Page 4 of DeLucas After Dark

I took the opportunity to push her bottom jaw up to reach her top one. Sheree just stood there, frozen. Looking over at Mario, he seemed to be just as affected by my cousin.Well, well, well.

NICOLO

Something was wrong with Simone’s cousin. The woman never shut up, but when Mario entered the room, she went mute. Mario was no better. He stared at Sheree like they were at the Renaissance Tour while Bey was performing Energy. It was so quiet in there you could hear a pin drop. The man was totally mesmerized.

I had never really looked at Simone’s cousin before. She was always around, but there was no reason for me to take notice of her. The way Mario was eating her up made me curious. I really took a look at her and found her to be pleasing to the eye. She was no Brazen, but there was only one of my baby. The only resemblance I saw between the cousins was they both had very high cheek bones and they both carried a little weight in the middle. Attractive features, as far as I was concerned.

“Sheree, I would like to introduce you to my good friend, Mario. Mario, this is Simone’s cousin, Sheree.”

I had to nudge Mario to wake him from his stupor. What the hell? My friend was never this speechless, especially not over a woman. I needed him to have his head in the game if we were going to work on this Johnny Lip crisis. The last thing I needed was for him to catch feelings for a woman before he left on his mission to find that thorn in my side. He didn’t need the distraction.

“Apologies, Sheree. I didn’t mean to stare. It’s just that you are a very beautiful woman. I could not help myself. It is very nice to meet you.”

Mario reached out and took the hand that Sheree offered. The slick bastard leaned over and kissed the back of her hand, instead of shaking it. That was one of my moves he picked up over the years. He knew only to use it if he wanted the woman to be interested in him. I cleared my throat and ushered them to the dining room to sit. This lunch meeting was starting off all wrong. I never expected Mario to catch feelings for my cousin-in-law.

“Let’s sit down for lunch. My baby has made a feast, and it smells delicious.”

As we sat for the meal Simone prepared, it appeared the ice had been broken between Sheree and Mario. He pulled out her chair for her and then sat next to her. I assumed he would be taking the chair across the table from her because that is where the place setting was. Simone waved me off before I could protest. She quickly rearranged the table so Mario would have dishes and silverware at his chosen seat.

I watched as the two of them started chatting in low whispers. I strained to hear what they were saying, but my hearing failed me. What the hell could they possibly be talking about? When I made eye contact with my wife, she smiled and silently communicated that she was happy. Simone liked Mario and apparently, she approved of him getting to know her cousin.

Just as I was getting agitated, a loud cry rang out from the baby monitor. Jr had a set of lungs on him to be such a little boy. Immediately, Simone stood and went to check on our son.

“Listen, Nicolo, while Simone is feeding Jr, I wanted to talk to you about a business proposition.”

Sheree gave me this shit eating grin that she always shot at me when she wanted something, but knew I would say no. She even tried to give me those damn puppy dog eyes that could get her anything she wanted from my wife. Well, I wasn’t my wife. Whatever she wanted couldn’t be good. I had made up my mind to say no before she got the next word out of her mouth.

“Oh, yeah? Why does it have to be when Simone is out of the room? You know I don’t keep secrets from my wife.”

“I already ran it by her. She is on board but told me I would have to ask you before she would say yes. Something about being a unified front. Whatever that means.”

I grinned at her comment. My wife was a push over when it came to her favorite cousin’s whims. However, she was loyal as fuck to me and would never give her consent without discussing things with me. I had a feeling she insisted that Sheree ask me herself, instead of Simone bringing it to me. My wife knew I would never say no to her, so this must be something interesting.

“It’s something I hope you have one day when you get married, Sheree. My wife and I don’t make big decisions without discussing it with each other first. Now, what is it you want, and how much is it going to cost me?”

“Dang! Why do you have to say it like that?”

I shook my head at Sheree. The woman was always coming up with these so-called life-changing schemes. They usually were half thought out plans, with no facts or figures to back them up. But she always needed financial support from us.

“Sheree, really?”

“Okay, I know I have had some failed adventures in the past, but this one is well thought out, and I have a whole business plan this time. Simone helped me with the proposal, and I really think it could be something I could do for a career. I promise this time I’m serious.”

“Fine. I believe you. Now give me the details.”

“Okay, I’ll just put it on the table. I want to be a travel blogger. The plan is to tour Italy and show people what it’s like for a Plus Size black woman traveling alone.”

“That sounds interesting. What do you need from me?”

“I need you to be my sugar daddy!”

“Are you crazy? I’m married to your cousin. Does Simone know about this? Simone, get in here!”

“Calm down, Nicolo. I didn’t mean it like that. You need to get a sense of humor. It sounds worse than it is. Maybe it was a poor choice of words.”

“What happened?”

Simone came rushing into the room, buttoning up the top of her dress, giving me a flash of her swollen breast. She must have been feeding our son. I hate I missed his feeding time. It was one of the most enjoyable times of the day. I couldn’t resist watching her feed my child. There was something primal about it.

---