Caress (16 page)

“I don’t think I’ve ever cried as much as I have today,” she apologized with a watery smile.

“It’s okay, Nya. If there ever were a time to cry, it would be now, under these circumstances. It’s okay.”

“I stayed after with Elphonse.”

Michael visibly tensed.

Nya cleared her throat and focused on the scentless candle that flickered between them. “He admitted what he did.”

“I
told
you!” Michael shouted reflexively. Immediately, he regretted his reaction. He looked around. Thankfully, none of the diners in range seemed to have heard him. Shortly after, the server brought them their food.

“What did he say?” Michael asked when they were alone again.

Nya focused on cutting into a prawn. “He said I should trust him.” She took a bite.

“And that’s enough for you?”

She licked her lips and took up her wine glass. “Yes, that’s enough for me. He said he needed me to believe in him, and I do.”

Michael stared beyond her shoulder, not looking at her. “Is there more to your relationship than friendship, than him being a family friend? Is he in love with you?”

“Of course not,” Nya scoffed. “He’s like my brother.”

Now he pinned her with a sharp, discerning gaze. “Are you sure he feels that way?”

“Positive,” Nya told him. “Positive.”

Michael studied her face, then nodded. He surprised her when he said, “That you are willing to believe in him unconditionally is a strong, strong thing. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was jealous. Maybe one day you’ll trust me like that.”

“A week ago you didn’t even know me.”

“Tell me you don’t feel what I feel, that you didn’t get that spark when we saw each other at Cold and Hot’s.”

“I’m not answering that.” Nya cleared her throat and took a drink. His eyes didn’t release her, though. When he continued to stare, she groaned an exasperated, “What?”

“I want to kiss you right now.”

The restaurant suddenly heated up. Nya put down her wineglass and took up her chilled water.

“I’ve been thinking about it ever since we saw each other at the airport this morning.”

“Stop it,” she told him, though her tone was soft and she couldn’t seem to tame the shy smile she felt curling her lips.

Michael continued to watch her.

“Stop it,” she repeated. “I can’t eat with you looking at me like that.”

Michael relented. “You need to eat. I’ll leave you alone for now.”

And he did. Nya was surprised at how comfortable it felt to have dinner with him, as if it weren’t the first time, as if they had known each other forever. “Well,” Nya said. “You ready to go?”

He answered with a nod. When the server returned, Michael signed for dinner and presented his card key. The young woman smiled at them both and wished them a good night before she returned the key and left them.

Michael stood and assisted Nya in standing. He followed close behind her as they made their way out of the restaurant through the hotel entrance. They walked a little toward the lobby, and Nya felt nervousness in the pit of her stomach. She wasn’t quite sure how the night was supposed to end.

“Okay, well, goodbye,” she said awkwardly as they neared the elevators, a logical place for them to part ways. She turned away from him.

Quick as lightning, his hand tightened on her wrist and pulled her around the corner into a short and abandoned hallway. Before she could take a breath, his lips were on hers and her body was lined up against his. Electricity shot through her body, her knees went rubbery, and her arms went up all on their own to circle around his neck.

He pulled back but didn’t let her go. Instead, he rested his forehead against hers and breathed heavily.

He was trying to get control of himself; he needed a moment. Nya raised one hand and scraped at the stubble on his chin with her nails, loving the crisp sound that made. He dipped his head again to capture her lips in another kiss. Nya moaned and pressed her body into his with a soft purr.

“Come upstairs with me,” Michael whispered. “I know we haven’t known each other that long. And we don’t even have to… just please come up with me. I want to touch you and I can’t do it like I want to here… please.”

Nya shook her head. She wanted to.
God,
she wanted to. But there were too many unanswered questions and too many emotions running through her. If she went upstairs with him, she knew which of the emotions would win out. She needed to be rational, but Michael dragged her close again and his hard strong body forced her to yield. She let her head drop back as he sprinkled kisses over her throat. His hands slipped up her sides and grazed the edges of her breasts. Nya moaned.

Her eyes popped open at the sound she made and she looked around. There was no one in the hallway, but someone could show up any minute. She agreed to go up with him out of propriety… nothing else. In the elevator she told him as much. “Just kissing.”

He agreed, but from the way he licked his lips and the way his eyes drank her in, Nya knew he wanted more.

They were barely inside his room before he was lifting her and carrying her to the bed.

“Remember, kissing,” she breathed as he laid her on her back.

“Yeah,” he answered, lying down beside her, one leg thrown over one of hers. He ran a finger over the line of her collarbone. He brought it lower until he released a single button on her shirt and peeled back a little bit of fabric above her breast. He replaced the finger with his mouth, letting his tongue play against her skin.

His cell phone rang. Michael ignored it. His palm lay flat against her belly beneath her blouse and his fingertips had eased beneath the top hem of her panties. It rang again.

Nya’s primitive instinct demanded that she part her legs a little more and raise her knees, but there was only one conclusion to the night if she did so. Thinking quickly and ignoring her protesting nether regions, she reached over to the nightstand. His phone read Derrick Laymon. Nya raised another hand behind his head and pressed the button to answer. Then she put the phone to his ear.

Michael stopped what he was doing to give her a hurt and completely frustrated look. “Hello,” he rasped. In a second, he cleared his throat, “Nahh, man, it’s been a long day. I was just getting ready to hit the hay.” He buried his head in Nya’s neck quickly and bit her hard on the throat. She stifled a squeal.

Then Michael rolled away from her and sat up. “When?” he barked into the phone. “Tell me everything.”

In a few minutes he got off the phone and stood away from the bed. Nya looked up at him, certain that whatever had attracted his attention was important but feeling a little frustration of her own. She started to arrange her clothes.

“What happened?”

Michael shook his head. “Marshall Ellis was found dead an hour ago. He washed up on shore just like that last kid. Carved up and thrown in the water like chum. They don’t have a positive ID yet, but they think it’s him from the jewelry.”

Nya gasped and put a hand over her mouth. Marshall was an idiot, not a very good man. Still, she had known him her whole life. How on earth would her father take it?

“I’m going to go down to the scene and see what I can find out.”

“Michael, don’t, this is dangerous.”

“I know, sweetheart, but this is what I do. This is what I have to do, especially after being used.”

Nya didn’t argue with him, but fear coiled within her.

Michael escorted her down to the lobby where they parted ways.

“I’m leaving for Norfolk tomorrow, not Birmingham. So call me and tell me what happens.”

“Okay, Nya, you do the same.” Before they parted ways, he pulled her in for another kiss. “Please be careful. I need you safe so the next time we see each other, we can pick up where we left off.” He was gone before she could protest.

Nya didn’t realize how late it was until she arrived at her family home and the majority of the lights were out.

“Daddy?” she called softly.

“In here, girl,” he called back from the lighted study. “We will not dismantle the foundation. Before all this I didn’t know what I would do once I retired. Would I piddle around and interfere in the business every chance I got?”

Nya was smart enough not to comment on that one.

“After today, I know what I will do.”

“Yes, Daddy?”

“I will take over the management of the Art Sentries Foundation. Those children need what that foundation promises. They deserve the opportunity, for real.”

“I agree that the concept is a perfect one. However, the name is tainted and—”

“And that’s even better, Nya. We are helping those who have tainted names.”

Nya eyed her father’s cup of tea. “Are you going to bed soon?”

“I am the parent here, not you. I’ll go to bed when your mother makes me.”

Nya found herself chuckling along with him. Her father was certainly more affable after a nightcap, but soon his expression grew sober.

“Are you returning to Birmingham tomorrow?”

Nya swallowed. Nyron Seymour didn’t ask questions he didn’t already know the answer to. “No, Daddy. I found some irregularities with shipping manifests from here to Norfolk. I thought I would go to Virginia to check on some things, maybe talk to Dashiel since he’s Purchasing and Logistics.”

“Did you call him?”

“I didn’t. I’m going to go up instead. I know he’s ill and I think it’ll be better face to face. You know he goes in for his bypass at the end of the week.”

Nyron nodded. “Did you speak with Elphonse? I’ve asked him to take on those duties while Dashiel is out.”

Nya’s eyes widened. “El doesn’t have a head for finance.”

“He’s been working in that capacity for months now with Dashiel in and out. He has been performing well.”

“Why didn’t I know that?”

Nyron ignored her question.

“El knew I was going over the books and he didn’t say a thing about subbing for Dashiel.”

“Perhaps because he has taken the advice of the authorities and stayed out of this investigation, as should you. I don’t have to tell you the danger we all face until Mandolesi is behind bars.”

“But Daddy—”

“Nya Sheranne,” he barked. “You want your mother to cry for you like those women today?”

Through her clenched teeth, she answered, “No, father.”

“Then tell the authorities what you have found.”

“I have.” She
had.
But they hadn’t seemed particularly interested. They had seen the manifests, and they had determined that they weren’t priority.

“Then you should leave it alone.”

“But I know there’s something there!”

“You always know better than anyone, don’t you? Your head is not so hard that it would stop a bullet, girl.”

Nya caught herself before she said something disrespectful. Instead, she said, “Good night, father.”

On her way to her room, she passed her mother in the hall. She grumbled a greeting and continued past. A soft, gentle hand slipped around her forearm. She stopped where she stood.

“Have tea before bed. Say your prayers. Turn the television off. Lie beneath the covers and breathe. You must rest and you must let go of your anger with him. Remember that your father loves you more than the sky loves the stars.”

“Yes, Ma,” Nya said.

Then her mother hugged her and told her she loved her.

Nya arrived in Norfolk at noon the following day and headed straight for the Hatsheput office at the harbor. She had to have some answers.

Bright and undeniably cheerful, the Norfolk office had always put Nya in a happy and creative mood, but this time she couldn’t let anything destroy her focus. She marched through the office and was greeted by everyone with a warm, “Hello, Ms. Seymour.”

“Hello,” she responded with a bright smile she could barely manage to maintain. She continued until she reached her destination. “Isabelle, hi,” she said to the executive assistant sitting at her desk wearing bright teal.

Isabelle was a big woman, extremely pretty, with flamboyant tastes. Without a doubt she was the most pretentious woman in Hatsheput’s employ. Nya didn’t much like her, and she was certain the feeling was mutual. But Isabelle was not the type of woman to show her distaste. She behaved with an unnaturally saccharine demeanor towards everyone that made it nearly impossible for Nya to find something concrete on which to base her own dislike and distrust.

“Hello, Nya, nice to see you.” She smiled widely with full, blood red lips. “You look well. Here, have a seat.” The woman motioned to the chair on the other side of her desk.

“No, thank you,” Nya responded, looking beyond Isabelle to the closed door behind her. “Is Dashiel here?”

“No, he left for the day about half an hour ago, and you know he’ll be out for a while for his procedure.”

“Well, maybe you could help me.” Isabelle looked up. Nya pushed on with a white lie, wanting the meeting to be as brief as possible. “I’ve been reviewing the quarterly reports the past couple of weeks and there’s a little discrepancy I want to check into. Now don’t be alarmed, it’s just a little thing, nothing to worry about, but since you operate here as our largest receiving dock stateside, we want to be extra careful.”