Page 73
Apple:
I hate you.
Me:
6:30, Apple.
Apple:
Fine.
Me:
Wait. That’s what you called me last night.
She sent me the middle finger emoji. I chuckled again.
I couldn’t wait for tonight. I just wanted to sit beside her while the sun went down, feed her something good, and listen to that smart mouth. That was enough.
Actually…
That was more than enough.
I had enjoyed the early part of my day, shopping, sightseeing, and eating with my family in Port Isle’s upscale Mariner’s Row. Dream picked up souvenirs for Declan, Dexter, Kam, and her niece Amaya while Demon called to check on their babies like clockwork every hour. Seeing my hard-eyed, seemingly cold cousin murmur, “DaDa loves you,” touched something inside me. I didn’t know everything about him—I knew I never would—but I knew enough to know he’d been through hell and back. The peace and love he had now, had been hard-earned and seeing him protect it, even revel in it, was beautiful to me. I smiled at him at one point. He immediately scowled and pushed my head. But when Kiana and I made it back to my villa, she handed me the thousand-dollar bag I’d been eyeing in one of the shops.
“Here. Damie said it was so ugly no one but you would want it,” she announced.
He could say that. I knew better.
Kiki was still with me as I waited eagerly for tonight’s date. She claimed she was sticking close to me today because she had to check on me. Her actual words when she popped up at nine this morning were, “Bitch, I had to come see if you needed CPR.”
“You a little late for that,” I’d told her dryly, thinking about how that man could indeed fuck me unconscious.
Of course, Saadiq Masters was five minutes early. He’d probably had to fight himself not to come any earlier. I had followed his instructions and kept it casual. A long, loose white sundress floated around my ankles, and I wore gold sandals I could kick off easily. My curls were pulled into a messy bun high on my head, gold hoops in my ears and only a moisturizing sunscreen on my face. After the amount of sun I’d gotten yesterday and today, I didn’t need makeup.
“Look, the sun got my skin glowing!” I told Kiana.
“That ain’t no damn sun!” she scoffed.
Ignoring her, I opened the door. Saadiq stood was waiting in dark shorts and a cream t-shirt that put his tatted sleeves on display. He gave me his usual leisurely perusal. I pointed a warning finger at him.
“Don’t start.”
He held up both hands. “I ain’t said nothing.”
“You want to.”
“I was about to tell you that you look beautiful.”
“Oh.”
His lips curved. “That’s what I thought.”
“I’m the daughter with the manners; you have to excuse her,” Kiana said, breezing past me and out the door.
I rolled my eyes, but I stepped into Saadiq’s arms when he reached for me. He kissed me softly, the kiss I called his daytime one. It was nothing like the wicked kisses he'd been giving me over the last couple of nights. Nah, daytime kiss was just a sweet brush of his mouth over mine that somehow made my stomach flutter worse.
I stepped back enough to see KiKi standing at the end of my walkway. She made some ridiculous humping motions with her hips, then mimed holding on to a sore back before she walked back toward her villa. That child was not wrapped tight as my grandmother would say.
