Me:
I love you more
Inevitable
“Nice lipstick,” Soul teased, swiping his thumb over my bottom lip and the corner of my mouth to clean up Harlow’s signature ruby red. “Our girl taste good?”
Our girl.
Didn’t think I’d ever get tired of hearing that.
As I bit the inside of my cheek to suppress a grin, he winked at me and stepped around me to get to Harlow in my kitchen.
That left me standing in my doorway in front of Rico. The moment our eyes met, he held up a plant, his gaze earnest and smile shy.
“It’s a snake plant.” He placed it at our feet and closed the insignificant distance between us. Hand braced at the back of my head, he said softly, “I asked my granny, and she said it’s a goodhousewarming gift.” He started running through the pros. “It’s easy to keep alive and purifies the air. Looks nice with a?—”
“Rico?”
“Hmm?”
“I love your grandma, but I don’t wanna talk about her, or that damn plant when your lips are this close to me.”
His laugh was just a huff of air that cooled my warm cheeks while his eyes roved over me. “My bad.”
I didn’t say anything else before I was welcoming his tongue in my mouth and fisting the front of his shirt like my life depended on it.
Until he hugged me and my hands fell away, down to his waist. I held him steady in front of me, my head tilted to grant him the access he wanted.
“You have a good day?” He kissed me again before I could answer, and I smiled against his mouth. “What’s funny?”
“You.”
“Mmm.” He licked the seam of my lips before taking a reluctant step back. For the first time since he walked in, my empty condo gained his attention. “I can’t believe this is the same place.”
When I bought a unit in the oldest building on the island last year, he came with me to the closing. He saw how much work was needed before I moved in and told me he couldn’t wait to see it finished. When the lease on my apartment was up and the condo still wasn’t ready, he didn’t blink an eye before hetoldme I’d be staying with him and Soul.
That was just how he was.
Always steady. Always in my corner.
If I thought about it long enough, nothing about us was unexpected. We were always inevitable. I just had to get out of my head and open my eyes.
Rico was always going to be mine.
He closed the door behind him. “You gon’ show me around?”
“Yeah, follow me.” I bent to retrieve the plant from the floor and carried it to the only other flat surface in the house: my kitchen island.
Harlow was on top of it, Soul standing between her legs while they talked in low voices.
My lips slanted at how natural they looked in my space.
It’d only been an hour since Harlow showed up after checking on her grandma. And because I was only a five-minute walk from Ms. Edith’s house, she told me she’d just wait for Rico and Soul to meet her here.
Neither of them broke the flow of their conversation to acknowledge us before I led Rico to the back of the condo, starting with my bedroom.
His voice echoed off the walls when he asked me about the furniture I wanted to fill the space.
