Falling For Rome

by Edwina Fort

  However, I was starving. I looked down at my plate and frowned.

  “What the hell is this?”

  Sitting on my plate looking like something foreign was a white omelet that was stuffed full of something green topped with sliced sautéed tomatoes. I lifted the plate looking under it for the meat and potatoes.

  The grin came back to his handsome face as he picked up his fork and dug in. “The doctor said you have prehypertension.”

  Prehypertension? What the hell kind of nonsense…?

  “What?” My voice was laced with my disgust.

  His honey gaze came up to mine and there was real joy in his eyes. The bastard was enjoying my pain.

  “You have to watch the way you eat, you have prehypertension.”

  “I heard you spew that nonsense the first time. What the hell is prehypertension? Is that like hypertension?”

  He chuckled. “No, it’s prehypertension.” His calm patient tone was really getting on my nerves.

  “Maaaaannnn, where is the meat?”

  “You know, too much meat isn’t good for you. Try your omelet; I stuffed it with organic heirloom spinach and low fat, low oil mozzarella cheese. Those tomatoes were grown in Mrs. Kimble’s community garden.”

  I looked at him with pity as I shook my head, this poor bastard. “Are you trying to poison me?”

  He choked on the bite of food in his mouth from the sudden burst of laughter that came from him. Once he had his passage way cleared, he put his hand on his chest and roared with laughter. He laughed so hard he had to wipe tears from his eyes.

  “Oh damn!” he cried when he regained control of himself. “I ain’t laughed like that in years.”

  His watery gaze settled on me. “Baby, just taste it.”

  I frowned down at and poked it with my finger. “Why is it white?”

  “Because I used egg whites. The yolks are not good for you. Taste it, it’s good.”

  I exhaled. “Fine, do you have some hot sauce?”

  He shook his head. “You have to let go of the hot sauce, it’s not good for your prehypertension.”

  “Prehypertension is not a real thing!” I screamed before I got up and shoved his plate of garbage to the center of the table. “I’ll make my own breakfast!”

  He gestured to the fridge settling back in his chair. “Be my guest…”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. The glee in his gaze told me I was amusing him.

  “You find me amusing?”

  “Very…”

  I marched to the fridge. “Whatever… when I make my good breakfast you can’t have any. So, don’t even try to ask.”

  What the hell was wrong with this man? Prehypertension! Either you got the hypertension or you don’t. What the hell?!

  I snatched open the fridge and stared into it wide eyed.

  Oh my God! This was a nightmare…

  It was packed full of greens, yellows and reds…there were even a few purples. Rabbit food! What I didn’t see was any meat. Nothing prepackaged and ready to go. No buffalo wings or burgers…

  I whipped around to look at him…This was not going to work. He sat there as if he was waiting anxiously to see my expression, when he did, he erupted in another fit of laughter, only angering me more. I didn’t play about my food. It was my only joy in life.

  “Where is the meat?”

  “Sorry, Minha Anjo, I’m a vegetarian.” He couldn’t have slapped me and shocked me more.

  “What the hell kind of thug are you?” I folded my arms pissed. “You’re no real thug, you’re a disgrace to the homies on the street!”

  This made him erupt in another fit of laughter and I swear I was going to throw something at his head.

  He must have realized I wasn’t joking because he stood forcing himself to stop laughing at me, although he couldn’t quite wipe the grin off his face.

  “Come here, baby.” He took my hand and led me back to the table before gently pushing me back in my chair. Then he reached over and grabbed the plate of trash pulling it back in front of me.

  Squatting down next to me he took my fork and cut a piece of the omelet. “I want you to be a big girl and at least try it.” He said holding the fork full of omelet to my mouth.

  I folded my arms again, turning my head away. “I’m not going to like it.”

  “How do you know unless you try it?”

  “I know because I know myself. I’m not going to like it.”

  He gently touched my lip with the omelet. “Come on…open up. You can do this.”

  I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. He was talking to me like I was a small child. What kind of thug did that?

  When I saw that he wasn’t going to give up I opened my mouth for the food. As soon as the unsalted product hit my tongue I gagged, but then tried to chew it quickly to get it over with and ended up gagging two more times before I could get it down.

  He smiled. “See? It wasn’t that bad.”

  I clutched his arm. “Rome, you can’t leave me here without any food.”

  His honey gaze brightened with amusement. “What do you mean? The fridge is packed.”

  “With rabbit food.”

  He stood. “You have to change your diet, sweetheart, it’s killing you. Don’t worry, I’ll help. Finish your breakfast. I need to get ready to head out, my flight leaves in two hours.”

  I sat there and stubbornly refused to touch that plate as he finished getting dressed. I’d rather starve.

  He told me he had a chef that came three times a week and that I would like his food better. He said he was going to send Rob and Happy to check on me and for me to not try and bribe them into giving me anything unhealthy, because he’d already talked to them and they knew better.

  Right before he headed out the door, he came to stand in front of me, pulling me out the chair and into his arms.

  “There are a few things you’re going to have to face. You belong to me now, and you’re not going to get hypertension, because I won’t let you. Now stop pouting and give me a kiss.”

  Over my dead body!

  I turned my head to face the cabinets, but he chuckled and put his finger under my chin turning my head back.

  “Come on, Minha Anjo. I know you’re mad at me, but anything can happen. My plane could crash and I die…then you’ll regret you didn’t give me those luscious lips of yours so that I can at least die happy.”

  I shook my head. “I will not…”

  But that wasn’t true. If he died in a plane crash, I would be hurt. So, because of that, I didn’t stop him when he lowered his lips to mine.

  And I didn’t stop him when his tongue sought entrance to my mouth. It was only because of the fact that he could die that I wrapped my arms around his neck bringing myself closer to him.

  The moan that escaped my throat when he deepened the kiss was a simple farewell…have a safe journey. And he when he lifted me off my feet, bringing me as close as he and I could possibly get, I wrapped my legs around his waist—

  Aww! Who was I kidding? I wrapped my legs around his waist because I needed to feel his hardness pressed against me. Our kiss got so heated I ended up with my back against the fridge and him grinding his hardness into my heat needing to fill me completely.

  “Bruh, Ma heading downstairs…you ready?” Rob said from somewhere behind us, pouring cold water on our flame.

  Rome rested his head against mine as we both tried to catch our breaths. “We’ll finish this discussion when I get back.”

  I nodded… “You promise?”

  He lifted his hand and gently rubbed my bottom lip with his thumb. “Hell yeah…are you going to be good while I’m gone?”

  Grinning I shook my head. “Probably not.”

  He chuckled as he let my feet slide to the floor and then after placing one last brief kiss on my lips, followed his brother towards the door.

  “If you need me…call me.”

&nb
sp; I frowned at his retreating back. “But I don’t have your number.”

  “You don’t need my number…Just call out my name,”

  And then he was gone…

  I stood in the window and watched as he opened his truck door for his mother while Rob loaded her luggage in the back seat. She was not happy. It looked like she didn’t like riding in the truck, probably because it was such a high climb to get in it. She was chewing him out pretty good about it.

  He said something back to her and tried to take her arm to help her up. She smacked his hand away and said something like she could do it herself, and then she grabbed onto the door and put her leg way up on the foot pedestal. But he must have lost patience because he put his hands around her waist and lifted her the rest of the way.

  I laughed because I could hear her screech way up here and the whole time he was lifting her in the truck she was slapping him in the face and on the head telling him to put her down. Several of his men stood waiting for him to get his mom loaded in.

  Once he shut the door he spoke to them for a minute and then pointed at Rob, clearly warning him about something. His little brother waved him away, telling him to relax and that he’ll take care of everything. But there was doubt in Rome’s eyes.

  Eventually he walked around to the driver side and climbed up behind the wheel. But before he dipped his head in, his amber gaze came to me, and he pointed at me and mouthed, behave.

  I threw my head back and laughed…Yeah right, buddy!

  Romeo

  “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re about, Romeo Reevers.” My mother said from the passenger seat of the rental.

  I continued to type on my laptop trying to decode my sister’s front gate security box. This is a redeeming factor for Jo’s punk a**. At least he was truly trying to keep her and my niece safe.

  “I don’t know what you mean, Mom. I’m simply trying to find the email Journey sent me with her gate code in it.”

  She huffed. “You think I’m so stupid. I may not know how to speak computer language, but I know you’re up to no good. I heard that boy call you a hacker. Rob told me you’re like Neo from the Matrix.”

  “Don’t listen to Rob, you know he lies.” I was almost in… “Got it…”

  The gate opened and I drove through.

  “Wow, it’s beautiful! I know Journey is loving this.”

  I grunted. “It’s alright, nothing really to write home about.”

  “Romeo, you do realize you’re going to have to get over whatever beef you have with Jo. Your sister loves him.”

  “Stockholm Syndrome.”

  “You know what? Sometimes you can be just as stubborn as your father.”

  “Well, he was my father.”

  She hit my arm. “Watch your mouth, Romeo!”

  I exhaled. “Sorry, Ma…”

  “I can’t wait to see my grandbaby.” she continued as I helped her out of the car.

  “Ma, can you see if I dropped my phone in the trunk, I can’t find it.”

  As she dug in the trunk, I picked the locks. By the time her head popped up to tell me she didn’t see it the door was open.

  I held up my phone. “I got it…it was in my pocket the whole time.”

  She eyeballed me as she walked past. But then she stopped right in front of me, pointing her finger in my face.

  “Don’t think I don’t know you pawning me off on your sister so that you can misbehave with that pretty caseworker.”

  I grinned. Oh yes! I planned on misbehaving with that pretty caseworker all right. I planned on misbehaving a lot. Had Rob not walked in when he did, I was going to get some quick misbehaving in before I left.

  Now I’m standing here a tortured man, counting the seconds till I can get back and finish misbehaving. But I didn’t tell my mother none of that. I got her inside and told her to look around while I went to pull the rental around to the side of the house. I didn’t want to alert that bastard to my coming.

  I had already taken over his camera feed and put it on a loop so that he won’t see us here. He had cameras all over and from what I was finding out about him, it was for good reason. I still haven’t decided if my little sister and niece were safe with him.

  He was definitely into some sh*t. And whatever it was, someone was going through a lot of trouble to hide it. But just like I told my little spy, I loved a challenge. I was going to find out what Jo and his punk a** daddy was into, and then I was going to use that information to destroy them.

  I don’t know who the f*** he thought he was dealing with. Coming up in my sh*t making demands on me and my family like he run some sh*t! When I was done with that b**** the only thing he gon’ be running is from big Bubba’s a** in the lock up yard.

  Every time I think of his p***y a** contracts telling me what I can and cannot do…where I can and cannot go, and who the f*** I can and cannot talk to…I wanted to murk his a**.

  My word, if he wasn’t my niece’s father, I would have the same day he handed me my first a** whooping in my mother’s kitchen.

  It was something up with that as well. The way he moved was on some next level type sh*t, almost robotic. And I ain’t just saying that ‘cause he kicked my a**. The bastard was strong as hell. It felt like he was hitting me with a sledge hammer.

  Yeah, it was something up with that sh*t. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the government been pumping him with some kind of crazy a** steroids or some sh*t. He probably was some kind of super soldier.

  “Oh, my goodness! How did y’all get in here? I have a high-tech security system at the gate!”

  My beautiful little sister cried coming through her door looking surprised as hell to see us. For just a moment I studied Journey to see with my own eyes that she was okay. Our mother keeps telling me not to worry so much about her and that she was a big girl now, saying that I needed to let her fly.

  Maybe she was right, my little sister was practically glowing. The truth of the matter is, I was having a hard time seeing her as an adult. I think she will always be the little pain in my a** with the dreads sticking straight up on her head, who always tried her best to get me in trouble with Ma.

  The first thing our mother did was take Ayana out of Journey’s arms and hoard her all to herself.

  Just selfish…

  “I see y’all have made yourselves comfortable.” Journey huffed, a little steamed that my mother didn’t even acknowledge her.

  I chuckled. “Aww, don’t worry ‘bout that, lil sis, you know we had to come check you out, make sure everything was okay.”

  She gave me a look that said she wasn’t buying my crap. My little sister knew me well. I went on and filled her in on the real reason I was here. I’d come to pawn Ma off on her.

  However, dropping my mother off was to serve two purposes. Yeah, I wanted to get her out of my business for a while, at least till I tamed that wild a** girl back at the house. But also, so that she could keep an eye on Joey boy and make sure he’s behaving like a gentleman should.

  That being said…my trip here was to serve two purposes, yes, to drop my mother off, but most importantly to get into Jo’s private computer. His fed tech geeks had done their jobs well, because I was having the hardest time getting in from the outside.

  I’d been trying for a while now. I knew I was going to have to make the trip eventually, but thanks to my beautiful little spy showing up yesterday, it became top priority.

  She wouldn’t tell me her name…

  That was a cool, I will soon know all there is to know about her. In fact, my need to know her had me cutting my trip with Journey short.

  But before I left, my mother said something that resonated down to my very soul. I think she may have given me the key to cracking through the thick shell my house guest has built around herself.

  “Ms. Bonita is a beautiful woman, not just on the outside but on the inside as well, she just doesn’t know it. Maybe my s
on can show her.”

  “How?” I asked, desperate for any advice she could give me. My mom was good at this kind of stuff.

  “Tenderness…”

  Tenderness?

  Tenderness?

  My house guest was a savage. Just this morning I’d had to hem her up in my closet. I’d made her breakfast and she yelled at me because there were no meat and potatoes.

  Tenderness?

  I kissed my OG’s forehead goodbye. I think she was losing her touch.

  My house guest needed a lot of things. Hell, this morning when she looked at me and practically said she wasn’t good enough for me, I thought about putting her over my lap, pulling down those ridiculous boxers that some chicken head whose name I couldn’t even remember gave me, and spanking her a**.

  Then afterward I would have used my hands and mouth to sooth her before making love to her, showing her that she’s a queen.

  My Queen…

  Mmmm…Damn.

  I had to push such thoughts away, or else I was going to be on the first thing smoking back to Chicago. I wanted to be inside her so bad I could barely focus on anything else.

  Needless to say, she needed a lot of things…tenderness was not one of them.

  I was still thinking about my mom’s words when I made it to Jo’s office. My burrowing bot only needed 8 minutes to do its thing, which meant I had to entertain this prick for 8 whole minutes.

  I followed his secretary back to his office. She kept sneaking glances back at me as if she expected me to rob her. I chuckled shaking my head as she moved to the side to let me in.

  “Wow, look at you. I see you’re being a good little boy and following in your daddy’s shoes just like you’ve been trained to do. I’m sure he’s so proud.” I told the a**hole as I took in his lavish office.

  God, I hated this punk.

  He sat back in his chair and hit me with his fake a** politician smile. The cocky bastard…everything in life has come way too easy to him. He’s the kind of prick you just want to hit in the mouth with a hammer as soon as he opened his mouth to speak.

  “And I see you finally grew a pair and ventured out of your hood. Didn’t think the ganstas ever did that.”