Luke sighed. “Please tell me you’re not going to be this difficult the entire time.”
Kyra shook her head, ready to tell him that she wasn’t being difficult, when a thought came to mind. Luke may have given her a half-assed apology back when he’d made her feel like she was absurd for flirting with him, but he hadn’t felt her full wrath yet. She’d been too busy nursing a broken heart and avoiding him at all costs—which had been pretty difficult considering her brothers seemed so intent on inviting him to everything.
Turning on her heels, she crossed her arms over her chest and told him, “I can be difficult if I want because this is a big purchase for me. My first big purchase, in fact. Would you talk to your other clients this way?”
“When they are being unreasonably rude, yes.”
“So now I’m unreasonable, too?” she huffed. “And you really think it’s for no reason?” Kyra walked toward the front door. “This was the last place we had to see today, right? How about we just meet up when you find more places.”
“Kyra, wait,” Luke said, approaching her as she neared the door. “I think we knew early this morning that today wasn’t going how either of us planned. So how about we have lunch—and I mean actually have lunch—at the café near the boutique. I really do want to find you a condo you will love and I want to have at least a couple storefronts for you to check out this week, so I need to see the place.”
Kyra bit the side of her cheek and observed Luke, taking note of the sincerity in his voice. Oh, she still wanted to make him pay for how he’d treated her, but she also wanted to hit. She’d skipped breakfast because her nerves were so bad. “Okay,” she finally said, sticking out her hand. “For the sake of a tasty turkey-and-cheese sandwich, let’s call a truce so we can eat lunch.”
Smirking, he slipped her hand in his, the warmth immediately giving her those tingles she hadn’t felt in far too long. “It’s a deal.”
* * *
Luckily, when they arrived at the café, the lunch crowd wasn’t too bad. They both ordered sandwiches and took a seat in a booth by the front windows.
“This is my favorite place to sit,” Kyra said, doing her best to refrain from soaking in how delicious Luke looked now that she’d called a truce for the next half hour. “I do the best people-watching here.”
“You still people-watch, huh?”
“Always! I also still play the people-watching game I used to play when I was a kid. The one where you decide a person’s occupation, age and main personality traits based off how they dress and walk.”
“I remember,” Luke said with a laugh. “Didn’t your mom tell you to quit being so nosy when Mr. Henderson who lived next door complained about you?”
“He only complained because I caught him cheating on his wife,” Kyra explained. “I may have only been eight at the time, but even then, I knew he shouldn’t be kissing that woman who used to sneak into his house after his wife went to work.”
Luke laughed. “Detective Kyra, blowing up marriages even at a young age.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “The way you’re saying it makes it seem like I’ve blown up other marriages.”
“You have.”
“Whose marriage?”
“Remember Mr. Roscoe who drove the ice-cream truck? One day, he didn’t give you the ice-cream bar you wanted because he said he didn’t like your attitude.”
“My attitude? You know how Mr. Roscoe was. He had an attitude every day, but had the nerve to try and cheat little kids out of money by serving those off-brand Popsicles and ice-cream bars.”
Luke nodded his head. “That may be true, but you didn’t have to walk all the way to his house and tell his wife that he spent a little too much time with Shirley from down the street. All it took was one accusation for his wife to follow him the next day and find him at Shirley’s house stepping out on his marriage.”
Kyra shrugged. “Not my fault. He should never have tried me in the first place. Had he treated us kids better, I never would have said anything.”
Luke laughed, the sound causing her to laugh right along with him. It was always that way with Luke. One minute he’d be saying something to annoy her, and the next they’d be laughing over something one of them said.
“I’ve missed this,” he admitted after he took a bite of his sandwich. “I understand why we grew apart, but I’ve missed laughing with you over stupid stuff.”
Kyra smiled. Luke’s dark-honey complexion and deep brown eyes almost made her choke on her water as she watched him. Observed him. Wondered when he’d chosen to cut off his curls and trade them in for a low fade. He was the same Luke, yet he was far from the boy she used to know. However, there was a part of her that also felt like not much had changed. His core was still the same. Despite how pissed he’d made her when he’d broken her heart, he really was a good guy. Still cared about doing charity work and giving back to his community, unlike some other guys she knew. Social media couldn’t tell her everything, but it told her enough to paint a picture of the type of man Luke had turned out to be.
“I know what you mean,” she finally replied. Her eyes held his as she took a bite of her own sandwich. Back in the day, she felt like she always knew what Luke was thinking. However, the man sitting across from her was harder to read. His feelings were more guarded than she’d remembered.
Understanding teenage Luke and young-adult Luke was a quality she’d perfected. But grown-up Luke, who was looking at her with low-lidded eyes? Yeah, she needed more practice with this one.
* * *
“Here’s the shop,” Kyra announced as they walked through the door. As Luke had predicted, the shop was buzzing with customers on their lunch break. “The main level is our boutique and the top level is our boudoir studio.”
Luke glanced around, admiring the shop. “I really like the decor,” he said. “Seems to fit the flow of the Chicago and Miami boutiques, but it has a certain Cali flair.”
Kyra smiled. “That’s what we were going for.” She spoke to a couple of the associates who greeted them when they walked past toward the stairs. “Follow me and I’ll show you the studio.”
They ascended the stairs, Luke’s gaze focused on Kyra’s backside even though he wasn’t trying to check her out. Damn. Kyra still knew how to wear a pair of jeans better than any woman he’d ever met before. Even though he shouldn’t have been checking for her back then, he knew from years of watching her when he thought no one was looking that she was one of those women who was just born with an extra switch in her hips and curve to her thighs.
“You better not be checking out my ass, O’Connor,” Kyra said, glancing over her shoulder.
“Uh, I was just watching your feet to make sure you don’t trip.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you were.” When they reached the top, once again Luke was caught off guard by how similar it looked to the Chicago location with regard to the decor. However, the vibe in this studio was different than any he’d felt before.
“It feels good up here,” he said, walking past the grand bed in the corner covered in a plush white comforter and large beige pillows. “I’m not sure what it is that’s different, but I like it.”
When his eyes met Kyra’s, he noted the look of surprise. “I’ve thought that exact same thing so many times before. Decor-wise, my sisters-in-law wanted the studio to be similar to Chicago, and although we achieved that, I remember walking into this place after the interior was finished, wondering what was different. I even told Nicole and Aaliyah, who opened this location with me, and neither one of them could put their finger on it, either.”
She walked past some more furniture that Luke assumed was staged for the next photoshoot. “Unexplained reasons like this are exactly why I like to see the current locations of businesses before finding them a new home.”
“That makes you a great real-estate agent.”
>
“Wow! Did Kyra Reed just give me a compliment?”
She smirked. “Don’t let it go to your head. All I meant was that most of them wouldn’t care about something as small as a feeling.”
“The good ones would,” he said. “Being a good real-estate agent is a lot like being a matchmaker.”
“Oh, hold on,” Kyra said, pulling him over to two stools. “I have to be seated to hear how you plan on justifying that a real-estate agent is anything close to a matchmaker.”
“Whoa, slow down.” Luke held out his arms. “I said a good real-estate agent, not all real-estate agents.”
Kyra waved him off. “Some. All. You know what I meant.”
He shook his head before explaining. “In real estate it’s about helping a person find their next home or business. It’s about showing them the different options available to them in the hopes that they will find something they love. It’s about that feeling in the pit of their stomach that they get when they’ve found the perfect one. When they’ve fallen in love with the right one. Most people think being a real-estate agent is like being a salesperson, when in all honesty, it’s more like being a matchmaker than anything.”
Kyra observed him with an amused look on her face. “Well, well, well, O’Connor, dare I say that your words have gotten much deeper than that time you made the correlation between a garbageman and a bartender.”
Luke laughed. “I was drunk when I tried to connect those two. You shouldn’t hold that against me.”
“Oh, I will definitely hold that against you, but seriously, I love that. The real-estate agent being the perfect matchmaker.” She leaned closer to him, causing his heartbeat to quicken. “So now is the time when I ask you to use matchmaker terminology with me until you’re able to find my perfect one.”
Luke wasn’t sure if it was the fact that she was leaning toward him or the way her lips curled into a mesmerizing O when she said the last word, but he wanted to kiss her. Badly. And the fact that they hadn’t talked out any of their issues was only part of the reason he needed to maintain control. So it only felt fitting when he told her, “Absolutely not.”
Chapter 4
“I can’t believe you and Kendrick are planning another party,” Kyra said to Nicole as the two of them and Aaliyah walked into Nicole and Kendrick’s home. “Now you know I love me a good party, but y’all just had a ridiculously huge one a couple months ago.”
The ladies had been at the shop longer than usual to finish up a boudoir photoshoot. Kyra had insisted that Nicole return home to set up for her party tonight, but she’d assured Kyra that they would arrive in plenty of time before the party. Glancing at her iPhone and noticing they had an hour before the official party kickoff, she was right.
“That party was my idea after we finished producing that romance movie in the studio. This party was Kendrick’s idea because we wrapped up on that action movie he was dying to get his hands on.”
Aaliyah shook her head. “Nic, you and Kendrick are the only couple I know who try to throw parties to outdo one another.”
“I agree,” Kyra said. “But it’s so y’all.”
“You’re married,” Aaliyah added.
“You sure are,” Kyra agreed.
“So his party is your party and vice versa. It shouldn’t matter which one is bigger and better.”
Kyra stopped walking and turned to Aaliyah. “And that’s where my agreement stops because when I get married, he better be prepared for me to outdo him in every way possible.”
“That’s my girl,” Nicole said, slapping Kyra’s hand.
Aaliyah shook her head. “Sometimes, I don’t know what to do about the two of you.”
Kyra and Nicole both opened their mouths to comment, but neither got a chance when Kendrick walked into the living room. “Looks like the Three Musketeers are all here.”
“I hate that nickname,” Kyra said, giving him a hug after Aaliyah gave hers.
“I kinda like it,” Aaliyah said. “That movie was good, too.”
Kendrick pointed to Aaliyah. “You see, that’s why you’re my favorite of Nicole’s friends.”
Kyra rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help but laugh at the way Aaliyah teared up at Kendrick’s words. Aaliyah was already an emotional person—add pregnancy hormones to that and she was a walking cry-bomb.
“Kyra, you’re just in time. I’m dying to know if anyone ever called the cops on you for people-watching?”
Kyra blinked rapidly. “Wait, what? Why would you ask something like that? And how did you know about my people-watching?”
Her question was answered the moment Luke slid into the living room looking guilty. “My bad, Kyra. I may or may not have said something to Kendrick about it.” Bryant, Aaliyah’s husband, walked into the room right after, wearing an amused look on his face.
“Why didn’t you tell us you knew Luke?” Bryant asked.
Kyra shook her head. “Better question. How do you know Luke?”
“When we lived in Chicago, he attended the same boys-and-girls club that we went to,” Kendrick answered. “When I heard he’d moved to Cali, I knew we had to get him to a party.”
Luke took a step forward and reached out his hand to Nicole. “You must be Kendrick’s wife. It’s very nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” Nicole said, winking at Kyra as she did so.
“And you must be Aaliyah,” he said next. “Bryant has been talking about you all night.”
Aaliyah’s eyes widened in surprise. “How did you guess I was Aaliyah and not Nicole?”
Luke laughed and turned to Bryant. “You’re right, man. She is funny.”
“She is,” Bryant replied, a big grin on his face. “But she’s dead serious. The pregnancy has her acting a little different.” As if her husband’s words made it click, she glanced down at her belly and started laughing, finally understanding how Luke knew she was Bryant’s wife.
“When I saw you yesterday, you didn’t mention you would be here tonight,” Kyra said to Luke.
“When we were together, I didn’t know I was coming, either. Kendrick called me this morning.”
Kyra glanced from Kendrick to Nicole. “Funny that all of a sudden, Luke was invited tonight.”
“I thought the same thing,” he admitted.
“Enough with the awkward introductions,” Kendrick interjected. “Nicole and I still have some setting up to do before the others arrive, but why don’t you all get something to eat and hang out while we finish.”
“I’ll help y’all,” Bryant said, following Kendrick and Nicole. Aaliyah looked between Kyra and Luke before smiling and waddling out of the room behind her husband.
Great. Kyra had thought she was in for a night full of fun with her friends during which she’d be able to vent about the fact that Luke had walked back into her life. Guess the joke is on me. And why did he have to look so good in a pair of dark jeans and a navy polo? He was sporting that look that was a cross between bashful and sexy, his eyes darting across her face, studying her. Observing her.
“If you take a picture, it will last longer,” she said with a smirk.
He smiled. “Did anyone ever tell you that your mouth may get you in trouble one day?”
“My entire life,” she told him proudly. “You can give me that look all you want, but you knew I was going to call you out.”
“I did,” he admitted. “I guess I wanted to hear that smart mouth of yours to break the tension.”
“Oh, there is a lot more where this came from.”
He shook his head. “Don’t I know it.”
“If you know it, then I suggest you tread lightly.” Kyra glanced around the empty front room, the soft sounds of whatever holiday playlist that was coming through the Bluetooth speakers filling the silence in Nicole and Kendrick’s living room.
“I love this song,” Luke said as a new song started.
“Me, too. ‘Santa Baby’ has always been one of my favs.”
“Especially Eartha Kitt’s version,” he added. They stood there for a few long minutes, Kyra unsure of how to fill the awkward silence.
“I’m sure you’ve already guessed this,” she said, “but my friends wanted to give us alone time to talk. Funny thing is, I feel like this was more the guys’ idea than my girls’, but that doesn’t make sense. Kendrick and Bryant aren’t the meddling type.”
“I may have had something to do with that,” he admitted. “I’m not on social media much, but I remembered Kendrick and Bryant from back in the day. Also remember seeing them at a wedding I went to years ago.”
“Their cousin Imani’s wedding, right?” Kyra asked. “She’s close with Taheim and I remember the three of you hanging out when I was little.”
Luke squinted. “Sometimes your memory surprises me.”
She shrugged. “My memory isn’t that great.” She left out the part where at one point, she thought Luke had a crush on Imani so, of course, even as a young girl, she’d paid close attention. Plus, she’d always liked Imani.
“Anyway, I reached out this morning and Kendrick hit me up, asked me what I’d been doing since I moved to LA. I mentioned you and he said you were a good friend of his and his wife and invited me to the party.”
“When you mentioned me, what did you say?”
Luke’s eyes widened. “Oh, you know. Just that I’ve known you most my life and that I’m close to your brothers. That sort of thing.”
Kyra got the distinct impression that he wasn’t telling her everything, but she didn’t push it. “You know, we don’t have to stand here and make awkward conversation. We can just join the others and help them finish setting up.”
“I don’t know,” he said, stepping closer to her. “I kinda like making awkward conversation with you. Although if I’m being honest, it doesn’t feel all that awkward. You’ve always been one of my favorite people to talk to.”
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