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“You have a dog?” his lips curved into a smile.
I smiled. “My baby, Roblé.”
“Like the chef?”
I said excitedly. “Yes, most people don’t make the connection.”
“I’m not most people.” He took the vial and dabbed more on his lips before he bent to kiss me. “How does it taste?”
I twisted my mouth at his easy way of kissing and touching me like he could at any time now that I agreed to fuck him. Still, I answered truthfully, “Bitter. Strong. Like coffee or dark chocolate. So, I need to probably sweeten the mac and cheese because I don’t want my customers to taste it.”
He folded his arms. “This is why you had to taste it. Even if I did, I can’t tell you how to make cannabis-infused mac and cheese like your mama made it, and you can’t tell the difference.”
“Noted.” I started pouring my cheese mixture over my noodles. “I guess I do need to buy in all the way.”
He grabbed a fork, dipped it in the Mac, and I popped his hand. “It’s not done.”
“Listen, you’re making my favorite dish. I’ll eat some now, and once you bake it.”
Suddenly, a fog I didn’t realize I had over my head lifted, and I blinked. He straightened up. “You good?”
“I think so.” I stared at him and then back at the food. “I feel light.”
“I can tell.” His eyes danced.
“I think I like this feeling.” My body seemed so light and free. My chest expanded, and I wanted to dance.
“Then we’re about to have fun in Vegas.”
“I’m getting fucked tonight by Jace Legend.” I raised my hands in victory, and some of the noodles and cheese on the ladle I forgot I had in my hand splattered on the floor behind me. Too relaxed to be embarrassed, I exclaimed, “Oops, my bad.”
He quickly wet a paper towel and wiped my mess while I danced and finished my mac and cheese. I heard him mutter from a distant place. “I hope I didn’t create a monster.”
Chapter 5
Jace
Determined to show Spirit a good time, we flew first class and toasted our new venture with champagne. I arranged for a car to pick us up when we arrived at seven-thirty. Since Vegas was two hours behind Houston, the night was still young. The driver took us straight to a mall on the strip so we could buy a couple of outfits and then to the Wynn Hotel to change. Once decked out in a Dolce and Gabbana black patterned suit and a cherry red and black lace dress, we rode to Blunt Minded Joint, MJ’s club, where the good times rolled.
On the way to his club, I explained to Spirit that I traveled to Vegas a few times a year to play dice and freely smoke, which I had been doing for years. I only smoked during the off-season because we were drug tested periodically. Once I retired three years ago, cannabis had become a regular part of my routine. I smoked it not only for relaxation. I also used it for pain management for all those bruised and broken bones I’d suffered over my seventeen years in the NFL. I didn’t tell Spirit that I wanted her here with me to expose her to all the benefits of marijuana and because I wanted her to accept me and my use. I wanted her to accept me, period.
In the six weeks we’d worked together, even with our arguments and irritation, I wanted her more and more as the days passed. Once I realized she was altering her schedule to avoid me, I stopped being open about my comings and goings to the restaurant. She didn’t want to see me because I tempted her. That sexy ass kiss in the elevator spoke of intense desire and longing and that she could do some damage. Damage that normally would have me running away from love instead of to it.
Whether it was right or fair, I wanted to feel how she used to make me feel. Her open adoration made me feel like a king. Like a man capable of doing anything. Spirit believed in me in ways I didn’t believe in myself. Once, when I was eleven, and she was nine, we were all hanging outside in the backyard. She and her sister and me and my brothers. Langston threw the football we were playing with into the tree of Mr. Mitchum’s yard, a neighbor who seemed to hate children. We were all trying to figure out how to ask him to let us in his backyard to retrieve it. We didn’t want to catch another whipping for losing our footballs in the neighborhood. Remi had the bright idea to latch onto the tree branch that extended into our yard. We all blew him off that it was impossible. Through the chatter, Spirit’s voice rang clear and loud. “The only one of us who could do it is Jace.”
Until she said it, I thought it impossible. I looked at her, and she nodded, encouraging me with all the faith in the world that I could and would do it. Within minutes, I climbed the branch, got the ball, and saved the day. All because Spirit Kimble believed in me.
Throughout high school, whenever I needed her, she was there. Other girls came and went, and Spirit was always in the background. We were never close friends like I’m sure she wanted, and she spent more time with Remi and Langston than with me. Yet, I knew if I told her I needed her to help me study or complete an assignment, she did it, no questions asked. Or if I had any doubts about playing football or excelling in college, she would reassure me on those walks home alone when it was just she and I. I would pretend for those twenty-four minutes that she was mine. That I was the good boy she deserved and not a boy fascinated with fast girls and football.
Now, she held my hand tight and leaned on my shoulder. She was gorgeous and fierce in the eighteen-hundred-dollar dress and nine-hundred-dollar shoes I bought her. She piled her braids high on the top of her head to show off her figure and the design. “You look better than any runway model in this dress.”
She kissed me sweetly. “And I never thought you could look more handsome than you do right now. I’m so glad I decided to throw caution in the wind and get away with you. I only came to Vegas once for a college friend of mine when we all turned twenty-one.”
“Actually, I’m still shocked you’re here with me,” I commented as the driver parked in front of MJ’s club off the strip. “We won’t stay long. I can’t risk you changing your mind about fucking later. I won’t believe it until I’m knee-deep in your pussy.” I nipped her ear, and she giggled at my raunchiness.
“I swear I’m not changing my mind.” Her hand cupped my dick through my pants. “I’ve been wanting to feel this for so long.”
I covered my hand over hers and willed my dick to calm down. “Snookie, if you don’t want to be ass up in this car, I suggest you don’t touch me there until we’re in the hotel.”
