He laughed and she looked up at him as she joined in.
“We’re going to be okay?” A year ago, no one could have told her she would have even asked that question in regard to herself and Troy. Hell, a month ago she thought she could have cared less about the self-proclaimed playboy. But now everything she held dear depended on the answer to that question.
“Yes, I believe we will.”
“Okay, now tell me this story again,” Sonya slurred after her second margarita.
They had decided to come to the happy hour at an authentic Mexican bar and grill in Greektown. The nachos and bargain-priced drinks seemed like a great idea at the time…
Jazz sighed. It was only the seventh or eighth time she had told the story of how she and Troy saw each other in the airport and fell in love soon after. She had told the story so much she was starting to believe it herself.
After a week of working and living with her former arch-nemesis who had somehow turned into the, unbeknownst to him, love of her life, she needed this girls’ night out.
She and Troy had worked out a seamless work routine. They had a rapport and camaraderie in front of the camera that very few could rival. And if she didn’t personally have her eye on Oprah’s pie and eventually hosting her own talk show, she might have been inclined to tell Regis and Kelly they ought to watch their backs. She and Troy were just that good.
“I do not want to hear that bogus-ass story yet again. Jazz, I know you don’t think we believe that. Y’all might have had me a little fooled in the hospital last week. But that was because I had just given birth and the labor had me out of it. Now that I’ve had time to mull over this so-called marriage, I realize there is a lot you aren’t telling us.” Alicia took another sip from her virgin strawberry daiquiri.
Jazz rolled her eyes at her two sorority sisters and friends. She and the beautiful but very opinionated Alicia went all the way back to freshman year at college. When they had first met, she didn’t think that she and the absolutely stunning Black American Princess would hit it off. Alicia, with her hazel eyes, milk-chocolate skin and long, curly, jet-black hair, had a long-legged strut that would have made runway models jealous. Jazz was more of an earthy beauty, with brown eyes, thicker hair, thicker lips and definitely a thicker body.
When Sir Mix-a-Lot rapped, “Red beans and rice didn’t miss her,” all he needed to do was add a line about rice and peas and he would have had Jazz covered. She had back and lots of it. And then there was the fact that Alicia came from money, old money, and Jazz didn’t. But somehow they became the best of friends in spite of or maybe because of all their differences. And Jazz got a front-row seat into Alicia’s world and met Sonya and the other old-money Detroit black blue bloods.
Sonya was a shade or two lighter than her brother, Troy. And she wore her long chemically straightened light-brown hair back with a headband. If Jazz thought she and Alicia didn’t have anything in common when they first met, she knew for sure that she and Sonya were probably as diametrically opposed as any two people could ever be. Where being a black debutante had been a rite of passage that went back several generations for Sonya, the only reason Jazz had any kind of similar passage into womanhood was because the Boston Alumnae Chapter of Delta sponsored a Delta Debutante Cotillion and her teacher, who had been a member of the chapter, saw something in Jazz that she wanted to nurture.
Jazz’s mother had never had time for those kinds of things, but she encouraged her daughter to take part. That experience was the reason Jazz ended up pledging Delta when she went to college. And this reminded her of yet another way that she was different from her two friends. They were both Delta legacies from several generations of Delta women, and her mother hadn’t been able to attend college because she had a child to raise. But none of that mattered now, because these two women were the closest things she had to sisters. And she hated lying to them…
“Okay, here we go… Sonya, no, I will not tell you the story again. I’m tired of it already and you know it’s bad when you make a woman tired of hearing her own love story. Sheesh. And, Alicia, that is the full extent of the story and all the story you’re going to get. My goodness! Can’t a girl have any modesty these days? Do you really want to hear all about how he put it on me until I didn’t know if I was coming or going and had me speaking in tongues?”
“Yes!” Alicia and Sonya said in unison.
“Well, too bad, there are some things a lady has to keep between her and her man!” Jazz laughed. They were a hot mess and she loved them.
“Booo, you used to be fun. Now you’re turning into a mean old married lady.” Alicia sipped her virgin drink and joined Jazz in laughter.
“Yeah, we used to be able to live vicariously through all of your exploits. Now that you’ve married my brother, you’re no fun.” Sonya rolled her eyes and then she narrowed them. “And you better not hurt my big brother with all your player mack momma ways. He may be a slut puppy, but he’s a nice guy, and if he married you and gave you our grandmother’s ring, then he must really love you. So, don’t break his heart or I’ll forget we’re friends and you’re my soror and I’ll kick your butt.”
Seeing Troy’s normally proper sister slightly inebriated and threatening violence would have been funny if Jazz wasn’t worried about her own heart getting broken.
“Ple-ase, if anything we have to worry about Troy breaking Jazz’s heart. That’s why I have Darren giving him a good talking to right now. Troy has been sniffing around Jazz for years and she wouldn’t give him any play. He probably married her as a last-ditch effort to get in her pants. I’m sorry now that I tried to play matchmaker when I got married and had him pick her up from the airport. I feel awful about that! I put you smack dab in the middle of the player’s sights.” Alicia reached over and gave her a hug.
Jazz arched her eyebrow and studied her friend in mock concern. “Are you sure they’re giving you virgin daiquiris? Because you must be drunk or have lost your mind if you think any man is going to break my heart.” Jazz rolled her eyes and gave a steups for good measure. “Yuh mus’ be crazy for truth if yuh tink dat.”
Jazz speaking in dialect must have triggered a memory of Jazz’s mother for Alicia because her friend became almost weepy then. If they weren’t giving her alcohol in those daiquiris then it must have been the post-pregnancy hormones that had Alicia so emotional.
“Oh, I miss your mom, Jazz. Carlyne was like a second mother to me.” Alicia hugged Jazz. “Oh, and I miss your mom, too, Sonya.”
A confused expression crossed Sonya’s face. “My mother isn’t dead.”
“Yeah, but since the divorce and since she started having her midlife crises, she has been globetrotting more than your player brother and she has more boy toys than even Jazz used to have. So I miss the mother she used to be before she lost her damn mind.” Alicia busted out laughing.
If Jazz were going to start feeling sorry for herself about her mother’s death it went away with Alicia’s outrageous statement to Sonya.
“You are a nut, Alicia!” Jazz said as she joined in with Alicia’s infectious giggling.
Sonya rolled her eyes. “That is not funny, Alicia. I’m going to tell her when I talk to her.”
“Yeah, that’s if you remember after one more margarita, girlfriend,” Alicia quipped. Then she smirked. “Bartender, get this woman another margarita, please.”
Sonya glared at Alicia, but she didn’t turn down the drink. Jazz got another piña colada and tried to enjoy the rest of the night out with the girls without wondering exactly what Darren was saying to Troy and if Alicia and Sonya were right to be concerned that Troy might break her heart.
Troy had been home for a good hour and a half by the time Jazz made it home. He’d gotten tired of Darren and Kendrick getting in his business and wanting to know things about his relationship with Jazz that he hadn’t exactly figured out himself yet.
All he knew was what started out as a mutual favor between somewhat friends had become s
omething else entirely. And the stakes were higher.
He was in a position to lose a whole lot more than just his television show.
He hadn’t made love to her since the day before he found out about her being his cohost on Detroit Live. There were times when he hadn’t been able to help kissing her or caressing her, but he had managed, barely, to refrain from making love to her again.
It had been a long week, and being around her without having her had made him more than a little irritable. The more he thought about it, Darren and Kendrick were actually lucky that he hadn’t cursed them out.
He was relaxing in his man chair when Jazz came through the door. She carefully hung up her coat and put away her purse before walking over to him. The care and caution she took as she put away her things and walked over were the very reasons he didn’t notice that she was slightly tipsy until she got right in front of him.
She looked at him for a full minute and a funny expression came over her face before she plopped down on his lap.
“Whoa. Somebody has had a little too much to drink.”
“No I haven’t. I’m just feeling a little…ni-ce.”
“Hmm… I’d bet money that you bypassed nice about two drinks before your last and you’re more in the ki-nd category right about now.”
She laughed at his joke without catching an attitude, and that’s how he knew she was loaded.
“Did Alicia play designated driver tonight? Because I know if my sister Sonya gets more than one drink in her she isn’t any good to drive.”
“Yeah, Alicia is breast-feeding our little godbaby, so she will be the designated driver for a while now.” She perked up a little and asked, “Did you see our goddaughter today?”
“Yes I did. She’s getting bigger already. And looking more and more like her mother every day.”
“Aww… I have to go see her tomorrow.” She sighed.
“This is our chair, Troy. Coming home and seeing you sitting in our chair made me very horny. You haven’t made love to me in over a week. Don’t you want me anymore? Or was Alicia right and you married me as an elaborate scheme to get in my pants?”
“She said what? What is with Alicia and her nosy husband? The way they are knee-deep in our business you would think they didn’t have three kids to worry about.”
“I know, right!” Jasmine became so indignant he knew it had to be the alcohol. “And your sister threatened to kick my ass if I hurt you! Can you believe that?”
“Sonya? No. First of all, my sister wouldn’t say the a-word. And second of all, she’s so prissy and proper she would never threaten anyone.”
“Okay she didn’t say ass, she said butt, but it’s the same thing. As if we have to worry about me breaking your heart,” she mumbled. “They need to be worrying about you breaking my heart.” He chuckled.
Yes, she was definitely drunk.
There was no way in hell his Jasmine would allow herself to be that vulnerable and put all her cards on the table like that.
“I’d never break your heart, Jasmine.” He kissed her on the forehead.
She looked up at him with the most earnest expression in her big brown eyes. “You promise?”
He smiled. “I promise.”
She smiled as she fought back a yawn. She placed her head back on his chest. “Good, because I don’t need a sister to kick your ass if you do. I’ll kick it myself.” She stifled another yawn and the next thing he knew a light and lyric snoring sound wafted through the air.
He shook his head. Leave it to Jasmine to threaten him and then fall right to sleep in his arms.
He stood and carried her to the bedroom. Their little discussion had given him a lot to think about.
The next morning he saw that they had been hit by quite a bit of snow. It had accumulated to several inches overnight. He figured that Jasmine would be nursing a slight hangover, so he started the coffee before he woke her up.
She’d said the night before that she wanted to go see their goddaughter, so he figured they could get an early start and maybe catch a movie after. He saw that the guy he paid to plow his driveway had come through. But he still had to handle the sidewalk and path to the front door.
Once the coffee was done, he brought a cup into the bedroom and placed it on the nightstand by Jasmine. She didn’t move an inch and hardly seemed to notice the coffee was in the room.
“Jasmine,” he started. “Wake up, sweetheart. It’s time to start the day. I made coffee.”
She made a grumbling, mumbling sound and placed the pillow over her head.
“Jasmine? I know you hear me. Wake up. You said you wanted to go see Ashley today. Time to rise and shine.”
She grunted and groaned and pulled the pillow tighter over her head.
“Okay. I’m going out to snow-blow the sidewalk and walkway. Be ready by the time I’m done so we can go see Ashley and the boys. And since we can’t very well go visit Alicia and Darren’s bunch without going to see Sonya and Kendrick’s bunch, we should plan to visit there as well.”
He got up. “And if you let your coffee get cold, there’s more in the kitchen. You’ll just have to get up and get it.”
He could have sworn he heard her mumble and mimic the exact words he had just said to her.
After about an hour and a half of snow-blowing, he finally made his way back up the sidewalk. Jasmine hadn’t come out yet, and that meant they were probably going to get a late start.
Then again, maybe they could stay in after all. There was nothing like an afternoon of snowy-day lovemaking to warm the blood.
He smiled as he remembered the last time he and Jasmine had made love. It had only been a week ago, and that was too long. When a man had a wife as vibrant and as sexy as Jasmine, making love to her less than seven times a week was a crime. He should have been making love to her every single day of the week, several times a day. He’d have to rectify that.
Just as he started to think about ways that he could wake her up when he got back inside, a snowball hit him in the chest. He looked up and couldn’t tell where it had come from, only to have another snowball get him smack-dab on the side of his head.
This time he saw his little snowball-throwing wife dart around the side of the house.
“Nice arm, Jasmine,” he yelled. “But you really don’t want to let that hand of yours write a check your behind can’t cash.” He picked up some snow and started shaping his snowball as he went off after her. Before he made it to the side of the house another snowball hit him in the back and he knew that she had come back around the other side.
It took him a minute to figure out her routine, but he caught her just as she came back around and grabbed her. He fell backward into the snow with her on top of him and then he rolled her over. He held her arms and straddled her.
She struggled to get free. “Let me go.”
“Say please.”
“Please.” She said with about as much sincerity as a used car salesman.
“No.” He kissed her instead, and soon they were making out and leaving their impressions of love in the snow.
When he finally stopped kissing her, he noticed that her teeth were chattering. He got up and lifted her out of the snow.
“Go get warmed up. I’m going to put away the snow blower. But when I get inside, I’m coming for you.”
She picked up a handful of snow and doused him with it before he could move.
“Promises, promises,” she sang out as she made her way back into the house.
Jazz didn’t know what came over her when she went outside. She had only meant to go out there and let Troy know that she was ready to leave for Alicia’s whenever he was. But something happened to her when she saw him and suddenly she felt like playing. She had to admit that she hadn’t had that much fun in the snow since she was a kid and they’d had huge snowball fights when the schools were closed because of snow days.
And she certainly had never made out in the snow so passionately. No wonder it had t
aken her a minute to realize that she was freezing her butt off! Troy’s heated kisses were burning her up from the inside out.
Just as she had gotten out of the last of her snow-damp clothing, she heard the bedroom door open and close. She looked up and saw that Troy had walked in with his hands behind his back.
He had a devilish grin on his face and she knew that meant payback.
“Now, Troy. You wouldn’t do anything to an unarmed woman would you?” She took careful steps backward, trying to make her way to the master bathroom so that she could lock herself in while whatever snow weapon he was carrying melted.
“Funny. You had no problem throwing multiple snowballs at an unarmed man.”
“True, very true. But I’m a horrible, horrible person. And you should aim to do better. Be the bigger man and all that stuff.”
He laughed and shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Jasmine. Now are you going to take your punishment like a woman or are you going to punk up like a little girl?”
She sighed. Her honor was at stake. “I won’t go out like a punk. I’ll take my punishment… Like a woman…” She fell back onto the bed in a splayed position with her neck bared and everything. She was totally over the top and hamming it up for all it was worth.
“That’s a good girl.” He walked over to the bed and she saw that he hadn’t had snow behind his back. He had an ice bucket. He placed it on the nightstand and started to undress.
His body never ceased to amaze her. He epitomized masculinity in her mind. The tall, solid, muscular strength of him left her in awe. Every ripple and ridge of his frame made her want to run her finger over his skin. His caramel complexion made her want to lick.
But more than anything, she wondered what he planned to do with that ice.
She didn’t have to wait long to find out. He finished undressing quickly, grabbed a piece of ice and joined her on the bed. He straddled her, taking the ice and tracing her left nipple with deep concentration.
At First Kiss Page 9