#Claimed by Crayson (To Marry a Madden #2) Read online

  In a perfect world, I would have pushed him away and said he had no business kissing me like that. In my world, one of my hands went to the back of his head, holding him in place, while the other landed on his hard chest.

  Holy shit. The man kissed me in slow, lazy strokes as if we had all of the time in the world. As if it wasn’t a small miracle that we were here, in this moment, after all of the times I’d told him I wasn’t interested.

  Crayson deepened the kiss, his tongue stroking mine in a way I’d never felt before. He tasted of Cognac, and although I wasn’t a fan of the liquor, kissing him was making me a fan. I could get drunk off his lips.

  Oh my God, what is he doing to me? It was true what I’d said. I’d never enjoyed kissing that much. But clearly, I’d been messing with the wrong dudes because Crayson knew what the hell he was doing. He knew damn well he was kissing me senseless. It was so good. Too good.

  When my better sense kicked in, I ended the kiss and took a much-needed step back. I looked around the room at everyone cheering and celebrating, and realized he must have kissed me at midnight. Either that, or he’d kissed me before and I missed the damn countdown.

  I glanced in the direction of my ex in time to catch him eyeing me with a pissed off expression on his face. Serves your ass right! He needed a small taste of his own medicine even if I wasn’t his anymore.

  Speaking of his, I was scared to even look in Crayson’s direction because he’d owned every part of me during that kiss and I still hadn’t recovered. Yes, a bitch was truly alarmed and I wasn’t afraid to admit that because any woman who’d been avoiding a man for months, only to find out that he could kiss like he was making sweet love to your mouth, would understand why my heart was beating out of my chest.

  You see, Crayson was the type of man who you needed to keep in a wrought iron box. As long as he was in that box with no tools, he couldn’t get out. However, the minute you gave in to the humane side of you and gave him a torch, he’d burn through that box in minutes.

  In this case, my lips had been the torch, and when I finally did chance a glance at him, the gleam I saw in his eyes had Diamond doing somersaults, while I, on the other hand, was freaking the hell out. He didn’t even have to speak for me to know what he was thinking, but true to Crayson’s style, he couldn’t not speak. He just had to say something to make me even more anxious.

  “You know what you just did?” he asked.

  Don’t play his game, I warned myself. I didn’t even know why I’d warned myself, because I knew I was too curious not to ask him, “What?”

  The sly smile that filled his face told me everything. “You just fucked up,” he replied. “Because now that I know how good you taste, there’s no way I’m not tasting you again.” His eyes roamed over me. “And next time, I don’t plan on just stopping at your mouth.”

  I averted my eyes, but it was no use—the damage had already been done. So the main question I had to ask myself was, How in the world am I going to avoid him when he’s opening a business right next door?

  The answer lingered in my mind like a blinking neon light. There would be no avoiding Crayson Madden, and any woman—myself included—who felt differently was in for a rude awakening.

  Five

  One month later …

  Crayson

  It was early in the morning and Malakai had offered to help me get some things situated now that my Brooklyn cigar lounge was taking formation.

  Since my Manhattan location was called Unclassified Hideaway, and my location in Queens was called Unsettled Retreat, I’d decided to call my Brooklyn lounge Undefined Sanctum. However, this location would have the most exclusivity, as a members-only lounge targeting a certain type of middle-class and affluent clientele.

  Many would think my Manhattan location would be the most distinct and high-class, but I didn’t like to do what people expected. Folks didn’t have to understand my decisions, but they damn sho’ needed to respect them.

  “I hope you realize that you’re a dead man walking if you keep this shit up,” my brother, Malakai, said, breaking my thoughts.

  I looked up from the box I was unpacking. “I don’t what you’re talking about.”

  “You know what I’m talking about.” He stopped the box he was unpacking and walked over to me. “For the past month, you’ve managed to piss off Jordyn more than usual. What’s with you?”

  I kept unpacking, not ready to answer his question because it would make me sound like a whiny bitch. What Malakai was saying was true. I’d been annoying Jordyn more than usual, and the fact that she couldn’t get rid of me since I was renovating the building right next door to her bar, had her cursing my ass out on a daily basis.

  After that explosive kiss we’d shared on New Year’s Eve, she’d gone right back to the old Jordyn, opting to pretend it didn’t happen and avoid me whenever she could. I wasn’t one of those sensitive ass niggas by any means, but I hadn’t been able to get her out of my mind after that kiss. So, to see her brush it off like it meant nothing had hurt a little. Fuck, I am a sensitive asshole. What was even crazier than feeling butt hurt, was the fact that I hadn’t had sex since the kiss I’d shared with Jordyn.

  Oh trust me, I’d had plenty of pussy thrown my way lately, but every time I thought about taking a sexy ass hunny home, Jordyn would consume my mind. Therefore, what did I do every time I saw her? Anything I could to annoy her, which may or may not have included telling this dude she had a little crush on who frequents her bar that she batted for the other team and was still in the closet. Who knew his lame ass would tell her?

  “You do realize that unless one of you sells their property, you both will be stuck next door to each other for a very long time, right?”

  I shrugged. “What’s your point??

  “My point is, it would do you some good to dial back your asshole-ish ways and try and be cool to Jordyn so you both can run your businesses in harmony.”

  “I tried to talk to her,” I said honestly. “But she won’t even give me a minute of her time.”

  “Did you try apologizing for how you’ve been treating her lately?”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “Me apologize? For what, annoying her?”

  Malakai shook his head. “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”

  “News flash, bruh, I annoy folks all the time. And you seem to forget that Jordyn isn’t going around apologizing to me for all those months of cursing me out before I even got a word in.”

  “Man, please, you know you like that shit. You always had a thing for classy Christians who be in the club after church every Sunday sayin’ ‘I love Jesus, but I curse a little.’ And by a little, I mean a damn lot!”

  I laughed harder than I should have, but I couldn’t help it. My brother definitely knew my type and Jordyn fit that description to a T. The more she yelled, the more I wanted her. The more she cursed, the more I imagined her sexy mouth wrapped around my dick, shutting her up. I know, I know. I’m a sick bastard.

  “You could be right.” As bad as it sounded, I’d never thought about apologizing to Jordyn for always doing shit to piss her off. I also hadn’t banked on her being even more annoyed with me than usual after I made up that white lie to that I-wear-a-suit-everyday-so-people-know-I-make-money stuffy ass nigga so he wouldn’t ask her out.

  I took a break from unpacking the box of supplies I’d ordered online as I thought about how busy I’d been this past month. Opening a new location was no joke, and when I wasn’t bothering Jordyn, I was juggling my time between my other two locations and the new property.

  When I’d purchased this property for my new cigar lounge, I knew it was a good investment. Like Jordyn’s building, the lower level was functional for a business and two floors above were four apartments. I’d already made some updates to the apartments, making the three current tenants very happy that I was their new owner. I’d never met the fourth tenants because the newlywed couple had moved out a week before I purchased the property, so I’d decided to turn it into a hospitality suite for my elite customers, which meant, when it wasn’t occupied, I was able to stay there instead of going to my condo in Harlem.

  “Maybe I should just apologize and see if we can start over,” I finally said.

  “There’s no way in hell you can get a fresh start,” Malakai replied with a laugh. “Jordyn isn’t the type to forgive and forget. But there’s a chance that your apology would make her consider calling it a truce.”

  I gave him a questioning look. “A truce to what?”

  “A lot of things.” Malakai pointed to the wall my lounge shared with her bar. “Case in point, you had one of your main surround sound speakers placed on this wall when you know Jordyn’s office is right on the other side of the speaker.”

  I gave an innocent shrug. “I didn’t remember where her office was.”

  Malakai laughed. “Save your bullshit for someone who hasn’t known you since you were born.” He glanced around the cigar lounge that was nowhere close to being done, but you could see the potential. “I’m proud of you, little brother.” He clasped my shoulder. “But it’s time for you to grow the fuck up.”

  “Tell me what’s good then, bruh,” I said with a laugh. “You’ve always known I fuck shit up.”

  He nodded his head. “Yeah, that’s true. But fucking shit up and being a fuck up are two different things.” He waved his hands around the room. “You’re opening your third lounge, so I’d say you’ve proven to anyone who ever doubted you that you’re not a fuck up. So stop fucking with Jordyn. She’s my fiancée’s best friend and we need y’all both to get along for the sake of our wedding.”

  At his words, it dawned on me where his brotherly advice was coming from. Malakai was no newbie to dealing with my bullshit, but his soon-to-be wife was. “Did Avery tell you to check my ass so our bickering wouldn’t ruin your wedding?”

  Malakai looked around as if Avery would pop up any minute. In hindsight, it could happen since she was next door at Jordyn’s bar. “I’m not at liberty to say if she told me to talk to you about it or not. But for argument’s sake, let’s just say that she did warn me that I had to get a certain best man of mine to stop bothering her maid of honor for the sake of our impending wedding, you would understand why I would be obligated to talk to you, right?”

  I chuckled as I said, “Happy wife, happy life. I get it. I’ll try to dial back my inner asshole for the sake of your relationship.”

  Malakai smiled. “I knew you would understand, brother. I only ask that you try to take it down a notch.”

  I nodded as we got back to work. I still had a lot more to do and not a lot of time to do it if I wanted the place to be ready for Malakai and Avery’s engagement party and my grand opening. Halfway through cleaning my newly installed counters, I had a thought.

  “Jordyn, are you sure you aren’t overdoing it with the cupcake frosting?”

  I looked from the random spot on the wall I’d been staring at and turned to Avery. “What do you mean?”

  My eyes followed her line of vision as she pointed to the red velvet cupcake I was decorating. “Oh, shit.” I put down my pipe bag filled with cream cheese frosting and sighed. I’d covered it so much, you couldn’t even tell it was a cupcake anymore.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, before scooping some of the frosting off the cupcake. “I don’t know where my mind was at.” The bold-faced lie left my lips easily and my only hope was that Avery wouldn’t push me too much on what was wrong with me.

  After waking up as the sun rose, I’d called Avery and asked if she could come to my apartment since I was taking a much-needed break from being in my bar today. Like a true friend, she’d sensed something was wrong and stopped over right after the sun had come up.

  Now that she was here, I wished I hadn’t called. I thought I was ready to talk to her about what had been going on with me, but I wasn’t.

  Her concerned eyes were staring a hole in me when she asked, “What’s wrong, Jordyn? You’re worrying me.”

  “I’m fine,” I replied, getting my ingredients ready to decorate another cupcake. “I shouldn’t have called you earlier this morning. I was just feeling a bit overwhelmed about my bar.”

  Part of that was true. I really was overwhelmed with what I’d been doing at the bar lately, but there were other things going on as well.

  “You got up to bake at 4 a.m. and you’re only decorating one cupcake at a time,” she pointed out. “A clear sign that everything is not okay.”

  Damn, she knows me too well. “I just haven’t been getting enough sleep.” She squinted her eyes as if she didn’t believe me. I tried to ease her suspicion when I said, “Something is bothering me. I thought I was ready to talk about it, but I’m not. You being here is making all the difference and I promise to talk to you when I’m ready.”

  She relaxed her face, supposedly satisfied with my words. “Can you just tell me if it has anything to do with Crayson being a pain in your ass lately?”

  I frowned. “He’s such an asshole, but what I’m going through has nothing to do with him.”

  “Good. Because Malakai is with him right now and I told him to talk to Crayson about the way he treats you.”

  “I’m sure that conversation is going well,” I said with a laugh. “Crayson will deny that he’s even being more annoying than usual.”

  Avery swiped one of the cupcakes I’d just decorated. She took a big bite, before telling me, “He’s a man-child. He’s like the boy in school who instead of telling a girl he likes her, pulls her pigtails and trips her on the way to recess.”

  I laughed harder than I had in days because what she said was true. He was a man-child. “In his defense, I’ve been in a pissy mood this past month, too.”

  Avery lifted her mouth to the side in a way that I knew meant she wanted to ask me something, but was trying to figure out how to broach the topic.

  We’ll be sitting in silence forever if she doesn’t just ask me whatever it is. “Spit it out.”

  She shrugged. “Nothing to spit out.”

  “Girl, please. You’ve been giving me the Bambi eyes for a few minutes.”

  “Did anything happen between you and Crayson that you haven’t told me?” she spurted out.

  My eyes widened. “Um, no. Why would you think that?” I hadn’t told anyone about the toe-curling kiss I’d shared with Crayson because, in all honesty, none of our friends could keep a secret. At first, I was waiting to see if Crayson said something to Malakai because then I knew he would say something to Avery and she would, in turn, tell me that word of our kiss was out before getting on my ass about not telling her first.

  Instead, none of that had happened. So as much as I’d wanted to tell Avery about the kiss and ask her if I was insane for locking lips with a man I claimed to hate, I’d enjoyed the fact that it was our little secret.

  “I think you’re lying, but I won’t push you on it.”

  I smiled and continued to decorate the remaining cupcakes as we discussed Avery’s wedding plans so far. While she spoke, my mind kept drifting to Crayson and it wasn’t because we were both standing up in our friend’s wedding or had shared a kiss that I doubt would ever be topped by another man. Nope. My mind was on him for other reasons. Business reasons. And whether I wanted to or not, I had to talk to him and explain why I’d been so pissed about him buying the property next door. He may think it only had to do with the fact that we rarely got along, but that wasn’t the only reason.

  You have to put on your big girl panties, Jordyn. You have to talk to him because you need to work together on this. I wanted to groan aloud at that realization, but I didn’t want to interrupt Avery’s play-by-play on her and Malakai’s meeting with the event coordinator at the venue they’d chosen. Shit. I hadn’t relied on someone in a long time, yet, in order to move forward with my business plan, I needed to rely on Crayson … even if it was only in a small way.

  Before I was finished topping the last cupcake with sprinkles, I’d made my mind up. I’d talk to Crayson about the part of my business that I’d never shared with anyone before and hope like hell that he understood why I needed us to work together.

  Six

  Crayson

  “Shit,” I cursed as I accidently hammered my right hand. Although I wasn’t a contractor, I was very good at building things. If I hadn’t opened my cigar lounge chain, I would have had my own construction firm instead.

  Even though I was usually very focused when I worked, I couldn’t focus today. I hadn’t been sleeping well ever since my conversation with Malakai a couple days ago and I couldn’t figure out why it had bothered me.

  You know why, the voice inside of my head taunted. You regret the way you’ve acted to Jordyn lately. It was no secret that I could be a pain in the ass, but I’d be the first to admit that I’d been worse than usual. I knew if I didn’t talk to her and apologize, it would keep fucking with my work.

  “Are you okay?”

  I turned to the front door, surprised to see Jordyn standing there with a tray of desserts. Damn, she looks good. Despite being next door, we hadn’t seen much of each other this week.

  She placed the tray on the counter and removed her black pea coat and infinity scarf. Today, she was wearing jeans, tall, black boots, and a graphic tee that read Bitches Never Quit. I smiled because the shirt was just like Jordyn.

  “Did you hear me?” she asked.

  That’s right. She asked me a question when she walked in.

  “I went a little too far right and hit my hand with the hammer.”

  She frowned before she stepped closer to me “Asshole, you have to be careful.”

  I laughed at her not-so-endearing term. It took a particular kind of skillset to be able to say a curse word as if it were someone’s legal name. When she reached me, she held out her hand and it took me a few moments to figure out that she wanted me to place my injured hand in hers.