After Hours (19 page)

“I would have killed him before his hands got anywhere near you,” Forbes said from the kitchen.

 After getting his flesh wound taking care of, making a statement and then answering Zane’s questions, he found a way to sneak him and Jametria on a company jet. He wanted Jametria away from all of the craziness and back at his house where he could keep an eye on her.

“Didn’t I promise that I’ll always love and take care of you?” he reminded her, coming back into the dining room.

Taking the cup from her hands, he set it on the table and pulled her up from the chair. Sitting down, Forbes tugged her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist. “I’ll want to take care of you forever. You’re the most important person in my life.”

Jametria blinked back tears as she rested her head on Forbes’ chest. “You already know how much I love you, but your job is just so dangerous. I don’t know if I can be one of those girlfriends that wait by the phone not to get that one call.”

“You aren’t going to be one of those girlfriends, because I want you to be my wife.”

Lifting her head, she stared into a pair of perfect gray eyes. “What. Are you proposing to me? Are you sure about this, especially after everything I put you though? I was really hard on you after you arrested my uncle.”

Chuckling, Forbes planted a kiss on her temple. “Sweetheart, you were in pain and I understood that. My shoulders are strong enough to handle those tiny blows you were throwing my way. No matter how many times your mouth told me to stay away, your eyes told me a different story and that’s what I paid attention to.”

“How about I let my body do some of the talking for a few hours?” Jametria’s sultry voice suggested as her fingers worked on the buttons on his shirt.

“Are you sure? We have been through a lot in the past twenty-four hours.” Forbes was dying to make love to Jametria again, but he wanted to make sure she still wasn’t riding an emotional roller coaster.

“Forbes, I want to be with you for the rest of my life, starting with today. Don’t you believe me? Unless you’re saying that you don’t want me then I’ll have to go and find another man who does. That one guy at the Bureau was kind of cute. I think his name was Leo.”

Forbes stood up with Jametria in his arms. “Leo and any other man that looks at you crossed eyed will get their ass kicked by me. I don’t share,” he hissed as he carried his woman towards his bedroom.

Giggling, Jametria wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a soft kiss on his mouth. “I love that you were jealous.”

“My jealousy isn’t the only thing that you’ll love after tonight,” Forbes promised as he sauntered through his bedroom door, kicking it closed behind him.

Chapter Thirty

A month later…

He held the envelope in his hand and tried to find the words to make her change her mind, but nothing he could think of would help. The thing that he never wanted to happen had hit him right between the eyes. Tyra was leaving him. How was he supposed to come to work every day and not see her outside his door?

“No, I’m not going to accept your two weeks’ notice,” he snapped, flinging the envelope on his desk.

“Paul, you not accepting the letter doesn’t matter. I’m still leaving”

“How can you say that? I’m sorry that I got jealous of Marco. You should have told me that he was your nephew sooner. I wouldn’t have acted like a jealous asshole.”

“Marco isn’t the reason I want to find a new job...you are,” Tyra answered.

“I won’t let you disappear out of my life. Darling, I love you. I don’t want to lose you.” He laid all of his cards on the table for Tyra to see.

“If you would just stop talking and let me get a word in.” She sighed. “I’ll tell you why I gave you my two weeks’ notice.”

“I don’t want to hear some long speech you’ve memorized to let me down easily,” Paul told her.

“Why do you think I always have something bad to tell you?”

“I’m not stupid. You’re trying to find an easy way to get me out of your life.”

“How can a woman to propose to you if you don’t let her speak?” Tyra questioned.

“I let you talk all the time…how can you...” Paul paused in mid-sentence and stared at Tyra. “You want to marry me?” he stuttered, shocked.

“Isn’t that what a proposal usually means?” She laughed, leaning across the table. “I love you and I have for a very long time. Will you marry me?”

 Paul was around the table in under ten seconds, wrapping his woman up in his arms. “Sweetheart, I’ll marry you any day of the week, but I do have one condition.”

“What is the condition?”

“Let me take you out tonight and propose to you. I have been waiting for so long to see the look on your face.”

“Do you really want to redo my proposal? I thought mine was so good.”

“It was beyond good…it was perfect, but I want to do a little extra,” he admitted.

“I’ll say yes if you agree to a condition that I have.” Tyra grinned while her fingers played with the collar of his shirt.

“You can have anything you heart desires.”

“I want to get married next month,” Tyra replied.

“Fine,” he agreed. “The what, when and where of the wedding doesn’t matter to me. All that matters is making you my wife.”

 “I love you,” Tyra told him with tears in her eyes.

“I love you too honey and I can’t wait until we begin our lives together,” Paul murmured before kissing her.

****

Jametria held back tears as she typed the end of her latest story. She couldn’t believe how fast Tyra and Paul’s story came together after she admitted to her feelings about Forbes.

“Did your couple finally end up with each other in the end?” Forbes asked, kissing the side of her neck.

Tiny electrical currents traveled a path down her body at the slight touch of his mouth. It was amazing how good it felt to finally have everything behind them. Just thinking about spending the rest of her life without Forbes shook her to the core. Anything could have happened to them out in those woods. Thankfully, she was given a second chance with the man she loved.

“Of course, they got their happy ever after,” she answered. “My fans wouldn’t have accepted anything else when it came to Paul and Tyra. I think they are by far my favorite couple. I hated to see them come to an end, but it was time.”

“I’ll tell you something else it’s time for,” Forbes whispered, untying the robe from around her waist, pushing one side off her shoulder.

 She wanted to make love to Forbes again, but she couldn’t until some things were clear between them. Placing her hand on top of his, Jametria shook her head. “No, we can’t. I want to discuss something with you first.”

“What is it?” he asked, spinning her around in the seat to face him. “Are you having second thoughts about us?”

“Never… I love you more than anything in this world, but I need to be sure of something first.” She debated how to start the conversation because she didn’t want to upset Forbes.

“What has you so worried? Just tell me what it is and we’ll work through it together.”

“Are you leaving the F.B.I. because of me? If you are, I can’t let you do it. I would feel guilty for making you give up on your dream job. It’s your life.”

Pulling her out of the chair, Forbes positioned her in front of him. “I want you to listen to me and hear every word that comes out of my mouth. I was an agent for years and I loved my job, but after a while it started to bother me. I didn’t find it as pleasurable as when I first joined. I was living day by day until I walked into that studio and saw you sitting behind that table.”

“The more I got to know you the harder it became to lie to you. I fell in love with you that day on the cover shoot, but I couldn’t tell you. Baby, I’m leaving the Bureau because it’s no longer a part of me. It never was my life. I’ve only come across one person that I have wanted to center my life around and that is you.”

Jametria was at a loss for words and that was hard to acknowledge especially since she was a writer, but never in her life had anyone spoken those kinds of words to her. This was better than any scene she could have written in any of her books.

“Sweetheart, I love you more than anything in this entire world. I want to spend the rest of my life making love to you. Watching you grow big with our children and loving you until the day I die. I’m wishing with everything in me that you want the same thing.” Forbes finished with a hopeful look that could have melted the hardest of hearts.

“Yes…I want the same thing. I couldn’t see myself with anyone else but you.”

Yelling at the top of his lungs, Forbes picked her up and spun her around in a circle. “God, woman, I love you so damn much,” he said, placing her back on the ground. “How about we go upstairs and work on a new love scene for your next book?”

“No, I’ve a better idea,” she said, taking Forbes by the hand, tugging him towards the steps. “I think we should go upstairs and work on making the future, romance author or F.B.I. agent, what do you think about that?”

“I believe the future Mrs. Forbes Huntington just found another reason for me to love her,” Forbes answered as he swung her up into his arms and carried her upstairs.

The End

A sneak preview at Zane and Africa’s story…

One Step Closer

“How much longer are you going to keep brushing me off?” Zane asked, sitting down in front of her. “I mean I love our little game of cat and mouse, but you are going to have to let me catch you one day.”

Africa’s gaze looked around the restaurant trying to find her date, but he was nowhere in sight. “What are you doing here? How did you even find me?” she questioned.

For weeks now, Agent Rogets had been stopping by her office trying to coax her into going out with him; but it wasn’t going to happen. Jametria was right. He was just so intense and she wouldn’t be able to come back if she fell in love with him. She liked going out on dates with men who wanted the same things as her someone to talk to when it got
too
lonely.

Zane would never allow himself to be her plus one without having personal strings attached to their relationship. She hadn’t taken his flirting seriously back when he was Forbes’ boss, but now she realized he was really interested in having something more with her.

“First, I work for the F.B.I., so I can find your beautiful face anytime I want to with one little phone call. Secondly, your date is gone. I think I saw him crashing after a tow truck taking his car away. It’s amazing what can happen when you accidentally park in a fire zone,” he laughed, crossing his arms over his wide chest.

“Tell me you didn’t have Tyrone’s car towed on purpose,” Africa shouted, then lowered her voice when Zane arched his eyebrow at her.

Green eyes sparkled with humor. “No, I personally didn’t have it done. However, after making one of my famous phone calls someone came to the restaurant and did it for me,” he answered.

“I can’t believe you,” she hissed, tossing her napkin down on the table. “He was a nice guy. How am I supposed to look at him at work tomorrow?”

Zane shrugged his shoulder. “Work place romances never seem to work out anyway. I think it’s always better when you date a person you don’t see every day. Besides, we have more in common since our two best friends are about to get married in a few weeks. Do you want to be my date?”

Standing up, Africa leaned across the table. “Not on your life. Anyways, I already have a date for Jametria and Forbes’ wedding.”

All traces of humor left Zane’s face as he stared back at her, uncrossing his muscular arms. “Tell me who it is? It better not be Cameron,” he warned, in a low voice.

Shock raced through Africa’s body making her ease away from Zane putting some distance between them. “Who told you about my ex-boyfriend?” she asked.

“It doesn’t matter. All that does it that you aren’t taking him to Jametria’s wedding. I won’t have you there with any other man but me.”

Picking up her purse off the table, she slid it onto her shoulder. “I guess you have to show up to find out who it is,” she said, turning around and walking away. She got about five steps before pivoting back around. “Since you ruined the rest of my dinner, I’ll let you pay for the bill, Agent Rogets.”

Africa quickly twirled back around and continued making her way towards the restaurant door and never looked back, despite the fact that she could feel Zane’s eyes on her all the way there.

About the Author

The Queen of Tease: If you want to read interracial romance stories that leaves you panting for more and turning the pages faster than you can read them. Marie is for you.

After reading her first “dirty” book as a teenager, Marie knew she had to become a writer. She started writing a few years ago because she wanted to reach for her dream. She writes her characters so her fans will believe in the Happily Ever After. She loves collecting bear figurines and reading a HOT book when she gets the chance.

Find out more about Marie here:
Official Site:
http://marierochelle.weebly.com/
Official Blog: http://shopdiva28.blogspot.com/
Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/marie_rochelle/
Yahoo discussion group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MarieRochelle2/?yguid=289462859