Epilogue — Goldyn
JUNE...AGAIN
“I can’t even get my lashes on!” I groaned, turning my back to the mirror. I was two seconds away from sliding down the side of the vanity when my eyes snagged on a pair already trained on me.
“Hi, Baby,” I cooed, crouching down to scratch between my dog’s ears.
A few months after she was born, Sincere went to collect her from Ms. Ruby’s house and brought the Pit bull home to me.
He’d remembered my drunken confession about wanting a dog once I settled down, and I’d cried so hard holding her for the first time. Yes, I’d always wanted a damn dog. But it was more than that. Getting her meant I was gonna be here for a while. I had a home. A permanent place to exist with three men who loved me unconditionally. The puppy was just the icing on top.
She was almost a year old now and stared up at me with her little head cocked and her eyes focused so intently on me it tugged at my heart.
“I can just stay home with you and watch Braxton Family Values .”
“You tryna flake on us, mamas?” Lorenzo popped up in the doorway, leaning against it as he stared at me with adoring eyes.
I had yet to get accustomed to the way he snuck up on me when I was lost in my head.
Lorenzo was always there. My constant in the midst of everything else in my life changing. He was so sure of himself and his place in this world that it was infectious, sneaking under my skin and branding me with a renewed confidence in whatever I was doing.
“Maybe,” I mumbled, tossing the tube of lash glue on the counter behind me.
“You know I’m not letting you do that.” He walked into the bathroom we shared with Sincere, his electrifying presence crowding the space in a way it usually didn’t.
Baby shuffled two steps to the side, refusing to move out of my orbit. A smile quirked my lips. I loved my little velcro bestie.
“I’m so fucking nervous,” I confessed, chewing my bottom lip.
My face was already in Lorenzo’s hands before his silky smooth voice calmed me. “You have nothing to be nervous about. This is a year in the making.”
When he bowed his head to kiss the top of my head, I sighed.
“Well, longer than a year,” he amended. “But a year since you started working on it and I’m so fucking proud of you. So I need you to finish getting dressed and take your pretty ass downstairs so we can celebrate you tonight.”
After months of construction delays and last-minute changes, Read the Room and Sinful Bites were officially opening their doors tonight.
Technically, Read the Room had been cleared for operation two weeks ago, but I didn’t want to do this without Sincere. We were doing this together. Every nerve-racking, heart-clenching part.
So, tonight’s soft opening was the culmination of everything we’d been brave enough to believe we could accomplish.
Nerves tangled in my gut and I freed myself from Lorenzo’s hold to crouch down in front of Baby again.
She nuzzled my nose with hers and a rush of giddiness pulsed through my bloodstream.
“Come on, pretty,” Enzo called from above. “Get up here and finish getting ready so we can head downstairs.”
“I can’t get my lashes on,” I shared, rising to my full height. I kept the sullenness out of my voice, but Lorenzo tipped up my chin anyway and kissed my nose.
“I got you. Where’s the stuff?”
Unlike mine, Lorenzo’s hands were steady as he cleaned my lashes, used his breath to air dry them, and then reapplied the glue. He smirked at me while he waited for it to get tacky and then grabbed the clamp I’d thrown earlier and applied my left lash strip perfectly on the first try.
“What kind of witchcraft…” I muttered under my breath.
I tried to move around him to look in the mirror, but his grip on my jaw prevented that. So, I looked up at him, forever in awe of the way everything seemed to come easy to him.
When the right side was done, he kissed my lips briefly before moving so I could examine myself in the mirror.
“What else do you have to do?” He wanted to know.
“Um…” My heart hammered while I tried to come up with something, but I knew there was nothing else I needed to do. Lashes, gloss and blush were the extent of what I wanted to wear in this summer heat, so that was it. “Nothing. I’m ready.”
With his hand wrapped around mine, Lorenzo lead me downstairs and we caught the tail-end of a whispered exchange between Rome and Sin. Romeo leaned forward to kiss Sincere’s brow while he muttered something meant only for their ears and the show of affection had my heart hammering all over again.
Outside of me, Romeo wasn’t the most physically affectionate man. He much preferred acts of service over physical touch. So, I’d seen him help Sincere build his herb garden week by week. I’d seen him buy Sincere an anthology they both loved in audio form. I’d seen him teach himself how to make Lorenzo’s new favorite drink and create an herbal tea to help balance my hormones. I’d also seen the way he showed up for me while I navigated my relationship with Chance for the past year.
But there were brief moments, like the one I was witnessing, when he let his guard down and kissed Sincere. Or hugged Lorenzo extra tight even after they’d been bickering all day.
It was amazing to watch and made me appreciate the way he was with me even more.
They turned toward the staircase when they heard us approach.
Sincere’s smile was instant and warm.
While Romeo’s was gradual and understated.
Reaching the landing, I walked over and smiled up at them. “Hi.”
“Hey, love. You look pretty.” Sincere tucked a loose curl behind my ear.
I ran my eyes over his tailored slacks and champagne-colored silk shirt. “You look better,” I told him.
“Impossible,” he said, just before his lips covered mine in a chaste kiss.
Turning my attention to Rome, I beamed up at him and watched the way his features relaxed when my attention was pinned on him. It would never get old knowing how much he softened in my presence.
“You look amazing,” I told him, resting my chin against his chest to stare up at him.
Had I really looked at his outfit? No, not really. But Romeo Wilde looked incredible in whatever he put on. And he smelled like sin, just adding to the effect.
Slowly, his lips stretched into a smile, revealing a diamond encrusted gold grill.
Got damn, this man knew exactly how to make me weak in the knees.
I was so lost in lust that it took me a minute to glimpse the iced-out initial resting on his right incisor.
It was a G.
What the hell?
“Romeo…”
“Hmm?” he asked nonchalantly.
“What is the G for?”
He didn’t blink when he slid me a bored look. “What you think, Goldyn?”
“You got a grill customized for me?”
Last month, he’d surprised me with a scenic train ride across the state to King’s Town to show me where he’d grown up. Before we left, he took me to his jeweler and had me fitted for a grill since I was always so enamored with his. I had no idea he’d put in an order of his own though.
“Why wouldn’t I wanna rep you on your day?”
My face fell, but before tears could form, Baby sat herself on my feet and broke the moment.
Grinning down at her, I heaved a sigh and looked over at Sincere and Lorenzo near the banister.
“You ready for this?” he asked quietly.
Shrugging, I tried to play off the nerves and replied, “I’ll do it if you do it.”
THE END.