“See you later, Mommy.” She wrapped her arms around my waist, and I leaned down to kiss her cheek.
“Have a good day, baby. Jaz, I’ll call you in a little while,” I told her and headed out the door.
New York was a city that seemed like everyone was in a rush to get wherever they were trying to go, even if it was just the damn grocery store. As always, traffic was crazy, but I finally made it to work. I didn’t have time to stop by Starbucks, so I had to settle for coffee from the hotel restaurant. As soon as I walked into my office, things were hectic. I had a few meetings and some interviews set for today. For the early part of the day, I was so busy that I could barely think straight, which was good because my mind went straight to him. Legacy. Just as I sat back down at my desk, my office phone started ringing.
“Ms. More,” I answered, placing the call on speaker.
“Ms. More, this is James. I just wanted to notify you that Mr. Porter went out for a couple of hours and that your staff can go in to clean his suite.”
“Okay, thank you, James. We will be right up.”
I ended the call then went to change my clothes. I never knew how long Legacy would be out, and I never wanted him to know that I was the one cleaning his suite. So, I always tried to be in and out. I decided to go down to the housekeeper’s locker room to change my clothes. Just as I finished getting dressed, a couple of the girls walked in.
“Boss lady, you decided to keep that fine man to yourself, huh? I know that’s right,” Nesha said, fanning herself.
“Girlll. That man ain’t thinking about me. It’s all professional over here, y’all know I’m not into that,” I told them.
“Shiddd. I am, let’s switch places and I’ma come walking out bowlegged.” She fell out laughing and high-fived Lisa.
“Bye ladies.” I left them standing in the locker room to finish their gossiping. I didn’t have time to mess with them; I had to get this suite cleaned.
Grabbing an unused cleaning cart, I took the service elevator up to the penthouse suites. I kept telling myself that I was doing this because he was a special guest, and we wanted to make sure things were perfect for him. However, I could’ve easily passed this off to one of the penthouse suite housekeepers. I didn’t want to do that though; I wanted to be the one to take care of his needs. While most of that was the truth, it wasn’t the entire truth.
Holding up my keycard to the magnetic lock, I let myself inside the suite. The curtains were already pulled back with the sunlight beaming into the living room. All of the paintings had wrapping over them with the exception of one. It was another painting of a woman, but it wasn’t the same one I saw the first day that I came into the suite.
The contrast colors were neutral colors of cream and gold, with some splashes of burnt orange in it. The woman in the painting was standing as the scene behind her was chaotic, even though she appeared to be unbothered. Her back was facing away from all the chaos while hand shadows seemingly reached for her, but they still couldn’t quite reach her. The painting screamed defeat and loneliness and like there was something holding her back from her traumas. Taking in the painting, my chest felt like it was tight as hell. I’d never seen this type of art before, but the feeling seemed familiar.
“My God,” I whispered, inching closer to the painting, then stood in deep thought.
I couldn’t help but to wonder who Legacy really was. Because the man I had been admiring from afar, made me feel like he was just a little rough around the edges. Never did I expect him to be painting something so conscious like this though. I finally pulledmyself away from the painting, but not before taking a picture of it like I did with the last one.
I started cleaning the bathrooms, bedroom, and replaced his linen with the new linen that he had laid out. It took me a little over an hour to finish everything to my liking. One thing about me, I’d been doing this for so long that I was efficient, but quick. Everything in here was flawless and it smelled amazing. I stared at his bed, and my thoughts went into overdrive, wishing that it was me that shared his bed with him. I shook off those thoughts and gave everything another glance before focusing on the painting for one last view of it.
There was something about it that stayed with me. Maybe because I could relate to the loneliness and vulnerability of the woman. I loved the rawness of it so much I’d definitely consider purchasing it. An hour later, I was redressed and heading back to my office. I decided to go grab some lunch from the restaurant, and when I walked in, I was surprised to see Legacy sitting at one of the tables having lunch. His eyes were on me the second I walked in, and that shit had me feeling so vulnerable and exposed. The man didn’t even break his stare; I was a little taken back. Was he staring because he was attracted to me? He was a very hard man to read. I smiled and quickly turned away then went over to the bar and placed my to-go order.
“I got that.” The familiar voice from behind me said. His deep rich voice had my insides doing flips.
“Mr. Porter, you don’t have to do that,” I said to him.
“I don’t have to do a lot of things in life, beautiful. But when I want something… I mean, when I want todosomething nice for someone, I do it. I owe you this, I’m sorry about the other day. That shouldn’t have happened.” He smiled.
“Ohhh. No, apologies needed. It’s truly okay.” I looked away because it was just something about his eyes staring into mine.Jesus, I could look at him all day. We made small talk for about ten minutes until the bartender handed me my food.
“Well, it was good talking to you, Mr. Porter,” I said to him.
“Likewise, Ms. More. Likewise.”
I went back to my office and daydreamed about love and the man I left in that restaurant. If only for one night, I swear I would be satisfied. I got back to work, and before I knew it, it was time to leave. Traffic was crazy, and me and Hanii didn’t get home until after seven. I decided to cook burgers and fries since that was quick and easy.
“How was your day, baby?” I asked Hanii.
“Stressful, Mommy.” This child was too much.
I laughed. “What, why?”
“Kyle said his mama got a Mercedes, and I told him my mommy got a Kia and still make it look like money.”
“You said what?”
