Not This Time (7 page)

He pulled her face close and kissed her
gently, at first. Then he deepened the kiss, curling her toes. When
he pulled back, she would have sworn the sun was a tad brighter.
She couldn’t focus as he assisted her from the truck. He tucked her
arm around his waist and walked her inside.

Home
. The word brushed against her consciousness. No way, this was
too fast. They’d just met. But they clicked, her mind argued.
Inhaling deeply, she forced herself to calm down.

Take the time to smell the roses. Enjoy the
journey. No need to rush, tomorrow’s a new day. She quoted all the
little quips she’d told her daughter over the years. Her heart
rejected each one. It demanded she grab hold of this man and not
let him go.

“
I’ll put your things in the
bedroom, it’s through there. Want me to show you around?” Although
he couched it as a question, she heard the pride for his home in
his voice and knew it would hurt him if she refused.

“
I’d love to see everything.
Did you renovate this by yourself?” Her fingertips trailed the
exquisite woodwork on the wall panels.

He laughed. “I’m good, but not that good.
One of my brothers is in construction, he and some other friends
helped. Let me show you around.” He winked.

For the next twenty minutes, he took her
through every room, including five large bedrooms with accompanying
baths, the finished basement with media and recreational rooms, and
the additional outside dining area which included an enclosed pool.
She fell in love with the old house and could see herself writing
briefs out on the lanai. Squeezing his waist, she pulled herself
from those murky thoughts. This was a weekend fling. There were
certain rules about these types of things, she reminded
herself.

“
Everything is so beautiful.
You did a great job.” Her compliment was as sincere as her longing
for a place like this.

“
I’m glad you like it. I
want you to spend more time here.” He paused and looked down at
her. Her heart tripped at the sincerity she read in those dark
eyes. “With me.” He clarified.

She grinned. “Whew, I’m glad you cleared
that up, for a moment I thought you were offering me your home.”
She pulled back, but he held her tighter.

“
I am…in a way. I want to
spend time with you after this weekend. Do you think you can take a
little more time off from your job so we can get to know each other
better? I’m not ready for whatever we've started to
end.”

Veronique’s eyes misted. She was sure he
heard the loud thumping of her heart against her chest. Could she
give him what he wanted? Hell, a few minutes ago it was the same
thing she wanted, but didn’t dare dream it could become a
reality.

“
I’ll check, but you’ll need
to be willing to come spend time with me as well.”

He tapped her nose and kissed her. “Whatever
it takes.” He took her hand and led her to the kitchen. “Hungry?”
The nerves in her stomach clenched at the idea of food. Obviously,
he didn’t have that problem. She watched him pull meat and
vegetables from the refrigerator, and wondered if he expected her
to cook.

“
I could eat a little
something.” Deliberately she offered a vague answer, feeling her
way in unfamiliar waters. When they met yesterday, visiting his
home had never entered her radar, yet she sat on his kitchen stool
in her dream home in the middle of the country somewhere. Hell, the
way he'd captured her attention last night and this morning, they
could’ve stayed in Philly and she’d have been just as
content.

That meant she liked him. Liked him more
than anyone else she’d been seeing lately. “Are you dating
anyone?”

He turned and looked at her. “No one
serious. You?” His eyes captured hers.

“
Not seriously. Just dinner
dates and stuff like that.”

He straightened without releasing her eyes.
“Are you sleeping with someone else?”

“
I didn’t ask you about your
sex life.”

“
No matter, I still want to
know about yours. Are you having sex with someone else back home or
anywhere?” He planted his large palms on the countertop, waiting
for her reply.

“
What if I said it was none
of your business?”

“
You’d be wrong.”

His fast response threw her. “Why?”

“
You are my business. Answer
me.” His voice roughened.

There must be something seriously wrong with
her, but his claiming thrilled her core. As a modern independent
woman, she felt she should make a token remark over his
manners.

“
No. I’m not sleeping with
anyone else. Right now,” she added as her token stand. It was weak
and they both smiled. Lord, she was in trouble.

“
Good. Neither am
I.”

Chapter 5

The next week flew by on the wings of hot,
steamy, impossible-to-count-orgasm nights and days of
heart-to-heart conversations. She'd extended her trip for a week,
but time wasn’t something Veronique had in escrow, she needed to
get back to her office, deal with her clients, and take care of
personal matters. Macy, her assistant, had worked a miracle and
shuffled things around so she could spend this time with Frank.
Thinking of him sent a warm tingling down her spine. Like a
teenybopper in the flush of a new crush, she suppressed a giggle of
delight that threatened to erupt. Damn, the man made her happy.
She’d changed. Not only her schedule, but other small things she’d
previously thought a waste of time.

“
It’s no big deal,” she
murmured, looking out the bay window at the backyard. “I’m not
losing myself. I’m discovering a new part of me. A part that likes
cuddling, gentle touches and soft words. I’m still me,” she argued
against her stubborn conscience.

Without a doubt, she really
did like who she was with Frank. He'd touched something inside that
made her want to be more feminine, less confrontational and more
laid back. Maybe it was because no one had ever totally focused on
her before. No one had listened as intently or been so interested
in what she’d previously thought were mundane issues in her life.
Frank treated her as if she were the most important person in his
world and treated the words from her lips like manna in the
desert.
What woman didn’t want
that
? He blew away her defenses, disarming
her. Her frontline resistance had crashed the first night in his
home. She'd opened up to him, body and mind. Things she’d held
bottled inside for years, burst forth under his gentle
prodding.

If anyone had told her that
getting to know someone, in more than the biblical sense, was this
intense and equally liberating, Veronique would’ve laughed. But
there was something about a methodical man that clicked, and Frank
was as thorough in his desire to know everything about her as he
was in learning what made her scream every night. He refused to
stop until
he
was
satisfied he had adequate knowledge of her in every way.

Her breath hitched. He was coming. A
telephone call had interrupted their earlier conversation. His
large hands stroked her shoulder as he pulled her in for a kiss.
Heart pounding, she wondered if she’d get a reprieve from their
deep discussion and play for a while.

“
Sorry about that. Now,
where were we?”

Disappointment swamped her.
Talking wasn’t on her mind. She grabbed his hand and led him into
the family room, thinking to derail this particular discussion. Her
rebellious teen years and dealing with her parents wasn’t a time in
her life she cared to examine too closely. Lots of problems back
then. Lots of mistakes were made by everyone. That’s why she never
talked about her past. But they’d agreed to open up, get to know
each other, and nothing was supposed to be off limits.
What were you thinking to agree to this?
Damn, if her agreeing to open the door on her
darkest shame didn’t attest to how much she liked this man, nothing
did.

“
Yeah, you were telling me
about your relationship with your parents. Something about it being
shady?” He pulled her down onto the sofa, and draped his arm around
her shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze.

“
My parents threw me out
when I was sixteen because I was pregnant.” Her tone was
indifferent after making the statement so many times in the past;
she rarely gave it much thought. It was an event in her past,
nothing more, she refused to stop and think of what it meant to
her.

“
Where did you go?” Frank
asked, as he took her hand.

Thinking back, she couldn’t remember at
first. “I think I went to my boyfriend’s house. But his mama said I
couldn’t stay there. Then I went to a girlfriend’s house and her
parents told me I had to leave.” She stopped and looked at him,
confused. “I’d forgotten about that.”

“
Forgotten what?” He held
her hand tighter.

“
That I was homeless for a
short while. No one would take me in. My boyfriend disappeared and
I was alone. So I went to some type of shelter.” Her mind rushed to
fill in the blanks as he waited for her to continue. The hurt and
pain of abandonment, of feeling unwanted, unworthy, and unloved
raced across her mind.

“
Amazing.” She stared at
him. “I was just a kid and had no place to stay. Things could’ve
been a hell of a lot different.”

“
No.” He tilted her face up
with his fingertip and stared into her eyes. “You’re amazing.
You’re a hellava woman and I’m glad you’re mine.” Tears filled her
eyes as memories, locked away for years, rose and evaporated under
the sincerity she saw in his eyes.
God,
how’d she get so lucky
? He bent forward and
brushed against her lips, ever so gently, as if she were precious
and fragile. Few thought to look beneath her tough façade to see
the vulnerable woman beneath. The woman who'd fought and scraped
for everything she had. The woman who'd put up with so many
indignities to survive. She allowed a tear to roll down her cheek
and closed her eyes.

“
The baby died,” she
whispered. “I was at the shelter. Somehow, I slipped in the
bathroom and lost the baby. I called my mama from the hospital,
told her what had happened, and asked her to pick me up. But she
said my daddy said no. I had nowhere to go but the shelter. I
dropped out of school, started hanging out with a different crowd,
and started dancing at a strip club.” Her breath hitched as the
dingy night scenes rolled through her mind. She’d never prostituted
herself, but she’d come real close. Coughing, she straightened and
looked at Frank. He watched her. Waiting until she was ready. Her
shoulders relaxed.

“
It didn’t take long for me
to recognize I didn’t like that lifestyle and I wanted out. I’d
been dancing at this club for a week when Hedrick, my ex, walked
in. I could tell he was interested in me, and I made an effort to
keep his attention. After my shift, we got to talking. He’d just
joined the military and wasn’t much older than me. One thing led to
another. I quit dancing, he wanted me to wait for him to complete
basic, and he paid the rent for a small apartment. After he
finished basic and got his first assignment, he sent for me. We
lived together a while. I got my GED. When I discovered I was
pregnant, we decided to get married.”

“
What happened with your
parents?”

She shrugged. That relationship was
complicated. “They were two unhappy people stuck in a deadend
relationship. Nothing was ever good enough for my dad. He knew
everything, had an inflated opinion about everything, was extremely
biased and of course, was always right.” Her brow rose.
“Unfortunately, he thought he knew more than the doctors, and
refused to change his diet to accommodate his diabetes. He died ten
years ago. Mama and I still work on our relationship, but it’s
hard. She was a victim, I get that; but I have a kid now and no one
could pay me enough to turn my back on her.”

He nodded.

“
Your brothers. How many?”
she asked, attempting to change the subject and mood in the room.
It had been years since she’d given her teenage years serious
thought. Now she remembered why. It hurt like hell and still pissed
her off. She’d never allowed her parents to get too close to
Cherise, her only child. In her opinion, their parenting skills
sucked.

Frank squeezed her shoulder. “I’m the
oldest. Then comes the twins, Donald and Blaine, they live a couple
hours north of here. Then Benjamin.” He laughed. “He’d try and kick
my ass if I called him that, we call him Red. He owns a
construction company with some friends of his in Michigan—”

“
Red’s your brother? From
three X construction?” Veronique’s head shot up from his chest. He
tried to pull her back, but she was too busy trying to find a
resemblance. They looked nothing alike. His hair and beard was dark
brown, whereas, Red’s hair was a deep mahogany. How they hell had
she missed that connection?

“
Yeah. He’s younger, after
the twins. Then Roark.”

She stood and stared at him. “Did you know
about the attack on their business?”

He nodded. “My brothers and I flew out there
when he got shot. My dad was a mess, wanted to hire a hit or
something.” He nodded at her gasp. “So we stayed a few extra days,
tracked down some info, and helped where we could. That kept him
here in Pennsylvania.”

Her mind raced. Cherise and
Ross, Red and Denise, even Smoke had bit the bullet and had a
steady woman.
What were the
odds
? “I represented a part of that case.
There was some criminal activity, the FBI got involved, the
sheriff.” She shook her head. “I knew he had family out here,
Cherise mentioned it, but I never guessed…” Her arms wrapped around
her waist as she struggled with why his being Red’s brother
bothered her. There was no reason for her to feel embarrassed, yet
she did, and that aggravated her.