I meant.”
“Ah,” said Von as he looked at Sophia. “That’s why you knew all those Italian names. You didn’t tell me you had Italian blood.”
“You can’t really tell, can you?” Dana asked. “Because when I met her, I assumed she was all-black just like me. Then I met her father.”
“Um, Dana,” Sophia said, “don’t you have some skating to do?”
Dana laughed. “She’s trying to get rid of me now. Okay. I get it.”
“I’d better go and get some skates myself,” said Von, standing up. “I hope they have my size.”
“What size is that?” Dana asked mischievously.
“Thirteen,” Von said. “I’ll be right back.”
When he headed for the counter to grab a pair of skates, Dana and Sophia both smiled. “Thirteen?” Dana said as they did a hand clasp kind of mid-range high-five. “Girrl, he’s gonna put something on your ass!”
“Girl bye,” Sophia said, although she couldn’t keep a straight face herself. “Scientifically there’s no correlation between shoe size and penis size, okay? According to the scientists.”
“All of whom have small penises and small shoes, okay?” Dana said.
“Goodbye, Dana,” Sophia said. “But don’t tip out without letting me know.”
“Child please! You got Casanova at your beck and call. I saw how he looked you over as he was sitting down. He’s as smitten with you as you are with him. You won’t be needing my taxi services tonight. I guarantee you that.” Then she laughed and skated away.
But after she left, Sophia realized she hadn’t thought that far ahead. In her mind, she knew she wasn’t about to fall into bed with some man she just met, she didn’t care how nice and attractive and kind he was. Because he was all three of those things in Sophia’s eyes.
But that was her mind talking. What if her heart started talking? Because, if it did, and if he asked, she wasn’t all that certain that she’d say no. She quickly put on her skates.
And when he came back and lifted her up by the hand, and escorted her into the rink, she was even more uncertain about her certainty.
Especially when they first started skating and Von fell straight on his butt. Sophia looked at him. Would he be embarrassed? Would he get angry like some boys she dated would do whenever they got tripped up?
But Von didn’t do either of those things. He just laughed. He looked so beautiful sitting on that canvas laughing. He was able to laugh at himself.
And when he got back up and kept on skating, something changed inside of Sophia.
And somehow she knew right then and right there, as he picked himself up and dusted himself off and got back in the ring, that she just might have met the man of her dreams. It was a wild thought, she knew, but that was how she felt.
And later that night, when he was driving her home, he asked if he could swing by his office to grab some paperwork he needed to take home and review. And she easily said yes. She didn’t object at all. Mostly because she was too curious to see where he worked. Mainly because she was getting curious to know everything about him.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Trina was sitting up in bed going over inventory logs for all of her stores when Reno walked through the double doors of their bedroom.
“It’s a miracle,” Trina said. “My husband is home at a decent hour.”
“Very funny,” Reno said as he began removing clothes.
“You look exhausted, Reno.”
“I am exhausted. Could barely function in that casino, and then some teenage starlet had the nerve to insist on top billing because she’s got a million Instagram followers.”
“An influencer and a pop star?” Trina said. “Now that’s a lethal combination. What did you tell her?”
“I told her what she could do with her followers and I put her ass even further down the depth chart. Ordered my men to bump her ass altogether if the show ran too long.”
Trina smiled. “I’m sure she loved that.”
“Fuck if I care,” Reno said as he took off the last of his clothing and then crawled into bed beside Trina.
Trina didn’t like it. She would have preferred he took a bath and got that casino off of him first, but he was a morning bather. He was always too tired when he made it home at night to even think about hitting the shower or getting in a tub. He’d always been that way.
Trina looked at him. He was turned onto his side facing her, but