Page 14 of Pleading Innocence

Chapter 10

Tiffany

Leavingthebedroom…

I wasn’t expecting Chris to just pop up on me like that. We’d have to have a conversation about that. Unless he had tried to get me before he showed up?

I turned on my phone and saw several missed calls. I groaned and rubbed my eyes vigorously.

I had to figure out an excuse for not picking up his calls. Okay, okay. Taking a deep breath in and out, I tried to prepare my mind so that I wouldn’t let anything slip since my man was in my fucking bathroom. His fucking life was in my hands at the moment, and I could not fuck up.

I grabbed my robe and started to put it on before ripping it from my body and tossing it aside. Picking up my pajamas and throwing them on, I checked for any love bites on my skin that could be visible to Chris. Oh thank goodness, there weren’t any on my neck and chest.

I threw on my robe over my pajamas just in case there were any on my arms and back that I did not catch. Standing in front of my mirror, I waved my fingers around in confusion as I thought about what to do with myself next. Hair! Right. This could be from sleep, but it would’ve had to be a wild-ass sleep to get it this messy.

I ran a brush through the length of the tangled ginger mess until it didn’t look like my head had been moving up and down a pillow as my body jerked from Mario’s… Hm. Focus, Tiffany. I sniffed my armpits and slapped the waistband of my pajama bottoms against my belly to get a whiff just to ensure that I didn’t smell like sex.

I didn’t smell anything, but I grabbed my coochie perfume just in case and sprayed it on the outside of my underwear from the front, all the way under, and to the back because I’d forgotten to wash up before locking Mario inside my bathroom. And I wasn’t taking any chances.

I put on some deodorant and sprayed some perfume on my clothes and in my hair, trying to make sure that the only thing Chris smelled was vanilla, flowers, and berries. There was no need to make him suspicious. Although after I was done doing all of that, I wondered why I went through all that trouble. If I told him I had company, he wouldn’t automatically assume that it was Mario.

I was in my twenties; it wouldn’t be that crazy for me to have someone over. Unless he’d have a problem with it because he’d bought me the apartment. But I mean, he bought ME the apartment. It didn’t mean that he got to control what I did with it. Ugh. I was probably thinking far too much about everything because I was panicking.

I was about to run out the bedroom when I noticed Mario’s clothes across the floor; some hanging off my nightstand and the blue loveseat by the window in my room. I quickly gathered them all up and tossed them in the closet. He’d have to iron them over anyway before he left so it was no big deal that they were crumpled up on the floor of my closet. That was the least of any of our concerns at the moment. I’d do my best to keep Chris out of my room, but if he happened to come in, I didn’t want there to be anything that would raise his suspicions about Mario.

After another quick glance around the room, I rushed out my bedroom door and hurried toward the front door where I spotted Mario’s shoes by the doorway. Fuck. I groaned. “Just a minute,” I said, grabbing the shoes and looking around the room in panic for a place to hide them. My living room was far too spacious and open—damn it.

I ran into the kitchen and tossed them into the empty trash can before grabbing an empty garbage bag and throwing it on top, exhaling in a rush and dabbing the sweat from my forehead as I did a quick sweep of my apartment to make sure there was nothing left of Mario’s out for Chris to see.

Hoping I’d caught everything, I braced myself, standing in front of the door. Taking a deep breath in, I swung it open and yawned.

“Chris, I…” My words were cut short and I swallowed my fake yawn at the sight of Anthony. His curly hair fell neatly around his face, caressing his neck as usual, and his dark gray eyes locked me into him. My cheeks warmed and he smiled at me, but just as soon as Chris spun around to look at him, his smile fell away and I cleared my throat.

“I was sleeping. I didn’t hear you knocking. Have you been out here long?” I asked, stepping aside to let him in.

“You smell good,” Chris said as he leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Yeah, I’m sorry for waking you. You must have been out cold, huh?” he asked with a grin. “Or are you hiding some male company in here that you didn’t want me to see?” he said with a quirk of his eyebrows. He was teasing, but he was far too close to the truth.

I froze and didn’t know what to say, although it would’ve been the perfect time to let him know that actually I had company and he couldn’t stay long. All that came out however was air being released from my throat as my mouth held open in an “O” for just a second too long. I grinned an uncomfortable grin at him in return.

“Yeah, you know me, I just hid him in the closet,” I said, avoiding eye contact and brushing a loose lock of hair behind my ears before thinking to myself, ‘What?’ I wasn’t even sure that made any sense at all, and again, skated dangerously close to the truth. Hell, my cheeks were on fire now. I needed to divert attention away from my copulation habits because this was not a conversation I wanted to be having with my brother for more than one reason. And if I kept talking now under pressure, I wasn’t sure I was mentally prepared enough to not spill all the beans.

“What brought you by?” I asked as he walked further into the living room and sank down onto my sofa, getting comfortable. I hoped that didn’t mean he was planning to stay long as I tried not to sweat profusely.

Anthony walked in as well, and as he moved past me, the smell of his cologne had me licking my lips. I watched him, in all-black, loose-fitting, casual clothing, saunter over to my sofa to join Chris. He had that knowing look on his face and he smirked a little, though his gaze didn’t linger too long on me. I was finding it hard to keep my eyes off him though, and that could make for a reckless situation because I was hoping that Chris would leave without him. Although I knew he couldn’t stay because Chris was watching us both like hawks.

Shit, I had one man in the bathroom and one man out here that I needed to keep hidden from Chris. I had to be good and not think about the fact that it had been a while since I’d been with more than one man at once because Chris was sure to start asking me soon why I looked like a ripe-ass tomato.

With Anthony in the room, it was becoming harder to focus. I was dripping again at the thought of bringing him into the bedroom with Mario and me. There had to be a way to hurry this up so I could get Chris to leave, but I wasn’t sure how I’d get Anthony to stay. There should be a manual on how not to focus on Anthony and how good he smelled or delicious he looked because I was struggling over here.

“I wanted to see how you were—you know, after everything with Jared,” Chris said.

Oh dear. Not to mention Jared. I didn’t want to hear his name ever again, even if his sex helped me transcend all earthly pleasures to experience something not of this world. Thankfully, I could fuck him out of my system with Mario, who was probably passed out in the bathroom at this point, and hopefully Anthony, if he dared to stay.

“Oh, Mom sent you?” I asked Chris, forcing my eyes away from Anthony’s hands and his hairy fingers clasped in his lap. I gulped at the memory of the coarseness of his fingertips against my skin and where else his luscious hair grew like a landscape on his chest. It had been a while since I’d felt his touch and my body was aching for the brush of his beard upon my neck. Mmm. Just a kiss from his lips would carry me off to another fucking galaxy.

Chris grinned. “Partly, but I also wanted to make sure you were doing okay. You know, see you in person. So, how are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m doing okay,” I said, trying not to react to Anthony’s eyes on me, though my nipples were hardening at that very moment. “It was a loss, but I’ll get over it.” My voice was shaky, and I drew my robe around myself to hide my body’s reaction.

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