Secret Liaisons (15 page)

Chapter Forty-One

Terrance needed to stop being stubborn and forgive Mona. He missed their friendship. He missed her snarky comments. He missed her input on his projects. Seeing her in the office every day and not being able to talk to her the way he used to was torture.

He lifted his head when the young lady Mona mentioned to him walked in. He stood and greeted her. “I'm Terrance Beckham and you must be Jerricka.”

“Yes, sir,” she responded.

“Have a seat and tell me a little about yourself.”

“I just recently graduated from USC. I majored in business but took some film classes and I thought it would be great to work with an established producer and learn as much as I can.”

Terrance listened to Jerricka tell him about her background. She reminded him of himself when he was her age.

“As my assistant, you will have a lot of responsibility. You'll basically be my office manager as well as available for functions that usually take place outside of the nine to five work window.”

“I understand. If you hire me, you will get a worker bee and I'll make myself available to you twenty four-seven.”

Terrance laughed. “I'm sure I won't need you every hour of the day but it's good to know. I will get with Mona and she will give you a call once we make our final decision.”

“Thanks.”

Terrance walked Jerricka to the door. He watched her say her good-byes to Mona.

Mona turned and faced him. “So what did you think?” she asked.

“How do you feel?” Terrance responded.

“I think she's perfect. I wanted someone with a little more office experience, but I think her eagerness to learn is a plus so out of everyone I interviewed, she's the best candidate.”

“After you verify her references and do a background check, if she pans out, I say we hire her.”

“Let me get on that right away,” Mona said.

Terrance stood there and looked at Mona.

She turned and looked at him. “Is there anything else?”

“Yes, there is.” Terrance pushed all of his negative feelings to the side.

Terrance took Mona into his arms and kissed her passionately. She kissed him back with the same intensity.

Mona pulled back for a moment. “Wait.”

“Mona, don't. I need you. I need this.”

Mona walked to the door and locked it. She faced him and seductively grabbed him by the collar. “Now, where were we?”

Terrance covered her lips with his. His hands roamed all over her body. They moved until they were near Mona's desk. Without stopping, he used one hand and cleared an area on Mona's desk. He lifted her and placed her on the desk. He eased her skirt over her hips. He removed her panties with one hand. He used his fingers to make love to her. The moisture he felt turned him on. He replaced his fingers with his mouth.

Terrance eased his tongue in and out and twirled it around slow and then fast. He continued those motions until he felt Mona's legs tremble.

Mona screamed out in pleasure. “Terrance. Oh, Terrance,” she said over and over as she climaxed in his mouth.

Terrance unbuckled his pants and without taking them completely off, he eased his boxers down and positioned himself. He got harder the moment he felt the moistness between Mona's legs.

He opened her blouse and freed one of her breasts. He wrapped his lips around her nipple. The more he sucked, the wetter she got and the harder he got. He enjoyed hearing her moans. It turned him on even more. He stopped sucking on her breast and placed his head on her chest as he pumped in and out of her. He closed his eyes and got lost in her sweetness.

They both moaned and groaned with pleasure. Terrance felt himself losing control. Mona wrapped her legs around his waist and they climaxed together. Terrance held on to Mona.

“I still love you,” Terrance said, as he pulled away. He fastened his pants and left Mona alone by herself.

Mona stormed in the room still looking a little disheveled. “What was that all about?” she asked.

“I don't know,” Terrance confessed.

“When you figure it out, let me know.” Without another word, Mona left his office and instead of leaving his door opened, she slammed it shut.

The painting on the wall shook.

Terrance leaned back in his chair. He inhaled. He could still smell Mona's fragrance on his lips. He needed to swallow his pride and go make things right with her, but he was a man who didn't want to share. He wanted Mona all to himself and he wasn't too sure she was ready to let her past go.

Chapter Forty-Two

Later on that day Mona sat across the table at the coffee shop talking with Charlotte. “I wish Kem could have been here,” Mona said.

“She's filming the fall season finale for her show,” Charlotte responded.

“Oh, I forgot. Next year, that will be me.” Mona beamed on the inside.

“I'm happy for you and Terrance.” Charlotte sipped on her espresso.

“Ugh.” Mona sighed.

Mona hadn't shared with Charlotte everything that had been transpiring with Terrance because not only was Charlotte her best friend, she was Terrance's manager. She didn't want to get Charlotte in the middle of things.

Mona revealed to Charlotte everything that had transpired between her and Terrance.

“All of what's going on with you two is nothing but a big misunderstanding. Just like Sean and I, you two are destined to be together,” Charlotte proclaimed.

“I thought that too. But now I'm not so sure.” Mona pouted.

Charlotte leaned forward. “Someone needs to be the bigger person and make the first move. Don't allow pride to stand in the way of you being happy.”

Mona recanted to Charlotte her and Terrance's last conversation. “I asked him what it meant and he said he didn't know. So what am I supposed to do now?”

“I'm going to tell you like you told me about Sean. Go get your man. Terrance wants you or else he wouldn't have reached out to you in that manner.”

“Of course he wants me, what man wouldn't?” Mona smiled, getting back some of her spunk.

“See, now that's the Mona I know. Go get him girl.” Charlotte lifted her glass in the air.

Mona tapped Charlotte's glass with hers. Mona wished she felt as confident as she pretended to.

Mona went home, showered and dressed. She stopped by and got Chinese food from one of Terrance's favorite restaurants. She parked behind his car in his driveway. She took a glance at herself in the mirror.

“You can do this,” she said out loud.

Before she could change her mind, she got out of the car with the bags of food. She slowly made her towards the door.

Should I or Shouldn't I?
Mona asked herself as she stood at the door contemplating on whether to ring the doorbell.

The more she thought about it. The more she thought that her being there wasn't a good idea.

Before she could leave, the door swung open. Terrance stood there with a frown on his face. “I've been standing here for five minutes waiting for you to ring the doorbell,” he said.

“I...well,” she stuttered. She held out the bag. “I come in peace.”

“Come on in.” Terrance took the bag from Mona and moved out of the way so she could enter.

“People say a way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so I'm hoping that's true.” Mona looked into Terrance's eyes to see if she could see a glimpse of hope.

His eyes twinkled. “You didn't have to bring food from my favorite spot but since you did, let's eat.”

Mona followed Terrance to the kitchen and took a seat at the table. She watched him remove the items from the bag. The tension between them remained thick. Mona would sneak a glance at Terrance and she would catch him glancing at her, but neither said a word while eating.

Mona stared at the last bite of food. She played with it with her plastic fork.

“Mona, look at me,” Terrance commanded.

She looked into his eyes that had now softened.

He reached across the table and grabbed her hand and held it. “I pushed my pride to the side to come here so be gentle,” Mona blurted out.

Terrance tilted his head to the side. “Baby, I'm glad you're here. Do you know how hard it's been to see you at the office and not be able to hug you, kiss you or hold you like I want to?”

Mona sat speechless.

Terrance continued. “I've been asking myself ever since I left the office what I wanted and life without you has been miserable. I can't tell you the countless times I've held the phone to dial your number, but didn't.”

Mona could relate. She'd been doing the same thing. “Why didn't you call?” Mona asked.

“Every time I got ready to call, I remembered seeing Garrett kiss you.”

Mona frowned. “Terrance, what are you talking about?”

“The day you asked for your clothes. That night, I dropped by to bring them to you. You'd never invited me inside before so imagine my surprise when I see Garrett walking out. But not only did I see him walking out. I saw him kissing you.”

Mona said, “Garrett wasn't kissing me. We were hugging.” Mona only told the partial truth because Garrett had kissed her when they were seated on the couch earlier.

“But I swore that's what I saw. Do you know how torn I was? I was so pissed I sped away and got stopped by a cop.”

Mona's hand flew over her mouth. “Oh no.”

“I'm not tripping about that. I said all of this to say that even though I told you I didn't want us any more, I lied. I do want us. I know I've been acting like a jackass with you lately and I promise to change that. I've already given my competition a leeway but now I'm about to close the gap.”

Terrance stood and leaned forward and kissed Mona on the lips.

Mona's lips shivered. “Terrance, what are you saying?”

“I want you back and if it means proving that I'm better than Garrett, I'm willing to do it.”

Mona opened her mouth to confess to Terrance that Garrett wasn't in the picture, but decided not to. Maybe Terrance should continue to think he was. It was his penitence for all of the agony he'd put her through.

Chapter Forty-Three

Terrance hadn't planned on groveling and begging Mona to be with him. If his friends knew about this, he would lose his “man” card. At this point, he didn't care about being macho, he just wanted his woman back and if it took swallowing his pride to do so, then so be it.

He'd planned on showing Mona that Garrett couldn't give her the type of life she deserved. Besides, Mona was his. She'd been his from the first time they'd made love whether she knew it or not.

Mona started helping him clean off the table but he stopped her. “I got this. Why don't you go chill in the living room and I'll be there in a minute.”

Mona didn't protest. She left him alone. As soon as she left the room, Terrance went into romance mode. He removed a cold bottle of champagne from the refrigerator and located two flutes.

He placed them on the counter. He went outside and picked a few roses from his rose bush. He grabbed the champagne and then rushed up the back stairway from the kitchen and into his bedroom. He tore rose petals and spread them across the bed.

He rushed to the stop of the stairs and yelled Mona's name out several times until she appeared below.

“Can you meet me upstairs for a minute?” Terrance yelled.

“Sure,” she responded.

Terrance went to the bedroom and stood in the doorway. He watched Mona with anticipation as she took each step. The closer she got to him, the faster his heart beat.

“I wanted to talk to you about something,” Terrance said.

He moved out of the way and Mona gasped in surprise when she saw the rose petals on the floor and bed.

“Were you expecting someone else and I just happened to show?” Mona asked.

“No, baby. I just did this,” Terrance assured her. “This is all for you.”

Terrance went to the nightstand and popped open the cork off the champagne and poured it into the flutes. He handed one to Mona and he held on to one. “To a new beginning.”

Mona tapped his flute. They both took sips out of their glasses. Mona said, “The roses were a nice touch. You know how much I like flowers.”

“I know.” Terrance grabbed her hand and led her to the bed. He took the glass from her and placed it on the side of the bed.

“There's something I want to tell you,” Mona said.

“Shh. Right now, there's nothing you can say that will change my mind about us.”

“Maybe you should hear this,” Mona responded.

Terrance didn't want to hear Garrett's name. He covered her mouth with his and took her breath away. They both fell back on the bed. As they continued the kiss, he used one of his hands to unfasten her pants. His attempt to remove them was unsuccessful. He laughed to himself.

“These things are skin tight. I may need some help,” Terrance joked.

“Only if you do a strip show for me,” Mona stared at him and said with a smile on her face.

“Oh, you want a strip show. I'll give it to you. But by the end of my performance I want to see you naked.”

Terrance pretended to be dancing. He seductively removed his clothing. Mona yelled, “That's it. If I had some dollars, I would be making it rain right about now.”

They both laughed. Terrance missed this playful banter they always seemed to have with one another. Even before they'd gotten involved romantically, they were able to have fun around the office. He'd missed this side of Mona and was enjoying seeing her smile and laugh again.

Mona removed her tight jeans and shirt and laid on top of the rose petals on the bed naked by the time he'd removed his boxers. He wasn't sure if she was prepared for him but she should be able to see by looking at his erection that he was more than ready for her.

Terrance kissed Mona. He eased his fingers inside of her. He got harder when he felt how moist she was. She was ready for him. He positioned himself on top of her. Her eyes were closed.

“Look at me Mona. I want to see your eyes when I enter you.”

Without waiting for her to respond, he went deep inside of her. She gasped out in pleasure. He got lost in her eyes as he made love to her as if his life depended on it. She placed her legs on top of his shoulder and he went deeper and deeper inside of her. Moans of pleasure filled the room.

Terrance closed his eyes and felt himself losing control as he deep-stroked her. Mona wrapped her legs around his waist and dug her fingernails into his back. He felt her legs shake and he released his seed inside of her.

Terrance held Mona in his arms. “I've missed you,” he whispered.

“I've missed you too,” Mona responded.