I grinned.“It might improve your opinion of me.”
She arched a brow.“You think that seeing you naked will improve my thoughts about whether or not you will be a good guardian to your sister?”
I shook my head.“No, but it might help you decide whether or not you actually like me.”
“My opinion of you doesn’t matter, only whether or not you can handle parenting your sister.”
“You don’t even believe that lie, but if it’s what you need to make this easier on yourself, I’ll accept that.”I paused and lifted from the chair.“For now. Good night.”
I left her, heading straight to my room amused and frustrated. My dick was still hard, even after I could no longer smell the coconut mango scent that cut through the potency of the weed that had my mind cloudy. Somee got under my skin, fucking with my head, refusing to leave. I yanked a hand down my face and let my head sink deeper into my pillow. Thoughts of Somee in my bed had my hand moving to my dick.
The last thing I needed was to yet again let a woman fuck with my life or my future, but I had a feeling that was exactly what would happen. There wasn’t a damn thing I could do to talk myself out of this. Just once. That was all I needed to get this woman out of my system. The lie pushed through my mind with ease, but no matter how high I was, the rational side of my brain understood it was truly a lie. If I ever let her in my bed, she was never fucking leaving.
Chapter 10
Somee
When I woke the next morning, my tablet was digging into my side, reminding me of the hours I spent online last night doing a deep dive on the man who had me questioning my morals.
Why on earth would I be crushing on a man who had an entire social media page dedicated to his viral moments? His very naked viral moments. I was a glutton for punishment, because I watched every video on that page, viewed every photo, and read more comments than I should have. Some from the women who starred in those videos with Ryland, singing his praises for the night they had.
I rolled over, groaning with the visuals embedded in my mind and my core clenched with the memories of things I had no business enjoying. No woman could ever be touched by that man and walk away unchanged and I refused to do that to myself.
My body felt weighted but relaxed, which I attributed to the mattress that cradled my tired limbs last night. This thing was pure perfection and massive. I assessed that the bed was aCalifornia King after I climbed in and barely took up any space. I was in heaven and felt totally rejuvenated after only one night.
Once I forced myself to leave the comfort of this heavenly oasis of soft cotton sheets and Tempur-Pedic foam, my first stop was the bathroom. After emptying my bladder and moving through my skincare routine, I brushed my teeth and raked a brush through my hair after I unwrapped the silk scarf.
Natural hair was great, but with my delusional need to believe I could roll out of bed, dress, and get anywhere in the city within fifteen minutes, I quickly learned that my hair in its curly state was more of a headache. With a keratin treatment, I kept a fresh blowout or my hair flat ironed, because spending thirty minutes every morning defining curls would have gotten me fired for being late.
Tackling Rylee’s hair was enough, and even with hers, I tended to keep ponytails and French braids. One week of trying to get both of us dressed and out of the house on time was enough punishment for me to learn to do hair at night and keep Rylee in a bonnet when she slept.
Once I was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved tee, I pulled on my cable knit slippers, grabbed my phone, and went to check on Rylee. My first stop was her room but I didn’t find her, which made sense because it was after eleven. I was honestly shocked that I’d slept so long and that no one interrupted me.
I was surprised to see Rylee in the kitchen with a woman wearing a uniform shirt and jeans. She was pretty, slim with cocoa brown skin and braids pulled back from her face in a ponytail, exposing high cheekbones. Rylee was next to her and reached the woman’s shoulders, which let me know she had to be standing on something. The closer I got, I realized the two were in the middle of constructing what looked like subs from the ingredients placed on the counter—lettuce, deli sliced cheese, tomatoes, and various meats.
Rylee was smiling, layering cheese, so her eyes were down but the woman noticed me and smiled, tapping Rylee. A goofy grin split her face and her hands were moving.
“Somee, look. I’m a chef in training. J-O-Y is teaching me how to make food.”She finger spelled the woman’s name. Ryland mentioned a chef but I pictured more frumpy and less glam. Joy was gorgeous.
“I see. You making some for me?”I signed back and she nodded wildly.
“Ryland said I shouldn’t wake you because you were tired but that you would be up in time to eat lunch, so we’re making Italian subs.”
“Oh my favorite,”I signed.
She went back to piling ingredients onto the sub roll, giving Joy a chance to introduce herself
“I’m J-O-Y. S-O-M-E-E, right?”she signed, finger spelling both my name and hers. I nodded and looked around.
“Where is Ryland?”
“In the gym. Rylee wanted to help with lunch, so he’s doing recovery. Do you know where it is?”
“No,” I signed and she pointed in the direction.“Downstairs in the basement at the end of the hall.”
How did she know about the basement but I did not…
“Thank you.”