Black Belt in Love (Powerhouse MA Book 3) Read online

  I watched him move around the front of the truck. He was an unusual type of handsome. I hadn’t met many men in my life who managed to pull off gray hair the way that he did. Silver Fox was a perfect name for him. His hair was shaggy on top, cropped close to his head on the sides and it was more silver than gray.

  “Are we going to ignore the fact you can’t keep your eyes off of me?” he asked as he slid into the driver’s seat.

  I crossed my arms over my chest and looked out my side window. I wasn’t going to admit anything. “I’m pretty sure I said I had enough of your truth for the night. Ice cream, and then home. That’s it.”

  Dante shook his head, started the truck, and buckled up. “You are an enigma, Kennedy.”

  I rolled my eyes and ignored him.

  He pulled out of the parking lot and turned on the radio. “You’re shy, but then you kick my ass at bowling, then have a dance party to celebrate.”

  “It was hardly a dance party,” I muttered under my breath. It was a just a few moves that were my celebration dance. Kind of like when football players scored a touchdown.

  Dante chuckled. “You do yoga and all that meditation shit, yet you managed to eat more than half of that monster platter of nachos, and eat your burger and fries.”

  “I don’t see what yoga and my appetite have to do with each other.”

  Now it was his turn to ignore me. “How you don’t care what your mother thinks, but you are going to the trouble of getting a decoy to make her happy.”

  I turned in my seat to look at him. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and smirked. Handsome jerk.

  “You’re my decoy because I’m trying to get my mother off of my back, not make her happy.”

  “From where I’m standing, they are one in the same.”

  “More of your truth that I’m really not interested in hearing right now.” I turned back in my seat and crossed my arms over my chest.

  “There’s also this sass you have that I really didn’t expect.”

  “I only give my sass to you because you’re an ass.”

  He chuckled under his breath and pulled into drive-thru of J’s Ice Cream Shack. “I went from a karate hottie to an ass. I think we need to end this date before you really tell me how you feel.”

  He pulled up to the speaker, and the lady on the other side asked us what we wanted. He sat back in his seat and motioned out the window. “What do you want, honey?”

  I knew exactly what I wanted and leaned forward. “I’ll have a banana split, hold the strawberry sauce, extra caramel, and extra hot fudge. Pineapple on the whole thing. Three cherries.” I sat back in my seat and grabbed my purse off of the floor.

  “Uh, make that two of whatever she just ordered,” Dante spoke into the speaker.

  “Here,” I said, thrusting eight dollars at him. I knew exactly how much my ice cream costs. It was what I always ordered when I came to J’s.

  “I’m not taking your money. I told you I was taking you for ice cream. That means I pay.”

  “You’re crazy. You paid for my dinner. There is no reason for you to pay for this.”

  He pushed my hand away and pulled up to the window. “The reason I’m paying is because I’m a man, and the man always pays when you’re on a date.”

  I put the money in his cup holder. “But we’re not on a date, so I can pay for my ice cream. Just think, that’s cookie money for tomorrow.”

  He pulled a twenty from his wallet and handed it to the cashier. “I have cookie money.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Well, use it for whatever you want. Just take it.”

  He grabbed the money from the cup holder and reached across to shove it back in my purse. “No. This isn’t something you are going to win, so just stop.”

  His tone was stern, and I could tell that he meant business. “Fine,” I huffed. “But I will get you back. Not tonight, but some other way, I will.”

  He quirked one eyebrow at me and shook his head. “Doubtful, honey, but you’re welcome to pay me back in other ways.”

  I put my hand in his face. “No. Whatever you are thinking, just get it out of your head. Not happening, ninja.”

  He shook his head but didn’t argue with me.

  “Holy shit,” he hissed. The cashier opened up the window, handed him his change, and then presented the first banana split. “This shit is ridiculous.”

  He was right. The banana splits were served in a boat-like container that was longer than my hand and four inches wide. They were a sight to behold.

  He handed me the first one, and I licked my lips in anticipation. This was going to be good.

  He held the other one in front of him and shook his head. “Honey, I don’t know how the hell you can be hungry enough to eat even half of this. This thing is huge.”

  “That was like an hour ago that we ate. I totally have room for this.” I looked over at him. “Did she give us spoons?”

  “Uh, I don’t think so.”

  “That’s okay. I plan on eating mine at home anyway.”

  “So, I buy you ice cream, and I don’t even get to see you eat it?”

  “Yeah, basically.”

  He shook his head. “It’s a good thing I like you, Ken.”

  My jaw dropped. “You did not just call me Ken.” I hated that nickname. With a passion.

  He winked at me and pulled out of the drive-thru. “It might have slipped from my lips.”

  “You may be a fighter, but I’m pretty sure I’ll kick your butt the next time you call me Ken.” I was scrappy, and if I really wanted to, I’m sure I could get him down at least once. I might need the element of surprise on my side and probably jump on his back, but I’m sure I could do it.

  We managed to drive the rest of the way to my apartment without him calling me Ken, and I kept my thoughts of kicking his butt to myself.

  “Well,” I muttered with my hand on the door handle. “It was fun. I’m sure we’ll do it one more time.” And by one more time, I meant when he went to dinner at my mom’s. He may think that we were going to do this whole getting-to-know-the-decoy game, but we weren’t.

  “I’ll call you.” Yep. That was all he said. All night, he had been trying to convince me we were on a date, and all he had to say was he would call me.

  Well, I was okay with that.

  “I can’t promise I’ll answer,” I smirked.

  “That’s okay. I know where you live now.” Crap.

  “My mother always taught me it’s not polite to drop in on someone unexpectedly.”

  He opened his door and hopped out of the truck. He was to my door before I could hop out, and he held it open for me. “You owe me at least one more date, honey, and I plan on collecting on that.” He bent down and pressed a kiss to my cheek before I realized what he was doing.

  “Uh, um…” My mind went blank at his touch. Damn this man. I thought he was uninterested, and then he goes and kisses me. “We’ll see about that,” I replied lamely.

  “You’re right, we will see.” He shut the door behind me and leaned against the side of the truck.

  I walked to the front door of my building and looked over my shoulder at him. “Goodnight, Kennedy.” His words floated to me in the dark, and I quickly turned away.

  “Goodnight, ass,” I grumbled under my breath.

  His chuckle reached my ears as I opened the door, and then I slammed it shut behind me.

  Don’t think how sexy his laugh is, Kennedy.

  Don’t think about the feel of his hand touching you.

  Don’t think about the touch of his lips to your cheek.

  Just don’t feel, dammit.

  **********

  Chapter 12

  Dante

  “You and I are doing the Rafter tournament this weekend with Ryker.”

  I slowly spun around in the chair behind the front desk and shook my head. “No can do, brother. I’m going to have plans this weekend.”

  “What plans could you possibly have?” Rom
an asked me.

  I was going to have plans as long as Kennedy answered her damn phone. “Decoy shit,” I muttered.

  Roman scoffed and shook his head. “I am so glad that I didn’t end up getting roped into that. That chick may be hot, but I’m not into rubbing elbows with the ridiculously rich and being something I’m not. I was surprised as hell when I heard that you were actually down with it.” Roman sat down and unlaced his shoes.

  “Yeah, well. I guess you don’t know everything about me.” I snagged one of the cookies off the desk as I slowly spun around and took a bite. “Besides, it’s not that big of a deal.” Roman wasn’t even close to understanding why I was doing this.

  “Well, you can plan something with her at night. You and I are doing the tournament. It’s small enough to give us practice for the Amex Open.”

  I shoved the rest of the cookie into my mouth. Thankfully, Sage was out on some errand for Molly, and I was able to sneak into the café to get a few cookies before she came back. “You just doing bo?”

  “Yeah. I entered creative and traditional weapons. Signed you up for sparring.”

  “Hold up.” I grabbed the desk and stopped spinning. “You signed me up before you ran this by me?”

  He shrugged and climbed to his feet. “Ryker mentioned it to me last week, we got online, signed up, and now we’re good to go.”

  “And what would you have done if I didn’t agree to come.”

  “You not agreeing wasn’t an option. I used the business credit card, and you know how Kellan freaks out when we use it for shit.”

  I shook my head. “No, he just hates it when you use it. He still remembers the chairs you ordered before we even opened.”

  Roman threw his hands up in the air. “Hey. How in the hell was I supposed to know what size they were? I mean, the damn picture looked like full-size chairs.”

  “You should have read the damn description. I had never seen the vein in Kellan’s neck throb like that before.”

  If you were ever looking to get on Kellan’s bad side, order seventy-five kid-sized chairs one week before the grand opening of the studio. That was a sure-fire way piss him off.

  “You know what, at least I got a damn good deal on them. “

  “And the local grade school really appreciated our donation of new chairs for the first and second grade classrooms.” To put a cherry on top of the pissed off Kellan sundae, buy the chairs from a place that has a no returns policy.

  “Am I really going to hear about this shit for the rest of my life? From the sounds of the chick I talked to when I tried to return them, I wasn’t the first person to make that mistake.”

  I shook my head. “You’re such a dumbass, man.”

  He shrugged and bowed onto the mat. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  Roman never took a damn thing seriously. “Here lies a dumbass” was going to be etched into his grave. “What time are you picking me up for the tournament?” I wasn’t going to argue with him about going. He was right that it would be good practice for me. He may be a dumbass, but he did have a good idea every now and then.

  He looked over his shoulder at me and smirked. “Nine o’clock, peckerhead.”

  **********

  Kennedy

  “Answer the damn phone,” Karlton scolded.

  I shook my head and shoved my phone into the drawer of the front desk. “No.”

  Karlton huffed and kicked his feet out in front of him. “I don’t know what your problem is. You told me the date went okay, and you thought that he was actually a decent guy.”

  That was the problem. He was a decent guy, and I could see myself falling head over heels in love with him. “Because I’m not looking for a decent guy, I’m looking for someone to bamboozle my mother and then be on his merry way.”

  “Ain’t no reason why on his way out the door he can’t make your panties tingly.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Pretty sure that’s herpes you’re talking about.”

  Karlton scoffed. “That ain’t the kind of tingly I’m talking about, and you damn well know it. Give the man a chance, Kennedy.”

  “I keep meaning to ask you. What did you promise Dante to do this?”

  “Nothing. That didn’t even get mentioned.”

  “Bullshit.” There was no way in hell that Dante was being my decoy and getting nothing out of it. "How much are you paying him?”

  Karlton tilted his head and smiled. “You know I’m a cheap bastard, sugar. Ain’t no way in hell I’m paying that man to take you out. Shoot, he should be paying me for giving him the opportunity to even spend time with you.”

  “You’re a good friend, Karlton, but I know you are lying your ass off right now.” There had to be something that was benefitting Dante. “Unlimited dryer time?”

  He shook his head. “Kennedy, I swear on a stack of Glamour magazines that I am not paying or giving that man anything to date you.”

  Karlton swearing on a stack of his favorite magazine meant he was serious.

  “Then this man is on crack because he wants to spend time with me and even meet my mother.”

  “Heavens above, woman. Are you really that blind?” He leaned on the counter and whispered, “That Silver Fox has the hots for you.”

  Now that was ridiculous. “He doesn’t even know me.”

  “Because you ain’t giving him the time to actually get to know you. All you are doing is putting your walls up before you give him a chance.”

  “Because I don’t want that from him.”

  “Why? You don’t think he’s handsome?”

  I swallowed hard, and my eyes darted to the left. That was the exact opposite of what I thought of Dante. “He’s okay to look at.” I felt like I was in a time warp back to high school.

  “Was he actually an ass to you on your date?”

  “What?” I squawked. “Of course not. He was a little pushy about insisting that we were on a date but other that, he was nice enough.”

  He leaned over the desk and squinted down at me. “Without thinking, just tell me the first thing that pops into your head, okay?”

  I nodded and dreaded what the next words out of his mouth were going to be.

  “One word that best describes Dante Craig. Go!” he bellowed.

  My mind went blank, and I blurted out the first word that floated through my head. “Bananas.”

  Karlton’s face fell, and he looked at me like I had lost my mind. It felt like I had lost my mind. “Girl, what in the hell did you smoke this morning?”

  “Urgh, can I get a redo?”

  He huffed and shook his head. “You really are hopeless, you know that, right?” he scolded.

  “My mind went blank, and that was the first thing I thought. You can’t really blame me, I’m starving.”

  “You’re the queen of junk food, and the food that happens to float through your head is a stinkin’ banana. Hopeless, I tell ya,” he muttered under his breath.

  I sat up straight and rested my hands in my lap. “Do it again. I swear I’ll say something better than a banana.” Lord help me, I hoped I would.

  He waved his hand at me. “Hit me with it, although it’s not going to be the truth because now you are thinking.”

  “Bossy, stubborn, a bit of an ass.”

  Karlton pushed off the front desk and paced the small entryway into the studio. “I’m not accepting any of those words because that is you trying to convince yourself that he’s those things when I know that he isn’t.”

  I stood and rounded the counter. “Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t see you at the bowling alley when I was there with Dante.” I wasn’t trying to convince myself of anything. Dante had been all of those things.

  He insisted I open my front door. Bossy.

  He shut down the conversation about having a beer before going bowling. Stubborn.

  He insisted on one more date. Ass.

  Yep, Dante Craig was all of those things on our date.

  Karlton stoppe
d his maddening pacing and stood in front of me. “Tell me right now to call off this decoy thing, and I will do everything in my power to tell Dante to fuck off.”

  I gazed at the floor. Was that what I wanted? So Dante had been bossy, stubborn, and an ass while bowling, but he had been fifty other things that made me like him, and if I really admitted it, he gave me a bit of a tingle down under when all he had done was hold my hand.

  “I am taking your silence as you don’t want me to call this off, despite you trying to convince yourself otherwise.”

  I sighed and looked at Karlton. “I just don’t know what is going on. This is weird and bizarre, Karlton. This man is supposed to be my decoy for one night, and that’s it.”

  “He wants a couple of dates, Kennedy. He’s not asking for your hand in marriage in exchange for four goats.”

  “Goats?” What the what?

  He slightly shook his head. “Sorry, I was watching some arranged marriage show the other night, and the dad was bartering with some guy for him to marry his daughter in exchange for four goats and a pig.”

  “Ugh, I’m assuming this was a fictional show.”

  Karlton shook his head. “No, it was one of those reality shows and it was some place down south. I can’t remember where, though. Can you imagine if I offered my services of matchmaking down there? I would probably be paid in livestock and cans of chew.” He laughed uncontrollably and slapped his knee. “Oh Lord, I kill myself sometimes,” he chuckled.

  “I worry about you sometimes, Karlton. I think you may be spending too much time alone at night watching reality TV.”

  “Pfft, that is the least of your worries right now.” He made his way around the desk and tugged open the drawer where I had deposited my phone. “I’ll tell you what you should be worried about.” He pulled out my phone and set it on the top of the desk.

  I eyed it warily, wishing for it to never ring again.

  “You need to worry about what you are going to say to Silver Fox the next time he calls because by the power vested in me, you are going to answer that damn phone, and you are going to do whatever the hell it is he wants you to do.”