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Friday Evening
5:58 pm
Mercedes didn’t realize how deep of a trance she was in while she waited for Noah’s call until the blaring iPhone ringtone sliced through her thoughts. She jumped in her seat and cursed under her breath before quickly snatching her phone off the table. For a few seconds, Mercedes stared at the sight of the unknown number. Her heart raced and beat wildly against her chest.
Why was she so nervous to talk to this man?
Men approached and pursued Mercedes all the time. Even with the shyness and hesitancy of meeting someone new, it was never this bad. Not so bad she avoided hearing their voice or seeing their face. Not so bad her body heated and covered with chills at the same time. Not so bad her finger trembled as she accepted the call.
Her eyes closed, and Mercedes pulled in a deep breath. After swallowing hard, she answered with, “Hello?”
Expecting to hear the standard operator, Mercedes was caught completely off guard by the sound of Noah’s voice.
“You are a very difficult woman to get in touch with, Miss Avery.”
Noah’s deep, crisp tone had a slow smile spreading her lips.
“I’m worth the work and the wait.”
He released a relaxed, sexy chuckle that made Mercedes’ heart skip a beat. “That I don’t deny. It’s exactly why I’ve been so anxious to speak with you.”
“Yeah?” she asked quietly, relaxing further in her seat. With each second that passed, Mercedes felt more and more at peace.
“Yeah,” Noah agreed, and the raspy, lowness of his tone had Mercedes biting down on her bottom lip. “So… I want you.” He paused, giving his declaration time to enter both her mind and her heart. “And I’m going to have you. I just need to know what obstacles are going to be in the way of that so I can prepare.”
Her cheeks hurt from smiling so hard. Not wanting her excitement to ooze out with her words, Mercedes swallowed hard and tried to steady her rapidly drumming heart.
“You don’t know me to want me, Noah Gabriel. Maybe you want the illusion of me, but I seriously doubt if you want me.”
“Nah, that’s bullshit. I’ve always wanted you, and ain’t shit about how I feel for you coming from an illusory state. You’re very much my present and reality, and the sooner you accept that, the quicker I can start giving you the life and love you deserve.”
“Wow.” Mercedes stood and began to pace. “You’re very arrogant.”
“I’m not arrogant; I’m confident in who I am and what I’m able to do. There’s no doubt in my mind I’m going to get you.”
Mercedes might not have wanted to admit it, but there was no doubt in her mind either… that’s why she’d been avoiding this conversation. Even before he had to do his time, Mercedes had always been smitten with Noah. She would see him in passing, at events, but he was so guarded and elusive that she’d never been able to get close enough to speak. Not that she would have actually spoken to him. Mercedes had never been the kind of woman to make the first move. Quite frankly, she didn’t have to. She was, however, an expert in presenting men with the invitation needed to initiate something with her.
There was never a time she was in the same room as Noah Gabriel, or any of the Gabriel brothers for that matter, and they didn’t command the room. No matter who she was with, Noah always demanded her private attention and awe. Mercedes would tell herself it was fascination and lust… a pull to his power—that there was nothing real between them but space and the unknown that came from being strangers.
“If you wanted me as bad as your words suggest, do you really expect me to believe a threat from my father kept you from pursuing me in the past?”
“Your father saying that you were off limits isn’t what kept me away. It was a part of it, but it wasn’t the only reason.”
Her feet stopped moving. “Then what were the other reasons?”
“There was only one… I didn’t feel like I was ready to be with a woman like you. On the outside looking in, you were this good girl from a healthy family with a bright future ahead of her. When I was a young nigga, I didn’t feel like I had anything of value to offer you. Yeah, I had money, but your family did too.” Noah chuckled quietly, and the sound was what pulled her rigid frame out of its frozen state. She made her way back over to the island and sat down. “From the way your father spoke about you, I knew you deserved a man who was better than I was at that time. That’s why I stood down.”
“What’s so different about now?”
“You sure you want the truth?”
Mercedes nodded as if he could see her. She nibbled her bottom lip, silently questioning if she was ready for the truth. It had been difficult enough to keep herself from diving headfirst with this man based off a few short letters. Noah had a magnetic pull on her that Mercedes had never experienced before. She’d always demanded actions from a man, but just this man’s words alone had her on the edge of falling in love.
“Yes, I-I do.”
“Right before I got sat down to do this time, a lot of death surrounded me. That same month, one of my homie’s died and the other one was with his fiancée and daughter in the car when it was laced with bullets. The most important women in his life were taken from him, and he was never the same after that. He ended up going after the niggas that did it alone and they sent him to be with his girls, but before he took that drive, he called me and Londen and asked to see us. To make a long, fucked up story short, he made us promise to go after more than money and to make sure when we found the one to put nothing above her and to protect her from this street shit. I told him I’d never find a woman worth getting out the game for, even though I was with someone in that moment, and no lie, you walked right by me.”
Mercedes’ eyes closed as she smiled and relaxed further in her seat. “You had on this long black dress. It was tight at the top and loose and flowy at the bottom. I couldn’t see your heels, but I heard them against the concrete. Your hair was wavy and shiny, like you’d washed it and just let it airdry. And you had on a dark shade of burgundy lipstick that I couldn’t keep my eyes off. All I could think about was trying to suck that shit off your lips. You had shades on, but you took them off to look at me. When our eyes locked, you winked at me, and it felt like a challenge to the statement I’d just made. Like God was showing me the woman that was worth giving all this shit up for. I prayed in that moment if I ever got to a level that was worthy of you that God would deliver you to me… and that’s exactly what He did.”
Noah released a shaky breath. “So I guess you can say my confidence comes from knowing you’re mine. I’m just waiting for you to get on the same page about that.”
Mercedes remembered that exact moment. Because their sightings were so far and few in between, she remembered every time she saw Noah. To know that he not only remembered that day but her outfit made it difficult for her to question his sincerity. Even if she didn’t want to believe it, the calmness that settled over her spirit confirmed it. Still, she’d be patient and give God time to give her the same confirmation He gave Noah. The words and sentiment were pretty, but the truth remained—Noah Gabriel was the kind of man Mercedes needed to stay away from romantically.