"You know I don't want Choyce, right?"
"I know," I answered as honestly as I could.
My heart believed him, but my soul was conflicted. I knew Honor too well to accept Choyce catching him off guard as the reason her lips touched his. Whatever he didn't want to tell me, I planned to find out on my own.
Honey
Moonlight slippedthrough my living room window. I glanced out the window, watching the city lights blur. There were a million other places I could've been in this moment, yet I'd somehow worked my way into a penthouse that I owned. Up here, the city shrank beneath me. I was big dawg up here and I loved it. My home gave me the peace I had wished for as a child. Back then, I thought this kind of luxury was too out of reach, especially if I didn't want it to be connected to a man. Financial stability was the only thing I could count on growing up because love wasn't even a thought. Did my mother love me? Probably, since she didn't abort me, but she loved dead presidents more. I watched her hustle men for money, jewelry, and even my private school tuition. All of her time, energy, and focus went to the men she used until I became of value.
Puberty hit at thirteen, and by sixteen, my stick figure boyish frame filled out. My chest got fuller, my hips rounded, and my ass was the perfect upside-down heart. What brought on the most attention were my toned, long legs and pillow-soft thighs. I went from being five-foot-four to five-foot-ten and became that girl overnight. My mom took notice and advantage.
Keeping my eyes on the city lights, I folded my arms around my body, wanting to soften the sting of knowing love wasn't meant for someone like me.
"What I tell you 'bout standing in front of this big ass window in this shit?" Lynx's voice was the perfect blend of grit and velvet.
"What shit?" I played coy, knowing damn well he was talking about my skimpy robe.
"Playing games gon' get you hurt. You know I'm talkin' 'bout this short ass silk robe."
"It's satin," I corrected, catching his reflection in the glass. Together, we looked picture-perfect, but together we weren't. Lynx felt a way about my job, and that was stopping us from moving forward.
"Silk or satin… it's still too short for you to be in this window. All it takes is the wrong nigga looking up and seeing some that doesn't belong to him, and I'm turnin' this block out."
"We're all the way on the top floor. Nobody can see me."
"You think I care about semantics?" he asked.
"It never crossed my mind, but it should be obvious that I don't care." I smirked.
Heat simmered in his eyes, but it wasn't rage. It was territorial. My heart raced at the thought of belonging to someone, even if it was only for a moment.
"You hard-headed as fuck, you know that?"
"Your point?" I quizzed, narrowing my gaze. "Last I checked, I don't gotta answer to a man who's not mine."
"Was that 'posed to be cute or some?" His words weren't meant as a question. They were a challenge.
Lynx knew me. Not everything, but enough to know there wasn't a challenge I'd ever back down from. Pushing a nigga's buttons wasn't a game to me… it was foreplay.
"Cute is for… babies. I'm a woman. When you speak on me use adjectives like sexy… alluring… addictive."
Each word rolled off my tongue, smooth and precise as my robe teased its way down my shoulders.
"Addictive? That's a new one." Lynx's gaze clouded with smoky desire.
"How, when you're currently experiencing it?"
I let the corners of my lips curve. My gaze locked on his. The robe slipped lower, brushing past my waist, resting at my round hips. Lynx's eyes dipped, ogling my breasts. They weren't perky in the sense that I could leave the house without a bra. They were full, heavy even, and irresistible. Areolas dark like melted chocolate, nipples the size of Dot candies, they begged to be licked by something pink and wet.
Lynx's tongue swiped across his bottom lip.
"What am I experiencing?" he whispered, leaning into me, hands planted firmly on the window.
Naturally, Lynx's presence was overwhelming. Tonight, it became inescapable. My pulse stuttered, but I had zero plans on backing down.
"Withdrawals." For a moment, I broke our intense gaze. "I mean, that's why you came over this morning and the reason you're still here, right?"
"How you figure?" He smirked.
