He shrugged. “I don’t know. I disclosed every secret I expected would drive her away. She saw the real me. Saw what I did for a living, saw me torture someone, saw me kill a whole group of people at that spa, and still accepted me. She saw my eye the first morning she walked into my kitchen and didn’t shy away, no pity or anything, only interest.”
Khane shrugged like he was still attempting to figure out him and Desiree.
“I was honest with her. She also seemed happy when I started showing her how to cook, so I kept teaching her. I’m not much of a conversationalist, you know that, but I sit with her and listen until she makes me talk.”
“What about the rest? The way your ass keeps smiling, I know that you two are fucking the shit out of each other.”
The way he bit into his smile made my words ring with truth.
“If that’s all you want from Mecca, she’s going to know, and it will likely make her stay away even more. I deliberately pushed Desiree away, but it had the opposite effect. Talk to Mecca like you’re talking to me now. Figure out what she wants or needs, not material things, and give them to her. I’m still figuring it out, but I believe women feed off of emotional connections. They like when you’re in tuned with their bodies and when you invest in their minds and the things they value.”
He tilted his head in thought for a moment.
“Make that equal parts mind and body,” he added.
I pushed my fingers through my hair while mulling over Khane’s advice. Did women still want the old school ways: the gentle caress, the smooth lines of care, surprises, and the listening ear? Didn’t that type of romance die out in the nineties? I was thinking about buying Mecca a car or two, but in light of what Khane was saying, had changed my mind.
The click of expensive heels had me sitting up higher in my seat. She was gracious about the closet of clothing I had purchased for her and promised that she would not let them go to waste. I was pleased to see that she hadn’t because she made each piece come to life on her lush body.
In light of what Khane had said about material items, I noticed that although Mecca loved the clothes, the gesture hadn’t done a thing towards making us any closer as a couple. Maybe Khane was right.
“Hey, husband.”
She cast a teasing smile in my direction before she turned to Khane.
“Hey, almost husband.”
“Mecca,” he greeted, his smile flashing again.
When she stepped closer to Khane, his smile dropped, and his posture stiffened.
“What the hell happened to your eye?” She peered closer, not giving him a chance to respond.
“Finally found out my cousin wasn’t as innocent as she appears to be, and she stabbed you in it or something? Caught you in the eye with the pot of hot grits she slung while you slept?”
A quick burst of tension had stiffened me. Mecca had no idea how close she had come to predicting what had happened to his eye, but that it was our evil father that had wielded the knife.
She reached out and cupped his chin, and I jumped up from my chair, hoping he didn’t react in a negative manner. By the time I took the first few steps, she was tilting his head up to get a better look, and he was…letting her.
“It’s been this way since I was thirteen. I usually wear a contact,” Khane answered, staring up at her studying him.
“Humm. Suits you. It makes you hotter.” She observed him, her palm remaining under his chin. Had she any idea, she was petting a fucking Bengal tiger, a wild, untamed one. And her telling my brother he was hot was like nails raking over my nerves.
When she eased back, the snarl and bared teeth I expected to see from Khane wasn’t there. He simply sat there and looked up at Mecca like they were long-time acquaintances.
She finally let her hand drop away from his chin, but remained within his striking distance. “Now I understand you and Des a little bit better. She loves her a bad boy but had often forgone what she wanted. Guess she found herself the real deal this time?”
Khane shrugged, and a small smile flashed on his lips.
“Guess so,” he replied.
Mecca turned to me once she was done observing Khane, eyeing me up and