Page 17 of Mr. Blackwood

“Now, I’m the one who’s impressed, and she runs her own business.” He chuckled, and I liked the sound of it.

I had seen Jabari interact with plenty of people at the office tower over the last few weeks, and I had never seen him smile or laugh with any of them.

“Yeah, I love gardening and cooking my meals. I make it a habit of working out every day, and I jog on the weekends. I have a shed in my backyard where I work out with my personal trainer.”

He frowned. “When do you have time to run a business if you’re doing all that? I see you at the office tower all the time, so when are you working out?”

I burst out laughing. “I get up at the butt crack of dawn. I do my workouts in the house in the morning around five before I head into the office. I usually meet with my trainer on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings. I jog Saturday and Sunday mornings a couple of hours before my trainer arrives.”

“When do you sleep?”

“I get my beauty rest.”

“You damn sure do,” he stated as he gulped his wine.

His long, beautiful eyelashes lowered briefly before his gaze clashed with mine. I squirmed in my seat, unable to keep my yoni from reacting to the look in his eyes.

“I crash the minute that I hit the house.”

“You might want to scale back on your hours.”

I laughed. “A little hard work never hurt anyone. What about you? What is your lifestyle like?”

He smiled at me, and it took everything in me not to squirm. The man was gorgeous, sexy, and charming when he wanted to be.

“I enjoy a good healthy meal from time to time, but I’m a little lax in my eating habits.”

“So, you admit that you could clean up your diet?”

“I could, but I love to savor a delicious meal. There’s nothing like experiencing fine cuisine from around the world and allowing my palate to be a little more sociable than just with veggies. My palate definitely gets around.”

I laughed at his little joke but wondered internally if he meant that in more ways than one. Not that it mattered, because this was all just a mission that I was on and nothing more. I hated that I had to keep reminding myself of that, though.

“Are your only hobbies cooking and gardening, or are there others?”

“As you see, my schedule is already packed. I do like looking at the cooking shows and HGTV, if that counts.”

“Vegging out on TV counts. I mean, I guess you have to have at least one unhealthy habit, right?” His gaze narrowed on me, and his finger rested over his top lip as he regarded me carefully. I felt that he was peering deeper into me, and I didn’t want him to know everything despite my claim about being an open book with the men I dated.

“I love reading to feed my thirst for romance, shopping to feed my need for high-quality clothes, and concerts to feed my passion for music. I guess that’s me in a nutshell,” I declared, holding my hands up.

“What type of music do you listen to?”

“Jazz. Give me some Gerald Albright, Najee, or Norman Brown, and I’m good. Oh, and I can’t forget Lindsey Webster, Marcus Johnson, Mindi Abair, and obviously Boney James.”

“Obviously,” he replied with a smirk and a twinkle in his eyes.

“Do you have any hobbies other than playing Monopoly? Because clearly, you’ve brought up Park Place, Oriental Avenue, and Boardwalk.”

He chuckled. “More like Edgewood Avenue, Auburn Avenue, and Peachtree Street. Yeah, I do have a habit of acquiring businesses, but I love to play too. I’m usually playing basketball with my boys. I used to love racing cars, specifically a Subaru BRZ that I own, but there hasn’t been time for that in a while.”

That shocked me. “Get out of here! I can’t even picture you like that.”

“Why not?”

“You’re so straitlaced and buttoned up. All I see is an intimidating man with bespoke suits, Italian shoes, and expensive jewelry. I can’t imagine you dressing down in sweats or gym shorts to get sweaty playing ball or even racing cars.”

“That’s because you don’t know me.”