“Yeah, makes sense, doesn’t it,” Racquel agreed. “It keeps you from flailing around, letting angst and anxiety run rampant.”
“Sounds familiar,” Naomi sighed. “Flailing around.”
“I’m sorry, Naomi,” Racquel offered, realizing the connection her friend made to the comment.
“You don’t need to apologize,” Naomi answered, offering a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “But Ruby isn’t the only one that’s been flailing.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Naomi,” Rocky suggested. “We all flail from time to time.”
“That’s true,” Naomi agreed. “But we don’t all flail and chase,” she lamented. Naomi paused before continuing. “Tell me about Tareef.”
“Tell you about him, what do you mean?”
“Things I don’t know, things you may know because of your proximity to the family.”
“Oh,” Racquel hummed. “So, you want to use my relationship to get information for your relationship.”
“Well,” Naomi grinned, lifting her shoulders and feigning innocence.
“Well, what?” Racquel questioned.
“Well, you do have an inside track,” Naomi whined. “I wouldn’t call it using you,” Naomi defended. “Maybe just um, best friend insight?”
“Mmhmm,” Racquel replied. “What do you want to know that you think I could possibly tell you? Haven’t you been exceptionally close to Tareef in a way that I never would, nor want to be, for that matter.”
“Not as close as I would like,” Naomi admitted. “Like I feel like there’s a part of him, I can’t reach like there’s a barrier, a wall that he won’t lower so I can really get to know him.”
Racquel thought about it for a minute. “Tareef is like the rest of the Ali men,” she began.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that they are Alpha men, Naomi. They are truly Alpha men.”
“You mean, bossy, driven, dominant?”
“Sort of but not quite,” Racquel replied. “Alphas are gentlemen, not just nice guys. I mean classic gentleman in the traditional sense. They like to cater to their woman, very protective of them. They are assertive but not mean. They are strategic in handling business. When they want something, they are able to say that clearly, show it, they own it, and are not apologetic about it. Alpha men also set clear boundaries because to do otherwise is inauthentic,” she continued. “You understand?”
“Some,” Naomi replied.
The ladies continued through their spa experience. The spring soak refreshed them after being weighed down by the mud. It was invigorating. The hot stone massage, deep tissue, the facial all provided a level of relaxation Naomi had never experienced before. Maybe her chakras were aligned as a result. Whatever it was, she was able to let go of some of the things that had been weighing her down, even things she wasn’t consciously aware of. Naomi continued to think about what Racquel said. She hadn’t provided specific insight into Tareef, but she did, in a way. Everything Rocky described about the kind of man he was made sense in so many ways.
Maybe I’m not good enough for him. Maybe I’m not good enough for him.
She wasn’t one for self-devaluation. Naomi knew the damage that could cause. She’d seen it first-hand with far too many people who underestimated their worth. That wasn’t her motto. Naomi knew better than that. She was confident in who she was as a person, despite her mother’s situation or how her family responded to it. Naomi was intelligent, successful, in her own right, and otherwise confident. But maybe that wasn’t enough when it came down to Tareef. He was an Ali man, after all.
The ladies finished up with their manicures and pedicures, and the downtime necessary to rev up enough to drive home.
“All I want to do after all that relaxing is to go home and go to bed,” Naomi sighed.
“There’s something I failed to mention before,” Racquel replied, turning slightly away from Naomi, so she didn’t see the smile brimming on the edge of her lips. But Naomi knew Racquel all too well, and the lilt in her voice said this wasn’t just a failure to mention.
“What have you done, Rocky?” Naomi’s spidey senses were tingling.
“It wasn’t just me,” Racquel replied, still trying to hide her smile. “But we have good intentions.”
“We?” Naomi questioned. “Who else is complicit in this whatever this is you’ve planned?”
“It’s just a little dinner, at the house, by the pool, with,” Racquel paused.
“Tareef,” Naomi completed.
“Mmhmm.”
Chapter Seven
“Any other time, I would be excited for the chance to see Tareef,” Naomi commented.
“I feel a but coming,” Racquel replied.
“But I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Because?” Rocky challenged.
“It’s just not,” Naomi blurted.
“I think it is,” Rocky retorted. “Let’s just give it a try, give you a chance to see him with buffers, us.”
“Buffers?”
Yeah,” Rocky replied, turning into her neighborhood. “Trust your best friend on this one, okay?”
Naomi felt like she didn’t have a lot of choices. The dinner was happening, whether she liked it or not. Her eyes drifted to the passenger side window. A part of her would love to see Tareef. She knew the moment she did, her heart would inevitably skip a beat. But there was dread associated with that feeling because Naomi knew, instinctively, they were not going to be.
Racquel pulled into the driveway of her home and activated the garage door opener. After pulling the car in the garage, she activated the opener again to close the door. Naomi was not enthusiastic about any of it, but she would go through the motions to get it over with. Queen met them at the door, quietly wagging her tail.
“Hey girl,” Racquel greeted, patting Queen on the head.
“It’s going to be fine, Naomi, I promise,” Racquel offered, attempting to be reassuring. She thought Naomi would have been more excited about the idea, but ever since Racquel mentioned it, Naomi had been unnaturally quiet. For a second, Rocky second-guessed whether it was a good idea at all. She was just trying to cheer Naomi up, give her something else to think about. However, seeing Na’s reaction, she did not look cheered up. When she looked at Naomi and didn’t see a smile on her face, Racquel asked.
“Do you want me to call it off?”
It would have been easy for Naomi to say yes, to avoid the situation. Maybe she was allowing insecurity to get the best of her. That lack of self-confidence was foreign to her true nature and made her feel even more uncomfortable, more unlike herself. She could handle dinner with Tareef Ali. He was just a man—an incredibly sexy hunk of a man but a man just the same.
“Nah, it’s cool,” Naomi replied. “It’s just dinner, right?”
“Are you sure,” Rocky questioned. Although she thought it was a good idea, she didn’t want to push her ideas over Naomi’s desires.
“It’s all good, Rocky,” Naomi replied. “But if we’re doing this, I need something cute and kind of sexy to wear.”
When Rocky saw a genuine smile on Naomi’s lips, she smiled, too.
“Bestie, you know I’ve got you covered.”
“Whose idea was it, Racquel’s?” Tareef asked after Khalid invited him over for dinner.
“What a brother can’t invite a brother to dinner,” Khalid challenged. “I’ve got to have an ulterior motive?”
“You don’t have to, but you and I both know Naomi being there is no coincidence.”
“It’s not, Khalid admitted, but what could it hurt? Remember, you’re the brother with the experience to handle older women.”
“That’s true, but she wants to handle me, and that’s not going to happen,” Tareef commented.
“Just come to dinner, bro,” Khalid reasoned. “It’s just dinner.”
“Alright,” Tareef agreed. “As long as everyone remembers that.”
It was just dinn
er. That’s what Naomi and Tareef both said aloud and to themselves.
When the doorbell rang, Naomi’s heart skipped a beat. She knew it was Tareef even before the door was opened.
Racquel was the one who responded, though.
“Coming,” she called from the nearby living room.
“I’m so glad you could make it, brother,” Racquel smiled as she invited Tareef in.
“Mmhmm,” Tareef grinned, giving his sister in love a warm hug.
“Your brother is in the backyard.”
“Mmhmm, Tareef, hummed. He was familiar with the layout of the home and made his way to the back.
Racquel closed and locked the front door. She padded down the hallway to the guest bedroom and knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Racquel pushed the door open after turning the knob.
“You ready?”
To see the man of my fantasies, Naomi thought but didn’t say.
“As I’ll ever be.”
“Then let’s do this.”
The two women made their way through the luxurious home towards the backyard.
It’s only dinner, Naomi repeated in her head. It’s only Tareef, her inner woman replied.
Khalid was there to pull back the wall of glass that gave Racquel and Naomi entrance into the backyard. She couldn’t immediately see Tareef, but Naomi knew he was there. The escalation of adrenaline coursing through her veins told her that. And then Tareef stood up and stepped out from behind Khalid. As a gentleman, that’s what he did when women entered the space.
“Naomi,” he crooned a slight smile tipping the corners of his full lips.
“Tareef,” she replied, trying not to let the pound of her heart cloud her judgment.
Racquel padded towards her husband, walking into his embrace as though it had been a long time since she’d seen him. That was always the case whenever she was apart from him. Racquel longed to be in his arms.
“That went well,” she whispered into Khalid’s bent ear.
“I know,” he whispered back, “but it will get better.”
“Something to drink?” Khalid offered as he kept Racquel close with one arm and addressed their guests.
“Yes,” Tareef and Naomi answered simultaneously while their eyes still held each other. It was the opportunity they both needed to break the eye contact.
Khalid picked up a carafe of Chateau Pontet Canet red wine and poured glasses for everyone. As Naomi eagerly picked up her glass, Racquel leaned over and whispered in her ear.
“Don’t overdo it,” she cautioned.
“Like I did last night,” Naomi chimed.
“Exactly.”
Naomi didn’t intend to get drunk, but she did intend to drink enough wine to take the edge off. Instead of downing the wine in one gulp, she sipped it as she padded towards the swimming pool. She had always been a fan of water, the calming effect, the continuous fluid nature, the way the body felt weightless, floating on the liquidity of the water, without weight, absent of things that weighed one down. Naomi liked the water. Naomi needed to distance herself from Tareef, so the power of his attraction didn’t influence her, didn’t consume her. The water was a perfect distractor. But Tareef didn’t miss her walk away. As he lifted the wine glass to his lips, his eyes were immediately drawn to Naomi’s momentary absence. And then his eyes trailed the length of her, examining her curvy silhouette as she walked away. Maybe he had been presumptuous like he assumed her to be. Maybe he pushed back too hard from a woman who wasn’t afraid to show she was interested in him. In any other situation, a display of conviction would be seen as a positive thing, a confident thing. So why not this? Tareef knew the answer to that question. Other women approached him the same way in the past, pushy, some forcefully, all obviously. It was an immediate turnoff. So, when he saw similar actions from Naomi, he painted with a broad stroke, discounting her as just like the rest. Maybe that was an unfair assessment.
It was a question that lingered in Tareef’s mind as his eyes roamed over her glorious figure. And then he smiled, and his eyes narrowed as he thought about Naomi’s smoldering eyes and her brilliant smile, how she looked at him up close and from afar. He also remembered how Naomi felt in his arms and considered the answer to that very same question. She did look beautiful in the evening light.
“Dinner is served,” Khalid announced from the patio.
Queen only lifted her head enough to see the adults moving around. Apparently, she was too tired to get up and eat, but she knew her human would take care of her. Tareef didn’t move from where he was standing, not right away. He watched as Naomi pivoted on her heels and turned towards the house. When she did, he was there, gazing at her through hooded eyes. She met his with her gaze. She looked startled at first, surprised by the way she looked at him. Yet, even in the glow of the evening’s light accentuated by the light spilling from the house, Tareef could see Naomi’s gaze soften and accept that he was looking at her.
Naomi paused before taking a step. She felt the fullness of Tareef’s eyes on her, but for the first time, Naomi didn’t allow the swoon that rose within her to penetrate her sensibilities. She steeled herself against the pull of his gaze and the magnificence of his form and withdrew her eyes from his. Then and only then was Naomi able to take a step, willing herself not to be caught up in the rapture of Tareef. She padded across the lawn and to the table where Rocky and Khalid were already seated.
“Let me get that for you,” Tareef said, moving behind her without Naomi realizing. That would have never happened before. She would have been extraordinarily aware of his presence. This time she wasn’t. Naomi did, however, allow Tareef to pull out her chair, and as hard as she fought against it, his presence did infiltrate her space.
“Thank you,” she uttered as she settled into the seat.
“We should say grace, babe,” Racquel suggested, and Khalid agreed.
“Of course. Everyone join hands, please.”
It was a test of Naomi’s resolve as Tareef extended an upturned hand to her, and she gently folded her hand into his. There was a pulsation she immediately felt. Naomi wasn’t sure if Tareef felt it too, but for her, it was undeniable.
Once all hands were joined around the table, Khalid said the prayer. “Gracious God, we thank you for everyone here. We thank you for friends and family and the hands that prepared the food. Let it be nourishing for our bodies and our minds. Amen.”
“Amen,” they answered, but Tareef didn’t immediately let Naomi’s hand go. Even though she felt the palpitations of her heart resounding in her chest, Naomi eased her hand from his as she reached for her napkin and spread it across her lap.
“It looks good,” Tareef commented. “But everything that looks good,” he started.
“Don’t even finish that thought,” Racquel challenged. “What you started to say may be true for some things but not my baby’s cooking, honey,” she defended, leaning over and kissing Khalid on the cheek. “It looks good and tastes good.”
“I guess she told you,” Khalid guffawed. They all laughed along with him, and it helped to ease some of the sexual tension that at least one person felt. Just be cool, sis, Naomi coached herself. Just be cool.
“Dig in everybody.”
Khalid and Racquel provided a delicious spread of grilled chicken, shrimp, and steak kabobs with fresh vegetables and cucumber dip, coconut rice, cobb salad, roasted sweet potatoes with chives and brown sugar, and parmesan orzo.
“Mmm,” Naomi hummed, “so good.” Naomi wasn’t mindful of the little jig she was doing in the seat as she dabbed the corners of her mouth. But Tareef didn’t miss it.
“So, what’s been good with you,” Tareef asked, leaning over and inclining himself closer to Naomi.
“Not a whole lot, working hard,” she commented.
“I can appreciate that,” Tareef replied. “Whatever you’re doing looks good on you.”
“Thanks,” Naomi smiled, but she didn’t swoon. She didn’t ov
erreact or take it for more than what it was. Without lingering, Naomi turned her attention to the broader conversation between the entire group. And it was good. Conversation became easier as long as she didn’t focus exclusively on Tareef and ignored her decided attraction to him. By the end of the night, they were all laughing without restraint and having a good time.
“This was nice,” Naomi observed as they sat around the pool, full from dinner and enjoying an after-dinner drink. “But it’s time for me to call it a night.”
“So soon,” Racquel asked, easing to the front of her seat.
“Yes,” Naomi replied, lifting herself to standing. “I’ve been away from home a few days, and I need to sleep in my own bed tonight.”
“Let me walk you to the door,” Tareef offered, lifting his frame smoothly from his seat.
“Oh, you don’t have to,” Naomi commented as she said her goodbyes to Racquel and Khalid.
“I want to,” Tareef affirmed. His words caused her steps to falter, but Naomi quickly righted herself and continued to move toward the house. Tareef’s long strides brought him to her side, and he opened the patio door for Naomi to cross the threshold into the residence. She didn’t miss the firm of his hand against the small of her back as he walked with her towards the front door. Naomi exhaled slowly through her mouth and kept her eyes focused towards the door. Was she still attracted to Tareef? Absolutely, but Naomi was not willing to get all in her feelings and risk rejection. Nobody liked rejection.
When they reached the front door, Naomi pivoted on her heels, coming face to face with him.
“Thanks, Tareef, but I’ve got it from here.”
She ignored the waft of his masculine scent that pleasingly assaulted her nose. She ignored his inclined head and the strength of his gaze as he looked at her. Naomi ignored that skipped beat she felt in her heart. But Tareef was having a much harder time ignoring Naomi’s natural allure, the sexy of her sway, and the magnetism he senses in her presence.
“Naomi, I’d like to get you safely to your car,” Tareef crooned. As he looked down into her eyes, Tareef noticed something he hadn’t before. Naomi had a quiet confidence, a satisfaction in her eyes that defied the desperation he thought he read there before. Maybe it wasn’t desperation at all? Once again, Tareef was reminded that he might have judged too quickly the last time he encountered Ms. Singleton.
Tareef (The Brothers Ali Book 4) Page 5