CHAPTER EIGHT
NOLA
Nola found the security man because he sneezed.
He was parked two houses down in a silver SUV, trying his best to look like somebody’s uncle checking emails at ten o’clock at night.
Then he sneezed three times in a row, rolled down his window, and looked directly at her front door when the porch light came on.
Nola stood there in slippers and a bonnet.
He looked away too late.
She walked straight to his vehicle.
The man lowered the window halfway.
“Evening.”
“Who sent you?”
“Ma’am?”
“Don’t ma’am me. You been sitting here since yesterday.”
He didn’t answer.
Nola leaned down.
“If you make me call the police and explain why a strange man been parked outside my house for two days, you’re gonna have an annoying night.”
He sighed.
“Call Kai.”
Nola smiled.
Not because she was amused.
Because murder charges were inconvenient.
She walked back inside and called him.
He answered on the first ring.
“Yeah.”
“Come get your nigga.”
Silence.
“What?”
“The man you got sitting outside my house. Come get him before I start charging parking.”
Another silence.
“I’m on my way.”
“You better be.”
Nola hung up.
Mani, who had come over with wine and takeout, looked up from the couch.
“What happened?”
“Kai put security on my house without telling me.”
Mani slowly put her fork down.
“Oh.”
“Exactly.”
“You gonna cuss him out?”
“Absolutely.”
“You gonna fuck him after?”
Nola stared at her.
Mani picked her fork back up. “Just asking for scheduling purposes.”
“Go home.”
“You love me.”
“Unfortunately.”
Mani left fifteen minutes later, laughing the whole way to her car.
Kai arrived six minutes after that.
Nola opened the door before he knocked.
“Inside.”
He walked in.
“You found him?”
“He sneezed. Your security budget needs work.”
“He’s good at his job.”
“Apparently not at Claritin.”
Kai almost smiled.
Nola pointed at the couch.
“Sit.”
“I’m not a dog.”
“Then stop doing shit behind my back like one.”
That killed the almost-smile.
He remained standing.
“Somebody used your brother to move my money and sent him running. They got your address off his employee file.”
“And you thought the solution was to put a man outside my house and not tell me?”
“I thought the solution was making sure nobody walked up on you.”
“Without my permission.”
“You would have said no.”
Nola stared.
“You hear yourself?”
“Yeah.”
“So because I would’ve said no, you decided my answer didn’t matter?”
Kai rubbed a hand over his beard.
Nola’s eyes dropped automatically to the patch.
“Don’t.”
“I’m too mad to joke about it.”
“Good.”
“Don’t get comfortable.”
He exhaled through his nose.
“What do you want?”
“I want you to tell me before you put surveillance on my home.”
“Fine.”
“And I want one of them gone.”
“No.”
Nola folded her arms.
“See, this is why—”
“One can cover front and rear if he parks closer. Two is better. One is the minimum until Dre is found or I know who sent those messages.”
“You don’t get to set the minimum for my house.”
“Then set one that makes sense.”
She stopped.
Kai went on.
“You want no security? Say that. I won’t put anyone here.
But understand what no security means. I’m not threatening you.
I’m not manipulating you. I’m telling you what I know.
Somebody has access to employee records.
Somebody scared Dre enough to run. Somebody disabled my camera.
You are the only family member on his file. ”
Nola hated that he was better when he explained instead of ordered.
“One,” she said.
“Two.”
“One. And I get his name and number.”
Kai thought about it.
“One on the house. Second one farther out only when you’re home alone.”
“That’s still two.”
“One you see.”
“That’s not how numbers work.”
“Compromise.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“I get both names.”
“Fine.”
“And nobody follows me into work.”
“They won’t.”
“And you tell me if that changes.”
“Yes.”
Nola held his gaze.
“Look at us. Almost communicating like grown people.”
“You done?”
“No.”
“Of course not.”
She stepped closer.
“What else you been deciding for me?”
“Nothing.”
“Think carefully.”
“Nothing.”
“Okay.”
Kai looked suspicious now.
“Why you say okay like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like I’m about to regret something.”
Nola smiled.
“Maybe because you are.”
She took his hand and put it on her hip.
Kai looked down at it.
Then back at her.
“I thought you were mad.”
“I am.”
“And?”
“And I’m also horny. Women contain multitudes.”
His laugh came out before he could stop it.
“You serious?”
“Very.”
“This your version of healthy conflict resolution?”
“No. We already resolved the security argument. This is a separate agenda item.”
Kai’s hand tightened at her hip.
Nola pointed at him.
“But understand something. If you pull another little surveillance stunt, sex ain’t gonna save you.”
“I didn’t ask it to.”
“Good answer.”
She kissed him.
This time she controlled the pace on purpose.
The office had been impulse. This wasn’t.
She wanted to know what happened when they weren’t furious and exhausted and standing six feet from a legal pad full of evidence.
Kai’s hands went under her oversized T-shirt.
Nola caught one wrist.
“Wait.”
He stopped immediately.
She pulled the shirt over her head herself.
His eyes dropped.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“I’m starting to think you only know fourteen words.”
“I’m trying to behave.”
“Don’t.”
That changed the room.
Kai kissed her again, harder.
Nola backed him toward the couch until his knees hit it and he sat.
“Oh, you bossy tonight.”
“I learned from an expert.”
She straddled him.
His hands moved over her back, stomach, hips, never lingering like he was trying to prove he wasn’t bothered by softness. He just touched her because he wanted to.
That mattered more than some speech about loving curves ever could.
She tugged his shirt up.
“Take this off.”
“Ask nice.”
Nola stared at him.
Kai grinned and pulled it over his head.
“Thought so.”
He caught her chin before she could say more and kissed her until the comeback disappeared.
When they moved upstairs, Kai stopped at the bedroom door.
“Condoms?”
Nola opened the nightstand.
“I am a grown woman.”
“Good.”
“You sound relieved.”
“I wasn’t trying to drive back to my office.”
She laughed.
The second time was different because Nola made it different.
She pushed Kai onto his back and stayed there long enough to enjoy the look on his face. He was used to moving first. Used to deciding the angle, the pace, where his hands went next. Nola rested both palms on his chest and felt him make himself wait.
“You got something to say?” she asked.
“Several things.”
“Keep them.”
His mouth twitched. “Bossy.”
“You like it.”
“I do.”
That answer came too fast to argue with.
Nola moved slowly at first, not shy, just deliberate. Kai’s hands slid over her waist and around to her back, his favorite damn place, but every time he tried to take over she pressed him back into the mattress.
“I said I got this.”
“And I’m letting you.”
“You are struggling to let me.”
“I’m doing excellent.”
She laughed and kissed him before he could defend himself. The laugh broke when his hand moved lower and pulled her closer. Nola caught his wrist, moved it exactly where she wanted it, and watched his eyes change.
“Clarity,” she reminded him.
“I remember.”
He did. That was the surprising part. Once she told him what she wanted, Kai quit guessing. No performance, no asking her to praise him for listening. He adjusted and stayed there until Nola’s smart mouth disappeared for a while.
When he finally rolled them, he paused with his hand at her hip.
“Now?”
Nola looked at him. “Now.”
The shift changed everything. The first time had been anger and impulse. This one had room for teasing, for stopping when her knee complained, for Nola pulling him closer because she wanted more instead of because she was trying to win an argument.
Kai kissed along her shoulder, then the top of her chest, and Nola grabbed the pillow instead of his hair.
“Don’t get cute,” she warned.
“You the one gripping bedding.”
“Keep talking and I’ll put my shirt back on.”
“Cruel.”
She laughed again, and he used the distraction to pull her closer. Nola cursed his name into the side of his neck and felt him smile against her skin.
It was hot and messy and nowhere near graceful. The fitted sheet came loose. Her phone hit the floor. Kai nearly elbowed the lamp and caught it one-handed without stopping long enough for her not to notice.
“Even during sex you saving furniture.”
“That lamp was expensive.”
“I hate you.”
“No you don’t.”
Nola bit his shoulder for being right.
By the time they finally stopped, both of them were laughing too hard to pretend anything about the night had been smooth. That was better. No performance. No trying to prove anything.
Afterward, Nola lay on her stomach while Kai traced idle lines across her bare back.
“You really do this every time,” she murmured.
“Do what?”
“Touch my back.”
“You complaining?”
“No. I’m collecting evidence.”
“For what?”
“Your eventual trial when Dez finds out you violated your weight-limit constitution.”
Kai groaned.
“Don’t say shit to Dez.”
Nola lifted her head. “He already knows we had sex.”
“He don’t know the rest.”
“What rest?”
Kai was quiet.
Nola rolled over.
“Exactly.”
“Go to sleep.”
“You’re in my bed. You go to sleep.”
He looked at her, then reached for her again.
Nola slapped his hand.
“No. We got work to do tomorrow.”
“Thought you said women contain multitudes.”
“One of mine is tired.”
Kai laughed and pulled the blanket over both of them.
At 3:14 a.m., Nola woke because he was standing at the window checking the street.
He didn’t know she was awake.
He checked the front lock next.
Then the back.
Then returned to bed and put one hand on her back without thinking.
Nola kept her eyes closed.
Control issue, yes.
But maybe something else too.
She would figure out which before she let it become her problem.