The next few days I hardly saw her until bedtime. She was going from the minute she opened her eyes in the morning until nine at night.

She was overdoing shit again, but the happy glow on her face kept my tongue in check. That and having her to myself at the end of each night.

Now we were lying in bed cuddling before getting up for the day. We were two completely different people from who we were when we met. She was coming out of her shell more and more each day and I was learning how to live with what I feel for her.

I spend most of each day thinking about ways to make her happy and now with the school situation taken care of and she was no longer killing herself, it was time to carry out my master plan.

“Baby I have to go to Miami next week. No don’t tense up, I’m only going to be gone for two days. I’m going to see about hiring some people to take over for when I’m not there.”

“You are?” She lifted her head and tapped her fingers on my chest with a happy smile. Typical female, why didn’t she tell me that that shit bothered her?

“Yeah. I figure if I find the right people I wouldn’t have to go down there as often as I do now.” That was part of my plan for our future. I can’t see me leaving her that often, and with the school she won’t be able to travel with me.

I had it all worked out in my head. In a few months I’m gonna put my ring on her finger and spend the next sixty years making her happy. Before I do that there’re some things I need to take care of.

So this weekend in Miami was twofold. It’s what I’d told her as well as something else I want to do for her. Well it’s for both of us.

After what her father had done to her I’m taking it upon myself to go the extra mile to reassure her that she never has to worry about me doing that shit to her ever.

“I’m going to miss you.” I like when she gets like this. Clingy and soft. My little enigma. One minute she’s a strong opinionated woman who knows her own mind. But every once in a while she seeks me out because she needs my strength to lean on.

It’s the best of both worlds. Now if I could just get her to go back to dressing like she used to we’d be good. She’d made a complete wardrobe change on her little shopping trip and now everything was short dresses and skirts with sweaters that either hugged her tits or showed too much cleavage.

I wasn’t dumb enough to say shit to her, not since the night of the opening. Her feminist ass had reamed me a new one the next day after she got through ranting about her father and his slut as she put it.

I’m working on not being that guy, but it’s not easy. Every time she gets ready to walk out the door I want to lock her in our damn room and leave her there.

The thing is, I’ve been with women who dressed way more provocatively and it never mattered, but now I’m measuring the length of her skirts in my mind and shit.

Tony’s been having a grand old time at my expense but I can’t wait until it’s his turn. He talks a lot of shit now, but we’ll see how fine he is with his woman walking around this fucking city looking like sex on heels.

I haven’t reached the point of checking her phone and shit but it’s close. Me, the man who can’t even remember the name of a woman two minutes after she left my bed is strung the fuck out.

I grumble if I wake up in the morning and she’s not there, and she seems to be catching on because now she stays in bed until I wake up. She’s still doing her staring shit, but I’ll take that over a cold bed any day.

“When are you leaving?”

“I was thinking Friday afternoon and coming back Sunday morning. That’s your busiest time at the studio, so I figured you’d be too busy to miss me.”

“It’s not that, I just like knowing that you’re here even if I don’t get to see you all day. But it’s cool. I’ll just see if Sherrie wants to do something Saturday night.”

“What? Where you going?”

“I don’t know yet.” She was doing this shit on purpose. How am I supposed to get on a plane with that shit in my head?

“Maybe we’ll just hang out at the club.”

“Your ass is too young to get into my club.”

“That’s okay, I know someone.” She ran her hand up my chest and gave me one of those dick rising smiles. “You’re gonna get yourself in trouble, I thought you had work to do.”

“Work can wait.” Her hand found my dick and squeezed and that was all it took for me to drag her up my body and pull her legs around my hips. She was still wet from our morning ride, so my dick just slid into her.

I held her ass and fucked her on and off my dick, rocking her to a nice sweet orgasm with my tongue in her mouth. “Your pussy’s still so tight, damn.” It takes my dick a good two minutes to slide out of her.

She did some kinda exercise with her pussy muscles and made my cock very happy. She laughed like a lunatic when I flung her to her back and fucked into her hard.

Her laugh turned into a long drawn out moan that made my balls tingle. “Kiss me!” She grabbed my head and pulled it down to hers, pushing her tongue in my mouth and wrapped her legs around me.

I went slow making sure she felt each ridge in my dick as I stroked into her and she inched her ass back. I love the fact that she still has trouble taking me. That she still makes those pussy hurt noises when I hit her at a certain angle, it makes me feel manly and shit.

I took her head in my hands looking down at her as she moved with me, her arms wrapped around me almost as tight as her pussy.

“You’re so soft!” I whispered words of encouragement in her ear, told her how beautiful and brave she was as I drilled her. She responded the way I expected, her pussy juicing harder as she sucked at me with her inner muscles.

“Tell me to cum inside you.”

“Cum, inside me.” I teased her ass with my fingertip and she went off, strangling the shit out of my dick as I emptied my nuts inside her until I had nothing left.

“That was amazing baby, I’m gonna lay here for a second, you drained my ass.” She laughed like a loon and bit my chest until I rolled off of her. I watched her jump out of bed full of energy while I was ready for a nap.

Her young ass is going to put me in an early grave. “I’ll meet you in the shower baby.” Tony’s right,

I’m pathetic. Now even my showers don’t feel the same without her in there with me.

In fact half the shit I used to find pleasure in doing alone no longer holds the same appeal. She’s infiltrated every part of my life and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

With each passing day I’m more and more amazed at what she pulls out of me. What’s more amazing is that I don’t have to try with her, I don’t have to put on an act or play games.

Everything I feel for her comes from a place deep inside me that no one else has ever been and I’m convinced no one else ever will. That’s her spot and I know as sure as I’m breathing that it always will be.

She’s the first woman I ever imagined giving my seed. The only one I wanted to share that life I never believed in with.

She makes my heart happy in ways that the game never had, and for all that, I know she’ll be the one waking up beside me for the rest of my days. My gift to her, one of the reasons for my trip to Miami, was so that I would never leave her again.

That everyday for the rest of our lives I’d be the first thing she sees in the morning and the last thing she sees at night. I don’t think I could do it any other way. My ass is hooked.

Friday came way too soon and we had another long ass goodbye at the door. I’m getting tired of being laughed at. “How come you’re always okay with me leaving?” Swear to fuck I was pouting.

“That’s not it, it’s because you’re so cute, and knowing that you don’t want to go makes me feel better.” She rested her head on my chest and put her arms around me, smoothing the rough edges of my nerves.

I had that feeling of losing a limb when she pulled away to send me on my way. “Go on honey, you’ll be back before you know it.” I really do need to get my pussy whipped ass out the door since Tony was downstairs waiting for me and the last thing I need is his ass talking shit.

“Okay I’m going. Remember, mom and Travis are going to be here when you get home tonight. Your detail is downstairs already. They’re going to stay with you from the time you leave until you get back. I was thinking, since you’re having company I guess you can’t go out tomorrow night huh.”

“Nice try, but they’re not guests they’re family. And momma Sophie wouldn’t care of I go out. Bye.” Not if I come up with something to keep your ass home. “I still want to see what you’re gonna wear.”

“Why? Don’t you think I can dress myself?” I’m sure she thinks I’m kidding, but I was having serious issues with her plans to go out dancing, especially if she was going to be doing that damn dance in public.

In the end, short of forbidding her to go, which I’m sure wouldn’t go over well, I had no choice but to let it go. After one last kiss to tide me over I left her without looking back. This shit was even harder than the first time.

I’d dealt with the guilt of leaving her alone in the city with everything that’s been going on, that’s why I’d asked mom to babysit. If she knew that shit she’d freak, but it was the only way I was going to be able to do this.

I haven’t heard or seen shit about Morrison, so I figured Cox had squashed whatever it is he’d had planned. But now he had the cops and my boys on his ass, so I wasn’t worried about him getting to her.

As for Arlene she was as good as dealt with and was no real threat. I’m just going to miss my girl like hell. I’m at that point in our relationship where I can’t close my eyes at night if she’s not in bed next to me, so the next two nights ought to be fun.

The only thing that kept me going is what I had waiting in Miami and what this weekend meant for her, for us. For that reason I was able to put everything else aside and focus.

My first afternoon was spent doing interviews, which were a breeze because I pretty much knew who I wanted to hire. There were two very surprised single mothers whose income had just tripled overnight by the end of the day.

Saturday morning I had an appointment with the jeweler I’d trusted to make her ring. I was more nervous now that the shit was done than I was when I ordered it. That little velvet box held a lot of promise and responsibility in it.

Once I give her this shit I have to stay true to what it represents. It’s not that I’m not ready, I think I’ve been ready to make her mine two minutes after we met.

But my girl comes with a lot of baggage and I’m the man who’s gonna have to spend the rest of my life making sure I don’t fuck up and hurt her.

I don’t talk about this shit with her, but it’s never far from my mind. And after that little run-in with her dad I’m even more determined.

If she were anyone else I wouldn’t even consider the shit that I’m about to do. But because she means everything and because her heart has already been broken, I have to give her this.

I Facetimed her at nine that night and found her in the media room with a bowl of popcorn, already in one of my jerseys like she was ready for bed. “I thought you were going out, where’s Sherrie?”

I heard mom in the background and saw Travis in his usual chair. “Her sitter fell through, and since you took Trevor to Miami she couldn’t find anyone last minute. Her mom had something else planned.”

I hid my smile and didn’t even feel guilty about where I was headed. “I’ll take you dancing when I come home baby. So you’re staying in?”

“Looks like.” She didn’t seem too torn up about it as she stuffed her face with popcorn and argued with her brother about what movie they were going to watch.

Mom, who knew what I was up to, came on the screen and smiled at me before taking her seat next to my girl. “I’ll see you in the morning honey, I have to go fight Travis for the remote. Love you bye!”

I stood frozen in place for the next three minutes after the screen went dark. Did she know what she said? It was so casual, so effortless. My heart did its dancing shit and I had the biggest fucking grin on my face when Tony came to the door.

“What’s gotten into you? You kill somebody?”

“Shut up asshole, my girl just told me she loves me.” He rolled his eyes like a teenage girl and followed me out the door.

For the rest of the night I didn’t hear or see anything. Although I was the one who’d planned the evening it no longer held any real meaning for me. My mind and heart were back in New York with her.

She’d said those words so easily. Coming from her I know what that shit meant. I feel even more strongly now about the choice I’d made.

I didn’t really hear the music around me, or see the room full of friends that I’d asked to come here tonight. I just wanted the night to be over so I could get back to her tomorrow.

I was fucking floating on air and the loss of my freedom didn’t hurt nearly half as much as I

thought it would. In fact it didn’t hurt at all, because I knew that what I was getting was so much better.

In the morning I was like a kid about to go on a field trip. I’d barely slept the night before, too excited to get back to her.

“Did you remember the ring?” I patted my jacket pocket where I’d put it as I climbed into the backseat of the car for the ride home. It had been a long flight back, the longest, and Tony hadn’t made it any easier.

That ass ragged me all the way from Miami to New York with his shit. I made the mistake of telling him what she’d said again and he acted like it was no big deal. That’s when I stopped talking to his dumb ass.

“Hurry up I want to get home before she wakes up.” I took out her ring and looked at it again. Four carats of brilliant diamonds that shone almost as bright as she does.

“You think she’s going to like it? It’s not too big is it? What about the shape, you think she’ll like this one? Maybe I should’ve gone with the round one

instead of the princess thing.”

“Bruh, get a grip, you’re making the rest of us look bad.”

“Who’s us?”

“Men, anything with a dick. Damn bruh, she’s got you turnt.”

“Drive the damn car.” I picked up the newspaper and opened it blocking him from view. I wasn’t concentrating on the words until I got to the police blotter.

“What the fuck?”

“What happened?”

“Morrison, somebody fucked him up.” We looked at each other in the rearview mirror. “It says he was found in the meat packing district with his arms and legs broken. He’s still in the hospital with a concussion. Cox?”

“Who else? Serves his ass right, at least he’s still alive.”

“That’s some weird timing. I didn’t tell Cox I was leaving the city. Tony.” When he didn’t say anything my suspicions grew.

“I told you to stay out of that shit. Now you don’t have to worry about him.”

“You’re not tied up in this are you? Nothing’s gonna come back on you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now get out.” Asshole, I didn’t even realize we were pulling up to my place. “Take your ass home and stay out of shit. I find out you got tangled up with Cox it’s going to be your ass brother.”

Fuck, now I owe that asshole a solid. It would’ve been easier if I’d dumped Morrison’s carcass in the fucking Hudson myself. Shit, I hope he doesn’t think we’re friends now or some shit.

I forgot all about Morrison when I got out and headed inside. All I wanted was to see her face. If I’d known what was waiting for me I would’ve turned right the fuck around and headed back where the hell I came from.