Just Say The Word

by Tiffany Patterson

  Sandra

  “Just a minute!” I called from my bedroom. I twisted and turned in the full-length mirror again, making sure the black jeans and burgundy top I’d paired together were fitting correctly. After slipping my feet into a pair of three-inch black leather booties, I headed out, shutting off my bedroom light.

  “Coming!” I yelled again to the knocking at the door. I opened the door and … Damn!

  He looked good, dressed in a sweater turtleneck, and navy jeans with a pair of brown, low top sneakers that matched his top. The brown of the material brought out the deep mahogany color of his skin even more.

  This isn’t a date, I reminded myself over and over. It was the only thing that had kept me from picking up the phone and telling him thanks but no thanks when it came to helping me look for a car. But this wasn’t a date. It was the friend of my good friend’s husband who obviously wanted to help … for whatever reason. I had to tell myself he didn’t want anything from me other than that.

  But as I glanced up into those two distinctive eyes, I knew I was lying to myself. What was worse, was that I wanted more, too.

  “Sorry I took so long to answer. Please come in.” I took a step back to give him space to enter.

  “Thank you. Where’s short stuff?”

  I squinted but then remembered he’d given my daughter a nickname. “Oh! Monique. She’s with her sitter. I figured the last thing she wanted to do today was to spend it at the car dealership. She and the sitter went to the library first, and then they’re meeting Kayla’s sister-in-law, Michelle, and Diego at the Children’s Museum.”

  He nodded, looking around my modest apartment before turning eyes on me.

  “I’m guessing she’s been feeling better.”

  I nodded, smiling. “She’s been feeling a lot better.”

  “No more leaving her insulin at home?”

  I shook my head. “What you told her about not trying to be like everyone else really stuck with her. Thank you fo—” I stopped when his head lowered and he pinned me with his gaze. “I can’t help it, okay?” I laughed.

  His lips parted into a smile before a deep chuckle emanated from his throat. And my body temperature rose by five degrees from the sound.

  “Besides, we’ve decided to get her an insulin pump soon. Would you like anything to drink before we leave?” I needed some water.

  “Some water would be great.”

  I nodded and moved from the living room to the kitchen. Only when I was out from under his immediate gaze did I inhale and exhale fully. I poured two glasses of water from my glass pitcher before setting it back in the fridge.

  “Thank you,” he stated as he took the glass from my hands. Our fingertips brushed against one another’s and the charge of energy from the brief touch nearly caused me to spill the water.

  This man was more than fine.

  He was potent.

  Like walking sex.

  I swallowed a mouthful of water before I did something embarrassing like say my actual thoughts out loud.

  “How long have you lived in this place?” he questioned, looking around the kitchen. The very same one in which his very presence was sucking up all of the oxygen out of. I’d never realized how damn low the ceilings were in my place until seeing Damon’s head only about two inches from it.

  “Five years.”

  “You like it?”

  I shrugged. “It’s okay. Affordable. The commute to work is sort of a pain but you can’t get everything you want.” After I took the last sip of water, I placed my glass in the sink.

  “Says who?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Who says you can’t get everything you want?”

  I paused. “People. Life.”

  “You need to hang around better people if they’re telling you that bullshit.”

  My eyebrows rose and I stood there stunned as he lowered the now empty glass into the sink.

  “Ready?”

  “Yes.”

  The sooner we left the sooner we could get this over with.

  I held the door open as Damon passed through and then shut it behind me, locking it.

  “I parked out front,” he corrected when I started toward the elevator that lead to the parking garage.

  We took the stairs down to the lobby of my building, and I passed through the door as Damon held it open for me.

  “Is your coat in the car?” I questioned as I tightened the collar of my own blush-colored wool coat that fell a few inches below my waist. We were still very much in winter.

  Damon pressed the button to unlock his car and held the passenger side door open for me before responding with, “Didn’t bring one.”

  “Why not?” I questioned as soon as he shut the driver side door.

  “Don’t need it.”

  “Why don’t you need it? It’s only thirty degrees out here.”

  “Only going from the car to inside usually. I don’t like coats. Too cumbersome.”

  I shook my head. “That doesn’t make sense. Plus, we’re looking at cars today, so we’ll be outside much of the time.”

  Smirking, he turned to face me.

  “You volunteering to keep me warm?”

  My mouth fell open. For the second time, I finally started to understand what the romance novels were talking about when they said something was panty-wetting. Sensations I’d only ever felt while reading some of my favorite authors were taken up a couple of levels at the flirtatious grin Damon threw my way.

  “Relax,” he urged, placing a large hand on my left knee. “I’m a grown ass man, not having a coat won’t stop the show.” With that, he pulled off.

  I sank comfortably into the leather seats of his car. This was the third time I’d ridden in this same vehicle, and it got more and more comfortable with each ride. Or maybe, I was just loosening up in his presence.

  “How’s the case you’re working on going?”

  I’d forgotten I told him about the diner case. “It’s going.” I shrugged. “These things take time. We have to research old similar cases and interview those who were willing to speak up. But that includes somehow convincing those who are reluctant to actually come forward. Our main accuser has come close to backing out, which is understandable. She just wants to live her life, find a new job, and move on with it, which I completely understand. But she also deeply believes that what happened to her was unjust and unfair and she wants to prevent it from happening to other women. She’s moved in with her cousin, who convinced her to come to us in the first place, to help her out financially. Otherwise, I’m not sure she’d still be ready or able to pursue the case.”

  “And you used to work for that same company?”

  I wrinkled my forehead at the ominous lilt his voice had taken on with that question.

  “For a little while, yes. But I’m sure it’ll work out. What kind of cars does your friend sell?” I asked, changing the subject. The last thing I wanted was to think back on the time period I was pregnant and when Monique was really young.

  Damon turned his head, briefly looking from the road to me and back to the street again. Somehow, I got the impression that he realized I was uncomfortable with the aforementioned topic.

  “He sold me this car.”

  My eyes widened. “I can’t afford a BMW.” I glanced around the interior of Damon’s luxury vehicle. No way.

  “Chill. BMWs aren’t the only type of vehicles he sells. Besides, we’re just looking, right?”

  I nodded and pushed out a breath. “Right.”

  “Anyway, Carlos is good people. His family has been in the car business in one capacity or another for three generations. Even if you don’t like anything we look at today, he can steer us in the right direction.”

  He used the word us like this was a joint venture. As if he was more than just a friend of a friend who was invested in seeing me get the right car. That felt good for some strange reason.

  “I don’t even know what I want.” I’d been sa
ving for a car but hadn’t actively been looking. My Cavalier had been the first and only car I’d had. That car had taken me a lot of hours on my feet at the diner to save for and it was the cheapest thing I could find.

  “How’d you get your last car?”

  “One of the waitresses I worked with, her brother liked cars. He would buy and fix them up. She knew I needed a car so she convinced him to lower the price on the Cavalier. Reluctantly, he did.”

  “What did you like about it?”

  I shrugged. “It got me and my daughter to and from work and school.”

  Damon chuckled. “That’s it?”

  “Yeah. I never had an interest in anything else.” I frowned at the idea that there even was anything beyond that to like about a car.

  “A’ight, let’s start with the color. What’s your favorite color?”

  “Magenta.”

  He looked to me as we came to a red light.

  “What?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing. I doubt you’ll be able to find a magenta colored car.”

  “Well, you asked.”

  He nodded. “I should’ve asked what’s your favorite color for a car?”

  “Um …” I paused, thinking. “Black.” It was simple, didn’t draw too much attention.

  “We can work with that. And I’m assuming you want a car for the same reasons as you did in the past. Reliability, correct?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Price is obviously a factor. Now we’ve got three criteria to work around. Carlos will be able to help us.”

  As soon as he finished his statement, he turned on the left side blinker and turned into the parking lot of a car dealership. With those few questions he’d actually helped me to come up with some guidelines for what I wanted in my next car. It was also comforting to know that this time around, I wasn’t at the mercy of just finding the cheapest thing I could get my hands on. That knowledge alone had me standing up straighter and walking taller as Damon held the door of the dealership open for me to enter.

  Chapter Seven

  Damon

  Damn she looks good.

  I held my car door open as she folded her compact body into the passenger seat. While I was sure she hadn’t intended the black skinny jeans and burgundy turtleneck she wore to be a turn on, they were. Especially paired with the pointy ankle booties she donned. Regardless, if she knew it or not, Sandra was sexy as hell. Without even trying. Hell, maybe that’s what made her so appealing. She didn’t carry herself as if she wanted extra attention from men, or anyone else, for that matter. In fact, at times it was as if she was doing her damndest to hide from additional attention.

  But she stuck out.

  The thick yet well-toned thighs.

  The blemish free copper skin tone that she coated with just enough makeup to enhance what was already there while not completely transforming her facial features.

  And the way she dipped her head when put on the spot, which made me want to assure her nothing bad would ever come her way again.

  And just when my perception of her being skittish and possibly too needy spiked, she bowled me over when she’d let the counselor from Monique’s school have it. Then she’d let me have it in the hallway of her apartment complex. Which was why my lips had landed on hers. Hell, it couldn’t even be called a kiss. But it did have me hungering for me.

  “I can’t believe I’m getting a new car. Well, not new but a 2017,” she gushed as I got in the driver’s seat of my car.

  “Believe it. I still think you should’ve gone for the 2018.”

  She giggled and lightly slapped my shoulder. “Too much. The 2017 Accord was perfect. And I can’t believe your friend’s prices were so reasonable. I thought I’d be paying nearly double for the make and model that I bought. And it only has five thousand miles.”

  I wouldn’t tell her that Carlos’ usual price was indeed much higher than what she was paying for it. And I damn sure wasn’t going to tell her that I’d promised Carlos I’d make up the price difference to him. We’d spent hours at the dealership looking at so many different cars I’d lost track. Sandra test drove three different cars. All different makes and models.

  “I thought we were going to be stuck there for another eighteen hours,” I teased.

  Sandra threw me a sideways look. “We were not there that long.”

  I dramatically shot out my arm and lifted my wrist to my face, staring at the time. “It’s damn near five-thirty. We got there around ten-thirty this morning.” Carlos had even ordered lunch for us in between test drives.

  “I really wanted to get it over with. I asked if you needed to leave and you said no.”

  “You did and I didn’t. I was more than happy to spend the day with you.” Shit. That was a little too honest. The time had literally flown by.

  “Well, thank you for spending the day with me.”

  “What did I tell you about that thanking me shit?”

  “My apologies.”

  I chuckled. Her ass sounded so formal sometimes. “Are you hungry?”

  “Yes. Starving.”

  “Restaurant Row isn’t too far from here. You up for an early dinner or do you need to get back to Monique?”

  She shook her head. “Her sitter doesn’t mind staying.”

  “What are you in the mood for?”

  “My favorite Greek restaurant is on the Row.”

  I nodded. Restaurant Row was a nickname all of the locals called a particular area of downtown Williamsport that had a variety of restaurants along this one street.

  “I know the one you’re talking about.” It was a tiny spot toward the end of the street but the food was delicious.

  Ten minutes later, after winding through traffic, I pulled into the parking lot at the back of the restaurant.

  “It’s early yet, so it’s not too busy for dinner,” Sandra commented as I held the car door open for her.

  “Good. I hate waiting.” Usually I made reservations but this particular outing had been last minute.

  “Mm, it smells divine in here,” Sandra declared as we entered the restaurant.

  After telling the hostess we needed a table for two, I tucked my right arm around Sandra’s lower back and guided her as we followed behind the waitress to a table right next to the window.

  “Oh wow!”

  “What?” I glanced up after pushing in Sandra’s chair for her to sit. I rounded the table to find her staring behind her out of the window.

  “See, that’s why magenta is my favorite color.”

  I looked up and noticed the perfect sunset. The sky, off in the distance, was lit up in an array of blues and pinks. My eyes landed back to Sandra who stared with a little grin on her face, admiringly.

  “You’re a fan of sunsets?”

  “You aren’t?”

  I chuckled. “I am, actually. Spent a lot of late nights and early mornings up working in the first years of building my business. Gave me an appreciation for sunrises and sunsets.”

  I finally sat down and within seconds our waitress arrived at the table to take our orders.

  “That’s a nice timepiece.”

  I raised an eyebrow at Sandra across the table who was eyeing my watch.

  “I meant to mention it earlier. It doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen on the market.”

  “Because it’s not,” I responded as I removed the watch from my wrist. I bent in closer, holding up the watch for her to see better. “It’s a Richmond & Raines original. A prototype actually. We had our designer build it out to give it a try. I wanted to see how it felt.”

  “We?” Sandra’s maple syrup saucers rose to mine.

  I nodded. “My cousin, Sean, and I.”

  “You’re in business together? Wait, I thought you were involved in real estate.”

  The confused wrinkle that popped up between her eyebrows caused me to chuckle. She looked so damn curious and cute at the same time. Lord, save me, I didn’t do women who were cute. Es
pecially women who held so much emotion behind their eyes that it radiated out of them. And definitely not women who pressed every single one of my internal buttons to protect. I hadn’t even realized I had those types of buttons for women I wasn’t related to. But as Sandra’s fingers brushed against mine, as she took the watch I proffered, I started to realize that maybe I didn’t know my own damn self as well as I thought I did.

  “To answer your question, I am in real estate. Richmond Real Estate is the company I’ve built up over the last decade. We own and manage a couple of different properties as well as invest in commercial properties, and we’ve even begun building a few places in recent years. However, I’ve always had a thing for luxury timepieces. I get it from my pops.” I shrugged casually.

  “He has a passion for collecting luxury watches also?”

  I glanced down at the white linen cloth covering the wooden, circular table, before taking a sip of the lemon water the waitress had brought to our table.

  “He did,” I responded as I sat the glass back down.

  Sandra’s eyelids lowered in embarrassment, and I’ll be goddamned if my heart didn’t stumble over itself a little just to tell her it was all good.

  “I’m sorr—”

  “Don’t be. You didn’t know. Anyway, he always had a thing for time. He always said to be on time is to be late and to be late is to be left. He gave me my first Calvin Klein watch for my thirteenth birthday. It wasn’t too flashy or anything, but he said he wanted to see how I cared for the watch and if I did well, he’d get me my first Rolex in a few years.”

  “Whoa,” Sandra stated with raised eyebrows. “So how’d you do?”

  I shook my head. “I bought my own Rolex on my eighteenth birthday. He died five years earlier just a few months after giving me that Calvin Klein.” I grinded my teeth after admitting that out loud to the first person in years.

  Sandra cleared her throat. I knew I’d made the conversation awkward as hell but something in me felt okay confiding in her.

  “I never knew my father.” A soon as the words were out of her mouth, she slapped her hand against her forehead and lowered her face, shamefaced.

  Cute as hell.

  “I have no earthly idea why I just admitted that.”

  I chuckled. “It’s cool. We’re delving into our collective daddy issues.”