His Secret Desire (Atlanta Nights)

by Linda Verji

  The fight was over barely a minute after it started.

  Arms pulled her away from Morning, restrained her. Someone urged, “Liv, let go of her hair.”

  Morning kept shrieking, crying and cussing Olivia out, her raised voice mingling with the excited chatter of the surrounding people. And all Olivia could think was, for a home-breaker the woman sure had shitty self-defense skills.

  Figures! The one day Marcel most wanted someone to miss a meeting, nobody did. His afternoon was so busy, he couldn’t even squeeze in an hour of playtime with Olivia.

  “Just promise me that I won’t get a box with some windows in it,” his client said as she rose to her feet.

  “No, you won’t, Heidi,” Marcel assured. “I’ll make sure you get something spectacular.”

  “Please do,” Heidi urged as she waited for him to open the door for her.

  It was only once the client left that Marcel’s assistant, Alice, informed him, “Your brother has been trying to get a hold of you.”

  “Did he leave a message?” Marcel asked.

  “No. But he said to call him as soon as you have a minute.”

  Marcel dialed his brother’s number. Sebastien picked up within the first ring and met him with a chuckle. “Ey, why didn’t you tell me that you and Olivia have been watching Bruce Lee movies.”

  Marcel’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

  “She has some mad fighting skills. I should hire her as my bodyguard.”

  His tone measured, Marcel repeated, “Seb, what are you talking about?”

  “The YouTube video.” Sebastien chuckled. “I’m watching it and cracking up.”

  “What YouTube video?”

  “Wait! You haven’t seen it?” Sebastien asked. When Marcel met his question with silence, he roared in laughter. “Bro, you’ll love this. Key in, ‘One Minute Take Down: How To School A Ho’. Call me once you’ve seen it.”

  A few fast clicks on his keyboards later, Marcel gaped in open-mouthed shock as he watched the video playing on his screen. It was all there. From the moment Morning poked Olivia, the whole fight - well, the whole forty five seconds of it-to people pulling Olivia away from Morning.

  Morning was a wailing mess; shrieking about how Tay was her man and that she’d get back at Olivia. Olivia watched her in expressionless contemplation. The only time she showed any feeling was a small smile as she exited her scene of crime.

  Holy hell! His woman was crazy.

  Clicking replay on the video, Marcel dialed. But it wasn’t Sebastien he was calling. As soon as Olivia picked the phone, he started, “Livy, what have you done?”

  There was a long pause on her end of the line then she murmured, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Oh, yeah. She knew exactly what he was talking about. He pointed out, “I saw the video.”

  This time there was genuine confusion in her voice. “What video?”

  “You haven’t seen it, have you?”

  She was quiet for a moment then she gasped. “Marcel, please tell me you didn’t film us having sex. I swear I will kill you if-”

  “Sweetheart, this one isn’t on me.” Marcel cut in, before giving her the link to her YouTube video. He stayed on the line while she went to find a computer. There was clicking in the background as she searched for the video.

  “Oh no!” Olivia gasped as soon as the video started playing. Pretty soon Morning’s cries mingled in with the yells of other people urging Olivia to let go. “Oh no!”

  “What happened?” Marcel asked though he’d pretty much guessed that Morning was the vandal from her wailing about Tay.

  “Oh, lord. I’m on YouTube. Ratchet-ville,” Olivia cried out. “I didn’t even want to fight her, but she kept poking and poking and poking… ugh!”

  The distress in her voice made Marcel shift from interrogation to reassurance. “Livy, not many people have seen it. It’s only got fifty views.”

  “For now,” Olivia wailed. “Ugh.”

  Marcel spent the next few minutes before his four p.m. meeting reassuring her that the fifty views were nothing and she had nothing to worry about.

  But he was wrong, and she was right.

  By seven p.m. when she knocked at his door, they were up to three hundred views. By the time the couple were readying for bed it’d reached four thousand views and the comments were pouring in.

  “Don’t poke a bear if you don’t want to get bitten,” Olivia read one of the comments.

  “Livy, stop.” Marcel grabbed his laptop from her lap.

  “Nooo,” she whined trying to reach for it. “But I want to see.”

  “You’ll drive yourself crazy.” Marcel shut down the computer. “Besides we have better things to do with our night.”

  Pouting, she folded her arms over her chest. “Like what?”

  Her actions had the fortunate effect of lifting up her breasts. Eyeing her delectable flesh, Marcel crooked his mouth in a smile. “There is that offer you made me.” He bit his lips as his gaze zeroed in on her lush, sexy mouth. “I even bought some ice-cream on my way home.”

  It took Olivia a minute to get what he meant but when she did she gave him a look so icy he almost froze in his boxer briefs. “Are you high?”

  “I’m kidding.” Marcel lifted his hands in surrender even though he really wasn’t joking. He had really, really been looking forward to having her mouth on him. But he could understand why pleasing him was the last thing on her mind.

  Resolved to a sexless night, he pulled Olivia into his arms. “At least now we know Morning was behind everything.”

  “Yeah.” Releasing a heavy sigh, Olivia set her head on his shoulder. “I still can’t believe it. Morning? I thought that girl was my friend. And to think she and Tay were-”

  Olivia suddenly lifted her head off Marcel’s shoulder to stare at him in the eyes. Marcel asked, “What?”

  “Did you know about Morning?”

  Marcel shook his head. “No, I didn’t.”

  Olivia gazed at him for a few seconds longer then asked, “Would you have told me about her if you knew?”

  Marcel’s self preservation instincts wanted to say ‘yes’. Honestly, it would’ve made his life easier since he already knew where Olivia stood in regards to his loyalty to Tay. But he was who he was and despite everything still thought of Tay as his friend. Short of Morning coming at Olivia as she had today, he would’ve kept his mouth shut.

  Olivia must’ve read the answer in his eyes because she kissed her teeth and slapped him in the chest. “And that’s why that ice-cream will freeze into a stone in that fridge.”

  He expected her to storm away in a huff or at least pull away from him. Instead she lay her head back on his shoulder and set her palm over his heart. His mouth lifted in a smile as he tightened his arm around her waist.

  Her warm breath washing over his skin, she said, “I just want all this to go away.”

  “I promise, Livy.” He squeezed her waist. “By morning, they’ll have forgotten about you.”

  That turned out to be a reckless promise because by morning someone in the comments section had recognized her as E-Hawk’s daughter. The video went viral and by mid-afternoon Olivia was a celebrity again.

  CHAPTER 27

  Sunday morning dawned sullenly. The skies were gray and threatening rainfall. Though Olivia was safe inside Marcel’s house and watching the ugly weather from the window sill where she sat, her mood was just as morose.

  Life as she knew it was over.

  She worried her bottom lip as she scrolled downwards on her phone reading Celebrity Time’s article on her. It’s headline read, ‘E-Hawk’s daughter in Love Triangle: Is she pregnant?’

  Its contents were no better. The article was rife with speculations and innuendo. The only thing they’d gotten right was that there was a fight. According to them she owned Body & Spirit, and she’d stolen Morning’s boyfriend. Kissing her teeth in annoyance, Olivia tossed the
phone to wooden surface of the sill.

  A second later she picked it up. Just one more article.

  She scrolled over to Juicynews.com. It was a bad idea to be reading this stuff. But she couldn’t look away from the train wreck that was her life. She hadn’t been to her house since Friday, but she knew the paparazzi were camped out her complex waiting to pounce if she showed her face. Lex had had a hard time evading them when she’d recruited him to get her some clothes.

  The only silver lining in this whole mess was that August hadn’t fired her. In fact he was offering her a pay-raise. He’d called yesterday, but it was only to inform her that her newfound infamy had brought the gym fifty seven new clients. Fifty seven. If he could jump through the phone to hug her, he would have. He’d probably make her sign autographs the moment she reappeared at the gym.

  Ugh! Releasing a heavy sigh, she set the phone back on the sill and wound her arms beneath her raised thighs. Was there a way to get out of this?

  “Woof,” Pig, who was lying on the floor beside her, barked.

  “Yup, you’re right, Piggy” Olivia agreed, pushing an escaped strand of her blue wig behind her ear. “There’s no getting out of this.”

  She was well and truly found. No more places to hide. Or were there? She suggested, “I’ve still got nana and pawpaw’s house. I could hide out there.”

  “Woof.” Pig’s offered a skeptical look.

  “You’re right. It’s too close.” Knotting her brow, she searched the dog’s face, “South Africa?”

  “Woof!” She could’ve sworn the dog rolled his eyes at her.

  “Really? Still too close? There is no pleasing you, is there?” She shook her head at her captive audience. “The only other option is space, but they haven’t even started the space tours yet.”

  “Woof, woof.” Pig rose to his feet, wagging his tail happily.

  “You don’t even need to ask.” Olivia laughed as she lowered her feet from the ledge and bent to ruffle his fur. “Of course I’ll take you with me when they start.”

  “Where are you taking my dog?” Marcel’s voice was gruff with sleep as he emerged from the master bedroom in nothing but boxer-briefs.

  “We’re headed to Venus,” Olivia informed him as she rose to tiptoes to embrace him. “Good morning!”

  “Good morning.” His arms tightening around her waist, he dipped his head down and touched his lips to hers. “You’re up early.”

  “I couldn’t sleep.” She returned to her position on the sill.

  Picking up her phone, Marcel settled next to Olivia. His finger scrolled downwards over the gadget’s screen as he read the article she’d stopped at. When he looked up at her, his brown eyes were sympathetic. “I’m sorry about this whole thing. I know how you hate being in the limelight.”

  “Maybe it will die out,” she said as she set her head on his shoulder, even though she didn’t really believe it. She sighed. “This would be a good day for Oprah to release a sex tape.”

  Marcel chuckled as he turned his face to kiss her forehead. “One can only hope.” He scanned through the rest of the article before whistling. “Damn, you messed her pretty good.”

  Olivia arched upward to glance at the phone. On screen was a picture of a teary Morning cupping her bleeding nose. “She started it.”

  “At least she isn’t commenting about what the fight is about.”

  Olivia snorted. “Would you say anything if you were her?”

  “Hell no.” Marcel set the phone beside him and slung his arm around Olivia’s waist. “Hopefully, the media will get tired of digging cause no one is talking.”

  Olivia sighed. “Hopefully.”

  Marcel watched her for a long silent moment. Then all over sudden he set her phone on the sill, stood up and scooped her into his arms. “Okay, that’s it.”

  “Marcel,” Olivia screeched as she latched onto his neck for support. “What are you doing?”

  “Stay,” Marcel ordered Pig as he started towards the bedroom. Looking down at Olivia, he said, “I’m getting you out of this funk. We-” His breath hitched as he lifted her higher. “-are going to have a nice bath together, and I’ll make you forget all about the stupid press.”

  “Ooh!” Olivia bit her bottom lip. “Sounds good.”

  “I plan to make it real good.” Marcel waggled his eyebrows drawing a breathy giggle from her. “I don’t think we’ll even make it to Yasmin’s.”

  Olivia gave him a fake pout. “But I want go to Yasmin’s.”

  “But I want you all to myself,” Marcel countered as they entered his bedroom. The moment he set her on her feet, he lifted her tank top over her head and tossed it to the still rumpled king-sized bed, leaving her in her panties.

  The way he was staring at her breasts.

  The way his eyes shadowed with desire.

  The way he licked his lip.

  It was enough to make her forget…

  Beep. Beep. The sound cut into the heated tension between them. The incessant beeping echoed through the house and mingled with Pig’s barking. Olivia didn’t know what it was until Marcel cussed under his breath. “Who the hell is at the gate?”

  “One of your friends?” Olivia didn’t know all of Marcel’s friends but six thirty a.m. seemed a tad bit too early for visiting.

  “No.” Marcel shook his head. “They would’ve called first. It’s probably some lost chump.”

  “Go check and I-” Olivia smiled seductively as she shimmied out of her cotton shorts. They fell to the floor with a soft rustle leaving her naked. “-will be waiting for you.”

  “Damn.” Marcel bit his lip as he gave her a lingering head-to-toe perusal that had heat rushing to her cheeks and her body tingling in immediate awareness. “Damn.”

  She’d never seen a man move so fast. One second he was in his boxer-briefs and standing in front of her, the next he’d grabbed his sweatpants and was rushing out the door. Chuckling, she headed to the en-suite and started the bath.

  While he was away, she filled the tub, added in some bubble bath then slipped inside the warm water waiting for him. With how he fast he’d moved, she expected Marcel to get rid of the guest quickly then join her in the tub. But he took his sweet time. She was starting to get impatient and considering getting out to go find him when a loud buzz interrupted her thoughts.

  Buuuzzz. Marcel’s guest was at the front door now. And from the length of the buzzing, Olivia could only guess that he or she had left their finger there. She’d done it a few times herself when she wanted to irritate Marcel and he was refusing to open the door.

  What the hell was going on out there?

  Olivia started to rise from the tub just as Marcel strode in with Pig padding behind him. Marcel wasn’t the same teasing man who’d left her. Instead his expression was a hard mask of irritation and his lips were stretched in a thin line.

  But it was his words that almost gave her a heart attack. “It’s your dad.”

  The blood drain from her face. “What?”

  “Your dad is at the door,” he snapped even as the irritating buzz of the doorbell persisted.

  “Shit!” Olivia clambered out of the tub, sloshing water all over the stone-tiled floor in her haste. Her heartbeat thudding wildly out of control, she grabbed a towel and rubbed herself down. “Does he know I’m here?”

  She mentally slapped herself. Of course he did otherwise he wouldn’t be here.

  “Yup!” Marcel answered anyway.

  Oh, dear. This was a disaster. She hadn’t even told her dad that she was dating. And this was definitely not the way she wanted him to meet Marcel.

  “He tried to deck me,” Marcel snapped.

  “What?” Olivia’s gaze flew upwards to his as she paused her frantic toweling.

  “Yup.” A fresh spurt of fury flared in Marcel’s eyes. “As soon as I opened the door. So I shut it in his face.”

  That explained that awful angry buzz. Disaster!

  Concern in her voice, she asked, “
You’re okay though, right?”

  He nodded curtly.

  Good. Now to handle her dad. In seconds she was in the bedroom looking for something to wear that didn’t scream ‘I was about to have sex’. She settled on skinny jeans and Marcel’s t-shirt. Within moments she was decent enough to attend a church service.

  She tossed Marcel a, “Put on something decent,” before hurrying to the front door. She took a deep breath to fortify herself, pasted a happy smile on her face, then threw the door open. “Hi Daddy.”

  “Get your shit,” Elias Campbell, better know as E-Hawk, growled. “We’re leaving.”

  He may’ve been her father but their appearances were anything but similar. He was dark to her light, six-foot burly to her more feminine five-foot-four, the only thing marking them as related was their wide liquid brown eyes. Though his head was shaved clean, a light stubble mixed in with liberal sprinkling of gray covered his face.

  Beside him stood his long time bodyguard, K, looking as cool as cucumber. Olivia had no idea what the K stood for and she was too intimidated by the six-foot six, burly, suited man to ask.

  Ignoring her father’s command, Olivia stepped to the side of the door. “Come in Dad.”

  “For what?” he snarled. “We’re leaving.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Impatience and anger in his tone, he reached for her arm. “Oh, yes you are.”

  She stepped back before he could grab her wrist. “Stop it.”

  “You better get your ass into that car, little girl-” He pointed to the white Escalade parked behind Marcel’s Lexus. “-or so help me God.” Glaring at her, he spat out, “Laying up in some buster’s house; you must be out your damn mind.”

  Olivia wanted to remind him how old she was and that she was beyond his edicts, but she couldn’t. Not when she felt like she was thirteen again and on the hot seat.