“I think we need to talk,” she said, clearly uptight about something.
He raised a brow. “About what?”
“What last night meant.”
He let out a sigh, not ready to have this conversation with her, although he knew they needed to. He was hoping they could have it later, after he’d worked on her some more, used his power of persuasion to convince her to think his way. He hadn’t anticipated her wanting to talk about things now. “Okay, you tell me what last night meant?” he said.
“Nothing.”
Talk about cutting deep. For him, her words had been razor sharp. “It actually meant nothing to you?” he asked for clarification, hoping he had heard wrong. A woman didn’t spend more than eighty percent of the night having back-to-back multiple orgasms with a man and think it meant nothing.
“The sex was good and I would even go so far to say it was off the charts. I have no doubt today’s activities will be even better. But that’s all it was about, Mike. Sex. Hot, gritty, enjoyable, pleasurable sex.”
Mike swallowed the words he wanted to say to her, they were too harsh to even think about and would be even worse to say, but he hadn’t liked her description of what they had shared. Making love with her had been an eye-opener for him. It hadn’t been same-oh, same-oh. And he refused to believe it hadn’t meant something more to her as well. He’d heard her moans, and he had heard her scream his name – his name – every time she’d come.
He had also discovered her to be the most giving person in the bedroom. No other woman had ever pleasured him the way she had. More than once she had driven him to the brink of madness by satisfying a deep physical need in him that had been destined to go unfulfilled. That’s why even now when she stood before him, refusing to admit what he knew was the truth, he wanted to shake some sense into her.
A brief moment passed and then he said. “Do you know what I think?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “No, what do you think?”
“I think when it comes to a man, you’re afraid to get involved for anything other than sex.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not afraid of anything. I prefer not getting involved with anyone but for sex. It’s my choice. I don’t do longterm relationships. My parents did longterm and look where it got them.”
“Let’s keep your parents out of this,” he said, frowning.
“Fine, let’s keep them out of it. Let’s talk about you.”
“What about me?”
“You don’t do longterm either. You’ve said so on a number of occasions, so what’s your problem? How come you’re trying to go all serious on me now all of a sudden?”
He knew it was time to break things to her. He took a step closer and he could tell she sensed something about him, something that was going on that she wouldn’t like. He sensed it when her body automatically shifted in a defensive mode and she tilted her head to look at him. “The reason I’m probably coming across as a little bit serious right now, is because I am somewhat serious, Sonya. And the reason I’m being serious is because I’ve fallen in love with you.”
He watched her expression. He saw the exact minute an appalled look appeared in her features. “Love me?” she snarled like it was the nastiest of words.
“Yes. Love you.”
Her frown deepened. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. A man doesn’t make love to a woman for the first time and fall in love. My stuff isn’t that good.”
He huffed out an angry breath. “It has to do with more than ‘your stuff’ Sonya. I can honestly admit that I fell in love with you that day we met a couple of years ago. I’ve been fighting it.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Well, continue to fight it because I’m not interested. I know you don’t like for me to bring up my parents but they are who I think about when I think about what I thought love was supposed to represent. They were married for over thirty years, but that didn’t stop Dad from screwing around on Mom. So what kind of love was that?”
“You’re right. I prefer not bringing up your parents. Let’s just talk about us.”
She all but stomped her feet. “Why can’t you see there isn’t an us?”
“And why can’t you see that there is? I honestly think that I’m the man who was created to love you; someone to prove there’s more to life than casual relationships and that true love extends beyond color lines. There is such a thing as a firm and loving commitment between a man and a woman.”
“And you’re an expert?” she snapped.
“No, it’s a new experience for me.”
“Then experience it alone because I’m out of here,” she said turning and walking away.
“Where are you going?” he called out to her.
She stopped and turned around. “To get my things and leave.”
“Running away isn’t helping matters,” he said.
“I’m not running away. I’m just giving you time to get your head screwed back on straight. There’s really no need for us to communicate until right before the party and to be honest, I prefer that we don’t.”
Less than an hour later, Mike stood at the kitchen window and watched Sonya leave. She had refused to let him take her to get her car, preferring to call a cab instead. And she had refused to accept that he loved her. What she didn’t know and what she hadn’t allowed him time to tell her was that not only did he love her, but couldn’t imagine a future without her. He wanted her for his wife, the mother of his kids and his soul mate for life.
She would not have appreciated hearing any of that; however, there was no way he could make love to her again without her knowing it wasn’t just about sex as she wanted to believe. He would give her space and time to think and maybe she would wonder that if she didn’t care something for him, then why had she gone without being intimate with a man for more than a year? Why hadn’t she allowed another man to touch her since that kiss they had shared at her place that night? The answer to that would be something she would have to figure out on her own.
However, he had no intention of fading into the woodwork while she went about reaching the same conclusion that he had. He had never loved a woman before, but like anything else he considered as his, once his name was stamped on it, he didn’t give it up without a fight.
And Sonya Morrison would be no exception.
* * *
A few days later, Sonya stared at the flowers that had been delivered to her, a beautiful arrangement of mixed flowers in a gorgeous Waterford vase. Although today was Valentine’s Day she’d been surprised to have received them since she’d never remained in a relationship long enough to warrant the sending of something so elegant from a man. But once she had opened the card that had accompanied them, she hadn’t been surprised to find they had come from Mike.
Mike.
Why was he persistent in trying to get on her last nerve? She had a mind to drop the flowers, vase and all, right in the garbage. But she couldn’t. They were too beautiful. So she would keep them and work around the realization that they meant nothing.
But that didn’t stop her from glancing at them from time to time or from inhaling the flowery scent that had practically taken over her office. Nor did that stop her from thinking about Mike and all the lovemaking they had done Friday night. She hadn’t been aware of all the passion marks he had put on her body until the next day. There hadn’t been too many places he had missed and the passion marks had been a stark reminder of the intensity of their lovemaking.
Another thing she found herself up against was the fact that he was not out of her system. Far from it. Making love to him hadn’t gotten rid of anything. Instead it had created a bigger need, an even greater craving and an ache out of this world. It wasn’t uncommon to wake up in the middle of the night gripping her legs together, after having a dream of Mike being between them. Whether he had used his mouth or his erection hadn’t mattered. Either way she had wanted in reality the pleasure she had merely dreamed about. But she knew that wouldn’t happen. He didn’t want to enjoy sex just for sex, he wanted to make more out it. He was determined to bring the L word into it. And that was something she refused to let happen.
She snapped back to the present when she heard the phone on her desk ring. She quickly picked it up. “Yes, La’Trell?”
“Mrs. Devereau is on the line for you.”
Sonya smiled. “Thanks and please put her through.” A few moments later she heard Carla’s voice.
“Sonya, what’s going on with you, girl? Let’s do lunch.”
Sonya smiled widened. “I’d love to. Do you want to meet around noon at Gabriel’s?”
“Sure. I’ll see you then.”
Sonya hung up the phone as she glanced over at the flowers again. She needed to talk to someone about Mike and she couldn’t think of any person other than her best friend.
* * *
Carla’s eyes widened. “Mike actually sent you flowers?”
“Yes.”
“But . . .” Carla shook her head as if to clear it, and then said. “That’s unreal. I don’t think I’ve ever known him to send a woman flowers before. According to Jesse, Mike makes it a point not to give the woman the wrong idea about where their affair is going.”