by Tina Martin
“How’s everybody feeling tonight?” Savannah asked.
“Good now that I can sit down to a meal,” Mordecai spoke up to say first.
“I second that,” Dimitrius said. “It’s been busy at the corporation.”
“Yes, it has,” Harding added. “But that’s a blessing for sure.”
Dimitrius raised a glass of wine. “Hey, Mordecai, Harding tells me you’re looking to buy a house.”
Jemisha almost choked on a piece of chicken, then quickly corrected by clearing her throat and taking a few sips of water.
Mordecai turned to her. “Are you alright?” he asked quietly.
She was still trying to clear her throat, filling the room with coughs and ahems.
“I’m—fine—” she strained out.
Mordecai looked up at Dimitrius and responded “Yes. I’m in the market for a house.”
“Are you looking here in Asheville?”
“Nah, man,” he answered. He glanced at Jemisha again. She sipped water, still trying to get herself together.
“I mean, seems to me the whole family about to move here,” Dimitrius said. “We have Harding, Savannah and Zoya. It’s time for you and Amira to make the transition.”
Mordecai had finished chewing before he replied, “Asheville’s a nice city and you know I’m a family man so I wouldn’t mind being close to everybody but Wilmington will forever be my home. Besides, Mother is still there and I won’t abandon her—not saying you two did,” he said glancing at his siblings. “I’m just saying she’s suffered enough heartache and I want to be there to handle anything she might need.”
“Aw…ain’t that sweet,” Zoya said.
“How is she doing?” Melanie asked.
“She’s okay,” Mordecai answered. “This—us—getting to know our other side of the family still weighs on her, but she’s making it.”
“I’ll make a trip to see her and Amira soon,” Harding said.
“Mama said she and Amira were coming here, Harding,” Zoya told him.
“Oh, okay. You should’ve brought them with you, Mordecai.”
“Nah—you know Ma don’t do last-minute.”
They were all back to eating again for a moment. Dimitrius broke the silence when he said, “The housing market in Asheville is on fire right now and I’m talking nice homes. How’s the Wilmington market?”
“I’m not one-hundred percent sure,” Mordecai said. “When I started my house search, I didn’t do much searching. I knew the area where I wanted to be and what kind of house I wanted, but I’m not the type to get on Zillow and Trulia to search for houses until I’m cross-eyed.”
“Did you hire an agent?” he asked.
Jemisha could just die. Why couldn’t she possess the power to disappear? She kept on stuffing her mouth with food to keep from talking. She glanced over at Zoya in time to see her frowning. Maybe she was frowning because she was wondering why Jemisha was stuffing her face or it could be that she was curious why Jemisha hadn’t chimed in to let Dimitrius know she was Mordecai’s agent. She hadn’t said a word.
“Yes. I hired an agent,” Mordecai said purposely not mentioning Jemisha’s name. “I’ve seen three houses so far. The last property was one I really could see myself living in. It’s close to the beach.”
“Careful, bruh. You don’t want to set up shop in a flood zone,” Harding warned.
Mordecai shrugged. “Let’s be honest—the way global warming is affecting the environment everywhere can be considered a flood zone these days.”
“That’s so true,” Melanie said. “And you got these high-ranking government officials who don’t believe global warming exists. It’s a shame.”
Dimitrius nodded, then helped Grace get another chicken drummette to gnaw on. “So, are you putting in an offer, or still looking, man?”
“I put in an offer…still waiting to hear back from the seller.”
“Cool! How exciting,” Melanie said.
Jemisha sat stewing, forcing herself to chew macaroni. She felt like she was in the spotlight. Like they all secretly knew she was Mordecai’s agent and had failed at her job big time.
“Jemisha, what do you do for a living?” Melanie asked.
Jemisha looked at her. Did she really not know? At this point, did she even bother to care any longer? She answered, “I’m a real estate agent.”
Melanie’s eyes brightened. She glanced at Mordecai then back to Jemisha. “Oh. Aren’t you from Wilmington, too?”
“I live there. I’m originally from Charleston, South Carolina.”
“How perfect is this?” Melanie asked. “Mordecai is looking for a house. You’re an agent and—”
Mordecai glanced to his right to look at Jemisha. Her face paled. She reached for water and took a long swig. He didn’t want to do anything to embarrass her. She was under enough pressure and stress as it was. He looked across the table at Melanie and said, “I’m sure Jemisha is too busy to be worried about what I’m doing.”
Jemisha frowned. Was he trying to be funny? “Actually, I was thinking about quitting the real estate business,” she told Melanie.
“Why?” Mordecai asked before anyone else could.
She looked at him. He knew why so why was he asking?
“Because I’m not as good at it as I thought I was. I’m good at working under an umbrella of a well-established company. I’m not good at being a freelancer.”
Mordecai shifted his body in her direction and said with the utmost concern in his voice, “That doesn’t mean you quit because you’re not good at something. It means you try harder because when it’s all said and done, how will you ever master anything if you quit when the going gets tough?”
She shook her head. “And here I was thinking you of all people would actually agree with my decision.”
All eyes shifted to them. Mordecai leaned close to her and whispered directly into her ear, “May I speak with you outside for a moment?”
She turned to look at him and was so close, they were sharing the same oxygen. “Yeah. Sure.”
She pushed her chair away from the table and walked to the front door with Mordecai trailing behind her. They stepped out onto the porch. She looked at him and asked, “What was that about?”
“What?”
“You were totally making a scene just now.”
“I wasn’t. I was actually trying my best not to make a scene. You were already feeling a certain kind of way and—”
“Excuse me, but how do you know how I was feeling? You don’t! Don’t pretend you know me because we went to dinner a few times and I showed you some houses. I failed you. Don’t you see that?”
He took a step closer to her and said, “Why do you give up so easily?”
“Because it’s easy. It’s easy to give up when you don’t have any support.”
“You have Savannah.”
“Yes, I have Savannah and that’s it. If you haven’t noticed, she’s busy living her life and being a wife and mother. She doesn’t have time to listen to me complain about my problems. I realized that when I got here.”
“Jemisha—”
“I came here to vent, to tell her about how much my life sucks right now but how can I do that when her world is so perfect. I can’t dump all of my problems on her.”
“Then you have me.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You know what? I honestly don’t even know why you’re talking to me. I—”
Before she could say another word, Mordecai quieted her with his mouth. His lips. He’d been wanting to do it for so long, he decided to go ahead with it. To place his hands on her back and fill her mouth with his tongue while he held her in place. She gasped in shock as he savored her taste. All kinds of sensations flooded his brain at the connection, but the most urgent one was the pull he felt at his abdomen. Everything in him wanted everything that was her.
He knew it.
He hoped she knew it. His tongue swirling all around her mouth and her whimpers in respo
nse told him she had an idea. She’d tried to fight it at first, but the deeper Mordecai kissed her, the stronger he gripped her waist and arms. She wasn’t going anywhere unless he wanted her too.
And then he felt the moment she caved and surrendered to him. The moment she closed her eyes and allowed herself to feel the force and thickness of his tongue. He needed her to understand that this wasn’t just any kiss. This was an assault on her mouth like she’d never felt before. This gave a whole new meaning to tongue lashing.
She gasped.
He pulled back, remembering where they were – on Savannah and Harding’s porch. Plus, she needed to breathe. Needed time to process what was happening.
He looked at her. Given enough time, he’d make her forget what stress was.
“Um—I don’t think we should make this more complicated than it already is, Mordecai.”
“I think it’s too late for that, sweetheart,” he responded, reaching to touch her chin.
“Everybody’s probably wondering where we are. Let’s go back inside and finish eating,” she told him.
“Let’s,” he said. “And I suggest you stop acting like you don’t know me before I put a hurting on those lips at the table this time in front of everybody.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me,” he told her, and he wasn’t bluffing. He was already fighting the urge to grab her again while they were still alone. Sitting close to her at the dinner table, watching her lips move would increase his desire that much more.
Chapter 19
The men sat around in Harding’s man cave after dessert. Dimitrius, Harding and Tennyson were talking business since all three worked for The Champion Corporation, but when Dimitrius saw Mordecai fanning through his cell and disinterested he said, “Sorry, Mordecai. I know all this business talk is boring to you.”
“I’m good, man. I was just checking on a few things at the office.”
Tennyson said, “One thing I know about the fitness business is there’s big money to be made.”
Mordecai nodded. “There is.”
“Do you do any personal training, man?” Dimitrius asked. “Not that I need it. I’m just curious.”
The men chuckled.
“Nah, I’ve trained other trainers so I don’t have to do one-on-one’s any longer.”
“Not really feeling it anymore, huh?” Harding asked.
“It’s all good. The money is good, but these women—”
Tennyson laughed. “You can’t get them off you, huh man?”
Mordecai shook his head. “Listen—they’ll sign up for personal training just to get close to me. One day, I was trying to show this woman the proper way to stretch and I swear she started moaning. Do women really think that’s a turn on?”
“I thought it was for you,” Harding told his brother.
Mordecai drank beer and continued, “When I first started out maybe it was a little flattering, but there’s got to be more to a woman than her body. As a man—a single man—I see women with nice bodies all the time. They flirt with me on a regular basis. It’s like an everyday occurrence. If I look in the wrong direction, there’s a big booty in my face or some chick who has her boobs hanging out. What’s the point of wearing a shirt if you’re just going to let them hang out?”
The men laughed again.
Mordecai said, “I want a woman with a soul. A woman who isn’t afraid to be herself. Who knows she doesn’t have to be naked to get a man’s attention. That clothes are actually okay.”
Coming down off laughter, Dimitrius said, “You know who you sound like?”
“Who’s that?” Mordecai asked.
“You sound like us before we got married.”
“Wait—not all of us,” Tennyson said. “I didn’t have women rubbing all up on me, moaning and carrying on.”
Mordecai cracked a smile.
Dimitrius clarified. “Mordecai, what I mean was, you sound like a man who’s ready to settle down. Who’s ready for marriage. Judging by what I saw tonight, I believe you already have someone in mind.”
Mordecai turned up the bottle, finishing his beer. “What did you see tonight?”
“I saw you whispering in Jemisha’s ear,” Tennyson answered. “Savannah’s best friend, right? She’s your girl?”
“She’s not my girl. She’s—”
“She’s the woman that has you walking away from all other women,” Harding said. “Am I right?”
Mordecai shrugged. “Maybe.”
“That’s a good thing. Trust me,” Dimitrius said. “Some men talk about marriage like your life is over when you settle down. I can tell you right off the bat—it’s not true. I felt like a new man when I married Melanie because I know in my heart she’s my soulmate. I knew it when I first saw her. Crazy, I know.”
“It’s not crazy,” Tennyson said. “I get it. I felt the same way about Zoya. I still remember the day we met. I was visiting Savannah to talk about a case and Zoya opened the door. I immediately knew I was going to marry her. I knew it in my soul. Felt it in my spirit. No matter how many times she tried to tell me otherwise and no matter how many times Mordecai threatened my life, I knew it.”
Dimitrius chuckled. “You threatened him, Mordecai?”
Mordecai laid back on the sofa and stretched. “I wouldn’t say threatened, but I did let him know that I expected my sister to be shown an unprecedented level of respect.”
“Ay, that’s what brothers are supposed to do,” Dimitrius said.
Mordecai nodded. “I always feared they’d end up with a man like pops. I can’t have my sisters going through the same thing our mother went through.”
Dimitrius shook his head.
Harding took a drink.
“I think about that a lot—how it must’ve made her feel as a woman to know that the only man she ever loved had another woman. Another family. It’s baffling.”
He digressed.
“Well, all we can do as men is better than the examples we were given,” Dimitrius said. “Yes, it’s a tough pill to swallow but we can’t change what our father did. All we can do is be better men for our families. For our women.”
“Amen to that,” Harding said.
“But let’s get back to Ms. Jemisha,” Tennyson said looking at Mordecai. “According to Zoya, you’re the player extraordinaire, so it’s news to me that you’re actually feeling this girl.”
Mordecai raised a brow. “Zoe said I was a player?”
“She did,” Tennyson responded.
“He is,” Harding chimed in to say. “Ain’t no need in denying it, Mordecai.”
“Wow. Y’all see what my own flesh and blood thinks of me.”
The men chuckled.
Coming to Mordecai’s defense, Dimitrius said, “As men, I think we’re all players at some point but only as a way of filtering through the bad ones until we find the right one.”
“Thank you, Dimitrius,” Mordecai said, glad someone was in his corner.
“Do you think Jemisha could be the one?” Tennyson asked. “I saw how you two got up from the dinner table and eased out of the room together.”
“That’s only because I had to talk to her about something.” With three pairs of eyes staring back at him, he continued, “Okay, so Zoe told me Jemisha was a real estate agent. I was already feeling the girl, but I figured if I hired her to be my agent, I could get to know her on the low. So, that’s what I did. I hired her, but the plan of getting to know her didn’t quite work out too well. She’s a private person. Keeps a lot to herself—well whatever she can. She found three houses for me to look at. The first two, I passed on. The last one was perfect. I put in an offer. The seller counteroffers, but the seller’s agent also notifies Jemisha that the house is located in some special government zone that only welcomes married couples and families.”
Tennyson’s face scrunched up. “That’s absurd.”
“Yeah. That’s what I said. When Jemisha first told me that, I thought for sure she w
as joking.”
“Nah, man. That’s no joke. A buddy of mine actually ran across that, too,” Harding said. “He’s married though so it wasn’t a problem. Still, he was surprised by it.”
Mordecai shook his head, then dropped it. “It should be discrimination. How can you tell me I can’t live in a certain neighborhood because I’m not married. Makes no sense.”
Tennyson said, “The government does whatever they want whether it’s on a city level, county, state or country. The only way to avoid falling under its trap is to game the system like the system tries to game you.”
“That’s going to be difficult to do in this case.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Dimitrius said. “Myself, Dante and Desmond all got married under the strangest of circumstances.”
“How so?”
“Dante created a fake online profile so he could get to know Emily and that’s after he’d already known her in real life. I propositioned Melanie with a Vegas wedding. Desmond and Sherita got married so The Champion Corporation could secure a multi-million dollar business deal.”
“So, what are you saying?” Mordecai asked.
Dimitrius grinned, sensing Mordecai’s intentional avoidance of the passive suggestion he was making. “I’m saying, game the system. If you found your dream home and the requirement is that you get married, get married!”
“Are you serious, man?”
“I am.”
Harding shrugged. “It could work.”
“And who am I supposed to marry? Some random broad?”
“No. You marry the woman you’ve been after all this time,” Harding suggested. “Jemisha.”
Mordecai threw his head back and laughed. “Y’all don’t know this woman. She would never go for that. Never.”
“That’s why it’s your job to convince her to go for it,” Dimitrius said. “Melanie told me I was crazy for asking her to marry me so soon, but look at us now.”
“That’s y’all, though, man.”
Dimitrius tried persuading him even more by saying, “Just because you like the girl doesn’t mean you lose your player instinct. You have to go at her hard—the same way you would do if you were out kickin’ it and you saw a woman who captivated you—only this time, the woman is someone you know. Someone you could possibly see a future with.”