No More Games

1

"See y'all later!" Kennedy exclaimed.

Michael and I entered the house and I closed the sliding door behind me.

"Babe, who was that on the phone? Why am I going with you?" I frowned.

"That was a friend of mine." He said with a smile and kissed my hand. "I set up something for us to do tonight. We haven't really had some good quality time together since school opened and since I've been working on the album."

It's true we haven't really had any alone time since school opened and I went back to teach. Whenever I'd be free, he'd be in the studio or dealing with his business affairs. The only time we were together is when we were around our families and when he stays a few nights at my house.

I looked at him suspiciously and smiled. "Aww, we're going on a date?"

"Something like that." He said glowingly. "Let's go."

**

Michael drove us to this warehouse near Universal Studios. Right when we got out of the car, he blindfolded me before leading me into the warehouse. Once we got inside, the smell was so distinct to me; much the same as an art room.

Michael kissed my cheek and releases my hand. "You ready?"

I grinned, having little idea of what we might be doing. "Yes, baby I'm ready."

Michael untied the blindfold and I'm revealed of a warehouse filled with all types of arts and crafts everywhere. Spray cans, pottery wheels, lots and lots of paint and large sheets of blank white cloths in various areas of the warehouse.

I smiled like a little girl in a candy shop. "Michael, baby, what is this?"

He laughed, "Do you remember a while back when you mentioned to me how much you used to enjoy painting as a kid and your dad would take you and Lauren to paint and make pottery? "

I almost teared up as the fond memories rolled through my mind. Before Shad and Trevor were born, Lauren and I would always spend quality time with dad. He would bring us to this empty warehouse a friend of his owned and we would paint and make pottery together. We would have so much fun and bring our creations back home to mom who was pregnant with Shad at the time.

I can't believe Michael remembered the story.

This is so sweet.

"Baby," I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, "I love you so much. This is so sweet. Thank you so much for this." I pulled away and kissed him.

"Anything for you babe. You deserve it and so much more." He said with certainty.

"So, the person who called you at the house helped you set this up, huh?" I asked and he shook his head yes.

"My friend, Bill Meyer, he let me borrow this place for the night. He lives about an hour from here and I told him once he was getting ready to leave his office at Universal, if he could unlock his warehouse and call me once he did so. I set up everything in here yesterday." He smiled proudly.

"Thank you, baby." I kissed him once more.

Michael and I started the night off with music blasting and us painting a portrait together. He's a perfectionist at everything he does so you already know he was having fun but taking this super seriously.

We laughed and talked for hours, not keeping track of time whatsoever. After realizing that it was pushing towards 11:00 p.m, we decided it was time to wrap it up and clean up before leaving.

"Baby, can you push that box to that corner over there?" Michael asked as we're organizing the mess we made.

I pushed the box to the corner like he asked but I couldn't help but watch how sexy he looked cleaning and organizing and making sure everything was perfect to his liking. He saw me admiring him from afar and he smiled, giving me a sexy wink.

I swear I'm in love with him.

"Babe, come here." He called me over as he sat on one of the crates behind him.

I walked over to him and couldn't help but blush from how he was looking at me. "Yes, love?" He motioned for me to sit on his lap and I did just that. "What?" I tucked a curl behind his ear while gazing into his beautiful brown eyes.

"When are you moving back in with me?" He said wistfully and I sighed, bringing my head down to avoid eye contact. "Baby," he pulled my chin up to look into my eyes. "I don't blame you for leaving after what I did but I've proven myself time and time again to you. You should come back now."

"Michael, I know you've proven yourself but I told you when I'm ready I'll move back in with you." I was peeved by the conversation.

"C'mon Sash, it's been a year and—"

"And through that year and few months, have we been good enough to live together?" Michael sucked his teeth and hung his head down. "Exactly, Michael. It's not till recently we've been on a very smooth track. Let's continue on this path and I promise after the tour, I'll move back in with you."

Michael's face glowed with joy. "You serious?" I playfully rolled my eyes and shook my head yes. He hugged me and kissed my lips. "Thank you, baby."

"Now, that all depends on how you act these two months." I stated, raising a brow at him. "Play games and I will never move back into that mansion of yours."

"I got you." He smiled biting his bottom lip while playfully squeezing my thigh. "I won't be playing any games. Especially for how short this tour is, I won't have time to play games, babe."

I kissed his lips. "Good," I got up from his lap, "cause you're going to be stuck with my ass all around Europe for two months so you have no choice."

He laughed, "I'm glad you're coming, Sash. I'm surprised the school gave you the green light to take the rest of the school year off though."

"It wasn't much of a problem because they quickly found a substitute. So, they're good." I said before yawning. "Babe, we should get going. It's late."

He got up and as soon as he's about to speak, we both stopped and lit with happiness when our song started playing from the radio we turned on earlier.

"Sweet Love" by Anita Baker.

The very first night when Michael invited me to his home, this song was playing through his intercom system where you could hear it throughout the whole house. It was such a sweet moment because as soon as I walked in and heard it, I told him how much I loved that song and he said he loved it just as much. He asked me to dance with him for the remainder of the song and I agreed to. After that dance, I felt so much more comfortable being in his house with him alone.

"This is our song, baby." Michael cooed and pulled me to his body. "We can't leave without dancing to this song."

I giggled at his cuteness as I swung my arms around his neck and rested my head upon his chest. "This is so perfect right now."

Michael gently rested his chin on top of my head as we swayed to the song. "I love how much we've improved, babe. You mean so much to me."

I smiled against his chest, enjoying every moment of his presence. His scent, his heartbeat, and his love. "I love you so much, Michael."

Michael pulled away just enough for me to look up at him. He kissed my lips and said, "I love you too."

I can stay in this moment forever.

I'm just so happy with how much my baby and I have improved in our relationship. I'm starting to gain all my trust in him again and I highly doubt he'll make the same mistakes again. Each and every day, it's like we're learning new things about each other. Even with how crazy his life is, we manage to keep our relationship from the public eye and we find ways to communicate better when he's not around as often. Now, when I say we keep our relationship under wraps, I don't mean there aren't a few pics and stories circulating out there about Michael and his "Mystery girlfriend." We both make sure that only the people close to us know about our exclusiveness and that they don't speak of our relationship with the press.

I love this man so much, and if that means for me to give up singing so that our relationship could last, I will in a heartbeat. I know if I were to get into this business, the snakes within it would do everything to break us up. I really would rather live a normal life and know I have Michael to share it with than to get into a life of hoopla where our relationship with one another would deteriorate.