Loving Montie (Breathless 4)

“No, I don’t want to do that. I just want to leave you with something to think about.”

Thinking was exactly the thing I was trying to escape. I slid my arm into my jacket. Since he was intent on dragging me back down, might as well have taken the time to do something constructive. I didn’t want to hear about me moving on and finding another woman. That was the furthest thing from my mind. As far as I was concerned, after the Justine trick, I would be on a hands-only diet for a while where women were concerned.

“Spill it, Mario. I have to get back to work,” I barked. He was taking too long to respond.

“Just don’t close your eyes to what’s around you,” he finally blurted.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“The real one could be right in front of your face. It could be someone God has already sent your way and you overlooked her because you still want to see Destiny by your side. Hell, it could be that fine ass secretary of yours, for all you know. Crawl out of Destiny’s ass for a minute and think about that hot piece of—”

“Who Shalonda?” I shook my head profusely. “Nah, man. That’s strictly professional.”

“So, you’re saying you never even thought about tapping that?”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Strictly professional.”

"Good for me, then," Mario rubbed his hands together. “If you don’t holler at her, I’m going for it.”

"You have a thing for Shalonda?"

"Man, that lady is super thick. I would’ve tapped that by now. I thought you had—"

"I don't look at her that way,” I cut him off. “She's the one that keeps me together businesswise, and I want it to stay that way. Sex complicates shit, as you can see."

“Well, I’m taking applications for new complications,” Mario laughed.

“Aight, man, I’m ‘bout to get up out of here,” I said and extended my hand to give him some dap.

“Alright man, stay up,” Mario said, pulling me in for a brotherly hug. “Just keep your eyes open. Your blessing could be staring you in the face. That’s all I’m saying. I can’t say I’m sad that you haven’t blessed yourself with Shalonda though,” he said and bit down on his lips. “Mmph, mmph, mmph.”

I blinked my eyes to prevent sexual thoughts of Shalonda from entering my mind. “Holler at you later, man,” I said and walked out the door.

CHAPTER TEN

Montie

Her

I smelled her before I saw her. I paused in the foyer to partake of her scent a while longer before I walked into the reception area of True Colors. Lissa waited beside Shalonda’s desk in all her tenderonious glory. I mean, when Bobby Brown grinded on the stage in the nineties singing about tenderonies, she was exactly the type he had in mind. As I stared at her, I couldn’t help but think about what Mario said about my blessing staring me in the face. Did Lissa possess the power to make me forget about Destiny? Just the mere fact that the question lingered in the air validated that thought.

No.

I damned the renegade musings from wandering aimlessly around my tortured mind. My attention went to a flowing bouquet of flowers sitting on the counter in front of Lissa. "Nice flowers, Shalonda,” I said, including Lissa and Shalonda in my gaze.

As far as I knew, Shalonda didn’t have a special guy to send her flowers.

"I think it’s sweet that you have someone special to send you flowers, Montie," Lissa spoke up and winked at me. “Shalonda and I were just admiring how pretty the bouquet is…I remember those days.” Lissa’s gaze left mine and fell to the briefcase in her hand.

"These aren’t yours?" I asked, as my questioning gaze moved to Shalonda.

“No, they’re yours, boss.”

I looked at Lissa. She raised both of her hands innocently; dousing the idea that the most beautiful woman in Atlanta had hand delivered me flowers. “I didn’t bring them here,” she confirmed.

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” I said.

“There's a card attached. Would you like for me to read it for you?" Shalonda asked, taking the card off the bunch.