Jonah lowered his lips to her ear. “Not yet you’re not.” Stepping back, he tossed the scrubber over his shoulder, replacing the discarded scrunchie with his hand. He slid his soapy fingers down her back to her ass and then between her cheeks, washing the one area she had yet to give him access to. The intimate contact caused Tisha to quickly turn around and face him. “Hey now.”
Chuckling softly, he shot her an innocent look, all the while feeling anything but. “I was just doing my job to make sure you’re clean.”
“That’s one area you won’t ever have to worry about. Ever. Ever.”
“You sound so certain.”
“Oh, I am.”
“As certain as I am of proving you wrong,” he said as he pulled her against him and rubbed her middle against his cock.
“You’ll have your work cut out for you.”
“I’m up to the challenge.”
She pressed into his erection and smiled. “So I see.”
“I think you were right.”
“About what?”
“You’re clean enough.” He was done playing. “Turn around.”
For once Tisha was quick to comply, moving under the spray as he instructed and rinsing off. When she was free of the soap and suds, she got out to allow Jonah the opportunity to wash. Not willing to waste the little time they had left, he quickly bathed himself before getting out of the shower and joining her in front of the sink.
They toweled one another off before walking hand in hand into her bedroom to finish what they started. After their appetizer downstairs, neither one of them was in much of a rush. They took their time, reacquainting themselves with one another’s bodies. And this time, when he entered her, he was able to outlast her not once, not twice but three times before he finally succumbed to his own release.
Jonah wasn’t sure if it was because of a hectic day of work or the sheer number of orgasms she’d experienced that made her so tired, but by the time he returned from cleaning up in the bathroom once more, she was barely awake. He dressed quietly then covered a lethargic Tisha with her quilt. Sitting next to her, he caressed her face gently as he spoke. “I really hate to come and run, but…”
Tisha smiled sleepily at him and covered his hand with her. “I know. Cami’s waiting.”
“Yes. The two women in my life are very, very demanding.”
“And you wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Not at all.” Jonah leaned over and brushed his lips across her head tenderly. “I know you still might be mad at me and I know things aren’t a hundred percent right with us.”
“Okay,” Tisha’s expression was guarded, but Jonah didn’t let it hold him back.
“But I want to…no, I need to tell you that I love you.” Tisha stared up at him, wide-eyed but silent. Not exactly the reaction he was hoping for, but not one he was surprised by either. “You don’t have to say anything,” he assured her. “I just wanted to let you know how I felt.”
“And do you want to hear how I feel?”
“Sort of,” he said with a small smile.
“I love you too.”
“You sure? I mean, I didn’t say it so you would have to.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Have you ever known me to say something I didn’t mean?”
Jonah chuckled. She had a point there. “No. Never.”
“Okay then. Just for the record though, we still have things we need to work on.” Tisha sat up a bit and kissed him softly before lying down once more. “But I want to work on it.”
“I do too.” Smiling tenderly, Jonah rose to his feet once more. “I need to head out. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“’Kay.”
Jonah turned off the light and headed downstairs and out the door, locking up tight after himself. Walking quickly, he crossed the street and made his way to his house. After letting himself in, he went in search of the sitter, who was making herself at home on his phone, talking up a storm, as if she’d never received the memo about the invention of cell phones.
As much as it pained him to do so, he withheld the lecture he so wanted to give her about respecting other people’s property and paid her with a stiff smile. In truth, he’d never told her hands off the phone, and she had been able to sit on short notice, so Jonah had no choice but to suck it up and move on. Besides, he figured it was better for her to be talking to her boyfriend on the phone instead of making out with him on Jonah’s couch while Cami was upstairs.
After seeing the teen out, Jonah locked all the doors and turned off the lights. Before going to his bedroom, he paused to look in on Cami. Her light was still on, but it was at its lowest setting, casting an eerie glow over the huddled form under the quilt.
Walking over to the bed, he straightened the covers, which were creeping up at the foot and lightly kissed his niece on the forehead. The featherlight touch still managed to wake her though, and she gazed up at him with sleep-heavy eyelids. “You fix it?”
One day they would really have to talk about personal boundaries, he thought with a smile before answering in a long-suffering manner, “Yes, nosy.”
“Good.” Cami closed her eyes again. “’Night, Uncle J.”
“Night, baby,” he whispered before brushing his lips once again across her forehead. He stood and turned back toward the door, stopping only long enough to turn off the light, before heading to his own room. Content with his world at large now that he’d resolved things with Tisha, Jonah knew he’d finally be able to get a good night’s sleep once more.
Chapter Eleven
“Your client is here.”
Tisha glanced up from her magazine and peered over toward the front of the salon. Standing at the counter, with what Tisha was beginning to believe was a permanent scowl on her face, was ReShaunda.
“Damn,” she murmured, closing her magazine. “She showed.”
“Did you expect differently?” Nance spoke softly, making sure to keep their conversation, for once, just between the two of them. Because the last thing Tisha needed right now was an audience who could possibly be subpoenaed if things went bad. Wait, who she kidding? Not if, when things went bad.
“Expected, no,” Tisha rose from her seat. “Hoped, yes.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have booked her.”
There was no maybe about it. “Yeah well, hindsight and all that jazz.”
“This is going to end badly.”
“Don’t I know it.” Tisha set her magazine back in her drawer before slipping on her apron. After her fallout and subsequent make up with Jonah, Tisha had gone back and forth about whether or not she should cancel ReShaunda’s appointment. Her stance was still that of wanting to gather information for Jonah, but at the same time, she didn’t want to risk their relationship further. More importantly, she didn’t want to risk her freedom by doing something stupid if ReShaunda went off the deep end and said something unflattering about Jonah or Cami. Client or not, Tisha would beat a bitch down, and this, of course, was where her friend came in. “Nance, do me a favor?”
“Yeah.”
“Keep me out of jail,” she said under her breath before staring toward the front of the salon.
With a smile she didn’t feel pasted on her face, Tisha walked over to ReShaunda.
“Hi, I’m glad you could make it,” she lied with a straight face.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
That made one of them. “If you’re ready, come on back to my station.” As Tisha walked back to her chair, she wondered, and not for the first time, how she was going to make it through this appointment. When ReShaunda was seated, Tisha turned her toward the mirror and stood behind her. “So, what are you looking for today?”
ReShaunda stared at her reflection in the mirror and turned her head from side to side. “I’m not sure. You’re the professional. What do you think?”
How about I pull your hair out by the roots?
Opening a drawer, Tisha took out a cape, snapped it in the air for good measure, and then placed it around ReShaunda. “Are you wanting to spice things up with something new?” Tisha ran her hands through the other woman’s hair, feeling the texture and weighing the pros and cons. “Do you want to add color? I need an idea of what you like.”
“No,” she said, nonchalantly. “I think I’ll stick with what I have. Wash and flat iron will do.”
Tisha resisted the urge to roll her eyes. If she wanted the same old thing, why did she even bother coming in? She could have gone to her old hairdresser for that. Oh yeah, right, to probe. “Wash it is.”
Silently, Tisha took out her comb and began to untangle the other woman’s thick tresses. For an underhanded bitch, she had a nice grade of hair. “Let’s go over to the sink.”
“Okay.”
Much to Tisha’s surprise, ReShaunda kept quiet as Tisha washed and conditioned her hair, allowing Tisha to work in silence, as she preferred. After blowing out ReShaunda’s hair, Tisha sat her under the dryer to make sure her scalp was dry.
Before Tisha could get back to her station though, she was hijacked by Nance, who not so subtly pushed her over to the chair. “Well?”
“Well, what?” Even though there was little chance ReShaunda would be able to hear her, Tisha still lowered her voice.
“How’s it going?”
“It’s going fine. Neither one of us have said a word.”
“No.” Nance frowned. “That sucks. I was hoping for a little something something.”
“I thought the goal here was to keep me out of jail.”
“It is, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun at the same time.”
“Trust me, it does.” Tisha glanced over her shoulder at ReShaunda, who was perusing a magazine as if she didn’t have a care in the world. The woman’s casual demeanor was unnerving and so unexpected Tisha wasn’t sure how to react. And instead of feeling at ease, she felt more leery than she did before ReShaunda had shown. Turning back to her station, she turned on her stove. “I’m just going to stick to my game plan, and let the chips fall where they may.”
“And what’s that?”
“To do her hair, listen to her if she chooses to speak, but offer nothing.”
“Good plan.”
“Thank you.” Tisha could only hope she was able to stick to it.
When the timer went off, she retrieved ReShaunda and began to work on her hair. This time though, ReShaunda did not remain silent. “Are you normally this taciturn or did Jonah tell you not to speak to me?”
Tisha looked up and met the other woman’s gaze in the mirror. “Jonah runs his business and I run my own.”
“That’s good to know. I would hate that we couldn’t be friendly with one another because of his feelings toward me.”
No, they couldn’t be friendly for a whole other set of reasons, but that was neither here nor there. “We’re all grown-ups here.” Tisha glanced back down at what she was doing, not wanting to burn the other woman’s hair off…on accident, that was. “No reason we all can’t get along.”
“My thoughts precisely. Besides, as the two women in Cami’s life, I think it’s best if we’re both on the same page. I mean, at the end of the day, it’s really all about her.”
“Yes, it is.” Tisha put her hot comb back in its slot then placed the curler in the stove. She was trying hard to bite her tongue and do her job, but ReShaunda wasn’t making it easy. “Which side do you want your part on?”
“The left.”
“Okay,” Tisha grabbed a couple of clips and began to separate ReShaunda’s hair to curl.
“I have to say, Cami has been looking loads better since you started working on her.”
Tisha paused, searching the other woman’s words for hidden meaning, finding none, she replied, “Thank you,” and got back to work.
“If you could have seen how she looked before they moved over there, you would have been horrified.”
From the way Cami looked the first time Tisha had seen her, Tisha was willing to bet ReShaunda wasn’t way off base. But she would never admit that. “Jonah did the best he could with the knowledge he had.”
“Yes, but his best wasn’t good enough.”
Hey now. Tisha set the curler back in the warmer, needing something to do with her hand besides smacking the woman in the back of the head. “Maybe not, but he has me now and I assure you, my best is more than good enough.”
“I don’t doubt that at all.” ReShaunda laughed, but somehow Tisha didn’t believe it was sincere. “I wouldn’t be here if I thought differently, but as a woman, I’m sure you can see my point.”
“No, I’m not sure I do.” Tisha grabbed the backup curler that had been warming as she used the other one.
“Sometimes a girl needs a woman’s touch.”
“It depends on the woman.”
“Something is better than nothing.”
Tisha didn’t like the other woman’s implication. “Jonah isn’t nothing.”
“He isn’t her father either.”
“And you’re not her mother.”
“I’m the closest thing she has to one.”
Tisha opened her mouth to tell her exactly what she thought but snapped it shut. Damn it, Jonah had been right. This was one of the worst ideas she’d ever had. And now she was going to have to admit it to him. But first, she needed to get through this appointment.
“And you have to ask yourself, why is Jonah really so intent on raising her himself.”
“Because he loves her.” As she curled ReShaunda’s hair, she eyed the skin of her neck, wondering if it would be worth it to accidentally burn her. It sometimes happened, even with a professional such as herself.
“Maybe a little too much and maybe—”
“Is it possible to love someone too much?”
“It is if it’s not in a…proper way.” ReShaunda’s tone turned ugly.
Tisha raised her gaze to meet the other woman’s in the mirror. “I know you’re not even suggesting…”
“Devotion such as his does make one wonder. It’s unnatural.”
ReShaunda’s unsaid nasty accusation had Tisha seeing red. Never before had she wanted to hurt someone as much as she wanted to hurt the woman sitting in front of her. “You know what I wonder?” Some things, some people were worth losing a beauty license and going to jail for.
“What?”
Tisha brushed ReShaunda’s hair off to one side. Her gaze centered in on the dark brown skin just begging for a kiss from her curling iron. “If you can get out of this chair before I…” Before Tisha could finish her sentence, Nance grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.
“Tisha, you have a call.” Nance tightened her grip on Tisha’s wrist. “Why don’t you let me finish this for you while you go answer it in the back?”
ReShaunda turned around to face Tisha and smiled. There was an evil quality to the other woman’s grin that made Tisha wonder what her true purpose had been in coming. Was it to get information from Tisha, make her doubt Jonah, or do something to get a rise from her?
If it was the first two, she was shit out of luck, but if it was the third, she’d come to the right place. If a reaction was what she was looking for, Tisha would give her one. But not here and not now. Her time was coming though. And it would happen when ReShaunda was least expecting it. Tisha released her death grip on the curler and allowed Nance to take it out of her hand.
“If you’ll excuse me,” she said to ReShaunda with a frosted smile before turning and walking to the back of the shop and straight out the back door. Pulling her cell phone out of her jeans’ pocket, she dialed Jonah’s number by heart. He had barely gotten the word “Hi” out before she pounced.
“Jonah, we need to talk.”
* * * * *
Jonah would have loved to say he wasn’t the type to say, “I told you so,” but luckily for Tisha, he only said it on the inside. There was no doubt about it, Jonah could fly his asshole flag as high as the next person, but even he knew when to keep his mouth shut. And something told him this was going to be one such moment.
Not that he was surprised. ReShaunda was the devil incarnate, and no one knew that better than him, although from the sound of Tisha’s voice over the phone, he was beginning to suspect she had a slight inkling now of the hell he’d been going through for the last few years.
Tisha wouldn’t tell him anything over the phone, only that they needed to talk. Thankfully his work schedule was free this afternoon because this was one conversation he was looking forward to.
The wait was killing him. Jonah wasn’t known for his patience, and the fact Tisha wouldn’t give him a single clue was torture in his book. For his lover’s sake, he hoped she was able to keep her cool, but after losing his so often with ReShaunda, he wouldn’t have blamed her if Tisha hadn’t been able to hold it together.
Jonah had even gone as far as to have his lawyer on standby in case something went down. He wanted to make sure they had legal advice and ample time to bury the body and any incriminating evidence if he had to kill ReShaunda for insulting Tisha.
“Mr. Glasse?”
Jonah’s secretary’s voice broke through his silent review of all the different ways he could destroy the evil bitch. Leaning forward, he pressed the intercom button. “Yes.”
“There’s a Ms. Nichols here to see you, sir.”
It was about damn time. “Send her in.” Jonah released the button and rose to his feet. He was halfway across the room when Tisha stormed in.
Her dark eyes were troubled, her mouth pinched at the corners. She had a “just dealt with ReShaunda’s shit” look on her face. It was a look he knew well. Stopping in front of her, he reached out and brushed his hand across her satin-smooth cheek. “Hi, honey. How was your day?” Jonah purposely kept his tone light in hopes of easing some of the anger from her tense frame.
Unfortunately, Tisha didn’t seem to want to be pacified. Walking around him, she dropped her purse on the chair and turned and faced him, leaning back on his desk. “Okay. Go ahead. Say it.”
Jonah smiled. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He did, he so did, but he wasn’t saying shit. As angry as she looked, he was afraid Tisha might take her hostility out on him, and he’d just gotten back on her good side. And the good side had far better advantages than the bad side did.
“Liar,” Tisha crossed her arms over her breasts. “Go ahead and admit it. You’ve been waiting all day to tell me I told you so. You knew that bitch was going to say something to me and I was going to go off on her.”
“And did you?” Jonah slipped his hand in his pants pocket and fingered his cell. “Go off on her, I mean.”
“Not as much as I wanted to. If Nance hadn’t been there, I would have had a Celie and Mister shaving moment with her.”
Jonah scrunched his brow in confusion. “A what?”
“Celie and Mister. From
The Color Purple
. You remember the moment when he was making her shave his face and she was about to cut his throat, and the only thing that saved him was Shug Avery coming up behind her and grabbing her hand?”