Only One for Me (13 page)

“
These are exquisite,”
Yasmine said as she continued to flip the pages, taking note of the
prices of the arrangements. Sherika would definitely be
pleased.

“
Have you thought about
doing this full-time?” Cannon inquired.

“
Well, it’s funny you
mentioned it. My cousin Reagan is a wedding planner in Atlanta and
has asked me several times to go into business with her, so I have
thought about it. We always said along with Brooklyn’s expertise in
photography that we should, but it’s just a dream.”

“
You should make that
dream a reality. You’re also a great event planner, and Rasheed is
always bragging how his baby sister is an excellent photographer. I
don’t see why the three of you wouldn’t have a successful
company.”

She laughed. “Maybe one day. So,
Yasmine, let’s go through the pictures on my iPad and tag the ones
you think Sherika would like, and I’ll email them to
her.”

After thirty minutes, Cannon excused
himself and left the office to which Yasmine was grateful that he
did. She could concentrate better with him gone. He wasn’t even
looking at the flowers. Instead, he sat on the couch playing on his
smart phone and glancing at her with a smile. If he wasn’t going to
help, he didn’t need to come. She could select floral arrangements
without him. Then it dawned on her that he’d arranged it on
purpose. After yesterday, there really wouldn’t be a need to stay
in contact because the rest of the tasks didn’t require for them to
see each other until the wedding weekend.

“
So Cannon tells me you
two used to be engaged when he was in medical school and now you’re
planning a wedding for your best friends. You must be one tough
cookie. I don’t think I could plan a wedding with my ex fiancé and
not feel some type of animosity toward him.”

Yasmine laughed. She was trying to be
a tough cookie on the outside, but on the inside, she was cookie
dough in a mixing bowl. She honestly didn’t know how she was going
to make it through the next few months. Cannon definitely wasn’t
going anywhere, or so it seemed, and was trying to find every
reason in the book to see her. If he showed up to her dress fitting
with the bridesmaids next week, she would scream.

“
Well, it hasn’t been
easy, that’s for sure, but I’m doing this for my best friend. I
want her to have a beautiful day.”

“
That’s the spirit. And
who knows. Maybe this is fate. Perhaps you two were meant to
be.”

A light rap at the door interrupted
their conversation, and she hoped it wasn’t Cannon.

“
Yaz!” a lady squealed as
she entered the room. Yasmine turned and saw Shelbi in pink scrubs
charging toward her for a hug. She looked the same overall with her
shoulder length hair pulled into a bouncy pony tail and a beautiful
smile that was just like Cannon’s, but she was hippier than Yasmine
remembered and had grown an inch or two.

“
Oh my goodness, look at
you,” Yasmine said, hugging Shelbi tightly. She had been her
favorite out of all the Arrington siblings because of her sweet
personality and laid back nature. “You’re all grown up.”

“
And you look like you’re
in your twenties. Are you drinking from the fountain of
youth?”

“
Thank you. You were
always such a sweetheart. Congrats on your marriage. I met your
hubby earlier. He’s a cutie.”

Shelbi sat down in the other chair in
front of the desk next to Yasmine while Zaria started to email the
pictures to Sherika.

“
Thank you. Now let’s
change the subject,” Shelbi said with wide grin. “My brother is
still crazy about you.”

“
Whatever.”

“
No, seriously. I promise
after y’all broke up, he wasn’t the same for a while. He was moody
and snappy. He’s always been easy going. He sunk himself further
into staying busy, and he just seemed withdrawn sometimes. When he
started to date again, they weren’t serious … well, except one, but
he broke up with her a few summers ago because she kept pressuring
him into marrying her. I think she was trying to get pregnant on
the sly.”

Yasmine shrugged. “Maybe Cannon isn’t
the marrying kind.”

“
No, Sean isn’t the
marrying kind, but Cannon is. He just hasn’t the found the one yet
because he’s still in love with you. Heck, I tried to hook him up
with Zaria but—”

“
He is not my type,” Zaria
said with a slight attitude looking up from her iPad.

Shelbi laughed. “I know. Besides, you
have your eyes set on someone else. Yasmine, she has this love/hate
relationship with Dr. Braxton, a friend of the family. He is
completely smitten with Zaria, but she won’t go out with
him.”

“
Ignore Shelbi about Dr.
Braxton, but seriously, listen to her about Cannon. When he called
yesterday about the floral arrangements, I knew something was up.
One, he never calls me and two, men don’t care about floral
arrangements. I’ve helped many a bride, and I’ve never met a groom
until the wedding day. Besides, as soon as we started looking at
the arrangements, he up and left. I glanced at my monitor, and he’s
in the sports bar area watching a game and drinking a beer. He just
came to see you.”

“
Ladies, I … don’t think
he’s still in love with me. I just think he feels bad about how our
relationship ended.”

Shelbi stood. “I’m sure he does, but I
know my big brother very well.” She glanced at the clock on the
wall. “He’s ecstatic you’re in town. I was only a teenager when you
were together, but I admired your relationship and hoped to find
true love one day, and I did.”

“
Well, I’m glad you found
your true love. Justin seems like a sweetheart.”

“
He is. I gotta run back
to the hospital. But since you’re here, you might as well as stay
for dinner. My hubby can throw down in the kitchen.”

The ladies hugged one more time before
Shelbi skipped out of the office.

“
I’m done emailing the
pictures to Sherika,” Zaria said, closing her iPad case and
standing with a set of keys in her hand. “Do you want me to take
you to where Cannon is or are you hightailing it out the back
door?”

Yasmine sighed as she stood and
grabbed her purse. “I guess having dinner with Cannon isn’t the end
of the world.”

Chapter Five

Cannon studied Yasmine over the top of
his menu while she read over hers. She’d been staring at it for
over five minutes. He wasn’t sure if she was trying to avoid him or
if she really didn’t know what to order. He remembered her being
somewhat of a picky eater. There were certain foods she didn’t
like, which included tomatoes, squash, and mushrooms.

He thought back to their first date
over fourteen years ago. He’d taken her to a place similar to
Lillian’s. Yasmine wore a multi-colored sundress that stopped right
above her knees, showcasing her sexy legs that he couldn’t keep his
eyes off of. All the men in the place had been staring at her, and
he was proud that she was with him.

When the hostess at Lillian’s had
shown them to the VIP section earlier, he’d noticed a repeat. Heads
turned and smiles formed in her direction from the majority of the
men, but he couldn’t blame them. She was fine in the winter white
dress slacks that fit nice and snug over her butt. He enjoyed the
view from behind as her hips swished back and forth, causing an
awakening in his manhood. He was relieved when they finally reached
the booth before she noticed from his khakis how much he enjoyed
watching her walk. The pink, backless halter showcased her smooth
back that he wanted to run his lips over, making sure to kiss the
spot on her neck that drove her insane.

He continued his perusal of her as she
stared at the menu. Her sexy haircut brought out her high cheek
bones, and her doe-shaped eyes showed off her simply amazing smile
that he’d fallen in love with at first glance. The halter blouse
she wore displayed toned arms and silky, caramel skin that taunted
him to run a finger over to hear her cute giggle.

Her personality hadn’t changed much.
She still had a pleasant, warm-hearted demeanor and very little
ruffled her feathers, except maybe having to plan the wedding with
him. Yasmine wasn’t as bubbly as she used to be, but she had
matured over the years into a very independent and intelligent
woman.

Unfortunately, her brick wall guarded
her, but he was determined to bulldoze it down.

Cannon closed his menu and took a sip
of his white wine. “The shrimp and grits are really good, and you
can ask for them without the stewed tomatoes,” he suggested. “I
know you love anything with shrimp.”

She glanced at him for a second before
placing her eyes back on the menu. “I was looking at that along
with a salad.” Closing her menu, she placed it on top of his. “What
are you ordering?”

“
The oven-fried chicken
with the organic collards.”

“
I read a lot of great
reviews about this place, and I can’t believe he really doesn’t
serve pork in Memphis of all places.”

“
Nope. I get my ribs from
Rendezvous.”

“
Love Rendezvous. Growing
up, my dad would take us there once a month. They have the best
barbeque. I’ll have to make sure to go by there before I go back to
Atlanta.”

Their conversation was interrupted
briefly by the waitress who took their order and mentioned the band
would be playing shortly.

Noticing Yasmine had finished her
wine, Cannon reached for the bottle on the table to pour her
another glass.

“
Hey, that’s enough for
now.” She held her hand over the glass. “You know what wine does to
me.” She smiled and sipped her water instead.

He leaned across the candle lit table
and answered in a low, seductive tone, “I know exactly what wine
does to you.”

She bit her bottom lip and cleared her
throat. “I think I’ll stick to the water.”

“
Doesn’t really matter. We
never needed wine to have a good time. So, I hear you’re Dr. Dubose
now and a professor. How did you go from teaching first grade to
college students?”

“
It just sort of happened.
After I left Nashville, I got my master’s at NYU and then my
Doctorate in Education. I applied for the adjunct professor
position just on a whim. I wanted a change from teaching elementary
students, but I didn’t want to leave the classroom. So now I teach
Language Arts and Literature for Elementary School
Teachers.”

“
Well, I’m not surprised.
You’ve always been determined and goal-oriented. What made you move
to Atlanta?”

“
I missed the south. It
was way too cold in New York, plus I wanted to be closer to my
mother. Atlanta is only a six to seven hour drive to
Memphis.”

“
And you’ve written some
books.”

“
Yes, test prep workbooks
geared toward standardized testing, and I also do education
consulting for some of the school systems in Metro
Atlanta.”

“
Wow. You seem very busy.
Looks like you’ve turned into a workaholic like me. When do you
stop and smell the roses?”

She laughed, and it was great to hear
the genuine sound from her. He missed their fun times together. She
had always been the spontaneous one in their relationship, making
sure no matter how busy he was, he would make time to relax and
enjoy life.

“
I go out when I can.
However, my career does keep me rather busy at times. Being away
from Atlanta these past few months has been somewhat of a vacation
even though I do part-time consulting for Memphis City Schools. I
have a mortgage and bills to pay back home.”

He took a sip of his water and leaned
back in his chair to stare at her. She was absolutely beautiful,
inside and out. He needed to pinch himself to make sure she was
truly in front of him. He missed being in her presence.

“
What?” she asked with a
forehead wrinkle and questionable eyes.

He smiled. “It’s really good to see
you again. I can’t believe you’re sitting in front of
me.”

She gave him a smile that
melted his heart. He couldn’t fathom he’d spent so many years
without it.
What was I thinking letting
her go?

“
You are so damn
beautiful. I could just sit here for the rest of the night and
stare at you.”

“
Okay, now you’re really
embarrassing me, but thank you.”

“
I’ll stop … for now.” He
winked. “I heard your mother was the principal over at our old high
school.”

“
She was, but retired a
year ago to concentrate on her health. Luckily, she’s better and
having fun traveling with her boyfriend. They’re out of town for
the weekend now.”

“
Wait. Your mother has a
boyfriend?”

“
I know. Weird, right?
He’s a retired principal as well. Very nice man. They’ve been
together for about three years.”

“
So, does her daughter
have a boyfriend?”

It was a question he dreaded knowing
the answer to, but he knew she must’ve had a boyfriend over the
past twelve years. The thought of someone else making love to her
was impossible in his mind though. Did she moan sweet pleasure
sounds in some other guy’s ear while digging her fingernails
intensely in his shoulders? Did he know about the area on the back
of her neck that sent orgasms through her just by a simple touch?
Were her climaxes still earth shattering to the point where the
only word she could utter was his name? No, wait. Couldn’t be,
because whomever she’d been with couldn’t possibly make her entire
body quiver as he had. Didn’t love her as he had.