“She a good one, Mr. Winters,” Benjamin told him. “Don’t do nothing stupid and lose her.”
Ransom met her gaze and said, “Benjamin, I heard that.”
“So I’m your woman now?” she asked in a low voice.
“Aren’t you?” he countered.
Coco folded her arms across his shoulder. “Oh, no you don’t. C’mon, spit it out.”
“You’re my woman,” he told her, his eyes never leaving her face. “I don’t want anyone else but you in my life.”
She grinned. “That works for me. So, since I’m your woman, how about joining me tonight for dinner? I’ll impress you with my cooking skills.”
Yeah, right. Call the caterers.
“Sounds good,” he responded. “I’m in the mood for a nice home-cooked meal.”
Coco glanced at her watch. “I’d better get back to the shop or Valencia might up and quit on me.”
Ransom walked her to the door. “Thanks for coming. I know that it meant a lot to Jerome and Benjamin. And me.”
She stole a peek over her shoulder, to see the principal talking to the two teens. “I just hope he’ll lift a hand to keep them on track.”
“I’m meeting with him and the counselor after the boys leave.”
Outside, Ransom kissed her. “See you tonight.”
Coco had dinner ready by the time he arrived. She had prepared a simple meal of chicken alfredo over pasta, a garden salad and garlic bread.
She watched him as he took a bite. “How is it?”
“Delicious,” he responded. “Why are you frowning? Is there something I don’t know?”
“I’m just not known for my cooking in the kitchen. I’m great when it comes to mixing chocolate, but for stuff like this I have to follow a cookbook.”
“That’s because this is not your passion,” Ransom said. “I love to cook. It’s a passion of mine, just like music.”
Marry me, please. Marry me and do all the cooking.
Ransom grinned as if he could hear her thoughts.
Coco felt a warm glow go through her, prompting her to take several sips of her iced tea. She couldn’t keep from peering at him throughout dinner. She reveled in his nearness, her body aching for him in a way that she’d never felt for any other man.
Maybe it’s time to pull out the dice and the chocolate body frosting.
Ransom was dealing with a battle of his own.
He felt heat radiating from his loins, and shifted in his seat, struggling to keep his desire for Coco under control. It had been much easier to maintain his vow of celibacy when he wasn’t seeing anyone, but with a woman as beautiful, as fine as Coco, and the way her big brown eyes drew him in, it was a struggle.
Have mercy.
That’s what his grandmother used to say. He’d never really understood why until now.
Ransom breathed a huge sigh of relief when Coco said, “I’m curious. Why do you care so much about these boys?” It forced his thoughts in another direction than the way they were going.
“I guess because I can relate,” Ransom told her. “I didn’t grow up with my father, and my mother worked all the time because she wanted to give me a good life.
I was drawn to gangs because they gave me the family I was missing.”
“You were part of a gang?” Coco asked.
“Not really,” Ransom said. “I was drawn to them, but my mother and my grandmother weren’t having it. My mom moved us in with Granny so that I wasn’t home alone. My grandmother had no problem setting me straight whenever I needed a reminder.”
Coco smiled. “Where was your father?”
“Around,” Ransom said. “He wasn’t with us—never was.” He paused a moment before adding, “Coco, my father was married and had other children. He was separated when my mom met him, but he ended up going back to his wife.”
“So you didn’t get to spend any time with him?”
Ransom shook his head. “My father never knew about me.”
“Would you like to meet him?”
“Yeah, it would’ve been nice, but I’ll never have that chance, sweetheart. He died a long time ago.”
“What about your siblings?” Coco questioned. “Do they know anything?”
“They don’t know that I exist,” Ransom stated.
Coco met his gaze. “I hope I’m not bringing up any bad memories by having you talk about all this. I don’t want to upset you.”
“You’re not,” he replied. “I’m fine.”
“Have you considered finding them?”
Ransom nodded. “I know where they are. It’s just that my father’s gone and I guess there’s no point in upsetting them with this.”
“I disagree. They are your family. Who knows, they may be very accepting of you, Ransom.”
“And then again, they may not. I’m not willing to take that chance.” Ransom swallowed his pain.
Coco wasn’t buying his act, however. “I can tell that this is bothering you. I think you should contact your siblings.”
“And tell them what? That their father had a relationship with my mother while he was still married to their mother?” Ransom shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
They settled down in the den after dinner.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you, just how many photo albums do you have?” Ransom pointed to the stack on the shelf beneath her coffee table.
“Lots,” Coco responded with a chuckle. “I’m big on capturing memories. I carry a camera with me everywhere. The pictures on the wall—I took all those.”
“Really? You’re a very good photographer.”
“I wanted my own studio at one time, but I’m a Stanley,” she said. “Chocolate is what I do.”
“Sweetheart, you do know that you can do both.”
“You think so? You think I’m that good?”
Ransom nodded. “These pictures are excellent. Hey, can I hire you to be our official photographer for graduation ceremonies? You could do a much better job than I can.”
“Are you serious?”
He nodded. “It would really help me out and I’ll pay you.”
“Ransom, you don’t have to pay me. Consider it my gift to the boys. I’ll even throw in sets for them.”
He hugged her. “Now take me down memory lane. I want to see what you looked like as a high school student and then college.”
“Why? Because you want a good laugh?”
“No, I’m just curious.”
“Uh-huh,” Coco uttered. “One chuckle and I’m booting you out of here.”
Opening the blue-and-white album, she said, “This was my last year in high school. We lived in Riverside back then.”
“Riverside?”
She nodded. “I graduated from Riverside High School. Did you go there?”
Ransom shook his head. “You were a cheerleader. Why am I not surprised?”
His eyes traveled to the girl standing next to her in the picture. He studied her face for a moment. A strange sensation stirred in him, prompting him to ask, “Who is she?”
Coco grinned. “Oh, that’s my best friend, Elle. You know what? She has your first name for a last name.”
He felt as if he had been kicked in the gut. “Her last name is R-Ransom?”
Coco nodded and turned the page, oblivious to the turbulent thoughts racing through his mind.
“This is when we went to the prom.”
“Are these guys your dates?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Coco answered. “This one was my date and Elle went with him.” She pointed. “He turned out to be a jerk, though.”
“What happened?”
“Oh, he got mad because she didn’t want to sleep with him that night. Elle ended up riding home with me.”
“It looks like you two were very close.”
“We are. Our parents were best friends, so we spent a lot of time with them. Both of my brothers are close to Elle’s brothers. In fact, Michael used to date Ivy. She’s Elle’s olde
st sister. He was heartbroken when she married someone else.”
Ransom was still reeling from the revelation that the woman he was dating shared a close relationship with his father’s children. He didn’t know exactly how many there were, and he wanted to ask, but knew that would stir Coco’s curiosity.
He considered that he might have given her too much information on his past. What if she started putting two and two together?
No one knows about me.
His mother had often told him that he looked a lot like his father. If that were true, then wouldn’t Coco have seen the similarities?
It angered him that she knew more about the other half of his family than he did. Coco showed him pictures from vacations that the two families had taken together. Ransom tried not to let it bother him, but it did.
“Hey, you okay?” she asked. She wore a look of concern on her face.
Ransom rose to his feet. “Actually, I’m not feeling well,” he told her.
“Do you think my cooking made you sick?” Coco appeared alarmed. “The chicken was cooked all the way through. I—”
He cut her off by saying, “Sweetheart, it wasn’t your cooking. Dinner was fine.”
“But you’re not feeling well. You were fine when you came over here.”
“It’s more from exhaustion,” Ransom said. “Look, I know we were going to go out later for dessert, but I think I’m just going to go home. I’ve got a long day tomorrow. I’m sorry.”
“Are you going to be able to drive?” she asked. “If you need me to, I can take you home. You can pick up your car tomorrow.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Coco walked him to the door.
He kissed her goodbye, then left quickly.
Later at home, Ransom went through his own photo album.
“Why didn’t you just tell him about me?” he whispered. “Why did you ever tell me about him? Didn’t you know that I would try to seek him out?”
Ransom had a thought. “Maybe that’s what you wanted me to do.”
Something was wrong with Ransom.
He had been fine when he first arrived, so what could have upset him so much that he practically ran out of her house?
If it wasn’t her chicken alfredo, then what happened to bring the evening to a sudden halt?
Coco replayed the events in her mind as she went back through the album, page by page.
She couldn’t forget the pain she’d glimpsed in his eyes. She had never seen those beautiful, warm brown eyes look so sad.
Coco glanced at Elle’s picture, and then frowned.
She picked up another album—the one with the Stanley-Ransom family vacation memories. Her eyes traveled to the pictures of Elle’s brothers. Ray, Prescott and Laine looked most like their father, but even Ellie had their father’s eyes. She gasped.
“Oh, my goodness!” she uttered as she realized what Ransom must have seen. He had found his siblings. “Is this…could it be?”
What am I thinking? Ransom never saw his father.
But that didn’t mean that he didn’t have a photo of the man.
Coco decided to wait and see if Ransom said something to her. But until then, she was going to do some investigating on her own.
Chapter 8
The next day, Ransom surprised her at the shop wit flowers and an apology. “I shouldn’t have left like I did last night.”
“Do you want to tell me what’s going on with you?” she asked.
“I was tired,” he told her. “It had nothing to do with your cooking.”
“Are you sure?” she pressed. “Because you seemed more upset than anything.”
Ransom couldn’t quite read her expression, but felt that Coco knew more than she was letting on. “No, I was tired.”
“Okay. Well, you don’t owe me an apology,” she said. “But the flowers were a really nice touch.”
He smiled. “Can I make it up to you tonight?”
Coco gave a slight shrug. “Sure, if you’re up to it.”
“I am, because there’s something I think that we need to discuss.”
“This sounds really serious.”
Ransom met her eyes. “It is, in my opinion, Coco.”
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“I’ll be there around seven.”
“That’s fine. Oh, you might want to bring dinner. I’m not cooking for you again until I’m sure the chicken wasn’t the problem.”
Ransom chuckled. “Coco, the chicken alfredo was great. I was just tired, and when I get that run-down, my body starts to crash. That’s what happened.”
There was that expression again.
Coco looked as if she expected some other reason. Had she figured out his secret? He didn’t dare ask, in the event he was just being paranoid.
Could a relationship still work between them when she found out the truth? Coco was more family to the Ransoms than he was. If she had to pick a side, which would she choose?
Maybe it would be better to end things with her now. Ransom loved her and didn’t want to put her in the middle of a mess that had been created by his mother.
Coco paced back and forth across the hardwood floor, her stomach full of nervous energy.
He’s going to break up with me.
She could feel it.
It was torture waiting for Ransom to arrive. Coco wanted to get it over and done with.
The doorbell rang, startling her. She rushed to open the front door, then stepped aside so he could enter. He had stopped to pick up some dinner for them.
That’s a good sign, right? He’s not going to sit down and have dinner with me and then just dump me.
They didn’t talk much while they ate.
Every now and then Coco would catch him staring at her. It was as if he were photographing her with his eyes.
That was a bad sign, she decided. In the past, they’d had stimulating conversations over meals. Coco couldn’t take it anymore.
She pushed her plate away and said, “Ransom, what did you come here to talk about? I’d rather we get that out of the way.”
“Coco, I’m going through something right now and…right now, I can’t really talk about it because I have to figure some stuff out.”
She wiped her mouth on the edge of her napkin before saying, “I thought as much.”
“I came here with the intention of putting our relationship on hold until I could get some answers, but when I pulled into your driveway, I realized that I can’t do it. I can’t do it because I’m in love with you.”
His gaze was riveted on her face. “I love you, Coco.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.
Did he just say the L word?
Coco tried again. “Please tell me that I didn’t hear you wrong. Can you say it again, please?”
Ransom smiled. “I love you.”
Impelled by her own emotions, Coco got up and walked around the table toward him.
He pushed his chair back and she sat down on his lap.
Gathering her into his arms, Ransom held her snugly. “This feels so right to me,” he whispered. “I couldn’t give you up.”
“I love you, too, Ransom. I want you to know that you’re not alone. We can get through anything you’re facing—we can do it together.”
I hope you’re right, he thought silently.
She was watching him, studying his expression. Coco smiled then, stirring something within him.
“Sweetheart, there’s something else that we need to talk about.”
“What is it?”
“I’m celibate,” Ransom blurted out. “I have been for five years.”
“Oh…Oh.” Coco stood up and sat down in the chair beside him, trying not to laugh.
“As you can tell, my desire for you is in overdrive, but I can’t act on it, sweetheart.”
“I knew you were a Christian,” she said.
“It’s not just a label for me.”
&nbs
p; “You had to take it there, didn’t you?” Coco asked. He laughed.
“It’s been awhile for me, too,” she said finally. “Not as long as you, but I am traveling down the same path. To be honest with you, my choice to remain abstinent had nothing to do with my faith, but more to do with my health. I enjoy living a disease-free life and I’d like to keep it that way.”
They left the table and walked into the den.
Ransom pulled her into his arms, kissing her lips. His tongue sent shivers of desire racing through her. Coco matched him kiss for kiss.
Weakened by his yearning for her, Ransom pulled away, saying, “Sweetheart, we really have to stop.”
“I know…but I don’t want to,” she moaned. The kiss had left her weak and a bit confused.
Ransom kissed the top of her head. “Coco, you have my flesh screaming for you right now.”
It was going to take all of his willpower to walk out of her house tonight. Ransom was going to have to leave soon before he gave in to the passion that had been building ever since he first laid eyes on Coco.
Chapter 9
“I’m so glad you were able to meet me for lunch,” Coco told Elle. “How have you been feeling lately?”
Two weeks had passed since her friends had found out she was pregnant.
“I’m still tired a lot, but it’s not as bad as it was.”
“I haven’t talked to you since you had your doctor’s appointment. How did it go?”
“Great,” she answered. “I’m definitely pregnant. Almost twelve weeks, and Brennan is thrilled. We haven’t told the boys yet. I want to wait until we’re sure the pregnancy is viable.”
“You had no idea?”
“Not at all,” she responded.
“I’m so happy for you and Brennan.”
Elle smiled. “We couldn’t be more excited.”
Coco scanned her menu, trying to decide what she wanted to eat.
The waiter came to take their order.
“How are your parents doing?” Elle asked after he left. “Mama told me she had lunch with your mom last week. I think they’re getting together at least once or twice a month.”
“My mom told me that they are going to start spending time at the spa. She said they’re going to go at least once a week.”
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