That was my first session with Kwamé, and I was already about to call it quits.
Sunlightbeameddownonme as I pulled the blanket closed over myself. The weather was finally starting to shift to nearly freezing temperatures. Out here in the country, the fresh, brisk air was a complete contrast to that of the city. As clear as the air was, I wasn’t surprised to smell Antonias’s cologne taking a ride on the wind. It reached my nose and caused me to inhale as much of it as I could. Almost as if it were something strong, pure, and highly addictive.
Smelling him on the cool December breeze was crazy since he was clear across the yard. He sat atop Ice, a shiny, black stallion, and all I could think was that I’d never known Antonias to be a cowboy. In all the years I’d known him, it never occurred to me that there was another side to him other than the playboy and physician.
He looked too good up there on that horse. The lower part of his face was covered by a black scarf, and a black hat concealed the upper part of his face. He was dressed in all-black right down to the boots on his feet. Dangerous, he looked. It was a danger that I was all too willing to risk my sanity for.
Squinting my eyes at his sexy form, I wondered where the hell he was last night. I’d slept fitfully knowing he was off doing him. To think he’d been off to see his fiancée caused my stomach to roll. I was sitting outside to get some fresh air just for him to chase me out there. I wasn’t the type to encroach on another woman’s territory. And it was horrible of me to think to do so. Plus, technically, Antonias had given me plenty of chances to have him.
“I’m ready for a wife and kids…”
Antonias’s words played on my brain like a drum and tambourine during peak church hour. A wife, I could be. A mother. I could be her, too. Adoption was always an option. Even if I couldn’t give him a child of his own flesh, Antonias would understand. After all, he was the product of adoption.
With a little power in my back, I had only one obstacle in the way. Katrelle.
Selfish. That was never a word I’d use to describe myself. However, that was exactly what I felt like being. I felt like pretending that Katrelle didn’t exist and going after the man whose heart I truly did want.
As accomplished and beautiful as Katrelle was, she wasn’t good for Antonias. She would never understand his mind, his personality, or his crazy. I understood all three. The playboy in him just fucked up my mental and distorted some of his charm. However, outside of that,I got him.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I won him back.
“You’ve successfully made it to week two. How do you feel?”
Kwamé’s question pulled me from the depths of plotting back to reality. Her keen eyes observed me as I sat there, staring off into space while tracking Antonias across the vast backyard.
“I feel like I could throw up,” I mumbled to which she chuckled.
“Why is that?”
Glancing at Kwamé, I found myself a little annoyed. She knew damn well why I was sick to my stomach.
Unfazed, she replied, “Your annoyance is misplaced. That happens when we realize we’ve made a mistake.”
Before rolling my eyes as hard as I could, I made sure Kwamé could see me do so. “Yes, I made a mistake, okay. Are you happy that I admitted it?”
She chuckled. “I’m not the one who you should be admitting it to.”
I glared at her. “I’m having the worst time of my life, and you think it’s funny?”
“I absolutely don’t think that. I’m a crisis counselor, and my brother called me to be here with you. I take this very seriously.”
“How seriously? You willing to help me break up a seemingly happy couple?”
“Uhm—"
“You’re a crisis counselor. This is more of a crisis than anything I’ve ever crisisedin my life.”
“I’m not sure how you want me to help you.”
“Help me win my man back,” I stated.
She laughed. “Win him back?”
“Yes!” With more pep in my answer than I intended, Kwamé looked at me and laughed again. “I’m serious. Tell me how to win him back.”
She leaned forward and folded her arms on the patio table, then pointedly peered at me. One of her perfectly manicured eyebrows peaked. “Why?” she questioned.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
