Page 88 of Kove and Xiah

He loved his daughter enough to disrupt whatever happiness she had if it meant protecting her heart from future devastation. In his eyes, he failed her and was giving me the heads up that he wouldn’t do that shit again.

“Dinner’s ready. We good out here?” Xiah moved to her father and hugged his waist from the side. He dropped a kiss to the top of her head and smiled.

“We’re good, sweetheart.” Her eyes darted between us and she frowned.

“Did Kove tell you he got you season tickets?”

I smirked because she thought she needed that to smooth things over but me and her pops were cool. I respected his position and he was going to respect mine until I gave him a reason not to.

I wouldn’t…

“Season tickets?”

I nodded. “Yeah, box or courtside. Choice is yours.”

“Definitely courtside.” He smiled, nodding.

“Good, you can sit with me.”

Her father raised a brow. “Oh she must really like you, son. If you’re getting her to a game there’s definitely something there.”

“Yeah, I think she’s feeling me a little bit.”

Her father nodded and smiled. “I’m going to head inside.”

“We’re coming,” she said as he left us.

After he shut the door, she stepped in front of me and fisted the sides of my shirt. “Things good?”

“Yeah, we’re cool.”

“What did he say?”

“Fuck with your heart and he’s gon’ fuck me up.” Her smile expanded.

“Maybe not those exact words but I’m sure he said something close.”

“Close enough. Now come on, because if he listened to that conversation we had on the porch, he’s going to think we’re out here fucking.”

Chapter 20

Xiah

“Kove,thank you so much for coming.” I turned in the direction of the voice that called Kove’s name and couldn’t help but smile at the woman who approached us. She was dressed in a black pantsuit where the blazer was made to be worn as a jacket and shirt. It had a deep V in front and I could tell there was nothing under it, tightly fitted at the waist, exposing the curves of her hips.

It was business but sexy paired with heels so high I had no clue how she was walking so gracefully on them.

“Cress Omari, and this is Elias.” She turned and smiled at the man next to her and, well, shit. That man was fine as hell.

My eyes darted between the two of them, admiring how they were a beautiful couple then my mind quickly went to Kove and me. Did we look like them? Were people whispering about how good we looked together?

“Nice to meet you.” Kove accepted the hand Cress extended then offered a nod to her husband before he dropped his hand to my hip. “This is Xiah.”

“Hello, Xiah, thank you both for coming. Did you enjoy the show?” She smiled, letting her eyes move between both of us and I grinned.

“We did.” Kove slept through most of it but I wouldn’t tell her that. Their first three preseason games were on the road and he flew in this morning, had a media run, a fundraiser for Healing Hands, and made it home just in time to shower and dress for the show tonight. He was tired, but also had no interest in watching a classical performance.

“Oh good. We’re trying some new choreographers to give us a fresh perspective on modern dance and hopefully will appeal to younger audiences. Your donation will actually go toward facilitating our partnership with the Loyd Recreational Center, offering scholarships to the young men who would like to join our dance academy.”