Slow Seduction (25 page)

“Have dinner with me.” Charisma looked up from her desk to see Dave standing there looking delicious. He was wearing a white T-shirt, denim shorts that stopped below his knees and sandals. Muscles rippled from powerful thighs and arms, making her mouth water for a taste of his tanned skin.

Standing up, she brushed past him in a sexy, pin-stripped skirt and white silk camisole. The matching jacket was hanging on the back of her chair. Opening the filing cabinet, she shoved the paper in the correct folder, trying to ignore the rock-hard body behind her. “How did you find out where I worked?”

Sliding his eyes slowly up Charisma’s body, Dave let his gaze linger on her breasts, enjoying their natural fullness. “Jenisha, told me,” he answered, easing toward her.

“She shouldn’t have done that,” Charisma answered, trying to move around him without any luck. Dave advanced more, causing her to back up until her back hit the wall.

“Do you know I dreamt about our kiss last night?” he mumbled, sliding his finger under the camisole and touching her heated flesh. “However, in the dream we went a lot further than one innocent kiss.”

Charisma’s head spun as she stared into his eyes at least three shades darker than hers.
Hell, if he called that kiss innocent, what were his others kisses like?
“Well, I don’t want to hear about your fantasies. I have work to get done.” Placing her hands on his chest she tried to shove him out of her way, but Dave was built like a Greek God and he had his mind set on not budging.

“I think you really want to and you’re afraid to admit it,” he declared by her sensitive ear. “I can feel the unleashed passion you keep buried deep inside. Why don’t you let me be the one to find it?”

Titling her head back, Dave thrust his tongue into Charisma’s mouth, searching the inside for something she wasn’t ready to give. His hands cupped her tight butt and dragged her from the wall closer to his solid body that needed to feel her heavy breasts against his chest.

Tearing his mouth away from hers, Dave nibbled down her jaw, placing kisses on her smooth, satin, brown chest. Noticing her pointed nipples, Dave flicked one with his tongue, drawing it into his mouth and sucking gently.

Charisma threw her head back, moaning at the sensation racing in her body. She was about to pull Dave’s head back up for a kiss when he broke away from her.

“No, I’m not going down the same path as I usually do. I want to get to know you, and sex will come later,” he said, wiping a hand down his face.

Still dazed from the encounter, Charisma walked back to her desk and fell into the chair. “Dave, you’re one hell of a kisser,” she admitted honestly.

Stalking over to her, Dave trapped her between him and the chair. “Honey, you can’t say things like that to a stirred up man. I’m trying to control my urges as it is. So, back to my original question. Will you have dinner with me?”

Touching his chest, Charisma rose out of the chair to stare up at his six foot, five inch frame. “I can’t get involved with someone who works so closely with people I know. I try to keep the two separate.”

“What?” he asked. Dave couldn’t believe Charisma came up with that feeble excuse not to date him. “Just how many of your ex-boyfriends fell for that line?”

Still standing close to his body, Charisma ran her finger down the middle of his chest. “Why do my ex-boyfriends matter to you?”

“Because I want to make sure I don’t make the same mistakes they did to lose you,” he said, loving the closeness of Charisma’s body to his.

“You don’t know me that well to say those words to me,” Charisma muttered, dropping her hand away from his chest.

Dave opened his mouth to say more and decided against it at the last minute. “When you’re ready for a real man, let me know.” He turned to leave, but at the last moment thought of a question to ask. “Have you ever been with a white man?”

Charisma’s mouth opened in shock at his question. Dave loved her reaction. “T
hank
s, baby that explains so much.” Whistling, he left the room happy with the success of his meeting with her; he may win her over yet.

Dave walked down the long hall, attracting stares of several females passing him. A lot of them even smiled and said hello in a flirty manner, trying to gain his attention. Women seemed to love his Filipino and Greek heritage from an early age. He lost his virginity at sixteen to a girl five years older than him. He has always leapt into relationships thinking about how many times he could sleep with a woman until he got tired of her in his bed.

Charisma was rare. Something about her made him want a commitment. She had this way about her that came off strong and no holds barred, but he sensed deep down that Charisma was more fragile then she was letting on. Now, her agreeing to the idea was a different story. She melted so well in his arms during those spontaneous kisses. She had such potential to match him with her luscious tight body if she could only break free of that fake image she showed everyone.

He loved working on new projects and digging through the rubble to find the beauty beneath. Charisma definitely had an inner beauty to match the outer beauty that everyone else saw. With his mind totally on her, Dave hoped she would accept his dinner offer. If not, maybe Jenisha could help him out.

The Griffins sat in front of Mark, listening to his vengeful plan that shocked them to the point of being speechless. “I can’t believe you are even suggesting something so horrible and cruel,” William Griffin choked out. “Hell, I want Clinton to pay just as much as you want Jenisha to. However, I don’t want jail time again.”

“Those eight months were enough for me, too,” Stephanie Griffin added.

Mark slammed his paperweight down on his desk, causing a loud crash. “What do you think we were going to do, just play with them? I want them to suffer in the same horrible way my brother is.”

Mark glared at his partners, hating them for their cowardly behavior. He hated when people backed out of deals at the last minute. This plan had taken months to think up. With his brilliant brother’s help from prison, everything was on schedule until this damn backsliding with the Griffins.

They were becoming more of a problem than Robin and her semi-drunk attitude. Something happened with her end of the plan because she had been avoiding him for the last several days. Shit, he didn’t want to clean up another mess within this calculated scheme. All he needed was another setback to ruin everything for all the people involved. He had been able to work on his plan so much with Clinton out of town.

Darting his eyes back and forth between his two partners, Mark sat down at the desk. “I took a chance inviting you two here on a Saturday, but this is the only time we would get alone. Also, I wanted you to take a look at the spot where I want the accident to happen,” he stated in a calm voice. “I know both of you are a little apprehensive right now, but as the time draws close you’ll get more excited like I am.”

A gleam of revenge shined brightly from Mark’s eyes, making him look demented at the pleasure of hurting two people. A chill crawled up the spines of the Griffins sitting in front of him, making them wish they never met Dalton Blake or his brother Mark Kimball and how unfortunate that it was too late to back out now.

“
Teacher, I’m here for my first lesson,” Dave said, setting a bright red shiny apple on her desk.

Jenisha picked up the apple with laughter shinning in her bright eyes. “You go straight to the head of the class for bringing me this.” She placed the apple back on her desk. Standing up, she took Dave to the back of the room to the computers. “How much do you know about computers?”

“I know how to turn them on and that’s it,” Dave admitted sheepishly.

“Can I ask why you want to learn now?”

“I heard that Campbell Construction and Design is going to open up a new office in my hometown in Florida. I want to apply for that job. I know that I could be a good manager, but I don’t have enough of the qualifications.” His voice was a little low and awkward, as if he almost didn’t want to tell her.

“I’ve already checked into classes and I’m planning to enroll when I go back to Florida.”

“That’s wonderful news,” Jenisha beamed, touching Dave’s arm.

“There’s another reason too,” he admitted. “I want to impress Charisma by offering her more. She’s working at this impressive firm with all these titles on the door and I don’t want to embarrass her. I know we aren’t a couple yet, but when we get to that step I want to be the man beside her that she isn’t ashamed of.”

“Dave, Charisma isn’t like that at all,” she cut in, not wanting Dave to misread her friend. “She would stand up for you no matter what your job was.”

“T
hank
s for saying it that. However, I don’t truly believe it. I can work during the day and go to classes at night so I graduate quicker. I want to major in computers and business mixed with a few writing classes,” Dave uttered, pleased with the decision about his future.

“Wow, that sounds really impressive. You’re a very smart man. I know you’ll be able to achieve your goals. Well, let me give your first step in the right direction to get your degree,” Jenisha said with a sweet smile.

Two hours later Dave was shoving the printouts Jenisha gave him into a folder. “I didn’t realize so much information was connected with computers,” he admitted with a shake of his dark head.

“Hey, you did marvelous for your first lesson. I couldn’t ask for a better student.”

“T
hank
s, Jenisha. I’ve to say once you printed out these papers it did move a lot more smoothly. By the way, how were you able to get into the building on a Saturday night anyway?” he questioned.

“Since I’m part of the committee to help with the redesigns for the school, Mark gave me a key.” Reaching across Dave’s thick arm, Jenisha clicked the shut down feature on the computer.

“I didn’t think the two of you were friendly,” Dave commented.

“We aren’t, and I don’t ever want to be friends with him,” Jenisha answered, moving back from Dave after the computer was off. “Mark isn’t a very nice person. Stay away from him as much as you can.”

“I appreciate the warning.” Dave got up from the table and picked up his folder. “Get your stuff together so I can walk you to your car,” he said, heading toward the door.

Jenisha lifted up her briefcase and turned off the lights. “Let’s hit the road. And, by the way, I have a surprise for you at my house.”

Looking at Jenisha with a bewildered expression, Dave followed her outside to her car, wondering what the surprise could be.

“No, I couldn’t take this from you, Jenisha,” Dave muttered.

“How you expect to get better at doing it if you don’t practice?” she questioned. “Come on over here so I can show you where to stick this for later.”

“I don’t want to know where to stick anything because I said I’m not taking it from you,” he murmured. But, he moved toward Jenisha anyway.

“Dave, are you trying to hurt my feelings?” Jenisha asked.

“No, it’s very nice of you to give me this,” Dave quickly apologized after hearing the hurt sound in Jenisha’s voice. Clinton wouldn’t be happy if he came home and his girlfriend was upset.

“Good, now come closer and watch me work this.” Moving over to the small space, Dave stood behind Jenisha while she showed him how to plug in the mouse to the laptop computer she was letting him borrow. “I don’t think you’re ready for the laptop mouse yet.”

“Remember to plug in the mouse first so the computer can know it’s there. The printer is inside the case too. Plug it in right beside the mouse. After you get all of the attachments plugged in, you can turn on the laptop and I’ll give you may password to get in.”

Dave stood there and stared down at Jenisha. He couldn’t believe how nice she was being to him. Clinton better snatch her up quick before some other man did. Picking up the bag, Dave walked over to the door and eased the books underneath his arms.

“You are such a remarkable person for doing this for me, and I will always remember it.” Smiling at her one last time, Dave opened the door with his free hand and left, closing the door behind him.

“I’ll be so happy when Clinton comes back,” Becky said to Jenisha on the bench outside school. “You’ve been in such a horrible mood with him gone. You are here in body, but your mind is a million miles away.”

Jenisha glanced at Becky and then stopped. “Sorry, I have been in a funk with him gone, haven’t I? I’m was so used to him being here and popping in and out of the classroom, and now it’s strange with him out of town for such a long time. I’m so in love with him and it’s really hard to be without him for a long period of time.”

“He’ll be back and all your down time will be a distant memory.” Becky stuck a piece of hair behind her ear, looking at Jenisha and closely studying her facial features. “Can I ask you a question?”

Jenisha glanced at her class playing out on the grass, making sure everyone was accounted for. “Sure, go ahead.”

“How does it feel to date Clinton since he isn’t black?”

“I dated Clinton because he’s a good-looking man and I wanted to get to know him better. Slowly I started to fall in love with his personality. I would never date someone because of race and race alone.”

“Why would you ask me that question?” Jenisha inquired. Becky never seemed to have a problem with Clinton’s race before.

“I was coming outside to join you and a group of teachers were talking in the hallway about why you were dating Clinton. They said you wanted to be more like them, so you went out and found yourself a white man to fit in better,” Becky replied. “I knew it was nonsense, but I wanted to hear it from you.”

“God, I can’t believe how some of these teachers are here and what they will say to make themselves feel better,” Jenisha spat.

“Don’t let them get to you,” Becky exclaimed.

“Most of the time I don’t, I guess. Clinton being gone has made me soft.”

Becky noticed Clinton coming up behind Jenisha and was about to tell her until he laid a finger on his lips. “I think we need to do something this weekend like a girl’s night out.” She watched as Clinton eased up behind Jenisha and kissed her below her right ear.

“What in the…” Jenisha hissed, spinning around to find Clinton behind her. “You’re back,” she screamed, kissing him on the mouth.

Clinton kissed Jenisha fully on the lips, loving the feel of her back in his arms. He was very happy that he decided to come straight here from the airport instead of going home.

“Umm…guys I would stop unless you want Jenisha to get in trouble from all the evil stares shooting your way,” Becky warned, ending their little paradise.

Kissing her quickly for last time, Clinton moved back, touching the side of her face tenderly., “Baby, I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered for her ears only.

Becky moved away from the couple, calling to the class. The other classes started going back insid, leaving only Clinton and Jenisha outside in the sunny weather that was perfect for a couple in love.

“Did you miss me?” he asked hopefully.

Jenisha wrapped her arms around his neck. “Clinton, I missed your handsome face from the moment you got on the airplane until you came back,” she answered with a pureness to her voice.

Clinton ran his hands over the polka dot dress that he loved so much. “I ran something by Hayward while I was in Montana and I want to see what you think about it.”

Chestnut eyes sparkled back at him. “What is it?”

“I was thinking about the four of us going on a trip for the summer.” Soft fingers played with the hair at the back of his head and his body hardened at the light touch.

“Who will watch Kevan and Evan?” Jenisha asked, removing her hands from his neck.

“Lance wants to take them out of town and show them off to his golfing buddies. He’s going to hire a nanny to take with him.”
Don’t dare say no to this
, he thought.
I want
us to do this.

“Well, if True is alright with it, I think it will be so much fun.”

He was momentarily speechless by how quickly Jenisha agreed to the trip. “Great, I’ll let Hayward know. Is there anything else I should know about?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Jenisha answered him in a rush, trying to avoid what she knew he wanted to hear about. She turned and hurried toward the school’s side door away from him.

“Dave and Charisma,” he asked with vigor. “Is Dave still working on getting a date with Charisma?” Clinton followed behind his woman taking in how the dress hugged her in all the right places. He stopped her at the door before she went inside.

“I don’t know that much about it. You have to ask Dave, but not tonight because you are mine without any interruption. I missed waking up beside you in the middle of the night.” Opening the door, Jenisha stepped into the school, leaving a grinning Clinton on the outside.

With his back against the headboard in Jenisha’s bed later that night, Clinton worked on a crossword puzzle. He was stuck on eight down. Jenisha was beside him reading a romance novel True had sent her in the mail. He was amazed how those fairy tales stories could captivate females. Real life was so different from the words written in black and white.

“God…why can’t I get this last one,” he muttered, going over all the different possibilities in his head, but none of them would fit.

Tossing her book on the nightstand, Jenisha got out of the bed, drawing his attention away from the crossword puzzle. His eyes followed her across the room and observed her pulling out a medium-sized, dark blue bag out of her closet.

Bringing it back to the bed, she crawled back in beside him. “I have a present for you,” she said, holding the bag out for him to take.

Placing the crossword puzzle on his lap, he asked, “What did you get me, precious?”

“I think it’s something you might like.” She twisted her hand and nodded toward the bag “At least I hope it will be.”

Sitting the bag in front of him, Clinton opened it and pulled out a thick book that said
Crossword Puzzle Dictionary
. “Where did you find something like this,” he asked, pleasure lighting up his gorgeous green eyes.

“I was shopping for books and I came across it,” Jenisha answered, sliding closer to his body. “Do you think it will be helpful?”

“Precious, you are so perfect. This is an amazing gift and I love it very much,” he said and planted a quick kiss her on the lips. “Let me see how well it works,” Clinton said with excitement in his voice. “I need an eight letter word which means the same as difficult.”

Opening up the dictionary, Clinton looked up the word “difficult”. and the word “puzzling” was the second word listed and it fit perfectly in eight down. “Damn, I love this.”

“I’m so glad you do.” Jenisha beamed. “I really wanted to give you a present on your first night back.”

Clinton ran his finger down her bare arm. “You have already given me my welcome home present.”

Jenisha looked at him. “Clinton, be serious. I want us to have something to build on besides good sex.”

“Good sex,” Clinton complained. “If you think we are only having good sex I need to step up because I’m doing something wrong.”

“Listen to me,” Jenisha stated hurriedly. “There’s something I need to tell you and promise me you will let me finish.” Clinton laid his dictionary and puzzle to the side, staring at Jenisha, worried about her outburst. He had never seen her so tormented.

Jenisha looked at the man she had come to love. Clinton had given her so much in these last several weeks: confidence, strength and the ability to speak her mind. Would telling him the truth now cause him to run from her bed in disgust, hate or a mixture of both worlds?

She raised a shaky hand to her face to touch her forehead for a sign of fever. It could be the only reason for her to tell Clinton her most hidden secret. “While you were gone I was thinking about our future together and how much our lives would be affected by having children. How much thought have you put into us having children? What’s your opinion about it?”

A light came on in Clinton mind. He knew what Jenisha was worried about, “Baby, I know what you are trying to tell me, and you don’t have anything to worry about it.”

Her heart started to race in her chest. It was beating so loud that she thought Clinton was bound to hear it “You know what I’m about to say?” she stammered.