Chapter 22 #2
"I'll take that." I lifted her empty glass and dropped both in a nearby trash can before we moved through the crowd and took our time stopping at various stations while she decided what she wanted to sample.
First up was Seasonal Sweets. Scotlyn had my dick hard moaning and enjoying a chocolate raspberry tart that had me making a mental note to have some sent to the house for her.
I forced her to try their chocolate chip cookies, which was one of my favorites, and she added that to her list too before we moved on to Redmond's Soul Food where I grabbed a plate of fried chicken wings, greens, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and cornbread for us to share.
"Are you trying to make me fat?"
"I'm trying to learn your preferences for future meals. We already had this conversation." I stole a bite of her cornbread. "Research."
"Is that what we're calling it?"
"Yes, very important research. I need to know if you're a dessert first person or if you save the best for last."
"Depends on the dessert." The way her eyes were on me and moved down my chest past my waist had my dick thickening.
While I struggled with the thought of dragging her back to the elevator so we could leave, she sampled the mac and cheese and groaned appreciatively.
"Okay, this might be worth getting fat for. "
Before I could respond, a familiar voice interrupted us. "Christian!"
Zoree walked up and stopped beside me with a small plastic cup of bourbon in her hand with Black Ops printed on the side. "Scotlyn, hey, good to see you again."
"You too. What's that?"
"Christian, please don't tell me she doesn't know about this." Zoree lifted the cup.
"She drinks wine."
"I drink more than wine." She narrowed her eyes at me. "The first drink we ever had was bourbon."
"It had better been Black Ops." Zoree looked right at me and I chuckled.
"It was."
"Oh, is that what you have?"
"Yes, it's mine."
"Yours? Dom know you're claiming his shit?"
"Why you always fucking with my wife, Christian?" Dom walked up behind his wife and kissed her neck.
"Because she's an easy target. Everybody knows Zoree's running things with her company and in the Kincaid household."
"She's damn sure the boss. Isn't that right, love?"
I chuckled and Zoree angled her head back, grinning at Dom. "This is Scotlyn, remember the one I was telling you about who's doing the waterfront thing."
"Ah damn, that's you? She's been talking my head off about that shit, saying we need a location out there."
"You can absolutely have a location out there, and because your wife was so gracious with encouraging BWB to support me, I'll even let you have first pick of spots at our outdoor mall." Scotlyn grinned and Dom nodded.
"Aight, we'll talk." He hooked his arm around Zoree's waist. "Come on, love, we need to get back."
Dom then looked at me. "Y'all come holla at us."
"I got you." I slid my arm around Scotlyn's waist and brought her into my side.
Zoree's brow slowly lifted before she grinned. "Y'all are cute. So I'm guessing Scotlyn will be your plus one for the scholarship banquet then."
"Unless she chooses not to go, then yes."
Dom chuckled and dropped his eyes to his wife.
"You done minding grown folks' business so we can get back to it?" Zoree playfully shoved her husband when he pulled her with him and walked off.
"So we're just making public statements?"
"What?"
She sampled another forkful of mac and cheese and dropped her eyes to where my arm was still around her waist.
I tightened my hold and kissed her temple. "Problem?"
"Nope, just observing."
"Good because Zoree is already texting half the city about seeing us together."
"Does that bother you?"
I leaned down and pressed another quick kiss to her temple. "Nah, I'm good with it."
We got back to our tour, stopping at Taste of Nigeria for their jollof rice and plantains, then Mr. Chow for some kind of dumpling Scotlyn swore was life changing before we made it to the set up Elias and Cress had.
I was honestly surprised to see them both, assuming he would have let his staff be there.
"Uncle Christian." Amel darted through bodies and rushed me, bouncing on his toes, anxiously waiting until I lifted my hand and lowered it. He slapped his tiny palm against mine and smiled big as hell.
"Ay, what happened to your teeth? Looks like somebody stole two of them. You want me to call somebody about that?"
"No…" He dragged the word out, laughing. "They came out at school and my daddy bought me a car."
"A remote control car." Cress walked up with my niece in her arms and corrected him before she shot a dirty look at Elias who only shrugged. When Ava leaned my way with her arms open, I took her from Cress and kissed her face.
"He wanted to buy him a real car, didn't he?" Elias handed a plate to a woman standing near their booth but smirked, giving me my answer.
"Did you come to eat my daddy's food?" Amel asked, bouncing on his toes again.
"I didn't but she did. Melly, this is my friend Scotlyn."
"Hi, Scotlyn. I'm Amel. Come on." He grabbed her hand and dragged Scotlyn to where Elias was standing and started pointing at what they were serving.
"Friend?"
"Yes, friend." I tickled Ava's stomach. "Tell your mommy to mind her business."
She giggled and turned to Cress. "Mommy, Uncle Christian said mind your business."
"Little girl. Don't let Uncle Christian get you in trouble." She ducked her head and dropped it on my shoulder but was still grinning.
I kissed her cheek. "Don't worry, I got you."
She grinned at Cress with that "I'm untouchable" look and she was. She had the men in this family wrapped around all of her fingers, especially her father. She could do no wrong in his eyes; so Cress was fighting a battle she wouldn't win.
I lowered her to the ground. "Go help Melly pick something for Scotlyn."
She nodded wildly and ran off right to her father who lifted her into his arms.
Cress was about to bust at the seams so I figured we might as well get this over with.
"So we're kissing friends now?"
"What do you mean?"
"You introduced her as your friend . I've been watching you since you got here. I saw you kiss her."
"Shouldn't you have been handing out food?"
"I was, but I also wasn't expecting to see my brother here with a woman he's clearly dating. And before you came over here and lied to me, I wanted evidence, so I watched to see how you acted with her. You're dating."
"Yeah, we are."
"Well shit, that was fast."
"Says the woman who married her husband in five minutes."
She rolled her eyes. "That was an arrangement. One that you set up."
"And did the arrangement make you fall in love with him five minutes after you married him?"
"No… Shit, wait are you saying…"
"Calm the fuck down. No I'm not married and no I'm not in love but we're together. Don't go asking me a million and one questions, just know she's going to be around and you need to mind your business with her. Whatever she shares is on her but don't do your Cress thing."
"My Cress thing?" She reared her head back and I chuckled.
"You know exactly what the fuck I mean. If I don't shut it down, you'll be picking her life apart and she doesn't need that. We're good, figuring things out, and I'm happy. That's all that matters."
Cress rolled her eyes then hugged me. "I'm happy you're happy."
"Thank you."
"And I'll stay out of the way, but if I feel like she's not what you need, I'm going to tell you. We all waited too long to speak on what we knew were problems."
With Aja.
"It wouldn't have mattered. No matter what you saw, I had to see it myself and I had to be ready to admit we were broken. That's not on anybody but me."
"No, that's on her. She was?—"
"Not worth the words." I glanced at Scotlyn. "But she is. Let's focus on my future and not my past."
"Oh damn, you're serious about this."
I chuckled and nodded, watching Scotlyn kneeling down talking to Ava. "Yeah, I am."
Scotlyn joined us again, this time carrying Ava while balancing a plate in her other hand. I reached for Ava who grinned in my face. "She let me pick."
"Well… where's mine?"
"You have to share." Ava swung her head to Scotlyn and pointed at the plate of mini skewers.
"Fine, I guess I'll share." I pressed my forehead to hers, kissed her cheek, and turned to see Cress talking to Scotlyn.
They had moved to the side. I couldn't hear what they were saying but both were smiling so I assumed Cress was doing what I asked.
I let them have their moment. When they were done talking, Cress took Ava from me and tossed out that she would see us at the scholarship banquet.
Scotlyn and I found a spot at one of the benched tables and sat facing each other, but when she wasn't close enough, I dragged her to me and lifted her legs over mine.
"Cress's kids are beautiful."
"And spoiled."
"As they should be."
She glanced over at them then back at me. "Do you want kids?"
"Yes, do you?'
"I do but that doesn't mean I can have them."
"Why would you think you can't?"
"Because I waited too long."
This was the first time I ever considered our age difference, at forty-seven it would make things difficult, but not impossible.
"Is that a deal breaker for you?" she asked, pulling my attention back to her.
I thought about it for a minute, knowing it was, and I refused to lie.
Aja had done that with me and it ruined us.
"It is, but only in the sense that I want someone who will at least try.
If it can't happen, that's one thing, but not even considering the possibility or lying to me about it?
That shit won't work. I settled before and lost. I'm not doing it again. "
"Yeah…" She got quiet and focused on the crowd until I gripped her chin and turned her eyes back to me.
"I want a family, Scot, but I also understand that what I want doesn't really fucking matter if that's not what the plan is for me or my life.
There are couples who want families and it doesn't happen for whatever reason.
Some shit you just can't control, and after what I've been through, I know better than to try.
What I'm saying is I want the possibility.
If you can't have kids, we'll figure something else out.
There are other ways. Shit, we can adopt.
I'm cool with however we get there, but what I can't accept is not being on the same page.
If you want kids, we'll try to make it happen, but please don't lie to me about that.
I really don't know if I could survive that shit again. "
She lifted a hand and gripped the back of my neck, kissed me and smiled. "I'm sorry she took that from you and I would never lie because I know how much it means to you. If this works, and that's where we end up, then yes, I want a family and I'm also good with however we get there."
I stared at her face for a minute and nodded before I brought her closer, gripped her ass, and shifted her onto my lap, not caring who was potentially watching. "Then we'll figure it out."
She nodded and leaned in to kiss me. "We'll figure it out."
I hated having to trust her with this but I was willing to because everything about her and us felt right.
So I was willing to take a chance on this woman and prayed it didn't fucking destroy me, but deep down inside, I knew it wouldn't because this time, I had someone in this for all the right reasons.