Rock Chick Reborn (Rock Chick #9)(48)

“Maybe we should quit talking about this.”

“I hear that,” I said quietly. “And maybe you should give those books a miss.”

“I am absolutely reading those books.”

“Moses—”

“I need to know what I’m getting into.”

“Maybe that’s a good call,” I mumbled. “But, remember, it’s been years and I’ve got no ill effects after I got conked on the head when Slick and his boys shot up my poker game.”

“Jesus Christ,” he whispered.

I couldn’t help it.

I grinned again.

“You’re totally gonna love the Rock Chicks,” I told him.

“I thought I would. Not sure now if that’s true.”

“They love me straight to their souls.”

“Then you’re right, sweetheart. I’ll love them.”

And that made me grin again.

We talked a lot longer.

And I grinned a lot more.

We ended our conversation with me lulled half asleep with Moses’s sweet voice sounding in my ear.

I fell totally asleep yet again with my phone held to my chest.

But this time it was different.

This time, everything was different.

Because tomorrow, for the first time in a long time, I had something amazing and beautiful and exciting to look forward to.

Tomorrow, I was going to see Moses again.





Reborn

Shirleen

THE NEXT NIGHT, I opened the door to my house.

I stood there in my dress and heels, hair done, makeup refreshed, staring at the handsome man on my doorstep wearing a café au lait button up, a chocolate-brown blazer, his eyes warming, his lips forming a sexy smile upon seeing me . . .

And I was reborn.

His warm, rich voice came at me, covering my skin, washing the last of the dust away at the same time it seeped in, through the skin, the flesh, the bone, to fill my marrow with liquid goodness.

“Ready to go?”

I stood there, unable to move.

“Or you wanna show me your place?” he asked.

He was so beautiful.

So beautiful.

And I had it in my power to make him mine.

Like I had it in my power to keep on keeping on the way I’d been keeping on and told Daisy I was not going to help Jet find her daddy.

But I made my choice.

Then I helped Jet find her daddy.

Like I had it in my power to stay detached, stay removed, not get involved.

But I made my choice.

And I became friends with Jet. I renewed my friendship with Daisy. And with time, the rest of them came along.

Like I had it in my power when things were heating up on the streets with Jules being a vigilante and I had a choice to make.

And I made that choice.

Then Darius and me got out of the game.

Like I had it in my power when the worst that could happen happened, and Roam and Jules both got shot, Jules nearly got dead, this happening while they were looking out for each other, and I wanted Jules’s kids under my roof so I could look after them.

And I made that choice.

Then I made it happen.

I’d been experiencing the longest, slowest rebirth maybe of all time.

A rebirth I had to fight for.

And could have died for.

But I kept at it.

And I would never be at peace. Not after all I’d done.

But I was going to take this new life I’d chosen.

And I was going to live it up.

“Baby, you okay?” Moses asked.

Only then did I move.

I reached out a hand, grasped him by his button down, and pulled him into my house.

Into me.

His hands immediately came to my waist.

And with my head tipped back, his lips came immediately to my mouth.

I clamped a hand on the side of his head.

And that was when Moses kissed me.

I moved backwards, taking him with me.

His lips detached.

Oh no.

“Shirleen.”

“Close the door.”

“Baby.”

“The boys are gone.”

“Sweetheart.”

I let his shirt go so I could clamp both of my hands on his head.

“Please,” I whispered.

Moses looked into my eyes.

He then turned to shut the door.

I heard the lock go.

Then he turned back to me.

And I again had his mouth.

I took it. Lord, did I. I took from it and let him take from me. I pressed tight to his strong length, walking backwards, leading him with me, drinking from that sweet mouth, drinking deep.

When I sensed my bedroom door, I shifted us, his head came up again and he stopped us.

“You sure?” he whispered.

“I have only been more sure of one thing in my life. Offering my boys a home,” I answered.

His warm brown eyes got warmer.

Then they got hot.

And suddenly I wasn’t leading Moses Richardson anywhere.

He was taking me where he wanted us to be.

Which, shortly thereafter, was us falling on my bed, him on top.

That was a way I did not mind in the slightest my duvet getting unpoofed.

He was hot and heavy with his mouth, his tongue, but he went gentle and slow with his hands.