It started with kisses that were meant to challenge her inhibitions and vanquish her fears. He took her dark, distended nipple between his teeth and proceeded to tease, cajole and mold her into submission. Agile fingers stroked a fire within her, while his potent tongue turned a bonfire into an inferno. Justin worshipped her body as though it were an ancient temple before which he was paying homage. Spirals of ecstasy consumed her. Justin took her to places that she had never known existed, and in gratitude it was his name that she screamed.
Engulfed in a haze of rapture, she lay shimmering with pleasure as Justin removed his briefs, donned protection and returned to her.
“We’re going to take it easy, sweetheart. Like I promised, I’d never hurt you in any way.” With that he entered her, moving slowly as he felt how tight she was. As if in prayer, he whispered her name. “Are you all right?” He inched in further. “Let me know if…” Justin’s thoughts drifted into oblivion as his pleasure increased. He moaned. She felt so good.
As the tip of his hardened shaft teased and pleased her, Davia was doing some moaning of her own, and when he entered her completely, she felt possessed. Justin’s loving was slow, gentle and deliberate. He whispered words of love and adoration into her ear, against the cotton softness of her hair, the sculptured curve of her neck. They were words captured in impassioned kisses against parted lips.
“I’m going to take you on a journey,” rasped Justin breathlessly. “Come…come fly with me.”
And she did. Davia barely clung to consciousness as they soared higher and higher and higher until they reached their destination together.
In the early morning hours, as a satiated Davia slept in the curve of Justin’s arm, he lay awake filled with the wonder of having made love to her. She was a part of him now. She had blossomed into a flower as fully as those growing outside her home. He was grateful that she had chosen him to share this most intimate part of herself.
Davia had been through a lot in her life, and she deserved everything that was good. He had promised that he would never cause her pain, and he wouldn’t. He further vowed that he would also make certain that no one else would harm her again.
CHAPTER 13
“What do you mean, there’s no such person as Davia Maxwell?” Katherine gripped the telephone receiver so hard the veins in her hands strained against her skin. “Is she using an alias?” She listened to the voice on the other end as Charles Cash moved across the sitting room to the mahogany bar on the other side of the room. He took two long-stemmed crystal wineglasses from the selection hanging over the bar and poured white wine in each. Then, meandering in that slow, lazy manner to which she had become accustomed, he returned to where he had been sitting next to her and placed her glass of wine on the highly polished coffee table in front of them. Crossing an ankle over one leg, he began sipping his wine as he massaged the tense muscles in her neck with his free hand.
Katherine responded to his touch, rotating her stiffened neck as she listened to the private investigator she had hired to gather information on Davia Maxwell. She remembered when Zack used to give her massages and where they eventually led. Well, Charles was no Zachary Miles. Oh, he was handsome enough, with his devilish good looks and that crooked smile of his, and he was sophisticated in a roguish way. Charles was also well versed in lot of areas, but he was a social climber, a wannabe among people who already had theirs. No, he was no Zachary Miles.
She wasn’t sure what Charles wanted from her, but she knew that he would use her, or anyone else, to get it. He was correct in his belief that she could pave the way for him in acquiring whatever he might want, but she really had no intention of assisting him, although he didn’t seem aware of that fact. Oh, he was good for a few laughs. They had a good time together. He was a presentable escort, and he kept her bed warm. Other than that, Charles Cash was of no value to her. She found it amusing that he actually thought that she was mesmerized by his charm. Well, she wasn’t. She would keep him around for a while longer. After that she was sure that Charles would find another wealthy widow he would try to use.
Smiling, she patted his hand indulgently. Then, brushing it aside, she returned her attention to the caller.
Charles watched Katherine as she hung the receiver on its cradle in disgust and proceeded to prowl the room like an angry lioness. It seemed that lately her precious Justin had found himself some honey that didn’t meet with his mother’s approval, and that was all Katherine talked about. Hell, he was tired of hearing about it! If Justin had found himself a good lay from the other side of the tracks, hooray for him. He wished that Katherine would go about the real business at hand, helping him out. He’d invested a lot of time and effort into wining and dining her. He expected some return. What he really needed were introductions to more of her friends—rich friends—who could be talked into putting money into his investment firm. He was a man with expensive tastes, and lately his expenses had been exceeding his income. He’d been forced to borrow against some of his firm’s investment funds and needed additional capital to offset those debts.
Katherine Miles had been a gold mine. He hadn’t garnered any money or trinkets from her, but her circle of friends were among the most influential in Atlanta, and his association with her gave him the credibility he needed. His past was dead and buried. He had spent years building his future, and presently it looked pretty good. Things had been sailing along smoothly until her son’s sex life got in the way. Since then, she’d turned her attention away from assisting him to concentrate on Justin—but enough was enough!
He had smiled and tried to sound interested and concerned when Katherine would rant about her precious son as she was now doing, but there were real issues—important issues—that needed attention. Specifically, him and his need for more investors. This frivolous situation with her son was getting in the way.
Sipping the last of his wine Charles set the glass on the coffee table and turned his attention to Katherine. What the hell was she saying?
“And according to the PI, this Davia Maxwell doesn’t seem to have had a past prior to coming to Atlanta. If so, she’s very tight-lipped about it. How in the world could anyone…”
Charles tuned out again as Katherine droned on. Occasionally he caught snatches of her tirade about how she was going to “nip this little romance in the bud.” He was getting a headache, and his nerves were on edge as she went on and on.
There was a knock on the sitting room door. It opened and the energy in the room changed as Bianca entered. Katherine stopped her angry pacing as the child ran to her grandmother, anxious to give her a picture she had drawn for her. Charles’s dark eyes followed the child, taking in everything about her—the golden skin, the long, wavy braids, the big bright eyes. His eyes slid slowly down the length of her lithe little body. Unconsciously, he licked his lips. She was beautiful, and showed signs of developing quite a figure when she matured.
Hugging her granddaughter fondly, and thanking her for the picture, Katherine admonished the child lightly as she turned her to face Charles. “Now, precious, Grandmother is delighted with your present, but when you entered, you forgot your manners. What do you say to Mr. Cash?”
Bianca looked down at the floor, avoiding the man’s eyes. She didn’t like this man, even though her grandmother seemed to think that he was okay. So she didn’t tell her how she felt. She hadn’t even told her mommy. Instead, like the good little girl everybody described her as being, Bianca minded her manners and spoke. “Hello, Mr. Cash.”
Charles’s smile broadened. “Hello, Bianca. It’s nice seeing you.” Yes! Bianca!
Now that was a member of the Miles family worth talking about.
* * *
Davia sat in the middle of her king-size bed reading a financial report while Gabby played with her dolls at the other end. Her ability to concentrate was almost nonexistent. All she could think about was Justin.
She had never met anyone like him. He respected her intelligence and valued
her opinions. He had made love to her last night as if she were the reason for his existence. He had told her repeatedly that he loved her and had proved it to her in every way. Justin had taught her what love was about. In her wildest dreams she never would have believed that any man could mean so much to her.
The telephone rang and Davia’s heartbeat accelerated. Justin! She answered the call on the first ring with a smoky “Hello.”
“Child! This ain’t that man calling you. It’s your mama, so you can cut the crap!”
Davia couldn’t help but laugh. “Hi, Mama.” It was her foster mother, Mama Willa, matriarch of her foster family, the Johnson clan.
Davia’s greeting grabbed Gabby’s attention immediately. Dropping her dolls, she scampered to the head of the bed to join Davia, crowding her in an attempt to speak on the telephone. She squealed into the receiver, “Mama Willa! Mama Willa!”
Willa responded to the child’s loud request. “Is that my baby I hear calling for me? Let me speak to her!”
Davia yielded the telephone. There would be no peace on either end if she didn’t.
“Wait a minute, Mama Willa,” Gabby commanded with all of the authority of a four-year-old. With one small hand tightly clutching the cordless telephone, Gabby used her free hand to adjust the pillows behind her back, as she had seen Davia do. She then settled herself against them, ready to enjoy her conversation, taking pains to cross her legs at the ankles just as any other “adult” getting ready for a gabfest would do. Returning her attention to the matter at hand, she put the receiver to her ear and resumed her conversation. “Oooooh, Mama Willa, do I have something to tell you!”
Shaking her head at the child’s antics, Davia moved to the center of the bed and lay stretched out on her stomach, prepared to resume her reading. She was ready to let Gabby’s conversation with Mama Willa fade into the background until the little girl said…
“I’m going to get a daddy!”
Davia’s “What?” was as loud as Mama Willa’s “What?” on the other end of the line. A beaming Gabby continued her conversation.
“You know that Grommy’s been seeing Mr. Justin, and he’s my friend Bianca’s uncle, and when they get married, me and Bianca will be sisters, and Mr. Justin will be my daddy. You did know that, didn’t you, Mama Willa?” Gabby took a breath. Pride was written all over her face. She had delivered news that nobody else knew.
Trying to recover from her granddaughter’s startling revelation, Davia untangled herself from the bed linen in an attempt to reach the telephone before further disclosures could be made. She was too late.
“And you know what? I saw them kissing one time.” A pause interrupted the conversation just as Davia reached for the telephone. A beaming Gabby handed the telephone to her. “Mama Willa wants to speak to you.”
A shaken Davia took the receiver and managed a weak “Hello.”
“What in the world is going on out there?” Mama Willa demanded to know. “What is that baby talking about? What does she mean, she’s gonna get a daddy? You better tell me something, girl, and say it quick!”
Davia recognized Mama’s no-nonsense tone. Everybody in the family knew that when they heard that, the answers had better be good.
“I don’t know where she got that from, Mama. I really don’t. Hold on, please.”
Gabby had settled on her knees beside Davia with one arm thrown around her grandmother’s back and her head resting on her shoulder. She was literally breathing down her neck. The little girl had no intention of being left out of this conversation, but Davia had other ideas. She patted the child’s pajama-clad knee. “Sweetie, will you go down and see if Miss Reba has lunch ready? I’m hungry, aren’t you?”
Rearing back on her haunches, Gabby looked suspicious as she shook her head. “No, I want to talk to Mama Willa. I got more to tell her.”
More? “You can talk to her later. Now go do what I asked you to do.” Davia used her own tone this time, and Gabby recognized it immediately. Climbing down from the bed she reluctantly left the room. Davia resumed her conversation.
“I don’t know where the child got her information from, but you know that I’m not about to get married. Justin and I are just getting to know each other. I didn’t even know Gabby knew about us dating. He picks me up at the house and brings me home long after she’s gone to bed. I haven’t even mentioned it to her yet. I didn’t want to confuse her. I didn’t know she saw us when he kissed me. Anyway, I’ll find out what this is all about. She just told me that she has more to tell you.”
“I bet she does.” Mama Willa chuckled on the other end. “You’ve got to remember that little people have big eyes and bigger ears. Don’t ever take a child for granted.”
“You’re right, but I can tell you right now there is absolutely nothing else she has to tell you that I haven’t already told you.” Except about last night.
“Would you marry him if he asked you?”
The question caught Davia by surprise. She’d never thought about marriage to Justin or anyone else. A lifetime of being loved by one man had never been on her agenda. She wasn’t sure that it was possible. Daydreaming of such things had always been for others, not for her. Yet she found herself saying, “In all honesty, I don’t know.”
There was a moment of silence in which she could hear Mama Willa thinking. “It’s that serious, huh?”
Davia wasn’t sure how to answer that. “I think I’m in love with him.”
“You think you’re in love! You don’t know?”
“I’ve never been in love before, Mama. How would I know? Anyway, it hasn’t been that long. I’ve only known him a couple of months.”
“I knew I was in love twenty-four hours after I met Joshua Johnson.”
“I’m not surprised. Who wouldn’t fall in love with Papa Josh? In some ways, Justin reminds me a lot of him.” She smiled as she pictured Mama’s husband. He was a quiet man who spoke only when he had something to say; when he did speak, everyone in his household listened.
Joshua Johnson was the son of a Mississippi sharecropper, and unlike his wife, he had never graduated from high school, but he was one of the smartest men Davia knew. He read incessantly, everything from the Bible to Chaucer. He had worked for forty years as a construction worker to support his large family, and he saw to it that each one of his six children graduated from college. He was a kind, gentle, patient man. His family adored him, and so did Davia.
“Well, if Justin Miles is anything like my Josh, then he must be quite a man. Now tell me, how much have you told him about yourself?”
Davia knew what was being asked. Mama Willa was the only other person who knew all of her secrets. She knew about the emotional scars that Davia bore—scars that still needed healing. “I’ve told him what I wanted him to know.”
“I see. Maybe that’s best for now. It’s not always good for folks to know all of your business, but when truth begins to stand in the way between you and your happiness, then that’s the time to do what you’ve gotta do.”
Davia sighed. “Yes, I know.” She hesitated before continuing timidly. “He says that he loves me.”
The silence on the other end was a long one. Mama Willa was thinking. Then she spoke. “This man sounds like he’s got good instincts, and it’s obvious he has good taste. I like that. I think this Justin Miles might be the one for you. I need to meet him. Bring him home.”
That was it. Willa Mae Johnson had spoken. No member of the Johnson family in their right mind ignored her request. Davia would be taking Justin to Chicago.
* * *
Katherine was near hysterics. It was inconceivable that her son would run off to some godforsaken cow pasture with some woman and practically ignore his family. This was the last straw.
“I don’t know who this Davia is, but your brother has completely lost his mind!”
Sitting across the table from her mother, Vanessa recognized the extent of her mother’s distress and was grateful that they were having
lunch in public. Katherine Miles did not like public displays.
Looking at the older woman with what she hoped was empathy she nevertheless defended her brother. “Mother, Justin left a message on your voice mail that he was going to Chicago on business.”
“That’s precisely what I mean. I know that’s a lie and he didn’t have the decency to tell me face to face. He left the lie on my voice mail! You know good and well what kind of business he’s conducting in Chicago with that slut.” Katherine took a sip from the gold-rimmed teacup in front of her. The brew was cold. She frowned and continued, “It’s been weeks since he and I have sat down and talked with each other. When’s the last time you spoke to him in person?”
Vanessa opened her mouth to answer, but realized that she couldn’t remember.
“You see! He’s neglecting us. Worst of all, he’s neglecting Bianca! My goodness, we saw and heard from him more when he lived in New York City.”
Vanessa sighed. “Well, he’s a busy man. He just got his business settled here in Atlanta and…”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Vanessa! Stop making excuses for him. You’re always doing that. Nothing has changed with you. Whenever he was in trouble with your father or me, you came up with some excuse for his behavior. So just stop it!”
Vanessa recoiled at the admonishment while inwardly chastising herself for doing so. She was a grown woman with a child of her own and no longer had to feel that she must please her mother to win her love. Yet she still felt that way, and she still tried.
Although she would go to her grave denying it, Katherine made it no secret that Justin was her favorite child. Vanessa had accepted that fact long ago. Yet, in spite of that, any words her mother uttered that did not express pleasure with her still had the ability to reduce Vanessa to tears. She was fighting the threatening flow even now as she pretended to be preoccupied with her meal. As usual, Katherine was oblivious.
Small Sensations Page 12
