by A. C. Arthur
Reka licked her lips nervously. “Then what’s on your mind?” She was almost afraid to ask. She didn’t know what was going on with Khalil but her heart now hammered in her chest with a sense of dread.
“You.” Khalil took a deep breath. “You’re always on my mind.”
“Is that a good or bad thing?” she asked tentatively.
Khalil smiled, then visibly relaxed. “Only you would ask that question. Of course, it’s a good thing. I’m trying to tell you how much you’ve come to mean to me, Reka.”
Her heart settled into a smooth little rhythm and she gave a huge smile. She’d thought for a minute that she’d done something wrong, or that maybe he’d realized that pursuing a relationship with her was a bad idea. “Really? Then proceed.” With a wave of her hand she sat back in her chair, enjoying his handsome features and his strong aura.
Khalil commanded respect. She saw it when they were in the restaurant and in the way the majority of the staff treated him at the office. He was all business when he needed to be and yet all man at the same time. It was no wonder she’d fallen for him.
Khalil studied her. There she was, all professional and yet sexy, sitting behind that desk daring him to come and take her. Daring him to rescue her at the same time. There was a vulnerability to Ms. Reka Boyd that she didn’t want anyone to see. But he’d seen it. When she was at home mothering Grammy or when she was with Tacoma being the friend that he needed. These were sides that the tough-as-nails Reka didn’t want anybody to see, or if they did see, she dared them to mention it. These were the sides of her that endeared her to him even more.
“You are a very special woman. Has anybody ever told you that?”
“No.” She cleared her voice. “I don’t think they have.”
She kept her eyes level with his but he knew his directness was making her uncomfortable. “They should have. I’ve never met anyone like you and I can’t help feeling that I’ve been missing something great all these years. There is so much I want to do for you.”
Reka stood then and moved around the desk. “I don’t need you to do anything for me, Khalil. I’m capable of taking care of myself.”
Khalil realized the error in his wording, then stood, taking both her hands in his. “No, baby, don’t misunderstand me. I know you’re independent and I know that you can handle yourself and anybody else that comes along.” His thumbs rubbed the soft skin of her hands as he spoke. “But you’ve had to do that all your life. For once, I want you to be able to sit back and know that there is somebody that will take care of you. I want you to let go and allow yourself to be loved.”
At those words Reka tried to pull her hands free. “No. I can’t do that.”
Khalil held on to her. “Why?”
“Because that’s how you get hurt. You depend on people and people let you down. They disappoint you and then you’re left to deal with all those emotions and situations that you weren’t prepared for.” She’d been looking away from him as she spoke but now she stared up into his warm eyes. She could fall in love with those eyes. She could easily wake up every morning and happily smile into them. But she lived in the real world, where happy endings weren’t easy to come by. “I take care of myself, at all times,” she said solemnly.
Khalil released her, lifted his hands to cup her face and smiled. “It’s time to learn a new song, Reka.” He caressed her smooth skin, then bent down and kissed her softly on the lips. “I’m going to teach you how to trust.” He kissed her again, lingering over the softness of her lips. “How to let go.” His tongue stroked her bottom lip, nipping and drawing it into his mouth. “How to love.”
Reka was used to his kisses, used to his touch by now. But this she hadn’t expected. Maybe it was his words, or maybe it was the deep sincerity with which he’d said them. Whatever the case, her senses froze, her lungs stalled, her heart seemed to stop. Then his tongue lovingly stroked hers and she melted. Right there in her office, with her bottom pushed against her desk, Khalil’s large body looming over hers, his hands cupping her face ever so gently. She felt his steadiness, his protection, his vow to be the man she needed.
And then it shifted.
His hands moved around her waist pulling her closer; his head angled to take the kiss deeper. And his pledge to her changed to something more primal, more absorbing than anything she’d ever felt before. His lips moved on hers in a compelling, but not demanding, way. He sipped and suckled her lips, stroked his tongue deeply inside her mouth. His hands moved over her back, caressing her, kneading her, convincing her.
She kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. Pleasure, hot and wet, a combination of lips and tongues and, she now admitted readily, emotions. Emotions swept through her, lifting her from the defensive perch she’d been on these last few years. She went willingly, letting him lead the kiss but giving as good as she got. She was letting go, giving him what he asked of her. And she was enjoying it.
When he lifted his head it was with a reluctance she knew they shared. Her arms remained around his neck as her heart thumped loudly in her ears. She stared straight ahead, at his chest instead of into his face. She wasn’t sure what to say after that, what to do.
With a finger to her chin Khalil lifted her face. “Don’t think about it, just let it be.”
“You seem so certain.” And she was so scared.
“I learned a long time ago to trust my gut instinct. And the moment I met you I knew I needed you. It’ll be good between us, I promise you.”
Reka drew in a shaky breath and decided to take him up on his promise. “I’m going to hold you to that,” she said jokingly. But she’d taken his words seriously. She was taking a risk. She was giving him a part of herself she had decided never to give again. And he’d better be worth it.
“Please do.”
She arched a brow, then tried to move out of his grasp. “But right now we are in the office. Cienna has very strict rules about personal relationships in the office.”
Khalil knew about those rules. Keith had already warned him. “You’re right,” he said with much regret. Then he pulled her to him one last time, for one last embrace that would need to last him the rest of the day. “I’ll let you get back to work.”
Reka smiled as he released her, feeling the giddiness of a young girl. It was just a simple hug, but it moved her almost as much as the kiss had. “Yeah, and you need to get on that email situation. I think it provoked an all time low in the office this morning.”
“Really? What happened?”
Reka shook her head. “I’ll tell you about it on our personal time.”
He warmed inside at the sound of ‘our personal time.’ “Okay. Lunch or dinner?”
He had opened the door and was now standing half in and half out of her office. Reka sat back in her chair, unable to stop the incessant smiling. He made her feel so good. “Both.”
* * *
Tacoma’s face was scrunched up as he listened to Reka.
“I mean, he just seems too good to be true. After that kiss, the rest of my day was shot right to hell.” Reka snapped peas at Tacoma’s kitchen sink. It was the day before Thanksgiving, and she’d gone over to his apartment after their three-hour-early release from work. He and Terry felt no shame for their office antics. Both of them grinned from ear to ear when Reka walked in fussing about their office rendezvous.
“Don’t make that face,” Reka warned. “The least you can do is listen to my sickeningly sweet moment after I had to listen to you and Terry in the conference room.”
“True.” Tacoma put four fingers to his lips to still a smile. “Okay, so he’s a great guy, a gentleman and a good kisser. Now what?”
“You make the answer sound obvious. I don’t know why I even told you.” Because that’s what she was used to doing, she thought to herself. For as long as she could remember Tacoma had been her sounding board. Cienna was a good listener too, but given office policy, she would have been a fool to run and tell her boss.<
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“Well, that’s the bottom line. My question is, why are you here instead of at his place finishing up your business? I’ve never known you to be shy about sleeping with a man.”
For some reason that made her sound like some sort of hussy, and Reka was positive she didn’t like that. “Thanks a lot.” She snapped one pod a little too hard and the peas flew out of the bowl.
Tacoma sighed and picked them up. “We’d like to have some left for dinner, if you don’t mind.”
“But that’s just it, sex was easy with those other guys because there was hardly ever any real emotion tied to it. I can say that now, because I know I’ve never felt what I feel for Khalil with anyone else,” she sighed, ignoring his smart retort. “ I mean, take Donovan for instance…”
“Woo girl, don’t even mention Donovan and his fine ole chocolate self.” Tacoma fanned his face. “If I didn’t have Terry and you weren’t my girl, mmm, mmm, mmm. Something definitely would have popped off there.”
Reka rolled her eyes. “In your dreams. Donovan is as straight as that lamp pole over there. Besides, I was just using the relationship between me and Donovan as an example. Donovan and I had good sex, but I think that’s all we had.”
“And you and Khalil have what?” Tacoma could see that she was serious, so he’d let the jokes rest for a minute. “You really like him, don’t you?”
Nodding, Reka let that little revelation sink in. She really did like him. So what was she going to do about it? “I’m just wondering why he seems to like me so much.”
Tacoma nudged her until she almost fell in the floor. “Don’t ask stupid questions. You know you’ve got it going on.”
“No. I mean, yes, I know I’m a good person and that I’m not a bad looking woman.”
“If I wasn’t happily in love with my man I’d be trying to get with you,” Tacoma added with a smile.
Reka cast him a teasing glare. “And I’d be running like hell.” She giggled.
Tacoma snapped the pod open and let his peas roll into the bowl with much attitude. “Not funny.”
“Seriously, though, I just don’t know what he sees in me. I mean, he’s educated and sophisticated and from a wealthy family. And I’m just me, with my community college degree and my looney tunes grandmother walking around my apartment in pieces of the Sensual Safari Collection.”
Tacoma threw his head back, laughing. “You didn’t tell me Grammy still buys lingerie.”
“She didn’t buy it. You know I get samples of all Sensuality, Inc.’s new stuff because Cienna likes to keep her guard up with lawsuits against the company. Well, I thought I had all that stuff carefully hidden away until I got home the other day and she was modeling some of it for her friend Cletus from the nursing home.”
“Lawd, I’ll bet that was a sight.” He was holding his stomach laughing now.
“No, the sight was seeing Cletus’ shriveled old erection as Grammy pranced around in front of him. And then neither one of them having any shame when I walked in. Can you believe she had the audacity to complain about not having any privacy? In my house! If my mother doesn’t come and get her soon I’m going to lose my mind.”
“Girl, you know Janell ain’t hardly worried about you and Grammy, so you might as well get used to the roommate.”
Reka sighed and went back to snapping the peas, her mind still on the situation with her and Khalil. She really didn’t know why he liked her. The one thing she was sure of was that she wanted the chance to pursue things with him, to try to be the woman he believed she was. She just wasn’t sure how.
“Look.” Tacoma grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. “Stop worrying about that foolishness. He likes you because you’re smart and you’ve got ambition and because you’re a great person. With the best cheekbones I’ve ever seen,” Tacoma ended with a smile.
Reka smiled. There were times when Tacoma was her biggest fan and champion supporter. That was why she loved him so. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“Oh, you know I’m right. Now you’re going to dinner at his parents’ house tomorrow. What are you going to wear? You know first impressions are everything, especially with the rich.”
“I was thinking about a pantsuit.”
Tacoma nodded his head. “Good move. Wear the silver one with the lame shell and matching shoes. It’s an excellent cut and looks amazing on you. And pull your hair up, that’s elegant.”
“Khalil likes my hair down.”
“Honey, you’ve already impressed Khalil. Now you’ve got to impress his mama. Do as I say and you’ll be just fine.”
For the next hour Tacoma told her what to do and what to say tomorrow at dinner. Then they moved on to wedding preparations. And for the first time, while she twisted netting into wedding favors, Reka began to think that matrimonial bliss might be somewhere in her future.
* * *
“I just wanted to give you a heads-up about tomorrow,” Khalil spoke into the telephone as he lounged on his couch.
“So you’re bringing your new girlfriend home to meet the family. Good luck,” Danielle said with a sigh.
Danielle was younger than him by three years, but she’d one-upped him by getting married five years ago and giving their parents the first grandchild, Lance. She didn’t subscribe to the same book of rules his parents did but she tended to stay on their side since both she and her husband worked for the family company.
“I’m not going to need luck. Reka is a wonderful woman. You’re going to love her.”
“It doesn’t matter what I think. You know whose vote counts.”
“Mother just has to get over it. I’m not marrying Sonya.”
Danielle sighed. She’d heard all this before and personally wasn’t at all bothered by her brother’s refusal to marry the catty woman. “So what’s this woman like? Does she work?”
“She’s a paralegal at this firm I’m working at. She lives a couple blocks away from me with her grandmother.”
“Is that all the family she has?” Danielle shifted on the stool in her kitchen.
“Well, I’ve met her mother, and I think she said she has a brother, but he’s in jail.”
“You might want to leave that tidbit of information out when you introduce her to Mother.”
Khalil laughed. He had been thinking about how this dinner was going to work out. Reka was important to him. And he knew that whatever the outcome, he was going to continue to see her, regardless of what his parents thought. But he still had reservations about how this would all play out. Naomi Franklin could be vicious when provoked, and as much as he loved his mother, he knew that he’d side with Reka should it really come down to it.
“Just try to make her comfortable, will you? I need somebody on my side for a change.”
Danielle smiled. If he only knew. She was always on his side because she’d always envied his independence, his determination to be what he wanted despite what was expected of him. She didn’t have any of that, and while she was happy with her life, her husband and her son, she often wondered what would have happened had she pursued her acting. “I’ve got your back, big brother, don’t worry about it.”
“Thanks, Danielle.”
He wanted to call Reka. It was after eight o’clock and he hadn’t heard her voice for more than five hours. This morning in her office had been a milestone for them. He wanted her and she wanted him. They’d already discovered that much. But something else had happened in that tiny room. Something had passed between them, something beyond just physical desire.
That was probably crazy, considering he’d known her for all of six weeks. Still, he knew what he felt and he trusted those feelings. Would she fit in with his family? Well, he wasn’t blind, he could see the obvious differences, her upbringing, her outlook on life, her candor. But those were all the things that made her who she was, and that was the woman he was falling in love with.
* * *
Khalil was scheduled to pick Reka up at two. It wou
ld take about an hour to get to his parents’ house in Greenwich, Connecticut. He planned to take the scenic route, because he knew she was nervous.
* * *
Reka was wearing the silver pantsuit and matching pumps with a lamé clasp at her ankle. She’d decided against her long leather coat and instead had gone with the fur-collared black wool. She felt classy and mature as she stepped into Khalil’s car. Against Tacoma’s advice she’d flat ironed her hair and let it hang around her shoulders. The moment he saw her, Khalil had run his fingers through it, saying she was beautiful. She’d call Tacoma the moment she got home to tell him.
While they drove, they chatted amiably about this and that and nothing. It was a comfortable ride and Reka found herself relaxing. “You know, I recall I was supposed to be helping you relax, but these last couple of days you’ve seemed more laid back than ever. I guess you didn’t need my help at all.” She glanced out at the thick trees and huge houses lining the streets.
For a minute he felt guilty for the pretense he’d used to get closer to her. “It’s because of you. I think by simply being around you I’ve become a new person.”
Reka turned her lips up in disbelief. “I didn’t change you. If you’re different it’s because that was the real you all along.”
“You think so?”
“Yes, I do. Sometimes I think people are raised to be a certain way, but that’s not the person they are on the inside.”
She’d hit the nail right on the head and Khalil cast her a serious look. She’d summed his entire life up in one neat sentence and she probably didn’t even know it.
“Do you think your parents will like me?”
Because she sounded vulnerable, her voice going very low, he was concerned. Was this a good idea bringing her out here? “They’ll like you, and even if they don’t, they’ll respect you and the role you play in my life.”
“And what role is that? I mean, what are we doing, really?” She’d lain in her bed last night pondering their relationship. He’d said he was going to show her how to love. Had he been serious?
Khalil thought about her question and, while he readily knew the answer, he wanted to phrase it so that she wouldn’t be afraid or discouraged. “We’re dating. And moving towards a meaningful relationship, I hope.”
