He glanced down at her legs. Nice. Feminine. Sexy. And all he had to do was draw in air through his lungs to pick up her scent. Flowery. Exotic. And she had pretty feet and painted toes. She’d told him during dinner last night that she was trying to stay fit and had a membership at the gym, where she went at least three times a week. He liked a woman who took care of herself.
“Their ride is over. I’ll go claim them,” Kendal said, breaking into his thoughts.
He watched her go and noticed how the sunlight hit the golden highlights in her hair. He’d just noticed them for the first time. How had he missed that? This morning when he’d awakened, she was already up preparing breakfast. She had already gotten dressed, but the mass of hair on her head was still in sexy disarray. The first thought that had come into his mind was that he would love the opportunity to run his fingers through the luxurious strands.
Jamison saw the girls jumping up and down, talking at once, and probably telling Kendal what a great time they had on the ride. Kia hadn’t even looked his way yet. And when Kendal bent down to give both girls a huge hug, he studied his daughter’s face and caught his breath. Kia had longed for that hug and grabbed at it like she truly needed it. It suddenly hit him that although he hugged her all the time, he couldn’t recall the last time Vonetta had shown their daughter some honest-to-goodness affection. His gut twisted when he realized what his daughter had been deprived of. Something as simple as hugs from the woman who’d been her mother.
He stayed seated on the bench as Kendal took both girls’ hands and headed his way. It was then that his daughter looked at him and gave him a huge smile as if to say…Dad, you finally did something right.
***
Kendal glanced over at Jamison. “How many of your cousins do you think will be there?” she asked.
He smiled, bringing the car to a stop at a traffic light, and glanced over at her. “All of them. This is Sunday, a Savoy tradition for dinner at Gramma Thelma’s after church, and they know we came back this morning, which means they figure we’ll be there.”
Kendal nodded. She knew about those Sundays at his grandmother’s, mainly because she’d been invited to more than one, since she and Tonya had been friends while growing up. Because she had no other sibling than Conley, she’d always appreciated Tonya’s extending the invitation to spend time with such a huge family. The Savoys were close-knit, no doubt about it. And she’d always liked that about them.
And there were so many…
“Hey, don’t get all nervous on me now, sweetheart. They are just my cousins, and you know all of them. Besides, you like them, and they like you. I like you.”
Kendal couldn’t help but smile. His words were slowly washing away some of her nervousness. He was right. She knew all of them, and they knew her. But still…how would they feel about her being one of them now? She and Jamison had discussed the Savoy name over dinner that night. He wanted it understood that after their marriage ended, she could keep the last name if she chose to do so. She wondered if he’d made that same offer to his ex-wife. She stared down at her hands, hating that she was having such thoughts and becoming irritated that she even cared.
She caught her breath when Jamison reached over and captured her hand in his, and she glanced up at him, noticing he’d pulled over to the side of the road. The girls were in the back seat chattering too intently about how much fun they’d had over the weekend to ask why he’d done so.
“Hey, I told you everything would be okay,” he whispered gently before moving his hands from hers to travel up to her cheek. He then traced a path along the edge of her lips. The next thing she knew, he’d leaned over and kissed her, and it wasn’t a chaste kiss. Her heart kicked up a beat when he slid his tongue between her lips.
At that moment, she forgot everything. The fact that they were parked on the side of the road in the middle of the day with the girls in the back seat. Shivers of need raced through her and instinctively she arched toward him when he deepened the kiss. She couldn’t hold back the heat that was flaring in every part of her, and she could hear herself moan.
The girls must have heard it, too, because all of a sudden, she heard when Kia told Carr. “Look, Carr. My daddy is kissing Aunt K.”
She was certain that Jamison heard his daughter’s words as well, but instead of breaking off the kiss immediately, he allowed it to end on a slow simmer, nibbling around her mouth and down her neck before finally pulling back.
“Daddy, you kissed Aunt K,” Kia said laughing.
Kendal watched as he smiled at the two girls who were staring at him with wide-eyed fascination, and said, “Yes, I kissed Aunt K, and she kissed me back.”
Both girls shifted their gazes from him to latch on to her. At that moment, she couldn’t help the smile that touched her just-kissed lips. Yes, she had kissed him back.
“My mommy and daddy kissed all the time,” Carr spoke up and said.
A bewilderment appeared in Kia’s eyes when she said, “Daddy never kissed Mommy. Did you, Daddy?”
Kendal shifted her gaze from the girls to Jamison. Had he and his wife never kissed in front of their daughter? She could tell from Jamison’s expression that he regretted his daughter’s having made that observation.
“Sure I did, pumpkin,” he said, already starting the car’s ignition. “You were never around to see it.”
“Oh.” And as if that fully explained everything, Kia and Carr went back to chattering between themselves about the weekend, ignoring the adults once again.
Kendal figured Jamison needed her silence, so she didn’t say anything. She knew his wife had betrayed him in the worst possible way, but had their marriage been plagued with problems long before then?
“I hope I kissed away your nervousness, Kendal.”
She glanced over at him and smiled. “You did.”
“I’m glad, because look up ahead.”
She did. He had just rounded the corner to his grandmother’s house, and it wasn’t hard to tell from all the cars that the Savoys were out in full force. But what caught her attention was the huge banner that was strung from one end of his grandmother’s house to the other that read –
JAMISON AND KENDAL CONGRATULATIONS! AND IT’S ABOUT TIME!
She saw the puzzled frown that stole onto Jamison’s features when he glanced over at her and asked, “It’s about time? I wonder what they mean by that?”
Kendal swallowed and quickly decided it was best if he heard it from her instead of one of his cousins. “Some of them probably recall that I used to have a crush on you years ago.”
He looked totally taken back. Actually shocked. “You used to have a crush on me?”
“Yes, you know how it is,” she said, determined to make light of her confession. “You hung around Conley, and I thought you were cute. I was only fourteen at the time, Jamison. And so you won’t get a big head, I also had a crush on Will Smith. I think I played ‘Get Jiggy Wit It’ to death.” She hoped by throwing in Will Smith it would defuse any thoughts he might have that her crush could have been remotely serious. Although it had been, she wanted him to be the last to know.
“Oh, so Will was my competition, was he?” Jamison asked, chuckling.
Kendal grinned. “Yes, and so were the Backstreet Boys. All five of them,” she threw in for good measure.
He brought the car to a stop and glanced over at her. “So where are the Backstreet Boys now?”
She shrugged. “I haven’t a clue.”
“And where is Will Smith?” he then inquired.
She lifted a brow, wondering why he was asking. “Somewhere with Jada, I imagine.”
He nodded slowly, and then asked. “And where am I?”
She swallowed and met his gaze. “Here.”
Jamison leaned in closer. “Not just here, Kendal. I’m here with you,” he said in that low husky voice she was beginning to get used to. “Now go tell that to Will and those Backstreet Boys.”
He then brushed a kiss across her lips before releasing his seat belt to get out of the car.
“Daddy kissed you again, Aunt K,” she heard Kia say.
Kendal drew in a deep breath as Jamison was opening the car’s back door for the girls. “Yes, he did,” she said softly. She then took her tongue and traced around her lips where his mouth had just been and thought…delicious.
“So, how’s married life treating you?” Nash asked, entering Jamison’s office.
Jamison leaned back in his chair and braced his hands behind his head and smiled. “Good. Kendal is wonderful, and Kia loves her to death. It’s good being here at work while knowing she’s being taken care of.”
“I’m sure it is,” Nash said, taking the chair across from Jamison’s desk.
Jamison knew since Nash had never been married and didn’t have a child that he really didn’t know the depth of Jamison’s good fortune with his marriage to Kendal. She treated both girls as if they were her own. Because she worked from home, she was there each day when they woke up, and she got to spend breakfast time with them.
It was decided that Kia would start going to the same daycare as Carr. He’d only agreed after Kendal had convinced him that doing so would enhance Kia’s social skills. Besides, it was only half days, three days a week. Then there were the meals Kendal enjoyed cooking. Her father was a retired chef, and he had taught his daughter well. It was nice to provide wholesome meals for Kia instead of constant take-out.
The only thing that was getting to him was their sleeping arrangement. They shared a room, and although the close proximity at night didn’t seem to bother Kendal, it was driving Jamison crazy. Every day, he was finding her sexier and sexier, and it bothered him that she was oblivious to that fact.
“Jamison?”
It was then that he remembered Nash was sitting across from him. “Yes?”
“I was wondering when I’m invited to dinner.”
Jamison lifted a brow. “To dinner?”
“Yeah, man. Everybody knows how Kendal can throw down in the kitchen.”
And he bet she could throw down in the bedroom as well if she were ever to take him seriously. They had been sharing a bedroom for two weeks now, and as far as his wife was concerned, they were bedroom pals and nothing more. Since his master bedroom was larger than most, having two double beds still afforded them a lot of room.
But little did Kendal know that sharing a room with her was torture. There was not a single night he didn’t go the bed aroused or a morning he didn’t wake up the same way. He doubted if he’d ever wanted a woman as much as he wanted her. And that included Vonetta.
Kendal was usually up before him in the mornings and came to bed after he’d drifted off to sleep…or pretended to. He was very much aware of every time she would tip-toe into the bedroom and get ready for bed. He would lie awake and hear the sound of the shower with a part of him wishing he could join her. And then when she would finally come out of the bathroom, she would always wear a bathrobe. Unfortunately for him, she would turn off the lights before disrobing. He was driven with a desire to see the body hidden by that robe.
“Jamison?”
He blinked and glanced back over at Nash. “What?”
“Well? Do I get an invitation?”
Jamison smiled. “Not this week.”
“Maybe next?” Nash asked, looking hopeful.
Jamison ginned. He knew Nash was dating but not seriously. Maybe it was time that he did. “Why don’t you start dating a woman who’ll prepare you a home-cooked meal?”
His cousin snorted. “Some women equate warming up a frozen dinner in the microwave with preparing a brother a home-cooked meal. I’m a grandson of Thelma Savoy, so I know what a home-cooked meal looks and tastes like. You wouldn’t believe how many women will try and insult your intelligence. You don’t know how lucky you are, man. You have a woman who can cook, take care of everything on the home front, and still look sexy when you get home.”
Jamison lifted a brow. “And how do you know Kendal looks sexy when I get home?”
Nash smiled showing perfectly white teeth. “Because Kendal is a sexy woman, and it’s not in her makeup not to look the part.”
Jamison couldn’t argue with the truth. Kendal always looked good when he got home. Clean, crisp, and sexy as hell. And that was after taking care of the girls and working at her own business as a virtual assistant. Whether she was wearing a cute sundress or a pair of slacks and a blouse, she always looked attractive. And there wasn’t a time when she didn’t appear happy and in a good mood. If she didn’t have a good day, he and the girls were the last to know it.
There was something about her that stirred his blood the moment he walked into the house. All it took was for her to smile at him to make him feel welcome and wanted. Maybe not in a sexual sense but definitely in an ‘I appreciate you’ sense. And he definitely appreciated her. He was grateful for the happiness he saw within Kia and the way Kendal valued the girls’ well-being. And on the weekends, she always planned things they could do together as a family. He liked that.
“Have you told Vonetta you’ve remarried?”
Nash’s question broke into Jamison’s thoughts. “No.”
His cousin lifted a brow. “Why not? It’s been two weeks now.”