I shook my head. “Full Circle is in Baltimore. And yeah, that’s going really well. I had a video status meeting with Sariya, her banker/husband, Ro, and their real estate agent to talk about opening another clinic.”
“Never thought I’d see the day you with your manicured nails and designer skyscraper-heels would be in the weed business.”
Gasping, I stopped before taking the first step. The others had already headed up the wide staircase in the front foyer of the house. “Now you know I’m not in the weed business.”
Mo folded her arms over her chest. She was a couple inches shorter than my five-foot nine height, her walnut complexion the perfect canvas for pretty brown eyes and naturally full, long lashes that I’d envied since our teenage years.
“Um, what else would you call creating a new strain of cannabis?” she asked, a smile tilting her lips.
“Cannabinoids is the correct term for what I created, and Full Circle is a wellness center. So everything used there is for medicinal purposes.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, tell yourself whatever you need to. All I know is you haven’t told Aunt Brenda and Uncle Chucky about it, so that means, you’re in the weed business.”
I playfully nudged her shoulder as she crossed in front of me to take the stairs. “Oh, I know we’re not about to get into what secrets we’re keeping from our parents.”
Her head turned so fast as she glared at me over her shoulder. “Don’t even joke about that, Kodi. You know they would kill me if they found out.”
I nodded, still finding the way she and some of my other cousins called me by the nickname that Cade insisted was only for him funny. They never said it in front of him because we all knew Cade had a temper. Of course, he would never put his hands on any of our female cousins, but he also had a sick sense of humor and would inflict all types of emotional distress on them under the guise of what he called practical jokes.
“Girl, you know I know.” We continued up the stairs. “That’s why you can’t keep saying I’m in the weed business all loud. What if one of the others had heard us? You know Maria can’t hold a cup of water.”
“You ain’t nevah lied about that. Even grown she still talks too much, especially to my mama.”
We made it to the top of the stairs, and I thought about the secret I was still keeping from Mo. I felt bad as hell about it, too.Mo, Kendra, and I had been thick as thieves all our lives. We did basically everything together—got our ears pierced for the second time together once we were all sixteen; went to the same college and begged our parents to rent us an apartment we could share instead of living on campus; and last year when we were in London, we’d each agreed to get a tramp stamp, featuring our favorite flowers. While our mothers certainly wouldn’t like the term, we all agreed the hidden symbol felt like a form of freedom even at our big ages.
But I held another secret from her. A secret I’d kept from everyone else in my family as well. Not even Emily, my assistant, who I spent countless hours with almost every day knew that when I left to attend a conference in Las Vegas last spring, I’d come back a married woman.
Cursing, half an hour later, I stepped out of the shower. My wet feet slapped over the tiled floor; shoulders tense when I should’ve been relaxing. This week was supposed to be peaceful while spending time with some of the women I loved most in this world. I wasn’t supposed to be stressing or worrying over a situation I’d created. But shit, I couldn’t get that man off my mind. Couldn’t bar him from my dreams. Couldn’t scrub him from my soul. With every breath, I thought of him. Wanted him.
After drying off and pulling on a nightshirt, I fell into bed. I’d pushed the duvet aside so that I only had the sheet to pull over me. Heavy blankets were a no-no because my body temperature protested vehemently. While I also had them on my bed at home, they were strictly for decoration.
I yanked that sheet up to my neck. Mad at my damn self, the way I’d been for longer than I cared to recall. And I forced my eyes to close, willed my mind to clear and my breath to even out so I could sleep. At this point, it had become my nightly ritual. I heaved out a breath, then huffed and rolled over onto my side. Without another thought, my arm reached out, hand flatteningover the pillow beside the one I rested my head on. And my heart ached.
“I’m right here, my love.”
The deep, rugged voice, that my pussy recognized before my brain, sounded in the room. I rolled over quickly. However, before I could speak, he brushed the backs of his fingers over my cheek.
“If you were at home, in our bed, where I asked you to be, I would be laying right beside you.”
“Fabian.” His name was just a whisper, his touch so simple yet mesmerizing.
He sat on the side of the bed, his large frame almost too big for the small amount of space between me and the edge. I would scoot over … if I wasn’t paralyzed by the realization that he was here, hundreds of miles away from the house he’d referenced as our home in Alexandria.
“But you don’t listen,” he continued, his fingers moving from my cheek to slip slowly down to my neck. “I’ve explained to you what this was. You agreed but argued it couldn’t be.” His hand moved until his fingers were now around my neck. “I’ve waited patiently. Well, as patiently as a man like me could, but you continue to act like there’s a choice here.”
He applied pressure, his fingers gripping hard on both sides of my neck. Not in the center, so my breathing wasn’t hampered. He wasn’t trying to cut off my breath … not this time. But he was warning of what would come.
My pussy wept with joy.
I finally managed to ask what seemed like the most logical question. “What are you doing here?”
He wasn’t supposed to be here. I’d left Alexandria to get away from his domineering presence. Even though we didn’t live together. As he’d said, I refused to move into his house. And our offices were on the opposite side of the city from one another. Itdidn’t matter. I knew he was close, just a phone call away as he told me often. I knew if I needed, or hell, just wanted him, that he would come running. Yet, I had to get away, to leave all that pressure behind, even if just for a week.
“I told you if you tried to run, I would come for you. Told you there was no way I was ever letting you go.”
“That’s toxic as fuck,” I quipped, while my nipples hardened.
Grinning, he tightened his grip, this time, letting his palm fall to my throat. I tried to swallow, my heart rate instantly picking up.
