THIRTEEN #2
Jio gave her a look that made her turn her head towards the window.
She needed to stop playing with him for real.
She was irritated that he felt the need to keep eyes on her.
Loving a made man like Jiorgio Gotti came with so many conflicted emotions.
What should’ve scared her brought her comfort, and what comforted her sometimes scared her. Shit was crazy.
“He’s harmless,” she said.
“No man is harmless when he trying to get what belongs to somebody else.”
“I don’t belong to you.”
Jio leaned over the center console, slow enough to give her the choice to move away, but she didn’t go anywhere.
He reached for her face, pulled it close to his, and kissed her passionately before saying, “Yes, you do.”
Nina’s eyes fluttered and her pussy did too.
He kissed her again, deeper this time, but not enough to ruin her lipstick completely.
It was enough to make her forget that she had a meeting that was set to start in fifteen minutes and a life she was trying to keep from spinning out of control.
But here he was being the eye of the tornado once again.
When he pulled back, his forehead rested against hers.
“I’m wherever you are,” he repeated, quieter this time. “Never forget that.”
Nina opened her eyes. There was so much that she could’ve said to retort his statement. She should’ve told him that he was crazy and needed to take his ass to therapy. She could’ve reminded him that she was a grown ass woman and not his property, but she didn’t say shit.
Her phone lit up in her hand.
Jio glanced at the screen. “Your assistant trying to reach you,” he said knowingly.
“I know who’s calling!” she rolled her eyes. “I’m late.”
He reminded her, “You the boss, baby. The meeting can’t start without you, but don’t let me hold you up any longer. I’ll check in with you later to see what you want for dinner.”
He unlocked the door and she stepped out, tugging his jacket tighter around her body. Before she closed the door, she leaned down and looked at him.
“Jio, for the record, Carter does not want me.”
He shook his head at her in disbelief. “Yeah yeah, have a good day my love.”
Nina rolled her eyes. “I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“It’s not cute to me that you’re jealous,” she let him know.
“You call it jealous, I see it as me being strategic, but whatever. Have a good day, my love.”
“You’re insane.”
“You still coming home to me tonight so I can’t be too insane.” He winked at her.
Just like that, they’d reconnected and fallen back into a routine that they both were accustomed to.
Nina closed the door harder than necessary and walked toward the building.
She refused to look back, knowing his eyes were still on her.
She had only made it a few steps when she heard his voice call her out.
“Babe?”
She stopped and turned around.
Jio leaned across the passenger seat and grinned. “You the boss. This your shit. Don’t go in there apologizing for being late.”
She gave him a crooked smile. “I love you,” she mouthed the words.
“Have a good day, baby.”
She waltzed into Marcelle & Co. with her head held high, his jacket on her shoulders and his scent on her skin as she walked through the glass doors.
By the time she reached the elevator, Ava was already standing there with a vanilla latte and wide eyes.
Nina accepted the coffee without a word.
Ava looked at the jacket and her dress, and she tried to find her eyes, but they were hidden behind sunglasses, although there was no sun inside the building.
“I assume you had a GOOD morning….” she said slowly.
Nina took a sip of coffee and removed her shades. “Not today, girl.”
Ava pressed her lips together to try her best to fight a smile and laugh, but a blind woman could tell the type of night that she’d clearly had.
“Yes, ma’am.”
The elevator doors opened and Nina stepped inside. She stared at her reflection in the mirrored wall and tried her best not to smile, but that damn Jio Gotti, she couldn’t help it.
η
Several months later, Nina woke up to the smell of sausage and profanity.
Jio was in the kitchen cursing up a damn storm.
Him being this angry in the morning should’ve concerned her, but it didn’t.
A year ago, she couldn’t get him out of bed before noon, and now the tables had turned, and it was her that slept in for as long as she could.
Jio was now the early bird. The past few weeks they’d settled into a groovy rhythm that no one cared to name.
Nina went home to grab clothes and Nino, and she hadn’t been back to her crib since.
They were doing a good job of overlooking the fact that they’d just spent a whole year apart.
In Nina’s eyes, it was love and distance that had repaired everything that was broken in their relationship.
She’d been on cloud nine and she prayed nothing changed to bring her down because she was floating.
Her laptop sat closed on the nightstand where she’d abandoned it the night before.
The stack of paperwork she’d been meaning to review before bed remained untouched too.
She needed another break and soon. She was on the verge of rescheduling everything on her calendar because she’d been craving one thing, and that was another uninterrupted day in Miami with Jio, but he told her to hold off.
Work was once the safest place to hide. Her routine was structured and predictable.
She figured that if she worked hard and long enough, achievement would be waiting for her…
but Jio was back and life was sunny again.
So, she no longer had to tire herself out for no reason.
Her peace of mind wasn’t found in quarterly reports and performance reviews.
Nina had implemented new boundaries around work, and when she tried to erase those limitations to lay up under her baby, he didn’t let her.
“We locked in right now, boo. Miami not going nowhere,” he continued to reassure her. She wasn’t trying to keep hearing that though.
“Bookie bear, you up yet?” he hollered from the kitchen.
“Barely,” she shouted back.
“You want breakfast?” he asked anyway.
“Yes and coffee please! I’m getting up in two seconds.
” Nina wiped the sleep away from her eyes and slid out of bed.
She was naked and her hair was all over the place.
The days of her caring about what she looked like around him had faded.
He loved her just how she was, and for that, she loved him even harder.
On her way to greet him with morning breath, the whiff of whatever he was cooking up made her stomach revolt in a drastic way.
The only thing she could think to do was make her way to the nearest toilet and fast. Within seconds, the lo mein and sesame chicken that they had for dinner last night came tumbling out of her mouth in huge chunks.
She threw up everything that her stomach contained. The sound was violent.
Jio appeared in the doorway, concerned about his girl.
“Babe, you okay?”
She closed her eyes as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. One half of her body hung over the toilet. “I’m fine,” she muttered as best as she could.
“You sure about that?”
“I’m positive,” she snapped.
He hesitated before speaking again, but he had to say it. “Baby, you keep throwing up… you either need to take a test and see if that mother fucker is POSITIVE or go to the doctor.”
Nina rolled her eyes. She didn’t want to hear this same spiel today. She wasn’t in the mood, physically or mentally.
“You need to stop trying to diagnose me.”
He turned his face up. “I care about you little girl.”
Jio handed her a bottle of water that she reluctantly accepted.
“I probably just have a stomach bug.”
“Yeah if you say so.” He wasn’t convinced and she shouldn’t be either.
“You don’t believe me?”
“Babe, you don’t believe yourself either, but it’s okay. Freshen up and come eat.”
Nina rolled her eyes so hard they nearly got stuck.
By the time she wandered into the kitchen after a shower, breakfast was cold, but it was the thought that counted.
“Thank you for cooking for me.” She always made sure to let him know how appreciative she was.
“You welcome, babe. How you feeling?”
She motioned her hands in a so-so manner. It was best if she took it easy and just stuck to the coffee for now and maybe something salty if her stomach could handle it.
“Are you feeding a football team?” She commented since he made way too much food for only the two of them.
Jio’s eyebrow hiked. “Uh… I know you don’t like to think you do but you can knock back half of that by yourself,” he said with a big smile.
“I do not eat that much!” she squealed.
Jio patted the couch where he was comfortably sitting with a mug of tea and a book in hand. Slow mornings were becoming his favorite way to start the day. “Yeah yeah, come lay next to daddy so I can rub your belly and make you feel better.”
Nina happily obliged because he gave the best stomach and booty rubs in the world.
The day lingered along and Nina slept through the majority of it.
She barely responded when Jio told her he had a few moves to make.
She didn’t care as long as he brought food back.
Nina didn’t have any plans for the weekend and she was relieved.
No galas to attend, no meetings, lunch dates, community service, photo shoots, or speaking engagements.
However, this was the calm before the storm because the next few weeks were jam-packed with any and every type of event.
When she woke up, somehow her head was back in Jio’s lap. She cracked one eye open and caught him scrolling through whatever on his phone.
“What are you doing?”
He looked down and kissed her nose. His hands made their way under her shirt to her bosom. “Working.”
“You said today was ours.”
“It is, you been knocked out,” he reminded her.
“I’m up now, so you can stop.”
He glanced down. “You telling me to ignore my responsibilities?”
“Yes,” she stated with a straight face.