Take My Hand (Interracial Erotic Romance) by Sophia Banks Read Free Book Online

pressed her floor. The door closed and she began she slow ascent to the tenth floor. She leaned against the back of the elevator and closed her eyes. Now what?
    She had a dilemma on her hands. Tyler Scott was obviously trying to seduce her and while she was flattered, Gracie had to remain focused on her current priorities. Which were, in order:
    1) Tamika
    2) Her poetry
    3) Her job
    4) Tyler
    The elevator came to a stop and the doors slowly opened. Gracie stepped off and headed for her door at the end of the hall. Once inside she checked her house phone for messages. There was one, from her aunt Joanne, asking how her and Tamika were doing. Gracie sighed and made a mental note to call her in the morning. She began to dread informing Joanne that yes, once again, Tamika had relapsed and was out running the streets.
    Her aunt would, no doubt, began to ask questions to decipher why Tamika relapsed. Gracie was not looking forward to the idle speculation, especially when the answer was obvious. Tamika relapsed because she wanted to, pure and simple.
    Gracie stripped in the hallway and turned on the shower as hot as it would go. She hoped the heat would help relieve the growing tension in her neck and as she eased her way under the hot water Gracie began to relax. A little, anyway.
    As steam rose around her and hot water pounded against her flesh, Gracie began to ponder her situation and develop a plan going forward. Now was clearly not the time to be getting involved with a man and she would have to politely inform Tyler that he would have to leave her alone, for the time being at least.
    She hoped he would respect her decision and stop trying to seduce her, because quite frankly, Gracie wasn’t sure how much longer she could fight the man off. And if he managed to break down her defenses and they became intimate, her life would become even more complicated. That was the last thing she needed, considering she could barely manage her life now.
    Damn you, Tamika. I pray you’re safe but one of these days I might just have to lay an ass whipping on you!
    Gracie lathered her body and the stress from the evening began to dissipate. The heat between her legs, however, only grew stronger and before long she was spreading her aching lips with her long, manicured fingers.
    “Oh, Tyler,” she moaned. Gracie had promised herself to not sleep with the man, but she didn’t say anything about fantasizing about him, now did she? She knew keeping the man on her mind wasn’t such a great idea, but as her fingers began to work themselves in and out of her snatch, she didn’t care.
    A girl does have needs, after all.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    *
     
    Gracie was buried under her comforter and enjoying a pleasant dream involving Tyler when her house phone began ringing off the hook.
    “What the hell?” Slowly, Gracie pulled herself from her slumber and shuffled to the phone in the living room. She glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand and saw it was only 8:30am. Who could be calling her this early? Few people had her home number and everyone who did knew she worked nights. She reached the phone and wiped the crust out of her eyes.
    “Hello?”
    “Ms. Gracie Johnson?” The voice was male and he was calling from a loud environment.
    Gracie gasped. “Yes, who is this?”
    “This is Nurse Engle at Manhattan Memorial Hospital. Your sister Tamika has overdosed and she’d currently in our care.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    *
     
    “What are we going to do Lamar? She could have died this morning!”
    Lamar shook his head. “I think it’s time we talked about long term, secure care. We need to get her off the streets, for as long as possible.”
    The cousins were sitting in the cafeteria and sharing a bland turkey sandwich. Gracie had called Lamar in terror and he picked her up and drove her to the hospital. The ride over was solemn and silent. Upon arrival in the emergency room, the doctor on duty, Dr. Agricola had pulled