"Real Love" Part 2

[CarolinaCutie]

[glow=red,2,300]“I always loved you from the start/But I could not figure out/That I had to do it everyday”
—Lenny Kravitz: I Belong to You[/glow]

"Now that was fun!", Desiree grinned as she walked into Tamir's place after celebrating her birthday with their friends a few weeks later.

"Yeah, I know.", he smiled as he grabbed her from behind while giving her a kiss on the cheek as they walked into the den. On their way home, he told her that he wanted to celebrate with just the two of them. "You stay put until I come back."

"Aight...I'll be right here waitin'.", she blushed as she watched him walk out. A few minutes later, he returned with a small cake for two with a single candle and a long, slender gift box wrapped in gold and white paper.

"Happy birthday, boo.", he whispered after sitting the cake and gift down on the coffee table in front of them. He then pulled her into his arms and gave her a passionate kiss. "I want'chu to know that I'm glad you decided not to leave me. I couldn't have made it without you."

"I'm glad I stayed too.", she smiled as she gently stroked the side of his face with her thumb. "To tell you the truth, it would've really been hard for me to stay away. I love you too much."

They sat in silence as they stared into each other's eyes for a few minutes.

"Well, c'mon...let's get our party started.", he joked as he turned around to grab the gift from the table to give to her.

"DN!!!", Desiree exclaimed when she pulled her gift from its box. It was a 6 carat platinum bracelet set with 40 baguette diamonds.

"I take it that you like it.", Tamir joked as he watched her face that was taken over by awe.

"Na, like ain't the word!", she laughed as she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Would you?", she asked as she held out her wrist for him to place the bracelet on it.

"It'd be my pleasure.", he grinned as he quickly fastened it on her arm. "Now, how 'bout some cake?", he asked as he began to slice two pieces for them.

"I'm DEFINITELY with that!", she chuckled. She thought it was so romantic when he picked up his slice of cake from his saucer to feed to her. "Here ya go, boo.", he devilishly grinned. Just when the cake was about to go into her mouth, he playfully pushed it into her face and fell back laughing on the sofa. "Got'cha!"

Desiree sat in disbelief for a few seconds before she burst into laughter. "It's on now, na!" She proceeded to sit her slice down on the table and picked up the rest of the cake and smashed it into his face before he could get away from her.

"That isht costs me $10 bucks so you gonna eat it!", he laughed as he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back down onto the sofa with him.

"Aight, if you say so!", she squealed as she began to kiss him all over his cake-smeared face.
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"I knew my techniques that I dropped on yall would work!", Carlise bragged as she and her girls were discussing their men over lunch.

"Oh, what-EVA!", Mina huffed while shaking her head.

"Ya know!", Desiree laughed. "Don't toot your horn too loud 'cause you ain't all that!"

"Negro, please!", Carlise laughed before placing a forkful of food in her mouth. "Yall know good 'n well that yall nas are sprung now on the count of what I taught yall!"

"Aight...you win!", Mina replied with a roll of her eyes. "I muss admit that holdin' out on Ru from time-to-time has worked to my advantage." All three began to giggle.

"I told you! Use what'cha got as a weapon and they'll know how to act!", Carlise grinned.

"Well, I ain't about ALLLLLL that, but Mir is actin' much betta...as yall can see!", Desiree
slyly grinned as she showed off her gift from him from two nights ago.

"Isht! Girl, instead of holdin' out, you must've really been givin' it up!", Carlise shouted as she grabbed onto Desiree's wrist to get a closer look at her gift.

"Shut up!", Desiree laughed.

"I know right! These folks don't need to know she's a ho!", Mina joked as she winked at Desiree.

"Ok...you 'bout one second from an @$$ kickin'!", Desiree warned with a roll of her eyes at Mina.
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"Now that's a fine @$$ right there!", Larry shouted while he and the guys were watching J-Lo's "I'm Glad" video.

"You ain't neva lied about that!", Tamir slyly grinned as he watched her gyrating and dancing around on the screen.

"Dn! I'm lucky 'cause Carlise has a much nicer one than hers!", Mark laughed as he made a lewd gesture with his hands. "Isht...my girl got enough for each one of my hands!"

"You need some SERIOUS counselin'!", James laughed with a shake of his head while watching Mark.

"I'm sayin' though...I'll neva go lackin' in that area when we settle down.", Mark proudly smiled.

"Settle down? You sayin' yall are gettin' married?", Rufus asked with a surprised look.

"Well, I haven't asked her yet and we've neva really talked about it, but I've been thinkin' that I'm gonna go ahead and ask her soon.", Mark replied.

"I think that's coo' plus yall been togetha for a while now.", James agreed with a nod of his head.

Tamir was about to speak when his phone began to ring. It was Tanisha. "Hol' on a sec...I'll be right back!", he told the guys as he stepped out of the den into the hallway.

"Tani? Why are you still callin' me? I told you it's ova between us.", Tamir angrily stated.

"Look, na...I'm havin' car trouble again and everyone else I tried to call aren't around. I was juss gonna ask if you could come ova and check it out for me. But since you wanna be all stupid and isht, I'll let'chu go!", she shouted at him.

Tamir was taken back to the time when they first met. He saw her stranded in the parking lot of a club on the outskirts of town where he and his boys were chilling one night almost 5 months ago.

"Wait a minute...I'll come take a look at it lata on.", he quickly replied before she could hang up.

"Nah...fo'get it.", she snapped.

"Tani, I said I'll look at it. There's no need for you to go without your ride. But that's all I'ma do.", he stated.

"Fine, because I didn't ask you to do anything else anyway! Thanks and bye!", she replied before hanging up.

[CarolinaCutie]

"Man, was that one of your itchbes again?! What are you gonna do to stop them from harrasin' yo @$$!", Mark joked when he saw Tamir walking back into the den.

"Na, you got me mixed up with Ru!", he snapped as he flopped back down on the sofa.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, dayuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmm!!!", Larry laughed while throwing his head back.

"Man, you need to shut up!!! My playa days are behind me now and I have my boo to thank for that!", Rufus huffed with a pissed off look he threw Tamir's way.

"Bein' that I was a former playa...you might as well tell the truth, man...she was holdin' out on ya wasn't she?", Mark laughed as he gave Rufus a wink. Everybody fell out.

"She wasn't holdin' out...she juss needed the rest from time to time, and so did I!", Rufus tried to reply without laughing; however, he couldn't hold it in. "Man, yall make me sick!"

The fellas were still talking when Tamir received another call.

"Dn, man! How many hoes you got?!", Larry laughed when he saw the look on Tamir's face as he snatched his phone out of his denim jacket.

Tamir didn't answer him, but replied with a single finger as he walked back out into the hallway.

"Hello!", he snapped. He was thinking that it was Tanisha again, but he was wrong.

"Mir? What's wrong wit'chu?!", Desiree snapped when she heard his tone of voice.

"Oh, my bad, boo! I thought it was the same person with the wrong number who called while ago. I'm sorry. W'sup?", he smiled with relief.

"Apology accepted.", she giggled. "I was juss wonderin' what time did you think you would be in from hangin' out with yo' boys because I'ma turn in early tonight and I don't want to leave the chain lock off the door if it's gonna be a while before you come home."

"Well I won't be out too long. Maybe anotha two hours or so. But I don't want'chu to leave the lock off. Go ahead and lock it and I'll call you when I'm near home. I don't want nobody tryna break in to steal my baby away from me.", he grinned.

"Yeah...aight.", Desiree chuckled. "So I guess I'll see ya around 11. Love you."

"I love you too...bye.", he replied.

"Listen yall...I'ma head on out, but I'll catch up with yall lata!", he announced as he joined the guys back in the den.

"Ray muss have a lil' somethin' somethin' waitin' for him.", James joked with a grin.

"Yeah, ya guessed right!", Tamir lied as he waved goodbye to them.
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"Only thing wrong was that one of your battery's cables was loose.", Tamir matter-of-factly stated when he started Tanisha's car up after tightening it.

"Oh, well I wonda how that happened?", she innocently asked even though she was the one responsible for doing it. She had to think of some way to get him over to her place. Her plan was to make him take her back and stay with her for good this time.

"I'ono.", he replied with a shrug of his shoulders after climbing out of her car. "I need to wash my hands real quick, then I'm out."

"Well you know where the bathroom is.", she stated as she followed him inside. While he was washing his hands, she quickly removed her clothing until the only thing she was dressed in was her red bra and panties set that she had picked up from Victoria's Secret earlier that day. Tamir didn't know that she was standing in the doorway of the bathroom until he turned around.

"I'll see ya around...", he stated as his voice trailed off when he saw her. "Tani, you're wastin' your time!", he shouted as he quickly brushed past her to head for the front door. However, she reached it before he did.

"Mir, you mean to tell me that you really wanna ignore all of this?", she whispered as she took his hands to place them on her body. But he quickly stood back with his hands in the air. Tanisha then slowly reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and began to kiss him deeply.

"Stop! I'm not goin' there with you anymore!", he yelled as he shoved her away.

"Yes you will.", she calmly replied as she began to work her magic on him.

About an hour or so later after taking a shower, he began to put his clothes on to leave.

"After what happened, you're really gonna go?", Tanisha sadly asked as she watched him from the bed.

"Tani, I can't see you anymore! Take it for what it is!", he huffed with a shake of his head. "My girl and I are juss startin' ova and here I am cufkin' up once again! I can't lose her ova this type of bullisht! So do me a favor and forget that I even exist!!!"

"You son-of-a-itchb!!!! How tha hell you gonna cufk me and then say some isht like that?!!!!", Tani shrieked as she began to cry uncontrollably.

"Because I can and I did!!!", he shouted as he slammed the bedroom door behind him.
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"Hey, girl!", Mina stated when she noticed from the caller ID that it was Desiree.

"W'sup. Sorry to call ya this time of night, but I needed to talk to ya.", she sadly stated.

"What's wrong?!", Mina asked as she sat up on the sofa and quickly pushed Rufus' head out of her lap.

"Dn, Mimi!", he snapped while glaring at her. She proceeded to wave her hand at him as she headed for her bedroom.

"It's Mir. It's goin' on midnight and he's not here.", Desiree replied.

"Oh...well ummmm...maybe he’s hangin' out in the studio or somethin.", Mina stated as she laid down across her bed.

"Nah, because when I called him earlier, he said he would be home by 11. He hasn't stayed out like this in a long time. I would hate to think that he's goin' back to his ol' ways of bein' on edge with me and isht. Ya know how he was when he started hangin' out until late before." Desiree could feel her eyes watering up.

"I know, girl. But it's prolly nothin'. Juss watch and see.", Mina reassured her.

"Girlllll...I'm so glad I can talk to you! You always positive no matta what. Carlise on the otha' hand...!", Desiree joked.

"You ain't gotta tell me!", Mina laughed.

To keep her friend's mind off of Tamir, Mina began to talk to her about other things until Desiree heard Tamir ringing the doorbell. Desiree thought it was quite strange that he didn't call to let her know that he was almost home.

"Girl, lemme go...he's ringin' the doorbell. But thanks for listenin' to me.", Desiree smiled as she began to head downstairs for the door.

"No prob! Ya know you my girl! I'll see ya lata.", Mina smiled.

"Aight...bye.", Desiree replied just as she was unlocking the door.

However, as soon as she opened it, she gave Tamir her most pissed off look. "Well, I guess your watch must've stopped!", she snapped as she quickly headed back upstairs.

"Isht!", he mumbled as he locked the door before heading upstairs behind her.

"Ray...I'm sorry I was late. I dropped by the studio for a few minutes to see how things were comin' along and I sorta lost the track of time."

"Yeah, Mir...whateva you say.", she replied as she turned her back to him and pulled the covers up around her shoulders once she climbed back in her bed.

He looked upward and took a deep breath before removing his clothing and lying down beside her. He then pulled her into his arms. However, she quickly fell asleep because she was too upset and angry to talk to him.
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[CarolinaCutie]

Mina was still lying across her bed on her back in silence when Rufus walked in.

"Who was that babe?", he asked as he laid down on his stomach next to her.

"Ray. She was a lil' upset because Mir hadn't come home at the time that he told her he would be there. I hope he ain't gettin' ready to show his @$$ again like last time.", Mina huffed as she turned her head to look at him.

"Well when I heard you say somethin' about the studio when I went into the bathroom, I was wonderin' about that because he didn’t' say nothin' about goin' there.", Rufus stated without realizing that he was putting his boy out there.

"Oh, well did he say where he was goin'?!", Mina asked as she sat up on her elbows while staring at Rufus.

"Nah, but why you so heated all of a sudden?!", he snapped when he saw the way she was looking at him.

"Because, if he wasn't goin' to the studio then it could mean that he's messin' around on her. That would be hazardous to his dn health!!!", she shouted out of anger. "That's my girl, and I'll be dned if he or any otha na do that kinda isht to her!"
"Now here you go!", Rufus huffed as he rolled his eyes and rolled over onto his back.

"What tha hell is that supposed to mean?!", Mina demanded to know as she jumped up from the bed and placed her hands on her hips.

When he wouldn't answer her, Mina quickly grabbed a pillow and began to whack him with it until he was able to snatch it from her. He then jumped up from the bed and grabbed her around the waist.

"Quit it!", she laughed as she tried to break away from him. However, he managed to half-way pick her up as she kept fighting him off and landed back on the bed with her.
"This is what happens when you try to beat my @$$ with a pillow!", he laughed before he began to kiss her.

When he pulled back, she spoke up. "Dn, na! Can I hit you again?", she giggled as she reached for the same pillow she had used earlier.

"Nah, this one's on me!", he winked as he kissed her again.

"Fo'get some cuddle time for tonight!", she thought to herself as she tightly wrapped her arms around his neck.
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"Desiree, you have someone here to see you.", Desiree's assistant announced over the speakerphone.

"Ok...send them in.", she replied as she looked up at her closed door. She was thinking it was probably one of her other co-workers. However, when her door opened a few seconds later, she was shocked to see Tamir standing in her doorway with a single red rose.

"What are you doin' here?", she asked as she stood up from her chair. She proceeded to smooth her skirt out as she watched him walk towards her.

"Boo, I don't like when there's silence between us. I juss wanted to make it known once more that I'm sorry for last night and that it won't happen again.", he replied as he handed the rose to her. He then grabbed her up in a warm hug.

"Thank you.", she sighed as she clung to him. "I'm glad to hear you say that."

There was a sudden light knock on the door.

"Come in!", Desiree replied as she and Tamir quickly broke out of their embrace.

"Oh, I'm sorry...I could come back later.", Shannon stated as she hesitated to step inside once she saw the former love of her favorite cousin, Tanisha's, life.

"No, it's fine. W'sup?", Desiree asked before introducing Tamir to Shannon.

"I was juss droppin' the reports off from my department that you were askin' for.", Shannon smiled.

"Oh, thanks! These will come in handy for me settin' up our statistical report for the month.", Desiree grinned as she quickly scanned the papers in the file folder.

"Aight...well nice meetin' you and I'll see ya later, Desiree.", Shannon smiled as she waved goodbye to them. However, once she was outside of Desiree's door, she stood nearby to eavesdrop on her and Tamir's brief conversation since Desiree's assistant wasn't at her desk at the moment.

"Hmmmmmmmm...I need to give Nisha a call!", she thought to herself as a devious grin slowly spread across her face. She immediately made her way back to her office.

"Girlllllllll...I didn't know all this time that Noke's girl worked in the same company with me!", Shannon exclaimed after she hurriedly went back upstairs to her desk to call Tanisha.

"Ohhhhh...she does, does she?", Tanisha questioned before a devious chuckle escaped her lips. "Well listen, cuz...do you think you could meet me for dinner tonight? I have juss the thing to make that na sorry he eva played with me like he did, but I'ma need your help."

"Aight...I'll meet'cha down at Benny's tonight around 7:30.", Shannon grinned with a nod of her head.

"Aighty then...see ya lata!", Tanisha replied before hanging up.
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"Remind me not to go shoppin' with you no mo'!", Mina huffed as she walked with Carlise inside Mark's place. "My feet are too pretty to end up lookin' like those claws you call toes since they're used to the torture you place on them walkin' from store to dt store!"

"My claws gon' be dead up in yo' @$$ in a minute!", Carlise laughed as they both collapsed on the sofa in the den. "My dawgs are howlin' though! Whew...maybe my boo will be home after while to massage 'em for me!"

"Ya know! Make him work, girl!", Mina giggled. "But speakin' of boos...I wonda what Mir did today to make up to Ray. I called her to see if she could meet me for lunch, but her bookie-bear was already there to ask her out to lunch."
"Oh lawd! Well, hopefully, she won't give in even though he's grovelin' now!", Carlise sighed with a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head.

"I'ono...sometimes us sistahs can get a lil' weak!", Mina laughed. "Well, I do anyway...but I'm workin' on it!"

"Whateva, trick!", Carlise huffed as she shoved Mina on the shoulder making her fall over onto the arm of the chair.

"You betta leave me alone fo' you get hurt up in here!", Mina warned with laughter as she sat back up.

"Sure, sure!", Carlise sighed as she stood up to get something to drink. "You want anything?"

"Nah, I'm coo'.", Mina replied as she kicked her shoes off.

Carlise was half-way to the kitchen when she made an about-face and marched back into the den. Without saying a word, she grabbed a can of air freshener from the fireplace's mantle and began to heavily spray the air. "I can't have my boo's place smellin' like Frito-Lay's up in here!"

"Shut up!!!", Mina laughed as she began to look through one of her shopping bags. She wanted to take another look at the white lingerie set she had bought for those special times with Rufus when he wasn't acting up. At first, she had second thoughts about buying it because the last time she had bought something like that, it had been 6 years earlier when she was engaged to a man that she now considered an @$$hole. The reason why he was one as far as she was concerned was because when they had a slip-up and she became pregnant, he got the hell out of dodge leaving her alone because it made him realize that he wasn't ready to walk down the aisle or be a father. And what hurt even more was that he didn't bother to get in touch with her when the word was passed to him that she had miscarried. Mina was so deep in thought thinking about what had been the worst part of her life that she didn't hear Mark walking into the den.

"Mimi?! I say how ya be this evenin'?!", he laughed after nudging her on the shoulder to shake her out of her thoughts. "Oh, I see how ya gonna be this evenin'!" He proceeded to wink at her.

"Mind you dn bizness!", she laughed as she quickly put her gown back in its bag.

"Too late, I already saw it!", he laughed as he sat down in the armchair across from her.

"Hey, boo! I didn't hear you come in.", Carlise grinned as she went over to sit in his lap and give him a kiss.

"Where yo bag at?", he grinned as he looked up at Carlise.

"Boy, what'chu talkin' about?", she giggled as she threw Mina a sneaky grin.

"Don't play with me...I know that if Mimi bought a lil' somethin' for her man, then I KNOW you bought one for yours!", Mark laughed as he quickly pushed Carlise aside as he stood up. He began to frantically look through her bags until he came across an extra short black and red negligee.

"Awww yeah, na! This what I'm talkin' about!", he exclaimed as he held it by its spaghetti straps to admire it. Meanwhile, Mina fell out laughing as did Carlise.

"Ummmmmm, Mimi...you my girl and all but you ain't got to go home, but you gots to get the hell up outta here!", he commanded as he held his surprise down long enough to glare at her.

"Fo'get yo' lil' @$$! I got somethin' of my own to take care of anyway!", Mina snapped as she stood up to gather her bags together.

"Love you too, ho ho!", he joked as he hit her with Carlise's gown when she walked past him.

"Leave her alone!", Carlise laughed as she playfully hit him on the back of the head as she walked Mina to the door.

"Like you're really on my side!", Mina laughed as she hugged her goodbye.
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[CarolinaCutie]

"Shake it, don't break it...it took yo' momma 9 months to make it!", Desiree laughed from Tamir's rose-petal filled bed as he did a little dance for her. He was dressed in a pair of black silk boxers with a single red rose held in between his teeth.

Earlier in the evening, he had taken her out to a romantic candlelight dinner at her favorite French restaurant and had presented her to a bubble bath for two when they arrived home. Afterwards, they retired to his candle-lit bedroom so he could present her with one of two more surprises. Of course his little dance was the first one.

"Ahhhhhhh haaaaaaaa...thank ya vary muyyyychhhhhhhhh!!!", he laughed while taking a bow. "And now on to your next surprise!", he announced as he ran from the room.

When he returned a few seconds later, he told her to close her eyes.

"Okay!", she giggled as she settled back on the pillows. However, when he stuck his head in the doorway, he saw that her eyes were still opened.

"I'm not comin' in until they're closed!", he chuckled. He then proceeded to tell her to hold her hands out.

"Aight, aight! They're shut extra tight!", she laughed as she held her hands out to receive her gift. She heard him as he slowly crept towards the bed. The next thing she felt was something warm and fuzzy squirming around in her arms. "Mir!!!!!!!! She's gorgeous!!!!!!"

When she looked down in her lap it was a young, chestnut colored c**ker Spaniel with a large red ribbon around her neck and a small red bow on the top of her head.

"Tiffany, meet your owner and my boo, Desiree!", Tamir smiled as he sat down next to them while placing his arm around Desiree's shoulder. Desiree held Tiffany on her shoulder and started giggling when Tiffany began to lick her on the side of her face.

For the next few minutes, she and Tamir played around with Tiffany until he announced that it was time for Tiffany to make her exit so that he and Desiree could do some playing around of their own.

"Puppy or no puppy...we don't need an audience!", he joked with a wink as he carried Tiffany down the hall to the empty room where she'd stay.

[glow=red,2,300]“I can’t take much more/I can’t ignore/I have to let you know what’s in my heart”
—Tevin Campbell: Always In My Heart[/glow]

[VirgosAngel19]

I want him to do a dance for me. LOL, anyway good girl. I'mma tip toe ova to part 3 ;D

[aDRUfan4LiFe]

That was good! I'm still trippin' over Nokio dancing! lol ;D