Excerpt 2 of At Last

The next morning I woke up to bright sunshine on my face. The curtains were pulled all the way back. I looked at the clock on the nightstand and it was 10:32 a.m.
My cell phone rang. I ran to get it, “Hello?”

“Hey baby!! You a movie star and what not!!” Yvette said laughing.

“Shut up, crazy. I take it you caught the Awards last night?” I said walking back into the bedroom getting back underneath the covers.

“Caught it? Girl, we had a damn viewing party! Me, Taylor, Momma, and Missy watched it over her house. “You know Missy got a new man? He’s cute. I think his name is Terrence.”
I was gonna beat Missy’s ass. She didn’t even call me to tell me her and Terrance were an item.

“Yeah, I met him once before.” I said dryly.

“But yeah baby we saw y’all on the Red carpet looking good as hell. I know y’all had a ball last night!”

“Yeah, I can’t complain.”

“I bet. What went down?”

Just as I was about to respond, Durran walked through in a pair of blue jean shorts and a plain black T-shirt. He had Nike flip-flops and black socks on his feet. He was grinning from ear to ear holding a newspaper.

“Hey,” I mouthed to him. He walked over to me and started kissing my neck."

Uh Vette, I gotta go. Durran just got back.”

“Boooo. Alright, call me back and tell him I said hey. Love you.”

“Love you too. Bye.”

“I went down to get a paper. I ordered room service while you were sleep...”
He sat down on the bed next to me. My hair was all over the place. He pushed it out of my face.

“So what’s up for today?” I asked smiling.

“It’s on you. Yesterday was about me. For the rest of this trip-hell, our lives it’s on you.”
I smiled at his statement knowing full well that everything had always been about him. I was going take complete advantage of his generosity for however long it would be around

“Ok, I’m going to hold you to that statement.”
Room service brought us breakfast. We ate and chatted over fresh fruit, croissants, omelets and mimosa. Right after, we jumped in the shower and made love again. But this time it was slow and tender. Once we were done, we just stood there gazing into each other’s eyes lovingly as the water rolled down our bodies. There was no place I’d rather be than with him standing in that shower. I knew from the look in his eyes, he felt the same way.

After our lovemaking session, we got dressed and headed for the Las Vegas strip to go sight-seeing and more importantly, shopping.

Since my hair was already ruined from the night before and this morning, I just pulled it back into a neat ponytail that fell off my shoulders. I threw on a pair of white denim Calvin Klein shorts and a plain white tank.

It was over 80 degrees and it was only noon. My goal was to be as cool as possible. I wore a pair of silver jeweled Gucci flat sandals. A pair of huge white-gold hoops hung from my ears. I put on my Dolce & Gabbana shades and was ready to roll.

Durran wore a pair of tan khaki shorts, a cream polo shirt, and a pair of tan Prada tennis shoes.
We made our way downstairs to all the shops in the Wynn. I can’t even lie, I felt like a kid in a candy store.We went to Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Oscar de la Renta. Then we made our way to Yves Saint Laurent and the Prada store. I almost felt bad for the amount of money he was spending, but he kept reassuring me purchase after purchase that he didn’t mind.
“I told you I got you. You don’t have to want for nothing.” He said kissing me on my forehead and handing the sales clerk at Louis Vuitton his black American Express card. After that little speech, we headed to The Forum Shops at Caesars, then to Tiffany’s, Chanel, Fendi and Gucci. We went back to our Lincoln Town Car with bags filled with dresses, perfume, pants, shoes, slacks, coats, jewelry, luggage, and purses .I was beyond beat and so was Durran. Laying my head back against the seat I closed my eyes.

“Don’t go to sleep on me just yet, we still got things to do.” He smiled.

“You not tired?”

"Naw, only my hand and my wallet.” He teased.

“Shut up.” I said resting my head on his chest. He ran his hand over my head, “Just relax and enjoy the ride.”

On the way back to the room, he took me to the Venetian Hotel for a gondola ride. It was so romantic. The operator serenaded us as we shared kisses and cuddled. I never wanted this trip to end.

We got back to the room and I was dog tired. I put up my things and got into the bed. “You coming baby?” I asked after letting out a sigh.

“No, I gotta go make a run real quick. Relax. When I get back I got something special planned for you.”

“What else can you do? I’ve had the most amazing time of my life. I hate that I have to go back tomorrow.”
He gave me this strange faraway look. It was kind of surreal, “Yeah me too. But I’ma cut out real quick. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Alright” I said confusedly. I began to wonder what he had planned.

He walked over and kissed me on my cheek. And with that, he was gone. It was like a dream that I didn’t want to wake up from. I didn’t have a care in the world. I was having a real vacation. I was enjoying Durran and he was enjoying me.

I wasn’t competing for his affection or attention for the first time in years. There were no awkward conversations or lingering silences between us. It was like we hadn’t missed a beat. I wasn’t sure where things might lead, but I was sure hoping that it would be happiness. Finally we could be happy together without all the meaningless bullshit that we put each other through over the years. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The sound of soft music and the smell of jasmine brought me out of my slumber. Looking at the clock it was 8:15 p.m. I couldn’t believe that I’d slept that long. I sat up, wiped my eyes, and smoothed out my hair.

I got out of the bed and looked down; it was a trail of red roses on the floor leading to the entry way of the bedroom door. “What now?” I asked to absolutely no one, “Durran?” I called out.

“I’m out here, Baby.” Durran said.

I walked out to the living room and there was a chef in the kitchen area. The dining room table was adorned with a crisp white linen table cloth, two champagne glasses and a beautiful floral centerpiece. There were candles lit all over the room. Everything looked and smelled great including Durran. He was wearing a white True Religion buttoned up shirt, a pair of gray slacks and a pair of black Gucci loafers. The diamond stud in his ear shimmered as it caught the light. Smiling at him, I realized that I had on the same clothes I had on when we went out earlier.

“Oh I gotta go change.” I tried to go back into the bedroom.

“Naw, you good.” He said ushering me back to the table and pulling out my chair for me.

“Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.” He said taking a seat across the table.

A chef came around the table and placed a linen napkin on my lap. “Here you are Miss.” I was grinning from ear to ear as I was given the princess treatment.
Lobster, prawns, green beans, and garlic roasted red potatoes; it was delicious. Then the chef brought out a small silver platter. Once we finished dinner, I was stuffed. I hadn’t had food that good in a minute. Everything was perfect.

“Here’s dessert.” He said placing the platter in front of me.

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly eat another thing.” I said backing away from the table. The chef gave Durran a look. Durran was unfazed, “Come on Keish; try one little bite for me. It’s Rommel’s specialty.”

“Really, I’m good.” I said pushing the tray in his direction, “You can have it.”

“Keish…try it. You’ll like it.” He assured me.

“Alright, fine.” I said finally opening the platter. I noticed there wasn’t a dessert on it. Instead there was a small velvet navy blue box.

“What’s this?” I asked looking up at him.

“I don’t know.” He responded smiling, “Open it and find out.”

I could have fainted. Inside the box was the largest diamond ring I’d ever seen. It had to be at least five karats, in a platinum setting. The pear-shaped solitaire was flanked by four smaller round diamonds on each side. It was blinding. I was in complete shock.

“Well? Will you?” He asked kneeling down in front of me, “Will you marry me?”

I was speechless. For the first time in my life I didn’t have a word to say. I got up and ran into the bedroom closing and locking the door behind me.