HOWARD

20

The moment Meeks said she was wearing shorts, there was no way I was not going to see her in them. A man can only handle so much, and my imagination wasn’t prepared at all for how good she looked up close and personal. I pulled in front of her townhouse, and Meeks came out wearing shorts that were a respectful length, but they were no less sexy.

Damn…

She had gorgeous legs. They were tone and shapely in all the ways that made me glad I was a man so that I could appreciate the qualities of a beautiful black woman.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” she asked as she moved over to the driver’s side door to stare down at me.

My eyes drifted over her face slowly, taking in every detail before traveling down to admire her delectable cleavage. “Nope, now get inside.”

Meeks leaned inside the window. “What if I don’t want to go?”

Leaning forward, I kissed her chin and then couldn’t resist nibbling it. “Cutie, if you didn’t want to go you wouldn’t have locked your front door behind you.”

The smirk on her lips said she was impressed. She should be. It took a lot of years to understand women, and I rarely second guessed the decisions I made.

As she sauntered around my SUV, my eyes clung to every delicious curve that swayed with a melody that was hypnotizing. I had to give it to her. Meeks had one of the fiercest bodies I’ve seen. She took my breath away. As soon as she was seated, I looked over at her golden-brown thighs.

Lawd have mercy.

Meeks strapped her seatbelt then turned toward me with a raised eyebrow and a mischievous grin. “Okay, let’s go.”

I chuckled as I pulled away from the townhouse community.

“How’s your day been?” I asked because women loved when I showed an interest.

“Good. Relaxing. How about you, Keim?”

I liked the sound of my name coming from her lips.

“I went and took my daughter to lunch. Of course, she wanted to go to the Cheesecake Factory.”

“A girl after my own heart.”

“Yep, and she was texting on her phone the entire time.”

I liked the way Meeks shrugged a slender shoulder before saying, “She’s a teenager. That’s what girls her age do…text their friends and talk about boys. Just wait until she has a boyfriend.”

“She mentioned some little boy that she wants me to meet but I’m not ready for all that. I told her when she turns twenty-one, we’ll talk about it.”

Meeks chuckled and met my gaze. “Didn’t you like girls when you were sixteen?”

“Hell yeah. I came out the womb loving women.”

She gave that playful eye roll that did crazy things to my inside. “So, if you came out of the womb loving women, how can you expect your daughter to hold off until she’s twenty-one?” Before I could comment, she added with an insightful smirk, “I don’t know if you realize but there is this thing called hormones.”

I looked at her like she was speaking Chinese. “Yeah, well, she needs to turn hers off for five years.”

Meeks turned in the seat, tipping her head to the side as she laughed and said, “You know it doesn’t work that way. It sounds like the two of you have a great relationship, especially if she can come to you and tell you she likes a boy.”

“Yes, I’d like to say my daughter and I have a great relationship.”

“Good. You don’t want to ruin that,” she said, sitting back on the seat. “When the hormones are in control, there is nothing you can do about that. I started sneaking around and lying to my mother about where I was and who I was with so I could see some light-skinned boy I thought I was in love with.”

“And what happened?” I asked even though I had an idea of where this story was going.

“I gave him my virginity and two days later he was dating someone else.”

My fingers tightened around the steering wheel. “See, that’s the stuff I be talking to her about. I don’t want her going through that bullshit.”

She shook her head again. “You can’t stop it. We all gotta bump our heads and learn from our mistakes. You just need to have your arms open and ready to comfort her when she does.”

I thought about what she said as I pulled off the highway at the Oyster Point exit and, within minutes, pulled into the parking garage. What Meeks said was true; unfortunately, I wasn’t ready yet to hear it.

“The City Center? What is this place?” she asked, eyes twinkling.

I glanced over at her and grinned. “Shopping, dining, movie theater, you name it.”

She looked impressed. I don’t know why but I wanted to do everything in my power to keep that sparkle in her eyes.

I parked and walked around and helped her from the SUV. Meeks climbed out and I shut the door and immediately moved beside her and lead the way with a hand at the small of her back. “I figured we could come down here and take an evening stroll. And if you’re hungry, there are quite a few places to eat with nice views of the fountain.”

“I’m impressed.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear.”

We walked through a metal archway, and when I heard the intake of breath, I knew I had made the right choice. In front of us was a five-acre fountain that was surrounded by restaurants and shops. The City Center district had been the happening spot in the last few years with prime real estate and high-end luxury apartments.

“This is beautiful,” Meeks said. She was so childlike and genuine. Was it any wonder I was falling under her spell with every passing second?

“I hoped you would like it.” I took her hand and we stepped down and took a seat near the gazebo. I couldn’t help but watch the rhythmically sway of her delectable ass.

I had to swallow and take several deep breaths to control an erection. Fuck. It took a moment before I was able to say, “They have events over there near the stage. I come down here sometimes just to listen to the fountain and clear my head.”

Lowering her lashes, she murmured, “What in the world would you need to clear your head about? Our jobs are easy.”

“I see you have jokes.” I liked that she possessed a sense of humor. Meeks laughed, a low, sexy sound that caused a quiver to roll through my body and land right smack at my groin. Fuck.

I still had her hand in mine. We stared at the water. It was a long moment before either of us spoke again.

“What do you think about Virginia so far? You think you’re here to stay?”

She met my eyes and nodded. “I like it here. If professionally things work out the way I hope they do, I plan on putting down roots. Maybe buying a house in another year.”

I was hoping she’d say that. “I love the area. I’ve left and came back. Nothing compares to it for me.”

Her eyes twinkled. Meeks was sitting so close I could count her eyelashes.

“I’m starting to see why my sister and Faze came back here after he retired from active duty. The area has a lot of the things to do and it’s close enough to make a quick weekend trip up to D.C.”

“Yep, and with Virginia Beach less than an hour away this is considered one of the hottest vacation spots.” I studied her before saying, “I’m about to get personal.”

The corner of her mouth twitched.

“Tell me about your last relationship.”