Red Hot

by Niobia Bryant

  Mrs. Hanson smiled at her as she flicked away the ashes on the cigarette she had stopped smoking.

  “Quint is a good man. You hold on to him,” she said. “They hard to come by sometimes.”

  And Kaitlyn knew then that Mrs. Hanson’s sadness was her husband. Maybe she suspected more than the rest of the residents thought she knew.

  “Thank you,” Kaitlyn said, turning to head back to her apartment.

  She heard the woman sniffle, and Kaitlyn’s heart broke.

  “Mrs. Hanson . . . sometimes you should come home early from that job of yours,” Kaitlyn said, not turning to face her, before she hurried into her apartment.

  As soon as she undid the dead bolt and closed her door, she stood there with her head pressed against it, waiting for the woman or her husband to come and confront her for her meddling.

  That knock never came.

  Quint felt like he couldn’t stop yawning—or smiling.

  He was sex beaten and tired, but he had promised to deliver the custom frame to his widow client in Summerville. It had to be there in time for her to place the painting of her deceased husband in it for a memorial service she was having the next day.

  That done, his check was in his pocket. It was a nice hefty fee for the custom work, and she had loved it. Definitely a win-win.

  As he steered his truck back toward Holtsville, Quint turned his radio up loud and bobbed his head in beat to Jay-Z and Kanye’s “Otis.” He even sang along with the Otis Redding chorus: “Please her, don’t tease her.”

  Quint was in a good mood.

  For the first time in a long time, he was taking a chance on love, and he felt damn good about Kaitlyn. He thought about flipping her upside down to eat her and he sang the chorus a little bit louder, “‘Please her, don’t tease her.’”

  After making love to her, they had fallen asleep. He had awakened to find Kaitlyn straddling his body nude and massaging him to hardness. That led to round two, and he had to admit that time he did pull out a few tricks.

  He stroked his dick inside her as she lay on the bed, with her legs held together over one shoulder. He held her luscious ass up high in the air as he pumped away until his body was dripping sweat down onto her. She was coating every one of his delicious inches with her cum.

  Quint shook his head and released a heavy breath as he shifted in his seat to give his suddenly hard dick more room in his pants. The entire night had been epic. Kaitlyn and their crazy vibe had solidified her in his life. Not just for the amazing sex, but also for her concern for Lei, her ability to make him laugh and not take life so seriously, and the way he could talk to her and feel like she listened and gave a damn about what he was saying.

  He was ready to see her and couldn’t wait to find out what their plans were for the afternoon. As he made the left turn by the gas station, he fought the urge to call her. She had her own errands to run and he was patient.

  Quint steered into the parking lot and parked. He felt like doing a dang-on New Edition dance move—he was in such a good mood.

  “Hi, Mrs. Harper,” he said cheerfully as his neighbor exited her apartment with Fifi under her arm.

  She winked at him. “Good date, huh? About damn time,” she said.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Harper,” Quint said, his broad smile re-forming his face to a boylike quality as he unlocked his front door and breezed inside the apartment.

  But he soon felt like he was kicked in the balls as he eyed his ex-wife, Vita, rise to her feet in his living room.

  What the fuck?

  “Daddy, Mommy’s back. She moved back to South Carolina,” Lei said excitedly.

  But his eyes never strayed from that of his ex-wife. Just a cloud over what he thought was going to be a good day. He had to fight the disappointment he felt, because his daughter was happy.

  Vita walked over to him, looking like an older version of their daughter. Lei was her spitting image, even down to her thick and curvy frame. Nothing about her had changed: long, flowing hair, lots of flash, overdressed and in impossible heels, nails too long for any real job.

  “Don’t I get a ‘welcome home,’ Quint?” she asked, making a move as if to hug him.

  “Welcome back,” Quint forced out as he eyed Lei looking at him expectantly. “When did you get back in town?”

  Vita dropped her hands when he didn’t open his arms for the hug. “This morning. I’m staying with a friend until I get my own place.”

  Quint’s gut clenched and he hated the fear that claimed him. “So Hawaii didn’t work out?” he asked. Translation: You got dumped?

  Vita’s eyes glittered as she looked up at him from her petite height. “No, it didn’t, but I’m fine with it.” Translation: Back up out my business.

  He literally bit his bottom lip to keep from throwing her a verbal jab alluding to her propensity to cheat. He didn’t doubt that Mr. NFL caught her doing dirt and sent her packing so fast that her head spun. She had to tuck her tail and return to South Carolina.

  And now she was here in his home; when for over two years, she couldn’t muster the strength or desire to come and visit her child.

  Quint wondered what the sudden reappearance of Vita Wells meant for his life.

  Kaitlyn parked her car, but she sat in it for a long time and looked out at the home she grew up in: this was the home where she had been blessed with lots of love and family; the home where she knew she could always come back.

  Kaitlyn quite honestly was embarrassed and ashamed about how she had pulled away from them, how she hadn’t spoken to her parents in weeks. How could she face them now?

  But she missed them. She ached for them.

  She massaged her eyes with her fingertips as she released a heavy breath filled with her nervousness.

  “Auntie Kat!” Kadina screamed, sounding as if she had seen the teen group Mindless Behavior.

  Kaitlyn looked up as her niece turned and ran back in the house so fast that her ponytail whipped across her face. She took one final breath and left her car as she heard Kadina’s voice screaming like a fool through the house: “Auntie Kat!”

  By the time she made it to the steps, the front door opened and her mother, Lisha, stepped out. She was holding baby Kasi on her hip and toddler Karlos by his hand as four-year-old KJ squeezed past her to stand in front of her.

  “Come on and help with your nephews,” Lisha said, smiling at her daughter. “I’m trying to get myself ready for making Sunday dinner.”

  Kaitlyn climbed the stairs and reached for Kasi. She blew air bubbles against his cheek as they all made their way inside. Kadina was so excited that she was snapping her fingers and dancing as she kept knocking Kaitlyn with her hip.

  “I’m making lima beans and fried chicken,” Lisha said as she continued into the kitchen.

  Kadina took Kasi from Kaitlyn. “Come on, y’all, let’s go play Xbox 360,” she said, using her legs to guide her two rambunctious cousins into the den as she motioned for Kaitlyn to follow Lisha into the kitchen.

  And Kaitlyn did, rubbing her fingers through her short hair and then down the length of her jean leggings as her heels clicked against the hardwood floors leading to the kitchen. She removed the studded leather jacket she wore as she eyed her mother at the kitchen island, cutting up pieces of chicken on a thick plastic cutting board.

  “Don’t just stand there. Rinse those beans for me,” Lisha said.

  Kaitlyn felt relief and was able to relax her spine as she made her way to the sink to wash her hands. Lisha Strong was a no-nonsense woman, and Kaitlyn knew that this show of normalcy without all the dramatics was her mother’s way of saying, “All is forgiven. Now let’s move on.”

  “You look happy,” her mother said from behind her.

  Kaitlyn looked over her shoulder. “I am,” she admitted.

  “What’s his name?” Lisha asked knowingly.

  Kaitlyn hung her head, surprised by the heat she felt rising to her neck and cheeks. “Quinton, but everyone calls hi
m Quint—”

  “The sexy landlord guy . . . who, I thought, was reported to me as married,” Lisha said.

  Kaitlyn chuckled. “I just told my sisters-in-law that because they wanted to play matchmaker.”

  Lisha set down her knife and came over to the sink to stand beside her daughter as she washed her hands. “Did some matchmaking on your own, huh?”

  Kaitlyn leaned her head against her mother’s shoulder for a few seconds before she filled her in on most of her first date with Quint.

  With her high heels left at the front door, and her feet snuggled into a pair of her mother’s knee-high leather riding boots, Kaitlyn drove one of the four-wheelers from the main house to the barn.

  Her eldest brother, Kade, looked up as she pulled to a stop. His surprise gave way to approval; she saw this in his handsome face as she climbed from the four-wheeler with a wave. It was Saturday and her brother was on the ranch working, and undoubtedly had been there since before sunup.

  And maybe because he had always been a second father figure in her life, due to the age gap, and now that he ran the ranch after her father’s retirement, his anger over her spoiled ways had been more palpable than the other brothers’.

  “Hey, Bubba,” Kaitlyn said, walking up to him and hugging him close as he dwarfed her with his six-foot-five height.

  “Whaddup, kiddo?”

  Kade avoided touching her with his dirty hands; but in that moment Kaitlyn wouldn’t have cared, because she could’ve used one of his strong bear hugs.

  Her mouth opened in surprise as one of the ranch hands led Snowflake out of the barn toward her. The horse was already saddled and ready to ride. For a moment Kaitlyn was taken back to her birthday party and the joy she had felt as the beautiful white horse was led to her.

  “I saw the boots and figured you wanted to ride her,” Kade was saying from somewhere behind her as Kaitlyn walked to her horse and stroked her muzzle.

  “Hiya, Snowflake,” she said as the horse nuzzled her hand. Kaitlyn wished she had carrots or sugar cubes to feed her.

  “He’s over on the west end of the property.”

  Kaitlyn glanced over her shoulder at her brother with a nod before she placed a foot in the stirrup and climbed up onto the saddle with ease. She grabbed the reins as Snowflake shifted a bit back and forth. Once Kaitlyn felt comfortable, she squeezed the flanks with her thighs and steered the horse in a semicircle before she guided it to a gallop away from the barn and toward the outer ends of the property, which totaled hundreds of acres.

  As she rode the horse down the trail, Kaitlyn was taken back to a childhood spent exploring the woods with her brothers. Sometimes she had to force them to let her tag along, but they always did. They always let her have her way.

  That thought made her smile.

  Since before she could remember, her brothers had always been her protectors; and having four of them sometimes meant she had to get crafty to keep them from injuring a suitor she was interested in. She had to be slick and stay creative. Her true freedom didn’t come until she left home for a brief stint at the College of Charleston. And that’s where she had met Anola and Tandy.

  Kaitlyn missed her friends, setting them aside because she was afraid of them judging her. It really was simple. If they had judged her new living circumstances, then they weren’t friends to hold on to, anyway. But she should have given them the opportunity to show her what they were made of.

  Kaitlyn pulled up on the reins as she spotted her father sitting on his horse at the edge of the small pond and looking off into the distance. As she edged Snowflake forward, she let her eyes absorb the regal silver-haired man who had sired her. One of the horse’s hoofs snapped a branch.

  Kael turned.

  Kaitlyn gripped the reins more tightly as his eyes opened in surprise before he turned his horse and galloped toward her. She covered her mouth with her hand as her emotions flooded her. Her mother, she cherished. Her brothers, she adored. But her father—her father was her everything.

  “Kat,” Kade said. He bent over to squeeze her hand when he reached her.

  “Hi, Daddy,” she said, leaning over in the saddle to press a kiss to his cheek and to be surrounded by the scent of his Old Spice cologne and the outdoors. Familiar. Warm. Missed.

  “You over it now?” he asked, patting her back.

  “Yes, sir,” she answered, using the side of her hand to wipe her eyes as she sniffled.

  “Good.”

  Kaitlyn straightened up in the saddle.

  “I want to finish checking the fences,” he said, turning his horse and heading back to the trail, knowing that his daughter was going to follow.

  And she did.

  Quint looked up as Kaitlyn knocked on his office door briefly before she stepped into his office. His spirits were instantly lifted at the sight of her. He rose to his feet to come around the desk and pulled her close against his body.

  Instantly her hands came up to hold him back tightly. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “I’m sorry I took longer than I said. I was at my parents’.”

  Quint stepped back from her and braced against his desk as he held on to her hand. “Good. They were happy to see you?” he asked.

  Kaitlyn nodded hesitantly. “Yeah . . . but we can talk about that later. What’s wrong?”

  “Vita, my ex-wife, is back.”

  Kaitlyn’s mouth shaped into an O.

  Quint pulled her forward, and Kaitlyn held him close as she pressed kisses to his brow. In that moment it was everything, and enough.

  CHAPTER 14

  One month later

  “How do I look?”

  Kaitlyn smiled as she turned to smooth her hands over Quint’s chest in his cashmere sweater, which he wore with denims.

  “You look good enough to be late for dinner,” she said, playfully wiggling her eyebrows at him before she stroked his face.

  “Nah, nah. Much as I love it—and I do love it—I am not letting you make us roll up late to your parents’,” he said, stepping back from her as he picked up his cell phone and keys from his dresser.

  “Your loss,” Kaitlyn teased him.

  Quint’s cell phone vibrated in his hand as they left his bedroom. He looked down at it. “It’s Lei,” he said, stopping in the hall as he answered the call.

  “Tell her I said hello,” Kaitlyn whispered as she eased past him to walk to the door of the apartment.

  “Happy Turkey Day, Daddy.”

  Quint smiled broadly as he leaned in the open doorway of her bedroom. “Same to you. Y’all up cooking?” he asked. A literal pain hit him in his gut, knowing that he was spending the holiday apart from her. Their first apart in years.

  Vita had settled into a townhome in Charleston and had taken to getting Lei nearly every weekend since her return. And when Lei asked if she could spend Thanksgiving with her mother, since he had Kaitlyn and her mom was alone, he agreed. He couldn’t deny his little girl much, anyway.

  “We’re going over to someone’s house that Mama knows,” Lei said. “And that’s fine, because I want some good food.”

  He laughed at that. “Kaitlyn said to tell you hello.”

  “Tell her I’ll be home Sunday night, and ask her to bring me a plate from her mother’s and to tell Kadina to call me.”

  Quint smiled. “I will.”

  “Love you, Daddy.”

  “Love you too.”

  Quint gave Lei’s room one last look before he turned and left the apartment. He wanted his child with him, but he knew he couldn’t be selfish and keep her away from her mother, because he would never want his ex-wife to do the same to him. Still, he was human and could admit his faults; and he just couldn’t deny that life was much easier when Vita had her behind in Hawaii.

  He locked the apartment and then crossed the parking lot to join Kaitlyn in his truck. She was already in the passenger seat. “Ready?” he asked as he started the engine.

  “Yes. You?” she asked, looking pretty in an orange
turtleneck sweater dress with a cropped leather jacket, which was the color of caramel.

  He leaned over and tasted her lips before steering the vehicle out of the parking spot. As he drove, Kaitlyn settled back in the passenger seat as he reached over to rest his hand comfortably on her thigh. He squeezed it gently.

  The last month with Kaitlyn had been good. Really good.

  After work they would have dinner at his apartment or at hers, with Lei always there to complete the circle and regale them with stories of her school day. At night they enjoyed a movie or just watched the news as they lounged together. They had settled into a comfortable relationship, which was still heavy with their desire for each other.

  Most times they couldn’t wait for Lei to go to bed before they snuck away for an hour in Kaitlyn’s apartment and got lost in one another.

  But it was the weekends when their relationship really flourished. If they didn’t have other plans, they were together. Sometimes just lounging around the house together. Other times they explored Charleston, Savannah, and Beaufort together. But always, the nights were there. And those nights he spent holding her and sleeping with her cuddled against his body were the best.

  Quint looked over at her as she mouthed the words to some song playing on the radio and his heart swelled. She looked at him and reached over to smooth her hand over his bald head before she rubbed his neck and went back to gazing out the window.

  I love her.

  And that thought—that realization—shook him. His grip on her thigh tightened as his heart felt like it was being squeezed in his chest.

  I love her.

  She glanced at him again, and the words almost tumbled from his lips. He swallowed them back.

  “I wish Lei could’ve gone with us. She and Kadina haven’t seen each other much since Vita moved back,” Kaitlyn said, pouting her mouth.

  “Yeah, me too,” he said, swallowing a lump in his throat as he looked out the windshield at the road ahead.

  “Too bad Kadina is a little older and at the high school this year, or they could see each other at school.”