“What did you say?”
Lamar smiled. “I told her I was thinking about it. That’s when she told me not to think too long because she did not want some other man to—I think the phrase she used was ‘scoop you up.’ ”
Going on tiptoe, Nydia kissed his warm throat. “Tell her not to worry because I’m not looking for a man to scoop me up. I like her father too much for that.”
Lamar lifted her effortlessly off her feet as his demanding lips caressed hers in a kiss that left her struggling to breath, and Nydia kissed him with a hunger that shouted to be assuaged. Never in her life had she wanted a man as much as she did at that moment. But she didn’t want Lamar to make love to her and then get up to go back home. If or when they did sleep together she wanted them to spend hours together and wake up the next day in each other’s arms.
It was with great reluctance that she ended the kiss. “To be continued,” she whispered.
Lamar was breathing as heavily as she was. “Right place, wrong time,” he intoned.
She inclined her head. “I agree.“Buenas noches, mi amor.”
Cradling her face in his hands, Lamar pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Good night, my love.”
Nydia waited until she’d closed the door behind Lamar’s departing figure and then sank to the floor. “What have I committed to?” she asked aloud. She had agreed to become involved with a single father with a tween daughter who wanted him to date her, but hadn’t said anything about wanting her father to possibly have a future with her. And for Nydia dating did not necessarily translate into marriage.
She had to ask herself about the intent of her involvement with Lamar Pierce and his daughter. She knew Kendra liked her because she wanted to learn to cook to show up her peers, and she wondered if that was the only ulterior motive for her wanting Lamar to continue to see her.
There were times when Nydia realized she would overthink a situation, and this was one of them. It was something she needed to discuss with Jasmine when she saw her before they went to the bowling alley.
She pushed off the floor and walked into her bedroom. First she would take a shower and get into bed and reread a Jane Austen novel she knew almost verbatim. All of her heroines in her favorite author’s novel were only concerned with falling in love and finding a suitor with means to marry. Well, at thirty-three she would never be a Jane Austen heroine because she was too old to be considered for marriage. The only exception was if she were a wealthy widow.
Nydia chided herself for getting ahead of herself. She would date Lamar, enjoy her times with him, and if or when it ended she would have wonderful memories to look back on.
Chapter 17
“So you’re really ready to date a man with a ready-made family?”
Nydia gave Jasmine an incredulous stare as she drove into the parking lot behind the bowling alley. “What’s wrong with dating a single father?”
Jasmine shifted into park and turned to look at her. “There’s nothing wrong with dating a single father,chica. I only asked because I want you to think of the possibility that you could be a stepmother.”
“Time out,chica. Lamar and I have had exactly one date and you already have us married.”
“Would that be so terrible?” Jasmine questioned.
Nydia shook her head. “I haven’t thought that far ahead. At this point we haven’t even slept together.”
Jasmine lifted her shoulders. “It will come. At least you know he can make babies.”
“Stop it,mija! I haven’t even slept with the man and you’re already talking about him swelling me up.”
Jasmine rested a hand over the bump under her loose-fitting blouse. “This little boy or girl will need someone to play with, and the sooner the better.”
“Hannah would have a bitch fit if we both ended up pregnant within months of each other.” The owner of DuPont Inn had promised an extended maternity leave for her partners. Instead of six weeks she had offered six months because she knew how important it was for a mother to bond with her newborn.
“It would be different for you, Nydia, because you can always work from home, while Hannah and I will alternate working the day and night shift.”
“Don’t forget LeAnn and Paige,” Nydia reminded Jasmine. “They’ll be living on the premises, and they’ve committed to helping with guests checking in and out.”
Twelve suites in the mansion were set aside for the inn’s guests, and the remaining six would have been occupied by Hannah, LeAnn, Paige, Jasmine, Tonya, and Nydia. But things changed when Hannah married St. John and moved into his house in Marigny. Tonya married Gage and lived with him in the Upper French Quarter, while Jasmine didn’t plan to move into the inn once she married Cameron, and that left Nydia and the DuPont cousins to occupy three of the private suites in the historic mansion.
“I’m not going to marry Lamar, so get that out of your matchmaking head.” She glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “It’s time I go in and get ready to shock the hell out of these retirees.”
A hush fell over the alley when Nydia walked in, carrying the bag with her ball and shoes, with Jasmine, and she ignored the stares directed at them. “Be ready,” she said under her breath, “when the shit hits the fan.” The words were barely off her tongue when a tall, dark-skinned man with graying dreadlocks blocked her path.
“This league is for retirees tonight.”
