Chapter 7
SYNDER
It was cute that Sienna’s face told on her, again. Lil’ baby was stuck staring at a spot on my chest that wasn’t there. I slipped my hands into my pockets to remind myself not to touch her. I’d done plenty of that last night. She didn’t chide me about it, but it would come if I pushed the envelope.
I had questions for Sienna. Questions that I was sure weren’t my business.
Last night, I witnessed Sienna drop two-million-dollars on a community that she didn’t even belong to.
If my nosey ass hadn’t been eyeballing her dainty hands as she wrote out the check last night, I wouldn’t have even known how much she donated.
I wasn’t pocket watching, but that shit was crazy.
“You need help?” I asked because she was still stuck.
“No,” she quickly answered. “It’ll be done soon.”
“Aight. Any plans for the day?” Really, I wanted to make small talk and be in her presence for a few more minutes. If she knew what I’d done to her in my dreams last night, she would’ve packed up and ran right out of there.
If she had a nigga lurking, he was in trouble.
Lowkey, I wanted her to tell me a little bit of her business.
I wanted to know if she was taken or not—not that she’d allow me the chance to have her.
Her boundaries were solid, and I didn’t want to do anything to make her question me.
Whoever pushed her to stop fucking with single fathers had surely done a number on her.
Hopefully, I’d run into the nigga. It would’ve been my pleasure to fuck him up.
“My plans are to spend some time with Whimsy. If she already has a routine, I would like to know what it is. Also, if there’s anything particular you need me to do, if you’d let me know that would be great.”
She talked and expertly moved through my kitchen. Normally, when I made bacon, the smoke detector sounded. Not only did she have it smelling good, but nothing appeared to be burning.
“Aight, cool,” I replied. “She does have a schedule. The only day of the month that’s different is our date day. We do stuff often, but date day is just me and her. Otherwise, gamedays are the only days her schedule is open.”
“Okay, great. As far as the games go, you’ll let me know where to sit and all that?”
I nodded. “Security will make sure you get to ya designated spot.”
She smiled. “Great!”
“We arrive and leave together, so don’t worry about that either.”
“Awesome. The food is ready. Would you like me to make your plate?” She glanced at me, expectantly.
The way I wanted to respond got pushed to the back of my throat. “I got it, Baby.”
Amused, she shook her head. “You’re close to strike one, Synder.”
“I thought we agreed that you’d give me that one.”
She shook her head again. “No… You asked me to. I never gave you an answer.”
“No answer is as good as an answer,” I stated.
“Sure, Synder.” The soft smile on her face made me want to taste her lips.
Scratching the back of my head, I exited the kitchen to get my mind right. This was only day two.
Later that evening, I walked onto the court, fully expecting for my mind, heart, and soul to be on the game.
However, the minute I saw Sienna sitting courtside with Whimsy seated in her lap, I knew I was done for.
Sienna tapped Whimsy’s shoulder, then pointed at me.
Smiling brightly, Sienna waved and Whimsy mimicked her.
Since nine o’clock this morning, Whimsy was stuck to Sienna like glue.
They had a tea party, organized Whimsy’s toys, and Whimsy even helped me give Sienna a tour of the house.
My baby fought a nap earlier this afternoon for fear Sienna would be gone by the time she woke up.
Even now, Whimsy appeared to be the picture of content.
I waved back, fully accepting that my ass was going to be minding Sienna’s business the entire damn game.
Despite how rigorous the game was, I tossed and turned until my body and mind demanded that I get up and figure out who the hell Sienna Cooley was. After beating the breaks off the Magic, I should’ve been knocked the fuck out.
Here I was at three in the damn morning on my laptop, digging for information on Sienna.
CEO, boutique owner, nanny… Those were labels that described Sienna.
There was something deeper, though. I felt it.
It took one phone call to put my thoughts to rest. Sienna passed a background check, so digging any deeper was borderline psychotic.
She dropped two million dollars on the community like it wasn’t anything, though.
“Exactly,” I mumbled to the ceiling. “Ain’t no way.”
You sayin’ nannies don’t make any money?
“No! I mean…”
I was up at three in the morning talking to myself. Tapping a few more keys, I gave it a few more minutes to see if anything would pop up. Then, something smacked me dead in my face.
Cooley!
I knew that name from running in the sports circle. It was a long shot, but I had to start somewhere. Typing in a different search prompt, my eyes bugged at the results.
“The fuck,” I muttered.
Right there, on my screen, was Sienna with her billionaire cousins, Baltimore and Dayton Cooley, owners of the Mobile Bears major league baseball team. From there, images of Sienna’s billionaire parents, younger sister, uncles, and other cousins popped up.
“Fuck,” I said to the ceiling.
Last time I checked, my worth was pushing three-hundred-million dollars. Still, I couldn’t think of the first thing to even impress a woman who happened to be a billionaire.
“I’ma cuss that nigga out,” I decided. Legend could’ve been clearer with who the fuck Sienna was. Then, another thought occurred to me. She was walking around freely with not a bodyguard in sight. Shit, I had security, and it wasn’t anything to me to put a nigga on somebody’s slab.
Instead of intrigue, now I toyed with being angry. With that last name, Sienna had a target on her back, and who was going to protect her?
Me, I immediately thought. I was going to protect Sienna, especially her heart. It was only right that I protected her heart from niggas who wouldn’t take the first glance at her and see their entire world in her.
She may already have a man, nigga.
Glancing at the clock, I said fuck it and dialed Legend.
“Yeah?” Legend answered. He sounded wide awake but forget that.
“Nigga, when you put me on, you could’ve led with the fact that Sienna is a fuckin’ billionaire.”
Legend chuckled. “What does it matter?”
“It doesn’t matter like that. I’m just—”
“Feelin’ like she’s outta yo’ league?” Legend finished.
Shit, I thought. I was transparent as fuck.
“Sienna’s gorgeous, so we get it,” Ginger came over the line and intoned.
She sounded wide awake, too. Frowning, I tried not thinking about what the hell they were up to at this hour.
“That’s not something anyone leads into a conversation with. Either you find out or you don’t. She’s cool with people not knowing, though,” Ginger concluded. “We saw her sitting courtside with Whimsy, so it’s only a matter of time before her connection to you is plastered all over the blogs.”
“What my wife said,” Legend added. “By the way, you ain’t some bum-ass nigga. And we’ve worked with Sienna a few times. She’s never given I’m better than you vibes.”
“Never,” Ginger seconded.
“Is she taken, is the question?” I finally asked.
“Not that we know of,” Ginger answered. “Be nice to my girl.”
“Yeah,” I replied. Being nice wasn’t the issue. Keeping my damn hands to myself was the issue. “Aight, y’all be safe.” Their chuckles were muted by me ending the call.
The play was simple. I had to make Sienna fall in love with me and Whimsy, then she would never want to leave us.
Make sure she’s single, first, nigga. Yeah, whatever, I thought.
Closing the laptop, I rolled over and started brainstorming. By the time I found sleep, I had an entire playbook of sequences to run on Miss Sienna. She wouldn’t know what hit her.