Hearing that at any other time would have taken my breath away, but Gina was playing games and hiding behind sex.
After what happened at her parents' house and Gina's seemingly automatic reaction to the situation, I was even more certain that all her issues, including her sexual preferences, somehow led back to her mother. I didn't know how or why I believed that, but was certain I'd find out. I let go of Gina and sat up. "Let's shower. After that, we'll talk."
Chapter 13
Gina
KOFI WAS THE MOST ATTENTIVEman I'd ever been with. He was also the most beautiful—both inside and out. It wasn't politically correct to describe him with a word used almost exclusively for women, but his perfect muscles, deeply-etched lips and intense brown eyes combined in a most attractive picture. His personality was great and made him wonderful to be around.
His stamina also helped to distract me from everything I had going on, but I wasn't as immune to my personal situation as I pretended to be. The flakiness was more of a defense mechanism than anything else. That persona kept people entertained and it prevented me from getting close to anyone, but Kofi had breached that defense long ago. I'd give him an A+ for perceptiveness.
My body urged me to get closer to him, but I kept to myself for a reason. The longer I stayed quiet, the better chance I had of Kofi forgetting that he wanted to dig deep inside my head.
For dinner, we ate fried rice and a side of stir-fried vegetables. I convinced Kofi to have some pork and made fried plantains as a concession, which I knew he enjoyed. It was odd, but I liked learning things about him day by day—for instance, the fact that he didn't like food that had been on the fridge. I'd have been annoyed if I had to cook regularly for any other man because of that fact, but with Kofi, I didn't mind. He helped me wash the dishes and now we sat on the deep-blue leather sofa in front of the television.
We waited a while after eating, then I poured tall glasses of coconut water, which sat on the tile within Kofi's reach.
The television was tuned to the local news. I wasn't sure why Kofi thought it would be interesting, but I didn't deter him from watching. I'd had my fill of crime and politics and we'd been back on the island less than a week.
I knew it would be a short while before Kofi forgot about technology and tried to get into my business. He was focused like that. Even now, I wasn't sure what I was and wasn't going to tell him. I could plan, but I didn't think I'd seen Kofi at his most persistent, which meant I didn't know what to expect.
When Kofi lowered the sound on the television, I tensed. Wrapping his arms around me, he spoke into my ear. "My insistence that you talk to me isn't about psychoanalyzing you or finding out your personal business, although I look at whatever concerns you as my business."
I squeezed his hand and then ran my fingers back and forth over the hair on his wrist, simply because I was thankful he was mine. "I know."
His voice was low when he continued speaking. "Sex. It's great with you, but you use it like a panacea."
I rolled my head back, smiling a little bit. "What's that?"
"Don't act like you don't know." He shifted me, so we were eye to eye. "You treat sex like it's a solution for every ailment and the answer to all your troubles."
"Oh, and you think ... ?"
"Don't start that. We both know I'm speaking the truth." His lips quirked and he smiled. "This thing you have about getting down and dirty, whileI'mdirty—"
The combination of his accent and words was hilarious and I giggled like an insane woman.
