The Best Thing He Never Knew He Needed (18 page)

Their eyes connected for a
second before she squeezed hers shut, holding on tightly to
him.

What a
beauty
, Desmond thought, eyes widening to
take her all in. Her hair was wildly splayed over the pillow
underneath her head. Desmond watched the beautiful anguish wash
over her face, saw a single tear roll from both eyes and felt her
body tremor against his.

He kissed her again,
slammed his eyes closed and joined her in a grand ecstasy, their
moans connecting in the open air, as closely as their
bodies.

“
Are you okay?” he asked
her while steadily catching his own breath.

“
Yes,” she said barely
above a whisper.

He grimaced. “Are you
sure?”

“
Yes, Desmond. I’m
sure.”

“
Then why are you crying,
Sherita? I…I tried my best not to hurt you, baby.”

Sherita’s lips trembled. He
didn’t hurt her physically, but emotionally, she was a wreck. He
told her right out the gate that this would be all they would
share. She’d agreed to it, but now, she wished she
hadn’t.

“
Sherita.”

“
You didn’t hurt me,” she
told him. “I’m just emotional, I guess.”

“
Don’t cry,” he said. He
laid next to her, pulling her into his arms.

“
You don’t have to hold
me.” She sniffled. “I know this is probably not something you would
normally do.”

“
It’s not.”

“
Then don’t do it for
me.”

“
I want to,” he said,
running his fingers through her hair.

She was
sleeping.

With the help of the hint
of light from the water display, Desmond watched her rest, watched
her chest rise gently and fall as softly as a leaf, descending
patiently to the ground. Her tears were gone. With the slightest
movement of his finger, he raked her hair away from her face so he
could see her.

Her lips were parted, just
slightly, and he remembered how he had kissed those lips an hour
ago – how sweet noise had left from between those lips when she
called out his name. And he’d kissed her nose, branded her neck and
made her his for a couple of hours.

He said he didn’t want to
hurt her, but he realized he had already done so, as evident by the
tears that sprung out of her eyes. After all, she did admit he was
everything she wanted in a man.

Desmond took a tender kiss
from her lips, before brushing another kiss across her temple. She
was everything he wanted in a woman, but he wasn’t ready for any
type of commitment. As he told her – tonight would be all they
would have. He wasn’t sure how he was going to push this to the
back of his mind and move on with life, but he would. He had
to.

He eased out of the bed
then pulled up a sheet over her, taking one final look at her as
she slept peacefully. Grabbing his T-shirt and boxers from the
floor, he retreated upstairs, taking a bottle of water from the
refrigerator then continued up to the second floor to his bedroom.
He glanced at the clock: 1:54 a.m. He slid into his boxers, chugged
the bottle of water then laid on his bed, face up in the dark room.
He had to be at the office bright and early in the morning.
Concentrating on work would help him to stay away from Sherita and
keep her out of his thoughts. That was a good thing. As it was, he
was feeling things for her he’d never felt for any other woman. It
would take a special effort to avoid her, especially since she was
so close to the family. Somehow, he’d find a way to keep her at a
safe distance. No woman could have his heart. Not even
her.

CHAPTER 20

Two Weeks Later

“
I have to give credit
where credit is due, Des. You knocked this one out of the park,”
Dimitrius said, looking over at Desmond.

Desmond cracked a half
smile. “Thanks, Dimitrius.”

Desmond had spent the last
two weeks focused on work. Just like he told Sherita, that one
night was all they had, and he was back to his normal routine. In
fact, the last time they’d interacted was the night he made love to
her. Occasionally, he would glance out of the window to see her
leaving the house, or coming in, but other than that, their paths
hadn’t crossed. He stayed busy working at home and at the
office.

Still, that didn’t mean he
could forget her – forget the way she felt in his arms. The way she
touched him, kissed him and willingly gave him the gift of her.
He’d spent many nights resisting the urge to jog downstairs and see
her. Many nights staring up at the ceiling. Many nights worried
when her car wasn’t in the driveway at, what he deemed, a decent
hour. Many nights thinking if he could handle another man stepping
into the picture – giving her all the things he had refused
to.

So, he poured himself into
his job. Not only had his brief visit to New York City sealed the
deal with Bell-Butler Group, he had just presented the first stage
of the marketing campaign with the team, Victor included, for
Victor’s new company, Service Swap. Afterwards, Victor and Kurt
left Dante’s office, and only the brothers remained.

“
I agree.” Dante said.
“You’ve outdone yourself as always, Des.”

“
That’s what I do. I get
things done,” Desmond said. He glanced at his watch. It was close
to eight o’clock in the evening. For a split second, he wondered if
Sherita was home. And if she was, what was she doing? He blinked
the thought away from his mind then said, “Hey, we should grab a
drink and celebrate?”

Anything to avoid going
home and running into Sherita.

It was hard enough walking
away from her two weeks ago, the morning after they’d been
intimate. He thought of that night often. He remembered how tears
fell from her eyes, how tightly she’d held on to him and how
beautiful her face was as she slept. He missed her, but knew he
couldn’t be with her, at least not the way she wanted him to
be.

Now that the first stage of
the marketing plan had been completed, he needed to find more work
to occupy his time. In roughly four months when their services for
Victor would be complete, Sherita would be moving out, and his life
would return to normal.

“
I’m down to get a drink,”
Dimitrius said.

Desmond looked at Dante.
“What about you, Dante?”

Dante looked up from some
papers he’d been engrossed in and said, “What’s up?”

“
We’re going to go grab a
drink,” Desmond said. “You coming with us?”

“
No. I can’t. Emily’s
meeting a new supplier at nine and I’m actually leaving right now
to get Ezra.”

“
Why can’t Emily get
Sherita to watch Ezra?” Dimitrius inquired.

“
Sherita has a date. She
couldn’t do it.”

Desmond felt his stomach
twist to the point that he felt like leaning forward to steady
himself. The frown on his forehead was deep and filled with as much
rage as the anger protruding from his eyes. “What do you mean
Sherita has a date?” he asked before he realized it.

His brothers looked at him
with inquisitive eyes, wondering why he cared. He made it clear to
both of them that he didn’t like Sherita, so why was he inquiring
of her plans?

“
Emily said she was out
with some guy…Thane somebody,” Dante said opening his briefcase,
dropping a folder in it. “Anyway, I have to roll. Later fellas.
Lock my door on the way out.”

When Dante left the office,
Dimitrius looked at Desmond and said, “We can still go if you
want.”

“
No. I have to
run.”

Dimitrius smirked. “Okay.
Later.”

Furious, Desmond
jumped
in his jeep and sped home. He was
too jealous to think with a clear head. All he could think about
was another man’s hands touching his woman.

His
woman
.

How could he even call her
that after he told her they would never share anything more than
one night? Then he avoided her for two weeks, making sure their
paths didn’t cross. He hadn’t spoken to her, hadn’t seen her,
hadn’t touched her for two weeks. What gave him a right to be angry
if she decided to move on and date a man who would give her the
time of day, no matter how trifling that man may have
been?

When he turned into his
driveway and didn’t see her car parked out front, he balled a fist
and punched the steering wheel. Slamming the car in gear, he
stormed into the house like a turbulent wind from the inner wall of
a category F-5 tornado and headed for the studio apartment. He took
his keys, unlocked the door, still smelling a hint of her perfume
she’d left behind, probably while she was getting ready for her
date with Thane. He walked to her bathroom, noticed makeup on the
counter and a tube of red lipstick, the same kind she wore the
night they’d met Victor for dinner. The kind she whispered in his
ear that wouldn’t wear off. Why had she chosen to wear
that
particular lipstick
tonight?

He was about to exit the
bathroom when he saw something else – something that made his lips
tremble. His nostrils flare. His blood boil. He saw her wedding
ring on the counter. She’d taken it off. She’d removed the ring
he’d given her before going on a date with another man. He picked
it up and looked at it.

He swallowed hard. What if
she was at Thane’s house right now? In his bed? He remembered
Sherita telling him that Thane wanted her back. What if he’d
convinced her their break-up had been a mistake, and he wanted to
start over? And what if this was his fault? He’d slept with her and
didn’t say anything to her for two weeks. So many thoughts were
swirling around in his head, so much so he didn’t hear the heels of
her shoes descending the stairs.

“
What are you doing here?”
Sherita asked, watching him stand there in the hallway near the
bathroom, dressed in a gray business suit.

He looked up at her with
glassy, jealous eyes, feeling his muscles tighten. She’d dressed up
for that man? Really? She had worn her hair down, hanging loose and
pretty around her feminine shoulders like he liked it. And she had
on a red, strapless dress exposing her caramel skin and, on her
lips, she wore that red, smudge-proof lipstick as he had
suspected.

Pulse speeding, heartbeat
pounding, he couldn’t find words at the moment. So, taking his
attention away from her, he looked down at the ring, her ring, that
he had in the palm of his hand. He walked over to the coffee table
and placed it there.

She watched him place the
ring on the table, saw the slow movements of his body, the
melancholic expression on his face. Still near the stairs, she
kicked off her stilettos and looked at him again. “What are you
doing here, Desmond?” she asked walking pass the couch and on to
the kitchen, taking a bottle of water from the
refrigerator.

Swallowing a ball of anger
down his throat, he asked, “Where were you tonight?”

Sherita took a sip of
water. “Out.” She turned up the bottle to her mouth
again.

“
Where were you tonight,
Sherita?” he asked again as if he hadn’t heard her
response.

“
Don’t worry about where I
was,” she said, frowning. “I was out minding my own
business.”

A vein nearly snapped in
his neck. “See that’s your problem. You can’t discern when I’m
joking and when I’m dead serious.”

“
I really don’t care
either way, Desmond. And why are you asking me where I was, like
you have a right to know? According to the rules you laid out for
our
arrangement
,
you don’t get to ask me where I was, just like I don’t ask you
about your whereabouts, remember?”

He did say that, didn’t he?
Desmond took a few slow, intimidating steps towards her. “Where
were you tonight, Sherita?”

She shrugged lazily. “Where
were you for the last two weeks, Desmond?”

“
I’ve been working,” he
said, eerily calm. “Now answer my question.”

Sherita massaged her
temples. “No! You don’t have the right to barge in here and demand
I tell you where I was, Desmond, after you slept with me then
avoided me for two weeks! What makes you think you have a right to
be here interrogating me? What makes you think you have a right to
ask me anything?”

His nostrils flared. Lips
quivered. Standing immediately in front of her now, invading any
space that was hers, he asked, “Did you sleep with him?” He watched
tears form in her eyes.

“
You’re unbelievable,” she
said, attempting to walk around him.

His anger grew when she
didn’t answer his question. He threw his arm out like a crossing
gate, took her into his grasp and backed her up against the
counter. Face darkening, pupils dilating, he yelled, “Did you sleep
with him!”

Fear crossed her features.
She was alone, in his house, in his basement apartment, and he
looked like he could snap her neck. His eyes were dark, so intense
she couldn’t stand to look at him. “No, Desmond. I didn’t sleep
with him.”