Red Hot (29 page)

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Authors: Niobia Bryant

BOOK: Red Hot
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It took the littlest thing for her to come to mind. Like how she had become a part of their Friday movie nights and always made sure to bring home takeout from Charleston restaurants to top their usual pizza fare. With the hint of a smile on his lips, he glanced over at the two boxes of Domino's Pizza on the low-slung and wide coffee table.
Kaitlyn didn't care for pizza. Or scary movies. Or gross humor.
She loved crispy crab cakes. And romantic comedies. And action flicks.
He smiled at the memory of her burying her head against his shoulder during his pick of a scary movie. He liked that she turned to him for comfort. He liked that she relied on him. Believed in him. Supported him.
He just wished that she could believe in and support herself. In the weeks following their breakup, Quinton had continued to love her. He came to realize that perhaps he did judge her as harshly as she had said, but he had been disappointed in her.
He had wanted more for her.
It stung to think she hadn't wanted it for herself.
And it pained him to remember the look on her face when she told him: “Real love is
always
enough.”
Quint knew his love was real; because after all the time they had apart, there was no other woman he could imagine to replace her. There was no one to fill her shoes; no one to make him forget her.
I messed up,
he silently admitted to himself as he shifted to a comfortable position in his chair and held his chin in his hands.
“Daddy, you want a slice?” Lei asked.
Quint looked up from where he was staring at the floor to find his daughter looking at him over her shoulder as she knelt on the floor by the coffee table.
“Nah, I'm good,” he said.
Lei sat back on her haunches and eyed him for a long moment until she rose to her feet and came over to hug him.
“What's that for?”
She shrugged as she moved back to her spot on the floor. “You looked like you needed one,” she said.
Quint continued to study her. “You been doing that a lot lately.”
“You needed it a lot lately,” Lei said very matter-of-factly as she plopped back down onto the recliner with a slice of pizza on a paper plate in her hand.
“You talked to your mom?” Quinton asked, deliberately changing the subject.
Lei nodded. “She and Larry are in Jamaica,” she said, with an eye roll.
Quint eyed her. “You don't like Larry?” he asked.
“He's okay . . . I guess. He don't talk directly to me, like he's slow or thinks I'm slow,” she said, peeling a pepperoni from her pizza to pop into her mouth.
Quint closed his eyes and shook his head. “He's probably not used to kids.”
Lei shrugged. “All I know is Kaitlyn and me—”
“Kaitlyn and I,” he corrected.
“There is no Kaitlyn and you, Daddy.”
Quint opened his mouth and then closed it, not bothering to explain that he was trying to correct her grammar. Lei was a straight-A student and he doubted she didn't understand what he meant.
“So Mommy has a boo who thinks I'm invisible, and then you erase your boo from my life,” she said dryly, pulling a comical face. “Y'all really got it together for a future stepkid.”
Quint couldn't believe he was being compared to Vita. Impossible. He had to literally bite down on his bottom lip to keep from saying, “Don't compare me to your mother.”
Instead, he said, “I always make decisions with you in mind, Lei.”
She turned in her recliner and faced him.
“Can I say something to you?” she asked politely.
That set Quint back a bit.
“I love you, Daddy,” she began, reaching over to pat his hand in an assuring way.
Quint looked hesitant.
“It's okay to admit when you are wrong,” Lei said gently.
What the hell?
“When was I wrong?” he balked.
“No one is perfect, Daddy,” Lei said, with another pat.
A flashback of Kaitlyn's words was brought forward by his daughter's little life lesson to him:
“Whoa. All that judgment from Mr. Perfect is a little much.”
Quint scowled. “When was I wrong?” he asked again.
“Kaitlyn.”
Quint reached for the bottle of water sitting on the end table between them. He took a healthy swig.
“Can I say something?” he asked her.
Lei nodded as she took a bite of pizza.
“You are killing me with the Kaitlyn hints, little lady.”
“Oh, so you have noticed,” she countered.
The doorbell sounded.
“Pretty hard to miss,” Quint assured her dryly as he rose to his feet.
Her chuckles followed him out of the room.
Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn.
Missing her wasn't enough. Now he had his thirteen-year-old daughter giving him advice, filling him in on her business, showing him random pictures she took of Kaitlyn from their days living in the apartment complex. She was in his dreams and waking thoughts.
Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn.
Quint opened his front door and his eyes widened.
Kaitlyn's daddy?
“Step outside, son,” Kael said. He was dressed in a crisp black button-up shirt and charcoal slacks.
Quint did as Kael asked, pulling the door closed behind him.
“How you been, sir?” he asked.
“Good, and you?” Kael asked.
“I been all right.”
Kael grunted.
Quint waited patiently, because he was sure this was not a fruitless trip on the man's part.
“My daughter won't talk about what happened and didn't happen between the two of you, but I hope that you never disrespected her or hurt her,” Kael said, casting a direct gaze into Quint's eyes.
Quint nodded. “I'm a father of a daughter so I can understand the desire to protect her but—and I mean no disrespect, sir—my daughter is thirteen.”
“And she will always need you,” Kael said as he pushed his hands into the pockets of his slacks.
“And I will always be there . . . with limits.” Quint looked up to the darkened skies and then back at the elder man.
Kael just continued to watch him.
“Even your being here now makes me think I was right to have concerns that—and again no disrespect—she will forever be daddy's girl and never my woman, sir.”
Kael chuckled. “You got it all figured out, but I'll check back in with you when the little boys start sniffing around and see if you still have all this bravado, son.”
Quint smiled. “Sounds like a plan,” he said, feeling like he earned a bit of the man's respect. “I want what's best for Kaitlyn.”
“You don't think you're what's best for her?” Kael asked as he tilted his head back to assess the younger man. “Or that she's what's best for you?”
Quint fell silent.
“I'd like to hear the answer to that.”
He looked up and Kaitlyn was climbing from her car, parked behind her father's black four-door Lexus. He hadn't even seen her pull up. His eyes feasted on her like he was hungry. The love he had for her caused his chest to feel like it had doubled in size.
“Boy, you are one fool,” Kael muttered as he studied the obvious emotions on Quint's face. “You want to be right or you want to be happy, son?”
 
 
“Daddy, can you excuse us,” Kaitlyn said, still standing by her car. “This is between Quint and me.”
Kael gave Quint one last, meaningful stare before he jogged down the brick staircase. He kissed Kat on the cheek and climbed behind the wheel of her car. “You blocking me, so bring mine to me tomorrow,” he said before starting to reverse down the drive.
“You and Mama enjoy your dinner,” Kaitlyn called to him, even as her eyes stayed locked across the distance on Quinton as he stood on the porch.
“You sure?”
“Yes, sir.”
Kaitlyn was a bundle of nerves and so completely unsure of the moment. She ran her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath that she hoped steadied her.
“You can come closer. I don't bite,” Quint said.
Kaitlyn shook her head. “I'm here meeting you halfway,” she began, struggling to find the words and afraid she would be rebuffed.
Quint's eyes squinted as he watched her, and he shifted on his feet.
“You were right. I slipped. I backslid. I lost my focus on myself and on every hard-earned step I took to be independent and grown,” she said, licking her lips. “But you were wrong to assume that the woman you love was gone completely. You were wrong not to believe in me. And you were wrong not to give me more of a chance to prove that I could never be anything but the woman you love—flaws and all.”
Quint came down a few steps.
Kaitlyn held up her hand and shook her head. “See, I got my shit back together and even better than before. But I know I could have just as well done it
with you
than
without you,
” she told him passionately as she blinked back tears.
He came down another step.
“See, I made the first step to come here and meet you halfway in this process, but let's be clear,” Kaitlyn said. “I made a mistake. I didn't cheat. I didn't hit you. I didn't
not
respect you. I didn't end it. You did.”
She stopped long enough to swallow over an emotional lump in her throat. “You will have to come
to me
and apologize
to me
for breaking my heart,” she said as a tear fell down her cheek. “
You
broke it, and this is the one and only opportunity I am giving you to fix it.”
Quint came down the stairs and rushed to her. He took her hands in his and kissed them before he lowered himself down to one knee.
“You're right. I gave up too soon. I let my anger and frustration with Vita affect how I viewed you and your intentions. That was wrong,” he admitted as he looked up to her.
Kaitlyn nodded in agreement as she licked her lips.
“I've been regretting it, but my pride wouldn't let me come to you and say I made a mistake.” Quint's eyes were filled with emotions.
“Your pride? I swallowed my pride to be here, Quint. Never again,” she swore.
Quint rose to his full height and released her hands to cup her face.
“Kaitlyn, I apologize for judging you and not giving you a chance,” he said, leaning down to kiss her as his thumbs stroked away the tracks of her tears.
“And?” Kaitlyn asked, leaning back from him.
“
And
next time we'll talk it out instead of fight it out,” he said, leaning toward her again.
“And?”
Kaitlyn stressed, leaning back more until her back arched.
“
And
I want you back in my life and Lei's life. Now can I have a kiss?” he asked, flashing a charming smile and deep dimples.
Kaitlyn shook her head no as she looked up at him. “And?” she asked softly, yet again.
“And I love the hell out of you, Kaitlyn Strong, and I promise to make it up to you.”
“Thank you,” she said, straightening her body to pucker her lips for the kiss they both wanted.
“And?” Quint teased lightly as he leaned back from her.
Kaitlyn brought her hands up to stroke his square chin and bury her index finger in one of his deep dimples. “And I love you, Quinton Wells,” she whispered up to him fiercely.
Quint nodded in satisfaction as he brought his hands around to grasp the back of her head lightly before he lowered his head and pressed his mouth to hers with a moan filled with his hunger. Kaitlyn closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of his tongue exploring her mouth.
Everything—
absolutely everything
—about their wild and explosive chemistry hadn't faded a bit. Although they missed each other, and loved each other, the time apart had only intensified it . . . until they both felt a lightness in their chests that was nothing but love.
Love and forgiveness.
 
 
“Y'all good now?” Lei asked as soon as they walked into the house. She was standing at the window.

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