Lynnia (3 page)

Lynnia

Lynnia looked to her left and saw a sleeping Dario in front of her. Normally this would be a pleasant thing for her to wake up to. It would mean that she finally got what her heart desired. For as long as she could remember, she had wanted Dario Anderson. He was now and would forevermore be her modern day Antonio Banderas or Andy Garcia. Those two have always been representative of iconic Latin men. The man lying next to her on the couch was definitely just as sexy and a body that was indicative of the hard days he worked at the construction company. Muscular arms and legs, strong shoulders and abs that felt like the sin welcomed when any part of her body rubbed up against them.

Looking at him and knowing what she looked like on a daily basis, she sometimes wondered why.
Stop it, Lynnia. This is the kind of thinking that got you into trouble in the first place.
Of all of the sisters, she has always been the curviest of them. It was something she eventually embraced. Her hips, lips and tips always grabbed attention. In most cases, it was from the ones she didn’t want to get. The change up of her naturally wavy to long, straight hair turned a head or two, but, once again, not the head that she wanted. Her wide, brown eyes and thick lashes she’d been told were enough to make a grown man weep. Still it wasn’t from the one that she wanted to hear compliment her.

He was lying next to her on the couch after spending a stupendously wonderful night having his way with her body. He wasn’t hers. He probably never would be. The man had been the center of every dream and the person every guy was compared to. Why couldn’t things have shaped up the way they were supposed to when they first met? Why couldn’t she have just been the woman she is now back then? In everything else, she was and has always been the most outspoken. There was something about the very being of the man that was next to her that caused her to shut down all that she was in his presence. It started the first day they’d met.

She couldn’t contain her happiness the day that he’d come up to her in junior high and said “hello”. It was perfect. They’d watched each other from across the room, never taking eyes off one another. It was a wonderful romance movie moment then he ruined it. He’d asked her if he could borrow a mechanical pencil. He went on to ask her to tutor him. Lynnia held out for months, waiting for him to ask her to the eighth grade dance, but he didn’t. When his date backed out at the last moment, she was his alternate. He only asked her to go as his “friend” and nothing more.

“He always has been one that was slow on the uptake,” Lynnia said to herself as she came back from the memory.

She lifted her legs to bend them at the knees. Using her feet and hands, she pushed from the back of the couch. When Dario rolled away just enough for her to place her feet at the base of his back, she pushed again; hard. He rolled all the way off the big, comfy couch and hit the floor with a most satisfying thud. He grunted and whined. There was some definite whimpering before he finally sat up.

“Did I just fall off the couch or did you push me?” he asked her, while barely keeping his eyes focused on her face.

His accent was so cute, but she couldn’t focus on that. This asshole was in her apartment because she was too stupid to tell him where he could go last night. It wouldn’t be the case this morning.

“What are you doing, Lynnie? Why in the hell did you just kick me off the couch? I was sleeping. Dammit, you know I had a bad ni ...,” he started talking, but she cut him off.

“You are the biggest dumbass that I’ve ever met! I cannot believe I ever,
ever
befriended you.
You
? You had a bad night. It’s always been about you. No more. You self-serving, ignorant, two-timing …,” Lynnia was making her way to the door with his shirt, pants, and shoes as she spoke.

“Two-timing? What do you mean? What are you doing with my clothes? Come on, Lynnie. I don’t feel like playing any games here. My head feels like somebody took a brick and … FUCK!” he bellowed as his shoe connected with his face.

She’d thrown it at him for interrupting her berating of him. Who did he think he was? She was talking. There was no way in hell she was listening to his shit today.

“You need to get out of my apartment. Now! You need to get to understanding faster than your slow ass is. I want you out of my apartment by the time I finish speaking or so help me,” she said to him as he began to finally catch up to what she was saying.

He was in motion moments later. She opened the door and dropped his stuff just outside of it. His keys and wallet were on the table that she kept near the doorway. Lynnia picked those up and turned to toss them at him. When she turned, he grabbed her face. Pulling her to him, he began to place kisses on her lips. His tongue slipped into her mouth and her eyes snapped open. He wasn’t going to do this to her. Not this time. She was not going to be this for him. Lifting her leg, she kneed him in the groin. As he dropped, he turned to protect his package. She lifted her foot and kicked out. He stumbled forward and ran into the metal railing. She tossed his keys and wallet in the general direction of his falling form.

“Goodbye, Dario,” she said as she went back into her apartment, quickly closing and locking the door behind her.

Chapter 2