They went to lunch with Nigel, Regina, Andre and Sharon. Then Andre, who got to pick their activity for the afternoon, wanted to go to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History to see the dinosaur bones. They did that, and they saw the exhibits on ancient Egypt and the Hall of Bones, as well. Rashad made them dinner at Michelle’s place and left them on Sunday night. They both thought that there was still so much that they had to discuss.
The two didn’t have time alone again until Wednesday evening, when Mrs. Miller was watching Andre. Michelle went to Rashad’s for dinner after her last class let out, and they arrived at his house at the same time. Michelle called to check on Andre, and then the two began dinner—boiled tilapia fillets with wild rice and asparagus.
“So, do you think you’ll like living here? At least until we find something better? We can outfit the spare bedroom for Andre, and we can fix up the den so that we can both share it. I’ll have to stop letting Shaka use the yard as his bathroom so that Andre can play outside.”
“I was wondering about that,” Michelle said. “Don’t you ever use it?”
“Now and then in the summer. But I’m building a barbecue pit, so maybe we’ll use it more.”
“We’ll be fine here, and I can help pay the mortgage.” Michelle saw that Rashad was already shaking his head. “It won’t be a lot, but I can do my part, and don’t even think about trying to stop me.”
Rashad took Michelle’s shoulders so they could face each other.
“How about you put all of that toward finishing school? Go full-time for your last year. And you won’t be getting alimony after we’re married, but I have enough for both of us.” He could tell she was about to protest. “Just think about it for a bit.”
“All right, I need to think through this and do a budget and—”
Michelle’s phone rang. She fished in her purse on the kitchen table and saw that it was her mother.
“Let me get this. It’s my mother.”
Rashad nodded, and Michelle turned her attention to the phone. Their conversation was brief, and Michelle’s mom did most of the talking. When it was over, Michelle stood frozen for a moment, her hands pressed to her chest. Then tears started streaking down her face.
“What is it?” Rashad asked, coming to her.
“Lucius is dead. Apparently, while he was out on bail, he was harassing another woman in Charleston. Her boyfriend killed him in her apartment.”
Everything was done cooking, so Rashad turned off the stove and came back to Michelle, wrapping his arms around her.
“It’s okay, honey.”
“I’m not upset,” Michelle said. “I pity him, but I’m also...relieved.”
Rashad held her while her tears subsided. Then her head jerked up from his shoulder.
“I’m going to testify at the trial,” Michelle said. “The one for the man who killed Lucius.”
“They’ll have all the information from the arrest warrants.”
“I know. I’m going to testify anyway. And if there’s anything left from his company, I’m going to split it between his mother and Andre’s college fund.”
“If he didn’t have a will.”
“Yes. But he probably didn’t. He thought he was invincible. And he was so young.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t want it to be over this way, but I’m...”
“You’re glad that it is.”
She nodded as fresh tears fell.
Michelle wrapped her arms around Rashad’s neck and let her tears fall. No more looking over her shoulder, no more fear of what could happen to Andre or Rashad at Lucius’s hands, no more black hole. If only it could have ended some other way.
Michelle’s tears soaked through the shoulder of Rashad’s shirt. This was the woman he loved, and any pain inside her tore through him. He wanted nothing more than to ease those tears. He ran his hands along her back, holding her to him. Then he shifted her face toward his and kissed the wet prints etched there.
The feel of his hand at her back had already sent a tingle up Michelle’s spine, and after Rashad kissed her cheeks, Michelle took his lips with hers, yearning for the comfort of their love. Rashad’s lips opened her mouth to his searching tongue, raking her body with desire. He grasped her hips, lifting her against him.
Rashad felt Michelle’s center settle against his and make him taut. He brushed her wet cheek with his thumb, filled once again with a tenderness that only this woman made him feel. He kneaded her buttocks through her sweatpants and then brought one hand up to her breast. He could feel how much she craved to be near him, how much she needed this release.
He stepped from her and took her hand, leading them upstairs.
Inside his room, he pulled her to him, wanting to show her that his arms were there for her and wanting to show her how much he loved and wanted her.
Michelle rushed into Rashad’s arms. If felt like heaven. They moved at the same time, their lips finding each other’s lips and their tongues exploring each other’s mouths. They claimed each other with gestures of love.
Rashad slipped his hand between them and into Michelle’s sweatpants to play over her womanhood with his fingers. He touched her wetness through her panties, which made her moan. He tugged aside the thin weave and caressed Michelle’s moist flesh, finding her swollen pinnacle. Michelle spread her legs, wanting that supple touch. She felt herself throb with sweet agony and couldn’t stop the quick intake of her breath or the low moan that followed it. His touch obliterated her thoughts, filling her with pure sensation as it drove away the pain, the pretense, the past.
Michelle touched the hard wall of Rashad’s chest, wanting his thick arms around her. She let her hand sink to his groin and felt him leap against her fingertips. Every flux of her fingers sent a current through his body, making him twinge like he was being raked on an electric carpet. He wanted that touch on his skin; he needed to feel her hands upon his flesh, her body against his.
They stepped back and discarded their clothes, and Rashad went to his dresser. He had a condom on when he met her on the bed. They moved for each other at the same time, a raw need building between them.
Michelle drew Rashad over her, and Rashad settled himself between her thighs, entering her in one fluid movement. Michelle arched her back until her breasts reached Rashad’s chest. It sent a hot pulse through them both, and they began to toil together, loving the hurt away, loving the past away, loving each other.
When Michelle cried out his name, Rashad bucked inside her and had to fight to keep himself contained. He tilted his hips, letting her sex ride along his lower abdomen and his chest grate against her breasts as he spun inside her.
Michelle called out his name again, feeling herself tightening around his manhood as waves of contractions moved through her, pushing her over the edge. Rashad felt her grip on to his sex and couldn’t stifle his groan. He felt her go taut and couldn’t help wincing and bucking inside her as her waves passed over him. He couldn’t help losing control.
Michelle and Rashad held one another in the sanctuary they had created between themselves. As their breathing and pulses slowed, their bodies knitted together, a shield against anything that would try to put them in jeopardy, an armor against anyone who would try to tear them apart.
After they showered and dressed, Michelle and Rashad packed dinner and collected Andre from Mrs. Miller to take him home. They ate together at Michelle’s dining table. Then Rashad popped in the movie that Andre had picked—Finding Nemo.
“Are you sure you want to see this again?” Michelle asked.
“Yes, yes, yes.” Andre jumped up and down.
“Yes it is,” Rashad said, scooping him up and onto the couch.
Michelle joined them with a blanket and a tub of popcorn.
With Andre between
them and their future together before them, Michelle and Rashad linked their hands, and the three of them cuddled up on the couch to watch the movie, now a family.
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781460324240
IN HIS ARMS
Copyright © 2014 by Yasmin Y. DeGout
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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