“Yes?” he asked, his voice deep like a quiet storm DJ and his smile hypnotizing.
“Umm, I’m your neighbor,” Mimi stammered. “I didn’t know someone had moved in and I was... Well, I was being nosy.”
He smiled again as he gave her a cool once-over. Mimi wished that she had already dressed in her party clothes instead of an Atlanta Hawks tank top and a pair of form-fitting black leggings. “If you’re the welcoming committee, where are the cupcakes and muffins?” he quipped.
“I said I was nosy, not a cook. Besides, you don’t look as if you let carbs touch your lips,” she said, then zeroed in on a flat midsection that she imagined held a set of washboard abs.
“Wouldn’t say that. I know how to work them off,” he replied.
“I bet you do,” she muttered.
“I’m sorry?”
“Mimi Collins. I’m Mimi Collins, and you are...?”
“Brent Daniels,” he said, then extended his hand. Mimi shook it and sizzling jolts of electric lust flowed through her body. Tilting her head to the side, she focused on his face.
“Where do I know you from?” she asked. “You look very familiar.”
He shrugged. “I’m an attorney.”
It was as if a light bulb went off in her head. An attorney? He was the attorney! Brent Daniels was the man you called when you needed a one-lawyer dream team. And this was her neighbor?
“So, you’re that Brent Daniels! Wow. Welcome to the neighborhood.”
“I like the way you say my name,” he said with another megawatt smile. Mimi inhaled sharply, her nostrils filled with the clean citrus scent of him, and her knees went weak.
“I’d better go,” she said as she took a step back. “I’m sure you were doing something important since you answered the door without looking to see who was on the other side.”
“Just unpacking and...”
“Well, well,” a male voice said from behind her. “Am I interrupting something here?”
Damn! He’s gay. I should’ve known that it was too good to be true, she thought as she started to back away. “I’m sorry,” she said turning to who she thought was Brent’s boyfriend. “This place had been empty for so long, when I heard movement, I just had to come see what was going on. Welcome to the building, I’m Mimi.”
“Whoa, I don’t live here,” he said. “I’m Jamal, by the way.”
Mimi smiled. “Nice to meet you. Well, I’ve done the nosy neighbor thing, so I guess it’s time for me to go.”
“Don’t leave yet, pretty lady,” he said. “Me and my boy hang out a lot. Why don’t you and some of your equally pretty female friends show us the neighborhood?”
“Jamal,” Brent chided. “Leave Ms. Collins alone.”
Jamal snapped his fingers. “As in Mimi Collins? Damn, girl, you were all over the news today.”
Brent looked from Jamal to Mimi. “The news?”
Mimi fanned her hand. “It was nothing serious. Just...”
Jamal pointed at her. “She writes that blog, the Misadventures of Mimi. Women swear by it and you’re hard on the brothers, if I must say so myself.”
Mimi folded her arms across her chest. “Only those who deserve it. Did I step on your toes, Jamal?”
“Sassy and fine. We should get married,” he said with a wink. “You going out tonight? Maybe I can give you some material to write about?”
“You’re doing a great job of that right now.” Mimi turned to Brent. “It was nice meeting you, Brent.” She shot Jamal a salty glance. “The pleasure was all yours.” As Mimi walked away, she felt Brent and Jamal watching her. She couldn’t help but put a little twist in her hips as she walked to her door. Life just got a little more interesting.
Chapter 3
When MJ returned to Mimi’s she found her friend sitting on the sofa with her laptop resting on her thighs.
“You’re kidding me, right?” she asked.
“I’ve got to start locking my door,” Mimi quipped. She took a look at MJ and shot her a thumbs-up. “Work it, lady. You look great.”
MJ smoothed her knee-skimming black leather dress. The spaghetti straps highlighted her toned arms and ample bosom. “This old thing?”
“Whatever. I bet you bought it as soon as your ‘client’ invited you to the lounge tonight.”
“For the last time, we have a professional relationship and that’s it. Why aren’t you dressed?”
“Do you know who just moved in here?” she asked with a gleam in her eyes.
“Who? The Rock?”
Mimi rolled her eyes. “I need you to get over your obsession with Dwayne Johnson.”
“La-la-la, I’m not listening! But can you get dressed already?” MJ said.
“Brent Daniels is my new neighbor.”
MJ brought her hand to her mouth. “The lawyer who never loses?”
Mimi nodded and pointed to the picture on her laptop. “This does him no justice. That man is superfine.”
“And how do you know this?”
“Because I heard movement in the empty unit, so I went to see what was going on. He answered the door and it was all I could do to keep drool from dripping out of my mouth.”
MJ glanced at his picture and shook her head. “That’s your type.”
Mimi turned her head back to the screen. Brent was milk chocolate with slate-gray eyes, a body built for sin and redemption, and a heart-stopping smile. Okay, that was everything that sent her heart fluttering, but looks only went so far.
Roderick Mason had been a master at teaching that lesson. He’d promised her the fairy tale, but ended up being the frog. Not only had he cheated on Mimi, but he’d stolen her credit card and bought the other woman an engagement ring.
Livid, she’d gone straight to the internet after pressing charges against Roderick for identity theft and told her story of betrayal, with pictures and the police report. Who knew that heartbreak would’ve given her a new career?
“I’m not saying he isn’t fine, but the last thing I’m looking for is a serious relationship,” Mimi said. “But I wouldn’t mind waking up with him on a Sunday morning.”
MJ sucked her teeth. “There you go with that Sunday morning nonsense. You need to wake up and go to church some Sunday morning, instead of deciding that your Saturday night was a mistake.”
Mimi laughed, thinking that she hadn’t had one of those Saturday nights in a long time. Even though most of her blog posts were about relationships, Mimi had decided that she enjoyed being single. She reveled in her freedom to do whatever she wanted to without questions from anyone.
“Whatever, Mikey. I’m not like you, who has to know a man’s Beacon score before you allow him to buy you a drink.”
“Shut up and please get dressed.”
Mimi glanced at the screen one last time. Brent was nice eye candy, but she was sure that he was one of those men with a phone full of women happy to warm his bed the minute he called. Rising to her feet, Mimi headed to her bedroom to get dressed.
* * *
Brent was impressed with the lounge Jamal had chosen. The smooth jazz soothed him as he sat at the bar. “I’m surprised you’d come to a joint like this,” Brent said to his friend after they ordered drinks and hot wings.
“Because this is the spot where you meet the women who are classy in the streets and freaks in the sheets.”
Brent shook his head. “It’s always about chasing women for you, huh?”
Jamal nodded toward a couple of women who were standing at the entrance of the club. “Those are women worth chasing,” Jamal said.
Brent sipped his drink and shook his head. “You’re something else. What are you going to do when the right woman comes along?”
“She doesn’t exist. So I’m going to buy Mi
ss Right Now a drink.” Jamal casually walked over to the entrance and greeted the women he had noticed from the bar. Brent was about to order another drink when he spotted her. Mimi Collins was a vision in gold. Her full lips were painted red and those expressive eyes of her shone in the dim light of the lounge. Her smooth skin looked as if it were carved from mythical wood. The way she wore that knee-skimming strapless gold dress that hugged her curves like a second skin made his body hard as a brick. “Damn,” he muttered as he set his drink on the bar. The bartender noticed Brent’s stare.
“Brother, you don’t stand a chance,” he said.
“What are you talking about?”
“If you keep staring at Mimi like that, when she comes over here, she’s going to give you hell,” he said.
“I wasn’t staring... Wait, you know Mimi?”
“Firecracker? Yeah. Went to college with her and Michael.”
“Michael? Is that her husband or something?”
He nodded at the woman standing next to Mimi. “Michael, who goes by MJ, is her best friend. She helps me with the marketing for the club.” The bartender extended his hand to Brent. “I’m Nicolas Prince, the owner.”
Brent shook his hand. “Owner and bartender?”
“A little short-staffed tonight, but I don’t mind meeting my clientele. And just a little advice: if Mimi’s on your radar, you better be ready to have your relationship broadcast to hundreds of thousands of readers. Her blog is popular and she has no filter.”
All Brent could think was that didn’t seem like the woman he’d met earlier. Mimi was a bit of a mystery, but in that dress, he knew he wanted to unravel every part. Still, her blog gave him pause. He didn’t like the spotlight, and it seemed as if she lived for it, according to Nicolas. When he saw Mimi and MJ heading toward the bar, he turned back to Nicolas.
“Whatever they’re drinking, put it on my tab.”
Nicolas gave him a toothy grin. “You don’t know what kind of minefield you just stepped on.”
“She can’t be that bad.”
“Don’t believe me, just watch.”
And watch Brent did as Mimi and MJ walked over to the bar. Mimi had the sexiest walk he’d ever seen—confident and alluring. And those legs. Long and strong. Immediately, he thought about them wrapped around his waist while he drove into her wetness.
“Fancy meeting you here,” Mimi said, breaking into his erotic thoughts. “I’d say you’re a stalker, but I know this is a hot spot, thanks to the brilliant woman behind the marketing.”
“I never have to stalk a woman. And I must say, you look amazing in gold.”
She smiled, then turned to Nicolas. “You’re the bartender today?”
“Good to see you, too, Mimi,” he said while smiling at MJ. Brent noticed that MJ and Nicolas had started talking in hushed tones. From the way she was smiling, whatever he was saying to her must have been good.
Mimi shook her head and reached for the bowl of peanuts next to Brent. “They get on my nerves,” she said, then rolled her eyes.
“That’s not nice to say about your friends,” he said.
“If only you knew the story. And for the record, I only have one friend over there, and that’s MJ.” She popped a nut in her mouth and Brent shifted in his seat. Lips like hers were sinful.
“I’d like to know your story. Everyone who knows you has something interesting to say about you.”
Mimi smirked and then licked her bottom lip. “So, you’ve been asking about me? All you had to do was knock on my door. I might have even given you a cup of sugar.”
Brent took a quick sip of his drink to cool the heated desire building in his belly. She had to know what that move with her tongue did. She was sexy and owned every bit of it. “I didn’t ask. Everything was volunteered, Firecracker.”
Mimi tossed a handful of nuts in Nicolas’s direction. “Really, Nic?” she snapped when he and MJ turned her way. “You just talking about me to strangers?”
“Mimi, I was trying to save the guy from one of your rants. Warn him that you’re nuts,” Nic said with a laugh as he brushed peanuts off the bar. MJ touched his shoulder.
“I hope you two aren’t going to start acting up this evening,” she said. “Tonight is about celebrating.” MJ shot Mimi a cautioning look.
Mimi glanced at Brent and held back her caustic comment. “I’m here for the music,” she replied.
Nic held up his hands. “Mimi, you know I love you like a sister. An annoying little sister, but I love you nonetheless.”
“Whatever,” she said, keeping her eyes on Brent, who seemed amused by the scene in front of him.
“I took a look at your blog. It’s very popular,” Brent said. “A relationship expert, huh?”
“Hardly. I’m a lifestyle blogger. It just so happens that it seems as if people around the world are always interested in bad dating stories.”
“So that’s why you date, to have stories?”
“Technically, I don’t date,” she said, then popped a peanut in her mouth. “I go to events, watch people and tell stories about it. What I really want to do is start traveling and be a black girl around the globe, or something like that.”
“That sounds good and everything, but is this your career?”
Mimi raised her right eyebrow and shot him a cold look. “I’m sorry that I don’t want to spend my time locked behind a desk in a stuffy office with bad lighting. I have the talent to make the world my office. And since you were all over Google checking me out, you see I wrote a bestselling book about dating, so don’t try me like that.”
“Hey, I didn’t mean any harm. Go for it, black girl around the globe.”
She rolled her eyes. “Does being condescending win many cases for you?”
“Ouch,” he said as he downed his drink. “You speak your mind without hesitation. That’s pretty sexy.”
“And that was pretty sexist. Insult the woman, then try flirting with her to shut her up.”
“Damn, Mimi, you don’t give people a chance at all, do you?”
“Those who deserve it,” she said. “Pity, I thought you’d be one of those people. I’m glad we had this talk.” She started to stand and Brent touched her elbow.
* * *
Mimi tried to pretend that the feel of Brent’s hand on her skin didn’t affect her. She wanted to act as if their tête-à-tête hadn’t been the most interesting conversation she’d had with the opposite sex in a long time. She wanted to muster the strength to storm away from him as she would’ve done with any other guy who’d pissed her off. But Brent was different. She liked him. Liked that he challenged her and wasn’t a pushover.
He just didn’t need to know that.
“Please get your hands off me,” she said quietly.
“After we dance, I won’t ever touch you again,” he said with a smile that made her heart skip three beats. Brent stood up and wrapped his arm around Mimi’s waist. Without giving her a chance to protest, he ushered her to the dance floor as the band began to play a slow groove.
The moment he pulled her against his chest, Mimi sighed. His arms felt so good. And the man had some moves. His hip thrusts seemed to foretell nights of pleasure wrapped in the bed. Not to be outdone, Mimi unleashed her own moves, spinning and doing a quick step that rivaled the winner of Dancing with the Stars. A few other couples around them stopped to watch the sensual movements Mimi and Brent were doing. When the song ended, half of the applause was for Brent and Mimi rather than the band.
“Not bad,” he said. “I get the feeling that you have a lot of surprises underneath that gold dress.”
She smiled, hoping that her heartbeat would return to normal as he drank in her image. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Right now, I’m just going to buy you a drink,” he replied
with a smile.
I could wake up Sunday morning with him, she thought as they headed back to the bar.
Chapter 4
By the time Brent and Mimi pushed through the crowd and made it back to the bar, there wasn’t an open seat in sight.
“Well, that escalated rather quickly,” Mimi quipped. She scanned the crowd for MJ and wasn’t surprised when she found her friend in a corner with Nic. “I guess the real bartender showed up.”
“If he didn’t, that would explain the traffic jam at the bar. I didn’t realize there were so many people in here. Then again, with my workload, I don’t get to hang out in the Atlanta popular spots much.”
Mimi hadn’t noticed either, because when she’d been wrapped in Brent’s arms nothing else had mattered.
“Want to get out of here?” she asked.
“Sound like a great plan. I’m not fond of big crowds,” Brent replied, then draped his arm around Mimi’s shoulders as a wave of people pushed passed them. His possessive touch sent a wave of pleasure down her spine. She wiggled out of the intimate embrace because it felt so good.
“Some Waffle House would be really good,” Mimi said. “Nic and his tapas menu isn’t going to work for me tonight. I’m really hungry.” Though her hunger had more to do with the man she’d been dancing with than food.
“Man, I haven’t had a pecan waffle and grits in a minute.” He glanced at Mimi’s svelte figure. “And I see this isn’t a habit for you either.”
“Two hours a few times a week in the gym while writing makes up for my indulgent foodie ways,” she said as they headed for the exit. “But for the record, I hate grits.”
“A foodie, huh? Do you ever write about that on your blog?”
“Have you ever read my blog?”
“Not closely. I gave it a glance earlier, remember.”
Mimi rolled her eyes. “Rule number one, never tell a blogger that you don’t read her blog.”
Feel the Heat Page 2
