Unedited:
Chapter 1
Twenty-eight-year-old Aaron “Ace” Jamieson wasn’t married and never had been married. In fact, he wasn’t planning to pick out a tuxedo and meet a woman at the altar any time soon. To maintain that resolve, Ace displayed the highest level of professionalism when it came to playing the dating game.
Early on, his buddies taught them that it’s around the three-month mark when women began fantasizing about permanent residency. Therefore, his benchmark was seventy-two days or less. Ace was upfront with the ladies that he wasn’t looking for anything serious.
As he shaved, he snickered, recalling some of the tactics women used to trap him into marriage: lavish gifts, on-demand intimacy, or claiming to carry his love child.
Shaking his head in disgust, Ace rinsed off his razor. He methodically massaged aftershave on his face and throat. Women’s bluffs didn’t make him blink. He would not be lured into any baby momma drama.
But something had happened to his determination three months ago when his cousin’s friend introduced him to Talise Rogers. She swept him off his feet on the first date. There was something alluring about her independence, confidence and her exotic dark features on brown sugar skin.
Humph! Their connection was more than the explosive physical attraction. If there was a soul mate, Talise was it.
To Ace, she was his Tay. He was convinced she had an invisible grip on him that was about to bring him down, and he wasn’t complaining. It took some back-and-forth battling between his mind and his heart, but Ace thought Talise just might be the one he couldn’t let get away.
Genuine, honest and gorgeous. When she surpassed the one-hundred-day mark, Ace had stopped counting. “I’m actually losing my mind over this woman,” he mumbled and continued dressing to take her for a Friday night out on the town.
Bobbing his head, Ace slipped his feet into his shoes. Yep. A man would be a fool to let her go. He grinned when he thought about their intimacy. Ace wouldn’t comment.
Before the night ended, he was going to have an out-of-body experience and do something he had never before contemplated: profess that his feelings for her were beyond a physical attraction. Whew.
Talise was the sole reason why Ace had repeatedly turned down his brother, Kevin “Kidd’s”, offer to relocate to St. Louis. Of course, he couldn’t tell his brother that his decision was based on a woman, despite his company having two openings in the area. If Kidd had seen Talise, he would have understood his reluctance to be uprooted.
He swiped his car keys off his nightstand and jogged down the steps to the first floor of the condo he shared with his mother in the Hyde Parke neighborhood of Boston.
Sandra Nicholson paused watching her favorite television show. She glanced over her shoulder and lifted a brow. His mother might as well been eighty years old because all she did was work, church, and home.
“Hmm. You look exceptionally handsome tonight. Are you still going out with that Tanya, Tia, Tor—young lady?”
“Tay, Momma.”
“I knew it began with a ‘T’.” Pointing the remote at the flat screen TV, Sandra muted the sound. She smiled, showing off the same left cheek dimple that Ace inherited.
“Five months with the same woman. When am I going to meet her?” His mother’s eyes danced with mischief. “All I can get out of you is her name.”
“Which you can’t remember. I guess that’s why they sent you an AARP card,” he teased. Her mischievous eyes squinted to instill fear. It didn’t work. “And it’s been four months.”
“I would like to meet Tay.”
That’s not happening any time soon. I need to figure how to define our relationship first. He chuckled. “Good night, Momma Nosy.”
Stepping to the sofa, he leaned over and brushed a kiss against her cheek, then sauntered out the door. That was another first with Ace; he never divulged the names of his conquests. It would mean there was some form of attachment.
Getting behind the wheel of his Dodge Charger, Ace grinned in anticipation of what Talise had up her sleeve for the evening. Each week, they took turns planning their Friday night activities. He was sure he would be pleasantly surprised.
A half hour later, he parked in front of her brownstone. Ace checked his reflection in the rearview mirror. His mustache was trimmed and his jaws were baby bottom soft after his shave. His skin would have been flawless if it wasn’t for the mark on his nose. It was a reminder of the first and last fight he lost. His brother made sure of that.
Next, he rubbed the tamed waves in his hair. Ace still missed his long thick ponytail he relinquished when he accepted the job at Healthcare Concepts two years earlier. He had no choice.
Sandra Nicholson told him and his brother, Kidd, when they were legally old enough to get a job, if a man didn’t work, then he wouldn’t eat at her house.
Getting out the car, he glanced up to the third-floor bay window. There she was, watching him. Talise waved then disappeared to come downstairs and let him inside the building. Ace swaggered from the sidewalk to the entrance.
In record time, Talise opened the massive tall wooden door. Ace’s heart crashed against his chest at her glamour. He had dated many women with model looks and figures, but Talise would reign the top model for years to come.
She had legs to stop traffic. A silver dress gracefully hugged her curves. Beaded straps started at her polished toes and continued to wrap upward, stopping at her ankles. Despite her five-eight height, she confidently commanded her stilettos.
Ace whistled. His nostrils flared as he gasped for more oxygen, but that didn’t stop his assessment. Talise’s hair was naturally long—inches passed her shoulders—and it was always glossy, whether hanging straight or in curls.
The best thing about it—it was all her hair. She was born with it. Ace had nothing against hair extensions except when they looked like hair extensions.
