Bodyguard My Heart (The Bodyguard #2)

Chapter 11

11

S amara

As I paced the floor of our hotel room, my worry and frustration grew with every minute that passed. Demetrius had been gone since before I’d woken up, and I’d been up for three hours now. The rental car was not parked outside, so I knew he was driving, and that made me livid because his hardheaded ass knew he shouldn’t be driving with a cast on his leg. I’d probably called him a thousand times, and each one had gone straight to voicemail. So many worst-case scenarios played in my head. I was dialing him again when I heard the doorknob twisting.

I moved quickly to the front door of our suite. A mixture of anger and relief swept over me as soon as his ass came into view.

“Where the hell have you been?” I shouted before he could even get in the door. “And why the hell were you driving?”

“I got breakfast!” He held up a large Tupperware container. “Gran sent this for you.”

A slight smirk appeared on his face. Demetrius knew the way to get rid of my attitude was through dick or food. He steadied himself on his crutches and entered the room. My annoyance softened as he handed me the container. Knowing that he’d only gone to his grandparents’ house made me feel a little better, but I was still pissed. He was lucky I was hungry.

“You went to your grandparents?” I questioned. “How did that go?” I took the container from his hand, walked to the kitchen counter, and sat on the bar stool. Demetrius was right behind me, taking a seat.

“It was cool. Grandpapa and I had a good talk. We got Fabian’s arrangements in order.”

“When are they?” I questioned.

“Two weeks. We got two weeks to wrap all this shit up before then.”

“We will,” I reassured him as I stuffed a fried plantain in my mouth. Gran could cook her ass off. I loved her traditional Haitian cooking. Demetrius watched me as I ate. I couldn’t help but notice the look on his face as he watched me.

“What?” I stopped chewing and glanced up at him. He was up to something.

“Just hurry and eat. I want you to get dressed. I want to take you somewhere,” he said. My eyes doubled in size, and my curiosity piqued.

“I hope it’s going to get some clothes. Did you forget we don’t have much—”

My words trailed off as a knock sounded on the door. My eyes darted to Demetrius.

“Go get the door.” The look in his eyes told me something weird was going on. Side-eyeing him, I slid off of the bar stool and headed toward the door. I checked the peephole, but there was nothing there.

“There’s nobody here,” I replied.

“Just open the door, hardheaded ass girl,” he demanded. Doing what I was told, I opened the door. I saw nothing at first, but several shopping bags sat there when I looked down at the foot of the door.

“What’s all this? ” I looked between Demetrius and the front door.

“You needed clothes, so I made a quick stop and got you some.”

He said it like it was nothing, like he wasn’t a few days removed from surgery. I stared at the bags in complete disbelief. Demetrius had always spoiled me. I never went without anything I wanted, but the thoughtfulness behind pulling this off in another country was blowing my mind.

“Thank you,” I said as I pulled all the bags into the room. I recognized several designer bags, and the others were plain bags with words written on them I couldn’t make out. They were filled with men’s clothes, and I knew it must have been for Demetrius. He didn’t have any clothes either, so it made sense he’d cop a few items for himself too.

“It’s a few options you can do today. I recommend you dress comfortably. We’ll be doing a lot of moving.”

“Moving?” I repeated. “Where are we going?”

“On our first official date. Since you’re my woman now, it’s only right.”

It was crazy because we’d been on several trips, had been sleeping together for a while now, and had never been on an official date. It wasn’t because he hadn’t asked.

“Oh, I’m your woman now?” I made my way over to him and stood in between his legs.

“Been my girl, you were just a little delusional.”

“I was delusional?” I questioned.

“Hell yeah!” He pulled me in closer to his body as we both shared a laugh.

“I’m down for a date, but you haven’t asked me out on a date,” I teased. Demetrius stared at me like I’d grown two heads.

“I’ve asked your stubborn ass a thousand times. You better take one of those,” he said, causing me to playfully hit his arm.

“Stop playing!” I shouted.

“Girl, ain’t nobody play—”

I narrowed my eyes at him, letting him know I meant business.

“Okay, okay.” He threw his hands up in surrender before grabbing my hand and staring into my eyes. “Uh, I feel kind of silly doing this, but uh, this your husband, you know, the one you have been married to for the past six years.”

I tried to pull away from him, but he held me in place. I don’t know why I thought he was about to be serious.

“You know niggas was out here tripping over you, so I had to put my gun to they head. You know, ’cause I think you’re kind of sweet.” He burst into laughter, and I rolled my eyes as I realized he was remixing Alicia Keys’s song.

“You know what, never mind.” I broke away from him, but he softly grabbed my arm.

“Would you make me the happiest simping ass nigga on this island and go out on a date with me?” he asked. It was rough and sweet, the two things I loved about Demetrius.

“That is more like it. Yes, I would love to,” I replied.

“Go and get ready for me. Don’t wear any panties. I might want to touch that pretty pussy while we’re out.”

I giggled as I grabbed all my bags off the floor and strutted off to get ready. Demetrius and I were finally going on a date, and that was the only thing that seemed to matter.

“We’re here. You can stop pouting.” Demetrius pointed as he pulled the car into a long, curved driveway. I stared out the window, still pissed that he’d insisted on driving. Talking about he couldn’t have me driving us to our first date. I stared out the window, trying to make out where we were, but all I could see was a huge stone house with movers going in and out. A large truck that read Habitat House was a few cars up from where we’d parked. I was completely baffled as to what the hell was going on. This couldn’t be the location of our date.

“Where are we?”

“Our date,” he confirmed. I stared at all the people walking around the house.

“Ain’t we supposed to be laying low?” I reminded him, counting the amount of people outside the house. This is not us laying low.

“We are, don’t worry.” Demetrius exited the car and walked around to let me out, crutches and all.

“It’s here? This place looks under construction.” I climbed out of the car.

“That’s the date. We’re volunteering with Habitat House. You’re always talking about doing one of those mission trips in a foreign country and giving back. I figured we could help while we’re here.”

I turned to Demetrius. “To think I thought we were just going to go on a picnic.”

“You should have known I wasn’t about to do no regular nigga shit.” He balanced himself, moving both crutches to one side so he could hold my hand while we walked up the driveway and onto a stone path.

“These houses go to needy families, right?” I questioned.

“Yeah, a lot of Haiti is still recovering from Hurricane Matthew from nearly ten years ago. Many homes and communities were lost, and much of the aide has moved on.”

I listened to him as we walked into the home’s entrance. Nothing could have prepared me for how beautiful it was on the inside. I stared down at the marble floors. The high ceilings gave it a spacious feel, and the windows overlooked the ocean. It looked like the perfect vacation home. I became jittery inside, thinking that I was going to play a role in gifting such a beautiful home to a less fortunate family.

“This house is beautiful.”

“Yeah, it is.” Demetrius looked around, taking in the home.

“Oh, hello!” A voice I didn’t recognize greeted us from the top of the stairs. My eyes traveled to the dark-skinned stranger as he walked down the stairs and in our direction.

“I’m Ramik. I’m the building manager for Habitat House. Thank you for coming to help us today,” he said.

“Thank you for having us and accommodating my condition. My wife loves to help, and I’ve donated money to your organization for years. Just let us know what we will be doing—not too much. As you can see, I’m a little banged up.”

I stared at Demetrius as he talked. I loved when he put his professional voice on. It made him sound more like a wealthy business executive and less like a street nigga.

“As you can see, the build of this home is finished. We fully furnish all our habitat homes, which you’ll be helping with today. Picking out items and decorating the home.”

My face lit up. I loved decorating and doing it while also giving back made this date perfect.

“Sounds good. Where do we start?” I clapped my hands together, eager to get to work.

“We’ll start in the kitchen. Follow me.” Ramik took off toward the kitchen and we followed behind him, hand in hand.

“This is perfect,” I whispered. “How did you know I would like something like this?”

“Because I know you. You’re selfless. You like helping people, which is why you became a nurse.”

My smile widened as I leaned up to kiss him. I felt silly for not allowing this man to take me out for so long.

“Everything that is needed for the kitchen is in those boxes. All you have to do is unpack them and put them where they belong,” Ramik explained. That sounded simple enough.

“Can you tell me a little about the family? It will help me decorate,” I inquired.

“All I know is that they are a married couple looking to start a family soon. They lost everything and need a fresh start.”

“That’s all I need. Thank you.” My heart swelled as I began moving around the kitchen. It was spacious and sleek, with marble countertops and stainless appliances that gave it a modern feel. If I were going to dream of a kitchen, this would be it.

“Perfect, I’ll leave you to it. Come find me if you have questions.” With that, he left the kitchen and disappeared behind a wall. I got to work immediately, opening all the boxes and laying them across the floor to see their contents.

“Hand me a few of those boxes as well. I can unpack them from here.” Demetrius jumped on the counter and took a seat. I did what he instructed and placed a few boxes on the counter.

“Maybe we should start with the stuff we have to build.” I noticed one box held the contents of a kitchen table.

“I just work here, baby. Tell me what to do.” Demetrius shrugged. I smiled as I stared up at him. I’d finally stripped away all my fears of dating Demetrius, and it was like I was finally seeing him for who he truly was for the first time. He had so many layers, and I loved all of them.

“You’re amazing. You know that?” I started taking the pieces of the table out of the box.

“I’ve been told.” He pressed his body against my back and softly kissed my neck. I didn’t know he had gotten behind me so fast. We stood there for a moment. The room filled with warmth, and I found myself caught up in imagining what things would be like if we actually lived together.

“Let’s get to work on this kitchen table. You can work from the counter.” I moved out of his space. My body was heating, and the last thing I needed was to have my pussy juice dripping on these people’s kitchen floor and counter before they could do it themselves.

“Sound good.” He hopped back over to the counter, and we got to work.