by Katie Dowe
He dropped his hand much to her relief. “I tried calling you when I came back, but you had changed your number.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why have you tried calling me?”
He stared at her for a moment not recognizing the coolly beautiful woman in front of him. “I wanted to see you.”
“Now you have.” She inclined her head gracefully causing her hair to drift over her cheek. “It’s nice seeing you and I am happy that you have made it as a songwriter.”
She started to turn away but he held her arm. “Please don’t go.”
“We have nothing to say to each other, Mark. Now if you will excuse me I have to get back to the office.”
“I made a mistake.” His words arrested her.
She turned to look into his amazing eyes. “I am seeing someone,” she lied.
“Is it serious?”
It was never in her nature to lie but for the second time in a minute she was doing just that. “Yes. We are practically engaged.”
His eyes became bleak just then as he looked at her. “Do you love him?”
She had expected him to stop the questions so she was thrown at what he asked just then. “That’s none of your business.”
“Then the answer is no.” His smile came just then and Latoya knew she had to crush it. She had been through too much where he was concerned and she was never going back there. “I fell in love with you before and it shattered my heart when you left. I have purposed in my mind that I was never going to let anyone do that to me again. I am attracted to this guy and we have things in common and that is good enough for me. Love is much too overrated as it is. Goodbye, Mark.” She turned and walked away leaving him standing there and staring after her. She was right! He had hurt her too much. Then something caught at him. She had been in love with him! If that was the case there was no way she was still not feeling the same way. He was going to have to find a way to remind her of her feelings for him and let her know he felt the same way!
Chapter 7
“Damn him!” she muttered as she stared at the monitor in front of her. How dare he come back into her life expecting to pick up where he left off! And wasn’t he seeing someone? The nerve of him! As if he expected her to drop her panties just because he decided that he was interested in her! She was not going to allow him to do that to her again. He had shattered her heart before, but he was not going to get a second chance to do so!
She looked up at the knock on her door and almost frowned as she saw Carter there. Ever since the time at the club, he had been inviting her out but she had been finding excuses. “I hope I am not the one to cause that frown on your pretty brow,” he said with a tentative smile as he came forward without an invitation. She could not help but compare him to Mark. He was wearing an expensive charcoal jacket suit that screamed designer wear and he looked well groomed and successful. Mark, on the other hand, had been wearing a thick green sweater that brought out the green in his eyes and faded denims and looked far more distinguished than Carter did as much as he was trying. She shook the thought away and smiled at him. “Not at all. What can I help you with?”
“Have dinner with me tomorrow.” He saw the look on her face and knew she was going to say no. Why the hell was he bothering, he wondered furiously. “It’s going to be my birthday and they have this fancy new restaurant that opened up in town two weeks ago. It’s very hard to get a table but I know the manager.” His tone was a bit smug as he said it. “Please.”
She considered for a moment and then acquiesced. “Okay. What time?”
“How does eight sound?”
“I will be there.”
“Thank you. Now that that part of it is out of the way, I have been dealing with the lawsuit involving the mayor. I need some more details on the matter, and Alfred said I should come to you.”
She wanted to tell him to go to someone else, but she inclined her head and responded. “I will send the details to your email.”
“Thanks,” he said warmly. “What would we do without you?”
She noticed his condescending tone but let it pass. “Hopefully you never have to find out.”
He hesitated a moment and then told her, “It is supposed to be formal wear so dress in your best threads.”
“I know how to dress, Carter.”
“I know, girl, but I am just reminding you,” he said with a grin. “See you later.” He saluted her and left. Latoya stared after him for a moment and then went back to work.
*****
Mark stood beneath the needles of the shower and allowed the water to beat down on him for a full two minutes before he reached for the body wash. He could not get the image of her out of his head. She had changed! Not only physically but also emotionally. She had gone from being an emotionally available attractive woman to one who was coolly unapproachable and exquisite! He wanted to taste her. He had wanted to suggest she come home with him. He had asked the grouchy Maria if she knew where she worked and the woman had mentioned that she was a big shot at the law firm. He had come home and looked them up online and had seen her profile as head researcher at the firm. She had been promoted and he was so happy for her.
He washed off and stepped from the shower and reached for a towel to dry off before going into the bedroom completely naked. His phone rang and he picked it up. “Darling, I have been calling you for quite some time now,” Diana said in her sultry voice. “We need to meet to fine tune the song I plan to sing at the movie premiere. How about dinner at Sassy’s?”
“Are you able to get a reservation?”
Diana laughed sultrily. “Of course, darling. Milton and I go way back. Besides, we are going to need to keep up our image at least for a little bit longer.”
“I am not sure for how much longer. There is someone.”
“Ah, you have fallen in love,” she said with a sigh.
“I left something wonderful to pursue my writing,” he said grimly.
“And now she is pretending that she is not into you.”
“I hope she is pretending.”
“Keep at it, darling. She will cave eventually.”
“I hope so. What time?”
“Eight.”
Mark padded to the window to look out a thoughtful expression on his handsome face. He had taken a break from the writing to step back and sort out his head and to try and see if he could make it up to Latoya. He had messed up pretty badly and it was going to take a lot of maneuvering on his part to convince her that he was worth the time of day, but he was ready and willing to try! His life depended on it!
*****
Latoya went all out. She did not go to a lot of places, mostly to office functions, where she had no choice but to dress up and go and make inane conversations and smile as if she was having the time of her life. But this was different. Mark had come back and she had to prove to Carter that she was not some gauche schoolgirl who had no idea what class looked like. She took out the shimmering and highly expensive gold colored dress with the daringly low neckline and the figure hugging lines. It had thin straps that crisscrossed at her back and did not allow her to wear any form of underwear at all. She felt deliciously naughty as the thin, light material slid over her bare skin. She stood in front of the mirror and stared at her reflection. The dress had transformed her into someone she did not know and for a moment she wondered if she should change. Then, shaking her head, she went to the vanity mirror to put on her makeup. She brushed her thick hair and pinned it on top of her head. She added dangling gold earrings and matching bracelets. She added strappy sandals and was ready to leave.
Mark broke off in midsentence as she came into the restaurant. He was not the only one. Every red blooded male in the restaurant turned their heads to stare at her as she came inside the room. What the hell was she wearing? And why was the son of a bitch holding on to her like she belonged to him?
“Mark?” Diana nudged him.
“What?” He tore h
is eyes from her and looked at the beautiful woman sitting across from him.
“Someone you know?” she asked him in amusement.
He turned back to look at the couple who had now taken their seats a few tables from them.
“Mark?”
He turned to look at the woman in impatience.
“I am going to get an inferior complex if you continue to ignore me,” she said lightly. “Is that her?”
He nodded looking back to where they were. His hands clenched as he saw the man lean forward and brush his fingers over her cheek.
“You are going to end up in the society rags if you knock him out,” Diana said mildly, feeling a little jealous at the intense agony on his handsome face. “Why don’t you dance with me and try and pretend that you are not suffering?”
He was about to tell her no when he saw them get up and walk onto the dance floor.
“Let’s go,” he said grimly.
Latoya almost had a heart attack as she saw him in front of her. He was with that famous singer! He had told her he had made a mistake and had given her the impression that he wanted her back and now here he was with her! With a determined movement, she wrapped her hands around Carter’s neck and smiled into his eyes.
Mark saw red and his hands dug into Diana’s back causing her to wince. “I am sorry,” he muttered, loosening his hold on her.
“You are both playing the same game. Why don’t you go and talk to her?”
“She is involved with him.”
“They don’t look too involved to me.”
He looked at them, but all he saw was her hands around him and his hands drifting down to her backside and he wanted to murder him!
He waited until the song had finished and he had taken Diana back to the table before he went over to where they were. She looked up at him in surprise.
“Mark Seville!” Carter exclaimed in awe, making Latoya wished he was not so star stricken.
“Hey,” he barely glanced at Carter. “I need to talk to you.”
“I am busy,” Latoya told him. “Besides isn’t your date waiting for you?”
“Please, it will only take a minute.”
“Go ahead, baby, I will order while you are gone.”
Mark wanted to smash his face in for calling her that and Latoya was highly annoyed at his familiarity. She got up and marched ahead of him into the direction of the bathroom. He took her arm and led her into a room that led off from there. She pulled away from him.
“Make it quick, my date is waiting,” she told him coldly.
“You need to stop seeing him,” he said before he could help himself.
Latoya stared at him and then burst out laughing. “What else? Do you need me to come over and do your laundry?”
“Much more than that.” The change of his tone should have warned her, and before she could think of escaping, he had crowded her against the wall, his palms flat against the wall beside her head, his body close to hers. “I need you.” The words sent shivers down her spine and she tried to fight the tingling of her flesh.
“I don’t need you.” She pushed against him, but he would not budge.
“I made a mistake and I need another chance.” He bent his head to hers merely reaching out to take her chin. He touched her lips with his and sighed drunkenly as her breath fanned his lips. This was it! This was what he had thrown away for his very lucrative career and he needed it back so badly he could taste it! He entered her mouth with his tongue and he could feel the quickening of her heartbeat. With a tortured groan, he deepened the kiss, pressing his body up against hers, his charged and so wired with desire that he felt as if he was going to explode! Latoya trembled. It was all coming back, tumbling through her like a maelstrom, and she could not allow it to happen. Not another time! She had given him her everything and he had left her tattered and torn and she could never go through that again. Somehow she found the willpower to push him away from her. He resisted at first and when she insisted, he lifted his head and looked down at her. “Please move,” she told him coldly, her heart hammering inside her chest.
“Latoya…”
“Yes, Mark, you have the information you needed. I am still into you. You still have the ability to turn me on, but that does not mean anything. If I was not on a date and you were not on one, I would tell you to come back to my apartment and we would screw each other and get done with it.” Her voice was waspish as she lashed into him. “So, I guess we are going to have to reschedule the screwing for a more convenient time. For now, I want you to stay away from me and leave me alone. When I wanted you, I was told by you that you needed space. Now I am telling you the same thing. I need space from you.” With that, she turned and left, her feet trembling but her shoulders straight as she went into the bathroom to repair what he had messed up. It seemed she was always repairing what he messed up!
*****
When she came out and looked over, she realized that they had left much to her relief. The evening had lost the glow for her and very soon she had told Carter that she wanted to leave. “How do you know Mark Seville?’ he had asked her when she came back, clearly impressed. It never bothered him that the man had commandeered the woman he was on a date with to go with him. All he was interested in was how she knew such a well known person.
“I knew him from a long time ago.”
“That explains it,” he said carelessly. “I listened to the songs he wrote and they are pretty heavy stuff. The magazines said he is becoming one of the greatest songwriters of all times. The words of his music are pretty heartrending. Think you could get him to sign one of his CDs?”
“I doubt it,” she had told him stiffly. And it was then she had told him she wanted to go home.
She had sat in her bedroom reliving the feel of his mouth on hers and had ended up curling into a ball on her bed. She was in big trouble!
*****
Mark paced the length of his living room over and over again. He had apologized to Diana for his behavior and they had parted on good terms. He was quite aware that a diva like her was used to men falling all over themselves for her, but she understood what he was feeling. Latoya had told him that she needed space from her, the exact words he had callously told her some years ago. He could not blame her. He had hurt her in the worst possible way and he could not expect her to just jump into his arms like that. But it hurt like hell seeing her with him and the way she had lashed out at him. He had wanted to take her home with him and make love to her. He groaned as he felt the stiffness of his crotch which had been a constant situation for him as soon as he had touched her. “Oh, Latoya baby,” he muttered, plunging his fingers through his hair. “I need you so much.” With a sudden decision, he went swiftly to his office, and grabbing his IPod, he started writing a song dedicated to her.
*******
He pursued her relentlessly. The next day, she was in the middle of diving through some research in the law library when her secretary knocked on the door and brought in a box that came for her. She frowned and pulled it open to discover a box of the most expensive chocolate there was and a note. “I am sorry and I will never be able to tell you how sorry I am. I cannot stop asking you to give me another chance, Latoya, because I am hooked. My number is there so please call me. I am respecting your work space so I am trying not to call you there. I really need your number.
Yours, Mark.”
She was about the throw away the note but kept it instead and as soon as she went back to her office, she read it again. She deliberately spent the time working and was in meetings with Mr. Gaston for half the day so she barely had time to think about him. Carter had gone to court for the day so that was a relief. She did not have time to think about the note until she got to her apartment later that day and then she read it again. With a determined look on her face, she folded it and put it in one of her bedside drawers and went to take a shower. She was not going to fall for his line.
*****
“Welcome, man,�
� Jeremy himself greeted him as soon as he stepped foot in the lofty club. He had been weighing his mind whether or not to accept the invitation to become a member but had decided that it would not hurt.
“Thanks. Are you going to roll out the red carpet for me?” he asked the man sardonically as he looked around the large elegant room. There were members there eating as well as several at the bar drinking and chatting. Outside there was a game of tennis going on and somewhere else he could hear the soothing sounds of Beethoven playing.
“Not just yet,” Jeremy said in amusement, not in the least bit offended. “We have to get to know you first.”
“Fair enough.” He nodded. “I just need to get something to drink for now.”
“A group of us always meets up along with our wives and has some get togethers. You are welcome to join us.”
“I will let you know.” He moved off to the bar and sat by himself ordering a scotch on the rocks. He noticed the discreet glances that were sent his way, but no one came forward to ask him for an autograph. He supposed they were too well bred for that. He swirled the liquor around in his glass broodingly. She had not called him even though he had sent his number for her to do so. She had not responded. He had finished writing the song and was going to call his agent and let her decide who should sing it. He did not care much right now. He just wanted her. He swallowed down the liquid with a grimace. His phone rang and he glanced at it hopefully thinking that it was her, but it was his mother.
“Yes, Mother?”
“Your sister has gone into labor.”
“I will be right there.”
*****
He caused quite a stir the minute he made it to the hospital. He had become very visible even though he was not on stage performing but he had been featured on the various talk shows and the society magazines. He was currently on the covers of ‘Music Celebrities.’ He was still trying to get used to the attention he got wherever he went. He nodded and smiled at the nurses and female doctors who were staring at him and hurried to the room where his mother was waiting.
