Page 13 of Judgments of Fire and Desire

I nodded as he rejoined me in bed. He pulled me back into his arms, and I could feel his heart beating erratically. I rested my hand on his chest and said a silent prayer for him. “Everything will come to light. Don’t worry.”

He only nodded and kissed my head. I knew he hadn’t accepted my advice. He was only nodding to end the conversation. “I can’t believe we did this already. I mean, I’m not complaining at all. I’m just shocked. I expected you to resist me for a while.”

I shifted against him, trying to sit up so I could look into his eyes. When I did, I said, “Normally, I don’t move this quickly. I’m sure you could tell it’s been a while for me. I promised myself that I wouldn’t give of myself this way unless I felt like a future was inevitable with that person. So today… I don’t know if it was liquid courage to just go for what I really wanted and to stop overthinking or if you will eventually be that person for me.”

He slid his hand over my cheek and caressed it with his thumb while staring into my eyes. “Well, there’s only one way to find out. We will date and continue getting to know one another. I can tell you’re a no-nonsense type of person in your personal life, and I try to be that way as well. However, it seems I have complete stability professionally, but I sometimes struggle personally. I promise to be honest. Please know that my intentions are pure. I want to be with you.”

I nodded as I thought about what he said. That personal instability probably stemmed from the sins of his father and losing him so suddenly. He was older than me when this attack occurred, so I was sure he remembered more than I did. Mymemories were fleeting. I felt like the only reason I remembered that particular day was because it was so traumatic.

“Let’s just go with how we’re feeling. Just remember… when difficult times arise, we will talk them out as adults. No running from whatever our truths are at that moment. No lashing out unfairly. If we can respect one another, personally and professionally, I think we’ll be fine.”

He pulled me close again and kissed my lips. As his hands traveled over my body, I could feel my libido kicking up a notch. Being with him in this manner felt too right to be a mistake. That had to mean something. How was it I could feel this way about a man I barely knew? It was puzzling the hell out of me, but I was willing to go with it. Just as we were about to dive headfirst into pleasing one another, my phone rang.

He squeezed my ass tighter as I pulled away from him, slightly giggling. “Sorry, I have to get that. It’s my mom. She will keep calling until I answer. There is no way she would expect me to be ‘unavailable’ so soon,” I said, holding up air quotes when I said unavailable.

I quickly went to my phone and answered. “Hello?”

“Hey! What time are you coming back? Are we going to dinner?”

I checked the time to see that it was already six. “Umm… yeah, sure. Did you have somewhere in mind that you wanted to go?”

“Well, Carolyn was telling us about this great place she knew of that sold amazing steak. She said Judge Patrick loved steak.”

“Okay,” I said, glancing over at Kyrie.

He gave me a smirk then got up from the bed and went to start the shower. I smiled slightly then said to my mom, “Give us an hour. Tell Miss Carolyn to send the address to us, and we’ll meet y’all there.”

“Okay, baby. See y’all then.”

I ended the call, wishing we could have enjoyed one another again before we were interrupted. I supposed theydidneed to eat. Food was the last thing on my mind. It seemed like we’d just eaten, but it had been nearly five hours. When I joined him in the bathroom, he was getting in the shower. I supposed I would have to use the hotel soap to wash up.

As I stood in front of the sink to take a ho bath, Kyrie said, “Genesis, get in the shower.”

His authoritativeness turned me on tremendously. When I slid the curtain back and saw his dick already clad with a condom, I grinned. “I told her we would meet them in an hour.”

“Then you better hurry and get in here. I have to have you once more before we have to separate for the night.”

I hurriedly joined him in the shower, and he scooped me up, roughly pinning me to the wall, and took what was now his.

When I stoodin front of my house, several expletives left my lips. My neighbor had boarded up my window and door to be sure no one could get in it until I got back. I slowly shook my head as my mama stood there with her mouth wide open.

“Kyrie! What happened to your house?”

“Someone broke in while we were gone. Jeff called me yesterday.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want to get into it while we were with Genesis and her family. I just wanted to enjoy time with her and then stay in that frame of mind until we got home. There was no need to stress about it prematurely. I couldn’t do a thing about it from New York. Jeff said the police came, and I called them while we were in transit here to meet us so they could document what was missing.”

She slowly shook her head. “I don’t like this, son. First the fire, now this. It makes me think that fire was them trying to kill you. You must have something they want. Who could it be?”

“I don’t know,” I said as I walked toward the porch.

Jeff must have heard us outside, because he came over before I could call him. He greeted my mother then me. “I’m so sorry about this, Judge. When I heard the commotion, I called the police. Your alarm didn’t go off. Did you forget to set it?”

“No. It was set.”

“Damn. Maybe it malfunctioned. Brinks would get an earful from me. Let me go and get my drill so we can get inside.”

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