Page 39 of Koda's Love

My eyes perused his frame as butterflies came to life in my belly. I was overly attracted to him in every way.

“Hey, Ava.” Koda greeted me, then pulled me into his arms.

I inhaled the scent of his cologne and relaxed against him.

“Hey, Koda.” I pulled back to look at him. “You remember Diamond, right?”

“I do. What’s up, Diamond?”

“Hey, Koda.”

Koda released me, then grabbed my hand. “Let’s put the gifts on the table, and I’ll introduce y’all to everyone. Where’s your pops?”

“He should be here soon.”

Koda nodded, and we walked over to the gift table. The table was full of gifts, and next to it was a table with snacks and candy.

Our first stop was to the grill, where his father was flipping burgers as his mother stood nearby.

“Mom, Dad, this is my lady, Avalon. Ava, these are my parents, Mia and Knight Bishop.”

Mrs. Bishop turned around with the biggest smile on her face and opened her arms toward me. Koda looked more like his dad even down to the glasses. I noticed his eyes were the same color as his father’s, while his sister and brother’s were more like their mother’s. It wasn’t hard to see the resemblance in all of them.

“Hi, Avalon. It’s so good to officially meet you. You did such a great job on the party.” She leaned closer and whispered, “I’ve never seen my son as happy as he’s been since he started dating you. And thank you for taming his wild ass.” She laughed, and I did as well.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Koda cut in.

Mrs. Bishop popped Koda on his arm. “It’s true. I was worried about you for a bit.”

“Anyway.” Koda playfully rolled his eyes. “This is her cousin Diamond, and Jacoby likes her.”

My phone vibrated, so I pulled it out and saw it was my father letting me know that he’d arrived.

“Oh, Lord. I don’t know about that one there. I love him like a son, but he’s going to take a lot of patience,” Mrs. Bishop added.

I told Koda I was going to get my dad from the front while Mrs. Bishop tried to get Diamond to give Jacoby a chance.

When I got to the gate, my dad stood on the other side with a box of cigars and some flowers in his hand.

“Hey, Daddy. You didn’t have to bring them anything,” I told him as I hugged him.

“Can’t go to a person’s house empty-handed. Plus, the way you’ve been around here floating, I have a feeling our families will be spending a lot of time together.”

“Whatever. Come on.”

My father and I went through the backyard and went over to the grill so I could introduce him to Koda’s parents first. I made the formal introductions, and Mr. Bishop was excited about the cigars, and Mrs. Bishop smiled when my dad passed her the flowers.

When my dad and Mr. Bishop started talking about smoking ribs, Mrs. Bishop excused herself to check on something in the house, and Koda took Diamond and me around the yard to meet everyone else.

“Girl, this dress looks good on you,” Mycah complimented when she approached.

“She do look good, don’t she,” Koda said as his gaze fell on me. Heat soared through my body when he licked his lips. I almost shivered just thinking about how the night would end. We already established that he would stay the night at my house, and I couldn’t wait.

“There’s children out here.” Kairo joked as he approached with Karisma in his arms.

As soon as she spotted Koda, she tried to jump out of her father’s arms. When Koda got a hold of her, he kissed all over her face, making her giggle. Watching him with her made me wonder how he would be with our own children one day.

“I know that, but I’m not going to hide my attraction to her either.” Koda winked.