Page 1 of Tempted by the Taurus (BLP Signs of Love #11)

Pulling into the parking lot of Creme Cafe Coffee, I parked my car.

After removing my sunglasses from my purse, I slid them on and put my purse on my shoulder.

As I stepped out, I heard a baby screaming at the top of his lungs.

His parents tried soothing him to get him to be quiet, but it didn't help.

I shook my head sadly and pushed forward.

It made me wonder if I would have a family of my own one day.

Given the way my love life was set up, I had my doubts.

I hadn't had a relationship in over five years.

At thirty, I hadn't yet found anyone worthy of my love.

I strolled to the door of the café, and before I could pull the handle, the door opened.

With a polite smile, I thanked the man who held the door.

While holding the door open, the scent of roasted coffee and baked goods filled my nose.

Even from the outside, I could hear the loud chatter of customers in the cafe.

"No problem, beautiful," he stated with a wink.

With a shake of my head, I entered the café and removed my sunglasses from my face. I scanned the small building until my eyes landed on two women sitting by a window, chatting to themselves. I strolled toward my friends, making sure I didn't run into anyone. The café was packed this morning.

I took a seat and removed my purse from my shoulder, setting it on the back of the chair. "Good morning, ladies," I greeted, putting my sunglasses in my purse.

"Morning," they greeted with a wave and a warm smile.

Jaiden pointed her finger at me and leaned forward. "You gave us a time, and you didn't show up on time." She tapped her wrist, indicating an invisible watch. "How does that work?" She threw her arms out to the side and eyed me.

I smiled with a half shrug. "My bad. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to wear." I stared down at the red and black two-piece skirt suit I wore.

The corners of Sariyah's lips lifted. "And you look so cute, best friend."

I beamed. "Thank you! I'm going to place my order since y'all didn't order anything for me. I'll be right back." I got up from the table to stand in line. It was fortunate that there were only two people ahead of me.

"Good morning. What would you like to order?" the friendly cashier asked with a smile on her face.

I scanned the menu for a quick second before turning my attention back to her. "Morning. Let me get your French vanilla coffee with a ham and cheese croissant."

She smiled. "Yes, ma'am." She rang me up and gave me the total. "Someone will be over at your table shortly."

I paid my tab and returned to my table. "What did you guys do this weekend?" My eyes went from one to the other.

Sariyah dropped her head. "I went on my date. I thought I was about to end up with a one-night stand or something, but it didn't turn out that way."

I laughed. "Oh no, why do you say that? Was he not showing interest in you like that? You did say he was a Scorpio like me, so I know he had to be coming on to you."

One thing about me is that I wasn't afraid to let a man know how I felt about him when I was in a relationship.

She frowned. "Girl, no. The date was okay, but I don't think I'll be seeing him again. Tuh, the freak didn't come out."

I burst out laughing. Sariyah didn't mind saying what was on her mind.

"Why not? You sent us a picture of the guy, and he looked good," Jaiden noted.

Sariyah exhaled deeply. "He kept checking his phone. I expect a man to give me all his attention. That's not something I want to deal with. That let me know that when we hang out, he would be distracted. Oh, no, sir. He had the wrong woman."

Jaiden nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's a red flag. What was so important?—"

She was cut off by the server, who set my order down in front of me. "I hope everything is to your liking."

I beamed as I eyed my food. "Oh yes, ma'am. Everything looks amazing." My mouth watered as I eyed the ham and cheese croissant.

"I wish I knew what was so important, but he doesn't have to worry about me calling or texting him again. On to the next," Sariyah pouted.

Out of the three of us, Sariyah was the hopeless romantic.

She had already planned out her wedding, down to the underwear she would wear.

All she needed was the relationship. She'd been trying to find love for the longest, but Prince Charming had yet to come.

The toads had been out, though. I prayed that the man she ended up with treated her right.

"Sometimes it be like that," Jaiden mumbled.

I tilted my head to the side and studied her. "How would you know?" I arched an eyebrow. "You're married."

Jaiden's eyes bounced from mine to Sariyah before she averted them. "That I know, but still..." She dropped her head back to the mug in front of her.

It was best to leave it alone for now, but I knew she was keeping something from us. One thing I learned from the past was never to push her. When she was ready to talk to us, she'd call us with a bottle of wine.

The three of us had been friends since high school. They were the backbone I needed with everything that went on in my life. I knew if nobody else had my back, they did, and I had theirs.

Sariyah glanced in my direction. "What did you do this weekend? And we all know you went to church this weekend, so you don't have to say that."

Jaiden gasped before she covered her mouth to hide her laughter.

If I were a shade lighter or two, my cheeks would've been red. "For your information, I sent orders out on Saturday, and then I took myself out on a date."

They only stared at me, causing me to wave them off and begin eating my food. They got on my nerves, but I loved them so much.

"Sis, both of us need a man in our lives. We be in the house too much." Sariyah shook her head with a frown.

"Girl, that's a lie. You were just outside this weekend on a date. I'm good with the way my life is," I lied.

I would like to try for love again one day, but I'm afraid. On top of that, my parents had me conflicted about love. That was probably why my relationships never lasted.

"If that's what you want to tell yourself," Sariyah mumbled.

They had been on me about needing a man in my life for the longest, but it went in one ear and out the other. If one happened to come along, I would give him a chance.

"I have this cousin?—"

"No!" I cut Jaiden off before she had the chance to tell me about any of her cousins. I knew all of them, and they weren't shit. She was trying to set me up for failure.

Sariyah threw her head back and laughed loudly. Both of us knew how Jaiden's family was, and that was a family I didn't want to get involved with. One of them was enough.

Jaiden screwed her face up and leaned back in the seat. She had her arms folded as she shot daggers at me. "Not too much on my family."

I shrugged with a chuckle. "I didn't even say anything." Picking up my croissant, I finished that off along with my coffee. It was now time for me to head to work.

It was always a pleasure getting together with my girls, who were more like sisters to me.

I sat behind my desk and powered up my iMac for the morning.

It was time to get this workday started.

I had to check my email to see if I had any appointments for the week.

Being a real estate agent had its pros and cons.

I worked with anyone wanting to make a house a home.

Sometimes people wanted to buy a house, and I did all the work, only to have them change their minds.

That blew me so badly, but I knew that came with the job.

I enjoyed working for the Smith brothers, Travis and Theodore.

I was one of their top sellers at the agency.

Some workers envied me because of it, but I didn't let it stop me from busting my ass every day.

In the middle of doing paperwork, my cell phone rang on my desk. I picked up the phone and glanced at the screen, seeing that it was my mother calling. I sighed deeply and pressed the screen to answer her call, placing the phone to my ear.

"Good morning," I greeted.

"It's a wonder you answered the phone. You never want to talk to me when I call." She sounded relieved.

I rolled my eyes skyward. "That should tell you something."

There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. My parents and I didn't have the best relationship, which started when I was thirteen years old. Whenever they called me, I didn't want to talk to them. Maybe that was wrong of me to say, but I couldn't help it.

"Why every time I call, you have to have an attitude with me?" she snapped.

I got up from my seat to stare out of the window. "You barely call me."

She scoffed. "Hmm, I wonder why. I was only calling to tell you about that date I had."

It seemed as if my parents had moved on with their lives but had left me with scars. That wasn't fair to me. My parents, Kiki and Tim, decided to air out their business at my thirteenth birthday party. Not only did they argue, but they also blurted that they were getting a divorce.

As years went on, I stayed in the middle of their arguments.

If my father wanted me to stay at his house, my mother made such a big fuss of it.

On the other hand, when my mother sought to take me on a trip with her and a man she was seeing, my father made a big deal of it.

It was a tug-of-war between them and me.

They wanted me to accept that they were friends now, after years of them traumatizing me.

They made me believe that love was real, but it turned out to be fake.

The two people I counted on to show me how love was supposed to be didn't do a good job of it.

In every relationship I was in, I ended it, not trusting a man with my heart.

I feared they would crush it. Then the ones I gave a chance to turned out to be no good, so I gave up on trying after a while.

"I'm not in the mood to hear about a date. It's one of many that won't last," I bluntly stated.

My mother was unable to maintain a long-term relationship, unlike my father, who was back with his baby mama.

This was one of the many problems my parents had that led to their divorce.

My mother accused my father of sleeping with his baby mama, who was now his wife, when they were married.

That wasn't the case, but the seed was planted.

Although my father and his baby mama, now wife, weren't together at that time, they remained close due to my oldest sister.

My mother didn't like it. To this day, my sister and I haven't spoken for that reason.

She didn't reach out to me, and I didn't either. It was damn her and them.

"You know what, I'll talk to you later. I don't have time for your bullshit today."

The call ended.

With a long sigh, I removed the phone from my ear, staring at the clouds. It was too cloudy. I hoped it wouldn't rain today.

"Okay. You need to snap out of it. You have work that needs to be done. Just get the call from mom out of your head. You'll be good," I whispered, giving myself a prep talk.

I hated to lack on a job, knowing it would get back to Travis or even Theo.

I didn't need either of them breathing down my neck.

They were some scary men, and I didn't want to get on their bad side.

The way they did business was ruthless. If anyone thought of double-crossing the Smith Brothers, there would be hell to pay.

I made my way back to my seat. "You got this," I coached myself, powering up my iMac again since it was in sleep mode. With my parents out of my head, I got to work.

I had an appointment at the end of the week with a new client.

I beamed as I eyed the screen. To finalize the appointment, I had to call to confirm that he was still available.

I hoped he was because I needed something new and adventurous.

I was tired of doing paperwork when I didn't have any clients.

I pulled my desk drawer open, retrieved my work cell phone, and set it on my desk. Once I found his number, I dialed it and placed the phone on speaker.

The man answered on the fourth ring. "Wassup?" he greeted in a deep, husky tone.

My insides warmed at the sound of his voice.

I plastered a smile on my face as if he saw me. "Good morning. My name is Leighton Myles, a realtor at T&T Homes. I'm calling to make sure you were still looking to buy a home?" My heartbeat furiously in my chest, praying in my head that he still wanted to do business.

"Oh, hell yeah. My appointment is on Friday."

I pumped my fist in the air, happy that he still wanted to do business. "Okay, great! I'll see you Friday morning at nine o'clock."

"See you then."

Once I hung up the phone, I did a little dance in my seat. Finally, something good had come out of the morning after talking to my mother. Things were looking up.

After a long day of work, I was finally home.

I had changed out of my work clothes and now adorned a two-piece pajama set.

Since I was still full from my lunch I had at work, I didn't bother with cooking anything.

If I got hungry, I'd heat a microwavable dinner.

I was in my home office, getting ready to create some journals to sell.

In my free time, I enjoy journaling about my day or researching prompts to write about.

Since I enjoyed doing that, I wondered if others who journaled did it the way that I did.

So, I started making journals and selling them.

It was a hobby I enjoyed doing, and it relaxed me.

My cell phone rang while I was in the middle of creating a cover design for the journal on Canva.

I eyed the number and saw it was my father.

The devil was a liar tonight. I was in a good mood and refused to let anyone ruin my night.

I'd just let the phone ring. He'd stop calling when he saw I didn't pick up.

After I completed the journal, I left my office and headed to bed for the night.