“And you didn’t say anything?” Sasha asked.
“What could I do? What could I say to the man who was in love with my wife? He was like a brother to me. I did the only thing I could and ordered another round.”
“I refuse to believe that Uncle Camden made me his heir out of revenge.”
“I, as well,” her mother responded.
“I knew you would take her side.”
“There are no sides in this, Arthur. Even you can’t deny that Camden loved Sasha, loved her as the daughter he never had.”
“You mean the daughter that he couldn’t have because he was in love with you.”
Her mother’s face turned as if she’d been slapped. The air rushed of Sasha’s lungs.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”
Her mother stood and then held up a single finger. “Don’t talk to me, Arthur.”
Sasha sat rooted to her seat as her mother turned and looked at her. “Butterfly, I need to get out of here before I say something to your father that I’ll regret.”
“Where are you going to go? You can’t drive.”
The air left Sasha’s lungs in a whoosh at her father’s snide remark. Yes, she’d overheard her parents arguing before, but she’d never seen her father behave in such a hateful manner.
“I can walk and I can still dial a phone.”
Sasha leaped from her seat and grabbed her mom’s arm. “Mom, why don’t I take you upstairs so you can rest? You always said traveling wears you out.”
“That’s too close. I need to be miles, not yards from your father.”
“Leave your mother alone. I’ll drive you where you want to go.”
“No, thank you,” her mother practically spat.
Sasha let out a sigh of resignation. “Just let me get the keys, Mom. I’ll meet you in your room in ten minutes.”
It took her two minutes to locate the phone and twenty seconds to dial Trey’s number. Her evening plans had gone down in a ball of flames the moment the doorbell had rung that afternoon.
Trey was just stepping out of the shower when the phone rang.
“Trey.”
“Hello, beautiful, how did you know that I was hoping to hear your sweet sexy voice?”
“Great minds think alike.”
“I really wanted to wake you up just to see you smile.”
“I think it was for the best, Trey. I’m sorry but I can’t see you for a few days.”
He finished drying off and headed into the closet. “Oh, well, we’re still on for my grandfather’s birthday party, right? My mother won’t let me come home unless I’ve got you on my arm.”
“I won’t be able to make that, either.”
Trey was so startled he let go of his towel. “What’s happened?” he demanded after reaching over and grabbing a pair of black slacks.
“My parent showed up on my doorstep.”
“I thought you said your parents live in Cuba.”
“They do. Someone showed them a picture of us at the zoo exhibit party.”
“And… There’s a perfectly respectable picture of us in the newspaper. I’m not seeing the problem.”
“I didn’t tell them about you. And if you read the article you’ll see that the reporter called me ‘Atlanta’s Millionaire Bachelorette.’ I hadn’t told them about the inheritance yet, either.”
Things clicked into place as Trey recalled some of the snippets of conversations when Sasha had described her parents. From what he’d gleaned, Dr. Arthur Clayton wouldn’t react well to finding out his daughter was keeping secrets. “Damn. I’ll be right over.”
“No, you won’t. I got myself into this situation—I’ll resolve it. I should have told them about all of this a long time ago.”
“You shouldn’t go through this alone.”
“I’ll be fine. It’s just my parents.”
“You sure?” he asked. The sense of fragility and sadness in her voice pulled at his gut. He wanted to throw on his clothes and race over there and do whatever it took to make her smile.
“Positive.”
“I’ll check on you later,” Trey stated. “If you need me call my cell phone and if I don’t pick up call the office.”
“I’ll be okay.”
“Promise to call me,” he repeated. “If you don’t I’m going to be on my way over before you can hang up the phone.”
“I promise,” she replied and he caught a hint of a smile in her voice. “I’ve got to go.”
The line went dead. Trey clicked the off button on the phone and stared at it for a moment. Sasha was in trouble, but she didn’t want his help. He thought about the situation for a moment and uncertainty twisted in his stomach. What kind of man was he that his woman couldn’t depend on him? More importantly, how would he be able to keep the love of his life if her esteemed father hated his guts?
After a hard day of not only seeing his appointments, but working the emergency in-take, as well, Trey was ready for some downtime. But once behind the wheel of his SUV, he’d started having flashbacks of Sasha’s scent, her little moans and whimpers, the way she’d done a little shimmy shake leading up to her climax. Instead of going home, he’d driven to her place. Now he slowly pulled into the mansion’s circular driveway and parked in front of the entranceway.
He removed his seat belt, put his keys in his jacket pocket and he looked over at the shoebox sitting in the leather passenger seat. Sure enough, a little black and white head rose over the top to stare at him. He’d been a practicing vet for over five years and could boast that he’d never taken his work home.
Until now.
His last patient of the day lay curled up in the temperature-controlled confines of his vehicle. Named Ralph by one of the assistants, the little miniature boxer and three of his siblings had been abandoned in the clinic parking lot. The puppy inched forward and Trey was compelled to reach over and stroke him on the head. “I only need to run in for a minute. A half hour at the most.”
Black protruding eyes just continued to stare at him. Trey pulled back and turned and pulled on the door handle only to freeze as the puppy let out a small whimper.
Trey shut the door, sat back and returned his attention to Ralph. “Look, you don’t want to go in there with me. There’s my girlfriend, her parents, a Jack Russell terrier, a Persian cat about five times your size, not to mention a British butler, in there.”
Uncaring, Ralph whined again. “You just went to the bathroom before we left.”
The puppy stood on his wobbly legs and whimpered again, this time a little louder. “For being the runt of the litter you sure do have strong vocal cords. You’re supposed to be conserving your energy.”
Trey scooped Ralph up with one hand and placed him against his sweater, then zipped up his leather jacket. The dog’s little legs wiggled a bit, then he settled down and rested his face against Trey’s chest. Unconsciously a grin sprang up on Trey’s face. As he cupped his hands under Ralph’s rear end, he caught the slight sound of a tiny snore. He looked down to see the puppy’s closed eyes and open mouth. “You picked a great time to go to sleep. I might need your help in there, so don’t get too comfortable.”
He jumped out of the car and rang the doorbell, hoping that Sasha would be the one greeting him at the door. Instead the door swung back to reveal a T-shirt-and-shorts wearing Jackson. Trey fought the urge to shiver. Just looking at the other man’s pale legs made him clutch the puppy tighter.
Jackson caught his movement and narrowed his eyes. “I’m leaving for the airport within the hour.”
“Where are you headed?”
“Jamaica.”
“When will you be back?”
“The day after Arthur Clayton departs to his beloved Cuba.”
Trey scanned the area before responding, “Sasha’s father is that bad?”
“I shall tell you that Sasha’s mother is the essence of a lady—good humor, well mannered, intelligent and likable. Her husband, on the other hand, is
a narrow-minded bigot with a distain for those who live above poverty level.”
“So are her parents around?”
“They’re settled in the back guest room arguing. If you’d like to speak to Sasha, I suggest you hurry upstairs.”
“Thanks.”
“She has Darwin and Zaza with her so you might not want to let the puppy run loose.”
Trey nodded and headed for the stairs. He stopped and turned on the third step. “Hey, Jackson.”
“Yes.”
“Have a good trip.”
Trey took the stairs two at a time until he reached the landing. Then walking as softly as he could, he located Sasha’s bedroom door and tapped. The door swung open and Sasha peeked out. Her eyes widened. “Trey, what are you doing here?”
“Checking up on you.”
Between one blink and the next, she grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. “Easy, sweetheart.”
She closed the door and leaned against it. “I don’t want my parents to see you.”
He looked her over from head to toe and even covered in flannel, she was beautiful. “They can’t be that bad.”
“Dad thinks you’re an eccentric playboy who’s going to break my heart after leading me down the path to capitalist purgatory.”
“He got all that from a picture?”
“And some digging around on the Internet. He had a blast reciting all the names of your numerous ex-flames.”
Trey winced. “I think you’re right about that not meeting the parents.”
He watched as her gaze left his. “Trey, why is your chest moving?” Sasha asked.
Startled. He quickly lowered the zipper on his jacket to show Ralph’s little head.
Sasha took two steps forward and cooed. “Oh, he’s adorable.”
“Ralph’s the runt of the litter that someone dropped at the clinic’s front door last night. Most of the puppies are in good health and we’re pretty confident that once they’re weaned, we’ll be able to get them into good homes.”
“You’re going to keep him?”
“No…no. I’m just making sure that there aren’t any complications from the medication.”
“Really?” She smiled as though she were humoring him.
“Jo had a family emergency and couldn’t make the night rounds.”
“If you say so,” Sasha said, and then took another step closer to Trey. He inhaled the scent of her perfume and his body temperature shot up at least five degrees.
“He’s so cute and he doesn’t seem like he’d be any trouble. I’d take him if Darwin wasn’t such a handful.”
Trey looked down at the sleeping puppy and his gut lurched, but he fought it. “Don’t let the innocent look fool you. He sucks down milk like a baby walrus and he makes some nasty poop.”
Sasha laughed and reached out to run a finger over Ralph’s tiny head. Unbidden, his heart melted at the gentle loving expression on her face. He wished she would look at him like that instead of the canine asleep on his chest.
“I’m sure he’ll grow up to be a charmer like his vet.”
Forgetting that her parents were less than a hundred feet away, Trey leaned forward and gave in to the urge to kiss her lips. “So you think I’m charming, huh?”
“You have your moments.”
“How about now.”
“With the puppy, you are one-hundred-percent pure sexy.”
“For real.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, can I trade some of my sexiness for another kiss?” he asked.
Too busy listening to his heartbeat and tasting the sweetness of her kiss, that sound of the tapping against the door went in one ear and out the other, skipping the cognizant portion of his brain.
“I knocked, butterfly, but you didn’t answer. Your father and I talked.”
“What the—” The sound of an outraged voice pulled him from the fog of desire.
Sasha turned around and stood in front of Trey. “Mom, Dad, this isn’t what you think.”
“You’re right about that.” Her father stormed forward, glaring at Trey. “I don’t think there’s a man in your bedroom—I know he’s here.”
Her mother moved forward and placed a restraining hand on her father’s shoulder. “Arthur, calm down. Sasha is a grown woman and this is her house. She’s entitled to have company.”
Sasha never took her eyes off her father. Trey examined the man. Standing at a good five feet eleven inches, Arthur Clayton commanded respect.
“Thank you, Mother. Now that you’ve embarrassed us all. I’ll skip ahead to the introductions.”
“I know who you are. What I want to know is what you’re doing in my baby girl’s bedroom knowing that her parents are down the hall? Didn’t your parents teach you any manners or did your nanny miss that chapter in the ‘How to raise rich kids’ manual?”
“Daddy, be nice.”
Determined not to rise to the bait, Trey held out his right hand while cradling Ralph with his left. “I’m here because I care about your daughter and wanted to check on her and I’m holding out my hand to you in friendship because I was raised to respect my elders regardless of the situation.”
For a second, Trey thought Mr. Clayton would leave him hanging, but after a minute, he shook his hand.
He turned to Mrs. Clayton and put on his best smile. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet Sasha’s mother. She’s spoken about you often and I can finally see where she gets her beauty from.”
Mrs. Clayton’s brow rose but her lips inched upward in a smile. Instead of taking his hand she moved forward and enfolded him in a light hug, then moved back to examine Ralph. “I don’t know which is more adorable, you or the puppy.”
“I agree, Mom. They’re more like double trouble.” Sasha chuckled. “How about we go down to the kitchen and I can see if I can figure out how to use the coffee machine and fix us all a cup.”
“I’m sorry but I can’t stay.”
“Is that right.”
“But there’s something else I need to do before I go. I wanted to extend an invitation to your parents. Mr. and Mrs. Clayton, I can understand that you’re anxious about me and your daughter’s new situation. I’d like to invite you to my grandfather’s birthday celebration this weekend. It would be the perfect opportunity for us to get to know one another better and you can meet my family.”
“We’d—” Mr. Clayton began.
Mrs. Clayton jabbed an elbow in her husband’s stomach. “We’d love to.”
“Great. I’ll come by on Saturday morning. We’ve got lots of room at the house and Mom loves to have guests.”
He started inching toward the door and made an excuse. “I need to get home before Ralph’s next feeding. Sasha, will you walk me out?”
“Of course.”
They didn’t say a word until reaching the bottom stair. “That didn’t go well.”
“Are you kidding? My parents just weren’t speaking to each other before you arrived. I just found out that Uncle Camden was in love with my mother. At least now they’ll have something else to argue about.”
“So you’re not angry?””
“About?”
“The party. I was going to ask you last night but I was distracted.”
“By our chess match?”
He smiled. “You’ve got a pair of pieces that kept me from thinking straight.”
“No, I don’t mind. It’ll be great to see your mother again and hopefully it will help my father dig himself out of the prejudiced hole he’s dug himself into.”
Chapter 19
Two days later when Sasha opened the bedroom door at his parents’ house, Trey had to take a step back. God, she was beautiful with her black hair down and her large brown eyes shining. After the previous weekend of lovemaking, he should have been be sated or at least in more control of his libido.
He wasn’t. If they didn’t have his grandfather’s celebration to attend, and if her parents hadn’t shown up at Sasha’s doorstep, h
e’d ask her to shimmy out of the burgundy dress and play doctor.
He reached out, took her hand, and softly kissed the back. “You look like heaven.”
“I look like a TV show makeover project,” she responded. “I’m not sure I’m going to be able to get through the night without breaking my neck on these heels or passing out with embarrassment when my father goes into one of his anticapitalism tirades.”
Trey laughed at the thought of that. He gently coaxed her farther into the hallway and shut the door, just so that he wouldn’t have to look at the temptation of the nicely made up bed.
“Do you like the bedroom?”
“It’s lovely.”
“It was mine.”
Her eyes widened with disbelief. “I can’t say that the design is your style.”
“It isn’t. Once we all were kicked out of house, my mother donated all the furniture and put everything else away in the storage room off the basement. I’m sure she’s going to make a special trip down there to dig out baby pictures to humiliate me.”
“Good,” she said in an extremely cheerful tone. “I can’t wait to see them. You might have been a spoiled rotten brat as a child, but I’m sure you were just as handsome.”
Trey couldn’t resist leaning down and kissing her. Not a peck on the cheek. He kissed her softly and gently, tracing his tongue over the outside of her lips before drawing back and leaving both of them breathless.
A confident grin took over his face at the sight of Sasha’s dilated eyes. He felt like the king of the world just because he was the only one who could have that effect on her. “I might have to talk to your mother about getting some pictures of you, as well.” He chuckled.
Sasha scowled. “Over my dead body. I wasn’t a photogenic kid.”
“I’d like to be the judge of that.”
“I’m sure you would. But before you try to con my mother out of the pictures, we may want to stop by a bathroom.”
“Why?”
She laughed softly. “Because copper brown just isn’t your color and I probably look like I put my lipstick on in the dark.”
Any member of the Blackfox family could have walked down the upstairs hallway. Still, he wanted to reach over and take her into his arms. To bury his face against the curve of her neck and inhale that sultry perfume of hers. There was something about her that attracted him. Made him ache and yet at the same time softened him.
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