Her cell phone rang, shattering the silence in the room as they waited for kickoff of the next game.
“Hello?”
“Jill, it’s David.”
She rose and headed out the door. Darren watched her as she walked away.
Cleveland walked into the living room with a tray of drinks. “Where did Jill go?”
Darren pointed to the front door. “Someone called her.”
“And she walked away from you? Man, that sounds like she’s on the phone with another dude,” Roland said with his mouth full of chicken.
“Shut up,” Cleveland said. “It could be work.”
Darren didn’t say anything, but it was strange for Jill to just walk away because she got a telephone call. He wasn’t going to think the worst, though.
“Come on, dawg, if it was Darren walking away with his cell, what would she think? Women cheat just like men, ain’t that right, D.”
“Shut the hell up,” Darren bellowed. He knew the next thing out of Roland’s mouth was going to be his situation with Rita.
When Darren and Rita were married, Roland was on the Atlanta Police force with her and knew of her affair but never told Darren, despite the fact that they were supposed to be friends. After Darren announced his divorce, Roland seemed to take extra pride in Darren’s pain, telling him all about Rita’s exploits and the man she was sleeping with. That’s when Darren learned that there weren’t many people you could count on in the world and Roland was definitely not someone he would consider a good friend ever again.
“I’m just saying, after what Rita put you through, you could stand to be more suspicious when it comes to womenfolk,” said Roland.
“I asked you to drop it. You don’t need to worry about me and my relationship. You weren’t that concerned when you knew Rita was screwing around on me.”
“You need to let that go. It’s not like Rita was a prize anyway,” Roland said. “Her nickname was ‘Doorknob,’ and it wasn’t as if she was a locksmith.”
Anger bubbled in Darren’s stomach, partly because he hated to hear anyone denigrate a woman and partly because he didn’t know why Jill felt the need to run outside and have her phone conversation.
Cleveland noticed the look on Darren’s face. “Big bro, ignore Round-land. He’s sour because he has no woman and no chance of getting one. You know Jill is a workaholic or that could be an Eagles fan.”
“Whatever,” Darren mumbled and grabbed a bottle of beer. Seconds later he heard Jill’s high-pitched voice yelling. He dropped his beer and sprinted outside.
“I told you one time and I’m not telling you again. Call your reporter off or I will sue you! Yeah, whatever. Oh, grow up. You were fired because you were incompetent and a would be thief. People who I can’t trust don’t work for me. So, what is this, revenge? I wouldn’t spit on you if you were on fire, so why do I want to help your magazine? You have a nerve calling me when I’ve told you on more than one occasion that I want nothing to do with you or your business venture. This is borderline harassment and I have the full power and capability of the DVA legal department to bury you with it.”
She snapped her phone shut and turned around to find Darren behind her.
“What was that all about?” he asked.
Jill ran her hand over her face. “David, my ex, wants me to help him in his new business. Doesn’t he have a nerve! After what he did to me, he actually has the gall to hound me about this and I’ve already told him, no, hell no, no way in hell.”
Darren pulled her into his arms. “Next time he calls, you let me speak to him.”
Jill looked up at him. “I don’t need you to fight my battles.”
He held her out at arm’s length. “I didn’t say you did, but this is what boyfriends do for their girlfriends without being asked.”
“Darren, this isn’t about us. This is someone from my past with an axe to grind with me. I’ll handle it.”
“But you don’t have to handle it alone.”
“What if I want to? I don’t have to lean on you for everything; I don’t have to play the damsel in distress. I can take care of myself.”
“I’m not denying that, but I want to help you. Whoever that was on the phone seems like they’re out to get you and I want to stop that from happening. What is he doing, blackmailing you?”
“Look, I can appreciate you wanting to be there and help me, but this has nothing to do with you.”
Darren glowered at her. “So, what is going on? Is there another man or something?”
“Why would you even question me on that? Have I ever given you reason to believe that there was anyone else in my life besides you?”
He turned away from her. Neither had Rita. But in hindsight, he remembered the hushed phone calls, the moments when she’d get a call and leave the room, the secret e-mails and mysterious gifts. He had been blind one time, but he wasn’t going to be this time.
“Are you sure it’s over between you and David?”
Jill slapped her palm against her forehead. “Are you kidding me? That man cut me deeper than a butcher and you think something would be going on between the two of us? Darren, you are the only man in my life and if you don’t trust that and feel that, maybe I don’t need you in my life at all. I’ll call a cab to get home.” She started down the steps and he grabbed her arm.
“Don’t go, not like this. I didn’t mean to accuse you of cheating, but I just—it was strange for you to get up the way you did and it reminded me of my ex-wife. Besides, Jill, there are still parts of your life that are shrouded in mystery, whether you want to admit it or not.”
“No, that’s not true,” she said weakly. “But even if it is, how can you expect me to trust you when you don’t fully trust me?”
“I-I,” he sputtered. Darren knew he had scars from Rita, but he thought they had healed. He thought that being with Jill was proof of that, but it didn’t seem that way at the moment.
What in the hell am I doing? he thought. I can’t ruin the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
The front door opened and Cleveland stuck his head out. “Everything all right? The game has started and I know you football fanatics aren’t trying to miss a down.”
Jill turned away from him.
“We’re going to take off,” Darren said. “Jill’s not feeling well.”
She folded her arms across her chest, but didn’t say anything. Darren knew Cleveland saw right through his lie, but was smooth enough to say, “All right, you all drive safely.”
The silence in the car back to Jill’s place was deafening. She wouldn’t even look in Darren’s direction and he gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
“Jill, I’m sorry.”
“Whatever.”
“What does ‘whatever’ mean?”
“It means I’m tired and according to you, I don’t feel well.”
Darren pulled the car over on a side road and killed the engine.
“What are you doing?” Jill asked.
“I’ve got some explaining to do,” he said, gazing into her eyes. “Like you’ve been hurt, so have I.”
Jill cocked her head to the side as if trying to decide if his story would plausible.
Darren continued, “I fell hard and fast for my ex-wife. She was everything I thought I wanted, smart, sexy, and had goals that were more than just becoming someone’s wife. She wasn’t desperate for a man, but she made me feel wanted and needed. When I asked her to marry me I thought it was going to be forever. So you can imagine how excited I was when she came to me and told me that she was pregnant.”
“You have a child?” Jill’s eyes stretched like those of an owl.
Darren held his hand up. “Let me finish, please. Rita didn’t want a child, because as a cop, it would have been hard for her to move up in rank. I didn’t care. I would have been a stay-at-home dad if need be. But Rita wasn’t having it. We had a huge argument; she left and went to Savannah. When she came b
ack, there was no more baby.” His voice began to crack. “She initially told me she’d had a miscarriage from all of the stress she was under. But as it turned out, she’d had an abortion.”
Jill covered her open mouth with her hand. “How could she do that to you?”
“It gets deeper. The child wasn’t even mine. She’d been cheating on me. So, in the span of one day or so, I lost my child—twice—and my wife. When I looked back on the situation, I had all the signs that told me Rita was cheating. She left me with some deep scars and, honestly, they haven’t all healed. Maybe that’s why I had the reaction I had tonight, but it’s not that I don’t trust you or I have issues with you. Before the night of the fire, I’d sworn off women forever. I was ready to spend my life alone and then I met you. I don’t want my insecurities to ruin what we have. I trust you, Jill. I know you’d never hurt me and that you’re real with me.”
Jill’s eyes shone with unshed tears. “Darren, I…”
He silenced her with a tender kiss. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Now, let’s go catch the rest of this game.”
Chapter Seventeen
Jill sat in her penthouse still digesting what Darren had told her and dealing with her own guilt. Yesterday had been the perfect time to tell him that she owned DVA and explain that the reason she hadn’t told him in the beginning was because of what David and others had tried.
Today she hadn’t gone into the office because she had decided this would be the day she finally told him the truth. Now she had to build up the nerve to do it. She’d planned to cook dinner and had done her best to follow the recipes in the Cook’n to Keep Him cookbook, but she’d burned everything except the dessert. Now the plan had shifted. She was going to ask Darren out to dinner, invite him over for dessert afterwards and then tell him the truth.
There would be no backing out this time, either. She walked into to her bedroom. She picked out a simple black sheath, a pair of black tights, black heels and a pink cashmere wrap.
Next she called Darren.
“Hello, beautiful,” he said. “What are you doing at home?”
“Well, I have a lot of vacation and sick time banked, so I decided to take a day. Besides, I have something special that I want to do tonight.”
“Really? Just what would that be?”
“Well,” Jill said coyly, “it involves you, me, a little black dress, dinner, and homemade dessert.”
“Homemade as in made in your home?”
“Yes, don’t sound so shocked. But I burned dinner.”
Darren laughed. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Meet me at Houston’s on Peachtree about seven. Then after dinner, dessert’s on me,” she said suggestively.
“I like the sound of that,” he said.
“See you later,” Jill said, and then hung up. She didn’t want to tell him over the phone that she had something important to tell him. That needed to be done face to face. Maybe with everything between them now, Darren wouldn’t care. He already loved her, she already loved him. He knew she was wealthy and that hadn’t changed anything between them. But she had lied to him over and over again. What if he didn’t forgive her and walked out on her?
Then Shari would be proven right, she thought. She prayed that would not be the case.
At seven, Jill was sitting in Houston’s, waiting for Darren to walk through the door. When he did, he took her breath away. He was dressed in a pair of navy blue slacks that hugged him in all the right places, a gold turtleneck that highlighted his beautiful skin and a navy sports jacket. She wanted to forget dinner and feast on her sexy boyfriend, but tonight was about far more than her desire for him, though she didn’t know how she was going to concentrate on the purpose with Darren looking so delicious in front of her.
The hostess led him to Jill’s table and Jill saw the looks of envy the women shot her when Darren leaned in to kiss her cheek.
“This is a nice way to start the week after our boys lost the championship. And you look wonderful.”
“Look who’s talking,” she said. “You take wonderful to a whole new level.”
Darren smiled and popped his collar like a young rapper. “When you said little black dress, I knew I couldn’t come in here half-stepping.”
Jill reached across the table and covered his hand with hers. “Darren, I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said yesterday.”
“Jill, that’s over and dealt with,” he said.
“No, I have to tell you…” Before she could get the words out, flashbulbs temporarily blinded her. “What the…”
“Jill Atkinson, I’m from Atlanta Scene magazine. Care to make any comments?” the photographer inquired.
“Get away from me!” she yelled.
Darren stood to push the man out of Jill’s face, but the photographer threw his hands up and backed away.
“What’s that all about?” Darren asked.
“That call I got on Sunday from David. That jerk works for him.”
“Why does he want you in his magazine so badly?”
Tell him, she thought. “Because I’m the reason David was fired from his job. He tried to use me to get inside information about DVA.”
“Really?”
Jill sat down, picked up her glass of water and took a sip. Water wasn’t going to cut it; she needed something stronger for this.
“David and I met at one of those networking meet markets. I was new in the business, so I went to see if there were some contacts I could make. And I’d received a technology award so I wanted to have a little fun. David and I made eye contact and I thought he was going to be something special. At first he was. Dinner, dancing and visits to the office when I worked late at night.
“Well, one night, I pretended I had to work late and I had a nice romantic evening planned. But when I left to get my surprise, I came back to the office to find David copying files from my computer to feed to his bosses at Concurrent.”
“That was low. So, you turned him in and he was fired?” Darren asked.
“Not exactly. DVA took over Concurrent and everyone was fired.”
“Wow. That was cold.”
“Now he has this magazine and I’m sure it’s not a business magazine. I doubt I’ll be portrayed favorably in any story he writes. Don’t worry, though, I’ll take care of it.”
“I’m sure you will, but I would like to give this David person a smack to the face and a big thank you. Had he not been such an idiot, I wouldn’t be here with you right now,” he said. “Your bosses must have a lot of confidence in you, because I know you made the recommendation for DVA to acquire old Davey boy’s company.”
She smiled nervously. She wasn’t ready to confess, not just yet. “Uh-huh,” she said, masking her discomfort by taking a sip of water.
“You still in the mood for dinner here or do you want to skip straight to dessert?” he asked.
Jill licked her lips. “We have to have dinner first, because my Better than Sex cake isn’t for an empty stomach.”
“Better than Sex, huh?”
“That’s what the recipe said.”
“Obviously that recipe has never had the pleasure of your lovemaking,” he whispered seductively.
Jill waved for the waiter. “Can you make our meals to go?”
“Sure thing,” he said. “But I have to take your orders first.”
After quickly rushing through dinner the couple left the restaurant, quickly weaving through the midtown traffic to get to Jill’s place. Following a short ride up the elevator, Darren and Jill were sitting on her sofa, silently eating chocolate cake. She fed him a forkful of the decadent dessert, watching as his eyes rolled back in his head with every bite.
“This is good,” he said after a forkful. “And a wonderful surprise. I have one for you on Valentine’s Day, as well.”
“Really, what is it?” Jill asked.
Darren dipped his finger in the icing and placed his finger to her lips. “You’ll have to wait and s
ee, but you will need to pack a bag.”
She licked the icing from his finger then smiled. “Where are we going?”
He dipped his finger into the icing and traced Jill’s lips with it. “You’re going to love it, but right now, I’m going to love this.”
Darren kissed the chocolate away, sucking on her lip and treating her as if she were the dessert. As he kissed her, he took the plate from her hands and set it on the coffee table.
Jill was powerless to resist his kisses and his caresses, even though the reason they were at her place was to talk. But talking was the last thing on her mind when she tasted Darren’s chocolate-covered tongue. When he slipped his hands between her thighs and massaged her inner thighs with his thumbs, the last thing that mattered was the conversation she desperately needed to have with him.
With his touch, Darren made her lose herself, made her forget that she’d ever been lonely and on her way to becoming a spinster. His touch made her forget that David was out to ruin her. Made her forget that when he ran that picture of her and Darren on the front cover of his magazine their relationship was going to be over.
“Darren,” she murmured as he nibbled on her neck, still stroking her thighs and rubbing her wetness. “We need to talk.”
“We can do that later,” he replied before slipping his finger inside her throbbing vagina.
He moved his finger up and down, a promise of what was to come. Her brain was clouded with desire, wanting Darren to replace his finger with his hard manhood. Wanting Darren to take her and disappear inside her, make her womb shake from desire.
“Love me,” she moaned as she began to strip his clothes off. “I need you.”
Darren lifted her dress up to her waist, peeled her panties from her body and dove for her treasure. “You taste better than that cake. This is the chocolate I want.”
Jill clasped her thighs around his head as his tongue tasted her, teasing her button of pleasure, making her love juices cascade down her thighs like a soft summer rain. He didn’t stop but acted as if he wanted to make her lose herself with his tongue. And that’s what happened. She shook and shivered as Darren brought her to a climax.
Business of Love Page 16