Page 26 of Taste The Smoke
Alonzo had been too busy being aroused by her to pay attention to the song lyrics. But her words had him all the way tuned in now. He didn’t recall the song, either, so he hit the Shazam button on his phone to get the title and artist. “The song is called “Maybe” by Sidibe.”
“I’m going to have to get this. You know what else?”
“No, what?” he asked with a little laugh.
“She said she hadn’t planned for it to happen, but that maybe she’s thinking about falling in love. I’m thinking about it, too. With you. And I think I want another massage. Your hands aremagic.” Her eyes widened and she clamped a hand over her mouth. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.”
Yep, that little brownie has got her loosened up a lot.“I’ll be happy to give you another massage and why weren’t you supposed to tell me you’re thinking about falling in love with me?” He scrolled through the lyrics and the line that stood out to him talked about not stopping until the other person fell, too. Alonzo wanted her to fall right with him.
A sad expression crossed her face. “Because you don’t love me back and that means I’ll probably get my heart broken again.” She waved a hand. “Oh, my goodness. I can’t stop talking. Did they add some doggone truth serum to this brownie,too? You can’t ask me anything else.” Kenya lowered her head and ran a hand across her forehead.
He gently lifted her head. “Look at me, sweetheart.” When their eyes met, he said, “I don’t want you to be afraid of telling me anything, especially about how you feel. Falling in love is a good thing.”
“But I can’t let that happen again, Alonzo. It hurts too much.”
He felt the anguish behind her words. Tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, he brushed a kiss over her mouth. “I’m not going to hurt you. Do you remember our conversation about what a man who loves a woman does? That he wouldn’t break her heart because it would be like breaking his own?”
“Yes.”
Tell her you love her. Those words could be the one thing that takes away the doubt and fear. Sonya’s words rose in his mind. “I can’t break your heart, Kenya, because that would be like breaking mine. I love you, baby.”
She gasped softly. “Alonzo, are you just… Wait. Is that the weed talking?”
Alonzo almost laughed because she looked so serious, but didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. “I can assure you it’s not. That small bite didn’t affect me at all, and I do love you. Don’t be afraid of this, sweetheart. Trust this. Trustme.”
“Okay, okay. I can do this,” she said, seemingly talking more to herself. Kenya reached for his hand and put it on her heart. “I love you, Alonzo Bennett, and I’m trusting you with my heart.”
Those were the sweetest words he’d ever heard and he vowed to never make her regret giving her heart to him.
CHAPTER 8
“Iam so happy for you, sis,” Phaedra said. “I knew you were in love with him.”
“I hadn’t planned to tell him yet. I mean, I’ve only known him two months.” It had been a week since Kenya said those three little words to Alonzo.
“So? A little good lovin’ makes it hard to keep quiet.”
“It wasn’t sex talk. We were on the cruise I told you about.”
“Oh, yeah, the Four20 one where they were selling the massage oils. With all that noise and so many people, how did y’all find a private moment to get all deep?”
“Me, with my curious self, decided to sample an edible—a brownie. I only took a couple of small bites, but I swear that thing must have doubled for truth serum because I couldn’t stop talking.”
Phaedra burst out laughing. “Whaaaaat?My straight-laced, psychologist sister took a walk on the wild side. Girl, I wish I had been there to see it because I couldn’t even get you to try the gummieswithoutthe psychoactive properties for your back.” She laughed again.
“Shut up. Believe me, it won’t happen again.” For the first couple of days, she’d wondered if she’d made a mistake in tellinghim of her love, not like she could have stopped the words anyway. And after her grand revelation, she’d dumped the rest of that brownie and decided she should stick with eating her own…minusthe weed. But Alonzo hadn’t given her one reason to regret her words, and went out of his way to ensure she knew that he was for real.
“Naw, girl. You should indulge every now and again so you can relax and let your hair down. I wonder what else you’d say.” She started chuckling again.
“I’m about to hang up on you.” Kenya glanced at the clock. “Oh, shoot, I do need to go. Alonzo will be here in five minutes and I still have to do my hair.” Kenya rushed into the bathroom, put the phone on speaker and plugged in the flatiron.
“He’s just going to mess it up again, so save yourself some time and throw it up in a ponytail. That’s what I used to do with Jared.”
“You are so crazy.” Even as she said the words, she recalled that he’d done just that when he brought her home after the cruise. “I have to go.”
“Have fun,” Phaedra said in singsong.
“Bye, crazy woman.” She hung up, unplugged it and brushed her hair up and secured it with a scrunchie. She’d skipped telling her sister that he was finally taking her to tour the spa, then they were having dinner at his house. The first time he’d planned to take her to see his place was the day her father showed up. The second time, he had to cancel their dinner to help his father with something. He did stop by briefly before the cruise to give her a quick tour and she’d fallen in love with the two-story four-bedroom, four-bath home. From the luxury vinyl flooring throughout, open layout where every room flowed into another and gourmet kitchen with island and bar top seating, she was hooked. For her, the best feature had been the small, distantview of the water from the balcony in his bedroom. She knew the view would be spectacular at sunset.
