1
Willow
Setting the Tone
March
“Princess, you ready?” Zain asked from the other side of my bedroom door.
My cheeks warmed at the term of endearment. He’d been calling me ‘Princess’ and I’d been calling him Eli, his middle name, since I was thirteen and he was fifteen. It was like a second skin to me now. At first, he said it was because I was the youngest and everybody doted on me.
But when I turned seventeen, the way he said it and how I felt when I heard it changed. A year later, it took on a new meaning when he whispered it as he entered my body for the first time.
Even now, at twenty-seven, he’s still the only man I’ve been with and the only one my body craves. Yes, I’ve casually dated other men throughout the years, but they all end the same way once they’re actually around us in person.
“Almost. I need to put on my jewelry and heels.”
“The car will be here in twenty minutes.”
“Okay. I’ll be ready.”
“I still gotta wait to see you?”
“Yep!” I said putting the emphasis on the ‘p’. “You’ll see me in twenty minutes. Go sit on the couch, please.”
When he grunted and walked off, I laughed, then put on the strappy gold heels I knew he would love to see on my feet. He wasn’t used to not being in my space if we were in the same vicinity. I loved that he loved always being up under me. It didn’t matter who was around and how they felt about it.
Tonight was thee night. I was tired of waiting for all of his cards to align the way he wanted before we could take things further. I knew and understood his reasoning, but it was never necessary to me. However, I respected how he’d done things, but I was ending the longing tonight.
Pop Russell instilled in his two sons and daughter that a man’s job was to provide for his family. He told them that when they find their wives or husband, in Journi’s case, he should be able provide not just financially, but emotionally, physically, and mentally. If he can’t then he should leave her alone until he can.
I knew that’s why Zain hadn’t pursued me. He had goals he wanted to achieve to give me the life we’ve talked about having. But I’ve been patient long enough. I wanted him with or without a six-figure salary, which he would be making soon, due to the promotion he’d gotten at work. He already had the dream condo we both talked about wanting, but I knew when our time came to be man and wife, that he’d get me the house of my dreams.
Zain was nothing if not intentional in the way he loved me. Every month during my cycle, he’d have my favorites delivered to me because during those five to seven days, I didn’t leave the house. He also comes over and stays with me. Never allowing me to lift a finger.
He was always the first to know anything major happening in my life. The bond we’ve built and shared allowed me to be vulnerable with him. There wasn’t anything about me, my goals, my dreams, and my passions that he didn’t already know.
As I put my diamond-stud earrings in my ear, a gift from Zain on my 25th birthday, a video call from my older sister Sapphira, and Journi, Zain’s older sister, came through.
“Hey, Bigs,” I greeted them, looking into the camera.
“Ooooo my brother ain’t gonna know what hit him tonight!” Journi squealed before her lips spread into a full-blown smile.
“Speaking of brother, where is ours?” Phi fussed. “I called him three times today and that bald head thin-nosed negro ain’t called me back yet.”
Journi and I laughed.
“Not too much on my man, Middle. He, the boys, and Key had a guy’s day after they picked them up from school. They went to the new go-kart track that just opened. And last I heard, they were stopping to get pizza and coming home.”
Journi and Kai, mine and Phi’s older brother, were trying to get it right. Even though there was a two-year age difference, they are best friends much like Zain and I, and have been since elementary school.
When Jo was a sophomore and started filling out, Kai began looking at her differently. My brother has always been the type to go after what he wants. So things between them shifted from friends to boyfriend and girlfriend.
Journi was the perfect fit for Kai and vice versa. They dated through high school, attended the same college, joined the military together, got married, gave us two beautiful nephews, and separated when Kai’s PTSD caused him to pull away from being a father to our nephews.
It hurt watching them go through their low period. We all wanted to intervene, but the thought of losing Jo and the boys was the reality check my big brother needed to finally take the steps to get help. I knew they would get back together eventually. They love each other’s funky, dirty drawls. Sometimes they act like they each have to get the last word in, but I encouraged them to talk through the tough conversations and to actively listen.
I’m not going to lie. Seeing Journi and Kai go through their ups and downs made me hesitant about me and Zain a few years ago. But, Journi told me I shouldn’t base what could happen between me and Zain off of what was happening between her and Kai.
“Mommmyyyy! Daddy’s making us milkshakes!” Kenyon, our eight-year-old nephew, yelled walking into the house.
“Kenyon James Dennis, I’ve told you twice this week about walking into my house yelling.”
Kenyon giggled. “Sorry, Mama. I’m excited.”
Journi shook her head and opened her arms for a hug. “How was your day, Baby Boy?”
“Good. Daddy wiped out on the go-kart track and Kian had to drive him back to the stand. Uncle Key said he ain’t no real driver.”
We all laughed as Kenyon retold the story.
“Where are your father, brother, and uncle?” Journi asked Kenyon.
“Getting the pizzas, wings, and groceries out of the car,” he replied.
“Kenyon, you were supposed to open the door, then come back and help with the groceries. Let me guess, you tellin’ ya mama I wiped out,” Kai fussed, walking into their home carrying three pizza boxes and groceries slung over both arms. Kenyon smiled widely, mirroring his mother’s smile. “I knew it. We really gotta work on your bro code.”
“He acts just like his uncle. Boy was a blabbermouth growing up,” Journi chimed in.
“KJ, I’m not taking your turn at dishes since you ain’t help us with groceries,” Kian, our ten-year-old nephew, chastised. “Do your own chores, tattle-tale self.”
“Aye! Quit clowning my boy,” Keanu threw in while walking into the house with an armful of groceries.
Phi and I giggling made them come closer to where Journi was lounging on the couch.
“Oh, you on the phone with Thing 1 and 2,” Kai said teasingly. “Phi, before you start, I was going to call you once we got home. I gave the boys my undivided attention today.”
“Yea, yea, yea, ya girl already took up for you.”
Kai dropped a kiss on Journi’s forehead, then her lips, before balancing the pizza boxes on the back of the couch and caressing her stomach.
“Hold up, pause! Is there something y’all wanna tell us?” Phi probed.
“Mama’s having a baby. We’re getting a little sister,” Kenyon said nonchalantly.
Phi and I screamed. A few moments later, my bedroom door flew open.
“What’s wrong?” Zain asked, rushing into the room.
“Ellliiiii, you weren’t supposed to see me yet.”
“Baby, you screamed and thought that I was going to stay in the living room? Yea, that don’t work like that, Princess, and you know it.”
“Uncle Z, Mama’s having a baby!” Kenyon repeated.
“What? For real? Congrats y’all! Kenyon, what I tell you ‘bout telling everybody’s business though, Nephew?” Zain chastised him lovingly. “We gon’ tighten you up.”
Kai chuckled. “Agreed.”
“If y’all know my man’s got loose lips, why y’all tell him stuff and get mad when he tells it? Sounds like y’all ain’t learned y’all lesson yet, so he shouldn’t be held accountable,” Keanu defended Kenyon while kissing the top of his head.
“Well, now that it’s all out there, we’re going home next weekend to tell the folks, so please keep it to yourselves until then,” Journi advised. “I already have both sets of parents cooking, so if y’all can make the time, please come home.”
“We’ll be there, Jo,” Zain replied.
“I think y’all should’ve told your youngest that,” Phi joked. “Ken, you can’t hold water. Never apply for the Secret Service.”
We all laughed.
“Princess, we gotta go,” Zain said from behind me.
“Alright, y’all, I’ll send pics when we get there. Love y’all,” I told everyone.
“We love y’all too,” Kai replied.
“Yea, yea, love y’all more,” Phi added.
I hung up and looked at Zain through the mirror. He was looking at me appreciatively while gnawing on his bottom lip. I smiled and stood from my vanity, turning around to take him in.
His low-cut Caesar had his waves on swim. His tape was fresh, making me more appreciative that he kept an appointment with his barber. I couldn’t wait to run my fingers over the top of his head later while his head was buried between my legs.
I already knew what he was wearing because I chose and ordered it. But seeing the all-black August Noir tuxedo with the gold paisley print lapel against his tawny brown skin enhanced his decadence.
“I see why you wanted me to wait. I’m loving this dress on you,” Zain confessed. “Gimme a spin, Baby.”
I did as he asked while attempting to squeeze my thighs together. My skin heated as his hazel eyes with flecks of gray and green, slowly traced the curves of my body.
“You are beautiful, Princess. I wish I could stand here and admire you all night,” he paused and walked around me, taking me in some more. “Since I can’t though, let’s go before I forget how Calvin Russell raised me.”
I smirked. “Tonight, I want you to,” I urged, grabbing my clutch and phone, then walking out of my bedroom with him on my heels.
“Willow…” he murmured. By his tone he was chastising me, but also intrigued by what I said.
“I’m serious, but we can discuss that later.”
I heard him grunt from behind me. I glanced back over my shoulder and his eyes were on my ass.
“Like what you see, Zaddy?”
“Princess, are you flirting with me?” he asked, pulling me backward into his hard and solid frame. His dick was resting firmly between my ass cheeks.
I swallowed the moan in my throat. “And if I am?”
He nipped my left earlobe before kissing my neck. “Be careful. I may flirt back.”
I shivered and took a deep breath.
Things were definitely changing tonight.
“Let’s go, Baby,” he urged, guiding me toward the door with a hand on my lower back.
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