1. Ro
ro
. . .
Black washis new favorite color.
The way those black pants hugged her perfectly round ass and that half black shirt left just enough of her back bare for his mouth to start watering—hell, fuckin’ yeah, Ro was lovin’ the color black tonight.
He was also thoroughly enjoying watching her dance. There was no doubt she heard the music. The way her hips rolled and her thighs parted right along with every thump and boom of bass had him signaling for the server.
“Yeah, bring me another one,” he told the young lady who appeared at his table wearing a short black dress. Then he nodded to where the sexy woman stood. “And find out what she was drinking. Bring one of those over here as well.”
When the server walked away, his gaze landed on the fine ass woman once more. He’d first noticed her when he sat down at the table farthest to the back of the space. She’d been sitting at the bar, with her back to him. Even though he couldn’t see her face, something had captured his gaze, keeping it pretty much locked on her until the moment she slid off the stool. And now she danced right there in that spot. Not toward the center of the room where a few others had gathered. No, she was off by herself, her back still to him.
The first thing that had caught his attention—before she got up and sent his dick into a full-on frenzy with her ass profile—was her hair. Ro loved when women wore their hair natural. He loved how the different textures felt between his fingers, rubbing along his jaw or over his chest. He adored the styles they wore, marveling at the versatility. This woman’s hair had been pulled away from her face and held at the top of her head by what he presumed was a band. But from there it fell free in this big wild array of curls that his fingers itched to touch. As she danced, her hair moved and he had a quick vision of it moving the same way with her face between his legs. He could bury his fingers in those thick curls then, get a good grip on her head and hold her steady while he pumped into her mouth.
“Shit!” He moved against the bench where he’d been sitting. Sending a silent thanks it was pretty dark over here, he eased a hand down and adjusted his dick that was now pressing painfully against the zipper of his jeans.
The server came back with his drink and set the other one on the table in front of him. He dug into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Retrieving a couple of bills, he offered them to the server. “Go tell her I’ve got a drink waiting for her,” he said.
With a grin and a shake of her head, the server took the money and walked toward the dancing goddess that Ro was determined to take home with him tonight. He picked up his glass and took a slow sip, then put it down when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.
He retrieved the phone, read the text from his executive assistant and made a note to pull the customer file her message referred to as soon as he got home. He was just about to put his phone away and find his dancing queen again when someone cleared their throat.
“Thanks, but I don’t accept drinks from strange—” her words stopped.
Ro’s eyes widened as he stared up at her.
“Ronan?” she asked.
“Sariya?” he replied in a shocked tone that matched hers.
She shook her head. “What…what are you doing here?”
He stood. “Celebrating my sister’s birthday just like you.”
The quick twist of her lips told him his sarcastic remark was successful in annoying her and he grinned.
“Donyell didn’t tell me you were coming. Last I heard, you’d gotten some big promotion at the bank and was moving up in the world.”
“You keeping tabs on me, Sariya?” he asked and gave into the urge that had been plaguing him for the last fifteen minutes. He reached out and fingered those curls. They were soft and springy and tinted a lighter brown than the rest of her dark hair.
She swatted his hand away. “No. Your sister is my best friend. I still have dinner at your parents’ house at least one Sunday out of the month. They all, for whatever reason, adore you and don’t miss an opportunity to brag about all the success you’ve had since you left Baltimore.”
“Do you adore me?” He teased because he couldn’t help it. There was something about an annoyed or even flustered Sariya that was sexy as hell.
“I do not,” she replied with a curt nod. “And don’t be buying strange women drinks and expect them to come over to your table and actually drink them. If they have any sense, they’ll leave that shit alone. Who knows what you could’ve put in there.”
He glanced down at the table where her drink was sitting and then frowned at her. “You still drinking that girly ass strawberry daiquiri.”
“Did you not hear what I just said?”
“I did and I get it, but I wanted you to come over and sit with me.”
She laughed. “No, you wanted mystery woman to come over and sit with you, then probably go back to your hotel with you and do whatever.” She waved her hand at that last word and shook her head. “You ain’t never changing.”
Those last words landed with a punch in his gut he wasn’t expecting but before he could address it, Donyell came running over.
“Oh my goodness! It’s really you!” She jumped into the arms Ro instinctively extended to catch her. “Mama said she thought you might show up, but I didn’t believe her.”
He hugged his sister tightly, enjoying her enthusiasm to have him back home. It still surprised him that his mother had been able to keep it a secret that he’d actually been back on the east coast for almost six weeks now.
He chuckled and kissed Donyell on her cheek when they finally broke apart. “You know I wasn’t gonna miss your dirty thirty bash,” he said. “Mike went all out for you too, the place looks great.”
They were at the Olympus Lounge, his brother-in-law’s spot. This was the first time Ro had been here but he’d heard a lot about it from his phone calls with his mother and with Donyell. They’d bought the place that had formerly been a pool hall, two years ago and had been steadily building, marketing and promoting it until now, it was finally beginning to turn a profit. Tonight, what looked like an entire half of this main room had been sectioned off for Donyell’s party. The purple and silver tablecloths and centerpieces on six tables was a dead giveaway. Donyell loved purple.
“Doesn’t it? We’re so excited and the party’s gonna start in ten more minutes. Then we’ll remove the rope from the restricted area. You two showed up early,” his sister said.
Ro had done that purposely because he hadn’t planned to stay the whole night. He’d simply wanted to show up for her, give her his gift and get gone. But then he’d seen the woman at the bar, who, as it turns out, is the same woman he’d been so drawn to at a bar during a wedding reception seven years ago.
“I wanted to see if you needed any help with anything,” Sariya said. “I texted you earlier but you didn’t respond, so I just came on down.”
Donyell pursed her lips. “Girl, you know I’m always misplacing my phone. I think it’s in my car now. I better go get it before everything gets crazier around here.”
Sariya held out a hand. “Give me your keys, I’ll go get it.”
Recognizing immediately that Sariya was trying to get away from him, Ro grinned.
“Oh, okay. Let me just figure out where I put them,” Donyell said. “And, before I forget, Mike talked to his friend down at the hospital. She’s going to see if there are any positions in the oncology department for you.”
Sariya nodded stiffly. Then she stuck her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and looked away.
“I’ll be right back,” Donyell continued, then glanced at Ro again with a huge smile. “I’m so glad you’re home!”
He waited until his sister was out of earshot before he asked, “You looking for another job? What happened to that clinic you were working at?”
She narrowed her eyes at him, an act that did nothing to distract from how pretty she was. Smooth milk chocolate skin, full eyebrows and long lashes that only enhanced those pretty eyes and that body. Damn. Had she been this fine seven years ago? She had certainly felt amazing each time he slid into her slick heat that night.
“Donyell talks too much,” she replied with a sigh.
“Always has,” he said. “But that’s not an answer to my question.”
“She talks and you ask questions, Ms. Christine sure did raise two pushy kids.”
The way she was standing had her shirt—which up close he could tell was a sort of midriff hoodie—rising up a little higher so that even more of her delectable skin was showing. He wanted to step closer, to put his hand around her waist so that any dude walking in or those already in here would know not to look too long or too hard at what she had on display. But he didn’t.
“You’re stalling,” he said. “Answer the question.”
“Here you go,” Donyell said returning to them and handing Sariya her keys. “There’s a bag in there with my flats inside too, can you bring that in?”
Sariya nodded. “Will do,” she said and hurriedly turned away.
Luckily for him she had to stop at the bar to grab her jacket off the back of the stool where she’d been earlier. So, he was able to catch up to her just as she reached out for the handle on the door. Easing his arm around her, he grabbed it and pulled it open. “After you,” he said when she looked up at him with a frown.
He wasn’t outside a good minute when the wind whipped around that corner and he felt the chill right through the light blue cable-knit Polo sweater he wore.
“You’re gonna freeze out here,” she said tossing a glance over to him.
“Probably, but I’m still gonna be waiting for you to tell me what happened with your job.”
“Why? We said we weren’t going to keep tabs on each other or make that night more than it was.” She seemed to be speedwalking down the sidewalk, heading for the corner, but he easily kept pace with her.
“You said that,” he told her. “Not me. I can keep tabs on who the hell I want, whenever I want.”
“You’re not some gangster on the streets, Ro,” she said.
He grabbed her arm to stop her. “No,” he said pulling her close. “I’m somebody who cares about you. Always have and always will, no matter what ridiculous rules you thought you were putting in place. And for the record, I’m just asking you a question, Sariya. I’m not asking for another night with you.”
He’d tried to let that ship sail all those years ago. But from the way he reacted to her without even knowing it was her just a few minutes ago, he hadn’t done a good job of it.
She sighed and looked away. “The clinic got shut down. The director’s husband was apparently a member of a crime family or mafia of sorts. At least that’s how Donyell put it when she was feeding me all the information she’d compiled from the news and social media.”
“What?” he asked.
Bringing her gaze back to his, she said, “That’s exactly how I reacted. Like what the hell is going on? One day I went in, was going over the schedule of pain management treatments we had for the day and the next, the place was getting raided. Two days after that we were shut down.”
“So, you’re not working right now.”
She shook her head.
“When did this happen?”
“Mid-December,” she replied.
He frowned. “What? You’ve been out of work all this time and nobody told me?”
She jerked back, her brow furrowed. “Why would I have told you? You don’t even live here anymore.”
This was the second time tonight she’d said something that stung him and Ro wasn’t happy about that. “It didn’t matter where I lived, Sariya. If you needed something you should’ve told me.”
“But I didn’t need anything. I have my savings, so my bills are paid. I’ve just been looking for another job but nothing’s really working out.”
“You have a master’s degree, don’t you? A specialty in your field?”
“Leadership and Health Care Management, yes. And there are positions available in that area, but not for what I want to do.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Why are we standing out here talking about this? I’m supposed to be getting her phone and shoes and you need to put a coat on before you catch pneumonia out here. You’re not built like you used to be.”
“I’m not?” He chuckled and kept her close, so close this time when he saw her brows go up, he knew she’d felt what he was referring to.
“Don’t be crass, Ro,” she spat and pulled away from him.
Laughing, he followed her. “Just honest, baby. You know I can’t be any other way.”
“If you say so,” she said and continued walking until she stopped at the sand-colored Yukon parked on the corner.
She opened the front passenger side door and climbed inside to get the phone and bag his sister had sent her in search of. And Ro stood on the sidewalk watching her ass as she knelt on the seat and reached back to the second row. He didn’t take his eyes off of her and when she climbed out of the truck, closed the door and faced him again, she frowned.
“Perv,” she snapped.
He threw his head back and laughed.