Adored in Oman (Book 2 in Teach Me, Love Me Series): Interracial Romance

by Mariah Violet

  Then, leaning forward, he inhaled the scent coming from her skin. Smiling, he identified her body oil, “Roses. You know I love this on your skin.”

  At her slow nod, he resumed buttoning the abaya in an agonizingly slow fashion. Shan’s skin was hot and felt too tight to contain the emotion scurrying along her nerve endings. She felt an inner throbbing in her secret place and her thighs were clenching together, as if to keep her legs from flying open at the least provocation.

  Her one thought was, “When we finally get on our hands on each other, we are going to burn the sheets off the bed.” The question of intimacy had been more than answered. This little road trip was going to be more than a vacation; it was going to take them in a new direction emotionally.

  Abaya buttoned up, Abdulla grabbed her by the hand and practically fled her apartment. He was having a hard time acknowledging how little temptation he needed. She hadn’t done anything more than open the door. What she was wearing under the abaya was definitely alluring and left nothing to the imagination concerning the shape of her figure; it had started his fantasy motor. He knew how her body was shaped; after all, he had met her in a bathing suit. However, something about that one outfit made him want to touch her, hold her, and peel her out of it!

  He wanted to see how soft her skin was and wondered if she tasted as good as she smelled. He wanted to touch her hair with both hands and wrap the long locs around his fingers, hands and arms. He wanted to feel her legs wrapped around his hips and see her trembling from his lips and fingers and tongue. He wanted her arms and legs open and welcoming, him; as if he had arrived to a new home, built by her love and filled with everything he needed. Yes, he wanted her. Not just for a little while and not just a little bit of her heart, Abdulla wanted it all and as he helped her into the car and began the drive to his family villa he knew she was going to have to share her past. He had to know what he was up against. What ghost needed slaying?

  About five minutes into the drive, Shan said, “I’m going to tell you something.”

  With an eyebrow raised, Abdulla gave her a quick look and said, “I’m listening.”

  “I agreed when we had our first date to tell you what happened in my marriage. I don’t like to tell this story. It reminds me how foolish and sick with hurt I was. I always feel just a little bit of those emotions when I retell it.”

  Abdulla nodded, not daring to speak, lest she change her mind.

  “I will tell you about the day I caught my husband face down in another woman’s crotch.”

  Still listening and driving, Abdulla simply nodded. Noticing she was twisting her hands together, he reached over and covered them. She stopped twisting, but was unable to release the tension and it was obvious in the set of her shoulders.

  “I found them at my house.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Grand Prairie, Texas

  Spring 2005

  Shan was finishing her coffee at the Starbucks around the corner from her house. She and Jack had only been there about a year. They had felt lucky to qualify for the home loan with the economy in the tank and were justifiably proud of their little home.

  Lately, Shan had noticed Jack seemed preoccupied and not very plugged into their family life. It was odd because they had not been married that long and she was not even remotely shy in the bedroom plus they had decided to postpone children for another two years, to give them time to rebuild their nest egg. So, two of the most common stressors, infrequent sex and children were not their issue.

  Still, something was nagging at her. She didn’t believe him when he said he was tired and swamped at work. She had been to his office, it was a well-run accounting firm and even during tax season, it never seemed the volume exceeded the capabilities of the team. He was hiding something. He had seemed oddly hyper when she left this morning. She had heard him call in and claim to have some personal business this morning and would only be available by phone, before noon. She had not really asked a lot of questions, assuming he did have some personal business. Yet, she could not get the butterflies flitting about inside her tummy to settle down. As she pulled out to head to the office, a text lit her phone. It was an unidentified number and it read, “Mrs. Greiner, you have a lovely home. Muah!”

  Hm. Games. If there was one being played, she better find out right now. Ten minutes later she was parked behind a strange car in her driveway.

  Carmen was tired of being The Other Woman. She was tired of visiting this beautiful place that looked made for a family and having to leave. She was tired of looking this woman in the face every day at work and longing to be in her place. She could never really say what made her jealous of Shan. She had a glow about her that was infuriating. She didn’t broadcast her troubles. She was always smiling. She was smart. She had a quick wit, so her social footing was sure and few people were willing to engage her in a battle of words. She was good at setting conversational traps and allowing folks to make their own selves look stupid. She seemed just slightly too good.

  Carmen started watching her with an envious eye. Mostly, she was just waiting for her to make some sort of mistake that she could use to weaken the esteem others in the office had for her. She had tried to make her look like a snob at an after-hours client dinner, but had only looked petty for teasing her about not drinking at a work event. She remembered it.

  “Shan, are you too good to drink with the sales folk? Just one won’t hurt,” Carmen urged. “Don’t be a spoil sport.”

  “Spoil sport? I hardly think so, since the company card is paying. Charlotte can drink as much as she likes and with my blessing. You are also free to do so, however, one of us has to be able to reflect upon this dinner meeting with clarity and accuracy. I don’t drink at work. Period.” Shan responded, without raising her voice or changing the inflection of her tone. She just stated a fact and changed the subject.

  Carmen had been furious. She felt it was a backhanded jab, designed to suggest she was unprofessional and incapable of recalling any agreements if she had a couple of drinks. Also, she felt Shan was trying to mock her and suggest she was running up the tab because she knew the company would be paying. From that moment, she felt there had been a little war between them. Shan was completely out of the loop on this entire scenario. As far as she knew, Carmen was an extremely competent sales lead and never failed to talk clients into serious advertising buys with multi-platform media. Until she walked into her house that day, she never really gave Carmen much thought outside of work. If asked, she would have described her as a beautiful, smart, tough woman.

  Shan entered the house through the front door, so as to avoid alerting anyone she was home. The house was small enough that you could hear the garage if you were in the front of the house. However, no one was in the front.

  Shan walked down the hallway. She was sweating and her keys were fisted in her palm. She had her phone just in case she needed to call the police. Her body was trembling and throat felt tight. She could hear low speaking, but could not quite make out the words. As she approached her open bedroom door she could quite clearly hear what was being said.

  “Oh, Jack, yes. Yes. Make love to me. I’ve been waiting all week. Yes, yes, yes. Give it to me baby.”

  Shan gripped her keys and phone tighter as she leaned against the wall. She could feel her entire body shaking and thought her coffee might make an unplanned reappearance. She got on her knees, put her head on the floor and took deep breaths. She listened to some woman who sounded familiar moan and whisper encouragement to her husband.

  “Lick it baby. Just like that, I’m going to come. I’m going to come all over these sheets. Oh, baby, yes, that feels so good. You make me feel so good. I love you.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The words “I love you” echoed inside Shan’s head and ricocheted off all her bones, rushed through her blood, filled the house, bounced off the rooftop and were probably heard in Timbuktu. That is how powerfully they affected her heart. She realized her husband wa
s making love to someone she knew, if that voice belonged to who she thought it did. He was doing it in the house they shared, on the sheets she washed and bed they picked out at Haverty’s. He was doing it exceedingly well, too; if her declaration was to be believed.

  Her heart was dust. Just dust. She knew herself, though. She knew if she didn’t finish this horror and actually look at it, she might walk out quietly and waste time (years maybe) lying to herself. She silenced her phone, enabled the video function and stepped into view of the room.

  Carmen could see everything in the hallway because of the mirror on the dresser. She was filled with a sense of extreme triumph and satisfaction when she saw Shan on her knees.

  “Good, this will teach that uppity heifer something,” she thought, as she closed her eyes and encouraged Jack in a louder voice. When she next opened her eyes, Shan was standing in the door way. She had absolutely no expression on her face and her phone in her hand. Her head was tilted to the side and she looked Carmen right in the eye.

  Carmen smiled at her. Spread her legs wider, put her hand on the back of Jack’s head and said, “I love this, more please.”

  He obliged. Shan kept watching and filming.

  “Put it in Jack. Make me yours; I need it, just like I always do.”

  This whole performance really had nothing to do with Jack. It never did. This was about Carmen bringing Shan down a peg. It was about making her feel weak and foolish. “You think you are better than me? Fine. I’ll take your man, in your house, in your bed, in front of you.”

  Shan watched her husband crawl up Carmen’s body, licking her stomach, sucking her nipples, kissing her neck, tonguing her and pulling her leg onto his shoulder. Carmen kept looking Shan in the eye. She kicked the sheets away so Shan wouldn’t have any doubt about what was happening as Jack penetrated her body and started stroking.

  “Damn girl. This is some good pussy. Shit. I should be in this every damn day.”

  “You are right, you should. You can. Every day you want, as often as you want. You can have it all the time, all you have to do is tell me when and where,” Carmen told him.

  It was the strangest contest ever held. Carmen kept watching Shan, waiting on her to react. Shan kept watching her husband stroke in and out of Carmen. She kept watching until he finished. As he jerked and spasmed and groaned out his satisfaction, she finally broke her silence.

  “Jack. I am going to leave this house. When I return, I expect you to be gone. Don’t leave one single thing that belongs to you. Those sheets are officially yours now, as is the bed and everything in this bedroom except the jewelry my parents gave me and my clothes in the closet,” Shan announced in a very controlled, firm, emotionless voice.

  At the sound of his wife’s voice, Jack jumped up from Carmen and stood on the floor. He was so stunned he didn’t even think to get a sheet. He looked like a shocked chocolate god; a tall, strong, beautiful and semi-erect deity with semen still spitting. He somehow managed also, to look pitiful and small. The expression on his face was equal parts horror and anguish.

  “It’s over. I will never see or speak to you again, in this lifetime. If you attempt to return to this house, I will call the police and have you arrested. If you come to my job, you will not be able to find me. If you come to my mother’s home, she will sic Samson on you. Consider yourself free. You can be in some good pussy every day from now until you die.”

  With that, Shan turned and left.

  Carmen was furious. “How dare this bitch not acknowledge me! We will see about that at work. I will make sure everyone knows I screwed her husband. See if she can ignore me then.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Shan drove directly to work on autopilot. She had already decided what she was going to do. She hadn’t been unmoved by what she was seeing as she watched the scene that had unfolded before her. She had been devastated. She was sick. Hurt. Confused. She had all the normal emotions any wife would, but she really wasn’t one for being distracted from the primary point.

  The primary point was that her marriage of less than three years was over. This meant she would have to move. Her husband had screwed her co-worker, so that meant she would have to quit her job.

  It turned out her mother was right, again. She was very glad she had gotten the teaching certificate, for back up. She had spent exactly three years in the classroom since she had done her student teaching. She taught while getting her Master’s degree. She paid out of pocket for the Master’s while living at home and got married in her last semester. Then, she wanted corporate money and left education.

  Shan had a college friend, Anise who had also been a student teacher at the same school. Anise was going to Korea after graduation to teach. She was going to teach all over the world and then come home after she had seen the planet; that was the plan. Shan always felt it was a great idea and if she hadn’t been planning to marry Jack, she might have thought about doing something similar.

  That was Shan’s new plan. It was time to see the planet. Texas was not big enough for how she was feeling right about now.

  She parked her car in a visitor’s spot. She went to her desk and typed a letter of resignation effective immediately. She wasn’t one of those folks who kept personal mementos at work, because she didn’t have an office. She just grabbed her little box of necessities with headache medicine, allergy tablets, lotion, a couple emergency tampons and cocoa butter and put it in her bag.

  She knocked on her VP’s door and asked for a quick minute. Melissa smiled and said, “Of course, what can I do for you?”

  Shan kept it brief. “My circumstances have changed drastically this morning. I am turning in my notice, effective immediately. I have included the password to my email and computer in the letter. I have a calendar with all pending jobs and their current status, including completed tasks and next steps that I forwarded to the team and you. I will be leaving the country in the near future, so I will not be available after today.”

  Melissa leaned back and said, “Wow, Shan! That’s no buffer for us at all. Would you be willing to share even a little bit what has brought you to this?”

  Leaning forward, Shan said, “I can, but you are going to be embarrassed if I do. Are you sure you really feel you need to know why I am leaving?”

  “Shan, I hate to be a hard ass, but this puts us in a bind, even with your calendar. Accounts are about relationships, not just task lists and you are leaving us very abruptly. I would hate to list you as ineligible for re-hire in the event you ever needed a reference,” was Melissa’s very businesslike response.

  Shrugging, Shan pulled out her phone and showed the film clip.

  Melissa’s entire face turned red and her mouth dropped. “Is that CARMEN?” she gasped.

  “Yes. I will never willingly be in the same room with her again. I don’t blame her, I blame him. Still, she knew exactly what she was doing and had absolutely no shame. She looked me in the eye and kept going when she saw me in the doorway. I feel it was intentional. I have no idea why she felt that was something she needed to do and I don’t care. She didn’t swear any vows to me. He did. I’m angry, hurt and out of here. I hate to do it to you, but I have to take care of me,” were Shan’s final words on the matter as she stood and offered Melissa her hand. Melissa stood, came around the desk and engulfed Shan in a hug.

  “You can list me as a reference any time. You always have a job here, if you ever decide to come back. However, if you are leaving the country, I have a feeling this place is already a part of your past,” Melissa whispered in her ear.

  Shan left and moved on to step two.

  Melissa pulled Carmen’s file and started looking at her attendance and performance reviews. She wanted that female out of her company. Melissa was a married woman. She didn’t like that video she saw, not one little bit.

  That wasn’t Shan’s intention, but truthfully, she didn’t care. She wasn’t out to get Carmen, but she also had no care about who knew what went down. She wasn’
t the one who needed to feel ashamed. She was leaving; she could care less if Carmen kept or lost her job. She wouldn‘t have shared, but Melissa asked.

  Shan pulled into the bank and spoke with a service representative. She opened a new checking and savings account. She moved half of the amount from each of their joint accounts into her new ones. She had her name removed from the joint accounts. She looked at their revolving credit balance and paid half. She paid half the credit card balance as well. She was leaving Jack with only half the debt they accrued. She wasn’t about to be in some long, drawn out divorce. She would be free of him in ninety days.

  Her next stop was their realtor. She explained the marriage had ended and the house was up for immediate sale. She was informed there would be paperwork. She gave Jack’s work address and her mother’s home address to the realtor. The realtor agreed to send everything to those addresses and communicate via email. She understood that she was never to copy Shan on any email she sent Jack. All correspondence would be separate. She didn’t even want to see his name on a To: line.

  Her next stop was lunch. She was starving and it had been a busy morning. She treated herself to her favorite Cajun eatery. She ordered an iced tea and a Swamp Thing. She drank the tea and took the Swamp Thing to go. The last stop was her cousin’s law office.

  Lawyer, yes that is his name and was always a little talking point with new clients, ushered her into his office. He knew shock when he saw it and had his secretary bring sparkling water and sweet tea. He listened as Shan recounted the tale, including the fact she had video evidence.

  “Good. The fact you have video will make him less likely to fight you. I suggest you file and claim irreconcilable differences. If he tries to start trouble, I will tell him that you can always add infidelity and we will include the video as evidence. That makes it public record and could possibly be seen by someone he would rather not,” were Lawyer’s words.