It’s a glorious Sunday morning. The clock on the wall reads twenty minutes past eight, and as I lay against Jimi’s well-built body, I note to myself my third lesson in love.
It has no shame. It has been three days of enlightenment. Jimi and I have done a lot in this bed, from sex, to talking to eating. And oh, the talking. I’ve talked my head off…talked everything I’ve never said before, not even to my dear sisters with whom I’m very close. And Jimi, bless his heart, has listened to me, not interrupting except to ask questions that’s geared towards him knowing more about me. Yesterday, we went out on the date we missed out on Friday. We went shopping as I had no change of clothes with me. Then, we went to the Galleria and watched a movie – I can’t remember what we watched because we were busy making out, like teenagers at the back of the theatre; then, we went dining at a restaurant very close to Lekki beach. After that, we had a long walk down the shore, and then we headed for Femi Anikulapo’s concert at the shrine which I’ve never been. I learned that Jimi is a huge Fela fan, and that his love for the man has transferred to his Femi, his son.
After Femi’s concert, we’d come back to Jimi’s house to make love again. And the crazy thing is, in everything we’ve both done together, I’m not ashamed, not since Friday night when he took my virginity. I’m relaxed with him, and he’s the same with me…at least, he appears to be.
Jimi rouses beside me and his sleepy, brown eyes gazes into my alert ones.
“Good morning.” I smile at him. He pulls me, quite aggressively into his arms, and gives me a mouth-smacking kiss. “Good morning sweetheart. Did you sleep well?”
I’m beaming wide; too wide. Jimi is so adorable in the morning. And I note he’s been calling me sweetheart- his endearment of choice since Friday night.
“Yes, I did. You?”
He nods. “Very well.”
I smile, but soon, my face falls.
“What’s wrong?”
“I have to go home today. Mummy and my sisters are coming back from camp today.”
He frowns. “You don’t have to go,” he says.
I stare at him openmouthed. Is he kidding? “Ehn! You want my mother to skin you alive.”
He laughs. “For you, I’ll take any skinning any day.”
I’m gasping again as my heart melts. His words, they affect me so.
“So why will Dr. Olu-Browne skin me alive? Her writings are rather progressive. I don’t think she’ll be that upset that you’re here with me. You’re a grown woman, Tara, not a child.”
I know he’s not that obtuse. I shake my head in mock pity for him and he laughs. Progressive Mummy or not, this is Nigeria, not Canada where he schooled. Girls here don’t live with men they’re not married to…well, maybe the type he’s used to dating. But we’ve already established that I’m not the type he’s used to dating. I may have an intellectual, sort-of-liberal mother, but I was raised in an old-fashioned sort of way, with traditional Yoruba values despite my ownership of a car and enough money to buy a house; and yes, my mother will probably skin me alive if she knows I’ve been locked up in a house with a man for three good days.
Oh, why is he smiling at me like that?
I slap away his hand that’s suddenly creeping up my body. “Stop Jimi.” But his hands have an agenda this morning. They roam even more aggressively on my body, and it’s so ticklish. “Stop Jimi,” I say, more desperately in between laughs.
He takes pity on me and stops. His humor is gone and in its place, a very serious light stays. “God! You’re so beautiful Tara. I’m a very lucky man.”
“Yes, you are,” I say, my pulse beating fast at his words. I scramble out of his bed before he gets any more ideas to keep me in it.
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Lara Daniels is a Registered Nurse by day and an avid African romance-suspense author at nights. In 2009, she published her first novel, Love in Paradise and in 2010, she published the sequel Love at Dawn which made iTunes UK top 100 bestselling romance novels. Her latest books, Lessons in Love and The Officer’s Bride is currently in stores. Visit her at www.laradanielswrites.com.
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