The Best Thing He Never Knew He Needed (4 page)

“
So what’s with all the
junk food?” Dimitrius asked.

“
I think I burn so many
calories during my workouts, my body is craving this stuff.” Lie.
He’d been craving sweets for as long as he had given up women. It
had been a year since his last encounter and to keep his desires at
bay, he replaced them with sugar-filled snacks and increased his
workouts from one to two hours a day to burn off the extra
calories. He didn’t want his brothers to know any of that,
especially about the women. He wanted to get to know himself, to
figure out why he’d been so unwaveringly against marriage and why,
in the past, it was so easy to hop from one bed to
another.

“
Okay,” Dante said,
bringing his hands to a clap. “Let’s get started so we can wrap
this up pretty quickly. Dimitrius, what do you have on tap for next
week?”

“
I’m still focusing on the
virtual piano lesson studio…will probably be working on it for
another two weeks or so.”

“
And you, Des?” Dante
asked.

“
I’m supposed to be
heading to New York, but I’m either going to postpone it or
delegate it to Kurt,” Desmond responded. Kurt Hempstead was the new
marketing manager they’d hired over a year ago to help alleviate
some of Desmond’s responsibilities.

“
Kurt can handle it,”
Dante said. “We’re going to need to stay around the office for a
while, anyway.”

“
Why?” Dimitrius asked.
“What’s up?”

“
Victor Westwood is in
town,” Dante told him. Victor Westwood made a living buying and
selling online companies. He’d buy a company like a dating service,
revamp it and sell it to the highest bidder. He made a fortune
doing this, but since he wasn’t computer savvy, he would seek out
and pay the best companies to design and market these companies to
potential buyers.

Five years ago, Dante had
approached him about a collaboration, but Victor declined, stating
that The Champion Corporation wasn’t big enough for him to work
with and that Dante and his brothers weren’t stable. If Victor was
going to pay millions of dollars to roll out a project, he wanted
to ensure his money was in capable hands. And with the rumors
swirling around the Champion men, he declined Dante’s
offer.

Dimitrius scowled. “You’re
not talking about the same Victor Westwood who declined to do
business with us, are you?”

“
I am.”

“
Seriously, Dante?”
Desmond asked. “As I recall, the man said we were, and I
quote,
little fish in this
business
,” Desmond said with a hardened
jaw.

“
That’s right. He did say
that,” Dante responded, “But that was before The Champion
Corporation was the multi-million dollar company it is today. We’re
not little fish anymore. We’re sharks in this business.”

“
So you’re thinking about
approaching him again?” Dimitrius asked.

“
No. My gut tells me he’s
thinking about approaching us. That has to be the reason he’s in
Asheville. The Champion Corporation owns the online business market
share in the southeast region, and I’m positive Victor is aware of
that.”

Dimitrius blew an
exasperated breath. “Oh, so now that were
big
enough, he wants to do business
with us.”

“
I honestly think he
would’ve worked with us back then,” Dante said. He stood up from
his desk and slid his hands in his pockets. Walking around his
desk, he sat on the front edge of it, directly in front of his
brothers now.

“
Then why didn’t he?”
Desmond asked.

“
He said some things to me
that I didn’t tell you guys. He said we weren’t stable, and when I
say
we
, I’m not
talking about the corporation as a whole. I’m talking about us,
individually.”

“
Unbelievable,” Dimitrius
hissed.

“
Wait a minute,
Dimitrius…before you pop a blood vessel, think about it. The old
man was right. We weren’t stable. It’s no secret that we all had a
reputation around here. Even though some things weren’t true and
blown out of proportion, we had a reputation. Looking back at
myself, for example, I can see how people perceived me. When Anita
died, I was a mess. I was partying, drinking – I did it to hide my
pain. The people who saw me living that lifestyle had no idea I was
grieving. They just saw someone who was out of control. I say that
to say we all had issues going on in our lives, and then on top of
everything, we lost Mom and Dad.”

Dante watched Desmond
grimace. Desmond seemed to have taken the death of their parents
the hardest. He was young at the time and though he never talked
about it, Dante and Dimitrius knew how much their deaths had
affected him.

“
So now what?” Desmond
asked.

“
Now, we sit back and
wait. Word is, Victor’s not buying or selling a company. He’s
looking to start one of his own.”

“
A web company?” Desmond
asked.

“
From what I gather, yes,”
Dante responded.

Dimitrius folded his laptop
closed and said, “Dante, why are you even considering working with
Victor? It’s not like we need the money now, like we did back then.
We don’t need any work from Victor.”

Dante smirked. “Would you
change your mind if you knew he was offering twenty-five million
dollars for the launch of this new business venture of
his?”

Dimitrius sat straight up
in is chair. “Okay, now we’re talking.”

The men
chuckled.

“
What I’m concerned about
is, if Victor is here because he’s heard we recently married and
have families now, and that’s why he considers us as being
stable
, what will he
make of Desmond?”

Desmond’s brows snapped
together. “What do you mean?”

“
I’m just speculating
here,” Dante said, “But he may have a problem with it is all I’m
saying.”

Desmond shot Dante a hard
glare across the room. “Well, if he does, he can take his business
elsewhere.”

Dante shook his head. “Des,
do you know what The Champion Corporation could do with twenty-five
million dollars? Remember when we were talking about expanding our
design and technology team a few months ago? And we were exploring
the option of building a fitness center, cafeteria and daycare
facility for our employees. I want TCC to be a place where people
actually enjoy coming to work, and this extra money will enable us
to do that without taking away from our bottom line. But, like I
said, this is all speculation as it stands. We’ll cross the bridge
when we get to it. For now, I just wanted to put it out there to
you.” Dante rolled his wrist to check the time. “It’s 10:35. Is
there anything further we need to talk about?”

“
Not from an accounts
perspective,” Dimitrius said.

“
I’m good, too,” Desmond
responded.

“
Well, that’s a wrap,”
Dante said. “I have a few phone calls to make, and then I’m heading
out.”

“
Same here,” Dimitrius
said.

“
Hey, Des, what time can I
expect you tonight, or have you changed your mind about
babysitting?” Dante asked.

Changed his mind? And miss
the opportunity to get under Sherita’s skin again? Not a
chance!

“
I’ll be there around
six-thirty.”

“
All right. See you
then.”

CHAPTER 4

“
There’s my handsome
prince,” Sherita said after she saw baby Ezra lying on an
interactive play mat in the family room. She had just arrived at
Dante and Emily’s place, ready for a full night of babysitting
duties. Scooping Ezra from his mat, she sat on the couch with him
on her lap. “He gets more adorable every time I see him. Look at
those eyes.”

Emily smiled. “I love his
eyes. Every time I look into them, I see his father.”

“
Aw…that’s so sweet,
Em.”

“
And I’m not trying to
bring up the subject again, but that’s all I was trying to say at
the boutique earlier, Rita. You deserve happiness too.”

“
I’ll get there. I’m only
twenty-six. Besides, I still have things I want to accomplish
before I have one of these gorgeous little babies,” Sherita said,
bouncing Ezra on her knee.

“
What kind of
things?”

“
Well, my job, for
instance…I want a career, and while I like traveling, I always
wanted my own studio. Something local. So I’m giving you a ten-year
notice that you’re going to need to hire someone to work at the
boutique.” Sherita chuckled.

Emily laughed, too. “Girl,
first of all, it will not take ten years for you to get your
studio.”

“
I know, but even if it
does, I’m okay with it.”

“
Sherita…”

“
I am. Tell her Ezra.”
Sherita leaned her face next to little Ezra’s face and said, “Ezra,
say Auntie Rita will be just fine.”

Emily laughed, watching
Ezra’s gummy smile.

Changing subjects, Sherita
said, “You look gorgeous, by the way.”

Emily stood up and said,
“You don’t think it’s too much?”

Sherita looked her up and
down. Emily had on a black, backless romper, silver teardrop
earrings, a short silver chain around her neck and a pair of
leopard heels. Her hair was pinned up in a loose bun. “You look
amazing, Em.”

“
She does, doesn’t she?”
Dante said, entering the room with a pair of black slacks, a dress
shirt and sports jacket, looking dapper himself. He walked over to
Emily, placed his hands on her face then took a long kiss from her
lips.

“
See, Ezra…mommy and daddy
are going to have a sibling for you in no time,” Sherita said, then
laughed.

Dante and Emily
giggled.

“
We just might,” Dante
said. “It’s so hard for me to keep my hands off of her.”

Emily blushed. “Stop it,
Dante.”

Just then, the doorbell
rang.

“
I’ll get it,” Dante said.
“I hope it’s Melanie and Dimitrius. We need to be on the road.” He
rushed to the door and saw Melanie standing there holding the car
seat. Grace was sound asleep.

“
Come on in,
Melanie.”

Melanie stepped inside and
said, “Dimitrius is still in the car. Should I tell him to come
in?”

“
No,” Dante said, glancing
at his watch. “We have to get going.”

“
Okay,” Melanie said.
“Where’s Sherita?”

“
She’s in the family room.
You can take Grace on back, and tell your sister-in-law we need to
get out of here.”

“
Okay. Will do.” Melanie
continued on to the family room and when she saw the women, she
said, “Hey ladies.”

“
Hey Melanie,” Sherita
said. “You look nice.”

“
Thank you.” Melanie said.
“Oh, and Emily, Dante said we need to hit the road.”

“
Okay. Let me get one last
kiss from my sweetheart.” Emily walked over to where Sherita was
sitting with Ezra, scooped him up in her arms and kissed him all
over his chubby-cheeked face. “Mommy loves you, sweetie. Can you
say bye-bye? Say bye-bye.”

Melanie left Grace strapped
inside of the car seat since she was sleeping, but that didn’t stop
her from leaving kisses on her cheek.

Sherita smiled. It must’ve
been a wonderful feeling to have a child, especially for Melanie
since she thought she couldn’t have a child. Now she was the proud
mother of a beautiful baby girl who also had those distinctive
Champion hazel eyes. Grace and Ezra looked more like siblings
instead of first cousins.

“
Okay ladies…get out of
here before you make yourselves late. I can handle things from
here,” Sherita said.

After one final kiss, Emily
handed Ezra back over to Sherita and said, “Take care of my
baby.”

“
Don’t worry. He’ll be
just fine. Now go.”

Sherita followed Melanie
and Emily to the living room where she saw Dante standing in the
foyer, talking to Desmond. She locked eyes with Desmond briefly
before snatching her vision away from him. From the glimpse she
could get, she noticed he had on a red jacket, a pair of jeans and
was holding a black helmet.

Must’ve driven the
motorcycle over here
, she
thought.

“
All right, well, we’re
going to get out of here, man,” Dante said to Desmond.

“
Have fun guys,” Sherita
said, following Dante, Emily and Melanie outside, where she also
waved at Dimitrius who’d stayed in the car.

Sherita waved a final time
then turned to walk back inside of the house, baby Ezra still in
her arms. Upon opening the door, she froze in her tracks, watching
Desmond unzip his motorcycle jacket, seemingly in slow motion, as
if he’d been waiting for the moment she stepped inside. She
swallowed hard at the sight of him in a black, fitted T-shirt,
showing off the muscle definition of his thick arms, the outline of
his chiseled chest and firm abs. And then there was the way his
jeans rode low on his hips…