Only One for Me (7 page)

“
Well, I don’t know much
about medical content, but I used to work in the Language Arts
tutorial lab in college. I can read over your papers for you if you
would like.”

“
I really appreciate that.
Thank you.” He kissed the top of her forehead.

“
That’s what girlfriends
are for.”

“
I’ve missed you, Angel
face. I’m sorry for not communicating with you. I know me being a
workaholic is upsetting to you, because of your father, and I
promise to not take on so many extra things. My main focus is
medical school, you, and hopefully getting accepted to John Hopkins
for my residency. I’m not saying I’m getting rid of my community
service projects, but I just won’t sign up for so many around
crunch time. Plus, once I start my rotations, I won’t have
time.

“
Are you busy
now?”

“
Nope. What did you have
in mind?” He kissed her softly on the lips.

“
I was going to read your
paper for you.”

“
Too bad. I was going to
make love to you, again.”

“
Or we could do
that.”

Epilogue

Two years
later.

“
Yasmine?” Cannon called
out at the bottom of her staircase. He’d just left the hospital and
stopped by his house to pick up some clothes and a few things. He
was off for the next two days and had promised to spend them with
Yasmine. It was Christmas Eve, and though she still didn’t
celebrate Christmas anymore, she had allowed him to put up a few
decorations including two stockings over the fireplace. He placed a
small box into her stocking.

“
Coming, Cannon,” she
called out, as she descended the staircase in a red sweater and
jeans with snowflake socks on her feet. She’d let her hair grow
longer, and it bounced around her shoulders. She ran to him and
jumped up into his arms, placing kisses all over his
face.

“
You missed me, baby?” He
carried her over to the fireplace where she’d set out a blanket
with their dinner and wine. He loved their indoor picnics during
the winter and had asked her earlier to set one up for
them.

“
Of course.”

“
I have some very
important news to share with you, Yaz.”

Her eyes lit up at his words, and he
could tell she was anxious to know. He pulled out an envelope from
his back pocket and handed it to her, as her eyes perused the
address.

“
John Hopkins?” She looked
at him, and back at the envelope, as she took out the letter he’d
already read a dozen times. She read it silently in her head, but
her face didn’t light up as he expected. When she did look up, he
saw her eyes welled with tears. “You got accepted to John … Hopkins
for your residency program way in Baltimore. Congrats,
babe.”

She smiled, but it wasn’t the
beautiful smile he was used to, and he knew why.

“
Thank you. I couldn’t
believe it when I saw the letter in the mailbox yesterday. I was in
shock for the longest and then on complete cloud nine today at the
hospital, but you’re the first person I’ve told.”

“
Really? What about your
Dad? I know he would definitely want to know.”

“
I’ll tell the family when
we go to Memphis for New Year’s.”

“
So you’re definitely
going to John Hopkins.”

“
Of course. Why wouldn’t
I?”

“
I just thought you were
considering Meharry Hospital.”

“
I’ve considered a lot of
things in the past few days, but no matter where I decide to do my
residency—whether it’s here, Hopkins, or Purdue, you’ll be with me.
That is, if you want to go.”

“
Wait. What?”

He stood, took the box out her
stocking, and knelt in front of her.

“
Oh my goodness.” Tears
ran down her cheeks as he opened the small black velvet
box.

“
Yasmine Dubose, I love
you. I want to spend my life with you, waking up every morning to
your angelic face and beautiful smile. Please say you’ll give me
the honor of being my wife, Angel face.” He slipped the one carat,
princess-cut diamond on her left ring finger and then wiped away
her tears.

“
Yes, Cannon. I would love
to be your wife, and I’ll go anywhere you want me to just as long
as we’re together.”

What was supposed to be a kiss turned
into more as they made love in front of the fireplace. Afterwards,
she laid on top him, twirling her finger around his scar as
always.

“
When do you want to get
married?” he asked.

“
How about this summer
before we move to Baltimore? We can get married in Memphis since
that’s where most of our family is located.”

“
This summer it is.
Whatever you want, Yasmine. I won’t be able to help much with the
planning.”

“
No problem. You just
leave everything to me. I’m sure my mom and Sherika will be happy
to help me. All I need you to do is show up.”

“
There’s no place I’d
rather be than with you.” He kissed her lightly and turned her over
on her back as she giggled and gave him her simply amazing
smile.

Part Two

Dr. Cannon Arrington’s mission is to
help people in need. But when his ex fiancée re enters his life
after twelve years, he has a new mission. Never let her get away
again.
Yasmine Dubose never stopped loving Cannon. Instead, she learned to
live without him, guarding her heart in the process. However, when
they are brought together to plan a wedding for their best friends,
Yasmine is faced with the challenge of following her heart this
time around or risk losing the only man she’s ever
loved.

Prologue

2 months later…

Cannon pulled his Mustang into the
driveway of his fiancée’s townhome and slammed on the brakes to
avoid hitting the garage door. He’d sped the majority of the way
because he couldn’t wait to share his exciting news with her.
Grabbing his overnight bag and the envelope sitting on top of it
from the passenger seat, he rushed to the front door, fumbling with
the keys before he finally managed to get in.

“
Yasmine!” he called out
as he barely stepped foot into the foyer, tossing the bag on the
hardwood floor but held onto the envelope that burned in his hand.
He was so elated, he couldn’t contain it. She had always been
supportive in whatever he decided to do, so he knew she had to be
the first person he shared his life-changing news with.

His eyes perused the living area.
Bridal magazines were spread out in front of the lit fireplace
along with pictures of cakes, wedding dresses, and samples of
invitations. She had decided that would be the perfect place to sit
and plan their wedding since that’s where he’d proposed two months
ago on Christmas Eve. He smiled as he remembered the loving
expression on her face with tears streaming down her cheeks as she
said yes.

He rushed up the stairs—his long legs
skipping every other step—to her bedroom, laughing when he heard
the shower running and her screaming in a falsetto at the top of
her lungs along with Prince’s “Kiss” on the radio. Yasmine couldn’t
sing a note, but her bubbly and carefree personality always warmed
his heart. Little things like singing off-key in the shower made
him remember why he was in love with her. He dropped the envelope
on the vanity and pulled the shower curtain back. She stopped
singing “I wanna be your fantasy” in mid-sentence and gasped as her
brown, doe-like eyes rested on him.

“
You scared me, Cannon!”
She flicked water on him playfully and yanked the shower curtain
shut.

“
Sorry, Angel face.” He
reopened it to admire her naked body as she stood under the shower
stream to rinse off her melon scented soap. His manhood stirred as
the water glistened on her caramel-coated skin and ran over places
he wanted to kiss and touch. “You need some help?” His voice laced
with seduction.

“
No, baby. I’m done.” She
shut off the water, and he lifted her out of the tub. He began to
dry her off with a towel as she continued to talk a mile a minute.
“Besides, we have to be out of here in thirty minutes. We have
dinner reservations, so hurry up and get out of those scrubs. Oh,
and happy Valentine’s Day.” She kissed him on his cheek before
walking toward the closet.

Cannon was in his last semester of
Meharry Medical School and had just gotten off from doing a double
shift at the hospital. He didn’t have time to change at home,
especially when the envelope arrived. He’d read the letter almost
five times before it hit him that what he had worked so hard for
during the past two years was actually going to happen.

“
Cannon, we really need to
finish discussing the wedding plans,” she called out from the
closet. “It’s February, and we only have five more months. I’ll
bring the wedding notes with us.” They’d decided to get married a
month after he graduated from medical school and then move to
Baltimore, Maryland, where Cannon was to begin his pediatric
residency at John Hopkins Hospital.

“
Oh and guess what?” she
paused, peeking her head out of the closet before going back in.
“The music teacher at my school is available to play during the
wedding. His piano rendition of “Ribbon in the Sky” is so
overwhelming. He played and sung it today after work for me, and I
teared up, which means I’ll be bawling at the wedding.”

“
Um … that’s great,
Yaz.”

She stepped back out in a short,
fitted hot pink dress and looked taken aback to see he still stood
there in his scrubs.

With her hands on her hips and a
little pout she said, “Babe, hurry up.”

“
It doesn’t take me long
to shower and get dressed. But first, read this.” He handed her the
envelope from the counter and walked around to zip up her dress.
She opened the envelope as his hands encircled her waist, and he
rested his chin on her shoulder to look over it as he re-read the
letter.

“
Oh my goodness!” she
squealed. “The grant for the Brazil project was approved.” She
turned around and jumped up and down in his arms, planting kisses
all over his face.

“
This is wonderful. You
worked so hard along with your team to make this happen. No one
deserves this more than you, Cannon. Now we have so much to
celebrate. Your graduation, the grant proposal, and most
importantly our wedding this July.” She hugged him again, and he
kissed her forehead before letting her go. She turned to the
mirror, took off the shower cap, and ran her hands through her
straight, shoulder length hair. She had natural curls, but
sometimes had them blown out.

“
Well … actually, Yasmine,
there may be a slight change of plans,” he said uneasily, looking
at her through the mirror. Her smile faded.

“
What type of change?” Her
voice went up an octave, and he caught the familiar tremble in her
tone whenever he was about to relay some bad news.

“
Um … well, I have to
leave for Brazil the week after graduation, and I’ll be there until
possibly next summer to assist Dr. Johnson and the rest of the team
in setting everything up.”

“
No the hell you won’t.”
She turned around to face him. “What are you talking about? You
can’t be there for a year. You’re starting your residency, and
we’re getting married in July. We’ve already reserved the church
and the reception hall.”

“
Baby, I know, but I can
postpone my residency until next fall, and we can always get
married when I get back. You act as if this wasn’t a
possibility.”

“
But we’ve been making
plans to get married and go to Baltimore. When do you suggest we
get married now?”

“
I’m thinking maybe next
Christmas Eve, since that’s when I proposed. You’ll have more time
to plan.” He stepped toward her, but she moved away, leaning on the
counter for support as if she’d just had the wind knocked out of
her.

“
Cannon, that’s almost two
years from now.”

“
Yaz, it really isn’t that
big of a deal. We can get married anytime, but I can’t just go to
Brazil anytime. The project starts this summer.”

“
Excuse me?”

“
Yasmine, you know my team
and I have been working on this grant for a while. That small
village in Brazil has no real medical services, and by setting up
the clinic, we’ll be able to provide them with such. You know it’s
been my goal to help people in need.”

“
You don’t think I know
that? I’ve been supportive of everything you do, but what about us?
Our plans? I just voided my contract for the next school year for
Nashville City Schools, so I don’t have a job in the fall right now
and my townhome is on the market.”

“
I’m sure you could find a
job teaching and just take your home off the market.”

“
I do not believe this.”
She walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom with him
following her. He reached out to grab her elbow, but she snatched
it away. “Don’t touch me right now.”

He’d never seen so much anger on her
angelic face before and it scared him. He’d promised to never make
her simply amazing smile go away, but he had, and it wasn’t the
first time.