Page 14 of Craving a King

I teasingly bat his hand away. “I told you we are just friends. Are you jealous, King?”

“Always.” He says it a little too quickly. I decide to change the subject to something lighter.

“How is it you and Adom are first cousins with such opposite complexions? It surprised me when I saw a picture of you.”

He laughs. “People always asked us that in boarding school. To be honest, they were always more shocked about Adom’s light-skinned complexion than my ebony skin. They expected a man from Ghana to have black skin. However, what they did not know is that our grandmother is Egyptian.”

My eyes widen. Kofi and Adom are part Egyptian. Kofi’s beautiful body is the full African continent in the flesh. “Really! That is fascinating. Isn’t it odd for your grandfather to have married a non-Ashanti woman?

He nods. “Well, as chief he had more latitude than my paternal grandfather had as king. He chose who he loved, and our people loved her. At least, that is what I’m told. I never met her,” He pauses. “She died giving birth Adom’s mother.” He averts his eyes. He is sad. I can tell he misses a grandmother he never met. He grieves the missed opportunity. I shift the conversation again.

I nod and reach out for his hand. “So, what about your love life? Any friends, girlfriends, friends with benefits?”

He shifts uncomfortably in the seat. “I am sure you have seen the tabloids.”

“Yes, but now I want to hear the truth, from you.”

“Oh, it is mostly true. I do not have time for relationships, and I’m no good at them. My reign is what is most important. I want to add to the honor of the Ashanti. I have 11 million people to take care of. I do not see how a significant other can fit into this life.”

So, he’s not a fan of relationships, either. That’s one thing we have in common. “I understand. I don’t have time for relationships, either. But unlike me, aren’t you bound by custom to produce an heir?”

He sighs and rubs his hands over his face. “Yes, but I have time. I am only 37. Eventually I will enter into a marriage and fulfill my duty to our people.”

He sees marriage as a duty, not an act of love. How romantic.

“May I ask you one more question?”

He stands and places his hands in his pockets before leaning on the bench. “Sure.”

“Have you ever had your heart broken? Or do you only break them?”

He pauses. “Yes, my mother broke my heart, but I do not want to talk about that.”

OK. Mommy issues. I’ll leave that alone.

He looks at me carefully. “What about you? Who is the man that has made you close your heart?”

I laugh. “It’s that obvious, huh?”

He laughs and nods his head. “Instead of staying with me at a royal residence, you tried to walk to Accra from the side of a road.” He pauses for effect. “In a country you know nothing about. I figure there is a story that begins and ends with an idiot.”

“His name was Marcus. We were college sweethearts. He was my first love. But as I grew up, my priorities changed. The superficial goals he held so dear were ridiculous to me. I could not care about vacation homes and Range Rovers when illiteracy runs so rampant in urban communities. That’s why I started securing funding and building excellent schools. I appreciate nice things, but they don’t define me. Anyway, long story short, Marcus proposed with a ridiculously expensive three-carat solitaire from Cartier at my annual Eradicate Child Illiteracy fundraiser. Honestly, I was uncomfortable with his overt display of wealth at a charity event, but I accepted. Two weeks later, I found him screwing his secretary.What a cliché.I refused to speak to him for weeks.”

Kofi’s face transforms into complete confusion. “Wait! He proposed to you in front of all those people, just to cheat on you two weeks later. What did you do?”

“Well, I refused to see him at first, and he didn’t take that well. Suddenly, I, the woman he professed to want to spend the rest of his life with, was a selfish whore that never knew how to properly make love or take care of him anyway. You know, what hurt most was that I secretly always thought those things. Back then I never thought I was good enough for him. I was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. Apparently, it was a cheap shoe named Keisha that gave him his coffee every morning along with a blow job.”

Kofi nods. “I am sorry that happened to you. He was an idiot.” He sits back on the bench next to me.He’s too close.“I knew any man that would let you go had to be. Do you feel you are fully healed form that experience?”

I pause to think. “I’m definitely over him. But the experience as a whole changed me forever. I’m never sharing my life on that level again. It’s too painful to unravel yourself from a partnership of that magnitude when it all crashes and burns.” I laugh. “You know, I think you reminded me of him too much at first. You’re both alpha males, gorgeous, and high-handed. But…”

He stares at me intensely. “But we’re different?”

I nod. “Yes. There’s an empathy and need to care about others that makes you vastly different.”

He offers his hand to me and I take it to stand up. “Well, any man that broke your heart is a fool. You called your best friend a true beauty. I cannot imagine a beauty that surpasses you.” He kisses the back of my knuckles before softly rubbing them as we begin to walk. “You are the most beautiful woman I ever laid eyes on. So much so, I used to obsessively watch your TED Talk presentation and stare. I listened, too. Your ideas about education are brilliant. Your work is commendable.”

There’s no way I’m making it back to America without having sex with this man. He talks and looks way too good. He’s trouble. Maybe if we just give in and do it once, we can get it out of our systems.

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