“Oh, you poor girl. You’ve had a rough few months.” Celia hugged her.
“My girl is tough, she can hang. Y’all shoulda seen her in the Laundromat, she all but ran Lawrence out of there.” Carla’s voice seemed to fill the room.
“Really?” Penny’s eyebrow arched as she grinned.
Minerva thought that Penny looked very familiar and couldn’t help staring at the beautiful woman. It was only when she smiled that she realized where she knew Penny from. She was the former video girl, Penny Keys. Calvin used to have posters and calendars with Penny Keys’s scantly clad pictures all over the walls in his bedroom. He used to say he was going to marry Penny Keys one day. It was between Penny Keys and another hot video model at that time, Maritza Morales. Minerva used to wish she would grow up and fill out in the way that those women were built. She had developed a cute shape, but it was nothing to rival the tall, shapely video girls.
Penny Hightower still held her breathtaking beauty. The hair that used to be long and chemically processed now flowed down her back in curly sisterlocks. Her soft brown skin now radiated a vibrant expectant mother glow. And even with her very pregnant belly sticking out, she still had an amazing shape. Her copper eyes sparkled with warmth and friendship.
“I would have liked to have seen that one. Between Lawrence and Patrick, I don’t know which Hightower brother is more surly.” Samantha, Joel’s fiancée, shook her head as she laughed.
Samantha had the kind of earthy beauty that radiated from within and spread outward, touching everyone she came in contact with. Her silky chocolate skin was flawless and her jet-black natural hair was in neat twists and hung just past her shoulders. She also had one of those grown-woman figures that Minerva now knew she would never have.
If these were the kind of women that the Hightower men married, then her petite frame probably didn’t stand a chance. These women had boobies for days, hips and long legs. She was a member of the itty-bitty-titty committee. And while she had a nice round behind and hips, it was very much in proportion with her height and size. She didn’t have a booming booty, as she remembered her brother and his friends calling them back in the day. She thought back to Lawrence’s comments in the Laundromat about her not being his type.
“Well, until a certain physical therapist came into Joel’s life, your fiancé might have given Patrick and Lawrence a run for their money in that contest,” Penny said jokingly.
“Oh, the same could be said for Jason until you came along, Penny,” Celia offered with a smile.
“And look at Lawrence now. He can barely keep his eyes off Minerva.” Samantha’s eyes gleamed with mischief.
“That’s because he probably thinks I’m gonna run off.” Minerva laughed lightly.
“Oh, Lawrence is probably my most slow-to-trust child. But once a person earns his trust and love, they’ll have it for life. He’s the most like his father in that regard. So it seems fitting that he would fall for you.”
“He hasn’t fallen for me, Mrs. Hightower. I mean…well…I just think he wants to help to do the right thing that’s all…”
“And he had to take you all the way to the Poconos for that? Girl, they could have put you into any number of safe houses around the city or the county for that. And he brought you to a family gathering? Trust me. Even if my son is too dense to get it yet, he’s into you without a doubt.”
“I think I’d have to agree with you on that one, Mama Celia.” Penny nodded.
“Me, too. He can’t keep his eyes off her and he has that look on his face.” Samantha giggled.
“Yeah, the let-me-make-sure-she-doesn’t-flee look. The let-me-make-sure-she-doesn’t-make-one-false-moveso-I’d-have-to-arrest-her look.” Minerva laughed even though it was the last thing she felt like doing. “I’m sorry to burst your bubbles, but the only look Detective Lawrence Hightower is giving me is the look that a cop gives a suspect. The man thinks I’m the guiltiest woman to walk the planet.”
“When you’re dealing with a Hightower man, especially a Hightower cop, sometimes you are guilty. Guilty of stealing his heart…And he can’t keep his eyes off you because he’s too busy trying to figure out how you did it.” Celia laughed. “One day, I’m gonna have to tell you ladies the story about how I met my James. Let’s just say that Minerva and I may have a lot in common. But tonight is not about me. It’s about the birthday girl.”
Penny patted her pregnant belly. “Uh-uh, you can’t drop that tantalizing bit of information on us and expect us to just let it go. We want the goods.”
“Maybe another time.” Celia glanced around the room. “I sure hope Sophie doesn’t decide to crash the party. It’s been nice and quiet around lately since we banned her from family gatherings.”
“If she knows what I know, she’ll stay away. I still owe her a butt kicking from Penny’s wedding. She would not want to come up in my baby’s birthday party acting like she acts.” Carla’s face took on a scowl.
“Who is this Sophie?” Minerva asked, noticing the sour expressions that came over all the women’s faces as soon as Celia mentioned the woman’s name.
“She’s Celia’s sister-in-law. She’s pretty much a snob who thinks no woman is good enough for the Hightower name. And she will go out of her way to be insulting and try to sabotage your relationship if she thinks you and Lawrence are getting serious. She’ll do it just because she’s pretty much evil. She’s hated me since I was a kid. She tried to get Samantha fired from her job and she has given Mama Celia the blues for years. But you don’t have to worry. You won’t have to deal with her tonight. I think she’d rather die than attend a party thrown in my honor.” Penny rolled her eyes in disgust through most of her rant, but at the end she had a big grin on her face.
Minerva assumed that grin was because Sophie wasn’t coming to the party. She made a mental note to try to stay out of this Sophie woman’s way. It wasn’t as if she’d be around for long anyway, or as if she and Lawrence had a relationship for the woman to sabotage.
“Well, enough of talking about meddlesome killjoys. I’m going to find my husband for a nice dance.” Celia Hightower shimmied her shoulder and did a little spin before walking away.
“Me, too.” Carla took off in search of Gerald.
“I guess I can spare a dance for my fine husband since he pulled off this big surprise without me knowing it.” Penny didn’t seem like she needed a lot of convincing at all.
“Yeah, I have a few Beyoncé moves for my fiancé, with his fine self.” Samantha danced her way after the rest of the women.
Minerva watched the women make their way across the floor to the men and head off to the small dance floor. The room was packed with friends and family and the entire thing felt more than a little overwhelming. The fact that Lawrence had this much family to call his own added one more thing to the growing list of reasons why he was out of her league. She had no family left. And the one person she had thought was close was the person Lawrence believed to be her brother’s murderer.
“Would you like to dance?”
She looked up to find an extremely handsome guy standing beside her. He had a caramel complexion and the most vibrant hazel eyes she’d ever seen. She had a feeling she had better tell this wavy-haired brother no. But everyone else was on the dance floor having a great time. Lawrence probably wasn’t going to ask her to dance. And she liked dancing. So she followed him out onto the dance floor.
Playing was a fast R & B track by one of those teenybopper boy singers, who did more sliding around and grinding sans shirt than actually singing. It was fun to just sway with the rhythm and pretend she didn’t have a care in the world.
“So what’s your name? And how do you know my best friend, Penny?”
“My name is Minerva. And I actually just met Penny. I’m here with Lawrence, her brother-in-law. Do you know him?”
“Sure do. I pretty much grew up in that house. My other best friend is his brother, Penny’s husband, Jason. Penny, Jason and I have been
friends ever since we were kids. They used to call us the Three Musketeers.” He smiled at the memory.
“Really? That’s cool you all managed to remain friends all this time. What’s your name, by the way?”
“My name is Terrell. So you’re here with Lawrence, huh? I’d better cut this dance short. I don’t want him to come over here and put me in my place or anything like that.”
“Please, it’s not like that.” She giggled even though her heart wanted it to be exactly like that.
“If you say so. But it looks like he’s found a dance partner. Hmm…Interesting choice.” There was a slight bristle in Terrell’s voice that hadn’t been there before.
She turned and saw that Lawrence was on the dance floor with a drop-dead-gorgeous woman. A tall, shapely woman with beautiful glossy black curls cascading down her back. She looked like she was either biracial or maybe Latina. She moved to the music like a woman who knew exactly what to do with her body.
Minerva plastered a smile on her face and turned back to Terrell. “See, I told you that you had nothing to worry about. Lawrence seems too busy to be concerned about what we’re doing.” The jerk!
She chanced another glance at the woman. She looked familiar. When Minerva looked at her face, she realized where she had seen her before. She was Maritza Morales, the other video model whose picture had graced Calvin’s walls.
“That’s Maritza Morales, the former video girl, right?”
“Yep. She’s a business partner of Penny’s. They own an image-consulting firm. I’m a silent partner in their business.”
“Really? That seems cool.”
“I’m also a record company executive.”
“Wow! That must really be exciting.” She tried to keep her eyes on Terrell and away from Lawrence and the beautiful Maritza. And she was doing a great job of it until the music slowed down and Lawrence and Maritza ended up right next to them on the dance floor.
Just as Terrell started to pull her closer, Lawrence reached for her. “You don’t mind if we switch partners, do you, Terrell? I want to dance with my baby now.”
“I don’t want to dance with him!” Maritza screeched.
“Shut up, Maritza.” Terrell pulled Maritza into his arms and danced her away.
Lawrence wrapped her in his arms and held her close as they swayed to Luther Vandross’s “If Only for One Night.” She tried to block out how apt the song seemed to be and how it foreshadowed the absolute and inevitable end of whatever it was they were doing.
“Your baby?” She slanted her eye and twisted her lip as she glanced up at him.
“That’s right, Minerva. Mine. Terrell is lucky he’s a family friend and my sister-in-law and mother would have my head if I hurt him.”
“You’re crazy…Absolutely nuts…” She couldn’t help but giggle as she let herself relax in his arms. She wished they had more than one night, more than a few breathtaking days of bliss in the Poconos, more than a brief affair that she would never forget. But she was determined to eke out the most of what she could from her time with him. Once she was at the safe house, she probably wouldn’t see him much at all.
“I’m crazy about you, baby. And don’t you forget it.” He brushed his lips across her forehead and she shivered.
“I’m gonna miss you.”
“Miss me? I’m not going anywhere. And neither are you.” He slanted his eyes. “Don’t play me, Minerva. No more trying to run away. Or, I promise you, I will lock you up and throw away the key.”
“I’m not going to run away. I’m talking about once this is all over, once you catch the criminals—”
“I’m still not going anywhere. And neither are you.”
“I have a life in California…” Technically, she didn’t anymore.
He frowned. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. You ready to go? I’m thinking we both need to get a good night’s rest. Things might get hectic pretty fast, and I want to be sharp. I said I wouldn’t let anything happen to you and I meant it.”
“We can go if you’d like. I think your family is really nice. I’d be cool with staying a little longer. At least until Penny cuts her cake…She was really surprised when she walked in with Carla. I can’t believe Penny Keys and Maritza Morales are here. My brother would have loved this party.”
“Yeah, well, Penny Keys is Penny Hightower now and your brother would have had to love her from afar. And even though Terrell and Maritza are fighting it, they are as good as a couple.”
“Is that why he seemed to stiffen up when you stepped on the dance floor with her?”
Lawrence laughed. “Yep. He had my baby on the dance floor, so I had to get his attention. And don’t act like he was the only one shooting daggers. I saw your face when you looked at us. You need to go ahead and admit it. You were heated. Weren’t you?”
“Well, she was more your type, wasn’t she? Taller, shapelier, crime-free…” She tossed his words back lightly, even though remembering them made her heart feel heavy.
He stared at her for several seconds before speaking. “Guess I didn’t really know what my type was until a certain little two-toned hair, mouthy, smart-aleck, incredibly sexy woman came my way.”
Her heart thudded loudly in her chest. She had to get off the dance floor before she started believing in and wishing for forever in his arms. Luckily, they were about to cut the cake.
“Penny’s cutting her birthday cake now. Let’s go get a piece.”
“Yeah, let’s do that.” He kept his arms around her as they walked off the dance floor.
She never wanted him to let her go.
The rest of the evening went by in a blur. His family was so nice and they all embraced her with open arms. Their closeness highlighted to her all the more why she and Lawrence couldn’t really be together. Even when she wasn’t playing little miss ghetto girl with the two-toned hair, even when she was her regular, recent college graduate, striving self, the Hightower family was still way out of her league.
And as she entered Lawrence’s spectacular home, she really felt out of place. He had the second-floor apartment in his refurbished two-family colonial home and rented out the first floor. The hardwood floors gleamed in the stunning home and the built-in amenities took her breath away. Like the family vacation home in the Poconos, Lawrence’s place was decorated in warm and inviting earth tones.
The furniture was sleek, top of the line, and screamed bachelor pad. The dark-chocolate leather sofas had an ergonomic design to them as did the wood and glass tables that were stained to match the rich tones of the sofas.
“I love your place.” She hoped her eyes weren’t bugging out of her head as she took in the decorations and artwork in his home. “You collect black art.” It was more of a statement than a question.
“Yes. I’ve been collecting for a while. A lot of the pieces at the vacation home are mine also. I don’t have enough wall space here for my love of art.”
“You have some lovely pieces.” She noted he had many signed limited-edition prints and even some originals. His collection put the framed reprints from the little spot in the mall that hung on her Los Angeles apartment wall to shame. Yet another reason why they wouldn’t work…While she fully intended to own this kind of original art when she finished her MSW and got on with her career, it was clear that because of their age difference and class difference, he was already where she had yet to be.
He pulled her into his arms as they walked down the hallway to his bedroom and planted a kiss on her. Her lips tingled and came to life.
She didn’t know how he did it, how he sparked something deep and passionate inside her with just a touch. And at that moment she didn’t want to question it. She just wanted to bask in it, glow with it, let it flow and bathe in it.
She moaned and he lifted her up, carrying her the rest of the way and laying her gently on the bed. He made quick work of their clothing and protected them before entering her in one smooth, devastating stroke.
�
�Ahhhhhhh….” Her back arched and her head tilted back in reaction to the fullness she felt. Her heart stalled, stuttered and then pumped fiercely.
His mouth covered hers and he stole the breath she had been struggling so hard to hold on to. His tongue mimicked the sure and steady piston of his hips. And she lifted her hips to meet him thrust for thrust.
She wanted so badly to tell him she loved him. The words sat on the tip of her tongue almost refusing to be confined, daring her to defy their power, their inevitability. Even without saying the words, her heart knew what it felt and there was no going back.
He trailed kisses down her neck and took her nipples in his mouth one after the other after the other, making her body sing with each suckle, with each thrust.
“I want you to stay with me.”
She opened her eyes and gazed at him. Did he just ask her to stay?
“I want you to stay with me, baby. Please.”
His lips swooped down again, claiming her mouth.
How could she deny him anything when he kissed her like that? But she had to. Didn’t she? She couldn’t stay with him. That was crazy.
“Tell me you’ll stay with me. Tell me, Minerva. Baby, please.”
His hips seemed to take on a life of their own, indeed a mind of their own. They swiveled and swirled and pulled him out until only the tip was left before diving back in over and over again. Each move called her scream closer. It built up slowly in the pit of her stomach and then exploded into a high-pitched shriek.
He grinned and his expression seemed to say I’ve got you now!
“Stay.” Withdraw.
“With.” Thrust.
“Me.” Withdraw.
“Please.” Thrust.
He emphasized his words and with the movements of his hips.
Good. Lord.
The man was clearly bent on getting her compliance or driving her out of her mind with lust. She thought it must have been the latter because she was close to proclaiming her undying love for him and telling him that she would stay with him forever. And she could not proclaim her love. She just couldn’t. No matter how much her heart felt like it was going to burst. No matter how many tears of joy threatened to spill. Her feelings had to remain her little secret.
The Law of Desire Page 15
