by Tamika Brown
The sensuality, passion, and pleasure were all still there. They remembered what each other liked, what took them over the top, to the highest peak of pleasure. Familiar hands landed on all too familiar hot spots, and the orgasms came in waves on top of waves.
She relished in the sensation for as long as it would last.
They both were spent and more than content to lie in each other’s arms. Soon, both fell into a deep, satisfying sleep with Calen’s arm around her waist cradling her stomach.
The next morning, Shayla awakened with a jolt. It took her a moment to realize where she was, and when she gazed at the arm draped around her waist, protectively over her belly, she freaked.
“Shit, shit, shit,” she whispered.
Memories of the night before came crashing back to her. Panic ensued. She slipped out of his embrace, gathered up her clothes from around the room, and put them on as she snuck out of the room. On her way to the elevator, she called a cab. She guessed Tela and Bryce had a nice night due to the sign hanging on the doorknob of Bryce’s room door. She didn’t want to ruin Tela’s morning.
The elevator doors opened, and she walked to her cab.
The elevator doors dinged. She glanced back to see Calen getting off the elevator as she closed the door to the cab.
CALEN
It was right to have her in his arms again. He was sure they were back on the course they started with each other in North Carolina.
Or so he thought.
As Shayla’s cab drove away, he made a U-turn back onto the elevator, confused as to what just happened.
Everything about last night was meant to be. All the jitteriness and fear Shay felt toward him melted away. He made sure of it.
They were so right for each other, so why did she run away from him just now?
He vaguely remembered something different in how his arm fit around her once toned stomach, but he pushed the memory to the back of his mind because he was happy to have her in his arms again.
He was reminded of how uncomfortable she was to be alone with him. She never looked him square in the eyes, as if embarrassed or hiding something. What that something was, though, he did not know.
After his elevator ride and all his questions, he was more confused than ever. He knew she was happy to be with him last night as well. Her body had told him so. She responded to his every touch, all of his kisses.
“No, she wanted it too,” he reasoned.
Even after the constant rejection, not returning his phone calls, and all the other things she dished out, Calen was confident in what they shared, or else he would be worried she had someone else. He didn’t believe it was because she would have told him before she even let him kiss her at the bar last night.
Shayla wasn’t the type of woman. He was certain she would have let him know.
When the doors opened up to his floor, he decided to find out if Bryce was awake. He knew he went off with Tela, but maybe, she bailed like Shayla. He knocked on his friend’s room door. He could hear rummaging as if someone was racing around the room and voices of someone whispering.
So, she hadn’t left yet. The door opened, instead of Bryce stepping out the door, it was Tela.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Good morning to you, too.” She moved to go around him.
“She left already. Called a cab.” As she passed by him, he grabbed her arm, stopping her before she could head to the elevator. “Hey, do you know what’s up with her? Why is she acting as if she’s afraid of me?”
“I really don’t want to get in the middle of the two of you. When she’s ready, she’ll tell you.”
“Okay, just tell me if it was something I did to make her afraid of me? I don’t understand it. All of a sudden, she’s acting skittish. Like she’s afraid of me.” Calen rested his head on the wall, waiting for Tela’s answer.
He hoped she could tell the fact that Shay hiding something from him was eating him up. He really loved her. He didn’t know what he would do if; for some reason, she was scared of him.
“Let’s just go get some breakfast. I’ll tell you what I can,” Tela reluctantly said.
Calen whirled inside the door. “Bryce, I’m borrowing Tela for a while. Meet us downstairs for breakfast when you get ready.”
The elevator ride started in silence. Then, Calen turned to Tela about to ask her something but not quite sure what.
He didn’t know her at all, so he decided to talk about what he did know. His best friend. “I believe you and Bryce are good together.”
Tela gawked at him as if what he said was incredulous. “Uh, he’s a lot of fun.”
“Okay, one thing you should know about him is that even though he tries to hide it, he’s mush when it comes to women, and they easily take advantage of him. I like you, but he’s my brother, and I have his back. If you’re going to hurt him, you need to back away now.”
Tela stared at him for a minute, processing what he just said to her. He could tell she was trying to curve her tongue from saying what she really wanted to say. Possibly, because of the relationship he had with Shayla.
He watched as she took a deep breath, trying to control her temper and said, “Look, Bryce is a big boy. He can make his own decisions and handle me.”
The smirk on her face as she said those last words made Calen believe Bryce was definitely out of his league.
“Besides, we just met. It’s not like we’re in a relationship. I don’t do relationships, anyway,” she said.
The elevator doors opened to the lobby, and they stepped out and headed for the bar. The two of them sat at the same table they all shared the night before. Both ordered the special with water instead of orange juice.
The alcohol they all drank last night went a very long way.
“So, what’s the deal?” Calen broke the silence. “I mean with Shay, not you and Bryce.”
He watched Tela as she searched for the right things to say about the ordeal her friend was in without betraying her trust.
“Calen, you’ve gotta understand you’re the first man in a long time Shay has let get this close. She’s real cautious when it comes to letting her guard down with a man. She thought she found something really special in you. The whole time she was on vacation, when she called me, she was constantly talking about you and how wonderful you are.” She relayed some of Shayla’s exact words. “I could tell she was fallin’ hard. I’ve known this chic since high school, and she has never gone on about someone like she does about you. Never. She does love ya, but she believes you don’t have those same feelings for her. So, you see, she basically put herself out there, and she was left hangin’,” she said with finality.
Calen let Tela finish without any interruption, but he wanted to tell Tela how much he loved her best friend, how he did love her.
Calen took a quick breath and was about to dive headfirst into his side of the story when their food arrived and, with impeccable timing, so did Bryce.
Calen waited for his friend to plant a very sensual kiss on Tela’s lips and sit down at the table before Calen began speaking.
“How can she even wonder if I don’t love her? I’ve been calling her, leaving messages, and I show up here, unannounced! What does all of this tell you?” he asked, exasperated.
“Well, you didn’t tell her when it counted. Those words never came out of your mouth when she needed them to. You didn’t tell her when she told you,” Tela said matter-of-factly.
“What? I was on the phone with my commander, trying to find out about our mission. I wasn’t thinking about all it right then. How can you hold any of it against me?” he asked.
At this point, Calen sported a huge headache, probably from the too many beers he drank the night before and this constant battle within his head concerning Shayla.
Bryce came to Calen’s defense. “Yeah, it was a matter of national security.”
Calen glared at Bryce for revealing information to a civilian; he made a mental note to r
eprimand him later. Calen’s gaze reverted to Tela.
She wasn’t impressed with Bryce’s comment either by the expression on her face.
“She’s gotta know I love her, we’re good together. How can all I’ve done not show her I love her?” Calen caught the sympathy in Tela’s eyes and wondered what it was all about, so naturally, he asked. “What is it that you’re not telling me? Is she all right? Is she sick?”
The questions kept coming and the answer, no, kept flowing.
Calen could see Tela was getting tired of the conversation, and she cut his next question short. “Look, I like you. I believe you would be great for Shay. I can see you care a lot about her, but she will tell you what’s going on when she’s ready. It’s not my place. Now, if you fellas will excuse me, I have to go to work today.”
With that, Tela stood, planted a kiss on Bryce’s lips, slipped a napkin in his hand she had written her number on, whispered in his ear to make sure he called her, and walked off, leaving all of Calen’s questions unanswered.
Calen stared at his friend with a defeated expression on his face. He didn’t get it. But he wouldn’t stop until Shay told him what was going on.
“So, what you gonna do now, man?” Bryce asked.
“I don’t know. I’ll probably try her at home, if I don’t get her there, I may just go to her office.”
“Do you believe that’s the best thing to do? I mean, she did runoff in the wee hours of the morning.”
“What else can I do? Anyway, you got a night and a number for another time.” He smirked at his friend and let out a belly laugh at the look on his face.
Bryce could only shake his head.
21
Shayla
Shayla regretted leaving her friend so suddenly, but she had to get out of there. She felt like the walls were closing in on her, she could hardly breathe. She couldn’t believe the hold this man had on her; it was like a moth to a flame.
She was relieved to realize he wasn’t trying to follow her to the cab but was surprised after coming here he didn’t. She just couldn’t face him right now.
She really didn’t know if she would ever be ready to face him. The decision to keep the pregnancy a secret heavily weighed on her. The guilt eating away at her now that he was front and center, in her face.
She let the burden fall away as much as she could and resigned herself she was doing the right thing. Shayla didn’t want to be in a loveless relationship, and she would rather him not know about the baby than be together because of the baby.
She had a long day ahead of her and didn’t have the time to reevaluate things just yet. She would get home and get ready for another day with the headhunters.
But first, she would take a long, hot, therapeutic bath, complete with Calgon to take her away.
As Shayla got ready for work, she noticed it was getting much harder to hide the roundness of her belly. She was almost five months pregnant now and would have to slow down at work, eventually. And when she did, oh, the rumor mill would be in full swing about her.
She should take her mother’s and Tela’s advice, she thought. Do not worry about what people say; you don’t have to answer the questions if you do not want to.
“Only if I could be so bold,” she sighed.
She grabbed her bag and. with one last look in the mirror, headed for her car and on her way to work.
The day went flawlessly, and she took this opportunity to relax in her office for at least a little while.
However, every now and again, she would slip back into the wonderful night she and Calen spent together. She remembered everything about last night. How he remembered she didn’t wear panties, which gave him easy access to her treasure. He also remembered how the inside of her thigh was sensitive and how it would really get her revved up.
He hadn’t tried to call her all day, exactly what she wanted. Right? But after seeing him again and experiencing how good they were for and to each other made her realize she missed his arms around her and his breath on the back of her neck while they slept.
Her office phone rang, and it snapped her out of her reverie. She quickly answered it. “Hello? Shayla Blackwell.”
“Hi, I just wanted to check how you were doing.” It was Calen.
Her breath caught as his silky voice came over the line. How in the world did he get this number?
Then she remembered she gave it to him. “Oh, I’m… I’m fine. I just got out of a meeting.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve called five times already! I wouldn’t be surprised if your assistant was about ready to kill me.”
She could hear how full of humor he was, but she wasn’t so sure it was warranted. Frankly, she was a little surprised considering she left him high and dry without a word this morning.
Shayla gave a slight grin but didn’t let the joy of him calling her and the mental picture of Janice killing him, in her voice. “Really, she didn’t say anyone called.”
She walked over to her desk, and there, lying neatly together, were eight messages piled beside the computer. As she flipped through them, she did indeed notice he called several times.
She sighed, “Calen, what is it that you want?”
“I thought it was obvious. I want you,” he said bluntly.
“No, I mean, why are you calling now?” she asked, a little perturbed.
“I just wanted to hear your voice. We didn’t get to talk this morning before you left,” he said, trying to hide a tinge of anger. “What’s up with you? And don’t tell me nothing. I know you better than that.”
“Look, Calen, I don’t have time for this. I’m working.” She squeezed the bridge of her nose, hoping to stave off the oncoming headache.
“You don’t seem like you’re working to me.”
“What… How did you…?” A gasp escaped her throat.
She heard the door close. She whirled around to see Calen standing in her office.
They both hung up.
“I called your house there was no answer, so I figured you came on to work.”
“How did you know which office was mine?” She quickly made it behind her desk.
“I’ve been here for practically three hours. I asked around. Now, tell me what’s really going on with you.” He took the seat to the right in front of her desk.
This had the air of a business meeting she didn’t expect, or one she didn’t want to facilitate at this particular moment.
She picked up her phone and waited for Janice to answer. “Janice, can you hold all my calls, please? Only put through my mom and Tela.”
Shayla stared Calen straight in the eyes as she tried to figure out how to get out of this interrogation. She absolutely hoped her mother or Tela would call right at this very second just so she wouldn’t have to talk this out with him.
Unfortunately, there was no rescue. She would have to face him alone.
Taking a deep breath before she spoke, she instinctively put her hand to her stomach. Realizing what she had done, she quickly dropped her arm to her side, hoping Calen didn’t notice. “What do you mean, what’s going on with me?”
“Just what I said! You’re a totally different person than the woman I met months ago.” Shayla noticed how Calen bit back his anger, struggling to control it. She watched as he took a couple of deep breaths as he waited for her response.
“Well, people change,” she said quickly.
“Not that damn fast they don’t. What happened to the carefree woman who became confident with me and so sure of herself? The one who I spent nights with getting to know,” he asked. “I didn’t know the woman I ate dinner with last night. I don’t know this woman sitting in front of me now.”
The look of concern on his face almost brought Shayla to tears. She scolded herself mentally and blamed it on the hormones, making her all emotional. She knew deep down he was right. The hiding was taking its toll on her.
“Please.” She rolled her eyes. “We only knew each o
ther for a couple of weeks. How could you possibly think you know me? Besides, I’ve just had a lot on my mind and to deal with it without distractions. Without you,” she spit. “You’re a distraction.”
The words came out a little more forceful and angrier than she meant them to, but they did the job.
“I’m a distraction?” He stepped back as if her words slapped him. “I put my life in danger every day. The past two missions I’ve been on, I’ve been plagued with images of you. Do you know how dangerous that is for me? Not to be able to concentrate on what I have to do to keep my men safe?”
He took a deep breath. She didn’t say anything just looked at him.
“You’re the distraction,” he resolved. “Shay, does this have anything to do with what happened between us last night?”
At the mention of their lovemaking, she became starry-eyed. She could imagine nothing else except how perfect and how wonderful he felt inside her again. Something she didn’t want to live without, but of course, she wouldn’t tell him.
“No, this has nothing to do with last night. Last night was wonderful.” Shit, she didn’t mean to say that! “I didn’t realize how much I was missing you,” she opened up, not meaning to, but it was what played on her mind for the better part of the day.
“Well, if you feel that way, then why did you run off like it was all a mistake or something? I don’t understand. I thought we were good together,” he pleaded with her as he rose to his feet.
Confusion reigned in Calen’s voice and on his face. It almost tore her heart out. She started to cry. At once, Calen was by her side comforting her, telling her everything was okay, and he didn’t mean to make her upset.
As he held her, he helped her up out of her seat.
She melted into him, allowing him to carry her weight and her burden. However, when his arm brushed against her stomach, she quickly pulled away. Did he notice? She studied him. If he did, she didn’t recognize any inclination on his face.
