Once I was settled in the water, the doorbell rang, and he checked the app on his phone. “That’s our food. I’ll be back; you relax.”
I laughed when he unlocked my phone, opened the Kindle app, and handed it to me. “Here, read something while you wait.”
I did as he instructed, trying to keep my mind off Carl’s actions earlier, but after a while, I fell asleep, wondering what was taking Harlem so long.
“Hey, Baby. Sit up and let me wash you.”
I blinked and noticed that my phone had fallen to the floor.
“What took you so long?”
“Just getting the food set up and ready for you to eat when you get out of here.”
“Mm,” I muttered as he washed my body.
I was sleepy. It was more mental exhaustion after what happened with Carl than it was physical exhaustion. I relaxed as Harlem took care of cleansing my body and toweling me dry after he finished.
After I was oiled and dressed, he led me to the living room, and I gasped.
“Harlem, you’re so sweet.” I moaned.
“I tried to do a li’l sumpin’ sumpin’.”
“Harlem? Are those tulip petals from my bush outside?” I asked, freaking out.
He squeezed my shoulders from behind and kissed my neck. “No, baby. Those are not your tulips. I ordered those earlier in the day to be delivered here. The delivery arrived before the food did, and it was on your front porch waiting to be picked up.”
He had taken the flower petals and formed a heart in the center of my living room floor. Outside of the flower petals were candles of varying sizes. In the middle of the heart was one tapered candle in a candle holder, a vase of tulips, and our dinner plated and ready to be eaten.
He grabbed my hand and lowered me into the heart.
“I don’t know what I did to deserve such a romantic man. I didn’t know they existed anymore.”
“The minute you saw me, you knew that was a lie.”
“Nah. Can’t say that’s true. You genuinely don’t look the type, Harlem.”
“For real? I don’t look romantic?” he asked, popping his collar and holding his head up in a distinguished pose.
I giggled so hard that I rocked to the side and almost knocked over a candle. “You’re so silly.”
“Only for you, dulzura. Only for you.”
He lifted me onto his lap and took his time feeding me ribs, potato salad, greens, cornbread, and sweet potatoes. When we finished, he tried to feed me the apple pie that came along with it, but I was stuffed.
He blew out the candles, carried me to my bathroom, and washed my hands. When we returned to the bedroom, he placed me in the bed and climbed in beside me after he stripped out of his clothes.
“I’ll take a shower later, but right now, I’m gonna read my baby a bedtime story and put her to bed,” he announced, leaning over and kissing my forehead as he grabbed my phone from the nightstand.
A small smile lit my lips as he picked up where I left off reading in my kindle.
“Mr. Too Damn Good by Egypt . . . how you say her last name, Baby?”
“Cynaé? It’s like Suh-nae. Egypt Cynaé.”
“Yeah, that. This better be good.”
“Oh, it’s so damn good,” I declared, laughing.
