"Hello?"
"Wow, he finally answers!" a peeved feminine voice crowed through my phone.
"Here we go..."
"Hey, daddy!"
"Hey, babygirl."
"It's so good to hear your voice. So glad you're alive over there. You sound well."
"And you sound as dramatic as your mother."
At her offended gasp, I chuckled. Babygirl was being dramatic though. I hadn't talked to her in maybe a couple of weeks and she was acting like it had been months. I called myself giving her and Charity the space to enjoy their annual mother daughter bonding trip to whatever island they went this year. I'd expected her to call me as soon as they'd touched back down in the states, but Quincey Junior and I had been playing the longest game of phone tag known to mankind.
"Woooooow, somebody gets a lil girlfriend and now he's feeling himself," Junie laughed, "It be ya own daddies out here."
"Tread lightly, little girl," I warned on a laugh.
Juniper and I had fallen into a groove after our initial bumpy starts. We were in constant contact, making time to see each other when our schedules permitted, but also not super pressed when they didn't. In the few weeks that we'd been kicking it, I'd only seen her in person maybe four or five times, the last one I had to damn near threaten her to accept my invitation to take a break. She recently landed a job that involved a complete web presence overhaul for a chain of cupcake shops that were cropping up in our area and it had her working around the clock.
Instead of working from home like she normally did, she was using the shared workspace that she and Joey rented for MYOP. I insisted that she at least take a break to eat before she ran herself completely ragged, which led to our first argument. She accused me of overstepping and I accused her of overreacting. It was a whole mess, hence why I was on my way to make it up to her now. A quick stop at the nursery to pick her up a nice, leafy green plant as a means of apology was stop one of my apology world tour.
It was strange because any other woman I would have written off as being melodramatic and not worth the antics, but something about Juniper had me hooked. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but she had better get used to me being around because I didn't plan on going anywhere for quite a while, if at all.
"Daddy, are you listening?" Junie yelled.
"Sure am, babygirl."
"You're a terrible liar, Senior. Now that you're actually listening, I asked when will I get to meet my new stepmommy?"
"You know you gotta chill on calling her that before you slip up in front of her?"
"Well how am I supposed to slip up if you never even introduce us?"
"Quincey, please."
She giggled at the exasperation in my tone. She knew she was working my nerves and delighted in the shit. I swear Ant was right, I really did need to enact some boundaries with this little girl, but I guess I might be about fifteen years too late on getting her to respect the enforcement of these boundaries.
"I'm on my way to see Juniper now. She's been really busy the past few weeks, but I'll see what we can work out so y'all can finally meet."
"This sounds like a lie, but okay, daddy."
"Did you call to get on my nerves or did this call have a purpose?" I asked, clearly annoyed now.
"Somebody's testy. I really was calling to check in since we hadn't had any daddy-daughter time in a minute. I miss you, old man."
"Sounds like your pockets are getting light..."
"Nooooo, for real daddy! I'm coming over this weekend, okay? We need to catch up on Walking Dead anyway...unless you're watching it with your little girlfriend."
"Quincey." I said, my voice holding a note of censure.
"Okay! Sorry dad! I really was just joking. And I was serious about wanting to meet her soon, too."
"I hear you babygirl and I was serious about asking her if she was ready for all of that?"
"All of that?"
“You heard me.”
I had finally made it to the nursery and didn't want to have to juggle being on the phone with trying to get some assistance from the people inside, so I rang off with Quincey after confirming that I would be picking her up on Friday as soon as she was done with drill team practice. I must've looked like a fish out of water as soon as I walked into the nursery a woman approached, enthusiastically offering to help me out. That enthusiasm waned slightly after I told her I was looking for a plant for my girl, but she did end up helping me find something perfect.
The first time I went to the MYOP office space, I noticed that every bit of free space in their office was covered with greenery and I later found out that it was Juniper's doing. She'd read some article about the benefits of plants in office environments and, in Jonique's choice of words, "went OD on the plant shit." The result was a lushly decorated space with a Zen aura. I paid for the plant, with a promise to also leave a review on Google or Yelp and made my way to Juniper. I didn't call to let her know I was coming, a big risk since I was sure she was still pissed at me, but I also didn't want her to have an out and leave the joint before I had a chance to pop up.
When I arrived at the workspace, I could see Juniper through the window, looking fine and stressed as hell at the same damn time. She ran a hand through her hair before bringing her forehead to rest in her palm. The slight up and down movements of her shoulders let me know that she was either employing a deep breathing exercise or Bankhead bouncing. I tapped on the window, lightly, to get her attention so that she could unlock the exterior door and allow my entry. The noise made her jump slightly, before her gaze focused on me grinning like a fool with a plant in one hand and a poke bowl from her favorite spot in the other. Stop two on my apology world tour was to Hoke Poke, her newest obsession.
Juniper grinned in spite of herself, rolled her eyes and came to let me in.
"You still mad?"
"Dogs go mad, people get angry," she countered, words laced with warmth letting me know she definitely wasn't that upset.
"Okay then," I nodded, moving across the threshold and right into her space, "Are you still angry?"
"When was I angry?" she replied with a grin before turning and walking back into the MYOP workspace.
I followed behind her, settling the plant in an empty space right in the middle of the large window that took up a quarter of the front of the room before walking over to her desk where she sat perched upon the edge. I nudged her knees apart, standing in the gap before lowering to speak directly in her ear.
"So I'm not still an... What was it you called me? An overstepping boar who needs to mind his own God given business, I believe it was?"
She tilted her head to the side, bringing her left hand to rest upon her chin.
"Hmmm, I don't recall."
I chuckled, placing a soft kiss right beneath her ear before trailing over to her mouth for a proper greeting kiss. Her body formed to mine immediately, legs tightening around me as she pulled me closer to get her fill. When we finally separated, her eyes remained closed for a second and the ghost of a dreamy smile graced her lips. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes, smile on full blast.
"I owe you an apology."
I reared back, surprised, "Oh word?"
Juniper nodded, "Yeah, I was on one the other day. And Joey let me have it as soon as you left that day. I'd actually planned on surprising you today—the first day I've had any room to breathe—but you beat me to it."
"You're all good, sweetheart."
She shook her head, "Nah, I was out of line. And acting like a petulant child because I was overwhelmed. And instead of just letting you do what you were trying to do and take care of me, I went off the deep end because...Quincy..."
I held up a hand to stop her, "We’re yet working on you. No further explanation needed."
She rolled her eyes, laughing, "See, here you go being perfect."
"Far from perfect, sweetheart, but definitely patient. Hell, I wouldn't be able to handle Junie if I wasn't patient."
"Whaaaaat? You just called me Junie? You never call me anything but Juniper, despite my asking you several times to not."
"Nah, I wasn't referring to you as Junie, babe. I was talking about Junior...speaking of her...she asked to meet you today."
Juniper stiffened in my arms and attempted to put some space between us, but I wasn't letting that happen. I tightened my hold around her waist with one hand and used the other to tip her head up so that our eyes were meeting. She looked skittish, as if she was ready to cut and run for the nearest exit.
"Relax," I said, "I told her I'd run it by you before we made any solid plans."
Juniper and I had talking about Quincey Junior in the abstract—she knew that I had a teenage daughter, I'd shared funny stories or mentioned her when something in our conversations reminded me of her, but we'd never actually talked about the two of them meeting. I knew I needed to tread lightly with Juniper, as she was barely cemented in the fact that this thing between us wouldn't dissipate and disappear before she knew it. Bringing the kid into the mix before we'd gotten on solid ground would be a recipe for disaster.
"I think...I think that would be nice. To finally meet her. I feel like I know her a bit after you've shared so much about her with me."
"Oh perfect, she'll be over this weekend, you can come over Friday and kick it with us."
Juniper's eyes widened to comically large proportions before I let my laughter go and assured her that I wasn't trying to bring them together that soon. I'd give her a couple weeks to get herself together and then we'd figure things out from there. I wasn't in a rush to make it happen because I knew once it happened I'd become the minority in my damn home and I wasn't ready to deal with any of that quite yet. Nicknames aside, my Junie and Juniper had way too much in common from their smart mouths to an inexplicable obsession with every single show in that love and hip-hop franchise. Once those two teamed up, it would be a wrap for my sanity.
"You play too much," Juniper said, swatting me on the ass.
"Aight, I gotta get outta here. Prent needs me to close up tonight, so I'm going in for a few hours. I'll call you later though."
"Actually, you mind if I come by tonight?" Juniper asked, "I put together a little something for you...you know, for my apology?"
"Now this, I have to see. Yeah, I should be done at the garage around nine thirty, is that too late?"
"Nope, I'll be by your place by ten."
"Aight babe," I said, leaning down to give her one last kiss before I headed into work, "See you then."
I was almost out of the office when Juniper called out to me.
"Q! The plant?"
"Instructions on caretaking in the bag with your lunch."
"You really do think of everything," she said, more to herself than to me, so I just grinned as I strolled on out the door without a reply.
I was laid out on the couch, damn near asleep when the loud buzzing of my phone jarred me awake. I grabbed it with one hand while swiping the other down my face. I came home after work, took a quick shower and sat down to watch a lil SportsCenter while waiting for Juniper to arrive and slid into the quickest nod. The phone buzzed again, alerting me to two new text messages.
On the way. You still up? – Juniper
Sorry for the delay, unexpected stop for supplies. :) - Juniper
I replied that I was awake, and the door was open, curious about what sort of supplies this whole apology situation she had put together required. Then I actually unlocked the door downstairs and my apartment door, so she could just come right on in. Settling back onto the couch, I gave my attention back to SportsCenter until she arrived. Actually staying awake, however, wasn’t in the plans as I dozed once again.
I was awakened from my slumber by Juniper softly calling my name as she trailed her fingers all over my face, playing in my beard and booping my nose until I opened my eyes. I cracked them to see her leaning over me, grinning.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” she whispered briefly nuzzling my neck before walking away, “I worked really hard on this apology and I’ll lose my nerve if I have to wait ‘til morning to do it.”
I sat up, yawning and stretching, running a hand through my locs before focusing my attention on where Juniper stood blocking the television. When my eyes finally focused on her form, they almost bugged out of my head.
“Goddamn.”
She was wearing some sort of…hell I don’t know what material this cat suit was made of, just that it molded to all her curves perfectly accentuating her high, perky breasts, shapely hips and all that ass. Her hair was splayed about her face, in wild waves cascading past her shoulders. She busied herself with turning off the television and connecting her phone to my Bluetooth sound bar before making her way back over to me. She pulled me up from the couch to sit in one of the armless chairs flanking the sofa.
“Can you behave, or will you need to be restrained?” she asked as she stood in front of me looking like a fantasy that was illegal in at least twenty-four of the forty-eight contiguous states.
My answer was nonverbal as I reached out to grab her, which she quickly sidestepped.
“Restraints it is,” she said, sauntering over to a bag she had placed on the floor near the television. She walked back over to me holding what appeared to be a red velvet rope and suddenly the music playing in the background clicked for me.
“Yoooooo, no you didn’t.”
Juniper didn’t respond, just smirked as she swaggered back over to me and tied my hands behind my back.
During one of our marathon phone conversations, I told her that my sexual awakening as a very young teen came via Janet Jackson. One of my older cousins was a huge fan and was convinced that she was going to go on and dance for Janet. So, the entire summer that she was supposed to be babysitting me, she spent hella time watching and re-watching The Velvet Rope Live DVD trying in vain to teach herself the choreography so that when Janet called she’d be ready to go at the drop of a dime. Never mind the fact that we were in the middle of the country with no connections to any of the famous legion of choreographers that Janet employed to seek out new talent.
As annoyed as I got with Tika for her incessant watching of that damn DVD, I was front and center for two segments. The first was when Janet performed “I Get Lonely” and ripped that button down open to showcase her fantastic rack, but the second and most important was when Janet performed a cut off the cd that was called “Rope Burn”. Janet was famous for bringing a nigga on stage and tying him down and torturing him to the sweetest death using sensual choreography and blatant sexuality to drive them insane. There were many nights that I fell asleep or woke up to a dream of being the dude that Janet tied down on stage. I shared this with Juniper in one of our earliest conversations, but she was clearly playing attention as not “Rope Burn”, but one of Janet’s other baby making tunes was piped through the speakers in my living room. As Janet sang about touching, teasing, licking and pleasing her man into submission, Juniper drove me insane with a combination of sensuality and blatant freak nasty that had me panting by the time the song ended.
“You accept my apology?” she asked, as the song ended, and Janet lamented about not being able to cum on the record before her producers faded the music out.
Once again, instead of using my words, I broke the flimsy restraint and, using both of my hands maintained a firm grip on Juniper’s ass as I moved us from the living room to my bedroom in a flash. She yelped as I none too gently set her on the bed before covering her entire body with mine, hovering close, but not yet connecting our mouths. My tongue swiped her lower lip once, twice, before she grabbed my head with both her hands trying to deepen the contact. I swerved, landing a trail of kisses on her neck instead—fleeting teasing passes of my lips against her skin. Juniper groaned in discontent.
“You had your fun, now let me have mine,” I said, before suckling the hollow at the base of her throat.
“You gonna keep teasing me, or you gonna have your fun?” Juniper whimpered as I slowly unzipped her little outfit, placing kisses along each inch of exposed skin.
As I peeled the fabric down her body, revealing a perfect body clad in red lace, I groaned, damn near feeling like this was going to be over before I really got started. She really pulled no punches with this apology thing, with everything down to the tiniest detail curated to appeal to what turned me on. I took a quick moment to gather my wits, shed my ball shorts, and grab a condom from my bedside table before turning my attention back to Juniper.
She’d shifted position, no longer lying down, but braced against my headboard—lower lip pulled between her teeth as she anxiously watched my every movement. I reached out, grabbing one of her delicate ankles to drag her back down toward me at the end of the bed. The movement was so swift it caught her off guard, causing her to emit a yelp as our bodies once again were flush with one another and I captured her mouth in a searing kiss. Our tongues parried before I dragged my mouth further south, my hands already busy ridding Juniper of that pesky bra, which at this point was nothing more than a barrier blocking me from fully enjoying the lush playground that was Juniper’s body.
As I undid the front closure and parted the cups, I noticed that not only did Juniper have absolutely, mouthwateringly perfect breasts, but both were pierced with rose gold colored, thin, barely visible hoops. I looked up to catch her eye like “are you serious” and she just smirked, which soon turned into an open-mouthed whine as I traced her areolas with the tip of my tongue.
“Ssssssssss,” she hissed, a shuddering breath wracking her body as I went back and forth between gliding my tongue along her sensitive flesh and nibbling before sucking one of her nipples into my mouth, biting down gently while pinching the other.
Juniper was vocal, loudly proclaiming her approval as my mouth charted a course down her body, leaving her breasts to settle between her legs with a deep inhale before removing her panties and diving in face first. She smelled like heaven and tasted like ecstasy as I lost myself in her, delighting in the sounds she made as I used my mouth and fingers to create a delightfully wonderful mess between her legs. In what seemed like no time, her thighs were shaking and she was dripping wet as she reached a climax. I locked my arms around the lower half of her body, locking her in place as I continued to feast upon the treasure between her legs. Her back bowed from the bed as she shrieked out something that was unintelligible gibberish.
“Quinceeeeeeee. Please,” Juniper whined, rapping the top of my head, trying her best to get me to ease up.
I licked her one final time, very slowly while my tongue lingered on her clit, teasing a little longer before making my way back up to look her in the face. Her eyes fluttered open, a dreamy smile covering her face before she reached up and pulled my face down for a gentle, sex-laced kiss that soon turned into a blazing inferno of desire. She kept nudging at my shoulder and I finally acquiesced, rolling over on my back and bringing Juniper to rest atop me.
“You just gotta be in control, huh Lil Janet?” I joked.
Her head dropped as she laughed, then reached over to the side table to grab the condom. At the ripping of that packet, we were back at it again. She quickly sheathed me and slid down slowly, coming down halfway before slowly ascending once again. She repeated her teasing strokes until I finally pulled her onto me completely. Fully seated, she began to move in slow, winding circles, encouraged by my hands rhythmically squeezing her ass in conjunction with her motions.
I shifted, sitting up to settle my attention back on her breasts and those unexpected nipple rings. Juniper moaned as I rolled her nipples between my thumb and forefinger before alternating between pinching and squeezing. Her slow winding circles shifted to a quick up and down bounce, her ass jiggling against my thighs with each downward stroke. Grabbing her hips, I stroked up to meet her bounces and soon that tell-tale tremble in her thighs that signaled a climax began again. Moments later, Juniper collapsed into me, whimpering through her climax and milking me into one of my own. After taking a few moments to allow Juniper to come down, I moved her hair aside, making sure to speak directly into her ear as she seemed to drift asleep.
“Apology accepted.”