Page 8 of The One He Desires

“I miss you, JJ,” Milan says, and it almost melts my heart.

“Me too, Mimi. Come on, I want you and your mama to meet the fam.” Jamarion stands to his full height, interlocks their hands, and walks off without another word.

Well, alrighty then. Ready or not, here we go.

I walk to the other side of Milan and grab her free hand as the three of us move around the crowded yard of strangers. The first couple of people Jamarion introduces us to help me shake my jitters, thanks to their warm reception. When his mom forces her own meeting, I realize that Jamarion isn’t a product of how he was raised. Ms. Dorinda, while a sweetheart, also has a ‘don’t play’ persona about herself that reminds me of Mom. Not long after that, Milan runs off to play with the kids, and I’m sitting in one of the lawn chairs sipping a spiked strawberry lemonade.

“Hey, girl. Which one of my cousins is ignoring your pretty self? I’m gonna fight them for you because I don’t like that.” A woman walks up with a wine cooler in one hand and her other hand on her waist.

“I’m Jamarion’s guest.”

“Oh, Lord. No, girl. I love my cousin, but you need someone better than his jailbird tail.”

I giggle at the outrage on her face until my gaze shifts slightly to the left, and my heart stalls in my chest when I see Milan crying with an unknown man kneeling in front of her.

“What the hell? Excuse me for a second.” I don’t wait for her response as I leave my chair with enough flair to knock it over.

I practically walk/jog to where Milan and the mystery man are. I take my eyes off my baby for a couple of seconds, and something happens. Guilt rises up my back with every step I take toward Milan, and it leads my words when I reach my destination.

“What the hell did you do to my baby?” I ask with a glower as the man kisses Milan’s knee and slowly stands to his full height.

The minute his gaze penetrates me, I lose my ability to speak as he takes me in from head to toe. A devastating, panty-melting smile forms, sending my pulse racing. Gotdamn! Who is this man?

I’m not sure which captivates me more: the mean mug, her beautiful face, or the hypnotic presence of her perfume that permeates my nostrils. Or is it the way the orange makes me instantly crave a tangerine? But whatever it is, I’m intrigued and want to settle this mama bear. Had she not announced her relationship to the little cutie between us, her clone-like resemblance would have told me everything I needed to know.

“Better, Mommy,” the little cutie tells her mother as she points to the knee I just kissed.

“What happened, Milan?”

My mind momentarily takes me back to what caused me to come to little Milan’s rescue.

Whoever her mama is should be commended because that little cutie knew she was that girl. My eyes kept watching the little diva, dressed head to toe in orange, as she played with my little cousins. I’m not sure what has me stuck as this little girl mingled with kids her age. But here I am mesmerized and holding court like a creep. If I ever had kids, I would love to have a little girl with the same pizazz and smooth brown skin as this little diva.

I sat up in my seat on instinct when badass Camren darted past the little girl, and she fell, instantly grabbed her knee. Tears fell from her eyes, but she didn’t cry verbally. Something magnetic and unexplainable forced me to react without hesitation, and I’m out of my seat within minutes. I crouched down so I can be eye level as the purest and most captivating pair of brown eyes stared up at me. A zing of electricity caused my heart to race as I spoke in a gentle tone that I pray won’t scare her due to my being a stranger.

“Did you get a boo-boo, Sweet Face?”

“Mmhm. It’s breeding.”

Be still, my heart! Hearing her sweet, raspy words makes my heart skip and swell, as my protective instincts unfold like a butterfly preparing to take its first flight.

“I’m sorry. How about I kiss it to make it feel better?”

“Prease.” I fought my chuckle when she extended her knee toward me.

Without thought, hesitation, or the presence of common sense, I leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her scratched and lightly bleeding knee. A second later, Heaven’s angel spoke in a tone opposite to the melodic timbre of her voice.

“Okay, Mommy will handle him.” Her voice returns me to the present after my brief recount of the events that led to this moment. “Now, back to you. Who are you to be putting your lips on my baby? Are you a fucking pedo⁠—”

“Whoa. What’s going on over here?” Jamarion’s voice cuts off the angry diva’s attempt at calling me a pedophile.

“One of these badass kids pushed my baby down, and then this man took it upon himself to kiss her knee. Who do you have my baby and me around, Jamarion?” Angry mom’s eyes are slits as her rage-filled gaze falls on my cousin.

I stand to my full height after realizing that I’m still crouching on my knees, giving the woman more ammunition to continue berating me. But between Milan and her, my mind is scattered as hell. I mean completely and utterly befuddled, with a side of shell-shocked.

“Mimi, show me who pushed you, and I’m gonna take care of him,” Jamarion says as he picks Milan up before his focus shifts to her mother.

I fight the chuckle in my belly as Milan’s mom stands with that around-the-way girl flare as her left hand rests on her waist. Her posture reminds me of when Ma would be in the kitchen cooking, but would stop with a wooden spoon as I attempted to lie my way out of impending punishment.