Authors: Brenda Jackson
Michael laughed. “Sounds like you’ve been hanging around your teenage daughter too long.”
Taye smiled, shaking her head. “Yes, I guess I have. Where these kids come up with this stuff I’ll never know.”
“Probably the same place we came up with it. We had some pretty crazy sayings ourselves.”
Taye nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we did, didn’t we?” She took a sip of her iced tea as she watched Michael over the rim of her glass. They were sitting on the patio near the pool. He had fixed sandwiches, cooked French fries, and made more iced tea. “You’re an efficient father, Michael. At least I don’t have to worry about Kennedy starving.”
He chuckled. “I make do.” The amusement suddenly left his face. “After Lynda died I had to. Kennedy was mine and Lynda had left her in my care. She was the only thing of her mother I had left. That’s probably why I’m so protective with her.”
Taye reached out and touched his arm. “That’s understandable, Michael.” She had heard so much love in his voice when he spoke of his wife. She’d also heard his pain. “Tell me about her,” she said, removing her hand from his arm and sitting back in her chair.
Michael lifted his gaze to hers. “About Lynda?”
“Yes. I never got the chance to meet her. None of us did. I know Alexia and Rae’jean went to the funeral, but I couldn’t make it at the time. Both Monica and Sebrina had come down with the chicken pox.”
Michael nodded. “I understand you couldn’t make it. That’s OK. To tell you the truth, I don’t recall who was there that day and who wasn’t. I was just that torn up. The only thing that kept me sane was Kennedy. Without her I would have lost it. I loved Lynda just that much.”
Taye leaned her head back and gazed into his eyes. “How did you meet her?”
Slowly Michael submerged himself into pleasant memories. “In Japan. She was a navy nurse working in one of the hospitals there. It was love at first sight. She was such a good person. An honest person. You would have liked her. The entire family would have. Now I regret not bringing her home to meet everyone, but at the time I was having a rough time dealing with the fact that I’d been adopted.”
Taye took a sip of her drink before asking, “When did you find out?”
“When it was time for me to report for duty. One of the things Uncle Sam needed was my birth certificate. Since the fire that killed my parents destroyed all their important papers as well, I ordered a duplicate. It came a few days before I was due to leave. That’s when I found out, and I had a hard time handling it. Instead of being grateful that I was raised by two loving people and had grown up as part of a wonderful loving family, I felt resentment that I hadn’t been told the truth. Then, to make matters worse, I felt I wasn’t worthy to be called a Bennett.”
His words surprised Taye. “Why would you feel that way?”
He met her gaze intently. “Because I realized I wasn’t a Bennett by blood and to me that was the one thing I had to deal with, to come to terms with.”
“And have you?”
“Yes. The Bennetts are a very special group of people. When they love, they love deeply and nothing can change that, and when they accept you as one of their own, it’s final, complete.” He leaned back in his chair. “They’ve accepted me, always have and always will. I can’t ask for more than that. I’m a Bennett. Maybe not by blood but in all the ways that count. Family loyalty. Family love. Family honor. Family unity. If I ever had any doubt of that, things were brought back home for me at the family reunion. Once a Bennett, always a Bennett.”
“True.” Taye took another sip of her tea before saying, “But we’re not perfect people, Michael, although there are some Bennetts who actually think they are. We’ve all made mistakes. Heaven knows I’ve made my share.”
“The girls?”
Taye looked at him and smiled. “I don’t think of them as mistakes anymore, Michael. I think of them as blessings.”
“And you should.”
“Yeah, but the mistakes were made in putting my trust in men who I thought cared for me. I should have known better after being exposed to Uncle Victor’s and Victor Junior’s womanizing ways.” She tilted her head to the side. “I should have been smart enough to know a man can say, ‘I love you,’ and mean nothing by it.”
Michael nodded, hearing the hurt and pain in her voice. After a few silent moments, he said, “Tell me about them, Taye. Tell me about the girls’ fathers.”
Taye glanced up at him. His request was really no different from the one she’d made of him to tell her about Lynda. “Sebrina’s father is a guy I met my first semester in college. I was unprepared for the likes of him. I was barely seventeen and a freshman and he was a twenty-one-year-old senior looking for a conquest and I was game. We used protection, but somehow I got pregnant anyway. Go figure that we would be in that slight percentage of failure. I returned home that first semester from school feeling I had let the whole family down. I was supposed to be the smart one, but what I did was truly dumb. The family had high aspirations for me to make it to the top, and I felt I had failed them. That was a big burden for me to deal with. If it wasn’t for Gramma Idella, Alexia, Rae’jean, and Sharon, I probably would have gone off the deep end. Momma placed a guilt trip on me like you wouldn’t believe. And when Cousin Priscilla’s daughter got pregnant in her junior year of high school, Momma actually accused me of being responsible because I hadn’t set a good example for my younger cousins to follow. Can you believe that?”
Michael chuckled. “Knowing Aunt Otha Mae, I can believe anything. She gets carried away at times.”
Taye shook her head. “That’s an understatement.”
Michael took a sip of his drink. “What about Sebrina’s father? Do the two of you stay in touch?”
“Yes. Gary plays an important part in Sebrina’s life, although he lives in New Jersey. He did own up to being her father and even wanted to give her his last name, but I wouldn’t let him. If my last name was going to be Bennett, so was hers. At first he didn’t like it, but he eventually came around, since he had no intentions of marrying me and changing my name just to make his daughter legit. I have to admit he does well by her. His parents are pretty well off, and they simply adore Sebrina. She’s their only grandchild. She goes to visit her father and grandparents every summer. According to her, Gary is getting married next month.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“I’m happy for him. I realized long ago, even before Sebrina was born, that I never loved Gary. I was infatuated with him. I’m happy he’s found someone.”
Michael nodded. “What about Monica’s father?”
Taye’s hand stilled in reaching to pick up her glass of iced tea. The subject of Monica’s father was one she’d always avoided with anyone, including her best friend, Sharon. The family had gotten upset with her because she’d refused to reveal his identity. And because of that, they’d had their suspicions that he was a married man. Which he was. But what they didn’t know was that she hadn’t known he had a wife. For a long time she’d felt degraded and used.
She sighed, not wanting to discuss the subject of Monica’s father but then feeling that with Michael she needed to. There had once been a time she had shared a lot with him, and now that he was back in her life she could use another ear to listen, someone to understand. When it came to the subject of Monica’s father, Sharon was not the least bit objective.
“Monica’s father is a married man, Michael. But I didn’t know it at the time. He was living a double life. It was only after I’d gotten pregnant and told him that he told me the truth and that there was no way he could marry me because he was already married. He even went so far as to say his wife had told him that morning that
she
was pregnant. You can’t know how I felt, knowing that not only had he betrayed me, but he had betrayed his wife as well, not to mention that he’d been sleeping with the both of us. That was ten years ago. Although he lives here in Atlanta, I’ve only run into him a few times.”
“He hasn’t ever done anything for Monica?”
“No. I didn’t ask and he didn’t volunteer. I guess you could say that I gave him the easy way out, but that’s coming to an end soon, not that I want anything from him financially. Monica has begun asking questions about her father. I have a feeling that in time she’ll want to know who he is, and I plan on telling her the truth. I’m going to meet with him sometime in the near future and let him know that my days of protecting him are over. I don’t want Monica to go through what Rae’jean is going through now, agonizing over the identity of her father. She has a right to know.”
“I think you’ll be doing the right thing.”
“Thanks, Michael. I don’t know how he’s going to handle it. My telling Monica about him will force him to tell his wife he has an outside child. He’s not going to like that too much, since he’s kept things well hidden for ten years.”
“Do you think he’ll deny being her father?”
“He might, but it will be a losing battle, since blood tests can prove otherwise. Besides, I got pictures taken of us together during that time and letters he wrote me, supposedly when he was out of town on business, but he was actually right here in town sleeping with his wife. I hope he’ll think twice before denying he’s her father, because that will only hurt Monica.”
Michael nodded. “Any man who fathers a child should own up to his responsibility.” His head bowed for a few seconds before he met her gaze again. “What about now, Taye? Are you involved with anyone now?” he asked smoothly, with no expression on his face.
Taye met his eyes, deciding that she didn’t want him to know that she hadn’t dated anyone in over ten years. “No, I’m not currently seeing anyone. What about you?”
His dark eyes never left hers for an instant when he said, “No, I’m not seeing anyone, either. To be honest with you, I don’t know how Kennedy would handle it if I were to began dating.”
A probing query came into Taye’s eyes with his words. “Are you saying you haven’t dated at all since Lynda died six years ago?”
“Not openly. I was seeing someone for over four years, but our relationship was based on friendship and mutual need. We were close friends as well as lovers. She’d been abused by her ex-husband and didn’t want a serious relationship, and I was trying to get over Lynda and didn’t want anything serious, either. So, our relationship was built on that understanding and it worked out for us.”
“Why didn’t you see each other openly?”
“We preferred it that way. She’s a flight attendant and we would only see each other and be together whenever we happened to fly together. That’s the way we wanted things. Both of us liked our space.”
“Your moving here ended things between you?”
“In a way, but things would have ended between us anyway. She met someone and fell in love.”
Taye nodded. She tried not to feel resentment toward the woman who had been intimate with Michael for the last four years. “Do the two of you still keep in touch?”
“No, I’m officially out of her life. But I recently heard from a mutual friend that she’s engaged to be married. I’m happy for her. She deserves all the happiness any one person can possibly receive. She’s a very special person.” Michael saw Taye’s glass was empty. “Want some more iced tea?”
Taye shook her head. “No. In fact, it’s about time for me to pick up the girls. We’re going shopping and then later we’re going to Fayrene’s house for a cookout. Do you want to come along?”
“No. I’ll give Kennedy her weekend without me underfoot. I’m going to relax and watch the ball game on television tonight. The Braves are playing.”
Taye nodded as she stood. “Well, I’d better go. Thanks for having me over today, Michael.”
He stood as well. “You’re welcome to come over anytime. And thanks for your help with the yard, Taye. I enjoyed your company. It felt good to talk to someone.”
She smiled up at him. “Same here, Michael. Same here.”
Alexia Bennett knew how to seduce a man. From the outfit she wore, a short black sexy, thin wisp of a dress, to the mouthwatering home-cooked meal she had prepared, she was ready to put her carefully orchestrated plan into motion. And to top things off, according to the chart she’d kept over the past few weeks that had recorded daily her body’s temperature, tonight it would be at its hottest peak, which was the best time to conceive. All she needed was a virile, potent male partner, and Quinn Masters was her man.
The kiss they had shared two days ago had totally snapped her of control and still had her rocking and reeling and fighting to maintain her balance. A deep ache was radiating through her body just thinking about it.
Her experience with sensual desire was too extensive for her to have responded the way she’d done with a simple kiss. But the woman in her had to concede that there hadn’t been anything simple about Quinn’s sensuous onslaught on her mouth. For once she had lost control, and it wasn’t supposed to be that way. There was never a time when she’d been kissed that she hadn’t called the shots and set the pace, no matter how wondrous the pleasure. In Quinn’s arms she had found herself letting go and wondering if she had truly ever been kissed before. His kiss had made every nerve ending in her body come alive. It had made her greedy for more and hungry for the taste of him.
Frustration and remembered desire had put her in a testy mood since then. At one point she had been tempted to call Quinn, make an excuse, and cancel her dinner invitation. But she had come too far to abandon her plans now due to a moment of weakness on her part.
Picking up the tray of deviled eggs, Alexia walked across the kitchen to the refrigerator and placed it inside. As she shut the refrigerator door the sound of the doorbell drew her attention. She hesitated for a second and took a deep breath. Her pulse began racing and a strange heat coursed through her body and settled dead center between her legs.
Those temperature charts were right. Her body was at its hottest.
Quinn stood back after ringing the doorbell of the spacious two-story home and waited with one hand shoved in the back pocket of his jeans while the other held an expensive bottle of wine. The house, he thought, like the woman living there, had style. Located in an upscale area of LA, where a number of other entertainers, including Babyface Edmonds and Mariah Carey, made their homes, the yard was meticulously well kept, with an assortment of flowers in bloom.
He took several deep breaths when the door finally opened. The first thing he noticed about Alexia was that she was wearing her hair differently. Instead of the thick mass flowing freely around her face and down her shoulders, she had confined it by tying it back with some sort of band.
Then his gaze settled briefly on her face—beautiful as ever—before moving to concentrate on her outfit. He immediately felt his body respond. The dress, he thought, was sexy as hell. He blinked twice, making sure it was indeed a dress and not a slip. It was just that sheer. It hugged her curves, molded her breasts, and the thin
T
-straps teased her shoulders.
Quinn took another deep breath, wondering if this was how Alexia Bennett operated—draw a man in, make him want her to distraction, sink her claws deep into his skin before yanking them out and leaving her mark. Unconsciously he rubbed the skin of his unprotected arms before saying, “I like your outfit, Alexia.”
Smiling, Alexia stepped aside to let him in. “I’m glad you do. It’s one of my favorites. It’s easy to get into and easy to get out of.”
The heat in Quinn’s veins turned his body to molten liquid with her words. His hold tightened on the bottle of wine in his hand as his gaze roamed over her. She had just created a disturbingly intimate scene in his mind.
“Won’t you come in, Quinn?”
Crossing over the doorstep, Quinn entered, then turned and stared at Alexia for an endless moment. Their eyes locked. He thought there was something different about her tonight, other than the way she wore her hair. Not able to figure out what that difference was at the moment, he handed her the bottle of wine. “Good wine to go along with what I know will be a very good dinner.”
Alexia accepted the bottle of wine from him. “Thanks, and I hope you’re hungry. I’ve prepared a feast.”
“Trust me. I’m ravenous. Nothing will go to waste.”
Something in the way Quinn said those words and the look in his eyes when he said them made Alexia’s stomach clench with the feeling that he was talking about tackling more than just food. At least she hoped so. It would make her job easier later, when she made her move. “Make yourself at home while I go into the kitchen and put the finishing touches on dinner.”
“Need my help?”
“No, I can manage, but thanks for the offer.” She turned and started walking toward the kitchen, feeling the intense heat of his gaze on the back of her legs and the thin material of her dress. She felt her insides get hotter and wondered how such a thing was possible. She was at a burning point already.
Quinn stood there, assessing Alexia’s attire with lingering appreciation until she was no longer in sight. He’d felt himself getting hard just from looking at her long, shapely legs. And from the way the slinky thin material clung to her body he seriously doubted that she was wearing anything underneath. How on earth was he supposed to sit across from her at the dinner table knowing she was completely naked under that dress?
He shook his head, wondering what the deal was with her, then quickly decided that whatever it was, he was game, especially if it would allow him to delve into the recesses of her mind to see just what made her tick. He didn’t want to depend on what he’d read in
Essence, People,
or
Ebony
magazine. He intended to explore every facet of her psyche for himself and get to know the real Alexia Bennett. He was determined to do whatever he could to get close to the woman he had fallen in love with. And from the look of that easy-in, easy-out dress she was wearing, she had her own set of plans for tonight. There was no doubt in his mind that she intended to seduce him. No sweat. He could handle anything she threw down, but if she thought he would let her treat him like a hit-and-run or a one-night stand, she was wrong.
Tonight she would discover that with him, she had finally met her match.
Purely in the interest of common sense had Alexia made the suggestion that Quinn make himself at home in the living room while she escaped to the kitchen. There was just so much temptation any woman could handle, and Quinn Masters was temptation with a capital
T
.
Reaching the kitchen, she glanced at her watch. If dinner progressed at a leisurely pace, followed by certain events she planned on initiating, she and Quinn could be in bed by 8:00
P.M.
and she could be pregnant by 9:00. She figured a second round of hot and heavy lovemaking by 10:00 would assure an accurate hit.
Alexia released a deep sigh. She wondered how Quinn would feel if he knew that his body would be used tonight as a baby-making machine. She tried not to think about the fact that she would be using him. After all, she planned to make it worth his while by making sure he got a good lay out of it. And if he ever discovered he was her baby’s daddy, at least it wouldn’t put a dent in his lifestyle, since she wouldn’t be asking him to contribute anything for child support.
She took a deep breath and conceded that if committing herself, body and soul, to any man weren’t so terribly wrong for her, Quinn Masters would be perfect in every way. It was too bad she wasn’t interested in an affair. All she wanted from him was a baby. There was more chemistry flowing between them than there was in the science department at UCLA. Feeling hot thinking about all that snap, crackle, and pop, she tried recovering by turning to the sink and getting a glass of cool tap water. The intense heat between her legs that had intensified the moment she opened the door for Quinn would be better served later in bed.
Seeing him dressed in a polo shirt and a pair of tight jeans had caused goose bumps to form on her arms and legs. She took another swallow of cool water to get a grip. From the way hot passion was simmering inside of her, getting pregnant would be quick and easy.
She sighed. Dinner was ready, and unknown to Quinn, he would be the main course.
Quinn strolled around Alexia’s living room trying to concentrate on all the things he saw, nice furniture, including a large oak bookcase, and a collection of every Diana Ross CD, album, and cassette you could imagine. He smiled. Like him, Alexia was a die-hard Diana Ross fan. Imagine that.
He then walked over to the bookcase. The tall shelves were lined with a wide array of books. Most of the volumes were works by African-American authors. Like him she also liked to read. Another coincidence.
He turned and noticed the huge photo album sitting on a table. Curiosity made him pick it up, and he began browsing through it.
“Those pictures are from my family reunion.”
He looked up. Alexia had reentered the room. Because she had removed her sandals, the plush carpeting had silenced her entrance. “There are a lot of pictures in here,” he said as he sat down on the sofa with the album in his hand. “Come sit beside me and tell me what I’m looking at.”
Alexia wasn’t sure sitting next to Quinn on the sofa was a good idea, especially before dinner. According to a book she’d recently read,
Pregnancy Made Easy,
a man’s sperm count and sex drive automatically increased after he ate certain foods. Although she didn’t have any fresh raw oysters to feed him, she had made a tray of deviled eggs, since the book claimed boiled eggs served the same purpose. Pleased that she was back in command of the situation, she walked over and sat down next to him on the sofa.
Quinn nearly forgot to breathe when Alexia came and sat next to him. He watched as she slipped her fingers beneath the cover to open the album. He immediately thought that she had nice hands. He could just imagine them on him, touching, rubbing, stroking…
“This is a family picture of everyone,” she said, claiming his attention by pointing to the first picture she came to in the album. “This is my grandfather, Poppa Ethan. These are my parents, and these are my cousins Taye, Rae’jean, and Michael.”
Quinn nodded as he concentrated on the face of the man she’d said was her grandfather. “How old is he?”
“Poppa Ethan will be turning ninety years old in a few months, but he still has a strong mind and gets around OK. My grandmother Idella died ten years ago.”
“Were they still together when she died?”
Alexia lifted her head as if she found his question strange. “Of course. Gramma Idella and Poppa Ethan had been married nearly sixty years when she passed. They got married when she was only sixteen and he was twenty. They shared a good life together raising their six kids.”
She sat back as she looked back down at her grandfather’s picture. Her expression reflected a mixture of treasured memories, both happy and sad ones. “They were so close that we didn’t think he would live long after her. I’ve heard of that happening when two people have been married for a long time and one of them dies. Often the other one gives up all hope for living.”
“Long marriages run in your family?” he asked after they had looked at a few more pictures and she had mentioned that all her relatives, except for a womanizing uncle and his chip-off-the-old-block son, were married to their original partners.
She shrugged, thinking of her own short-lived marriage. “There probably aren’t any more in our families than in others.”
“I happen to disagree. My maternal grandparents are deceased, but my paternal grandparents are still alive. My grandmother is on her third husband, and my grandfather is on his fourth wife. And I don’t know but one or two of my uncles who are still married to their original partner. The others are working on their second or third marriage. That’s why my generation of Masterses have vowed not to marry until they’re sure they’ve found the perfect mate.”
Alexia’s eyebrow shot up. “There’s no way anyone can ever be sure of that.”
“True, but we intend to try. That’s why we’re committed to finding our chosen one and not rushing into marriage until we do. So far it’s worked. There hasn’t been a divorce in the Masters family in over fifteen years.”
She lifted her eyes to his. Since she knew for a fact she wasn’t any man’s “chosen one,” she felt pretty safe. But still…“You’re not interested in a serious relationship with anyone right now, are you?” she asked to be absolutely sure.
Quinn met her gaze. He knew why she was asking. If for one minute she thought he wanted a serious relationship with her, she’d probably not see him again. Therefore, his answer could not reflect the complete truth. There was no way he could tell her that she was the woman he intended to marry. He was more than willing to patiently wait for her to come around to his way of thinking. “No, not right now I’m not. However, although I’m not interested in a serious relationship, I do prefer dealing with committed relationships. They’re safer. It’s suicide for any single person to do it any other way. I wouldn’t want the woman I’m sleeping with to also be sleeping with other men. Having multiple bed partners these days is dangerous.”
Alexia nodded in agreement. She’d always had a policy of not being involved with more than one man at a time. It had also been a policy of hers to spell out their relationship up front. It ended whenever she decided to end it with no questions asked. The only reason she hadn’t felt the need to give Quinn her spiel was because with him she was on a mission. She had an ultimate goal she intended to complete.
She closed the album. “We’ll finish looking at this after dinner,” she said, placing it back on the table. “Will you help me set the table?”
Quinn smiled. “I’d love to.”
Over dinner they talked about anything that came to mind. His work. Hers. Their families. He told her about his sister’s wedding, and she told him more about the family reunion.
Alexia shared with him information about Taye, Rae’jean, and Michael and how close they’d been growing up.