Chapter Two

 

 

When All You Gotta Do Is Say Yes

“This is Vegas, Lee; if we leave this nigga alone for too long, he’s gon’ come back with a midget under his arm and a spider monkey on his shoulder!”

Halting my stride mid-step through the lobby of the five-star hotel and casino that me, Jeremiah, and Lisa were all staying in, I tossed my head back and howled with laughter. “What the fuck, J? First of all, the preferred term is little person, you insensitive-ass muthafucka. Second of all, where did that shit even come from?”

What started out as a cordial conversation about my post-dinner entertainment while walking them back to their room turned into my older brother and his long-time girlfriend attempting to clown me.

“Crazy situations just seem to find you, and your impulsive ass always jumps in feet-first without even stopping to assess.”

He didn’t mean it as a compliment, but I bowed anyway, my face to the floor as I laughed. When I straightened, my eyes met Lisa’s.

“So, you do these things on purpose, then?”

Her tone was light and jovial with a teasing slant to it, but there was an undercurrent of judgment that—although I was used to hearing it from her—did what it always did and grated on my nerves. With a cartoonish wink, I responded, “There is purpose in everything that we do, Lisa.”

Jeremiah snickered while Lisa pursed her lips, no doubt annoyed by my non-answer. “You know what I mean, Jereth. Do you intentionally do impulsive things?”

I opened my mouth to point out that actions done with intention couldn’t—by definition—be classified as impulsive but was cut off when a short, round woman brushed past me so quickly that I had to take a step back to maintain my balance. Turning to see where the fire was, I was surprised when the woman glanced back at us, long, golden hair whipping around her face as she stopped abruptly as if she had stepped into cement. Her mouth gaped open and she reversed direction, rushing toward us. Coming to a stop a few feet in front of me, small hands dropped to wide hips as big, brown eyes raked over mine and my brother’s bodies. If the assessing look in her eyes had held a smidge more heat, I would have felt violated.

“Oh my god!” she breathed. “Y’all are fine as hell!” Her tone was low; it was almost like she was speaking to herself.

Man, there was something about this city that imbued transients with an emboldened spirit that never ceased to bring me amusement. Uncertain of a fitting response to her observation, I laughingly issued my thanks.

“Um, excuse me?” Lisa glared at the woman who managed to spare her a quick look before refocusing on us.

“My bad, sis. I meant no disrespect.” She pointed at J and me, but it was clear she was speaking to Lisa. “Please tell me they’re your brothers.”

Lisa propped a hand on her hip, but J quickly wrapped his arms around her, and before she could get herself worked up, he set the woman straight.

“The only single person here is him.”

She followed his nod over to me. With a hand propped on one hip, she asked, “How single are you?”

Once again, I was interrupted before I could speak, Lisa choosing to answer the question for me. “No wife, no fiancé, no girlfriend, no kids.”

Chuckling, I shook my head, dragging the back of my thumb across my bottom lip. They called me impulsive yet here they were, thoughtlessly spouting off stats, selling me off to this strange woman for some unknown reason. “Thanks, Lee.” My…sister-in-law—for lack of a better fitting title—aimed a wide smile in my direction.

The woman tossed her straight, golden locks over her shoulder and narrowed her dark-brown eyes at me. “Fine and single? What’s wrong with you?”

This time, no one spoke before or over me. I smiled. “Apparently, I’m impulsive.”

To my surprise, the woman’s round cheeks swelled as she smiled in approval. “So, you’re perfect, then.”

My head canted to the side in partial humility. “Eh.”

Jeremiah laughed while his woman rolled her eyes, a smirk pasted on her lips. “Typical, arrogant Jer.”

I’ll be that. Sweeping my eyes back to the woman, I took in her appearance. With flat sandals on her feet, she looked to be the same height as Lisa who was no more than five-five. Her golden hair didn’t provide much contrast to her tanned, peanut butter-brown skin, but the strapless lime-green dress wrapped around her plump frame took on the job and excelled at it. She was cute—and bold—and I was intrigued.

“So, what’s up with you? What’s going on?

White teeth flashed at me as she smiled. “Okay, check it. My sister hasn’t had sex in like five years—”

“What?!” Lisa gasped and Jeremiah coughed through a shocked laugh.

She took the word right out of my mouth. Frowning, just that fast my interest began to wane. This sounded like the beginning of a poorly directed skin-flick accompanied by bad acting, and I wanted no parts of it. The woman held up her hands.

“Wait, wait, wait! Before you say no, just hear me out.”

“Nah, I’m gonna have to go ahead and stop you right there. It sounds like you’re trying to pimp your sister out, and I refuse to be involved with some crazy shit like that. I’d tell you good luck but…” My brows lifted in a shrug, and I made a move to go around her, averting my eyes so as not to be snared by the defeated slump of her shoulders.

“I understand.”

I edged around her, following Jeremiah and Lisa who’d already stepped away when the woman whipped around.

“Wait!”

Lisa groaned. “We should have ran away.”

Jeremiah chuckled. “Why? She seems determined to have someone…do her sister, and it looks like she wants Jereth to be that someone.”

“I’m not fucking that girl’s sister,” I muttered.

“Oh yeah?” he questioned slyly. “Better make sure she understands that.”

The woman scurried the fifteen yards over to us, hips swaying with each step and attracting more than a couple of appreciative looks her way, not that she seemed to notice.

“Okay. Sex is out of the question. I get it, but can you just…I don’t know…just sit with her—keep her company or something until I find someone willing to fuck a complete stranger, no strings attached?”

My brows shot toward the roof. Was it that damn serious? “Real talk, what’s the deal? Why are you out here trolling for dick on the low?”

She huffed. “This is Las Vegas; if she’s going to let her hair down anywhere, I figured it would be somewhere that no one knows her—where she doesn’t have to worry about seeing the guy at work the next day or at the grocery store. It’s called Sin City for a reason, and she’s been a saint for too long. I’m just trying to help her get down and dirty.”

Arms folded across my chest, I looked down at the persistent woman. “What’s your name?”

“Latoya.”

“Is this your older sister or younger sister?”

“She’s older.”

“Does she know you’re out here tryna find her a bedmate?”

She grinned, causing those already puffy cheeks to inflate. “I told her…”

“But she didn’t believe you?”

She didn’t answer but her continued grin told me I hit the nail on the head. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

Her eyes widened.

“Jereth!”

Ignoring Lisa’s protest, I stared intently at Latoya, waiting on her reaction to my concession.

“You’ll give her the ole razzle-dazzle?!”

“The what?” I burst out laughing. “Hell no! I’ll chill with her until you find somebody else or decide to give it a rest and let your sister be a nun in peace. You’re getting twenty minutes of my time. Thirty tops.”

“Really?” Her brown eyes sparkled.

“Yeah. I got you.”

Something about her earnestness appealed to me. My two brothers meant the world to me; I would do anything for them—move heaven and hell if I could—so I recognized the love she obviously had for her sister, and it made me want to meet the woman who sparked this type of dedicated craziness. Ten years earlier, it would have been just my type of craziness, but I liked to think I’d mellowed out in my ripe old age of thirty-five.

I glanced at my big brother. Although J’s eyes were wide with surprise, his mouth was curved into an amused grin. This is exactly the type of shit he was just talking about, and all I could do was shrug. Lisa, on the other hand, had disapproval set into her quirked brow and tilted neck. I wanted to roll my eyes; without a doubt, her mouth would open at any second and voice her unsolicited, narrow-ass point of view. Since that was the absolute last thing I wanted to hear, I spoke quickly, facing the still smiling woman whose eyes had yet to leave me.

“Let’s go.”

Victory danced in her eyes, and I couldn’t help but smirk at Lisa’s gasp. I turned to slap J’s hand, letting myself be pulled into a hug.

“Be careful.”

I nodded at his warning. “Always. I’ll get at you.” He’d hear from me before the night was over, no matter how it turned out.

He returned my nod and grabbed Lisa’s hand to hold her in place while I followed Latoya through the lobby and into the casino, toward the bar that took up a large portion of the back wall of the 6,500 square foot room. In the center of the long, crescent-shaped bar sat a lone woman with an empty seat on either side of her. It didn’t take long for me to realize that she was who the “recruiter” was headed for.

“TT!” Latoya sang, garnering the attention of the seated woman just as we were within arm’s reach. She spun in her seat, eyes widening when they noticed me.

“This is my sister, Tonya. TT, this is—” Latoya paused. “Jared, right?”

Smiling, I shook my head. She must have heard Lisa say my name. “Jereth. With a T-H.”

“TT, this is Jereth with a T-H. He’s here to keep you company until I return.” She grabbed my arm and gently pulled me closer, pushing me toward an unoccupied bar stool. “Come on, sit.”

I sat at the stool I was directed to and turned to take a good look at the woman occupying the seat on my right.

Wow.

The first thing that caught my eye was the nest of thick, riotous, corkscrew curls that framed her oval face. The black strands were streaked with the same golden color that covered her sister’s head and were lustrous and long, managing to sweep past her shoulders, even in the curly style. An orange, sleeveless blouse revealed the same smooth, brown skin of her thick but toned arms, and a quick glance at her moisturized hands noted the absence of a ring or tan line on her fourth finger. I knew better than anyone that the lack of ring didn’t mean shit these days, but it had become a habit I’d yet to break.

Sighing, she quickly slid her eyes over to me before glancing away and simultaneously bringing her glass to her lips. If she thought that drink would hide that alluring smile, she was mistaken. With skin just a couple of shades lighter than my own mahogany hue with a warm, olive tint, she managed to look effervescent even at nearly one in the morning. That was a feat if ever there was one.

“Hey.” The sight of her had my mind unable to muster up any other greeting. Extending my hand, I offered it in her direction for a handshake, which she immediately grabbed and shook twice before letting me go quickly. Too quickly.

“Hi, there. So, how long did she tell you it’s been for me?”

It took me a second to realize what she was asking me, and I laughed when I got it. “Five years.”

Her mouth dropped open in shock then she snapped it shut and shook her head, chuckling wryly. “That lyin’-ass, manipulative little leprechaun!”

Amused by her response, I grinned. “So, what you’re saying is that it hasn’t been five years since you’ve had sex?”

Bringing a hand up to the side of her face to shield her eyes from mine, she turned her head away from me and muttered, “I swear I’m gonna kick Toy’s ass for this!” When she dropped her hand, she faced me as if she hadn’t just been talking to herself. “Hell no, it hasn’t been no five-fucking-years! I have responsibilities and I take care of my business, but I’m also a grown-ass woman with grown woman needs that a B.O.B. can only handle for so long.”

A Bob? Her usage of the acronym for her vibrator made me let out a bark of laughter. The last thing I expected to find when I followed Latoya through the hotel’s casino was a beautiful face and a good laugh, but Tonya was both funny and pleasing to the eyes, and while cute faces were a dime a dozen, I really liked funny.

“So, anyway, sorry about this.” She waved a hand in the direction that the five-five tornado she called a sister had long ago disappeared in. “As soon as she disappears, you can go. You’re like the third guy she’s brought over here, and I’m wondering when she’ll take a hint. I had to tell the last dude that I was a categorical clinger and that I had already found his mama and sister—well, I called them my future in-laws—on social media for him to leave.”

“Damn. She’s really tryna get you laid, huh?”

She snorted into her glass. “She’s really tryna get her head knocked off her shoulders when we get back to our suite.” Her eyes swung my way instantly when I laughed at that. It seemed like my assumption that she wasn’t keen on Latoya’s self-appointed duty was a correct one. “All I asked for was a moment to wind down after hours and hours of scheduled bachelorette activities, and she takes that as a sign that I need to have immediate sex with a stranger. How does ‘Ooh, I need a break’ translate into ‘Ooh, girl find me a dick’? Something is wrong with that girl’s mind. It’s my fault, though; I dropped her on her head when she was a baby. Though in my defense, I was only two and it wasn’t a long fall to the ground, but it’s obvious that incident caused long-lasting trauma. It’s really a shame. I told my mama she needed to get a check for that girl.”

Signaling the bartender, I ordered a pop and settled onto my seat. I was beyond intrigued by the beauty with the corkscrew halo and mud-brown eyes, and surprisingly, I wasn’t put off by her apparent diarrhea of the mouth, probably brought on by the slowly melting frozen drink she was babysitting.

“Honestly, I’m not even all that mad at her. I mean, I am, but I understand. She’s focusing on me to avoid her own issues because it’s easier for her. I told that girl that she should pay me instead of that therapist but just like her mama, she don’t listen.” Tonya slid her eyes over to me conspiratorially. “She’s in love with a man she’s never met, but since that’s just downright depressing as hell, she’s decided to hook me up so she can live vicariously through me.”

How I suddenly became interested in everything she had to say, including this random piece of information about her sister, could only be summarized in one word: Tonya. Something about this woman drew me in like a moth to a flame, and I found myself leaning on the bar with a raised brow as I asked, “They met online or something?”

She shook her head, curls swishing around her shoulders. “No! That’s too easy. He has a podcast that she listens to religiously. Something about being indecent or something like that. He’s apparently celibate but reads letters and talks about sex all the time.”

I nodded, knowing exactly the show she was describing. “That’s Loud & Lew’d, right?”

She snapped and pointed at me. “That’s it!” Shooting me another sly look, she asked, “You listen to that show?”

That was clearly a question within a question, and I felt the need to answer both. “I’ve caught a couple of the episodes, but I don’t listen regularly. I mean, he’s speaking to women mostly and the men they want who need help. And neither of those is me so…”

With the message obviously received, Tonya flashed her eyes with appreciation before they fell to the bar where her drink had turned into a floating island, and for the first time since I’d sat down, we fell into silence. But surprisingly, I didn’t like it. I wanted her to keep speaking, to keep bathing me in that heavily accented twang that screamed southern born and bred.

“Is this your first time in Vegas?” Eyes on her profile, I watched her cheeks stretch upward as she covered her grin with her glass, taking a tiny sip of the colorful, nearly melted beverage in front of her. High cheekbones and fat cheeks were just a sampling of what she and Latoya had in common. When she placed the glass back on the bar, she shook her head in answer to my question.

“This is my third time here.”

“Ah, you’re practically a local by now.”

She laughed lightly. “Not by a long shot; I’ve rarely left The Strip on each visit.”

With my arms folded in front of me, I leaned on the bar top and canted my head to look at her. Her eyes were constantly moving, flitting from her drink to the couple at the end of the bar then back to her drink before venturing up to the mirror behind the bar, which reflected the entire casino floor. I wanted her eyes on me. I wanted to see the flare of attraction that swam in their citrine depths when I’d first walked over to her. An inexplicable feeling began to bloom in my chest, and I was seconds from following the impulse.

“What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done here?”

A ghost of a smile quirked at the corners of her lips as her eyes finally found their way back to me. They held for five seconds, not nearly long enough for me to get my fill of them, before falling to her drink. Slowly, she shook her head.

“Got married.”

My brows rose, and that impulse inside of me flared. “Do tell.”

She had my full attention, and I twisted on the cushioned stool, positioning my knees on either side of her body and purposefully inserting myself into her personal space. The more we talked, the closer I wanted to be to her.

“Ugh. Do you really want to hear this? Talking about exes isn’t the best foreplay.”

My grin was wide and indulgent. I was impressed and decided right then that I would be following through with that incessant impulse. “Is that what we’re doing? Engaging in foreplay?”

The fingers of one hand tightened around the stem of her glass as the digits on the other grazed the base of her throat and she bit her lip to hide her embarrassment. When her eyes met and held mine, I felt a strange sense of pride.

“Isn’t it?”

It was a challenge. We both knew why her sister had approached me and, even if she had no initial intentions on following through, after two hours of conversation, it became an unspoken acknowledgment that we would end up in bed together. She intrigued me and I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d still do so once our clothes came off.

Nodding in concession, I fanned my hand in front of me. “Tell the story.”

“Why?” She punctuated her question with a nibble on her bottom lip, unconsciously broadcasting her nerves and making me all the more curious about the details of her confession, as well as the taste of that lip.

“I want to hear it.”

“But why?”

“I want to know everything about you.” It was a truth I saw no reason to conceal, but that quick, inward gasp from her made the revelation more rewarding than what a set of casual words should have been.

“That’s—okay.” Her eyes bounced around before settling on her nearly empty glass. “We were inseparable all through high school, and when we turned eighteen, he asked me to marry him. Both of our parents were against it, but I was in love and no one could tell me anything. We flew to Vegas during spring break and he had a friend of one of his cousins book us a hotel since we were underage. Elvis officiated and we barely left our room the rest of the trip. We came home, graduated, and moved into a shitty off-campus apartment near Franklin—the local university where we were both enrolled. Everything was good for that first year; we were both in school and making decent money in between financial aid refunds. I worked full-time at my family’s business, and he was a server at a local restaurant and we were good, but when I got pregnant after our one-year anniversary, everything changed. He started to stress about every little thing, and the pressure from his parents to drop out of college and get a job with benefits didn’t help at all. I was four months pregnant when he asked for a divorce and seven months along when I became a single mother-to-be.”

Damn. I was volleying between empathy for two kids who weren’t ready to be adults and swelling with admiration at the strength she obviously possessed. Just looking at her I would have never guessed she’d experienced something so unfortunate at such a young age. She also didn’t look old enough to be anybody’s mama, but I knew the beauty that was black girl magic. They aged backwards.

“How long ago was that?”

“Which part?”

“The divorce.”

She tilted her head, eyes lifting to the ceiling as she no doubt did the math in her head. “Uh…eleven years?” It sounded like a question but I knew she wasn’t asking me. “Yeah,” she continued, “Wisdom turned eleven last month, so that’s right.”

“Wisdom?”

A bright smile lit her face and when she aimed it at me I was engulfed in warmth. “That’s my baby.”

“It’s a good name.”

“Thank you. He’s a good boy.”

Silence once again fell over us but it wasn’t awkward. Without her mouth moving, I was able to catalog her features undistracted. I observed her as she used her straw to stir her now settled drink and take a long pull of it, hitting the bottom of the glass before sitting back on her stool and casting playful eyes in my direction.

“Well, now that I’ve probably given you the shock of the night I might as well turn your question back on you.”

An anticipatory grin happened upon my face, and I knew I was smiling with my teeth when her eyes locked on my mouth. She licked her lips, seemingly entranced by the golden slugs on my bottom canines.

My mama always told me and my brothers that everything happened for a reason and this was a perfect example of that. Not every woman I’d been involved with liked my golds, but Tonya had mentioned that she was from Houston—a land rife with iced out grills and the legendary Johnny Dang—and I knew that she could accept them, at the very least. From the hungry look in her eyes, she more than accepted them.

“What was my question, again?”

She smirked, eyes lifting to mine. “What’s the craziest thing you ever done in Vegas? I’m assuming this isn’t your first visit to this city.”

I’d been waiting on this. “You’d be right; this isn’t my first visit to Sin City.” My cheeks were still lifted but my tone was serious as I held her gaze. “The craziest thing I’ve ever done here was ask a woman I’d just met to marry me.”

Her eyes widened and jaw loosened. “Wow! How long ago was that?”

I grabbed her arm, twisting her wrist until the face of her thin, silver watch was visible. “About thirty seconds from now. Twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven, twenty-si—”

She yanked her arm away from me as realization lit in her eyes. “Wait. What? You’re not serious.”

I continued counting down the seconds in my head. “This is going to sound crazy—”

She held a hand up. “Wait.”

“And I know we just met—”

Both hands were in the air. “Hold on a second!”

“But will you marry me?”

“You can’t be serious!”

“Today.”

“Today?!” She screeched, and I nodded in response. “It’s like…four in the morning.”

“This morning, then.”

Her eyes were wild. “We just met.”

“I said that already.”

“This is crazy.”

I nodded. “Yeah. I said that, too.”

She peered up at me, eyes rapidly moving around the room, landing on me then flitting away quickly. “You’re not—this isn’t just about sex, is it? I mean, I know that I implied that I wasn’t about that fucking strangers life, but I thought it was clear that under no circumstances were either of us ending up anywhere but in bed together tonight. Having lots of sex. So much sex. Like, just to be clear, you don’t have to propose for me to fuck you.”

Sliding off the stool, I moved to stand directly in front of her. “The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were special. After hearing you speak it was solidified. My gut is telling me that there is something about you; that I need you in my life, and my gut—my intuition—is never wrong.”

Her eyes searched mine, and I waited patiently for her to come to a decision. This spontaneity was nothing new for me. An idea would come to me and I’d follow it without hesitation, but I knew that inclination was unique to me. Some people needed to analyze things—rolling them over in their head and weighing the pros and cons—to help them figure the right course of action. When Tonya bit her lip and sighed, I had no idea that pure satisfaction could be summed up in a sound and yet hearing it float out of her mouth made my stomach lurch with excitement.

“Your question is crazy but my answer is even crazier.” She shielded her face from me and muttered, “Toy’s gonna kill me.” Straightening, she smiled. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”