He watched Carlos leave. His teeth ached from how tight he was clenching them. He took off his jacket and draped it over a nearby chair.
“I don’t remember inviting you for dinner,” she drawled. She stalked back into the kitchen and took another two plates outs and started dishing food out.
“Too bad. I’m not leaving until you explain to me why you let Ralph in here and then didn’t call your security team when things got out of hand.” He deliberately tried to keep his voice mild and neutral. “I also need to know what’s going on with you and Carlos.” Knowing that he was about to leave Austin for an extended length of time, he was going to ensure that both men kept their distance. He didn’t let himself think too deeply about what that said about his state of mind, especially since he still had no intention of getting a divorce. Not even for love, and he loved her. The thought of leaving her with her asshole husband, still determined to get her back, and this new wrinkle of her unanticipated closeness with her security team, well, that shit couldn’t stand.
Dropping the two plates onto the dining table, she turned and glared up at him. “I can handle Ralph and didn’t need the security team. And what the hell are you talking about me and Carlos?” She seemed irritated, almost pissed at his suggestion. She poured two large glasses of red wine without asking his preference.
“You’re a beautiful woman, Nakia.” Justin sat, dug into the food, and almost moaned out loud as the delicious flavors exploded on his palate. He had to take a moment, pause, and start again. “Carlos may be married, but he’s a man and…” He let his voice trail off at the look she gave him.
“So what? You’re thinking that I’m just some weak female who can’t get by without a guy? Any guy that’s in my orbit?”
Justin knew that he’d stepped in it and pissed her off further, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want any man sniffing around her. “That’s not what I said.” He thought about his next words carefully. “Look, I saw how he was checkin’ you out. He couldn’t control that look even with me watchin’.” It was more like he couldn’t take his eyes off her, and he hoped like hell no one had noticed. But Justin refused to admit that.
“I don’t have control over what Carlos does. I can only control what I do. At least most of the time,” she grumbled as she sat and started eating. “Look, I don’t have anything to explain. And no more questions. You’re going to give me indigestion at this rate.”
They both eat quietly for the next few minutes, neither willing to break the comfortable ambience of soft music, and delicious food, and wine.
“I’ve never had anything like this before,” Justin said as he finished off his plate. “You told Carlos that’s Bahamian food?”
“Yeah. Did you like it?”
“Like it? I loved it. I’m happy that I over did it in the gym earlier. Now I don’t feel bad about downing all that.”
“Yeah, Bahamian food ain’t good for anyone’s waistline or backside.” She giggled and patted her ass as she cleared the table. “Prime example.”
“That’s prime all right,” he mumbled as he followed her into the kitchen with their wine glasses.
She looked over her shoulder at him and smirked. “You keep window shopping the merchandise,” she teased.
He sipped his wine to stop himself from responding.
“I’m glad you like the food though.” Her smile and the change of subject let him off the hook. “Many of our dishes have their roots in Southern cuisine. Lots of fried food and plenty of spices.
He liked that she was more relaxed now and was smiling at him more and more. The last few weeks for them had been hell. He missed her. She’d been ignoring him in the office or looking straight through him as though he didn’t exist. “I didn’t know you could cook so well.”
Her smile disappeared instantly, and he hated seeing it. “Yeah, well, it didn’t help me much in keeping my man or stopping him from beating the crap out of me.”
Justin placed his wine glass on the kitchen counter carefully and forced himself to speak as gently as he could despite the fierce anger her words invoked. “His violence toward you is on him, not you. It wasn’t something you did or something you said. He chose to hit you. He chose to inflict pain on someone else, transfer his pain onto someone smaller and weaker than him. It was you because you were in reach, you were convenient. Don’t ever blame yourself for his shit. Let him own that.”
Nakia smiled over at him cheekily. “Are you sure you don’t like me just a little bit?”
He closed the distance between them, stopping only inches from her, letting her feel his heat without touching. “I love you, Nakia,” he whispered achingly.
“You didn’t just say that.” She stared up at him as though he’d lost his mind.
“I’m not taking that back. You are the love I never thought existed.” He gripped the strands of his hair and tried like hell to regulate his suddenly panicked breathing. “I wish I’d waited for you. God, I wish you’d waited for me. Or are you going to tell me that you don’t love me too?”
“Jay, you know how I feel.” She stepped into him.
He couldn’t help but feel the hard tips of her breasts against him.
“I love you too.” Her voice was husky with desire.
“Okay, glad that we’ve cleared that up.” He cleared his throat. “I need you to know how I feel because I’m going away for a while and I need you to remember us.”
“Where are you going?”
Justin smiled gently, knowing that no one could know where he was going, not even Colt. “Promise me that you’ll go nowhere without your security team.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’ve already extracted that promise from me.”
“Humor me. I need to hear it again.”
“And if I don’t promise?”
He moved closer, forcing her back against the kitchen counter, his hard frame against her, but he still didn’t trust himself to touch her with his hands. He knew she felt every pulsing inch of his cock. “I need that promise, Nakia. I have to focus on the mission ahead, and I can’t be worried about you.”
“You don’t fight fair, Jay.”
He simply waited.
She curled her arms around his neck and reached up to kiss him. However, barefoot and standing on the tips of her toes wasn’t going to get her five-nine body high enough to reach his lips. She had to settle on delivering tiny kisses to his chin. “Do you ache as much as I do, Jay?”
He closed his eyes in acute agony at her words and her sweet softness against him. He stepped away from her slightly and immediately felt bereft. When this mission was over, he would have to really rethink his marriage code. “Your promise, Nakia.”
“God, I hate you sometimes.”
He waited.
She released him and edged from between him and counter, muttering under her breath. Walking over to the dishwasher, she started stacking dishes in the machine before giving him the promise he wanted. “Fine, I’ll stay with the stupid guards until you get back. Are you happy now?”