Without limits ssion and.., p.96
Without Limits: A BWWM Collection of Passion and Desire, page 96
“Is that Scott?”
I nodded, although I wanted to lie and say I was still talking to Rita. Chances are though, Angel heard the phone ring and knew I was on another call.
“Can I talk to him?”
“Um...”
“Don't give her any excuses. Let me talk to her,” Scott said.
“Who asked you anything?”
Scott laughed, while Angel looked at me with her mouth open. “Mommy, that's rude.”
“It's okay, honey,” I said, tapping her chin. “He's my friend and he doesn't mind.”
“I don't know about that.” Scott drawled and then chuckled. “You were very rude, like Angel said.”
“I beg to differ, but that might not be such a great idea because she'll back you up on that.”
“Smart girl. If you're thinking you should apologize then by all means...”
I missed the rest of his words because Angel was now wriggling all her fingers for me to hand over the phone. Between the two of them, I felt like I was being backed into a corner. I made a quick decision. She didn't know of him being more than a friend and I didn't intend for them to meet, so it would be okay.
“Just for a minute and remember your manners.”
She pulled the phone from my hand and put it to her ear. “Hi, Scott. How are you?”
I studied my baby, noting how her features were changing as she grew and how confident she was speaking to someone she hadn't yet met in the flesh. I was proud of her, not only because she was mine, but because she was a charmer. Angel got along with everybody and put people at ease right away.
As she chatted, I glanced at the clock and looked back at her. In a minute I’d stop her because it was getting close to her bed time. I was about to interrupt her conversation when she said, “Okay, I guess I'll see you on Saturday.”
Chapter Twelve
Scott
Vaughn had been annoyed with me for the last couple of days. Somehow, we didn’t get the chance to talk about why she was upset but I figured I knew why. For some reason, she didn’t want to have Angel and me in the same place. I didn’t understand what harm it would do, but I suppose if I were a single mother I’d probably have the same concerns she did. I didn't know for certain what they were, but I’d find out.
She sounded harassed when we spoke earlier and though she offered to pick me up, I opted to take a cab. After she gave me directions, I spoke with the cabbie I used when Charles wasn't available.
When I got to Vaughn's house, her mother greeted me and I caught the surprise she wasn’t able to completely hide. Vaughn told her about me, but hadn’t mentioned my race. That had to be it. It didn’t seem to matter to Maxine—a shorter, rounder version of Vaughn—who welcomed me inside and made sure I was comfortable until Angel and Vaughn appeared.
Angel was a delight. Pretty like her mommy and precocious, I enjoyed talking to her. She jumped on the sofa beside me, introduced herself, and kept on talking. But that was not all. She asked me about myself and how I met her mommy.
Now, a couple hours later, she was busy talking to another little girl who was at the beach with her parents. The two girls stooped on the sand, building a lopsided castle.
I thought Maxine would have come to the beach with us, but she didn't, which made me wonder if she lived with Vaughn or if she was there for a special reason.
I looked back at Vaugh, who sat beside me on the blanket she spread under a palm tree. The sand wasn't exactly as pristine white as the Seven-Mile-Beach in Negril, which I'd only seen on television, but it was good enough for me. The wind in my hair and Vaughn at my side was a change of pace from what we'd been doing since I got here.
Apart from the sip and paint thing we'd gone to, plus the gaming lounge, and the sports bar, we’d gone to a trendy club, where they had dub poetry. I found the combination of the drums and the artiste’s voice and style very different from anything I’d experienced. This was part of the reason I wanted Vaughn to show me around; to see the island from the perspective of a local. Plus, I simply wanted her company.
My broken engagement didn’t inspire confidence in any woman when I met her, but in a few weeks, she’d changed my way of thinking. Now…
She poked my arm. “Why are you frowning so hard?”
I shook my head and used the excuse of combing the hair out of my face not to answer immediately. Then I shifted my thoughts and unknotted my facial muscles. “Nothing, I’m just thinking about me being here, and us.”
“What about us?”
Vaugh’s eyes had grown to the size of gaming tokens, which didn’t surprise me. She was as wary of this relationship business as I was, but in her case, I wasn’t sure why. From the little she’d said about her ex, I figured he was a controlling ass. I ignored Vaughn’s discomfort and leaned against the tree. “I made a smart choice to hook up with you. I’m seeing the island in a way I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t allowed you to browbeat me into working with you.”
“Seriously, that has you frowning? You're such a liar.”
Vaughn's laughter was low and husky and did things to me that forced me to pull my legs up so she wouldn’t see what was obvious if she cared to look. It didn’t help that she wore a two piece and a wraparound that drove me nuts every time she shifted her legs.
“If I recall correctly, I barely made the offer before you were on it like a mealy bug on a flower.”
I pretended to be offended. “I can’t believe you’re dissing me like this. Me. The foremost expert in animation and—”
“Doesn’t matter. You still jumped on what I was offering before I finished asking.”
I let her words settle between us and then grinned as it occurred to her how they sounded.
Her lips twitched and she slapped my arm. “You have a nasty mind.”
“Seriously? How would you even know what I was thinking if you didn’t have a nastier mind?”
We laughed so hard that Angel and her new friend looked at us over their shoulders. Angel shook her head, said something to the other girl and went back to scooping sand into a pile.
“She’s way older than my niece and they’re only a year apart,” I said.
“I guess it’s because Angel is an only child. She spends more time with adults that the average child.”
“So, let me ask you this. Why didn’t you want Angel to come with us?”
A frown creased Vaughn’s brow for a nanosecond and then disappeared. She looked me dead in the eyes. “Yeah, I needed to talk to you about that. How’d that happen?”
“Well, we were talking about you and me texting all the time and suddenly we were on the subject of what I was doing on the weekend.”
Her gaze shifted to Angel and her eyes narrowed. When she looked at me again, a smile teased her lips.
“What’s that sneaky smile about?”
She shook her head. “I was wondering if she heard me talking to Rita about keeping her today.”
Vaughn had told me about her best friend, so her name wasn’t strange to me.
“And why would you do that?” I asked. “Ask her to keep Angel, I mean.”
She bit her lip. Not in a flirty gesture, but as if she was thinking about what to say to me. When she released her lip, I followed the movement and then met her eyes. She knew I wanted to kiss her. I saw it in the softening of her gaze.
“Truthfully, I don’t think it’s a good idea to introduce her to anybody I’m seeing.”
Jealousy punched me in the stomach, but I kept my tone even. “You say that as if there have been many.”
She raised her brows as if I’d insulted her. “Are you asking a question?”
In mid-shake of my head, I changed my mind. “Yeah, I am. How many have there been?”
“You don’t have a right to know.”
“I know, but humor me.” I lifted her hand from where it rested on her thigh, stroking her skin with my thumb. “Tell me anyhow.”
Vaughn’s gaze went to Angel again and then slowly returned to me. “One.”
“One?”
When she nodded, I chewed on that. “You’ve been divorced for five years and in that time, you’ve only been with one man?”
“I never said I was with him. We only went out a few times.”
Frowning, I watched Angel.
She turned at the same time and held up the two buckets she’d taken with her. “Uncle Scott, would you get some more water, please?”
I noted my step up to uncle and figured Vaughn was the cause of that.
“Sure.” I got to my feet. “Hold that thought,” I said to Vaughn.
Angel stood as if to follow me, but I told her to stay with her mommy. I dug my toes in the sand as I went down to the shore, turning my face up to the sun. After being cooped up in a building for most of the time since I’d landed, I was enjoying this day more than any other.
I filled the buckets, delivered them to Angel, all the while thinking about Vaughn and her situation. She’d moved while I was gone and now sat where I’d been. “Hey, you stole my spot.”
“Whatever. Want a beer?”
“That’s supposed to make me forget you captured my seat?”
She nodded and reached into her icebox. After removing the cap, she handed me an ice-cold bottle. “Yeah, all’s fair in love and war.”
“If you say so.” Our fingers touched as she gave me the beer. The fleeting contact made me want to touch her again. I couldn't indulge myself, so I took my mind off what I wanted to do with her. Squinting at the calm waves, I said, “I think there’s more to you not wanting to introduce me to Angel.”
“Like what?”
“I figure you’re being protective and don’t want her to get attached to anybody who won’t be in her life long term.”
“You’re smarter than you look.”
I slipped the band off my wrist and tied it around my hair, chuckling while I did. “My parents would probably agree with you.”
“D’you mind me asking you something?”
I rested both arms on my knees and glanced at her. “Ask away.”
“Are you ever going to tell me what Lucy did to you?”
My breath released faster and harder than I intended. I hoped she hadn’t heard it over the wind. She gripped my arm and then rubbed back and forth over my skin. “If you still can’t talk about it, that’s okay. You talking to her was a big enough achievement.”
“Nah. I’m good. What happened was...” I turned to face Vaughn. “It’s nothing you’ve never heard before but it’s hard for me because, well, I feel like a fool.”
She squinted at me, but didn’t speak.
I let out my breath again and spilled everything in one sentence. “That baby she’s having isn’t mine.”
“Wow.” Vaughn frowned and her hand on my arm went still. “How d’you know?”
“I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and overheard a messed-up conversation between her and the man she was sleeping with.”
One side of Vaughn’s mouth kicked up in a smile. “That’s a lotta wrongs right there.”
“You got that right, sistah.”
She rolled her eyes and squeezed my arm. “That must have been hard to deal with.”
“Yeah, but life goes on.”
“You say that as if it means nothing.”
“No, I just don’t believe in dwelling on something that wasn’t meant to be.”
Her voice was soft when she spoke again. “I’m glad it hasn’t made you bitter.”
“Says who?”
Her laughter lifted the heaviness in my chest. “Says me. If you were as bitter as you think you are, you never would have looked at me.”
I met her eyes and my smile widened. “You have a point, but how exactly is a man supposed to resist a woman like you?”
She shrugged and flipped her hair over her shoulder in an affected gesture that had me laughing.
“I’m not sure,” she said, “but I’m glad I can make you forget that someone ripped your heart out and stomped on it.”
“You sound like you’ve been reading one of those romance novels my mother likes so much.”
“Whatever, but it’s good to know you’re getting better. We’re talking about it and you don’t look as if you want to rip my head off.”
“I’d never hurt you.”
The moment the words left my lips, I questioned my sanity. Of course, I wouldn’t hurt Vaughn, but I was sinking deeper and deeper under her charms and didn’t have the willpower to pull back from whatever spell she’d cast over me.
She wet her lips and before I knew what I was doing, I touched mine to hers. When I pulled back, she shot a glance toward Angel. Thankfully, the little girl missed my gaffe.
“D’you see why I don’t want the two of you in the same space?”
A moment went by before I nodded. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t have missed this for anything.”
She studied me for what felt like a full minute, before she admitted. “Neither would I.”
Chapter Thirteen
I had it all planned. When we got back to Kingston, I'd drop off Scott and head home. Then Angel and I would spend the rest of the day relaxing.
That's not how things went though. We didn't eat at the beach, but Scott claimed he wanted a genuine Jamaican experience so he bought enough food to feed a small army.
On our way home, Angel complained she was hungry.
At that point, Scott looked over his shoulder and changed the script for my Saturday evening.
“It didn't take us long to get to the beach, so I guess we'll be back at your house soon.” He shot me a glance. “Right, Vaughn?”
I nodded, but didn't take my eyes off the road. “Another ten minutes and we'll be home. I'll fix you something, sweetie.”
Angel sat forward and gripped the seat. “Can I have some of Uncle Scott's food instead?”
If my skin was lighter, Scott would have seen my reaction to Angel's assumption that we'd be sharing his meal. A couple of seconds went by before I said, “Well, I don't know what—”
“Of course. There's more than enough to share.”
I threw Scott a look meant to shut him up, but he ignored me.
“You like fried fish then, Angel?”
“As long as Mommy takes out the bones.” She tipped her head back and sniffed the air in the car. “It's smells good, so I hope it tastes good too.”
“Me too,” Scott said, turning a smile on her.
Okay then.
It seemed we'd be spending a little more time in his company. I didn't mind, but had concerns about him being in my personal space. There was something intimate about having him inside my home, among my things. Seeing him after hours was fun and interesting, but it wasn't deep since we spent most of our time in public places.
I'd only gone to the townhouse where he was staying once and we'd fooled around until we were both hot under the collar, not to mention other places. I'd called a halt to that because I had to pick up Angel from Mom's house.
Six weeks since meeting in person, having online contact, and meeting again, and he had me wanting to do things that were alien to my nature. But there was something about this man. His eyes that seemed all knowing, his air of warmth mixed with a little bit of mystery, and his generosity made a wicked combination. The man was all kinds of appealing and dangerous.
What was even worse was the way he looked at me, as if I was the only thing on earth he desired. Given what he told me, Scott had unresolved issues, but they didn't extend to the way he treated me.
We parked in front of my house and I got out of the car and opened the door for Angel. When I looked at Scott over the roof, he asked, “Want me to get the basket?”
“Yes!” Angel yelled before I got in a word. “That's our dinner.”
Scott and I laughed while I picked up my beach bag and opened the front door.
“Honey, go wash your hands. We're eating soon.”
Angel left and I took the basket from Scott and headed for the kitchen nook, waving him toward the sofa. “Sit wherever you like.”
By the time I spread the food on the table, Angel was back and seated in her spot.
“Scott, you want to use the bathroom?”
He stood, and with an indulgent smile on his lips, listened while Angel directed him down the hall.
We were waiting when he returned, looking fresh. He'd retied his hair and looked as if he'd washed his face.
Angel insisted on saying grace and instructed us to close our eyes while she prayed.
Scott responded with a resounding amen before we dug into the fried snapper, bammies—tiny fried triangles made from cassava—and festival, a favorite of Angel's. The deep-fried, golden-brown fingers of cornmeal, flour, and sugar were always a hit with my little girl.
“Is this the first time you're eating this kind of food?” Angel asked, holding a half-eaten festival in mid-air.
Scott shook his head. “No, there are places in Miami where you can get this stuff.”
“I bet it's not as good though.”
Scott laughed. “You're right. This has a certain, uh, niceness to it.”
Lowering her hand, Angel looked at him suspiciously. “Is that a word?”
Scott exchanged a glance with me and I waited to hear what he'd say.
“Yeah, it is.”
“Says who?” she asked.
“The dictionary.”
“Which one?”
I was about to stop her from arguing when Scott gave a small shake of the head.
“Any of the major ones,” he said, “Some words sound like slang but over time, they're included.”
“Oh.”
“And by the way,” he added, “I may have used it incorrectly. Thank you for calling me on it.”
She cocked her head. “Really?”
“Yeah, it's more descriptive of personality than food.”
While they bantered, I got up to bring more orange juice to the table.
Angel and Scott were engaged in another argument when I came back. Listening to them, I realized that Angel had few, if any, men in her life. It didn't surprise me how well she got along with Scott. My daughter got along with everybody.
I nodded, although I wanted to lie and say I was still talking to Rita. Chances are though, Angel heard the phone ring and knew I was on another call.
“Can I talk to him?”
“Um...”
“Don't give her any excuses. Let me talk to her,” Scott said.
“Who asked you anything?”
Scott laughed, while Angel looked at me with her mouth open. “Mommy, that's rude.”
“It's okay, honey,” I said, tapping her chin. “He's my friend and he doesn't mind.”
“I don't know about that.” Scott drawled and then chuckled. “You were very rude, like Angel said.”
“I beg to differ, but that might not be such a great idea because she'll back you up on that.”
“Smart girl. If you're thinking you should apologize then by all means...”
I missed the rest of his words because Angel was now wriggling all her fingers for me to hand over the phone. Between the two of them, I felt like I was being backed into a corner. I made a quick decision. She didn't know of him being more than a friend and I didn't intend for them to meet, so it would be okay.
“Just for a minute and remember your manners.”
She pulled the phone from my hand and put it to her ear. “Hi, Scott. How are you?”
I studied my baby, noting how her features were changing as she grew and how confident she was speaking to someone she hadn't yet met in the flesh. I was proud of her, not only because she was mine, but because she was a charmer. Angel got along with everybody and put people at ease right away.
As she chatted, I glanced at the clock and looked back at her. In a minute I’d stop her because it was getting close to her bed time. I was about to interrupt her conversation when she said, “Okay, I guess I'll see you on Saturday.”
Chapter Twelve
Scott
Vaughn had been annoyed with me for the last couple of days. Somehow, we didn’t get the chance to talk about why she was upset but I figured I knew why. For some reason, she didn’t want to have Angel and me in the same place. I didn’t understand what harm it would do, but I suppose if I were a single mother I’d probably have the same concerns she did. I didn't know for certain what they were, but I’d find out.
She sounded harassed when we spoke earlier and though she offered to pick me up, I opted to take a cab. After she gave me directions, I spoke with the cabbie I used when Charles wasn't available.
When I got to Vaughn's house, her mother greeted me and I caught the surprise she wasn’t able to completely hide. Vaughn told her about me, but hadn’t mentioned my race. That had to be it. It didn’t seem to matter to Maxine—a shorter, rounder version of Vaughn—who welcomed me inside and made sure I was comfortable until Angel and Vaughn appeared.
Angel was a delight. Pretty like her mommy and precocious, I enjoyed talking to her. She jumped on the sofa beside me, introduced herself, and kept on talking. But that was not all. She asked me about myself and how I met her mommy.
Now, a couple hours later, she was busy talking to another little girl who was at the beach with her parents. The two girls stooped on the sand, building a lopsided castle.
I thought Maxine would have come to the beach with us, but she didn't, which made me wonder if she lived with Vaughn or if she was there for a special reason.
I looked back at Vaugh, who sat beside me on the blanket she spread under a palm tree. The sand wasn't exactly as pristine white as the Seven-Mile-Beach in Negril, which I'd only seen on television, but it was good enough for me. The wind in my hair and Vaughn at my side was a change of pace from what we'd been doing since I got here.
Apart from the sip and paint thing we'd gone to, plus the gaming lounge, and the sports bar, we’d gone to a trendy club, where they had dub poetry. I found the combination of the drums and the artiste’s voice and style very different from anything I’d experienced. This was part of the reason I wanted Vaughn to show me around; to see the island from the perspective of a local. Plus, I simply wanted her company.
My broken engagement didn’t inspire confidence in any woman when I met her, but in a few weeks, she’d changed my way of thinking. Now…
She poked my arm. “Why are you frowning so hard?”
I shook my head and used the excuse of combing the hair out of my face not to answer immediately. Then I shifted my thoughts and unknotted my facial muscles. “Nothing, I’m just thinking about me being here, and us.”
“What about us?”
Vaugh’s eyes had grown to the size of gaming tokens, which didn’t surprise me. She was as wary of this relationship business as I was, but in her case, I wasn’t sure why. From the little she’d said about her ex, I figured he was a controlling ass. I ignored Vaughn’s discomfort and leaned against the tree. “I made a smart choice to hook up with you. I’m seeing the island in a way I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t allowed you to browbeat me into working with you.”
“Seriously, that has you frowning? You're such a liar.”
Vaughn's laughter was low and husky and did things to me that forced me to pull my legs up so she wouldn’t see what was obvious if she cared to look. It didn’t help that she wore a two piece and a wraparound that drove me nuts every time she shifted her legs.
“If I recall correctly, I barely made the offer before you were on it like a mealy bug on a flower.”
I pretended to be offended. “I can’t believe you’re dissing me like this. Me. The foremost expert in animation and—”
“Doesn’t matter. You still jumped on what I was offering before I finished asking.”
I let her words settle between us and then grinned as it occurred to her how they sounded.
Her lips twitched and she slapped my arm. “You have a nasty mind.”
“Seriously? How would you even know what I was thinking if you didn’t have a nastier mind?”
We laughed so hard that Angel and her new friend looked at us over their shoulders. Angel shook her head, said something to the other girl and went back to scooping sand into a pile.
“She’s way older than my niece and they’re only a year apart,” I said.
“I guess it’s because Angel is an only child. She spends more time with adults that the average child.”
“So, let me ask you this. Why didn’t you want Angel to come with us?”
A frown creased Vaughn’s brow for a nanosecond and then disappeared. She looked me dead in the eyes. “Yeah, I needed to talk to you about that. How’d that happen?”
“Well, we were talking about you and me texting all the time and suddenly we were on the subject of what I was doing on the weekend.”
Her gaze shifted to Angel and her eyes narrowed. When she looked at me again, a smile teased her lips.
“What’s that sneaky smile about?”
She shook her head. “I was wondering if she heard me talking to Rita about keeping her today.”
Vaughn had told me about her best friend, so her name wasn’t strange to me.
“And why would you do that?” I asked. “Ask her to keep Angel, I mean.”
She bit her lip. Not in a flirty gesture, but as if she was thinking about what to say to me. When she released her lip, I followed the movement and then met her eyes. She knew I wanted to kiss her. I saw it in the softening of her gaze.
“Truthfully, I don’t think it’s a good idea to introduce her to anybody I’m seeing.”
Jealousy punched me in the stomach, but I kept my tone even. “You say that as if there have been many.”
She raised her brows as if I’d insulted her. “Are you asking a question?”
In mid-shake of my head, I changed my mind. “Yeah, I am. How many have there been?”
“You don’t have a right to know.”
“I know, but humor me.” I lifted her hand from where it rested on her thigh, stroking her skin with my thumb. “Tell me anyhow.”
Vaughn’s gaze went to Angel again and then slowly returned to me. “One.”
“One?”
When she nodded, I chewed on that. “You’ve been divorced for five years and in that time, you’ve only been with one man?”
“I never said I was with him. We only went out a few times.”
Frowning, I watched Angel.
She turned at the same time and held up the two buckets she’d taken with her. “Uncle Scott, would you get some more water, please?”
I noted my step up to uncle and figured Vaughn was the cause of that.
“Sure.” I got to my feet. “Hold that thought,” I said to Vaughn.
Angel stood as if to follow me, but I told her to stay with her mommy. I dug my toes in the sand as I went down to the shore, turning my face up to the sun. After being cooped up in a building for most of the time since I’d landed, I was enjoying this day more than any other.
I filled the buckets, delivered them to Angel, all the while thinking about Vaughn and her situation. She’d moved while I was gone and now sat where I’d been. “Hey, you stole my spot.”
“Whatever. Want a beer?”
“That’s supposed to make me forget you captured my seat?”
She nodded and reached into her icebox. After removing the cap, she handed me an ice-cold bottle. “Yeah, all’s fair in love and war.”
“If you say so.” Our fingers touched as she gave me the beer. The fleeting contact made me want to touch her again. I couldn't indulge myself, so I took my mind off what I wanted to do with her. Squinting at the calm waves, I said, “I think there’s more to you not wanting to introduce me to Angel.”
“Like what?”
“I figure you’re being protective and don’t want her to get attached to anybody who won’t be in her life long term.”
“You’re smarter than you look.”
I slipped the band off my wrist and tied it around my hair, chuckling while I did. “My parents would probably agree with you.”
“D’you mind me asking you something?”
I rested both arms on my knees and glanced at her. “Ask away.”
“Are you ever going to tell me what Lucy did to you?”
My breath released faster and harder than I intended. I hoped she hadn’t heard it over the wind. She gripped my arm and then rubbed back and forth over my skin. “If you still can’t talk about it, that’s okay. You talking to her was a big enough achievement.”
“Nah. I’m good. What happened was...” I turned to face Vaughn. “It’s nothing you’ve never heard before but it’s hard for me because, well, I feel like a fool.”
She squinted at me, but didn’t speak.
I let out my breath again and spilled everything in one sentence. “That baby she’s having isn’t mine.”
“Wow.” Vaughn frowned and her hand on my arm went still. “How d’you know?”
“I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and overheard a messed-up conversation between her and the man she was sleeping with.”
One side of Vaughn’s mouth kicked up in a smile. “That’s a lotta wrongs right there.”
“You got that right, sistah.”
She rolled her eyes and squeezed my arm. “That must have been hard to deal with.”
“Yeah, but life goes on.”
“You say that as if it means nothing.”
“No, I just don’t believe in dwelling on something that wasn’t meant to be.”
Her voice was soft when she spoke again. “I’m glad it hasn’t made you bitter.”
“Says who?”
Her laughter lifted the heaviness in my chest. “Says me. If you were as bitter as you think you are, you never would have looked at me.”
I met her eyes and my smile widened. “You have a point, but how exactly is a man supposed to resist a woman like you?”
She shrugged and flipped her hair over her shoulder in an affected gesture that had me laughing.
“I’m not sure,” she said, “but I’m glad I can make you forget that someone ripped your heart out and stomped on it.”
“You sound like you’ve been reading one of those romance novels my mother likes so much.”
“Whatever, but it’s good to know you’re getting better. We’re talking about it and you don’t look as if you want to rip my head off.”
“I’d never hurt you.”
The moment the words left my lips, I questioned my sanity. Of course, I wouldn’t hurt Vaughn, but I was sinking deeper and deeper under her charms and didn’t have the willpower to pull back from whatever spell she’d cast over me.
She wet her lips and before I knew what I was doing, I touched mine to hers. When I pulled back, she shot a glance toward Angel. Thankfully, the little girl missed my gaffe.
“D’you see why I don’t want the two of you in the same space?”
A moment went by before I nodded. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t have missed this for anything.”
She studied me for what felt like a full minute, before she admitted. “Neither would I.”
Chapter Thirteen
I had it all planned. When we got back to Kingston, I'd drop off Scott and head home. Then Angel and I would spend the rest of the day relaxing.
That's not how things went though. We didn't eat at the beach, but Scott claimed he wanted a genuine Jamaican experience so he bought enough food to feed a small army.
On our way home, Angel complained she was hungry.
At that point, Scott looked over his shoulder and changed the script for my Saturday evening.
“It didn't take us long to get to the beach, so I guess we'll be back at your house soon.” He shot me a glance. “Right, Vaughn?”
I nodded, but didn't take my eyes off the road. “Another ten minutes and we'll be home. I'll fix you something, sweetie.”
Angel sat forward and gripped the seat. “Can I have some of Uncle Scott's food instead?”
If my skin was lighter, Scott would have seen my reaction to Angel's assumption that we'd be sharing his meal. A couple of seconds went by before I said, “Well, I don't know what—”
“Of course. There's more than enough to share.”
I threw Scott a look meant to shut him up, but he ignored me.
“You like fried fish then, Angel?”
“As long as Mommy takes out the bones.” She tipped her head back and sniffed the air in the car. “It's smells good, so I hope it tastes good too.”
“Me too,” Scott said, turning a smile on her.
Okay then.
It seemed we'd be spending a little more time in his company. I didn't mind, but had concerns about him being in my personal space. There was something intimate about having him inside my home, among my things. Seeing him after hours was fun and interesting, but it wasn't deep since we spent most of our time in public places.
I'd only gone to the townhouse where he was staying once and we'd fooled around until we were both hot under the collar, not to mention other places. I'd called a halt to that because I had to pick up Angel from Mom's house.
Six weeks since meeting in person, having online contact, and meeting again, and he had me wanting to do things that were alien to my nature. But there was something about this man. His eyes that seemed all knowing, his air of warmth mixed with a little bit of mystery, and his generosity made a wicked combination. The man was all kinds of appealing and dangerous.
What was even worse was the way he looked at me, as if I was the only thing on earth he desired. Given what he told me, Scott had unresolved issues, but they didn't extend to the way he treated me.
We parked in front of my house and I got out of the car and opened the door for Angel. When I looked at Scott over the roof, he asked, “Want me to get the basket?”
“Yes!” Angel yelled before I got in a word. “That's our dinner.”
Scott and I laughed while I picked up my beach bag and opened the front door.
“Honey, go wash your hands. We're eating soon.”
Angel left and I took the basket from Scott and headed for the kitchen nook, waving him toward the sofa. “Sit wherever you like.”
By the time I spread the food on the table, Angel was back and seated in her spot.
“Scott, you want to use the bathroom?”
He stood, and with an indulgent smile on his lips, listened while Angel directed him down the hall.
We were waiting when he returned, looking fresh. He'd retied his hair and looked as if he'd washed his face.
Angel insisted on saying grace and instructed us to close our eyes while she prayed.
Scott responded with a resounding amen before we dug into the fried snapper, bammies—tiny fried triangles made from cassava—and festival, a favorite of Angel's. The deep-fried, golden-brown fingers of cornmeal, flour, and sugar were always a hit with my little girl.
“Is this the first time you're eating this kind of food?” Angel asked, holding a half-eaten festival in mid-air.
Scott shook his head. “No, there are places in Miami where you can get this stuff.”
“I bet it's not as good though.”
Scott laughed. “You're right. This has a certain, uh, niceness to it.”
Lowering her hand, Angel looked at him suspiciously. “Is that a word?”
Scott exchanged a glance with me and I waited to hear what he'd say.
“Yeah, it is.”
“Says who?” she asked.
“The dictionary.”
“Which one?”
I was about to stop her from arguing when Scott gave a small shake of the head.
“Any of the major ones,” he said, “Some words sound like slang but over time, they're included.”
“Oh.”
“And by the way,” he added, “I may have used it incorrectly. Thank you for calling me on it.”
She cocked her head. “Really?”
“Yeah, it's more descriptive of personality than food.”
While they bantered, I got up to bring more orange juice to the table.
Angel and Scott were engaged in another argument when I came back. Listening to them, I realized that Angel had few, if any, men in her life. It didn't surprise me how well she got along with Scott. My daughter got along with everybody.
