The Best Thing He Never Knew He Needed (8 page)

She grinned. “No, you’re
still a jerk.”

“
Ouch.”

“
I’m kidding,” she said,
stretching her arms up in the air. “That’s too bad, though…that you
don’t want babies. You’d be a great father.”

“
Well, thank you for the
compliment.”

“
You’re
welcome.”

“
Do you want children?” he
inquired.

“
I do. I want marriage,
children…love, happiness. Everything you don’t want, I
want.”

“
I figured as much.” A
part of him felt disappointed that he couldn’t be the man to give
her those things, but he’d been true to himself for this long.
There was no need to change now. Although her smiles were potent
enough to take him out of a sour mood, her scent left him
spellbound and the slightest eye contact with her tightened his
muscles, he had to stay true to himself.

“
Have you ever been in
love, Desmond?” she asked. Their eyes connected for a moment, then
he looked away. Interesting. Desmond never looked away. He’d stare
long enough for
her
to look away, but he never would.

“
Desmond?”

There. There was his eyes,
not that she wanted them on her, especially given the intensity of
his focus. She was simply waiting for an answer to her question.
From the looks of things, she wouldn’t be getting that answer.
Desmond was just sitting there. Staring.

He’d lose himself in her
eyes, only to find his gaze roaming every part of her face. Over
the last year, he’d been learning self-control, but some things
were more tempting than others. Like he told her to listen to her
body, he was paying attention to his. However, unlike Sherita, he
didn’t have sweaty palms, broken speech or the lack of eye contact.
He had a clenched jaw, tight muscles, elevated heart rate and an
intense craving for sugar. And it was all because of her. That
irritated him. How could he let her so deep into his thoughts when
he’d never let another woman there? If she could penetrate his
mind, then she had a good shot at making a run for his heart. And
he wasn’t having it.

“
Desmond?”

Even the way her lips moved
when she said his name had him daydreaming. That wasn’t good. That
was the moment he knew he shouldn’t have agreed to this babysitting
idea. He should’ve done what he had planned on doing – relax at
home while catching up on some TV shows. And he should’ve kept on
avoiding Sherita like he’d been doing for the past year. He had
work to do, at The Champion Corporation and within himself, and
none of it involved being overly concerned with the cares and
affairs of a woman. Soul mate or not.

“
Did you say something?”
he finally asked.

“
I asked you if you’ve
ever been in love.”

He shook his head.
“No.”

“
No even once?”

“
Not even
once.”

“
May I ask
why?”

Desmond frowned. He was
still figuring that out, so how was he going to tell her? “No, you
may not.”

Sherita snapped her head
back, surprised at his answer, and by the fact that he looked
insulted she’d asked that particular question. “Oh. My bad. I
wasn’t trying to pry.”

Desmond shook his head and
stood up. He needed to find something sweet and fast. He walked
away from the table without saying a word to Sherita.

“
What…the?” she said out
loud, watching him go inside of the house. Was he really upset? She
got up, too, and went inside, searching for him. She found him
standing in the foyer, threading his arms through the sleeves of
his motorcycle jacket.

“
Wait…are you leaving?”
she asked.

He zipped up his jacket.
“What does it look like?”

Sherita expelled a long
breath. The man needed an attitude adjustment, big time. How does
one go from talking and behaving normally to being an all-out
jerk?

“
Was it something I said?”
she asked, completely confused. His insolence came out of left
field. One minute, they were having a discussion and the next, he
was preparing to leave the house with an apparent chip on his
shoulder.

“
No, not at all,” he said
without bothering to look at her.

“
Desmond, if
I—”

“
I said it’s nothing,” he
said, raising his tone.

She crossed her arms. “Then
why are you leaving?”

“
Why are you asking me
questions like I owe you an explanation?” He snatched his helmet
from the table and headed towards the door. Turning the knob, he
exited quickly, feeling Sherita on his heels. “I have plans, okay,”
he snapped.

“
You’re lying. You don’t
have plans. What is it, Desmond? You can’t stand the thought of
having a normal conversation with a woman?”

He turned around and looked
at her, feeling his muscles tense. Why was she riding his back? If
only she knew what she was doing to him. “I suggest you go back
inside. I told you…I have plans.”

She grinned, shook her head
then turned around to begin her walk back to the house. “Now who’s
running?” she said in a monotone.

“
What’d you say?” Desmond
asked.

Sherita kept on walking,
and something about that infuriated him.

He dropped his helmet, made
a beeline for her, and before she could catch a breath, he grabbed
her arm, spun her round and clamped his mouth onto hers, his hands
resting against her face, taking a powerful, earth-quaking kiss
from her lips – lips he’d dreamed of kissing. And then his hands
crawled to the back of her head, gripping her tightly, controlling
her every movement – allowing him to fully possess those lips,
making her part them for him, giving him full access to every
corner of her mouth.

A deep moan settled in his
throat, similar to the strange humming sound he’d make when he ate
anything sweet. But nothing, he knew, could be sweeter than this.
He heard her whimper – heard the rapid breaths she’d attempted to
take, but greed wouldn’t allow him to let go of her. No, not after
he’d been dying to do this since he first realized how weak she’d
made him. He would take all he could, because this would never
happen again.

When he finally had his
fill, he pulled his mouth away from hers and with his hands still
gripping her head, he said, “This is why I have to leave, and this
is why I can never see you again. Goodbye Sherita.”

Too stunned to say a word,
she watched him return to his motorcycle, put on his helmet then
drive away, listening as the motorcycle roared off into the
night.

CHAPTER 7

Desmond woke up Saturday
morning rubbing his eyes, still confused. What was happening to
him? After he’d left in a hurry last night, he came home, took a
shower and continued thinking about her. About the kiss. Thoughts
of her invaded his dreams, forcing him to wake up twice, panting.
Becoming reacquainted with her had been a mistake. Kissing her had
been an even bigger one. He needed a distraction to take his mind
off of her, and it needed to be something drastic.

He told his brothers he
wanted to postpone his travels for a while, but a getaway is just
what he needed. He was supposed to leave for New York on Monday,
but had made arrangements for Kurt to go instead. Now, he would go.
He would just let Dante know he had changed his mind.

* * *

“
So how did it go last
night?” Emily asked Sherita.

“
Yeah, how did it go?”
Melanie asked with bright, inquisitive eyes.

The women were having lunch
at a restaurant a few miles away from Sherita’s
apartment.

Sherita glanced up at
them. They were both staring at her, anxious for an answer.
How did it go?
All she
could think about was that kiss. After Desmond kissed her, she had
to touch her lips to make sure they were still attached to her
face. And then there was the fact that he told her he could never
see her again. Emily and Melanie certainly didn’t need to know any
of that. “What were you guys expecting to happen?” Sherita asked
them.

“
I don’t know,” Emily
said. “One might say they were hoping you and Desmond hit it
off.”

“
Well, one might be
wrong,” Sherita said. “And I’ve already had the
Desmond
conversation with you,
Emily.”

“
Yes, but I still want to
know what happened,” Emily replied.

Sherita sighed heavily.
“The evening started off rocky. As soon as you guys left, he was
asking me what our baby plans were for the evening.”

“
Baby plans or baby-making
plans?” Melanie quipped. She, like everyone else, knew Desmond had
a thing for Sherita.

“
Ba-by plans,” Sherita
clarified. “Later, we got into an argument…well, he said we were
having a conversation…about the fact that he had been avoiding me
for an entire year. We got some takeout, ate dinner together, and
then he told me why he was avoiding me.”

Melanie leaned
forward.

Emily’s eyes
widened.

The women were listening
acutely, waiting for Sherita to tell them what everyone had been
puzzled about.

“
Before I say a word
more,” Sherita said, “Nothing leaves this table, not even to Dante
and Dimitrius. Got it?”

“
Yes, now spill it…what
did he say?” Emily said.

“
He said he’d been
avoiding me because he liked me and—”

“
And what?” Melanie
asked.

Almost too ashamed to say
it, Sherita said in a low tone, “He wanted me.”

“
I knew it!” Emily
shouted. “I knew he was infatuated with you.”

Melanie giggled. “I knew
it, too. It was so obvious. I’m just surprised he admitted it.
Dimitrius makes it seem like Desmond is some anti-relationship
bachelor who’s incapable of loving a woman.”

“
And Dimitrius would be
right,” Sherita said. “Desmond proceeded to tell me that he was
ignoring me because he couldn’t give me what I wanted. Said he
didn’t want marriage, children or none of that. Said I wasn’t ready
to be pursued by a man like him, so he stayed away from me more
for
my
sake
rather than for his own.”

Emily’s mouth fell open
more than Melanie’s had.

“
He actually said that?”
Emily asked.

“
Yes.”

“
I mean, out loud,” Emily
clarified. “He said that out loud?”

“
Sure did. Some nerve
right?”

“
Wow. And I thought Dante
was bold when he wanted to date me. Guess he didn’t have anything
on Desmond.”

“
I was thinking the same
thing about Dimitrius,” Melanie said.

“
Wait…it gets better,”
Sherita said. “Even after all of that, we manage to squeeze out a
somewhat decent conversation. I asked him where he lived…he asked
me where I lived, and everything was going good until he got up
from the table and practically ran out of the front
door.”

“
What?” Melanie asked,
confused.

“
You heard me.”

“
He left while you two
were talking?”

“
Yep. He stood up, walked
to the foyer and grabbed his helmet. So I followed him
outside…asked him if it was something I said and all he said was,
he had to go. I asked him why and he sort of snapped.”

“
Snapped?” Emily and
Melanie said together.

“
Yeah. Snapped. He dropped
his helmet and then he—” Sherita paused. She didn’t want to tell
them about the kiss, but since it would never happen again, what
was the big deal about keeping it a secret? “He kissed
me.”

“
He kissed you!” Emily and
Melanie blurted out.

Sherita chuckled. “Okay,
doublemint twins…y’all need to stop doing that.”

“
Desmond kissed you,
Sherita?” Emily asked.

“
Yes. Then he told me he
could never see me again, jumped on his motorcycle and sped off
like a crazed psychopath fleeing a crime scene.”

Melanie laughed while Emily
shook her head.

“
Something is seriously
wrong with him,” Sherita said, giggling a little herself. “And I
don’t want to hear anything else from you or you about Desmond
because, like he admitted, he’s not like Dante and Dimitrius. He
likes his carefree lifestyle, and a woman can’t stand in the way of
him and his success.” Sherita took a sip of mango daiquiri. “Now,
how was the concert?”

“
Girl,” Melanie said, “We
had a great time. I didn’t realize how much I needed a break. I
mean, I love my baby, but now I see how important it is for parents
to get away every now and then.”

“
I second that,” Emily
said.

“
Well, anytime you need a
break, just call me,” Sherita said. “And let me just state, for the
record, that I can watch them
alone
. I don’t need any help. None.
What-so-ever!”