Sneak Peeks/ Exclusives
Chapter One
Aspen Hensley
“I NOW PRONOUNCE you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.”
I watched on, by my cousin’s side as she married her best friend, literally. Dasani and Solo were definitely a match made in heaven. From growing up together, falling in love, having a child and being here at this very moment. I was happy for her and she deserved every bit of her happiness.
Just standing beside her as her maid of honor was beautiful. But it didn’t help that my eyes would roam to him every so often. Looking at him, standing beside his brother, this man was more beautiful than I could imagine. What got me the most, every time the pastor spoke something inspirational, he made it his mission to stare me in my eyes. Good God. I loved this man as in past terms but I don’t think that love was so much in the past.
While Solo and Dasani made their way down the alter hand in hand, I met with Sameer and he took my arm into his. We followed behind them, heading to take pictures. As much as I wanted to keep my space, I couldn’t. It didn’t help that I was the maid of honor and he was the best man. We were deemed to be in each other’s face. Once the reception started I made sure I stayed in my corner, a corner away from Sameer.
As the night went on everyone had a ball. The whole reception was a mood, okay. And once the liquor got added, it was lit as hell. I remember zoning out and dancing the night away. Once the DJ started playing Beyoncé’s Single Ladies, I knew just what time it was. The MC called out for all the single women to come to the dance floor. We all stood there as Dasani shot her bouquet. Of course I caught it. And when the time came for Solo to shoot the garter, you can only guess who it went to. That’s right, big brother, Sameer. I swear this night was trying to align some stars that weren’t meant to be together.
I shook my head trying to figure out why me. If tonight wasn’t already awkward between us, it was about to become even more weird. I sat in a chair, in the middle of the dance floor as Sameer started taking off his jacket. The DJ started playing No Guidance by Chris Brown and the audience started hyping this man up. He walked in close to me, bringing his face to mine.
“You ready for this,” he spoke in his deep, baritone voice.
“To get it over with, yeah,” I spoke in return.
He kneeled down working his hand up my leg, hiking my dress up. Pulling my foot to him, he removed my heel and took my foot into his hands. I swear the way his hands caressed my foot was enough to get my panties wet and the sad thing was, he knew that shit. Massaging my foot with one of his hands, he placed the garter around his mouth with the other. The minute he took my toe into his mouth, I felt a sensation rush to the lower part of my body. The crowd was eating this shit up. With his mouth, he worked the garter further up my leg until his hands took over and caressed my leg as he continued to push the garter up. His hands were working the hell out of my thigh. The crowd took this as a little tease on his end but I knew exactly what he was doing. He knew exactly what he was doing.
The garter was sitting between my thighs when he took it upon himself to go under my dress to place it in its final resting place with his mouth. By then I knew for a fact my juices were going and all I wanted to do was sit on this man’s face.
“You better get her!” Dasani yelled out, hyping Sameer up even more. By then he was coming from under my dress and putting my heel back on. I stood up from my chair reaching my hand down to him. He grabbed it and I pulled him to his feet. While everyone clapped and cheered on I stood there looking into his eyes, seeing our story being read back to me.
Damn, I missed this man.
Trying to fight back the tears, I walked away from him, going outside to the beach. How could one person have so much pull on your heart? On your soul? I guess I had gone missing a little too long because my mother was calling out my name, looking for me.
“What are you doing out here, Asp?”
“I just needed some air.”
“Or you needed to get away from that man?”
“Mommy-”
“He put on quite a show.”
“Yeah, he did.” Placing her hand on my cheek, she brought my face up to look at her.
“What’s wrong, baby?”
“I thought I could handle today, but it’s clear I couldn’t. It’s like every time I look around, my eyes automatically connect to his.”
“Talk to him, Asp.”
“I can’t bring myself to do that.”
“You need to so you can bring yourself some type of closure.”
“I just rather walk away, Ma.”
“And what good has that done you?”
None at all was the answer. No matter how much I tried, Sameer was on my mind morning, noon and night. I couldn’t shake his ass to save my life.
I wanted to be clear of him. I wanted my heart to be freed but truth of the matter was my heart was in his hands. My soul was tied to his and breaking a soul tie was next to impossible. I sat outside for a bit longer before I went back in. By now Sani and Solo were sharing their first dance and everyone was joining in. I sat at my table with my eyes closed, listening to the lyrics of the song that played.