Spontaneous (3 page)

“All right.” Kim tried to focus completely on the conversation with her mother…at least as much as she could.

Each time she glanced over at Duan she would get aroused. With him she’d gained a boldness that was new
to her. To make out with a man in an empty room during her best friend’s wedding reception was certainly over the top.

She forced her attention back to her mother. When she had called a few days ago she had been pretty secretive about the reason she could not make the wedding. After convincing Kim that she was fine, Wynona Cannon-Longleaf-Higgins-Gunter had assured her daughter she would tell her everything later.

The last time her mother had behaved in such a manner there had been a man involved. Kim didn’t begrudge her mother meeting someone and being happy. At fifty-five Wynona was still attractive, although it had taken Kim a long time to make her mother believe that. Her abusive father had convinced his wife that if she left him, no other man would want her, and where would she be without a man taking care of her.

Unfortunately, Wynona had remained with her husband, taking his abuse, both physically and mentally. Kim would never forget how in her senior year of high school her mother had landed in the emergency room from one of those beatings, and it was then that Wynona had made up her mind it would be the last whipping any man would give her. She had tearfully told Kim she didn’t want her daughter to assume that physical abuse was something any woman should tolerate.

While Kim was grateful her mother had finally gotten the strength to leave her dad, the only other thing Wynona needed to rid herself of was the notion that a
woman needed a man to survive. That belief was the reason Kim had eventually ended up with three stepfathers. Although none were abusive like her father, the four had lacked substance, and none of the marriages had lasted more than a year or two.

When her mother didn’t say anything, Kim prompted, “So, why weren’t you able to make it to the wedding, Mom?”

“I’ve met someone,” her mother said.

Kim could hear the excitement in her mother’s voice and imagined the giddy smile that must be on her face.
Oh, brother,
she thought, as she leaned back against her seat. The movement brought her closer to Duan and he automatically placed his arm around her shoulder. Heat swept through her as if he’d pressed some button.

“And who did you meet?” Kim heard herself asking her mother.

“His name is Edward Villarosas and he’s nice.”

They all are in the beginning,
Kim thought, remembering the other men her mother had married. First there was Boris Longleaf, whom Wynona had met during her prison ministries. At least he hadn’t been a prisoner but one of the guards. He seemed nice enough until her mother had discovered a year into the marriage that Boris preferred men.

Then there was Albert Higgins, a maintenance man in the apartment complex her mother had moved into after her divorce from Boris. There was something about
Albert that Kim hadn’t trusted and her suspicions were confirmed when he’d been arrested for his part in a car-theft ring.

And last but not least was Phillip Gunter, the one who’d tried coming on to her. During all her mother’s marriages Kim had been away at college and was only around the men whenever she came home for spring break or the holidays.

She’d known from the first moment she’d seen Phillip that he would be trouble, and when he tried cornering her in the laundry room, she had used the knee-jab-in-the-groin move that she’d seen on television. When her mother had rushed downstairs after hearing the man howling in pain, he’d had the audacity to tell her that Kim had been the one trying to come on to him. Of course her mother hadn’t believed it and had sent him packing.

So after four failed marriages, Kim hoped her mother would eventually find someone to make her happy. But with Wynona’s track record, she wasn’t so sure of that happening.

“Tell me all about nice Edward,” Kim said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

“Edward and I met at the grocery store and things between us began getting serious pretty fast.”

Kim rolled her eyes. “I bet.”

“You’re going to like him.”

I doubt it. That’s what you said about the others.
“When can I meet him?”

“Um, when you come to the wedding in three weeks.”

“What!” Kim nearly jumped out of her seat.

“Are you all right, Kim?” Duan asked, leaning close to her in concern. His heated breath against her cheek had sensations stirring within her.

She nodded quickly and whispered, “Yes, I’m fine.”

“Kim, who are you with? The man you’re engaged to?”

Kim rolled her eyes and shook her head. It had been nearly two months since she’d told that lie and now everyone was still waiting to meet her fiancé. “Kim?”

Instead of addressing the issue of her fabricated fiancé, she said, “Mom, you can’t get married in three weeks. What do you know about this guy?”

“I know enough to believe Edward is a good man. He’s a divorcé like me and we enjoy each other’s company. He asked me to marry him and I accepted. Be happy for me. I’m happy for you. You don’t know how happy I was when you told me and Aunt Gert about your guy. For so long I’ve blamed myself for you not wanting to get married because I stayed with your father when he was so abusive to me. I know that’s what turned you off marriage. I should have left him sooner.”

Yes, you should have left him sooner,
Kim thought.
Not for my sake but for your own.
Although she would
be the first to admit she’d never wanted to marry because of the abuse she’d witnessed by her father, she didn’t want her mother to feel guilty about that.

Kim pushed frustrated air out of her lungs. “Mom, please promise you won’t do anything until I get there.”

“And when do you plan to come? The family wants me to have another wedding, but Edward and I are tickled with the idea of just taking off and flying to Vegas and—”

“No, Mom, please not Vegas again. Haven’t you learned anything?”

“Kimani Cannon, I won’t allow you to take that tone with me. I didn’t call to get your permission to marry Edward. I’m just letting you know about him. But if you really want to meet him, then I suggest you make time to do so.”

“I think that I will, Mom.”

“Fine. And don’t you dare come without bringing your young man with you,” Wynona said in a stern voice. “I can’t wait to meet him, and like I said, the fact that you’re in love has lifted a load off my heart that I’ve been carrying around for a long time.”

“Mom, I—”

“No, sweetie, please let me finish. I know you don’t understand why I keep going from man to man. Maybe I’m trying to find something I missed out on all those years I was with your daddy, letting him hit me around. I’m fine now. I like Edward. He’ll be good for me. But to know that you’ve gotten beyond the abuse you saw
in our household has been my prayer. I’ve been praying for a good man to come into your life and now he has. I can’t wait to meet him, so don’t you dare think of coming home to Shreveport without him. Goodbye, sweetie.”

Her mother hung up and Kim realized she hadn’t told her the good news about being accepted into med school. She sighed deeply, knowing she’d gotten herself into a sticky situation with the lie about a fiancé. Sherri had warned her it was bound to catch up with her eventually.

“Is everything all right, Kim?”

Kim glanced over at Duan. For a moment she’d forgotten he was in the taxi with her as they cruised through the streets of Chicago on their way to the airport.

She sighed deeply, and when he opened his arms she cuddled up closer to him. “Is your mother okay?” he asked, concern in his voice.h

Kim chewed on her bottom lip and then said, “If you call planning wedding number five okay, then yes, she’s doing just fine.”

D
UAN WASN’T SURE
he’d heard her correctly. “Your mother has been married four times?”

“Yes.”

He found that simply incredible since his own mother had been married that many times, as well. He shifted in his seat and Kim’s body automatically moved with his. He’d done one-night stands before but none had stretched into breakfast the next morning or a cab ride to the airport the next day. When it was over, it was over. There hadn’t been any exchange of business cards or promises to follow up. But he knew that he and Kim would see each other again. This weekend hadn’t been enough.

“I told you a little about my father being the ugly in my life this morning and how he abused my mother. What I didn’t tell you was that they split while I was in high school. I counted it as one of the happiest days of my life. He was a bully of the worse kind.”

“And your mom stayed with him all those years?”

“Yes. She was always convinced he would get better. He was smart enough to move us to New Orleans, away from her family during that time. She moved back to Shreveport a few years ago to be close to her family and to take care of my grandmother, who’s since died. Now Mom wants to get her life together and believes there is a good man out there destined to be hers. So far she’s had four misfits and I’m afraid this fifth might be the same.”

He shook his head. It was ironic that her mother was looking for a good man when his mother had had one and hadn’t been satisfied. Go figure.

“My mother’s been married four times, as well,” he heard himself saying.

“She has?”

“Yes.” He wondered why he’d told her that. He never discussed his mother with anyone. And it was only on rare occasions that her name came up with Terrence and Olivia.

Kim was sitting close to him, practically in his lap. He felt his desire for her on the rise again and hoped the cab arrived at the airport before he was tempted to do something that could make headlines in the
Chicago Sun-Times
.

“The last I saw her,” he said, “she was contemplating husband number five. But that was six years ago. She might have made it to number ten by now.”

Kim gave him an odd look. “You’re joking, aren’t you?”

His expression was unreadable when he said, “I never joke when it comes to the woman who birthed me.”

There was an edge of steel in his voice and Kim figured the subject of his mother’s desertion was a sore one with him, just like her mother’s obsession with finding the perfect man was with her.

The perfect man.

Such a man didn’t exist. But that was her mother’s dream and Kim knew all about chasing dreams. Just like she understood her mother’s desire to see her only child married. Wynona thought she’d failed in both the mother and wife departments. Neither was true, but until mother and daughter were happily married, she would always believe that.

The backseat of the cab got quiet, as if Duan was allowing her time to think, and then he asked, “When is the wedding?”

She rubbed a hand down her face. “They want to marry in three weeks, which will put me in more hot water because of a lie I’ve told.”

“What lie?”

“That I’m engaged.”

At his surprised look, she said, “Okay, I’ll admit that was a big one, but I had a reason for lying in this case. Mom and her sister, my aunt Gertrude, believe
my exposure to my parents’ relationship for all those years is the reason I’m not in what they call a
healthy relationship
with a man.”

He shrugged. “That’s probably true. At least I know it is for me. I’m not sure I can fully trust a woman after what my mother did to my dad. I know all women aren’t the same, like I’m sure you know all men aren’t the same. But still, it’s understandable for anyone who’s witnessed all that to want to protect their heart.”

Kim nodded. What he said made sense. Her parents’ marriage had influenced her way of thinking.

“But I don’t want Mom to beat herself up about it and worry unnecessarily. I’m happy with my marital status, and I think Mom would ease off if it wasn’t for Aunt Gert. She’s a bona fide romantic. She’s also a reality TV junkie. A couple of months ago, without me knowing, she submitted my name and bio to
How to Find a Good Man
. Believe it or not, I was the one selected to go on a televised scavenger hunt to find a good man.”

Duan chuckled. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Trust me, I kid you not. Anyway, they wanted to surprise me, and they sure did when the film crew showed up at the hospital. The only way I could get out of it was to lie and say I’d gotten engaged after Aunt Gert had submitted my personal info.”

She shook her head. “That made everyone happy and I was left alone. And to this day, no one has asked me
the name of my fiancé. But just like Sherri warned, the lie has caught up with me. Now Mom wants to meet him. I can’t put it off any longer.”

“Just tell them the truth.”

She rolled her eyes. “You don’t know my family, especially Aunt Gert. I would go so far as to tell her to butt out of my business, but I know she means well, so I can’t. When I go home next week I not only have to meet what could be my fourth stepfather, but also take a man with me to Shreveport as my fiancé. A fake one at least.”

Duan thought it might be wise for her to just fess up and tell her family the truth. But if she didn’t do that and took a man home…a part of him didn’t like the thought of that for some reason. He knew what she did was her business. But still…

“You have any prospects?” he asked, looking down at her. Not for the first time he thought how gorgeous her brown eyes were. He could recall staring into them while climaxing. Several times.

She lifted an arched brow. “Prospects?”

“You know. Guys willing to play the part of your fiancé.”

Kim shrugged. She immediately thought of Winslow Breaker. He was a surgeon at the hospital who’d been after her for months. The only problem was that she could just imagine what good old Winslow would expect in return. And she just wasn’t feeling it with Winslow. Never had.

“Possibly,” she heard herself say.

Duan cursed under his breath, wondering why he even gave a damn. Like he’d thought earlier, what she did was her business.

He noticed the huge marker that indicated the airport was less than ten miles away and knew what he wanted to do before they parted ways.

Shifting in the seat, he reached out and ran the tip of his finger down the side of her face, his gaze fastened on her lips. “Sounds like you have a plan and I’m sure things are going to work out in your favor. In the meantime—” his voice dipped a little lower, became throatier “—I appreciate being with you this weekend.”

And then he lowered his mouth to hers.

D
UAN HAD THOUGHT
her taste was sweet before, but after thrusting his tongue between her parted lips and greedily drinking in her flavor, he realized she was the most alluring woman he’d ever had the pleasure of knowing. Definitely the tastiest.

Their tongues met, melded, mated and were stirring waves of pleasure inside him. And then there was the passion she returned wantonly and flagrantly each and every time they kissed. He would take charge of the kiss, she would follow, and then she would turn the tables and stake her control.

It was while savoring the wet heat and hunger of her sizzling passion that he yielded to full awareness of what being with her entailed. With Kim there was
no sensual limit, no restricted areas and no borders to guard. There was just this—absolute surrender and a yearning for more.

“You did say you were flying out on Delta, right, mister?”

Duan released Kim’s mouth and inclined his head to look at the taxi driver, who had turned around to stare at them with a silly grin on his face. Understandably so, since he and Kim had been caught in a heated kiss. And he had managed to pull her onto his lap and drape her body across his.

“Yes, I’m flying out on Delta.” Then ignoring the man, he leaned up and brushed his lips across hers once more to whisper, “Have a safe trip back to Key West, Kim.”

Reluctantly he eased her off his lap. Something pulled inside Duan at the thought that this was where he went his way and she went hers. When the driver brought the taxi to a stop, Duan opened the door and made a move to get out. He then looked back at Kim.

At that moment, something pushed him to say, “I have some free time coming up, so how about adding me to your list of prospects?”

He smiled at the stunned look on her face. “You’re serious? You would consider doing that for me?”

“Yes, I would.” He reached for her hand, lifted it to his lips and placed a kiss on her knuckles. Immediately he felt the sizzling between them.

Releasing her hand, he shifted and turned to get out of the taxi.

“Don’t be surprised if I decide to take you up on your offer, Duan,” she warned. “Then all I’ll have to concentrate on is making sure Mom knows what she’s doing with Edward Villarosas.”

Duan turned back, gave her his full attention. Fighting to keep the frown off his face, he repeated, “Edward Villarosas?”

She nodded. “Yes. He’s the man my mother plans to marry.”

D
UAN PULLED OUT
his cell phone the moment he cleared security. He wasted no time dialing the number to his office. Landon Chestnut, one of the private investigators who worked with him at the Peachtree Private Investigative Firm, usually came into the office on Sunday afternoons. There were three other guys in the firm—Antron Blair, Brett Newman and Chevis Fleming.

“Hey, man, how was the wedding?” Landon asked, answering on the third ring.

“Real nice. The newlyweds should have reached Paris by now.” Duan paused and then asked, “Ready for a blast from the past?”

“About what?”

“It’s not what, Landon, but who. Edward Villarosas.”

Duan heard his friend’s expletives and understood why. Landon had always felt Villarosas was the one he’d
let get away when he was still a detective with the force. Duan had already left the department and was working to start his own P.I. business when the Villarosas case had fallen into Landon’s lap.

The guy’s two wives had come up missing, five years apart, but nothing could be found to connect him with their disappearance. To this day, Duan could recall the frustration and grief Landon had gone through every time he hit a dead end during his investigation. There had been plenty of dead ends but no dead bodies. If Villarosas was guilty, he had covered his tracks well. Landon’s failure with the case was one of the reasons he’d left the force to join Duan’s P.I. firm.

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget him,” Landon finally said.

“Well, if it’s the same Edward Villarosas, and I have a hunch that it is, he’s about to remarry,” Duan told him, taking a seat near his designated gate.

“Is it to anyone you know?” Landon asked.

“Not directly. The intended bride is the mother of Terrence’s wife’s best friend. She mentioned it a few moments ago in a cab ride we shared to the airport. Seems he’s living in Louisiana now.”

“I heard he’d moved from Atlanta. Do you think he told his future bride that on two occasions he was suspected of bumping off his previous wives?”

“I doubt it,” Duan said.

“I would have to agree. I’d love to reopen those cases to see if there’s anything I missed the first time. The
man did have ironclad alibis, but there was something about him that didn’t sit well with me. In the end, there was nothing solid that we could use to move the case from missing persons to homicide. He claimed they left him for other men.”

“I might have the opportunity to gather more information if I’m invited to the wedding in three weeks. Kimani Cannon needs a date, and I’m figuring since she’ll be meeting Villarosas for the first time, she might want to go to Shreveport a little early.”

“The opportunity to spend even a week with Villarosas might trip him up to reveal something that he didn’t five years ago,” Landon said. “During the investigation he had his stories together. Another plus is that he wouldn’t recognize you since you had already left the force.”

Duan knew Landon was right; he did have an advantage. But he wasn’t absolutely certain Kim would ask him to go with her.

“When will you know if you’ll be Ms. Cannon’s escort?”

“Possibly early next week. I’ll give her a call to remind her that I’m available.”

“Will you tell her what’s going on?”

He considered Landon’s question for a moment. If he were to tell Kim, she definitely wouldn’t let her mother go through with the wedding. Besides, as much as he might think otherwise, the former cop in him had to
remember the man was innocent until proven guilty. And although Villarosas had been a prime suspect in Landon’s book, he was never charged with any crime.

“No, I won’t tell her yet,” he said.

He ended his connection with Landon, and a short while later when the announcer called his flight, he knew that he couldn’t waste any time putting a plan into place to make sure he was the man Kim took home to Shreveport with her.