Danita hastily moved her hands away from her aching breasts and spun around in her chair, feeling her cheeks flush, startled when Larissa poked her head in the door of her office.
“Yes, uh, give me a minute, Larissa. I need to close out this file,” she said, giving her assistant a strained smile, and running her hands over her hair, making sure it was still neatly coiffed in the low bun.
“Are you okay?” Larissa’s questioning eyes ran over Danita, and she felt her cheeks burn hotter at the curious expression on her assistant’s face.
“Yes, I’m fine, just give me a minute,” she replied, giving her a strained smile, quickly placing her small, square glasses on her nose.
“Okay, just buzz me when you’re ready. It’s your juvie case, the one the court sent you.” Larissa glanced down at the clipboard and finished, “Her name is Merissa LittleJohn. She’s also here with Mr. Wikvaya, her lawyer,” she reminded Danita. When Danita murmured an assent, assuring her she’d be able to see them soon, Larissa turned and closed the door behind her.
Blowing out a breath from pursed lips, Danita quickly removed her compact from her purse and peered into the mirror. Making a moue of disgust at her reflection, she quickly ran the sponge over her face, refreshing her powder before snapping the lid closed and placing the compact back into her purse.
God, she was a wreck.
It was bad enough she couldn’t close her eyes at night without conjuring up images of the man she’d shared the one-time hot sexual interlude with. Now, at work, he was invading her day, her mind either reliving the experience in heated detail, or fantasizing what else he could do to her, with her.
It had been two weeks, and the dreams and thoughts weren’t going away. If anything, they were increasing, her daydreams and fantasies had her in a state of constant arousal.
After leaving Warren’s office, she’d also been avoiding his calls, and had made sure to be “busy” whenever he left a message saying he’d be coming by her condo.
She knew it was only a matter of time before she needed to come to some decision about not only her relationship with Warren, but about other things as well. Things she had shelved to the back of her mind, things that were keeping her up late at night, or interfering with her ability to work.
Things like a tall, leanly muscled man who had made her feel as though she were the most beautiful woman in the world as he’d made sweet love to her.
She buzzed Larissa and asked her to bring her clients inside.
She smiled in welcome when the door opened and a young woman wearing oversize baggy jeans and a jersey entered her office, and instantly the smile slipped from her lips and her heart erratically thumped when the man walking behind her, ushering in the young girl was the same man who’d been filling her nights and days with hot images of the two of them pressed together, his golden naked body intertwined with hers.
“Hawk,” she whispered, and leaned down to grip the edge of her desk, preventing herself from falling back down in her chair in astonishment.
Hawk made sure his look of satisfaction was carefully kept away from his face as he ushered Merissa inside Danita’s office.
The myriad of expressions crossing her face were telling…and very satisfying, ranging from astonishment, to disbelief, to desire, before her animated face shut down. The desire he saw in her dark brown eyes was worth the two weeks of waiting to see her.
He had given her enough time to settle down, knowing she wouldn’t come to him.
Neither had he been surprised when he hadn’t seen her around the diner. He was rarely there himself, yet he’d stopped by several times just in case she surprised him.
She hadn’t.
And two weeks had been enough.
He’d expected her to run away. Knew she would be confused about what had happened between them. The red flush lining her deep brown chocolate face was an indication she was not only remembering their encounter, but embarrassed by it.
He’d found out pertinent information from Leila about Danita over the course of the last week.
Danita hadn’t given her last name, but Leila had filled him in on information, more than enough.
She’d told him Danita was a psychologist, something he already knew, and practiced in a midtown practice, sharing the small office with one other full-time therapist and her assistant. She’d also volunteered the information that Danita kept several slots opened in her growing practice for those who normally couldn’t afford her high fees, offered her services on a sliding scale, or in some cases, pro bono, without pay.
He kept his eyes on hers and his palm lightly on Merissa’s shoulder, as he waited for Danita to invite them in.
The two locked gazes. In hers, even from a distance, he read the shock she felt in seeing him in her office. His eyes followed her small tongue when it peaked out and gently swiped across the bow of her upper rim.
“Hello, Mr. Jarred Wikvaya?” she asked, and he read the question. When they’d spoken, he’d not given her his legal name, had only told her his nickname.
The smile that had slipped from her face returned, and although it was more strained looking, Hawk gave her high marks for her quick recovery from his unexpected presence.
His glance ran over her body. Just as she had been in the diner, she was perfectly coifed, head to toe, nothing out of place.
He clenched his fist, his fingers itching to pull the pins from her hair so that he could run his hands through the loosened, thick strands.
“Hello, Mr. Wikvaya,” she said, coming from behind her desk to approach them. “And this must be Merissa?”
Hawk noted as she walked toward them that she wore high heels, just as she had before, adding several inches to her petite frame, yet as she stood before him, the top of her head was no higher than his midchest level.
He slid his gaze over the suit that, although conservative, still clung to her abundant curves. The open jacket revealed a white silk blouse that cupped and molded her plump breasts, and tucked neatly into the small waistband of her skirt. The hem of the suit skirt ended several inches above her well defined knee, allowing him to enjoy the view of her beautiful, bare legs.
“When I made the appointment for Merissa, Dr. Adams, your assistant assured me it was okay for me to join the first session. I hope that’s alright with you?”
“Yes, that’s fine. I’m sorry. I’ve had a bit on my mind lately. It slipped my mind, please come in and sit down.” She waved a hand to indicate they should come in.
“Thoughts elsewhere?” he asked. Her eyes widened a fraction and her skin flushed.
Danita glanced back over her shoulder, her eyes flying to meet his.
His smile was just a shade too neutral, the expression on his handsome face open.
Danita turned and walked toward her desk. As she walked ahead of the pair, she felt a tingle in the back of her neck, and turned her head slightly. In her peripheral vision she saw his burning gaze centered directly on her backside. She resisted the urge to tug on the short skirt and quickly placed her hands to her sides.
“Please, have a seat,” she turned and motioned for Hawk and the young girl to sit in the leather seats facing her desk. After they’d taken their seats, she put on her most professional smile, and stoically avoided looking at the slight straining at the front of his otherwise loose slacks as he sat down.
Danita waited as the young girl took a quick glance around her office, her dark eyes lighting on the various black-and-white prints lining the walls.
“So tell me about yourself, Merissa. What brings you to me today?” she asked with a small smile, and noted the way her dark almond-shaped eyes widened.
Although Hawk was there with her, she made it a point to address the girl though she encompassed them both in her glance. Whenever she had a first-time client come to her, they were often accompanied by a parent, guardian, or counselor. Unlike other therapists she knew, Danita made sure to begin upfront by addressing the client. It helped set the tone for her interactio
ns with the client, one that told them, from the beginning, they were important to her and she was vested in their growth.
“I don’t know. Uh, what do you want to know?” the girl replied, squirming in her seat before glancing up at Hawk for guidance. When he gave her a reassuring nod and settled back in his chair, the girl turned back to Danita.
“Anything you want to tell me is fine. I’m easy,” she said and wanted to bite her tongue, her cheeks again burning as she uttered the words and glanced at Hawk, who was watching her intently.
Merissa worried her bottom lip, her young face scrunched up, lines furrowing her brow. “Well, I guess I’m here because I got in some trouble,” she mumbled, casting her eyes away, and tucking one of her long braids behind her ear.
The young girl went on, in a voice filled with emotion, about how she’d gotten in trouble—pregnant—and had been kicked out of her house by her parents. After losing the pregnancy, her parents still hadn’t wanted her back, so she’d ended up on the streets for a time before social services had intervened.
Apparently in the nick of time, as Danita glanced over the court documents. Merissa had gotten caught up with a local gang doing petty crimes, but ones that if left unchecked, would more than likely escalate into the type of trouble that would land her in jail.
She didn’t want to interrupt, didn’t want to stop her from expressing herself, allowing the girl to speak the words that had obviously been on her mind for a long time.
Hawk too remained silent, the only testimony to his feelings was the clenching in his jaw. She looked down and saw his hands fisting on top of his thighs.
When Merissa had finished, tears running down her small face, Danita leaned forward and handed her a Kleenex.
She swiped down her face, quickly wiping away her tears, her narrow chest heaving, moving up and down until she calmed down.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled the apology. “Guess you didn’t expect to hear all that,” she laughed a humorless laugh and hiccupped softly. “Your office is cool. I like all the pictures.”
Danita could see she was nervous even though she did her best to appear sophisticated.
“Thank you. Most of it is from a new artist I found at the flea market downtown,” Danita replied, smiling softly, mentioning an older part of town frequented by artists and patrons alike.
“I go there a lot! I find all kinds of cool stuff there,” the young girl replied, her tears now gone, her eyes sparkling, a smile lifting the corners of her wide mouth.
“I practically live there on my time off,” Danita laughed. “It’s a great place to go, plenty of art, nice little cafés, and I love the Caridad Boutique.”
“You go there? Man, with all your money, you can afford to buy whatever you want,” the young girl replied, running an assessing eye over Danita.
“Most of the furniture in my office as well as my home is from Caridads,” Danita replied, easily.
“I work part-time at Warton,” she said, mentioning another popular vintage boutique that specialized in the same type of eclectic items found at Caridads. “We have some nice things there, too. You could come by and ask for me. I could show you some of the stuff we get before it goes out on the floor, if you’d like,” she said shyly. “We’re going to be at the Indian Festival this weekend. I have some of my own artwork that’s going to be for sale. If you’d like, you could come by. There’s going to be local crafts and artists. Lots of food, too. Mr. Wikvaya is going to be there,” she supplied. “Maybe you two could come by together. You’re coming, too, aren’t you, Hawk?” she said, and glanced up at Hawk.
Throughout the conversation, Danita had carefully kept her attention solely on the girl, concentrating on the session and blocking out the sensual man who sat quietly by her side.
“I’d like that, Merissa. Although I’m sure Mr. Wikvaya probably has plans to go with someone else,” she said hastily, hoping it was true.
“No, actually I don’t. I’d love to take you…to the fair,” he said, the look in his eyes hot, sending a message directly to Danita, one the young girl completely missed. “It’s this Saturday. Starts at noon. I’ll pick you up around eleven.
It’s a date,” he said, one corner of his sensual mouth lifting in a smile, the dimple in his lean cheek flashing.
He said it as though it was a done deal, and Danita felt cornered, not sure how to get out of the “date” in front of the girl.
“Well, then. I guess it is,” she said, feeling the muscles in her face twitch as she tried to smile.
Hawk lifted his wrist and glanced at the sturdy black watch he wore. “I think it’s time for us to go,” he said, and both he and Merissa rose from their seats.
“It was nice meeting you,” Merissa said, and shyly offered her hand as Danita walked around the desk to escort them to the door. “I’ll come back next week to see you, right?” she asked, the earnestness in her eye strong.
“Definitely. Before you leave, make sure you schedule your appointment with my assistant.”
“Yes, ma’am,” she said and with a lightness to her step, one completely different than the one she came in with, she began to walk out the door.
“Merissa, you go ahead and talk to Ms. Jones and make your appointment for the same time next week. I want to talk with Dr. Adams,” Hawk murmured, and the unsettling in Danita’s stomach grew.
“Okay,” she said with an upbeat smile and skipped out the door. As soon as she left, Hawk closed the door.
Danita immediately moved to walk away when he caught her shoulder.
“You didn’t have to avoid me, Danita,” he murmured, moving his hands down her arms.
“What makes you think I was avoiding you?” she asked, hearing the breathless quality in her own voice. She cleared her throat. “I’ve been busy. That’s all.”
“Too busy to come to a place you visit daily?”
“How would you know—”
“I asked Leila. She said you’re a regular.”
“Like I said, I’ve been busy. I usually am this time of year. This is the time that I see an increase in my client load. After the holidays, people get depressed. I also have taken on more court cases, and—”
Her ramblings were cut off when his lips slanted over hers. Turning her body, he pressed himself closer to her, and pulled her closer. With a moan of surrender, Danita eased her hands up his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on tiptoe to reach him better.
With a muffled groan he turned her body toward the wall and pressed her against the door, his hands moving down the line of her back to cup her bottom and lift her closer to the thick bulge in his pants.
After long drugging kisses, Danita broke the mood, and moved away from him.
“I can’t do this,” she murmured, closing her eyes as she kept her back to him.
He was silent for so long, she wondered if he was still there. Turning, she saw that he stood in the same position, his dark gaze on hers. Expecting a rebuttal, she waited for his reply, her heart beating crazily in her chest.
“I’ll pick you up here at your office, Saturday, at eleven AM,” he said, and with one final look, left her office. When the door closed behind him, she released the pent-up breath of air within her.
30
Hmm. Yes. Just like that…
For long moments nothing was heard in the room but harsh groans and soft whimpering moans of pleasure as the two bodies writhed against the other.
“Do you like that, Danita? Am I making you feel good? Tell me…talk to me. Do I make you feel better than he does?”
“Oh, God. Yes. Yessss.” her response turned to a groan of delight when he widened her legs and allowed the broad head of his dick to slip between the slick lips of her pussy.
“Time to get out of that bed, girlfriend! Rise and shine, give God the glory, glory! Oh, shit, let me stop playing around before a lightening bolt strikes! I know most of you nasty heffas wanna give that dick you were riding all last night the glor
y, glory, so, no, chicas…Carmelicious is most certainly not mad atcha! If the yum yum was good, then the yum yum was good…and you’d best to give it some praisin’!”
Danita groaned and rolled over in bed, turning down the volume on her clock radio as Carmelicious’s voice poured from the small speakers and into her bedroom.
She threw an arm over her eyes to shield them from the sun shining brightly through the thick wood blinds in her bedroom. She opened one eye and looked at the time. Seven o’clock.
“Oh, God!”
She’d gotten all of three hours of sleep.
With a deep sigh she rose from the mattress, but when her muscles creaked out a protest, she slumped back down against the bars of her headboard and closed her eyes, listening to Carmelicious.
“The question of the day is, ‘Is your kitty free to roam the city?’ That’s right ladies, is your kitty free to roam the city?! I can already hear the moans and protestations from our male listeners, but listen up, sometimes a girl’s gotta think.”
Danita’s eyes flew open at Carmelicious’s words, and she choked out a rusty morning-sounding laugh. “Oh, please, Carmelicious. Girl, not today!” She laughed and leaned over to turn up the volume on the radio before laying back on her side, facing the radio, resting on her bent arm with one hand cupping her chin to listen.
“You have either been playing it cool with your man, letting him set the pace for the relationship, or you’re with some man who is completely ignoring you. Either way, it’s time to get yours, ladies! And as my girl Beyoncé sang, sometimes you gotta go to the back of that closet and pull out that freakum dress. Damn, I wish I’d had thought of that one…anyway”—the DJ released a deep-throated chuckle before continuing—” could be that the man you thought you wanted—or the man everyone thought you should be happy you have—is not the man for you, and it’s time to move on! Any way you wanna look at it, understand one thing, ladies…emancipation day is here! Let your kitty be free to roam the city! It’s your life, and last time I checked, we only go ’round this lifetime once. Make sure you make the best of it, ladies.”
Scream My Name Page 18