Page 21 of Right Side of Paradise

Sweetest Thing

I swore the steam from Soul’s shower was still rolling off him when he found me on the balcony that night and came to sit beside me on our favorite chair.

The mosquito net was down, enclosing the balcony, a blunt was lit, and now I had a piece of my heart in my arms.

There were worse ways to end my day.

Having a full house was spoiling me. I’d spent half of my day with Harlow until she left for the amphitheater to meet her mom.

Then Christian made us dinner, and we ate together before he left for the bar an hour ago.

Now…this. I didn’t know what the hell I was gonna do if any of them ever left. The thought alone made my chest hurt.

“Missed you today,” Soul confessed, his lips seeking mine before he kissed me.

All the tension left his body when I grabbed his face to kiss him back.

Smiling against my mouth, he traced his tongue over my bottom lip then left soft bites in his wake.

“Missed you too. You left so early.” I passed the blunt to him.

Soul didn’t speak again until he hit it twice. Then he passed it back to me, coughing into the crook of his elbow.

“Today was so hectic,” he said, settled back against me. The soft rumble of his voice vibrated through me, filling me with warmth. “I had seven clients today.”

“Fuck, Soul.”

Soul worked at a wellness spa on Rainbow Row.

He had for over five years now. Everybody who spent five minutes around him knew how much he loved his job, but I also knew days like this drained him.

He may have been magic in my eyes but at the end of the day, he was human and put everything into giving people relief.

He needed someone to take care of him too.

A few pulls later, we ashed the blunt in the crystal ashtray I stole from my granny’s house.

She was hot when it came up missing, but her ass wasn’t supposed to be smoking anyway.

No words were needed as we watched the late sunset and the people walking up and down the beach.

Onyx Cove was my favorite place on earth. I wasn’t born here, but I lucked up when my father accepted a job here after he divorced my mother.

I loved how peaceful this island was, how Black it had always been, and how everyone here took care of the land as much as we took care of each other.

My birth mom had visited once or twice in the beginning and complained that it was like living in one big HOA. She hated the one-car rule. Hated that you had to catch a ferry to do some decent shopping. Despised that there were only two hotels and they lacked the luxury amenities she craved.

Needless to say, after her first few visits, I ended up meeting her off the island from then on.

Our visits went from every other week to once a month to once every few months. Nadine eventually married again and was out of the country more than she was in it. My dad had done the right thing in getting full custody of me. Even if I didn’t understand it at the time.

Yvette Donovan stepped in when I was seven and I had more days and memories with her than the woman who birthed me.

More days and memories with Harlow too.

One thought of her and a smile was back on my face.

“Guess who was in my bed naked when I woke up this morning,” I prompted, massaging the back of Soul’s neck while he laid on my chest.

“Harley,” he said easily. “I know, she was there when I left.”

“Nah.”

He looked up at me, brows dipped.

“Christian came in the room right after you left.”

Fascination replaced the tired look on his face, and he sat up straighter. “What?”

“He didn’t know I was awake.” I lifted my shoulder.

The room was still semi-dark when he walked in, but the light coming in from the balcony revealed his lack of clothes.

I wasn’t sorry for the way I watched his dick bob against his thigh when he was walking either.

“He got in bed and fell asleep beside Harlow.”

“Damn, Christian,” Soul breathed, lying on my chest again.

“Exactly what I said.” I spread my legs and relaxed against the back of the chair so he could put more of his weight on me. “When I woke up again, he was fucking her beside me.”

“I miss every fucking thing,” Soul complained with a playful shake of his head.

Vivid memories of this morning danced around my mind.

Christian had enough dick for two people and his body…watching his arms flex while he held himself up above Harlow and fucked her like that. Hearing their skin slap and the moans they hadn’t even tried to keep quiet. It left me with an appetite I wasn’t familiar with.

“Did you like it?” Soul wanted to know, his curiosity giving his voice a scratchy quality.

“Watching him fuck Harlow? Yeah, I liked it. I loved it.”

Soul’s lips curved, but he didn’t say anything. Humming, he cuddled up beside me.

“I think he likes being watched,” I said thoughtfully. It made sense why he didn’t care that I walked in on him yesterday. And why he felt so comfortable getting in bed with us and fucking our girl beside me.

All those years ago, he’d taken her for the first time in front of us. So yeah, it made sense. Maybe it didn’t even cross his mind what he was doing, but it was sexy as hell to witness.

“I wish I was there.” Soul shifted to kiss my chest through my open shirt. “Christian is so…”

“So what?” I asked, inhaling sharply when his lips closed around my nipple.

“Sexy,” he supplied, “But I can’t ever tell what he’s into. Out of all of us, he’s the cagiest when it comes to his love life.”

He raked his teeth over my raised nipple and kissed away the pain. But he didn’t take it further than that. Sometimes he just liked having his mouth on me.

“Yeah,” was all I had to offer as my mind wandered.

This morning when I opened Harlow’s legs, my mouth watered at the sight of Christian’s cum dripping out of her. Her pussy looked so pretty covered in him, but in the moment, I couldn’t get a read on whether Christian wanted me licking up his cum.

I mean, we’d never even kissed. So, I’d kissed Harlow instead, letting my fingers slip through their shared release while Christian watched.

We didn’t check anything new off her list this morning, but something had definitely shifted.

“I was brainstorming our first date,” Soul said through a yawn, bringing me back to our conversation.

“Yeah?” I kissed the side of his head.

“Mhm. We can go to the nature preserve. They have a new boardwalk that goes over the water.”

He spoke as I grabbed his hand in mine and started massaging his palm the way I knew he liked.

“Group date,” he explained. “I like it when we’re all together.”

“Then we’ll go together.”

Silence fell on the balcony as I massaged his wrists and forearms, working out the tension and kissing him every time he relaxed more into me.

This was my favorite thing. Taking care of the people who meant everything to me. And Soul rarely sat still long enough to let me do it.

“That feels good,” he sighed when I moved on to the center of his palm, applying pressure and massaging from that point out to his fingers. “You always take good care of me.”

“Don’t you deserve it?”

“Mm,” he sighed as his head lolled. “Yes.”

“Then let me take care of you.”

Soon, his head was in my lap, massage forgotten in favor of watching the water through the balcony railing.

I switched to running my hand up and down his back.

He sank into me fully and I knew this man was two blinks away from sleep. But he was trying to stay up because it wasn’t even nine o’clock yet. It was cute.

“If I fall asleep, wake me up when Harley and Christian get home.”

“Okay, baby.”

He moved his head to kiss my knee. “Love you, Rico.”

“I love you too, Soul.”