“Hey,” he said tapping the shoulder of the sleeping girl. She came awake with a smile on her face.
“Hey, daddy,” she purred. I rolled my eyes, Rob chuckled.
“Get up, you gotta bounce.” He told her. And for the first time she looked and saw us. With a squeak she snatched the sheet up to cover her breasts.
“Can you give us a minute?” Rome asked me, gesturing toward the other end of the loft where a living room area was. I lifted an eyebrow at his rude tone.
“Sure,” I told him before turning to walk towards the sitting area.
As I did, I casually lifted my hand and slipped the bug from my watch, positioning it just right between my fingers. I used the same hand to ease down in the brown leather chair, securing the bug at the same time.
To the left of the chair I sat in was a huge brown leather couch, or what looked like a couch, but was really a modern rendition of a couch. It screamed contemporary bachelor pad. As if to confirm that, a ridiculously big flat screen TV was mounted to the brick wall to my right. In front of it on the floor were several gaming systems. There were quite a few game controllers sprawled on the floor around them.
When I looked back towards the sleeping area, it was to see Rome’s amber gaze still on me. He was now sitting at the foot of the bed with his elbows resting against his knees. If I was the blushing type, I would be doing it right now seeing that he had watched me walk this whole distance. Finally, he turned to look up at his brother.
“Why you didn’t take her downstairs to ma’s place? Why the hell you bring her up here?” Rob, who had watched the whole exchange with that goofy grin on his face now wore a look of fake shock.
“Ma not home.”
“So?!” Rome growled up at him, his face transformed in his anger.
Rob chuckled, not fazed a bit in only a way that a little brother could. “My bad, man. I just didn’t think about it.”
“You play too much.” His brother responded standing up grabbing his t-shirt at the same time. When he brought it over his head, his muscled arms and chest flexed impressively. He was very tall as well.
“That’s your damn problem.” He continued admonishing his kid brother before he turned and noticed that the girl had not moved from the bed, she was in fact playing like she had just drifted back to sleep.
“Ay… Ay, shawty, you got to bounce. Get your sh*t.” He called down to her. Amazingly she woke up and stretched, letting the cover fall from her ample breasts once again. Rob grinned shaking his head.
“Rome, you gon’ call me?” She asked as she unashamedly slid out the bed reaching down to retrieve her dress from the floor.
I shook my head, women like her gave our whole species a bad name. If a man had talked to me the way he’d just talked to her, the only call I would be worried about is the anonymous one to the city morgue, telling them where to find his body.
“Rob, make sure Kiesha get to her car safe—”
“Tonya!” She interrupted him, finally insulted. Rome chuckled as he scratched his head walking towards the bathroom.
“Who the f*** cares.” Was his only response as he went into his bathroom shutting the door behind him.
“Okay, you can call me Kiesha, just call me…Please!”
“Come on, shawty. I’ll walk you downstairs.” Rob told her as she angrily slid her feet in her heels.
“It was nice meeting you, Brenda.” He called to me as they headed toward the door.
“Nice meeting you too, Rob.” It really was. I don’t know why he chose to make my job easier, but he had. Had he not brought me up here, there was no way I would have gotten through that group at the door.
And had I by some miracle gotten through them, I would have never made it past the locked door on the steps.
Well… Not this easily anyway.
Rome took his time in the bathroom, I heard the shower start. I was not delusional to think it wasn’t a test when it really was. Jo was right. This man was smart. He was trying to feel me out before talking to me. I was careful where I let my gaze roam. Although I couldn’t see them, I was quite certain this whole building was wired with cameras.
Slowly, I got up and walked to the nearest window. The drapes were opened slightly, allowing a perfect view of the ghetto below. My eyes narrowed at the roof of the building across the street, there was a man standing on it leaning against the door smoking a cigarette. When he caught me looking at him, he winked.
My gaze went to the corner store at the end of the block, several men stood outside talking, but when one of them noticed me looking, he winked.
What the hell?
I looked towards the opposite corner, there was a man sitting on the porch of a building there, it looked as if he was smoking a blunt. When he noticed that I saw him, he winked.
“What are you looking for?” Rome’s deep voice came from behind me causing me to nearly jump out of my heels as I whipped around, stopping myself from reaching for the piece strapped to the inside of my thigh. I looked up at him half startled and half surprised. How in the world did he walk up on me without me hearing him? He chuckled as he flopped down on his couch facing me.
He smelled good. Now dressed in a white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, he even looked good. I was surprised to see that I was capable of being attracted to
