His Sexy Bad Habit (13 page)

Antonio and A.J. pulled up to his in-laws’ house dressed in matching khaki pants and button-down cotton shirts. Antonio’s was white and A.J.’s was green and white. “Now, make sure you don’t spill any gravy on Grandma’s tablecloth,” Antonio told his son as they headed up the steps to the front door. “Remember what happened the last time.”

“She cried,” A.J. said. “’Cause Mommy made that cloth for her.”

Antonio leaned down and kissed the top of his son’s head. “Yeah. And we don’t want to make Grandma cry.” Antonio sighed as he rang the doorbell and waited for the Wallace’s butler, Sammy, to open the door.

When Antonio had married Marian, her family wasn’t thrilled. They’d believed she was marrying beneath her class. The Wallaces were one of Charlotte’s old money families and Antonio Billups was a simple man who had good looks
and not much else, at least according to her mother. Mr. Wallace wasn’t much easier on Antonio until the two had had a heart-to-heart talk about how much he loved his daughter. Lowell Wallace had told him all he wanted for his daughter was her happiness. If Antonio would make her happy, then he’d bless their union.

Antonio had known Marian was spoiled, but he didn’t know she would always put herself first—even after they’d taken vows and had their son. When Marian had decided she wasn’t happy anymore she had sought another lover.

Shaking those thoughts out of his head, Antonio nodded to Sammy as he opened the door and greeted him and A.J.

“Everyone is in the dining room, Mr. Billiups,” Sammy said.

Antonio placed his hand on the older man’s shoulder. “One day, you’re going to call me Antonio,” he said.

The older man smiled and looked down at A.J. “If you don’t mind me saying, he’s looking more and more like his mother,” Sammy said. “He has her eyes.”

“But I have Daddy’s smile,” A.J. said, and Sammy gave his cheek a soft pinch.

As Antonio and A.J. entered the dining room, he locked eyes with Casey, who was seated near her mother, sipping iced tea. A.J. rushed over to his grandmother and hugged her tightly.

“Glad to see you could make it, Antonio,” Casey said as she set her glass on the table and rose to her feet. She moved in front of Antonio
and hissed, “I guess you decided to pull yourself out of that woman.”

Antonio shook his head and sidestepped Casey to greet his mother-in-law.

“You’re looking well, Antonio,” Beatrix said as she rubbed her hand across A.J.’s head.

“Did you enjoy Europe?” Antonio asked, just to keep up the small talk.

“Oh, Lowell and I had a wonderful time. That reminds me. A.J., I have some things for you upstairs. Let’s get them before dinner, while your grandfather is outside sneaking a cigar.”

A.J. crinkled his nose as his grandmother rose to her feet and grasped his hand. “Cigars are nasty.”

“Yes, baby, they are,” she said. Beatrix looked at Antonio and Casey. “Antonio, you don’t share that nasty habit my husband has?”

“No, he has others,” Casey mumbled.

Antonio shot her a warning look, then shook his head. “No, ma’am,” Antonio replied. Once he and Casey were alone, he glared at her. “What’s your problem?”

“I don’t have a problem,” she said as she returned to the table and poured herself another glass of tea. “Shocking that you didn’t bring your tart with you. You two could’ve gotten it on in the gazebo.”

Antonio folded his arms across his chest and shook his head. “Get over it, Casey. I’m seeing Serena and the last time I checked, I was an adult—entitled to do just that.”

“I guess Mom and Dad have been right about
you all of these years. How could you go from a classy woman like my sister to that naked whore I found on your back porch?”

“Why do you sound as if you’re jealous?” he asked.

Casey’s face fell and before she could reply, A.J. ran into the dining room with a huge box. “Look Daddy and Aunt Casey. Look what Grandma gave me.”

Casey crossed over to her nephew and looked in the box, which contained a train set. “That’s really nice,” she said. “You and your daddy are going to have a lot of fun putting this together.”

“I know. Hey, Daddy do you think your new friend will help us? Then I can make some more cole slaw,” A.J. said excitedly.

Casey slowly rose up and glared at Antonio. “He’s met her?”

“I’m not getting into this. We’re here to have dinner,” Antonio said as he knelt down beside his son and looked at the train set Beatrix had given him. “What do you say we put this in the truck until after dinner?”

“All right,”

Antonio lifted the box and padded out to his truck, ignoring that Sammy would’ve taken the box for him. He needed to get away from Casey before he said something he would regret.

How would she feel if she knew the truth about her sister and what she’d put him through before her death? Marian had taken their marriage for a joke, as something she could step out of whenever she felt like it. He wasn’t going to
allow Casey to make him feel guilty about Serena. Closing his eyes, he thought about how being with Serena made him feel as if the outside world stopped and all that mattered was the two of them. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt that way with a woman—not even when he and Marian had first gotten married.

As he walked back into the house, Lowell had joined the women at the table and was holding court telling a story about how beautiful Paris was at sunset. “Antonio,” he said when he looked up. “You’re going to have to let us take A.J. on our next European excursion.”

“Yes,” Beatrix said. “We can take him to Le Louvre and then a ride on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.” She hugged A.J. tightly. “It would be so much fun. Your mother would’ve loved this trip.”

Antonio sighed. “We’ll have to see,” he said. “A.J. and I were planning on going to Disney World before he starts school this year.”

Lowell waved his hand as if he was swatting away annoying gnats. “You can do that any time, but a European trip will instill culture and class in the boy.”

Antonio clinched his jaw and held his tongue. A.J. turned to his grandfather and said, “But I want to see Mickey Mouse. I don’t want to go to the Lover.”

Beatrix smiled and said, “Le Louvre. It’s a wonderful museum. Your mother and Aunt Casey went there when they were about your age.”

A.J. folded his arms and pouted. “I want to see Mickey Mouse.”

“Buck up son,” Lowell said. “Mickey Mouse isn’t going anywhere. You can go to a simple playground anytime.”

“Lowell,” Antonio said. “If he doesn’t want to go, he’s not going. Are we going to eat now?”

“What’s your hurry, Antonio?” Casey asked as she sat down.

He rolled his eyes at her and sat down on the other side of his son.

“Casey, Antonio probably has to be up early to finish that restaurant project. I read in the Sunday paper that it will be reopening soon with a big party some of the footballers are hosting.” Beatrix looked at Antonio. “Do you think you can snag Casey an invitation?”

“Mother, I don’t need Antonio to schedule my social life and I don’t want to go to one of those so-called celebrity parties,” Casey said as Alice, the cook, began bringing dinner into the dining room.

“But, darling,” Beatrix said. “You need to socialize more. All you do is work, look after your nephew, and nothing else. Maybe you and I should take a trip to Paris. Then you can work on getting Antonio to agree to let us take A.J. to Europe. Look at us, Marian would be so happy.”

Antonio averted his mother-in-law’s gaze.

“Bea, let’s not get caught up in sentiment,” Lowell said as Alice set a prime rib in the center of the table. “It’s time to eat.”

Antonio had never been happier to get food on his plate. He didn’t want to listen to his
mother-in-law’s revised history of his marriage to her daughter. It seemed Beatrix had forgotten how she’d tried to talk Marian out of marrying him. She’d also forgotten how she’d spent their wedding day crying until her eyes were red because she couldn’t believe Marian was going to marry a man like Antonio. Now she wanted to rewrite history and pretend they were a close-knit family. He wished Marian was still around so she could tell her family she was planning to leave. He could take their judgment and disdain, but the act of believing he and Marian were a super happy couple was a bit much for him.

A.J. happily ate prime rib and green peas with pearl onions while Antonio picked at his food.

“Is there something wrong with your meal?” Lowell asked.

“No, sir,” Antonio said. “I’m just not that hungry.”

“I’ll bet,” Casey sniped.

Antonio shot Casey a cold look that Beatrix noticed. “What’s going on here? You two have been sniping at one another all day. Did you have an argument while we were away?”

“Just a slight disagreement, Mother,” Casey said.

“Antonio?” Beatrix asked.

“I don’t want to mar this dinner, since you all wanted to spend time with A.J.,” he said. “Casey and I are adults. We can work this out.”

“I certainly hope so. We’re all family here,” Lowell said. “All we have left is right around this table.”

Casey smiled at Antonio, but beneath her
smile, he could see she was still holding on to her displeasure for him being with Serena.

Dinner ended without any more drama or more talk about the cause of his disagreement with Casey. Lowell and Beatrix showed pictures of the places they’d toured over their three months in Europe. When Antonio saw that A.J. was struggling to stay awake, he bid his in-laws good-bye, lifted his son up from the table, and headed to his truck.

Casey followed him and grabbed his elbow. “Antonio,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“Whatever, Casey. I don’t understand why you would try to bring any of that up tonight at dinner,” he said as he placed A.J. in the truck.

“You’re a man and you have needs. You had a free weekend and you took advantage of it. I don’t know why I felt like I should judge you.”

Antonio shook his head and crossed over to the driver’s side of the truck. “You don’t get it. I have a right to move on with my life.”

“But is she the woman you want to move on with?” Casey asked. “Never mind, do what you want to do.”

Antonio shot Casey a wary look and then got into the truck and drove off.

Monday was a day full of surprises for Serena. When she went to the restaurant, there was a bouquet of roses waiting for her. She didn’t even look at the card. She knew they were from Antonio. Smiling, she thought about the last time she
saw him and how he’d told her she was pretty. That man was melting her in ways she’d vowed she’d never let happen again.

“What’s with the grin?” a voice said. Serena turned to her left and saw Kandace standing beside her.

“I thought you were on your honeymoon,” she said as she hugged her friend.

“Well, my husband said we couldn’t miss the reveal of the restaurant since he feels so bad about what happened here. Then we’re finishing our final week of honeymoon bliss in Atlanta,” Kandace said with a huge smile on her face.

Serena squeezed her friend’s hand. “You look really happy.”

“I am and you have a certain glow about you. Anything to do with these flowers?” Kandace asked as she snatched the card from the bouquet. “Who’s Emerson?”

“What?” Serena asked as Kandace handed her the card. “I can’t believe that asshole had the nerve to send these flowers.”

“Who is this
asshole
?” Kandace asked. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Serena said as she lifted the roses from the bar and dumped them in the trash can. “So, tell me about your honeymoon and where you guys went.”

Kandace smacked her friend on the shoulder. “Don’t try and change the subject. What’s the deal with the flowers?”

Serena shrugged and tried to act casual. “They’re from a man I have no interest in who
can’t take no for an answer,” she covered as she stepped behind the bar. “Doesn’t this place look great?”

Kandace looked over the marble floors and the red walls with lace borders. “It does look good,” she said. “Are you still seeing Antonio or have you gotten rid of him already?”

“Actually,” Serena said with a gleam in her eyes, “Antonio will be here to detail all the changes he and his crew made.”

Kandace started humming “Wedding March.”

Serena shook her head. “You and Jade think everybody is walking down the aisle because you two did it. I am never getting married.”

The front door of the restaurant opened and Kandace’s husband, Solomon Crawford, strode in as if he owned the place. “You guys finished talking about me, yet?” he joked as he walked over to his wife, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her as if they were the only ones in the world.

“I’m sorry,” Serena said when Solomon and Kandace broke their kiss. “Who are you, again?”

He frowned at Serena and shook his head. “I swear, you’re going to be nice to me one day …”

“And hell will freeze over,” Serena said.

Kandace threw her hand up. “Y’ all need to stop it. I believe you two are related. Just cocky and mean people.”

Solomon pulled Kandace closer to his chest. “You know I’m not mean. Your friend over here is the poster child for mean. I came bearing gifts.”

Serena rolled her eyes and laughed. She did like Solomon, despite his playboy reputation. Even
with her jaded outlook on love, she knew he only had eyes for his wife. Watching them together would’ve made another woman believe she could meet her soul mate, too. Just when Serena’s thoughts were about to wander to whether Antonio was her soul mate or not, he walked though the door and her breath caught in her chest. “Good morning,” she said to him, smiling brightly.

“Morning,” he said as he strode over to her and nodded at Solomon and Kandace.

Kandace nudged Solomon and whispered something to him. “Good luck,” Solomon murmured as he and Kandace headed to the back office.

Serena lifted her eyebrow, but focused on Antonio’s smiling face.

“How was the fish?” Antonio asked.

“It was great. Tell your son I loved the cole slaw,” Serena said.

“He’ll be glad to hear that. I would’ve called you last night, but A.J. and I ended up putting his train set together.” He held up a Starbucks bag. “I brought you a breakfast treat. Coffee cake.”