by Marilyn Lee
“You’re sure?”
She was sure there would be a scene if she didn’t. And she was not in the mood for that. “Yes, I’m sure.”
He looked at Ben. “Remember she’s my date and don’t take too much of her time.” He spoke in a cold tone.
Ben’s lips tightened. Fearful he would precipitate a scene by telling Clayton to go the hell, Sharde placed a hand on his arm and squeezed.
He gave Clayton a curt nod. “Understood.”
Clayton smiled at her and walked away from the table.
Ben sat down and took her clenched fist between his palms. “What the hell are you doing with the competition, Sharde? Seeing you with Frazier has knocked the starch out of Jeff.”
She jerked at her hand. “What I’m not doing is divulging any Calder Technologies secrets!”
Ben tightened his grip. “That’s not what I meant since that goes without saying. I mean what are you doing with the same man Vanessa left him for? The same man who outbid him on one of the company’s biggest deals? Seeing you with him stings Jeff on a very personal level, honey.”
“Don’t honey me, Ben, and he gave up the right to care who I see when he made his lack of feelings for me clear.”
He shook his head. “You know damn well that’s not true, Sharde. Or you should if you weren’t so blinded by the desire to hurt him emotionally. Hanging out with Frazier is so beneath you.”
His accusatory tone stung. She jerked at her hand again. “Don’t you preach to me, Ben! I wasted nine years on his butt and I’ll be damned if I’ll waste another second waiting on him. He didn’t want to commit and I wasn’t interested in being his booty call.”
“Now we both know he didn’t treat you like any booty call!” He grinned. “Although I will admit that you do have a rather luscious ass. I’ve occasionally been tempted.”
She blushed. “Ben!”
“What? I’m supposed to be blind because you’re my best friend’s woman?”
“I’m not his woman.”
“The hell you’re not!” He glanced over his shoulder and sighed. “Your watchdog Frazier is glaring in this direction so I guess we’ll have to have this conversation at another time.”
She shook her head. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
He released her hand and rose. “Oh, yes there is. Sharde?”
When she glanced up, he leaned down and pressed a light kiss against her lips. “Put me out of my misery and forgive him. Please, or I swear all his whining will drive me to drink again!”
She pushed at his shoulder. “Stay out of this, Ben!”
“Not damned likely.” He kissed her lips again and walked away.
Face burning, she watched Clayton return to their table, his brow arched. “A friend, did you say?”
“Yes. And before you ask, without benefits. We usually do the cheek thing when we meet.”
“So why kiss you twice tonight?”
She shrugged. “I think he only kissed me to annoy you.”
Clayton laughed and resumed his seat. “Mission accomplished. It annoyed the hell out of me to see my date being kissed by another man.”
“That’s the first time he’s ever kissed me on the lips!”
“Really? Well. Since this is a night for firsts...” He rose and moved to stand by her chair. When she looked up at him, he bent and pressed a long, hot kiss against her lips that made her pussy gush.
She pushed against his shoulder and he finally lifted his head and resumed his seat.
“Why did you do that?”
“I’ve been wanting to do it all night.”
“Ahhh... it’s getting late. I think–”
“It’s early yet. Would you like to go dancing?”
If she danced with him no power on earth would be strong enough to keep her out of his bed if he wanted her there. And she was not about to sleep with him. She smiled. “That’s a tempting offer, but I think I’d better go home.”
“In love with him, huh?”
“No. I told you Ben and I are just friends.”
“I didn’t mean Savage. I meant Calder.”
“Yes,” she whispered, afraid that if she didn’t, Clayton might press her. And no matter how much her body ached to sleep with him, she couldn’t betray Jeff in that way. “So when you take me home, please don’t call me again.”
“I’ll take you home, but as for not calling you again?” He shrugged. “I’ll think about it. If he’s foolish enough not to stake a claim on you, he’ll have to risk losing you.”
“You can have any woman you want.”
“Maybe I want you.”
“When you could have had Vanessa?”
“I didn’t want Del Warren.”
“She’s gorgeous.”
He shrugged. “I’m sure many men would agree with that assessment of her charms, but I’m not one of them. I no longer judge a woman strictly on physical appearances. I’m old enough to find other qualities equally as important. And in addition to her obvious lack of fidelity, she’s not my type.”
“And I am?”
“You’re attractive, intelligent, loyal, and you have the right skin tone. Why wouldn’t you be my type?”
“Men like you are usually interested in beautiful trophy wives.”
“Are they?” He shrugged. “Maybe so.”
“Then?”
“My father’s family was from the old South where gentlemen did not prefer blondes. I come from a long line of Frazier men who embrace that old southern tradition.”
“Oh.” She frowned, eyeing him. “But isn’t your mother...”
“White? Yes. Don’t let this deep tan fool you. I spend a lot of time in the islands, where I was born.” A smile curved his lips. “Mom’s a beautiful blonde trophy, all right. But like my father, her taste runs to lovers with darker skin tones.”
“Oh.” She blinked. “Both of them?”
He laughed at the dismay she couldn’t keep out of her voice. “Yes, both of them. They are both in long-term relationships with their island lovers and I have two younger biracial siblings to prove it.”
“Oh?”
“One from each parent.”
She parted her lips.
He shook his head. “If you say oh again, I’ll be forced to kiss you into saying something else.”
She blushed, then laughed.
He smiled. “That’s better.” He tilted his head. “Are you sure you won’t come dancing with me?”
She sighed. “I would love to go dancing with you, but I don’t dare.”
He reached across the table to touch her hand. “You don’t need to be afraid of me, honey. Nothing will happen between us that you don’t want.”
Normally, having a man call her honey on a first date would annoy her. But the endearment, spoken in that low, deep voice of his with just the hint of a southern drawl conjured up lustful thoughts of long nights of endless fucking of both her entrances. First date? That assumed there would be other dates. She swallowed slowly. “That’s what I’m afraid of–wanting something to happen.”
“Why?”
“I can’t do that to him. Not with you. Not after Vanessa.”
“Look, let’s clear the air. I didn’t want nor did I chase his woman.”
“You took her from him.”
“The hell I did! I told you she is not my type. She came to me and offered to get information to help me outbid him.”
“What?!”
He shook his head. “Wait a minute. Don’t get the wrong idea. She offered, but I did not accept. I told her to take her faithless ass out of my office and never spoke to her again.”
She stared at him.
He stared back. “We won that bid fair and square, Sharde. In business, I’m not going to make any apologies for not taking any prisoners, but I do not cheat. We earned that contract fair and square. I hope you believe that.”
“I don’t know why I should, but I do.”
He smiled. “I’m glad to hear
it. As for her, if he can’t see she did him a favor by walking out on him, he’s dumber than I thought.”
“He’s very intelligent.”
“Then how do you explain his falling for her or his allowing you get away from him? Such asinine behavior qualifies as dumb in my book.”
“Love is blind.”
“Maybe so, but does it have to be dumb as well?”
She stared at him and then laughed. As she did, she felt much of the tension she’d been feeling for so long ease. She sat back in her seat. “You are certainly good for a woman’s ego.”
“I wouldn’t have thought your ego needed any help.”
It did when she loved a man who didn’t love her. “I think I’m going to like you far more than I should.”
“I have that effect on intelligent, discriminating women.” He grinned at her. “So. Come dancing with me? Before you say no I promise I won’t grind against you and at the end of the night I will take you home and leave you there alone. No pressure. I just want to dance with you. So what do you say?”
* * * * *
“Do you want to talk about it... her... them?”
Jefferson paced the length of his rec room, raking his hands through his hair. A knot of rage tightened in his gut as he briefly thought of Sharde with Frazier. The two of them might even now be in bed together. She might be allowing Frazier to do things to and with her that she had not allowed him to do.
“I should have punched his damned lights out!”
“So you want to talk about him?”
He swung around and stared at Ben, who sprawled in one of the two chairs in front of the plasma TV. “No. If I talk about it, I swear I’ll wring his damned neck. If he touches her...”
“It will be because it’s what she wants.”
He swallowed hard to dislodge the lump in his throat. He shook his head. “She won’t sleep with him.”
“You sound very sure of that.”
“I am. She may be angry with me but we’ve been friends almost since the moment we met. She wouldn’t do that to me. I know she wouldn’t.”
“Even if she thought you’d betrayed her with Sally Bimbo?”
“Even then.”
“Okay. So you know she won’t betray any company secrets and you know she won’t sleep with him. Why are you so upset?”
“Because she’s my woman and she has no damn business seeing him or anyone else!” He walked over to his chair and sank down into it. “I miss her. Damn, I’ve been a fool. I thought I wasn’t ready for commitment with her because I told her it was just physical between us.I mean I knew I cared about her on a personal level.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Win her back.”
“Ready to do what you need to do?”
“It’s not that simple. She–”
Ben bolted to his feet. “Look, Jeff, if you’re not going to lose her, you’d better get your ass with the program. I’m thinking Frazier would love to snatch her right out of your grasp. If that’s what you want to happen, keep thinking you have time to play games.”
He sighed. “I know, but I don’t think she’s ready to even talk to me, let alone forgive me.”
He shrugged. “You could be right. Just don’t wait too long or she may do something with Frazier you’ll both regret.”
“If he touches her, I swear, I’ll–”
“Don’t give him the chance. Take care of business.”
* * * * *
Two days later, Sharde met Darbi for lunch at the mall near All Faiths. Picking at her salad, she told Darbi of her date with Clayton Frazier.
“So he’s... what was he like?”
She shook her head. “He is the most gorgeous hunk I’ve ever seen. Oh, lord, Darbi when he kissed me, I swear I nearly had a heart attack. He reeks of sex appeal. You look in his eyes and you just want to rip off your clothes and let him fuck you until your pussy is dry and numb and then you’d let him do it all over again.”
“So why did you refuse to see him again?”
“I couldn’t do that to Jeff.”
“Still in love with him?”
“Yes. Clayton is hot, but my feelings for Jeff go beyond the physical.” She sighed. “How is he?”
“Miserable. You know he broke down and asked me about you.”
“And you told him?”
Darbi shrugged. “I wanted to tell him I wasn’t going to discuss you, but he looked so hungry for information, I told him you were fine. So how are you?”
“In the last few days, I’ve been kissed by two of the most attractive men in the city.” Recalling her date with Clayton, she smiled. “Of course I’m fine.”
“You have a faraway look in your eyes. What are you thinking of?”
“Dancing with Clayton,” she admitted. “Oh, Darbi, girl, it ought to be against the law for any one man to be so damned sexy. While we danced all I could think of was hot monkey sex. One minute we were slow dancing and I was longing for Jeff, the next, I looked in Clayton’s eyes and... I was sooo tempted to spend the night with him.”
“To get back at Jefferson?”
“No! For the pleasure of having him fuck me! I’m telling you, Darbi, he is hot.”
“So you’ve replaced fantasies of Jefferson with those of Frazier?”
“No!” Her cheeks burned. “I know it might sound like that, but no. My attraction to Clayton was powerful, but strictly physical. I’m in love with Jefferson and sexually attracted to him.”
“I’m glad to hear that because I don’t think he could recover if you had an affair with Frazier.”
She frowned. “I’m not having an affair with him! We had one date. Period. At the end of the night, he went home...” She grinned. “After kissing me until my toes curled. I think there was actually smoke pouring out the top of my head.”
Darbi tilted her head. “If you’re not going to end up in Frazier’s bed, I’m thinking you’d better forgive Jefferson pronto and put you both out of your misery.”
She shook her head. “I want to, but I can’t allow myself to be hurt anymore. I need more than he’s willing to give me.”
“Are you sure that’s still true? He’s been so miserable since you left. He might have had time to change his mind.”
“Maybe.” She moistened her lips. “Now that you’re working so closely with him... how do you two get along?”
Darbi smiled. “Strictly like a boss and an employee. We don’t do lunch and we have no shared outside interests. And we haven’t shared a single smooch. I haven’t spent a single Sunday watching a ball game with him and I don’t plan to. Not that he’d want me to. Don’t worry, Sharde, we have zero personal interest in each other.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t even have asked that. It’s just that you’re so beautiful and he’s so handsome and horny.”
“Maybe so, but he’s not horny for me. And I’m not interested in him.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged. “Granted, he is handsome and he can be charming, but he just doesn’t do anything for me. And I am very sure I don’t do anything for him. He doesn’t look like the kind of man who could appreciate a full-figured woman.”
Sharde grimaced. “I’m not exactly a size six.”
“No, but you’re not full-figured either. But I’m thinking he’s really missing you. Why don’t you give him a call and see if you can work things out?”
“He’s the one who strayed after our first fight. If he wants me enough, he’s going to have to be willing to crawl a little.”
“And if he’s not?”
She shrugged. “Then things will stay as they are and I will continue with my life without him. It’s not the way I want it, but I can do it, if I have to.”
“And Frazier? Would you date him?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.” She tilted her head. “If not for the past hostility between the two of them, I’d definitely go out with him.”
�
��If you’re not going to end up in bed with Frazier, I think you’d better not see him again.”
“I’m not going to sleep with him!”
“You wouldn’t sound so certain if you could see your face when you’re talking about how hot he is.”
“He is hot, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to bed with him. What about you? I know things have been difficult since the divorce and the failed relationships, but you deserve to be happy too.”
“I know and I will... but right now I just want to concentrate on me without the complication of a man in my life.”
Sharde sighed. That Martin and the two jerks that followed him had a lot to answer for. “You know who would rock your world big time?”
“Who?”
“Clayton.”
“As in Frazier?”
“Yes.”
“What makes you think he’d be interested in giving me what I need?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know the two of you would make one beautiful couple. You’re gorgeous and he’s beyond handsome. And Darbi, he likes black women.”
“Does he?”
She nodded. “He said it’s an old southern tradition he’s been following since high school.”
“So he likes black women for what? For sex or for marriage?”
“I don’t know.” She frowned. After all, both his parents preferred black lovers, but were still married to each other. “I’ll ask him.”
“You’re seeing him again?”
“He said he’d ask me again and he’s very persistent. It’s not easy to say no to him.”
“If you’re not going to end up in bed with him, you’d better steer clear of him. But his preference in a woman he wants to marry doesn’t really matter anyway. I’m fine for now. Granted I’m a little horny, but I’ll be all right. You’re the one I’m worried about.”
“Don’t. I’ll be all right too with or without Jefferson.”
A week later when Clayton called, she met him at her favorite seafood restaurant. They discussed movies, sports, and politics; she found herself liking him even more. When he asked her to have dinner with him two nights later, she reluctantly refused.
