by Katie Dowe
“Then that’s your problem.”
“Okay, I am willing to take this one step at a time-”
“You are not listening,” she interrupted him patiently. “There is no other step. This is it and if you want to continue then I would like you to agree to the rules. I am a grown ass woman, David, and certainly not some simpering idiot out to get you to fall in love with me. You are not my type! You avoid responsibilities like the plague and I am very responsible. We hook up and that’s it.”
“Opposites attract,” he said lightly feeling the sting again.
“Goodbye, David.” He heard the click in his ear and removed the phone from his ear. He was not used to that either. He swallowed the liquid and called up a number. “Hey,” he said huskily.
“David!” Her voice was tremulous as she responded and he closed his eyes as it grated on his nerves. “You have not called.”
“How about dinner?” he asked, determined to try and get back to the person he had been before he met her.
“I would love that,” she said softly.
“Seven. I will pick you up.”
He hung up, feeling a sense of dissatisfaction and wondered if he should cancel. But he needed to get his manhood back!
******
Marilyn stared at her reflection as she stood there in her plain and unremarkable bedroom that night. She was different from her siblings; she did not need all the flounce and fussiness that came with the enormous amount of money they possessed. She had been firm about it and when Marissa had wanted to redecorate she had told her no. She liked the pale blue of her décor and the simple furnishings. Her clothes were just as simple. She did not crave the brands like Romano’s and Dolce and Gabanna that her sister craved. Her clothes were simple and functional and that was the way she liked them. She took the band form her hair and ran her long fingers through the fine strands. The greys mingled with the browns and she had never done anything about it. Her sister had wanted to let her stylist fix her up with a new style. Her grey eyes which happened to be her best features examined her face. She was proud of the fact that she looked like her father and had the interest of the company he had built into one of the largest sporting brands in the world at heart. She knew her mother was disappointed in the way she looked, but she did not care! Or so she told herself. Her hair tumbled behind her and went past her shoulders, almost to her waist. She was going to get it cut at least. She jumped as he came into the room behind her. She knew that he had planned to come to her tonight, but she had been so caught up in her reveries that she had forgotten about it.
He stepped behind her and held her thin shoulders and stood behind her looking at her in the mirror. “You are beautiful,” he told her softly.
“You are just saying that.” Her eyes met his shyly.
“You know that’s not true,” he told her quietly. He turned her around to face him. He tilted her chin up. “When are you going to stop comparing yourself with your siblings?’
“When I stop looking at myself in the mirror,” she said shakily. “I thank God for you every day! You are the only one who accepts me for who I am.”
“And yet you keep me hidden,” he reminded her gently.
She lowered her lashes. “It’s hard being a Snyder,” she whispered.
“It’s harder being a poor working class man. I am your employee, darling.” He worked in the accounts department at the company and she had been secretly seeing him for the past six months. At first, she had not believed the gentle middle-aged man would like her for herself, but he had proven that he was not after her money and she had come to love him very much. But she was afraid to come out and introduce him to her family. They were a high profile family and as much as she avoided the limelight unlike her sister and brother, she was still photographed if she happened to go out to a function.
“Please, be patient.”
“I have been.” He tilted her chin. “You are a wonderful woman and I appreciate and love you. I want to marry you, Mar, and let us have a family together.”
She shivered at that and for one fleeting moment wished that she was just an employee free to do whatever she pleased. She and her brother and sister had trusts set up for them which they had inherited when they turned twenty-five. Ten million dollars each and salaries that they keep getting each month! The company had grown to such magnitude that they would never be able to spend the amount of money they had even if they tried very hard. Whomever they marry would go through a rigorous testing and a prenup would have to be signed. Lawyers would become involved and they would come under a large amount of scrutiny. She could not bear to put Lee through that. “Please bear with me.”
Chapter 5
Hailey got out of bed and reaching for her robe, she pulled it on over her naked body. “Wine?” she asked him as she turned to look at him lounging on her Egyptian cotton sheets. He was totally naked and her dark brown eyes wandered over the magnificent body. He did not need to hide, why should he when he had a body that brought out the painter and the sculptor and the writer in her!
“Please.” He smiled at her and put his hands beneath his dark head. “Hurry back.”
“You are not spending the night.”
“Just once?” His dark blue eyes pleaded with her.
“Unlike you, I have a job in the morning. I have to get prepared for classes. End of year exams and all that.”
“Get the wine and we will discuss it more.” His voice was unconsciously arrogant, and she quirked a brow at him. He grinned at her sheepishly. “Please.”
She went out of the room and went to get the glasses and the bottle of red. He had persuaded her and she had told him to come over under the cover of darkness. He was highly recognizable so she had told him to use the back stairs to avoid the neighbors. She went back into the room to find that he had gotten up and pulled the shades and turned the lamp on. The light cast a rosy glow on his tanned skin and his dark hair. He came forward and took the bottle from her. He opened the cork and poured the wine in the glasses. He pulled her over to the sofa and planted her onto his lap.
“David,” she moaned as he nuzzled her neck. She could feel the imprint of his erection beneath the thin silk of her robe. The glass trembled in her hand as she arched back against him.
“We could do this every night,” he whispered. That brought her back to reality and she hopped off his lap.
“You know the rules,” she told him as she placed the glass onto the table.
“Rules are made to be broken, darling,” he told her lightly as he looked at her with narrowed eyes. Her robe had opened up and he could see her slender body clearly. She was stunning! How could she possibly be forty-five?
“Not mine,” she told him silkily. “You know why I am so good at my job?”
“Because you look the way you do?” he teased.
She sent him a dirty look and continued. “I am unorthodox, but I play by the rules and I set boundaries with my students. I reach out but just so far. I know where to draw the line.”
“And you are drawing the line with us?”
“There is no us!” she said as if explaining to a very dense child. “There is you and there is me. You go about your life and so do I.”
“I have not seen anyone since I have been with you.”
“That’s a damned lie and you know it! You were with Madeline Brightly a week ago. You were seen holding onto her as if she was the next love interest.”
He got to his feet abruptly at that. “I only went out with her to try and get myself back.”
“What exactly does that mean?” she demanded.
“It means, darling, that since I met you, I have not been myself. I am not interested in another woman and I wanted to see if it was just a fluke.” He faced her, his magnificent body in full view. He had not one ounce of self-consciousness about him. Why should there be when he looked the way he did! “It means that I cannot stop thinking about you! I want to get to know you better. I want to try and see
if this will work-” He broke off as she started laughing and stared at her fumingly.
“You are cute, honey.” She went forward to kiss him on the lips. “One last one for the road.”
He wanted to refuse, but as she melted in his arms, he hauled her closer to him, his lips bending to take hers. He was feeling these feelings that he had no idea what to do about them!
******
“You have been scarce,” Marge commented as her friend walked into the room. Outside was a ball of fire, but the tall slender woman looked as if she had just stepped from the shower. Her light green cotton dress suited her curves so much that she caused eyes to follow her as she crossed the room. She took off the floral scarf from around her neck and slid onto the stool next to her friends.
“A tall glass of lemonade, please,” she said, smiling at the waiter. “I have a very demanding career.”
“Bitch, we have not seen you in two weeks!” Hillary exclaimed as she sipped her fruit punch. It was their favorite place to meet when they get together. A sort of informal bar that was not far away from the campus.
“End of term exams and meetings in between.”
“If I did not know any better, I would say you found yourself a man,” Hillary said, looking at her curiously. She looked different; Hailey was always beautiful but there was something about her that looked different. “Don’t tell me you gave you in to that stodgy professor and gave him some?”
Hailey laughed at that and wondered what her friend would say if they knew who she was having sex with! “Not a chance!”
“A student?”
Hailey gave her a dirty look.
“What? I have seen some of the boys who attend, honey, and trust me, you could do worse.”
“I am not that hard up for sex.”
“I am,” Hillary admitted. “I came this close to having sex with my gay assistant.”
Both women laughed at that. “I am sure he would have turned you down flat,” Marge told her.
Hillary sighed. “I came very close to calling Colin.”
“We cannot have that, honey. What can we do?” Hailey asked her seriously.
“Find me a man. Even if it’s just the slaking of this horniness that has come over me.”
“That’s not such a bad idea,” Hailey said casually. Both women stared at her. “What? As long as both parties are clear on the rules.”
“You sound like you have done this before,” Marge said.
“Maybe,” she said with a shrug.
“Hailey Amber Donaldson, you are the queen of what’s right. So when did you change your mind?” Hillary demanded.
“I have not changed my mind,” Hailey said, wishing she had not said anything. “I am just saying that not everything has to be set in stone. Two people can become involved and it is just physical.” She saw the looks on her friends’ faces and then shrugged. “Forget it.”
“We will of course be bringing it back up in the future,” Hillary warned her.
******
“Marissa, how does it feel now that your wedding is a week away?” a reporter called out as they milled around the room. It was her bridal shower and was being combined with the new scent that was also out. ‘Breathtaking’ was the newest rage and was being promoted along with her upcoming nuptials.
“I feel fine.” She flashed her famous smile as she linked hands with her fiancé. He topped her by a foot and she loved it. “We are looking forward to it. Aren’t we, darling?” she asked, looking up at the tall silent man at her side.
“We are.” He smiled at her gently.
The reporter moved on to David who was leaning against the column and sipping a glass of wine, trying not to look bored. The woman fluffed her blonde hair and walked over to him. “What about you?”
“What about me?” His dark eyes sized her up without the slightest ounce of interest. All he wanted to do was to be with Hailey. He had called her and told her about the event, and she had told him to have fun.
“I wish you would come,” he had said.
She had laughed at that. “I don’t.”
“We are going to have to go out sometime.”
“David, stop,” she had told him in exasperation before hanging up.
“You look like this is the last place you want to be.”
“How do you figure?” he asked her in amusement.
“You look a bit bored,” she said flustered as she looked at him with longing. “We could go somewhere else.”
“While you are working?” He quirked one thick brow at her. “I am sure you are a professional?”
Her expression made it clear that she would shelve it in a minute if he made her an offer. He leaned off the column as Marissa came forward. “Excuse me. Duty calls.” He linked arms with Marissa and bent to kiss her cheek.
“What was that for?” she asked, looking up at him.
“For rescuing me,” he told her lightly. People were milling around the conference room making light conversations and eating the light finger foods that had been offered.
“I never dreamed you would need rescuing from an attractive woman.” She looked up at him. “And you are by yourself. How is that possible?”
“Maybe I have changed,” he told her.
She laughed at that. “That would be the day.”
“You don’t think I can change?” he asked her seriously.
“Darling, are you coming down with something?” she asked, looking up at him.
“Maybe.” His tone was light and he forced the smile to his lips. “This is your day. Go and be with your fiancé.”
He left shortly after that and called her as he went into the unobtrusive grey car that he used whenever he was going to visit her.
“I am coming over,” he said abruptly.
“I thought you had a thing.”
“I got bored and realized that I wanted to be with you.”
“Come on over.”
A grateful smile hovered around his lips. “I thought I was in for an argument.”
“You thought wrong. Hurry.”
******
His fingers wandered down her bare back as she lay there sprawled against him. “I was thinking that we could go to Paris together during the summer break,” he said casually.
“Hmm.” Hailey felt sated and wonderful. She had met him at the door and he had taken her right there. They had eventually ended up in the bedroom.
“Is that a yes?”
“Is there anywhere we go where you would not be recognized or where you had a relationship with someone?” She raised her head to look down at him. He looked incredibly sexy and relaxed.
“You have nothing to worry about.”
“I am not worried.”
“I know that you want a physical thing-”
“We both want that.”
“No, we don’t,” he told her firmly.
“Are we going to have this argument every time we are together? It’s becoming tiresome, David.”
“My sister is getting married and I would like you to come.”
“As your date?”
He looked at her broodingly. “Bring a girlfriend if it makes you feel comfortable.”
“How would that make sense?”
“I just want to see you outside of these walls,” he muttered as he brushed back her short curls. “You forbade me from coming to where you work-”
“As well I should.”
He looked at her in frustration. “I want to see you otherwise, Hailey.”
“Okay.”
He stared at her in shock. “Okay?”
She smiled down at him. “I am sure Hillary and Marge would get a kick out of attending a high society wedding.”
“And you?”
“I don’t care one way or the other. Society weddings have a way of ending abruptly.” She laughed at the look on his face. “I truly hope your sister’s nuptial is far different. That basketball player seems to adore her.”
“I am star
ting to know what that feels like.” His hands tightened around her waist as she moved. “Stay,” he whispered.
“As long as you stop talking,” she murmured as she bent her head to his.
******
“My good Lord!” Hillary exclaimed as stated around the vast ballroom where the height of high society mingled, laughing and chatting. They had decided to come to the reception because the wedding had been a ‘small intimate’ ceremony with only close friends. “How did you get invited again?”
“Snyder’s Sportswear, Inc. is sponsoring an event for the summer on campus so a few of us got invited,” Hailey said smoothly as she looked around. She was happy that the place was so packed that her friends would not notice that she was the only one there from campus. All she had to do was to dodge the many reporters and photographers milling around. How on earth could people live in the spotlight like this all the time? she wondered. Her eyes fell on a group of women she had always read about. African American women married to rich white men and making a difference.
“Do you think I look good enough to fit in?” Marge asked them anxiously as she smoothed her hands down her rich burgundy silk dress. When Hailey had told them of the invite, she had wanted to say no, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her. Hillary was wearing a stunning pale pink pantsuit that she had designed herself, and Hailey had on an ice blue dress that hugged her curves lovingly. Dangling diamond earrings went to her shoulders and her makeup was flawless. She seemed as if she belonged, and Marge envied her the self-confidence she possessed.
“Honey, you look beautiful,” Hailey said carelessly, her eyes going around the room to see if she could spot David. He looked up as if he realized that she was there and his dark blue eyes smoldered as they ran over her slowly. He was talking to a group of men including the groom, but his eyes were on her. Hailey felt as if she was being stripped naked as his eyes lingered. “Let’s go get something to eat,” she suggested as she tore her eyes away from his. This was getting ridiculous!
“Good idea. I am starving,” Hillary muttered. “And who knows? I might just meet a rich man here who wants to have his way with me.”
They separated, and Hailey wove her way through the crowd to find a place to sit. She accepted a glass of champagne and sipped it as she looked around. She stiffened as she saw him coming over to her and got to her feet quickly. He was being watched by almost every female in the vast room and some of them happened to be reporters. She placed the glass on a tray and hurried out of the room to find a bathroom. It was the newest hotel uptown and was sumptuously furnished. She had not gotten far when he caught up with her, and pulling her into an empty room, he pulled her into his arms. He fastened his mouth on hers and for a few moments conversation was not possible. He finally dragged his lips from hers. “You came,” he breathed through his teeth as he fought for control. It had been hard put for him to carry on the conversation as soon as she entered the room.