SEEING KAYLA SO UPSET ABOUT the whole dating thing bothered Richmond. Had he known telling his family they were dating would’ve bothered her this bad, he would’ve never teased them the way he had.
Kayla’s expression looked sad as they entered the jewelry store, causing his heart to clench. Browsing over the beautiful jewelry sparkling inside the glass case, they parted and went their separate ways. She went to look at the watches while he perused the tiny sterling bracelets for Isabelle.
“May I help you?” the sales clerk asked as she came to a stop in front of him on the other side of the counter.
Richmond lifted his gaze to look at the dark-haired sales lady. “I’m just looking. Thank you.”
“Are you looking for anything special?”
“Yes, I’m looking for a birthday present for my daughter.”
“How nice. How old is she?”
“Four.”
“Four. We have a very limited selection of jewelry for girls her age. Everything we have is right in this case.” She pulled out a tiny silver bracelet and placed it on a silk rag on the counter.
Richmond hefted the bracelet to the light in the ceiling. The tiny jewelry sparkled.
Kayla came to stand beside Richmond as he looked closely at the present he was considering purchasing for Isabelle. Tilting her head, Kayla said, “Although the bracelet’s really nice, I think she’ll like a baby doll better.”
He lowered the bracelet to his side. “She already has a bunch of dolls.”
“Does she have a custom made doll that looks like her? Or has a name she likes?”
Placing the bracelet back on the cloth, he didn’t think so. “You really think she’ll like a doll better?”
“Yes.” Kayla’s lips eased into an endearing smile. Warmth infused his chest. Happy to see her happy, he wanted to reach out and touch her soft lips with his. Wanted to wrap his arms about her shoulders, draw her to him, and say he was sorry for upsetting her over and over again until she forgot it’d ever happened.
“I’ll get her the doll and the bracelet.” He handed the lady the bracelet back and pulled his wallet from his front jean pocket.
Kayla put her soft palm on his shoulder. “I think that’s a good idea. Why don’t you get the bracelet engraved?”
Another great idea she’d come up with. “What should I put on it?”
“Put how you feel,” she suggested.
When it came to buying gifts for his precious Isabelle, he was still learning in that department. Salina had always taken care of the birthday parties, Christmas presents, Halloween costumes, and parties. Put how he feel? Oh, now that was easy.
A smile appeared on his face as he looked at the sales clerk. “Write ‘Daddy’s Number One Angel’.”
“Oh, she’s going to love that,” Kayla appraised him.
“How do you want to pay, Sir?” the clerk queried.
“Cash,” he confirmed.
“But it’s eight hundred dollars,” the clerk acknowledged in a shocking tone.
Richmond chuckled. “I know.”
“Oh. It’s going to take about thirty minutes for me to do the engraving.”
“While it’s getting engraved, we’ll go do some shopping and come back later.” Towering over Kayla, he grabbed her hand and pushed open the door leading to the outdoors, exposing the beautiful Sunday afternoon. “Do you think I did okay with her present?”
Her face looked softer than it had when they’d first arrived. “You did better than okay. You did wonderful. She’s going to love it.”
“I hope so.”
“Isabelle loves you so much, Richmond. She’d be fine with whatever you got her. Something as simple as a hug would make her happy.”
“Will you help me plan her birthday party?”
Shock spread like a blanket over her caramel-complexioned face. “I’d love to.”
After they left the jewelry store, Richmond offered Kayla some dessert, and she’d graciously accepted. They stopped inside Kilwins ice cream eatery. While there, Kayla got two scoops of New Orleans praline pecan. Not much of a big ice cream or sweets eater, Richmond settled on a scoop of plain French Vanilla.
Moments later, they sat on the bench near the bookstore, indulging in their desserts, having great conversation, and watching people from various walks of life walk by. Kayla held her cup of ice cream up to Richmond’s face. “Would you like to taste mine?” The sun slipping through the leaves of the trees to their left shined down on her face, making her eyes sparkle.
“Sure.”
Kayla scooped up the ice cream from her cup on her spoon and fed it to him. “Mmm. That’s really good.”
“It’s my favorite.”
“Want to taste mine?”
She nodded. Richmond put a small scoop of ice cream on his spoon to her succulent, glossy pink lips and fed her. “Mmm. It’s so smooth and creamy,” she said, swallowing.
Noticing Kayla had some ice cream smeared on the upper part of her lip, Richmond put a finger to her mouth where the ice cream was. “You got some ice cream right here.”
She trailed the tip of her tongue around her lips, trying to get it off. “Is it off?”
“No.” He leaned into her. “Let me help you.” Bowing his head, he slanted his mouth over hers and tongue-kissed her. Not giving a damn that they were sucking face in public, he curled his tongue with hers and sucked the sweet treat from her delicate flesh.
Kayla’s sweet lips felt like soft cotton gliding across his lips. His shaft throbbed inside his underwear. He’d never been the type of man to do something so daring like kiss a woman out in public.
Damn, how had he let Kayla walk into his life and get under his skin like this? Falling for a woman was not in his plans. He wished like hell he could stop his feelings for her. Stop falling deeper and deeper in lo— As soon as the four-letter word ‘love’ popped inside his head, Richmond tore his mouth from Kayla’s.
Scared of his own thoughts, he retreated to eating his ice cream. Willing his shaft to soften with his mind, his body felt aflame. Hell no! He wasn’t in love. Thinking of the word ‘love’, he mentally punched his own face for letting his brain drift to the dumb word. Being in love once in his lifetime was way more than he’d ever need, so it just wasn’t going to ever happen again. Not ever!
“Are you okay?” Obviously, she’d read his tensed body language.
“Yeah. I’m good. Why do you ask?”
“No reason.”
As much as he liked Kayla, he had a hard time trusting women at this point in his life. Aware that Salina was the cause of his inability to trust women, he grimaced. Who knows? Maybe one day he’d let his guard down and be able to give himself completely to a woman. It may even be to his Kay. For now, though, his most important concern was raising Isabelle. His second most important concern was proving that Jason had killed his wife. And after he did, he was going to put the bastard behind bars for the rest of his long, living, miserable days.
Jason had smiled in his face yesterday like he hadn’t done a damn thing. Like he didn’t convince or threaten Salina to sign that life insurance policy and leave it to him. Damn you, Jason! He took the advantage of my wife behind my back. For that, he’s going to have to pay. I hope he burns in hell for all eternity! And if he even thinks about hurting my Kay, I’ll stomp on his throat and break his neck!
Kayla sighed. “Okay. Something’s definitely on your mind, Richmond.”
“You’re right.” He pecked her mouth. “Just business. That’s all. Just business.”
Richmond’s cell buzzed against his hip. Glad it was the jewelry store calling to say Isabelle’s bracelet was ready, he answered without looking at the Caller ID. “Hello.”
“It’s me, Don. You got a second?”
“For you, always.”
“Are you alone?”
“No, why?”
“Go somewhere where you can talk,” Don advised.
Richmond excused
himself from Kayla, rounded the side corner of the bookstore, and stopped walking when he reached the end of the crosswalk. “I’m by myself now. What’s up?”
“I ran a report on all Jason’s banking transactions over the last few years and stumbled across a check made out to him for a hundred thousand dollars. But the amount doesn’t intrigue me as much as who it’s from does.”
Not sure he wanted to hear this, Richmond swallowed. Salina better not had given Jason his damn money. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he shut his eyes and asked, “Who was the check from?”
“Your father.”
Blown the hell away, his eyes shot open.
Marrying the Millionaire Page 33
