throat, breaking the heavy awkwardness that surrounded her and Desiree. Desiree put her hand up to silence Rebecca before she could start. It was all she could do to keep herself from screaming, crying, yelling and, worse, jumping out of the moving car in protest. Desiree shot Rebecca a glance out of the side of her eye and gripped the door handle tighter, so tight her knuckles paled.
Please don’t let her start up again. I really don’t feel up to this. Why is she staring at the side of my face like she wants to say something? Please just keep your mouth shut, Rebecca. I’m not in the mood, Desiree thought. She was having a hard enough time coping with the situation.
Desiree had thought Rebecca, of all people, wouldn’t judge her and would just give her the support she needed at a time like this. Desiree could feel the heat of Rebecca’s gaze on her even more intensely. She just wanted the driver to pull the car over and let her push Rebecca right out the door on the side of the damn road. Desiree kept her eyes forward and flexed her jaw in anticipation. Rebecca looked at the side of Desiree’s face one more time before she finally mustered up the courage to speak. Desiree braced herself.
“Desiree, your father is a man of very few words, you know that, right? I mean, maybe you can forgive him one day. Find it in your heart to understand him as a parent. I don’t know . . . something . . . ,” Rebecca said. “I . . . I just want everything to be normal again. I just wish this had never happened.” Rebecca squeezed a tissue in her hand. There. She’d finally said what she had been thinking for the past week.
Desiree remained silent.
Rebecca let out an exasperated breath. “You hear me talking?” she asked softly, being careful not to nag. She could feel the heat of Desiree’s gaze fall on the side of her face. Rebecca knew she was stepping on sensitive ground with Desiree.
“I’ll never speak to him again. He threw me away like trash, and I’ll never speak to him again. I don’t care if he’s on his deathbed. Don’t call me,” Desiree said with feeling.
The thought of her father’s deathbed snapped Desiree out of her thoughts. She jumped at someone’s touch. The memories of the past quickly faded as she looked over at her mother now.
“Hey, baby girl,” Carolyn whispered, rubbing her hand up and down Desiree’s back.
“Mother, why didn’t you call me home sooner?” Desiree croaked, her red-rimmed eyes barely able to focus on her mother’s face.
“For a while he didn’t want anyone to know. He was dealing with a lot,” Carolyn said, lowering her eyes to the floor.
“But I would’ve come sooner. I feel like it’s . . . it’s . . .” Desiree’s words trailed off, and she sucked in her sobs.
Her mother pulled her into a tight embrace. “Shh. He’s going to make it through this. He’s the strongest man we know,” Carolyn said, doing what she did best—pretend.
Chapter 5
Is This Love?
Junior let out a series of animalistic grunts as his newest sexual conquest, Bella, roughly bounced up and down on his dick. Bella had skills, that was for sure.
“Shit!” Junior belted out as he felt himself reaching a climax. Junior had never had such earth-shattering sexual experiences before he started seeing Bella. Just as he let out another series of passion noises, Bella leaned up a little and balanced her weight on her shapely legs. With one hand, she swiped her sweat-drenched locks of long auburn hair from her face.
“Is it good? Is it the best?” Bella panted, her thick Colombian accent making her seem to Junior like she’d just walked out of heaven.
“Oh! Oh! Oh!” Junior screamed as his body quaked all over.
Bella smiled, and then it was her turn.
“I guess it was good,” Bella said, satisfied, as she looked down into Junior’s smiling face.
“Damn, baby. You have no idea,” Junior panted as his body began to relax. Bella eased off Junior and flopped next to him on the bed. They were both winded and satisfied.
“I’ve needed that all week. I couldn’t wait to sneak away from all the crap I have going on,” Junior said, still reeling from the explosive orgasm.
Bella laughed. “Glad I could help,” she told him, her accent making her words sound heavy but sexy as hell.
She turned on her side and stared at Junior’s profile. Then she reached up and moved a cluster of sweat-drenched strands of hair from her forehead. Junior placed his hand over Bella’s, halting her movement. He inhaled deeply and brought Bella’s hand to his lips. He closed his eyes and kissed the top of her hand as he clutched it close to his face.
“You’re so sweet,” Bella commented.
Her beauty, her melodic voice, and the accent made Junior’s heart flutter. He was falling in love . . . a dangerous idea for someone like him. Junior had been hurt before, and he’d vowed that women would just be for his own personal pleasure and nothing more. But here he was, totally smitten with this woman.
“No. You are so sweet, and you have no idea how much I appreciate you,” Junior told her with sincerity.
He meant every word. His trysts with Bella had come just in time. Moments spent with Bella had been the one thing that had saved Junior from going off the deep end when he found out that his father was dying and possibly wanted to make his sister Desiree his heir. It was a betrayal that had cut so deep, Junior had contemplated putting a pillow over his father’s face before anything could be set in stone.
Bella had changed Junior’s mind. When he’d met her, Junior had decided he would work slowly and methodically to get what he wanted. If his family believed he was distracted by a beautiful woman, they would all let their guard down, enabling him to work on things in the background. After all, Junior considered his meeting Bella as fate anyway. It was the one time he hadn’t pursued a woman and the woman hadn’t been some moneygrubbing groupie. Everything had happened so organically. To Junior, this was a clear indication that they were meant to be.
Junior had been storming through the lobby of the Gold Coast building that housed the Johnson family’s condo when he ran smack-dab into Bella—literally.
“Oh shit! I’m so sorry!” Junior had exclaimed when he realized the cup of hot black coffee the beautiful stranger was carrying had spilled all over her white shirt. “Please. Let me pay for your shirt. I . . . I can buy you ten new shirts,” he had rambled as he used his bare hands to wipe the coffee off the completely ruined shirt.
Bella had grabbed his hands, stopped him, and smiled at him. Her smile had given Junior pause, and he had had no choice but to stare into her eyes. Junior had felt something inside him move. It was like nothing he’d felt before in his life.
“It is okay. This shirt is old,” Bella said, waving her hand like it was nothing and flashing a gorgeous smile.
“Well, at least let me buy you another cup of coffee,” Junior said. He blushed, and fine beads of sweat lined up at his perfectly straight hairline. No other woman had ever made him flush like that.
“This was already my second cup,” Bella replied, winking. “It is okay. Really. I am fine. Maybe I needed to throw out
