Cackling, I said, “You would never. You love me.”
“We’re cousins, so yeah, I love you. You gon’ get treated like a woman off the street if you keep referring to me as yo’ bestie.”
I burst out laughing, but Domino wasn’t amused.
“You were supposed to be taking this holiday season off. And here you are, whisking off to be a nanny for… Drum roll… A single-ass nigga.” He shook his head.
“It’s just a trial run. One weekend, and if things don’t work out, I’ll be back home.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, aight. You’ve got that look in ya eyes. Plus, you’re taking a gift for, Whimsy, is it?”
I smiled. “Whimsical, Whimsy, Whims. Isn’t her name so cute?”
“See,” he replied with a subtle smile. “That shit right there. You haven’t even met her yet and you’re already a pile of tissue.”
“To be fair, I take all my mini clients a gift when I first meet them.”
“You personalized her gift, Sienna.”
Shrugging, I explained, “Her name is so cute I couldn’t help myself.”
He chuckled. “Whatever. Just make sure you don’t fall in love with this nigga.”
My eyes gaped.
Domino threw his head back and laughed. “Sorry, baby. That’s what it’s givin’, though.”
I hated that I told Domino that Synder Sneaux was my client. Domino pulled my card early, and now, he wouldn’t let up. “Regardless of how you take it, you know I’m gon’ be straight up. Now, pick ya mouth up and get yo’ ass on this road.”
Domino rounded my luxury sedan to place my suitcase into the trunk. I followed him, eyes narrowed at his back.
“Now, why in the entire hell would I fall in love with a random man? An athlete at that?”
Domino shrugged. “It’s not unheard of, baby.”
“I’m going to tell Kevanna you’re being weird.”
He chuckled. “My wife is gon’ agree, Sienna.”
I scoffed.
“It’s cool, though. Just make sure that nigga can fight. If he hurts you, I’ma break more than his ankles.”
Dramatically waving my hands, I emphasized, “Nothing is going to happen. I’m simply going to do my job.”
Domino smirked. “Sure, Cousin. Now, gon’ head and get outta here.” He briefly hugged me, then gave me a salute. “The boutique is safe wit’ me.”
Glaring at him, I wished he wouldn’t have put that shit in my head about Mr. Sneaux. That man was beyond fine as hell and had a body built to make any woman do everything except walk away.
Shaking my head, I hopped in the driver’s seat of my sedan and typed Mr. Sneaux’s address into the GPS.
“Five hours and some change,” I mumbled to myself. That was plenty enough time to get thoughts of falling in love with Mr. Sneaux out of my head.
Love.It was crazy to know so much about something and know nothing about it at all. My parents were going on thirty years of marriage. Domino was in his fifth year of marriage, and there were plenty of other family members who were happily married.
Then, there was me—the boutique owner and nanny without a clue as to why love wouldn’t find me. I met nice guys and even dated a couple. Nothing ever made it to the proposal stage. In fact, I ended up walking away from each of the brief relationships I was in with two male friends. To this day, they called and checked on me with absolutely no strings attached. It was odd.
Love was something I bled. Whether it was in the details of every stitch I put into a garment or the care I took whencaring for someone’s child. In this world, I operated out of love. Building boundaries was something I used to have a hard time doing. However, now that I’d set a few boundaries, I found myself understanding how to operate out of love and still protect myself.
