Something Worth Fighting For (5 page)

“Confident. There’s a difference.”

“Says you,” she said with a little laugh. “Now I see where Cami gets her self-assurance from.”

“What can I say, she takes after her old man.”

Laughing, Tisha stumbled and caught herself on his arm. The electric current he felt earlier when she touched him zipped through him again, and Jonah couldn’t help but grip her tighter and pull her up to him. Looking into her startled gaze, he leaned forward a hair’s breadth from her full mouth and whispered, “Damn, you’re beautiful.”

She licked her lips and took a deep breath. “I see what you mean about when.”

“When you agree so prettily, you make it awfully hard not to say I told you so.”

“Is that the only thing I make hard?”

“Hell no.” Jonah pulled her close to him and said in a soft tone, “You’ve been making it hard for me all night.”

Tisha’s smile slowly slid off her face, and the look of laughter swimming in her dark eyes a mere second ago turned into a smoldering look of passion. “I was planning on loving you then leaving you and going on with my life.”

“Well, I like the ‘loving you’ part.”

“I don’t have time for a relationship.” Her insistent tone brooked no argument, but he was never one to follow the rules.

“Make the time.”

She sighed heavily and shook her head. “I’m not at the right place in my life for the complications that occur with dating.”

Although she was making it abundantly clear she wasn’t interested in going any further, he wasn’t willing to let this spark die so easily. “It doesn’t have to be complicated at all.”

“This isn’t just going to be great sex, is it?”

At least she knew it was going to be great. “Not if I can help it.”

“You’re going to be a problem, aren’t you?” she said with a wry smile.

“Funny,” he said huskily. “I was thinking the exact same thing about you.”

Chapter Five

“This has gone on long enough.”

Nance’s voice startled Tisha. Lowering the magazine, she looked up to find herself the center of her coworkers’ attention. It was midday on a Tuesday, the slowest day of the week for the shop, giving the five hairdressers too much free time on their hands. Tisha was using hers to read while the others were using theirs to gab. And the only thing the women in Q’s Salon liked to do more than shop, was gossip. From the expectant looks on everyone’s faces, Tisha was the belle of the ball today.

“What?” She closed the magazine and set it down on her lap. Maybe if she played dumb they’d let her off the hook.

“Don’t ‘what’ us.” Ava snorted. The tall lanky African-American woman spun her chair around until she was facing Tisha. She was the oldest beautician in the shop, something she felt gave her the right to act like the matriarch of the place. “We want the dirt.”

So much for that plan. “Then you need to talk to a farmer because I have none.”

“You have none, or you have none you want to share?” queried Nance, astute as always.

“Pick one.” Tisha had never been one to share the details of her intimate life before, lord knew, she wasn’t going to start now.

“You cannot tell me you’ve been seeing that fine man for over two weeks now and you still have nothing to share.” Freddie shook her head as she wiped down the shampoo bowls at her station. She was the youngest but somehow the most sexually experienced one of them all. “I don’t believe it.”

“Too bad, so sad for you.” Tisha smirked.

“You’re just being selfish,” Gigi grumbled, crossing her arms over her massive chest. The woman had natural triple D torpedo boobs, but could braid hair like no one’s business. She was also the nosiest person Tisha ever met and the last person Tisha would ever dish with.

“No, I’m just keeping my private life private.”

“This is a beauty shop, girl,” Ava felt the need to remind her. “Nothing you do is private where we’re concerned.”

“It is where I’m concerned.”

“Come on, we’re not asking for width, length and staying power…” Nance complained.

“Speak for yourself, girl,” Freddie teased.

“We just want to know if you know what his width, length and staying power is,” Nance continued.

“And why would I tell you four?”

“Because we’re your nearest and dearest,” Gigi said hopefully.

“Well, one of us,” Nance added dryly.

“Still not a good enough reason for me.” Tisha was adamant about not sharing too much information about her love life. Or, as the case was in this situation, her lack of love life. Despite the fact she was spending almost every free second she had with Jonah, they had yet to ease past the heavy petting and kissing stage. Not for lack of want on either of their parts, it was just hard as hell to get past second base with a very inquisitive nine-year-old hanging around.

The strangest part though, was she didn’t feel any resentment toward Cami. In fact, she’d come to enjoy spending time with the little girl, almost as much as she enjoyed spending it with her very dutiful uncle. Still, a little nookie wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.

“There’s only one reason why a girl wouldn’t brag about a fine man,” Gigi noted. “And that’s because he’s not so fine.” She held up her pinkie finger and wiggled it back and forth.

The other three women burst out at the insinuation, but to Tisha it was no laughing matter.

“That’s not true.”

“Aha,” Gigi pounced, “so you’re saying he’s got a decent package.”

“I didn’t say…look, all I’m going to say is I’m completely satisfied.”

“Completely?” Nance asked wide-eyed.

“Yes, completely.”

“Well, here comes Mr. Satisfaction. Let’s see if he feels the same way,” Freddie said.

Tisha turned toward the door in abject horror as she saw Jonah entering the shop. They wouldn’t dare, would they? Of course they would. Her saving grace walked through the door immediately following Jonah, however. Cami rushed past her uncle to Tisha and gave her a big hug.

No matter how crass the women were when no one was around, Tisha knew they would be on their best behavior since Cami was there. They might have been a bunch of big mouths, but even they had limits.

She returned Cami’s hug then leaned over to get a light kiss from Jonah on the lips. As she expected, the women began to smooch each other and make disgusting sounds, which caused Jonah to chuckle. Somehow, Tisha seriously doubted he would be laughing if he knew the direction the conversation had been heading right before he entered the room.

“Ignore them,” she said loudly.

“You can’t ignore us, we’re fabulous,” Gigi declared, to the delight of the others. They began to preen and wax poetic about their wonderfulness, but Tisha just shook her head and turned her attention to the real prize in the room.

Instead of his normal workwear, Jonah was dressed casual, in jeans and a light gray polo shirt. Cami was dressed similarly, but in a pretty pink t-shirt with a ladybug on it.

“Hey, lady, why aren’t you in school? Are you feeling okay?”

“Yes.” Cami pulled back and made a face. “Today was parent-teacher conferences.”

“Eeekk.” Tisha remembered those days all too well, and they normally ended with her being sent to her room for a week. “How did it go?” Although the question was directed toward Cami, Tisha glanced up at Jonah to get the scoop. When he gave a small smile and a wink, she let out a breath she hadn’t even known she’d been holding. She was so relieved Cami was doing well.

“It was fine,” Cami said, giving Tisha the answer she already knew. “It’s just stupid. Why give me the day off school if I have to go in anyway to listen to the stupid teachers say how good I am? I could have told him that at home.”

“Yes, but just think, now he knows for a fact how wonderful you are and he has to reward you.”

“He does?” Cami’s eyes widened and she grinned as she turned to face Jonah. “Reward, huh.”

“This is your reward, brat, coming to see Tisha.”

The peeved look that quickly came over Cami’s face made Tisha want to laugh. “No offense, Tisha, but that’s not a great reward. I see her every day.”

“None taken,” Tisha said loudly, trying to squash the chuckles radiating from her coworkers. “Not to put myself down, but I think she’s getting a bit gypped myself.”

Jonah raised his hands in mock surrender. “We’re going to go get ice cream too. Besides, we actually came for more than one reason.”

“Yes?”

“I wanted to see about getting Cami’s hair braided.”

“That’s Gigi’s department.” Tisha pointed to the other woman before Gigi could utter a sound. “If I do it I’d have to listen to her whine and complain about how I’m doing it all wrong, so it’s just easier to let her do it.”

“Amen,” Ava muttered under her breath, a sound echoed by the other women in the shop.

“Okay,” he said, moving past Tisha to speak to the other woman.

Tisha watched him for a moment before turning to face Cami once more. The little girl’s hair was pulled back in one French braid, a style she’d painstaking taught Cami to do over the course of a weekend. Unable to resist, Tisha reached out and teasingly tugged it, earning her a smirk and nudge from Cami.

“So what’s with the new ’do?”

“I’m going to visit my cousins this weekend.”

“Visit?” Tisha asked, hopeful. “All weekend?”

“Yes. I’m leaving on Friday and I’ll come home on Sunday.”

“Oh, that should be fun.”
For all of us.

Jonah returned to her side as Gigi took Cami to start the braiding process. Her body immediately responded to his nearness as she became hyperaware of his every movement. He leaned down, his head so close to her ear that she could feel the warmth of his breath as he spoke. “I hope you don’t have any plans for the weekend.”

Oh, she had plans all right, and they all revolved around getting some alone time with him, naked. “I do now.”

“That’s what I hoped you’d say.” Jonah sent her a wink before walking back to where Cami was sitting. He spoke softly to her for a few seconds then came back to Tisha’s side once more. “I’ll be back in a bit, okay.”

“Okay.” Instead of kissing her goodbye, he merely brushed the back of his hand against her check before turning and leaving.

Tisha watched him walk out the door with anticipation of what was to come.

“My, my, my,” Nance said quietly from beside her.

“What?” Tisha turned her attention from the departing man to her friend.

“If you didn’t have anything to talk about before, you surely will after this weekend.”

For once, Tisha agreed wholeheartedly with the other woman, and she couldn’t wait for the weekend to get here.

* * * * *

Jonah leaned back against the counter as he watched Tisha chopping vegetables. It was a bit selfish on his part that he invited her to a home-cooked dinner at his house, especially since he couldn’t cook. But she’d taken it in stride, although she hadn’t noticed his slacking yet. Or if she noticed she hadn’t said anything, which was even better. He’d really hate to mess up the nice dinner she had simmering in the oven. The smell of the lasagna baking had his mouth watering. He couldn’t wait to give it a taste.

“Stop it.”

“What?” Jonah glanced from the oven to Tisha, who was openly laughing at him.

“You keep making these little moaning sounds every time you look at the oven. You’re acting as if you’ve never had home cooking before.”

“It’s just not home cooking,” he teased. “It’s your home cooking.”

“Please, I’ve cooked for you before.”

“Never when it was just the two of us eating.”

“Why is that different?”

“It’s more sensual.” He dragged the word out to emphasize his point.

Tisha chuckled as she shook her head. “It’s lasagna.”

“Hmm…” Jonah moaned. “Even the way you say it is sexy.”

“You’re a nut.” She tossed a small, diced carrot at him. “Grab the cucumber for me, please.”

“Sure.” It was strangely comforting how well the two of them worked together, moving around the kitchen to prepare dinner. Of course, most of the time she had to explain what he needed to do. Nevertheless, he was a willing pupil. Still, he stopped for a moment to take a drink and to gaze upon the fine-looking woman in his kitchen.

As usual, Tisha looked sexy as all get out. She wore a shirtsleeve red wrap-around dress that hugged her curves in much the same way he wanted to. If his calculations were correct, he could have her out of that dress with one flick of a button. Nice!

“So, this family Cami is visiting, are they her mother’s relatives or her father’s?”

“Her mother’s cousin.” The bitch, he added silently to himself, as he had since the moment he’d met the conniving woman.

“That’s nice.”

“Not really.” He snorted, this time unable to keep the cynicism from his voice.

Tisha stopped chopping and turned to him with a quizzical look. “Oh, you don’t like her.”

He always heard, “If you didn’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all”, so he decided to keep it short and to the point. “No, I don’t.”

Tisha furrowed her brow. “Then why do you let Cami go over there?”

“Because I have to.”

“Because, why?” she insisted, which shouldn’t have come as any surprise. Tisha just wasn’t the type to let sleeping dogs lie. Apparently, it wasn’t in her DNA.

Jonah ran his hand through his hair and sighed heavily. “Because ReShaunda has the mistaken impression that a single man in his thirties has no right to raise a young child, especially when said child is a black female, and not related to him by blood.”

“Oh, I see.”

Now that he’d started talking about the situation it was as if he couldn’t shut up. “Yeah, she fought me in court and contested the will. Now mind you, it’s not as if she’d been in Cami’s life before her parents died or anything. She and Tia didn’t get along. Hell, she didn’t even come to the wedding, but she had no problem falling out at the funeral as if she’d lost her mind instead of her cousin.” Just thinking about the woman’s behavior that day had him seeing red. Poor Cami didn’t have a clue how to respond. It was bad enough she’d just lost her parents, but then she had to go and see people acting like fools at the funeral. “She’s just not a well lady.”

“But you won.”

If only that were the case, he’d be a happy, happy man. “Not exactly.”

“What do you mean? Cami’s living here with you.” Tisha scooped the vegetables she’d been chopping into the bowl and began to mix the salad.

“We have joint custody of sorts.” He took another sip of his drink, needing the alcohol to calm his overheated nerves. “The judge gave me physical custody and ReShaunda has visiting rights. I have to prove I’m appropriate to raise Cami. We’ve been doing this bullshit for a few years now and it’s getting old. ReShaunda isn’t happy with the ruling and she never lets up. She’d do anything in her power to get sole custody and push me out of Cami’s life for good.”