Only Skin Deep (20 page)

“You
have your all
girls
workout gym. We have our all guy
ball playing nights.” He so was keeping the real reason from her. Why else
would he deny her the chance to see him play ball with his new friends for the
first time? She’d never seen him hot and sweaty on a court.

“
Hmph
. Fine.
I’ll see what the
girls are up to and we’ll maybe make girls’ night out or at least have dinner
and an appetizer somewhere. Have fun and try not to break anything or let
anyone break you.”

“I’ve
played street ball before.”

She
regarded him with skepticism,
then
shrugged. “If you
say so, but I’ve seen the way they play. Back when
we women
were allowed to watch.”

“I
promise I’ll give you a play by play when I get home, okay?”

“You
better.”

Derek
dropped a kiss on her lips and knelt down. Even through her clothing she felt
the heat of his breath, his lips as he murmured to their child and kissed her
still flat tummy. She ran her fingers over his gelled hair.

“You
know how to disarm a lady…”

“Survival tactic.
I’m full of them.” He chuckled. “No more
heels on the stepstool. I’m sure Barbie will do that stuff for you.”

“And
back to being totally anal about things. Get out of my store.” She swatted his
ass. When he walked away a part of her wanted to drag him back.
Sappy.
I’m fucking sappy as shit.
In her head
she played all the couple songs she’d play at their wedding. Lord help her, she
needed to get a grip. She had Derek on the brain…and knew deep down there was
no cure for her affliction.

The
store phone rang. She walked over to pick up the cordless.

“Thanks
for calling Craze. This is
Deja
.”
Nadja
greeted her. “Girl, I was so about to call you.”

“Our
guys have a play date. Did you know?”

“Yep.
Derek came to tell me personally.” Derek swaggered out
the door, turning to blow a kiss and level a heated gaze on her. Man, he
singed
her from the top of her perfectly styled hair to her
manicured toes from clear across the room. She waved him off and concentrated
on her phone call. “So, you got a text? Did
Donato
say where they’re playing? I’d give anything to watch. You and
Taleena
have both seen your men play sports. Not me.” She
listened for the bell over the door to chime while she conversed with her best
friend. “Yeah, we need
Taleena
to get the goods. We
can formulate a plan on sneaking in to watch. What? Hmmm, I didn’t think that
through totally. It’s winter so we won’t be able to watch. I know
,
summer will be a breeze since they play on open courts. All
of this brainstorming is making me hungry.” There had to be a way to skirt
around the
no enter
rule.

Nadja
cracked her up. She could see them decked in spy
gear, goggles, binoculars and all. None of them were slick though. To be brutally
honest,
Donato
scared her sometimes. The massive man
had an uncanny way of extracting information without saying a word. Many a time
she squeaked out some tiny morsel of gossip, and then clasped her hands to her
mouth in horror at breaking the number one sister rule. Under duress plead
ignorance. Tomas wasn’t much
better,
in fact she could
say the same for all the employees at Club Mist.

“Hmm?”
Spit and damn, she missed
Nadja’s
entire one-sided conversation and wasn’t in the slightest peeved when she ended
the call.

Now
faced with a dial tone,
Deja
blinked and made her way
back to the counter to fish for a snack.

As
the afternoon wore on, she helped her customers while searching online for some
new footwear.
Sneaker heels?
They had some cute lace
up ones. However, she could see a lecture a mile long if she got them, deciding
they weren’t even close to what Derek suggested.

With
a sigh, she began to look at lower heels. Flipping the pages took her on a
blast from the past when she wanted to be taller, and
a new
pair of shoes made a broken heart feel
better. High school, when she was
a bookworm with little social grace. Until fate stepped in, in the form of her aunt
from New York bearing gifts, her first designer hand bag, wallet, designer
heels, and an array of belts and hats. Miranda let her go through her clothes
and for the first time in her life she felt home. Everyone in school wanted to
know where she got her new pretties, not like she ever told them. Right then,
she decided the world of pretty clothes and things were her future.

And
now, a sexy, thoughtful man wanted to douse her creativity with boring albeit
safe footwear. Bah
humbug,
and it wasn’t even
Christmas. The more time she spent thinking, the more she came to realize how
much Derek and
Donato
had a lot in common. She still
thought
Donato
worked for some secret part of the
government. He had that hard edge about him. Her
bestie
was a brave soul for being his woman.

“
Deja
.”
The sound of Barbie’s
voice brought her from her reverie. She closed the icons for the shoe stores
and gave her attention to her employee.
“Hmm?”

“I’m
back. Thought you’d want to take a break or sit down…”

“I
can’t, got inventory to finish doing. Derek took me off task when he popped
in.”

“I
think it’s cute he is so sweet to you, precious cargo and all. I’ll handle
things here, you can go do inventory and get out early.”
Deja
appreciated the gesture, especially since she’d be leaving to go find
fugly
shoes before meeting the girls.

While
she walked around with a scanner, her mind drifted to how her world irrevocably
changed in a good way. In fact, she’d stopped making her weekly lists, the ones
she obsessively needed to have order in her life. Living without answers and
every day planned wasn’t half bad. With Derek close to balance the chaos, she
got her much needed breathing room, plus she wasn’t too sure he didn’t just
absorb it. Either way the nauseating panic of whether her family liked him or
not became a nonissue, the stifling fear ceased almost to extinction.

Deja
pressed the gun to the SKU serial code over the
bangles section one by one…by one by one, moving next to the earrings,
necklaces and chokers. Accessories took an hour to get through, since there
were multiple racks as well as an ungodly excess of designs. Like any true
girly girl, she had
a million herself at home,
and was
working on a hanging system to keep them from disarray and tangles.

Now
and then she’d hear Barbie ring up a customer or pause to help her patrons find
their way around her store.

During
downtime, guilt plagued her for what she put Derek through out of mind numbing
fear…fear of the unknown and fear of failure. In a short span of time he’d
become a permanent piece of her life when she wasn’t used to having people get past
her shields. Her brain had not yet caught up with her heart. Her cowardice now
affected
her the
most—that she lacked the courage to
take him home and introduce him to her family, when he’d stand up against all
odds for her. While she fixated on the negative what ifs, he brought up
all of the
positive, the miracle right now growing in her,
proof that with love and a small seed of faith anything was possible.

Deja
moved to the leggings, her mind flitting from one
extreme measure to the next, daydreaming more than working. Flashes of what
their child would look like passed through her mind. For the past week, she’d
thought of baby names, though hadn’t discussed them with Derek yet. If she gave
him a son, she wanted to name him after the childhood pals he lost, if she had
a girl, Faith or Hope because he epitomized those and so much more. Her stomach
grumbled reminding her she needed to eat and that inventory could wait until
tomorrow.

Light
flurries blew into her face as she stepped outside. For once she was glad she
had the common sense to listen to Derek and wiggled her toes in her faux fur-lined
boots working great to keep her toes toasty. Her new coat protected her from
the frigid winds whiplashing her bare face and neck. Huffs of steam came out of
her mouth as she exhaled.
Deja
shoved her messenger
bag over her shoulder, auto-started her truck with the fancy clicker Derek had
installed after their compromise of a better vehicle and braced herself as she
trekked the short distance across the parkway. Since the accident, her nerves
had a habit of going haywire whenever the streets appeared slick. One car
spinout didn’t mean she’d be a victim again to the mean streets and inclement
weather.
Deja
slid into the driver’s seat, adjusted
her mirrors, fastened her seat belt and slid the vehicle in reverse.

Spring is on the horizon.

Yeah,
if she kept telling herself, she’d believe it and time would fly by. Her cell
blared out
Pittbull
as she daydreamed of warm
sunshine, and the new cycle of life from Mother Nature. Derek made her promise
not to play on the phone while driving. Not for nothing, she didn’t want any
odds to stack up against her so she ignored the incessant ringtone and
navigated the streets leading her to Shoe Store Liquidation. She’d called her
order in, opting for a pick up instead of the extra pricing for delivery.

After
fifteen minutes of slower than a snail’s pace driving, she pulled into the
parking lot, slid into an empty slot and parked. Cold air blew in her face as
she stepped out. Lucky for her, the chill didn’t seep down the opening at her
neck to freeze her nipples off. She should’ve worn a thicker top.

Sorry was driving.
She texted back and
hit send as she walked carefully to the store. Numb from forehead to lips…and
ears, she entered the store and headed to the customer service desk. “I’m here
to pick up an order.”

“Name
please?”

“
Deja
Crane.”

“Thank
you, one moment while I look up your account.”

“No
worries.” Her phone vibrated.

What’s up, you ready yet?
Deja
slid out her keypad to reply.

No, picking up some new sneaks, you?

Nadja
replied
quick
.
Getting a
pedi
want one? Meet me.

Crazy
girl forgot.
Nah, chemicals in that place
aren’t good for me.

Ohhh
sooo
sorry
forgot. I’m heading over as soon as I’m done see you there.

Deja
pocketed her phone. The sales lady returned with her
package. She handed over her printed receipt and finished the transaction.

“Thanks
for shopping and come again.”

“You’re
welcome and I’ll be back.” She headed back into the fray. The snow thickened
and caught on her lashes as she blinked. Once she made it to the warm safety of
her vehicle, she headed to the rendezvous point.

* * * *

“The
guy at the door is brawny. Have you ever seen guns like his? His arms are as
thick as my thighs.”
Taleena
made her point by
sticking out her leg, although, the doorman’s arms were the size of both her
thighs put together.

“Apparently
Taleena’s
never seen a gym rat before. I bet he eats,
breathes and shits power lifting. His neck was super thick too, never seen that
many corded muscles. Kinda scary if you ask me.”
Nadja
gave him the once over a second time.
Deja
dragged
her away.

Taleena
huffed at being teased. “I’ve seen many buff guys.”

“Don’t
let Jason hear you say that.”
Deja
tapped her foot in
impatience. “Since ya’ll saw fit to lie to him, can we get a move on and find
our men…before lightning strikes our asses?”

“Hey, hey.
I resemble that comment.”

Oh dear Lord
. “It’s resent. You resent
not resemble.”
Deja
loved her friend so much it was
hard not to pick at her odd catch phrases.

“Same diff.”
Taleena
raised a
waxed brow. “We didn’t lie, we fabricated a bit but you are
cartin
’
a bun in your oven.”

“Yeah,
barely and I’m not hormonal yet.” Her friends exchanged questioning glances as
if she’d miss their amused exchange. One she’d tossed their way routinely.

“Seriously
who the hell has balls enough to argue with a moody
preggo
?
I don’t…well I do since this one in particular is my
bestie
and all. I have bennies like that.”

Nadja
was right. Their innocent enough fib gave them
instant access into the
man zone
.
Deja
kept waiting for a booby trap to spring or something
as they weren’t supposed to be visiting. They grinned at each other and headed
down the hallway toward the basketball court.

Double
doors greeted them along with the annoying sound of squeaking on the buffed
flooring, akin to the sound of fingernails raking down a chalkboard.

“
Ohh
look, panes, we can peek in, have a looksee without
going inside.”

How
funny they must appear, all squeezed close together to peep.

“See
anything?”

“Not
really, they all have shirts on.”
Nadja’s
depressing
announcement and disappointed expression were hilarious.