Love Knows No Boundaries 3: Pandora's Box Read online

  “Neva dat, but this makes me feel like I want to. I love this lil’ girl. You just don’t know how much she changed me.”

  “I’ve seen your growth. You’ve come a long way from there to now.”

  “Nah, you don’t understand, Yah. She changing my mind and how I see things. Did I tell you I’m enrolling into Delgado for the spring semester? I’ma earn a business degree and do something other than chilling my life away.”

  “No, you didn’t. I’m so proud of you. That’s big.”

  “Yea, I never had reason to evaluate my life until she came along. All I can keep thinking about is the type of example I’m setting and how I want her to date the kind of man I’m becoming and not the one I was, so I have to boss up, ya know?” He kissed her forehead. “Love changes shit and I’m in love for the first time.”

  Samiyah placed a hand over her heart. “You’re gonna make me cry.”

  Elias faked a frown. “Don’t do that. You not cute when you do.”

  She pinched his arm. “You make me sick.”

  “But you love me, though.” He passed her the baby. “Hold her real quick. I gotta run out to my truck.”

  He left out and returned a minute later with a dozen red roses in one hand and a surprise for Peaches in the other.

  When Samiyah turned around to see him, she gasped. “Oh, no you didn’t.”

  “Happy Valentine’s Day.” He handed her the bouquet and took Peaches from her with his free arm.

  Tears cascaded down Samiyah’s face and he thumbed them away, kissing her on the forehead, gingerly.

  “This is beautiful,” she whispered.

  “Glad you like them.”

  “No, not the flowers. Well, yes, the flowers, but I’m talking about this thing that you’re doing for me is beautiful.”

  And she looked beautiful to him. It wasn’t her attire. It was the tenderness she often wore. Her femininity was undeniable sucking him in, more and more.

  There goes those sparks again, he thought.

  Elias had to move away and focus back on his baby boo. He brought his hand from behind his back and handed Peaches a single pink rose. “And a Happy Valentine’s Day to you, baby girl.”

  Peaches went to put the plush petals in her mouth but he stopped her. She tried to do it again but was blocked, so she ended up swapping it from side to side.

  Elias chuckled at her and then looked over at an emotional Samiyah. “Go ‘head on upstairs, shower and put on something nice. I got plans for us.”

  Samiyah looked at the time on the wall clock. It was nearing six o’clock.

  “I thought you had dinner plans with Blu for seven?”

  “Had is the operative word. I ain’t foolin’ with her right nah. Maybe tomorrow, maybe.”

  “Did you cancel your date because y’all are still bumping heads over me?”

  “Yea, kinda sorta, but I’ma 7th ward hardhead, she won’t win.”

  “Maybe she should sometimes. Today is a big day for lovers and I, after all, am only your friend.”

  “Well, tonight you special. I’ll deal with Blu later. You just go get dolled up. And I’ma get Peaches straight. Can you do that without saying anything else about her?”

  She thought about it for a second. “Yea, I can do that.”

  Samiyah headed upstairs while Eli held onto Peaches, grabbing the bags he left in the center of the floor and bringing them in the kitchen.

  ***

  An hour later…

  When Samiyah came downstairs, she was greeted by the smell of something savory.

  Elias had his back to Samiyah, taking usies of him and Peaches twinning. He had wiped her down and changed her into a red and white polka dot dress with a matching bottom to cover her bottom.

  “Maybe I should have worn red and white, too, “Samiyah said as she made her presence known.

  Elias turned around and was in awe. “Give me a 360°, ya heard me.”

  She did a little spin for him, showing her oval belly, hips and curves through her maxi dress.

  “You think I can get in on a picture?” Samiyah wanted to share a frame with them.

  “Wait. Lemme ask my girl. She might get jealous ‘cause you wearing that dress.” He shoo shoo’d to Peaches and then invited Samiyah over. “She ain’t trippin’, my girl said she ain’t a hater.”

  “She better not me be.” Samiyah clowned as she stood on the side of their daughter, while he snapped two shots of them.

  Elias smelled the aroma of his dinner and remembered he had to check the oven. “Take her.” He passed her to Samiyah and jetted to the kitchen.

  Samiyah followed him and stopped at the doorway. “What you making this time?”

  “Something I saw on Food Network. Stuffed Cornish hens, wild rice and baked asparagus. I hope it taste good.”

  “I’m sure it will be. Your other dishes have been on point.”

  “Shocking shit, huh? Turns out ya boy can cook more than El Tacos for dinner.”

  Elias discovered he had a passion to create over the stove when he found himself making sure Samiyah was eating more than peanut butter sandwiches. Not everything he put together was magic in a pan but he was progressively obtaining chef status.

  Samiyah sucked in her breath, making a hissing sound. “Don’t mean to dip out on you but I need to get off of my feet.”

  “A’ight. I’ll be in there to get lil’ one in a sec.” He stirred his rice as Samiyah retreated into the living room.

  An hour and a half later, Eli had finished feeding Peaches as she sat in a high chair next to him, while Samiyah watched on unable to take another bite.

  “I got something for you.”

  “I can’t. I’ll explode.” She rubbed her stomach.

  “Nah, it ain’t food. Look under your seat.”

  “My seat?” She leaned over to the side and looked down, pulling a bag from underneath herself. “When did you put this here?”

  “Don’t worry about that. Just peek inside.”

  She pulled out a card and two boxes. She went to open the envelope but he asked that she do that afterwards. So she obliged and opened box number one.

  It was a gold bracelet with Peaches engraved on the nameplate.

  “Awww, this is too adorable. Look, maw maw, daddy got you your first piece of jewelry. She walked over to her and clamped it around her wrist. It fit perfectly.

  “Now open the second one.”

  Samiyah headed back to her seat and sat down. She opened it wondering if there were earrings for Peaches in them but then a smile stretched across her face as she stared down at a locket heart necklace that was clearly for her. “This is so pretty.”

  “Check out the inside.” He further instructed.

  She opened the heart and saw a newborn picture of both her and Peaches, one on each side.

  “Oh, my God. Eli, this is so beautiful. Oh, my God.” She fanned her eyes to hold back her tears as she then read the card.

  It read: There’s not a gift in the world I can buy you that will amount to the gift you’ve already given me in Peaches. You’re loved by me.

  She placed the card on the table and cupped her mouth and nose as she cried tears of happiness. His words came at a time when she couldn’t be feeling more unloved by her husband. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Say nothing, ya heard me.” He stood up and walked over to her. “Let me put your necklace on.”

  She grabbed her long locs and lifted them off of her neck as he snapped the latch, connecting her necklace.

  Samiyah stood up and hugged him, looking into his eye. “Thank you.”

  He hugged her back, with one hand resting on the small of her back and the other gently stroking her up and then down. They held each other’s stare and then suddenly they found themselves entwined in a kiss.

  It had been a long time since he felt her lips but he remembered its softness as if he’d just felt them last night. She felt too good to let go of, so he questioned why he was tryin
g.

  She held his face and steadied their tongue connection. It was in the strength of her touch that Eli knew he had to make love to her again.

  Still engaged in a heated kiss, Eli began walking her over to the sofa but one little person reminded them that she was in the room.

  “Da da da da da da da,” Peaches began talking in different octaves nonstop, causing Samiyah to break their enchantment.

  Elias looked over at Peaches and then back to Samiyah. “I’ll put her to sleep.”

  “No, you shouldn’t. We shouldn’t.”

  “Yah, tell me that didn’t feel right to you.”

  “Oh, I felt it. We make fire together, E, but there’s a problem about that happening. You’re not mine, you’re hers and I’m—I’m still married.”

  “All of that shit can change if you just say the word. You’re still my best friend and having Peaches makes us family, so why don’t we just do this? Gerran don’t look to be coming around and Blu, I love her but she ain’t you.”

  Samiyah was touched. She had a very sexy man standing before her confessing his desires to be with her. She knew they would be happy too. In all the years they had been friends, they hadn’t had one bad day.

  But she couldn’t give in.

  “You’re right. She’s Blu. Patient, understanding and dedicated. Can you imagine how hard our relationship must be on her? You’re conflicted because we have an amazing story but you have an even better one with her.”

  “So you’re saying you never thought about us being together and saying fuck the world?”

  “I’ve thought about it and I still do but I’m not who you need. I have a complicated marriage and his baby on the way. It’s not like before, E. We can’t just throw caution to wind and you shouldn’t want to.” She looked at the time again. “It’s ten o’clock. Go to Blu and apologize for whatever made you give me this wonderful night and not her.” She took a deep breath and continued. “I will always be here but she won’t, not if you keep treating her like she comes second.”

  “Well, damn, I don’t know what to say behind that.”

  “Say nothing. Just make it right while you still can.”

  Elias bobbed his head. He was disappointed but he was just going to roll with the punches. Maybe she was right or maybe she was wrong, but he wasn’t going to wrestle with it tonight. He was going to allow time to dictate who he belonged with.

  “I’m gonna lay Peaches down and then I’ll be out, a’ight?”

  “She’ll like that.”

  Eli picked up his big girl and walked past Samiyah to head upstairs but turned around when she called out to him.

  “E, one more thing. You love Blu for a reason, so stop diluting it by comparing her to me. You may find out some pretty remarkable things.”

  Eli wasn’t sure why Samiyah was campaigning for Blu but he wasn’t mad at her. His girl was a gem and he knew there was no way to give two women the same benefits. But years of repressing his feelings toward Samiyah wasn’t just going to go away.

  “A’ight.” He nodded his head and continued up the steps.

  Elias walked into Peaches’ room, changed her diaper and wiped off her face and hands with a wet wipe she tried sucking when it brushed past her mouth.

  He was about to lay her in her crib and tell her good night but then a thought came to him.

  “You know what we didn’t do? We didn’t dance. And you can’t have a date without a dance. Daddy trippin’.”

  Eli scrolled through the music in his phone and came across the perfect song. He picked her up out of her crib and held her up to his face.

  “Peaches, may I have this dance?”

  She drooled a long line of spittle as she responded in baby gibberish, which he translated to mean yes.

  He wiped her slobber mouth with his fingers and then onto his jeans. Now his belle was all set for the ball. With the volume at a moderate level, Elias allowed Jamie Foxx to serenade Heaven to his peach as he began a gentle rock with her cradled in his arms.

  Tell me have you heard the story/That took place not long ago/Bout an angel up in heaven/They say she up and ran away from home/Word is she had unfinished business/So back on earth she had to flee/Well you know I’m so elated/Because she’s laying right here next to me…

  Samiyah walked upstairs to head to her room but was drawn to Lil’ Acacia’s when she heard music. She stood at the door and saw the most precious thing unfold before her eyes. She watched Eli sway to the melody with his eyes closed, holding her snuggly against his chest. So protectively. So delicately.

  Then she heard him say, “No matter who’s on my arm, you’ll always be the one in my heart.”

  Chapter 25

  The next day…

  It had been weeks since the incident with Bonita occurred and although G’Corey hadn’t popped up and proved his connection to it, Yuriah still couldn’t shake the fact that he was behind it.

  As a result of his suspicions, he amped up security around his home and had Minnie shadowed everywhere she went without him, just to be careful.

  It annoyed him how G’Corey eluded his search efforts. But what Yuriah knew was in time, he was going to catch him slipping. The question wasn’t if, only when.

  So until he crossed that bridge, he went about his day with as much normalcy as possible to keep Minnie’s mental unaffected even though he couldn’t have true peace until G’Corey was resting in his.

  Minnie yawned and stretched as she awoke from her sleep. She looked over to her left only to see the usual empty space on his side of the bed. Yuriah never slept past 4:30 in the morning.

  She got up from her comfy lay and went to the place she knew he’d be, his office. She stood at the opened door and knocked on the frame of it. “Good morning, handsome. Can I come bother you?”

  He swiveled his chair away from the desk. “I wouldn’t call what you do bothering me but you can come sit on my lap and be a welcomed distraction.”

  Minnie blushed as she sashayed over to him, taking her seat. She felt him rise almost immediately. “Don’t you ever get enough?” She spoke of his growing erection.

  “I can never get enough, ya heard me.” He hugged her around her waist and kissed the center of her back before he scooted them over in front of his computer’s screen.

  “What are you typing up?”

  “I was just sending out an email to my team, letting them know that I’ll be in to have a mandatory meeting with them for noon.”

  “Is everything okay?

  “Oh, yea. I just need to show my face so no one gets too comfortable with me being away like I have been. What about you? How you spending your day?”

  “I’m going to spend time with Yah and the baby but I will run a few errand before doing that.”

  “How long you plan to be?”

  “I’m not sure. Why? You have something you want us to do?”

  “Always but there’s no rush with you and yo peoples. Just be ready for me to whine and dine you when you get back.” He squeezed her tightly and started whimpering to mock the sounds she would make anytime he went down on her.

  She burst out laughing. “I do not sound like that.”

  “Oh, yes the hell you do. You be like, Ha! Ha! Wait a minute, baby. Oooh, hold up, baby. Right there, baby. Yes, baby!”

  “Get off me.” She tried loosening his grip around her but couldn’t.

  “You know you like that.” He let her go but she didn’t get up off of him.

  She twisted her body to face him. “I do but you don’t have to tease me, though. I can’t help but make those sounds. You working with voodoo here and here.” Minnie pointed to his mouth and then his pleasure tool.

  Yuriah one hand typed another sentence in the email before he pressed the send button, tapping Minnie on the butt for her to stand up Once they were both on their feet, he spun her around and picked her up.

  “Yuriiii! She giggled, wrapping her thick thighs around his trimmed waist. “What are you doing?
”

  His meeting wasn’t for another three hours, so he had time to kill. He licked his lips. “I’m not putting it off for later when I can handle that right now.”

  She clamped her arms around his neck and showed her excitement through her laughter as he began walking her through the house and into their bedroom.

  Two and a half hours later…

  They were both showered, dressed and ready to go. They stood on their porch and kissed before they departed.

  “I’ll call you when I make it over to Yah’s, okay?”

  “A’ight. Enjoy yourself.”

  She got into her car and blew him a kiss through the windshield. He caught it and held it tightly.

  Yuriah watched her slowly pull off, wearing a smile that turned flat when he looked over to his right. He then nodded his head upward to his dude to take off behind his wife, remaining low-key so she wouldn’t know he was having her followed.

  After Yuriah got into his truck to head off to work, off in the distance, G’Corey was lowering his binoculars.

  He was so angry he wanted to wait for Yuriah to return on his doorstep and off him before he had a chance to walk inside, repainting his house with Yuriah’s blood. But he had to think with his head and not his trigger finger. He couldn’t run the risk of Minnie fearing him more so than she probably did already. So Yuriah was safe, for now.

  “Aaahhhh!” He released his frustrations at a moderate volume as to not draw attention to himself. It was already odd enough that he was perched in a tree conducting his stakeout. He didn’t need to be discovered doing it.

  G’Corey dropped his head. He couldn’t believe the lengths he’d gone through and the ones he was preparing to weather just to get her back, but she was worth it. And he was willing to use super human levels of patience to not fuck up his happily ever afters this time. He was aware it was going to take time to body three men without looking like the bad guy and being her man once again.

  ***

  After picking up some groceries for Samiyah’s house, she realized she forgot something. So she decided to stop at Family Dollar to avoid the long lines at Winn Dixie.