Read Online Worth the Wait (Crimson Romance) by Synithia Williams - Free Book Online

playing with him if I didn’t think he could win. He played for Carolina back in the day. He’s good.”
    Jared scoffed. “Now I know he’s sorry.” He was a strong Georgia Tech fan, having received his undergraduate degree from that very school.
    “Blow that crap out your ass another day. You in?”
    He would have usually jumped at the opportunity to play in a basketball tournament, but he didn’t want to cancel his weekend with Tasha. He was looking forward to it too much.
    “It sounds like fun, but I have plans this weekend. I’ll have to catch y’all later.”
    “Okay, I get it. What’s her name? Never mind, because I’ll never even meet her. Just cancel and tell her you’ll catch her after the tournament.”
    Jared smiled. “I can’t cancel on this lady, Devin. It’s going to be a special weekend I don’t want to miss.” He looked at his watch again. “In fact, I’m on my way to take her flowers now.”
    There was a silence on the other end of the phone and Jared called Devin’s name to be sure the call wasn’t dropped.
    “Yeah, I’m still here,” Devin answered. “I just thought you said you were taking a woman flowers.”
    Jared frowned. “It’s not like I’ve never given a woman flowers.”
    “For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve never taken a woman flowers. You’ve already got a weekend lined up with this one, so why flowers? Are you getting serious?”
    Jared laughed out loud. It drew the attention of a few people in the gym so he quickly exited and walked to his car. “Man, the day I get serious about a woman is the day you can call a psychiatrist to come and take me to the nut house. I’m just making it special for her.”
    “Why? You’ve never cared before.”
    Jared’s laugh died and he frowned. It wasn’t as if he’d been truly uncaring with the women he’d been with in the past he just made sure they understood he wasn’t looking for any commitments. Devin talked as if he was cold blooded. He had been pretty cold to Monica, but she’d crossed the line. But he liked Tasha, and respected her. He couldn’t treat her like any other chick off the street.
    “Tasha’s cool. She’s not like the usual ladies I deal with, so she gets a bit more respect.”
    Devin didn’t immediately respond, but Jared could picture his friend with his brow furled as the considered that. “This should be interesting to see pan out.”
    “Excuse me?” Jared asked.
    There was rustling on the other end of the line. “Nothing, man. Handle your business. Look, my next patient has arrived. It seems like it’ll just be me and Malcolm this weekend. Holla at me when you get time.”
    “No problem. Good luck this weekend, all right?”
    “Cool. Peace.” Devin hung up the phone.
    Jared got into his car and sped out of the parking lot. He hadn’t considered taking Tasha flowers until he’d said it to Devin. He wanted to see her. He still planned to wait for the weekend, but nothing could prevent him from trying for a kiss or something. He smiled as the thought of her lips on his. Yeah, it wouldn’t hurt to go by her job and see her. Get her just as excited about their weekend as he was.

CHAPTER 8
    “Excuse me, I’m looking for Tasha Smith.”
    Tasha froze in the middle of filing papers in her office. What was Jared doing here? It was too early for his mentoring session. That happened at six and it was barely three. Her excitement at seeing him was dampened by the thought that he’d changed his mind. She peeked around the corner as her high school intern, Latiffa, answered.
    “Hello, Mr. Patterson. I mean Jared. Do you care if I call you Jared? I know you don’t care, because you’re cool like that. I heard you started out here at the Rec Commission, way back when. I mean … I don’t mean that you are old or anything. Just that you started in the nineties and that was like a while ago. My bad. I mean, you’re still fine as hell … how old are you, anyway?”
    Jared chuckled.