Enticing Winter

by Sherelle Green

  Just then she looked over to him and smiled in a way that let him know she knew what she was doing. She knew it was extremely difficult not to touch her in public or pull her behind the waterfall and have his way with her.

  “You know, I didn’t really understand why Winter had agreed to let you tag along on her trip,” said Chris Wright, Winter’s friend, who was a swimsuit designer and fashion photographer. “But now I get it.”

  He didn’t miss the knowing look in Chris’s eyes. When Winter had told him about Chris, he had assumed he was another male friend from her past. He hadn’t expected to see a woman with brown-and-blond-streaked hair, hazel eyes and a slight Southern accent. Then he’d learned that they’d been college roommates for two years and had maintained contact after graduation.

  “What do you understand?” he asked, turning his gaze back to Winter.

  “Well, for starters, she said you both were just friends. But there’s nothing friendly about the way you’ve been looking at her all day.”

  Taheim laughed. No point denying it. “Is it that obvious?”

  “Hmm, only to everyone who was at this shoot today,” she said with a laugh. “But I can tell she likes you just as much, so no worries.”

  Taheim liked Chris. She’d made it a point to check on him throughout the day to make sure he was okay. In fact, he’d liked every friend of Winter’s he’d met on this trip.

  “She really is something special,” he said honestly. “And she has a good group of friends.”

  “Even Nick and Brian?” she asked with a laugh. One glance at Chris and he knew she had somehow found out about his lingerie theater performance in Vegas.

  He laughed as he shook his head. “I should have known Winter wouldn’t keep that a secret.”

  “Oh no, she didn’t say anything. Nick and Brian called me right after. They knew I would meet you in a couple days.”

  “Wow, they didn’t waste any time.” He watched Winter walk over to a few other models and give them hugs. “I liked Nick and Brian, but I don’t think I have a future on Broadway.”

  “That’s not what Brian said.” Her eyebrows suggested he’d said quite a bit.

  “I don’t even want to know.”

  He watched one of the other models pull Winter in for a selfie that eventually led to all the models gathering around to take pictures with her.

  “For what it’s worth, I think that you two would be pretty good together if you gave a real relationship a shot.”

  He glanced back at Chris. “I’m sure Winter told you that I’m not good with relationships.”

  “Why’s that?”

  He stopped his face from curling up into a frown. “I just know.”

  From the inquisitive look in her eyes, he could tell she wanted to ask him more questions, but she didn’t. Talking to her was a reminder that although he’d recently learned a lot about Winter and the past experiences that made her the woman she was today, he hadn’t opened up to her yet. He hadn’t explained why he knew he was bad in serious relationships and the reason he’d developed his playboy-like ways.

  The words she’d texted him a couple weeks ago echoed in his mind... You’re still cocky as hell. But underneath all that is a man with a story. Hopefully I’ll hear it one day.

  “Well, it was nice meeting you,” Chris said, breaking through his thoughts. That was when he noticed Winter was walking toward them. “Word of advice. Open up to her. She’s one of the most understanding people I know. Only a dumbass could miss that fact.”

  Taheim just smiled at Chris.

  “It was nice meeting you, too, Chris,” he said as he gave her a look that he hoped proved to her that he understood exactly what she meant. He’d already decided that it was long overdue. He had to tell Winter exactly why he was the way he was.

  * * *

  Winter glanced over at Taheim as they sat on the patio, having just finished a delicious dinner. The plan had been to go to an amazing restaurant on the resort grounds not far from their villa, but the current rainstorm had forced them to eat outside on the covered patio instead.

  It had been nice to have an intimate dinner and listen to the rainfall, but Taheim was quieter than she’d ever seen him before and she wasn’t sure why.

  “Would you have preferred that we stay in separate villas?” she asked when he seemed more interested in the ice slowly melting in his glass than having a conversation with her. “Because I’m sure we can still arrange that.”

  He looked up as if he were hearing her speak for the first time, proof that he hadn’t really been listening to her during dinner.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked instead of repeating her question.

  “I definitely don’t need my own villa,” he stated. “I’d never pass on the opportunity to have you close by me.”

  She studied his eyes, unsure of the change in his personality. “What’s wrong?” Her voice was pleading even to her own ears.

  He sighed before responding. “I’m terrible at relationships.”

  She blinked. “Um, okay. I admit the sex was amazing, but I never asked you for a relationship.”

  “Wait a minute. Scratch that.” He waved his arm and sat upright in his chair. “What I meant to say is that the first time we met—that blind date that I was extremely late for? I had a reason. Not a good one, but still a reason.”

  “What happened?”

  He clasped his hands in front of him on the table. “My ex had called me to tell me she was divorcing her husband. Which wouldn’t concern me, except I heard that her husband hadn’t been the nicest person to her during their marriage.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” she said sincerely.

  “I was, too. My ex and I met in high school and had been attached at the hip. We were that couple, you know, the one that everyone says is going to be together forever.”

  “Did you break up during college?”

  “I wish. It would have saved me years of wasting my time and I could have really dated around in college and seen what else was out there.” Taheim stood to walk to the minibar pair on the patio to replenish his drink. “We dated all through college and a few years after. We were engaged for a few months before I caught her at our home with one of my guy friends at the time. He was a real jerk with the ladies, but my friend and business partner Jaleen and I played basketball with him in high school, so we still hung out, like most guys on the team did.”

  “That’s awful.” When thinking about Taheim, Winter had tried not to assume too much, but she’d suspected a woman had done him wrong.

  “That’s why you got so upset on our blind date when I said those things to you about a woman hurting you so badly you developed this playboy alter ego.”

  “You were right, and yeah, that was why I got so pissed off.”

  “Oh man,” she said placing her hand on her forehead as she thought about what else she had said. “And I called you damaged goods, too. I am so sorry.”

  Taheim sat back down across from Winter. “You definitely caught me off guard, but I took the frustration of my ex’s phone call out on you, and for that, I’m sorry, too.”

  He turned to glance out into the darkness as the rain continued to fall. “When you were telling me about your mother, it brought me back to my time with Andrea. That’s her name.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, when I dated Andrea, there was nothing I wouldn’t do for that girl. I may be somewhat of a playboy now, but I would never ever cheat on a girlfriend or someone I’m dating seriously. Which is why I’m up-front with the women I get into bed with.”

  It briefly crossed her mind that she didn’t recall having a conversation about the rules, those guidelines that you followed for casual sex. Winter wasn’t even a casual sex–type girl, so she definitely didn’t know
how to approach the topic with Taheim.

  “The fact that they had been sleeping around for years...that I’d been sharing the one woman I wanted to marry with another man, put me in a bad head space for a while. Until my family and close friends told me Andrea was never worth the trouble anyway.”

  “Sometimes it’s hard to see what others see.” She understood that more than most.

  “It really is. I felt like while we were dating, no one ever said anything bad about her. They may have alluded to some things, but I didn’t find out how bad people thought she was for me until after I broke off the engagement. Looking back, I know the only reason I changed the type of person I was to fit the type of man she wanted me to be was that I’d been there for her hard times. I was the one who she called when her stepdad came home drunk and became volatile to her and her mom. And I was the one who she called when she got the call that her older brother had been killed in Iraq.”

  Winter nodded her head, understanding a few more things about him now. “That’s understandable. You helped her through so much. You were blinded by what you wanted to do to help her.”

  “Kaya once told me it was called hero syndrome,” he said, laughing for the first time all night.

  Gosh, I didn’t know how much I missed hearing him laugh. “Kaya’s right. And by the way, you comforted me when I talked about my mom. I can see that side of you.”

  “You’re mistaken,” he said, shaking his head. “That side of me died a long time ago. With you, I was there because I wanted you to know that even though you have your dad and sisters, there’s at least one other person who understands your struggle. One person who admires the person you are...inside and out. I wanted to save Andrea because she needed saving.” His eyes met hers. “You’re one of the strongest women I’ve ever met. You got through all the tough stuff. You just need a friend.”

  Her breath caught at the sincerity of his words. “Thanks, but you can’t just associate wanting to be someone’s hero with Andrea. It’s a part of you, no matter if you try and hide it or not. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be someone’s everything.” She leaned closer to make sure he heard her words. “You and I have something in common in the sense that we’ve both let our toxic relationships define a part of who we are. It’s okay to allow experiences to make you stronger. But the minute we let our insecurities take precedent over everything else is the minute we have to reevaluate our purpose.”

  “You’re right. I didn’t notice how much we did have that in common. I gave Andrea so much of me...all I had to give at the time. For ten years, I was consumed by her and the idea that no matter how hard I tried, I still wasn’t enough for her.”

  You’re enough for me. She gasped at the direction of her thoughts. Wait, what? They’d been together nonstop for days, but that was no excuse to become delusional.

  “Are you okay?” he asked in concern.

  “Yes, I’m fine.” She brushed away her thoughts. “Did she ever tell you why she cheated?”

  Taheim huffed. “She said she’d gotten bored and that I hadn’t matured into the man she wanted me to be.”

  “So giving her your heart and promising to love her forever wasn’t enough,” she said as a statement rather than a question. “That’s a sorry excuse and you’re anything but boring.”

  “Thanks,” he said, pinning her with a sexy look she’d missed since they had started talking about Andrea.

  It was hearing stories like this that really irritated Winter. Stories about a selfish woman who hurt a good man and made it worse for all those who came after. “You put your faith in her and she took your love for granted. You know I understand. Did she say something to upset you the day we went on our date?”

  “Over the past year or so, Andrea has been calling me or leaving me messages about how much she misses me and how she made a mistake leaving me for her husband. But she didn’t give a shit about my feelings when I debuted Collegiate Life to the world and she went to the tabloids and told them that she was my one true love and all this other BS.”

  Winter took a sip of her drink as a few unchoice words popped through her head at the type of woman Andrea was. “She’s got some nerve.”

  “That’s Andrea. Conniving, deceitful and, unfortunately, believable at times. She had the media eating out of the palm of her hand, and before I knew it, some online magazine published an article about our relationship, her infidelity and so much more. It’s not like people in high school didn’t know our story, so the magazine could have gotten the scoop from anywhere. But I know Andrea had a hand in it.”

  Winter disliked Andrea more and more by the second.

  “She’d moved to Texas with her ex and she called the day of our date to tell me she would be in Chicago the entire month of December and was thinking about moving back permanently. But that wasn’t even the worst part about her call.”

  “What was the worst part?” she asked when he didn’t continue.

  “The fact that she told me if I didn’t see her, she would go to the tabloids before the debut of T.R. Night and really give them something to talk about.”

  Winter scrunched her forehead in confusion. “What could she possibly have to tell them? Y’all have been broken up for years.”

  Taheim observed her through cautious eyes, as if he was trying to decide how to tell her something.

  “She didn’t say and hung up when I asked. Now that it’s been a while since the call, I made a call of my own before we left for Vegas, so I think I know what she’s planning.”

  “And what might that be?” she asked in a lower voice for no reason other than the fact that she was a little nervous about what he might say.

  “She’s probably going to try and claim that I’m the father of her eight-year-old son.”

  Chapter 15

  Don’t look shocked. Don’t look shocked. Big fail. From the way his eyes observed hers, she was pretty sure she looked stunned.

  “Is there a possibility that he’s yours?” she asked when she found her voice.

  “I honestly don’t know,” he said, taking another sip of his drink. “I never even knew she had a son, nor did the friends she still had back in Chicago. After that call, something told me to go on Facebook, find her ex-husband and reach out to him. When I did, he told me good luck dealing with her and that after I had broken off the engagement and they’d moved to Texas, she had claimed she had a trip out of the country and was gone for almost a year.”

  “Let me guess,” Winter said, crossing her arms over her chest. “She lied about the work trip and was giving birth to her son instead.”

  “Bingo. Apparently, when she got back, they got married and that was it. Then eight months ago, her ex-husband was in Florida on business and ran into Andrea’s mother, who had moved there after her stepdad passed. Her mother had a little boy by her side. After he cornered Andrea and her mother about it, they confessed. All those years, he had thought they couldn’t visit Andrea’s mom because their relationship was strained...”

  “The real reason was that her mom was raising her son and she didn’t want her husband to find out,” Winter continued for him, unable to process the spiral effect of this story. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, which is crazy considering the things I just told you I witnessed from my own mother.”

  Winter scrunched her face in thought. “Better yet, I take that back. It’s right up there with the crazy crap my mom would pull.”

  His mouth curled into a smile, but he looked a thousand miles away.

  “Did her ex tell you that he thought the child was yours?”

  Taheim was already nodding his head. “He had a paternity test done and he wasn’t his. The week after he got the results, he filed for divorce.”

  “So they didn’t get a divorce because her ex-husband was mean?”
>
  “After talking to him, I don’t think so. But remembering how he used to be with other girls he had dated, it’s still possible.”

  She racked her brain to try to find the right words to say. Feeling bold and wanting to change the mood, she stood and walked over to him and sat on his lap. He immediately wrapped his arms around her, and just like that, her heart began to beat a little faster than before.

  “We all have problems. We all have stuff we have to work through. But you’ve spent your high school years, college years and a few years after college dealing with Andrea and her issues. I know it’s only been a week since you talked to her ex, but have you decided if you want a paternity test?”

  “Yes, and if he is my son, I plan on being in his life. I can’t even believe that she wouldn’t tell me something so important.”

  Winter smiled as her hand cupped his cheek. “You’re a good man. A responsible man. Don’t let her take anything else from you. I think it’s great that you’re going to address the situation and get a paternity test. And whatever doubts you have about yourself or the type of man you are in a relationship, you need to just forget.”

  Some of the tension in his features relaxed at her words and she enjoyed the fact that she was the one to bring him relief.

  “Haven’t you noticed?” he said as his lips curled into a smile. “I attract crazies. Andrea wasn’t the only one. I tried to seriously date after her and that woman was insane, too.”

  Winter scrunched her face. “Hmm, I was going to ask you to explain, but then I thought about that incident in the restaurant with the woman who interrupted our terrible date and made it even worse.”

  “Ah,” he said, pointing a finger into the air. “Amanda. Yeah, that was the last time I saw her.”

  She didn’t hide the smile that crossed her face. “Hope I wasn’t the one who ruined that. Even though she was the one who was trying to hijack my date, wearing way too much perfume and acrylic nails that I’m sure were strong enough to scratch the paint off your car if you pissed her off.”