Divine Ch. 03

Authors note: This is the third installment in this series. I hope you all are enjoying the story as it plays out. Thank you to my editor May McQueen for your input and corrections and Miss Kittie for your input.

*

Calise put the finishing touches on her makeup. As she applied a little gloss, she gave herself one last look in the mirror. She thought that she looked great. She wore a mid-length black Dolce&Gabbana strapless dress with lace-up red stilettos. Looking at her hair, she decided to wear it half in a ponytail and the rest cascading in curls down her back.

Walking into her living room, she made her way into her kitchen to grab a soda. Leaning back against the counter she popped the lid. She shook her head at herself. Why was she so nervous. She was just going on a business call. Nothing more, nothing less. Yet the butterflies in her stomach told her it might be more. Deondre had a way of getting around the wall she built around her heart. He made her laugh, and she found herself relaxing in his company. He also had the uncanny talent to get her out of her g-string. Gathering her wits about her, she grabbed her purse and her car keys and headed out of the door. No matter how nervous she was, she was going to Deondre's club tonight.

Outside, she walked along the path down to her car. Getting in, she started the engine and pulled out of her driveway heading for the freeway. It was about an hour and a half drive to Luanne's, but she needed to talk to Deondre about the event for Shauntea. Hopefully he agreed because she only have a few days to get her performance together.

As she was driving, she turned her radio on and began singing along with the radio. Before she knew it, she was putting her blinker on and exiting the freeway. Calise drove down the long stretch of road she recognized from when Shauntea brought her here a few weeks ago. After awhile, she was pulling into Luanne's. As before, the parking lot was full of cars. This place must be more successful than she thought.

Getting out and locking her car, she started walking up to the door of the establishment, when she heard someone off to her right.

"Hey, baby."

Calise turned her head to see a young man of about twenty, twenty-one, who was dire need of a belt. Wearing jeans that hung off his ass, Calise could see the basket ball shorts and boxers he had on underneath. Coupled with a wife beater tank top and fitted cap, he looked like the epitome of a thug. He had corn rows that needed to be redone and a du-rag hanging out his back left pocket. He sauntered up to Calise with what he thought was swag, but in actuality looked like he had a bad limp. Calise shook her head and laughed.

"What's good, Ma?" he said in a southern twang, licking his lips and rubbing his hands together.

"Ma?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm...Nothing much, Pa." Calise tilted her head and looked at him with a sarcastic smile on her face. "Is that how you come at all females?"

"Its called swag, sweetheart." Licking his lips again, he looked at her from head to foot, stopping at her breasts.

Calise snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Up here, baby."

Looking back at her eyes, the 'man' smiled at Calise and she chuckled, which she tried to hide under a cough. Lining the upper set of his teeth was a gold and platinum grill.

Glancing around the parking lot, he asked, "You here with anyone shawty?"

"Ooh, we are not even going there. Look, I'm going inside. You have a good night Pa." Laughing on the last word, she turned and began walking up to the front of the line of people waiting to get inside. She heard the man calling out to her, but she ignored his comments and kept going.

She walked up to the club's bouncer. She didn't feel like waiting in the line and she knew if she told him to get Deondre, she would be let in.

"Excuse me," Calise said loudly to be heard over the music that was spilling out of the front door.

The bouncer looked at her, and she could she the spark of recognition in his eyes. "I remember you," he said. "You're that lady who sang the roof off this club a couple of weeks ago."

Flushing, Calise confirmed who she was.

A playful smile appeared on his face. He was the big teddy bear type with a black and white SECURITY shirt on.

"So you've finally come back to see me huh?" he asked jokingly.

Calise immediately took a liking to the big man. "Well, of course. I couldn't stay away." Starting to play his game, she started going back and forth with him before asking, "Do you think you could let Deondre know I'm here? My name is Calise."

The bouncer lifted a walkie -talkie to his lips and began speaking into it. When he was done he removed the belt blocking entrance to the club. "Go on inside. He's waiting at the bar for you."

"Thank you..." she let the sentence trail, trying to get his name.

"Jonathan," he said, smiling. "You gonna sing for us again tonight?"

"Maybe. I don't know yet. I'm here for other business, but we'll see if Deondre can talk me into it," she said over her shoulder and started making her way into the club.

As she walked in, she saw Deondre immediately. He was standing at the bar staring straight at her. He had a smug smile on his face, like he knew she would come eventually.

Calise made her way through the crowd, weaving in and out of men and women that were dancing or just standing around the dance floor. The fluttering made its triumphant return to her gut and she took a deep breath. Finally she was in front of Deondre. It never ceased to amaze her how gorgeous this man was. Calise slanted her head down and looked at him through her eye lashes.

"Hello, Deondre."

"Calise." The smug smile got even wider as he reached in and gave her a hug.

"How have you been?" she asked him. Damn he smelled good. A mixture of citrus cologne and aftershave.

"I've been good. I was wondering when you were gonna come see a brotha."

"Yeah, well I'm here now and that's all that matters, right?"

Looking around the bar, she noticed the bar tender looking at them. When they made eye contact, he nodded his head at them.

"What's that about?" Calise asked, nodding toward the bartender.

Deondre looked over to see what she was talking about. Smiles broke out over both the men's faces. The bartender made his way over to them and handed Calise a rum and coke.

"And what has the two of you smiling?" she asked him.

"This man here, has been sulking like a two year old waiting for you to come back here. But now that I see you, I know why." He shook his employer's hand and returned to the customer's hollering out drink orders to him.

"So you've missed me, huh?"

"More than you could imagine." Grabbing her hand, he walked her into her office so that they could talk privately. When they reached he office door, flashes of the last time they were there filled his mind. Glancing at Calise, he could tell she was thinking of the same exact thing.

Walking inside, Deondre went over to his wet bar and poured himself a drink. Calise was still nursing her rum and coke.

"So do you ever drink anything besides rum?"

"Sometimes. My Father drank rum all the time when I was growing up and I just developed the taste for it like he did."

Shaking his head, Deondre came to sit on a La-Z-Boy boy he had just bought and set up in the corner of his office.

"So, what have you been up to, Calise? I haven't talked to you since the lunch with Shauntea."

I've been good. Writing a lot." Putting her drink down on the desk she walked to the sofa and sat. As soon as her thighs met fabric, visions of their encounter here played in her mind. Calise smoothed her hand over the cushion, smiling to herself. She could almost feel Deondre's lips traveling down her neck to rest at her breasts. Just imagining his fingertips caressing her skin had Goosebumps appearing on her skin.

Deondre watched Calise walk over to his sofa. A sofa he spent many a afternoon staring at reminiscing about the fun he had had on it. As she sat down, he noticed her get caught up in her thoughts. He was about to look away and leave her to her wanderings when he noticed her breathing. She was taking short, shallow breaths, and when her eyes closed, he knew exactly where her mind had went. Deondre had to readjust himself as Calise began to rub her legs together as if to lessen the ache she undoubtedly was feeling between her thighs. Looking at her thinking about him had him wanting to lift that sexy-ass black dress she was wearing around her hips and find his home inside her walls.

Clearing his throat, he watched with amusement as Calise opened her eyes and began to blush.

"Have anything on your mind?"

Calise couldn't help the blush that made an appearance on her cheeks and refused to go back into hiding. Glancing at Deondre, Calise shook her head.

"Nothing, nothing at all." She could see the amusement in his eyes. "I don't like you," she said, laughing.

"Yes you do. But you can keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better."

"Whateva man. I actually have been meaning to come sooner and talk with you. I had a favor to ask you actually."

"Really?" he asked, curious. "Ask away."

"Well, Shauntea has this event coming up and the band she booked canceled on her. She asked me to fill in, but I need alive musician to play behind me. So I was wondering..."

"Say no more. I love to play for you. When is it?"

"Actually, this weekend. We need to rehearse and have everything ready in three days." She raised apologetic eyes up to him. "I know its last minute but it would really help me out."

Deondre knew that this was an opportunity for him to spend some alone time with Calise and he wasn't about to let the fact that this would be a lot of work stop him from having her all to himself.

"Do you know what type of music we're gonna be doing?"

"Well Shauntea said that she wants a relaxed environment, so I was thinking jazz and classic R&B." Calise said as she stood to go get her drink.

"Okay, are you available tomorrow? I have some downtime in my schedule," he lied. He would have to clear his schedule as soon as he had a minute.

"Tomorrow will be good actually. You can come over to my house and we can work in my studio. I'll cook us something for lunch while we're working."

"That sounds good. You don't think you could sing me a song tonight for my trouble?" he asked, clutching his heart.

"I suppose, but only because that teddy bear Jonathan asked me first. I still don't like you." Laughing, she made her way to the office door.

************

Michael sat in his workroom looking at his designs. He was ready for the event on Saturday. He was a little nervous, but he supposed that came with the territory. He went by the gallery earlier hoping he would see Shauntea, but it was just her assistant there. Shauntea.

Putting his head down he let his mind wander to the beautiful woman. He found that she was on his mind a lot since he met her. That woman was something else. When he first met her, he had arranged a business lunch for them to get acquainted. He had been sitting at the table when she walked in. He found he had to pick up his jaw off the floor and pretend like she wasn't the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She exuded so much confidence, which Michael found to be very attractive. He had been flirting with her every now and then, but she had a firm no fucking the customer policy that he saw in very bold print on the contract he was presented with. He wanted to take those words and send them straight to Hell. He wanted nothing more than to bury himself in Shauntea. Good thing he wasn't going to be her client much longer.

His cellphone going off brought him out of his thoughts.

"Hello?"

"Hey you." Think of the devil and he'll come, he thought.

"Hey. Wassup?"

"Well, I'm setting up the last minute touches for the event tomorrow and I forgot to ask you what flavor cake you wanted." Shauntea shook her head. Okay, so it was lame, but she needed a reason to call him.

"Oh, um, red velvet actually." He had hoped she had called for another reason but she was always the professional. Then an idea came to him.

"Hey Shauntea, do you mind coming over? I'm putting together the last of the line and the models are coming over tomorrow. Wanted your opinion on some things."

Shauntea was a little surprised. She wanted to do just that, but know that she was given the opportunity she wasn't sure. She didn't trust herself to go over there and not jump him. Taking a deep breath, she started to refuse but his voice came over the line again.

"Please Shauntea. I value your opinion. It would mean a lot to me."

Sighing, she shook her head. "Sure. I'll be there in a few."

Hanging up, Shauntea went to her closet to put on some clothes. She started to reach for a halter dress but decided against it. She didn't want to appear like she was trying too hard. She decided on blue jeans and a royal blue tank top. She slid her feet into a pair of heeled sandals and went into her bathroom to fix her hair. Looking into the mirror she let out an excited breath. She didn't know why this guy affected her like this. She normally had more composure than this.

Brushing her hair into a ponytail, she put on some gloss and turned and walked out the bathroom. Grabbing her purse and keys she turned her lights out and headed out the door.

Michael lit the last of the candles he had set up in the living room. He had placed them in intervals along the wall, starting from the living room down the hall to his bedroom. Grabbing a remote he turned on his radio and let some soft jazz spill through his space.

Turning to look at his work, he smiled to himself. Shauntea would be shocked when she got here. He knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her. He could see the glances she gave him when she thought he wasn't paying attention. Tonight he would see how far he could take her before Shauntea the "professional" took over.

He went to his kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Ciroc out of the refrigerator and two glasses. He put a few pieces of ice in each and headed back to the living room.

Looking at the clock, he smiled and sat down and waited. Shauntea should be here any minute. Not a moment too soon, he saw head lights pull into his driveway. He settled into the couch and waited for his doorbell to ring. Not even a minute later, it did just that.

"It's open."

Shauntea turned the door handle and walked into Michael's living room. This was only the third time she had been here to his home but it still amazed her how stylish he was. His living room consisted of leather and dark toned wood. He had statues of elephants with glass circular tops for end tables and a larger one in the center of the room for his coffee table. A large area rug sat beneath with a pattern of dark green, brown and gold swirls. The artwork that he had on his walls were his brothers, he had told her, but beautiful nonetheless.

It took her a minute to notice all the candles and the soft music floating from the speakers.

"This how you greet all your guests?" she said with a half smile.

"No, just those who are important. Please sit." he said, looking at her through his overly long eyelashes.

A little shiver of anticipation ran down her spine. She started to wonder if it was very smart to come over here.

Sitting down on the couch, she watched Michael pour her a drink. She accepted it and took a sip.

"So, what did you want me to look at?" Was that her voice? She didn't appreciate the huskiness of it, or the way her nipples all of a sudden had got hard and extra sensitive.

"Well, I wanted you to look at the last two outfits for the show. I'm not sure about them."

Welcoming the distraction, she nodded. "Sure, no problem. Did you want to...?"

He had been staring at her lips the entire time. He looked up as she paused in her sentence. Smiling he said, "Yeah, um, its in the workroom."

He stood and offered her his hand. Walking down the hallway, Shauntea noticed the candles were everywhere. They took the last left into a room that he had set up a his workroom. He had knocked the wall out between two already large bedrooms and made it one large space. Tables were filled with fabric and swatches of different materials. His collection was on mannequins along the far wall ready for the show. There was only one clear spot in the room. One table, dead center.

"So, which ones do you need the help with?" As she waited for him to she sipped her drink. She was trying to keep her mind off any and everything but him and how close he was.

After a while, she noticed he hadn't answered her. She turned around and found him standing at the door to the room, staring at her. He looked like he wanted to eat her.

"You know staring at me like that will get you into trouble."

"You promise?"

He started a slow walk up to Shauntea like he was tracking prey. Her body recognized what was going on and without permission began to respond to him. When he approached he brought his fingertips to her neck and began to trace a pattern down her to her shoulder.

Clearing her throat, Shauntea opened her mouth to tell him she didn't fuck her clients, but a moan escaped instead. Michael had begun to place kisses where his fingers just were. Standing behind her Michael wrapped his arms around Shauntea and licked up the base of her spine. Planting a kiss behind her ear he asked, "Did you say something, baby?"

Turning in his arms, Shauntea looked up at him. "You know I don't fuc..."

Michael cut her off with a kiss. He started it slow but he deepened it, reaching into her mouth with his tongue. Learning her mouth, her taste. She moaned into his mouth.

He started backing her up until she felt her legs hit something. Michael broke their kiss long enough to lift her onto the one empty table she had noticed earlier. He bent and planted kisses along her neck and collarbone. He had a plan in mind and he prayed it didn't backfire on him.

Grabbing the hem of her shirt he pushed it up and reached a hand under her bra. When his thumb grazed her nipple, Shauntea took in a sharp breath. Biting her bottom lip she looked down at Michael. She knew she should stop this, but couldn't seem to say the words.

Pushing her bra up, Michael lowered his head and took one juicy nipple into his mouth. He gave a long and hard suck before pulling back and letting it plop out of his mouth. He went for the other one and sucked again. Flicking her nipple, he looked at her to see her lost to the sensations he was giving her. Good, just where he wanted her. Not thinking, just feeling.

His hand started to trail down to her pants. Getting to the button he deftly flicked it open. Reaching inside he cupped her mound and found it hot and wet. Shit, he wanted this woman, more than he wanted any woman in his past. Moving her panties to the side he drew a finger up her slit. Shauntea's back arched off the table and a load moan escaped her mouth.

Michael wondered if he started to take her pants off if would she stop him. "Well no time like the present to find out," he thought.

Changing his position so he was at her feet he reached up and slid his fingers around the waist of her jeans. Pulling, he smiled when her hips lifted and he pulled the jeans off and threw them on the floor. He nearly lost it when he saw the little black lace thong she wore. Licking his lips he wasted no time for her to change her mind. He grabbed her knees and slowly spread them apart; Grabbing the edges of the thong he pulled fast and off they came.

"Fuck," Shauntea moaned. She watched him lower his head to her wet pussy. He started to lick the inside of her thigh and around her pussy to her other thigh. It seemed like he would never get to Ms. Kitty. Just the anticipation almost had her coming.