A Kiss of Color: A BWWM Interracial Romance (Book 3)

by Cristina Grenier

  Helena could have collapsed at the profound relief that flooded her. They had her mother’s confession on tape. Which meant that Daniel would almost certainly be questioned. Atop that, they had both Hank’s and Riley’s testimonies.

  That meant that they suddenly had an overwhelmingly good chance of winning the trial they’d dreaded for months.

  “You are brilliant, Brandy.” Helena managed hoarsely, reaching out to tug Brandy to her again. “Absolutely brilliant.”

  At that point, a loud knocking came on the door as red and white lights filled the front entryway. The authorities had arrived.

  And for the first time in a long time, Helena was looking forward to speaking with them.

  Things moved rather quickly after that.

  Daniel Hayes and Janette Freeman were admitted to the hospital, and with the chief stockholder indisposed, the case was put on hold. Daniel, they were told, would recover just fine, but Helena’s mother would be on dialysis for the rest of her life, as her insurance didn’t cover a kidney transplant to replace the one she’d lost.

  However, neither she nor her lover would remain free for very much longer.

  Brandy wasted absolutely no time. She quickly reorganized the case she had built to include the audio she had recorded. The trial that had been planned quickly fell apart. Janette was facing life in prison without the possibility of parole for attempted murder, and confronted with the choice of going down with her, or confessing how he had turned XTech into his own private playground, Daniel chose to confess.

  He spilled the details of how he’d orchestrated his elaborate scheme, from persuading Xavier to put company funds in his and Helena’s personal account to getting the financial team to turn against the CEO with bribes and blackmail. He wrote down his entire confession, which all but exonerated Xavier from every charge that had been filed against him and Helena.

  Bank accounts were unfrozen, funds reallocated, and what had been stolen was returned. All seven members of the board – including the newly reinstated Leonard Harvey – visited Xavier and his family at their home to personally apologize.

  Helena’s fiancé had told her what happened that morning in the board room, and she could see how hard it was for him to speak to the men who had betrayed him. They came to him with stories of how their families and livelihoods had been endangered, and while both Xavier and Helena knew some of them were being truthful, half of them were incriminated by lies going against Daniel Hayes’ confession.

  Half of the board was replaced, and for his forthrightness, Hayes’ sentence was reduced from life to forty years.

  Xavier went back to the office, much more wary than he had been before. Some of the employees that had been let go came back. Others didn’t. For weeks, Helena had to watch her lover battle his conscience as he came to grips with the enormity of the treachery XTech had undergone. He had been hurt deeply, and Helena knew that he would never trust quite the same way again.

  Janette Freeman, of course, received life in prison. She had only been paroled with some unlawful finagling of Hayes’ and so in reality, she had two sentences to serve. Helena saw her one last time before she was put away.

  She went alone, handing Isaiah off to his father for the afternoon.

  Her mother was handcuffed to an aluminum table in a small, white interrogation room. That table, in turn, was bolted into the cement floor. In the weeks since she’d seen her, Helena’s mother had aged. She had traded in her smart violet two piece suit for an orange jumpsuit and it was obvious she’d somehow gotten her hands on drugs again and was using hard. The lines on her face had returned and her voice had the telltale rasp of the crack pipe. Nonetheless, Janette perked up when she saw her daughter.

  Even as Helena’s stomach turned.

  “Hey, baby!”

  How on earth could she act as if nothing had ever happened between them? As if she hadn’t tried to kill the man her daughter loved and the father of her grandchild. “Hi, Momma.” Helena sat on the other side of the table, a safe five feet away from Janette.

  The elder woman held out her hands, her expression hurt. “You’re not going to give your mother a hug?”

  For a long beat, Helena stared at her. She knew that she should feel hate, revulsion, and rage when she gazed upon this woman, but all she could think of was how much she pitied her. What must have happened to her as a child that she could be the woman she was?

  “No, momma. I’m not going to hug you. I’m never going to hug you again.”

  Janette’s expression sobered, and she had the decency to look ashamed. “Helena”, she began hesitantly, her eyes on her hands as she fidgeted in discomfort. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I have an answer. To that question you asked.”

  Helena waited, silent. When Janette’s dark eyes met hers again, they were filed with tears. “I have always loved you, baby. Just never more than I loved myself.”

  Helena felt the pain of decades lifting from her chest. As she watched moisture stain her mother’s cheeks, she realized that Janette would have the rest of her life to come to terms with her mistakes. They would be the only thing keeping her warm, every night, for the rest of her life.

  When she spoke, her voice was soft, but unwavering. “I can’t forgive you, momma. You would have killed him…and this…this would have continued until one of us ended up dead.” She exhaled a long, shuddering breath. “It’s better this way.”

  Helena stood in a smooth motion, taking her coat from the back of the chair. She left the visiting room with no regrets, and vowed that she would never let her mother keep her from doing anything ever again.

  Epilogue

  2 years later

  “I hate it.”

  From her place upon a suede covered pedestal where she was profoundly uncomfortable, Helena frowned. It looked like she was dressed in something Lisa Frank had thrown up at a stationery store. Honestly, teal and yellow?

  “I think it looks very flattering on you, honestly.” Brandy was trying to hide her smile as she looked on primly from her seat below. She bounced a babbling baby girl with hair as blonde as her mother’s on her knee. “And Lucy does too. Don’t you Lucy?”

  Helena’s niece blew bubbles primary concocted of saliva and mucus in Helena’s direction and she managed to make a face for a brief moment before she burst out laughing. “So I’m going to buy an expensive ball gown based on the opinion of a one-and-a-half year old?”

  Brandy nodded solemnly, and Helena merely rolled her eyes, shaking her head. She liked this dress no more than she had the last three, and she was of half a mind to start picking the damn things herself. Brandy had horrible, frilly, super-girly tastes.

  She didn’t want to show up to a Time Magazine Event looking a full two decades younger than her actual age.

  Just the thought of the celebration later on that week made her tingle in excitement. When she and Xavier had graduated from Antioch all those years ago, and she’d been the first person to help him build his company, she’d never imagined it would grow to this extent.

  She’d come home from a long day at the office a month ago to find Isaiah toddling right into her arms. At just over two, he was running all over the house and both his parents were exhausted just trying to keep up with him. She’d laughed at her little man’s antics and prepared to greet her husband, only to have him sweep both she and Isaiah into his arms, his expression radiating excitement.

  “Honey, you won’t believe what came in the mail today!” The man looked as if he could fly.

  “What?” She inquired breathlessly, vainly trying to keep Isaiah from yanking one of her earrings out. In reply, Xavier had merely handed her a letter addressed from Time Magazine naming him man of the year, and XTech one of the most prolific companies in the world.

  Helena had to read the letter several times before she all but shrieked in excitement. She and Xavier proceeded to make fools of their very adult selves and jump all over their house with the two year old in sh
eer joy.

  Ever since XTech had been restructured, Xavier had put his heart and soul into making sure that what had happened once never occurred again. He rigorously screened all of his employees and spent hours putting systems in place to protect both them and himself from any fraud that might occur. This obsession had led to him creating several new, top-of-the-line computer security systems. When he’d happened to show one to Hank, the man had demanded that he produce it for the general public.

  And that had been the beginning of XTech Comprehensive Computer Security, or CCS for short. The program had exploded not only domestically, but worldwide, and within a year, XTech was the major security provider for classified servers around the globe. Xavier made enough to set his sister up with her own chain of offices in the downtown area and bring her back into doing the full-time law she so loved.

  He bought controlling stock in companies that his parents had once invested heavily in, releasing Hank’s parents from the threat of disenfranchisement and significantly cutting down on his mother and father’s luxurious lifestyles. Helena heard from Brandy that once the money disappeared, Xavier and Brandy’s younger sister Emily had too. They hadn’t heard from her since.

  Hank, of course, had re-married Brandy the instant that he could, and Xavier soon set him up with a job at XTech, through which he convinced his boss and brother in law to share his programming expertise with the world at large.

  And so, everything had come full circle. Xavier had overcome his parents’ expectations and had made his own way in the world. He was being recognized as one of the world’s most hardworking and generous men and Helena couldn’t be prouder of him.

  Then again, she supposed she hadn’t done too badly herself.

  Helena had gone back to medical school about eight months after Isaiah’s birth, determined to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a full-fledged physician. Susan and her patients, had, of course, welcomed her back with open arms, and she and Xavier had hired a nanny to help them look after their infant son as Helena crammed for her exams and finished her trials.

  After months of grueling work – of studying long hours, nursing until her breasts were sore and falling asleep exhausted seemingly every night, Helena had finally graduated. She was awarded her MD in pediatric medicine, and Doctor Forge quickly snapped her up for residency before any other hospital in the area.

  Since then, she’d been doing what she loved: keeping children healthy and their parent’s content. Helena truly felt like she touched each and every patient she worked with, just as her father had done when he was alive. After laboring for what seemed like an eternity, she had finally achieved her dreams, and she could feel her father watching her, his pride bathing her in a warm glow.

  When she did happen to find herself with time off, she spent it with Brandy. Though Isaiah and Lucy were almost a year apart, they seemed to be fast friends. Isaiah inexplicably understood his cousin’s soft babbling, though he could hardly speak himself. Helena, however, took pride in the fact that he had learned to say ‘Mama’ before ‘Dada’, which she teased her husband constantly about.

  As Brandy placed Lucy in her arms, stepping away from the dressing room to select another dress, Helena’s lips curved upwards as she remembered the day she and Xavier had been married.

  Their wedding hadn’t been a grand affair, like Brandy’s had. Of course, her husband’s older sister was used to the best of everything, and Xavier always made sure that she had it. Her ceremony had involved over a hundred guests and they had rented out the largest chapel in town.

  Helena and Xavier had been married in a quiet ceremony in their backyard. The only people present had been Brandy, Hank, Lucy, Margaret, Miranda, Susan, and their son. Helena couldn’t think of anyone else she might have wanted to invite. Anyway, she couldn’t think of anyone else who might have been able to endure her and Xavier’s sloppy kissing once the vows had been said.

  It had been over a year now, and Helena wasn’t quite sure wedded bliss would ever end. Of course, she and her husband sometimes butted heads, but Helena liked that Xavier didn’t let her get away with everything. That he wanted the best for her and wasn’t afraid to tell her she was wrong.

  That he loved their son deeply, and put his family before anything else.

  They would celebrate him at the end of the week, and she was looking forward to it immensely.

  “Ok, Helena. Try this one.” Brandy returned, thrusting a length of emerald silk at her. “I think this is it.”

  The young woman grimaced before handing her drooling niece back to her mother. Once she unfolded the fabric, however, her expression changed.

  The gown wasn’t half bad. In fact…she quite liked it.

  “You look absolutely breathtaking in that thing.”

  Helena smiled into the mirror as her husband wound his arms around her neck, kissing her neck hotly. “I’ve thought about getting you out of it all night.” Her cheeks flushed at his words. It wasn’t the first time that evening he’d uttered them, or, indeed, the tenth.

  As much pomp and circumstance as there had been around Xavier receiving his award, it seemed all he could think about were his just rewards. Helena laughed softly as Xavier growled, lifting her into his arms to deposit her on the bed.

  “Shhh…” She covered his mouth, trying to stifle her own giggles. “You’ll wake Isaiah.”

  Xavier rolled his eyes. “You know as well as I do that the kid is out. He sleeps like his mom.”

  “Hey!” Helena slapped her husband’s shoulder playfully. “It’s not a crime to enjoy sleep!”

  “Nor is it a crime to enjoy other things…” Now Xavier’s hands had found their way beneath the skirt of her gown and were creeping slowly, inexorably over the sensitive skin of her thighs. Helena raised herself onto her elbows, molding her mouth to his.

  She would never get tired of tasting him. Not for as long as she lived.

  As their tongues tangled, Xavier worked desperately to undo the laces at the back of her gown. When he couldn’t free them, he merely flexed a powerful arm and ripped, tearing the delicate fabric. Helena gazed up at him, mortified. “Xavier! That dress cost more than I make in a week!”

  But her husband was too busy removing the fabric from her body to listen. “I’ll get you another, later.” He promised huskily, as he tossed the ruined garment off into the darkness. “Much later.”

  Helena couldn’t pretend to be mad for long. Not when Xavier was kissing and nipping at her neck in a way that made her squirm, teasing her nipples with the tips of his fingers. She moaned, softly, pushing his suit jacket from his shoulders before undoing his tie hurriedly. Even though they had all the time in the world, it seemed they were always in a rush to have each other. His cummerbund came next, and then his fancy dress shirt. The button holes were so damn stiff that Helena cursed and Xavier laughed, tugging it over his head once half the buttons had been undone.

  His body was glorious.

  She had no idea how he did it. Between running an internationally acclaimed company, being a father and keeping her happy, she never saw him use their home gym. But she certainly saw him when he was finished – drenched in sweat and so acutely male she ached to have him inside her.

  “This is…divine.” He growled, tugging at the strap of the intricate green lace bra she wore. “Did you pick this?”

  “Brandy did.” Helena admitted breathlessly as Xavier undid the clasp, one handed.

  “I will have to thank my sister.” Xavier dangled the scrap of lace before his vision before it joined the gown on the floor.

  Without another word, he lowered his head to pull the tip of her breast into the heat of his mouth and Helena cried out softly, arching against the hard length of his body. As Xavier plied the tender nub of flesh with his tongue and teeth, she whimpered, her hands roving through his newly shorn hair. He’d cut it for the banquet, but he promised to grow it out long again, just for her.

  She did so love when it was long.
It gave her something to hold onto while he worked his magic.

  Xavier’s teeth grazed the underside of her breasts before his lips touched each of her ribs. His large hand covered the warmth between her legs as he whispered against her thigh. “These panties are so nice I don’t think I can bear to take them off.”

  “You’d better.” Helena shot back threateningly, the heat surging through her blood rising to a fever pitch.

  “If the lady insists.”

  The lacy wisp was gone with a tug of his teeth, and before Helena could draw breath, his fingers were inside her, probing deeply and expertly as she moaned his name.

  “That’s right, sweetheart,” The man rasped sensually against her ear. “I adore it when you moan for me.”

  He exploited a spot within her that drew his name from her on a low cry before she was yanking frantically at his slacks. To Xavier’s merit, they weren’t nearly as flimsy as her gown and she actually had to exercise patience and wait until he managed to get out of them. But he shed the pants and his underwear in a single move so he was soon blessedly naked against her.

  “Mmm.” Xavier lifted her into his lap, laying back against the coverlet as he gazed up at her. Helena looked down at him, realizing that one of the most influential men in the world belonged to her.

  And to her alone.

  She eased down on him slowly, watching every facet of his expression as she enveloped him in her heated, clenching haven. Xavier’s eyes slid closed, his mouth parting as he embraced her hips tightly, fighting the urge to thrust up into her.

  He let her set the pace, and Helena rode him slowly.

  She wanted this to last.

  Undulating her hips again and again, she took him in, deeper each time, until his groans turned to gasps for mercy. She memorized every detail of his face, his features contorted in passion, and her body tingled as her arousal only heightened.

  He was beautiful. Utterly beautiful.

  Xavier came apart beneath her with a shout, and Helena moaned softly, her own completion washing over her at the sensation of her husband’s seed coating her womb. She collapsed atop him, kissing his cheek with a fond, exhausted smile.