Page 21 of Mafia Kings & Wedding Rings
“We just catching up. You better get moving so you’re not late for practice. I’ll see you around six thirty or seven?”
“Yeah.” Sapphire bobbed his head and chewed slowly.
“Go straight to practice, Sap. Don’t entertain them niggas out front, please,” I sighed.
“You worry too much, Em.” He grabbed a rib and a handful of fries but stopped long enough to kiss my forehead. “And I’ll call you when I get there,” he recited before I could, as he moved toward the couch to grab his backpack.
“Thank you.” I smiled watching him leave, but that immediately wilted when facing Ivo.
“Shit smells good. Where this from?” he questioned, lowering himself into one of the dining room chairs and poking his head around in the bag.
“Tap Inn. It’s where I work. What do you want, Ivo?”
Grabbing a rib, he brought it to his mouth and took a bite before bringing those dark roast orbs to mine.
“Why you acting brand new, Emerald? I’m the nigga that bought you pads when you started your period on a school trip, and chocolate, and lent you my jacket so everybody wouldn’t see that shit. You had a nigga on picnics and reading poetry on someLove Jonesshit. And I never even got to hit.”
Chuckling, I couldn’t help but shake my head as he smashed the rib and tossed the bone onto a napkin.
“I can’t believe you remember all that.”
“I remember everything,” he confessed in a soft murmur.
The warmth in his tone forced me to look into his eyes and get lost in them.
“I can’t pretend I’m not surprised that you walked in that clinic today or that Jordan chose you as our surrogate. I just want to make sure before you do this, we on the same page.”
“I get it. You’re married, and the past is the past. I’m not trying to stir anything up, and I won’t say anything to Jordan.”
“She’s going to push this friendship because she doesn’t have a lot of real friends. We’ve had several miscarriages, and I think they all took a toll on her. Having this baby means everything to her, and she’s my wife.”
“You don’t have to worry?—”
“That’s the thing. I am worried.” He reached for a napkin to wipe his fingers. “Because the minute I saw you again, I wanted you.”
Startled by his words, I gripped the back of the chair across from him.
“We’ll just have to play it like we did back then. You made it easy, hiding your feelings. Then and now. I’m not trying to come between you and Jordan either. I have enough on my plate. Thissurrogacy is going to help me and my brother bounce back. I need that more than anything.”
“So you’re okay with carrying our baby?” Ivo tested me.
Hearing him say it like that left my stomach hollowed.Our baby. Shit sounded crazy after all this time.
“I have to be.”
He took his time standing and moving closer to me, leaving no personal space between us as his arm rested around my waist. A waft of his expensive cologne struck my nose, making my panties moist as he cupped my cheek and searched my eyes.
“You still the prettiest damn thing in the room,” he complimented me.
“Ivo—” I tried to nudge him off me, but he wouldn’t budge.
Slightly bowing, he crushed his supple lips against mine in a soul-stirring kiss. Our tongues danced like old friends, and a soft whimper slipped through my lips when his hand fell on my ass and gave it a squeeze. I didn’t even care that he tasted like barbecue. Feeling his third leg growing was too much, and I found the strength to push him off me.
“We aren’t doing this. You need to go. Don’t call me anymore or ask to see me.” I whispered, eyes misting. “The only time I’ll be around is when Jordan is. That’s how this has to work. I’m not going to break up a marriage.”
“It should have been you.” He grabbed my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine. “But you left me, and now you’re here, about to give me the one thing my wife can’t, and you telling me you can’t be the reason a nigga slip up?”
“You married her, Ivo. That changed everything. She ain’t just some girlfriend, you put a ring on it.”
