by Mia Caldwell
I yanked my head backward, "I will not be your other woman!" I shouted. "I was on the other end of this. I will not make another woman feel the way I felt."
"What?" His eyes darted back and forth like he was trying to read me. Like I was an illegible book.
"You. Have. A. Girlfriend." I snarled.
He stepped back. "What makes you think that?" he asked.
God damn him, why was he being deliberately obtuse? "The bouquet, asshole."
His eyebrows slammed together. "That isn't for my girlfriend, Shay. You have the wrong idea about me." He at least had the grace to sound angry now.
I folded my arms. "I don't think I do."
"Oh really?" His gray eyes snapped and he folded his arms across his broad chest. "Well then. you've already made up your mind about me, how can I defend myself against that?"
"You can't," I said. But there was a small tremor in my voice.
He heard it too. "I think you believe me. You want to believe me."
"I don't." But I did. I wanted so badly to believe him and then for him to kiss me like that again.
"You're making an awful lot of assumptions about me when you have no idea what kind of man I am." He sounded more disappointed than mad.
I hid my shaking hands behind my back. "So what kind of man are you?" I snapped.
He moved to cup my face again. "Let me show you," he murmured. "What do you need, Shay, hmm?"
I was overheated and freezing at the same time. My cheeks were still frozen, but my lips burned where he kissed me. "I need to be able to trust you," I said haltingly. "And that will take...time." Everything felt sped up, including my heart. "Time," I repeated firmly. "I need time." Time to learn to trust you...and myself around you.
He nodded. "Very well then. I can give you time," he said softly. "I can give you the time of your life."
His fingers traveled to my face, hovering just above my skin. Like he wanted to touch me but was holding back.
"I'll take my flowers now," he said. He sounded sad now.
I swallowed and went to the refrigerator case. I had finished the arrangement yesterday all the while sipping the coffee he had brought me. All the while my hand tingled from the touch of his lips. And now I lifted it while my lips still burned from his kiss.
It was beautiful and I was almost sorry to see it go.
He looked at it and a soft whistle escaped his lips. "She'll love it," he said tightly. Sadly.
"I hope she does." And I meant it, somehow.
He reached for my face again. A slight tremor shook him, like he was deciding something.
Then he pulled away and put his gloves back on. "I'll be by tomorrow, when you close," he told me, suddenly all business. "I'm taking you out, Shay."
"You are?"
"Yes." It was a simple, inarguable fact, the way he said it. I could no more argue with him than I could claim the sky was green. Or that his eyes were anything but shattered gray. "I'll be here right at close, so be ready."
I watched him, open mouthed and breathless from his touch, as he turned and walked out the door of the shop. He paused, turned back. "And wear layers," he called as the door closed.
Chapter Seven
Kit made several strangled sounds in his throat. Like he was at war with himself. I was glad I had waited until close to tell him about my date tonight. The less time I gave him to grill me, the easier it would be to slip away.
"I know, I know," I told him. "But I believe him when he says he isn't a cheater." I tried to put more decisiveness into my tone, but it sounded hollow in my ears.
"Well then, tell me all about it tomorrow, lover," Kit replied in his wary sing-song.
I sighed. "Of course." Maybe that's it? Maybe I'm in the clear?
And then, almost as if it were an afterthought, he piped up innocently, "Does Jazzy know you're seeing him?"
This time it was me that was making the strangled sounds.
"Aha," Kit said smugly. "And what would she say if I called her and told her right now?" he asked, turning in the swivel chair.
I lunged for his phone on the desk. "Don't you dare!"
"Mmhmm." He folded his arms over his beefy chest. "One chance, lover," he held up an index finger the size of a sausage. "That's all I'm giving him. If he so much as looks at you the wrong way, I'm coming down on him with the full force of my wrath. Which, I'll have you know, is totally terrible."
I huffed. "You told me to do him, I'll have you recall?"
He shook his head emphatically. "He seduced me with those eyes. I have since come to my senses and am back to calm, rational self."
I crossed my arms. "Uh huh. That's you all right." I scoffed. "Whatever happened to your life's mission? Getting me laid?"
His eyes softened. "I revised the mission statement. Now it reads, 'Seeing Shay happy.'"
I blinked back the sudden tears. Not know what else to say, I hugged him fiercely. "I'll be okay," I told him. Then seeing my opportunity, "And if you so much as breathe a word to Jazz before I do, I'll tell Mom to take away your cookie privileges. She'll listen to me too. You know she likes me better than you."
He feigned shock. "You absolute bitch. Get out of my store."
I laughed and did just that, wrapping my scarf up around my mouth and stepping out under the awning. I was still in my work slacks and white blouse. In an effort to convince myself of how not excited I was to go on this date, I had refused to pack a change of clothing this morning. I was regretting this decision right about now.
A sleek black car rolled up to the curb. A driver stepped out and smartly stepped up onto the sidewalk and opened the rear door.
"Shay! Come inside before you freeze," Liam called.
I slid into the backseat, trying in vain to act like this was a completely normal thing for me. I knew Liam was rich, that much was obvious. But to be confronted with the riches, head on like this, well that was another thing entirely. I perched nervously at the edge of my seat, feeling out of my element, while Liam settled himself comfortably next to me.
The driver was a light-skinned Black man, wearing dark tinted aviators in spite of the darkness outside. "Can he see in those?" I whispered nervously.
Liam looked confused for a moment. "Darius? Oh, he always wears shades. It's his thing," he grinned and shot an affectionate look at the man who stared impassively forward. "I'm honestly not sure I've ever seen his eyes, the whole time I've known him."
"How long have you known him?"
"All my life," he replied simply.
I looked again at the man. There was something familiar about him, though I was sure I had never seen him before. "Who is he?"
"Darius."
"But what does he do?"
Liam spread his hands. "He's my driver, my assistant, my bodyguard, my confidante. I hate the word butler, because he's more than that."
If Darius heard any of this, he wasn't letting on. We turned down the snowy streets, past the glimmering lights of Rittenhouse Square. We were headed north on 16th and my curiosity was growing. "How did you two meet?" I asked.
"Honestly I couldn't tell you. He's been around forever. Even when I was a kid, Darius was there. He looks out for me."
I looked at Liam, all six foot two, powerfully built intensity. "You don't seem like you'd need anyone looking out for you," I teased.
His dimple flashed mischievously. "Maybe not now, but I got into some shit when I was young."
"Yeah? Tell me about this shit."
"Boy stuff, you know the drill. Stupid risks and rebellion." His mouth twisted oddly. "Dahlia nipped that in the bud."
"Dahlia?"
"My mother. She never let me call her Mommy or Mom or anything. Even when I was a toddler, she was always Dahlia. I tried calling her Mama once and she didn't speak to me the rest of the day." He shivered. "Felt like the end of the world. I learned not to make that mistake again."
A chill hung in the air, heavy with questions I didn't feel right asking. "Maybe she never t
hought of herself as being a mother and when it happened it was a hard transition?"
His mouth tightened. "Yeah that's probably it," he said shortly. Then he abruptly looked out of the window and brightened. "We're here!"
I pressed my nose against the tinted glass. Above us rose the impressive marble structure of the Franklin Institute. "You're taking me to a museum?" I asked. Then I looked again. The floodlights lit it, hitting the falling snow so that it sparkled like confetti as it fell silently to earth, but otherwise there was no motion. "It looks closed," I observed dumbly.
"Huh." Liam wore this secret, proud grin that made no sense. Hadn't he thought to check the opening times?
Darius opened the door, allowing the rush of icy air into the warm interior of the car. I slid awkwardly to the side, my foot catching a bit of ice. I would have slipped but for Darius's grip on my arm as strong as the branch of an oak tree. "Thanks," I gasped.
"No problem," he rumbled. There really was something familiar about his face. The way it was put together, the way the bones moved under his skin. I was staring at him as he stared impassively forward. I shook my head and turned to Liam.
"It's definitely closed," I observed again. "I guess we'll have to go somewhere else?"
"No, let's go see," he urged.
"Um," I followed him up the steps. There was a white sign hanging across the huge wooden doors. "Closed for a Private Event," it read. "See there?" I pointed. "It's closed."
Liam's gray eyes caught the glow of the yellow streetlamp and glinted with proud mischief. "Why don't we go in, before we freeze to death?"
I gaped at him as he swung open the door. "Liam!" I whispered, afraid of getting caught. "It's a private event!"
"I know," he smiled. "We're the private event, Shay."
I stumbled and stood rooted to the spot. "We?"
"Yeah. I called in a favor. There's something I wanted to do for you."
For me? With no other idea but to follow him and see how this all played out, I tiptoed into the eerily quiet museum. All the displays lurked in shadowy corners, giving the main floor of the place a definite horror movie vibe. I had been here as a child and remembered my terror at some of the exhibits, and that terror nipped at the backs of my heels as I darted past the saber-toothed tiger exhibit. I swear their dull, flat eyes followed us as we passed by.
Definitely not how I imagined my first date.
Liam's long legs pulled him ahead of me, and he stopped at the bottom of the marble staircase that swooped its way down from the upper level. "Up here," he beckoned, reaching for my hand.
It was the first time his bare skin had touched mine since he kissed me. It was a friendly touch, an easy touch. Just a nice, good looking guy helping me to climb the huge staircase. But somehow that made it worse.
When he kissed me without asking, I could dismiss him as being a pushy asshole. But when he held my hand, I couldn't help but think he might be something more.
The sound of footfall behind us made me jump. "There's someone here!" I gasped.
"It's Darius," Liam said lightly, squeezing my hand. "He parked the car."
"He stays with us?"
"He stays around," Liam said, but this time the lightness felt more forced. "You get used to him being there. He fades into the background."
I looked down the stairs. Darius's huge form was completely in shadow. He stood near the door, arms crossed over his chest, protective and alert.
"Up through here," Liam encouraged me, and I wrenched my eyes away from the bodyguard and to where he was pointing. And then I finally understood.
"The butterflies?" I gasped.
He pushed open the door to the solarium and the intense lights hit us with the full force of the sun. All around color bloomed and the air was filled with the swirling, fluttering bodies of the butterflies as they flitted from flower to flower, oblivious to the cold that reigned outside.
"Ooh," I gasped as the heat tingled on my skin. Immediately, I unraveled my scarf and shrugged off my coat. Liam silently swooped behind me, catching my coat up as I rolled up my shirtsleeves and let the warm air hit the bare skin of my arms. "Oh my gosh, it feels so good to be warm!"
The hot, moist air kissed my dried out skin, and the colors awakened my winter-deadened eyes. I laughed out loud and rushed towards the flowers, gasping as a Monarch alighted on my arm. "Oh my gosh," I squeaked, watching the delicately veined wings rise and fall like baby's breath before it lifted off, as light as a feather. I watched it swirl upward until it vanished into the tornado of color all around us.
"Oh my gosh," I repeated, struck dumb.
"You like it?" Liam asked, moving next to me.
I turned to him. He had shrugged off his coat as well and stood next to me in a dove grey pullover that exactly matched his eyes. It was the first time I could see his true form without the added bulk of winter coats and what I saw made me bite my lip momentarily.
He had the long, rangey build of a swimmer, strong and sure and erect. The sweater was a fine as silk, stretching over his pecs and biceps lovingly. It looked so touchably soft, and he looked so warm underneath with his impossibly burnished skin for the dead of winter. Even my dark skin was ashy and gray after the month brutal cold, but he had a bronzed glow of health that seemed to come from within.
My hands moved, fluttering like the butterflies against my sides and I finally contented myself with clasping his hand. "Thank you. This is exactly what I needed."
Chapter Eight
Kiki looked so happy she seemed ready to pass out. "And then what happened?!" she demanded, the scoop of ice cream poised against her lips.
We were spread out on Jasmine's floor in a cocoon of blankets. Kiki had shown up after work with three pints of Ben and Jerry's and a burning desire to rehash my date with Liam.
"Ice cream in the dead of January?" Jasmine had shaken her head and turned to her cabinets. "There's only one way this will make sense."
I took another sip of that sense now, letting the whiskey-laced hot chocolate warm me after the bite of ice-cream. "And then we walked," I said.
"That's it?" Keysha squealed. "You just...walked?"
"You have no idea how good it felt to be warm." I protested. "We walked around the exhibit like fifty times, just...talking."
"And then what?" her eyes twinkled. I knew what she wanted, but I couldn't lie.
"Nothing." I couldn't hide my grimace and Jasmine shot me a look over the rim of her hot chocolate mug.
"Nothing?" Kiki repeated.
I leaned back against the sofa with a sigh and rearranged my blankets. "I told him I needed time," I laughed lightly. "Maybe...that was a bad idea?"
Kiki nodded feverishly, but Jasmine held up her hand. "No, it wasn't."
Jazzy had been silent all through my story, so when she finally spoke up, we both looked expectantly at her. "Granny's got something on her mind," I teased. "Speak to us, oh wise woman. Impart your wisdom upon us."
Jasmine shot me a look. "Well, my child," she intoned in a grand, dramatic voice, then switched over to her normal tone. "I think moving slowly is exactly the right move, Shay. You always look for meaning in things, deeper meanings." Kiki nodded in emphatic agreement. "And sometimes," Jasmine went on, "that means you miss what's right in front of your nose." She leaned back and cupped her drink with both hands, fixing me with her professor's stare. "People tell you exactly who they are, Shay. You just have to listen to them."
The silence stretched out, long and painful. I knew what she was saying. Tre was a cheater, I always knew that about him. He cheated on girls before me, why did I think he wouldn't do the same to me? Other than my desire to believe he meant something more when he said he wouldn't do that again.
Kiki squirmed under the heavy silence. "What I want to know," she piped up, "is who this Darius guy is, he sounds like some kind of action hero."
I perked up. "He acted like it. All mysterious, only speaking in two word sentences, lurking in the shadows like that."<
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"Mysterious Darius," Jasmine piped up immediately. "Shadow in the night."
"Guarding you from danger," Kiki picked up the thread.
"Ooh, he needs a theme song."
"Dun dun DUN dun, DARIUS! Mysterious DARIUS!" Kiki rapped out a rhythm on her thighs.
I shook my head. "You two are completely nuts. I mean, maybe it's a rich person thing to have people around you like that?"