Michael couldn’t stop from laughing. “Yeah, I could see how that might work. Last year Kennedy went through a lot of changes, and she tried explaining to me what peer pressure was, like that was a good-enough excuse for some of the stupid stuff she’d been doing.”
“And what did you do?”
“I told her I understood peer pressure. But in my day peer pressure was nothing compared to a good behind whipping from Zoe Lee Bennett. If I had to make a choice between getting into trouble, with the possibility of facing one of Zoe Lee’s heavy hands on my backside, and peer pressure I’d choose peer pressure in a heartbeat. You know for a fact that my mama didn’t play, but then neither did yours.”
Taye nodded, remembering those times. Otha Mae Bennett had been a force to reckon with. She still was. “If you ask me, the kids today got it made in the shade. They don’t know the meaning of having it rough.”
“I agree. The worst part of Kennedy’s week is breaking a fingernail.” They stopped and sat down on one of the park benches. Michael was satisfied that he still had a pretty good view of the girls. “OK, that’s enough about the girls. Let’s talk about us,” he said, finally releasing her hand.
Taye’s eyes were full of questions. “Us?”
Michael smiled. “Yes, us. We need to plan some fun time for ourselves.”
“What do you have in mind?”
Michael turned to face her. His dark eyes were gleaming with the thrill of adventure. They were identical to how Kennedy’s had looked that morning. “One thing I’d like to do is check out City Walk at Universal Studios. I heard that Motown Café is a must-do. How about if we go there tomorrow night?”
“That’s fine with me, but do you think you’ll have enough energy left after doing Epcot?”
Michael’s smile widened. “Yes. We’ll put our foot down and tell the girls we plan to leave Epcot at five o’clock. What do you say?”
Taye smiled at him. “I say that sounds like a plan that’ll work.”
Taye frowned, immediately wishing she could have gone straight to bed after her shower like the girls had done. But she had promised them she would talk to Michael.
She glanced around. The condo at Westgate Lakes Resorts was a vacationer paradise, a real dream come true, and she appreciated Michael for including her, Sebrina, and Victoria in his plans this week. She smiled when she thought of how well the girls were getting along and how much fun they’d had today.
But now, they were upstairs sleeping off exhaustion and here she was downstairs fighting off her attraction to Michael. Today hadn’t been easy. She had forgotten what a touchy-feely person he was. It was nothing for him to hold her hand or wrap his arm around her shoulders while they strolled around the park. Even this morning at breakfast and tonight at dinner, he had sat close to her.
She reflected how things had been over the past three weeks, since that Saturday she had spent working with him in his yard. He and Kennedy had been over for dinner more than a few times. He’d even spent the night once, crashing on her sofa after he had arrived back in town late after a flight and she’d suggested that instead of waking Kennedy to take her home he just stay over for the night.
Each time that Taye had thought she’d begun to feel more comfortable around him, something would happen to make her painfully aware of how attracted she was to him. Like the time he had returned the favor and helped her work in her yard and he had taken off his shirt because of the heat. Seeing him shirtless in a pair of tight-fitting faded Levi’s while trimming her hedges had nearly been too much for her to handle. But even with her constantly feeling overheated around him, she liked having him around, and the girls did, too. He was fun to be with and could turn some mundane situation into a pleasurable escapade.
Taking a deep breath, she slid the glass door open and stepped outside on the screened patio. Michael was standing with his back to her, gazing out at the lake. She immediately caught herself staring at the clothes he had changed into after his shower, a pair of running shorts and a T-shirt. For some reason, his striking, elementally male features were sharper tonight, probably because the moonlight reflecting off the lake was hitting him at an angle that was compelling. It was bathing his muscular limbs in a way that made him look too gorgeous and too distracting.
Scrambling to get her thoughts together, she took a deep breath and took her gaze off Michael and put it on another picturesque view—the lake. Michael had gotten a condo with a fantastic view of the lake. The three bedrooms had been built so each room could have a breathtaking view. The girls were occupying the master bedroom upstairs, since it was the largest of the three, with a king-size bed. She and Michael had taken the two guest bedrooms downstairs. It had been nice to wake up and look out the window and see how the sun blended with the waters in the lake, making various shades of blue.
Shoving back a bothersome wisp of hair from her forehead, Taye walked over to Michael. “The girls are out like a rock,” she said, coming to stand next to him.
He chuckled as he turned to her. “Hell, they should be. Either they got too much energy or I don’t have enough.”
Taye shook her head, smiling. “Are you taking any vitamins?”
He lifted a brow. “No.”
“Then maybe you should, since you’re determined to keep up with them.”
She saw his shoulders stiffen. “Are you saying we should let a bunch of young girls run wild in the park, Taye?”
Knowing this topic of conversation was one she and Michael would not agree on, she chose her words carefully. She had promised the girls she would talk to him and she intended to do just that. He had been the ferocious watchdog today, the overprotective father. “No, but I think they’re mature enough in their thinking to stay together as a group and meet us at a certain location and time that’s spelled out beforehand. I don’t think we have to stay on their heels every minute.”
Silence stretched so long between them that for a moment Taye began to wonder if he’d heard her. “What about that group of boys who were trying to hang around them today?” he finally asked.
Taye smiled and shrugged. “Show them pretty girls and boys will be boys.”
“Yeah, and that’s what worries me.”
Taye chuckled and shouldered past Michael to sit in a patio chair. “You can’t go around wanting to do bodily harm to every boy who looks twice at Kennedy.”
Michael crossed his hands over his chest and looked at her. “Was I that bad?”
“I’m sure Kennedy thought you were. You scared those little boys to death.”
“Little boys? They were fifteen. Too old to be sniffing behind thirteen-year-old girls. Besides, for all we know they could have been little criminals-in-the-making, future hoodlums of America.”
Taye rolled her eyes upward. “Or they could have been geniuses in the making, future presidents of America, Michael. They only wanted the girls to sit next to them on some rides, not to elope.”
Michael sucked in a deep breath. He admitted he probably had put the fear of God in those three boys and would even go so far as to admit he had enjoyed doing so. “You didn’t have a problem with them hanging around?”
“No, I trust the girls.”
“It’s not the girls that I don’t trust. It’s those boys,” Michael grumbled in such a way that made the smile tilting Taye’s lips widen.
“Then, you’ll have to trust the girls to make the right decisions.”
Michael came over and sat in the chair next to her. “They’re only thirteen, Taye. They shouldn’t even be thinking about boys yet.”
Who says? Taye thought. I sure thought about you at thirteen. “Michael, it’s not as serious as you’re trying to make it.”
“It doesn’t bother you that Sebrina likes boys?”
“No, and it shouldn’t bother you that Kennedy likes them, either. It’s natural. And how we handle the situation as parents is very important. I think the main reason I got pregnant once I went off to college was because for t
he first time I felt free. Momma was too strict on me; you know that. You had to follow me, Rae’jean, and Alexia around everywhere we went to make sure we didn’t get into any trouble, but most important, to keep the boys away. And it worked. News got around fast that the three of us were your cousins and if any of the guys tried to talk to us that meant trouble.”
“I was just following orders.”
“I know, and they were well-intended orders, but I wished Momma would have loosened her rope just a little. If she had then I wouldn’t have been so eager to get a taste of forbidden fruit after leaving home for school.”
Taye let her thoughts reflect back to that time when she’d gone to college and had tried making up for all those things she’d missed out on during her teen years because of her parents’ strictness. “I’m not saying you’re not supposed to keep an eye on Kennedy and not be cautious of the guys who come around. All I’m saying is that you should trust her to make the right decisions about some things. If you don’t, she’ll resent you for it and do things for the hell of it just to aggravate you.”
He gave a derisive snort. “She does that anyway at times.”
“Well, then maybe she won’t do it as often. Tomorrow at Epcot I suggest we let them explore the park without us following them around and have them check in with us every four hours at a designated place.”
“Every four hours?” Michael squawked.
Taye laughed. “OK, how about every three hours?”
“How about every two?”
Recognizing his indisputably stubborn nature, Taye conceded. “OK, every two hours if it makes you happy.” She’d known asking for any time beyond two hours would be pushing it but had tried her luck anyway. “Is it a deal?”
Michael shrugged, frowning. “I guess so.”
Taye reached over and hugged him. “Cheer up, Michael; it’s not going to be that bad. You’ll survive.”
The hug was meant to be innocent. Neither of them was prepared for the sudden surges of desire that swept through them or the disturbing amount of sensual heat that immediately engulfed them.
“Taye,” Michael whispered softly as she slowly released him. But he replaced her arms with his own and wrapped them around her, pulling her to her feet as he stood on his.
“Michael?”
Her voice was shaking; he could hear it. Her body was trembling; he could feel it. He noticed the way she was looking up at him. It was the look of a woman who wanted the man she was with. That knowledge kicked low and seeped through his insides like a slow-burning flame. He wanted to fight his body’s response to her and couldn’t. He hadn’t been able to fight it since he’d seen her again at the family reunion, although God knows he had tried. He’d felt that flicker of guilt that what he was feeling for her was wrong. Although they were not blood relations, they were in the same family. It hadn’t been easy not wanting her. It still wasn’t.
He’d tried fighting the response he felt whenever he was around her. Some days he’d succeeded; some days he had not. And now at this moment, with her standing before him, close, with his arms around her waist, with her eyes searching his for answers, the only thing he could think about was tasting her. Tasting those sweet lips that looked petal soft and pliant, moist and ready.
He looked deep into her eyes and wished he hadn’t. They revealed so much. They showed signs she was going through the same torment that he was. Once again she was being faced with forbidden fruit. He wished that somehow he could find the strength to turn and walk away, to tell her good night and that he would see her in the morning, bright and early, well rested, ready to face another day, and all that good stuff.
But he couldn’t.
In fact, he didn’t want to.
He was losing a battle he’d never wanted to take on. For family’s sake, for sanity’s sake, he had tried resisting temptation. It hadn’t been easy and now, standing before him with dazed eyes, labored and shallow breathing, she wasn’t making it any easier.
“Damn, Taye,” he said huskily, in a tone intended to quell what was happening between them, then and there, here and now. He knew if he kissed her, things would change. Things would be different and it would mean they would be more than kissing cousins, because he didn’t think he would be able to stop at just kissing. The ache went too deep; the longing was too strong. If he kissed her, sooner or later, they would sleep together. He knew it and wanted to make sure she knew it as well. Understood it. Wanted it.
She spoke before he did. “We’ve got to stop what’s happening here, Michael,” she whispered softly, unconvincingly.
“I can’t, Taye. I’ve tried, but I can’t.” He slowly lowered his head, and with a groan of defeat and a moan of pleasure he covered her mouth with his own. The immediate response of his mouth on hers sent his pulse racing, sent his hormones into overdrive. Blood, thick, hot, passionate, ignited into a flame through his veins. He took her breath away with his tongue; he fed desire into his loins with hers. The taste of her was heady. The feel of her in his arms was mind-blowing. This woman was literally rocking his world.
His hands on her waist sought to hold her to him, sought to bring her closer. He groaned while grinding the lower part of his body against her, acting out a heated emulation of lovemaking while they were yet clothed. But the material of their clothing wasn’t a strong-enough shield against the fervor of what was taking place between them.
Both knew they should stop. But neither wanted to.
So they didn’t. They continued kissing. They continued to grind their bodies in heated erotic movements. It was obvious from the rock-hardness of Michael’s lower body that he wanted her, and likewise from the sound of her whimpering in his mouth that she wanted him.
They finally broke off the kiss to come up for air. Much-needed air.
“This is crazy, Taye,” Michael whispered as he feathered kisses along her neck.
“I know.” Those were the only two coherent words she could speak. They were the only two she could think of saying at the moment.
He kissed her cheekbone. “If the family knew we were carrying on like this they’d go bananas.”
“I know.”
He continued to scatter random kisses over her face, not able to get enough of the taste of her. “They won’t like it one hell of a bit.”
“I know.”
He licked the lining of her lips. “They’ll think we’re insane.”
“I know.”
Blood pulsed full force into his loins. He became filled with the want of her. He stopped kissing her and held her gaze in the moonlight off the lake. He wanted her to know something else, too. “But at this moment, I don’t give a damn what they might think or how they might feel. My mind is too concentrated on what I think and how I feel.”
She pressed her hands to the center of his chest as their gazes continued to hold. “At this moment, I feel the same way, Michael.”
Her admission to him was breathtaking. It was the thing that drove him over the edge when he pulled her back to him and took her mouth again as his heart pounded rapidly with his need for her, his want of her.
They immediately broke apart when they heard the phone ring.
Michael’s heart clamored against his chest when Taye pushed herself out of his arms and raced off to answer it. Eyes closed, he took a deep breath. When he reopened them he didn’t have any regrets for what he and Taye had shared. Something feeling that right couldn’t be wrong. And he was determined for her not to have any regrets, either. They would take things slow if they had to, but they wouldn’t have any regrets, and they wouldn’t go back to status quo.
Never had he been driven to such need. If that phone hadn’t rung, he probably would have taken her right there on the chaise lounge. He had wanted her just that much. Every time he was around her, new currents of awareness would sizzle within him. Even Stephanie hadn’t been able to do that to him. She hadn’t come close and deep down he knew why.
Even with his and Stephanie’s cl
ose friendship, there had always been something that held him back from ever wanting more. He’d been complacent, knowing things between them would never go anywhere. They had been good friends, and their lovemaking had been an extension of that. With Taye it was different. Tonight, she had touched a part of him that no woman had touched since Lynda. Kissing her had affected him in a way he didn’t think was possible—again. And even though he’d been without a woman for close to six months now, he knew it wasn’t about lust. It was something deeper, but he shouldn’t have found that thought surprising. Taye Bennett had always been able to get next to him. There had always been this special bond between them from the time they were kids. But now the question of the hour was just what he planned to do about it.
He lifted his head when he heard her return. “That was Momma,” she said softly from where she stood across the patio. “She hadn’t heard from us and was calling to see if we made it here OK.”
Michael shook his head and snorted. “Figures.”
Taye lifted a brow. “What figures?”
He slowly walked over to her. “That some member of the family would call right when we were on the path to doing something they would see as total damnation.”
Taye lifted her gaze upward. “Maybe someone up there is trying to tell us something.” She then lowered troubled eyes to him.
He decided to squash that look and that thought. “No. I doubt that very seriously. We weren’t doing anything wrong, Taye.”
“Weren’t we?”
Michael frowned. “No.”
Taye was silent for a moment. Then she said, “We’re family, Michael.”
“Yes, but we aren’t blood-related. There’s a difference.”
She shook her head. “Everyone won’t think so. Especially the family.”
“They’ll eventually accept it.”
She walked across the patio to stare out at the lake for a moment before turning around. She had already disappointed the family twice; she couldn’t risk doing it a third time. “What about the girls?” she asked softly. She swallowed hard and her eyes were glued to his.
A Family Reunion Page 27