Page 26 of Trust Issues
“Yeah. You know if I let Kyle wander off on her own Animal Control will be banging down the door because I let her loose.”
Mark shook his head and laughed at me. He said, “You two are like an old married couple.”
“Married?” Kyle and I squawked together.
“Mark, I should have you fired,” Kyle joked. “Like I’d ever marry that…thing over there posing as a man.”
“If only I were so lucky as you. You’re more of a man than I’ll ever hope to be. Teach me your ways, sir.” I clasped my hands under my chin and blinked at Kyle. She flipped me off as I expected and scooped Barkley off the floor and into her arms.
Once we were alone behind the elevator doors, Kyle’s perfume filled the space. It wasn’t overpowering though. It was gentle. It was a reminder that she was there.
I didn’t hate it.
“Are you trapping anyone tonight in your web?” I asked Kyle. She sighed a little and tossed her hair over her shoulder.
“I don’t know. Austin the guy from Friday wants a do-over and you know how I feel about that shit.” She waved her hand in the air and let Barkley down.
“Once a man has proven he can’t be trusted, you no longer have any interest.” I knew her just as well as she knew me no matter how much it got on my nerves. She gave me a curt nod and folded her arms across her chest.
“He’s being really fucking persistent though, Max. I don’t know.” She sighed and we walked off the elevator.
“What’s this I hear? Kyla Bradshaw wants to give a guy a second date after she wrote him off? Amazing,” I said.
“Austin has everything else I want,” she told me while unlocking her door. We walked inside and I went over to Barkley’s dishes to pour his food then get him fresh water.
“He lives up to your infamous book of standards?” I was genuinely shocked. Who the fuck had all those qualifications?
“For the first round, yes. He has his own job. He makes a salary and not an hourly wage. He has his own place and his own car. He went to an HBCU he’s taller than me in heels. He doesn’t have any kids…” She walked into her bedroom and I followed her like I always did after she walked Barkley. We didn’t always catch each other after work but when we did, our routine was always the same.
Kyle and I would walk Barkley, feed him, and she would change out of her work clothes. Most of the time she changed right in front of me and I always had to stare at my phone to busy myself because as much as Kyle wormed her way under my skin…I was still a man. This time was no different.
Well…
Actually, it was different.
My phone was only had one percent battery life and Kyle was busy undoing tiny white buttons that danced down her blush silk dress. The dress that hugged her slight waist and full hips like a child that missed its mother. The top half of her buttons came loose and my eyes were treated to a deep brown nude bra that she wore.
It was all lace.
It left nothing to the imagination.
Some sort of prickly pulse rippled through me tearing apart my annoyance with Kyle and leaving behind curiosity. I stamped it out by finding something to occupy myself because my dick was starting to thicken in my slacks.
The thought of getting hard for Kyle made me shudder.
What kind of crack have you been smoking, Maxwell?
I walked out of the room while Kyle was in the middle of talking. I knew it was rude but if I didn’t get out of there my erection would be on full display and there was no way I could explain that shit. “I was talking, you asshole!” I heard her voice shouting at me. It was a voice most would say was too rough for a woman. It was throaty and commanded attention. Shit, it made me stop in my tracks.
“I was getting a treat for Barks,” I told her.
“His greedy ass just ate. You know I don’t give him treats after a meal.” She walked out of her bedroom while she was in the middle of putting her hair in a high ponytail. Since her locs were so long and full it took every ounce of her strength to get them where she wanted them. Her toned arms flexed and I stared a little. The woman took excellent care of herself.
She’d changed into a tank top and a pair of leggings. Every time she struggled with getting her thick hair in a ponytail, the bottom of her shirt lifted showing a peek of her flat stomach and perfect navel. “I know this is unheard of but Naima isn’t here so I have to ask you…” she finally wrangled her hair into a ponytail that made her look youthful. Like a teenager. “Should I give him a second chance? I’ve never seen a guy that hit all the checkboxes on round one.”
“Then give him a second chance, Kyle. It won’t be the end of the world. You don’t have to marry the man. He wants to have dinner with you.”
“At my place though, Max! Ugh. You know being that intimate and close with anyone turns me off.”
