Accidental Heartbreak (The Accidental Series, Book 2) (21 page)

“
Oh. Right,”
Shayla said, smiling uncomfortably.

“
So have you met
anyone else?” Julie aked.

“
No, well, I…I met
you, thank God. I’m really nervous, Julie.”

“
No need to be.
You’re among friends. How ‘bout I introduce you to some
folks?”

“
Will
you?”

“
Of course I
will,” Julie said, instantly looking for someone to grab while
Shayla followed her.

Carter never took
his eyes off of her.

“
Maria,” Julie
said, “This is Shayla, Carter’s wife. Shayla, this is
Maria.”

Maria’s eyes grew
bigger than the smile on her face. She was a Hispanic chick,
rocking a shade of gold lipstick. “Oh my goodness…you’re as pretty
as an eighty-hour paycheck.” She leaned forward to give her a
hug.

Shayla
accepted.

“
It’s so nice to
meet you, Shayla.”

“Nice to meet you,
too.”

“
And you are
wearing that dress, girlfriend,” Maria complemented, then quickly
turned her attention to a waiter walking by with a tray of
champagne. “Ooh, ooh, more champagne. Chat later.”

Julie grinned.
“So, that was Maria...the wild child of the bunch…last time Carter
had one of these shindigs, she drank so much, I had to give her a
ride home. Let’s hope tonight is not a repeat
performance.”

Shayla smiled,
watching Julie grab the hand of a tall, dark-skinned man, about the
same height as Carter. “Patrick, I want to introduce you to
somebody. This lovely lady is Shayla Williams.”

“
This wouldn’t
happen to be the Shayla who took my man out of the circuit, would
it?” Patrick asked while reaching to shake Shayla’s hand, but ended
up holding it instead while he talked. “I knew Carter was up to
something when he started leaving the office on time…but if I was
coming home to a sweet thang like you, I’d leave the office on time
too.”

Shayla smiled,
then scanned the room for Carter. She didn’t see him anywhere and
wondered where he ran off to until she felt his arms wrap around
her from behind, and heard him say to Patrick, “Ah’ight, you can
let go of her hand now. I don’t like other men touching my
lady.”

Palms up, Patrick
said, “My bad boss.” Then he looked at Shayla and said, “Just keep
my man happy, ah’ight.”

“
I’ll do my best.”
Shayla said.

Carter sank his lips in
Shayla’s cheek. “Hope you’re having a good time.”

She turned around
to face him, seeing the happiness in his face and that’s when she
knew she made the right decision to come down and support him with
this function. “Yes, I am.”

Carter hugged her again
and walked off to join the men again, talking about football.

Shayla returned
her attention to Julie and after Julie had introduced her to at
least fifteen more people, they both heard someone tapping a spoon
against a champagne glass.

Shayla turned
around and it was Carter, getting everyone’s attention like he was
about to make an announcement. Shayla stood near the back of the
crowd while Julie made her way to the front.

“
I want to thank
all of you for a great year,” he said. “It’s been tough for the
banking industry as a whole with the recession and foreclosures,
but we hung in there and fortunately, there weren’t any
layoffs.”

Everyone clapped and
cheered.

Carter continued,
“Many of you know that last year was a rough year for me. Not only
did I lose my brother, but I lost my Mother and…and it was hard. It
was very hard,” Carter said, his lips trembling. “I want to
reiterate how grateful I am to have people like you to understand
and offer me so many comforting words. Thank you.” He took a breath
and asked, “Did everyone get a chance to meet my wife?” Carter
looked to see where Shayla was in the crowd. He saw her standing
near the back, close to the kitchen. “Shayla, can you join
me?”

Shayla frowned a
little, but quickly put on an award winning smile. Just to appease
Carter, she made her way to the front.

“
Everybody, this
is my beautiful wife,” Carter said with pride and a look of
approval on his face as Shayla stood next to him. “If you haven’t
met her yet, please take the time to say hello.” He took a deep
breath and held Shayla’s hand. “The last thing I want to say is
that we all work hard, every one of us. And until recently, until I
found love, I thought my job was everything to me. That is, until
this woman came into my life and flipped it upside down and now, I
realize that my job is just that – a job – and you, Shayla…you’re
my future. My happiness. My everything.”

Carter took a long
inhale and a peaceful exhale to regain his composure. “I love you.
The success, the money…none of this means a thing to me without
you.”

“Aww,” his crowd of
colleagues said in unison.

Shayla hugged him
tight. He took a kiss from her lips, feeling them
tremble.

“
Lastly, I want to
say that I don’t want to see anyone working sixty, seventy, eighty
plus hours a week. Go home to your spouses…your family. Those are
the people that matter. I know you’ve seen me leaving on time for
quite a while and now you know why.” Carter looked at Shayla,
watching her blush. “Anyway, that’s enough talking from me. Thank
y’all for coming,” Carter told his colleagues, watching Shayla walk
away from him.

The crowd
dispersed and Carter rushed upstairs to find Shayla. She was
sitting on the bed, her shoes on the floor next to her feet. She
looked up when he walked in the room. She watched him step closer,
felt her heart flutter when he touched her face.

“
I’m sorry about
last night. I made a big deal out of nothing,” she said looking up
at him.

“
I need you to
know that there is no one else for me. I love you. Period. No one
else, Shayla.”

Shayla smiled while
tears fell from her eyes.

“I’m going to go back
downstairs and see everybody off, but I’m coming back for you.”

“Okay,” Shayla
replied.

* * *

Carter lowered his
body next to her on the bed and pulled her in his arms, the same
thing he did every time after they’d made love.

“
Shayla,” Carter
said, sweeping her hair away from her face.

Was he really
trying to engage her in conversation when she couldn’t catch her
breath? “Yeah?” she said, barely.

“Did I tell you how
beautiful you looked tonight?”

Shayla smiled against
his chest. “No.”

“Well you’re always
beautiful, but tonight, you were stunning in that dress. I loved
that shade of lipstick on you too.”

“
Good, because
you’re wearing most of it now.” Shayla laughed. Panted.

Carter chucked. “Is that
right?”

Shayla kissed his chest.
“Yes, that’s right.”

“So how did it feel to
meet everyone?”

Shayla unlocked
their hands so she could rub her fingertips across the sprigs of
hair on his chest. “It was nerve-racking…didn’t think I would fit
in, but they made me comfortable. Julie is really nice by the
way.”

“
Yeah. She’s been
with me for a while. It’s hard to find a good assistant and her
work ethic is impeccable, so I had to hang on to her.” Carter
yawned. “Anyway, I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,
sweetheart.”

“
I’m glad you put
up with me though my insecurities. I know I drive you insane at
times.”

Carter grinned. “Yeah,
you do.”

Shayla chuckled
softly.

“
And the crazy
thing is, you have nothing to worry about because there is no other
woman for me, Shayla. Do you want me to say it again, because I’ll
say it however many times it’ll take to sink in through that
beautiful head of yours.”

Shayla smiled. “I
get it, Carter,” Shayla said, convinced that she deserved to be
happy and there was no reason to feel unworthy. Not
anymore.

Carter had a lawn
service company come by in the morning to cut the grass, trim the
hedges, rake leaves and beautify the yard. He tried to talk Shayla
into hiring a cleaning service to take care of the house, but
Shayla insisted – said she didn’t mind doing housework and that it
made her feel like a wife. So with her hair pulled back into a
ponytail, a pink scarf tied around her head, she was busy doing
housework duties Saturday afternoon, including dusting, mopping
floors and vacuuming.

By evening, she’d
made her way to the laundry room, taking the whites from the hamper
and throwing them in the washer first. She had the house to herself
since Carter had left to hang with Terrance, and while she was busy
working, she had Charlotte’s hip hop station, Power 98, cranked up,
as if the loud music helped her to get work done faster. If she
hadn’t had her cell phone in the laundry room with her, on the
shelf next to a box of dryer sheets, she would not have heard the
ringing. She wiped sweat from her forehead, then picked up her
phone smiling, because she knew it was Carter, calling to check on
her. But she was surprised when she looked at the home screen and
saw a different caller.

“
Donovan?”

He grinned,
sitting in his car in the driveway of his home. “Was that a
question?”

Shayla laughed.
“I’m sorry. It’s just a surprise to hear from you.”

Donovan could
picture her as if she was right there in front of him. He
remembered the distinct features of her face – those big eyes, her
cute-as-a-button nose and petite, pouty lips. “Why is it a surprise
to hear from me?” he asked her.

“
Because I
honestly didn’t think I’d ever hear from you again.” Shayla walked
to the kitchen and leaned against the counter while holding the
phone next to her left ear.

“
How are you?” he
inquired.

“
I’m doing great,”
Shayla said cheerfully.

“
That’s good. You
sound like you’re in good spirits.”

“
I am. What about
you? How are things going at Zenadel?”

“Do you really think
that’s why I called you? To talk about the company?”

Shayla grinned
awkwardly. “I honestly don’t know why you called me,
Donovan.”

He didn’t have it
in him to say that he missed her, that he had replayed the time
they spent together over and over again. “I just wanted to play
catch up. We talked about a lot of things when you where here and I
wanted to see how you were doing. So tell me…what’s going on in
Shayla’s world?”

“
Um, well, a lot
has changed in my life since I moved back to Charlotte.”

“Oh yeah?”

“
Yep. I’m married
now.”

“
Married?” Donovan
said. Was that disappointment in his voice?

“
Yes, for going on
six weeks now.”

“
Who’s the lucky
guy?” Donovan asked evenly, trying to hide the fact that this was
upsetting news, especially if she was married to Carter. Anybody
but Carter.

“His name is
Carter.”

Donovan grimaced.
Why did good girls find bad boys so appealing? In his opinion,
Carter wasn’t right for her, or any other woman. How could she not
see that? Or was she like all the other woman – blinded by Carter’s
good looks and money. Then again, Donovan had good looks and money.
Why wasn’t she interested in him? He certainly treated her like a
woman. He’d taken her shopping, to dinner, he consoled her when she
was bent out of shape, crying over Carter, and now she was married
to the man that had caused her so much heartache.

“Are you still there?”
Shayla asked when he went quiet on her.

“
Yes, I’m here.”
Donovan cleared his throat. “Are you happy?”

A smile grew on Shayla’s
face. “I’m very happy.”

The good thing
about talking to someone on the phone is that they cannot see your
facial expressions. Had Shayla been there with him, she’d see the
wrinkles disturbing his forehead right now, along with the look of
disdain on his face. But why was he worried. Maybe it was a good
thing she was back with Carter. That way, when Carter broke her
heart, and he
would
break her heart, Donovan
would be right there, waiting for Shayla to run into his arms –
into the arms of a man who would treat her like a queen. So sucking
in all the jealousy he felt for Carter, he said, “Well, that is
good news. Congratulations.”

“Thanks, Donovan.”
Shayla walked to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water.
“So how’s your lil’ man?”

“He’s being a five year
old…he started kindergarten this year.”

“
Aw, that’s nice.
Did you take pictures on his first day?”

“I did. I’ll text you
one.”

“Cool. I know I would be
that parent to take a ton of pictures of my child starting
kindergarten. I would probably be crying and everything.”

Donovan went
silent again, taking in her voice and reminiscing on the time they
had spent together. Then after a few more silent moments had
passed, he said, “I need to talk to you about
something.”

“
Okay. What’s
up?”

“
No, not over the
phone. I should be in Charlotte some point in the next few weeks. I
haven’t nailed down a date yet, but maybe we can meet up
somewhere.”