Chapter 40
CHAPTER
FORTY
RICH
Waking up after a night inside Slim ain’t the same as waking up after a night in the pit.
I click my tongue against the roof of my mouth. “Mmm…”
I taste her.
Shit, I can’t even inhale without smelling her and…bacon, I think?
If it wasn’t for the music playing and her terrible ass singing creeping from under the bathroom door, I would’ve sworn she made love to me all night then left me.
A cool breeze blows through the crack in my bedroom window, tickling my legs. I glance down and find my flat sheet covering the lower half of my naked body. I can’t even remember the last time I slept butt-ass naked, but Slim likes to sleep skin to skin with her tiny body pressed into my side.
“Slim,” I rasp. “Why you got the window open?”
I try to push up, but my muscles are heavy and stiff like I did a thousand rounds of shadow boxing yesterday. “Fuck. Slim!”
“I’m coming!”
I blow a breath through my nose and fall back.
Music trickles into our bedroom from Smitty’s. The different beats clash because she’s playing soft R&B, and he’s playing blues.
She bursts out of the bathroom in a black sweater and tight black jeans.
“Can I have the right side of the vanity?” she asks. “And more shelves in the closet? You think Smitty can help with that?”
She’s a mess in the morning—a good mess, though.
I watch her through heavy lids as she clunks around my room in those boots she wore to the gym on my birthday with a big roller stuck at the very front of her head.
“Baby?” I huff, letting my head fall back against my pillow and staring at the ceiling.
“Mhmm?”
“How many shelves?”
“I don’t know. Six? I need somewhere to put my fabric.”
The bed creaks and sinks beside my feet, but I can’t lift my head to see what she’s doing.
“Are you trying to get out of bed?” she murmurs, pressing her hand into my sore stomach, then straddling me.
I nod.
“Why do you want to do that?”
“‘Cause it’s Friday…I think.” I squeeze my eyes tighter. “What time is it? I need to get up and talk to Smit. I need to go to the bank—”
“No,” she whispers, dragging a finger down my face. “You need to go back to sleep. When’s the last time you slept in?”
“I can’t remember.”
She tsks. “I figured as much when you were snoring like a bear this morning.”
I chuckle, pulling my eyes off the ceiling and staring at her perfect brown complexion, dark eyes, and rosy pink cheeks. I think she has makeup on again.
“Look at you,” I coo. “You look like a baby doll. You tryna leave me?”
I push up on my trembling elbows, swallowing the phantom cotton in my mouth and breathing through the heavy feeling that crawls onto my shoulders.
“I told you I had to take care of something today.”
I wrinkle my eyebrows.
“I told you in the last voice message I sent you, or have you been half-listening to my messages?”
“No, baby. I…I know. Monday you were mad at me. Tuesday y’all were supposed to clean Ms. Farris’ place but you said you were too sad to go so you stayed in bed.
Wednesday, you went and sat with Senior, but you ain’t tell me in the message you sent that night.
You told me about it in Thursday night’s message right before you said you had something to take care of today.
Then you told me you loved me afterward. I save all of ‘em.”
That weird stutter in my chest creeps down into my stomach while bits and pieces from last night come back to me.
There was some bartender at Jazzy’s that tried to tell me I was running from this.
There was Arnez breaking down in my truck.
And there was Faye and Kenny tryna tell me I couldn’t have the one person that mattered the most to me.
“Where you going without me?” I ask, touching a strand of her straightened hair.
“To take care of something for your dad.”
“Like what?”
She reaches up, pulling the roller from her head and releasing a perfect curl. “Like something that’s between me and him, but I guess I can tell you.”
She rolls her eyes, smirking. “I told him I’d help him with a few things—run a few errands for him to take some of the pressure off you. I’m gonna go make groceries for him and pick up something he needs. Is that okay with you, Mr. Lovelace?”
My dick jumps underneath her warm middle, and she smirks. I sit up, sliding my hands around her body and melting into that field of lavender I wanna live in. That heavy feeling on my shoulders makes me lean forward and lay my head against her warm chest.
“You okay?” she asks.
My heart stutters mercilessly, and if I ain’t know any better, I’d think I was having a heart attack.
She tosses the roller beside us, then rakes her fingers through my hair while I cling to her like a boy clings to his mama.
“It’s okay,” she whispers. “I know it’s scary at first because it’s all new, but when you relax and stop fighting, it feels really euphoric.”
The beats from the different songs blend into a perfect medley, and now they sound like one. Sunlight shines on us from the windows and tickles my skin in a way I haven’t felt since I chased Arnez around the oak tree in our backyard. I breathe in a breath full of lavender.
“Feel good, Tin Man?” she mutters.
I nod.
She pulls my head from her chest and plants a glossy kiss on my lips, and another one, and another one. “I’ll never take advantage of this feeling or of you. I’ll never abuse my control.”
I inhale the words from her mouth and let the stutters roll through my chest while she presses her lips against my cheeks, my nose, and my forehead.
I blink up at her, letting out a sigh of relief, and she smiles big, flashing the little gap between her front teeth. “So, can I drive the truck?”
I snort out a loud laugh, closing my eyes and appreciating our boring first morning together.
“Can you handle a pickup truck?”
She shrugs. “If I handle you just fine, I’m pretty sure I can handle a truck.”
I laugh louder, falling back while she climbs off me and the bed.
“You can take whatever you want,” I murmur, stifling a yawn. “Get my wallet out my shorts on the fl—”
“Already did that. The money is in my purse.”
“If you see Smitty, tell him I’ll be outside in a minute.”
“I told him you were resting when he tried to walk in the house an hour ago while I was cooking your breakfast. Thank God I had clothes on. He doesn’t knock, Rich?”
“I’ll tell him to start knocking…”
“Uh-huh…and Rich?”
My heavy eyes open up to her leaning against the doorframe. “Yeah, mama?”
“Rest. I can conquer the world for you in the meantime. I promise I won’t mess anything up.”