Page 170 of Kentrell

I felt like a schoolgirl with her first crush.

Scratch that.

Iwasa schoolgirl with her first real boyfriend. Because technically… that’s exactly what Kentrell was. My first.

Not just the first man tohaveme.

But the first toseeme. To hold me like I was valuable. Precious. Wanted.

I know it’s cliché to wish we’d met sooner. But I was old enough to know better now.

If we’d crossed paths before?

This wouldn’t be my reality.

We wouldn’t be curled up in a private cabin, halfway snowed in, singing throwback R&B in the dark like we were the only two people on Earth.

So I was glad.

Glad we met the way we did.

At his brother’s store opening. In front of all my homegirls. Me, wearing that black dress I almost didn’t buy.

And I owed Malcolm a thank-you card for being such a greedy, manipulative opportunist.

Because if he hadn’t tossed Kentrell onto my caseload as a client, I never would’ve had the gall to approach him on my own.

And being his attorney—his very crass and arrogant client’sattorney—gave me the buffer I didn’t know I needed to take what I wanted.

And now… I had him.

My man.

My homie.

My lover.

My friend.

I was smiling so hard my cheeks hurt.

It was the kind of smile that came from knowing—knowing—that this man was mine now. All that uncertainty I’d carried in the back of my chest had melted. The second he said he was my man, the switch flipped.

Now?

I could really be myself.

“So,” I grinned, chin tilted as I played with the hem of the blanket covering us. “When do I get my keys?”

“Keys?” he repeated, glancing down at me. “To what?”

“The penthouse. The SRT. The whole nine.” I held out my hand, palm up.

He burst out laughing, smacking his palm against mine. “Whatever, you got—I want it.”

“Aw, sothiswhatchu was really after, huh?” He sucked his teeth, grinning like I’d just pulled a fast one. “Damn, a’ight.”

He rubbed both hands down his face, still smiling big as I reached up and cupped his chin, pulling his attention back to me.

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