Cheryl knew she was taking a risk when she met him. You know what I mean. A little voice inside whispers a warning as you size up a situation with a casual glance. But Brandon was so enticing; she threw away all caution and moved in at full speed.
Cheryl Kincaid was fresh from graduate school at Rutgers University when she moved back to her hometown of Philadelphia. With a master’s degree, an eight-year-old son, and a messy divorce, she was rebuilding her life. She figured it would be healthier for her son, Jamil, to be raised around family and better for her to be close to loyal, old friends than to remain around the hostility and negativity of her ex-husband’s family.
When Cheryl’s oldest and dearest friend, Diana, suggested she attend the wedding of a former classmate, she had in mind to introduce Cheryl to Perry Swanson, an up-and-coming real estate broker. Perry was also a single parent, raising ten-year-old twin girls. But when Cheryl arrived at the reception, the first thing she spied was the fine chocolate frame of Brandon James Washington. He was lounging against the bar and appeared to be engaged in an animated conversation with two of the groomsmen. The cream silk shirt and matching linen slacks complemented his dark velvet skin perfectly. Cheryl’s eagle eye quickly noted the expensive clothing, the large gold chain bracelet on his right wrist, the diamond stud in his left earlobe, and the absence of any rings on his left hand.
Diana tried to steer Cheryl through the crowd toward a group of friends sitting near the dance f loor. But Cheryl stopped dead in her tracks. “I want to meet him!”
“Who are you talking about, girl?”
“That fine hunk o’ man near the bar. Who is he?”
“Oh, that’s Brandon Washington, the most eligible bachelor around here—and he knows it. There are more women chasing him than you want to compete with. You’ll have to take a number.”
But Cheryl dismissed the warning, and like a bee is drawn to honey, she buzzed over in the direction of Mr. GQ.
Read more in Life Matters by The BookClub Seattle!
