Page 173 of Invisible Bars
Not because he didn’t want to.
He just… held me; like protecting me meant more than possessing me.
We laid tangled together on that yacht, wrapped in silence and warmth. His fingers traced lazy patterns down my back. I listened to his breathing slow... and mine followed. And for once—maybe for the first time in my life—I felt chosen.
Maybe even... loved.
I didn’t need backshots that shook the yacht or orgasms stacked like trophies to remember that night, because what we shared was louder than sex. It was trust, restraint, and the beginning of something real. And damn if that wasn’t just as good.
Chapter Twenty-Six
IMANIO “GATEZ”
“Y-You’re g-gonna make me go crazy,” Naji breathed out, legs shaking as I lifted my head from between her thighs.
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, grinning in satisfaction.
“That’s the goal.”
She flopped back on the bed, mumbling, “Praise kink unlocked—Lord help me,” followed by a soft laugh.
I got up—dick hard as hell—and headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Ever since I got a taste of her, I couldn’t stay from between her legs. Pussy like that? Soft, warm, damn near sweet—that shit wasn’t even fair. Just the scent of Naji had me wide-eyed like a fiend.
She had moved into my room that same night—which didn’t help. I couldn’t lay next to Naji without touching her, and I couldn’t hear her little sighs or her sleepy tics without reaching for her. And even though we hadn’t had sex yet—byherchoice —I wasn’t rushing it. I respected her body. Naji told me she’d let me know when she was ready, and I believed her. But every day I had topraynot to wake up with my hand wrapped around her thigh and my mouth already halfway to heaven.
When I walked back in the room, Naji was curled up under the cover, hair messy and legs slightly parted like she knew what she was doing to me.
“Thanks to you... I’ma be tired at work,” she muttered, yawning as I slid back onto the bed.
It was only five o’clock and we both had to get up in the next hour to eat breakfast and get ready for work.
“After what I just did, youshouldbe walking into work smiling, energized, and glowing. Muthafuckas gon’ ask if you fell in love or fell into a vat of shea butter.”
She giggled.
I faced her, and my smile faded just a little.
That would be Naji’s first day back at work, and I was a bit on edge about letting her go. Not because I thought she’d run off or snitch—nah, I quickly learned that Naji wasn’t built like that. I was just used to her being there close… within reach…safe.
The thought of her being vulnerable out there, around people who didn’t know how to handle her tics, who might stare, whisper, or treat her like she was something to be tolerated instead of cherished? That shit didn’t sit right with me. Although I was new to her life, I felt like it was now my job as her husband to protect her from the world. I wanted eyes on her at all times—my own. But I couldn’t be the kind of man who clipped Naji’s wings just to keep her safe. She needed that little bit of freedom. I needed her tochooseme, not feel like she was being babysat.
Naji propped herself up on her elbow—her curls a dark halo around her face— and gave me a look I was learning well. That quiet, nervous curiosity that danced right behind her tics.
“Don’t… don’t laugh. But I wanna t-try something.”
Naji scanned her body for a warning tic, but when nothing came, she sat up and pulled the sheet down from my waist.
I raised an eyebrow, already knowing.
I leaned back on my elbows, naked, already hard, and said, “Try it.”
Naji licked her lips nervously. That mouth—I thought about way too often—parted just enough to show hesitation. She sat on her knees between my legs, eyes wide, chest rising like she was trying to calm a storm inside her. Naji wasn’t just nervous; she wasawareof the fact that she was about to cross a line she hadn’t before, and that once she did, there’d be no going back.
I sat back against the headboard, legs spread, dick rock-hard, resting against my thigh. I didn’t move; I just watched her.
Naji’s hands shook slightly as she reached out, fingertips ghosting down the base of my length like she was unsure if she should be worshiping it or running from it.
“You sure about this?” I asked just to be sure she wasn’t just doing it out of feeling pressured to.
