We’d argued about that so many times in the past. He thought it was foolish of me to pledge my life to someone that I didn’t love or even care much about. He’d argued that I would grow up, and my views and feelings on the matter would change. I’d argued that I’d remain loyal to my beliefs and upbringing.
Lowering my lashes, I inhaled deeply and exhaled.
“Lake, let’s not do this. It’s been ten years since we last saw one another, and I don’t want our reunion to be as stressful as our departure was.”
“Is that what this is, Z?”
I smiled at the nickname only he’d ever called me.
“You know what I mean.”
“How long?”
Blowing out a sigh, I laughed nervously. “Five months.”
“So, I’ve got just five months to make you change your goddamned mind? Couldn’t you have come back before now? Or reach out to me so I could find you in New York.”
Although a smile was on his sensual lips, there was an underlying current of hostility in his tone and a steely look in his eyes.
“Would you have come?” I whispered.
Hurt tinted his eyes, making them appear brittle like shards of glass.
“You know that I would’ve.”
“I don’t know that. I wasn’t the one that pushed you away, Lake.”
“It was a mistake, I...I had a lot of growing up to do.”
“Maybe it was for the best then. It was time for me to start my life, and the position opened in New York...soooo.”
“And now you’re back...to marry that guy.”
“It’s not like I had much of a choice. There was no one that I would rather have in my life except for the one guy who always held my heart,” I teased, winking at him, trying to lighten the moment.
“Yeah, well, I couldn’t tell the way you cut all ties to me when you left. I’d have taken you as mine in a heartbeat, Liltee,” he joked.
“We both know that’s not true. Besides, you had several women at your disposal, and you weren’t ready to settle down. Your words, not mine. Doesn’t matter; we both know that you’re not the settling type, Lake. And besides, Sheffield Tech is my destiny, my inheritance, and the only thing I’ve ever desired—”
“Save the speech,” Lake growled through clenched teeth, clasping his hand on my bare upper arm.
Chills ran through my body.
“Come here,” he said, dragging his hand down to mine and pulling me out of the reception room into the hallway.
“Where are we going?” I asked, glancing nervously over my shoulder at the reception doors.
“Somewhere we can talk in private,” he gritted out until he found another smaller reception room.
Closing the door, Lake dragged me halfway across the room and trapped me against the wall with his hands on either side of my head. A fire burned in my belly as my chest heaved up and down at his nearness.
“Z, tell me...are you going to let them fuck up your life like this?”
“My life isn’t fucked up as you call it, Lake. I had a choice in the matter, and this is what I want! This is the same conversation we’ve had a million times or more. You know where I stand on the issue. Ten years hasn’t changed that.”
Lake took a step closer to me, confusing my emotions, when I noticed the darkening of his eyes and his hooded stare. I’d thought we’d moved beyond this.
“Do you still feel the same,” he asked, dipping his head, the warmth of his breath caressing my neck.
“The...the same as what, Lake?” I struggled to find my voice.
“That Daddy knows best?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m grown, and the notion of love and romance is for fairytales. It has nothing to do with my reality. I’m a responsible adult, and Sheffield Tech is mine! I’ll be damned if I just throw it away when I’ve thirsted for this, hungered for this, worked my ass off...hell had wet dreams to this!” I said, jabbing my finger to the floor.
“Responsible adults do what’s in the best interest of their lives, not what Daddy says,” he replied, dipping his head closer to me.
Lake’s fiery tongue dragged along the curve of my neck.
“Mmph,” I moaned. “Wha...what’re you doing?”
My fists clenched at my side, my mind, and body at war with each other. Logic appealing to me that I could not, would allow nothing to come between me and my dream. I needed to stop immediately. Yet, my body, starving for his touch and hungering for more, put up a compelling battle.
“You never lived your life. Not really. Not with this shit hanging over your head,” he said as his lips hovered over mine.
I took a brief step back before bumping into a wall.
“Nothing was hanging over my head. Again. I had a choice. I chose Russell and Sheffield. We’re getting married, and I...I’ve grown to love him in the years since I’ve been away.”
“Sure you have. Don’t you remember that summer?”
Glancing away from him, I said, “That was a foolish incident for two foolish kids. Not an entire summer. Besides, it was a mistake, and you had a girlfriend. Several. And you were clear on where you stood.”
“Do you love him?”
“I told you I do.”
“If that were true, you wouldn’t let me do this,” he said, taking another step closer.
“Do what?”
Lake’s hand went up to cup the side of my face as he brought his lips crashing down on mine, a groan escaping his throat as if he’d finally found his way home.
To my dismay, my arms lifted and locked around his neck, clinging to him. Wishing I never had to let go.
Greedily Lake drank from my well, his tongue sweeping through my mouth to claim once more what had been his in the past. I familiarized myself with the passion of his kiss.
My mind recalled simpler times as I sank under the power of his persuasion. A time when the expectations that lay in wait for me were just an imminent promise of the distant future. Yet, that future was upon me now, and it was what had beckoned me home.
And for a time, I allowed him to have this. Allowed me to reminisce about what I yearned for.
Lake deepened the kiss as if he could convince me to change my mind, run from my expected future and the responsibility that I had to my family. To my dreams.
Oh, how my body and mind wished it were that easy. But, I knew better. And that reminder hit home again when I heard a soft clearing of someone’s throat.
Breaking away from Lake with my heart pounding in my chest, I risked a peek over his shoulder. I sagged with relief when I saw that it was my best friend, Chanda.
“Hey,” I said, pulling my hand free of Lake’s, although he struggled to let me go.
I crossed my arms over myself and walked towards her. “Hey,” I mumbled.
“Just wanted to give you a heads up that your Dad is looking for you. Senait just told me, and since I knew where you were...”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Pressing my lips together and wiping around them to make sure that my lipstick was intact, I looked back at Lake. Turning back to my friend, I asked, “Did he see—”
“No,” she said, shaking her head quickly. “I doubt if anyone saw you two leave. I did. You’d better be careful,” she warned. “Oh, and your lipstick is just fine,” she said, leaving the room.
“I’ve gotta go.”
“Z!” he called after me.
Shaking my head, I said, “Not now, Lake.”
“Then when?” he asked as I hurried through the door, his words falling on deaf ears.
CHAPTER 4 – LAKE
“EXCUSE ME FOR JUST a minute,” I said to the man standing in front of me.
The annual benefit dinner for orphans coincided every year with the annual fall festival. I’d planned it that way since my organization funded our town festival, and I was the board chair for the group home in Durham, the closest metropolis to Sunset Harbor.
I’d tried ha
rd the rest of the evening to stay away from Xiomara since her best friend walked in on us kissing, but it was difficult.
Although disappointment filled me about our moment being interrupted, perhaps it was for the best.
I couldn’t make any promises about how far I’d have taken things or how far she would have allowed me to go.
Quickly, I made my way through the crowd, searching for the hazelnut toned beauty for a while, but she seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Her parents had left minutes earlier, and she hadn’t been by their side.
There was a compulsion inside of me that said I needed to find out what the hell was going on. Despite the wall she’d erected a long time ago, I could tell we had unfinished business.
Hell, we’d barely been able to get any business off the ground.
Xiomara always drew me to her in a way that I had never been with another. It started as a close, easy friendship. Our friendship had started in middle school and continued throughout high school. Whenever we returned home from college breaks, it was almost as if we’d never missed a beat. I trusted Xiomara in ways I’d trusted no one else.
Our intense conversations and late-night chats flowed easily, and I suspected they still would if given half a chance.
I had shared most things with Xiomara, and she shared the same comfort with me.
But the summer after college graduation, I’d crossed a boundary line with her I promised myself I never would. Because even then, I’d known that Xiomara was something special, and she deserved more than I could offer her.
But one afternoon, the temptation was just too great. And I’d taken a sample of what I wanted. Kissing her had been my undoing, and I’d taken liberties with her I shouldn’t have. She’d sacrificed her virginity with me and later wanted to know what this meant. Foolishly, I’d told her I didn’t know what she meant. In reality, I’d been shocked to find that she was a virgin and hadn’t backed down when she’d pled with me, saying she’d rather give it to me than anyone else.
I had no words for her, nothing that I could do to reassure her we’d be together. Truthfully, I wasn’t ready, and I was still dumb and immature, not prepared for what she wanted.
She was confused and then angry. And then we’d argued. After she left me that afternoon, she’d avoided my calls for over a week.
When I finally heard from her again, she’d called to tell me she was leaving. And although I tried, there was nothing that I could do to stop her.
When she’d departed for New York, it left me starving for more. I’d spent a decade chasing a high that I could never duplicate with another.
And now...experiencing Xiomara’s taste again hadn’t satiated my desire. It had woken up a dormant beast who I could not satiate until it could devour its prey.
I wanted to be around her, to hear about the years she’d been away. I needed to hear all the details of her job, her social life, and if she’d missed me the way that I’d missed her since she had left.
Xiomara had left an empty hole within me. She was the closest friend that I ever had and the only one that I could trust with all of my thoughts and feelings. Though I’d had relationships and plenty of sexual encounters, I’d never recaptured that feeling again.
My steps slowed as I spotted her standing in a corner with her sister, Senait, her best friend, Chanda, and two other ladies. The music changed, and the women made their way to the dance floor. All except for Xiomara.
“Hi,” I greeted.
She turned around, her eyes wide and startled at my presence. Then the anxiousness I’d sensed earlier settled on her face as she glanced around the room.
“Hi,” she greeted, crossing her arms in a power posture mimicking one her father had adapted decades earlier.
“Finally, she stops running.”
“Running?” she balked, turning back to face me head-on with a wide-eyed expression.
“Every time that I’ve seen you tonight, you’re looking for an escape route.”
“I don’t need an escape route,” she scoffed.
“I think we should talk about what happened in that room, Z. What happened all those years ago.”
“It was a mistake, Lake. We hadn’t seen one another in a while until tonight, and it was nothing more than an emotional reaction to seeing one another again. That’s it.”
“That’s tonight. But what about then?”
Xiomara narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t you have other guests to mingle with,” she said, turning and walking away from me.
I caught up with her and grabbed her elbow to slow her progress.
“You’re the only guest that matters at this moment. Did I scare you, Xiomara?”
“Lake,” she said in a placating tone. “I think you need to stop. We’re not the same young girl and guy that we once were or the new college graduates we were when we last saw one another, new adults trying to figure our way in this world. We’re both different. You’re different and I...I’m different. I’m not that innocent, wide-eyed girl that you used to know anymore, Lake. I need to get back to my sister.”
Nodding my head in the direction of the dance floor, I said, “It doesn’t look as if she’s missing or needing you at the moment. Senait appears to be having fun. Look, I’m not trying to add additional pressure on you, Z. No expectations or pressure. Hell, we never talked about that summer,” I said, pulling my hands through my hair. “I’m trying to figure out what happened back there between us. That’s it. True, I missed my friend, but something else happened. And before I can figure it out, you’re ready to run again.”
“You seem to misunderstand my reality, Lake.”
“Then help me understand. The last thing that I want to do is judge you or this situation.”
“Situation?”
“Yes, this situation between you and me.”
Her laughter sounded like the tinkle of a bell, and it was unexpected. She didn’t have a light or high-pitched voice at all, and the delicateness of her laughter was incongruous with the rest of her. Yet, as beautiful as all of her. Always had been.
God, how I missed her laughter.
“You seem to presume something is pulling us together beyond our friendship. I promise you there’s not,” she replied.
Boldly, I reached out and took her hand, linking our fingers together, staring into her eyes and daring her to do something. Neither of us moved to disconnect our hands, but she continued staring into my eyes, that haughty attitude gone.
Her mouth parted slightly, just enough so I could see a slip of her pink tongue and feel the warmth of her breath. I wanted to kiss her again, to make her moan and whimper.
If I kissed her and we didn’t have the pressure of her life looming over her, would she fall into the kiss or be hesitant the way she’d just been? Would she loop her arms around my neck again, or would she grab the lapels of my dinner jacket? Would she press her body against mine or wait for me to pull her close?
“Xiomara! There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you.”
And just in a flash, the moment disappeared as she jerked her hand from mine and pressed it against the back of her neck. That false smile on her lips back in place, she turned to stare at someone approaching us.
I didn’t turn to look at him but continued to stare at her, wondering what she was thinking and considering that mask she’d put in place again. For just a few moments, her expression had been so open, giving me a glimpse of the woman I remembered. Now it was gone as if it had never existed. The gaze she turned on him was shut off and carefully composed.
“I was just speaking with Lake about the fall festival,” she lied so brilliantly.
“Lake Chambers, I’ve been trying to get a meeting with you to discuss a business proposal,” Russell Darden said.
“Lake, I think you know my fiancé, Russell Darden,” she said.
The word fiancé was like a blow to my solar plexus and was forceful enough to pull my gaze from hers to the man standing beside her.<
br />
I knew.
I’d always known, but seeing them together like this and hearing those words out of her mouth wasn’t easy.
I hated that she was engaged to this asshole.
Somehow I’d missed the evidence of his existence before. But now, my eyes dropped to the little gold band with the diamond solitaire.
I couldn’t help the sneer that pulled onto my lips as I eyed him up and down before saying. “Yes, Russell and I are familiar with one another. What is it I can do for you?”
“Well, first, I’m impressed with your organization and all that you do for the community, and I’m an avid basketball fan. I support the Dragons in all their games.”
A brief dismissive nod of my head, and I said, “I’ll send you season tickets.”
Chuckling, he said, “No, that’s not exactly what I wanted. I already have those. I was interested in seeing how your organization could partner with our company in providing scholarships for underprivileged youth in the North Carolina area. We’re encouraging them to attend college and look to a life of success beyond athleticism.”
Scoffing, I couldn’t believe this asshole didn’t realize how he’d just insulted my organization and me. Playing along, I humored him.
“Sure, I can get a meeting on the calendar for you to speak before the charitable giving and volunteerism committee to hear out your proposal.”
“You could do that for me?” he asked, his dull brown eyes sparking with the first glimmer of excitement since I’d met him.
Idiot. What did he mean could I do it? Of course, I could. I owned the fucking team. And it was a pity that donations were what it took to bring him alive when he had a badass like Xiomara on his arm.
Nodding again, I said, “Yes. I’ll call Z...Xiomara and let her know the time and place, and she can relay that to you.”
Blinking rapidly, a series of emotions crossed her face at once, not the least of which was frustration and anger.
Smiling at her, I winked and turned and walked away.
I could easily get him that meeting he wanted and the donations he sought if that’s what I wanted.
But what I wanted more than anything was the woman. The fact that I was about to take his woman almost made me feel a spark of pity for Russell.
The Arrangement Page 3