Slow Seduction (30 page)

The plane arrived in the Caribbean late, causing Clinton to check into the hotel in a rush. He wanted nothing more than to get his wife upstairs so he could make love to her. Clinton hurried to the front desk and gave the clerk their information.

“Clinton, there’s no need to rush,” Jenisha muttered beside him as he waited for the clerk to give them their hotel room key.

“I can’t help it. I don’t want to have to wait any longer to make love to my gorgeous wife,” he replied, kissing his wife on the cheek.

He practically snatched the room key from the clerk’s fingers. “Sorry,” he apologized at the shocked look that came across the young man’s face. Clinton declined the help of the bell hop and carried the bags to the elevator himself, walking with Jenisha beside him.

After they got settled in the room, Clinton gently pushed Jenisha toward the bathroom. “Precious, this is your night. Take all the time you want in there.” He planted a soft kiss on her mouth and closed the door.

Inside the bathroom, Jenisha stared at herself in the well-lit mirror and tried not to hate the woman staring back at her. “You did the right thing,” she uttered, hoping to ease her guilty conscience. “If you had told Clinton, he wouldn’t have married you.”

“This is your time and your last dream will come true tonight with the man you love.” Smiling at her stunning reflection, Jenisha got undressed and got ready for the wonderful night ahead of her.

Clinton looked up at the sound of the door and his mouth fell open at the sight of his wife. Jenisha was wearing a lacy bra and panties with a garter belt that showed off her firm, toned body perfectly.

Rising off the bed, he moved over to her. “Darling, you look too good for words.”

“T
hank
you,” Jenisha answered. “I wanted to look pretty for our wedding night.”

He thought his wife came across more than pretty in that outfit she was barely wearing. Hell, he thought Jenisha’s body was better than the models in the Victoria secret catalog, and she was all his.

“Why don’t I show what I think about your lingerie?” Clinton asked with huskiness to his tone.

Easing his fingers into Jenisha’s straight hair, he kissed her like a man who finally found his other half. His tongue slid around her mouth, stroking the side and roof, taking the taste of her back into his mouth. The other hand slid down her back, cupping her full bottom and loving how it felt.

Walking backwards, he laid her down on the bed. Leaning above her, he undid the front snap, freeing her sinfully plump brown breasts for him to taste, lick and suck all he wanted. He wanted this night to stand out in her mind forever because they only got one wedding night.

Standing up, Clinton rested her long leg on his thigh, unclasped the garter belt, and worked the silky stocking down her leg. He moved to her other magnificent leg, giving it the same tender treatment.

He slowly stroked the inside of her thighs, liking the way her baby smooth skin felt to his fingertips. “Precious, do you know how perfect you feel to my hands?” Clinton asked, running his hand from Jenisha’s inner thigh all the way down to the sole of her foot.

“I’m not perfect,” Jenisha said, looking up from at him from her position on the bed.

Bending down until his knees touched the floor, Clinton ran his tongue across the bottom of his wife’s cute little foot, pausing to give the big toe an extra lick. “You don’t know how stunning you are, Mrs. Campbell, and you’re all mine.”

Jenisha closed her eyes and fell back on the bed, arching her back. Little moans poured from her throat. “God, handsome, that felt so good.”

Dropping the left leg, Clinton quickly moved his attention to the right one. Hell, if his wife liked having her body licked, he was just the man to do it. He proceeded to give the right leg just as much attention as he gave the leg one. He didn’t want Jenisha’s body to feel cheated.

“Why are you still dressed?” Jenisha asked in a silky voice. “I don’t think that’s fair.” She pouted, looking at him from underneath her lashes. “Don’t I get to touch you, too?”

“Mrs. Campbell, you can touch me all you want to.” Clinton got up from his position on the floor and quickly took his clothes. He stopped long enough to rid Jenisha off her underwear before he joined her on the bed.

Rising on her knees, Jenisha pushed him down on the bed and ran his hands through his chest hair. “Do you know how much I love touching you?” she asked, leaning over and running the tip of her tongue along his jaw.

“Probably about as much I love touching you,” he answered, jerking her down to his chest and capturing her mouth in a hot kiss. Flipping her back over, Clinton covered Jenisha with his body.

Trailing his mouth down Jenisha’s neck, he licked and nibbled at all the hidden spots that he knew got her excited. He wanted her to enjoy this night as much as he was. “Are you feeling the pressure too?” Clinton asked, sliding his hand between Jenisha’s legs. His fingers stroked at her warm heat and came away coated with her need to have him.

Clinton slowly slid the head of his erection in her vagina then stopped. He took her head between his hands and held it gently. “Jenisha Campbell, you mean more to me than any other woman has in my past or will in my future,” he muttered before he slid his erection the rest of the way in her.

Jenisha buried her face against the corded muscles of his chest and whimpered low in her throat as he brought her to his release. After she had reached her peak and came back down, Clinton allowed his body to explode in pleasure.

Gathering his wife in his arms, Clinton arranged Jenisha against his body. Her head fit perfectly in the hollow between his shoulder and neck. It was just like he always thought they were meant to be together for the rest of their lives.

During the day the walked on the beach hand and hand, taking in the beauty of the island. Some days they would stay in bed until noon and others they would get up early to go running on the beach. The two weeks spent on the island were magical for the couple, so when it came time to leave, neither wanted to.

“Can’t we stay a while longer?” Jenisha asked while packing her last bag.

“I wish we could, but I need to get back,” Clinton answered, moving toward his stunning wife across the room. “Don’t you have to get your room set up for your new students?”

“Yes, I do,” she whispered.

“Guess what,” Clinton said, kissing her on the back of the neck.

“What?” Jenisha mumbled, resting her back on his chest.

“Our houses sold, so we can start moving into our new house.”

“Honey, that is wonderful,” she responded, spinning around in his arms to stare into his eyes.

“Are you ready?"

“Well, my good looking husband, I think I am,” she responded, pointing to her bags lined up by the door.

“Then I guess it’s time for us to hit the road, precious.” Clinton picked up the luggage and carried it out as Jenisha shut it behind them.

“I think we should use my furniture since you don’t have any,” Jenisha commented on the way to the airport.”

“Fine with me as long as I can decorate the office space,” he said, glancing at her quickly.

“I don’t have a problem with that at all.”

“Great, because I had it shipped from Stamford the day we left. It should all be in place now, and I told the delivery guy to leave the key with Dave. He took off from work to wait for it at our new house.”

“How did you know I would agree to your request?” Jenisha asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Because you love me so much,” Clinton answered with confidence.

“You better be glad that’s true, Clinton,” Jenisha uttered, poking him in the rib with her finger.

Clinton pulled the rental car into the airport and lead Jenisha on the plane where she fell asleep on his shoulder. He brushed a stray hair off her forehead and closed his eyes, following her into a peaceful sleep.

A month after the dedication of the new school additions, Clinton went to his wife with an idea. “Precious, I want to start decorating the nursery.”

Jenisha looked up from her magazine. “Honey, we aren’t even pregnant yet.”

“I know, but I want to start putting things in the room because I know it’s only a matter of time,” Clinton smiled. The warmth of his smile was so masculine, so bracing, it almost made her believe that a little bundle of joy could be in their future.

She tossed the magazine to the side and tried to figure a way out of this problem. This was the fourth time Clinton had brought this up to her since they got married. “Don’t you think this is getting a little head of yourself?”

“No, I don’t, darling,” Clinton disagreed like he did every single time she said that. “I have a few pieces of furniture I had as a baby and I want them arranged in the room.” Dark green eyes stared at her. “I promise it won’t be too much. Are you saying you don’t want too?”

“Am I pressuring you about a baby too soon? I know we have only been married close to two months. Maybe I’m feeling my age since Hayward and True have the twins and Hayward trying to get True to have another one.” Clinton frowned. “Do you think I should have another test done? There could be something wrong with me.”

Jumping up from the table, Jenisha ran over to him, “No, baby there isn’t any reason to do that. You already have a test and you know everything is fine. So, why don’t you go ahead and get started.”

She prayed after Clinton decorated the room he would move on until she figured out a way to tell him. “Hopefully, by the end of the year we might have a something to celebrate.”

Clinton enveloped Jenisha in his arms. “I knew I loved you for a reason.” Holding her a few minutes longer, he finally let her go, heading upstairs to the nursery.

Jenisha collapsed in the nearest chair, glad her visit with True was coming up. She needed her best friend right now.

“I’m glad you decided to come for a visit,” Hayward said, hugging his brother once he got on the inside. “Jenisha, you’re looking beautiful as always.”

“T
hank
you,” Jenisha muttered, looking around the room. “Where’s True?” She was in desperate need of advice from her best friend.

“She’s in the library,” Hayward answered, and before the words were completely out of his mouth, Jenisha headed in that direction.

“I hate to say ‘hi’ and then leave, but I have some business to attend to in town,” Hayward said as he opened the front door. “Clinton, the paperwork I want you to look at is in the study on the desk.”

“Where are my nephews?” Clinton held up four bags. “I brought presents for them.” He spent all of the day before searching for Spiderman stuff at the toy stores.

“They are spending another week with dad.” Hayward stood in the doorway and shook at his head, eyeing the bags in his hands. “He wanted them again before the weather got cold.”

“God, dad has them all the time now,” Clinton complained, sitting the toy bags on the table by the door.

“Yeah, I know. He said True and I needed some alone time so we could make another baby.”

“Dad didn’t say that,” Clinton said, chuckling.

“Yes, he did and I have to say True and I have been practicing a lot over the last two days,” Hayward admitted with a wicked grin. “I’ll tell you more about it when I get back, okay?”

“Sure, go on and we can talk later,” Clinton stated. Going out the front door, Hayward closed it behind him, and Clinton made his way to the study.

Knocking on the library door, Jenisha went on in without waiting for True to respond. “We need to talk,” she whispered to a bewildered True.

“Jenisha, come on in and sit down,” True pointed toward an empty chair in front of her. “What is the matter with you?”

Taking a seat, she just blurted out the truth. “Clinton wants to decorate the nursery, thinking I’ll be pregnant by the end of the year. What am I doing to do now? He can’t find out,” Jenisha screamed.

“Have you thought how now may be the best time to tell him?” True suggested, gently touching the back of her hand.

“Do you mean tell him my most guarded secret?” Jenisha questioned. “True, you have lost your mind,” she yelled at best friend.

After reading over the documents, Clinton wrote a few notes down for Hayward. Now, he wanted to find his wife and see what she wanted for lunch. Maybe he could talk True into coming with them. Leaving the study, he went in search of her in the library. Hearing voices, Clinton raised his hand to knock on the door to make his presence known, but the conversation stopped him cold.

“Jenisha, you need to tell Clinton your secret,” True pleaded with her. He peeked through the door and saw Jenisha make a face.

“I can’t let him find out,” Jenisha cried. “I’ve never been this happy in my life. I’m married to the man I love more than life itself. How can I shatter all his dreams,” she questioned harshly.

“I told you to come clean before the wedding and you wouldn’t do it,” True tossed back. “It wasn’t my place to tell my brother-in-law that delicate information.”

Jenisha jumped up out of the chair, causing her curls to bounce on her shoulders. “Have you told Hayward about it?”

“Of course not. And, if I had, Hayward wouldn’t have kept your secret,” True groaned. “Clinton is his brother and they are very close.”

“Wonderful, if this comes out Hayward will hate me just like you,” Jenisha’s eyes took on a wounded look at the thought of Hayward being mad at True.

Clinton continued to stand outside the open door in silence. Maybe if he stayed real quiet he would find out the secret he knew Jenisha was hiding. Then, after he found out what it was, he could help her work through it.

True reached out and pulled Jenisha down on the loveseat beside her. “You are my best friend in the entire world. I could never hate you and neither would Hayward. I’m disappointed you don’t trust Clinton’s love for you. That man loves you so much he would accept anything you tell him, but you have to tell him now.”

She brushed away Jenisha’s tears with her hand. “You can’t keep lying to him. Clinton is a very intelligent man. He’s bound to figure something out.”

Too restless to sit still, Jenisha jumped up from the loveseat. “Okay, how do I tell the man I love that I can’t ever give birth to his child and I’ve known this fact for years now, but didn’t tell him before or after the wedding?”

“Jenisha, please tell me what you just said is a lie,” Clinton requested from the opened doorway.

The voice Jenisha feared hearing the most spoke from behind her. True’s eyes flew to the doorway as her as left hand touched her mouth in shock. Jenisha made her way toward her loving husband on shaking legs with a pounding heart.

“Clinton, please let me explain,” she begged in a small voice. The closer she got, the further Clinton moved away from her.

“Jenisha, baby, what I just heard you say isn’t the truth. You wouldn’t let me have a nursery set up for a baby who’s never going to sleep in there,” he rasped. Jenisha ran the last few steps, wrapping her hand around his arm.

“I couldn’t tell you because I didn’t want to lose you, sweetheart.”

Clinton jerked his arm from her grasp. “So, instead of telling me the truth, you’ve been lying to me for months now,” Clinton choked out, fighting back painful tears. “You knew how much I wanted children of my own. Damn it, Jenisha, do you know what you have taken from me?” He ground out the words between his teeth.

“I’ve dated a lot of cold, vicious, manipulative, money-hungry women in my life, but I never thought I’d end up marrying the one who ended my dreams of being a father. T
hank
you, Ms. Roman, for having that honor.”

Jenisha wiped at the tears flooding her eyes. “Baby, I’m Mrs. Campbell,” she said, holding up her left hand, showing him the wedding ring.

A sneer made Clinton’s normally attractive face nasty. “You won’t be much longer.” Turning on his heel, Clinton spun from the room, slamming the library door behind him.

“No, no, no,” Jenisha screamed behind him, collapsing to the floor.

She heard the front door slam, followed a minute or two later by a car door slam. True ran over to the window just in time to see Clinton speeding off down the street. True picked up the phone and dialed Hayward’s number. She begged him to come home early the second she heard his voice.

After hanging up the phone, she made her way toward the huddle on the floor. “Jenisha, honey, calm down. Everything is going to be okay. Clinton is just in shock right now. After he has time to cool off he’ll be back,” True assured her.

Jenisha wrapped her arms around her waist, rocking back and forth. “No, I can’t lose him,” she chanted. “He has to come back to me.”

True helped a traumatized Jenisha off the floor and back over to the loveseat. She brushed Jenisha’s hair back off her face. “You won’t lose Clinton, I promise.”

Jenisha stared ahead with a vacant look in her eyes. Her mind kept replaying the scene over and over. Clinton looked so angry with her.
How could she go on without him?
He wasn’t going to forgive her.
She put her face into her hands and wept silently.

Hearing the door, True saw Hayward enter the room. She brushed Jenisha’s sweaty hair back from her face and told her she would be right back. Her friend was so out of it that she knew she didn’t hear a word that she said.

Leading Hayward out into the hallway, she shut the door behind her. “What happened,” he asked, pulling her to the side away from the door.

“We need to talk,” True answered.

“True, what is going on?” he demanded.

Moving her husband into the living room, True started from the beginning. “Jenisha had a secret she didn’t want Clinton to find out, and he found out what it was today.”

“What kind of secret did she have that would cause Clinton to storm from the house?” Hayward knew his brother, and it had to be something big for Clinton to lose his temper like this. His older brother was the calmer one of the Campbell men.

“She can’t have children.”

“What?” Hayward yelled.

“Jenisha can’t have children,” True repeated.

“Shit, Clinton has always wanted a house full of children,” he confessed. “God, I know you were surprised when she told you too.”

“I’ve known a while now.”

“How long have you known this?” Hayward asked.

“A little over a year now,” she said.

Hayward’s eyes narrowed at his beautiful wife. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It wasn’t my place to reveal her secret,” she responded.

“So, you protected you best friend in order to hurt my unsuspecting brother? True, how could you do that?” he fumed. “Clinton had a right to know this before he married Jenisha. This might have changed his mind.”

“No, I don’t think so, Hayward. I know for a fact Clinton loves Jenisha.” True didn’t want to think Clinton would dump Jenisha over something she had no control over. “We need to find him so they will talk to each other.”

“Honey, I can go and look for him, but I can’t force him to come back with me,” Hayward stated.

“Okay, you go and do that while I try to calm down Jenisha,” True said on her way out the door.

Back at the door leading into the library, True thought about Jenisha on the other side. She felt so bad for her friend, but didn’t know how to comfort her without upsetting her more.

Peeking inside, she saw Jenisha hunched over by the window. Sadness clouded her eyes as True eased over to her best friend. “Jenisha, Hayward has gone to find Clinton.”

“It doesn’t matter. He hates me now. Nothing Hayward says will change his mind,” Jenisha murmured, her voice almost above a whisper. “The thing about Clinton is once you have lost his trust you can never get it back.”

“Clinton is a very forgiving man. I know he’ll come around and be right back at your side,” True said. “Hey, why don’t you stay here with me and Hayward for a couple of days?”

Moving her worn body over to the loveseat, Jenisha picked up her purse along with her coat. “No, I need to go back home.” Pulling on her coat, Jenisha tied it around her slim waist fighting back fresh tears.

“Sweetie, I don’t think you’re in any shape to travel alone. At least let me pack a bag and go back with you,” True pleaded.

Dark cinnamon eyes filled with fresh tears and stared at True. “Could you really do that?” Jenisha whispered.

“Oh, sweetie, sit down right here and give me fifteen minutes. I’ll call Hayward from upstairs to let him know.” Spinning around, True dashed out the door, thinking about what to pack.

Once she got upstairs to the bedroom, True found her suitcase and threw a variety of clothes inside. After she finished that task, she picked up the phone and dialed Hayward’s cell phone number. He answered on the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Hayward, I’m going back with Jenisha to Los Angeles for a couple of days. Do you think you can handle the boys when they come back?”

“Is she in that bad of shape you have to go with her,” he questioned.

“Hayward, how could you ask me something like that?” True scolded. “She couldn’t make it out the door without crying.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but I have to think about my brother, too. He’s devastated.”

“Does that mean you found him?”

“Yes, he’s right in front of me, but he doesn’t want to see Jenisha right now. Maybe it would be best if the both of you did go back to California for a week,” Hayward agreed.

“Okay, but make sure Clinton understands how much Jenisha does love him. She would do anything for him,” True added.

“Does that include telling him the truth?”

“Hayward, why are you being so hard on Jenisha?” True snapped. “She wasn’t trying to deceive him on purpose. She just couldn’t find the right words to tell him. You should understand her pain at keeping something from the person you love.”

“Don’t compare what I did to you with Jenisha’s secret,” Hayward broke in. “It’s not the same thing at all.”

“Hayward, I want you to have a little compassion for her, that’s all,” True interjected.

“I’m sorry,” Hayward apologized. “Take care of Jenisha while I try to smooth things over with Clinton.”

Clinton watched his brother end the conversation with True, envying their closeness. He thought he had found his soul mate but was wrong.
How could Jenisha keep something so important from him?
If he had known before, it wouldn’t hurt as much as it did now. However, despite the pain and hurt he felt, he was still in love with his wife. But, he couldn’t forgive what she did to him. Everything he dreamt about for the future included her and their children. Children he wouldn’t ever get to hold or touch because of one horrible secret Jenisha kept from him. A glass filled with whiskey was pushed under his face.

“Drink this,” Hayward said.