Sample Sunday: What's Up With You
A snippet of my upcoming release, To Break a Vow. There's no release date yet but it's coming soon-ish. Unedited, copyrighted, subject to change, alladat. Enjoy.
I was cut off when a short, round woman brushed past me so quickly that I had to take a step back to maintain my balance. Turning to see where the fire was, I was surprised when the woman glanced back at us, long, golden hair whipping around her face as she stopped abruptly as if she had stepped into cement. Her mouth gaped open and she reversed direction, rushing toward us. Coming to a stop a few feet in front of me, small hands dropped to wide hips as big, brown eyes raked over mine and my brother’s bodies. If the assessing look in her eyes had held a smidge more heat I would have felt violated.
“Oh my God!” She breathed. “Y’all are fine as hell!” Her tone was low, it was almost like she was speaking to herself.
Man, there was something about this city that imbued transients with an overbold spirit that never ceased to bring me amusement. Uncertain of a fitting response to her observation, I laughingly issued my thanks.
“Um, excuse me?” Lisa glared at the woman who managed to spare her a quick look before refocusing on us.
“My bad, Sis. I meant no disrespect.” She pointed at J and I, but it was clear she was speaking to Lisa. “Please tell me they’re your brothers.”
Lisa propped a hand on her hip but J quickly wrapped his arms around her and, before she could get herself worked up, he set the woman straight.
“The only single person here is him.”
She followed his nod over to me. With a hand propped on one hip, she asked, “How single are you?”
Once again, I was interrupted before I could speak, Lisa choosing to answer the question for me. “No wife, no fiancé, no girlfriend, no kids.”
Chuckling, I shook my head, dragging the back of my thumb across my bottom lip. They called me impulsive yet here they were, thoughtlessly spouting off stats, selling me off to this strange woman for some unknown reason. “Thanks, Lee.” My…sister-in-law—for lack of a better fitting title—aimed a wide smile in my direction.
The woman tossed her straight, golden locks over her shoulder and narrowed her dark-brown eyes at me. “Fine and single? What’s wrong with you?”
This time, no one spoke before or over me. I smiled. “Apparently, I’m impulsive.”
To my surprise, the woman’s round cheeks swelled as she smiled in approval. “So, you’re perfect, then.”
My head canted to the side in partial humility. “Eh.”
Jeremiah laughed while his woman rolled her eyes, a smirk pasted on her lips. “Typical, arrogant Jer.”
I’ll be that. Sweeping my eyes back to the woman, I took in her appearance. She was cute—and bold—and I was intrigued.
“So, what’s up with you? What’s going on?
White teeth flashed at me as she smiled. “Okay, check it. My sister hasn’t had sex in like five years—”
“What?!” Lisa gasped and Jeremiah coughed through a shocked laugh.
She took the word right out of my mouth. Frowning, just that fast my interest began to wane. This sounded like the beginning of a poorly directed skin-flick accompanied by bad acting, and I wanted no parts of it. The woman held up her hands.“Wait, wait, wait! Before you say no, just hear me out.”
“Nah, I’m gonna have to go ahead and stop you right there. It sounds like you’re trying to pimp your sister out and I refuse to be involved with some crazy shit like that. I’d tell you good luck but…” My brows lifted in a shrug and I made a move to go around her, averting my eyes so not to be snared by the defeated slump of her shoulders.
“I understand.”
I edged around her, following Jeremiah and Lisa who’d already stepped away, when the woman whipped around.
“Wait!”