Talk a Good Game (13 page)

No he didn’t just say that! This
was better than Maury.

“
I said shut the
fuck up,” Kaleb said in this eerie low voice that caused his son to
tense. “Get outta here
NOW!
”

CJ sulked out the room and was
heading toward the stairs. Wait a minute! The front
door
’s
that way.

“
How you gonna
ask him a question and then get mad when you don’t like the
answer?” I
’
m just keeping it real. Besides,
I wanted our romantic evening
alone
dammit.

Kaleb
’s
face
cracked, and went from anger to remorse in a matter of seconds.
“You
’
re right. Hey, son!” he called
after him. “Go to Jordan
’s
. I’ll see you in the
morning.”

“
Okay,” he said in this baby voice
that sounded odd coming from him. In fact there was something about
him that reminded me of my brother Brice and that really bothered
me.

“
I’ll be home in the morning, by
ten,” he said and I could tell that was his designated time to
return.

“
I
’
m sorry, son,” Kaleb said and
looked so pathetic. Ewww! I hope I
’
m not going to
see that look too often.

CJ then gave his dad a kiss, which
I thought was weird for a boy who was almost six feet but then he
came over and kissed my cheek as well. I guess it bothered me,
because my father never showed affection and the only time my
mother ever dared to tell us she loved us was when he wasn’t
around.

“
See you later CJ,” I replied and
tried to hide my excitement that he wasn’t going to be at home and
in the way. The only problem was he was leaving behind that big
horse he called a dog.

After he left, Kaleb took my hand.
I walked around Midnight, who was now lying on the floor in the
kitchen. He was cute—just
too damn big.

I followed him back to the family room where there
were more candles, strawberries, and a bottle of wine chilling in
an ice bucket. I allowed my eyes to travel around what was so far
my favorite room. He had every electronic gadget imaginable and an
old comfortable leather sectional sofa.

“
This is so
romantic,”
I
cooed.

Kaleb grinned and looked pleased
by my response, then his expression became somber. “Jae… thanks so
much for stepping in. You
’
re right. I was wrong
for getting mad at CJ for expressing how he felt.”

“
You
’
re
welcome,
” I tilted my chin and met his
delicious lips in a kiss. One minute he was crazy, the next minute
he was the gentlest man. Damn, there was that rush
again.

“
Take a seat and relax.” He tapped
one of the large body-sized pillows on the floor. I flopped down,
then Kaleb lowered and took my shoes off my feet. He was so gentle
he brought tears to my eyes.

My man had gone to a lot of
trouble to plan the perfect night. “You
’
re
something else.”

He chuckled. “I told you I believe
in treating a woman the way she deserved to be treated. Mom raised
me to be a gentleman.”

“
I’ll have to remember to thank
your mother,” I said lounging back against the pillow.

He rose and moved over to the
table, poured me a glass of wine and handed it to me. “Here you go,
babe.”

I just loved the way he called me,
babe. “Thank you.”

“
How about a toast?” he suggested
then lifted his glass. I nodded and kept my eyes locked on his as I
raised mine.

“
Here
’s
to black folks meet dot com
because if it wasn’t for them I never would have found
you.”

“
Awww
!” I was blushing now. “To black
folks meet dot com,” I repeated, clicked my glass against his then
brought it to my lips. “Mmmm, this tastes good.” It was a moscato
that wasn’t overly sweet.

“
I had the guy at the wine store
recommended a brand.”

It was so good or maybe I was just so caught up in
our romantic evening.

I
took mine to
the head, and then handed him
my empty glass. “Baby while you refill my glass, let me run to the
bathroom real quick.”

He winked at me. “As soon as you
get back, I
’
m ready to go upstairs and run a
bath for two.”

I jumped up from the floor and
headed through the kitchen to the half bath. I was so excited I
almost peed on myself. Life with Kaleb was so good and he was good
to me. I washed my hands and was heading back through the kitchen
when I noticed the horse
’s
water bowl was empty.
I stopped, rolled my eyes and reached down for it. He was lying on
the floor near the back stairs and the second he saw me carry his
bowl over to the sink his tail started wagging. I may not care for
big dogs but one thing I’d never do is mistreat an animal. I put
the bowl back onto floor and he immediately rushed over and started
slurping, sending water all over my bare feet.

I jumped back. “Stupid dog,” I
mumbled under my breath then hurried back to the family room. When
I spotted Kaleb holding my phone in his hand I came to a screeching
halt.

“
Why is dude still calling
you?”

“
What?” I was trying to stall.
Damn, talk about bad timing!

“
Don’t play
dumb. Your phone rang twice while you were in the bathroom so I
looked down and saw that dude
’s
name flash across your
screen.”

“
How did you know who was calling
if my phone was in my purse?”

“
It wasn’t in your purse. It must
have been in your pocket because you left it on the
pillow.”

I frowned. I was almost certain my phone had been in
my purse.

“
Answer the question! I thought it
was over between you and Q?” He was definitely pissed
off.

I shrugged. “It is.”

“
Then why the hell is he calling
you?”

I shrugged and stepped into the
room. “He
’s
just having a hard time
accepting that it
’s
over.
”

Kaleb paused, met my eyes then
handed back my phone. “I can’t blame him. I would hate to lose you
myself. But you need to handle that.”

“
What
’s
there to
handle?”

“
Oh, I get it!
You
’
re trying to keep him around so
you can have a spare.”

“
A
spare
? Are you serious?” I
cried.

“
Yes, a spare.”
He held up his hand. “Look I already told you I
’
m not
gonna share my woman with anyone.”

I was quite certain he was getting
tired of this and if the roles were reversed I guess I would be
too. “Okay, I’ll handle it.” Oh well, so much for a romantic
evening.

“
You need to
handle it now! I
’
m trying to make you my wife and
you
’
re still hanging on to your
exe.”

His words went straight to my
head. “Make me your wife?”

That smirk of his suddenly turned
into a piercing smile. “You heard me. I want to marry you and
share
all
this
with you.” He emphasized with a sweep of his hand. “But like I said
from the word go, I
’
m not into games. You want a good
man then you got one standing right here. But I don’t have time for
window shopping. Claim it and let
’s
build a life
together.”

Kaleb
’s
words
were everything I had wanted to hear and more. “Yes, baby! I want
that too,” I said and grinned wickedly. I practically leaped into
his arms and wrapped my legs around his waist.

My future was definitely looking up.

NYREE

“
Master Sergeant.
”

I felt someone kick my boot under the table and my
eyes popped open to find Timmy staring at me.

“
Wake up,” he mouthed with this
amused look on his face. I grinned then shifted on the
seat.

We had been in a training class
for the last two days, learning how to properly use the new defense
personnel database. It was an interesting class. I was just tired
as hell. Last night Timmy and I went down to the bar in our hotel
and sat up drinking until we had reached our limit. I went back to
my room, crashed, and slept through my alarm. Timmy and I had been
carpooling since Monday. If he hadn’t called my cellphone I
probably would still be laid across the bed passed out.

I sat up straight and took a drink of the diet Coke
that was now lukewarm but it still felt good going down my throat.
I listened as Maria demonstrated how to generated reports using the
self-service center. I scribbled notes in my binder then heard my
cellphone vibrating in my purse. I reached down and discreetly
noticed I had a text from Jeremy.

Hey beautiful. Hope you’re having
a blessed day. I’m thinking ahead to when u come back. What days
can I plan some things with u? It could be hourly. I just want some
time.

Wow. He was already planning ahead. I smiled because
it was obvious that he liked me, which was a good thing since I
felt the same way about him.

Any day you want next week. You
just tell me. I’ll be working on a training class but ur worth
making time for.

I hit Send then glanced up at the
projector to see if Maria noticed I was not paying attention. She
hadn’t. Good, because my phone vibrated again.

Wow! I appreciate that. I believe I am also.
Lol.

I grinned as another text came in.

Hope you’re smiling. It’s
pretty.

I was really grinning now.

I’m giving you permission to.
LOL

I texted back.

Yes, I’m smiling.

Timmy kicked my boot again.
“Ouch!” My head whipped around and I glared at him.

“
Yo, pay attention,” he whispered.
I was ready to kick him back because that shit hurt but he was so
cute with those deep dimples of his.

Timmy was a senior master sergeant
so he outranked me and was assigned to the 192nd Fighter Wing in
Hampton, VA. We had met years ago at the senior NCO academy and
ended up sleeping together on more than one occasion. We tried the
long distance thing for a while, but eventually I met Rock and the
relationship tapered off. Last night we had laughed and talked for
so long that it felt like old times yet instead of thinking about
kicking it again with Timmy, I found myself looking forward to
Jeremy
’s
phone calls and text
messages.

I made myself focus on class. And when it was time
to break for lunch I rose and reached for my purse under the
seat.

“
You wanna go and get something to
eat?” Timmy suggested.

I
’
m not going to
lie. The brotha was gorgeous. He stood to his full six-five stance
and I tilted my head and looked up into his beautiful chocolate
eyes. Timmy made a military uniform look good. “Sure, what you got
a taste for today?” I followed him out the room and down the hall
along, with the other twenty airmen in our class.

“
I figure
Wendy
’s
would be
quick.”

I nodded and put my hat on my head just as we
stepped out the building. Tim was quiet. I could tell there was
something on his mind. He waited until we got into the rental car
before he said something.

“
Look, after we went back to our
rooms last night I spent a lot of time thinking about us and what
coulda been.”

I looked at the glove compartment
and blushed. “I was thinking the same thing.”

His eyes lit up and he reached
over for my hand and squeezed it. “I’ve missed you, Nyree. I wanna
see if we can get this relationship back where it used to
be.”

If he had asked me weeks ago I
would have jumped at the chance. Hell as desperate as I was after
the situation with Rock, I would have taken anything I could get.
But now that I had met someone that lived close enough I could see
him as often as I wanted I wasn’t sure if a long distance
relationship was where I wanted to be.

I shrugged. “I don’t know..
Maybe.”

“
Damn, baby, you
make it sound like I
’
m putting a gun to your head.”
Timmy even had the nerve to try and look hurt.