Caress (22 page)

Lysette nodded. “Yeah, he did. You know he wouldn’t miss anyone; Alex lives for this event. And I’ve already called Ericka.”

“I think that’s what I like about this job,” Nya said, her panic allayed. “Delegation.”

“Amen to that,” Lysette replied. “And maybe you could throw an assistant my way so I can ‘delegate’ a little.” Nya only smirked in response. “And did I hear correctly? You want Michael there.”

“Yeah, I figure since he and his sister are determined to keep us in their paper—in the best light, of course—that this will be a nice addition. Once this is done and the investigation is closed, he’ll be out of my hair and out of my face.” Nya threw her hair back in emphasis.

“Are you sure that’s the real reason why you want him there? Are you sure you want to get rid of him at all?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Nya retorted, making a face. “He’s a distraction, and, beyond that, even if I were interested, I have more important things to spend my time on. I plan on being president of the company someday, even if I have to kill myself working to do it.”

“When are you going to realize that, no matter what you do, it doesn’t matter? Nyron doesn’t want you in that position. In fact it seems that the better you do, the harder you work, the more resolved he is to keep it out of your reach. I just think you ought to save yourself some heartache and let up. Have a good time.”

“This company has meant everything to me since I was a little girl. I can’t give it up.” She began rubbing the sore muscles at the base of her neck.

It was true. Lysette could remember when they were younger and went to the gallery. Nya would tell her about each painting and each artist. She had memorized it all. She’d walk around giving orders to anyone who listened and listing all of the things she would do when she was big and running the company. “Nya, I know. All I’m saying is that I don’t want to see you hurt, which means that I don’t want to sit here and watch you set yourself up for a fall.”

“I’m not doing that,” Nya replied. “Daddy will have to come around.” She lowered her eyes, knowing that she had expressed a confidence she didn’t feel. “Anyway, what makes you so sure that Harrison is the answer to all my woes? I’m not sure I even like the man.”

“ ‘Woes?’ ” Lysette balked at the word. “Nya, Nya, Nya,” Lysette chided, leaning in towards her friend. “I know you. I see the way you look at him. You told me how you kissed him.”

“Correction, he kissed me.”

“And you kissed back! Don’t trip.”

Nya was thankful that she had kept the night on St. Thomas to herself.

“I know you like him and if you just let yourself, there might be something real there. He cares a lot about you.”

“Yeah, he cares a lot about getting on my nerves,” Nya scoffed.

“You saw the look in his eyes when he came to your door that night you got back from Norfolk. You saw how scared he was. You’ve got to at least give the man a chance. When was the last time you had a date? If I recall, Ike and Tina were still married.”

“A little before my time.” Nya chuckled.

“He’s given you some space to think things over. Do that. And maybe you’ll actually have a good time.”

Nya changed the subject. “I’m going to have a good time this weekend no matter what, so you need not worry on that score.”

“Oh, I know,” Lysette replied, excitement in her voice. “Hattiversary’s second only to Christmas and my very own anniversary.”

“That would make it third,” Nya said, laughing whole-heartedly and feeling a little less harried than before. That was Lysette’s doing. She always helped Nya to see the lighter side of things. She needed that.

After Lysette was gone, Nya leaned back in her chair, chewing on the end of her pen. She slowly let a vision of broad shoulders, a powerful build, and hypnotizing eyes and smile appear before her. She couldn’t figure the man out. He had come on so strong at first, but recently he had backed off altogether. Maybe he was still angry because of Elphonse, but she couldn’t help feeling that there was more. She wondered if he was no longer interested. Something, something deep inside her, made her pray to God that that wasn’t so.

Nya watched Lysette touch up her hair in a large, round mirror mounted on her bedroom wall. Outside, they could hear the music from the Hatsheput office party in Nya’s backyard. The party was a tradition before the formal Hattiversary celebration.

“Did you see Terry Abernathy and Sheila from payroll?” Lysette proclaimed with a good bit of evil glee in her voice. “I tell you, some people can’t hold their cheap liquor.”

“Oh, stop,” Nya said, laughing. She was certain that there were no people left on the invite list about whom Lysette hadn’t said her piece. But she didn’t mind, not at all. She was having more fun than she’d had since last year’s party. She had been so wrapped up in her work, she hadn’t actually relaxed in longer than she could remember. Even when she had been informed that Jamie’s strawberry daiquiri-making experiment with her new blender had gone awry, she had only laughed and said that she’d worry about it later. Even when Muhammad from marketing had declared that he was the daiquiri champ of the business world, though she knew very well the man didn’t drink, she wasn’t worried. And even when Andre declared he was a wiz with a blender—she faintly remembered that he needed help each day with the copier, coffee maker, and even the day-to-day functions of his PC—she did not get tense. As far as she knew everything in the kitchen was cleanable and the party had remained in her backyard. There was nothing that could worry her.

“Oh, yeah, I meant to tell you.” Lysette didn’t look at her. “I talked to Michael. He said he may be a little late tonight.”

“Michael who?”

“Harrison,” Lysette announced with a flourish, adding under her breath, “as if you didn’t know.”

Nya turned and caught her reflection in the mirror. Lysette shrugged innocently, and Nya continued to stare daggers at her in the mirror until her scrutiny was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“This room is off limits,” she called out with a smile, recognizing the knock. The door came open anyway. “You don’t listen, do you?”

Elphonse poked his head in and flashed her a quick smile before he entered. “No, princess, I don’t. Lysette,” he said in a derisive greeting without looking at her.

“Elphonse,” she returned just as dryly and made a face in the mirror. “What hole did you just crawl out of?”

“The same one your husband was in trying to dig his way to safety,” he returned and put his arm around her shoulders.

“Now children,” Nya intoned, gathering herself up from the softness of her bed. “No need to fight. El, I didn’t think you were going to be here.”

“Now you know,” El said, grinning at her, though the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I don’t miss a party.”

“Glad to hear it,” Nya said soberly and pointedly.

He got her meaning and gave her a playful squeeze around the midsection as he whispered, “I’m alright, Nya. You know I’m always gon’ be all right.”

Nya squeezed him back, reflecting on how much older he looked. The past two years had aged him like ten.

“Well, I think you could be with a nice kick in the—” Lysette’s face was smothered into his ribs as he clasped her in strong arms. Nya laughed at the small frame clasped tightly against his tall one.

“I just know how much you love me, Lysette,” he said, smiling over her head as she struggled futilely to free herself. “There’s so much love in this room, I’m strangling with it.”

He let Lysette go, and Nya couldn’t contain her giggles as Lysette started a refrain of not-so-ladylike utterances while starting to repair her hair all over again. “Can’t we all just get along?” she asked plaintively before breaking down into laughter again.

“Come on, Nya. Come dance with me,” he said, grabbing her hand.

“Okay, but none of that freaky stuff.” She giggled and followed him out.

“Man can’t dance no other way,” Lysette muttered, following them out and wondering if Michael was there yet.

h

Michael forced himself to walk slowly through the house and to take time chatting with those people he had gotten to know so well over the past weeks. He tried to keep his eyes from wandering past people and through the crowd to seek out the one face he truly wanted to see. After being stopped at least four times, he made his way into the kitchen. It looked as if an entire Kool-Aid factory had exploded all over it. At the center of it was Jamie Hendricks, a giant at six feet, seven inches. He had one hand down the disposal and the other fanning a pan of hot wings that looked as if they really were on fire, or had been in the recent past. His cohorts, two men Michael recognized from Hatsheput’s marketing staff, were hovering over a slimy, red blender with screwdrivers and sponges in hand.

“And to what would I attribute this mess?” Michael asked, laughing.

“Mess?” Jamie asked in an incredulous, booming voice. “This is no mess, bro. This is art in the making, just you wait.”

“Uh-huh, yeah,” Michael said in a disbelieving tone as he moved past to the back door.

“Don’t stay out there too long,” Jamie called after him. “The real men are in here doing what we do best. And by the way, don’t mention the blender.”

Michael shook his head as he stepped out of the door and onto the deck. The rhythmic beat from the steel drum band placed unobtrusively to the side of the deck rang in his ears, impregnating the entire area with a poignant energy. His eyes roamed over the people seated on the deck in white and blue chairs that glowed in the bright moonlight from above. Then, looking over at the small dancing area out on the soft grass, he saw the crowd moving together in one electric beat. Then as someone shifted, his eyes caught sight of the person he had longed for all night. There was Nya with the infectious smile he rarely saw lighting her eyes. He watched as she moved gracefully to the music. Her arms were above her as she danced and her eyes were closed. A smile tilted her lips appealingly upward. Her hips swayed beneath long, thin hands….Who the hell was she dancing with? Michael edged closer to the railing on the deck and watched until he could make out the guy. Elphonse Deklerk. Michael could feel the growl deep within him, and at first he couldn’t move. He was transfixed by the picture of Nya moving so closely with this man who he was convinced had sabotaged her company. He was paralyzed by the familiarity with which Deklerk touched her, almost with protectiveness. And then he was in motion, walking toward them, unable to see, hear, feel anything else. He watched as Elphonse moved behind her and put his arms around her as they moved to the music. Nya covered his arms with her own, still swaying along with him. Michael knew her laughter was genuine and caused by this man who couldn’t possibly care half as much as he did.

She saw him first, he was sure. Deklerk was bending and whispering something in her ear when her eyes met his. He saw her turn to Deklerk and say something. Deklerk looked up and sought out Michael. Nya whispered to him again. She was asking him to go, Michael was sure of it. Deklerk then, with a kiss on her cheek, moved in another direction. Again, as in the museum, they were separating and he didn’t know which one to go after. But he continued towards Nya. At that moment Deklerk didn’t matter at all, nor did Michael’s anger towards him. Just watching Nya, he could feel another emotion taking over. As if on cue, the band began to play something slow and heavy and as Michael reached her he grasped her hand.

“I seem to have interrupted your dance,” he said, his voice steeled against his rioting emotions. He could feel the softness of her hand all the way through his palm and up his wrist and through his arm to the very center of him.

“Not a problem,” she returned stiffly.

“Well, I guess there’s only one way to make it up to you,” he said and pulled her into his arms. She did not resist. Her soft body pressed gently into his and he could smell the light scent of her mild perfume. Whether they were even moving, he couldn’t tell. All he knew was that those beautiful eyes were trained on his and her soft, pouty lips parted as if waiting for him to claim them with his own.

“Michael,” she entreated breathlessly.

“Shhhhh,” he whispered in a tumultuous tone. “Forget about him, forget about everything. Nya, I wanted to tell you…” God what did he want to tell her? The moment was getting out of hand.

He held her closer. Her body was warm and soft, and everything feminine against his. Michael wanted to take her in the house and peel her clothes off.

“The music’s over,” she said all too soon as she stepped away from him. They both turned as they heard her name being called and the band comprised of some of Hatsheput’s very own employees called her to the mike. She chanced a wayward glance at Michael before she moved on to offer her thank-yous for everyone showing up and making the evening a success.

Michael took a few deep breaths trying to calm himself after being so close to her. Then, as if he had only just realized the gravity of the situation, he turned purposefully and moved to find the man who stood between him and the woman he wanted. He searched the outside and then ventured within.

“Hey, Michael,” Lysette greeted him cheerfully, poking her head around her husband to see him.

“Hi, Lysette. Have you seen Deklerk?” He tried to sound nonchalant and failed miserably.