by S. K. Lessly
She waited as he grabbed his jacket, some papers from his desk, briefcase and turned off his office light. He reached for her hand and guided her through his office to the bank of elevators. He kept her close to him as they rode down.
“Where are you parked?” he asked her.
She told him that she parked outside of the building on the street and he directed her out of the elevator, passed the overnight security and out the front door.
“Call me when you get home,” he told her, kissed her chastely, and stepped back as she got inside of her car.
As Nyla watched Andrew disappear in her rearview mirror, she couldn’t help the huge grin that transformed her face. What had both happened and almost happened was unbelievable and completely surprising. Her reason to see him had everything to do with her case and nothing with her sexual fantasies about doing lustful and ravenous things to him or even what he could potentially do to her.
She was elated that he was single. She was excited that he ended up having the same type of feelings for her as she had for him. What made her smile and happiness fade was her case. Would he be able to be with her and represent her too?
“Shit.”
She couldn’t worry about it now. She needed to get to her baby, then figure out how to talk to Andrew about him representing her. She didn’t want it to look like she was giving him sexual favors for his help. Maybe a payment plan or something could work. She laughed out loud and shook her head.
Yeah right. I can only imagine what he would take for payment of his services.
And, oh, what services it was.
He was a silver-tongued devil on all fronts. He was definitely skillful and remarkable. She wanted to know what else he was remarkable at doing, but as she thought about it further, she wondered if they could mix business with pleasure. Would it be a conflict of interest? Would she be able to hold back her need for him to touch her again to kiss her, taste her?
“Hell no!”
Chapter 8
The moment Andrew made it home from seeing Nyla at his office, he tore off his clothes, took a cold shower, and tried to take his mind off of what had just happened.
However, as he collapsed on his bed, naked, his mind went back to the feeling of her lips. He reminded himself of how soft they felt, how expertly her tongue moved with his. It was rhythmic, sultry and fucking hot as hell. When he finally got his hands and lips on her body, on her breasts, it was just as he knew it would be. She felt incredible against his touch. Her skin was soft and warm. Her curves drove him insane, and he couldn’t slow down from feeling and tasting more of her.
Just thinking about her, her body, her scent, had his dick hard as a rock. The soft way that she moaned into his mouth, how she grinded her body in time with his tongue, drove him crazy and was doing a number on him now. He started stroking himself slowly, closing his eyes and picturing Nyla, how fucking good she tasted, how wet she was for him, how she clamped tight against his fingers, his tongue. He remembered how soft her skin was when he touched her, how her smile would light up…
Yes, there it is, he said to himself as his hand moved faster and faster. He licked his lips still tasting her on his upper lip as the scent of her desires still resonated on him, in his nose, in his mouth, in his soul. She was what he wanted. She was what he needed. She was…
“Fuck!” he yelled, as me moved faster and faster until finally… temporary sensual bliss.
Andrew laid there a moment, cum dripping down his stomach, threatening to drip on his sheets. His breath was coming fast, heart beating out of control, but he had the largest smile plastered on his face. He got up, careful not to lose his boys on his sheets and cleaned himself off.
If he didn’t get to her soon, he and his right hand were about to be best buddies and that hadn’t happened since middle school. When he lay back down on his bed, he reached for his phone. He noticed he missed her call while he was in the shower, but she texted him that she made it home safely. As he stared at her message he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep until he heard her voice. Hoping she’d still be up, he looked up her number and pressed the call button.
“Hello,” a soft voice answered.
He closed his eyes and practically melted in his pillow at the pure sound of her voice. “Hey, it’s A.P. or …Um…It’s Andrew.”
She chuckled softly and his dick twitched.
Fuck!
“Yes, I know who this is. Your name is programmed in my phone; besides, I know your voice.”
“I hope you don’t have my number under asshole,” he said both jokingly and seriously.
Nyla chuckled again. “No, I have you under Drew.”
“Screw you?”
“No, silly. Drew,” she laughed.
He grinned and closed his eyes feeling as giddy as a high school boy finally talking to the girl he’d been crushing on since forever. He draped his arm over his eyes and asked, “Do you have a moment to talk?”
“Yes, I’m just lying in the bed. I’ve been having a little difficulty falling asleep.”
His eyebrow rose, hearing the hidden message in the inflection of her voice. “Really? Thinking of me?”
A soft, “Yes,” came breathy and low from her, and Andrew almost told her that he was on his way to her.
Instead, he said simply, “Good, I haven’t stopped thinking about you since the first day we’ve met.”
Silence greeted him, but he expected it. For him, the shit that was happening between them was getting deeper by the seconds, and he didn’t care. It was about time.
Breaking the silence, he asked, “How’s Se’Nya?”
She sighed, “She’s better. Her temp is down, and I finally got her to sleep. Hopefully it breaks tomorrow and I don’t have to take her to the doctors.”
She proceeded to tell him all about Se’Nya as he got comfortable in his bed. He listened intently, asking questions when he needed to, but other than that he just listed to this woman express to him how much she loved her daughter. It made him smile, but it also made his heart ache for what could have been.
“Drew?” she called to him after he failed to answer her question.
“Yes? Sorry, sweetheart. What did you say?”
“I asked you to tell me more about you. Considering you know more about me than most- Hell, more than a lot - I just wanted to know more about Andrew Pierce.”
He chuckled. “What do you want to know?”
“I don’t know. Everything. Tell me about your parents. Do you have any siblings? What made you become a lawyer? You know, stuff like that.”
“Okay, well, my parents are still living. They live on the outskirts of town. I have one sister who’s older, way older, so we don’t have that much of a connection and six brothers.”
“Dang, six brothers?” Nyla asked.
“Well, they aren’t biological, but they are as close to me as brothers could be.”
“Oh, okay. Are they like your foster brothers or something?”
“Something like that, yes. What about you?”
“Me? Well, it’s sort of like you, except I’m on the opposite side of things. I was the foster sister of some. I don’t really know what happened to my parents. The earliest I remember is being raised by my grandmother, but she died suddenly, and I was placed in the system. My foster families didn’t have any back stories about me, and I tried to find out all I could about my family but didn’t have any luck.”
Andrew sat up a little and placed his pillows behind his back and head. “Hey, I can probably help you with that.”
“Really? How?” she asked him.
“A few of my brothers are in law enforcement. They would have the means of locating anyone. If you have your grandmother’s name and where she used to live, they could probably get you the info you need.”
“Seriously? And you don’t mind asking them for me?”
He could practically feel her excitement and hope through the phone. Hearing her happiness made his chest swell.
He knew there wasn’t anything that he wouldn’t do for this woman, and he almost told her this.
Again, he kept those feelings to himself and replied, “No, I don’t mind, and they wouldn’t mind doing it either. Just let me know.”
Smiling, she answered, “Thank you. I will.”
There was a slight pause before Nyla confessed. “Andrew, I don’t know if I said this to you already, but I really appreciate you helping me with Robert. This situation between him and me is really screwed up, and I hate that Se’Nya is caught in the middle of everything.”
“Hey, I’m just glad I was in the right place at the right time, that’s all. Don’t worry about anything Nyla.”
“I’ll try not to,” she told him. She then asked hesitantly, “Do you… um… know what happened between him and me? Well, I’m sure you have considering who Robert is.”
“No, actually I hadn’t heard anything before I took your case. But yeah, I know a little now, and I guessed the rest.”
She groaned, almost as sexy as she had earlier. “I must sound like an idiot to you or something else entirely.”
“Neither actually. You didn’t deserve to be treated the way you did by Robert and his bitch of a wife. Remember, I know Robert. I know how much of an idiot he is; I know how much of a pussy he is.”
“But you had to have heard the rumors that I was ‘sleeping around with a married man knowingly and that I trapped him’.”
He sighed, biting back the sudden surge of anger that was rising within him. “Yes, I’ve heard that, but I don’t believe it. I think Robert sold you a dream, and you had no choice but to accept it. I think he used you for whatever he wanted, and when he realized how special you were, how he didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you, he let you go. I know his punk ass never told you that he was married. If he had, you wouldn’t have given him a second thought, and that would have fucked with his self-esteem.”
Nyla lay on her back and looked up at her ceiling. “Yeah, well, tell that to his wife. She’s called me everything but a child of God in the press and to anyone who’ll listen. I hadn’t been in this city for that long, only about four years now, but I had heard of the Downs. However, I didn’t know Robert was the son of the great Richard Downs. The day I met him, I had no idea who he was. He told me his name was Robert Manns. I knew he was a business man, but that was about it.” She sighed through the phone, remembering how stupid she felt when she realized Robert’s real name was Robert Mansfield Downs. “I tell you, that man put me through a lot. I want to say I wish I never met him, but that would mean I wouldn’t have Se’Nya, and she’s such a gift.”
Andrew internally sighed. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was glad to hear all of this from her. It just solidified what his heart was telling him.
“Yes, she is,” he told her. “And she deserves the best. Again, don’t worry about him. I’ll take care of everything. Now, enough about him. Tell me what you’re wearing.”
Nyla laughed aloud and quickly covered her mouth, hoping she didn’t wake Se’Nya.
“You are such a perv,” she replied, her cheeks burning from smiling so much.
“Oh, baby, you have no idea.”
Andrew kept Nyla on the phone for as long as he could, asking her about her life, her likes, and dislikes. He wanted to get to know everything he could about this woman. He told her about himself but never brought up Mikaliah.
Not yet, he told himself. But soon.
When he finally hung up, he needed to take another cold shower before he was finally able to sleep.
The next day, Nyla sat in a booth at work anxiously looking out of the window for Darrius. He was bringing Se’Nya to the diner so that Nyla could take her to the doctors in a few hours. Nyla was first going to call off work today in order to take Se’Nya to the doctors, but Darrius offered to watch her until she got off work.
“There’s no reason for you to miss out on your pay and sit around waiting for an appointment,” he told her. “I’ll watch Baby Girl until it’s time and bring her to you.”
Nyla told herself that if she saw any hesitation in his daughter when Darrius came to her house, she would tell him never mind. But Se’Nya was fine. She went to him with no problem. Nyla was truly grateful for Darrius, but she didn’t think relying on him would be appropriate any longer, especially since things seemed to be happening with Andrew. She would have to talk to Darrius sooner rather than later.
Dee Dee walked into the diner for her shift and smiled when she saw Nyla. She didn’t get a chance to talk to Nyla when she came home to take care of her daughter last night. This was the perfect time to get the scoop about her meeting before her shift started. As always, as she surveyed the diner, it was packed.
Dee Dee groaned, This is going to be a long night.
Nyla smiled as Dee Dee approached.
“Hey, girlie. How’s Se’Nya?” Dee Dee asked, sliding into the booth across from Nyla.
“She still has a fever. I’m waiting for Darrius to bring her here. We have an appointment in a few hours.”
Dee Dee smiled. “Speaking of gorgeous men, we didn’t get a chance to talk last night. How did everything go with your meeting with Mister Wonderful?” She then leaned down and grinned devilishly. “Did you exchange sexual favors for his help?”
Nyla’s eyes practically jumped from her sockets, and she looked around the diner checking conspiratorially.
“What do you mean by that? Dee Dee, I would never…”
Dee Dee laughed and touched Nyla’s shoulder. “Girl, I was kidding. I know you wouldn’t do anything like that. I was just messing with you.”
Relief suddenly flooded Nyla, but her reaction wasn’t lost on Dee Dee. She knew Nyla. The careful way she was looking around the diner, as if someone was watching them, told her that Nyla was hiding something and it was good.
Dee Dee studied Nyla as she asked. “Hey, did something happen between you and Mister Wonderful? Did he renege on helping you?”
“Did who renege on helping you?”
Both Nyla and Dee Dee looked up and found Darrius looking down on them with Se’Nya squirming in his arms.
Nyla, ignoring Darrius, stood and reached for her baby.
“Hey, love bug,” she cooed and kissed her daughter. “How are you feeling, honey?”
Darrius looked at both women and realized that they were going to ignore his question. However, as he looked at Dee Dee, he knew he’d learn soon enough. Darrius slid into the booth, sitting across from Dee Dee. Nyla slid into the booth next to Darrius.
“Thank you for bringing her here and I really appreciate you watching her for me.”
Darrius smiled at mother and daughter. “You know it wasn’t a problem, baby. Anything for you Ny.”
Darrius turned his attention to the other woman at the table and smiled.
“Sup, Dee.” He nodded.
Dee Dee smiled, pushing her black hair behind her ear. “What’s up, Darrius?”
Dee Dee scooted out of the booth and stood. She bent over and pulled Se’Nya from her mother’s hands. “Hey, baby girl. How’s my girl, huh?” Se’Nya looked at Dee Dee intently and started babbling. Dee Dee smiled. “I know, honey. I promise to take better care of you next time you get sick on my watch.”
Darrius instantly frowned. “What do mean by that, Dee? Were you with Se’Nya last night?”
He didn’t let Dee Dee answer before he looked over at Nyla. “Nyla, if you needed me to watch Baby Girl, I would have. You didn’t need to have Dee Dee drive way across town to do it.”
Nyla sighed and looked at Darrius. “I know, and I really appreciate all the help you give me. Dee offered, okay? She’s also letting me use her car while I run some errands today before I head home.”
His frowned deepened. “Yeah, and I could have taken you anywhere you wanted to go too. Damn, Nyla, you know I got your back.”
Darrius put his arm around her shoulder and threaded his other hand through hers. Nyla looked deep i
nto Darrius’ eyes and held her breath.
Please don’t say what I think you’re going to say.
He never got that chance. Her baby girl let out a loud screech of excitement that startled her as well as Dee Dee. Nyla looked up at her daughter and found she was fighting to get away from Dee Dee. Se’Nya was leaning forward, arms outstretched toward someone that Nyla had never expected to see today. Her heart started picking up speed from just the sheer sight of him, the promise of his presence, his touch. She remembered how it felt when he touched her. When he kissed her, sending her in a lustful haze spiraling out of control.
And, oh my, that tongue of his. She shivered at the memory as her core immediately started heating up.
Never in her wildest dreams did she think he would have reacted to her that way. He took over her body as if she belonged to him from the moment she was born.
And late last night he had called her, something that she didn’t expect. She called him when she got home, but he didn’t answer his phone. She left a message never expecting to hear from him but she was very happy she did. He talked about nothing and everything, learning what he could about her. He asked about her daughter, asked about her past. He wondered if she was okay, if he needed to come by and take her and Se’Nya to the ER so Nyla wouldn’t have to worry about driving.
He listened for at least an hour as she told him all about Se’Nya’s past illnesses without a fuss. Nyla was falling for him worse than she imagined. Before they hung up, she told him that they needed to talk. He agreed, but couldn’t give her a timeframe on when he would be free. She told him to let her know so she was completely surprised to see him walking through the door. She was also surprised that he wasn’t alone.
Chapter 9
Andrew couldn’t stop what was happening even if he wanted to. The jealousy, the enthralled rage within him was boiling out of control. Just the sight of the man sitting next to her was causing him to lose it. The fact that someone was touching what was his was sending him into orbit. He could feel the shift within. The darkness getting stronger.
