Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 142866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
“Go,” I whisper. “My gut says go.”
“Then you go,” Soledad says, “but mitigate the fallout. You gotta talk to Zere before it goes any further.”
“I know.” I huff out a sigh and search their faces. “Did I break girl code?”
“The technicalities of whether or not you broke some unspoken code won’t matter if Zere is hurt or angry,” Yasmen says, sympathy in her expression. “You have to be prepared for the fact that she may see this as a betrayal, even though technically it’s not. It won’t matter if you win on a technicality if she no longer feels she can work with you because you’re dating her ex-boyfriend.”
Dating? Shit. I’m ’bout to be dating?
“Are you prepared for that?” Yasmen presses.
Am I?
“And is he worth it?” Soledad asks.
I lick suddenly dry lips. The implications don’t just affect me, but Chapel, too. That’s another conversation I’ll need to have if Zere decides to dissolve our business partnership.
“Oh, hi!” Soledad squeals, her wide eyes trained over my shoulder.
I whip around so fast I almost fall off my bed.
“Whoa,” Maverick says, catching my elbow and carefully righting me. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I say, a little breathless. “I didn’t hear you come in. We… well, we—”
“I’m Yasmen,” she cuts in, beaming on-screen. “Nice to meet you, Maverick.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you.” He smiles easily as if he’s not bare-chested and wearing only briefs. Fortunately the phone’s camera is aimed up. “And you must be Soledad.”
“I am,” she says, her grin stretching from one corner of her face to the other. “It’s really nice to meet you.”
“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he says, resting his palm with casual possessiveness at my nape. “Food’s ready.”
“Okay. I’ll be down.”
“Nice to meet you both,” he says, shifting his gaze back to the screen. “Hope to see you in person soon.”
He walks out and we wait a collective beat before they both release whisper-screams.
“Gurhhhhlllll.” Yasmen fans her face. “We gotta work this out. You waited all this time and Father God sent you that? Sis, you deserve.”
“You do, Hen.” Soledad blinks rapidly.
“Sol, are you…” I lean closer and take in the light skin flush of her cheeks and the way her nose is reddening. “Are you ’bout to cry?”
“I’m just so happy for you,” Soledad sniffs. “You’ve waited for someone who could truly be your match, and I feel like he could be, Hen.”
“Lawd! Y’all some hussies. Were you this confident before you saw how fine he is half naked?” I ask dryly.
“My confidence definitely shot through the roof at that point,” Yasmen says, cackling. “When a man like that wants you, and you want him, you better have a damn good reason to not go for it.”
I search my heart, my mind, my gut. All the places that have unfailingly steered my decisions over the years. Do I have a good enough reason not to pursue Maverick Bell?
I don’t think I do.
CHAPTER 32
MAVERICK
That was delicious,” Hendrix says, eating her last forkful of omelet. “Thank you.”
“Sure.” I grab her plate and mine to place them in the dishwasher. I force myself to focus on the conversation instead of the question boiling in my brain, which is WILL YOU SPEND THE WEEK WITH ME?
“It was nice meeting your friends,” I say instead. “At least on-screen.”
“They’re the best.” She sends me a wry, amused glance. “Let’s just say they’re impressed with you.”
“Oh, word?” I ask, allowing a one-sided tilt of a grin.
“Yeah. Black surfer boy may be our new kink.”
“What are your old ones?”
She leans forward to suck my earlobe into her mouth, wet and hot. Her hand wanders between us to clasp my dick in a just-right grip. My knees actually go a little weak.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she chuckles huskily into my ear.
I gulp and breathe out, “I want to know everything about you, Hendrix.”
The words ring with such truth and carry such weight that she must hear, must feel it, too. She pulls away, the laughter dying in her eyes and stares at me like I’ve startled her. Hell, I startled myself. I don’t know how Hendrix Barry has come to feel this vital to me, but I want her in my life. There is so much we still have to learn about each other, but deep down, past my intellect, past my gut instincts, to where knowledge is primordial, that’s where I know Hendrix is supposed to be in my life. That level of recognition isn’t about how long you’ve known a person. It doesn’t matter that it’s complicated or fast. That place that is buried deep below what is civilized or rational calls out for her; demands that I do whatever it takes to keep her.
She clears her throat and tightens the belt of the robe around her waist.
“I should probably get dressed,” she says, walking to the other end of the counter. Does she think putting physical distance between us will lessen the strength of desire, the need that throbs in the air when we’re together?