Talk a Good Game Read Online Free PDF Page A

haven’t noticed
I ’ m a first-round draft
pick.”
    I couldn’t help but laugh. He was
cute, but he wasn’t all that. However, what he was lacking in
looks, his car definitely made up for.
    “ Why don’t you tell me a little
about you?” he asked, making conversation.
    “ That might take all night.” I
gave him a saucy grin.
    “ Babe, for you, I’ve got nothing
but time.”
    I love when a man knows what he wants, especially
when that something was me.
    As we rode around town, I talked
about my restaurant and growing up in that small-ass town. He was a
great listener. He didn’t interrupt and that was what I liked most.
Like I said, it ’s all about me! When it was
finally Kaleb ’s time to talk I discovered he
was from Atlanta and had been in the area for two years.
    He made a right on Nifong into a subdivision
surrounding the Columbia Country Club of Missouri. It was one of
those status neighborhoods with big-ass houses to die for. Even as
hard as I worked at the restaurant I was a long way from living
this large.
    He turned onto a cul-de-sac and pulled in front of a
magnificent brick home.
    “ Whose house is this?” I asked and
looked at him.
    “ Mine.” He reached across the seat
and laced my fingers with him. “And it can all be yours, if you
play your cards right.”
    My eyes widened as I stared through the window at
the mini-mansion. And when Kaleb reached up, pressed a button and
the three garage doors opened, I spotted a Range Rover inside and I
knew I had to have him.
    Janelle Fox has found a new sponsor!

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
5
    NYREE
     
     
    “ He said that?”
    “ Yes!” Janelle
screeched in my ear. “Kaleb said, ‘it can all be yours if you play
your cards right. ’ I couldn’t believe it! You
shoulda seen his crib! Girl, it was something out of a fucking
magazine.”
    I shifted on the seat, drawing the phone closer to
my ear. I could just imagine Janelle sitting in her office,
doodling dollar signs on a sheet of paper. She never got this
excited about anything other than men and money; and when she could
get them both in one shot, she was like a freaking lunatic.
    While I scrolled through my
emails, Janelle went on and on about her latest catch. Don’t get me
wrong, it wasn’t like what she was saying wasn’t entertaining. My
best friend was beautiful and men were always falling on their
faces to get close to her. It was almost comical to say the least.
The problem was I had heard this story so many times before I
already knew what questions she was waiting for me to
ask.
    “ Are you listening?” Janelle said,
when she finally stopped to take a breath.
    “ Of course,
I ’ m
listening. So what ’s he do for
a living?”
    “ Nyree, gurrrrrrl , check this shit
out.”
    What did I tell you?
    “ You know the Walmart heirs that
invested all that money in the new basketball stadium at
Mizzou?”
    “ Yep.” Everyone has heard of the
local family. They invested in several projects including the
University of Missouri-Columbia, and owned a huge mansion south of
town. My mother was best friends with one of their housekeepers.
“What about them?”
    “ Well, Kaleb manages their money.
Can you believe that shit? My man has his hands on Walmart
stocks!”
    Oh Lord .
“Your man?”
    “ Hell yeah
I ’ m claiming his
ass.”
    Can you believe this chick?
Janelle has always been materialistic. Clothes, cars, men, I could
already hear the greed in that chick ’s voice.
    “ Money, money, money…
MONEY!”
    I shook my head.
“That ’s all you care about.”
    “ You ’ d be surprised, but it ain’t just
about money with Kaleb. I really like him.”
    “ But having money
helps.”
    “ Hell yeah it helps,” she
laughed.
    “ Is there anything about this man
you don’t like?” Because there always has to be
something.
    “ Hmmm. Well, I guess it would be
his fucked-up walk.”
    “ What?” I
chuckled.
    “ Girl, he walks
like he ’s broken his ankle or some shit
in the