5. Makari #2
I walked over, bumped him out the way, and unbuckled Avi.
Once I had her in my arms, I snatched up my phone and headed to Avi’s room, slamming the door.
We did playtime on the floor, then I fed her and put my baby girl down for a nap.
I did my best to stay out of the way, deciding to choose my battles.
If he wanted to waste his money on unnecessary things, then that was on him.
What I didn’t like was how I could hear the deep, sexy melody of Omiri’s voice telling them how to dismantle my living room and restructure it to fit what he wanted.
While my little muffin slept, I worked on a few of my clients’ accounts, going through their posts to pull together recovery strategies to help further mold their brands into that of respectable athletes instead of the idiots they truly were.
Unfortunately his voice carried and I kept getting distracted when he laughed at something one of the delivery guys said or brushed off their compliments about how great he was as a quarterback.
By lunchtime, my stomach started growling and Avi was up from her nap.
I sucked it up and headed to the kitchen to grab something quick.
As much as I wanted to hate the new set up, the massive gray sectional looked cozy and soft.
The matching end table completed the set and blended with the rest of my décor.
My world and his merged perfectly and that had me frowning with yet another reminder that this man had bulldozed his way into my life.
Once I made it to the refrigerator, I settled Avi back into her bouncer and began removing ingredients to make a sandwich.
By the time I had everything I needed, I became instantly annoyed from the brown mismatched eyes following my every move.
I glanced toward the entrance to the kitchen and frowned harder.
“Can I help you?” I was instantly aware of the yoga pants and oversized sweater I was in which had experienced one too many wears and washes. Nothing about my current look was appealing and I shouldn’t have cared but I was hyper aware of his eyes on me.
“Nah, I’m good.”
“Then be good out there.”
He chuckled but didn’t leave, so I focused on arranging everything, trying extremely hard to ignore the way my kitchen all of a sudden felt incredibly small.
“You don’t want me in here with you?” That cocky, amused tone of his had me groaning internally, because I wasn’t mad at the idea of having him near me.
He was sexy, he smelled so damn good, and I remembered what he felt like when his hands were on me.
Omiri was the last man I’d slept with and although I hadn’t missed the intimacy before now.
With him back in my life, I couldn’t erase the fact that the last orgasm I had paled in comparison to the ones he provided.
Toys did not and could not compete with the real thing.
“There are strangers in my house because you’re inconsiderate. What I would like is for you to be out there supervising them so they don’t leave with any of my personal items.”
I shot him an evil glare and he smiled sexily. “Rex don’t play that shit. He wouldn’t hire anyone who would steal from his customers and he would be offended that you insinuated they would.”
“I don’t know who Rex is so it’s hard for me to care that he would be offended.”
“He owns Goode Living.”
“Of course you would call in a personal favor to make this happen.”
“I didn’t call in a favor. I pulled up what I wanted online, paid for that shit, and picked a delivery date.”
“Yep.”
Instead of responding he moved deeper into the kitchen and leaned over Avi, frowning like I’d caught him doing earlier. I was about to ask him what the hell his problem was until he spoke.
“She always this quiet?”
Avi’s little brow was pinched but she was watching the two of us curiously. She knew my face and was trying to learn his.
“She’s a good baby, so most of the time, yes.”
I worked mayo onto the bread, hating that he was so close to both of us. Having him in my space felt odd but comfortable at the same time.
“I have turkey and ham.”
When his eyes left Avi and landed on me, I almost laughed because he looked confused. “You making me lunch?”
“Just because you don’t have manners doesn’t mean I don’t.”
He smiled in a lazy way that made him even more attractive. “I’m good with either one.”
After I finished the first sandwich I pushed the plate toward him. “Chips are over there if you want some.”
He filled the chair furthest from Avi and took a bite that demolished half the damn sandwich, shoving the rest into his mouth and mumbling thank you before he was out of the chair and taking a call, leaving me at peace and with the ability to breathe once he was gone.
Unlike Omiri, I took my time eating, straining to hear his conversation since it didn’t sound like business.
He was laughing and talking low, which had me annoyed with myself because the first thing that came to mind was that it was a woman.
By the time I was done eating, I heard the delivery guys telling him there was someone else pulling up, which had me lifting Avi into my arms and heading to the living room. I stood in the doorway watching a van with SecureMe on the side pulling up behind Omiri’s Range Rover.
“Why is there a security company in front of my house?”
“You need cameras and an alarm system. They’re the best. Expensive as shit but worth it.”
“Omiri, seriously? This is my house, not yours.”
“This isn’t your house. It belongs to Tristar Property Management.” He said it so smoothly and nonchalantly that I had that immediate urge to chop him in the throat again.
“My name is on the lease and you can’t just go installing shit without their permission or mine.”
“I reached out to them and they were cool with me installing a security system as long as the vendor was a credible source, and before you give me that shit about you not wanting it, my daughter is here. Y’all live alone and you need protection.”
“From who? Mrs. Wilson who bakes pies and casseroles for the people on the street she likes because she gets bored and loves to cook?” I frowned hard and Omiri shrugged.
“I don’t know who the hell that is, but if she’s a threat, then yeah. That’s exactly why you need a security system.”
“This neighborhood is safe.”
“I know you’re not that na?ve. You’re a single woman who lives alone with a small child whose father is a public figure.
That puts both of you at risk. Fans can get crazy; there’s always somebody looking to cash in and media outlets are forever looking for a story.
They don’t give a damn about how they get to me to print a headline. ”
“You realize you’re proving my point as to why it’s not a good idea for you to be in our lives.”
“I’m also proving that I understand who I am so I’m putting things in place to make sure none of my shit touches either one of you.”
He was, but this was a lot all at once.
“A simple conversation would have been nice.”
“I’m discussing it with you now.”
“They’re here pulling stuff out of the van to install. This is not a discussion, it’s you telling me what you’re doing.”
“This is me avoiding an argument with you that your ass wouldn’t win.”
“I don’t want cameras in my house.”
His eyes traveled the length of my body. “I do.”
I glared and he grinned. “If you really don’t want me to make this happen, that’s cool. I’ll just get you and Avi a place in my building. They already have security and I’ll have more access.”
Oh hell no…
“Hard ass pass on that.” He laughed and I bounced Avi, rubbing her back. “I don’t want cameras in my house.”
“They won’t be in the house but they will cover every entrance and they’re going to put sensors on all the windows.”
When I finally relented, he went to the door to greet three guys wearing black pants and matching gray polos with the SecureMe logo printed on them.
Omiri walked them through my entire house, allowing them to do an analysis of where everything needed to go.
I curled up on the sofa with Avi so I wasn’t in the way, and for the next two hours, I watched them bring in equipment and install motion sensors, glass shattering sensors, and cameras at the front door before they moved on to the back door and placed two more on the house, front and back.
They also switched out the smoke detectors with newer ones that could be monitored on their app along with carbon monoxide detectors.
They were thorough and I was impressed. Omiri supervised them, being attentive to instructions on how everything worked while I did my best to try and hold on to some type of normalcy for what my life used to look like.
I was fighting a losing battle because there was nothing normal about this man taking over my space and adjusting my life to fit him into it.
The worst part was that he looked damn good doing it.
I watched him moving around my house and hated how he easily fell into the natural role of being mine and Avi’s protector.
His sexy ass was handling shit in such a casual unbothered way that my pussy appreciated Omiri commingling in our space.
This was a problem, a very big problem.
Once everything was in place, one of the techs collected all the discarded packaging and took it out to the van while another remained behind, handing a tablet over to Omiri.
I untucked my legs and crossed the room, placing Avi into her swing before I joined them.
My body brushed the side of Omiri’s when I squeezed between the two men so I could see what they were doing.
How the hell is he explaining how to secure my house to someone who doesn’t live here?
“Oh good, I was just about to call you over. Here’s the app, Ms. Phoenix.” He pointed at the screen. “When you’re home, you can monitor everything from here. When you’re not, you can use the app on your phone.”