His Substitute Wife... My Sister Book One

by Sylvia Hubbard

  “What else could that be?”

  “You’re aroused.”

  “From what?”

  “From me,” he said obviously.

  “I’m not attracted to you.”

  “You don’t have to be or at least that’s what your body is saying.”

  Now her curiosity was aroused again. “How do you know when I don’t know?”

  “The way you’re not breathing in panic, the way your skin is flushed and the way your head tilts to the side.” His eyes slowly lowered to those lips that screamed to be attacked and he had to stiffen his arm to make sure he didn’t answer their cries. “A perfect position for kissing. A man notices these things,” he said arrogantly.

  “And you’re definitely a man, right?”

  “Last time I checked.”

  “When was that? Last night?”

  “You seem to be knowledgeable enough since you were there.” Parker was now amused that she resorted to sarcasm to throw him off.

  “It’s nothing a wife should do, right?” Charisse asked still sardonically.

  “Yes, but last night it felt different.”

  “How so?” Now she crossed her arms and he thought there was a look of concern on her face, but he told himself that she was only interested and he must have mistook this look. “She’s done it to you before. When we were trying to get pregnant. She told me she had to do that. So what’s different than last time, Parker?”

  He didn’t find her questioning out of the ordinary especially since she had the gusto to ask him whom he thought about when he masturbated and he didn’t feel uncomfortable answering her this time.

  “Because last time it was necessity. This time it was really more than expected. One could say she put her back into it.” He smiled wickedly. “But you wouldn’t understand anything like that, since you’re a virgin.”

  “And there’s nothing wrong with that.”

  Wanting to push her more to see just how more aroused she could get, he casually asked as she had asked him before, “Charisse, have you ever been kissed?”

  The question caught her off guard. “No, if you must know.”

  “Weren’t you ever curious?”

  “I don’t want to talk about this in here.”

  Parker knew if he moved away his chance would be gone, but then cursed himself for even thinking of taking a chance with her. ‘Now we can say you are crazy!’ Reluctantly he stepped away and allowed her to quickly place the file in the cabinet and then rush back to sitting as if the desk would provide a shield against him.

  “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

  “I always have something to do.”

  “Then go do it.”

  He didn’t mind being kicked out of his office right now. A break was needed away from Charisse because he needed to check himself.

  When he was gone, she collapsed back and covered her hands over her face. It was going to be hard working for him if things like that were going to be “casually” discussed. Damn him! Damn herself!

  Then she felt it. Reaching down between her legs, she realized that strange wetness had returned. Should she call Dr. Redmond?

  Quickly, she went up to her room to go change her underwear again.

  ***

  Upon coming back to the office, she found Chyna impatiently waiting for her.

  “Did he say something to you about last night?” Chyna demanded to know.

  “I take it Parker’s gone?”

  Chyna snatched the post it note Parker had left on the computer monitor for Charisse. “Yes! I came in after he left out.”

  She relaxed and moved behind the desk to see that Parker had placed more files on the desk for her to put away, along with the package that the accountant had left to be filed away. Her missing must have alerted him, but not enough for him to come looking for her, which was a good thing because she had changed in the middle of her room not caring if Rochelle came out of her room and saw her.

  The same wetness from last night was in her panties and she placed them in the hamper in the bathroom after changing. Just as she was coming out of the bathroom from washing her hands, she thought she heard someone at the doorway, but didn’t see anyone and then went back in her room. Fixing her clothes again, she took a deep breath to push out this recent memory and went back to the office to get back to work.

  “If you’re worried that he found out it was me, then quit worrying. He doesn’t suspect a thing.”

  “You’re serious?” Chyna asked astonished. “I thought for sure he could tell.

  “He was overwhelmed by the technique. He said you put your back into it.”

  Bothered, Chyna asked, “What the hell did you do last night?”

  Charisse couldn't believe her sister looking incredulously down at her. “I did what you told me to do, Chyna!”

  Confused, Chyna stepped slightly away looking dazed. “My back into it? I’ve never heard that man use that term when describing sex. Only when he talks about his employees doing a …”

  “Doing what?” Charisse asked nervously.

  Chyna faced her sister again. “When they’re doing a good job.”

  Charisse now looked confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just did what you told me to do. Don’t look at me like I broke something Chyna. This was your idea, remember? You’re the one that came up with this silly plan and now you’re upset that I did better than you.”

  Turning away slightly, Chyna took a deep breath. “I’m not. You’re right. I asked for this, it’s just that I didn’t think you would…” Her voice trailed off again.

  “I would what?”

  “Rock his world.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  Chyna giggled and looked at Charisse. “Nothing, my innocent little sister. I’m just happy you’re over this touch thing.” She rubbed the side of her face in memory of where Charisse had slapped her sourly. “I forgive you for what you did last night. I guess I had it coming eventually, but you better get Cheyenne back tenfold.”

  “I didn’t apologize for that, Chyna,” Charisse said flippantly. “And Cheyenne’s definitely got one coming her way.” She wanted to come across that desk and slap her sister again ‘just because’, but kept her hands busy by opening up the accountant’s envelope. Realizing that there was a note from the accountant on top of the returned receipts that Parker must have not seen.

  It read, “Parker, I decided to do a financial and credit report because one had not been done on you ever and this came on the radar from your old bank you used to use with the prior accountant. Currently, I’m verifying all the information on it to make sure that it was opened with your social security, but it also has your wife’s social security account attached to it. Do you know when you opened this account? Call me!”

  The post it note was attached to a bank statement where the amount in the savings account was over fifty thousand dollars.

  She remembered him mentioning the accountant before the current one and she remembered when they were doing the package for the courier part of the bank account numbers because it was her father’s birthday. This bank account number was pretty old and she had to wonder if her sister knew about it.

  “Can I ask you something, Chyna and you tell me the absolute truth?” Charisse asked.

  “Of course,” Chyna said as if that were easy to do.

  “Were you going to steal Parker’s money and run away with Pascal?”

  Chyna looked sick to her stomach. “What made you think that? Did he say something?”

  “No, he didn’t.”

  “Pascal had said it in a kind of fantasy and it sounded like a wonderful idea. Cheyenne had me believing that anything bad I did to Parker he probably deserved it and that’s what made me see reason because Parker had been about the nicest man and even though he didn’t have the passion like Pascal, wrong was wrong and right was right. This was his dream and if we took any money at that time, it would have ruined him. That was
one of my reasons for ending it.”

  “So if Cheyenne hadn’t of opened her silly mouth, you would have?”

  “It was only a thought, but I think I would have come to reason before that was done.”

  “Did Parker think you would have?”

  “He had a hard time believing that I wouldn’t and that was a major trust issue that we’ve gotten over. I told him I would have never taken any money and I didn’t know about any money Pascal had taken.”

  “How much did he take?”

  “Over fifty grand.”

  “But you could have left, Chyna.”

  “I signed a pre-nup,” Chyna weakly confessed.

  Charisse sighed already knowing what that meant and what would happen to her sister. “He wouldn’t have given you a dime in the divorce,” she surmised.

  “True, but even though it felt like the grass was greener, I knew walking away was about the silliest thing I could do.” She said this quite proud of herself. “It was the best decision I’ve made for my life marrying Parker.”

  Just those words alone and the way she looked told Charisse that her sister was telling the truth. Chyna really did have no idea about any money.

  “The pre-nuptial was made because …” Her voice drifted off again and a guilty look came over.

  “For what?”

  Chyna twisted her fingers nervously. “Charisse, you have to understand that I was really just listening to her and being greedy.”

  “What did you do?!”

  “For money Cheyenne and I stole from you.”

  “What?!”

  “When Daddy died, Cheyenne found out about the money. That Daddy left really to you through Momma. That’s why she made you scared.”

  Charisse realized that Chyna was confirming what her last daymare had shown her and she slowly sat down feeling very disturbed.

  “Where did this money come from Chyna? We lived in squalor.”

  “Daddy had the money from his family who disinherited him when he married Mother. They didn’t want him to marry her, but he did anyway. The initial money came when he died - The life insurance money. Mother thought that money was coming to her only, but Daddy had made a change in his will and everything he owns was to go to you. Upon Mother’s death, it wasn’t her will that left the money with you, it was still Daddy’s trust that was left because we were the only living relatives and they respected Daddy’s will that left you with everything, but the guardianship of you was left to Cheyenne after Mother died until she lost custody of you. By this time though, with Pascal’s help, she had managed to take a large amount of money from you and placed it into different accounts so no one would know. Once we sold off the house, that money went into that account too.”

  “So you were helping her?”

  “I wasn’t stopping her. She promised me a part of it. That is until I found out after we gained custody of you exactly how much was to go to you that Cheyenne clearly kept from me.”

  “How much?”

  Chyna looked even guiltier.

  “You might as well tell me the whole thing.”

  “We stole over three million dollars in all. It’s now left you with a little over twenty-five thousand which will be used up in less than a years time from all your medical expenses, although Parker has insisted that he take responsibility of all your expenses concerning the baby, so that should leave you with a little something.”

  “And then what?”

  “And then you’ll have nothing.”

  “What happened to all that money?” Charisse asked.

  Chyna shrugged. “She took it. After Pascal left me, he went back to her and made sure my name was taken off the bank account.”

  “So this isn’t about the baby or making Parker happy at all is it, Chyna? She’s outsmarted you and proved she’s greedier than you and now you don’t want her to have the money and the man.”

  “I’m not going to lie. I don’t want her to have everything. She doesn’t deserve everything and I’m going to fight it to the end, Charisse. But that stash she took from you is slowly running out. She has nothing to show for it and I’m happy about that, but since I can’t go anywhere from up at this point do you really think I’m going to let her take Parker?”

  Charisse stood up. “Do you really thing Cheyenne’s going to let you win?”

  “I don’t care. She can find out about everything I’ve done and I don’t care.” Chyna stood akimbo pompously. “I’d rather lose Parker to you than to that selfish backstabbing heifer.”

  “You don’t mean that and I don’t want your husband, Chyna.”

  “I mean every word I’m saying, Charisse.”

  “What? That you’ve giving me permission to just take Parker away?”

  Chyna giggled. “Well, hopefully over my dead body.”

  “Well, if Cheyenne finds out that we stole her plans that might come sooner than you think,” Charisse said not taking her sister seriously.

  Waving that worry away like it was fly in her face, Chyna asked, “So are you ready to do it again?”

  “NO! Are you crazy?!” she asked dubiously and then answered her own question. “Of course you are. First you’re just handing Parker over on a silver platter and now you want me to continue to what? Help him? He knows there’s a difference between us and it was silly us of to think he wouldn’t. He has been married for ten years to you.”

  “I could refute that,” Charisse said sourly. “Parker hasn’t put his back into it in years.”

  “T.M.I.!” Charisse covered her ears.

  Chyna rolled her eyes heavenwards. “Stop being silly, Charisse. Yes, I’m handing him to you over on a silver platter and this may be the stupidest thing I could ever do and if he liked it then at least I can give him some kind of happiness that I haven’t been giving him in a long time.” She shrugged indifferently. “But at least Cheyenne won’t get him and that’s all that matters.”

  Charisse shook her head adamantly. “I can’t. He’ll know.”

  “Then so what. We’ll tell him.”

  “Tell him what?”

  “We’ll tell him we switched places. He’ll see I’m alright with it.”

  “No! I don’t want him to know. I’m working for him. How am I supposed to handle all this? The baby, the deception… it’s too much, Chyna!”

  “You want to work for him?”

  “I like it. It keeps me busy.”

  Again Chyna shrugged indifferently. “I’ll give it about a week for you to think about it.”

  “Three weeks.”

  “That’s too long.”

  “Two weeks and some days?” she negotiated.

  “Fine, but I don’t think I can be mean as hell to him after that without him blowing up again and then letting him know about my condition, but if I give you that, you’re going to have to go all the way.”

  “NO!”

  “Why not?” Chyna asked confused. “You’ve got to be over this touching thing after last night.”

  “It’s too soon. Doing what I did yesterday was overwhelming to me and I don’t know if I can just easily do it again.”

  “You had no problem slapping me!”

  Charisse couldn’t help smirking because that was pure satisfaction. “And I’m inclined to do that again because I think you’re one beer short of a six pack about now.”

  “I’m not crazy to suggest this so quit telling me I am. I’m a desperate woman who hates to lose, especially to my twin sister.”

  “But I’m your little sister.”

  “You wouldn’t understand deceit if it slapped you in the face, Charisse. That heifer knows it like the back of her hand. I know I did some awful things to you and I can say sorry until the meat fall off my lips, but if you want real satisfaction against it all, you’re going to have to trust me.”

  ‘Parker’s happiness and Cheyenne not winning!’ She said this over and over in her head because she wanted to just keep arguing, but Chyna was not going to take a no. �
�Let’s just see what comes. Not another plan right now, Chyna.”

  “But during that time, can’t you at least warm up to him?”

  Confused, Charisse asked, “How do you warm up to him, Chyna?”

  Chyna smiled. “Well, if you want to get to Parker, he’s not a hard man to please if you know him.”

  “Is that how Cheyenne got to him? Because you so easily give information.”

  “Probably. But I’m going to give you the goods on him better than what she wish she got. Nothing showy, Charisse and just take your time. I don’t want to rush you and too much will make him suspect.”

  ‘This is so wrong on so many levels,’ Charisse told herself, but she couldn’t stop listening to Chyna and she hated herself, but desired the information.

  Chyna seemed to relish giving her tips and tricks on Parker, but Charisse noticed a lot of things she said, she really wasn’t sure of it and if Charisse really decided to “help Parker” she would have to get to know the man for herself.

  A shiver went through her body at the thought of getting closer to Parker and she was far from scared.

  Chyna ruined the moment by saying, “Now, you should also know I did set up the appointment for you to meet Cheyenne.”

  Charisse felt her own nose twitch. “When?”

  “I scheduled it for next month although she wanted it sooner, but I wanted to make sure you weren’t showing but give it enough time so that if she tries to schedule anything after that you’ll either be busy or it’ll be too soon.

  “Did she say what she wanted to see me about?”

  “Most likely to get on your side. She doesn’t know that you’re getting better. I didn’t think she had the privilege of knowing that, plus I felt that it would give you the edge.”

  Charisse really appreciated that because when dealing with Cheyenne one needed all the edge they could get.

  ** *

  Parker kept his distance until it neared the end of the day for Charisse. Many of the drivers called or texted him to let him know that they were glad he finally hired “good” help. In truth he was very glad that Charisse could work out for him and she could do a lot of things that he had little time for, which freed him to do even more things.