Lakisha Johnson

I run around the bedroom, lighting the candles on the nightstand. When I hear the chirp of the alarm, I quickly turn off the lights, remove my robe and stand next to the bed.

“Lynn, where are you?” Jerome calls out.

“In the bedroom.”

“Why do you have the lights off?” He asks flicking the light switch and then laughing. “What are you doing and what do you have on?”

“I am trying to have a romantic night with my husband.” I angrily reply grabbing my robe.

“Why are you dressed like a street walker? Where are the kids?” He asks taking off his suit jacket and throwing it across the chair.

“They are with my parents for the weekend but just disregard the fact your wife is standing in front of you semi-nude.” I reply blowing out the candles. “What is wrong with you?”

“Me? What is wrong with you? Where did you even get that outfit from?”

“I bought it because I thought you’d appreciate me going out of my way.”

“Why would you think that? I just hope nobody saw you in the store.” He says.

“Because I am your wife and it’s the only thing I requested for my birthday.”
His eyes widen.

“You forgot. Figures.”

“Babe, I’m sorry.” He says sitting on the side of the bed. “With everything going on at work and the church, it slipped my mind. We had the final meeting with the new youth minister and she accepted the position. I think she’s going to be a great fit for the church and the changes with the youth department and you’re going to like her, I think. In fact, you both kind of favor.”

“JEROME!” I yell to stop him from speaking. “I don’t want to talk about no freaking church when I’m standing here half naked.”

“Sorry. Look, put some clothes on, some decent clothes and we can go out to eat.”

“No,” I say slowly walking up to him. “I have everything we need right here so why don’t you take off your clothes and we stay in?” I kiss him on the forehead before loosening his tie. “I went to this store and got some stuff for us to play with and,” I kiss him again.

“What kind of stuff?” He asks interrupting.

“Some edible stuff.” I kiss him again. “Some sticky stuff.” I kiss him again.
“And some kinky, useful stuff.”

“Wait, you mean them sex toys?”

“Yep and whip cream, strawberries–”

He pushes me away.

“You know I’m not using those things Lynn.”

I fall onto the bed. “Come on Jerome. What’s the harm? It’s our marriage bed and the bible says–”

“I know what the bible says but aren’t you the one who just said you didn’t want to hear not bible talk?”

“You know that is not what I meant. We need some fun added to our marriage bed.”

“There is nothing wrong with our marriage bed. We have three children to prove that and if it ain’t broke, don’t break it trying to fix it.”

“Jerome, making children has nothing to do with our sex life which sucks, by the way.”

“Where are you getting this from? Who have you been talking too?”

“Why would I need to talk to anybody? If you were to get your head out of the bible and look at your wife, you’d see for yourself. All we ever do, is the same old tired missionary position with your five pumps. Hell, your idea of foreplay is rubbing on me like we’re in middle school. You don’t even kiss me anymore and I’m tired of it. I want you to make love to me like you used too!”

“You been watching that Fifty Shades stuff again, haven’t you? What did I tell you about that mess? Got you around here looking and sounding like a plum fool.”

“Forget you Jerome!”

“Lynn, I don’t know what is wrong with you but I’m going to take a shower. If you want to go out to dinner, be dressed by the time I am done.”
He walks into the bathroom and slams the door.

I walk into the closet and take off the lingerie and slip on a bra. I look through my clothes and pull a black tank dress from the hanger.

Putting it on, I grab a pair of black strappy sandals from the shelf. Sitting on the ottoman, I fasten them before standing to look at myself in the full-length mirror.

I run my hand over my hair and look closely to ensure my makeup is still intact. I take a red clutch from the shelf before leaving out the bedroom and going into the kitchen to get my license, lip gloss, credit card and keys from my other purse.

Making sure I have everything, I walk over to the alarm panel. Setting it to stay, I open the door before turning to look down the hall.

“Oh, I got your dinner boo.”

***

I hope you’ve enjoyed the first chapter of The Marriage Bed. If you did, you can get a copy of the full book HERE.

As always, Happy Reading!

Lakisha