Was it Good for You Too? (19 page)

Anna's head was tennis-matching between the two, nodding happily as she clapped. Delvin saw the interaction as the perfect distraction to get Tailan alone. He quietly slipped her from the room and down the hall.

She flattened her hand on his chest. “Why didn't you tell me? You could've found me.” Tailan hugged herself as though trying to stave off the ache. “I should never have let my pain … I shouldn't have cut myself off. Your mother and father treated me better than my own family.”

“It's all right,” Delvin said, caging her against the wall, comforting her as best he could.

“It's not all right,” Tailan groaned. “I can never get that time back.”

Delvin totally agreed but for entirely different reasons. He could definitely say the same about his daughter. Time was of the essence. Soon the girls would tire his mother, and they would need to collect them.

He shifted through scenarios, but none of them worked as efficiently as straight to the point. “I want to be with my child and the woman who should've been my wife.”

She shoved him. “Delvin, I'm married.”

“Married to a placeholder until your real man—me—stepped up. I want to spend time with Devi.”

“Fine. We'll work out some type of arrangement.”

Delvin crossed his arms over his chest and added, “And since your husband's still trolling for companionship, I want to provide you with some. I want my woman too.”

Tailan just stared at him.

“You can't be in love with him, Tai. Tell me I'm lying about that.” She was silent a few spells too long, and he smiled. “Then it's settled. When we get back, you'll inform him that I'm now part of this bizarre marriage of yours.”

He crowded her against the wall again, forcing her to look directly into his eyes. “If he's willing to share you with another man, that man will be
me
. I will take
every
opportunity to have you until you trust me enough to make a clean break from him.”

Delvin watched her like a hawk. Her gaze darted to the angel figurines in the curio cabinet, then to the diamond patterns on the floor, then down the hall. She was thinking too much. That was the last thing he needed her doing. He surged over to her and crushed his mouth over hers. The kiss took him to places his body had not been in years. Oh, how he had missed her lips.

“I can't just leave him,” she gasped as she broke the kiss. “I took vows with that man.”

“I heard you,” Delvin countered. “You said
he
was the one who introduced this poly-whatever madness into your marriage,” he growled. “He's supposed to make you his number one. He's supposed to make you happy. Instead he presents a loophole that allows him to exploit your vows. If he wants to play this game, then so can I.”

She glared at him, and he gave it right back. “Marriage is about family. I married him because I love him, and I wanted a safe and stable place for our child. What we have chosen to do outside of that doesn't take away from that.”

“Bullshit!” he shot back. “Marriage is about two people who love each other—make each other happy. And from
that
, they
build
a
family
. It's what you and I could've had if I'd known
my
seed was growing inside of you.”

Tailan tried to worm away from him, but he pressed her tighter to the wall. “You're not happy, Tai, and don't you dare deny it. You won't be happy until we make things right.” He planted another raw, penetrating kiss on her. “I'm not letting this farce of a marriage keep me from bringing my family together. I will reclaim my rightful position.” He leaned in and whispered, “And just so we're clear, I won't be sharing you with any damn body.”

Chapter 22

“Neena, Devi, it's been a long day. It's time for bed,” Tailan said as they entered the house in North Pullman and shut the door.

“But, Mama,” Devi whined with a longing look at her “new” father.

“Do not make her say it again,” Amir said, pointing toward the stairs as he switched off the television and rose from the sofa.

“Goodnight, Daddy,” she said to Delvin.

“Goodnight, sweetheart,” Delvin replied, before he picked her up, gave her a hug, then planted a kiss on her cheek. “I'll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay,” she answered, her smile growing wider.

Devi then ran to Amir and said, “Goodnight, Papa.”

He leaned in, planted a kiss on her temple, and said, “Sweet dreams, little princess.”

Neena gave a wary glance to Amir before she inched toward Delvin, who obliged her with a goodnight embrace that matched the one he had given his daughter.

The two girls trudged up the staircase with a few curious looks back down the stairs at the adults. It was as though they could feel the tension and were reluctant to leave the grown-ups alone to handle things. Personally, Tailan wished she could go with them. The predatory vibe between the two men was causing too much friction in her life.

The moment they heard the door close above them, Amir whirled to face Tailan. “What is really going on here? Why is
he
back here?”

Amir glared across the room at Delvin, and Tailan could swear their stone faces would crack any second.

Delvin shifted his gaze to Tailan and announced, “I'm here to establish that I'll be spending time with my daughter every day that I'm here in Chicago.” He flickered a gaze between her and Amir. “And to establish some type of visitation for the times I'm in L.A.”

“He can do this?” Amir's voice raised an octave. “Just demand time like this?”

Tailan would not insult Amir's intelligence with a lie. “It's only fair. She's his daughter too. But it doesn't change anything.”

“It changes everything!” Amir growled.

Tailan went to him and tried to place a calming hand on his chest, which he did not allow. “You've been her father—the only father our girls have ever known.”

“But that's because I didn't know!” Delvin interjected.

Tailan tuned Delvin completely out and focused on Amir with a softer tone. “That won't change because you're still a part of my life and hers.”

He gave her a small, bitter smile. “For how long?”

She blinked, confused. “What do you mean?”

“How long do you think you'll hold out before leaving me for him?” Amir clarified.

Tailan winced at that suggestion because leaving him for another man was not on her agenda. She had married him and was in it for the long haul. And she definitely did not want to separate her daughters. The only thing that had given her pause was his blindness when it came to his family.

“I love you, Amir. I just need you to wake up and see that your family is tearing us apart. Leaving you has only entered my mind because of how you've allowed your family to treat me and Devi. I wouldn't leave you because of another man—”

“You think I did not know the times you missed him, longed for him?” He snarled at her. “Every time you saw him on television or in a magazine you …” he shook his head as though unable to voice the rest.

“I'm sor—”

“No, no. Do not apologize,” he said, holding up his hand. “I never lied to myself about who truly had your heart. I had hoped you would get over him. Seven years I have waited.” He inspected Delvin with keen interest, then said, “Just as I could not get you out of my system, you cannot get him out of yours.”

The words, brutal in their simplicity, held a ring of truth that Tailan never wanted to hear out loud.

“Amir, please listen to me,” she whispered, moving so that they were almost nose-to-nose. “Delvin and I did not have sex.”

“But he touched you in some way,” Amir countered, and the pain in his voice was almost too much to bear.

“I want to take him as my lover, yes. Nothing more. That's all he can ever be to me.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Delvin stiffen at those words. But at the moment, saving her marriage outweighed Delvin's bruised feelings. If Delvin was going to be in the picture, she needed her daughters' home life to be stable. She needed to weigh their well-being against her personal desires. The children always came first. Always.

The challenge behind Delvin's dark brown eyes was not a good sign. He was competitive to a fault when it came to getting what he wanted. She would be no exception.

“I know the boundaries we set,” she continued. “I promise you that we didn't do anything.” She shifted toward Delvin and said, “Tell him.”

Delvin's stance screamed his defiance. There was no way in hell he would admit the truth. When Tailan turned again to Amir, her stomach dropped. He didn't believe her words but he did believe Delvin's body language.

“Amir—” Tai warned, moving to stand between both of the men.

“My presence is not needed in your life,” Amir said in a resigned tone as he shifted his gaze between her and Delvin. “It is obvious what will happen. No need to prolong things. We will leave in the morning.”

Tailan stared at Delvin's easy smile and fumed. There would be an avalanche in hell before she would just let him waltz in and dismantle her entire life!

“Don't go, Amir,” she whispered, and he stopped on the bottom stair. “I love you.”

“Maybe,” he said. “But is it enough?”

“It has been for all this time,” Tailan reminded.

Amir glanced over his shoulder with a smile that did not quite reach his eyes. “No love, it has been—how do you say—the consolation prize. I have been the runner up.”

Tailan shifted to pure fighter mode. “I'm not letting you go. Not like this.”

“You must, sweetness.”

“I don't have to do a damn thing,” she shot back, her voice holding that edge that signaled she had slipped from swaying to declaring. “I'm yours—have been since the first time we made love. I don't ever think of him when you touch me, hold me, love me.”

Delvin cleared his throat and said, “Seriously? You could've fooled me.”

She tossed him a frosty glare and a warning, “Delvin, stay out of this!”

“A part of me believes this,” Amir reasoned. “But another part knows this as well: I cannot hold ground in your mind twenty-four hours a day. And you think of him at least some of that time. Yes?”

Tailan's entire face flushed crimson.

He gave her a half smile and started toward the stairs again. “I will gather my things, then Neena's.”

“No!” she cried, pulling him back with a grip on his arm, holding him in place.

Amir's gaze at Delvin was intense, and Tailan trembled with what she witnessed in those black eyes. He turned that gaze on her, and it softened after a moment. “There are some things that need to be worked out here. I do not want to interfere.”

“Don't leave us,” Tailan pleaded.

“Don't remember you making that kind of statement when it counted for us,” Delvin interjected, trying to reach out for her.

She shrugged him off and said to her husband, “Don't leave me, Amir.”

He placed a gentle hand over hers. “I am giving you the space you need to settle your heart.”

“This family needs you,” she whispered. “You want me to make a choice, and I have. I choose you. I love you.”

“I have no reason to doubt that,” he said, stroking a hand through her curls before turning to make his way to the second floor landing.

“If you walk out tonight,” she warned, “I will come for you every day until you come home. Don't make me do that. Don't make me into that woman.”

Amir looked down at her but said nothing. Tailan took it as a sign that his resolve was cracking. She inched closer to him, stroking his sturdy arms and his too beautiful for words face, whispering, “You've given up so much for me …”

Tailan could feel the resentment Delvin was feeling from hearing those words. Whether her ex believed it or not, she did love her husband. The love wasn't nearly as strong as she felt for Delvin, but it was love all the same.

She continued brazenly, “I don't take that kind of love for granted. Don't. Leave. Me.”

Tailan followed Amir's gaze over to Delvin, who was two shades darker with smoldering rage. She looked up and saw Amir favor the man with a smile that was somewhere between acceptance and victory.

“I will be in our bedroom,” Amir finally relented.

“You won't leave?” she gasped.

“And have you show up at my parents' restaurant wearing some seductive garment that will start a riot again?”

He had once made the mistake of leaving the house after an argument, thinking he'd won and intending to give her the brush-off. She put on a sheer, form-fitting dress and showed up at India House, knowing that's where he would be. The men in his family learned exactly why he was so taken with her. The couple barely made it into Amir's office before he ravished her.

Amir shook his head vigorously. “No my love, I do not think so.”

She gave him that mischievous smile that he could always pull out of her.

“I learned my lesson the first time,” he added.

Tailan edged closer to him, her voice husky with promise as she said, “So did I. I married you for better or for worse. I only hope you've done the same. Your family has been your worse. My feelings for Delvin are my worse. We can get through this somehow.”

Delvin cleared his throat and barked, “I'll be back in the morning to see my daughter.”

She curled into her husband's arms and watched Delvin storm out of their home.

Chapter 23

The weeks that followed Delvin's first encounter with Tailan's
other
life were confusing, frustrating, and annoying as hell. Tailan loved her husband. That right there was enough to make him roar. The way Tailan fought for Amir was eye-opening to say the least. Amir had the most diabolical hold on Tailan. But why?