Slipping out of bed she retrieved her gym bag off the floor, wincing slightly at the soreness between her legs. She would take a hot bath, change into some more clothes and find out just what Jordan was cooking in the kitchen.
***
Jordan glanced down at the report a courier had delivered. He was ecstatic. The private investigator he had hired had gotten the information that was needed to prove that his client’s suspicions were true and his wife had been cheating on him. In fact she still was, although she was fighting the divorce and claiming to be the faithful wife. Getting the proof showing otherwise had taken longer than Jordan had anticipated, but it had been well worth the wait. The photographs were pretty damn damaging, and as far as he was concerned the investigator had hit gold. Over the past three months she had done nothing but give her husband as well as his attorneys hell with her intent on remaining Mrs. Harrison Phillips.
He checked his watch, needing to call Preston Fulton, the attorney who was his backup on the case. Jordan was sure that Preston would be glad to know what he had discovered about the over-sexed Annie Phillips, and hopefully, pretty soon they, as well as Harrison Phillips, would see the last of her.
***
Dominique felt totally refreshed as she left Jordan’s bedroom and walked into the kitchen. His back was to her while he talked on the phone.
“Yeah, man, she was something else. I got just what I wanted and all I can say is that it was well worth the wait. It wouldn’t bother me in the least if I don’t see her again after today.”
Shocked at what Jordan was saying, she stared at his back. Her mouth opened but nothing came out as anger, hurt and humiliation washed over her. He was bragging about what had happened between them to whomever he was talking to on the phone.
She backed up slowly as tears came into her eyes. Quickly going back into his bedroom she gathered her things together and tossed them into her gym bag. Leaving his bedroom moments later, she noticed he was no longer on the phone but was now outside on his patio, staring out at the lake. Was he out there gloating about how easy she had been?
As tears streamed down her face she turned to leave. Before opening the door she scribbled a note on a sheet of paper and left it on his coffee table. She then walked out the door.
Jordan checked his watch, deciding to go wake Dominique. The food he had fixed for her had gotten cold. He had expected her to be up and about hours ago. Only an almost dead person slept that long, although he knew she was probably pretty damn tired from all the physical activities that they had shared that day.
He walked into his bedroom and noticed the bed was neatly made up. Thinking she was in the bathroom he knocked on the door. When he didn’t get a response he pushed the door open and went in. She wasn’t there.
Walking back out into his bedroom he glanced around the room. Where was she? He walked through each room in his house and didn’t find her anywhere and had to finally reach the conclusion that she had left without saying anything. Why?
He went into the living room and sat down. It was then that he saw the note she had scribbled and left on the table. Her handwriting was legible and the message she had written was crystal clear:
Go to hell! Dominique
.
He felt anger consume him when he read the handwritten note again, thinking there had to be a mistake. What was the meaning of it? She had a lot of explaining to do when he saw her. He had warned her that he was not into playing games.
Grabbing his car keys off the table he walked out of the door. He intended to confront her and find out just what the hell was going on. And she better have a damn good reason for sneaking out and leaving such a hateful message.
***
Michelle checked her clock when she heard the knocking at her door. It was late afternoon. She had just come in from shopping and had gotten into bed, determined to take a nap before getting dressed for the party she planned to attend later that night. Shoving the covers aside she slipped out of bed. She hoped it wasn’t her ex-boyfriend. He was the last person she wanted to see.
She snatched the door opened to find her sister standing there. And from the way Dominique looked it was obvious that she was upset and had been crying. A lot.
“Dom? What’s wrong? What has happened?”
***
Michelle angrily paced her living room. She stopped long enough to glare at her sister who was sitting on the sofa sniffling.
“What do you mean, you won’t tell me what happened? The hell you won’t, Dominique,” she said frustrated. “You have the nerve to show up on my doorstep, looking like a war-torn puppy and with a hickey on the side of your neck the size of a baseball, and walking so stiff that if I didn’t know better I’d think you’ve been involved in some damn sex marathon, and –”.
Michelle stopped talking in mid-sentence. She suddenly studied her sister.
Oh, mercy
, she thought as she watched the way Dominique suddenly became nervous under her close scrutiny. “You did do it! You slept with that guy, didn’t you?”
Dominique glared at Michelle. “That is none of your business.”
Michelle glared back. “I’m making it my business, since you decided to come here instead of going home.” A horrible thought then flashed through her mind combined with a look of sheer mortification. “Oh my goodness! What did he do? Force you into performing some sort of kinky sex?”
“Michelle,” Dominique chided gently, remembering just how dramatic her sister could get. While she and her sister were growing up, her parents and grandparents always referred to Michelle as the drama queen. “Jordan did not force me to do anything I didn’t want to do.”
“But you’re admitting that the two of you did do something kinky?”
Dominique tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling.
Lord, please give me strength
.
She then looked back at Michelle. She refused to think of what she and Jordan had done in the workout room as kinky. If the two of them never spoke again, she would still always think of that time as something pretty damn special. “No, we did not do anything kinky.”
“But you are admitting to having slept with him today?”
Knowing Michelle was like a dog with a bone who wouldn’t let up until her curiosity or nosiness was appeased, she said. “Yes, Jordan and I slept together.”
“And?”
Dominique squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she didn’t have to tell Michelle anything, but knowing deep down she wanted to tell someone, and like it or not, her sister was also her best friend. She opened her eyes. “And he bragged about it afterwards to someone on the phone.”
Michelle’s eyes widened. “You mean he actually had loose lips?” she asked in astonishment. “He’s actually the type to kiss and tell or in this case, one who bangs then sings?”
At Dominique’s nod Michelle became livid. “How dare he! The dog! Who did he call?
The Tattler
?”
Dominique raised a dark brow.
The Tattler
was their local tabloid that exploited everybody’s business. They had done a hatchet job on her last year when she had called off her wedding to Kenneth. Within twenty-four hours everyone in Orlando and the surrounding counties knew that Kenneth had screwed around on her. “No, I believe that he was talking to another guy.”
Michelle snorted. “Probably that good-looking attorney friend of his name Royce Parker. The two of them were probably comparing notes about the women they screwed today.”
Dominique sighed, deciding she had told Michelle enough and didn’t want to talk about it any longer. “Look, I’m not in the mood to go back home tonight. Do you have a problem with me spending the night over here?”
“Of course not. If you want me to I can change my plans and not go to Chimeka’s house warming party.”
Dominique shook her head. “No, you should go. I’ll be fine. Besides, I want to be alone for a while.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Just promise me you won’t say anything to the family about this.”
“Of course I won’t, Dom. Is there anything you need?”
Fresh tears appeared in Dominique’s eyes, although she tried fighting them back. She had sworn after Kenneth that no other man would make her cry. She looked over at her sister sadly. “I could really use a hug right now.”
Michelle quickly crossed the room and gave Dominique the hug she needed.
J
ordan crawled in bed that night madder than hell. He had gone directly to Dominique’s house after reading her note, only to discover she wasn’t there. He had sat in his car for over five hours waiting for her to come home and she never did. In fact, he had just returned from her place and she wasn’t there. His anger had started turning into worry.
He had called directory assistant to obtain her sister’s phone number, only to be told the home phone number for Michelle Kincaid was unlisted. In a frantic he had called Royce, who within minutes had gotten Michelle’s private number from a woman he used to date who worked for the phone company.
He had call Dominique’s sister’s home, only to be royally told off by Michelle once he had identified himself. She had told him the same thing Dominique had written on the note, “Go to hell”, but that was only after she had called him a number of not-so-nice names. With an order that he not call back, she had hung up on him.
He was so angry he was seeing fire. Come hell or high water, he intended to get to the bottom of what was going on. Starting first thing in the morning he would camp out on Dominique’s door steps if he had to. She had to come home at some point in time. She couldn’t stay away forever.
As he moved around in his bed trying to find a comfortable spot, he breathed into his lungs her feminine scent that was now drenched in his bed linens. The smell of sex still lingered in the air. They had made love too many times that day in his bedroom for it not to. For a while it seemed like he was superglued between her legs. No sooner had they recovered from one orgasm then they had started working on another. Hell, at one point he’d even had a few multiple ones, which was something that had never happened to him before. But being inside of Dominique’s snug, tight, and hot body had almost driven him insane.
He shook his head, thrown for an emotional loop. What could have possibly gone wrong? Had she awaken and regretted what they had done? No, that couldn’t be right, because he knew for a fact that she had enjoyed their lovemaking as much as he had.
Had it been the number of times that they had made love? Had the realization scared her senseless when she’d taken the time to think about it? They had made love more times in one day than some married couples did all year. But he hadn’t forced her, and again, she seemed to have enjoyed it as much as he did, so that excuse wouldn’t wash with him.
He sighed deeply as he stared up at the ceiling. He knew her body had to be sore. Did she blame him for that? He levered himself up on his side and thought about it. He had been rather greedy, but again, she could have stopped him at any time. Besides, even if that was the reason she had left – so he wouldn’t make love to her any more that day — that was no reason to write what she did on that note. The words she had written seemed so out of character for her. A part of him knew she must have really been driven by a high degree of anger to write such a thing. And the question was, Just what in the hell was she mad about?
He remembered Royce telling him once how a woman had gotten really made at him about finding another woman’s undies under his bed. Since no other woman had ever shared this bed, or had even been in his bedroom, for that matter, he felt certain she hadn’t found another woman’s underwear or anything else that could have set her off.
Finally finding a comfortable position in bed, he stopped fighting against the sleep he needed. He loved Dominique and he had to believe that no matter what the problem was between them, it could be worked out.
Early the next morning Jordan arrived at Dominique’s apartment. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her car. As far as he was concerned, she had a lot of explaining to do. Since he had called her practically all night, he could only assume she had just gotten home.
He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night and was irritated as hell. And on top of that, he hadn’t been able to eat, which had him agitated as sin. For a Prescott, a combination of irritation and agitation was deadly. So the way he saw it, Dominique had better have a lot to say in her defense and most of it had better sound good.
He knocked on the door and it was snatched open immediately.
“Michelle, I told you that I would be—”
She stopped talking in mid-sentence when she saw it was him and not her sister. Not waiting for her to invite him in, just in case she had a mind not to, he walked in and ignored the way she slammed the door shut behind him. “I don’t like disappearing acts, Dominique,” he said gruffly, turning to face her and trying to keep anger simmering inside of him under control. “You owe me an explanation.”
“I don’t owe you anything and I want you to leave.”
“Not until you tell me why you left without saying you were gone and then leave me such a hateful note.”