AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lei chuckled. “You act like I don’t date.”
Normani sucked her teeth. “Maybe once a year, if that.”
Lei couldn’t argue with that. If she entertained a man, it was just long enough to trust him with her body, and she never let the same man dip into her fountain once his time that year was up. The less consistent things were, the fewer chances she had to get attached. Since the year had just started, Lei hadn’t selected her friend with benefits for the year. Londen would have been a damn good contender if he was free. Quite frankly, from behind bars, he’d done more than a lot of men she’d allowed in her presence.
After deciding to let Normani keep a bouquet of the flowers for her trouble, Lei started the process of packing everything into her Maybach SUV, which was a lot more difficult than she expected it to be. By the time she was done stuffing every free space, Lei was getting behind the wheel and releasing a tired sigh. The sound of her phone vibrating caused her to hurriedly shift the contents of her purse around until she found it. Though her father made it clear, it was best that she not talk on the phone with any of the men she made her pen pal, Londen quickly became the exception to that rule.
At the sight of the FaceTime request, confusion covered Lei’s face. When he told her to be expecting his call, she wasn’t expecting it to be like this. Still, she answered, holding her breath until she saw his face. As soon as their eyes locked, she grinned.
“Hey,” he greeted, mirroring her smile.
Unable to reply, Lei stared at him.
He wasdefinitelyher type.
A coily, short afro connected to a thick beard. His skin was the same shade of her favorite dark chocolate. Lazy dark eyes stared into hers until she lowered them to look at his skin colored, juicy lips.
“Damn, you’re beautiful,” she complimented with a disbelieving shake of her head. His profile picture hadn’t done him justice—at all.
“Royalty.”
Writing that as her name was one thing, but hearing someone call her that always triggered Lei.
“Oh that’s… not my name. Not anymore.”
His head bobbed once. “Are we dissecting that or moving on?”
With the pockets of conversation they’d had so far, Lei loved his speech and how intentional he was with his words.
“Moving on.”
“Cool, but… I need something to call you. Unless you want me to call you Baby.”
“Baby works,” Lei agreed with a soft smile.
“Okay. I’ll accept that for now.”
Chuckling quietly, Lei nodded her agreement. Maybe one day she’d reveal who she truly was, but there was no rush for that now.
“Thank you. I didn’t know what you were going to send, but I certainly wasn’t expecting all of this.”
“I wanted to make a good first expression.”
“You did. This is the kind of gesture that a woman never forgets, though I really don’t think it was a gesture.”
“Then what do you think it was?”
“A glimpse into the kind of man you are.”
At the sound of a blaring alarm, Londen barely flinched as he looked down one side of the hall and then another. He released an irritated exhale.
“I gotta go, but I’ll call you later, aight?”
Lei felt the pout creeping up and preparing to disfigure her mouth, but she wouldn’t allow it.
“Okay, be safe.”
Londen gave her one last fleeting look at his engaging smile before telling her, “I will, Baby,” and disconnecting the call.
