It ended when Ava screamed his name as her flesh contracted around him, milking him at the same time as she melted all over him. He lowered her legs but didn’t pull out. Kyle wanted to savor the oneness for as long as possible. They lay together, joined, legs entwined, heart to heart, skin to skin, man to woman.
Burying his face against the column of her scented neck, he breathed a kiss there. “I love you.”
Ava froze, believing she’d imagined his declaration of love. “What?”
“You heard me, Ava Warrick. I love you.”
“How? Why?”
Raising his head, he glared at her. “You’re a very bright woman. Figure it out.” Releasing her, he swung his legs over the bed and walked out of the bedroom.
Ava panicked, moving off the bed to follow him. He’d made it down to the second landing when she leaned over the banister. “Kyle.” He stopped his descent, but wouldn’t look up at her. “I love you, too.”
Kyle turned slowly, retracing his steps as Ava came to meet him. No words were needed when he cradled her to his heart. He loved her and she loved him. For the first time in his life everything was right in his world.
CHAPTER 15
Kyle found a parking space around the corner from the house where Micah and Tessa Sanborn lived in a Brooklyn Heights brownstone. He shut off the engine to the brand new Maxima and came around to assist Ava.
“I like driving your car.”
Ava gave him a sensual smile. “Would you like to trade?”
“I don’t think so,” he drawled, reaching into the backseat for the bag with two bottles of premium champagne. He liked her car, but he liked his better.
“I don’t think I’ve been to Brooklyn more than half a dozen times, and never to Brooklyn Heights,” Ava admitted.
Kyle threaded his fingers through hers. “It took years before I learned every neighborhood in this borough. It’s like a city within a city.”
“I’ve always wanted to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.”
“We can do that.”
Ava fell silent as they strolled along tree-lined streets with stately brownstones and townhouses that reminded her of the Mount Morris Historic District. What she’d shared with Kyle the night before was still too new for her to take in. They’d spent the night in the guest bedroom, and when she woke she’d found Kyle sitting in bed watching her. He appeared more like a stranger than a lover and they spent the day seemingly tiptoeing around each other.
“Are you going to take any vacation time this summer?” she asked him.
“I hadn’t planned to, but if you want to go somewhere or do something, then let me know. My associate can hold down the fort whenever I’m not there.”
“I’m scheduled to take another two weeks at the end of the year, but I’ve accumulated a lot of compensatory time. I have to use the comp time during the calendar year, otherwise I’ll lose it. If I don’t take vacation time it can be rolled over for three years.”
“Maybe we can take either Fridays or Mondays off and go somewhere.”
Ava gave Kyle a sidelong glance. He looked wonderfully casual in a pair of taupe tailored slacks, a navy blazer and a white shirt sans tie. She’d selected a pair of white linen slacks, a blue-and-white striped boatneck cotton sweater and navy leather mules.
“Where would we go?”
Kyle gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. “Have you ever been to Montreal?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Would you go with me?”
Ava’s smile was dazzling. “I’d love to go with you.” The instant the word love slipped past her lips she regretted it.
“And I’d love to take you.” Kyle slowed as they neared the brownstone with the shiny brass plaque advertising Signature Bridals. “Micah and Tessa live here.” They climbed the steps to a door with stained-glass inserts. He rang the bell and it was opened by a tall, slender, dark-skinned man with a beguiling smile. He wore a white golf shirt, khakis and slip-ons.
Micah Sanborn waved a hand. “Please come in.” Light from a table lamp in the foyer glinted off the shiny gold band on his left hand.
Kyle placed the decorative shopping bag on a table with a vase of exquisite exotic flowers. Then he and Micah exchanged rough hugs, pounding each other’s backs. “Congratulations again.”
Micah flashed his large, straight white teeth. “Thanks.”
“How’s married life?”
“The best. You should try it.”
Kyle’s smile was still in place when he wrapped an arm around Ava’s waist. “I’d like you to meet someone who’s very special to me. Ava, this is Micah Sanborn. Micah, Ava Warrick.”
Ava offered her hand. “My pleasure, Micah.” Masculinity radiated off the man.
Micah, ignoring her proffered hand, dipped his head and kissed her cheek. “It’s my pleasure to meet you. I don’t know if your boyfriend told you, but he was my law-school mentor. It took me six years, attending part-time, to finish, but I finished with Kyle’s help.”
“Don’t let Micah fool you. He would’ve graduated at the top of his class even if we never met. Both his parents are attorneys.”
“Neither of them are practicing law now.”
Kyle turned to Ava. “My friend here is a little too modest.”
Micah peered into the shopping bag. “What did you bring?”
“Champagne.”
“Excellent. Tessa’s going to have my head if I don’t bring you guys out back. We decided to set up outside because the weather this summer is nothing short of perfection.”
Ava reached for Kyle’s hand as they followed Micah down a hallway, into the kitchen and down several steps into the backyard. Dozens of votives and lamps affixed to the rear of the brownstone illuminated the area.
“Surprise!”
She jumped, startled when a roar went up from the people who’d assembled in the back of the house. Kyle turned his back, while shaking his head. The dinner party wasn’t to celebrate their first gathering as a married couple but for his thirty-ninth birthday.
He leaned into Micah whispering, “I should kick your ass for this.”
“And I’ll have you arrested for assaulting an officer of the law,” Micah teased. Dropping an arm over his former mentor’s shoulders, he winked at him. “Come and meet your guests.”
When Micah mentioned guests Ava saw Ivan and Duncan with their arms around the waists of pretty young women who looked enough alike to be sisters. It was apparent they were in on the surprise. She stood off to the side while Kyle’s friends came over to offer their good wishes.
“Are you Kyle’s girlfriend?”
Ava turned to find an attractive woman with short curly hair, a deeply tanned gold-brown complexion and slanting eyes. “Yes,” she answered confidently.
The woman extended her hand. “I’m Tessa Whitfield-Sanborn.”
The two women shook hands. “Ava Warrick.”
“I love your haircut, Ava.”
She touched the tapered strands on the nape of her neck. “Thank you. I noticed the plaque on the front of house. Are you a wedding planner?”
Tessa smiled. “Yes. My sister and cousin and I make up Signature Bridals. I’m a planner and an occasional wedding-gown designer. Faith is a pastry chef specializing in wedding cakes and my sister Simone is a floral designer.”
“How exciting. It’s like one-stop shopping.”
Tessa rested a hand on Ava’s shoulder. “Once you and Kyle decide to marry I’d love to plan your wedding. And because Kyle was Micah’s mentor you’ll get the family rate.”
Ava wanted to tell the wedding planner it wasn’t happening. Just because she and Kyle had professed their love for each other, their relationship didn’t have to culminate in a marriage.
What she shared with Kyle was perfect. He had his own place and she hers. She was independent, free to come and go without having to check in with him, and whenever they got together it was quality time. They cooked and ate together, listened to mu
sic and danced under the stars, and whenever they made love it was nothing short of perfection. He brought her to climax every time, something that hadn’t happened with the other men in her life.
“I’ll keep that in mind, Tessa.”
“Come and get something to eat. Faith has outdone herself with the menu. Here’s Faith.”
Ava saw a tall woman with short hair and an incredibly beautiful face making her way towards them. The white apron tied around her waist accentuated a baby bump. She wondered if Faith had been a Signature bride. Tessa introduced her to the pastry chef.
“So, you’re the birthday boy’s girlfriend,” Faith Whitfield-McMillan said, smiling.
“That I am,” Ava confirmed.
She didn’t know why her coming with Kyle Chatham made her the focus of attention. It made her wonder about the women in Kyle’s past. Had he introduced them as someone who was very special to him? Was she one in a long line of women Kyle had dated, bedded but wouldn’t wed?
“Don’t move. I want to introduce you to my husband.” Faith beckoned to a slender man a few feet away. He approached her and put both arms around her thickening waist. “Ethan, this is Kyle Chatham’s girlfriend, Ava Warrick.”
Ethan lowered one hand, offering it to Ava. “Ethan McMillan. You’d better go and get something to eat and drink before everything’s gone. We had everyone show up at seven so as not to spoil the surprise.”
Ava was mesmerized by Faith’s husband’s resonant voice and the deep slashes in his lean cheeks. The Whitfield women had married the kind of men most women spent their adult lives searching for. She had to acknowledge that she had a good man, but he wasn’t her husband, and she feared if she did marry Kyle everything would change. It’d happened with the love of her life—a fellow college student who had professed to love her and another coed. Only Ava didn’t know it until days before graduation when he’d told her he was getting married, but not to her.
Six years later she’d made the same mistake; she’d picked the wrong man. Her college lover had left her, and she’d had to leave Will or become a statistic of domestic violence.
Kyle had asked whether she would ever propose to him. In fact she was afraid to—afraid her husband would become a Jekyll and Hyde and she’d end up like Julie Nichols. Ava met Kyle as he headed toward her with a plate in his hand.
“I got you something to eat. Grab a chair and sit down.”
Going on tiptoe, she kissed him. She took the plate and sat down. “Thank you. I’m going to get you for not telling me that today’s your birthday.”
“Why?”
“Because I would’ve bought you something.”
He leaned closer. “That’s why I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t want you to buy me anything. I have everything I want. I have Ava Warrick.”
“Don’t, Kyle. Not here.”
“Where, baby?”
“Just don’t make me cry in front of your friends.”
He pressed his mouth to her ear. “You’re only permitted to cry happy tears.”
“Do I make you happy, Kyle?”
“No.”
She pulled away from him. “No?”
“No. You make me delirious, crazy. When I’m with you I feel invincible. That there’s nothing I can’t do.”
Ava kissed him again. “We’ll talk about this later.”
“Yo, birthday boy! Get a room!”
Kyle straightened, turning around when he recognized Ivan’s voice. “There’s only grown folks here whom I’m sure have seen and performed unspeakable acts.” Everyone laughed loudly at Kyle’s rejoinder, setting the stage for an evening of good food, drink and unrestrained frivolity. “I’ll be back with something for you to drink.”
Duncan Gilmore wended his way through the throng, a woman clinging possessively to his arm, and kissed Ava’s cheek. “It’s nice seeing you again.”
She smiled up at the luscious-looking financial planner. “Same here. How have you been?”
“DG, I thought you were going to get me something to drink,” whined the pretty woman in a voice that reminded Ava of fingernails on a chalkboard. “I am so parched that my throat feels as if it’s closing up.”
Duncan reached over and extracted the woman’s hand from his arm. “I suggest you go and find something to drink before you expire. I’m not certain if there are any doctors or nurses here who would be able to resuscitate you.”
The woman stomped her foot. “Duncan, how can you be so cruel?”
Giving her a look of sheer exasperation, Duncan said, “What I am is realistic, Monica. You don’t need me to get you something to drink, if that’s what you actually need. Now, if you don’t mind I’d like to have few words with Kyle’s girlfriend.”
Monica’s expression brightened when Duncan mentioned Kyle’s girlfriend. “I’ll be at the bar, darling.”
Ava watched her walk. “I’m sorry about your date.”
A slight frown marred Duncan’s smooth forehead when he sat down next to Ava. “She’s not my date. Monica and Monique are neighbors of Tessa and Micah. And don’t go there.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I recognize that look on your face.” Duncan was smiling.
“What look is that?” Ava asked.
“That I should give her a chance. You sisters all stick together.”
“And you brothers don’t,” she countered. “You stick up for one another and, let’s not forget, lie through the teeth for one another.”
“You’ve got it all wrong, Ava. Kyle, Ivan and I have never lied for one another.”
“Maybe the three of you are the exception.”
“We’re known around the way as the best men.”
“Define best.”
“Good black men.”
Duncan intrigued Ava. He hadn’t boasted when he’d referred to himself as a good black man, but had said it rather matter-of-factly, as if it was his inherent right to refer to himself, Ivan and Kyle as such.
“Unfortunately there aren’t enough best men available for sisters.”
“There’s plenty of them around, Ava. It’s just that women have a certain standard where they want every brother to look like Denzel Washington. Most of them don’t realize there’s only one Denzel.”
“Are you saying we’re superficial because we’re only attracted to a man because of his looks?”
“Women are no more superficial than men when it comes to what they want their men to look like. All you have to do is look at the wives of professional athletes. Whether it’s NASCAR, the NBA, NFL or major-league baseball, all of the ladies are a type.”
“Am I a type, Duncan?”
Ava wanted to know if she looked like Kyle’s former girlfriends. Whether she was his type.
“You’re definitely not a type for Kyle. I suppose you can say that he’s gone out with a number of women but has had few serious relationships. And of the two that I can remember, neither of them even remotely resembles you. You’re much prettier.”
Kyle returned, carrying a cup in each hand. “What’s up, DG?”
“I’m trying to hit on your woman,” Duncan said, deadpan.
Kyle handed Ava one of the cups. “Give it up, brother. She’s not going to bite.”
“Are you that certain, my brother?”
A smile crinkled the skin around Kyle’s eyes. “So certain that I’m willing to wager all I have on it.”
“Those stakes are a little too rich for my blood.”
Kyle winked at Ava. “Don’t let Duncan try and fool you. He can buy and sell Ivan and me three or four times.”
“Yeah, right.” Duncan reached for Kyle’s cup. “What are you drinking?”
“Take it. I’ll get another one.”
Duncan took a sip and screwed up his face. “What the hell is this?”
“Hawaiian punch.”
“You’re kidding?”
“No. I’m the designated driver.”
“Brother, falling in love
has made you soft.”
Ava stared at Kyle, wondering if he’d mentioned to Duncan or Ivan that he was in love with her. She asked him the question when Duncan walked away.
“No, Ava. I don’t make a habit of discussing the intimate details of my life with Duncan and Ivan.”
“But why would he assume you are in love with me?”
“Maybe he can see something we’re not aware of. Remember I’ve grown up with Ivan and Duncan, and in thirty years you can learn a lot about another person.”
“Thirty years is a long time.”
“I trust Duncan to look after my investments and I trust him and Ivan with my life. We made a pact years ago never to go after each other’s women—even if they became an ex. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for them and vice versa. Maybe it’s because we don’t share blood that we’re so loyal to one another.”
“Have either of them been married?”
Kyle shook his head. “Duncan is the only who’s come close. He was engaged, but his fiancée died during the World Trade Center tragedy. They were to be married that coming weekend. To say he was devastated is an understatement. DG grieved hard for more than a year and he’s still grieving.”
Ava had listened to Duncan’s exchange with Monica. He hadn’t been rude or disrespectful to her, but cold and indifferent. It was as if he didn’t care what she wanted. “Is he seeing someone now?”
“I don’t know. As I said, we usually don’t delve too deeply into one another’s love lives.”
“In other words, you respect one another’s boundaries.”
“Exactly, and it seems to work.”
“Have you ever all gone out together with your respective women?”
“What’s with the interrogation, Ava?”
“I need to know where I stand with your friends. I’ve known a lot of friendships break up because a man or woman starts seeing someone. I don’t want to be the one responsible for monopolizing your time when you were supposed to be hanging with Ivan or Duncan.”
“That’s never going to happen.”
“And why not, Kyle?”
“Because I’m sleeping with you, not Ivan and Duncan.”
Man of Fate Page 19
