by Martel, Tali
“I, uh, I was angry at him for hurting you, and I told him that you had aborted the baby.”
Leona stared at him without blinking, her chest heaving, and then she panted, her breath uneven as she began to hyperventilate. Before Damon could react, Leona’s hand crashed onto the side of his face as hard as she could manage and his head flipped to one side.
“You psychotic, meddling bastard! Why would you do that?” she screamed.
Damon stayed quiet, watching his sister shoot sparks from her eyes. He shook his head, suddenly feeling guiltier than he had even imagined possible. Wordlessly, he handed her a piece of paper with a Manhattan address scribbled on top.
Leona’s face crumpled up and she ran into her living room, grabbing a small bag in which she stuffed a few items of clothing from her closet, not even caring what they were.
Not bothering to change, she stepped out wearing white beaded flip-flops. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail, her dark, lean legs in denim cutoffs. Her white top clung to her enlarged breasts and fell in wrinkles over her swollen belly, but she didn’t care. All she wanted was to get to Manhattan and tell Jake the truth.
He had called her, he hadn’t forgotten about her. He cared at least that much to get in touch with her as soon as he got released from the nightmare that had been his life. Her heart soared at the thought, at the hope, and at that point, it didn’t matter that Jake didn’t love her. She wanted him to know. She didn’t want him to hate her for aborting his baby one more second.
Damon grabbed his car keys off the coffee table and walked swiftly behind his sister. Opening the car door for her, he waited as she glared at him in anger and disappointment. “What are you going to do now? Leave me in the middle of nowhere so that I can’t go to him?”
“I’m going with you. I called for seats on the next flight. We have to hurry.”
Tears sprung to Leona’s eyes and without another word, she slid into the car while Damon dealt with her bag.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Five hours later, Leona stepped out of the cab in front of a large sprawling mansion that Jake now owned. The flight had been an hour long, but getting to Jake’s place had taken more time than her strained nerves could deal with. She walked over to the gate and asked for him while Damon came up behind her.
The guards at his gate, obviously looking over her state of crumpled-up clothing, began asking for details about her visit, and Leona was about to give them a scathing reply when Damon took matters into his own hands. Within seconds, the gates were opened and Leona walked inside.
Damon watched Leona while he asked the guards about Jake’s whereabouts and then stopped in his tracks as a tall, wide-shouldered man whom he knew was Hartford stepped out of the doors. He walked authoritatively towards a gleaming Rolls Royce parked right at the front.
Leona looked up from the ground while shielding her face from the sun, and had the first glimpse of the man she had left behind six months ago. Her breath stopped, her heart pounded, and Jake finally turned his head in her direction.
Time stood still as Jake watched the beautiful girl standing thirty feet away from him in shorts and a white top. What made his heart stop though was not the face that had haunted his dreams for months. It was her body, swollen around her midriff.
Leona’s knees almost gave way and shook uncontrollably as she waited, waited for the man she loved to see her and know that she was carrying his child.
Tears spilled from her eyes between choked sobs as Jake ran towards her and closed the distance between them in seconds, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her off the ground while she wept into his neck.
“Oh my god! Oh my god!” Jake kept whispering, his heart beating wildly in the knowledge that he hadn’t been wrong about Leona. Leona hadn’t turned her back on him as soon as she left. She loved him. The words he had bottled up inside him in Colorado spilled out of him unashamedly.
“I love you!” he hissed fiercely and Leona stilled as the words registered.
She stared at his face in shock. She hadn’t expected Jake to say anything, but certainly not that. During the flight, she had known that this was just closure for her and Jake, for the wonderful days they had spent in each other’s arms. She couldn’t even hope that Jake would say those words.
Jake clutched her face in both palms and crushed his lips onto hers, tasting her sweet, familiar taste and reveling in her response. He plunged his tongue into her mouth and pressed his body to hers, feeling her belly pressing against his stomach.
His hands slid down, touching her small bump, and ran along it before clutching her to himself almost roughly.
“I love you, Leona,” he whispered into her mouth. “I’ve loved you every second I was with you, and every second I was away. I love you, sweetheart. I’m so sorry,” he hissed and Leona clutched his arms for support as she fought to control her tears.
“I love you Jake,” she said and a breathless chuckle escaped his lips.
From the corner of his eye, he knew that they were creating a scene in full view of his staff and the African-American man in a suit who was standing behind Leona.
He didn’t want to tear his eyes away from her green ones. He wanted to take her upstairs to his room and take her clothes off before feasting his eyes on her changing body, and then he wanted to drown in her scent.
The man moved behind Leona and instinctively, Jake’s arm tightened around the girl he loved and would forever be terrified of losing again.
“I’m Damon. Leona’s brother,” Damon began, tentatively extending is hand towards Jake. “We, ah, talked on the phone earlier.”
Jake’s jaw clamped in hatred and Leona saw it. She lifted her hand to his cheek and made him turn his face towards her. “Damon brought me here. He told me this morning.”
Jake gritted his teeth and for Leona’s sake, he knew that breaking Damon’s face with his fist was not a good idea. Instead, he swallowed his anger and took Damon’s hand, shaking it firmly.
As long as Leona was with him he could forgive and forget anything, his past, even his horrors. He wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her against his solid length before walking her inside the house. Inside the hallway, he turned her face upward and gazed longingly into her eyes, his fingertips trailing the soft, ebony skin of her face.
After years of humiliation and deprivation, and the terrible way he had lost Jessica, God had finally seen he had had enough. This beautiful girl, who had chosen to keep his baby when he had no future, was his to keep.
He clutched her tightly again and she clung to his waist. His arms wrapped around the back of her head as he kissed her hair. “I love you so much," he whispered, his voice laced with his intense happiness.
THE END
***
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Excerpt:
Once dinner had ended, they returned to the car and made the fifteen mile drive home. He killed the engine on the car and turned toward her in the darkness, leaning in closely. She felt a little flutter from her midsection as he reached forward and pushed a few strands of hair away from her face. Even in the darkness, those piercing blue eyes of his shimmered in contrast to the few beams of moonlight streaming into the car. Then, his words sent a cold chill down her spine.
"I know who you are," he said, wat
ching her face for a reaction.
It could be a test and if she reacted poorly, it was over. Despite her sudden alarm, she forced herself to remain calm and play it off. This wasn't the first time she had played this sort of game of cat and mouse. She gave him her most seductive smile and brought a single finger up to his face, running it slowly down the side and along his chiseled jawline as her eyes concentrated on those magnificent lips of his.
"Who am I?" she said with a half-smile, bringing her gaze back up to make eye contact with him.
"You are a temptress. Everything about you draws me in like a bee to a flower filled with sweet nectar," he said in a low, soft voice.
She felt the ice along her spine crack and begin to turn to perspiration as her skin suddenly felt flushed with heat. He really was way too charming for her own good. She managed to get in a few words before he leaned forward to kiss her.
About the Author
Talisha Martel lives in Atlanta with her husband, daughter and a houseful of pets. She loves writing plot driven interracial romances with sexy white alpha males and beautiful African American women.
Copyright 2013 Talisha Martel
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