Page 53 of Certified to Handle You
“She ain’t wanna go to sleep unless I carried her,” he said with a smirk.
“That sounds like an excuse,” I told him.
I watched him while he laid My’Love down on the couch beside us with a blanket over her legs.
Kay’Lo grabbed his drink, then dropped down beside me and instantly pulled me to him. His lips brushed along my earlobe while his hand rubbed slowly up and down my thigh.
“You want me to rub yo’ feet, baby?” he asked against my skin.
I finally smirked for real then ’cause I knew exactly what he was doin’.
He was tryna love me out my mood.
I turned my head and looked at him while he stared right back at me with them flirtin’ ass eyes, bitin’ his lip a lil’ while his hand kept slidin’ over my leg.
Love sat all in his eyes when he looked at me, and sometimes it got so intense I ain’t even know what to do with it.
“Yeah,” I admitted. “I do.”
Kay’Lo took a sip of his drink before settin’ it down. Then he scooted lower on the couch, grabbed my leg, and pulled it over into his lap.
Soon as his hands started rubbin’ on my feet, I let my head fall back against the couch and closed my eyes for a second.
“Mmm,” I breathed.
“I know,” he said, cocky as hell.
As time passed, I could feel myself finally startin’ to relax. The tension in my chest wasn’t sittin’ as heavy no more, and the alcohol mixed with Kay’Lo’s touch had my whole body feelin’ warm.
After a while, I finally looked over at him.
“TeeTee pissed me off earlier,” I finally admitted.
Kay’Lo didn’t interrupt me. He just listened while his hands kept movin’ over my feet.
I told him everything she said and how she tried to make it seem like I abandoned family or thought I was too good for them now.
When I finished, I looked at him. “How you feel about everything I just said?”
Kay’Lo leaned forward and grabbed his drink. He took a slow sip, then set the glass back down before goin’ right back to rubbin’ my feet.
“I don’t expect less from them,” he said honestly. “That’s just what it is, baby.”
I stayed quiet while he talked.
“At the end of the day, you gotta leave muthafuckas where they at,” he continued. “Everybody ain’t gon’ understand you. Everybody ain’t gon’ deserve access to you neither.”
His hands slid higher up my ankle while he looked at me.
“My mama love you. My daddy love you. All my aunties and uncles love you. Pressure love you. Renza love you. Sha’Nelle love you. My grandma and all my cousins love you. All the people that actually matter and got substance see yo’ heart, Toni.”
My eyes started burnin’ listenin’ to him.
“And that’s ’cause your heart good,” he said. “You love hard. You take care of ya people. You a good mama and a good wife, and anybody that can’t see that can kiss my ass.”
A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it. Kay’Lo’s expression softened immediately when he saw it.
“Aw, baby,” he murmured.
