The Best Thing He Never Knew He Needed (2 page)

“
The lady will have a
small decaf, two Splendas, two-percent milk, no cream and a dash of
cinnamon.” Yes, he was rude by cutting her off, by boldly walking
right up to the counter next to her, but did he care? Not at
all.

Sherita opened her mouth to
say something while turning to the right to look at him, connecting
her eyes to his penetrating, hazel gaze for the first time in a
long time. The sight of him nearly made her knees buckle. Made her
heart race. Her breath catch. She couldn’t explain her attraction
to him and not only did that anger her, it confused her. Granted he
was a good-looking man, but he was conceited – a quality she’d
never found appealing.

She turned away from him
when she realized she’d temporarily lost the ability to speak.
After not seeing him for months, she’d been reminded of just how
dreamy the man was. He was dressed sharp in an expensive suit that
accentuated the broadness of his shoulders and his sense of style.
And he was well-built, just like his brothers, but there was
something uniquely different about this hazel-eyed,
so-fine-he’d-make-you-stutter, Champion brother. Something
exquisitely different.

Maybe since he was the
youngest, his gorgeous features were readily noticeable. His
caramel-colored skin looked as creamy as the inside of a Milky Way
candy bar. His black hair was cut close in a fade, lined up to
perfection and his deep jawline was as solid as a rock, seemingly
chiseled to show the unique bone structure of his handsome face.
Many features added to his gorgeousness: his stately, straight
nose, the mustache above his slender lips, the sprinkling of hair
on his chin, the thick eyebrows and long eye lashes curtaining his
alluring eyes – Desmond Champion was one breathtaking, attractive
man.

And he was intelligent.
From what she’d learned from Emily, Desmond ran the marketing side
of the business for The Champion Corporation. Anyone who knew
anything about a business knew that marketing could make or break a
company. Since The Champion Corporation posted a hefty,
million-dollar profit last year and was on track to triple that
this year, Desmond was definitely skilled at what he did for a
living.

But looks and intelligence
weren’t everything, especially when he had a bad reputation that
preceded him. There had been women who thought they could change
his player ways – who thought they had what it took to make him
settle down only to be left heartbroken when he ended things. He
always ended things. He’d chase, pursue, enjoyed his spoils and
then, when the time came, he released the woman back into the wild,
emotionally damaged. That’s the way he was, and he was downright
cold with it. Heartless. Women cried over him, pleaded with him all
for nothing. Seemed the sight of a woman heartbroken and in tears
had no effect on him. And he was the cause of the
sadness…

“
Did I get it
right?”

She turned to look at him
again. Heart thudding. Staring. Still, no words could escape
through her lips.

“
Well?”

Are you for real?
She thought it, but she couldn’t say it as she
studied him, trying to figure him out. They were garnering an
audience, no fault of hers. She heard the sighs and jeers from
people in line behind them wondering what the hold-up was all
about.

“
By your incredulous
stare, I take it you’re impressed,” he said.

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re
holding up the line.”

Desmond turned around, met
frustrated faces but remained unfazed. Looking at Sherita again, he
asked, “Are you impressed?”

“
By what?”

“
The fact that I know you
well enough to know how you like your coffee, princess.”

If her eyes narrowed any
further, they’d be closed. “No, I’m not impressed. Not at
all.”

His mouth slowly curved
into a smile. “You should be?”

Lifting a single brow,
Sherita said, “Excuse me?”

There. That’s what he
wanted. To see her pout those opulent, sumptuous-looking lips. He
didn’t bother taking his eyes away from them when he asked, “How
many other men could walk in here and order your perfect cup of
coffee?”

“
None, and I don’t need
you placing my order for me.”

“
I know. That’s why I did
it,” he responded, then flashed an amazing, bright white smile. And
he had the gall to wink. Returning his attention to the cashier, he
said, “I would like a caramel macchiato and a blueberry,
lemon-cream scone. Would you like a scone, Sherita? I know you
usually don’t order anything to eat, but the scones are delicious
here….helps me tame my cravings.”

She squinted in utter
frustration. Who did he think he was, hijacking her order and then
almost insisting she order a scone? A freakin’ scone. Seriously?
For the sake of getting out of the coffee shop and not holding up
the line, Sherita withheld anger from her voice and replied, “No, I
do not want a scone. Coffee is fine. I want a small cup of coffee
and nothing more.”

“
Your loss.”

Sherita gritted her teeth
in sheer aggravation.

“
Okay, your total is
fifteen dollars and twenty cents,” the cashier said.

Desmond reached in the back
pocket of his pants, removed his leather wallet and pulled out a
hundred-dollar bill. Holding it up in the air, he turned around,
looking at the customers behind him and said, “Coffee is on me this
morning since I held up the line.”

They clapped, cheered and
he even heard a few
thank
yous
. And all was right with the world
again – well at least with the once angry customers. Sherita on the
other hand…

He handed the money to the
cashier, exposing a crystal-studded letter ‘C’ cuff link in the
process, then stepped off to the side to stand next to
Sherita.

Waiting for their orders
now, Sherita kept her arms crossed underneath her breasts while
avoiding the flame of Desmond’s gaze against the side of her face.
She tried her best not to react when she saw him inch closer to
her, but already she could feel sweat forming in her palms and the
way her throat had become dry.
Please
don’t say anything to me. Please don’t say anything to me.
And then…

“
Is Emily working today?”
he asked, sliding his hands in the pockets of his pants. He was
keenly aware she didn’t want to talk to him, but that was
her
problem. Not
his.

She glanced at him. “She’s
working a few hours and leaving early.”

“
Right, so she can get
ready for the concert. Dante and Dimitrius have been talking about
it all week. I think they both need baby breaks.”

Sherita nodded just
barely.
Come on with the coffee so I can
get out of here…

“
So what time are you
getting over there?”

She frowned. “Over
where?”

“
To Dante’s house this
evening.”

Her frown deepened. “How
did you know I was going there?”

“
How do you think I know,
Sherita? Your girlfriends are married to my brothers.”

Sherita heard the barista
read off her coffee order, watching him place a cup of coffee on
the counter. He called out Desmond’s order immediately after
hers.

Nearly snatching her cup
from the counter, she wasted no time heading for the
door.

Desmond was right on her
heels.

She pushed the door
open.

Desmond caught the door
before it closed in his face, then exited behind her.

“
What time are you getting
over there?” he asked again, watching her dress sway as she walked
away from him.

“
What’s it to you,
Desmond? Why do you care what time I’m going to be at Dante’s
house?” she shouted, without missing a step towards the
boutique.

“
So I can arrive at about
the same time.”

Sherita stopped dead in her
tracks. She turned around to look at him and asked,
“What?”

He took a sip of the
macchiato, watching her stare back at him. Since she had walked a
few feet away, he took slow, deliberate steps towards her. He was
enjoying this way too much. “Oh, you didn’t know I was going to be
there? Thought for sure you would have known about it since it was
Emily’s idea. She said you could use some help with the babies, and
since I happen to be free tonight, I accepted the challenge.” He
took a huge, greedy bite of the scone, nearly stuffing the whole
thing inside of his mouth.

Okay…he’s only trying to
get under your skin, Sherita. Don’t listen to him. Emily, of all
people, know you don’t want to be anywhere near
Desmond
.

Sherita smiled. After
taking a moment to think about it, she discerned how foolish he
sounded. Babysit? Who was he kidding? The only thing he knew how to
do concerning a
baby
was the process it took to make one. He’d probably cringe if
a baby spit-up on his expensive clothes. Did he even know how to
hold a baby? Feed one? Change a diaper?

Sherita turned to walk away
from him, satisfied she was finally putting space between
them.

“
See you later,
Sherita.”

“
Yeah…sure you will,” she
mumbled.

Watching her pull the door
handle of the boutique, Desmond shouted, “You’re welcome, by the
way,” while holding up his cup. He watched her shake her head then
continue inside of the boutique. He simply smiled, stuffed the
remainder of the scone in his mouth and headed back across the
street for his jeep. He had some things to wrap up with Dante and
Dimitrius at the office today, and then he planned on reviewing his
schedule for the upcoming week. He was due to fly out to New York,
but he preferred to stay put in Asheville for now. And his reason
for that had nothing to do with work.

CHAPTER 2

Greeted with
air-conditioning, Sherita set her coffee on the glass counter and
leaned up against it. Thank goodness there were no customers in the
boutique. She needed a minute to catch her breath.

The sight of Desmond made
her feel like something had been prohibiting her to breathe. It
should’ve been a felony for a man to look and smell as good as he
did, and he did it effortlessly on a daily basis. Even outside of
work, he’d wear his jeans low on his hips with a plain-looking
shirt and a hot pair of shoes. Every time she laid eyes on him, he
was well put together. She was impressed, but she wasn’t
interested. She was done with players.

Five years ago, she met
Thane Pennington in college, and they’d dated for two years. She
was foolishly in love with him, the way a woman should be
infatuated with the man she could see as a husband, especially
after getting to know that person for two years. Thane knew her
mother, father and all her friends back then. He was the man she
wanted to spend her life with. Have children with. But whenever she
brought up marriage, Thane would quickly change the
subject.

Then one day, he casually
confessed he wasn’t ready for a commitment. Said he didn’t know
whether he could be the one-woman type, at least as far as he could
see at the time. That only meant one thing to Sherita – he didn’t
want her. She’d invested time in him, put her heart on the line,
only to find out she wasn’t the woman he wanted. She wasn’t good
enough. If she was, then wouldn’t he have slid a ring on her finger
before some other man came by and stole her heart?

She should’ve had a clue
about Thane when, after two years, he hadn’t told her that he loved
her. But boy did she love him. She thought if she loved him hard
enough, said it often enough, then eventually he would learn to
love her. She thought wrong. He never said it back.

So since he wasn’t ready
for a commitment, she told him she wasn’t
ready
to have her time wasted. She
would not allow him to string her along while he dated other women.
What did he expect her to do? Wait for him? That’s why she broke it
off. A few days later, he had another girlfriend.

It was hard to walk away,
and she felt like a fool for loving a man like Thane and how much
of a mistake their relationship had been, but then she remembered
something that stuck with her from the commencement speech at her
college graduation. She couldn’t recall anything else the lady had
said during her inspirational speech, but she remembered her saying
this:

“
There is only one mistake
you will ever make in your life, and that is not learning a lesson
from a situation disguised as a mistake. You may make that one
mistake over and over again, but be encouraged. The lesson you gain
from it will far outweigh any disappointment.”

And she was right. She’d
learned a lesson from her failed relationship with Thane, and that
was to stay away from him and his kind – a man who was more
interested in playing the field rather than being a real man and
loving only one woman.

That’s why she couldn’t
tolerate Desmond. Admittedly, she was attracted to him. What woman
wouldn’t be? Still, she knew she couldn’t allow a man like him to
creep into her life. If she was willing to let her guard down so
easily, then she might as well have stayed with Thane and played
the dim-witted girlfriend role.