Better Late Than Never Read online

  “Ohh,” Desiree moaned. “That’s it. Right there.”

  Landon withdrew his tongue from its assault on Desiree’s clit and began to remove his finger.

  “No, don’t stop,” she whined. “Don’t you dare stop, damn you!”

  Landon chuckled, obviously enjoying her discomfort. “I’m not going to, beautiful. Don’t worry. I’m just prolonging your pleasure. What’s your hurry?”

  “Enough prolonging. Make me cum—now.”

  Landon delivered a firm slap to Desiree’s ass.

  “Ouch!”

  “I’m in charge here, beautiful. You’d best learn that if you don’t want more spankings.”

  Desiree sighed and closed her eyes. The sting of Landon’s a bit-more-than-playful slaps on her ass faded, replaced by the sheer pleasure of Landon’s oral ministrations.

  Landon’s finger returned to its spot deep inside Desiree’s pussy. He added a second finger, curving both as they wandered up the front wall.

  Desiree scrunched the sheets in her hands as she gritted her teeth. “What are you doing?” she moaned.

  “Eating your pussy.”

  “And your fingers?”

  “On a search-and-destroy mission for your G-spot.”

  “Is this mission going to be a successful one?”

  “Affirmative. Isn’t it always?”

  “Yes,” Desiree moaned. “Oh God, that’s it. Right there, baby.”

  Landon’s index finger rubbed Desiree’s sweet spot while his thumb worked in unison on her erect clit. It was a matter of seconds before Desiree burst into an orgasmic wonderland, her female ejaculate exploding all over Landon’s face.

  As Desiree caught her breath, Landon kissed his way up her body, slowly and teasingly. He pulled her into his arms and she rested her head on his chest, her fingers running through the forest of hair she encountered there.

  “I knew all that scuba training would come in handy some day,” Landon said, kissing Desiree’s forehead.

  “Whew!” Desiree exclaimed. “Magical as always.”

  “Glad you approve, beautiful.” He glanced over at the clock radio. “Hate to disturb the afterglow, but it’s eleven-thirty. The barbecue starts at 1300, and IB is forty-five minutes from here. We should think about getting up.”

  “Do we have to?”

  “Afraid so, babe. But if we’re so inclined, I think we can arrange an early extraction.”

  Desiree winced. “That sounds painful.”

  Landon laughed. “Okay, okay. An early exit.”

  “Works for me, baby.”

  Landon rolled out of bed, pulling Desiree with him. “Off to the shower we go.”

  * * * *

  It was actually closer to two PM when Landon and Desiree pulled into the parking lot at the Imperial Beach Pier.

  A cloudless sky, a warm sun, and a cool ocean breeze greeted them as they found a parking spot and exited the vehicle.

  “Another perfect San Diego day,” Desiree observed as she popped the trunk so Landon could extract the cooler, which was packed with sandwiches, snacks, and adult beverages.

  “The only kind we have,” Landon said with a grin. “You appreciate them a lot more when you don’t get to enjoy them all the time.”

  “I can just imagine.”

  Landon pulled the cooler on its wheels as he and Desiree walked hand-in-hand toward the party, which seemed to be set up just south of the pier.

  “Dez!” Danita was waving from a picnic table. Joe was next to her, a big smile on his face, already having commandeered the grill for the day.

  “That didn’t take long,” Landon said dryly. “She must have smelled us coming. Maybe she should be the first female SEAL.”

  Desiree smiled. “We’ll leave the macho hero shit to you guys.” She embraced Danita as they reached the picnic table.

  Landon maneuvered the cooler into a strategic position next to the grill, bumping fists with Joe.

  “Hey there, wild man,” Joe said with a mischievous wink. “How’s it hangin’?”

  “Landon Tiberius Stone, Lieutenant, Operator Number 086.”

  “Oh, it’s like that, huh?”

  “Affirmative,” Landon said with a mischievous wink of his own. “We’ll talk about it later.”

  “Damn straight we will. Make yourself useful, huh? Unwrap those hamburger patties over there.”

  “Roger, sir.” Landon dug into an adjacent cooler for a heavy pack of half-pound hamburger patties. “Want a beer?” Landon asked as he pulled a Corona from the cooler he and Desiree had brought.

  “Already on my second one, but thanks for thinking of me, buddy.” Joe raised a Corona bottle and downed the rest of it in one gulp.

  “Early start, huh?”

  “Not really,” Joe said with a shrug. “We got here about noon. Nice of you and your date to roll in late. What gives?”

  Landon raised his hands in mock surrender. “Not my fault, sir. You know how long women take to get ready. Especially black women.”

  “Yep,” Joe said with a nod. “Especially a black woman who’s been up all night playing hide the salami.”

  “No comment.”

  “I see you working, Lieutenant Stone. You go, boy.”

  Landon grinned. He surveyed the party. It looked like maybe a hundred people were in attendance—about half the crowd that was at the reception the previous night.

  “Not a bad turnout, huh?” Landon said.

  “Not at all.” Joe pulled a line of patties from the grill. “Much better than the ten-year reunion, or so I heard.”

  “We wouldn’t know,” Landon said, smiling wistfully. “We were knee-deep in camel shit somewhere in the Middle East, if I recall correctly.”

  “You do. I’ve wiped enough camel shit off my boots over the years to fertilize my yard for the next twenty years.”

  “You and me both.”

  * * * *

  “So, girlfriend… Details. You got ’em. I want ’em,” Danita said, cutting to the chase as usual.

  Desiree laughed, shaking her head in mock horror. “Not wasting any time, are we?”

  “Oh, hell no,” Danita said with a grin. “I’ve been dying to hear how your night went after you left us. And you’re going to tell me.”

  “Of course I am. Would I hold out on you?”

  “Nope. I won’t let you.”

  “Well, maybe I should start with Derek showing up and starting some shit. Or trying to anyway.”

  “No, he didn’t.”

  “Yes, he certainly did. Landon and I walked down by the boats, and I guess Derek and a couple of his boys followed us.”

  “Too much. What happened next?” Danita asked.

  “To make a long story short, Landon kicked his ass.”

  “No, he didn’t.”

  “Yes, he most certainly did.”

  Danita shook her head. “Men. Most of the mess in human history can be laid at their knuckle-dragging feet.”

  “True that,” Desiree agreed. “But Derek has had this particular ass-kicking coming for quite a while.”

  “Double true that,” Danita said, nodding her head vigorously to amplify her agreement. “You’ve put up with more than your share of shit from him, even by trifling-ass black man standards.”

  “Yeah.” Desiree nodded. “I don’t think I’ll be having any more problems with him. Landon put the fear of God into his sorry ass last night. He even convinced him to get caught up on his back child support.”

  “No, he didn’t.”

  “Yes, he did.”

  “Good for him. And good for you.”

  “That five thousand dollars will sure come in handy. I need new tires, the brakes are almost metal-on-metal, and I’m behind on more bills than I can count.”

  “Enough about Derek. More about Landon.”

  Desiree laughed. “What do you want to know?”

  “You know damn well what I want to know, Dez. If I wanted to play games, I would have stayed home on the Xbox
with hubby. Dish, and do it now.”

  “Well, when you put it that way. It was pretty amazing, ’Nita. Better than I remembered. Better than I could have ever imagined.”

  “Details, please.”

  Desiree shook her head. “A lady never kisses and tells, girlfriend. We’re just going to have to leave it at that.”

  “Is that your final answer?”

  “That’s my final answer, Regis.”

  Danita exhaled disappointedly. “All right. I’ll let you off the hook for now. But I reserve the right to pick this up again later in the future if I damn well choose to.”

  “Thank you.”

  Danita shifted gears reluctantly. “So, where do y’all go from here?”

  “Damn if I know,” Desiree replied. “I think we’re just going to go with the flow and see where it takes us for now.”

  “That’s good. I think that flow will take you somewhere pretty special.”

  “I hope so,” Desiree said with a sigh. “I’m tired of being alone. It’s been preferable to putting up with Derek and his trifling bullshit, but just barely. I’ve worn out too many vibrators to count over the past few years.”

  “TMI, girlfriend.”

  “Oh, get over yourself,” Desiree said with a laugh, rolling her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

  “Actually, I don’t. Joe handles his business and then some. When he’s home.”

  “Now who’s giving out too much information?”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I confess. I’ve got a few battery-operated boyfriends set aside for times when Joe’s on deployment. I feel ya, Dez.”

  Desiree took a wine cooler out of the large cooler she and Landon had brought. “Want one?”

  “Got any wild berry?”

  “You bet.” Desiree handed Danita a wine cooler, and they walked down toward the water.

  “So, how’s the shop doing?” Danita asked.

  “Up and down. The economy has taken a big bite out of our business. Folks don’t get their hair did as often as usual. But we get by. I love what I do, and I’ve always loved interacting with people. And we have some customers who are going to come in regardless of whether they can really afford it or not. You know them—the sistas who think they look good because everyone tells them they do.”

  Danita nodded. “So true. I know I don’t go as often as I used to. We haven’t had a raise in three years, two of our three kids are in braces, and we’re socking away every extra dime we can for the kids’ college funds.”

  “I hear you, girlfriend. Same thing at my house, but one less income supporting the family.”

  Danita shook her head. “If Landon hadn’t persuaded Derek to do what he should have done without needing drastic measures to persuade him, I would have been on your ass to haul his sorry ass back to court.”

  “That wouldn’t have done any good,” Desiree said with a resigned shrug. “Derek has the trifling, good-for-nothing-type-of-brother shuffle down to a science. He has an excuse for everything, and that silver tongue of his usually helps him talk his way out of trouble.”

  “Well, at least he’ll be current when he puts that money in your account, huh?”

  “Yeah. First item on the agenda will be catching up on the mortgage. It’s a month behind.”

  “You want to be careful with that.”

  “I know. It couldn’t be helped.”

  The two women turned as they heard loud hoots from the beach, where an impromptu football game had broken out. Landon was streaking down the beach, football in hand, as a few other classmates gave futile chase.

  Landon spiked the ball and pointed skyward as Joe high-fived him.

  * * * *

  “Trying to relive that golden moment from the Sweetwater game our sophomore year?” Joe asked.

  “Something like that.” Landon grinned.

  “Right down to the unsportsmanlike spike. Now we need a flag to make this recreation historically accurate.”

  “Oh, go fuck yourself,” Landon said, shaking his head in mock disgust.

  “I still laugh at that one.”

  “I’m sure a lot of people do,” Landon said. “But I don’t recall it as being all that funny at the time. Especially when I had to run fifteen bleachers after practice the following Monday.”

  “I was with you in spirit, buddy.”

  “Yeah, right.” Landon rolled his eyes. “If my memory serves me correctly, I seem to remember running those bleachers all by myself after you assholes hit the showers.”

  “That’s why I said ‘in spirit’, sunshine.”

  “Douchebag.”

  Joe laughed. “Hey, it was your first career TD, and mine too. You were young and stupid.”

  “We were just sophomores. That was the first of what—twenty TD passes you threw me in three seasons?”

  “Actually, it was twenty-one. But who’s counting?” Joe said.

  “You, obviously.”

  “And then forty more at the academy.”

  “Good memories.”

  “Some of my best. By the way, what did Coach Korlep say to you when you finally got there?”

  Landon laughed at the memory. “I was hoping his wrath would have lessened by that time. After all, I had to stay out there for the PAT and kickoff teams. I was wrong…as usual. He read me the riot act.”

  “I noticed.”

  “You and the entire fucking team. The main thing that stuck with me from a five-minute rant was that I might be back to the end zone a few times before my career was over, and when I got there in the future, I should act like I’d been there before.”

  “That was Coach Korlep,” Joe said with a grin. “He was all about sportsmanship.”

  “He sure was,” Landon agreed. “He was a good man whose heart was always in the right place. And he was definitely a surrogate father for me.”

  “I can imagine.” Joe scraped off the grill and wiped a torrent of sweat off his face. “You know, Landon, you’ve done pretty well for yourself considering all the roadblocks life placed in your path as a child. Your mom would be very proud of you. She’s looking down and smiling from ear to ear.”

  Landon smiled as a tear emerged from his left eye and rolled down his cheek. “Thanks. It means a lot to hear that from you. I sure miss her.”

  “I know you do.”

  Landon sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. “The hardest part of going to the academy was leaving her alone during the worst part of her treatment.”

  “She understood, Landon. Danita was over there four times a week checking on her and ferrying her to her appointments when she needed. It’s been more than twenty years. Maybe it’s finally time to stop beating yourself up over it, eh?”

  Landon took a long swig of his beer. “Easier said than done, my friend.”

  “Your mom would also be giving you two thumbs up, way up, for your reconnection with Desiree.”

  “She would, huh? You knew her that well?”

  “She would have. Trust me. Have I steered you wrong yet?”

  “Nope. You’re probably right,” Landon conceded with a sheepish smile. “She always liked Desiree…right up until she dumped me.”

  “No ‘probably’ about it.”

  “Okay.” Landon made a pretend bugle out of his fist and sounded the retreat.

  Joe rolled his eyes.

  Chapter 9

  A few hours later, a blood-red sun was slowly sinking on the western horizon, but the reunion beach party was still going strong. And despite the mass quantities of alcohol being consumed, the party had been relatively free of stupidity.

  Unfortunately, that was about to change.

  “Trouble on your six,” Joe said quietly as Landon sat with Desiree on a beach blanket near the fire.

  “Shit,” Landon muttered, releasing a protesting Desiree from his arms and quickly rising to his feet. “What kind of trouble?”

  “Derek and his posse.”

  “How many?”

  “Looks lik
e him and four others.”

  “Probably the two he brought with him last night and two more.”

  “Last night?”

  “He showed up down at the dock where Desiree and I were sitting and talking. I had to give him a minor attitude adjustment. He brought two of his goons with him, but neither of them wanted to get it on.”

  “Oh boy,” Joe said. “What did you do to him?”

  “Two kicks to the face. Broken nose. Oh, and a textbook choke hold Chief Badour back at BUD/S would have been envious of.”

  Joe smiled mischievously. “Apparently, he needs another lesson.”

  “Let’s stay cool for a bit until we ascertain the enemy’s intentions.”

  “Oh, I’m sure they’re hostile.”

  “So am I. But let’s allow him to fire the first shot.”

  “I hope you mean that figuratively.”

  “Me too. But with Derek, you never know. You start with the assumption that he has something stupid up his sleeve. He’s one bad dude.”

  “Just in case, I’m going to get us some additional backup. Johnny! Can you come over here?” Joe beckoned to Johnny Ganyard, a classmate who had just retired after twenty years in the Marines. Ganyard nodded and began to make his way over.

  Derek and his entourage reached the bonfire, and they were greeted by a few other classmates.

  “So far, so good,” Joe observed.

  “Keep your guard up,” Landon advised, feeling the adrenaline beginning to course through his veins.

  One of Derek’s friends bumped into Landon, who stood his ground.

  “Sorry, man,” mumbled the black man standing approximately six-foot-two and weighing about 200 pounds.

  “No worries,” Landon said through gritted teeth.

  Derek muscled his way to the front of the group. “I’d like to have a word with you, Desiree,” he announced.

  “I don’t think so,” Landon said, shaking his head firmly. “We’ve been over this, Derek. Apparently, you either killed more brain cells in high school than we thought, or you just weren’t that smart to begin with.”

  “Fuck you,” Derek slurred, his alcohol-laced breath evident to all. “I’m here to talk to my woman. Step the fuck aside.”