After Hours

by Rochelle Alers

  Swiveling on his chair, he stared out the window in his office with panoramic views of the Hudson River and the towering buildings that made up Manhattan’s skyline. It was a sight that he never wanted to get used to. The intercom rang and he turned around to answer it, his gaze shifting to the planner on his desk.

  A slight frown creased his forehead when he saw that he’d circled this past Sunday but hadn’t put down a notation. Flipping back through the month, he went completely still. He smiled. It’d been a month since he’d met Dina for the first time. He’d circled the date because it was their one-month anniversary.

  The intercom buzzed again. He touched the speaker feature. “Yes, Della?”

  “Mr. Bellamy’s secretary called to cancel because his wife just went into labor. She said the baby wasn’t due for another two weeks.”

  “Keep in touch with her, and when Mrs. Bellamy delivers, I want you to send her a basket of fruit and flowers.” Lance could count on his executive assistant to stay on top of every situation. He only had to tell her something once and it was done.

  “I’m on it,” she said with her signature confirmation.

  “I’m going out for a couple of hours. If you need to reach me, then call me on my cell.”

  “I’m on it,” Della repeated.

  CHAPTER 41

  Dina sat at the branch manager’s desk, signing signature cards for her checking and savings accounts. Her social security card with her new name had come in the mail earlier that morning, along with a printed invitation from Karla King. Enclosed with the invitation was a response card with a self-addressed stamped envelope. Her first impression was, Oh, that’s how they do it. Proper ladies living in upscale suburbs don’t pick up the telephone and say Come on over or send word by a cousin twice removed to “come by my spot for some links and ribs.”

  She’d worked a double shift on Saturday and one on Sunday, but it wouldn’t have been possible if she hadn’t taken over-the-counter pain medication. Miraculously it did dull the pain enough to where she’d almost forgotten about it. Lance had offered to pick her up but she lied and told him that the busboy had offered to drive her home Saturday and Sunday.

  What Dina didn’t want was a repeat of Thursday. She didn’t want to wake up and find Lance Haynes in her bed. If or when they shared a bed again, it’d be because she’d invited him.

  She handed the branch manager the cards, her paycheck and the cash she wanted to deposit. She’d decided to open her checking account with two thousand dollars and the savings with one. Three thousand dollars was hardly enough to raise a red flag with the IRS, which required banks to report deposits totaling ten thousand or more.

  “Come with me, Ms. Gordon. You need to select a four-digit PIN—or personal identification number—for your bank card.”

  Half an hour after Dina had walked into a local bank on Nye Avenue she left with deposit receipts and an ATM card that gave her access to her money 24-7. She strolled leisurely along Irvington’s business district, peering into store windows before going into a diner for lunch. She’d gotten so used to the gourmet meals prepared by Sybil and Jake Collins that she was reluctant to eat out.

  The refrigerator and pantry in her apartment held only basic emergency staples: coffee, tea, powdered milk, bottled water, crackers, canned soups, peas, beans and peanut butter. Arriving home after midnight and waking up late mornings wasn’t conducive to her eating three balanced meals each day. It was only when she didn’t have to go to West Orange that she’d hoped to establish a routine where she did her laundry, cleaned the apartment and went food shopping. However, her plans were placed on hold because she was still convalescing from the vaginoplasty. It’d been a week since the procedure, and she had to go back to Upper Saddle Brook for a follow-up visit. Hopefully she would be pain-free by the time she began her dance lessons.

  Dina looked forward to entertaining at the private parties for one specific purpose: to earn enough money to pay off Payne. His threat was akin to a bribe, but there wasn’t much she could do with a contract out on her life. It wasn’t until she paid him that she truly would be able to enjoy being Dina Gordon.

  She gave the waitress her order for a small Greek salad, then reached into her purse for Karla’s invitation and the cell phone Lance had given her. His secretary answered the call, then forwarded it when she identified herself. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise. Had Lance told Della who she was?

  “Good morning…I take that back—good afternoon, Ms. Gordon.”

  Dina smiled at his formal greeting. “Good afternoon, Mr. Haynes. How are you?”

  “Wonderful. How are you?”

  She wanted to say glorious but changed her mind. Everything wouldn’t be glorious until after she gave Payne his blood money. “I’m good. I’m calling to ask if you would accompany me to a Fourth of July gathering in Oldwick.”

  “Give me the address. That’s in Hunterdon County,” he said after a pause.

  Dina wanted to tell Lance she wasn’t familiar with any of the New Jersey counties. “Are you coming with me or do I have to hire an escort for the day?”

  “If that’s your idea of a joke, then I’m definitely not laughing.”

  She clamped her teeth together. Dina wanted to tell him to lighten the fuck up but swallowed back the retort. “I’m waiting for your answer, Big Daddy,” she crooned in a sultry whisper.

  “Of course I’ll take you. Did you know what Sunday was, baby girl?”

  She smiled. He was back to calling her baby girl. “No.”

  “It was month ago that we met for the first time.”

  “You’re kidding?”

  “Nope. How would you like to celebrate tonight?”

  Dina felt a wave of heat suffuse her face and neck. She couldn’t believe she was blushing like a flustered adolescent when seeing her first crush. “I’d like that very much.”

  “Where do you want to go?”

  “You promised to take me back to LUA.” She wanted to see the nighttime views of the river.

  “I’ll call and make a reservation. I’ll pick you up at seven. Will that give you enough time to get ready?”

  Dina glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost one o’clock. She wanted to go shopping and buy a special outfit for their special night. “Yes. I should be ready by that time.”

  “I’ll see you later, baby girl.”

  “Okay, Big Daddy.”

  CHAPTER 42

  Dina opened the door and Lance went completely still. Nothing moved. He couldn’t believe the woman standing before him was his. Yes, she was his; she was LL’s woman.

  Skillfully applied makeup accentuated her large, brilliant eyes and pouty mouth. Even her hairstyle was different. The waves were missing. She’d parted it in the middle and it hung straight down her back.

  She wore a sleeveless red silk wrap dress with a black sash that emphasized a waist he could span with two hands. His gaze moved down to her bare, smooth legs and feet in a pair of black high-heel pumps before reversing itself.

  “I don’t believe it.” His voice was filled with awe.

  Dina lifted her waxed eyebrows. “What don’t you believe?”

  “What did you do to your hair?”

  She spun around slowly, her hair swirling around her shoulders and back, spilling an ebony curtain around her sun-browned face. “I had it trimmed, roller-set, then blown out.” Dina didn’t tell Lance that the entire ordeal, including a manicure, pedicure and eyebrow wax, had taken more than four hours. She barely had time to go to a boutique for the dress and shoes.

  Lance reached for Dina and turned her gently to face him. His free hand went to the breast pocket of his suit jacket. He handed her a small box wrapped in silver paper with a black velvet bow. “It’s just a little something to commemorate our one-month anniversary.”

  Dina stared up at the man who made her feel like a fairy-tale princess. If she looked different, then so did he. He’d had his hair close cropped, leaving a hint of sid
eburns that slenderized his round, smooth face. Everything about him radiated elegance and breeding, from the exquisite tailoring of his dark suit to his imported footwear. He smiled and her gaze lingered on his perfect white teeth.

  “I didn’t get you anything.”

  “You didn’t have to. You’re my gift.” Tears filled her eyes as Lance closed his. He couldn’t bear to see her cry—even in joy. He pulled her to his chest. “Don’t cry, baby girl.”

  Dina’s arms went around his waist inside his jacket. She wanted to love him, but she didn’t know how to love. She’d grown up believing although mothers had babies, they didn’t love their babies, and the cycle was repeated when she’d had Jameeka. The closest she’d come to loving someone was Dora Jenkins. Her grandmother fed her, kept her clean and protected her from the harsh realities of life the best she could. However, it wasn’t enough, because she’d cut school, slept with men for money while setting them up to be robbed. There were times when she wondered if she would ever be able to love a man.

  “Why are you so good to me?”

  Lance buried his face in her silky hair. “Don’t you know?”

  Easing back, she met his gaze. “Know what?”

  “You’re special, Dina. I love everything there is to love about you.”

  His confession set off warning bells in her head as Dina struggled with her conscience. He’d fallen in love with someone who wasn’t who he thought her to be; he’d fallen in love with a fraud.

  She hadn’t been Dina Gordon a month yet knew it would take more than a month to leave her sordid past behind in order to start over. Every day was a struggle, an uphill battle not to revert to Adina Jenkins, to lapse into the fast-talking, potty-mouth, trick-turning ho.

  Karla, Sybil and Lance had all offered Dina Gordon a second chance to put her past firmly behind her, and she prayed she would succeed. And if she failed, it wouldn’t be because she hadn’t tried.

  “You have to give me time because everything between us has happened so quickly.”

  Lance ran his hand over her hair. “I’m not asking you for anything. Especially not love. Either you feel it or you don’t.”

  Dina closed her eyes. “It’s not that I don’t like you, Lance.”

  “Hush, Dina. You don’t have to explain yourself—at least not to me. If ever you come to love me the way I love you, you won’t have to say a word.”

  “How will you know?” she asked in a quiet tone.

  “I’ll know because I’ll be able to feel it. It won’t be in what you’ll say but what you’ll do. Love is quiet, darling, not loud and boisterous. And love can be communicated in complete silence. One of these days we’ll look across the room at each other and know exactly what the other’s feeling or thinking.”

  “Do you think that’ll happen with us?”

  “I know it will,” he said confidently. “Now open your gift because we have to leave.”

  Pulling away, Dina removed the bow and paper. She opened the box to find a pair of heart-shaped earrings. The princess-cut diamonds winked at her like stars in a dark sky. Her mouth opened and closed quickly. “They’re beautiful. I’m going to wear them tonight.”

  Lance took them from her as she removed the gold hoops from her ears and replaced them with the diamond studs, tucking her hair behind her ears. His smile was one of supreme satisfaction. The gems were perfect for her.

  He winked at her. “You were meant to wear diamonds.”

  Dina’s lowered her gaze demurely. “Thank you.”

  She took several steps and picked up her small evening purse and a black silk jacket with a Mandarin collar piped in red. Lance waited while she locked the door, then hand in hand they made their way down the stairs and out into the warm spring night.

  CHAPTER 43

  I’m the princess in a fairy tale. Lancelot is my prince and his apartment is our castle.

  “What are you thinking about, baby girl?”

  Dina pulled her gaze away from the lights in the buildings across the Hudson River to look at the man who’d done exactly what he’d promised to do: protect and take care of her. The flames from the votive on the table at LUA caught the brilliance of the precious stones in her ears and the warm, sensual glow in her eyes.

  “It’s not what but who.”

  “Who?” he asked as a mysterious smile softened her lush mouth.

  Running a fingertip along her hairline, she smoothed several strands of hair behind her ear. “I was thinking about us.”

  Lance studied his right hand resting next to his place setting rather than stare at Dina. If she was going to reject him, then he wanted to hear, not see it. He was more than familiar with rejection. But now that he’d opened himself up to offer his heart to a woman for the first time in twenty-five years, he was mature enough to accept the consequences.

  What he’d asked himself over and over was what was there about Dina Gordon that made him seek her out, made him want to spend time with her? And why would he continue to see her when there was the possibility they would never be intimate?

  Sharing a bed with Dina and not making love to her had tested his resolve. He’d promised not to touch her unless she gave her permission. But, damn, there were just so many cold showers and porn flicks he could put up with before resorting to other measures to relieve his sexual frustration.

  “What about us?”

  Dina knew she had to choose her words carefully or Lance would misconstrue her intent. She didn’t know why he’d come into her life, but she didn’t want to lose him. Unwittingly he’d become the man she’d spent most of her life searching for. Although she didn’t view him as a father figure, there was something about him that was paternal. Fathers protected and cared for their children in the same manner he took with her.

  There was one thing that had to be resolved before she took their relationship to the next level. She’d dealt with her claim that she was a virgin with the surgical procedure, but now she had to devise a plan to keep Lance interested in her until she was medically cleared. “I want us to become more than friends.” Her smoky voice was lower than usual.

  Lance stared Dina as if she’d spoken a foreign language. Had she read his mind? Did she know how much he wanted her? Not just her wit and companionship but all of her?

  “Are you saying that you’re ready to sleep with me?”

  Dina lowered her gaze, staring at Lance through her lashes as a blush swept from her chest up to her hairline. “I want to sleep with you, but I’m still not ready.” She looked directly at him. “I feel something with you that I’ve never felt with other men who’d kissed me. You make me want you, LL.”

  She hadn’t lied. Each time she saw Lance the pull was stronger than it’d been the time before. She felt comfortable enough with him to crawl up on his lap like a trusting child. Whenever they were together, her world took on the brightness and goodness he radiated effortlessly. He’d said she was perfect when she knew he was perfect—for her.

  Exhaling inaudibly a sigh of relief, Lance slumped back against the blond, curved Scandinavian-style chair. He’d mentally prepared himself for her rejection. “And I want you, too, baby girl. Like I told you before, I’m willing to wait for you to come to me.”

  “What if it’s three months?”

  Reaching across the table, he patted her hand. “Then it will be three months. What you don’t understand is three months ago I didn’t know Dina Gordon existed, so what’s another three months?”

  That’s because Dina Gordon didn’t exist three months ago. At least not the Dina Gordon he knew. Reversing their hands, she laced their fingers. Lance Haynes radiated strength, self-confidence and power.

  “You’re right. And since meeting you, I’m not the same woman I was a month ago.”

  He lifted sandy-brown eyebrows. “Is that good or bad?”

  “It’s very good, Big Daddy,” Dina crooned, winking at him.

  Lance returned her wink, squeezing her fingers gently. “Are you ready to
order?”

  “Yes.”

  Reluctantly he withdrew his hand and picked up the menu. He was hungry.

  He needed to eat.

  But what he wanted was not listed on the menu. It was seated across the table.

  CHAPTER 44

  Cory Cumberland opened one eye, peering at the clock on the nightstand on his side of the bed. It was ten-ten. Rolling over, he placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder, shaking her gently.

  “Wake up, darling. It’s after ten.”

  Sybil moaned softly, pressing her face deeper into the softness of the pillow under her head. “I’m not going in today.”

  Cory sat up quickly. “What’s the matter?”

  She moaned again. “Nothing’s the matter, Cory. I’m just not going to work today.”

  Resting a hand on her bare back, he ran his fingertips up and down her spine. “Are you feeling okay?”

  Sybil rolled over onto her back and glared up at her husband. “What don’t you understand, Cory Cumberland? I told you that I’m not going to work today. You’ve been complaining that we don’t spend enough time together, so I’m going to accommodate you and stay home.”

  Cory’s soulful eyes widened slightly. “Accommodate me, Sybil? Is that how you view spending time with your husband? Thanks but no, thanks.”

  Mumbling an expletive under her breath, Sybil swept back the sheet and swung her legs over the bed. “I just changed my mind. I’m going to work.”

  Cory panicked, springing off the bed to stop his wife. “I’m sorry, baby,” he apologized, wrapping his arms around her body. “Stay home with me. Please.”