Page 6 of A Trial of the Heart

Chapter

Six

Shiloh:

“What’s the story there?” Rashad asked, looking down at me.

We were in his bed with his arm draped across my naked frame.

We’d come back to his room after agreeing to be with each other for the duration of the cruise.

We’d just had mind-blowing, unforgettable sex, and we were getting to know each other better.

It wasn’t intentional, but multiple times during the conversation, I brought up Daniel.

I wanted to keep him out of it, but it was hard because Daniel had been all I knew.

I sighed nervously, laughing. “It’s a long story that I really don’t want to tell.”

Rashad shifted a bit. “You may not want to tell it, but it seems like you need to.”

“You really aren’t the person who I should talk to about Daniel.” He’d just bodied me, giving me multiple orgasms, so mentioning my ex would have been out of pocket.

He chuckled.

“I may not be the ideal person in your eyes, but I’m here, and you seem to have a lot of built-up things you wanna speak about.

No judgment from me… just listening and giving advice if you need me to.

” He was so calm. “Once you get it out, we don’t have to speak about it again.

We only have a few days together, and I just want them to be ones neither of us will forget. ”

It didn’t take long to understand why Rashad had the type of job he did. He hadn’t even said much, but the tone of his voice allowed me to feel comfortable to speak on what I didn’t want to.

“Daniel, my ex…” I started and wanted to stop instantly, but I’d already opened up with just a name.

I exhaled deeply. “Daniel was supposed to be on this cruise with me. He and I dated off and on for years. He was familiar, but truth be told, we had no business being associated. We were so different, but because he was all I knew, I stayed where I didn’t belong.

When we were younger, we fit because the bad boy life was what I thought I wanted and needed. ”

I paused a second because, as I spoke, the realization of how dumb I had been for years was clear.

“He was all I knew. I knew I deserved better, and we weren’t good for each other, but I couldn’t let go even after I became a lawyer.”

“Is there a reason he isn’t here?”

I sarcastically laughed. “Aside from the fact we were in chapter one of different books, his ass thought it was a good idea to fuck another female in my apartment.” I laughed again.

This time, I was in disbelief. “The apartment was in my name. I paid all the bills, and the bed was mine. His ass didn’t even have enough respect for me to cheat on me outside the home I paid for. ”

“Damn,” was all Rashad got out.

This time, when I laughed, it was more so in embarrassment. “Yeah, so that’s why he’s not here.”

Rashad adjusted under me, forcing me to do the same. He now glared into my eyes but spoke no words.

“What?”

He stroked my face, his fingertips feeling like a feather before he gripped my chin lightly, lifting so my lips were more accessible before he kissed them. The kiss felt innocent yet passionate. Just when I prepared to part my lips to welcome his tongue, Rashad pulled back.

“I’m not happy about the pain you have behind your ex, but I can’t lie and say that I’m not happy he’s not here.” He smiled slightly, prompting me to do the same.

“Him not being here is paving the way for you and I.” He winked.

I couldn’t prevent the growing smile. Rashad had a way with his words, and hell, hands too.

Because as his hands roamed my body while staring at me, I was forgetting everything.

Though Rashad seemed perfect, saying and doing all the right things, his eyes couldn’t lie.

They were telling a story I wanted to read.

“What about you? What’s your backstory?” I asked, looking away a bit as that was the only way I could focus.

Rashad’s neat, bushy brows bunched in the middle of his forehead as his forehead wrinkled. “What you mean?”

I snickered. “Really? I just let you in, and you are really about to pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about? Don’t do that. Why is someone as fine as you, and seemingly so perfect, single?”

Pulling his arm from under me, Rashad sat up fully to rest his back against the headboard. I sat up too, bringing the sheet with me to shield my naked frame.

“Ahh.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Baby, I’m far from perfect.”

I looked his way, my arched brow hiking. “You a bad boy, Rashad?” I asked with a hint of amusement.

“Nah, not even.”

I was only joking with my question, but Rashad’s tone was alarming.

“Okay…”

“I’d like to think I’m a good guy. I mean, I may not be God’s favorite or anything, but I don’t see Him denying me entrance through the pearly gates for things I’ve done.”

What Rashad was saying was cool and all, but I was more intrigued by why someone like him was single.

I knew being single was a choice, but had I had him off this cruise, there was no way I was letting him go.

I’d marry him and always stay barefoot and pregnant for him.

He was fine, well mannered, educated, and catered like no other in the bedroom. He was the epitome of a dope black man.

“Why are you single?”

He chuckled. “Last female I dealt with was a little too territorial for me. She had a part to play but wanted to overplay it, causing havoc in my life, so I had to step back.”

“Part to play? You wanted your cake and to eat it too?”

Rashad hadn’t said it, but his words sounded like one that was a cheater and wanted whoever he was with to be okay with that.

“Never that.” There was no further explanation, which irritated me, though I didn’t show it.

“Care to elaborate?”

“Whether in a fully committed relationship, I move a certain way. If I’m fucking with someone, exclusively or not, I don’t entertain anyone else.

I’m not one to have multiple females at once because I’m respectful.

It’s something that’s understood, so it needs no explanation.

The thing with the last woman I dealt with, she knew where we stood and what it was.

She was just so insecure and controlling that she overplayed it, so she and I had to split ways. ”

Hearing Rashad explain it, it made sense, but his tone and body language lead me to believe it was more to it than he was saying. Being a lawyer, I grasped the concept of being able to read people just off their eye contact alone. Something was missing.

“Okay,” was all I mustered up to say. I had many more questions, but I felt like I’d asked enough for the moment. If the opportunity presented itself again and I still cared enough, I’d probe again. For now, I was just going to bask in Rashad’s presence, enjoying our time together.

“You never told me how things went this morning with that man you can’t seem to stop being around?” LeeAnn dragged out, standing in front of me.

It was early afternoon, and after another round of sex with Rashad, I slipped from his room once he dozed off.

I left my number this time so it wouldn’t be so hard for us to find each other on the huge ship.

Rashad was very much intriguing and secretive, but that was one thing that seemed to draw me to him.

I popped my lips while twirling my hair, doing my best impression of a girl from the hood. “Whatchu talking about?”

The moment it rolled off my tongue, LeeAnn and I both cackled in unison. LeeAnn and I had been best friends and inseparable since the sandbox, and we moved simultaneously without trying.

“You’re crazy.” LeeAnn continued laughing. “Seriously, though, do tell all about your extracurricular activities.”

Without warning, I giggled like a little kid, cupping my mouth to cover all thirty-two teeth that were showing.

“Oh, shoot. Now, I really have to know. ‘Cause I haven’t seen you smile like this since God knows when.” LeeAnn quickly scooted beside me, nudging me upon contact. “Let’s hear it.”

Pressing my lips together, I stopped smiling before exhaling.

“LeeAnn, he’s everything…” I started before filling LeeAnn in on the night we met until today.

I found myself as I spoke about Rashad. I couldn’t contain my emotions.

I barely knew him, yet it felt like he wasn’t a stranger and just everything I ever needed.

Rashad and I could talk to no end and have sex like porn stars.

It was like a scene in one of those dope urban romance books I couldn’t peel my eyes from.

“Damn…” LeeAnn let out a low whistle. “That man got your nose wide open.

“I know,” I agreed. “Am I doing too much?” I knew LeeAnn would always give it to me straight, even if I didn’t like her words or delivery.

She sucked her teeth. “Hell nah! Girl, we’re on vacation for your birthday. You don’t have a man, and you only get one life. I say enjoy fucking that fine ass mine the rest of the cruise and live out a fantasy that most women want to and can’t.”

It was no question I moved on my own, and any decision that I made was of my free will, but I valued LeeAnn’s opinion on any situation. She gave the green light, so I wouldn’t regret a thing.