Chapter 9

 

 

We arrive back home on a Monday night and after a full night’s rest – a much needed one – wrapped in the loving caress of Monty’s hairy arms, I’m downstairs with the ladies now – my friends – Minnie, Isidora and Naomi on Tuesday morning. They’re excited – want to know everything about the honeymoon. I take out my phone and show them pictures of me and Monty on the beach, lounging around the vacation house. Pictures I snapped of him while he slept on the sofa. Pictures of us on the tour. Pictures of me with a gang of tortoises.

“Lawd, look at all them turtles,” Naomi says, throwing a kitchen towel over her left shoulder. “Chile, I would’ve took off running.”

“Do you know how slow tortoises move, Naomi?” I ask. “There’s no need to run.”

“Don’t listen to a word Naomi says, Cherish,” Minnie chimes in to say. “If you see Naomi running anywhere, you best to start running too, ‘cause either something chasing her or the world’s about to end.”

The women laugh.

Isidora is tickled to death when she says, “Naomi run like Cherry run when Señor St. Claire is looking for her,” Isidora says. “Rápida, rápida!”

Her face turns red with laughter.

Naomi rests against the counter. She’s so tickled, she can’t stand up straight. Neither can Minnie.

I’m laughing, too, mostly because Isidora’s laughter is contagious. I’ve never seen her laugh so hard.

Coming off laughter, Naomi asks, “You weren’t scared to be around all them turtles, Cherry?”

“No. They’re harmless. I fed them and everything. It was an amazing experience.”

“I bet it was. It ain’t everyday you get whisked off to an exotic island.”

“No, it’s not,” I respond.

Minnie asks, “What else y’all do—well besides the obvious?”

My eyes brighten. I’m sure my cheeks are red. “Really, Minnie?”

“Well, it was your honeymoon. We know what goes down on a honeymoon.”

“Honeymoon. Kissy, kissy,” Isidora says, giggling.

I shake my head. These women are something else, but they’ll soon learn I don’t kiss and tell.

“Come on over here, Cherry. Let me have a look at yo’ neck to see if we gon’ have a little St. Claire baby crawling ‘round here actin’ like his daddy,” Naomi says.

“Oh, goodness no!” Minnie says. “We gon’ pray the baby has his mama’s temperament.”

“That’s what I’m hoping for. I done told your husband I used to be a nanny, Cherry, just in case y’all need my services.”

I giggle. “Is that all y’all think we did? Do you think Monty just kept me tied up to the bed for our entire honeymoon?”

“Yes!” they all answer together, laughing.

“She tellin’ on herself, too,” Naomi says. “Y’all hear that? Ain’t nobody said nothing about being tied up. You offered that up yourself, Cherry.”

I hide my face behind my hands. “I just showed y’all our vacation pictures. We had the full experience.”

“I’m sure with a man like Mr. St. Claire, you had a real, big full experience,” Minnie says.

I fail miserably at trying to hide a smile. “Okay—get your minds out of the gutter. Me and my husband had the time of our lives. And Naomi, how are you supposed to determine whether I’m with child by looking at my neck?”

“It’s a trick I learned a long time ago.”

I laugh at her. “Well, let me save you the trouble of staring at my neck. I’m not pregnant. Just because I spent two weeks alone with my husband doesn’t mean he’s gotten me pregnant.”

“Sure about that, Cherry?” Monty asks as he steps into the kitchen, adding fuel to their theories.

I instantly smile when I hear his deep voice. When I look up to see him, my eyes linger on his face. Man, he sure knows how to turn on that no-nonsense business face of his. It makes tingles run down my spine. Makes me nervous. Makes me happy. This is the man who’s stolen my heart. He’s rocking a light gray suit today. Looks like a billion bucks. In his eyes, I see all the things we did over the last two weeks. I feel hot all over just thinking about it.

“Woo—the man of the house has spoken,” Naomi says.

“Y’all ever notice how quiet Cherish gets when Mr. St. Claire sneaks up on her?” Minnie asks.

Monty cracks a smile. “That’s only because I caught her off guard, Minnie. Ain’t nothing quiet about this woman. Trust me.” He saunters over to me with that sexy walk of his. “Good morning,” he says and gives me no time to reply before he’s kissing me – tongue and all – while he’s walking forward, backing me up against the counter. When I’m finally there, he holds me in place and deepens the kiss, rolling his tongue around in my mouth. Sucking my tongue into his mouth, groaning and carrying on.

“Oh my…I think they need some privacy,” Minnie says.

“The laundry room is right ‘round the corner,” Naomi says. “Ain’t that usually where the hanky-panky goes down?”

“It’s likely to go down anywhere. Y’all best to just stay alert,” Monty tells them, then takes my lips again.

“A’ight newlyweds, break it up,” Major says. “Don’t nobody wanna see all this smooching and whatnot.”

Monty looks at his brother and asks, “Are you heading to the office this morning, Major?”

“Yeah.”

“Then, go so you’re not concerned with what I’m doing.”

“I thought we could ride together, but I see you’re a little busy at the moment,” Major responds. He looks at me and says, “Now that you can breathe, good morning, Cherish.”

“Good morning, Major,” I tell him. He’s suited up, too – rocking a black suit this morning, looking dapper. He’s upbeat – a lot better than the last time I talked to him.

He looks me up and down and says, “I see you made it back in one piece.”

I chuckle. “Of course, I did. I had my bodyguard with me,” I say grabbing Monty’s hand. “How have you been doing?”

“If you ask me, he’s been doing a lot better since he’s been talking to that Winston girl,” Naomi says all gossipy.

Major smirks. “What are you talking about, Naomi?”

“You know full well what I’m talking about. At any rate, shall I prepare a quick breakfast for you, Mr. St. Claire?”

“No. Hannah’s having breakfast delivered for a meeting this morning.” Monty turns to me and says, “It’s going to be a long day for me. Everybody up in arms because the CEO took some time off.”

I’m holding his hands when I say, “I’m sure it’ll be good for the CEO to get back to work, though. I know you miss it.”

“Not as much as I’m going to miss you today.”

“I’ll stop by and see you. Maybe you can squeeze me in for lunch.”

“I don’t have to squeeze you in, baby. It’s a date,” he says. “Meet me at one.”

“Okay. One o’clock it is.” He takes another kiss and whispers in my ear, “Once I have you in my office, anything goes.”

His whisper makes me squeeze his bicep. He pulls back to look at me, smiles, then kisses me again.

“I thought y’all got all this out the way in the Seychelles,” Major says.

“Then you thought wrong,” Monty replies. “I could never get enough of these lips,” he says, then swipes his thumb across my lips. “And you don’t have to ride with me, Major. You can go.”

“I’m not riding with you. You’re riding with me until the jetlag wears off. Mother’s idea. In her words, we don’t need no more accidents.”

“No, we do not,” I say.

Monty sighs. He’s not ready to fall back into his normal routine just yet. He wraps his arms around me and says, “I love you.”

“I love you, too. I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah—one o’clock. We know,” Major says.

I giggle at his impatience.

Monty turns to Naomi and says, “Make sure she doesn’t do any work today.”

“Monty, I’ll be fine,” I tell him.

He takes a final kiss – a long, lip-grabbing one and when he finally lets me go, I see a hint of sadness in his eyes before he follows Major to the garage with his Hermès briefcase.

I feel something akin to separation anxiety when he walks away from me. My feelings for him run deep. His feelings for me have matured into something like an obsession.

He’s come a long way.

He cares about me.

He loves me.

He’s mine.

Forever.

 

 

 

The End

But it’s really just the beginning.