On the Line by Donna Hill

solid and shapely. I cupped the back of her afro and ran my hands from her neck to her round ass. We moved to the jazz of Grover Washington, Jr. We danced to the bed and we never stopped kissing. I lit candles and we exchanged back rubs and lay in each other’s arms caressing each other’s bodies. I reached into the dresser next to the bed and pulled a handful of condoms from the drawer.
    We stopped making love when the condoms ran out. It was the most remarkable lovemaking I’d had. We had all that pent-up energy and desire. We dated for over two years with plans to marry. Crystal eventually moved to Kansas City with her sister-in-law.
    Crystal was studying law and working part-time. We had long stopped using condoms, but she was on the Pill. We made love almost every other day. We were both strong-minded and I was finishing up my senior year in college.
    We agreed to take a break from dating each other when we couldn’t agree on a date for marriage. We still went out occasionally from time to time. I would see her and her sister-in-law out at the clubs and we always had a good time.
    Two months later, Crystal called and informed me that she was going back to Denver. I asked her if she was sure and she said she just wanted to be closer to her family. I understood, because I knew how important my family was to me.
    Two weeks later, I got a call that Crystal was pregnant and that we were expecting a child. We argued about whether it was intentional. Though we never came to an agreement about that, I have always loved and admired her. Twyla was born seven months later in Denver, Colorado. I arrived a little after the baby was born. She was a beautiful baby. I stayed for three days and came home to finish school. Crystal and I raised our daughter. Mostly Crystal. I had her for the summers and went to visit, or Crystal would come to Kansas City to visit with our daughter.
    Jessica Simms is the second woman I had a baby by and, the sad truth is, the third woman, Phyllis Charles, was pregnant at the same time. They were one month apart. But we’ll talk about her later. Back to Jessica. She and I worked together at the postal service. We knew each other for about three years, but never kicked it together. I would see her all the time at the clubs. She was attractive and all, but she was a wild girl. Smoked weed, drank and did light drugs. I wasn’t into that, but she was thick and fine. She had an ass like Janet Jackson.
    It was late one night at the club. I got myself a drink and saw her watching me from her table. I walked over and asked her to dance. Four records and slow-dancing later, we were on our way to her house. That was fine with me; I had a three-pack of new condoms and nothing but time on my hands.
    Her two-story, three-bedroom house was in the inner city. We reclined on the couch and started watching nothing in particular on television.
    Soon the lights were low and we were kissing and exploring each other’s bodies. She had on a leather skirt and sweater top with calf-high leather boots and stockings. While rubbing her legs, I soon came to find that her stockings were thigh-highs. Our kisses became more passionate and I soon fell between her bare thighs and served her up. Her moans were loud and her legs straddled my shoulders as she gripped the back of my head and moved my face deeper into her.
    She took my hand and turned everything off as she led me to her bedroom. The stage had been set. She let me undress her and I let her undress me. We made love until around an hour before sunrise. I washed up and dressed and was home in bed by the first morning light. That was the beginning of what I called our vampire relationship. I never spent the night and was always in my own bed by the time the sun rose over the horizon.
    I was dating another woman at the time named Raven. She and I were at a mutual friend’s home at a house party. She wore this tight-fitting burgundy leather outfit that