#Blessed by Malakai, page 9
I was shaking my head before he even got out the thought. “That’s not necessary. I actually live just above the bar.”
He glanced at the side door that led to the stairs. “Then I’ll walk you up.”
Before I could oppose, he was already walking toward that direction. My eyes widened in panic as I mouthed to Tyler or Serenity to help me.
“Nope.” Tyler nodded his head.
Serenity gave a sympathetic smile. “Sorry, girlfriend.”
Crayson looked from them, to me, to his retreating brother. “What the hell did I miss?”
Instead of staying behind to see if they filled him in, I followed the direction that Malakai had gone. What in the world am I going to do? Malakai Madden wasn’t the type of man to believe a bullshit answer and I wasn't clever enough to come up with a sufficient excuse if he'd overheard any part of the conversation.
When he reached the side door, he held it open for me to walk past him. I held my breath so that I wouldn’t breathe in any more of his enticing scent than I already was, but it was no use once we began climbing the stairs. The narrow stairway seemed even smaller than normal, and by the time we reached my door, I was consumed with all thoughts Malakai and hadn't come up with an alternative answer to give him to his lingering question.
“Well, here I am,” I said, my back toward him. There was no way I was turning around. No way was I going to gaze into those breathtaking eyes. The lust floating in the air around us was suffocating me more than I’d ever admit to myself.
He took a step closer, my backside extremely close to the front of him if the heat radiating between us was any indicator. On one hand, my common sense—who I’d affectionately named Halo—was telling me that letting him get this close was a bad idea and warning me to quickly let myself into my apartment and send him on his way. Yet, that she-devil on my shoulder—better known as Coco—was saying, “Yassss, bitch. Let his fine ass in.”
As we stood there in silence, with my back still toward him, I could slowly see Halo being knocked off my shoulder to the ground by Coco. I was fumbling with my keys, when I heard him groan, which was the only noise he’d made since we got to my apartment. Was that a good moan? A bad moan? A would-she-tell-me-what-the-hell-she-was-about-to-say moan? I wasn’t sure.
Outwardly, I was remaining calm. Inwardly, I was cursing out Coco for weakening my resolve when it came to this man. I finally got my keys in the lock and turned to face Malakai just as I was opening the door.
I opened my mouth to speak, but the fire reflected in his eyes made my words die on my tongue. He took a step closer, which caused me to take a step back into my apartment.
He squinted his eyes as if he were trying to gauge how I felt about whatever the hell was about to happen. “Can I come in?” he asked.
I bit my lip, the move bringing his eyes back to my mouth. I shouldn’t let him in. He’s about to be dating five women soon. I shuffled from one foot to the other. Girl, stop playing and let him in already. You don’t have to sleep with him, but you damn sure better sample those lips.
I shook my head. “Shut up, Coco.”
He laughed. “Is that a yes?”
I stepped back from my door. “Yes, come on in.”
Eleven
Malakai
* * *
The moment I stepped into her apartment, I took a deep breath to open my mind and give me a moment to think about what my next move would be. My mind had been thinking about the words I’d overheard her say since I’d sat down at the table in the bar.
It’s bad enough I spend half … if not all of my meetings with that man daydreaming about him naked. There is no way in hell I could build up the nerve to actually ask him to give me an orgasm.
So she wanted me to give her an orgasm and often pictured me naked? Hell, didn’t she know that she didn’t even have to be in the vicinity for me to picture her naked, and giving her a mind-blowing orgasm would be more my pleasure than hers?
“Do you want anything to drink?” she asked.
“Nah, I’m good.” I followed her into the kitchen area, my eyes unable to leave her ass as I watched her walk to the refrigerator to get herself a water bottle.
I did a quick survey of my surroundings, noting that Avery was exactly the type of person I thought she was. A person’s living quarters always told a lot about their character. In Avery’s case, her furniture was modern, but unique. Her colors were warm, yet flowed together nicely. However, it was her walls that were tastefully decorated with beautiful artwork that really got my attention. Being an artist myself, I loved a woman who could appreciate good artwork.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything to drink?” she asked, placing her water bottle on the counter. “I could brew some coffee or make you some tea.”
“I rarely drink coffee,” I said, eliminating the space between us. “And although I love tea, the only thing I want to taste on my lips right now is you.” I gave her a few seconds to back away or tell me that this wasn’t what she wanted. Yet, when instead of retreating, she licked her lips and leaned her head closer, I dipped my head to hers to capture the lips that had kept me up at night ever since we’d met.
She tasted just like I thought she would—sweet, with a hint of spice. It didn’t take long for my tongue to coax hers open to explore her mouth in a way I hadn’t done with a woman in years.
Her hands snaked up to the top of my neck while my arms went around her waist, pulling her closer to me. Avery kissed as amazing as I knew she would, her tongue working me just as much as I was working her. When I felt her growing more eager, I cupped her ass and lifted her to the counter, immediately placing myself in between her legs as we continued to kiss without breaking our rhythm.
“Malakai,” she moaned in between kisses. The sound of her saying my first name and not calling me Mr. Madden was doing crazy things to my self-control. For me, kissing had always been the best type of foreplay I could get. Call me crazy, but as much as I loved giving oral sex and receiving oral sex, nothing got me hornier than a plush pair of lips and a woman who knew how to use them.
She flicked her tongue over mine in a wave that seemed to be directly connected to the sensors in my dick. I didn’t want things to get too out of hand, but if she kept up that tongue action, I was going to have to break my year-long drought.
A few licks and nips later, we broke the kiss for some much-needed oxygen. I leaned my forehead against hers as I waited for my breathing to slow down.
“Damn, Avery.” I lifted my head to look her in the eyes. “If I’d known you kissed like that, I would have kissed you weeks ago.”
She laughed in the familiar way that I was really beginning to get attached to. “I enjoy hearing you call me Avery and not Ms. Nightingale.”
I smiled. “I damn sure rather you call me Malakai.”
She reached her hand between us and said, “Deal.”
I took her hand in mine, my large one enveloping her smaller one in a way that seemed to perfectly connect. She must have noticed it, too, because her eyes got even brighter. A few seconds later, a frown replaced her smile.
“What is it?” I asked, my hand gently going to her cheek. “Do you regret kissing me?”
“Yes and no,” she answered, using her hand for emphasis. “I enjoyed kissing you a lot more than I should have because starting tomorrow, you go on your first two of five dates.”
I dropped my hand back to the counter, but didn’t step away from her. Tomorrow I had a day date and a night date. Neither of which I was really thrilled to go on. The person I wanted to go on a date with was sitting right in front of me. “I know. I thought about that earlier today when I was watching you while I was recording with Dr. Walker and Dr. Parker.”
Her eyes widened. “So you were watching me on purpose?”
“Not at first,” I said with a laugh. “But it seemed I couldn’t keep my eyes off you, so after a while, I gave up trying.” My voice sounded huskier even to my own ears.
Her eyes dropped to my lips. “No matter how great that kiss was, you have to go through with this process. At the end of the day, I was hired to change your image and in doing so, I’m obligated to remember what’s important here. Plus, you said we had to keep things professional. I don’t want to be like your previous image consultants.”
“I understand that and I appreciate it.” I pulled her closer to me, the fabric of her dress making it easier to slide her on the counter. “But in case you haven’t figured it out, sometimes I fuck up and make a dumb ass comment.”
She laughed again. “Are you suggesting that telling us to keep things business was the dumb ass comment?”
I nodded my head. “Hell yeah. I knew that shit was stupid before the words had left my mouth.”
This time, her entire body shook when she laughed and it was so infectious, I found myself laughing along with her until her face grew serious. “I meant what I said. You have to go on these dates. Your future wife could be amongst these women.”
Fuck that. I wanted to tell her that although I respected Dr. Parker, I highly doubted one of those women were the future Mrs. Malakai Madden. Avery only knew my brother, Crayson, but had she met some more members of the Madden clan, someone would have told her when a Madden man sets his sights on the one woman who holds the key to his future, he wife’s her up quicker than she can figure out what’s going on. Just ask my brothers, Micah and Malik. Before Lex and Mya knew it, my brothers had swept them off their feet and had them walking down the aisle.
I always followed my gut and my gut was telling me that even though there was still so much I needed to learn about Avery and so much she needed to learn about me, I was done keeping my distance. I’d always been the type of man to go after what I want and Avery Nightingale had become número uno weeks ago. However, I didn’t want to scare her off and laying all of my cards on the table would definitely do all that. So I’d play by her rules, or at least pretend to play by them, until the time was right.
“I’ll go on these dates because you want me to, but I won’t like it.” I trailed kisses along the base of her neck before I made my way back to her beautiful face. “But tonight is tonight. So these lips of yours are mine until you kick me out of your place.”
My lips were on hers so fast, her laugh never escaped her lips.
Avery
* * *
“Avery, are you okay? You look like you’re going to be sick.”
I glanced over at Jordyn who was making us drinks in my kitchen. “Yes, I’m good. Just hoping that technically, everything works out tonight. Malakai went on two dates yesterday and one today. The cameraman, Steve, was supposed to get a little footage from each date.”
That was a bold-faced lie, and judging by the way Jordyn rolled her eyes, she knew it, too. A couple nights ago, things with Malakai and I had gotten extremely out of hand and even though those delicious kisses were the best I’d ever had, making out with him right before he was scheduled to go on dates with other women was beyond wrong.
If my grandmother, Madea, could see me now, she’d strike me where I sit. I was raised better than this. My career was on the line and I truly did believe that this process could work for Malakai.
“Did you tell Tyler and Serenity what happened?” Jordyn asked, placing our drinks on my coffee table.
I laughed as I thought back to my quick conversation with Tyler and Serenity yesterday morning. “Girl, they were waiting at my desk when I got to the office. I didn’t give them too many details. However, I told them we’d kissed, but agreed that he needed to continue with this process and go on the dates as if nothing happened.”
Jordyn’s eyebrows creased together. “So basically, you made them believe it was a mutual decision when Malakai clearly told you he’s only going on these dates for you, but wasn’t going to like it.”
I waved her comment off. “Men will say anything when lust is doing all of the talking.”
“Nah, I disagree. You didn’t see how that man was looking at you when he got to the bar. And let’s not forget how he was looking at you in his first live video. I don’t know Malakai that well, but you do. Does he seem like the type of man to only let his dick do the talking?”
I thought about the man I’d been getting to know and the fact that even though he’s known for being good in the bedroom, he didn’t seem to be driven by his sexual needs.
“No, he doesn’t.” I glanced at the time on the corner of my laptop and saw the live video pop up in my Twitter feed. “It’s starting.”
True to what we’d discussed, Steve had gone on all three of Malakai’s dates. The first fifteen minutes of the live video was a recap of all three dates. All three women were beautiful, and based off the clips, they seemed successful, too. The screen loved them and they each had chemistry with Malakai. Dr. Parker had done well with choosing the first three. If she did so good, why does it make you feel like shit? I knew why, but I had to accept the situation.
After the recap, Dr. Walker dove right into the session by asking Malakai some tough questions, including talking a little about how it was when he first began dating. I expected him to say he’d been dating multiple women from the age of fifteen or something like that, but what he said was the complete opposite.
“I’d never asked to be popular in high school,” he said. “But I was, which meant that I was portrayed a certain way whether I wanted it or not. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed high school, but I’d always felt a little different. Whereas most of the student body enjoyed going to football and basketball games, parades, and lived for homecoming and prom, I was the complete opposite. If I could stay in my room all day and just create something artistic, I was more than happy. Because I grew up with five brothers, I had no problem speaking my mind and shooting the shit, but when it came to dating, I was extremely shy.”
“I can imagine that,” Dr. Walker said. “You have a bold personality, but you also seem to be the type of man who appreciates the quiet moments.”
As Malakai nodded his head, I thought about how much of a talker the first two dates were. On the surface, the dates seemed to go pretty well, but now listening to him, I was able to think back to what the camera had shown and realize that Malakai had seemed engaged, but the conversations had been pretty one-sided. Both women had done most the talking.
“I do appreciate those moments,” Malakai agreed. “It takes a while for me to open up to a woman, and back in high school, it was even more difficult because they saw this popular guy with all of the friends. So, when we were alone and I’d rather talk about Leonardo da Vinci or painters who I wished the world knew more about like political painter and civil rights activist, Faith Ringgold, I would get a look like I was speaking a foreign language. Women needed an encyclopedia to understand me, so it didn’t make it easy to be a misunderstood nerd.” His laugh was boastful, but I could feel the slight pain between his vocal cords.
“It must have been difficult to be yourself,” Dr. Walker remarked. “Studies show that a lot of social skills are developed in those pre-teen years and even earlier. Even though high school doesn’t define us, depending on our experiences, it can be hard to find your footing.”
The rest of the discussion with Dr. Walker and Malakai continued to pull me in. I couldn’t stop watching it. Analyzing his words. Wondering if he meant what he said about his dates going well, or had they gone better and he just didn’t want to say anything to jinx them.
My mind was reeling at how well that session had gone, yet, it couldn’t help but make me question what had happened between us a couple nights ago.
“Earth to Avery,” Jordyn called, waving her hands in front of my face. “The video ended a couple minutes ago.”
“Oh, right.” I blinked my eyes a few times. “That was good, right?”
Instead of answering me, Jordyn shook her head as she took our empty glasses to my kitchen.
I stood from my couch. “What? You disagree?”
“I don’t disagree,” she said. “It really was good. But you can’t tell me that you honestly think any of those women are better for him than you are?”
I glanced back down at my laptop as if the video would suddenly start replaying. Were they? Was I? “It doesn’t matter because I have a job to do. I’ve already gotten three additional clients because news is traveling about me being hired by Malakai, so I have too much on my plate to even analyze the situation.”
“Bullshit. If I know you, you’re already analyzing it.” She walked back to me and we both sat back down on the couch. “You know, for a woman who’s never had an orgasm, you sure aren’t getting that D as quickly as I wished you would.”
My mouth dropped. “I’m not letting Malakai give me an orgasm.”
“Girl, please. I bet you’ve been having freaky ass dreams about that man since you met him. Maybe even before because we all saw that dick pic. Listen,” she began, her tone growing more serious, “you only told me a little bit about what you’ve gone through in the past when you lived in Tennessee, but word of advice, sis … don’t make up excuses as to why you can’t be with that man.”
I gave her a look of disbelief. “I don’t know your entire story about men you’ve dated in the past either, but based off what I know, isn’t this the pot calling the kettle black?”
“Yeah, it is,” she said, nodding her head. “But deep down, you know I’m right. All I’m saying is, let things happen however they should. Don’t fight it.” She waited a couple seconds before she went back to her antics. “And if you just so happen to trip into his bedroom and land right on his dick, then look at it like a sign from God that you need to tap that ass for all of the women in the world who wish they could."
I laughed so hard I could barely breathe.
Twelve
Malakai
