Healing Her Heart

by Kimberly Smith

  Somehow, they made it to the bedroom, landing on the bed. Denise lay on her back with Edwin cradled between her legs. She tugged at his shirt. Edwin reluctantly released her lips, standing beside the bed, he slid his shirt off, tossing it aside. He removed his pants when she fumbled with his fly. Standing naked before her he carefully lifted her top., not wanting to jar her injured hand.

  Edwin grabbed the edges of the lacey underwear she had on, sliding it from under her and down her legs. He dropped to his knees spreading her legs and pulling her to the edge of the bed. He moved his head from side to side inhaling her arousal, letting his lips brush against her wetness. Edwin ran his thumb up and down her opening before spreading her apart for his delight.

  Denise was breathing hard. He was playing with her, teasing her and she wasn’t in the mood for it. She reached her uninjured hand between her legs grabbing the hair at the top of his head pulling him into contact with her aching center. She rotated her hips making sure he knew what she wanted.

  Edwin spread her open and devoured her. She moaned and bucked against his lips and tongue, coating his face. He knew she was close to a sensual explosion when she let his hair go and her legs began to shake. He didn’t want her to cum like this. He gave her a final flick of his tongue, standing and joining his body to hers in a quick thrust that rocked the bed. Edwin arched his back and rolled his hips burying himself deeper with each thrust. He could feel Denise squeezing tighter around him. Her orgasm had started. Edwin grabbed her ankles, pressing her legs far apart as his tempo increased. Then he threw his head back and plunged as far as he could into her as his muscles trembled with the intensity of his climax.

  18

  Later, Denise and Edwin lay together under the covers of her bed. Her head on his chest as he twirled a lock of her hair with one hand while resting his other hand on top of hers. She traced a circle around his nipple. “When you came back from the lady’s room that night, I had been arguing with my parents. My mother had waited until you left the room to speak to me. She said that you looked like a lovely young lady, but she needed me to end the relationship. I asked her why? She said that I had to commit to Tiffany. I stopped her and told her that I had brought you to the party to show her that she couldn’t control my life and I meant it. That’s what you heard.

  After you left, my father who had been standing there with my mother when we argued, told me what has been going on and why my mother has been so focused on getting Tiffany and me together. My father’s business is in some financial trouble, and Tiffany’s father has put together a merger deal that would bail the company out, but he’s placed a stipulation in the contract that I have to marry his daughter.”

  Denise snorted and raised herself on one elbow. “That’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard. That kind of shit only happens in the movies.”

  “That’s what I said to my dad. Unfortunately, it does happen in real life. While I was off providing medical care to ravaged third-world countries, Tiffany was here telling the world that when I got back that we would be getting married.” He sighed, looking at the beautiful woman staring down at him. “We had been dating, and I wasn’t happy with her. I needed a break and signed up with DWB. I broke it off with her before I left, but she seems to have forgotten that fact. She has convinced her father to go along with this delusion, and he somehow got it past my father’s lawyers and into the contract for the merger.”

  “So, now you are expected to marry her to save your family business?” Denise got out of the bed. She found her tee shirt and pulled it over her head. She snorted again, mumbling. Edwin sat up watching Denise pace the floor. “This kind of crap only happens to white people. Black people would be like, fuck that. I’m not marrying that crazy bitch so that you can keep your business. You better get a job, punk.” Edwin couldn’t help but grin even though Denise was serious. “If you marry her, your father gets the money he needs and what, he gets to keep his business?”

  “Not exactly. He’d still own a significant portion of the company, but Westlake Inc, would absorb my father’s debts and Tiffany’s family will essentially own the majority and controlling interest.”

  “So, your father becomes an employee basically, and doesn’t have to shoulder the financial losses?”

  “Yeah,” Edwin said after considering it all.

  “Can’t your father find another company to make a deal with? I’m sure that your friend Max could put him in touch with the right people.”

  “Theoretically, I guess. It would depend on the contract that my father has signed with Westlake. He’s had his lawyers going through it with a fine-tooth comb, but so far it seems ironclad.”

  “No offense, but if his lawyers didn’t catch this thing, the first time, why should they be trusted to find a solution. They may be getting a kickback from Westlake to throw the deal in his favor. Maybe your father needs to find a better set of lawyers, just saying.”

  Denise had a very valid point. Watching her walk back and forth, in only her tee shirt had Edwin thinking of other things at the moment. “Come here,” he said beckoning her with his finger. When she didn’t move towards him, Edwin hopped to the end of the bed exposing his hardness as he pulled her to stand between his legs. “Let’s talk about this later.”

  **

  Denise stretched her arms above her head, yawning. She opened her eyes reaching out and finding only empty space on the other side of the bed. She sat up looking over the bed to the floor. Edwin’s clothes were gone. She got out of bed putting on her tee shirt again. Edwin wasn’t in the living room, but there was a note on the coffee table.

  Ms. Loud Moaner

  I had to run out for a little while. I’ll be back soon, and I’ll bring food.

  Dr. Sexy

  Denise smiled at the note. She wasn’t sure how long he had been gone and how long it would be before he returned, but she figured a nice hot shower was in order. She would also strip the bed and do some laundry.

  An hour later she had put clean sheets on the bed, showered and was sitting on the sofa flipping through the cable channels when Edwin used her key to unlock the door. He had a huge smile on his face as he closed it behind himself. Edwin was carrying a bag that indicated Chinese food. He sat it on the coffee table and leaned down to kiss her.

  When he pulled away, he smiled, “I didn’t get anything to drink. After I got the food, I realized that I’d been away from you too long and I rushed back.”

  Denise got up and went to the kitchen grabbing her last bottle of wine. “I got it covered.”

  She handed the bottle to him and the opener before getting two glasses down. She took out the containers of food while Edwin poured the wine.

  “Want to know where I’ve been,” Edwin asked as he handed her a glass?

  “Sure,” Denise said as Edwin sat on the floor on the other side of the table.

  “After you fell asleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about what you said about my father’s lawyers. I called Max and told him about this whole mess. He asked me to get a copy of the contract and bring it to him. I went by the house and got a copy from my father.

  I think I told you that Max’s brother-in-law is his business partner.” Denise nodded as she sipped her wine. “Anyway, Hank is a corporate lawyer, and he has to be one of the best, working with Max and all. Hank and his staff are going to go over the contract and Max may be willing to offer my father a better deal. He wanted to invest with my father anyway, but he backed out once he heard of Westlake’s involvement.”

  “So, you may have found a way to save your family’s business without getting married.”

  “Yes. It’ll be a few weeks before Hank and Max have this all worked out, but it looks that way.”

  19

  The next few weeks went by in a flurry of activity. Denise returned to work, and it almost seemed like Edwin had moved in with her. He was there in the morning, and he was there at night, and Denise loved every minute of it. She had even spent time with his sister a
nd grandmother. She hadn’t been ready to meet his parents when Edwin asked her to.

  One night after work, they’d been cuddle together on the sofa watching an action movie when Edwin said, “Ash and Grams have been talking about you a lot. They really like you.”

  “I like them too.”

  “My parents want to meet you.”

  Denise pushed herself away from him so that she could look at his face. “I thought they were set on you marrying Tiffany.” Edwin still hadn’t told them about Max and Hank trying to find a solution to their problem. As far as Denise knew they still thought of her as a problem.

  “They were until I told them that I love you.” Edwin didn’t know what to expect from Denise once the words were out of his mouth. He couldn’t hold it back any longer. He wanted her and the world to know what she meant to him. “You don’t have to say anything. I just want you to know how I feel.” Denise licked her lips. Her head was spinning, and she couldn’t breathe. Edwin pulled her back into his arms. “Don’t freak out on me. I’m not asking you for anything other than knowing how I feel.”

  Denise had broken every rule in her book except one. She hadn’t told him that she loved him. It had been on the edge of her tongue several times, but something kept her quiet. She wanted to say it to him now, but she couldn’t get the words past the lump in her throat.

  It could have been that she felt guilty for feeling happy while Felica and Perry had broken up. She had spent time with them both, and while Perry was ready to put the past behind them and move on, Felicia wasn’t. She refused to see Perry or talk to him, but Perry was working to get her back.

  Denise and Edwin had been in on a secret project involving Felicia’s mother and father. Perry had purchased a storefront for them, and they had all been working to get it ready to open without Felicia knowing about it. Denise had also been given a task to help with that. Perry had asked her to take Felicia house hunting. He wanted Felicia to pick out her own house without knowing that it was what she was doing. Denise had told Felicia that Clarence was moving from Fort Worth to Dallas and she was scouting homes for him. She invited Felicia to come along.

  Of the houses she’d taken her too, the fourth house they looked at was the first one that Felicia seemed interested in. They had seen a few over the past couple of days. Denise had figured out clever ways to find out what Felicia liked and didn’t. Perry had bought the house and was having the kitchen remodeled exactly as Felicia wanted it.

  Denise pushed thoughts of Felicia and Perry out of her mind as she felt sick to her stomach. Edwin had just told her that he loved her. Was that normal? “I’m sorry that I freaked out, just now. Are you sure?”

  “That I love you,” he chuckled? “Absolutely.”

  Denise smiled, “I meant, are you sure that they want to meet me?”

  “They told me so. I thought that you could meet them on Tuesday night. Max and Hank want to talk to us all about the contract and what they’ve come up with.”

  Tuesday was only a few days away. Denise inhaled deeply, “I guess that’s as good a time as any.”

  **

  “It looks like Max and Hank are here already,” Edwin said as he pulled up to the house on Tuesday evening.

  Denise was nervous as the car stopped behind two very expensive sports cars. She smoothed her hands over her skirt and flipped down the visor to check her make up in the mirror while Edwin came around to open her door. Denise got out and took Edwin’s hand. She would be fine, she told herself. She had met his Grams and Ashley. They liked her. She wanted to make a good impression, and that was a first for her.

  They were greeted by an older Hispanic lady, who took their jackets. “Good evening Dr. McAlister.”

  “Good evening Mrs. Mendoza. This is my girlfriend, Denise Samuels.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Samuels,” the woman said as they handed their jackets to her. “Everyone is in the study.”

  “Thank you,” Edwin said winking at her. Denise slipped her hand in his again as they walked through the foyer and turned to go down the hall. “It’ll be fine.” Edwin could tell she was nervous. “Just be yourself.”

  Denise took a deep breath as they approached the opened French doors where they could hear talking. As they entered the room, Denise noted that Ashley and her grandmother were off to one side talking, Max and the man that Denise had assumed was Hank stood near the large desk looking at some papers and speaking in hushed tones. Denise recognized Edwin’s parents from the party. They were standing near the fireplace.

  “Come on and give me a hug,” Grams said crossing the room to them. She hugged Denise then Edwin. His parents turned their attention to Denise. They all moved towards each other, stopping in the center of the room.

  “Mom, Dad, this is Denise.”

  Denise wasn’t sure what to expect, but Edwin’s father shook her hand, “I’m Oliver, and this is Meredith.”

  “We’re glad to meet you,” Edwin’s mother said with a polite smile.

  They didn’t get any further than that. Max and Hank walked over to join them. “Hank, this is Edwin’s girlfriend, Denise.”

  Hank smiled at her, shaking her hand. “Good to meet you.” Hank was a handsome man as well. It lent credibility to her theory that all the good-looking white men hung out together except it was obvious that Hank was biracial. His skin tone was just slightly darker than Denise’s.

  Everyone took a seat. Max started the conversation. “It’s no doubt that Westlake has you over a barrel, but we may have found a way out of it. Denise was right when she said not to trust your current legal team. It seems that your lead legal counsel used to work for Westlake Inc. many years ago. We had to dig into Westlake’s financial records, and that was not easy to do, but we found recent payments to your lawyer, Robert Crown for large sums of money.” Meredith and Oliver shifted uneasily in their seats.

  Hank took it from there. “Short of firing and suing your lawyer, there’s not much you can do about the contract. If you took them to court, in your current state, you’d go bankrupt, and Westlake would still get everything. Knowing contracts as I do, I guessed that Westlake would have inserted a clause to protect himself if for some reason the marriage between Tiffany and Edwin never took place. The clause states that if there is no marriage, McAlister Labs could buy themselves out of the contract at an excessive amount. Meaning that you would be buying back your controlling shares in your own company.” There was another uneasy shift and deep breathing among the group.

  “Of course, this wouldn’t happen because you don’t have the cash to do so, not even if you sold off assets. The only way out of the contract is for Edwin to marry Tiffany.”

  Max spoke again, “Hank and I thought that we might have found a workaround by having you sell your shares to someone else before the execution of this contract, but we found an additional clause tied to that one. It states that you can’t sell off your shares to anyone for less than the ridiculous amount quoted in the first clause. You can’t even give them as a gift to anyone unless you give them to Bradley Westlake or one of his offspring.”

  The sound of defeat echoed through the room. “So, there is no way out of this. That’s what you’re saying? Unless we give the shares to Bradley or Tiffany?” Oliver stood going to the bar and pouring a drink.

  Max looked at Hank. They smiled at each other. Hank said, “There still may be a way out.”

  “You just said,” Edwin started to speak.

  “Hear us out,” Max said holding up his hands. “Our investigator found some interesting information about Bradley Westlake. He has a history of cheating on his wife.”

  “How does that help us,” Meredith asked?

  “Hank and I wondered, of the many times that Bradley had fooled around, how many could have resulted in unwanted children. Children that may have a reason to want to help you. We had our guy dig deeper, and we found an interesting bit of information. In nineteen eighty-nine Westlake Inc. made a large payment to
a woman who worked for him. She stopped working for him after that payment was issued, but the company continued to send her regular monthly payments for about ten years and then the payments just stopped.”

  Hank took over from there, “We wondered why Westlake would pay someone large sums of money for ten years, someone who no longer worked for him. It was hush money. Money paid to keep this woman quiet about something. We hoped that it would be because she’d had a child that Westlake had fathered. We figured we could find this woman and you could make a deal with her kid, give the stocks to her child for a limited time to nullify the contract and then you could repurchase them at a preset price of a dollar.”

  “Would that work, would it be legal?” Lily asked.

  “Yes,” Hank said pulling a newspaper clipping from the file he’d laid on the coffee table. He passed the paper to Oliver, who looked at the image and read the information while Hank continued, “The woman in that picture died. That’s why the payments stopped. Her child can help you save your company.” Oliver handed the image to Edwin who then passed it to Denise, who froze as she looked at her mother standing in the background of an image captioned “Bradley Westlake opens new office in downtown Atlanta.”

  “This can’t be right,” Denise said shaking her head and looking at Max and Hank. “This guy can’t be my father.”

  “The woman that received those payments was Mary Williams. She worked for him for a little less than a year. About the time that she stopped working there, she received a large amount of money from the company. A few months later she gave birth to a daughter that she named Denise.”

  Denise dropped the paper as she jumped to her feet, moving around the back of the sofa, screaming. “This son of a bitch raped my mother and then paid her off!” Denise couldn’t breathe, she felt dizzy. Everyone got up from their seats, watching her, not sure what to make of this information.