I Love My Man (Nicole's Erotic Romance) by Sabrina Lacey

recognize.
    “Oh my God. I can’t go in there,” I whisper,
grabbing onto Mark’s arm.
    We’re all staring and Jess cries out, “Wow.
That’s a fuck-load of people!”
    Amber grumbles, “Jess, you’re not helping,”
before she faces me. Both she and Josh try to tell me it’s great and what a
great turnout, don’t be nervous, blah blah blah. None of it is landing. I can’t
move my feet. Unless it’s in the other direction. That I could do.
    Mark touches my cheek. “Hey hey hey. Look at
me.”
    I swallow at the lump in my throat, but it
won’t budge.   “I can’t do this.”
    He smiles. “Where’s that Mema fire? Remember
who you are.”
    Memories of all the times I stood up for
myself with her flame burning hot in my blood, flood me. All this time I was
worried I took after my father, but my fire comes from her. Mark helped me see
that.
    I am a woman who doesn’t back down, that’s
who I really am.
    My friends silently watch us. With my eyes
locked on my boyfriend’s, I smile. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
    A proud grin spreads on his beautiful
lips.   He leans down to kiss me,
whispering, “Let’s do it.” He takes my hand and we face my friends.
    “Okay. I’m ready.”
    This is the moment my girlfriends realize
– for real – that I’ve found my man.
    We turn together as a group. Josh opens the
door and holds it for all of us. As we go in, he gives a tiny approving nod to
Mark that I don’t see. It’s just between them. I also don’t see the respectful
glance Mark returns to him, or the smile Chris throws his way.
    I’ve got other things on my mind. My chin is
up, my back is straight and I’m walking in to meet the people.
    Here we go.
    My First
Reception

 
 
 
    “The lady of the hour!” Jack holds out his
hands, smile-lines deeply framing his sharply intelligent eyes. My friends
leave to walk around, but Mark stays by my side as I reach out and take both of
Jack’s hands. We lean in and kiss each other on both cheeks; that thing I
loathe to do. Admittedly, I loathe it less with Jack because his natural
pompousness rocks this type of thing like it’s normal. With Jess and the rest
of the world, not so much.
    “Jack. You did such a great job.”
    He looks very debonair. “As if I know how to
do anything else. How was the whiskey?”
    A dry smile plays on my lips. “Delicious.”
    “Good. Now go mingle.” As Mark and I walk
away, Jack calls after us. “You look gorgeous tonight, Ms. Henry. Just as
beautiful as your work!” I throw a pleased smile over my shoulder.
    We walk around the large room meeting
people, chatting with everyone who wants to. Jason kept his promise and comes
over to meet Mark, never giving away that he and I have ever been more than
friends. While I’m in conversation I hear people near me whispering things I don’t
want to hear, like, I like this one, but
this one is hideous , and Look at the
knife slashes. So angry. I make a mental note to keep my mouth shut the
next time I go see someone’s hard work displayed. I almost turn to assault one
of the bastards – which would prove their point, unfortunately –
but I’m stopped by a woman whispering, “This one. I love this one the most. So
angry… I love it.” My defenses melt instantly and I turn to introduce myself.
Some people get you, and some just don’t.
    From out of nowhere we hear a woman’s
raised, angry voice. I can’t see over the heads. Jason frowns. I look up to
Mark. “Can you see?”
    He cranes his neck. “A blonde woman’s in
front of that painting. She’s pretty upset.”
    “Which painting?”
    “The one of the guy with the red eyes.”
    He’s talking about the painting of Michael.
Confusion twists my face. “I know some people are having bad reactions to my
work, but why would she be that upset?”
    “I don’t know. Let’s go see.”
    As the woman gets more irate, conversations
around her go silent. Everyone wants to know what’s going on. Faster, I push
through