Four Degrees of Heat

by Rochelle Alers, ReShonda Tate Billingsley, Brenda L. Thomas; Crystal Lacey Winslow

  “So your fiancé didn’t show up on your wedding day?” Damon asked after she left.

  “Nope, and the bastard sent a note by a homeless man.” Victoria tried to laugh, but there was nothing funny about the pain that rippled through her heart.

  “Damn.”

  “You can say that again.”

  “Damn.”

  Victoria laughed. This time it was genuine.

  “You have a beautiful smile. Must be to go with those eyes.”

  Victoria’s grin widened. “I haven’t smiled much in the last few days.”

  “So, what areyou going to do?”

  Victoria thought about it for a moment as her smile diminished. “I’m going to enjoy my time here, then just try to return to normal when I get back home. We were supposed to come here for our honeymoon. Since everything was paid for, I came on. I just wanted to take a little time to myself, get away from everybody fussing over me and constantly asking me, ‘Are you okay?’ ”

  “Well, I won’t ask you that anymore, deal?”

  “Deal.”

  “Besides,” Damon continued, “I think we both deserve to—” Damon suddenly stopped talking, and the smile faded from his face. His brow furrowed, and the veins in his forehead popped out. Victoria turned to see what had him speechless. Damon’s eyes were planted firmly on a tall, cocoa-brown woman with long, jet-black hair. She was wearing a hot-pink bikini top and a matching wrap around her waist. She had her head back and her eyes closed as the man she was with nibbled on her neck. Her laughter sounded like it came from a woman in love.

  Victoria turned back to Damon to say something, but it was too late. He had pushed away from the table and was storming toward the couple, his strides were long and determined. Victoria jumped up to follow him, but Damon reached them before she could even get away from the table.

  Victoria watched in horror as Damon grabbed the man, swung him around, then planted his fist firmly in the man’s jaw.

  “Oh my God! Damon!” the woman screamed.

  “Yeah, Damon. Your fucking husband, Damon! Or did you forget you had a husband?”

  By this time, the music had stopped playing, and several people had turned their attention to the ruckus. The man lay on the ground, moaning and rubbing his jaw. Damon turned toward the man. “Get up!” He kicked the man in the stomach, and the man slumped back to the ground. “You want to fuck around with other men’s wives, then get up and take this ass-beating for it.” Damon swung his foot back and kicked the man in the side.

  Damon’s wife grabbed his arm. “I’m sorry, baby. It’s not what it looks like. Don’t do this!” She was crying as she tried to pull Damon off the man. But he was like a madman. He just kept kicking and hurling obscenities. The man’s nose and mouth was bleeding. Victoria didn’t know if she should try and jump in or what. She didn’t have to make a decision, though. Security was now on Damon, pulling him off the man. It took three of them to bring Damon under control. Two of them were the same men who had tried to throw Victoria out yesterday.

  Damon’s wife was still sobbing as she knelt next to the man, who lay on the ground like he was unconscious. “Felix, wake up,” she said, patting his face. The guards managed to pull Damon away and slam him against the wall.

  “Don’t hurt him,” Damon’s wife muttered as she lifted the man’s head into her lap.

  “Bitch, don’t act like you’re concerned about me now!” Damon yelled, trying to break free.

  “Sir! You need to calm down!” one of the guards yelled.

  Damon took a deep breath as the realization of what was happening began to set in. “I’m straight. I’m straight,” he kept repeating, trying to calm himself down.

  Victoria decided she needed to do something. She stepped toward the guards. “Please don’t call the police. Just let me take him out of here. He just caught his wife with another man. Show some compassion,” she pleaded.

  Damon’s wife cocked her head to the side and studied Victoria. She let Felix’s head drop as she stood up and walked toward the guards. She stepped in front of Victoria and placed a hand on one of the guard’s shoulders. “Sir, this is all my fault. There’s been a big misunderstanding. Neither myself nor my friend wish to press any charges. Please, can’t we just let this go? We won’t be causing you any more trouble.”

  One guard shook his head. “Naw, man, we can’t be dealing with this.”

  The other guard looked more compassionate. He turned to Damon. “Dude, I feel you about catching your wife.” He scowled at Damon’s wife. She placed her hand on her hip and gave him a disgusted look. “But this isn’t the time or place. The last thing you want is to be thrown in a foreign jail.”

  All it took was the word “jail” for Damon to come back to his senses. He nodded. “Look, I’m sorry. I just lost it. I’ll leave so I don’t cause any more problems.” He held his hands up to show he was sincere.

  The third guard turned to Victoria. He looked as if he recognized her, but decided against saying anything. “Can you make sure he gets somewhere and calms down?”

  Victoria didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely.”

  “What the fu—?” Damon’s wife said as she glared at Victoria.

  The first guard stopped her just as she moved to step toward Victoria. “Ma’am, you need to see about your boyfriend here,” he said, pointing to Felix.

  “He’s not my boyfriend!”

  “Whatever he is, you need to see about him.” He turned to Damon and Victoria. “And you two need to leave.”

  Victoria slipped her hand into Damon’s and gently tried to pull him away. He still had some anger in his eyes, so she wanted to get while the getting was good.

  “Damon! Who the hell is that?” his wife yelled as they headed out.

  Damon stopped like he wanted to say something.

  “Don’t,” Victoria whispered. “She’s not worth it.”

  Damon bit down on his lip as he inhaled deeply. “Enjoy your little vacation, Trina. Your shit will be on the front lawn when you get back.”

  “Damon, let me explain,” Trina pleaded. Damon ignored her. He reached in his wallet, pulled out a twenty-dollar bill, and handed it to the waitress, who was standing by watching the ruckus. Damon wrapped his arm around Victoria and walked out the door.

  Trina’s tone changed. “How the hell you goin’ try and bust me and you down here with another bitch?” she screamed.

  Victoria knew the arm around her was just for effect, but after what they had just been through, she let it slide. Damon was trying to walk out of there like he wasn’t fazed, but Victoria could tell he was hurting, deeply hurting. And Lord knows, she knew exactly how that felt.

  Chapter 5

  The moon was casting an eerie glow on the soft ocean waters. It was almost as if it wanted to guide the two lost souls drifting along the beach. And that’s exactly what Victoria and Damon had been doing for the last few hours, drifting. They were walking barefoot along the beach, each lost in his or her own thoughts.

  Victoria glanced over at Damon, who seemed to be fighting back tears. “You really love her, don’t you?”

  “Loved,” Damon replied. “As in past tense.”

  “Too bad it doesn’t work that way. You know, somebody does us wrong, and we just wipe them from our lives,” Victoria responded, kicking the sand around with her feet.

  “Yeah, too bad.”

  They walked in silence for a few more minutes. “Do you know I never, ever cheated on my wife?” Damon asked out of the blue. “My friends run women like pimps, but not me. I’ve always been the good guy. My boys would always tell me, ‘Damon, when you goin’ learn, nice guys finish last?’ ”

  “You know, none of them liked Trina. We grew up in the same neighborhood. I’ve been knowing her a long time. But they said she was a gold digger who saw me as her ticket out of the ghetto.”

  “She didn’t seem, well, she didn’t…” Victoria didn’t know how to tactfully sum up Trina’s behavior.


  “Like the type of woman I’d be attracted to?” Damon interjected.

  Victoria nodded.

  “Believe it or not, I grew up in the ’hood. But my mother was determined that her kids would live better than she did. So she scraped up money for me to go to private school, then I got a scholarship to college and a grant to law school. So I made it out and have been living the nice, respectable middle-class life my mama always dreamed of. But Trina has a way of bringing out that other side of me, that rough side I’m not proud of. I guess you can take the man out the ghetto, but you can’t take the ghetto out of the man, because I had to go and hook up with someone like Trina. She always talked about how boring I was, about how boring our life was. But I never paid it much attention. I was always too wrapped up in work. So maybe it’s my fault I drove her to another man.”

  “Damon, I don’t know you very well, but I know you can’t blame yourself for your wife’s actions. She did what she wanted to do. Now you have to do what you have to do. If that means forgive her and take her back, then so be it.”

  Damon looked at her like she had lost her mind. “Forgive her? Hell, no, that ain’t happening. Like I said, I still have some street in me, and next time I might not be able to calm myself down, and everything my mama worked so hard for would be gone.”

  Damon looked over at Victoria, who was walking with her head hung low, her arms wrapped around her body, trying to shield off the crisp night air.

  “I’m sorry. I’m just rambling. I know you’re dealing with your own problems, and the last thing you need is to be burdened with mine.”

  Victoria tried to force a smile. But images of her botched wedding day wouldn’t allow it. “I’m okay, I guess. Or rather, I will be okay. I guess I would just like to know why.” Victoria bit down on her bottom lip to fight back the tears she felt. “Why couldn’t he tell me beforehand? He had so many opportunities. Why would he wait until our wedding day?” she asked, more to herself than anyone else. It’s not like she expected Damon to provide her with any answers. He didn’t even know Kendrick. Hell, he didn’t even know her, for that matter.

  Damon stopped and turned Victoria toward him. “He’s a coward. That’s why he left you at the altar.” Damon gently lifted Victoria’s chin. “He wasn’t ready to get married, and he was afraid if he looked into those beautiful brown eyes of yours, he’d realize what a fool he was being.”

  Victoria stared at Damon. She felt so safe with him. It was strange. Standing here with him in this place, at this moment, she felt like she had known him forever. She looked deep in his eyes. The pain was evident in both of their faces. They were so close now, Victoria could feel the heat from his breath. Her heart began beating faster as he leaned closer to her. She closed her eyes in anticipation of his kiss. But instead, he just pulled her to him in a tight embrace. “You’re going to be fine. We’re both going to be just fine. I just know it.”

  Victoria was glad he couldn’t see the disappointment in her face. But then, she thought it probably was best he didn’t kiss her. The last thing she needed was to be getting involved with another man. Especially a man with issues of his own.

  “It’s getting late,” Damon finally said, breaking the awkward silence between them. “I’d better be getting you back to your room.”

  Victoria simply nodded, and Damon took her hand and started leading her back down the beach.

  They walked back to the hotel in silence. Once they were in front of her hotel room, Damon reached in and hugged her again. “Thank you for saving me from doing something stupid—again.” The feelings running through Victoria’s body were undeniable.

  It has to be because I’m hurting, and he’s a good-looking man, she thought. That’s all it is. “What was it you said? We’re saving each other,” Victoria whispered as they released each other’s embrace. Both of them just stood there for a few seconds, like they didn’t want the other to go.

  “So…um…how long are you here?” Damon finally asked.

  Victoria slightly shrugged. “The room is paid for for a week. So I guess a week. What about you? Now that you’ve gotten what you came here for, when are you leaving?”

  Damon looked off. “I guess I’ll head back tomorrow. I have some divorce paperwork to begin.”

  Tomorrow? Victoria thought. She didn’t know what it was, but she was hoping to spend a little more time with him. If anything, just for the company. She enjoyed talking to him, and the thought of spending the rest of the week by herself was no longer appealing.

  “Oh…tomorrow, huh? Well…” Victoria struggled to find something to say. “Well, maybe we can have breakfast or something before you head out.”

  Damon smiled for the first time since his fight with his wife. “Breakfast sounds great. So, um, I guess I’ll call you in the morning?”

  “Yeah, that sounds like a plan.” Again, they just awkwardly stood there. Victoria felt like a nervous teenager.

  “Well, good night,” Victoria finally said as she slipped her key into the door. Damon watched as she walked into the room. He waved softly just before she shut the door. Victoria leaned against the door and closed her eyes. What the hell was going on with her body? Even though Kendrick had done her wrong, she still loved him. She had always been a one-man woman. It had been years since she had been even remotely turned on by anyone other than Kendrick. So why was moisture building up between her legs over this man she barely knew?

  Victoria softly banged her head up against the door, wishing she had made a move to at least kiss Damon. She wanted to kiss him. She needed to kiss him. Just to see what it felt like, feel his tongue intertwine with hers. That’s it. A little kiss.

  “Too late now,” Victoria mumbled as she made her way to the bedroom. The oversize king bed was beckoning her, it looked so inviting. But it also looked like it was definitely made for two. Victoria shook off thoughts of Damon as she changed into her nightgown. The thoughts wouldn’t go away, and as she slipped underneath the covers, she rubbed herself between her legs and mumbled, “It’s going to be a long night.”

  Chapter 6

  What the—?” Victoria groggily pulled herself out of the bed. Was that banging on her door? It took her a minute to compose herself and focus. She had tossed and turned since Damon dropped her off at her room. She finally got to sleep around two. Victoria glanced at the clock on the nightstand: 4:09. Who the hell would be banging on her door at four in the morning?

  Victoria dragged herself over to the door and looked out the peephole. What was going on? She ran her fingers through her hair, made sure to wipe the sleep out of her eyes, then opened the door. “Damon? What’s up?”

  Damon was standing there, nervously twisting his hands. “Hi, I’m…I’m sorry to wake you up, but it’s just, um…”

  “It’s just what?” Victoria asked. As much as she enjoyed talking with him, it was four in the morning.

  Damon didn’t say anything else. He just pulled Victoria toward him and planted a firm kiss on her lips. It caught her off guard at first, but then she relaxed, and her body seemed to melt in his embrace. He eased into the room, his tongue now making its way down her neck. Victoria felt on fire. She wanted to stop and ask him why he was doing this. She knew his passion was coming from pain.So is yours, a voice in her head answered. He planted gentle, moist kisses on her neck.

  As Damon began gently lowering the strap on her gown, Victoria briefly considered stopping him. Was she really about to sleep with a man she had just met? What the hell? He wanted her, and she wanted him. Who cared what had driven them to each other’s arms? She led him to her bed and eased onto it, never taking her eyes off his muscular physique. Damon stood at the edge of the bed and slowly began removing his shirt. After throwing it on the floor, he unbuckled his pants, then stepped out of those. Victoria smiled as she gazed at the huge, rock-solid lump in his briefs.

  “Are you okay with this?” Damon asked as he leaned over her.

  Victoria nodded. “I know we’re both
going through some things, but this just feels so right,” she said.

  Damon nuzzled her neck as he massaged her breasts. “Let’s forget about them. Tonight is about us.”

  Victoria was glad she had decided to go ahead and put on her sexy negligee, although she could’ve probably been wearing a burlap sack and Damon wouldn’t have cared. Damon took his time with her, teasing her in all the right places, working his tongue like a pro. He kissed her breasts like they were treasure mounds, gentle and slowly. He ran his tongue around her nipple before biting it just enough to send sensations fluttering through Victoria’s body. While he continued to suck and caress her breasts, he moved his hand slowly down her stomach. When he reached her pubic hair, he massaged her gently before inserting two fingers into her moistness. He worked those fingers so good, Victoria felt like she wanted to cry. By the time Damon was ready to enter her, she had already climaxed twice.

  Victoria felt him guide his penis toward her, and some semblance of common sense prevailed. She forced herself to stop and mutter, “Condom?”

  Damon didn’t stop kissing her as he took her hand and guided it down so she could feel the condom firmly in place.

  Victoria smiled, wondering how he had got it on without her knowing. “Damn, you’re good,” Victoria muttered.

  Damon pushed himself inside Victoria and moaned, “Baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

  Victoria lay staring at the ceiling. Part of her felt like she should feel guilty or something. Here she was in a foreign country, in bed with a strange man. This was so out of character for her. But damn, it had felt so good. They had made love the rest of the night. It was unbridled passion. And something Victoria definitely needed.

  Damon stretched his arms out. “Hey, how long have you been up?”

  “Just a little while. Just lying here, thinking.”

  Damon was silent for a few minutes. “Any regrets?”

  Victoria thought about it briefly. “None. You?”