Adore You (10 page)

I waited for Soph to run in front of me, while I fished out my keys. She skipped up the porch and easily opened the storm door, which I knew I’d locked that morning when I left. I moved Sophie aside to open my main door. As soon as the lock clicked, I could hear music playing faintly. I opened the door to see Bee standing in my foyer; hands on hips, legs splayed wearing the tiniest piece of lingerie I’d ever seen. I licked my lower lip, moving toward her when a tiny voice interrupted my dirty ass thoughts.

“See, Uncle El I
told you
Auntie Beebee was here. Auntie, were you sleeping? Why are you in your PJs?”

Just that fast I’d forgotten Sophie was there. All I saw was my girl looking good enough to eat and I was instantaneously hungry.

“Oh my God!” Bee yelled, before running down the hallway.

“Here, Soph. Sit down for a minute and watch some TV while I find my wallet so we can get ice cream.”

“Fiiiiiiiine, I guess,” she huffed.

“Sophia Lauren Taylor.”

She instantly dropped the attitude when she heard the bass in my voice. I turned on the TV to one of those kid’s stations and she plopped on the couch, entranced. As I moved to walk back toward my bedroom, Sophia called out to me.

“Uncle El?”

“Yes, Sweetpea.”

“Can you please ask Auntie Beebee to hurry up and put on her clothes so we can go?”

Chuckling, I responded, “Sure thing, babygirl.”

I walked into to my room to find Devorah burrowed beneath the covers. I lifted the duvet and she was curled into a ball, hands covering her face.

“Hey, pretty.”

“Oh my God, El,” she said, lowering her hands, “Did I scar Beanie for life?”

She looked genuinely freaked out and I couldn’t help but chuckle. I leaned down and pulled the bedcovers back a little more.

“So…Soph is currently watching TV as if nothing happened so you didn’t scar her, baby. And two, you need to get your ass dressed because your little niecey-pooh wants Auntie Beebee to come for ice cream, too. But uh…when we get back though…”

She looked up at me, running her tongue across her lower lip. I couldn’t resist and leaned down to draw her tongue into my mouth in a lazy kiss.

“Mmmmmm, as much as I’d like to finish this, we have an impatient seven year old in there waiting on her ice cream. I’m surprised she hasn’t made her way back here already asking what’s taking so long.”

“I heard you have to put that bass in your voice to get her in line. You plan on using that with me later?” Bee said.

It took everything in me to back away and say, “Five minutes or we’re leaving without you!”

I had to leave that room before Sophia, her ice cream and anything else that wasn’t Bee and her tempting form was a distant memory. Devorah dressed in record time and we set out to take Sophia to Easy Like Sundae Morning. While we were at Easy Sundae, Everett called asking if Soph could stay for dinner as well because he and Cassidy were both tied up at work longer than expected. So we ended up going back to my house and ordering a pizza—pepperoni because sausage looked too much like hamster poop according to the little miss. I knew better than to argue the issue, so as usual what the princess wanted was what the princess got. After we ate dinner, we settled in to watch a movie.

Within in ten minutes of the movie starting, Sophie had draped beneath herself, beneath her special blanket she kept over here, across both Bee and I, snoring lightly.

“Are you staying over?” I asked Bee, making sure to keep my voice low to not wake the kid.

“That was the plan…is that cool?”

“Is putting back on that little number you had on earlier part of the plan too?”

“It can be…later.”

Peering to ensure the kid was still sleeping I replied, “There’s no time like the present.”

“Good things come to those who wait,” she drawled, the slightest hint of sleepiness creeping into her voice.

“Absolutely. Matter of fact, let me see where her parents are…I do believe I’ve waited long enough.”

Bee giggled softly as I got up to retrieve my phone to call Everett. When I picked it up, I saw that I had a few texts from Everett waiting. Reading them, I saw that he asked me to keep Soph overnight and he’d come get her in the morning for school. That seemed a little strange, so I decided to give him a call to see what was going on. My call went unanswered, so I replied to his text letting him know it was all good. I walked back into the den where Bee and Sophie were to see that Bee had dozed off now, too. I picked Sophie up, transferring her into the bed in my spare room. Her clothes would have to do double duty as pajamas because she had outgrown all of the spare pairs of pajamas I kept over here when I babysat for Everett and Cass in the past. Just as I pulled the comforter up over her, Sophie stirred, eyes slowly opening.

“Go back to sleep, Sweetpea,” I said, leaning over to kiss her forehead.

She muttered something before her eyes drifted back closed. I waited for a couple minutes more to ensure she was sleeping peacefully, then left the room to go back to Bee. When I got back in the den, the tv was off, Sophie’s blankie was put away, and Bee was nowhere in sight.

“Looking for me?” Bee said from behind me in a honey-coated voice.

I turned around to see Bee draped across the doorway in the flimsy lingerie from earlier.

“Now is later?” I said, advancing toward her.

Not answering, Bee simply turned and walked down the hall toward my bedroom. I hung back to enjoy the view. The scant lace of the underwear barely contained her curvy backside, which jiggled a little with every step she took. She was about halfway there when she noticed I hadn’t fallen into step behind her. Glancing over her shoulder she asked, “You comin’?”

“Definitely. But not before you,” I said, slowly strolling the length of the hall to reach her, sweeping her into my arms and continued the short distance into my bedroom.

“I didn’t disturb your groove the other night, did I? I had no idea Rhett asked El to pick Bug up from school. I thought she was going to Mother Taylor’s. I’m so sorry, friend,” Cassidy apologized for the fourth time in our barely two minute conversation. I could barely get out an initial greeting before she apologized profusely for messing up my special night. She knew what I had planned for Ellis since she was the one who’d managed to swipe his spare key from Ev to loan to me for my night of seduction that got thrown off course.

“Oh my gosh, Cass. Like I told you when you walked in,
it was fine
. Plans were altered slightly, but all’s well that ends well.”

And it had certainly ended well. Several times over. Thank God the guest room that housed Sophie was far enough away to blanket the ear-piercing screams I’m sure I let out that evening. I’d already scarred the baby earlier that day, God forbid her being awakened by my cries of passion that Ellis tried in vain to swallow.

“I know what you said, but I also know how much trying to do something special for El meant to you. I’m so sorry. Again. Really. Once again my husband’s lack of listening skills has come to roost.”

“Stop apologizing, Cass. What’s done is done.”

“Whew. Ellis must’ve really put it on you, sis. You speaking in clichés and adages.”

“I mean…”

“On second thought, don’t answer that. He still is my brother-in-law and ew. I don’t want to think of any part of him being sexual.”

“Oh come off it, Cass. We’ve shared much more than that over the years. Anyway…what happened to y’all last night? I didn’t know the world of accountancy was so high stakes that you had to pull all-nighters?”

Cassidy briefly flushed red and lowered her eyes.

“Ohhhhh, I see. You sent ya lil blocker my way so you could get your groove back. Ain’t that a bitch?”

“No, it wasn’t like that. You know I wouldn’t…” Cass trailed off, her voice catching slightly. “It was an honest mistake. Actually forget that, it was Rhett’s fault for once again not fucking listening when I was talking.”

Whoa.

Cass wasn’t a swearer. And even when she did let a bad word slip every now and again, the worst I’d heard her say was “hell” or “damn” in the nearly fifteen years that I’ve known her. For her to be dropping f-bombs meant whatever was going on had to be serious. Cassidy raised her head and I recognized the sheen of unshed tears. Her eyes were red and a little puffy now that I was really taking a good look at her.

“What’s going on, Cass?”

“I think I’m leaving Rhett.”

“I’m sorry, what? I know I didn’t hear you right…”

“No, you did. It’s…we…it’s for the best. Before things get really bad and start to affect Bug. Oh God, my poor baby…”

Cassidy broke down into full on sobbing and I moved over to the couch to comfort my friend. Pulling her into a hug, I rubbed her back in small, but firm circles until her crying subsided. Damn. Cass and Ev were my real life relationship goals—along with Cade and Geoff. Cheesy social media hashtag aside, I’d always been a bit envious of the easy way in which they interacted with one another. Cade and Geoff’s relationship never quite compared to the legend that was
Everidy
though. Everett always seemed to be in tune with his wife’s needs, catering to her every whim.  She took a few deep shuddering breaths before disengaging from my embrace.

“Okay, start at the beginning.”

“He’s messing around on me, Dev. And you know I don’t do cheaters. Not after seeing my mom dogged out by my dad for all those years.”

“Everett James ‘Solid as a rock do-gooder Boy Scout ass’ Taylor is doing what now?”

“Fucking around. Putting
my dick
in holes it doesn’t belong.”

My jaw dropped. Okay, I’d seriously never seen this side of Cassidy.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry, Cass. This is…what?”

I couldn’t even form a coherent thought. Everett has always been the most dependable guy I’ve known; loyal to a fault. Wrapped up in Ellis, I hadn’t seen he and Cass that much lately, but everything seemed to be fine at Sophie’s recital, which was the last time I could remember being in their presence together for more than a couple minutes at a time. Come to think of it, he did look rather bedraggled when he came to retrieve Soph from Ellis’ house that day. I’d attributed it to not getting much sleep, since I had remembered Ellis saying something about Ev working long hours developing a new game.

“What do you need me to do? You know these hands are on demand.”

A brief chuckle escaped Cassidy. We sat there for a few moments in silence before she spoke again.

“When did I stop being enough?”

She sounded utterly defeated, her voice breaking on that last word.

Sighing, I responded, “I can’t answer that, Cassie. But you know what I can say? Everett is an asshole. Nah, scratch that. He’s a whole ass. You don’t deserve to be treated this way. I hope you put his raggedy ass out and he’s couch surfing at his mama’s house. Or…better yet, I’m hoping Auntie Randi wouldn’t let his ass in and he’s hemorrhaging money at some shitty hotel with PBS as its only station…because fuck him.”

“Hey! I like PBS.”

“Really, Cass? That’s the sticking point here? How is my niece? Does she know?”

“I told her Daddy and Mommy needed a vacation from each other. Other than being a pain in my ass about why we couldn’t be the ones to stay in a hotel and have fun, she’s fine. I think I’ve put up a good front.”

“Shit, Cass.”

“I know. It’s a big fucking mess.”

“What does he even have to say for himself?”

“Not a thing. Hell, the reason you guys got stuck with Bug the other day was because I couldn’t get him to answer one question. He just kept saying ‘I fucked up’ whenever I pressed for details. If I just knew why, maybe this wouldn’t hurt so bad.”

"Flight attendants prepare for take off," the captain droned.

We were seated in the last row of the plane, much to my annoyance. I absolutely hated having to wait to deplane once reaching my destination. Usually when I travelled it was covered by work; so business class was almost always the option. That's the life
–
early boarding, free booze and legroom. Ellis was definitely more than accustomed to traveling in style, so why he purposefully chose de jure segregation was beyond me. I was already a little cranky because the flight was a red eye, so we were taking off hella late.

Flight attendants were coming through to do their final checks, so I stowed my purse below the seat and pulled my blanket tighter around me. Damn back of the plane had the nerve to feel like the Antarctic.

"You willing to share?" Ellis asked, tugging on the loose end of the blanket.

"Hell no! Shoulda brought your own. You put us in this frozen tundra!"

"Wow, really? That's how you feel?"

"YES."

I leaned over him to watch my favorite part of flying. Since Ellis refused to give me the window seat, I was draped all over him, basically. No other feeling came close to the way I felt as the plane pitched down the runway and ascended into the inky, starless black sky. I’d been on countless flights through the years and it still gave me that fluttery feeling of excitement on every ascent. Looking down upon the city lights twinkling and buildings being dwarfed in mere seconds always put me in a contemplative space. Made me a little less self-centered to realize I was only a very small part of the universe.

I leaned back to see Ellis watching me, bemused.

"What?"

"You are so goddamn gorgeous, you know that?"

I melted immediately. All of that previous annoyance dissipated with a simple ass compliment. Who in the hell am I?
A woman in love
, the voice in my head instantly replied. Which, to be honest, scared the shit out of me. Ellis and I had yet to say those words, but I felt good about us. And where we were headed. Not so sure when it happened, but here I was, going all in. I lifted the armrest between our seats to snuggle a little closer to Ellis. He brought his arm around me instantly, drawing me in for a kiss.

"So you know what I was thinkin’?" he murmured against my lips.

"Let me call the flight attendant to see if there are any business class seats left?"

"No," he rumbled on a soft chuckle. "I was thinking about making you a four star general."

"Come again?"

"Wanted to give you some frequent flier miles."

"El, what?"

"You know...mile high..." he trailed off.

"Oh...you tryna fuck?" I smirked. "Why didn't you just say that?"

"Must you be so crass?"

"Says the man trying to induct me into the mile high club. Which, for the record, I've been a long standing member of..."

In the faint light of the darkened plane, I saw Ellis' jaw drop. 

"Word?"

"Word."

"Well damn. I guess you'll be the one making me a general tonight."

"Wait. You've never..."

"No. I was saving myself for someone special," he deadpanned.

A loud clap of laughter erupted from my mouth quicker than I could smother it with my hand.

"Wait. Is that why in the hell you got us back here like we're living in pre-Rosa times?"

"Well when I Googled..."

I broke out into giggles again. The look on Ellis’ face let me know that he was less than amused.

"Awww, babe. Sorry. But that's so cute. You Googled it?"

“Not everyone is a subject matter expert at fucking more than thirty thousand feet above ground, Bee. Anyway, a number of articles suggested starting a fake fight, then making up in the bathroom, but I nixed that shit immediately because I know you’re a germaphobe. Finally stumbled on one that told me to book a red eye with window and aisle seats. Wear loose fitting clothing for easy access. And to bring my own blanket because the ones provided by the airline are laced in The Clap. I knew your ass was like Linus and would have the blanket covered, so I just had to take care of everything else.”