My eyes opened and I stretched, shaking off my grogginess.

True to his word last night, Jay did in fact wow me with his stage aura. It was awe inspiring to watch him up there.

I had been expected to watch him from the side of the stage as he performed with Plado. I wanted to get the full experience, so I sat in a roped off section at the front of the stage instead, and what an experience it was.

The way he worked the mic and the confident bounce he had as he moved back and forth. The way his hands moved with his words and the cocky grin he gave the audience. It all made for a seductive package. It had a fire stirring in my belly. My hands itched to touch him again as I watched him. To feel his hardness both in my hand and in me.

Part of me imagined what it would be like performing with him on stage. We were set to go back in the studio and finish the song he wrote for me so it wasn’t that far of a stretch. I pictured running my hands over him as he rapped to me, and I sang to him. I grew even hotter thinking about the provocative public foreplay it would be.

And just like that I was turned on first thing in the morning. My early grogginess totally forgotten.

Looking over at Jay, my legs moved restlessly under the bed. He was awake and watching me. His eyes focused on my breasts plumped up over the tank top I wore. They began heaving under his scrutiny as my body began firing on all cylinders wanting him.

I glanced down and saw his boxers tenting the sheets. He was so hard a whole troop of boy scouts could have camped under it. And it was all for me.

“Good morning,” I murmured appreciatively and moved down the bed.

“That it is.”

Without another word, I took off my clothes. Once I was naked, I pulled his boxers off and promptly took him in my mouth. Licking and sucking, I delighted in the feel of him and how glorious he tasted on my tongue. I swirled my tongue around the tip and cupped his balls, massaging them the way he liked.

“Mmmm,” I hummed around him when he used his hands to quicken my pace.

“Don’t want to come in your mouth.”

“Mmmm,” I hummed again.

“Fuck!” He exclaimed. “Stop doing that, T.”

I took him deeper, making myself gag knowing he typically lost it when that happened. Instead of him coming down my throat like I expected, he grabbed me by my armpits and pulled me up his body.

“On my face. Now.”

I positioned over him and lowered myself onto his mouth. His tongue quickly snaked out and begun lapping at the wetness that had begun trailing from me when I was blowing him.

“Just like heaven,” he said before sucking my clit and biting down on it with his teeth. I bucked my hips and started grinding down on him.

“Come for me, baby.”

“Touch yourself. I’ll get there faster knowing you are,” I panted out, so close to the edge it was nearly blinding.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw his hand pulling hard on his length while his other one held my ass in place over his face.

“Oh God!” I whimpered and let go.

Jay flipped me over and yanked my hips up, pushing my head down to the mattress. And then he was driving into me hard and deep. Delicious.

My head flew back, and I yelped when he hit my G-spot. Good lord I loved that he could do that.

“Faster,” I demanded and he obliged.

“Harder,” I again demanded and he immediately gave it to me.

“Such a sweet cunt. Milk me, baby.” And I did. My pussy clenched over and over on his cock making him curse and come inside me.

His hands roamed over my back and ass. He continued to move in and out of me slowly and gently.

“Love you, Jay.”

“Me too. I especially love waking up to you, your mouth and your golden fucking pussy.”

“Such a sweet talker,” I joked.

Jay’s cell phone rang on the end table. I groaned, knowing that meant he was going to pull out when I wasn’t ready for him to.

“Gotta get that,” he said and then he did just what I didn’t want. I flopped over on my back and watched his hard, naked body as he reached for the phone.

“Yo,” he barked into the phone. “Really? ‘Bout fuckin’ time. Let me know.”

He flipped the phone shut and tossed it on the bed. Then he climbed over my body and kissed me.

“Good news, baby.”

“Do tell,” I prompted.

He lowered himself next to me and propped his head up with his hand. “That was your cousin. Looks like some shit’s going down with Annabelle. He said to stay by the phone today.”

“Why did he call you?” I narrowed my eyes in suspicion.

Jay gave a subtle shrug. “Don’t know. Don’t care. Let’s go shower so we’re ready when we get the call.”

“Wait!” I grabbed his arm when he started to get out of bed. “Since when are the two of you best friends?”

He let out a heavy sigh. “When your dad died we had a talk.”

“A talk?” I questioned, skeptical that it was as cut and dry as that.

“Yeah. He said he respected that I flew back from Atlanta when you needed me. Then he asked me what my intentions were with you.”

“He what?” I was slightly outraged that Jeff was nosing around in my business.

“Settle down, T. He loves you and was looking out for you. I respect that.”

“So what did you tell him?” I bit my lip nervously. I was dying to know what a big, gruff guy like Jay would say to that question.

“Told him I loved you and that I planned on having you by my side for the rest of your life. Then I promised to handle you with care, the way you deserve. Meant every word, T. You know that.”

“Some men would have felt threatened by that and attacked him for caring.” I rolled over and planted a kiss on his lips. “You’re wonderful. Thank you.”

“Glad you think so. Jury’s still out though.”

“Give yourself more credit than that. Come on. Race you to the shower. First person there gets head!” I squealed when he pushed me down on the bed and leapt off so he’d beat me to the bathroom.

“Hey! What about equal opportunity?” I yelled to his retreating back.

His head popped out around the doorjamb. “Never said you weren’t getting some too.”

With that, I jumped up and joined my man in the shower. And it was fantabulous. There was much to be said about equal opportunity.

* * *

“Pass me the mustard?” I asked Jay and held out my hand.

Two hours later and we still hadn’t heard anything from Jeff. After the shower, we sat outside on the veranda with cups of coffee and soaked in the serenity of the late morning. Now we were making sandwiches, and I was trying not to drive myself insane with curiosity as to what was going on.

Instead of a mustard container, I felt Jay’s skin on mine. His hand pulled me toward him and I looked at him with questioning eyes. He turned the radio up and the sounds of Marvin Gaye’s “You’re All I Need To Get By” filled the kitchen.

“Dance with me,” he said as he began swaying our bodies.

One hand rested on my lower back while the other held my hand. Singing to me, he spun me around the kitchen and dipped me. I laughed at that and wrapped my arms around his neck when he pulled me back up. His mouth found mine and I opened up to him, letting his tongue in to dance with mine.

“Well, isn’t this quaint?” A venomous voice said behind us.

Our mouths broke apart, and we both turned our heads to see Monica standing in the doorway to the kitchen with her arms crossed and a glare on her face.

“Ever learn how to knock? What if I was balls deep in my woman?” Jay said low and angrily.

“You should learn to lock it then,” she countered.

Jay let me go, but didn’t let me move away. He put his arm around my waist and pulled me into his side. I had no choice but to wrap my arm around his as well. It made me feel good in a spiteful way that we were presenting a united front to her.

“Why not tell us why you came here considering I told you anything you had to say to me should be done through the lawyers,” Jay told her when she made no moves to do anything other than stare at us with undisguised hatred.

“I came to talk to you in private about custody of our daughter.”

“Whatever you say can be said in front of Tori. She’s part of my life so you better get used to it. She’s not going anywhere.”

Monica rolled her eyes and hitched her hip in a pissed off stance. “I need money.”

Way to cut to the chase. Jeez.

“Not my problem.” Jay’s body stiffened, and I could feel the extremely pissed off vibes emanating from him. He was about to get scary. I could feel it.

“It is your problem when your daughter is involved.” She held up her hand when Jay let me go and took an angry step towards her. “I just meant that she lives in the house I’m about to lose.”

“Maybe you should explain that seeing as how I bought that shit outright for you.”

“I’ve been spending some time in Vegas lately. Got in a little too deep and now I’m going to lose the house if I don’t come up with three hundred G’s.”

Holy shit! That was a lot of money.

“Are you shittin’ me?” Yep. The angry and bad ass vibes were coming stronger now, filling the room with it.

“No.” She hung her head for a moment and then squared her shoulders. “Pay off my debt and I’ll agree to joint custody.”

Jay shook his head in disgust. I put my hand on his shoulder to try to calm him down. “No. I give you that kind of cake, I’m taking our girl for good. You get your shit together and you can see her every other weekend.”

Monica’s face twisted in outrage. “You can’t do that!”

“Watch me. How does it feel to have someone tell you that you can’t see your flesh and blood? Huh?”

“Jay,” I whispered when he delivered that blow to her. She mostly deserved it, but I didn’t want him regretting the way he was treating the mother of his child.

“Stay out of this bitch,” she hissed at me.

“Fuck you,” I spat at her. I couldn’t believe she was attacking me when I was actually trying to help her. “This has as much to do with me as it does either of you.”

“What? You want to be Jasmine’s mother?”

“Yes. I do,” I admitted.

“Over my dead body!”

“That can be arranged,” I deadpanned.

Jay let out a strangled sound like he was trying to contain a laugh. His arm wound around my waist and pulled me back into him.

“I see,” Monica said with a twisted expression on her face. “The little princess is trying to act hard now? You don’t know who you’re playing with bitch.”

“I’m not worried,” I said casually like we weren’t threatening each other, or that my heart wasn’t pounding in my chest. “The way I see it is you’re nothing but a pathetic woman who would rather give up custody of her own daughter then clean up her mess. Ain’t nothing to be afraid of there.”

“Jay,” she said with impatience.

“Pleading with me isn’t going to get you anywhere. Full custody with you having visitation. Be grateful I’m giving you that. And if you ever threaten Tori again I’ll be the one giving you pain.”

She debated for several minutes. I fought my urge to fidget nervously. If she saw any sign of weakness, she wouldn’t give us Jazzy. And I wanted her. Badly.

“Fine. When can I have the money?” Disgraceful. I found myself shaking my head in disgust.

“You’ll get the check when I get a signed custody agreement. Suggest you call your lawyer soon.”

She hitched her purse up her arm, and her mouth pressed into a thin line. Then she stormed out without another word.

“Whoa,” I said, my head still reeling from what just happened. “Did we really just get Jazzy?”

“Yes!” He hollered. Suddenly, I was lifted up in his arms and swung around in a circle. “Woo!”

I laughed and kissed him when he set me down on my feet.

“You really okay with this?” His eyes searched mine, but there was no indecision to be had there.

“Absolutely. I love Jazzy and I meant it when I told Monica I wished I was her mom.”

“This means she’ll be here all the time. We’ll have to curb our naked escapades.”

I ran my hands up and down his biceps and pressed my body to his. “Something tells me we’ll find ways to be creative.”

“Damn straight,” he agreed.

Just then his phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket while I held my breath in anticipation.

“Talk to me,” he said into the phone. “Let me put you on speaker phone.”

He pushed a few buttons and then held his phone up between us. “Go ahead.”

“Hi, Tori.” Jeff’s voice came through the line. He sounded excited, which was a good sign.

“Hi. What’s the big news, Jeff?”

“About fifteen minutes ago, federal agents arrested Annabelle outside of Rich’s house.”

I gasped at that news. “What?”

“Suzy Lawson, AKA Annabelle Watson, was arrested on charges of identity theft and suspicion of murder.”

My hand shot out and grabbed the counter in an effort to keep myself standing upright. I looked at Jay to see him smiling radiantly.

“Is this for real?” I asked unbelievingly.

“As real as it gets,” Jay answered.

“Between Jay’s friend and my investigator, they were able to track down the sister of Annabelle’s, well Suzy’s, ex-husband. Seems he and his girlfriend disappeared not long after their divorce was finalized. Authorities believe she and her boyfriend at the time were responsible. Turns out the ex had never changed over his life insurance beneficiary after the papers were signed. Annabelle then stole an eighty year old woman’s identity after the woman was nice enough to take her in. The woman’s grandkids say that Annabelle had told the woman that her husband beat her, and she was on the run with no money. The woman felt sorry for her. Worst decision she probably ever made,” Jeff explained.

“I can’t believe this is over,” I muttered in a daze of all sorts of emotions. Happiness, sadness, anger, and disappointment. “I wish that bitch had never set eyes on my father.”

“She’s going away for a long time, T. Focus on that. She got shit from your father and she just lost her freedom,” Jay reminded me.

“He’s right,” Jeff concurred. “I’m going to let you guys celebrate. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Wait,” I stopped him. “What about Rich?”

“I suspect he’ll have a lot of groveling to do if he ever wants back in this family. Enjoy the rest of your day guys.” With that, Jeff hung up.

“We got some celebrating to do,” Jay announced. “Go get dressed up. I’m taking you out for a night on the town. Then I’m going to fuck you in as many rooms in this house as I can tonight.”

That caused a shiver in numerous places. I could live with that.