Shawn
It’s been forever since I was between her legs - almost there. Now I’m standing out here under the moonlight, while they take their night-shots.
“Any chance we’ll be done taking pictures before the wedding is over?” I gripe while loosening my tie, frustrated for so many reasons.
Lebron laughs as the photographer lowers the camera without directing us to our next pose.
“That’s it,” she bitterly snarks before putting her camera away.
“Finally,” I say, exasperated, while leaning against the pole of the canopy set up behind me.
Lebron turns to me as his fiancée, Erica, walks off to start talking privately with the annoying photographer. His eyes glance over to Bity, who is grinning ear-to-ear as he joins Chilli.
“So why is my brother rushing over to Chilli Ballinger when he’s supposed to be here with Beyoncé ? And how the hell did he ever land a chick like her to begin with?”
I knew he was Yonced
“Remember - you’re getting married,” I playfully quip.
“Ha,” he dully releases while bringing a drink to his lips. “I was just trying to figure out when my brother got game like that.”
Both of our eyes fall on the girl we’re whispering about when she walks out arm-in-arm with Viola . I haven’t seen her since earlier, and I’ll be damned if she doesn’t look even better.
Her small, tight, white skirt rises high, but not too high. The flowing fabric of her cleavage-showing red shirt whips in the oceanfront wind as she tosses her long, bronze hair away from her face.
Her sleek legs are still driving me crazy, leading up to that perfect ass which is displayed even better in that skirt. I grin when I see her shoes - dressy, half-boot style heels that cover up her new bandaging.
“You’re drooling,” Lebron snickers, and my jaw claps shut as I roll my eyes.
“She’s just… I don’t know. Has Bity ever told you about her before?”
He shrugs as his eyes return to the beauty now laughing, her head tossing back as someone in Viola 's crowd of old crows makes a joke.
“Yeah, but I sure as hell didn’t expect her to look like that. With the way he was still fawning over Chilli, I thought this girl must be hideous. Damn, was I ever wrong.”
“I’ll say,” I grumble under my breath when I’m unable to break my eyes away from her. “I need a stronger drink,” I add with a disgruntled tone, placing the empty beer bottle on the table next to me and heading toward the bar.
This place looks like something from Gatsby’s era. Everything is dressed in cascading folds of white and gold, and there are enough tables and chairs to accommodate hundreds, when we’ve only got a gathering of fifty or more.
My eyes are poised on the beautiful girl standing high on the patio stairs as she engages in idle conversation, never looking toward me. She can’t be that immune to me.
I don’t know how I missed it coming on, but I’m suddenly tipping forward as my shin slams into something hard. I flail my arms like an absolute idiot as I crash and splash into the concrete fountain, which is spewing a shower of sheer humiliation.
Fucking shit.
The cold water bites at me as the faces on the coins at the bottom of the fountain ridicule me with their smiles. I jerk my face free from the knee-high water that has managed to thoroughly drench me in front of the whole damn party.
As the laughter roars free, I play it off by taking a bow, and join in by laughing as well - though I’d rather find a place to hide for the rest of the weekend.
My eyes fall on the dark-haired, spellbinding beauty that sent me to my moment of defeat, and she lets her giggles free while shaking her head.
Great.
There goes everything else I had going for me. She’s fucking impossible, and I just need to move on before I lose every bit of my confidence - a feat I never thought possible before this night.
“Shawn, what’s wrong with you tonight, bro?” Lebron chuckles as I try wringing my shirt out.
My eyes glance back up at the girl who gives me a playful wink before returning to her previous conversation that was only briefly interrupted by my embarrassing flop.
“I wish I fucking knew,” I gripe under my breath while slipping off the drenched jacket. “Obviously, I need to go change now. See you when the fireworks start up.”
Lebron continues his taunting laughter as I head up the steps where my pretty little distraction is still engaged in meaningless conversation. Chilli runs up to me before I top the steps, a small giggle exuding from her throat.
“Shawn, what happened?”
I couldn't walk and gawk at the same time.
“A fountain jumped out in front of me. I gotta get changed.”
***
Beyoncé
It’s obvious Chilli has a bigger crush on Shawn than she does on Usher. For some odd reason, I feel a little pang of jealously as she flirts with him. He doesn’t seem to reciprocate, thankfully.
“Well, come find us for the fireworks,” Chilli says as Usher walks up behind her, his eyes narrowing at Shawn.
“Sure,” Shawn says as his eyes find mine.
I smile as I see the water still dripping heavily from him.
“Shawn Carter, you better not leak puddles all over my floors,” Viola playfully chimes in.
“I’ll strip down in the foyer, if you like,” he jokes, offering her a wink.
Viola laughs, shaking her head as she does so. I don’t mean to, but I blush. I’m hoping the night sky is enough to shadow my red tale.
He walks away, water trailing him to show all of his leaking humiliation, but I commend him for handling it with such grace. If I had crashed into a fountain in front of everyone, I would have gone home.
“So, dear,” Viola murmurs softly while tugging me away from her group of friends. “What do you think about Shawn?”
The daring devil in her eyes isn’t lost on me. I don’t know how, but she has seen the lust teeming inside me.
“I think he’s hot, but not really my type. Besides, I’m with Usher.”
She gives me a condescending glare accompanied by a knowing grin, before shaking her head.
“Puh-lease. You had me fooled for maybe ten minutes. Tops. It’s rather obvious now what my son was up to. That girl is never going to love him,” she sighs while glancing over at the duo. “She wants Shawn, but he’s not into her. She’ll never give up though.”
Can’t say I blame her.
It’s taking all my strength not to chase after him. I’m just smart enough to see a disastrous end without dealing with the heartbreak firsthand.
“Ah,” I murmur softly, trying not to squirm.
“If you ask me, I’d say Shawn is rather taken with you. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him act like such a fool because of a girl. I’ve certainly never seen him clumsy enough to fall into the fountain that's ten-feet wide with an eight-foot mermaid in the middle. It’s like he didn’t even see it.”
My laughter falls through my lips before I cover my mouth with my hand to muffle the roar. She joins me with a more ladylike giggle, and then we both look toward the house where Shawn has already disappeared inside.
I shiver a little as the nighttime ocean breeze reminds me I’m underdressed, and she rubs my arm with her hand.
“Go grab a blanket before the fireworks. It’ll only get chillier,” she prompts before turning back to her group of old croons.
I head toward the house, and smile when I see the several drips of water the maids are grumbling about as they dry the marble floor. Walking around them, I head up the stairs, trying to suppress my laughter as I stumble, feeling slightly tipsy.
The champagne here is so good - and strong. I should have slowed down sooner. Now these heels are wobbling beneath me.
A cracked door lets soft music cloak the hallway, and I follow the wonderful melody to find out whose room it belongs to. The violins in the background are almost sad, as the rest of the orchestra blares a dramatic burn that finds its way to my soul.
Wow.
I peek through to see the room belongs to Shawn, and my breath catches in my throat. Through the crack, I can see his perfectly chiseled upper body - each line of definition exquisitely mouthwatering.
Oh my damn.
His body glistens from the shower he has apparently taken to rid him of the fountain water. I want to go run my hands over his glorious ripples, feel his firmness against me, and press my lips to his perfectly modeled ones.
I watch as he pulls the dresser drawer open and pulls out a shirt. It slides over his dampened head and then covers his body - that I can’t seem to stop staring at - before resting just past the waistband of his dark jeans.
He walks out of sight, and I rock back and forth to see more through the crack in hopes of finding him again, when the door suddenly swings open and he almost runs over me.
“Oh,” he chuckles in surprise as my face beams red. “Hey.”
Way to get busted, stalker bitch.
“Um, hey. Sorry, I heard the music, and I was... curious?”
One eyebrow arches as he looks down to meet my eyes, his towering body no longer such a mystery. Now that I’ve seen his upper half, I want to see the rest.
“Come in,” he murmurs while grabbing my hand and tugging me.
Without any real thought process, I follow too willingly into the room where his bed stares me in the face.
“Um, I should… um… this is probably… I shouldn’t-”
His laughter interrupts my unintelligible ramble, and he shakes his head just as the first big boom rattles the sky. I look out to his balcony to see the first of the fireworks extraordinaire, and smile as the crackling embers sizzle and fade into the night sky.
“I didn’t want to watch them alone. My balcony has a great view, and since you’re already here, you can keep me company. I can avoid the giggling eyes of everyone who watched me splash in the Little Mermaid fountain this way.”
I let a laugh escape, and he grabs the bottle of chilled champagne from his bedside table before ushering me out onto the balcony. His room is way better than mine.
“And I thought the princess room was nice,” I murmur, feigning envy.
He snickers as the second boom erupts, and a vibrant green lights the sky before turning to white in a starburst pattern.
“This was my room growing up,” he says as we sit at the bistro table.
He scoots his chair over to where his body is dangerously close to mine, and then a loud pop rings out as he frees the champagne bottle of its cork.
“Sorry,” he says as the bubbles crackle over the rim. “I don’t have any glasses. I’ll run and grab some.”
“I’m not exactly high-class, so I can manage,” I say while taking it from him and bringing the bottle to my lips.
I smile as the fizzing bubbles gather inside my mouth before sliding down the back of my throat.
Mmm.
He smiles as if he likes my low-maintenance maneuver, and then he takes the bottle and shows his more relaxed and less formal self by mimicking me and turning the bottle up as well.
“So, you have your own room here?” I muse as our eyes turn to catch the next big, thunderous beauty enriching the starry sky over the ocean.
“Yeah. I practically lived with Viola from the time I was eight until I graduated, so I have a room in all her homes. Viola is the closest thing to a mother I've ever known.”
My heart breaks a little. Usher never mentioned that.
“Oh. What… um… never mind,” I ramble, realizing I shouldn’t ask such a personal question about his real mother.
“She left when I was a kid - my real mom - if that’s what you were going to ask. My dad did one thing my entire life that I really appreciated, and that was dating Viola . I remember praying they would get married and she really would be my mother. Although their relationship was brief, Viola made sure my dad let me come over. I ended up spending more time here than at home.”
Shallow Shawn is very hard to resist. Real Shawn... this is going to end badly for, but I'm going to enjoy the ride.
***
Shawn
I can’t believe I just told her that. What the hell am I thinking? I never talk about this shit. I swear I’ve lost the filter on my mouth around her.
“I’m surprised Usher never mentioned that to me,” she murmurs softly while staring directly into my eyes.
I could get lost in her stormy blues. I barely know her, but she's getting inside my damn head. How the hell do I get her out?
“Bity never appreciated his mother’s affections toward me. He was a jealous kid with a chip on his shoulder. I’m sure there’s a lot he hasn’t told you about his family.”
Like all the fucked up shit he’s done.
She half smiles, and then I see her shivering as the wind picks up.
“Cold?” I muse as more of the bursting beauties light up the sky.
“A little. I was on my way to my room to grab a blanket before the firework show, when I heard the music playing in your room.”
Is that really the only reason she lingered outside my room? I hate feeling all the damn uncertainty she causes. There are so many mixed signals. It’s making my head hurt. I feel like a fucking chick. I'm so going to lose my man card if she keeps messing with my head.
“I’ll be right back,” I murmur while jumping up and heading to the room.
I grab the tan, velvety blanket dressing the chair, and then I head back out to take my seat beside her, scooting even closer. I wrap the blanket around her, and then I risk throwing my arm around her shoulders and tucking her against my body.
I expect her to scoff and peel my arm off, but she doesn’t. Instead, she snuggles up against me as we sip the champagne straight from the bottle and stare up at the firework display in a comfortable silence.
I’ve never spent time with a girl in this way, and it’s surprising me how easy this all feels. I’m too comfortable around her, and I don’t know when to shut up. It’s as if I’ve lost all my game.
Author's notes::
Thanks so much for the reads and interactions on the first five chapters!
Hope you are enjoying this book 🤣🤣