Chapter 8 #3
“Yeah, we were pretty good.”
“Just pretty good?” He eyed her over the rim of his paper cup.
“Okay, no, we were amazing.” Pride shone in her eyes. “We took our team to the regional championships all four years and won twice.”
“Three women of color on one championship team?”
“Tell me about it.” She took another sip. “Thao’s family moved to the U.S. when she was around eight, but when they were still living in Vietnam, they used to vacation at a ski resort in China. And my dad…” Her smile grew wider. “You’re going to think he’s crazy.”
“Try me.”
“Well…” She angled her body toward his. “He’s a little obsessed with Tina Turner.”
“Nothing weird about that.” He reached out and petted Princess behind his ears.
“Maybe not, but I think if he’d been any less mentally stable, he might’ve easily ventured into stalker status––I think he’s seen her in concert like eleven times.”
“Geeze, that’s at least superfan status.”
“Well, they’re from the same town in Tennessee, and my grandmother’s name was Anna Mae.” She started counting on her fingers. “And he once walked into a restaurant in Manhattan for lunch to learn that she’d only just left minutes before him. He said her seat was still warm.”
Kyree boxed his lips. “He touched the seat?”
“I told you, he’s crazy. But he can’t help it.
He loves her, and he sees the commonalities as some kind of sign that they’re destined to meet.
Anyway, after she moved to Switzerland, he had this ridiculous fantasy of running into her at some fabulous ski resort in the Alps.
He’d be on the slopes, she’d be on the slopes…
” Zuri gestured dramatically with her free hand.
“Or they’d meet at après ski, talk about Brownsville, fall in love, and roll on down the river together. ”
“Your dad thought he was going to steal Tina Turner from Erwin Bach?” Kyree couldn’t help himself. He threw his head back and laughed, the sound echoing beneath the gazebo’s wooden roof. “That’s the most audacious plan I’ve ever heard.”
Zuri was laughing, too, her shoulders shaking. “He’s funny like that. And he’s lucky my mom has a good sense of humor.”
“Wait, does Tina Turner even ski?”
“Not a clue. But we go to Switzerland to ski every spring.”
Kyree was suddenly eager to meet Zuri’s dad––a man confident enough to think he had a chance with the Ms. Tina Turner. It was no wonder his daughter had the confidence to pursue him down the hallway.
“How’s the cocoa, by the way?” Kyree asked.
“Um… Well, it’s okay,” she said softly.
“Just okay?”
“Yeah, I mean, it’s not bad. It’s just that I like it thicker––like how the Italians do it––hot, rich, and extra thick.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “So that’s how you like your chocolate, huh? Rich and extra thick?”
“Something like that.” She bit her bottom lip, holding his gaze.
God, he wanted to devour her right here and now.
Movement caught Kyree’s eye, and he turned his head to see a teenage boy with a freckled face and red hair peeping from under his wool hat, approaching their gazebo, a stack of colorful flyers in his hands.
“Hi, sorry to bother you guys.”
“Hey, what’s up, man?” Kyree asked.
“I just want to let you know that Richmond Stables is doing their annual sleigh rides. All the information is in this flyer,” he rattled off, handing them one before jogging off to catch two women making their way toward the Main Street gate.
“Should we check it out?” Kyree asked as he scanned the flyer. Getting two dates in one day was asking for a lot, he knew, but the magic of the holiday season hadn’t let him down yet. “I can reserve a sleigh for tonight.”
But Zuri hesitated, pursing her lips as she studied his face.
Zuri read the hope in Kyree’s eyes. She and the girls had dinner reservations at Petits Poulets tonight, but afterwards, Thao would be on her weekly Sunday night call with her grandmother, who lived in Vietnam, and Soleil and Avery were going to a candlelight yoga class at the hotel.
Zuri, who preferred Pilates, had agreed to tag along. But wouldn’t she rather be with Kyree?
She felt so comfortable with him––like she was finally in her own skin again––feeling spontaneous and uninhibited.
And that moment they just had under the Juniper tree…
God help her, but this man was doing things to her she never knew a man could do to a woman.
He made her feel like her body was one exposed nerve.
Made her feel seen and alive like none other before him.
A single look from him and she was trembling like an autumn leaf just barely holding on against the wind.
“Would tomorrow night be better?”
She swallowed, turning her attention back to him, his eyes undeniably sexy as he waited for her answer.
“I…” Zuri paused, sipped her cocoa, and looked across the park toward the frozen pond where four boys were playing hockey. Beyond them, bare trees stood against a blue sky peppered with wispy clouds, their skeletal branches swaying gently. “Can I think about it?”
“Of course, there’s no pressure. But before I forget.” Kyree turned and set his cup of cocoa on the bench beside him. He slanted his body toward hers, reached into his pocket, and pulled out her boy shorts. “I believe these are yours,” he whispered.
Zuri was speechless. She tried to catch her breath at the feel of his strong hand pressing into her hip as he maneuvered them into her pocket, and melted into the delicious tremor rolling through her.
She loved this––loved the thrill, the excitement, the measured risk of falling for someone she barely knew.
If her options for tonight were contorting her body into impossible poses with Avery and Soleil, or getting tongue-tied with Kyree under a night sky, the choice was easy…