I didn't respond right away. Just let her gratitude sit between us.
"I mean it," she continued, turning to look at me. "I didn’t expect none of this from you Kaseem. You not even this type of nigga.But the effort and thought you put into today for me, you’ve made me so damn happy.”
"Well then I’ve done my job. I know what type of man I was, and I also know who I wanna be for you. I grew up watching the hardest man in the world be soft for my moms and I never understood how he could be two totally different people, until I met you. I wanna be feared in the streets, and loved when I come home.” I said. “You’ve been making that shit easy.”
She was quiet for a moment, and then she asked me something that I wasn't expecting.
"What made you start being nice to me?" she asked, and there was genuine curiosity in her voice. "Because when we first met, you were mean as hell, Kaseem. Like, legitimately mean. And now you're... this."
I took a breath. This was one of those moments where I could lie or I could be real. I chose real.
"First thing you need to understand," I said, leaning against the railing next to her, "is I ain't no nice ass nigga. I got my guard up with everybody. All the time. That's how I survive in this world. You can't show weakness when you running an empire and dealing with the kind of people I deal with."
She didn't interrupt. Just listened.
"But I watched you," I continued. "From the jump, I started paying attention to the kind of person you actually were when you thought nobody was looking. You wasn't trying to play games. You wasn't trying to manipulate me. You was just... real. And honest. And you cared about people even when they didn't deserve it."
I turned to face her fully.
"Then that night happened. The night you waited up for me," I said, and I could see her remember it. "After you gave me that information on that nigga. You could have gone to bed. Could have said fuck it and let me handle my business alone. But you didn't. You stayed up because you wanted to make sure I was straight, that I made it home alive and in one piece. That I was good."
I paused, letting that sink in.
"That's when I knew I couldn't keep treating you the way I had been," I said. "Because you was showing me something I ain't never had before. You was showing me that you gave a fuck about me. Actually gave a fuck. Not about what I could do for you or how much money I got. Just about me."
Her eyes were getting glossy.
"The feelings I got around you," I continued, my voice dropping lower, "I ain't never felt them for nobody else. Not one time in my whole life. And that scared the shit out of me because I don't do feelings. I don't do vulnerability. But with you, I couldn't help it. You know how many bitches laid in my bed and ain’t get fucked? None! Any woman I ever laid down with, it was strictly about sex. All you wanted was to listen to a nigga heartbeat. I knew then, you were different.”
She reached over and grabbed my hand.
"I'm gonna be straight up with you because that's what you deserve," I said. "I ain't never gone this long without pussy. That's facts. But I let my hoes go. I cut them loose and I cut them off because I respect you. Because when I'm with you, I don'twant nothing or nobody else. So if that meant waiting, that’s just what I had to do.”
She didn't say anything for a moment. Just squeezed my hand tighter.
Then she turned to face me fully and her whole energy shifted. There was something in her eyes that I'd never seen before. Power. Confidence. Ownership.
"Well," she said, her voice dropping to something low and intentional, "you don't have to worry about needing anybody else for sex ever again. Because I'm gonna give you the best and the nastiest sex you could ever want. And I’m gone do that shit for the rest of your life."
I felt my eyebrows raise. I wasn't expecting that level of confidence from her. It was sexy as hell.
A slight smile spread across my face.
"Show me," I said simply.
She didn't hesitate. She grabbed my hand and pulled me back inside the suite. When the balcony doors closed behind us, it was like the rest of the world disappeared. There was just her and me and the promise she just made.
She started walking backward toward the bedroom, her eyes locked on mine the whole time. Her hands came up to her dress and she started undoing it slow. Deliberate. Making me watch every second of it. I stopped her in her tracks and I unzipped her dress for her.
When she let that dress fall to the floor, I realized that this woman standing in front of me wasn't scared anymore. Shewasn't unsure. She was claiming her space as my wife and she was about to show me exactly what that meant.
I walked toward her and for the first time in my life, I felt like somebody had complete control over me. And I was letting it happen.
I allowed Tatti to take my clothes off. I had already taken my jacket off. She unbuttoned my shirt and took her time with the buttons. She’d run her hand up and down my chest like she wanted to feel what was hers.
Then she made her way to my pants. Unbuckling my belt, then unfastening my pants. I stepped out of them. She got to my drawls, and got on her knees in front of me. She pulled them down and I stepped out of then too. I looked down at her while she was face to face with my dick. Admiring that muthafucka. I saw her damn near drool at the sight of my shit.
“Is it enough for you?” I asked her jokingly. Wanting to know if my shit was big enough for her. I knew that I was blessed, so I was really being sarcastic with the question. Her eyes grew wide. She swallowed hard before speaking.
