Suitors & Sweethearts

Chapter 12

FIVE

“I’m already addicted to you.”

Lara didn’t know what got into her whenever she was around this man, but her mouth just went loose and spouted whatever was in her mind.

Perhaps it was because she knew instinctively that he felt something similar.

The truth remained that she didn’t think she could live without him. The past few weeks had been a ton of misery for her. She’d been honest when she’d said she couldn’t sleep or study. Even eating had become a chore forced upon her by Judy, who was getting more worried by the day.

“And I could get so easily hooked on you,” he said and kissed her with an intensity that blew her mind.

She writhed in his arms as his hands stroked her body. Then his hand was palming her breast through her b*a and tweaking her n****e through the fabric. An arc of sensation ran from her breast down to between her legs. She moaned as her body arched. What was he doing to her? She felt like she was burning up. She’d never felt like this before.

He trailed his lips down her neck. Then, he was tugging her top strap down her arm, exposing her black b*a.

He looked up and met her gaze. His eyes were so dark and intense, her breath caught in her throat.

“I’m going to suck your breast. Would you like that?”

He didn’t need to ask her. She was happy to hand over her body to him. She nodded as her tongue seemed to be suddenly heavy in her mouth.

He tugged her b*a down, pushing up the plump tissue of her left breast. His head lowered and his mouth covered the top flesh which he sucked in.

She moaned long and loud and arched her back and clutched at his shoulders. His tongue flicked over her n****e, l*****g and teasing while his hand slid down her belly to cup between her thighs. He stroked up and down the seam of her jeans and liquid heat converged in her panties. Just that simple stroke and she wanted to take all her clothes off and have him touch wherever he wanted.

He lifted his head. “Open your jeans. Let me touch you, please.”

Something squeezed at her heart. She hadn’t hidden the fact that she wanted him. Somebody else would take advantage. Malcolm had wanted to jump right in without permission. Even going as far as claiming that he had.

Instead, this man was still asking her permission to do what she’d already offered him. How could she not love him even more? With fingers that barely functioned, she fiddled with her zip and buttons until it lay open.

“Lift your bum.”

She did, and he pulled the denim down to her ankles. He reached down and stroked her through her white cotton panties. She rocked her hips, wanting more. He rubbed her again.

“Do you like me touching you?” he asked, his voice rough.

“Yes,” she replied as she breathed fast.

“How does it make you feel?”

“I feel good. So good.” She couldn’t describe the sensation fully. It was all so new. So foreign. Her body was burning up. Her breaths came in pants, as if she couldn’t get enough air into her lungs. “I...I...”

“Do you want to come?”

He watched her even as he kept touching her, as if assessing her response to him.

“Yes! I want to...come,” she breathed out. She’d never had an o****m before.

“I can do that for you. Just tell me one thing.” He kept caressing, up and down, teasing her, driving her insane. “Are you my girl?”

“Yes.”

Stroke, up and down. Need flowed through her veins. She trashed about from left to right.

“You can’t let any of those boys in school touch you. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Then, you’re my girl,” he said as he pressed down on the bundle of nerves hidden by her underwear.

Fever spread out from her s*x down to her toes and up to her head. She keened and he kissed her then as she trashed about, succumbing to her first ever o****m.

He held her until her body calmed and she became aware of her surroundings again. Then he pulled her jeans back up. She was a little too exhausted to protest or ask why he wasn’t removing it totally. She knew what should come next, him taking his clothes off and filling her up.

But he seemed to be doing the opposite. He tidied up her top and b*a, too, so she was looking composed again.

“My name is Ike, short for Ikenna.”

Warmth spread across her chest that he’d told her. Still addressing him as Mr. Thomas would’ve been weird considering what just happened. Now, she felt as if he’d granted her access into his life and they were finally on the same footing. “You have such a great name.”

“Thank you.” He smiled at her but it wasn’t a cocky, self-important grin. No, one side of his face dipped, as if he were saddened.

Her heart thudded. Had she said the wrong thing? She frowned and turned away.

“Omalicham.” He cupped her face and turned her to face him. “Why is my girl frowning?”

Omalicham“Why did you call me that?” she asked.

“Because you are my beautiful girl. I got sunshine on a cloudy day. When it’s cold outside, I got the month of May. I guess you’d say, what can make you feel this way. My girl, talking about my girl. You remind me of an old song from The Temptations.”

“Really?” She couldn’t help the massive smile on her face.

“Really.” He leaned down and brushed their lips together. “So why was my girl frowning?”

“I thought I said something or did something wrong. You were smiling sadly.”

“I’m happy and sad.”

She opened her mouth to talk but he placed his finger on her lips.

“You have such beautiful innocence and at the same time, you are bold and strong,” he said. “Everything about you calls to me to claim you as mine. But at the same time, I’m worried about spoiling you when there are so many things unclear.”

“But being with you feels right.”

“It does. I enjoy your company and not seeing you the past few weeks hasn’t been easy. I don’t know. There’s a part of me that feels this could end badly. I don’t want to hurt you.”

She didn’t know what else to say and just leaned her head against his chest.

He scooped her closer and wrapped his hands around her. She listened to the strong thudding of his heart. His skin was warm and firm. In his arms, she felt safe, the worries of the past weeks wiped away, the peace of mind she’d lacked since the death of her parents now restored, perhaps temporarily.

He kissed the top of her head before leaning back. “By the way, how come you’re not in school today?”

She looked up at him. “We don’t have classes any more, just study periods for revision.”

He glanced up at the wall clock. “So you’re supposed to be studying right now?”

She nodded.

“And you’re here? That’s bad, Lara. I can’t allow you to miss out on your study time.”

“I can study later.”

“No, you can’t.” He stood up. “Do you have any books in your bag?”

“Yes,” she replied tentatively.

“Then go and sit at the table and do your work.”

“Really? What about making love?”

“Not for you right now. Study first, s*x later.” He smiled and winked at her. “I’m going to cook lunch.”

She grabbed her bag and walked over to the small dining table at the other end of the living room. “You’re cooking?”

“Yeah. If I don’t cook, I starve. Simple.”

She chuckled as he walked away.

She took out her text book and study notes and managed to get into it within a few minutes. The subject she’d been struggling to absorb managed to sink in this time. Perhaps it was because her mind was more settled.

An hour later, the aromatic smell of whatever he was cooking had her stomach growling. She looked up from her books to find him leaning against the door post.

“How long have you been standing there?” she asked as she leaned against the back of the chair.

“A few minutes.” He straightened up. “I enjoy watching you study. You have such an intensity that is mesmerising to see when your focus is on whatever you’re reading.”

She lowered her gaze. Her cheeks heated up.

He pulled out a chair next to her. “I’ve learned so much from you.”

“You have?”

“Yes. I wished I was as studious as you when I was your age. I wouldn’t have gotten into as much trouble as I did.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“In those days, I was more interested in being popular and getting the girls than I was in studying. When it was time for my exams, my parents had to pay for a private tutor and I had to work doubly hard because they banned me from socialising until after my exams. It was a pain to have to study so hard in a short period of time. To be honest, it was sheer good fortune that I passed my exams.”

“But you did well in your exams.”

“Not as well as I could have if I’d focused all through the year. It’s why I spend so much effort making sure each student understands the subject. I don’t want any of them to struggle when it’s time for exams.”

She reached across and covered his hand on the table. “When I started this year, Geography was my least favourite elective. But I can tell you now, it’s the subject I worry about the least. I could walk into the exam hall tomorrow and I’m sure I’ll be fine. You laid a great foundation for all of us. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He settled his hand on her nape and pulled her in for a kiss.

She got lost in it, savouring his taste and his scent and the sensations he evoked within her body. She really couldn’t wait to get more physical with him again.

“Now, for some food,” he said when he broke away. “You can pack away the books for now and set the table.”

“Okay.” She piled her books together and moved them to the floor beside her bag in the corner. Then she went in search of Ike. A smile curled her lips thinking of him as Ike and not Mr. Thomas.

The kitchen was at the end of the short hallway. It wasn’t a massive room, the maple-finished units set up in an L-shape along the wall with a black worktop. A sink sat under the window overlooking the rooftops of the other houses in the neighbourhood. His apartment was on the third floor of the building.

Ike stood by the cooker, stirring something in a pot. He pointed to a drawer. “The cutleries and place mats are over there.”

She took out the items and set places for the two of them. He came out carrying two plates of boiled yam, egg stew with shredded cabbage and carrot coleslaw.

“What would you like to drink? There are drinks in the fridge. Just take whatever you want.”

“Okay.” She returned to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Fanta and found some glasses.

The square table had room for four. They both sat next to each other rather than opposite, which was how she’d set it up. She didn’t want to be too far from him. She poured half the drink for him and half for her. She took a bite of the food and had to comment on how nice it was.

“You cook very well.”

“My mother had two boys first before she had a girl. And she’s always worked as long as I could remember. She and my father built the businesses together. Although we had house maids, she always made it clear to us that we needed to learn how to do chores for ourselves. My brother and I would help out in the kitchen with preparing the meals during the weekends. By the time we left home for university, we’d learnt how to cook most meals we ate at home.”

“That’s impressive. I’m not sure I can cook most things well, but I can cook the basics like rice and stew, egusi soup, yam, beans.”

“That’s a good start. You’ll need the skill when you go to university, otherwise all your money will go on mamaput.”

They both laughed and carried on eating.

“So you have a sister?”

“Yes, my baby sis, Ify. She’s in Lagos with my parents. She’s at IBS in Lekki.”

“Wow. That’s my old school. What year is she in? Perhaps I know her.”

“She’s in year 10.”

“That’s Lola’s year. I’m sure Lola knows her. It’s a small world, isn’t it?”

“It sure is.”

Lara stood up and packed up the empty dishes. She put them in the sink and started running the tap to wash up.

Ike came up behind her. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I should. You cooked the meal. It’s only fair that I wash up afterwards.”

“Okay.”

As she washed and rinsed, he dried the plates with the kitchen towel and put them back into the cupboard. When she finished and dried her hands, he covered her back with his body and kissed her neck.

She moaned softly and instinctively tilted her head, giving him more access. Her body warmed up as if he’d lit a fire within her. He kissed her one last time and lifted his head.

Sighing, she turned around. She really couldn’t wait any more.

“You said after I finish studying we could...you know...”

He stepped back. “About that, I’ve been thinking. Come with me.”

He took her hand. Heart pounding, she followed him, thinking they were headed for his bedroom. Instead, he took her back into the living room.

“So I’ve been thinking that I may have a solution that wouldn’t make me feel so bad for wanting you. We’re going to wait until after your exams. That way, you can concentrate on studying without distractions.”

“What? No!” Shaking her head, she crossed her arms across her chest. She’d been waiting for what seemed like forever to get this far with him. First, he’d denied wanting her. Then he’d confessed the intensity of his feelings. Now, he wanted to postpone having s*x?

“Think of it this way, it’ll be our way of celebrating completing your finals and leaving high school.”

“No.” She squeezed her face and shook her head again. She couldn’t wait to feel the delicious sensations of o****m. Remembering what he’d done to her made heat flash on her skin and her panties slick. He couldn’t just tease her and then tell her she had to wait.

“Think about it. It’ll be so much fun because we both waited, and a double celebration.”

She sighed heavily. When he put it like that, then it made sense. Would it be so bad to wait a couple of weeks? She’d waited this long already. Perhaps they could formally celebrate the start of their relationship at the same time and make plans for the future. “Okay.”

Grinning, he caressed her right side, spreading tingles all over her body.

“Good girl. Now, you can come here. But just one day a week and we have to pre-arrange it so I make sure there’s no one else visiting at the same time. Here—” he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Give me your phone number.”

She called out the numbers and he entered it on his phone. Her phone in her bag started ringing.

“That’s me calling you so you can store my number,” Ike said.

She walked over, picked up her backpack and took the phone out, saved his number, then heard the sound of someone turning a lock.

“Henry is back,” Ike said.