Niki's Challenge (17 page)

“
Mason is running a new
game. He’s sending naïve, untrained volunteers on digs who smuggle
back artifacts, with the local government’s cooperation.” Tony
sighed.

“
That’s not surprising.
Although I never would’ve pegged him with the balls to pull
something like that off. The payoffs alone would take months of
negotiating.” He shrugged. “I want him off my back and out of my
business, pronto. With the babies coming in a few months, I don’t
want to watch my back every second.”

“
That’s right.
Congratulations man.” Tony nodded his thanks, the warmth of
impending fatherhood enveloped him.

“
Yeah, we’re having twins.”
He paused. “So we need to get this done.” He tapped the file
thinking of all he needed to accomplish in the next ninety
days.

“
It’s in motion.” Frederico
pointed to a map on his laptop. “Emory planted some high profile
information. Mason will find it and go after its ghost. He’ll spend
some money and come up empty. If he follows true to form, he’ll
market the item before he has it and this will hit him
hard.”

“
No footprints. I can’t be
connected in any way.” Tony looked over the area and ghost item.
Emory had done an excellent job of planting the information. If
he’d come across it, he’d be heading to the tip of Mexico, shovel
in hand.

“
Absolutely. As a matter of
fact, you’ll be contacted about the dig and turn it down because of
another job. The paperwork is already on its way. We’re monitoring
his moves, the guy he had tailing you has been taken off and
reassigned. We’ll let you know if he places another tail on
you.”

“
Sounds good. I’ll be
flying to Michigan this Friday and will be spending quite a bit of
time there, especially after the babies are born.” He picked up
another file and handed it to Frederico. “Look into setting up a
satellite office outside Detroit.”

The man nodded.

“
When I go, you’ll have the
management of this office. We’ll handle meetings electronically.”
Tony looked through some files on his desk. “Make that happen by
the end of the year and there’s a bonus in it for you.”

Frederico smiled and nodded. “It’s
done.”

Chapter 14

Niki strode off the elevator and
headed toward Brenda’s office. Her attorney had some contracts for
her to sign and she decided to stop by since she was in the area
with Nana Rita. Actually, she was bored. Tony had left three days
ago after her doctor’s appointment and she thoroughly enjoyed how
he spoiled her. If it wasn’t a back or foot rub, he’d feed her
whatever she wanted. GPS had become his best friend. Smiling at the
memory of Tony’s latest attempt to polish her toes, she walked into
an empty office not realizing no one was around.

“
Hello?” she moved toward
the inner office when she heard voices coming from the
hall.

“
I’ll call you later, so we
can get together, okay?” Niki froze, recognizing the deep
voice.

“
That's good. Will you be
spending the night?” She recognized Brenda’s voice and wished she
could hide. It was too late, the couple walked into the outer
office where she stood rooted to the floor. Like a child caught
with something to hide, she stammered a greeting.

“
Hi Brenda, hey, David.” A
wicked part of her enjoyed the shock that spread across his face,
followed, by a lovely red color. Brenda smiled and walked swiftly
to her, enveloping her in her arms. Niki watched a myriad of
expressions cross David’s face, the last being resignation. The
player had been caught.

“
Hi, Niki. I could’ve
bought the contracts to you.” She leaned back and looked Niki over.
Typical Brenda, always concerned for others, without realizing she
had a king cobra in her bed.

“
I rode in with Nana Rita
since I wanted to discuss a few things with you.” She eyed Brenda
meaningfully and the woman caught on.

“
No problem.” She turned
and looked at David with a what-can-you-do expression on her face.
“I’ll talk to you later and we can finalize the arrangements.” The
look of relief on David’s face was comical. If he thought for one
moment, Brenda would keep their relationship a secret now that Niki
had seen them together, then he had no idea they were friends, as
well as associates.

He nodded and backed out the room.
“Good seeing you, Niki.” He smiled. “Talk to you later,
Counselor.”

Niki’s brow rose. “Counselor? Why so
formal when the two of you are kicking boots?” Niki walked into the
inner office leaving her speechless friend behind.

Brenda coughed and placed a hand on
her chest while trying to catch her breath. “Whaaat?”

“
I heard you guys talking.”
She sat in the chair in front of the desk and placed her hand on
her protruding stomach.

“
Oh.” She glanced at Niki.
“We didn’t know anyone was here.” She sighed and flopped into her
chair. “I don’t know about him. We’ve been talking for over a year
and have been intimate for the last nine months.” Niki’s eyes
widened. That asshole had been banging her friend and begging her
for a commitment at the same time.

“
I know he has a reputation
as a player, so that’s why I kept it quiet. Even though he swears
it’s only me, I don’t believe him.” Niki nodded, glad her attorney
was smart in areas other than law. “But girl, the man tears up the
sheets and I’m enjoying the ride as long as I can.”

Niki held up her hand. “Pregnant woman
here. That’s too much information.”

“
That’s how you got
pregnant, only somebody tore up more than the sheets,” Brenda
smirked. “Now, let’s go over these contracts.

****

“
I told you he had it bad.”
Rissa sounded smug on the phone. Gale had just told her Tony was on
his way to Michigan, moving to the area two weeks earlier than
originally planned.

Heart thumping in excitement, Niki
moved a little to the left in the big chair. Trying to get
comfortable took more and more maneuvering. “Yeah, you did.
Although to be honest, he’s not alone with that. I like him,
too.”

Rissa squealed in her ear. “I knew it,
I knew it. Y’all sexing it up.”

Niki laughed. “I didn’t say we were
screwing, I said I like him. Where're you getting all this
excitement from?”

“
Niki, this is me. Rissa. I
know you. That man has been flying up there every weekend and now
he’s coming to stay until the babies are born. No way he ain’t
tapped that. And with your out of control hormones, you probably
half-killed the man.”

“
Hmm.”

“
That’s okay, heifer. You
don’t have to admit it. I know y’all been humping like
rabbits.”

“
Since you already know, I
guess I don’t have to say anything.”

“
Fess up! Don’t leave me
hanging. If he’s half the man his sister is, he’s a
keeper.”

Niki laughed at Rissa’s outrageous
remark.

“
What? Gale is hot and she
makes my body— “

“
That’s all right. Too much
sharing.” She shook her head to remove the picture her cousin’s
words drew. “I didn’t plan to like him so much. I knew we had to
work together for the kids. But in the past two months, I got to
know him better, things changed. I like how he treats me. He talks
to me, listens and remembers the smallest things. I matter to him.
Me. The babies are a separate issue and that makes my heart
sing.”

“
He’s a good man. I’m happy
for you. I was worried at first. You were so stubborn. It’s good to
see you’ve come to your senses.”

“
Yeah. The way we met
didn’t help. Neither did getting pregnant by a stranger. I’m still
amazed we connected. What are the odds?” Her voice trailed off as
she wondered at the greater plan in all this. “Do you think
sometimes God is listening to our hearts and not our
mouths?”

“
Could be,” Rissa said.
“But I really think He knew the burden of not knowing the father of
your children would be too heavy for Nana Bea and Nana
Rita.”

Niki frowned. “Why do you say
that?”

“
Come on, Niki. Even though
you’re grown, they're responsible for raising you. Your parents
left you in their care. Right or wrong, they probably saw what
happened in Chicago as some type of failure on their
parts.”

“
I don’t think
so.”

“
Then why wouldn’t Nana
Rita stop the search? She knew the odds of finding him. Hell, she
trained you. But, she couldn’t stop. According to mom, Nana Bea
hurt so many ways behind that night, I doubt we’ll ever know the
full extent of her pain. She handled it southern style and buried
it.”

“
I still don’t—
“

“
Sweetie, you were pregnant
and didn’t know the father. Who does that? What could they say to
anyone who asked? You don’t think that’s embarrassing to two women
from their generation, who raised a responsible young woman. It hit
them harder than they let on. Like I said, God probably knew it was
more than they could bear.”

“
Damn, I didn’t mean to
embarrass anybody. It wasn’t planned, it just happened.”

“
Think about how that
sounds. Only you would have sex asleep and get pregnant.” Rissa
laughed. “I love you, though, and pretty soon this chapter will be
over and another will begin.”

Niki’s phone beeped. “One minute.” She
looked at the caller ID. David. She ignored the call and clicked
back to Rissa.“That was David.”

“
What did he
want?”

“
I don’t know, I didn’t
answer. Brenda told me she’d been dating him the past
year.”

“
Your attorney?”

“
Yeah. I wanted to tell her
he was a hound, but I could tell she was into him.”

“
Does he know about
Tony?”

“
Yep. I told him before
Tony’s first visit. He sounded okay, but he looked pissed.” She’d
always wondered why he tried so hard with her. “Brenda’s my friend.
The only reason I didn’t call him out on his mess, was she didn’t
want people to know they’d been dating. I don’t know why he keeps
trying to talk to me.”

“
You’re the one who got
away.”

“
Huh?”

“
You heard me. Remember, I
dated men before I came to my senses. They play head games with
each other.”

“
Meaning?” Niki decided to
let the rest of the outlandish comment slide.

“
You’re a total package no
one in his circle ever tapped. No one has bragging rights to you.
He’d be first. That’s a big deal for some guys.” It didn’t add
up.

“
Riiiiight. So he’s been
chasing after me for the past three years so he could brag he had
sex with me. I don’t think so. The man has a reputation for
screwing woman all over the state and beyond. I just don’t get
it.”

“
It’s a game. All men play
them.”

“
All men? And
you’re
an expert? I don’t
think so.” Niki cut off Rissa’s rant. Talking to her cousin always
brightened her mood. But David’s persistence bothered her. It’s not
like they had an intimate relationship, like she'd had with
Tony.
His
persistence made baby-daddy sense. She’d talk to Tony about it
when he got in later. Thinking of his long stay, her mood
lightened. His satellite office was near her building and he'd be
finished relocating soon.

“
Niki, Niki, are you
listening to me?”

“
I hear you calling my
name. But I’m not listening to your advice on men. Forgive me for
recognizing your glaring biases.”

Rissa laughed. “Good point. I prefer
women in general, Gale in particular.” The doorbell
rang.

Niki stood slowly. “He’s here. He’s
here, Rissa.” Her voice raised a decibel as she waddled to the
door, looked through the side glass and opened the door.

“
Hey, baby.” Tony’s deep
voice pulled her heartstrings. She’d waited all day to see him. He
reached out, giving her a quick hug as she searched and found his
eyes. He looked her up and down, noticing everything in a glance.
Moving forward, he pulled her into an embrace. Closing his eyes, he
absorbed the softness of her skin, hair and fragrance that was all
her. They stood that way, just enjoying the feel of one another,
not noticing anything else. Placing his hands on the sides of her
head, he lifted her face, leaned in and kissed her. A soft peck at
first, then a quick swipe of his tongue over her lips. He was
parched for a taste of her. She was the well he needed to drink
from. As she offered herself, he deepened the kiss, sampling her
sweetness.

“
Hi.” She offered her mouth
and he took it again. His palm rested on her lower back, gently
kneading away her constant discomfort.

“
I missed you.” He spoke
near her ear.

“
Ow...” Niki mumbled
pulling back slightly without breaking his embrace. “I think
someone wants your attention,” she murmured on his lips as they
both felt another kick. Dropping to his knees, he raised her shirt
and began placing kisses all over her stomach.