all the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed.
When his doorbell had chimed and he was dressed only in his basketball shorts and a white tank top, he was sure he was going to hear an earful from his buddy. “Give me a second,” he said as he padded over to the door. Without looking through the peephole, he opened the door.
* * *
Mimi was just being nosy. She’d heard noise in what she thought was still an empty unit in the building. But when the door opened and he stood there, tall, chocolate and fine, she was at a loss for words. Who was this tanned Adonis with slate gray eyes?
“Yes?” he asked, his voice deep like a quiet storm DJ and his smile hypnotizing.
“Umm, I’m your neighbor,” Mimi stammered. “I didn’t know someone had moved in and I was... Well, I was being nosy.”
He smiled again as he gave her a cool once-over. Mimi wished that she had already dressed in her party clothes instead of an Atlanta Hawks tank top and a pair of form-fitting black leggings. “If you’re the welcoming committee, where are the cupcakes and muffins?” he quipped.
“I said I was nosy, not a cook. Besides, you don’t look as if you let carbs touch your lips,” she said, then zeroed in on a flat midsection that she imagined held a set of washboard abs.
“Wouldn’t say that. I know how to work them off,” he replied.
“I bet you do,” she muttered.
“I’m sorry?”
“Mimi Collins. I’m Mimi Collins, and you are...?”
“Brent Daniels,” he said, then extended his hand. Mimi shook it and sizzling jolts of electric lust flowed through her body. Tilting her head to the side, she focused on his face.
“Where do I know you from?” she asked. “You look very familiar.”
He shrugged. “I’m an attorney.”
It was as if a light bulb went off in her head. An attorney? He was the attorney! Brent Daniels was the man you called when you needed a one-lawyer dream team. And this was her neighbor?
“So, you’re that Brent Daniels! Wow. Welcome to the neighborhood.”
“I like the way you say my name,” he said with another megawatt smile. Mimi inhaled sharply, her nostrils filled with the clean citrus scent of him, and her knees went weak.
“I’d better go,” she said as she took a step back. “I’m sure you were doing something important since you answered the door without looking to see who was on the other side.”
“Just unpacking and...”
“Well, well,” a male voice said from behind her. “Am I interrupting something here?”
Damn! He’s gay. I should’ve known that it was too good to be true, she thought as she started to back away. “I’m sorry,” she said turning to who she thought was Brent’s boyfriend. “This place had been empty for so long, when I heard movement, I just had to come see what was going on. Welcome to the building, I’m Mimi.”
“Whoa, I don’t live here,” he said. “I’m Jamal, by the way.”
Mimi smiled. “Nice to meet you. Well, I’ve done the nosy neighbor thing, so I guess it’s time for me to go.”
“Don’t leave yet, pretty lady,” he said. “Me and my boy hang out a lot. Why don’t you and some of your equally pretty female friends show us the neighborhood?”
“Jamal,” Brent chided. “Leave Ms. Collins alone.”
Jamal snapped his fingers. “As in Mimi Collins? Damn, girl, you were all over the news today.”
Brent looked from Jamal to Mimi. “The news?”
Mimi fanned her hand. “It was nothing serious. Just...”
Jamal pointed at her. “She writes that blog, the Misadventures of Mimi. Women swear by it and you’re hard on the brothers, if I must say so myself.”
Mimi folded her arms across her chest. “Only those who deserve it. Did I step on your toes, Jamal?”
“Sassy and fine. We should get married,” he said with a wink. “You going out tonight? Maybe I can give you some material to write about?”
“You’re doing a great job of that right now.” Mimi turned to Brent. “It was nice meeting you, Brent.” She shot Jamal a salty glance. “The pleasure was all yours.” As Mimi walked away, she felt Brent and Jamal watching her. She couldn’t help but put a little twist in her hips as she walked to her door. Life just got a little more interesting.
When MJ returned to Mimi’s she found her friend sitting on the sofa with her laptop resting on her thighs.
“You’re kidding me, right?” she asked.
“I’ve got to start locking my door,” Mimi quipped. She took a look at MJ and shot her a thumbs-up. “Work it, lady. You look great.”
MJ smoothed her knee-skimming black leather dress. The spaghetti straps highlighted her toned arms and ample bosom. “This old thing?”
“Whatever. I bet you bought it as soon as your ‘client’ invited you to the lounge tonight.”
“For the last time, we have a professional relationship and that’s it. Why aren’t you dressed?”
“Do you know who just moved in here?” she asked with a gleam in her eyes.
“Who? The Rock?”
Mimi rolled her eyes. “I need you to get over your obsession with Dwayne Johnson.”
“La-la-la, I’m not listening! But can you get dressed already?” MJ said.
“Brent Daniels is my new neighbor.”
MJ brought her hand to her mouth. “The lawyer who never loses?”
Mimi nodded and pointed to the picture on her laptop. “This does him no justice. That man is superfine.”
“And how do you know this?”
“Because I heard movement in the empty unit, so I went to see what was going on. He answered the door and it was all I could do to keep drool from dripping out of my mouth.”
MJ glanced at his picture and shook her head. “That’s your type.”
Mimi turned her head back to the screen. Brent was milk chocolate with slate-gray eyes, a body built for sin and redemption, and a heart-stopping smile. Okay, that was everything that sent her heart fluttering, but looks only went so far.
Roderick Mason had been a master at teaching that lesson. He’d promised her the fairy tale, but ended up being
