Rekindle The Flames (The Men of CLE-FD Book 4)

by Toye Lawson Brown

  *****

  James sat on the corner of his desk watching his daughter. “Megan, are you ready for me to tell you everything?”

  “No, but I’m going to listen anyhow.”

  He looked up at the ceiling for a starting point. “Okay, here it is. Iona and I haven’t been a happy couple for years.”

  “Dad, how can that be? Just this morning, Mom was saying how happy she is and that I was jealous of her marriage.”

  “She is lying through her teeth. Have you ever wondered why I’m away from home so much, Megan? You were in your last year of high school when I started traveling more than normal.”

  She nodded. “I remember. You almost missed my graduation.”

  “Well, I travel to keep from strangling Iona. I detest that woman and can’t stand being in her presence. Sweetheart, I would divorce her in a minute, but it is much cheaper for me to keep her than to give her half of my hard-earned money.”

  “Why live in misery? Wouldn’t it be easier to give her a settlement and be free?”

  “Honey, I am free. See, when I’m in Florida I have the life I’ve always wanted.”

  Megan raised her brow and asked. “What does that mean, Dad?”

  “You’re a grown woman, Megan. I’m 57-years old and have plenty of life left in me. I have a mistress in Florida. Actually, she is the woman I had planned to marry before Iona got rid of her. I never stopped loving this woman and when my marriage started to go south, I decided to look for my first love again. I moved her to Miami and we have a beautiful relationship.”

  Megan cringed. “I can’t even begin to understand this? She is ok being the other woman?”

  James laughed. “She is the only woman. Iona is the other woman in this arrangement. Don’t worry, you don’t have any step-siblings, but Connor does know about her and they get along great.”

  “Oh, boy, I need a drink,” she said getting up to pace the large executive office. Her father was a self-made millionaire and worked hard to get where he was. She could understand him not wanting to part with his money. A well-off black man in America was far and few between and one divorcing a white woman would run the risk of losing half his empire to her.

  “I understand that. I started down that road and quickly realized being a drunk would do me more harm than good. Iona is no fool. She saw where my company was headed for success before I did. She hooked her claws into me and before I knew it we were married and had Connor. Then you came along. I wasn’t going to walk out on my kids. I just had to wait for my time to come. It did and now I’m happy again.”

  “How is this going to help me, Dad? I’m glad you’re happy. I’m sad I’m a product of a broken home, though.”

  “Your divorce is her ticket to eternal wealth, Megan.”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “How? Ryan doesn’t have any money.”

  “Iona can sniff out wealth like a French pig can sniff truffles buried in the ground. The day you met Emin she did research on his family and found they were worth billions. She wants you to marry Emin so she’ll be set for life; that’ll be the only way she’ll divorce me. You have to know by now that she doesn’t do anything without a purpose.”

  “I guess you’re right about that.”

  “You married Ryan instead of Emin for love and not money. Ryan serves no purpose to her. Therefore, he is disposable. The quicker she gets him out of your life, the sooner she’ll manipulate you to marry Emin and have access to that Armenian river of wealth.”

  “How do we stop her, Dad?”

  James took a deep breath and kicked his legs out in front of him as he reared back. “We beat her at her own game.”

  Megan shook her head. “Pinning mother against daughter, doesn’t seem right, Dad.”

  “Neither does mother manipulating daughter while dad watches and does nothing. Iona has to be stopped. You’re the only one that can do it, Megan. Only, we have to get Ryan to agree to play along. Do you think he’ll do it?”

  “I dumped a lot on him today. I’m not sure he’ll even be home when I get there. He was so distraught and blaming himself for my miscarriage.”

  “Honey, let me talk to him. I’ll explain everything to him.”

  “He might listen to you.” She opened her purse and removed a piece of paper and a pen. “Here is his cell phone number. His shift starts tomorrow morning. If he doesn’t answer that means he is probably on a run.”

  He took the paper and folded it in half. “Megan, now I’m going to point out your mistakes. Stop riding the man about his job. You love him and he loves you and this job static is total crap. Kiss him goodbye when he leaves the house and give him the same when he returns home. Life is too short to put complications where they don’t belong. Focus that energy on bringing Iona to her knees.”

  Megan unfolded herself from the comfortable chair. Her body ached and she wanted to go home and soak in a hot bubble bath. “I am putting that behind me. I’m dedicated to working as a team with Ryan and get our marriage and careers moving in the right direction. I better get home. I’ve been gone all day and we’re supposed to go to a movie tonight. Let me know when you talk to Ryan.”

  When Megan got home Ryan was nowhere in sight although the lights were on and his car was in the driveway. She checked her watch; it was almost 10:00pm. “Damn, I hadn’t planned to be gone so long.” She checked the rest of the house and decided Ryan either took a walk or was out running to cool off. It was too late to go to a movie now and both of them had to work in the morning. She took the opportunity in the house alone to take a bath and unwind.

  Chapter Ten

  Ryan couldn’t lift his woozy head. Too much alcohol consumed in too little time, however, not enough to take away the pain that tore at his heart. The thought of his wife in the arms of that sleazy Emin. He leaned his head back on the couch listening to the soulful music playing in the background. The smooth lyrics recited by the singer made lovemaking seem like the magical elixir to cure everything. Take a woman to bed and every problem would disappear after a heavenly orgasmic release.

  Bullshit!

  Lolita attempted to use every trick up her sleeve to seduce him. The consumption of liquor had him in a zone. I should fuck her; that’s all it would be; a meaningless roll in the hay to take my pain away were the irrational thoughts running through his head as Lolita’s soft hand caressed his face. He closed his eyes as she enticed him, and he tried to fight the temptation of having a one-night fling with this woman. She managed to get him hard from her touch. His erection pressed painfully against the front of his pants begging for release from the confining material.

  His eyes twitched as flashes of sanity filtered between his haziness, snapping him to reality. Her touch wasn’t as feathery, sensual or familiar as his beloved Megan’s touch. He couldn’t even bring himself to want to dominate this woman. To make her beg for him. He simply didn’t want her that way.

  There were days in the past that he did want her. He thought Lolita was attractive and sexy and they were both lonely. He’d mustered the courage to ask her out, but at the last minute decided not to get involved with her. She was dealing with the fallout from a cheating husband and extremely vulnerable. He wasn’t seeking a long-term relationship and suspected Lolita would’ve taken his advances the wrong way. Not wanting to cause her any undue pain, he kept his slight attraction to her to himself.

  She whispered in his ear as long manicured fingernails raked across his scalp. “I’ve always been attracted to you. You need a woman, Ryan, not some girl that doesn’t know how to treat a real man like you. Let me help you forget her.” She used her free hand to massage his stiff erection.

  Ryan moved his head as her lips brushed against the skin of his cheek. He sat up pushing her away as she tried to unzip his pants. “No, I can’t. I can’t do this, Lolita.”

  “Really, Ryan? What does she have to do to make you leave her for good? Is cheating not enough?”

  He shook his dazed-filled head. “I don�
��t believe she would cheat on me. There has to be another explanation for what you saw. Megan loves me.”

  Lolita sat up on the couch and took her cell phone from the table. She pulled up a picture to show it to him. “I didn’t want to do this, but I have proof your precious wife is nothing but a cheater. Look at the picture, Ryan; that should convince you of what I saw.”

  Ryan’s heart raced. He refused to look at the picture, to believe there could be any truth to Lolita’s story. His rambling mind let him off guard and Lolita successfully got her hand down the front of his pants. Her cold fingers maneuvered around his thickness. “It’ll be pure fire between us,” she moaned licking her lips. Her eyes widened. “Damn, baby, is that’s all you? That girl is crazy to cheat on you.”

  He stood up. Lolita’s hand was logged wrist-deep inside his pants. He pulled her hand away and zipped his jeans. “I don’t give a rat’s ass about that picture, Lolita. I know my wife. She would never cheat on me and I’m definitely not a cheating husband.”

  She frowned. “You think you know your wife. I thought I knew my husband but he cheated on me with no problem. That hurt me, Ryan. I know I’m a good woman, just like you’re a good man. We would be perfect together.”

  “I can’t speak for your husband or why he hurt you. But, there is only woman for me and that’s my wife.”

  She stood up and leaned against him rubbing her hands across the front of his chest. “You’re wrong. She doesn’t want what you have to offer. She is too young to understand the commitment it takes to make a marriage work. Get out before she breaks you for good.”

  He inhaled her sweet scent. “You and I have been neighbors and friends for a long time, but this ain’t happening between us. I know how it is to be lonely, but I’m not your cure, Lolita. Yeah, it was poor judgment on my part to come over here with you. I even might have led you to believe something might happen between us; I want to apologize for that. But I have to thank God my common sense kicked in before I did anything stupid.” He sat her gently on the couch and headed for the door.

  “Why do you trust her? What is it about her, Ryan?” Lolita asked in a dejected voice.

  “I love her with all my soul. My marriage might not be perfect, but my love for her is. Thanks for dinner,” he said leaving the house to stagger home.

  Lolita cursed and dialed the phone. “He didn’t fall for it.”

  “Try again. I’ll double the payment for your efforts only you’ll have to succeed in getting him away from my daughter.”

  “I’m not doing anything else to help you. As much as I am attracted to Ryan Tisdale, he loves his wife. You’re on your own now.” She hung up the phone and turned it off. Grabbing her glass of wine she took a long sip and crossed her legs tightly. “Damn, I wish I had got the chance to sleep with his fine ass just once.”

  The short walk across the yard cleared Ryan’s head enough to make him scold himself. He fumbled for the house keys to unlock the door. His shift was in less than eight hours and he would go in with a massive hangover. Not a way to start off his first rotation on the rescue squad.

  He went to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. He really wasn’t that drunk. The disposition he was in took more out of him than the alcohol. The smell of Lolita’s perfume drifted to his nose. He shook his head. What a disaster that would’ve been. He took the mug sitting on the counter and stuck it under the dripping coffeemaker not waiting for the carafe to fill first.

  “Where have you been?”

  He lifted his head to see Megan standing in the doorway of the kitchen. She was barefoot and wearing a short nightshirt that barely covered her body. Her arms were folded tightly across her chest. She was upset.

  “I was next door,” he answered taking a sip of coffee.

  “Next door? Which neighbor were you visiting, Ryan? As if I have to ask,” she said sarcastically.

  “I was at Lolita’s place for dinner.”

  Her face took a double dip and frowned. “You have got to be kidding me! Was that an attempt to get back at me for having the miscarriage? Why, Ryan? Why would you go to her place for dinner! You know Lolita and I aren’t friends or even friendly towards each other. If that was your plan to hurt me, you succeeded.”

  “That was not my plan! Lolita came over here, first. You weren’t here when I got out of the shower. Hell, Megan, I don’t know why I went with her. I guess I wanted to kill the pain of losing my kid. I couldn’t do that with you since I had no idea where you were or if you were coming back.”

  “I told you I was coming back. I’ve been home for hours, Ryan. But, I do have a cell phone, you could have called me. You didn’t think about that while you were eating her food and God only knows what else.”

  “I’m here now, so what’s your point.”

  “My point is it’s after midnight. There is no way you are just finishing dinner. What were you doing over there, Ryan? Or should I bother to ask since I smell her damn perfume from here.”

  “If you’re going to accuse me of doing something, then go ahead because after you’re done, I have a few questions of my own.”

  Her body tensed when he said that. “What kind of questions?”

  “I’d like to know why you were seen kissing Emin at the library today? Damn, Megan, I don’t want to believe any of it is true, but you are making this damn hard for me to ignore.”

  “I knew she was going to tell you. Lolita has wanted you for the longest and then I come along and knock her out of the picture again.”

  He slammed his hand on the counter, eyes ablaze and nostrils flared, he yelled, “I don’t give a damn about Lolita. I’m asking you about Emin.”

  “Ryan, I was not kissing Emin. I mean yeah he kissed me but it was not that type of kiss.”

  “What other kinds of kisses are there, Megan? You kiss a kid or a relative on the cheek, but the picture I saw and tried so hard not to look at, was a man kissing a woman. How do you explain that?”

  “I wanted to throw up in his mouth. I detested the kiss and told him that. Lolita didn’t hear the argument we were having, so from where she was standing, I guess it did look differently to her. Ryan, I’m not interested in Emin. He refuses to give up the pursuit now that he has Mom back in his corner. His intention is to take me away from you which will never happen. Even if you decide you don’t believe what I’m saying and toss me out on my ear, I’ll never be a part of his life again.”

  Ryan pinched the space between his eyes and nose. A headache was brewing. He flopped down in the kitchen chair. “God, I’m so tired of this shit. I’m tired of being miserable and having this damn turmoil in my life. I can’t go on like this.”

  “I understand you’re upset with me for hiding stuff. And my Mom is causing a lot of strife in our marriage. I’m tired of it too. I want it to stop, but I don’t know how to stop her. My biggest mistake was not telling you about the miscarriage. If I had told you instead of turning to my mother, maybe our life wouldn’t have so much unbalance. That was the wrong thing for me to do and I know that now.”

  He nodded slowly. “It was, but I know why you did it. I wasn’t there for you like I should have been, Megan.” He drank more of the coffee. The strong brew burned as it went down his throat. “I didn’t do anything with Lolita. She gave it her best shot, but as downtrodden as I am, I couldn’t force myself to sleep with her.”

  Megan rolled her eyes. “Thank you for telling me that. Because, that was the next question I was going to ask you.”

  Ryan looked at his wife. She seemed to have shrunk in size. The vibrant 21-year old woman that changed his life on that sunny day at the park had lost her zest for life. He knew she was sheltered when he met her. He couldn’t expect her to learn everything about the cruelness life could serve now that she was 25. In the short amount of time they’ve been together, Megan was dealing with issues women twice her age couldn’t handle.

  “Come here,” he ordered. Megan sauntered in his direction. Besides the bedroom, he didn’t or
der her to do anything. She was her own woman and could speak her mind or cuss him out if he stepped out of line. “Sit on my lap the way I like you to sit.”

  “Ryan…”

  “Shhh, don’t disobey me. You know the rules,” he said locking a piercing gaze with her. Megan placed her legs across his lap and sat. His hands rubbed her back. She had lost weight. Megan was never super slim but had more meat on her bones than she has now. He could feel the bones of her spine through the thin material of the nightshirt. “What have I done to you?” He whispered holding his forehead against hers.

  She whispered back. “Nothing but love me. It’s not you that’s causing my pain, but everyone else. I wish we could leave Cleveland and go somewhere no one could find us. Escape into our own little world and never leave.”

  “What would we do there? Live off love?”

  “Yes. That’s exactly what we would do.”

  Then she kissed him, it was hard, deep, and passionate and laced with so much desire that the idea of her cheating on him instantly left his head. Megan clung to him, keeping her body tight against him.

  “I want total control of you tonight,” she whispered against his ear after breaking the kiss.

  “Oh really,” said Ryan. “And how do you want to control me?”

  Her hands were between their bodies. He heard the distinct sound of his zipper being undone. It didn’t take him long to become fully erect thanks to Lolita’s pre-stimulation. The kitchen chair squeaked under their weight.

  “You’ll have to wait and see.” She disappeared from the kitchen and returned moments later with a pair of fuzzy black handcuffs in her hand.

  Ryan stuttered. “Where did you get those?”

  She smiled dangling the handcuffs in front of his face. “Baby, I’m going to make you beg and scream for me before the night is over. Take off your shirt,” she instructed. “I don’t want to smell another woman’s perfume while I’m making love to you.”

  He grinned. “I must be rubbing off on you?”

  She shook her head. “No. I have a little freak in me too, but you never let me play the dominate role. Now put your hands behind your back.”