Episode 81 – They Call Him Nas by K.C. Mills

Episode 80 is FULL of spoilers! It’s best enjoyed after reading the book.

Yonas “Nas” Kadir is a man of few words. He has learned the art of never showing his hand, which is a valued asset for a man who balances his life between dark and light. There’s not much he desires that isn’t as good as promised to him, which is why Dae Richardson can fight the attraction but will ultimately fall for his good looks and undeniable charm, or so he hopes.

Dae Richardson is a self made success story. Her company has paired some of the most exclusive and elite professional around the world, however she can’t seem to find the companionship she longs for to complement her luxurious lifestyle. That is, until Nas Kadir steps into her office and demands to become one of her clients for the weekend, only he doesn’t want anyone from her impressive clientele list, he wants her.

When souls collide there’s not much you can do but buckle down and prepare for the explosion, because there will definitely be fireworks!

 

Telicia’s Review

I loved the story of Dae and Nas! Yonas Kadir, AKA Nas, was definitely my man for the month, even though he only had eyes for Dae.

From the moment we met him, I loved how family-oriented he was. He loved his mom, Audrey, and his sister, Eden, so much that he was willing to find a date for Eden’s wedding just to put their minds at ease. Three years earlier, his woman, Coree, had been killed while pregnant, and after experiencing that kind of loss, Nas vowed never to love again. His family hated seeing him shut himself off, so he decided he would at least pretend he was okay for the wedding.

Nas told his best friend and business partner about needing a date, and that led him to ICON, a dating company owned by Miss Dae Richardson. He initially went there looking for somebody else, but oh, God had other plans!  The chemistry between Nas and Dae was basically immediate. Dae couldn’t provide the date he originally requested, but when Nas asked her to go instead, she broke her own rules and said yes. She even got into it with her friend/employee when she called her out for breaking protocol.

Dae was also very family-oriented, so once Nas explained why having a date for the wedding mattered so much to him, she genuinely wanted to help him. As they started spending more time together, the sexual tension was definitely there, but I loved that Nas didn’t immediately try to sleep with her. He liked her as more than just someone he was attracted to, especially after seeing how naturally she fit in with his mom and sister.

So, more about my man Nas.  His father had been involved in the drug game and was killed when Nas was only five. His father’s partner, Xavier, stepped in afterward and became a father figure to Nas and Eden, and Nas grew up extremely close to him. Nas wasn’t only a legitimate businessman—he had also become one of the biggest drug dealers, right alongside Xavier. What was crazy to me was that Nas basically wanted to become the best at the very thing that had taken his father away from him. And Dae saw that in him almost immediately. That’s one thing I loved about them: they just got each other.

Dae came from a completely different background. Her parents were legitimate—her mother was a stay-at-home wife, while her father, Carlton, was a businessman. Carlton eventually worked for one of Nas’s legitimate businesses and respected Nas as a businessman, but that didn’t mean he wanted his baby girl dating him! By the time he found out about them, though, Dae was already in love, and eventually he came around.

Unfortunately, loving Nas meant Dae got pulled into the dangerous parts of his life too. Corbin, Coree’s brother, blamed Nas for his sister’s death and wanted Nas to suffer forever. Apparently, Nas being miserable and refusing to love anyone for three years wasn’t enough for him. Corbin paid two men to threaten both Dae and Eden, and things eventually became violent, with Dae witnessing just how dangerous Nas’s world could be.

Detective Marshall was another problem. He was determined to get Nas, and I thought it was interesting that he and Nas actually had similar backgrounds because they had both lost their fathers. Marshall’s obsession with Nas started affecting Dae too, including her having to watch Nas sit handcuffed in the back of a police car for four hours while they went through all of their things.

Eventually, everything became so much that Nas tried to separate himself from Dae to protect her. But that separation seemed to hurt him even more. His best friend/business partner basically had to tell him, “Just call that woman!”  Nas still refused until he believed he had found a way to get Corbin and Marshall off his back.

Then came the family revelations, and THIS is where the story got crazy. Nas started learning more about his father’s death. At one point, Marshall had me completely believing Xavier killed Nas’s father! Then Xavier revealed that it was actually Coree’s father who killed him. Like WHAT?! Nas’s almost father-in-law killed his father?! And then Nas learned Xavier had killed Coree’s father without ever telling him. After everything Nas and Xavier had been through together, that betrayal hurt him deeply.

And where did Nas go when everything fell apart? Straight to Dae.

This was probably one of my favorite parts of their relationship. Dae had missed that man terribly, but the moment she saw how hurt he was, none of that mattered. She wasn’t worried about making him explain himself or telling him how badly he’d hurt her by leaving. Her first instinct was just to be there for him. And I loved that because, at that point, I felt the exact same way about Nas.  I just wanted somebody to love on that man!

The ending was super cute because they ended up having twins only months after meeting. And Nas being Nas, he did it on purpose! He was scared by how much Dae was giving up to be with him and wanted to make it even harder for her to ever leave him.

Overall, I really loved Dae and Nas together. Nas had so much grief, trauma, and betrayal underneath everything he had built for himself, while Dae gave him a type of love and understanding he had convinced himself he would never have. Their chemistry was there from the beginning, but it was the way they understood and showed up for each other that really made me love their story.

Nas was definitely my man for the month—and I’m a little salty that I’m not Dae.