The Best Thing He Never Knew He Needed (22 page)

“
Because you told me to!”
she snapped, yelling at the top of her lungs. “What’s wrong with
you, Desmond?”

“
What’s wrong with me is,
I don’t like being made a fool of.”

Something broke inside of
her when she heard him say those words. She felt tears slide down
her face. “
You
don’t like being made a fool of?” she asked with trembling
lips. “Wow. That’s amazing. The bachelor, the player, the womanizer
who openly admits he can never love a woman doesn’t like to be made
a fool of.”

Too angry to look at him,
she looked away while brushing tears away from her face. But why
was she looking away? She hadn’t done anything wrong. So, boldly
turning back towards him, meeting his gaze, she said, “I was late
tonight because I went to get a
new
phone and a
new
number so Thane couldn’t call me anymore. My
parents…” she stopped when her voice cracked. When more tears fell
from her eyes. “My parents gave him my number without my
permission, so I went to get a new phone. That’s why I arrived
late.”

Sherita panted and took a
breath. “If anybody is a
fool
in this situation, it’s certainly not you. It’s
me, for falling in love with yet another man who doesn’t want me.”
She wiped her eyes.

“
Sherita, I—”

“
I know what you’re going
to say, and you’re absolutely right. You
did
tell me what this was upfront,
so I guess I should be thanking you, Desmond Champion, for not
wasting two years of my life like Thane did. You’ve only wasted two
months, but I will not waste another day of my life with you. I’m
done playing by your stupid rules and listening to your lies. I was
never special to you. All I am to you is another dumb woman you
slept with…that you can mark off your list. So go ahead and draw a
line through my name because I’m done!” She pulled the diamond ring
from her finger and threw it at him. “You can keep this meaningless
piece of crap and the laptop you bought. I don’t want to keep
anything that reminds me of you.”

Sherita wiped her eyes,
walked away from him. Back inside, she breezed through the dining
room and on to the foyer to grab her purse.

Everyone looked stunned
when they saw tears flowing out of her eyes.

Dante frowned.

A look of confusion washed
over Dimitrius’ face.

“
Sherita, what’s wrong?”
Emily asked, standing up with Ezra in her arms, heading to the
foyer.

“
Nothing. I have to go,”
Sherita said, hurrying out of the front door with her
purse.

“
Sherita, wait,” Emily
said, rushing to catch up to her, still holding Ezra.

Melanie handed Grace off to
Dimitrius and went to catch up with them.

“
Sherita,” Emily said.
“What’s going on?”

“
I can’t do this anymore,”
Sherita cried. “Tell Dante I’m sorry. I can’t keep up the charades
with Desmond, and I can’t live with him.”

“
What happened?” Melanie
inquired.

“
I don’t want to talk
about it, Melanie. I just know I’ve had enough. I’ll come back and
visit you guys when I get settled.”

“
Get settled?” Emily said,
disappointed. “Sherita—”

“
I’m sorry, Em. I have to
go.”

“
Then let me drive,” Emily
said. “You don’t need to be driving right now. You’re too
upset.”

“
I’ll be fine. I’ll call
you later.” Sherita pulled the door handle, quickly jumped inside
of her car, then drove away using her hands as wipers for her
eyes.

Emily climbed the stairs,
walked back inside of the house and handed baby Ezra off to Dante
then said, “Where is he?”

“
Emily,” Dante said,
seeing wetness in her eyes that made him angry at whomever caused
his wife to become upset to the point that she was near tears. He
had a feeling it all had to do with Desmond. “We shouldn’t
interfere, sweetheart.”

“
I
am
interfering,” she said. “Where is
he?” she asked, rushing to the back door. She opened it and saw
Desmond leaned against the railing, looking out into the backyard.
“What did you do to her?”

Desmond looked around and
caught Emily’s fiery gaze. “This doesn’t concern you, Emily,” he
said as smoothly as a calm breeze in the summer night air.
“Actually, it does,” he corrected. “I overheard you say that
Sherita was considering getting back with her ex.”

“
And?” she
frowned.

“
So it’s true?” he
asked.

“
Whether it’s true or not,
what’s it to you, Desmond? It’s not like you want her.”

Desmond narrowed his eyes
at her. “How do you know what I want?”

“
I don’t know what you
want,” Emily said, shouting. “I know what you
don’t
want, and that’s her,
especially considering the way you treat her!”

“
Whoa,” Dante said,
walking over to Emily, placing his hand flat against her back.
“Baby, why are you yelling?” He looked up at Desmond and said,
“What’s going on, Des?”

“
Nothing,” Desmond said.
“I was just about to leave.”

“
Yes, she told me she was
considering getting back with Thane,” Emily blurted out. “But that
was
before
she
agreed to this marriage arrangement with you, Desmond. And she’d
only said it because she was angry. She felt like no one wanted
her…felt like she needed to settle for him since, according to her
mother, he was her last chance at happiness.” Emily’s lips
quivered. “Now, thanks to you, she’s moving away.”

“
Moving away?” Desmond
said, frowning.

“
Yes. She told us she
would come back and visit whenever she could.”

Desmond released a heavy
sigh. “I have to go.”

“
Des,” Dante said,
stopping him. He took a hard look at his brother, seeing something
he rarely saw in his eyes – sadness. It didn’t take a genius to see
Desmond had it bad for Sherita. Why couldn’t he see it
himself?

“
I have to run,” Desmond
said. “Sorry about dinner. Sorry about everything.”

He rushed inside of the
house, grabbed his helmet from the foyer and rushed out of the
front door. After securing his helmet, he jumped on his bike and
rushed to get home. He had to get there before Sherita had gathered
all of her things.

CHAPTER 24

Her car was still in the
driveway. That was good. He snatched off his helmet, got off of the
bike and saw the passenger side, rear door open on her Honda. While
unzipping his motorcycle jacket, he glanced inside, saw clothes
stacked on the backseat and shoes in a box on the front seat. That
wasn’t good.

His heart sank. He rushed
inside, nearly ran down the hallway and down the stairs into the
basement apartment where he saw her filling another box.

“
What are you doing,
Sherita?” he asked evenly with feverish eyes.

She looked up at him with
her pinkish eyes and puffy eyelids. “What does it look like I’m
doing?” she asked with a fragmented voice. She picked up the small
box and headed for the stairs when he stepped in front of
her.

“
Put the box down,
please,” Desmond said, feeling stabs to his soul by her current
state. By the sadness in her eyes and her pink nose that she’d
rubbed excessively. He’d caused it. All of it. “We need to
talk.”

“
No, we don’t,” she
sniffled. “I’m done talking. Excuse me.”

“
Put the box down,
Sherita,” he demanded.

“
No. Get out of my way,”
she said, pushing forward, pressing the box against his stomach.
“Move!”

In a fit of rage, he
grabbed the box from her grasp and tossed it to the floor, its
contents spilling out. He reached for her, but she swatted his
hands away.

“
Don’t touch me,” she
said, tears falling from her eyes yet again.

“
Sherita—”

She shook her head while
backing away from him. “No. I’m not going to let you do this to me
anymore. I’m done, Desmond!”

He took a few steps
forward. “You’re not leaving me,” he said with arrogant
eyes.

Her lips trembled.
“I
am
leaving. I
can’t do this anymore.”

He reached out to touch her
again, and she pushed his hands away.

“
Stop,
Desmond.”

“
You’re not leaving
me.”

“
Watch me,” she said,
grabbing her purse from the bed, and before she turned around,
Desmond had circled his arms around her, restraining her from
behind, pulling her to him.

“
No,” she cried. “Let me
go, Desmond.” She dropped her purse and attempted to pry his hands
away from her, to free herself, but she was no match for his
strength. “Let me go!”

“
No. I will never let you
go, Sherita.” He slowly turned her around so he could see her face.
“Look at me,” he said, holding her arms.

“
No,” she said, trying to
wiggle out of his grasp as more tears spilled out of her eyes. She
gasped when she felt the warmth of his fingers glide underneath her
shirt and up her back. “Stop. I don’t want this
anymore.”

“
Sherita, look at me,” he
said calmly, gliding his fingertips up her sides, feeling her body
shiver.

“
Stop,” she whimpered,
feeling weak and helpless in his strong arms.

With glassy, troubled eyes,
he swallowed back his emotions and said, “Look at me.”

“
No.”

“
Look at me!” he erupted,
palming her wet face with his hands, forcing her
attention.

She connected her eyes to
his and when she did, she saw his golden, glossy eyes, filled with
sadness.

“
I will never let you go,”
he said, blinking back tears, and before she could say no to him
again or push him away, he leaned forward and kissed her lips,
feeling her tremble in his arms.

“
Desmond,” she managed to
say in one last, breathless retort, and then she felt herself being
lifted from the floor as he took her up the stairs to the main
floor and on to the second level – to his bedroom. He lowered her
to the Egyptian cotton sheets on his bed, his body firm and heavy
on top of hers.

Desmond ravenously took her
lips again, kissing her. The wetness on her face had broken his
heart. Ripped through his soul like a jagged knife. He planned to
repair all the damaged he’d caused – not to himself, but to her.
This was all about her. He traveled to her neck, kissing her softly
there while feeling her cry and whimper.

“
Desmond, don’t do this to
me,” she begged with a distorted voice. “Don’t make me love you. I
don’t want to love you anymore. Please just let me go.”

He stopped kissing her
neck, connected his vision with hers, seeing even more tears escape
her eyes while he felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time – a
single tear slide down the length of his face. The last and only
time he’d cried was when he lost his parents. And now, on the verge
of losing a woman he cared about, the woman he’d married, the woman
he’d let inside of his heart, a tear escaped his eye.

“
I can’t do that,
Sherita,” he admitted, his soft voice trailing off. He gave her a
long, penetrating gaze before he lowered his mouth to her face,
kissing her tears away.

The sensation of his lips
against her face had her gasping for air with a wide-opened mouth.
And he took the invitation to kiss her again.

Tasting the saltiness of
her own tears on his tongue, she gave in to him, yet again, her
hands migrating to the back of his head as he deepened the
kiss.

He pulled away from her and
stared deep into her eyes to make a request of her, a request he’d
never made of any other woman. “Make love to me,
Sherita.”

Confusion, love and
submission blended together in her eyes. When she slid her hands
underneath his shirt, pulling it up over his head, she knew her
heart was winning this battle. She maneuvered her body, sidling
onto his lap, securing their connection in one, long, sweet
surrender. How he’d managed to get her to wave the white flag, even
when she was angry at him, was beyond her.

She tugged at his hands,
gesturing to pull him up to a seated position and when he sat up,
she wrapped her legs tight around his waist, feeling him descend
deeper into her sensitivity.

“
Des,” she whispered. She
watched him look at her again. Staring into his intoxicating eyes –
eyes she remembered being sad a few moments ago, she took a small
kiss from his lips and said, “You’re all the man I could ever
want.”

Touched by her words, he
leaned forward, connecting their mouths, kissing her again,
devouring her sighs like the late night snacks that they
were.

Sherita wrapped her legs
around him even tighter, pulling him in closer. She kissed him with
the same intensity and fervor as he kissed her.