some reason his great-grandmother’s comment about Kenna being hotly pursued once she moved to Houston seemed to annoy him. Over the years she’d had a number of steady boyfriends, a few hits and a few misses. Some he’d liked and some he hadn’t liked. But he knew for a fact that she hadn’t been head over heels in love with any of them. She’d guarded her heart after her college boyfriend Terrence Fairchild had played around on her with another girl on campus. At the time Reese had been involved with someone else, but that hadn’t stopped him from providing Kenna with the shoulder she needed to cry on.
Although she’d dated steadily after that, it was years before Kenna got involved in a serious relationship again. That guy was Lamont Cotton, whom Reese hadn’t much cared for. She and Lamont had been involved for eight months before they’d gone their separate ways. Then she began dating again, but didn’t get serious with anyone until Curtis Purcell. She’d mentioned last month that she and Purcell had split, but she hadn’t said why.
Personally, he didn’t need to know the details. What he did know was that another man she’d gotten involved with had broken her heart yet again. Over the years his protective instincts for Kenna had grown stronger. In a way, that was what had made them closer, and made their relationship seem what some considered more than friendly. For Reese and Kenna, it was normal. It was the way things were naturally supposed to be.
The very first time he had brought her home from college one weekend to introduce her to his family and explained to them that she was his best friend and nothing more, they had accepted her as such. But every once in a while someone would try to insinuate that there was more between them. It had gotten to the point where he let them assume whatever they wanted to.
He took another sip of cabernet. For some reason he couldn’t stop staring at Kenna as she moved around the dance floor. He tried to see her as other men did. Not as his best friend, but as a woman—and if his great-grandmother’s predictions were true—who would attract dozens of men once she moved to Houston.
Her short, medium-brown curly hair was stylishly cut and framed an attractive, warm-brown face. No doubt men would be mesmerized by her soft brown eyes, her full lips, creamy, flawless, chocolate-brown skin and the soft curves of her body. Although most women assumed a tall, slender frame was the only body type that could catch a man’s eye. Reese knew that men were strongly attracted to a full-figured, voluptuous woman like Kenna, who was stacked in the most delectable ways. There was no doubt in his mind that any man would think she was beautiful.
Just like there was no doubt they would lust after her, he thought as he took another sip of red wine. Even Reese had to admit to lusting after her himself, once—the first time they’d met when she had shown up at his dorm room one day. He had been twenty and in his junior year at Morehouse and she was eighteen and a sophomore at Spelman. She was whip-smart and an ace in physics. She had been recommended as a tutor, and that had been the start of their friendship. That was eleven years ago.
“Any reason you’re standing over here staring across the room watching Kenna dance with Luke?”
Reese blinked before looking around to meet his cousin Nolan’s eyes. He, Nolan and another cousin, Lee, had all been born the same year. Nolan’s brother Corbin trailed them by ten months. “I wasn’t aware I was staring.”
The corners of Nolan’s lips lifted into a smile. “You were. There’s nothing wrong, is there?”
He glanced back toward the dance floor to see that his brother Luke had been replaced by his cousin Corbin as Kenna’s dance partner. “No, there’s nothing wrong.”
“Well, if you’re waiting to claim a dance with Kenna you’ll have a long wait on your hands. We’re all waiting our turn,” his cousin said, grabbing a champagne flute off a passing waiter’s tray.
He couldn’t help but smile at that. Kenna liked to dance and his brothers and cousins enjoyed the challenge of keeping up with her on the dance floor. “No problem.”
He polished off his cabernet, thinking it really wasn’t a problem. She was enjoying herself. From across the room he saw the huge smile on her face and the sparkle in her eyes. His Kenna. His best friend. She glanced in his direction, met his gaze and smiled.
He smiled back before looking over at Nolan to find his cousin staring at him strangely. “What?”
Nolan chuckled. “Nothing.”
He tensed at his cousin’s one-word response, wondering what was going on in Nolan’s mind. He eyed him suspiciously before saying, “I’m going to dance with Kenna.”
“Sorry, pal, you’ll have to wait your turn” was Nolan’s reply, before he began drinking his champagne.
Reese chuckled and said over his shoulder as he walked toward the dance floor to cut in on Corbin, “No, I don’t, since I have an inside connection.”
“Darn, Kenna, I can barely keep up with you. Are you sure you haven’t taken more dancing lessons since the last time?” said Corbin.
Kenna couldn’t help but smile. Besides painting, dancing was her favorite hobby. Growing up, she had envied the girls who had been able to take dance lessons, something her grandmother hadn’t been able to afford. She’d made a promise to herself that once she finished college and had a job, she would take dance classes. And she did.
She enjoyed everything from ballroom to Latin to hip-hop. She did it all, including belly dancing and tap, which wasn’t an easy feat for a full-figured woman. She blamed it all on her hips, which wouldn’t go away no matter how hard she danced or worked out. She’d gotten used to them and accepted her curvy figure as something she’d have to live with.
“Come on, Corbin, it’s not like you to whine.” She laughed. “The music just started, so don’t conk out on me now. It’s just the tango.” They snapped their heads around in perfect sync and stared at each other with feigned smoldering passion.
“Just the tango?” he said, as their heads swiveled back and forth in tandem. Corbin’s thick, neatly coiled dreadlocks went flying over his shoulders. “Look around. We’re the only ones left on the floor now. All eyes are on us.”
He quickly glanced over Kenna’s shoulder as he twirled her around. “I think Reese is coming to cut in. Of course he wants to be the center of attention.”
Kenna threw her head back and laughed as Corbin dipped her body low to the floor. Anyone who knew Reese knew that the last thing he wanted was to be the center of attention, of anything. No doubt he was coming to sweep her off the dance floor since he probably thought that the long slit on the side of her gown revealed too much leg—one of the dangers of dancing the tango.
Reese could be a little overprotective at times. But she could deal with it. He had been her best friend for as long as she could remember, and she loved him like a brother. She quickly repressed the thought, which she knew was a lie. She did love him, had always loved him, and not as a brother. He was the man she would never have, and as her best friend he’d always looked out for her. She no longer fantasized about “what might have been,” but accepted the role he played in her life now—the part he would always play.
She picked up his masculine scent long before he reached her. He tapped Corbin on the shoulder and took over as her dance partner. She couldn’t help but smile at him. Like always, he dreamily smiled back.
Reese had no idea that whenever he smiled at Kenna—even though they were just friends—he had a way of making her feel beautiful and
