Page 35 of Body Language (Mind, Body, & Soul #2)

“I’ll have to ask Niv first,” he told her, glancing at me with that smug look like he knew exactly what he was doing. “But if she says yes, then of course, and we can play dolls.”

Her eyes lit up instantly. “Yay!”

Then she whipped her head toward me. “Niv, please say yes!”

Before I could even respond, she kissed his cheek, grinned, and skipped off to her room, leaving me standing there with my arms crossed, staring at the man who’d just walked all up into my space and got my people loving him in a matter of hours.

The second Heidi’s bedroom door clicked shut, I turned toward Kendrix, ready to start in on him.

He was still sitting there on my couch, looking way too comfortable like it was his spot.

One arm stretched across the back cushion, legs spread, the faintest smirk pulling at his mouth like he’d just won something.

“What the fuck was that?” I asked, my voice low so the kids wouldn’t hear.

He just shrugged. “What was what?”

“Walking in here like you pay bills and getting them all up under you like that?”

“I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to meet your family,” he said, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. “They like me. You like me. Feels like we’re already halfway there.”

I laughed once. “Halfway where? You really think you can just show up at my house, charm my people, and that’s gonna get you in good with me?”

“Looks like it’s working.”

The nerve.

I crossed my arms, holding my ground. “Kendrix, you got lucky tonight. That’s all. Don’t make this into something it’s not.”

He tilted his head, eyes locked on mine in that way that made my stomach flip, no matter how much I hated it. “See, that’s the thing, Niv. You talk like I’m trying to pull something, when all I’m doing is showing you where I fit. And I do fit, here. With them. With you.”

For a second, I didn’t even have a comeback. I hated that he could do that—slip under my skin and settle in before I even realized it.

I broke eye contact first, walking past him toward the kitchen like I needed a drink, when really I just needed space.

“You should go,” I said over my shoulder.

He didn’t even flinch. “Come home with me.”

My head snapped toward him. “The fuck you just say?”

“I already talked to Rita.”

My eyes widened. “Damn… you met Rita too? I thought somebody in this damn house had some sense.”

He smirked, slow and unbothered. “I told her to get some rest while I was here, and I stayed up with the kids. I already told her you were coming back to my place with me.”

I blinked at him. “I don’t know why the fuck you did that, because I’m not going anywhere.”

That’s when his whole vibe shifted. “You can go willingly, or forcibly. Your choice.”

That should’ve made me take a step back.

Instead, every nerve in my body lit up like he’d flipped a damn switch.

My thighs pressed together without permission, because if there’s one thing I hate and love all at once, it’s a man telling me what he’s about to do with the kind of certainty that doesn’t leave room for a no.

He must’ve seen the heat in my face because his tone softened as he took a step closer. “You wanna know why I came over here?”

“Please enlighten me.”

“I just wanted to take a minute to step inside your world without you being around. Get to know the kids a little. See them for myself, not just through you.”

That hit somewhere I wasn’t ready to acknowledge. So I threw up a wall. “You mean lie to Heidi about playing dolls?”

He shook his head, no smile this time. “Not a lie. I used to play dolls with my niece all the time. Ain’t no shame in it. She loved that shit and so did I.”

That… did something to me.

He ran a hand over his jaw. “I never had sisters, but I always wanted one. Being around them tonight—it’s right up my alley. And it’s easy to see why you go so hard for them.”

My chest tightened. Damn him. He was supposed to be the one chasing, but here I was trying not to melt.

Before I could think of another smartass remark, he stepped into my space and wrapped his arms around me. The heat from his body, the weight of his hands at my back. It was ridiculous how fast my shoulders relaxed, like my body decided on its own that it trusted him.

“You can relax, Niv,” he murmured.

And I did. Then he kissed me.

It wasn’t rushed. It wasn’t tentative, either. It was slow enough for me to taste him, deep enough to make my knees weaken. My hands slid up his chest before I even realized they were moving.

“Come home with me,” he whispered against my lips.

That time, I kissed him back. Harder. His hands went to my hips, and in one smooth move he picked me up and set me on the counter, his mouth claiming mine again. The heat between us got hot, fast.

“Kendrix—” I broke the kiss, breathless. “The kids.”

“I told you to come to my place,” he said, brushing his mouth against my ear. “Either that, or the kids are gonna hear you screaming my name.”

My pulse slammed against my throat. His grip on my thighs tightened, his eyes holding mine like he already knew what my answer would be.