Mickey reeled back in surprise. “You’re missing the opportunity of a lifetime!”
“No,” Derek assured him. “I’m creating another one.”
And he walked out of the club and hailed a cab. Once inside, he made a call. Tony picked up on the first ring.
“Hey, how’d it go with Mickey?” Tony said cheerfully.
“It went great,” Derek replied. “You’re fired.”
Click.
The second phone call was more difficult, but necessary. When it was done, he felt peaceful and had no regrets, giving him the courage he needed for the journey ahead.
* * *
Natalie’s bag was packed and stowed in the Jeep, but she couldn’t leave and go back to New York just yet. Not until she told someone how she felt about Derek.
And that someone was Pops.
Somehow she’d also find a way to break it to him gently that Derek was gone.
She stood just outside his hospital room, her back pressed against the wall, trying to muster up enough courage to go in.
Although visiting hours had begun, she wasn’t sure Pops was awake yet, although she could hear the boisterous voices of two sports announcers from his television.
A nutritional aide approached, carrying a tray. Her bored frown morphed into a polite smile when she saw Natalie standing there, likely assuming she was a relative of the patient.
Without thinking, Natalie pushed herself off the wall and followed her. She waited inside the room and watched the aide set the tray on the table and push it over the bed.
“Good morning!” Natalie said when the aide left.
“Breakfast and a beautiful lady,” Pops exclaimed, pressing one button to lower the volume on the television and another to raise the bed to a sitting position. “Just what the doctor ordered.”
She didn’t know exactly how old Pops was—she guessed between sixty-five and seventy—yet he was still handsome. His broad, toothy grin made her feel special.
Natalie’s cheeks warmed. “You’re a flirt, just like Derek.”
“Who do you think he learned it from?” he said, lifting the aluminum cover off the plate. “Mmm. Pancakes and sausage. They keep feeding me like this and I’ll leave here with a heart attack instead of a head concussion.”
She pulled a plastic chair over and sat. “How are you feeling today?”
“They took the IV out, so I no longer feel like a puppet on a string. Other than a nagging headache, I’m doing fine. They said they’d kick me out in a few days, and believe me, I can’t wait to get home and sleep in my own bed.”
He unwrapped the plastic cutlery and tucked a napkin on his lap. “You don’t mind if I eat, do you?”
When she shook her head, he began to cut his pancakes.
“Where is my son, anyway?”
She hated the tears that burned her eyes and threatened to fall, exposing her emotions before she was ready. On the drive over, she’d run through a litany of positive affirmations in her mind designed to help her stay strong.
Now, she couldn’t remember the healing words, couldn’t stop regretting that she had withdrawn her heart from Derek. “That’s what I came to talk to you about. He’s gone back to New York and I think it’s all my fault.”
Pops stopped chewing for a second and then quickly swallowed, recognition dawning on his face.
“That’s what I thought, too.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, surprised that he didn’t seem disappointed or worried by what she’d just told him.
He put his fork on the tray, concern etched in the lines surrounding his eyes.
“All those years I spent away from my son, I blamed myself.” He reached for her hand. “But you know what I learned during that time?”
She shook her head.
“Blaming yourself is a lot easier than loving the person who hurt you.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. Such wise advice. It was the type of counsel she would have given her patients when she was a psychologist.
How quickly she’d forgotten.
“But how do you stop blaming yourself?” she asked, needing his perspective.
Pops chuckled. “Now that’s the interesting part. I don’t know.”
He stirred two sugars into his coffee. “But now that Derek is back in my life, I’d rather work on loving him and building a relationship, than blaming myself, and figuring out how to do both along the way.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Trial and error.”
“That’s what life and love is about, isn’t it?” He nodded and his voice took on a more serious tone. “Derek and I both wasted a lot of years. That’s time we’ll never get back.”
She squeezed his hand, cold and gnarled with veins, and his upper lip quivered.
“I’m not a young man anymore. I’m not too proud to mop floors for a living, never was. But I was always too proud to tell my sons that I loved them. Not anymore.”
I wish I had that kind of courage.
He looked her straight in the eyes, as if he could read her thoughts.
“Natalie, if there’s something important that you need to tell my son, don’t wait. Just open your mouth and let your heart speak for you.”
His words and the determination in his eyes warmed her, and she leaned back in her chair with amazement.
“Derek is so lucky to have you for a father.”
Pops bowed halfway. “Why thank you, miss!”
She hesitated, not sure if she should pry. “What was he like as a kid?”
He laughed. “I used to call him Sir Bounce-A-Lot. He would never sit still, he was always moving. One day I gave him a basketball, with the hope that it would cure his fidgety ways, and the rest is history, and I’ve never regretted my decision.”
“That’s a great story!” Natalie responded with a smile. But Pops wasn’t listening. His eyes were on the television set and he was frowning. Natalie followed his gaze and saw Derek’s picture on the screen. She pushed the button on the side of the hospital bed to turn up the volume so they could hear what was being said.
“Derek Lansing is calling it quits. The popular power forward for the New York Skylarks announced his retirement from professional basketball today, effective at the end of the season. Lansing’s playing, always off the charts for the bulk of his career, has been hit-or-miss for most of this season. He’s coming off suspension and will be back on the court this week. When asked the reason for his retirement, Lansing declined to answer. But perhaps he’s not giving up the game he loves and plays so well entirely. It’s rumored he’s entertaining offers to coach at the college level.”
Pops whistled low, pressed a button, and the television went dark. Stunned at the news, they turned and looked at each other with shock in their eyes and the ultimate question in their minds. Why?
“I never thought in a million years he’d retire this soon, this young,” Pops said, shaking his head as he pushed the table that held his breakfast to the other side of the bed. “That must have been why he left abruptly last night.”
“Perhaps.” Natalie wrung her hands in her lap. “I just hope he’s okay. I hope nothing happened to him.”
Derek suddenly walked into the room and they both jumped in surprise.
“That’s the good news,” he announced. “Something did happen to me. Something wonderful.”
Derek went to Natalie and pulled her out of her chair.
“I fell in love with a woman who inspires me to want to be more than I am right now.”
He reached over and gripped Pop’s hand. “And I reunited with a father who forgave me after years of pain,” he affirmed, clasping his arm around Natalie’s shoulder. “And both of you are more important to me than anything else in this world.”
The h
uge smile on Pop’s face lit up the drab hospital room as he extended his arms toward Derek.
“I’m so proud of you, son.”
Derek released her shoulder and the two men hugged for a long time. When they stopped, both had tears in their eyes, relieved that the layers of regret and years of estrangement had finally melted away.
“So what’s the bad news?” Pops joked.
“Well...” Derek said slowly, trying to hide a smile. “Natalie is going to have to suffer through a trip to Tiffany’s to shop for an engagement ring. That is, if she’ll agree to marry me.”
Tears welled in her eyes and she was speechless with joy.
But when he moved to kiss her, she quickly pulled away, and she could hardly bear the crestfallen look on his face. He thought she was rejecting him, but nothing could be further from the truth.
She placed her hands on his face, and she could feel him tremble as she traced the strong lines of his jaw.
It’s now or never. Yet she was no longer afraid.
“A wise man once told me that when I couldn’t find the words to tell someone how I felt, I should just let my heart speak for me.”
She glanced down at Pops, her courage strengthened by his smile.
“What is your heart telling you?” Derek asked gently.
“That I love you,” she whispered. “Because I do.”
And this time when Derek moved to kiss her, she didn’t step away, but fell into his arms and a future they would build, and figure out, together.
* * * * *
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Kimani Romance story.
You dream in vibrant hues! Harlequin Kimani Romance stories feature sophisticated, soulful and sensual African-American and multicultural heroes and heroines who develop fulfilling relationships as they lead lives full of drama, glamour and passion.
Enjoy four new stories from Harlequin Kimani Romance every month!
Visit Harlequin.com to find your next great read.
We like you—why not like us on Facebook: Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
Read our blog for all the latest news on our authors and books: HarlequinBlog.com
Subscribe to our newsletter for special offers, new releases, and more!
Harlequin.com/newsletters
ISBN-13: 9781460321461
STEALING KISSES
Copyright © 2013 by Jennifer Jackson
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.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com
Stealing Kisses Page 17