TAMED: #2 in the Fit Trilogy (11 page)

“Om?” Nailah said quietly. Her mom didn’t answer, but Nailah heard her getting out of bed and moving around the room. A few moments later, she stepped into the hall wrapped in her silk robe.

“Okay?” her mom said.

“Yeah, I just wanted to talk.”

“Okay, habebti. Let’s get some tea.”

Nailah followed her mom down to the kitchen. She hopped up on a stool at their marble topped island and waited while her mom boiled some water.

“What’s troubling you, baby?”

“I may have developed feelings for a man, but I broke things off with him.”

“Why, darling?” Her mom sounded genuinely confused.

“Things were moving too fast, you could say.”

“Fast how? Stop being vague.”

“We were hanging out and then he just got all serious, wanting me to meet his family and telling me he loved me and shit. And stuff, I mean. Sorry.”

“You and your sailor mouth. What was wrong with him?”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t have to say I love you back. That’s just silly if you don’t feel that way, but you just told me you have feelings for him. Why did you break it off? What is wrong with him?”

Nailah looked down and ran her finger along the edge of the island. She didn’t have a good answer.

“Are you having sex with him?”

Nailah hesitated, but she knew that her mom was asking a simple question. It wasn’t like she would freak out like her father. “Yes.”

“And the sex was good?”

“I’m not telling you that.”

“Is he the one who made your butt sore?”

“Oh my god.” Nailah covered her face and slumped against the counter.

“You aren’t telling me anything. You have a man who loves you and dumped him because he wanted you to know his family. Tell me the real reason.”

“I’m not ready for that. I’m so busy with my design work. I want my business to grow before I settle down.”

“Did he propose to you?”

“No.”

“Did he ask you to settle down?”

“No.”

“So what is the problem? You are young. You are well. You have no children. Why not spend your free time with someone you care for?”

“What about Garai? What about Baba? They are so nosey. What if they don’t like him?”

“Then don’t tell them. How long were you seeing this man?”

“A month?”

“See? And they had no clue.”

“You knew?”

“Of course I knew. I’m a mama. I know things.”

“Why didn’t you say anything about it?”

“Because I trust you. I trust your judgment. You have always been responsible and bright. I knew if it was nothing, you’d handle it and if it was something, you’d come to me eventually.”

Her mom was completely right. It was the way their relationship worked. Even when she told her mom she was ready to open her company, she had zero follow-up questions. She just started making calls and lists to help get the ball rolling. She even told Garai to get Nailah a deal on available office space.

Her father was all about the rules and ideals that he assumed everyone was following. Her mother just wanted her to live her life on her own terms. Her mother just wanted her to be happy. And smart. It was important for Shalaby women to use their heads.

Nailah took the hot mug her mom handed her.

“I think you are putting too much pressure on yourself. Does he have a job?”

“Yes. He owns my gym.”

“Uch, you and these fitness men,” her mother teased. “He loves his family. Are there other women?”

“No, mom. He’s a good man”

Her mom shrugged. “If you don’t like him then don’t talk to him. But if you have feelings, I say, why not? Good man, good job. Sore butt. All sound like good things to me.”

If Nailah was being completely honest with herself, when she was done being completely mortified, she couldn’t find a good reason not to be with him at all.

Armando almost ate shit and fell on his face running to answer his phone. The fake hardwood in his condo offered nothing in the way of traction when he was bolting from the shower. He grabbed his cell off the kitchen counter and hit accept before his brain fully processed the name on the screen. His nerves were on edge in the split second it took him to raise his phone to his ear.

“Hey,” he said, trying to keep it light.

“Did I catch you at a bad time?” And there was Nailah, straight and direct. She’d ended all communication with him outside of the gym so he had no idea what this call was about.

“No, just got out of the shower. What’s up?”

“I had some things I wanted to communicate to you, if that’s okay.”

Armando had done everything he could to shut off his feelings for this woman. After he’d gotten ripping drunk on Egyptian wine and bitched to Grant and Violet about how much of an ass he’d made out of himself after Master Philip’s encouragement to “tell Miss Shalaby how you really feel”, he set about doing everything he could to keep every interaction he had with her from being awkward as hell. He knew he had to move on, and he would when he was ready, but it was hard to shut off some pretty intense feelings in a few days.

Hearing Nailah’s voice, with all its bone deep dryness, destroyed all the healthy progress he’d made. He was just as hung up as ever. He adjusted his towel, then leaned against the counter. He chose his words carefully. “I am open to communication. What’s on your mind?”

“First, do you now or have you ever gone to church? What’s your religious situation?”

“Uh, I was raised Catholic by my mom, but haven’t been much lately—gay dads and all—but I still have faith. Does that work?”

“Yes. Do you want children? If so...” And she went on like that for a solid ten minutes. It wasn’t a conversation. It felt more like an interview or an interrogation. He told her more about his relationship with his sisters. How he and Grant met. He admitted that he cheated on one girlfriend, but at the time he was young and dumb and inconsiderate. He knew he’d never do it again. Finally he told her he thought it was very possible for a married couple to have a fulfilling monogamous relationship that included their kinks.

“Can I ask what this about?” Armando asked when she seemed like she was wrapping things up. “Are you planning on proposing to me?”

“Fuck no.”

“Well, what—”

“Hey, I have to go. I have client call coming in.”

“Nailah, hold on a sec. Tell me what’s going on.”

“We’ll talk later. Calm down. Bye.”

Confused and really fucking annoyed, Armando realized there was nothing he could do until she called him back.

He put on some boxers then settled in bed with his laptop. Emails were answered and he considered watching some porn, but first he went to his kinklife account. There were several alerts from Queen_ofTheNile asking him to approve all sorts of connections, confirming a new relationship status, including naming him as her Dominant. Clearly they needed to have a serious conversation, one he wasn’t going to wait around for her to instigate. In the meantime, he hit accept on every single connection.

✶

“Someone is here to see you.”

“What?” Nailah looked up from her computer at Maura, who was standing in her doorway with this goofy grin on her face. “Who? Why are you being weird?”

Armando stepped into the doorway behind her. He was holding a huge bouquet of pink and white flowers.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi.” Nailah almost stood up, she was so surprised.

“Do you have a minute?”

“Yeah. Maura—”

“I’ll go to Starbucks or something.” Her assistant dashed out the door, her signature giggle echoing in her wake.

Nailah stood and walked around her desk. She saw Armando three times a week in his workout clothes. She loved the way his T-shirts and shorts showed off his body and his tattoos, but he looked so much sexier in a long sleeved shirt and a well-fitted pair of jeans. She tried not to eye his crotch.

“Do you have an appointment?” she asked.

“I confirmed a dozen different connections last night that made me feel like maybe I didn’t need one.” Nailah sat on the edge of her desk, then folded her arms. That worked until Armando closed in on her. It was impossible to keep from inviting him into her personal space when he was so close. When she wanted him this bad. Her fingers went to the belt loops on his jeans. With his free hand, he touched her face.

He lowered his voice a bit and talked to her in that way that always threatened to crush her resolve. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“I’ve never been in a relationship before. Ever.”

“Okay.”

“Okay? Well, I went from no boyfriend experience to being with you. That’s a big jump from nothing to a whole lot of something.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You scared me.”

“Why? Tell me.”

“Because I didn’t want to become someone that you just had a lot of intense fun with for a while, like the other women in those pictures. When I want something, I commit. I didn’t think you were in that same headspace with me so I never let it enter my mind that you
could
be there with me. And then you said you loved me.”

“What changed your mind?”

“My mom.”

“You bailed on meeting my family, but you told your mom about me?”

“Don’t be so smug. I can talk to my mom.”

“You can talk to me too, you know?”

“I know, but she made me realize that being afraid of imaginary situations wasn’t a good reason never to sleep with you again.”

“So is that all this is?”

“Why? Will you take back the flowers if it is?”

“No, but I might want to return this.” Armando pulled a long, slender white box out of his back pocket.

“What’s that?”

“Tell me something first. Why all the questions last night? What do you want with me?”

Nailah sucked it up and told the truth. “I want to be with you at the gym. I want at home on the weekends and during appropriate social functions in between. I want you—”

“In a box? With socks? On a bagel with lox?”

“Shut up. I want to do the whole thing with you. I talked to a few submissives online. One was even married to her Dom so I figured, if things go that way, we can work it out. I just wanted to be ready.”

“We can do whatever you want, whatever you need, when you’re ready.”

“But I’m not very good at this whole feelings thing. And I don’t do well with maybes. When I’m in something, I’m in all the way.”

“Do you think I want you to change?”

Nailah shot him a look that suggested he’d lost his mind. “Do you think I would?”

“Not for one second. That’s what I love— Sorry.” He corrected himself with a sarcastic smile. “That’s what I find to be most appealing about you. You know who you are. Even if you’re figuring out your next move, you don’t give an inch on what’s inside.”

“It’s bothered guys who wanted to date me before.”

“Nah, not me. I love that shit.”

Nailah nodded toward his hand. “What’s in the box?”

“It’s a dog collar with a little metal bone tag that says ‘Armando’s Bitch’.”

“I’d kill you.”

“Here.”

Nailah took the box and opened it. Inside was an oblong-shaped emerald pendant on a gold chain.

“It’s an egg. Get it?”

“In my birthstone. Very clever.” She had to remember that Facebook stalking went both ways.

“We can get you a proper collar whenever you want, but you can wear this one all the time.”

“And this means I’m your girl all the time?”

“I would say so.”

Nailah handed the box back to Armando then turned around, gathering her hair off her neck. He slipped the necklace into place, rubbing her back when the clasp was secure. She turned back around and stepped into his arms.

“What do we do now, Sir?”

“I wanted to take you to lunch.”

“It’s a little early for lunch.”

“We could christen your office. I have all sorts workplace role-play scenarios worked out for you.”

The thought of fucking in her office seemed so unprofessional, but Nailah was the boss. She made the rules.

“That door doesn’t have a lock.”

Armando glanced at the fogged glass before he brushed her lips with his. “You think your assistant can take a hint?”

Nailah shimmied back on her desk and slid her skirt up her thighs. “I think she’ll have to.”

Nailah was familiar with long goodbyes. It took an hour to actually make an exit from any of her family events. It was no different when it came to dinner with Armando’s dads. She and her Sir had been together for two and half months and finally she’d built up the courage to meet the family. Just the dads though. She was holding off on meeting his sisters, but she knew she would have to do it soon. They’d been asking about her.

After a delicious dinner that Javier prepared, there was more wine and dessert, and then more conversation before Armando announced it was time for them to go. But then, she and Mark started talking about changes he wanted to make in their den and the outdated fixtures in the bathroom. Before she knew it, they were walking through the whole house while Javier and Armando finished doing the dishes. Finally, Armando put his foot down and dragged her out the door.

“You were amazing tonight,” Armando said, once he started his truck. His dads lived a five minute drive from her parents’ house off Sunset, but she wasn’t heading home tonight.

She looked over at his gorgeous face, lit up by the dashboard lights. “Was I?”

“Yes. I’m pretty sure they love you. And you went four whole hours without saying fuck.”

Nailah would be lying if she said she wasn’t pretty charmed by Armando’s dads too. Javier was hilarious and Mark was one of the sweetest men she had ever met. She could see how Armando turned out the way he did.

He reached over and rubbed her thigh, just under her sundress. “Thank you for coming with me.”

“I wanted to. I owed you for winning over my mom. I think she likes you more than I do.”

“Should I buy her her own vibrating egg?”

“Do it. See what happens.”

There was no way to keep her relationship with Armando a secret from her family. She saw him on a pretty regular basis, nights and weekends. Her family knew all her friends and there was no way she was spending that much time with Meena and Shelley, but with her mother’s help, her dad and her brothers agreed to chill the fuck out until she was ready to invite Armando over to the house for a proper introduction.