Free Scandalous Truth by Monica P. Carter

taking off everything else.
    â€œTroy, so, is this just a little fling for you? Just a little piece?” she pressed. She gathered her composure and slid off the couch and stood, brushing her dress back down around her thighs. He reached for her and she jerked away, refusing to let him touch her. But he followed her and dragged her to the floor with him. “Troy, you can’t do this.”
    He ignored her and tore off her dress. She gave a halfhearted resistance when her dress fell in a wrinkled heap on the floor, but didn’t say anything when she, too, was naked as her body waited for him to finish what he started.
    She mustered what little will she had left and repeated her question. “Am I just a piece to you?”
    â€œBaby, baby,” he said. “Look, don’t get yourself all worked up. You got the music playing all nice, you’re smelling good, looking good. Now, let’s just enjoy the moment.”
    She waited for him to finish pleasing her, but he didn’t. Instead, he peered into her face. “See, this is what I mean. Don’t your little Sunday School lessons teach you that having sex outside of marriage is wrong? I don’t see you trying to stop doing that. So do you just pick and choose what rules you’ll follow?”
    â€œShut up, Troy!” Danielle said, annoyance making her tone sharp. “I told you, it’s complicated. You wouldn’t understand. The Bible was written thousands of years ago. Not everything in it is to be taken literally.”
    Troy grinned. “See, that’s why I like you. You always know what to say.”
    Troy kissed her again and a smile of satisfaction spread across Danielle’s face. He was here with her now. Whoever he was with the other day didn’t matter. She knew sharing her body was the key to affection. She had learned that skill long ago.
    â€œDo you like that?” she asked, kissing his neck.
    â€œYeah, baby, you know how I like it.”
    â€œAre you going to get serious about me now?” she pressed.
    â€œYeah, baby.”
    Danielle grinned to herself. She pressed further. “So, do you love me?”
    â€œGirl, come on!” he said roughly, leaning in to kiss her again.
    She wrestled free. “Do you love me?”
    â€œYes, girl, now come on!”
    I’ve still got it. Satisfied, she leaned into his kiss.

Chapter 16
    William returned home two hours later, dropping the keys onto the table next to the door. “Mama sent you a plate,” he said to his wife.
    Nikki rolled her eyes. She knew his mother hadn’t sent a thing for her. If anything, he had sneaked the plate out of the house. William’s mother still blamed Nikki for snaring her son into marriage so young. His mother had wanted William to be free and independent of responsibilities and had even threatened to boycott the wedding. And if he insisted on marrying so young, she wanted her son to be with a girl who was raised in the church, not someone like Nikki.
    â€œThanks,” she said. “I thought you were going over to Mac’s?”
    â€œI dropped by there for a minute but they were pretty busy. The kids were running around and Janice was fussing about something so I ducked out of there,” William said. Nikki saw his eyes searching her face. “So, are you calm now?” he asked, kissing her cheek.
    She wanted to pull away, but did not. “I was fine before,” she said.
    â€œBaby, you were wound pretty tight.” He placed the plate on the counter in the kitchen.
    â€œBut Will, you can’t just walk out on me because I’m upset or talking about something you don’t want to talk about,” she replied.
    â€œI didn’t leave you.” William stepped out of his shoes in the living room. “I’ll never leave you, but nothing was going to be accomplished by that conversation. You know I don’t like confusion.”
    â€œSo now I create