by A. C. Arthur
Snapping back from his thoughts, he looked at her and grimaced. “Cooking on the grill? It’s November.”
She shrugged. “That’s what I said and she just laughed, claiming that married people had to do strange things to keep the spark alive.”
He figured she probably had a point and realized he could share some more thoughts on the email matter with Keith if they went. “So do you want to go?”
Cuddling against him, Reka laid her head on his shoulder. “As long as we’re spending the day together just as we planned, I don’t mind.”
Wrapping an arm around her, Khalil kissed the top of her head. “Then let’s go. The change of scenery will do us good. Besides, I heard Grammy say that Cletus was coming over after Janell left.”
Reka sat up quickly. “Oh no! Then we have to hurry up and leave because if I see my grandmother and that man doing the nasty again, I swear I’m going to hurl.”
Standing, Khalil laughed, grabbed both her hands and hauled her up with him. “As much as I like Grammy, I have to say I agree with you.”
* * *
The huge grill, which looked more like an outside stove to Reka, sizzled and smoked as Keith turned steaks and barbequed chicken over on it. They were on the glass-enclosed deck of the Page home overlooking the tiny lake that lay quietly beneath the sunny sky on this crisp autumn day.
Tianna with her chubby little legs and thick ponytails played at her tiny table with dolls and fake food, immersed in a world all her own, while the grown-ups talked of the person disrupting their office.
“What I still don’t understand is his purpose,” Cienna remarked after checking on Tianna for the third time.
Reka sat in a high-backed, cushioned chair sipping on an iced tea. “I don’t think he has a purpose. I think this is simply entertainment for him.”
“Then that’s even scarier. That means he gets some type of enjoyment from doing this, and that makes him sick.” Cienna rolled her eyes.
Keith chuckled. “Not sick exactly. There happen to be some people that are into erotic talk and fantasies. So I wouldn’t conclude the man’s out of his mind. I’m just questioning his reasons for sending the emails to a law firm.”
Khalil shared his latest information. “The messages have slacked off at Sensuality. In the last three weeks they’ve only received one message, and that one was to the management asking them to review their stock value because that could be the reason Jill was being so frigid to him.”
“So does that mean Jill works for Sensuality, Inc.?” Reka asked.
“Why would you say that?” Keith was curious.
Reka took another sip from her glass before speaking. “Well, if the fall of Sensuality stock is bothering her, then she must either own stock or participate in the company’s profit sharing program, which would make her an employee.”
Cienna shook her head. “No. I think she’s fictitious. I don’t think Jack has a woman at all.”
“Maybe he’s simply looking for female attention,” Keith suggested.
“Then why address the emails to everyone in the office? He’s smart enough to only email the women.” Khalil thought instantly of the message to Reka and, when he caught her glance, figured that she was thinking the same thing.
Cienna stood, walked over to the corner where her daughter sat and rubbed the little girl’s cheek before continuing toward the table where fresh fruit and veggies had been laid out. Grabbing a carrot stick, she turned to the other adults. “Well, he’s putting a damper on my day. I don’t want to discuss this anymore. I actually called you two here to discuss Tacoma and his upcoming nuptials.”
Reka groaned. “Oh, please. I am so sick and tired of this wedding. I wish Christmas Eve would hurry up and get here.”
“That’s the date they picked?” Khalil asked.
Keith nodded his head. “Tacoma is forever the romantic. He wanted to do it on Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve but Terry was against it, hated the idea of intruding on everyone’s holiday. So they settled on Christmas Eve.”
“They’re ah,” Khalil searched for the word, “a different type of couple.”
Cienna laughed. “Do you mean that literally or figuratively?”
Khalil returned her smile. “I mean they almost fit the mold of ‘opposites attract’ perfectly.” The other difference was clear, but seemed unimportant to everyone in the room.
“Tell me about it. Terry is so steady, so mature and so grounded. Tacoma would be lost without him.” Tilting her head, Reka thought for a moment. “But then, Tacoma brings out a side of Terry that’s funny and adventurous. I think it’s a healthy mixture.”
Khalil watched her as she spoke, thinking more of them than of Tacoma and Terry, and sensing she was doing the same. “I agree.”
Cienna and Keith didn’t miss the exchange.
“So last night was a trip, huh?” Keith asked, shaking his head at his now moon-eyed friend. Who would have thought that Khalil would fall for Reka? He looked to have some really genuine feelings for her. He’d seen the jealousy etched across his face last night and, while it appeared the two of them had worked through that, Keith sensed something was still going on in that department.
Reka instantly looked weary. “I don’t know what got into Barkley. Normally, he does his thing and I do mine. But last night he seemed pretty determined.”
Cienna was chuckling again. “Yeah, determined to get knocked out.”
Reka frowned, then let a small smile slip to her lips. “That wasn’t planned.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt that. But it was executed with the efficiency that only you can deliver, my girl. That’s why you’re my assistant.”
All four of them laughed at that, but Khalil’s was a little forced. Thoughts of Barkley touching Reka still bothered him.
“What do you think his father will do?” Reka asked cautiously.
Cienna waved a hand. “Jonathan called me this morning apologizing profusely for his son’s misconduct. The papers are having a field day with it, which will only increase their sales, so he’s not bothered in the least.”
“Eleanor Peterson was another matter entirely,” Keith added. “She seemed serious enough about pressing charges until Cienna informed her that Barkley had been harassing you for quite some time and that your actions could be construed as self-defense from a stalker.”
“A stalker?” Reka hissed. “Barkley? Please, he’s a boy scout compared to the stalkers I’ve heard of. But something about him last night was different.”
“He was high,” Khalil added.
“What?” the others asked simultaneously.
Khalil grinned. “I saw him in the bathroom shortly after we arrived. He went into one of the stalls and lit up.”
Reka nodded her head. “Come to think of it, when we danced I did pick up a little scent.”
“Ah, yeah, the dancing thing,” Khalil began to Reka’s consternation. “Cienna, in the future—”
Shaking her head, Cienna grinned. “Don’t even say it. I got an earful from him last night about that. You don’t have to worry. Reka won’t be asked to go above and beyond for the job again.”
Reka was embarrassed. The thought that she was now prohibited from dancing with someone was more than a little disconcerting. But she knew enough not to address that issue here and now; she’d made enough scenes this weekend. Still, she wasn’t going out like that. “Well, just the Barkley sort of clients. A little mingling never hurt anyone.” She smiled sweetly but Khalil’s grim gaze said he didn’t agree.
Keith saw the exchange and thought it best that they move on to another subject, quickly.
* * *
They decided to throw a small dinner party for Terry and Tacoma the weekend before Christmas as sort of their bachelor/bachelor or pre-wedding or bridal shower, but they didn’t actually figure out what to call it. Reka and Cienna agreed to iron out more of the details at work the next day, since the men looked as if they’d been handed a death sentence simply sit
ting there listening to them.
On the drive home Reka sat back in Khalil’s car enjoying the scenery again. She could live in Greenwich. It seemed really out of character for her, she knew, but she was beginning to like the serenity of it all, the quiet streets, the thick trees and green grass. Winter was quickly going to change that but it didn’t matter. The complacency of the entire scene calmed her, made her think that happily ever after might make an appearance in her life after all.
Khalil, however, was having other thoughts. The Donovan Jackson thing still nagged at him. How would Sonya know a man like Donovan, and how would she know that he knew Reka? Unless she’d seen them together.
His fingers gripped the steering wheel as he prayed that was not the case. It seemed highly unlikely since Reka and Sonya clearly did not run in the same social circles. But Sonya knew the man’s name, knew that he had been involved with Reka. There was a connection somewhere and he was frankly tired of trying to figure it out on his own.
“Do you remember when you mentioned that you realized I had a past before you, and that was okay?” he started, not looking at her.
Still in her daze, resting her head comfortably against the headrest, Reka turned to look at him. “Mmmhmmm. Why? Do you have skeletons you want to tell me about?” she joked.
“Actually, I wanted to talk about your past.”
Reka paused. “You said you didn’t want to hear about all the mistakes in my relationship catalog.”
“I don’t want to hear about all of them per se, just one in particular.”
He was serious, she quickly realized, and she sat up. “Oh really? And which one is that?” She wondered if Keith had told him something. Surely Cienna wouldn’t have said anything, unless she told her husband, which was probably the case.
“Do you know a Donovan Jackson?”
At the sound of his name Reka cringed a little. For nine months Donovan had been out of her life until a few weeks ago when he’d paid her that visit at the office. Damn, how office gossip moved. “You already know the answer to that, so why not ask the real question?” This jealous side was new to her where Khalil was concerned, and she wasn’t quite sure she liked it.
He spared her a glance, saw her studying him seriously and thought that maybe he shouldn’t have brought this up. Oh well, it was done now. “Are you still seeing him?”
Reka took a deep breath, released it and put a hand on Khalil’s leg. His worries were apparent, although she wasn’t quite ready to accept that he wanted her so totally that he’d be jealous of someone else, especially Donovan. But she was going to put those fears to rest right away. “Donovan and I were involved. We broke up, close to a year ago. He was no good for me and I was tired of pretending otherwise.” He didn’t say anything, so she continued. “Last week he paid a surprise visit to the firm.”
Khalil looked at her questioningly. He hadn’t known that.
“He talked about going to lunch and I told him that was a bad idea. He didn’t quite get the message then, so he appeared at my apartment the day after Thanksgiving. This time I told him in no uncertain terms that we were through. I have no interest in sharing a meal, or anything else, with Donovan for that matter. So there, that’s that,” she said with a smile.
Khalil relaxed a bit, still wondering how it was that Sonya knew the man, but determined now to let it rest. He wasn’t an adolescent. He’d asked her straight out and she’d answered him. He really had no reason to doubt her, to think that she was running some type of game on him. Besides, that was in direct contradiction to the woman he knew he was in love with.
It was dark when he pulled up in front of her house. She saw lights on inside her apartment and groaned. “My roommate’s still there.”
Khalil grinned, putting the car in park but not turning the ignition off. “I think you should probably face the fact that she’s not going back to Sunny Days.”
Reka frowned, then smiled. “You’re probably right.” Turning to him, she took his hand. “You’re not walking me in tonight?”
Twining his fingers through hers, he reveled in the warmth, lost himself in those glittering eyes. “No. I have some leads on Jack that I want to follow up. Time to put him and his emails to rest once and for all.”
He looked tired and more than a little thoughtful. Reaching over with her free hand, she cupped his cheek. “You work too hard.”
Khalil sighed. “I know, that’s why I have you to help me relax. Which is exactly what we’re going to do as soon as this is over with.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.” Leaning over, he lightly kissed her lips.
Reka sighed, knowing instinctively that Jack was not the only thing on his mind. Just as she’d had doubts looming in her mind when she first saw Sonya and learned that she had been engaged to Khalil, she suspected that whatever his knowledge of Donovan was, doubts were still niggling at him despite her answer.
“My past is my past,” she whispered against his lips, her eyes capturing his in the dimness of the car. “I can’t change it now. Donovan and I, that’s over and done with. It’s just you and me now, believe that.”
She kissed his lips once lightly, then again with her tongue stroking over his mustache and his top lip. Khalil pulled her closer, desperate for the contact, the confirmation. Deepening the kiss, he poured his soul into that intimate action. She moaned into his mouth and he sighed with contentment. “I believe it,” he said when he finally managed to pull away.
* * *
Khalil had been in his office since seven, having felt the need to wrap this email case up quickly. He’d been running code and scanning the messages for the last three hours when his screen suddenly blinked green, then black. Lines of code ran quickly until they were like blurred streams of white. A smile spread across his face.
A login name, signal location, internet identification and, finally, an email address blinked like that infamous light bulb over a cartoon character’s head.
Hitting the print button, he listened as the information made its way from the screen to the blank sheet of paper. With a sigh of relief he picked up his phone to call Cienna. They would both celebrate with a responsive message to their friend Jack.
He’d just left a message on Cienna’s voice mail when there was a knock at his door. “Come in,” he yelled jubilantly even as he thought of the fancy restaurant he was going to take Reka to this afternoon for a celebratory lunch.
“This package just came for you,” Tacoma said, stepping into the office. “I was going in this direction so I told Clara I’d drop it off.”
“Thanks, Tacoma.” Khalil took the package and clapped the smaller man on the back.
Tacoma looked at him with a weird expression. “Are you okay?”
Khalil couldn’t stop smiling, he was so happy. But the look on Tacoma’s face reminded him that he had yet to share his good news. “I just got a break in the emails,” he explained.
“Really?” Tacoma’s face lit up. “That’s fantastic. Who is it? Do they work here? It’s probably that freaky Nicole in the bankruptcy department.”
Khalil chuckled. “No, it’s not freaky…I mean, it’s not Nicole.” Shaking his head at Tacoma, he went to take a seat behind his desk again. “I have to talk to Cienna first. Then I suspect she’ll make an announcement.”
“She’s in the conference room with some bigwigs. I guess I’ll have to wait for the news then.” Tacoma sighed, walked towards the door, then paused. “We should go out for drinks tonight to celebrate.”
Comfortable with Tacoma and finding himself enjoying the time he spent around other couples, Khalil considered the suggestion and nodded. “That’s a good idea. I’ll tell Cienna about it when I talk to her.”
“Great! I’ll go call Terry and I’ll stop by Reka’s office on my way.”
“Okay. I’ll see you later.” Khalil was already looking down at the package on his desk so he didn’t notice Tacoma had left the office until he heard the door close.
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br /> Pulling the tab on the FedEx package, he leaned back further in his chair, letting the reclining mechanism move in accordance with his long frame. He was actually humming a tune, that new Brian McKnight song that seemed to be on the radio every time he and Reka were in the car. Did that mean that it should officially be their song? He smiled at the thought, then stuck his hand into the envelope and pulled out the contents.
Suddenly he sat bolt upright, his eyes riveted on the material he now held. His first thought as he flipped through the numerous shots of naked bodies in explicit sexual positions was that Jack had stepped up his game.
Then a pair of eyes stared at him with alarming clarity and all the blood in his body froze. He actually cringed. His hands shook as he moved from one photo to the next over and over again until the images seemed to blur together.
His phone rang but he ignored it. Trembling, Khalil set the pictures on the desk and brought his hands up to his face. Taking deep steadying breaths, he prayed that when he opened his eyes and looked down again he’d be wrong. He was tired, he’d been working since really early this morning. And he’d been thinking about her. For weeks now she’d clouded every part of his mind until his thoughts were completely of her. That was it. That was why he was seeing her.
Relaxing back in the chair he rubbed his hands up and down his thighs. Spinning the chair around, he turned his back on the photos, focused his eyes on the brisk fall day outside. He wasn’t thinking clearly—he couldn’t possibly be thinking clearly. It wasn’t her. In his gut he knew she couldn’t do this to him. In his heart, he prayed she couldn’t do this. But his mind, his mind was clear on what he had seen. Turning again, he picked up a picture and looked first at the face of the man. A man he’d never seen before in his life until late last night when he’d received an updated email from Garland. Donovan Jackson.
The woman, the first woman, was familiar as well. He’d seen her in the office every day. Her light, almost white complexion and that long straight dark hair were unmistakable. Her breasts were huge as Donovan palmed them. Her face distorted with pleasure, it was Tyrese Buchannon.