A Perfect Caress

by Nana Prah

  “I’m not saying the money was stolen, but it wasn’t well managed. We’ve gone through the books twice. The next step is to call a forensic accountant.” She pushed an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “I feel like I’m on a crime show, only instead of dead bodies, it’s all about paperwork.”

  Toshia shook her head. “None of this would’ve happened if you’d been fully on board. Your anal-retentive ass would’ve known how every penny was spent.”

  Damn straight. “I’m not sure where the money went, but I know one thing.”

  “You’re going to do whatever it takes to find the bastards and hang them by the balls?”

  Lanelle smiled at her friend’s crassness. “What you said was better than I could’ve phrased it. I’m going to have to hold another fund-raiser. If I don’t, the money comes from my pocket.”

  “You’ve already sunk how many millions into it?”

  Lanelle had no issues with the money she’d invested to see the project completed. Technically, Eliana Lanelle Gill Astacio, the official name on her birth certificate, the only daughter and middle child of the Fortune 500 business tycoon who hailed from a lineage of Spanish royalty, had donated the money.

  Having learned her older brother’s experiences, Lanelle’s parents had registered her in boarding school by her middle names. She’d become a Murphy when she got married and had kept the name when they divorced. Living a life outside the spotlight the Astacio name brought had suited her over the years.

  When Lanelle had been asked to be on the board of the five-hundred-bed hospital two years ago, she’d noticed the NICU was inadequate. The tug on her heart to construct a larger, more modern unit pulled on her so hard she’d decided to spearhead the construction of one for the hospital.

  The board had unanimously agreed to her proposal. After brainstorming, they’d designed a three-story structure. The top floor would consist of a hostel where parents could reside and still be near their babies.

  The first floor would house the women who’d just delivered their premature or sick newborns. Lanelle had learned from experience that being on the same unit with happy mothers who got to take their adorable, gurgling children home with them in a couple of days added to mothers’ depression when they couldn’t do the same. Placing these women on their own floor while their child struggled to live would be a psychological boon. The second floor would consist of a state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit.

  “Yeah. I’m sure Dad will shake his head in disappointment if I put in any more cash. And you know what Leonardo would say.”

  “He’s an ass. Why does his opinion matter to you?”

  “He’s my older brother. He’s gained a reputation as a cutthroat corporate lawyer, all without using my father’s influence. I have to respect that.”

  “I’m not arguing with you about this again.”

  “He can be a pain sometimes.”

  Toshia arched an eyebrow. “Whenever I came to your house during school breaks, he’d torment me as much as he did you.”

  “He’s misunderstood. I still say he’s a good guy, on the rare occasion.”

  “How do you have the ability to see the good in everyone?” For once Toshia hadn’t asked the question as if it was a curse.

  Getting them back on course, Lanelle said, “I’m pretty sure the hospital won’t infuse more money into the project, not when they’ve capped out what they’d anticipated giving. I haven’t run it past the board yet, but I’m thinking of having one last fund-raiser. If we don’t make enough, then I’ll offset the costs.” She upped the speed of the treadmill to help tame the distress storming through her. Over the past few years, it seemed like the universe had decided that, by any means necessary, she had to learn people couldn’t be trusted. Letting her compassionate heart rule her life had led to some major disappointments. Without fail, she’d always decided to help rather than hide. If she could only maintain a more cynical frame of mind in which, like Toshia, she anticipated that people would screw her over.

  The NICU had to get built, and she’d do anything to make it happen, even stomp down the people trying to get in the way.

  “If you want, I’ll donate my time to organize it.”

  Lanelle stopped short of jumping off the treadmill to hug her friend. “I couldn’t thank you enough.” Toshia was one of the most renowned party planners in the business. She’d organized all of the other successful fund-raisers they’d had for the hospital. For Toshia to offer her services for free went beyond the call of friendship.

  “I can’t let you be the only one doing your part to make the world a better place. When are you thinking of holding it?”

  “In a month.”

  Toshia sucked air in through her teeth. “You’re cutting it close.”

  “Yes, but I have the best event planner on board. Even if I gave you two days, you’d turn out a fabulous party.”

  “True.” Toshia blew on her nails and rubbed them on her sopping-wet tank top with a smirk. “I am that good. When are you meeting with the board?”

  “We’re having an emergency meeting on Monday.”

  Toshia increased the pace on the StairMaster. “Be honest—what do you think is going on with the money?”

  “I don’t know. All of the paperwork looks good. And you know me.”

  “You can’t think the worst about anybody until they show their true face.” Toshia shook her head. “Not one of the traits I admire, by the way.”

  Lanelle grunted hard through her panting. She wouldn’t get into it again about their personality differences, but if she were more untrusting she could circumvent some of the problems she’d had in her life before they even happened. But then she’d miss some of the good in people. “Maybe we just did some bad financial calculations.”

  “With you, Miss Graduated-with-Her-MBA-at-the-Top-of-Her-Class, as the head of the project, I doubt it. You’re a natural-born philanthropist. When you aren’t helping someone in need, you’re computing to make sure your projects get the most out of what you have to offer.”

  “Other than setting the budget, the board doesn’t deal with the money aspect. We only oversee that the decisions we’ve made are going in the right direction. If I’d been around, I would’ve kept a closer eye on things.”

  “Then you need to vet the hospital’s accounting department. Brad’s told me horror stories about what accountants have tried to do with his money.” Toshia loved to talk about her husband even more than parties or clothes. “But because my baby is too smart to get taken, he circumvented their efforts. I’m sure the money is disappearing somewhere it’s not supposed to.”

  The same suspicions had plagued Lanelle. “I’ve been there and found nothing. Wherever the funds went, they made a clean getaway.” For now. No longer wanting to discuss her failure in keeping her project on course without a major glitch, Lanelle got lost in the music coming through her headphones.

  Toshia knocked on the treadmill to capture Lanelle’s attention. “You’ve gone to the previous fund-raisers alone. I refuse to let you do it again. Who are you taking as a date?” Toshia answered her own question. “How about Mr. Tall, Dark and Afro? I can’t believe you fobbed him off.”

  The exact same thoughts had kept her tossing and turning the night away. Images of Dante had refused to leave as they morphed into fantasies about more than just their hands touching.

  Lord knew she was long overdue for a good time.

  “Why didn’t you say yes to a date? The way you described him, he seems like a nice guy. You’re the most instinctive person I know. Something told you to say yes, and yet you did the opposite. Inquiring Toshia wants to know why.”

  “You already do.”

  “Girl, you need to get over it. Your ex-husband was all kinds of a jerk for leaving you.” She paused to catch her breath. “N
ot all men are the same. Conrad was a punk of distended proportions.”

  The loss of Lanelle’s five-month-old baby as a stillbirth had devastated her. She’d survived the heartbreak and had gotten pregnant a year later, only to deliver premature twins and watch them die. She’d been distraught and beyond comfort. When she’d held their lifeless forms in her arms, she’d been told they’d suffered a severe case of anemia from her body attacking the babies’ red blood cells.

  Her B-negative blood lacked the rhesus, or Rh, factor; her first baby had inherited it from her ex-husband and tested positive for it after she’d miscarried. She’d been injected with the RhoGAM vaccine; if she didn’t take the medication, her body would see the blood of the next Rh-positive child as a foreign body that had to be destroyed.

  But the RhoGAM had failed, a rare occurrence that had stumped her obstetrician. The antibodies the vaccine was supposed to prevent her from developing had killed her twins.

  Her ex-husband hadn’t been able to handle the news that they’d most likely never have a child together, so he’d divorced her.

  In less than two years, she’d had to suffer the tragic loss of her three children and had been left by a man who’d promised to stay with her through sickness and health. A childless marriage hadn’t been part of the vows, so he’d taken off.

  Lanelle would never be able to endure the agony of losing another child. Compounded with the fact that no matter how much a man claimed to love a woman, he couldn’t be trusted to stay when he was needed. What was the point in having a relationship if he’d end up leaving?

  Other than the occasional date forced on to her by her parents, her younger brother, Miguel, and Toshia, Lanelle hadn’t had a long-term relationship since her ex-husband, Conrad, left her.

  When she’d found out he and his new wife had delivered a healthy, full-term baby boy six months after they’d married, her heart had broken all over again. And her resolve to stay away from men had strengthened.

  Lanelle had been pleased with her life choice to live like a nun. Until yesterday. Dante’s knee-buckling smile started shattering walls she’d never intended to let crack.

  “What’s his name again?”

  An image of his rich, dark skin came to mind. “Dante Sanderson.”

  Toshia pushed a button on the machine and stopped pumping her legs as it came to a stop. “Oh, my goodness, you like him.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Alleluia, praise the Lord.” Her friend raised both hands. “After all these years, she likes someone. Glory be. I know you like him,” Toshia said. “It’s the sappy smile that crept onto your face when you mentioned his name. And you said it all breathy.”

  “Couldn’t be because I’m running on a treadmill at eight miles an hour.”

  “Go out with him.”

  Lanelle pressed the button to add an incline to her jog. “Even if I wanted to, which I don’t, I couldn’t.”

  Toshia crossed her arms over her full bosom. “Why the hell not?”

  Lanelle pulled the first excuse that came to mind. “I don’t have his number.”

  “Oh, please. It doesn’t take the CIA to find someone. You have his first and last name. Look him up.”

  Tired of trying to justify her decision, Lanelle said, “If we meet again by chance, then I’ll go out with him. If not, then it wasn’t meant to be.”

  Toshia flattened her lips. “You don’t believe in fate. Why would you bring it to the table with the first guy you’ve been attracted to in years?”

  Because he scares me. “He seemed like too much of a smooth talker to trust.”

  “I can’t believe you.” Toshia glared at her. “That’s not the reason, and you know it. It’s been ages. When will you be ready to date again?”

  Lanelle stopped the machine without going through a cooldown. “Time for weights.”

  “Fine, we’ll talk about this later.”

  With Toshia’s penchant for focusing on herself when prompted, Lanelle had no doubt they wouldn’t speak about it for weeks to come. By then Dante Sanderson would no longer star in her fantasies.

  Chapter 4

  The most recent meeting Lanelle had with the hospital board dragged on for hours as they’d discussed the issue of funding for the NICU.

  During the first half hour, tempers rose as some of the board members’ anger about the lack of funds surfaced. Lanelle observed the discussion with a critical eye as she fumed. She couldn’t believe there were some who seemed ambivalent to the miscalculations. And yet she didn’t trust those being most vociferous in their outrage, either.

  She ensured that her voice was calm when she said, “The best thing to do at this point is hire a forensic accountant to find out what happened to the money.”

  Rather than the commendation she expected for her idea, the room went silent. After a few seconds, one of the ones who hadn’t seemed to care one way or the other said, “Forensic accountants are specialists who charge a lot of money for their work.” She raised her eyebrow in a condescending way that made Lanelle’s hand form a fist. “And who do you suppose should pay for it?”

  Some of the others grumbled things Lanelle couldn’t hear, which made her angrier because they seemed in support of the older woman. “If money has been stolen, they’ve done such a good job of it that it’s probably not the first time. Wouldn’t it be better to invest in finding out if funds are being stolen from the hospital?”

  A couple people drank from the glasses that sat in front of them, increasing Lanelle’s suspicions of some of their involvement.

  “It’s just conjecture that the money has been stolen. Any number of things could’ve happened to it,” one of the others in the neutral camp said.

  Incredulous, Lanelle calmed herself with a deep breath. “And that’s why we need forensics to assess the situation. We need to know for sure what happened to the money.”

  The board’s treasurer straightened his stack of papers. “You have an excellent point. But the question remains about funding the fees of the accountant.” He paused as some of the members nodded. The smile, meant to charm her, didn’t work. “Can I suggest another fund-raiser to offset the remaining costs of this noble project you and your family have invested so generously toward?”

  Lanelle’s heart beat double time and she struggled to keep herself from shouting out her wrath. It would’ve hindered rather than helped. They already saw her as an eccentric rich woman from the powerful Astacio family, so they treated her very carefully. No need to add crazy to the list. “I hope we revisit the idea of hiring the forensic accountant.” She settled her gaze on each of the board members as she vowed to discover the truth, even if she had to do it on her own. “My family would hate to think that their money has been allowed to be stolen due to...personal interests.” Turning the tables in a flash, she smiled at the treasurer. “A fund-raiser would be a lovely idea.”

  Once the throat clearing, body shifting and water drinking settled down, they discussed the fund-raiser, which they all agreed Lanelle would chair and organize, as she’d expected. They’d hold the event in one month to try to keep on the building’s work schedule while giving them time to plan.

  Other than her suspicions of the involvement of some of the board members in stealing the project’s money, the meeting went well once the tension dissipated. When it was adjourned, Lanelle had a clear plan in mind about both the fund-raiser and finding the money.

  Grabbing her things, she left without making small talk with anyone and headed down to the hospital cafeteria for her favorite decadent treat. Her heart skipped a beat at the memory of meeting Dante the last time she’d gone there. She felt a niggling regret at not saying yes to his invitation. Recalling the children she’d always love but never hold and how she’d never put herself through that again, she knew saying no had been fo
r the best.

  * * *

  Lanelle had been busy planning the fund-raiser with Toshia over the past couple weeks. Her friend had performed miracles to get the event organized.

  At a meeting at Lanelle’s house, they arranged a silent auction to help bring in more proceeds.

  “We’re ahead of schedule. Two more weeks and we can set this party off.” Toshia leaned her elbows against Lanelle’s desk. “So tell me what happened at the meeting with the forensic accountant.”

  “You will not believe how much money those people make.” The quote had staggered her. “It will be worth it, though. I can’t stand when people get away with doing the wrong thing.”

  “Not even your best friend.” Toshia waggled her index finger. “You’re not the one I’d ever call to help me bury a body. I’d end up in jail when you called the police.”

  Lanelle laughed. “Good thing I know you’d never kill anyone.”

  “If you say so.” Toshia finished her drink and quirked an eyebrow. “Did you set up a date with Mr. Afro for your fund-raiser?”

  Something in Lanelle’s belly fluttered at the mention of Dante. He’d been on her mind every day since they’d met. He epitomized the phrase “tall, dark and handsome” and she liked the confident manner and sense of humor he’d displayed during their much too short time together. How could she miss someone she’d known for less than fifteen minutes?

  “I haven’t seen or heard from him since the parking lot, so no.” Although she’d seen a lot of him in her fantasies.

  Toshia clucked her tongue. “You are one hard-headed woman. You know you liked him. Why don’t you just get in contact with him? Brad thinks he’s a good guy.” Her face perked up. “I’ll call him for you and set up a meeting.” Her friend giggled. “It’ll be destiny.”

  Lanelle gasped. She wasn’t sure if she wanted Toshia to go through with her idea or not. Then the fear overtook her desire to get to know the first man she’d been attracted to in years. “Don’t you dare, Toshia. Promise me that you won’t.”