Open Your Heart

by Cheris Hodges

  “Sure. But don’t you think you’ve had enough to drink for one evening?”

  “The night is young and so am I. And you have me trapped on the property, so what else is there to do?”

  There were so many things he wanted to do to and for her, but he needed to be vigilant. Madison had sent him a text with some of the headlines that had been surfacing in Richmond about Danny Branch.

  What if he was getting desperate and had put the killer back on Yolanda’s trail? He wanted this nightmare for her to be over. Even if it meant never having her as a part of his life again.

  Chapter 28

  It was clear to Charles that Nina’s wedding was an event that was just as anticipated as Christmas. So many people came to visit the family and Yolanda was the bartender. She took her eggnog making seriously and it was a hit with the guests who came in and out of the family quarters. Charles was unsettled every time the door opened, not knowing if one of these friendly faces hid sinister intent.

  So far, so good. But when this tall dude in a tailored suit and a bright smile walked in and charmed the room, Charles couldn’t decipher if he was jealous or if he thought the guy was a threat. For one, he didn’t like the way Mr. Slick looked at Yolanda as she served up the eggnog. His eyes lingered on her bottom a little too long. And Yolanda seemed a little too happy to see him. Then again, so did Alex.

  You’re being ridiculous, he thought as he stayed in the background. Was this guy one of Yolanda’s exes looking to make her his Christmas gift? Not while Charles was around. If this clown had a chance with Yolanda back in the day, then he should’ve taken it then.

  Charles felt foolish when he realized that the real reason why Alex and Yolanda had been so happy to see the man was because he was Robin’s ex.

  He couldn’t help but laugh at how the sisters kept pushing Robin and that guy together. For a group of women who complained about each other prying into their personal lives, they were all guilty of it.

  “You know,” Alex said, breaking into his thoughts, “there’s nothing wrong with being a little festive tonight. I’m sure whatever has you here at Yolanda’s side can take a break for a couple of hours.” She handed him a cup of eggnog.

  “Thanks, but I’m not a fan of this stuff.”

  “Shh,” Alex said. “If Yolanda hears that, she is going to lose her mind. This is Christmas in a cup to her.”

  Charles laughed because it was clear Alex thought the same. “I’ll try some later, once everything dies down here.”

  “How much trouble is my sister in and don’t tell me to ask her.” She poked him in the chest. “I’m asking you.”

  “No disrespect, Alex, but I think you’re a little tipsy and this might not be the time or place to have this conversation.”

  She shook her head and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “You know why I worry about Yolanda so much?” Alex placed her hand on Charles’s shoulder. “Because she is a lot like me. She wants to take over the world and prove she’s right all the time. I don’t want anything to happen to my sister because I wouldn’t survive it.”

  “I’m not going to let anything happen to Yolanda.”

  “Because you love her or it’s your job?”

  “I think you need some coffee, Alex,” he said with a nervous laugh. She poked him again and laughed.

  “You do. You love my sister. If you hurt her, like Logan did Robin, I’ll break your kneecap.” She sauntered away and grabbed another cup of eggnog. It didn’t take long for Yolanda to approach Charles with questions.

  “What was that all about?” she demanded.

  “Your sister wants to know what’s going on with you. Why haven’t you . . .”

  “What did you tell her? Chuck, Alex doesn’t need to know anything that’s going on.”

  “I kept your confidence, but I think you should have a talk with her.”

  Yolanda folded her arms across her chest. “You need to stay out of it! What’s up with you and your defense of Alexandria Richardson?”

  “Darling, you need to calm down. Do you know how much your sister loves you? She . . .”

  Alex crossed over to the couple with a tray of eggnog. “What are you two whispering about?”

  Yolanda took a cup of eggnog from the tray and watched Charles until he grabbed one as well. Alex gave him an I-told-you-so look. “Is Nina in her room?” Yolanda asked, skirting Alex’s question.

  “Yes. And since you two keep speaking in circles, I’m going to my room, too,” she said, then lifted her cup of eggnog to them. “Charles, whatever you’re doing here, just keep doing it.”

  “No problem,” he replied.

  “She knows something,” Yolanda said once Alex was gone.

  “It’s kind of hard to miss that something is happening when your sister has a bodyguard. Yolanda, just relax and think about how this will be over after your sister’s wedding.”

  “Oh,” she said. “You’re ready to get rid of me?”

  “Did I say that?”

  “No, but you implied it. I’m going to get a sandwich or something,” she said, then turned toward the dining room. Charles started to follow her and explain what he meant, but when he saw Alex sitting at the table, he decided to leave the sisters to their devices.

  * * *

  Yolanda sat across from Alex and gave her a kick underneath the table.

  “What in the hell is wrong with you?” Alex snapped.

  “Why are you always in Chuck’s face asking him about . . .”

  Robin walked into the dining room. “What are y’all fighting about now?”

  Yolanda shot her a questioning look. “I thought you were flirting with Terell and on the verge of having a rebound affair.”

  “This is one time I actually agree with your foul-mouthed sister,” Alex quipped.

  “Clearly hell has frozen over,” Robin said as she reached for another eggnog. “Have both of you forgotten that I’m married?”

  Yolanda opened her mouth and Alex slapped her hand over it. “I don’t know what you were going to say, but don’t.”

  Robin nodded her thanks as she sipped her drink.

  “Now,” Alex continued. “You have filed for divorce, so there’s nothing wrong with lining up dates for when it’s final.”

  “Please stop,” Robin said. “I don’t need either of you telling me how to live my life.”

  “No one is trying to do that,” Yolanda said once Alex dropped her hand.

  “What if I decide to fight for my marriage?”

  Yolanda shook her head. “After what he did to you? What are you fighting for?”

  Robin sighed and gave her sisters a thoughtful glance. “Logan said he didn’t sleep with her.”

  “And you believe that?” Alex shook her head. “Robin, what do you expect him to say—to a lawyer?”

  She slammed her mug on the table. “I swear, if Nina’s wedding wasn’t around the corner, I’d leave right now. I love Logan and I don’t expect either of you to understand. Just leave me the hell alone.”

  Alex threw her hands up and walked out of the room. Yolanda started to follow Alex, but she felt a hand on her elbow. Turning around, she glared at Chuck. “What now?” she asked.

  “I came for the sandwiches,” he said with a smile.

  Robin shot them a questioning look then left the dining room to take a phone call.

  “Did you? Or were you waiting to talk to Alex?”

  “Are we doing this now? You can’t possibly think . . .”

  “What should I think? Maybe you want to move on to another Richardson once this case is over. Hell, you and Alex have more in common than you and me. Two big old control freaks and . . .”

  Chuck captured her mouth and kissed her until she moaned. At that moment, she realized what a fool she had been and that her eggnog may have been stronger than she’d imagined. He broke the kiss and looked at her.

  “Here’s what we’re going to do right now, tonight,” he said. “I’m going to st
op pretending that you don’t mean the world to me.”

  “What?” she asked as she stared at him. Yolanda’s eyes were wider than fifty-cent pieces. She’d been waiting to hear him say something like this and she believed it. He wasn’t drunk, he wasn’t saying it just because that’s what she wanted to hear. Chuck meant what he said.

  “You heard me. It took a lot for me to be able to be honest with you. But I can’t have you walking around here questioning every move I make.”

  “I-I don’t know what to say,” she replied breathlessly. “I mean, can we go talk about this where somebody won’t walk in on us?”

  “If you mean go back to your room, I’m going to be real with you. When that door closes the last thing I want to do is talk.”

  “Well damn,” she muttered. “I’m not going to argue about that. Let’s go.” Yolanda wanted to run to her room, but she didn’t want anyone to know what was going on. She thought about telling Chuck that she was head over heels for him. That he’d awoken something in her that she had denied existed for years. Part of her felt a little guilty that she was having this awakening when Robin’s heart was being torn apart.

  As soon as she and Chuck got into her room and he closed the door, thoughts of anyone but the sexy man standing in front of her evaporated.

  Yolanda nibbled at the bottom of her lip as he closed the space between them. Chuck stroked her cheek then proceeded to peel her clothes off. First, the black tank top. He cupped her breasts and as he ran his thumbs across her nipples they tightened into diamond-hard buds. Then he ran his right hand down to the waistband of her leggings.

  When he slipped his hand inside, Chuck laughed. “I’d been wondering ever since I saw you dancing if you were wearing panties.”

  She smiled as his fingers found their way inside her wet valley. “And were you right?”

  “Trust but verify,” he said as he stroked her clitoris. “And I love this kind of hands-on verification.”

  Yolanda stifled a moan. “So-so do I. But if you do that thing with your finger again, I just might come.”

  He wiggled his finger inside her, then made circles around her clit with the pad of his index finger. “Which thing?”

  She yelped as she came. “That wasn’t fair,” she said as he slipped his hand out of her leggings. Chuck scooped her up in his arms and laid her on the bed. He pulled her leggings off and spread her legs apart. “Why don’t you take your clothes off?” Yolanda asked.

  “I will as soon as I do this,” he said, then dove between her legs and lapped her sweetness. Yolanda knew the walls in her room were thin and she knew Nina was next door, but when Chuck sucked her clit as if it were a lollipop, she didn’t care who heard her scream.

  He looked up at her as he licked and sucked her. Yolanda’s thighs trembled as she came over and over again. “Now, that was an amazing dessert,” Chuck said as he stood up and pulled his clothes off. Yolanda loved looking at him naked. She propped up on her knees in the middle of the bed. “Tell me a story,” she said.

  “What?”

  “The tattoo, what inspired it?”

  “That’s what you want to hear about right now?” He crossed over to the bed and took her hand in his. Yolanda took her other hand and stroked part of the ink on his shoulder.

  “Yes.”

  “After the war, I wanted to cover up some of the scars that I got in a firefight.”

  “Oh,” she said. “I didn’t expect that answer.”

  Chuck shook his head. “All art doesn’t have a romantic story behind it. When I was in Afghanistan, my squad had a battle with a group of insurgents. There were a couple of roadside bombs that went off and I got hit with shrapnel protecting my team. Blew out my knee and lost some vision in my right eye. That’s why I occasionally wear glasses.”

  “But a lot of beauty can come from pain,” she said, then leaned in and kissed his shoulder.

  He got into the bed and pulled her against his chest. Yolanda wrapped her legs around his waist, and they fell into a slow rhythm, their bodies moving as one. He felt good as he pumped in and out of her. Too good. Flesh to flesh. No protection. She closed her eyes as she felt the heat of his seed inside her.

  What had they done? They unfurled their bodies. “That was extremely irresponsible,” she said.

  “I know and I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault alone,” she said with a sigh. “I know I’m healthy and safe.”

  “As am I.”

  “But there are other things that could’ve happened. Like . . .”

  He reached out for her and held her against his chest. “We can’t see into the future, but know I’m always going to be here no matter what,” Chuck said.

  “Who said I wanted a kid?”

  He tilted his head to the side and smirked. “Why are you assuming that you’re pregnant?”

  She shrugged. “Because that would just be poetic justice. My sister . . . never mind. Listen, you’re a one-of-a-kind man, Charles Morris. I . . . love you.”

  He kissed her slow and deep. Breaking the kiss, he looked her in the eyes. “I love you too.”

  Chapter 29

  If Yolanda thought she and Chuck were going to spend the days following Nina’s wedding basking in the afterglow of being in love, she was wrong. They’d decided to stay in Charleston at the bed-and-breakfast while he waited to hear from his source about the investigations into Danny Branch. Alex continued with her questions until Yolanda blew up at her and told her to mind her fucking business. That went over like a bouquet of lead balloons. Up until the moment that Robin’s drama in Richmond with Logan exploded after the woman who had been accusing Logan of being her baby’s daddy revealed that she knew about Robin’s fertility issues, Alex and Yolanda had gone days without speaking.

  When she told Chuck that she was going to Richmond with Alex, he wasn’t happy about it. And Yolanda told him where he could put his feelings.

  “My sister needs me and I’m going to see her.”

  “You’re walking back into the city where you know Danny wants you dead.”

  She folded her arms across her chest. “Did I say I was going to throw a parade and announce my location?”

  “Yolanda, you’re putting yourself in danger, and for what? Whatever your sister and her husband are dealing with, you can’t fix it.”

  “Go to hell. When Alex starts that car in the morning, I’m going to be in it. You can stay here if you want to,” she said, then turned to leave the room. Chuck grabbed her arm.

  “Why are you so damned stubborn?”

  “Are you coming with us tomorrow or no?”

  “You know the answer to that. Clearly, you aren’t going to be reasonable and stay here.”

  Yolanda smiled and nodded. “I’m glad you know that. And knowing Alex, we’re going to be leaving at the butt crack of dawn.”

  “I need to make a few phone calls; then I’ll join you in bed.”

  “Maybe you should sleep on the sofa,” she said, still low-key pissed off at him.

  Chuck rolled his eyes and headed out the door.

  * * *

  Charles didn’t want to go to Richmond blind. Maybe Danny had to call off his hit man because of everything that was going on now. But he wasn’t sure and he didn’t like putting Yolanda at risk. It didn’t matter that she was trying to support her sister. She needed to remember that a powerful man wanted her dead. He pulled out his phone and called Madison.

  “Hello?” she said in a whisper.

  “Madison, is everything all right?”

  “Just on a stakeout. I think Branch has finally snapped.”

  “Can you talk?”

  “Not now. Call you later.” The call ended and Charles gritted his teeth.

  Son of a bitch. What is he up to and how do I keep Yolanda safe? He headed back inside to Yolanda’s bedroom and expected to find Yolanda still wrapped up in a funky attitude, but she was sitting on the same sofa she’d ordered him to sleep on holding a cup of c
ocoa.

  “You know what I hate to do more than anything in the world?” she said as she batted her eyelashes at him.

  “You’re going to have to remind me or do it.”

  She held up the cup of cocoa to him. “It’s an apology in a mug.”

  Charles shook his head. “Nope, you’re going to have to say it.” He cupped his hand to his ear.

  Yolanda sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, Chuck.”

  He accepted the cocoa and brushed his lips across her forehead. “I really wish you would reconsider this trip.”

  “Don’t make me take my apology back.”

  “I should’ve recorded it. I called Madison and I think she’s following Branch,” he said.

  “Is that a good thing?”

  “I don’t know and there are too many unknowns for me to feel safe about this trip.” He sat down beside her and set the cocoa on the table.

  “How about I make a promise to you: I won’t make a move without you knowing about it. You can even follow me to the bathroom.”

  “That’s a given.”

  “And I won’t complain about it,” she said with a smile. Then she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “Please don’t sleep on this sofa. I want to fall asleep in your arms.”

  “If I was as petty as you are, I’d say something smart and sleep on the sofa. But I like having you sleeping in my arms too much to suffer needlessly.” He kissed her softly and then scooped her into his arms. When they got into bed, Yolanda fell asleep effortlessly, but Charles kept waiting for the phone to vibrate. What had Madison found out? Was she still safe?

  Richmond, Virginia

  Chase realized that Danny had become unhinged and sloppy when he read the story about his ex-wife’s case in the paper. It was confirmed when Danny drove into the woods without noticing two cars following him. At least Chase’s was one of the cars, but that Chevrolet Cruze belonged to a stranger. And possibly a cop. The Feds would never drive something that practical. He pulled the little Kia he was driving into the woods far enough away from the other vehicle that he would look lost, drunk, or like a hunter. He had a view of the figure in the car, but he had no idea if it was a man or a woman. Maybe he had the wrong idea about the driver. Still, he wasn’t trying to let Danny’s latest dumb-ass action put him at risk. Grabbing a flashlight from the backseat, he exited the car and headed over to where Danny was . . . digging a hole?