by Zuri Day
He called his friend Curtis and told him about the party.
“Heck, yes. You know I’m down. What time?” Alex told him. “Give me the details and I’ll be there. How does Marlon feel about . . . you know . . . us and the ladies? Does he roll like Troy with a no-fraternizing rule? Or can we indulge in the leftovers?”
“Marlon’s cool about it, man. Don’t worry. There will be enough women to go around.”
Curtis laughed, a knowing chuckle. “Yeah, sounds like you already know something about it.”
“No, man. My woman’s in Detroit.”
“That’s cool. These women in Cali don’t have to know.” He laughed again. “Wait until that party on Saturday night. When one of those exotic dancing cutie pies asks to be your Valentine, shoots you with that Cupid arrow. We’ll see if baby girl in the Dirty D will keep you from tasting one of those chocolate candies.”
They talked a bit more before Alex ended the call to call Joey. With both men on board for the night’s festivities, Alex leaned against the railing and looked out on the glorious view. He really loved California, had even entertained a recent offer from Troy to work again at Morgan Security and be based in LA. He only wished that he could talk Carol into moving here with him. Because as much as he was looking forward to eating good food, drinking pricey bubbly, and rubbing shoulders with A-list celebrities, the thought of doing it without her here wasn’t as exciting . . . especially this coming Saturday night.
“Come on, Carol. You should come up for the weekend.” Carol sat in a restaurant as she listened to Gabriella, delaying the inevitable trip to her empty home. “You already said that Alex wanted you here. Y’all could hang out Saturday night and then join us on Sunday.”
“I already told you, Gab. I’ve got an event.”
“Girl, please. I’m not trying to devalue your position at the center, but are you saying you can’t find someone, anybody, to handle your duties that night?” Silence. “What exactly will you be doing there?”
“Now you’re sounding like a mama.” Delivered sternly, but Carol smiled. “You’ll be running someone else’s life soon enough. So leave mine alone.”
“I will not. As your best friend, meddling in as many of your affairs as possible is my business. Just like you did mine, thank you very much.”
“Since you’re happily married with a child on the way, I’m sure you’re not complaining.”
“Don’t worry. There’s plenty of time to blame you for my getting fat.”
“You better blame that brother who put the bun in the oven.”
“Point well taken.” A short, companionable silence, and then, “Come up, Carol. Please, I need you. I’ll take care of everything, even a romantic getaway for you and Alex on Saturday night.”
“Marlon’s having a party on Saturday. Alex is working it.”
“I’ll take care of that, too. So you’ll come?”
Carol hesitated for half a second. “Yes.”
Alex’s phone rang, surprising him since it was only seven o’clock on a Saturday morning. He hadn’t gotten Marlon back to the mansion until four a.m. and finally crawled into bed at five. He gave serious yet short consideration to totally ignoring whoever was calling. Given his work, however, that was impossible. So he snatched the phone off the nightstand and growled a greeting.
“What.”
“Man, what’s wrong with you? You’re acting like your boss never lets you sleep.”
“Marlon?”
“Yeah, man.”
“You’re still up?”
“Barely. I’m gonna lay it down right after this call. But I wanted to let you know that you’ve got the night off.”
Alex sat up and looked around, to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. “What? Why?”
“You’re working hard. I’m feeling generous. Plus, it’s one of the last times you’ll have off for the next six weeks. I’ve got a date here and there and promotions throughout. Just today and tomorrow, though, man. You’re back on the clock Monday morning, son.”
“Wow. Thanks, man.”
“Cool.”
Marlon hung up. Alex looked at his phone, still reeling from this unexpected freedom. He wasn’t so out of it to not know how he was going to spend the evening. Smiling, he dialed an airline and booked the next available flight to Detroit. Suddenly all thoughts of sleep were gone. He started to call Carol but just as quickly changed his mind. Thinking of the look on her face when he walked into the community center, he jumped up, threw some clothes into a suitcase, and headed to the airport.
Several hours later, Alex landed in Detroit. Shortly after takeoff he’d abandoned the idea of surprising Carol at the center. He wanted to see his baby the moment he hit Michigan soil.
“Hey, sexy.” He motioned to the driver holding a card with his name on it and passed over his luggage as they walked toward the door. The air was crisp, and he zipped up his jacket as well. “What are you doing?”
Muffled sounds were heard before Carol answered, “Uh, I’m kind of busy right now. Can I call you back?”
“I just need to know if you’re home. I’m on my way over.”
One second passed.
Two.
Five.
“Over where?”
Laughter erupted, dancing on the light snowflakes beginning to fall. “Over to your house, baby. Marlon gave me the night off. I’m in the D.”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
“No,” Alex responded, a crease marring his handsome brow. “Why do you sound so put off by my being here?”
“Because, Mr. Worthington . . . I’m in LA.”
Chapter 20
She watched him. Sauntering toward her, deliberately, purposefully, with an unreadable smile on his face. She sat in a ridiculously priced hotel, in an obnoxiously opulent penthouse suite upon which Gabriella had insisted. Everything had been taken care of. “For once,” Gabriella chided as she watched the hair and makeup artist and stylist fuss over Carol’s look. “You’re not to lift a finger to do anything but please your man.”
Good advice since right now she couldn’t move. Alex had never looked better. She felt if she tried to walk and greet him she’d fall from her six-inch stilettos onto her face.
“You look incredible.” He bent over, pulled her from the chair and into his arms.
She could feel his heart beating—fast and steady—against her breasts. She basked in the feel of his strong arms around her, inhaled his manly, woodsy scent, and rubbed her temple against his five o’clock shadow. They kissed, long and lazily, before sitting down at a beautifully set table near a window overlooking a view of the sea.
He reached for a silver pitcher and poured a glass of water, then sat back and gazed at Carol. “I still can’t believe we did that.”
“I feel so bad. You’ve been in the air for what, almost twelve hours?”
“Baby, you look so good right now that I would have walked for twelve days just to breathe in your air.”
“Oh, Lord! Keep talking. Because even if you’re lying, that wish sounds good!”
They’d already talked about what happened. After getting over the disbelief that each had traveled to the other, Alex had told Carol to stay put and he’d fly back west. Carol had promptly called Gabriella, who’d set her assistant in motion. Within the hour a charter plane complete with satellite phone was being gassed up near a private air strip. They’d talked almost the entire way, except for when Alex interrupted to return an urgent message from his brother. That’s when Carol had been whisked away, pampered from the rooter to the tooter, and dropped on the starred hotel’s doorstep like Cinderella at the ball.
Carol waited until the personal chef who’d been hired for the evening had returned to the kitchen and left them alone. “Is everything all right at home?”
“You’re talking about Neil’s call?” Carol nodded. “Everything’s fine. He was calling with news about the case in Detroit.”
“What happened?” she as
ked, her entire body engaged in the question.
“A man has been charged in the club shootings.”
“The one you ID’d?”
Alex nodded. “They received an anonymous tip that named him and another guy who happens to be his cousin. There’s evidence pointing to the fact that the bullet I took may not have come from his gun. But like so many of the young bloods these days, he won’t talk. So he’s going down for that as much as if he pulled the trigger.”
“Will you have to testify?”
“No, I’ll give a statement and my brother’s contact said that should suffice.”
“I’m sorry that guys so young are going behind bars for something so mindless and unnecessary, but relieved that you can now put this behind you.”
“Starting now.” He reached for her hand. “This night is too beautiful to spend it talking about anything but each other.”
“Are you sure talking is all you have in mind?”
“Come on, now, baby girl. You know better than that. We’re going to assuage our appetites with this five-course meal printed on this menu and then . . . uh . . . dismiss the chef and take our dessert into the bedroom.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
That’s exactly what they did. After stuffing themselves with some of the most delicious cuisine that either had eaten, they allowed the staff to quickly clean the kitchen before sending them all away to have the suite to themselves. Soft music had been playing all night and once alone, Alex turned up the volume.
“Excuse me, pretty lady, but may I have this dance?”
Carol didn’t have to work hard to play shy. Her answer came out in a whisper. “Okay.”
The music played. Their bodies swayed. Soon tiny pecks gave way to hot, strong kisses and hands roamed over butts and backs. He grew hard. She became wet. It was obviously time to take this private party to a whole new level.
Carol placed her lips near Alex’s ear. “Are you ready to stretch out? I love the dancing, but my feet are beginning to protest.”
“Sure, let’s head to the bedroom. How about I get us one more glass of champagne. I’d like to propose a toast.”
“Sounds good, babe.”
Carol was glad for the brief time alone. It gave her time to shimmy out of the Mychael Knight red mini she wore and into the silky see-through white teddy decorated with strategically placed red hearts. She dabbed on a couple drops of perfume, replaced her stilettos with crystal-covered booties, and perched herself at the foot of the tall, four-poster bed.
Alex walked in. “Damn, girl. You almost made me drop these glasses.”
“They’re called flutes.”
“They’re getting ready to be called broken!” He quickly covered the distance between them. “Let’s toast to the best Valentine’s Day I’ve ever had.”
“Ever?” Carol asked, taking the flute from his outstretched hand.
“Ever. What about you?”
“Seriously? At this moment I can’t even remember any other Valentine’s Day.”
“That’s what I’m talking about.”
He leaned in for a kiss. They clinked their glasses and took a sip of a limited edition vintage champagne called Diamond.
That’s when she saw it. Something big and shiny, wrapped around the stem of her glass.
“What’s this?” She held up the flute and squinted. The dimmer was at its lowest light so she couldn’t tell whether the crystal was in the glass or around it. “Babe, did these glasses come with the champagne?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Because I see something shiny, almost like a real diamond. It’s probably cubic zirconium, but that’s a cute idea to go with a champagne named that.” She finished the drink, carelessly set the glass on the nightstand and then plopped into bed.
Alex stood speechless, his own drink forgotten. In a rare moment, he had no idea what the heck to do. Walking over to the nightstand, he picked up the empty glass, held his hand over the bed, and let the glass go.
“Babe! What are you doing?”
He got on his knees, held the flute at an angle that allowed the diamond ring to fall out of the glass. “I’m trying to get you to move to California, by becoming my wife.”
A month later, Carol left the community center and headed home. So much had happened. Alex had proposed. She’d said yes. A whirlwind had ensued: putting her home on the market, finding a home in LA, training Lynnette Rogers—the bright, motivated college grad who’d been hired as an assistant director—to take her place, and working on a proposal to remain connected to the center as director of fund-raising. She was trying to finish all this before Alex returned to the States from Japan, and the last leg of Marlon’s tour.
Oh, and then there was the small matter of planning a wedding. They’d decided on a small one, just close friends and family, but it still carried the pressure of being her special day. She felt stressed, excited, happy, sad, confused, and elated all at the same time. Her sleeping patterns had become erratic, and lately she’d had no appetite.
Which is why even though what she was about to do was stupid, she was going to do it anyway. But the first thing she had to do was pee!
Carol reached her home and parked in the driveway. She left a box of folders and other items from the office in her car, grabbing only her purse. Bypassing the living room, she ran straight down the hallway and into the bathroom. Two minutes later, she didn’t have the strength to walk back out.
Several more minutes passed before she reached for the phone and called Alex. Her best friend had talked about an age-old pinkie promise of raising children together. It looked like both Gabriella and Alex’s mamas were about to get their wish.
Christmas Surprise
Cheris Hodges
Chapter 1
The Christmas lights twinkled like stars against black velvet skies. Lola Yvonne Joseph used to love Christmas. Emphasis on used to. These days Christmas was merely a marketing tool for her husband, Jonathan Michael Joseph. He had turned his software company into the second largest electronic gaming company in the world. Was Lola proud of her husband? Of course. His dreams were coming true, but he’d seemingly forgotten about his wife. And she was tired of it. Not just tired of it, but sick and tired of spending Christmases in rooms full of strangers dressed in formal wear, eating bacon-wrapped shrimp, then playing video games while Jon smooth talked investors and buyers for money and shelf space. And what did Lola do? Listen to cackling wives complain about tipping hairdressers and nannies. Dull. Boring. Annoying.
Not this Christmas. She wasn’t going to do the week-early exchange of gifts. Nope. Well, kind of—she had a gift for Jon. Divorce papers.
Her best friend, Tashmir Jones, thought Lola was certifiable when she told her the plan.
“Lo,” she’d said, as they sipped peppermint lattes at The Heartbeat Café that Tashmir owned. “You’re going to serve him divorce papers for Christmas. And your reason is he works too much?”
“Yes,” Lola had replied, brushing an auburn curl from her smooth brown face.
Tashmir shook her head. “So, let me get this straight, the man is not cheating on you, beating on you, or disrespecting you. . . .”
“Neglect is the first cousin to disrespect. I love Jon. Love him so much, but my husband thinks I’m a steel column, that I’m just going to always be there. Everybody has a breaking point and I’ve reached mine.”
“But why divorce? That’s forever, Lo. You and Jon are everything to each other.”
Lola had rolled her golden brown eyes and groaned. “JMJ Sports is everything to Jon. I’m arm candy.”
It had been Tashmir’s turn to roll her eyes. “Now you’re just being stupid. You’re not that hot, Lola,” she quipped.
“Still hotter than you, heffa!” She’d stood up and shook her hips. “And I know you aren’t talking about me ending my marriage when you dumped a guy over a bottle of water.”
“Yes, a college boyfriend. Someone who I had not exchanged ma
rriage vows with or stood before God and promised to love and cherish forever and ever, amen. Besides, throwing a marriage away over your husband’s work schedule is stupid!”
“It’s more than that. Are you going to Aspen with me or not?” Lola had downed her drink and focused her determined stare on her friend.
“Sure, maybe I can talk some sense into your crazy ass. Are we taking Jon’s jet? You got me spoiled, I don’t do commercial flights anymore.”
“Why would I take his jet? I don’t want him to know where to find me. He can spend Christmas much like I do. Alone.”
Tashmir simply shook her head and agreed to the trip. Part of her had wanted to call Jon and tell him what Lola had planned. But girl code forbid those things. “Well, I hope you plan on making him pay for the spa and the hotel.”
“Maybe. I have to go and tell the staff when to take the decorations down.”
“Lo, you’re making a huge mistake. I just want to go on record and say that.”
“Your objection is noted, but I don’t care. I’m tired of Jon ignoring me and I’d rather be alone than forgotten.”
The blaring horn behind her brought Lola back to reality. Miami was no place to spend Christmas. There was no snow, just alcohol and women wearing furs when it was still over eighty degrees some days. She had to meet with her lawyer and sign the papers. Today was the day. Her marriage to Jon was going to end. A single tear slid down her cheek. She may have been sad and twisted about her decision, but there was no other way.
Chapter 2
Three days before Christmas Eve
Jon yawned as he reviewed his latest sales figures for the new game, College Football Extravaganza. He’d been excited to bring the game to the market to rival EA Sports’s stronghold on the gaming market. He made a big bite into the market and he couldn’t have been happier. The stockholders would get a great Christmas gift this year. Picking up the phone, he dialed his assistant, Lydia Jameson.
