Beyond Temptation

by Brenda Jackson

  She took a sip of her wine before continuing. “But I can’t expect others to see it that way. Mom is seventy-one and not in the best of health. Morgan’s parents are in their late fifties, still alive, and are able to do things together. I’m all Mom has and that’s okay. I don’t have time to devote to a serious relationship. Being with her takes up most of my time.”

  “But it doesn’t have to be that way, Lena. Your mom is in good health so it’s not like she needs a sitter around the clock and—”

  “Where would a relationship lead, Kylie? I’ve never been one to get into casual affairs and maybe that’s my downfall. If I could indulge in one, then things would be just great and I wouldn’t hurt when the affair ended because I could just brush myself off and start on another. But I can’t do that. I get involved with all my emotions.”

  “You really liked Derek, didn’t you?” Kylie asked softly, remembering the man who’d once had the nerve to try and hit on her right in front of Lena. What a jerk!

  Emotions, thick and painful, lodged in Lena’s throat. “He was a real charmer, I have to admit. I’m just glad I never slept with him. Then him walking away like he did would really have been humiliating. But to answer your question, yes, I really liked him but I didn’t love him. I would have begun falling in love with him if I hadn’t started seeing his true side. He was just like a spoiled child. He wanted to make me choose between him and my mother and he was too stupid to see there wasn’t a choice. But to give me an ultimatum like that showed just what kind of person he was.”

  “Yes, it did. But let’s get back to Morgan for a moment. You can’t tell me you don’t like him just a little.”

  Lena couldn’t help but smile. “What’s there not to like? He’s good-looking, has good manners, he’s a successful businessman. When I quoted him the price of that house I showed him a couple of days ago, he didn’t bat an eye.”

  “But?”

  “But even if I didn’t have Mom I still wouldn’t get involved with him. I’m way out of my league with him. I can see him with a totally different woman by his side, and I can’t risk losing my heart to him. It’s as simple as that.”

  She studied the contents of her glass for a moment, then said, “I didn’t tell you that Morgan and I ran into Cassandra Tisdale the day we had our business meeting at that restaurant in town.”

  Kylie raised a brow. “Cassandra Tisdale? She’s back?”

  “Yes, and her fangs are sharper than ever. She made a very rude comment about Morgan and me being together.”

  Kylie frowned. “What kind of comment?”

  “Something about how he could do better.”

  Kylie leaned back in her chair with a look of incredulity on her face. “I can’t believe the nerve of that woman,” she said, remembering the first time she had come into contact with Cassandra. “For someone who’s supposed to be so refined, she can be downright tacky at times.”

  “Yes, but Morgan put her in her place, but then he should not have. When people see us together they shouldn’t see us as a mismatched couple. When a couple walks into the room and heads turn it should be for all the right reasons and not the wrong ones.”

  “And you see that happening?”

  “Possibly. I have no problem with who I am, but I can’t honestly think that I’m someone he’d probably consider as his ideal woman.”

  “Then why do you think he asked you out all those times?”

  “Who knows? Maybe out of boredom.”

  “I don’t think you’re being fair to Morgan or to yourself.” Kylie then leaned forward in her seat and sighed. “Do something for me, Lena.”

  “What?”

  “Stop selling yourself short. When you get home take a look in the mirror. You’re a beautiful full-figured African American woman who could walk into any room and put the Cassandra Tisdales of this world to shame, mainly because not only do you have outside beauty, you have inside beauty as well. Don’t think a man like Morgan wouldn’t know that. And I think you need to think about something.”

  “What?”

  “What if you are Morgan’s ideal woman? And what if he’s that one man who doesn’t care that you’re your mother’s primary caretaker? Then what?”

  A small smile touched the corners of Lena’s lips. “Then I’ll get the hell out of Dodge quick like and in a hurry.”

  Kylie lifted a brow. “What does that mean?”

  “It means that I would run like hell because I wouldn’t know the first thing about handling a man like Morgan…sexually, I mean. I bet his testosterone level is probably close to hitting the Richter scale. I get hot all over at the thought of sleeping with him.”

  Kylie grinned as her eyes glittered teasingly. “So the thought has crossed your mind?”

  A frisson of desire inched its way through Lena’s bloodstream at the same moment she knew a heated flush was probably showing in her cheeks. “Yes, more than a few times a week. How about every day?” she said honestly.

  Kylie laughed. “Now you know what I was going through after meeting Chance.”

  Yes, Lena thought. She knew. But she also knew that she and Kylie were different people. Kylie had started out being defiant and determined, but in the end she had given in to Chance’s charm. Lena didn’t intend to give in to any man’s charm again. What Derek and others before him had done had more than pricked her pride. It had made her see things quite clear. And the more she kept her dealings with Morgan on a business level, the better things would be.

  Chapter 5

  Lena tried to recall her immunity to any man’s charm as she gazed at the two beautiful bouquets of fresh flowers Morgan had just handed her. One for her and the other for her mother.

  Finding herself unnerved, she glanced up at him. “Thanks for the flowers, Morgan. Please come in.”

  She moved aside when he stepped inside. While she closed the door she noticed him glancing around, and when their gazes connected again he said, “You have a nice place.”

  “Thanks. Please let me take your jacket.” The weather had changed and there was a brisk coolness in the air. The warm weather from earlier in the week was gone. In fact the forecasters had predicted the possibility of snow sometime next week.

  “Mom’s in the kitchen,” she said, placing his leather jacket on the rack. “I told her you had arrived, so she should be coming out in a little bit. Can I get you something to drink?”

  “No, I’m fine.”

  Because his brother was married to her best friend, she and Morgan were invited to some of the same functions on occasion, so she had seen him in casual wear before. But there was something about seeing him now, standing tall and handsome in her living room wearing a pair of jeans, a blue pullover sweater and a pair of comfortable-looking sneakers that made her wonder, and not for the first time, why he didn’t have a steady girlfriend.

  He was definitely one fine specimen of a man, a healthy-looking one at that, which meant he probably had a normal sex drive like most men. And not that she thought he went for the celibacy thing, but since being officially introduced to him at that charity ball over a year ago, she couldn’t recall his name linked to any female. Now, with his brother Donovan it was a different story. The fun-loving Donovan Steele had a reputation around town as being a ladies’ man.

  “If you will excuse me I’m going to find a couple of vases for the flowers. Please make yourself at home.”

  “All right.”

  Although she was conscious of the tingly sensations that lit every cell in her body, Lena tried to ignore them as she quickly left the room. When she stepped into the kitchen she saw her mother, bending over the oven with an apron on. Lena had awakened that morning to the smell of fresh peaches cooking and had lain in bed for a while to make sure she was at the right house. Her mother hadn’t set foot in the kitchen since they moved in almost five years ago, other than to eat. But her invitation to Morgan had nearly done the impossible.

  “Did you get Morgan settled comfortably,
dear?” her mother asked as if she had a pair of eyes in the back of her head.

  “Yes, and he brought these for us.”

  Odessa straightened and turned around. Upon seeing the flowers she smiled. “Now, wasn’t that real sweet of him?”

  Lena shrugged, knowing that it was but not wanting to give her mother any ideas where Morgan was concerned. “All the Steeles are nice, Mom.”

  “Yes, and Kylie’s blessed to have met Chance. And just to think that Tiffany and Chance’s son Marcus got them together.”

  Lena couldn’t help but smile at how the two teenagers had successfully played matchmakers. She glanced over at the stove. “It seems you’re serving more than just chicken and dumplings and peach cobbler,” she said upon seeing all the pots.

  “I decided since that young man hasn’t had a good home-cooked meal in a while I would throw in a few more items. I really like him.”

  To Lena that fact was obvious and she couldn’t help wondering why. Her mother had met Derek, Jon and Paul. They’d held conversations with her when they came to pick Lena up for dates, but neither of the three had won her mother over like Morgan to the point to bring her back into the kitchen.

  “I’ll be back in a second.”

  Lena watched as her mother left the kitchen to go to the living room and speak to Morgan. A few moments later she could actually hear Morgan’s deep voice and her mother laughing about something. She wondered what that was all about, knowing before she left the sanctuary of the kitchen to find out she needed to pull herself together. It seemed Morgan Steele had a way with women, both young and old.

  Her mother laughed out again, and then the laughter was followed by the sound of Morgan’s voice. Lena paused as she put the flowers in the vase, as her mind, her thoughts and every sensation in her body focused on that voice. It was strong, husky, yet in some ways gentle. But then on the other hand, there was a sensuous quality about it that touched something deep inside her, in the most provocative places. There wasn’t a nook, corner or crevice of her body that hadn’t at one time or another been affected.

  “Lena?”

  She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard her mother call out her name. “Yes?” she called back.

  “Morgan needs help setting the table.”

  Lena lifted her brow. Morgan was setting the table? She picked up the vases and walked out of the kitchen. She placed one vase in the middle of the dining room table and the other on a table in the living room. She glanced up and saw the white linen tablecloth in Morgan’s hands.

  “I guess Ms. Odessa is going to make me work for my supper,” he said, smiling.

  “At least I’m letting Lena help you,” her mother replied, amused as she left them alone to go back into the kitchen.

  “I like your mom, Lena. She’s fun to be around.”

  Lena nodded, thinking it strange that none of the guys she’d brought home to meet her mother had ever made such an observation. “I don’t know why Mom felt I needed to help you with this,” she said, leading him into the dining room and removing the flowers off the table that she had put there mere minutes ago. “And you should feel honored you get dining room space. Usually our guests just cram with us in the kitchen.”

  “I wouldn’t mind.”

  Lena glanced up at him, saw the sincerity in his eyes and knew that he would not have minded. That was one thing she had discovered about Morgan. He was so unlike Derek in that he didn’t have a conceited bone in his body.

  It didn’t take them long to spread the linen covering over the table and smooth the center and sides. They worked quietly, not saying anything, and then suddenly they came up short upon realizing they had moved into the same area when they accidentally bumped into each other. His hands reached out, gripped her around the waist to steady her, and her body automatically went into an immobile mode; she felt suspended in space. The hands at her waist felt warm, strong yet gentle.

  Breathing deeply, she tilted her head up and looked into his face, met his gaze and nearly got scorched from the deep, hot intensity from his eyes. That look alone overwhelmed her, made her pulse race and her breathing come out forced.

  “Sorry,” she muttered, quickly taking a step back. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

  “No harm done. Neither was I,” was Morgan’s easy response…which was a lie, he thought. He’d been drawn to her scent like a bee drawn to honey.

  “Dinner’s ready. I need more hands to bring everything out,” Odessa called out from the kitchen.

  Thinking it would be best not to bump into her twice since he wouldn’t be able to handle it, Morgan used his hand and gestured for her to go ahead of him and he followed her into the kitchen.

  Morgan pushed away from the table with a huge smile on his face after finishing off a plate of Odessa’s peach cobbler. He licked his lips. “That was the best peach cobbler I’ve ever eaten,” he said. “My mom makes a banana pudding that’s to die for, and I can see someone killing for your cobber as well, not to mention everything else you served today. Dinner was wonderful.”

  Over the rim of her iced tea glass, Lena watched the smile of pleasure that appeared on her mother’s face, and shook her head. Morgan was a real charmer all right.

  “I’ve eaten so much I’m going to have to trek around my neighborhood and walk it off,” he added.

  “No need to wait until you get home since Lena walks every day after dinner anyway. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind the company.”

  Lena quickly gazed over at her mother, studying the older woman’s innocent features. She couldn’t help but wonder if her mother had hatched some crazy idea about her and Morgan getting together. First dinner and now a walk—just the two of them. “I’m sure Morgan has had enough of our company for one day, Mom, and wants to call it a day.”

  Morgan glanced over at her. “Quite the contrary. I enjoyed both of your company and I’d love going for a walk.”

  Think! Think! Lena tried unscrambling her mind to come up with a reason she couldn’t go walking with him. All through dinner her naughty twin had tried to surface by putting all kinds of thoughts into her head. “It’s kind of windy out. It will mess up my hair,” she said, saying the first thing that popped into her head, although it sounded rather lame.

  “Of course it’s windy, Lena. It’s March,” her mother said, waving off her excuse with her hand.

  “And there’s a cap in my jacket you can borrow,” Morgan tacked on.

  Lena sighed. Both her mother and Morgan were looking at her expectantly, as if waiting for her to come up with another excuse. She smiled over at her mother but inwardly narrowed her eyes at Morgan. Why was he going along with Odessa on this? Just wait until they got outside. There was a lot she had to say to him.

  “Fine,” she said, standing. “Let me change into something more appropriate for walking.”

  Ten minutes later she returned to find Morgan had helped her mother clear the table. She found them in the kitchen, again sharing another joke. “I’m ready.” At the sound of her voice they both turned and smiled, and from the sparkle in her mother’s eyes Lena could tell she was in high spirits.

  “Here’s the cap I was telling you about,” Morgan said, moving away from her mother to come stand in front of her. Instinctively, she reached out to take it from him, but instead of handing it to her he placed it on her head. He stepped back and then tipped his head to the side as if to admire his handiwork. “It will work. Looks good on you.”

  Lena decided she needed to see for herself. She walked a couple of steps out of the kitchen to look into the huge mirror that hung on the dining room wall. He was right. It work would and it looked good…if blue, black and silver were your colors and you supported the Carolina Panthers.

  She turned around and saw that Morgan had followed her out of the kitchen and was leaning against the door fame. His muscular shoulders came close to filling the doorway. “You do know I’m not a Carolina native and that I was born and raised in New Y
ork. Buffalo in fact,” she said, meeting his gaze, and a warm oozy feeling flowed through her bloodstream. That seemed to happen each and every time she looked into his eyes.

  He smiled. “Is that a cute way of telling me that you prefer rooting for the Buffalo Bills?”

  “Not necessarily. Lucky for you I quickly converted when the Panthers came to town.”

  “We native Carolinians do appreciate that,” he said in a voice that was warm and engaging. He straightened his stance. “Are you ready for our walk?”

  “Yes.” Ready but not looking forward to it, she thought further.

  Instead of jogging or fast walking, they eased into a nice leisurely walk. Neither said anything for a long while, but Morgan was prepared for Lena to have a lot to say. He knew she hadn’t liked the way her mother, with his help, had orchestrated this stroll.

  Although it was windy, the sun was peeking through the clouds, making it a beautiful day the week before the first day of spring. Not that it mattered in Charlotte. Spring came when spring came. Last year it snowed on the first day of spring. Occasionally, they were visited by the snowstorm the locals called the Beast from the East. Last one had hit a couple of years ago, snowing everyone in the mountains, and surrounding areas, in for a few days.

  Deciding they had walked long enough without conversation he decided to start one. “Nice day, isn’t it?”

  He watched Lena snatch her head around as if she’d forgotten he was there. It was his opinion that she looked downright cute, dressed in a green jogging suit and well-worn sneakers and wearing his cap. “Yes.” She then resumed looking straight ahead, up the road, with her mouth shut.

  His lips crinkled at the corners. If she thought he was going to let her get away with one-word responses, she had another thought coming. “Tell me in twenty-five words, but not less than ten, just what do you think is nice about it?”

  She turned her head slightly, and he knew it was taking a lot of her willpower to keep her features expressionless. He could just imagine what she was thinking. When she didn’t say anything he decided to coax her on. “Come on, Lena, you can do it. You’re a Realtor so you have to be full of nice, descriptive words. Try it. I double-dare you.”