It was the smell of early morning bagels that woke Camilla. She stretched with the prowess of a cat, and her limbs were so relaxed it was as if she’d had a full body massage. Camilla blinked open her eyes, and they scurried over the black and gold sheets. Rising to a sit, Camilla tossed a layer of hair away from her face and took her eyes across the contemporary room.

Hunter’s furnishings were very manly with dark patterns that sat throughout. Camilla could liven it up a bit in here. Give it a woman’s touch so to speak, but just as she had the thought, she realized how silly it was. Camilla would need to be his woman to do that. She tossed her legs over the bed and tiptoed into his bathroom. Inside, she searched for an extra toothbrush then smiled when she found one laying out undoubtedly for her. She pushed her hand against the door then leaned over the sink; the ache between her thighs made last night’s memories flourish through her mind.

Camilla took in a deep breath then turned on the faucet and prepared her toothbrush for use. She brushed and watched herself in the mirror then took off the large shirt she’d put on sometime between their sexcapades through the night, opting not to wait till she got home for a bath. She traipsed to the shower and turned it on, then slipped inside. She held her face under the downpour of water, letting the heated drops knead into her skin. Camilla was there no longer than sixty seconds when she felt movement behind her.

“Am I interrupting?” Hunter said from the shower door.

Camilla turned to face him then reached to pull him in. He came willingly, completely disrobed and unabated. Seeing every inch of him in the light of day came with a delectable sight. His body was just as tone, rigid, and perfectly carved the way it felt last night. However, covering the details of his makeup mangled her and hijacked her heart beat.

“Did I tell you last night how beautiful you were,” he asked.

“I’m sure but my memory hasn’t caught up with me yet.”

“What do you remember?”

Camilla dipped her lids. “I remember you and me, in there,” she said.

“Hmmm. And what else?”

“I remember giving you a hard time, too. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be sorry.” His hands reached for her neck. “It was my pleasure to give you a hard time back.” He drew her to him, and his lips landed on her as they stood right underneath the water.

His hand traveled down her side, and he gripped her thigh and lifted her leg. With his other hand, he released her neck, and it followed the same path to her other thigh. When he hauled her, she strung her arms over his shoulders and leaned into his chest. Their lips locked in a passionate, heated kiss. They liquefied as Hunter submerged inside Camilla’s heated harbor. The ache that derived from last night strengthened into a delicious penetrating throbbing.

Hunter held on to her ass, plunging with ease as he lifted then drove into her wet cocoon, sending a revolution of tingles spiraling down her backbone with each magnanimous thrust.

“Oh my, my, my, my God!” she stuttered as water dripped into her mouth.

“You are so fucking beautiful,” Hunter said, sucking in a mouthful of her areolas.

“Hunter…” she purred. “Oh my God, baby.” Her words were fluent but soft and caught in a rapture that left her floating in a cloud.

His grind was extreme, impassioned, and driven, so much so that they exploded before they had time to slow their pace and settle into a pattern.

“Be with me,” Hunter said, nibbling on her bottom lip.

Camilla gazed at him with her lids low. “I am with you,” she said.

“That’s not what I meant.” He kissed her softly. “Be with me, Angel. I want you to be my girl.”

Camilla’s heavy gaze stilled then rose by an inch.

“Be, your girlfriend?”

Hunter kissed the side of her face, the edge of her jaw, and the back of her neck. “Yes,” he confirmed. “Don’t think about it, just tell me yes.”

“Yes,” she heard herself say.

Hunter paused his kisses and pulled his gaze to hers.

“Do you mean it?”

“Do you?”

“I wouldn’t play around with—”

“I know. I think,” she paused. “I know,” she confirmed. “I wouldn’t say yes if I thought you would.”

The corners of his lips lifted, and a pleasurable glimmer shone in his eye.

“I knew you wanted me all along, girl.”

Camilla gasped, and Hunter guffawed. She pursed her lips and rolled her eyes then couldn’t help but join in on his contagious laughter. They exited the shower after washing each other than robed lightly and had breakfast. The conversation covered sports, politics, and even religion. With opposing views on some things, neither Hunter nor Camilla were caught up in a tit for tat.

When the day turned into night again, Camilla took out her cell phone and checked her history. Six missed calls from Corinne who was currently inside her apartment.

“I am a terrible friend,” Camilla said as she sat underneath Hunter while they watch The Best Man on TV One.

“No, you’re not,” he replied.

“How can you say that when I’ve left Corinne at my apartment all day. She came up from Florida to spend the weekend with me, remember?”

Hunter looked over at Camilla. “Damn, you are a bad friend.”

She gasped again and swatted him as he laughed and ducked to get out of her path. “I’m just kidding, woman, don’t maul me.” He turned quickly to cover her hands and arms.

Camilla poked her lip out, and Hunter sucked it into his mouth. “You know this will happen every time you stick your lips out at me.”

“Mmm, I don’t think I mind.”

They kissed slowly and softly. This had been one of the best days Camilla endured in a long time, and it was real. Hunter had asked, and she’d agreed to be his girlfriend. She was in a real relationship. Her heartbeat spun as she took it all in and reveled in the heat of his mouth.

* * *

“I know you are not even trying to sneak in this house for real.”

Corinne sat on the white leather sofa with her arms folded across her chest. On the television, Love and Hip Hop streamed across the screen.

“I’m not sneaking in,” Camilla countered.

“So, what do you call turning the click in the keyhole silently then tiptoeing inside?”

“I just didn’t want to disturb you should you be getting some shut-eye.”

Corinne turned around in her seat and eyed the time. “At noon on a Sunday? Try again.”

“Well I don’t know what you and Xavier got into, so I was just being cautious.”

“Mmhmm, yeah. You would’ve known what happened between Xavier and I had you decided to come home yesterday. You know, anytime during the full 24 hours allotted to us by the Most High.”

Camilla stuck her lips out. “You’ve made your point.” She strolled down the hallway with Corinne quickly following behind her.

“So, what’s the word?” Corinne asked.

Camilla dropped her heels at her bedroom entrance and turned to face her friend. Folding her arms across her chest, Camilla’s serious expression developed into a full-blown grin.

“He asked me to be his girlfriend.”

Corinne’s eyes popped, and she reached out and shoved Camilla. “Shut up!”

Camilla glanced down at her shoulder with a frown then back to Corinne. “Assault much?”

Corinne squealed and shoved her again, and Camilla couldn’t help but laugh.

“You get on my nerves,” Camilla said, pivoting and skipping to her bed. She fell down in the middle of the mattress with her arms stretched wide.

“It was so unexpected,” Camilla said dreamily. “I don’t even know why I’m this excited.”

“I do.”

Corinne crawled on to the bed and folded her legs beneath her. Camilla glanced up at her.

“Why?”

“Because you’re being proved wrong. The image you have of him in your head; you know that playboy, unattainable bad idea image. Yeah, as the days past, he proved that he just might be a caring, understanding, one-woman man who most women hope an alpha male like him could be. And his eyes are on you.”

Camilla pondered Corinne’s words. She was right, but there was something else. With that excitement was real fear. How long would Hunter’s eye be on her? Was she the only one, or would she be naïve to believe he wouldn’t date anyone else while they were together.

“I said yes so quickly. What if it is a bad idea?”

“Then you’ll learn from it. It’s too late now, you’re in it to win it.”

“Gee thanks.” Camilla continued to ponder. “He wants me to meet his mother.” Camilla glanced over at Corinne just in time to see her eyes lurch again.

Corinne placed a hand on her chest, shook into silence.

“Don’t stop giving me your almighty advice now.”

“This is more serious than I thought,” Corinne said.

“I’m nervous as hell, and I can’t seem to tell him no. It’s becoming an addiction. Maybe Hunter is bad for my health.”

A jiggling laugh began in Corinne’s belly and chuckled up her throat.

“Damn, girl, you are scared, huh.”

Camilla squeezed her eyes closed tight.

“Come on, Corinne. I’ve known him all of what a week and a half. We just decided to be a couple and that was a decision made in the throes of…”

Corinne leaned back with an arch in her brow. “Oh no, don’t stop on my behalf. In the throes of what?”

With her eyes closed, images of Hunter’s tenacious undertaking sailed to the forefront. The tight clasp his manly hands had on her as his fingers dug into her skin. The rocking of his hips as he thrust calamitous strokes into her core. The saccharine way his tongue tasted; heated, wet, and euphoric. Camilla bit down on her lip and squirmed.

“Dayum!” Corinne shouted.

Camilla opened her eyes sharply. “What happened,” she said, rising to her elbows to look around the room.

“You do know you were just rocking your hips and biting down on your lip, right?”

“Oh my God,” Camilla said, exasperated as she fell back into the mattress.

“Ooou, girl, I aspire to feel the level of ecstasy that you feel right now.”

“He said she’ll love me.”

Corinne blinked. “Who, his mom?”

“Yeah. He said, and I quote, “She will love you.”

Camilla turned her head up to look at Corinne again.

“Look, here’s my advice even though you didn’t ask for it,” Corinne began. “If it makes you feel uncomfortable to meet his parents, then tell him. It’s too early in your relationship, and you think you both should what until you’ve dated for a while.”

Camilla repeated Corinne’s statement. “It’s too early in our relationship, and we should both wait until we’ve dated for a while.”

“Yeah, see, you’ve got it.”

Camilla’s phone rang, and she’d rose from the bed and skipped over to it. Upon seeing Steven’s number, Camilla frowned. “You would think he’d give up by now.”

“That must be Steven.”

Camilla tossed her phone and trod back to her bed. With them both deciding to ignore Steven, they changed the subject.

“Okay, since we missed a whole day together, let’s go out for happy hour.” Corinne glanced at her watch. “I still have a few hours before my flight, and I can tell you all about my time with Xavier.”

Camilla smiled and nodded. “Let me get ready.”

“Fast, times a ticking!” Corinne said at Camilla’s retreating back.