Page 84 of Anything Goes

“Then you’ll just have to practice keeping your mouth shut. You know how I feel about keeping my work and private life separate.”

Sliding his hand beneath my chin, he lifted my head slowly. “I know, I’m just trying to give you a hard time.” He lowered his lips to mine, and I couldn’t resist climbing on top of him.

“Well, I’m sure there are other ways that you can give me a hard time,” I said, lowering my hand between us and sliding the seat of my thongs to the side.

Just as I was about to give my body what it was craving, my doorbell rang.

Who the hell is that?

My head spun around, irritated that whoever it was, chose this moment to show up unannounced. Taking a deep breath, I said, “I'll be right back. Don't move.”

“Shit, how can I? If I do, I might poke someone in the damn eye.”

Laughing, I snatched my robe from the back of my bedroom door and wrapped it around me. I stumped my way through the kitchen and into the living room. The only way the person on the other end of this door wasn't going to feel my wrath was if it was a little girl selling some damn girl scout cookies…and that shit was highly unlikely at this time of night.

Not thinking, I opened the door without looking through the peephole, which was definitely a mistake. The moment I saw Latrell standing in the doorway, I felt my insides curl up into a dozen knots.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Well, since you refuse to accept my calls and I’m in town, I figured that I would come talk to you face to face. Do you mind if I come in?”

“Actually, I do. Layne’s not here, and—”

“Look, Alauni, I know you’re probably thinking that I’m here to give you a hard time, but I’m not. I just want to talk. I want to apologize for my mistakes and really get us on track. This entire situation has our daughter in a bad place, and I know that I’m partially the blame for that.”

I glanced back at my bedroom, my heart beating faster than ever before. Sure, at the moment, Latrell seemed calm, which I appreciated. But all that could change if he knew that another man was on the other side of that door.

“I really appreciate you for trying to make things right, but I think it would be best if we had this conversation later. It wasn’t a good idea for you to just show up here.”

“Well, I would’ve called first, but seeing as you blocked my ass, that’s a little difficult,” he said, laughing.

“I know. I’ll unblock you in the morning.”

“Great, but since I’m here now, let’s just talk.” He stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

“Latrell, I didn’t invite you in. And in case it isn’t obvious, I’m not exactly dressed for company.”

“It’s cool,” he said while reaching for the string that held my robe together. “I’ve seen it all before.”

I quickly stepped back. “Yeah, well, you’ll never see it again.”

“Damn, it’s like that?”

“Latrell, you and I aren’t on that level anymore. We’re parents to our daughter. Every time I think you might understand that, you do something dumb to show that you don’t.”

Lifting his hands, he said, “No, I do understand. I was just messing around.”

“Well, stop. This is why we can’t be in a good place. You just won’t leave well enough alone.”

He nodded. “You’re right. I’m done with that. You’ve made it clear where you stand. I need to back off.”

“Thank you. Now, let’s put a pin in this conversation until tomorrow. I will call you in the morning, so we can sit down and talk.”

“Okay, cool. Whatever you want.”

“Great. Right now, I want you to leave.”

Laughing, he turned towards the door. “You don’t have to kick me out though.”