“Why aren’t you in a gallery?”
I looked up from my sketching at the sound of a deep, vaguely familiar voice. Devin Toussaint smiled as he studied my paintings with his hands behind his back. “I stopped to get beignets across the street, but I could see a certain beautiful woman and had to come over and speak since we were so rudely interrupted in New York.”
He was handsome in his pink button-up cotton shirt and khaki pants, which contrasted well with his dark skin. And if I wasn’t already madly in love with Tre, I might have been attracted.
“Yes. Although I don’t remember it being a rude interruption, since I’d already told you I had a date.”
Devin walked around my easel to stand next to me. “I like this fleur-de-lis. It would look good in my office. How much?”
I smiled, knowing that he would buy if for no other reason than to impress me and I could use another sale. “It depends on if you want to keep it as a sketch or if you want me to paint it, using whatever colors I choose. Your choice of colors raises the price.”
He pulled his wallet out and gave me a black credit card. “I trust you. Cost doesn’t matter. Choose whatever paint you want. When will it be complete?”
“An oil painting of this size is fifteen hundred.” Devin shrugged, unblinking at the cost, and I ran his card through the tiny machine attached to my phone. “Give me a couple of hours to pick it up yourself, or I could have it delivered to an address through courier.”
“I can’t wait that long.” He smiled. “Will you personally deliver it?”
I added the last pencil mark to the picture and bent to retrieve my oil paint palette. “No. As I said, through a courier. I don’t do personal deliveries.”
“You should.” When I passed back his card and a paper for him to write his mailing address, Devin touched my hand longer than required. He bent to write his information on my table. “Maybe then I could take you out and you would see that I have no problem admitting to anyone that you’re my woman. I don’t care about your past.”
I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
What did he know about my past? Or was he referring to the article that surfaced about the new woman in Tre’s life, and how I appeared to be a stark difference from the high society women Tre had been known to date.
“Hey, what’s going on here? Raini, is he bothering you?”
“You have a bodyguard or something?” Devin joked as we both looked up and noticed Royalty.
“No. He’s harmless.” I started to smile but Royalty looked like she’d seen a ghost. I looked back at Devin, who positively glowed at seeing her.
He exclaimed, “Royalty? It’s been a long time.”
“Devin.” She gave him a wary smile. “Yes, it’s me.”
“You look amazing.” He hugged her, though she stiffened and didn’t seem that interested in returning the hug. And she did look good in her dark leggings, high-heeled strappy sandals, and white tee. Her brown hair was in a loose knot on the top of her head. “Are you back home?”
Royalty eased out of his embrace. “Yes, I’ve been home for years.”
His head jerked back slightly. “And you never reached out to me?”
She quirked a brow. “There was no need.”
Devin’s dark brown eyes widened before he chuckled. “There’s always a need for me. You got scared.”
“Scared of you? Negro, please.” Royalty crossed her arms. I watched their exchange and despite my friend’s feigned nonchalant attitude, an undercurrent of attraction between them prevailed. “I was smart enough to not get caught up.”
“I wasn’t.” Devin smiled and slowly leaned to kiss a surprised Royalty on her cheek. He then looked down at me. “I’ll expect my delivery no later than Tuesday.”
“Thank you for your business. Really appreciate it,” I politely responded, wondering how Royalty knew Devin. She’d never mentioned him to me or that she even knew him, and they behaved as if they used to date or at least had sex.
“Anytime. Your work is good. I’m sure I will buy more.” He then slid his arm around Royalty’s waist before she could protest and squeezed her to him. “Now that I know you’re back, we’ll see each other again. Catch up or something.”
She lied smoothly. “I’m married.”
Devin grinned and said over his shoulder as he walked away, “No, you’re not and neither am I anymore.”
We both watched him as he strode back to his dark blue Maserati on the street. I turned to Royalty. “What in the hell was that about? You could cut the sexual tension.”
She shook her head though she was clearly flustered. “I can’t stand that man.”
“How do you know Devin?”
Royalty asked, “Better question, how do you? I heard the tail end of the conversation. You’re picking up wealthy and powerful men left and right. I must be doing something wrong.”
“He’s handsome and all but I’m not remotely interested. We met at the mayor’s ball in New York and apparently he’s an enemy of Tre.”
Royalty clapped her hands together loudly. “I knew there was a reason I liked Tre. Even though I’m still waiting to meet him. When will that magical, mystical day happen by the way?”
“You’re funny. Did we not just have this conversation this morning? Since I met his family, he’s been extremely busy with the Essence Festival and all these other commitments that seem to come out of nowhere. I barely see him myself right now. And I still need to tell him the truth before he meets you, and I will after he comes back to town. He’s going to Shreveport in the morning for a few days.” I dabbed my brush in black paint. “So, how do you know Devin?”
She looked past me, brown skin flushed. “We messed around a long time ago. He got married shortly after. Last year, his wife left him for Justin Ray.”
“The singer?”
“Yep.”
I touched my heart. “I feel sorry for him now. That’s tough.”
Royalty snorted, “Don’t feel sorry for him. He loves the women and wouldn’t know how to be faithful if his life depended on it. I’m sure he cheated on her over the years. Hell, I think we slept together while he was engaged. He got married too soon after we stopped talking for it to be anything else.”
“Why haven’t you told me any of this?”
“Because he was a fling I’d rather not talk about, and honestly I was embarrassed I didn’t see through him.”
“Well, he definitely still got that fire for you. He was asking me out until he saw you. I didn’t exist anymore the moment he laid eyes on you.”
Pierre chimed in from the next booth. “He didn’t. I thought he was here for Raini and maybe he was until he saw ya.”
“Pierre, mind yours.” She shrugged dismissively. “Besides, I don’t care.”
Pierre and I exchanged amused glances and said simultaneously, “Ya do care.”
Royalty smiled. “You two hang around each other too much.”
“We do. And though I will never tell Tre this, Devin is a rascal, but my gut tells me he isn’t as bad as Tre thinks.” I held my hand up at her expected protest. “Fine, he was. Maybe he isn’t anymore.”
“I’m not worried about that damn man. I came here to hang out and now you and Mr. Shaggy Lover Lover all in my business.”
Pierre laughed. “I mean no harm, only want both my girls to be happy in love. Raini is already there…now it’s ya turn.”
Royalty rolled her eyes. “I do alright in that department. No worries. I didn’t expect to see him when I walked up. There’s nothing there. I refuse to play the fool twice, especially for Devin Toussaint.”
I said, “Okay. Okay… calm down.” I watched her standing there in full pout mode and added, “Bet he’s going to hunt you down and I’ll be awaiting when it happens so I can say, ‘I told you so.’”
“Shut up, Raini.” Royalty couldn’t hide her blush if she tried.
Pierre walked to me and nudged my shoulder. “She’s mad because she really wanted to get his number when she saw him.”
“You peeped that, too.” I laughed and waved the slip of paper in my hand. “Well, I happen to have his phone number and address if you need it.”
She snatched it out of my hand and held her head high, daring us to comment. “For future reference. He is a lawyer. I might need a job.”
I shook my head. “Hmmm…mmm, right.”
“Guess what?”
“What?” Tre, wearing only black joggers, sliced veggies while I put on boiling water for the rice. Although he ate meat, since we’d been together, he had adopted my eating style, at least while we were at home. He liked being healthy, and with little time to work out to keep up his fine physique, eating clean had been the next best thing.
“Devin Toussaint and my best friend messed around at some point.” I bounced up to sit on his counter by the sink, watching him cut the cucumber and tomatoes for our salad like one of the reality show chefs.
“Oh, yeah? And you’re just finding out? I thought women talked about the men they slept with.”
“It was a long time ago, before he was married. Apparently, they hooked up at some point.”
“Still weird that she never mentioned him, especially when his father was mayor.”
“I know. I was surprised too that she never talked about him, but then she did say she liked to forget that she ever met him.”
“She and I are on the same page, then,” he said ruefully. “When am I going to meet this friend and godson you talk about all the time?”
My stomach ached nervously but he needed to know the truth. Once he saw Royalty, I’m almost certain that he’d remember that they went to high school together. We’d been very public since I met his family over three weeks ago, we’d eaten at local restaurants, and danced at a jazz spot in Frenchman’s Wharf. “Next weekend once you get back. We can have lunch at my place.”
He nodded and put the cut vegetables into a bowl. “How did you end up discussing Devin anyway?”
“Royalty arrived at my booth not long after Devin stopped by today—”
“He did what?” He turned around, his tone sharper. “Why was he there?”
I shrugged. “He was in the French Market I guess and saw me and stopped to speak.”
“Speak? About what?” Tre slammed his knife down. “He showed up at your booth on a Sunday, really? In New York, did you tell him what you did or where you sell your art?”
“I told him what I did but I never told him where I sell my work. I know you don’t like him, but I doubt he purposely sought me out. I’m in one of the busiest sections of the Quarter. I see people I know all the time.”
Tre pointed at me. “He’s a wolf in wolf’s clothing. Stay away from him.”
I snapped my head up. “Stay away from him? Like I hang out with him or something. Tre, be reasonable. You’re getting too mad about nothing. I’m not interested in him.”
“He wants you and he’s the type that won’t stop until he gets you, especially to get under my skin.”
“And?”
He scowled. “And? What the fuck that means?”
I pointed back at him. “You tell me what the fuck you mean.”
He bit out, “You’re not used to his type. He’ll do things to get close to you, charm you, like buy one of your paintings. Make you forget the man you already with.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sounds like you.”
“Bullshit.”
“Whatever, Tre.”
“I bet you he bought one of your paintings.”
“He did and he asked me out. I ignored him. Your point?” I neglected to tell him that Devin made a dig at Tre that he would be open about our relationship and wouldn’t care about my past, though he had no clue it was my issue and not Tre’s. The more I thought about it without my initial paranoia, I realized he probably meant my background or that I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth like the women Tre had been used to dating.
Tre clapped his hands once. “I told you.”
“What did he do to you anyway?”
He studied the floor for a minute before meeting my eyes directly. “I used to like the woman who ended up being his wife. I’d recently finished law school, and she and I started hanging out. All our fathers knew each other since they were all lawyers at one point. We used to spend time as a group, and Devin swept in and they got married.”
“Was she your girlfriend?”
“No, but that’s what I wanted. He knew that because we used to be friends and I told him.”
“It’s been years since that happened. You must have really liked her.” Maybe she was the one that got away.
Tre rested his hands on the counter behind him while facing me. “I did, but my anger is not about losing her, it was more because I’d considered him one of my closest friends, and I haven’t forgiven him for betraying me like he did. I’d always known that Devin could be selfish and do whatever the hell he wanted to whoever. I didn’t think he would do that to me. We were the kind of friends that he could have said that he liked her too, and I would have stepped back if he felt stronger. And during the election, I went against his father and it got ugly and personal. Devin was particularly vicious because he was going through a divorce he didn’t want.” His jaw tightened. “Just stay away from him.”
“Although I understand more why you dislike Devin, you don’t have to get so angry or jealous about him. Whether he’s trying to get at me or not, I do have a mind of my own. You think you’re the first handsome and charismatic man that tried to talk me out of my panties? You’re not, but you’re the one I chose at thirty-three years old to be my first. I will never betray you.” I pulled him by his wrist to stand between my legs, put my arms around his neck, and bent to kiss his naked pec. “And don’t ever forget that.”
He grumbled under his breath, “Yeah, you don’t forget it.”
I clasped my ankles together around his waist. “You have nothing to worry about, my love.”
Tre hugged me to him and rested his face against my stomach. I rubbed his growing wavy hair. “I don’t know if I like your hair better cut close or this length. Either way you are the handsomest man I’ve ever seen. No other man can hold a candle to you. If anybody should be jealous, it should be me. You’re around beautiful women all the time, flirting, hoping for a chance to be the first lady of New Orleans. And let’s not forget your ex and mother of your only child, who still wants you and plans to make it hard for us the longer we’re together.”
Chloe had kept Tracie away for the past two weeks. After the initial uproar, Tre surmised that sooner or later, Chloe would need him or someone in his family to babysit since she didn’t want to spend any child support on a nanny, so he’d stopped taking her calls.
“You’re all I see. I’m a one-woman man now. I’ve been wanting a serious relationship for a long time. I’d hoped to have found her, maybe even gotten married before I even ran for mayor, because I didn’t think I would have time until I ended my two terms.”
“Two terms?” I playfully tugged on his soft curls.
“Yes,” he said confidently. “The city loves me and my ideas. I’ll win a second term, whether you vote for me or not. Can I finish, please?”
“Yes…please, by all means.” Amused, I continued to touch his hair, enjoying overall how comfortable and easy our relationship had been these past three months.
“I used to be afraid that I would be alone until I was in my forties because my career and Tracie had to come first. I didn’t know I had it in me to make time for love. We’re not together as much as I would like, but I feel like we’re so connected that we didn’t need as much time to develop. We didn’t have to fall in love, we were already there with little effort. Like maybe God answered my prayers in you.”
I looked down into his rather somber face. “You’ve given me hope when I thought it was impossible to ever truly be happy again. I’ve had this void ever since my father died, this emptiness inside that won’t go away. Even on my brightest day there is still that one cloud lingering in the background.” He wiped the tears that slowly fell down my cheeks. “From the moment you walked in the café, that hole in my heart that I’d always thought would be permanent gradually has been filled by your love. My colors are vibrant again and it’s because of you. That’s why there will never be another man like you for me, Mr. Tre LaSalle.”
He gripped my ass through my shorts, pulling me to the edge of the counter, pressing me into his strong, hard chest, and sealed our love with a deep kiss.