Page 78 of Jaeda

“I’m not. I’m doing exactly what you did. Choosing my happiness over what anybody else has to say about it.Youmake me happy, Jaeda. I’d never give that up.”

Leaning in, he pressed his lips to mine. The innocence was lost once his tongue slipped into my mouth and a moan fell from my lips.

“Aye now!” my father yelled from across the room. “Cut that shit out!”

Our lips parted, and we looked back to find him frowning. Neither of us could hold in our laughter. Stanley might be cool with Quaid right now, but he was still going to be himself.

“Don’t worry,” I said, discreetly resting my hand on his crotch. “You can have all my kisses when we leave here.”

Quaid blushed. “Yes, ma’am.”

We survived the day,and what a long ass day it was.

After we ate, it was a party as usual. I had to admit, I loved having Quaid around my family. Knowing they couldn’t punk him made him that much more attractive to me. There was something to say about a man that could hold his own. He was basically thrown to the wolves and came out untouched. I was beginning to see why Mia liked that part of Titan.

Speaking of those two, they showed up after dinner. I was surprised that she brought him and even more surprised that he and my brothers were getting along. I guess after stomping out those guys at Silk, they had somewhat of a mutual respect for each other. Would they ever be friends? I couldn’t call it. But at least nobody pulled a gun this time.

Quaid and I walked into my house a little after ten. I’d previously told him to bring a bag because I wanted him to stay. I’d quickly fallen in love with sleeping next to him. Something about those big, strong arms wrapped around me seemed to lull me to sleep.

We entered the house and headed straight for my bedroom.

As long as the day had been, I just wanted to take a shower. While Quaid gathered his hygiene products, I stripped down and went into my bathroom. After turning on the shower, I pulled my hair up into a topknot and put on my shower cap. I gave my teeth a thorough brushing before stepping into the shower.It wasn’t long before Quaid joined me. The moment the door closed, I found myself in his space, on my toes, reaching for a kiss.

His hands cupped the sides of my face as he kissed me slow and sensually. I never expected to love kissing as much as I loved kissing him. Maybe I was biased because the only person I had to compare him to was Shar. I didn’t care.

His kisses made me weak in the knees. They filled me with want and desire, . . . lust and need. I’d given him my most prized possession, and he handled it with care. He wasn’t the first man who wanted my body, but he was the first to appreciate me for more than that.

When our lips finally parted, he didn’t pull away. Instead, he rested his forehead against mine, gently massaging the back of my neck.

“I love being with you,” I admitted.

“I love being with you too.”

He pecked my lips, then grabbed my loofah and washed my body. I was all smiles as we bathed each other with love, care, and a bit of friskiness. Fresh out of the shower, we handled the rest of our hygiene before he slipped into a pair of boxers, and I slipped into my robe.

Venturing out of the bedroom, I led him down to my basement. After Jaiden showed Quaid his collection, he told him all about mine and made me promise to show his new friend all my “cool things.” The only other person that had been down here, besides my baby brother, was my niece Korri.

“Damn,” Quaid said as we reached the bottom step. “This is dope as hell.”

I had wall to wall cases for my Lego structures. A few of my Comic Con outfits were on mannequin displays, while the collector’s items were in glass cases. Some of my favorite firstedition comic books were mounted to the free wall space in shadow box displays.

“What’s back there?” Quaid asked, pointing to the curtained off entrance.

I grinned as I motioned for him to follow me. Pulling back the curtain, I showed him my vintage arcade games, all in perfect condition. There was Pac-Man, Mortal Combat, Donkey Kong, Ski Ball, Super Mario Bros, and Street Fighter. I had the whole space set up to look like an arcade as well. From the carpet to the lighting to wall art, everything was custom.

“This is the sickest shit I’ve ever seen,” Quaid said, looking around. “Are these originals?”

“Yep. Can you guess who had the high score?”

He kissed his teeth. “You lying.”

I giggled. “Hand to God. These are from an old arcade we used to go to as kids. I had the top score on them for years, and when it went out of business a few years ago, I bought them all. I was shocked to see nobody had beaten me.”

“You just haven’t played against me yet.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“It is.”

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