would’ve been monumentally pissed off in that instance. But that was not what he said.
“I can imagine a lot of things.”
“Good,” she said, cupping her hand to the back of his head and pulling his mouth close to hers again. “You’ve got an hour. My next shift starts at six, and I need to go home and get some rest.”
He surprised her then by lifting her other leg and pushing it behind his waist. His hands cupped her ass, and he turned, walking her toward the stairs, she assumed. “Then you should’ve packed an overnight bag because I’m gonna need more time than that.”
She shook her head as he took the first step. “That’s all the time you get.”
Desmond took her mouth in a hungry kiss. His hands moved up and down her back, over her ass to squeeze each mound, up her back again to riffle through her hair, and then finally back to cup her ass. When he pulled his mouth away from hers this time, they were both out of breath. “Wanna bet,” he whispered and then carried her up the stairs.
Chapter 19
PLANNING A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN.
Stress could lead to high blood pressure. High blood pressure could lead to heart disease. Heart disease could lead to a cardiovascular event and death.
Rita rubbed her temples and willed herself to calm down. This had been a long Wednesday morning, and she still had a couple more errands to run before she could go home and take a soothing hot bath. She’d been working on her breathing techniques, and knowing now that it really did start with settling her mind first and foremost, she let her arms fall to her sides and tried to do just that.
Taryn and Necole were coming over tonight for dinner, but they’d insisted on ordering from Rita’s favorite Italian restaurant and bringing the food to her. She’d been touched by the thought and had immediately accepted their offer. So that was something nice to look forward to.
Breathe in. Breathe out.Slow and steady breaths that focused on pushing out the bad and filling herself up with the good, the refreshing, the regenerating.
Nate had sent a moving truck to the house yesterday to pick up more of his things. After seeing him in Ocean City, she’d been more determined than ever to rid her house of any semblance of him. He’dthankfully not given her any pushback when she’d sent him a text message about getting the rest of the things she’d found and whatever else he wanted out of the house as soon as possible. She’d sat in the dining room nursing a cup of coffee while the movers took all the designated items away.
Breathe in. Breathe out.Her shoulders trembled a bit, but she kept on going.
Her mother had called last night to remind her of today’s meetings at the church. The Women’s-Ministry Anniversary was in September, and they were having a banquet as their yearly fundraiser. Rita was catering the banquet, but Vi was micromanaging on the sidelines.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
“So, do you think baked and barbeque chicken, ham, and salmon are going to be enough meats?” Florence Bakersfield asked. It was her ten-thousandth question of the morning, and Rita wanted to scream with the annoyance of it all.
“We’ve gone over this menu a dozen times, Florence,” Maddie Hemp replied with a deep southern accent. She was from Kentucky but had moved to Baltimore fifteen years ago to be with her new husband and his two daughters.
