CHAPTER TWELVE
Destiny
The Morning After
The next morning, I awoke to the bright sun peeking through my curtains. The sunlight reminded me of the throbbing head pain that had waxed and waned since my head injury. Accompanying that pain was the delightful throb between my thighs that resulted from wine, passion and sweet memories with Montie. I sighed as I remembered the many ways in which Montie ravished my body. Lying beside me, he wore a gratifying smile as he slept.
I had mixed feelings as I watched his tall, muscular body sprawl across my bed. Part of me wanted to wake him with a kiss and relive every pleasing moment of the night before. The other part of me wanted to send him on his way. I slowly inched my naked body away from his to put some space between us.
“Don’t get up yet,” Montie said, while snaking his arm around my waist and pulling me snug to his warm body.
Lord, did he feel good…and smell good. Whew! I had to get away. “Montie, I’m about to get up, take a shower and get my day started.”
“I don’t want you to get up. I want you to lay here forever,” he said. When I turned to face him, the smile on his face was so radiant that I almost resisted pulling away.
“Montie, I want to have breakfast ready when the kids wake up,” I said staring into his eyes.
“If you stay in bed for another hour, I will make the best breakfast,” Montie offered. He traced circles on my arms as he stared back at me.
“That’s nice of you to offer, but I also have a client that is waiting on a response that I should have sent last night. I was going to answer that email and then get started on breakfast,” I told him.
He released the grip he had on me. “Well, since you have so many excuses to get out of bed, go ahead.”
Montie watched as I left the bed. I picked up my gown from the floor and slipped it on. I went to the closet and got a housecoat to put on, as well. He blew me a kiss as I walked out of the room. I smiled.
I stopped by each of the kids’ rooms to check on them before heading into the kitchen. Glad my munchkins hadn’t awakened to find their father in my bed, I poured myself a large glass of orange juice and gulped it down fast. I shook my head, knowing my thirst was a result of the way I openly and freely gave myself to Montie.
I picked up the house phone and dialed Tasha’s number.
“Hey,” I said just above a whisper when she answered.
“Hey,” she whispered back. “Why are we whispering?”
“Because Montie is in my bed and I don’t want him to hear me talking.”
“Hush yo’ mouth! Who, what, when, where, how and why is Montie in your bed? Tell me everything! Don’t leave out a single detail,” she hollered through an excitedly shaky voice.
I sat my glass down and sighed. “Calm your ass down, Tasha.”
“Calm down?” She laughed. “Girl, you almost made me trip over my own feet with that news.”
I sighed. “I know, I know. It’s crazy!”
“You’re stalling. How did Montie end up in your bed, Destiny?”
“Well, you know he’s been here since I got home from the hospital. He’s been taking care of me and the kids. He’s been right by my side, caring and giving so much of himself…more than ever before. I have appreciated his help, because I needed it and…”
“That’s what thank you cards are for,” Tasha interjected.
“I know. I feel awful,” I said, which was a half-truth. “Well good-awful.”
“Ain’t no need in feeling awful, but I can’t believe you doubled back to Montie after I threw you a bomb ass divorce party and everything. I feel cheated.” I couldn’t see her, but I knew Tasha was shaking her head. She was probably rolling her eyes too.
“Don’t you think I thought about that?” I folded my free arm across my chest protectively.
“You didn’t think about it too long,” she said sarcastically.
“Montie and I have been strictly platonic, until last night after dinner.”
“Let me know what was so special about this dinner, so I can avoid it with all of my exes…at all costs,” she said on a laugh.
“I had a glass of wine. He massaged my feet. I took a pain pill and a long shower, and the next thing I knew my nails were digging into his back and I was rocking to the rhythm of his wonderful beat.” I licked my lips thinking about how awkwardly sensational it felt to be intimate with Montie again.
“It all sounds intriguing, but I think the foot massage is where things took a left,” Tasha said.
“He came into my room when I was getting dressed and looked at me. I looked back at him and saw something extra. One minute we were getting the kids ready for bed like two people doing a great job co-parenting, and the next minute we were in bed making the sweetest memories… together.”
“Uh huh.”
“I don’t know. It just kind of happened.”
“It just kind of happened? That’s what you’re gonna say about it?” Tasha asked.
“Well… it did,” I said innocently. As wild as my emotions had been over the past week, sleeping with Montie was the last thing on my mind. I wasn’t about to take any responsibility for my actions.
“‘I dunno what happened. I was just standing there, fell on the bed and he slipped inside’,” she said mimicking me.
“I didn’t say that. It’s not that I didn’t know what I was doing. I was fully aware that I was being sexed by Montie. I just don’t know if it happened because I felt alone after Jacob left the way he did, or if I have deeper feelings for Montie.”
“Destiny,” she said making a popping sound with her mouth, “this is the type of stuff that makes men kill. Leave it to you to get yourself into some shit like this.”
“Well, I should be picking wedding colors and silverware right now, but my groom is missing in action. It’s not my fault that Montie is here doing the absolute most.”
“I was wondering where Jacob was when all this bumping and grinding was going on,” Tasha said. “He still hasn’t made it back? Where is he?”
“That’s the billion-dollar question,” I said feeling a growing tightness in my throat.
“So you still haven’t heard from him?”
“No. He hasn’t called this week, last week, or when I was in the hospital. He has been a ghost…nothing. Not even a postcard.”
“Dang! I was pulling for Jacob, but after what happened with Justine I can’t deal with him and his mess.”
“It’s crazy, but a part of me loves that man from the top of his brown-haired head to the soles of his designer-shoe covered feet. Then, there’s the greater part of me that wants to throw his ring at him, slap his face and erase him from my memory.”
“I can understand the second half, at least,” Tasha said, popping her gum. “But you have bigger fish to fry right now. What are you going to do about Montie? You know, now that he’s been with you again, he’s not leaving you alone. You are going to catch hell trying to get rid of him.”
I laughed at the obvious truth. “I’m going to have to figure out a way to get everything back neutral with Montie.”
“Yeah right, if that’s possible then it’s snowing in Miami. Trust me, the man is not going to turn back after this. He’s wanted you back since the ink dried on the divorce papers and now this. He’s not going to rest until he has pounded Jacob out of your system, if you know what I mean.”
“First of all, there will be no repeats of last night. Secondly, he showed no interest in me until I met Jacob. Then all of a sudden, he wanted to be ex-husband of the year. I have to take all of that into account.”
“That’s because you were busy devoting your life to work and the kids, and he was busy getting his software company going. He didn’t know there was a looming threat like Jacob. He thought you would always be there,” she said thoughtfully.
“I’ll tell you what. Neither of them should take me for granted and think that I’ll be here. I’ve cut men off before and I will
do it again,” I paused while washing my glass in the sink. “I have a lot to figure out Tasha. Thanks for listening to my drama.”
“Girl, you have more drama than my soap operas. I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes. Or maybe I wouldn’t mind your shoes at all. A fine, rich white man giving me the vanilla love and a sexy, motivated black man giving me the chocolate business might not be such a bad thing at all,” she said on a laugh. “We do kind of look alike. Would you like for me to tag in as your double?”
“Girl bye,” I said, laughing at Tasha. “You are too much!”
“I’m just telling the truth,” she said before blowing me a kiss. “Don’t forget I’m coming to Atlanta next week. I will call and let you know when my flight arrives.”
“I haven’t forgot. Can’t wait!” I hung up the phone. I went to the fridge to pull out food for breakfast. I placed a package of bacon on the counter and pulled out a pan.
“So you’re planning to cut me off again?” Montie said walking fully into the kitchen. He came to stand beside me with a look of concern.
“You overhead my conversation?” I said without turning around.
“Yeah.”
He ran a finger across the side of my face, pushing any loose strands of hair behind my ear. He then inched his arms around my waist, while turning me to face him. “And I think you are wrong. Last night was not just some fluke. We are meant to be,” he added.
“I think it would be best for everyone involved, if we…” He tugged me closer.
“What about what I think?” he said, squeezing my back gently. “What if I want what happened last night to happen every night for the rest of my life?”
“Montie… It can’t…” I said when he leaned down and began scattering kisses over my neck. I grudgingly pulled away. “We can’t keep doing this to ourselves. We are divorced, and there are reasons for that.”
“Okay, let’s talk about the reasons.” He relinquished his grip on me and leaned up against the kitchen counter. “Did I ever cheat on you?”
“No,” I said, turning around to face his intense stare.
“Did I ever hit you?”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Have you ever needed something that I didn’t work my ass off to give you?”
“No, that has never happened,” I said becoming increasingly annoyed by his questions.
“Did I ever do anything that would lead to another woman standing over you with a pistol?”
“NO!” I said, furious that I allowed such turmoil into my life, including making love to Montie. “None of that matters! You had your pitfalls. You forgot about me. You didn’t cheat on me with a woman, but you married your business and you divorced me without putting up a fight. You forgot you had a family. You didn’t see Montana’s first steps and you were too busy to watch the video. You didn’t want to go to any of Junior’s T-ball games. You were too busy. You were always too busy, until you realized there was a man that would make time.”
“I had tunnel vision, so what? I still wanted the best for us. I didn’t know how to make you understand that then and I still don’t.” He looked defeated as he added, “You go out here and find a silver-spoon fed man who was been spoon fed money since he was old enough to eat solid food, and you talk about how much time he spends with you. I had to work long and hard hours for every penny I have.
I came from nothing, so I had to hustle for every dime. Those dimes got turned into dollars and dollars into hundreds of thousands. Sorry if I wasn’t home at night or cheering Montana’s first steps on, but,” he took a look around at the house, “I wanted to be able to build this house from the ground up. I wanted to be able to give you a car that wouldn’t clunk out on you at every stoplight. I wanted you to be able to look at me as a man and not as some charity case.”
“Montie, I never looked at you as a charity case. I loved your ambition, but money isn’t everything to me and you know that. I will live in a dirt hut as long as there is love and interaction there.”
“That’s easy to say when you’ve never been so broke that you couldn’t eat for days,” Montie said, remembering tougher times for him and his eight siblings. “You can say that, because you never had to look into the downtrodden eyes of the very people who are supposed to provide for you and know that they can’t work any harder than they’re working, and it’s still not enough.”
“Montie, I understand your story better than anyone else and you know that. It is part of what made me fall in love with you.” I gazed into his brown eyes. “It’s just that I can’t lead you on. I’m in love with Jacob.”
“Wow, after all that has been said and done that cuts deep,” Montie said on a deep sigh.
“The last thing I want to do is cut you, but we have to turn back the hands of time to before last night and forget it ever happened,” I said, as I stepped away from him.
“Is that really what you want?”
“Yes, I do, at least until I can figure things out.”
“I guess I can live with that. Until you can figure things out means there’s a chance you will realize I’m the man for you.”
I looked at Montie and gave him a reassuring nod. By God, I would have to be a blind woman not to see that he was slowly and meticulously breaking down the wall I’d built for him. I was starting to recognize the man I used to love again, and he had that same sexy look he had when we were dating. I had to look away before I got caught up all over again.
“Let’s make the kids some breakfast. They’ll be up soon,” I said, turning to pick up the pan I had pulled down before he came in.
“Sure,” he said, walking to the sink to wash his hands. “I’ll let it go for now, but this conversation is not over.”
“Deal,” I said as we began to prepare a breakfast with chocolate chip waffles, bacon, and hot grits. It felt like the good old times as we moved about the kitchen. I couldn’t help but wonder if that wouldn’t be so bad after all.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Destiny
I Am Not Yours
Another week passed and still not a word from Jacob. Montie didn’t go home at night, as we had planned. He stayed at my house, on guard, in case Justine had an inkling to finish what she started. I’d been informed by the courts that her parents were allowed to post bail a few days after she was released from the hospital. She apparently had pulled her crazy card and the courts fell for it.
Montie and I agreed that he would sleep on the sofa and that he would not come into my room…ever. Not only was I was on high alert and cautious about Justine striking again, I also had to be on high alert when dealing with Montie. I had to be careful not to put myself in an intimate position with him, because he had no problem seizing the opportunity to get inside my bed and in my heart. I didn’t drink anymore wine while taking my pain medicine, and my bedroom door was always locked when I was showering or getting ready for bed.
It was Wednesday evening. The kids had been busy doing inside activities like board games, coloring and watching TV most of the day. Montie had taken them outside to play for a few hours and they were worn out when they came into the house just before six o’clock p.m.
“I wanna watch Do You Wanna Build a Snowman,” Montana said in a sing-song voice.
“Are you talking about Frozen, honey?” Montie asked, trying to figure out which movie our daughter was talking about as she danced about the room singing.
“Yeah, she means Frozen,” Junior said as he ran over to the DVD holder, took out the movie and handed it to his father. Montie took the movie from Junior and put it into the DVD player. “Can we have some popcorn too?” Junior asked.
“Sure,” Montie said, looking at me and shaking his head.
“I’ll get it,” I said, as the kids settled in front of the television and instantly became engrossed in the movie.
“Thanks Destiny,” Montie said when I came back with the popcorn. He had taken a seat at my computer desk and was doing some work for his business, which was
the first time I’d seen him open his laptop all week. I was impressed.
“No problem. I made you a bowl too,” I said as I placed a medium-sized bowl of popcorn on the desk beside his papers.
“Thanks. Are you ready for the court hearing tomorrow?” Montie asked, referring to Justine’s hearing. She’d already been a free woman for weeks, but her family was pushing for all the charges to be dropped on the account that she was mentally incompetent.
“As ready as I will ever be,” I said, getting settled on the sofa. I picked up my Kindle reader off the coffee table. Reading was the only thing that would keep my mind off the impending court date and seeing Jacob and Justine. That was if Jacob even showed up.
I pulled up the latest issue of Essence magazine, which had an interesting article about the marketing business. I was anxious to read about new tactics to employ in my business, since I didn’t have as many clients as I would have liked over the past year. Thinking about ways to increase my business was another way to keep my mind free of my personal problems.
We were all engrossed in our favorite activities when the doorbell rang. Montana jumped to her feet and started to race toward the door.
“Gammy!” she exclaimed, anticipating that the visitor was Mama. Mama had been gone for a few days, so I guessed Montana missed her.
“Come back here and sit down, Montana!” Montie said as I went to answer the door. “You don’t run to the door ever. Do you hear me, sweetheart?” he gently scolded.
“Yes Daddy,” Montana said sounding sad.
That didn’t stop her from peeking her neck around the corner to see who was at the door. I smiled at her inherent cuteness. My smile immediately vanished and I stood frozen looking at Jacob standing there in a three-piece designer suit with a bouquet of roses in his hand.
He flung his free arm around me and held me tight. His green eyes looked weary with concern when I pulled away. “How are you?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” I said, glancing at the flowers in his hand. The entire scene was reminiscent of the first time he gave me flowers. Both times, the flowers had come as a result of him choosing Justine over me.
Breathless 2: In Love With An Alpha Billionaire Page 6
