Ms. Perfectly Imperfect: BBW BWWM Interracial Romance (9 page)

It would all come to an end.

Or at least, that was what he hoped for.

Chapter Nine

Breathe and trust that you can survive this too. Trust that this struggle is part of the process. And trust that as long as you don’t give up and keep pushing forward, no matter how hopeless things seem, you will make it.
~Daniell Keopke

A few weeks later, Layla and Clint sat on the same bench where they’d enjoyed the divine waffles. It was a good day. The breeze grew stronger as it whipped around their bodies, and the waffles were hot and tasty.

“I can’t believe this nightmare is finally over.”

“Which nightmare are you referring to?” he asked.

Layla couldn’t help the grin that lifted her lips. He was right, of course. Over the past days, they went to hell and came back. She had to deal with the implications of firing her manager, pressing charges against him, and hiring a new one. Much to her surprise, the modeling industry came to her full support. She was hailed by many as the hero. The bald bombshell with smarts. They liked that she took a stand for what she believed in and didn’t dismiss his attempt as many might have done.

“Bryan is neck deep in trouble. The case is moving at a fast track, and I think that he’ll go to jail, but the good news is that my new manager is very supportive and has already landed me a new deal—but…” She bit a piece of her waffle, knowing that Clint was waiting for her to finish the statement. “I turned him down.” She giggled when she saw how his eyes widened. “I’ve decided to go ahead with my soap manufacturing dream.”

“Woo-hoo!” He couldn’t seem to contain his excitement. “That’s great.”

“I’ve actually signed on with another company that’s already making soap. They’ll launch a new brand in my name. I’ll be the face of it as well as the Creative Head. We’ll own it together and I’ll get forty percent of the profits.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, and it’s all thanks to you.”

He took a bite of his waffle and sighed with contentment. “Me? What role did I play in the life of this great creative genius?”

“When I saw you working so hard to overcome the obstacles that stood in your way and then win against all odds, I realized that the only way we can achieve something that’s important is to give it our best.” Layla took another bite. “And in order to do so, we have to start somewhere. She sighed. “I was actually talking about your quest to get to the bottom of this mystery. I’m sorry that you lost four of your patients because of Warner’s negligence.”

The pain that swirled in his eyes wasn’t new.

She knew that he would beat himself about the fact that he didn’t latch on to the truth before the kids died. It wasn’t his fault, but he was the one who was going to suffer.

“He has been fired and is facing serious charges regarding gross negligence, but it’s not going to bring those kids back. Mark assured me that they’ve decided to take swift action. From a PR point of view, it looks good that they caught the person on their own and removed him before he could do more damage.”

Layla frowned. “They didn’t catch him.
You
did.”

“Well, that’s not the story that’s going to the media.” He shrugged his shoulders. “But who cares? It’s not going to change anything.”

She held his hand and squeezed it. “You did the best you could, Clint. Don’t beat yourself about it.”

He stood and tugged her hand. “Let’s go and celebrate our victories at my place.”

Layla’s gaze was drawn towards the tall, distinguished man who was striding towards her. “Gage? What are you doing here?”

He took in her appearance. With the new wig, Layla looked the same as she did before. “I was walking past when I saw you.”

All of a sudden, Layla felt overheated. “Um…” She turned to Clint. “Clint, this is Gage Shelton, my ex-fiancé.”

“Ex?” Gage snorted. “Now that you’ve found a new guy, I’ve become your ex?”

“What are you talking about? You were the one who dumped me.” She felt astounded at his audacity. What the hell was he playing at? “Are you suffering from amnesia?”

“Whatever, darling. I passed by your apartment and didn’t find you.” Gage cocked his head to the side. “Guess you’re too busy to talk, huh. Models? My mother was right.” His lips curled. “I shouldn’t have trusted you. Never mind.” He shook his head in what seemed like disgust. “See you around…or perhaps never.”

Layla’s mouth hung open as she watched Gage walk away. Had he lost his mind? Why did he say such terrible things? She turned towards Clint and saw the speculative gleam in his eyes. Suddenly, Gage’s rant made perfect sense. He intended to create trouble between her and Clint. Did he stumble on the idea when he saw them together or did he actually find her to make Clint think she was two timing? “He’s lying.”

Clint rubbed his jaw as he stared at her. “He said he didn’t break up with you.”

“He’s talking nonsense. We broke up because he didn’t want to be with me. It was his decision, and to be honest, I was happy with it.”

“Did you break up with him after you met me?”

“That’s not true.”

Clint didn’t look convinced.

She couldn’t believe that he would fall for such an obvious ploy by the man who was deliberately doing this to make mischief.

“I just remembered that I’ve got some loose ends to tie up at work.” He strolled off before she could say anything.

Damn it! Layla couldn’t believe that he would simply take whatever Gage said at face value. Didn’t he realize she wasn’t that kind of a person? She wasn’t the sort to play games and cheat on people. Rather than try to stop him, she took a cab and went home. If he didn’t believe her, then she didn’t want anything to do with him. She couldn’t possibly be with a man who didn’t trust her implicitly.

Back in her apartment, she felt depressed. Rather than wallow in the misery of her love life, she focused on her work. Opening her laptop, she began to work on her program for her soap business. She had to give details to the company with which she was now a partner. For several hours, she worked on the proposal and finally, satisfied with the work, she emailed it to them. Just as she finished sending it, her doorbell rang. Thinking it might be Clint, she opened the door. She glowered at the man who stood there. “Gage. What do you want?”

“Can we talk?”

“I don’t think there’s anything left to say.”

“Yes, there is.”

She didn’t like the determined look on his face. Layla considered slamming the door in his face but instead, she stepped aside to let him. “Okay. Come in.”

He walked inside, looked around as if he expected to see Clint, and then visibly relaxed. “I’m sorry about what happened today. When I saw you, I lost my head. You looked so beautiful.”

“And you wanted me back, huh?”

He cringed at the harsh tone of her voice. “We were together for two years, Layla. It’s not a short time.”

“And yet, you didn’t think about it when you dumped me because I was losing my hair.” She pulled off the wrap she’d draped elegantly around her head. Her head was as bald as a coot. She’d hated to see the patches of hair like a barren desert on her head, so she opted to just keep her hair completely shaven. In fact, having a bald head wasn’t low maintenance; it was no maintenance. She silently laughed at her wacky sense of humor over a situation that she’d once thought was the death knell of her career. “I’m still the same ugly girl, Gage. Are you sure you want this?”

He paled visibly. “I—we can get past this. What did the doctors say? I’m sure they can treat it.”

Walking over to the door, she opened it. “There’s nothing you can say that will ever convince me that I should get back with you. It’s over, and it’s going to stay that way.”

He looked torn between his desire to make amends and his need to run away. “But—”

Suddenly, a wave of laughter bubbled over to the surface. She guffawed so hard, her ribs hurt. Layla stole a glance at Gage, and the sight of his reddened face made her experience another fit of laughter that left her breathless.

Gage glared. “Are you insane?”

She sucked in her breath, trying to control the laughter, but failing miserably.

“What’s wrong with you? You’re totally…” Gage flexed his fingers; his eyes cold and hard.

Layla swallowed her laughter. “You know what, Gage?” She felt the sudden need to get this ass out of her apartment and out of her life for good. “Getting alopecia was the best thing that happened to me, because it helped me to see who you really are. And to be honest, I don’t like you…Not. One. Damn. Bit.” She opened the door even wider. She couldn’t wait to see the back of him. “Just go!” Layla didn’t even care if he wanted to get back with her, despite the obvious ‘disease’ she was suffering from. Whatever he said wouldn’t be enough to make up for the hurt he caused her.

Without another word, Gage marched out.

She closed the door and sighed with relief. The man was nuts. Why would she want to take him back? He dumped her once, and he could do so again. She wasn’t going to take that chance. Instead, she was going to live her life on her terms.

Layla went to bed. Images of Clint flashed through her mind. Would he still accuse her of cheating on Gage with him? Frankly, she was done with men who didn’t respect her enough. If he didn’t believe her, she wasn’t going to explain herself. No siree.

She didn’t want to lose Clint, but if he didn’t come around, she didn’t have another option.

Dammit! Who am I fooling? I don’t want to lose him.

~* * * *~

Layla had just wrapped the bath towel around her body after stepping out of the shower when she heard the doorbell ring. If it was Gage, she was going to call security. She was done with that man. He couldn’t keep barging into her life as if he owned it. Wrapping a towel around her head, she rushed to the bedroom and quickly donned a pair of cut-off jeans and a well-worn, white t-shirt. She jogged to the front door, amidst the impatient buzzing of the doorbell. Layla gasped, her heart racing.

Clint stood at the door, looking handsome as ever. “May I come in?”

Layla eyed the bouquet of white tulips he held in his hands and then him. “Sure.” She stepped back, giving him room to enter.

He walked in and handed the flowers at her. “Layla…” He cleared his throat. “It was stupid of me to doubt you. Of course that man was lying.”

She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes. “And what made you finally come to that conclusion?” She would be damned if she made things easy for him.

“You’ve been nothing but honest and forthright with me, and those things are what I love most about you.” He shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe how foolish he’d been to believe the worst of her. “I was jealous—insecure…”

“Gage came by yesterday. He wanted to get back with me.”

He pushed his hand through his hair. “What did you tell him?” Clint sucked in a deep breath and then expelled it with a gush.

“I told him…” Layla stared at Clint for several seconds. It seemed as if he dreaded the answer. She couldn’t bear to prolong their agony any longer. “I told him to get lost.” She waltzed over to Clint and draped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest. She still held the tulips in her hand.

Clint wrapped his muscular arms around her body. His firm, strong heartbeat was reassuring. She wished she could stay in his arms forever, but she needed to give him a response. Layla raised her head and gazed up at him. His dark gaze looked troubled.

“How can I get back with him when I’m with you?”

“Do you forgive me?”

Emotions, hot and strong, swirled in the depths of her heart. Forgive him? A man who could so readily accept his mistakes was number one in her world. “Of course, I do.”

A look of pure relief crossed his face. “I don’t have an excuse except that I’m plain crazy about you. I love you, Layla.”

She unwrapped her arms from around him and bent her head, inhaling the scent of the tulips. She headed over to the counter and placed the flowers in an empty vase, all the while glancing at Clint and hoping he could read all the love she felt for him reflecting in her own eyes. Then she sashayed back over to him and embraced him. “I love you more, Clint.”

His arms encircled her waist and his lips descended on hers.

His tongue twisted with hers and she felt happiness course through her veins. She’d been nothing but lucky to have him in her life. He was the right man for her, the only one—and she wasn’t stupid enough to let him go. Wrapping her arms around his neck, he deepened the kiss. He bent, and swooped her in his arms effortlessly. He then waltzed to her bedroom, with nary a protest from her.

She wanted this.

This was exactly how she imagined their love story would be. Perhaps there were a few hiccups in between but at last, they’d gotten to the right place. He lay her down on the bed. For a few moments, their gazes remained locked together.

Then he unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged it off.

Her mouth salivated at the sight of his gorgeous body…truly a delight to look at. Mimicking his movements, she slipped out of her t-shirt. After unclasping her bra, she tossed it aside. The gleam of appreciation that sparked in his eyes gave her the boost to go on. She wriggled out of her cut-offs and panties. Now, naked, she lay spread out before him. After a brief moment of hesitation, she also took off her wig.