“We’ll?” she asked, her eyes twinkling with excitement as if whatever she called herself doing was already working.
But I remained as neutral as possible when I explained, “Teamwork makes the dream work, right? And I mean, the least we could do is get along since y’all asses set us up like this.”
She released her hold on me so that she could put her hand on her hip, snapping her head back and acting as if she was really offended when she repeated, “Set you up? I told you I didn’t do it on purpose, Nova.”
I turned her way, mocking her pose as I challenged, “Well how convenient that Lamar’s best friend is staying here with your best friend. Practically a double date waiting to happen.”
She initially smacked her teeth. But then a sly grin grew on her face as she leaned into me to gush, “Don’t blame me cause you’re already checkin’ for Guy.”
Damn, so I really am making it that obvious?
Even if she was already reading me like a book, I still tried to play it off, tossing my locs over my shoulder as I told her, “Nobody is checking for Guy. Sure, he’s handsome but that’s where it ends.”
The last thing I needed was to get caught up in some summer fling, especially considering David and I were still technically dating. Well, if you considered unreturned phone calls and bunched boxers over nothing dating. But just the fact that I was already referring to Guy’s existence as a summer fling should’ve been the first warning sign that things weren’t going to go as planned.
Of course Kaylin only looked amused when she replied, “Yeah, whatever you say, Nova. But for the record, if you actually care to know this which I know you do even if you’re gonna sit up here and act like you don’t, Guy is a good dude. I’ve known him for years, almost as long as I’ve known Lamar, and… he’s legit. As real as they come.”
I was glad she had read my mind enough to give up some information on my new roommate. But I was also caught up on the fact that she’d supposedly known him for years and hadn’t put me on. I mean… ever introduced us before.
“So if you’ve known him for this long, why am I just now meeting him? And why wasn’t he at the wedding?” I asked, finding it hard to believe he wouldn’t have been around for his friend’s big day.
And it only sort of made sense when she answered, “Mariah went into labor.”
“Mariah?”
“His baby mama,” she clarified, making me nod as I created a new profile for her in my head, anxious to fill it out with more information.
Naturally, the first question that came to mind about her was, “Is she just his baby mama or…?”
She was a little more animated than the last time homegirl was brought up, crossing her arms over her chest as she answered, “Now that, you’ll have to ask Guy about.”
I rolled my eyes, turning my attention back towards the window so that I could tease, “Damn, Kay. You are useless.”
She linked her arm with mine, leaning forward to meet my eyes as she gushed, “Uselessly about to give you the best summer of your life! Now come on. Let’s go get you all settled in. The boys took the smaller rooms which means you get the queen suite. And I even stocked the nightstand dresser with plenty of batteries for Mr. Trevante. That’s the new bullet bae, right? Or have you still been running back to that old thang, Kofi?”
“Bitch… shut up,” I said with a laugh, the fact that she knew my preference for chocolate men even extended to the names of my toys proving just how close we were even with the distance between us. But her mention also gave me yet another reason why Guy and I wouldn’t work.
He just didn’t fit the mold.
“How ungrateful of you. I thought I was doing your little miss maca root taking ass a favor,” she teased as she dragged me down the hall towards the bedroom I’d be occupying for the summer. And my reaction to it was almost identical to the one I had about the condo in general, completely in awe at its beauty.
Just like the main room, the bedroom had wall-to-wall windows, giving an even better view of the bay. And the California king mattress as the centerpiece made my queen mattress at home seem like a damn cot as I ran my hand along what I knew were unreasonably high thread-count sheets; one of Kaylin’s quirks.
“For your information, I stopped taking that over a month ago. All that horniness was useless since David hasn’t been around,” I told her as I hopped up onto the bed and immediately sank in as if I was laying on a cloud.
I closed my eyes, already imagining all the sweet dreams I would have when I heard Kaylin mutter, “Shit, it’s useless when he is around too…”
“Kay, come on. Don’t start. I just got here,” I groaned as I pulled a lavender-scented pillow over my face, not ready to deal with anything that involved him since he still hadn’t responded to the threatening text Guy caught me sending in the car. A text that might’ve involved more f-bombs than legal.
But since Kaylin didn’t know about it, she only sighed as she reasoned, “I’m just sayin’, mamas. You were the one texting me during what was supposed to be a post-sex glow talking about you wished you would’ve faked sleep. And this was after he had been gone for weeks, meaning y’all were supposed to be fuckin’ like rabbits. I mean, do you know how much sex Lamar and I have when he gets back from road games? A girl can hardly walk after that shit.”
“Well lucky you,” I groaned into the pillow, shocked when Kaylin yanked it from my hands and threw it across the room.
“Could be lucky you too if you quit playin’!” she yelled, surely loud enough to alert our other guests.
And just in case she had, I kept my voice low when I whispered, “Kaylin Marie Taylor-Gipson. I have a boyfriend. Let it go.”
Even if David and I were on the rockiest of terms, and even if I was already thinking about my next move - thinking about my summer roommate -, I believed in monogamy way too much to actually do anything about it at the moment. And no matter how much that annoyed Kaylin, she also knew she had no choice but to respect it.
So instead of continuing to push her agenda, she finally let me off the hook when she sighed, “Fine, fine. I’ll be quiet for now. But don’t say I never tried to help your ass.”
While I had a feeling in the end I’d regret the decision, I tried my best to stay confident in the moment when I told her, “Don’t worry. I won’t.”
Guy
I’m never going back.
My arms were resting on the ledge of the balcony as I looked out towards the Biscayne Bay, immediately deciding in my head that there was no use for cities like my hometown when compared to something like this. We had only been in Miami for a few hours and I was already in love with the fast pace, the perfect weather, the incredible view, the beautiful women…
“Daddyyyyy!”
Oh, and indulging in it all with my son.
“Yes, Jax?” I yelled back through the screen door, his room being right next door making for the perfect set-up since it practically gave Nova her own half of the condo with plenty of room in between us as a buffer. But it felt like I needed the buffer more than she did since I couldn’t stop thinking about her even though her boyfriend mention was supposed to make me leave her alone.
I didn’t do taken women under any circumstances. I had learned early on that that shit simply wasn’t worth the trouble. But something about Nova’s aura just… drew me; drew me in a way I hadn’t been drawn since… damn, Mariah.
Since that sounded as crazy as it felt and since dealing with her wasn’t a part of my summer’s plan no matter how tempting her cute ass kept making me feel otherwise, I focused on what I was really here for just as he yelled back, “I’m hungryyy!”
“Didn’t Auntie Kay give you some snacks before she left?” I yelled back, shaking my head as I made my way back into the room to find a change of clothes. And as I yanked my t-shirt off to trade it for a tank from my suitcase, I waited for answer.
Nothing came.
In fact, the silence was so thick that I just knew my son
was up to no good. So after changing out of my jeans into a pair of basketball shorts, I left my room to go find him in his.
Empty.
I peeked in the bathroom.
Empty.
I peeked into the living room and was getting ready to yell his name when I heard his little giggles coming from the kitchen. And once I turned around, sure enough there he was, propped up on the counter with his little feet dangling off the edge as Nova looked in the fridge.
Damn, that girl is a sight from behind.
Her locs were just long enough to sweep the top of her ass with every move she made, which also meant they were the perfect length for a little tugging while I hit it from the…
Shit.
I shook my head, trying to get rid of what I knew were foul ass thoughts before finally addressing the situation. “Jax, why are you in here bothering Miss. Nova?”
She set a few ingredients on the counter before she pinched Jaxson’s cheek causing him to giggle again as she answered for him, “Oh, he’s no bother. I just figured since he said he was hungry and I’m hungry too, I’d fix us something to eat.”
“Well I hope you have enough for three. Daddy’s got a big appetite,” I told her, rubbing circles on my stomach that was damn near touching my back, the mention of food making me realize I hadn’t eaten anything other than a bag of Jaxson’s fruit snacks and the courtesy peanuts on the plane all day.
My heart was already set on whatever meal she was putting together based on the vegetable spread alone. But before I could get too comfy with the idea, she shut me all the way down, pulling the corner of her lip between her teeth as she said, “Umm… I said I’d fix us something to eat. As in me and Jaxson. You’re on your own… daddy.”
Something about the way she let the word roll off her tongue made the locs-tugging come back to mind, an act I knew would give her a real reason to call me by that name. And not just call me daddy, but scream that shit loud enough for the people twenty floors below us to hear. But since that idea was going to have to stay a thought until further notice, I focused back on the food, using my secret weapon in hopes that it would get her to budge.
“You really gonna let her do your daddy like that, Jaxson?” I asked, knowing my little guy would always have my back. But to my surprise, he only wore a sheepish smile in response as if he was already torn between the two of us.
“This is some bullshit,” I thought to myself as Nova grinned, crossing her arms over her chest as she said, “Cheap move, Guy. Trying to use this precious baby like that,”
“Miss. Nova, I’m not a baby. I’m a big boy,” Jaxson chimed in, finally snapping out of the spell Nova already had him under.
Not that I could blame him.
In fact, I was impressed by his good taste in women, something he had obviously inherited from his pops.
I walked over to where he was sitting, giving him a scrub on the top of his short curls as I agreed, “That’s right, son. A big boy with a big appetite. Just like your daddy.”
Nova wasn’t exactly amused by that as she turned back to the fridge, giving me another show when she bent over to grab a few things from the bottom shelf before setting them on the counter next to us. Then she went to grab a bowl and measuring cups, quickly whipping together some sort of sauce as she said, “Well… maybe your big boy will share his food with you because I only have enough stuff for two people.”
“He only counts as half so that’ll work,” I told her confidently, knowing if whatever she was cooking involved this many vegetables that he’d probably be eating even less than that.
Still, Nova didn’t seem as convinced when she replied, “Yeah, we’ll see about that,” Turning her attention towards him to ask, “Jaxson, you gonna help me cook?”
For a second he looked confused as if she had asked him a stupid question. But with his little eyebrows furrowed together, he finally answered, “Miss. Nova, I’ma kid. I can’t cook.”
“You can still help,” she insisted, grabbing a few of the vegetables from her mix and handing them to him. “Here. Rinse these off in the sink. Have your daddy help you.”
Jaxson looked at me as if he was making sure things were alright. And while I was little surprised by the invitation myself, the fact that she was willing to get Jaxson involved in the process only encouraged me to back her up when I told him, “You heard her, Jax. We got work to do.”
The kitchen was big enough for us both to have ample space to work. But the placement of the sink put us right next to each other for the moment, Jaxson leaning over to rinse a bell pepper for all of two seconds before handing it to me.
My face scrunched as I told him, “Nu uh, Jax. You gotta do it a little longer than that. And make sure you get water on the whole thing, so it’ll be really, really clean.”
“Like a bath, Daddy?” he asked as he held it under the water, his little arm straining as if he was holding a damn dumbbell.
“Ehhh, more of a shower,” I explained as he handed it over for me to dry.
“This one too?” he asked, holding up a head of broccoli.
I nodded. “Yep, that one needs a good shower. He’s extra dirty, like you are when you leave the park, or when you come home from school, or… all the time.”
“I’m not dirty, I’m clean!” he defended, though he and I both knew that was a boldfaced lie.
But I still took advantage of his claims, setting him up when I asked, “Oh yeah? Well what’s that on your shirt then?” And the second he looked down, I quickly ran my hand from his chest to his nose, giving it a gentle squeeze between my fingers that made him squeal.
We both started laughing as I peeked over to Nova who was too busy staring at us to join in. In fact, she was staring hard enough for me to ask, “What?”
My question seemed to make her snap out of her daze, quickly shaking her head as she replied, “Huh? Oh, nothing. You wanna chop those up too while you’re at it?”
Even though her request wasn’t at all a problem since it was only right that we carried our weight, I couldn’t help but tease, “Damn, if we’re doing all this, what are you gonna do? What’s your role? Kitchen monitor?”
She smacked her teeth, dousing the chicken in the sauce she had been working on as she answered, “I’ve got this chicken and rice, in addition to kitchen monitor. I mean, somebody’s gotta make sure you’re doing it right.”
“Oh, you never have to worry about that, beautiful. I always, always do it right,” I replied with a wink; a wink that earned me her adorably rosy cheeks as she turned around towards the stove to avoid looking at me. But her reaction was also enough to remind me that this was the exact route I wasn’t supposed to be taking, that she was the exact prey I wasn’t supposed to be chasing.
Still, it felt as if I couldn’t help myself, my responses coming so natural, the flirting coming so easy, the vibes already so damn… electric. Then again, I could’ve been alone in all that. I mean, sure she always reacted to me whenever I made a slick little pass her way. But she never engaged, she never had anything to add, and she had yet to initiate anything herself.
Just like that, my plan to chill was reinstated as I decided to go back to what I knew was best; staying focused on Jaxson. So as I opened the utensil drawer, I did just that, grabbing the bell pepper and telling him, “Alright, little one. Time for you to get your knife skills up.”
&
My stomach wasn’t nearly as full as I wanted it to be as I watched Jaxson scarf down the last of his chicken stir fry, a portion we were supposed to be sharing though I was sure he had consumed even more than I did. He had never been a fan of vegetables before unless they were covered in ranch, so I hadn’t expected him to dig into it the way that he had. But just because Miss. Nova had made it and had encouraged him to try it with her own convincing bites, he was all in.
Already a sucker for pretty women.
“Miss. Nova that was so good! Can you make it again tomorrow?” he asked as he licked his lips, obviousl
y savoring every last flavor he could. And I honestly couldn’t blame him, the food tasting just as good as it smelled when she had put it all together, even going as far as letting Jaxson add some of the vegetables and stir all by himself.
I could already tell she was good with kids from when we first met in the airport; how kind and comforting she had been with Jaxson. But the way her interactions continued to prove themselves as genuine and natural, I would’ve thought she had kids of her own. And she only added to that when she laughed, taking all of the plates to the kitchen as she answered, “Whatever you want, cutie. As long as you’re a good helper like you were today.”
He seemed content with that answer, taking his cup of water to the head just as I was telling him, “Alright, little buddy. Bath time, story time, bedtime. In that order.”
The second his cup hit the table he was already whining, “Daddy, I want Miss. Nova to give me a bath.”
While I shouldn’t have been surprised by his request, I tried to let him down easy when I explained, “Son, Miss. Nova wants to enjoy her vacation just like we do. Maybe she can give you a bath a different day.”
The silence lingered as I watched Jaxson’s little face slowly begin to crumble as if I had really shattered his dreams. “But Daddy…” he whined again, extending it until Nova finally cut in.
“Guy, it’s fine. I can give him a bath.”
I turned towards the kitchen, not wanting to become a burden as I told her, “Nova, you really don’t…”
But she cut me off, wiping her hands on a dish towel when she insisted, “It’s okay. Seriously.”
Then she walked over to Jaxson’s chair, squatting down in front of him to ask, “Hey, you’re a big boy, aren’t you?”
Of course, he shook his head yes.
“Can big boys pick out their own pajamas?” she asked, her tone seeming especially warm as he shook his head again, this time with a smile.
If Only for the Summer Page 5
