Make You Mine (9 page)

Tamara spooned her body against his, pressing her soft and warm breasts against his massive back. “Well…” she asked.

He tensed. “Well what?”

Tamara smiled and slid her leg over the top of his. She eased up a bit to press her face against his neck. “Tonight I kept catching Julius and Caress checking each other out when the other wasn't looking. You know…a tittie peek here and a butt glance there.”

Kendrick reached up for Tamara's hand and pulled it down to wrap around his hardness. “First, Julius and I don't talk about Caress so I can't help out with whatever schemes or fantasies you've cooked up this time. But don't worry, baby, it's not for waste.”

“Huh?”

He turned to face her, his beefy hand easing down to raise the hem of her short nightgown. “You woke me up so no excuses, wifey, it's on like popcorn. You got it up so now you got to get it down.”

Their husky and playful laughter soon was replaced by the sounds of their passions and one squeaky bed.

 

The next morning Julius was headed out for a location shoot when he overheard Caress releasing several expletives from behind her closed bedroom. The sounds of something crashing to the floor echoed next.

The baby
, he thought frantically, dropping his briefcase and turning to burst into the room. “Caress, are you—”

She gasped loudly as she covered her upper body with her arms. “Julius,” she snapped, giving him a look that made Aunt Ester from
Sandford and Sons
look friendly.

He held up his hands as he turned his back to her. “Sorry. I thought you fell or something,” he told her. “Are you okay?”

“As good as I can be trying to fit all this baby in my old clothes. You can turn around.”

Julius did so. He immediately bit his bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud.

Caress eyed him. “Are you laughing?” she asked in disbelief.

Julius shook his head but his eyes were filled with the laughter he was fighting hard not to let spill through his lips. Caress wore dark denims that would be stylish if the zipper didn't stop midway, leaving the top of the jeans open and framing her stomach. And her top was a button-up black shirt that she
was
able to button, but was unable to get entirely over her stomach. It was a sight.

“My nipples hurt. My back is starting to ache. I pee all the damn time. I have a black line up the middle of my damn stomach. My nose is swelling and this is
only month five
.” She stalked over to him with her eyes blazing. “On top of all those goodies of pregnancy, Mr. All I Did Was Bust A Nut, my clothes don't fit. So…I'm gonna ask you 'gain, Julius Jones. Are you laughing?”

That pushed Julius over the edge and he did laugh because Caress's whole reprimand was comical—whether she meant it to be or not. “I'm sorry I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing with you.”

Caress made an astonished face. “Funny, I don't remember me laughing nor do I plan to laugh.”

Julius bit his mouth again as he crossed his arms over his chest. Caress eyed him before she caught sight of herself in the mirror on her dresser. She did a double take and then cut her eyes over at Julius before she felt her own laughter bubbling to the surface. “I look like Mr. Brown from those Tyler Perry plays.”

They burst out in laughter together.

Caress bent over and two of her buttons popped, flying across the room to hit the opposite wall.

They really roared with laughter then.

“Caress, you need maternity clothes,” Julius said simply, as they settled down.

“No shit, Sherlock,” she drawled.

Julius turned and headed out the door. “I'm going out. See you later.”

“Bye.”

He closed the bedroom door behind. As he bent down to pick up his briefcase a thought came to him. He felt a bit callous in hindsight. Caress had a new job but no new clothes for her newly pregnant body.

And no money to buy any.

He stopped in his tracks and turned and looked at her door for a few thoughtful seconds before he turned and continued down the stairs and out of the house.

 

Caress walked in the house and started to drop her purse and coat on the foyer table but thought twice about it. She was beat from trudging through the clothes she had packed in her storage unit. Her steps were defeated. She had hoped the few items she had with an elastic waistband would fit. She'd been wrong. Nothing fit.

Of course Julius was right that she needed maternity clothes, but with only her last fifty bucks to her name it looked like all she could get were some big tops to wear over her regular-size bottoms buttoned and zipped only as far as they would go. Like some teenage mother or something.

She walked into her bedroom, but she stopped in the doorway at the sight of the five huge Motherhood Maternity shopping bags sitting in the middle of her bed. Curious, she walked to the bed dropping her coat, keys and purse at the foot. She reached for the note hanging from the bag in the front.

Caress's mouth fell open in surprise. She opened bag, after bag, after bag pulling out outfits she could wear to work. “Julius,” she said softly to herself as she dropped down onto the bed.

She didn't know if it was her hormones or just how deeply touched she was, but Caress couldn't stop the tears that filled her eyes and then raced down her cheeks.

 

Julius noticed the folded piece of paper sitting on the center of the island as soon as he entered the house through the kitchen door later that night. Setting his camera case on the floor he picked up the note.

Julius just laughed and shook his head. He didn't take offense. He was fast learning that Caress was just as independent as Tamara and Kendrick had said. He balled the promissory note into his hand and tossed it into the trash before he grabbed his camera case and headed to his darkroom, still shaking his head.

“The renovations to the rest of the house look good, man,” Julius told Jordan after they finished up the photo shoot in his office. “Can I assume this museum was off limits?”

Jordan chuckled as he removed the ebony suede blazer he wore over a matching silk shirt for the headshots. “I love my office just as it is. This is organized confusion, my brother.”

“You sound like Caress.”

Jordan used his index finger to push his wire-framed glasses up on his nose as he looked over at his friend. “And Caress is?” he asked, before he settled down in the leather chair behind his cluttered desk.

Julius didn't know what to say.

Caress is the woman living at my house, pregnant with a baby she claims is mine from a heated one night stand about five months ago.

Or…

Caress is this girl I can't seem to get off my mind…no matter how hard I try.

Or…

Caress is the woman I am fast beginning to hope is pregnant with my child.

“A friend of mine,” was all that he said.

Jordan leaned back in his chair and placed his square chin in his hand. “You should have invited her to dinner.”

Julius began packing up his equipment and ignored the look in his friend's eyes. “There is no mystery for you to snoop out, Slim Willie,” he said, referring to the lead character in Jordan's best-selling mystery series.

“Umph.”

Julius scooped up an open box of Jordan's latest book,
Death by Midnight
, from a chair and put it on the floor. He settled down into the chair and let his head hang back over the edge.

“I might have a son on the way,” Julius finally said.

“Might?” Jordan asked.

Julius turned his head to look over at Jordan who was watching him intently. With one deep breath he began to tell the story of
that
night—his and Caress's night.

“That good, huh?” Jordan asked, bemused.

Julius made a face. “I left that morning and went to Africa.”

“Weren't you there for like two or three months?” Jordan asked, as he reached to turn on the desk lamp. His arm accidentally hit his cup of coffee and he swore as he rushed to clean up the fast-moving spill.

Julius just shook his head. Jordan was and would always be a klutz. He sat up in the chair as he retold the rest of the story. “Anyway, I came back from Africa and…”

Jordan let out a long and drawn-out whistle. “So mama's baby, daddy's maybe?”

Julius shrugged. “To be honest, I really think it's my baby.”

“And how do you feel about that?”

“To be honest, I don't know,” he admitted. “You know my childhood was jacked up and even though my mind wasn't focused on having kids I just kinda always pictured me settled down when it happened.”

Jordan leaned over to toss the coffee-soaked napkins into the trash. “So settle down.”

“I don't want to be with somebody just because she is having my baby. That's relationship suicide.”

“What if you two were destined to be but your hormones messed up the whole equation?” Jordan asked.

“Naw,” Julius disagreed. “Caress and I are different as night and day. She is
nothing
like the women I usually date.”

“And?”

“
And
…I hardly know her.”

“And yet you're confident enough to know she's not like any other woman you've dated,” Jordan drawled. “So you're going by the physical? Umph.”

Julius gave him a hard stare as his friend hit a flyball out of the ballpark.

“Any other woman make you forget your jimmy?”

“Jimmy? What are you stuck in the eighties?”

Jordan said nothing else as he waited.

“No,” Julius answered.

“Any other woman ever been pregnant with your child?”

“No.”

“Any other rendered you celibate for months?”

Julius hopped to his feet. “Listen, Caress and me have this physical thing that blows my mind—I will admit that, but baby or no baby, we are not made for each other. Period.”

Jordan leaned forward in his chair. “Let me put it this way. My son is his twenties and I would better imagine having this conversation with him than with a man ten years his senior.”

Julius frowned, not sure if he should be insulted. “Your point is?”

“Don't be one of those whack ass, fifty-year-old players out there still chasing Miss New Booty.” Jordan pushed his glasses up on his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

The phone rang and Jordan hit the speakerphone button. “Yes, baby.”

“Five of our six kids are here…and very hungry. There are ten eyes on that one roast. 'Nough said, gentleman?” Mia asked, her voice echoing into the room.

Jordan and Julius laughed as they both rose to their feet. “'Nough said, baby. We're coming.”

“Good,” she said sweetly before she disconnected the line.

 

Caress was in the kitchen eating a salad and flipping through a celebrity gossip magazine when the doorbell rang. Julius was out for the evening—and she was proud that she had trained herself not to wonder where and whom with. Her flip-flops dragged against the floor as she made her way to the front door.

“Who is it?” she asked, as she raised up on her toes to look out the window.

“Boo.”

Caress frowned at the sight of the extremely tall and thin man she saw. “Uhm…Julius isn't home. You want to leave a message?” she called through the door.

“Uh…no. I'm his assistant and I wanted to drop off this package from his agent.”

Caress crossed her fingers that she wasn't letting in an axe murderer as she unlocked the door. Her intention was to crack it open just enough for him to give her the FedEx envelope he held, but Boo bumped his hip against the wooden door and strutted into the house.

He twirled rather dramatically and pointed one finger at Caress, his mouth opening a little at the sight of her belly. “
Who
are you?” he asked.

“I'm Caress,” she said, wondering if she was about to get in the midst of some down-low drama.

“You live here?” he asked, waving a finger.

“Yes.”

“Are you related to Julius?” he asked.

“No.”

“Ooh, Julius you slick little devil you,” he said, holding the package to his chest as he grinned at her with lips that were just a tad bit shiny.

“You're Julius's assistant?” she asked, closing the front door since it appeared he wasn't ready to leave.

“Yup. Let him know I dropped this off for him, please.”

She took the package. “I will.”

Boo gave another look at her belly before he turned and left the house.

Caress closed the door, and her heart was beating fast with nervous anticipation. She wondered if Julius would be angry that his secret was out. It's not like he told her not to tell anyone she was living there temporarily.

Wanting to put the package in a safe place, Caress went up to Julius's room. The phone began to ring, but like always Caress didn't answer it. She always gave people her cell phone number to reach her so she felt she had no reason to answer Julius's phone.

“This is Julius. After the beep, leave a message.”

Beep.

Caress set the package on his bed, trying hard not to let the lingering scent of his cologne entice her too much.

“Julius, this is Karina—”

Caress's steps faltered and she stopped to listen to the message being left. She knew it was wrong and rude, but she couldn't help herself.

“I am so excited about Jamaica. We are going to have the best time. Believe that. Anyway call me when you get this message.”

Beep.

So Julius was still seeing Karina.

Caress continued out of his room, closing the door behind her. She hated seeing the images that flashed in her head like a amateur porno of Julius making love to Karina. “Ew,” she said, knowing she was being childish.

She walked into her bedroom and dropped down onto the chaise lounge in the corner.
Is that where he is tonight?
she wondered, as she tucked her feet beneath her.
No, she wouldn't be calling if he was, Caress.

Maybe Karina offered him more than Caress could. Maybe she liked jazz music and sipping on fine wines. Maybe she was more his type. All refined and bougie. Maybe she was better in bed. Maybe she was the one he wanted to settle down with.

“Where was Miss Karina when he made love to me all night long?” she snapped, admitting to herself that she was jealous.

She let her head drift back to rest on the top of the chaise. Her eyes closed as she pressed her hand to her belly. “I'm just the mother of his child,” Caress said aloud and then instantly regretted it. She couldn't have expectations about Julius concerning the baby. Not when neither of them planned it.

Caress let out a frustrated sigh. If Julius and Karina were making plans to live it up in Jamaica then it had nothing at all to do with her.

Needing a distraction, Caress headed back down the stairs to the living room to zone out on television. She had to get the images of Julius's sexy chocolate body wrapped intimately with Karina's tall and slender frame. It was driving her crazy.

She settled into the corner of the chair, snuggled the mink throw over her lap, and grabbed the remote. She found a celebrity gossip show to get lost in because there was nothing like somebody else's business to help you forget your own.

 

Julius entered the house and it was entirely dark save for the light flickering from the television in the living room. He dropped his keys and the autographed copy of Jordan's new book on the table in the foyer. He headed for the stairs, figuring Caress was vegging out on those crazy reality TV shows she loved so much. But after a few steps he turned and headed back to stroll into the living room.

“Hey…” the rest of his greeting drifted off when he saw that Caress was fast asleep on her side.

Julius looked down at her and something primal filled him. It wasn't desire—although Caress was still deep in his bones. It was a need to take care of her. She didn't want him to, and in the beginning he didn't want to, but that's how he felt now.

It felt good to take care of her. It felt right.

She shifted in her sleep and lightly smacked her lips. He smiled at the adorable sight she made. She was even prettier with her face relaxed in sleep. Something about her tugged at his heart.

He wondered for the first time if the baby would look like her or more like him. A mix of both? Her shortness or his tallness? Her love of rap or his love of jazz?

Removing the suede coat he wore, Julius picked up the mink throw that had obviously slid off of her to the floor. He debated waking her or carrying her up to bed. Folding the throw over the arm of the chair, he decided on the latter.

Julius slid his hands under her and lifted her with ease into his muscled arms and against his chest. She snuggled against him with a little sigh. Careful not to trip, he used his hands to turn on the lights in the foyer and hall.

The scent of her perfume—something sweet and powerful, drifted up to him. It was the same sweet scent she wore that night. He would never forget it.

With his elbow he pushed the door to her room open. He settled her down on the bed and then used the blanket folded at the bottom to cover her. Nearly tip-toeing, he headed for the door, closing it softly behind him.

Julius stripped off his clothing as soon as he closed the door to his bedroom. He didn't bother turning on the lights. He was beat and all he wanted to do was shower and crawl into bed. Naked, he pressed play on his digital answering machine before walking into the bathroom.

“You have four new messages. First message…”

Julius turned the shower on full blast. Soon steam began to fill the glass enclosure as he listened with half an ear to those annoying customer service reps trying to sell him something.

Beep.

“Julius, this is Karina. I am so excited about Jamaica. We are going to have the best time. Believe that. Anyway call me when you get this message.”

Having no plans to call Karina since he'd already worked out all the details with her agency, Julius pushed any thought of her out of his mind as he stepped into the shower and let the spray rain down on him. The heat and pressure of the water felt good against his chiseled body. Turning, he bent his head and reveled in the feel of it pulsating down on his shoulders, back, and buttocks.