“And didn’t you encourage your friend Kiara to do the same when that millionaire mogul, Trey Moore, wanted to whisk her away?”
Kyra frowned. “That may have been the case with all y’all, but I fail to see the point.”
“You know the point,” Nicole said. “How many times do we have to tell you to quit being scared and take the opportunity to get to know the man Luke has become. Not the boy you fell for all those years ago.”
Kyra sank deeper into her chair and groaned. “I swear if he wasn’t still the sexiest man I’d ever seen, telling him no would be so much easier.”
Aaliyah and Nicole laughed. “Said every woman who’s gotten hung up on a man,” Nicole said. “Sis, at least you’re in good company.”
“I don’t want to be in good company,” Kyra moaned. “I can deny it all I want, but a very large part of me wants to say yes to his offer.”
“Then say yes,” Aaliyah said. “Stop overanalyzing it and just say yes. It will probably be the trip of a lifetime.”
“Do you think it’s wrong of me to even consider it since I’ll be invading on his time with his family?”
“He invited you,” Aaliyah reminded her. “He wouldn’t have done that if he thought you were invading his family time.”
“You’re right.”
“Then what are you going to do?” Nicole asked.
Kyra sighed. “I’m not sure yet, but I figure I should let him know by the morning. Still more to think about.”
Nicole and Aaliyah nodded and directed their attention back to Grey’s Anatomy just as Kyra’s phone rang. She glanced at the caller and told them she’d take the call in another room.
“Hey, Taheim,” she said upon answering. “What’s up?”
“Nothing much, sis. I told Ajay and Winter that I’d check in on you to see what plans you’d made for Thanksgiving when a thought hit me. Why don’t you come with us to France? No sense being in Chicago by yourself for the holiday.”
“I already told you I’d be fine,” she said. “Besides, I already tagged along with you guys on the two past trips to France. Your father-in-law is looking forward to seeing you all and his grandkids. I’ll be fine.”
“We just feel bad,” he said. “Did you call Cheyanne to see what her family was doing?”
“Not yet. I’ve been distracted with work and some other stuff.” Kyra cleared her throat. “I got an offer to go someplace else for Thanksgiving week, though.”
“From who? Nicole and Aaliyah?”
“Not exactly.” Kyra looked to the ceiling, wondering what her brother would say when she told him. “Luke invited me to St. Lucia with him.”
Taheim grew quiet, then asked, “Luke invited you back to his hometown?”
“Yeah, he did.”
“Are you going with him?”
“I’m not sure yet,” she said. “If I say yes, would you be cool with that?”
It took a few seconds for him to respond, but Taheim finally said, “Yeah, of course, I’d be cool with it.”
He didn’t sound convinced, but Kyra didn’t push for him to say any more. She knew her brother. Knew how he thought. He may have been clueless about her feelings toward Luke back in the day, but now he was wondering if anything was going on between them—he just wasn’t outright saying it.
Truth be told, Kyra wished she had an answer to the question lingering in the air because she was clueless as well.
“Let me know what you decide,” Taheim said before they ended the call.
“I’m leaning toward saying yes, but I’ll text you tomorrow.”
“Wow, you’re really thinking about going, huh?”
Kyra took a deep breath, acknowledging for the first time that she actually was thinking about going. She hadn’t said those words aloud, but by the time she hung up with her brother, she was pretty sure she was going to take up Luke on his offer to join him and Nash in St. Lucia.
* * *
“You invited her to St. Lucia with us, didn’t you?” Nash asked with a smirk. Luke leaned back in his desk chair and ignored his brother as he continued to toss his mini basketball in the air.
“You can ignore me all you want, but you were the one who walked into the office this morning and said you had something important to tell me. Now all you’re doing is procrastinating. I know you spent most the day with her yesterday, so you might as well just fess up.”
Luke stopped tossing the ball. “Why do you think I invited her on our trip?”
“Because all you’ve done lately is talk about her and if I was trying to win back the heart of a beautiful woman, I’d take her on a romantic trip to the Caribbean.”
“What makes you think I’m trying to win her heart?”
Nash raised an eyebrow. “Bro, I know we haven’t known each other long, but we share DNA. Give me some credit, all right?”
Luke shook his head. “What was I thinking, asking her to come along? This is supposed to be a trip for you and me to get to know each other more and for me to show you St. Lucia.”
“We’ve been catching up since we found out about each other,” Nash said. “I’m looking forward to this trip, but I don’t mind that you invited Kyra. Based off what you’ve told me, she seems cool.”
“She is,” he said. “She hasn’t told me if she’s coming or not, but I’m second-guessing why I asked her in the first place.”
Nash sighed. “We’ve already been through this. You like her. She used to like you. Now she still holds a slight grudge that you rejected her. So you want to prove to her that you’re not the same idiot you used to be.”
“Something like that,” Luke said with a laugh. “Are you sure you’ll cool with it if she decides to come?”
“Yes, man. I’m good. I’m not some little boy wanting to spend time with his older brother when all he wants to do is lay in bed all day with his girlfriend. I’m a grown-ass man and if you want Kyra to be in your life more permanently, I want to get to know her, too.”
Luke smiled. “I hope you’re ready for everything St. Lucia has to offer. It’s a small but mighty island. The people are great and I’m sure lots of folks want to meet you.”
“I just want to learn more about my background,” he said, his voice solemn. “Your dad may not have wanted to know me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care to learn more about where I came from.”
Luke tossed the ball to his brother and they began throwing it back and forth. “He’s not the man I thought he was. Your adoptive dad is a better person than ours will ever be.”
“You still haven’t talked to him?”
Luke shook his head. “Nah, and I doubt I will anytime soon.”
When the ball reached Nash again, he held it. “I get that, but I hope you know that if it has anything to do with me, I don’t want my existence to be the reason you and your dad have a broken relationship.”
“I appreciate that, bro, but it’s not just you. There’s other issues we have to work out.”
Nash nodded. “Okay. But if you ever need to talk, just let me know.”
“Thanks, man.” Luke’s cell phone rang, interrupting the moment. Luke answered on the fourth ring.
“Hey, Taheim, what’s up, man?” At the mention of Taheim’s name, Nash raised his eyebrows and walked over to Luke’s desk.
“Hey, Luke, you busy?”
“Uh, not really. What’s on your mind?”
Even before he asked, Luke suspected that it was about Kyra. It was confirmed when Taheim said, “Listen, man. I know I asked you to help Kyra find a condo and location for the boutique, but now she tells me that you asked her to go with you to St. Lucia?”
Nash quickly went back to his office and returned with a dry erase board. Luke mouthed, “What the hell are you doing with that?” but he had his answer when Luke wrote something down and turned the
board around to show the message—Tell him yeah and that you want to date his sister.
Luke pushed away the board. “Yeah, I invited her to go to St. Lucia with me. You cool with that?”
“It depends,” he said. “I thought you and Kyra hadn’t talked in years, and now you’re bringing her to your home country?”
“Well, technically, I was born here in the US.”
“You know what I mean. You’ve never brought a woman to St. Lucia. I thought you said taking a step like that with a woman was important and you’d never do so unless you were serious about the relationship. So I’m asking you—is there more going on between you and Kyra than just friendship?”
Nash laughed and showed Luke the board again. This time it said, Taheim is trying to figure out if you are bringing Kyra to St. Lucia to sleep with her or if you’re already sleeping with her. Then Nash erased the board and wrote another message that said, And if you are sleeping with her, his ass will probably be on the next flight to LA.
Luke shook his head. “We’re just friends. I’m surprised you even had to ask.” Nash put the board in front of Luke’s face with the word LIAR written in all caps.
Taheim was quiet for a few seconds, then finally said, “I guess I gotta take your word for it. Something about this doesn’t sit right with me.”
“Man, come on. You know me. If something was going on between me and your sister, I’d tell you.” Luke heard a female voice in the background, sparking another thought. “Is that Winter? Did she put you up to this?”
Taheim sighed. “She may or may not have mentioned that she suspected something was going on between y’all, so I got to thinking and figured I would call you.”
Luke shook his head. I should have known. Taheim was great when it came to business, but when it came to treating Kyra like a woman and understanding that she wasn’t a little girl anymore, he was clueless. “Listen, if anything changes in my relationship with your sister, I’ll let you know out of respect.” Nash shook his head and mouthed “wrong answer.”
“So, Winter’s not trippin’. You do think something more could happen between y’all?”
Luke pinched the bridge of his nose. “T, don’t let Winter make you overthink this. I’m going to St. Lucia to introduce Nash to our family and I thought it would be nice if Kyra joined us since she mentioned not having any solid plans.”
“Oh, Nash will be there, too?” Taheim asked.
“Yeah, Kyra didn’t tell you?”
“Nah,” he said. “She failed to mention that part.”
Luke shook his head. It was just like Kyra to leave out important details. She’d rather keep folks guessing even if that meant him getting calls from Taheim about his intentions. “Well, yeah. It’s a family trip that I invited her on.”
“Why didn’t you say that in the first place?” Taheim asked. “I mean, you my boy and all, but when it comes to relationships, you suck. The thought of you introducing my little sister to your commitment issues was messing with my head. Glad to know you were just looking out for her.”
Nash shook his head and wrote Well, damn on the board. “He’ll be looking out for her all right,” he whispered.
“What was that?” Taheim asked.
“Nothing,” Luke said, waving away Nash. “Nash just had a question about something. But, anyway, I got to get back to work. It seems like Kyra might be turning down my offer to vacation with us, anyway.”
“Nah, man. She sounded like she was going when I talked to her,” Taheim said. “That’s why I figured I should give you a call.”
Luke looked to Nash, who mouthed “told you so.” “Are you sure she sounded like she would be going?”
“Yeah, she definitely did. In case she forgets to text me, can you let me know if she decides to go with you? You know how she is with her secrets and shit.”
“If she decides to come, I’ll definitely let you know.”
“Thanks, man. I knew I could count on you.” They spoke for another minute before ending the call.
“Wow, I’m glad I’m not you,” Nash said after they hung up. “It was hard enough watching you lie to your best friend, but listening to your voice get all high and shit was hilarious.”
“Man, shut up. You were messing me up with that dry erase board.”
“Bruh, that’s because I was speaking the truth and you were too chicken to say what I was writing.”
Luke shook his head. “All you know is what I’ve told you. You were just speculating.”
“Whatever.” Nash waved off his comment as he glanced out the window. “And you know what else I speculate?”
“I’m afraid to ask, but what?”
Nash smirked. “That you better not stumble over your words the next time you talk to Kyra like you did on the phone with her brother.”
“I don’t stumble,” Luke said. “She’s probably not going with us, so I’ll do some self-reflection in St. Lucia.”
Nash laughed, but just when Luke was about to ask him what was so funny, the bell at the front door chimed, indicating that someone was walking in. Just like Nash had predicted, Luke could barely form a sentence when his eyes landed on her. “Kyra. Uh, what are you doing here?”
Her long lashes batted as she looked him up and down, and as much as Luke was trying not to look at her just as hard, he couldn’t help himself. She was wearing black jeans, black booties and a maroon top. Simple, yet so sexy on Kyra.
Her hair was down, flowing around her shoulders, and the colored gloss she was wearing matched her top.
“I was close by your office,” she said. “So I figured I would stop by and tell you that I decided to go to St. Lucia.” She glanced to Nash, then back to Luke. “If you guys will still have me.”
Luke glanced to Nash, who answered, “Most definitely, we will still have you.” Nash walked over to Kyra and reached out his hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Luke’s brother, Nash.”
“Nice to meet you, Nash.” Kyra looked between the two men. “Wow, I didn’t think you’d look so much alike. You look just like Luke.”
“Just the slightly taller, sexier version,” Nash said with a wink. “And might I say that you look even more beautiful than Luke described you.”
Kyra laughed. “And clearly, you’re trouble. But thank you.” She looked to Luke. “Is it okay with you if I still come?”
“Of course,” Luke said. “I was hoping you’d come with us.”
She smiled. “Great. I guess I need to pack since we leave soon.”
“Yeah, I can reserve your ticket and send you over the details.”
“Sounds good.” She glanced down at her phone in her hand. “I should probably get back to the shop, but I appreciate you letting me tag along. I’ll see you both in a couple days.”
Nash didn’t even wait a full minute until after she’d left before he started whistling. “Okay, bro. Now I see why you’ve been talking my ear off about her. You mean to tell me that she threw it at you back in the day and you threw it right back in her face? What the hell is wrong with you?”
Luke sighed. “Tell me something I don’t know. That mistake has followed me around for years. I’ve thought about what I would do if given a second chance more times than I can count.”
“Well, now is your second chance,” Nash said. “She came here to talk to you in person and based off what I saw, y’all still have mad chemistry.”
“You think so?” Luke asked.
“Man, get out of here with that hopeful look,” Nash teased. “But, yeah, I think so. Now all you have to do is play your cards right in St. Lucia and win her over.”
“I’ll try,” he said, finally admitting that was exactly what he wanted to do. Unfortunately, he had a feeling it was going to be easier said than done.
Chapter 7
Sitting on the plane next to Kyra had
been pure torture. First, it seemed every time she adjusted herself in her seat, her hip brushed against his. Then she’d fallen asleep in her chair and conveniently rested her head on his shoulder, with her hand draped over his thigh.
If that hadn’t been enough, every now and then she would softly moan in her sleep, the sound serenading Luke in a way that made it extremely difficult to rest with her so close. He’d been thanking God when they finally reached their layover, so for the second part of the flight, she was fully awake. However, that didn’t stop her from brushing past him when she had to use the restroom even though he could have gotten up. He wasn’t sure if she was doing any of it on purpose, but it sure as hell felt like it.
“Welcome to St. Lucia,” he announced to Nash and Kyra as he watched her get into the back of the rental car wearing her formfitting olive dress and gladiator sandals.
Nash leaned into Luke and whispered, “Bro, are you talking to me or Kyra’s ass?”
Luke choked on air. “I was talking to both of you.”
Nash tilted his head to the side and glanced into the car. “I don’t blame you if you were talking to the booty because cutie has a nice, round one. I can see why you can’t stop talking about her.”
Luke shoved Nash. “Man, quiet down before she hears the crap you’re talking.”
“I already heard y’all,” she yelled from the car. She leaned her head out the open door. “Now if both of you are done admiring my ass—which I work very hard on in the gym, mind you—can we get it moving? I’m dying to see more of St. Lucia than the airport.”
Luke’s mouth dropped, but Nash closed it shut. “Don’t drool, brotha. You’ll be with her for the next five days and no one likes a slobbery man.”
“Uh, we weren’t... I wasn’t...” Luke stammered.
“Yes, he was,” Nash said. “But she’s right. We gotta go.” Nash packed the last suitcase into the trunk and got into the passenger seat.
Dude, what’s wrong with you? Luke had always had game and could charm the panties off any lady. Clearly, he was out of practice or out of his element because so far, he wasn’t showing any of that charm to Kyra.
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