A Secret to Keep (17 page)

Pressing his lips back to hers, he deepened the kiss and their tongues moved and twirled around each other’s in a well-choreographed dance. Slipping his hands into her hair, Gates found the clasp on her barrette and loosened her hair so the curls could fall where they wanted.

“Beautiful.” He breathed gently across her skin as he left a trail of soft hot kisses from her mouth to below her ear and down her neck. Standing up, he reached for her hands and pulled her to him, and as he continued to kiss her neck he guided her through the hallway to his bedroom.

She could feel his arms around her and she felt tiny in his strong embrace as they made their way further into the room. The moonlight streamed in through the arc of the window casting an eerily seductive cerulean hue over the wide expanse of the room. She exhaled slowly feeling his hands slip through the spaghetti straps of her dress, gently coaxing them off of her shoulders. The top of the dress slipped down and exposed her perky, yet ample breasts. His strong hands roamed over her body and her breath caught in her throat as she felt the palms of his hands softly graze her nipples.

She moaned his name, closing her eyes; thankful he was taking his time with her, but aching for him to touch her entire body. Watching her intently, Gates pushed her dress, that had gathered at her waist, over her hips and it pooled around her ankles. She stood in front of him in nothing but a black lace thong and stilettos. Her eyes popped open as his hot mouth closed over her nipple and she threw her head back in sheer delight, basking in the pleasure of his tongue swirling around the hardened bud. She fought the urge to dissolve onto the bed and gathered herself enough to push him away to unbutton his shirt. Tugging it from his waistband, she pushed the material over his broad shoulders and leaned in to kiss his smooth chest.

“Sloane, you don’t know how long I’ve wanted you.” She could hear his deep voice rumble above her head. She made quick work of unzipping his slacks and pulled them, along with his boxer briefs, down his legs. He quickly finished undressing and she smiled when he sat on the bed and pulled her onto his lap to straddle him. “You are beautiful.”

She purred in sheer satisfaction as the heat generating between their bodies intensified and she leaned in and kissed him. He gently rolled her over to lie on her back.

Her eyes stayed trained on him as he sweetly and smoothly looped his fingers through the thin material of her underwear, pulling it leisurely down her legs then kissed a hot trail up her thighs to her waist. He lingered for a moment at the crux of her pelvis, inciting a delirious giggle from her before moving up her body.

She was feverishly excited and very turned on from the tingling sensation his soft, warm lips left on her over exposed skin.

“I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want you right now.” He lapped at her ear and nuzzled her neck.

She could do nothing but moan at the intense pleasure she experienced as he massaged her legs. She felt him reach down to remove the stilettos she still wore and then he settled between her legs. “I want you, too.”

Leering into her eyes, Gates pushed himself into her soft center, eliciting a low unrestrained moan from her.

Holding onto him for dear life, she dug her fingers into his broad shoulders as he continued to rock into her. She could feel every nerve ending in her body come alive as if switched on like a light. He was so gentle with her and she felt giddy from the feel of his soft lips on her neck. He continued his slow rhythmic motion and she begged for mercy feeling she wouldn’t be able to take much more of his erotic torture. The smoldering heat produced between the two had become a full-fledged fire and she could feel her body shake underneath his as she reached her release. He soon followed suit.

“You okay?” Desperately trying to steady his breathing, he rolled over and pulled her into his arms, pushing her sweat-laced hair away from her face and kissed her forehead.

“I’m perfect.” She nuzzled into the crook of his arm, closing her eyes.

“Perfect. You definitely are.” Pulling her closer, they fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. The following morning, Sloane awoke still snuggled into Gates’ side. Her cheek rested on his smooth chest below his chin. She lazily ran her fingers across his skin as she thought of how wonderful it would be to possibly wake up every morning like this. After a few minutes, she lifted her head to meet his smoldering stare.

“Good morning, gorgeous.” Gates said, placing a kiss on her forehead.

“Mmm, good morning.” She continued to splay her fingers across his broad torso and admired the way her skin looked against his. “Can we stay like this forever?”

Laughing, he traced her jaw line with his finger. “Maybe not forever, but I think we can for at least a day.”

“You mean it? You don’t have anywhere to go today?”

“That’s the beauty of being me. I can cancel or move meetings around my schedule rather than other people’s schedules. Plus, I had already designated today as ‘our day’, so we can spend all our time right here in this bed if that’s what you want to do.”

“That, Mr. McCall, sounds like a wickedly wonderful idea.” She laughed when his roaming hands discovered her ticklish sides. His tickle attack soon initiated the need for both of them to give in to indulging in round two of the previous night’s activities.

“I guess Liyah is right, baby.” Sloane pulled Brayden into her lap and kissed the top of his head. “I am afraid. But you do need to know your daddy. And he needs to know you.” Managing to place the photos back in the box and maneuver the top from Brayden’s plump little hands, she pushed it underneath the bed. Shaking her head, she got up, picked up Brayden and grabbed her car keys, the baby bag and Brayden’s stroller deciding they both needed some fresh air and to figure out what their future held.

###

“Hey, could I talk to you?” Even after she and Brayden had finished their walk, Sloane still couldn’t shake the things Liyah said to her. She’d thought of nothing else the rest of the weekend and now she found herself searching out her best friend for advice.

“Sure.” Liyah replied, continuing to look at her computer screen. She finished typing the last sentence of her email before turning to look at Sloane who was now seated across from her. “What’s up?”

“As much as it pains me to say this, maybe you weren’t so off with what you said the other day. I don’t want to fight with you about this, nor do I want us to keep going back and forth about it. But, maybe I do still have feelings for Gates.” She mumbled, picking at the fabric on the arm of the chair.

“Um hmm, so you’re admitting I was right?”

“Stop it, okay? It’s hard enough for me to admit I have a problem.” Sloane looked at Liyah’s wily grin and laughed.

“Sloane, look, it’s not that I want to be right. It would be so much easier for you not to be in love with Gates and to go on raising Brayden alone. But I gotta call a spade a spade. Gates McCall is it for you. He always has been and he always will be.”

“I didn’t say all of that, Liyah.” Sloane propped her elbow on the arm of the chair and dropped her head into her hand.

“You didn’t, but I did. You don’t want to admit I know what I’m talking about, but hey, you’ll come around. You’ll see Gates has better intentions than you think and he’ll be that knight in shining armor you want him to be.”

“I don’t need a knight in shining armor.”

“Puhlease, you need someone to save you from yourself and Lord knows I can’t always do it,” Liyah laughed along with her friend.

“Seriously though, Liyah, what do I do? I can’t keep denying I don’t care about Gates. I do care. I just don’t know what to do.” She knew she’d been pushing her feelings for him down and they’d never really gone away.

“I know I kid around a lot with you about this and I’ve given you a hard time, but I truly do think you should tell him about Brayden. It’s only fair.”

“Why does this have to be so hard?” Sloane sank down in the chair and threw her head back to stare at the ceiling. She wanted to tell him, but she was too chicken to see what his reaction was going to be. Would her heart be able to stand his reaction?

“It wouldn’t be worth it if it was easy.”

“At least I have a little time to think about this.”

Sloane and Liyah continued to work on the hospital project and slowly things seemed to get back to normal. She hadn’t heard from Gates at all. At first she was a little disappointed, but then quickly realized there was no sense in being disappointed since it was what she wanted. At least, it’s what she thought she wanted.

“Sloane?” Isabella called from behind her as she walked through the hallway of the Foundation. “I’m so glad I caught you before you left today. Can I see you in my office?”

“Sure, Isabella, is everything okay?” Sloane followed her boss into the expansive office and smiled at the pictures of Mariana, the inspiration for the Foundation and the hospital, littering the walls.

“Oh, yes, things are fine. I wanted to touch base with you and let you know how much we appreciate all of your work on this project. It’s been a dream come true for us and you and Aliyah have done an excellent job.”

“Thank you. Mari was a special little girl.”

“Yes. Mija was my life.” Sloane watched as a flash of pain crossed Isabella’s usually bright smiling face and couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose her own child. Brayden was the world to her and losing him was something she couldn’t fathom. “That’s the reason I called you in here. We’ve gotten such a great response from this and it’s been extraordinary for this project to be tied to someone like Gates McCall.”

“Oh? That’s great news.” Sloane wondered where all of this was going and she wondered if somehow Isabella and Antony had found out exactly how well she knew Gates.

“Yes. It’s amazing the amount of people who’ve donated or want to give to our cause and see the hospital built. I’m so thankful for all of it and that brings me to my favor that I need to ask of you.” It was no secret that once it was publicized McCall International would move forward with their project, the Foundation had received an enormous amount of publicity and an abundant amount of donations.

“A favor? From me?”

“Yes. You see, Antony and I have been invited to attend a gala in Buenos Aires honoring his uncle. It’s on the same weekend we were to go to New York to accept an award for our work with the Foundation.” Isabella reached over and handed Sloane the gold embossed invitation. Sloane could feel her heart beating a mile a minute as she looked over the invitation and the itinerary that was tucked inside. “And of course, we can’t attend both. I want you to go to New York and accept the award on our behalf.” Sloane looked at Isabella in sheer disbelief.

“Me? Are you sure?”

“Yes, of course. Why not you?” Isabella laughed at Sloane’s reaction.

“Well, I…I’m a little shocked. I didn’t expect this.” Sloane turned the invitation over in her hands and rubbed the raised lettering.

“Sloane, you’ve worked very hard, and not just on this project, but on everything we’ve asked you to do. Your dedication to this Foundation and to Mari’s memory means so much to us. Antony and I would be so happy to have you represent us there. So, you will do it?”

“I-”

“Of course, I know you’ll have to find someone to keep Brayden for you, but that shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“Ah, no, of course not. I can do this for you. It would be an honor.”

“Great. I’ll let them know you will be accepting on our behalf and I’ll have Christina get the flight and hotel arrangements taken care of for you. Thank you so very much.” Isabella stood and walked around the desk to stand in front of Sloane.

“Thank you for the opportunity.” Sloane stood from her chair to accept Isabella’s hug and walked out of the office.

###

“I feel like I’m forgetting something.” Sloane looked at her carry-on bag on the bed and paced back and forth. She was leaving in a matter of hours for New York and it was all going a little too fast for her. Her stomach had been tied in knots for the past week getting ready for the big event and she was very nervous about accepting the award.

“What could you possibly be forgetting?” Liyah sat in the middle of the bed with Brayden in her lap. He was happily chewing on one of his wooden blocks and trying out the new tooth that had pushed out of his bottom gum. “You’ve packed everything but the kitchen sink.”

“I still feel like I’m missing something.” Walking into the bathroom, she looked around for anything she may have missed before walking out and sitting on the edge of the bed. She smiled as Brayden looked up and gurgled.

“I think you’re full of nervous energy,” Liyah interjected, watching the little boy lose interest in the block and crawl to his mother, pulling himself up on her arm before she picked him up and placed him in her lap. “It’s going to be fine. You have everything, and you’re only going to be gone for a few days. No biggie.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve been in New York. I can only imagine who’ll be there.” Sloane cringed, thinking of heading into the lion’s den of socialites she was surrounded by when she’d been a part of Gates’ world.

“Look, you’re only there to accept the award and look pretty. Flirt a little with ‘the money’ in the room and see if you can’t pull in donations. Think of how well that would go over if you got some big donations for the Foundation while you’re there. Isabella and Antony would love you for life.” Sloane nodded, watching Liyah playing peek-a-boo with Brayden. He had decided the block was more interesting than his mom and left her lap to crawl to Liyah to retrieve it.