A Love to Remember

by Angela Weaver

  When she walked into her bedroom, Sasha gasped as she looked around. Scented candles lit the room and the sultury smell of jasmine and sandalwood perfumed the air. The soft sounds of a guitar played from the recessed ceiling speakers. “How… When did you manage to do this?”

  “You were gone longer than you thought.”

  Sasha pulled off her tennis shoes and stepped into Trey’s embrace. Laying her head against his chest, she inhaled and a feeling of rightness washed over her body. Everything seemed serene and peaceful. That was until his hands crept under her sweater and rubbed against her back. She looked up at Trey and stared deeply into his brown eyes and her breath caught in her chest. She loved the way he looked at her.

  She reached up, entwined her arms around his neck, and gently stroked his nape. “The second I stepped in line at the airport to leave last week, I missed being in your arms. Every morning I opened my eyes, I imagined that you were by my side. And now that I’m home and in your arms with the music and candlelight, I almost feel like this is a dream.”

  Trey removed his hands from her back and cradled her face. He leaned down and slowly, thoroughly took possession of her mouth, nipping the sweet bow of her lips. When he pulled back, she gazed up at him from heavy-lidded eyes.

  “Baby, it’s not a dream. You feel way too good for this not to be real.”

  Sasha’s mouth went dry as Trey took a step back and removed his shirt. His naturally smooth chest and tight stomach made everything in her body tense. She reached up with the intention of running her fingers over his chest, but he reached out and caught her hand and placed her fingers over his lips. His tongue darted out and licked the sensitive nubs. Sasha sucked in a breath.

  “Like that?” His voice had dropped an octave, but there was a warmth behind it that made him seem even more sexy, even more intense.

  “Oh, yes,” she managed to respond.

  He raised her arms over her head and then removed her blouse. Even with the cooler air washing over her skin, Sasha felt beads of sweat on her brow. He placed his hands behind her back and made short work of her bra. Then he trailed his fingertips down her back and cupped her bottom, bringing her full contact with his aroused body.

  “See what you do to me?”

  Sasha swallowed and nodded. “Take me to bed, Trey,” she whispered. Instead, his mouth clamped down on hers in a kiss that blew away anything she’d ever experienced. Pure need seemed to spill from his lips and rain over her tongue. And before she knew it, they’d managed to rid one another of the rest of their clothing. With a flick of the wrist, he pulled back the comforter and eased her down onto the bed.

  Sasha almost cried out with joy when he slid into bed beside her. Nothing between them but skin, and he pulled her to him and kissed her forehead and while his hand stoked her breaths. His lips trailed kisses down her cheek, brushing across her lips. He lavished slow, hot, lingering kisses over her neck and then settled on her breasts.

  His hands explored every inch of her body, inflaming her skin into goose bumps, and making her moan with need and excitement. And his mouth… Never in a million years would Sasha be able to look at Trey’s lips without recalling each erotic kiss he placed on her skin. Her eyes fluttered closed and she moaned.

  “Open your eyes for me, sweetheart.” His voice was deep and rough.

  As she struggled to breathe through the waves of pleasure rolling over her body, the fierce look of passion on Trey’s face threatened to send her over the edge. Acting on an instinct older than time, she wrapped her herself around him, moved into him and gave herself over to the wonder of love.

  Ten minutes, twenty or a half hour later, Trey opened his eyes and looked over at Sasha. Something that she’d said during their dinner still stuck in his mind. They’d begun speaking candidly about failed relationships, but at some mysterious point the course of the conversation had veered from shallow to deep waters. “It was him, wasn’t it?” he asked.

  “What?” Sasha mumbled. She’d just found that perfect combination of not too hard, not too soft, not too cold and not too hot in the bed. With Trey’s arm nestled around her stomach and post-climax relaxation riding up and down her spine, she felt wonderful. No, better than wonderful. Love filled her soul and threatened to seep out her pores.

  “Kenneth is the one who broke your heart.”

  “Trey,” she sighed as the afterglow of their lovemaking began to dim. “Do we have to talk about this, now?”

  “Yes.”

  Sasha opened her eyes and realized that instead of peacefully falling asleep in Trey’s embrace she would have to talk about past business. Staring up at the ceiling, she watched the candlelight patterns ripple across the spackle. “Fine. You’re wrong. It wasn’t Kenneth. We got close but his parents got closer. He couldn’t deal with his father and I didn’t fit into his family.”

  “Then who was it?”

  “Why do you want to know?”

  “Because I don’t want to make the same mistakes, Sasha. Somebody, somewhere hurt you so badly that you’ve been hiding out in the wilderness ever since.”

  “That’s not true,” she said slowly

  “Are you sure about that?”

  Several heartbeats passed before she responded. “Maybe at one point and time I wanted to get away from a broken heart. But, Trey, I love my career and if I spend weeks outside of civilization to get the material I need, then so be it. This has nothing to do with my love life.”

  She turned over on her side and carefully tucked the sheet under her arms. “Where is this coming from, Trey?”

  Trey rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ease the tension as he recalled his meeting with Kenneth that morning. “He talked about you today. He said letting you go was one of the biggest regrets in his life.”

  Her eyes opened and Sasha turned to face Trey. “Kenneth said that?”

  “Yes.”

  “And that’s reason for the music and candles? Not that you missed me but that you’re jealous?”

  “Hell, yes. I mean no. I missed you like crazy, but I’m not about to lose my woman to somebody trying to resurrect the past.”

  “You can’t lose something that doesn’t belong to you, Trey.”

  “A few minutes ago you were moaning the opposite,” he said.

  Sasha levered herself up on her elbow and glared down at his handsome face. “I’m going to pretend that I didn’t hear that.”

  “You can pretend anything you want, but don’t for a second think that it’s alright for you to spend time with him.

  “Your body can’t pretend that we didn’t almost set fire to these sheets.” He softened his statement by reaching down and fingering her.

  Still tender and sensitive, Sasha couldn’t push back a moan. “Not fair,” she protested.

  “What’s that old phrase? Nothing’s fair in love and war.”

  Her expression grew serious. “Which is this, Trey? Love or war?”

  Now it was his turn to fall silent. Trey stared at her for a moment, then reached out and gently brushed her cheek with his finger. “It’s not war.”

  Trying to hide her disappointment, Sasha broke eye contact. “Then does that mean it’s love?”

  “You asked first. Only fair that you answer…unless you’re afraid.”

  For Sasha, it was like standing next to the scorpion’s cage all over again. Poised to face heartbreak for a second time. It would be so easy not to answer, so easy to deny the root of her feelings. But she repeated her choice and thus consciously decided to risk the pain. “First, I’m not afraid,” she said softly. “Second, I know that I’m in love with you.”

  She sucked in a breath and faced him again. The look of pure surprise on his face almost made her burst into laughter.

  “Cat got your tongue?” Sasha inquired.

  “Did you just say what I think you said?”

  “I said that I love you, Trey Blackfox. Correction, I’ve fallen in love with you. I’m not telling you this because I
expect you to feel the same. I just want you to know.”

  “I…”

  Quelling the sick feeling in her stomach, Sasha mustered a smile and placed her fingertips over his lips. “Just be with me tonight, Trey. I’ve dreamed of you in my bed for weeks and now I want to enjoy this moment.”

  She turned over to her back, wrapped his arm around her stomach and closed her eyes. Willing the tears not to come, she waited, listening to the sound of Trey’s breathing. When sleep called her home, she wondered if she’d made a mistake.

  Chapter 18

  Saturday afternoon found Trey walking into the living room of Jared’s four-bedroom town house.

  “The last time you invited me over for a game, I ended up helping you build a dog house,” Trey commented as he sat on Jared’s suede sofa with a bowl of nachos in one hand and a beer in the other,

  “It was good exercise, right? You know that siding was an excellent addition.”

  “Jared, who puts together a custom-built doghouse? You could have picked one up at a pet store for half the price.”

  “Man, you are tight with your money. If I didn’t know that you could give a top NBA draft pick a run for his money with the portfolio comparison, I’d think you were a step away from middle class.”

  “J, you built a dog house with glass windows, a door, a kitchen and bedroom.”

  “Look, Big Boy’s special.”

  “Yeah, the dog is special all right, as in special needs. He’s twenty pounds overweight. Are you feeding him the stuff I prescribed?”

  “I put it in his bowl. Did I tell you that he didn’t eat for two days? Dog was on some kind of hunger strike. He’s been on the new food for about two weeks. I took him to the pet store last week and got him on the scale. You’ll never believe that he’s already dropped three pounds.”

  Trey turned his head to look over the sofa in the direction of Bog Boy’s dog bed. Sure enough, the Labrador retriever was stretched out on his side with his tongue hanging out.

  Jared took a swig of his beer. “Come spring, all the females will be flocking to meet and greet.”

  “We got him fixed after he started spraying in the house, remember?”

  Jared reached forward and picked up the remote control from the coffee table. He switched on the big screen television and flipped through channels until he came to a comedy station. “Yeah, saddest day of my life. I’ll never forget the look of betrayal. Sometimes I catch him staring at me with this queer look on his face. Like he’s remembering. Anyway, he may not be packing but Big Boy can still pull in the honeys. Just like his dad.”

  “So what’s up?” Trey asked.

  “Can’t I have my best friend over for a beer without having an ulterior motive?”

  “No, you can’t, so if you don’t want to quit the innocent act, I’m making an early departure from this party.”

  “Okay, okay. I’ve got something that I need your help with.”

  “Call the clinic’s hotline. I’m officially off today,” he responded automatically.

  Most Saturdays would find Trey in the office hard at work, but since he’d met Sasha, spending Saturdays working up diagnoses didn’t seem as appealing.

  He’d spent the past week trying to find a way to define his feelings toward her. Not one to talk to other people, he’d caught himself asking advice from some of his animal patients. He’d tried to go on as though things hadn’t changed since Sasha’s return from New York, but he couldn’t deny that without her with him at night, he couldn’t sleep. That since knowing her, he felt incomplete.

  “Look, every man who’s got a house and a dog needs a pickup truck,” Jared said.

  “What?” Trey pulled his attention back to the present. “So you invited me over here to help you pick out a truck? All you have to do is drive up to Cartersville. My uncle Will could pull a nice one off the car lot for you,” he said.

  “Nah, you’re not hearing what I’m trying to say. Getting a truck is only half of the equation—getting a wife is the other half.”

  Trey choked on his beer. “How the hell did you get from buying a car to getting hitched?”

  “I’m not getting any younger and my house isn’t feeling like a home. I’m going to ask my sister to help me go ring shopping next weekend. And I wanted to ask you in person if you’d be my best man.”

  Something punched Trey in the gut and did a vicious twist. He put down his beer and sat back on the sofa. While his eyes focused on the television screen, his mind was miles away. Seventeen to be exact. Everything and everyone was changing. The fact that Jared was about to propose just underscored that point. There would be no more random weekends just watching games, playing video games or hitting the basketball court. No more impromptu trips to Miami to attend sporting events or to babe watch. Then again, he didn’t really want to see any other woman other than Sasha. And that sore spot felt like he’d just rubbed salt in the wound. Men would kill to have his seats, commit suicide to have his life and he was pining for a woman.

  Jared snapped his fingers in front of Trey’s eyes. “You all right, man? You kind of zoned out for a minute.”

  “You know how to catch a man off guard.”

  “Well, don’t feel like the Lone Ranger. I wasn’t expecting to have this conversation until I was at least forty. You know I wanted to be the last man standing and here I am the first one to go. But I don’t mind. I can’t think of living my life without her.”

  “She makes you that happy?”

  “Yep.”

  Trey picked up his beer and inclined it in Jared’s direction. “Well, partner, it looks like you’ve got a best man.”

  The incessant sound of the doorbell ringing roused Sasha from a light doze. Beams of sunlight formed random designs on the walls and floor. The house was very quiet. Sasha glanced at the clock and then rolled out of bed at the sound of knocking. Running a hand through her hair, she went downstairs to the front door unlocked and opened it not bothering to first take a look through the peek hole.

  “About time you opened the door! I was about to call the police.”

  Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “Mom…Dad. What are you doing here?”

  “I don’t know why your father’s here,” Mom answered, walking through the doorway. “But after listening to dozens of messages from friends, former colleagues and fellow researchers letting me know that my girl’s been in every newspaper from here to China, I’m here to straighten this mess out.”

  An hour later, after installing her parents in one of the guest rooms, putting on clothes and making tea, Sasha took a deep breath and sat down in a living room chair. Of all the reactions she’d expected from her parents, this hadn’t been the one she’d anticipated. Then again, she hadn’t expected her parents when she’d opened the door fresh from an erotic flashback of lovemaking with Trey and a morning of Belgian waffles and whipped cream. Sasha squashed the urge to blush at the thought of what she and Trey had done with the full can of whipped cream. The shower to rinse the stickiness from all of their unmentionable places had been just as wicked.

  “I’m happy to see you.”

  “Well, I’m happy to see my daughter, but I’m not happy to see your picture in the newspaper under the caption ‘Atlanta’s Bachelorette.’ I’m not happy that you didn’t see fit to tell us that Camden named you as the sole heir to his estate and I’m not happy that you’ve given up your life’s work to live in this life of moral depravity and capitalist selfishness,” her father said.

  “Arthur,” her mother interjected.

  “Daddy! I am not giving up my work. I just have to remain here to get some things sorted out. I’m pretty close to hiring a staff to oversee the foundation that’s been set up in Uncle Camden’s name and I need to find a home for the kittens. After that I should be able to resume my work in some capacity.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you have no ties with Atlanta and those two men they talked about i
n the article aren’t trying to put a ring on your finger?”

  “I can assure you that Trey hasn’t gone down on bended knee and Kenneth hasn’t been to pick out a ring,” she told her parents.

  “Baby girl, it really doesn’t matter to us about the who, what, when or where. We are just concerned about you. This is a lot on your shoulders and I wish you’d come to us sooner.”

  “How could I? I didn’t want to put a strain on your relationship. I remember what happened the last time,” Sasha said.

  “What do you mean you remember what happened the last time?”

  “I heard you fighting, Dad.”

  “I thought—” her mother began.

  “You thought I was asleep. I wasn’t and even if I’d slept through the whole thing, you could have taken a machete to the tension between the two of you for weeks after you found out that Uncle Camden had funded my scholarships.”

  “See. The man wasn’t happy with messing with me the first time. Now he has to mess with me after he’s gone. He’s getting his revenge from the grave.”

  “Why would Uncle Camden want revenge?”

  Her parents looked at one another and her father’s lips pressed together in a thin line. Sasha repeated slowly, “Why would Uncle Camden want revenge?”

  “Because he was always in love with your mother.”

  Sasha’s stomach dropped to the floor. She sat back stunned. “Mom?”

  “Oh, baby. It’s true.

  “It wasn’t something that we ever spoke about. He never said anything and he always treated me with respect.”

  “I just thought…”

  “That he was like a brother to your father. It has always been that way. He knew that I could never return his affection.

  “Then how do you know this?”

  Her father spoke up. “He told me one night. We were in a German pub knocking back way too many beers. I don’t remember how we got there, don’t remember how we got back to the hotel. But I’ll never forget seeing him staring down at the half-filled glass, shoulders slumped, looking like a man with no home, no hope, no peace.”