I had to look away to keep from tearing up again. I had wondered what our lives together would look like so many times over the years, and tonight, I was getting a clear picture of what could have been. As good as it felt in the moment, it also hurt.
“I’m glad you like all of this.”
“How could I not?”
“Do you know how stubborn you are?” Kareem gave me a knowing look before he continued. “I knew I had to go big if I was going to even get a smile out of you.”
“Well, I cannot stop smiling right now. I think my cheeks are going to be stuck like this all day tomorrow, and they are most certainly going to be hurting in the morning.”
“You know they have ice cream here too, right?”
“Huh?”
“I know ice cream is probably the last thing on your mind because your ass is always cold, but if I remember correctly, you always wanted to know if the ice cream in Paris tasted the same as it does back home. So, I got you some. I got those macaroon things you used to talk about, too.”
Kareem smiled, and the light caught the dimples in his high yellow cheeks just right. It was a shy grin, but still sexy as hell. I wanted to kiss him so badly. Instead, I reached across the table just to touch his face. He placed his hand on top of mine out of instinct.
“I’m happy to be here with you, Mr. Sheffield.”
“I’m happy to have you here. We both know I probably just tanked this deal. I’ve been telling the board what I want, and still, they keep trying to push me in another direction. I know I’m probably going to have to walk away, but having you here, sitting across from me on a rooftop in Paris, I feel like I can deal with anything. If I got you by my side, I could walk away from this deal and still be the happiest man on earth.”
“Kareem, I am so proud of you. The fact that you are staring your dreams in the face and saying ‘I’m okay with losing this if it means that I get to save lives’ is an act for which I have the highest level of respect.”
“I’m not afraid to walk away from this deal because I know there will always be another one. Whether it comes next week or next year, it doesn’t matter. What God has for me will always be mine, and I won’t have to compromise on something as big as this to get it.”
“You should be very proud of what you are doing, and I know whoever you bring to your table next is going to be worth the wait.”
Maxwell’s “Pretty Wings” started playing in the background before he could respond, and Kareem simply smiled and dropped his head. It was the song that we danced to at prom all those years ago and probably the most popular song that year. “Pretty Wings” was probably the only song that could sum up all that we were.
When he looked up again, I was staring right back at him. Kareem licked his lips, and I couldn’t help but watch the way his tongue glided across his bottom lip. I could almost feel it on me, causing me to adjust myself in my seat. With his eyes still on me, Kareem got up from his seat.
“May I have this dance?”
“Of course, you can.”
I grabbed Kareem’s hand, which he had stretched out to me, and let him lift me from my seat. The feel of his skin against mine reminded me of how much I loved this man before I even knew who he would become. He pulled me into his arms, and we swayed from one side to another as we fell into the rhythm of the beat.
Chapter
Twelve
Kareem
Isat up in my seat, watching Karina sleep. I didn’t know how long I had been watching her, but I knew we were well into our flight. She’d been sleeping a long time, and the way her chest rose and fell so peacefully made me want to watch.
The more I zeroed in on her features, her beautiful face, those juicy ass lips, her soft skin, the harder it became to look away. I was in a trance. I was honored to be able to make her happy, even if that happiness didn’t stretch further than the 96 hours we had to spend together. I would make sure she knew just how hard I was coming behind her.
Watching Karina sleep brought back so many memories, like the nights she cried herself to sleep in my arms, wondering why her parents never wanted her. The amount of time Karina and I spent together as teenagers made what we had more than a childhood crush or just a romantic relationship.
What we had couldn’t be explained in so few words. You had to be there to know what it was between the two of us.Sometimes I couldn’t even wrap my own head around it because prom night brought it all to a close.
Losing Karina felt like losing a part of myself. Now that she was back in my life, I was bracing myself for the impact it would cause if this all ended. When the story was over and the magazine was printed, I had to face the possibility that she might not stay.
“Fuck,” I mumbled under my breath as thoughts of the past flowed in and out of my mind.
As much as I wanted to leave what happened back then alone, I couldn’t. Karina took pieces of my heart that I may never get back. I refused to believe I was just the person she cried to because I was also the person who held all her secrets, and she was the same for me. I confided in her more than I had anybody before and after.
She was the only person who knew everything about me during my teenage years. Since then, I had nobody to tell my secrets to, so they’d been kept. The night that Karina fell asleep in my arms was the night she tried to reach out and find her birth parents.
