When he nodded, she stated, “We have to keep this marriage between us. They can’t know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’m not going to go around and wear this Rock of Gibraltar on my finger!” she said with disgust. “Cheyenne and Chyna would freak out knowing I was married to you. And find some way to hurt me and even the baby if I’m still carrying.”
It was very difficult for him not to show anger at her tone of voice to something he had spent hours trying to pick out. He then determined that Charisse was very shallow when it came to other people’s feelings, desires and needs. But how he could teach her to care about what he was feeling?
“If they find out we’re married, they’ll conjure some plan to thwart that, Parker. The later they find out the better chance you have in making sure the child is safe.”
“We have a chance,” he corrected her.
She didn’t dispute this as she handed his ring back to him. “Since I’m not wearing this on my finger you can take this back.”
He didn’t take it although he was so damn angry he wanted to snatch it from her and toss it over the banister as a representation of her. Moving away from her so he wouldn’t be inclined to toss Charisse over in his fury, he said, “I’m not taking that back.”
“Why not?” she asked.
“Are you done with your conditions?”
Charisse couldn’t think of anything else except to stress certain things. “I don’t want you to give me any large assets that don’t concern the baby. Or change your will or put things in my name.”
“So the only condition is that we keep our marriage a secret in all areas of our lives and that we keep our lives separate as if we’re not married? Plus, that means no telling anyone?”
“Yes. We have to do this.”
“But only for the protection of the child,” he stressed as if that was important for him to understand, when to her it seemed easier.
She didn’t know why he was a little bit annoyed. She was giving him the perfect opportunity to not have a real marriage. He’d just been through hell and she was sure being married to her was going to be difficult, but she knew he was willing to do anything to make sure the child was safe. “Yes, Parker. I want to make it easy for you to have this child.”
“You’re too thoughtful, Charisse. Yet I do think we need to tell Louis. I’ve kept him in the dark for far too long and he did ask to be the first notified if I married you. Chyna has probably forgotten about him and Cheyenne never knew he existed. Also, we need a lawyer to draw up the custody papers for the child. Instead of using my lawyer, we could have Blu do it just as expedient. He’s only seen Chyna from far away or at events and Cheyenne has never met him personally.”
“Fine, Parker, but no one else,” Charisse stressed.
He sucked his teeth in annoyance. “I’ll keep my mouth closed to everyone else, but that also means you can’t tell Kimberly or Nevada.”
“Which is why I’m trying to give you back this ring,” she said just as annoyed.
“Oh no, honey bunches, because I’ve got my own conditions.”
Amusement lit up her burnt orange brown eyes. “What conditions?”
Damn her for arousing him all the time! “If you want me to keep my mouth closed then you’ll have to promise to be my wife, Charisse, in all aspects when we’re alone together.”
Knowing he’d had such a horrible first marriage she could understand why he would demand this. “You mean biblical sense, right? Because Chyna denied you?”
“Yes.”
This wasn’t so bad to Charisse. She was already giving her body to him, but she knew any day he was going to get tired of it. He was just fascinated about the newness of having her, but he certainly didn’t want to have sex with her forever. He’d find another woman when she became too fat from the baby to have sex and then afterwards, he’d put up with her for the baby’s sake.
“Fine, Parker. I can agree to that condition.”
He made sure she understood his condition by explaining, “That means you cannot deny me, Charisse. And I don’t mean just your body. I want it all. I want your heart and your soul. And you have to be honest with me when we’re together. You have to tell me how you feel at all times when we’re together and you can’t keep your emotions secret anymore.”
He was getting stranger by the moment but there was this heated look in his eyes that made her short of breath. “Yes, Parker. I’ll tell you my feelings when we’re together.”
“And if you like what I do to you?” he asked moving his arms back around her body.
“Yes,” she said breathlessly feeling him pick her up and sit her on the banister.
Strangely she wasn’t afraid that he would push her over, because he securely held her nape so she was forced to look up at him.
His kisses were demanding, drawing her need to the surface quickly and he knew what he was doing to her. He knew what his kisses did to her, so why did he need to be told.
“I promise,” she whispered loving the way he could make her body burn from inside out. “Anything, Parker.”
Parker could feel her fingers gripping his shirt in her aroused state and he knew he could have taken her there, but far off, he could hear people coming. A few more kisses and rubs, kept her uncomfortably aroused more and though she didn’t require him to show his true feelings deep down, he never wanted her to stop feeling like this and he wanted more from her.
His anger over this frustration would never be seen. He’d keep that to himself, but he had to work on getting her to want to be with him forever. He would pull everything trick out of his sleeve to make sure Charisse would never leave him. He had the sexual education and the wealth to give her every heart’s desire. He was going to make sure Charisse was addicted to him. So addicted she couldn’t live without him.
Instead of taking her to the room, which he had wanted to do just as much as she did, he found other things for them to explore and see, stressing to her that it would be her last day here and then she’d be cooped up inside the house for the next six months or so.
She didn’t complain, but he smelled her arousal and it was playing havoc on his control.
He sent her to the room after they had lunch in the lobby with the excuse that he had some business to handle.
“Are you coming?” she asked mischievously pressing her chest against his.
“I have business,” he said stoically, but as soon as she turned away with a clear look of disappointment in her eyes, he showed his relief that she was away from him for just a moment so he could gather his control.
When she was out of earshot, he made the necessary phone calls.
***
Charisse returned to the room in a confused daze. There was no doubt in her mind that Parker wanted her, but his emotions seem to become suddenly reserved.
She sat down on the couch in the drop floor living room deep in thought wondering why he was acting the way he was.
‘Maybe you should have made another condition for him to reveal his emotions to you,’ she told herself.
Feeling restless, she stood up and began to pace.
‘He should be happy.’ She had agreed to this outlandish, but sensible plan he had obviously spent weeks concocting and had been worried about whether she was going to agree or not.
‘So why wasn’t he happy that she had decided to do this?’
She wished she could call Kimberly or even Nevada and have them help her figure this out. It was no fun being so naïve about men when she really needed to know and there was no one to speak to about her problem.
“Ms. Sheridan,” A voice from the guest bedroom called.
Startled she turned frightened and then relieved to see Louis coming out pulling on a shirt.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had returned already,” he said. “My father just texted my phone and said you should be here.”
Stepping up from the living area, Charisse walked up to him. �
��He didn’t tell me you were here,” she said. “When and how did you get here?”
“He paid for a train ticket from school, but I only have a day’s leave. Thank you for letting me be part of the ceremony.”
She felt it was so nice for him to be there as well and thought Parker was so sweet to have asked his son to do so.
“You looked bothered just now. Are you okay?” Louis asked.
“I guess.”
“Maybe that box that came up right before you arrived will cheer you up.” He nodded to the counter in the kitchen.
She walked over to the very large white box with a large gold ribbon slowly as if someone was about to pop out of it welding a knife. Pulling off the ribbon and opening the box, she discovered a white plain dress, veil and shoes along with a bag of accessories.
This made her look even more confused because Louis said, “I guess that seems to make it worse, huh? I know I’m young, ma’am, but maybe if you said what’s troubling you out loud, it’ll help.”
“I can’t figure out why Parker is acting so strange,” she admitted.
“He did just ask you to marry him.”
“But why did he seem annoyed when I easily agreed and then he became reserved.”
Louis frowned. “Well, I’ve only known him a short time, but usually a guy acts reserved when he doesn’t want to be hurt.”
“I’m not strong enough to hurt him, Louis.”
A chuckled escaped his lips and he apologized. “You sound like you don’t know the treachery of what a woman can do to a man when it comes to love, Ms. Sheridan.”
“Love?” she waved this away. “Parker doesn’t love me.”
“But you’re carrying his baby.”
“That’s a long story, Louis.”
“And he’s asking you to be his wife.”
“It’s because of the baby.”
“Which is a long story,” Louis determined and then thought for a second before asking another question. “You said you agreed to marry him – as if this was an arrangement.”
“It is, Louis. It’s nothing emotional.”
He frowned. “Like I said, a man usually becomes reserved when a woman has usually hurt his feelings or he’s trying to hold himself back from feeling anything. Why don’t you just ask him?”
“You make it sound so simple, Louis.”
“But it is,” he said. “This isn’t some romance book where the man and woman have communication problems, nor a Shakespeare story where the lovers can’t speak to each other. You’re here, he’s here and all you have to do is just speak to each other.”
“I can’t!”
“Why not?” he asked just as emphatically.
“Because I-I’ve… I’ve never had to deal with this.” Just thinking about putting herself into a position where she would actually have to find out how he really felt made her stressed. “I’ve only had to care about myself.” She closed her eyes feeling a panic attack coming to the surface. Taking deep cleansing breathes helped a little, but it was still frightening.
“Maybe that’s just it, Ms. Sheridan. You could have said or done something that was not very nice.”
This was even more confusing. “I don’t think I did.”
“Your nice and his nice could be two different things. People don’t always see eye to eye and Blu says not everything that comes out of our mouths is meant to please someone else or will please someone else. Just ask him and then you’ll resolve how you’ve done what you’ve done or how to rectify whatever is wrong with him.”
“But that’s just it. If he’s so bothered and I feel that he is, why is he being so nice to me?”
He smiled knowingly. “I’m often like that too, Ms. Sheridan. Even when a person has done wrong to me, I’ll still do what’s expected of me. I like knowing that I could have inherited this nice side from my father.”
The door to the apartment opened and Blu stepped in. Charisse knew talking quietly would be out of the question, but she didn’t mind. Louis had helped some, but she still couldn’t figure out everything.
‘He’s right though. There’s nothing wrong with just asking.’
“I thought you’d be dressed by now, little lady!” Blu boomed.
“Dressed for what?” she asked.
“That would be my fault,” Louis said. “I was so worried about you, that I forgot to deliver the message my father texted me. I was to inform you that he needed you to get dressed with the items from the box before Blu came up to escort us to the reception hall on the first floor.”
She looked perplexed as if Louis has spoken Japanese. Looking at Blu as if he could interpret, the large lawyer said, “Get yourself dressed little lady, you’re getting hitched today.”
***
The reception room was big enough to hold over a thousand people, but it only held five people, two of which she had not met until this moment.
The hotel manager and then there was a judge that had just arrived named Knowles Knox, who was like an older version of Blu’s personality, but a little more quiet, yet he sure loved to say everything as if it were the most exciting thing he’d ever heard. He was medium height and walked with a cane. He reminded her of a skinny version of the Colonel Sanders, except he didn’t wear the country suit with the string tie.
There were light decorations around the reception room of pink and white and all the men were dressed in suits, while the hotel manager who was a female was still dressed in the maroon, white and black hotel outfit.
Parker was no where to be seen and this further created anxiety inside of her because she was dressed in this beautiful silk long dress, with her hair carefully done around the veil. The hotel manager had been a little bit helpful with the make up because Charisse didn’t want a strange person touching her face. The little tips from Sophie had been very helpful, but no one had prepared her to dress for her own wedding and along with her nerves as the time grew closer, she didn’t know whether she was coming or going.
With her anxiety, Parker had left her in the state of arousal and everything she thought about was mixed in thoughts of having sex with Parker. Why couldn’t they have gotten a quickie before all this?
‘You’ve seen women be aggressive and there was that one time when he was in need. Now you’re in need. You can take control. He didn’t mind.’
On top of all that, Louis was still looking at her in concern as if he could read her every thought. If he didn’t look so much like his father this wouldn’t have bothered her so much, but he did and it was almost like having Parker in the room with her.
Parker entered after everyone was just starting to notice his presence missing and if Charisse wasn’t already aroused, just seeing him in this well fitted black tuxedo with the crisp white shirt already looking so well groomed it looked as if God had come down and gave him the perfect shave.
He looked refreshed. As if he’d gotten a new lease on life and he was relaxed.
It wasn’t the refresh that annoyed. He could be glad she had agreed and everything he had planned would now go smoothly. What got her goat was that he was relaxed.
As he pleasantly greeted everyone in the room saving her for last, she saw no irritation or even a miniscule of sexual frustration.
Yet, he had deliberately aroused her this morning without relief and had the nerve to look and smell good.
To add fuel to the fire, he only greeted her with, “You look nice Charisse,” and kissed her on the cheek.
Folding her arms over her chest and tapping her foot she bit her tongue because she wanted to scream.
He looked down at her foot and then returned to her face. “Is something wrong?”
“No. Do your conditions take place before or after we marry?”
“After,” he said with a hint of amusement.
“Good because I don’t think it would be appropriate right now to tell you my true feelings.”
He looked very interested. “And you’re actually going to keep your word on
my conditions?”
“Why does that surprise you?” she asked suspiciously, but only because she really did want to start something with him. If he wasn’t acting attracted or just as horny as she was, then she would just make him angry with her.
“Because no one in your family does well at being good, Charisse. It’s hard pressed not to be shocked that you are different.”
“You’re the one who noticed I’m cut from a different cloth,” she shot back.
He almost looked upset but then turned away for only a second before turning right back to her and pulled her in his arms and kissed her hard.
And dammit! She forgot to be angry with him again because he was using his experienced mouth to arouse and titillate her.
When he released her, she stumbled a little, but he was still holding her body.
“You keep talking like this and I’m not going to be able to contain myself, Cherie,” he murmured under his breath as if he were issuing a threat.
She shuddered at the possibility of Parker losing control and what he could do to her.
“Now if he bottled that shit as a way to get a woman to shut up, I’d buy it,” Blu commented offhandedly.
“Can we get this on the road?” the judge asked. “Looks like these two have pressing business to handle.”
He released her completely to stand where the judge told him, while Charisse stood beside him. Judge Knowles Knox proceeded with the wedding ceremony, but Charisse’s head was so consumed by him that she had to be nudged in order to say, “I do.”
When it was over, Parker had the audacity to suggest they all go to the restaurant to have something to drink.
“Louis is too young to drink,” she quickly said.
“He can have water,” Parker shot back.
“He shouldn’t go into the bar.”
“Is this our first argument in our wedded bliss?” he questioned.
She wanted to ask was he just as aroused as she was. “This isn’t wedded bliss, Parker and I don’t want to go to a bar and drink.”
“Is this some type of tantrum that’s inherited?” he questioned.
“No!” She stomped her foot in frustration. “I don’t have tantrums.”
His Substitute Wife... My Sister Book Two Page 17