“Alright, well, have a good night,” I said, pulling the covers up for her.
Once I reached the upper half of her body, our lips somehow connected with each other. I wasn’t sure if she was kissing me or if I was kissing her, but it was definitely happening. And, as much as I wanted to pull away from her, I couldn’t. I was a strong man, but my willpower wasn’t that damn strong. So, instead of doing the right thing, I entangled my hands in her hair and pulled her closer to me.
As her hands wrapped around my neck, I sat down on the bed and pulled her into my lap. While I gripped her waist and squeezed her ass cheeks, she deepened our kiss, and I could feel my dick starting to grow underneath her. That was my cue that it was time for me to go. We’d already crossed a line that we shouldn’t have, and I for damn sure wasn’t going to take things any further than sharing our first and last kiss with each other.
Pulling back from her, I watched as the confusion replaced the lust in her eyes as she craned her head to the side. She looked as though she wanted more, but I wasn’t taking it there with her, especially not with her being drunk. She seemed to be in her right mind for the most part, but I still would never fuck a woman who wasn’t mine when they’d had as much alcohol as I believed she’d had.
“Did I do something wrong?” She asked, attempting to kiss me again, but this time I moved my head.
“Nah, you didn’t. But this shit isn’t right, and I think we both know that. Come on, you need to get some rest,” I said, sliding her out of my lap and back onto the bed.
Reluctantly, she pulled the covers up and turned to face the wall. I felt as though I should’ve said something, but I had noidea what I could’ve said to make her feel better in the moment. So instead, I walked out of the room and shut the door. Making my way back downstairs, I saw the front door was open, and her father was now sitting on the porch.
“Did you get her tucked in?” He asked once I was outside.
“Yeah, she’s good. She said she’ll be ready for work tomorrow, but if she’s not, let her know it’s okay if she comes in a little late. You have a nice rest of your night,” I said, starting my descent down the stairs.
“You like my daughter, son?” He asked before I could get too far.
“Huh?” I asked, turning back to look at him, confused. What the fuck would make him ask me some shit like that? When did bringing someone home because they couldn’t drive equate to liking them?
“I asked, do you like my daughter?”
“I mean, she’s cool. I don’t like her like that,” I said, shrugging.
“If you say so. I see differently when you look at her, but hey, I could be wrong.”
Was the shit that obvious? If he could see the shit, I wondered if everyone else in the office could see it, too? I wasn’t sure what it was about her that had me stuck, but it was something. Had I met Kenedi under different circumstances, she would have been the kind of woman I could’ve seen myself building a life with. But she was my employee, at the end of the day, and that was where we’d have to leave things with us.
“Nah, she’s cool, very cool, actually. But being that we work together, I would never take things to the next level with her.”
“Okay, I hear you. Well, you get home safely, and thank you again for making sure she got home safely. Any man who takes care of my daughter is a good man in my book.”
“No problem. Have a nice night,” I said, shaking his hand and heading back to my car.
The entire ride home, I thought about the kiss I shared with Kenedi. I’d never felt the things that I felt with her, and I wasn’t sure another woman would be able to make me feel the way that I did with her. But I meant what I said about not blurring those lines, and for more than one reason, and I was going to have to man up and stick to that when it came to her.
NINE
KENEDI
As I stoodin front of the mirror, curling my hair, I tried my hardest to remember what had happened the night before. I remembered going out with Zaveah, and everything else was a blur. Well, not exactly everything. Unfortunately, I also remembered kissing Sincere. I kept trying to convince myself that it was all just a dream, but I knew it wasn’t. I’d actually kissed Sincere, my boss. And now, I wasn’t sure how things were going to be around the office.
It was pretty clear to any woman looking at him that he was fine, and it was a challenge not to want to kiss him and do a lot more. But he was my boss. The only person who was willing to give me a chance to redeem myself, and my drunk ass just had to kiss him. I was praying that he knew it was the liquor making me do all of that, and that we could pretend as though it never happened. And while we were doing that, I would pretend that I didn’t want to do it again.
Even though I hated to admit it and would never tell Zaveah, I did have a little crush on Sincere. But, in my defense, it was hard as hell not to have one. In addition to being fine as hell, he was just a good guy overall. Sure, he had a hard exterior thatwould scare most people off. But the more I got to work with him, the more I saw he wasn’t what he seemed to be. I had definitely seen him show that he wasn’t the kind of man people wanted to play with a time or two since working with him. But most of the time, those were isolated incidents and wasn’t the Sincere we experienced in the office.
“Oh, just forget it,” I said to myself as I watched the same piece of hair that I’d tried to curl three times now fall flat. I decided to just throw my hair into a bun so that I could get dressed and head to work.
I had to leave a little earlier this morning so I could get my car from the bar it was at. My father had already let me know that Sincere had said that I could come in a little late if I needed to, but I wasn’t trying to do that. I’d never been late before, and I didn’t plan on starting that now either. As soon as my alarm went off this morning, I told myself that I was going to get my ass up, drink some coffee, and take my ass to work on time.
“Are you about ready to go, Sunshine?” I heard my father yell from downstairs. He was taking me to the bar so that I could get my car before he headed to work himself.
“Yeah, I’m coming,” I said, grabbing my bag and purse.
When we stepped outside, and I saw my car parked in the driveway, I was confused. From the look on my father’s face, so was he. I couldn’t be sure, but if I had to guess, Sincere had something to do with making sure my car got back to me safely. That was just one of the things that made him so easy to love. He was always so caring and thoughtful. He always noticed the little things about people that others would miss, and it was the cutest thing. Since I didn’t have to go get my car, I kissed my father, and we both went our separate ways. I guessed I was getting to work early today.
“Are you good?” Sincere asked, leaning toward me as we both sat in the conference room, waiting for the meeting to start.
