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His eyes opened, because I’d put it all out there. This was the question we’d been dancing around since Noir. Port Isle had made our being together easy, fun. There was no office suite, no HR department, no nosy staff (Yoli excluded). Nobody cared that Saadiq Masters signed my checks. We could hold hands in public, kiss whenever we felt like it.
Home would be different.
“We not sneaking around, Apple. I ain’t wait this long to hide you. I understand you don’t want nobody thinking anything you earned at Masters Capital came from being with me. We can go through HR and try to do right, but ultimately, Apple, I own that shit.”
“Saadiq—” I started to protest.
He kissed me again, silencing my better senses. “What the fuck is the point of building my own shit if I can’t have what I want?” he murmured. “If you tell me you sure, you really sure, nothing is going to stop me from being with you.”
I took a breath. “The families—”
“My kids, my dad, and my sister love you. Kiana might throw a parade with a little help from Yoli,” he interrupted again.
I smiled at that. “Definitely. Demon might shoot you.”
“Baby… Demon might shoot you.”
“That remains a possibility.”
He sighed. “Your family stressful as fuck.”
“The people around ain’t no better! Zoë hates me.”
“Zoë’s irrelevant ass hates everybody, but she not stupid. Trust.”
Deep down, I knew my biggest concerns had at least initially been addressed. This could actually happen. I felt a nervous, excited fluttering low in my stomach. Saadiq looked as if he could see my hesitant hope. He cupped my face, kissed me gently.
“I ain’t asking you to promise me forever tonight,” he said softly. “I’m saying you not to getting back to Texas and putting them damn walls back up.”
I bit my lip, then released it and smiled at him. “I won’t,” I promised.
His grabbed my hand, his big, strong fingers threading through my own. He lifted them and kissed my knuckles. “You sure?”
I nodded, my smile spreading. “Yeah. Yeah, I want this, Saadiq.”
His mouth curved. “So, let’s try.”
“No.” My gaze melted into his. “Let’s do.”
He moved then, pulling us underneath the covers. I guessed rest time was over. Thank God.
The moon over Port Isle illuminated us as our bodies twisted and slid and joined together under the skylight. Beneath all the passion, though, I felt a needed serenity, a sense of peace. For once, I didn’t have to know exactly how everything ended before I could begin.
We were going home, and I was so damned happy, we were going there together.
(Five Months Later)
Texas. Gotta love it. Warm enough in November to have a gender reveal outside. The Castle sisters—Dream and Dayana, were both pregnant and had decided they wanted to find out what they were having together.
“I got fifty bucks that says I’m getting my little niece this time,” Kiana said confidently.
I shook my head. “I’ll take that bet, ’cause your brother ain’t making nothing but bad ass, big headed boys.” I held out my hand.
From beside me, Saadiq Masters sighed, rumbled in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He deposited fifty dollars in my hand. I leaned back, and he dropped a kiss on my cheek.
“Thank ya,” I said and slapped the money on the little wicker table between us and KiKi.
She put her money down. “Oh, I don’t know. All kinds of surprise announcements in this family today,” she said before winking at me.
