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“I’m right cause I was doing the same shit. Even brought my lil African net shit so you not hitting no rough skin if you choose to rub up on me.”

I put her hand on my face so she could feel how smooth it was. On her own, she ran her hand down the side of my neck and to my chest, which was only covered in a loose-fitting tank.

“You did a damn good job.” She winked before she turned back to the food. I was surprised that she was as comfortable with me as she was but I damn sure was happy about it. I’d been prepared for her to be shy and maybe even move a few steps back from the comfort we’d had talking over the phone,which is why I hadn’t thought to bring condoms until my brother mentioned it. I’d clearly underestimated how she was moving when it came to me.

Old scars trying to have me doubt this girl when she’s shown no sign of faltering.

Aphrodite was oblivious to the conversation I was having with myself and had started opening up containers to check out what we’d gotten.

“I got two of everything cause I know how crazy it can be after you’ve burned up all that energy. You gotta replenish it.”

I took a seat next to her on the floor and watched as she looked over everything with a big smile on her face. “This is nice and thank you for making sure I got fed.”

I nodded because it wasn’t anything big but I was trying to stop diminishing what I was doing when it came to her. “It’s my pleasure to take care of you. But I want to know how this match went since I couldn’t see it.”

She pulled out her silverware and pulled the fries out of the bag as she started to tell me about the match. We ate steak and fries with a side of lobster as she walked me through the issues and successes she’d had today. I’d never spoken with another athlete about their sport but I’d been researching tennis just so I could follow where she was going. In the end, all I could gather was that she’d beaten their ass but she was still thinking she needed to improve on her serves before she got to Wimbledon.

“I’m sorry I shouldn’t be eating like this.” She looked down at the food we’d smashed and then glanced back at me.

“Why not? It’s food and we paid for it. You don’t like it? I’m sure there’s plenty we could order around here.”

“No, it’s not that. I just know I’m eating like food is a new concept for me.”

“You’re eating like an athlete coming down off the adrenaline of a game. Your body is craving fuel so who cares how you eat it?”

I wasn’t about to dig into the whys of her statement because I already knew her people were behind it. My job wasn’t to understand the why behind what she was feeling. That would have to be something she worked out on her own. My place was to let her know that whatever preconceived notions she had about herself could be left at the door because every version of Aphrodite Harper was going to be celebrated in my presence.

She looked more at ease than before and I hoped there would come a time that she wouldn’t have to second-guess herself around me. But my ass was letting my mommy issues jump into the present so I couldn’t be too hard on her.

“Well, thank you. And thank you for dinner.”

“You’re welcome. I get not wanting to go out but to me this doesn’t even count as something you should thank me for. We gotta have a proper date at some point.”

“Technically, we did already, right? I think Leo would be pissed if you didn’t count his food as food.”

I grinned thinking about the day that lasted into the next morning and the bomb ass food we had while we explored the city. “You right. I don’t want to get on his bad side at all. We already going to beat that ass in the opening game this year.”

She rolled her eyes as she put her napkin on the table. “You’re lucky I don’t like football or else I’d be offended by that.”

“Ain’t you from Jersey? Shouldn’t you not like them either? I mean I know everything is technically in Jersey but you should be even more bitter about that.”

“Bitter?”

“Yeah cause they taking y’all land and wouldn’t even let y’all get one of the two teams. Hell, they got a third in the upstate; they're just being stingy.”

“Why are you making me think about this because I’m actually getting upset. Taking up all that land in Jersey but only claiming New York. Damn they're fucking up our property taxes and then they treat us like stepchildren! I’mma have to talk to my neighbor about that.”

“You ‘bout to organize a boycott or something?” I chugged down the rest of my water bottle waiting on her answer.

“No, my neighbor works for the team. Like a few of them do I believe. But for one of each of the teams…”

“I keep forgetting that we grew up different.”

Her brow quirked and I knew she was about to dig in my ass. “You went to the top private school in Louisiana, if I remember correctly.”

“Yeah but I had an absent father and a ghetto fabulous mother. And our life ain’t really get that much better until ’Twan got drafted. I was a scholarship kid for most of that.”

“Well, my dad was neglectful and my mother was so over the top nouveau riche that it took a long time for people to accept her. She was one of those women in the nineties who did their best to fit in.”