Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Whatever she sees in my eyes, it makes worry knit her fine brows together, and she runs, taking the steps quickly to the next floor before I can warn her that I will chase.
I let her go for now. Over the years, I’ve learned when to pursue and when to fall back, biding my time and playing the long game. Twelve years is a very long game. It was one kiss. One conversation. That I could walk away from. I did. But the kiss we just had? The attraction simmering between us…that is worth exploring. This isn’t about then. It’s about now.
I follow more slowly, and as expected, there’s no sign of Takira when I reach the foyer. I glance through the front door someone is holding open and see her standing outside. I watch her for a few moments before an Uber pulls up and she leaves. I’ll figure out my next step later. There’s a pattern in my life. Yes, I’m always ready, prepared when the moment comes, but opportunities have a habit of presenting themselves to me. I’m just the guy who recognizes when they come and knows how to make the most of them. Pundits have often drawn parallels between my career and guys like Tom Brady, who, as a sixth-round draft pick, was the back-up quarterback. When the starter Drew Bledsoe was injured, Brady had to step in. Seven Superbowl rings later, the rest, as they say, is history. Preparation meeting opportunity. Discipline making up for deficits. That’s always been my calling card, too.
I wander outside, grinning when I see my friends lounging by the pool. Lotus is perched on Kenan’s knee. Iris and August are stretched out, entwined on a lounge chair, holding hands.
“You guys are sickeningly sweet,” I say in mock disgust, flopping into an empty chair at the table beside Kenan and Lotus.
“How will you survive all this disgusting sweetness on our bae-cation?” Lotus asks, biting Kenan’s ear and waggling her brows at me.
“Oh, you mean the geriatric cruise.” I chuckle. “Also known as Kenan’s fortieth birthday party?”
“You don’t want a free two-week ride on a yacht in the Mediterranean?” Kenan grumbles, tucking his chin into the curve of Lotus’s neck. “Stay your ass at home.”
“Yeah, Naz,” August says, standing and walking over from the lounge chair. “It’ll be all couples, and we know how awkward that could be for you since you haven’t had a meaningful relationship in, oh…ever.”
“He has a very meaningful relationship,” Kenan deadpans, “with his trainer.”
“Stop teasing him,” Iris chides, joining us at the table. “It’s not his fault he has commitment issues.”
“I do not have commitment issues.” I laugh, leaning the chair back on two legs.
“He just hasn’t found the right person,” Lotus says, narrowing her eyes in that way she has that makes you feel like she’s peeled your skin back and found something interesting. “Though he was all up in Takira’s personal space today.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I look over the infinity pool, not meeting the curious eyes of my friends. “Tell me more about this cruise we’re going on. Who’s coming?”
“Well, the four of us, obviously. And there’s…” Lotus counts on her fingers silently. “Six couples.”
“And you.” August grins.
“You could always bring a plus one,” Lotus says.
“I don’t have a…” The rest of my denial gets lost in a jumble of thoughts as a brilliant plan emerges. One that formulates as yet another opportunity presents itself.
“So, Lotus,” I say, tossing her a devious grin. “Does she have to know she’s my plus one?”
Chapter Six
Takira
I drank too much and didn’t fuck enough.
Correction. I didn’t fuck at all, and it’s been so long that I’m feeling it. My head pounds, and my pussy throbs. She’s mad at me for walking away from what could have been—but now we’ll never know—the best dick of my life. Maybe Naz wouldn’t deliver on that kiss, but the way he took my tongue in his mouth and sucked hard while his big hands were so gentle at my throat, on my shoulders, arms, back? That was a man who knew what he was doing, and he wanted to do it to me.
And I’ll be damned if I didn’t want to let him.
“Shit.”
I roll onto my back and slide a hand into my panties beneath the coolness of the sheets. As soon as I got home, I downed quite a bit of wine, hoping to take off the edge Naz pushed me to. I peeled that bodysuit off, tossed my Jimmy Choos into a corner, and crawled in bed bare. I woke up soaked from dreams of that man, a collage of the past, the present, and the future he gave me a glimpse of last night with a mere kiss. A future where he fucks me like I’ve been wanting, needing for a long time. I like it hard and deep and nasty.