Page 5 of Touch of Smoke
The quick twist of her lips told him his sarcastic remark was successful in annoying her and he grinned.
“Donyell didn’t tell me you were coming. Last I heard, you’d gotten some big promotion at the bank and was moving up in the world.”
“You keeping tabs on me, Sariya?” he asked and gave into the urge that had been plaguing him for the last fifteen minutes. He reached out and fingered those curls. They were soft and springy and tinted a lighter brown than the rest of her dark hair.
She swatted his hand away. “No. Your sister is my best friend. I still have dinner at your parents’ house at least one Sunday out of the month. They all, for whatever reason, adore you and don’t miss an opportunity to brag about all the success you’ve had since you left Baltimore.”
“Do you adore me?” He teased because he couldn’t help it. There was something about an annoyed or even flustered Sariya that was sexy as hell.
“I do not,” she replied with a curt nod. “And don’t be buying strange women drinks and expect them to come over to your table and actually drink them. If they have any sense, they’ll leave that shit alone. Who knows what you could’ve put in there.”
He glanced down at the table where her drink was sitting and then frowned at her. “You still drinking that girly ass strawberry daiquiri.”
“Did you not hear what I just said?”
“I did and I get it, but I wanted you to come over and sit with me.”
She laughed. “No, you wanted mystery woman to come over and sit with you, then probably go back to your hotel with you and do whatever.” She waved her hand at that last word and shook her head. “You ain’t never changing.”
Those last words landed with a punch in his gut he wasn’t expecting but before he could address it, Donyell came running over.
“Oh my goodness! It’s really you!” She jumped into the arms Ro instinctively extended to catch her. “Mama said she thought you might show up, but I didn’t believe her.”
He hugged his sister tightly, enjoying her enthusiasm to have him back home. It still surprised him that his mother had been able to keep it a secret that he’d actually been back on the east coast for almost six weeks now.
He chuckled and kissed Donyell on her cheek when they finally broke apart. “You know I wasn’t gonna miss your dirty thirty bash,” he said. “Mike went all out for you too, the place looks great.”
They were at the Olympus Lounge, his brother-in-law’s spot. This was the first time Ro had been here but he’d heard a lot about it from his phone calls with his mother and with Donyell. They’d bought the place that had formerly been a pool hall, two years ago and had been steadily building, marketing and promoting it until now, it was finally beginning to turn a profit. Tonight, what looked like an entire half of this main room had been sectioned off for Donyell’s party. The purple and silvertablecloths and centerpieces on six tables was a dead giveaway. Donyell loved purple.
“Doesn’t it? We’re so excited and the party’s gonna start in ten more minutes. Then we’ll remove the rope from the restricted area. You two showed up early,” his sister said.
Ro had done that purposely because he hadn’t planned to stay the whole night. He’d simply wanted to show up for her, give her his gift and get gone. But then he’d seen the woman at the bar, who, as it turns out, is the same woman he’d been so drawn to at a bar during a wedding reception seven years ago.
“I wanted to see if you needed any help with anything,” Sariya said. “I texted you earlier but you didn’t respond, so I just came on down.”
Donyell pursed her lips. “Girl, you know I’m always misplacing my phone. I think it’s in my car now. I better go get it before everything gets crazier around here.”
Sariya held out a hand. “Give me your keys, I’ll go get it.”
Recognizing immediately that Sariya was trying to get away from him, Ro grinned.
“Oh, okay. Let me just figure out where I put them,” Donyell said. “And, before I forget, Mike talked to his friend down at the hospital. She’s going to see if there are any positions in the oncology department for you.”
Sariya nodded stiffly. Then she stuck her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and looked away.
“I’ll be right back,” Donyell continued, then glanced at Ro again with a huge smile. “I’m so glad you’re home!”
He waited until his sister was out of earshot before he asked, “You looking for another job? What happened to that clinic you were working at?”
She narrowed her eyes at him, an act that did nothing to distract from how pretty she was. Smooth milk chocolate skin, full eyebrows and long lashes that only enhanced those prettyeyes and that body. Damn. Had she been this fine seven years ago? She had certainly felt amazing each time he slid into her slick heat that night.
“Donyell talks too much,” she replied with a sigh.
“Always has,” he said. “But that’s not an answer to my question.”
“She talks and you ask questions, Ms. Christine sure did raise two pushy kids.”
The way she was standing had her shirt—which up close he could tell was a sort of midriff hoodie—rising up a little higher so that even more of her delectable skin was showing. He wanted to step closer, to put his hand around her waist so that any dude walking in or those already in here would know not to look too long or too hard at what she had on display. But he didn’t.
