Page 57 of Grand Master

With all my heart, I love you baby. Stay with me and you will see. My arms will hold you, baby. Never leave, cause I believe I’m in love…

I woke up to the sound of Anita Baker’s voice. The song was distant, but the words were clear. For a split second, panic seeped into as I remembered where I was.

Mira’s house…

I looked at the white walls and her room then towards the window that the sun shined through. I always was up before the sun came up, today I rested until…

Twelve noon…

That was new, and different but I didn’t see the problem in it.

I imagined my Josie being restless this morning.

Flying all around Grand Corp in search of me.

I squeezed the phone in my hand as I scrolled to see missed calls from Tone and text messages about Josie attacking one of the staff that was designated to check on my owls whenever I wasn’t present.

I called Tone and he answered on the first ring just as a nostalgia smell hit my nose.

“Yo, where the hell you at?”

I ignored Tone as I inhaled the smell again, as Anita Baker continued to sing her heart out.

Bacon, butter, biscuits, and eggs…

My nostrils flared on instinct, not because I was starving but because the scent took me somewhere else.

Back to a time when I was just a boy waking up with crust in my eyes.

Momma used to hum Anita Baker while flipping pancakes in her silk robe.

It was always the mornings when momma was the happiest because she had Pops to cook for, which usually meant we both were home for the weekend.

“Kenric!” Tone yelled into the phone.

I blinked and laid back against the pillowcase with a big goofy grin on my face.

The pillow smelled like her, this was me in her space, her comfort zone.

For once, I didn’t feel the need to rush, move around my building barking out orders.

I didn’t wake up to a mental list of things that I had set out to do for the current day.

I felt happy, fully satisfied and could imagine my Mira standing in the kitchen with joy locked inside of her cooking me breakfast to solidify what we shared between each other last night.

God, what a foreign thing to feel…

“Kenric, I swear?—”

“Tone,” I chuckled as I placed one hand behind my head.

“My men are on watch, and I know you have my location.” I said jokingly.

“Yeah, I do…wait is you laughing? Why you sound like that?” His voice came out high pitched.

“Like what?” I couldn’t drop the big smile from my face.

I felt light as hell, accomplished and ready for whatever. It was the type of affect Mira had on me after going an entire month without seeing her.

“Sweet loooveeee, hear me calling out your name! I feel no shame, I’m in loveeee, sweet love!” My raspy voice cracked as I tried to sing the song.

A boisterous laugh from my gut spilled from my mouth as I sat up and placed my feet on Mira’s carpet and continued to laugh until my stomach cramped.

I couldn’t sing worth shit and I wished like hell I could see Tone’s face right now.

I didn’t do silly shit like this, but I felt the need to in the moment, especially to fuck with Tone.

“Ohhhh it’s like that. That’s what you feeling like bro.” I heard the smile in Tone’s voice.

“I’m in Mira’s world, Tone. I love the world I created but her world feels better.” I admitted.

“So, what does that mean? You giving your world up?” Tone asked in disbelief.

“Never, don’t ever ask me no shit like that again either. I’ll be back in a few days…you can bring me Josie, I think she should get used to her second home.” I smirked.

“You sure you not moving too fast?”

“I’m not, there’s no more time limits on anything concerning me and Mira. I’ll arrange a meeting with all of staff when I get back. Some things will have to be moved around at Grand Corp just for when my little owl comes to visit.”

I hung the phone up and stared out the window for a while before getting up to go to Mira’s bathroom.

She came into my world at Grand Corp, now I’m in her world…

Her world didn’t scream luxurious; her space was simple but clean.

It screamed feminine. A small tan loveseat with lavender throw pillows was in the corner by the wall of her bedroom.

She had a secondhand bookshelf leaning slightly right next to her loveseat.

Paper backs and hardcovers were aligned perfectly on each shelf.

Her violin case rested beside the TV stand.

I stood and froze noticing the framed photo of her and her mother in the center of her dresser.

My eyes roamed the rest of the space, and although I didn’t walk on specialized marble floors and towering glass windows showcasing the skyline that I controlled… I liked it.

I walked out of her bedroom and moved down the short hallway to her bathroom.

I stepped into and cut on the light. My chest tightened as I eyed a set of things that I liked to use back at Grand Corp.

A new toothbrush was still in the pack, next to it was my favorite toothpaste and the exact body wash I used.

Dom’s Body Wash… Mira asked me a while back what cologne; I used because she loved how I smelled.

I told her that I like Dom’s collection.

It came with cologne, beard oil, body wash, and deodorant.

The entire Dom’s collection cost a little over thirty-five hundred, but it was worth every dollar.

The body wash itself smelled like eucalyptus mixed with a cedar scent.

It stayed on your skin like a memory until you washed it off.

I also supported Dom’s brand because of the black man named Bleu who created it.

I was all for supporting black owned everything.

Mira noticed something so small but important to me, and most of all she remembered it.

Every small detail that I thought I hid while watching her, she’d been watching me too.

I quickly handled my hygiene by hopping and the shower to wash last night’s sins away.

I walked back to Mira’s room with a towel wrapped around my waist. As soon as I opened her room door, Mira sat on her side of the bed.

She put fresh sheets on the bed and also had a tray of breakfast with fruits perfectly cut.

On the nightstand were two glasses of juice.

“I made you my favorite juice?—”

“Fresh pineapple juice mixed with lemon over ice with a little bit of sugar.” I smirked at her.

“Yes.” She blushed.

“You look beautiful.” I complimented her then dropped the towel at my feet.

Mira’s big innocent eyes widened at the sight before her. She absentmindedly licked her lips and openly eyed my dick, her eyes relaxed and zeroed in on it with no shame. I cleared my throat which made her snap her eyes back up to mine. Nervously she giggled before looking away.

“It’s yours,” I grabbed my dick and smiled. “I just don’t think you need any more of it until the swelling between your legs go down.”

I moved towards her small closet, one of my men was already instructed through text last night to bring me some of my clothes.

I opened the leather duffle bag and grabbed a pair of boxers and socks.

When I walked back to the room, Mira had a bowl of peeled cucumbers soaked in vinegar.

She munched on them and purposely kept her eyes glued to the bowl.

“I liked waking up to the sound of you playing music and cooking for us…Thank you.” I walked towards the bed.

My chest tightened from just the sight of Mira.

She woke up and showered; her thick tresses were pulled up into a messy ponytail.

She had on light pink boy shorts that pulled over half of her pudgy stomach.

A white Nike sports bra barely held her breasts up, but they looked sexy as hell whether they sat up or sagged, my mouth watered at the sight of them.

“I wanted you to feel welcomed…I thought about you coming to see me a lot since I’ve been here.

The extra mile you went to make sure I got in at Avalon’s Prime meant a lot to me.

I never imagined myself working at a chamber musician.

I actually have something that I love to do now, my passion.

You sought after that when I had no clue on what to do to take the necessary steps towards being a part of something so magical…

last night when we had dinner, my heart ached for you.

I know you don’t like sympathy and people judging but I wondered, Kenric…

who makes you feel special? Who does things for you, for your own good?

To save you and make you feel secured…I know you have Tone, and maybe others that want to be in your corner… but I want to be those things for you.”

Mira paused to sit her bowl of cucumbers down.

She patted the space next to her; I took a seat and turned towards her.

She stared me deeply in the eyes not blinking, I felt the intensity in the moment, I reached out to grab her soft hand.

I inhaled the smell of vinegar and freshly cut cucumbers along with the biscuits, bacon, eggs, and smothered potatoes between us.

“No need to thank me, I want you to do what makes you happy. I can’t just keep you locked away at Grand Corp.”

For a moment, silence wrapped around us like a thick blanket, heavy with all the things left unsaid.

I squeezed her hand gently, grounding myself in the simple, honest connection between our hands.

The warmth of her touch soothed some restless ache inside me, and I found myself wanting to believe her words, I wanted to let her in enough to try.

“It makes me very happy, but how do you feel about what I said?”