Vengeance(88)

“I don’t care. I don’t want to lose you again. We’re at least halfway through our lives. Let’s not spend the rest of them alone. We’ve already lost twenty-five years.”

I made up my mind right then and there that I wanted to be with Jonovan, for whatever it was worth, for whatever it meant.

“If you truly want to be with me, it can’t be here . . . in Atlanta.”

He sighed and took a deep breath.

“But maybe I had it all wrong before, with my suggestion.”

“What do you mean?”

“I love you, too, Jonovan. Move to New York with me . . . both you and your father. You can do your magazine from anywhere. Matter of fact, New York is the best place to thrive with a music magazine.”

“I won’t live off you,” he said.

“Technically, we’d both be living off my daddy.” I smiled for the first time in the entire conversation. “My apartment sold a couple of months ago, but he has dozens of places in the city. We only need one.”

He frowned. “I’m not trying to live off him, either.”

“So, make your magazine an amazing success so you can contribute to the bills.” I was joking, but a man needed to feel like a man, so if he wanted to pony up something, I would let him do that. “It’s a win-win for everyone.”

“But my dad’s used to being here.”

“No disrespect, but does your father even know that he’s in Atlanta? Will he even know the difference? As long as he has you there with him, and you can be there for him, that’s all that matters, right?”

Jonovan grinned. “This is crazy. I can’t believe that we’re sitting here discussing this.”

“Yeah, I never saw this coming, either, but that’s how we know it’s supposed to be.”

Jonovan took me into his arms and laid a huge kiss on me, tongue and all. Surprisingly, I relaxed and went with it, enjoying every second.

“Do you realize that was our first real kiss?” he asked as we moved apart a moment later. “And yet, I’m talking about moving with you?”

“It won’t be our last kiss.” I proved that by yanking him by the collar and kissing him again.

Something ignited inside me. I pulled him inside the front door. His father and his aide were in the back of the house, in the family room where they spent the majority of their time.

I moved backward, still kissing him, and started up the steps. He pushed me back on the third or fourth step and I spread my legs, welcoming him between them as he started kissing my neck and pressing his dick up against my pussy through my panties underneath my skirt.

I reached my hands to pull up the back of his sweater, up and over his head and tossed it aside. Then I ran my fingers up and down his back.

He picked me up with my ankles locked around his hips and hurriedly carried me upstairs to the master bedroom, kicking the door shut with his foot. We ripped each other’s clothes off and within two minutes, Jonovan was deep inside me with a condom on.

I wrapped my ankles around his neck so he could go deeper and I had an orgasm almost immediately. He kept going until he was spent and I was curled up like a baby in his arms.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever made love,” I confessed, trying to regulate my breathing. “I’m glad it was you.”

He kissed me on the forehead. “I only ever want it to be me.”

I looked him in the eyes. “Are you going to pack?”

“Taking a big chance in life is very scary, but regret is even more scary. I’m not letting you go again. So yes, I’m going to pack.”



* * *



The grand opening went over great in Miami. People raved over the decor, the food, the music, and everything in between. Of course, I was expected to perform at least one song, so I sang “Surge,” the song that I had written for Jonovan. Well, actually, the first of many songs that he had inspired in me.

While I would never fully understand why I had to go through so much to get to a place of contentment, there had to have been a reason for it all. As long as I had the love of my life by my side, that was all that ultimately mattered.





PART FIVE:


CODA




One day you’ll meet someone who doesn’t care about your past because they want to be with you in your future.

—Unknown





Epilogue


Two years later and things were still going well between Jonovan and me. He had proposed, but I really didn’t see the purpose in marriage. I was actually able to make love to him on a regular basis. Gone were the times when I could only relate intimacy to pain. His magazine truly took off, in an age when a lot of other industry periodicals were dying. I even did a monthly editorial piece, and he had other famous contributors as well.