She had a routine going with the girls that worked out great, and then with Jamison, she had a routine as well. If anyone had told her that a marriage of convenience would be as enjoyable as hers, she would have tried it long ago. But she knew she was only fooling herself if she believed that’s all it was. She was madly in love with her husband, although he didn’t love her. But she could handle it. In essence, she had no choice. But she would make these the best two years of their lives, and they were off to a blazing start.
Kendal looked at herself in the revolving glass door before entering the restaurant. She had decided to wear a zebra print sundress with black earrings and a matching necklace. She had gotten her hair cut that morning into a style she hoped Jamison liked.
One thing was certain—Jamison was definitely good for a girl’s ego. He constantly told her how good she looked, no matter whether she was wearing clothes or nothing at all. He said things that made her feel beautiful, and thanks to him, she actually felt beautiful. Knowing she was going to have to get used to her new hair style, she brushed a portion of her bangs back as she glanced around the restaurant. She frowned when she didn’t see Tonya, who’d sworn she was going to be on time.
“Yes? May I help you?” a waitress asked, smiling.
“I’m to meet a friend named Tonya Manning here,” Kendal said. “I don’t think she’s arrived.”
The woman nodded. “Oh. She’s here but asked for a table in the back.”
“Oh,” Kendal said, wondering why Tonya would do that when tables in the front had a beautiful view of a lake.
“If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to her.”
Kendal followed the woman and glanced around the restaurant. It was a beautiful place with a hungry lunch-time crowd. The lady stopped at a door and said, “If you don’t mind, we need to walk through here to get to Ms. Manning’s table. That floor is being repaired on the other side of the restaurant.”
“All right.”
The woman opened the door and motioned for Kendal to go ahead of her. Once Kendal entered the room, she heard loud voices that screamed out, “Surprise!”
Kendal threw her hand to her chest to calm her heart as she glanced around the decorated room. There were balloons and a huge banner that said: Kendal’s Bridal Shower.
She couldn’t believe the number of people here. All the female Savoys and several members of her own family, including her mother. Everyone came and showered her with hugs and words of congratulations. “But, Mom, you’re supposed to be babysitting the girls,” she said to her mother.
Leona Fischer smiled and said, “That’s what we wanted you to think. Jamison took half a day off and came and got the girls within minutes of you leaving them with me.”
“Jamison?”
“Yes, his cousin Lavender said, grinning. “He was in on it, too.”
“We decided not to tell the girls,” Thelma Savoy said as she came up to claim her hug. “They wouldn’t have kept the secret.”
Tonya was the last one to come give her a hug and had a huge grin on her face as she chanted, “I fooled you. I fooled you.”
Kendal couldn’t help but return the grin. “And don’t think I’m going to forget it. I can’t believe this,” she said, glancing around. “This makes me feel like a real bride.”
“You are.” And then Tonya leaned in and whispered. “And according to Kia, that day I picked her and Carr up from daycare for you, her daddy just loves kissing her Aunt K.” Tonya gave her an all-knowing look. “Umm, now I find that interesting.”
Kendal ignored Tonya as another one of the Savoy aunts came up to her and put a plate filled with food in her hand. “You’re the guest of honor. We don’t eat until you do, and I’m starving.”
Everyone laughed, and Kendal glanced around at all of the women there. Most of them were people she’d always considered family…and now all of them were.
***
Later that night, Jamison jerked his head around when Kendal walked out of the bathroom. “Whoa!”
He was used to her wearing sexy lingerie to bed every night, but never had she worn anything so daring. A sheer black negligee. There were donut holes where her nipples were, and the part that would hide a woman’s femininity was showing through a huge, heart-shaped cut-out. And when she turned around for him to see the full effect, her butt cheeks could be clearly seen as well.
“Where did you get that outfit?” he asked, barely able to speak. If it was meant to fire up his blood, it was doing just that.
“This is one of my bridal shower gifts. You know…that shower you didn’t tell me about.”
He eased off the bed and moved toward her. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you. It was a secret. So who gave you this?” he asked, reaching out and running his fingers across her nipples that were poking through the holes.
“Your mom.”
His fingers stilled and he met her gaze. “My mom?”
She smiled. “Yes. She assured me you would like it.”
He chuckled. “I hate saying it, but Mom was right. I love it, but only because it’s on you.”
“Thanks for saying that,” she said breathlessly when his fingers continued fondling her breasts.
“No need to thank me, because it’s true. Every time I think about what your ex-boyfriend did to you, I can’t help but call him all kinds of fool.” One night, after making love, they had talked for a long while, and she’d told him everything. He could hear the pain that was still in her voice.
“He’s in the past,” Kendal said, knowing Jamison didn’t have a clue how far in the past Russell really was.
“And I intend for him to stay there.” And then he leaned in and breathed against her lips, and on instinct she parted them so his tongue could slide into her mouth. And then he wrapped his arms around her and began kissing her with an intensity that would have knocked her upside down if he hadn’t been holding on to her.
He began walking her backward toward the bed, and within seconds, he had removed the negligee from her body. When she was completely naked, he roamed his gaze all over her and whispered, “You’re all the woman I need, Kendal.”
She drew in a deep breath, and her pulse rate increased. “And you’re all the man that I need, Jamison.”
His penetrating, dark eyes seemed to blaze into hers. “You mean that?”
“Yes, I mean it.” She wondered how he could even doubt it. He was everything a woman would want in the looks department, and besides that, he was a great father to his daughter and a perfect male role model to her niece, and he took care of business on the home front. He made sure that “his girls,” as he often referred to her, Kia, and Carr, wanted for nothing.
He ran his hands up over her buttocks, reclaiming her attention. “That means a lot to me, and I appreciate it. I appreciate you. Now I’m going to show you just how much.”
She watched as he slid out of his bathrobe. She was getting used to seeing him in the nude. “Now it’s time for us to get into bed. And just so you know, while you were at the bridal shower, I entertained the girls by the pool while I was getting work done on this room.”
Kendal lifted a brow as she eased back onto the bed. “What kind of work?”
“I made it sound proof.”
Kendal’s lips twitched in a huge smile. “You’re kidding.”
“No. I hired someone to do it, and tonight I’m going to test his work by making you scream all over the place.”
Kendal threw her head back and laughed because she knew he was dead serious. “And what if I don’t want to scream?”
Now it was his time to laugh. “Baby, you’re going to scream tonight whether you want to do it or not. Believe me.”
She believed him because she could feel her juices beginning to flow already. And as if he sensed such a thing, he slid his hand downward, and his fingers caressed the soft curls between her thighs.
“I like this,” he said, moving his fingers to slide between the feminine folds and stir around in her juices.
/>
She drew in a sharp breath as his fingers skillfully began sending sensations rushing all through her. “I thought about you a lot today,” he leaned close and whispered. “And I especially thought about doing this to you. Baby, I need you now.”
He leaned up to move over her, but she caught him unawares and pushed him on his back. She smiled down at the surprised look on his face. “Tonight, Mr. Savoy, we are going to do things differently.”
He chuckled. “Are we?”
“Yes, and I promise not to hurt you, just pleasure you. And in the end, we’re going to see who does the screaming.”
“Ahh, I’m scared of you,” he said jokingly.
“You ought to be.”
And then, lifting her body up on her knees and on the palms of her hands, she eased over his hard erection. And when she knew she had the target she wanted, she slowly eased so he could slide unerringly between her womanly folds and right into her.
Jamison was convinced he was going to ejaculate before he could get inside her completely. The feel of her muscles gripping his shaft had him moaning deeply as she pressed down further. He began kneading her buttocks as she began riding him hard, sliding her voluptuous body across his. He was at her mercy and was enjoying every single minute of it.
He glanced up into the wildly passionate eyes staring down at him. He could feel every part of her with the movements she made, and she was giving him one hell of a sexual beat down.
And when she locked down on his legs, widened them a bit, and clenched her inner muscles on him, something within him seemed to blow, and one hell of an orgasm ripped through his loins as he exploded inside of her. His body began trembling, and a growling sound emitted deep from his throat. He then yelled loudly enough for the vibrations to make the lamp on the nightstand shake.
He grabbed hold of her hips to hold her down and make sure she didn’t go anywhere until she got it all. And he wanted her to have every single drop of him.
When his hands finally went slack, she drew her body into a perfect bow-like string, and when she let loose, her body shot right back on him at a perfect angle, and his manhood was ready. It was then he surprised her by flipping her on her back, lifting her hips and driving even deeper.
Now he was the one doing the riding, and he intended to gallop all the way to the brink, push her over the edge like she had done him. And when she screamed his name at the top of her lungs, he followed her over the cliff into another orgasm as spasms racked through his body seemingly non-stop.
Emotions he’d thought he would never feel again rammed through him, and he knew at that moment this wasn’t about lust but was something a hell of a lot deeper, a lot more meaningful, and definitely something that wasn’t going to go away.
“I think the sound proofing worked,” she whispered breathlessly.
“I think so, too.” As he pulled her drained body deeper into his arms, he wondered how she was going to handle the fact that he had fallen in love with her…and he had fallen hard.
Twelve
“I’m so glad you and Blake made it home for Labor Day, Justice,” Kendal said while preparing the iced tea as Gramma Thelma had instructed. It was Labor Day, and it was an annual event for everyone to participate in Thelma Savoy’s Labor Day cookout.
“I’m just glad to be home,” Justice was saying. “Canada is nice, but you know what they say. There’s no place like home. But enough about me, how is married life treating you? And before you answer, I note you and Jamison keep giving each other those can’t-wait-to-get-you-alone looks.”
Kendal waved away her words. “No, we do not.”
“Yes, you do.”
Kendal smiled. Maybe she and Jamison had been. Although she couldn’t give an explanation for what he’d been doing, she could certainly speak for herself. “I love him, Justice.”
Justice laughed. “Tell me something I don’t know. Were you not supposed to love him?”
Kendal thought about just how much she should tell Justice about her marriage to Jamison. Like Tonya, Justice knew about the ad she’d placed that was the reason for her marriage to Jamison. But she didn’t know their relationship had taken a turn, and now the thought of not being his wife forever made her want to cry.
“Are the Ryans still trying to take Carr away from you?” Justice asked.
Kendal shook her head. “No. I got word from Ben last week that they had dropped the petition since I got married.”
“I know you’re glad about that,” Justice said.
She was about to tell Justice just how happy she was when Lavender came in front the outside. “I just got a call from my boss. I might need to fly him to Hawaii later.”
“Must be nice,” Justice said, grinning.
Lavender, who was a year younger than Kendal, had gone into the Air Force right out of high school, determined to learn how to fly a plane. And now she was a private pilot to a very wealthy man. Rumor also had it that he was handsome as sin. “It’s nice when he doesn’t get on my last nerve. You wouldn’t believe all the women the man has. It’s sickening.”
“Is he as handsome as I heard?” Justice asked.
Lavender shrugged. “He looks okay.”
Kendal and Justice exchanged looks and smiled. They were wondering if perhaps Lavender was sweet on her boss.
At that moment, the doorbell rang. Tressie, one of Jamison’s younger cousins, who’d just turned sixteen a few months ago, raced from outside and through the kitchen toward the door at break-neck speed. “I’ll get it.”
Justice laughed. “I heard Tressie has invited her boyfriend, and it’s the first time he gets to meet the family.”
“Oh, I hope the male cousins are on good behavior, or they are going to give Tressie’s boo a hard time,” Lavender said laughing.
At that moment, the back door opened, and Jamison walked in with his cousins Blake, Tyler, Nash, and Ben. “I wondered where you’d gone to, babe,” he said to Kendal, coming over to give her a peck on the lips.
She was about to respond when an angry Tressie returned to the kitchen. “There evidently is a huge mistake here, and it involves you, Jamison.”
Jamison frowned. “How does it involve me?”
“Your ex is at the door, and when I asked what she wanted, she said that she was looking for her husband. I told her you had another wife, and I think that made her mad. You might want to go calm her down.”
Jamison looked shocked. “Vonetta is here? Outside?”
“No, Vonetta is here. Inside,” Vonetta said with an attitude, moving past Tressie to stand in the middle of the kitchen. She stared hard at Jamison. “And I want to know why you remarried without telling me.”
***
Jamison folded his arms across his chest and stared back at his ex-wife. “Because it wasn’t any of your business.”
Vonetta puffed up and stiffened her spine. “You have another woman playing mother to my daughter and you—”
“Even if a woman played mother to my daughter, it would be better than what you did without pretense,” he shot back.
Ben cleared his throat and then spoke up. “I think this is where all of us need to leave and let you have this conversation with Vonetta alone, Jamison.” He then glanced over at Vonetta. “I could say it was nice seeing you, but I’d be lying.”
Vonetta stiffened her spine even more. “And you think I care. I never liked any of you anyway.”
“Then it probably won’t hurt you to know the feelings were mutual,” Lavender said smiling.
When Ben turned to leave, so did the others, including Kendal. Jamison reached out and touched her hand, and then pulled her close to whisper. “Take care of the girls and keep them outside. This could get nasty.”
The gesture and his words were not lost on Vonetta. “Tell me you’re joking. Please tell me you’re joking,” she said, bursting out laughing.
Jamison face hardened. “What am I supposed to be joking about?”
“I know that whale standing
beside you isn’t your wife. I can’t believe you lowered your standards for that blimp.”
Jamison was across the room in a flash, before Ben or the others could stop him. He got in Vonetta’s face. “Don’t you ever insult my wife again. Ever. And as far as lowering my standards, after you, I increased them and Kendal met them with flying colors. So what does that say about my opinion of you?”
He then glanced at everyone. “Leave us, please.”
When he was certain the room was empty except for him and Vonetta, Jamison asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I want to see Kia.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why? You’ve only called once since the divorce, and on that night you were so full of liquor you couldn’t talk straight.”
She placed her hands on her hips. “I’ve been going through things.”
“I don’t give a damn what you’ve been going through; don’t you ever insult my wife again.”
“I can’t believe you married her.”
“I did, and I don’t regret it. She’s wonderful with Kia, and she’s wonderful with me. What more could I ask for?”
“Someone you’d want to be seen with.”
Jamison felt his anger increase. “I have no problem being seen anywhere with my wife. She’s beautiful, smart, and intelligent. And she’s loyal. But most importantly, I can trust her. I can go to work and not worry about a lover coming in before the door can hit me in the back.”
Vonetta shrugged. “Okay, I was wrong for doing that, and I really don’t know what got into me. I started hanging out with the wrong crowd, and you weren’t giving me any time by working all those hours.”
Jamison shook his head. “Instead of taking full responsibility for what you did, Vonetta, you’re shifting the blame, or at least you’re trying to. But it doesn’t matter. We’re through, and our marriage was over the day we signed our divorce papers.”
“Don’t you understand? I’ve learned my lesson, and I want you, me, and Kia to be a family again.”
His chuckle was more like a sneer. “Don’t hold your breath for that to happen. I’m married, and I plan on staying married. I happen to love my wife very much.”
ALL HE DESIRES (Voluptuous Woman Series) Page 33