The Best Thing He Never Knew He Needed (19 page)

“
Then why were you with
him, Sherita?”

“
I met him at a restaurant
with my parents.”

“
Why…were…you…with…him,
Sherita?” he asked, slowly, his eyes burning with envy.

“
To tell him to leave me
and my parents alone. That there was no chance for us
and—”

Before she could finish her
tearful explanation, Desmond locked his mouth onto hers tight, so
tight he nearly sucked the breath right out of her while grabbing
hold of the dress she wore, pulling it down until it dropped on the
floor. He picked her up, carried her to the bed and maneuvered out
of his clothes until he was as bare as she was. He wasted no time
connecting their souls, watching her close her eyes and whimper as
he did so.

“
Look at me,
Sherita.”

She opened her eyes and
met his gaze. For a moment, he didn’t say a thing. He just found
her hands, interlaced their fingers and said, “You’re
my
wife. Mine. I’m the
only man who makes love to you. The only man who will
ever
make love to
you.”

“
You’re the only man I
want to make love to, Desmond,” she could hardly say, feeling him
take complete ownership of her body.

Desmond looked at her, at
the prolonged delectation on her face, thinking she was the most
beautiful woman he’d ever encountered. And he had her as his
possession. He knew he’d never feel anything close to this with
another woman ever again. She was his and he was hers. It was that
simple.

“
Your body is perfect for
me, Sherita.”

She smiled just barely and
when she felt the slightest shift of his body, she whimpered.
Reaching up, she touched his lips with her index finger, watching
him smile.

“
I’ve missed you,” he
admitted.

“
I’ve missed you too,
Desmond,” she whispered, feeling the heat of his mouth on her neck,
while she held on tightly to him, falling under his spell, enticed
by his smell and feeling herself come apart as she lost control of
her own being.

“
You’re mine, princess,”
Desmond groaned. “All mine.” He closed his eyes as his body locked
with hers, rendering him nearly unconscious as he flew into
oblivion. He blinked a few times, forced himself to breathe a
little harder and felt his legs lock up a second time. What was
happening to him?

He looked her, smiled then
took her mouth again, kissing her deeply. Purposely.

With her head
against his chest, he sent strokes of his fingers
through her hair. This felt good. Felt right. Jealousy had made him
realize how much she meant to him.

“
Sherita.”

“
Yes?” she said, still
cooling down, catching her breath.

“
Did you end things with
Thane?”

“
I think so. He seems to
be a bit obsessed with me.”

“
Why?” Desmond
asked.

“
He thinks we were made
for each other…saying how pretty our children would be, and that we
would have a good life together.”

Over my dead body.
“When you two were together, he never tried
coming on to you?”

“
Oh, yeah…plenty of times.
But I wanted to be married first. The only man I ever wanted to
make love to was my husband, and it turns out, I did just
that.”

Desmond smiled. “By the
way, are you on any kind of birth control?”

“
No. Never had a need to
be. Why do you ask?”

“
Because we’ve slept
together, twice now, and I haven’t worn any protection.”

Sherita left a soft kiss
against his chest, found his hands, interlocking their fingers,
then said, “You know, for someone who doesn’t want kids, you’re not
well prepared.”

“
I’m always prepared…just
not with you, Sherita.”

Desmond squeezed her hand,
thinking about how jealous he was when Dante said that Sherita was
with Thane. He was furious. He smiled thinking about that. He’d
never experienced anything like it before. And he never wanted to
experience it again. To make sure she knew where he stood, he said,
“I never want to hear that you’re with Thane.”

“
I was with him and my
parents, Desmond. It’s not like I was alone with him.”

“
I don’t care. I don’t
want you with him, near him, talking to him…I don’t want to hear
your name and his name in the same sentence.”

Sherita closed her eyes.
Something about his request made her want to believe that a man
like Desmond was capable of love. But she knew that wasn’t the
case. What exactly had he been doing in the last two weeks? Had he
not seen any other women? Was he being faithful to their phony
marriage?

“
Do I get to make any
requests of you?” she asked.

“
What might those
be?”

“
I don’t want you flirting
with other women.”

“
Done. Anything
else?”

“
Yes. Well, it’s not a
request…just a question I need you to answer for me.”

“
Okay. Ask it.”

“
In the last two weeks
that you’ve been avoiding me, was there anyone else?”

“
You mean did I sleep with
another woman, Sherita?”

“
Yes. Did you?”

“
Would it bother you if I
said yes?”

Leaving his question
unanswered, Sherita swallowed hard and forced herself not to become
emotional.

“
Sherita.”

Sherita pulled in a breath.
“No, it wouldn’t bother me,” she managed to say.

Desmond freed his hand from
hers then rolled on top of her. “You’re a bad liar, Sherita.” He
took a kiss from her lips. “No. I haven’t been with anyone in the
last two weeks. As a matter of fact, you’re the only woman I’ve
slept with in a year and half.”

“
I am?”

“
You are,” he said, then
took a small kiss from her lips. “Now, I have a final request of
you?”

“
What’s that?”

“
Your wedding ring never
comes off your finger again. Do you understand me?”

“
Yes, Desmond,” she
whispered before he lowered his mouth to hers again and one o’clock
in the morning, they made love once more.

CHAPTER 21

The moment Sherita opened
her eyes, they were connected with Desmond’s. She smiled. He was a
sight to see in the morning. She wished she could wake up to him
every morning.

“
Good morning,
princess.”

“
Good morning, Desmond.”
She found his hand and brought it up to her face, closing her eyes,
savoring this feeling. “Why are you staring at me?”

“
You’re so beautiful I
can’t look away.”

Sherita’s face
glowed.

“
And I was thinking about
how I know you through the family, but I really don’t know you as
well as I would like to.”

“
I don’t know you as well
as I would like to either.”

“
Then I propose we take
two weeks to learn each other and, during that time, we won’t make
love.”

“
Okay. I can do
that.”

“
Good. This morning, I
want to share breakfast with you, then show you around the
house.”

“
Don’t you have to work
today?” Sherita glanced at the clock, noticing it was a few minutes
after ten.

“
I told Dante I wasn’t
coming in…first time I’ve ever taken a day off.”

“
Wow. I feel
special.”

“
You
should
feel special. I’ve never done
this before…I’m experiencing a lot of firsts with you,
Sherita.”

Sherita smiled.

“
I’m going to run upstairs
and shower. Meet me in the kitchen in thirty minutes.” He took a
kiss from her lips before he stood up from the bed.

Sherita watched as he
lazily sauntered out of sight and up the stairs.

* * *

Desmond had stepped out of
the shower, dried off and slid into a pair of Ralph Lauren boxers,
a pair of Seven jeans and a hunter green Polo. He heard his cell
phone ring from the nightstand, seeing the number to The Champion
Corporation on the display.

“
Hello,” he
answered.

“
Are you actually taking a
day off?” Dimitrius asked.

“
I am,
Dimitrius.”

“
When Dante told me you
weren’t coming in this morning, I thought for sure it was a prank
of some sort.”

Desmond grinned.

“
Is everything cool,
though?” Dimitrius asked.

“
Yes. Everything’s good.
I’ve been working so hard on the marketing plan for Service Swap, I
just needed to take a day.”

“
Okay, Des. Well guess
I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“
Yep. Later.”

Desmond ended the call,
then slid the phone in the front pocket of his jeans before heading
downstairs to the kitchen. When he stepped in, he noticed Sherita
was already sitting down. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail,
displaying the outline of her face – the same outline he remembered
tracing with the tip of his index finger this morning while he
watched her sleep.

He walked over to her,
pulled the barrette from her hair, setting her hair free then said,
“I had breakfast delivered earlier. I told them I wanted something
healthy, so let’s see what we have.” Desmond took two styrofoam
containers from a paper bag and placed one in front of her, the
other in front of him. He opened his tray and saw freshly sliced
watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries and cubes of ham and cheese
with a croissant.

“
Looks good,” Sherita
said, tossing a piece of cheese into her mouth.

“
Sherita, we haven’t
talked about this, but I don’t want the family to know about
us…that we’re—”

“
Intimate,” she finished
saying.

“
Yes. I just want to keep
that between us. So when we are visiting their houses, we will
always drive separate cars and limit our conversation with each
other.”

That stung a little, but
Sherita brushed it off and said, “Whatever you say,
Desmond.”

“
Good. Now that we’ve
gotten that out of the way, tell me some things I don’t know about
you.”

“
Umm…hmm. I don’t know
where to start.”

“
Did you grow up in
Asheville?” he asked.

“
I did. You?”

“
No. I was born in San
Francisco. That’s where I grew up. Dante convinced me, and
Dimitrius, to move here after our parents passed.”

“
What happened to
them?”

“
Uh…”

“
I’m sorry. You don’t want
to talk about that, I’m sure.”

“
I don’t mind.” Desmond
inhaled a deep breath. “My father died of a heart attack, and my
mother died a few years later because she couldn’t live without
him.” Keeping the conversation moving along, he asked, “How did you
get into your line of work?”

“
It was just something I
always wanted to do. I have thousands upon thousands of photos I’ve
taken since I was like thirteen.”

“
I would like to see those
one day.”

“
You would?”

“
Yes, I would. Do you have
them here now?”

“
No. I put them in storage
with the rest of my things.”

Desmond frowned. “Storage?
You gave up your apartment?”

Crap.
She didn’t want him to know that. “Yes.”

“
But you do know this
situation is short term.”

“
Yes, I’m aware of that,
Desmond. You don’t have to remind me.”

“
Then why’d you give up
the apartment?”

“
Because I, umm…I’m
relocating after this is over.”

His jaw twitched.
“Relocating where?”

“
I’m not quite sure yet,
but it’ll be somewhere close to the coast since that’s where I get
most of my work.”

“
I see,” he said,
remaining expressionless though the thought of her leaving
Asheville left him feeling empty already. “Speaking of business,
how is the business going?”

“
It’s okay. It could be
better, and it will be once I move.”

He sighed. “Are you done
with your breakfast?”

“
Yes.”

He stood up, took their
containers and tossed them in the garbage. “Come with me. I want to
show you the place.”

She followed him into the
living room where the second-floor ceiling was partially glass,
providing ample light without the use of electricity. The fireplace
was the centerpiece in the grand room. It seemed like it would be
cozy in the winter. “I like the fireplace.”

“
Me, too. I like it so
much, I’d had one installed in my bedroom just like it.”