A Miami Affair

by Sherelle Green

  “Forget close. My grandfather and I don’t even speak. He won’t even acknowledge he has grandkids.”

  “Why wouldn’t he acknowledge you and your brothers?”

  Josh sat up a little straighter. “Because in order to acknowledge us, he’d have to acknowledge my mother, and he wrote her off the minute she decided that she didn’t want to follow the path he’d laid out for her, and instead wanted to marry the mechanic she’d fallen in love with.”

  Becca nodded her head in understanding. “Your father.”

  “Yup. I meant what I said. My father was one of the most hardworking men I’ve known, but no matter how hard he worked, or the fact that he went from a mechanic to owning several shops across Florida, my mother’s father always considered my dad beneath her and her family. And the man who took his baby girl from her Louisiana roots.”

  “But I’ve talked to your mom and I’ve never heard two people sound more in love than she and your dad were.”

  “I agree, and I grew up in a very loving home, but I watched my dad bend over backward to make his father-in-law happy, only to die knowing that he never did accomplish it. My mom came from money and my father was never welcome. Even after he passed, my mom went to her father to try to make amends because apparently, it’s what my father had always wanted. Even then, that jerk refused to speak to her and I had to sit there and watch her hurt over a situation that never should have been an issue in the first place.”

  Becca could see anger in Josh’s eyes. “You went to him, didn’t you? You went to your grandfather after you became a millionaire?”

  “I did.”

  “But it didn’t make a difference?”

  “Not a damn bit.”

  “That’s ridiculous. You’re a millionaire now, making a name for yourself. You were invited to join a prestigious organization. Yet it’s still not good enough for him?”

  “Nope, not even close. And to top it all off, he’s a member of one of Louisiana’s Prescott George chapters. But since he disowned my family, according to the organization we’re not related and I will never be a legacy. Which is fine with me. I don’t need his last name, nor do I want it. My father was a DeLong. His father was a DeLong, and I’m building the DeLong brand without the assistance of my maternal grandparents.”

  Becca waded to Josh’s side of the pool, stopping in front of him. “Josh, the DeLong name would be a great one no matter if you were a millionaire or not, because it’s yours and it belongs to you and your brothers, who will pass it down for generations. Never allow anyone to define you based on their own biases. The saddest part about your situation with your grandfather is that he missed the opportunity to get to know a remarkable daughter, four charismatic grandsons and an amazing son-in-law. He lost so much more having never had the privilege of getting to know you.”

  The crease in his forehead eased. He pulled her closer to him. “Have I told you how amazingly brilliant you are?” He kissed one side of her neck before kissing the other.

  “Not in those exact words.” She giggled when he hit her ticklish spot behind her ear. She slipped her hand into his swim trunks to get him to stop. His eyes darkened.

  “You shouldn’t have done that, Becca.”

  She nipped at his bottom lip. “Why not? What are you going to do about it?” Taunting Josh was slowly becoming her favorite pastime.

  Without warning, he untied her bikini bottom and top in about three seconds flat. At her gasp, he captured her lips with his as his fingers found her sweet spot. Taking her cue from Josh, Becca untied his trunks until they were loose enough to pull off.

  Becca tossed her head back in gratification as his fingers went to work, prepping her for what was soon to come. She smiled at the sound of paper ripping as Josh protected them both. Is he ever not prepared? Not only was Josh an attentive lover, but he was a skilled lover. She didn’t have to wonder if he was on top of things when it came to sex or question if he knew how to please her. With Josh, it was guaranteed pleasure.

  Instead of dwelling on all the questions she still needed to ask him, she banished all thoughts from her mind as she slowly eased him into her core inch by inch.

  * * *

  “Becca, are you okay?”

  Becca looked up from the blank screen on her phone to her sister, Allison. “Yes, I’m fine. I was just thinking about something.”

  Allison frowned. “You’ve been daydreaming all night. How long are you going to make me wait before you give me details on your trip with Josh?”

  “Let’s finish helping Mom with the table first.”

  Becca had been home for four days and all she could think about was Josh. The trip had been nothing short of amazing, until he received an urgent business call when they were an hour away from Miami. Although Josh had tried to act like the call hadn’t put a damper on the last hour of their ride home, she could tell his mind had been preoccupied.

  When they finally docked, he told her he had to go to LA for a day. One day had turned into several and even though he video chatted with her every night and texted her throughout the day, Becca had to face the harsh reality that she’d gotten accustomed to seeing Josh in person on a daily basis.

  “Okay, let’s eat,” Becca’s mother said.

  Becca sat down next to her sister, wishing that her brother-in-law hadn’t taken her nieces and nephew to Georgia to visit his parents. She needed a buffer...or four. Her father was no help. After living in a house with so many women for over twenty years, her father, who sat at the head of the table, had learned to block them all out.

  “It’s so nice having both my daughters here,” Patricia Wright said. “The only thing that would have made tonight better would have been Becca inviting Joshua DeLong to dinner.”

  “Mom, I already told you—he’s out of town and I haven’t even seen him since we got back from vacation.”

  “How was it by the way?” Allison asked. “You still haven’t said.”

  Becca glared at Allison. “It was great.”

  Their mother frowned. “Great? That’s it? What did you do? Where did he take you?”

  Why did I agree to come tonight? This was a lose-lose situation. If she told them the truth, they would be even more in love with Josh. If she lied to them, they would know, because her mom and Allison always knew when she was lying.

  “It was...” Her voice trailed off as she tried to think of something she could tell them that would do minimal damage.

  “Well?” her mother asked. “Tell us something.”

  “Patricia, leave Becca alone,” her father said. “If she wants to tell you and Allison what happened, she’ll tell you at her own pace.”

  Patricia’s eyes grew wide as they always did when she was about to be dramatic. “Well, excuse me for wanting to know how my daughter’s trip went with a man who may be my son-in-law one day.”

  “Mom, it’s not even like that.”

  “How would I know what it’s like?” her mother asked. “You talk to your sister, but you won’t even talk to me, your own mother.”

  The doorbell rang and Becca’s father was all too eager to answer it.

  “Do you realize how old your father and I are? Don’t you want us to be able to enjoy our grandchildren?”

  “Of course I do, Mom.” Becca shuffled her food around on her plate. The truth was, she wanted to tell them all about the trip, but she couldn’t exactly lie and say she and Joshua were in a relationship. Yes, she knew that they liked one another and the time they’d spent together so far had been nothing short of amazing, but Becca didn’t know what would happen after the gala next month. Would she and Josh still see each other? Did they need to categorize what they were or was she satisfied with keeping things the same? Was she even in a situation to ask him to define what they were?

  She decided to b
e as honest as she could. “Josh and I had a great trip, but I don’t even know where we stand with one another. He’s an amazing man and we work really well together. He’s nothing like I thought he would be, yet somehow, he’s turned out to be so much more than I ever imagined. If I let myself get wrapped up in everything, I will fall for him harder than I have ever fallen for any man in my entire life. The only reason I won’t gush about Josh is because I don’t want to get your hopes up by telling you how amazing the trip was, just to realize that it didn’t mean as much to him as it did to me.”

  “It did mean a lot.”

  Becca turned toward the entryway of her parents’ dining room and gripped the table to keep from bolting out of her seat. “What are you doing here?”

  Josh’s eyes stared intently at her. “My flight just landed an hour ago and when I tried to call you, it went straight to voice mail.”

  “My phone died.”

  “Oh, that explains it.” He glanced at her mom and sister as if he were debating whether he should continue. “I called the office and Haley answered. When I told her I was looking for you, she gave me your parents’ address. I hope that’s okay.”

  “It’s fine.” Becca sat up straighter in her seat. “You just surprised me, that’s all.”

  “I guess it was a bit impulsive.” Josh glanced at her lips and his gaze lingered there for a while. Out of nervousness, Becca licked her lips.

  “I like impulsive.” At least, I do now.

  Even though her family was in the room with them, Becca couldn’t take her eyes off Josh. It was as if they were two magnets drawn to each other by force.

  “For the record,” Josh said, “our trip to Purity Haven meant a lot to me, too. Probably much more than you realize.”

  She smiled at his statement before it dawned on her that he probably heard a lot more of her conversation with her mom and sister than she’d expected.

  “Purity Haven?” Allison asked before Becca could go into full freak-out mode over the fact that she’d basically admitted that she was falling for Josh and he’d practically been standing a few feet away when she’d said it.

  “It’s my private island,” Josh said. “It’s located in the Bahamas and that’s where I took Becca last week.”

  Becca chanced a glance at her mom and sister, who were surprisingly well-behaved considering the fact that they’d been asking her about Josh for weeks and suddenly he’d appeared in the doorway. Maybe they finally understand that I can muscle through my own love life without their input.

  “I’ve always wanted to plan one of my daughter’s weddings on an island. Since Allison is already married, that just leaves Becca. Lucky for me, her future husband already owns an island.”

  Spoke too soon! “Mom, I can’t believe you said that. It’s not even like that.”

  “Says who? You just admitted that you’re falling for the man and here he is in my dining room drooling over you like a love-sick puppy. You both are too cute for your own good. Josh, how about you take a seat and make yourself a plate. I need all the details about the island for future planning purposes.”

  As Josh stepped farther into the room, Becca had only one coherent thought.

  Kill me now.

  Chapter 18

  “Josh, this is a serious accusation.”

  Josh glanced over at the other men who were seated at a table in the corner of the bar waiting for him and Daniel to join them. They’d called this meeting to solidify their alliance against the current Prescott George president and to form a strategy to oust Ashton Rollins.

  “Look, I know it’s serious, man,” Josh said to Daniel. “That’s why I pulled you away from the other guys. I wanted to talk to you about it separately.”

  Toward the end of his trip with Becca, Josh had received some incriminating information about Ashton Rollins. While he was in LA on business, he’d called his contact to get the details and had been shocked at what had been discovered.

  “Daniel, do you understand what I’m saying? According to my sources, after college, Ashton was driving the car when his girlfriend Mia died in the wreck. Somehow, the authorities reported that Mia was behind the wheel and under the influence. There’s no police record of Ashton being the one behind the wheel.”

  “I heard you the first time,” Daniel said, a little louder than before. “But you don’t understand. I went to college with Mia and Ashton. Mia wasn’t just a friend. Until Angela, I always considered Mia the love of my life. It took me years to get over what happened and now you’re telling me that it’s possible that Ashton killed Mia? It’s too much, man.”

  The emotion that Josh heard in Daniel’s voice gave him pause. However, knowing that Daniel was so close to Mia made it even more imperative that Daniel understand the bigger picture.

  “Daniel, my heart goes out to you, man, but if you put your relationships with Mia and Ashton aside, you’d see this the way that I do. You know the Rollins family. They ooze money—enough to bribe anyone if they had to. What if the police were paid for their silence, and this entire time Mia has been made out to be irresponsible and a drunk, when in actuality, Ashton was the one responsible? Instead, he gets off scot-free. Since you knew both of them in college, I know I’m not saying anything you haven’t already thought about before.”

  The torn look on Daniel’s face proved to Josh that he was right. Daniel was a smart man and there was no doubt this scenario had run through his head before.

  Daniel sighed. “Listen, I’m still on the fence. You just laid all this on me, so let’s tell the fellas we will reschedule the meeting, and then you and I can talk about it later this week.”

  Josh already knew what he wanted to do, but he understood why Daniel needed time. “Okay, let’s do that.”

  * * *

  “Are you sure everything is okay?” Becca asked for the third time. She hated sounding like a broken record, but from the moment she met Josh on his yacht that night, she’d known something was wrong.

  “I’m fine,” he said with a forced smile.

  Becca squinted her eyes, not believing him for one second.

  “I guess LA drained me,” he finally said. “A couple of months ago I had to let go key members of the management staff for a tech company. We finally came to an agreement during my last visit, but I think I just need to reboot. Want to sit out on the top deck with me?”

  “Sure.”

  Becca followed Josh to the top deck just as streaks of lightning sliced across the sky followed by the sound of thunder. “Are you sure you want to stay out here? Looks like it’ll rain soon.”

  When she looked at Josh, she noticed tension leave his shoulders and the sly smile he usually wore return.

  “What’s wrong, Becca? Scared of a little rain?”

  She jumped at the rumbling in the sky combined with Josh tickling her sides. His sudden mood swing caught her off guard, but she welcomed the teasing side of him. Before long, Josh was playfully chasing her around the top deck as the first drops began to fall from the sky.

  “Too bad you don’t want to go inside.” Becca pushed Josh onto a teak lounger with a thick black cushion and white pillows. “Guess you’ll never get to see what I have on underneath this skirt.”

  Becca was still wearing her black pencil skirt and white blouse that she’d worn to work that day, but underneath, she was sporting a treat that she was sure Josh would appreciate.

  “Any reason why you can’t show me out here?”

  “For starters, it’s raining and I don’t want to get my hair wet.”

  “Your hair looks amazing when it gets wet.”

  “Well, the temperature will also drop if it rains.”

  Josh ran his finger down her exposed leg. “We generate enough heat to keep us warm.”

  As always, even the simpl
est touch from him was enough to warm her entire body. As the rain grew heavier, Becca pushed away from Josh with an entirely new plan in mind. Feeling his calculating eyes watching her every more, Becca slowly unbuttoned her blouse before tossing it to the side. Even in the darkness, she could feel his eyes boring a hole through her black satin bra, causing her nipples to peak.

  Next, she stood right in front of him with her back turned and eased her pencil skirt down her hips and thighs, giving him the perfect view of her backside. Once she was only in her lingerie, Becca unbuttoned Josh’s shirt, then unzipped his pants. When he stood to remove them completely, she pushed him back down on the lounger and wagged a finger at him.

  The rain was completely soaking them both, but now Becca was too anxious about what was yet to come to go inside. She eased herself on top of Josh, grinning when his eyes widened at the skin-on-skin contact.

  “Are these...” He slid his finger to her center. “Crotchless?”

  Becca nodded, ripped the condom packet with her teeth and slid it over his shaft.

  “The fact that you’re so prepared is sexy as hell,” Josh said in a strained voice. Becca lifted her body again and eased herself on top of him.

  Josh let out a throaty groan as every inch of him went deep into her core. He whispered words near her ear. Out of all the things she’d grown to enjoy about the way Josh made love to her, the uninhibited way he spoke during intimacy brought her desire to new heights.

  It didn’t take long for them to begin moving in their own special rhythm. With each thrust, Becca felt her body widen even more to accommodate Josh. Mentally, they connected on so many levels, but physically, they were in a category all their own.

  Before long, their lustful moans drowned out the roaring sound of the sky as they made love to one another in a way that could only be described as unrestrained passion.

  * * *

  After they showered, they lay in Josh’s grand king bed wearing soft white robes, each caught up in their own thoughts.

  “I needed this,” Josh said, breaking the silence.