and his wife. How about yours?”
“My brothers and I all attended church with our parents and had dinner together afterward.” I thought about you all day long and how much I enjoyed our dinner together.
“I bought this for you,” Coco said. “I felt really bad for ruining your shirt.”
“You didn’t have to do this,” Ransom told her.
“I did,” she replied. “That shirt was very expensive and I’m pretty sure it was ruined. The one I bought isn’t quite the same color, but it’s close.”
He opened the box. “Coco, I actually like this color much better.” Ransom leaned over and kissed her. “Thank you.”
She resisted the urge to touch the place where his lips had been. Her heart was racing and Coco could feel her blood rushing through her veins. She hadn’t known Ransom a week yet and she was already falling for the man.
“Coco…”
She glanced at him. “I’m sorry. Did you say something?”
“I didn’t offend you just now, did I?”
“No, you didn’t,” she answered. “Not at all. To be honest with you, I loved it and would do it again.”
Whoa. Slow down.
Coco took a deep breath, then exhaled. “I can’t believe I just rambled on like that.”
“You didn’t ramble. In fact, I enjoyed hearing it and would love to kiss you again.”
Laughing, she boldly met his gaze. “What are you waiting for?”
His mouth covered hers hungrily.
A knock on the door had them scrambling for air.
Ransom rushed to his feet and said, “Come in.”
One of the teens peeked inside. His eyes darted back and forth between Coco and Ransom suspiciously for a moment.
“What do you need, Benjamin?”
“Uh…Mr. Winters, I wanted to let you know that I finished my math. Can I get on the computer? We’re supposed to get the information on the history projects. Since I’m not there, I wanted to see if she posted it on the Web site.”
Ransom nodded. “That’s fine, Benjamin. I’ll be out there in a few minutes to check your math assignment.”
His eyes traveled once more to Coco and his mouth curved upward. “I’m sorry for disturbing y’all.”
“It’s all right,” Ransom said. “Back to work, Benjamin.”
“I just want to say one thing, Mr. Winters. You got great taste.” Grinning from ear to ear, the teen closed the door and was gone.
“Wow,” Coco said with a smile. “He’s good for my self-esteem.”
“Benjamin is a good kid. His father left when he was six years old. He’s the oldest of four and his mother is sick. He works nights and takes care of the family.”
“He’s how old?”
“Sixteen. He’ll be seventeen next week. He’s here because he mouthed off at one of his teachers, who was ragging him about homework.”
“Does she know all this?”
Ransom shook his head. “She’s never asked Benjamin about his life. She’s never inquired why sometimes he falls asleep in class or doesn’t have all of his homework done. She assumes that he’s just lazy and doesn’t want to be in school. She has no idea that Benjamin sees getting into college as his only way to a better life for him and his family.”
“Does he have the grades to get into college?”
“He could,” Ransom said. “He’s certainly smart enough. He is a phenomenal basketball player, too, but because he has to work and doesn’t get off until midnight, he has no time for sports or any other school activities.”
“Is there anything that can be done to help him?” Coco asked. “He needs to be able to focus on his academics if he wants to get into college. What does he want to study?”
“Mechanical engineering.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Really?”
“He can do it,” Ransom said. “I’m looking into what services are available to help his family. I’m also trying to figure out a way for him to make some decent money and not have it interfere with his schoolwork. I’m afraid he’ll start looking for ways to make a lot of money in a short period of time, and if that happens…”
“I don’t even want to think about it,” Coco said. “Wait a minute! Maybe Michael can help. Benjamin could work at the plant after school and on the weekends, but he’d still be able to get off in time to do homework and spend time with his family. I’m sure we pay more than what he’s making right now.”
“He makes minimum wage.”
“Yeah, we definitely pay more than that. Let me talk to Michael and I’ll give you a call later.”
Coco was about to walk out of the door, but Ransom pulled her back into his arms and kissed her.
She returned his kiss with a hunger that belied her outward calm. Burying her face in his neck, Coco breathed a kiss there.
“I’d better get out of here while I still can,” she whispered. “I want to catch Michael before he leaves. He has a meeting sometime this afternoon.”
“Thank you,” Ransom said when they parted. “Benjamin deserves every chance he can get.”
Coco waited for her breathing to return to normal. “I’ll call you after I speak with my brother.”
An hour later, she and Michael walked back over to D-Unit.
Ransom met them at the door.
“Coco told me about Benjamin,” her brother told him. “I’d like to speak with him, if you don’t mind.”
“You can use my office.”
While they were in the back talking, Ransom introduced Coco to the other teens and his staff.
“You the lady that owns the chocolate bar over there?” the one named Jerome asked.
“Yes, I am,” she said.
“I bet you have some real expensive candy in there—it looks like it from the outside. I only peeked in once and I felt like I couldn’t afford to even walk in the place.”
Coco wasn’t sure how to respond to his comment.
“I like to see my people do good,” he told her. “It inspires me.”
She smiled. “Jerome, what is it that you’d like to do?”
“Stay alive, for one thing, and then go to college so that I can have my own business one day.”
“From what I’m seeing, you are on the right track, Jerome.”
He gave her a genuine smile.
Coco turned to Ransom and said, “I know what’s missing over here. You need chocolate. Michael and I will get together and send over a nice selection of chocolate snacks.”
Before he could respond, her brother and Benjamin strolled out of Ransom’s office. From the big grin on the teen’s face, Coco knew that Stanley Chocolates had a new employee.
She wished there was something more she could do to help Benjamin.
Ransom took Coco to a Christian hip-hop concert on their second date. Initially, she wasn’t thrilled with the idea, but as she listened to the words, she found herself warming up to the music.
Coco could tell that Ransom