His Paradise Wife (5 page)

The only time she could remember having a
little slice of happiness since Melvin was when she chatted online
with Armand. After talking with Melanie and now, Audrey, she was
sure that breaking things off with Melvin had to have been a
mistake.

At her computer again, she saw the email
indicator alert on her GHC home page. She hadn’t thought much of
it, because she was always getting emails from GHC marketing about
events and seminars. Anyway, she clicked on the inbox to open it
saw something she hadn’t expected – an email from Armand. Right
away, she clicked on it to open it. Then she read:

Call me. 555-3429

Emily’s heart pounded against her chest like
bucket drums being hand-played on New York City streets. Armand
wanted her to call him and she couldn’t believe it. He’d been
adamant against speaking with her on the phone and now, he was
offering up his number like a sacrifice. Maybe he realized he
didn’t want to lose her.

She took her cell phone from her pocket,
dialed the number Armand had emailed to her and paused before
pressing send, instantly feeling her nerves get the best of her.
What if talking to him on the phone wasn’t as easy as talking to
him on instant messenger? She hadn’t thought of that. And to add to
the stress, yesterday was the first time in three months that she
hadn’t had any communication with Armand.

Emily sighed. Then, drawing in a deep
breath, she pressed send and braced herself.

Dante had been sitting at his desk when a
call came through on his cell. He knew it was Emily because only
his immediate family had access to this number and their numbers
were already pre-programmed into his phone. This number wasn’t, so
it had to be her.

“
Hello,” he
answered.

“
Hi, is this...Armand?”
Emily asked with caution, butterflies swirling like a tornado in
her stomach.

“
Yes it is. Is this my
Emily?”

My Emily.
A big smile came to Emily’s face. “Yes, this is
Emily.”

“
You have a beautiful voice,
Emily. Makes me wonder why I’ve waited so long to give you my
number.”

Emily smiled because she couldn’t find
words. Talking to Armand over the phone wasn’t going to be as easy
as she thought it might be. Behind the computer, words flowed
easily. On the phone, it was a different story. It almost felt as
if Armand was a stranger and not the man she’d gotten to know for
three months.

“
You there?” he
asked.

“
Yes. I’m here.”

Dante stood up from his desk and walked over
near the windows. He kept in mind that he had to alter his voice so
she wouldn’t pick up on it. He had to be in full ‘Armand’ mode. “So
I know you were pretty upset with me the last time we chatted.”

“
It was more like I was
having a hard time understanding you.”

“
What don’t you
understand?”

“
I don’t get how you can
want to marry me when we haven’t met.”

“
Because we have met, albeit
by unconventional means, but we’ve gotten acquainted. I actually
think we know each other on a higher level than if we’d met
face-to-face in my opinion. We’ve invested three months into this
and I do not wish to throw that away, Emily.”

“
So where do we go from
here?”

“
I’m hoping we go to
Pleasure Island this weekend so I can finally make you
mine.”

Emily felt her stomach flutter. Armand was
serious and she needed to make up her mind fast. The decision was
simple – be happy and marry Armand or be sad and fall into another
deep depression for losing Melvin.

You are responsible for your own
happiness...

“
Emily?”

“
Yes?”

“
Why are you so quiet? On
messenger, you’re more talkative.”

“
I know. I just don’t know
what to do.”

“
What does your heart tell
you to do?”

Emily smiled. “My heart tells me to take a
leap of faith.”

“
If that’s the case, then
your heart and my heart belong together because they are in perfect
harmony.”

Emily smiled again. Armand
sure had a way with words. “What I
can
say is I’m glad you gave me your
number. It’s so good to finally hear your voice. It makes you all
the more real to me.”

“
It’s nice to hear you say
that. By the way, how’s your day?”

“
It’s okay. No complaints.
What about you?”

“
Business as usual. I’m
actually heading into a meeting right now. Since I have your
number, I’ll give you a call tonight. Also be on the lookout for
the contract. I’ll send it to your inbox shortly.”

“
Okay. I’ll watch out for
it.”

“
Perfect. Talk to you
soon.”

Chapter 8

As she began closing duties at the shop,
Emily made sure her display cases were locked. Then she counted the
cash in the register, sealed it in a bank deposit bag and locked
the cash drawer. That’s when she heard the bell at the door.

“
Sorry, we’re closed,” she
said without even looking up to see who’d come in.

“
That’s too bad. I was
looking for another necklace.”

Emily looked up and locked eyes with Dante
Champion, standing there with his hands in his pockets, looking
like he was posing for the cover of GQ Magazine. She remembered his
very distinct voice and knew it was him just by the sound of it. By
the deep tone and smoothness of it. And did the man really look
this good on a daily basis? Every time she laid eyes on him her
heart skipped a beat because of his good looks, of course, but
mostly because she knew Dante had a thing for her. However, she had
nothing for him. So to thwart his would-be purchase, she said,
“Well, I already cashed out the register.”

His lips curved to form a smile. “Credit it
is, then.”

Emily’s pulse quickened as she looked at
him. He was downright impeccable. Physically, he was the closest
thing to perfection she’d ever seen in a man. His smile was
beautiful enough to change her mood from a sour one to a more
pleasant one, not that she would. Dante, she knew, wasn’t really
interested in buying a necklace. He was buying some time to be
close to her, even if only for a few minutes.

Why didn’t I lock the
door
, she pondered. If she had, she
wouldn’t have to deal with him and his intimidating aura as his
mesmerizing cologne filled the area where he stood in front of her.
When he walked away from her to check out the necklace display on
the wall, she blew a sigh of relief.

Emily needed to occupy herself and fast.
Dante was enticingly fine and that smile of his coupled with those
eyes...lawd have mercy. Emily escaped to the back office, grabbed a
broom and began sweeping the floor. But with a man like Dante in
your presence, it was hard to focus on anything but him. He was
dressed sharp again today, in a smoke gray business suit this time
with black, leather shoes.

When Dante noticed that she’d been sweeping,
he turned his attention away from the necklaces and looked at her,
removing his hands from his pockets. “Would you like me to do that
for you?”

Eyebrows raised, Emily asked, “Would I like
for you to sweep?”

“
Yes,” he replied with a
smirk on his face because she asked the question like sweeping was
something foreign to him. “I know how to sweep.”

Sure you
do
. “No thanks. I would hate for you to
ruin your suit with a little dust.”

“
It wouldn’t ruin my
suit.”

“
Well, I appreciate the
offer, but it’s not necessary. I can’t have customers in my store
working. That’s
my
job.” Emily resumed sweeping, feeling the heat of Dante’s eyes
on her.

Dante had been staring as she moved across
the floor with the broom, making sure she got every nook and cranny
to ensure that her store was clean. And today, she wore a pair of
dark, stonewash jeans that hugged her backside just right. “When do
you get your next shipment?” he asked her.

She stopped sweeping and looked at him.
Failing to withhold exasperation from her voice, she asked,
“Shipment of what?”

“
Necklaces.”

“
Next week,” she answered.
She was surprised he hadn’t found anything his niece might like.
She also had a suspicion that this niece of his didn’t
exist.

“
So next week?” he said,
stalling, wanting to see her lips move while she talked to him. She
wore a darker, burgundy lipstick on them today...reminded him of a
juicy, sweet, ripe plum that he would like to sink his teeth into
and consume shamelessly with uncontrollable greed.

“
Yes. Next week. Is there
anything else you wanted?”

A smile came to his lips. He wanted a lot –
a lot more than she was willing to give. He wanted to put a ring on
her finger. He wanted her on her back, in his bed. He wanted her to
be the mother of his children. Those were a lot of wants for a
woman who wouldn’t give him the time of day.

He remembered back to when he met Anita and
how defiant she was against him. She hadn’t wanted anything to do
with him, but being a man who gets what he wants, Dante kept
pursuing her until she finally caved. And he married her, but then
she fell ill and he watched her die slowly over the course of two
years. Now, seven years later, he was ready to start over again.
Emily was his target, and he couldn’t wait to hit the bull’s-eye
with his arrow. So looking at her, he said, “May I ask you a
question, Emily?”

Emily glanced at her watch. Her store was
supposed to close at seven. The time was 7:14 p.m. She was
exhausted, and Dante had a question...

Short of blowing an agitated breath and
rolling her eyes, she said, “Make it quick. I have to go,” thinking
about the phone call she was due to receive from Armand
tonight.

“
Why do you dislike
me?”

Emily’s eyes narrowed. “That’s your
question?”

“
Yes. That’s my
question.”

She propped the broom up against the
countertop and walked behind the counter, removing a cylinder of
anti-bacterial wipes she kept on a shelf under the register.

All the while, Dante was staring at her,
still standing in front of the necklaces with his eyes fixated on
her, waiting for an answer to his question.

“
Who said I disliked
you?”

“
I do. Every time I ask you
out, you shoot me down.”

“
Yeah, that’s right,” she
agreed.

“
Why is that?”

“
Because I don’t date
arrogant, self-absorbed men.”

His smile, that flawless white smile,
confused Emily. She just insulted the man and he was still smug
about it.

“
If that’s what you think of
me, you got me all wrong,” he told her.

“
Do I?” she said, wiping the
counter.

“
Yes, as a matter of fact,
you do.”

“
Well, at any rate, my store
is closed, so unless you’re buying something...”

“
So if I buy something, I
can have more of your time? Is that the way this works?”

She sighed.

“
In that case, I’ll take all
the necklaces on that wall.”

Emily’s mouth fell open. “You can’t be
serious.”

“
Dante took his wallet from
his back pocket and placed a black credit card on the counter. “I
want them all.”

Emily sighed heavily. She wouldn’t be going
home anytime soon, but at the same time, she couldn’t complain too
much. She hadn’t sold this much merchandise in a very long time.
“All right,” she said walking to the wall and removing six racks of
necklaces. After she laid them on the counter, she took a
calculator from a drawer and began adding up his purchases.

Dante admired at her as she worked. The
light pink, long-sleeved blouse she wore went perfectly with her
toffee, silky-soft skin tone. He marveled at how her brown, curly
hair fell around her shoulders. He wanted to reach out and touch
it. Instead, he figured he’d ask her another question, one that was
sure to irritate her. “Why won’t you go out with me?”

“
I answered that question
already,” she said, angrily punching numbers in the calculator.
“Besides, I’m seeing someone.”

“
I’ve never seen you with
anyone.”

“
Why would you, unless
you’ve been stalking me?”

“
Just an observation,” he
responded. He certainly wouldn’t tell that he had been watching her
for quite some time, even learning her daily routine. He knew that
she stopped by the coffee shop next to her store every morning for
coffee or cocoa. He also knew that she closed her store on time
every day because she was usually home at her apartment by eight.
He knew who her girlfriends were – Sherita and Melanie and he’d
known that Sherita worked at the boutique some days when Emily was
otherwise engaged. And since he had been talking to her online
under a false persona, he knew other things about her – detailed
things that a person would only share with someone they were close
to.

Emily added the price of the last necklace
and after hitting the equal sign so hard that she could break a
nail, she said, “Okay, your total is $684.34.”

Dante pushed the card towards her.