Utianle

Standing in front of King's wardrobe with a towel around my chest, I shivered while waiting for him to bring out one of his big T-shirts for me to wear. With him convinced that I looked better in his shirts than my nightwear, I had stopped wearing them.

"Did you like it?" I asked with pursed lips, my hands coming to wrap around myself.

I didn't need to elaborate for him to know what I was talking about, he had been quiet since we left the bathroom where I almost slipped and told him about Amber Lee. Would he have taken the news in stride?

King paused his search to draw me closer to him, the towel around his waist slipped and fell to the ground but he made no move to pick it up. I could feel his erection pressing against my stomach, I gulped, my fingers reaching up to caress the skin of my neck.

I was partially shocked that I had been able to take all of him without gagging, without stopping. I almost did but it would have encouraged him to keep holding back which was what I was trying to avoid. I wanted all of him. It was up to me to decide how much of him I could handle, not him.

As he stood with his arms around my waist, no words said, I realised that I might have done a terrible job. I did all I knew: enough spit, no teeth except to tease and swallow. Did I freak him out by swallowing? He had wanted to withdraw just when I could feel his warm, salty semen but I didn't let him.

"If it was that bad, just say it," I murmured against his chest when he remained silent.

King took a step back to allow him a better view of my face and sighed. "No, it wasn't." He laced our fingers together, bringing my knuckles to his lips. "I didn't just like it, I loved it. It was perfect." He scattered feather-like kisses all over my wrists and said, "You need to stop doubting yourself."

"I don't," I muttered defensively. Okay, maybe I did but it was only when it came to bedroom matters. I wasn't as experienced as him or the women he had been with in the past. "You have been so quiet, that's all."

Letting go of my hands, he said, "Shock. The aftereffect of receiving the best blowjob of my life." He resumed his search and in a few minutes, he was holding up a big shirt.

My hands raised to allow him pull the shirt over my head and when he was done, he pulled a short over his waist. The muscles on his back flexed when he bent to retrieve something from the wardrobe and I voiced out the question that crept into my mind.

"What's your body count?"

King's body tensed, he took a few seconds to turn around and when our gazes met, his face was blank. In one of his hands was a bag which he tapped an uneven beat on.

He shrugged, his eyes still holding mine captive. "I don't know. I don't keep count."

"Okay," I replied with a tight-lipped smile.

I had a strong suspicion he had an idea but didn't want to freak me out with his answer. It was a smart decision on his part because even if I didn't care about the number, it might have haunted me. I would stay awake at night, going over the figures, working myself up over something I couldn't change.

The distance between us was intact as King asked, "What about you, how many?"

"You are the third."

His eyes widened, he blinked morosely and I laughed, it probably paled in comparison to the number of women he has slept with. I inched closer to him, needing the warmth only his muscular body could provide me.

"Does my body count bother you?" His hand hovered above my buttocks and my head angled to get a better view of his face.

Laughing at the relief that flooded his face when I shook my head, a tug at my heartstring reminded me of the promise I made to myself. I was going to tell him how I felt in the shower but my courage failed.

He made to pull away but I kept my hands wounded tightly around his waist. "If we don't go to bed now, we will wake up late."

"I know," I said. The time was probably past eleven but I didn't care as much as I should have, I wanted to get it out of my chest, here and now. "I'm not the one driving, it's you."

After our first and only driving class which lasted less than one hour, I had volunteered to drive us back to Calabar. King had gladly agreed, failing to mention the distance from Calabar to here was about an hour plus. I didn't trust myself to drive far distance.

"Well..." he trailed off, his forehead pressed against mine, "if you can't drive us back home, I know something else you can ride."

The double wink he added at the end of his words earned him a smack from me. I stuck out my tongue at him when he squeezed his face and groaned. He was still handsome. My thoughts wandered to the part of him I could ride and I bit my lips. Did he have to say that? Of course, he did, he was King Daniels, my future baby daddy and soon to be husband. I giggled; the man I loved.

"You are a violent woman," he said with a frown. I scoffed, I had an angel's touch and I showed him that by massaging the spot I just hit. He moaned, nodding his head and murmured, "I love violent women."

The laughter that escaped my lips came out with a snort. "I'm not a violent woman."

"I know, I'm kidding," he said and brought my hand to the back of his head for me to continue my massage, "don't stop. I like it."

His eyes were closed and his lips were in a pout, I placed a kiss on his lips, spitting the words out before my courage could fail me again. "I love you. I love you, King Daniels."

The room grew quiet, his eyes remained shut but his lips pulled into a grim line. His hand on my waist fell and when he finally opened his eyes, so many emotions, some of which I couldn't identify, swirled in them.

Thinking he didn't hear me the first time, I reiterated, "I love you. I love you, King."

"Uti..." he trailed off without completing his statement and a pang went through my heart at the conflicting emotions on his face.

What I felt was peace and calm when I realised what I have known but was too stubborn to admit to myself. I wanted him to feel that way too, I didn't want him to feel pressured into admitting it out loud even if my ears ached to hear him say those words.

Placing a finger against his lips, I said, "I love you." I brought his hands back to my waist, blinked and smiled. "You don't have to say it back now but I won't stop saying it. I love you enough for the both of us."

"Uti," he tried again, his lips parted but it seemed the words were stuck in his throat.

Putting up a brave front to hide the disappointment, maybe hurt, I began to pepper kisses on his knuckles the same way he always did to ease me. The smile on his face returned but with less radiance and he squeezed me with more force than before.

"What's that?" I asked when the back of my leg hit something. It was the bag he was holding before; he must have dropped it.

King crouched to inspect the bag for any form of damages, looking over it with concern. He stood and smiled. "Your gift."

I shook my head; he has done enough. The best gift was hearing them call me mummy.

"I don't want it."

"You must want," he said. I shook my head. "But you collected Emma's gift, it's not fair."

When he was being whiny, he was hard to resist but I still shook my head. I could not accept any more gifts from him. He was the one always giving, I could barely meet up and that was unfair, not my refusal. I was tired of being on the receiving end alone.

"It was a paper drawing, he drew it."

What Emma gave me was a drawing of me, King, him and Esther holding hands or at least what looked like us if we could call the stick images he drew people. I chuckled, it was cute. I was already thinking of framing it; our first family portrait with King.

"What of Esther, she got you something too."

"A hand bracelet; she made it herself."

The bead bracelet was in my bag; I had only taken it off to bath. It was tight, left marks on my wrist but I still loved it. It came from my first baby, my daughter. I smiled to myself, I could never get over hearing them call me mummy. It has been too long.

"I made this one myself too," King mumbled and I folded my arms under my chest. He shook his head and a chuckle slipped from my lips. "Okay. Maybe not by myself, maybe I had help from people. Uti, just accept it."

He held out the bag to me and my eyes narrowed in suspicion at the odd shape. Knowing King, I was certain he put a lot of thought and money into this gift of his.

Without taking the bag from him, I asked, "What's inside? I don't like the shape."

"You will see," he said in between chuckles.

Pursing my lips, I let out a defeated sigh, there was no point arguing with him on this. He would have his way whether I liked it or not. Sometimes, I liked it when he insisted on doing things his way, other times, I wanted to remind him he was doing too much for us. It was strange but nice.

We settled on the bed with the bag between us, my gaze wandered from him to the bag, waiting for him to do us the honours.

"Open it."

He chuckled at the command in my voice and did as he was told. A gasp escaped me when he brought out a sleek laptop from the small bag. I ran my fingers over the logo at the back of the laptop, it wasn't just any brand, it was an apple product. I didn't need to know much about gadgets to know I couldn't accept this. It was too expensive.

"No," I shook my head, "I can't."

"Yes, you can," he murmured, his eyes on the screen of the laptop which was still booting. "You can, you have to. You must."

My fingers moved to the hem of his shirt and I avoided his gaze, if I continued staring at him, he would convince me to accept it. I could not, this was becoming a habit, him always getting us expensive stuff while we gave him little or nothing in return.

"King," I began, "I appreciate all you do for us but I can't accept this, it's too much."

Raising my head, I caught a glimpse of King sighing as his fingers ran across the keyboard. His brows furrowed, I wasn't sure if it was because of me or whatever he was doing on the screen but he looked as handsome as always. Hopefully, he would still look this fine when I refused the gift.

When he was done, he came to sit beside me and I leaned on him. His arm around my waist returned to the laptop when the screen lighted up and I pouted at the loss.

"This is it," he whispered and pushed the laptop to my front. I frowned and shook my head, I didn't want to see it. "Take a look."

"How much did it cost you?" I asked instead.

King quickly caught on to what I was trying to do, a corner of his lips lifted. "Take a look first. Please. I will tell you the price later."

My shoulders sagged in defeat, there was no point arguing with him. I knew that but I still wanted to try. King called out my name and I sent him a frown, I was tired of giving him a speech about buying us expensive gifts. If the qualities of this laptop were anything like the phone, then I would fall in love with it, which was why I tried to delay.

Tired of waiting for me to take a look, King brought it right to my face but I closed my eyes. I heard his groan and a small smile flitted to my lips. I stayed that way for a few seconds until his lips pressed against mine and his tongue thrust into my mouth.

A moan left me when he bit down on my lower lip and his fingers played with my nipples that were straining against my shirt. He held my wrists when I tried to touch him, paying no mind to my whiny protests.

"Look at me." My eyes flew open at King's gentle command, he rested his forehead against mine then palmed my cheeks. "Uti, please take a look. Do it for me."

My gaze lowered to my hands, I bit the inside of my cheeks and nodded, might as well get this over with. My hand moved to my lip and his eyes followed my movement. I smiled and he returned it, I was aching for more of his kisses but that could wait.

The moment I took a closer look at the laptop screen, I fell in love with King all over again. My mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, my eyes remained wide open, glued to the screen with the same concentration Emma would display when watching his favourite cartoon.

Uti's Couture was written in big, bold blue letters, under the name was a slideshow that displayed most of my work. Pictures from the fashion show Cynthia co-hosted, the ones I had and didn't have were splashed on the screen. There were also pictures of Faith, my babies and strangers, all of them wearing my creation. Mine.

King's hand came into view, I sniffed and covered my mouth, watching as he clicked on an icon by the top left of the screen. It brought out a menu and he tapped on the option that said: women's wear. The first picture I saw when the page loaded was that of Cynthia and a small cry left my lips.

The gown. She was wearing the gown I made for her on behalf of Vincent, for the Lagos Fashion week that was cancelled. He tapped on the screen and a new image of Faith replaced Cynthia, she was wearing a jumpsuit. King continued tapping on the screen, showing me pictures of beautiful female models I wouldn't have recognised if not for their outfits, my collections on them.

We moved from that to men's wears and I laughed at the picture of Vincent that flooded my vision. He was wearing the trouser I made for him, the one he claimed to hate but couldn't stop wearing. I bit my lip, expecting to see a picture of King as he continued swiping right on the screen but all I saw were more pictures of men I didn't know, some of them were Vincent's clients, people I helped him out with in the past.

The smile on my face dimmed a little when we finished up that section without any picture of King. The Contact Us page showed my Instagram business account, my phone numbers and email address. I turned to look at King, words swirled in my head but when my gaze settled on his face, they evaporated. He was too good for me.

"Before you start saying it's too much," King started with a scowl, "your website only works on this laptop so you have no choice."

A sound in between a choke and a sob left my lips. My website. Mine. A warmth spread throughout my chest at the mention of it and my heart constricted. Mine. Uti's. I was overwhelmed. Blinking back the tears in my eyes, I straightened myself up and looked at him, how did I get so lucky?

"So it can't work on my phone?" I teased and he chuckled. For some reasons, a part of me fought against his kindness and I murmured the first thing that came to mind, "I can't accept this, it's too much, I'll need-"

"Need what, Uti?" King asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "You can't accept it or you won't accept it? Junior will not be happy to hear you rejected the website he made. Cynthia won't be happy to know you are hiding your work from the world, same with Vincent. Faith," he frowned, "you know she will be mad. Emma and Esther too."

Six people, it took six people to make this work and I was being ungrateful. I knew without asking that it was King's idea, which made them a total of seven people, the same way I knew he bought the laptop. The others contributed greatly and the least I could do was be more appreciative.

"Sorry," I whispered, my fingers moved to his lips in a desperate attempt to wipe that frown. "I'm not used to receiving gifts."

All Umoh did was take, take and take some more from me, I didn't mind it, I believed it was a temporary phase. Besides, a girlfriend was supposed to support her boyfriend the same way he supported her.

King pulled me onto his laps and my hands automatically went around his neck. He reciprocated the small smile I gave him and my smile widened. I couldn't stand it when he was upset or scolded me for something that could have easily been avoided.

"It's fine," he pulled my lip in between his teeth, "but you will have to get used to it because I am not stopping anytime soon."

A ghost of a smile moved across my lips, we could have that argument another day. "You've not told me what exactly you did to buy Emma's silence," I murmured as my fingers began to trail a line down his spine.

"Nothing much," he replied. I encouraged him to go on with a nod and he did. "Take them to school, pick them up and attend PTA meetings. Buy him water guns, bring everyone back here for another weekend getaway, convince you to let him attend Samia's birthday party then marry you."

"You do too much for us," I whispered.

"Nothing is too much when it comes to you."

*****

Here's the holy water for the last chapter 💧💧💧 I forgot to put it ;) I am getting tired of this story again, maybe I will have to take another short break, we will see. Anyways, take care and remain safe.