Black and Blue: BWWM Romance Read Online Free Page B

there was no way for me to hold him in the hallway while I checked. That would be rude, so I crossed my fingers, unlocking the door and walking in with Brian behind me.
    “Oh wow, this is beautiful.”
    “Thank you.” We walked down the hall past my office and bedroom and into the living room.
    “Helluva view you got” He raised the shades. “You get to see the arch and downtown everyday. I need to move downtown.” He laughed, pulling up the shades.
    Putting down my books on the coffee table, I did a quick scan of the house. Surprisingly, I didn’t have anything embarrassing out.
    “Vodka or Wine?”
    “Vodka, of course.” I should have known better than to offer a man’s man like him wine. The vodka was a gift that my friend sent me. I hadn’t even broken the seal until now.
    A few ice cubes and cold, clear liquid later I was handing him a glass of vodka and holding a wine glass of Riesling for myself.
    “So what law do you want to practice?” I had to take it back to school, nothing else interested me.
    “Criminal…” He sipped his drink and I sipped mine as I scrambled for things to ask but I had made a mistake. I sat on the couch instead of the recliner and he sat down beside me. Only a couch cushion between us and I could feel the summer heat radiating off of his body.
    I watched his arms as I sipped my wine.
    “What about you?”
    “I’m not quite sure. I’m a good litigator but I know my dad would probably want me to go into something that would represent the people.” I pointed to my Dad’s picture on the wall, his full huge afro back when it was completely black and not a patch of skunk white combed through it, as he had now.
    “Cordell Morris is your dad?” That surprised the hell out of me.
    “You know him?”
    “Hell yeah! I read one of his books back in undergrad in my African Literature class.” Now I felt embarrassed. Why did I just assume he didn’t know my Dad because he was a white boy?
    “Wow, I’m sure he is proud of you.”
    “Ahh...he has a funny way of showing it.”
    “How so?” He sipped his drink, making a small look of anguish as he swallowed the clear vodka, but it would take more than a bit of Riesling for me to discuss my Dad. Before I could answer, we heard shots outside. I instantly went to the floor. “What was that, a gun?”
    He laughed so loudly that the sounds bounced off the walls.
    “Nooo...Fireworks look. I think the baseball game is ending.” I jumped up to see fireworks lighting the sky. Standing next to Brian, so close that I could hear his heartbeat and feel the heat from his skin, I wanted his arms around me, any man’s arms around me for that matter.
    Joe wasn’t a man, but the way that Brian pummeled that guy I couldn’t help but see how much of a man he was. Only a man can protect a woman like that.
    We watched the fireworks, sipping our drinks as I had the idea to put some music on. Grabbing a remote from the coffee table, a few buttons later and smooth jazz filled the room.
    “So where do you live?” I asked him.
    “Not far, an area they call the hill. I’m not sure if you know where that is?” I told him that my Mom was from St. Louis.
    “Oh cool. So you kind of know.”
    “Yeah somewhat. But I won’t have time for much else but these books.” I pulled them out of my bag, setting the monstrosities out on the coffee table.
    “Ahh man... c’mon, you gotta do more than just study.” He grabbed the bottle of vodka, setting it down on the table.
    “This is your last chance before the semester starts to get drunk and have some fun.” I laughed at that.
    “Drunk? I don’t get drunk?”
    “Why not...I get drunk every chance I can get.”
    “You sound like an alcoholic.” He shrugged at that.
    “If you had to deal with my job, you would be an alcoholic too.” Before I could ask more about his job, he filled up my now empty wine glass with the clear liquid, and his too.
    “What are you doing?” He laughed bringing the