Clawing at his back… screaming his name… knowing full well Mars and Ayesha were still in the next room…
And not giving a single damn.
When I finally came apart, shaking and breathless underneath him, he wasn’t far behind… groaning low in my ear, hips jerking as he buried himself deep and let go inside me.
We stayed tangled like that for a minute… both of us catching our breath… sweaty, spent, and more in love than I was ready to admit out loud.
Finally, he kissed me one more time… softer this time… lingering just long enough to make me melt.
Then, with one last squeeze to my waist, he pulled back and smirked.
“Now… get dressed for real this time,” he said, swatting my thigh playfully as he stood. “We still gotta make that stop… then I’m takin’ you home.”
And just like that… my whole heart skipped again.
Home.
With him.
Exactly where I wanted to be.
Pullingout of Mars’s parking garage on Michigan Avenue, Kentrell drove like he always did—one hand on the wheel, the other resting on my thigh. Soulful late 90s, early 2000s R&B poured through the speakers, wrapping around us like a second skin. This time, it was Kem…“I Can’t Stop Loving You”… sliding through the sound system with that slow, honeyed kind of ache that stamped the air inside his truck with what we both had already expressed feeling for each other.
I watched the city blur past us as we headed north. Only a ten-minute drive, but with the way my heart was thumping… it felt longer.
I glanced at him, playing it casual even though my stomach was flipping. “So… your penthouse was the place you couldn’t tell me?”
“Yup.”
I tilted my head, studying the side of his face. “Why not?”
He smirked, keeping his eyes on the road. “You finna find out.”
That made my pulse jump a little.
“Bae… I forgot to ask you something.”
I glanced away from the window, turning toward him just as we merged onto Lake Shore Drive.
“How did you know where to find me?”
Kentrell smirked like the answer was too obvious to even be a real question.
“You took my car,” he said flatly, like that explained the whole thing.
I blinked… then let out a soft, embarrassed laugh. Instantduh, Zoemoment.
“Of course…” I mumbled, shaking my head.
“I can track all my shit,” he added, like it was common knowledge.
And honestly? With him… it probably was.
“And security don’t be making no money like that,” he went on, cutting me a side glance with that trademark smirk still sitting on his mouth. “So a lil’ chump change to me is a couple months’ rent to them.”
My jaw dropped. “You bribed Mars’s building security?”
“Hell yeah.” He laughed, proud like it was a badge of honor. “I knew I wasn’t gon’ sit around waiting on you to come to your senses.”