Her Man: An Interracial Romance (The Bentini Brothers Book 2) (3 page)

     “Kathy.  Listen to me—”

     “What are you going to tell me that you
haven’t already said before?  You want me to switch roles from gullible,
invisible girlfriend to stupid, invisible mistress!  I’m not going to do it
William!  I deserve better than that!  And if you can’t give me what I
need…what I deserve… then don’t you dare stand in the way of the man who
will!”  With those parting words, Kathy storms out of William Bentini’s office
before he can stop her.

***

     I love have my office right next door to
Kathy, it’s very reassuring knowing that she’s so close if I need her.  After giving
two quick wraps on her door and hearing her faint “enter”, I do so with a smile
and take a seat in my favorite chair in front of her desk.  Getting my first
look at her face, it’s clear to see that something is wrong.  I bet William
Bentini is involved somehow –the way that he practically manhandled her earlier
in the corridor, it wasn’t hard to predict that their conversation probably
wasn’t going to end happily.  Leaning forward on the edge of my chair, I ask, “Kathy,
what’s the matter?”

     She shrugs likes it’s no big deal.  “The usual. 
William…”  Her voice chokes and she drops her eyes to her desk.  “Come on girl,
to hell with it.  Let’s leave work early and go have a drink.  We have our
cells in case we’re needed.”  Kathy thinks about it for all of one second
before readily agreeing.

***

     “Where the hell have you been?  It’s damn near
one in the morning.” 

     “Antonio!  What are you doing here?”

     “You haven’t answered my question.  I’ve been
sitting here for hours waiting for you to get home, where the hell have you
been?”

     “At Kathy’s.  We had a couple of drinks and I
ended up crashing on her sofa.”  His eyes immediately darts to my stomach, just
before he asks, “Are you sure you should be drinking?”  I know exactly what
he’s thinking.  “Yes, there is absolutely no reason for me
not
to have a
drink or two.”  A look of disappointment crosses his set features before he
takes my elbow.  “Let’s continue this conversation inside please.”  Without
saying another word, we walk to my apartment where Antonio takes the keys out
of my hands and unlocks the door, ushering me inside.  Neither of us say a word
until he turns from securing the door and steps into my living room.  Walking
over, he takes a seat on the sofa next to me, and my body immediately warms
from the heat radiating from his big body.  This time when he speaks, his voice
is low, calm.  “It’s been over a week and you haven’t called.  You’ve been
avoiding me.  Should I assume that we are no longer seeing each other?”  His
elbows are resting on his thighs, hands dangling between his open legs. 
Instead of looking at me, his head is kind of bowed and he’s addressing his
question to the floor.  I’ve never seen him act like this before.

     “Yes, I have been avoiding you.”  I admit. 
Then leaning into his side, I hug his bulging biceps to my breast as I trail my
fingers down to his hand.  Holding one of his big hands in both of mine, I go
on.  “But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t missed you Antonio.”  He raises his
head and looks at me intently.  “Then why haven’t you called?”

     “I don’t know…I started to at least a hundred
times.  But then, I would think that maybe it’s better if we don’t see each
other—”

     “How the hell can you think that”, he practically
snarls just before he bends his head and takes my lips in a hungry passionate
kiss.  I break the sensual contact, “Antonio, you’re so sure of what you want,
that you make it all seem so simple.  While I on the other hand, I’m busy
trying to keep up and sort out my emotions… I have to work hard at pushing back
against my fears.”

     “If you believed in me, believed in us, those
fears would be nothing.  I love you.  Why can’t you believe in that?”

     Although we haven’t really discussed our past
relationships, I need for him to understand why I feel the way I do.  “Probably
because the last time I believed those words, the man that said them left me
for another woman, even though we were married and he was supposed to be
committed to me.”  I pause to wipe at a lone tear and notice that Antonio’s
jaws are clenched tight as he’s working to control
his
emotions. 

     “Do you still love him?”

     “No.  Absolutely not.”  I say without
hesitation and with complete honesty.

     “Then why this?”  He says as his thumb gently
wipes away another tear.  “Believe me it’s not for him…I stopped shedding tears
over him a long time ago.”

     “Then why Tiressa?”

     “Because I remember how devastated I was.  His
betrayal hurt me in ways I can’t explain… I don’t want to ever experience that
kind of pain again.”  Jaws still clenched, he asks, “And you think I will do
that to you?”

     “I trusted him and he almost destroyed me.”

     “That’s not an answer.”  Holding his
penetrating stare, I answer truthfully.  “I don’t know.”

     “Well, I guess I asked for that.”  Caressing
the side of his face, I try to make him understand.  “Antonio, you want it all
and you want it right now.  Beyond wanting you, I’m not sure of a lot of
things.  But I do know that I’m not ready for a baby.  And even though you’ve
given me all that money, I want to keep my job…at least for now.  I need for
our relationship to remain between us—”

     “Hell No!  Do you really think I’m going to continue
sneaking around, dating you in secret?!  What the hell, Tiressa?”

     I stand up from the sofa and take a few steps
away. “Antonio—”

     “No, Tiressa.  You’re my lady.  And I’m proud
to be with you.”  He moves so fast that I don’t have time to jump out of his
reach.  Leaping up off the sofa, Antonio gently takes me down to the carpet in
some fancy wrestling move he must have practiced a gazillion times, it was
executed so smoothly.  Catching my breath, I admonish him.  “Damnit Anto— ”  I
get no further before he takes my mouth in a dominating clash of tongues and
teeth and lips.  Now that we are both quietly panting, he admits, “I love when
you get feisty.  I want to take you to bed.”  There’s no mistaking that, not
with how hard the bulge of his shaft is nudging into me.  “I’m going to strip
our clothes off and sink into you.”  He growls deep in his throat as he begins
to unbutton my blouse.

     “No Antonio, wait.  I wasn’t completely honest
with you when I said I didn’t know why I hadn’t called you.”  When I see his irritation,
I rush to continue.  “Since you refuse to wear a condom, I’m going on the pill. 
One of the reasons I hadn’t called is because I need time for my birth control medication
to take effect.  It could throw things off if I have unprotected sex right now.” 
He stares quietly into my eyes for a long intense minute.  “I’m sorry Baby, I
don’t agree with that.  I want to give you time, I really do, but I don’t think
I can.  I love you, I want to be with you.”  He says as he leans over,
capturing my lips in a brief passionate kiss before rolling to his feet and
helping me up off the floor.  Looking up at him, I know that I should be upset
with his stubbornness, his single-mindedness, but I’m not because he loves me, and
I’m so turned on by that.  But as much as I want him—and I
do
want him—now
that I know he has no qualms about getting me pregnant, I will have to resist
his seductive animal magnetism.  At least until I’m safely on the pill…which
isn’t going to be easy since my body is yearning for the feel of his.

     “So, does this mean that we can’t make love
tonight?”

     I don’t have the nerve to tell him about the
morning after pill that I took, and how there were longer-lasting side effects,
other than the nausea and headache, that has made it impossible for me to start
my birth control pills right now. 
Damn
, we just made up and I don’t want
to fight anymore.  I’m going to have to put him off until I can start taking my
birth control pills. 

     “No, Tony, we can’t.”

     “Then when?”  He asks kissing the side of my
neck.

     “About two weeks.”  I answer with a wince.

     “Damn!”  He says as he releases me.  “I can’t
stay here and not make love to you.  I’m going home, straight to a cold shower…
maybe that will cure this raging hard on.”  He says with a frustrated scowl.  Holding
his hand, I walk with him to the door.  “Good night, Tony.”  Our lips meet in a
gentle kiss.  “Good night Baby.”  Not until I’m in my lonely bed do I realize
that I didn’t get Antonio to agree to keeping our relationship a secret.  In
fact, I don’t think he changed his mind about anything.

Chapter 16

     Kathy and I are meeting with Mrs. Bentini today
in her office at B&S.  I smile my usual greeting at Terrance as I clear reception
security and head to the elevators in the lobby on the first floor. 

     “Good morning pretty lady.” 
Allen

     I almost lose my balance as I spin around in
complete surprise.  “Allen.”  I breath, unable to do anything more.  “When did
you get back?”

     “Yesterday.  You’ll never know how hard it was
not to call you.” 

     Allen moves as if to embrace me, but I take a quick
step back.  “Allen, we need to talk- ”

     “Good.  Because I want to show you proof that
I’m no longer married and—”

     Seeing that people in the lobby are paying
attention to us, I try to stop him from talking.  “Allen, we need to talk, but
not here…not at work.”

     “Okay, then when can I see you?  Tonight?”  He
asks hopefully.

     “I don’t know Allen, I’m really busy with
these projects that Mrs. Bentini has me working on—”  Cutting me off with
obvious frustration, Allen demands.  “Then when, Tiressa?”

     “Give me time to check my agenda to see what I’m
doing today.  I’ll call you and maybe we can meet for lunch.”  Although he
clearly is not pleased to be put off, he reluctantly agrees to wait for my
call.  As the elevator doors close, I release a pent up breath I wasn’t even
aware I had been holding.

***

     “So, give me a run down on what has already
been taken care of and what remains to be done.”  Mrs. Bentini sits at her desk
waiting impatiently for me to give her an update as Kathy and Michael Elliot, the
party planner, take a seat at the small conference table in the corner of her
large office.  Mr. Elliot looks at me as if it’s my fault that Mrs. Bentini doesn’t
ask him to give the update.  “Yes mam.  The venue, guest list, invitations, decorations,
food and beverages, have all been decided on and taken care of.  What remains
to be done are the music selection, party favors, and entertainment.  I’m sure
you have your own ideas, but we’ll also need to meet with Adam and Jason to
find out what their preferences are.”  I reply, quickly scanning my notes.  Looking
up, I catch Kathy’s smiling wink as she covertly nods her head toward the event
planner.  Slanting him a look, I almost burst out laughing at his resentful
expression…he is so full of himself.  It takes a few minutes, but he eventually
loosens up and the meeting goes smoothly, with everyone contributing ideas and
opinions.

     “The party is coming up very soon.  I want to
go over the additional staff that will be either provided by B&S or hired
from outside by you, Mr. Elliot.  Tiressa, meet with Antonio, to see what he
has planned in regards to security for the event.  Note to all, I want us to
meet to discuss the progress of the party at least twice more before the day of
the event.  Girls, Mr. Elliot, I expect everything to go off without so much as
a wrinkle.  This is important to my sons; therefore it is important to me.” 
She gives us her
‘Don’t screw this up look’
.  But she’s too much of a
lady to ever
say
such words.  And really, it’s not necessary, because
that look generally says it for her.  Although Michael Elliot appears offended
at the mere suggestion that anything he’s involved with could possibly
not
be great, Kathy looks at Mrs. Bentini with confidence and assures her that we
will make this party everything that Jason and Adam could wish for.  I guess
Kathy and Mr. Elliot can afford to brim with self-confidence.  Although he’s a
complete snob, he’s a professional and has worked with the Bentini’s before.  I’m
not anywhere near as confident.  This is the first time that I have had such a
large role in helping plan and launch one of Mrs. Bentini’s events.  It’s
imperative that
we
do an excellent job. 

     “Kathy, I’m so glad that you know what you’re
doing because I sure as hell wouldn’t be able to manage all the moving pieces
on my own.  You have all the experience and I’m thankful for it.”

     “Thanks.  I know exactly how you feel.  Don’t
forget somebody had to teach me.  But I’ll tell you this…whenever you need to
know anything about event planning, go to Ms. McDonald.  She’s the expert of
all experts and she’s always willing to share what she knows.  I couldn’t have
survived this long without her help.” 

     After the meeting, Kathy and I go our separate
ways.  She has errands to run and I plan on working in my office.