CHAPTER 13 P.1

Julian

      “Are you really just going to sit there and watch as I get dressed?” I asked as I fastened my cufflinks.

      “What can I say,” Advani drawled lazily, “I’m enjoying the view.”

      I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. The change had brought about an underlying sense of confidence in Advani that I found incredibly sexy. It was almost as sexy as the way she lounged on the bed, the silk of her teal tank kissing her thighs as her amethyst eyes trailed me lustfully.

      “You would start this when you know I have to meet my father.”

      She giggled before rising to her knees and crawling towards me. “You know I learned quite a bit about vampirism from a few ladies the other night.”

      “And what would that be?” I humored her.

      “That in the eyes of your people, we’re married and that the ‘wedding’ is just a formality. When were you going to tell me that legally all of this was mine for the taking?” she asked with a smirk as she waved her right hand from my head to my feet.

      I made my way over to her, grabbed her chin gently and kissed her slowly and with purpose. “Everything thing I am and all that I have has been yours from the first moment I’ve laid eyes on you. I thought I’ve made that perfectly clear.”

      “Good God,” Advani moaned as she dropped dramatically on the center of our bed. “Why would you do that when you know you have to leave? Getting me all hot and bothered and what not.”

Advani

      Julian laughed at me as he buckled a thick leather belt around his waist. I pouted as I climbed off the bed with my head held high. “That’s okay. Keep your kisses. I’m going to be busy anyway.”

      “Oh, yeah?” Julian asked as he shrugged his tailored blazer over his broad shoulders.

      “Yup,” I answered as I pulled out a white demi bra and a pair of cotton low cut bikini panties. “I’m meeting with Nicole in an hour.”

      “Nicole?” he asked.

      Oddly enough, Nicole and I kept in touch over the break and we had grown to be really cool. Now she wouldn’t be someone I told all my business to, which isn’t saying much since I didn’t tell all my business to anyone, but she was definitely someone I could hang with from time to time and genuinely have fun with…her birthday celebration excluded.

      “She and I are going to do a little shopping. Mostly just accessories for the wedding,” I answered.

      “I thought you already got all of that,” Julian spoke as he made quick work of fastening his watch.

      “Yes, well I’m still in the market for the perfect pair of shoes and, well we’ll be visiting La Perla and that’s a shopping trip I wouldn’t feel comfortable making with Bella or either one of our mothers,” I answered before running out of his reach and into the bathroom.

Nicole

      “What about these?” I asked Advani as I grabbed a pair of white classic leather Crosspiga Louboutin’s. They looked enough like a pigalle to work with a gown, but the cut outs and ankle straps would ensure that she would get more than a day’s wear out of them.

      “No, those won’t go at all,” she answered as she shook her head. Before I could even pick up the next pair I targeted she spoke up, “and those just have too much going on for my tastes.”

      “I must say,” I started as I changed out of my black Miu Miu heels and slipped back into my wedged pumps, “this would be more efficient if I knew what your dress looked like.”

      “No can do,” Advani answered as she continued to peruse the shoe department. “Bella gave me strict instructions on how the gown was the ‘pièce de résistance’ and how no one was to see the finished result…well no one but her and our mothers”

      “Then this is going to be a very long trip,” I complained jokingly as I smoothed my cable knit sweater over the flat panel of my skinny pants.

      “Maybe not,” Advani spoke absentmindedly as she picked up a pair of t-strap sandals.

      The shoes were breathtaking. Period. The leather metallic material was champagne in hue with a gold stiletto heel. Connecting the thin straps was an antique jeweled piece that sparkled radiantly as the light hit the crystal facets and when she put them on…magic! Advani wasted no time in handing the sales associate to ring her up and he left with an extra bop in his step as he clutch the centurion Amex within his palm.

      “So where to next?” I questioned as she stepped back into her leather pumps.

      “I’m a bit uncomfortable with asking you this,” she spoke as she shrugged on her camel colored wool coat over her short sleeved sweater, “but I really need your help. Normally I would ask Bella, but that it would be too uncomfortable to broach this topic with her.”

      That shocked me, to be honest. Since before she and Julian got together and he, for the lack of a better phrase, put a ring on it, she and Bella have been damn near attached at the hip. It intrigued me that she would come to me over Bella, especially when we just began to form a relationship with one another. What could she possibly need from me that she couldn’t get from Bella?

      Before she could further explain, the sales associate came back and Advani made a quick task of signing the receipt, returning her credit card to her wallet and thanking him for his assistance before taking her bag and walking to an empty section of the area so that she could explain.

      “Julian and I haven’t consummated our relationship yet-“

      “Y’all haven’t fucked yet?!” I asked surprised.

      “SHH!” she hissed as she looked around us wildly. “Damn girl, use your inside voice.”

      “My bad,” I apologized before getting serious. “Are you telling me that he put that ring on your finger and you didn’t proceed to give him the ride of his life?”

      “What?!” she asked in a playfully shocked tone before a mischievous smile formed on her lips and she sang I am a good girl. “Seriously though, no we haven’t had sex yet, though the tension is getting to me. At first I was all for waiting for our wedding night, but I realized that we were damn near married anyway. We live together, our parents get along and love us together, and our lives are so intertwined now you don’t even have a clue. But the other day it occurred to me that there was no need to wait another couple of months to share myself with him. The problem is that I don’t have a lot of experience-“

      “Any experience,” I interrupted.

      “-and I need help with trying to seduce him,” she continued on as if she didn’t hear a word I said, although she did give me the stank eye.

      “Well, I’ve been known to seduce a man or two,” I admitted as I slipped my arm between hers and lead the way out of the department store.

      “So you’ll help me?”

      “Girl, by the time I’m done with you, Julian won’t be able to keep his hands off you,” I assured her as I flagged down a cab and gave him directions

Advani

      When I finally got home from my shopping trip with Nicole, I had very little time to prepare for Julian’s arrival. Nicole took her promise serious and began to impart her knowledge for our session, which I’ve internally dubbed Seduction 101. She showed me how to alter my walk into a graceful feline gait, a trick she had apparently learned through her strip aerobics class. Nicole had also dragged me from one lingerie boutique to another in an effort to procure the perfect ensemble only to decide that none of it was needed, after I’d purchased the overpriced pieces of silk, lace, and elastane.

      I quickly dropped my bags off in the closet and proceeded to undress before covering my body with my robe and headed into the bathroom. With a flick of a switch the fire place turned on and I began to draw my bath, sprinkling a generous amount of Molton Brown seamoss bath salts in the water. Almost immediately, the water turned a light teal that was reminiscent of the clear aqua waters that flowed along the beaches to the various vacation retreats Julian and I were deciding over for our honeymoon. A bit of corresponding shower gel was added to the water to create a light layer of bubbles; enough to cover my important bits, but a light enough layer that the wrong-right-move could reveal a slither of flesh.

      I’d just slipped into the water and laid my head back against the bath pillow when I heard the front door opened. I smiled intimately and closed my eyes as I waited for Julian to come and find me.

NOTE: This is unedited, but I wanted to get it out before Christmas