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The elevator dings and its doors open into the penthouse suite. White marble floors, heavy wooden furniture, cream sectional. Beautiful paintings bring splashes of colors on the wall. Art pieces thrown around.
“Matt, this place is beautiful.” She looks around, taking in the elegant decor.
“Thank you, happy you like it. It’s my permanent penthouse in the hotel.”
I walk Zina to the couch and pull her onto my lap, my arms loosely wrapped around her body. Her full ass rests on me, making me very aware that this conversation needs to happen pronto. The side of one big tit pressed against my chest. Her hair tickling my face. Scent all over my nose. The taste of her still lingering on my lips. Fuck.
Zina cups my jaw, staring deep into my eyes and leans in to press a soft kiss to my mouth. “It’s okay, baby. We have all the time in the world. I’m not eighteen anymore. And I know who you are. I’m not letting you run this time.”
I blink, taken aback. “You… know who I am.”
She nods, her lovely face set in nothing but calm and confidence, and maybe a little teasing. “I asked about you that night. "
“Oh…”
“The stuff you said, that you were running an errand, was pretty telling, though.”
“Yeah. I guess it was.”
“I never-”
“I know,” I interrupt Zina. “I was young, dumb, paranoid… and maybe a bit scared of what I felt for you that night.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Many people have it out for my family, and I always need to be careful. But deep down, I knew you were not a mole or something. I guess I took the first excuse to run away from us.”
I watch her delicate throat work as she swallows hard. “Why? What was so bad about meeting me?”
I let out a disheartened laugh before framing Zina’s face with my huge hands and giving her everything with my eyes. Opening my heart and soul to her. “Everything about you, about us, was fucking perfect. I acted like a scared little boy who didn’t think he deserved that much beauty and fucked things up before it got snatched away from him.”
She nods, a single tear sliding down a smooth cheek. “You hurt me.”
“I know. And I’m so sorry, sweetheart. So fucking sorry.”
I pull her tightly against my chest, covering her face with kisses. “I never thought you’d forgive me. That’s why I stayed away. The way I treated you. The stuff, I said. Fuck, I wanted to rip my tongue out,” I end with a growl of frustration.
Zina pulls away a little, still in the circle of my arms. She wipes her face and gives me a hard stare I know results from a decade and a half of life’s experience. “I fucking fell for you the moment our eyes met Mateo Romano. I didn’t give a shit if you were involved in illegal stuff. All I wanted was a chance to get to know you. Open my life to you. Carve a space for us.”
“Fuck,” I grit out, wanting to punch my younger self in the face. “I’m sorry, baby. So fucking sorry.”
She nods, still staring at me like I’m in court, about to be sentenced. And that’s exactly how I feel. Like despite greeting me with wide open arms, now that she knows the stupid reasons I rejected her, maybe Zina won’t be so inclined to give me a chance.
“I forgive you.” Her words send my body into overdrive, and I rush to pull her back against me. Zina pushes me with her palms flat on my chest. “No. I’m not done.” I sit back, deflated. Maybe we were never meant to be. Maybe Zina Washington is the embodiment of everything I can never have. The divine punishment I get on earth before even meeting with My Maker. “We were both young, although… How old are you?”
I have no clue where she’s going with this, so I just follow her lead, croaking out, “forty.”
“Okay, so you were… twenty-five.” She adorably scrunches her round, little nose. “Yeah, men still have a lot of growing to do at that age.” She shakes her head and her eyes shine with a new emotion. “But the whole stupid thing about staying away is because you thought I wouldn’t forgive you. That I would judge you because you’re a Romano! The hell, nigga?” She pokes my chest with a hard finger and I just sit there staring at her with fascination, a small grin slowly forming on my lips.
I cup the back of her neck and pull her down, taking her mouth in a long, slow, deep, wet kiss, making her moan, whine, and wriggle her big ass against my hardening cock. Whatever gusto he may have lost while Zina scared the shit out of me, came right back up when she started going off.
“Uh-huh,” she mumbles, pulling off. “I’m not done. Don’t try to distract me, boy.” I chuckle. “I’m serious Matt.” She cups the side of my face, running the pad of her thumb over my short beard. “I fell for you that night. I gave you fucking everything, and you threw it all back at me. Fucking stomped on my heart and disappeared. Never even tried to find me. To make things right, to at least explain.”
I shake my head, filled with anguish. “I’m so sorry, Zina.”Fuck, even I am tired of hearing myself apologize.I clear my throat. “Never went back to that school. Put someone else on that route. And I’ve been fighting with myself to not reach out to you every single day of my life since that night. I have no fucking excuse, baby. Just the truth. It’s fucking sad all the time we lost, but I honestly thought you moved on. Maybe I hoped you did? Just another way to punish myself for the way I acted with you that night. Taking off like that. The stuff I called you. Fucking ruining your first time.”
Zina shakes her head, looking perfectly calm and composed. A fucking boss lady. I drop my head under the weight of regret, pain, and shame, lowering my gaze. Zina cups my chin and lifts my head. “Give me your eyes, big man. You have nothing to beat yourself about. I knew you were mine from the moment we met. You fucked up, you apologized, and you explained. Now it’s fucking done.” Her eyes are glimmering with determination. “You fucking take me to bed and fuck me stupid. Then you make sure you never fuck up this big ever again. That’s all I’m asking.”
The smile on my face grows as she’s talking, spreading so big that my cheeks hurt. My heart beats fast and I want to fucking devour this woman, shove a diamond the size of fucking Texas on her finger, give her all I have.
