Chapter #2
He sighed, lifted his ballcap, ran his hand over his hair, then replaced his ballcap. Then shared, “All the blood in my body raced to my cock at the sight of you. I need a minute.”
Therefore, I gave him that minute, completely stunned.
Then I watched as he closed his eyes, swallowed, and shook his head.
Then he opened his eyes and said, “No kutte tonight because of where I’m taking you, but it’s in my truck. I’ll put it on when we get to the next part of our date.”
I nodded, then I lifted a brow, “Doghouse?”
He winced, “You said that if I wanted you to know something, I would tell you.”
I nodded, “Yeah. Was I wrong?”
“No, but I also inadvertently just made you feel like you weren’t important to me.” He said.
I wasn’t following what he was saying, and felt my head tilt to the side in confusion.
“Can you let me in so I can tell you this in private without the whole neighborhood watching?” he asked.
My eyes went wide, “Shit. I forgot where we were for a second,” I said as I stepped to the side to allow him in.
He winked, “Means I dressed okay.”
I chuckled, then closed the door.
“Taking the truck because my bike is in the shop. Had to lay it down earlier today because some motherfucker pulled out in front of me. And since I didn’t tell you earlier when that happened, I made you feel like you weren’t important to me. That won’t happen again.”
At his words... something inside of me that had been cracked open from the verbal abuse my mother had dished out at me over the years seemed to slowly knit itself together.
I nodded, then I said softly, “Thank you.”
He winked, “Think by sharing that all the blood rushed to my cock at the sight of you told you how good you look tonight, but if you need the words, then here they are. Never seen a more beautiful woman, and I’m honored as fuck to be the lucky man who gets to walk beside you tonight.”
I swooned.
I literally swooned.
My oh my.
Then I had a thought, “Do they teach guys what to say to ensure the woman is completely hooked?”
He burst out laughing, then sobered moments later and shared, “Just me, baby girl.”
I mock glared up at him, and in return, he simply winked.
Then he took in my little cottage and the furniture and décor, then he shared, “Whenever you want to move your stuff into our house, let me know. That picture will look perfect over our couch in the living room.”
I looked at the black and white artistic swirl that reminded me of chaos and calm meeting in a healthy balance.
“You ready?” he asked as he eyed me up and down once more.
I grinned, “Yes.”
He smirked, “Then maybe you want to put on some shoes. But gotta say, baby, loving the red toenails.”
I frowned and then looked down at my feet. My bare feet.
I squeaked, then ran to my bedroom, just to hear him let out a groan. I skidded to a stop just outside my bedroom and looked over my shoulder just in time to see him staring at my ass. I grinned.
After I pulled on a pair of black strappy three-inch heels, I headed out of my bedroom.
He was standing there in the same spot, waiting.
The moment I came into view, he locked his eyes on my feet, and I saw him grin.
“Perfect.” He drawled as his eyes roamed up my body.
I felt my cheeks get pink.
After I locked up my house, he placed his hand on the small of my back and led me to his truck.
Once I was safely inside, he closed the door, rounded the hood, then climbed in.
We were on our way moments later with his left hand on the steering wheel and his right hand on my thigh.
I loved it.
Then I asked what I had been dying to know all day.
“Thought we were going to move at my pace?” I asked.
He hit the brakes, ignored the people honking behind us, turned in his seat, locked his eyes with mine, and said, “Saw your stuff in my bathroom when I got home last night. Liked it. Liked it a fuck of a lot. Decided don’t want some other fucker to have that tie to you.
So yeah, I claimed you. Now, you know that.
Just gotta wait for you to claim me back, and baby girl, I’m a patient man, but for you.
.. Well, you’d better get on that. Soon. ”
And with those proverbial bombs dropped, he eased off the brake, and we were moving again.
And as I stared unseeing out of the front windshield, all I could think... was my oh my.
I felt myself get wet at his words.
At. His. Words.
Oh. Shit.
Needing to get my mind off what my body was doing, I tried to think of something and then came up with it.
“So, where are we going?” I asked.
“ Boudreaux. Fucking great food. Been there a few times,” he shared.
I nodded. I’d heard about it but haven’t had a chance to go there yet.
As soon as he pulled into the parking lot, he drove to the front and pulled into a spot that read, Reserved .
I lifted a brow and looked at him. He smirked.
“Our first official date. Think I wouldn’t pull out all the stops?” He asked.
I teased, “Then where are my flowers?”
He winked, “You’ll see.”
And by see... every single table that circled ours were covered in bouquets of orange tulips.
My favorite flower.
I told him that yesterday.
He remembered.
Taking his words to heart, I lifted on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw. There, I whispered, “Thank you.”
He winked, “So I did good?”
I looked at the flowers and nodded, “Oh yeah.”
Five minutes later, we were seated and had already gotten our drinks.
And yes, when the man who had escorted us to our seats tried to help me with my chair, Grey let out a growl that even made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
He grabbed his glass of sweet tea and took a sip, and that was when I saw his left hand. And I mean, really saw it.
“Umm, Grey?” I asked.
He lifted a brow as he set the glass back down, “Yeah?”
“Why are your knuckles busted and bruised?” I asked as I fingered one of his knuckles.
He winked, “Some fucker thought it would be cool to grab Soraya’s ass at the club last night while she was out with her girlfriends.”
“So, in other words, you beat the shit out of him?” I teased liking that they did that. That he did that.
“Yep,” he said candidly.
I smiled.
He chuckled, then asked, “You like that?”
I shrugged, “Maybe a little bit.”
He smiled.
And oh, my stars, the way the man smiled.
I stared at his face, at the beauty of it, and really wanted to be pinched so I could be reminded that this was my life. That I was, in fact, sitting across from this man.
“You want to be pinched again?” he teased.
I giggled, “Maybe.”
He chuckled.
Just then, our food was placed in front of us, and when the waiter walked away, he said, “Try to limit the moans. Okay? For my sanity?”
“Then try to limit the bombs you're dropping that are so sweet that it’s making me wet,” I quipped back.
His entire body seemed to freeze.
Then he asked, “Come again?”
I winked.
He growled.
I snickered.
“How wet?” he asked.
I took my fork and dug into my dish. Shrimp Scampi.
“You're not going to answer me, are you?” he asked.
I shook my head, “If I make you mine, you’ll find out.”
He lifted a brow, “Not if, baby. But when.”
I chuckled, then I started eating.
We were halfway through our meal as the conversation flowed easily.
He wanted to know about my dreams, what else I wanted out of life, and I shared, then he shared.
It was nice, easy, relaxing, and perfect.
Then another thought occurred to me; therefore, I asked, “So, how are you planning on dealing with the fact that fuckers will see me before you make me yours?”
He smirked, “Been waiting on you to bring that up.”
“Easy, I find them and end them.” He said with zero looks of humor.
I sobered.
“What?” I asked breathily.
He looked into my eyes. And I mean really looked into my eyes, then he shared, “Kimber, I didn’t stutter.”
He did it again, that fucking jerk.
I got wet.
I growled.
His eyes went hooded, then he groaned, “Fuuccckkkkk.”
I giggled.
I couldn’t help it.
He narrowed his eyes at me.
We finished eating our food, and when asked about dessert, I shook my head because I was full.
We were back in the truck after he paid, then I asked, “Second part of the date?”
He looked at me and grinned, “You’ll see.”
And then... forty-five minutes later, we were parked in front of a brick building.
Ink Me was in a slanted font in purples and blues.
He grabbed his kutte, climbed out of the truck, and put it on, then he closed the door, rounded the hood, and opened my door.
There, he leaned into me after I swung around to climb out.
“Umm, why are we here?” I asked.
Grey’s sea green eyes glittered as he stared up at me, “Well, I didn’t really get to show you where my head and heart are yesterday. This,” he pointed at the brick building, “Is a show and tell of that.”
I lifted a brow, “Care to explain more?”
He shook his head, “You’ll find out.”
I growled, and he smirked.
Jerk.
“You’re a jerk,” I snapped.
He chuckled, “And you’re a pain in my ass. Telling me I’m making you wet and not telling me how much.”
I snickered.
He opened the door for me and let me enter first.
There was artwork covering every inch of the waiting area, and behind a waist-length glass case stood a woman with purple hair.
I liked it.
Grey led me to her, then she looked up at Grey, then at me, and asked, “Is this her?”
Grey chuckled, “Oh yeah.”
She smiled then offered me her hand, “Hi, I’m Tinsley.”
Hesitantly, I offered my hand in return, “Umm, I’m Kimber.”
She winked, then she shook my hand once, then yelled, “O? Grey is here!”
Even I jumped.
A second later, we heard, “Fucking hell, girl. Stop doing that shit.”
Tinsley snickered.
“Be right there, man.” The man called out.
And by right there, he really meant right there.
A man with brown hair pulled back in a man bun, and a short beard that formed into a point at his chin, came stalking forward.
Grey reached around me and offered the man his hand, “Been a while.”
The man nodded, “That it has. Gotta say, been looking forward to this.”