Continental Divide (20 page)

Tanya was in no mood for whoever was playing
games. She had a pounding headache and she was frustrated as hell.
Her entire week had been lousy, too many kids to place, not enough
hours in the day to do it. She was heading for burnout fast and
this time it was for real.

“Where are you?” Tanya screamed when she
reached the lobby and no one was there. She heard a soft knock on
the outer door and turned with her finger on the nozzle ready to
let loose with a stream of pepper spray. She wasn’t kidding. She
saw Imran’s face and thought she was dreaming. It couldn’t be. The
spray fell from her hand crashing to the floor and her hand came up
to cover her mouth.

“Imran,” she said when he opened the door
cautiously and came inside. “What are you doing here? When did you
get here? How did you know where I lived?” she asked.

He stood before her not speaking. Tears
sprang to her eyes and ran down her cheeks and she threw her arms
around him. “Damn, am I glad to see you. I’ve missed you so much.”
She stood on tiptoe to kiss him wondering why he was not
immediately kissing her back. “Imran, even if you’re going to be
mad at me, please, just kiss me once.”

With those words Imran gave up fronting it.
He’d not traveled all the way from Pakistan to not hold Tanya in
his arms.
Praise Allah
, he thought as he took her in his
arms and kissed her thoroughly. His prayer had been answered. The
element of surprise had worked in his favor.

When they came up for air Imran ran a finger
lightly down the side of her face and sang to her as she closed her
eyes and pressed her face to his chest. “I love you, Tanya,” he
whispered when he was finished with the song.

“I love you too,” Tanya said against his
chest not wanting to keep the words in any longer. “What are you
doing here?” she asked again.

“You needed me,” he explained. “You needed
me and didn’t tell me. I had to hear about it from someone else. I
should have head about this from you. Regardless of what you said,
I always knew in my heart that if I need you, I would call you and
you would be there for me, that you would come. I thought you knew
that you could call me also.”

“I did, Imran, I did.”

“Then why didn’t you call me?”

“I wanted to. God, how I wanted to. How
could I call you after the things I said to you?”

“It matters not the things we say. It
matters what we do, how we feels. I will always be there for you
and you must never forget that.”

“Imran, you came just for me, for no one
else, no family wedding, nothing?”

“Nothing but you,” he answered following her
up the stairs. “Why do you ask?”

“Because when Hamid returned to surprise
Heaven, it was because of Sassa’s wedding. I just want to make sure
you came just for me.”

“I came just for you. I promise,” he said
smiling. “Does that mean more to you?”

“Yes, you have no idea how much it means to
me. Here I was thinking that Hamid was the perfect man, that Heaven
had snared the last true gentlemen and that only she could have
someone that loved her so much. But…” She gazed into his eyes. “I
have you. I have my own sweet prince and you love me just as much
as Hamid loved Heaven.”

“If possible I love you more.” Imran ran up
the last couple of steps. “I can’t believe we had to go through all
of this to make you admit to loving me, to not throwing me out, but
being glad I came. You are glad aren’t you, Tanya? You’re not going
to throw me out are you?”

“Please, Imran, the last thing on my mind is
throwing you out. You have no idea how much I missed you.” Stopping
in her tracks she looked at him and touched her hands to his long
curly locks. "It's a nice look."

"Glad you approve."

Tanya shivered as she rushed into her
apartment then slammed the door, pressed Imran against the wall and
kissed him while sliding one hand between his thighs to cup him. “I
have really been missing you,” she admitted.

Imran grinned. “Is that the only reason
you’ve missed me?”

“No, but it’s a big part. What did you do to
me? I haven’t even looked at another man since I returned
home.”

“I bound us together when we made love.”

“Come again?”

“Old secrets of love making. I bound us to
each other. Do you mind?”

“Not in the least, not as long as you
promise to do it again.”

“There is one spot I didn’t make love to.
When I bring you pleasure in that manner you will never again be
able to love another man, even if you hate me.” He grinned. “Are
you ready for me to show you?” He was hoping she’d say yes. She was
burning him up with her tantalizing scent.

“Show me,” Tanya panted.

With a wide smile Imran pulled the lobe of
Tanya’s left ear into his mouth and begin to suckle it. When moan
after moan slipped from her mouth he ceased his actions and looked
at her sternly.

“Six months. Six, long, agonizing months. I
can’t believe you’d let it go this long that you wouldn’t call,
wouldn’t write to me.”

“Can’t we do this later? Finish, Imran,
you’ve got me so hot I could explode. It’s been six months since
I’ve had release.”

“It’s been that long for me as well.” He
kissed her lightly on the lips. “Explain how you could let this
much time pass then I will bring you pleasure. I’d never attempted
a bond before. I never wanted to. But I had thought by doing so you
would not have been able to leave me. You not only left me, you
didn’t reach out for me even when you should have. I want to know
how this is possible.”

“I guess you need to learn a little bit more
about how that bonding thing works, or perhaps you need to learn a
little bit more about me. I’m a very strong woman, Imran.”

“Strong enough to resist this?” he said and
suckled her earlobe. When he felt a shudder of lust claiming her,
he gazed at her just as her eyes rolled to the back of her head.
“Now tell me why you didn’t contact me. How you could be so
cruel?”

Tanya rubbed her hand over Imran's fast
growing erection. “But I thought about you every single minute of
those six months.”

“Then why didn’t you contact me?”

“You didn’t contact me either.”

“I wasn’t the one who left.”

He was right and Tanya knew it. She wrapped
her arms around him. “Imran,” she began to sniffle not wanting to
cry. “My life is such a mess. It has been almost since I returned
home. Everything has gone wrong. How could I bring you into this
nonsense? My dreams are dead. All of my money is gone. I lost it
all I was such a fool.”

Finally taking a glance around Tanya’s
apartment he took her hand and moved with her to a sofa, sat and
pulled Tanya into his arms. “Tell me what happened.”

“You’re going to think I was stupid.”

“Well, I already think you were not the
brightest for leaving me.” He kissed her forehead before she could
become angry over his remark. “Tell me what happened, Tanya.” Of
course he knew the story but he wanted to hear it from her. He
listened quietly and when she was done he stared into her eyes.
“Why does this destroy your dreams?”

“I don’t have any more money. Don’t you
understand?”

“I understand that you want to give a loving
home to children. And that you want to give them two parents who
will do the best they can for them and love them always. Let’s
start with us.”

“What are you saying?” Tanya whispered. “You
want us to adopt a child together?”

“That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but
maybe later, yes. I want you to marry me and have babies with
me.”

“But what about the babies that are already
here, the ones no one wants?”

“They’re wanted, Tanya, you want them.”

“Then how?”

“Shh-shh,” Imran whispered softly putting
his finger against her lips. “Have you ever thought how a mountain
came to be? Someone once told me when I asked the question that a
mountain started out as one man’s dream, and that he took a pebble,
and every day he added to the pebble. And one day he had a
mountain, his dream was fulfilled. Marry me, Tanya and let’s start
your dream with our family, our babies. Then we can extend our
hearts and our home to others.”

“What the heck are we going to do for money?
How will we accomplish all of this?”

“If we have to we can work three jobs each.
It can be done. It will be done.”

“You don’t mind?”

“Not in the least, not as long as the two of
us are together.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a
jeweler’s box. He watched as Tanya’s eyes went wide and wider still
as he opened the box.

“The earrings, you bought me the earrings.”
Her tears ran freely down her cheeks and she hugged him tightly. So
he had known the reason she refused to accept the earrings from
either Ali or Hamid. She hadn’t wanted any gifts from any man other
than Imran. She looked into his eyes and saw his love. Then she
thanked God that she hadn’t blown things. She never wanted to let
him go, never.

“Is that a yes?” Imran asked.

“It’s a definite yes.”

“And you care nothing about the money, that
I don’t have any?”

“Neither do I,” Tanya tried to smile. “Like
you said we can build together.”

“If you were given your money back at his
moment would your answer still be yes?”

Tanya smiled and looked at him and smiled
knowing she’d meant it. Her broken dreams weren’t nearly so hard to
bear when she had him there beside her, ready to share in the
rebuilding of it. “I love you, Imran. I can think of no better
dream than to be your wife.”

“Then show me to your shower so I can love
you properly,” he said standing and pulling her up. He grinned when
he pulled her lobe into his mouth for the third time. He had plenty
of time to tell her that he’d finally sold not one, but two books,
that he’d sold them for an unprecedented figure, and had finished
the third which his agent was in the process of auctioning. They
would have more than enough to finance their dreams. As her hand
found his erection and began caressing him he shuddered. There
would be plenty of time for talk late.

Author’s Information:

Dyanne Davis is an award winning author. She
lives in a Chicago suburb with her husband Bill, and their son Bill
Jr. An avid reader her love of the written word turned into a
desire to write. She retired from nursing more than a decade ago to
pursue her lifelong dream.

Dyanne has been a presenter of numerous
workshops. She has a local cable show, The Art of Writing in her
hometown to give writing tips to aspiring writers.

When not writing you can find her with a
book in her hands, her greatest passion next to spending time with
her husband Bill and son Bill Jr. Whenever possible she loves
getting together with friends and family

A member of Romance writers of American she
served in many capacities for her local chapter, Windy City,
including two terms as president.

Dyanne Davis loves to hear from her readers.
You can reach her at
[email protected]