Six More Minutes

  Six More Minutes

  New Year Bae-Solutions

  AC Arthur

  An Artistry Publishing Book

  SIX MORE MINUTES, First Edition: 2020

  Copyright © 2020 by A.C. Arthur

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  Excerpt from PLAY TO WIN

  First Edition: 2020

  Copyright © 2020 by A.C. Arthur

  All rights reserved.

  All rights reserved. This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Characters, names, locations, events and incidents (in either a contemporary and/or historical setting) are products of the author’s imagination and are being used in an imaginative manner as a part of this work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, settings or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  www.acarthur.net

  Contents

  Foreword

  The New Year Bae-Solutions Series

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Looking for your next read by A.C. Arthur?

  Play To Win

  Also by AC Arthur

  About the Author

  Foreword

  Dear Reader,

  Myles Donovan and Gemma Taylor first appeared in the novella, One Christmas Song. I’m so excited to bring you a quick glimpse into their lives since we last visited with them.

  Bringing together members of two of my favorite families has been such a fun experience. I can’t wait for you to read more about Myles and Gemma so without further ado…

  * * *

  Happy Reading,

  AC

  The New Year Bae-Solutions Series

  This novella is part of the New Year Bae-Solutions Series. It is 1 of 8 short stories that are connected by the New Year's Eve theme.

  Here is a list of all the books in this series:

  EIGHT NAUGHTY NIGHTS by Nicole Falls

  SEVEN MONTH DROUGHT by Sherelle Green

  SIX MORE MINUTES by A.C. Arthur

  FIVE MIDNIGHT MOMENTS by Sheryl Lister

  FOUR PAGE LETTER by Angela Seals

  THREE WRONG DATES by Kelsey Green

  TWO HOT KISSES by Yahrah St. John

  ONE MORE DRINK by Elle Wright

  Each story can be read as a standalone, so please do not feel you are committed to purchasing and reading each story in the series. However, I can safely say that you might be missing out on 8 fantastic stories if you don’t.

  One

  Gemma fell back against the pillows breathing heavily and feeling more sated than she had in a long time. As a matter of fact, she hadn’t felt this way since the last time she’d been with Myles—two months ago. “That was the best quickie I’ve ever had.”

  And quick it was, she’d arrived at the cabin on the outskirts of Temptation, Virginia, about fifteen minutes ago. No sooner than she’d walked through the door and general pleasantries were exchanged then she’d been in Myles’ arms. Her clothes were taken off and his followed. He’d retrieved a condom that she put on him in record time. Before she could even get all the way on the bed, he’d lifted one of her legs and wrapped it around his waist before thrusting deep inside her. A handful of moans and groans, some deep ass penetration and an orgasm that truly almost blinded her later and now she was struggling to catch her breath.

  “Quickie?” he questioned after rolling over onto his back a few inches away from her.

  At the slightly hurt, but still light sound of his voice she reached out a hand without looking and patted his arm. “Okay, three exhilarating and fulfilling minutes.”

  “Three?”

  She turned her head only because the rest of her body was still in that orgasmic coma. His brow was furrowed, brown eyes searching her imploringly. “Four and a half?”

  “Ten?” He countered.

  She frowned and rethought a moment. “Okay, whatever, six.”

  He did a fist pump into the air and she bit back a smile.

  It didn’t matter how long or how good the sex had been, it couldn’t happen again. Not like this. Not in secret or in hiding, as if a few days in an impeccably maintained rustic cabin were the updated version of a booty call.

  “I’ll be right back.” He touched his full lips to her cheek, leaving a loud kiss before he rolled out of the bed.

  Gemma watched him walk into the bathroom. The dimpled cheeks of his tight ass, muscled thighs and all that gorgeous deep tree bark brown skin made her mouth water each and every damn time she hooked up with him.

  This was the fourth time they’d been together since she’d met Myles right here in Temptation last year at Christmastime. She’d been born in this town but last year was only here for a visit with family when she’d ended up helping a singer who’d been filming a video here and needed a hair stylist. In a town the size of Temptation there weren’t many of those around and Ms. Gilda who’d been doing hair for the last thirty-five years was on the brink of retirement. Besides that, news traveled through the small town like wildfire, especially when another one of the infamous Taylor Sextuplets had come home.

  Well, she’d only stayed through the holidays last year. And in the past twelve months she’d come back for her brother Gage’s wedding, her other brother Gray’s birthday celebration for his older twins Jack and Lily and then again, this past week for Christmas. But in between that time she’d met up with Myles at National Harbor in April, at Virginia Beach in June, and at a quaint little bed and breakfast in October. She hadn’t expected his text on Christmas Eve telling her he was also in Temptation taking care of some final issues with the new golf and tennis resort he’d built. Her original plan for this trip had been to stay with her family until the 28th and then return to her salon in D.C. to begin scheduling appointments for all those wanting to look good for the New Year’s celebrations. But that plan had changed and instead of heading home on the 28th, she’d come here to this beautiful cabin to feel Myles buried deep inside her one more time.

  With a heavy sigh she yanked the sheet over her naked body. With Myles gone it was suddenly chilly in this massive bedroom. To be honest, from what she’d seen of the cabin he’d invited her to in the short time she’d been here, most of the rooms were huge and impeccably decorated. The bed she was laying in had to be a California King with gorgeous dark wood posts. There were lots of pillows—which she personally loved—and a thick cream-colored duvet over the softest sheets. And why was she laying here thinking about this big ass bed, the rich textured wood beams on the vaulted ceilings, the wrought-iron chandelier, and the dove gray rug on the floor? When she should’ve been recalling the way Myles had just given her an almost debilitating orgasm. Damn, her thighs were still trembling, her pussy still throbbing long after his thick length had slid out of her.

  She closed her eyes to that thought because it troubled more than pleased her and for that she felt she needed to pray for some sense to be smacked into her.

  “Do you want breakfast, or did I actually manage to put you to sleep?”

  His tone was joking as she cracked her eyes open and turned to see him standing on the side of the bed closest to her.

  “I’m not sleep.”

  He grinned, that slow and sexy ass grin that wrapped around her like a warm blanket every time she saw it. “Ok. So, are you hungry? You wanna head to the kitchen to get some
thing to eat?”

  He was still naked as sin, yes sin, because that’s what it should be for a man to be this fine. How many times over the last year had she thought Myles Donovan was too good to be true? One million and one, including just now. With that train of thought her gaze slid from his gorgeous and slightly cocky grin, down over his perfectly sculpted chest, further down to the heavy length of his semi-erect dick. Did he just ask her something about being hungry?

  “Yeah.” She cleared her throat and sat up in the bed, not paying any attention to the fact that the action had the sheet slipping down to her waist. “I can eat.”

  Now it was Myles’ turn to shift his gaze. His tongue gliding slowly over his lips as he stared down at her full F cup-sized breasts. “So can I,” he murmured before shaking his head. “But we should get some food into our system first because I’ve got a feeling we’re going to be burning a lot of energy in the next few days.”

  He reached for her hands then and she willingly placed hers in his, allowing him to help her out of the bed. When they were standing front to front, she tilted her head back slightly to look at him. Myles was six feet two inches tall to her five feet ten inches, so she didn’t have to crane her head back too far before she was staring into his deep brown eyes. He laced his arms around her full waist, pulling her closer to him before leaning in for a slow press of his lips to hers. No tongue, no heavy breathing, just that sweet, prolonged connection that almost had her changing her mind about what she’d decided to do during this present rendezvous.

  “We should get some clothes on first.”

  He made a groaning sound and scrunched his face in disapproval. “I like you naked.”

  At thirty-three years old Gemma discovered she wasn’t too old to blush. “I like you naked too but cooking in the buff might be a little dangerous. Especially since I’ve got a taste for waffles, bacon and cheesy eggs.”

  “Hmmmm. It’s lunch time, but I love your waffles.” His grin expanded to a quick chuckle and his hands slid from her waist to cup her ass. “So, we can get dressed for a little bit, but then the clothes are coming off. I’ve been waiting months to get my hands on you again, I’m not about to be feeling you through layers of clothes.”

  The deep smooth timbre of his voice, that sexy as hell grin, those intense bedroom eyes, and the feel of his strong hands on her melted away all the shields she’d erected around herself on the drive out here. The resolve she’d decided she needed to have, the strength she’d channeled from her sweet, blessed mother, all that wavered as she basked in the perfection of this moment.

  “You can feel me however you want, Myles.” She meant those words even if she had no idea how long this bliss would last, not after she said what she’d come here to say.

  Two

  This woman looked too good wearing no clothes. Hell, she was fine as fuck when she was fully dressed. No wonder he couldn’t stop thinking about her in between their little meet ups. Shaking his head, Myles opened one of the cabinets and pulled out two glasses.

  “What are you over there shaking your head about?”

  Even her voice enchanted him and if his sisters ever heard him say that he’d never hear the end of it. There was just something about her slightly husky tone that he enjoyed hearing, which is probably why he played her phone messages more than once when there was absolutely no other reason to do so.

  “Just thinking about how we met here in Temptation a year ago and now we’re back here again.”

  “Yeah, it has been a year. If I hadn’t been called over to Holidays Inn to help Cordy we would’ve never met.”

  “And we’d never have snuck out for that late night walk.”

  That walk had started it all. For as much as Myles had been traveling all his life, he always had problems sleeping in strange beds through the night. As homey as the Holidays Inn and the people who worked there had felt to him upon arriving, his non-sleeping streak had continued.

  Gemma was putting a cast iron skillet on top of the six-burner stove as she looked over her shoulder. “When you came into that kitchen, interrupting my midnight snack raid and asked if I wanted to join you for a walk out in the cold, I thought you had lost your mind.”

  Her hair was a wild mass off curls hanging down her back. She’d put on one of those sexy as hell nightshirts she liked to wear. At a glance it seemed like just an ordinary T-shirt, but the thin material made it see-through in some spots and the tattered V-neck collar made it impossible to ignore all that natural cleavage she had going on. It came to her upper thigh, tucking under her perfectly rounded ass and just hiding the glorious spot between her legs that he couldn’t wait to get back inside of.

  “Is that really what you thought? Because you didn’t seem to hesitate at the offer.” She hadn’t. Instead, she’d smiled at him, her cinnamon-brown eyes lighting up at his words making him feel like it had been fate that landed him at that bed and breakfast at that precise moment in time.

  Not that Myles believed in fate. That was something his mother and his youngest sister, Cee-Cee talked about all the damn time. How things were pre-ordained, destiny fulfilled and all that crap. Myles was a realist and so was his middle sister, Kendra. They took the world and everything in it for what it was at face value. His father, on the other hand, believed in his music and had been stuck in that world all of Myles’ life.

  “That’s because I thought you were cute,” she said.

  “Oh really?” He put plates and napkins on the six-foot long oak table across from the island in the center of the kitchen and then moved closer to where she stood. “You never told me that before.”

  She lay strips of bacon in the skillet causing a crackling sound to echo throughout the large space. “I don’t have to tell you what you already know. Besides, I’m sure plenty of women have told you how good you look before.”

  He extended his arm and pushed a wavy strand of hair away from her face. “It hits different coming from you.”

  The surprised look she gave him also hit him differently and he dropped his hand quickly. For a few prolonged moments they just stared at each other. Him trying to figure out why he’d decided to come to Temptation at the last minute under the pretense of handling business his construction manager could’ve easily taken care of after the new year. And her, probably wondering what the hell was going on with him.

  “So, when is the resort opening?” She turned her attention back to the bacon, flipping it over before moving to the part of the counter where the waffle iron was warming. “Remember I told you about my sister-in-law Morgan and her sister Wendy? Well, they were talking about the town looking forward to the opening celebration. My brother Gray was more concerned about the media coming into town even though the exposure would definitely be good for Temptation’s economy.”

  Deciding it probably wasn’t a good idea to get caught up in watching her move throughout this space as comfortably as if she lived there, Myles headed over to the coffee machine to see if he could fix them both a cup without causing too much of a mess.

  “First week of April,” he told her and found the power button to the machine. They had one like this in his office back in Chesapeake, so he was relieved to see familiar control buttons. Fred Randall, the real estate agent who’d assisted him in finding the perfect location for the resort as well as this amazing cabin, had also hired someone to come in and make sure the place was fully stacked with food for his stay here this week. The guy was knowledgeable and dependable, even if his wife Millie was Temptation’s biggest and nosiest busybody. “I don’t know any details about the celebration, my sister and business partner, Kendra handles all of our PR and marketing.”

  “That’s right, you’re partners with one sister and your other sister, Cecile, right? She’s a botanist. I remember because she and my sister Gen are Black girls in STEM and I love it!”

  Myles dropped the first miniature coffee cup into the dispenser and closed it before placing a mug under the nozzle. Almost forgetting
to add the water, he grabbed the container off the side of the machine and headed to the sink.

  “Yeah, but she prefers to be called Cee-Cee. My mom’s really proud of her too. I mean, she’s proud of all of her children but she says she knew Kendra and I would own a business of some sort because we were so bossy as children.”

  “So was I,” Gemma said. “I was my mother’s best helper and with sextuplets she needed all the help she could get.”

  That’s right, sometimes Myles forgot that Gemma was one of six siblings born and dubbed the first set of African American sextuplets in the town of Temptation. Her family was just as notable as his.

  “I was my parents’ biggest headache,” he said and then turned off the water with a sigh.

  “Why? Because you were the only son of the Myles Denton, lead singer of the Sweet Tones in the sixties and seventies and then chart-topping solo artist from the eighties and nineties. I couldn’t believe it when you told me that’s who your father was. I mean you introduced yourself as Myles Donovan when we first met and of course I’d heard of Parker and Savian Donovan via the television station they owned.”

  Gemma had mentioned that to him earlier this year when she decided not to participate in the reality TV show his cousins were producing along with Ava Cannon who was now married to Gemma’s brother Gage. He recalled wondering if that made him and Gemma some type of distant relative and if so, they’d already slept together so that was bound to be a tricky situation. Luckily, he’d decided the distance was too great for there to be anything weird about him and Gemma sleeping together. At least as far as some of their family members knowing and being married to each other. On the other hand, these weekend trysts they’d kept going in the past year weren’t exactly what some would call a normal dating routine.