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Running his pointer finger down her cheek, Elite replied with, “I doubt that. Is that what you thought that night? That I wasn’t feeling you or some shit?”
“Yeah. I mean, I was like… damn. He was all on me, now he’s barely looking at me. Then I invited you in and you went cold.”
“I was trying to take things slow. We agreed that we would take our time, and I know if we have sex, we will feel even more connected to each other. I probably should have just said that to you, but you were tipsy, and I didn’t want you to be in your feelings about it and take it the wrong way. And you being tipsy is also why I shut it down. I didn’t want you to think I was the kind of nigga to try to take advantage of you.”
Smiling, Denali returned to his embrace. “I offered myself to you because I trusted you with me, Elite. You don’t ever have to worry about that.”
“Ma!”
At the sound of Kinsley calling her name, Denali removed herself from his embrace yet again. She and Amir stepped outside with curiosity covering their faces. As soon as Kinsley’s eyes landed on Elite, she smiled.
“Ma, who is this?” Amir asked, stepping between them and making Elite chuckle.
“Amir, Kinsley, this is my new friend Elite. Elite, this is Amir and Kinsley.”
“What’s up, lil man?” Elite asked, extending his hand for Amir to shake.
He did, eyeing his entire frame. When his eyes landed on Elite’s shoes, Amir gasped.
“Those are nice! Ma, can you get me some of those?”
Denali chuckled. “I’m not sure they are even available still, and even if they are, I’m not spending thousands of dollars on one pair of shoes. I don’t even do that for myself.”
As Elite and Denali chuckled, Kinsley said, “Ma, is this your new boyfriend? He’s cute!”
Denali sucked her teeth. “What y’all want?”
“Mrs. Cassie came upstairs and asked who all wanted cupcakes after dinner. She’s about to put some in the oven,” Amir informed.
“Can we have that instead of the ice cream?” Kinsley added.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” she agreed, shooing them back inside with a wave of her hand.
She waited until they were inside to say, “So those are my babies,” and both she and Elite laughed softly.
“I can tell they are some characters.”
“You have no idea. That’s how they act around strangers, so imagine how much they will talk to you when they get close to you.” After processing her words, her smile fell and she quickly corrected herself with, “If they get close to you. If we’re still friends in the future.” Sighing, she shook her head and massaged her temple. “You know what I mean.”
“C’mere,” Elite ordered softly, pulling her close by her shirt and immediately connecting her lips with his. He pulled away long enough to say, “Don’t be anxious about what we’ll be in the future. Today is all we have, and right now… I’m yours.”
??????
When they first arrived at her home, Denali was afraid Blaze would pull up. She appreciated Elite’s agreement with sitting outside in his Bronco so they could talk. With low music playing in the background, their conversation shifted effortlessly. It was the first time she’d felt like a man was interested in her beyond her beauty and body, and that felt good as hell.
“Who are you?” she asked, eyes resting low. Denali was tired, but she didn’t want Elite to leave until she felt like she couldn’t take it anymore. The kids were in bed for the night, and the last thing she wanted was to get in bed just to fantasize about Elite.
“A lover above all. A lover of God, family, beautiful things…” His head tilted and he looked over at her. “Soon to be you.”
“Elite…”
“You want more kids?”
“I do. Marriage too.”
“Is that something you want to do again?”
Elite didn’t answer right away, and Denali gave him all the time he needed to respond.
