Getting Lucky. Kayla Perrin

positions his arms behind my knees and begins to fuck me hard and fast. This is the kind of unyielding movement that should leave a woman breathless during sex. And yet, my excitement is plunging quickly.

      “You like that? Huh? Is that rugged enough for you?”

      Damn, why did he have to go and mention Rugged? Because thinking of Rugged right now only reminds me just how good he was in bed, and how much Damon isn’t doing it for me.

      Damon slips his hand between our bodies and strokes my clit in wild, frantic circles, clearly hoping to help get me off while he’s inside me. I moan, play the part. It doesn’t take me long to realize that I’m just not going to come this way, and dammit, I need a release. So I find myself saying, “Eat me again, baby. Eat my pussy. Make me come in your mouth again!”

      Damon is happy to oblige. He withdraws from my pussy and buries his head between my thighs. As his tongue works its magic, I find myself wondering if I could be with a man with a small penis—as long as he eats pussy as well as Damon does.

      The thought is distracting, and I do not want a distraction. Another fizzled orgasm and I will have to go home and pull out my vibrator. It has been so long since I’ve had a real man’s tongue and fingers on me that I do not want to leave here in defeat.

      So as Damon’s hot tongue circles my clitoris, I close my eyes, fondle my nipples and allow my mind to go where it wants to go. And suddenly, I’m not thinking about Damon. I’m thinking about Rugged.

      I’m imagining Rugged’s tongue all up in my pussy, lapping at my juices. I’m remembering the way he knew just how to tease my clit into submission. “More! Oh, yes, your fingers. Right there. Make me come. Yes, your tongue right there. Oooh, my God. That’s it. Suck my pussy. Baaaaby … “

      I start to come, a volcano of sensation. The climax erupts from my pussy and spreads prickles of heat throughout my entire body. I am panting, delirious with the bliss of it. Damon, grunting excitedly, settles himself between my thighs. He thrusts again, hard and fast, and I urge him on with words like “Yes, baby. Fuck me hard! You’re hitting my spot!”

      Soon Damon’s body tenses and he succumbs to his own release. I squeeze my vaginal walls around him, hoping to draw out his orgasm. My own body is still enjoying the aftermath of mine.

      Sated, Damon lowers his body on top of mine, kissing me. His beautiful body is slick with sweat. We stay like that, kissing and holding each other, until our breathing calms down.

      Finally, Damon eases back and looks down at me. He is smiling, that sweet smile. The kind that says he likes me.

      Guilt washes over me. I can’t do it … can’t move forward in the hopes of having a relationship with Damon. I need a large, hard cock—the kind that can thrill me for hours.

      “I’m glad you came back,” he says.

      I grin. “So am I.”

      “Are you doing anything this evening? We can go out, get a bite to eat.” He trails a finger around my nipple. “Come back here and go for round two.”

      “I wish I could,” I lie. I don’t want to hurt him. He seems like a nice guy. He’s just … not enough. “But I’ve already got plans.”

      “That’s okay. Tomorrow night?”

      “Um,” I hedge. “Let’s talk later, okay?” I’m already getting up off the bed, gathering my clothes.

      “You have time for a shower?”

      “I may as well do that when I get home,” I tell him. And I hope—for his sake—that he doesn’t realize I am brushing him off.

      I’ll give it a few days. Not answer his calls. Put him off gently. Hope that he gets the hint. And if he doesn’t, I’ll come up with a lame excuse for not being able to see him.

      Because as much as I hoped that fucking Damon would help me forget Rugged, it’s made me remember him all the more.

      Chapter three

       Claudia

      YOU CAN TELL YOURSELF OVER AND OVER AGAIN that you’re a strong black woman, a beautiful black woman, that the right man will eventually come along—but that doesn’t quite kill the ache in your soul. Oh, I know I don’t need to be married to be fulfilled. At least I know that logically. But the truth is, I never expected to be in my thirties and single.

      Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying it’s the end of the world to be single past your thirtieth birthday. But I know—in my social circle—that people are talking behind my back, wondering what’s wrong with me that I haven’t tied the knot yet. An eligible Black-American Princess like myself—why is she still single?

      Maybe people wouldn’t be talking if I hadn’t been engaged to Adam Hart, who turned out to be a sick son of a bitch. I can say that now because I’m over him. Adam has a twisted kinky side, one I ignored because I thought I was marrying the man of my dreams. One everyone in my social circle approved of.

      Those same people who approved of Adam are judging me now. I know they are. At charity events, I get the sympathetic stare, the pat on the hand from older women and the assurance that one day I’ll find the perfect man.

      It all makes me want to scream.

      But as I stare at myself in the mirror, at my light brown skin and soft curls I perfectly styled—because, let’s face it, I’ve got too much time on my hands—I can’t help wondering if there’s something wrong with me. If there’s some reason a nice surgeon or business mogul wouldn’t want to marry me.

      I can’t confess the feeling to my two best friends, Lishelle and Annelise. They would tell me that I’m out of my mind, that if the men I meet are too dumb to realize how fantastic I am then there’s something wrong with them. But I can’t stop the thought from popping into my head that the men in my social circle know all about my screwed-up relationship with Adam, and that’s why they don’t want to go anywhere near me.

      And when they do want to go near me, it’s because they think that I’ll give it up easily. That I’ll do kinky things in bed with them. Things I regret doing with Adam.

      I can’t believe how stupidly I behaved for the sake of keeping my man. And the idea that I may be judged for that forever is really hard to accept.

      The rumor mill is alive and well in high society, let me tell you. That’s why I’ve pretty much given up on the idea of finding a man in Atlanta. In fact, I’m pretty much regretting the fact that I said yes to the blind date my brother-in-law’s sister set me up on.

      But it’s a Tuesday evening, and I have nothing better to do, and who knows? Maybe Mark Wickham will be the one.

      So I finish applying my makeup, get my clutch purse and head out the door. Within minutes, I am in my white BMW and driving toward midtown.

      I really don’t want to be here. That’s what I think when I hand my keys to the valet. I am at New York Prime, the restaurant where I am supposed to meet Mark. This place has a reputation of serving the best-quality steaks in town, so if nothing else, I should get a decent meal.

      I am still skeptical of this kind of date—the kind initiated by others—but Lishelle’s talk about how well her evening with Damon went has given me some hope.

      And there’s no doubt that Mark is a good catch. He’s one of the Wickhams—a publishing dynasty in Georgia. Samson Wickham, Mark’s father, runs Wickham Publications, which publishes a series of monthly magazines for black women, black men, teens and entrepreneurs.

      I have met Mark at events in the past, but we’ve never really chatted. I do know that he is attractive and, as far as my family is concerned, he’s from “good stock.”

      I’m jaded, of course, which is why I told Mark that I would be driving my own car to the Buckhead restaurant.