Ready for Love (2 page)

She shook her head because she knew which one she would have changed and there was no way in hell she wanted to live in a world where she didn’t know what a kiss from Terrill felt like.

It was time to come clean.

She cleared her throat. “See, what had happened was—”

“Oh Lord! Here she come starting with some ol’ what had happened! That means she ’bout to drop ol’ okey-doke crap. Anytime they start with
see, what had happened,
you know you ’bout to hear some ol’ convoluted mess.” Carla shook her head, all the while stretching and getting into a comfortable spot to hear what she was deeming a mess.

“Carla, hush up and let the girl tell her story. Go ahead, Maritza. And make it plain.” Celia Hightower gave both Carla and Maritza a stern look.

With that admonishment from the matriarch of the Hightower clan, she decided beating around the bush and hemming and hawing weren’t going to work and she needed to just tell the truth.

“Okay, it started back when Big Mama passed away…”

“Now that’s what I call a shiner!
Da–mn!
Man, you got knocked out!”

Terrill Carter held the ice pack over his swollen black eye and glared at his best friend, Jason Hightower, with the other eye. On any other day he would be able to take Jason’s ribbing, but not today.

It was nice to have company in his normally empty—except for when he had a work-related event or party going on—place. His Bel Air mansion was more a sign of status, and an affirmation that he had made it, than anything else. It certainly didn’t become a home until it was filled with his friends and since his closest friends, the Hightowers, lived in the city where he was born and raised, Paterson, New Jersey, the mansion didn’t feel like a home very often.

“Yeah, man! They almost jacked you all the way up! Just imagine how much worse it could have been if we hadn’t been there to pull dude’s crew off of you. What in the world possessed you to crash the engagement party anyway?” Joel Hightower had his usual expression—on the verge of laughter—on his face as he leaned against the door in the entryway to Terrill’s state-of-the-art kitchen.

“That’s not the most important question. As usual, you guys are slow on the uptake,” Lawrence offered wryly as he twirled a toothpick in his mouth and studied Terrill.

Terrill could feel the third degree coming and he didn’t like it one bit. Not with a swollen eye and the knowledge that he had only put a temporary stall on the love of his life’s wedding plans. He had only managed to break up the engagement party. There was still a chance that Maritza might be marrying another man in six months or so. How was he supposed to cope with that?

“The most important question is—” Lawrence leaned forward and arched his left eyebrow and gave Terrill his most intense cop stare “—when exactly did you and Maritza become an item? And how long have the two of you been seeing each other? Because no man comes up into an engagement party the way you did without having a really good reason.”

“Word,” Jason agreed.

“Right!” Joel exclaimed.

“Co-sign,” Patrick offered with a halfway bored shrug.

Things had not turned out the way he expected them to, that was for damn sure. He was supposed to waltz up in there and claim the woman he loved and leave with her. He and Maritza were supposed to be making love right now instead of him nursing a black eye and explaining anything and everything to the Hightower brothers.

The Hightower brothers were all tall, in shape and handsome with mahogany complexions and killer smiles. Terrill loved these men like they were his own brothers. But damn if they knew when to just leave a brother alone and let him sulk in silence.

“Come on man, you might as well come clean now. You and Maritza have been doing that I-hate-you-but-I-might-really-love-you dance for years. And we saw the way she looked at you when you bum-rushed the spot—” Jason started.

“True,” Joel added. “Love was all in her face. I never would have believed it unless I had seen it with my own eyes.”

“Word. And the way ol’ girl screamed when Speed-Lo’s bodyguard punched you and knocked you the hell out! Man, you can’t tell me she didn’t give a damn what happened to you,” Patrick added.

“So you might as well come clean, man. How long have you and Maritza been kicking it and what do we need to do to help you get your woman back?” Lawrence had a cynical smirk on his face.

Terrill winced and figured he could also add can’t-leave-well-enough-alone to the Hightower brothers’ list of annoying habits. But at least they had his back.

He remembered how the Hightowers used to joke with him all the time that light-skinned brothers were out of style and they’d always get more ladies than him unless light skin made a comeback. He would joke right back that
he was
the comeback. Still, the Hightowers were all actually married to the women of their dreams now and he was trying to stop the woman of his dreams from marrying someone else.

Maybe if he talked to them and gained some perspective he could figure out a way to get his woman back. He needed to make that happen because without her, he knew he would never be happy.

Terrill sighed. “Fine, since you guys refuse to leave well enough alone, maybe you can be of some use to me after all. Maritza and I have been kicking it on and off for a while. Since Big Mama died, as a matter of fact, right when Jason and Penny got back together…”

“G
ood, glad you’re still here. I’m on my way to the airport. But I wanted to catch you before I left. That plan you have for Da Stunnas needs to be scrapped and you need to come up with something more feasible. The folks in A&R hate it.”

Maritza looked up to see her supposedly silent business partner, Terrill, doing what he seemed to do best,
talking.

She rolled her eyes and kept flipping through the latest magazines making sure that the clients she needed to set up various photo opportunities for made it into this month’s issues. It didn’t make sense to make sure your habitually drunk driving, heiress client spent every Saturday morning volunteering at a soup kitchen or ensuring that she used her driver
and
wore her underwear when she went out partying if the paparazzi didn’t get the good shots to counteract all that negative media.

She was also checking out the latest fashion styles and trends for when she went shopping for some of her other clients. New Images by Keys and Morales offered a variety of services to their clients. They could help you clean up your image, figure out how to spin a negative to a positive and keep you looking good to boot. Their chic offices were on the third floor of the office building Terrill owned downtown.

Maritza’s office was all white furniture with clean, straight lines. She liked to think her office represented her straight-no-chaser outlook on life. Plus, she needed a clean canvas for an office because she brought enough color and style to fill the space.

“So you’re doing your little ignore-Terrill-and-he’ll-go-away thing. That’s cute, Maritza. Unfortunately, I don’t have time for that. I have a plane to catch. I have to be there for Penny at Big Mama’s funeral. If I hurry, I can make it in time for the wake, at least part of it.”

For some reason, that really made her want to roll her eyes but she refrained.

She didn’t know what was worse—the fact that he was going to be there for their best friend and business partner, Penny Keys, and she wasn’t, or the fact that he was
always
coming to Penny’s rescue. It had to be the former because she could really care less about the latter.

Plus, that was just the way it was. Girls like Penny got rescued and girls like her got…

Well, we get what we get, don’t we…right?

So what if he had some sick need to be his best friend’s personal knight in shining armor?

So what if that same knight morphed into a nagging bridge troll where she was concerned?

Okay…a really cute, honey-toned-hazel-eyed-built-like-one-of-God’s-warrior-angels nagging bridge troll, to be fair, but an old mean and nasty bridge troll nonetheless…

He was fine, though…

He had looks that could best be described as Michael Ealy’s face on Boris Kodjoe’s body. And he knew exactly how to work those looks to entice even a sane woman like her to think about doing something crazy—like making a play for him when she knew it would never, ever,
ever
work out between them.

He was Mr. Do Everything Right Can Do No Wrong, and the world loved him. She was Ms. Do What She Likes or What Feels Right, and she didn’t care what the world thought. In short, they weren’t meant to be. It was a good thing she’d had sense enough to figure that out the first time she set eyes on him and had managed to keep a nice healthy distance from her desire.

But times like these with him all in her personal space…

She had to keep her wall up and abrasiveness worked best in that regard.

“By all means hurry then, Terrill. You really didn’t have to come here, you know. You could have called. You could have sent an email. Hell, I don’t know, you could have minded your business and let me do my job.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “Any number of things…” She kept her game face smile locked in place, but all the while she was shooting laser daggers at him with her eyes.

“Listen, I know you think I’m overstepping my boundaries and maybe I am. But I am a silent partner here. And Da Stunnas is one of our biggest new clients at my record label.” He stopped midsentence and ran his hand across the deep waves in his Caesar haircut. “I didn’t send them to you all because that would have been a conflict of interest.
But
now that they are working with you guys of their own accord, I need to be sure that the label’s interests aren’t jeopardized.” He sighed again as if he was just entirely too irritated for words.

“
You
are going to turn the biggest hardcore rap-rock group ever into a bunch of punks in the public eye and we won’t be able to market them the way we had planned.”

Maritza hissed. Before she knew it she was out of her desk and in Terrill’s face.

“Those fools destroyed a stage and almost burned down a club full of their fans! Tell me you can give away their album now? Isn’t that the reason they came seeking help with their image in the first place? Aren’t your A&R people fit to be tied? Hasn’t the album been pushed back several times now?
El stupido!
” She turned and walked away. There was no talking to him. She would just have to let Penny handle him because if she had to keep talking to him she was going to punch him or worse.

“Who are you calling stupid, girl?” His strong hand pulled her back to him with a quickness she wasn’t expecting and she stumbled right into his arms.

When she looked into his eyes, his very beautiful hazel eyes, she didn’t like what she saw there. Gone was the know-it-all-jerk who barged his way into her office like he owned the place.

Well, technically he did own the place, New Images by Keys and Morales leased from one of the office buildings he owned. And he had put up the major capital for them to get started. But that didn’t mean he had the right to make himself a nuisance.

And now something else, something sexy and dangerous, was simmering in his eyes and she couldn’t look away.

“Let go of me, Terrill!”

He pulled her closer and let one hand trace her face. “Promise me you’ll at least think of some different ideas for Da Stunnas.”

“No. My ideas are great. Now let me go!”

He had the nerve to chuckle and it had the nerve to sound sexy.

Had she fallen and bumped her head and ended up in bizarro world? The Twilight Zone? What crazy altering of the universe was this where she was thinking anything that Terrill-get-on-her-last-nerve-Carter did was sexy?

“You know what? I have often wondered what it would take to shut you up.”

Maritza smirked and filled her expression with more brazenness than she felt at that moment. “Funny, I’ve often wondered the same thing about you. Unfortunately, Penny would miss you if I followed through on any of my ideas.”

Terrill chuckled again, all throat and bobbing Adam’s apple. It was masculine laughter at its finest. “Hmm…good thing my idea will shut us both up for a while…then we both win.” His sexy face leaned in, further invading her space.

She gulped. And she willed herself to pull away. But she leaned forward instead. It was as if some magnetic force was moving her head, twisting and contorting it to find the right angle for his lips to meet hers.

It couldn’t be of her own free will. Could it?

She did not want this. Did she?

His lips connected to hers and she sighed. It sounded like a contented kitten that had just lapped up the last bit of milk. More like a sigh and mewl mixed together, but nevertheless problematic…

His tongue traced her lips and more shocks went through her. Her heart seemed like it wanted to pound its way right out of her chest and into his hands.

Stupid heart,
she thought as she opened her lips and allowed her tongue entry into his mouth.

She wasn’t letting her heart out. But there was no reason her tongue couldn’t come out and play.

She wrapped her arms around him and soon she was holding him just as tightly as he held her and it felt good.

Too good.

She moaned as she clutched him. He groaned as he let his strong hands trail her back down to her behind. He held her firmly in his grip and his kiss became even more intense.

As if that were possible…

His tongue traced every nook of her mouth, marking each place. She tried to give as good as she got but she became enthralled with his skilled lips and was content with following his lead. She tracked his tongue, followed his marks and made similar marks of her own in his mouth. Each time his tongue landed on a spot, she found a spot to lick and savor. She got lost in the thrill and game of it.

Later she might say she lost her mind. But at that moment, all she wanted to do was kiss him.

So she did.

She could think about the consequences tomorrow…

Terrill wished like hell he didn’t have a flight to catch, because he had wanted to have this woman in his arms exactly like this from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her.

She felt amazing in his arms.

She was made to be in his arms.

And her lips…

They were the softest and sweetest lips he had ever tasted.

Maritza Morales was walking perfection if he had ever seen it. She had a figure that could make grown men fall to their knees and thank the God that saw fit to make her. Unfortunately she also had a mouth that could probably make grown men cry.

She was wearing a stylish red power suit with matching pumps and lipstick. As usual, her outward appearance seemed to scream “don’t mess with me.” Too bad he was done listening to her signals and outside appearances.

He couldn’t help the groan that came from deep down in his gut when she wrapped her arms around his neck and finally gave in to the passion between them.

It was a good thing he had a plane to catch because the things he wanted to do to her required time and space—lots of both.

He let his hands roam her body as his tongue tunneled forward, marking and claiming the spaces he wanted to revisit again and again, over and over. Because if he was sure about anything in his life, he was certain of one thing: He would be kissing Maritza Morales again.

He begrudgingly pulled his tongue away from its exploration and traced her lips before letting her go.

He waited a few seconds for the slap that might come and when it didn’t, he let out the breath he hadn’t even known he was holding.

It was time to put her on notice. “Play time is over now, Maritza. I need you to understand that. So I’m going to give you a little time to think about it. We aren’t ignoring this any longer. I can’t do it anymore.”

He turned and walked away while he still could and stopped at the door to her office. He didn’t turn around because he didn’t trust himself not to throw her over her desk and give them both the release that had been building up between them for years.

“I will call you from Jersey while I’m there and I’ll see you when I get back,” was all he could manage to say before walking out the door.

She was a smart woman.

She could read between the lines.

She should be able to figure out that they could no longer continue the way they had been.

Things between them had been irrevocably changed…

Terrill stood in the doorway of the funeral home and took a deep breath as he searched the room for Penny. He’d missed his first flight and taken a later flight from Los Angeles than he had intended to, because he had kissed a woman he never thought he would ever work up enough nerve to kiss, let alone stop being irritated with long enough to do so. And now he was running late for Big Mama’s wake and Penny was probably facing God knows what all alone.

Lee’s Funeral Home hadn’t changed much over the years. It was still a little bit grimy and worse for wear. The folding chairs and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. church fans might have been there the last time he had been there, years ago. It was clear, though, that they still made money hand over fist when killing season started in the hood. He remembered his last spring and summer living in Paterson before moving to Los Angeles to attend college. He had attended far too many funerals for brothers shot down in their prime.

When his eyes caught her in a heated debate with their former best friend, who also happened to be the former love of her life, Terrill rushed over and mentally kicked himself for being late. Jason Hightower’s angry voice greeted him as soon as he stepped up.

“Are you sure about that? Because from what I could see that woman missed you and mourned you the entire time. And for you to stay away that long shows what a cruel, heartless, selfish—” Jason took a deep breath, glared at Penny and cut himself off.

Terrill shook his head and sighed as he took in the anger in Jason’s voice and the angst-ridden, nervous energy surrounding Penny.

The two of you deserve each other, a backstabber and a schemer. I can’t believe I ever trusted either one of you.

The harsh words Jason had spoken fifteen years ago echoed in Terrill’s mind as he surveyed the scene. It was a good thing he’d decided to come and offer Penny moral support. There was no way she could have dealt with Jason and all their past baggage alone.

He watched Penny brace her shoulders squarely. She inhaled and exhaled several times in succession. “You need to calm down, Jason. This is not the time or the place. If you cared about Big Mama as much as you claim you did, then you wouldn’t disrespect her wake like this.”

Terrill placed his hand on her shoulder and Penny let out a sigh of relief.

“Everything all right?” Terrill spoke the words to Penny but his eyes remained fixed on Jason. He tried to give his former friend the visual warning that backed up what Penny had just told him.

Jason might have gotten a good sucker punch in on Terrill fifteen years ago, but Terrill wasn’t above throwing the man out if he didn’t heed the warning.

Penny hugged Terrill and he could feel her body shaking just a little in his arms. “Everything is fine, Terrill. I’m glad you were able to make it.”