Chapter 15 -Devon #2
She didn’t say anything, and that was fine. The third kiss that she gave me was all the confirmation that I needed. It was a damn shame we were in public because I was itching to have her face down, ass up, screaming my name.
“Kenya?” The voice pulled us out of our bubble. I looked around until my sight landed on a scrawny, light-skinned woman approaching us.
Kenya rolled her eyes and tucked her annoyance behind a superficial smile.
The chick, who was damn near marching like a soldier, was dragging a man behind her, and quiet as kept, he looked like he was ready for someone to take him out of his misery. Dude didn’t seem like he was having an ounce of fun in an environment centered on having a good time.
There was misery screaming from his demeanor that couldn’t be missed.
“Oh, hello, Bailee,” she responded, and the awkward woman just stood there staring between the two of us while wearing a silly grin. “Umm, Bailee, this is my boyfriend, Devon. Devon, this is my secretary, Bailee.”
“ Boyfriend ? Oh, wow. Where have you been hiding him? He’s cute, Kenya,” she spoke, causing dude she was with to clear his throat.
“Oh, sorry. This is my fiancé, Austin. Austin, this is my amazing employer, Attorney Kenya Monroe, and her boyfriend, Devon.” She wiggled her eyebrows, adding to my suspicions that she was annoying as hell.
“Pleasure to meet you,” he said without a drop of enthusiasm. He seemed more focused on trying to size me up than trying to be courteous to the woman who signed his woman’s check.
I hadn’t been around them for a whole three minutes and they were weirding me out. Between her staring and his creepiness, I was ready to return my attention to my woman.
“Bailee, Austin, it was a pleasure to meet y’all. Enjoy the rest of your night,” I said as I grabbed my woman’s hand and politely stepped around the awkward couple.
“Thank you,” Kenya said, laughing. We weren’t far from them, so I was sure they heard her.
“Anytime, baby girl.”
“Meeting you will be the only thing she talks about on Monday. I just stopped hearing her praises of the flowers you sent to my office.”
The sound of a chuckle was my only response. “I know that’s your employee, but her dude had one more time to clear his throat before I punched him in it.”
“It was my first time meeting him … He seems like an interesting character, and I can’t say he’s anything like I expected him to be. He doesn’t look like her ex-husband. But I guess if you want something different, you have to do something different.”
“Absolutely, baby girl,” I agreed, remembering it was exactly what Levi told me.
We played games until I felt my stomach touch my backbone.
Most of them I won, but she walked away with a victory on a few of them.
As we walked through the arcade, my stomach growled above all the noise of the games and the people enjoying them, and I knew then that I needed to eat something.
When I asked her what she had a taste for, she wasn’t indecisive like a lot of females had the tendency to be.
She told me she wanted tacos, so I took her to a place not far from where we were.
They had authentic street tacos that were perfect for soaking up the house tequila that you couldn’t get anywhere but there.
When I say authentic, it was exactly that. It was the kind of place that you needed to know a little Spanish to place your order, and I knew more than enough to get exactly what I wanted.
I walked up to the front counter and said, “ Me pide cinco tacos de res, cinco de camarones y cinco de pollo, con doble guarnición de frijoles, arroz, queso extra y elote. Con una guarnición de tacos de barria. Por favor y gracias … Ah, y déjame traerte una botella de tu tequila de la casa blanca.”
(Let me get five beef, five shrimp, and five chicken tacos, with double sides of beans, rice, extra cheese, and corn. With a side order of barria tacos. Please and thank you … Oh, and let me get a bottle of your white house tequila.)
As I placed our order, Kenya stood next to me, wearing a smirk that I could see from my peripheral. “You’re full of surprises. When were you going to tell me that you spoke Spanish?”
I shrugged as I retrieved my wallet so I could pay. “Whenever you asked.” She laughed. “And really, it never came up.”
Kenya nodded and then faced the woman who had just accepted the one-hundred-dollar bill I’d handed her.
“?Puedo agregar un agua fresca de mango a nuestro pedido?”
(Can I add a mango agua fresca to our order?)
I smirked, staring at Kenya, not even surprised that her Spanish came off damn near as perfect as she was.
“Look who’s keeping secrets now.” I refused my change, telling the woman to keep it as a tip, and then I led Kenya to my favorite booth at the back.
The booth gave me a faultless view of the rest of the restaurant, and it was close to the exit, which made it perfect.
The red walls around us were adorned with Spanish guitars, sombreros, and castanets, and a large, framed photo of Selena dominated the center of the booth.
If nothing else, the ambiance was vibrant, and the only thing that topped the bright colors was the lively music playing through the speakers.
A comfortable silence rested between us.
Kenya pulled out her phone, and while she scrolled the contents, I shamelessly stared at her.
She was really a beautiful ass woman, and she was mine …
All mine. I knew she could feel my eyes on her because she kept biting down on her bottom lip to avoid smiling.
In spite of her chocolate skin, I could see hints of red filtering through her cheeks, and I knew it wasn’t the blush she was wearing either.
When her eyes rolled to the back of her head after taking the first bite, I knew I made the right decision.
“Oh my God, these are heavenly,” she said and moaned, “I could kiss you just because of how good these are.”
Smiling, I resisted the urge to move from my seat and get the kiss she’d just offered up. I watched as she rocked and squirmed in her seat.
“So, you dance when something is good to you?” She immediately stopped and covered her face with the hand that wasn’t holding the taco like her life was depending on it.
“Sorry. I’m a foodie, and it’s less of a dance and more of a rock. I’m typically able to refrain from doing it, but this taco is amazing.”
“No, be yourself, baby girl. Dance, rock, whatever floats your boat and makes you happy. I’m here for it all.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.” Her words were weighted and for most, I was sure they would be strong enough to send somebody running for the hills. As for me, I wasn’t going to do anything but show and prove.
Kenya and I engaged in light conversation through dinner. The vibe was good, and she seemed more relaxed, even opening up enough to take a few shots with me.
It was good to hear her laugh without care and smile with alluring freedom. Knowing I was dealing with a woman who damn near made a living on keeping her guard up, made her being open, that much more special.
She held her liquor like a champ. The only difference I could see from her normal demeanor was that when she laughed, she held it longer, and then there was the fact that she couldn’t keep her hands off of me.
Again, I had no complaints, and as hard as it was, I remained the perfect gentleman.
A feeling of loneliness washed over me as I turned onto her street and then pulled up to her house, streetlights were the only light covering the upper class area and her bricked, two-story house. There was a fleeting moment of happiness before the inevitable goodbye.
I was prepared to walk her to her door, but before I could get out the car, my phone rang and Dreux’s name flashed across my screen. He was with Levi, and it was damn near eleven. He was spending the night with his uncle, but if he was calling this late, something had to be wrong.
“Let me take this. It’s my son.” I didn’t wait for her approval because no matter how much I liked her and regardless of how strong the attraction was, I was a father first. “What’s good, son?” I spoke as soon as I accepted his call.
“Hey, Dad. Did I interrupt your date with your friend?”
“Nah. You know you come first. Are you okay? What’s goin’ on?”
“Nothing. I’m okay. I just wanted to say good night and tell you I love you.”
“Good. I love you, too. Is your Uncle Levi acting like he has some sense?”
His laughter bounced off the closed space of my truck, and I smiled.
“Yes, sir. We even had dinner with his girlfriend.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m going to have to talk to him. If he’s letting you meet her before I do, she must be ugly. Tell me now if she got three eyes or seven fingers on each hand. You know I’ll clown him even harder if I have to find out on my own.”
“No, Dad,” Dreux said through laughter. “She’s actually pretty, and she’s nice. She made Uncle Levi take us for ice cream after the date.”
“It sounds like y’all had a good time.”
“We did. How did your date go, Dad?”
Kenya’s admiring stare, though kind, only highlighted the pull I felt between us. Her gaze was intense enough to make the hairs decorating my arms stand up at attention.
Had I not turned away when I did, my hair wouldn’t have been the only thing standing at attention.
“Look at you trying to clock my moves. Go to bed, son. I love you, and I’ll see you in the a.m.” He chuckled before returning the sentiment and then ended the call.
I shook my head because my son had more of my ways than I realized, and he was always trying to finesse the truth out of me in his own genius way.
“Devon, you’re a good father.” Kenya complimented, breaking the silence.
“Baby girl, you’ve never even seen me with my son to say that I’m a good dad.” I looked at her and smiled.
“I don’t have to see you with him to know. The love you have for him is in your eyes, and that speaks volumes.”
“I appreciate that.” We’d only scratched the surface of the relationships we had with our parents, and from that very brief conversation, I had a feeling it was a topic that had enough weight to ruin a good night.
Opting out of lingering and allowing room for the conversation to commence, I got out, walked around to the passenger side, and then helped her out.
“Thank you for tonight. I really enjoyed myself.” Kenya stepped forward, wrapping her arms around my neck and, like she knew I was feigning for her touch, she blessed me to feel the fullness of her lips.
Before things could get too heated, she ended the kiss and gave me a lingering hug. It was damn near suggestive, but I chose not to read too much into it, although I damn sure wanted to invite myself in.
“Thank you for giving me your time, baby girl.”
She nodded, staring down, she stepped away from me. “Can you call me when you get home? Or text. I-I-I just want to make sure you get home safe.”
“I can do that.”
If I wasn’t mistaken, it was damn near like she didn’t want to say goodbye.
She lingered for another minute before she pulled her keys out and then unlocked the door. With a final look over her shoulder, she smiled and then disappeared into the house, and I already missed her.
Kenya was about to have me open for all the right reasons. Shaking my head, I jogged to my truck and headed home. When I made it, I did exactly what my woman asked me to do and sent her a text letting her know I was home.
She had to be waiting for it because I didn’t have my phone locked before she responded. Kenya was a different kind of woman, but she was mine, and I wanted everything she had to offer me and more.