Kaitlyn’s daddy?
“Step outside, son,” Kael said. He was dressed in a crisp black button-up shirt and charcoal slacks.
Quint did as Kael asked, pulling the door closed behind him.
“How you been, sir?” he asked.
“Good, and you?” Kael asked.
“I been all right.”
Kael grunted.
Quint waited patiently, because he was sure this was not a fruitless trip on the man’s part.
“My daughter won’t talk about what happened and didn’t happen between the two of you, but I hope that you never disrespected her or hurt her,” Kael said, casting a direct gaze into Quint’s eyes.
Quint nodded. “I’m a father of a daughter so I can understand the desire to protect her but—and I mean no disrespect, sir—my daughter is thirteen.”
“And she will always need you,” Kael said as he pushed his hands into the pockets of his slacks.
“And I will always be there . . . with limits.” Quint looked up to the darkened skies and then back at the elder man.
Kael just continued to watch him.
“Even your being here now makes me think I was right to have concerns that—and again no disrespect—she will forever be daddy’s girl and never my woman, sir.”
Kael chuckled. “You got it all figured out, but I’ll check back in with you when the little boys start sniffing around and see if you still have all this bravado, son.”
Quint smiled. “Sounds like a plan,” he said, feeling like he earned a bit of the man’s respect. “I want what’s best for Kaitlyn.”
“You don’t think you’re what’s best for her?” Kael asked as he tilted his head back to assess the younger man. “Or that she’s what’s best for you?”
Quint fell silent.
“I’d like to hear the answer to that.”
He looked up and Kaitlyn was climbing from her car, parked behind her father’s black four-door Lexus. He hadn’t even seen her pull up. His eyes feasted on her like he was hungry. The love he had for her caused his chest to feel like it had doubled in size.
“Boy, you are one fool,” Kael muttered as he studied the obvious emotions on Quint’s face. “You want to be right or you want to be happy, son?”
“Daddy, can you excuse us,” Kaitlyn said, still standing by her car. “This is between Quint and me.”
Kael gave Quint one last, meaningful stare before he jogged down the brick staircase. He kissed Kat on the cheek and climbed behind the wheel of her car. “You blocking me, so bring mine to me tomorrow,” he said before starting to reverse down the drive.
“You and Mama enjoy your dinner,” Kaitlyn called to him, even as her eyes stayed locked across the distance on Quinton as he stood on the porch.
“You sure?”
“Yes, sir.”
Kaitlyn was a bundle of nerves and so completely unsure of the moment. She ran her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath that she hoped steadied her.
“You can come closer. I don’t bite,” Quint said.
Kaitlyn shook her head. “I’m here meeting you halfway,” she began, struggling to find the words and afraid she would be rebuffed.
Quint’s eyes squinted as he watched her, and he shifted on his feet.
“You were right. I slipped. I backslid. I lost my focus on myself and on every hard-earned step I took to be independent and grown,” she said, licking her lips. “But you were wrong to assume that the woman you love was gone completely. You were wrong not to believe in me. And you were wrong not to give me more of a chance to prove that I could never be anything but the woman you love—flaws and all.”
Quint came down a few steps.
Kaitlyn held up her hand and shook her head. “See, I got my shit back together and even better than before. But I know I could have just as well done it with you than without you,” she told him passionately as she blinked back tears.
He came down another step.
“See, I made the first step to come here and meet you halfway in this process, but let’s be clear,” Kaitlyn said. “I made a mistake. I didn’t cheat. I didn’t hit you. I didn’t not respect you. I didn’t end it. You did.”
She stopped long enough to swallow over an emotional lump in her throat. “You will have to come to me and apologize to me for breaking my heart,” she said as a tear fell down her cheek. “You broke it, and this is the one and only opportunity I am giving you to fix it.”
Quint came down the stairs and rushed to her. He took her hands in his and kissed them before he lowered himself down to one knee.
“You’re right. I gave up too soon. I let my anger and frustration with Vita affect how I viewed you and your intentions. That was wrong,” he admitted as he looked up to her.
Kaitlyn nodded in agreement as she licked her lips.
“I’ve been regretting it, but my pride wouldn’t let me come to you and say I made a mistake.” Quint’s eyes were filled with emotions.
“Your pride? I swallowed my pride to be here, Quint. Never again,” she swore.
Quint rose to his full height and released her hands to cup her face.
“Kaitlyn, I apologize for judging you and not giving you a chance,” he said, leaning down to kiss her as his thumbs stroked away the tracks of her tears.
“And?” Kaitlyn asked, leaning back from him.
“And next time we’ll talk it out instead of fight it out,” he said, leaning toward her again.
“And?” Kaitlyn stressed, leaning back more until her back arched.
“And I want you back in my life and Lei’s life. Now can I have a kiss?” he asked, flashing a charming smile and deep dimples.
Kaitlyn shook her head no as she looked up at him. “And?” she asked softly, yet again.
“And I love the hell out of you, Kaitlyn Strong, and I promise to make it up to you.”
“Thank you,” she said, straightening her body to pucker her lips for the kiss they both wanted.
“And?” Quint teased lightly as he leaned back from her.
Kaitlyn brought her hands up to stroke his square chin and bury her index finger in one of his deep dimples. “And I love you, Quinton Wells,” she whispered up to him fiercely.
Quint nodded in satisfaction as he brought his hands around to grasp the back of her head lightly before he lowered his head and pressed his mouth to hers with a moan filled with his hunger. Kaitlyn closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of his tongue exploring her mouth.
Everything—absolutely everything—about their wild and explosive chemistry hadn’t faded a bit. Although they missed each other, and loved each other, the time apart had only intensified it . . . until they both felt a lightness in their chests that was nothing but love.
Love and forgiveness.
“Y’all good now?” Lei asked as soon as they walked into the house. She was standing at the window.
“Enjoy the show?” Quint asked, standing behind Kaitlyn to wrap his arms around her body.
Lei nodded eagerly and smiled. “I turned the movie off a long time ago. Y’all reunion was much cuter,” she said.
They both looked alarmed.
Lei held up her hands. “Don’t worry! I couldn’t hear anything, but I got a kick outta seeing Daddy on his knees. That was too cute,” she said with a sigh.
“I thought so too,” Kaitlyn agreed, winking.
“Don’t worry—I videotaped it with my phone.”
“Good girl,” Kaitlyn told her, moving from Quinton’s embrace to hug Lei to her side as they strolled into the den. “Can I see it?”
Quinton smiled and shook his head as he watched his daughter and his woman together. It felt right for her to be there. With him. With them.
Thank God, she had more courage to fight for their love than he did.
Kaitlyn looked over her shoulder and smiled at him.
Thank God.
Kaitlyn looked over her shoulder at Quint. She found his eyes on her and she smiled. She felt trul
y happy that they were both willing to meet each other halfway. To compromise. To not be afraid. To fight for love—as they should have done weeks ago.
Only time would tell if they truly would gain the happily-ever-after ending; but as they settled in the den and laughed together with ease, she didn’t for one second regret her decision to follow her mother’s advice.
Not one single second.
EPILOGUE
One year later
Kaitlyn sighed in pleasure as Quint shifted the soft curls of her shoulder-length hair from her neck. Trying something new she had her hair lightened to a warm amber brown with blondish highlights. Quint preferred the black but was getting used to the new color. Now the length was another issue.
“I love that you grew your hair back, but it gets in the way sometimes,” Quint told her as he pressed a warm and titillating kiss to her nape as she lay nude beside him in the bed.
Kaitlyn eased over onto her back and reached up to rub his smooth bald head. “I love that you haven’t grown yours back,” she teased as she looked up at him.
“You know what else I would love?” Quint asked her, his voice serious as his hands traveled over her body. Kaitlyn arched an eyebrow as she turned over onto her side to take his limp but still impressive tool into her hands to stroke it to renewed life.
“What’s that?”
“I would love to sleep with you in my arms every night and wake up to this beautiful face every morning,” he said before placing soft kisses against her forehead and cheeks.
Kaitlyn shivered from the tender show of affection as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the tiny blessings from the man she loved.
“You know I don’t want to live together before marriage, and it’s not the best example for Lei,” she said softly; her breath fanned out against his strong chin.
The kisses stopped.
Did I hurt his feelings?
Kaitlyn opened her eyes, and she gasped at the engagement ring Quint held in front of her face. She gasped dramatically as her eyes lifted from the ring to his eyes.
“Whoa,” she said softly.
Quint sat up in bed and held the two-carat solitaire between his index finger and thumb. “I love you and even more than that I know that you love me. We have supported and inspired the best in each other, with your new boutique and my business doing so well. I want that kind of support and love and respect for the rest of my life.”
Kaitlyn sat up in bed, cupping the sheet to her breasts, as she trembled with emotion. She said nothing at all as her heartbeat echoed inside her as she simply listened to his words, knowing they were heartfelt.
Quint moved to climb from the bed.
“Where are you going?” she asked, reaching out to wrap her hand around his wrist.
“I was getting down on one knee,” he said.
Kaitlyn shook her head as she gazed at him.
“What’s important is seeing what’s in your heart and not seeing you on your knee,” she told him, massaging his forearm and loving the goose bumps she felt under her touch. “Plus you did the knee before, remember?”
Quint took her left hand in his and slid the ring around the tip of her finger.
“Kaitlyn Strong, will you marry me?” he asked simply, but there was so much emotion in his voice.
“Yes, yes, I will marry you,” she promised him in a whisper as he slid the ring onto her finger.
It fit perfectly.
He eased her down onto the plush pillows and kissed her as he pressed her hand to his heart to feel the hard and fast pounding against her palm.
“I was nervous,” he admitted with a chuckle against her mouth.
Kaitlyn looked up at him, letting her eyes absorb every nuance of his face. “As if I would say no.”
“I wasn’t sure your daddy wasn’t going to shoot me down,” he said dryly.
Kaitlyn’s face filled with surprise. “My daddy knows?”
“Your whole family knows.”
“Lei too?” she asked, showing a toothy grin.
“She and Kadina helped pick the ring.”
Kaitlyn held it up to gaze at it on her hand.
“I taught them well. They did good!” she stressed in pleasure.
Quint reached across her for her cordless phone. It beeped as he punched the buttons to dial and then put it on speakerphone.
Kaitlyn pressed her hand to Quinton’s handsome face as someone answered the line.
“She said yes!” Quint said.
Kaitlyn jumped a bit as a loud roar and applause came through the phone line.
“Congratulations. Now hurry up and get down here to celebrate!”
Quinton chuckled and held the phone to her mouth.
“We’re on the way, Daddy,” she told him.
“Hey, Kat, you happy?” he asked, the seriousness of his tone heard clear through the line, even with all the noise in the background.
Kaitlyn looked at Quinton. “Very,” she said with pure honesty.
“I just want you to know I’m proud of you,” Kael said.
She dropped her head as she got choked up. “Thanks, Daddy.”
Quint ended the call and lay down to pull her body on top of his. “Here’s to happily ever after.”
Kaitlyn tasted his lips and nodded her head in agreement. “Happily ever after . . . and a really good ring. Ow!”
They laughed together before they reluctantly rose to go and join their party and their awaiting family.
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PROLOGUE
“Hey. This is Ned, Zaria, Meena, and Neema. We’re not in. You know what to do. Kisses.”
Beep.
“Zaria, this is Hope. And this is Chanci, girl. Girl, you and Ned give that thang a break and call us back. Or we’ll try your cell. If we don’t reach you, we’ll see y’all later today. Bye!!!”
Beep.
“Hey, Mama. It’s Meena and Neema. We called your cell but it’s going straight to voice mail. Call us. We really need a care package. This campus food suuuuuuuucks.”
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Using one clear-coated acrylic nail, Zaria Ali hit the button to delete all of the messages. Her childhood best friends, Chanci and Hope, were coming into South Carolina for their annual trip home and had indeed reached her on her cell earlier that day. Her twin daughters finally caught her on her cell to lovingly plead for all the home-baked goodies they wanted shipped overnight.
Zaria sighed heavily. The call she was expecting wasn’t on the machine and that hurt. It really hurt.
Not even the thought of her best friends coming for her birthday weekend could make her smile. Chanci was flying in from North Carolina and Hope from Maryland. They had been childhood friends growing up in Summerville, South Carolina. Their lives had taken them in separate directions once they got married and got caught up in their careers. It was Zaria who reached out to them to reconnect after so many years, and the time had faded into nothing as they just fell right in sync with one another. That bond they had formed as children had withstood the years and the hundreds of miles between them.
And she looked forward to their sisterhood, their vibrancy, and the fun they would bring into her life and her world. Lord knows I need to be cheered up.
Zaria’s eyes shifted around her home. They rested on a hundred different things that would forever hold a memory for her. But it didn’t feel like a home anymore. She had thought it was a place meant for happily-ever-after. She was wrong. Painfully so.
No, not tonight. No memories. No regrets.
Her girls would be there, and maybe she’d tell them how Zaria—housewife extraordinaire who made it her business to put her husband before herself—had been made a fool of.
Zaria felt sadness weigh down on her shoulders a bit, but she shook it off. She shook him off. Matter of fact, she was shaking all men off for good. The risk of feeling this kind of hurt again wasn’t wo
rth it.
Chanci and Hope would easily take her mind off . . . things. And even if—no, when—they gushed about the men and the love in their lives, Zaria would refuse to think of the coulda, woulda, or shoulda with him.
No matter how much I miss him.
She’d been his wife since she was eighteen. She grew up in her marriage. She sacrificed so much. Her youth. Her happiness.
As she wiped the tears from her eyes, she wished that she had never gotten married at all. Never believed in love and the happily-ever-after. Never lost herself in the desire to be “the perfect wife.”
“From now on, I’m going to enjoy life and never let a man knock at the door of my heart,” she promised herself, her voice sounding strange to her own ears in the quiet of the house.
She’d spent the last two weeks singing the lonely-bed-and-brokenhearted blues. Barely been able to get out of bed. Crying until her head hurt and her eyes were sore. Calling his phone and pleading with him to change his mind. Making a complete fool of herself as she fought not to lose her mind. She hadn’t told a soul what she was suffering through. Not her friends. Not her kids. No one.
Bzzzzz.
Pushing through the hurt and disappointment, Zaria smiled at the sound of the doorbell as she made her way to the front door. She heard their laughter even through the solid wood. Just knowing they were there to hold her if she faltered, to hug her if she cried, and to tickle her until she laughed made things feel better.
Zaria flung the door open wide, causing a slight draft to shimmy across her legs, bare under the dress she wore. She sadly smiled as Chanci and Hope danced past her into the living room, snapping their fingers and singing an off-key rendition of “Happy Birthday”—the Stevie version.
Shutting the door, Zaria crossed her arms over her chest and listened to their cheerful serenade—a bad one, but a serenade nonetheless.
Chanci closed her beautiful green eyes as she flung her head back and hit a high note that would put a cat’s wail to shame.
Hope froze midsentence and looked at Zaria, giving her the mother stare that was all too knowing. “Hold on, Aretha,” she said dryly to Chanci, reaching out to lightly grasp her arm to stop her. “What’s wrong, Zaria?”
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