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  His mother.

  She looked almost different, maybe even happy. That was not an expression I’d ever seen on her. My back straightened as I took a step back away from Noah. He continued to hold my hand and then the man stood beside me.

  “Mama, this is Maxine Robins, my future wife.” He introduced me, causing every fiber in my body to freeze.

  His future what?

  “Maxine, this is my mum, Marianne Rose Wolfe. She’s the very first woman I’ve loved.” He was re-introducing me to her.

  I nodded with a slight smile towards the older lady, but the Italian woman threw up her hands and bolted towards me. Hell, I almost ran because I didn’t know if she was going to hit me or hug me. She did the latter, and I was not sure what to do.

  Her hands were all over my head and face as she spoke rapid Italian. I could only make out so much, but it seemed good. I think.

  Then, she smiled at me, pulled my cheeks, and said, “You love him. My son. A lot?”

  I smiled back and nodded my head.

  “Yes, a lot.” I answered.

  “Your pictures.” She said as a tear moved down her face. “So sweet, though you are American.”

  Even I laughed at the spicy woman. “I see you can be sweet too.”

  She patted my face twice but held me close and looked at Noah before saying, “She smart, very stylish. Hips for kids.”

  Oh no she did not!

  My head swirled towards Noah as I tried to tamper down my gasp. He just smiled and moved closer to kiss me on my forehead.

  “Yes, mama. She does.” He replied and then I pinched him.

  He was not supposed to agree.

  The three of us settled into a small lunch, where his mom took over to make the meal. Then, she invited us to her restaurant, where she told me she would not be serving me Margherita pizza. Since the kids (the unborn ones) needed to know what good Italian food tastes like. Not the likes of Margherita pizza. She said with a disgusted look on her face. Lip turned up and mouth twisted.

  That woman.

  We ate dinner at her restaurant, and for once, the service was absolutely great. It wasn’t until I went to the front to thank Noah’s mom for the lovely dinner that I saw the pictures.

  Every single picture I sent the woman was on the La Familia wall. Most of them included me and front and center was Noah and me. He was looking down at me, and I was tucked into him with my hand on his chest, looking up. Shit, you could just tell. That was taken on his first trip to Philadelphia. Yet, one could just tell. We were in love. It was such a good picture on the wall. That had me getting a little emotional.

  I think a tear dropped or many, but when she saw them, she rushed around the corner and pulled me into her while patting my back. Noah was in the back talking with the cook.

  “S’okay. S’okay. Family now.” She kept patting me while I hugged her tight.

  I never knew my mom, but man had I been missing out on the mom hugs. It felt so good. So warm and needed.

  “Maxine?” I heard Noah’s alarmed tone. “Love?”

  “I’m alright.” I muffled into his mom’s shoulder. “I’m on the family wall.”

  My finger pointed towards the wall, and I nearly came apart again in her arms. Noah tried to step in, but his mom shooed him away.

  Once I was able to gather my composure, I released the older woman, and she kissed me on the cheek. I gave her a kiss on both cheeks back. She made Noah promise not to keep me away for too long. Then the next day, I was back in the States. Not before Noah thanked me in more ways than one for the breakthrough with his mom.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked when we were in bed after coming home from being stuffed by his mother.

  I snuggled into him and murmured, “Didn’t know it would work.”

  “Maxine.” Noah called my name in a way that had my eyes popping open.

  “Yes?” I replied as my head moved back to see his face.

  Those green eyes were low, but they were fixed on me. Displaying more words that could be spoken and oddly enough, I understood.

  “I know you’re the one.” Noah informed me. “There’s no searching, looking or courting, Love. It’s you. I know it, and even without Mama’s approval, I chose you. Need you to know that. However, I also know that I’m your one because you did it because of me. You love me.”

  The man almost said it like it was a revelation that he just got.

  “Well, of course, I do.” I laughed.

  “My heart, soul, mind.” He whispered. “They’re all yours. Careful with it, Love.”

  I leaned up, kissed him on the mouth, and said, “I’ll guard it with all of me.”

  “You’ll get nothing less from me.” He confirmed and pulled me closer.

  It turned out to be a good day.

  That evening, I wrote an updated review of his mom’s restaurant. I shared my experience, the sense of feeling like family and how, just because of one bad experience, we, even as reviewers shouldn’t give places another chance.

  The next morning, as Noah was getting ready to take me to the Heathrow airport, he stopped at the door with his phone in his hand.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, since I was behind him and he was blocking the door.

  “You wrote a five-star review?” He murmured.

  “Huh?” I asked, completely forgetting about the night before.

  “When?” Noah slowly turned around with his eyebrows bunched together and glued to his phone.

  “What?” I asked again.

  “You,” he hesitated, then continued but this time with those green eyes on me. “You wrote a review of the service for mum and gave it five stars. You barely ever give any place, five-stars.”

  It all came back to me, which caused me to smile. “She made me feel like family. That’s what good customer service is about. Right. It makes you want to go back and experience it again. You’ll drive far, and fly over oceans to have a good experience again. I’m sure I’m biased, but people can be redeemed.”

  “Fuck, I bloody love you,” he blurted out before moving me back into the room with his mouth on mine.

  “Noah,” I managed to say, “We’re going to be late.”

  “It’s my private jet. He can bloody wait.”

  That’s what happened too, because he stripped me down and we made love right on the couch. Nice and slow.

  After coming back to the States, the business had been booming. Working with the top offices in the Philadelphia area, including surrounding states. ARC’s reputation had spread far and wide. The team grew, which meant I had to hire a Vice-President and an entire department that handled things like human resources, marketing, operations, and customer teams. Besides consultants, there weren’t many organizations like mine. Which meant, we were being used a lot.

  My dad and I met for lunch, when he set his appointment of course. He said he was feeling neglected because he saw me on the red carpet in France, saw all the news that ARC was getting, but between my traveling and work, he had missed his girl.

  “Dad, I missed you too.” I smiled, as he ate the side salad in our bistro boxes.

  “Nah, you haven’t. You’re so wrapped up in that Noah, you done forgot about your old man.” He shook his head. “It’s fine though. He’ll make a great son-in-law. I know he’ll help me reel you in.”

  I nearly choked on the shredded carrot at that comment.

  “Scuse me?” I asked.

  His head shot to me, and then he said, “You know, when y’all decide to go all the way.”

  “How do you know we’ll do that? Maybe, we’ll just be together forever and never married.” I replied but only for shock value.

  My father, with his dramatic self, crossed himself starting at the head, middle check, left chest, and then the right chest. One would think he was Catholic since he was signaling the standard way of symbolizing the Holy Trinity.

  “Really?” I exclaimed.

  “I’ma pray for you. Raised you t
o make things legal, didn’t I?” He peered up at me. “He rich and all, but that may not last. You want to have to pay a man for alimony?”

  Here was the practical man.

  “Yeah, well we haven’t really discussed all of this. And, Dad, I’m not trying to pay child support or alimony to anyone.” I added.

  “That’s my girl.” He nodded.

  We finished our meals, hugged, and set up a time to meet next week. Once I got back to the office, I had a meeting with my Director of Operations, where he shared with me that we had just met a major milestone. With all the new clients, we reached our goal of two-hundred, international and in over twenty-five states. This was a ten-year goal, and we’d met it in five years.

  “This calls for a celebration!” He said with excitement.

  A smile morphed on my face, and I knew the team had been working really hard. We did need to celebrate, and I wanted to show my appreciation. This year had been one of tremendous growth with some crazy idea that we would improve the customer experience around the world. One business at a time. They believed in my vision and signed on the line, but it didn’t stop there. These people put in the damn work.

  “Yeah, we need to celebrate.” I agreed. “Let’s take everyone out to a really nice restaurant, and we need to order some gifts for people too. Great idea, Isaiah.”

  “I’ll start setting it up and will create a work plan. Any idea where we should go?” He asked.

  “Nope, surprise me.” I nodded at him. “Good meeting and thank you.”

  “Thanks for this opportunity.” He smiled. “I’m glad I’m a part of this team.”

  I went home early and face-timed Noah in the car.

  “Love, I miss you.” He greeted me.

  “Miss you too.” I said with a smile. “Where are you? Please don’t say you’re still at work.”

  “Actually, I am out with Jacquez. He flipped the phone screen around, so I could see a smiling and handsome man.

  “Hey, Jacquez.” I waved at him through the screen.

  “Hey gorgeous,” He greeted me back. “Where’s that friend of yours? She talks all that shit, but I’m coming to collect.”

  “Yeah, I’m not in this one, Jacquez.” I shared but stupidly kept going. “However, just a fair warning. I’ve known Sheryl for years and to put it mildly. You ain’t built for that. My girl will chew you up for dinner.”

  One of his eyebrows rose with the challenge, and he hit Noah with the back of his hand.

  “Mate, you got to let her know. I’m from the Bronx, born and bred. I’m the epitome of starting from the bottom, now we here. I looked her up and she’s doing her thing, but you nor she should sleep on me.”

  Noah switched the screens back to me and said in an exaggerated tone, “Love, don’t sleep on him.”

  I laughed and clarified, “Jacquez, I’m not sleeping on you. What I’m saying, really has nothing to do with you and more about what I know about my friend. It’s just a fair warning. I know you get what you want, according to Noah, but I’m just saying, you may not get that.”

  “Copy.” He replied. “But I got this sweetheart.”

  “Mmmkay.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Noah, call me when you get home. I have some good news.”

  “Where are you headed right now?” He asked.

  “Going to stop at the shopping center, grab some things, and then head home.” I shared. “Maybe go for a walk. It feels like I rarely get out this time of day.”

  “Because you don’t.” He smiled. “Okay, Love. Talk to you soon. Don’t go to bed without me.”

  I laughed and nodded. He meant, don’t go to bed without us talking dirty to each other, so we could get off together. Damn, long-distance relationships.

  Jacquez’s conversation came back to me, and I wondered if I just didn’t like him for my friend or what. He seemed hell-bent on getting her, but it just seemed like a challenge. Then what?

  I guess I shouldn’t’ really care because she could take care of herself. She was still a friend though, so it was on my heart. However, it was also a friend of Noah’s, which meant that the likelihood of him screwing over my friend was slim to none. Specifically because Noah was also protective of the things that pertained to me. Sheryl was close to me and very instrumental in speeding things up with us. I told Noah that night about ARC’s milestone, and he was over the moon. He too agreed that we needed to celebrate. So when I told him that we were having a holiday party, he said, he’d come. He was sweet like that.

  The week of the party, Noah asked if I wanted to go back to the club again, and of course, I was down. It was becoming our own little secret outing that led to us having the space to be free, sexually. One, knowing Noah was open to these things was half the battle. Two, knowing that he not only encouraged but was an active participant. It wasn’t something he just let me do on my own. He remained protective, but he was attentive to what I wanted.

  As we walked through, we saw a couple in a room, but it was something familiar about them. The woman had long curly hair, medium build, and she was doing a reverse cowgirl on a man that was lying on the bed with his hands around the woman’s hips, slamming her down on him. He was a big guy, probably as big as Dwayne Johnson, but a nice color of toasted almond.

  Noah and I both paused to watch them because it was something different. Something intimate about how he possessed her even from the bottom. She was seemingly on top, but it was him that was calling every shot.

  The man growled as she slammed into him once more and begin to twine her hips around his dick. He then pushed her legs out in front of her, so she was sitting on him. They both stood and stayed connected. The woman, probably knowing exactly what her lover was going to do, bent all the way over, grabbed her ankles, and he began to fuck her thoroughly and completely. If it were not for his hold on her, she would have been flying by now. It was some hard fucking, but they were both enjoying every second of it, which meant, we were too.

  The man’s finger moved towards her ass as he spits to lubricate the crack of her ass. Then, he pushed his thumb inside of the tight channel.

  Damn, that looked so fucking good. I looked at Noah and whispered, “I want that tonight.”

  His eyes met mine and hissed, “Fuck, yesssss, Love.”

  As he pulled me into him, my back was on his chest. We moved on to see the other scenes playing out, which were different than the two times we came before. This time, we didn’t go sit in on a scene, but started our own. It was the lover’s cove, so Noah and I were to be intimate and whatever we wanted to use in the room, it was left to our discretion. It was explained by the manager that how some scenes are scheduled with people to act them out. Some have trainings and others are demonstrations.

  Halfway through our scene, Noah had me up against the wall, fucking my brains out as my three-inch heels rubbed up and down his back. My eyes shifted up and I realized that the seating area was nearly full. People had come.

  Holy shit.

  People had come.

  This took me completely out of the game. Noah must have sensed it because he stopped and whispered.

  “Just me and you, Love.” He face was in my neck. “Just me making love to my lady. Your cunt is so tight and juicy. I want you to come over my cock, so I can fuck this load in you. And you’re going to take it all. Right, naughty girl.”

  God, I loved this man. He knew I loved dirty talk, and if the people could get me out of my head when I was with him, then he could get me back in with that mouth. I heard the British had dirty mouths.

  “Right, honey!” I grabbed on tighter and began to enjoy my man, so they could see me come hard for him and only him.

  They could watch how he bit my nipples, twirled them with his tongue, and pulled them away from my body. They could see me drop to my knees and lick him clean after he came inside of me. The audience could see all of that because it was him and me. My pussy grew wetter simply thinking about being watched.

  “That’s my lady.�
� Noah bit my earlobe. “Cum for me, Love. Show them who owns this.”

  I wailed as he pierced inside of me repeatedly, causing me to combust all over him. My body was limp as all the life seemed to flow outside of me like a slow river of honey. Noah lifted me up, took me to the bed, and laid there as he whispered sweet little nothings in my ear. I’m certain I fell asleep, but I was back in my own bed when I woke up.

  *_*_*_*

  ARC’s Milestone Celebration

  The party was beyond the best celebration I had been to in a while. We hired a deejay, rented a section of the restaurant out, and decorated everything with ARC’s logo. Table clothes, cake, projections of the logo all around the dance floor area. Balloons were created to spell out A.R.C. The celebration committee had outdid themselves. I don’t remember signing off on all of the extravagant items, but it was a nice touch. Isiah had said some folks donated when we sent our newsletter out to let our constituents know that we had reached our milestone and would celebrate.

  Noah did come, but he kept himself busy with my dad, Gladys, and made his way around the room. After the department directors gave out individual awards, I presented awards for my leadership team and Gladys. I had a Superman shirt made, but it said Secretary of Steel. She began to tear up and gave me a death hug, which caused me to tear up too.

  I thought the awards were over, so I had instructed the deejay to continue with the music. He didn’t and that’s when Gladys took the mic and began to talk. I immediately began to shake my head.

  “No, no.” I called.

  She just kept going like I wasn’t talking.

  Damn.

  “So, our fearless leader just thought she was going to just give out awards and leave.” Everybody started booing, causing me to laugh. “Exactly! We ARC folks know better than that. So, boss lady, get up here.”

  I shook my head as Noah wrapped his arm around me.

  “They want to appreciate you, Love. Let them,” he whispered in my ear.

  I sighed and slowly walked to the front.

  “For her tireless work.” Gladys started. “Her early morning risings and late-night hours. For her constant encouragement. For that sexy man she’s with.” Everyone burst out laughing. “For her giving heart. For every acknowledgment of hard work and even for every chastisement when she wants us to do better. For every day off. For every smile. For every pay increase.” The group roared and started hooting and hollering. “For every good morning and the greatest thing about working for a tireless leader, is for every – see you tomorrow.”