Darren understood why Jill needed to protect herself from male gigolos who would try to take her for every cent she had. But hadn’t he proved that he wasn’t that kind of guy? Anger began to burn inside him all over again. What it all boiled down to was that Jill didn’t trust him. How could she not trust that he loved her?
Though he was tempted to drive past the restaurant, Darren pulled in behind Jill. As he watched her get out of the car, his anger began to subside. She looked even more beautiful than when he saw her standing in the gym. With her hair pulled back in a ponytail, she didn’t look like a CEO and she definitely didn’t look like a maneater.
“Darren,” she said, “is this place all right?”
“This is fine.”
They walked into the restaurant in silence. Darren didn’t know if he should say something or let Jill do all the talking. Then again, getting something to eat had been his idea.
Since the restaurant wasn’t full, Darren and Jill sat themselves, choosing a secluded table in the rear of the bistro.
After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Jill looked deep into Darren’s eyes.
“Thank you,” she said. “I know you really don’t want to be here.”
“Well, I know we need to hash things out between us,” he said.
“Whatever it takes,” she said.
Darren placed his hands on the table. “Maybe we just need some closure. It’s obvious that our relationship was flawed to begin with.” The words burned in his mouth. He didn’t want to end his relationship with Jill forever. What he should have been saying was that he loved her still and just didn’t understand why she didn’t trust him.
“What are you saying?” she asked, her lips quivering. “Is there no chance for us?”
“How can there be, Jill? You obviously thought I was after something from you or else you would’ve been honest with me about DVA and all of that.”
“I was afraid things would change.”
Darren folded his arms across his chest. “Why would you think something like that?”
She turned her head away from him. “Let me ask you something. If you had known the night you met me that I was DVA’s CEO, would you have still asked me out?”
“Yes,” Darren said.
She tilted her head to the side and looked at him. “Darren.”
“You know what; I think you like thinking that all men want to use you. It gives you an excuse to play these little games. Maybe you’re the one with the problem.”
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t think I was stuttering. Jill, the man who truly loves you doesn’t give a damn if you’re CEO or a damn mail clerk.”
“Are you still that man?” she asked.
It was Darren’s turn to look away. Should he tell her the truth? Tell her how these past two months had been pure hell for him and that all he’d been able to think about was having her in his arms again.
“I don’t know,” he finally said.
“What do you mean, you don’t know? You just said that all of this about me being CEO didn’t matter. We can’t keep going back and forth like this. Either you’re going to forgive me or we need to say goodbye.”
“Is that what you want?” he asked, though the answer was plain to see. Neither of them wanted to say goodbye. Neither of them wanted to let go of what they’d shared. Darren still loved her and if he could get past his disappointment and mistrust, then he could let Jill back into his heart.
But would this always be an issue for them? And what about the things that had been written about her? How much of that article was true? What if she…Darren shut his mind off. He’d been a fool for too long. He’d known that none of that stuff written about Jill was true. She loved hard and no “playgirl” could do that.
Still, he had his pride and walking back into her arms would make him look like a fool to his men at the station, to his brother and anybody else who saw that magazine.
But those people didn’t really mean anything in the long run. Let them think whatever they wanted.
“Darren?” Jill said.
“I love you. I really love you. When we got back from Charleston, I wanted to take you out to dinner and ask you to be my wife. Then I got blindsided by all this. You made a good point; I did let my ego get in the way. I was embarrassed that my woman didn’t trust me enough to be honest, embarrassed that my face was plastered all over town with this woman who was some kind of maneater. What can I say? Men are egocentric. I’d like to believe that I’m the only man you’ve ever loved or made love to, but I know that isn’t true. However, to have the whole city knowing every little detail about my woman was disheartening.”
“How many times do I have to tell you that article was a lie,” she replied with annoyance in her voice.
“I know what you’ve said,” Darren stated. He placed his hands on top of Jill’s. “And I believe you. Maybe I took too long to say it.”
“But you’ve said it.”
Before they could say anything else, a waitress walked over to take their order. Darren watched Jill as she asked the woman about the specials. Why had he been so stupid to spend these last months without her?
“Jill,” he said when the waitress walked away. “Why don’t we take our lunch to go?”
She eyed him, seemingly reading the desire in his eyes. “Oh my,” she said, and then waved for the waitress.
Chapter Twenty-six
Jill stretched her body as she woke from the most blissful dream. Darren had taken her into his arms, kissed her tearstained cheeks and made love to her until she melted. Rolling over on her side, she reached for her pillow. Instead she encountered something hard.
Opening her eyes, she realized that it was no dream. Darren was right there beside her and she was in his bed. He opened his eyes and reached for her hand.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I’m better than I’ve been in a while,” she replied. “I thought I was dreaming.”
“So did I, until you clocked me in the head.”
Jill blushed and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Darren, I’m truly sorry about what happened and not being honest with you.”
“Shh, if we’re starting over right now, then nothing else matters,” he said, stroking her hair. “Unless you have some other secret you need to tell me.”
“There are no more secrets.” She locked her fingers with his. “So many times I wanted to tell you and I felt as if I could tell you, but something always got in the way.”
Darren held her face in his hands. “What got in the way?”
“Mostly my insecurities. I thought telling you the truth would mean that I was going to be alone.”
“Why, Jill? Was there some kind of vibe that you got from me that made you think I was going to run? I love you, Jill, rich, poor or whatever.”
“I know that now.”
“But I have to know that you trust me,” Darren said.
“I do.”
“And that means that there are no more secrets, no more taking on the Davids of the world without me. I could have stopped him from running that article, you know.”
Jill smiled as she imagined him punching David out and standing over him telling him that the lies he’d written about her were never going to see the light of day.
“Darren,” Jill began. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize again. As a matter of fact, I owe you an apology. I should have never walked away from you without hearing you out.”
“You won’t get any argument from me,” she said.
Darren smiled at her. “What I’m trying to say is that we both made mistakes. I can’t let you sit here and think that everything that went wrong between us was your fault alone. I can imagine that I made it hard for you to open up to me about your CEO status with the way I talked about you working too much and everything. I wasn’t trying to be difficult, but I guess I made things that way.”
Jill brushed her lips
against his. “Where do we go from here?”
Darren reached into his nightstand drawer and retrieved a black velvet box. Flipping it open, he said, “To the altar, if you’ll have me.”
“Oh my God, Darren, are you sure about this?” Tears of joy sprang to her eyes.
“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life. I love you, woman.”
“But your family and everyone who read that article…”
Darren placed his finger to Jill’s lips. “I don’t give a damn what anyone else thinks. Worrying about other people is why I almost lost you.”
She held her left hand out and let Darren slip the diamond ring on. “Baby,” she said, “I love it.”
“And I love you.” He leaned in, gently pecking her lips.
Jill greedily captured his lips, savoring the taste of his kiss as his hands roamed the curves of her body. She felt his arousal pressing against her thighs and she parted her legs, allowing him entry into her awaiting body. Darren pressed into her as she wrapped her legs around his waist. She’d never desired a man the way she longed for Darren. Making love to him was like flying up to the sun and kissing it. He was a tender lover, a compassionate man who wanted to make Jill feel good. He touched her soul as well as gave her physical release. This was what she’d missed when they were apart, his gentle way with her.
Jill gripped his shoulders as they flipped over so that she was on top. They interlocked fingers as she rode his throbbing manhood, moaning in delight. Darren took her hardened nipples into his mouth, alternating between them, sucking and licking her until she quivered in delight. Her legs began to shake as the orgasm began to rattle her senses. “Oh, Darren,” she moaned, and then collapsed on his chest. Together, they exploded in ecstasy.
For the rest of the afternoon, Jill and Darren stayed in his bed, making up for lost time and celebrating their engagement.
By the time they’d pried themselves from each other’s arms, stars were twinkling in the sky. Wrapped in a white sheet, Jill opened the patio doors and looked up at the sky and said a silent prayer of thanks to God for bringing Darren into her life and for him forgiving her.
“What are you doing out here?” Darren asked as he encircled her waist.
“Thinking, praying, breathing.”
“Hungry?”
“Starved.”
He snuggled closer to her, kissing her neck as they stared at the same star.
“That’s ours,” he said. “That’s our star.”
She turned and faced him, her eyes glistening with happy tears. “I’ve never had a man give me stars before.”
He lifted her into his arms. “Whatever you want, I’m going to give it to you.”
“All I want is for you to love me,” she whispered. “Just love me.”
* * *
Darren watched Jill sleep, taking note of the way her chest rose and fell with each breath she took. She was going to be his wife, finally. Now how was he going to explain that to his mother? Ever since Margaret had seen the magazine article, she hadn’t had two nice words to say about Jill.
“That lying hussy,” she had said. “Who does she think she is, lying like that? I don’t understand these young women.”
Darren had just sat silently while his mother ranted and raved. At that moment, he’d wanted to hear someone curse Jill; he’d wanted to hear her being torn down. Now he was going to have to go to his mother and make her understand that Jill was the woman he loved and planned to marry. He might have had a better chance of brokering a peace deal in the Middle East. Darren stroked her cheek gently, running his index finger down her jawline. She stirred slightly underneath his touch but didn’t wake up. He continued exploring her body, slipping his hand underneath the thin sheet that covered her naked body. She was his, totally and completely.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Darren squeezed Jill’s hand as they walked up the steps to his mother’s house. When he’d called Margaret and told her that he was coming over for Sunday dinner, he didn’t tell her Jill was coming with him. He’d just said, “Set an extra place.”
Knowing his mother the way he did, Darren knew she thought he was bringing Cleveland.
“Are you sure your mother is going to be okay with me being here?” Jill asked as Darren turned the doorknob.
“Everything is going to be fine,” he said, mostly to convince himself. “Mom?”
Margaret walked into the living room with a smile on her face, but the moment she saw Jill, her smile turned into a scowl.
“What’s she doing here?” she demanded.
“Ma,” Darren said, “I invited Jill because I have to tell you something.”
Margaret folded her arms across her chest as Jill shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
“Mrs. Alexander, I’m sorry about…”
“Jill, I really don’t want to hear anything you have to say. Just where in the hell do you get off treating my son like a piece of meat? If the shoe was on the other foot, you’d be hollering and screaming that he did you wrong.”
“You have every right to be angry with me, but at least hear me out.”
Margaret rolled her eyes. “Since I have prepared dinner, we might as well sit down and talk like civilized adults.”
Darren placed his hand on Jill’s back and led her to the dining room. Margaret had a bounty of southern foods on the table, baked chicken, steamed cabbage, macaroni and cheese, cornbread, fried green tomatoes and green beans. Darren’s mouth watered at the sight.
“Ma, you outdid yourself today.”
“I thought both of my sons were going to be eating with me,” she said.
The trio sat down and fell into an uncomfortable silence. Darren held Jill’s hand underneath the table.
“So, what kind of spell did you cast on my son to make him take you back?” Margaret asked.
“Ma, be nice,” Darren said. “I love Jill.”
“And?”
“Mrs. Alexander, I messed up because I didn’t tell Darren that I was the CEO of DVA, but that other stuff in that magazine wasn’t true,” Jill said.
“Did you think he was after your money? Darren can and has been taking care of himself for a number of years.” Anger peppered her tone. “My husband and I raised our children not to take anything from anybody.”
“I never thought Darren would try to take anything from me. I was afraid to tell him because I was holding on to baggage from my past. And that same past came back to haunt me with that article.”
Margaret held up her hand. “I thought you said this article was a lie? If that’s the case, how did your past play into that article?”
Jill sighed and Darren squeezed her hand tighter. “The publisher of the magazine was once my boyfriend. Well, he pretended to be. His goal was to come into my life and steal my company away from me. And that’s why I had my guard up when it came to opening up to Darren. That was wrong on my part.”
Margaret leaned in as Jill spoke. Darren knew what she was doing. His mother was trying to read Jill and see if she was actually telling the truth. He’d seen her do this plenty of times when he or Cleveland tried to explain something to her.
“So what did you do to that man so he’d print these kinds of stories about you?” Margaret asked.
“I fired him. Instead of allowing him to steal my company, I took over the one he worked for and fired everybody.”
Darren knew his mother was impressed. That sounded like something she would have done had she been in that situation. One thing Jill and his mom had in common was their spunk. Though he was still going to marry Jill whether Margaret accepted her or not, he wanted the two most important women in his life to get along.
“I guess he would be miffed enough to write something like that,” Margaret said. “Don’t hurt my son again, Jill. I mean it.”
“Ma, come on,” Darren said, “we’re past that. Jill and I have worked out our differences and we’re back on track.”
Margaret
nodded as she filled their glasses with iced tea. “All right,” she said.
“And,” Darren continued, “We’re getting married.”
Margaret slammed the pitcher down on the table. “No. It’s too soon. You know what happened the last time you rushed into a marriage. I hope you didn’t come here expecting me to cosign you making another mistake with a woman.”
Jill rose to her feet. “With all due respect, Mrs. Alexander, I’ve owned up to the mistake I made and Darren and I have worked through that. We’re getting married and putting the past behind us.”
Darren stood beside Jill. “Ma, we want you to share in our future. If I can forgive Jill, why can’t you?”
“Why don’t y’all just sit down and let’s eat,” Margaret said.
Darren nodded toward Jill. He sat down and she followed his lead.
“All right,” Margaret said. “Darren, you’re a grown man and I can’t pretend that I know what goes on behind closed doors with the two of you. But, Jill, how are you going to be a good wife and a CEO?”
That was a question Darren also wanted to hear the answer to.
“Anything worth having is worth working for and Darren is worth having. I love him and I love my work, but I finally have my priorities straight. Since I own the company, I can balance my time between my family and work easily.”
Margaret took a sip of her tea. “Then all I can say is welcome to the family.”
* * *
The next few weeks were a blur for Jill as she and Darren planned for their wedding. One day Shari went with her to a bridal shop.
“I can’t believe you’re getting married,” Shari said, resting her hands on her swelling belly. “My editors at Essence want me to interview you about the scandal with David and your upcoming wedding.”
“I’m done with the press. No offense, but Atlanta and the rest of the world have read enough about my life. Darren and I want this to be as low key as possible. I’ll confess, though, that a part of me wants to send David an invitation just so he can see that his plan didn’t work.”
Business of Love Page 23