Page 17 of Kobalt

I watched as he tucked his hands in the pockets of his armor-gray sweatpants and walked away.

When I went away to college, Kobalt had two years of college remaining. After college, he was submerged in the sports world, surrounded by famous athletes and beautiful influencers. It was a world that I didn’t understand, and there was no place for me there. Those years had grown a chasm between us.

I tried blocking everything related to him, but that didn’t work. Whenever Niagara and Mama Francine had the chance, they were bragging on him. By right, they should have been, because they had every reason to be proud of him. It hadn’t stopped my heart from longing for the only man I’d ever loved.

The time we spent together the weekend that I opened Velvet Opulence Interiors meant the world to me. Between my busy schedule of establishing my business and building my client base larger, I spent every waking moment with that man at my place.

We tried dating for three months because we couldn’t stay away from each other—until the night he received a phone call. His coach had gotten an opportunity for him to get on with an MMA team overseas. He had told him the contract was sitting on his desk, and all Kobe needed to do was sign it. That marked the end of us.

It was all just as well anyway—my world had been turned upside down. Two weeks after his departure, I learned that I was pregnant with his child—a child neither of us would ever get to meet, . . . to hold, . . . to love. Now I knew that I needed to tell him, but it wouldn’t be easy.

ONE WEEK LATER (2ND WEEK OF SEPTEMBER)

The gamey aroma of the gyros from the lamb I cooked the night before scented the air.

“Hey, it smells good in here. What’re you cooking?” Kaimera asked, walking into the kitchen.

I turned to look at her. She wore a pair of jeans and an off-the-shoulder sweater for the cooler air that had crept up into the mountains over the last week.

For the most part, she had kept to herself. I had been busy with the renovations, and while she hadn’t left the property as I originally suggested, she had stayed hidden in the house while the men were here.

Whenever I returned late in the evening, she would already have a meal cooked for me, and it would be waiting on the stove. If I went to her room to check on her, she would either be on the phone or she would already be in bed for the night.

“Gyros. Are you hungry?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Good. Grab your purse and phone and come with me.”

A puzzled frown tipped her brows down and pinched at the corners of her lips.

“Why are we going out to eat if you just cooked?”

“We’re not going out to eat. We’ll be eating these gyros.”

“Then where are we going?”

“You trust me?”

“Of course, I do. Although you asking me that question has me wondering if I should.”

I looked over my shoulder at her and smirked. As she headed to do what I instructed her to, I grabbed a set of keys off the key hook by the back door and headed for the garage.

I pulled the midnight-blue 1968 Chevrolet Camaro from the four-car garage around front. Within seconds, Kaimera came bounding down the steps with wide, innocent, glee-filled eyes. Kaimera took no time jumping inside the car and joining me.

“Is this Baby Boy?” she asked knowingly.

I smirked and nodded as I gripped the steering wheel. “One and the same.”

“Oh, my goodness! He looks so good, Kobe.” She squealed.

She called me by my nickname again, and that shit hit like fire straight to my bones. My dick reacted in kind, and I shifted in my seat to manage the discomfort of the tightness in my jeans.

“Thank you.”

“When did you get it restored?” she asked as she reached for the handle to lower the windows.

“It’s been a process for the last two years.”