Page 103 of The Promise

Then I saw Ashira at the door of the cockpit. Her wrists wrapped around each other at her waist. She didn’t step inside.

“You ride boat, Daddy?” Chivon looked around the room.

I was sure it was a lot different for her than my boat at home. My baby at home was nothing to sneeze at, but this yacht was mega-sized and luxurious.

Francesco chuckled at my daughter’s wonderment. “I’m going to check in with Bella and will be right back.” He patted me on the back. “Okay?”

“I got you.” With Chivon in my arm, I moved closer to the control board. “You see all the buttons?”

She nodded then her eyes turned wild as she sucked in a breath. “And no touchie!” Chivon shook her head and waggled her finger. “No. No. No!”

While placing my tea in a cup holder, I smiled at her. My baby knew what time it was. She’d been growing up on my boat and understood the basic rules.

“You got it, Blueberry, baby!” I went to adjust a switch on the board.

“Come on, Chi-Chi,” her mother called, still outside the double sliding doors. “I need to finish your hair before dinner.”

My hand automatically went to her little head, fingers reaching through her wild, beautiful hair and I rubbed her scalp. I walked her over to the door. “Your hair smells good, Blueberry.” I kissed her cheek.

“Thank you!” she returned while shifting the gold chain around my neck. On it was a pendant I kept tucked beneath my shirt. Inside was a picture of Chivon. It was a Christmas gift from Ashira. Speaking of her, now, just a few feet away, I smelled her, too. Flowery, which was her thing. My eyes got stuck on her long box braids when Chivon shared, “Mommy vashed it!”

“Oh, she washed it?” I asked, reaching into my pocket for my vibrating phone.

Josie…

I quickly decided to ignore the call. I planned to hit her up tonight anyway. I just needed a few minutes to get settled in here. When I looked up from the phone, I caught Ashira’s eyes on the face of it. Her eyes then swung up to my face as I slid it back into my right pocket. Moving past the moment, I put Chivon down on her feet.

“I bet your hair’s gonna look pretty, Blueberry.”

The other phone, in the pocket of my shirt, rang as Chivon asked, “Daddy, I sleep with you tonight?”

I pulled it out, and in clear view for Ashira to see, the I.D. read “Josie.”

Not even thinking, I looked over to Ashira again and…Damn. She was eye-hustling my phone.

“Daddy!”

My head shot down to Chivon. “Huhn?”

“I sleep in your bed tonight.”

Shaking off the weird feeling from a simple call, I rubbed my nose, trying to catch up to the moment.

“Ummm…” Ashira’s eyes fell as she rubbed her glossed lips together. That snapped me back in action. “Nah, Blueberry, girl. You have your own bed. Daddy has his bed. Like Mommy has her bed, Chivon has her bed.”

She pouted. “Daddy!”

“I’ll tell you what. Daddy’ll come by in the morning and take you out to breakfast. Just us two. Okay?”

“Okay.” Chivon dropped her shoulders and walked over to her mother.

“Ready?” Ashira perked up while asking.

“Yeah!” And almost like another person entirely, my baby shot off down the hall.

Chivon was not hurt by not sleeping with me tonight. Only for a split second was she disappointed about being told no.

“See ya,” Ashira sang softly while waving. Then she turned to catch up with Chivon. I’d be a lying ass if I denied watching her ass wobble in the long dress she rocked.

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