Page 22 of To Love and Protect
“Gramps and Ree are here.” Nico pushed off the wall from where he had been watching her and slid right next to her.
He noticed she jumped slightly. Her eyes found his for a split second before she went back to what she was doing. Nico couldn’t resist. He reached out and grabbed her by the waist, forcing her attention on him.
“Nico . . .”
“You been avoiding me, cookie?” She tried to avoid his gaze as a blush colored her cheeks. Nico leaned down and kissed one cheek and then the other, which only caused her to flush darker. “A simple yes or no will do,” he teased.
“No,” she finally said as she looked up into his eyes. “I been working. You kind of set me back after breakfast.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, okay. I think you just ain’t tryna lose a bet. Let me ask you something. Does being my girl sound that bad?”
She shook her head. “It’s not that, Nico. I just don’t know you, and I just got out of a relationship, so with all that in mind, I’m definitely doing all I can not to trip into love with you.”
“There’s a lot to unpack there.” He chuckled as he relished in the way she felt in his arms.
“What is there to unpack? What I said is straightforward.”
He grinned. “You said it don’t sound so bad being my girl.”
“I didn’t say that?—”
“And then you said you have to do all you can not to trip into love with me, which means you want to love me.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“So you just gon’ skip by the part where I said we don’t know each other and me just getting out of a relationship?”
Ignoring her, he asked, “And why you gotta trip into love with me? Why can’t it be a fall like everything else?” And then, as if a lightbulb went off, he snapped his fingers. “Is it because a fall could be intentional if you leap, but if you trip, it’s completely by accident? Nobody trips on purpose, so you’re worried you gon’ fall in love on accident, ain’t it?”
The way he just sat in her face and pieced that together was genius in his mind. One look from her told him he should have been awarded jail time for reading her so easily. He mentally patted himself on his back for not laughing at her expression. He had her all figured out, and she knew it.
Finally, she cleared her throat and grabbed the tray from the counter.
“Let me feed your guests before the food gets cold.” Remedie side-stepped him and hurried out of the kitchen, leaving Nico behind.
He chuckled as he finessed the hairs on his chin. Finally, he followed behind Remedie and into the living room where everyone was.
As he entered, he heard Gramps charming his woman. He didn’t appreciate the sly old man sweet-talking her. He stopped himself and watched them interact as he wondered how she had such a strong hold on him after only a few days, to the point that he didn’t even want a harmless old man making her blush.Nobodyshould make her blush but him. Somewhere along the line, he deemed that his job alone.
“You a pretty young thang, ain’t ya? And you cook?” Gramps reached for a wing and took a bite, smacking his lips like it was the best chicken he’d ever tried. “Boy, you a keeper, ain’t ya?”
When Remedie giggled, it snapped Nico out of his thoughts. He fully entered the room and snatched the chicken wing from Gramps’s hand. He didn’t even know why he did that. Irritation consumed him for a hot second, and now he was stuck with a buffalo wing in his hand and everyone staring at him in confusion.
To play it off, Nico tossed the wing on one of the empty plates Remedie brought out and said, “You shouldn’t be eating this shit, Gramps. It ain’t good for your heartburn.”
Gramps threw a jab at Nico, which connected with his abdomen. Nico didn’t flinch, but he did take a step away from Gramps. He could be scary when he was mad.
“Boy, snatch somethin’ else out of my hands and see what the hell happens.” He grumbled under his breath as he reached for the wing on the plate.
When he took a huge bite out of it, he looked Nico directly in the eye in challenge. Nico put his hands up in mock surrender. “Your funeral, old man.”
“Aw, fuck off.” Gramps continued to grumble in between bites of food while Nico looked around the living room.
Tyree looked up at him from his seat on the couch, smiling like he knew Nico’s deepest darkest secret while Remedie made herself busy organizing the plates and the platter, which was comical, because there was only so much she could do with the items before it looked like she was trying to distract herself.
“Sit down, cookie.”
Remedie glanced up at him before she did as she was told. He could tell she was still flustered by their conversation in the kitchen, which amused Nico.
He grabbed a paper plate and tossed it behind him toward Tyree. “Better get yours before I smash all this shit.”
