Lamar slowed his pace, stopping in front of a five-floor walkup. “The size of some of the homes in the Garden District is outrageous, but I suppose the original owners felt the need to flaunt their wealth.”
“Do you begrudge people who have a lot of money?”
He shook his head. “Not in the least. If you work hard and manage to accumulate wealth, then more power to you. Did you really believe I’m that shallow?”
A shiver of annoyance snaked its way up Nydia’s back at his chastising tone. “I don’t know you well enough to say whether you are or not.” She knew she’d struck a nerve when a muscle quivered at his jaw. One thing she had come to know was that Lamar had a short fuse on his temper. If she said something that ticked him off, he wasn’t reticent in letting her know.
“Maybe one of these days you’ll get to know exactly who I am, and then you won’t be so quick to judge me.”
Anger, frustration, and the enduring helplessness to control her life over the past week surfaced, and Nydia opened her mouth to tell Lamar exactly what she thought of his overblown ego, but the words died on her tongue when he angled his head and kissed her. It wasn’t just a joining of mouths but a deep, passionate kiss that made her weak in the knees and forced her to hold onto him to keep her balance. The delight of his tongue in her mouth elicited a rush of moisture between her legs. It was the second time within minutes that he’d kissed her, but this time it wasn’t a mere brush of mouths, but a deep, passionate joining that left her knees shaking uncontrollably and forced her to lean against Lamar to keep her balance as she waited for her body’s traitorous sensations to subside.
“Get a room!” a booming voice shouted from across the street.
* * *
Nydia closed her eyes and buried her face against the soft fibers of Lamar’s sweater. She was certain he could detect the runaway beating of her heart against his chest. If the kiss hadn’t been so pleasurable she would have told him in English and in Spanish about publicly embarrassing her. She’d had enough humiliation in a week to last her a lifetime.
Hot tears pricked the backs of her eyelids. “Why did you do that?” she asked, unable to keep her voice from quivering.
Lamar removed his sunglasses and cradled her face in his hands. “I knew what you were about to do, and it’s the first thing I thought of to stop you.”
“Stop what?”
“Stop you from cussing me out.”
She sobered quickly. “How did you know?”
Lamar smiled, showing off perfectly aligned white teeth. “You have a habit of biting your lower lip before you explode. I first noticed it when we went out to dinner and you got into a huff when I asked you about crack.”
“I didn’t cuss you out, Lamar. I simply told you I’ve seen crackheads.”
“It’s not what you said, but how you said it, sweets.”
“Oh, now I’m sweets?”
He kissed her hair. “Of course you are.”
She blinked slowly. “Do you call all women ‘sweets’?”
“No. Just the ones I like.” His expression stilled and grew serious. “If I didn’t like you, Nydia, I never would’ve come here to stage an intervention for you.”
It was the second time Lamar made her feel as if she’d been chastised. Did he do it because as a father he’d had to reprimand his daughter, or did he see her as someone who was immature and impulsive?
There was only a five-year difference in their ages, yet there was something about Lamar that made him seem older, worldlier. Nydia wasn’t willing to change who she was, but if she and Lamar were going to remain friends, then he had to accept her as she was.
“I do appreciate you coming to my defense. And I also trust you.”
His eyebrows lifted slightly. “Do you really?”
“Of course I do. Otherwise I never would’ve invited you to spend the night in my home.” She flashed a saucy smile. “You may look benign and profess to be a nerd, yet you still could be someone that will befriend a woman and then keep her prisoner in their basement for years, using and abusing her at will.”
Throwing back his head, Lamar let out a full-throated laugh. “Something tells me you’ve watched one too many horror movies. And for your information homes in New Orleans don’t have basements because it is the only American city below sea level.”
“I do like some horror movies,” Nydia admitted sheepishly.
“The one with sexy vampires?”
Her smile was dazzling. “How did you know?”
