“Rose, I swear I had a flashback to twenty something years ago. How is it you always find your way into my house in the middle of the night?”
Yawning, Rose stretched his arms and legs simultaneously. “Shit, best time to come in. You know a nigga like a thief in the night,” Rose responded, sitting up on the sofa beside a still-out-of-it Minx.
Running her fingers through her wild, curly hair Minx’s face balled up in annoyance.
“Mm-hmm.” Mila’s gaze bounced from him to her daughter, and she cocked a brow at them.
She recalled the first time she caught them that way, so innocent. Today, they were no longer children, both very mature adults, for the most part. Still with their childish moments, it honestly reminded Mila a lot of her and her husband. She and Max had been through the thick of it though. Sometimes she looked back on all that they had conquered, and she couldn’t believe how far they’d come. Mila helped in raising Rose, so she knew him about as well as she knew her own children. She always thought as time went on and he and Minx got older that their relationship would become more than platonic. The kind of chemistry they had couldn’t be duplicated.
“Minx, I’m heading out. Mille is in the kitchen eating. I left some food in there for you too. I’m setting up shop in the new building.” Mila toyed with the Pandora bracelet on her wrist before she brought her eyes back up. “And Rose, stand your ass up. You don’t walk up in here without giving me a hug.”
With a sigh, Rose stood and rounded the table to embrace his surrogate mother. Giving him a tight squeeze, she nudged him back to get a good look at him.
“Look at you. I can’t believe how much you’ve grown. How have you been?” She took in his chocolate skin and striking oval-shaped orbs.
Her hand graced the side of his face, and Rose turned into a little boy. Mila held a special place in his heart. His own motherwas fucked up, so Mila was like a godsend, even though she was pretty hard on him at first.
“Shit, you know me,” he answered with a shrug.
“Well, you don’t communicate as much when you are out there in the world. I get it. When you’re on assignment, it’s kind of hard to check in because of how you’re moving, but you are here now, so I won’t bother you about it. You two stay out of trouble.” Mila purposefully looked back and forth between them.
Minx, never a morning person, was just waking up.
“I’m the good one.” Rose pointed to himself. “I been telling y’all this for years.”
Shaking her head, Mila chuckled a little before she made her way to the front door. The entire house had an open concept, so the foyer was part of the living room, and there was absolutely no privacy or any hiding when anyone entered.
“Nobody believes you, Rose,” Minx muttered, pinching the sleep from her eyes while her mother grabbed her purse from a nearby table and slung it over her shoulder.
When she opened the door, she was surprised to see Gannon on the other side, preparing to ring the doorbell. With two Starbucks cups in his hand he smiled.
“Oh, G, good morning.” Mila welcomed him, arm propped against the door frame and looking him over.
He was a handsome young man. Her daughter definitely had taste. Mila wasn’t so sure that Gannon was right for Minx. She wasn’t the kind of parent to interfere though. Her daughter would have to figure that out herself. She was glad he arrived now, before she caught them on the couch sleeping so peacefully.
“Morning.” He bowed his head, acknowledging her as the gorgeous woman that she was.
If Minx was going to look that good when she got older, Gannon knew that he would for sure have to wife her. He was thekind of nigga who grew up never getting what he wanted. So as soon as he had money, he went for it all. He was extravagant for no fucking reason now, down to the water he drank. Back in the day, he could have never gotten Minx to look twice at him. Once Rose was gone, that all changed.
“Is Minx awake?” He took a sip of his coffee.
“She is. Come on in. I am heading out.” Mila stepped aside to let him in as Minx and Rose strolled in from the living room.
Looking very comfortable together, they were on their way to grab breakfast from the kitchen. When Minx’s warm-brown eyes landed on Gannon, he could already feel the attitude radiating off of her. Mila almost wanted to stick around, but she knew that her daughter could handle herself. She wasn’t even sure Minx knew what the hell she was in the middle of right now. She ducked outside into the crisp morning and said a prayer for her baby girl. She was going to need it.
“What happened to calling or at least coming by?” Minx tapped her foot and waited for Gannon to answer.
Not wanting to be in the middle of no couple shit, Rose effortlessly rested a hand on her hip. He was already standing pretty close, facing her with all of his attention. Gannon wasn’t lost on how intimate they were, even when they were doing nothing at all. That nigga hadn’t been back two days, and Gannon felt the shift from Minx. With a weary sigh, he dropped his eyes to the ground.
“I’ll give y’all a minute. I’m going to eat.” Rose stepped around Minx to go to the kitchen, leaving her alone with her man.
Gannon grilled the back of Rose’s head until he was out of sight, then focused on Minx.
“So this where the nigga laying his head?” Gannon didn’t even look at Minx right away.
She reached out, snatching one of the coffees out of his hand. Gannon wasn’t about to change the subject on her when she was clearly asking him what the hell happened to him last night.
“It’s where he always lays his head when he’s here. He’s got his own room.” She got snippy with him. “We aren’t talking about Rose. He has nothing to do with this between us.”
