A Valentine Challenge (Challenge Series, #1)

by Kiru Taye

  The most surprising thing he’d discovered was that she had a sister who lived in the Coal City too. Why wasn’t Kasie staying with her? Most people would jump at the opportunity to stay with relatives especially if they were only visiting a place temporarily.

  Although in most of those cases, saving on costs was probably a deciding factor. Well, Kasie didn’t have money problems. Her father was a wealthy king-maker and she had a well-paying job. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling there was something odd about her situation.

  Wondering why she was taking such a long time in the bathroom, he stood with the intention of knocking on the door.

  It swung inward and Kasie stepped out, dressed in a white towelling robe, the belt cinched around her waist. She must have been in the shower. Her hair was pulled back off her face in a pony-tail style, her face clean, bare of makeup. She looked composed. Youthful. Vulnerable.

  Seeing him, she halted by the door. Wariness flickered in her rust eyes before she lowered them to the floor. It was the first time he'd seen her appear uncertain of what to do or say.

  With eyes still averted, she manoeuvred past him, going the long way past the sofa as if she purposely didn't want body contact with him. At the desk where she'd left the takeaway food bag, she withdrew the plastic box containing what she'd ordered.

  "Michael, why are you here?" Her voice was calm, soft. A whisper. She still didn’t look at him.

  Her subdued tone tugged at his heart, tendrils of warmth wrapped around his body. A frown squeezed his face as he recalled the reason he'd come to her in the first place.

  "I brought this for you." He dug into his back pocket, removing her phone.

  "Thank you. Please leave it on the coffee table." She turned her back to him and stroked her finger tips along the edge of the table.

  He left the phone where she’d asked and straightened up. He wasn’t ready to go. Not yet. Not until they resolved this thing between them. It mattered to him. He just couldn’t explain why.

  "Kasie, I--," he started.

  "Michael," she said at the same time.

  She whipped her head around, catching his eyes for the first time since she’d come out of the bathroom. Her brown eyes gleamed as her lips curled in a smile. A sad one. A fist squeezed his heart tightly. At least, she was smiling. It was a start. He pulled his lips up in a return smile.

  "Please, you first," he said, lifting his hand up to urge her on.

  Chest rising, she heaved a sigh before speaking.

  "I want to apologise for my attitude today. It was out of order. I really don’t have an excuse." She shook her head as if debating something within herself. "I know it's probably a little too late but for what it’s worth, I’m sorry."

  "I’m sorry too." Relieved, he took a step toward her.

  "I shouldn’t have let you get to me. But..." He shrugged his shoulders.

  Brown eyes studied him closely, expectantly.

  "But what? You can’t stop there since we’re clearing the air."

  Her smile widened, lighting up her face in a way he’d never seen it—a goddess bestowing favour to him. The tendrils around his body turned to swathes of warmth blanketing him in tenderness.

  "From the first moment I saw you this morning, I’ve been..." he scrambled in his mind trying to search for the right word, the least offensive word. He finally settled for "tense."

  A soft tinkling sound which sent warm shivers through him and tightness to his groin filled the room. It was the first time he’d seen her laugh. She was even more stunning with her face lit up and her body wracking with little tremors of delight.

  He wanted to kiss her. Right now. To swallow the laughter into his belly. To feed on her joy and give her more reasons to laugh. He held himself back. She wouldn’t welcome it. Not after what had happened tonight.

  "You, tense?" She managed to say between fits of giggles. "You’ve got to be kidding me, right?"

  He shook his head. Her giggles died but her eyes still sparkled with amusement.

  "You’ve been so unperturbed all day. I guess it was part of the reason I got even more annoyed. You looked so laid back, so in control. I thought, doesn’t anything ever faze this man? Well, that was until you lifted me out of the car. Then I knew I’d pushed you too far."

  She lowered her eyes, shifting from one leg to the other, her body language exuding her guilt. Her remorse. He took another step to her. He didn’t want her feeling any shame.

  "Kasie, you got to me, way before I dragged you out of the car into my arms. Which by the way, I had wanted to do all day." He stopped in front of her within arms length, close enough to feel her heat radiating toward him.

  "What?" She fiddled, rearranging the items of the table, still not looking at him.

  "From the first time I saw you, I’ve wanted to hold you, kiss you...make love to you."

  She shook her head vigorously. Unbelievingly.

  "Kasie, look at me." The urgency in his voice must have made her look up sharply. "It’s true."

  He nodded, wanting her to see the truth in his eyes.

  The look of hard disbelief remained in the depths of her brown eyes. After a little while she let out a soft sigh, the tension around her body easing.

  "Ok." She said gently, shrugging her shoulders.

  "So do you forgive me for my...how did your put it again...macho man antics?" he asked, holding his breath. For some reason it was important to him to hear her say the words of exculpation.

  "I’ll forgive you as long as you forgive me for my rude behaviour too," she replied.

  "You’re already forgiven." He forgave her when he kissed her earlier. His actions had not been wrought from anger but from desire.

  Her lips lifted in a glorious smile, the sparkle back in her brown eyes. "Thank you. I’m glad we cleared the air."

  "It’s not a problem. I’ll leave you to get a good night’s rest then." Now she appeared more relaxed, he could go home with less guilt. He couldn’t forgive his own actions so easily.

  "Sure. You too. I’ll see you in the morning."

  "Good night, Kasie." He gave her one last smile before heading to the door and letting himself out, his heart tonnes lighter.

  ***

  Kasie woke the next morning in a lighter mood. Considering the disaster of the previous day, she'd managed to have a decent night's sleep. The first in a few weeks.

  She never slept well in hotel rooms, hated being away from the security and comfort of her own home. But she'd taken this assignment in Enugu on purpose. She'd needed to get away from Lagos and the stresses in her life.

  However, running from her problems wasn't going to resolve them. Today she would face up to them, and focus on mending fences with her family.

  There was no point in blaming them for not reaching out to her, if she didn’t try reaching out to them either. They were still her blood relatives regardless of what had happened in the past. She’d start with her sister. It made sense since Kemafor lived in Enugu.

  Before she stepped out of the lobby, she spied Michael standing by the car. She stopped and watched him for a moment through the glass of the rotating doors, not wanting him to see her yet.

  He was in a white shirt, navy trousers and jacket. Though he was in the required smart uniform of a chauffeur sans the cap, there was nothing subservient about him. He stood tall. Proud. A man comfortable with his surroundings. A man in charge. His actions yesterday proved he didn’t have the eager-to-please appearance of other drivers she knew.

  This was the reason she couldn’t understand why he was doing this job. He was an intelligent man. She saw it in his eyes. And the tightly-honed body of his didn’t come from sitting around in a car all day. So why driving?

  Sadness, a heavy blanket, weighed her shoulders down. Absently, she rubbed a fist against her chest, the cool linen of her white and black panel dress, soft on her knuckles.

  People did whatever it took to survive. Not everyone had the opportunities she had.


  What was Michael's story?

  Heat rose to her cheeks at the sudden personal interest she’d taken to him. Stiffening her back, she decided not to go there. Yes, after last night she'd made a reassessment of the kind of man Michael was. If she hadn't been a Grade A bitch yesterday, he wouldn’t have done what he did to take her pride down a peg.

  He didn’t have to come up to her room afterward. He didn’t have to console her when she’d broken down in tears. He didn’t have to apologise. But he did all those things and had left her with some of her dignity regained.

  Beneath the gruff image exterior beat a tender heart. Like her, he hid a different persona to the one he showed the world. This was the only reason she was curious about him.

  Liar!

  Pushing the swinging doors, she ignored the little voice in her head and walked out into the sunshine.

  As soon as Michael noticed her, his beautiful lips widened in a smile. It lit up his face, diffusing the rugged edges and making him more stunningly attractive. A sense of relief washed over her. She let out the breath she hadn’t realised she was holding and curved her lips in a return smile as her body pulsed to life.

  "Good morning, Michael." She kept her tone light. She was glad for the opportunity to start afresh with him without the spectre of yesterday’s debacle hanging over them.

  "Morning, Kasie," he sounded upbeat as he took her laptop case and opened the car door. "I hope you slept well."

  "I did, thank you," she replied before getting in.

  He placed the bag on the seat next to her and shut the door, walking to the driver’s side. He got in and started the car engine. The silence stretched during the journey as neither of them spoke.

  Was he thinking about last night?

  She shifted uneasily in her seat and tugged at the wide collar of her dress. It wasn't embarrassment causing her to fidget. A different kind of heat twirled in her belly and turned her bones to lava.

  "Michael, are we cool?" she asked tentatively wanting to make sure last night was in the past.

  "Yes, we’re cool." He turned to glance over his shoulder, flashing a set of white teeth in a quick reassuring smile.

  "Ok." She exhaled raggedly. "I want to ask a favour. Usually on a Friday, I finish early at Apex and head to the airport for my flight to Lagos. But this weekend, I’ll be in Enugu. So I need to get to the shops."

  She paused, watching for his response. He just smiled back at her through the mirror as if waiting for her to continue.

  "But I don’t really know the city very well," she continued. "Could you take me to a shopping mall, please? I’ll invite Franca along. I know you like her company."

  She offered him Franca as a sweetener, though it pained her to do so. It seemed he preferred her friend. And she didn’t want to stand in their way if he was serious about Franca.

  He didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he drove the car into the bank premises, parked it and switched off the engine. Unhooking his seat belt, he swivelled to face her. She wasn’t sure what to expect.

  The sexy dimples on his cheek as he smiled warmly made her relax a little.

  "Kasie, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’ll spell it out for you. Your friend Franca is nice and yes I like her." His words confirmed her fear. Her heart sank and she turned away as a stab of pain hit her stomach.

  "But..." Michael reached out and took her hand into his large warm one. Tingles spread through her on contact.

  "I really really like you. It would be my pleasure if you came out on a date with me tonight. So wherever you want to go, I’ll take you there. If you want to bring your friend along, that’s good too. But know it’s you I’m interested in, not your friend."

  Stunned, she sat there immobile. Did he just say he really liked her? He’d actually used really twice. Her heart rate increased as he brushed her knuckles with his lips. A tremor travelled down her back.

  His grey eyes were an almost green-grey hue when he smiled at her. Her heart somersaulted. Everything else faded away, Michael her only focus in the moment. Pictures of the two of them together, making love and making plans, flashed through her mind. Visions she'd never had before about any other man, even Anthony. Was he the one?

  "What time do you want me to pick you up?" his voice, deep and gravelly, pulled her back to the present. Would she ever get used to hearing it?

  "Eh? What?" She blinked; her brain distracted, unable to process a coherent thought.

  "Shopping, remember?"

  "Oh, two o’clock."

  "I’ll be here."

  His promise sent tingles of anticipation down her spine. He released her hand and walked round to open her door. She took her bags and stepped out. As she walked past him, her awareness of him hiked up, his heat wrapping around her. She almost leaned into him just to inhale a bit more of his spice.

  "Have a nice day," he said; his voice a tender whisper halted her step and her heart.

  "Same to you, Michael," she replied, feeling breathless as she walked into the bank lobby. Her heart leapt with hope.

  She didn’t need to force the smile on her face when she greeted the receptionist. She was actually happy for the first time in weeks.

  Chapter Six

  In a cheerful mood, Kasie breezed through her work day, her eyes darting to the clock every time she had a break. Two p.m. couldn’t come fast enough.

  Franca even made a remark about her being in a much better temperament than she’d been yesterday. She agreed, apologising to her friend for her awful behaviour. Franca asked her why she was suddenly in such good cheer. In response, Kasie just smiled unable to suppress the elation in her heart. In the end, with her friend’s persistence, she caved in, pulling Franca into Kasie’s office and shutting the door.

  "It’s Michael. He’s asked me out on a date," she whispered, her grin as wide as a rainbow across the sky.

  "You mean he actually gave you the time of day after your attitude yesterday," Franca said sourly, her eyebrow lifted in disbelief.

  "I know." Kasie looked away in shame, walking back to her chair, when she recalled her grouchy behaviour. She didn’t want to tell her friend all that happened last night so she stuck to the basics.

  "We had an argument after we dropped you off. I can tell you, he takes no prisoners when you’re on the wrong side of him." Kasie couldn’t hide the awe in her voice.

  "You mean he actually stood up to you? Someone stood up to you at last?"

  Kasie nodded, her chest feeling like it would burst with her joy. It was unbelievable even to her. And she actually liked it.

  "Wow. You finally met your match. About time too, if you ask me," Franca said, moving to sit in the chair opposite Kasie’s.

  Her friend was nothing if not candid. Previously Kasie would have taken offence but today she saw the truth in her words. Michael was indeed more than a match for her. The very thought excited her.

  If only...

  "Anyway after our argument—" Kasie said. Heat crept up her face as she recalled the exact details of their row.

  "—I was upset when he dropped me off. But he came to my room to drop off my phone I’d left in the car. We talked and cleared the air."

  "He came to your hotel room?" Franca said loudly, leaning forward attentively. "Tell me more."

  "Shhh...Lower your voice. Do you want the whole floor to hear you?"

  Kasie glanced around to make sure no one was standing outside the wooden partition separating her small office from the rest of the floor.

  "We just talked, that's all. He’s really gentle beneath the hard masculine exterior."

  She remembered the way Michael had held her, his large frame almost covering her body. His soft-spoken words, calming. His hands massaging her back, soothing. His body heat surrounding her, comforting. In those moments, she’d felt safe. Secure. At home.

  For the first time in a long time.

  "So what happened?" Franca words jarred her back from her musing. Her friend eyed
her inquisitively.

  Feeling hot despite the air conditioner, Kasie tugged the collar of her dress.

  "Nothing happened. He went home. This morning we were civil to each other. More than civil. I told him I needed to go shopping after work. He told me he really liked me and wants to take me out on a date."

  She inhaled deeply, still not believing it. She’d been hoping for cordiality between them. Instead Michael was offering her romance.

  "I really really like you."

  She’d been replaying those words in her head all day. Like a teenager with a crush. She had to laugh at her own silliness. Yet in her mind, she couldn’t shake the feeling he’d only said those words to make up for last night, somehow.

  "Isn’t it great he asked you especially after the disappointment from your ex? Imagine daring to break up with you by text a few days before Valentine’s day too. I mean I’ve heard about people who do that but it is plain nasty," Franca said, her voice laced with anger.

  "I personally think Michael is more man than insipid Anthony. I always thought Anthony was all flash and no substance, if you ask me."

  "Hang on." Kasie turned on her friend. "How come you never told me you didn’t like Anthony?"

  "Hello. I was hardly going to tell you to dump your dull and boring boyfriend. You would have accused me of trying to steal him for myself."

  "True."

  Kasie nodded in agreement. It had been known to happen. A wry smile curled her lips.

  "Anthony was boring, wasn’t he?" He was nothing like Michael who’d set her senses into a confused state from the moment she’d set eyes on him.

  "Yes!" Franca shouted almost jubilantly. They both burst out laughing.

  It felt good to laugh again after the heartache of the past few days. Though she hadn’t admitted it at first, she’d been disappointed in herself for her failed relationship with Anthony. It was another thing her sister and father were going to hold against her. They liked Anthony.